#none of his kids will admit that they actually just like it when Bruce just picks them up like a kid

[brucewaynehater101]

AU for Bats and the JL

When Duke joins the brigade, the Bats are ecstatic to introduce him to the JL. Why? None of the JL actually believe that the Bats are non-meta humans. Are they supposed to believe that Batman can do all that he can because he trains really hard?

The JL is so convinced that the Bats are lying about not having powers that they've included it in New Member initiation. It's considered "rude" and "mean" to call out Bats on their very obvious power usage. In fact, guessing Bat powers is half the fun! They gather all of the non-Bat members to have potluck discussions about it.

Obviously, the Bats are well aware of these meetings. They have their own gatherings where they laugh at the suggestions or come up with strategies to fuck with the JL.

For Bruce, the JL is convinced that the man has control over shadows as well as increased mental compacities. Bruce is way too skilled in disappearing in a room full of people with enhanced senses. Also, he knows facts about almost every subject.

For Dick, that man should not be able to move like he does. He either doesn't have bones or has increased elasticity. Dick's favorite JL memory is crawling down the Watchtower halls with his joints in weird places. Green Arrow's scream is forever recorded and backed up into five different servers.

At first, the JL thought Jason had emotional manipulation capabilities. The hope, courage, and passion he inspired could not have been naturally occurring. Then, after he re-emerged as the Red Hood, obviously his powers are resurrection -_-

Tim? Kid's a cryptic ancient creature. The creepy kid will stare at you without blinking throughout a two hour meeting. Stay away from him and don't piss him off.

Steph nearly laughed herself into a coma when someone tried to convince Hal that Spoiler gets her power from the color purple. Her switching to Robin's costume caused a riot and the JL members frantically scheduled an emergency non-Bat meeting. Should they intervene with Bruce forcing her to wear a costume without aid to her powers? The few months she was Robin were tense for the members.

Damian has an ability to understand martial arts on an unparalleled level. What other non-meta ten year old can utilize a sword so effectively?

Cass is an entity. They don't know what she is, but they fear her all the same.

Barbara is all-knowing. Her ability to collect information and navigate technology can not be naturally occurring.

Now, the JL is faced with the first Bat to admit he has powers. Does that mean none of the others have powers? Is Signal's just too obvious to deny?

[dcxdpdabbles]

Do you ever plan on continuing the Adoptive Son Au?

This wasn't just a mission anymore.

Dick lays perfectly still, staring up at Crowne's bedroom ceiling. Besides him, Crowne is found asleep, and his soft puffs of breath are the only sound to be heard in the room. As always, the other man is curled up facing the wall, one fist under his cheek and the other clutched to the warm set of blankets.

It's something Dick noticed the first night he slept over.

Awake Crowene took up so much space with his commanding aura, steadily leading his team into the future like a king upon a throne—as if he were larger than life.

Asleep, Crowne seemed to grow smaller, a shocking reminder that for all he's accomplished, he too was only eighteen like Dick.

His face softened, and the invisible weight that seemed to be resting on Crowne's shoulders vanished once he slumbered. It surprised Dick, the first time he watched him sleep, to see how gentle the man could be. How innocent he appeared.

It was a reminder of how inexperienced Crowne was regarding relationships.

The mission had gone on longer than he'd ever planned it to. Dick was worried about how far he was going to go with the honey pot aspect, even with his suggestive comments and more daring flirtations. None of his other missions have gotten so far, always stopping at a few cuddles and kisses.

Thankfully, Crowne hesitated to go further. He had agreed to the hotel room, leaving Drake with Nancy for the night, and as Dick was desperately trying to think of an escape as they climbed up to the room, Crowne had grown more and more angsty.

They had kissed against the door and stumbled their way to the bed with heated breaths and whispered moans, but when they actually landed on the hotel bed, Crowne had sprung away. He had burst into tears, shamefully admitting he wasn't ready.

Dick had been so grateful for the out as he gathered Crowne into his arms and promised to wait till the time was right. He would wait until the CEO was ready, wiping away tears and kissing his cheeks dry.

He gave himself more time by admitting he also didn't feel comfortable moving forward yet, and Crowne looked at him with such tenderness Dick forgot about the mission for only a minute.

Instead, the two somehow ended up chatting the night away, lying side by side, whispering to each other against the pillows. None of what they spoke about was useful for the mission, and yet he found himself holding the little facts about Crowne close to his heart anyway.

He learned about Crowne's insecurities, some of the bullying he endured as a kid, the loving parents he missed, and the sister he lost. He even spoke about his fear of failing Drake or the rest of the people at his company who depended on him, how sometimes that fear of failure would creep in and freeze him in place.

In turn, Dick found himself talking of the circus, whispering what he missed and what life was like before his parent's death.

He shared his role as team leader—though not what the team was—and how sometimes he felt like he was still attempting to find his place in everyone's lives. Shockingly, he even admitted that he feared Bruce would never see him as soon, hiding his tears in Crowne's neck as he pushed out the words.

He never opened up to anyone like that, which terrified him of how far he may have lost himself within the lie.

They fell asleep together that night, curling around each other fully clothed, and it was far more intimate than anything he had ever done with anyone else.

The following day Dick had been able to spot love in Crowne's eyes whenever he looked at him. It made him sick. He tried to not make too much eye contact following this, for they had yet to find the missing children, and he couldn't bring himself to acknowledge the devotion of a man he was playing for information.

Now, four months after they agreed to go slow, he slept on the right side of Crowne's bed, which had become his side, watching the snow gently fall outside the window of the new house Crowne had purchased. The mission had far surpassed the expected wait time, as Christmas was quickly approaching, and Crowne had made comments of spending it at Wayne mannor.

He had seen a shopping list with Bruce, Jason, Damian, and even Alfred's names on Crowne's desk, and a couple of gift ideas were written next to them. Because he knew that to Dick, they were his family, and he wanted to make a good impression on them.

The mission had begun in spring, but Dick couldn't find a way to untangle himself from Crowne. He had been heavily involved in the gym Crowne was setting up with Drake, seeing that he adored possibly being a gymnastics teacher more than he ever planned.

Bruce occasionally commented that he shouldn't let himself be swept away by the lie.

He knew the truth.

This domestic bliss he was spending with Crowne was an illusion. It was bound to burst the day they found what they were looking for, but by the gods, Dick honestly thought they were wrong.

They had to be.

Crowne's mysterious rise to power, extortionary science, brilliant business mind, and unexplained funds all pointed to darker, evil intentions.

But Danny? The man's eyes soften by children's laughter. He made silly puns when he wanted to cheer up Dick. He curled around Dick, holding him through nightmares and never asking what they were about.

Danny stepped up for Tim Drake and gave him a home when all signs clearly pointed to the Drakes neglecting their son. Danny was the one who anonymously paid off medical debt, asking nothing in return, not even acknowledgment. Danny was the one who could name all the stars in the sky, yet looked sad when staring upwards.

Danny was the one Dick was in love with, but Danny was also Crowne, and the Bats were gunning to lock him up for the rest of his life.

It tore him to pieces, but Dick pushed himself out of the warm bed. He patted his way to the boxes that still needed to be unpacked. He was the one to convince Danny to buy a house outside the city, knowing the man wouldn't bother to pack appropriately.

This meant he would likely carelessly throw evidence into random boxes—the evidence he needed to finally put him away.

He looked over his shoulder to ensure the other was still sleeping before going through the items. He went through the first five without finding anything, angry at himself for feeling relief until he came across the last box.

Inside were notebooks.

Some date back to the first year Danny was adopted by the Crownes. There were systematic experiments and notes on the portal making, but the worst of all were the files.

Files of the street kids he had moved. With each page turned, Dick found profiles of the kids, where they were found, what they were going through, how they were taken, and where they were placed. There were even several phone numbers of social workers who helped him move the kids about.

A leger of the trafficking ring. All were written in Danny's handwriting. It was a lie, Dick knew, but it was still devastating to realize how evil the darkness within Crowne indeed was.

The very last thing in the box was an engraved ring with Richard Grason on the inside, sitting inside an elegant ring box.

Dick felt sick as he reached up to his earpiece pressing it three times. Bruce picked up with a soft greeting that quickly turned to worry when Dicked choked out through his tears.

"We got him."

[ellana-ravenwood]

“Hey Mrs Wayne !” - Fem!Reader x Batfam x Young Justice x JLA

Synopsis : Your children invited their friends over a few times. You met every single kid in the team they call “Young Justice”...but you never ever met their parents/ guardians/mentors. It comes as quite a shock to all the Justice League members when they realize their kids know you well, while they didn’t even know you existed. 

Just a short and silly story. A sort of AU in which the younger superheroes met Batman’s family before their older counterpart hehe. I hope you’ll like it :) :

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

My masterlist(s) : @ella-ravenwood-archives

__________________________________________________

Bruce was a secretive man. And for a very long time, none of the Justice League members knew about his family. None of them knew he was actually married, and the “Robins” were his kids (although they had suspicions about the latter).

But there came a day when the “secret was out”. 

The main reason Bruce told them who he really was, was as a show of trust. He wanted to prove he trusted them, and he wanted them to trust him. 

It was vital, for the team to work properly. Once they discovered he had contingency plans for each and everyone of them, it was the only solution to gain back their trust. 

Of course, Bruce would never admit openly that he considered many of them his friends, and that it was actually a great relief to finally tell them the truth (after all, he knew since a long time THEIR secret identity...he wasn’t the best detective in the world for nothing). But it was a necessary step. 

Once they knew who he was, it was as if they were finally truly a team. They all trusted each others enough to divulge their real self. 

Funny, when you think about it. Bruce’s paranoia and constant need for “plans” (you did convince him to go see a therapist about that), his great mistrust in others, ended up being what cemented everyone’s relationship.   

Bruce’s distrust lead to everyone trusting one another with their lives. They revealed who they were, as civilians. And Batman did it first. He told them first. 

“Bruce Wayne.” He said, removing his cowl. Revealing one’s real identity was dangerous, for people in their line of work...yet he trusted them. He showed them that his initial wariness had vanished. 

Batman showed them who he really was. And in more than one way, as they all came to realize that, if he was THE Bruce Wayne...Then he had quite a big family ! 

What a shock ! 

And what a greater shock, when they realized their kids knew all about it long before they did. When they realized they knew you well, when they didn't even know you existed !  

Superman

Clark was the first person from Bruce’s “work” who met you. 

Of course, he was. Who else, but Batman’s BEST friend would meet his family first ? Who would the Dark Knight trust more amongst the JLA members, but the one who he first called “friend” ? 

Who else but Clark, could meet you first ? 

It’s not like anyone else had Bruce’s trust or anything. Not like he would let anyone else get close to his family. Come to his home. Meet his wife and kids, unmasked. 

Right ? 

...Right ?

...

RIGHT ?!

Wrong. 

Clark was not the first person to ever meet Batman’s family. Hell. He wasn’t even the second person to do so...or the third...or the fourth...

When he first arrived at Wayne Manor, he had almost a sense of pride. Because he was so sure that he was the first person that Bruce ever allowed in his home. In his personal life (the first superfriend, at least). 

Imagine his surprise, when Bruce introduced him to you, and you were playing video games with your children and...CONNER ?! What the-

Kon was a good friend of Dick, and one of Tim’s best friend.  

And at first, Clark rejected him. 

And it didn’t take more. 

Of course, you’d welcome with open arms a lost “little” kid who didn’t know who he truly was, and who was shunned by someone who could help him out. Of course, Bruce would say “yes” when Dick asked if Conner could sleep over one night the boy felt particularly alone. 

Taking care of lost ducklings was kind of your jam. 

Conner was like a nephew, to you. He would often crash at Wayne Manor. Bruce knew he needed someone there in his life, and he knew that being as powerful as Superman meant he could be dangerous if he didn’t learn how to process his emotions. 

Of course, OF COURSE Conner would be welcomed in your home. Not only was he one of your son’s closest friend, but he was also just a child. You’d never leave him all alone. 

Everyone in the Young Justice league had someone to go see if they needed, except for Conner. 

You became “his confident”, when Clark was still rejecting him. Nowadays of course, their relationship softened. Over the years, they developed a filial relationship, because let’s be honest, the first time Clark met Conner, there wasn’t really much even a chance of a relation. Ah, but the man of steel came around, of course. In part thanks to Bruce. In part because Kon was actually a good kid. 

But before that, who was there to guide Conner ? 

You and Bruce. 

You especially, gave him the motherly care he obviously never knew. Martha and Lois would gladly accept this role later on, but at the beginning, you were there. 

He wasn’t always home of course, and you never adopted him because you and Bruce both knew he belonged with the Kents. But it didn’t mean that Conner didn’t hung a LOT in your home. 

And so when Clark first came, thinking he was the first to get in the intimacy of Batman’s house, and he saw him playing video game with Bruce’s wife (whom he didn’t even know existed)...it was a shock, to say the least. 

Even more so when he realized Kon seemed very close to you. 

He clearly knew you, called you by your first name and everything ! What ?! But Batman was HIS best friend, so he should know his wife first ! 

You and Clark became friends quickly, it was so easy, to become friend with him. He was most definitely the “golden retriever” type of the group, and easy to approach (unlike a certain husband). 

And although Superman would never admit it, he had been particularly friendly to you (risking Bruce’s infamous bout of jealousy) and such, because he wanted to “catch on” on Conner’s “advance”. There was no way the boy could know his best friend’s family more than him. No way, nuh-hu. Clark didn’t make so many efforts for Batman to finally accept him, only to realize that someone else got to know him better ! 

Do you know how long it took the mighty Superman to finally break down Bruce’s defenses ? To finally reach him, and become friends ? How many times he got rejected, before he finally managed to come to Wayne Manor ? 

And what, Conner had been here the entire time ? Oh, and the boy looked at him that day, as if to say : “Yeah. Hurts to feel left out, right ?!”, which fueled Clark’s need to be loved by everyone even more (and put a lot of things into perspective..;after all, it’s seeing Conner so well integrated in your family that made him realize he had to be there for the boy). 

It wasn’t fair. Clark didn’t even know you existed ! Aaaaaah. 

Yes. It was honestly quite upsetting. To this day, Clark was still a little vexed. 

Kon always saw it as a great sort of “revenge” on the man who, at first, rejected him so adamantly. On the man who wanted nothing to do with him. 

Over the years though, this little fact became a source of “competition” between the Kent boys. Later on, Clark’s youngest son, Jon, would be over at your house WAY too often. It’s funny, because you’d say yourself that Damian was spending too much time at the Kent’s house. 

Your boys were best friends, of course. Ah, but it was a bit of a competition, between Clark and his kids, to know who knew the Waynes the best...

It never ceased to amuse you. 

WONDER WOMAN

Diana often made a distinction, in her head, between the Batman she met at the beginning of the Justice League, and the Batman he slowly became. 

When she first met him, when he first approached her about that JLA idea, it was clear the man had been alone for a long time. That he wasn’t used to work as a team. Or rather, that he was used to people listening to him. To people doing what he said. That he was used to work alone, and to not rely on anyone else. To not trust anyone else. To not let anyone else into his heart. 

That Batman was cold, sad, distant, and honestly kind of an ass. 

Over those first few years though, Diana noticed a difference. He became a little more open. A little easier to deal with. 

Years later, Diana would learn that you met him a little while after the league was created. That you met him at his worst, and somehow still decided to stick with him, and even marry him. That when you appeared in his life, it been a very long time since he last truly trusted someone (someone who wasn’t Alfred). 

Of course, it took him time to open up a bit more. But she did notice a difference. In her opinion, there was definitely two different Batman. 

The one before you, and the one after you. 

Let’s not be too optimistic, she still thought that Bruce could be an ass, and he was often arrogant and inconsiderate. But she still saw a slight switch in him. An improvement. 

Haha. Of course the source of his improvement was a woman. As a proud amazon, Diana wasn’t surprised. 

What surprised her, however, was that her little proteges, Donna and Cassie...knew all about you. 

How come did they never tell her anything ? 

“Mrs. Wayne asked us not to.” 

Was their answer. And when Diana met you, she understood. Yes. Yes there was something about you. Something that made her believe that you were the one who helped Bruce get away from his dark path, and onto a brighter future. Something that made her trust, that you took good care of Donna and Cassie. Something that made her like you instantly. 

What was it ? 

She wasn’t sure. Maybe it was how you so easily got along with her proteges ? How they seemed to fully trust you ? Maybe it was something in your voice, that she found soothing. Maybe it was the fact that you managed to tame the bat ? 

Diana would never quite know for sure. But she always suspected the fact that both Wonder Girls seemed to adore you played a part in how fast you two became friends. 

She was the only one who was not bothered in the least to meet you after the kids did. On the contrary, it felt right, to meet you and befriend you AFTER those two accepted you. Yes. Yes. 

It felt right. 

FLASH

What the fuck. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK ?!

Those words kept repeating in Barry’s head as he saw his “little” nephew, Wally, run around Batman’s kitchen as if he owned the place.  

Indeed, Wally just casually trudged to the fridge, got a soda out of it, and then took a piece of the cake that was on the table, without even asking. He got a plate from a cabinet...He knew were the plates were ! 

And no one batted an eye ! Not even scary old Batman, who certainly couldn’t approve of such behavior, right ?! 

What the hell was going ooooon ??  

“Hey Mrs. Wayne !” 

Wally exclaimed happily when he saw you. And then he-

He-

He hugged you ????  

WHAAAAAT ?! 

“Hi there Wally, it’s been a while. You’ve been behaving, I hope.”

“Always, you know me Mrs W.”

You knew him ?? Yeah ok. That was it. Barry was completely lost. 

Only a few weeks earlier, did he learn that Batman’s true identity was Bruce Wayne. Of course, he knew the man. Everyone in the USA knew him. And his wife and kids. So when he was invited to Wayne Manor, he knew what to expect. 

He knew you’d be there, as well as the kids he already knew (although masked). He never met you before, but he knew about you. And recognized you. 

He thought he’d make his favorite nephew happy by bringing him with him. He thought he had such a scoop, that Wally wouldn’t believe his eyes when he’d realize who Bruce Wayne really was. 

And here they were. 

Barry, completely lost, and Wally, apparently knowing you and all ?? 

Ah. Ah, now it made more sense. 

This is why Batman almost cracked a smile when he asked him if he could bring his nephew, because Wally was good friends with Robin number 1 and 2 (Barry couldn’t believe they all grew up so fast, he refused to call Dick “Nightwing”, or Jason “Red Hood”, and kept acting as if they were still 13). 

He thought he was going to make “Kid Flash” happy. He thought he would blow his mind. 

AH ! And here they were. Barry was faced with all of you, and you clearly found the situation funny as you all smiled. Even Bruce, wasn’t far from a smile, and had a crooked smirk on his face, clearly amused (it was a little sadistic of him, really). 

It didn’t take long to Barry to make 2 and 2 together. He realized that, quite a long time ago now, the kids told each other’s secrets identity. That they trusted each other, and bonded faster than their adult “counterpart”. 

A surprising thing that Barry realized too, and that he kept somewhere in his mind just in case he needed some leverage : Batman couldn’t say “no” to his kids. That’s how the entire superkids army ended up at Wayne Manor before the “adults”. Because Dick asked if his friends could come over, and Bruce didn’t have the heart to say “no”. 

That’s how all of them knew you. That’s how- aaah. 

Wally looked at his uncle, and smiled widely, saying : 

“Haha. For once, I was faster than you !”

MARTIAN MANHUNTER

M’gann has never been good at hiding things from her uncle. 

It’s not that he would willingly read her mind, it’s just that sometimes, her thoughts just...spilled out of her. She couldn’t help it. When there was something preoccupying her, she thought about it so much that J’onn would just always know about it. 

That’s one of the reasons her friends never really told her secrets they wanted to keep from the adults, when they knew J’onn would be around. 

Yes. M’gann's “poker brain” was horrible. And yet-

Yet she managed to keep for herself the fact that she was invited to multiple sleepover at Wayne Manor, and that her friends Tim and Dick, who happened the be Robins at one point, were Bruce Wayne’s sons (THE Batman). 

It hadn’t always been easy, but she made it. And one of the reason, was because she really, really, REALLY liked Batman’s wife.

You. 

You were so nice, and motherly. You treated all of those kids as if they were yours, when they came to visit. 

If you knew M’gann was going to come around, there would be freshly baked cupcakes in the kitchen. Her favorites, of course. 

M’gann felt a deep need to protect you. 

All of the kids, felt that. Actually, unbeknownst to you and every other adults, the children made a pact when they all first met you : They were to make sure no harm would happen to you. 

Their reasoning was : first, you were the mom of some of their best friends, so, duh. But second, without you, clearly, Batman would crumble. And Batman was one of the backbone of the JLA. If he fell, they could all fall. Yes, a secret pact was made. “Protect Mrs. Wayne.” 

Plus, you always welcomed them into your home with opened arms, you were warm and nice, and your cupcakes were the best. All the more reasons, right ? 

J’onn knew you held a special place in those children’s heart, when he first met you, realized that M’gann knew you all this time, and yet she never once let shown. She never once let her thoughts about you show, while she’s never been good at hiding things. 

Martian Manhunter knew, that you were special, thank to those kids. Thanks to them knowing you before he, or any JLA members, did.

Besides, you had to be special to bear to live with someone like Batman, right ?

AQUAMAN

“Hey Kaldy !” 

You say happily, seeing the young man coming up the stairs of your home. 

“Hello, Mrs. Wayne. How goes it ?”

“Pretty well, and yourself, young man ?”

“Good, as well.” 

There’s a short silence. During which Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, king of Atlantis, looks at his protege, and then at the woman next to Bruce (whom he knew now was Batman), and then back at his protege, and then-

“...Kaldy ??” 

He exclaims suddenly, in utter disbelief. How ? How could Kaldur know who you were when he himself didn’t even know you existed just a few weeks earlier ? How, and why ?? 

And did you call him Kaldy ? Kaldur disliked nicknames, how come you were allowed to call him Kaldy ?? 

You saw the confusion on Arthur’s face, but you misunderstood it. You thought he was surprised to hear you call him a nickname (because you knew the boy and his distastes for such thing well), but it wasn’t just because of this. Aquaman was especially surprised that his loyal subject and protege knew Batman’s wife, while he didn’t !! You said : 

“Oh yes, Kaldy, because Kal was taken. It’s Clark’s birth name, and honestly it gets too confusing when two people are called the same. Although it was funny to just say “Kal”, watch both of them turn around, and wonder to whom I was talking haha...MMmmm. I guess I have a bad sense of humor.” 

You laugh to yourself, and he cannot believe that your his wife. Yes he sees how softly Bruce looks at you (even if once he noticed Arthur was looking at him himself, he started to were a stoic expression, schooling his face properly once again). 

He cannot believe Kaldur knows you, when he didn’t even know you existed, yet clearly the boy is well familiarized with you. 

“You- You came here before, Kaldur’ahm ?” 

Aqualad is clearly a bit embarrassed, as he says : 

“I am sorry, my king. But I promised Mrs. Wayne I wouldn’t say anything, she said if I did, Batman would get...cranky.”

Bruce turns his head towards you, his eyes narrowing as if to say : “I can’t believe you said that”, your smile which meant : “please, you know it’s true” only made him narrow his eyes further...

And on that note- 

Arthur starts to burst out laughing. 

The situation was so absurd. What. He didn’t know his friend of many years was married, but Kaldur did ? And the reason why the boy never mentioned her was because Batman would “get cranky” ?? 

Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. 

Soon, you all laughed together, and the rest was history. 

Yes, Kaldur had been coming to Wayne Manor for a long time now, and so what ? He was close friends with Batman’s kids. That was enough of an explanation. 

After all, it was the “adults” fault that they didn’t trust each other as fast as the kids did, right ? 

GREEN ARROW (with guest appearance from Black Canary)

Roy had been a long time friend of Jason. And you held the boy dearly inside your heart, because you knew he helped your son tremendously. 

Both Roy and Jay knew the pain of feeling abandoned, and left for dead. 

It was only natural, for Roy to be an “extended member of the family”. He was genuinely like a nephew, to you. You were never surprised to see him in your kitchen, unannounced, devouring a cake or something. 

“Sup Mrs. Wayne”, he’d say, giving you a high five, your son Jason never being too far. 

Roy was always welcomed. In fact, he was much more welcomed than Oliver will ever be. One thing your husband LOVED doing : annoy the crap out of other billionaires. Especially when they were arrogant like Oliver Queen (the irony of that statement never fully reaching your husband’s brain...)

Too bad for Green arrow, eh ? 

It was one of Bruce’s favorite past time, oops. And so when Oliver first came to Wayne Manor, accompanied by Dinah, and he realized that Roy was there while the boy was currently filtering his calls...the archer was shook. 

No but for real. Here was Roy, sitting at the kitchen table, eating a home cooked meal, relaxed in his chair, clearly alive and well...all the while Oliver had been worried sick ! He would never admit it of course, but he was ! 

But clearly, “Speedy” (now Arsenal) was all good.  

You had invited Green Arrow for dinner (Bruce didn’t want to invite him, mainly just to piss him off because he had invited everyone else already), and oh, Roy and your husband had way too much fun taunting him. 

And what the hell, although Roy had eaten two full plates already, he asked for a third one when he saw that Oliver was going to ask if there was any food left. You served the boy, of course, and Bruce insisted for him to finish the dish (just so Oliver couldn’t have more). 

You dotted over Roy so much, that Oliver felt almost hurt. Beyond the fact Bruce and the boy obviously were trying to annoy him, Oliver realized how many years he lost. How far from Roy he was, now. 

Seeing how close you all were, He realized...

This needed to change. And it would. 

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

“I trained a lot here.” Artemis said matter of factly, when Oliver asked her how come she knew about Wayne Manor before he did. 

“...I beg you pardon ?” He said, a little offended. Why wouldn’t she train at his place ?? 

“They have an insane gym, and in the cave they have one of them “danger room”. Like in the X-Men. So we often met here to train together. Sometimes because it’s honestly closer to come to Gotham than the YJ headquarter’s. But mainly because Dick is a BIG Mama’s boy.” 

Artemis snickered, looking at your oldest son. And, it was true. The reason the Young Justice sometimes came to train in the Batcave rather than at their headquarters, was because Dick was easily homesick (those short years during which he didn’t talk to Bruce anymore, and was away with the Titans, were tough for him). 

And so what ? He lost his family once, could anyone blame him that he was so traumatized he easily missed his mom ? Nope. No one. 

Doesn’t mean they never teased him though. 

“As my little brother Damian would say : it’s hardly something I’m ashamed of, good ol’ Artemis.” 

They laugh together, and you shake your head. You turn to Oliver to tell him that-

Wait, was he pouting ? Oh. Oh he definitely was ! And why, exactly ? 

Because Artemis, whom he took care of, whom he took under his wing...KNew you before he did, and liked Bruce’s gym better than his. 

Fair enough. 

DICK 

It was Dick, who first convinced his dad to let his friends come over. 

“Absolutely not” he said, at first. But then Dick did his infamous puppy eyes. The little fucker always managed to get some unshed tears in them, always managed to look utterly sad even when it wasn’t really the case. 

Your little buddy even went as far as saying : “I just- I just wanted to feel normal” in a broken voice, lowering his head as he left the room (pure acting, of course).

Bruce stood no chance. Alfred and you gave him that look that meant : “Don’t be so heartless !”, and Dick pulled at his heartstring by acting as if he was truly hurt by his refusal. 

No chance at all, all Batman that he was. 

He couldn’t resist his son already, so when even his wife was pleading with him...”Fine. But we need to set up some rules !” 

1. None of them could say who he really was to anyone.  2. No Sleepover  Fine, no sleepover exceeding 3 nights ! 3. The Batcave is strictly forbidden (added later : except for training sessions) 4. No mess.  5. Keep. The. Whole. Thing. SECRET. 

And that’s how your house welcomed a bunch of little superkids (and how lots of shenanigans ensued...but that, is another story). 

JASON 

Bruce never regretted saying “yes” to Dick all those years before, about bringing friends over. 

Not only did it also made Jason feel like a normal kid inviting his buddies at his place, but after his death and resurrection...his friends truly saved him. 

It’s them, who managed to convince him to speak to his parents again. Who brought him home again. Yes. Yes this was something Bruce knew he would never regret. 

Saying “yes” to his son’s request, all those years ago, and welcoming into his private home a bunch of kids with famous parents/guardians/mentors, had been one of his best idea. Because there was no doubt in his mind, that the fact those children knew you and him since so long, saved his son. 

TIM

Tim, at first, had difficulty to connect with others. 

It’s thanks to being part of a team, and them being allowed in his home, that he developed his social skills more. 

After all, the boy had been left alone for so long. Had the attention of no one for so long. Of course, it took him a bit of time to get acclimated to having a real family, and even friends ! 

Tim organized the best movie marathons, and once a month, your living room would be invaded by a bunch of teens who would steal every single snack in your house. 

Ah, but it was worst it. It was worst it, if only to see your son so happy, and not alone anymore. 

DUKE

Duke was never part of any Young Justice or Teen Titans team...It was before his time. All those “kids” and “teens” were adults now, for the most part. Or his age, but already playing in the big league. 

Sometimes, he felt inadequate. And behind. But then you’d reassure him. Of course he couldn’t quite be on the same level they were yet, he just started his “career” as a vigilante ! 

You encouraged him to mingle with his siblings’ friends, and he did. Duke was a pretty social lad. It didn’t take him much time, to bond with everyone. Especially since they had one subject they were sure to agree on : how great you were. 

Ah yes. Of course. You were often the subject of many conversation, because honestly, how many people would let that many lost kids in their home like that ? 

CASS

Cass, just like Duke, had never been in a team. 

Which made her feel left out, at first...

But oh, this was without counting on her brothers. Those boys would NEVER make their sister feel alone. Feel like she wasn’t a part of their lives, in every way. 

Dick introduced his friends to her very quickly. Jason and Tim did too. And of course Damian. 

They all bragged so much about her (especially Damian), they all put her on such a high pedestal, that it made all her insecurities and sadness about not fitting in go away. 

So what if she wasn’t part of any team (yet) ? She was part of a family, and that was enough. Plus, even though all her brothers’ friends got along really well with you, she knew you’d always choose them over anyone else if you had to make a choice. And honestly for now, she’d settle with “just” a family. 

It had already been so hard, to manage to open up and accept your love. She didn’t think she was quite ready for “friends” yet. But she will be. She knew she’d be, one day. 

For now, family was enough. 

DAMIAN

Your little one would never admit it, but he was sometimes so jealous. 

Some of those Young Justice kids...Were not kids anymore. And had been coming around your house for nearly decades. 

When the first Young Justice team was made, Dick was 13. Barely older than Damian was now. His friends met you before he did...

That’s what upset Damian, sometimes. Knowing that they grew up with you more than he did. Knowing that they knew you before everyone else, even before the JLA !! 

It wasn’t fair. How come they got to spend so many years with you, so much time with you, when he didn’t ?  

Yes. Damian was often jealous of how well the Young Justice, and Teen Titans kids knew you. 

Clark and him actually bonded greatly over that, to your husband’s exasperation. You thought it was funny. And cute. And definitely reminded your husband that “jealousy was probably a hereditary trait”, which always vexed him. 

Oh. And you made sure that your son knew you loved him so much, that there really were no reason to feel jealous.. 

EVERYONE 

Little by little, everyone came to Wayne Manor at one point. 

They all slowly met Batman’s family. Secret identities didn’t exist for them anymore. Annual barbecue was a thing (which mainly happened at Wayne Manor, because Bruce was the only one who had a backyard big enough, and remote enough, to invite all the most powerful superhero on the planet, without anyone even noticing).

They realized Bruce was just a man (and not a vampire, thank you very much mister Jordan). 

A family man. 

A few years back, it would’ve never crossed any of their mind to think that. What ? Batman ? With a family ? Right...

And yet. Yet it was the truth. 

Yes. They slowly got accustomed to that fact. But there was one thing they’d never get used to : it was how their kids, their wards, nephews or nieces, their sidekicks, the children they decided to mentor...Knew all along. 

Long before they did. 

It was quite an adjustment, to realize Batman had a wife, and to see their kids know everything about her already. 

You admit that, if the roles were reversed, you’d probably be very surprised. Especially since you knew all about them, thanks to their children. 

But in a way, it made sense, didn’t it ? It made sense, that those kids knew you before the adults did. That they hung out at Wayne Manor a lot, given the fact it was the biggest house at disposal, and they were great friends with your children. 

Yes. It just made sense, that you got to meet the kid first. Because of your own kids. Of course. 

And it made you so happy, to see all of them grow to be such fine and decent people. 

When you thought about that time, all those years ago, when they first started to know you, you often felt a bit nostalgic. 

Ah, but years passed, but the friendships and love you all shared never faded. 

__________________________________________________

Hahahaha so here we are, in an “AU” in which the superkids met Batmom before anyone else :). I hope you enjoyed this story. Trying really hard not to be too self-deprecating right now so not adding more haha. As per usual, comments and reblog are highly appreciated and encouraging/motivating :) ! Thank you for reading !

[tablestoastandtime]

Legacy and Shadows

Say what you will about large parts of Tim's characterization being a product of the archetype he used to embody in the DC universe, it's kind of fucked up to suddenly become a completely different kind of character without your say so.

Or, Tim and the fact he doesn't get to have a future.

Tim wasn't sure what to make of the way everyone seemed confident that one day Damian would be Batman.

The kid was the only one to say it out loud, for the most part, but like a surprising amount of things that came out of his mouth everyone seemed to mostly take it for truth. And to be fair, when had Damian ever let anyone really stop him from going after something he felt he had a right to? So maybe it was true, if only because he was going to make sure of it. 

It was just. People used to think that about Tim, too. Not that he'd ever said that, ever even wanted it. If anything, Tim had spent as much time as he could reminding people that he wasn't Batman and had no intention of being him. But the shadow of it had lingered, and part of Tim had been bracing for it for years.

After all, Dick wanted to be Batman even less than Tim did, had initially been willing to let the mantle die to avoid it. Dick was Nightwing in a way not everyone ever got to inhabit their titles. Part of what made Dick one of the best of them was how he managed the split; by not letting there be one. Dick was Nightwing was Coach Grayson was whatever bullshit name he'd picked up while playing super spy. He never stopped being himself in any of those roles, for all that he'd put on the appropriate hat to play the crowd. There was a difference between performing and lying, and Dick was born for the lights. 

Batman didn't have much to do with light even at the best of times.

And on the other end of the spectrum, Batman was bad for Jason in a way that honestly caught Tim off guard when he first saw it. Sure none of them had been at their best back then, all alone in their own seas of grief, but Jason had lost whatever stability he'd had for a while there, and was only more recently leveling back out. He'd latched onto the mantle as both connection and insult, a last 'fuck you' to a man he wasn't ready to let go of yet. For Jason the cowl hadn't been about any actual interest in the job that needed doing. And yeah, maybe Tim was a bit biased because if he ever saw Jason in a batsuit again he was liable to do something truly stupid to pay him back for last time. What was worse, being attacked by a symbol of trauma or a symbol of faith?

Tim sure knew that he hadn't liked his end of the stick, at the very least. Maybe he'd feel differently if things hadn't gone the way they had, but he didn't want Jason to be Batman and it was only mostly personal.

Even before all that though, the idea of legacy had still been haunting Tim for longer than he'd wanted to admit. People died, heroes died, Tim knew that better than he knew what school he'd taken second year bio at, but the job always remained. Dick had only been interested in doing part of that job. He'd do the parts he wanted to well, Tim had always believed that, but that still left the rest of the job.

And Tim had kind of figured that would be his responsibility.

He hadn't always been happy about it, had resented the shapes Bruce built into his work even as he'd learned more and more why they'd been necessary to keep the undead freight train of the Bat going. Tim didn't like a lot of what Batman had to be to be effective, but he understood it and he didn't want to see Gotham or the world go without the pillar he represented. If you wanted a job done right, sometimes you had to do it yourself. Tim wouldn't ask anyone else to do something he wasn't willing to do, and if it meant Gotham got to keep its hero then yeah, he'd put on the cowl one day. He'd already tried once.

More than that, Tim was pretty sure Bruce used to see things the same way. Half of his training only made sense if it was to be something that was both more and less than Robin. He'd been preparing Tim for a role that wanted to eat him alive, and for all that Tim had gotten maybe more attached than was strictly healthy to the Robin mantle, it had become a part of him rather than his whole identity. Robin leapt into dark and danger feet first. To be Batman was to live there all the time.

Whether Tim had liked it or not, he'd spent the better part of the last four years half-knowing he'd have to move there one day and he'd lived like it was true. Frustrated, fighting it sometimes and dutifully twisting his edges to better fit others, but always like it was a future he couldn't afford to be unprepared for.

And then Damian came into their lives and Darkseid tried to transtemporally nuke Tim's remaining mental health. There was a paranoid imp that lived in the back of Tim's head that still half-believed that the whole thing had been another elaborate test, except this time if it had been then Tim must have failed because he never did get his life back afterwards. 

Tim put himself and everything he believed into a blender to find the cracks in everyone else's certainty and for all that he'd been right it had never even mattered. The Justice League found out about and went after Bruce independently. They'd only called him after he'd spent months playing into his own worst instincts to get the job done, just to do almost all of the work in front of him.

Maybe he'd done it all wrong. Maybe he'd been doing it wrong for a while.

Even if he hadn't wanted it, he'd been Tim Drake. Robin. The kid who might one day be Batman. And now, by some silent consensus he hadn't been invited to, he wasn't.

It was a relief. It was a deeply haunted house he'd been written out of the will for, it was a black hole that had materialized over his head and swallowed everything he had seen ahead of him.

It was the reality Tim needed to figure out how to live with.

He was doing his best these days, trying to fit the pieces of the person he used to be into the new shape of his life, but he kept cutting himself on the edges where they didn't quite line up. Cut other people sometimes too, even when he tried not to. But when he tried to take space to keep the sharpness to himself, it took his eyes off the movement of the world and when he looked up he had to start all over again to try to put together the puzzle of what he was going to do for the rest of his life.

And through it all, Tim kept turning over the issue of finding a name to use, methodologies to employ, somewhere he could even live, because the ones he used to have didn't really belong to him anymore. Never had, in all fairness.

They'd always been things gifted to him in exchange for dedication and hard work. He'd thought at the time that had meant earning. Now, of course, he knew better.

And now he had to do without them.

Who was Tim Drake if he was never going to be Batman? Who was Tim Drake, as someone who used to be Robin?

He had no idea. Tim just hoped it didn't take the rest of his life to figure it out.

[mnemosyne-nyx]

✨ Bruce Wayne Headcanons that haunt me but I refuse to elaborate on even if they're utterly wrong ✨

1. Bruce can cook, but only when he's 100% focused. If there is anything going on around him like a feral child or he's going over some case in his head then something's catching fire.

2. He definitely was a theatre kid for the shortest span when a teenager. Have you met this man? Are you telling me he's never engaged in a single drama piece in his life? He was raised by literal-Shakespeare-actor Alfred pennyworth? My man Bruce can ACT. All his personas rely on it. So does his undercover work. I like to think he was in a amateur Shakespeare production one time just to surprise and make Alfred happy.

3. Tying in with the acting - Bruce is a master of disguise. With all the languages he speaks, identity shenanigans, cases that need inside info. Bruce can just morph into another person. But his abilities in disguise also means he can mimic people's mannerisms and accents easily. The idea of Bruce confusing the shit out of Clark by just perfectly emulating his country accent and then pretending nothing happened tickles me very much.

4. This idiot tilts his head ever so slightly like a confused dog when being bamboozled. Only People who know him closely recognise this but it's such a minute movement it's easy to miss. Any confusing story, perplexing stupidity or a little sprinkle of disbelief - boom head tilt. God help you if you get the head tilt and batglare combined. You've said the most ungodly, sinful, idiotic, offensive, seizure-inducing idea known to man.

5. He and Diana 100% gossip in other languages when on the watchtower . Both are polylinguals. It's also a learning space. Diana 100% teaches him Ancient Greek, Latin and forgotten languages while Bruce 100% teaches her alien dialects he's mastered.

6. My guy can sing. Ever since that silly lil' justice league episode I can't get this silly lil' headcanon out my head and it makes my lil' toesies curl. Gotham, though a hell scape, is a melting pot of culture and music. Opera, jazz, blues but also a strong underground Punk and techno scene. You'd be hard pressed to avoid music in Gotham. My guy just learned to sing through osmosis. Only a small handful of people know he can sing, though none have admitted that to Bruce.

7. Since this man is a sponge of knowledge, he just drops some of the most jaw-dropping, disturbing and unprompted facts then refuses to elaborate. Oliver Queen is just enjoying his ham sandwich only for "You know studies about cannibals say that human meat tastes very similar to pork." and Oliver is just !?!?!?!!?. The batfam are watching The Matrix and Bruce suddenly "The codes in this film are actually just Sushi recipes." and everyone does a perfect slow swivel to face this engima of a man.

Thank you for attending my tedtalk :)

[schrijverr]

Works Alone

When trying to pull the team together, Bruce’s ideas are dismissed, because he works alone. He goes home to his kids to pout about it.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: none

~~~~

Bruce isn’t pouting. He isn’t! He’s not even a little bit miffed, because he doesn’t want the Justice League to succeed anyway. He doesn’t trust them, hell, he’s not even a full time member, he’s only playing along to keep the others in check. So why would he care?

However, attempting to convince himself doesn’t mean it is working or not clear on his face. The second he steps into the Cave, Dick comments: “Someone is pouty. Did anything happen with your new friends, B?”

He sounds a little too jovial about the whole thing for Bruce’s taste, because despite what he’s telling himself, he is pouty.

“Ridiculous. Father would never stoop so low as to pout,” Damian sticks up for him.

Damian had been sparring with Dick when Bruce arrived, but is now taking a break to drink some water. Seeing the two of them work together makes Bruce both feel better and more prissy, so he just grunts.

“He’s totally pouty,” Jason crows, from where he’d been ruffling through Bruce’s equipment. He would gladly give Jason all the stuff he needs, but Jason insists on stealing it, even if he’s stealing it in plain sight, which is more closely to just taking it.

“Take it back,” Damian frowns.

“Nah,” Jason says. “You know how he gets when y’all don’t come by enough. I mean, you shoulda seen him when Dickface first moved out. Man’s a pouter, I dunno what to tell ya.”

“What’s B pouting about now?” Steph asks, falling into the conversation since she’s only just arrived to start getting ready for patrol tonight.

“We don’t know yet, he’s still denying he’s pouting,” Tim calls out, not having looked up from where he’s working on the Batcomputer all throughout. “Though it’s likely something with the League, since he just got back from giving back up.”

Heads turn his way and Dick concernedly frowns: “Are you okay? Did they do something?”

There is a dark, yet gleeful glimmer in Damian’s eyes as he asks: “Do we need to go out there and vanquish these super powered morons, father?”

“No,” Bruce sighs, still a little miffed, though his mood has definitely been improved by his kid’s banter, as well as their worry for him.

“Then what happened, old man?” Jason demands. “Stop that vague bullshit you always do.”

“Oehhh, Jason swore!” Steph immediately chimes in. “I’m telling Alfred.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ dare,” Jason whips around to her, pointing his knife at her.

“Knock it off, I wanna hear why B is being pouty,” Tim interrupts them.

“Yes, cease this chatter,” Damian adds, a rare show of agreement with Tim. They’ve all been growing, Bruce thinks proudly.

“So what happened then?” Steph asks, rolling her eyes, though stopping her fight with Jason.

Jason luckily also lets it go for now, so Bruce can answer: “They aren’t working as a team. It’s just a group of skilled individuals now and it’s becoming a problem.”

“You’ve been observing that for a while, B. Why suddenly the long face about it?” Dick asks.

And now the embarrassing part, Bruce thinks as he admits: “John is trying to do something about it now. I offered my help, but he refused, stating that I don’t know how, since I work alone, while he has been in the army.”

It’s quiet for a moment. Then, the whole group bursts out in laughter.

“What?” Jason wheezes, while Dick cackles: “He actually said that? Are you for real? Oh my god.”

“I’m going to loose my shit,” Steph snorts, Tim chuckling in the background.

Even Damian is looking amused, although also slightly judgmental. He disdainfully comments: “They are not very bright and must lack observational skills, father. Are you certain you wish to proceed in sponsoring them?”

“Yes,” Bruce sighs again. He’d already had that conversation with himself. Many times. “There is a lot of potential there too. Which is what makes them dangerous. However, out there is dangerous too. They can protect like an army can. Like we can’t.”

“Tt, we can take on extraterrestrial threats and some villains,” Damian huffs, obviously displeased. Out of all his siblings, he’s been the most vocally against the Justice League.

“The brat has a point,” Jason surprises him by backing him up. “I mean, between us here and those still on the streets or running late, you basically have your own little army right here. Just recruit Wonder Woman and I’m sure we’d have a chance.”

“You just wanna work with Wonder Woman, don’t you?” Dick says, sounding a little smug as he slides up behind Jason to make a kissy face at him.

Jason just pushes his face away as he blushes and exclaims: “Shaddup, Dickhead.”

“Yeah, shut up! That’s the most sensible thing he’s said all his life,” Steph hollers.

“Kids, kids, calm down. We’re not disbanding the Justice League and adopting Wonder Woman,” Bruce interrupts, wondering how his life ends up with him saying sentences that he never thought he would be saying.

“I never said nothin’ ‘bout adopting her,” Jason scowls.

“Cuz you want to kiss her!” Dick sing-songs.

“Isn’t she like a few thousand years old or something?” Tim asks.

“Also not marrying Wonder Woman. Any of you,” Bruce says. “Why don’t we all just stay away from Wonder Woman. And the rest of the Justice League, which will continue to exist and not fall apart because they struggle at teamwork. Maybe John’s idea will work. It’s too early to say.”

All of them are giving him a judgmental look now and Bruce struggles to not react to it. It’s always harder when he agrees with them.

“But Green Lantern’s plan is hinging on esprit de corpse,” Tim says. “And that will never work, because it’s a military mentality and while you’ve been working together, there is no real interdependence outside a few emergencies.”

“Yeah, what Timmy said,” Dick agrees, gesturing towards Tim.

“I loathe to admit it, father, but Drake has a point,” Damian nods and that truly shows that it is a hopeless mission for John.

“We’ll just have to see,” Bruce says, deciding to end the conversation there. “Now get ready for pre-patrol brief. We have a few open cases to assign. Cass and Harper will soon be reporting from their early rounds, so get suited up.”

There are a few groans around him, but his kids grant him the mercy of dropping it. They probably know as he does that this won’t be the last time they discuss it.

Indeed a few days later, Bruce comes walking into the Cave again, trying not to let the thunder cloud above his head show too much. However, he knows his kids notice, some sending him a raised brow or an inquiring look. Bruce is glad that he’s come far enough as a parent that not even Dick or Jason are put off by his bad mood.

Dick is also the one to tentatively ask: “Not a good training session with the Justice League?”

“John has us running drills,” Bruce grunts. “It’s showing us each other’s moves and how to play into each other, but…”

“It’s not turning you into a team?” Dick suggest.

“Yeah,” Bruce says, sighing.

“Esprit de corpse,” Tim sing-songs, walking by with a steaming mug of coffee that he went upstairs to refill, ready to start working on the case he’s in the middle of.

Bruce ignores Tim, knowing he’s right, and pulls the cowl off to card a hand through his hair. “We don’t need to run drills, but we need to do trust exercises, talk with each other, get to know each other better, be- be-”

He doesn’t know how he wants to end that sentence, but Cass does, materializing out of the darkness in her sweats, she says one word: “Family.”

“I thought you didn’t like the Justice League,” Duke asks. Luke is covering his day shift today since the last few days have been busy for Duke, but as a true Bat, he doesn’t really know what taking a break means, so he’s in the Cave training.

“Hn,” Bruce replies, thinking. “I mean, I do like them, I just-”

“He doesn’t trust ‘em,” Jason says. He wasn’t supposed to be at the Cave, but it’s clear why he’s there when Bruce looks his way in surprise. He’s holding a box of files, likely stuff he needs for his organization, Bruce wouldn’t know. They’re at a point where Jason doesn’t kill and Bruce doesn’t ask.

“What? Why?” Duke asks. “You fund them and go on missions with them. Even share intell and use them as backup, despite the fact that there are metas and aliens among them. Why do that if you don’t trust them?”

“’Cause he’s also paranoid,” Jason answers for him. “He’s monitoring ‘em.”

“But also befriending them,” Dick says, defending Bruce. “He just needs to vet them closely first, before he does that.”

“Right, ‘cause he’s paranoid,” Jason says.

Duke looks at Bruce, who sighs: “They’re not wrong. The Justice League has a lot of potential to do good and they’re showing they want to be that goodness. But they also have the potential of mass destruction. We need to be sure they won’t be a threat and that we have the right contingencies, before we let them in.”

“Like I said, paranoid,” Jason repeats.

“But trying,” Dick adds.

“And is stepping in to help them get better teamwork going to backfire?” Duke wonders. “Like are we scared we’re going to teach them how to destroy everything as a team? Is that it?”

“No,” Bruce answers, before the peanut gallery consisting of Dick and Jason can. “I offered help to John, he didn’t want it. I don’t think they’re willing to listen to my opinion on it, since I work alone, so have no expertise.”

Duke snorts loudly at that, then suddenly says: “Wait, you’re serious?”

Bruce grunts as conformation.

“Why?” Duke asks.

“Paranoid,” Jason says, rolling his eyes, before hoisting his box up again, before walking off.

Meanwhile, Bruce actually explains: “I haven’t mentioned you, like I said I would. It’s best if they don’t know we’re connected, nor that Gotham hosts more heroes. Connections like we have could be exploited by them and Superman can do a lot more damage should he so choose than Killer Croc or Bane.”

“But they’re good guys, right?”

“For now,” Dick answers morosely. “I’m not saying I agree with B’s paranoia, I mean, I was doing team ups before him and it worked out fine for me without the layers of paranoid he has. But a lot of things can go wrong, especially when working with people that powerful. I also maintained a semblance of mystique just to be safe.”

“But you can try to tell them this isn’t working, right? They must see that it’s not,” Duke says.

“From what I’ve seen both Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman are warriors like John, so they think the same about this. Superman and Flash are office workers, they’d think of horrid team-building days. While J’onn is used to working together with people who can read minds,” Bruce answers. “Out of all of them, only J’onn might listen.”

Cass nudges him and signs: ‘You are not saying something. There is hiding in your shoulders and a bit of guilt in your jaw.’

“What are you hiding, B,” Dick prods, a little bit of genuine judgment and worry coming through the tease.

“It’s a risk to tell them,” Bruce answers sulkily, knowing it’s a little silly, but unable to stop his brain from providing pop-ups of all the ways it could backfire.

“B,” Dick whines, throwing himself to hang over him. “You can at least try.”

“I will, I will,” Bruce says, placating yet also meaning it. He wants to do right by his kids and they want him to have friends, most of them encouraging him with the Justice League.

And, he does. Tentatively he suggest doing some trust exercises among the drills they’ve been running. As expected he gets weird looks and even a scoff from Wally and a frown from Clark. But he manages to play into John’s ideas brotherhood, which means the others are forced to give it a try.

It’s not perfect, of course it isn’t. They still have to deal with the fact that they never agreed on a strategists or a leader of sorts. They still have to build an organization, a system, a proper way of working as a unit.

However, they are getting somewhere. Some prodding here and there helps and the more it helps, the more others prod.

Though it’s not until years later, when Damian is nearly outgrowing the Robin mantle, that Bruce finally allows them to meet his kids. To let them in on the inner workings of Gotham vigilantism.

Then John will point at him and exclaim: “You son of a bitch, you lied to me! You let me struggle on my own to pull these idiots together.”

And at that point, Bruce will be comfortable enough to ignore everyone’s protests and smirk: “I offered you to help, didn’t I? Too bad I work alone.” Making his kids – though they’re adults at that point – laugh like the day they first heard.

~~

A/N:

I think the League thinking Batman works alone is hilarious, especially if they establish later than the batfam

[providencehq]

I really adore the idea of Danny seeming really confident and overall having a grasp on getting along in his fake identity for a new start in Gotham. Only for it to be quickly realized he's putting on a really good act and some simple investigation unravels it all (or, most of it.) Like facts are not matching up enough for his fake identity and when members of the bat family look into why this is for him they're quickly realizing that it's maybe a shotty identity because it was hastily put together but a teenager.

Faking his age enough to be a legal adult (18) so he can control over himself? Check. Faking only part of his name because he's still attached to his old life and won't admit it? Check. Leaving no paper trails and only paying in cash? Check. Refusal to participate in things that may lead to his identity or lack of one be discovered? Check. Kid also being 15/16 at most and being shit at hiding it physically, he cannot pass off as anything else than a young teenager but all documents say otherwise? Check.

Tim and Barbra quickly notice how he covered solely for himself. At least Tim was able to fake an uncle (temporarily), Danny isn't able to fake any information aside from the basics in regards to any family. It's quick to tell he's good at faking information but he's nowhere near the skill of Tim and Barbra. Once they find a single sliver of actual information on Danny and figure out who he really is, it opens a lot of questions while closing others. It also makes getting an eye and overall some semblance of control over the mysterious Danny situation they have on hand.

Like, Tim and Bruce at the very least are going to trick Danny to come into Wayne Enterprises to discuss his scholarship and hit him with "hey, we can't exactly give a scholarship to a person who doesn't exist, we know you are hiding from something by looks of our research. People don't fake new lives for the hell of it. We will however help you with whatever is going on, give you the scholarship, if you tell us what is going on." Danny of course is like, ah, no, I'm going to bail. But of course is cut off by Bruce suggesting that if he leaves without accepting their help, they'll be forced to report him and he'll be a ward of the state at best. That some investigation will happen because them finding out that Danny Fenton is considered dead before he was abled to be transferred to the care of a Vlad Masters, that is parents and friends are dead, and is overall an orphan is a big deal. ESPECIALLY when Danny Fenton is pretending to be Danny Duxo, a legal adult, and out on his own in Crime Alley and barely scraping by to be able to get to college.

They force his hand of course and accepts their help (and basically becomes a ward of Bruce Wayne). Danny convinces them that he will have Bruce acting as a guardian for him but he gets to remain at his apartment, he doesn't want to lose his tech he's working on but he's also afraid of anyone learning about his ghostliness. Does this work out? No, not for long. After a few weeks of being on his own and going out at night as a vigilante, injuries catch up with him. Jason comes by a few times a week to drop food off and comes into Danny one day bandaging some pretty nasty wounds. He brushes it off as some malfunction with some tech he's messing with but that incident causes him to be relocated to the Wayne manor so if an injury does happen, he's not alone.

And to think, none of this would be happening if he was better at faking an identity. He should have honestly asked for Technus' help for that and maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. This is all just surrounding his human identity too! Oh my god, the bats are going to freak when they find out Danny is way more than human and also a vigilante!

[tickletastic]

Can I ask for headcanons about the Robins?

Yes, absolutely! I have some batfam headcanons here (and probably a bunch more in my tags), so these ones will focus on them as robins

Dick

Such a little shit, but almost impossible to control because of his unlimited energy

while, as nightwing, he's used to being the eldest, when he was robin, he was almost always the youngest around, so he suffered a lot of the younger sibling torture at the hands of the titans and yj

while bruce wanted dick to be more serious, especially when he's leading a team, i think he was actually terrible at it until jason came around, i don't think this boy could deliver a single command to the titans without bursting out laughing

i think the older people in the titans would probably tickle him when he tried to lean too hard into the whole serious bat thing, to remind him that he's just a kid, and being a twelve year old is more important for his development than fighting crime

while it embarrasses dick immensely to outright admit he likes being tickled, the titans, bruce, and alfred all found out pretty damn fast

dick would get a bit too hyper and end up bouncing (literally) off the walls, hanging from wayne manor chandeliers, and bruce would have to find a way to wrangle him down, eventually he realized that tickling was a great way to drain all of dick's energy (at least for an hour or two)

at some point, while dick would still pretend to put up a fight when peeled down from the ceiling, he would let bruce catch him much easier because he'd be excited for the tickles

i think he's probably ask bruce for soft tummy tickles or back tickles to fall asleep sometimes

Jason

when jason first moved to the manor, he was prickly, to say the absolute least, and it probably took a while for him to warm up to touch given that he grew up in crime alley

the first time that jason doesnt flinch away when dick, alfred, or bruce go to touch him, they consider it a huge win, but still, none of them want to push it too far out of fear that jason will become all skittish again

i think they probably find out that jason is ticklish after patrol, when he's getting checked for injuries,, alfred was probably just trying to check his ribs and jason started to giggle uncontrollably, and suddenly everyone was trying to hide that their attention was on jason being adorable

when jason started leaning into touches is when everyone took it as a sign that he completely trusted them, because jason is not one to tell anybody what he wants, even if he doesn't have to say it out loud

after that, dick took it as free reign to tease jason all he wanted

jason was insanely ticklish when he was robin, but even if he was completely breathless with tears streaming down his face, he would never admit that he was.... but dick still tried to get him to admit it every time

bruce wasnt sure if jason would be anything like dick, but he did try the soft tummy and back tickles on jason to see if he found it relaxing, unfortunately for jason, he found even that to be unbearably ticklish, though he did love bruce's affection

Damian

i always forget that he's literally just a kid, like he's literally pocket sized

not incredibly ticklish like jason was when he was robin, but ticklish enough everywhere that he will at least giggle steadily, even if the spot isnt that bad

he would kill anyone who even attempted to say it out loud but he adores being tickled by his family

i think he loves all affection from his family in general, especially dick and bruce, but he's going to argue, insult, and fight his way through it no matter the form, including tickling

damian is 100% the type to dish out black eyes and bloody noses while he's being tickled

he does actually like back and neck tickles from dick when he's going to sleep, but he cant help himself from laughing, even though he likes how it feels

gets tickled most often by dick and bruce, but every once in a while he'll get thrown over jason's shoulder and tickled until he's actually saying "please stop" instead of just demanding that jason stop

Tim

his ticklishness is pretty similar to dick's, though he can't handle even a second of anticipation, both as robin and as red robin

this is something dick knew very well, and he would use it against tim at any opportunity, just hovering his fingers an inch away from a ticklish spot and watching tim giggle hysterically as if he really is getting tickled

he finds it to be a lot more flustering than his brothers do, and he can't handle teasing at all

after jason's death, dick made sure that tim knew how much he appreciated and loved him, which included A LOT of affection (enough to make up for two brothers)

as a result, i think dick probably found out that tim was ticklish first, by manoeuvring him while they were cuddling or trying to give him a massage

when tim was robin, he would laugh so hard it would even surprise himself, he wouldn't be able to make out a single word while getting tickled silly by dick or bruce

weirdly, i think tim was probably the best at hiding it too,,, i think, while he can't handle anticipation, if someone accidentally brushed him, or if he knew he was going to get checked for injuries, he'd be able to school his features pretty well for a little bit

i think, as robin, he hated the earpieces because the vibrations when someone was talking over the comms tickled too much, though he eventually grew out of it (aka replaced just his comms system with one that wouldn't vibrate so he wouldn't giggle out loud on patrol)

[klbwriting]

Not Romeo, Not Juliet

Chapter 3: This Fierce Vein

Fandom: Red Hood

Pairing: Jason Todd x f!Reader

Warnings: none

Summary: Jason is Hamlet...and he's terrible. Extra practice leads to new discoveries

There is no following her in this fierce vein

— A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ACT 3 SCENE 2

Things Jason had expected when he auditioned for Bludhaven Prep’s theater production of Hamlet: 1. A sophomore would be Hamlet, his audition was amazing even if he had tripped getting onto the stage, 2. Chelsea would be Ophelia and that poor sophomore would have to pretend to love her, and 3. He would coast by in the background without anyone noticing him. What he did not expect was to roll up to rehearsal Monday morning only for the cast list to say Jason Todd…Hamlet. Apparently, he had been good and now everyone in the group wanted to know who he was. He groaned, already feeling the eyes of the freshmen on him, trying to calculate what they could say to him to make him think they were cool enough to be friends. Theater wasn’t a huge deal at this school, but it was big enough that the leads were popular, and Jason had no interest. He went to the director, trying to talk them out of casting him but they held firm.

“Mr. Todd, you were a natural, excellent. I really think you could do this professionally and I don’t say that to many people,” the director said, setting a mark on the floor before looking at him. “I know it feels like a lot of pressure, but you were made to be Hamlet.” O great, he was meant to play a madman who dies, well guess he did die once, at least that he knew he was actually good at. He sighed and just nodded, going and waiting for rehearsal to start.

By the time practice was over he was pretty sure they were reconsidering his casting. He had been terrible, missing cues, flubbing lines that he knew by heart, not focusing. He felt the restlessness he had felt ever since the pit flowing through him. He didn’t want to be there, he wanted to be out, hitting something, getting this energy out in the most violent way possible. The other seniors were packing up, asking him if he wanted to go out, maybe run lines with them.

“No, after Friday I honestly don’t want to hang out with you guys ever again,” he said honestly, voice having an edge that clearly frightened them.

“Don’t have to be such a dick. We were just getting payback,” Jackson said. Jason looked over at him, eyes blazing green, and growled at him. The three of them scampered off and Jason collapsed into one of the theater seats, frustrated. He needed to rant about this. Maybe Dick could get him out of being Hamlet, use his money to drop Jason down to something else.

“Nope, sorry kid, I think you should do this play and be Hamlet,” Dick said over dinner that night. Jason sighed.

“Why? I was terrible today, I don’t think I’m cut out for being an actor,” he mumbled, pushing a meatball around his plate. He had been so annoyed about play practice that he had overdone the meatballs, they were dry, just another fuck up on this perfectly fucked up day.

“O come off it Jason, you spent six years acting,” Dick said. Jason looked at him confused. “You were Robin from ages 10-16, so in that time you were either pretending to be Robin or pretending to be Jason Todd, you’re an actor.” Jason frowned.

“Who was I pretending to be?” he whispered. Dick looked at him, eyes softening. That was the question anyone associated with Batman would ask, what was real? The person or the mask? “Who are you pretending to be? Dick or Nightwing?”

“I’m not always sure,” Dick admitted, clearing his plate. “Maybe being in this play, trying to act, will help you see who you were before you died.”

Rehearsal was pushed from Tuesday to Wednesday that week but it didn’t help. Jason was still a mess, trying so hard to get it right. He kept hearing Bruce’s voice in the back of his head. ‘You’re not listening Jason’, ‘Dick could have done this on the first try’, ‘You can do better’. When rehearsal was over the director pulled him aside.

“I can see that you’re distracted,” she said. Jason wanted to lie but he just nodded. “Is there something going on at home? I know that you live with your older brother.” Jason didn’t know why but this woman reminded him of his mother. He barely remembered her, but he did remember that when she wasn’t strung out her eyes were soft, care would radiate from her when she was sober. This teacher had the same kind eyes, the same warmth her. It made him loosen his normally tight lips.

“No, nothing like that, he’s great. Just ya know, wasn’t always a good family life. I let down my dad a lot before I…moved,” he said, stopping himself before saying ‘died’. The director nodded, understanding.

“My mother was overbearing when I was young, always thought I was a disappointment,” she said, leaning on the stage next to where he sat. “I would hear her voice in my head, just disparaging me every time I did anything. A big test, performance, dance recital, always her telling me I would screw up.”

“Does it ever stop?” he asked. She looked at him, eyes full of sympathy and he nodded. “Does it get quieter?” She nodded.

“Once you really give yourself over to what you’re doing the volume goes down. Instead of thinking about your father when you’re acting, try thinking about Hamlet, what he is feeling. He didn’t have your father, imagine what his father was like. Use that to fuel your performance,” she said. Jason nodded. “I will see you Friday at rehearsal.” She packed up and left him alone. Jason looked at the stage.

“Might as well run through it myself,” he mumbled, standing and going to his first mark. He was midway through the first act when he heard something towards stage right. He walked over, feet making no noise, as he moved through the sets stored in the wings. He came up the prop room and saw YN. She was grabbing the swords they were using and took them out of the room. He stayed behind set pieces watching as she hid the swords, one behind an old radiator, one in a light rigging that had been lowered for repair, just random places. It was the kind of prank that was actually funny. He let out a chuckle, coming out from behind the bridge piece. She froze at the noise, turning and facing him.

“Hello, didn’t know anyone was still here,” she said, setting down the last sword, setting a prop blanket on top of it on the floor. “Well, going to turn me in? I’m sure some teacher is still around. You could really fuck with my chances in the Shakespeare competition.” She crossed her arms, staring him down. A lot of bad people had tried to stare Jason down before, Bane, Poinson Ivy, Two Face….Joker. He hadn’t looked away from any of them, he wasn’t the guilty one, they were, and he would win, but he looked away from YN. This time he did feel guilty. He hadn’t been the perpetrator of that horrid prank at the open mic night, but she didn’t know that. He was there with the people who did it and Jason understand the term ‘guilty by association’.

“I’m not going to tell on you, I’m not a snitch, and I can’t wait to see Jackson whine about his missing sword on Friday,” he said. “But you should probably be more careful, sneaking around here is reckless.” He almost gagged on the word. Since when did he sound like Bruce?

“Me? Reckless? I’m sorry little rich boy, you were just slumming it in Crime Alley, who is reckless?” she demanded. Jason stared at her. “And what were you doing there anyway? Come to laugh at us poor kids? Did those asshole friends of yours send you to find something on me? The new guy gets to do the dirty work and ruin my life?”

“Woah, listen, I don’t give a shit about your life, I was there for….reasons,” he said, not sure how to say ‘I needed to hit people because coming back from the dead had side effects’ without sounding insane.

“Either way, you can’t tell anyone where I’m from, if word got around that I was just some degenerate from Crime Alley…people are mean,” she said, feeling so lame for that. Jason nodded. He understood. If you were from Crime Alley you were a delinquent, you were scum and you could never fix that. It was a label that was hard to wash off. Jason only got out because Bruce made sure of it, money was the only thing to really mover you out of that slum.

“I won’t tell anyone,” he said. “I grew up there too.” He knew that was a bridge too far by the look on her face.

“Ya sure, you don’t need to try to relate to me rich boy,” she said. “Now I’m getting out of here, hopefully I never see you again.” She gave him the middle finger and left through the side stage door. Jason smiled after her, feeling his heart flutter a little. O shit.

Curiosity was driving Jason as he slid down the alley behind Big Belly Burger, red mask on his face. He had seen her working already, walking by the front window casually, hood up, mask on, so she wouldn’t know it was him. He could be anybody, there were plenty of vigilante pretenders in the area, he blended in. He waited until she was finished and followed her down the street. She didn’t live far from her work and Jason snuck into a familiar alley when she went into the apartment building. The same building, he grew up in. He looked around the alley, remembering finding the Batmobile right where he was standing. He still didn’t know how he went from seeing the infamous vehicle to thinking ‘I should get those rims’, but stealing those tires had changed his life and those memories were bittersweet now. He shook them away as he jumped, grabbing the fire escape ladder and hulled himself up.

She lived on the fourth floor he found. He could see through the thin curtains into her living room. She went in, taking off the apron she wore for work and hung it by the door. There was a frozen dinner on the counter, so she grabbed it and threw it in the microwave before approaching the couch where he noticed a thin woman was laying on it.

“Hey mom, how are you?” she asked, kneeling by the woman and gently touching her head. Her mother took her hand and kissed it.

“I’m feeling fine Lady Macbeth,” she said. YN smiled at her. “How was play practice?”

“I didn’t have practice tonight, I went to mess with the Bludhaven Prep stuff,” she said. The woman coughed a little and he could see concern cross YN’s face. Her mother was sick, very sick from the sound of that cough. His heart ached. He could remember that sound, his mother had coughed like that the night she OD’d. It was fused into his brain.

“You didn’t get in trouble, did you? Is that why you’re late?” her mom asked.

“No, one of the guys, that guy from the open mic? He was there, but I don’t think he’s going to say anything. They’re all jerks, but he’s the least jerky I think,” she said. Well, at least she didn’t completely hate him. “And then I had work tonight remember? Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday I work, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning I have practice?”

“O, right of course,” her mother answered. YN turned off the TV. “I was watching that…”

“You need to be in bed now, come on,” she said. She slid an arm under her mother and helped her stand before leaving the room. Jason sat on the fire escape for another minute before deciding he had invaded her privacy enough. He needed to get home anyway, Dick would be pissed if he came back and Jason was gone. He trudged home, now even angrier at the other seniors for their pranks. He was going to make it up to YN, he promised that.

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

its about to get real up in here y’all (also this chapter is HUGE I apologize)

part twenty-one

❝ MURDER CENTRAL ❞

TUESDAY — AUGUST 11 — 6:57AM

BENTLEY WOKE UP AROUND SEVEN THE NEXT MORNING, CURLED UP AT THE END OF TIM’S BED LIKE A CAT. 

The night before was nothing more than a teary, emotional blur. Tim’s anxiety attack had lasted for an entire hour and twenty-seven minutes. An hour and twenty-seven minutes until he could breathe easily again, until his mind came back to him and he was left drained and empty.

Bentley sat in the floor with him for the whole hour and twenty-seven minutes, being almost impressively unhelpful. He was sure his own crying wasn’t helping to ease Tim’s anxiety — if anything, he’d probably just made it worse. But he stayed. And that counted for something, right?

Tim was now curled up on top of his comforter, drowning in a red hoodie Bentley was sure he used to fit in a little better, dead asleep with the hood tugged tight over his head. No words had been exchanged — not after the attack, not when they wordlessly took up residence in the bed and sat awake until they couldn’t. Not that Bentley knew what to say anyhow. All of the calming tactics Tim had taught him didn’t seem to work on him at all. The breathing exercises, the gentle conversation, the grounding touch — none of it worked. The only thing that seemed to work for Tim was waiting.

Bentley wondered, silently, if that changed with each attack, or depended on the person having it.

Bentley would be lying if he said he didn’t feel like a failure for not noticing. Now that he knew, he couldn’t seem to not notice. The way Tim’s clothes hung looser, how he was the slightest bit bonier than usual, that he was rejecting what was brought to him so he could focus on work instead. Bentley had known for a while now that patrol was getting bad again, that villains were popping up, that Tim was working extra extra hard to keep up. But he just hadn’t noticed.

No one seemed to. The conversation between Dick and Tim sounded like the first time they’d spoke about it this time around — which had to hurt. He’d been working too hard for weeks at that point. And still; no one noticed, no one said a word until Dick did it for them. And Bentley didn’t think Dick was the one Tim was hoping would notice.

Bentley had to admit, hearing Tim say Bruce hadn’t spoken to him in a couple of days thanks to him sucked. It was just another reminder that, no matter how badly he wished otherwise, Bruce wasn’t his father, and the Wayne’s weren’t his family. All he was doing was stealing Bruce away from his actual children. (All adopted, but still actual. More actual than Bentley.)

What did that make him? A burden? A theif? An unnecessary addition?

He turned to look at Tim. Asleep, he was much more peaceful than awake, although he still looked… Bentley didn’t know. A little troubled. His face was shadowed by his hood, his black hair hanging down near his eyes, his skin only the slightest bit paler than normal. He was curled up impossibly small for a nineteen-year-old. His knees were tucked up close to his chest, his arms coiled around his body so tightly it was like they were the only things keeping him together. He looked younger. Too young.

How old was Tim when he started living with Bruce? Thirteen? Fourteen? That would mean he’d been in the Manor for five or six years. Five or six years. And a kid who had been there for one was stealing his dad away from him. After all, Tim had been adopted. They all had — Tim and Jason and Dick, they were all Bruce’s sons. Damian was Bruce’s biological son. And Bentley was just… some kid that lived with them. He wasn’t adopted, he wasn’t Bruce’s son, he was just… Bentley Whittaker.

It boiled down to this: Tim deserved Bruce’s attention. Bentley did not. Tim was Bruce’s son. Bentley was not. So Bentley decided he just needed to get out of the way.

With a soft sigh, he carefully pushed himself out of Tim’s bed. Bentley would never forget sleeping in it after his first anxiety attack, with Tim right next to him. Maybe it at least helped Tim a little to see Bentley right there after his.

He felt pretty much like a dumpster fire for leaving Tim’s room while the poor boy was still sleeping, but it wasn’t actually that big of a deal — because as soon as Bentley stepped into the hallway, he ran straight into Bruce face-first, who’d been reaching for the door handle.

“Bentley,” He said softly, with quiet surprise. “I didn’t expect for you to still be in there.”

Bruce looked tired. Bentley wasn’t sure what had happened on patrol, or if it was tougher when Tim wasn’t on it. He had that reassuring smile that never ever seemed to leave his face, and his grayish eyes were… not dull, but not normal, either. Everyone in the Manor was suffering from something or another, all multiplied by the Secret Keeper’s appearance. 

Maybe if Bentley and Asten and Nico could really destroy her, it would help them. Tim wouldn’t have to do all the work, and patrol wouldn’t be so bad, and their minds wouldn’t be open playgrounds for her to thrive in.

Maybe he had it all wrong, when he decided he needed to be the Puppeteer again. That approach worked for Asten, but Bentley had already proved he wasn’t good at keeping up that act around the Wayne’s — one thing happened (an anxiety attack, for example) and it just fell apart again, leaving him exposed and emotional and dumb. Maybe he didn’t need to destroy the Secret Keeper just to prove his worth. He needed to destroy her… both to prove himself worthy, and to help them.

Bentley gazed up at Bruce, blinking a couple of times. Then he looked toward Tim’s door. “Tim, he… he had…”

“I know,” Came Bruce’s reply, and one of his hands landed on Bentley’s shoulder. “You did good.”

Bentley breathed in. “I didn’t do anything good. I cried.”

“But you stayed with him,” Bruce replied, smiling reassuringly, squeezing Bentley’s shoulder. “Sometimes Tim just has to wait them out. Staying counts far more than you think.”

Bentley shook his head lightly, glancing down the hall. “I tried to go get Dick, but he didn’t want me to leave…”

“You did the right thing, Bentley,”

Did he? Did he do the right thing? He was sure not. Even right now, he was doing the wrong thing, holding Bruce up in the hall when he’d very obviously been trying to go into Tim’s room. Bentley moved out of the way, out from under Bruce’s hand like it burned, toward his bedroom door. “I should get ready for school.”

Bruce said something, but Bentley didn’t really hear it. All he could hear were the repetitive chimes of not my dad, not my dad, not my dad, that seemed to play over and over in his head.

Bruce wasn’t his, and he wasn’t Bruce’s.

Bentley’s only real family was in prison for trying to kill him.

He closed his door and silently got ready — showering, putting on his uniform, the works. He needed to catch the Secret Keeper now more than ever. For himself, for Tim, for Bruce, for Dick and Damian and Jason and Cass and Steph and Duke and everyone.

It was suddenly seven-twenty-three, Bentley was trying so hard to tie his tie, and his phone dinged with a text from Asten in the group chat.

I got burners, it said.

Bentley stared at the message for a solid ten seconds before he realized he had no idea what burners were.

Nico’s reply came in an instant.

Where did you get burners??? PLURAL??????

Asten replied with: A good supervillain-hunter never tells his secrets.

Bentley had to look up what a burner was — it turned out, it was a phone that you threw away when you were done that was difficult to trace. Usually used by people committing crimes. So, Nico’s question stood: where had Asten gotten burners? And what was he going to use them for? Tricking the police?

Another text from Asten came: I know how to check if dr Keene is guilty.

Bentley scrunched his face up, grabbing his phone off the bathroom counter and typing: how?

Asten’s reply was: get to school early, we’re stealing his phone.

Bentley blinked to himself as messages came flooding in. Nico sent three separate texts, each with a single word: NO. WE’RE. NOT.

Everyone keeps secrets on their phone! Was Asten’s reply.

Bentley put his phone down on the counter and kept tying his tie. 

He could probably convince Duke to take him to school a little earlier than normal.

Another text came through from Asten.

Bring the computer.

—

It was pretty easy, actually, to get to school early — Duke was very open to taking Bentley early so he could finish some science homework (that didn’t exist) with Asten and Nico.

Lying to him did hurt just a little… especially because Duke seemed so genuinely happy to do it for him. But he needed to, he convinced himself. To help them all.

They arrived to the Academy about thirty minutes early, half past eight, and Bentley met Asten and Nico in the library.

There weren’t many kids in the halls yet, apart from a few older ones who were studying or working before their first class. The whole school seemed quiet and empty. Bentley wasn’t sure where Damian and Duke went when they split off in the lobby, but he assumed it wasn’t much of his business, anyway. Instead, he made for the high-top table with one extra chair buried between bookshelves that Asten’s and Nico were sitting at. They were the only students in the library — the librarian didn’t even seem to be there yet.

“‘Sup, Whittaker,” Asten called as soon as Bentley turned into the aisle of bookshelves. His blue-tipped black hair stuck out like a sore thumb between the shelves, though Bentley was pretty sure it would stick out anywhere you put him. “I heard it’s national steal your teacher’s phone day.”

Nico slapped him in the arm from across the table, looking rather miffed. “Say it louder, the Russians didn’t hear you!”

“Relax, there’s no one in here to hear,” Asten muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Come look. Did you bring the computer?”

The question was directed toward Bentley, who walked up to the table. He pulled out the empty chair and climbed up into it, not bothering to take his backpack off. “Yeah.”

Asten had his black backpack in his lap, and he dug around in it, pulling a ziplock bag out just far enough for Bentley to see what was inside. It was old-looking phones. Like, six of them. Burners, he realized.

“Are those the-“

“Yeah,” Asten cut him off with a nod. “Nico and I are going to go to the Harbor after school. That’s where we’re gonna make the calls so we can throw them in the water after,” He explained softly, shoving the bag back in his backpack. “You should come — I’ll need your voice. It shouldn’t take that long.”

Usually, any statements of you should come would go completely ignored by Bentley. He wasn’t much of a go here go there kind of person, but spending time with his friends  seemed… kind of brilliant. He’d be with them for the plan, out of the house so Bruce could pay attention to his actual kids, and out of the way. At least for a while.

“I’ll ask,” Was his reply. 

“Tell him it’s a… science project or something,” Asten suggested, flicking a hand toward Bentley. “And that we’re going to Nico’s house, not frolicking around Gotham.”

There it was again — the little twisty feeling he got in his gut at the thought of lying to Bruce.   Bruce didn’t deserve to be lied to. But, if he knew what they were doing, there was no way he’d allow it; so Bentley had to lie. There was no other way.

Before Bentley could even think about pulling his phone out, Asten exclaimed: “There he is!”

The trio all turned toward the sliver of library windows they could see from between the shelves, gazing out into the hall in the same direction Asten was. They were just quick enough to catch a glimpse of Dr. Keene, in his blue button up and slacks per usual, heading away from his classroom.

“Come on!” Asten was already out of his chair and shuffling between the bookshelves, zipping his bag up as he crept toward the front of the library.

“We’re gonna get arrested,” Nico muttered, sending a mildly terrified glance to Bentley before they both climbed out of their chairs. Bentley fought the buzzy anxious feeling that surfaced beneath his skin when he realized that, yes, they were seriously on their way to steal Dr. Keene’s phone. God, if Bruce found out about this, Bentley was absolutely done for.

Asten looked back at them with a snicker, his green irises shining with amusement as they stopped near the door of the library. “Stop looking so terrified, you guys. Looking terrified makes you look guilty.”

“We are guilty!” Nico shot back, crossing his arms.

“Say it louder, the Russians didn’t hear you,” Asten mocked with a sly little grin. “Seriously, just play it cool. We’re looking for Dr. Keene for… tutoring or something.”

Nico huffed. “Yeah, because they’ll believe that.”

“Have a little faith, dude. I once convinced a cook I was the Mayor’s nephew and got free food from a batburger for an entire week,” Asten explained, pointing over at Nico. “We’ll be fine. Come on, before he comes back.”

Bentley sent a glance Nico’s way as Asten trailed into the hall. They followed him wordlessly. The empty and silent halls still weirded Bentley out just a bit. He could see all the way down the dim hall, back into the foyer with the staircases. There wasn’t anyone there, right now, but it definitely seemed like something to watch.

The three of them jogged down the empty halls until they made it to Dr. Keene’s classroom door. It was closed, and according to Bentley’s phone, class started in twenty-four minutes.

Asten turned the handle and shoved the door, and much to all of their surprise (and Nico’s terror) it swung open.

“Bentley, I need that computer. Nico, stand at the door and watch for him to come back,” Asten ordered. The classroom, too, looked strange and empty when they filed in. All the desks were vacant, the skeleton in the corner without his signature bowler hat. The blackboard hadn’t been written on yet.

Nico closed the door and stood entirely too close to the little window that was cut into it, staring into the hall like his life depended on it. Asten immediately went for Dr. Keene’s desk in the corner.

Bentley followed along behind him, laying his backpack on their teacher’s desk and unzipping it carefully. Tim’s old laptop was sitting right in the center of all his books, and he gently pulled it out, laying it next to Dr. Keene’s big computer monitor so it was facing Asten.

The Brazilian was digging through drawers and cabinets so quickly Bentley wasn’t sure if he would actually see the phone or not. “Here — can you find the wires I put in here?”

Asten shrugged his backpack off and tossed it lazily in Bentley’s direction. He managed to catch it by a single strap and, with a final glance to Asten, unzipped it.

There wasn’t much in there — a couple spiral notebooks, his red pen, the ziplock of burners and a bundle of several multicolored wires that looked like… phone chargers?

“These?” Bentley questioned, pulling out the wad of purple, black, and white. Asten glanced at him briefly in the midst of all his shuffling. 

“Perfect. Just lay them on the desk,”

Nico made a high-pitched noise from across the room, and both Bentley and Asten glanced over at him. The blonde was scurrying away from the door like he’d seen a ghost.

“Jesse’s coming! Jesse!” He squeaked.

Asten opened his mouth, but only a faint sound came before the classroom door flew open, and Jesse Todryk stepped inside.

His blonde hair was a mess, and his uniform was wrinkled and maybe even faintly stained, if Bentley was seeing right. He didn’t have his dumb earrings in, and he didn’t look near as intimidating as usual.

Everyone stared. No one said a word. Jesse Todryk’s vomit-green irises flicked from one boy to the next, meeting brown, emerald green, and blue. His eyes drifted to Asten’s hands that were buried in Dr. Keene’s desk, and he got a sick look on his face.

“You three are getting so suspended for this,” He said with a twisted sort of giddiness about him, turning to duck back into the hallway.

A voice came, loud and clear, bouncing through the quiet room: “No!”

Bentley hardly realized that it was his.

Jesse turned on his heel. “What was that, Wayne?”

The redhead froze, resisting the urge to shrink with all the eyes that were laser focused on him. He glanced to Asten and Nico, who were staring back blankly, offering no help.

Control the conversation.

“We’re trying to figure out what happened to your sister,” Bentley explained, taking a step forward, toward Jesse, keeping his words laced with a little venom for good measure. “We already have leads that connect her and Dr. Keene to the Secret Keeper, and we were about to be even closer to finding out what happened before you decided you needed to be a little snitch to make yourself feel better.”

Jesse creased his brow, glancing around the classroom before he pulled the door shut with a quiet click. Bentley watched the way his stone expression faltered in the slightest, the shine at the back of his irises spinning into something different. “You’re seriously playing detective? You three?”

“Wow. I know you said he was slow, but this is just ridiculous,” Bentley muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing back at Asten.

Jesse glanced between them, exasperated. Asten had a look on his face like he was trying very hard not to smile.

“Very funny, Wayne,” Jesse spat. However, he didn’t leave the room, nor did he stalk forward to punch Bentley in the face. He just sort of stood there.

“What are you waiting on? For us to invite you into our motley crew? Our merry band? Because it ain’t happening,” Asten hissed from across the room.

Jesse made a few faces, different emotions passing across his features. “The cops are being little pansies about the Secret Keeper. Too afraid to do their jobs,” He muttered, crossing his arms. His expression faltered again, to something like… sadness? “Do you guys seriously believe you can find her?”

Did Bentley actually think they could do it?

“Yes,” Asten answered for him, glaring at Jesse with a vengeance burning in his eyes. “And if you go tattling on us, we’ll get suspended, probably questioned by the cops, and we won’t tell them anything we know. Just so you’ll have to live the rest of your life knowing that you were the reason Mandy was never found.”

Bentley breathed in. Were they playing up the amount of knowledge they had? Oh, definitely. The police probably did know what they knew. And would Jesse telling on them really assure Mandy was never found? Absolutely not. But they were using his feelings for leverage, just like Bentley’s father taught him.

Asten was a natural at this Puppeteer stuff.

Jesse sighed heavily, his expression changing subtly, like he was conflicted. “Mm… fine. Fine, I won’t tell anyone. Just because it wouldn’t hurt to have someone else looking.”

Use the leverage to get what you want.

“And if you ever touch any of us again, we’ll call off the search and keep everything we know to ourselves,” Bentley added. Jesse scowled at him, long and hard, and then groaned.

“Don't push your luck,”

“I’m not the one whose sister is missing,” Bentley shrugged. “I think your luck is the one that shouldn’t be pushed. Do you want us to look for her or not?”

Jesse scowled deeply again. “Fine. You win. But I swear; if anyone hears that I spoke to you three, I’ll knock your teeth out,” He huffed. He made a face like he’d just eaten something gross, opened the door, and disappearing into the hallway without another word. The door clicked behind him.

No one said anything for a solid five seconds. And then:

“Geez, where’s that Bentley been the whole time? I like him!” Asten muttered with a snicker, shaking his head as he continued to dig through the desk drawers. “Please be brutal more often. It’s so refreshing.”

“Should I be offended by that?”  Nico questioned, drifting back toward the door. Asten shrugged.

“If you really want to,”

Bentley said nothing. That Bentley wasn’t so much Bentley as it was pre-programmed Puppeteer. But he guessed, if it worked, it worked. 

“Finally,” Asten chimed as he pulled a small blue device out of the top desk drawer, sliding it closed with a thump. Bentley watched in quiet fascination as he looked through the wires, plugging them to the phone until he found one that went in the charging hole just perfectly. He plugged the other end into Tim’s computer, opened it, and started typing around.

Bentley stepped forward. “What’re you doing?”

“Password reset software. It’s the only way we can get into the thing,” He replied, like it were obvious.

Bentley said nothing. Sometimes, it was uncanny how much Asten reminded him of Tim.

It took only two or three minutes before the phone opened up to the home-screen on command.

“This is so illegal,” Nico muttered from the door, his eyes focused so hard on the hallway Bentley thought they might’ve been starting to water. (Or maybe he was just crying, which was a possibility.) 

“Nothings illegal if you don’t get caught!” Asten replied, grabbing the phone off the desk and moving toward Bentley. “Let’s see what we can find.”

Bentley glanced over at the screen, eyes flicking between all the apps and folders on the home page. Asten’s first instinct was to click on the text messages.

There were several names Bentley didn’t recognize, probably Dr. Keene’s friends and family. Asten scrolled quickly, until he stopped on a name Bentley did recognize. 

Amanda Todryk.

Asten made a face. “You should look away. Just in case.”

Bentley wasn’t sure why he needed to look away, but he did. A few seconds of quiet passed before Asten said: “Okay. You’re good.”

Bentley turned back toward the phone, and the text messages between Dr. Keene and Mandy were displayed on the screen. Asten scrolled a bit, revealing that it was mostly just a repetitive string of tutoring today? From Mandy and yes from Dr. Keene. Those two texts repeated nearly every day, including Sunday, the day Many went missing. There were no messages after that.

Asten left that message thread and scrolled to the bottom, humming when he didn’t recognize any more names.

Bentley did. 

The very last name on the text list. Asten left the app and moved on quickly, so Bentley wasn’t totally sure, but he could’ve swore he saw the name… John Whittaker.

“Look away again. I’m going into his photos,” Asten ordered. Bentley did as he was told (but why did he have to look away every time?) until Asten said it was fine for him to look back. The photos app was closed, and Asten was scrolling through his apps. Twitter. Note Taking Pro. Amazon. Rentals for Royals.

Asten stopped on that one. Bentley wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but it looked rather harmless, really — the symbol was a swirly little crown with a bunch of colors.

“What’s that?” Bentley questioned. Asten clicked on it, and the app began to load.

“You can let people rent out properties from you on here. Like… letting someone else use your house like a hotel,” Asten explained. Bentley scrunched up his nose. There were enough people in Wayne Manor already.

The app opened, revealing a photograph of a beautifully manicured cabin in pine woods that looked like something out of a mystical storybook. There was a title below the picture that read: Pinewood Cabin.

Asten hummed and scrolled down. “Looks like Dr. Keene owns a sick Air B&B in the woods somewhere.”

Bentley watched as Asten tapped on things so quickly he couldn’t even focus on what they were, bringing up something that looked like a very colorful calendar. Each day on the calendar coincided with a color-coded name that was listed off to the side. Bentley guessed that calendar told Dr. Keene who was scheduled to stay.

Sunday was green, and the names Amanda Todryk and Lanse Handal were in green off to the side.

“Oh my God!” Asten started.

“What? What? What?!” Nico shouted across the room with such urgency a passerby might’ve thought Asten was dying. 

“Mandy rented out Dr. Keene’s Air B&B with Lanse Handal!”

Apparently that name meant something. Bentley did recognized it, only a little, but he didn’t know why.

“What? The senior from the Soccer team that went missing?! They probably rented it before he disappeared!”

Went missing. That must’ve been why Bentkey recognized the name — it would’ve been on Asten’s research list.

“I bet they were planning on having a one night-“

“No!”

“-stand.”

“Shut up!” Nico squeaked, glaring daggers across the room at Asten. Well, Nico was a bit too soft for it to be considered daggers — maybe blunt pencils.

“What’s a one night stand?”

Nico and Asten’s eyes both came to rest on Bentley, Nico’s filled with terror, Asten’s with surprise and maybe faint amusement. Bentley glanced between them as they seemed to blink, blankly, offering no explanation whatsoever.

“It… uh…” Asten started, glancing over at Nico, who shook his head with the most serious I’ll kill you look Bentley had ever seen from him. They pair seemed to have an unspoken argument, which lasted for a solid ten seconds before Asten coughed awkwardly.

“You should ask Bruce. And, uh… don’t look it up,” He finalized, stiffly patting Bentley on the shoulder a couple times. “Now, back to this. I think we need to take a trip to the cabin. An undocumented trip.”

Nico scrunched his face up. “Why?”

“Because Mandy was going to stay there on Sunday night. They said she never came home after tutoring, but she wasn’t going home, she was going there with her little boy toy.”

“Asten,” Nico warned, still glaring those blunt pencils. “Please stop. And absolutely not. We don’t even know where it is, and we’re not breaking in.”

“The address is in my hand, dude,” Asten stated, pulling his own phone out and taking a picture of Dr. Keene’s rental property’s information. “Cabins in the woods are murder central. We know that from, like, every horror book and movie ever. We have to go. Just to make sure.”

“To murder central,” Nico sighed.

“Yes, to murder central,”

Bentley breathed in deep. First, they stole a teachers phone, and now they were going to break into his rental property? He wasn’t sure he liked where this whole plan was going.

But, he guessed, if it proved or denied Dr. Keene’s innocence for sure, that’s what they needed to do.

��

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

—

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @cademygod

[kiseiakhun]

(nsfw)

read on ao3

*

Alright.

Alright, so, the kid is hooking up with Wally. That... makes more sense than it doesn't, actually, considering how they bicker. It was only a matter of time before they jumped each other. Had been jumping each other. Honestly, they're barely keeping it discreet. Probably the only reason Hal hadn't noticed sooner is because he barely spends time on Earth anymore.

He just wishes they weren't proving his suspicions right on his bed. That he sleeps on.

His bed. Not Kyle's, or at least, the bed that Kyle is currently sleeping in, because the kid had somehow gotten it in his head that Hal's spare room is meant for him. "The beds on the watchtower are uncomfortable," he says, every time he has to stay on Earth for more than two days, "and it's not like anyone is staying with you," and "every time I stay with the Titans I get sucked into teenager drama," and "you're the only one with a place on Earth anymore, please please please please please?"

Which is a lie, by the way. Alan still has his mansion, and he knows Bruce keeps a place around for Kyle because he's soft on the kid. And none of it matters, because Hal always says yes. Kyle's right. It's not like anyone is using his spare room, anyway.

"You're such an asshole," he hears Kyle hiss, through the cracked-open door, and then, "ow! Stop biting me!" He really needs to start learning how to say 'no' to Kyle. It's been years, he's made up for the whole Parallax thing, right? Right.

"Then hurry up," Wally insists. "I didn't come to hear you bitch and whine."

"In case you forgot, I didn't ask you to come. You invited yourself." There's the shuffle of bodies, the creak of Hal's ancient bedsprings. Unwittingly, Hal conjures an image of Kyle. And Wally. And their paper-thin uniforms that they create out of nothing. Would they even need to take anything off? Touching Kyle is like touching bare skin.

And that's a dangerous line of thought. No. Nope.

"I came to see Hal, not you," Wally insists. "And speaking of, hurry up, before he comes back."

There's a seconds-long pause.

"Really?" Wally asks.

"Shut up," Kyle replies, sounding flustered.

"Freak." Wally can't be too offended, if the rocking of the bed and Kyle's low moan is any indication. "Of course you'd like that, you shameless exhibitionist."

"Like you're any better." There's the sound of flesh on flesh. Of lips on skin. Hal stares at the sliver of afternoon light spilling through the crack on the door like it holds all the answers. His pants feel tight. Maybe he should start using his front door instead of flying in through the window. John had lectured him enough on the security threat of an always-open window. So had Bruce, but Hal doesn't care about Bruce's opinion. Kyle also insists on the open window, for his oil paintings to dry.

Hal really needs to start saying no to the kid.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asks, sounding strangled.

"Did you leave your brain in space?" Wally's voice is breathy. Hal is rooted in place. "What does it look like I'm doing, dumbass?"

"I am not fucking you today." Kyle's voice is a tight hiss. "We're on Hal's bed!"

"Oh, so you'd grope me on Hal's bed, but you won't fuck me on Hal's bed?"

"I'm not getting lube on his sheets! He doesn't have a washing machine!"

"Unbelievable," Wally says. "When did you get so uptight? Did space turn you into a prude, too? I thought lanterns were supposed to be sluts."

"You're a slut." Kyle sounds aggrieved. "You really can't live without my cock for one day? You're the one who says we should make this qu-ick-"

"I'm always quick." Wally sounds far too smug for someone who just basically admitted he can't last in bed. The wet noises get louder. "And stop being so precious, I know you've jerked off on this bed."

"Fuck," Kyle hisses. "That's different, you a-asshole." His breathing gets heavy. "Me t-touching myself doesn't mean bringing lube-stained sheets to the laundromat."

Hal feels dizzy. Kyle. Touching himself. On Hal's bed.

He should really leave. He should've left ten minutes ago. He should've left as soon as he flew in through the window and heard Wally and Kyle rolling in the sheets, hissing and spitting at each other like cats. The sheets. On his bed. On Hal's bed, that they are on, right now.

Kyle takes too many liberties with Hal's stuff. Kyle waltzes into his life like a little diva and takes Hal's time and his home like he's entitled to it, wheedling and pouting and nagging Hal until he folds to his every request. He sleeps in his bed, leaves crumbs on the couch cushions, and stinks up the apartment with his paints and canvases and half-drunk cups of coffee. Against his will, Hal knows what gesso is, and fixative, and the dangers of tossing oil paint rags in the trash. He keeps pulling sketchbooks out from under tables, and pillows, and under the bed and behind the bookcase and, once, in the spice cabinet, tucked into the furthest corner. It might still be there, actually. Kyle's still here, in his bed, in his life, flitting around like a moth that won't leave.

And now he's fucking Wally in Hal's room. Not the spare bedroom, but Hal's. He's touched himself in that bedroom. And God, Wally. Hal can't think of Wally. He's known Wally since he was a kid, since he was a bright-eyed little rascal looking at Barry like he's the best thing in the world.

This is so, so wrong.

"Stop worrying," Wally tells Kyle, that breathy tone still in his voice, that breathy, aroused voice that Hal shouldn't listen to, he should not be listening to. "No one cares about - hah. About what you do."

"Are you trying to be nice?" Kyle's voice has the same strain to it. "Because if you are, you're, ngh. You're really bad at it."

"I'm not." Wally somehow manages to sound both unimpressed and turned on at once. Hal wonders what they're doing, wonders at their position. From context, Wally's probably on top of Kyle. Is Kyle sitting up, or lying down? Hal imagines it. Imagines Kyle holding Wally's hips, or his ass, fingers denting the jagged red edges of his uniform, ripped open just enough to ease Kyle's cock into him. And Kyle, in the last thing Hal saw him in, wearing Guy's football jersey and a pair of tiny shorts that ride up enough to show the curve of his ass when he bends over-

More rustling. The sound of a body being flipped over.

"Fucking brat," Kyle spits. "I'll make you shut up."

Hal should really leave.

He reaches for his pants. Squeezes his erection. And doesn't move.

[mikeydraws]

And here I present from my notes, a list of

Suoersons braunrot???

That I totally didn’t make mostly at the hours of 1-4 am

POV: You’re giving HC to Supersons but you are in fact projecting

(Most are platonic while the others are Romantic)

Damián can’t keep friendships, mainly bc of his past he actually like can’t, he has such issues with that bc at school he starts being friend with someone and after a year they aren’t friends anymore, his only friends are his team mates

And ofc Jon, but Damian will never admit that

If Jon and Damian dated/started being in a romantic relationship (as adults/same age) they would actually forget, they would be sitting down reading books one day and then one of them just blurbs out “omg we’re boyfriends?” (Mostly Jon) and then would do a lil kiss on the cheek or just get closer

One thing Damian and Jon have in common is that they never experienced Teenage Love, Damian just never cared and well Jon was stuck in a volcano and he still feels like he missed out

Jon is horribly claustrophobic, he got locked in the bathroom once and Kon had to save him from a panic attack (and also saving the house from being blown apart)

Bruce, Richard and sometimes Jason all call Damian “little Dami” when the isn’t here to hear it

Both damian and jon got bullied at school, but they will only attack the bullies if they mention the other, like jon nearly ending a kid bc he said Damian acted and sounded weird. While Damian gets detention for being too brutal with a kid who called Jon a baby. None of them know this.

(Adults/same age) I don’t think their love would just erupt from no where, I see a lot of fanfics do this where they just jump in, no they are so slowburn it hurts, shits even worse than Aziracrow 😭

Damian likes people who are easy to read/expressive, he feels very safe with those people, yet he is the most closed up mf in the area

When Damian gets Overwhelmed and on the edge of a meltdown he else fights so intensely it’s dangerous, bro needs the whole bat cave to himself during these moments

Most of Damian’s meltdowns are caused by a really uncomfortable pain that lasts long, it’s not the same pain as a wound or anything like that, he mostly hates muscle cramps, the ripped up skin around his nails and any other unidentifiable pains

Jon get overstimulated after stress and paranoia, like he has sm, during exams and finals he needs to have things around him to comfort him or else his anxiety will get him

Jon isn’t a puppy golden retriever baby, no this dude will break a wall, a bone to protect ANYONE, he is the best guard dog ever

Jon is the baker, Damian is the cooker. I will not elaborate.

[khionefr0st]

im gonna put this here bc at this point this acc is just me screaming into the void and sometimes the void screams back

I’m gonna preface this with the fact that what anon did here is wrong even if what they say isn’t. Just stop barging into other people’s spaces, or going into their askbox/interacting with them when you know they disagree with you and trying to convince them of a different viewpoint in fandom.

Anyway, to the point - if the nature of two characters’ relationship hinges on technicalities like whether they call each other brother/sister in canon, or the batfam wiki, or their adoption papers by the same dude instead of the actual nature of their relationship, which for some of them, does not fit siblings at all, then you could hardly call them siblings, even by the standards of canon itself.

Like someone could just as easily make the argument that since Jason died, his adoption papers under Bruce are no longer valid. He isn’t any longer adopted by the same dude because those papers were never renewed – and they never had to be, because Jason was already pretty much an adult by the time he decided to show up in Gotham again. In the same comic where Bruce adopts Tim as his son, he admits that he didn’t adopt Dick as a son, but a ward. Does this make Jason and Dick any less of brothers? Does it make Dick any less of a son to Batman?

And some would respond to this with “well, technically-“ and it would be an argument about technicalities all over again, and it would still be the wrong damn basis for judging the nature of any character’s actual relationship.

Take Jason and Tim. They did not grow up together. On the contrary, Jason has done things to Tim that would drive any two people apart – and at that time, they barely had any connections to each other besides Jason’s resentment towards Tim, and Tim knowing Jason as Robin but never really knowing him. And then the reboot happened, and none of it was ever addressed properly. We didn’t get an arc where Jason apologized to Tim. Just a throwaway line in a N52 comic where Jason acknowledges that Tim is kind of similar to him, and he realized he wasn’t his enemy. They bond more in the N52 RHATO run, but none of it is especially in a familial way. At best, in canon, they’re amicable coworkers for the same dude, no matter how many times they call each other brother or how you argue that Bruce still has their adoption papers.

Same can be said about Tim and Damian – sure, they have the same dad. Does it make them siblings? Not by a long shot, because the nature of their relationship needs more development than mere technicalities for it to happen. And for the love of god please realize that having the same father figure does not make people tantamount to siblings.

Because that’s the problem with some of you – it’s that you force them into these boxes of typical nuclear family dynamics, like since this is the dad, all his kids are siblings, and because some of them share the same siblings, that means they all see each other as siblings! When the batfamily is a found family and fundamentally does not fit into conventional family relationships.

At best, the “batfamily is a traditionally nice, good, loving family” is a headcanon with surface-level canon content to support it (like WFA, or some moments in Nightwing). But looking at their actual, genuine interactions with each other in the past? The actual moments that relationships should be based on?

Some of them are hardly siblings, no matter how hard you try and force them to be.

Plus, Babs can definitely see Bruce as a father figure. She can definitely be a mother figure and/or a sister figure to Steph and Cass. This doesn’t mean she can’t date their sibling, Dick. Stephanie doesn’t have to be adopted by Bruce to see him as a father figure, and you can definitely think she does see a dad in Batman. Steph isn’t any less of a sister to Cass or Duke. Doesn’t mean she can’t be shipped with their brother, Tim. Doesn’t mean someone can’t reinterpret Steph and Cass’ relationship as a romantic one, either. Because, again, they do not fit conventional nuclear family dynamics.

The reason Tim doesn't have to accept Damian or Jason as his brother is because the fundamental difference that separates found families from nuclear families is that they are not born into the relationship - the relationship happens because they make it work. Their bonds are not forged by a link in blood - they are forged by choice, and with effort. Without those things there is no relationship, no matter how many parental figures or siblings you share.

So yes, Jason is still Bruce’s son, not because of any damn adoption papers or because he called his other kids bro/sis, but because Bruce loved him like a son and Jason loved him like a father, and they've both put in the time and commitment in the past to prove that to each other.

I’m not doing this to justify shipping, because the justification for that is do whatever the hell you want in fiction. I don’t care if you still see them as siblings and neither should anyone. Fiction is held to different standards than reality, and fanworks are held to different standards than canon. It is a waste of time to make it your business to form an opinion on what everyone personally ships and doesn’t ship in a spin-off of a universe that doesn’t exist.

I’m saying this because I need people to understand that happy, conventional batfamily is hardly canon. They are complex, and yes there is love and family to be found there, but their familial connections don't limit them. I think it’s a disservice to the narrative and the inherent versatility of their relationships to pretend like the batfamily is founded on traditional family dynamics. And yeah, also because “Actually, in canon-” has been used again and again to attack people who choose to make them have romantic connections instead of familial ones (including DickBabs and TimSteph shippers somehow), and half the time, like in the post above, they’re not even right because they ignore nuance and actual canon history for the sake of trivial and arbitrary criteria.

And even if it was canon, it’s not something you can weaponize against people who choose to see their relationships in a different way from you. Nothing is stopping anyone from rewriting canon either and choosing to say “Well in my headcanons and works they’re not related.” Canon or not, nobody has the authority to barge into that space and yell “Actually they’re siblings!” (And nobody has the authority either to barge into someone else’s askbox and say “No they aren’t!”) I promise you, it does not matter. If SPN, GoT and Greek Mythology didn't normalize incest some batfam slashfic between two members of a found family certainly isn't going to do it. Stay in spaces you’re comfortable with and do away with those you aren’t.

Last P.S. if you really want to read healthy and good canon family dynamics, read Flashfam.

[thelibrarian1895]

The Bats Are Trolls

I toy with the idea but haven’t figured how I want this as a full fic so tossing it into the ether, do with it what you will

Concept: Stupid magic user erases knowledge of Bat family from world as part of very dumb plan, Gotham only knows them as rumors and that’s because they’re Gotham’s heroes and Bruce has TONS of magic neutralizing things scattered around Gotham just in case, Justice League knows something is off but can’t quite figure out what’s going on and Batman’s annoyed with everyone questioning him while he’s trying to clean up the mess and the Robins (Robins will be a term that includes Cass even though she’s possibly the only one that never wore the R which is sad and needs to be fixed) decide now is a good time to troll the league (possible dash of angst because Tim’s friends don’t know who he is and the poor boy needs his friends or Tim takes this time to troll them more than he’s been able to for years and Tim is my favorite Robin)

Featuring Batman on Watchtower and for some reason the majority of his kids decided to follow, because they’re all chaotic trolls, and that includes Batman

When JL asks where Batman got all these heroes to follow him

Dick: I’m his love child with Vengeance (Bc one of the driving things that got Dick to be a vigilante was wanting vengeance for his parents’ murder)

Jason: I was told there’d be candy

Tim: Batman and Gotham had an accident and I’m the result, they’re being much more careful now

Stephanie: I was told there’d be candy

JL: Do kids in Gotham not understand that taking candy from strangers is a bad thing? Red Hood said that too

Steph: Have you ever been to Gotham? If you want candy you can actually eat instead candy that’s absolutely drugged and probably full of razor blades or ground glass, Batman’s basically the only source.

Damian: I am the son and heir of Batman

JL possibly a Flash: So Batman had another kid with Vengeance? Or Gotham? How? Are there other heroes named Vengeance and Gotham?

Tim: No, Nightwing’s parent was the concept of Vengeance, mine was the personification of Gotham. *Gestures to Damian* His is the Night, her parent *gestures towards Cassandra* is Justice

JL probably a Lantern: Didn’t Batman ever learn to wrap it up?

Stephanie: Dude, gross, do you ask your dad that kind of thing?

Tim sweet stalker boy who has weird sense of boundaries: He had a vasectomy ages ago, it’s in his medical files, but that wouldn’t really stop someone like the brat’s mother, or certain others

JL possibly Diana: Others?

Tim: Did you really think we’re Batman’s only children? *ignoring implication JL wanted to know about Batman’s theoretical baby mamas*

JL possibly a very worried Clark: How many others? How many other children does he have I mean?

Dick: Good question

Jason: Depends on the day

Tim: I have the current list with me *pulls out book the size of a dictionary*

JL: Why does it say “Hit List” on the front?

Dick: Robin started it and we haven’t had the time to think of a better name that we can all agree on

 This is true on several levels, Tim started to put together the book after the nth new kid from a different multiverse to try to help keep things straight for everyone since some of the kids were great like Terry or Father Todd while others were Joker Jr. or a Talon, none of the Robins will admit who named the list and all of them have a terrible sense of humor

 Dumb mage’s mistake is eventually undone, JL realizes they’ve met more of Batman’s kids during that point than they have…ever, they really only interact with Nightwing on a regular basis and Red Robin sometimes

[pluckyredhead]

Shipping ask: Tim/Bernard?

Hoo boy. Don't ship it, alas.

Why don't you ship it?

Listen. I WOULD LOVE TO. I am thrilled that Tim has finally been allowed to come out after being really really queer for...oh, 33 years? But DC has just completely dropped the ball. @irolltwenties said a lot of what I'm feeling here, but I'm opinionated so I'm gonna say it myself, too.

The short version: DC refuses to let Bernard have a personality or let Tim have any relationship with him beyond the most superficial, empty window dressing possible.

The long version: I remember Bernard, y'all. I'm an old lady who was actually reading his original appearances when they came out! He was a weird, annoying kid who thought that being aggressively "quirky" made him cool when it actually just made him obnoxious...which allowed him to circle back around to being endearing. He liked to hear himself talk. He enjoyed being a tour guide, gossiping, and conspiracy theories - he's the guy who likes to know things, or at least seem like he does. Whether you liked him or not (I liked him), he was specific.

Now? The only thing recent comics will tell you about Bernard is that he's blond. Tim might as well be dating a cardboard cutout, or a post-it that says "Boyfriend" on it. Is he gay or bi, or does he prefer a different label, or none at all? Did he always have a crush on Tim, or is this new? Was his vocal interest in Darla and Tim's stepmother Dana just performative, or was he actually into them? What does he do when he's not smiling blandly under a narration box full of exposition? Does he have hobbies? Does he have a personality?

I do have to disagree with my beloved @irolltwenties on one thing: I don't think Tim is getting all the development in this relationship. I don't think Tim's gotten any, either. He told Bernard that he wanted to date him in August of 2021, but have we progressed in any significant way with his character since then? He spent three issues of Urban Legends agonizing over his sexuality in a way that was so repressed he wouldn't even admit that was what he was doing, but how does he feel about it now? He hasn't said in a comic whether he's gay or bi or pan or even queer - and look, I'm not saying he needs to know what label he prefers, or whether he needs to use one at all. But that should be a character choice too! We don't know if he has an identity he's comfortable with, or isn't sure yet, or is rejecting all of them, or is refusing to think about it. We literally don't know anything about Tim's sexuality except that it includes Bernard, including how Tim feels about it.

We also haven't gotten to see him come out to a single person. Again, I don't want to reduce queer narratives to cliches, but like...it's very weird that it's happened off-panel repeatedly? With Bruce, with Steph, with Young Justice. I'm assuming the rest of his family knows, based on...exposition about Damian that doesn't even make sense. We don't get to see this fucking conversation with Dick? Are you KIDDING me? Some of us have been waiting literal decades for Tim to come out and we get absolutely zero of the emotional catharsis of that? It feels like we're being cheated, honestly it does.

And speaking of being cheated...we never did get to see that Tim and Bernard date. Or a conversation about their history, or liking boys, or literally anything ever. When was their first kiss? I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE THE FIRST TIME TIM KISSED A BOY. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD HAVE LIKED THAT. We don't even know how long they've been dating - Tim's current mini said it's been "months" and "a month" in the same issue. Go, DC, give us nothing!

I don't know why Tim's sexuality and his relationship with Bernard are being handled like this. Is it because they're afraid that if they allow it to be three dimensional it won't be sealed in its "unproblematic queer rep" mylar bag and board anymore? Is it because they're trying to get credit for Bi Tim while leaving it as vague as possible to not offend homophobes? Is it because they're just doing a crappy job? It's so strange to me because that first Urban Legends story was so good, and I really was rooting for Meghan Fitzmartin because it is so, so hard to be a woman in comics. But so far, it's just been a disappointment.

2. What would have made you like it?

If we had actually gotten weird, annoying OG Bernard, I feel like that would have been very entertaining - Tim is such a reserved character that I always enjoy seeing him play off against someone chaotic (Steph, Kon and Bart, even Jason to an extent). Also just like...seeing the actual relationship on the page??? I'm begging here, DC.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I am strongly in favor of the concept! Tim dating a boy is long overdue. I just need DC to give me specific characters in a specific relationship, ON THE PAGE.

[viscerax]

could you do one bruce yamada x reader, where she is super shy and when (which bruce fell in love with) and he confesses his love for her, she doesn't find a way to express that she also likes him?😞🙏, I really like him and I don't I've seen nobody write about him except you 🤭

My Baseball Star

Pairings- Bruce Yamada x fem!reader

Plot- in the ask

A/n- oh boy oh boy first writing I've done in a while olz forgive me yall

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The cold relief of lemonade hit your tongue, and you let out a relieved sigh. The Colorado summers weren't absolutely horrible, but being stuck outside, surrounded by sticky kids and sweat middle aged dads who got in your face and smelled like they hadn't showered in days, made it seem like you were being suffocated by the heat. Not to mention the yelling, or the burning hot bleachers. That's what you get when your friends drag you to a baseball game then abandon you to go flirt with the boys on the team.

Social outings weren't really your 'forte'. You'd rather stay at home, sat in front of the fan and reading Nancy Drew books or painting. And yet, you were practically dragged out of the house like a child, and forced to be squeezed between some 3 year old slobbering over cheerios, and somebody's mom whom was awfully loud and smelled like she took baths in perfume.

You tried to focus on the game rather then your surroundings, and you found yourself watching a particular player, Bruce Yamada. He was pretty, so it was no wonder why all the girls had a crush on him. Even one of your friends seemed to fawn over him, squealing up by the cage when he winked at her. You felt an odd pang of jealousy.

"I could never even have a chance with him! Why am I jealous?"

You huffed and suddenly stood up, squeezing past the dozens of people on the bleachers and slowly walking down the steps, your white sun dress gently blowing in the breeze. You went down to stand next to your friends, who took a few seconds to even notice you were there.

"Oh, there you are, Y/n! Enjoying the game?" One of your friends, Stacy hummed.

You shrugged. "Its... alright." You hummed and averted your gaze to the game in front of you. Your eyes of course landed on the infamous Bruce Yamada again, and you swear he was looking directly at you, and smiling. Your cheeks quickly brightened to a shade of red, much to Stacy's amusement.

"Ooooh- I think Y/n has a crushhhh!!" She cooed and all your other friends whooped and whistled. It was rare you ever talked about your love life because well, it was practically non-existent. "So, who is it? That shaggy haired boy on the other team? Oooh, is it Tommy? He's cute. Seems like your type."

"Uhm- its actually-" you sighed and glanced around, hoping none of Bruce's friends were nearby. "-Bruce. Uhm, Bruce yamada."

Stacy looked surprised. "Bruce, hm? He doesn't really seem like your type. Althoughi do have to admit he is pretty cute." Stacy seemed to he in deep thought when another friend, Leslie piped in.

"Well, you know what they say. Opposites attract. I think they would he kind of cute together. You should totally shoot your shot, Y/n!"

You urgently shook your head in protest. "Nope, no way! Never. I don't have a chance with him. I'm not up for embarrassing myself today." You huffed and looked away, your cheeks still bright red, although that could be attributed to the heat.

"Oh come on! You're a total babe! Of course you have a chance with him. In fact, hes stupid if he rejects you! You're a catch!" Stacy giggled and nudged you in the side. You stumbled a bit and shook your head.

"I just- I don't know. He's way out of my league." You shrugged and leaned against the cage again. Stacy rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the game.

After the game was over, Stacy dragged you along with her to go talk to the boys. You were hesitant to even approach them, but when you pictured the mental image of you standing off to the side while your friends all talked to their boy crushes, you decided you would look much more awkward if you didn't talk to them. Your palms got all sweaty as you shuffled behind your group of friends. They each branched off to talk to their crushes or boyfriends, and it ended up with you listening to one of the boys flirt with Stacy.

You could care less about that conversation though. What you were more interested in was the taller boy who sauntered his way over with the grace of a fall leaf sinking to the floor. Even the way he walked was entrancing. Sure, that was a creepy thought, but its not like you were going to say that to him.

Bruce had finally stopped a foot away from you and smiled, reaching out his calloused hand. You awkwardly shook his hand, and he chuckled, giving you a charming smile. You tried to smile back, but cringed at how much your lips quivered.

"I'm Bruce. What is the name of this pretty lady standing in front of me?" Bruce shook your hand before gently placing a kiss on your knuckles.

Oh, this boy had class.

You blushed heavily, and words struggled to roll off your tongue. "Uh-uhm..." you took a deep breath, trying to calm your shaky breath. "I'm Y/n. I-its a pleasure to meet you, Bruce. You uhm- you play really well." Your words were broken up and shaky, but at least they were comprehensible.

"Oh- well thank you, Ms. Y/n. Its a pleasure to meet you as well." Bruce hummed, pulling a wrinkled up paper out of his pocket. "You're quite the beauty. How about after I get washed up, me and you go off and get some milkshakes, maybe go see a movie?"

Your heart dropped. And not in the bad way. In the way where your breaths get all shaky, and you feel like maybe you'll start floating.

You just kind of stood, a blank expression on your face, and Bruce had an apprehensive look on his face. "If you don't want to, that's cool to. Just couldn't pass up on an opportunity like this." He smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind your ear. Heat immediately followed the spot where his fingers brushed your cheek.

"I'll tell you what, I'll give you my number, when you make up your mind, give me a call, okay?" He smiled and clasped the crumpled up paper into your hand before winking and turning around to join the rest of his team, who had already began walking off.

Stacy ran over to you, a giddy smile on her face. "Oh my God, Y/n! Hes totally into you. I cod see it from a mile away. Are you gonna go on a date with him? You have to let me know how it goes!"

You nodded, and before you knew it, you were at home, nervously dialing the numbers messily scribbled. You almost hung up the moment the phone started ringing.

"Yamada residence?" A nice, feminine voice sounded from the other side of the phone. She had a bit of an accent, but you could still easily decipher her words.

"H-hi! Uhm- is Bruce home?" You nervously stuttered, your feet shuffling nervously against the floor.

"Yes he is, may I ask who is calling?"

"Uh-uhm, its Y/n."

"One minute hun." She hummed and you could faintly hear her shout for Bruce, informing him that it was you calling.

A few seconds later, the phone was passed off to Bruce. "Hey, made up your mind?" Bruce's charismatic voice hummed from the other line, and your heart skipped a beat.

"Uh-uhm yeah. H-how does 6 s-sound?" Your voice was weak and cracked at least 4 times, but you finally said it.

"Sure. I'll be there to pick you up." He hummed and before he could say anything else, you hung up the phone and let put a squeal of excitement.

Despite all your nerves and anxiety, you broke past that one barrier, and now you were on your way to a date with the hottest boy in town.