#and i think this also influences how he deals with damian

[dickheadcanons]

the secret key to writing in character dick grayson is that dick does not get enjoyment out of relaxing or doing fun things. its a hard mindset to understand because it's the opposite of what you or i as fandom people experience, but Dick is never shown to do things for fun. if he's watching a movie or playing a game, it's almost always to spend time with other people, not because that's his impulse (and lowkey he sometimes ruins it for other people by never being able to turn off his brain)

now, this is not to say that he's unhappy, or that he doesn't experience happiness in his day to day. but he doesnt get that from the things that we, as comic book readers and fanfiction writers, get enjoyment from.

Dick is the definition of a workaholic. His only enjoyment comes from a job well done, helping people, and sometimes adrenaline (as his only real canon hobby is...skydiving)

Further reading: Flash Plus Nightwing (1997) (hating on the Hardy Boys)

Nightwing (2016) #43 (being unable to take a night off)

Nightwing (1996) #140 (skydiving)

The Titans (1999) #3 (being a terrible film watcher)

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 6 - "I can't wait for you."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: Mentions of blood and injury

Danny stared at the stars above his head, sitting on top of Fenton Works. Even after a week his arm still tingled with phantom pains from his accident. In his left hand was a dagger he hadn't looked at in years now. Was it 6 or 7 years? Danny couldn't really remember. He had been too young when he had made his first decision for himself only.

The fingertips of his right hand traced imaginary patterns over the blade as his eyes searched out different constellations in the night sky. 7 years ago, he would have never imagined for himself a future where he was allowed to follow his own dreams. A week ago he had talked about his dream of becoming an astronaut, exploring the vast space that existed just outside of their own stratosphere.

Now after that the lab accident he had he felt like another dream had gotten shattered by the wheels of fate. It wasn't even his past life from before the Fentons that shattered these dreams, in the way he had feared in the first couple of years after coming to live with them. It where times like these when he would dug out the dagger to take it with him to see the stars.

His eyes turned from the stars to the blade in his hand.

It was a special blade his biological mother had ordered when she learned about having twins. The blade itself was only one half. The flat surface of the handle and the blade on one side while the other appeared like a high quality blade and greatly decorated handle, spoke of the missing part. His dagger was only half of a dagger, the other half was with his twin.

This was the only thing he had taken with him when he had left at the tender age of 5 or was it six? His memory was blurry and back then celebrating your birthday wasn't as big of a deal as it was in the life he had gained with Fentons.

At times Danny wondered why he had been the only one to see it. His twin had gone through the same teachings, the same lessons, the same training, the same mission. Yet Danny had been the only one who saw the way their grandfather really was. The manipulation, the gaslighting, the brainwashing. Danny had seen it all and realized it pretty soon and when he had talked with his twin about it?

He had hit a wall. Grandfather knows what he's doing. Stop imagining things, Danyal.

"I can't wait for you. Damian, if you can't see what I do, then I can no longer stay here and wait."

These were the last words he had said to his twin after another argument about their grandfather gaslighting them about a mission result. It was right there and then that Danny decided he needed to leave and that he did.

Somehow, as a five years old he had managed to get all the way to America before they found him again. And when he refused to come back they, his grandfather's mans, attacked without remorse. After all it was better to get rid of loose ends than to let them frail your masterpiece.

But ending up near death in the middle of a forest where the Fentons happen to be camping was his luck back then. They probably thought that he wouldn't make it, that Danny wouldn't have the will to continue barely breathing in his own pool of blood but Danny proved them wrong. He did have the will and he had continued crawling until Jazz had found him.

That was how his life had changed the first time. The Fentons took him in, allowed him to dream and to build a future and family of his own. Now this lap accident was making changes to his life again and Danny couldn't help but think back to his previous life. "I wonder if Damian finally saw what I did or if he still is under grandfather's influence…"

Months later Danny was introduced to an apparent family friend of his parents. One Danny felt was too much of a fruitloop and gave him concerning flashbacks to his grandfather but was still easier to deal with. But following all the incidence of conflicts with the fruitloop was also a moment to which said fruitloop somehow convinced his parents to let him drag Danny to a Gala.

Danny hadn't paid any attention to the guests of this gala, no he had taken the first chance he got to escape the way Sam had advised him before to do, and fled to a balcony. Breathing in the clear night air Danny loosened the tie he was made to wear. He did not notice the soft click of the balcony door behind him.

"Danyal." Danny whirled around and pulled out a hidden blade he kept on his person more out of habit than anything else. He hadn't heard his name spoken like that in years, even the fruitloop and a more American dialect when it came to saying his name.

He froze at the mirror image with green eyes that stood before him. That couldn't be could it?

"Damian?" The other teen nodded and Danny only relaxed his stance ever so slightly. His shoulders were still tense and he was still ready to spring into action or use his ghost powers to escape if needed.

Neither of them spoke a word as they took in each other's appearance and Danny hid a small chuckle as his twin clicked his tongue at his defensive stance, crossing his arms.

"I see, you still have that half of a dagger mother had made for us."

"The only thing I took with me when I left."

His twin clicked his tongue once more before reaching into a hidden pocket and pulling out the other half of that dagger. Showing that he also had kept his half of it throughout all these years.

"There is no longer a need for you to wait, Danyal."

Danny blinked and completely dropped his defensive stance, hearing the unspoken words. He let a small smile tuck his lips upwards. It appears that there was a lot he had to catch up on with his twin.

"I never waited to begin with Damian. I ghosted you right after." He chuckled lightly, knowing his brother wouldn't understand until later.

"Don't lie, Danyal. You took your half of the dagger with you." His brother frowned before smirking at him. "You said you couldn't wait anymore but taking it with you was clearly telling me that you would still do so anyway."

[stealingyourbones]

I have a really upsetting fic idea. ALSO TW for Suicide Attempt (but it's not actually a suicide but the Young Just Us and Batfam don't know that) sooooo, if you uhm don't feel up to checking on this, you can just ignore it!!!!!!!! Please!

After saving Bruce from the timestream, Tim is slowly becoming distant from the Batfamily. They notice, but no one had the courage (except Alfred because he's just awesome like that) to reach out, using having to deal with other things first as an excuse. Besides, Tim looked fine. He even said that he was hanging out with someone in his civilian life, and he looked hapoy about it.

Kon tries to reach out, even Bart tries to have a conversation with Tim. Cassie invites Tim on outings. Tim was... not behaving weirdly, but he was making death jokes more often. They thought it was Jason's influence. But the death jokes also become a bit more worrying, a bit more gorey. They tell him so, asking if he's doing okay, if he needs to talk to someone. Tim smiles at them and hugs them, telling them hoe thankful he was to have them and that he's never been happier. Of course, that causes alarm bells to ring in their minds.

Kon tries to tell Dick about this. He was brushed off. He tried to tell Steph. She said she'll check up on him regularly but also says that Tim was fine. Kon even tries to reach out to Jason. JASON! And HE seems to be the only one concerned! Jason says he'll talk to Tim, and talk to Alfred because Jason isn't as emotionally equipped for all this but he does want the Little Bird to be okay.

And then, one day, Kon hears Tim's heartbeat stop. He flies out of the Kents' house while sobbing, a small resignation in his chest but also denial because he knew, HE KNEW, that with how Tim was behaving, there was a chance that Tim might... Might...

He goes to Tim's Nest near Crime Alley, but he couldn't find him there. He goes to Tim's other safehouses, goes to high places, explores alleys, but he couldn't find Tim anywhere.

As long as there wasn't a body, Kon wasn't going to lose hope that Tim might be alive.

So, finally, he gives up, calls for Bart and Cassie for help, and then goes to the Wayne Manor to talk to Alfred. The old butler invited Kon in, and Kon began telling him everything thatvwas going on, his fears of Tim being dead, and his hope that Tim might still be alive. That maybe he was in some place where his super hearing couldn't hear through, or his supervision couldn't see.

Batman and Robin (Kon was a bit bitter for Tim), enters the kitchen, and Alfred relays everything Kon has told him.

No expression was on Damian's face, but Bruce absolutely crumples.

"He's not dead," said Bruce, clenching his fists and stomping away, probably to the batcave. "He couldn't be!"

But the Batcomputer couldn't track Tim's vitals.

But it did track where he had last been. Tim was at the top of Wayne Tower, standing at the very ledge. Bruce tried to look for video feeds. And when he found some, he began raging and cursing the security guards most likely sleeping on the job. Tim would never drug someone to his benefit. Lies and deception? Yes. And, he had always been sneaky.

Bruce played the video, and he could see and watch Tim... Talking? He was talking to himself, but the video feed was too grainy. Bruce knows that the security cameras were state of the art, always constantly upgraded to make sure he would get quality videos to look through. Did Tim know this? Why didn't the security guards report this?

But Bruce didn't have time to think of other things anymore, because Tim was falling.

"No..."

Tim didn't look scared, he looked excited for some reason, even through the grainy quality. He was laughing, he didn't have any gear on him, he was nearing the ground.

And the video feed cuts there, turning black. Alfred was in the background, walking up to Bruce's chair with a hand on his chest, having just finished a call with various batfamily members to check on the scene while he and Bruce and the young Kon watched Tim dive off the roof.

Bruce was searching for more feeds, but it was just the same. Oracle says that everything in WE during that time of Tim's fall turned off. But that's not what Bruce wanted to know. He couldn't bring his hands to see the next part after the blackout. He couldn't move his shaking hands to press play after the blackout.

"Bruce," Kon spoke softly. "I didn't see any blood around WE. This was minutes after I couldn't hear his heartbeat."

"B," Dick's voice echoed throughout the cave. "There's nothing here. I can't find Tim anywhere."

Where could Tim have gone?

a few months ago, days after returning from the time stream...

There was this interesting guy, you see. He was looking around with a Camera in his hand, taking pictures of Gotham's buildings/architecture.

Except, he was taking the pictures... Wrong. "How can you expect to take good pictures like that?" asked Tim, because he's an asshole like that.

The guy turns to him, raising a brow. Then, he chuckled holding the camera out. "How do you take them, then?"

Tim took the camera, made a grand show of how to position himself, how to adjust the lenses, and then took a picture of the man who might be a bit younger than him from how youthful he looked, which was accentuated from the orange sunset behind him shining like a halo behind his head, the gotham architectures looking like arches welcoming the man into the city, gargoyle statues paused in their roars, cars lined up in a solemn procession, and people faced towards Danny almost in an excited bow. Tim didn't know how he managed to capture such good timing for all this, but this has to be one of his best captures yet.

He hands the camera back proudly, and the man whistles appreciatively. "You're right, you do have the right to insult me, oh great photographer."

Tim blushes. "Can you send me a copy of that picture?" he asks instead of retorting. Then, he opens his wallet to bring out his business card, writing at the back with the pen he brought out to write one of his active emails (and phone number).

"I'm Tim, by the way," he said.

The man took the card, chuckling when he found Tim's initials for his last name. "Timothy Jackson D.W.?"

Tim shrugged. This man doesn't seem to know him, and he's not gonna change that.

"Well, D.W.," said the man, holding a hand out, "I'm Daniel William F."

Tim raised a brow. "Shall I call you First D.W.?"

"Please, call me Danny."

Tim smirked. "Only if you call me, Tim."

Danny smirked back. "Nah. Last D.W. kinda fits you."

"It's a mouthful, moreso than Timothy."

"It drives you crazy, I think it's worth it."

It all felt surreal. He was bantering easily with a... Well, he wasn't a stranger anymore. But, it felt nice.

More banters and conversations ended up with Tim inviting him for coffee, and then the two of them having a caffeine drinking contest (much to the horror of many staff and patrons), and then to Tim asking when Danny was free, landing another outing together, and they meet, and then there's another outing, and another, and another, and...

Tim had never felt so happy. So calm. So peaceful. Danny felt the same.

And then, Danny said, "I have a secret I want to share... I mean, since we're far away from what makes this dangerous, I just thought that I should come clean with you before I ask if we could... Y'know... Take this relationship to the next level?"

Tim trusts Danny. So, he readies himself to listen. And he listens to Danny's story.

He lives in a whole other dimension, where he fights ghosts on a daily basis as a ghost himself. That he came visiting other dimensions as a way to cope and escape his life in the other world sometimes. He has a family and friends, he's scared of his parents but he loves them, he went through various heartbreaks, but still managed to push through.

"If you want to run away, you can," he said.

But Tim hugs him, hugs him and kisses him. Danny kisses back.

"I love you," he said.

They kiss some more.

But you see...

When Danny said that he wanted to go bring Tim to meet his sister, Tim, in his sleep-deprived mind that makes the most horrible and dumbest choices known to man, blurted out that he wanted to sky dive from the roof of WE, and then fall into the portal and into Danny's bed. It sounded great, it sounded fun. Danny was all for it, as long as Danny is holding on to Tim while they fell. But keeping up invisibilIty while also trying to keep a portal open sucks so much power, so, Tim tells him not to bother with Tim. This was such a horrible idea, Danny made sure to keep up the ghostly interference with the cameras. He'll make sure to return Tim by morning, and he really cannot have people noticing Tim about to fall to his death.

Danny's aura lulls some people still within WE to sleep. And then, they jump.

The portal shuts all electricity off in WE, which awakens a whole bunch of people, but not fast enough to see a portal momentarily open and close.

Danny and Tim were laughing as they land on Danny's bed. It was still day time in Danny's world, so he and Tim naps for a little while.

Then, when Tim is more rested and more rational, they meet Jazz.

But it's when he's drinking coffee does Tim's eyes snap open.

"KON HAS SUPERHEARING!"

"Who?"

And that's how Danny found out Tim's secret identity.

[The portal caused WE to lose electricity because Danny was using a whole bunch of energy trying to keep Tim alive, trying to protect Tim from turning liminal, half-ghost, and whatever else could happen from being even slightly affected by the ghost zone]

Danny didn't have enough energy to return Tim, so now Tim was inwardly panicking what will happen once he returns.

But then, Dani suggests to just let Tim be liminal, that way Tim doesn't need to explain. He can just say that he couldn't remember, and his heartbeat won't even be telling them anything because it'll be slowed.

Tim could see the logic-not-logic of it. Except, he feels bad--nope, no he doesn't. The less people knows about other worlds, the better. Bruce just got back, Tim has added some stress towards him for being an idiot and doing that stunt, and he might as well just...

"Will it hurt?"

"Well, since you're being infected, it's like catching a stomach bug. So, you'll probably be miserably out of it for a week or two."

A day before Danny and Tim heads back, Tim gets the authentic experience of eating the Fenton's infected by ectoplasm food. Usually, you'd avoid it. But, well, Tim needed to do this no matter hoe much Danny says that he literally didn't need to do that, oh ancients, babe.

But, Danny's friends are liminal, Jazz is liminal, the Fenton parents are liminal eithout even knowing it.

Tim wants this.

And Tim eats.

It's only when Danny has laid Tim in his bed does Tim finally starts feeling the effects. His body starts sweating, and his head starts feeling foggy. His stomach wasn't aching, but it felt really numb.

Danny, invisible, shushes quietly into Tim's ear. And then disappears when Tim's door opens.

"TIM! Oh god, ALFRED! TIM'S HERE!"

Bruce? Why does Bruce sound like that?

They bring Tim into the medbay, taking blood samples to check if he's really Tim.

And he is.

But then they see something in his blood.

"It's... similar to the Lazarus..."

Tim will take the knowledge about this to his grave... Afterlife... When he fades...

Because Jason will definitely kill him for being stupid. Tim was feeling stupid.

And he was crying.

"It's okay, Tim..."

He doesn't deserve that kind voice. Tim feels like a fake. He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have.

Because he's only going to get worse from here. Jason and Damian would be able to tell how Tim's body was dying, or better yet, getting closer with death.

But Tim won't be dying once the transition is done.

He'll be liminal. He'll be in the middle.

And he was so stupid about it, and none of his family members will know about it and--

"You don't have to tell them about my world, Tim," said Danny. "I'll tell them that I had you swallow some of this... Lazarus water or whatever."

"I did it willingly," whispered Tim, knowing that Damian could hear him either way, evem if he couldn't hear Danny. "I willingly ate it. It's not your fault. Let me own up to it..."

Damian thinks Tim was talking to him.

He relays the message to the others.

Aaaaaaand I'm now out of ideas of what else could happen. I just wanted some Tim Drake whump-not-whump. What Tim did was not cool, not his best ideas, and was probably out of character, and if someone could do this better (more heartwrenching and angsty), PLEASE. DO IT. I just want the Batfam and Tim to suffer.

I-

Anon this is a masterpiece holy shit. Like truly and genuinely this is incredible.

I can’t add anything onto this cause I know if I start writing I simply won’t stop and my carpal tunnel will not vibe with that.

If anyone else wants to add onto this I beg of you to do so because the angst potential is just so positively delicious.

[celaenaeiln]

what do you think are the Batfam’s enneagram types? Specifically Bruce, Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Damian, Barbara and Steph, And anyone else you think important (l think Dick is mostly a type 2 and 1. Haven’t looked into the others yet) I’m asking because I think knowing a character’s personality type (OC or not) can help you write them in character, and I know a personality test probably isn’t going to fit them 100% just like real people but it could be a great guide

Ennegram Chart source

Bruce

Bruce is a 5 no doubt.

I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory. The description is a checklist of his personality traits.

Dick

Dick is 1, 2, and 3.

I would say 3 is his overarching personality, 1 is a secondary/support of the main one - 3 - and 2 is the other half of his personality. The thing about Dick is that he feels an almost pathological need to keep succeeding, keep doing better, and break every limit. It's not for anyone else, it's for himself because he doesn't feel like himself if he's not perfect. All of 1, 2, and 3's traits

Jason

Jason is an 8.

Ever since his Robin days, Jason has always been more on the willful side. As in, I want to do my own thing. Deal with it. And after coming back as Red Hood he wasn't initially self-confident but he's grown into it. No one can influence him to do anything and he's ready to throw hands if someone pushes too much.

Tim

Tim is a 5 or 6.

Smart, genius boy detective obviously (he's no isolated tho) so that explains 5 but Tim leans more towards 6. He's loyal to the cause and he's very responsible. But he's also a huge cute dork who's always on the look out for something that is off and he's always worried and thinking about what's wrong and what could go wrong. He's mainly a 6 with a little bit of 5 added in (perceptive, innovative, sometimes secretive).

Cass

Cass is a 5.

Cass and Bruce are identical. The way they think and act, Cass is a like a Batman 2.0 but better.

Steph

Steph is a 4.

DC really wants her to be a 7-

But I wrote a whole essay on why she's not a 7, but a 4 instead. She's not self-absorbed in the "I only love myself" way, she more of a "How can I constantly improve myself" type. When something bad happens her mind can get really down in the dumps about it but she tries her best to be positive - she's not withdrawn but expressive, dramatic, and temperamental definitely.

Damian

Dami is 3 or 8.

The achiever was instilled in him by his mother to constantly work to be the best at whatever he tries and now it's just a part of his personality. He's very self-conscious. 8 because like Jason, he does what he wants when he wants. No one can tell him what to do (unless it's Dick but gosh Bruce really tried).

Duke

Duke is 9.

Duke is extremely strong-willed but he does it in a nice way. He works towards heroism and every action he takes, it's aimed at helping people. He has a very strong sense of right and wrong and nothing will stop him from doing what is right. That being said, he gets along with everyone and is very easy going and caring, it's just that he won't compromise his morals for it. He's very loving in like a familial way.

Barbara

Barbara is an 8.

Dominant. She has a strong need to be in control at all times and know everything and when something gets in the way of that control, she gets very angry and persistent. She's confident in her abilities and makes decisions in which no one can influence her. She knows what she wants and she will get it whatever may come.

[jasontoddssuper]

Dick being a good eldest sibling and team mom headcanons but written by someone who is actually those things because none of y'all understand how found family works

So first thing's first to avoid any confusion:I headcanon Dick as a tomboy trans woman mostly because i've seen so many transfem DC fans say she's an egg but also a bit because i'm an eldest daughter and she's one of my biggest comfort character's who i relate to a lot and i want representation!Now with that out of the way,let's get into this:

A master chef thanks to growing up being taught how to cook by Alfred!!She used to pack Jason and Tim lunch and still does for Duke and Damian and taught Cass a bunch of dishes

She's very openly affectionate both physically and verbally because of how loving she is and Kory and Roy's influence on her and it's common for her to give her younger siblings hugs and platonic kisses.They're all big fans of it except Jason who wants to keep up his 'i'm so cool and edgy' image and gets embarrased by it unless it's only the two of them and she teases him about it by reminding him how much he used to love it and return her actions when he was Robin and that gets him even more flustered

Extremely supportive of the other Batkids' special interests(Autism is a requirement for being a Batfam member).Her and Jason read classical literature together and she was actually the one who opened the gateway for him by introducing him to Shakespeare,Tim and her play video games often(and she may or may not have briefly developed an Ultra Blue Monster addiction briefly thanks to him,whoops-)and her favorites are the time management genre Animal Crossing and Tloz,participates in gothic subculture with Cass whenever asked,tells Duke all about her times living in the 80s and 90s,takes care of and researches animals with Damian and buys purple things she spots for Stephanie when she's out

Speaking of Stephanie,she took one look at her in her Robin costume and went 'There's no way i'm letting Dad handle her alone'.So Dick becomes her big sister/mother figure and Steph's time as Robin is gentler on her thanks to it and when Gotham ressurects her out of love for and belief in her,she goes to her as soon as she's finished revealing she's alive to Bruce and Tim and Dick is an odd mix between shell-shocked and unbelivably happy as Stephanie squeezes her up into a hug,grinning from ear to ear

Next to Damian,she's the shortest of the Batkids thanks to her estrogen making her shrink and they love making jokes about it and she finds it annoying but won't do anything about it other than glaring and threatning to take away [insert privilige here]

Cass finds out she's a butch lesbian super fast because like.Dick is helping Babs in raising her and Miss Nightwing is out there being built both like the Bat Equivalent to Power Girl and an Amazon while having a wolfcut and dressing like That and Babs is,y'know,*makes Batgirl gestures*.She's gotten an undercut by her Black Bat era and the only reason her and Stephanie pine after eachother for so long is that the mix of their trauma and being eachother's first real female friend makes things confusing asf(Also:They grow up to be only valid Batman x Batwoman ship)

She's constantly switching between encouraging them to be more responsible and mature and telling them to be as chaotic and untamed as possible.The eternal eldest daughter and mom friend conflict😔

Sometimes she treats them as younger than they are but not intentionally-It's just that she's so much older than them that she can't help but see them as little kids.Jason and Tim get the biggest brunt of this,with picking them up like she used to out of habit and 'Timmy' and so forth

The other Batkids have to deal with a LOT of thirst comments about her.Jason,Tim and Duke think they're nasty asf and want them to just end already,Cass wonders how they keep coming up with this shit,Damian dosen't get them and Stephanie thinks they're the funniest shit ever.Dick herself couldn't care about them one way or another

[hot-girls-favorite-is-daniel]

I saw the new mean girls movie here is my opinions

-it was 5 or 6/10 I was entertained but it really wasn’t that great

⚠️SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY⚠️

negatives:

-first of all the songs were changed in some way to make them less theatre-lisous I guess by changing the background music or something. I’m not super into music so I’m not really sure but it just felt watered-down, like I know a lot of the lines and I was like “oh this is where Regina is gunna scream” and then it would be “I wanna wAatch the wOrlD burn” instead of “I WANNNAAAA WATCCHHH THE WORLDD BUUUUUUUEEEEERRNNNNNNNNNN” like erm what and someone gets hurt reprise? Where was the emotion. Okay I feel like Preston right now but Janis needed to be like “ITSS FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIÏIIIIIÍIIIIIIEEEENNNNNNNEEEEEE” but noooooo.

-Second of all they were trying to be as inclusive as possible which means as least offensive as possible, but a lot of the things they changed didn’t even need to be changed + it can be a little offensive too. For example Regina didn’t say “I’ve never weighed more than 115” which isn’t even that offensive? Like it’s not even body shaming anyone because that’s just talking about Regina? Also they changed Karen’s last name, which was also unnecessary. ANDDD despite trying to make it less offensive Damian’s personality was still just “gay” so like if your going to fix it do it right. Also you can’t really make a not even slightly offensive mean girls, that’s just kinda the humor of the movie?

-They added phones and based a good amount of the movie off social media, which speaks for itself. But it’s like the people don’t know how the internet works, or Highschool because everyone pulling out their phones to film 24/7 was very unrealistic, yes there are kids that do that but it’s not like someone spills water at you and suddenly everyone has their flash pointed at you. And when things would blow up it’s like, “do these famous influencers really care that this random Highschool got some water poured on her?” And the way people talked about it like everyone knows what’s going in that random Highschool? -Janis was a lesbian, I mean this one wasn’t really that big of a deal? But I just think a lot of the bullying Regina did was starting a rumor based on idk stereotypes or something. So I kind of liked that it was up for debate or when she was like “I’m not gay I just dress and act like me.” Idk I didn’t really care though.

-most of the original jokes just weren’t funny, when that kid broke the 4th wall when they were apologizing, it could have been funny but it just really wasn’t.

-WHAT HAPPENED TO JINGLE BELL ROCKS NOBODY KNOWS THE SONG THEY DANCED TOO 😭😭😭

-overall it felt like Riverdales Heathers and it did not “Atteee.”

positives:

-A lot of the actors were very good especially Regina’s

-Probably the funniest joke was the boy mean girls, when he was like “Kevin stop trying to make -I forgot- happen! It’s not going to happen!” “UGH GET OFF MY DICK!”

-The lighting was really really good

-I think I liked Aaron more than og Aaron idk

-Some of the side characters were funny

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

Shadows Entwined: part 9

BatmanVsTmnt!Leonardo x sidekick!reader

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 / Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Bonus (18+)

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A/N: I just passed my exam and finished yet another part of Shadows Entwined!🤩💙 It’s not super long this time. Due to my exam I decided to cut it a little short this time around, but I hope it’s still enjoyable😘💙

---------------

Warnings: None💙

The reader and the turtles are 19.

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That day, all up on till the sun disappeared below the horizon, was relatively uneventful. While the sun stood in the sky, the turtles slept away in their rooms, while you, Damian and Barbara stayed in the Batcave with Alfred, keeping an eye on Bruce, and working away, trying to figure out where Ra’s al Ghul and Shredder was hiding out, and the much more pressing question; what were they working on? Why were the two villains working together?

You, Barbara and Damian had all decided to stay in costume, just in case any of the four terrapins would wake up. But as you pulled on your mask in your room, you couldn’t help but feel a rush in your stomach at the thought of the night before. What Leo had said about your face made you smile like crazy, and the thought of how close you had been to… how close you had been to kiss Leo made you gitty. Of course you couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if you had kissed, finding yourself daydreaming on your way down to the Batcave with a small skip in your step, thinking of how Leo’s lips would have felt against yours.

But then the sobering reality hit you as soon as you entered the Batcave, the sight of your still unconscious father reminding you of all the other things that happened the night before. The towering gothic halls of Arkham. How terrified you had been while Leo had been under the influence of the Crane Gass, unable to do anything as he seemed terrified that you wouldn’t look him in the eyes, even though you had never said such a thing. And how your father, the dark knight, was turned into a mutant bat before your very eyes. Suddenly your little daydream about the almost kiss with Leo wasn’t the only thing on your mind.

It was around dinner time that the turtles woke up. At that point the dark had already fallen over Gotham, the sun being hidden behind a thick layer of dark clouds, the city rarely having more than a few hours of life during the day.

Sitting down next to Leo as you ate, your heart couldn’t help but flutter at the small smile he shot at you, his blue eyes twinkling a little as they searched for yours. It was clear that he also remembered the night before, both the good and the bad parts, seeming a little unsure if he was still in your good grace. But the smile you sent back at him, made him relax with a silent sigh, finally letting him eat without his heart jumping like mad.

After dinner, all of you went straight back to work, looking through any possible leads on where Ra’s and Shredder could be, while Alfred continued his care of Bruce, in the company of a worrisome Robin and a curious yet slightly scared Mikey. And then, lo and behold, Batgirl struck gold, showing you all her findings on the big screen of the computer.

“The Wayne Enterprises’ container ship that was moving the Cloud Seeder to Bludhaven, was hijacked last night”, Batgirl explained, reading up from her findings. “The thieves then smuggled the Cloud Seeder back into Gotham port”.

Raph grumbled with his arms crossed and his teeth clenched. “While we were dealing with those freaks in Arkham”. He was right. Arkham had been nothing but a distraction.

Donatello, who was seated in the chair right in front of the big computer, looked at the screen in thought, a finger tapping on his chin, before he seemed to have a realization, tapping away on the keys.

“With the machinery the Foot has stolen, I think they’re building something that’ll mix the ooze with Joker’s formula, and launch the Joker-ised ooze into the clouds above the city”, he said, pulling up pictures of the machinery for you all to see.

“And when it rains down, it’ll turn everyone in Gotham into a monster mutant like Batman”, Leo said, dreading in his voice. Having fought against mutant Batman was one thing, but a whole city? And not just any city, but your city. Yet another reason for Leo to hate everything the Foot and Shredder stood for.

“Dudes!”, Mikey yelled in eagerness from Batman’s table, causing all of you to turn, fearing the worst. Even Robin jumped from his chair, seemingly ready to fight whatever threat Mikey had seen. But there was no threat. Just Mikey screaming beside Bruce Wayne. “I’m freaking out here!”, he said, placing both hands on his head, as if he was trying to keep his mind from exploding. “Did everyone else know that Batman is Bruce Wayne?!”

The silence that followed, only broken by the smack of Raph’s face palm, spoke for the situation itself. You might not have been the biggest fan of Raph’s way of doing things, but you could not deny how much you related to that smack against his forehead.

“I mean, you knew the Batcave was under Wayne Manor”, Donnie said with a raised brow bone. He knew that his little brother wasn’t the sharpest knife in the draw, but he had never thought that such a revelation would take so long for Mikey to realize.

“I’m just saying it’s a lot to take in”, Mikey said, stretching his face in thought, before he rested his elbows against Bruce, causing Alfred to see red in the corner of his eyes. “Rich and cool! Like leave something for the rest of us guy!” Alfred let out a loud sigh, before he started moving Mikey away from Bruce, causing the orange clad turtle to yell out in protest at the butler. “I’m going, I’m going, okay!”

You looked at Leo with a questionable look, and all he could do was sigh with a small nod. Yes, Mikey was always like that.

“Do we have any idea where Shredder and Ra’s are building this machine?”, you asked, turning back towards Batgirl and Donnie, feeling Leo’s eyes on you, along with the small tug at the corner of his mouth. Apparently you were asking the right questions. And much to your luck, that question sparked a thought in Batgirl’s head.

“I don’t know exactly how Joker makes his venom, but I do know where the components would be”, Batgirl said, leaning over Donnie in order to press on the computer keys. His small flustered expression made you choke down a chuckle. Oh, how you were going to press Batgirl with your knowledge. Even Leo seemed to notice, enhancing small glances with you. Both of you knew something, that much was obvious. Leo poked at Donnie with a small finger, causing the purple clad turtle to scowl at him. “Ace Chemicals”, Batgirl continued, pulling up a picture of the facility. “It’s where the Joker was created, when he fell into a vat of, you know, chemicals. So if they need venom, they’ll be there”.

“But it’s walled off”, Leo pointed out, noting the high walls and barbed wire. “Easy to defend”.

“So what?”, Raph said, sounding frustrated. “If they’re dugg in and ready for a fight, then we bring them a freaking fight”, he continued, slamming his fists together with a dark smile.

“We aren’t doing anything”, a deep voice sounded behind you. You turned in joy, seeing Alfred helping your father up to stand, Robin running to his side in order to help.

“Master Bruce you’re not well”, Alfred said in concern, wishing Bruce would sit down once again.

“I’m as well as I need to be”, Bruce grumbled, taking the drop out of his arm, his gaze turning to the turtles. He stared at them for a moment, before walking to his neatly folded costume on a nearby table. “Batgirl and Robin are coming with me to Ace. (H/N) stays in the manor. The turtles are going home”.

“What?”, Mikey exclaimed in sadness and shock as Bruce pulled on his costume over his head. “C’mon, we know your secret identity now! Our team up have been surmounted!”

“I gave you a change”, Bruce said in a stern voice, turning directly towards the terrapin brothers. “You four are impulsive, and you don’t follow orders”. His eyes narrowing at them. “I want you out of Gotham!”

“Uh, father”, Robin said, his small frame stepping between them. “Look, it pains me to say this, but the turtles saved you in Arkham. They are valiant allies! Even the dumb one! Michelangelo”.

“Hey!”, Mikey exclaimed in a displeased expression. “Not cool!”

“If it wasn’t for them, Joker would have never gotten close enough to inject me in the first place”, Bruce said in a scowl as he closed the clasp on his cape, before pulling the mask up over his head, once again becoming the dark knight of Gotham City, before turning his back to them. “This is not up for discussion”.

Leo felt the burning stair from Batman, telling him to do exactly as he had been told too. To leave Gotham. But Leo’s heart stung at the thought, because leaving Gotham meant not just leaving the city, but leaving you. Leo once again thought back to the visions he had seen under the influence of the Crane Gass. How he had scared you. How you had feared him. He still did not know if these visions had been real, but never did he wish for those visions to be real. He hoped that none of it had been true and just his mind playing tricks on him. But in reality, Leo did not know. He remembered how scared that you had been when you entered Arkham, and how fearful you had been when you walked the halls, and the more Leo thought about it, the more it unsettles him. Maybe Batman was right. Maybe it was best if you stayed in the Wayne Manor where you could be safe while Batman, Robin and Batgirl headed out. And maybe, just maybe it was best if Leo and his brothers left. Leo had scared you once and he did not wish to do it again, even if it was going to hurt him.

“Maybe he’s right”, Leo mumbled, looking down at his feet, not wanting to meet your confused eyes. He could almost hear your heart crack just a little inside your chest, not wanting to believe what you were hearing as he turned towards his brothers. “Following Batman’s lead took us to Arkham and distracted us from Shredder”, he said, not noticing the deepening frown on Raph’s face. We’d be better off on your own”.

“No! No! He ain’t right!”, Raph yelled, pushing back his brothers so he could storm forward. He pushed the leader in blue so hard that he tumbled, only just catching himself before he fell onto you, your eyes meeting once again, sending shock waves through the two of you. Leo felt his mouth dry out as he stared into your eyes, knowing full well that they would be the hardest thing for him to leave behind. The hurt in your eyes and the way his heart was aching, making him freeze in place, unsure of what to do or say. Leo did not want to go. He did not want to leave you. Could he just stand there and look at you forever he would, but sadly, your father did want it to be like that.

“Look, Batman”, Raph said, making his way to your father, who was busy assembling his beloved utility belt. “I get it! The whole brooding loner thing, sitting on top of roof tops, mumbling about how you’re the only one that can stand up to evil in your own city. That’s my whole deal! I love that stuff! And I totally agree that my brothers are annoying, unbearably so sometimes”.

“Uhm”, Leo said, finally realizing that Raph had been talking the whole time the two of you had been locked in each other’s eyes. “Where are you going with this?”

“Teh!”, Raph said annoyed, turning back to Batman. “That’s why. When things get though, I don’t even bother with them. I go off on my own and do things my way!”

“He does do that”, Donnie said, Mikey agreeing with a sounding nod.

“Still doesn’t explain where he’s going”, you whispered, making Leo hum in agreement.

“Yeah, but here’s the thing”, Raph continued. “Every single time, I just get into more trouble and my brothers have to bail me out”.

"It's true!”, Mikey chimed in. “Every time”.

“Sure we make mistakes. Sure we make the wrong moves”, Raph went on, ignoring his little brother. “But we can’t get better-”. Raph grabbed onto Batman’s arm in order to turn him around to face him, making you, Batgirl, Robin and Alfred gasp in surprise. No one just grabbed onto Batman nor Bruce Wayne like that. That was just not how it worked. “-If you don’t trust us”. The turtles, seeming to understand the severity of Raph’s actions, watched with wide eyes. Donnie even covered his mouth, Leo’s eyes going wide and Mikey gasping out loud. Batman said nothing but just narrowed his eyes at the square jawed mutant, almost daring him to continue. “We’re a family, and learning from your mistakes together, is how a family works”.

“This is not a family”, Batman rumbled, bumping his shoulder against Raph’s as he walked past him. “It’s a team”.

“Ain’t that the same thing?”

That comment made Batman halt in his actions. It was as if those words had touched a nerve deep within him. Batman said nothing but stared forward, his thoughts running wild in his head. Raph’s words echoing in his head as he looked to Alfred, Robin, you and Batgirl and then to the turtles, only to notice how close all of you were standing. And how you and Leo seemed to seek each other out in the small crowd. Just like he had noticed the two of you do in Arkham. And on the roof. Even during your first meeting and fight together.

“You’re right”, he finally said, making you all stare at him in disbelief. You felt your palm begin to sweat as Batman made his way towards Leo, determination in his eyes. “Let’s stop Ra’s and Shredder”, he said, before extending a hand to the leader of the turtles. “Together”.

Leo looked at Batman’s hand, extending his own hand in order to shake it, when suddenly…

“Awesome! Dips on the Batmobile!”, Mikey yelled, jumping over the head of a growling Raph, skipping right by you in a rush and right through Leo and Batman’s handshake.

“Uh, we have our own ride”, Leo said after Mikey, not sure if his forgetful lille brother actually was able to remember it.

“You do?”, Batgirl asked Donnie in confusion, causing Donnie to beam with innocent pride, thinking of the van he had tuned up.

“Yeah, we didn’t walk here from New York”, Donnie smiled, secretly hoping that Batgirl would ask about the van.

“Don’t care!”, Mikey yelled, already inside Batman’s car, fastening his seatbelt. “Called the Batmobile!”

Batman looked from Mikey to Leo, his eyes lingering at him for a moment before giving him a small nod. It was time to find Shredder and Ra’s.

[qcomicsy]

I was going to reblog with a comment but that post is already super long. But so true ! Like the ninja assassin thing with Dick is a modern retcon something that would be a Tim Cass or Damian thing to do. But writing a flashback for an adult Dick in the 2000s would be weird. By the 1960s he was firmly in canon 18 and in college. How are you gonna go back to the era of goofy and be like this is Dick’s angsty teenage years involved getting turned into a vampire and fighting Bruce over dating Talia. It just doesn’t make sense with how Long comics keep going. 80 years of comics and he’s only what 28. Like it’s very hard to keep a consistent character when everyone wants to make Dick Jason and Bruce new characters every few decades

Absolutely!

My personal view about how they kept retconning Dick's personality as a child and his relationship with Bruce is that it's a mix of complex things and bullshit.

The complex things is yeah, Dick and Bruce had their share of problems when Dick was growing up. They did start bumping heads a lot, but it was more like "this kid is turning into a man and is starting to clash views with his father (who is already someone who's not easy to deal with)" and "that's the part where he starts to develop who he is as person" (I won't get much into that because I haven't read many comics regarding Dick transition from Robin from Batman & Robin to Robin from Titans until Nightwing in the pre-death of the family era.) than the borderline abusive and toxic relationship they started to introducing in the late 90's to early 2000's portrayals of them.

It's complex because after rebooting everything it's hard to introduce such a long and gradual process that took almost ten years of development that is Dick's emancipation not only from working with Bruce but also following his every step as boy wonder. Specially if we think about the huge fall out they had right after Jason died.

It's bullshit because they started with those retcons when we had that long and embarrassing period of Super-hero history (late 90's to early 2000's) where everyone was trying to make super-heroes popular again but following alongside with a palpable embarrassment and self-conscious shame regarding any silliness and/or whimsical side the superhero universe. Like "we're making superheroes stories but this is for adults, this ain't for children 😡😡". Nobody wanted to be the "60's Batman TV show everyone makes fun of" and everybody wanted to be Alan Moore.

We had all this writers who grow up reading "Death of the family", "The Killing Joke", "Batman Year one" add were dying to recreate the 80's dark period glory, even if they didn't had the same writing skills for that.

I mean hate the Killing Joke all you want (I know I do), it has a shit tone of good writing.

It's bullshit because everyone was still sore about how Batman turned into a joke in the 90's after that one movie and for some reason everyone blamed Robin. It's bullshit because comic books are always influenced by the popular media around them, and while 40's Batman had the American Way and American Family Values™ 🦅🦅🦅, 80's Batman has Scarface, Taxi Driver and long urban tragedies.... 90's have Die Hard and every extra power macho fantasy under the sun.

I mean... This was 90's Nightwing.

he's so big and so stupid and one day I'm gonna top h–*gunshots*

No one wanted to see "good father" Batman, hell no one wanted to see any emotional shit in comics? Emotions??? In my manly comics??? Miss me with that gay sit emotions is for girls 😡😡 I wanna see big buffy man making his enemies cry 🔥⛓️☠️💪☠️😡⛓️🪚🔧

So you reach early 2000, everyone kinda hates or is kinda embarrassed of Robin, Batman is a former shadow of the man and the father he used to be. But you still wanna introduce new readers to your character (Dick Grayson) that (for better or for worst) is loved but only by the people who already know him, you're still embarrassed of his silly origins and the whimsical part of it.

So what do you do?

Personally I think writers thought Dick had it too easy as Robin, personally I think they were obsessed about making it real, personally I think everyone was obssessed and trilled with the idea of being the next Tim Miller and making their one fresh real edge introduction of the boy wonder. Personally I think this is all the new 52 was absolutely on for the Batfamily.

Personally I believe (and this is more a optimistic take) some writers were creatively trying to tie Dick's anger issues as Nightwing to his origins as Robin.

You have this chance of one in million (at te time) to reintroduce Nightwing (reintroduce Robin), now you can make it as real as gritty and as edge as you want. You can make it Robin cool again, you can introduce in a way that will sell well the dark story you where preparing for this character. And you also can deny any father and son relationship he could had have with Bruce Wayne and keep the big beef strong man without feelings reputation that people have been manufacturing by choice into Batman from ten years by now.

And what is more dark and character building than an abusive father?

I think writers thought that making Bruce abusive towards Dick and Dick resentful towards Bruce was the best way to launch this new universe as realistic and grittier. Not only making Dick's Robin introduction (and origin) more "real" but also separating Bruce even more from a emotional and father like figure that for some reason some writers (and fans!) despised to much.

Killing so many birds with one stone might as well call yourself David from the Bible.

And they were so certain this direction would be a success that the just notice their mistake now.

Anyways... A load of bullshit.

I personally don't mind Dick's Robin having anger issues, I think it's a natural progression from his first real serious introduction from back in the 80's, I also think it adds more to his character tying up his first trauma along with a long life of others and the result of having to deal with a frustrating job (that is vigilantism is) since literally ever. I like the idea that the perfect Robin wasn't perfect all the time and he also had (and has) other side of his personality that isn't as nice or likeable as it should and that's a thing he consciously have to work on as a person since he was a child.

However I also think writers did took to far sometimes and Dick history and specially his relationship with Bruce suffered from it. And I also agree that if everyone tries to reboot, retcon and fucking "subvert" a character every fucking ten years you won't even have a fucking consistent character to begin with (gestures vaguely to Jason Todd, Deadpool and now poor fuckin Damian and their wreck of comic book history).

[incorrectbatfam]

canonically, how are each member of the batfam these days? I don't keep up with the comics because it's a mess and the characterization varies so much (especially Dami)

As of 8/2/2022

(spoilers ahead)

Bruce, Dick, Tim, Steph, Cass, Duke, Babs, and Selina all appeared in Batman #126, which just came out today. So far the storyline about piecing together the Penguin's lineage, including an introduction to two new members of the Cobblepot family. This specific issue did a good job of showcasing how the batfamily works together in an intense fight against Failsafe, however, the battle takes up a large chunk of the story—I give that part a 7/10 because Failsafe wasn't exactly the most compelling antagonist and the fight was a bit out of the blue. The focus also did lean more heavily on Dick than the other batkids. However, Selina's concurrent story with piecing together the Penguin's family made up for that as we uncover a new dimension to a long-time Batman villain. The expected release date for the next issue is September 6th, so hopefully they can clean it up a little then.

Jason appeared in Task Force Z #10 on July 26th. Jason and what remains of the team after the previous 9 issues are investigating Power Industries, where in a HUGE twist, they discover that Bane was Nobody the entire time (yes, the Nobody). The artwork fits the tone of the story and Jason's characterization has been pretty good, sort of on par with Urban Legends. I thought this was gonna be a filler issue so I was pleasantly surprised when they just jumped right into the main point. Also, I love seeing Jason's dynamic with Amanda Waller and other villains because it reinforces the fact that he's not 100% good or bad (as fandom likes to polarize him as)—he's versatile and can get along with people all over the moral spectrum. The projected release date for the next issue is 8/23.

Meanwhile, Damian's latest appearance was in Robin #16, which came out on July 26th, where Lord Death Man (yes, that weirdo) puts Damian's investigation into the Lazarus Island on pause. Flatline then calls Damian and Connor Hawke to Tokyo to deal with Lord Death Man, so we get a bit of international traveling bits. Mara Al Ghul and the Batman of Japan also appear in this, if you wanna count them as batfam? I like that this balances the sharper edges of Damian's personality with the classic Robin charm and I do kind of wish the series wasn't ending (alas, DC won't allow its characters to grow up). I also like that the setting of this story influences the artwork—you can see the subtle manga influences. Next issue comes out on 8/23. Overall I give this run an 8/10 because it explores a new, slightly more mature version of Damian's character, but I'm taking two points off because Lord Death Man annoys me to no end.

We see Alfred in Batman: One Dark Knight #3, which came out on 7/26. The story is a simplistic mini-run with good art as Batman nears the end of his journey to Blackgate. I like that this story takes place over a single night rather than stretched over a few days/weeks/etc. like we normally see—it's almost like Batman's typical Tuesday night. Alfred is still alive here, so it's nice to hear his sarcastic sense of humor after missing him for so long—it's sort of like seeing a family member at the airport. This comic also establishes him as DC's best trash-talker in his classic Alfred Pennyworth style. If I recall the miniseries is done, but the hardcover comes out on 9/13.

Luke Fox makes a cameo in Harley Quinn #18. Yes, that came out today too (#19 comes out on the 9th). Apparently the JLA left some old science experiments on their moon base so Luke puts together a team of former villains to... send them to the moon and clean it up (including Harley Quinn, Solomon Grundy, Bronze Tiger, and Killer Frost). I just read it and I'm too confused to actually criticize at the moment. First, I think Task Force XX is a dumb name—it sounds like an account on an adult website. Second, I think the artwork is alright in that you have all these bright, poppy designs, but the bodies and expressions feel kinda stiff and off-putting. I think it has potential to be one of the more absurd, fun, campy storylines, so I'll hold out and see where this goes.

An alternate-universe Thomas Wayne closes in on the Clockwork Killer in Flashpoint Beyond #4, which also came out today. However, Dexter Dent gets in the way with his own mission to break his mother out of Arkham. I already had skepticism about Flashpoint Beyond because I tend to be skeptical about a lot of alternate timelines and was never the biggest fan of Thomas Wayne as Batman or Martha as the Joker. I don't know if I should be happy or not that they proved me right, because this run has been moving a bit slowly—it feels like they're dragging what could be summarized in 4 sentence out to 32 pages. Overall I'd say it's a 4/10 (since the artwork isn't too shabby). Again, I'm biased because I never liked the Thomas Wayne concept in the first place so take it with a pinch of salt. Next issue also comes out 9/6.

[roobylavender]

(i apologize in advance this is probs gonna be long) okay i’m still making my way through dc canon so i apologize if any of this is nonsensical or ooc, but i can’t stop thinking about the alternate introduction idea u have for damian where he’s given up for adoption, and then his adoptive parents are killed and he’s with the loa for whatever time. idk i just think, if by some rule dick & damian had to develop a close bond as characters, it would have been interesting to see how that could be interwoven with au!damian’s story while still being cognizant of Talia & Bruce and the fact that neither would be as intentionally callous and shitty as they are in modern canon. I think it would’ve been neat to sort of set it up so Talia & Bruce are off together investigating the murder of Damian’s parents after a discussion turned argument where they (including Damian) tried to figure out what their son’s role in the investigation should be if any. Talia believes he should be involved if he wants to, that he has a right to justice for his family, it’s not like he has no training, and it gives him a way to work through his emotions on the matter, isn’t that what Bruce is doing? Bruce sees this side (obv, the robins exist) but having learned from his experience with Jason, and knowing there’s a lot of details of Damian’s time with the league after the death of his adoptive parents that he is not yet privy to, he is unsure if it is best to throw Damian into a battlefield after he was just freed from one. Ethical conflict between divorcees, who knows maybe they get intimate about it! Meanwhile, lets say Dick would have been called by Bruce, wanting to leave Damian in the care of someone who a) has the capacity to keep him in check if need be (as in a situation where Damian would be a danger to himself etc), b) can sympathize at least to an extent with Damian’s trauma, and c) someone who could be a positive influence on Damian through that relatability (& prob also dick being a bit closer to damian’s age than bruce is). And like, I think in this hypothetical Damian would really appreciate Dick because not only is Dick someone who has insight into his parent’s relationship to each other and why they may have given him up, but I also think he’d be really upfront in answering Damian’s questions and paint a pretty fair picture of who Talia & Bruce are as people. there could be that sort of sense of okay this is who damian feels at least somewhat comfortable to latch on to without any bs. I also think it would be sort of interesting to use Dick being put in the position of a temporary caregiver of someone who has a million questions about the man who raised him as a way to explore his current feelings about bruce and how their dynamic has shifted through the years, particularly irt to how he feels about being asked for this out of what may be the blue, and whether he’s glad to have been asked by bruce or not. internal man vs self vs father type stuff yk (& maybe whether he wants to take on that sort of responsibility in his own life, who knows) . i think it would help subvert the “golden bio kid” stuff to have bruce’s experiences with some of the other bats explicitly influence his decision making irt trying to parent damian, and though i didn’t give talia’s reasoning as well as i could have i think it would be interesting to explore how deeply her personal philosophy would influence her itr. and also i like the running theme of exploration of familial structures through both damian’s adoptive and bio parents. sorry for how insanely long this ask is, i just had to share that ur idea has made me a wee bit insane. hope you have a good day/night.

(the au posts being referred to) anon how have you managed in one condensed ask to chart a better path for damian and talia and bruce and dick as an interconnected collective than morrison or tomasi or whoever else could even hope to imagine. where is your publication deal with dc. when are you storming their offices and making the pitch and winning the hundred issue run guarantee with the best pencillers and inkers at your disposal like i am so serious right now this is insane i'm obsessed i can't get enough of it

[fancyfade]

☕️ hmm… how about damian and Bruce’s relationship

it could be so good but it is so bad.........

i think that it's important that Bruce messes up with Damian, and it'd both be hard to re-write their relationship w/o that, but also like. I am somewhat a sucker for the un-ideal family relationships where you have people trying but just not understanding each other......

if DC wasn't cowards Talia would be portrayed as a better influence on damian's mental health than Bruce.

I know that for like. eventual later stuff for their relationship this is my vibes (link)

and also i made a long infodump about it here (link)

I feel like honestly most of Bruce's conflict w/ Damian should be more tied into his overprotectiveness rather than like. him judging damian a ton. I feel like he does judge Damian's actions, and he fails Damian in that he doesn't let Damian know that his actions in the league aren't his fault*, but also like a lot of the times he should be coming from the perspective of feeling like he's failed damian in not protecting him** and being overprotective like. here (link) my analysis for steph's 'mistakes' leading up to war games and it seeming weird that in 1 case bruce brushed it off and in another he didnt but it can work with a consistent canon character trait of him being very bad at dealing with loss and worried about other people.

anyway that should cause more conflict for bruce and damian (and i honestly feel like that is probably part of why damian was given powers by the writers when he just got back to life, so things could go back to normal w/o bruce's overprotectiveness after damian's death overwhelming him and tanking their relationship) but ANNNYWAY I forget where i was going sorry. anyway its great (read: interesting not necessarily like :P the best) in my head but not consistently in canon

*which NGL like. him characterizing them as not his fault would seem strange ish to bruce for me

**yes even tho there was no way for him to protect him since he wasn't aware he existed

[flamingpudding]

Part 13 of Ghost Kid in Gotham

>>Masterpost >>AO3

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A/N: I got a bit too self conscious in regards to why Danny is the older twin in this story. I know it would be nice and cute for him to be the younger but when I started to work on this idea, I always saw him as the elder twin. It just kept bothering me that some wished differently and made me feel like I needed to explain my thoughts. Besides when I first thought of Danny as an assassin that couldn't kill, I also thought of Odasaku from BSD and the image just fit in my head, including the older brother energy and getting pushed over the edge when losing loved ones.

Interlude: A Brothers Protection

When they had been four Danny had quickly learned what it had meant to be an heir. Their grandfather had showered him and Dami in love and praise at first. Happy about having two heirs that would lead the league to glory. Even if only one heir was needed, having two was a blessing in his grandfather's eyes. His mother always spoke proudly of them, of how they were meant for something great. Then their training had started, and words of love and praise became criticism and pressure.

From the outside there was no difference in the pressure put on the twins. Their teachers and handlers treated them equally when they had lessons together. Both were heirs, but Danny was the primary one. So when they were separated for their training Danny knew their teachers were making differences influenced by that. At the age of five he started to egg them on, challenging them, making them more aware of him, to take the pressure off his brother. He didn't mind, because no matter how harsh they were with him, he still got to late night stargaze while cuddling his twin. Damian would indulge Danny's need to rest on him thinking Danny's stamina was not the same as his own but still pushed him away at times if he hindered his twin from drawing.

He had read about how elder brothers were supposed to protect the younger ones. When he learned about that concept he had gone to their mother asking, who was the elder and his mother had told him that he was born before his twin, which was why he was the primary heir. Yet all he cared about was that the elder twin had a responsibility towards the younger. Though even if he had been the younger one, Danny would still have found an excuse to protect Damian, this just made it easier for him to rationalize protecting his twin from the true harshness of their training.

With their growing skills, soon came the time for them to be sent on their first mission. An easy one. They were to eliminate a traitor. Someone that had joined the league for only a couple of months before deciding to quit, taking secrets with them that they weren't supposed to know.

Grandfather never liked loose ends. So they were sent out, with clear instructions. Grandfather had instructed Danny to be the one to deal the killing blow. Danny was supposed to prove his worth, for the first time their grandfather was acknowledging him as the elder twin. Words of promise were spoken to him during the briefing and when he had asked about Damian, grandfather had told him that his brother would prove his right during their next mission. For now Damian was to follow up and eliminate any third party that would prove to be a risk to the mission.

That mission was the first of many of Danny's failures.

He had critically injured the traitor but hesitated too long in dealing the killing blow. Their observer for the mission stepped in. Killing the target with a disapproving stare that made Danny wither and seek his brothers closeness. Grandfather had lectured him afterwards furious of how he as the primary heir could fail at something so simple when he had the target before him on a silver platter. A silver platter he had created with his own hands.

The image of his wheezing target, with glassy eyes, begging with fear and pleading for their life flashed before his eyes. Even without a killing blow, Danny knew he had injured them enough that they wouldn't have survived anyway if no help arrived within 15 minutes. But that was not up to league standards. Even if slim, do not leave your enemies with the slightest change of survival, his grandfather's words ringed in his ears.

They started to separate Damian from him more often then, sending Danny off to more harsh training that he had no problem completing. He had the skill but still, from there on he continued to mess up his mission in similar ways. Yet Damian was covering for Danny whenever they were sent on mission together. Danny incapacitated the target soundlessly and Dami killed them.

In a way Danny found another form of how to protect Damian like this. He couldn't kill but Damian would gain their grandfather's praise by covering for him. Danny in return would earn the punishments for failure, the lecturers and their teachers' harshness. Their displeasure would focus on him during lessons leaving his twin to learn their lessons in peace without them constantly shouting at him what to do better. Because that was directed at him, the failure they needed to correct.

Yet his twin insisted that they were meant to complete each other. Danny had the talent in incapacitating anyone no matter their size and impromptu thinking and a heart of mercy while Damian had the calculating and strategic handling with a heart steeled to kill. They were each other's missing half's his twin had told him. They were meant to work together this way, to balance each other out.

Danny loved Dami for that even more but he knew better.

When they were six Danny lost his title as heir. His grandfather had declared that Damian was the one true heir, the one meant to lead them in the future. He didn't mind that, he had expected that the moment he was unable to kill the first time. Besides even if he had the harsher lessons, Damian was still better skillswise, he truly was the better between them. His twin was of a different opinion, in the privacy of their rooms his twin kept insisting that Danny could prove their grandfather wrong. That they were meant to lead together and not alone but Danny knew better.

With the loss of his title, the scorn and mockery began from other league members more openly. The focus of his mother and grandfather turned to Damian and so did their love. Still Danny continued like before, challenging teachers and other members, drawing the focus on him despite having become the black sheep. His skills were still on par with his brother's, even if he couldn't kill and he made sure their teachers were aware. His mother was giving him knowing looks whenever she had to pull him off teachers sometimes several times a day. She knew why he continued doing that.

His twin also still adored him in a way that made Danny think that Damian might know about the way he attempted to protect the other even without the title of heir. As if Damian knew that whenever Danny learned that a teacher had been harsher on Damian than needed that Danny was the one injuring said teacher in his own lessons. That Damian knew that the exhaustion he displayed at night when they sat on the roofs to watch the stars over Nanda Parbat while Dami drew into drawing pads, was not because of a lack of stamina but the work he put into honing his skill so that they focused on the back sheep of the family and focused their scorn, jealousy and envy on him instead of Dami.

He was eight when he realized he had screwed up to much. His grandfather's words from long ago rang in his ears as he stood before his twin with drawn blades and the eyes of nearly every league member watching them, awaiting his inevitable death. This was his last act to protect his twin and fulfill the role of elder brother in the way he had read about when he had been even younger. Dami would live and that was all that had mattered to Danny.

"Is there a reason why you bring these memories to the surface, Nocturn?" A sixteen year old Danny asked frowning, watching his own memories like he was a bystander. His surroundings changed once more. Gone were the images of the memory of the last time he had protected his twin as a wide and empty space surrounded him. In the distance stars glinted, reminding him of the night sky of Nanda Parbat. An answer never came. It wouldn't matter either way. Because by the time he woke up he would have forgotten again anyway.

"If you won't answer, could you at least ask Clockwork what he was thinking by doing this?" He asked into the nothingness. Still not receiving an answer. With a sigh Danny plopped onto the ground, eyeing his surroundings as his earliest memory of Damian's and his first lesson in parkour started to form around him, coaxing a small smile from him.

Blinking into awareness Danny yawned before rolling onto his back, his eyes briefly flashed green before settling into blue. His head lay in his twin's lap as this older Dami was drawing something on a drawing pad. His head felt clearer these days but not by much. There was also the feeling like he remembered more stuff in his sleep yet whenever he woke up he felt like something was missing. There was always a headache pounding in his head making him dizzy when he tried outside of sleep. His eyes watched this older version of his twin and an image of the Dami drawing while they sat on roofs overlayed the one he was watching right there.

He chirped happily. There were still so many questions in his mind but the answers didn't matter to him anymore. Dami was alive and doing what he loved openly. Whatever happened in between his last fuzzy memory and now didn't matter. Because Danny was sure, he must have done something right in protecting Dami as the elder twin for this to be the result. Yawning, curled up more pressing his face into his twins stomach, to silence the noise in his head. His mind started to feel muddy again as he snuggled into this older and alive version of his twin brother. The extra set of instincts still screamed at him.

Blobbert and the other blob ghosts were trying to help him with that but the struggle was still there.

A small hiss escaped him as he turned his head, eyes zeroed in on the eldest that kept trying to pet him or give him sweets as bribery halted his approach. His nose scrunched up as he bared his teeth and the briber coed at him. Danny protested and he could hear his twin scowling as suddenly his senses were thrown for a ride. Danny's eyes focused on the icky one as he entered his field of vision.

The icky one was feeling more icky than before. Like the first time he had met him. Danny hissed in displeasure feeling something strange but familiar run through him. With his instincts screaming he sat up quickly before his brother could stop him and lunged as he let something else in him take over, not knowing that his eyes were glowing green.

[batsideofthemoon]

Thoughts on Vampire the Masquerade for a Batman AU:

A Lasombra Methuselah is in torpor beneath Gotham. That’s why Gotham is the way it is, and why it’s so hard to leave.

Batman doesn’t kill because those of clan Lasombra prefer torturing for long periods of time over out right killing.

The Lasombra Methuselah hasn’t embraced Batman yet but, like everyone who lives in Gotham for extended periods, Batman is unknowingly influenced by him.

Long ago, the Lazarus pits were made by clan Cappadocian, the original Necromancers, before their Antediluvian was diablerized. Though a Methuselah of the clan named ‘Lazerus’ may not have made them, the pits do seem to be named after him…or vice versa.

The upper echelon of The Court of Owls are ghouls. They drink Lasombra vitae, but only have very little left as it was found in ancient pottery. If they were to dig deeper where the pot was found, they would encounter the Lasombra Methuselah.

Joker is being influenced by clan Malkavian. It is possible he is so insane, despite being mortal, he can tap into the Malkavian Madness Network.

Killer Croc is a clan Tremere gargoyle experiment gone wrong. He is abandoned.

Two-face was recovered after his accident by a young Nosferatu who healed him as much as he could with his vitae. This is why he remains deformed. Nosferatu vitae deforms.

Poison Ivy is being targeted by clan Tzimisce for the embrace. Particularly by those in the clan who know Koldunic sorcery.

Isis is a Gangrel and Catwoman is unknowingly her ghoul. Isis is in charge.

Ra’s al Ghul is absolutely, knowingly, an Assimite ghoul. He uses the Lazerus pit to keep from being dependent and his domitor’s vitae. It makes him seem like a very competent, loyal ghoul that he only has to drink vitae every 50 years or so.

The Lasombra Methuselah has marked Batman as his to embrace, but other members of the Batfam are fair game for other clans.

Nightwing is being heavily monitored by clan Toreador. It is all but a done deal that he will be embraced by this clan. It’s the infighting of who gets to be the sire that’s putting the embrace off.

Red Hood is wanted for the embrace by the Assimites, but the Giovanni (the ones who diablerized Cappadocius and are the current Necromancers) say that his resurrection means he is already theirs to claim. Clan Brujah claim Red Hood is more aligned with them and will fight for him. The 3 clans don’t want to come to blows with each other, so hopefully a peaceful resolution will be met.

Tim Drake also has clans warring over him as Ventrue and Tremere both think he’s fit for their clans. Though he is too young for any real moves to be made. It’s a waiting game to see how his personality evolves as he enters adulthood.

Damian Wayne is far too young for eyes to even really be on him, but he is exceptional and the Assimites claim if they can not have Red Hood then Damian is theirs, no contest.

Barbara Gordon is wanted by the Salubri, but there are so few Salubri left that if any other clan makes claim, they couldn’t put up the proper fight. They are being stopped from making proper moves to go forward with her embrace.

Bonus: A Ventrue Methuselah sleeps beneath Metropolis.

Another bonus: Terry McGinnis is selected by a True Brujah Methuselah and brought back in time 50 years using the power of Temporis. Now Terry gets to know the rest of the Batfam and I am happy.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Graveyard Siblings (4)

I am sorry for not posting in a while. School is a total bitch. Here is part 4 of a fic that is not a fic.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)(Part 2)(Part 3)

-------

Tall Marinette.(I admit I might be projecting a little here.)

One day, she took out something from someplace high and the whole family realized that ‘holy shit when did you get so tall?’

Bonus if Jason comes back from a long mission and had a wtf moment because she was wearing 6-inch-heels and met his eyes with them on.

“Pixie?!”

------

You know how Bruce has the identity of Matches Malone to infiltrate the Gotham Underground.

While Jason does the drug deals more street crime stuff, Maria uses an excuse of being the representative for Red Hood excuse to mingle with the rich people who does crime on the side (Penguin), she uses it to go to black market auctions and buy some of the lost miraculouses which got into the hands of black market dealers.

Jason knows about it and acts as her ‘bodyguard’ anytime he can or sends one of his henchmen to be one with a death threat if she gets a single scratch on her.

Bruce is unaware of this. Or is he?

------

Mari helps with running WE since she is a little less busy with the vigilante side of things.

It started with Tim panicking about deadlines and Mari offering to help, to Bruce and Tim bullying the board to have her as co-CEO.

She has to be that and head of Afterlife. So she is very busy. Doesn’t know about what comes next….

------

Somehow the class comes to Gotham for a trip. It has been 3 years since her death.

Mari has changed her appearance since the day she left Paris. She has highlights in her hair after a ‘sibling bonding day’ with Jason. Her hair is kept short for convenience and not in pigtails. Along with her tall height and more confident aura, she is almost unrecognizable.

She rides a motorcycle too.

The class waits in the lobby for the tour and in walks this badass woman with aviator sunglasses, leather jacket and designer clothes which was all MT brand, making a lot of people swoon.

She takes off her glasses and walks past the class. Checking stuff on her phone and sipping coffee in her other hand.

She seems familiar but they couldn’t figure out why. (All except Chloe, Alix and Felix who are snickering in the background.)

Lila sees her and comments on how she must be a criminal with the way she dresses. (Lila internally freaks out because were her eyes messing with her? Because she looked a little like Marinette. Also jealous of the new arrival for stealing all the attention.) Alya takes the bait and calls security to ‘arrest’ her.

They just laugh. The class doesn’t understand, speaking in confused French.

-------------

“I am Maria Todd-Wayne, also known as designer MT. CEO of Afterlife and co-CEO of the very company you are in. I am allowed in here. Don’t judge a book by its cover.” she said in perfect French.

“But Lila told us you can’t speak French.”

“Who?”

“Lila Rossi, your friend. She told us that you and MT were dating.”

“Me dating myself. Okay I love myself because self-love is a thing but that is a whole other level. MT are my initials. Anyone who has a brain could have figured that out or at the very least do a Google search. I am not sure where your friend got that notion.”

“Hey, Bean, come on. We have a long day ahead of us.” Tim reminded her.

“Goodbye but cease the rumours or you would be escorted off the premises.”

As they rode up the elevator, “Tim, why are they here?”

“They are the lucky winners of the Wayne Enterprise Young Prodigies Contest. Why, Maria?”

“Lucky, huh.” She muttered under her breath. She might as well tell him. They are the Bats and they will find out anyway. “They are from my old class, the one you know…”

“Oh. Want me to send them back? I can do that if they are making you uncomfortable.”

“Nah. Too much to deal with. And it is unfair to send them back over a petty grudge. Besides, I could have some fun.”

“Anything that Bruce and I should be worried about?”

“I swear no killing. Just because Jason came back from the dead, hell-bent on killing. Doesn’t mean I am too.”

“Cool, just don’t do any property damage or traumatize our employees.”

“I might need you to erase some footage later and tell Bruce about this.”

“Some brownies, my favourite coffee cake, the ‘special’ brew and you have yourself a deal.”

-----

So basically she just showed up around where the class was ‘by coincidence’.

Talk to a few people and take them out of earshot of the rest of the class.

End the conversation by saying a few things only they and her would know. Insides jokes and secrets. (I pick her old childhood friends like, Nino, Kim and maybe Sabrina)

Uses Trixx to turn into a walking dead version of her 15-year old self and disappears as they freak out about how she knew that secret/story.

Freaks them out further by appearing again in front of the whole class and pretending not to know their previous conversation.

Mari manages to get Lila alone.

I should also say that Lila thought that her curse was making her see MT as Marinette.

It terrifies Lila when she finds out that MT is actually Marinette, not dead but alive after all this time and apparently living the high life she wanted. This fact made the Italian swell up with jealousy.

“I hope you are not lying about me again, Lila Rossi. Like you always do.”

“What do you want with me? I swear I didn’t say anything else about you.”

“Aw, Lila. Don’t recognize me?”

Maria flickers and Ladybug is in her place and later, the Marinette that appeared in her bedroom and back to normal.

“You! How? Why are you here? Why can’t you leave me alone?”

“Why not? I mean you did take away nearly all my friends, my parents and made my life a living hell. If you think about it, I am just repaying you the same favor. How are the others? Treating you well?”

“What did you do to me, you bitch?”

“I just put a curse on you. The ghosts of your past will haunt you until you stop.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop Lying, Liar. They all feed and grow in power from your lies. I wonder what would happen in a few years if you kept this up.”

“You think you can get away with this. This is war and I have already beaten you once.”

“Oh Rossi. This isn’t a war. It’s a death sentence.” With that she disappears.

Lila tries to tell her class that MT is actually Marinette. She is met with crazy looks. Some of them look like they want to believe her but don't because they don’t want to look crazy too.

Oh. Adrien wasn’t on the trip because his mother didn’t want him to go to the crime capital of America although the crime rate has gone down a little due to Hellbat curing some of the city’s bad energy..

Right after Lila told the class about MT, Scarecrow came to steal some Wayne tech and the class got caught in the crossfire. So later, it was brushed off as Lila seeing things due to the fear toxins.

-----

Joker made the mistake of kidnapping her. Once was enough to never try that again.

(It involved the use of nearly all of the Miraculouses, old and new. He was thoroughly humiliated at the end of it and his picture by the time Hellbat was done with him was on the Batfam’s Christmas Card. Like I said she doesn’t kill but making them beg for death was okay.)

It coincided with Jason’s Birthday and the video of the incident was ‘the best birthday present ever.’ The uncensored version was watched at the next undead siblings bonding day. Damian included.

After hearing a few rumours about what happened, most criminals were glad for Hellbat’s rare appearances. (which happens once a month and during really busy time of the year)

There was a time where Penguin was carrying out one of their plans and when Hellbat showed up, all of their thugs surrendered instantly. (No Batman did not pout at the fact that this French girl was more imitating than him.)

Scarecrow used his newest batch of fear toxin on her during the first year after she died.

He was astounded to see her still standing and she later proceeded to beat the crap out of him while being under the toxin’s influences.

He has tried to stay out of her way since then.

She saw Scarecrow as Hawkmoth and said a lot of things in French which scared everyone because she said it with so much hate, anger and in a very menacing tone that everyone is like ‘I am not touching this.’

It took Red Hood and Nightwing to restrain her from further beating Scarecrow up.

He was one of the people who sympathised with the Joker after the Incident.

The next was Riddler being so arrogant in his plans and managed to get Hellbat and Spoiler into a death trap.

“You know I have a few regrets in life. And my final one is that I got captured and am now going to get killed by a walking fashion disaster.”

“Hey! I made this myself. I will have, you know.”

“You have a brilliant mind but no sense of fashion at all. When I get out of here, I am going to burn that thing with you in it, for your crimes against fashion.”

“What is wrong with it?”

Cue a lot of roasting of Riddler’s costume and Spoiler adding more fuel to the fire.

They manage to escape while Riddler is crying on the floor, having an existential crisis.

The thing was no one knows why Riddler was silent the entire week after encountering Hellbat and crying when anyone mentions it.

They now think Hellbat is the scariest one in the Batfamily, second to Batman and tied with Black Bat/Orphan.

The few who find out what really happened in the warehouse that night. Blackmail material on the Riddler.

Three ( four if you count Penguin) of Gotham’s biggest villains of the Rogues Gallery scared of Bats’ newest addition. Hellbat was not someone they wanted to mess with.

---------

Magic crisis stuff. Like a world ending event thing. Dr. Fate says they need the Miraculous jewels but the last mention of them had been in Paris a few years ago and had vanished since then.

Costantine looked at Batman. “You know who you have to call.”

Batman calls Hellbat. Who hasn’t been introduced yet to the JL.

“Ah. Bats. Not that I question your authority or anything but how can your newest ‘ward’ help us?”

She takes off her helmet and reveals her face and more importantly, her earrings.

Tikki comes out of her hiding place.

“I am the current Guardian of the Miracle Box and wielder of the Ladybug miraculous during Hawkmoth’s reign in Paris a few years ago. Any other Questions?”

“Oh great Guardian. Tikki. It is an honour to meet you.”-Wonder Woman, who else.

“You too, Princess Diana. Pass on my regards to your mother.”-Tikki

A huge face-off and the big evil is defeated.

WW asks abt HM and gives a horrified face at the end of her story. Nearly everyone who eavesdropped on the conversation was.

"Forgive me, Guardian for not aiding you in your hour of need.”

“It’s okay. I understand that there are other crises, world-ending ones that JL have to take care of. I am better now. Mostly.”

“I doubt it with those revenge schemes I found lying around. But she is getting there with her therapist.”-Batman

“I hate you, Dad.”

“Did you just call him Dad?”

“No….”

“Do you see me as a father figure?”

“I see you as a nuisance with how nosy you are with my personal business. So you are more of a bother figure.”

“I see you as part of the family too, Daughter.” (Got that reference anyone?)

“Jason was the one who adopted me.”

“Legally you are adopted by me.”

Maria with Pikachu surprised face because nobody told her that. “My life is a lie.”

-------

(Part 5)

[jerichogender]

7, 12, and 22 please!

7- Favorite one shot character:

I’ll go with go with Colin Wilkes (although technically he did show up again briefly after the Mr. Zsasz arc in Batman: Streets of Gotham). The way he crossed paths with Damian made me go, “Yep, that’s about how I’d imagine Damian making a friend his age.” I liked his powers and from the little we saw of him, it seemed like he had an interesting morality that was influenced by his faith (kind of like Huntress). I’m honestly bummed there wasn’t more done with him. I think he had a lot of potential to be a supporting character for future Damian stories. He’s been erased from continuity by the reboots, but I’m wary of any attempts to reintroduce him since I thought Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen’s original introduction for the character was so strong. He’s one of those characters that got away 💔

12- Favorite sidekick:

Is anyone surprised that I’m saying Robin? Specifically though, I have to go with Damian Wayne. The dynamic he has with Dick, especially during Dickbats era, says so much about what Robin means to both of them and really puts Dick as the first kid sidekick into perspective, both for Dick and the readers. Like Dick says in Batman (2016) #34, “You and me, kiddo. From the beginning…And all the way to the end.” 💚💛❤️

22- Ideal titans lineup not including the fab 5:

This is so hard. I’ll preface this by saying that I am a New Teen Titans purist but I also have a strong fondness for the first 20 issues of Titans 1999. That being said, I’d have the core team be: Cyborg, Starfire, Jericho, Damage, Ravager, and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) with Omen, Bumblebee, Herald, Red Star, Pantha, and Baby Wildebeest as guest appearances. Vic would be the main leader for the team and Kory would take over if Vic’s incapacitated or he needs to step back for a while because he’s dealing with personal stuff (You know, classic Titans scenarios). I promise I didn’t (just) put Grant on this list for my blorbo agenda. His arc in Titans 1999 where Roy takes him to the desert and he works through his trauma was the companion to Kory’s arc where Tamaran waged war against the Gordanians. That made it so the two of them mirrored each other, at least in my eyes. I think if they were in a book together where Kory was actually well written, there’d be plenty of opportunity to explore the different perspectives they have on the cycle of violence and that would also lend itself to some really interesting conflict within the team. I added Kyle in here even though I don’t know him that well (yet!) because I liked him a lot in The New Titans and he had an interesting friendship with Damage that sadly was never explored again after that book. For the guest appearances, I had to include Lilith so she could show up and cause drama (I say this with love). I’m also a big fan of Red Star and his strange little found family, so I’d love to see them work with the Titans again for an arc or two. I’m so glad you gave me 22, it was a lot of fun 😊

[the-witches-you-couldnt-burn]

It started with a whisper

I originally wrote ‘Like I did with you’ as a one-shot but people wanted a sequel. This turned out to be waaaaay longer than expected (4.7k word count). Inspired by Everybody Talks by Neon Trees. I hope you lot enjoy!

Ao3

(Also this is Mari’s new outfit, all credits go to the original artist)

————

Two teens stood upon the balcony of a large banquet hall, exposed to the midsummer night air. The sky was a lilac blanket that hung over the Parisian buildings, speckled with glowing stars. The moon, with it’s crescent smile, beamed down of the young couple.

Hey, baby, won't you look my way?

Marinette’s eyes were closed as she rested her head upon his shoulder, relaxing after the night’s rapid escalation. Tonight she had arrived at the ball with the intent to be there for her friends, but somehow she found herself within the arms of Gotham’s (and probably Paris’) Ice Prince. She had overheard his nickname from the Gotham students, one of which being Jon, who was in the middle of mocking the young Wayne. She had never considered that nickname as suitable; sure he was temperamental & had a tendency to snap, but icey to the core? No.

I can be your new addiction

Damian was calm. For the first time in his life he felt like he could take a breath. His exhale was carried off by a small gust of wind, the bush over hanging the stone railing rustled. With his inhale, the scent of Marinette’s perfume became present once more. Mixed with the crisp night’s air, her usual scent of pastries was mixed with what could only be described as ambrosia. His phone vibrated within his pocket, it was never on volume due to the potential risk it caused during his heroic activities.

“Shit.” Notifications covered his screen, multiple tweets, Instagrams and Tiktoks in which he had been tagged in. But the alert came from his family’s private messaging chat. The whole thread was a shit storm, Grayson and Todd’s messages were completely capitalised (he learnt years ago this meant ‘to yell’ in writing form) and both had multiple ‘keyboard spasms’. Drake, like the thorough detective he is, had combed through the images and videos, investigating their validity. His honorary sisters had replied with ‘awwwww’(s) and ‘Omg we MUST meet this girl! I need to know how she tamed the demon!’. He could practically hear Brown’s shrill voice from across the ocean.

Hey, baby, what you gotta say?

No reply from his father or Alfred. The two of them were the only semblance of ‘normal’ paternal figures he had within his life, after the sham of a relationship he had previously held with his grandfather. Their silence unnerved him.

Marinette had noticed his attention had shifted to his phone, her own mobile was buzzing away within her baby pink purse. Messages, notifications of account tagging and comments galore. A sigh left her lips when she saw her parents seemed to be none the wiser. Good, she didn’t need to deal with future adoration for ‘The boy who swept our daughter off of her feet’ (or something along those lines).

Her cheeks regained some of the warmth they held before as she thought of her parent’s reaction. Scrolling through her Twitter she saw her friends had posted multiple images of the night’s events, majority being her shared dance.

Chloé Bourgeois @TheBestBourgeois

what kind of Disney shit is this? (Insert video of two teens dancing around an mostly empty dance floor.)

Alix Kubdel @Sk8trGirl

Replying to @TheBestBourgeois

I KNOW RIGHT?! THEY WERE FUCKING FLOATING!!!

All you're giving me is fiction

She was thankful that they hadn’t tagged her but she hadn’t been spared by others in attendance. Her post thread had blown up, thousands had commented and even more had viewed the evidence. There was no way she would come out of this unscathed.

“Has anyone been on Twitter today?” The blonde of the family asked as she walked into the dining room. Her eyes focused on her scrolling screen, brows furrowed in confusion. “Actually has anyone seen what’s happening on any of our socials?”

It was early in the afternoon and the family had recently returned home after a straining stakeout. The Joker had broken out of Arkham and the Batfam had to deal with his minions. Dick’s arm was in a sling (sprained from a grapple gone wrong), Jason was icing his hand, Alfred was stitching Bruce’s chest wounds while Tim and the girls escaped without severe injuries. All were still recuperating and finally able to recharge.

Alfred always enforced a strict ‘no devices at the dinner table’ rule; no matter how urgent it was, it could wait until after sustenance was consumed. Tim strongly opposed this, but there was no arguing with Agent A. This all surmises that probably no one had seen the crap storm on social media.

I'm a sorry sucker and this happens all the time

Bruce sighed, bringing his free arm up to rub his eyes. Tilting his head back to look at Steph, “Who was it this time?” Barbara quickly took out her phone to see what Stephanie was talking about, all the while glancing accusingly at Dick and Jason. Both of whom held up their arms (or in Dick’s case arm), declaring their innocence.

“It wasn’t fucking me!”

“Jason! Language!” Dick shot a glare at Jason and was met with one in return. “It wasn’t me either.”

“Then who-“ Bruce started before being cut off by his most rambunctious daughter.

I found out that everybody talks

Stephanie with a squeal, exclaimed that it was Damian. Visions of what the Wayne brat could have done flashed through the heads of everyone in the room. He had been sent overseas before the quarantines and lockdowns hit. During Damian’s first month in France he had been forced into online schooling and then finally when he got to go to in-person classes he hated it. Described the class as a kindergarten with petty and vindictive toddlers.

Had he broken someone’s arm? Was that person of such importance that it had spread over multiple social media platforms? France’s government had announced on June 15th, that teens were now being inoculated so him having COVID-19 was doubtful. Had he insulted the wrong person? Had he taken over the government? He certainly had the potential.

Everybody talks, everybody talks

What they saw stunned them, even Steph as she watched it for the 7th time. Damian Wayne was dancing. But not only that, he was dancing with a girl.

It started with a whisper

“What is this shit?”

No one verbally objected to Jason’s outburst but he was sent a harsh glare from Alfred, Dick and Bruce. Their focus soon returned to the images and videos before them. Babs’ and Steph’s phones were returned to them as the others ran to grab their own devices. They all met back at the table, comparing the posts and comparing their notes.

I can hear the chitchat

“There’s no way this can be real.”

“Jesus Tim,” Barbara rolls her eyes, “have you seen the amount of posts there are? You’d be an idiot to think otherwise.”

Take me to your love shack

“I’m with Tim, how do we know this isn’t some skit. I mean, Demon Spawn almost looks normal. That’s a matter of concern.” He almost dry heaved when he agreed with Tim. Damian couldn’t be capable of naturally exuding that amount of humanity unless there was something in it for him.

Mamas always gotta backtrack

“I was just saying Babs, that we should check the credibility of these images. For all we know they could be gorilla glued together and trying to get unstuck.” Tim cringed at his own reasoning, he really needed to either sleep (probably not going to happen anytime soon) or find his favourite coffee brand (which had been one of the first to vanish after the covid hoarders appeared).

When everybody talks back

Dick was too busy freaking out and spam messaging the youngest Wayne, to defend Damian’s humanity. The family saw this and followed suit, wanting to get information from the source.

Chat name: Alfred supremacy

BigBird: AHHHHHH DAMIAN!

BigBird: YOU LOOK SO CUTE!!!

BigBird: HAIFJDNDNFI

LittleWing: WTF HAPPENED DEMON SPAWN YOU LOOK ALMOST HUMAN

Babs: who knew the city of love would influence the brat

Blondie: they are so cuteeeeeee!

Blondie: We HAVE to meet her!

Silent-but-deadly: agreed.

Timbo: YO DEMON

Timbo: Apparently the videos are legit

Timbo: are you being blackmailed?

And it just devolved into more chaos from there, fueled by the fact that they saw Damian’s ‘Blood Son’ account appear online before vanishing once more. Dick shrieked, “I FOUND HER ACCOUNT!”

The family gathered around the eldest son, peering over his shoulder to view his iPhone 12max screen. They saw a young girl’s Instagram account. It was locked but they could see her profile pic, the girl had black hair and looked to be if Asian decent. They compared it to the videos but it was hard to see due to the hall’s lighting and the minimised facial features of the pfp. Alfred suggested that they search up her username and see who has tagged her, some might have other photos of her.

After research for awhile, the family began to get frustrated with lack of results.

Hey honey you could be my drug

You could be my new prescription

“Come on!” Jason complained, “What kind of teenage girl doesn’t post her life online?” He ignored the girls glares and went back to researching. How had the account by the name of ‘mariiiiinette’ to managed to prevent the entire Wayne clan from accessing it? Damn Instagram privacy settings. He groaned, dragging a hand down his face, “We are fucking stupid. Why don’t we just use the Bat-computer? It would be so much fucking easier.”

“It shouldn’t be used for civilian issues-“

Too much could be an overdose

“The girl could be a meta for all we know! We aren’t safe until we know who she is.” Jason points a finger at Tim, his paranoia flared up and even though he would never admit it, Jason would do anything to protect each member of his family (although Bruce is still debatable).

All this trash talk make me itching

Barbara and Tim took their usual positions as Oracle and Red Robin (who had been banned from patrol due to lack of sleep). The rest of the Batfam stood behind them either with arms crossed or still failing at researching.

Oh my my shit

“The account is owned by a girl called Marinette Dupian-Cheng. She is French-Chinese and her parents own a popular bakery. Also if it wasn’t already obvious, she goes to Collège Françoise Dupont, aka Damian’s French school.” Tim begun informing his nosy family, “But this account has been inactive for the past 6 months, which is strange due to her frequent posting schedule before hand. It seems she probably has a second account and this is her old one.”

Everybody talks, everybody talks

“Not only that,” Barbara interrupted. “There are unopened messages from other accounts that accuse her of being a bully. There is a whole Facebook page about this girl and how she has been hurting her old friends, but neither side seems reliable. The so called victims seem to be twisting the truth but there is barely any information about Marinette so we can’t disprove it either.”

“Read out some of the messages.” Bruce took a cup of coffee from Alfred and sipped it.

The main screen of the bat computer displayed a Facebook group with the banner picture being a photo of Marinette. “They are mostly complaints expected of teen girls when there is a girl they don’t like; ‘Marinette is such a know-it-all’, ‘She is constantly insulting Lila’s intelligence’. They go on to talk about how Marinette was briefly expelled from the Collège before being reinstated by the principle for a reason unknown to them.”

Everybody talks too much

“Her school reports up until this year were good. The newest one states, ‘While Marinette is a wonderful and bright student, I encourage her to settle her disagreements outside of class. This seems to only be a recent occurrence and I implore her to go to the guidance council if she is in need of help.’” A beat of silence echoes through the cave, Tim sighed. “Jason’s meta theory could be correct. She could have just recently started exhibiting her abilities and using them to get what she wants.”

“Bruce what do you want to do?”

“We’re going to Paris.”

She opened her eyes to the blaring morning light that streamed through the blinds. Her lashes still painted with mascara that refused to leave. She felt a pang of sorrow when she was removing her makeup and dress last night, she never wanted the night to end. She shuffled down the stairs to the kitchen, covering her mouth when she yawned. She greeted her mother as she entered the kitchen to get breakfast.

She glanced at her phone and there was the chaos that was started hours ago and it was still occurring. It was the weekend, she wouldn’t need to deal with her classmates until Monday. But she would still have to survive her parent’s interrogation. Out of the corner of her eye she caught her mother smirking at her.

Everybody talks

“Nadja told me some interesting news about last night.” Marinette held her breath, glaring at the toaster, willing it to hurry up so she could escape. “Well,” Sabine patted her shoulder before rubbing Mari’s back. “I know you didn’t want to go but I hope you had fun.”

With that she exited the kitchen, probably going to help her father in the bakery. The ravenette stared after her, eye widened in shock, jumping when the toaster went off. Buttering her toast she went over the conversation, her brows furrowed in confusion. She had expected a ‘When do I get to meet the oh so famous prince?’ or ‘Should I be expecting a new guest sometime in the near future?’ or at least a ‘Who was that young man, Bǎozàng (宝藏 it means treasure)?’ But she said nothing.

A small smile was plastered upon her face as she changed and went down to help her parents in the bakery. Her father didn’t say anything either, he gave her a knowing smile before continuing to kneed the dough. She sat at the the store front as the cashier whilst her parents were busy making ‘Paris’s Finest Pastries’.

Her musings slowly faded as she was brought back to reality by badly hushed whispers. Two young preteens were by the bread roll casing near the door. She had seen them come in before with their parents, the girls went to the prestigious international school over in the 16th arrondissement. The one with purple hair kept whispering to the brunette, both ‘subtly’ glancing towards her. Using her enhanced hearing she listened in on their conversation.

“That’s her, I swear that’s her in the video.”

The blonde’s face soured likes she sucked on a lemon. “No, it wasn’t good lighting there is no way he would dance with someone like her.”

Everybody talks

Marinette had tough skin but their words had an impact, only a small one due to her defence mechanism of repressing emotions. She stopped listening and went back to drawing in her sketchpad, she was in desperate need of a new school outfit.

The two girls eventually came up to the counter, goods in hand. Marinette rung up and bagged their items (paper because save the turtles sksksk) in a tired daze. A phone was shoved into her face, her eyes barely adjusted to view the screen before the blonde spoke.

“Is this your instagram?” She asked in a tone so snobbish that it should be illegal from a person her age. Marinette finally was able to view the screen that was barely an inch from her face. Her old Instagram ‘mariiiiinette’ was displayed on screen, she hesitantly nodded, gaze flicking back to the two in front of her.

The blonde’s nose scrunched up and the purple goth girl squealed in delight. They soon after left the store, their conversation had devolved into ‘See! I told you’ and ‘Yeah, yeah. You were right.’

Walking to school on Monday, she had finally come down from cloud nine. She still rode the tail end of her high as she rushed along her path to her campus, she wasn’t going to be late but she sure wasn’t going to be early. She had spent the better part of the weekend designing and sewing a brand new outfit. Her new look was composed of a black cropped singlet (L'amour gagne hemmed into it and it’s straps), paired matching peach plaid cropped overshirt and a-line miniskirt. Her hair was down, ballet flats were worn and her makeup was the usual with the added edition of a rose gold eyeshadow.

Even though her face was covered in a black and gold mask, she looked hot.

She reached the campus and the whispers started again, people were still buzzing from Friday night. Her classmates, the majority of her grade and the younger years seemed to gossiping before class about the formal’s events. She couldn’t spot any of her friends or the two Gotham transfers, so she was stuck listening the the chitchat. Why couldn’t she have been late like usual?

Damian had a fowl disposition and it showed in multiple icey glares (and that was before he even reached the collège). His family had made their appearance known in Paris at 1am Sunday morning. He could have used his dorm to escape but his family didn’t have the word ‘privacy’ within their vocabulary. He didn’t want to have to pay for a lock replacement due to his brothers’ (most likely Todd with Drake & Grayson laughing at him) lock picking habit.

The Ice Prince was back with full force. He had just been... influenced by all the other couples. Yes he did respect Dupain-Cheng and he appreciated her company & pleasant conversations. He would struggle to hide a small smile at the memory of the dance, even if he denied himself the happiness of normality, he felt content when reminiscing.

“Ooo the Ice Prince is here, did he have a fight with his princess or something?” The voice seemed to mock him.

“The Disney Magic is gone. The demon is back.”

Everybody talks

At the second jeer he shot a glare at the perpetrator. Jon held his hands up in an ‘I surrender manner’, laughing as he joined Damian at his side. The two entered the school’s large foyer and looked to see if any of the classes were open yet. Sadly they weren’t, before he was wrong and the his class was plain torture but this was truely hell.

He saw Dupain-Cheng sitting alone on the stairs, drawing within her sketchpad. He wondered how a girl like her, who always seemed to be involved in other’s lives (for the better) was ignoring all of the comments about her. She felt his focus centre on her, eyes flicking up to meet his, she provided him with a small wave before continuing to draw.

Jon nudged him with an elbow to his ribs and dragged him off to the side, into the boy’s locker rooms. Jon scowled at the door, “It’s a mad house out there. You’ve heard what some people are saying right?”

“Why would I care about these imbeciles?”

Jon jabbed Damian in the chest, causing the demon to stumble. Green eyes darted from blue eyes to the tan finger. “You care when lies hurt people you care about.”

The day began to rapidly decline once the two dance partners took their seats, next to each other. They had both been placed up the back of the class and them sitting together hadn’t been a problem until now apparently. She wasn’t even safe when the teacher started their lecture, whispers and glances were cast towards them. Once the two got to biology it was better, Ms Mendeleiev was a strict teacher and was able to control the class.

Everybody talks

But the recess came. When the bell rang she slowly started packing up her equipment, Alix and Max (who she shared biology with) waited for her; she watched as the Ice Prince left through the door. She knew she didn’t need to be concerned about her friends joining in with the gossiping, if anything they would dispel people and tell them to ‘Mind their own fucking business’ because this whole situations is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

She did receive some slight teasing from Alix about being a Disney princess, but Marinette quipped back about the skater’s fairytale story being ‘Pinknette, the Geek and the Beast’. The three met up with the other two of their group, they had just come from geography. Kim was complaining that Argentina was a state in America.

“That’s Arkansas you idiot!” Chloe shrieked, lightly hitting his arm with her white handbag. Max held his head in his hand as he approached, how had his tutoring sessions failed so badly?

Chloe turned to Marinette, a smile forming from her glare. The blonde examined the designer’s clothing, nodding. “You look like you are about to have a hot girl summer.”

Marinette’s face burned, the tips of her ears coated in red. Alix chuckled and nudged her shoulder.

Everybody talks

“Look at her, she is so desperate for his attention that she probably copied those designs.”

“Why do you think he danced with her anyways? Maybe she has something on him? I mean, she forces him to sit next to her in class, who knows what else she has done.”

What. The. Fuck.

Chloe glowered towards Lila’s posy. “We have a fucking seating plan, those cretins-“ She made a motion to storm over but was caught by the ravenette, looking back to Mari, her rage decreased from a boil to a simmer.

“No Chlo. It’s fine, it’s not worth it.”

Everybody talks... back

The group walked out to the school’s front steps, it was a mad house... a mad courtyard? Students sitting on the stairs, on the grass and standing around mingling, all of them now were staring at her. She held her backpack close to her chest (she had swapped her signature coin-bag purse for the pastel pink bag), pretending its a shield. Her friends circled around her becoming an obstacle to prevent their stares. If people were afraid of a scowling Kim then they don’t know the scorn of Chloe or Alix’s bite. And Max, sweet quiet Max.... you better hope he doesn’t have blackmail on you (he probably does), he can dismantle your life with a single anonymous post.

Rushed footsteps approached them. The group was broken apart by a rude Wayne boy, he swept Mari away from the school and the gossip crowds within. Her four friends shouted at him and he kept walking, shooting a glare at them in response. He kept pushing Marinette forward with a hand placed on the small of her back, her backpack was now swung over his other shoulder.

They ended up in her favourite alcove. She had brought him here with the other Gotham transfers for a native’s tour of Paris. It had always been her safe place to be creative.

It started with a whisper (everybody talks, everybody talks)

“My apologises for our rushed departure but you seemed to want to get out of their anyhow.” His gruff tone danced through the silence, his head still peaking around the corner; watching for any unwelcome guests.

“Thank you.” She whispered, her voice almost being carried off by the gentle wind. A genuine smile illustrated upon her face.

“We weren’t able to converse after the events of the other night. I would like to formally apologise once more for my actions causing this adverse reaction. If I had kn-“

“You don’t need to apologise!” She squeaked, hiding her eyes behind her fisted hand. Her shoulders curled inwards as she tried to make herself seem as small as possible, a side effect of her common use of her secondary miraculous form: Multimouse.

“I chose to dance with you, you don’t need to apologise for my own actions.” He stared at her with confusion. He had taken the blame so she wouldn’t need to do so herself; but she had taken it anyways. He had given her an out. Why does she always take the blame, even for things out of her control?

“But if I hadn’t danced with you then you wouldn’t have been the focus of the entire school.”

Marinette stepped forward, her eyes hardened and blazing. “Damian Friday night I went there out of obligation to my friends, I didn’t want to be there. But dancing with you? That was the highlight of my week, probably my month too. I enjoyed our time together.” Her face softened, lips twitched downwards ever so slightly. “I don’t regret anything about that night, but do you?”

He was bad at comfort. Everyone in his family avoided him when they were in need, he plainly didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t visibly upset but he sensed that she is disappointed that he apparently didn’t share the same opinion of the night. The only thing he regretted about that night was letting Jon call him a coward, but then again if he didn’t he never would have danced with Dupa- Marinette.

He picked up her clenched hand, the tension in her body alleviated at his embrace. He remembered how Grayson would apologise to Kor’i or how his father interacted with Ms Kyle. He brought their hands up and placed a kiss upon her knuckles.

And that was when I kissed her (everybody talks, everybody talks)

“I do not regret anything either—“ he cleared his throat, “In fact, I’d appreciate if we would be able to interact more, especially outside of that cesspit.”

Was he...?

It didn’t matter.

She smiled the same dazzling smile she gave him at the dance. She nodded while laughing, “I’d love that.”

Everybody talks

The two stay talking, hidden within their secret alcove for the rest of the day. She texted her parents to say she was with a friend and would be back later that night. Damian didn’t bother texting his family, Marinette knew he had to be back soon due to his dorm’s curfew.

The sun was setting at they walked back together, he did the gentlemanly thing and dropped her off at her bakery door. She could see her mother behind the register inconspicuously looking over at the two of them. Damian’s lips quirked upwards, she was satisfied with his kinda-smile.

He walked back, hands in pockets and a neutral expression upon his face instead of a scowl. He reached his door and took his keys, he found that it was already open. Damn.

His family was splayed out within his two roomed dorm. Todd and Drake were fighting over a place to sit on his bed, whilst his father sat at his desk, watching the commotion. The three of them turned to him as he enter the room, they were the only family members able to attend on short notice; Cain had a ballet audition, Gordon & Brown had concert tickets for tomorrow, Grayson had to take care of Mar’i while Kor’i was on Tamaran and Alfred stayed to ensure no one died during their night time activities.

“We need to talk Damian.” His father stood, leaning onto the desk chair. “The school called and said you had an unexcused absence for half the day. Where were you Damian?”

Damian stared into his father’s eyes. He was fifteen, almost an adult, but was treated like he was ten again.

“I was with a friend.”

“Probably the girl from the dance. Marinette, right?” Todd mocked him. Damian snapped his head in the direction of his bed, glaring at both his brothers.

“That’s what I want to talk about with you Damian. Now I don’t know her personally but from what we’ve discovered through our investigation we have some concerns. What’s happened Damian?”

The youngest Wayne’s glare shifted off of his brothers to the floor, and then finally to his father; his family sitting in wait for his answer. Straightening his posture, his shoulders clicked as he rolled then back. His statement’s tone was sure and steady, “Everybody talks father.”

Everybody talks... back