#dick grayson needs some love

[mayakrish08]

How I imagine 6'2 280 lb Jason and 5'8 180 lb Dick cuddling in your fics

(Dick can barely breathe but he loves his LittleWing too much to push him away)

AHHHHHH SUWHOQIJQOIJQOIJQOIQH THIS IS SO ACCURATE WHAAAAA! See, usually, Jay is the black cat and Dick is the Golden Retriever. Actually, actually, even here, Dick is the Golden Retriever, because despite being having cat’s size (and flexibility), I feel like Dick usually suffocates the hell outta his family members.

BUT. BUT, I agree with yours words, because in MY fics, Jay is the one cuddling Dick to because in my fics, Dick is usually in need of comfort, rather than giving it. I feel like that poor idiot needs some love thrown his way, too. Sooo, point being, in my fics, Dick is totally the cat who has no idea of throwing his not so little Little Wing off of him :) ❤️

P.S: I feel like this is a “Steph-Made” meme that was put in the official BatFam chat group 😂

[mistergreatbones]

I love how in fanon Dick is all uwu jaybird has done nothing wrong I will do anything to bring him home and Jason is all fuck off you don’t love me, whereas in the comics it’s Jason who keeps trying to get DIck to join him and Dick keeps being like no, fuck off? You’re a murderous criminal why would I do that?

[sunkillerlovechild]

batman, superman and robin are literally my favourite trio, they are so special to me

like any time i see someone being like "dick doest have a super" WRONG

he has his uncle clark that would fly him around when he was a kid just because he thought it was so cool and probably helped him with his homework and made sure bruce wasnt being too hard on him and ahhhh

honestly dick and clark and their dynamic just mean so much to me

but also all three of them together, they are like the original crime fighting trio

[dukeofthomas]

Here's my controversial opinion; if you're trying to write Bruce as a non-abusive, good parent, you should also write him respecting his kids' privacy, boundaries, and not stalking&surveying them.

[littlefankingdom]

It's kind of annoying (and weird) how DC keeps trying to rewrite how Jason and Bruce met to paint Bruce in a worst light.

Originally, Batman finds Jason stealing the Batmobile's tires, the kid runs away, and Batman finds him. Discovering the kid is homeless, he gives him to the authority and Jason finishes at Ma Gunn's school. Ma Gunn is actually teaching the kids to be gang members, so Jason tells Batman. Together, they win again Ma Gunn, and Bruce takes Jason in because he sees himself in him.

Well, in Nightwing: Year One, they change it for "Batman kidnapped Jason when he found him stealing his tires and forces him to become Robin", with Jason ATTACHED AND GAGGED in the batcave. (I like this comic except for that because wtf)

In Red Hood and The Outlaws (2011), they changed it for "Jason stole drugs from Leslie and Batman was ready to beat and throw a young teen in jail, but Leslie begged him to give him a chance", which again, wtf. Batman beating up a child. Okay.

In Red Hood and The Outlaws (2016), they changed it for "Bruce put Jason in Ma Gunn's school because he couldn't handle him after taking him in". The only good addition they made is "when Batman caught Jason stealing his tires, he bought him food".

I do not understand why they need to make him awful to this 12 years old so bad. What do they want to make it as if Bruce forced that life on Jason but also didn't want to deal with him. Why they cannot let it as it is, with Bruce having fun dealing with this lil shit that stole his tires and being there for him when he needs him later on, until he finally craves and takes Jason home.

And that's why I am so critical on how Batman and Bruce is written in Nightwing and Red Hood stories, because the writers are incapable to make their main character have conflict with Bruce, without changing his character and their story to make him abusive. They need him to be the bad guy of Jason's, and sometimes Dick's, story because they don't know how to make you side and care for their character without making the other side a monster.

[haveihitanerve]

Alfred Pennyworth is to Blame

Okay first- let me start this by saying I love Alfred Pennyworth. He is the one who raised the great Bruce Wayne, hes a badass, and hes a killer Grandfather. But thats just it. He’s a good grandfather. Not a good father. I see so many people giving Bruce shit for how he treats his kids and then praise alfred as the savior, the only good responsible adult in the world, the one who should have taken all the kids and left Bruce because he ruined them and Alfred would have done better. But thats not true. I fully believe all of the kids would have suffered under just Alfred’s care because, well, he doesn't get it. Bruce’s prime motivator for almost al of his children is that they have shared pain and grief and he helps them work through it. Alfred? So many people have said being a grandparent is easier than being a parent- and its true. Because you don't have to deal with actually raising this child. You get to be the “fun one”. You don't have rules, you spoil them, you give hugs and advice. The actual parent is the one who has to criticize and raise you and punish and teach everything. Do I think Bruce could have raised his kids on his own? Probably. Do I think Alfred definitely helped raise them to be as amazing as they are today? Hell yeah! But Bruce, and I firmly believe this, is such a “terrible” dad, because Alfred was his. Alfred, who doesn’t call Bruce son or even Bruce because first and foremost this boy is his charge, his master, not his child. Bruce was not raised on much affection from the butler, because thats who he was- a butler. Alfred does his best, its not his fault- this was a job that unwillingly turned into a lifelong dedication of suddenly raising a child, but its not enough. And people need to realize that. Maybe, Bruce isn't that great at communicating because he was raised by a mostly silent butler. Maybe Bruce doesn't say I love you quite that often because Alfred never did. Maybe Bruce is so strict because he was raised by a man from the military. But, lets take a look at his kids. Dick Grayson. Dick Grayson is arguably one of my favorite Batfam members, and he became the man he is, overcoming his trauma and being nice and funny and joyous, because he had Bruce in his life. “Robin needed to help take down the man who murdered his parents. ‘So he could turn out like you?’ So that he wouldn't.” Because Bruce took him in and helped him overcome his trauma, Dick became better. Dick is what Bruce would have become… if he had had a Bruce in his life. But he hadn’t. He had an Alfred. 

Anyway, just my thoughts. It makes me so mad when people are so quick to serenade Alfred and shower him with love and then shit on Bruce so hard… when its fucking alfreds fault. Well, not fault thats not the right word but still. Bruce is, unfortunately, my favorite DC person ever and its a hard battle to fight and defend but I’ll do it gladly everyday. Please stop hating on Bruce only to turn around and applaud Alfred. No. Thats not how this works. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 

[p1nkshield]

Before the Robining

Alfred: …

Bruce: … [typing on the bat computer]

Alfred: it is awfully quiet isn’t it?

Bruce: [Stops typing] …yeah

Years later

Dick: I bet you can’t climb to the top of the dinosaur before I can!

Damian: tt! I am above such childish bets.

Stephanie: Sounds like excuses to me lil’ man!

Jason: c’mon Steph, nobody expects a six month old to be able to climb anything. Don’t goad him into it he’ll just hurt himself.

Damian: I am also above being manipulated by facetious reverse psychology!

Duke: you’re currently walking towards the dinosaur dude.

Damian: AM NOT!

Dick: No cheating, no grappling! 3! 2! 1! Go!

Cass in two seconds: I win 😊 🎉

*various sounds of exasperation, questions about the source of the party popper and sore losing*

Tim: Maybe I should sleep because I swear I’m seeing Cass on the t-Rex and Dick covered in confetti. Oh wait no that’s normal never mind.

Alfred: This is not at all what I meant Bruce.

[tim-drake-scholar]

Sorry but Tim referring to Bruce as “dad” kills me bc I think he’s like 18/19 here so he’s only been legally adopted for a couple years or so? They really are all siblings and they really are a family! I love that Damian looks so confused about physical affection!!

[4sh-n4]

Bruce Wayne, who can't cook to save his life but can bake better than even Alfred. The catch? He can only do it in the night after being awoken by nightmares. No one knows about his extraordinary skills other than Alfred and Dick, because everyone assumes that the baked goods in the kitchen are made by Alfred. Dick knows because when he was younger and couldn't sleep because of nightmares, he used to join Bruce in the kitchen and watch him work.

Dick Grayson, who is an absolute disaster in the kitchen because he keeps getting distracted, but give him a microwave and a dream and he'll prepare a solid three course meal that actually tastes decent. He's also an excellent cocktail maker, which is funny since he prefers to have his alcohol straight without any mixers (he still puts the little umbrellas in his glass though, don't be mistaken)

Jason Todd, who is an ACE in the kitchen because he refused to ever be helpless with food again after getting off the streets. He was going to eat, and he was going to eat WELL. Especially since he finally had the resources to be able to actually experiment with what he likes and what he can do with different foods, instead of just what's cheapest or most easily found. The one thing he can't do? Crack an egg with only his hands without getting any of the eggshell pieces in the food. He needs to use one of those little egg cracking tools. The thing that pissed him off the most about this is that the one thing Dick can do brilliantly in the kitchen, is crack eggs with one (1!!!) hand only.

Tim Drake, who is definitely not michelin star level (the Drakes had a cook for Tim's entire childhood so he never had to learn), but has learnt to sustain himself with instant meals and those little ramen packets. He somehow always makes them taste good though, adding toppings and making sure they are some form of nourishing, even if that just means adding a fried egg on top and calling it a day. He also knows the difference between all the different little types of tea that alfred likes to drink just by taste, and is the only other person in the house that can make a perfect cup (that is Alfred approved). It always shocks everyone else, because Tim is notorious for hating the taste of tea.

Cass Cain, who has no culinary abilities and does not want them either. Her skills in the kitchen start and end with making sandwiches. But whenever she goes out to eat, she always goes to a chinese restaurant and gets something that she hasn't tried before, because she was never introduced to any foods of her culture and wants to taste them all now. Oh, and she can do super complicated tricks with the knives, her and Dick have constant competitions about who can do the coolest thing.

Steph Brown, who lives off of takeaway for most meals, but can make better breakfast foods than most people in the house. Waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, you name it and she can make it. Only if it is traditionally eaten before noon though. She also worked as a barista part time for a while, so she knows all the fancy coffee recipes.

Damian Al Ghul Wayne, who doesn't care to cook other cuisines, but taught himself how to make almost every middle eastern and south asian dish he could get his hands on, because it helped him feel closer to his home and his mother when he first moved in with his father. His fondest memories of his mother are of her feeding him his cultural foods and telling him about their origins. It was the only time they did not speak of work, or his training, but instead about what his father was like as a person, about the things his mother has seen on her travels over the years, about his maternal grandmother, about his interest in animals.

Duke Thomas, who can cook enough for a 15 year old but doesn't touch the kitchen of Wayne manor very often, not unless he's just sitting on the counter watching others or helping minorly. His memories are still fresh enough to bleed when touched and all his memories of him cooking in the kitchen have his parents happily dancing in the background on Sundays with loud music blaring through the walls as they teach him how to chop onions without crying or knead dough.

Alfred Pennyworth, who only had the most basic culinary skills when he began working for the Waynes, just enough to keep him alive when he was in the military, but was forced to learn how to cook when he was unexpectedly given custody of an 8 year old. He can cook better than most professional chefs in the world now, but he still hoards Thomas Wayne's old cookbooks like they're the only tangible part left of the man who once filled the halls of the manor, even though he knows that's not true. He'll pass them down to his grandchildren one day...just not today. Today, they're still his.

[spacedace]

Haunted by thoughts of an AU i don't know enough Batman/DC lore to write where instead of bent on revenge, Jason comes back obsessed with a need to make sure no other Robin (or any BatKid) faces the fears and horrors he faced and absolutely he will not let any more Robins die. (AKA writing prompt for whoever is interested)

He still comes back to Gotham, still takes over Crime Alley as Red Hood, but he never reveals who he is. He's just this new mystery vigilante that sticks to Crime Alley and uses more violence than Bruce would like but is always, always *always* there to look after the kids.

Red Hood becomes the over protective big brother of all the younger BatKids, showing up out of no where whenever a fight starts getting dicey to kick ass and keep them safe before shuffling them off to whatever of his safe houses is closest to get them some snacks and do a check in on how they're feeling/doing.

He makes sure Tim gets some sleep and isn't burning himself out. Has some heart to hearts with Steph about their similar childhoods. Sets up a safe quiet space for Cass when she feels overwhelmed. Drags them all off to Dr. Thompkins, gently bullies them i ti getting therapy, helps them with homework, things like that.

He avoids Bruce & Dick generally- too painful - but Red Hood is always there to have their backs, even if he never sticks around long afterwards.

When Damian shows up things get a bit weird. Damian knows him from the League, but won't say who he is. Red Hood seems to have a way with him and manges to treat Damian like the kid he is without Damian blowing up or getting angry about it.

Jason nips Damian's idea of killing Tim in the bud before it gets past the initial planning stage and slowly manages to get the two to some kind of understanding.

He actually sticks around to talk to Dick & Bruce after fights longer than a few seconds and gives advice on how to work with Damian on his issues. Some of the distrust starts to go away for Bruce after that, he starts trying to pull Red Hood into the fold, Dick helping as much as he can.

And Jason is so tempted to tell them. Make the reveal, face his fears and go *home* finally.

But then Bruce dies.

And Dick has taken up the cowl and made Damian Robin and Tim is left drifting, so sure that Bruce is still alive and Jason looks at it all and how close they all are to shaking apart and thinks "I'm not losing anyone else"

He talks to Tim and works with him to try and find Bruce and keep the little bird as far the fuck away from Ra's as possible. Tim takes the mantel Red Robin in honor of his adopted big brother Hood when the dust finally settles.

And when The Heretic comes for Damian, he finds that he has to get through the living tank that is Red Hood first. He doesn't, in the end. Jason swore he'd never let another Robin die and he'd reshape the universe with his bare hands if that's what it takes to do.

They all get on the same page finally, they work together and get Bruce home and well it's not like there's a better time to let them all know he's back.

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Damian and Tim are trapped together in a cave system.

That itself wouldn’t be too bad (or too out of the ordinary) if Damian hadn’t been injured in the initial collapse.

Now he’s alone, with their comms transmitting and receiving nothing, with the pretender he’d been trying to kill on several occasion.

And Damian is only all too aware that grandfather’s “favorite detective” would have every right to kill him in retaliation. And the perfect opportunity to get away with it.

[dickheadcanons]

Your brain is literally gynormous. Do you think Damian's and Dick's relationship is paternal? Because, as someone who has actually had to raise their sibling (do not recommend) it looks more like a guy that had too much in his plate trying to be the best caregiver he could, but not really being a parent, if that makes sense. I feel like the idea of him wanting to adopt him feels like kind of a retcon, couldn't really see it in the og run. But of course, it could be because it's not exactly the same as my experience (abusive father, incapable mother, yknow the drill). What do you think? All your posts are so good.

Also while you're at it, what do you think of Dick as a parent? Some elseworlds have played with the concept, and main continuity did something too with Olivia but T*m Tayl*r fucked that up too. I also wonder how Damian would be as a dad, but I don't think I've ever seen any stories with it.

omg anon thank you and thank you for asking!! this is literally one of my favorite topics!! i was thinking about making a post on this and now you gave me the excuse for it!!

Long story short, I don't think that “parental” is a binary thing. I mean, I know several bio-parents who are just guys with too much on their plates, trying to be the best they can, you know? And people can see parent figures in all kinds of relationships that aren’t blood or traditional moms/dads, especially with people who didn't know each other from birth. There are a million ways to be parented, and a million ways to act as a parent.

The way I think about it is, is Dick Damain's John Grayson? No, I don't think so.

But is Dick Damian's Bruce Wayne? Yes. Totally. Absolutely.

More under the cut bc I have a lot of thoughts.

I think to talk about Dick and Damian, we have to start with Dick and Bruce. So much about Dick and Damian is a reflection of the original Dynamic Duo, and I think that's very much the case with this element as well. From the start of their very long comic history, Dick and Bruce have been dancing around their relationship. We get early comics that say they're "like" father and son, we have Bruce saying he couldn't care about Dick more than if he was Bruce's son, but we also have places where they call each other their best friends, where they act more like brothers, etc etc.

When it comes to who our parents are, I think there is the responsibility, and the result. Certain people have the responsibility, the duty, to be our parents, and sometimes (because death or illness or being shitty people), they aren't able to meet those responsibilities. That never removes the responsibility; they don't stop being the parent. But they aren't able to create the result of us becoming good stable adults. That's where other people can step in, where the parental figure appears, and those are the people that we actually point to when we say "they made me the person I am today."

In fandom, we see a lot of Dick not wanting Bruce to replace his father, of him asking not to be adopted. I think this is a fine characterization that works with who Dick is, but Bruce is actually the one to say that he is not going to replace Dick's father. He says it completely unprompted, too. This is withholding the responsibility of being Dick's parent from Bruce, keeping him at a distance and reserving it as an honor for someone who can't hold it anymore, even as Bruce demands responsibility for literally everything else about Dick.

And I think that it's very telling of what Bruce's idea of a father is. The thing about having a dead parent at a young age is that the person of your parents is still tangled in the role of parent in your life; Mom is mom, not Martha, and because she's dead, the image of both Martha and "mom" is frozen. For Bruce, the relationship of father and son is frozen in the relationship of specifically his father and him. Of course Bruce is not Dick's father; Bruce himself is so different from what his conception of a father is. And as a fellow son, for Bruce, someone who just got back from 7 years abroad studying to be Batman, for whom the nearly 20 year old wound is still fresh, the idea of even wanting another father doesn't make sense, particularly for a boy that Bruce identifies with so hard that he becomes the third person ever to know who Batman is.

This looming memory is even worse when it's Dick's turn to be Batman. While Bruce looks at Dick and sees the memory of his own loss, the shadow of his own grief, Dick is looking at Damian and seeing Bruce. Dick knows very well who Damian lost; Dick is grieving what Damian lost more than Damian is. Bruce couldn't conceive of replacing a father, but Dick is struggling to imagining himself replacing Bruce at his job, much less who he was in his personal relationships.

But even if Damian isn't Dick's responsibility, Dick doesn't hesitate to care about Damian's future. "Who's going to save him if we don't?" At the start of the DickBats era, Dick isn't looking at Damian as a family member, really. He's looking at Damian as a victim, abet a very involved, very dangerous one. It's how Bruce looked at Dick too, before he had any reason to know that this kid would become something more to him. But, like Bruce, what Dick does to save Damian is bring him into the thing that is most precious to him; Batman. The mission. Saving people. A way to live in the world.

I know saying someone is the Batman to their Robin is like, a joke at this point. Something unbelievably cheesy. But you google "iconic duos" and Batman and Robin are one of the first responses. There's a reason for the joke. So imagine you are Robin, and your Batman is dead. And you have to go and find a new partner. Dick making Damian his Robin is heavy, just as heavy to me as adoption papers. Bruce made Dick his partner without any idea of what that meant. Dick, and the audience, had 70 years of expectation on what Dick and Damian could be. Dick making Damian Robin was a very specific claim, far stronger imo than just claiming him as a son would have been.

Because, to be honest (and speak to your other question), I don't think Dick thinks a lot about being a parent. I don't really think it's that important to him. Dick is a leader, a mentor, he deals with a ton of teenagers and kids through his vigilante work, he goes to Tim's sidekick parent's meetings and takes Jason skiing and more than that, he's also young. He's in his 20s. He should be at the club. I think he probably thinks he'll have kids in an abstract way, but it's not something he's looking for, consciously or unconsciously. He's not searching for connection, or to fix his mistakes or his past, the things that lead Bruce to adopting sidekicks. He'd be a great dad, and I think we see him being pretty good with his Elseworlds kids, but Dick is a very practical person, and him taking a kid in (vs finding somewhere else they can go) is not really the practical choice.

Except for one kid. There's just been one kid with legitimately no where else to go, where Dick is truly the only option, because going home meant only bad things for him. Dick made Damian part of his family in the ways that mattered to them both in that moment. With their lives, adoption doesn't really make a huge material difference on custody (if Damian wanted to leave, Dick couldn't have stopped him; Damian has access to basically unlimited money and can feed and clothe and wash himself. and possibly already has a phd.), and Dick wanted Damian to choose, anyway. If I recall correctly, Dick says he didn't think about taking Damian with him until Bruce comes back. He thought about taking Damian with him, thought that Damian might be better with Dick (his partner!!!!) than even with Bruce, his dad, the person Dick loves so much, only in the face of them being separated.

Meanwhile Damian, for all his blustering about how Dick needs to "earn" his respect, warms up to Dick startlingly quickly. For Damian, who had never known a father, who in his initial run hadn't even known his mother for more than two years, whose other male family is Ra’s al Ghul, his father is Batman. Even in Tomasi's kinder depiction of Damian's childhood, Damian only knows the Bat. And when he meets Bruce, the first thing he expresses is disappointment. Bruce the man is underwhelming and then goes and dies. So much for the mythic hero!

And then he meets Dick. Who manages to teach Damian something, who doesn't discount his skills even when he's wrong. Who proves that he is better at being Batman than Damian, and shows that he wants Damian around. And, even more importantly, who doesn't die. Dick is stable in a world constantly in flux. Damian screws up a lot in that run, and he leaves for long stretches of it, but Dick is always there when he gets back. There's no blame here, but the truth is that Dick is the one who stays.

Bruce was Damian's father, but what does that mean to someone whose never met a father at all? Bruce might have tried to connect with Damian before he died, but he doesn’t do it in a way that works. He doesn’t give Damian trust, he doesn’t encourage him in the ways Damian finds important…the first person to do that is Dick. Dick gives Damian responsibility, makes him part of the team. It could be argued that Damian didn’t deserve it, but we’re not talking about deserving. We’re talking about what worked. It sounds like as good an idea as making a tiny 8 year old acrobat a sidekick, but it undeniably worked for both Damian and Dick. Does that mean that either of these relationships were parental in the way that we think of it in the real world, in the way that a child psychologist would say is good and healthy? I have no idea. But they are the most parental in the absence of any other parents, and I think that means a lot.

Unfortunately, we don't get to actually see the dissolution of Dick and Damian's partnership. DC conveniently skips over showing us Bruce coming back and Dick becoming Nightwing again; preNew 52, Dick is still Batman with Damian even when Bruce returns, and in the New 52, he's been Batman "Before" and we don't really see the end, just a vague aftermath. But if it did take that kind of change to make them realize their relationship had a flavor of "parent and child", had the makings of something like a father and son, well, they'd just be following in the original Batman's footprints.

[starculler]

strap in for this week's fic flavor: the failsafe episode of season one of the young justice cartoon except the simulation just won't. fuckin. end.

(fics that inspired this at the end)

If I ever did sit down to make my own fic, I'd split it in 3 parts:

The Simulation: bits and pieces of the 40 years Dick lives after most everyone he knows has died

The Return: the immediate aftermath and healing from the trauma of having not-quite-actually lived a whole life only to wake up and find out it was all fake. nothing traumatizing about that whatsoever.

The Unintended Consequence: aka the twist I'd love to add and would hint to in the second part - finding out the simulation, through martian mind fuckery, pulled from the real world (and in many cases, from real minds). Dick meets a bunch of people he didn't think were real outside the confines of his simulated life. A bunch of rowdy, heroism-inclined teens across the years get to meet the sibling/friend/mentor figure they all dreamed up one night.

(actual idea snippets under the cut)

.

Dick Grayson is 14 and most of the world's heroes have died. He planned a suicide mission that left him the sole survivor of a doomed team he helped found. The invasion may have been stopped, but is this really the price he wanted to pay?

The first face he sees in the infirmary is Roy's, and he has to close his eyes and just breathe for a few minutes because for one painful moment he'd thought it was Wally. But this isn't the world where his best friend miraculously survived alongside him. This is the one where he got his best friend killed and didn't even give him the courtesy of following behind him. Behind them.

.

Dick Grayson is 27 and has lived longer without Bruce than with him. The invasion's anniversary is always a tough day for him, but that morning seems especially harrowing. He'll get shit for it later, but can't resist stepping out onto the balcony of the manor's master bedroom (Bruce's old bedroom) for a smoke -- his first since he'd promised to quit if Jason, just 15 then, did too.

"Bad habits tend to pile up," he'd said, a rueful quirk to his tired grin. He'd tapped the cigarette twice on the railing and added, lower, "and this one's especially nasty, huh."

He inhales, watches the sun creep across the horizon, and lets acrid smoke burn through his lungs for a long moment before blowing it out in a small cloud. His eyes water, but he doesn't cough. It tastes just as bad as it did the first time he smoked one, not even a year after the invasion and treading water as Robin proved insufficient.

There hadn't been enough heroes to go around then, and Dick had been trained by one of the best. It hadn't been fair, but it had been his plan that had ultimately stopped the invasion. His shoulders everyone's expectations fell on.

He takes another drag, then smudges the lit end against the rail he's leaned on when he hears a boot scuff purposefully against the roofing above him.

"Todd and Pennyworth will be upset with you."

He doesn't turn around. Damian doesn't jump down to join him.

.

Dick Grayson is 54 and wakes up in a room full of ghosts. He hears his long-dead father-figure tell his long-dead team about a simulation they weren't meant to win. A training exercise gone wrong and only half a day spent under their mentors' careful, if slightly panicked, supervision.

He looks at his hands, watching the way his gloves crease when he flexes them in and out of tight fists. He looks at his team, their eyes a little haunted but shoulders slumped with relief even as they grumble. Batman's heavy, gloved hand settles on his shoulder and the weight of it is a nauseating mix of foreign-familiar.

He opens his mouth. Closes it.

Tears prick his eyes behind his domino mask, and he tells himself the suffocating, acidic void building in his chest is just some leftover side effect of the ordeal and not the grief-guilt of outliving yet another family (no matter that they hadn't been real in the end).

.

Dick Grayson is 16-going-on-56 and well used to the coincidences piling up between his simulated life and the real thing. Some of it -- missions and villains he remembers cropping up -- he's marked for Bruce to review and sort as he pleases. Some -- security for the cave, team building anecdotes, and training regimens -- he's shared with the team. And some he keeps only for himself.

Tim is one of those. He knows it's not fair to the kid (so much smaller now than he ever was when Dick lived his simulated life), but he can't help being selfish just for this. Tim is the one kid he's sure he didn't make up, and if Dick's taken to babysitting the kid just to be near at least one member of the family he built for himself in the wake of the worst days of his life .... Well, anyone who says shit about it can happily stand in line to have their teeth kicked in.

Despite this, it still catches him off-guard when he sees a familiar face pop up in one of Bruce's reports.

Jason Todd, caught boosting tires off the batmobile, is nearly the same age now as he was when Dick met him. He stares at the words, but none of them really sink in beyond the kid's name and address. He's moving before he's even made the decision.

He's used to the world kicking him when he's down - lived it for 40 frustrating years. But he has Bruce again. And things with Tim have been so good. And he's always been selfish when it comes to family. If he could just see Jason. If he could just meet him. If he could talk to him.

If if if if if--

.

Inspirations:

Circles in Shattered Mirrors by InfinityIllusion

Fine (But Not Okay) by CharlotteDaBookworm

Verisimilitude by mutemelody

[tisajest]

Guaranteed way to get me to enter a new fandom/check out a new series:

read a really good crossover fic

[frogaroundandfindout]

The fact there’s a disco Nightwing but not an scene kid Nightwing is fucking tragic. I don’t care about how much ret-conning needs to be done, I just need to see it.

[chepib3]

big fan of when bruce tries to help others and he just ruins everything My poor wife that doesn't know how to communicate yes he will jump to conclusions and make decisons for you to sneakily control your life but please forgive him he's trying to show how much he loves you