#i read back to back tim bullshit in jason centric fics and i need a break

[mikakuna]

i am once again begging for jason fic recs but this time i'm gonna be more specific. pls plsss share any fics you guys have read that doesn't include pit madness, jason apologizing to tim, jason feeling bad about what he did to tim, or anything to do with tim. if it has to do with tim, i hope it's someone acknowledging tim's role in badmouthing robin jason (literally impossible i think) or them only having a relationship if it's not built on jason feeling guilty and tim being a baby twink

[sleepyistinky]

Many people don't realize this but Bruce never neglected Tim. I love that okay Tim he was a frustrated Robin who went through shit dealing with Batman I might be getting that wrong too though because I don't have access to the comics but I've been reading what I can BUT Tim was never neglected as a Robin. I see how many people heavily mischaracterize the Batfam members, from making Bruce a shitty and abusive dad even though he just isn't that good at communicating, to making Dick a pushover and making his ass his whole personality, and uwu-ifying Tim and making Jason the 'angry' robin even though that mf was a boy scout as a Robin. HOWEVER.

Tim Drake who just fucking gets so sick of everyone's shit. Batfam supporter to the day I die I do not hate any of them however I am not an apologist. I can recognize when a character is wrong because even though they're fictional they're still human. Tim sick of Batman just taking his help for granted. Alfred who sees what's going on despite being a solid rock in the past and not doing anything about it. Jason seemingly hating Tim simply because he is his successor and Damian hating Tim because he is his successor. Dick who is at best lukewarm with him. I'm not going to mention Steph, Cass, Duke, or even Helena because as far as I know they haven't really done enough I'm still pretty new to DCU and was introduced through spider-man crossovers but from what I've seen in some tim-centric fics he has it ROUGH. Tim who just is so fucking tired that he just says fuck it Bruce doesn't need me anymore I'll do my own shit elsewhere and see if I ever do shit for you guys again and watching the Batfam fall apart with Tim because HE was the one who pulled Bruce's head out of his ass when Jason died. HE was the one who basically had to take care of this grown-ass man so that he didn't fucking keel over when he was THIRTEEN. He was the one who had to stop Bruce from using such excessive force against petty criminals. HE was the one who sucked it up when Jason came for his ass in the Titan's Tower because hey he'd be pretty upset if he was forcibly brought back to life to find someone else had taken his spot. and this is his favorite Robin we're talking about! HE was the one who dealt with Jason's bullshit after everything was said and done and was one of the only members of the family to treat him normally. HE was the one who refused to give up on Bruce after he 'died' and went through so much trauma for YEARS and dealt with Ra's bullshit. He literally had his spleen removed leaving him immunocompromised. He ISOLATED himself from the people he cared about for BRUCE. He literally traveled through time for him. And on top of all that, he had his Robin mantle forcibly taken from him and given to this assassin child who hates him. And actively tries to kill him. Plus Dick think he was absolutely crazy all the time, which, yeah, fair enough. I might be wrong but didn't he successfully clone Superboy? That's some crazy person shit DIDN'T HE MAKE OUT WITH SUPERBOY'S EX THINKING ABOUT HIM? that's some crazy homosexual shit that I won't be tapping into today. So, yeah, excuse Tim if he's just finally so done with everything and everyone.

[elareine]

the song better place by rachel platten and jay/dick or maybe just some jay-centric bat fam. hope this prompt works for you. love your fics <3

Thank you <3 That’s a very JayDick song, but I love writing batfam, too, so... have both. 

Steph took one look at Jason’s old-new room and pronounced: “You need to redecorate.”

“No shit.”

“Let’s go.”

Which was how Jason found himself in Ikea of all places. She even dragged a flustered-looking Tim with her, who proved to be supremely unhelpful when it came to curtain color (“I don’t think either red or purple will look good with those walls,” bullshit) but very willing to hand over his credit card. It was… fun. The room felt less like a tomb when Steph was done with it, which was great.

He told her that.

“Well, duh.” She grinned. “No one in this house knows how to decorate for shit. You should see what Tim did with his bedroom…”

Jason spent a minute considering his options. “Anime girls?”

“Nope.”

“Superman posters.”

“Nope, but I like the way you’re thinking.”

“Bad Picasso replicas.”

“Nooo,”

“I give up.”

“He did…” Steph paused dramatically. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing. It still looks like it did in the eighties.”

Jason laughed, and she looked gratified. “Sounds terrible.”

They kept working on the bookshelf. Ikea was great for those; that’s why they went there in the first place. Well, that and the look on Bruce’s face when he saw the boxes.  

After a minute, Jason asked: “So… are you seeing a lot of Tim’s bedroom, then?”

“Yeah. So what?” She glared at him, which he was starting to realize was a sure sign that she was embarrassed.

“So nothing. Didn’t know that was happening again, that’s all.”

It took her a minute, but she softened. “Yeah. I… guess we’re giving it a second chance.”

“That’s cool,” he told her sincerely. “I mean, you could clearly do better, but he damn well knows what he’s got now.”

“Hmm.” Steph was hiding behind the shelf she was holding up, but he could still tell she was pleased. “So how about your own second chance, huh?”

…damn, he’d walked right into that one. “Shut up.”

—

“Home invasion in sector 6R. Three 1Cs, suspected armed. Neighbors reporting shots, five people in the house. Hood, you’re closest.”

Jason had already changed course. “I’m on it.”

He waited—this was the point where Batman would send a Robin or two after him, maybe even Nightwing or himself, “just as back-up.” There was no way they would let him operate as part of the team without close supervision for at least a year. Jason was determined to grit his teeth and bear it, even if he wasn’t sure for how long he could. He was chafing already, running like this with the others when he’d been on his own for so long.  

However, Bruce only confirmed that he’d heard him, and then the line went silent.

Huh.

—

There was no better time to be awake in the manor than the early morning in Jason’s opinion. The light fell softly into the kitchen as he entered, barefoot and in his pajamas.

Alfred was there, of course. “Good morning, Jason.”

It was their private ritual; had been even before Jason had moved back into the fold. Six a.m., tea and sandwiches. The only difference was that now, Jason hadn’t vanished by the time Damian stomped into the kitchen, glowering at them for being awake and having the audacity to send him to school.

It was kinda adorable, not that Jason would ever tell him that. Instead, he watched Damian make his way through his own breakfast and nodded toward the packed lunch waiting for him. “I see you’re not taking advantage of the school cafeteria, then?”

“Them?” The amount of scorn Damian managed to pack into a single word would have weighed down a ship or two. “They would not know good food if it chased after them with a sword.”

“Let me guess—still only three spices, and these are salt, pepper, and ketchup?” Jason asked.

“I believe there is a fourth one now—they have a particularly intolerable mixture that they like to label ‘Chinese.’” Damian’s whole face scrunched up with distaste. “It tastes nothing like what Mother used to cook.”

“While I am sorry to hear that,” Alfred inserted, “we will be late if we don’t leave soon.”

Damian grumbled but hopped off his chair. Jason glanced at the clock — seven a.m. Dick would get up soon. Might as well make him a sandwich, too.

He pulled the ingredients closer, already compiling a list of recipes in his head. Talia had shown him how to make most of Damian’s favorites. He could teach those to Alfred, no problem.

—

“Hood. Stop it right now.” Dick looked at him with big eyes, or so Jason assumed, considering they were both wearing their masks.

“No, continue.” Barbara sounded choked, audibly forcing down laugher.

And, hey. Love was one thing, but Jason knew who gave him the best intel night after night. “So big bird and B decide that they have to infiltrate this organization, right? Only… they’re all swingers…”

Her laughter was brighter than the streetlights.

—

Jason stepped into the corridor and silently closed the door behind him.

God, but it had taken a long time to get Dick tired and ready to sleep. Jason himself was still feeling too wired to pass out, but then he wasn’t operating on a 40-hour sleep deficit, so it was totally not the same thing.

He decided to wander down to the cave. Bruce was still up, of course, acknowledging Jason’s presence with a grunt. The only other person present was Tim, who was bent over some files.

…like, really bent over them. One could almost think…yup, he’d fallen asleep at the table.

Jason gently poked him. Then he harshly poked him. When nothing happened, he sighed and moved one arm under Tim’s legs, the other gripping his shoulders. The kid would fuck up his back if he stayed like that. It took a bit of effort, but they were soon making their way up the stairs, Tim cradled securely in Jason’s arms.

They’d almost made it upstairs when Tim stirred, blue eyes opening halfway and looking at him.

Heart in his throat, Jason waited. This family had a bad habit of coming awake swinging, and with Jason hovering over them… well, it wouldn’t be entirely unjustified, wouldn’t it? Especially in Tim’s case.

Tim grumbled and went right back to sleep.

—

Jason pinched his nose. Or tried to, but he was wearing his helmet, so he basically poked himself in the face. Judging from Duke’s expression, that wasn’t helping his point.

“So you decided to buy us time by…”

“Ninja traps,” Cassie finished for him. Looking as if that made total sense.

“Ninja traps.”

“Well, it was more of an obstacle course, really,” Duke added helpfully.

“Okay, that’s a weird-ass move, but I can respect that. Then why did that warehouse explode?”

“Fire.” Cassie’s expression gave nothing away.

Jason looked to Duke. “What she said.”

“And the fire was there because…?”

“Fire is an obstacle.”

Jason groaned. “I cannot believe I’m the responsible person here,” he lamented. “Is this how you feel most of the time, D?”

There was laughter over the com. “Oh, Nightwing has finally acquired a co-parent,” Steph commented, followed by Tim’s: “About time.”

(Everyone ignored Bruce’s “Hey!”.)  

—

“Jason.”

Bruce was hovering. He probably didn’t intend to it; it just came naturally. Jason still felt that nervous lurch in his stomach whenever Bruce did that, but he was trying to get over it, so he just asked: “Yeah?”

“Let me show you something.”

They went into one of the rooms behind Bruce’s office that Jason had always assumed held nothing but files. He was very wrong.

“After you… left, I found myself reading books and thinking—he would’ve loved that.”

The walls were lined with bookcases. There were special editions of Jane Austen reprints, thick sci-fi novels, and nineteenth-century murder mysteries. It was eclectic and weird and precisely what Jason liked. What they both liked.

“I kept collecting them,” Bruce told him, voice too even. “Just… in case, I suppose.”

Jason stared at the shelves and shelves full of books, all read exactly once. His eyes were stinging because the glass display downstairs—that was bullshit. That uniform was about and for Bruce, and the new Robins, not Jason.

But this?

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Bruce almost-smiled, relief written across his face. “You’re welcome. Uh. I’ll leave you to it.”

Jason let him take two steps, then he said: “Bruce. If there was ever a time for a hug, this is it.”

“Oh. Right.”

Jason let Bruce pull him into an embrace—hugged back just as fiercely and told him: “It’s okay. You can stop grieving now. I’m here.”

If Bruce’s shoulders were shaking, neither of them mentioned it.

—

It was a total accident. Jason had felt like holding Dick’s hand, so he did. It was only when he looked up and caught Tim’s eye that he remembered—right. They were surrounded by Dick’s family. Their family.

Tim winked. The conversation didn’t stop. No one else commented or even gave them a second glance.

Something in Jason exhaled.

Dick squeezed his hand, smiling at something Damian was saying, and ugh, sometimes Jason was so full of feelings, he didn’t know what to do with it. Dick was just so—so—

Yeah. Jason was so fucking gone for him. All he could think about was how it would feel if there was a ring, there, pressing against his own.

He leaned back, adding a sarcastic comment or two to the conversation just to bask in the sunshine of Dick’s laughter. That thought warranted some serious consideration, not to mention talking to Dick, but—just the idea that he could have that? That he trusted himself, and Dick, and their family, enough to have that?

It was more than enough.

—

(Three days before Jason moved into the manor, Dick called a family gathering.

“Why is Jason not here, then?” Tim asked, frowning. “If it’s a family matter, it concerns him, too.”

Dick could kiss him for that. Instead he said: “Because it’s about him. I’m gonna lay down some ground rules, okay?”

Jason letting Dick convince him to move back in with them… that was huge. And dangerous. Dick had figured out long ago that Jay and Bruce had no idea how to handle each other anymore. Neither did the rest. That didn’t mean they didn’t want to. Dick was hopeful.

It was just… Jay was the best thing in Dick’s world; his support, his light, his conscience. He just made everything better. And Dick had no intentions of letting their family or anyone else fuck that up.)

(I’m taking prompts.)

[m00nslippers]

On Jason Todd quitting being a vigilante

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I have read a lot of Jason-centric fics that end with Jason ‘getting out of the game’, as it were. Basically, they’re Jason healing fics where at the end of them, it’s framed that for Jason to heal, or maybe just as a result of healing, he stops being a vigilante. I’ve also read a few where it’s implied because of his background of abuse/trauma he should never have become a vigilante at all, and he doesn’t become Robin and this is framed by the narrative to be a superior result for him, and yet doesn’t suggest the same for other batfam members. And both of those ideas just leave me so damn torn.

On the one hand, I fully support the idea that Jason could be just as amazing as a civilian. He’s one of the only batfam members whose need to help people could be just as easily supported on the civilian side, because despite all the shenanigans he gets into, he doesn’t seem to be a ‘thrill-junkie’, and he’s actually interested in academics (unlike Dick, Tim, Cass and Damian, so half the batfam). A lot of fics have him getting into medicine or social work. I could see how being a vigilante in the batfam is highly associated with mental illness/instability and Jason’s particular niche doesn’t lend itself to a healthy lifestyle. The idea of him quitting being a vigilante could seem like ‘the answer’ to helping him heal emotionally and letting him be accepted into the batfam again.

But on the other hand, the idea that to be whole and be accepted, that he has to stop his vigilante work, that his killing people is fundamentally a result of being unhealthy/unstable, just rubs me the wrong way. People already act like he’s ‘the incompetent Robin’ or the Robin who wasn’t good enough, or the one who should have never become Robin to begin with, and him quitting just feels like it validates all that bullshit in some way. Jason quitting being a vigilante when no one else in the family does just feels so insulting to me. It doesn’t feel like ‘he got out’, like he’s the one doing the sane thing, or doing it for himself, like this is his reward for going through all the hardship he’s suffered in his life. Maybe I should feel that way, but I don’t. It just makes me feel like the story is implying Jason is somehow lesser than everyone else in the family. He’s not good enough, not stable enough, never was and never will be. And as a Jason fan that just pisses me right the hell off.

And while his death and trauma may have pushed Jason into deciding that killing certain criminals is the only way to prevent victims, his philosophy isn’t actually wrong. That’s why his and Bruce’s feud was so intriguing because neither of them are inherently right or wrong. Jason has very practical reasons, backed up by personal experience for feeling the way he does. Becoming mentally healthy doesn’t invalidate the logic behind the way he operates now, and I don’t necessarily see him changing his mind about that, EVER. Why should he? Maybe reintegrating into the batfamily requires him to stop killing, but I don’t think he’d ever decide he was wrong, just that in that particular moment, it wasn’t worth acting on.

And on top of that I’m not sure Jason could really stop being a vigilante, even if he tried. I think he’s fundamentally incapable of letting a perp get away with anything. Like the idea of a battered woman coming into his clinic or office or whatever and Jason NOT marching off the shoot the guy in the head, even if he was a civilian, is unthinkable. He could have no training at all and he’d do that. Jason empathizes with the victims too much not to. Like the very instant the system or the other vigilantes weren’t effective enough, he’s come out of retirement. He wouldn’t let anyone tell him that nothing could be done. He’s stubborn and willful. He’s so used to doing everything himself that he would take the responsibility on the moment he thought he needed to for the situation to be resolved to his satisfaction. And I think that isn’t something brought on my his traumas I think that’s just the kind of person he is.

So, I don’t know. I’ve read many really amazing Jason fics, but for some of them  it comes to the end and...it’s supposed to be a happy ending, but at best it’s bittersweet. I’m trying to be okay with the idea of Jason quitting, but I’m just having a lot of trouble with it.

I don’t know, what do you guys think about it?