#this is why tim feels so strongly against batman killing

[aingeal98]

Steph for the ask game?

three facts about them from my personal headcanons

-The first woman Steph was ever attracted to was Zatanna. She didn't realise this until later on when she was dating Cass and it clicked that it hadn't just been platonic girl crush appreciation

-She did actually die. The body they put in the ground was actually Steph. Due to reality warping from various villains she ended up in Africa with Leslie who admitted that she hadn't actually let Steph die but tried everything and saw her bleed out regardless. They were both highly confused how she was alive again and they never did fully confirm why.

-She has all the autopsy scars and long lasting damage from Black Mask's torture. She used to play the piano but when she came back her fingers didn't stretch the way they used to and the first time she tried it gave her a panic attack.

a reason they suck

They were created and written by Chuck Dixon, which often meant being a part of his shitty conservative propaganda. She was more of a victim than a perpetrator most of the time, but I'd love to have modern Steph reflect on that and be like "Damn that internalized misogyny was kicking my ass sometimes huh."

a reason they are great

What if the entire narrative was stacked against you, what if your writers and editors looked down on you for being a teenage girl and treated you as nothing more than a pawn in their shitty sexist manpain stories. And what if you survived and triumphed and became loved enough to carve your own narrative. What if people have come and gone from the "family" that once excluded you maliciously but you're still here and kicking, a core part of it now. They put you in the Robin uniform as a consolation prize before killing you but you're still here and you're clawing your part in that history with everything you've got. For everyone that'll say Damian is the fourth Robin there's someone who'll reply "Actually that was Stephanie Brown."

a reason I relate to them

Being an isolated teenage girl who feels a deep anger at the injustice of the world and doesn't quite have anywhere to fit in or fully vent that anger? I was literally two bad days away from going out on the street to fight crime when I was a teen. I tend to relate to Cass more because the specific mentality and issues she have resonate strongly, but Steph also has plenty of material for me to dig into.

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

Stephcass. It's gotta be stephcass. I could give a million reasons but I've yelled about this so much on my blog already. They bounce off each other so well, they've got the backstory and angst and complex dynamic while also being funny and cute together. The accidental romantic narrative they created is so damn good it barely needs anything to canonize it at this point.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

A proper go at being Robin. An apology from Bruce. A discussion with Tim about what they did wrong and an apology too. A long talk with Cass after she came back from the dead with (you guessed it) an apology from Cass. Getting to talk to preboot Jason about what it means to be a sacrificial lamb to give Batman manpain and hype Tim up as the perfect Robin.

five people that character never fell in love with and why

-Dean. Even if she hadn't gotten pregnant it would have never worked out. He was simply too old and for all Steph hates herself she would have realized it eventually

-Detective Gage, for exactly the same reasons as Dean.

-Jason. He died before she came along and by the time he came back it would never cross either of their minds to be anything but purely platonic. They can bond but neither of them appeal to the other romantically.

-Kyle Mizoguchi. He's sweet and they could be something but unfortunately she's in love with Cass at this point. Like the entirety of Batgirls is just Steph and Cass being in love and not realizing it. Kyle had the wrong timing.

-Dick Grayson. The hypothetical age difference isn't a problem for Steph. But obviously, it's an issue for Dick. If she were ever to fall in love with him in an alternate universe and confess he'd be highly alarmed to find out why she thought things were possible between them. It might actually be nice for Steph to get an understanding ear and a shoulder to cry on, someone to tell her that it's not her fault and those men were wrong, but that's all. For one thing Dick is not a scumbag who creeps on young girls and for another thing that's his little brother's ex. In no universe could this ever be more than a one sided crush.

[m00nslippers]

In crushing au or any au what lantern do u think Jason would be? I personally would think Jason would be hope or love. if so how would the green lanterns or anyone would react to Jason being a lantern and him wearing a bad ass suit that combines his red hood gear with what ever lantern he is?

Okay now, I only knew sort of bare bones knowledge about the various corps, so I did some research…and I’ve come to a conclusion. You might say it plays into some misconceptions people tend to have about Jason, but I didn’t come by this decision lightly, I have real arguments. So how about I tell you why I think Jason wouldn’t be various lantern colors and then I’ll get to the ones I think are more likely. We aren’t counting white and black, because black is just death as in being dead, and white is a cop-out because it’s every color.

Orange Lantern: Greed. Jason is one of the least greedy characters there is. He’s selfless, he grew up poor, he does not have strong attachments to the material. He has been known to give up profit or money in various heroic efforts–he blew up weapons he could have sold for profit, used money to protect civilians, gave up profit to keep drug dealers under his territory from selling to children. He’s just not a greedy person. He wouldn’t be an orange lantern.

Yellow Lantern: Fear. While the Red Hood certainly inspires fear in many people, he doesn’t rely on it like Batman does (who was canonically a yellow ring bearer). In fact Jason’s entire agenda is that he believes there are those who are not inspired by fear to turn from their crimes and that such people need to be killed to protect their future victims. Also, Jason’s costume is not designed to make people afraid, it was mostly designed to be practical and to hide his identity from Bruce. So Jason being a Yellow Lantern isn’t very likely in my opinion.

Violet Lantern: Love. Now Jason is certainly a kind person who identifies with victims and wants to protect people, he’s a person who loves deeply. But the Violet Lanterns power does not seem to come from this broader understanding of love that includes filial or platonic or empathetic love. It seems to exclusively be about Romantic Love. And Jason? Putting aside that he’s a man and men don’t seem to be allowed to be a Violet Lantern for dumb reasons, he’s never had a real romantic relationship that lasted beyond a few dates. He does not seem to be especially interested in Romantic relationships in general and a lot of people even headcanon that he might be aro or ace because of his dearth of love interests. And even if he was in a relationship, it’s hard to imagine that he would be so overcome with emotion that he would put said relationship above everything else. That’s just not him. So no, I don’t think Jason would be a Violet Lantern either.

Blue Lantern: Hope. Those who are primarily chosen for this corps are not those who have a lot of hope, but are able to inspire people to fight. Now…Jason can and has done this. His Outlaws are a great example because everyone who has been on his team are there specifically to support him. They fight because and for Jason specifically, they aren’t there for prestige and some of them aren’t even there to be heroes or save people or do anything in particular, they just care about Jason and decide to support him. So Blue Lantern Jason…it’s viable. I think compared to someone like Dick, for example, he is not particularly good at this though, so I don’t think this is the lantern color for Jason.

Indigo Lantern: Compassion. Now at first I was like, oh it’s this one, it has to be. Jason is so compassionate, he identifies with victims so strongly that he feels the need to kill to prevent victims, so this has to be his ring color, right? Well…as it turns out, those who are chosen for this indigo tribe are those who actually lack compassion (sociopaths, basically). The ring seeks out people who have committed a great atrocity and causes them to feel remorse for their actions. If you already have compassion, it doesn’t work right, you can’t channel the Indigo light, it gets turned into some other emotion. Now Jason has certainly done things that some people think he should feel remorse about and which he does not, but… I think because those actions had justifiable reasoning behind them, even if some people might disagree, it would probably still make those not count. So, as for the emotion behind the ring color, totally Jason, but as the corps exist in the comics? Naw, he ain’t an Indigo lantern either.

Ultraviolet Lantern: Shame. This one I don’t know much about, it seems to feed off of negative emotion, specifically shame. Now Jason doesn’t have much shame. He generally believes even his more villainous actions to be justified. The only one of his actions he’s ever expressed much shame about was hurting Tim before he reconciled with the other bats, but Tim is okay so in the end it’s not much to be ashamed of, there wasn’t any lasting damage. Certainly if he ever changed him mind about killing then there would be a lot of shame to harness, but as of the canon we have? No, he’s not a person who feels much shame or remorse for his actions. So that being the case, I’m not convinced that Jason would make a very powerful Ultraviolet Lantern.

Green Lantern: Will. Now, green lanterns are those who seem to be able to overcome hardship and trials to accomplish their goals. They have a certain tenacity and practicality and ability to ignore fear. They also seem to be people who are imaginative/creative. Jason fits both of these criteria, he has gone against everything he was taught by Bruce, even given up the love of the man he considers his father, because he believed what he was doing was right and necessary. Jason does not give up, he keeps fighting, he doesn’t compromise on his beliefs, he doesn’t draw a line on how far he’s willing to go to protect people. He decides to do something and he doesn’t stop until it’s played out to it’s completion, he was beaten to death by the Joker and he still protected a women who betrayed him with his own body. He overcomes fear so completely that even in the face of hallucinations of his worst fears, he doesn’t break down, he overcomes. And we all know how damn dramatic Jason is, you think that comes out of thin air? He has imagination, he’s creative in his strategy. Jason could be a Green Lanten and he’d be a damn powerful one too.

Red Lantern: Anger. Red is the stereotypical choice for Jason when people try to assign him a lantern color because he’s ‘an angry person’. Now, contrary to what people tend to say and what Bruce and Dick themselves claim in the comics, Jason isn’t actually a very angry person. He rarely curses, doesn’t act recklessly out of anger, lose or use his temper on people who aren’t objectively evil or deserving of his ire except in a few instances that can be attributed to the Lazarus Pit’s influence or poor characterization…generally he acts very calm except for one, very specific subject–and that is Bruce refusing to avenge his death, and betraying his trust by (in his eyes) replacing him as if he didn’t matter. Jason is angry because he was wronged and damn is that anger powerful. Now this ties in perfectly with the type of people chosen by red lantern rings, who aren’t just angry people with tempers, but people with righteous anger, who have been subject to a loss or injustice. That describes Jason to a T. Furthermore, Red lanterns are basically immortal because their blood gets replaced with red lantern juice/power and coming back from the dead is Jason’s claim to fame. Also like…Red Hood? Red Lantern? Both red. It’s not my big argument, but that color wasn’t chosen because it had no association with Jason at all. He’s associated with red for a reason.

So, in conclusion, if I’m assigning Jason a lantern ring, he’s going to be either a green or red lantern, more probably a red lantern and Atrocitus better pray Jason never gets a red ring because he’d have that guy out on his ass in ten seconds flat, and anyone who got in his way would be fucked. I think his red hood gear would pair great with the Red Lantern uniform. I just imagine his black boots with bright red soles.

[12freddofrogs]

An episode of a Batfam TV Show

A while back I started wondering how I would design the Batfamily for their own TV. It started as a quick exercise, just considering ‘Season one would be Dick as Robin, and maybe he and Babs would do this, and then in S2 Jason would turn up’... and then it got detailed to the point I was working out individual episodes, character arcs, and themes.

This is an extract from Season Three, aka, Tim’s Robin run (pt1). The full chapter includes bright eyed Tim Drake nearly getting himself run over by the Batmobile so he can make his case why Batman needs a Robin, a minor cameo by the giant penny in the Cave, an adaptation of The Killing Joke, a driving lesson that technically involves Nightwing stealing the Batmobile, the Spoiler setting up in purple, a Wayne Gala or two, much mourning for what happened in the S2 finale, and Cassandra Cain rejecting her blood family for one that actually cares.

And, of course, this musical episode.

Full fic on Ao3  -Chapter 3 here. It’s much easier to read, especially on mobile.

Chapter 1 here.

Season Three, Episode Twenty - Songbird

A Pied Piper themed villain comes to Gotham. 

He has nothing to do with the Central City villain.

His powers work on children. Specifically, anyone under the age of about eighteen. It’s never made entirely clear what the cut-off age is, just that Cass is immune. 

Of course, no-one really knows how old Cass is, either, considering her lack of birth certificate.

 Tim is having an ordinary day at school, calmly walking past a couple having a break-up in the cafeteria, when the dramatic screaming match switches into a Broadway musical.

Tim is alarmed, and as he continues through the school, other people are bursting into song. Music is playing, and from the way he turns it’s obvious he can hear it and can’t figure out from where.

 “I need to finish my assignment for mathematics / but I can’t find the time without skipping football practise,” one boy tells his friends, then claps a hand against his throat.

“I’ve spent so much time working on Miss Greene’s essay / that I completely forgot about the science test today!” a girl sings, her voice calm despite the fact she’s frantically flipping through a textbook.

“He’s so handsome, he’d never notice me / what would I have to do to make him see?” another girl sings from her locker, glancing at a boy several doors away. He notices her singing, and she yelps, hiding behind her locker door.

Everyone is growing frantically confused by the music.

It eventually turns into a school wide song with everyone, including Tim, singing the same lyrics about “What’s going on? Why are we bursting into song?”

The song finishes and all the students stare at each other, wide-eyed.

“What was--”

“How--”

“I don’t--”

While everyone is still panicking, Tim slips out the school doors.

He heads straight to the Manor.

When Bruce opens the door, it’s to find a bundle of nervous energy fidgeting on his threshold.

“B, we - oh, no, it’s happening again.” Tim claps a hand over his mouth.

“What’s happening?” Bruce steps aside immediately to let his panicked third Robin into the house. 

It takes a moment as Tim scrambles inside, dropping his school backpack on the ground and turning to Bruce with a panicked expression, but finally he lowers his hand.

As expected, out comes another song.

“Bruce, we really need to talk because / there’s something in my voice. / Everything comes out as song / and I don’t have a choice. I don’t have a plan for this / so I kinda hope you do. / Otherwise get ready for Gotham’s musical debut. ”

"...I see.”

It’s not that Tim’s constantly speaking in song.

He still talks normally most of the time.

It’s just that whenever he feels something particularly strongly, he has an automatic performance about it.

He’s very concerned that when he sings, it’s always the absolute truth about how he feels.

“I have a secret identity! I can’t go to school if I’m going to sing about wearing a cape!”

Dick finds it hilarious

When he hears about the situation he comes up from Bludhaven immediately.

He’s trying to be sympathetic, but it comes across as insincere when he’s filming the whole thing.

“Come on, just one little song for the camera?”

“Mmm-fff!” Tim shakes his head, hands clapped over his mouth defensively.

Babs tells Dick not to worry, she caught Tim’s last performance on security cameras. Tim looks offended.

Meanwhile, Cass is jealous she’s too old.

“This is not a good thing, Cass,” Tim complains.

“Looks fun.”

“It is not.”

“Sourpuss.”

Tim has a song about being insecure in his place as Robin

Batman informs him that he is not to get involved in the case.

Tim grumpily agrees, and stays alone in the Cave while everyone leaves.

He starts on the obstacle course, swinging up and down on the wires as he begins to sing.

“Batman needs a Robin / That much is plain to see / The question that I’m asking / Is the Robin he needs me?���

He’s not insecure about being kept off this particular case, understanding if not liking it, but in general not sure about his ability to live up to the name.

 It finishes with a more triumphant declaration that he can do this. He’s Robin, he’s earned his cape, watch him go.

Steph is equally affected by the curse.

It’s the first time she’s turned up at the Cave, but she figured this was probably a big enough situation to be worth knocking.

She’s trying to make the most of it, and turns it into a game.

She acts like she’s finding it enjoyable. It’s almost believable until she does get a moment alone with Tim to confess that it’s creepy.

Steph and Tim have a duet.

Dick’s attempt at provoking them into singing finally works.

The song starts with Tim being annoyed at Dick, and quickly fades into both of them admitting they’re annoyed with the situation. It’s a very fast-paced cheer about how they can’t stop singing, when they find out who’s responsible that person will find out just what Robin and Spoiler can do.

They’re dancing around, jumping on and off the equipment, and performing perfect choreography.

Dick and Cass applaud.

It finishes with Tim dipping Steph, her balancing with one leg in the air, when they both react in terror. Tim drops her.

“I didn’t want — we didn’t want to do that,” Tim blurts out.

“You don’t understand, it made us move. It’s never done that before. It actually controlled what we did.” Steph’s breathing heavily, still sitting on the ground.

It’s discovered that the musical magic is not only growing, and is turning into a more complete form of mind control.

Dick and Cass suddenly no longer find it funny.

Within days, maybe even hours, the Pied Piper villain is likely to have an entire army of Gothamite children for choreographed villainy.

So, of course, the Bats push this situation up several rungs of the priorities.

Tim and Steph were already off the case, but now they are banned from leaving the Cave until they know exactly what this song can do.

They each call their parents to inform them they’re staying at the other’s house. Steph swears up and down that she’s just studying with Tim, seriously, she’ll bring home the flashcards as proof if she has to.

The two of them then actually end up making flashcards, because they no longer trust their bodies enough to train.

For a while everything is calm.

Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Oracle are all focused intently on the case.

Alfred is watching the two youngest.

It’s not a joke anymore, but with Tim and Steph sitting casually on the ground, talking together completely normally and checking in via coms, the situation doesn’t seem red alert urgent.

No-one notices how Tim starts humming as he cuts out the next flashcard, or that Steph takes up the tune while she coats one in glitter.

The scenes of them humming along together is intercut along with moments of the others working the case. The audience is very aware — Tim and Steph’s song has no diegetic soundtrack, so all the audience can hear in the Cave scenes are Alfred’s footsteps, the scratch of pen and paper, and two teenagers humming too quietly for anyone else.

Up until the point where they actually start singing.

Steph and Tim’s humming gradually changes into a song.

“Cut and paste and listen,” they murmer in unison, wistful and fanciful, still working on the flashcards. “Cut and paste and listen to the magic sound. Cut and paste and listen. The Piper is coming to town.”

Alfred is no longer dusting the computer. Instead, he clicks on the communicator so Batman can hear the chant, and carefully approaches.

Tim and Steph insist that they’re fine. They don’t speak in unison for it, but it does come out as more of a duet.

“Don’t worry, Alfred, we feel fine,” Steph insists.

“Absolutely marvellous,” Tim chimes in.

“Completely sublime.”

Tim gets to his feet with an encouraging smile, scissors dangling in his fingertips. “We’ve just got a song stuck in our heads.”

“There’s no need to worry.”

“And no need to fret.”

“It’s just a shame you can’t hear that sound.” Steph tugs at her ear, grinning.

 “It sinks to your bones and makes you feel like dancing around.”

 Alfred cuts off the song to assure them that the Pied Piper will soon be defeated. This whole nonsense will be finished with by tomorrow, and by this point even Dick will be grateful for it.

The songbirds are oddly upset about that idea.

“You’re getting him chased down by the Big Bad Bat?” Steph asks.

“That shouldn’t happen. The Piper won’t like that,” Tim says.

“No,” Alfred says slowly, warily. “I suppose he wouldn’t.”

The argument culminates when Tim nearly stabs Alfred with the scissors.

 Alfred dodges the blow on instinct, sidestepping the blade aimed at his head.

Tim freezes, his arm outstretched.

For a moment all three of them are still, Alfred watching the scissors over his shoulder and Tim’s eyes wide. Steph’s mouth hangs open.

The scissors clatter on the floor as Tim steps back.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry Alfred—” Tim nearly hyperventilates.

“Master Tim,” Alfred says after a moment, almost resting his hand on Tim’s shoulders but deciding against it. “I assure you I’m fine, but perhaps at the moment we should consider using the restraints.”

“Yes. Yes, we should do that.”

Tim practically bolts himself in to the medbay stretcher, and only allows Alfred to help because it’s not designed to be tightened by the patient.

Steph is slightly more reluctant, and has to force herself to take each step. She notably bites down on her lip, bunching her fingers into a fist while Alfred secures her to the other bay, but she allows it to happen.

 The urgency is immediately upped.

“Do you need someone to watch them with you?” Batman asks, pausing on a rooftop to talk into his comm.

“No. They’re quite lucid at the moment,” Alfred says, watching Tim and Steph talking nervously. “The best thing for everyone is for you to stay on the case.”

“I can come,” Oracle suggests. “The Cave has all the same tech so I can stay on the job, and if the kids are getting stabby you will need backup.”

It’s decided that is a good idea, especially as Steph starts humming again before slamming her head facedown into the pillow.

 Batman successfully tracks down the location of the Piper.

The three field vigilantes burst in, much to Piper’s horror.

They find him building a giant radio transmitter, and immediately start trying to shatter it.

Piper flees the room, carrying a small cassette player with him. Nightwing stays to make sure the transmitter is utterly broken. Batgirl and Batman split up to track the villain.

The Piper is caught by Batman, lifted off the ground by the scruff of his neck, when a dozen children come barrelling into the room to rescue him.

The idea of punching hypnotised kids makes Batman hesitate, and Piper manages to get away.

Worse still is that breaking the transmitter didn’t fix the problem. The kids are still hypnotised, and Nightwing reports that it wasn’t even finished. Piper had been making it for something, but it wasn’t the cause of the problem.

They search through Piper’s files, and track down that it was the cassette player that influences the children.

Steph and Tim are drifting back into their musical hypnosis.

 “Don’t listen to them,” Steph murmurs, pulling her face out of the bed. Her voice is too quiet for anyone but Tim to hear. “Hold yourself steady.”

“It’s time for a fight so you better get ready.” Tim holds up one hand. The picked restraints drop silently onto the mattress.

When Oracle arrives, Robin and Spoiler take the distraction and attack.

When Alfred and Oracle return to the room, it’s to find the two youngest have gotten into their uniforms and are swinging down from the ceiling at them.

 It’s not a real fight. The hypnosis is just telling them to go. It’s an escape attempt more than anything else.

Oracle is able to handle herself when Spoiler leaps at her, boot flying towards her face. A quick movement and Steph is thrown over Oracle’s shoulder, wincing.

But they don’t need to beat her, just outrace her. Spoiler jams a batarang into one of Oracle’s wheels while Robin locks Alfred in the cupboard, and by the time Babs can move again — it couldn’t have taken more than thirty seconds to untangle the batarang — they’re gone.

Fortunately, Batman already has a lead on where they must be going.

Over two hundred children — some as young as ten, most closer to fifteen or sixteen — have converged on a Gotham news channel’s office.

It’s a very convenient way for a villain’s exposition to be told to the audience. The children are singing about Pied Piper’s plan to broadcast his song to every child in the country as they forcibly drag the communication workers out of their offices. The Piper himself is walking through the chaos with a self-satisfied smile.

The song seems like a normal triumphant villain song, with a hint of creepiness when every once in a while, someone will say that they don’t like what they’re doing, they’re so sorry, can’t anyone help them?

Piper locks himself in the CEO office.

He’s humming to himself as he pulls out his cassette player. When he opens the case, an array of buttons that would look advanced on a phone blink back at him.

He begins to tap in a command when the window shatters.

Batman swings into the room.

Batgirl and Nightwing are close behind.

When Piper tries to run, he doesn’t get five steps. Batman throws him against the wall.

Piper glances at the door.

In an instant Batgirl vaults over the desk to reach it, turning the lock with time to spare before teenagers start banging on it. “Nightwing. Help… ballaracade?”

Nightwing is already pushing the desk aside it.

Once they’ve successfully ensured no-one’s getting in Nightwing informs her the word is ‘barricade’. Batgirl nods, pleased.

“Where are they?” Batman growls, looming over the terrified Piper.

“Where are who? The children? They’re all outside, or at least the ones I called are—”

“Don’t play games with me.”

“How do we fix it?” Nightwing demands.

“You can’t. It’s unstoppab—”

 “Lying,” Batgirl says sharply.

At that point Robin and Spoiler shatter a second window.

They land between Batman and the Piper, standing protectively over the villain. Robin has his staff at the ready while Spoiler’s cloak flutters.

They’re also humming.

It takes a moment for Piper’s shock to fade, but then his lips twitch in a smile.

There’s a fight.

Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl hold back.

Robin and Spoiler don’t, which means that the hypnotised fighters are actually able to gain ground.

And of course, Robin and Spoiler are singing all the while. By now that’s not the focus of the scene, feeling more like background music with lyrics than a Broadway fight scene. Potentially, the TV audience can’t even hear the music, just watches the singing characters.

The lyrics don’t really delve into anyone’s interiority (mainly). It’s just a fast-paced song about fighting.

Every once in a while, though there’s a line like “Of course I know I can’t win, but that’s never stopped me before.” “Of course I’ll try my best, but I’ve never wanted to lose more.”

Just enough to indicate that some part of Tim and Steph know what they’re doing.

Piper takes the distraction.

He gets the barricade open and a hundred mind-controlled teenagers pour in, and suddenly the Bats have a much bigger disadvantage.

Piper escapes. Nightwing follows.

There’s a chase as Piper rushes towards the ground floor.

A dozen children are thrown at Nightwing, diving in his way.

But a former Boy Wonder doesn’t get taken down by a thirteen-year-old attempting a tackle, not when he can bounce off the walls to somersault over their heads.

Piper goes for the elevator. Nightwing is delayed to the point that he misses the doors by centimetres.

He pushes off the eleven-year-old girl clinging to his back and rushes to the fire stairs. His grappling hook connect with the handrail as he leaps over the edge.

Freefalling down the spiral staircase centre gets him to the ground with time to spare. He bursts out of the door and is able to throw his bolos at the fleeing Piper, tripping the supervillain up.

Within seconds Nightwing’s on him, scrambling through his pockets. He finds the cassette player.

Before the children can converge again, Nightwing leaps up with his grappling hook, holding himself on the high ceiling and resting one foot on the top of a window.

He flips open the cassette player.

“Oh, look at that. A labelled ‘off’ switch.” Nightwing grins at Piper, who’s just managing to pull himself free from the bolos. “So if I flick it, will it do anything to inspire me to kick your teeth in?”

“No, no, please—”

“Begging sounds promising.” His fingers hover over the button. Below him, the children are swarming, trying to figure out how to climb the wall. “If this hurts anyone, I am going to break every bone in your body. So is there anything you want to tell me?” Nightwing pauses for an answer, but Piper doesn’t give one. The children are starting to create pyramids. “Alright. Here goes.”

 He flicks the switch.

Immediately, the music turns off.

The children stop pressing up against the wall and back away immediately.

“Is it over?”

Upstairs, the same happens.

Everyone freezes in their attack on Batman and Batgirl.

Robin drops his staff and retreats several steps.

“Fixed?” Batgirl asks.

Spoiler touches her head. “I think so.”

Of course, this means the Piper just got himself trapped.

He’s now surrounded by a sea of students who had been at least eighty-per-cent aware of what happened.

Nightwing swoops down and pulls him out before anyone can catch him, but waits just long enough for Piper to realise the danger he’s in.

Nightwing ties him up, and waits patiently for the others to come downstairs.

He hands over the cassette player to Batman and goes to hug the now-coherent younger two, but Spoiler brushes off the affection onto Robin. Instead, she walks up to Piper and punches him in the face.

“Feel better now?” Nightwing asks.

 “Yeah.” Spoiler steps back and allows Nightwing to reassure himself that she’s okay, letting him wrap her in a short hug. “Much better.”

So the day is saved, everything neatly finished.

Piper is arrested, the children/teenagers that hadn’t already dispersed are collected by the police to be taken home.

Later, everyone is back in the Batcave, exhausted. They’ve changed back into their civilian clothes.

“So I guess I am never going to another karaoke night ever again,” Steph mumbles.

“Karey-oakey?” Cass repeats.

“It’s like a place where you sing. You choose a song, and they’ll play the music for you so you can yell out the actual lyrics as badly as you like.”

“Oh.” Cass mulls that over. “The singing did look fun. Before the dancing started.”

“Are you seriously still upset you’re too old for mind-control?” Dick asks.

Cass shrugs.

There’s silence for a moment.

Tim groans. “Fine, I’ll come with you, but I’m not singing anything else today.”

“I know a great karaoke bar.” Dick picks up his jacket from over the chair. “They sell amazing nachos.”

“I could go for nachos.” Steph stands up.

“Already booking us a private room,” Babs says.

“I’ll prepare the car,” Alfred says.

Dick grins. “B, you coming?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“You won’t have to sing,” Tim adds. “Sit with me and Steph and watch while the rest of these losers get up on stage.”

“I assure you, Master Tim, I will not be singing.”

“Sit with me, Steph, and Alfred,” Tim corrects.

Bruce groans, but reluctantly gets up.

Dick leans over to Cass where Bruce can’t hear him. “Bet you five bucks I can convince him to get on stage.”

“Deal.”

End episode.

Available on AO3.

S1 episode extract here. (17 year old Dick gets kidnapped for ransom, is very bored.)

S2 episode extract here (Robin-Jason goes up against Two-Face, trades himself for a hostage, proceeds to be as sarcastic as possible).

S4 episode extract here (in which Tim gets a dose of fear gas, Spoiler confronts her inner child in an alarmingly literal way, and Cass is awful at baking cookies).

[bat-lings]

Thoughts on the Tim and Damian "rivalry"?

Unconvincing at best and really forced at worse.

Firstly because trying to sell a rivalry between a sixteen-old and a ten-year-old just. Doesn’t work for me. It kinda makes Tim look like an asshole whenever he’s throwing the first punch at an unadjusted and formerly abused preteen tbh.

[Red Robin #1-2]

Yeah Tim is in a bad place, we all react badly when hurting, okay. What bothers me about this scene is that it should’ve been framed like a misstep on Tim’s part and that it wasn’t. Alfred pats him on the back? Really, would Alfred condone that?

Ahem, back on subject. Secondly I don’t find as much basis to this rivalry as we’re made to believe there is. It’s one-sided on Damian’s part, so by definition there’s no rivalry to speak of— outside of Batman & Son anyway.

That arc aside, Tim and Damian’s dynamic has actually little to do with rivalry. Plus, every reason that can possibly be given for them to compete over just doesn’t hold for me.

>> Fighting or detective skills? For all his super ninja/assassin training, Damian is ten. Tim has nothing to envy him training-wise & is more experimented, meaning he can beat him the second he starts trying. As detectives and while Damian is far from inapt in that area, Tim does have a natural ability in detective work and he is, again, more experimented. I’m not selling Damian short in either department, he’s ten and Tim’s sixteen, it’s normal. Tim knows that, he’s got no reason to feel threatened by Damian’s skills.

>> Bruce’s love? I’ve never read Tim as seriously doubting Bruce loves him tbh. Most of his insecurities come from doubting himself as Robin, not as someone Bruce cares about. Yes it can overlap in a kid’s mind, an probably does to some point in Tim’s— but not that significatively to my understanding. His relationship with Bruce is actually pretty swell by the time Damian arrives*.

[Robin (1993) #123 & #163]

*Those issues respectively happen before and after Damian’s character is introduced. He didn’t change things all that much if at all, considering.

>> The Robin mantle? Let’s separate this into Before / After Bruce’s death.

Before Bruce’s death, Tim’s place as Robin is secure. Bruce has legit no intention to give the mantle to Damian. Bruce repeatedly went out of his way to praise or reassure Tim.

[Robin (1993) #9, #166, #17, #106 & #74]

+ several other times I’m not putting there since they weren’t in Tim’s presence. For context Robin #17 has Tim disobeying express orders to stay put ‘cause he doesn’t have a choice. He doesn’t even have the time to worry Bruce will chew him out before Bruce does the opposite.

I don’t mean that a few sweet words here and there magically cure all of Tim’s insecurities. They don’t. But they’re still there for Tim to hear. And Bruce’s opinion aside, Tim himself trusts his skills more and more as time goes by (tbh I see him as more confident than fanon sometimes makes him to be). The tale according to which Damian shatters that confidence all by himself leaves me unconvinced.

Batman #665 has Tim going after a villain who beat the shit out of Bruce to prove his worth after Damian’s arrival but that really feels… off, for Tim. Throwing himself at an enemy he knows he can’t beat when it’s not a last resort is just not like him. Tim grew into Robin with Jason’s death firmly in mind, in a narrative that blamed Jason’s death on his own recklessness, and was always careful to do better & not to run headfirst into danger without a plan.

Even if Tim could possibly feel threatened as Robin, Damian at this time has no qualms about killing. A kid that’s okay with killing from the get-go is not a Robin candidate in Bruce’s mind, and Tim knows that.

After Bruce’s death, the reason Dick gave Robin to Damian is because Damian needed it more than Tim did (and because it was the only way to keep Damian in check). It had nothing to do about their respective abilities or what they deserved. And it’s not why Tim is hurt– he’s hurt ‘cause Robin was the only remaining stability in that shitstorm period of his life. Damian himself actually has very little to do with it. It’s Dick Tim’s angry with. And since the title has already been taken away from Tim, there’s nothing left to fight for anyway.

>> The Batman mantle / who’s Batman’s fittest successor? Tim doesn’t want to become Batman. Like. He really, really doesn’t want to become Batman. He associates it too much with Bruce’s unhealthy psyche.

I was gonna go panel hunting but @nightwing-ing-it already did all the hard work so I’ll shamelessly let that rad post do all the argumentation for me: /post/174701270362/tim-drake-not-becoming-like-batman (I’d just add ‘Tec #621 to the list since it shows that Tim has never wanted the cowl and has been conscious of its worst facets from the very beginning.)

(Yes tumblr blacklisting posts with links from the tags is annoying, I’m doing what I can)

Damian wants to succeed his father in every sense because he was taught to want it. He’ll probs grow out of it (I hope). Until then Tim’s reaction if Damian ever claims to be the fittest successor in front of him should be along the lines of “sure, whatevs.”

Conclusion: any strong feeling of inadequacy, of lack of skills, of being threatened– those should be experimented by Damian only. Whenever Tim is made to strongly believe he actually has something to compete for against Damian, I have trouble finding credibility in the narrative.

A rivalry doesn’t feel natural to me. It feels like a flawed construction made up on the spot to fit a flawed idea.

And to be fair, canon itself didn’t force it all that much. Morrison suggested said rivalry during Batman & Son ‘cause it went with all his family metaphors I guess. But that arc aside there isn’t any other occurrence (that I remember) where Tim is actively participating in a “rivalry”. He mostly reacts to Damian’s provocations, but he’s not competing for anything.

Whatever rivalry was hinted at between the two doesn’t have a big place in canon at all. Damian being barely even mentioned in Tim’s Robin run, my feeling is that any kind of true rivalry wasn’t meant to play a role outside of Morrison’s Batman & Son narrative.

Plus it’s not just with Tim: Damian is an abrasive brat towards everyone in the Batfam ‘cause he’s that insecure. He thinks everyone is his rival in some way.

[Gates of Gotham #2 || Batgirl (2009) #5 || Batman & Robin (2009) #1]

It’s not so much a Tim & Damian thing as it is a Damian thing, and I see little appeal in any narrative trying to say otherwise. It just doesn’t work in my mind… and again with the age difference, fam, it would make it ridiculous for Tim to engage in any kind of rivalry. Would you compete against a preteen 6-7 years your cadet saying they’re better than you?

If it wasn’t obvious enough: this is all a very personal take. Some points may be clumsily presented as facts— they’re not meant to be, it’s just that I’m too lazy to add “in my opinion” to each sentence.

Arguably most of my arguments don’t necessarily have much weight when discussing what a character might be feeling, rational-thinking aside. Many read Tim as way more insecure than I do, and a new arrival in any family can breed jealousy anyway. And there is jealousy between Tim and Damian.

But jealousy doesn’t always equal rivalry and I don’t read Tim as insecure enough to kill all rational thinking. Again you may see things differently and you’ll have fair reasons to.

Me? I like it as a one-sided thing for Damian to grow out of.

On that note, Damian is already far less agressive towards Tim by the time he comes back in Gotham during RR... up until the hit list thing, because it truly hurt Damian. As of Gates of Gotham there’s little spite left between them anymore.

God this is way longer than it should be. Shutting up now, thanks for the ask!

[ellana-ravenwood]

Cutie and the Beast - Jason Todd x Reader

YES ! I LOVE THIS !! Ahem. Sorry. Have I ever mentioned that Jason is my favorite Robin ? No ? Well now you guys know. So here’s some love for my favorite batboy/Badboy !! Oh, and thank you very much, my writing loves you too (hum…), and I hope you’ll like that  : 

You can find my masterlist here : @ella-ravenwood-archives

______________________________________________________________________

-Jason…what are you wearing ?

Without looking up from the newspaper he was reading, cup of coffee in one hand, Jason answered :

-It’s a cardigan. 

Jason and Dick were sitting on the counter of the kitchen, in Wayne Manor, and were having breakfast. They were often the first awake in the house, sometimes, like today, being up even before Alfred, and they always took their breakfast together, talking about anything.

This morning however, Jason didn’t come from the stairs that lead to his bedroom, he came threw the front door. Dick was going to ask him where he slept last night when his eyes were met with the…”cardigan”. Anyone that didn’t know Jason wouldn’t have found what he wore strange, it fitted him pretty well actually. But Dick knew Jay. And a…”cardigan”, was so not his style. Not at all. He had to ask about it.

-…Ok, but why are you wearing it ?

-Hum, to be warm ?

-I mean, where’s you’re usual leather jacket ?

Jason rolls his eyes at his older brother and ignore the question.

-No but for real though Jay, where the Hell did you got a…”cardigan” ? Sorry I’m just so weirded out right now…

-My girlfriend knitted it for me.

Dick froze and stared stupidly at his brother, mouth open.

-Your…girl…You have a girlfriend ? And she…knits ?

-Yup.

-Care to elaborate ?

-Nope.

-Come oooon.

-What do you want me to elaborate on anyway ? I do have a girlfriend, yes, and she knitted me a cardigan. There’s nothing else to say.

-What do you mean there’s nothing else to say ? You, the bad boy of the family, date…

-Listen Dick, drop it alright ? It’s not a big deal. Besides, if all of that intrigues you so much, just come over tonight to have dinner with us at her place. And you’ll meet her. She bakes some of the best cupcakes I ever ate.  

Tim, Bruce, Damian and Alfred entered at this moment, and Tim said :

-Who bakes the best cupcakes you ever ate ? I’m interested !

-Good, because I actually came over this morning to invite you guys tonight for dinner over at my girlfriend’s place. I’ll text you the address. And before you say anything, it’s her idea, not mine.

Bruce raised a curious eye brow at him :

-You have a girlfriend ?

-Who knits him cardigans !!

-…Have you been drinking Dick ? This early in the morning ?

-No, look at him Bruce, look at what he’s wearing !

They all stare at Jason, who just rolls his eyes once more and, finishing his coffee, stands up.

-Yeah well, see you tonight then guys. I’m counting on you, you’ll hurt her feeling if you don’t come. She’s a sensitive girl. So see ya.

And on that note, the man leaves the kitchen, grabbing his backpack on the way, whistling a jolly music rhythm. They were so confused…Jason had a “sensitive girl” as his girl ? What ?

-What the fuck is even a “cardigan” anyway ?

Alfred cannot hold a chuckle at his master’s word. You know that Bruce Wayne is troubled when he starts to swear…

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

You smile as you hear the lock of your front door click, reminiscing last week, when you decided to give Jason a key to your apartment. It was definitely one of the best idea you ever had, as somehow, he was more often over now than ever, since he had the keys.

He threw his stuffs on the couch and went to the kitchen, where you were baking a fresh batch of cupcakes and other chocolate chip cookies.

He came behind you and wrapped his arms around your chest, bending down to do so, and buried his face in your neck. He was almost twice your height, and you had quite a petite frame, so much that by holding you like he was, if anyone was looking at his back, he wouldn’t notice you in his arms.

You giggle as his short stubble tickled your throat, sighing as his lips left feather light kisses on it.

-So, are they coming ?

-Yes. They’re suppose to.

You turn around his his embrace, and wrap your arms around his waist, his head goes to rest on top of yours, and he breathes in the honey smell of your hair.

-Suppose to ?

-They’ll come. They’re too curious.

-Curious about what ?

-You.

You pull away and he smiles as you try to hide the blush growing on your face. He loved the way you’d get flush whenever someone took any interest in you. You were so shy and cute…and he was a loud mouthed Beast. He always wondered how you ended up together, it was so unlikely.

He met you while on duty as Red Hood, and saved you from a group of thugs. Very cliche…Except that before he could even do anything you had stabbed one of your opponents in the thigh with a knitting needle, and smack another one with your heavy purse full of books. He still saved you but he was so impressed…and when he saw your bright (E/C) eyes, and your (H/L) (H/C) hair swiping in the wind. He would never admit it, but it was definitely love at the first sight. However, being in costume he couldn’t do anything…Fate reunited you two though. Or at least, he strongly believed it was fate.

You worked in a bakery near downtown Gotham, and for some reasons, he found himself one morning craving for a croissant, and entered your shop. And here you were. Everything happened for a reason, he thought.

From that day on, he went to buy cakes and such (even though he didn’t really have a sweet tooth) just to see you, until he gathered the courage to ask you out. He saw multiple men before him ask you, and you always turned them down.It didn’t really surprise him that men were swarming at you. You weren’t the most beautiful woman, but there was something about you that was just so damn attractive. He couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but…damn. It was silly of him to feel great whenever you turned someone down, as he didn’t even know you, but still…He felt great whenever you turned someone down.

When he asked you out, he was ready for you to tell him no…which never happened. On the contrary, you looked at him, blushing, and smiled shyly while saying : “I’d love to…”

That was almost a year ago, and it was a miracle that he kept the relationship a secret. It wasn’t because he was ashamed of you, not at all, he was just…he wanted to make sure things were serious before doing anything. He got hurt so much in his life, he’d rather his family not know that he was dating someone if she decided to just dump his ass all of a sudden. He didn’t want their pity. He didn’t want anyone’s pity.

Which is why he loved you so much. Threw that year spent in your arms, he told you about his life story, and instead of pity, you showed him love, affection, understanding. When, a few weeks ago, he told you who he really was, and why some nights he suddenly disappeared, you didn’t even flinch. Why would you ? You loved him, it didn’t matter if he was a night vigilante. On the contrary, you approved greatly of it. Unfortunately, like a lot of kids in Gotham, you lost your parents when you were young. Your father was killed by a police officer while he was stealing from a jewelry shop,and your mother died of a heroin overdose. You strongly believed the city needed Batman and his sidekicks. Or like you liked to say : “Red Hood and his sidekicks”.

Short story long, you were perfect for him. When they people see you they usually think your a mis-match. You, small, cute, nice and positive, him, all leather jacket and ripped dark jeans, broody and menacing. But they couldn’t be more wrong. You were very complementary. And you had more in common than anyone could think…You weren’t as nice and cute as everyone thought you were, and he wasn’t as mean and dark as people pegged him.

As cheesy as it sounded, you were just perfect for each other.

At this thought, Jason can’t help the smile on his face and takes you back against him, hugging you tightly. He grabs the under of your thighs, and lifts you on the kitchen counter where you sit. Like this, you don’t have to go on your tip toe to kiss him, and he only has to bent slightly his head to reach your lips.

The kiss is short and sweet at first, but rapidly turns passionate and hungry. His hand slowly go up your naked thighs, up under your skirt and…

-Jason, stop, I gotta prepare this dinner honey. We don’t have time for any of that.

-Any of that ?

You blush.

-You damn well know what I’m talking about.

-Maybe I do, but I’m not sure…care to elaborate ?

You smack him lightly on the shoulder, and his smug face annoys you, you push him away, and get back on your feet, faced with his abs once more, as you’re really quite shorter than him. He was wearing a muscle shirt, and it took all your will to look away and not reach under his shirt to palm at his perfect body…He smiled smugly at you. The little shit you the effect he had on you. Unfortunately for him, you also damn well knew the effect you had on him, and with a sexy sway of your hips, you went to bent forward to grab hot cupcakes from your oven. He bent his head slightly, and you snatched his hand away when he laid it on your ass.

-I said no.

And on that note, you went back to your cooking and baking, under his amused gaze. No matter how small you were, you could be quite convincing when you wanted to. Strict. Though he could see in your eyes that you were going to make it up to him later in the night, when she didn’t had tons of thing to do, and it was just the two of you.

He smiled fondly at you, and, after watching you work for a bit, he went to get some sleep, as the night before, he didn’t get any. And it wasn’t just because of his nightly patrol…

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

Someone knocks on the door and your heart goes wild.

Of course, it was your idea to invite them for dinner, but still, you were super nervous about meeting your boyfriend’s family. Not because his dad was the famous Bruce Wayne or some shit like that, just because it was a huge step in your relationship. So far, he only spoke about them, and clearly had no intention of presenting them to you…until a few weeks ago, when he finally told you his secret (you were so glad he was “Red Hood” and that he wasn’t cheating on you, by the way…or that he wasn’t some drug lord).

Jason went to open the door, still wearing his cardigan, and hugged his brother and father as they entered. He guided you to your small living room, now crowded with giant men. Seriously, even the youngest one, who couldn’t be more than ten, was taller than you. What the Hell ?

You smiled shyly at them, and they returned your smile awkwardly, visibly surprised and somewhat confused. You knew why. Again, you and Jay, when people first saw you together, don’t seem to match well. It’s only after they see the two of you interact, playful and full of love, that they realize that you’re actually great for each other.

-Guys, this is (Y/N), my girlfriend. Who yes, knits and stuffs. (Y/N), my dad, Bruce, and my bros, Dick, Tim and Damian, but you can call that one “the brat”.

Jason’s dad and his oldest brother hold on the youngest one, who was about to lunge at your boyfriend, and you can’t help but smile a bit. They were exactly like you imagined them. You couldn’t help but notice that Jay was the tallest of the brothers, as tall as his father, who really was a damn giant.

You didn’t feel impress though, pass the initial shock of the fact that even the kid was taller than you, you were fine. You were used to be the smallest person in the room, though you made a mental note to ask Jay for a massage when they were all gone, as looking at them put quite a strain on your neck.

After some civilities to meet them and all, you went on the table.

The meal you prepared was magnificent, but you couldn’t help but notice the little one pouting. Your motherly instinct (though you were still quite young) kicked in :

-What’s up Damian ?

-I’m vegetarian.

Damian’s voice rang coldly in the room, as he looked at the meat you prepared. Dick hit him lightly behind the head, and Bruce shoved him in the shoulder a bit, making their intentions clear : you were not going to ruin the night boy.

-I know, Jay told me, I made a special vegetable casserole for you, hope you’ll like it…

She looked at the boy expectantly as she laid a plate full of delicious steamed vegetables in front of him. He took a bite, and just nodded at her, a smile almost showing on his lips. And once again, they all stared at you, kinda stunned.

How could you be so sweet and date Jason out of all people ? It was so confusing.

Threw the night though, you showed them your wits and cleverness, and your conversation was so interesting that even Damian didn’t get bored and took part in it.

Bruce could see what Jason saw in you. You had a lot of thing in common with her, but you also were much more positive and bubbly, and he understood why his son needed someone like you in his life. If he was honest, years ago, when he still believed in the possibility to have a relationship, he would have hoped for someone like you. Who obviously accepted him for who he was, no matter how flawed, and who brightened his world a bit. A perfect match.

Dick was totally jealous, but was also extremely happy for his brother. And when he thought about it, you were more the kind of person he would be best friend with than anything else…Still though, he was totally jealous.

Tim liked your way of being, liked how unimpressed with all of them you were, even though you knew who they really were. He liked your eyes, because in it, he saw nothing but softness and niceness, with a hint of mischievousness, and he thought that it was perfect for his brother. He was an observant boy, he could see the look Jason gave you, and the one you gave him. And he was just happy for his older brother, because that guy suffered enough.

Damian approved of you. But he would never admit it. He thought it was funny how small you were, and felt the weird need to protect you. Multiple times in the future, Jason would thank him for keeping an eye on you when he couldn’t. Damian approved of you, and that was already a lot. He’s also the one that found the nickname to call the both of you : “Cutie and the Beast”. It made Jason’s brother laughed a lot, him ? Not so much. You thought it was great.

The day you really met Alfred, you guys became friend instantly, and baked all day. Of course you would.

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

The dinner went on perfectly, and you kept your promise about making things up to Jason. That night was one of the greatest night he ever had…

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

So sure, you were small and he was a giant. You were often smiling and he was brooding most of the time. You liked soft and cute things, and he was gruff and rugged. You were a cutie who knitted and baked, who liked period dramas and romcoms, who was oversensitive and who loved to just snuggle. He was a hard man, leather jacket and all, almost a biker looked, ear pierced and metal fan with messy hair, full of sarcasm. You looked the complete opposite…But only at first sight. If people looked a bit more, passed their initial confusion as why you were together, they would see it. They would see you were made for each other.

You and Jason didn’t seem like a good match, and yet, no one else in the World could be more perfect for each other.

[scintillyyy]

like the thing is that. tim *did* undergo one of the most traumatic experiences a child can undergo (literally saw people die in front of him. and i've said before, and it bears repeating over and over and over again, tim doesn't make dick's trauma about him. tim makes his *own* very real, very personal trauma from literally seeing people die in front of him--even if they were basically strangers to him, because witnessing someone die is inherently extremely traumatizing--about him) at the circus & then he saw batman save dick grayson in that moment. this is why he dreamed for months afterward of batman saving him from his fear, his sorrow, his tears-

batman #441

so, like. tim's formative memory is of dick grayson--his smile, the photo, the promise of a flip done just for tim. *dick* became important to tim in that moment. and when the worst happened to dick, tim saw *batman* swoop in to save him. and *that's* what forms tim's base conceptualization of *batman as a concept*. tim doesn't dream of batman saving him from being in danger--tim dreams of batman *being able to save him from his own personal trauma & tears just like he did dick grayson that night*.

because when tim thinks of batman as a symbol--of what batman really means--it all goes back to this very moment. for tim, it's not really about batman stopping bad guys or anything, it's about batman needing to remember *why* he does this. it's about bruce being happy when dick was with him, because tim saw batman save dick & saw the healing of dick and robin from the trauma of the very event that also traumatized tim. it's about batman's missions to prevent another bruce wayne, another dick grayson, another victim--because *that's what batman does* to tim. it's no surprise that tim's initial argument for why batman needs a robin is so that he can slow down & remember what's at stake for him--because a batman who lets himself get hurt, doesn't take care of himself, is a batman who loses sight of what's really important & what's at stake. it's only after that doesn't work when tim argues that if the rogues think they can destroy a symbol, what else are they capable of.

so to tim, bringing dick back, bringing robin back, is bringing batman back to batman as tim feels he should be, reminding him of what batman represents, what he was--a symbol of protection, a symbom who is capable of saving dick, and tim, from their fear and sadness and things that hurt. because that's what batman means.