#also this is basically what dick grayson was thinking right before he saved tim from pancaking on the ground

[centaurs-arejerks]

[sporkberries]

Tim Drake and Red robin

 Aka the whole identity problem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Robin(1993) #181

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

Red Robin(2009) #1

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

Red Robin(2009) #2

Red Robin(2009) #4

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

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

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

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

Red Robin(2009) #26

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

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

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

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

[gffa]

Can I ask your opinion on something? It's about Jason and the way hes written in a lot of batfamily comics, because I can't shake the feeling that in a lot of stories he's in theres is this rather... condescending attitude towards Jason. They are always writing him as this angry impulsive idiot who can't deal with a case or have plan of his own and basically needs Bruce and the others to save him.

For example, take Cheer, a lot of people been calling the best story Jason had, but it still repeats so much of the annoying tropes that Jason gets: He's written tob e really impulsive and dumb and prone to mistakes that the others would never make, and who Bruce to explain him to not attack drug addicts, and them you have to flashbacks that are there to retroactively insert instances of him being a "bad robin" who would torture a random person for no reason and killed someone before he even became robin. And whole story gives the idea that the only reason Jason can be good in anyway is because Bruce stopped from going bad.

then In the failsafe arc when Bruce is praising Tim he has to make a mention about how Jason hated training as a robin, which is not the first time Bruce has compared Jason negatively to prop Tim.

And now in The Gotham War, Jason gets brainwashed by Bruce with that failsafe thing. And it's treated as this big awful thing... until one issue has passed, and then Jason's already resisting the symptons long enough to try to save someone but not enough to actually succeed at by himself, and Bruce saves him by giving him a piggyback ride that treats Jason like child. And Bruce leaves without fixing what he did.

Like compare Jason now with the way he was before the New52 in stories like Under the Hood or the Lost Days. Jason back them as more often than not a villain, but he was a good villain, he was intelligent and competent in a way he is simply not anymore, and makes so mad that nonee these modern stories seem to actually respect him as a character and just make really made and it just ruins most Batfam media for me.

Take this for what it is--someone who is not as deeply into Jason's character as others are and who is more of a general fan (and specifically a fan of my own Blorbo)--but my feeling with Jason's character is that DC doesn't really know what they want to do with his character and so he gets written as incredibly inconsistently by various comics because of it. So often when I look at the bigger scope of his appearances, it's not clear if he's supposed to be a villain, a villain on the way to being reformed, an antihero, a misunderstood hero, or what. And that also tends to influence his relationship with Bruce on a narrative level, how much Bruce is "right" or "wrong" about Jason or even often how he acts around the other Batfam members, especially if he gets an author who is a fan or if he's just there to be the impulsive hothead who needs others to step in. To some degree, that's just how comics are--every character is written as the dumb idiot sometimes when they're not in their own book. I often Suffer as a Dick Grayson fan or a Tim Drake fan or a Barbara Gordon fan, when I pick up another character's book for them. There can be great appearances in non-titular characters' books! But a lot of the time, when I'm reading, I have to look at the title and go, okay, Blorbo's not going to be treated as well as they should because this isn't their book. And I think that's a big chunk of what happens with Jason, one that gets exacerbated because it's not really clear what his role in the group is meant to be.

(Like, there is a VERY noticeable difference in the way Jason is written in Task Force Z--a book designed to center around him--versus when he shows up in a cameo in another book. Or there is a VERY noticeable difference in the way Dick is written when he cameos in a Batgirls book versus who he's written in his own central title. Comics, you know?) So, you're not wrong that Jason gets written weirdly a lot, but I don't see it as totally unique to his character, because it's somewhat just kind of part of the landscape of comics and somewhat just that Jason gets it more intensely than other characters because he never really had the solidification of who/what he was supposed to be in the comics, like even when Tim is written really badly and they refuse to let him evolve, at least you understand what his role is in the family, so a lot of authors have a baseline for how he should be treated. (And I don't know how well he actually does/doesn't sell comics, which is often a big influence in how a character will get treated in stories they appear in, like Bruce is probably DC's single biggest seller, so he's always going to have a baseline of being intended to be cool and heroic--mileages vary on how that comes off, but I think the intention is there, even when writing him as fucking up sometimes--like Jason is tremendously popular in fandom, but does that actually translate to selling comics? I have no idea.) I think it's fair to say that, look at almost any character in the Batfam, and they'll have a period where a lot of fans feel like they're being written the way you're describing Jason being written right now--I could probably find you people who would say similar things about Dick, Tim, Damian, and Babs right now, too, that they're being written as incompetent and like they need someone to hold their hand just to cross the street without messing it up. But also that you're not wrong that Jason is probably getting the worst of it and it's one of those things that I often have just had to learn to roll with when it comes to comics or else just walk away. (Sooooo many times I had to nearly walk away from comics because I dislike what's happening at a certain point and, often times, I have had to walk away. I walked away from DC because of it. I walked away from X-Men comics because of it. I walked away from Thor comics because of it. It's only recently that I came back to DC to give them another chance and, honestly, I'm only staying because I'm getting what I want for my Blorbo. That's kinda how comics often are, if you're here for a Blorbo, rather than here for the entire roster. /says without judgement, as I know what I am too)

[rainbowfoxes]

I can normally deal with people not reading the comics, because not everyone has the means to or even the desire to, and that's okay! The cartoons and a lot of the shows are great, and I can typically adjust to the different continuities being referenced quick enough.

But the one thing that gets me every time in fics written by people who aren't familiar with the comics is the timeline. It is always incredibly wonky and all over the place and just. Incorrect. Sometimes it makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me 🙃, and others I have to leave right now immediately.

So in the interest of saving myself (and perhaps others) a ???? reaction in the future, here is a (very) rough and non-exhaustive order of events for the Bat Clan. The time between these events are variable, but this is the general order of things.

Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered

Bruce goes on his training trip

Bruce comes back and begins his whole I Am The Night shtick

The Grayson family is murdered

Bruce fosters Dick

Dick debuts as Robin

Justice League/ Super Friends/ whatever group is formed

Dick forms the Teen Titans with Donna, Garth, Roy, and Wally.

Dick leaves Gotham (either for college, or because of an argument with Bruce)

Sometimes more Titans things happen. They also break up at some point

Raven forms the second iteration of the Teen Titans to fight her father. The team is comprised of Dick, Raven, Donna, Wally, Kori, Gar, and Vic.

Jason steals the tires off the Batmobile, thwarts his own grandmother's attempts at robbing a museum, and is adopted by Bruce. He is also made Robin - Note that oftentimes Dick is still Robin at this time as well.

Babs gets shot by the Joker for her dad and Bruce's man pain. She becomes Oracle as a result.

Jason and Bruce have a fight, and Jason goes to find his biological mother.

Jason is betrayed by his supposed mother and murdered by the Joker.

Tim shows up and does his "Batman needs Robin" Thing.

Jason crawls himself out of his grave and promptly gets hit by a car. Don't worry, we'll check in with him later.

Tim's mom is murdered and his father left in a coma that he eventually recovers from.

Knightfall happens - Bane breaks Bruce's back, Jean-Paul Valley is Batman for a minute and so is Dick.

Contagion happens - some dumbass releases a super plague on the city but it's okay because they make a vaccine that everyone gets because it's 1996 and no one has given Jenny McCarthy the opportunity to start the Anti-Vax movement yet.

Legacy happens - It's break through cases this time but don't worry, they fix it because this is comic books and people have two braincells to rub together.

Dick goes to Blüdhaven!!! This is the big one for me tbh. Please stop putting him in the Blüd while Jason is alive, I beg of you. You're killing me.

Cataclysm happens - a massive earthquake hits Gotham, and it is Very Bad. The US government decides to abandon the city and kill anyone trying to leave or enter after a certain date. Because that's an entirely reasonable thing to do. This leads to.....

No Mans Land - the approximate year that the city was cut off from the rest of the country. Lots of shit happens during this time - Cassandra Cain debuts, Stephanie Brown has her baby, Tim goes to boarding school, Sarah Essen-Gordon dies. If there is the only one comic book arc you read, please let it be this one.

Bruce is framed for the murder of Vesper Fairchild - not really important in the grand scheme of things but I love Vesper and you should too.

Hush happens - basically Tommy Elliot has Problems and also Jason shows up but not really but yest really (hi thank you retcons). It's a thing. Read the wikipedia page it's actually very helpful.

Tim's dad finds out that he's Robin and forces him to retire.

The next couple of things happen right on top of each other so - Blockbuster sets fire to Haly's circus and blows up Dick's apartment building and a bunch of other bad things. Tarantula kills Blockbuster and rapes Dick while he's in shock.

Immediately afterwards War Games starts - Steph starts a gang war to prove her worth to Bruce, gets murdered but not really by Black Mask, it's a whole thing.

Side bar - why did no one warn me about Black Mask killing Orpheus - a Black vigilante - and then impersonating him with full Blackface? Everyone talks about what he did to Steph but I really think we need to talk about what he did to Orpheus. Also if you haven't read War Games yet, here are some accurate trigger warnings for it: blackface, sexualized murder of a teenaged girl, a school shooting where a child dies.

Tim comes back as Robin.

Under the Red Hood happens - Jason comes back to Gotham, kills some guys, tries to kill Tim, does his whole Thing. You've probably seen the movie but I also recommend you read the comics it's v good and every time I read Jason's final speech I start crying.

Damian shows up

Final Crisis happens and Bruce "dies" aka gets lost in time, so the boys duke it out over who gets to be Batman. Tim goes on his murder mystery tour. Jason goes to prison but not before adopting a weird little girl named Sasha. Dick is left with Batman.

Oops turns out Steph isn't dead she's back and she's Batgirl now and low-key co-parenting Damian with Dick. It's very cute.

Cass is off being Black Bat in Hong Kong and I miss her.

Bruce comes back, Tim is Vindicated, Jason escapes prison and rides off into the sunset with Sasha to go Cause Problems on Purpose. Dick steps down from Batman. Damian continues to be a murder baby and I love him.

And that's not nearly everything but close enough for fic writing purposes up until Flashpoint. I definitely missed things, so feel free to add on. I also again beg you - please stop putting Dick in the Blüd when Jason is still alive, it makes my blood pressure spike every time I see it. You're killing me guys. Pls.

[bigskydreaming]

Hi, I was reading your post about Jason punching Dick in the face when Dick revealed he fake his death was bullshit ( which it was) and it reminded me of an issue/question that has bothered me for sometime.

Why did people believe Dick was actually dead?

I’m not the most avid comic reader so maybe I missed something but it was always weird to me that everyone just accepted this especially given how Bruce was acting or should I say wasn’t acting.

This is a man when his child died another child had to come along and told him sir you are being too violent and emotional you need supervision. When his other child died he went all over the universe to bring him back to life because he knew it was possible ( which was happening at the same time), so why didn’t anyone think it was weird he wasn’t doing that for Dick. Can you imagine Dick really dying that soon after Damian it would be injustice Batman Version. You are telling me that Tim, Jason or Barbara didn’t think it was weird that Bruce didn’t also bring Dick’s corpse to the bring Damian back to life mission or mention it to themselves. Like what more likely Dick dead and Bruce is handling it well or that he fake his death to do something stupid and Dangerous after his partner/brother/ little bit my son the feelings are complicated died after he was knocked out and woke up to his corpse.

Oh man, this is like, the entire nature of my beef?

(Slight derail just to emphasize the fact real quick that Dick DID actually die, he was just revived quickly, but like, the trauma of his death was very real and its not like anyone was clued into Luthor having a resurrection backdoor built into his literal murder of Dick in the actual moment of it happening. So Dick’s death wasn’t fake, and additionally, he didn’t have anything to do with like, telling people about it, because he was literally comatose in the cave and recovering while Bruce was telling people....by the time Dick woke up in the cave, we already know that Alfred at least had already been convinced by Bruce that Dick was dead, so I have a kneejerk need to pushback against the Dick faked his death narrative by reminding people wherever possible that Dick had no agency in the spreading of that narrative. 

It happened without him being involved, and the only actual contribution he ever made to it was just not revealing he was alive before Grayson #12, after Bruce like.....emotionally, mentally and physically badgered him into accepting that doing so would be directly harmful to his family and he didn’t want to be the reason more people died when like, people had just died because he ‘let’ himself be captured and interrogated by Power Woman’s Lasso of Submission, did he?

SORRY TO BE PEDANTIC, just wanted to start this off on a clarification, even though I know the aim of your ask was very much in tune with the rest of my response. A lot of people don’t read the actual comics, so like, I’m never gonna skip over an opportunity to emphasize that the shorthand people use to refer to Dick’s death and the year he was with Spyral, is like, literally just shorthand for describing it. Its not actually an accurate description of how all that went down and who had the most hand in it).

BUT ANYWAY. BACK TO THE MEAT OF THE BEEF.

Okay so like, not only was the entire family and Bruce himself giving Dick shit for his death and Spyral, like, PAINFULLY egregious because it was literal victim blaming in every possible sense of the word....

None of it made a LICK of sense with ANY of their characterizations, and they ONLY all accepted it on face value because the Plot Demanded It, and when you're like, no, as a reader I say The Plot Demanded It is not a good enough reason for me to be like well sure, that makes sense......looking at the characters ACTUAL actions at face value pretty much just makes them all look like assholes?

Like, Tim has never gracefully accepted anyone's death. Ever. This is core characterization for him. He will go to the ends of the earth for his loved ones and to bring them back, prove they're not dead, refuse to let death be the final verdict for them. He was tempted to use the Lazarus Pit to bring his parents back to life. He refused to accept Bruce was dead long before he had any proof whatsoever of that theory. He tried to clone his BFF/future-husband Kon in his fucking basement like, dude was two whole inches away from going Full Dark Side in his quest to bring back a lost loved one no matter WHAT the cost.....and then you've got Dick unmasked onscreen, killed offscreen, and Bruce then reporting to the rest of them with zero inflection 'oh Dick's dead now. Its very sad' and Tim's just like, sure. Sounds legit.

I mean?!?!

And you're SO RIGHT ABOUT THE DAMIAN THING! Bruce LITERALLY LITERALLY LITERALLY went BEYOND the ends of the Earth, like, he full on chartered a fucking space ship to fly his whole family out to APOKOLIPS to bring Damian back from the dead by going to EXTREME lengths.....WHILE everyone else thought Dick was dead....

And not a single person looked at Bruce and was like, okay, not that we're not down to do this for Damian because we miss Stabby Smurf something fierce ourselves, but.....what the fuck is UP with you dude? Why aren't you displaying ANY hint of this same kind of energy in regards to your eldest son that you said you watched die right in front of you?

Like....I don't know that we were actually ever told that Dick's coffin was empty or had a fake in it, but like....this family of detectives who refuse to accept death, defy death, COME BACK FROM THE DEAD....not a single one of them said like, okay, if I'm gonna like, ACCEPT accept that Dick is dead and gone for good, I need to at least just see him one last time? That's literally all it would have taken for someone to realize hey something's a little wonky here. Where's the dead body, Pops?

Since when has Jason ever missed an opportunity to prove Bruce is a) full of shit, b) acting like an emotionless robot and all his kids deserve better especially when they've just like....died, c) just factually incorrect and wrong and jumped to a conclusion before it was conclusively proved, d) lying like a liar or e) all of the above?

Nobody even ASKED if Dick's body could be put in a Lazarus Pit? Yeah, Jason wouldn't necessarily recommend it himself, given what it put him through, but actually fuck that, I take that back, because I'm NOT actually of the opinion that Jason full on hates his life and actively spends every second of every day wishing he hadn't been resurrected, even if it had come with a huge buffet of additional trauma and pain.

And that's kinda what's implied when people just take it for granted that he would never be on board with any scenario involving using a Lazarus Pit to bring Dick back, because it suggests that based even just on his own experiences and feelings, he honestly believes Dick would prefer being dead and not have ANY further opportunities to be with his loved ones, his friends, help save the damn world again at some future point.....that Jason, projecting based just off himself, legit feels Dick would rather be dead than have another shot at life even WITH the downsides of Lazarus Pit usage? Nope. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Speaking of not buying it.....you know what was missing from all those soliloquies the others monologued at Dick about how they felt and were hurt and just devastated by his death, to such a point they can't seem to muster a single shred of happiness that he's NOT dead still -

(seriously, Damian was the ONLY person in ALL THE LANDS OF EMOTION-HAVING who expressed ANY kind of positive reaction to having Dick back. We were so fucking cheated of like.....ANY opportunity to have the characters show just how much they valued him by just being fucking HAPPY he was alive, no matter what else was involved....and then most of fandom compounded that by for years being like mmmm, no, Dick didn't get yelled at enough by his family for what HE put THEM through. Needs more yelling. More punching too. Bad Dick. Bad. This is the only way you'll learn not to die and get shipped off on a mission that you don't want but at least is to protect your family after being beaten into it by your dad whilst victim blaming you for dying in the first place. WHEN WILL YOU LEARN TO THINK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE AND THEIR FEELINGS FOR A CHANGE, DICK?!?)

- But like, BUT I DIGRESS aside....you know what was missing from all those monologues about how hard DICK'S death and ensuing year of basically exile from his loved ones was for EVERYONE BUT HIM?

We never got a single line of explanation as to what everyone else officially thinks even happened to him in the first place?

Like, did Bruce straight up just say oh bad news kids, your brother umm. Expired. Spontaneously. There's no one to blame, he just keeled over, its all very sad.

Is that how that went down?

You're telling me that the explanation of Dick's death didn't come with a single pointed finger at someone for this family of blame-happy vigilantes to like, BLAME for the loss of this brother they all mourned oh so much, they just couldn't help but blame him for all the hurt it caused them?

The family that in every other fic is like OBSESSED with avenging and being avenged and all things vengeful and even tangentially vengeance-y....like didn't ask for a single detail on whomst the fuck deprived us of our brother-having?

Where were the attempts on Luthor's life by Jason (who I mean, yeah I know it was in a previous continuity, but erasing that timeline doesn't erase my awareness of the time Dick killed Jason's murderer so like.....mmm, just saying, woulda been nice)....where was the rage directed at the Crime Syndicate and references to how seriously and personally the Batfam took making sure that they were PUNISHED for all this and would never be free to wreak havoc on their world or their family again? What did they tell Damian when he came back to life, and how are you going to tell me that this fraternal little ball of fury didn't aim himself like a cannonball at whomever the fuck had DARED take HIS Batman from him when Damian wasn't around to have his back?

Not only does everyone else's desire to be avenged start falling really flat the second you factor in hey maybe Dick feels "mmm what about MY avenging" sometimes, and why doesn't anyone ever care about doing that for him.....but also, y'know what REALLY sucks about the ONLY person we actually SEE being blamed for Dick's death and ensuing absence being like....Dick himself?

Not only were his family all super keen on making all of this HIS fault and HIM the bad guy because of how it made them all feeeeeeel (and meanwhile fuck his feelings, am I right Batfam hfaklshfklahfkla).....

They somehow found a way to justify prioritizing this OVER ever even getting around to blaming some villain for his death in the FIRST place, in the entire year or so they thought he was still dead!

Like, you couldn't come up with a single target in all that time, but Dick's back two seconds, and you don't even give him a chance to EXPLAIN before you're punching him, shutting him down with 'I expected better from you' and turning away with 'I don't want to hear it, why am I surprised Dick Grayson disappointed me again'?

afshklfhalfhalfhla

Make it make sense!

And like, it won't, cuz it doesn't, and it never will, and like I said at the top, the ONLY reason it all played out this way is because DC doesn't give a fuck about character development and deemed it necessary to go down this way for the sake of the plot (which was totes worth it, I mean, glad we sacrificed characters for this A+ plot which was clearly the greatest plot of all time and definitely justified every story choice made or not made around it loooool).

BUT.

BUT BUT BUT.

The problem isn't JUST that DC is stupid, even though that is an eternal mood and quite the problem.

Its that the SECOND large parts of fandom decided to play along with DC and just accept the story at face value, only add to it and play into it exactly as it happened in canon with no significant deviations, and like, heaping on the LITERAL abuse from Dick's siblings while ignoring the LITERAL abuse from his father....

THAT....is when all of this becomes relevant.

Because the second people decided TO engage with the reasoning DC gave for what Bruce did and how and what Dick did and how and just not mess with any of that and have it all play out exactly like that...

The second people are like, okay we're FINE with not just dismissing this story as OOC writing that doesn't make any sense, and actually VALIDATING it to various degrees by engaging with it as is....

That's when 'OOC writing' stops being an excuse or explanation for alllll of the above gaps in character logic and actions.

Because its like, when you had abundant chance to REJECT this story and say nope, this was bullshit from start to finish and I'm not here for it, when you were just as capable of transforming literally ANY aspect of this story you didn't like into something that made more sense to you....

And you chose not to.

That's.....accepting it as valid writing. You were like, okay, I'm game to just treat this as a thing that happened, just like they said that happened.

For the chance to give Dick shit for it, see. For the angst, see.

And that's when I'm like okay cool, so when engaging with this story as is and accepting it on face value and just delving into the characters as they were SHOWN interacting with and around these events......for the angst or whatever....

You guys just all decided en masse to just hop, skip and jump over allllllllll the opportunities for angst inherent in examining even ANY SINGLE ONE of the above lapses in judgment or hypocrisy on the parts of the characters (who don't get to be excused by OOC writing if you're not going to call the story an example of OOC writing, whoops).

And its just like, uh, what's up with that?

[acceptsonlynttnightwing]

I dont think Jason would want to be a Brucie Wayne. But he is alive again in comics and the public knows. Also he doesnt actually have a hair trigger temper. Dick is actually the one you could say had that problem at one point. Nor is the character unstable nowadays. Plus Jason did run a casino publically for a bit. Combine that with the fact that several drug dealers were able to successfully lead companies because of the skills they gained as criminals and many major companies have people read books about crime industries to learn to think outside the box and there is evidence to suggest Jason could be a sneaky heir in his own right.

—-

What is it with people sending submissions instead of asks? :’(

1. I completely agree that Jason would hate to be a Brucie Wayne, which is why I never said he wanted that. The post was focusing more on Dick, which is why I didn’t write about Jason’s feelings on it.

2. Oh shit, I forget about the penguin fiasco. My bad - I’ll change the original post. Thanks for reminding me!

3. Actually Dick’s never had ‘anger issues’ - most of it is vastly exaggerated by fandom with a few cherry picked events (without context) from an over 80 year history. If you’re actually interested, read a few of @bigskydreaming​ ‘s posts about it (I forgot the specific one I read addressing this, so it would be great if you could post the link here?). Sure, he’s fought with Roy a couple of times, but that’s largely it - if fighting with Bruce a couple of times was considered proof of anger problems, even SUPERMAN would be considered a maniac. 

4. I mean, I’d say assuming a new Robin meant you were being replaced and had never been loved (when YOU yourself had replaced the original robin) and then nearly killing said 14/15 year old CHILD isn’t what I’d call stable. Neither is   killing nearly killing Tim, Damian AND Dick multiple times during the DickBats era? Murdering dozens of petty criminals dressed up as your brother and grinning about said brother’s city blowing up (killing millions and possibly him) doesn’t read as particularly stable either.

Neither does punching said brother for the crime of pretending to be dead after being publicly tortured and unmasked to go undercover and save a bunch of heroes (including you and the rest of the family) when you did the same thing for far less nobel reasons?

Also, before you point to his resurrection, Lazarus pit madness isn’t an actual thing; Jason just has anger issue. Dinah, Ollie, Cass and even Ra’s have been resurrected through it and they were all perfectly fine. Jason has anger management problems - it’s a part of his characterisation (except for the four years he was robin) - and while he’s gotten better, it still resurfaces. Being CEO with issues like that wouldn’t work, especially given that Bruce’s main job was supposed to be smiling for the cameras and other rich people and signing Lucius Fox’s checks.

So, given how the majority of Jason’s characterisation has shown him, I don’t think I’m wrong. Also, no offence, but Jason hasn’t had an active title in more than a year (I pretend Seeley’s Robins isn’t a thing), so there aren’t really many opportunities he could have lost his temper lately. Especially since the reboots basically turned him into an angrier Dick Grayson and watered down his character into a mindless yes-bat (also, the reboot erased his crime empire but kept Battle for the Cowl, go figure). Like, Jason had a personality and genuinely thought he was doing what was right. Sure, he was emotionally clouded and made mistakes, but the heart of the matter was that he was willing to get his hands dirty to fix things, and I think they could have done really cool stuff with Jason if they’d kept to that instead. 

5. I mean, sure, a few drug dealers have become successful businessmen, but a few people from basically EVERY profession have, so that’s not saying much. Models, professors, yoga teachers, the list goes on. Personally, I see Jason as largely good hearted, but as lacking the social skills - and being incapable of keeping up the pretence - to run Wayne enterprises. Dick, on the other hand, as actually been shown replacing Bruce and doing a good job of it (even despite Morrison’s casual racism).

Also, Jason ran a casino and a crime empire for a bit versus Dick’s ran the Titans (and the financials and branding and logistics) for years and headed the Outsiders, was a museum curator, graduated and has a law degree (something that would matter to the board of directors) and took over for Bruce as head of WE for a couple of years. I think the better choice is clear. And Bruce clearly doesn’t trust Jason enough to make him heir. 

Technically, anyone could be anything, but I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence to argue that Jason would be a good head of WE. 

[danny-chase]

Do you think that Tim saved Dick in a way? Because we see Dick getting better as he gets closer to Tim and healing and getting back into the family, and ig it’s Tim who initiated that.

I literally don't have a yes or no answer for this... like most things in the Batfam - it's complicated. (Following answer is informed by 90s-00s comics, i can't really speak for new52 because it just... has so many issues one of which being erasing the relationship between Dick and Tim for *checks note* no discernable reason other than possibly *checks note* Didio hates legacy characters and wants only bad things for them so he could have excuses to kill them off or cancel their comics... idk just a guess)

Warnings: for Bruce stans - just look away i'm about to bring up bits of canon you most likely don't like, for Dick stans - Devin Grayson's run is mentioned, for the lovely anon - i wrote an essay, hope you are prepared

Tim coming into the family gave Dick a reason to occasionally hang around Bruce and i'm not sure if this is an exaggeration or not but he did sort of save that relationship - but whether that was a good or bad thing at the time, i can't really say. For sure - it starts off good, Bruce is actually trying to be a good dad (he comes down to Blud to check on Dick, adopts him, trusts him with his own city, calls him for backup, etc.). But we also see throughout Bruce Wayne: Fugitive/Murderer how unhealthy the relationship between the two can be. Dick built his core values around Bruce - if Bruce had actually killed here it would have been devastating for Dick (he was pretty much on the verge of a mental breakdown simply because they couldn't find proof Bruce wasn't guilty). The two literally got in a fist fight during the arc because Bruce was being uncommunicative and Dick couldn't take it anymore, snapped, and punched him when Bruce said "Bruce Wayne is dead only Batman now" - this tied into Dick finally having the relief and validation of being adopted and he couldn't handle Bruce stripping himself (and by extension, his fatherhood of Dick) away. In this era of comics Bruce had gotten physical with Dick before (here's me venting like an annoyed loser), and here's a clip from Bruce Wayne Fugitive that i just, *sigh*, canon Bruce, my detested.

Now on the other hand - getting Dick involved in the batfam more doesn't just mean he was hanging out with Bruce. His relationship with Tim is pretty great and I can definitely see where it was healing for a while - but also - to give credit where credit is due, the healing he goes through during this era of comics can also be attributed to Barbara and the Titans (the fab five specifically). Wally literally joins the Titans to give Dick a "social life" (me - it's because he's gay and wants to spend more time with Dick, actually, screw you DC you know i'm right). Donna plays a major part in keeping Dick's emotional well being in check. So like everything was going fine - Dick was healing, spending more time with friends, spending a lot of time with people he loved, like Tim, except he was neglecting his health and not sleeping - but overall he was in fact, managing, and moving past the deaths of Jason and some of the other Titans. With the current Titans - he was a hardass (which like ~trauma~ so I understand), but like things were going relatively okay.

And then Donna and Lilith died. And hooof Donna dying was like really really bad for his mental health.

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files (2003) #1

[Image ID: Dick sits in a room staring at a photo, the phone rings in the background, and he doesn't even acknowledge it, the voice mail plays: "I'm not here. Leave a message after the beep." The photo is shown closer in the next frame, it's of the five original Teen Titans - Roy kisses Donna on the cheek, tipping his hat his other hand making the okay sign, Donna has an arm around Roy, the other hand on Dick's shoulder, Garth proudly stands beaming with his hands on his hips, and Dick has both his arms around Wally's neck. Everyone is smiling in the photo. A voice plays over the answering machine: "Dick, it's Roy - pick up the phone... c'mon... please... I know you're there... just pick up. Dick, we need to talk... you can't just... please..." End ID]

For context - the previous page noted that this is Dick SIX WEEKS after Donna died. Usually Dick's the one who moves on quickly, but Donna dying broke him in a way nothing else had before - and that could be partly because he was still recovering from everyone else's death.

Up to this point, Dick had been healing and Tim was definitely a part of that, but then DC decided to throw the absolute book, bookshelf, and library at him. Reading Outsiders (2003) it's very clear he's very traumatized, and around the same time, Devin is literally whumping him like it's the whump Olympics, breaking him and Babs up, burning down his childhood home, blowing up his apartment complex (killing all but like two of his neighbors), he's literally sleeping on fire escapes using newspapers as covering because he has nothing, and the bad thing i don't like to think about (i'll let you know if you ask but that one needs lots of tw, but if you know where i'm going you know what it is already), Blockbuster is killed and he blames himself - and loses it over breaking Bruce's one rule, Bludhaven is nuked, and he pretty much tries to kill himself.

So basically, he was on the path to healing (with Tim as part of that) before he got absolutely destroyed (and almost killed off by Didio in one of the crisis). Tim in his own right, was also going through a lot in the meantime, his dad died, Steph died, Kon and Bart died, i don't remember what else happened and i haven't read that era of Robin yet. Things were good until they weren't anymore, and sometimes i think Dick would regret ever exposing Tim to the life they live, and questions whether he should have just sent Tim packing x2. They do get to spend a year together on a mental health cruise, but then Damian comes into the picture, Battle for the Cowl happens, and they have their falling out. But whatever happened on that cruise must have been really healing for Dick because he actually kind of rocks it in this era - he keeps things light with Damian, Alfred notes at one point how he makes things easy because he has lightness in him, and he patches things up with Tim - catching him in that panel of Red Robin - from there they kind of go back to normal, there's a lightness to the way they banter with each other (also here) and Tim returns the favor (from the Red Robin incident) by pulling Dick out of the water.

They've saved each other multiple times over (physically), and in both in the Black Mirror and Gates of Gotham, Tim helps out in a period where Dick is starting to fall apart from the pressure of holding things together for so long (something Tim might feel guilty for, because he did run away from Gotham on a wild goose chase for Bruce). In that period, it's really clear that Dick saves Tim (he reminds him in RR, that someone does actually care for him) and then Tim saves Dick from being torn apart by Gotham.

I should point out - Damian, while starting off as kind of a hinderance, does eventually start helping Dick as well. By the end of their relationship (before the New52 destroys everything i love), Dick has helped Damian grow emotionally, and through that process Dick probably finds meaning and value in their time together, probably a lot like he used to feel with Tim. And of course, physically, they've both saved each other multiple times by the end of the run.

So yeah. I think Dick finds meaning in growth in mentoring his younger brothers, and it's likely a healing process, that healing just has some twists and turns along the way, and sometimes, on bad days, he probably feels like maybe he shouldn't have intervened at all, but i think on most days, he's proud of what Tim's become.

...I hope this is coherent lmao

[flashfuture]

hello do you mind explaining all the amazons?

All of them????

Okay uh I'll break down the ones i at least know about anyone who's deeper into the WonderFam please jump in I don't really interact with them that much.

But we've got

Diana Prince: Wonder Woman

Our Golden Age Princess of the Amazons. During the Golden and Silver ages she came from Paradise Island. She was truly animated clay here and several hundred years old by the time of WWII. During the Golden Age Diana married Steve Trevor and they had a daughter named Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor. (My break down of Lyta would be an essay in itself and she's not really an Amazon so). Diana was a member of the JSA here.

During the Silver Age Diana also married Steve but no kids. She rescued Donna Troy from a fire and sent her to Paradise Island to be raised by Hippolyta making Donna and Diana sisters. This is the first timeline to mention Ares is her grandfather technically as he made Hippolyta. Diana lost her powers at some point. She got really really good at martial arts and then two years later got her powers back. She supposedly died during Infinite Crisis but then you know didn't. During Convergence she killed a vampire Joker. That was fun. In this timeline Diana was a founding member of the JLA.

Okay and post crisis New Earth Diana is the first one to say Diana is from Themyscira. It was still called Paradise Island sometimes. She was molded from clay. Diana in this time was not a founding member of the JLA but came to America after it was founded. (I think Infinite Crisis retconned her to be a founding member but idk) Diana has become a member of the Trinity alongside Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Superman (Clark Kent). 

The Prime Earth Diana is the one from Flashpoint and onwards. She’s now the daughter of Zeus. In New52 if I recall right she was made much much younger like in her 20s and explored mankind in the modern era. The Doomsday clock thing reestablished her WWII origins. She was also said again to have been born during probably the Hellenistic Period (they said classical antiquity and that’s you know just a few thousand years) She just helped out in Death Metals and is now doing something with Infinite Frontier unclear I don’t really know what Prime Earth Diana has been up to lately. 

So on Earth-Two, Earth-One, and New Earth Diana was the granddaughter of Ares and as such her life span was greatly extended. On Prime Earth as the direct daughter of Zeus she is immortal. 

Donna Troy: Troia/Wonder Girl 

Donna is a tricky one. She was introduced real quick to fill the girl role on the Teen Titans cause the boys were getting a little too gay. So started Silver Age Earth 1. Okay so basically her origin kept changing but the one that’s ‘canon’ is she was created to be a playmate for Diana but was abducted and kept being cursed to live tragic lives in New Cronus. Right around the Titans era okay Donna was rescued by Diana and brought back to Earth. Donna was the one to suggest the Teen Titans name. Donna is a member of the Fab Five along with Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Aqualad/Tempest (Garth of Shayaris), Kid Flash/Flash (Wally West), and Speedy/Arsenal (Roy Harper)

Donna married Terry Long when she was 19 and they had Robert, got divorced, they died in a car crash. 

After Crisis on Infinite Earth Donna sorta realized all those ‘lives’ she led were other version of her which she was all of now. And also Donna was believed to be the Goddess of the Moon. She had to stop a sun-eater or whatever but failed (Hal came in with a clutch it it’s cool)

Donna also had to fix some shit during Infinite Crisis and ended up on a Universe Hopping road trip with Kyle Rayner and Jason Todd to find Ray Palmer for Final Crisis or something. She was killed by a Superman Android during the Teen Titans/Young Justice Crossover. (Edit thanks to that anon for this I legit couldn’t remember how she died)

And Prime Earth Donna was made to destroy Diana. She you know didn’t. 

Look I’ll be real I know next to nothing about what the New52 tried to do with Donna. I just go by her original origins of being Diana’s sister. 

On Earth-One and New Earth Donna’s life span was greatly extended and on Prime Earth she is stated to be Immortal as on Prime Earth Amazonian’s on Themyscira were granted immortality. 

Nubia: 

She is like Diana’s twin made from darker clay on Earth-One which is the silver age Earth. Nubia was actually slightly older than Diana but she was stolen as a baby by Ares who was going by Mars. Mars/Ares is Nubia’s grandfather and he wanted her help in taking down the Amazons. Nubia was raised on Floating Island (or slaughter island as Mars/Ares called it). Nubia fought Diana and hesitated to kill her leading to a draw. Nubia returned to Floating Island and at some point Supergirl had to save her life from poison of some sort. 

On New Earth she went by Nu’Bia and was just a random Amazon, her job was to guard the Doom’s Doorway which is an entrance to the River Styx. She was not Diana’s sister. 

On Prime Earth Nubia is the daughter of Hippolyta and the half-sister of Diana not her twin. Nubia went undercover pretending to work with Darkseid before Themyscira could recover and rally to fight. Nubia is currently the Queen of the Amazons. She was given the crown by her mother, Hippolyta during the Dark Metals event. 

As with Donna on Earth-One and New Earth Nubia had a greatly extended lifespan and on Prime Earth Amazons are immortal. 

Cassie Sandsmark: Wonder Girl 

She is a New Earth entry who was for the new Young Justice team. She is the daughter of Zeus and Dr. Helena Sandsmark. Here as Ares is Cassie’s half-brother and technically the father of the Amazon’s this means Cassie is Diana’s great-aunt. 

Cassie as a girl was able to request a Boon of Zeus who she didn’t know was her father at the time I believe and demanded real superpowers. Her mother Helena was able to turn off Cassie’s superpowers at the start as well. Cassie was trained by Artemis for awhile. Cassie became Wonder Girl in honor of Donna Troy who handed over her old suit. Cassie joined Young Justice as a teenager and would later be on the Teen Titans. Cassie has become a part of the Core Four for Young Justice alongside Robin/Red Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent), and Impulse (Bart Allen). 

Cassie’s best friends outside of the core four are Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Cissie King-Jones (Arrowette). Cassie and Conner Kent used to date as well and she was in love with him before he died during Infinite Crisis. 

On Prime Earth Cassie is the daughter of Lennox and the granddaughter of Zeus. In this version Diana is Cassie’s aunt not the other way around. Cassie is still a member of the Young Justice team here. I don’t exactly remember what was happening during the New52. She was still Cassie unlike Kon and Bart who’d been replaced. But during Rebirth she went with the other members of Young Justice to rescue Conner Kent from Gemworld. She is currently still a member of the Titans. 

On New Earth as the daughter of Zeus, Cassie is an immortal who would not age further once she reached her prime age (like 27 or so). On Prime Earth as the granddaughter of Zeus and the daughter of Lennox Cassie’s life is extremely extended. 

Artemis Grace:

Artemis of Bana-Mighdall comes from a separate group of Amazons not on Themyscira or Paradise Island. Bana-Mighdall is a tribe of Amazons in Egypt who left Greece millennia ago. 

On New Earth Artemis left her home at 14 and wound up working for Ra’s Al Ghul before returning to her home. There was a competition to see who would be the next Wonder Woman as Hippolyta foresaw Wonder Woman die and wished to spare her daughter the fate. Hippolyta ensured Artemis won the competition. Artemis was shunned by most of the world including the Justice League who refused to see her as the true Wonder Woman. Artemis was also thought to be too violent. Artemis would later die in a battle with a demon fulfilling the prophecy of Wonder Woman dying. 

Artemis got out of hell eventually and was given the job of training Cassie Sandsmark by Diana and would later train Supergirl in combat as well. 

On Prime Earth Artemis was raised being told she would be Queen of the Amazons. She was desperate to prove herself and wanted to be the Shim’Tar of the Bana Amazons. Artemis’ best friend and lover Akila was chosen instead. Without Akila by her side Artemis felt her home had nothing left to offer and set out on her own. She helped stop an invasion of Qurac into Bana as well. 

Artemis then joined the Outlaws and worked with Red Hood (Jason Todd) and Bizarro, a botched clone of Superman. 

On New Earth Artemis had a greatly extended life span. On Prime Earth he Amazons were gifted immortality but those who left for Bana-Mighdall lost this gift so it is most likely that Artemis has the same extended lifespan from New Earth. 

Grace Choi:

Grace on New Earth comes from the same group as Artemis in Bana-Mighdall. Grace’s mother is an Amazon but her father was a Korean American. Grace grew up in America in the foster care system. She ran away at 9 but was kidnapped and sold into a child prostitution ring. She managed to escape at age 12 after her powers kicked in. Grace began fightining both for pay and for fun and worked as a bouncer at a meta club in Metropolis. 

Grace worked for the Outsiders for awhile at the request of Roy Harper an ex-fling and good friend of hers. She helped rescue Lian from the same child protsition ring she was in as a child and generally had lots of adventures with the Outsiders. 

Later it was revealed she had Bana roots but Grace refused to join them as they were currently you know sieging down the US. Batman was briefly worried about her loyalties but Grace proved she had no loyalty or ties to the Bana Amazons. 

Grace has returned to the Prime Earth in Infinite Frontier and in Festival of Heroes and it seems like nothing has changed with her so far. 

Grace has increased longevity of her life. She is listed as half-amazon because only her mother is a Bana Amazon but all Amazons only have their mother who are Amazons so I don’t really see why she isn’t a full Amazon. Anyways increased life span. 

Jason:

He is Diana’s twin on Prime Earth. He was sent away cause you know no men on Themyscira. Jason was raised by Glaucus who was a member of the Argonauts crew and worked under the original Jason of Greek Myth. Who Jason was named for. 

Jason was raised on the Aegean Coast by Glaucus and became a Fisherman. Jason was trained in his youth by his half-brother Hercules. 

Jason worked briefly with Diana but wasn’t sure how to be a hero. There was a period where Darksied’s daughter tricked him but Diana talked him down. And Jason saved Diana’s life during the Dark Metals event. 

He is currently in the Dark Mutliverse living with a boyfriend on the Aegean Coast. 

As the son of Zeus, Jason is an immortal. 

⚔️ Also for fun the Weapons:⚔️

Lasso of Truth: Wielded by Diana Prince

Originally imbued with it’s power by Aphrodite and Athena later after crisis forged by Hephaestus and powered by Hestia, this lasso forces the truth from whoever it has ensnared. It is indestructible.

Lasso of Persuasion: Wielded by Donna Troy

This Lasso forces someone to do what the wielder demands. This requires Donna’s or whoever wields the lasso to have a stronger will then who they’re using the lasso on. It is indestructible.

Lasso of Lightning: Wielded by Cassie Sandsmark 

This lasso was created by Ares and gifted to his half-sister Cassie Sandsmark on New Earth. This lasso channels Zeus’ lightning and can make someone experience intense rage if they are caught by the lasso. The power of the lasso is directly correlated to Cassie’s rage levels. 

Lasso of Submission: Wielded by Artemis Grace

Originally from Earth-3 this lasso has the ability to make someone obey any commands even those to inspire false love. After Superwoman (Lois Lane) of Earth-3 was killed Diana took the lasso and gifted it to Artemis. 

Bow of Ra: Wielded by Artemis Grace

The Bow of Ra was a gift from the Egyptian sun god, Ra to the Bana-Midghall Amazons. This bow goes to the Shim’Tar and forges a special bond with them. Those who are not the Shim’Tar cannot wield the bow and further if you are not a candidate to be a Shim’Tar the bow will harm or even kill you. The bow requires intense willpower to use or it can drive the wielder mad. Akila was driven mad with the power of the bow and had to be killed by Diana and Artemis. It is said to have the power to destroy stars so this bow is incredibly dangerous and powerful if not wielded by the right person. 

(Bonus Donna used to use a lasso that was golden but held no specific magical properties.) 

[heyitsani]

Loving You is a Losing Game Chapter 2

Word Count: 4909

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major Character Death (but not until the last chapter)

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson

Summary: Dick is forced to face his situation and discovers that perhaps his initial assumptions weren't as accurate as he had thought.

Notes: Thanks to Mel for helping me sort out some of the logistics of this chapter and helping me to decide to cut it in half and make the story four chapters instead of three. Next chapter is mostly written, so I'll probably update in the next week or so.

You can also read it on AO3 here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dick couldn’t be sure how long he had been sitting on the bed when a knock came on the door and he found himself debating if he should answer it or not.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with the man who had basically imprisoned him here.  Though imprisoned was a bit of a stretch since Dick had technically volunteered to be here in place of Bruce.  But it wasn’t like he wanted to be here.  He had just been trying to save Bruce.

The knock sounded again, breaking his musings.

“Sir?”  A quiet voice came through the door, uncertain and definitely not the man who had caused all of this.  Frowning at the thought of there being others possibly in the same position, Dick slipped off the bed and hurried over to open the door.  The man standing there wasn’t really what he was expecting.  Although, if he were honest, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting.  But a tall, bean pole skinny man with windswept brown hair and an almost golden tone to his skin was not it.  “Ah, there you are!” 

Dick stepped aside as the man pushed his way into the room, a pile of various clothing items hanging over one arm and a woman with shiny black curls and beautiful sepia colored skin trailing close behind him.  She spared Dick a glance with a shy smile before hurrying over to place the tray she was carrying down on one of the end tables.

“I’m sorry, who are you both?”  Dick questioned, looking between the two people from his spot still near the open door.  They didn’t seem to be in distress and that confused him even more.  They wanted to be here?  Did they know what here was?

The pair exchanged a glance before the woman stepped forward and held out a hand.  “Kassandra,” she offered, an almost familiar smile on her face.  There was something he recognized, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.  Even still, he reached forward and shook her offered hand before doing the same with the man.  “That’s Wade and we’re here to help you with getting ready for dinner and acclimated to the castle.”

Castle.  Someone had actually said the word and Dick just didn’t know what to make of that.  Or make of the two people standing in front of him.  They were…staff?  He wasn’t sure he was getting this right.

“You’re staff?”

Wade laughed and went abut sorting through the clothes, Kassandra just shook her head at the man before looking at Dick.  “We are here because we have to be,” she said.  But that didn’t make anymore sense to him.  “You won’t find the answers you’re seeking from anyone within these walls.  What holds you here, holds all of us here.”

So the magic had trapped them.  But was he really trapped?  He hadn’t tried to leave but maybe only the shadow man had the power to say who could go.  He had let Bruce leave after all.  “This situation is a bit out of my paygrade,” he admitted, glancing over at Wade as he muttered to himself over a shirt and pant combo.  “You won’t need those.  I’m not going to dinner.”

“What?”  Wade gasped, wide eyes looking at Dick in surprise.  “But…you have to.”

“No, I don’t.  He may be keeping me prisoner here, but he doesn’t own me.”  He didn’t miss the concerned look Wade sent in Kassandra’s direction, but he didn’t bother looking over at her.  He wasn’t going to change his mind.  The man, thing, whatever he was, was keeping him here against his will.  Why on earth would he willingly join him for a meal?

A knock on the door interrupted anything that might have been said between the three of them and Kassandra opened the door to reveal a man with black hair, pale skin, and wise eyes the color of whiskey.  It was almost unnerving to look him directly in the eye, as if he had lived through more life than anyone had any right to.  “Dinner is ready,” the man said, looking over Dick with a frown.  “But you’re obviously not.  Wade?”

“Don’t blame me, Ryan!  I’m trying.”

“It doesn’t fucking look like it.  He’s still in the suit.”

“I’m not the problem here.  He is!”

The man, Ryan apparently, looked over at Dick and raised an eyebrow so Dick shrugged and crossed his arms defiantly over his chest.  “He’s waiting.”

“He can keep waiting.  I’m not going.”  That didn’t seem to be the right thing to say because Ryan started glowering at him and Dick almost wanted to shrink away from the man.  But he held his ground.  “He doesn’t own me; I don’t have to do what he demands.  Not when I’m being held here against my will.”

Ryan stared at him for another moment before he left the room without saying anything else.  Dick frowned and looked over to see Kassandra and Wade exchanging a look he didn’t recognize.  But after a moment, Wade turned to him with a smile but grave eyes.  He saw Kassandra leave the room out of the corner of his eye and wondered who would break the news to the shadow man.

“At least get out of the suit, Nightwing,” Wade gestured to a few items laid out on the bed that were more casual than he had been looking at for the actual dinner.  

“Dick,” he said, giving Wade a shrug when he looked over surprised.  “You’ve already seen my face.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get out of here so there’s no point in hiding my real name.”  The man nodded and gestured over to the changing partition in the corner of the room.  So Dick grabbed the clothes and headed over, quickly removing the suit and changing into the soft, grey joggers and black t-shirt.  He took a few extra moments to fold up his suit before he reemerged, trying to reconcile himself with his current situation.

Everything felt so surreal, and he was struggling to accept that he wasn’t going to be leaving this place any time soon.  But he had to have faith that Bruce would get him out.  He would call on Damian and Tim and they would find a way.  He had to trust them.  They wouldn’t stop until they managed it.

Taking a deep breath, Dick finally emerged from behind the screen and set his suit and escrimas on the bed.  When Wade went to pick them up, Dick held up a hand to stop him.  “I’d feel better keeping them near.”  Wade nodded silently before gathering the other items and hanging them in the wardrobe off to the side.  “So-”  Dick started, but was cut off by a harsh knock to the door.

“I thought I said I expected you to join me for dinner?!”  It was only because of his years of training that Dick managed not to flinch and step back at the banging and the angry sound of the man’s voice coming through the door.

Glancing at Wade, who was watching him with a closed-off expression, Dick tried to think of what to do.  Did he try and diffuse the situation or did he ignore it?   But wasn’t it enough that this man had imprisoned him?  Wasn’t it enough that Dick had given up his whole life to save his mentor and father figure?  He wanted to ask him as much.  “I’m not eating with you,” he called out instead.  His fucking temper, it really would be the death of him one day.

And from the almost feral sounding growl on the other side of the door, that day might be today.  “He could hear some muffled talking on the other side but he couldn’t quite make it out.  It sounded feminine but not melodic in the way Kassandra’s voice had sounded.

“Please try to control your temper.”  Now that voice he recognized as Ryan’s.  Curious.

There was another growl before a moment of silence and Dick could practically see the shadow man trying to reign himself in.  It just served to piss Dick off more.  Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared over at Wade who was still watching him.  “Will you come out and join me for dinner?”  The voice growled out, low and barely controlled.

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”  Dick knew his stubbornness was hard to compete with, but he had a feeling that this man’s own will could hold its own.

But apparently the man’s temper was stronger because there was another loud bang, as if a fist hit the door with more power than it should have, making Dick actually step back this time.  “FINE!”  The man yelled; anger palpable through the door.  “If he doesn’t eat with me, then he doesn’t leave the room at all!  You want this to be a prison?  You got your wish!”

There was another growled comment that Dick couldn’t make out before silence.  And dread.  If there was one thing Dick couldn’t handle well, it was confinement.  He needed space, freedom to move and fly.  Glancing around the room, he did his best to control the bubbling panic of being confined to this room despite its spacious size.

“Dick?”  Looking over at Wade, he saw the man looking at him almost concerned.  “Would it be so bad to eat a meal with him?  He’s really not as bad as this is making him seem.  You should get to know him like we have.”

But the panic flared back up to anger and Dick clenched his fists.  “I don’t want to get to know him.  I don’t want anything to do with him.”  He watched Wade sigh, shoulders drooping before he nodded and headed for the door.

“I’ll see about getting you a tray of food.”  Dick clenched his jaw to keep from snapping at Wade, since it wasn’t exactly his fault, and watched the man leave. 

Once again leaving Dick alone in his lavish cell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few weeks of the most boring routine Dick had ever been exposed to and he was honestly unsure of how he was going to keep this up.  He would wake, chat with whoever brought his breakfast to him for a bit before he was left alone until it was time for lunch.  Then he would get some company for longer than just a meal before he was left to eat dinner alone and spend the remainder of the night either reading whatever book he found lying around or doing some basic workouts to try and keep his mind sane.

Sighing at the knock on his door, Dick knew it was his dinner tray and another round of loneliness.  He briefly wondered if he could convince whoever it was to stay.  But he knew it would be folly since Wade had made it clear everyone trapped there ate dinner together.

So unless he wanted to give into the man’s demands, Dick was stuck alone yet again.

Pulling open the door, Dick gave a half smile to Dana.  He had met her the day after his arrival and had immediately felt something.  Bits of each person he had come into contact with had felt familiar.  Kassandra’s smile, Ryan’s eyes, and Wade’s energy.  But Dana, there was too much to pinpoint the exact familiarity.  It reminded him so much of Donna, he had struggled to think of her as anyone else.

But the blonde hair and sea green eyes were far from the Donna he knew and missed, so he had pushed that thought from his mind.

“You can still join us,” Dana said as she set the tray down and turned to face him, hands on her hips.  But Dick was too stubborn to give in now.  He wouldn’t let the shadow man win.  Not when this was the last thing in his control.  He watched Dana sigh in resignation as Dick refused to respond.  “I’ll send Wade to keep you company after dinner.  You seem like you could use it.”

“Thank you,” he replied, ignoring the painful ache in his chest as she looked at him in a way Donna had so many times.  Like she could see straight through to his very core.  With a shake of her head and another sigh, she slipped out of the room and left Dick to his own devices again.

Glancing over at the familiar tray sitting on the bed, he dropped down next to it, falling backwards so he could look up at the canopy of the bed as he kicked his legs against the bedframe.  He could just leave the room on his own.  He had been thinking about it since the very first week and he knew that while the door was unlocked, he was probably pushing his luck if he just left.

But what made the shadow man aspire such loyalty from everyone stuck there?  Especially when he treated Dick like a prisoner and all of them were allowed to wander around freely?  What was special about Dick?  Or what was special about them?

“Ugh,” he groaned, sitting up and grabbing a piece of fruit to chew on as he hopped off the bed and moved over to the window seat.  But the view wasn’t anything special.  The same wall of magic sizzling in the distance, old trees swaying in the wind that Dick was pretty certain was artificial given the wall of magic.

But he hadn’t been outside since the day he had arrived, he wouldn’t know if it were real or fake.  One thing he did know, the weather seemed to mostly emulate what he knew Gotham would be experiencing this time of year.  Except there was no thick layer of smog and haze resting over the grounds.  It was as though the magic had shielded them all from the fumes of Gotham.

He pictured Damian and Tim on the other side of the wall, trying to find a way to bring it down while they bickered as they always did.  Despite Dick’s best efforts, he couldn’t get the pair to get along, not even begging them had helped.  And Bruce had given up long before Dick had realized it was a pointless effort.  But right then, Dick would give anything to see them again, to listen to them insult each other and eventually come to blows.  What he wouldn’t give to have to separate them before Bruce used that tone on them, bringing his soldiers to heel. 

Dick hated that voice.

He missed that voice.

Turning away from the window, he went back to the waiting tray of food and began working his way through the various items that had been placed on it.  He was about halfway through when a knock came on the door, but the person didn’t bother waiting for him and opened it without invitation.

“I heard you are in desperate need of some company,” Wade teased as he walked in, closely followed by Ryan.  Dick watched Wade bound in casually, but Ryan’s eyes scanned the room as if he wanted to be sure everything was in order before landing on Dick with a critical glance as he entered.  “We have come to entertain.  Do a dance, Ryan.”

The black-haired man gave Wade a flat look before dropping into the armchair in the corner of the room.  He kept a penetrating look on Dick and Dick almost squirmed under it.  Almost.  Instead, he looked back to Wade and tried to ignore the man in the corner.

“Actually…”  Dick started, leaning forward to really look at Wade.  He was the one Dick knew he could probably convince to let him wander around.  “You said the warden of my prison keeps to himself after dinner, right?”  Wade narrowed his eyes but nodded and Dick flashed a charming smile.  “So it’d be safe for you to show me around then, right?  No chance of him running into us?”

“No.”  Ryan’s voice was flat and final, but Dick didn’t even look at him.

“What do you say?  Show me all the places that make this place less of a prison and more of a home you all seem to have made it.”  Wade looked hesitant, glancing over at Ryan with a look Dick couldn’t read.

But he knew he was winning.  He knew that Ryan would give in and join them

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dick watched Wade and Ryan keep moving forward, completely oblivious to the fact that he was no longer following behind them.  He shouldn’t have been too surprised, considering the bickering the pair of them seemed intent on doing any time they were near each other.

But Dick took advantage of it and used all his stealth skills to head up the stairs toward the forbidden wing of the castle.  His curiosity burning brightly, thanks to all the training Bruce had put him through.  The need to know always burned through him when people refused to tell him things.  And usually, he could mind his own business, ignoring the instinct, but he couldn’t this time.  He needed to know.  Especially since it might have an answer as to what was happening within the magical barrier.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Dick looked both directions down the hall to figure out which way he should go.  Noticing the rug to the right seemed to have a bit more of a worn look to it, he headed that direction.  The hall was lined with the similar statues and pictures that the previous areas he had seen were, but the mood of the wing seemed to get darker and darker the further he went down it. 

And when he finally reached the end where a single door stood closed, Dick gave one last glance behind him before testing the knob to see if it was unlocked.  He was a little surprised with how adamant everyone was about staying away that he found the door unlocked.

And for the first time since he had decided to do this, Dick found himself hesitating.

Everything about this decision felt wrong but he could practically hear Bruce in his mind telling him to assess the situation fully, leave no corner unsearched.  He had to know.  He had to be aware.

So he took a deep breath and carefully entered the dark room.  The air was cold thanks to an open pair of French doors that led to a balcony, but Dick felt chilled by more than the night air.  The room was in complete shambles, various pieces of furniture strewn about the room in different states of destruction. 

Running his hand along a old writing desk that had been cracked down the middle, Dick frowned and tried to piece what he was seeing with a need to keep it secret.  There had to be something there.  There had to be.

Then a glowing green light caught his attention. 

Just to the side of the open French doors was a table with a basin full of green liquid that had an ethereal glow to it.  The glow pulled Dick closer, drawing him like a moth to the flame.  And when he reached the table, he saw that next to the bowl was a curious object.

A watch resting on a stand, covered by a glass case.

A watch that reminded him of something he had seen before.

Removing the glass case from around the watch, Dick set it aside and looked at the watch more closely.  “Impossible,” Dick whispered, thinking how much it reminded him of Thomas Wayne’s watch that he had seen Bruce with so many times growing up.  But as far as Dick knew, that watch had been lost.

Reaching out a hand to pick up the watch a shadow formed in front of him, startling him into jerking back and away from the table.

“Why did you come here?”  The shadow growled as he lifted the case to cover the watch again, glaring at Dick as he stepped between him and the table holding the watch and basin.

“I’m sorry,” Dick said, holding his hands up to placate the man.  “I didn’t mean any harm.”  But that didn’t seem to be the right thing to say because the shadow shifted and the man revealed himself, glare fierce, glowing green like the liquid in the basin, and hatred burning bright.

“I warned you never to come here!”  He stalked toward Dick, who backed up pace for pace.  He might be trained, but he wasn’t prepared to fight someone who could shift from a shadow to a corporal form.  “Do you realize what you could have done?!”  The man shouted, picking up a random end table and throwing against the wall before cornering Dick and gripping his throat.

“Please, stop,” Dick gasped, gripping the hand at his throat.  Something shifted in the man’s eyes and suddenly Dick could breathe again. 

Gasping he flinched when the man yelled, “Get out!”  But he didn’t hesitate to follow the order, stumbling out of the room and down the hall as quickly as he could.

He was barely out of the room when he heard the man yell one last “GET OUT!”

Without a backwards glance, Dick stumbled down the stairs and ran straight toward the main doors of the castle.

“Dick!”  He heard Wade call out to him.  “Wait!  What happened?!”

Dick paused to look at the man before shaking his head and continued his rush to the doors.  “Promise or not, I can’t stay here,” he said, tugging the door open and rushing into the cold Gotham winter air.  He wasn’t prepared for the cold, but he didn’t let it stop him.  Instead, he ran straight for the magical barrier that held everyone in this insane fantasy.

He had almost reached it when the first person wearing an all too familiar uniform dropped in front of him.  The League of Assassins.  Of course they were involved.  It was another piece of the puzzle, but it wasn’t one he could focus on right then.  He needed to get to that barrier.

But as he fought the assassin, without his usual weapons and armor, more of them seemed to appear out of thin air and Dick started to doubt his chances of getting through that barrier in one piece.  He went down with a particularly hard hit to his ribs, one knee connecting to the ground with a crack and a grunt of pain.  But he knew he couldn’t quit.  This wasn’t how he would go down.

So he raised a hand and blocked the bo staff sailing his direction, performing a move that he had used on Tim too many times to count, and effectively gaining a weapon from his enemy.  But a staff would only get him so far once they started pulling out their swords.  It would have to do for now thought.

Spinning on his knee, he kicked one assassin’s feet out from under them before blocking another staff’s descent to his head as he got both his feet back under him.  Immediately he jumped to avoid being knocked down the same way he had just served, using the momentum to land a kick to one chest and block another blow aimed at him.  But with each assassin he knocked down, another appeared, and Dick wasn’t any closer to the barrier. 

Then something surprising happened. 

Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a black shadow that dealt more damage in a matter of seconds than he had been able to in the minutes he had been fighting the assassins.  And each time Dick tried to get back into the fight, he found the shadow wall around him standing firm.  There was a pained grunt that had to be from the shadow man but he didn’t stop until all of the assassins were on the ground or on the run.

The shadow around Dick faded into the man kneeling on the ground, blood seeping through his shirt between his fingers where he had pressed his hand.  Looking back to the barrier, Dick debated whether or not he should still run for it.  But even before he decided he knew.  He couldn’t just leave the man responsible for saving his life out there on his own.

So he did what he always did, he sacrificed his own needs for those of someone else. 

Ducking down, Dick pulled the man’s free arm around his shoulders and looked at him.  He saw the surprise in the other man’s eyes, but just gave a small smile before helping him stand.  Slowly and carefully, Dick guided him back toward the doors to the castle.

“Thank you,” Dick said softly, sparing another glance to the man who seemed almost stunned at the words.  It was almost as if no one had ever thanked him before.  And maybe that was true.  The others there seemed close, but he seemed to hold himself apart. But something Kassandra had said about everyone being under the magic’s hold made him think that maybe it wasn’t the shadow man’s fault after all.

The instant they were inside again, Wade and Ryan rushed forward and took the man from Dick’s hold, guiding him to a side room with a chair placed in front of a fire.  Dick was spun around to face a determined looking Kassandra, who began running her hands over his body to check for injuries.  “I’m fine,” he waved her off.  “Just bruises.  Let me go help him.”  He tried to walk over to where the men had gone but Kassandra held onto his arm.

“They can help him just fine,” she told Dick. 

But he shook his head and pulled his arm out of her surprisingly strong hold.  “I want to help him.  He saved my life.  It’s the least I can do,” he admitted before heading toward the room.  Pushing the cracked door open fully, he paused just inside the door at the sight of the shadow man without his shirt on, illuminated by the firelight. 

He was beautiful.

Dick hadn’t noticed thanks to his anger and suspicion distracting him, but he couldn’t deny it in that moment.  This man was strength personified.  From the firm tone of his back to the clear lines of muscle in his arms.  And Dick knew the front was probably just was glorious as this angle.

“Dick,” Wade called out when he had been spotted, but Dick kept his eyes on the shadow man as he turned and locked gazes with Dick.  “Are you hurt at all?”  Dick shook his head and moved over to the man he couldn’t tear his eyes away from. 

Pausing to look down at the wound on his side, Dick frowned as he looked back to the man’s face.  “Can I?”  Dick asked, gesturing to the tools that Ryan was laying out, preparing to use to stitch up the wound.  The man seemed to be considering him for a moment before giving a silent nod and sending Ryan a look, who huffed and rolled his eyes before walking way.  Taking a protesting Wade with him.

Left alone, Dick got to work cleaning the wound with the basin of water and clean towel that had been set on the side table.  Kneeling so he could be eye to eye with the wound, Dick only glanced upward when the man hissed as the disinfectant likely burned the wound.  “I’m sorry,” Dick apologized, keeping his eyes on the task.  “I should not have gone into that room like I did.”

“I understand why you would,” the man muttered, and Dick frowned.  “But I appreciate the apology.  That watch is…”  Dick paused his threading of the needle to look up.  “It is very precious.”  It made Dick want to know more, but he knew he had pushed enough limits for the time being.  So he went back to work on the wound and began the process of stitching it closed with neat sutures.  “I don’t want you to feel as though you are a prisoner, but the…magic will not let you leave.  Not yet.” 

“Why?  Why is it holding all of you here?”

The man frowned down at him, considering his words.  “How do you know I am not the wielder of the magic?”

“Because that magic feels malicious.”  Dick didn’t know how he knew, but he just did.  He had felt it when he had pushed his way through.  He had experienced enough magic through the years to know what bad magic felt like.

“And how do you know I am not?”

Tying off the thread, Dick sat back on his feet and looked up at the man.  “You could have let them have me.  You could have sat back and let them kill me.  But you didn’t,” Dick gave a small, genuine smile.  “You saved me.  You got hurt saving me.”  Breaking the intense gaze, Dick grabbed a gauze pad and medical tape to cover the wound so it could heal cleanly.

“My name is Jace,” the man offered after a few more moments of silence. 

Standing and setting the medical tape on the tray, Dick smiled and held out a hand to the other man.  “It’s nice to meet you Jace, my friends call me Dick.”  He ignored the spark in his chest when Jace’s larger hand encased his and squeezed lightly.

[peppersonironi]

How I Picture a Batfam Age Reversal

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

Ages (At end) & Order:

Damian- 24

Duke- 21

Stephanie- 20

Tim- 21

Cassandra- 19

Jason- 19

Barbara- 15

Dick- 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[batfam-rewrites]

Batfam During Quarantine: Training Day

Thanks so much for the amount of love the last post got!I’m sorry it took me so long to post this next one, school and other stuff started to get in the way, so to make up for it I added a surprise arc at the end. I might start doing theses in chunks to save time and fill in any gaps where I don’t post as much because of school. Not so sure yet but it’s just an idea. I hope that if you read this you enjoyed it! I am going to try and post more frequently now that I’m almost caught up with my school work.

Damian: Good morning Tim! I made you breakfast.

Tim: What do you know? Why are you calling me Tim?

Cassandra: Plus three large hot cups of coffee.

Tim: What’s going on? Why are you guys acting so weird?

Cassandra: No reason. Just want to be nice.

Tim: Nope. That’s not it. What did you guys do.

Jason: Done making Tim’s bed! I’m off to steam his suit!

Tim: WHAT THE SHIT IS GOING ON???

Cassandra, Damian, and Jason: *in unison* We just want to be nice. *all three surround him in a big hug*

Tim: THIS IS SO WEIRD!

Dick: *walks into the breakfast room* Morning Tim! How’s it going?

Tim: NO! ALL OF YOU LEAVE ME ALONE! *storms out of the breakfast room*

Dick: What did you do to Tim?

Jason: We have no idea.

Damian: The dude is losing it.

Dick: *gets face to face with Cassandra* Cass, do you have something to say?

Cassandra: We woke up early and decided to be nice to Tim for no reason.

Dick: You guys are evil. Go have your fun.

All three run out of the room.

Jason: TIM LET US LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Daily Briefing

Dick: Hey, Babs doesn’t know your here. I don’t want her to get jealous or something so could you please join the zoom call from another room.

Helena: Sure, I understand, lover.

Dick: No, we aren’t going through that again.

Helena: I make no promises.

Tim: You know you’re going to be in deep shit when Barbara finds out, right?

Dick: I’m in deep shit anyway.

Tim: Very true.

Dick: *begins the zoom call* Hey everyone, so if you can’t tell, Huntress has arrived to help out. Now, to everyone at the manor I created a schedule for when to work out. They should be completed before patrol. For those of you at home, I trust that you made your own.

Barbara: Yep!

Kate: Please, I’ve been training much harder than most of you guys since I was 6.

Harper: Yeah, sorta did. Not able to do much because I’m not at the cave.

Dick: That actually leads me to my next point. Harper I made a schedule for you because Bruce, Alfred, Selina, and I found a way to have Cullen inside the mansion without him finding out who Batman really is. Cullen already knows the alter egos of Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan, and Nightwing. Everyone else is a question mark, so we will allow you to enter the mansion. When Cullen is around, we all will have to restrain from talking about our vigilante work. Have everything ready by next week. Once you arrive you’ll have to quarantine in your room for two weeks.

Harper: Awesome!

Dick: Today there has actually been no crime in Gotham City, so far, so we’ll take a day off, but if something comes up, cases will be assigned as they normally are. So everyone, after training, feel free to relax but be ready in case something pops up.

Dick and Jason

Dick: *turns on his training playlist, first song being “Devil in I” from Slipknot*

Jason: You know what, if this is the kind of stuff you have on your playlist, I might actually enjoy training with you!

Dick: I have 357 songs on here.

Jason: Damn!

Dick: What did you expect, I listen to every genre!

Jason: Really! I should actually start listening whenever people talk.

Dick: Remember that next time Bruce yells at you for shooting someone.

Jason: I’m just saying, if I mistake someone’s knee cap for their head, is it really that bad?

Dick: *laughs* Yes!

The two stretch a bit before moving on to pommel horse.

Dick: Figured you’d want to get this out of the way first.

Jason: Fuck you!

Dick: Just think of the music, and not falling.

Jason: *goes for a loop on pommel horse and bangs his legs against the pommels and falls* AHHHHHHH!

Dick: Maybe I should take pommels off first?

Jason: That’s an option? Then yes, please do so!

Dick: *quickly takes of the pommels then goes for a magyar, a triple russian, flare, spindle, press handstand one and a half piro, and flawlessly sticks his dismount*

Jason: Show off.

Duke and Damian

Dick and Jason had been training for an hour and fifteen minutes before Duke and Damian walked in. After stretching, the two began to spar.

Dick: Duke! You made a mistake when choosing your partner.

Jason: Nah! My boy Duke will show Dami who’s the boss.

Duke: I honestly like my chances!

Damian: Good Thomas, your over confidence will be your doom!

The two begin to fight. Damian dives right for Duke, rolling out and uses his momentum to go for a front flip and kick Duke in the chest, however Duke evades Damian’s strike and trips him after Damian lands.  Damian gets back up though, thrashing at Duke. Duke dodges each strike and finally jabs Damian in the gut a few times and kicks him in the chest. That would be the only fight out of the three they had that Duke won. 

Afterwards, Dick began to teach him the basics on both high bar. Duke was able to catch on very quickly and by the end of his training on high bar he was learning how to do kips and flyaways. Dick and Duke also decided to tumble together so Duke could learn the basics and some advanced skills too.

Damian spent the rest of his time trying to out do Jason. When Jason was using 100 lb weights, Damian would use 120′s. When Jason ran 5 miles, Damian ran 6. 

Jason: Dami, you’re going to be extremely sore. Take it easy.

Damian: Easy? *huff* Let me *huff* remind you that *huff* I was also trained *huff* by the League *huff* of Assassins. *runs to the garbage to throw up* I am superior *huff* than all of *huff* you in every way.

Jason: Okay bud. Well, I’m about to spar with Dick.

Damian: I’ll fight Grayson, too. *jogs up to Dick while moaning in pain* *huff* Fight me Grayson. *huff*

Dick: I’m not going to fight you. You look like you’ll pass out.

Damian: I’m *huff* fine.

Dick: Throw a punch at me like you normally would without groaning in pain.

Damian: *starts to punch but his fist his Dick like a soft tap* Ahhhhhh.

Dick: Go rest, take an ice bath, eat a lot of fruits, and drink a lot of water.

Damian: Okay, *huff* but only because *huff* you said so.

Dick and Jason then started to fight and after they concluded, Dick took the trash bag that Damian hurled in and tossed it out. An hour later Duke concluded his workout.

Cassandra and Julia

Cassandra: Woooo! Are you ready?

Julia: Your enthusiasm is a little bit concerning.

Cassandra: Yeah, but just deal with it.

Since she arrived to the mansion Julia has not let herself stop her routine. She has been training as much as she has been since her days in Britain's Special Reconnaissance Regiment. However as soon as she saw Cassandra doing freestanding handstand push-ups while doing an inverted crunch, she knew she had to up her game.

Cassandra just ignored the list Dick gave her for the most part and did the craziest exercises she could think of. When she started strength conditioning, she ran to the still rings and tried to do what she saw Dick doing once. She tried an azarian to an iron cross but immediately fell through the rings. it took her twenty minutes but she finally made it to the iron cross and rolled backwards into a planche. An hour later she finish conditioning and waited for Julia to finish so the two could spar.

Julia: Okay, you ready? *walking over from the treadmill*

Cassandra: More than ready! Lets do this! *she started bouncing on her toes like a boxer*

Cassandra won all three fights within a matter of minutes. Julia almost had a chance in the second one where Cassandra lost her balance, but she reacted too slow as Cassandra regained it and knocked Julia to the floor.

Selina and Helena

Selina focused more on her agility during her cardio workout than anything else. I mean, it’s definitely something that she takes pride in so why wouldn’t she?

Helena: Hey, can I ask you a question? *throwing punches toward Selina*

Selina: Sure! *dodges each strike, jumps off the wall, and dives over Helena’s head*

Helena: What’s the situation between Dick and Barbara? *grabs Selina’s torso and slams her body down*

Selina: Oof. *gets back up from the floor and sits down with Helena* Don’t think of it. Dick is all sad that he has to stay at the mansion without Barbara. I wouldn’t even try to approach Dick about the situation because he’ll act even more weird then when you arrived.

Helena: That explains this morning.

Selina: What happened?

Helena: I said hey and he replied with “Hey, what’s up, gir......friend, lady. Girl who is a friend and a lady. Saved it.” Then, just for fun, I pinched his ass and he jumped up and screamed. 

Selina: You’re playing with fire, I don’t blame you for pinching his ass though.

Helena: Hold on, it gets better. After that I leaned towards him and he started leaning over the table and asked, what’s wrong lover. He then stepped to the side and said “Nothing, nothing.” and started walking backwards saying “coolcoolcool” until he reached the door.

Selina: Why bother messing with his head?

Helena: Because it’s fun. Plus I still feel like there is something there. 

Selina: Very well. Now that you have that out of your system let’s head to the showers.

Helena: You won’t tell Dick, right?

Selina: What you just told me is between you and Dick. I will not interfere in any way.

Stephanie and Tim

Tim: *walks in tired as hell* Hey Steph. You ready?

Stephanie: Yeah!

Tim: Alright. Cool.

Both Stephanie and Tim go to do their separate training regimes. Tim however, being extremely tired started to move very slow during his workout. Halfway through his work out he stepped out to grab a five hour energy shot and started flying through his conditioning list that Dick made. 

Tim: You ready to spar? *jumping around like a rabbit, then lands sideways, falling to the floor only to get back up*

Stephanie: *looking at Tim like he’s a crackhead* No, I think we should skip the sparring match today.

Tim: No, come on let’s go! *grabs Stephanie's wrist and drags her over to the sparring arena*

Stephanie: Tim your going to hurt yourself. Instead of sparring let’s take a nap.

Tim: Come on, sleeping is for people who have don’t have tragic backstories. Let’s fight!

Tim tries to throw a few quick jabs but Stephanie quickly sweeps Tim’s legs causing him to fall. Stephanie Runs forward pointing her fist at his throat.

Tim: Owww! That’s abuse! You abused myself! Why are you mean?!

Stephanie: Tim, when was the last time you slept?

Tim: Ummmmm........... Tuesday?

Stephanie: Okay, training is over, go let yourself rest.

Tim: Pffft. I’ll sleep when I’m dead. 

Stephanie: Okay. *text Dick* Hey Dick, we have a code yellow.

Dick: *text back* On my way up.

Tim: You know I like to live by the words of the Beastie Boys anyway. No sleep ‘til Brooklyn, and because I have never been to Brooklyn, I am not obligated to sleep.

Stephanie: You have a problem!

Tim: No, *points his finger dramatically at Stephanie*  you have a problem.

Dick: *walks in* Hey Tim, I have a case I want to work on with you.

Tim: *to Stephanie* See, now I can’t sleep.

Dick: We’ll take the Batmobile.

*3 hours later*

Dick: Okay, we just entered Brooklyn. Now go to sleep!

Tim: No fair, you tricked my brain.

Dick: SLEEEEEEEEP!

Tim: NO!

Dick: Why are you staying up all night?

Tim: Because, I don’t want anything to change! *starts sobbing*

Dick: It’s okay, you’re alright. *pulls over to the side of the road*

Tim: No I’m not. Everything is changing and I don’t want it to. I don’t want to fall out of my habits because what about when things get back to normal. Then we have to build those habits again, and what if while we are readjusting someone dies because we weren’t ready. Plus, there is so much stress with helping Bruce keep his company from falling, trying to finish my homework, training, and patrolling the nights where there is more activity. 

Dick: *embraces Tim in his arms* Look change is going to happen whether we like it or not. It’s not what happens that shapes who we are but how we react to the changes that occur in our lives that do. The world is never going to be the same after this pandemic is over, so you could either adapt, or repeat your mistakes. It’s okay to not be okay. You are not alone, you have all of us at the mansion to talk to. Another thing that you have to keep in mind is that people are going to die. We both knew that the moment we signed up, and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is learn from what happened to stop it from happening again. You also need to get some sleep. I know you are under a lot of stress right now, not going to lie, but you have it worse than all of us right now, but how do you expect to save others if you won’t take care of yourself. 

Tim: *starts calming down*

Dick: I’ll talk to Bruce tonight to see if he could cut you some slack. I’ll find a way to help out too now that we aren’t patrolling as much. Just make sure to take care of yourself.

Tim: Okay.

Dick: Smart, toit.

Tim: Stop it Peralta. *begins to laugh*

Dick: *laughs pretty hard* Now get some rest, I’ll wake you up when we get back to Gotham.

Tim: Okay. I guess.

Black Mask, Hush, Two-Face, and Jason Bard

The night was very silent as Roman Sionis looked upon Gotham from the building. It was quiet, empty, peaceful, and disturbing. Hush walked into the room, followed by Harvey Dent and Jason Bard.

Black Mask: Congratulations, you found your way here.

Jason Bard: You’re pretty easy to find when you want to be.

Black Mask: Or is it because no one else is on the street other then your snitches.

Jason Bard:......

Hush: You called us here. What do you want?

Black Mask: Look out at the city. Tell me what do you see.

The three men walk forward towards the window.

Two-Face: Fear.

Hush: Silence.

Jason Bard: Caution, and paranoia.

Black Mask: You are all correct, but you missed one thing.

Two-Face: Stop playing games! What do you want us to see?

Black Mask: Opportunity.

[dcomicsficrecs]

Got any good longish casefic recs? Got a loooong trip and I need something to keep me occupied. Thank you so much!!

First of all, thank you for sending this ask! I love case-heavy stories and long fics, so that was an opportunity to re-discover some of my favorite stories. I am going to re-read half of the list now, as well!

Here we go - top ten recommendations for long(ish) case fics!

1) detective stories series by prismatical starting with bad signal (38K)

The rescue mission went well. Nightwing is safe. Everything should be alright.

Right?

It’s a really gripping story that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the end. Features all of Batfam with Dick as a focus but other boy Robins play significant part too.

2) For Those Who Can't  by  GoAwayOlivia (8K)

They don’t understand him at all. There is no setting him off, that’s not the way it works. And he doesn’t go on violent sprees. Jason kills when the situation demands. That’s it. Plain and simple. He doesn’t lose his temper and murder any asshole that pisses him off. Every kill is a decision that he makes, and every decision is carefully weighed and measured with a cool head. He only ever kills because the person deserves to die.

Red Hood!Jason conducts investigation into a sting of murders that happened on his territory. I have a lot of feelings about this story and I’m sure you will, too.

3)  Raisin Delight  by  LemonadeGarden (8K)

A year after Jason Todd dies, Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne take on the case when they notice strange occurrences in Gotham city. This has disastrous consequences, but so do most things that Tim gets caught up in, so what's new, really.

It’s not only a case fic but also a time travel fic which is, imo, a double treat! The ending is very powerful even if I expect you’re going to have mixed feelings about it.

4)  Little Wing and Big Bird by Airawyn (16K)

When Bruce attempts to murder Jason in his sleep, the young Robin goes to his predecessor for help. Nightwing and Robin must work together to find out what happened to the real Bruce Wayne.

Fic featuring Robin!Jason teaming up with Nightwing!Dick. The boys save Bruce and Alfred and have a heart-to-heart in the process. Superb.

5) Some fics from More to Being a Father than Having a Kid by Romiress:

We Don't Raise Heroes (70K), Don't Call It Revenge (58K), Legacy's Sway (107K)

While technically not a case fic but include a big mysteries that Batfam investigates so I think it counts. I highly recommend the whole series. First fics are gen!

6) The Bat's Crest by livierambles (200K+)

Tragedy strikes the hero community when Bruce Wayne commits a crime so heinous even the best start asking for blood. However, as the heroes try to recover from the hit and carry out justice for their friends, a random assortment of people start acting oddly, including the current Speedy Tim Drake, a child hostage in Gotham, and a young man from an unremarkable circus amongst others. All of them seem intent on saving Bruce Wayne from the grasp of the Justice League for no apparent reason, going as far as betraying their previous allegiances.

Unknown to the Justice League, these people are equally confused. Clearly they're stuck in another dimension, but how do they get back? How did they even get here? Who else is stuck in this world? And how long will Tim's patience last? Back home, the Bat was a planetary symbol that struck fear in the hearts of criminals. In this new world, it has no meaning, save for the handful of stranded souls.

All Batfam is featured. While this is also technically not a case fic but adventure/dimension travel fic, its plot has a mystery element to it and characters have to investigate a lot as far as I remember. It’s probably the only WIP here on this list but god, is it worth to read and bookmark it. You know what? I’m even going to go ahead and subscribe to the author, too.

7) The Volatile Verse (117K) by BlackFriar, starting with Volatile (47K)

After a transdimensional mishap, Batman and Robin are faced with a murderous Joker rampaging through Gotham and an anti-hero who is determined to remove Robin from the crime-fighting business. Can they strike a balance before it all ends in tragedy and the Joker has the last laugh?

It’s a dimension travel case fic (series of fics, actually!) set in Young Justice with Robin!Dick and main universe!Red Hood!Jason. It’s a great story that doesn’t shy away from darker themes, can and probably will make you cry, but it also has hopeful ending. This Jason is going to be okay with these Bruce and Dick, and at the end of the day, after the case is solved, what else do you need?

8) I saved one of the best till the end, and it’s basically anything by Mikimoo

Fair warning, most of their fics are jaydick. My favorites are:

8.1 Between The Bars (48K)

A number of suspicious deaths at South Haven Penitentiary are being ignored by the authorities, but have attracted the attention of various other parties.

OR:

That one time Dick and Jason accidentally ended up undercover on the same mission and started a riot.

8.2 And If I Recover (33K)

Officer Dick Grayson is captured by a criminal group that makes it's living from torture and extortion. Half the family are forced to watch as events unfold, while the rest franticly try to track down the culprits.

8.3 That Awful Bitter Taste (30K)

Roped in to find out what has happened to Dick on an undercover mission, Jason finds himself faced with situations that challenge his personal identity. Meanwhile, Dick is having to face demons from his past, and Jason is not sure if he is helping or hurting.

But of course, the best time to have this particular existential crisis is while trying not to die in the desert, and being chased by angry men with guns.

8. 4 This Night (33K)

The Red Hood and Officer Grayson are on the same case.  A small misstep has far reaching consequences for them both.

All those fics are tagged as jaydick, and most of them have high rating but it’s for graphic description of violence so read the warnings before reading.

Even if you aren’t a jaydick shipper, those fics are plot-heavy and case-focused. The relationship dynamic and its progress would be natural and heartfelt as well.

Also, if asked to choose only one fic from the author, or only one jaydick, or only one case fic, I probably would have chosen Between The Bars, just so you know.

9. Two Birds on a Wire by  empires, pentapus (20K)

Dick asks Jason for help on a case. Jason should have never agreed.

It’s so popular you probably read it already. Still, just in case, I will include it too because it’s such a great undercover mission fic.

10)  Crimes at Night by empires (16k)

It's summer in Gotham, and the city is experiencing a record breaking heatwave and a rash of violence centered around a strange new drug circulating through the city's youth. Robin is determined to locate the drug's source and put an end to the distribution before things get worse.

Young Justice verse, Robin!Dick and never adopted!Jason, jaydick. It’s a great AU and well-executed case fic and if you’re into Jason/Dick, their relationships are very cute also.

[itzagothamcitysiren]

Welcome to the Family

here’s the final part for my mother’s day special :) I hope you all had a good day and enjoyed this. 

Mother’s Day pt. 3          

 “So how is it?”

           Damian lifted his head, after taking another bite of his burger, chewing before answering his sister with a curt nod. The burger was delicious, greasy, and unimaginably unhealthy; their mother would slit their throats if she saw what they were eating. Outstretched before them was a spread of milkshakes, fries, chicken tenders and each their own oversized burger. Damian had never been to Bat-Burger, and was hesitant but his sister insisted it was good and she, Dick and Tim found the whole gimmick ironic and hilarious; they often frequented the food chain ordering each meal named after themselves.

           “The milkshakes are surprisingly the best around.” She continued, sipping the milkshake named after herself, trying to find something to get him to talk to her. Ever since they left her office he maybe only spoke a handful of words, agreeing to go get food, ordering his food and muttering a thanks when she paid.

           “Even the Night-wings are really good, it gets to Dick’s ego.” She pressed, chuckling. Frowning for a split second, she quickly covered it with a smile. But Damian caught it though, and took another bite of his burger to hide his guilt as she continued to talk. “So what’s new with you?”

           “Nothing.” He shrugged. It was the truth, he didn’t do much besides patrol and she knew that. He didn’t have hobbies besides reading and training. Damian wasn’t in school; he was ‘home schooled’ after trying for a year and it just not working. Bruce thought getting Jason through Gotham Academy was rough but according to Damian he was above prep school.

           He stopped eating his burger when he felt a sudden shift in his sister. Even she was thrown off by it. Maybe it was from lack of sleep or the hunger from not eating since dinner last night, if you could consider a bag of chips dinner. Maybe Bat-Burger wasn’t the best choice to start with. But she thought-, she hoped this place would let Damian loosen up. Even Bruce managed to crack a small smile when entering this place. Shaking her head she pushed her burger away from her, placing her head in her hands, frustrated. Damian slowly put his food down as well, letting his hands fall to his sides, anxiously clenching them into fists. She was gonna give up on him, he knew it. Coming here was a mistake.

           “Sister-,”

           “Halley.” She corrected, looking up from her hands. “My name is Halley. Yes I am your sister, but you don’t have to be so formal about it all the time.” She snapped, instantly regretting it. She promised to herself long ago to never lose her cool with Damian, but he was just so frustrating. “Why did you come to my office today Damian? It crossed my mind that you might’ve been jealous earlier about me making plans with Tim and not inviting you but whenever I do invite you places you just scoff at me. And I just didn’t see you being the jealous type, but then again I don’t really know you. Then you showed up today and I thought you actually wanted to, I don’t know? Do something together? But I feel like I’m the only one wanting to be here.”

           “Tt.” Damian crossed his arms, huffing. “I am not jealous of Drake.”

           “Tt.” Halley matched his stance, crossing her arms against her own chest and leaned back into her seat. “Okay if you’re not jealous of him, then why are we here?”

           Damian was speechless for a moment. Normally, this conversation would play out differently. Normally, after insulting Tim, Halley would then shoot into reasons why Damian should give Tim a chance, and that he was actually really nice. She’d never call him out like that, always not wanting to push him away or giving him a chance to get angry at the conversation and leave. It took Damian a few seconds longer than he’d like to admit to think of a retort.

           “I figured since you have these outings with everyone and they praise them, I should finally figure out what all the fuss is about. And so far I’m not impressed.” He snapped right back, showing the same sass that ran on their shared side of the family.

           Raising her own eyebrow, Halley snorted, reaching for her shake and taking a long sip before putting it back down and pointing a finger at her little brother. “Of course you’re not impressed. When me and the guys hang out we actually have conversations. Dick’s my best friend, we actually want to know what’s going on in each other’s lives; we shoot the shit, whatever you wanna call it. And Tim, Tim tries; he’s always reaching out and making sure I’m not overworking and taking care of myself and I do the same for him. We care about each other.” Halley took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

           “With you,” she continues trying to soften her voice, not realizing she sounded as if she was in work mode and could see Damian trying to hide his nervousness. “With you, it’s like I’m talking to a wall, a very thick wall. I’ve tried since day one Damian; I’ve tried to build a relationship with you but I don’t know what else to do. I’ve stuck up for you when everyone else didn’t and I’ve vouched for you. I was there when Bruce went missing, and I believed you with all that Talon nonsense, and I just get nothing in return besides insults. I don’t want much, I’m your sister and I’m just tired of trying if you really don’t care.”

           Damian bit his lip, unpacking every word that his sister spoke. He knew her frustrations. His father and Grayson had the same, as he was constantly reminding himself of. He just wasn’t sure how to open up to her. He wasn’t even sure how she opened up when she moved into the manor. He wanted to ask her but he was just so afraid to open his mouth and talk to her for unknown reasons.  He looked at her sad eyes as she spoke, feeling guilt from the years blocking her out finally being too much to keep in. Damian didn’t know how he would start but he licked his lips, finally figuring it was now or never to start trying back.

           “How did you adjust so well? It’s been two years and I-,” Damian paused already embarrassed for oversharing.

           Halley softened her stance. That was the most serious but personal question Damian had ever asked her. She smiled before opening her mouth to answer him. “I had people who cared. Like you do, even if you don’t see it.”

           She’s been thirteen, Damian’s age now when Dick saved her from her father. It wasn’t until Damian came along and she had to face her father again for the first time in years did Slade reveal that she was also part al Ghul. She learned what would’ve been her life if it wasn’t for Dick. At the time Slade had been part of the League of Assassins, and was one of Ra’s al Ghul right hands. The plan at the time was for Slade and Talia to give him a new heir, with the pair bringing Halley into the world. When she could walk and talk it was agreed that Slade would take her into the world to train; at the time thinking that field training would be the most officiant. When Slade thought she was ready, she’d be brought back to the League, but that was ruined when she escaped and joined the batfamily. She was his ticket in taking over the League, and he hadn’t taken her ruining it for him easily.

           “Dick took me in after saving me from Slade. He’d beat the shit out of me if I just sneezed wrong. He was an abusive fuck, but I was used to it. He drilled into my brain that I wasn’t good enough and I deserved the things he did to me. They would make me stronger. He made me just like you, untrusting and closed off. But Dick and the Titans eventually taught me that not everyone is an asshole. And when Bruce let me move to the manor and take his last name and gave me a home and a good life, I was-, well I just put my trust into them and I’m glad I did.” Halley shrugged, images of her time with Slade flashing through her eyes like a bad movie. Clearing her throat again, blinking away the tears that were forming, she looked back at the boy looking up at her with a soft expression.

           “And Jay, helped me a lot. He helped me adjust to things. He- he was great.” She looked down at her food, letting a finger brush a stray tear away. Cursing, for showing weakness in front of her little brother who already judged her every move, she coughed, straitening herself out.

           “I don’t want you to be like Dick or Tim, or Jason.” She continued, knowing he’d have nothing to say from where she left off. “I just want you to be Damian and I want us to have a relationship that makes you comfortable and makes you feel safe. So if going to stupid burger joints isn’t your thing, that’s fine. We can go to a fine dining restaurant if you want for all I care. And you don’t have to feel like you have to get me mothers day’s presents, that’s not your thing. I totally understand and don’t expect it to be.” She waved off, moving back to bite into her burger, trying to defuse the tension some more.

           Damian still kept his straight face. He knew the basics about his sister but not all details. He knew she was Slade’s apprentice, but he just figured she was a traitor and chose to leave. Her joining his father was what made Slade lose his good graces with his grandfather. It was the whole reason why Slade attacked the League of Assassin’s base years later, killing Ra’s al Ghul and leading Damian to meeting his father. He gulped, letting his face fall a little, in comfort.

           “I don’t mind this place.” He nodded, going back to bite into his burger as well, while also grabbing another Night-wing, wishing the chicken tender was called something else. “And-and, I wouldn’t even know what to get you or what kind of card to make. Though I did tell Drake your favorite color was purple. Tt, imbecile was going to make the letters red.”

           “You remembered my favorite color?” Halley awed at him, causing him to pout, embarrassed. “You just remembering my favorite color makes me happy enough.”

           “That’s silly,” He squinted at her. Grayson turned her into such a sap.

           “Yeah, well I think it’s cute.” She huffed, moving back to her milkshake. She looked up at him as she sipped, “So after this, what does Damian Wayne want to do today? I assume movies and arcade are boring to you.”

      ��    “You assume correct.” He nodded in agreement. He took a second to ponder her question, not quite ready to go home after this. He didn’t really know at first, until one specific place popped up in his head. He’d yet to visit one, but had read about them and was curious, you could say. He was too afraid to ask his father and not ready for Grayson’s reaction; there was no one better than Halley to ask to take him. With a stern face he looked up at her, “I would like to go to the zoo.”

           “The zoo?” Halley questioned. She mentally slapped herself when she saw him begin to crawl into himself again, she outreached a hand to him, “No, no, no! I just didn’t think you’d want to. I love the zoo; I used to beg Jay to go with me all the time, but he thought they were boring and smelly,” She chuckled fondly at the memory. “But the Gotham Zoo is surprisingly nice.” She said looking down at her phone for the time. “We have time if we finish this on our way there, they don’t close for another four hours or so.” Halley said, now excitedly packing up the trash and figuring out what was good enough to eat during the walk over to the zoo.

           Damian felt that same pang in his chest from earlier but this time it didn’t make him nervous. Instead he felt content, happy even? He didn’t feel as if this whole idea was a disaster and for once actually felt a touch of excitement. Gathering his belongings he then proceeded to ask questions about what kind of animals they have at a zoo, and other things, like can you pet them, etc. Halley eagerly answered all of them, asking her own like what his favorite animal was and stuff like that.

           The rest of the afternoon went by way to quick and soon Halley was in a cab making sure Damian got home okay, even with him reassuring her if he could get to her office without her he could get home. She simply waved him off, and gave him a playful shove as the cab pulled up to the manor. Her smile almost hurt when he turned to her as he stood out of the cab and said that he hoped they could do this again sometime.

           Within the next hour, she found herself stomping up her apartment, not in anger but in pure delight. She couldn’t believe today actually happened. After two years she actually made progress with Damian. Opening the door to her apartment, she dropped her bag and plopped the keys onto the kitchen counter, she could have even sworn she saw him smile at least one today.

           She walked into her kitchen, grabbing a water bottle, closing the fridge and looking at the pictures she had hanging on her fridge. Taking a second she leaned against the counter, taking them all in. This year’s mother’s day card from Tim hung near a picture of the two of them from his second birthday at the Manor, it’s been his sixteenth. She’d taken him to an arcade and the pair had spent all day building up their tickets so Tim could get some replica sword. She smirked at the picture where instead of the sword, he decided on getting her a giant stuff pug as a thank you for spending all day with him. In it she held onto it tightly, the thing was so fluffy and cute as Tim smiled into the camera widely. She still had the thing on her bed, she chuckled.

           Next to that one was a picture of her and Dick, from her own sixteenth birthday where he insisted on throwing her a giant pool party, inviting all of the Titans and batfamily. He stood hosting her up on his shoulders, as if she was a prize. It was only moments after the phot was taken did he throw her into the pool, only for her to furiously chase him for revenge. Alfred had taken another photo from that stood next to it of her getting said revenge by smashing a piece of cake in Dick’s face, Bruce seen in the background with a disapproving look.

           Along with those she let her eyes fall to last set of photos on the fridge, feeling the water works already starting. The anniversary of Jason’s death hit her harder this year. Every year it’d been hard, but the pressure of graduating, keeping up with her nightly activities and the nightmare that was her mother kidnapping and brainwashing Bruce, the day just crept up on her and she didn’t have time to prepare herself.  

           Sighing as she looked at the first photo they took together, she just let the tears fall, knowing she’d only feel worse keeping them in.  They’d snuck out on their first date, having kept their relationship a secret, afraid Bruce wouldn’t allow it because they lived right across the hall from each other. It wasn’t until Jason died did Bruce tell he knew from the beginning. She chuckled at the photo, taking it off the fridge too look at it closely.

           It was just a simple movie date but she remembered being so nervous the entire time. She felt her heart nearly beat out of her chest when he made the first move and clumsily placed his arm around her shoulders twenty minutes into the movie. It took another twenty minutes until she found the courage to lean her head on his shoulder. She’d blushed the brightest when the movie ended and he grabbed her hand and held it as they walked out. He called her a dork, seeing her blush, causing her to blush harder.  He’d snapped the photo shortly after, saying she looked cute when she was frazzled. She defiantly looked frazzled in the photo while he sneaked a kiss on her cheek.

           The second photo of the pair had been of the pair a couple of weeks before he had died. They were just about to graduate High School, and where going to prom together. Bruce insisted they should go, so they told Bruce they were going together because everyone else was lame. She’d actually had fun for the short amount of time that they actually stood at the prom. They quickly snuck out, taking Jason’s car to go get Chinese take-out and parking off somewhere and stuffing their faces.

           Clipping the photo back onto the fridge she sighed again, picking up her phone to look at the picture’s she snuck of Damian today. She held a hand to her lips as she looked them over. She couldn’t get any of the pair together without him seeing her but it was okay. She got him in the petting zoo, a blank face, but you could see that he was content as he pet a goat, and then a llama. She laughed thinking about how enthralled he was by the farm animals. He found the more exotic animals interesting but for whatever reason the farm animals really caught his interest.

           She looked at the top of her phone, seeing a notification from Tim. Clicking on it, she noted how she had to get those pictures printed so she could put them in place with the others. Now reading the text from her brother, she could stop the snort that escaped her nose. Oh Damian,

“Why is Damian demanding Bruce get him a pet cow?”

[huilian]

stop confusing my name, dad!

AO3

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon

Summary: 

Bruce has too many children, or, 5 times Bruce calls his children by the wrong name.

A/N: this is inspired by this post by @in-fearful-day-in-raging-night​. Please check them out! They post quality batfam things! The first four have dialogue stolen (with permission) directly from the post, and the last one is mine. I wanted to add one time Bruce got called the wrong name, but couldn't figure out how to do it properly, so... sorry?

***

It’s a quiet morning at the Manor. Too quiet, with two of his children currently on attendance. Admittedly they’re all here because they crashed after a truly exhausting patrol, but Bruce has trained his children well. They are never too tired to wreck havoc inside his home. 

Bruce walks towards the kitchen silently. If his children are quiet, he can be quiet too. He has to catch them before they catch him, or the consequences (for him) will be even worse. 

No one in the kitchen. At least, no one Bruce, with his extensive training, can detect. He walks in gingerly, still scanning the room for hostiles, namely, his children. If they are not in the kitchen, then they are somewhere else. He has to stay vigilant.

Yesterday night was truly an exhausting patrol. Why are his children like this? 

A crash. Somewhere on the second floor. 

Bruce runs towards it. He knows, logically, that it is most likely his children doing what passes as fun between them, but he can’t shake the nagging feeling inside him. What if it’s not his children? What if someone has come to hurt them? Bruce runs. 

He stops dead in his tracks, however, when he sees Damian. Who is standing in front of Tim’s door, frantically trying to break it down, while dripping wet. Bruce distantly notices an upturned bucket some feet away from his youngest son, but he’s much more interested in the fact that his youngest son is breaking his other son’s door. That is made of solid wood. 

He’s going to break himself. Bruce, with no other thought besides stopping Damian, says, “Dick, stop that! Wait, no.” Why is he calling Dick? It’s clearly Damian in front of him. So he tries again. “Jason,” no, that’s not right either, “no, Tim, ugh, Cass, I mean Damian! Stop that!” 

Damian, who thankfully stops his assault on Tim’s door, glares up at him. “Father! How dare you confuse me with Drake!” 

Bruce opens his mouth to scold Damian, because breaking down his siblings’ door is not acceptable behaviour, but then Tim’s door opens, revealing the boy himself. “Damian, he literally called everyone’s name, and that’s what you focus on?” 

“He called me by your name! It’s a disgrace I will not stand on!” 

“He went through everyone’s name! And I’m not a disgrace!” 

“Ha! You admit you are a disgrace!” 

“I literally just said I’m not a disgrace, you little brat. Are you even listening?” 

Bruce sighs. Tim and Damian arguing is basically an everyday occurrence by now, but the headache it inflicts upon Bruce never stops. Why are his children like this? 

“Enough!” Bruce shouts. “Damian, breaking down your siblings’ door is not acceptable. Jason, stop pranking your little brother,” because Bruce knows enough by now to be sure that the bucket was Tim’s doing. 

Silence. Normally a Tim and Damian argument can’t be solved by just a simple admonishment, but Bruce is going to take what miracles the universe decides to give him. Bruce turns to go. He needs coffee, because yesterday night was truly an exhausting patrol, and he has work to do today. 

That is, until Tim shrieks, “Jason?” 

Oh no. 

“You’re calling me Jason?” Tim scoffs. “Unbelievable.” 

“Tim, Tim, wait, I’m sorry,” Bruce stammers, but Tim scoffs again. 

“Jason. I’m done with this. Come on, Damian, let’s leave Bruce to his inability to remember his own children’s name,” Tim says. Then, he adds, low enough to pretend that he doesn’t want Bruce to hear, but just loud enough so that Bruce can hear it perfectly well, “Batman, my ass. Can’t even remember his children’s name.” 

“For once, I agree with you, Drake.” For someone who is spitting mad at being called Tim just a few minutes ago, Damian follows Tim easily enough. 

Oh no, oh no. Those two working together is going to be unstoppable. Bruce shudders to think about what they are going to do to him. 

(He got locked out of the kitchen. And then his room. And then his car. Basically every door he tried to open today is locked. Even the entrance to the Cave is locked, and he made it. Why are his children like this?) 

It’s always good whenever all his children are in Gotham, patrolling with him. Provided they are not there because of a massive Arkham breakout or an apocalypse that needed all hands on deck. It’s always good whenever all Bruce’s children are patrolling Gotham with him because they all decided to visit. 

(He knows it’s the overbearing parent in him, but he likes all of them patrolling Gotham with him because if they are on patrol with him, they are not getting into any trouble he can’t help them out of. Ideally they would not be getting into any trouble at all, but Bruce knows his children. That hope had sailed long ago.) 

Since they are all here tonight, Bruce decides to do one of his semi-regular sweeps of the illegal bars. There are a lot of them tonight-almost all of them, really, except for Black Bat who has her own mission tonight-so Bruce is hoping that this time the message will stick longer. 

He left this at the very end of the patrol, when the bars are at their most crowded, so that it would hit even more people. Robin is already with him, of course, and he registers the rest of his children gathering next to him. 

It’s not that complicated of a bust, so he feels comfortable just giving instructions on the go. “The patrons are not committing any serious crime, not yet, but they are planning to do so. We’ll stop the planning, but no use of force unless absolutely necessary.” He waits for confirmation from all of them, already pulling his mental map of the bar. “Nightwing, take the left entrance.” Wait. That’s not what Bruce meant. That’s not what Bruce meant at all. “No wait, Robin, no, Black Bat, Red Hood, Batgirl, whoever you are,” Bruce points at Tim, then clicks his fingers a few times. It doesn’t make that much noise, especially with the gauntlets on, but the gesture itself helped. “Red Robin!” Finally! His children change their names far too many times, Bruce swears. “Take the left.” 

He’s greeted with silence from his children. Then Tim (Red Robin, Bruce’s mind helpfully supplied) said, “Wow, B, thanks for that.”

The statement from Tim seems to unlock the rest of his children’s mouth, because everyone starts talking all at once. 

“Black Bat’s not even on this mission!”

“Wait, so-”

“I swear he does this all the time!”

“-who’s taking the left?” 

Bruce decides to focus on the actually relevant question (thank you, Dick), and growls out, “Red Robin is taking the left. Nightwing will come with me and Robin through the front entrance. Batgirl, stay on the back entrance and handle any runners. Hood, take the right.” 

Everyone seemed to be paying attention, for which Bruce is grateful for, but then, because his children will never let anything go, Jason said, “Are you sure it’s me who’s taking the right and not Robin?” 

Stephanie looks like she also wants to add something, but Bruce cuts her out before that. “Yes. Now positions, everyone.” 

They move, but it’s only because his children (and Bruce notes this with not a small sense of pride himself) are professionals. Bruce is sure that he will pay for this, with interest, but that can wait until after they finished this bust. 

It’s just him and Dick, tonight. Robin has a test tomorrow, and Bruce knows that Damian is going to ace the test, patrol or no, but the rule has always been and will always be no patrol before a test, so Damian is staying in. The rest of his brood (Bruce has a brood now. He would have laughed had you tell him that a few years ago.) have their own cases, and so Bruce is patrolling with Dick. 

It reminds him of days long passed. 

“Robin, fall back and we’ll rendezvous at the docks,” Bruce says to his comms. Dick is a few blocks away, having split with Bruce to check in with someone he saved a couple weeks ago. It’s a quiet night, at any rate, and Bruce just wants to sweep the docks once and go back home. 

There’s no answer from the comms. Bruce is starting to panic, because Dick knows better than to not answer his comms. He starts to move towards Dick’s location, while trying to hail Dick again, when Dick, finally, blessedly, answers, “Do you mean me?” 

Bruce is so relieved to hear Dick’s voice that the meaning of his words doesn’t register to him for a minute. Why wouldn’t Dick think Bruce meant him? “Yes, of course I mean you,” Bruce says. 

“B,” Dick’s voice sounds exasperated, even through the comms, “it’s been well over a decade since I’ve been Robin. There’s been four other Robins since me.” 

Oh. Bruce mentally rewinds the conversation, only to shamefully realize that a, he did call Dick Robin, b, Robin, the actual Robin, is currently inside his room, and c, Dick is right. “Sorry, Nightwing.” 

Bruce hears Dick sighs. “What should I do with you, B?” 

“Next thing you know, he’ll be calling me Batgirl.” Oracle. “There’s a mugging two streets over, Batman. You might want to check it out with Robin.” 

“Hey! Don’t lump me in with him, O! I know better than that!” 

“It’s your fault. You’re the one who made him start taking in kids left and right,” Barbara says. “Go high, Nightwing.” 

“You know I’ll always go high, Oracle.”

Bruce is content with letting the two of them banter as he takes down the mugger. He knows these two. They can run their mouth off, but they’ll still do their job perfectly. And besides, it is nice to hear Barbara’s voice. That just makes it feel more like the old days. 

Bruce keeps his mouth shut though, partly because he’s still reeling from calling Dick Robin, and partly because he cannot trust himself to not call Barbara Batgirl. Like he said, tonight reminds him of the old days. 

He finishes neutralizing the mugger at the same time as Nightwing emerges in his point of view. He checks the bindings one more time, then looks up. 

“O, tell me something,” Nigthwing has a huge grin on his face, “you keep recordings of our comms, right?” 

Oh no. Dick wouldn’t. Barbara wouldn’t. 

“Of course, Nightwing. Is there something in particular you need?” 

Then again, it’s Dick and Barbara. Robin and Batgirl. They would. They absolutely would. 

“Can I get a recording of tonight’s conversation?” Dick looks Bruce right in the eyes as he says this. “I need to share it with my siblings.” 

“It would be my pleasure,” Barbara says. Even Bruce can hear the smile in her voice, and he knows Dick would hear it even more. He can’t win against the two of them. He hasn’t been able to for years now. “Should I send it to Batgirl as well?” 

“Oh, please do,” Dick says. “I can’t wait to see their reaction.” 

Bruce sighs. Not so much like the old days, after all. At least back then, they didn’t have anyone to share his embarrassing moments with. 

“Red Robin, what’s your position?” They’ve been trailing this particular shipment for a few weeks now, and Bruce wants to close this case as soon as possible. 

“Uh… I’m standing next to you?” Tim says. Damn it. He’s doing it again. 

“... Red Hood, what’s your position?” He can’t be blamed that his children choose very similar sounding code names. Even he can’t remember everything. 

Of course, Jason would beg to differ. “Fuck you, B, if you can’t even tell us apart, I’m not telling you jackshit.” 

Bruce sighs. “Hood, please, let’s just finish this now and have the pissing contest later. We need to stop the shipment from getting to the streets.” 

“Fine, but only because I don’t want to let the drugs get on the streets. We will have the pissing contest later, mark my words.” 

Bruce starts to feel relief, but it’s apparently too soon, because Tim (dear, dear Tim) says, “What about me? Stop forgetting my name, B.” 

“Um, little bird, he forgot my name, not yours.” 

“He substituted my name for yours! That means he forgot my name too!” 

“Boys,” Bruce feels very strongly the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, but forces it down because he’s wearing the cowl, “please stop arguing. Let’s, let’s just finish this. Please,” he whispered the last word, unsure whether it’s a plea or a prayer. 

Tim looks at him, and Bruce has the feeling that Jason, from his own perch, is also looking down at him. Tim nods, and then eerily, both he and Jason say, “Fine,” at the same time. 

Bruce knows that this is not over, not even close, but he’s so relieved that they agreed to shelf this for now. So he says again, making sure he says the right name, “Red Hood, what’s your position?” 

“Up the second rig, Batman,” Jason answers. There’s still an underlying sense of Jason being pissed off, but at least he’s answering Bruce’s questions now. 

“Noted. I’ll drop down on the sellers, and Red Hood, you’ll be coming with me,” Bruce recites the plan. He waits for the confirmation, but it doesn’t come. 

“I thought I’m coming with you?” Why is Tim sounding so confused?

Damn. Damn. Bruce swears. 

“You messed up our name again, didn’t you? Fuck you, B.” 

Bruce swears again. This is going to be a long night. 

“Batgirl, three men your way,” Bruce says. 

“My way? Are you sure, Batman? I’m inside the vents?” Stephanie says. 

This is getting ridiculous. Why does he keep mixing up his children’s name? He doesn’t even have that many of them. “Black Bat, three men your way.”

Cass looks back at him and gives him a smile that promises pain to everyone that dares to come her way. He knows he doesn’t need to give out warnings to Cass, but he still worries. He watches as Cass delivers perfect takedowns one after the other. It calms him, to know that Cass is much, much better than he is. 

The sense of calm doesn’t last though, because his comms hiss alive again. “Did you just forget that I’m Batgirl?” 

Bruce sighs. “No.” That’s the truth, too. He just mixes up the names sometimes. More than once, he wishes that his children aren’t passing down names and taking new ones every other year. It’s getting harder and harder to keep everything straight in his head. 

“Wait, is this the thing Red keeps telling me about? You mixing everyone’s names up?” Stephanie sounds absolutely gleeful. 

“No, Robin. Focus on the mission, please.” 

Cass, who had casually taken down every thug in the area, walks over calmly to Bruce, and says, “You just called her Robin.” 

Bruce freezes. Oh no. Now Stephanie’s never going to let this go. 

“Did you just call me Robin?” There it is. 

“Sorry, Batgirl.” 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe it! Batman, mixing up people’s names! O sent me that recording of you calling Wing Robin, but I thought that’s that! I can’t believe it!” 

“He mixes up Red Robin and Red Hood all the time,” Cass says. 

“You didn’t! B! No wonder Red keeps bitching about it to me!” 

“Are you in the command room yet, Batgirl?” Bruce swallows down his embarrassment. Focus on the mission. Focus on the mission. 

“Yeah, I’m copying their data as we speak, B-man. How many times have you mixed up the Reds?” 

Bruce considers lying, but then, Cass is right there. She would bust him right away. 

“Three,” he grits out. 

“Four,” Cass says. 

“Three. The time with Condiment King doesn’t count.” 

“Condiment King? Oh this conversation is gold. Please tell me the story, BB.” 

Bruce closes his eyes. For the umpeteenth time, he asks himself, why are his children like this? 

[captainshazamerica]

If this Bruce doesn't adopt Tim I will! But I'm kinda scared for Tim I mean he's either gonna end up with Buce or the titans at some point, im afraid that something terrible is gonna happen his family and then titans/bruce takes him in? That boy loves batman and robin so much like even his family seeing the news knew how much it would upset him although I will say that for the brain that kid has he makes some pretty stupid decisions, hes driving around GOTHAM plastered in the bat-symbol that's not a good idea! the amount of lunatics that roam free in Gotham (and possibly have escaped from arkham) and hate the bat and hes driving around with the bat symbol on him KID be careful!

Some kind of Anti-fear toxin does seem more accurate cuz he's clearly taking something to not be afraid. Maybe it's something he found in Gotham and decided to try it and got addicted so he's using that lab place to try recreate it? and maybe he can't recreate it perfectly cuz in the crowbarring scene he seemed kinda anxious about his surroundings and he'd just taken that inhaler thing to overcome fear so I dunno?? Or maybe he went to arkham to see Crane for some reason and Crane has orchestrated the whole thing and told him about the drug but then wouldn't Crane have to know everyone's identity then? Dude I dunno I need more episodes even tho the low quality glitchyness is painful lol

There's probably an abundance of rooms to choose from at Wayne manor yet Jason takes Dicks old room and keeps the flying graysons posters up! I like to think that he does view dick as an older brother and just took his room to kind of have a connection to him and that he admires him hence the graysons posters being left up, yooo dick calling him his brother! I really want a nice family reunion with dick jason and bruce 💕

Babs was too mean to bruce when she went off like I get where she's coming from but yo lady his son just died dial it down like a notch yikes but also babs being like 'i wonder how long it'll take for bruce to replace jason and dick is all 'what no the last thing bruce is gonna do is rope another kid into this mess'. Cut to scene of Bruces potential robin folder 😅 but I also like that dick was trying to be considerate and compose himself for bruce but once he found out that bruce is idiot enough to pull another kid into this, that that's when he got mad and bruce so brokenly begging dick to come back and be robin 😢😢😢

I know the show is constantly trying to push bruce out/sideline him cuz it's a titans show not a bruce wayne show and I know they're going for a different portrayal of bruce which I'm not complaining about I do like this version of bruce (more than I thought actually) and this universe but I feel like they could have gave more cracks you know, I like that they showed him trying to avoid the reality of jasons death and just not stopping not even for a second and just immediately jump into another case and that breakdown verge where he's begging dick to be robin and then when he finally I guess let's the weight of jasons loss sit on him to the point where he whacks in jokers head with a crowbar just like he killed jason (he could have killed joker so many other ways like a less violent bullet to the head but oh no brucey crowbars him to death!!)

There's a lot of character stuff that i do like but that scene where he's in the cave on his knees scrubbing his sons blood out of the suit he died in, the suit that he only ever wore because of batman. 😢 I feel like they could have had him crack there and let out a gut wrenching scream and then just continue on doing what he was doing as if nothing happened and dick walking in on that should have had more of a reaction!? like he could have stopped in his tracks at the sight of his brothers blood all over his father and bruce screaming, dick could have like took a step back almost like he's gonna run but forces himself to stay there, because who wouldn't want to run from that and no matter how much horrible things you've dealt with before sometimes your brain does just take over against your will and makes you react, the rest of the scene just could have played out the way it did. Literally one ounce more emotion is all I wanted.

No one really emotionally cracked at jasons death. I get that it just happened and that people put walls up and denial can be such a prominent thing when a loved one dies but it couldn't have been that difficult to put in little mannerisms now and again to show that everyone is deeply hurt but holding it in. Honestly gar seemed more hurt to me than dick did. But I do like that dick reacted in detective mode and started trying to figure things out from jasons side so at least there's that.

This redhood is defo not an anti hero he has well and truly landslided into villian territory and I dunno how that's gonna be reconciled? they better not kill him off! and they better not just straight up keep redhood/jason as a full on villian! but if they do get through to jason and bring him back a little how the heck is that little man gonna deal with what he did to Hank?? I feel like they had a bond you know and for all Hanks talk about putting Jason down I really don't think that Hank would actually have killed him even if it came down to Hanks life vs Jasons I think Hank would rather die than kill Jason (but that's heavily biased cuz in my mind jason is my son and I freaking love hank sooo) but Hank to me puts on a hard front like 'yeah I'll get in your face I'll come at you b*tch' but internally he's like 'yeah I'll come at you to help you' 😅 like internally he defo has a lot of soft spots though that's not to say he'd be like this for someone like the joker or scarecrow or whatever guys like that he'd be like no screw you you die or go to arkham like byeee

Nevermind how jason is gonna come back from this though HOW IN THE ACTUAL SH*T is dawn gonna come back from this!!?!!

Random side note here but imagine Jasons first time in the batcave he would be so excited and trying to mess with everything and being like ohh what's that do and pressing random buttons and bruce having a hernia trying to get jason to stop before he accidentally blows the cave up 😅 also he has probably been caught several times trying to 'borrow' the batmobile, I can just picture him trying to sneak down the halls of the manor without the floor creaking and making it all the way into the cave and doing a victory dance cuz he didn't get caught and he hops on into the batmobile in his pj's and let's out a scream cuz alfred is sitting in the freakin passenger seat waiting for him and then they just hang out in the batmobile alfred had the good foresight to bring a flask of tea books and a blanket for jason

Speaking of Alfred I think it would have been more angsty and hurtful if Alfred died shortly after Jason and after a few days Jason claws his way out his grave and the first thing he sees is Alfreds headstone and that's how he finds out Alfred died : (((

This is so long girl I'm sorry I know it doesn't seem like it but I did restrain myself 😅 one more thing before I go maybe this Dick is the absolute worst mf and the reason babs feels betrayed by him and is so upset with him could be that he left her (or cheated on her) with Dawn cuz of that weird flashback thingy in the other season where dick dawn was a thing I dunno I hope not though that would be ughhh

Oh crap, you right about probably something bad will happen to Tim for Bruce or Titans to take him in, I was gonna say he could just demand to be in their lives to save Bruce/Dick like in the comics but he also has kinda shitty parents normally and these people seem cool so really it could go either direction, but like it’s Titans so it doesn’t look good lol. Also, I wonder if it’s gonna be Dick who is basically gonna adopt him this time since we already had a huge track record in just 2 seasons lmao. But I know right, true I like how his parents knew immediately how much the news would effect him 😭 I hope he goes down the making himself robin and forcing himself in Dick and Bruce’s life xD I love that route. Lmao, the kid is all book smart, very little street smart when it doesn’t have to do with outsmarting someone XD

I was also rewatching and that gas he takes def has to be some anti fear toxin cause he mentions fear so many times and flash backed to his near death fall, which he felt was probably holding him and back and thus had to prove himself and adds to whatever is influencing him. But ohhh he did seem pretty dang anxious at the carnival grounds, that’s a really interesting theory but recreating something he found hmm, I can see that.

Apparently according to a YouTube who got to see the first 5 episodes, we find out what his deal is a lot more in episode 5, so one more week hopefully

Brooo trueee, I couldn’t believe jason took dick’s room and like didn’t even change anything. Like Jason looks or at least use to look up to Dick SO much, like in his first episode in the first season, he went on quite a lot about how much he had always wanted to meet him and how much he looked up to him, which is probably also fueling his red hood rage, being hurt by your idol and brother like he did in S2 must have really just killed the boy. But yes omg, there freaking better be a dang family reunion scene like, after so much angst we deserve that 😭

And yesss, I loved seeing how mature Dick is getting and just how much he is growing as a character, the fact he was so calm and considerate with Bruce at first really shows that compared to s1 Dick, only breaking when Bruce tried to get more kids involved. That scene by Brenton was sooo well acted omg, the way he yelled that he doesn’t want to robin again, heartbreaking man. And Bruce begging like that omg

Yeah, this version of Bruce is def so different than any Bruce we have seen on screen before, like def the most emotionally constipated, and that’s saying something xD But I like how they are taking a risk, it also helps Dick’s character more and give him more of an arc, as he seems to be taking on Bruce’s normal role with Jason and red hood. Bro, you are so right omg, like the fact Bruce could have killed the joker in any way and he does it with the dang crowbar. It really shows how broken he really was and why the man shouldn’t depressing any and every damn feeling and emotion lol.

Omg, I love how you have the exact details of what you wanted to happen in that one Bruce and Dick scene 😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 bro if you dont already you should totally write fanfics cause that was so detailed, I love it

Yeah, I do wish someone cracked (other than Bruce lmao) a bit more, but I do think each character reacted in character though, like it is very Dick(at least this version of Dick, other versions may break down tbh) to put everything into solving the case and figuring out what was up, that’s more this version’s way of caring than just breaking down, like he rarely ever has broken down completely. I think dawn could have been a little more emotional about the death (tho she has enough coming for her lmao). Connor didn’t know Jason that well so it makes sense he would just be sad. Gar seemed pretty sad and in character about it, maybe could have had a bit more, same with Kori, tho she showed it by being almost angry and fiercely protective of everyone else, so I think that makes sense for her. It would have been interesting to see how Rachel and Rose would have reacted though (where did rose go btw?! She would so have a reaction to Jason’s death). But yeah, i wish there was more resolution and break downs for Jason, but also it may have just not felt real since they weren’t there? But I agree

You think? Idk, I think they could def still make him an anti hero towards the end, especially if it’s crane behind the whole thing. Cause if they don’t they are gonna have to go down the gosh awful overused villain gets redeemed while he dies/only to die right freaking after , and I will be so freaking livid if they do that omg. Like they better freaking not. But true, he would be broken by what he did to Hank, oh yikes. But I can see him then that leading to the anti hero path, like he would never go back to be on the titans cause he would feel too guilty, thus giving more of a reason for the anti hero life. But I know, I loved Jason and Hank’s love hate relationship 😭😭😭😭 You know Hank secretly loved the kid and probably saw himself in him.

Yikes poor dawn, you right. Like I have no idea how she is gonna be now like wow.

OMG GIRL, You are on a hc angst train today!!!! That scenario of Alfred dying right after jason and Jason climbing out to see Alfred’s?! Heartbreaking!

But I can’t believe they killed Alfred off so casually tho😭

Omg I swear if they freaking show Dick having cheated on Babs I will be so freaking pissed omg, he better have not! Im hoping they had a more high school romance thing/grew up together then got together type of thing

And omg don’t apologize I LOVED IT and reading your asks!!! I feel ya too!

[adragonhoardingstories]

Daminette AU (Part 9)

Marinette just hung back with Chloe and watched The Trainwreck happen. 

At first Lila had turned on her, tried to ask her about what they were talking about but she simply told her that it was none of their business. 

It seemed like some of the more sensible people in their class was having their turn with the shared braincell because they rose up against Rossi and started questioning her on her lies. 

That is, until someone interrupted them. "Alright punks, everyone from Paris can shut the hell up, you can solve your issues later. I'm Jason Todd, taking over your tour group and I will not tolerate any lies and slander about my family."

Marinatte blinked at the man she saw and pinched herself. Yep, not a dream. 

He was tall and obviously very bulit, was wearing a leather jacket and rocked a while streak in her hair but most importantly, he was very familiar.

How could she have missed this? 

The Waynes, of which Tim and Jason were part of was not unfamiliar to her. She had switched with Damain several times when he was with his family.

Though, she reasoned, it was mostly when he was in mask that they switched. When they switched outside of masks, Marinette tended to make the swiftest exist so that they didn't see her eyes. That caused that she had barely seen the other family members of Damian. 

Which was also apparently why she hadn't known until then that Jason Todd, Damian's older brother was also her Gotham childhood best friend. 

"Jay-jay?" She couldn't help but ask. 

Jason's head snapped to her, his hand going to his head and wincing. 

He shook his head. 

"Do I know you? I feel - I feel like I know you but I can't remember...from where."

It wasn't strange that he didn't recognize her, she had changed a lot since those days but holding his head and that wince certainly was concerning, notwithstanding of the fact that her magic could see death surrounding him. 

...so much death...he shouldn't even be alive…

She suddenly felt an inexplicable need to cataclysm a clown.

"It's Marinette." She said hesitantly. "You might remember me better as Netta."

He stared at her for a moment before he broke into a grin and the next thing she knew, she was swept up in a bear hug, her feet not even touching the ground. 

"Sunshine! I thought you were dead. You just disappeared one day. Do you know how worried I was? What happened?"

He put her back on the ground and ran a hand through her hair - she had never been so thankful for her new pixie cut. 

"Look at you. You're still so tiny, oh my God, I feel the protective instincts kicking in, I need to find the bubble wrap."

Marinette jokingly punched his stomach, both of them completely oblivious to their bewildered audience. 

"I could kick your ass back then and I can still kick your ass now. Don't try me."

"I don't doubt it." He put his hands up in surrender. "But seriously, what happened all those years ago?" 

"Well 'bout a week before I went missing, there was a murder in Crime Alley, the Stevensons."

"The one who got stabbed like 38 times of something."

"No-no, the one who got shot in the balls."

"Oooh yeah, I remember. That was hilarious." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Well somehow they found out that I was present there around the time of the crimes scene and they picked me. Had to give a statement and all that, except they didn't let me go back. Child services made me end up in Paris. "

"But wait - I was with you that night, how come they didn't come after me?"

"Well they did try to get me to tell them where they could find you but I wasn't gonna rat out my best friend." 

"Aww Sunshine." He hugged her again and she laughed. "Enough about me, how did you end up with the Waynes?"

"Well since I didn't have you spotting me, I ended up getting caught by Bruce trying to steal the tires of his car. It was like a week after I last saw you."

She slowly grinned. "You couldn't even last one week without me." 

He laughed before picking her up and putting her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Yes, so don't you dare leave me again. Actually just to be sure, I'm going to kidnap you."

She laughed, not having felt this happy for years, and easily slid out of his grip by vaulting over his shoulders. 

He grinned, turning to look at her, most probably having expected her actions since she never had liked being manhandled. 

"You two know each other?" A very amused voice cut in. She knew that voice. She turned to see one very gleeful Dick Grayson looking at them. 

"Know each other?" Jason laughed while she was just there thinking how pissed Damian was going to be that she met everyone all of his brothers before she did him. "Big Wing, we lived on the streets together, she's literally my partner in crime."

She had almost forgotten that the rest of her class was there but apparently Lila had enough of the attention not being on her. They didn't all know English but all of them could at least understand the basics. 

"I'm not surprised that a thing like her comes from the streets, after everything that she's done to me, it make sense that she's a criminal."

She saw Jason tense up and reach inside his jacket. Both he and Dick reached out to him. She put a hand on his arm and shook his hand. 

"Jason no."

"I won't hurt her, just put the fear of God in her." He hissed. 

"Are you out of your mind?" Dick hissed. "B won't let this pass."

She chose another approach. "Come on Jay-jay, we both know you don't need a gun to put the fear of God in her." Marinette whispered.

His eyes were narrowed. "But it's more effective this way." 

She smiled teasingly, willing her own aura to seek his and calm him down. "Maybe later, there's too many witnesses right now." 

She felt his muscles relax and he gave her a smile. "How did I survive without you?"

"You tell me." She stepped back. 

He sent Dick a look. "I'm still going to tell her a few things but I won't take it out." 

He looked unsure so she pushed. "He won't." It was a warning to Jason as well and both of the boys nodded. 

Dick stepped back to stand next to her while Jason stalked towards the class. 

"You two seem close. He wouldn't just listen to anyone like this after all these years."

"Jason's basically my brother." She said. "I thought he'd be one of my soulmates too but our ways parted before it could form."

"Oh." He said, because how else could you respond to something like this?

"But enough about this," she looked around and saw that they were far enough from everyone. Still she lowered her voice before speaking out the next part. "How have you been Nightwing? It's been a while since we talked."

He startled, turning to look at her, and she could tell that he was prepared for a fight but she was the personification of calmness as she met his eyes. 

He startled in recognition before he relaxed almost immediately. 

"Marinette?" He grinned when she nodded. "Oh Mari, Little D is going to be so happy to see you." 

Jason was not shouting yet but it was a near thing. Dick looked at him then back at her. "Oh this is great, now you only have to meet Tim."

She giggled. "Done that too actually. I bumped into him this morning, he was very very sleep deprived. I gave him my coffee and bought him back here."

He snorted. "You've already won over everyone huh? Bruce's gonna love you. Oooh, Bruce and Damian are coming over. They heard about the liar and wanted to come here personally. This is going to be great." 

But she had zoned out on the last part. There was something wrong here. Her eyes zeroed on a woman, seemingly an employee as they walked towards the group, more specifically towards Jason. 

She had a creepy smile on.

"Jay duck." Marinette screamed, letting her instincts take over. Thankfully, Jason was fast enough. The...needle? The needle stabbed the air instead of his neck and before the woman could do anything else, Marinette was already there and had swiped her off her feet. Jason kneed her unconscious before she reached the ground. 

"How did you-? I didn't even see her?" Dick rushed over. "Little Wing are you alright?"

"Stop your mothering." Jason batted his hands away. "Sunshine saved me, didn't she?" He reached out to ruffle her hair again and at that moment a silver string appeared, linking them. 

Everyone around them fell quiet...that is, until she hissed an I knew it!. Jason laughed, pulling her in a hug while Dick and Chloe congratulated them.