#indeed the thing that killed Jason Todd

[definitelynotindecisive]

Yes, I'm doing the Jason Todd thing. Her life hangs in the balance, based on a fandom poll.

The link to the fanfiction is here, You With the Watercolour Eyes

PROPAGANDA BELOW

In favour of YES:

Just think how fucking devastating it would be. Peter and Parker have lost so much that have made up their lives. They've lost almost all their loved ones, their friends and family, their way of life. And wouldn't killing Harley Quinn, who has fast become a parental/aunt figure just make that angst all the sweeter? And the fall out of it, not just in Peter's life, but Poison Ivy's, the Riddler's, all of the Batfam's, particularly Bruce Wayne's. So much angst to feed from, so much emotion and turmoil. Tasty, tasty anguish.

In favour of NO:

Peter and Parker have lost so much, it would be a sign that maybe, just maybe, this new universe could bring some hope. Something for Peter to hold onto. It would make his journey back to his father, Dick, a bit smoother, and a bit kinder. And doesn't Peter deserve to be treated gently for once in his life? Doesn't he deserve a happier ending where it doesn't come at the cost of blood and tears?

In favour of a different character that we love being killed in Harley's place - suggestions:

Aunt Pam

Mr Jones

Uncle Eddie

Uncle John

Bruce Wayne

Daphne Pennyworth

Alfred Pennyworth

Jason Todd

Dick Grayson

Barbara Gordon

[ellana-ravenwood]

From parents to babies - Batfam x fem!reader

Synopsis : You and Bruce got turned into toddlers !! Shenanigans ensue, of course. 

This is part of a little “series” I guess, here’s the first part with Jason : Jason Todd(ler). I’m planning on writing a lil story for all the kids hehe, but I thought : “hey, what about Batmom and Bruce ?” and here we are. Hope you’ll like this ! 

Please, do not repost my stories anywhere else, under any other form. Do not translate and then repost them either. Thank you. 

My masterlist : @ella-ravenwood-archives

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“Bruce !” 

“(Y/N) !” 

You manage to scream each other’s names before-

Before a white flash engulfed the both of you, and you suddenly disappeared, only a pool of your clothes remaining where you once stood. 

“Nooooo !!” is the last thing you hear before your mind goes blank, and you recognize the voice as being your youngest son’s, Damian. The sound of his scream greatly distresses you, but alas, you cannot do anything to help as you feel yourself slowly fading away and- 

Footsteps. Running fast to reach the place you stood on merely seconds before. But you’re not there anymore, you’re not there !

“It’s not possible !” 

That’s Jason. His voice breaking at the end of his sentence, as he approaches the bunch of clothes left on the floor, a lump in his throat as the inevitable is starting to be clearer and clearer, and he cannot refuse reality anymore.

Vaporized. His parents just got vaporized by that wannabe-magician’s laser ! 

In the mess of it all, that asshole even escaped ! Which was a good thing, in a way, because Jason promised you and Bruce he would never kill again, but he wasn’t sure he could hold that promise if he was faced with the man who took away his beloved parents. 

You all only just made peace with each other, only just became a family again ! How was he suppose to go on losing you once more ?

Dick was the first to reach the spot in which you were. He had always been the fastest of them all. His heart beats too fast in his chest, and he has this horrible thought that it’s the second time he sees his parents being killed right in front of him when-

Movements. Small movements. There, amongst his father’s suit. And there, amongst his mother’s clothes. And then-

Little hands. Fighting to find an exit in this labyrinth of fabrics. Little grunts of frustration, like when a child is trying to do something but doesn’t quite manage to do it. Finally finding an out. And-

“Oh shit.” 

Dick says, as he stares at- Two kids ?? 

One, a little boy. who couldn’t be more than two years old, black hair, bright blue eyes. The second one, (E/C) eyes and (H/C) hair and-

“Oh shit.” 

Tim says, as he’s the second one to reach the place and he immediately understands that his parents aren’t dead, but rather...

They’ve been turned into toddlers ! 

“Oh shit !” You exclaim happily, giggling. 

“Oh shit !” Baby Bruce repeats, and you both look at each other and giggle even more. Damn it. They’ve been in the care of children for only a second, and they already taught you bad words !

Bruce reaches for you, and there’s no doubt now that those two kids are indeed you and your husband ! Because immediately, you move closer to each other, your clothe much too big for you now being like blankets on you. 

Dick picks the both of you up, wrapping you in the cloths, and turns around to greet his siblings. 

Slowly, all your children reach you and-

“Oh shit !” You and Bruce say in unison, proud to show everyone (whomever those people were) that new word you just learned. 

And “oh shit” indeed, is on all of your kids’ mind. 

************

Of course, it had to happen when Alfred was away on his one vacation a year...Of freaking course. 

It wouldn’t be funny otherwise, right ? 

Only Alfred, could find a solution to this problem ! Your kids were totally lost ! 

Evidently, neither you nor Bruce remembered who you really were. You were clearly just two two years old. 

And it seemed you didn’t mind being picked up by people you didn’t know, as long as you could stay together (you two downright SCREAMED so loudly, when Jason tried to take you from Dick’s arms so his brother wouldn’t have to hold the both of you). 

It was as if that, at least, remained. Your bond. 

As if you were just- Instant friends, or something. 

They got you home, and : 

“Ok, any of you ever took care of babies ?” 

“Me not baby !” You say, glaring at your oldest son. It’s true, you knew you were two (somehow), you were no baby anymore ! 

“I’m sorry mom, I just- Oh gods this is so weird.” 

And it truly was, weird, to see their parents, the two people they knew they could always count on if they had a problem, being literal children. 

They couldn’t call them for help, you guys barely knew how to properly walk ! And had a very small vocabulary, too...Dick shook his head. This wasn’t a time to diss babies, this really wasn’t the time ! 

“Ok, first things first, we need to find them clothes. Duke, Jason, go the a shop and get them some stuffs to wear. While Cass and I will go buy some food for them. Damian and Dick, stay here and take care of them.” Aaaah Tim, ever so pragmatic. In a matter of seconds, he had gotten over the shock of the situation, and was taking matter in his own hands. 

And it was good. It was a start. They had no idea what they were going to do after, except the fact they had to find a way to get you back to normal. But at least, they had the beginning of a plan. 

They knew they could all count on Tim for plans. From A to Z, he would find a way. He had no idea how to take care of babies, of course, but his mind could find solutions to every problems. 

Yes. Yes. They only had to start moving. And things would be alright. They could do this. 

They could do this. 

They had to do this, for both your sake. 

************

Officially, Bruce and (Y/N) Wayne went away on a surprise vacation. Your disappearance had to be explained. 

None of your kids called Alfred, the butler deserved his annually vacation after all, and they knew he would come right home if he heard. So they let him be, and started to take care of their “baby parents”. 

Brucie ish scared

Before being the way Gotham’s media, models and such, called him when he still had his playboy persona, and not his “family man” one that he now had, “Brucie” was the nickname his mom gave him. 

Never in public, of course, but when they were home. When she was telling him bed time stories or singing lullabies to him. When she woke him up, gently, in the mornings. When she told him to come home for dinner, as he was playing in the garden. 

“Brucie”, was a name Bruce always associated with his mother’s affection and love. Which is why he hated how the media, and certain people, self-appropriated that name, and associated it with that persona who wasn’t even himself. 

It’s not like he could do anything about it, though. He had a role to play. 

And so, “Brucie” became that “other him”, while initially, it was his true self...

It had been years, since anyone had called him that. He wasn't a playboy, anymore, and your little nickname for him (aside from “my heart” and other term of endearment) was “my Broosh”. 

And so finally, this name came full circle. 

Brucie. 

That’s how he called himself. Toddlers had that tendency to talk about themselves in the third person, sometimes. And Bruce, was referring to himself as “Brucie”, not “Bruce”. 

Your children were a hundred percent sure it was because even if he didn’t seem to ask for his parents, a part of him remembered them, and how his mom called him. 

Even turned into a toddler who didn’t remember much of his own life, Bruce still had his parents in mind. 

And so he called himself Brucie. 

And Brucie was a scaredy cat ! 

The irony of which didn’t escape any of your kids. 

What, the “fearless Batman” was afraid of literally everything ? That was funny. Dick made sure to take PLENTY of videos (just if he needed leverage for something one day). 

Brucie got scared of the vacuum cleaner. Brucie got scared of the dark. Brucie got scared of any noise that was too loud. Brucie got scared whenever (Y/N) wasn’t around. Brucie-

“Brucie ish scared !” He’d whimper, and run towards the closest “adult” he could find (any of your children, though over half of them were far from being official adults), seeking comfort. 

Every time, and it was the most adorable thing to witness, you’d rush to him, and hold him saying : “No scared Brooshie, no scared, me here. Me here.” 

First, “Brooshie” = so darn cute, a toddler adaptation of the traditional “Broosh”. Second, the way you’d shield him in your little arms, and how he’d hide his face and close his eyes, how he’d hold onto you and calm down as you told him to not be scared, it had to be peak adorableness.

And in a way, toddlers you were a good reflection of adults you. 

Bruce was no longer scared, in the strictest sense of the term. He had shunned all his emotions, locked them away deep in his heart, for years. Ignored his pain, and the remnant of his fears. 

And then you came in, and forced open his heart, shattering all the walls he build for years, and making it impossible for him to live without you (and vice versa). 

Just as Baby Bruce found comfort and safety in your arms, just as he was soothed by your voice, Adult Bruce knew he could always be safe and warm in your embrace. 

Nobody, when witnessing such scenes, could even dare say you weren’t made for each other. 

DICK 

It was so weird. 

Dick just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that you two were turned into kids. Like, what ? 

His...parents were now younger than him. How weird was that ?? 

Of course, he knew he should be used to weird things by now. After all, over the years, from when he first became Robin to now, he had seen his fair share of strange stuffs. But this-

This was really, really odd. 

“Ick !” was the name you and Bruce decided to give him. No matter how many times he made you repeat it, you could never truly manage to say his name properly. And so, he was now “Ick”. 

And “Ick” had no clue how to take care of children. 

Was this how Bruce felt, when he officially adopted him ? Was this how you felt, when you became his mom while being so young ? 

Of course, Dick was older when he first arrived. But he was also a lot more traumatized. And he knew he could be difficult, at times. He could be so damn angry, back then. 

While you and Bruce ? You were adorable kids. You’d listen to him, and never talk back. What, you were supposed to be in your “terrible twos” era, yet it seemed like you were just good kids. 

Of course, the fact that your eldest son let you do absolutely everything you wanted might’ve been a reason as to why you two were so “nice” with him, and didn’t throw any tantrum. 

No tantrum needed, when the person taking care of you would let you do whatever you wanted. 

You didn’t wanna wear pants ? No problems. You didn’t want to eat your vegetables, but wanted sweets instead ? All good. You didn’t want to take a nap ? Then he could play with you a little longer. 

Yes. It became quite apparent that Dick could not resist you, at all. 

Which wasn’t much of a surprise, really. Because he was the same way with his siblings. They could make him do whatever they wanted to (outside of work, of course. When they were vigilantes, it was an entire other story, but it was because he often had to take the “leader” job, and a mistake could cost a life). 

And so, even though he found it extremely weird, and couldn’t quite call you “mom” and “dad” anymore (and who would blame him ?), he didn’t hate taking care of you. 

He sort of saw it as “payback”, for all the years you put up with his moods. For all the time you didn’t give up on him, and all the moments you were there to catch him when he fell. 

The reason he found it so hard to accept and fathom the situation, was because you and Bruce had become such “safety nets”, for him. 

You were his parents. He couldn’t think of a life without you. Without your guidance. Without your soothing words. Without your scolding, when he needed one. Without-

He couldn’t accept this turn of event, because he needed you. He had pushed you enough, in his teenage years and early adulthood. Now, he realized he absolutely needed his parents. 

He had to find a solution, and fast. Because although he didn’t mind taking care of you as you were nice kids, he just wanted his parents back. 

JASON 

Jason was the most responsible one. 

Which, when people knew your children, wasn’t that surprising.

He’d always been a responsible kid, despite what anyone could think. 

He was a really good big brother, always looking out for his little siblings, and being there to be their voice of reason (Dick being his...he had a "decent teacher”). 

And so he became the “mom” of the house (it’s a nickname Tim, Duke and Damian gave him, when he wasn’t there). 

He had always loved cooking, ever since he was a kid. So he took it upon himself to cook healthy meals for both you and Bruce, and would scold Dick whenever he’d caught his brother red handed giving you candies and other ice cream right before dinner ! 

Bruce hated carrots, and you despised spinach. Other than that, it seemed you were willing to try everything he made for you two. 

Jason spend hours on the internet searching for recipes fit for two years old, for things you should feed kids this young. And he came up with quite a diet for the both of you. 

The food he made was delicious (and more than once, he caught one of his sibling eating from your spoon instead of feeding you !). 

Jason would be the one to remind everyone of yours and Bruce’s bed time. After all, “bed time” in the Wayne household had always been a little;..different, to say the least. But with toddlers ? It couldn’t be. It had to be regular, or they’d be too tired. 

Jason made a carefully planned sleep schedule for his “parents”. And when he wasn’t the one babysitting at night (they all took shifts so they could still do their vigilante jobs), he would call his sibling when it was bed time to make sure they’d respect it. He would genuinely harass Dick, because he knew his older brother was “weak” and could never refuse puppy eyes (after all, he abused of that technique to get him to do whatever he wanted, when he was younger), and he had to be reminded that a regular bed time was important !

How odd it was, for thugs, being downright beaten down by the scary Red Hood, while the latter would talk in his income and say things like : “I can’t believe you gave them ice cream before sleepy time again !” and others : “They’re babies, they need at least ten hours of sleep !” 

Jason didn’t let any tantrum through. Where Dick would just let you and Bruce do whatever you wanted, Jason had clear limits.

Because that is how you raised him. Sure, Bruce could be a little too strict sometimes, especially with Dick. But he had grown as a father, and slowly learned the difference between being too rigid and allowing his kids to be kids. 

Jason often joked that Dick was the “trial and error” era, but he wasn’t too far off. With Dick, you and Bruce made plenty of mistakes. You did with your other kids too, of course, but with your eldest most of all. Because he was your first child, and you had no idea what you were doing at the time. 

But, yes. Jason knew the importance of limits, for children. Kids needed boundaries, so they could feel safe. He knew, because it totally worked on him. 

And so, you’d have a tantrum ? Too bad, you’d just have to calm down and ask again nicely. Jason was intransigeant. 

He was, though, the first one there if you or Bruce woke up crying during the night. And he’d take you in his arms (always the both of you at the same time), and sing to you. Or tell you stories. Up until you’d fall asleep again. 

Jason, although he had strict schedules and food diet, was such a gentle soul. Such a gentle carer. You knew that one day, he would make a great dad. And if that experience taught any of you anything, it was that yes, yes. 

Jason told would one day make a wonderful father. 

TIM 

"I think he doesn’t like me...” 

Tim said, deflated and defeated, as, once again, his dad (in baby form) cowered away from him as he approached. 

You ? You enjoyed being taken care of by Tim. You liked him very much. But for some reasons, “Brucie” seemed scared of him. 

“Don’t say that. I think he’s just- shy.” 

“Conner, honey, I appreciate you trying to comfort me, but if he was truly shy, he wouldn’t just- Oh come on !” 

Of course, Bruce chose that exact moment to jump in Conner’s arms, and to hide his face in his chest so he wouldn’t see Tim anymore. Superboy chuckled uncomfortably, trying to act as if it wasn’t because Bruce was scared or anything, but Tim couldn’t be fooled. 

Tim could never be fooled. 

And so he sighed, and held you a little closer. At least, his mom always loved him, no matter what age she was. 

You seemed to understand that Bruce’s actions made Tim sad, and even as a toddler, it greatly distressed you to see one of your “kids” sad. So you wiggled to signify to Tim that you want him to put you back down and-

“Oh, not you too, mom ?” 

You walk towards Conner, and Tim looks even sadder, as now, both of his “parents” seem to like others better than him...Even if they were just kids, and that Tim knew they weren’t doing it on purpose, his feelings were still hurt. 

But then-

You shake Conner’s pants, signifying for him to crouch down to your level. Baby Bruce is in his arms, and beams as he sees you. 

“’Own, ‘own !” He says, meaning “down”, and Conner puts him next to you. 

Immediately, Bruce takes your hand, and smiles widely. Which comforts Tim a little. At least, even as toddlers, it seemed you two were inseparable.

But then, you drag him towards Tim, and it’s obvious Bruce only follows because he seems very attached to you. The little boy does not want to be there, in front of Timothy Wayne-Drake.

And Tim looks down, sadly. He ruffles your hair affectionately, and says :��

“Good try mom, good try. But I don't think he likes me, at all.” 

You look at Tim, and then turns around towards Bruce, who was currently hiding behind you (how cute it was, that you always seemed to protect him when he was scared). But this time, you’d have none of it. 

Very much alike when you were adults, and you took none of your husband’s shit. You’d always set him back on track. Always. 

And so, toddler you said : 

“Bwooshie, Tim nice ! Tim good ! Tim fwiend !”

You let go of Bruce’s hand, and the boy whimpers and tries to catch your hand again, but takes a few steps back because he doesn’t want to get too close from Tim. But then-

Then you hop in Tim’s arms, and you snuggle against him. You smile at Bruce, and nods at him saying again : “Tim fwiend ! Tim nice !” and your son cannot help himself and hold you tight. 

Even turned into a toddler, he could count on his mama to cheer him up, it seemed...

Slowly, unsure, Bruce approached Tim. The boy was still obviously wary, but those were first steps. 

After a while, Bruce finally came towards Tim, and laid his hands on your son’s knees. 

He looked deeply into Tim’s eyes, and must’ve finally decided that he wasn’t so scary, because then, he climbed into his laps and everything was resolved. 

And oh, oh how much this meant to Tim...

DAMIAN 

“Father, you need to give her some air. I swear, even as children you two are impossible !” 

“AAAAAAAAAAH !” is Bruce’s response, as Damian tries to take him away from you. Apparently, young Bruce seemed to think screaming was an appropriate response to show his unwillingness to do something. 

And it frustrated Damian greatly. 

You had fallen asleep on the floor. Laid on your back, you were in a deep slumber, a pacifier in your mouth, your breathing regular. And Bruce was sitting next to you, your head was in his lap, and he was watching TV as one of his hand was on your head, the other one on your cheek. 

He too, had a pacifier in his mouth, and although he was focused on the TV show he was watching, it seemed like he had absolutely no intention on letting you go.

When Damian entered the room, he found the both of you like that, and decided it would be better if you slept in your bed. So he went to pick you up, gently taking his father’s hands off of you and-

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH !” The pacifier falls from his mouth, as he tightens his grip on you, and glares at a bewildered Damian. 

You’re so deep asleep that you don’t budge, and then Bruce, after glaring some more at Damian, turns back to watch the TV. 

But Damian will have none of it. “Be firm, sometimes.” Jason told him, and he was going to take his big brother advice to heart ! And so he made Bruce let go, and took you into his arms. 

After a pause, as Baby Bruce was too shocked to react, his mouth slowly turned down into a frown and-

The little boy bursted into tears. Big, real tears. Ugly sobs with lots of snots running down his nose. 

And it made Damian panic. 

He hated that. He hated those cries. It reminded him of so many bad memories. He couldn’t handle it, he couldn’t bear it. 

Even less so knowing this was his dad ! 

And so he quickly went to the floor, and took little Bruce in his arms, soothing him expertly as he was still holding you in his other arms. 

His shirt was wet from Bruce holding onto it and burying his face into it. But eventually, the boy’s sobs died down, and-

Asleep.

Bruce was fast asleep, too. And his little face looked so at ease.

There. In Damian’s arms, a hand holding one of your hand. 

It reminded him of his father as an adult, in fact. How sometimes, he would surprise you and him as you fell asleep on the couch in each other’s arms. And how his father’s face would look the most relaxed and pleased, when you were holding him...

Damian tightened his grip on both of you. He was ready to protect you even if it meant he would have to sacrifice himself ! 

And oh- Oh he felt something growing inside him. Something important.  

Eventually, you and Bruce would be back to normal. He knew it, he knew his siblings would figure something out. Yes. You’d become his parents again. 

But he-

He somehow wanted a baby,  in this house. 

CASS

You both clearly adored Cass. 

You would walk towards her, and demand for her to pick you up. And then, when she would inevitably do it, you’d both snuggle against her and quickly fall asleep, absolutely content. 

Damian mentioned that he read somewhere that children felt people’s calmness. And so he conjectured that you liked falling asleep on her, because you felt calmed and secure. 

Which was the truth. 

It made Cass’ heart melt. She, for obvious reasons, never held children before. And she definitely never thought that the first kids she would hold would be her own parents...

Physical touch had always soothed Cass. 

Before she met you and Bruce, she was never allowed to be touch, and to touch other. She’d never receive a hug, or a soothing kiss. 

Never. 

So when you adopted her, she swore she’d take every opportunity to snuggle against you. Against her parents. Oh, and her brothers. None of them could resist a hug from her, not even Jason or Damian. 

If Cass wanted a hug, she would have it. 

So, she felt so fulfilled, when baby you and baby Bruce came to seek hugs from her. As if everything went full circle. 

You and your husband gave her the comfort of parental love. Gave her the safety of your arms, and taught her how important it was to have people you loved close. 

And here she was, soothing little versions of you, making you stop crying just by holding you. 

Yes. It was a full, nice, comforting and warm circle. 

And Cass felt so happy, when you hugged her. Whether you were kids or adults. 

DUKE

Duke had tons of little cousins. 

Cousins he still saw now, of course. None of his uncles and aunts could take him in, for different reasons (the main one being that none of them lived in Gotham anymore, what happened to Duke’s parents being the last straw...And Duke did not want to leave the city just yet). But he still stayed in contact with them. 

Before they all moved, Duke, who was the oldest of the kids in his family, used to babysit his cousins all the time. So, he had experience with children. 

And it showed. 

With you and Bruce, he was nice, yet strict. He (and Jason) was the only one who didn’t let you do whatever you wanted, and who would plainly ignore any of your tantrums. 

He was the only one able to detach himself from the fact you were his parents, and viewed you as normal children he had to take care of. 

This is probably what saved him. What made him be able to live with that situation. Just like Dick, he really wanted you back to normal. But his defense mechanism was to pretend you weren’t you, but random kids he had in his care. 

It was a lot, for a seventeen years old, but Duke was strong. 

You’d always known he was strong, from the moment he became your ward, to now, as he was officially adopted and called you “mom”. 

For his own sanity, Duke viewed this as a “baby sitter” job, and so, on purpose, didn’t get attached to baby you and baby Bruce too much. He didn't want to, because he didn’t want you to stay like that. 

He wanted his parents back too, he needed you still, he was too young to lose parents a second time ! 

And so Duke shut his feelings away, and took care of you as if you weren’t really you. He gave you lots of care and love, as a child needed, but-

But he pretended you, as his parents, were away for a while. And constantly thought of a plan to get you back to your normal self.

They never sleep alone 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!” Baby Bruce screamed, as loud as he could, holding onto your hands for dear life. 

“Me not want, me not want !” You say, kicking Dick with your little legs and holding Brucie’s hands too. 

Your kids quickly realized that they COULD NOT separate you for bed time. 

They had bought two children’s bed, but in the end, only one was used. You’d fall asleep all snuggled to each others, pacifier in your mouth. 

“It’s- Kind of like when they’re grown up.” Damian says, and they all nod. 

Yes. Yes it’s true that you two found it really hard to find sleep, when the other one was absent. True insomnia would hit you, in the event that one of you couldn’t be here for the night. 

What transpired in your toddler form, how you’d scream if separated, also existed with the adult versions of you. 

And it comforted your children, in a way.

They knew that their parents were still in there, somewhere. 

ACE 

“Doggy !” Little Bruce beamed happily, as he ran as fast as he could towards..Well, his dog, actually. 

Ace was taken aback, at first, as he recognized his master’s smell, but couldn’t figure out why he was so...small. 

Bruce ran to him, and literally fell on the dog hugging him tightly. 

“Doggy !” The little boy said, and your children felt their heart melt. 

None of them ever thought they’d ever call their dad “cute”, despite you trying to convince them that he really could be cute (some would say you were biased). 

But here, in that moment, as their dad seemed so damn happy just because of his dog, no other words came to their minds. 

Cute. 

Unruly little buggers !! 

You two, together, could be...

“Tornadoes !! They’re goddamn tornadoes !!” Jason screams, as he was running after you. 

You were wearing only your diaper, managing to escape the grasp of your son by taking sharp turns there and there, and knocking down every single things on your way. 

On the other side of the living room, Tim and Damian were trying to catch Bruce, as he was doing the exact same things. 

Ten seconds. 

They left the both of you alone for less than ten seconds !! 

And when they came back, you and Bruce apparently had decided that it was fun to break extremely valuable objects, including vase, and a large array of ornaments. 

You were giggling like a little devil, as you slowly devastated the living room. 

“Alfred is going to kill us !” Duke says, holding his head in his hands, standing there watching the disaster unfold in front of him. What else could he do, really, when some of Gotham’s mightiest heroes couldn’t even get a hold of you ?? 

Finally, Jason catches you, just as Tim lunges forward and grasp his dad as well. The two of you wiggle like snakes as you try to get away, but you do not cry. 

No, on the contrary, you both laugh way too loudly, probably thinking that “destroying the house” was a great game.

And your kids could swear that your laughs were genuine “evil laughs”. 

Later, on the security camera, they’d know what happened. 

At first, you were both sitting on the floor, playing with toys, waiting patiently. But then, Bruce got on his feet, and walked that wobbly unsure walk all children have at first towards the coffee table. 

Something had caught his attention. It was a small crystal vase, that Alfred had put there years ago, for decoration. It went splendidly with the carpet, and matched the room perfectly. 

And it was shiny, and Bruce wanted it. 

He tried to climb on the coffee table, wiggling his little butt to give himself some momentum and get on it...but he couldn’t do it. That’s when you came into action, and pushed him so he would get on. 

He turned around, and giggled, as if to thank you, and then-

Then he brought you the vase. 

It was quite adorable, really. He wanted it, because it was shiny and looked cool. But then he decided to give it to you, instead. 

He let himself fall on the floor from the coffee table once he gave you the vase, and you both stared at it for a second. Before, for some reason, you took it and threw it hard on the wall ! 

Seriously, sometimes, kids were absolutely impossible to understand. What made you want to suddenly throw that vase like that ? Nobody would ever know. But what was known, is that it seemed like both you and Bruce liked that, because you looked at each others, as if conniving, and pushed yourself off of the floor, standing up. 

And then, as your children entered the room with some food, you proceeded to start destroying everything you could get your hands on, up until they finally managed to get a hold on you.

And your downright EVIL laughter filled the room.  

Your kids were DEFINITELY going to get that security camera footage out one day again, if you ever decided to punish them or scold them about something. 

Back to normal 

Zatanna, as usual, to the rescue. 

When your kids were finally able to reach her. She arrived barely minutes after they exposed the problems to her. She had been in another dimension, and therefor couldn’t be reached for a while. 

From her understanding, it’s been almost a month since you turned into toddlers. And finally, she was there (which was good, because Alfred’s one month vacation a year was coming to an end, and your kids really wanted to pretend nothing ever happened). 

Ah but she was accompanied by an unwanted visitor...

“What are you doing here, Constantine ?” Damian asks, holding you in one arm, and his father in the other. Protectively. 

“What, I learn that the big bad bat got turned into a kid and you think I could miss that ? No bloody way haha. Curiosity got the best of me !” 

“I’m sorry guys, I didn’t mean to tell him but he was there when you called...”

“It’s all good aunt Z, it’s all good. To be fair, I was hoping someone else would see this too, so we can NEVER let them forget they had to wear diapers again haha.” 

“Grayson !” your youngest son exclaimed. It’s been a while, since Damian called Dick “Grayson”, but he was absolutely shocked about this “betrayal” ! 

“Ok, ok. Let’s make sure dad never forget he had to wear diaper again !”

Damian thought about it for a while, and then said : “And you’ll leave mom alone ?”

“Yes, promised.” Dick says, and Constantine nods too (he wasn’t about to mock you anyway, he was too scared of you). 

“Alright, then it’s acceptable.” 

And on that note, Zatanna started a ritual. 

************

“What the hell happened ??” Are Bruce’s first words. And then, he sees you, and takes you into his arms, holding you with almost too strongly. 

“I thought I had lost you...” He whispers, and you hold him back just as strongly, because you had the same thought. The last thing you remembered, after all, was that laser coming towards the two of you and then-

And then what ? 

After letting you hug each other, your children finally tell you what went on. 

And oh. Oh you were so damn proud of them, they did so good ! 

I want a baby sibling 

A few weeks went by. 

A few weeks, during which both Dick and John Constantine flooded the group chat all the supers had together with baby pictures of the Batman (oddly enough, they didn’t divulge any picture of you...probably because you scared them a little), and embarrassing videos. It was an endless source of jokes, and teasing from everyone. 

But you didn’t worry too much though, you knew your husband would have his revenge (in fact, you were more worried for your son and for Constantine than anything else). 

In any case, that episode would be soon behind you, save for a few mockeries there and there. At least, that’s what you thought. 

One morning, Damian just casually entered your bedroom and stood before your bed, staring at the two of you, as you were slowly leaving the dream world. 

You thought it was an emergency, at first, as none of your children would ever dare to just walk in your bedroom like that (lest they witness something that could scar them for life). But Damian calculated the risks. 

It was much too early, for either of you to be awake. So it was safe. And so he came in, without knocking, and planted his feet resolutely in the floor, his hands on his waist, staring the both of you down. 

“What is it, buddy ?” You ask, half-asleep. Bruce, his hair a mess, sat up, dazed. 

“I came to an important decision. One taken in the light of recent events.”

Confused, neither you nor your husband say anything. Waiting for what your son is going to say next. Slowly, he turns around, and starts to walk left, then right, then left...Pacing in front of your bed, his eyes never leaving you two. 

Finally, he stops, and solemnly says : 

“I want a baby sibling. Sister or brother I do not care, I just want a little one to take care of, and to be a big brother. I think, I am done being the youngest.”

Bruce stares dumbly at his son, his face blank and expressionless, sure now that he must still be dreaming. And you’re not doing any better. You blink fast a few time, and repeat : 

“A baby sibling ?”

Damian doesn’t miss a beat as he says : 

“That’s right. Like I said, a little brother or sister, it does not matter to me, as long as it’s mine. My little brother or sister, I mean. Of course, they’ll be their own person, and we won’t own them per se. We’ll just take care of them.” 

Silence. 

A long silence. 

Finally broken by your son : 

“Well. I’ll leave you to it then. I expect you will take my request seriously. We will talk about it again another day. Thank you for listening to me, and see you at breakfast.” 

And on that note, your son leaves just as casually, as you look at him, astonished. 

You turn to your husband and-

You know what he’s thinking. You and Bruce never talked about having biological children, because the kids you already have were always enough for your happiness. You didn’t need more, you already loved them so much. 

But you both always told yourselves that if it were to happen...

Of course, you would accept it. You would raise that child with joy, too. It would be quite a bonus, to an already happy life. 

And so as your son leaves, and you look at each others you think-

A baby in the house, wouldn’t be so bad. 

__________________________________________________

Well, here we are ! I hope you liked this ! As per usual, comments/reblogs are more than welcomed, and always a great motivation to post more :). Don’t hesitate to tell me what you thought of this ! It always makes the time spend on a story worth it, when I hear from y’all :) <3. Thanks in advance, and thanks for reading this, too ! See you soon with another story ! 

[thelionandtheeagle]

On the misconception of Jason attempting to take Tim's life at Titans Tower:

I've seen people be confused about this one, so I figured I'd provide some context/ analysis/ what have you, for anybody who might be interested.

Now, the incident we're talking about occurred in issue 29 of the 2003 Teen Titans book.

There is a lot that could be said about the whole issue, but in the interest of not having this post run on forever, let's just focus on the end to the actual physical altercation between Jason and Tim:

Jason warns Tim of the dangers associated with being Robin. He uses himself as a cautionary tale, making it clear that this isn't about envy; that Jason has no interest in being Robin again himself. That that's not what this is about.

Then he knocks Tim out.

Tim is unconscious for a while and Jason uses this opportunity to very dramatically put the word out there that, yep, he is indeed the real Jason Todd and he's ready to cause trouble.

When Tim comes to again, he is injured, yes, but okay overall. He isn't bleeding out on the floor, close to death. In fact, he's very much able to just sit up and have a normal conversation with people. All in all Tim is fine, and Jason has left.

And, well, that's that. At least from Tim's perspective.

The issue actually concludes with a really interesting page featuring Jason's narration:

Here we see Jason easily concede that Tim is good. No malice, no hate, no ill wishes towards him. And Tim is doing fine. Jason is shown to be in no way surprised that Tim is alive and well, back out in the field. Because he was never out to seriously injure Tim, let alone kill him.

Jason didn't want to take Tim's life at all. He had ample opportunity to do so, but he didn't. One of the reasons the whole confrontation went down the way it did, is because Jason was genuinely excited to meet Tim (see the intro narration of the issue). Aside from delivering the warning discussed above, Jason wanted to see for himself what Tim is capable of, what makes him tick. And he has no problem admitting that Tim is indeed good at what he does.

It's obviously an important incident in their lives, but Tim was never in any real danger here. Getting into brawls is nothing crazy at all in their line of work, and Tim has canonically acknowledged that he holds no ill will towards Jason over the whole thing, e.g. here in issue 8 of the 2011 Red Hood and the Outlaws book:

Summary/ conclusion: Does Jason feel guilty about things he's done to Tim in the past? Yes. Does Tim hold it against him? No. Was their fight at Titans Tower a murder attempt? Not at all.

Thanks for reading! I hope this helps clear some things up for anybody wondering (:

Bonus: Jason talking about Tim in Battle for the Cowl (2009) #2

[mattiebluebird]

Yk that post that's like ‘signal is the spiritual successor to nightwing’ bc I DO & IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT NON-STOP.

And the comics pretty much confirm it (To Me) in Grayson #15.

So in this issue each of the Robins, minus Steph (RIP Steph) get paired off with one of the We Are Robin gang and give them their own advice on what it means to be Robin.

Tim—whose main problem with this whole thing is that they don't know these kids, how can they trust them?—gets paired with Andre Cipriani, a mob kid whose dad was murdered by a rival gang when he was eight years old. Tim trains Dre by having him fight blindfolded. He tells Dre that being a Robin is about truth and investigation, which makes sense, right? Tim became a Robin by figuring out Batman and Robin’s secret identity (keep this in mind, all the Robins’ advice links to their origin).

To be a Robin, you have to understand what you don't know. And then you must seek to know it. You must always ask: how can I see into the dark? Batman once told me, being a Robin can be summarized into one word: investigation.

These two were an interesting choice to pair up. I would've thought they'd put Dre with Jason, given their violent tendencies—Dre is smart, but at this point in the comics doesn't strike me as particularly investigative. Then again, right after this arc he goes undercover in a gang, so maybe he learned something?

Speaking of learning something: at first I thought they should've paired Dre with Steph (#teamcriminaldads lmao), and while that would be an interesting team, Dre did learn from Tim. If Riko were present in this issue, she would've been a good fit for Steph, as she idolizes the Batgirls and Steph was both a Batgirl and a Robin. Plus, Steph and Riko are both brave & have mean streaks, something that Riko has trouble showing because of her shyness. Steph’s advice probably would've been along the lines of “being a Robin is about defiance”.

Besides, if Tim and Dre weren't paired up, we never would've gotten this interaction.

— You like Liszt.

— What?

— Franz Liszt. The composer. You play the piano. I looked you up. People who play the piano like Liszt.

Points to Tim for the most autistic small talk ever. ‘You like this, which I know because I researched you in a totally non-creepy way.’ Amazing. 10/10.

Dax gets paired with Jason. They're interesting parallels. Dax is the inventor/mechanic of the team, but also sort of the wild card with very strong morals, like Robin!Jason in a way. Like Jason, Dax’s father is (implied to be) a crook, though they took different moral directions because of that—Dax is completely opposed to gun violence.

Anyways, Jason's main reservation is that you can't have Robin without Batman. And I guess he decided to solve this issue by just becoming Batman & making the WAR crew relive his origin story by stealing tires from the mob.

Y'know, kid, Batman once told me, being a Robin comes down to one word: confidence.

Jason Todd, the Crime Alley street kid who had the balls (and the skills) to steal Batman's tires and get away with it. Sort of. Confidence, indeed.

Damian's problem with the Robins is, of course, that they're weak, and strength (according to him) can't be trained; you either got it or you don't. He gets paired with Izzy, who probably has the toughest home life of the WAR crew. Her brother's in a gang (that he regularly beats her up for not joining), and she's failing all her classes because she's too busy working night shifts at her mom's restaurant to sleep or do homework.

So Damian's advice to her is pretty apt:

Batman told me that there is one word that captures the essence of being Robin. Suffering.

Damian and Izzy are both outwardly surly, stubborn characters who have had to fight to survive. Notably, Izzy is the first of the crew to almost resort to killing/guns (in WAR #6). She's also probably the best fighter in the WAR crew after Dre and Riko. She does dancing, gymnastics, judo, and kick-boxing.

And, finally, we reach the point of this whole post: Dick & Duke.

Duke deduces Dick's secret identity in like .5 seconds.

— I've solved a lot of hard in my time. This ain't hard.

— No. No, it wasn't hard. Not for you. Again, Duke Thomas?

Dick: You discovered my secret identity!

Duke: What? Like its hard?

After scoping out their strengths and weaknesses, Dick sends the Robins on individual assignments: Dre and Tim to investigate, Dax and Jason to cause a distraction, Izzy and Damian to apprehend Robo-Batman/Gordon.

Dick brings Duke on to a roof for a stake-out, where they have this exchange.

— You think only the originals understand how to be Robin?

— Nope.

— Yeah. Me neither.

Then it turns out that Dick actually turned them all in to the cops because he wanted them out of harm's way. He's been watching Duke for a while and he knows he's scared of heights, so he led him onto a roof he knew he couldn't get off of. Just before they part ways, Dick imparts his Crucial Robin Advice:

Batman once wais to me that being a Robin is about one thing. Family.

(I find this whole thing super ironic considering Dick's whole aside concerning the Robins was the fact that it doesn't matter if people know you're manipulating them as long as it works.)

The point of Robin? Family. Dick and Duke are alike in this way. Dick only became Robin to get justice for his parents’ murder. Duke only joined WAR to find his parents.

Their origins and motivations are similar, and so are the characters themselves. Dick is often called the world's second-greatest detective next to Batman himself. Duke is a child prodigy—one of our first introductions to his character is when he tried to solve the Riddler's riddles in Zero Year. He loves puzzles. He's an amazing detective.

And, of course, one of the things we know and love about Nightwing is his inherent kindness, something that's present throughout Duke’s entire character arc. Even their hero names, Signal and Nightwing, are parallels of each other (light and dark). Batman’s first sidekick and his last. And, like Nightwing, Signal formed his own team (WAR) with no help from the others (except Alfred ig).

Of course, the entire point of Signal’s character is that he's not just a Robin. He's something different. It reminds me of that post that's like—’poor dick grayson, originator of a legacy he never meant to be a legacy, crushed with guilt and jealousy when he looks at all those who came after’. To me at least, it makes sense that Nightwing’s successor would've never been a Robin at all.

[book-place]

History Repeats Itself

Warnings: mentions of cheating and killing, slight cursing, let me know if I missed any :)

Pairings: Batfamily x reader platonic

Request: Can I request a batfamily x reader (mainly domain but it's platonic because they're all friends). So maybe the reader is trying to get back with her ex but they won't let her. Example; "No, you're not getting back with him. He cheated on you three times already" Damian said for what seemed to be the 100th time. "I agree" Tim said from across the table. "But he said he was sorry!!" You replied. *dramatic batfamily sighs*

Request by: Anon

*not my gif*

Summary: You go to your best friends with news, but their reactions are less than pleasing

A/N: Finally got another fic out

Please don’t plagiarize my work, you may reblog if you like but I’m asking that you don’t steal my hard work

The dreamy sigh that you let out as you entered the room alerted everyone of your presence, all of them glancing up and eyeing you.

You practically floated into the room before skipping over to the table and plopping down in your unsaid-but-designated seat next to Damian and across from Tim.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for you to show up at the Wayne family manor at random times throughout the day, though you were welcomed with open arms every time.

Damian, your best friend, had practically insisted upon it, as a matter of fact, saying that since your parents were always out of the city on business, it wasn’t safe or healthy for you to be alone in your own house all the time.

It had even gotten to the point where Bruce made sure to always have some of your clothes and extra toiletries in a room he had designated as your own.

Jason raised an eyebrow at your state. Sure, you were normally a happy and optimistic person- which was the reason people were often surprised when they found out how close you and Damian were- but this was different for you.

“What’s up, kid?” He asked, shoveling another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

During your stays in their house, you had become close to all the participants in one way or another.

Damian’s eyes narrowed as he studied you, “Indeed, what is the matter with you?”

“That’s not what I said,” His older brother scowled, eyes narrowing in on the young boy.

He rolled his eyes, “Same thing, Todd.”

Dick, ever the hero, was quick to come to your aid, “Does there have to be a reason for her to be happy?” A slight frown pulled at his lips as he thought about it.

You shot him an appreciative smile, but spoke anyway, “Oh nothing much, just the most amazing thing happened to me today.”

“You finally found a way to stop Jason from snoring like an elephant at night?” Tim perked up hopefully.

A laugh left your lips at his words, barely even noticing the way Dick wrapped his arms around Jason to stop him from pouncing on their younger brother.

“Better.” You stated with a grin.

“The anticipation is killing us.” Damian said flatly.

Early on in your friendship, you had learned that it was just the way Damian was and to never take it to heart. Because even though he didn’t show it very often, you knew he cared about you very much.

“Derek said he wants to get back together!” You announced, the grin not disappearing from your face, and you clapped your hands together once, sighing dreamily once again.

Everyone’s expression’s immediately darkened, but you didn’t seem to notice, even as the entire atmosphere of the room shifted.

“Derek? Your no good, cheating ex, Derek?” Jason asked through gritted teeth, his grip on the spoon making his fists turn white.

Derek had cheated on you not just once, but three different times. And everytime you ended up broken hearted, only for him to try and get back with you a month later, and you would go crawling back, claiming that he would be better that time.

It was times like that when Bruce’s ‘no killing’ rule seemed to physically pain everyone to follow, even Bruce himself.

And as much as they had wanted to prevent you from getting back together with him, it wasn’t their decision to make. You were your own person, and they could not control your life.

But this time, something seemed to snap inside of them. They had seen your tears-stained face over this boy three too many times. They had to resist beating the ever loving shit out of him every time they passed him on the street for too long. This time, they would put their feet down. And one shared glance between all of them confirmed that very thought.

“You are not getting back with him.” Damian stated calmly, picking up his cup and taking a sip of water.

“I agree,” Tim piped up, looking at you with sad eyes from across the table. A chorus of agreements rose up from Dick and Jason as well.

A frown pulled at your lips as you looked back and forth between all of them, “What? Why?” As if you were oblivious to all of the terrible things he had done.

“Because he cheated on you three times.” Damian seethed, smoke pretty much coming out of his ears at the thought.

A light laugh escaped your lips, “He’s different this time,” You shook your head back and forth gently as if they were the ones with preposterous words coming out of their mouths.

“He said that last time, n/n,” Dick looked at you with the same sad eyes Tim had been giving you.

“And the time before that,” Jason argued through gritted teeth.

A frown finally made its way onto your face, “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

Tim sighed, “We’re only saying these things because we care.” He stressed.

“But he makes me happy!” The words came out as if they were a beg while you leaned forward in your seat.

“For how long?” Jason asked, stabbing his spoon into his bowl, “How long until you’re broken hearted once again, hating his guts with every fiber in your being?”

You flinched slightly at his words, hesitation filling your eyes for the first time about getting back together with your ex, as if you hadn’t thought of the consequences that it could hold.

“He always does his, n/n,” Dick spoke gently, soothingly, “And we refuse to see what he will do to you again.”

“But…” Your voice came out so broken hearted, “But he said he loves me.” Your eyes filled with tears.

“It’s not true,” Damian had finally seemed to momentarily reel in his emotions at the sight of your broken state, “And you do not need him. You are far too good for that pathetic excuse of a human being.”

“I am?” The genuine confusion in your voice broke everyone’s hearts that much more.

“Of course,” Dick quickly rushed out, reaching across the table and gently grabbing your hand and his own and shaking it softly to make his point.

“It’s true,” Jason said through a full mouth, “If it were up to me, he’d be six feet in the ground by now.”

“For once,” Damian’s calm voice was back, “I agree with Todd.”

“So…” You asked with furrowed eyebrows, “I don’t have to go back with him?”

“No! Oh god, of course not!” Dick rushed out, the others nodding along as well.

“Oh,” You breathed out before a smile slowly made its way onto your face, lighting up the whole room instantly, “Well, okay then.”

Tim blinked once, “That’s it?”

You nodded your head happily, squeezing Dicks hand once in thanks before you let go, “That’s it.”

“Why-“ Tim was cut off by the harsh glare Damian threw at him from behind your back.

“I am glad you have come to your senses.” Your best friend spoke up, “Now, what shall we do today?”

The Superior Robin ❤️- @ineedmorefanfics2 @sambucky8 @spidyyparker @i-writes-things

[the-woker]

The whole Jason Todd is girl-coded debate thing admittedly just rubs me the wrong way.

I understand that there are people who consider gender as a concept and there are other people who consider gender to be something very real. Both are correct and very valid statements of expression, but someone who is genderless and has a heavy respect and fondness for the feminine and people with such experiences, I feel like what we are declaring 'girl-coded' should probably be a bit more analyzed and taken with more care.  

I have no ill-will to any of the people who post about this, they all seem like kind people, and everyone is entitled to their opinions and to posting them.  There is nothing wrong with projecting onto a character, identifying with their struggle and using that to cope with your trauma.  As someone who’s favorite character of all time is Jason Todd, and enjoys gender-weirdness,  and has been severely mistreated for being perceived as feminine before, I understand entirely. 

But there's a point when I can't help but feel uncomfortable with assigning being violent, a victim, “hysterical angry-like a girl”, expressing rage via screaming, and looking up to women in general as 'girl moments' and explicitly stating these as the reasons a male character is girl coded. And those have been the very specific points I have seen cited as what traits Jason has that make him "girl-coded."

I'm putting this all under a read more since this discussion is really not that deep, nor is it really relevant to the average Jason Todd tag surfer. It's just something I keep seeing talked about in the past few months.

Admittedly, just to begin with, the argument that what makes Jason ‘girl-coded’ is the fact that he is a victim in general, has strong connections with women, tends to like strong and muscular women, and has been vitriol in his screaming matches with other characters simply does not sit well with me as an explanation for what people are associating women with.  A female character can indeed do everything Jason did in a comic story, and I would enjoy it greatly, however staking these specific traits of his as the “feminine” ones is treading into a dangerous territory.

Especially since I’ve seen a few times now that people are claiming Jason and Batman’s fight in UTRH to be a Patriarchy metaphor and how Jason represents women’s struggles. The first problem I have with that claim, is very simply that Jason and Bruce’s fight is explicitly not about Bruce being a system that failed to protect Jason.

Nor is it about a pressure for Jason to return to conforming to Bruce and his rules.  Bruce wants him back with him, because Bruce loves Jason, but at no point does he attempt to force him to return to him, nor does he even force him to stop killing.  He certainly gets in the way and he prevents several of them, but when given the direct choice to either kill or force Jason to stop killing, he simply walks away and only intervenes after Jason attempts to kill Bruce himself. Calling this an analogy for women fighting against oppression by an organized system designed to exploit them, is not an apt metaphor, as likable and sympathetic as it is towards Jason, and I’d personally recommend avoiding it.

In general, on that topic.  The argument could be made for other male members of the Batfam (take Dick Grayson’s constant sexual harassment for being a ‘pretty boy’ for example.), but Jason is also simply just not a victim of the Patriarchy.

Unlike Stephanie Brown, Jason was accepted immediately by Bruce as Robin and as part of the family.  He was murdered by his mother for being an obstacle in her operation of stealing from starving people, and by a madman who killed him for being one of his nemeses.  His murder was upsetting but had nothing to do with him not presenting himself as society claimed he should, nor for not obeying said society's customs and arbitrary rules.

Under the Red Hood is a fascinating, engaging, philosophical, and extremely emotional piece of media and it’s a favorite for many people (including me) for a reason.  Highlighting Jason’s actions as being a ‘girl moment’ when he is intentionally trying to push past Bruce’s only boundary, however, is an uncomfortable idea to proclaim. Especially considering when and how Bruce tries to negotiate and reason with Jason. Jason quite literally holds their relationship, and his life, over Bruce in an attempt to get him to behave how he wants, claiming that he does so as an expression of femininity has horrible implications. Jason is entirely allowed to do what he wants (I enjoy it greatly. His violence is very sexy and honestly we should bring it back) but that is a gender neutral choice, and I wouldn’t say that this run nor his backstory have much in common with women’s struggles to label them as “clearly being such”.

Additionally, The narrative is also not portraying Jason as “hysterical”; this was his first proper return to comics after 20 years. The intention of the narrative is to challenge the morality of Batman and to open an in-universe line of discourse for a discussion that for years, has been, and still is relevant in the comic community.  

Jason’s death was notoriously the moment that Batman got closest to breaking his rule and so they brought Jason back to be the character who pushed him on why he maintained it.  They made Jason angry and violent to raise the stakes of what the Joker did to him, and to raise the question of if there was a crime so horrible that it was a moral failing to continue the pacifist approach to criminal reform.  Jason is being treated in a significantly kinder light than most of the characters we would traditionally see doing these actions.  We all agree Lock-up was a bad guy, we can agree that the League of Assassins is wrong, but we’re given a chance to take Jason at face value and are not immediately told how to feel despite the narrative showing us his violence in a raw and uncut way. Killing a bunch of drug dealers while rising in the ranks of the drug trade yourself is hardly a selfless act of good after all. 

Disclaimer 1:  I don’t think Jason is entirely wrong about many things.  But I simply do not believe Bruce “owes” him killing, and that it is wrong of Jason to demand this of him or anyone for that matter. Nobody owes you their innocence and you aren’t entitled to breaking anyone’s boundaries. 

Disclaimer 2:  I cannot stress enough how much I like Jason.  This post is not meant to make anyone feel bad, or make Jason seem like the “bad guy” of the fandom.  It’s simply a disservice to his character to write him off as nothing more than an angry victim and call it an expression of femininity, and a reminder to be a bit more careful when labeling and assigning traits. 

[electricprincess96]

Asking out of curiosity, but why do ya dislike Damian Wayne? I ask this not in a acussitory manner mind, as my only exposure to Damian is in non comics material such as those animated movies he popped up in. More so curiosity cause he seems to be a very controversial character among the main comics fandom itself.

He is controversial. There are a few reasons, some I could change my mind on with better writing and others would take a lot more for me to get behind him. I'll start by saying if you're reading this and are a Damian fan don't continue, you aren't gonna like what I have to say so don't both hate reading for the sake of it.

Firstly the concept of the Bat Family for the most part up until that point was about Found Family. Let me be clear I'm not saying it was sunshine and rainbows and they all got along great all the time BUT it was about broken people finding each other and trying to work together to make a difference. The very concept of giving Bruce a blood son ruins that, you need only look at most Damian fans when the debate on who should be Bruce's successor comes up, they will always say Damian despite the fact he has shown NOTHING to prove he deserves it, their only reason is he's the blood son. While yes being both biological and adopted kids is a thing that exists and most real people can do it and it works most DC writers are not adopted parents and dont know the specifics of how you depict that balance and it shows. It reeks of weird blood purist, anti-adoption vibes that just aren't good. Like the rise in "bad parent Bruce Wayne" towards Jason and Tim and some of the others (not sure he knows Cass's name anymore) conveniently corrolates with demon brats creation. Coupled with the fact on more than one occasion writers have seemed to make it seem like Damian does indeed mean more just cause he's blood related. I just don't like it. I wasn't overly fond of Helena Wayne (although she was better cause she was from another world instead of the canon one) and I don't like Damian for the same reason.

Secondly he was forced as Robin. As I said in a recent post up until Damian the role of Robin had only really been changed when it was necessary. Jason was made Robin because DC wanted Robin to be a kid again but readers liked the storylines they were getting with young adult Dick Grayson so they promoted Dick from sidekick and created Jason Todd. Likewise when Jason died there was no Robin, Dick wasn't about to go back to being Robin and Jason was dead thus Tim was created to fill a role that needed filling. Even Stephanie was made Robin due to Tim being unavailable for a long period of time (i dont remember the specifics but i think it had to do with his family finding out about Robin) so even when she lasted not even a year, she was still filling a vacamcy instead of being forced into a role that was already filled. Damian however was just created. They had not taken the proper steps to develop Tim out of being Robin naturally (and before people come at me with "oh he had plenty of time" Dick Grayson got FORTT YEARS and Damian is coming up on nearing 2 decades so shut up) and thus his creation has directly led to the problem we have right now in DC were we have TWO Robins cause they demoted Tim back to being Robin when Red Robin didn't work out (and 3 batgirls but that ones Barbara Gordon's fault). Coupled with the fact his introduction came right after the revival of Jason Todd thus basically screeching to a halt any real meaningful development that plotline could have had because suddenly DC had a shiny new toy to play with. Damian's creation was a turning point for Batman comics and not a good one, because it contributed to the derailing of multiple characters arcs and plotlines and some have still not fully recovered.

Thirdly his character upon introduction was already redundant. He's a child raised by assassins.... OK well we already have Cassandra Cain. He's a Robin willing to kill and will really test the Bat Fams moral compass. OK well as I said we'd already revived Jason Todd and he was already taking the fight to the Bat on the no kill rule. Literally the only unique thing he had upon introduction was that he was a blood relation to Bruce which I personally do not think should mean anything. But DC starting from that point going forward started to have a horrible undercurrent of blood purity. The only thing I can think that he is semi unique on is being biracial but even then not entirely his since Cassandra is biracial as well AND they never do anything with him being biracial. Plus if they really wanted to they could have reconned one of the existing Robins to be biracial without derailing multiple other characters plotlines.

Fourthly. He's an obnoxious and annoying brat 90% of the time. Like I get it, being raised by Talia (although there's conflicting information on of he was actually raised at all since the timeline does not seem to add up for his age and at one point he was grown in an artificial womb and artificially aged but that's been retconned but the timeline still don't add up if he's not artificially aged somewhat. His back story is a mess I ain't gonna make heads or tails of it) will inevitably result in a very arrogant child afterall Ra's and Talia's egos rival Lex Luthors. BUT they want us to believe at times he can back that up. And I'm sorry I don't care how skilled you are as a child assassin, you are still a child. Like in the Animated movies he should not be able to beat Deathstroke in a straight 1 to 1 fight. He just shouldn't. Both are highly skilled assassins sure but Slade is like 6 times Damian's age, double his size and at least 3 times his weight. There is also the fact that his dark, brooding, arrogant, cruel character sort of worked when he was Dick Grayson's Robin cause it was flipping the established dynamics for Batman and Robin. But when he's Bruce's Robin it doesn't work, we no longer have that little bit of sunshine that Robin is meant to bring to Batman (and don't think I haven't noticed how Batman's character has got crueler and darker since Damian became his Robin) while Batman is meant to be a guiding hand for Robin to keep him on the right track.

Fifthly. For Damian's character arc to really work/make sense ot has to be acknowledged that Talia is not a good mother. At best she's deliberately raising him in a dangerous environment and at worse she is actively abusive. It's the only way you can justify half of his character traits and why he's even here in the first place. Here's the issue for all I dislike Talia as a character... I don't believe she's an abusive mother. One thing that seems to be consistent for Talia was that she did love her family. Talia's flaws for me are in her inability to choose a side and her entitlement towards Bruce and other men (well and the whole worldwide genocide of anyone not League of Assassins). Now I am more willing to accept this one as just being how new Talia is but I don't blame some of her fans who feel miffed about this however they do have to acknowledge that there's no real way to do his story without her either being an incompetent parent or a down right bad one (but don't worry Talia fans Bruce is also awful nowadays so she's not alone there....)

Now his arrogance and overall unlikable character can absolutely be fixed with good writing. I hated him in the Animated movies (kid you grew up in the mountains leaving to kill you SHOULD NOT BE LECTURING BRUCE FUCKING WAYNE ABOUT STOCKS) but I'm quite liking him in Boy Wonder where it's actually tackling his own sense of entitlement and showing that he needs to learn from his predecessors rather than acting like he's better than them purely because he shares dna with Bruce.

BUT the conceptual issues I have won't go away quite so easily. It's why if I'm asked if I could wipe one Robin from existence, it will always be him. He could be written wonderfully, he could get a comic run that is the best written thing ever and I will still always say him when asked that question. And I know I'm not alone on that.

[lilyfoxonfire]

A little bit of a rant, but. And this is a Very Personal Take, so watch out for that.

The thing I wish more writers at DC got is that Jason's tragedy runs deeper than the Joker — but it also doesn't run deep enough that it ruined him from the start (which happens to be a particularly terrible train of thought in general.)

Jason Todd, as Robin, was a sweet kid. Jason Todd, as Robin, was angry, traumatized, sometimes vicious. Jason Todd, as Robin, loved school. Jason Todd, as Robin, hated criminals. He loved his father, and loved being Robin, and didn't quite respect Batman's mission, and had issues with his family. These things can coexist. They *should* coexist — because this coexistence is what makes the character interesting, when you look at him for more than five seconds.

It's all too easy to act as if Jason's leading tragedy — the key moment that defines his path — is the moment he dies to the Joker. This isn't *inaccurate*, per se; the events of his resurrection were indeed mostly influenced by the events leading to, and surrounding, his death. But dying to the Joker does not *constitute all that Jason is.* That's a thing writers keep falling into; this idea that everything about Jason Todd eventually and inevitably goes back to the Joker, and his murder. Both "Kill the Joker" and "Three Jokers" (ironic) approached the character from this angle, and I think that's a damn shame.

Then you'll see people who look deeper, and define the character by his background. Criminal abusive father, cocaine addict mother who eventually dies, a miserable half-life in the streets and slums of Gotham City, depending on petty crime not to starve to death. It's a terrible existence, and the scars it left on Jason's psyche are clear, but that alone does not constitute all that he is. I've heard the following take a few dozen times; "There was never any hope for Jason Todd." Even Batman himself, in some comics, says something to this effect.

There's two camps on this hill, of course. The first, more aggressive, is of the idea that Jason was "rotten from the start"; this isn't at all an uncommon take, both within fandoms and in real life when talking about certain polemic figures. We, as people, find some sick comfort in pointing to people who do things we dislike, fictional and otherwise, and declaring that their perceived evil is innate, like there's something off within their heads. We see this phenomena a lot more often with Superboy Prime, for example — but it's not quite uncommon with Jason Todd, in some circles.

I don't think I need to elaborate on why this is toxic, of course. Reducing these characters — and people irl, when applied in such cases — to circumstances of some innate evil self, a rotten soul or undiagnosed antisocial disorder or whatever, is to close your eyes to any context that might have led to what happened to them. You don't have to forgive someone for doing something, especially when that something is awful, but there is still room to seek to understand why what happened happened, so that one might attempt to stop it from happening again, or ruminate on its consequences.

Coming back to our given example, by saying Jason was "always rotten", these people choose to completely ignore every important (and trust me, they were incredibly important) factor in his life that led to his behaviour. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these are the people most likely to portray Robin!Jason as an arrogant asshole and nothing else.

The other camp is a bit more reasonable. "Jason Todd never had the chance to be more than what he was" is the prevalent thought they hold — from the streets as an orphan to the streets as a fighter, surrounded by violence at every turn. How could he ever have grown past the blood if new blood kept being spilled? It's a very humane take on the character, comparatively speaking, but I feel like it's also diminutive. Because this passive acceptance of an outcome is, in and of itself, a sentence to it. Which is to say — this, and the condemnation preferred by the first camp, are different only in the tone of their voices and the amount of empathy displayed. There's still an acceptance of the fact that this was 'always how things would play out', one way or the other. Like this was Fate.

This perception of the larger tragedy at hand as some sort of Destiny resulting from Jason's background and the tragedy he suffered is most notable in the recent interactive film "Death in the Family". Notice the similarities the many paths have to one another — of course, we know on a metaphysical level that this is in part due to budget limitations. But within the context of the movie, the narrative is that of the following; that those events, those horrors, would be Jason's inevitable destiny in every path his life could take where it crossed both Joker and The Batman.

And that, to me, is such a tragic misreading of what makes his tragedy *special*. Because any reading of Jason's tenures as Robin show a boy who does, indeed, have hope. We see this child be, well, a child — love and live and have issues a kid would have. We see him have problems with his family, sure, but also enjoy their presence, and get close to them. We've seen, recently, how he loved his father. How he and his brother patched things up. We've seen how he admired Barbara. To say that Jason's life would always end one way is to ignore the one true innate thing about him, and that was the arc of moving past one's trauma.

At his core, Jason was a heroic kid who had a lot of baggage. What made him different from Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne was the nature of this baggage — he had no sole event to blame for it, no single tragedy before the Joker. Jason Todd's personal Vendetta was against Gotham City, in all the ways it was rotten. See how he lashed out when confronted with Felipe Garzonas and Gloria; *that* was Jason's target of rage and trauma, not any single event. Ironically, the thing Robin Jason and Red Hood Jason share is this; a rage against an immutable status quo, against the seemingly inherent futility in endlessly fighting to stop crime in the moment, never taking it further, always holding back. Rage against inevitability.

This is a child who could, and was close to, and was *expected to*, one day grow beyond himself. Perhaps it would always be outside of Batman's specific code. Perhaps not. But it was not Jason Todd's background that consigned him to a life of violence. Even at that point in time, at his lowest and within the worst interpretation of it, had it not been for the Joker, Jason would almost inevitably have moved beyond himself like Bruce eventually did, like Dick eventually did. Eventually, people change. That was a 15-year old boy lashing out, and given time, and support, every last piece of his story tells us he'd have healed.

Instead, he died a violent murder, betrayed by his mother, and was condemned to a cycle of violence that was almost custom-built to perpetuate every last worst part of himself. To make every last flaw of his shine. To stoke the flames of his rage and nothing else. And it happened because he died, and metaphysically because the author wanted something to try (and fail) to question Batman's methods once again.

That's the tragedy of Jason Todd — forever doomed to push boulders uphill. This is a character built for a world that can either change or be questioned — but his is a world that does neither, so he will only ever fall further down, further down indeed. And as he does, he'll keep pushing boulders, struggling, trying to go up. And he will fail. He can't ever recover because we, the world, won't let him.

Or we can just make him a magic ninja lol

(I actually like the All Caste stuff, ironically. Could've been done way better, but. Hey. Ducra questioned that boy's ideals without being a moralist jackass. I will take that.)

[albatmobile]

The Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds Chapter 13

𓅪 After not hearing from Roy or Jason for five years, you suddenly find yourself taking in extra income as a babysitter for their child.

𓅪 Rated: M | TW: mentions of torture + addiction | 8.2k includes: continuation from chapter 11, hurt/comfort, opening up, bonding

fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist]

Chapter 13: Diamonds/ Table for One | ao3 - wattpad

“HOLY FUCK!” you exclaim finally. “It’s… There’s no way,” you say as you look between the two of them, not even realizing that your hands have moved to your face in pure disbelief.

So, Red Hood is Jason?

The memory of the motorcycle incident smacks an unwanted blush across your cheeks. One look at Roy’s lax form on the counter is the only thing that gives you reassurance as you tentatively walk toward Red Hood’s hulking form. You stop, nearly chest to chest with him, as you further test the limits by lifting your hands to caress his helmet. It's a good sign, you suppose, that Red Hood allows you to take him in and hasn’t threatened to kill you yet. 

All of these factors are further evidence that, yes, this is indeed Jason.

You use your knowledge of vigilante suits, which has been buried deep down in your memories, to run your fingers along the underside of the helmet. Immediately, your fingers find two nearly hidden buttons and click down on both at the same time. The helmet hisses as it unlocks around his face, but you don’t remove it just yet out of fear. You allow yourself a few more moments to bask in whatever remaining normalcy is left, clinging tightly to the only reality you’ve ever known. 

You’re sure it’s Jason now because if it were any other gun-holstering costumed freak, you’d be long dead by now. Yet here you stood, imploringly staring up at the masked man, ready to remove the last remaining buffer between the two of you.

“Take it off,” you demand. The anticipatory edge of the silence that lingers in the dim light of the room stirs at your demand. His hands come up to gently remove the helmet and you’re instantly met with Jason’s signature skunk-striped hair. His usual gorgeous green eyes are hidden, however, as they remain covered by a domino mask. He doesn’t say anything as you take him in, suit and all. He doesn't even budge when your finger traces lazily up and down the familiar scar that stretches across his face. “So, it’s true then?”

You can’t help but feel betrayed by all those run-ins, knowing they knew exactly who you were the entire time. Almost like they’d been toying with you.

All those years, they shared those knowing looks, the odd family vacations, sudden ‘projects.’ All those times you felt left out… It all made sense now. To anyone outside the situation, as you’d been until mere moments ago, it probably did look like you’d been strung along, toyed with and, shit, maybe even groomed. Maybe all those things did happen, but this reveal brings a hidden piece of the puzzle to the forefront of the fucked up puzzle between you, the Waynes and, strangely enough, Roy Harper.

Both of them appear too frightened to talk, which makes you want to laugh; however, the whole situation is far too fucked up for you to do anything but stare.

Between Roy bleeding out on the counter and you standing in Roy’s shirt with your pussy halfway visible, you don’t know what’s worse. No, you know what’s fucking worse? All the dumb, nerdy shit you did in front of the literal Bat Family…

You want to smack your forehead, remembering all the dumb shit you’d said and done. Even though you try to force it from your mind, the memories come flooding back anyway. You rub at the crease between your brows, thinking about how they all just sat there and let you- UGH. 

“This is probably the most humiliating day of my life,” you groan with your hands dropping from Jason’s heated face in favor of slumping next to Roy’s body on one of the island stools. You continue to wallow in self-pity as everything settles over you. “You guys seriously have no idea.”

“Au contrar, I think we have the best idea.” Roy can’t contain his snickers as he mimics your past self with a high, obnoxious voice, “‘I swear, Nightwing has the juiciest ass! The new Robin has RBF, but I bet he’s DTF!’” 

“Hey!” you admonish him with a barely held laugh at his crassness. “I never said that last shit and everyone talked about Nightwing’s- Dick’s ass too!” Hell, you're forgetting that you showed Tim your Red Robin fan blog. Twice. You groan again at the memory of proudly showing off all the ass shots and other salacious photos you’d collected for the blog. “So, I think we’re forgetting the bigger picture here.” You then dive into the recent coffee shop accident, slowly recollecting how you’d acted in front of them. “Oh my god, I kept you from your child. No, wait, holy shit, I whacked you in the head with a toilet tank!” 

Roy snickers, but Jason shuts it down swiftly, “Shut it, arrow dude.” 

You think back to them following you here and… “And you offered me money?” You still don’t understand why they’d tried to give you money. Regardless of the heroes being Jason and Roy, you can't place why they said what they said.

“Thought you would accept it,” Jason says it like it explains everything.

Your face scrunches up. “Like a cheap fucking whore or something?” 

“I mean… if the glove fits.” 

“You absolute fucking cunt,” you grit out before whacking him in the chest with his boyfriend’s discarded trucker hat.

“I bet you’re a straight FREAK!” Roy throws a wink your way, but you continue to look at Jason. He doesn’t seem upset... You think back to the time Roy walked in on you and Jason in each other’s space and how nonchalant he'd been. “Jason knows I’m just a flirt. Right, daddy?” 

You dramatically fake gag. “Not that this whole reveal thing hasn’t been suuper fun,” you say sarcastically, standing up from the stool to allow Jason easier access to Roy’s wound, “but I have to go and literally do anything that’s not this.”You finish your sentence by gesturing dramatically from Roy to Jason. 

You think they’ll get the hint to fuck off with the immature shit, but no.

“You’re not doing this yet,” Roy wiggles his brows at you as he mimics your gesture, only to hiss when Jason applies antiseptic. “Oh, fuck me.”

You look over at an amused Jason, then at Roy’s shit-eating grin. You sigh, realizing you’ve been outnumbered by these dumbasses, “You’re both intolerable.” 

You feel an impending headache coming on and rub at your already pounding temple.

“She sounds like Damian.” 

Oh, fuck no. You turn on your heel with a glare and get up in Roy’s face. “Do you have a death wish or something, Roy?” 

“Already practically died, princess.” His loopy ass ruffles your hair. “Silly goose.” 

What?

“What does that mean?” 

You watch as Roy draws in a short breath as if he hadn’t actually meant to say it out loud. 

He unwittingly reaches out for Jason’s hand, only to find it already there. He releases a shaky breath, clasping Jason's hand as he cuts off the pant leg high up on Roy's thigh to reveal a wicked-looking slash. 

You attempt to school your reaction but, ultimately, can’t help the horrified look now stamped across your face.

You’ve watched enough shows on TLC to have seen some decent gore from those godforsaken surgery scenes they shoved into every show. Hell, even the bridal shows, it seems. Regardless, it always left you queasy. For some reason, seeing Roy’s gushing laceration right in front of you is different from that. It's somehow worse and yet not as bad at the same time. It probably helps that Roy's still being his idiotic self and not, like, screaming in agony or some scary shit like that, but still, it's a lot of blood.

One of the first things they’d shown you when you’d first arrived to babysit was where the medical kit was stashed. Without a second thought, you retrieve it, practically shoving it into Jason’s grateful hands with an urgency you can tell he finds amusing. Based on their nonchalant attitude towards the whole situation, you can tell they’ve definitely dealt with worse.

You watch Jason’s steady movements against Roy’s freckled thigh with fascination. It’s as if he’s mapped out the spot so many times he doesn’t even need to look down to know exactly where to place his hands and where to avoid, even though the wound looks insanely fresh. It can't have occurred more than an hour or so ago and yet, Jason maneuvers around it with practiced ease as if he'd already been patching it up for weeks.

An uncomfortable ache catches in your throat as you watch them interact with each other. No walls, just intimacy and the inexplicable knowledge of their quirks and all the little in-betweens you’d never know the full extent of. 

It’s bittersweet. 

You could be here with them every day and yet you could only dream about what it’d be like to be on the receiving end of this situation.

Jason yawns for the seventh time since you’d brought the kit back and you surprise yourself when you nudge him out of the way to take over. Your eyes resolutely remain on the supplies if only to avoid the flush you feel stirring under their close inspection of your every movement. 

The quick glance you’d seen of his wound earlier proves Roy would need stitches, something Jason had obviously already deduced since he’d already delicately placed seven neat ones along Roy’s irritated flesh. 

With the stitching done, you know you can take over from here. 

“You should get changed,” you say, eyeing Jason's dirty uniform with a palpable distaste until you notice blood soaking through his shirt. “Did you get injured, too?”

Roy groans as he sits up to move his legs over the edge of the counter before hopping down with a visible wince, “Just my dumbass managed to get nicked.”

“Don’t think it counts as a ‘nick’ if you needed stitches, weirdo.”

“Fair.” Roy holds up his hands in mock surrender before turning his attention back to Jason. “I can finish this up, love,” he offers quietly.

“Alright,” Jason begrudgingly agrees. He pulls him in for a quick, gentle kiss before he disappears off around the corner.

You think back to how earlier Roy had been shocked enough to let you hold his prosthetic, but he seems to be coming down from the adrenaline finally and now suddenly doesn’t want you around him with it exposed?

“You sure know how to stare,” you shake yourself from your thoughts, meeting Roy’s eyes when he says your name. “I know you’ve been eyeing this bad boy up ever since our reunion, beautiful.” 

You blush at your obvious obsession with his prosthetic… weapon?

“Roy, I just held a gun to your boyfriend’s back,” you look up at him seriously and motion him over to the couch, “I think you’re mistaking my guilt for judgment. The least I can do is finish cleaning you up.”

He beams blearily at you as he plops down with legs spread and a lazy arm thrown over his eyes. You wait for a sexual innuendo that never comes. When it doesn't, you settle on your knees between his legs with a warm, soapy washcloth.

He removes his arm slightly to watch you. “Jay tell you to use that?”

"No," you look down at the washcloth in your hand and wonder if you’ve made a mistake, “I’m just doing what seems most logical.” He snorts at your statement only to grit his teeth when you start to gently dab at the angry red skin near the stitches. You continue with your attempt to distract him from the pain. “Well, that and I watched Alfred do shit like this for me. Though, to be fair, nothing I had was ever anything like this.”

“Hey,” he says lightly, “we don’t have to compare injuries now, princess.” 

You roll your eyes, turning your attention back to his thigh just as Jason reemerges in his PJs. 

“Actually, that’s exactly what you’re doing. You did say you were going to tell her about your arm.”

“I said nothing of the sort!” he insists, trapping you between his legs when he absentmindedly closes them. “Oh, shit, sorry.” 

You giggle more as a reflex, than anything, considering you’re more preoccupied with your current, intimate position. Stop blushing, you reprimand yourself, and focus! Well, focus on the task at hand and not on what’s currently in front of you, at least. 

Surely, if you stared at Roy's crotch in front of you, whatever little focus you currently have would go to shit.

Jason continues on nonchalantly, however, like you hadn’t just come face to face with his boyfriend’s crotch. 

Shit, why are you being so chalant? 

“You told her you practically died. You can’t just say shit like that and not explain.” 

You try your best to focus on drying Roy’s skin with a clean towel, but your stomach flips at the idea of Jason offering information. Would you really get more answers to what you’ve been wondering about for years?

You feel Roy’s laugh more than anything, considering you’re looking anywhere but up. 

“Guess it is about time after, what, six years of knowing each other?” You minimize yourself as much as you can, hoping he won’t stop. “Fuck, this is harder than it seems, especially with you not looking at me, princess.”

“Call me by my name,” you say suddenly, shocking even yourself as you meet his intense stare. Even though you know Roy can feel your hands shaking against his leg, you force yourself to continue on with feigned confidence, “If you’re going to tell me everything, at least say my name.”

You watch as he gulps and turns to Jason, seemingly for backup, but for what, you still have no idea. 

“Alright,” he obliges you with a sinful rasp of your name that leaves you reeling, “if you have requests, so do I.”

You tilt your head quizzically, then gasp and shift away as he brings his arm fully in front of you. 

You shake your head, looking up at him before you can truly focus on any details. “Roy, you don’t have to show me. I didn’t really see anything yet anyway, so,” you trail off as you search his eyes for any sign of hesitancy but only find amusement. “But it’s not like I’d judge you if I did, per se!”

“My stipulations are that you look,” he says your name again. “Y’know, sometimes I’d catch you staring at my prosthetic. I wanted to show you, believe me, I did, but you’re like one of the smartest people I know aside from Jay. I knew you’d figure it out the second I showed you. ‘Sides, at the coffee shop, I could tell you were already somewhat suspicious of me already.”

You blush lightly at the realization that all those times you had been caught. 

“Well, let me see then.”

You’d pushed the memory of the coffee shop far enough out of your mind that you only vaguely remembered arrow dude- Roy, damn… You’ll have to figure out a non-awkward way to ask him what his hero name is again. That's for another day, though, you remind yourself as you come face-to-face the prosthetic in its entirety. 

He flips it over so you can get a full look at the expanse of it. The metal only goes up just slightly beyond the crook of his elbow and is met by a green skull and a scorpion with the word ‘Poison’ above it. You marvel at the odd green tattoos and allow your fingers to trace each indent and slightly raised line that adorns it. 

“And to think I gave Jason shit for being edgy,” you joke lightly, winking at him before you can even realize you’ve done it. Abort. Abort. You clear your throat timidly, “Er, what does it do?”

“What can’t it do, babygirl?” You fake gag at the name and the two of you laugh when Jason voices much of the same contempt. “Nah, really, though. Shit’s a lab-certified killing machine.” 

You allow your fingers to delicately dance along each mechanical mechanism of his bionic arm and giggle when he unexpectedly unleashes a compartment that hides a small crossbow. 

He watches you with amusement as you stroke the dark metal. 

“I wasn’t lying when I said it looks like some Marvel shit, but this is so much cooler,” you compliment him, watching in confusion as he blushes under your attention. “So, you left high school to get this?”

“No.”

The air in the room chills as the mood suddenly turns somber.

This time, it’s you looking at Jason for backup, but he only meets you with an unreadable gaze.

Even though they're offering you the information, you don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable or obligated to reveal anything more. “It’s been a long night. You don’t have to tell me shit,” you hold up your pinky earnestly, “swear to fuck I won’t hold it against you.”

“Ah, well, since you’ve sworn to fuck…” he chuckles, then sighs. “No, but I really do want to tell you. It’s just hard looking back on who I was and the shit I was doing to myself,” he admits. “I don’t want you to think differently of me, princess- I mean,” he quickly corrects himself with your name.

You shake your head to ward off his concern. “Roy, I-” You only barely stop yourself from saying you love him and attempt to cover your tracks. “I care about you a lot. Even with all those years apart, I still care about you just the same as I did when you left.”

“I didn’t leave. I didn’t want to abandon you and Jay.” He sucks in a shaky breath. “Shit, you know how I was… Always on some shit and if I wasn’t, I was looking for my next fix, whether it was alcohol or weed or… I was just always fucked up, okay?” he trails off unsurely.

You nod, remembering much of the same.

“I didn’t mean to drink as much as I did before I went on patrol this one night and I let myself get sloppy. They were waiting for me.”

“Who?”

“Cadmus.”

•••

It always went back to Cadmus. 

Roy had spent the better part of the night shit-faced as usual, but this time, he still went on patrol against his better, read: piss-poor, judgment. 

Ollie was pissing him off and so was that annoying bitch Artemis who seemed dead-set on stealing his spot. He didn’t even want to be a sidekick, having long outgrown the Speedy role. 

It was the first night he went out in a brand new suit, without even having a name yet when he got into it with what he assumed to be low-level henchmen. What he failed to realize, in his disoriented state, was that it’d all been a trap. 

A shitty one, at that.

Regardless, he'd been too out of it to fight at his full capacity and quickly succumbed to whatever poison they’d injected him with. He woke up in a lab who knows how many hours, days, weeks later in a sterile, quiet environment. 

No one talked to him, no one acknowledged him and obviously, no one cared about the immense pain their experiments put him through. 

He'd been poked and prodded like an animal. Treated like a leper.

“They tortured me,” he reveals. However, he isn’t looking at you anymore, seemingly focused on the memories that your questions had forced to the surface. “They starved me and sliced me with medical instruments all day. At night is when the psychological torture kicked in.”

You move without thinking, drawing Roy to your chest, if only to hide your brewing anger as you take in the new information. You’re so focused on the contact that you don’t even notice the sigh of relief he releases when his head falls against your cleavage. 

Jason watches you for a brief moment before getting up to curl around Roy until you’re all one pathetic heap on the couch.

“They tried to make me into some sort of sleeper agent,” his voice cracks. “They wanted to use me to hurt my friends, to hurt Jay.” Jason coos and kisses away the tears from one side of Roy’s freckled cheek. You make use of swiping them away on the other cheek gently, wishing you could kiss it away as well. “I was, I am and will always be a weapon," he laughs humorlessly and stares down at his bionic arm like it’s a curse. After listening to him, you suppose it very well could be.

“That’s not true,” Jason insists. 

You agree easily, “Once we’re out of the womb, we make ourselves. We’re not and you’re not, the product of anyone else.”

“Dish out sound advice, but can’t take it,” Jason stares at you blankly. 

"Seriously?" Your head whips around to glare at him in retaliation. "Right now is the time to call me out on that shit?” 

“I thought about dumb shit like you guys bickering while I was trapped in there,” this time, Roy’s laughter holds some merit as he watches the two of you in genuine amusement. “And about those dumb romance novels I knew Jason was reading all day without me there to annoy the shit out of him.”

“What do you mean?” you ask, smiling lightly in confusion. “He left right after you did.”

Jason glares as if you’ve somehow revealed some deep secret. Roy takes in your words as if it’s the first time, now electing to face his boyfriend.

“You came after me that fast, Jay?”

The way they're looking at each other is enough to make anyone envious. You especially so.

“Always, Roy.” It’s slightly cracked and lets you in on everything you need to know about how they feel about each other. “Took Oliver a bit of convincing that you were really gone when that other kid was running around, but once I did, you couldn’t get us to take a break.”

You glance over at Jason, wondering if it means what you think it means. “So private school was all a lie?” you try to confirm.

He shrugs. “With the resources I had and I knew Oliver had, I knew we would be his best, if not only hope.”

“How long were you there?” you ask gently.

“It was a blur,” Roy trails off, unsure, so you both look at Jason for the answer.

“Years,” Jason supplements easily, though you can see how it wears on his face.

Roy clears his throat uncomfortably and continues, “When I came to, I was being carried out of the place by Jay and my fucking clone who was working for them while Ollie fought off… I don’t even know what, to be honest.”

•••

Roy was a mess as he sat holed up in Jason’s apartment, coming to terms with the fact that, if it hadn’t been for the help from his clone, Guardian, they would’ve all been lab meat. 

Jason allowed him to lay low for a while, per Roy’s request and watched as he wasted the weeks following drowning himself in booze and…

It was the one day that Jason came home early, expecting to deal with Roy drunk off his ass, but found something else entirely. 

Something worse. 

“How long, Roy?” Roy watched as Jason rushed to him, throwing aside the needle he’d been busy injecting into the flesh of his forearm. “How fucking long have you been doing this shit here?” 

“Chill!” Roy’s eyes flickered uncoordinatedly as they met Jason’s concerned ones. “You act like my fucking wife, bro. Last time I checked, I'm still a free man.” 

“This isn’t something to joke about, Roy. I-" 

Jason had done everything for Roy; spent years looking, helped him get back in shape. Hell, Jason was the only one even cooking and cleaning while Roy got used to his new arm in the way he knew best: drinking. 

All the while, Jason avoided you, though he couldn’t keep his distance from you for too long. To escape the mental toll the apartment was taking on him, Jason added your place to his regular patrol route as a way to watch over you. 

Between rehabilitating Roy and keeping an eye on you, Jason barely had enough energy, let alone time, to take care of himself. He was drained, though not completely spent. Not yet, at least.

It was only when Damian, as Robin, followed Jason back to his apartment and saw Roy's pathetic state that Jason let him in on what had happened. 

Jason had been avoiding Bruce and the manor’s inhabitants ever since Roy had first disappeared. Why wouldn't he? There was no reason to go crawling back to the trust fund, anyway, when he didn’t even have the courage to let himself be seen by you. 

“You look pathetic, Harper,” Damian said as he took in Roy’s thin form and sunken face. “I suppose it only makes sense you’d end up like this considering you’ve alwyas been a habitual drunk.” 

Roy winced, easily recognizing his harsh words as the truth. 

He decided he’d quit drinking that night, decided that this time he’d really stick to it. Before the angsty teen could leave, Roy stopped Damian. to give you a message. “Tell her I’m okay, that I went to rehab.” 

“People come out of rehab with metal arms?” Damian tch’ed at the piss-poor excuse, knowing you’d see right through it.

“People who know Oliver Queen and go to rehab come out with metal arms,” Roy challenged him easily, more out of reflex more than anything, though each man could tell it lacked his usual charm.

“If it comes up, I’ll be sure to mention it,” Damian said, though he still didn’t sound convinced.

“You takin’ care of her?” Roy rasped, watching as Damian moved toward the window. 

Jason had yet to tell him of his new patrol route, so, as far as Roy knew, Jason hadn’t seen you in years either. 

“She’s a grown woman. What control do I have over her?” Roy looked like a kicked puppy. Uncharacteristically, Damian tried again. “She can take care of herself, but yes,” Damian finally slipped out of the window and into the night, “I am.” 

Just like that, he was gone. 

•••

“So, we’re just gonna skip over the fact that you have a fucking clone?”

“Two,” Roy says.

“Two?” you repeat dumbly. “So, three Roys?”

“Two,” he says again. 

•••

Roy had been mostly keeping his promise by only having a beer every once and a while, but he’d also been attending all his AA meetings, so he figured it kind of evened itself out. 

It was shit logic and he knew it, but at least it was a start.

At least, Jason thought so. 

Then, one day, Jason didn't seem to think so. 

Soon, all the alcohol Roy would bring around the flat would be mysteriously dumped before Roy could get deeper in than a couple of drinks. All of this culminated into Roy confronting Jason with an anger he’d never directed at him before. 

Jason stayed through the anger, stayed through the tears and stayed when Roy eventually fell into a drunken sleep. He stayed through the good days and the bad ones. Jason was there through it all. 

It was a particular run-in with a familiar redhead that left Jason’s head spinning. 

It was Roy. 

Well, not Roy -Roy, considering this man had two flesh arms.

Another clone.

He told him his name was Red Arrow, meaning Oliver knew about him, which now also meant that Jason couldn’t tell Roy. The man gave Jason a small arrow and told him to activate it when Roy was ready to talk. Jason seriously considered breaking it in front of his face right then and there if it hadn’t been for the fact that the guy’d just saved his ass.

Jason had forgotten about said arrow until Roy found it in his discarded gear.

There’s one thing you should know: Jason is a great liar. There’s another thing you should know: Jason can’t lie to Roy. Sure, he could keep things, but lying to him was something he could never bring himself to do. 

Jason remained calm when Roy shoved the arrow in his face. 

“He goes by Red Arrow.” 

Jason watched as Roy examined the arrow with growing hostility but asked anyway, “Who does? What is this?” 

Two seconds ticked by; three, four and Jason wondered if he’d be strong enough to help Roy through another spiral. 

He had to. 

“Your other clone.”    

Roy broke down. This time, though, Jason lost himself in work to prevent him from falling further into his own creeping depression. He’d been looking after the two people he loved most and had nearly lost himself in the process.

All the progress Roy had made since Damian’s visit was moot and it all stemmed from something Jason had hidden from him. 

Jason was losing control of the situation and failing you and Roy again- just when everything was supposed to be looking up.

It’s easy, in hard times, to occupy feeble minds with work, which is exactly why Jason agreed to a multi-week mission with Dick and Tim even though, on any other occasion, he’d have rather bit a bullet. Jason needed an out. If only for a short while so he could get his head back on straight and be any support to Roy. It was ultimately an excuse, though. He knew he was abandoning Roy, but, fuck, Jason could hardly force himself out of bed every day as it was. How could he take care of two people when he couldn’t even take care of himself?

He imagined for a brief moment visiting you, letting you know he hadn’t forgotten you, that it was quite the opposite. He imagined telling you every secret he’d ever held from you, but it was only a figment of an irrational dream. That’s how it would have to remain and he knew it. For protection, he reminded himself. 

Protection for you or himself? It was becoming more and more blurred with every passing month.

“So, you’re leaving me,” Roy scoffed as he threw an empty bottle into the existing pile on the floor.

Jason was completely worn out and had been heavily slacking in the cleaning department. Piles of dirty plates and takeaway containers littered the floor while the carpet was drenched in the remnants of booze, blood and bile. 

“Roy, I want to help you and I want the best for you, but what you’re doing right now is hurting me… I need to-”

He cut him off swiftly. “To what, run away? Flee in the wake of adversity? She was right about you, you know? You never face shit. At least she would tell you to your face when she had an issue, but all you can ever do is bolt in the opposite direction,” he spat his words in Jason’s irate face. “Fucking, coward.”

“No,” Jason shook his head, “no, you don’t get to talk to me about her right now when you’re the only reason we haven’t seen her in years.” Roy seemed to sober up some at the harsh reality. Jason calmed his tone, realizing this would get them nowhere. “You don’t think that shit kills me? I’m trying and sometimes it seems like I’m the only one trying for both of us and that’s fine,” Jason was quick to reassure Roy because putting him down definitely wasn’t his intention. “But… I can’t deny that it’s been weighing on me, Roy. You are not and never will be a burden because I-“ Jason cut himself off at Roy’s startled face, realizing what he'd been about to say and cleared his throat. “I just need space to figure some shit out. I’ll be back soon. This isn’t goodbye and I’m not abandoning you.”

“Sure what it looks like from here,” Roy slurred.

“Yeah, well, you’re drunk, so what the fuck would you know?”

“Loosen up, Jay,” Roy called after Jason's retreating form, “you’re starting to sound as uptight as Bats.”

Jason hesitated by the door handle. He seriously considered leaving without another word, but for some reason, he just couldn’t. “That’s low and you know it.”

“Sorry," Though Roy didn’t sound it, "thought we were breaking hearts here, darling.”

Jason gave Roy one last look over as if it might be the last time he’d see him. Hell, with the downward spiral he was in, it very well could be. 

Was it really right to leave him alone? No, but it was something he selfishly had to do.

“Yeah, seems like it.” His scarred hand tightened around the door. “I’m sorry.” Sorry for leaving, for not being able to save him sooner, for not being enough to drag him from his addiction- sorry for not protecting you. 

Sorry for all of it.

•••

Three hours after Jason left was the first time he met a sickly-looking, shaky Will and, coincidentally, the first time he met Lian. 

As he opened his door, a warm bundle was immediately shoved into Roy’s newly strengthened arms. After a few months of Wayne Enterprise physical training, Jason insisted he stop calling their PT sessions that, Roy had steadily been gaining his muscle mass back. 

Roy hiccupped, taking in whatever the fuck this entire situation was. He didn’t have to wait too long for answers, though.

“The mom, Cheshire,” Roy couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath at the assassin’s familiar name, “she’s not in the picture. Ollie can’t know and I’m dying and Lian…” Will’s desperate ramblings ceased when his eyes finally laid upon the kid’s dark fluff of hair as she rested in Roy’s arms. 

“Yeah? Well, I’m dying too, so get in line,” Roy snorted humorlessly, attempting to hand back the kid and lock the door behind him, but Will’s wedged foot prevented him from doing the latter.

"It’s rapid cellular degeneration," he said like he was losing patience but, more importantly, time. “I know I’m a goner by the end of the week,” Roy watched as Will looked down at his graying skin, “and I don’t have much time and you’re the only person I can trust.” 

Roy was on edge. There was absolutely no way this kid was staying with him.

“Clearly, you don’t know me.” 

“Know you? You are me,” Will said weakly.

“No, you’re ME," Roy spat bitterly, “and all of this is because of you." Will’s eyes unsteadily trailed across Roy’s shaky, pale state, still stuck halfway in, halfway out of a wasteland of alcohol, heroin and his own dismal thoughts. “I’m going through my own shit right now and I would just be a danger to it.”

“Her,” Will corrected.

“I don’t care,” Roy slurred petulantly, “s’not my kid.”

Will scoffed, noting how Roy had taken to supporting her head as soon as his grip had slipped out of position. 

“Listen, the only reason I even knocked was to make sure my intel was right about this being your apartment.” He sagged forward, barely catching himself on the hallway wall next to Roy’s door. “I don’t have the time for this. I still need to tie up the rest of my loose ends. I can’t keep sticking around to convince you of the 'whys' of the situation. You’re a grown man. You know what you need to do.”

He saw the pain in Will’s eyes and how he never once took his eyes off of the kid- Lian.  

Roy explained that he couldn’t. “How am I supposed to deal with this,” he gestured to himself, then to the kid swaddled in his arms, “and Lian at the same time?” He still obviously wasn't convinced.

"Who do you think tipped off Jason and Ollie about your location?" Will looked him over slowly as if the action alone was using up all his energy. Roy was shell-shocked. His clone switched gears as if feeling the weight of the seconds escaping. “I even made sure there was an inside man, Guardian," he said and looked at Roy as if he knew he had him cornered. "You owe me."

"I…" Roy trailed off dumbly.

Will had been the one to arrange the rescue mission?

"You're capable of great things, Roy Harper; Lian’s just the catalyst. Please,” he begged, “take care of her and take care of yourself. We’re both counting on you now.”

He didn’t wait for an answer as there was only one answer to give. Without another word, Will stumbled off with a supporting hand on the hallway wall as he dragged his limp body further away.

Sure, Roy could've easily caught up to him, said "fuck you, dude," handed him back Lian and went inside to finish the rest of the bottle, but he didn't. No, Roy let him walk away.

He closed the door as Will disappeared from view before finally allowing himself to take in the- no, his little girl.

•••

A month later, Jason came back to a semi-clean apartment with no booze in sight and a sober Roy on the couch holding a baby. 

“I’ve been making amends with Ollie.”

“Oh?” Jason questioned as he cautiously circled around the tiny bundle. 

This wasn’t the first time Roy had said this same shit; got sober for a decent amount of time before falling back into the same old, same old. Though, Jason had to admit that the baby was a new thing. If it was a promising sign or not, he didn’t know, but Roy seemed genuinely happy at least, which was definitely a step up from how he'd been when Jason left.

Roy bounced the kid up and down in his arms, not having yet bothered to look up at Jason. “Said he thought Will running around as me might give me more time to recover in private,” he said with a shrug. “Don’t know if I believe him, but at least we’re talking again. He got me an online therapist that specializes in addiction and shit, so I guess that’s pretty cool. Means I get to watch Lian and still get better, ya know?”

Jason let the information seep in as he came to a stop right in front of Roy and… “Lian, was it?”

He nodded proudly, shoving her in Jason’s direction without taking his verdant eyes off her small form. “She does this thing where she gurgles at me and then just kind of spits up everywhere. I swear to fuck, it’s the cutest thing.”

“Mm, I’ll take your word.” Jason had taken care of plenty of kids during his days on the streets, but it was Roy acting so domestic and tame that had taken him aback. “How long?”

“How long were you gone?” There was a slight hint of venom behind it that would be impossible for Jason to miss, but it was nothing compared to the drunken rages Jason was used to quelling.

From then on out, it was a mix of dirty diapers, late nights, training, AA meetings, therapy... and, somewhere along the way, they fell for each other. 

Though, Jason would never let Roy know he’d fallen for him all those years ago, just as he’d done for you. 

•••

“I still can’t believe that the two of you being together ended up being real. Especially after the way the two of you ardently danced around your gayness for the entire year I knew you. Why do you think I insisted on you guys not being dicks about it? I knew one of you was going to get hurt with the bullshit you’d say to each other.” 

They offer you looks of sheepishness in return. 

Roy’s the first to recover. “I mean, yeah, obviously, I always thought Jaybird over there was hot. You know what I mean,” he says with a sly wink your way, but you feign ignorance, choosing instead to stare down at your nails. “Anyway,” Roy rolls his eyes at you, “then it was finally time to get you.” 

 “Why wait so long after you’d been rescued?” 

“I needed the time to recover fully.” You watch as the redhead gulps. “I didn’t want you to see me… how I was,” he sighs. “Shit, man, there’s some days where I don’t know if I even am recovered. It’s a long ass fucking process and it’s been brutal. I wouldn’t want to put you through that. Plus, the whole secret identity, vigilante thing didn’t help either.” 

You still felt slightly betrayed he hadn’t wanted you for support, though you now knew it went so much deeper than you ever could’ve imagined. 

“What about you?” you ask, pulling slightly at Jason's grip that’s around you and Roy in order to look at him.

“Already basically told you everything,” Jason fiddles with Roy’s fiery locks in an obvious attempt to dodge your curious gaze, “but here’s what you don’t know about that night, I guess.” 

•••

After he sent you down the chute, he made quick work of the goons before high-tailing it to the cave. He found Bruce and Damian already suiting up, discussing the dire situation. Jason began to do the same alongside Dick until Bruce placed a firm hand on his forearm, preventing him from removing his shirt.

“What’s your damage?” Jason shook Bruce’s grip with a swift glare. “I’m helping.”

“Your anger and your developing alias would only hinder the mission and endanger countless lives, Jason. The answer is no. You need to stand down,” he said, voice devoid of any emotion. Bruce didn’t even bother shooting him a stern look or anything. The bastard was just arrogant enough to expect Jason not to fight him on it. “You're to stay down here.”

“I’m benched?” Pure desperation drenched each and every syllable. “You can’t stop me Bruce, I’ll-” He followed Bruce’s line of sight to the cameras on the main staircase and quickly trailed off. His heart stopped as he watched you being dragged up to the ballroom, struggling right beside... 

By the time he looked away from the screen, Bruce and Damian were long gone, but Dick remained. 

“Don’t take it personally, Jay,” Dick’s calm voice did nothing to soothe Jason’s increasing irritation.

Jason ignored him.

“I need to be there,” his voice was hushed against the whirs of technology that surrounded them, but Dick had heard it clearly.

Jason 

“But it’s the Joker-”

“You think I don’t know?" he cut his older brother off vehemently. "She’s the one who doesn’t know, Dick.” How could he not see the agony this was causing him? Bruce’s cruel punishment was only making it worse. “She’s in danger and it’s because I let her out of my sight. You don’t understand, Dick, it’s all my fault.”

Dick took in Jason’s, pleading, sopping form and sighed, “She needs Jason more than Red Hood right now. Go to her. We’ll take care of the rest.” Jason sucked his teeth, glaring at Dick before going back to the screen as you were shoved around. “You know, Tim’s still benched after our run-in with Dent. He’ll need all the support he can get.” He patted his younger brother’s back comfortingly before securing his suit and taking off.

Jason took one more look at the security feed and angrily slammed his fist against the keyboard, shattering it in half from sheer force alone. 

He refused to stay down here any longer when you were up there, fighting for your life. 

No, he wouldn't don his Red Hood gear, but that didn't stop him from joining Tim in the ballroom as a helpless bystander. 

Benched, he thought bitterly. Meanwhile, Joker and his men began their torture when he was the one who’d sent you straight into the Joker’s arms, just as his mom had done to him a year prior.

Like mother, like son.

•••

“You always go back to that night. Even knowing what I know now," you add pointedly, "you know, the whole gun-toting vigilante shit, there’s still nothing you could’ve done.”

"How?" His voice is distant and cold as if he’s in the midst of berating himself at this very moment. “I left you. What did I expect to fucking happen?”

“Jason, you were saving me,” you insist. “You got me out of the way and I was able to hide. For some reason, it was almost like they were looking for me…” You suddenly think back to the recent attacks and draw the same connections that Jason and Roy seemed to also silently be picking up on. 

“You said something to me that night.” 

You cut him off with a gentle hand on his knee. He looks up at you with a surprise that leaves you wanting to draw away, but you fight the urge and keep your hand in place. “Jason, I wasn’t in the right mind whatever I said.” 

You think back as hard as you can, searching your memories of that night, but nothing sticks out. It’s as if your thoughts have been broadcast across your face because Jason easily supplements what you’re failing to connect. 

“You said something about how, unless I had some crazy ninja abilities, there’s nothing I could’ve done,” Jason looks up at you so that you’re forced to meet his striking, emerald gaze. “I… it killed me. I had all of that and I still failed you.”

You stop him in his tracks. "See, that's what I don't understand. 'Failing,'" you add air quotes around the word. “How could you or any of your family have failed me when I’m still here?” You bring his hand up to the scar on your neck and watch as he viscerally reacts. “I would take a million more ugly scars like this if it meant I got to see you another day. All those years, I felt that weight every day.”

“S’not like he stayed away from you, princess. Don’t know if you picked up on it, but he used to watch over you like some twisted angel.”

You turn your head to Roy, who seems to be analyzing your unmoving hand from his boyfriend’s thigh until his hand comes to cover your own. 

You let out a pleased hum at the contact, “Yeah, actually, I did pick up on that. Can we go back to that because what the actual fuck, you perv?” You look over at a laughing Roy. “And why the fuck are you laughing?” 

"It wasn't like that," Jason admonishes his boyfriend. “You’re not the only one who’s had an incident with the Joker. Trust me, I know how it sticks. Hell, all I've been able to do is see how it sticks with you, too.”

You absentmindedly bring your hand to your scar. Whatever kind of experience Jason had with the Joker, you imagine it’d probably been a hell of a lot worse than what you’d experienced. You wince, noticing how they both watch your movement cautiously.

“What exactly did that entail?" you question him. "You keeping an eye on me?”

When Roy said Jason had watched over you like an angel, you didn’t have the slightest idea what it meant. 

“Nothing,” Jason adamantly insists, but Roy’s snickering gives it all away. 

It’s all you needed to know that, yes, Jason had quite literally stalked you. These fucking vigilantes are going to be the death of you. Maybe soon quite literally. 

“Oh my god, I never shut my curtains.” He blushes at that, causing your mouth to gape open. “Are you fucking kidding me? I feel so fucking violated right now.” 

He holds up his hands in faux-surrender, “It’s not like I saw anything, really.” 

“What do you mean really?” you lean in, questioning him menacingly. 

He looks hot under his collar and you don’t give him a chance to back down. He seems to understand this because, for once, he gives in.

“I knew if I showed up, you’d have too many questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer. Not when I still had so many to figure out myself. Plus, it didn’t feel right to see you again without Roy there,” he pleads for you to understand. Even though you definitely needed time to process all of this, you still nod in understanding. “It was therapeutic for me in a time when I couldn’t control anything. Roy was gone; I’d abandoned you,” he sighs and glances at your scar. “I knew Red Hood could protect you better than Jason Todd ever could. That’s something I know Damian feels the same.” 

•••

It was always the same. 

He really should’ve warned you about the basics of switching up your routine during training all those years ago to avoid creeps like, well, Jason. 

The first few weeks were innocent check-ins, just making sure your lights were on and that you were feeding yourself. He watched over you when you went to the grocery store, dozed on and off when you went to school and cursed when he watched you go to the manor. 

It was completely innocent until it wasn’t.

Three months in, he watched as you began to undress. Without hesitation, his head snapped in the opposite direction. The second time it happened, he easily did the same.

It was the third time that had him fucked up. 

It was wrong. 

It was so wrong. 

You were wearing some skimpy skirt and tight turtleneck. Fucking nerd, he rolled his eyes at the latter choice, though he continued to greedily watch as you struggled to get off the offending fabric. Any other visit, he’d look away right about now, but that night, for some reason, you had him in a chokehold that he couldn’t seem to shake. No, he didn't want to shake it.

He was embarrassed by how quickly a tent formed in his pants before you'd even managed to strip a singular article of clothing.

It was definitely too late to look away when you bent down to toe off your shoes, flashing him your entire ass in the process. 

Jason snapped his head so fast, that he was pretty sure his helmet mechanisms unlocked.

He slowly turned back around to see you on your bed in a lacy black bra and red thong, talking to someone on FaceTime. He glowered for a few moments when his vision became preoccupied with the familiar tan and black hair annoyingly taking up space on your screen. 

Damian.

Fucking bastard. 

It was all too much for him. He'd already overstepped too many boundaries, so he disappeared into the night.

Jason forced himself to maintain distance until months later with the phone call to you on that fateful night.

•••

“So, now that we know Jason was stalking me. Partially while I was underage, might I add?” you grimace.

“Again, wasn’t like that,” Jason cuts you off. 

You roll your eyes, “Sure.” 

“You were always alone.” Your stomach twists, realizing just how much they knew about you from the start. “It became therapeutic to know I could protect you.”

“Awesome. I thought we’d already been over the fact that my parents are pieces of shit, so what?” You're getting a bit defensive and irrational and you know it, but you can’t help but feel cornered when they're the ones who are supposed to be opening up to you. “So what if you knew I was alone? Back when we first met, it didn’t stop you from dangling the idea of me being a part of your family depending on how I responded to your advances on me that week.”

Jason breathes your name desperately, “You know that’s not true.”

You continue on, regardless, “You constantly teased me and for what? You didn’t even like me. I never had a chance with either of you, but that never stopped you from messing with my fucking head.” 

“You’re wrong.”

“Am I?!” you exclaim, beginning to feel exasperated. “Because I think I’m finally seeing clearly now. Who am I kidding? This whole situation here,” you gesture between them and the direction of Lian's room, “you’re still doing it, even to this day. Both of you,” you glare at Roy, who shrinks sheepishly under your intense glare, “thinking that you can just call me whenever it’s fucking convenient to invite me back into your lives.”

Damn, maybe you do understand where Damian's coming from…

Jason’s voice cuts through your thoughts, “I did like you.”

You stop mid-rant, short-circuiting, “Excuse me?” 

Jason has always been one to run from your confrontations, not meet them. 

You think back to the drunken kisses, the close call in the fountain and even the Romeo and Juliet kiss, but you still can’t quite believe what you're hearing.

Even Roy seems visibly shocked by his boyfriend’s confession.

Jason looks at him, then at you. You still obviously don’t believe him, nor do you know how he got those intense scars you’ve endlessly traced over the time you've known him. 

You wait in anticipation, thinking he’ll continue opening up to you, but no further explanation comes. You sigh when you realize you’ve gotten more information than you’d expected and that you'd just have to be content with the information they did give you. You still hate being left in the dark; hate how you came crawling back. Nevertheless, you follow them to their bed and easily allow yourself to be scooped up into their arms. 

At least you can lay beside them knowing something.

It'll be enough. For now.

Always one to fall asleep first, you attempt to keep your eyes open as your breathing evens out and manage to stay awake long enough to hear Roy’s silent question.

“Why didn’t you tell her?” 

You’re already asleep before you hear the response.

A/N: all will be revealed in due time!! have an amazing day/night!!

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[arunneronthird]

The Death of Jason Todd is such a weird moment, and for me makes the birth of Tim kinda all the more special

basically the 1980s you see the birth of the adult comic fan, the late 1970s and early 80s sees comics geared at high school and college age guys, the X-men in 1975 for Marvel and the New Teen Titans in 1980 for DC.

Come 1986-87 you have the adult fans, and for Batman two works by Frank Miller, 1987's Batman: Year One and 1986's The Dark Knight Returns, both project a grim serious "for adults" NOT FOR KIDS! Batman who in both cases does not have a Robin (well DKR kinda does but we'll get there) most importantly DKR is presented as the future of DC comics as having taken place in the main timeline and were we're going. And Batman's shift to a darker more serious more adult character is set off by... the death of Jason Todd.

So you have a camp of comic fans, particularly Batman, fans who wanted to be taken seriously as adults and not have their thing their hobby characterized as "for children" you also have fans, who feel like there should have only ever been one Robin, Dick Grayson. Remember Grayson was a main character in the wildly hugely to this day biggest selling ever New Teen Titans. Till Crisis in 1986 Jason Todd had the same word for word origin story as Dick, he was also a Circus kid, his family was the "Flying Todds" who fell to their deaths. it's not till 1987, only about a year before his death he's given his own famous tire stealing origin story (and black hair...)

Any ways its unclear to this day if fans really did vote to kill him, since there's always been a rumor one person set up an automated system to repeat call the line to kill him, the final difference between kill and not was 72 votes.

However I think in so many ways that makes Tim special because the writers saw what the fans did, saw that neckbeard rotten comic fan boy rage about wanting their adult grown up grim gritty solo Batman and said "no you are wrong, Batman needs a Robin" it's not just Tim saying that to Bruce it's the creators saying it to the fans.

okay this is gonna sound a bit weird but bear with me anon, if u ever like, want to expand on this u should write a post and send me the link so i can rb it cause i think its such an interesting read and it opens up so many posible discussions and people wont be able to talk to u if ur an anon! people including me btw

that being said, it is interesting that the writers doubled down on tim after killing jason, knowing the writers hated jason! at least as far as i know, my sources are as unbiased as any dc fans so... probably biased

i think the person who originally wrote tim did indeed believe furiously that robin did not make the comic immature, he gave depth, but tim was always a... more serious robin, the quirky dialogue was cut a lot, imo, which im not complaining about, i do like the more serious batman tone, but its so fascinating to know why that shift probably came to happen

lastly i may be a dreamer but i chose to believe the poll was not manipulated, if only because of the fact that i would probably have voted to kill him off, and dont get me wrong, i love kid jason, but as a reader, wouldnt u wanna know what would happen, what it would do to bruce who was trying so hard? to dick who never trued as hard as he could? would there be another robin? how can u say no to that

[azrasboredomcure]

What the Hell?

PART 2, Jason Todd x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of blood, violence, guns, running away, injuries, passing out, swearing

I looked behind me to find out that the Red Hood was catching up to me. My adrenaline spiked once more, and I jumped off the fire escape, hoping to land on something soft or to find someone to latch onto before hitting the group. Thank god, it was the latter. He was still running though. God damn it. Does this guy not get tired? I spotted a metal ground laying in a puddle and grabbed it. “Where are you?!” The Red Hood yelled, searching for me, as I hid behind a pile of trash. Once he turned the opposite way I shouted at him, “Can’t catch me, fucker!” 

Before you say anything - yes, it was dumb, I know. But I needed to see if he was smart enough to figure out where I was. He indeed was. So maybe I was the stupid one. It’s okay, I like the chase. I smirked and sprinted once more, and used the ladder on another building to quickly climb to the roof. After finally getting to the top of the building, I crouched behind the ledge, preparing myself to attack him with my pole. 

‘You got this. You’re amazing. Yeah. You suck. But it’s okay because you're a bad bitch.’ My pep talk did not work. The only thing driving me was spite and adrenaline. Once The Red Hood got on the roof, I charged at him with my pole, dodging the bullets he shot at me. “Stop fighting!” He demanded, but I did the exact opposite and took a cheap shot and kicked his no-no square. He faltered for a second, but kept blocking my attacks. He kicked me behind my knee, causing it to give out and ended in me falling on my ass. He pinned me down as I thrashed against his arm, serving as a distraction to maneuver my body to whack Hood with my pole. When I swung it at him he got up and jumped back. I charged at him but before I could hit him, I heard a loud boom and a burning hot pain in my side. 

“No!” I heard Hood say. Is he… is he mad? I stared up at the sky, raindrops falling on my face. It felt nice, until I realized I had a math test first thing in the morning. Adrenaline spiked through me once again, causing me to stand up and increase my defense. Black spots littered my vision, but I tried my best to ignore them. The Red Hood was staring at something behind me as I realized he was walking towards my position near the corner of the roof. I turned around- yes, another bad idea I know. But I needed to see who shot me because it wasn’t the Hood. In the distance, I saw a man running away, as the Red Hood balled up his fists in anger. Why is he so mad? Isn’t he the one trying to kill me? I turned back around to face the man in the helmet as I was clutching my abdomen. “Listen man, I have a math test tomorrow so if you’ll let me go home now-” I was cut off as he silently questioned me. “You’re the Black Phoenix, aren't you?” The deep, monotonous, autotuned voice caught me off guard as I bent over laughing, but also wincing in pain. “If you’re trying to scare me off with that voice modulator, it isn’t working at all.” He stood there in silence, crossing his arms and continued to stare at me. “Where’s Batman?” He asked. My face fell at that, for I wanted nothing to do with Bruce. “How would I know? I’m not affiliated with him, dumbass.” 

I quickly walked towards the ledge behind me, which was one more bad idea considering the fact that I had just been shot by some random guy. I tripped over an empty soda can, and accepted my fate of meeting the concrete ground. I laid there for what felt like an eternity. My consciousness was starting to fade in and out. With half lidded eyes, I watched as the Red Hood quickly approached me, telling me to “stay awake” while he applied pressure to my side to stop the bleeding. I silently chuckled, “seems like it was me I couldn’t save this time.”

[knightsteapot]

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ CHIMERAS BEFORE FEELINGS

Chapter I | Chapter II

Jason Tood x Latina!reader

Action | fluff

Minors DNI, cursing, sexual references

Author's notes: This is the first chapter of the story I've been trying to write for so long! Check the info before reading to have some context 💕

Thank you for reading, no matter if you're a latina or not, just enjoy it 🔥

Here some things I want to share:

Wanna listen to the song Bizarro was signing? Here

Wanna listen to the whole sinful playlist? Here

Wanna see some art of the suit, wig, gadgets and Admena, your inner goddess? Here

Feel free to imagine the suit in the size your want, the same with the skin color. The illustration is only a visual.

You had to admit that the life of a vigilante was exciting. Everyone talks about the risks, how it can destroy your life quite literally, but what about the other side of the coin? Being a vigilante, a hero or anti-hero was indeed cool, however, few people was selfish enough to accept it. If being a vigilante boosted your battle lust, being magical, belonging to the Justice League Dark (from time to time because apparently they couldn't trust an anti-hero like you) was out of this world.

Probably, after being experimented on, your brain decided that you needed power to feel safe, you were aware but in denial because... power itself wasn't bad, despite the horrible things you did in the past (which weren't never your fault, you were just a mere little stupid puppet without will) you had a good moral compass. You'd take yourself to the extreme if that meant doing the right thing, not the politically correct thing, no, just what was needed to be done. That's why you liked it to work with this group of weirdos, exterminating magical threats under your own rules or sometimes Constantine's rules, which were... not rules but a "Do your shit right and don't get us killed"

Your current situation was no different from other situations, yes, probably using Admena's full power wasn't a good idea, her divine aura needed your vital energy to manifest but, fuck it, the job must be done, isn't it? Those words made you smile in the middle of an epic fight against a chimera, suddenly remembering your other team, the misfits you respected, protected and wished all the happiness in the world: the outlaws. You'd be lying if you say you don't have a favorite, but thinking about him just destabilize your mind, energy and dramatic heart, Jason Peter Todd was invading your mind again and meanwhile you were sealing the monster with Admena's aura, you couldn't help but wish your longing was everything but love.

With a deep long sigh you let your body rest against the rotten wood of the church, closed your eyes and tried to recover your energy, Admena even took part of your technology's energy, how ridiculous, you had to become stronger to have full mastery of your power, your mind and yes, again, your dramatic heart.

Artemis, that amazon was a fine piece of art. You probably had one or two wet dreams about her, nothing to be embarrassed of because no one would never know, but jokes aside, you looked up to her, she was strong, determined, a bit brazen but that was part of her charm. Inside the team you had a good dynamic and synergy, you weren't best friends, that was Kath's place but as coworkers you usually complemented eachother.

Once Kath and Constantine arrived the three of you contacted Batman to give a report, the case was still open after all. In the meantime you checked your phone again, Artemis wasn't exactly fond of social media so it was uncommon of her to text you, still sharing pictures or funny things could happen, why not?

With the anxiety in its peak you opened Jason's chat. You weren't really sure what was the problem until you realised something, Bizarro, sweet big Bizarro was using your Spotify account and despite having a bunch of playlists you had one, one with your deepest dirtiest thoughts... Hopefully Bizarro didn't expose you but the situation was pointing in that direction.

You bit your lip with your face contorted into a mix of worry, anxiety and fear, but when you were about to engage in the conversation and put an end to your suffering despite the consequences Constantine opened a portal and you three had to go. The energy was taking time to return to your body, so you stayed at the House of Mystery's gothic and beautiful sofa feeling like a very anxious and tired jelly.

You freezed and then acted in the most immature way. Your body sank into the sofa as your eyes focused on the chimney, angry fire burning and dim light illuminating the dark room, your body and some relics that John kept inside the house here and there. You took off your black gloves hiding your face behind your shaking hands ignoring your phone after evading a bullet Jason shot or that, actually, you shot to yourself. Silence was so noisy.

No matter how warm the living room was, you felt cold and so disappointed, who was James? Who? the only James you knew was the lilac haired guy from Pokémon and still you imagined a whole relationship with a non-existent person, great! Being honest shouldn't be so hard but fear, fear was so strong. Your life was a mess, one that you were trying to hold onto hard but that was crumbling little by little.

Jason wasn't reacting any better. At the beginning the scenario was funny, Bizarro was enjoying himself, then the situation made Jason feel a sparkle of excitement, he couldn't wait to tease the hell out of you and see what would happen, no one ever had created such unholy playlist for someone they wanted as friend. The moment he noticed his thoughts going too far from him, he stopped in his tracks and texted you.

Artemis saw the scene develop in front of her eyes, but once Jason ended up completely dumbfounded she knew something was wrong. Jason placed his phone aside and got ready to take a cold shower, damn expectations. Your relationship rested in a comfortable yet unhealthy uncertainty and neither you or Jason were brave enough to do something about it.

Who the fuck was that James?

[shadow-pixelle]

I love love your ornithology work, the description of each character is so interesting and experiencing them through the eyes of Gotham civilians is so so good. If you’re okay with it, I wanted to make sure I was imagining the right Batfam members for each person. If you’re not comfortable answering/you prefer it to be ambiguous that’s totally okay too!

So my guesses are:

Ones I’m sure of:

Starling-Dick Grayson

Phoenix- Jason Todd

Batling-Damian Wayne

Ones I’m not so sure of:

Hawk- Ngl this one I had the most trouble with, the bow and arrow and closeness to Starling and Phoenix points to it being Roy Harper but idk if that was intended/if you’re sticking with just canonical bat fam. My second guess is Terry McGinnis as I don’t know a lot about Batman Beyond.

Mockingbird- Tim Drake? It was mentioned that Mockingbird is the third Robin, but I wasn’t sure based on the color scheme/ I didn’t know if Tim is known for his impersonations (btw Such a cool detail)

Oracle: well obviously Barb but idk if the Oracle that is being claimed to see by some is actually Steph, or if it’s still Barb since the Joker is dead and therefore hasn’t attacked her/ left her unable to do field work

(Also intensely curious if Duke ends up not becoming a vigilante since the Joker was killed before he drove his parents to insanity in this universe)

Me, finally digging up the motivation to answer this;

Hi there! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed Ornithology so much! I’m really pleased it’s been so well received; I wasn’t super sure about it when I was writing it, to be honest. Like I loved it and I was having a ton of fun writing it, but it was my first time really writing an Outsider PoV, my first time writing something that really leaned into cryptid/eldritch stylisation for characters (I’d messed with it before but not to this extent), and my first really big Batman project, so like. Lot of pressure there, lol. Swooping, the second part, is actually nearly done, so hopefully I’ll be able to find the time to finish that up soonish, since that’ll answer a few of the questions already.

You are indeed correct that I’m trying to keep who each Colony member is a bit ambiguous! Ornithology is part of a series, after all, and my main goal with the whole thing was to have bits in each fic that’d be answered by bits in the other fics. So as I work more on parts two and three, Ornithology as a stand alone isn’t gonna make a ton of sense sometimes.

However! I will confirm that the ones you’re sure of are indeed correct, and that I’m not just sticking to canonical Bats, mostly because I’ve not got a ton of knowledge about all of them.

Thank you so much for the ask!

[fancyfade]

choose violence: 1, 6, 7, 10, 12, 22

1: answered here (link)

6: which ship fans are the most annoying?

:P Oh wow a choose violence one indeed. I have seen so much character hate in dick ships. like. Babs is put down and simplified, people speak of her character from a place of ignorance to try to explain why her ship is bad, Kory is put down and simplified people speak of her character from a place of ignorance to explain why her ship is bad (and on AB dickb.abs side, people just accept ableism if it means they get their ship). Like. The problem is not the relationships themselves, it's the fans who prioritize male characters above all else and it happens in more than 1 group of shippers.

7 what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

I don't really hate any characters because of how fandom interacts about them, I can generally separate canon from fandom pretty well.

I think my characters with the longest #character name negative tag, which is often influenced both by how they are portrayed in fandom and in canon, are jason todd and tim drake. :P Sorry dudes. But I still like you. But when I see bad stuff in canon or fandom i make negative posts about u, or more of my take on the bad stuff which I realize can be perceived as negative and tag it as such.

10 worst part of fanon

God there are so many. NGL I do not like the 'my blorbo most be the most oppressed and special person ever and everyone around them is mean and unreasonable'. Like whether it's Dick or Jason having relationships with Bruce that are way oversimplified from canon for the sake of angst (or always going with the most black-and-white, boring version of a canon story told multiple times, often a retcon), Tim being bullied by the entire Batfam and oppressed by a 10 year old, or Damian's childhood in the League being written to be even harder than it was with a lot of emphasis on physical abuse it's terrible.

12 the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Helena Kosmatos (aka Fury v1). I just learned that she had more than 1 comic appearance like a week ago and I already love her. What's not to like? She's super strong, her power was first activated by murderous rage she felt towards her nazi collaborator brother (who she then killed) and she can turn into a giant red monster and power up even further.

... however I have to warn everyone that like. Young All Star comics are not very high quality. And (link) So I'm not really saying you have to go read her comics, just that she's unpopular (because no one knows who she is) and I love her.

22 your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

hmmmm...

like the character everyone gets wrong, this one is hard for me to tell because you kind of wind up naturally surrounding yourself with people who like the same things you do, so you can be insane about those ideas together. Like LexCorp Talia is great and generally ignored in fandom (unless the person in question is a Talia fan), but the people I talk to about Talia all love it.

I guess overall it's not my favorite part of canon, but it's still a thing I like in canon that I think most people ignore :P Crisis events. I don't always like the interpretation that the world literally changed, like often I try to think of things that are less reality altering, but I do like the giant scale and characters all working together and I think they're fun fic fodder.

[s1ater]

daddy’s girl.

pairings. jason todd x fem!reader

part three of n/a.

about. jason questions you, only to find something out that he didn’t expect.

warnings. foul language, a little smut in the beginning

ricky rocks. lol i wanna kms

“you wanted this though, didn’t you jason?” you hiked up your plaid skirt with a devious smile, one that made his chest tighten. you plopped yourself down on his lap, so you were now straddling him, your hands on his chest as he seemed to try his best to lean away, but you had him trapped in that chair.

his breathing became strangled as he watched you and the way you seemed to get bored so fast before an idea flickered through your mind and you began to rock your hips back and forth with your barely clothed pussy rubbing against the rough lining of the zipper of his dress pants.

“i see the way you look at me,” your hips still slowly swayed in a circle as you tilted your head before closing your eyes as if a sudden wave of pleasure took over you, which wasn’t a lie with the zipper of his pants catching against your clit. “oh jason,” you groan, “i want you to make me feel good.”

he suddenly felt swallowed whole by everything of you and you’re scent of some fruity perfume. he had to stifle a groan with everything starting to get to him; the rotation of your hips that was slowly becoming painful against his increasing growing hard on, the small sounds of whimpers pushing past your lips, and even your hands that gripped his thin white tee-shirt for dear life.

“oh god,” you bit your lip before throwing your head back, one hand releasing his shirt before gripping your own, more specifically your breast that was peaking beneath the dangerously low half unbuttoned of your school shirt, begging for his attention. “oh, jason, please. feel how wet i am.”

before he could even think, your hand grasped his, placing it right beneath your skirt where your pantries were bunched to the side, giving attention to your bare cunt, indeed wet and desperate for his fingers.

“i want you to fuck me,” your hand released his and then clutched his zipper, pulling it down and then unbuttoning, revealing the white boxers that tried their best to conceal his obvious bulge. “fuck me, jason, please—“

—jason got up fast with a cold sweat dripping down practically every inch of his body. he looked around fast with flushed cheeks and a quick beating heart that he swore was going to crack his ribs. a feeling of absolute despair clouded his brain at the realization of everything that had just went down within his very own conscience.

“fuck,” he drug his hand down his face, wiping it from sweat and sleep, trying to fix his mind straight.

for the past week all jason could think about was you. even without the whole part of you being looped into an ex drug and sex trafficking operation, you were always bearing in his mind with every fucking move you made.

he didn’t get you. he couldn’t figure you out at all.

even after going to bruce.

“you realize you’re putting us in a very bad position, right?”

“no, dick, i didn’t,” bruce didn’t show an inch of remorse nor surprisal as he tinkered with one of his gadgets.

“if what jason is saying, is correct, that could mean a number of things that could all lead to bad things,” dick had his hands held out, enunciating the best he could, like he was talking to a child, but bruce still didn’t look up nor show any real sign that he was listening. “things that could include a death.”

“no need to get dramatic, dick,” bruce shook his head while setting down his piece of work, finally looking up to his two sons who stared at him with serious statures. “you two are thinking way too far into this than you need to be.”

jason’s brows narrowed in as he stared at bruce in disbelief, “you do realize i killed her pimp.”

“i’m sure she’s grateful,” he turned in his chair, starting another project. “maybe ask her about it instead of being a crook and making it a larger deal than needed.”

the fact that bruce couldn’t care less annoyed him, further more leading jason to disperse from the house for another month—something you weren’t surprised by nor cornered, because you had no idea what was really going on.

you grew accustomed to jason’s absence and you found it a lot more enjoyable than you originally thought you would. especially since you could breathe without him questioning your next move.

jason, however, was finding it quite difficult without your presence.

“master todd, we didn’t expect you.”

jason disregarded alfred as he made his way in the mansion, nodding to his words, “don’t worry.”

“not staying for long, i assume?”

“who knows,” he trudged down the entrance of the foyer before making his way to the staircase that led to the bedrooms, picking out to yours. 

“c’mon, let’s go,” he opened your door without a knock, revealing you standing in the midst of your room, putting things away at your desk. “i’m only going to ask you once, let’s go.”

a strange look crossed your face as you stared at him, not knowing what to say, not really knowing what to do until he moves away from the door and back toward the stairs.

you follow him and don’t stop till he stands by his bike.

“you’re gonna have to tell me where we’re going if you want me to get on that with you.”

“what, you scared?” he hummed, pulling out a helmet before offering it to you.

you slightly smirk, swaying on your feet, “no, not scared, just don’t trust you.”

jason scoffed, “you’re one to talk.”

“and you’re a saint?”

“just take the damn bike helmet and get on.”

“only if you let me drive it,” you eyed him up and down with a smirk.

“yeah, you wish, princess.”

**

“you initiating me into your gang or something?”

jason didn’t even attempt to answer as he rolled his eyes, continuing to lead you down the busy side walk where he soon walked into a diner that you hadn’t ever seen before.

you still paused, looking the building up and down in hesitation, your chest burning with the analyzation of the building. you had no choice to follow him in.

“you want to be friends now?”

“whoever said i didn’t?”

you slid into the other side of the booth that jason had chosen.

“i don’t know, it seems you have a strong repulsion whenever i come within five feet of you.”

“and you’re not the same way?” jason thinks of the revolting attitude you carry against him ever since the christmas party and he’s almost annoyed that you were trying to pin the hostile nature between the two of you on him.

“why’re you so concerned how i feel about you?” you leaned forward on your forearms, narrowing your brows on him.

you were being contradicting and he couldn’t tell if it was purposeful or not. either way, jason could feel his annoyance building up progressively and he was beginning to regret wanting to talk to you.

“maybe i find you intriguing,” it’s the best he could come up with as he shrugged simply, clasping his hands in front of him on the table top. “i mean ex-stripper, you gotta have some stories.”

any sign of amusement drops from your face as you now slightly glare at him, surveying his face, looking for what his game was.

“funny.”

“you think so?” he now leans back in the booth, more relaxed now that the conversation was going his way. “i think so. i think it’s really ironic too, you know? because of bruce and i also shutting that place down.”

“i think it’s really ironic that that’s where you brought me today,” you weren’t entertained at all, and at first you thought it was some coincidence that jason took you to this diner the that used to be the exact strip club you worked at before this conversation was brought up.

you were beginning to think it wasn’t a coincidence at all.

“funny.”

“you think you’re so smart jason todd,” you mirrored his slack position against your side of the booth, but everything about you was still tensed and annoyed. “maybe take time to actually read between the lines and not what was just on the police report.”

“there was no reading between the lines with your case, y/n. there’s millions that i’ve been through that mirror exactly yours with every minor detail. stay mad that i killed your pimp.”

“he wasn’t my pimp, asshole.”

“then who was he?” jason quirked a brow, “your manager? your friend? your boyfriend? whatever label you had on that man, it doesn’t change who he was. he’s still a guy who marked your body for prices.”

your face was screwed up, lines of slight confusion inking your expression as he spoke, “he was my father.”

navigation.

@missthewitch @cryinginsanity @flamboyantly-uzzz @thecraziestcrayon @imagines-r-s @transias @dumbass-pan-girl @cc13723things @ietss @fruitiseavey @sambucky8 @black-rose-29 @reality-runaway @peach-buns-unicorns @obsessedsadgirl @i-love-scott-mccall @greengarsstuff @sunsetcurve-95

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Masterlist of Comic Knowledge Posts

(To be expanded upon as new posts are made, but for now, here’s a place you can find any big questions I’ve answered or comic info I’ve dug up)

DC Timeline Powerpoint

Batkid Nicknames Powerpoint

Batkid Hero Names/Undercover Aliases Powerpoint

A Crash Course in the CW Arrowverse

What Was Jason Like As Robin?

The Significance of Jason’s Bat Symbol

Damian’s First Canon Interactions With Each Batfam Member

The Brady Bunch

What Instruments Do the Batkids Play?

How Tim Lost His Spleen

When and Why Tim Changed His Color Scheme to Red and Black

Batkids + Major Injuries

The History of Damian’s Skin Tone in Comics

Is Dick White?

Crash Course on Bart Allens’ Death

The Batkids + Swearing

Duke Thomas’ Personality and How to Write It

My Cringey Old Tim Drake + Depression Masterpost

“I Don’t Hit My Kids” Yeah Okay Old Man

If You Were Wondering Whether Dick and Tim Like Pineapple On Pizza, the Answer is Yes

Remember the Time N52 Bart Was a Psychopath

Batkids + Their Last Words When They Died

Every Panel of the Batkids Referring to Each Other As Siblings That I Could Find

Damian and Selina’s Current Relationship

Tim is a Health Nut

The Aftermath of Bart’s Death

Every Panel of Bruce and Dick Being Referred to As Father and Son That I Could Find

Every Panel of Bruce and Jason Being Referred to As Father and Son That I Could Find

Every Panel of Bruce and Tim Being Referred to As Father and Son That I Could Find

Every Panel of Duke and Cass Being Referred to As Bruce’s Children That I Could Find

Bruce’s “Death” and Battle For the Cowl Explained

The Confusing History of Ra’s and Talia’s Eye Colors

Jason Suffers From Chronic Pain, Y’all

Damian Nicknames

Wally West’s Dating History

That Time Dick Was in the Mob

What the Public Knows About Jason’s Death

Why Does No One Remember That Dick Was Raped When He Was 16

The Dark Origin of Jerry the Turkey

The Batkids + Mourning Each Other’s Deaths

Jason is a Canon Book Nerd

No, Dick Did Not Try to Throw Tim in Arkham

Dead Robins Club Members

Bruce + Calling the Batkids His Children

Which Batkids Have Been Raped/Assaulted?

Talia al Ghul Before and After Grant Morrison Got Their Hands On Her

All the Times Tim Was Down With Murder

Tim Not Sleeping is a Canon Thing

FOR THE LAST TIME, JASON WAS INDEED THERE DURING BATMAN: HUSH!! IT WASN’T CLAYFACE THE ENTIRE TIME!!!

Batfam Deaths and Resurrections: A Timeline

All the Barbara Gordon (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Bruce Wayne (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Cassandra Cain (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Damian Wayne (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Dick Grayson (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Duke Thomas (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Jason Todd (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Stephanie Brown (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

All the Tim Drake (w/ Batfamily) Hugs I Could Find

Dick and Damian’s Relationship

The Timeline of Jason’s Death and Resurrection

The Timeline of Jason’s Return to Gotham

Tim + His Parents: One Big All-Encompassing Post Covering Tim’s Relationships With Jack and Janet Drake

Tim and Jason’s Pre-52 Relationship + Jason’s Winning At “How Many Times Can We Try to Kill Tim” Bingo

Jason is Good With Kids

Dick and Cass: Canon Interactions

Is Tim Really Into Photography?

Tim Being Depressed/Suicidal

Dick Grayson and Tarantula: A Hella Toxic Relationship

Analysis on Wally and Artemis’ Crushes On M’gann and Conner