#what it means to be robin

[rubydubydoo122]

Maybe the real reason why none of the Robins actually die is because they’ve accidentally been deity-fied.

I mean, at first they were a literal urban legend, until they started getting involved with the Justice League. And even then, I’m sure the people of Gotham think that they are not humans.

I know Jason woke up because of multiversal mishaps, but what if Jason woke up because enough people were praying for Robin to come back to make sure Batman doesn’t continue to put people into the ICU.

And after that moment, none of the Robins, past present or future, were able to permanently die unless the entirety of Gotham was wiped out.

Steph and Dick died for a couple minutes and then woke up.

And Damian came back with superpowers (for a little bit) and I know he came back because Bruce did everything in his power to make sure he got Damian back, but like, Damian came back.

So yeah, just Gotham accidentally deifying their vigilantes.

[fanaticalthings]

important family group chat discussions

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[weewoow-20706030]

I like to think that whenever Tim and Jason patrol together people call them Robin Hood.

Like-

*Tim and Jay waiting for police to arrest some goons*: ...

Police officer: Thanks for this Robin Hood.

And, even better, Tim and Jason don't care.

Jason: no sweat.

Tim: see ya around officer.

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

We all know the semi-canonical ‘all the Robins know to hide/duck inside of Batman’s cape, even as adults’ thing.

We also know that Danny ‘is LITERALLY a ghost’ Fenton sucks at remembering his own intangibility while ALSO forgetting to look ahead of him.

All I’m saying is, Danny Fenton (or Phantom, if you’d really like) would absolutely SLAM into Batman on accident while running on roof tops and Bruce ‘Brooding Instinct’ Wayne doesn’t even think twice about letting the kid hide and scanning around for danger before there’s a record scratch of ‘wait who tf is this?’ kicks in.

[morganbritton132]

Robin is the first person to know things about Steve without him telling her. She literally just notices things and it catches him off-guard every single time.

One time he was at her house and her mom asked if he was staying for dinner. Robin answered that he was but, “Don’t put green onions in the food. He doesn’t like those.”

He asked her how she knew that because he’s never said anything about it, and she was like, “You literally pick them out of your food every time.”

She made tea exactly how he likes it when he had strep throat. Always buys him sour gummy worms even though he’s never said they were his favorite. Reads out loud on days his dyslexia feels worse without him ever mentioning he even has dyslexia.

She remembers his birthday. He’s never even told her when his birthday is.

“Be real with me, Robin,” Steve says one day. “Are you psychic? How do you know all this stuff about me that I’ve never brought up.”

“I noticed it?” She replies. “You’re my best friend. I notice things about you. You do the same for me all the time.”

“Yeah, but that’s different.”

“How??”

Because no one has ever done that before, he thinks but doesn’t say. Because, “I don’t know. It just is.”

[inkpotsprite]

DAMIAN

[haveihitanerve]

Dick who only tells Bruce when he's going somewhere

and the Batkids who all panic and don't know where he’s at and refuse to tell Bruce because they lost their big brother and they aren't telling him that no way he’d go crazy

so its just them banding together and scouring the Justice League and Gotham and Bludhaven

and then eventually dragging themselves back to the manor after like a week, defeated

Just to find Dick sitting in Bruce’s study, feet up on the desk, laughing as he tells his Dad about his trip and Bruce is nodding along and smiling

Then they spot the others and are like “hey guys!” and Bruce is like “whats been going on, haven't seen you around much?”

but he wasn't that worried because they still kept up appearances (didn't wanna be suspicious) and Jason is like

“where tf were you for the week?” and dick is like “i was in nevada??? For a case??? Did yall not know this???” and they're all like “noooo????” and dick is like “wtf i told bruce???”

and they're like…. “....Oh… we could've just asked.”

but anyway Dick who tells his dad his whereabouts at all times because its just habit but never bothers to inform his siblings.

[leblogreblog]

Damian: *being rude to Tim again*

Tim, after pulling second 48h shift this week and absolutely Done: One more word and I'm gonna fuck your grandad and give him a heir he'll actually want

Damian:

[hyperblue]

terry: i used to make really poor choices about my life, so now I'm redeeming myself by being batman

dick, who is always five seconds away from killing himself when he has to be batman: what an... interesting way of seeing things

tim, who can not EVER be allowed to be batman: huh.

[prettealolilol]

so, imagine Ra's trying to get Tim to join him, and Tim is like

Tim, arms crossed : last time I worked with you I lost my fucking spleen, no way I am joinning you.

A week later Tim wakes up, and he feels different. As in, he feels lighter. Anyway, he hasn't had coffee so nothing really matters yet (he doesn't question the slight cyan in his eyes or the lighter strands in his hair). Until eventually he gets stabbed and curses because infections. To later on realise that he has no surgery scar. He does some scans in the batcave, and indeed he is not missing his spleen anymore. Tim is honestly impressed and a bit curious on how Ra's even pulled that off, but hey, he's not gonna complain, no more antibiotics and less worry of dying from a cough! He just moves on, because really, there's not much he can do about it.

---

(weeks later in the medbay, batcave)

Dick, exhausted and so done : You really have to be more careful Tim. That stab wound could have been really nasty if Cass hadn't been here in time.

Tim, high on pain meds : It could have been wooorse. If I still didn't have my spleen I would have died there, so it's fiiiine.

Jason, staring at Tim : The fuck you mean 'if you didn't have your spleen' ?!

Tim, still high on meds : It's all good nooow. Ra's had it but he gave it back.

Jason : What the fuck ??

Tim, looking at Jason as if he didn't understand something simple : You know, with the pit and all ??

[prlssprfctn]

In his new room - in his new house - Jason searches up for a circus performances and stares at them for hours. First, he watches at them mindlessly, unconsciously curious, and then, he starts to take notes.

He is a street kid, and everything about him screams of that. So, he is nowhere near the grace of these performers on the screen. His arms are not that strong, too, but he is agile, and his legs are much stronger - he can think of something.

He can be just as good as the boy he is replacing.

It is not like someone tells him to match Richard Grayson, and it is not like someone admits that Jason is here to replace the first Wonder Boy, but Jason heard Bruce's conversation with Dick earlier. It was meant not for his ears, but it doesn't matter now.

"So, now what, you exile me, and bring a boy to replace me?!"

Jason is not mad. All of it ‐ adoption papers, the manor, the school - is much more than he ever thought he would get in his life. Being replacement doesn't sound as bad anyway; especially, if his brother is so cool.

So, he makes notes on circus performances and slightly chopes his hair. They are much curlier than Dick's - he has more of a wavy ones, and the only ever look that way, when they get long; his childhood photos with short hair looks too straight - but the cut does its magic.

The next day, Bruce compliments his hair absentmindedly and is positively surprised by his new moves on the patrol, asking where he learnt it from. Jason lies about not remembering, but his cheeks are flashed, and his smile is all about teeth. He can't wait to show it to Dick once they finally get on a mission together.

Expect, when they do, Dick just nods and mutters a light-hearted "good job" before leaving to talk with his team. And Jason knows Dick doesn't want to be mean - he gets it; no one feels good about having a replacement, especially the one that seems so cheap in comparison - but he still cries that night in his pillow, feeling himself a little kid, even if he isn't one. Even if he never was.

Jason wonders if his own replacement would make him understand Dick.

But Jason never gets replaced.

No matter the taunting voice of the Lazarus Pit in the back of his head - that sometimes sounds suspiciously like Talia's; you remain unavenged and replaced - and his own intrusive thoughts that spiral in uneven lines, Jason doesn't think Tim was ever meant to be his replacement. Being replaced means to match the person that was meant to be left behind. And no one asked Tim to be like Jason.

If anything, memory of Jason was thrown under the rag, hidden and locked securely in heads of those who survived. And if they brought Jason up, then it was always an example of what Robin shouldn't do: run away, disobey, and allow emotions to consume you. So, not much of an exemplary original. More like an opposite.

Jason feels an urge to explain that to Tim once; when they sit together on the rooftop, almost like a proper family, instead of broken pieces of someone's idea of a one.

'You could never replace me,' he says, and the instant it leaves his mouth, he knows it came out wrong.

Tim rolls his eyes.

'Yeah, dude. Whatever.'

'No, I mean—' He grits his teeth, scrapping slightly the back of his hand. 'I mean... You could never replace me, because... Because you were always better.'

Tim freezes. His big blue eyes shift in something more confused, and it is almost as if he is not sure how he needs to react — to protest? To agree? To thank him?

Jason doesn't know what to do, too.

He wants to say: it is easy as that, babybird. They wanted to have someone who would have nothing in common with me — someone who could help them to forget about my existence, about the existence of the failed Robin.

But he can't make himself speak again. And he is not sure he wants to stay any longer to hear Tin manging to put his thoughts in the words; he is better than him at this, too, and he almost always sounds convincing.

So, he leaves.

In his room - in the building he owns now - he ruffles his outgrown hair, fluffs up the white streak, and passes by his only remaining photo with Bruce in the frame, on the shelf under the stolen tire.

He still does this semi-circus move in his fights - almost frozen in the air, with his back arched - but he doesn't expect anyone to compliment him anymore.

[rubydubydoo122]

I've seen a lot of discourse about who the angry Robin was, but like... why do we have to define the Robins in terms of that?

Dick's Robin embodied Light. He was the Foil to Batman's Darkness. His story is meant to parallel Bruce's and it's because of the reason he became Robin in the first place. He became Robin, not to avenge his parents- he didn't want to kill Tony Zucco. He became Robin in a very similar way that Jason became the Red Hood; To make sure it doesn't happen to anyone again.

Jason's Robin embodied Hope. He was a character who was given opportunities and he made the best of them. He was given a home, and a family, and education and he loved it all because at some point he could only hope to have those things. It gave him the outlook of 'If things could get better for me, than things can get better for other people, if I do what I can help them.' To Jason, Robin meant giving people hope, and that's why Jason was deeply affected by Gloria Stanson's death. She had lost hope.

Tim's Robin embodied Determination. No matter how many times he was rejected by Bruce, he still stood by his side. No matter how many of his family and friends died, he still kept fighting. No matter how hard he was beat, he still got up.

Stephanie's Robin didn't have a long run, and I sadly don't really know how to quantify her Robin. Maybe spite, I feel like. Because she became Spoiler to stop her dad, and be like 'haha, L' and also because she became Robin after her and Tim broke up. Idk, if any of you have a better idea pls tell me

Damian's Robin embodied redemption. You can tell from the beginning of his run, to current comics how much he has grown and changed. When he was younger, he didn't really understand how the LOA morals were wrong, but then he learned, and he's constantly trying to move away from that and lead with more compassion in his own Damian way.

Duke's Robin embodied the people. He was what they needed at the time. I don't really know much about his Robin either, so pls lmk if it's not that.

[pachimation]

⚠️hsr 2.2 spoilers⚠️

“The night is still…too short…”

[shittalkerxox]

Au where damian rocks up to gotham but jason didnt come back and just decided to go to university in Europe without telling anyone he's alive.

Dick, after Damian called Jason, a mean name : Damian, you cant talk about the dead like that, it's really rude.

Damian, who knows Jason's alive and figures the batfam just really hates Europeans : ...ok.

[bethsvrse]

when I find a brilliant, jaw dropping, amazing x reader fic but suddenly I’ve been given a first name, last name, hair colour and eye colour

[frownyalfred]

I know Jason was dead-set on revenge and sticking it to Batman in UTRH but now I’m making myself sad thinking about a Jason who finally sees Bruce as Batman again after so many years, and he sees Nightwing and another Robin but he can’t hear them. For the first time ever, he’s not on their comm frequency. He’s locked out of Bruce’s quiet field orders and status checks. He can see Bruce but he can’t hear him. All he gets is the mask.