#which i prefer over bruce/talia/selina

[bittwitchy]

the most unfortunate thing about reeves universe being separately contained is that we probably wont get clark which means the majority of bruces fruitiness is gonna be confined to harvey

[yuwigqi]

So: different AU ideas I really like.

Black-Cantonese Tim (inspired by Titans) (adopted by the Drakes)

Carrie Kelley in main Batfam

Black Carrie (inspired by Gotham Knights)

Black Selina (inspired by the guilty pleasure Catwoman movie)

Lady Shiva redemption arc

Tim and Damian being close enough in age that Damian is taller than him as kids

Over 100 Alfred (so he's a WWII vet, and is in such good health for his age none of the kids actually know that or would believe him if he told them)

Bigender Tim (projection (affectionate))

Tiff Fox as Batgirl (probably coming in after Duke is Signal, and being around the same age as Carrie, the 6th Robin?)

Once Tim's 18, and Jon as been aged up to 18, after they date happily and break up with Bernard/Jay, they get together and there is drama with the two Robins and two Superboys (I prefer straight Kon is surprised Tim didn't go for him, and pan Damian is devastated that Jon is out of his age range now)

Talia is...gray. Not an evil rapist, but also not without flaws. Is able to be on peaceful terms with the Bats, not quite as peaceful as Hood, but definitely not a rogue herself. Shiva/Talia (this just became your new OTP after reading this)

Barbara is still disabled, but can stand up long enough to be Batgirl in a pinch. Like, she can regularly stand up to grab things and stuff, but in too much pain to walk everywhere, and if she needs to she can get up and fight, but she'll be fighting in pretty intense pain. (Me projecting my fibro onto her (affectionate))

Jason does stop killing (based on many other universes, but especially the Gotham Knights game)

Tim is a shareholder of Wayne Enterprises (which is canon), and is involved in some decisions, but is instead more prominent in The Martha Wayne Foundation, the Wayne Family's charity organization.

Bruce has a comical number of degrees that the public just like...doesn't know about. Like, completely impossible number. Like 20 Master's in everything from like Marine Biology to Sculpting to Programming to Aerospace Engineering to like Library Science. And like, multiple M.D.s in like Forensic Psychiatry, Forensic Pathology, and Pediatrics (to take care of his kids of course).

Again, not purely headcanon since this has a basis in canon, but Janet is quite sweet to Tim. But I AU you here as also being shrewd and competitive, a vicious businesswoman. Jack's level of abuse is at least as it is in canon where he throws things and is implied to have hit Tim before. Whether it stays at that level or goes beyond varies for me on the story.

Tim's parents go into witness protection rather than ever dying (inspired from the New 52) (this could play into adopted Tim, with Tim not even being his birth name)

Duke is a mix of the shy, reserved kid we see in WFA and the silver-tongued ruthlessly confident vanguard we see in Robin War.

Part of Duke's power is brain processing power. He apparently can see light as it moves, and no normal brain could comprehend that kind of information, so logically, his brain should have the processing speed of a supercomputer, probably way beyond his current level of knowledge or even his impressive intellect, so like, if he memorized the formulas, he'd be able to do complex calculus in his head fairly intuitively. With training of course, this would be something he notices later on and has to work to make it useful.

Bette Kane being active in the Batfamily, instead of solely in the Teen Titans. As the Batgirl before Babs, before leaving the vigilante business, and coming back part time as Hawkfire.

Dick only becomes a cop as undercover work to expose corruption, maybe even works in Internal Affairs (though I do like the idea of him being in an SVU for a little bit, but again, this is a temporary thing entirely), but leaves and instead becomes a Defense Attorney (inspired by Earth Two)

NOT an AU, but actually based on canon that DC fucking ignores, but Damian and the al Ghuls have East Asian heritage, as well as Kashmiri heritage (based on Nanda Parbat based on the real world Nanga Parbat, in Kashmir). Generally, a complex blend of Urdu, Burmese, Mandarin, Persian, and Arabic, (since a family-run group that old with still living relatives who are hundreds of years old and new members joining the League frequently and high ranking members from all over Asia teaching their culture would essentially make the League a sort of...small ethnic group itself)

Talia is older than human, probably around 200 or so (actually I think this either is or was canon at one point)

Cass is not invincible. She takes hits and gets disarmed in Batgirl all the time, so why she's been fanoned as being completely untouchable in fights is beyond me. However, because of her poor reading and computer skills, she's actually not a very competent homicide detective at the moment. But she is making progress at a rate consistent with her intelligence and work ethic.

Luke still does MMA professionally and is like...Bellator world champion or something. He's also a U.S. veteran (inspired by the DCAMU), and I'm saying Coast Guard then Navy Seal. I have more exact details about that in my head, but in general, I'm saying he was dishonorably discharged after refusing order to take a shot or something a building with children in, and now is one of those "Veterans against U.S. militarist imperialism" guys.

Essentially, all of the Bats' strengths and weaknesses put them around the same level (with the exception of Bette, who is part time, Carrie and Tiff who are brand new), with the sole exception being Dick, Babs, Selina, and Bruce, are who above them, and largely equal, however Bruce's devotion to spending every waking moment planning things and constantly improving tech and stuff means he's in practice above either of them

Bruce was in the FBI for a little before deciding to become Batman (this was canon before the New 52). I'm thinking he bounced around a little, in Crimes Against Children, the Bioterrorism Taskforce, Behavioral Science Unit, and Financial Crimes. Again, I love a Bruce who is ridiculously accoladed (so his kids find these things out later and are flabbergasted)

The thing is, none of these contradict each other. All of these could exist in the same universe. But trying to cram every detail into...there would need to be a fucking soliloquy of exposition in every single chapter. So what I think I'd do is use the first "chapter" just to say: "Here's the things in this universe. Not going to explain it all, just know these things. Enjoy that." I mean, some of that could be "show don't tell" in its own story, like Duke learning about his processing powers or Tim and Jon getting together. But yeah, these are my tastes.

[zahri-melitor]

I think one thing that Ram V's tec does is also respect all the characters

While the other characters aren't AS focused as previously, they shine in their parts as part of the main plot and/or in backups. Like Shiva, Talia, Selina, Harvey, Cass, Renee, Mr. Freeze, and a few others all have either great parts in the main plot or in the backups that elaborate on what's going on with other characters. Like ultimately it's about Bruce, but the supporting characters aren't just there to lift up bruce; they're there to be their own characters

Look. Far be it from me to suggest I don't prefer characters getting their own space to shine (it is in fact one of my long running complaints against Hush's popularity as a story that all the of the characterisation is focused on everyone's relationship with Bruce, not anyone else, even if they're appearing in the same scene).

And those are legitimate and good reasons to prefer Ram V's writing over Zdarsky's right now.

However, the other question to ask yourself is "where do you rank the run in comparison to other people's runs on Batman and Tec?" Because to me? I've read a whole lot of far more ordinary or dislikeable writing in both titles over the years. Other people may feel differently.

Zdarsky's run in comparison to a lot of other runs is quite a tightly-focused-on-Bruce run, which makes sense for a storyline that is heavily based on what Bruce has done to his own mind. He went universe hopping and ran into different versions of Alfred and Selina as he has regrets over them and they're some of the only characters who Bruce views as having the authority to tell him to cut this behaviour out. It's a Tim run, when Tim's a character whose role it is to drag Bruce out of the quagmire in his mind. I would yes, prefer it if he could make any character who appears on panel sparkle with characterisation; but to my eye he's largely avoided what I consider the bigger sin, which is having characters appear without purpose or out of a feeling of obligation.

[secondgenerationnerd]

When figuring out your designs for omega squad, how did you settle on their respective features? Whether it's their face or their build, how did you do it? (And do any of them favor one parent over the other in appearance).

you can info-dump! Forgot to mention that.

In general, the parents play a big part in

Honestly, a lot of it boils down to powers and general background for the boys.

Like there’s lots of lean muscle there, but Jon and Colin are bulkier than Damian or Jai.

Damian favors Talia in build and height, compared to bulky Bruce. I would personally classify him as beautiful, not handsome. A lot of his movements are more like his adopted mother, Selina. He has scars he prefers to hide, more out of shame than anything, but some people have seen them. The people he trusts the most.

(He doesn’t realize he’s Sapiosexual—attracted to intelligence, but he is non the less an ally)

Jon has muscles, more from helping on the farm and muscle building exercises, but that does make flying trickier, aerodynamically speaking. I also prefer him to not be

Jai, our runner, has thicccc thighs from running, but as a nod to his ability to use the speedforce for strength, he’s got broader shoulders. I also headcannon speedsters are hair fuckers. Especially the guys.

Colin’s got muscle, but his is more intentionally built. I headcannon he has a lot of chronic pain due to the venom, so he does things like yoga and swimming to help manage it. He started getting tattoos and piercings as a form of self expression. His favorite is a half moon surrounded by seven stars—a tribute to his team.

For the girls, I wanted to show a wide range of healthy female bodies, which doesn’t mean skinny.

Mar’i, as I’ve said and shown, is a curvy queen. She’s very very active, favors both parents in her physic, and she’s got stretch marks and a belly. She got her mother’s height, which makes her shoot up to 6’4, before her favorite heels. And she shows them all off proudly!

Irey is what I think of as a runner—lean muscle, especially in her legs. But I think she favors her mother’s stature (I also thought it would be really funny for her to be full foot shorter than Jon)

Milagro is my personal “Fuck you” to the traditional female hero. She’s confident in her femininity and her body, plus her heritage as a Mexican American. She loves her curves and wears dresses and skirts because it makes her feel beautiful.

Then there’s Lian. Who takes after her father in body type. She’s got back muscles for days, is more bottom heavy than the other girls, and doesn’t give a fuck. She’s got stretch marks on her thighs, which she doesn’t bother to in shorts. She’s got more of her mother in her face and coloring, but she’s definitely the mix of her parents personalities.

Headcannon: Jai and Irey did that thing of breaking a melon between their thighs, bitched about it getting on their running shorts, and missed the look on

[businessbois]

You know I was also a fan of batfam, and I was just thinking about it, and the batfam shares a lot of similarities with sbi.

You have Phil and Bruce who, depending on the depiction, fall all over the best parent-worst parent scale. Some people think they’re the world’s best parent who is super attentive to their kids, some people think they’re full on abusive(though most of that end think they’re just neglectful), and still others think they’re bad but trying their best. They’re given the mentor role and all the kids desperately crave their attention. They are commonly depicted as being extremely scary to the outside world, but much softer to their family.

Then you have Wilbur and Dick. The sensitive older brother who basically parents their younger siblings. The one who is good with words and getting people to like them. The one with the strange talent that no one else in the family has (acrobatics and music). Hides their own negative emotions in favor of taking care of others. A leader who’s willing to take on emotional distress for the sake of those they lead. Not super buff, preferring to use more subtle and tricky ways of fighting.

Techno and Jason. The strong tough children who actually have a lot of emotional distress that they don’t know how to express. Doesn’t like to admit it, but is super protective over the people they love. Has a small group of friends who handle things in ways that many people look down on who they trust with their life. People trying to kill them, but they come back through some magical artifact (the Lazarus pools and the totem). Far more violent than most of the family, has less problems with killing others.

Tommy and Damian. Clearly younger than the others. Is secretly super soft and loves animals and their family, but hides it behind an agressive and often violent mask. Bonds with other kids but doesn’t like to say it, but the other kids realize anyway. Has a complicated relationship with their father figure and a very close relationship with one of their older brother figures. (Bonus points to the fact that a lot of people have started to make Tommy biologically related to Phil as a clone created to rival ‘the angel of death’ similarly to how Damian was raised to become greater than Batman)

And then despite not actually being a part of sbi, Tubbo somewhat matches Tim. They’re both the Tech kids who had their own family but got adopted in. They’re both usually described as the logical ones who run on chaotic genius and no sleep.

So I feel like it’s not surprising that fans of one are often fans of the other.

omg yes i want to talk about this all the time!! so i know the batfam personalities change with like every writer and reboot and fanon perception but there are so many good comparisons to be made and i felt so strongly i wrote an au about this. you really said most of what i was thinking about but ill add other little points.

so yes phil and bruce obviously. even like their titles the "angel of death" and "the dark knight" are kinda similar in a way. i dont know if this makes kristin talia or selina but i love it.

wilbur and dick. this feeds my oldest sibling wilbur preference and just fits so well. like, they're both performers, they're closer to tommy/damian, they're extroverted and better with people. i didnt even think about some of the stuff you listed like the leadership and fighting style but you're so right.

techno and jason i feel very strongly about. so yeah the violence is the obvious comparison. there's also like the fondness for literature which is a trait of jason's i hold onto dearly. there's a frame in rhato where jason has the art of war on his bookshelf and that's just perfect honestly. im sure theres something with niki as starfire that could be drawn with her being wilbur friend but then joining techno's group later.

tommy and damian. tubbo's his jon (i almost said colin but i remembered colin doesnt exist anymore) and like henry and batcow? it's perfect. damian was very briefly vegetarian in some iteration and i mean osmp tommy's a vegetarian. i'll take any tiny connections i can make. i literally thought about damian and bruce when the "tommy was made in a lab" theory arose. i have a complicated opinion on damian but to be fair its been awhile since ive been really into dc so if i took a look at him now i feel like my opinion would be better especially with all the connections that can be drawn between him and tommy

you saying tubbo is tim brought me an image of the absolute hilarity of ranboo being stephanie so thanks. the only caveat there is the fact that tim and damian just do not get along. to be fair, none of these guys get along in dc canon, but i chose to ignore that.

but yeah i like didnt think there'd be batman and mcyt crossover with fans, but there is and that's real neat cuz then i get to do little rambles like this with you

[marisandini-chu-blog]

Bruce Wayne is a Simp for Bad Bitch

OmG I can’t believe I’m writing the obvious but the idea is in my head and I need a place to word vomit. 

Okay, so it occurred to me that Bruce has a more serious and intense relationship canonically with three women, as far as I know; Andrea Beaumont, Talia Al’ghul, and Selina Kyle. All of whom are the epitome of Bad Bitch with the capital B. (Yes, I’m ignoring Rachel Dawes from Nolanverse. The only thing I like about it is the Iconic Joker. No batman movie is good enough without the Batfam.) 

Why do I raise this point, you might ask? Well, that’s because I want to rant that Bruce, my boy, my man, my childhood comfort character is actually a SIMP?!?!

Like... I’m just... urgh.... okay... I am very vocal for a healthy relationship with commitment and based on mutual love and respect. So the fact that Bruce has only bad, iffy, or casual relationships really want to tear my hair out. And why my heart don’t want to ship with any of them, even though BatCat is one of my favorite pairing! 

I am a WonderBat shipper because I love watching them in JLAU as a kid and even though I’m not slash shipper unless it’s canon, SuperBat made much more sense to me. Heck even a threesome with the Trinity would have been healthier relationship rather than whatever Bruce had with the three of them and here’s why: 

You might not have heard of Andrea, but she’s canon from the Timmverse movie called Batman and the Mask of Phantasm which is A REALLY GREAT MOVIE. Totally recommend. One of the best Batman movie at all times (Yes, I say Batman movies not Batman Animated movies). Has great plot twist and good pacing. so Spoiler Alert! Andrea was Bruce’s fiancé, making her possibly Bruce’s first love, before his journey and possibly could have stop him from becoming Batman (I would say he’s a simp in this case, but he would have had a much more happier, healthy household so it’s not bad thing) if she hadn’t disappear for being a Mob Boss’ Daughter!!! 

I repeat, a mob boss’ daughter. 

And she came back only to be a mask avenging assassin that went toe-to-toe with Batman.

And she could have choose to stay with Bruce but she didn’t because she choose vengeance over him. Like.... Bats, you should stop with the “I am Vengeance” routine you’ve got going on because she does it better than you ngl. 

So she left and I cried at the end of that movie because trauma wasn’t enough, you put heartbreak after heartbreak to my boy. Thanks DC. 

Then there’s Fucking Talia Al’ghul which is a no brainer why she’s not Bad but BAD. Like, Talia groom Jason, supervise Damian’s harsh, brutal, and abusive training, control Damian through the implant spine to kill Dick, orders Damian execution before regretting it, DRUG BRUCE when CONCEIVING DAMIAN!!! And that’s only the top of my head. 

And if you want to blame it on Morrison’s writing, THAT’S FINE. We’ve bitched about Tom King’s writing enough to know it’s valid. 

But, BUT, bUt... it needs to be address that even before Morrison, Talia CHOOSE to stay in the League of Assassin. People can tell me that she’s a complex character that’s loyal to her father but love Bruce and that her upbringing makes her complicated or whatever. Nuh-uh. You don’t get to make Talia helpless when it suited you. Talia is a fucking Bad Bitch (TM). She’s been taught to do whatever the fuck she wants according to her belief and ideal. At some point, Talia knew she wanted to be in position of power in the League rather than staying with Bruce. 

But it’s canon that Talia, if I remember correctly, doesn’t like Gotham or Bruce’s mission. She thinks being a hero is beneath them or whatever. And doesn’t understand why Gotham is special to Bruce. So yeah, you might not agree how Morrisons write her. But do not fucking tell me she’s not a character who will not be willing to do what she thinks it’s necessary to get what she wants, including training her son as an assassin. I mean, she likes being the Demon’s Daughter in the league. She may not agree with her father but Talia wants to give Damien what she wants. Power.  

Talia loves Bruce. That’s a fact. He’s probably the only person that makes her feel like she’s a person instead of the Demon’s Daughter. Bruce has a knack for that. To make people want to be better, even just a little. Talia could have chosen him, if she wanted to. The fact that she helps him so much when fighting against her father numerous times is proof enough. 

I'm highly suspecting the reason she stays is because she knows Bruce would always forgive her (SIMP ALERT) unlike her father who would straight up stab her if she ever betrays him.

I’m not saying there’s no love for her son, I’m just saying if she even looks at the batfam funny than I will raise my flamethrower on that bitch’s face. Because you can’t rely on Bruce on that. That man would give bullshit excuse for her or want to handle her himself because your “history” with her makes you entitled.  

Aaaah, don’t you just love it when there’s a great villain you can hate on so much?

I'm not saying she can't be a good person. Pre-morisson made Talia more of an anti-hero. But I do like Talia "I'mma cut a bitch" al'ghul. It's just... I like ruthless Bad Bitch like her. Though preferably she could have balance it with more of her maternal side through Damian.

Okay, I’m getting off tangent. Now comes to my favorite girl. Catwoman. Selina Kyle. The famous ship of all Bruce’s relationship sans SuperBat. 

I... am conflicted the most about this. 

See, Selina is one of the few people who understands Bruce. Who was there when he needed a shoulder to rely on. Someone who doesn’t take Bruce’s shit, and one of the constant person in Bruce’s life. 

But not... constant enough. Which is a theme of her, even in her fursona... I, I mean PERSONA, PERSONA!!! 

Anyway, I love seeing these two broken people. One handles it with violence and vigilantism, the other through thieving with a Robinhood-esque thing going on. So of course they get each other. It always helps that they try to make each other better. Selina taught Bruce to be okay of being selfish of wanting to be happy, and Bruce believed there’s good in her that makes her feel she’s not a hopeless case, y’know? It’s even canon that in one universe, they’re married and have daughter, Helena Wayne. So... yeah? Happy end! (Until they died but that’s non issue here at the moment.) 

Then Tom King (Urgh, him again) wrote Bat proposing to Cat, and by the time they’re about to be married. Selina left him at the altar. 

So yeah. 

But then they get metaphysically? Figuratively? married after the Flashpoint which they turn Thomas Wayne into a villain (At least make him from alternate universe instead of timeline!!!) and kill Alfred (WhYYYYYY?! Bruce suffered enough why do you go kill both his fathers dammit!!! Let the goddamn butler rest in peace). And basically Selina and Bruce promise each other forever. Which is sweet. BatCat Forever, am I right??? 

Yeah, here’s the problem. (And I’m just nitpicking here, okay). For all Tom King’s character assassination of Bruce, he did Selina right in one thing. Which is the fact she doesn’t like being tied down by anything.

If Talia puts importance in power. Selina puts importance in freedom and her self-independence. 

I remember as a kid watching BTAS, that Selina didn’t want a relationship with batman if it meant changing who she is. So when Selina left the altar, I wasn’t surprise at the news. Then she actually agreed to marry him, only this time, she didn’t need a judge or a paper to make the marriage legit, y’know. And I thought, yeah that’s so her. 

But the thing is Bruce. Accepts. Her. Every. Single. Time. 

Without a single thought. She asked, “Do you still want to get married?” and he asked “When?” 

Even though it’s not the first that Cat leaves him hanging. 

Tell me he’s not a simp for that. 

It’s great that he accepts her for everything she is. But I’m conflicted because Selina stays static. She stays with the cat theme in the fact she doesn’t want to held back by anything. She takes what she wants. She loves who she loves. And no one was gonna change her. But then where’s the character growth? 

Is it regressive of me to think Selina should be ‘tied down’ or express commitment when she never has been tied down before even though she loves Bruce? 

Is it not-feminist of me to think Selina has to change herself for a man? 

I just don’t like the fact Bruce and Selina enables their masked persona. Their relationship is strongly base on their cat-and-mouse chase. They nicknamed each other “Bat” and “Cat” for God’s sake. Even though yes, it’s canon that “Batman” and “Catwoman” is their real selves and their civilian life is their masks. Heck, she didn’t go for the altar because she believed (though manipulated) that making Bruce happy would make Batman insufficient, or losing him entirely (Thank Tom King for that). 

That would be true, and stay true if not for one thing. Which is some thing what Bruce has that Selina doesn’t: 

The Batfam.

Bruce’s real identity isn’t just the Batman anymore. He has to be a single father with growing children he never plan to adopt but did anyway because they needed each other. He can’t use his batman persona to be a father at his house, but he will when training them to be his partner. His family became the strength to Bruce’s fight for Justice. 

Bruce is the Batman, but he’s not everything who he is. Selina is supposed to be part of the batfamily yet sadly, I haven’t read or watch anything that has her interact with them in a positive way or actually bond with them. Heck, when Alfred inform the proposal to the batfam they were shocked and thought it was a bad idea even (And they’ve known her for almost half their life by the way.) 

The fact that Tom King implied Bruce was never happy or wasn’t happy enough without marrying Cat when his Batfam should be the source of his pride and joy?! Apparently family means nothing to Batman. Woah DC, what a great message you’re sending here. 

I guess that’s why, I was a bit iffy when Selina “marriage” with Bruce isn’t official. Because she commits to the man but she doesn’t say she’ll commit to the family (though I suppose it could be imply or I just forget stuff). The batkids are grown up enough that they don’t really need a maternal figure, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need more emotionally available people in the family. And that I haven’t seen much of her taking effort to bond with the people that’s the most important to Bruce. 

It just makes her want to commit to Batman instead of Bruce Wayne, in my eyes I guess. 

So yeah, that’s why Wonderbat and Superbat makes more sense to me. Because they’ll make an effort to be THERE for the family and they’ll be just generally be a healthier relationships because, again, emotionally available so they might talk when they have a problem instead of running off the altar when you think a Happy Batman is Bad Batman. But no, DC have to make Bruce is a simp and his life edgy. 

Anyway, I might be wrong in some things because, you know. Canon becomes a blur to me after a while. 

[bigbatlittlebat]

Damian taught alfred how to 'step out of the shadows' like how a room or a street is seemingly empty and then batman walks out of the shadows unexpectedly and it's kinda cool kinda really fuckin scary if you're a criminal anyway when bruce is over tired or wrecked from a mission sometimes alfred will wait in a dark corner in his room til he wakes up and then alfred will be like morning master bruce, bruce nearly jumps out of his skin and depending on surprise level may release a muffled scream, alfred steps out of shadows with a tray of breakfast and tea trying to conceal a smile and damian can be heard laughing from the hallway

That disappearing mid conversation thing that batman always does to Gordon, yeah all his kids learned how to do that on him, sometimes when they've been a bit reckless and Bruce is trying to teach them and hes on a rant explaining how stupid they were and that they shouldn't do it again blah blah blah and he turns round to an empty batcave

When jason and tim hang out or are on patrol together they listen to the crappiest pop music sometimes Stephanie joins them but they've sworn her to secrecy, it was harleys fault she's the one that got them into it

Nightwing helps parkour kids on the street learn some cool moves and he tells them where all the best spots are and encourages them to try gymnastics if they haven't all ready cuz it can help with thier bar movement

When dick is on patrol and (magically) everything is quiet no crime tonight sometimes he'll call by harleys and they have a gymnastics session although harley has occasionally roped him into yoga and the occasional sheet face mask

Not really a hot take more like a piss take 😅 but tim sleeps with a night light and only damian knows, bruce knows but they don't know that

Steph cass and duke join the Gotham skateboarding rink, steph sucks but luckily cass and duke ain't too bad at it and manage to teach her

For Stephs birthday she made the whole fam go roller blading with her including alfred, jason fell on his ass a ridiculous amount of times, tim, damian and duke had races and tried to push each other over, dick and Bruce tried to out do each other dick won (Maybe bruce let him win), dick also showed off by doing several back flips in a row and skating flawlessly away on one foot drawing the attention of a bunch of kids and thier mum's who were at the rink so he ended up being an instructor for he rest of the evening which he didn't mind at all, alfred was surprisingly good at it and suggested they do it every year providing that tim, duke and damian behave a bit better, cass and steph had a blast dancing around in thier skates and ended up at either side of jason dragging him around cuz he fell again lay there and didn't see the point in getting back up

Family dinners sometimes consist of the entire batfam plus barbara selina talia and harley, babs and harley try to give alfred a hand in the kitchen and not that he would say anything but he'd really prefer to do it on his own as he considers harley a fire hazard

Okay but I love the idea of Damian teaching Alfred that purely because from experience young teenagers and children love to think they're teaching you new things and that would 100% be how he bonds with him. Also just the chaos it could cause for Bruce gives me lifeeee. And the idea that they can all do the disappearing act is hilarious because once again - chaos for Bruce

I hc that Jason Tim and Steph all listen to like early Taylor Swift and shit from like the 2010s. So criminals being scared off by Red Hood and Red Robin blasting shitty pop music is amazing

Also there is no way Nightwing doesn't take any excuse he can get to piss about and do his gymnastics tricks even when he's supposed to be patrolling. Also also love the idea that he has a good relationship with Harley - can not get enough of that

Okay yes Tim sleeping with a nightlight currently but I raise you - every member of the batfam had a night light at some point but the only ones that still do are Tim and Duke. No I will not elaborate.

I adore big batfam outings for the absolute difference in reactions like yeah Jason sucking at roller skating but also the parallel of Dick and the others just being able to do it. Imagine Dick doing patrol for a night with roller skates on? Flawless

I like to imagine that once a year at least everyone comes over for a proper get together and Alfred's cooking just comes as a part of it because no one can say no to him.

[fuyunoakegata]

Is there ever a fight between Dick and Bryce over dates? I was reading about actirs' age gaps and remembered that Bruce tends to date younger women who are often around Dick's age. What if he initiates a relationship with someone Dick had a crush on or if they both liked the same woman? Do you think him dating young women all the time would be a point of contempt between them? What about Bruce himself because these days 25 years age gap is a pretty creepy thing to most people due to the power imbalance, for example Leo DiCaprio and his dating preference was under fire for this.

I don't think very many of the women Bruce usually dates as Bruce are very important to him in a relationship sense. I don't want to make it out that he's callous towards them and just using them, but honestly they're there to further his image as Brucie the playboy who's far too dumb and hedonistic to be someone like Batman. I tend to like the headcanons people have offered saying that the women get something out of it, too: protection from the crappier men in Gotham and honest friendship from someone who will listen to them. There have been a few instances of Bruce dating normal civilians, but eh, I don't really tend to get very excited by those; I think it's more trouble in the long run having him date someone who isn't involved in superheroing. Civilians end up being captured and used as bait in storylines too often. At least if they do that with one of the other Bats, there's a chance they can rescue themselves (or should be, but writers rarely want to go that way with the story -_-).

The exception could possibly be Talia. Obviously, she isn't a run of the mill civilian, but she is likely younger than Bruce (I say likely, because of course this is comics and there are conflicting panels). I don't generally prefer the idea of her having been around a hundred or more years, or having used the pit. I love the idea that Ra's met her mother at Woodstock (though that's a concrete date, and as time passes for us, messes up dates in comics, lmao). I remember one later comic where she states "I am not yet thirty" which would likely imply over 25 but getting closer to 30. Not an exact age, but gives us some ideas. And then there's her first appearance where she claims she was studying medicine at the University of Cairo... except she isn't, really, and that just gives a perception of how old we should think she is, not an actual age. So of course, people are going to assume she's young, sometimes even younger than she actually would be (I've heard some people use that to say she's Dick's age, because they hear college and assume she's 18ish. There used to be a roughly 18 year gap between Bruce and Dick, so I'd see maybe 10-15 tops between Bruce and Talia. Those age gaps are questionable at younger ages but even out more as they get older). And, any age differences aside, Bruce didn't manipulate her into anything. They both have areas where each of them are arguably in a stronger position of power over the other, but overall they tend to balance out. The only slight issue I can see would be that possibly Ra's kept her sheltered enough from some things that emotionally she latched onto Bruce as a way if escaping her father's control. But Talia chose to end it with Bruce in that original storyline, so...

And then there's the time Catwoman tried to come onto Dick, while they were both in costume, apparently to make Bruce jealous. My reading of that story was that Dick didn't reciprocate other than to kiss her to keep her quiet, since they were being shot at at the time, and Selina was making a bit of noise, arguing with him. And Dick definitely laughed at her thinking he'd actually do anything with her (we've seen several instances in the comics where you can see he is all for Bruce and Selina as a couple).

Long story short, I really don't think Bruce is at all serious or really dating anyone of the models or actresses he takes to parties or galas and I don't think they'd really go for the same type of girl. Pretty sure Dick understands the difference between Bruce taking models to a party and actually honestly dating them and having any real relationship. And I don't really see them being attracted to the same type.of person, so I don't really see this at all being an issue.

(and I apologize if I'm misremembering any of these stories; we drove to see my son and his fiance for a day while on vacation and I don't have my laptop with me. It's just me, my memory, and a cheap TracFone with limited data lol)

Also, these are my opinions, though they are based in comics I've read over the years.

[galahadwilder]

Hey! I'm following you for ML stuff, but I finally figured out you were into Batman as well, took me awhile. Do you have any advice on where to start for people who want to get into it? I just want to know which Robin is which when I read fanfiction hahaha. Thank youu

So the first thing to know is that there is no single Batman comic that will explain the entire Batfamily, because there are so many of them that the Manor must be running out of bedrooms by now. The second thing is that I’m not great at figuring out a starting place—a lot of comics are sort of aggressively mediocre and I can’t exactly tell the standout ones from the bad. Anyone who has any suggestions for anon, feel free to comment with them!

(In terms of fanfic recs: read literally anything by @unpretty. They are a wizard. Their fanfic is so good it has literally won awards.)

Now, a brief introduction to every member of the Batfamily that I can currently remember—save Alfred and Batman, who I am assuming you already know.

The Robins

Dick Grayson (Robin I, Nightwing II, and Batman IV). Richard John Grayson was a former child acrobat, member of the flying Graysons, and the first child adopted by Bruce Wayne. He is a human disaster of a Hufflepuff who makes terrible life choices, leaves his Nightwing costume on the floor of his apartment where literally anyone can see it, and doesn’t know how to cook anything but cereal. Despite his terrible lack of self-sufficiency, actually gives amazing life advice and is the heart and soul of the Batclan. There are villains who are willing to kill to protect him.

Jason Todd (Robin II, The Red Hood II, Red Robin I, Batman III). Jason Todd is the ballsiest Robin, having met Batman while attempting to steal the tire from the Batmobile, and, upon being confronted by the Goddamn Batman, decided the best course of action was to attack him with a tire iron. Jason is passionate and impulsive, but also extremely studious and intelligent. Well-liked despite his abrasiveness. He is the first Robin to die in the line of duty; when he came back, he and Bruce had a falling out over not killing the Joker, and now their relationship is rather shaky. Jason uses guns and has moonlighted as a crime boss in order to better control Gotham’s criminal element from the inside, which works mostly because he has nerves of steel and the ability to spin stunningly convincing bullshit at the drop of a hat.

Carrie Kelley (Robin II.5): See “Elseworlds and Future.”

Tim Drake (Robin III, Red Robin II, Drake I, Batman Beyond II): Tim has the greatest intellect of the Batclan; however, unlike Barbara (see “Batgirls”), Tim’s wisdom score is through the bloody floor. He figured out Batman and Robin’s identities on his own, and after Jason died he walked up to Bruce and basically told him “I know who you are and I’m Robin now,” which... worked. Tim is the least physically gifted of the Robins, but he makes up for it in detective skills and tactical intelligence. He was the only Robin to still have living parents outside of the Batfamily, though they were murdered soon into his career. He dropped out of high school and was acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises for a time. He has crippling depression and is implied to be suicidal.

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler I, Robin IV, Batgirl III): see under “Batgirls.”

Damian Wayne (Robin V): Damian is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, and was raised—unbeknownst to his father—by his mother and grandfather to be an assassin, as well as to be the best at literally everything (for context: despite being a young teenager, he technically holds multiple unaccredited PHDs). However, this stunted his social development, so he is rude and abrasive almost constantly, though he has been getting better and his closest friends and family can see that he’s covering for a superiority/inferiority complex a mile deep. Damian has a constant need to prove himself and has taken up his father’s adoption habit, though he prefers animals. Animals are better than people.

Duke Thomas (Robin ??, The Signal): Duke Thomas was the first metahuman Bruce allowed into the Batfamily. Originally decided to take on The Riddler by himself at the age of... seven or so? Eventually joined a collective called “We Are Robin” and fought crime, unsanctioned. After his parents were driven mad by Joker Venom, Bruce took him in. He now fights crime in the daytime, unlike the rest of the Batfamily, using his nebulously-defined extrasensory abilities to augment his Batfamily training.

The Batgirls

Barbara Gordon (Batgirl I, Oracle I): while Tim may be the most intelligent member of the Batclan, Babs is the all-around smartest. Her intellect is damned high, and unlike most of the Batfamily, Barbara is actually capable of making good decisions. She just... decides not to, most of the time. Barbara is the daughter of Commissioner James Gordon and was the first Batgirl; she lost the use of her legs when Joker shot her in the spine, but refused to take a backseat in the Batclan’s war on crime and became Oracle, hacker extraordinaire who directs the activities of every single vigilante in Gotham from her clocktower lair. She has since regained the use of her legs and reclaimed the Batgirl mantle, turning Oracle into a living AI.

Helena Wayne (Batgirl I.5, Huntress I): see “Elseworlds and Future.”

Cassandra Cain/Wayne (Batgirl II, Black Bat I, Orphan I): Cassandra is the daughter of assassins Lady Shiva and David Cain, and had what is hands-down the worst childhood of the entire Batfamily (her father would shoot her in the leg, and if she flinched, he’d shoot her again). She was raised without spoken words, and as a result the language centers of her brain are more adapted for body language than words. This gives her a kind of combat clairvoyance where it’s nearly impossible for a human combatant to surprise her. After her first murder, she swore to never again take a life, and joined the Batclan to atone. I personally believe that she is Bruce’s favorite child and the true heir to the mantle of the Bat.

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler I, Robin IV, Batgirl III): the daughter of Arthur Brown, a criminal known as Cluemaster, Stephanie became a vigilante specifically to oppose her father and then just had a bunch of mission creep. She is brash, sarcastic, and reckless, but has oodles of passion and natural talent. DC editors hate her, so she ends up screwing up or getting pushed aside a lot, but she is much more competent than she appears and is extremely good at getting people to underestimate her.

Others

Kate Kane (Batwoman I): Kate Kane is Bruce’s cousin, dishonorably discharged from the military under “dont ask don’t tell,” though this has likely been retconned thanks to DC’s sliding timescale. She is actually specifically not connected to the Batfamily, being more of an auxiliary member by her own choice—as a military woman, she dislikes their methods and considers them sloppy. She uses guns, has her own rogues’ gallery unconnected to her cousin’s, and is extremely competent.

Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael I, Batman II): Jean-Paul believed himself to be an ordinary college student, but was in fact a genetically modified super-soldier created to punish the wicked through the use of magic and advanced technology. He eventually broke his conditioning thanks to Batman and joined the family, even taking over for Batman briefly after Bane broke his back. (This proved to be a terrible decision.) He fights using powered armor and enchanted medieval weaponry.

Harper Row (Bluebird I): I know very little about Harper except that she is openly bisexual and uses hilariously oversized sci-fi guns.

Claire Clover (Gotham Girl I): a metahuman with Superman-like abilities; however, the more she uses them, the faster her lifespan burns away. Last I checked, she was working with Bane for some reason to do bad things to Batman. Don’t know why. She’s odd.

Lonnie Machin (Anarky I, Moneyspider I): may or may not be the son of The Joker. Lonnie is a genius Anarchist, but not of the “bomb-throwing” variety—in fact, he detests bombers. Briefly acted as Tim’s Oracle, since, thanks to extensive neurological self-modification, he’s one of the few people in Gotham who is actually more intelligent than Tim is.

Helena Bertinelli (Huntress II, Batgirl briefly I think?): daughter of a crime family that got wiped out by a rival crime family. However, she didn’t know her family was mafia, and as a vigilante in Gotham ended up trying to operate under Batman’s rules. Wasn’t very good at that—she’s a bit too vicious and brutal, despite her attempts to rein herself in. Uses crossbows primarily.

Elseworlds & Future

Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond I): the definitive future Batman. Thanks to Amanda Waller and superscience shenanigans, Terry is the biological son of Bruce Wayne. He wears a highly advanced batsuit that is closer to powered armor than a costume, which gives Iron Man a run for his money. Unlike Bruce’s obsessive preparedness, Terry’s skillset lies in improvisation.

Carrie Kelley (Robin II.5): the Robin of the dystopian timeline of The Dark Knight Returns. It’s been a while since I read DKR, so I don’t remember much about her.

Helena Wayne (Batgirl I.5, Huntress I): Bruce and Selina’s daughter from another dimension.

[blackbatpurplecat]

D, F, I, T and Y for the alphabet meme

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t (again: be nice) Steve/B*cky from the MCU, mostly because it feels like the majority of the fandom produces fanfics and fanart for that exact pairing. But I just don’t feel any romantic/sexual chemistry between those two characters. I see them as brothers so the thought of them as a couple makes my skin crawl.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom Already answered.

I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why The St*cky fandom (that to an extent includes the Bucky fandom as well). They have the famous reputation of being obnoxious idiots with big mouths who grossly misinterpret what’s shown in the movies, and they do everything to defend that title.

Now don’t worry, I don’t mean all the shippers! If you ship the characters, more power to you. I’m exclusively talking about the STANS; the ones who ruin everyone else’s fun by making everything about them, the ones who want Steve to die nowadays, the ones who made Evans uncomfortable when he expressed an opinion different to theirs, the ones who only see and hear what they want to see and hear, and twisted Stan’s words to fit their illusions, the ones who after two years still haven’t gotten over the fact that they had queerbaited themselves.

They even managed to make me like Bucky less.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything) For the MCU: Steve Rogers is demisexual. Steve and Peggy did not have sex during WWII. Agent Carter’s second season doesn’t exist and Peggy had a better backstory. For Batman: Bruce was Helena’s father, not Bradley Jr. Cat-Tales’ origin story for Selina is THE origin story for Selina. Bruce never loved or had sex with Talia (also Damian doesn’t exist because fuck that character).

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them) I’m familiar with the rollercoaster dumpster fire Supernatural is because of tumblr posts. I know a bit about Outlander, and occasionally check the The Orville tag because my sister loves that show. 

—

Please send me asks! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[goldandbluesmiles]

When Three’s Company

Summary: Talia goes off her suppressants every six months. Her heat lasts seven days. Selina has her heat every six weeks. Her heat lasts five days. Bryce takes care of both of them.This time there heats are a little too close to each other but that's fine, Bruce can take care of that. Except Talia doesn't show up on time. 

It's not much of a problem in the end

Notes and TW: There’s like the mildest of mild sexual content, talk of being drugged and omega trafficking. 

This was supposed to be something short and sweet but it kind of got away from me and now we have...this. Hope you guys enjoye.

AO3

XXX

Talia goes off her suppressants every six months. Her heat lasts seven days. Selina has her heat every six weeks. Her heat lasts five days.

Bruce keeps a schedule and makes sure their heat never come at the same time. Selina can't control hers. Talia, on the other hand, could choose when she takes herself off her suppressants.

Bruce would prefer it if she didn't take them at all. They were only supposed to be for emergencies but he'll never fight her on it, grateful she came to him at all. Grateful that they both came to him.

They might not be his omegas but he cared for them -dare he say, loved them- and he had promised to be there for them no matter what.

So yes, he was grateful they let him help and grateful that they understood each other's place in his life.

"We are not exclusive, Beloved," Talia had said, "It would make no sense for me to ask you to stay away from others. Some might even call it cruel since I am not here a lot,"

"Do what you want, Bats," Selina had said, with a smirk, "As long as I get my share of you. Anyway, that woman sounds badass,"

So yes, Bruce was grateful

It was January and it had almost been six months since Talia had visited. He would have to tell her to go off her suppressants soon. She would probably come to him in three days after that...which would be...

He trailed his finger down the calendar.

Hmmm. January 13th. Selina's would probably start on the 23rd. She liked to spend her preheat with him too.

It was putting it a little too close for his liking but he could just ask the Cat to spend her preheat somewhere else. She wouldn't mind.

Right, it would work.

He picked up the phone and left a message for Talia and then one for Selina.

They both got back to him with a confirmation within an hour.

Now that was done, Bruce believed there were some...

Ah, yes, the budget reports.

xxx

Talia didn't show up on the 14th. Which was fine. Maybe she was cutting it close.

She wasn't there on the 15th or even the 16th. Not even a call. Usually, if she was late there was at least a call.

By the 17th, he was calling her and every other person who could give him any information about her whereabouts.

Nothing.

By the end of the week, he had given up. Talia could take care of herself and like she liked to remind him, they weren't mates or even pack. She didn't have o tall him everything.

It didn't stop the sick feeling in his stomach though.

"You okay, B?" asked Dick, sitting across from him at the dinner table.

Bruce forced a smile, "Yeah Chum. I'm good. Just something on my mind,"

The thirteen-year-old frowned, clearly to buying it but went back to his spaghetti.

Ugh. He had to pull himself together if his son was picking up on his mood too.

"Dick," he said

"Yeah,"

"I'm going to be a little unavailable for the next week or so. You can still come and get me if you need something but I probably won't be following my usual schedule,"

Dick snorted as he got up from the table, "Yeah. Yeah. I know the routine by now, B"

Bruce quirked his lips. Dick had a point. Selina had been visiting him before Dick had even come into his life. Talia had started nearly four years ago.

And with that, his mood fell again.

Where was she?

xxx

Selina showed up at her designated time. Her scent of lilacs was made stronger by the heat and she rubbed it everywhere as she made her nest in a haste. Usually, they would take a full day to make it but her heat was starting and it was prompting to be quick.

Still, to didn't stop her from being her usual flirty self. A gently kiss as she fluffed her pillows, a soft touch sh she came out of the shower, lips to his glands as she tugged him toward the nest.

"Okay, what's going on with you?" she said, as he tucked a blanket around her naked body, settling her into the nest, "Here I am, being a wonderful company and you're still brooding,"

Bruce sighed, "I'm sorry Selina. Just something on my mind,"

"Something," she said, "Or someone?"

"What?"

"Oh come on," she said, "I'm not stupid. I know her heat would have ended a few days before mine. Usually, you're all here. I guess a few days aren't enough for your mind to be off of her,"

Bruce snorted, "That's ridiculous Selina and stop sounding jealous. It's doesn't look good on you,"

"Harumph," she said, as she snuggled down

Bruce sighed and put his arm around, instantly making her melt against him, "She didn't show up at all, Sel. And she didn't call either,"

"Ah," said Selina, "You're worried,"

"Hmm,"

"Well," said Selina, "You said it yourself. She knows how to take care of herself. Maybe she just got caught up in something. I'm sure she'll call in a few days with an apology,"

Bruce sighed, "Yeah. Okay,"

"Now come here and lie down with me. I want to cuddle,"

Bruce smiled and let himself be pulled down.

xxx

In the morning Selina woke him up with a kiss and insisted he give her a bath.

He smiled and shook his head, "Let me wash up first,"

She pouted but conceded.

After quickly cleaning himself up, he ran the bath and filled it with her favourite bath bomb and bubbles. Lots of bubbles.

"Ohh," said Selina as he led her in there, "Kitty loves her bubbles,"

"I'm aware," he said with a chuckle

"Join me?"

Bruce grinned and started pulling off his clothes. Once he was done he lowered himself into the tub, he waited for Selina to make her move. The tub was big enough for them to sit without touching each other but Selina manoeuvred her self around until her back was settled against her chest.

The Alpha smiled. So it was going to be one of those.

Heats with Selina were always unpredictable. Sometimes she clung to him the whole time. Some times she barred him from the nest and hissed every time he got close. Some heats, she allowed slow closeness, teasing him. There had even been the times where she had slapped on scent blockers made for omegas who wanted to go to work during their heats, coming and going from the manor as she pleased.

Judging by this morning and the way she was letting Bruce run his hand over her sides, this was going to be one of the slow, intimate ones.

Bruce moved his hands back up to her shoulder, gently kneading them as he mouthed at her mating glands. He would never bite them, but the shudder that went through her body showed exactly how much she liked it.

"Good?" he asked, teasing her most sensitive spot with his tongue.

"Oh, shut up," she murmured but moaned as he moved his hands lower, gently running his nails over her sides.

"Lower," she sighed and then arched up as he obeyed, one hand still splayed over her stomach, lips at her temple.

She arched up again as he pressed his left hand down between her thighs.

"Baby," she sighed and he ran a soothing hand down her front.

"I got you, Love," he said gently, twisting his fingers just...

Her body jerked again and she let out a hoarse laugh.

"Having fun?" he asked, repeating the motion.

"Oh yeah," she said breathlessly, joining her right hand with his.

"Good," he said, twisting his fingers again and again until she was moving in tempo with them.

"Tell me," he said softly as her body began to shake

"I-I'm-God," she breathed, "I need- just a little-"

"Like that?" He asked, curling his fingers inwards

"Yes," she whined, "Baby-"

She cut herself off as her body gave a full shudder, her thighs clamping around his hand. He gently kissed her necks and squeezed her hand as she settled against him again.

"Have fun?" he asked

She merely hummed and curled closer, her scent smelled like contentment though, so Bruce just pulled her in.

"Feeling sleepy already?" he asked

"More like post-orgasm drowsiness," she said

Bruce laughed, "You're usually up for more before you get tired, hmm,"

She smacked his arm in response.

He laughed again and kissed her, "Do you want me to give you a proper bath this time?"

"Nah, pull the plug and hand me the shower,"

"Okay," he said, "I'll set your clothes outside and go grab breakfast, okay?"

She nodded, "Okay,"

XXX

Alfred already had the breakfast tray ready for him, laden with fruits, scones, and Selina's favourite tea.

"Thank you, Alfred," He told the older man

"No problem at all, Master Bruce," he said, "Will you be making Ms. Kyle's favourite cheesecake later?"

"Yes," said Bruce, "She'll fall asleep after lunch. I'll make it then so she can have it for afternoon tea. She likes it fresh,"

"I'll set out the ingredients then,"

Bruce smiled as he picked up the tray, "Thank you, Alfred, you're the best,"

"I try, Master Bruce,"

Bruce gave him another quick grin and headed back toward his room.

He found Selina wearing one of his T-Shirts, reclining back with his hoodie stuffed behind her head as her pillow.

"Are those Alferd's scones?" she asked, as soon as she saw the tray.

"Yup," he said, settling in front of her, "Open up,"

She smiled and eagerly took the pieces of scone he fed her while making her tea. Once the tea was done, he handed it to her, he picked up the fruit an fed it to her too.

"I still can't believe you like to eat grapes and apples with tea," he said

She chuckles, "Funny thing, it's only during my heat,"

"Hmm,"

Once the breakfast finished, Bruce folded the tray and once again tucked the omega into the nest.

He was just about to go to put the tray away when something tingled his senses. He became alert and sniffed at the air.

"What is it?" asked Selina

"Just- I could swear- wait-" he said while heading into the hall.

He knew that scent, it smelled like fresh dates and left a taste of sugar water.

Except, there was something else underlining it, something-

He found Talia at the end of the hall, slumped against the wall.

"Beloved," she murmured as he came closer, looking at him through half-closed eyes.

"Talia," he said softly, "Talia what are you doing here?"

She whimpered. Whimpered. And lurched forward, making him catch her in his arms.

Once he tucked her close, he was hit with the full force of her scent and nearly gagged.

There was something chemical under her scent. Something like-

"Did someone give you heat inducers?" he asked with a growl

She nodded and he tightened his arms around her. Heat inducers were illegal outside some very high tech medical facilities where they were administered as hormone balancers and used as a last resort.

They were also used illegally in omega trafficking rings.

And someone had gotten close enough to Talia to give them to her.

That thought alone was enough to terrify him.

"Bruce?"

He looked up to find Selina standing in the hall with a blanket wrapped around her. Talia saw her too and tried to pull away.

"Talia?" he asked

"I shouldn't have- I,"

Bruce frowned again. This wasn't like her at all. The drug must really be distorting her senses.

It made him want to break something. It also made him wonder how she got here.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Selina, picking up on what Talia was trying to say, "Bring her in here Bruce. She needs help,"

They took her in and laid her down. Bruce was about to move away but she let out a desperate sound causing him to pull her close again.

"Bruce," said Selina as Talia wrapped herself around him, almost clawing at him for skin-to-skin contact, "I don't think heat-inducers are the only thing they gave her,"

"Talia? Baby?" he said

She let out a broken sob and buried her face in his neck, requiring all his self-control not to flinch away from her.

"Talia, you have to tell me,"

"There were sensitivity pills," she said, the words coming out in between short breaths.

Sensitivity pills. Used legally with small doses for older omegas with sexual problems to heighten their pleasure. Illegally it was used to the date-rape drug to make omegas almost desperate for touch and sex.

"When did they give you these things," he asked, dread growing through him.

"About- about three days before I was to head here,"

She would still have been on her suppressants at the time. Damn it. She had a cocktail of different drugs in her system. Two of which actively trying to do the opposite thing.

"You need a doctor," said Selina

"No!" said Talia, "No, I already detoxed from most of it. I just- I just- it hurts"

"The suppressants and the inducers fighting in her system probably distracted from the symptoms of the sensitivity pills," said Selina, "Now it's hitting her,"

"You mean-"

"She needs to orgasm, Bruce," said Selina, "And she needs an Alpha's scent,"

Bruce sucked in a breathe and slowly let it out.

"I can't,"

"Bruce..."

"Beloved please,"

Bruce shook his head. How was he supposed to explain this to them? Neither one of them was attracted to omegas and their scent. How could he explain the unnatural way Talis's scent was making his stomach turn. How off her scent felt. Maybe some Alpha who got off on omega in pain and hurting could-

But all Bruce could think was wrong wrong wrong.

"Beloved," said Talia, "At least just- just,"

She tugged at his clothes so Bruce did a quick job of undressing himself and her, leaving her plastered to him, feverishly shaking.

The feverish skin was another sign something was wrong. Usually, an omega's temperature got high during the climax of their heat but this was something else.

"Hand me my phone," he told Selina, "I'm going to call, Leslie,"

Leslies listened to him intently and then told him she would send a doctor she knew still did house calls. Once the call was ended, he called down to Alfred to let him know what was going on.

Waiting for the doctor, he gently stroked Talia's sides as Selina made her sip water, making sure she didn't become dehydrated from the fever.

About half-an-hour after the call was made, there was a knock at the door and an elderly omega doctor came in.

"Hello, darling," she said, "I'm Cecelia. Lie down so I can check you over,"

She took a drift-test kit and quickly got to work.

"Well, it looks like she was right about the detox. The suppressants ad inducers are mostly out of her body and no longer a danger to her. Usually, with the sensitivity pills, I would give her pain medication or just sedate her but I don't want to do that with the drugs she's already had in her system,"

"So what, are you saying?" he asked

"You can either help her or she just rides it out,"

Bruce looked down at Talia, almost shaking with want, eyes screwed shut and hands twisting in the sheets.

It made bile rise in his throat.

"It doesn't have to be you," said Cecelia kindly and then turned to Selina, "You could do it too or she could do it for herself as long as she has the Alpha's scent close to her and she knows he's there,"

Selina looked from the doctor to Bruce to Talia. Both women locked eyes for a moment and then Selina nodded.

"Okay, we'll figure this out,"

"Wonderful. I'll leave you to it then," said the doctor, "Just keep her hydrated and give her some light snacks,"

Bruce nodded and on cue Alfred opened the door and quickly let the doctor out.

xxx

Bruce ended up sitting on the floor by the bed, his hand clutching one of Talia's as Selina took care of her. The room was filling with scent Talia and sex. Curling close to him and making his nostrils flare.

Any other time it would have made heat curl low in his belly. Any other time he would have been happy to have Talia wrapped around him.

Any other time he would have been helping her

Right now, it was taking every ounce of his control not to throw up, his instincts warring between 'comfort her' and 'get away fro the obviously drugged omega'

He was just glad Selina was here.

Once Talia was asleep, Selina came down and curled close to him. She smelled like Talia, like fear and arousal, but Bruce didn't have the heart to push her away, especially with how shaken up she looked.

Alfred left them some soup and they ate quietly. Once Talia woke up from her nap, they fed her and the omegas took turns taking showers. Talia still seemed a bit dazed so they had to help her wash up.

They rested a little until the drug started acting up again.

The next two days were the same, Selina helped Talia, Bruce helped Selina, they ate, showered and repeated the cycle all over again.

On the third day, Talia woke up with clear eyes and a somewhat normal temperature.

"I think it's over," she said, "I should take my leave,"

Bruce put a hand on her arm and stopped her.

"Stay for breakfast, at least,"

She nodded and they ate poached eggs with fried mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese.

"Alfred's cooking is as great as always," said Selina

"Hmm," said Talia

"Speaking of food," said Selina, "Didn't you make gujrela?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows at her, wondering where she was going with this. Of course, he had made it, right along with rice pudding, faluda and Halva. Once he had realized Talia wasn't coming, he had frozen the desserts. They wouldn't be as good as they were when fresh but they could still be enjoyed.

"Yes," he answered

"And you're still going to make my cheesecake aren't you?"

"...Yes," he said, "I was also planning on Lemon tarts,"

"Oooh," she said, "Have you ever his lemon tarts, Talia?"

Talia flicked her eyes between them, "Can't say that I have,"

"Well, it's decided, you have to stay. Bruce's lemon tarts are the best I've ever had,"

"That's because you haven't had Alfred's," said Bruce, giving Selina a grateful smile. He had been thinking of a way to get Talia to stay without overstepping with Selina. This was much better.

If Talia agreed.

"I suppose I can stay until the natural end of my heat," said Talia, carefully. Too carefully for Bruce's liking.

"Lovely," he said, "I'll let Alfred know,"

XXX

Later when Selina and Talia fell asleep, Bruce made his way down o the kitchen and started on the cheesecake. Just as he was about to slide it into the oven, he felt a presence behind him

"Hello Talia," he said, shutting the oven door, "Shouldn't you still be sleeping?"

"You know how I am about sleep," she said

He turned and took her in. Hair pulled in a messy ponytail, eyes still a little red. She was wearing one of his longer T-shirts like a dress and a cardigan on top.

Bruce smiled inwardly. Even a mess she looked beautiful.

"Short nap?" he asked, winding an arm around her waist.

"Hmm," she said, settling her hands on his chest.

He covered her hands with his own and gave her a gentle kiss.

"Are we going to talk about what happened?"

Talia sighed and settled back against the counter.

"One of my men turned on me," she said, "I took care of them,"

"Of course,"

"I don't even know why I came here,"

"That's alright," he said, "You know you're welcome,"

"I didn't mean to interrupt you and Selina,"

"More my fault. I knew the dates were close,"

Talia just smiled and leaned into his chest.

"I've missed this," she said, "I always miss it,"

"You don't have to," he whispered to her

"I know," she said, looking at him with regret in her eyes. He gave her a smile and kissed her softly.

"If you ever change your mind..."

"I know,"

XXX

"These are good," said Talia, taking a bite of the tart

"Told you," said Selina, "Now give me some,"

To Bruce's surprise, instead of handing her a piece, Talia held it out while Selina bit into it.

"Ah," moaned Selina, "so good,"

Talia giggled. Giggled.

Well, this was unexpected.

"You two are getting along nicely," he said

"And is that a problem, Beloved?" said Talia, brow raised

"Yeah Lover," said Selina, "Problem?"

"Nope," said Bruce, "Kind of scared for my future well-being though,"

The matching grins they gave him did nothing to deter his fears.

XXX

"I was thinking I could come here every three months instead of every six," said Talia as she packed a small bag. She had some here without anything but Bruce has insisted she put together a bg from the manor.

"Okay," said Brice, wondering where this was coming from, "I'm sure I can-"

"That would fall at the same time at every other heat of mine," said Selina from where she was still wrapped up in a blanket, "I'll send you the dates,"

"Lovely," said Talia

What was happening?

"That okay with you, Lover?"

Seeing more of Talia, having both o them there at the same time so he didn't have to worry about one while taking care of the other?

Well yes.

"I'm a little worried about my future wellbeing," he said repeating himself but he was sure his smile was betraying him

Both omegas smirked.

"Perfect," said Talia

XXX

When Bruce woke and couldn't move any of his limbs, he panicked for just about a second.

Until he realized he was on his bed.

And that he knew the scents in the room.

"See this is what I meant when I said that I was afraid for my wellbeing," he said

Selina chuckled from where she was perched at the foot of his bed, only wearing her underwear. Talia was sitting on a chair with her feet propped up against Bruce's legs, a sinfully tight black dress showing off her every curve while she spun a knife in her hand.

"So, what are you doing here?" said Bruce, "And wasn't I in my study?"

"That was half an hour ago," said Talia, "We kidnapped you,"

"I'm in my room," said Bruce, "Did you drug me?"

"Nothing we haven't already agreed to," said Talia

Ah. One of his own sedatives then.

"Okay," said Bruce, "What is happening here?"

"As Talia said, we're kidnapping you," said Selina

"Why?"

"Cause we want to,"

"Good enough reason I suppose, but I have things to do,"

"Things more important than us,"

He tried to think of something, he really did but nothing was coming to mind and it was Saturday so it wasn't as if he was obligated to do WE work and Dick was at the Kent farm.

"I guess not," he said with a sigh, "I supposed I'm at your mercy then,"

"Great," said Selina, taking a leap to land beside him, trailing a hand down his cheek. Talia smiled and moved closer too, her sweet scent filling his nose and making him dizzy.

He could get used to this

[bigskydreaming]

Beware: do not consume the following post in the belief that there’s a point being made with it or like. Any real reason to it whatsoever. LOL. Just something I’ve been pondering.

So, its interesting to me that there’s such a lack of fics about Bruce raising his kids with a partner. And by interesting I mean just that, lol....I’m not trying to imply anything, I’ve no specific opinions or conclusions on that myself, I’m just...thinking about it lately.

Literally just that. That I’m kinda intrigued by how rarely I see fics where Bruce has a co-parent that his kids would equally deem as much their parent as Bruce himself. There’s plenty of Bruce ship fics, with various of his children usually playing fairly large roles in the fics rather than it just being about Bruce and his ship partner. But not a lot that pursue or at least show that relationship through to the point where they’re effectively a co-parenting team rather than like...Bruce and his kids, plus Bruce’s new partner who likes his kids well enough but doesn’t really feel its their place to parent them.

There are a number of Batcat AUs where Bruce and Selina have a pretty established relationship from fairly early on in the timeline, but in general, most of them tend to have her take a pretty hands-off approach to the kids. They’re still pretty much viewed as Bruce’s kids. While she’s someone they might come to when they need to vent about Bruce and want a sympathetic ear, she’s not really front and center making the child-rearing decisions alongside Bruce. (In a lot of the ones I can think of, she usually doesn’t even officially live in the Manor herself, she’s more just a strong presence who will still leave to return to her own space when things get too chaotic around the house). 

And even in fics where she and Bruce marry, she’s usually written as the stepmother to his kids rather than....hmm, I don’t mean to come across as disparaging of step-parents or to imply that they can’t be just as fully a parent to a child as any biological or adoptive parent. 

Let me put it this way. Just to clarify, when singling out Selina, Clark and Talia as step-parents in fics I’m generalizing about here, the thing I’m really trying to get at is like....for instance, you might see plenty of Selina having a positive relationship with the Batkids, but you rarely see her being like...equally involved in the decision to adopt any of the kids. Either because they’ve all already been adopted, or the fic is set in a window where whichever kids are present have already been present in Bruce’s life when she officially begins a relationship with him, and the fic ends before any of the later kids come into his life. 

And same thing with Bruce’s other partners I refer to in this post. Like, there’s plenty of fics where you can certainly assume that after the conclusion of the fic, any later kids to come into their lives, Bruce and his partner/spouse decide to take in together, are equally invested in giving them a home and a family, etc....I literally just mean, this isn’t something you usually SEE in any of these fics, which is part of what I find interesting and have been kinda musing on.

Anyway. Then there are a good number of Superbat fics, that usually diverge from canon before Clark ever starts forming a family with Lois, but retaining all the Batkids. My assumption is this is because the Batkids as a family unit are more established and still the ‘preferred’ family overall, and if you feel you have to pick and choose because say, you have trouble picturing or don’t want to write Tim and Kon and Jon and Damian as stepbrothers, etc, then I can understand why a writer would go that route. 

But what’s interesting to me here is the way most of these are set timewise....there’s a number I can think of that have Bruce and Clark get together early on, when Dick is still Bruce’s only kid...but by and large, these ones almost always end when Bruce and Clark officially get together. Like, there may be plenty of Clark and Dick bonding scenes, but the fics themselves don’t normally progress past that ‘finally getting together’ resolution, so there’s no real delving into Bruce and Clark as actual co-parents for Dick and then the later kids. 

And then on the other side of things, there’s a lot of Superbat fics I know of where Bruce and Clark only get together at a point comparable to ‘current’ canon. Where basically all Bruce’s kids are already present, Dick, Jason and Cass at least are all adults and living on their own, usually Tim as well, and so of course, they’re all very much Bruce’s kids by the time Clark even comes into the picture. Their child-rearing officially done and over with, so even when Clark eventually becomes the cool approachable stepdad or whatever, again, its that angle where he’s involved, but it wouldn’t really be accurate to describe him as a full co-parent with Bruce.

(As far as Bruce/Clark goes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Superbat fic that has them get together at some point in the middle of Bruce’s.....umm...child acquisition period, let’s call it. LOL. I just mean, there’s not really any fics I can think of where Bruce’s kids only include Dick and Jason so far, etc. Again, it tends to either be early on, when Dick is really young, or ‘contemporary’, where all the kids are around.)

Similar to the Superbat take is the BatLantern. I’ve seen a few of these, and again, you tend to see Hal and Bruce get together when Bruce has all his kids already and most of them are fully grown, or early on when its still just Dick. Actually, as opposed to Superbat, I think I have come across one Batlantern fic that was set when Dick was Nightwing and Jason was Robin, but that was it. However, there’s possibly a bunch of Batlanterns I haven’t even looked at, as I’m uh....not a Hal fan, so who knows what I’ve skipped over there. *Shrugs* 

And then we’ve got Bruce and Talia fics, which.....I confess aren’t my favorite, as my general impression of fics that have them officially get together, live together, the whole nine yards, is that pretty much all the ones I’ve come across tend to heavily prioritize Jason and Damian as ‘their’ kids, and Dick and Tim are usually just kinda...there, or more often than not, the antagonistic foils/sources of family drama. Which. Umm. Not my thing, obviously. 

And interestingly, a lot of Bruce/Talia fics I can think of, where they live and raise the kids together, like....there’s a lot of them that are full AUs, even No Capes/No Powers AUs, at least relative to how often Bruce’s other big ships go the No Capes route. My personal assumption there is because its the easiest way to separate Talia from being heavily associated with the League, even just in the fic’s past, whereas with Selina, Clark, etc, there’s less of a narrative concern how their comic-book pasts/origins might affect a relationship with Bruce and his kids. Who knows if I’m in the right direction there or not, its honestly just my gut theory, and doesn’t really matter, its just something I find interesting and worth noting.

But even in the full AUs here, even ones where Bruce and Talia are married, she’s largely written as the stepmother to his kids rather than someone who was already there and present as a co-parent throughout various kids’ adoptions or fosterings. Often she’ll be written as particularly close to Jason, or with a soft spot for him, but it tends to be kinda a ‘he’s her favorite of Bruce’s kids, aside from Damian, who is of course as much her kid as he is Bruce’s.’ 

Granted, there are some Bruce/Talia fics I’ve seen that come the closest to what I’d describe as them being full co-parents to several of the kids from the start of whenever they meet those kids in the fic. But lol, again, I’m not really a good source for delving into the specifics of those fics, as the ones I’ve come across IMO tend to prioritize getting Talia more involved early enough that Jason’s ‘hers’ as much as Bruce’s, and uh, most I’m familiar with aren’t too complimentary to Dick, who takes the role of the rude, resentful holdout who dislikes his wicked stepmother from the word go...which is when I usually go too, lol, so I can’t really claim to know how those fics handle later arrivals like Tim and Cass. But with maybe only one exception, I definitely don’t think I’ve ever seen a fic that tried to tackle Bruce and Talia co-parenting Dick as much as any of the others. Even the full AU fics where Dick doesn’t have his canon reasons for disliking/distrusting Talia, lol.

Anyway, that’s it, basically. That’s the post, the train of thought I’ve been pondering, though to what end...eh, I’ve got no clue. I rarely do, though. So, just putting it out there in case this is of interest to anyone else for any reason, lol. Hell, its not even that I particularly would like to see more fics of this vein myself - I’m honestly just not a huge Bruce shipper....I don’t honestly think I have a preference for any of his bigger ships, beyond just....disliking Hal, and refusing to give Morrison’s take on Talia (or on Damian’s conception) the time of day. Ugh. Morrison. Eww. Why is he. Just. Anyway.

Actually! One last interesting (to me) thought, lol....now that I’ve written this whole post and processed it, I can think of literally one and only one fic that I would describe as the Batkids being taken in and raised equally by Bruce and a co-parent....and the bizarre thing is its a Nolan-verse fic. The bizarre part is I hate the Nolan trilogy, like, with an intensity that burns like no other (look I know I say that a lot, and about a lot of things, but I swear its almost always true). 

Anyway, literally the only thing I like about the Nolan trilogy is I have a soft spot for Hathaway’s portrayal of Selina. Which is pretty much the only reason I ever read this one fic where after the third movie, Bruce and Selina ‘start over’ in Europe and end up taking in and raising Nolan-verse versions of Dick, then Jason and then Tim together. Its actually a pretty damn compelling Selina, and I found the boys and their dynamic completely adorable, so I mean, not like that was the point of this post but its worth a read IMO. I know I have it on my bookmarks page and shouldn’t be too hard to find as its literally the only Nolan-verse fic on there, lol. 

(Also, it was written over ten years ago, I’m pretty sure, which is why its just those three kids.....Damian hadn’t even been created yet at the time, and the author’s non-movie Batfam knowledge was mostly cartoon based, which is why Cass wasn’t present, which was pretty much my only complaint about the fic from what I recall).

Anyway, that’s it, that’s the post. These are my thoughts, I’m all done with them so here, you can have them.

[secondgenerationnerd]

Omega squad and their music tastes? (You may include the parents... If you want too ofc). I feel like mar'i would like this song.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3zsRP8rH1kaIAo9fmiP4El?si=7CdddT46TxCXPwlznkzXDg&utm_source=copy-link

Ooooo! She would love that song! Mar’i usually goes for songs that she can dance to..which covers a fair amount of genres 😂 Think along the lines of Marshmallo, Little Mix, P!nk, Halsey, etc. I think Dick will listen to almost anything, but goes for those high energy kind of songs.

Damian prefers instrumental music. He’ll listen to whatever is on, but the instrumentals have less…noise. Plus, he plays the violin so he enjoys songs he can learn. He does like the music Lian plays, which she takes as a high compliment. Between Bruce and Talia, Damian isn’t sure which bio parent to blame more. Selina introduced him to jazz which he enjoys.

Colin grew up hearing hymnals mostly, isn’t really picky. Likes Christian Rock (think Creature by Half-alive) As long as the song has good vibes, he doesn’t care about genre…at least until he’s informally adopted by Roy and Jason 😂

The twins actually have a similar taste in music, their favorite being K-pop. Their teammates have watched them go from at each other’s throat to dancing around the living room, singing along to Black Pink. Complete with choreography.

Milagro, while growing up around Banda, gospel, and country music, is a big rap fan. Her favorite artist is Lizzo without a doubt. Jaime has NO idea where it came from…def not him 😂😂 Bianca also raised them on Richie Valens and Selena.

See, Jon will insist that he listens to anything…but at least 85% of his music is country. If Luke Bryan comes on, Jon sings along (and Kathy too when she’s over 😂😂) Omega will hear him singing “most people are good” to himself and just…listen. He’s not trained like Lian, but he has a beautiful rich voice. Which neither of his parents know where it came from. Lois gives me podcast vibes and Clark, while def is a country music fan, is not a singer.

Now, Lian? Roy raised her on classic rock-n-roll, punk rock, grunge, etc. Her band performs a lot of pop-punk songs (Think P!nk vibes). But! She really does listen to any genre. Her and Zachary have a lot of fun together when YJL is around. As long as the song passes the vibe check, she doesn’t mind. A song that passed, but she wishes didn’t, is “Only Love Can Hurt Like This”.

Honestly, Omega has a list of banned songs…because ✨trauma✨

[toughguywithbossygirlfriend]

WonderBat vs BatCat: BatCat romance is “Timeless”or “80 years old”. Is that really the Truth ? which one is older ?

Lately I had to read again some comments about BacCat being the better ship because of how “Old” a romance it was. But when did BatCat really start to take a real romantic turn compared to the first WonderBat references ? If we check out the old comics from “Batman #1″  back in 1940, is BatCat really the winner ? or is there another truth ? 

I definitively cannot ignore the chemistry DC tries to put into BatCat till the 80′s even if I’d prefer WonderBat. But to make that romance acceptable they had to change Catwoman into a Hero first, or at least an Anti-Hero. Strong changes similar to that time where Catwoman had been Brainwashed to become a Hero by Zatanna and the JL.

(The following is from DC Comics “JLA (1997)” - Issue 119)

MM:“A friend ?” - BM:“An Ally of sorts ...I thought she’d changed. but ... maybe it wasn’t her choice.”

Batman had his suspicions so there was never a lot of room for Love but with Selina on the “Good” side it was at least a possibility. This follows all the WonderBat stuff of the JLA’s “obsidian age” and “#90″ of course, so Batman’s heart is rather set on Diana then Selina. As a matter of fact it turns out Bats was right about Zatanna’s mind manipulation.

(The following is from DC Comics “Catwoman (2002)” - Issue 50)

Selina’s evolution from “Evil” to “Good”, isn’t a first and has been rebooted several times. The fact that it wasn’t her choice isn’t a first either. But how do we end up with the “belief” that BatCat is an “Old” story ? maybe even “80 years old” ?... Superman and Lois ? Yes no doubt... but Batman and Catwoman ? ... Not really

The “New 52″ with the disastrous SuperWonder pairing surely contributed to the illusion of a longer BatCat history. It just send 70 real years of “Lois and Clark” into the trash-bin just as it did to the slowly (but steadily growing) “Wonder woman/Batman” background romance. This helped to erase in the younger generation’s minds what had been slowly build up other several decades.

After the “New 52″ it wasn’t really possible to return to pre-flashpoint status ... DC had first to try to repair the damage done to the trinity and to the duo of the World’s Finest...  You don’t do

After the “New 52″, I guess DC surely considered that the best way to heal the Trinity’s awkwardness from the SuperWonder “Injustice smell” was to first avoid any relationship within the Trinity and later (as it didn’t work) to erase SuperWonder from continuity, so ... back to : Lois and Clark, Wonder Woman and Trevor, ... Batman and ? ... yeah who? ... Bats had a lot of love interests over the last 80 years ..

Selina was surely one of the numerous candidates and as long as they didn’t restart her “Evil” in DC Rebirth she could even become a good and “spicy” choice. So they didn’t ... this time she was “Good” from the start : In jail but actually taking responsibility for crimes she didn’t commit and facing lethal injection only to protect a friend. A real Hero, Selflessness and Compassion raised to Diana’s level. Better fighting abilities than Talia and the stubbornness needed to stand the ground in front of Batman. DC boosted Diana’s power level to match Superman’s (to fit the needs of “SuperWonder”) and changed her from a magically animated clay figure (”less than human” just like Deilan and thus dreaming to become human) into the daughter of Zeus (who doesn’t really have any reason to lower herself to human status). I think DC doesn’t really know how, or lacks the courage of, to power Diana down again into something more suitable for a human World (Batman’s World) without enraging a legion of hardcore Feminists who need her to be equal with “the most powerful male Hero”... Catwoman, on the other hand, has been given most of Diana’s qualities and switched from “Evil” to “Good”...

Tom King surely did a great job at helping to model Selina for that romance and showed a great skill at fooling the younger readers about BatCat’s real history by “hand picking” just the right pictures out of old comics ... an impressive Work.

For example in DC Rebirth’s Batman (2016) #44 you get the false impression Batman is taking care of Selina’s hurting ankle ...

While in the real comic, back in 1940, he was just removing the bandage to check out for a precious stolen necklace ... nothing romantic there.

But the next references were not more accurate either as you will see it ...

Every sentence is just copied ... but the real comic tried to picture Selina Kyle/Catwoman as having two very different personalities ... some kind of schizophrenic heavy mental illness revealed through a memory loss.

With this Issue we have already gone from 1940 to January 1951 and to consider any romance in these early comics you’d have to ignore all the sweet pet names used to describe Catwoman : the Arch-enemy, the Princess of Plunder, the Queen of Crime, Batman’s Feline Foe and so on ... Nonetheless this is the first “Evil” to “Good” switch I know of ... Batman’s romantic interest from that time was more Vicky Vale, than Selina.

In this other “Pick Up” from “Detective Comics #203″ (January 1954), Selina reverts from “Good” to “Evil” just after he warned her of the consequences of resuming her past criminal life

... and she didn’t need any “hit to the head” this time ... was she faking her “Goodness” ? or is she just ready for Arkam’s Asylum ? ...

The next one in Batman (2016)  #44 ? ... same deception again ...

As we can see, in the original comic, Batman answers Selina’s question even under the Torture with a “No” to both “Bride” and “Burglar” ... Selina was really a self delusional crazy chick back then, more like a female version of the Joker rather than a real romantic interest and it didn’t get any better in the following years.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Selina’s dominant stance in Batman #44 was a parallel to Diana’s Epic stance in Hiketeia ... of course you never really “dominate” Batman, just like he is never your “captive”, unless he wants you to believe you won.

Wonder Woman was always the perfect complement to Batman. “Wonder Woman was made to Protect the Innocent, and Batman to Punish the Guilty”. Without either of them there is No Justice. That’s why they work so well together ... So you just copy from Diana to Selina the things you can and worked for WonderBat.

Anyway no consistent BatCat until “Batman (1940) Issue 308″ during February 1979 ... a new evolution from “Evil” to “Good” starts with that Issue and a kiss in November 1979 ... but this time things are different, very different, Selina really wants too turn her back on her crime life ... the road is still long and bumpy but it is a start for a real romance. It is interesting to note that the current Rebirth “Wedding” arc with the Dark Knight enabled the starting of a new “Catwoman (2018)” series,just like the 80′s romance enabled Catwoman her own start. For a time the 80′s “Catwoman” series shared the “Batman(1940)” comic series with Bats. Later she got her own solo comic..

Now if you consider Batman and Wonder Woman’s first kiss of love:

Considering Wonder Woman is a rather serious Girl and that she already “Heroed” for several years side by side with Batman. If you consider that the owner of the Lasso of truth won’t lie if she says that she really did fall in love with Batman. Plus, two years later (1970) “Diana Prince” encountered billionaire “Bruce Wayne” and agreed to a Date with him ignoring he was Batman. Later again in 1978, Diana and Bruce know each others double identities and agree on a “Late night diner” ... We may consider that this kiss was the starting point of a complicated (secret identities and all) slowly growing romantic relationship between the two.

So a WonderBat romance started at least over a decade before any real BatCat romance.

I bet you didn't expect that ! ... You don’t have to believe me. Just check out the old comics for real ... and make your own opinion once you’ve read them.

Keep in mind that this doesn't really deny anything to the current Batman/Catwoman romance because DC Rebirth’s Selina Kyle is very different from the crazy Psycho of the old comics. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t use its Age as an Argument. You can surely find a lot of other reasons to love them. And of course, Bruce and Diana had both earlier Love interests, but this wasn’t the point of this Post.

This Post only goes thru the Batman (1940) series meaning i didn’t check out every comic series. But I had once a heated exchange about the “80 years old” theory with a Hardcore BatCat shipper whom I told to check out for himself the old comics. I know he checked out all 400 first “Batman” and “Detective Comics” Issues but he never got back to me to prove me wrong ... so I guess that he didn’t find anything useful either.

Hereafter you have a partial list of the early “Batman” comics Issues up to the time of  the WonderBat kiss in 1968, with the names of notable or recurring females found in them, often being Batman’s real love interests. I didn’t mention the Issues if they had no interesting females in it.

Issue#1: Catwoman tries to seduce and bribe him, doesn't work, she flees and he lets her ! ;

Issue#2: the crime Cat flees again;

Issue#3: Cat's usual M.O. kiss (first) to flee, she wishes she could hook up with Bats;

Issue#5:Quennie kisses Bats and dies

Issue#6:Linda Page

Issue#7:Linda Page

Issue#9:Linda Page

Issue#10:Cat roots for Bats, another kiss and flee ...

Issue#11:Canary kisses Bats and leaves

Issue#15:Bruce Wayne is in love with Linda Page but still "proposes" to the "Arch ennemy" Catwoman and gets "engaged" with her ... Now that's funny, so it would'nt be a first ? thinking about Batman(2016) #39-#40 ...this time its Jail for the Cat

Issue#22:Cat goes to Jail again after flirting with Alfred ...

Issue#26:Future Bruce Wayne and Lora Hall

Issue#35:Catwoman tries to gun down Bats

Issue#39:Cat fights Bats then saves him, tries to seduce and bribe him again but goes to jail again ... nothing new...

Issue#42:Cat goes to Jail again

Issue#45:Cat tries to kill Bats and goes to Jail

Issue#47: a disguised Cat gets to kiss Bats, then ... Jail

Issue#49:Vicky Vale

Issue#50:Vicky Vale

Issue#52:Vicky Vale

Issue#56: Vicky Vale

Issue#61: Vicky Vale

Issue#62: Cat becomes amnesic and fights on the good side.

Issue#64: Vicky Vale

Issue#65: Amnesic Selina remains good but no romance

Issue#69: Amnesic Selina has a Brother no romance

Issue#79: Vicky Vale and Batman fake an engagement/wedding

... No Cat ... But during "Detective Comics"#203" Cat turns evil again without any head injury ...

Issue#81: Vicky Vale

Issue#84: Cat goes to Jail again

Issue#85: Vicky Vale

Issue#87: Vicky Vale gets jealous over the kiss Batman shares with Magda Luvescu

Issue#92: Susie Smith

Issue#98: Vicky Vale

Issue#105: Kathy Kane as Batwoman will become a rather constant love interest in the following years (This one is neither lesbian nor Bruce Wayne's cousin and later her niece Betty is gonna be the first BatGirl and fall for Dick Grayson’ Robin)

Issue#110: Vicky Vale

Issue#111: Vicky Vale

Issue#115: Susie Smith ?

Issue#116: Kathy Kane

Issue#119: Kathy Kane and Vicky Vale

Issue#122: The Wedding of Kathy Kane and Bruce Wayne ... ;)

Issue#125: Kathy Kane

Issue#126: Kathy Kane

Issue#128: Kathy Kane

Issue#129: Kathy Kane

Issue#131: Kathy Kane and Bruce Wayne married again ... ;)

Issue#133: Kathy Kane

Issue#135: Kathy Kane and Bruce Wayne married again ... ;)

Issue#139: Kathy Kane with her niece Betty (as BatGirl)

Issue#140: Kathy Kane

Issue#141: Kathy Kane with her niece Betty (as BatGirl)

Issue#144: Betty (as BatGirl) and Robin ... with Bruce and Kathy.

Issue#145: Kathy Kane and Bruce Wayne married again ... ;)

Issue#147: Kathy Kane

Issue#150: Kathy Kane vs "Elise"

Issue#151: Kathy Kane

Issue#154: Kathy Kane with her niece Betty (as BatGirl)

Issue#157: Kathy Kane and Vicky Vale

Issue#159: Kathy Kane and Bruce Wayne married again ... ;)

Issue#162: Kathy Kane

Issue#163: Kathy Kane and Bruce Wayne married again ... ;)

Issue#165: Patricia Powell

Issue#166: Patricia Powell

Issue#168: Kaye Daye

Issue#176: Cat goes to Jail again

Issue#181 : Poison Ivy and Kaye Daye

Issue#183 : Poison Ivy

Issue#184 : Viola Lance but it was rather Robin’s Interest

Issue#185 : Vera Lovely but again Robin’ Love Interest

Issue#187 : Vicky Vale and “the Sparrow” as Joker’s ennemy ?

Issue#193 : Vicky Vale

Issue#194 : Kaye Daye

Issue#197 (Dec 1967) : Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and Catwoman fight for Batman but Batgirl isn’t in love with Batman - Containing the “Bride or Burglar” reference used in Batman#44 - Selina thinks she is in love and that you can torture a man into loving her (like I said a crazy psycho)

Issue#198 (Jan-Feb 1968) : Catwoman (still a crazy psycho in love who thinks that hurting him and Robin is the best way to charm Batman ) and Batwoman (Kathy Kane)

1968 : Batman and Wonder Woman first kiss (that I know of) - During that Issue of “the Brave and the Bold”, both Wonder Woman and Batgirl fall in love with Batman. Diana kisses him but it won’t be really revealed, or denied, if Batman had feelings other than Friendship for either one of the Women. But Batman was always kind of good at hiding his feelings for Diana. Based on later evolutions of their relationship, we can only imagine this must have been the beginning of a longtime slow-burner between the two.

I leave it to you to discover the rest for yourself ...

[cdelphiki]

In For a Penny

(Baby Damian AU)

Rating: G

Relationships: Bruce & Damian, Bruce & Dick, Bruce & Alfred.  Also some Bruce & Selina, hinting toward Bruce/Selina.

Summary: Bruce is pretty new to this whole Batman thing, but thanks to Robin, he’s having a pretty great time.  Sure, life could be better, but it’s been a whole lot worse in the past and right now he’d say he’s pretty content.  Then Talia Al Ghul dropped a pretty big surprise on him.  How will Bruce adapt to this sudden change in his life?  And what on earth do you do with babies??

TW: reference/implied non con.  (I went with the origin that Talia drugged his drink.  Because it’s more recent in his memory, he actually struggles a little with this topic in one of the chapters, so I did go ahead and tag the story with this TW. I otherwise think the story is G-rated, especially because of how vaguely it is discussed.)

The crisp autumn air was one of Bruce's favorite things about patrol this time of year. It was just starting to cool off at night, but not to the point where he'd have to fight Dick about actually wearing pants. Or switch his own suit out for the winter gear. The night was refreshing and just chill enough that he was comfortable, running around, jumping from roof to roof.    

And tonight was a beautiful night. Clean, clear air, the kind only possible in such a large city immediately after a rainfall meant the sky was actually visible tonight and the city did not stink nearly as bad as usual. There was the lingering sweet scent of rain, even though all but the largest puddles had already dried. On top of all that, it was Friday. And Fridays were Batman's favorite. Partly because it meant no work in the morning, but mostly because it meant Robin would accompany him on patrol.  

Originally, Bruce had been fine with Dick patrolling every night, but Alfred was quick to put his foot down about that.  He insisted that Bruce take his responsibilities seriously and actually think about Dick’s wellbeing. School was, after all, the most important thing Dick did, and if Bruce allowed him to stay up most the night on school nights, Dick would not perform well at school. So, reluctantly, at least in his mind since he learned very early on to never show weakness to a child, he limited Robin’s nights out to non-school nights.

Summers were the best, honestly, but so far they’d only had one summer together. Dick had been living with Bruce for a bit over 18 months, though to Bruce it had felt like forever. He couldn’t imagine his life without the hyper little brat.

Said 11-year-old bounded after Batman as they traversed the city, swinging from building to building, stopping petty and violent crimes all the same. Robin came alive when helping people, his happy self shining through as he flipped around and dished out pun-laden insults.

Bruce absolutely could not display his amusement at the jokes, because that would only encourage Dick and make it worse.

So Bruce remained stony-faced... even though he was loving every minute of it.

The night had been fairly uneventful. As uneventful as Gotham could provide, at least, and Bruce preferred it that way. For Robin’s sake, at least.

But he should have realized something was off about the attempted mugging they stopped down by the docks.

For one, the victim was over-acting.

Sure, some people would scream as loud as he did, but not usually on this side of town. And not people who looked as toned and controlled as he did. The way he held himself screamed intensive training, not distressed civilian.

Secondly, the perpetrator gave up far too quickly, all but calling the police himself when Robin approached.

And Robin, of course, had engaged before Batman fully assessed the situation. Batman stepped closer to Robin, assuring the boy was within reach of him as he towered over the now-cuffed mugger and the ‘victim.’ His subconscious was trying to tell him something, but he was having trouble putting his finger on what, exactly, that was. Robin’s excited babbling to the victim, who hadn’t run off as soon as Robin attacked, wasn’t helping much.

Which, that was strange, too. The victim not running off.

If given another few seconds, Batman was sure he’d have put it together himself. The accents of the men were telling, once he knew what to listen for. They were good at faking American accents, but it was still off. A bit stilted.

But what truly made it click was when Batman heard, “Beloved,” come from the dock behind him.

Talia was just what this lovely night needed...

Continue reading on Ao3

[loisinherlane]

1, 4, 12, 34!!! <3

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!) 

Ooh, this is a tough one. I think 4 at my best, 3 at my worst. I feel like my writing peaked about 3 years ago, but I got super burnt out and genuinely didn’t write for a year. So I’m working on recovering my skills! Some days are better than others.

4. Are there any writers that inspire you? 

Jane Austen is my favorite author ever, so yes. However, I don’t tend to think much about other writers when I’m writing.

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about. 

:) Am I going to go on about too many WIPs? Yeah. I’m not sorry. The first one is my StephCass fic in which I explore Cass’s sexuality through canon conversations and my fix-it for her being left out of the Family Post-Infinite Crisis World Tour.

Next, I have a Bruce/Talia/Selina Parent Trap fic... except the Parent Trap is more convoluted by all of the kids fighting for their preferred pairings, with each team being a rather unusual combination.

Then, there’s my TimStephCass love triangle fic (with implied TimKon). I really like making Tim and Steph breakup. Basically exploring their relationship aftermath and the path they take.

I’m also planning on continuing my Deck the Halls verse, but we’ll see if I get anywhere with that.

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

From the Parent Trap fic:

“Is Batman on the streets? It seems rather early,” Talia mused.

The woman faltered. Over her shoulder, Talia saw the large staircase of the foyer. The old antique runner, faded maroon and gold, shifted with footsteps. A boy appeared, young and bright-eyed, unsteady from sudden growth. 

“Selina?” he asked, his voice not quite settled. “Who’s there?”

This, Talia, presumed was Jason Todd.

“I am Talia,” she said. “Daughter of Ra’s al Ghul.” The name meant something to both in the manor, from the way their eyes widened.

“And I’m Damian!” her son chimed in, clearly through with being quiet. “Where’s Baba?”

“Baba?” Jason asked, scrunching his nose.

“Baba,” Selina repeated.

“Bruce,” Talia explained.

A tea tray fell to the floor. Alfred stood at the edge of the hallway. “Miss al Ghul,” he said.

“Mrs. Wayne,” Talia said, simply to be spiteful. It was rather worth it, to see their expressions.