#but i saw a fanfic with robin dick recently about that

[yvtro]

bruce teaching robin jay how to put on makeup under the domino mask. that’s all thanks for coming to my ted talk

[ficrecslist]

Fic Rec Sunday #2

This week's collection includes Boku no Hero Academia and Batman fics again. Please make sure to look through fic tags before reading.

Batman

the wrongest thing in the world by dustorange (5k, WIP, M)

"I thought it’d be different when he got shot. I was going to be the one to do it. I wanted him dead so bad. But when I saw him, it was different. He was all scared. He was just some guy. It was all different,” Dick whispers. “I didn’t want it to be different. It shouldn’t be different. He took everything from me. I don’t even have my—” his fingers reach up as if to claw down the cuffs of his hoodie, then falter on his bare skin, remembering that it's no longer there, and scratch into his skin instead. His voice breaks. “He got everything.”

Damian slowly unclips his cape. He hesitates. Then he wraps it around Dick’s shoulders.

“Not,” Damian says, “everything.”

(After Bruce's death, Damian struggles to shoulder the Batman mantle. He also struggles to keep a grieving street kid from getting himself killed.)

Another excellent Robin age reversal AU this week. The author has a ton of other good works as well.

the primacy of personal conscience by birdsofthesoul (26k, M)

"WHAT MAKES IAGO EVIL? some people ask. I never ask."

— Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays

Or: Dick, his family, and the moral morass of a wishing well.

Delves deep into each of the batfam's personal morals by putting them into an interesting situation: what would happen if an actual wishing well that worked showed up in Gotham?

Code of Silence by JHSC (9k, T) cw: referenced sexual assault

Willis Todd doesn’t die in prison. That doesn’t change much, until it does.

I didn't think too much of Willis Todd before reading this. Normally people characterise him a lot as an abusive dirtbag, but this fanfic doesn't do that and I find it really interesting. Definitely a good fic.

The Next Life by spqr (15k, T)

“I don’t need an exorcism,” Tim says.

“I beg to bloody differ,” Constantine mutters.

Nobly, Tim elects to ignore him. “I want you to teach me.”

“Teach you what? Manners?”

“I already know manners,” Tim says, then barrels on as Constantine snorts in disagreement, “what I need to learn is necromancy.”

Very much enjoyed a look at the magic side of DC, especially since I haven't read much stuff on it before. I don't know how much of it is true to canon, but if it isn't, it feels very built-in and detailed in the way the magic system is written. Necromancer!Tim and questionable adult John Constantine is a delight to read.

Bet Your Bottom Dollar by husborth (7k, T) cw: referenced sexual assault

Dick's been having kind of a hard time, recently. When it boils over, Bruce is there for him.

Lots of good things to write about this fic: comes highly recommended. I've reread this and the author's other works multiple times.

Circles by withthekeyisking (9k, M)

Dick understands the necessity of working with Hush, that having the world continue on thinking that Bruce Wayne is alive is a useful thing. Doesn't mean he has to like it. Doesn't mean it's easy to engage with a man with Bruce's face when Dick still misses his dad like a limb.

And it turns out that's a weakness Thomas is all too happy to exploit.

If you're feeling up for some angst, give this one a try.

Boku no Hero Academia

Legacy by i_am_snowils_admiral (8k, T)

One For All is a sentient quirk. It isn't evil, or malicious. But it's sentient and it has one goal: to carry out the will of its first user - overcoming All for One.

A very cool fic! It does a great job of making OFA come across as creepy, and then they take it down another road.

the ghost of unbroken love by ennuied (7k, T)

Shouto’s life has cracked open like a raw egg on concrete. Some things will never be the same, but some things will.

It's actually been a while since I read this one, but I do remember that I really enjoyed it.

Candor by OwlF45 (60k, M)

Izuku’s ears pop.

It’s the third time Izuku’s hit the pavement face-first.

He’s so close to pulling himself up to his knees when a pipe slams through his lower back and pins him to the concrete. His breath leaves him all at once. He tries to scream. He can’t.

And the rest of the building falls on him in a burst of smoke and dust. His eardrums shatter, he lays flat against the pavement, spitting red globs of blood, and he tries not to remember red eyes and white hair and—

Or: The Hero Commission passes a new code that requires all heroes to complete a mental simulation test. For Izuku, the consequences are catastrophic.

I'm so into the themes that the author explored in this fic, and just kinda everything about it? You can tell they worked a lot on it, and I think Candor is now one of my favourite BNHA fanfics, because wow. Comes HIGHLY recommended.

hineni | הנני by jonphaedrus (42k, T)

The problem was not that All Might was Yagi Toshinori.

The problem is that Yagi Toshinori is—was—had always been—All Might.

And always would be.

A lovely All Might character study that I liked a lot.

Walk a Mile in Another’s Shoes by katydid (56k, WIP, T)

The Aoyamas think twice and decide not to get involved with a shady man who claims to be able to give quirks. Instead, Hisashi and Inko Midoriya purchase a naval laser quirk for their son in exchange for a large sum of money and an undisclosed favor.

A decade later, All for One comes to collect his due. Izuku Midoriya must choose between his mother’s life or betraying his ideals and his friends.

Read this fic. Read all of the other fics the author has written. Thank me later. This one isn't my favourite but I do very much enjoy it: all of them are really good and are worth reading I think.

different, same by achievingelysium (1k, T)

The world is different from what he remembers.

Much, much different.

Midoriya Izuku is Quirkless. Yet the universe works in circles, and One for All returns to its first wielder long long after he's dead.

A cool Yoichi-reincarnates-as-Midoriya Izuku fic!

[batbitchandthefam]

If Bruce Wayne really is a child abuser who hits his kids emotionally damages them, can't even tell them he's proud of them... and if all of said kids can't even get along, try to kill each other at every turn and are just a toxic environment all over, like.

What's the appeal of Batman, then, like at all? I got into the fandom because I saw people couldn't stop talking about how much of a great found family it is, with this brooding hero dad guy actually being soft and adopting every traumatized kid he sees, like. Honestly I'm a little bummed, I feel like everyone just lied to me and lured me into an idealized version of a fandom that doesn't even exist. How do I get out now? Do I just suffer and stew in my own rage in silence?

I won’t lie to you, a lot of stuff in this fandom is idealized. Tumblr has their own versions of each of the Bat Family characters that just doesn’t line up with canon. We indulge fanart and fanfic that make them seem much more of a loving and functional family than they really are. (The most exaggerated is Jason, who doesn’t often interact with the family at all.)

However, there is still family-ish appeal in the comics. There are many examples of the Bat Family interacting that have been the baseline for Tumblr’s idealization.

I can point you to a ton of actual comic panels that I’ve posted, or send you to @shamelessbatfamtrash for any specific scenes you want to find.

Batman and Robin (2009), Batgirl (2011), Batgirl (2000), some issues of Robin (1993), Robin: Son of Batman, Robin War, etc. (These are some of the ones I read/know about that have some family moments)

Bruce being an abusive father is a more recent thing. Most examples are in the last 10 to 15 years. It’s usually for the sake of drama and separating Bruce from the fact that he is a dad. (DC wants Bruce to be a hot, young, eligible bachelor even though he’s a middle aged man with 6 kids.) Before this, Bruce has mostly been a very kind and doting father to Dick, Jason, and really any child he met.

The reason why we all still consume Batman media despite this is because we can see who the characters are suppose to be, based on their ideals and character background. Family is too important to Bruce for him to take it for granted. Yes, he’s emotionally constipated and brooding, but he’s more than what recent comics are making him out to be.

For a better understanding of Bruce’s character, I think the Batman: The Animated Series captures his character really well. I definitely recommend watching it.

It’s also totally ok if you can’t bring yourself to like certain characters. DC is so broad, you can 100% find something/someone you genuinely enjoy. (And I like to read fluffy fanfics when I need a break for Comic Drama.)

I hope this helps. Have a good day!

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Recently I saw the thumbnail for Lily's latest video. It's about the comic about Harley and Poison Ivy being gay and doing crime between season 2 and 3 of the Harley's cartoon series. What got my attention was what was written in the descriptions, ''Go fuck yourself, Frank Miller''. I don't know about any drama related to him. It's just seem salty and mean. He is the author of well-known and respected graphic novels and comics such as Batman: Return of the dark knight, Batman Year One, Sin City, 300 or he also worked on the Daredevil series. Sure Lily can write better. Have you heard about her pony porn fanfic or pokemon rape comic ? Meanwhile the video is praising this comic as the best thing ever. I know Lily and whatever the name of her latest victim is don't like the ''edgy'' stuff and much more prefer the fluff and that's fine. But claiming that its the best what almost 90 years of comics has to offer is just wrong. Also it's not that ground breaking. As I said, it's just Harley and Poison Ivy being gay and doing crime, which is almost all they ever do now. What do you think ?

I am actually familiar with Franks later works.

And I'm going to be honest when I say that the Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn comic is probably better then some of the later stuff Frank's done.

Like, don't get me wrong; it's definitly not better the ones you've listed above. But Frank has written Holy Terror. A really racist and uncomfortable book that's just filled to the brim with hate and anger.

He's also written All Star Batman and Robin. A book where Batman kidnaps Dick Grayson, age twelve, after his parents died and tells him to eat a rat.

But that being said, I don't think Lily knows that about Frank Miller. I think she only knows that he wrote a rather well loved, dark Batman story. So her commentary about him is really to try to say:

This gay lesbian comic is way better then all those "edgy" dark Batman stories. So Nyeh!

She's trying to get a reaction out of people. But since I do know about Frank Millers body of work, I'm not bothered.

[sun-moon-stars-jedi]

Batfam Ficrecs - Part 5

Because you can never read enough Batfam fanfics, here’s another Reclist with relatively new stories. Hope you find something you enjoy =D

You can find my previous lists here.

--

First Gear by nanami (Gen, 4.0K, Rated Gen): Jason never learned how to drive a car and now Damian is the one to teach him. It goes...pretty well, actually. Funny and sweet story about Jason and Damian just being brothers.

Your Emergency by shanahane (Gen, 6.1K, Rated Teen): How Dick meets his three brothers by answering their 911 calls. This is such an amazing take on a no-cape AU, seriously, everything fits so perfectly and the idea is really cool. The story is part of a series, although they are (mostly) stand-alones, so don’t let that stop you.

How Lucky We Are to Be Alive Right Now by Sohotthateveryonedied (Gen, 1.2K, Rated Gen): Dick is wearing the original Robin costume from his early days in the boots and cape. The outfit is at least two sizes too small, the cape only reaching the small of his back. Upon further inspection, Bruce can see that he waxed his legs for this. Jesus Christ. This is so sweet and funny, just prime Batfam content all around.

Acts of Kindness by Perizhad (Gen, 3.1K, Not Rated): Jason first meets Robin lost in the middle of Crime Alley and tries to save him from whatever pervert put him in that costume. Jason’s good heart won’t let him stop helping Robin, even though he thinks it’s not a good idea, and this is all around just a very nice take on Jason joining the family (ABO universe). If you like this story, also check out A Warmer Nest by the same author.

Home Run by iselsis (Gen, 6.0K, Rated Teen): Jason escapes the League, but he doesn't do it without stealing Talia's kid on the way out. Now he just has to get home. Jason reuniting with his family never gets old and here it is done especially sweet. The addition of toddler Damian makes it even more perfect.

His Head is Bloody, but Unbowed by gunpowder_and_pearls (Gen, 17.1K, Rated Teen): Jason was smart enough to walk away when he saw the Batmobile, all those years ago. So why wasn't he smart enough to just keep walking when he sees a crumpled form in an alley? Another great version of Jason joining the family, years later than in canon. This story deals with some heavier topics, so check out the tags first, but I absolutely loved the characterization of everyone here, so give it a try.

buried birds by envysparkler (Gen, 5.9K, Rated Teen): Tim wakes up in a coffin and only Jason answers his calls for help. I’m pretty sure if you like the Batfam and hurt/comfort you already know envysparkler’s work because every story is amazing, but I still wanted to rec this one. It is just so good!

Fairy Godbrother by envysparkler (Gen, 16.8K+, Rated Teen): The Batboys meddle interdimansionally to fix their family. Another absolutely amazing work by envysparkler.

The Demon in the Details Series by SalParadiseLost (Gen, 42K+, Rated Teen): Jason is an incubus and as such needs to feed on emotions (no worries, there is nothing sexual happening here). This series is such an interesting AU with a very nice bit of world-building and great character dynamics.

Thanks Dickhead by TheMutantHonk (Gen, 0.8K, Rated Teen): The chandelier no longer supports Dick like it used to. Short and sweet Batfam story.

My Brother’s Keeper by RandomReader13 (Gen, 4.3K, Rated Teen): Jason is talked into picking Damian up from school and it ends in violence - but in a good way! Protective big brother Jason is amazing in this. He’d never admit it, but he loves his little brother.

Reverse Robins Series by InsaneTrollLogic (Gen and M/M, 51.4K, Rated Gen to M): As the name says, a reverse Robins AU with Damian as the oldest Batkid. This series is a little bit older so you may already know it, but I just recently found it and was so amazed by the writing, I just had to rec it. The only pairing is Damian/Jon, although most of the series focuses on the Batfam.

[crimson-mage-02]

Burning with Desire

Summary: Five years had past, things had changed with the Titans had grown up and went into separate ways. Until Damian had returned to Jump City from his training and was reunited with Raven, finding himself having with a burning desire he had felt for a long time. 

A/N: This fanfic is my very first smut. Please be kind and be considerate with your thoughts and opinions when reading my fanfic. If you do not wish to read it then don’t. 

It has been five years since Damian had left to train in the mountains with his father. She let her violet eyes glance at the trees from the spot where she and Damian first spoke to each other. She remembered him going into the Tower for the first time, seeing and felt that he was sad. And the time she had healed him after being injured by Jaime’s beam from the blue beetle. She had seen everything in his head, his past demons, and his memories as he saw everything about her. Her life in Azarath, her mother and Trigon.

Over the years, they grew closer than ever. Their friendship had blossomed into something more that the two had never imagined. It was much more stronger than loneliness and darkness both had inside. After being with the Titans, she found herself more at peace and at ease around Damian, he was the only person that understood her.

She walked around her apartment with Titus walking beside her. Just before Damian left, he wanted her to look after him for a while. And five years a really, really, really long time. But she loved looking after him and Titus keeps her company after moving out of the Tower to have her own space.

She still does go to the Tower to visit her friends, her fellow Titans. She knew Jaime has moved in with Traci, Gar and Tara are still living in the Tower, Kori is now married to Dick. Donna and Conner had something going on for years, but nothing happened until they recently had started dating.

Raven walked to the kitchen, grabbing Titus some food for him. She bent down to place the food and water in front of him. “Here you go.” She pet him softly while grabbing her phone, seeing her screensaver was herself and her friends including Damian. He was standing beside her with arms crossed, smiling at her fondly while Gar had his arm around him, grinning. Kori was the one who took this photo and let her have it.

She saw a few texts from the girls. She frowned seeing that they haven’t heard from Damian yet either. She frowned began to think he had forgotten about her and his second family. “Alright, I should get ready for the day.”

Raven stood back up and walked back to her room to get changed. She wore black leggings with a purple-blue top and had a black leather jacket with her hair up in a ponytail. She wore her light pink lip gloss and had golden earrings with a purple jewel in the centre. It was the last gift that Damian had given her before he went for his training.

She made sure to lock the door before she went off to work. After moving out, she started to work in a book café. It calms her down and she loved reading books in her spare time. She drove to work only to find out Kori was already there. “Oh, Raven! Hello.” Kori greeted her happily.

“Hello, Kori, do you want the usual order?” Raven asked with a smile.

“Oh yes please.” Kori smiled brightly.

Raven nodded and went to the back to put her bag in her locker and put on a apron before she make Kori’s order. She was also watching the news seeing that Bruce Wayne had returned to Gotham city after disappearing. She knew why, he was with Damian for training, for almost five years. No news about Damian. Typical.

“Here, one hot mocha and a strawberry cake.” Raven smiled at Kori.

“Thank you. And I couldn’t believe Dick was right, he is really back.” Kori said, watching the news. “But Damian hasn’t been announced that he is back.”

“No, probably still is training.” Raven said softly with bitterness. Kori frowned while eating her cake. She knew that the separation was hard. They had been in contact in the first two years of his training and then after that, he had stopped. They thought the reason was he was training hard as he could to become more of an efficient leader and most trusted member of the Titans. But his friends did understand the meaning of training with the big Bat when he is considering in retiring.

“Raven, I know Damian is not a man with words but through his actions, he does truly care about us, about you. I am sure he does have a very good reason why he stopped contacting us.” Kori reasoned while sipping on the hot mocha.

Raven nodded with a soft smile. Then her co-worker had asked her for help and immediately went back to work. She has taken both the morning and evening shift. She needed the money to pay the rent and it keeps her busy during the day. On weekends, she normally hangs out with the girls to rest up from all of her hard work.

She sometimes hang out with the rest of the Titans and often they ask her about Damian. She gives them short answers until he had stopped contacting her. She always wondered if his training had already stopped or he was ignoring her. She pulled her hair into a messy half bun and served her customer their food and drinks.

(~)

Meanwhile in a private plane, Dick was looking at his computers and smiled when a message came through seeing his daughter Mar’i in a photo, taken my Kori. He beamed with pride seeing his little daughter in a Nightwing mini costume.

“She’s all grown up looking like her mother every day.” A deep voice interrupted his train of thoughts making Dick looking up and grinned.

“Of course. She has. It has been five years already. And look Kori also had made her to be fitted in a Robin onesie too.” Dick chuckled, showing him another photo of his daughter. “Well, isn’t that adorable, Dami?”

“I thought we went through this, Dick. Do not call me that please.” Damian chuckled, sitting on a chair opposite where Dick was sitting. He is now wearing a black shirt with a leather jacket and wore blue jeans.

“Sorry, habits. I mean, you are all grown up and even taller than me and Bruce. I cannot wait to see everyone’s reactions would be. Especially Raven’s.” Dick laughed wholeheartedly with Damian looking away from him with a expression of guilt.

“Oh, sorry, Damian. Uh, Alfred had told me that you two stopped contacting each other year ago.” Dick apologised quickly.

“It is quite alright. I just miss her, and I don’t want to be a failure in her eyes.” Damian said softly, looking out of the window in the private plane.

“Well, we are on our way back to Gotham and you’ll be seeing her. She doesn’t know that, and you can tell her once you seen her.” Dick said to him.

“Yes, indeed.” Alfred came into the room and poured some tea for the two men.

“Alfred, please, rest up. I can handle it.” Damian offered kindly and poured some tea for him.

“Thank you, Master Damian.” Alfred smiled, accepting the tea Damian had poured for him. he rested easily in his chair. “It has been a very long time since you had seen Miss Roth. She is a very gorgeous woman.”

“Yeah, no wonder you two always talk to each other a lot before. Ahh to be young and in love.” Dick sighed, remembering his days with Kori and their moments.

“I am not entirely sure Raven wants to rekindle our relationship. It will take a long time to amend things.” Damian reminded the two as he clasped his hands together. “I doubt she’ll remember me all this time.”

“Master Damian, I assure you that Miss Roth does care about you, sir. You just need to tell her the truth.” Alfred pointed out with a weary smile and drank his tea.

“Also, just be patient with her. Just take it slowly and talk to her.” Dick smiled at his brother. “So, ready to go back? We are almost in.”

Meanwhile in the café, Raven was cleaning up the last table of the night. She has been cleaning and clearing the tables. As well as putting all of the chairs on the table. “Thank you, Rachel! Sorry to keep you late at night.” Her boss apologised.

“No, no. Thank you. I needed this and besides, we were short on staff today. I don’t mind working late for you.” Raven smiled.

“Still, I feel bad. How about you take the rest of the week off? It will do you good.” Her boss smiled. They said their goodbyes with Raven walking out of the café and sighed deeply. She looked at her phone seeing more texts from Tara.

She raised an eyebrow and then saw a dozens of texts messages. She scrolled down and then her eyes widened in shock. She looked at the messages over and over. She cannot believe her eyes. Damian really came back from his five-year training! Her thoughts were all over the place and shut her phone off before teleporting her things to her apartment and went to an alley to change into her superhero costume.

She flew all the way to the Titans Tower and saw Tara was outside waiting for her. “I have seen your texts. Is it really true?” Raven asked urgently.

“Yes, it is. He’s all the news. He just landed in Gotham City.” Tara nodded, pulling her into the lounge room to hear the tv local news. Telling the story of the return of Damian Wayne’s return to Gotham City and had greeted his father, shaking his hand in front of the press and the cameras.

“Wow, he really has grown to be incredibly handsome.” Tara commented with a grin, nodding in approval seeing his strong and tall composure.

“Hey, Tara!” Gar pouted wile Tara smiled.

“Aww, don’t worry, chuckles, you’re my handsome man forever.” Tara chuckled, kissing him on the lips before pulling away to put the plates back on the counter. “Rach, don’t worry, I am sure everything will be back to normal. I’m sure he’ll come and visit.”

“I’ll help T. And Raven, we all are aware of what happened between the two of you, but it will help if you just talk.” Garfield said before he helped his girlfriend cleaning up the kitchen.

(~)

The next morning, Raven woke up to hearing Titus barking. She groaned and laughed, feeling him licking her face. “Oh! Come on! Okay! I’m up. I’m up.” She got up and then got the covers off of her. She walked towards her door and followed Titus into the living room to make breakfast for the both of them.

She bent down and pet Titus. “I have big news for you, big fella. Damian is back.” Raven said with Titus whined and tilted his head, licking her cheek. “Yeah, he is back, alright. After five long years.”

She made herself some tea and eggs with bread, sitting on her sofa, watching the news. Titus was sleeping beside her while she watched. “It has been said that Damian is now inheriting the Wayne Enterprises, taking over his father’s role.”

Raven remembered how Damian never wanted to inherit the company but now he is in charge of Wayne Enterprises, if he is happy then, he is happy. She’ll let him do whatever makes him happy. SH checked her phone and saw she was needed at the Tower.

Once she got that text, she immediately got dressed in her costume. She teleported herself in front of the Tower seeing Dick had come back and announced they have a mission. They were to go to Gotham City and help Batman to take down a few goons.

Raven made a portal for them to walk through with Nightwing leading the team. She flew over the buildings and then heard gun shots from a warehouse and saw people running out. She helped by putting a protective shield around the civilians.

Tara arrived with Raven in the warehouse and saw Batman fighting against Penguin’s goons. Tara used her powers with the rocks trapping the goon from escaping. The rest of the Titans arrived in time in helping the Dark Knight. He punched a few while he saw Raven on the ground, flipping away from the goon and kicked him on the face.

She levitated the boxes and they had hit the goons on the heads with Garfield turning into a gorilla helping Blue Beetle and Traci to round them up. Superboy and Wonder girl managed to get the remaining goons and tied them up with Donna’s lasso.

Conner smirked and crossed his arms. “Well, this was nice. Can’t remember the last time we all hung out as a team.” They all turned to Nightwing talking to Batman not far from them. “Since when Batman smiles…. Wait… no way!” Conner exclaimed in shock as he took a step back.

“What is it?” Donna asked.

“It’s… It’s….” Conner didn’t get the words out of his mouth until he watched Batman taking off his mask, revealing Damian wearing his father’s costume. Everyone gasped in shock with Gar fainted and fell on the ground.

“Dios Mio!” Jaime exclaimed in shock, looking at his former leader. Raven stood in shock with Tara by her side. She cannot believe her own very eyes, seeing Damian back in his father’s uniform as Batman, the Dark Knight.

“Hello, everyone.” Damian shown them his signature smirk and then it disappeared once he saw Raven standing next to Tara. He was both thrilled and nervous meeting her after 5 years. He was still enchanted by her beauty and calming presence. He has so many things to say to her. So many things he wanted to fix with her.

“H-Hey, Damian. It is great to see you buddy, and taller!” Jaime chuckled nervously, rubbing his neck, looking at how much his grown and how more muscular he is now.

“Yeah, now I can you Macho Muscles.” Tara chuckled with Donna laughing softly, silently agreeing with her.Gar managed to get up and looked at his muscles. They weren’t as muscular as Damian and pouted.

“So, how was training?” Conner asked excitedly wrapping an arm around his friend.

“Alright, we can talk about this after we get these guys arrested and then you all can catch up.” Nightwing winked at his brother who slightly glared at him. Damian put back his mask and walked beside his brother when the police had arrived.

Conner and Jaime handed the bad guys to the police with the girls helping the civilians as they all stared at Batman in awe. Raven watched closely and saw Damian going down to the kids level and talked to them. She was shocked to see how he was so calm around children now. It warmed her heart and was happy to see such a great development after 5 years.

She saw him finishing his interaction with the children and Gordan talked to him, thanking him before he walked away. Damian and Raven at last, looked at each other. He walked towards her and she was looking up at him. “Shall we talk some—” Damian heard his father was talking to him by a comm.

“Sorry, yes father…. Right away.” Damian sighed and looked down at the sorceress in front of him and looked at his friends. “Titans. How about one last mission and then we can all catch up for dinner?”

They all went back to Jump City and fought against criminals and had saved a few civilians from a burning building. Raven used her powers and summoned all water to put out the fire while Damian as Batman got a few people out of the building with the help of Superboy.

The building was falling down with Terra helped moving the rocks from the ground to prevent the upper part of the building not to fall down on other people while Jaime and Traci got the people out of the way. Once the fire had died out by the firefighter and the ambulance had come to their aid with the Titans and Batman stood by, seeing they were safe.

After a few minutes, Garfield’s stomach had rumbled loudly. It was loud enough for them to hear. Damian chuckled in amusement seeing his friends hasn’t changed that much and looked over at Raven who was giving back a doll to a little girl with a gentle and kind smile.

“So, aiming to get her back in your life?” Conner asked him.

Damian looked at him with an eyebrow’s furrowed together. “I… I don’t want to mess things up.”

“You won’t. Just talk to her, man. Anyway, Tara and I are going to cook a whole huge feast now that you’re here.” Gar grinned.

“Should we really trust him cooking our food?” Damian asked, looking at Jaime.

He just smiled nervously. “Don’t worry, Terra was the only one who cooked their meals.”

(~)

In the Titans Tower, Damian was changing out in his normal clothes in his old room. He forgotten how small it was. He smiled, remembering how he’d always train in his room and remembering the first time he saw Raven meditating down below underneath the tree.

He heard a knock on his door and turned to the door. “Come in.” The door opened and saw Raven in her purple shirt with a mini skirt with stockings. She stopped when she saw him shirtless, his strong muscles flexing while putting on his black t-shirt on.

“Uh, sorry, I was uh, telling you that dinner is almost ready.” Raven said timidly while Titus came in barking. Damian’s face lit up seeing his dog after a very long time as he licked his face. he almost fell on the floor. “Titus, behave.” Raven smiled a bit.

“Thank you for looking after him.” Damian thanked her while petting his dog.

“It was no problem. I love looking after him and his company in my apartment.” Raven replied with a smile. Damian looked up at her in confusion. He thought she was still living in the Tower after he had left for training.

“You are not living here anymore?” Damian asked, standing up.

“Yeah, I moved to an apartment in the city. And I am working in a book café.” Raven nodded while Titus was licking her hands.

“Oh, well, as long as you are happy.” Damian smiled at her and then they both heard Donna knocking on the door, announcing dinner was ready. They all walked down in the dining room, seeing the table decorated with some dinner cloths and the table has been changed from a white to a black dining table.

Damian was impressed by the meals Tara had cooked and Garfield was helping out, placing the food on the table. He noticed how Conner and Donna were on the balcony, talking and flirting with each other. And he was mostly surprised Jaime managed to finally have a girlfriend of his own.

“Alright, everyone, dinner time!” Tara smiled, sitting next to Gar. Everyone dug right in eating everything with their hearts contents. Damian was sitting next to Raven who was feeding Titus who was sitting down next to her chair. Dick and Kori arrived with some dessert. Mar’i came running towards Damian who carried her and let her sit on his lap. Everyone were happily chatting and catching up with Damian and him telling them about his training.

Dinner was over, Mar’i was already asleep with Titus sleeping next to her on the couch. Damian smiled at the little one with Dick sitting next to him smiling proudly and fondly at his daughter. “you should be proud, brother.”

“I am proud. Kori and I were having the life. The best in fact.” Dick chuckled wholeheartedly. “You know, you can have that life too, with Raven.”

The new Batman glanced at Raven who was helping washing the dishes with Kori and Tara. He frowned. “She must be mad at me not responding at all.”

“What? I’m sure she’ll understand.” Dick assured him while drinking his beer.

Dick and Kori had got Mar’i, managed not to disturb her sleep and decided to go back to their apartment. Tara already cleaned up her kitchen and let Raven and Damian off. “Thank you. The food was delicious, Tara.” Raven smiled.

“Yes, thank you.” Damian nodded in agreement.

“You’re welcome, you two. And Damian, do me a favour, please take Raven home safely.” Tara winked as the empath blushed bright pink.

The two walked out of the Tower seeing a car out in the front. Raven looked over at Damian who got out his car keys and started the car. He glanced over at Raven who was walking past him with a portal opening. “W-well, good night.” Raven timidly said to the new Dark Knight and was about to walk through the portal.

“Wait!” She turned back to see Damian was looking the right words. But nothing came out of his mouth. He rubbed his neck and before looking at Raven who stood patiently with her black and red ombre hair blowing in the wind gently while her eyes sparkle underneath the night sky.

She looked onto his emerald eyes, there were beautiful, and she’d always get lost in his emerald eyes. She watched him putting his hands in his pockets. “I thought we could talk.” Damian said to her.

“Yes. We could talk for a bit.” Raven nodded slowly.

“Well then, you may hop in my car.” Damian said as he walked around to the other side of the car and opened the door for her like a gentleman. Raven walked towards the car slowly and then went inside with him closing it.

Damian drove in an underground carpark underneath an apartment. He led raven and Titus the elevator, she noticed it goes all the way to the top. The very top of the building. Once the doors opened, she could see the whole city. Just before they went to his apartment, Raven gotten a few spare clothes and her books. She looked at the breathtaking view from outside of the window. She could see all of the lights in Jump City.

“It is not much like my father’s but, it will do.” Damian said, placing his luggage on the couch. “I hope it is alright.”

“It is rather a beautiful view from up here.” Raven smiled, looking out of the window. Damian smiled softly and walked towards her. Feeling that they were slowly opening up to each other after being apart for a very long time.

“I should apologise.” Damian apologised, putting his hands behind his back, looking out of the window by her side.

“For what?” Raven asked even though she knew what he was going to say and how he felt.

“Not being able to contact you. I was…. So solely focused on with my training. Not telling what was my reason for not contacting you sooner.” Damian explained looking down at her.

“Damian, it is fine. You just wanted to prove to your father that you’re not a failure and have no interruptions.” Raven said looking away with a frown and hugged herself.

“That was the reason and there was another.” Damian said turning his whole body away from the window, making him facing her completely. “I didn’t want you to think of me as a failure. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

Raven looked up at him and her expression softened. She reached to caress his strong jaw, cheeks and looked into his charming emerald eyes. Damian let out ragged breaths looking into her violet eyes until he leaned down and planted a gentle, soft kiss with her placing her small hands on his chest.

They kissed deeply with them exploring each other’s mouth. Damian wrapped his arms around her waist, grabbed her thighs, making her wrap her legs around his waist. He carried her carefully, feeling her soft curves, exploring her whole body, and massaged, groping her ass with her moaning with satisfied pressure. He sat down on his couch, devouring her lips, tasting blueberry flavour from her.

She panted softly with him peppered her neck with soft kisses with her holding onto him tightly, biting her lip. He kept on feeling every bit of her body and he pulled away from her neck, panting heavily and looked into her eyes and went to lean in for another kiss but she brushed her fingers on his lips, stopping him from doing so.

“Um, sorry, uh, it’s not that I don’t want to continue… I just want to freshen up first…. If that’s alright.” Raven half whispered and panted, looking at him while pressing her forehead on his.

“Of course, you may. There’s a shower upstairs on your left.” Damian whispered back, letting her got off of him and let her take a shower first. She quickly grabbed her clothes and ran up the stairs and she bit her lips excitedly, running up the stairs.

Damian chuckled in amusement, seeing her running up the stairs with an ecstatic smile. He stood up and went to get his stuff away in his new room. It was spacious and had two cardboards. He opened the doors to the cardboards and placed his shirts and his pants inside. He heard whining from Titus who tugged on his pants. “Okay, okay, buddy. I can show you your new place to sleep.”

He led Titus to a small space in the lounge and shown him his little bed. He wagged his tail happily and started to play with his toy. Damian also sorted out his items and looked at the time, it was getting late and he should take a shower as well, only to notice that Raven has been in the shower for a very long time.

Raven sighed softly and felt the warm water touching her skin and melted. She loved the shower he had in his new apartment. His bathroom was…. All black and the lights inside the shower was dimmed in a lighter shade of blue. The toilet seat was not far from the shower as it was adjacent to the sink.

Next to the shower was the large silver bathtub and then the door, the only entrance and exit of the bathroom. She was surprised at how large the bathroom was. As expected, he was the rich son of Bruce Wayne. Just like Dick but he still chose a normal lifestyle he wanted to live in for his growing family. She wondered if she could ever have that kind of life.

She heard the doors opening and she quickly covered herself with her purple towel and saw Damian leaning on the door frame with a smirk on his face. “Damian! Get out! I-I’m trying to take a shower and your…… naked!” Raven exclaimed as she turned away from him after a few good seconds of staring at his…….. Oh Azar! His… his….

“Sorry Rachel, I thought you were in the guest room’s toilet.” Damian chuckled, covering his waist with a spare towel that was hanging on the railing on the wall near the door.

“And I thought this was the guest room.” Raven thought, turning to him again and covered herself with her drenched towel. She took a good look at his muscles, broad chest and his scars on his arms, neck, and chest.

“You like what you see, Roth?” Damian smirked with his dangerously glowing and charming green eyes stared into hers.

“Yes, I-I mean n-No!” Raven stammered, turning away from him. “Ca-Can you please let me shower in peace?”

Damian hummed softly and walked slowly toward the shower, opened the door with the water hitting his chest and looked at Raven’s small figure as she turned around. Seeing him so up close. He knew she was still processing that he had came back after five years and won’t do anything further to make her uncomfortable.

She trailed her fingers along his arms, his biceps and her eyes were locked with his. She eventually threw her towel away and let him see her hourglass body and her breasts. He let his hand wonder around her figure, and he placed gentle kisses on her neck and at the same time closing the shower door.

Raven held his face in her hands with her kissing his lips softly yet firm with his arms on her waist. Damian moaned and melted in the kiss, she was a bit shorter than him, he lifted her again and had his hand caressing the back of her head and pinned her on the wall of the shower. They kissed and devoured each other, he licked her neck and ears with her whimpering, holding his shoulders.

She wrapped her legs around his waist with her caressing his face and neck as they kissed deeply, exploring their tongues, the taste of their lips. Damian kissed and bit her bottom lip and stared into her eyes. She trembled in place, but his soft touch had comforted her silently that he will stop if he did made her feel uncomfortable.

She trusts him as he trusts her with all of their hearts. She breathed out shakily with him slowly trailing his kisses and then groped and massaged her breasts gently with her biting her lips. She let out a soft gasp, holding him closely to her chest. “D-Dami.”

Damian licked her nipple making her whine and moan loudly, she covered her mouth immediately. He smirked and pulled her hand away. “Please, I want to hear that soft angelic voice.” Damian grinned, licking her face and her right ear.

She growled softly. “I….am a half demon… not an angel, if I must remind you again.”

“You may be a half demon… but you are so much more than. You’re an angel. My angel.” Damian confessed softly, putting her strands of wet hair out of the way. He let her stand on the floor and he let her be in control.

She explored all of his scars. She gasped softly seeing how large the scar on his chest was. She began kissing his chest with him groaning softly. Caressing her head while she kissed every scar she could find on his body. She pinned him on the other wall below the shower head. Both of them were drenched with water running on them. She felt his muscles and then let her hand explore his manhood. He grunted softly feeling her massaging it softly.

She bent down and started to lick it slowly as she began to suck it. Damian grunted while holding her hand. “R-Rachel.” She moaned and licked every bit of him, she began squeezing his legs while sucking and licking his dick.

Damian groaned softly thinking how she could lick it so passionately and effortlessly. He looked down seeing her wiping her mouth, seeing how much he came. He sighed in pleasure and panted softly with her standing up again, kissing him on the lips deeply while she stroked his dick slowly and steady.

“You really do like that, don’t you?” Raven whispered, against his lips while his tongue slipped in her mouth, moaned. She rubbed her legs together against his cock. She watched his reactions while she slowly grind against him in a steady rhythm. He looked into her eyes and looked into his eyes once again as if she couldn’t wait.

He looked at her with a serious expression and held out his hand out to her. She gladly accepted and held his hand. He turned off the faucet, ran his hand through his slicked wet hair. Damian and Raven kept making out until they both stumbled towards the sink with him lifting her up, Raven played with his locks, moaning into the kiss.

He opened the door and led her to his bed room with the lights off and lamps on but dimmed with the colour blue and red mixed together. Damian sat on the bed with her intertwined their hands together and she pinned him on his bed before kissing him again. She pulled back again, looking at him while he stares at her. She held his hands, never letting go of them and placed them on her chest.

Damian sat up and licked every part of her chest and neck with his dick sticking out in front of her clit. She moaned and sighed softly, tilting her head back. He kissed and licked he rub cage while rubbing and massaged her breasts, this time little bit more rough.

His eyes looked up again with her kissing his forehead and cheeks, biting, and licking his ear. He held small body with his strong arms. He rubbed his dick in her clit, making her shouting out and murmuring words. “Sorry, you don’t want to do this?” Damian panted, caressing both sides of her cheeks.

He heard her mumbled something underneath her breath. “What is it?” Damian asked again, looking at her, having his full attention on her.

“You can do it. Put it in.” Raven replied. “But with protection, please.”

He nodded in understanding as he let her get off his lap and walked to his cupboard, getting a condom while watching her every move. She laid her back on his bed, legs spread wide open. He gotten hard again and crawled on the bed again, his eyes went straight at her clit and began licking it while he massaged her breasts. She moaned loudly, biting her lips and tilted her head while he began to lick it with passion and inserted a finger, making her shouting out, holding his sheets tightly while feeling so good from his touch that made her shudder.

He smirked, putting one more and made her cum with covering his fingers, making her humping into his hand. He sat up on his knees with her looking up at him with an embarrassed look. He was enjoying watching her reactions, seeing her beautiful body in front of him. He was grateful that he was going to make her his.

He placed rubbed his cock against her clit, making her moan again and rubbed against it. She looked into his eyes and trailed her fingers on his abs and scars that were covered in sweat until she felt his cock was going in quickly and she shouted out both in pain and pleasure with digging her long nails on his back with him hugging her tightly with their chests touching one another.

They both panted heavily and looked at one another. “C-Can I move now? If you want me to stop, you can just shove me, Rachel.” Damian assured her until he felt her pulling him into her strong hold.

“No. Keep moving.” Raven trembled and whispered in his ear. Damian wasted no time and began grinding and thrusting softly. “D-Dami.” She could feel it twitching inside of her. He began to pick up the pace hearing her loud cries while holding her in his arms.

He let her go and pinned both of her wrists on the bed and with every thrust he made. Made her feel like she was in the stars and in heaven. He panted heavily and grunted with every thrust he made. He gritted his teeth and lifted her up, sat down on the bed with her wrapping her arms around his neck, began to thrust harder and faster with her shouting out in pleasure and scratching his back.

They both leaned for one final kiss and with a few thrusts, they both grunted and shouted with her back arched with her legs wrapped around his waist. She had Damian’s face buried in her chest. They both laid down back on the bed, panting tiredly with sweat all over their body and their bodies intertwined with each other. Damian laid on his pillow, watching his beloved to sleep and he pulled the covers on them and fell into deep sleep with content smiles.

(~)

Raven woke up and opened her eyes slowly seeing a naked scarred chest. She looked up to see Damian already up, staring at her. She covered herself but still smiled at him, caressing his cheek while he kissed her palm. “Good morning, beloved.”

“Good morning, Dami.” Raven smiled lovingly at him.

“Hope it was okay.” Damian hoped while playing with her hair.

She looked at him in confusion until she figured what he had meant, and she smiled at him in reassurance. “Dami… it was the best night of my life. And you were more than okay.” She trailed her fingers over his lips with his emerald eyes shining brightly.

He smiled in relief, seeing his love was satisfied from last night’s…. activity. “That is a relief.” He sat up on his bed. “So… what shall we do today? Unless you have work later on.”

“Hmm, well, my boss let me have the week off. How about you?” Raven asked, making circles on his chest. “We could have dinner at my place and have a repeat at my place. We can have Titus with Dick and Kori.”

“I am off until tonight, I am meeting my father later. Sorry.” Damian sent her an apologetic expression with her sitting up, letting him seeing her chest.

“It’s alright, I can wait for you…unless you want to do it again.” Raven seductively whispered in his ear while kissing his neck and him laying down back on his pillow with a smirk. She was straddling him, and she trailed her hands up on his chest, making him shudder softly.

“That would be splendid, beloved.” Damian smirked with her smiling brightly as the two laughed happily as they were in each other’s arms after five years, happy to be in each other’s embrace and were assured that they’ll be together from now on to overcome whatever throws at them.

[puckwritesstuff]

Thanks in advance

2 & 4

8 & 9

13 & 14

46 & 50

Sorry if that too many questions.

That is not too many questions, let’s do this! Answers under the cut.

2. Favourite character?

Of the fics I've written: Drake Mallard, which would seem fairly obvious. Gyro Gearloose, however, is gaining in leaps and strides. I'm having an amazing time writing for him in this most recent fic.

Of all time: oh geez... Belle, Dick Grayson, Slade Wilson, Hermione Granger, Robin Goodfellow, Henry V, everyone on Babylon 5, Jean-Luc Picard, Q, Elim Garak, Josh Lyman, Toby Zeigler, Harry Lime, Eliot Spencer, Mara Jade Skywalker, Grand Admiral Thrawn...

I like a lot of characters ^_^

4. Favourite pairing?

I'm not going to say that I'm captain of the Fendrake ship, but I'm probably pretty high ranked. XD Though, to be completely honest, my favorite couples to write for are OC pairings in my original works.

8. Favourite fic from another author?

I tend not to go back to fics once I've finished reading them, so the term "favorite" doesn't necessarily apply, unless we're talking about "professional fanfic" like Paradise Lost or the Star Wars Expanded Universe or something. That being said, I'm always excited to see a new chapter of "A Rewritten Family HIstory" (and don't tell @1lilspark, but I'm planning on binge commenting once I've finished "Take On Me" so I can give the fic my full attention) ;)

9. Favourite fanfiction author?

I'm not sure where the line between fic and Tumblr RP blurs, but @goodliest has been my writing partner and alpha reader for years now and she writes the best Glinda Upland in the game.

13. What's your most 'overrated' work?

I'm constantly surprised that "As You Come Home" has the hits-to-kudos ratio that it does. It's not that I think it's a bad fic, I love the piece, but other than the basic 5+1 format, it's a fic that almost requires three other (long) fics to really understand and the amount of people that liked that one and none of the others is fascinating to me. I just want to know what they're getting out of it, and what their perspective is reading it.

14. What's your most 'underrated' work?

My r/WritingPrompts series, definitely. Granted, I tried to back-date them all and I didn't want to shove them in peoples faces because they're mostly very simple and kinda dumb prompts that I took far more seriously than I needed to, but I have some good writing in there, and it would be cool to see what other people think of them.

46. Favourite sentence/pragraph you ever wrote?

Oh, damn I am so bad at picking favorites... I will pick one that I really love that I think is not entirely expected and then explain why I really like it.

From "Feelings I Can't Fight":

Drake sat on the edge of the bed. Fenton sat next to him, his head on Drake’s shoulder. Drake had a hand on Fenton’s knee. Fenton’s hands were on Drake’s arm, and Drake could feel them shaking, feel his pulse through his palms. Fenton leaned up and kissed him with a question he couldn’t bear to ask. Drake kissed back, the fear in the grip of his hands on Fenton cutting through the reassurance of his arms around his waist. They fell back onto the bed.

Drake looked up at Fenton, who straddled his hips and tried to ask the question, but the words wouldn’t come. Drake traced along the edge of the faded scar on his chest and Fenton leaned down with a pleading kiss, almost begging. Drake pulled him close, trying to make his desire clear. Fenton could feel the passion and desperation as Drake’s heart threatened to beat out of his chest as he ran his fingers through Drake’s feathers.

Drake came up for air, his chest heaving as he panted. Fenton kissed along his collar as Drake combed through Fenton’s hair with his fingers. Fenton kissed him one last time before lying down, curled up next to him. Fenton’s eyes burned with tears and he could barely look up at Drake to try and ask again.

“Yes,” Drake said quietly, kissing his forehead.

Drake saw the relief in his face and could feel the tension release in his body. Fenton rested his head on Drake’s chest as Drake gently played with his hair. He closed his eyes, comforted by the sound of a steady heartbeat.

Drake wasn’t sure if he was lying.

I love this excerpt because I don't consider myself to be a particularly descriptive writer. I can see the images clearly in my head, but getting them on the page without it sounding awkward is difficult for me. I kneecapped myself further by not having dialogue. Dialogue is the meat of my writing, it's where I do almost everything, particularly when it comes to character emotion. I am very proud of being able to pull of this pivotal scene with only one spoken word, and everything else in sensation.

50. Is there something you often repeat in your fics (a verb, a trope etc)?

My characters get kidnapped a lot. Not sure where that comes from.

Thank you so much for the ask! Links will appear when the tags behave.

[rita2lucky]

Kidnapped by the Bats (A Daminette fanfic)-Chapter 1-A Traffic Light Vigilante Finds Out About Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Damian Al Ghul Wayne/Robin’s POV

I was currently on patrol when I saw a portal open. Cautious, I grappled towards the portal to see a petite girl fall out of the portal. The girl had midnight hair and bluebell eyes, I'm sure there are no other pair of blue eyes that are as vibrant as her's. She kind of looks like Wonder Woman, only younger. The girl was barely conscious. I was going to catch her, but she shouted, "HELP! ...please...," before losing all consciousness.

 Selina, Ivy, and Quinn look up to see the girl. They looked pretty shocked. The girl was covered in blood and scars, which caused them to act. Poison Ivy made a ginormous red rose with soft petals and a fluffy center to catch the falling girl. She landed with a THUD. Thank god. The poor girl.

She later woke up to see the Gotham Sirens looking at her worriedly. She recognizes them. Please don't freak out...please don't freak out... "I'm back in Gotham," she says. Good thing she didn't freak out, wait why do I care so much? Oh, she's from Gotham? They nod. They ask her what's wrong and tell her to start from the beginning. 

 When she finishes, they were beyond pissed. So was I. They asked her if she'd like to stay with them, with Selina to be exact. "YES," She exclaimed, tackling them into a hug, crying. The poor thing. She didn't deserve this torture. I'm telling Father about this. I wanted to skin a certain black cat and a certain sausage-haired liar for hurting her. Wait, why on earth am I so protective of her? I don't even know her! 

||Time-skip||

I arrived back home. Father and the others look at me expectantly. "Damian, why were you late? We were so worried! And why was your comm off?" I look at them. 

"Father, I'll explain everything later. But first, we need to do a background check on someone immediately. This is extremely urgent." They picked up on the tone of my voice and nodded. 

We head towards the bat-computer in the bat-cave. As we headed towards the Bat-cave, I told them everything. To say they were shocked was an understatement. Drake logged into the computer. 

"Name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Okay, lemme check."Drake pulls her file up. The more we read the more horrified we got. The poor girl has been harassed, bullied, and tons of other things. She didn't deserve this sh*t. 

"Is there a picture of her?" Father asked. 

Drake pulled up one of the most recent pictures of her. Todd was the first to speak up. 

"P-Pixie?" His voice was shaking. 

Dick looked worried. "Jay-bird, is everything ok? Why did you call Marinette Pixie?" 

"I'd recognize her midnight hair and those bluebell eyes anywhere! Dickie bird, that is my little sister, Mari. I mentioned her a bazillion times to you and Bruce ever since I came here. Back when I was living on the streets, we only had each other. I thought she died."

 Todd had tears in his eyes and was practically sobbing at this point. Man, I've never seen him like this, and to be honest, I don't like it. We searched the Paris news outlet. By the end of the news, we were more than pissed, especially Todd. "THEY HURT PIXIE! LET ME AT 'EM!" 

"We need more answers. You said Selina took her in for now?" Father asked, I nodded. 

"She'll most likely go to Gotham Academy. Keep an eye on her, Damian." I nodded, determined to figure her out. And help the poor, traumatized girl out.

[fanfictiongreenirises]

i just read your most recent batcard fanfic where dick’s touch would kill people and bro ,,,, bRO,,,,, the angst level was godly but like... then u made it all better with fluff and cuddles 🥺🥺🥺 basically that was a fantastic fic and im so glad to have read it! i saw that you have requests open, so i wanted to send one in— either ‘abandonment’ or ‘kidnapped’ with damian please? thank you!!! i hope u have a good day 💖💖

Thank you so much!!!! I’m so happy you liked the touch starved fic!!! Here’s Damian + kidnapped~

Ao3 link

Bruce couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, every time he paused for breath, all he could think about was how Damian had looked tied to a post in the corner of that dusty warehouse.

This wasn’t the first time one of his children had been kidnapped – he’d almost lost count, at this point – and it wasn’t even the first time Damian had been taken. But that had been as Robin. His son was free to bite and claw and stab with skills a twelve-year-old shouldn’t know when he was Robin.

It was a different matter altogether when he was Damian Wayne.

Damian had only been there for seven hours when Gordon had called Bruce, telling him they’d found his son. It was honestly a testament to how terrible kidnappers they’d been, really. Bruce was just grateful they weren’t more experienced, hadn’t been more competent in hiding their tracks. And most of all, that they were only after money, not revenge against Bruce – they hadn’t hurt Damian beyond scrapes and bruises from knocking him out with a drug and carting him around.

Playing the part of a slightly more adjusted pre-teen, Damian had run up to Bruce the second he’d seen him, relief stark on his face – for someone who knew him, that was. “Father,” he’d greeted Bruce, voice perfectly normal without even a hint of a wobble. “I told them they were terrible at kidnapping and would be found within five hours. I see you’ve proven yourself incapable of even that.”

Bruce, without a word, had tugged Damian into a hug. It’d been what was possibly their first hug in public that wasn’t for show, and the first hug that had been accepted (barely) without threat of bodily harm. Damian had frozen up against his body, not anticipating this turn of events in the slightest, but without a word gingerly wrapped his tiny arms around Bruce’s figure. A flash had gone off behind them before Montoya had yelled at the photographer, confiscated the camera.

Damian was tiny. He couldn’t even reach all the way around Bruce. And someone had thought it fit to kidnap him. Bruce wished he could’ve taken this on as Batman, if only to pound into those men exactly what happened when someone tried to hurt his family.

All in all, it had been a rather unremarkable kidnapping. Bruce couldn’t figure out what part of it was keeping him up. He hadn’t even had to call to inform the rest of the family; only Alfred knew what had happened, and if it were up to Damian, it was going to stay that way.

He was apparently exceedingly embarrassed he’d “let himself” get kidnapped by “bumbling sacks of ineptitude”.

Alfred had merely raised an eyebrow at the comment, and handed over a cup of tea with a neutral sounding hum. Damian had spent the duration of his tea rambling, picking out points where the kidnappers could’ve gone better.

“Are you intending on abducting children yourself, Damian?” Bruce had finally had to ask him, partly amused, partly concerned.

Damian had huffed, in that snobbish way of his that meant that the explanation he wasn’t going to give was well above the intelligence rating of whoever had just addressed him. Or rather, that was Tim’s description of it. Dick’s was far more likely to get himself stabbed.

“I just think that criminals ought to be better at their trade,” he’d said to Bruce.

Bruce, now, reached up to the nightstand to take a sip out of the glass of water. Maybe his throat was dry; it’d spent a lot of the day dry, but that was more so out of fear than dehydration. Nevertheless, drinking water would probably help.

He lay back down to try falling back asleep. Had this been before, he would’ve just gone down to the Cave to work on whatever open cases there still were, crashing in front of the Batcomputer when his body couldn’t take it anymore.

That had been put to a stop around the same time he’d stopped Tim from doing the same. Now there was nothing to do but try and force his mind to stop whirring for a few hours.

The number of times his children – or Bruce himself – had gotten abducted during a gala probably said something about them. He wished it said enough to warrant getting rid of them entirely, but they were a necessary evil, as Alfred had once commented to him.

Next time he’d vet the staff better. He’d started doing background checks since before Dick had started going to galas, but cameras had been installed absolutely everywhere after Dick’s first kidnapping. Jason’s first kidnapping had led to all non-guest personnel carrying IDs. Tim’s first had resulted in fingerprint scanners, which had been rather controversial until Tim’s second kidnapping.

Cass and Steph had been kidnapped together, one memorable time. He’d made all the kids carry trackers after that.

Damian, at some point during his capture, had broken his tracker. Now Bruce was going to have to find a better method of implanting them, because the cold sinking in his gut at the lack of signal coming from the device wasn’t something he wished to experience ever again.

The door squeaked as it opened, and Bruce was instantly awake, all cobwebs and half formed thoughts gone from his mind.

Tiny footsteps padded forward, soundless but for the whisper of clothing.

Bruce didn’t dare sit up; he turned to the side to watch as Damian walked up to the bed and eyed him warily, watching his reaction.

“Damian?” he asked when it became clear that the boy wouldn’t be the first to speak.

“I tried counting sheep, but I still cannot sleep,” Damian stated, voice full volume.

“Have you tried reading a book?” Bruce said.

Damian tutted. “I’m not allowed any activities when I’m meant to be sleeping. You came up with that rule.”

Oh. Instead of responding, Bruce shuffled back a little to make space on the bed, and lifted the covers back slightly. He patted the now-empty spot. “Would you like to sleep here?”

Damian blinked at him.

Bruce continued, “I can’t sleep either. I’ve found that it’s easier when there’s someone there with you.”

Damian’s face scrunched up in horror. “Father, I am not the same as one of your night-time dalliances!”

Bruce winced, immediately regretting his choice of wording. “That’s not what I meant,” he said. “We’ve had a… rough day. I’d feel better if I knew you were safe.” When he saw that Damian was close to budging, he added, “Dick’s done the same, countless times. Still does, in fact.” Maybe it wasn’t strictly true, considering that the last time he and Dick had slept in the same bed, it’d been because Dick had been sleeping off a concussion, and Bruce had had to wake him every half hour. He’d gotten little sleep that night, or the next.

Damian tilted his head, and without a word, scrambled up Bruce’s bed. Bruce hadn’t realised this before he’d taken Jason in, but his bed was a climb. He would’ve replaced it had it not been for the fact that by the time Cass and Tim had been comfortable enough to come to him for nightmares and the like, they’d already been tall enough to scramble under the covers with ease.

Damian wasn’t going to reach his growth spurt for another couple of years. Maybe a lower bed was what he needed to feel more welcome in coming to Bruce.

“Okay?” Bruce asked, tucking the covers back around his son.

This part of parenting had never felt as awkward as it currently did, with both of them rock still and silent. Damian wasn’t going to move an inch in his direction, unaccustomed as he was. It was down to Bruce.

He breathed in, remembering what Dick had told him about Damian. Telegraph your movements; he doesn’t like sudden things when he’s feeling vulnerable. Don’t lower down to his level – he finds that insulting. Never talk about eating Batcow; that’s how Jay got that scar on his leg. If he's unusually condescending, it means something's up. If he isn't condescending, it means something's up. If you need him to do something, tell him Cass does it.

“Cassandra also has nightmares,” Bruce said conversationally. He knew Cass never minded sharing her history of nightmares or experiences with her siblings, but he’d talk to her anyway. It’d been much too long since he’d spoken with his daughter. “She would often go to Barbara, and then after I adopted her, she began coming to me.”

Damian shifted. His expression was thoughtful; he was fitting this in to the schema he’d built of his sister.

“It’s more effective if we do this.” Bruce turned to the side towards Damian, pillowing his head with an arm, and pulled Damian to his torso. “Alright?” he asked.

Damian was stock still in his arms, and Bruce worried for a moment that he was about to lash out, run off. One step forward, three steps backward with his youngest, as always seemed to be the case.  

But limb by limb, Damian slowly melted against Bruce’s chest. He didn’t say anything in response to Bruce’s words, but Bruce didn’t mind. He was just happy that they were moving forward.

Seizing an opportunity, Bruce ran his fingers through Damian’s thick curls, watching as the hair straightened against the pull from his fingers before reverting back to their original form when he let go. Bruce held his breath, but Damian didn’t protest.

“Father,” Damian said suddenly, again with no concept of a quiet voice, jerking Bruce out of the doze he’d slipped into.

Bruce grunted.

“You weren’t actually incompetent. I gave you ten hours to get there, not five.” His words were muffled as he hid his face from Bruce.

Bruce felt the tiniest of smiles growing on his face. He squeezed Damian tight, just once, before settling his hand back to its previous position. Maybe Damian hadn’t been as unaffected by the day's ordeal as he’d appeared. Sleep was coming to him now, something in Bruce soothed.

“Father?” Damian said, struggling to free himself from Bruce’s grasp. “I’m still not tired.”

Bruce sighed, deciding on breaking his own rule. “Grab a book from the drawer there. I’ll read to you.”

“Your voice sounds growly now. It’s rather unpleasant. I shall read to you.”

Growly. His son had just used the word ‘growly’. He needed to text Dick before he forgot, but Bruce was out before Damian had finished the first sentence.

[fearfulkittenwrites]

“Are you awake?” and “I... I want a hug.”

Summary: Damian has been getting bullied by his classmates for a while now. When he finally reaches a breaking point, the boy tells Dick what happened, and his older brother gets mad. He can't believe Damian, the boy he loves so much, the boy he helped raising, is going through the exact same thing he had to endure years ago, in the same school. You'd think the problem would be solved by now.

Word Count: 4951

Warning! There’s some racism expressed in this work! (I didn’t want to put it in the tags because I think it would be rude to put fanfic on a tag that is mostly used for more important things, so I thought it best to let you know here)

Notes: Hello! This work has been beta'd by @3ambird​ ​, I don't know how you make time to help me, but I'm so glad you do!! Thank you. Also, if you haven't checked out their works, please do. Their recent fanfic is Dick Grayson centric and it made me cry. One of my favorite works ever.

(Also, to the anon who requested the “I want a hug” prompt with Dick and Bruce, I’m not ignoring you! It should be the one up next, okay? I just had this one sitting on my computer for a while, so I had to post it first, hahahaha!)

Damian took a deep breath. Mathematics was always the worst class of the day. He took his seat, middle row, third chair. The classroom was filling up, and there was no one behind him yet. That gave him a couple of minutes to close his eyes and try to gather his strength.

The problem wasn’t the subject. Damian already knew all that he was being forced to re-learn, making all of his classes nothing but a nuisance. The problem had a first and a last name: Warren Pruitt.

Damian felt his desk being roughly pushed, and opened his eyes.

“What? Did I disturb your prayers?” Warren smirked.

“Fuck off.” Damian answered. He felt his stomach twist, wishing he could solve this like he solved things as Robin.

Warren took his seat behind him, purposefully shoving his desk against the back of Damian’s chair.

“Refrain from doing that, Pruitt.”

“Or what? You’ll blow up the school?” His little clique laughed loudly, making explosion sounds in the back “Allahu akbar! Ha ha ha!”

“You can’t even be racist properly.” Damian rolled his eyes. “I’m not Muslim, you idiotic naked ape.” Another shove sent his chair inches forward, pressing his stomach against his desk. He pushed back, and was shoved forward again “Stop it.” He gritted his teeth.

“Shut up, Al Ghul.” Warren sneered, a cruel smile on his lips.

Damian had never felt any embarrassment towards his heritage. He took pride in both of his last names, the signs of two powerful dynasties that had combined to create him. He was a symbol of strength because of them, and he was proud of it. But the way it was said, like it was an insult, like it was tainted, like it made him lesser, left a bitter taste in Damian’s mouth, so he corrected the boy.

“Wayne.” He growled “My last name is Wayne.”

“We’ve been over this already, Al Ghul.” One of Warren’s pack of imbeciles spat as Warren leaned forward against his desk, pushing Damian’s stomach into the wood, hurting him.

“Yeah, we have.” Another boy, Charles Du Pont encouraged, watching from the desk to Damian’s left. Damian gritted his teeth.

“You can try all you want, but you’ll never be anything more than the arab boy you are. You’re lucky your father is enough of a moron to let you in.” A fourth kid - Michael Chase, Damina’s mind supplied - leaned in, mocking him.

“Yeah. My dad said he’d throw you on the streets, let you rot in one of Gotham’s orphanages. It’s what you deserve for trying to take our places.” Warren said.

The bell signaling the classes beginning rang, right as the teacher walked in.

.................................

The words kept ringing in Damian’s ears for the rest of the day. He doesn’t know why, but he can never find the proper words to shoot back at them. And he doesn’t know why it all bothers him so much.

Going back home, Damian threw his backpack into his bedroom and walked through the halls, stopping when he saw Tim’s open door, both him and Duke reading through an essay.

“-tt-” Damian clicked his tongue from the door “Can’t do your own papers by yourself, Drake?”

“Shut up, brat.” Tim answered.

“Whatever. Where is Grayson?”

“Sleeping.” Tim answered “Why, what do you want?”

“It’s none of your business Drake.” He crossed his arms, leaving and continuing down the hall.

He rubbed away some tears forming in his eyes. Of course Dick would still be sleeping, he was on patrol until the sun had risen. Slowly, he creaked open his brother’s bedroom door.

“Are you awake?” He whispered.

“Hm...” Dick murmured “Dami?” He lifted his face from the pillow to look at the boy. Damian’s eyes landed on a noticeable bruise on his cheekbone “What’s wrong?” He slowly sat up, noticing the look on his baby brother’s face.

“Nothing.” Damian answered, swiping away more tears.

“Liar.” Dick accused, smiling “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Damian removed his school blazer, hanging it on Dick’s chair as he kicked off his shoes.

“Don’t get up. You need to sleep.” Damian said. Dick frowned, laying back down.

“Okay.” He started, carefully “But what’s going on little d? What do you need?”

“I...” He tried, but his voice cracked as he sat on the bed.

“It’s okay.” Dick whispered, stroking his back “What do you want me to do, Dami?”

“I... I want a hug.” He laid down next to his brother, who pulled him close to his body.

Dick felt him sobbing against his chest, and kissed Damian’s hair, holding him tightly.

“What happened, hm?” Dick whispered gently against his head “What’s going on?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just want to sleep for a while.” The boy whispered back, placing his hand on top of his brother’s.

“Okay.” Dick answered “We can do that.”

“Thank you.”

Damian noticed how much bigger his brother’s hands were when compared to his. Part of it was due to the amount of punches he had thrown in his life, making the bones spread apart, giving it a wider aspect. Part of it was due to the fact that Damian was still a child. He noticed how both of their hands were calloused and rough, but still in infinitely different ways. His hands had been marked by the sword, while his brother’s were shaped by his escrima sticks and the bars of the circus.

Truth is, Damian focused so much on his hands because the size comparison made him feel safe. Above all, having something to focus on helped him fall asleep faster. Dick was already used to the feeling of small fingers moving his hand around, counting scars and feeling bumps, until both of them drifted off.

About an hour later, Dick woke up to the feeling of his brother moving around the bed, awake too.

“Hey.” He smiled, stretching “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” Damian answered, staring at the ceiling. His face was smashed, hair a mess, and his button up shirt had creases everywhere. Dick played with his brother’s hair as he blinked slowly “That feels nice.”

“Yeah.” Dick chuckled “Listen Dames, I need to grab some food. Come with me?” Damian nodded in response, and both of them got on their feets and walked to the kitchen.

Dick looked through the cabinets for something to eat. Damian pulled a post-it off the fridge door.

“Pennyworth left you a sandwich.” He grabbed it, handing it to his hungry brother.

“Sweet!” He exclaimed “Alfie really is a life saver. Want some?”

“No, thank you.” Damian refused. They sat across each other at a table.

“So... Want to talk now?” Dick asked. The boy remained silent “C’mon Dami. You know I’m here for you, right? You can trust me.”

Damian hid his face in his hands.

“I’m ashamed.”

“Why?”

“I... I feel like a coward.” He almost growled “It’s... As if I was weak.” Tears slid down his cheeks.

“What’s going on Damian?” Dick asked again, softly.

“Promise...” He started “Promise you won’t get mad. Please.”

“Of course I won’t Dami.” His brother had soft eyes, staring at him. Damian swallowed.

“Pruitt and his group of brain dead morons.” He wiped the tears away and punched the table “I let them get to me. I don’t know how to deal with it, and that makes me weak.”

“What are they doing to you?”

“They keep... Insinuating that I’m a terrorist. Shoving my chair and telling me that...” He frowned “Telling me that father should have left me in an orphanage. Because of… My heritage.”

Dick examined him for a moment.

“Damian.” He called “Dami, look at me.” He caught his brother’s hand “This isn’t your fault. And it doesn’t make you weak. You don’t know how to deal with this because you shouldn’t have to deal with this. I need you to understand that, okay?” Damian nodded “Listen, we need to talk to your principal about this.” Damian’s eyes widened “I know. I know how it sounds, I’ve been there. But believe me, it will get better. The first step is to let people know what’s going on.”

“What is the second step?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On what will happen after the first.”

.................................

The next morning, Dick insisted on taking his brother to school. He convinced Damian to talk to Bruce about what had happened, and now both his father and brother were in the car, headed to school to talk to his principal about the bullying he had been facing.

After all the students had properly settled in their classrooms, the principal welcomed the Waynes into his office.

“Mr. Wayne! What can I do for you?” He asked, a polite smile on his face.

“Well, Mr. Jameson, I was recently made aware of some... Concerning behaviour happening on school grounds.”

“What kind of concerning behaviour, Mr. Wayne?” The principal joined his hands, portraying a curiosity Dick knew to be fake. He rolled his eyes.

“What has-”

“Racism.” Dick cut Bruce off, arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair “We’ve recently found out that Damian has been dealing with racist comments and actions coming from some of his classmates.” Bruce gave him a discreet look, but didn’t say anything “What?” He whispered to his father “How long were you two planning on dancing around the topic for?”

The principal cleared his throat.

“I assure you, Mr. Grayson, I’m just as appalled by this allegation as you are.”

“Allegation my ass.” He shot back.

“Dick.” Bruce quietly warned.

“Look, the way I see this, it’s all very simple.” Dick said, palms spread on the man’s table as he spoke “I had to endure racism back in my student days, and now Damian is having to suffer through the same thing, because your administration has failed to correct this behaviour when it first happened, despite my countless cries for help during my middle and high school years.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows.

“I can’t really argue with that, Mr. Jameson.” The man brought his hands together, resting them on his lap.

“Yes, I see.” The man answered, an uncomfortable smile on as his face took on a pale tone “Uhm, why don’t you... Give me a list with the names of the children involved so we can schedule a meeting next week with the boys parents and...” He cut himself off as he looked at Bruce’s face.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jameson, but I assume you know that I run a business? And that my time is very scarce?” Bruce started “I am here now. Doesn’t that send a clear enough message of my expectations?”

“I- Uhm, yes, of course, Mr. Wayne.” He started again “If you can give me the names of the children, I’ll call their parents in immediately.”

“That’s great.” Bruce smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes “I happen to have a list with me.”

.................................

A couple of hours later, only three of the kids had their guardians present. Both the principal and Bruce decided that the fourth one could wait a day or two and that there was no real need to keep anyone waiting any longer.

“Mr. Jameson,” Angus Pruitt, the father to the blonde Warren, leader of the group, stated, as his wife held her dear boy close “What is this all about?”

“Well, you see,” The Principle said, sweating profusely. Dick could understand the nervousness, seeing the delicate audience he was speaking to, but was too angry to even try to empathize “It has come to my attention that young Mr. Pruitt, along with Mr. Du Pont and Mr. Chase,” He gestured towards the two other boys, “Have been involved in some...” The principal eyes met Dick’s enraged stare, and the man dropped his head. Bruce felt compelled to nudge his son and get him to stop “I, uhm...” He stumbled over his words.

Dick sighed and opened his mouth, too quickly for Bruce to stop.

“Your kids have been saying some pretty racist shit to my brother.” Dick said, leaning back on the wall “Now that I know who is involved with all this, can’t say I’m all that surprised.” His eyes locked with Mr. Du Pont, the man whose first son, Lawrence, was also brought in multiple times for bullying Dick back when he was in middle school.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Well, Dick and Damian seemed to be thriving in it, but everyone else was thrown off by the latest statement.

“And what exactly are you doing here, Mr. Grayson?” Mr. Du Pont said, looking into Dick’s eyes with the same cold disgust he always had “Isn’t this meeting supposed to be only with the parents and students?”

“Well, first of all, I’d like to see you try and get me out of this room.” He shot back “And second, I’m listed as one of his legal guardians, so get-”

“That’s enough, Dick.” Bruce placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“Is that so, Mr. Wayne?” Mr. Pruitt spoke up “Why?”

“Old money comes with old enemies.” Bruce said, arrogant posture matching the others “If anything were to happen to me, I’d rather be sure that Damian would be in good hands. Not that I’d expect you to understand the actions my kind of people take.” He said, softening the verbal aggression with a smile. Dick bit the insides of his lip to hold in his laugh “Now, shall we discuss what are the actions that this school will be taking to eradicate the racism your children so eagerly take part in?”

The principal swallowed as all eyes turned back to him.

“W-well,” He started “The first thing is...” He glanced up at Dick for a second “Appropriate punishment.” Dick smiled at the man “One week of after school detention for each of you.”

“What? That’s not fair!” The Chase kid, Michael, cried in complaint.

“Be quiet, dear.” His mother said, looking down at him.

“But I’m gonna miss my tennis tournament!” He wanted again.

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before you bullied your classmate, shouldn’t you?” She replied, stern, shutting the boy up.

Dick raised an eyebrow. Maybe there was some hope for these kids after all.

“Well, I also believe this punishment seems a little unfair.” Mrs. Pruitt said, still holding her boy, who now looked like a scared mouse.

“A little unfair?” Dick started.

“Dick, please...” Bruce said, putting a hand on his son’s chest. Dick looked at him for a second as he lowered his father’s arm, and that glimpse Bruce had was enough to let him know that there was no stopping him now. Trusting his son’s judgement, he backed down.

“You wanna know what’s unfair?” He leaned over one of the desks in the room, supporting his weight on both hands “Unfair is me getting tripped on hallways and being called a circus freak. Unfair is me having to hear slurs directed at me everyday while I’m trying to learn. Unfair is the word ‘gypsy’ being carved into every single one of my seats, and spray painted on my locker, twice. Unfair, is me getting beat up behind the school dumpsters because of my non-whiteness. Unfair is the death threats I was sent every other week, telling me I don’t belong here. Unfair,” Dick stared into her eyes “Is your son getting only a week of after school detention when the shit he’s said and done could very well warrant jail time if he wasn’t a minor. So shut the fuck up about “unfair”, because they are being let off easy. The shit they’ve been pulling ruin lives. If it was up to me, they’d get so much worse.”

The room went quiet once again. Dick punched the desk lightly before moving back to his previous position.

“Now, dear Principal Jameson,” He started over “Let’s talk prevention.”

“W-What?” He whispered out.

“What do you plan on doing, moving forward, so that this kind of behaviour doesn't happen again, hm?” Dick crossed his arms, scowl on his face. The man was silent, mouth open as if he wanted to speak, but had no clue on how “No? Well, let me help.” He offered them his most plastic smile “I think...” Dick paced around “The school should provide workshops; maybe even a steady course about racism, what it looks like, how it harms people, how to fight it. Make it mandatory for every little prick that decides they can use a slur or shame a peer for their heritage or culture.”

“Bu-But the money...”

“Is not a problem.” Dick interrupted. He looked at Bruce, who had a small smirk on his face “Is it?”

“No, not at all.” Bruce said “We are more than happy to provide the needed funding, if it goes into such an important project.”

“See?” Dick smiles at the man once again “But, of course, I’m not done. I think, and I’m just spitballing here, but, maybe, we should make this an expellable offense.”

“Hey now, young man,” Mr. Du Pont started “I think you may be overreacting just a bit.”

“Do you?” Dick looked at him “Well, of course you do, you thought I overreacted about everything back in middle school. Have you ever considered that maybe you’re simply underreacting?” Dick’s tongue darted out, wetting his lips. He had a room full of rich adults nervous. He was enjoying this a little too much “But relax, I’m not saying your little brats should be expelled. At least not yet.” He smiled back at the principal “I think that repeat offenders should be expelled. Once? Fine, maybe an honest mistake. They’re young, give him a chance to learn. Twice? That’s definitely racist and shouldn’t be tolerated in such a fine institution.” He stared at the man, and was surprised by the amount of time the other was able to sustain the eye contact.

“I will have to bring that up in the next board meeting, and...”

“Great!” Dick interrupted, charismatic “Great, you do that, and I think we’re done here. Why don’t you send the kids back to their classes now, hm?” He grinned, fake, plastic, and just a little bit malicious.

“Good idea.” The principal retributes the smile “Run along now children. No detours of any kind on your way back to your classrooms.”

.................................

As they were making their way out, Damian pulled at Dick’s hand slightly, getting his attention.

“What’s step two now?” Damian whispers to him.

“Well, now you go back to class and tell me if this happens again.” Dick answered, and Damian kept staring at him “Hey, step one went well. You shouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.”

Damian stopped cold in the middle of the hallway. Bruce and Dick stopped too. Damian then suddenly threw his body against Dick’s, nearly tackling his brother to the ground in a quick and intense hug. He didn’t say anything before walking back to class.

“So, seeing as you’re the expert,” Bruce said, serious but with a bit of happiness in his tone “What now?”

“Now,” Dick sighed “Now I call Jason and see if he’s free to drop off and pick up Damian with me for the next couple of weeks. If Tim wants to tag along, that’d be nice too.” He shoved his hands in his pocket “If I know one thing about these guys, is that their older brothers are all still the same racist dickheads they’ve always been. But they are... Aggressive.” Bruce noticed how his son placed a protective hand over his own stomach at the thought “So I think we should probably be here for a while. Just to make sure nothing happens.”

“Okay.” Bruce nods, and solemnly he adds: “I wish you didn’t have to deal with this.”

“Yeah... But don’t beat yourself up over this, okay? It’s not your fault and you’re doing all that you can.” Dick reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly.

.................................

The rest of the day, Dick had an awful restlessness inside him, constantly bumping his legs or tapping on a surface. He had this awful gut feeling (that one might call instinct), as if he knew something bad was bound to happen today. He hoped he’d be there when it happened. That feeling made him drag Jason and Tim to the school about an hour earlier, the three of them waiting by the car silently. The only reason his brothers didn’t question his acts was because they also felt the same worry take over their bodies whenever they thought of the little brat.

When the bell rang, all of them had moved closer to the gate.

“Oh, fuck no.” Dick exclaimed, looking at three guys standing nearby. He grabbed Jason’s attention “Those are the assholes that fucked with me back then.”

“Do you think they are really here for Damian?” Jason asked, concerned.

“What else would they be here for?” He bit his lip “But yeah, I’m also concerned about a lawsuit. We can’t just beat them up for no reason.”

“What do we do?” Tim asked the older man.

“Let’s get closer. Wait. And pray to the heavens that I’m wrong.”

But Dick wasn’t wrong. And as soon as the group saw Damian approaching they started to walk towards him, trying to intimidate the kid.

“Ayo, Al Ghul, we’ve got something to say to you!” He heard one of them yell. Lawrence Du Pont, of course.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Dick yelled.

Lawrence pushed Damian, making him fall on his butt. Dick reached him just in time, throwing the man to the ground in an impressive judo move, putting as much weight as possible on his ribcage, hoping to break a bone or two.

“Don’t you ever fucking touch my brother again, you disgusting little shit.” He whispered, getting up. The man remained on the floor.

Jason punched one of them in that perfect spot by the jawline, making him pass out immediately. Dick turned his gaze to the other man.

“Wanna run, do it now, bitch.” He growled, and the guy proved that he had a little intelligence left in him, leaving quickly.

Tim had already helped Damian to his feet, but he was unusually pale. A security guard came to check on what all the fuss was about and Jason quickly filled him in, sliding the man a more than generous tip for his troubles. Tim had a protective arm around his younger brother’s shoulder, and Dick rested a hand on his back, guiding them to the car.

“Listen Dames, from here on now, you have permission to fight anyone that physically threatens you, full force.” Dick says once they are back in the car, looking at his brother on the back seat “Just pick one fighting style and try your best to stick to it. It helps to cover anything up in case the media comes in snooping.”

“I see.” Damian states as Jason starts the car “So Jason picked boxing, I can see why, and you picked judo, which is the opposite of what I thought to be closest to your actual style.”

“It was part of the choice too.” Dick sighed, looking out the window “It’s distant from Nightwing, so less of a problem there, and it’s easier to plead self-defence.”

“But...” Damian frowned “Did you ever use it for anything other than self-defence?”

“No. But getting anyone to believe it was in self-defence was damn near impossible.” Dick’s words felt bitter “So judo was my pick because it’s not as lethal as, say, jiu-jitsu can be, but also takes proximity, meaning someone put their hands on me first.”

“Hopefully you won’t need to do it.” Tim said, sitting across from him on the car “But if you do, try to get it on tape so we can put it on youtube and go viral.”

“No,” Dick protests over Jason’s snickering “No, try to stay away from cameras. We don’t need that kind of press.”

Damian smiled as he looked out the window. The peace of the rainy day outside the car was a perfect contrast to the chaotic conversations his brothers had inside of it, talking loudly, arguing and laughing.

When they got back to the manor, Cass and Duke waited for them in the kitchen, stirring a pan and quietly arguing about what to do or not do.

“No, trust me, we don’t need anything else, you just have to be patient...” Duke said “No! Put that down, I’m not adding cornstarch on this.”

“But the guy on youtube...”

“I know what the guy on youtube said, but forget about the guy on youtube for one second, I know what I’m doing.”

“It’s not going to work.”

“It’s going to work alright.” Duke frowned.

“Duke, Cass,” Dick said, his three brothers standing behind him, all of them very curious as to what was going on “What are you doing?”

“Hot chocolate.” Cass answered “But he’s making it wrong.”

“I’m not making it wrong, I’m making it better.” Duke shot back to Cass before turning to his brothers “We heard that Damian had a rough time and... We wanted to make him something nice.”

“This makes me feel happy, so it will make Damian feel happy too, I’m sure.” Cass said “If Duke gets it right.”

“Oh My God woman, will you stop questioning my skills for a second?” Duke shot back.

“It’s not getting thick.”

“It is getting thick, trust me.” Duke said “Just... Sit down on the table and let me do this, all of you.”

“You heard the boss.” Dick jokes, escorting his siblings to the kitchen table.

Damian sat down next to Dick, who was across from Jason. Sitting on Jason’s left side, facing Damian, was Cass, and on his right side, Tim. Damian looked around, taking in the sweet chocolate scent that filled the room, and felt a slight touch to his fingertips. Cass had reached out to him. None of them said anything, but she smiled at her youngest brother, and Damian understood what she meant, offering a small smile back.

They talked loudly, filling the Wayne’s huge kitchen with laughter and warmth, teasing each other, poking fun, sharing stories and memes with each other, being themselves. Damian noticed how much better everything felt now that all of them had moved back in the manor. For a period of time, when it was only him, father and Tim, everything felt a little lifeless, a little dull. When Cass came back to live with them, things started to get better.

But for Damian, the biggest turning point was Duke. His honest, sharp mind brought balance and fun into the house in a way none of the others did. Dick’s frequent visits became even more frequent, to the point where the man just decided to move in and help Bruce deal with the new hoard of teenagers he had brought in (or to help the teenagers deal with Bruce, which is decidedly harder). After that, Tim seemed healthier, happier, more light-hearted. Their heated arguments subdued a lot. And somehow, even Jason began to find the house comfortable again. He still travels back and forth, alternating between his place and the manor, but Damian was almost grateful for his presence now. His straightforward style helped cut through a lot of bullshit speeches.

The thought brought tears to Damian’s eyes. He didn’t fully understand why he cries at moments like these, but right now he couldn’t help it. The table slowly turned silent again as he hid his face in his hands.

“Dami?” Dick called, and Damian’s cry became even more compulsive and unstoppable when he heard the nickname “Dami, what’s wrong?” His brother’s voice was soft and filled with worry, and Damian felt his hand brushing against his arm.

Damian shaked his head and leaned forward, hiding his face in Dick’s shoulder. His tears left wet marks on his brother’s shirt.

“I-I don’t know.” Damian whispered.

Dick hugged him, strong hands rubbing his brother’s back.

“I-I...” Damian tried again “I can’t help it. I’m sorry.”

“Can’t help what, Dami?”

“Crying.”

“It’s okay.” Dick whispered “It’s okay to cry.”

“I love you.” Damian sobbed “So much. It hurts.”

“Aw, Dami...” Dick smiled, planting a kiss to his brother’s scalp “We love you too. So much that it hurts.” He squeezed his brother a little tighter, and Damian sobbed louder and louder, until he was gasping for air “Hey, calm down,” Dick whispered again “We’re not going anywhere, Dami. I’m right here. It’s okay. Breathe. Shhh...”

Damian still felt weak. He knew that it would take a while for him to feel strong again, after what happened. But he knew he had his family with him, borrowing all the strength he could need until he got his back. As he calmed down, Duke sat a huge mug, filled to the brim with the thickest, glossiest, most mouth watering hot chocolate he had ever seen.

“Be careful, it’s still super hot.” Duke warned, handing him a long spoon and ruffling his hair. He took his place on the opposite side of Dick after setting down cups for everyone else “Just for the record,” Duke smiles as he sits down “I’d like to say that this turned out great and I knew exactly what I was doing, so eat your heart out Cassandra.”

The girl stuck her tongue out as her brother’s snickered at the teasing. Soon, the table was filled with laughter again, but this time Damian didn’t cry. He was too busy being happy to do so.

[minilittlebatbrat]

Adventures of MariMaps Chapter Five

Hello all! long time no write. I’m so sorry I haven't updated in a while schools been a hot mess so updates will happen just, you know, randomly.

Also, I realized I lied in the first chapter! I have written of one of these fandoms, a few years ago I had a young justice fanfic focused on Dick!Robin in a reverse batfam thing. 

As always thank you @ozmav!

But anyway, without further ado.

One  Two Three Four 

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Before the class even registers what, or who they are looking at Maps decides that she doesn’t want to deal with her class at the moment so in a split-second decision she yells “Oh my batman is that Bruce Wayne!” 

With those words, the people in earshot start to look around as Maps pulls her brother into the quickly forming crowd and away from her class. 

“Alright class enough of that now, we better start heading over to the Academy,” Madame says herding the class through the crowd not bothering to headcount.

“What did you say, Ro?” Juleka asks the small girl next to her as they fall to the back of the class.

“It’s nothing Jule, I just thought I saw Marinette, but she’s probably just at the front” Rose answers taking the goth girls hand as she smiles warmly at her, accepting the explanation Juleka smiles back as they follow the class out of the airport and into the bus awaiting them. Only one knowing of the missing girl, silently thanking her for the outfit.

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

“Well, that was fun! Right, Kyle” Map says looking to her brother as they made it to his car.

“Sure Mia whatever you say, now come on, there are some people who want to see you!” Kyle says as he moves to the drivers' side.

“Can I drive!” Maps practically yells as she jumps up and down next to him.

“No, you can’t Mia, for multiple reasons, one you don’t have your license, two you probably can’t even reach the pedals, and three the only driving lesson you’ve ever gotten was on a golf cart.” He says moving her over to the passenger side as she grumbles about a past adventure.

  As the large structure of Gotham Academy comes into view Maps begins to bounce excitedly in her seat as Kyle chuckles at her.

“Kyle, Kyle Look there's Greg!” Maps says pointing to a gargoyle above the lecture hall.

“Greg? You mean that gargoyle you fell off of, what twice?” He responds pulling into one of the parking spaces and looking at her with a small smile.

“Exactly! Greg Goyal, see?” she answers as they start to get out of the car as Kyle continues to laugh at her.

“Come on Mia, we have to talk to Headmaster Hammer and get you back in your classes,” He says pushing the girl towards the front double doors.

After moving through the winding halls of the academy the two stop in front of two large doors with tall chairs on both sides. 

“Headmaster Hammer? Are you there? Mia’s here.” Kyle says knocking on the door. The door opens slowly showing the face of the headmaster with his ever prominent scowl as he looks down at the siblings.

“Here is your schedule, for some reason Mr.Wayne wanted you and his recently un-expelled son to be in the same classes.” He says with an uninterested drawl as he hands her a piece of paper and closes the door.

“Well he hasn't changed a bit,” She pauses, reading the schedule “Oh my batman! I’m finally rooming with Olive! This is going to be the best year ever!” She yells jumping up and down, with a wide smile.

“That’s great Mia, now come on they’re waiting,” Kyle says placing a hand on the practically vibrating girl.

“Yeah! Let's go, the sooner we get there the sooner we can start and adventure!” She says taking Kyle's hand from her head and dragging him through the winding halls to the dorms.

The first thing Maps notices that the room seems unusually silent compared to what she remembers. 

“Hey what’s going on --” Before she finishes students pop up from different places.

“Welcome back Maps!” They all yell, even though she hasn’t seen many of them in years it’s easy to recognize them, but she quickly notices something missing.

“Hey everyone! Where’s the detective club?” she asks turning to her older brother who has pulled a batman and is nowhere to be seen.

“Kyle?” She looks around the room at the other students who have begun to chat amongst themselves until her eyes land on her former roommate Kathrine Karlo.

“Hey, Kathrine have you seen the detective club?” Maps asks the girl who proceeds to shift into an exact replica of Maps.

“No, have you?” She asks mimicking her voice as well.

“Wow you’re getting better!” Maps praises the shapeshifter, as Kathrine shifts back to her uniform and short blonde hair.

“Thanks, I’ve been watching some old videos of dad to get the hang of it, but if you’re looking for the club I’d suggest the theater first,” She says winking before she slinks off presumably to her dorm room.

“Hmm, a mystery better get out my map!” she yells excitedly pulling out the map she had drawn in her first year at the school.

It doesn’t take her long to make it to the theater building, once she makes it to the doors she pushes them open without hesitation. On the stage is cauldron with two figures in cloaks chanting over it.

“We’ve been waiting for you Maps” one says with an ominous voice that should send shivers down her spine, instead she runs up to the stages and tackles the cloaked person in a hug.

“Pom! I missed you!” She yells as both of them take the cloaks off, the first having some trouble with Maps hanging off of her. 

“Well that didn’t last very long,” A boy wearing a jean jacket over a red sweater matched with a red scarf that went well with his pitch-black well cared for hair.

“Oh shut up Heathcliff you knew she wouldn’t fall for it” the girl with dark brown hair with orange highlights covered lightly with a hood seemingly attached to her school jacket.

“Pomeline,” Maps whines “Where is everyone?” impatiently tugging at the girl's sleeve.

“I Don’t know have you checked Hammerheads room in the attic?” She responds seemingly uninterested by the girl's plight.

“Ah-ha! Come on gang! To the attic” She yells pulling the two out of the building and towards the exit.

When they reach the door of the attic they find that it’s been locked from the inside.

“Step aside guys, I’ve got this” Maps says pulling out a small black cloth, she opens the cloth to show a multitude of metal tools and after a few seconds of searching she pick out two and starts to work on the door, with the click the door creaks open to show boxes and bags throughout the room,

 “Hmm, are you sure they’re here Pom?” Maps asks as she starts to search the room, 

“Nice job on the door short stuff,” a voice says from behind a few boxes that were stacked on top of each other, a boy with red hair and sunglasses steps out and puts his arms out which maps then proceeds to run into hugging the boy.

“Coltan I have seen you in ages! Have you been nice to my brother?” She asks in an accusing tone as she breaks out of the hug.

“Of course! I’d never hurt my superstar!” He responds quickly while waving his hands erratically as if trying to wave away the underlying accusation.

“Where is he by the way? He pretty much disappeared at the dorms,” She asks moving out of the attic space with Pom, Coltan, and Heathcliff.

“I don’t know, why don’t we check outside?” Coltan says not even trying to hide the grin on his face, ignoring the grin maps and the crew moves out.

Next ->

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Time for the tag list!!!

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[no-url]

Failsafe

Fandom: Young Justice

Pairing: Dick Grayson (Robin) x reader

Words: 1991

Author’s note: So this is my first fanfic on this website so i hope you enjoy it! :)

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After the Failsafe, no one was the same.

Y/N watched the most composed lose their cool, the most optimistic curl in on themselves and the most stoic show real emotion- she even swore she saw Batman shed a tear upon witnessing the distressed teenagers.

Seeing all her friends die, it was a lot to process, especially for a child, so Y/N and the rest of the team invited sleep with open arms. But the night was even worse. Sleep had not taken full effect when the images started showing up – every pained expression, every scream of anguish, every nothingness that was left behind by those who died. Y/N tossed and turned in her sleep until she was jolted awake by one last scream: her own. She panted heavily as the sweat weighed down on her brow. She glanced at her clock – 2.45am. She sighed as she realised what a long night ahead she had.

The next morning, Y/N wearily made her way to the kitchen but was stopped in her tracks when a sudden chill came over her, her breath misting up the air. She half-sprinted to the usually warm control room to find it entirely covered in a layer of fresh snow. She stood there in disbelief, thinking her eyes had deceived her, as she heard the rest of the team coming up behind her, similar looks on confusion on their faces. Everyone knew who caused this – who else but the one whose power is weather control.

Just what I need right now, she thought to herself, lack of emotional control causing blizzards.

Wally didn’t seem to mind though, as he flung himself unto a particularly large snow pile with lightning speed. He did, however, mind the fact that the pile was rather shallow, and he face smacked into the floor. The team had a good laugh, then followed by a snowball war started by Dick, who took base up on the ceiling, and won by Artemis, who sniped him down. For a moment, they were just kids, messing about, not a care in the world.

After a long day of snowball fights, and then cleaning up the snow after the rest of the Justice League couldn’t get in, it was time to try and sleep. Emphasis on try. Y/N tossed and turned in her sleep, trying to shake everything out of her head. This time, her brain got a bit more creative by putting her in the bodies of all her friends. She saw everything through their eyes, including getting disintegrated. Each time she ‘died’ she expected the nightmare to finish. And every time, she just got put into another body, another doomed friend.

Suddenly, she was torn from her distressed slumber by a strong pair of hands shaking her awake. She blinked the sleep from her eyes as she made out Kaldur’s confused expression.

“You did it again,” he said matter-of-factly, almost solemnly. Y/N didn’t understand what he meant; her mind still fuzzy after being so rapidly awoken. That is until she glanced at the corridor behind Kaldur’s shoulder. It was completely shrouded in a thick fog, making it impossible to see the other side. Y/N buried her face in her hands as she scolded herself for letting her emotions run this loose. She raised her hand and quickly cleared the fog, unmasking the metal corridor and an irritated Artemis mumbling something about fuzzy hair. The rest of the day went without much hiccups: just combat training, workout session at the gym and some late-night patrol.

They returned at around 2 am and everyone quickly hit the hay. Y/N was apprehensive about falling asleep, knowing what she was capable of. But this time, I’ll be ok she reassured herself, thinking that she won’t cause any more freak weather accidents, after all the nightmares can’t get worse.

This nightmare was worse than the first two. It was her. Y/N was the reason her friends were dying. She tried to stop the disintegration ray by pushing her friends out of the way. Instead, she looked down and saw that she was the one disintegrating them. She screamed at her friends to move out of the way, but it was falling on deaf ears. They couldn’t hear and she couldn’t stop. It was awful. As she ripped herself from sleep, she felt the power coursing through her veins, and she knew that she did again. She jumped out of bed and sprinted down the hallway. She reached the control room, watching her friends try to salvage the equipment from the rain cloud looming over the floor, the rain drenching everything. Some of them went up to assure her that it was no issue and that it was nothing to worry about, whilst others just shot her weary, even pitiful, glances. She quickly got rid of the cloud and started to help her friends.

“Batman is so gonna kill us,” Dick remarked, probably not meaning to make Y/N feel worse but he did.

“I’m sure he’ll understand,” Kaldur, ever the optimist, replied, giving Y/N a sympathetic look. She smiled slightly but inside, she knew that she had to somehow fix this. If this is caused by me sleeping, she realised, I’ll just have to stop sleeping. A foolish idea, but logical for a 13-year-old, don’t you think?

She tried literally everything to occupy herself: read books, watched movies, mended her costume, worked out in the gym. The first night was ok but with each passing day, she found it harder and harder to stay awake. During the day, it was slowly becoming clearer that she wasn’t her usual fiery self, instead becoming more sluggish. The nights, however, were the worst. She eventually ran out of things to do and opted to lay on her bed, staring into the plain ceiling. The stillness of the cave and the silence of the night were slowly lulling her to sleep, which she almost welcomed with open arms. However, she quickly ripped herself from her bed and decided that she couldn’t take the silence anymore. With just her pyjamas on her back, not even making time to close the door or turn out the lights, she walked out of her room, out of the cave and to her favourite spot on the island: the beach.

------

Dick was having a difficult time falling asleep. It wasn’t that nightmares plagued him, but he just couldn’t get himself to sleep. The past few days, he spent in his own house. However, due to some fancy party held by his dad, he had to spend a night at the cave. The metal walls and silence were a massive change from Wayne Manor which was constantly filled with noise of some kind. The stillness of the night was too much to bear, so he decided to go to the kitchen for some milk, hoping that it would at least ease sleeping a little bit. As he walked through the long corridor, he noticed a light coming form down the hall. He walked quickly to investigate the source when he saw the open door leading to Y/N’s room. He looked in but saw that it was empty. Confusion crossed his mind as he wandered around the cave looking for her. He looked in the kitchen, the gym, the control room and the library. He didn’t know why he charged himself so much with finding her.

“After all, it’s not like we’re brilliant friends,” he muttered to himself as he walked on, a habit he’s recently been made aware of, “sure, I’m friends with her like everyone else on the team, and sometimes maybe we share a little more, but I’m sure it’s like that with everyone.”

His ponderings were quickly silenced when he bumped into a hard surface. He looked up and realised that he was at the exit of the cave that lead directly to the beach, Y/N’s favourite place. He didn’t know why he didn’t think of this place first, and he took a deep breath – not quite sure why – as he opened the door and stepped out into the cold evening air. Immediately, he felt the sand between his toes and chill go through his body as he took in the figure in front of him.

Y/N sat in the sand, curled up to keep out the cold, staring off into the sea, her mind wandering. She didn’t feel Dick’s presence behind her until she felt the ground shift slightly under her as he sat down beside her. No words passed between them for a short moment, though it felt like an eternity as she stared out at the water.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Y/N broke the silence softly, preceding the question she was sure Dick was about to ask.

Dick chuckled slightly. “Me neither.” Another silence filled the air. A gust of wind made its way across the beach, rustling the teenagers’ hair and pyjama hems. Y/N shivered slightly, making Dick look at her with a slight smile. “There are definitely warmer places to hang out,” he remarked.

A small smile formed on Y/N’s face. She would have been lying if she didn’t admit that she was rather fond of the Boy Wonder, who just always seemed to have the right thing to say to make her smile. “I like it here,” she replied, “it brings me closer to nature. I prefer it to those cold metal walls inside. Plus, it’s too quiet in there”

“I get it,” Dick agreed knowingly, “Sometimes, it’s too much like a cage. Still, much easier to fall asleep there than here. So why you out here?”

Y/N let out a small sigh as she looked down, noticing that the pair had moved closer together, their shoulders a whisper of a touch away. I’d have to tell him at some point anyways she thought to herself. So, she started to explain everything: about the nightmares, the freak weather and her plan to stop sleeping all together.

“But the cave was just too quiet so instead of being left alone with my thoughts, I reckoned I’d come somewhere where I can focus on something else.” Y/N finished her explanation, her heart feeling a little lighter now that she shared her feelings. She looked at Dick, not quite knowing what she expected his reaction to be. Wordlessly, he shuffled closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Immediately, his warmth spread through her body and she pressed herself closer to escape the chilling wind. A comfortable silence befell the pair and they stayed like this for many hours. Though they didn’t know this until many years yet to come, it was that night in which the two 13-year-olds started their true journey together, a journey that was written in the stars yet to be told.

The next morning consisted of a treasure hunt for the whole team as they attempted to find Dick and Y/N’s whereabouts. After an hour, the Justice League where called in to aid with the search. It was Batman, the – self- proclaimed- world’s greatest detective, who tracked them down. Batman knew the toll that the exercise had on the pair, so a gentle smile graced his usually stoic lips as he stood silently in the entrance way, watching the two peacefully sleeping in each other’s embrace, Dick’s arm still placed around Y/N, her head laying delicately on his shoulder. They were refreshed and good as new when they woke up later that day (which didn’t last long as they both caught a cold out on the beach and were bedridden for the rest of the week). However, their hearts were warmed up by the lack of images or screams lingering in their heads, as well as some other emotion that the pair couldn’t quite place. The team was back together, stronger and prouder than ever.

And the nightmares came no more. Nor did the snow, much to Wally’s dismay.

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 Hope you guys liked it :)

[ohmygoodnessgraciouss]

Safe (Jason Todd x Reader)

This fanfic had headcanons before it!  Read those here!

Being the girlfriend to the current boy wonder who flies around Gotham City in tights isn't the big dream everyone thinks it is. It involves constantly worrying that he won't come to school the next day alright, or if he even will come. You would be that girlfriend, to the second Robin, also known as Jason Todd.

Jason was far more reckless compared to the first Robin. Anyone could see that from the videos and articles every time the Batman and his sidekick captured another criminal. It worried you that he'd never come back to school one day. But your past with him goes further back than that.

~

When you two were only ten years old you met in school. He was just enrolled after his parents were forced to by people we shall not name now. Of course, kids being kids, they teased him for that being his first year of school. Jason was a fast learner and stayed quiet in class. Until you walked up to him during lunch one day and asked if he wanted to be friends. He was leery at the time, but your friendship blossomed quickly.

Later on, you noticed how he stopped coming over to your house as much as he used to when you were older. You figured it was since he was recently adopted by Bruce Wayne that he was still getting adjusted to the new life so he wouldn't visit as much. Until you realized that every time he couldn't come over, there was an article in the Gotham Daily the next day about how Batman and Robin saved the day once again. It didn't take you long to confront him and ask him about it.

Later that same week, Bruce Wayne wanted to meet you. He was surprised that you were able to figure something like that out so quickly and easily. Thus started your relationship with the entire Wayne family.  You became friends with Bruce, Alfred, and Dick whenever he decided to drop by.  He found you adorable and quickly recognized you as his little sister despite no blood relation.  

~

As the years passed, your friendship with Jason grew even stronger until the two of you realized you liked each other more than just as friends.  He confessed when you were both 14, and ever since then, you've been dating.  

Entering into your Junior year of high school was rough.  Tests everywhere, exams, projects, and it seemed like the homework started the moment you walked in.  Having Jason by your side helped with all the stress, but one day in the middle of October, he didn't show up.  Usually, he would walk into class late if he was banged up from last night's patrol, but there was nothing.

You tried texting and calling him after class, but you had no answer.  After school you tried texting and calling him again, but nothing.  You didn't bother calling up Bruce or Alfred yet since you were positive they would tell you if something happened.  They always did.

The day grew into two days, and two days grew into a week.  You were worried sick about Jason, and just as you got home from school, you received a call from Alfred.  You quickly answered the phone and lifted it to your ear.  "Hey Alfred," you greeted.

"Good afternoon, miss (Y/N).  Well, I was hoping it was a good afternoon at least.  I've called to tell you some unfortunate news.  It appears as if Master Todd is missing." Alfred said grimly.

"...Missing..?"

~

As the weeks slowly turned into months, your hope in finding Jason at school the next day slowly diminished.  You'd spend the few hours in school glancing towards the empty desk.  It seemed like it was a dark spot in the corner of the room despite being in the center of the class.  Gossip surrounded you about what happened to the Wayne's adopted kid.  Some suspected he was pulled from it because his dad wanted him in homeschool.  Others suspected that he ran away.  

Everyone stayed away from you.  It was no secret that the two of you were dating.  So, when he stopped coming to class, it didn't matter if they were a freshman or a senior, they knew to stay away.  They were worried they'd get yelled at if they did.  Some dared their friends to walk up to you, but none even tried it.

The school year passed finally and you were entering your senior year.  What shocked you was when Bruce asked to meet you at the manor after school one day.  He said it was really important news, and it couldn't wait.  You hoped that it was about Jason, but you could tell by the tone of his voice that it was nothing good.

"Is it about Jason?"  You asked as soon as you made it to the manor.  Bruce nodded somberly.  

"Joker has kept him locked in a room for over a year," Bruce started.  He explained to you about how he was able to find Jason, but it was too late.  By the time he reached the room, it exploded while Jason was still inside.  Tears quickly came to your eyes as he finished, and Bruce spent the time comforting you.  Alfred watched from afar, and even he teared up watching the two of you.  

The funeral was private, and only a select few family members were allowed in.  Dick came over to you when you walked into the room.  It was a closed casket due to the number of wounds Jason had.  You were kind of glad that was the case, you wouldn't be able to glance at him without breaking down.  

~

Every year you walked to the cemetery and to Jason's grave after the sun went down.  Sometimes you would sit there in complete silence while other times you would tell him about what's been going on in your life.  You'd tell him that you were accepted into (preferred college) and how you were so close to getting your degree.  

On the fifth year, you walked to the cemetery while the sun was setting.  These past few months, the news has been constantly reporting about someone who was murdering criminals and drug lords.  Occasionally they would report about him killing an innocent civilian, so you decided to go earlier than usual.

Rumors had spread around Gotham city about the new guy.  A few people believed that Batman finally snapped.  You didn't believe them.  You were one of the ones who thought that someone new came into town.  Someone who was like Batman, but he wasn't afraid of killing this time.  It made him far scarier than Bruce.

You were just walking up the hill when you noticed that there was a man standing at Jason's grave.   He reminded you of Bruce, but he was slightly shorter.  He looked just as muscular as Bruce, and the only feature that seemed to stand out was a few strands of white hair that looked to be in the front.  

Before you could get any closer, the man spun around to face you, a gun aimed directly at you.  His eyes were wild and fiery as if he didn't know where he was.  There was a noticeable tremor in his hands that made the pistol shake.  It almost made you unafraid of the gun, almost.  

Your heart stopped when you looked closer at him.  The color and shape of his eyes, his face shape, the way his nose seemed to twitch while he was in conflict.  This was your best friend, your boyfriend.  No doubt, it was Jason Peter Todd.

You wanted to believe it was him, but you knew that it was impossible.  He died in an explosion.  How could he possibly be around anymore?

"Who are you?" You blurted out.  

Jason's eyes switched from anger to sadness quickly.  He knew it was you as soon as he saw you, but you couldn't recognize him?  Surely he didn't change that much, just matured a bit, right?

"You don't remember me..?  But you're standing at my grave I... I figured you would remember," he said.  That's when you knew it was possible.  Somehow, someway, Jason made it back here years later.  Alive.

But that's when everything started to click.  Jason would constantly vent to you about how he couldn't stand a certain criminal, or that he wishes he could just kill them.  He was somehow back to the city, just when people start dying?  You wanted to scream, cry, yell, and hug him all at the same time.  Instead of doing any of those, you talked.  "So it's you killing all those people?"

Jason's shock grew at what you said.  His arm lowered until the gun was no longer aimed at you.  He hesitantly nodded his head as an answer.  "Yeah, it's me."  

"Why?"

Your discussion with Jason lasted longer than you expected.  You were probably there for an hour with him, talking about anything and everything.  Jason slowly calmed down as he talked to you.  After all, you were his tranquilizer.  

As it started getting late, the two of you ran out of things to talk about.  He didn't want it to happen.  However, he could also feel the nagging behind his head start again.  His stress was going back up and he was worried that if he stayed he would hurt you.  "I have to go," he told you once it was silent again.  

"Are you sure?  You can come home with me-" He cut you off.

"No, I can't.  It's too dangerous for you.  I promise I'll be back when it's safe again.  I'll come here and I'll wait for you."  

"Promise?"

"I promise."  

~

Every weekend you would visit the grave to see if he showed up.  As the months passed by you slowly forgot to check.  You would show up and he would be nowhere around the cemetery.  A part of you wondered if Jason was just a figment of your imagination.  A way to cope and get some closure with his death.

After a year passed you basically gave up on it.  You decided to just continue your annual visit to the grave.  Every year on April 27th you would get up, go to work, and make your way to the cemetery before going home.  You'd talk about anything and everything, as usual.

But you noticed how there seemed to be watchful gaze on you when you did it.  When you looked around, you'd see nothing.  Maybe a couple walking down the street, however, that's all there was.  

The worst case would be when you walk home after dark.  Whether it was from a grocery store or a bank, no matter how late at night, you felt someone watching you.  It didn't scare you though, and you had no idea why.  Anybody watching you in the city of Gotham could be terrifying.  But whoever it was that was watching you didn't seem like that kind of person.  Especially since you had a feeling you knew who it was all along.

The murders on the news kept on coming no matter what.  The anti-hero of Gotham was known as the Red Hood.  Rumor has it that he watched from the rooftops, waiting for any criminal to pass by.  The rooftops were exactly where you would feel the gaze.  

You weren't hurt that Jason never came by to see you again.  In fact, you were just happy that he kept watching you when it was late at night.  You felt safe knowing that he'd watch because you knew he would interfere if anyone tried anything on you.  For once in Gotham city, everything seemed alright.

*Coughs* Until Scarecrow or Joker or someone decides to show up again for the 8th time this week *Coughs*

[rason-rodd]

Trusting (’Begging’ part2) (Arkham Knight! Jason xReader)

Summary: Guilt is haunting you as you remember the things you’ve done until Jason shows up into your room. 

Warning: Language, Graphic Violence, Mentions of sex, PTSD, Anxiety

Author’s note: Another long chapter that follows the event of Begging but with a series of flashbacks included. I plan on writing 3 or 4 parts for this fanfic. Texts in Italics are flashbacks.

Tagged: @usernightwing, @queen-fighter, @anaboo-thewriter, @piratefrost, (WHO ELSE WANT TO BE TAGGED?)

(PART 1)

The pollen was still dancing in the air on that night. And all around you smelled like fresh flowers and plants mixed to a thick cloud of pollution that you could only smell in Gotham. The war between the Dark Knight and the Arkham Knight was over. Scarecrow was still in jail, victim of his own evil doing, Cobblepot and Dent in neighbouring cells. And Bruce … Bruce was dead. The Batman was dead.   And Gotham was slowly drowning again under a wave of crime that was growing more and more each day.       Thugs had retaken the darkness of the streets, terrorising families and innocents and the incarceration of the most famous crime lords had permitted the rise of some others. Among them, Roman Sionis aka Black Mask.

He had taken control of the docks, made them the key point of his business. Drugs. Weapons. Dirty money. He had his filthy hands on everything. A smart businessman. But a smart business who was drawing too much attention. A smart businessman with a target on his back.

Aiming at that target, the Red Hood. That’s the name he had chosen. But you knew who was really underneath that crimson mask. Jason Todd. Robin. or also more recently known as The Arkham Knight. You had never met him, just heard stories, some anecdotes that Dick had spilled with a saddened melancholic smile that was now almost frozen on his young face or some rumours whispered in the streets. A dangerous man undoubtedly. But a broken man above all.

You had built a plan, Dick, Barbara, Tim and you, a plan the young Robin had characterised as “well put together”. It never sounded “well put together” to you though or to Dick. But you had volunteered to make it a success anyway and thus whatever the means. You just had to meet him. And what better place than Crime Alley to do it.

High heels, beautiful dress, a young woman coming back home alone.  Yes, that night you were the perfect bait. So tempting, so attractive. “ Hey baby, where are you going like that?” And so easy to take.             “Home.”         “ Want us to escort you? The night is dangerous” You glanced at both men, tightening you hands around your purse to look a bit scared. Bu you were not scared. Not even a bit. After all, you had been trained. You were the new Batgirl, even though you didn’t like carrying someone else’s name.             “No need, but thanks.” You retorted but a man grasped your arm rather brutally.  “Don’t touch me!” You shouted as you immediately took a pepper spray out of your bag. Tim’s idea. Makes you look more like a Gotham damsel in distress. If a pepper spray were useful everybody would know it. ”Look, mate. Kitty’s got claws”       “ I think she’s threatening us.”  They both came closer to you and, as you walked backwards, you fell down on your bottom, dropping the spray. You didn’t mean to. “Down on the ground? Very good.” One of them unzipped his pants and you immediately closed your eyes. You didn’t want to see this.

BANG BANG.

Echoing like thunder in the alley.     And blood poured on your face and on your body like a hot summer rain. And both men fell like birds stricken by lightning, by fate wearing a red hood.

You opened your eyes very carefully. What a horrific vision. Agonizing men on the floor, moaning, crying, chocking in their blood, castrated by two efficient bullets in their bloody genitals. So much blood. And that reek. It was on you. It was in you, maybe. It was everywhere.

You looked away when you heard footsteps coming closer. It was him. The vengeful crimson ghost. The Red Hood. Guns in his hands.         He stared at both men in silence and you guessed disdain and disgust behind his mask. He shot again to put an end to their suffering even though, you were sure, it was not out of mercy.             You backed down again, still on the floor when he knelt by your side. “Do you understand why I did this?”     You frowned. Could he read your mind? Could he see on your face your contempt for killers regardless of their motives? Could he see you were not a fan of men like him who fancied themselves judges, juries and executioners?       You nodded anyway. “Scumbags like them deserved to be put down. They lie. They abuse. They try to gain their victim’s trust but There's no trust, No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.”     “Shakespeare” “You know your classics”       “ And you’re quite a literature nerd for a crazy ass vigilante”

Trust. How ironic was that. How ironic that the first words you shared proved to be the perfect words to describe the awfulness you were doing today. Gaining his trust. Using him. Trapping him. And you hated yourself for it. And you hated the others as well, for letting you do this and for making sure you would fulfil this mission.       Because you needed to remember. Jason was a mission, a dangerous mission.

You sighed as the memories of that night faded away to move on to another memory. A memory of last night, when Nightwing had appeared.

“ Do you realise what could have happened?” You didn’t reply. Instead you just gritted your teeth, eyes staring at the moon, arms tightened around the sheets covering your naked body “Y/N! I’m talking to you!”           “ And I’m listening.” You growled, more than annoyed       “ No you’re not!”       Nightwing’s gauntlet suddenly rang and Oracle appeared on a holographic screen. She had a sun-kissed – though rather red - face and she looked jolly and very smiley, like anyone after well-deserved holidays on a beach you supposed.       “ Nightwing. I’ve got news on the mysterious… I’m bothering, maybe.”     “ We were having a conversation.” Dick answered with a softer and calmer voice. “ A conversation? You mean a lecture.” You corrected, curtly. Barbara’s eyes widened and for a second she hoped she had listened to Tim. They were so good on that beach. But they were not on the beach in anymore and here she was, back at work, in Gotham.           “ Okay. I definitely can feel the tension between both of you. So why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”       “ Dick is being a jerk. That’s what’s going on.” You shouted. “ A fucking distrustful pervert jerk.” He snickered and brushed his hair backwards. He couldn’t believe what you were saying. “ When did I say I didn’t trust you?”           “ So you admit you’re a pervert?” Barbara asked. “What? No.”         “ You always keep an eye on me! If that not distrust then what is it?” He grumbled and you kept talking. “You.Watched.Me!” You enunciated every syllable distinctively. “Having sex” Barbara stared at Dick in shock, ready to defend you. “You did what? That’s creepy!” “That’s voyeurism!” You clarified.     “ I didn’t do that. I didn’t see anything.” You crossed your arms above your chest to show your discontent. He had to be kidding you. “ Well maybe I saw a few things. But it wasn’t anything I had never really seen.”             The red haired girl suddenly looked horrified. “ Wait, what?” But no one paid attention to her. “ Oh, because the fact we fucked a couple of times grants you the authorisation to consider me as a living breathing porn movie.”     “ You two … you … What?” Barbara mumbled. Three weeks on a honeymoon and everything had gone to shit.           “ Long story, Babs.”   “ Not that long. 20 minutes each time, is that it?” You confessed with a sneer.                 “ Like you didn’t enjoy it.”     “ STOP!!!” Barbara shouted. You both immediately shut up and breathed in and out deeply to calm yourself. “I didn’t call to listen to you guys talking about such intimate things. So this is what we are going to do. We are going to act as adults and listen to each other, okay?”

None of you replied but Oracle took it has a sign you were both ready to do as she said. “ I want Y/N out of the mission.” You sighed and opened you mouth to defend yourself but Barbara ordered you to stay silent. “It’s too dangerous. You’re not trained enough for this and you’re especially too emotionally involved” He cared about you. You knew he did. But he couldn’t ask you this. “I watched you. It’s true. I shouldn’t have. But imagine what I felt when I saw Jason hurting you, Y/N, when I saw him chocking you. He could have killed you.”         “ He didn’t. He would never hurt me. It was an accident.”             “ Do you even hear yourself?” He asked, completely staggered by your naivety. “Have you seen your bruises?” Yes you have. But they did not matter. They were just bruises. Part of the job. “ He needs us, Dick. He needs me. I know I can help him.”           “ He is sick!” He shouted, hoping to reason you. “ He’s my brother, Y/N. I care about him too. But Jason took the name of the Red Hood, a name Joker had once. He killed Killermoth. He killed Black Mask and so many other people. He put Gotham to fire and the sword. He kidnapped Barbara. He tried to kill Bruce and he’s responsible for everything that’s happened lately. You can’t help him. He needs professional help.”     “ How can you say that?” You asked with eyes widened and watery. The Dick Grayson you knew would never say such awful things. He would not let his family down like that.             “ It’s the truth.”         “ You want to send him to a new Arkham Asylum? What a fantastic idea! Being locked up in the same kind of place in which he was tortured for over a year. I thought you were smarter than that… No I thought you were more compassionate than that. What a Batman move for someone who doesn’t want to be him and who has been whining like a kid for the past months because there is no way for him to wear the cowl and give back hope to this city”     “ Y/N!!” Barbara shouted but you didn’t listen. Instead you came closer to Dick with clenched fists. “You don’t wanna do what Bruce had planned for you? Fine. But let me do what was expected from me, what you all expected from me. Let me do what I want. Dangerous or not.” He frowned, not liking your tone at all. But he was wiser than you. “What was asked of you Y/N?”     “ To save Jason.”  You replied simply. He shook his head. “No. The mission was to keep an eye on Jason and to do what was necessary if he ever crossed the line. What is necessary is not comforting him using sex or whispering sweet words to his ear. What is necessary is to put him behind bars and give him the help he truly needs. You agreed to this when you volunteered. You agreed to do anything to make sure he would not go on a killing spree. You agreed to deceive him if you had too. You failed. So now you’re out of the mission.”

You rolled over and over in your bed. You couldn’t sleep. Out of the mission? Maybe was it a good thing after all. But out of the family? No way.     You sighed deeply and closed you eyes, trying to find some sleep. But no time to meet Mr Sandman. A small noise and your eyes were open again. The window had creaked and now you could feel a small breeze on your skin. You sat up and you saw him, in his gear, knelt on the floor. “Jay?” You frowned.

You repeated his name another time when you heard no sound coming from his mouth but a heavy panting distorted by his mask. “Baby.” You worried as you immediately got up to kneel before him. “What is it?” He didn’t answer, focused on his breathing or maybe was his mind completely elsewhere. You took off his red hood to help him breathe and threw it on the ground. The light bump on the wooden floor made him jump.         He was completely alarmed and frightened, like a hunted stag. His now-red face was covered in sweat and his black hair were completely wet. But what worried you the most was that terror in his blue eyes. The pupils were weirdly contracted and he looked as if he didn’t know where he was or what was going on. “Jay.” You whispered, heartbroken, trying to bring him back to you. You reached out to caress his cheek but he hissed and moved backwards. “I’m … su…focating” He managed to say.       Tears started streaming down your cheeks. You never felt so helpless, so useless or so scared and seeing him in such pain was tearing your heart out.

Without thinking, you jumped on him to hug him tight. You were not sure it was the right thing to do but it happened as a reflex, as a way to show him or whoever was hurting him that he was yours and that you were there to protect him. He immediately screamed in pain and tried to push you away but you resisted and used all your weight to keep him still. You forced him to nestle his face in your neck and then you whispered sweet loving words in his ear, your hand caressing his hair. “I’m here. I’m with you, baby. I’m not leaving.”  

He started to slowly relax. The cries and screams began to fade and now you could feel his heart beating against your chest going back to a more leisurely rhythm. “You’re okay.” The panting soon disappeared and Jason let himself slide along your body as if he couldn’t stay straight anymore. You held him back, his head against your chest, and he clang to your body as a baby koala. “Shh” You whispered still caressing his hair.     “ Don’t ever leave me. Don’t ever let me down” He cried against you.       “I won’t” You kissed the top of his head and you both remained like this for a couple of minutes before you helped him stand up to sit him down on your bed.

“He was in my head.” You nodded and murmured, “I know” as you brushed away his sweaty strands of hair away from his forehead. “He was laughing” You took off his black and white leather jacket. “That sick son of a bitch.” He was still in chock, still a bit disconnected from reality but you let him talk. He needed it. He needed someone to listen to him, to take care of him. You removed his gloves and his thick long-sleeved top to leave him bare-chested on your bed and soon unstrapped his shin guards and holsters. “I want him gone. I want him gone from my head. I want my life back” You looked up at him with a compassionate look. “But I won’t have it back, will I?”         “ Just give it some time.” You tried to be optimistic. “ It’s been years.” He mumbled as you removed his boots. “But you didn’t have me.” You timidly whispered. He stared at you and put a hand on your cheeks in a weird attempt to caress it. He was so uncomfortable when loving touches were involved. “I didn’t have you.”         He made you straddle him to gaze at you the same way a believer would look at a goddess. You were so pure to him, so delicate, so surreal that sometimes he would wonder if you were not the fruit of hallucinations created by his mind to help him process all the raging emotions inside of him. “I don’t know what I would be without you”           You smiled lightly. “Just lay down.” He nodded and you pushed him flat on the mattress to take off his trousers so that he would be in his boxers.  Then you lied down next to him and took his arm to make him spoon you since you knew he would not do it himself even if wanted it.  He loudly smelt the perfume in your hair, tightened his embrace and closed his eyes. “I love you so much.”       “ I love you too.” You gave a faint smile and turned around to kiss him. And what was supposed to be a simple peck on the lips became something more needy, something that sucked the air from your lungs. You were his oxygen. And if it was what he needed then fine.

Screw them all. Screw their stupid mission. You had your own agenda now.

If Jason Todd trusted you then you knew you couldn’t deceive him anymore.

If Jason Todd trusted you then you would do anything to show how worthy of his trust you were.

[cinnamonskull]

Noticed that you haven't been posting a lot of fanfic recently (not complaining or judging because LIFE), but just lettin' you know that I love your fics and can't wait for more!

This made me very happy, anon! You’re right, life has been eating away at my soul as of late, and I haven’t been able to really write much (including missing out jaytimweek WAH). 

I debated even sharing this, but since you inquired, here’s the opening of a fic I was working on for jaytimweek:

last chance to lose your keyssum: Tim loses his memory. Jason runs out of excuses.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Tim commented quietly from his corner of the room. He watched Jason drop his leather duffle on the ugly, floral bedspread, abused springs protesting loudly under its weight. It sounded dirty, the kind of sleazy noise a person would expect to hear at a pay-by-the-hour motel.

And then Jason unzipped the bag with steady hands to pull out a shiny black handgun.

Tim’s mouth went dry.

Green-blue eyes flicked his way for only a moment before Jason scoffed, his fingers deft and skillful as they twisted in a silencer at the tip of his gun. “Yes, I did.”

The events of the past two days were still an anxious blur in Tim’s mind. He remembered few concrete details on how he ended up in Las Vegas with Jason, a gun-toting, snarky asshole with the kind of face that made Tim want to bite the back of his hand.

At least, he said his name was Jason. Tim couldn’t remember if that were true or not.

He did know some things. He knew his name was Timothy Drake-Wayne. He knew he worked at Wayne Enterprises for bleak stretches of time, attending stuffy, drawn out meetings, the Millennial mouthpiece for one playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne.

But he also knew Bruce’s secret, and he worked alongside him and others to fight crime in Gotham City as Red Robin. He could picture Dick’s sleek, acrobatic fighting style, knew the exact shade of Steph’s blonde hair, could feel the silence that followed Cass around like armour, hear the impatient tone of Damian’s voice.

But this Jason? Tim had no memory of him at all.

“You think I’m a flight risk?”

Jason ignored him, checking for ammo before snapping the clip back into place and cocking the gun with an ominous slide of metal springs. He turned away from his duffel to stalk the length of their room, which was only big enough to fit two full beds and a bulky TV from the ‘90s. When he got to the window, Jason eased back thin, ugly curtains with his gun.

“We’re more than an hour from the next town, and there’s nothing but desert and darkness between the mile markers,” Tim tried again. He already knew there was no point in arguing, but old habits made him try.

Jason laughed again, low and derisive, and flicked the curtains back into place. “Got it all figured out, huh?” He tucked the gun into the holster beneath his jacket, twisting slightly so Tim could see the strong curve of his back. “We got a regular Wonder Boy on our hands.”

The reference irked Tim, made his skin crawl thinking about the things Jason knew about him – and all the things he didn’t know about Jason. The first thing he’d done when he’d come to, soaking wet on the tiled bathroom floor in some swanky hotel room, was call Bruce.

“I’ll tell you more when you’re home,” Bruce had said, his voice placating. There was a long pause before he’d added, “You can trust him.”

“But–,” Tim had tried to argue.

“Leave it,” Bruce said, his voice more clipped than before. “You don’t need to know anything else right now.” He promised to check in on them in the morning, and then promptly hung up.

Clearly, Bruce had chose his words carefully. The reason why felt important.

“I’m just saying the probability of me trying to escape is low. I don’t think…,” he trailed off as Jason double backed toward his side of the room.

He paused at the foot of Tim’s bed and smirked. “You have a history of not thinking things through.”

There was a memory scratching at the back of Tim’s mind, the shadowy presence of Jason occupying a similar space, in another time. How many hotel rooms, how many nights spent together working some case?

The way Jason moved unnerved Tim, made him feel raw and wrong. Tim had no doubt Jason knew exactly what he was doing; he clearly had the training and experience to handle automatic weapons with precision; he knew how to lean over the front desk with hooded eyes and a low voice and to ask for a room with a view of the highway; he knew how to count the number of missing keys hanging behind the hungry-eyed clerk, how to count the steps from the manager’s office to the their room, how to keep his back to the wall and his eyes on the door at all times.

Tim’s unease went beyond Jason’s obvious confidence. There was the familiarity in which he moved around Tim that felt significant. The way Jason’s body seemed to unconsciously bend toward Tim, their bodies two blades of grass in a high wind.

How well did they really know each other?

It was noticeable when Jason hesitated, the way his jaw ticked as he studied Tim sprawled out on the bed beneath him. His eyes flicked up and over, catching on the curve of Tim’s shoulder before settling somewhere just to the left of his ear. He didn’t say anything as he moved closer, his thigh heavy against the edge of the mattress.

Tim forced himself to lie perfectly still, tilting his neck up so he could meet Jason with defiant, untrusting eyes.  

In response, Jason rolled his eyes and reached behind Tim’s head quickly, flickering off the only source of light in the room. And Tim was glad for the swift darkness, the way it swept through the room like a current, hiding sudden burn on his cheeks.

“There you go again. Not thinking.”

Jason sounded far away again and Tim squinted. When his eyes adjusted, he saw that Jason had retreated back to the window without making a sound. A purple, neon glow outlined his profile as he peeled back the curtain again.

“Well, if it bothers you so much, I could keep not thinking in another room.”

Jason clicked his tongue. “Nice try, Bird Boy.”

“Just trying to figure out why you’re so intent on babysitting, is all.”

“Ohh,” Jason snorted to himself, annoyed. “Yeah, that’s me. Babysitter-for-hire with a bolo in my bag and personal penchant for leather jackets. Mommy bloggers really go for that shit.”

“Then what?” Tim grit out with a huff of frustration.

“I don’t know.” Jason’s eyes remained focused outside the window as he spoke. “Maybe it’s because we just pissed all over the cartel’s ivory carpet in Vegas not even 24 hours ago, and this motel is full of lowlife criminals just looking for someone to sell out for some quick cash or a cheap fuck.”

There was a pause, and Tim heard a car roll through the parking lot, tires crunching gravel. The red and purple neon lights cut against the sharp angles of Jason’s face.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking I don’t know you, Tim.”

Jason kept his eyes trained on the road and smiled.

[thequeenxofhearts]

Mad Hatter’s Break Out, Fanfic

I’m not good at titles but please let me know what you think!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12688366/1/Mad-Hatter-s-Break-out

Batman sat at the computer, something was bugging him but he couldn’t put his finger on it, also he couldn’t concentrate due to the background noise. Tim and Damian were combat training together, but it wasn’t going so well for Tim. “Ow that hurt!” He exclaimed. “It’s supposed to!” Damian exclaimed, throwing punches at Tim. “Stop it!” Tim exclaimed. “Is that what you’re gonna say when the Penguin kicks your-“ “Master Damian, there are other words that can be used, I’m sure you can think of one.” Alfred cut in. “Butt.” Damian growled, punching Tim.

Dick and Jason were welding the bumper back onto the Batmobile after their latest run in with Penguin, well Tim and Damian’s run in with the Penguin, it was Damian who was driving.

“Tea.” Alfred put a tea tray down on the side for them, two steaming mugs of tea with a jug of milk and a pot of sugar. “Thanks, Alfred.” Jason said. “Lovely.” Dick said. “Lovely? What Barbara sees in you, heaven knows!” Jason said jokingly. Alfred chuckled, heading towards the Bat computer. “Master Bruce, tea?” Alfred asked. “No thank you, Alfred.” Batman replied. “Something the matter sir?” Alfred asked. “Something’s happening, I’m not sure where but something is.” Suddenly he gasped. “What is it sir!” Alfred exclaimed. Jason and Dick stopped welding and Tim and Damian stopped fighting. “Bruce?” Jason asked. Batman pulled up footage onto the screen. “What is that?” Dick asked. “It’s a cloud of dust, Dick.” Damian said sarcastically. “Master Damian.” Alfred said rubbing his forehead. “It’s Arkham.” Batman said. “It looks like the Scarecrow’s fear gas.”

“Batman look!” Tim exclaimed. All eyes darted around the screen, as if Tim had seen something important in the background. “What is it, Tim?” Tim pointed to the corner of the screen showing the time and date the footage was taken: 13.05.2017 – 07:17

“What?” Damian asked. “That is yesterday’s date and time. Why am I seeing this now?” Batman asked. “Oh crap!” Jason exclaimed, everyone looked at the screen, the Mad Hatter broke out of his cell and escaped the asylum. “He used the Scarecrow’s fear gas to help him escape.” Tim said, “Why would the Scarecrow use it to benefit the Mad Hatter and not himself?”

“That we need to find out.” Batman said. “Gear up.” Tim and Damian threw on their Robin costumes and Jason pulled him red hood from his bag. Dick took off his shirt to reveal his Nightwing costume. “It’s about time! I’ve been dying to kick ass all week!” Damian exclaimed. “Master Damian.” Alfred said, annoyed. “Give it up, Alfred. You know he won’t stop.” Dick said. “I’ll drive.” Damian said. “No!” Everyone exclaimed, “Kill joys.” Damian muttered under his breath.

“Alfred, can you watch the cameras, radio me if anything happens in Arkham and Jason and I will head over.” Batman said. “Glady, Sir.” Alfred replied.

They climbed into the Batmobile and sped out of the cave.

 “Where do we start?” Robin asked. “As it’s the Mad Hatter, I suggest the Alice in Wonderland section at the amusement park.” Red Robin said, “I had a few run ins with him there.” Batman nodded.

Upon arriving at the amusement park, Batman takes a mental note: the amusement park looks deserted.

“Is it worth even looking here?” Robin asked, Batman looked into the young boy’s eyes. “You know it’s probably empty, there’s no sign of forced entry.” Robin said. “Kid might have a point.” Red Hood said. “Maybe we should look somewhere else then?” Batman said. “Maybe the old theatre, we caught him there once before Batman.” Batman nodded and they got back into the Batmobile and headed to the old theatre on the other side of town.

 The old Gotham City Theatre, left abandoned after the Joker massacred hostages before the police and Batman could get inside, it was the second murder Dick had witnessed.

“Split up.” Batman said. “Red Robin, Robin, search the dressing room, Nightwing, you’re with me, Red Hood, can I trust you to go alone?” Robin sniggered, “Probably not.” Red Hood rolled his eyes, “Yes.” Batman nodded, “I trust you.”

Red Robin and Robin search the dressing room, but there is no sign that anyone has recently been in there so they search back stage. Red Hood searches the seating areas and Batman and Nightwing search the catwalk.

“Do you remember the last time we were here?” Batman asked. “I thought that’s what you wanted to talk about, but deep down I hoped you missed me.” Nightwing joked. “I’m serious Nightwing. After the massacre, I considered stopping you being Robin and just being…just being a normal boy.”

“Oh Batman, you know that’s not possible.” Nightwing sighed deeply, “Look, it was hard after it. I wanted to stop being Robin, but I didn’t want to let you down, I knew I needed to be Robin. I look up to you Bru-Batman.”

“But I know, if I had stopped being Robin, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. I wouldn’t know you, Tim, Damian, Jason, Alfred or Barbara.” Nightwing said. “I’m glad you continued as Robin, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the courage to let them in.” Batman said.

 Red Hood searched the aisle, he looked under the seats but he couldn’t find anything, but as he made his way up to the stage, something caught his eye. Marks in the dust on the vent, recent marks too. Red Robin and Robin appeared from backstage. “Nothing back there or in the dressing rooms.” Red Robin said. “Here, look!” Red Hood exclaimed. He pointed to the marks in the dust. “Well spotted Red Hood!” Red Robin exclaimed. “You’re not entirely useless.” Robin said. “Thank you.” Red Hood said sarcastically, he radioed Batman and Nightwing, the jump down from the catwalk.

“Nightwing, Red Hood go in and investigate. Red Robin, Robin and I will keep watch up here.” Nightwing and Red Hood climbed into the vent. “Uh Batman. Looks like there might be someone down here.” Nightwing called. “I’m coming in. Robin, Red Robin, stay here.” Batman said.

“Hey look.” Red Hood finds a canister of the Scarecrow’s fear gas. “What’s the Mad Hatter doing with this?” Nightwing asked, he pulled back a dusty old sheet to reveal an armchair, nothing on it only dust. “Hello Batman.” They look around, until they see the Mad Hatter standing in the shadows.

Batman looked up out of the vent and saw Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum restraining Red Robin and Robin, both gagged. “What are you doing with Scarecrow’s fear gas, Tetch?” Nightwing exclaimed.

The Mad Hatter chuckled, “Dr Crane and I formed a nice little friendship. Daily, when we played chess in the lounge at Arkham, we discussed this little plan. It made sense for me to be the one to carry it out, I have allies outside Arkham and the few he has are locked up with him.”

“How did he get his fear gas into Arkham?” Nightwing asked. “He had test tube filled with the stuff sent through the pipes into his cell. He left these canisters here for me.”

“The last time he escaped? That was nearly a year ago!” Red Hood exclaimed. “I know, I’m disappointed too. The amount of time Joker escaped put the guards all on edge so they stopped us using the lounge for a few weeks and we had to go over the plan several times after that.” Mad Hatter said. “The plan isn’t complete yet, getting me out of Arkham was phase one. Phase two is me getting my mind control microchips to everyone in Gotham and then I’ll break Scarecrow and the others out of Arkham!”

“These are my friends, my Wonderland Gang, you know the Tweedles, March Hare, The Lion, The Unicorn, The Walrus and the Carpenter.” Mad Hatter stood with his arms open as several characters appeared. “We will reform in the wake of the Arkham breakout!” Mad Hatter climbed out of the vent and the Carpenter sealed it up. “Let’s go!” He exclaimed. The Tweedles picked Robin and Red Robin up and threw them over their shoulders.

Suddenly there was a crash, the Mad Hatter screamed. “NO! NO! NO!” Batman tried to get a look out of the vent but the Tweedles were blocking his view. “Get away!” Batgirl cried as she threw an exploding baterang at the vent. It blew open, Batman, Nightwing and Red Hood escaped. Robin was untying Red Robin after the Tweedles dropped them. Robin pulled out two baterangs and threw them at the Tweedles. “You’ll pay for tying me up!” He exclaimed.

Red Hood pulled out two guns, “No guns, Red Hood.” Batman said sternly, Red Hood rolled his eyes, putting the guns away he pulled out a baterang and threw it at the Carpenter.

Red Robin throws a baterang at the Walrus, it doesn’t go as planned and barely injures him. The Walrus charges at him, “Focus remember!” Robin shouts, Red Robin sees him watching him as he takes on the Tweedles. The Walrus becomes closer and closer to Red Robin, as he’s only a meter away, Red Robin swings his fist and knocks the Walrus off his feet. Surprised, he stares up at Red Robin. “Don’t stop!” Robin exclaimed. Red Robin threw punch after punch at the Walrus, who tried standing up without success.

“Woohoo!” Robin exclaimed as he finally knocked out both Tweedles. Nightwing and Batgirl take on the Unicorn. She threw baterangs and he used his combat sticks, eventually they got him to the ground. Robin jumped onto Nightwing’s back and lept onto the Unicorn, baterang in hand he knocked him out. Red Hood, Nightwing and Batgirl watched in disbelief, “Did he jump on my back?” Nightwing asked. “Woo! Knocked out by a ten-year-old!” Red Hood laughed pointing at the Unicorn.

“Red Hood!” Nightwing exclaimed, before Red Hood could turn around, the Carpenter hit him across the head with a spanner. He brushed it off, the threw a baterang, knocking her tool belt off her waist and then a sleeping gas baterang knocked her out.

There was only one member of the Wonderland Gang left: The Mad Hatter. “You’re going back to Arkham, Tetch!” Batman exclaimed, throwing a punch, the Mad Hatter ducked to avoid it. “No, I won’t, Batman! Not this time!” Mad Hatter said, pulling a card out of his pocket and running around Batman. “Every time you try to get out, I just put you back in!” Batman exclaimed. “You and the Scarecrow!”

“Not this time!” The Mad Hatter cried. “Even if you successfully break everyone out of Arkham, even if you and the Scarecrow are the masterminds, it will always be his fear gas who got you out!” Batman said.

“Yes, but it was the Wonderland Gang, my Wonderland Gang who broke them out!” The Mad Hatter exclaimed, trying to find a way to put the card on Batman. “You break the Joker out of Arkham, he won’t thank you! None of them will, they’ll abandon you. Someone stronger will come along and take your gang.”

“Stop it, Batman!” Mad Hatter screamed, avoiding his punches. Batgirl and the boys watched. “Someone stronger always comes along. You can’t break them out of Arkham and expect to rule Gotham or even the world without the Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Riddler and even Scarecrow fighting to be top dog!” Batman exclaimed. “You break them out, they’ll kill you Tetch!”

“I can stop them!” He exclaimed, finally stopped running around and pointed to his card. “I can control them!”

“Not all of them.” Batman stopped trying to punch Mad Hatter, “It’s over, Tetch.” Mad Hatter dropped his card, he dropped to the floor. “I know, Batman.” He sighed deeply. “Take me back to Arkham.” Batgirl and the boys exchanged looks, Batman didn’t take his eyes off Mad Hatter.

 They take the Mad Hatter and the Wonderland Gang to Arkham, Batman introduces the doctors to the gang. He watches the Mad Hatter sit silently in his cell, Dr Crane watching.

 Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce, Damian, Jason, Dick, Tim and Barbara sat in the living room. Alfred brought in a tray of hot chocolate and cookies. “It’s not like Tetch to give up.” Dick said. “No, it’s not.” Bruce said, “But I saw him, back in his cell, Scarecrow watched him. I think maybe, Tetch was forced into this plan. He went back into Arkham ashamed. He wants to be in Wonderland not Arkham, he was robbed of Wonderland years before Arkham, before he even started working with technology.”

“Do you think he can change?” Barbara asked. “I think people can change.” Bruce replied.