#Bruce: SHUT THE FUCK UP LEAVE MY KID ALONE.

[medusas-graveyard]

Ring of rage

I've been seeing fics where the lanterns know what the fuck a ring of rage is (read; the most dangerous and unstable ring there is) and here's a kinda crack/angst take on it.

Basically Danny went through all that bullshit with the Waynes (read: basically what happened in my past posts) and Bruce finally coaxed him to meet the JL (Danny did NOT look forward to that) he shows up in his improved Phantom fit (the one I drew) BUT he took the ring of rage for good measure. The thing about the ring and the crown is that the appearance will shift according to their bearer's will, and Danny's ring just looks like a normal metal ring; no tacky jewels, just a metal ring with an ouroboros carved in it.

Cue Batman introducing his new ward (that will NOT be playing savior unless the circumstances are dire) and Hal just goes "what the fuck do you mean a new ward why does he have the ring of rage get away from the fucking kid—"

Danny watching Hal & Bruce argue: damnit I knew I forgot something

Nightwing that tagged along: what?

Danny, eventually clinging to him because the JL keeps giving him looks and he's basically an anxiety ball: ugh, the lanterns are pissy about the ring. I should've payed attention to Dora's lesson on magic artifacts.

[alltheprompts]

Dp x DC prompt #13 (yay lucky number!)

What if Danny is introduced to the family not as a gremlin, but as his friend from community College and he is so freaking normal that it makes the entire family suspicious. The only reason Jason decided to bring him along is that he knows Danny seems too normal for their cohort and it will utterly freak out Bruce and Tim, confuse Grayson and set off Damian. Jason though, he knows Danny is only normal for the first few times of interaction, then he starts getting weird even by Bat Family standards.

Jason: Hey. I brought my friend from campus tonight.

Danny: Hi! Nice to meet you!

Bat family: *suspicious eyes* Nice to meet you.

Danny: I totally didn't believe Jason when he said he was one of 5 kids but he proved me wrong. Lol.

Bat family: How'd you meet Jason?

Danny: OH! He's been tutoring me in English class and I've been helping him with Calculus. We met at the library when I was trying but failing to type a paper and ended up irritating him with my groaning. He walked right over asked me to shut up and I apologized and said I was having difficulty *insert English homework here* and he had a look utter disgust and surprise and said "how the fuck are you having problems with that?"

Jason: I was disgusted. That was such an easy topic.

Danny: For you maybe! Anyways I said "Well if it's so fucking easy, explain it to me. And he did! With way better clarity then my professor. So I thanked him and asked what I could do in exchange for help. He then told to stay fucking quiet o he can work on his stuff. And we went on about our business. A week later we were both back in the library again and he was banging his head, so I went over and asked if he was okay and he yelled to leave him alone and he just as I was about to leave I noticed he was working on calculus and told Jim I could help if he wanted. He looked at me like I was insane.

Jason: I was cause you are. Most people don't ask to help after being yelled and cursed at.

Danny: But you had helped me on my english paper! I wanted to return the favor! This happened a few more times before it became normal to meet at the library and work together!

The batfamily is reeling at this strangely normal and meet cute type story and the fact that Jason was going to college and nobody knew somehow (Alfred knew).

After meeting Danny, they stalk him to see if he was acting normal or trying to mess with Jason or Jason manipulated someone normal to mess with them. The first while Danny seems perfectly normal and innocent but after a while they start getting a feeling of something off about Danny like he was both him and not. They also notice that Jason tends to stay calmer when he is around Danny. As they realize he is weird and they slowly figure it out, they actually get less anxious about Danny. As someone not quite normal or human in Danny's case was far more comforting for them then anyone of them managing to befriend an actual normal civilian with no apparent baggage or extreme homelife. A

[megamindsupremacy]

Y'all know those "Justice League Meets The Batfam" fics where the Batfam has been mostly hidden from the wider superhero world so nobody knows who they are? So, I really love those fics BUT I have a concept I would sell my soul to see.

It starts out as a "Justice League wants to recruit that Mystery New Vigilante Nightwing! But oooo, Batman is being Weird about it! Lmao, screw what Batman thinks, you're coming with us to Blüdhaven to help recruit this new guy." And Bruce is really really reluctant, he's like "this isn't a good idea, you don't want to contact Nightwing, etc etc". And then when they land in Blüdhaven and find Nightwing, he recognizes Batman immediately.

And he's furious.

He immediately goes off on Batman, yelling at him, telling him that he said to stay out of his city, what is he doing there??? And Batman, instead of fighting back like the Leaguers would expect, is just taking it silently. He tries to speak up once or twice and Nightwing just shuts him down. Nightwing is telling Batman he's being clingy, he's not giving him any fucking space, he's not a kid anymore, jesus fucking christ can't you just leave me alone??

And eventually Batman loses his patience and starts arguing back, saying Nightwing was too young to be a solo vigilante, he kept getting himself injured, he could be killed, he needed Batman's help, he should give up on Blüdhaven and just come back to Gotham, Nightwing, you're being unreasonable.

This is around when the other Leaguers realize, oh fuck. Nightwing is Batman's kid. And he's in his teenage angst phase. And Batman is not handling it well. Uh. Um. Should we. We should go. Quietly. Let's Go Now.

[emo-batboy]

Things Battinson Totally Did During His First Year of University

Using Unhinged or Odd Things I Also Did as a College Freshman :D

Note: for this list, let’s believe Bruce was living in an (admittedly expensive and swanky) dorm because it is required for first-years, especially those entering at a young age, and Alfred told him he needed to make friends. Also yes I did every single thing on this list. I never claimed to be a role model

Bruce, to his TA: I’m so sorry I’m late to class. I gave blood a few hours ago and almost fainted on the way here, but it won’t happen again.

Signs up for a class called “Age of Dinosaurs” despite it not being required whatsoever and proceeds to work his entire schedule around it

Bruce: Your mental health is super important. If you think you should see the on-campus therapist, go see them. Friend: Fine. I’ll sign up for therapy if you sign up for therapy too. Bruce: Hold on-

Finds a loophole in his housing contract that allows him to get a pet frog, calls him kermit :)

Gets a second frog because Kermit was lonely, names it Constantine after Muppets Most Wanted, then realizes that they’re gay for each other. Wonders if the rainbow-colored rocks he got them triggered anything

Swings dramatically between calling Alfred every single day and ghosting him for weeks, cries when he realizes what he did

“Accidentally” joins the student body council, doesn’t know what he’s doing, gets re-elected anyway

Molds a dragon out of Laffy Taffy instead of doing his work

Bruce: *joins Honors, gets all A’s, takes the max amount of classes, has several minors, overachieves* Also Bruce: I’m a failure.

Breaks into a building after hours to study because NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AT THE LIBRARY

Bruce: I will not get seasonal depression this year. Bruce: *gets real and seasonal depression that year*

Meticulously schedules his day with a color-coded planner because if he sits down for too long, the thoughts will consume him

Gives a presentation to his rhetoric class on how much he likes Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (it is 20 minutes long)

Successfully allocates funding from the student body council to pay for free feminine products in the dorms OUT OF SPITE because someone said it couldn't be done. fuck you, Andrew

Bruce: It is not an all-nighter if I go to sleep before my first class. Friend: It is 7:30am, the sun is in the sky, and your first class is at 12:30. Bruce: But I am getting sleep.

Refuses to go anywhere without his backpack because what if he needs three notebooks at once

Loses over 20 pounds because ✨stress✨ and scares the shit out of Alfred when he comes home for Thanksgiving

Argues with his TA over the one (1) question he got wrong on his Dinosaur exam

Bruce, calling Alfred: Hello father figure. How do I do taxes? Do I have to do them myself? Also, I think I’m having a panic attack.

Joins in on a charity arts-and-crafts project that gives kids books with matching activities made by volunteers, proceeds to commandeer the project because “it’s not color-blind friendly” and rewrites the instructions for everyone

Makes a murder wall

Goes to one (1) sports game and proceeds to leave in the first ten minutes because it’s way too loud wtf is wrong with people

Professor, addressing the lecture hall: I dare you to write an essay about these two sentences. Bruce: *writes an essay about six words, gets a 100, never even read the book*

Crawls into the ceiling for some alone time

Ghosts someone after a date because he’s too scared to tell them he didn’t know it was a date in the first place and now he feels bad

Classmate: How tf does he walk across campus that fast? I go in the same direction he does on my bike, and he’s always ahead of me. Bruce: *is gay sprinting to Dinosaur class*

Refuses to let others use his Favorite Pen TM

Constantly gets mistaken for a Grad Student because he is “so wise and mature” (bestie, that’s the autism)

Alfred: *casually mentions he got into a car accident through text* Bruce: *replies with a meme while hyperventilating because he doesn’t know what to do with that information??!*

Wears a suit to one of his finals

Regularly eats non-organic food for the first time in his life, proceeds to learn about several allergies Alfred forgot to mention he has

Writes “What is a Hot Pocket?” in calligraphy and proceeds to laugh his ass off alone in his dorm because he is so exhausted he’s reached the point of delusion

Locks himself out of his dorm right before class, frantically asks the floor group chat if someone can help, proceeds to tell the nice gay man on the floor who saved him “I love you” because his social skills have hit rock bottom

Makes a little music album display next to his desk for his favorite band (Nirvana) His friends call it a shrine, and they are technically correct

Has a blacklist of people he refuses to interact with because Reasons

Counselor: What do you want to do when you graduate? Bruce: *gestures vaguely*

Refuses to take the bus because there are people in there and he doesn’t like those

Loses one of his frogs, how tf did he do that, they’re fully aquatic, oh fuck, this is probably why they got rid of that loophole a year later because unbeknownst to Bruce, he accidentally started a frog revolution in the dorms, btw he SWEARS he did not mean to do that

Has two trash cans in his room: one for the Good Garbage, and one for the Bad Garbage. Only Bruce knows which is which

Bruce: *writes a creative piece about a ship’s final thoughts as it sinks, bringing its passengers down with it* TA: Absolutely lovely, Bruce, but are you okay?

Goes on Night Walks, keeps himself safe by maintaining a level 12 resting bitch face at all times

Earns the nickname “8th floor cryptid” after pacing the halls at 3am when it’s too cold for Night Walks (honestly tho how tf didn’t he get the nickname earlier?)

Bruce: Do you think a depressed person could do this? Bruce: *has a manic episode*

Okay that's all love you BYE

[an-gothamite-aka-zannalial]

When Damian has moved on from vigilantism And go to high school in a country far from Gotham quietly and have a normal life . But there are people who don't understand that he is tired and wants to rest, not to make plans for genocide

Jon: Hey Dami long time no see are you, you know?

Damian: what ?

Jon: Like planning something because my instincts tell me you're going to do something big

Damian: If you only came here after not wanting to see me for years just to accuse me, it's better for you to stay in Ultraman prison

Jon: You can't say that Damian, you're the one who never wanted to see me all this time

Damian: Never mind I don't have time for this stupid, you better go and leave me with my homework alone before I take out my kryptonite

Jon: but-

Damian: Nuh uh *pull out a kryptonite sword*

Jon: where did you-

Damian: Respwan I swear if you go out in public and scream 'Robin' again I will call Slade

Respwan: And what are you trying to do by going to that stupid school, manipulating everyone into thinking you're on the student council

Damian: Actually, I'm the student council president and an athlete in school sports competitions, but that's okay you just dumb

Respwan: What do you mean huh !

Damian: Ask your father to register you and come with me then you will understand the pain and pride of being in school. But if you're too scared

Respwan: wanna bet

*Two semesters later*

Respwan in Wilson family dinner: And that's how I make those naughty kids apologize for coming to school 10 minutes late

Mara: You will pay for what you did to me Damian

Damian: Whatever, but if you can't shut the fuck up, go and die

Mara: You're a dumb if you think your disguise can fool me

Damian: Whatever you say, princess, but come with me and ressy and we will finish this semester together. And share joy slash misery together

Mara: Are you challenging me now huh!

Damian: Yes. If you can become Mrs. Mina's favorite student in less than 1 month, I will gladly give you my position

Mara: Challenge accepted

*1 semesters later*

Mara: Dam-dam give me your homework please

Damian: No you should know better than to spend all your time playing at the arcade all day

Mara: Please Mrs. Mina will come in a moment dam, I still love my life

Bruce call Damian: son are you okay, If you have trouble, your older sibling can come and help

Damian: *Just finished buying things to prepare for a party at his house and has two damn siblings who are just go buying whiskey*

Damian: I'm okay, no one needs to come, everything is under control

[wynnyfryd]

Trailer park Steve AU part 8

part 1 | part 7 | ao3

He finds himself on Cherry Drive by muscle memory alone. Quarter mile past Maple Street, take the third left, the second right; drive straight through the next stop sign and suddenly the Hagan house is coming into view around the bend, bathed in dim yellow light from a flickering street lamp. A 50s era ranch house, painted brick with a detached one-car garage, weeds sprouting through the crooked old stones of the front walkway and leaves scattered across the lawn in mushy browns and orange-reds.

It's not as nice as Steve's place is.

Was.

Whatever.

Steve blinks, shakes himself fully awake; feels a jolt of fear at the idea that he just drove here in some kind of fugue state because he doesn't know what he's doing here. Tommy left for college, and fuck Tommy, anyway.

He pulls up to the house. Slows the car to a crawl.

It's dark inside, all the lights turned off except for a single table lamp in the entryway window; shaped like a sea turtle, its belly full of blue-green light. Mrs. H. loves the sea.

He wonders if they're out of town or if they're just asleep.

The Hagans go to bed early, he remembers. He spent so many nights talking in a hush in Tommy's room; 8:45pm and they'd be lying side by side on the floor beside his bed, reading comic books or sports mags and whispering about nothing. Tommy'd always thank Steve for coming over because he knew his house was a little boring; he was the kid with old parents who went to bed early and kept the radio turned down and wouldn't let them have sugary snacks even on the weekends. Steve would always just knock their shoulders together and smile 'don't mention it' because he'd hang out with Tommy anywhere.

"Anywhere?" "Yeah, anywhere." "What about in a cave?" "Sure." "Under a bridge?" "Don't see why not." "In the belly of a whale?" "Now you're just being dumb." "Am not!" "Are, too." "Oh, yeah? Well- shut up!"

That was usually the part where they got in trouble for making noise, caught red-faced and laughing while they wrestled on the floor.

There's warmth in his chest at the memory, and that part, he expects.

But also...

Something about it makes heat flare in his gut, shameful and feverish as it flashes through his mind: the phantom press of Tommy above him as he pinned his shoulders down; the way the flush on his cheeks made Tommy's freckles pop; the breathless smile he gave, so close their noses almost brushed...

A light turns turns on in the Hagans' hall.

Steve hits the gas.

He drives for a long while, feeling like an asshole for burning through their precious gas money, but too— too something to fully care. He's alone on a highway with dark pastures blowing by, with the heat on and windows down, and he's circling back toward home when Bruce Springsteen starts to play, all croaky static over the spotty radio.

Born down in a dead man's town. The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.

Steve cranks it up and sings along. The song is cheesy, and he feels stupid, but he also feels free. Like there was a shackle around his throat and he didn't notice until it was gone. He shouts along to the chorus and then just shouts in general; long, guttural screams that feel like poison being purged. Tommy, his dad, the Russians, his mom. All of it, all of it spewing out of him into the cold night air.

He misses Carol suddenly. Her acidic attitude. The way it always ate through the worst of his sullen moods.

He can picture her now: perched on someone's lap in the crowded backseat, no seatbelt, manicured hand braced on the ceiling. She'd be smacking bubblegum and twirling a lock of her hair, and she'd roll her eyes at Steve's dramatics and ask whether he was done untwisting his panties yet. Steve would say something dumb and pervy in response, like, "Too busy dealing with girls' panties to focus on my own," and she'd roll her eyes harder and go, "God, you're fucking gross."

Carol's not here, though, so he just screams about her, too.

When he get back to Forest Hills his voice is hoarse. His body is tired; his soul is light. He's thinking, like: maybe he'll be okay. He'll channel his inner Claudia or Joyce and soldier on. Resilience, and all that shit.

He's almost smiling to himself when he turns into the park.

And then he sees the flashing lights.

There's an ambulance on his lot.

—

part 9

just gonna start tagging whoever commented the day before (if your settings will let me) bc i have the memory of a goldfish @a-little-unsteddie @slowandsteddie @pennyplainknits @thesuninyaface @hotluncheddie @messrs-weasley @pitrsattabhaadmeinjao @eddie-munsons-missing-nipple @blackpanzy @disrespectedgoatman @i-have-three-feelings @sirsnacksalot @estrellami-1 @manda-panda-monium

[theocddiaries]

Bruce: Face it, Dick. Our family is fucked up. Dick: How dare you say that!? [Jason arrives home dragging a bare Christmas tree] Jason: Dad, I need 20 bucks so I can tell my boss I sold these trees… And 50 bucks to fix a guy's windshield. Bruce: Hm... Exhibit A. Damian: I looked everywhere and I still can't find Ace. [sobbing]. What if he's dead? Bruce: Then he's the luckiest in the family. Dick: Bruce, shut up in this instant. Honey, he didn't mean that. Jason: Seriously, Dad, I need that money. That guy said he might sue you. Bruce: He better starts soon. [Tim comes in running] Tim: Jimmy Fitzsimmons is coming to kill me! Bruce: Well, there you go, perfect score! Let's just bring all the bad news at once! Santa Claus is coming early this year! [thudding] [From outside] Margie: Hey! Wayne! Where is the little spawn who hurt my son?! Bruce [sighs]: Great. [Gets out the house to meet the parent]. Can I help you? Margie: Your kid almost killed my kid. Bruce: He looks pretty alive to me. Margie: He tried to get my son to rob the church! Tim: That's not true! Jimmy: Yes, it is, you liar! Jason: Hey, leave my brother alone! Jimmy: Hey, you're the one who almost ran me over! Damian: Go away, Fitzsimmons! Jimmy: Mum, that one tried to gouge my eyes out! Margie: Christ, Wayne, are all your kids psychos? Bruce: Hey! Nobody calls my kids psychos except me! Tim: Thanks, Dad. Bruce: Shut up! Dick: You've got some nerve coming to our house on Christmas Eve to insult us and invent things about my brother. You owe us an apology, lady. Margie [Mockingly]: Uuuh, 'an apology', someone went to college. Dick: Yeah, I did. Tim: He didn't finish it, though. Dick: I swear, all the fucking times… Margie: You should've minded your own business, you nosey bi-- Bruce: I dare you to finish that sentence if you want your great-great-grandchildren to keep paying mine what you’ll owe me when I sue you for even the smallest infraction since you tainted the world with your birth. Margie: Jesus Christ, these people are crazy. [Leaving with his kid]. Your whole family's crazy! Bruce: I've got the best family in this whole goddamn town! And don't you ever come back! [Slams the door shut]. Jason: You mean that about us? Bruce: I absolutely do. You all right, chum? Dick [Smiling, knowingly]: Yes. Fine. Tim [Hugs Bruce by the waist]: Thanks, Dad. Bruce: OK, all right, all right. [Pats his head]. Dick [Whispers]: Were you saying earlier? Bruce: Alright… I got some good kids. Jason: Considering who raised us. Bruce [Ruffles his hair]: Despite that, yes, you're OK.

[veryace-ficrecs]

Tim Joins the BatFam Early Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

the butler's neighbor by deargalileo - Rated G

it starts with a baseball, thrown onto the wayne's property. it's alfred's job to deal with such happenings, of course. but over tea and galas, it turns into so much more.

after all, why should bruce be the only one allowed to adopt any child that he finds?

the capillaries in my eyes are bursting by Scarlet_Ribbons - Rated T

Bruce grunts, standing up. “Jenkins said the same. What about what you weren’t told?” And without dissembling, Jason says, “I think they fucked that kid up, B.” [Jack and Janet die. As things get weirder and weirder, it feels like Tim might be at the center of the unfolding conspiracy.]

An (almost) Foolproof Lie by HiddenDreamer67 - Rated T

“No, they don’t leave me totally alone.” Tim hurriedly explained. “My neighbor Bruce Wayne looks after me.” Batman stared at him for a long while. “Bruce Wayne.” He parroted slowly. (A young Tim Drake gets kidnapped by Falcone. When Batman rescues him, Tim tells Batman that Bruce Wayne is his temporary guardian. Oddly enough, Batman isn’t fooled by this perfect cover story.)

Anton Syndrome by Anonymous - Rated M

Tim's parents have been away for six months and counting—the longest he's ever been left alone at one time—and it's starting to have some unpleasant side effects. Luckily, he has a solution. OR, the one where Tim attempts prostitution to cure his touch starvation. His plan goes wrong pretty much from step one, but it all works out for the better.

I'll Stand By You by TaraLaurel - Rated T

"I'm not going to ask you why you're out here, kid," Jason nods. "That's your business and you don't know me or Dick to trust us." Not true. Tim trusts Jason Todd and Dick Grayson with his life. Just not with, the other stuff. "But," Jason continues, "if you want to tell me what got you here, or you just want to talk about anything, you can, with me. Dick too. He's an annoying ray of sunshine that won't ever shut up most of the time, but he is actually a good listener. I'd know." OR When Tim's parents find out Tim's secret, they kick him out. Now, on Thanksgiving, Tim is living on the streets and is thankful for the two strangers currently saving him from getting his face pounded into the pavement. Wait...those aren't strangers...

Just a Typical Monday Morning by Writer_loves_tropes - Rated T

There are three things in life that Timothy Drake knows for sure. One, Tim is the greatest retro Guitar Hero player in the world (even if the wonderful people at the Guinness Book of World Records won’t rightfully acknowledge this fact). Two, Tim is allergic to walnuts. He’s convinced his parents that he’s allergic to spinach too because he hates it. He’s pretty sure when his parents find out, they’re going to make him eat spinach casserole for dinner for a whole week as punishment. And the third thing Tim knows for sure? He’s sure that on this typical Monday morning, the entire Gotham High School thinks Timothy Jackson Drake is Robin, Batman’s vigilante sidekick. A random locker check and the real Robin stashing his suit in Tim’s locker is all it took to turn Tim’s typical Monday morning into one of the craziest Mondays of his life.

Brother Wanted by Vamillepudding - Rated G

Well-behaved boy (10) is looking for big brother (11-15). Must meet up with me three times a week, for at least two hours each. Overall duties include helping me with homework, playing videogames with me, and showing me how to play catch. 10$ per hour. Tim, lonely and in desperate need of company, decides that if his parents are not going to give him a sibling, he's going to hire one instead. Luckily, Jason Todd-Wayne shows up in the nick of time.

Holy security breach, Batman! by destiny919 - Rated G

Janet finally shoos him away towards the hors d'oeuvres or drinks table with the tacit understanding that she doesn't want to see him again until the end of the gala. And probably not even then, it wouldn't be the first time the Drakes forgot to take him home with them and Tim had to discreetly call an Uber before the host noticed and made Tim embarrass his parents. For this gala, however, he almost hopes they forget him again, because tonight Tim has a plan. They're at Wayne Manor, and Tim is going to find the Batcave.

wrong number by adelfie - Rated G

There’s a few rings, then the phone picks up. “Wayne Residence.” That’s funny, Tim thinks, Mrs. Mac doesn’t sound like herself. -- On a hot July evening while home alone, eight-year-old Tim gets a fever. He means to ask Mrs. Mac for help — but ends up accidentally calling Alfred Pennyworth. Somehow, even in sickness, he wins all the hearts of the Wayne family in one fell swoop.

assaulting existence with improbability by destiny919 - Rated T

"Where's Batman?" the kid demands. "We need to show him." Jason decides to go with the easy question. "Show him what?" The kid gives him an incredulous look. "Proof you didn't kill Garzonas, what else?"

5 Times Tim Spends the Night at Wayne Manor + 1 Time He Comes Home by motleyfam - Rated T

Tim is good at galas.

No, scratch that—Tim is great at galas. He’s been attending them ever since the age of three, when his parents first stuffed him into his little Gymboree tuxedo and gave him a stern lecture about ‘sitting quietly’ and ‘speaking when spoken to.’ He knows all the rules: what to wear, how to stand, when to smile, what to say, what not to say. He knows how to come across as polite and intelligent and charming, and on absolutely any other day, he would be rocking this.

[tiredluxz]

Mi Vida | ONESHOT

Robin Arellano x fem! reader

summary: Y/n and Robin were childhood friends you could even say more than that.

warning: ENLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE!

mention of death, violence, swearing, etc.

an: this will be my first one shot here so please bare with. Also the story will be third person's POV.

_____

"You pull that shit again I'll break your teeth next!" The young girl spat with anger lace on her voice. She had just finished breaking another kid's nose after he had made a remark about the way she dress, unfortunately the girl wasn't having it and knock him out cold.

Whispers erupt her surrounding but she couldn't care less. Nobody messes with her, especially on the first day. "Y/n." Someone called her name, she turn her head and met with a long brown haired male looking directly at her. "You loca I told you to wait for me." Robin sigh before noticing the girl's bloody fist. "What happened?" he questioned with worry in his tone.

"Some bastard tried harassing me, I broke his nose." She nonchalantly replied as they walk side by side to school. Y/n was just ranting about the person she had just beaten up while the boy just nodded listening to her story. It didn't take long for them to arrive at school.

When they've arrived, Y/n stop midway from her sentence to hug their friend who also just got to school. "Hi, Finney." she greets him with a smile. "Thank God you're here, Finn. Y/n wouldn't shut up about her fight." Robin let out a chuckled after, causing the female to give him a glare before pinching his side.

Finney let the pair be and bid his goodbye before leaving the scene.

The two continued bantering before they heard the school bell ring. "What's your first period?" he asked her before letting go of her cheeks that he just been pinching. "Math." she groan, with her answer the male snickers.

"Well, good luck, hermosa!" he shouted towards her as he ran to his first period class. Y/n only playfully rolled her eyes before also going to her class.

-----

It was already the last period and Y/n was already dozing off, when the bell ring indicating that it was time to head home. Her classmates left leaving the sleeping girl alone in the classroom.

"Y/n, wake up." Someone poke her head, with an annoyed look Y/n raise her head from her desk to see who the culprit was. It was none other than Robin himself.

He had a shit eating grin on his face as the girl gave him a small glare. "Come on Hermosa your dad's waiting for us." she gave him a confuse look before grabbing her bag. "The fuck you mean us?"

Robin chuckled before walking out the room. "I'm staying with you guys tonight. Ma had a business trip for three days and Tio is busy tonight." he explain to her. "Alright then, don't tell dad that I got into a fight today."

With her words the male chuckled once more, "You were just bragging to me earlier how you beat the guy up." and again she gave him a glare. "I'm serious Rob, I'll murder you if you tell on me."

The boy raise his hands like signaling defeat. "Relax Mi Vida, I won't" with a nodded Y/n gave him a smile before they had arrive.

-----

Bruce Yamada had gone missing and it had been days. "I still can't believe his missing." Y/n let out a sigh while Robin replied with a yeah. The two were just walking to school. Robin had suggest that they should always walk to school just in case. With the kidnapping going around he wasn't taking any chances.

The pair continued talking to one another on the way to school when Y/n had bumped into someone. She fell in to the ground, thankfully her ass had save her from the fall. "Shit. Watch where you're going shitface." she hissed from the impact.

The other person stood up clearly displeased on what she just said. "You watch where you're going. Hey Arellano! learn to control your bitch." Moose sneer, his words made the male mad.

"Shut the fuck up Moose, maybe you should go home before I beat your ass." Robin threatened to the bigger male, when Mosse's eyes landed on Y/n she mouth the words to him 'He'll fuck you up.'

The male ignored her and return his attention back to the other person. "You think you're so tough, huh?"

"Let's find out."

"I will pound you like a nail, you scrawny little beaner."

"Then do it. Unless you're scared." after his sentence Moose lunged at him swinging his fist, fortunately Robin was fast and easily dodge the male.

He took the opportunity to punch him on his side before kicking him straight to the face. Y/n laugh at the scene before she finally stood up. When Robin had finally manage to throw Moose towards the ground he repeatedly punch him.

Y/n with a grin walk up to them before speaking, "I told you he'll fuck you up." She told the alsmost unconscious boy.

-----

"Robin, let me treat your wounds." Y/n insisted to the male yet he wasn't budging. "Again no and wait right here." he instructed to her before entering the boy's comfort room.

A few hours had passed before three boys exit the room. Robin must have scared them off because they were leaving in a panic and for a few minutes more Robin and Finney finally came out

"What's with them?" She questioned, "They were teaming up to beat Finn." Robin explained with nonchalance.

"Want me to beat them up, Finn?" Y/n grin before Robin took her head and messed with her hair, teasing her about she wouldn't even be able to handle the three. "Let go, dumbass." A sigh of relief slipped through her mouth when he did as he was told.

"I'm going to tutor Robin tonight, are you coming too?" Finney spoke with a smile on his face. "Yes." She replied.

After their conversation the three parted ways. Well Y/n tailed behind Robin. They head to the store to buy themselves snacks before Finney tutors them.

Walking towards the store the two saw a black van but payed no mind to it and continued approaching the store.

That's when a man clumsily dropped his stuff on the concrete floor. "Oh! I'm such a klutz." He spoke before chuckling. Y/n immediately took no time to help the helpless man, that's when he grabbed her by the hair and spray something in her mouth.

"Fuck! Y/n!" Robin exclaimed clearly surprised but quickly regained his composure, he lunged at the man punching and kicking him. Unfortunately the man had a knife and stab the boy on his side.

When he saw Robin getting weaker he also grabbed him and spray him with chemical on his mouth to also knock him out.

-----

Robin woke up with a sharp pain in his abdomen. Yeah, he remembered he was stab and taken by the grabber along with Y/n. "Oh you're finally awake. Your little girlfriend here is feisty, I don't normally take girls but oh well." the grabber laugh as if he said something funny.

Y/n glare at the man before shooting Robin a worried look. "Things aren't going according to plan but it soon will. Getting you two was hard, do you guys like soda? I'll get you two a soda." He spoke like talking to himself before leaving.

"Fuck! Robin are you okay." Y/n's eyes were starting to cloud with tears. "Don't cry Mi Vida, I'm fine." Robin reassured the sobbing girl.

Y/n immediately look for something to block the blood from flowing, then she noticed that Robin was missing his bandana. She curse to herself before ripping her long sleeve shirt.

She wrapped the cloth on his wound and thankfully it worked. "What a shitty way to die." Y/n finally let out a laugh. It was a bitter laugh, "At least I'm with you Arellano." She muttered, the male also let out a soft chuckle.

"We aren't dying hermosa. At least I won't let him kill you." He whispered just enough for her to hear, "At a time of death you still manage to flirt with me. You're crazy." She heave a sigh to calm herself.

"You know I liked you right? Like ever since I moved here." Y/n confessed, suddenly having the courage when death was just around the corner. "Yeah hermosa, I knew." With that Y/n put her hand on his cheeks before giving him a quick peck on the lips.

The wholesome moment didn't last long when the grabber entered the room. "My! Sorry for interrupting." He laugh.

"Let us go you dipshit." Y/n stood from the mattress, "For a young lady you have such a foul mouth." The grabber pointed out which made Y/n even more pissed.

"You two did a number on me, and of course naughty boys and girls need to be punished." He stated one more. The grabber revealed the belt he was hold before grabbing the young girl by the arm.

He pushed her on the concrete floor before repeatedly beat her with the belt. Robin with all the strength he got stood from the mattress to stop the grabber.

With the stab wound he didn't able to do much before he was send flying towards the mattress. The girl cried and Robin was helplessly watching his vision getting blurry by the minute.

It went for hours before the grabber stopped and went upstairs. Y/n had already pass out from the beating and Robin was coughing blood. He knew he was already dying. He wiped the blood off his mouth before crawling towards the out cold female. He gently grab and lay her on the mattress.

By a few hours the boy also soon drifted to sleep.

-----

Robin was woken up by a sound of something being dragged. His eyes widen by the sight he was seeing.

It was Y/n getting dragged by the grabber. "Oops! Didn't mean for you to see this. She was being naughty, she went upstairs and called for help. I didn't like that, naughty girls like her need to punish." The grabber explained, he was still pulling her by the hair while the girl was shouting every curse word she knew.

Robin's eyes were filled with rage as he shouted and ran towards the grabber to attack him. He was then stab in the neck.

The grabber wasn't fully satisfied and stab him multiple times once more.

"What a shame, I intended to keep you longer." He whispered as the light in Robin's eyes disappeared. Y/n's eyes widen, she ran towards the male's body before letting out a painful scream. "Rob! No no no." She repeated over and over.

Y/n continued on crying before the grabber finally spoke. "See what happens to naughty children. Now I need to send him home." That was the last thing she heard before the grabber knock her out.

-----

Y/n woke up from ringing sound, it was the phone on the wall. She didn't even notice the device at first. Her head was starting to hurt. She then remembered what had just happened.

Robin getting murdered right in front of her. Y/n kneeled on the floor clearly ignoring the ringing phone and continued crying.

When she had finally calm down a bit she took the phone and placed it on her ear. "Hello? Please help me." She pleaded.

"It doesn't work. Well not since I was a little boy." Her breath hitch just by hearing his voice, the grabber gave her a smile through his mask. "What the fuck are you doing here? Haven't you done enough!?" She kept a brave face on yet her heart was beating fast.

"Don't worry, I'm just admiring." He vaguely answered, the statement made the girl uncomfortable but held her head high so he wouldn't see how terrified she actually was.

When he was finally satisfied he left without uttering another word.

After the grabber left the phone rang again. Y/n was confuse by what he told her. Was he lying about the phone being broken?

She pick the device once more and putting it over her ear. "Hello?" She called out. "Hi, Hermosa." The voice on the other replied. Shocked by it she dropped the phone and began sobbing. She couldn't believe she was hearing Robin through the phone. She pick the phone again before stuttering. "Rob, are you there?"

"Yes Mi Vida, please don't cry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you hermosa." His voice sounded the same on the phone. Y/n let out a smile while tears were still streaming down her face.

"You idiot, I-"

"Put that down." His voice boomed through the room. "I already told you it doesn't work." The grabber spoke, his mask was already frowning. It made Y/n's heart almost stop beating.

She literally was terrified, she was praying for him to leave her yet he walk up to girl and smack her across the face before stabbing her again and again.

"This is why I don't bring girls here. You guys are more troublesome and naughty." Y/n cough out blood.

Before the lights in her eyes went dim, she spat to the grabber. "Fuck you, I'll see you in hell soon."

She then took her final breath.

[galaxymagitech]

no one is coming (but I'm going to stay)

(Whumpuary 2025 - Day 7)

unfair fight | insomnia | "no one is coming"

For @kades-stuff, who requested Tim and Jason, comfort, and the prompts "insomnia" and "no one is coming." If you want to request a fic for another day feel free!

Summary:

After Jason reluctantly rescues Tim from torture by Two Face’s goons, Tim decides that he doesn’t want to be alone. The obvious solution? Move into his semi-murderous older brother’s apartment.

Jason is not amused, but grudgingly accepts his new roommate. He owes him one, after all.

Characters: Jason Todd, Tim Drake

Warnings: Implied Child Neglect, Referenced Torture

You can read it here or on AO3!

Jason opens the door to find Timothy Drake on his doorstep, head still bandaged from the kidnapping that Jason had (reluctantly) rescued him from just two days prior. And by the amount of blood the kid had been leaking by the time Jason got him away from Two-Face’s goons, Jason’s willing to bet there are a lot more bandages hiding beneath the kid’s overly large Superman sweatshirt. So, not only is Tim not supposed to be Jason’s problem, but he should be on bedrest.

And yet here he is, standing outside Jason’s apartment at 8 pm at night.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jason asks. Tim blinks at him. “I asked—”

“Can I stay?”

Huh? That takes Jason a moment to process and then he sees that the kid is carrying what appears to be a stuffed school backpack. Is he asking if he can have a…sleepover?

Yeah, no way is this for real. This has to be a hallucination or a trap or���or a practical joke. Yeah, maybe Tim’s taking a page out of Dick’s book.

Tim seems to take Jason’s silence for a refusal, rather than disbelief, because he starts rushing to reassure him. “You’ll barely notice I’m there! I can just sleep on the couch or the floor or whatever. I’ve got a sleeping bag. I’ll get my own food too—I won’t be a bother. And I’ll run comms for you if you want, or, like, I can pay you back or something. I—”

“Okay, stop,” Jason says, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm. Tim immediately stops talking. This is…wrong. In the Tower, the little shit wouldn’t shut up. And he’s a Robin. Robins never follow orders. But here Tim is, quiet.

And, apparently, asking to stay with Jason.

Jason could ask why Tim wants to leave the Manor, but frankly? That sounds like too much of a bother. “Yeah, whatever,” he says. He figures he owes the kid that much, at least. If Tim wants a place to stay, he’s got it. And if it makes Jason feel like less of an asshole? Well, that’s a nice benefit. “You can take the couch. Just don’t touch any of my guns. Or grenades. Or bombs.”

“Trust me,” Tim says. “I have no interest in messing around with your booby-trapped weapons.”

“Good.”

Jason steps aside and watches as Tim enter the one-bedroom apartment. Tim places his bag carefully on the main room’s couch and then sits down, slumping against the back of the couch in exhaustion.

Okay, yeah. This is way beyond Jason’s paygrade (a paygrade which is currently nothing except a load of self-righteous bullshit from Batman—Jason refuses to accept any gear and steals it instead, because Bruce might think everything’s okay, but it’s not), but sue him. He’s curious. “Why exactly are you not at the Manor?”

Tim blinks at him again. Jason’s pretty sure Tim is concussed. How did the kid even get here? Why is he Jason’s problem.

Jason’s expecting something about Bruce being overbearing or benching Tim (not that Robin should be patrolling like this, but whatever, throw away all of Jason’s hard work, see if he cares). What he is not expecting is:

“Why would I be at the Manor?”

“Because you…live there?”

“I live with my uncle,” Tim says. Jason didn’t know Tim had an uncle, but whatever.

“Then why are you not with your uncle?” Jason shakes his head, not really waiting for an answer. Instead, he goes to the freezer to get started on his pre-patrol chicken nuggets.

Look. Jason knows how to cook. The truth is, though, he’s a full-time Crime Lord with a decaying empire. He doesn’t have time to actually do it. So, chicken nuggets. Everyone likes them anyway, except for maybe stuck-up trust fund brats. It’ll be funny to watch Tim internally debate over whether to turn his rich little nose up at the chicken nuggets or choke them down out of politeness to his host.

“I don’t know my uncle very well,” Tim answers. Which is ridiculous, because he doesn’t know Jason very well, either. And his uncle didn’t break into his baby superhero clubhouse to attack him. “And he’s out a lot. I mean, just.” He looks down at the floor, eyes fixating on a faint bloodstain that Jason hasn’t been able to get out. “When Two-Face’s guys had me, I didn’t have my tracker. I just kept thinking, ‘no one is coming.’ ‘No one is coming.’ And then you were there. But I forget that, sometimes, so I don’t want to be alone.”

Jason sighs and pops the chicken nuggets in the microwave. “And you didn’t think that maybe Dick or Bruce would be better company?”

“The Manor feels like it’s alone,” Tim says. “And if I tell Bruce my uncle’s gone a lot, he’ll get…weird.”

That is…interesting information that Jason does not care about. No, he’s not making conclusions and planning to investigate this mysterious uncle. Absolutely not. Letting the Replacement stay the night (multiple nights?) here is just because he still feels kind of bad about the Tower. Sure, Tim wasn’t hurt that much, but Jason can admit that beating up a younger, shorter, less-trained boy to prove that he was better was cruel. Bullying. Whatever you want to call it. So, yeah, Jason will let Tim stay here, but that’s about as far as his good will goes.

“Plus, Dick has enough on his plate without me.”

Yeah. Dick was in and out of the manor during the two weeks Jason spent there recovering from the explosion. During Jason’s encounters with him, Dick was all cheerful and loving and overjoyed that his ‘Little Wing’ was back. But when he didn’t know Jason was watching, Dick looked distracted and almost guilty. And Blüdhaven’s been having Deathstroke problems recently, so Dick is probably waist-deep in that mess too. “Okay,” Jason says. The microwave dings. He takes two plates and divides the chicken nuggets between them, handing Tim the smaller portion. Jason can always heat up more if Tim is still hungry.

“Oh,” Tim says. “You really don’t have to give me food.”

“What, not fancy enough?”

“No!” Tim grabs the plate and starts eating them. “I just meant you didn’t have to bother. I like chicken nuggets.” Did he even wash his hands? What the hell is wrong with this kid?

“Wash your hands, idiot.” Jason doesn’t care about Tim’s well-being. But if Tim gets sick and Jason is letting him couch surf, then Jason could get sick too. And that would suck.

“Whatever,” Tim says, but he does get up to wash his hands.

Another point in favor of something being really off. Robins don’t follow orders, especially when it’s for their own good.

But Jason has patrol to get to, so after Tim finishes the chicken nuggets, he gets dressed and leaves for patrol.

***

When Jason gets back, Tim is attempting to change his own bandages. Which would be fine, except this particular set of bandages is on his back, and he’s trying to use a hand-mirror that he’s attached to the microwave handle with a hair tie.

Jason spends several seconds watching this scene in pure confusion, before he speaks. “Let me do that.”

Tim startles. “Oh,” he says distractedly. “No, I’m fine.”

“No,” Jason says, rolling his eyes. “You’re not.” If the kid gets infected and gets sepsis here, his tenuous alliance with the Bats is over. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but that’s happening on Jason’s terms, not Bruce’s. So, no, Jason isn’t letting his dumbass replacement die of inadequate flexibility to tend to his own wounds.

“Really!” Tim insists. “I’m fine!”

Well, Jason can’t exactly blame Tim for not wanting his former attacker to be close enough to bandage his injuries, but Tim is literally the one who asked to stay at his apartment. “Either I help you or I’m taking you to Leslie.”

Tim shoots Jason a look of pure betrayal. “She’d tell Bruce!”

“Yeah,” Jason says. “She would.” He holds out a hand, and Tim reluctantly passes him the roll of bandages. “Sit down.”

The wounds on Tim’s back are…bad. When Jason had gotten there, the goons had been attempting to waterboard Robin, but obviously they’d tried other methods first. Jason doesn’t know what they wanted, but it doesn’t really matter. It never does. Whether they wanted information, bait, revenge, or even just stress relief, it’s Batman’s fault that a Robin was there in the first place. Jason’s fists clench and he tugs too hard on the bandage. Tim flinches.

“Sorry,” Jason mutters.

“Whatever.”

After that, Jason stops thinking and just bandages the wound as quickly as possible. “I’m going to get some sleep,” Jason says. “Don’t try to slit my throat.”

Tim crosses his arms. “I’m not you.”

Right. Jason winces. He was trying to be vaguely funny, but, well…maybe not the best wording. “I wouldn’t have actually slit your throat,” Jason protests lamely, despite knowing he very well might have.

“I needed stitches.”

“Because Catwoman got in the way and half-shoved you into the dagger.”

“Because you’re an asshole.”

“I’m the asshole who you’ve chosen to have a sleepover with,” Jason says. “I could always kick you out.”

He means to be teasing. He’d thought they were bantering. But instead, Tim goes stock still, like he’s actually afraid.

“Uh,” Jason says awkwardly. “I didn’t mean it?”

Tim blinks. Jason’s starting to think that’s his way of resetting his brain. “It’s fine,” Tim mutters.

“No, I’m, uh.” Sorry. Jason should say he’s sorry. But he doesn’t want to. Saying he’s sorry opens up the floodgates. If he says he’s sorry once, then everyone expects an apology for everything and—

“I was being rude,” Tim justifies.

Instead of apologizing, Jason just shakes his head and goes to his room.

***

Tim doesn’t leave the next morning, or the following evening, or the morning after that. Instead, he sticks around. Somehow, he gets into Jason’s files and flags a traitor, tracks down an international drug trafficker through a complicated series of shell corporations, and writes a memo on Hood’s increased city-wide approval ratings now that he’s toned down the murder to only when absolutely necessary and in his territory.

Jason scowls at the last one, but thanks Tim for the first two and says they’ll be helpful, even though he’s annoyed that the brat has access to his files. Tim seems to light up at the praise.

It’s weird, how much Tim seems to care about Jason appreciating his help. He even cooked dinner, an actual dinner, and even though it was mediocre, he hung on Jason’s every word when he asked how it was. And he’s constantly promising that he won’t be a bother if Jason lets him stay over one more night. Meanwhile, if Tim has contacted his uncle to tell the man where he spent the last few days, Jason hasn’t seen it.

So, Jason starts to investigate Tim’s uncle. He’s annoyingly boring. All his papers are in order. All his taxes are in order. All his everything is in order. Tim’s uncle is so unsuspicious that it’s actually…rather suspicious.

Not your problem, Jason reminds himself. But after a week of Tim staying in his apartment and displaying zero desire to fuck off back where he came from…Jason can admit it’s kinda maybe a bit his problem. Especially since Jason hasn’t even hinted to Tim that he should leave. (And Tim would leave, if Jason hinted. But Jason doesn’t know what’s going on with Tim’s uncle or why the kid wanted to stay here of all places, and he sort of appreciates the company, anyway.)

***

A week and a half after Tim showed up at Jason’s apartment, he deems himself ready to patrol again.

“Deems himself,” because he is absolutely not ready to patrol, and Jason doesn’t know what the fuck Batman is thinking letting Tim go out like this. But Jason’s stepping on a drug dealer’s fingers, asking him about one of his compatriots, when he catches Batman and Robin watching him from a nearby rooftop. 

Well, there goes any opportunity to shoot the guy in the forehead. Not that Jason was planning to do that, but it’s the principle of the thing.

The drug dealer gasps out an address, and Jason figures that’s the best he’s going to get, so he steps away and grapples up to the rooftop. “What do you want?”

Jason expects Bruce to ask why Tim randomly spent a week and a half living with him. But apparently, Bruce is none the wiser, because instead he tells Jason that he’s investigating a string of drug overdoses that he thinks might be connected to Jason’s current work.

It’s probably a lame excuse for supervision, but if it works, it works. Jason’s main concern isn’t punishing these people right now—it’s getting them out of his territory, and Batman has the connections to make that happen.

***

Now that Tim is going out on patrol, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the kid is simply not sleeping.

Well, okay, he must be sleeping at some point, but at most it’s a few catnaps when Jason is out. Because Tim is never sleeping when Jason is in the apartment.

Maybe it’s a trust issue, but Tim literally came here. If he really thought Jason would murder him in his sleep, he wouldn’t have decided to be here. With that theory eliminated, Jason is completely at a loss.

He’s tried asking about it. Jason doesn’t know why he bothers, but he has tried. Answers have ranged from “I’m not tired” to “go away, I’m busy” to “of course I sleep!” to “what do you even care?” And Jason wouldn’t care. He’s not the kid’s babysitter. He’s not even technically his brother. But the bags under Tim’s eyes are growing day by day, he’s seen Tim stumble on patrol, and really, it’s getting ridiculous.

“You need to sleep,” Jason says, after he’s finally had enough. He sits across from Tim at the kitchen table, watching as Tim traces a deep score from a knife that Jason had recklessly thrown around a month back.

“I am sleeping,” Tim argues. So it’s one of those days, then.

“You need to actually fucking sleep, or you’ll get hurt on patrol.”

“Isn’t that what you want?” Jason feels his heart—not stop, but just kinda go quiet all of a sudden. The room feels like it isn’t fully there. “Sorry, I—I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know why I said that.”

“If I wanted you to get hurt,” Jason says slowly, “I wouldn’t have rescued you.” But he knows that’s not quite true. He rescued Tim because he saw a Robin being tortured, not because he cares at all about Tim. He let Tim sleep the night because he figured he owed him. And then he let Tim stay because he wanted the company but is unwilling to approach Bruce or Dick or Alfred.

When—not if—Jason ends up back on bad terms with Bruce again, he’ll probably end up fighting the Replacement. And, well. He isn’t exactly planning to pull his punches. Or his bullets.

But at the same time, Tim has slept in his apartment for almost three weeks. They’ve cooked together. They’ve even watched both of their favorite movies on weekend afternoons before they patrolled. 

So, Jason doesn’t have any right to feel hurt by Tim’s skepticism, but he feels hurt anyway. Because somehow, he’d been beginning to think he had a brother. A friend.

“I know,” Tim says. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” He shakes his head, standing up. “You’re right, I’m tired and it’s affecting me. I’ll sleep.”

“Yeah,” Jason says, a bit gruffly. “You do that.” His voice sounds hoarse, and he doesn’t know why. Tim doesn’t trust him. He doesn’t have to. It’s whatever. Jason’s apartment is just a place for Tim to stay and maintain his minimum levels of human contact. It’s fine.

Jason turns away and starts walking to his room, but he feels a hand fall on his shoulder. He turns around to see Tim, who looks seconds away from crying. And Jason has never seen Tim cry. He didn’t even cry when he was being tortured, just coughed out whatever snarky comebacks he could think of. He didn’t cry in the Tower either. “I didn’t—I didn’t mean that. I know we’re…allies, or whatever now, and you’re letting me stay, and I’m really grateful, I am.” Tim’s hand is still on Jason’s shoulder, but now it’s more like he’s clinging to him. Like he can’t bear to let Jason leave. “I know you don’t want me to get hurt. I’m really sorry of accusing you of that. I—”

“Stop,” Jason nearly shouts. “Stop. Just—stop.”

Tim stops, shutting his mouth instantly. It reminds Jason of the day Tim first showed up. (Robins aren’t supposed to follow orders. That’s why the Good Soldier display case is so galling.) The kid’s face is pale, and Jason can see tears pooling in his eyes.

Tim has stayed in Gotham for three weeks, and his uncle—who lives in a completely different city—hasn’t asked about his location once. Tim has been living with someone who has nearly killed him twice and shown absolutely no inclination to leave. Tim has repeatedly attempted to prove that he’s worth keeping around, whether by offering money, mediocre cooking, help on cases, or his own invisibility.

There’s something wrong here, more than Tim just not wanting to be alone, and Jason’s going to get to the bottom of it.

Tim’s hand is still on Jason’s shoulder. In the three weeks Tim has been here, they haven’t made physical contact even once outside Jason dressing Tim’s wounds, and yet Tim is clinging like he’s afraid to let go.

“Let’s sit down,” Jason says. They sit on opposite ends of the couch. Tim folds his socked feet up onto the cushion—brat, Jason thinks, but it’s affectionate now, and when did that happen? “I’m not kicking you out.” Thankfully, Tim doesn’t start crying at that. Jason knows how to deal with traumatized civilian kids, but no idea how to deal with his hypercompetent little brother and current roommate bursting into tears. “But Tim—where the hell is your uncle?”

“What?” Tim stares at Jason, not blinking.

“Your uncle,” Jason repeats. “The guy you’re supposed to be living with? Edward Drake? Ring a bell?”

“Oh,” Tim says, shifting uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact. “What about him?”

“At this point, you’ve practically run away from home. Like, you live here. You don’t seem to have any plans to go back to Blüdhaven. Why?”

Tim shrugs. “He’s away a lot.”

“Edward Drake is currently in Blüdhaven,” Jason says. “Supposedly, at least. I tracked his train tickets.” He really, really doesn’t know what’s going on. Jason’s current theories range from Eddie Drake having kicked Tim out (which would explain why Tim seems to be terrified of Jason kicking him out) to the guy being some mafia boss that Tim is currently in hiding from. He had theorized that Tim is just being an overdramatic teenager, but Jason has dismissed that mostly out of hand—a normal guardian would definitely do something if their nephew disappeared for three weeks. “So. Why are you avoiding him?”

“I’m not—”

“Did you kick you out?” Jason asks. If this has to become an intervention, so be it.

Tim’s eyes widen. “No! No, definitely not.” He looks down, picking at his socks. “It’s just that. That he. Well. Hekindadoesn’texist.”

Jason’s brows furrow. “I’ll need you to repeat that, Timmy.”

“He…kinda doesn’t exist?”

“Your uncle…kinda doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah,” Tim confirms, like this is a perfectly normal situation.

“What does kinda doesn’t exist mean?” This was not in Jason’s list of theories.

“You’re gonna tell Bruce about this, aren’t you?”

And, well. Jason should. Because this kinda non-existent uncle thing sounds like a long-term problem, and…Jason was not planning for a long-term roommate. If he tells Bruce, this becomes Bruce’s problem. Bruce can deal with Tim’s quantum uncle or whatever is going on. Jason can wash his hands of the whole thing.

But Tim showed up outside his apartment. Tim asked for his help. Tim said that he didn’t want to be alone, and chose to stay with him.

So, Jason reaches out and slowly wraps an arm around Tim’s shoulders. When the younger boy doesn’t seem upset, he pulls Tim closer against his side. The warmth is…strange. Jason doesn’t think he’s been this close to another person outside a fight since…since before.

I missed this, Jason thinks, and then quickly strikes the thought from his mind.

“Nah,” Jason says. “If he doesn’t know, that’s on him. I’m only cooperating with him because it would make Alfie sad if we fought.”

“Oh,” Tim says, burrowing into Jason’s side. “Thank you.”

“So…what’s going on with your uncle?”

Tim hums. “I made him up,” he admits. “Faked paperwork and everything. Legally, he’s real. But he’s not actually.” He frowns. “I wanted to live on my own. I lived on my own a lot as a kid, I thought I could do it. But it was really lonely, and I went back to Blüdhaven after Bruce was done monitoring me for a concussion, and I just. No one was coming, Jason.”

Tim said that on the night he first got here as well. No one is coming. “You could have gone back to the Manor. You could still go back to the Manor.” It actually hurts to say it. Because after spending three weeks thinking about how annoying it was that he was suddenly housing an insomniac teenage gremlin, Jason got used to having Tim around.

“I don’t want him to know about the fake uncle,” Tim says. “He’d be really upset. I might have to stop being Robin. And…everything is so far away in the Manor. I can always hear you when I’m here. But Wayne Manor is just so quiet.”

Jason gets that. “Okay,” he says.

“So, I can stay?” Tim asks.

“Yeah,” Jason says, as though it wasn’t already obvious. (But maybe it wasn’t obvious to Tim. Even if his uncle is fine—due to not existing—Jason is pretty sure that Tim’s obvious abandonment issues have to come from somewhere.)

“Thanks,” Tim says quietly, curling up even further. Before Jason knows it, Tim’s breathing has evened out.

Finally, Jason thinks. He’s sleeping. He gets up to go clean his guns, because it’s a good way to get his thoughts in order.

Halfway through Jason’s third pistol, the reason that Tim hadn’t been sleeping becomes extremely clear.

***

Jason runs into the apartment’s main room, thinking that the place has been attacked. Instead, he just finds Tim, who has fallen onto the floor and is now thrashing about, muttering incoherently.

Jason knows you’re not supposed to wake someone up if they’re having a nightmare, but Tim could get hurt like this. So, Jason tries to shake him awake by the shoulder.

Tim’s hand grasps his wrist tightly, fingernails digging in almost hard enough to bruise. Jason winces, but doesn’t let go. “You’re gonna leave,” Tim mutters deliriously. “You’re gonna—you’re—”

“It’s alright,” Jason tries saying, keeping his voice soothing. “You’re okay, you’re—"

Tim cries out, flailing and nearly hitting his head into the bottom of the couch. That’s it. Sleep is important, but not getting another concussion is even more important. “No one is coming,” Tim whispers. “No one’s…”

“Tim!” Jason grabs both of Tim’s shoulders and shakes him, hard. Finally, Tim’s eyes snap open. “It’s okay. You’re not there.” He doesn’t know where Tim thinks he is. Two-Face’s dungeon? Somewhere else? It doesn’t matter. “It’s Jason.” That could backfire, horribly. Jason isn’t exactly synonymous with safe for Tim. But apparently, Jason currently ranks low on the list of threats, because Tim’s body seems to deflate.

“You’re gonna leave,” he says quietly.

“This is my apartment, you idiot. I’m not going to leave.”

“Didn’t stop my parents,” Tim says. He blinks, seeming to come back to himself. “Sorry. That was. That was dumb.”

“Not dumb,” Jason says. Tim is pretty much the poster boy for abandonment issues. He sits down next to Tim as the younger boy pushes himself up into a seated position and scootches away to give Tim space. Tim, however, doesn’t seem to want space, because he ends up leaning against Jason anyway. Jason pretends that doesn’t make his heart swell with warmth. Even after everything, Tim wants to lean on him—in more ways than one.

“Sorry,” Tim mutters. “I didn’t—I didn’t want to wake you up. This happens a lot.”

“That’s dumb.” Jason shakes his head. “You kinda need to sleep, Tim. Nightmares or not.”

“You would totally have been mad if I woke you up when I first got here.”

Yeah. Jason would’ve. But he would’ve gotten over it. Probably. “Well, I won’t be mad, now,” he says. “You’re staying here, and you’re sleeping, instead of just napping at random times when I’m gone. Alright?”

“I might wake you up,” Tim says. “I woke my dad up a lot.”

“Was he mad?”

“He was injured,” Tim argues. “He needed his sleep to recover.”

Yeah. But it’s not like Tim can just…not have nightmares. “Well, I don’t have a job,” Jason says. “Worst comes to worst, I can sleep while you’re at school.”

“Oh,” Tim frowns. He seems to rethink his next few words, but then ends up plowing straight ahead. “I don’t go to school.”

Jason narrows his eyes. “You graduated early?”

“Nah, my dad stopped paying the tuition. And then he died.” Tim shrugs. “I’m sixteen. Uncle Eddie signed my forms to drop out.”

That idiot. Tim is supposed to be smart, and yet he’s dropped himself out of high school. “Do you even have any plans for after being Robin? Your dad stopped paying your tuition, so I’m guessing something happened with your finances. How do you even have money?”

“Trust fund,” Tim says. “And not really. I’m just gonna be Robin. I’ll be good enough, and then I won’t have to stop.”

It’s not a question of being good enough. But Jason doesn’t voice that. He’s well aware that he’d seem biased. “I’d kill to go to school again.”

“You’d kill anyway,” Tim says, not incorrectly. “And you can literally get a GED. You could even fake a diploma and go straight to college. If I need one, I can hack myself a high school diploma or GED or whatever. But I don’t need one, so it’s fine.”

“Whatever,” Jason says. Tim wants to waste his future? Not Jason’s problem. At least not right now. Currently, Jason’s problem is making sure Tim sleeps. “You should go back to sleep.”

“Fine,” Tim grumbles, climbing back up onto the couch. He’s going to fall again, isn’t he? He could hit his head. Get extra concussed.

“Just sleep in the bed,” Jason says.

Tim tilts his head. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Don’t touch my books, though”

“Trust me,” Tim says. “I have absolutely no interest in whatever nerd books you’re reading.” “Trust me,” Tim had said. “I have no interest in messing around with your booby-trapped weapons.” Well, Jason had seen Tim poking at one of his firearms, so maybe Tim will somehow end up into classical literature.

“You’re a nerd too, Timmy.”

“A computer nerd. At least I don’t read historical romance!”

“It wasn’t historical at the time!”

“Austen has weird sentence structure!”

“It’s called a semicolon, dumbass.”

Jason is still laughing when he turns out the lights and leaves his room.

***

Now that Tim isn’t worried about bothering Jason with his nightmares, it’s like his insomnia has been turned on its head. Because Tim sleeps everywhere. Jason finds him asleep next to the refrigerator, curled up underneath his desk, even snoozing on the apartment building’s rooftop. It’s weird, but…Jason can’t exactly complain. Tim’s eyebags are growing less pronounced by the day, and his cooking has gone from mediocre to actually okay. And neither of them are lonely anymore.

You don’t miss what you never had. Jason was satisfied, with the blood and revenge and justice.

But now that Jason’s had a brother living with him—now that they’ve cooked food and solved cases and watched movies and even had an accidental pillow fight together—Jason is terrified of losing this. Because he still cares about his territory, still cares about the city, but the main thing on his mind isn’t Red Hood. It’s whatever topic Tim was rambling about yesterday, and his plans for dinner (because Jason doesn’t have enough time to make a real dinner every night, but he can make time, and cooking is faster with two), and the book he’s going to make Tim read the next time the kid loses a bet.

Jason is happy. And it’s not going to all come crashing down. He won’t let it.

***

Jason may not live by hopping safehouse to safehouse, but he is the Red Hood, and he is pretty high-profile. He can’t afford to stay in the same place forever.

Two months after Tim showed up at Jason’s door, Jason decides that now is the time to move. He tells Tim that they’re changing apartments one afternoon, while Tim is doing his homework (Jason wore him down eventually, although he’s pretty sure Tim’s sudden willingness to go to school was less about the homework and more about his new conspiracy-obsessed “friend”).

Instead of the casual acknowledgement Jason expects, though, Tim freezes. For a moment, Tim is so still that Jason doesn’t think he’s breathing. And then—“Oh,” Tim says, sounding devastated. Is Tim really that attached to the place? It’s not like bloodstains and knife furrows are particularly good decor. “I guess. That’s fine. I mean, I can move back to my place, then.”

Before Jason knows it, he’s rushing across the room. “No! I mean, not unless you want to, Tim,” he says. “There’s an apartment a few blocks down with two bedrooms. And if Dick wants to stay over, he can take the couch.”

“You’re…not kicking me out?”

“We’re roommates,” Jason says. “Okay? You don’t need me to let you stay. And I’m not planning to leave. Got it?”

Tim smiles in response. “Yeah,” he says. “I got it.” 

[a-canceled-stamp]

Whumptober 2023 - dialogue

Day 1. Safety Net | Swooning | “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Characters; pairings: Tim, Jason; Tim & Jason

Setting: the manor. In my mind it’s a “Tim is adopted early” AU but can be read differently.

✧˖°.🪐⋆｡°✩

“Hey, hold up!”

“Leave me alone, Jason.”

“What the hell? You can’t just walk away from this!”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big—you passed out!”

“…only a little.”

“Are you kidding? You were out. Like, fully. Lights out, nobody’s home, the whole shebang. I swear, you even stopped breathing at one point.”

“Okay, that’s an exaggeration. You’re being dramatic.”

“Dude, I had to catch you. If anyone’s being dramatic, it’s you. Literally swooning into my arms.”

“Jason—“

“Listen, I’m just stating the facts. And the facts are, you gotta start taking more care of yourself.”

“I do!”

“Oh really? When was the last time you ate?”

“…you know what, I don’t have to answer any do you questions if I don’t want to.”

“Aha! See? Wait, come on, stop trying to walk away from this, man.”

“Come on, why can’t you just—“

“No. We need to get some nutrients in you, stat. Maybe some gatorade just to get your blood sugar up. Or maybe water first?”

“Jason, I don’t—”

“No, don’t you get it? I’ve had enough of this, alright? Now stand there and don’t move. If you try to run I swear to god I will burn your Tony Hawk poster.”

“…”

“Yeah, I ain’t fucking around. Now, Alfred’s gotta have some bars or shakes around here somewhere. If not I’ll make you a goddamn omelet if I have to. Seriously, Tim, this is ridiculous.”

“Uh, Jason? I think I—“

“Shut your yap. ‘It’s not a big deal’ my ass. News flash: passing out while walking up the stairs is not normal.”

“Jason, I, I think I might—“

“God, what the hell is Bruce even doing. World’s greatest detective and can’t even notice that his own kid is—hey what are you—oh shit.”

✧˖°.🪐⋆｡°✩

[robingurl]

About Me

My name is Robin Gurl and I've been in fandoms since the mid 90s and I've been writing fanfiction since 2000. I have SO many fandoms and I hop in between so many at a time.

My name comes from my love of Burt Ward / Dick Grayson / Robin. I’m a girl and I like Robin. Pretty simple right? 😅 my 10 year old self thought so.

Basically any series that has Dick as Robin I’ve watched or attempted to watch.

My main fandoms are the 1966 Batman (Robin), Super Friends, 1977 Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (Joe), Ronin Warriors (Cye), Real Ghostbusters (Peter Venkman was my favorite since I found it at 3 years old.), and Lord of the Rings (Pippin is my spirit animal and Merry/Pippin gives me life).

But I have so many other fandoms that are near the top as well:

Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler (Sebastian), Voltron 1984 (Sven), Thundercats 1985 (Tygra), and Sailor Moon (Serena, 90s DIC, Also I'm like 99% certain she's the reason my personality is how it is today).

And yet still MORE fandoms: The Beatles (Paul) Gakuen Heaven Kuroko no Basket (look Kagami x Kuroko is to die for) Utapri (Tokiya/Hayato has my heart and always will) Phantom of The Opera (Broadway and LND are my loves. Ben Lewis will forever be my phantom) CATS the Musical (Mistoffelees/Jacob Brent stole my heart at an early age) Pokemon (water trainer here) Slayers Ghost Hunt Lord of the Rings (Pippin is my spirit animal and Merry/Pippin gives me life)

Still more that I'll have to add as I remember them.

I've been watching anime since the 90s and I've been doing my best to keep up. While I have a good handful of series that I watch solely in English because they were ones I grew up on, I usually prefer subbed.

I do not want a remake of certain animes because my heart can't take a new dub. If Ronin Warriors had a remake and they redubbed it, it would seriously send me into a depression spiral.

I am too attached to certain characters and I've come to accept it. I stay out of going too deep into fandoms for that reason. It wasn't until the last 5-7 years I felt comfortable fully opening up to the 66 Batman fandom. Just because I grew up with Bruce and Dick and they were like a second family to me.

I'm really easy going as long as no bullying and overly dramatic drama is going on. I just want to have fun and talk with people. I don't hate people for ships or anything - you do you boo! <3 it's your safe place and as long as people aren't getting physically hurt in RL then its fine.

Angry Important Rants Below. You can get mad and offended all you want but I'm tired of being quiet over this stuff. -shrug-

Cringy Fandom Shit

Yeah I've been there, done that, and more than likely still doing it. I have Mary Sue's/OCs out the wazoo and I'm over being embarrassed by them. I'm 38, if people are THAT bothered by it they can go fuck themselves.

Also news flash to new people in fandom starting from COVID who think they are hot shit - you're not. You're just popular kids who suddenly think it's "cool" to be nerdy and second news flash absolutely NO ONE wants you here.

Either fit in, shut your trap and hang or just leave.

I've spent my life running away from people like you and I'm over it.

Fandom is cringe. It just is. It always has been but everyone is ok with it. We're with people who are just like us and it's our safe space away from Becky and Stacy who think watching Super Heroes and dressing up is "soooooo cringe."

Yes we cosplay as our favorite characters and we will act like them at con. It's part of the fun of cosplaying. Yes people will Naruto Run past you and do DBZ type fights. Pokemon people will pretend battle in the hallways.

IT'S WHAT FANDOM IS.

If you can't comprehend this then go back to your world. Leave ours alone and stop ruining fandom spaces.

Bullying

I hate HATE HATE HATE Bullying and if I catch ANYONE bullying anyone over anything - I'll come over and smack them silly. This stems from my entire childhood of being made fun of for liking Batman. MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS AND LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE.

I also don't do ship hate and story hate, fandom hate, etc. Let people do what they want with their fandom. They aren't physically attacking you, aren't calling you out on anything, they aren't doing nothing but enjoying themselves.

Fandom Purists

Honestly you guys can eat shit and leave fandom spaces. If you're THAT UP TIGHT about a FICTIONAL show and certain couples and tropes and themes - then FUCKING LEAVE.

No space on the internet is forced to make it a safe space for you. It just isn't. If you don't like something, can't comprehend a story arc that is visibly toxic ON PURPOSE, can;'t handle couples, parodies (looking at you new Ouran Fans), get offended by literally everything (and I'm liberal so don't call me MAGA) - ITS YOUR PROBLEM.

Politicially Correct Crap

Yes I support all the normal shit. I don't give a fuck about what pronouns, race or gender you are. As long as you treat everyone with respect, I'll treat you with respect. We're all human.

I'm not going to talk about sensitive subjects related to real world events. it's not my place and I'm not using my safe space to bitch about a lot of things.

It's my choice and thats something you should respect.

DNI

If you see a post that says "DNI if you ___" and do it anyway, you are a jack ass and asking for a fight. When the person comes to interact back and you get all offended, just remember you caused it.

Don't Like / Don't Read

This runs with bullying. If you see something you don't like, fucking scroll past. Don't be that jerkwad that has to make it about them. It's not for you.

Cosplaying isn't an elitist sport

If you can't fathom why someone wouldn't just make their own costume instead of buying it, you need a reality check. Not everyone can sew, not everyone wants to sew, and no one should be required to make their own cosplay.

Fast cosplay is FINE. It's no different than a Halloween Costume. No one is asking you to go the extra mile, no one is forcing you to make your cosplay.

If you do that's cool and I'm impressed. But do NOT attack other cosplayers who are just there to have fun and dress as their favorite characters.

Don't be that mean girl that we've tried so hard to get away from.

And yeah some fast cosplays may win contests. That's just reality. But once again - NO ONE FORCED YOU TO MAKE YOUR OWN. THAT WAS YOUR DECISION. No one asked you to overachieve, no one held a knife to your throat and said 'you can't cosplay unless you make it by hand'. You came up with all of these rules and people don't have to follow them.

That's just reality.

Liking Dubbed Anime

To all of you anime purists who just hate certain dubs of certain animes... you can go to hell.

No I will not be embarrassed to say I prefer the 90s DIC dub. Yes it's not the best but that doesn't make me any less of a Sailor Moon fan. It was all we had growing up and you guys just can't fathom it.

But I refuse to you let you bully me over my preference for Sailor Moon to be called Serena over Usagi.

Stop assuming fans like me haven't been watching it in Japanese or know the true story. WE DO. I own it all in Japanese, I own the manga, I've seen the TV series in both languages. I KNOW the DIC dub isn't perfect and I knew of it's flaws growing up.

That doesn't mean I can't love it with all my heart. We were here first. Stop being toxic Moonies, it's not a good look. Once again another fandom over run by mean girl purists.

A fandom can exist with both. Thankfully the Ronin Warrior/Samurai Trooper fandom has calmed down and now both exist peacefully (that I've seen at least) together.

Don't get me started on the early 2000s RW fandom.

The YST fans thought they were hot shit but there wasn't a way to get ahold of the Japanese version of the series and if there was - they never shared it. So like 10% of the fandom acted like they were better than everyone else because they knew their Japanese names and treated people like crap because of it.

I didn't even have the ability to OWN the japanese version with correct subtitles until the mid 2000s. I remember the first set of YST DVDs, the subs were hilariously awful and I knew enough Japanese to be like "...they didn't just say that" XD.

The blue rays came out and we FINALLY got proper subs.

The Sailor Moon fandom is turning into that more and more each day.

Take a page from the RW fandom and chill out.

You can't and shouldn't police what version of a show to watch. This goes for the precure fans losing their shit over Glitter Force. It's a gate way anime for young kids. Let them watch it without bullying and nicely teach them about the real series.

[yinnina]

Finn's Arm Is Mint

"Are you going?" Asked Aryanah, which for your info, was your average Caucasian girl.

"Be more specific, where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"The baseball game, of course!" She smiled at me, almost as if to convince me to go with her.

I groaned, "Are you guys going?" I asked both Gabby's.

"We will if you are going, and you?" Gabby looked at Boston.

We had our small friend group from Gym, but Boston was the only one I had two classes with, Gym and Orchestra. That was if Ren wasn't being counted, who was a black girl about my height, a very funny person as well.

"Yeah, who do you take me for? A pimp who stays home and watches his parents cry about 'little' money?" He said.

Out of everyone in the group, it was him who had the least amount of money, preventing him from hanging out much with us unless we paid for him.

Boston, like Aryanah, Kaylee and Gabby, was white, but he wasn't straight, nor was it near it either.

Not like anyone in our friend group was it. Well, we can't really say much about Gaby, we didn't really know whether or not she was bisexual or not.

"Guys! Guess who has enough money for a movie tonight?" Kaylee, one of our friends, came up behind us.

"Great, so I buy us snacks for the game and you guys invite the movie?" I ask, everyone nodding towards me.

Everyone but Ren

"You guys do know we could just sneak in through the back, right?" She told us.

"I mean, yeah, but if we get caught, you pay our fee." I told her, without looking at her.

"Sure."

"But before anything, let's go to the locker room. I left my stuff there." I told them, to which everyone agreed.

As we were walking, we bumped into Vance and his little friend group.

"Watch it faggots." Said one of them, the shorter one.

"Just who the fuck are you calling a faggot? Last time I checked you and Moose got some sexual tension between you."  Gabby went off on him.

He looked ashamed at that. It was a total lie, but someone spread a rumour about 2 years ago about him and Moose when they were seen talking behind the middle school they went to, and since it was a small town, the word spreader quite fast.

"Oh yeah? You gotta get it now—" I cut him off, "If you boys would excuse us, we need to go to the locker rooms to get our stuff, and unless you guys would like to carry those heavy bags then you better get out of my sight." I told them, to which they quickly rushed out of our way knowing how heavy our bags were.

Both groups departed without looking at each other, other than me and Vance, we both looked back to each other's groups, which made us make eye contact.

We held it for a while till he went along with his friend group, yelling at them for leaving him.

"They're so weird, I swear." Boston said.

I gave him a side eye, walking alongside Gabby at the front.

"You know, you two seem to get along the most." She whispers to me, trying to not have anyone else hearing.

"Shut up, if we we're to get along then maybe he would leave me the fuck alone." I whisper yell.

She rolled her eyes and continued walking.

Once we got our stuff we decided to buy snacks for the game and headed to the baseball stadium, which was filled with people, both students and parents.

Gabby and I sat next to each other as always, cheering on the boys as they played out in the field.

In the end, it was our school's team that lost. It wasn't much of a big deal since we knew they wouldn't win.

It was mostly 9th graders against mostly 10th graders.

Both schools did things differetly. Both schools didn't have the 9th graders and 10th graders separated for the sports teams, they were both added together due to this being a small town.

As we were walking out of the stadium, I saw two of the players talking, one which I knew of, Finney Blake, thanks to being bullied by a few kids. The other one, Bruce Yamada, due to being one of the popular guys.

I only ever talked to Bruce once or twice, not really interested, Finney, on the other hand, I talked to a few more times.

"You're Finney Blake Right? Your arm is mint!" Bruce said to Finn.

I ignored whatever else they said, since it was none of my business.

"So, whose turn is it to pick?" Asked Gaby.

"Mine," I said and everyone looked at each other, "get ready to watch Silence Of The Lambs."

Now everyone looked at each other scared to the bone, all but Gabby, who looked unfaced.

It was a disturbing film that we both watched late at night when I managed to get my hands onto a cassette.

I invited everyone to a few snacks, since I was about to disturb them all, and we decided to sneak into the drive-in.

Once we were there, they went to buy the snacks with my money and me and Gabby decided to walk around, trying to find the perfect spot to watch without having to deal with the couples having sex inside the cars.

Gabby whistled, "You'll never believe who's here with us today." She pointed with her head, up to front.

Vance Hopper and his little gang were watching the movie, and once they saw us, Vance and his friends started walking towards us.

"Great, we're fucked once again." I told Gabby.

"Or maybe it's fate, admit it, it would be nice to have a couple in our friend group, other than Aryanah. Her boyfriend stinks." I agreed with her.

"Well, if it ain't the loser and the faggot. Why are you even here? You'll probably piss your pants to the horror." A guy with long hair said.

"We already watched the film lots of times, if anything, it would be you guys who'll piss their pants." I told them.

"Tch," He clicked his tongue, "yeah sure, and pigs can fly, as if we'll believe that."

Gabby and him went off on each other while I simply stared at Vance, who started back.

"You got pissy friends, you know." I told.

"And you got faggots as friends." He said.

"And you don't?" I pointed to the shortie next to him, who went red.

Vance simply shrugged it off and told his friends to go find a spot for them while I told Gabby to keep looking for ours.

"Are you really here to watch the movie or are you here to piss me off?" I asked him.

"I would've preferred just seeing you, but there's nothing much to look at."

"As if, have you seen yourself lately? You don't do anything other than play in the Pinball Machine and bully kids."

"And you don't?" He raised an eyebrow.

"We are completely different, you do it for fun, I do it when it's needed."

"What difference is it if we both do the same thing?" He asked me, getting closer to my face as he did.

"The reason why." I whispered to him.

His face was inches away from mine, but I could feel his breath hitting my face, and our noses almost touched.

He chuckled lightly and backed up away from me, going to see his friends.

"[Y/N], I found our spot!" Gabby yelled out to me and I walked towards her, waiting for the others.

[episodicnostalgia]

Batman: The Animated Series, 103 (Sep. 7, 1992) - “Heart of Ice” [Production order #14]

Written by: Paul Dini Directed by: Bruce Timm

This is the episode where…

A subzero-themed-supervillain pursues his coldblooded thirst for revenge, against the dastardly CEO who denied his wife's healthcare. This is a great episode for kids… to learn about tragedy and grief. Enjoy!

The Breakdown

Gotham wouldn’t be Gotham without another zany crime spree centered around a curiously specific motif, which in this instance is… low temperatures. That’s right, some dude using the moniker ‘Mr. Freeze’ (and wearing a full-body-cryogenic-suit) is hitting up GothCorp industries(tm) using a super-ice gun to steal a bunch of tech hardware. Since billionaires are apparently obligated to take any sort of corporate attack as a personal offense, Batman gets immediately involved, but nearly has his ass permanently handed to him.

Hoping to avoid another beat down, the Dark Knight investigates his new adversary, consequently stumbling into some very cinematically edited security footage that neatly summarizes the episode’s central conflict. The footage in question reveals that Mr. Freeze was once a humble (and notably NOT frozen) scientist named Victor “Fries” (Still pronounced ‘freeze’, though), which means that’s our cue for his tragic backstory.

Fries’ research involved placing terminally ill people into cryostasis, so that they could be revived later when a cure was discovered; It just so happened that his wife, Nora, was his primary patient-and-test subject. The questionable ethics of this aside, it seems Nora entered into her cryogenic state with informed consent, presumably because time was running short. Unfortunately, Victor’s Boss (and head of GothCorp) Ferris Boyle became so upset over the expense of keeping Nora alive that he shut down the operation, trashing Nora’s life support functions in the process and effectively murdering her. Since this is Victor’s episode, he obviously survived the incident, but not before getting thrown into some chemicals by Boyle’s goons, consequently leaving him unable to survive outside a subzero environment (because comic books), hence the cryo-suit.

Needless to say, you can see why Victor would be acting out against the GothCorp guys, but to rub salt in the wound, Ferris Boyle is set to receive a humanitarian award at an imminent ceremony. So yeah, like, obviously Freeze is gonna fuck with that, and fuck with it he does. You see, by combining all the tech that he was stealing from GothCorp, Mr. Freeze is able to build himself a tank-sized MEGA-super-ice gun. So yeah, Freeze uses that to seal in Gotham’s elite citizenry inside a ritzy hall, during the humanitarian ceremony in question. Unfortunately, Batman intervenes mere seconds before Boyle can be turned into a human popsicle, and shatters the glass containment dome surrounding Freeze’s head, after smashing a thermos of piping hot chicken soup over it. Victory!

As much as Batman has strived to save Boyle from the well deserved consequences of his own systemic machinations, our hero also has a famously strict stance against overt murder. So, before heading out, the Dark Knight hands over the video evidence of Nora’s death to a reporter, while dispensing a somewhat empty platitude that essentially amounts to “justice good, revenge bad.” Anyhow, presumably Boyle is locked up, and Mr. Freeze is taken to Arkham where he sits alone in a special subzero cell, lamenting his failure to avenge his dead wife, praying in vain that she might somehow forgive him from beyond the grave.

Now, please excuse me while I search for a tissue. I seem to be having an allergic reaction to my feelings.

The Verdict

This is one of the episodes that galvanized my love of the show early on, and a quick look at the imdb rating shows that many would share my sentiments. It’s easy to take for granted as an adult, but there was something deeply cathartic about a “kids cartoon” acknowledging that sometimes there are no happy endings. We can already see a tendency for this show to dabble in shades of grey, that most children’s fare would go out of its way to avoid. Freeze’s motivations aren’t exactly charitable, but I’d be hard-pressed to say that I wouldn’t consider doing the same in his situation, and that ability to empathize with the “villain” was something my seven-year-old psyche found very existentially intriguing.

This episode also boasts more genuinely gorgeous animation. The use of shadows against contrasting light sources holds up quite nicely (Batman has never looked better sitting in front of a computer screen), and once again the visual story telling is thoughtful and deliberate. Even where some of Freeze’s dialogue is a little more ‘flowery’, the animators give the story enough room to properly capture the pathos and grief behind his facial expressions, and it really sells. To this day the image of Freeze hunched over the ballerina effigy of his wife remains one of the show’s most tragically iconic.

Great episode.

4.5 stars (out of 5)

Parting Thoughts

Bat-thermos: No, Batman doesn’t typically carry chicken soup around with him (although I wouldn't put it past the Adam West version). He’d just come down with a head cold after a fight with Freeze where he got trapped in ice, so Alfred whipped him up some soup. Although, it’s just as well that Batman never got around to having it. Any liquid that’s scalding hot to the point where it explosively shatters glass, cold or otherwise, is almost certainly unsafe for human consumption.

Fun Bat-Facts: Prior to this, Mr. Freeze was one of the many c-list gimmick villains in Batman’s roster, whose motivations were more-or-less traditionally crime focused. Paul Dini effectively reworked Freeze’s entire origin into this far more tragic storyline, which was so well received that it was soon updated for the comics as well.

Deny, Defend, Defrost: Despite all the sci-fi/fantasy elements of this episode, the most unrealistic thing here is the idea that Batman handing over video footage of a CEO denying lifesaving healthcare, would ever lead to a successful criminal conviction. After all, Ferris Boyle did have proprietary control over the technology that was keeping Nora alive, and it’s implied that Victor Fries was operating without authorization to do so. Perhaps there would be a brief “investigation”, but I have no doubt that Boyle would have been promptly acquitted and given a raise, while Victor would be discredited and branded a terrorist. Of course, this is all conjecture. It’s not like there’s a recent, and incredibly public, real-world example from which I’ve formed the basis of my conclusion.

The Ethical-Billionaire Trope: In case it wasn’t already obvious, I tend to subscribe to the idea that excessive hoarding of wealth is a pretty crummy thing to do, but (as far as fictional billionaires go) this version of Bruce Wayne is easier to stomach. He’s regularly shown to take economic action against his corrupt peers, while investing in matters ranging from environmental conservation, to welfare programs; Still, I’m betting his private-military-arsenal comes with some steep overhead expenses that could be better spent elsewhere. And I’m not trying to be disingenuous, I realize this show is just meant for to be fun, and I don’t really take it that seriously, but I can’t entirely absolve the series for partaking in what essentially amounts to diet-pro-rich propaganda. But hey! You can’t expect to enjoy a show like this without indulging in a little bit of Nietzschean Übermensch fantasy, amiright!?

[thecrimsonhelmet]

@therebetterbepie continued from here

Is that what you think? Jason didn’t respond, he just waited. Because of course, that was what he thought. Nothing else made sense. Jason must have finally found that invisible line he couldn’t come back from, must have finally done something Bruce couldn’t forgive, must have finally broken the condition for Bruce’s ‘unconditional’ love.

Bruce hated older him, and that was why he wasn’t allowed back at the Cave, and why they weren’t going to Bruce for help. And it hurt. It hurt so badly, but if Dean just told him what he’d done wrong, maybe Jason could fix it. He could stop himself from ever making that mistake and everything would be fine.

Dean was asking for his trust, and while Jason didn’t trust him—he didn’t know him, had only just met him recently, how could he possibly actually trust him?—he didn’t have many other choices. Or any other choices.

Dick trusted Dean enough to leave Jason alone with him, and Jason trusted Dick. He supposed he could extend that trust to Dean. Just a little, and only for now, but he could.

I don’t lie to you, kid, he said, and that sure sounded super fake, but whatever. Jason would just have to deal. Dean said he didn’t want Dick knowing about what he was about to say (and that was either the truth, or the man was a fantastic liar), and that would have to be enough.

His brow furrowed in confusion when Dean started off with something that had nothing to do with Bruce. “I just haven’t hit my growth spurt, yet,” he huffed, a little annoyed at being called short. But to hear he’d end up taller than Dick was a surprise. He’d heard Dr. Leslie talking to Bruce, picked up on words like malnutrition and stunted growth. They didn’t think he’d wind up all that tall, as an adult, and he was fine with that, as long as he didn’t stay this shrimpy forever. But taller than Dick? He couldn’t even imagine.

Immediately, he opened his mouth to argue, when Dean said Bruce didn’t hate him, because what other reason was there? It snapped shut again when Dean gave one. Jason…was mad at Bruce? “I’m twelve, you can say ‘fuck’,” he muttered absently, turning everything over in his mind. Bruce did something. Something that made older Jason so angry that, knowing himself, he’d probably pitch one hell of a fit if he found himself in the Cave when things were back to normal. It was hard to accept, because yeah, Bruce messed up sometimes, but it was almost always because he was trying to care in some weird, ass-backwards way. And yeah, it made Jason angry sometimes, but it was never anything so bad that Jason would hate getting his help with something this big, that badly. It didn’t make sense.

And then Dean was saying even more random shit that didn’t have anything to do with anything, and Jason’s frown only deepened. “…I’m not Robin anymore?” Dick said Dean knew the Secret, so it was okay to talk about it. And he’d sort of figured that much, already, given what he’d been wearing when he wound up in his older self’s place, but having it confirmed still sucked in a major way. Did Bruce fire him? Was that why Jason was angry with him?

“…’Least his uniform now is better than it was. ‘S not showin’ off half his fuckin’ chest. That vee practically went down to his damn bellybutton.” He scoffed, turning back to the vegetables to try and deal with the thoughts and feelings swirling around in his head without having to look at Dean. “Stupid. ‘S just givin’ people a bigger target to shoot at. And he’s still basically wearin’ spandex! At least mine’s got body armor.”

[xmalereader]

Bruce Wayne X Brother! Reader || 2 ||

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|| Masterlist || ONE ||

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Authors Note: I did have a sadder version but lost inspiration half way and decided to end it short :/ sorry everyone!

Summary: Reader and Bruce are both brothers who grew up together. One had everything while the other lost everything.

Warnings: Slight fluff, some angst, brotherly love, slow build up.

Word count: 1.3k

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He glared at the flowers that leaned against the door frame. He glared at the letter attached to them.

Bruce Wayne

It’s been two weeks since they’ve last spoken and everyday since then his brother was always leaving him gifts behind. He told him to stay away and to pretend like he didn’t exist, he didn’t want to be known and with Bruce leaving these gifts behind only made him grow angry.

He picks up the bouquet and letter, tossing them both in the trash bin nearest to the kitchen as he leaves for the day. He’s always ignoring the gifts he gets, wether they are good or not he’s not keeping anything that’ll remind him of his brother.

He leaves his apartment building and heads down to the art shop where he sees Julie outside putting up signs. She takes notice of his glare and winced. “Another?” She questions which earns her a nod. “He won’t stop.” He grumbled out angrily as he steps inside the shop, looking for some new sketchbooks since he completed his last one two days ago. “Maybe he really wants to catch up, you know? I mean, he’s the only family you’ve got.” Julie follows him around the shop. The two have grown close to become friends.

“He’s not my brother, we were never close as kids and he rarely knows me.” Y/n huffs out, bending down to check on some notebooks.

“Yeah—well maybe he does want to know you.” Julie smiles. “Just give him a chance.” She’s been trying to convince him to bond with his brother who he rarely spoke to or even knew. The two boys were never close and they never tried to create a bond until now.

Bruce was trying to hard and all he wanted was to be alone and get back to his normal life. “Why don’t you give him something back?” Julie asks, tapping her finger against her chin as she thinks. “Leave him some art work, small work.”

“I’d rather leave him a death threat on his doorstep and tell him to fuck off.” Y/n mumbled over his shoulder as he picks a blue notebook and stands back up, sighing deeply as he ran his fingers through his hair in exhaustion. “Fine—I’ll send something small but I’m not creating a bond with him.”

“Technically, you sending something is already a form of bonding—“

“Shut up!”

Julie laughs at him as she rings him out. Y/n is quick to leave the shop and back out into the streets. He shivers at the cold wind, Gotham will soon be covered in snow and he wasn’t a big fan of the cold weather. He sighs to himself as he stuffed his things in his bag, biting his lip as he thinks back to what Julie told him about bonding with Bruce.

He didn’t know what to give Bruce, the man already had everything. What else would he need?

Y/n finds the situation complicated and instead changed his mind on even trying. He’d rather deal with Bruce being annoying towards him instead of creating that bond they never had. He zips up his jacket and began to head home, ignoring the other civilians of Gotham who also walked down the pavement. He sighs deeply to himself once he arrived back home, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

He pushed the door open only to see a sealed up letter fall from the door. He raised a brow and bends down to pick it up, turning it over to see his brothers name. He frowns deeply, holding the letter right between his fingers as he turns back around and heads down the hallway.

He’s had enough of these petty gifts. He wasn’t going to allow Bruce to bribe his way into his life, no way in hell is he going to allow that. So, he makes his way towards Wayne tower where his lovely step brother is living, watching everyone from above. Bruce was the real Wayne here in Gotham while he remained as nothing. He didn’t care about money or titles, he just wanted to be left alone and didn’t want to get involved with Bruce’s life again.

He spent too many years alone and doesn’t care if Bruce is trying to make things up. The man was far too late in trying to reconnect.

Upon his arrive to the Wayne tower, he is able to find a way inside without having to deal with anyone getting in his way. He lived in the tower himself, knowing the secret routines into sneaking out and getting in without being detected. He still remembers the days he snuck out without his parents knowledge, trying to find some freedom from being hidden.

He walks through one of the tunnels that takes him down to the basement. It used to be full of cars or other additional storage, but he didn’t expect himself to stumble upon his brothers nightly activities. The place was set up with computers along with equipment for his suit. His brothers motorcycle parked near the entrance along with his car hidden underneath a tarp. Now he knows where he keeps everything hidden.

He shakes his head with a groan, rubbing his temples as he continues to walk through the basement where he finds Bruce hunched over his computer, not knowing he was there. So, he approached his brother and slams the letter down, startling Bruce with wide eyes as he stands from his seat.

“How did you—?”

“Stop sending me things.” Y/n cuts to the chase. “If you think sending me things is going to fix our family relationship, well it’s not.” He points a finger at bruce, glaring at him. “I told you to leave me alone. To pretend like I don’t exist—now stop the bribing because it’s not going to work.”

Bruce frowns, standing from his seat as he glanced at the letter and then back at his brother. “I’m not bribing you, I just want to start over. I know that we didn’t get along well as kids but you are still my brother.”

“Step brother.” Y/n corrects him, sighing deeply. “It doesn’t matter Bruce, it’s not your responsibility to reconnect.”

“You weren’t there.” Bruces voice grows louder, stepping forward as he takes ahold of his arms, giving him a soft glare. “You weren’t at our parents funeral and you never showed up back home. I thought you were gone forever or that you ran away! I searched for you, Y/n. You can tell me that we never got along but I wanted you by my side. You’re all I have left and searched for you.”

Y/n shakes his head, pulling away from Bruce’s hold. “Bruce, that was a long time ago—focus on yourself, focus on being Gothams knight.” He gestures to the basement, letting him know that he is to continue on without him. To be Batman and to continue helping the city.

“Just give me a second chance.” Bruce steps up, a hint of desperation on his face. Bruce was alone when he grew up and expected his brother to be there with him but he wasn’t. Now that he has him back, he doesn’t want their relationship to be ruined again. “Just a chance.” He says again as Y/n looks away, debating if he should give this another try or not.

Y/n sighs deeply, rubbing his temples. “I’ll give you another chance.” He mumbled out but quickly points a finger to Bruce. “But don’t ever mention my name or that we are brothers. I want a calm and peaceful life and not have the press coming after me, got it?” He warns. Bruce nods in return. “Got it.”

“Good.” Y/n sighs deeply as he shakes his head, brushing past him as he heads towards the elevator. “I’m hungry, so I’m going to eat here.” He grumbled out, ignoring Bruce’s smirk as he enters the elevator, giving his older brother a glare while he rode the elevator up. He said he would give this a second chance, he never promised that things will go back to normal between them