#Fae!batfam

[ijustthinkhesneat]

I feel compelled to expand upon the previous fae/folklore! Batboys headcanons:

-Bruce is just a straight up normal human. I think this provides a great opportunity for angst because unlike his immortal? children Bruce does age and it terrifies them. And Bruce is young he’s in his early 30s but like his knees will crack a little or his back is slightly stiff after a bad patrol and it just sends them into a spiral because they cannot fathom their dad not being around forever. I can definitely imagine them trying to strong arm Bruce into becoming some flavor of unaging. You could go super dark or just more generally emotional angst but damn the possibilities.

-Cass is giving me shadow person. Very cryptid of her. I’m not sure that I have a clear backstory for her worked out yet. Either magic gone wrong or she’s another flavor of undead like Jason and Tim. I like to imagine she just hovers over people at night to be creepy.

-Originally I wanted to say Duke was a Will-o-the-wisp. But I’m not really sure it fits, especially since he’s primarily active during the day. Then it hit me. Mothman. My lamplight boy is a moth creature. I like the idea of him hiding his little antenna under a beany and wearing sunglasses. The wings would be difficult. But my boy is creative.

- I think Steph and Barbara are also human like Bruce they just are extra bad ass.

-Coming back to life as a magical creature warps peoples memories and emotions from both the trauma and changing into something not human. Tim is significantly less effected than Jason, at least outwardly, because he was only a toddler when he died so he didn’t have many memories or experiences to draw from, but Jason was super volatile. His memories surrounding Willis became even more dark while his memories of his mother sort of glossed over her absentee parenting and drug use. Jason can’t help but struggle with associating the negative learned experience he had with his first paternal figure with Bruce. Jason ends up going to live with Talia for a while because he doesn’t want to feel that way about his dad anymore.

-Basically I think Jason, at least mentally, is the most human of Bruce’s kids besides Damian because he actually lived a life as a human, where as Tim changed so young that he doesn’t really know how to be anything but his extremely disturbing self.

-I think Gotham just has major ‘I do not see it’ energy. Like The Batfamily? Demons from hell. The Wayne’s? Hot neurodivergent people. Did you see Dick Grayson unhinge his jaw like a fucking snake at a gala? No you didn’t he just has a really big smile. Jason Todd??? Has scales??? Nope actually he just developed early onset Eczema and he’s really self conscious about it how dare you! Tim Drake sucking the blood of the himbo blonde boy? Everyone knows Tim and Bernard are total freaks. Cassandra Cain is your sleep paralysis demon? Honestly fair.

-It’s totally a coincidence that strange misfortune befalls anyone who threatens the Wayne’s!

-Clark is Bruce’s favorite man to sleep on so he gets a pass. I don’t know why but a midwestern spin on the story of princess kaguya lives in my head rent free. Like Martha Kent is just shucking corn and then boom baby in the corn. We call that children of the corn. I still love to imagine him being like so perfect that it’s high key alien, but his little sharp nails and fangies! Maybe even slightly pointy ears. And like Clark fully thinks he is human, like his parents don’t tell him humans can’t fly until he’s in kindergarten, and even then they just tell him he is special and learned super fast and shouldn’t embarrass the other kids and Clark is such a Good BoyTM that he just never uses his powers in public cause he doesn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. Like bro doesn’t learn he is adopted until he is about to go to college, he is just straight up clueless.

-Clark learns Dick is a Fae creature when Batman brings Robin to the Watchtower cause he couldn’t get a baby sitter and Alfred doing some spooky shit like dusting the mausoleum. Like Batman just slinking around but there is this super colorful child with him. And then Dick turns and smiles and it’s just so wrong, like his mouth just stretching his face like some horror movie shit. Clark almost shots himself cause like what the fuck. Bruce told Dick to just ‘be himself’ so like he just thinks he’s being friendly. Despite being creepy as all hell Clark kinda thinks Dick is super adorable. Like was he spider crawling around the floor with all his limbs bent the wrong way while Bruce and Clark were talking? Yeah but then he just tugged on Bruce’s cape to ask for a juice box, like that’s a baby.

-Jason freaked him out in a different way. Since Jason is undead he doesn’t have a heartbeat and doesn’t need to breath so when he isn’t moving he makes literally zero noise. When he first met Clark he was just watching him from around corners and behind stair banisters and Clark was convinced he was losing his mind and hallucinating the kid from the Grudge. Then Bruce is just like “Oh you met Jason! He’s so sweet, just a little shy. He’s my second oldest! I think he likes you though.” And then a little grey blue slightly webbed hand just reaches around the corner to give a little wave and boom Clark would kill for him.

-Tim is similar in that Clark has trouble pinpointing his location because of a lack of normal bodily functions, but Tim has no idea what a boundary is. So like at first he’s a shy little toddler and then that night he’s crawling all over Clark and pranking him nonstop.

-Damian is a baby but like Clark looked in his eyes and just felt like this infant could see his past present and future and was judging him heavily. Clark was relieved cause at least he had a heartbeat.

-Cass lives to fuck with Clark. She’s Jason’s age but not only has no heartbeat and doesn’t breath, when she is in shadow form he can’t see her with X-ray vision. She can literally make herself undetectable to Superman. He learns this one night sleeping in a guest room at the manor. He gets the feeling he is being watched but can’t find anyone. Then right when he relaxes her arm shoots out from the darkness under his bed and grabs his leg. Clark screams so loud it cracks the window. And then just nearly silent muffled laughter as the arm retreats into the darkness. He X-Ray visions but nothing is there. He demands to stay in Bruce’s room after that. Bruce is just like “Oh that was just Cass. She likes playing practical jokes, she is my little princess!”

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Ring of Rage? More Like Ring of Engage

The thing is, Tim didn't mean to put it on. He was just kind of playing with it to keep his hands busy while he was thinking about the recent murder case. GCPD had their hands full with the serial robbers that didn't rank high enough to catch Batman's attention, and Tim never had a problem with helping the police if he had time.

And the ring was a perfect fidget toy, if he is being honest. Small and plain enough not to distract him, but the round stone in the middle was loosely attached, making it able to spin inside the frame. Which is what he did, again and again, like those fidget spinners.

Of course, he was just destined to drop it sooner or later. And then, when he reached under the table to pick it up, his finger caught inside the ring, and, well.

The ring was now firmly on his finger.

The problem was that he couldn't take it off.

It wasn't stuck, at least not in the general sense of it - Tim could easily spin it around, and it wasn't tight. But it wasn't loose either, and as soon as he tried to move it past the knuckle, the ring heavily disagreed, almost like shrinking down and absolutely refusing to be detached.

Barbara suggested soap, which didn't work. Dick tried for a more mechanical approach, first with pliers and then with a laser, which the ring resisted with no effort. Cass, who was actually the one who brought the damned thing into the Cave after one of her adventures in Hong Kong, just smiled and shrugged, which was of no help either. Damian offered to cut the finger off, which probably would have helped, but Tim rather liked all his limbs attached.

Bruce called Constantine. The magician took one look at the ring, barked a humorless laugh, and pat Tim on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Congrats, mate," he said, a wry smile on his lips, "I hope you file for divorce."

Although, while all the rest of the Bats and Birds devolved into fits of hysterical laughter (Steph), indignant sputtering (Damian), and cries of outrage (everyone else sans Alfred, who was pointedly unimpressed), Tim couldn't even bring himself to be surprised. Really, his life had been a shitshow since he was around ten. It's not like he didn't expect himself to be accidentally married to some otherworldly magical creature by this point.

The worst part - worse than the actual engagement, that is - was that Constantine couldn't exactly tell them who the spouse was.

What he did say was that the Ring belonged to the King of Infinite Realms, Keeper of Unseen Worlds, and Eyes of Universe. But those were only titles, and, as John Constantine begrudgingly admitted, there has been a change in the management recently, so no one really knew what the new almighty monarch looked like or what they were, much less their whereabouts.

"You can't blame me for not being keen to find out, though," John said, wincing, "The last one was a bloody tyrant, and the Realms operate under the right of conquest rule."

At least, the mage assured them that since the being had not yet come to collect their shiny new spouse, they might never show up at all. The Ring has been lost for ages after all, so maybe the King didn't even remember having one. Or, the previous King didn't, and the new one didn't know about or didn't care.

The first week after the incident, they spent anxiously researching and worrying. Bruce even went as far as making Tim wear a tracker at all times, which was not great, but he did appreciate the gesture. Kind of.

After the first month with no sign of any changes, the worry started to abate. In half a year, most of the family stopped trying to keep an eye on Tim at all times lest he suddenly disappeared. Two years later, even Tim himself treated the Ring as a natural part of his daily life. The stone inside was still a great fidget toy, engagement or not.

Three years, one month, and five days after Tim first put the Ring on his finger, when the world was falling apart and breaking in front of him and there was not a single thing he could do to stop it anymore, Tim pressed his lips to the cold, dark strip of unknown metal on his finger.

"Whoever you are, I don't even care, please," he whispered in a useless prayer, his voice hoarse and his throat dry, "please, help."

And the world came to a stop with a short, amused chuckle.

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask."

[part 2 ->]

[bet-on-me-13]

Danny is a Fae at Starbucks

So! Danny works by Fae Rules, Names and all, but he has no idea about that because he was forced to run away from Home (and the Ghost portal) before his Ghostly Education could be completed.

He runs to Gotham and eventually gets a job at Starbucks, or some other Cafe.

He has to ask the question "Could I get your name please?" A LOT while working there. And unintentionally steals hundreds of Names by the end of his first day, much less a week or a month into his job.

One day, Constantine visits Gotham for a Meeting with Batman, but by the time he gets to the Meeting Point he has bigger issues to discuss.

"Why the hell does half of your City belong to a Fae Lord?!"

[rottingghosty]

The Matriarch | DC X DP (again)

if you ever wonder in the future why most of my ideas come to me at night please let it be known i am a night owl and also i work graveyards and thats when my hamster wheel of a brain starts working. once again there will be errors cause its 2am as usual and i just write these when the idea comes and cannot bother to correct myself. this is an old draft

prompt: Gotham City is a hub where the supernatural gather, only few were allowed to establish a line in the very core of its being. It was notoriously picky about who were allowed, it was here where the Devin family- relatives to the Wayne family had settled briefly before a portion of the family separated from the main family. It was when Danny turns to attend Gotham University where he stumbles upon the who is the matriarch of his bloodline.

Danny couldn’t help but stare at the Dullahan before him, her head was on her neck but held on with ecto fishing line as stitches and a black ribbon tied around to hide them. The Dullahan gave a smile as she tilted her head curiously, a soft laugh escaping her.

“I’m uh Danny. Danny Devin.” He had abandoned the Fenton name quickly enough after he ran away a few years ago after the reveal went wrong, he remembered how his aunt Alicia mentioned that rarely anyone in the family drop the Devin name and that his mother was one of the few was a shock to the others. In Gotham, there were countless Devins— all relatives and non relatives but they took care of each other like it was nothing. He ignored the thought of aunt Alicia being disappointed how quick his m— Maddie had changed her tune about the supernatural.

“I don’t get why your ma changed her mind like that. She could’ve been the best in the family but meeting Jack changed her. She’s not the Mads I knew.” Aunt Alicia told him one night, when he called her to let her know he was okay but he couldn’t go back home.

She accepted, never questioned and its why she was one of the few he kept in contact with. She’d been the one to tell him about their bloodline— how attuned they were with anything involving the veil and how death tended to not keep them down.

“We’re an omen, our very essence is connect to those involved in death. Maddie forgot that.”

“You are one of mine, yes. I can feel it.” The Dullahan said softly as she reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, his core releasing a pleasant trill at the affectionate touch. He hadn’t gotten affection like this often, his par— Jack and Maddie would pat his shoulder of give him a hug but it wasn’t enough. Jazz would try her best but she tended to avoid physical contact and he couldn’t blame her— not when the adults in their family were more focused on ectobiology over being there for their kids.

The touch was filled with motherly warmth and if Danny was in ghost form he believed he would’ve been floating off the ground and following the touch like those cartoons of people floating off to follow the scent of pies. It’s like his very core knew he wouldn’t get hurt, that the Dullahan would rather be Ended than cause harm on one of her own.

“My name is Maeve Devin, you can call me grandma or granny. If that feels uncomfortable, aunt Maeve is fine as well. As long as you are in this city, you are under the protection of mine just as the others are. Lady Gotham is a family friend.”

Aunt Maeve said as she brushed his bangs away to take a closer look at his features just as he took in hers as well. Her skin was pale and she had long red hair in loose curls and it stopped at her waist. He could see various streaks of white that peeked out whenever she moved her head. Blue eyes similar to his own, she was a bit shorter than him since he’s been gaining height after finally being able to catch up on the nutrients he needed when he was still in high school.

She wore clothing that was casual, a loose band t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants but he honestly wasn’t surprised cause it is a weekend and he hadn’t planned on visiting his mother’s side of the family yet but he somehow found his way here.

“Oh the Bats will adore you.” Maeve murmurs and Danny was kinda afraid, he doesn’t know what the Bats are but he can definitely hear the capital B in the word. Should he be worried? He wants to be worried but he decides to trust Aunt Maeve because he knows Fae can’t lie.

Oh wow his family are descendants of a Fae. Huh, is that why he’s horrible at lying? He mentally puts a pin on that thought for future Danny to handle.

“Come, the others wish to meet you.” Aunt Maeve tugs him along deeper into the house— it was more of a manor and Danny has a silent crisis over the fact that the Devin family are rich enough to afford a manor as he crosses the threshold of the house.

tldr:

i just like the idea that danny was bound to die at any point because his family is bound to death from maddie’s side and its why he got chosen to be a halfa by the realms when the portal opened and basically killed him enough to bring him back. death’s the grandmother who likes her grandbabies but definitely picks favorites on the ones near death to give them a gift thats basically ✨the very being of death (maeve for example)✨

maddie’s side of the family are heavily connected to the supernatural/death scene but maddie cut ties to that and became very anti supernatural because of jack and its why she’s that way today. alicia’s disappointed but doesnt fight maddie on it because everyone else cut maddie off and alicia worries for her sister yk. phantom reveal gone wrong, alicia called aunt maeve to take danny in and maeve pulled some strings so he has a ride to gotham u.

danny has yet to realize that since maeve is a dullahan, death was always going to come to him because she had visited once because the scent of death on danny was STRONG before his accident and he saw her briefly before it. once he realizes he has many feelings about this and it doesn’t help that the wayne family reek of death.

he’ll settle in the devin manor and claim it as his haunt one day but also danny’s silently like “what the fuck” because his bloodline is fae??? WHO THE FUCK SMASHED A DULLAHAN??? all while bruce gets a surprise visit from maeve who drops danny off to be babysat (despite him being 18) and is like “cousins. play nice, i have to hunt :)”

every supernatural in the devin family were human once before they were blessed (in a fucked up way) by death

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 245

Now Danny would openly admit, if only to himself, that he had a type when it came to relationships. If they were strong, if they were a threat to him, then chances were he would develop some sort of crush. It was how he had dated Sam and Valerie (And Johnny & Kitty) when he was a bit younger, and hell, Sam had technically succeeded in killing him, even if partly. 

Attraction towards smart people who could kill him was honestly par for the course for a Fenton or Nightingale anyway. 

And he’d also admit he enjoyed a bit of time travel, learning about times and culture long before his time, to the point that he could blend in in ancient times just as easily as the time he had been born in. That it was natural to mutter in a language lost to time. 

So color him surprise when another man perks up in the bar he had paused to get a drink in, vibrant green eyes gleaming in interest and responds in turn. And not just in the language, but able to keep up when he talks about things that once existed but haven’t been rediscovered yet. 

And one thing led to the other, and there might have been some assassins and some shenanigans that end with them both laughing together in an inn and then more and- Okay he has a type alright, and he’s ticking each box! How is that fair? 

[arrowheadedbitch]

Tim goes missing for three weeks and no one knows where he is, everyone thinks he's dead. Then he bursts into the room and when asked where he's been, he responds "All that matters is my name is still mine" and refuses to elaborate

[dclovesdanny]

DcxDp prompt

An idea I just thought of

I have read a few prompts in different places where Danny is a Fae or is assumed to be Fae and I was just thinking of this story I learned when I was little about how the Fae would lure children who felt unwanted by their families and whisk them away into their realm.

So now I want someone more talented than me to write something about Danny befriending either Damien or Tim, and it being focused on how inadequate the bat family member in question feels, or their feelings about not being a part of the family, and the family thinks that they are being lured in by the Fae. So, naturally, they start trying to show their love to the person, hoping to avoid losing them, while also realizing that this would only happen if the person felt unloved and oh my God, did we push them away to the point where they don’t think we see them as family?

The thing is, the bat family is all somewhat emotionally constipated. They also don’t talk to each other about things, so I don’t think this would go very well. Maybe one of them even overhears the family member in question talking to Danny about going with them somewhere, and immediately assumes that Danny is going to kidnap said family member.

I’m trying not to be very overt about which member of the family it is, because honestly, I feel like it could go whichever way you want to. I’m personally picturing Tim or Damian, but I could also see it happening with Jason post resurrection after he and the bat family are sort of uneasily friendly or even Dick or Duke(I don’t think Cass would be the one being ‘lured’, she would more be on the sidelines just watching this unfold.)

Maybe they even think Danny was originally human that was turned into Fae due to being taken away from his family, and one of them sees clockwork or something and assumes that clockwork has sort of set up a system where Danny lures away people for him, while Danny is under the delusion that he is saving these people. This would further work if it’s a bad Fentons au, because the bat family would look into it and notice how Danny has not physically changed in all of this time since he went ‘missing’(in reality, it was a reveal gone wrong and Danny is just staying with clockwork now.)

Meanwhile, Danny is making friends with the cute boy who he finds very interesting, even if the person’s family keeps being weird. She might have a little bit of a grudge against some of the family members from what his friend has told him, so he might make a few comments about things, but he doesn’t understand why they’re acting so hostile..

The angst! The misunderstandings! The total difference in point of views from the bat family to Danny! The absolute chaos! The bat family being forced to communicate emotions!

Someone please write more for this and let me know if you want me to elaborate on my ideas for the different routes it could take.

[antebunny]

a cuckoo in the nest

(Aka the Fae!Tim fic that I decided not to finish and thus am dumping on Tumblr)

The creature that the Unseelie Queen forces on Bruce is disguised as a human child. Worse, it resembles Bruce’s two current children. Skin on the lighter side, lighter than either of his kids, black hair, blue eyes, and a light sweater and sweatpants combination that either Dick or Jason might wear. It is quite the contrast to the wild fey flashing too-bright teeth at Bruce.

“You will welcome it into your home,” the Unseelie Queen commands. “You will treat it as you would your own son. You will do nothing to indicate that it is anything but a human boy.”

One gnarled claw curls around the creature’s shoulder. The creature’s expression remains eerily blank. Another point in favor of its otherworldliness. A normal human child would show some reaction to the Unseelie Queen’s possessive presence. This creature stays perfectly still.

“In return…” the Unseelie Queen crooks one finger of her free hand in a come here motion and a figure stumbles out of the dark trees surrounding their little clearing. 

It is Jason. Injured beyond belief, blue eyes red and weeping. Bruce’s knee jerks, but he forces himself to remain within the small summoning circle. A thin line of salt and iron protecting him from the Unseelie Queen’s unfathomable powers.  

“You get your son back.” She presents Jason to Bruce like she’s selling a prize horse at an auction. One hand on the back of his neck. “Alive and well. As he was before his death. The memory of his death will remain, but dulled. That is my bargain, Batman.”

Bruce is not fool enough to give the Unseelie Queen his real name, nor is he stupid enough to lie to her. Using his nighttime alter ego presents the perfect compromise. Batman is not his real name, nor is it a lie. So it is Batman’s black gauntlets that curl into fists as Bruce considers the Unseelie Queen’s deal. 

It is the height of stupidity to take a creature he does not know the abilities of into Wayne Manor, and pretend it is his son. Given what he knows of the Unseelie Queen, such a creature could cause unfathomable damage to his family, to Gotham. This is a bet of Bruce’s own intelligence against a fey hundreds of times older than Bruce. He could very well end up losing both of his sons this time. 

“B,” Jason sobs. “Wha’s goin’ on?”

But the alternative is to walk away from a chance to have Jason back. This is not the universe where Bruce is capable of such an act. At least with the Unseelie Queen’s bargain, Bruce has a chance to limit any potential harm. Perhaps he can even outsmart the creature and prevent all damage whatsoever. If she had asked him to kill someone, or something more direct, Bruce wouldn’t stand a chance.

Bruce uncurls his fists slowly. “I accept.”

With those two words, both the creature and Jason are invited into the circle. The creature steps forward calmly, Nike sneakers passing over the salt and iron easily. Its arms are flat by its sides, and its head comes up to Bruce’s chest. If it were human, it would be around the same age that Jason was when Bruce caught him stealing the Batmobile’s tires. A blatant attempt at emotional manipulation on the Unseelie Queen’s part. 

Jason is shoved forwards by the Unseelie Queen. He trips over his own feet, but Bruce is there to catch him this time, to gently fold him in his arms and check him over for injuries.  

“I’m getting you home,” Bruce promises. 

And if he has to bring home the Unseelie Queen’s little spy as well to make it happen, then that is a price Bruce is more than willing to pay to have his family whole again.

~

Tim finally has the chance to be part of a family again, and it is the best family he could have imagined. He can scarcely believe his luck as Mr. Wayne–Batman, for now–leads Tim and Jason (who doesn’t look so good) into the Batcave. Tim is so caught up trying not to gape in awe at everything that he misses the hushed conversation that Mr. Wayne has with his butler, and the slightly louder, much longer conversation he has with his eldest son. The original Robin is standing all of five meters away from Tim! He’s going to be Tim’s older brother!

A lifetime ago, when Tim was still fully human, with parents and the last name Drake, he’d been obsessed with Batman and Robin. Had followed them around pitch black rooftops, through the streets buzzing with neon lights and vices, just to get a glimpse of his heroes. Discovered Robin’s true identity shortly before Bruce Wayne adopted Jason Todd, and a new Robin came to roost in Gotham’s skyscrapers. 

Then Janet and Jack Drake gave their only child to the Unseelie Queen in exchange for money and power, and Tim lost his name, and his home, and his entire world. 

 “What is your name?” Mr. Wayne interrupts Tim’s memories. He looms in front of Tim in an empty Batcave. Mr. Pennyworth and both Robins are long gone. It is only Tim, in his ill-fitting human clothes, and Batman. 

Tim knew this question was coming. Mr. Wayne must think that Tim is a human child, and that asking for his name is a simple exchange of pleasantries. He cannot know that Tim is no longer fully human, and his name is no longer free to give or take, nor his own anymore. Luckily, Tim prepared a response. He does not want to lie to Batman, after all, but as much as he wishes he could trust Mr. Wayne with his name, he knows better.

“What do you want to be called?” Mr. Wayne amends, when Tim fails to answer fast enough.

Carefully, Tim purses his lips and whistles. Hoo-ooh. A sharp ho followed by a lower, longer oo sound. The call of a common cuckoo. Hoo-ooh. Hoo-ooh.

Mr. Wayne frowns in response. Tim panics briefly–did he not get the call right? He practiced so much!–and tries again, a little faster. Hoo-ooh, hoo-ooh, hoo-ooh. Please accept me. I know I’m an unwanted interloper, an imposter. Please accept me anyway.

“Do you have a name in English?” Mr. Wayne asks. He repeats the question in a few more languages. Tim recognizes the Spanish and Russian, but he’s not sure what the others are. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Tim nods frantically. He swallows with difficulty, and then whispers: “Tim.” 

It is not a lie, and it is common enough that hopefully Tim can remain anonymous. He is a common cuckoo bird, after all, not even remarkable in his imposition. 

“Well, Tim,” Mr. Wayne says, voice dropping to an ominous growl, “I will uphold my end of the bargain. But do not think for a second that I can be tricked into trusting you. And if you give me even the slightest indication that you intend to hurt a member of my family in any way, I will not hesitate to take you down. Do you understand?”

Tim has not cried in years, not since his parents gave him away. But tonight a peculiar wetness pricks at the corners of his eyes as he nods. “Yes, Mr. Wayne, sir,” he says quickly. “I understand.”

It isn’t as though Mr. Wayne is wrong. Tim is an interloper, here to trick Mr. Wayne and his family into caring about Tim. All Mr. Wayne did was make it clear that he will continue to pretend that Tim is part of his family and that he will not be tricked. There’s no reason for Tim to get emotional about it. 

It’s just that Tim hoped, if just for a moment, that it wouldn’t be pretend.

The Wayne family, aside from Mr. Wayne himself, is very easily tricked. Mr. Pennyworth (“call me Alfred, Master Tim”) lets Tim follow him around even though he won’t let Tim help with chores no matter how much he insists that he can do it. Tim is fine with that, really. For now it is better to be tolerated, if not liked, than not to be tolerated at all. He has noticed that even Mr. Wayne defers to Alfred in household matters, so it is good to have the real head of household somewhat in his corner.

Most days, Tim sits on the kitchen counter while Alfred cooks, and awkwardly attempts to answer questions about his previous life. It is mixed, as far as conversations go. The questions are very stressful for Tim, who is never sure how much he should say, but smelling and eating human food after so long without it still brings tears to his eyes. 

Simmering tomato floats through the air as Alfred adds a pinch of rosemary to his soup. Tim’s mouth waters, and he swallows before talking. 

“I had a really long argument with a rosemary plant, once,” Tim recalls ruefully. “It was dumb. But I was so desperate for human food that I’d’ve said just about anything.”

The rosemary plant refused, in the end. Everyone was too scared of the Unseelie Queen to help Tim. 

Alfred stirs his pot carefully. “You had an argument…with the rosemary plant?” He clarifies neutrally. 

“Yep.” Tim’s legs swing back and forth a bit faster. “I told you, it was really dumb. I would’ve tried with the mushrooms, but they’re mean and scary, really scary. And old.”

Some of the mushrooms are even older than the Unseelie Queen, which makes them even scarier. Except that the Unseelie Queen has Tim’s name, and the mushrooms do not. 

Tim blushes all of a sudden, mindful of his audience. “I didn’t mean being old makes them scary,” he mumbles, furious at himself. He is supposed to be trying to get Alfred to like him, and instead he insults him! What is wrong with him?

“It is quite alright, dear boy,” Alfred says. “I assure you no offense was taken. Now, what is it you were saying about being desperate for human food?”

Mr. Grayson (“call me Dick, everyone else does!”) is the easiest to trick into caring about Tim. He is actually not sure what he did to pull it off. Dick stays at Wayne Manor most weekends, and the first time he comes over, before Tim has a chance to enact any of his thirty-four “Trick Robin Into Liking Me” plans, Dick asks if he wants to get ice cream. Tim accepts eagerly, and Dick smiles so brightly that Tim nearly forgets about Mr. Wayne scowling in the background. After that, Dick always makes a point to seek him out. Tim is pretty sure he makes a bumbling mess of himself every conversation, but somehow Dick keeps laughing it off and taking Tim out for another slightly reckless and exceedingly enjoyable excursion. 

Jason is a bit harder to trick. He is still healing mentally and emotionally from his death, so he’s off-duty as Robin. Since school is out for the summer, this means he spends most of his time curled up in the library. Tim once hovered behind him for hours, trying to work up the courage to start a conversation, when Jason turned and snapped what so aggressively that Tim immediately ran away. 

In general, he is surly, defensive, angry, and reluctant to accept affection from his real family, much less Tim. Eight plans to trick Jason into caring about him are complete failures that end in Tim further earning Jason’s ire. Another fourteen plans are thrown out before Tim can enact them, after the humiliation of the eight failures. 

Eventually, Tim turns to Dick for help. Dick has alluded to a rough start with Jason, which sounds fake to Tim. Dick was Robin, how could anyone not like him? But maybe he can give Tim advice. 

It is a sweltering Saturday in late July when Dick pulls away from Wayne Manor in some type of fancy car with Tim in the co-pilot seat. 

“I need advice,” Tim says nervously as Bristol’s mansions flash by. Tim did his best not to look at the Drakes’ manor. He succeeded in not looking, but he wondered whether his parents started staying in Gotham more often once Tim was gone, and the question won’t leave him alone.

“What’s up?” Dick asks easily. He lazes in the driver’s seat, two fingers on the steering wheel. It is this nonchalance which convinces Tim to go through with his question. 

Tim’s hands tap out some pattern on his forearms and elbows. “How do I get Jason to like me?”

Dick curls his right hand around the wheel and glances at Tim quickly. Tim still struggles reading expressions, so he has absolutely no idea what’s going through Dick’s mind. Maybe he’s thinking that there’s no way that Jason will ever like him. Maybe Dick doesn’t like Tim. Maybe he’s only acting like he cares about Tim because he’s so nice.

“Jason doesn’t…” Dick sighs. “Not like you. He’s just going through a lot right now. On top of the stuff with his birth mother, he also, well, you know.”

“Died,” Tim supplies.

Dick’s shoulders inch towards his ears. Veins in his forearm pop as the hand on the wheel tightens. “Yeah. So, just, give him some time, yeah?” 

But Tim doesn’t have time. He has until the end of the summer, approximately two more months. To the fae the end of summer is not a specific day, but rather a sensation. Decay on the doorsteps, rot in the wind. Hot breezes melting into simmering afternoons. The crisp crackle of a leaf underfoot. 

If he cannot trick every member of the Wayne family into loving him by the end of summer, he must return to the Unseelie Queen, this time forever. That was her bargain. This is Tim’s one chance to escape her. 

Tim looks out his window at the cold, unfeeling mansions and nods miserably. “Okay.”

Jason does not like the new kid. Everything about him is just slightly off. He walks like he’s surprised that his feet come back down. He talks like he’s describing a dream and expects everyone else to understand. He’s constantly watching Jason silently with those eerie, unblinking eyes of his. Despite living in the same house as Batman, Tim is quieter still, always popping up unannounced and thrusting a trinket or a book at Jason. 

This isn’t even getting into the part where Jason knows he died but doesn’t quite remember it and keeps having nightmares he doesn’t understand. He vaguely recalls a forest that wasn’t a forest and a hand that wasn’t a hand, curling around his shoulder. Bruce won’t stop treating Jason like glass and Dick still looks weepy sometimes, but neither will let Jason out as Robin. All three are letting Jason get away with everything except the things he actually wants to do. It’s infuriating. 

In other words, the summer is off to a great start.

“Bets on the new kid,” Jason says. He’s in the middle of making himself peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, because he is the only one that Alfred allows in the kitchen. 

Dick is draped dramatically across the counter, because according to him it’s so tragic how Jason never wants to do anything fun. Jason hit him over the head with a spatula in response. Dick whined about that, so Jason hit him even harder. 

“What are we betting on?” Dick asks.

Jason half-shrugs. “Like…he’s clearly not human. What is he?”

Dick sits up on the counter. “Yeah, he keeps talking about talking to plants.”

“And plants are always a little bigger and shinier after he leaves the room,” Jason adds.

“Maybe he’s got some relation to Ivy,” Dick suggests.

This entire conversation would not be necessary if Bruce would just cough up the answer. But he responds to every question about Tim with some variation of “hmmm” or “I cannot say.” Jason even sucked up his pride and asked Barbara, but she doesn’t know what’s up with the new kid either. Jason suspects that Bruce promised Tim he wouldn’t tell, because–

“Have you seen his reaction to food though?” Jason asks rhetorically. “It’s like he’s so shocked he’s being fed.”

And he lets that hang, because maybe it’s true, and not a joke. 

Dick scratches his chin. “And he says ‘human’ like he’s not one.” 

“Okay.” Jason sets his mixing bowl down on the counter Dick claimed as his seat. “My theory: he’s a metahuman whose parents–or guardians–or whoever was in charge of him–treated as less than human, and he made B promise not to say ‘cause he doesn’t know we ain’t shit like his parents yet.”

“I mean.” Dick scoots off the counter when Jason comes swinging with the baking tray. He attempts to help Jason spread the parchment paper until Jason glares at him. “He thinks you hate him.”

Jason freezes in the middle of scooping a handful of cookie batter into the tray. Guilt curdles, expired milk and broken egg shells, in his stomach. “I don’t.”

“I know.” 

Dick doesn’t mention the part about Jason dying, because he’s ultra sensitive to that sort of thing. Jason has debated making extra jokes about his death just to force Dick to get used to it, but he hasn’t gone through with it. He’s never seen Dick cry like he did when Jason came back. They haven’t talked about it, because Jason is allergic to big emotions and Dick is nothing but an oversized bundle of big emotions. But it lingers in the back of Jason’s mind, everytime Dick pretends that everything is fine. You mourned me. It’s so obvious, said like that. Of course he mourned Jason. But it’s not an experience Jason ever expected to live through.

Not even Jason knows how he came back to life. He suspects Bruce had something to do with it, but Bruce won’t say. The continuous silence from him is driving Jason to insanity where the Joker and dying failed. 

“Fair tidings.” Tim’s head pops up by Jason’s shoulder and he forcibly suppresses a surprised reaction. Another weird-ism of Tim’s: what sort of American kid says fair tidings? “Can I help?”

“No,” Jason snaps immediately, curling one arm around the batter bowl. 

Dick makes a noise, and Jason winces. He didn’t mean to snap at the kid. It’s just that everything about Tim sets off sirens in Jason’s head. And usually by the time Jason is ready to invite the kid in, he’s run off. 

“Fine,” Jason grunts. He shoves the bowl at Tim. “We’re making cookies.” 

 Tim stares at the bowl with owlish eyes, and Jason clamps down on the urge to yell at the kid again. 

“Hey, Timmy,” Dick says faux-casually. “I never asked. You got a last name?”

Tim’s head snaps up. “Why do you want to know?”

Jesus, he sounds one wrong word from breaking into tears. Jason exchanges a glance with Dick, who is taken aback by the uncharacteristic bout of aggression from the weird kid, and reluctantly decides to intervene. 

“It’s ‘cause we wanna get to know the baby bro better,” Jason says gruffly. “Ya know. Bondin’ and shhhh, uh, stuff.” 

Tim’s blue eyes widen into twin moons. “You want to be my big brother?”

The naked hope in his voice is really not helping with Jason’s guilt. 

“Yeah.” Jason throws down a few more lumps of cookie dough a bit more forcefully than required. “Ain’t no way B is returning you to the kid store.”

Actually, he’s only seen Bruce interact with Tim once, and it was super awkward. But he’s pretty confident that Bruce wouldn’t take in a kid if he didn’t want that kid to be his kid. 

Dick is smiling dopily, so Jason is pretty sure he said enough right words in the right order. “So?” Dick prompts. “Got a last name, baby bird?”

Tim’s hands float to his elbows and start tapping out an unknown pattern. “It’s, uh. Drake.”

“Tim Drake,” Jason tests out, and neither he nor Dick miss the way that Tim does his best impression of a wooden plank at the sound of his name. “Why does that sound familiar?”

“Dunno.” Dick snaps his fingers and points at Tim. “Wait! You’re our neighbor!”

Tim gives Dick his weird blank stare, so Dick points at Jason instead. “The Drakes are our neighbors,” he explains. “The parents were always out of the country for vacation or something, but I remember they had a little kid tag along with them once or twice. What happened?”

“Bruh.” Jason shoves the tray in the oven with his bare hands, because he isn’t a wuss and he’s also not stupid enough to touch the burning hot metal with bare hands. “They supervillains or something?”

Tim shakes his head. His hands press flat against his legs. “They sold me.”

He says it so flatly that Jason exchanges another look with Dick just to make sure he heard right. But Dick’s jaw drops in outrage, so clearly they heard the same thing.

“How? When? To who?” Dick’s eyes narrow. He’s dropping into protective big brother mode. Jason has had the dubious pleasure of experiencing it first-hand a few times. “Does B know about this?”

But Tim shakes his head again. “I can’t say.”

“Are they threatening you?” Jason jumps in, pretending his tone isn’t leaning in the same big brother direction as Dick’s is. “You know B has Supes on speed-dial, right? Ain’t no one in the world who can get away with threatening you now that B’s got you.”

Tim shakes his head a third time, and Jason really has no idea if Tim actually means no or if he’s just moving his head. 

Dick and Jason exchange another worried look, but this time Jason isn’t sure what Dick is thinking. Mostly because Tim just gave them about a thousand more questions in the process of answering one. 

[alittlesongbirdchirps]

FAE BLOOD DICK GRAYSON IDEA Imagine Dick, unknown to him, descends from a fae's bloodline and is the reason why he seems to be able to do what most regular humans can't; for example, the quadruple flip.

And Dick has enough fae blood in him to curse the robin mantle unknowingly, and that's why those after Dick, who he doesn't give the mantle too, meet such tragedies, even Jason dying.

And the curse is different for each robin depending on how Dick viewed each of them; for example:

With Jason, who Dick viewed as someone who took his spot, someone who dared take his name, the curse of the robin mantle began with him and was the worse. Resulting in Jason's Robin career being unlucky and eventually leading to his demise.

I mean, the Joker didn't kill Jason because he was Jason but because he was Robin.

Tim, the next robin, also suffers a lot on his journey and nearly dies multiple times. But due to Dick viewing Tim as a replacement for Jason and not for him, the curse doesn't kill him.

When Steph came to be robin, she wasn't robin long enough for the curse to affect her; and most of the shit that happened to her happened afterwards with no correlation.

Damien, the robin that Dick gave the mantle to. He doesn't suffer because he's robin. He suffers because he's Damien Al-Ghul. And after he picked Damien, the robin curse nulled.

Who eventually figures it out? None other than Jason. He's always been smart, maybe not as smart as Tim, but he's pretty good at spotting patterns, especially regarding anything Robin-related.

It didn't take a genius to realise a lot of bad shit happens to those who have taken the mantle after Dick due to being robin, all but Damien, the robin he had picked.

So a little bit of digging, It didn't take too long for Jason to figure out the robin mantle was cursed, but he didn't expect Dick; to have been the one to curse it. So he goes to confront the golden boy, Bruce's favourite, at his apartment, and as his fist is about to knock on the door, he is frustratingly stopped by Tim, who had figured this out way before Jason did.

Before Jason punches Tim's lights out, for knowing for so long and not stopping it, he lets Tim speak, and Tim tells him Dick doesn't know, and he isn't sure what will happen if he ever finds out. He's done the research, and it doesn't look good.

Jason doesn't seem to care, so Tim asks him to imagine if he ever found out; their older brother, who has a guilt complex like no other, and is a glutton for punishment, found out that almost every tragedy, even Jason's death was a result of himself, imagine what Dick would do to himself subconsciously and consciously with his abilities.

This stops Jason dead in his tracks. He feels conflicted. He can't forgive what happened, even if it's unintentional, but he doesn't want him to suffer. Uncertain about what to do now, he tells Tim that if this curse affects Damien or any future robins after him, he won't keep his mouth shut.

And then Jason leaves the apartment building, and Tim follows him out; unknown to both of them, Dick was listening from the other side of the door, feeling horrified with himself.

Who knows what he will do now, knowing what he unintentionally has done.

(Can you tell this was my first AU, I'd written, i've slightly edited it so it was readable. LOL)

[gummygoatgalaxy]

Bombshell

This is my new dc villain oc named Bombshell aka Bonnie Burke

She's a fae and she's shipped with both Beast Boy and Jason Todd!

She has friendos that are gonna be shown eventually

Came up with her while listening to Owl City's song "Bombshell Blonde" lol

[toriafiction]

Fae Bound

Jason doesn't know who he inherited his traces of magic from, and he doesn't care. Though weak, it's helpful and has kept him out of some pretty bad situations. It isn’t anything fantastic. He just kind of senses the basic intentions of those immediately around him. Like if someone is dangerous or untrustworthy. It’s nothing specific, but it has saved him a lot of hurt living in the Alley.

If he ever meets whoever he inherited it from, he won't thank them. You never thank a fae, that is admitting that they have done something for you and puts you in their debt.

One night, Jason has a chance meeting with Robin when he is still just a young child, and he knows that he and Dick are meant for each other. It could be fate, destiny, or maybe they’re soulmates. All of that could mean the exact same thing. Jason doesn’t know, and as he gets older, he decides that he doesn’t really care.

Because he knows that he has fallen hard for Dick Grayson.

Too bad Dick doesn’t feel the same.

After the Joker is done with Jason and leaves him to die, Jason is capable of getting out of the warehouse. He even drags his piece-of-shit mother along with him because he is a hero, dammit, and he won’t just leave her to die even if she deserves it.

Just as Jason makes it to the door, it’s like he’s struck by lightning, he knows that somewhere out there in the universe, Dick is also hurt, but unlike Jason, he is quickly dying.

He could survive, but it will be in a universe without Dick, and that isn’t a place Jason wants to be in.

It’s his mother who offers him a solution. She’s dying, and as a last token of apology, she offers him a trade. Jason can stay and die in the warehouse with her, and Dick will live all the years that Jason should have had.

There isn’t a choice to be made.

Jason curls around the woman whom he hates for betraying him and loves for helping him save the one person he loves more than his own life or anything in all the infinite universes. He holds her close in a tight hug and waits to die.

~ ◆ ~ ◇ ~ ◆ ~◇~◆ ~ ◇ ~ ◆ ~◇~◆ ~ ◇ ~ ◆ ~◇~

Elsewhere in the universe, Dick makes an impossible recovery and knows.

He knows that when he makes it home, his Little Wing won’t be there.

It hurts.

It hurts more than he ever believed it could. It’s like somebody shoved their hands into his chest and tore all his insides out and took his soul along with it.

He's cold and hollow, and he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to live like this. Why would anyone make him live like this?!

Dick isn’t even aware that he’s thrashing and screaming while being pinned to the ground by his friends and teammates. He screams and cries so violently he rips his vocal cords, leaving his throat raw and bloody.

Even after he finally goes still and quiet, he cries and cries like he isn’t ever going to stop. Like he is going to shed enough tears for the whole damned universe.

How could Jason leave him like this?

They were supposed to have more time.

They were supposed to have a future together. They just needed a little more time…

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Shit Fae!Danny Has Said While Living With Waynes

Danny, making a 'got your nose' gesture: Hey Jason, look, I've got your name!

Red Hood, who suddenly can't remember his own name: What the fuck

Bruce, in a tired dad voice: Danny, please, we talked about this, return your brother's name back

Danny: Oh, come on, it's not like he even uses it

Jason, thankfully remembering his name: And I repeat, what the f u c k

Steph, at dinner: I was wondering, what do faeries even eat normally? Like, flowers and stuff?

Danny, his eyes two black voids inside his eyesockets: The souls of the innocent

Steph: So that's a 'no' on the flowers?

Danny, back to normal and shoving a bagel in his mouth: I mean, I can, but would you want to stay on the crumbs-only diet when you are in a 5-star Michelin restaurant?

Tim: It's actually 3-star. Michelin rating system only has three stars, not five.

Dick: Are you saying that people are basically food joints for Fae?

Damian, at Constantine: It would do you well to choose your wording better when speaking to fair folk-

Danny, very much a fair folk, appearing out of thin air in the Cave: Yolo, s'up bitches, guess who's back in town!

Damian: -even when they do not necessarily do so themselves.

Constantine, looking between them: Are you sure you're the human and he is the changeling?

Tim, 46 hours of no sleep: Hey, if you can take a name from someone, does it mean you can take, like, other things that have no real shape or form?

Danny: Names do have shape and form, they even have taste. Yours is like a ping-pong ball made out of really dense cotton candy with banana-caramel flavor.

Tim, losing his touch with reality: Dense banana cotton candy...

Danny: By the way, I know you wanted to ask me if I could take your need to sleep from you, and theoretically, the answer is yes.

Tim, his whisper full of hope: ...will you?..

Danny: No. Either go to sleep or keep suffering. I'm not here to make your life easier.

Danny, after a half-an-hour rant on the Fae customs and traditions: -and Fae never tell the truth, but also never lie. It's a work of art, you know, say what you want but never in a way that makes sense.

Jason: So Fae just like to fuck with people.

Danny, looking him in the eyes, smiling and winking: Sure, humans are very fuckable.

Bruce, trying very hard not to pay attention to this: Can you make an example?

Danny: Sure. I lied.

Bruce: Where?

Danny: :)

Bruce, feeling like he is about to lose his mind: W h e r e ?

Alfred, right after he heard Dick's muffled screaming in the hallway: Young Master Danny, would you mind returning Master Dick his ability to talk in coherent sentences?

Danny, obediently standing up and walking out of the library: ...okay.

Bruce: How come he always listens to you?

Alfred: He knows what I will do if he doesn't.

Danny, returning to the library: He will change all the silverware to iron-ware. As well as the doorknobs and hairbrushes and lightswitches and everything else.

Alfred: Did you fix Master Dick's shoes?

Danny: I did. But I still think that making all of his shoes left ones was funny.

Alfred: Indeed, it was.

| <-prev | next-> |

There's also a fic now.

[ghost-bxrd]

Do you have more fae!Dick headcanons, but from the batfam or his friends pov? 🥺

Check out this awesome post for a phenomenal addition to the Fae verse!

But in case you wanna stick with only Dick being fae, here’s some more headcanons for you, hehe ✨ I can never say no to doing more 👏

I don’t know enough about Dick’s friends to do a good pov for them, but here’s Bruce and Jason for now 💚

Bruce

Bruce knew something was other about Dick from the moment he started screaming when his parents fell and every single animal inside the circus went wild

Dick is a strange child. he never lies, but he’s got this uncanny ability to maneuver around the truth and make it bend to his will. It comes in handy during his Robin days, but Bruce will be the first to admit it creeps him out a bit. Even thinks that sound like a lie on surface level and up being truthful. To the letter.

Contracts. During their time as Batman and Robin, Bruce unknowingly enters into multiple little deals with Dick without being aware of it. Dick never takes advantage, but there’s one instance where Bruce finally realizes how important it is to leave absolutely no loopholes in orders or wordings when Dick nearly kills someone and it still falls into the terms of their agreement

The manor. Things have never been completely normal about the ancestral home, but with Dick around the walls seem to breathe. There’s always a light on behind some window even when it’s late and Alfred is long asleep. At night something scratches along the walls and the scent of rain and mushrooms lingers in the air. Neither Bruce or Alfred ever find its source. Hallways become long and winding when you’re half asleep. The walk to the restroom ends up being at least ten minutes.

Bruce yells at Dick and uses his full name for the first time and Dick just— folds. It’s not his true name, but he treats it as such. And Bruce is horrified at the way Dick’s entire form seems to warp and gain new joints and twist itself outside the human imagination. But then he blinks and it’s just Dick again, glaring balefully, hissing at Bruce not to use his name in anger. Ever. Bruce is too startled to do anything but promise he won’t.

Promises. Dick uses them sparingly, but when he does he upholds them with a vengeance. Bruce learns to never, ever make Dick promise something that will endanger him. Because dick would still follow through on it blindly.

Promises made by other people. Dick becomes vindictive if he thinks someone isn’t upholding their end of the bargain. The first time it happens, a simple thing about being home in time for dinner, Bruce got assaulted by rabid deer with curiously sharp teeth on his way to the car. In the middle of Gotham City. Bruce and Dick have a serious talk afterwards.

Jason

Dick is less than thrilled when Jason is declared Robin. Fae are possessive. That’s his name Bruce gave away. That’s his family Jason is infiltrating. Dick wants Jason gone. (Bruce barely manages to stop the murder of crows from shoving Jason off a roof)

Jason doesn’t realize there’s a pissed off fae out for blood. Bruce has a hard time rallying Dick, but he manages. Ergo; Jason thinks the manor is the best thing since sliced bread and he’s super excited about meeting Dick. He joins Alfred in making Dick’s favorite meal for his official visit and unknowingly ends up winning Dick over with it. An offering of favored food to fae creatures goes a long way in earning their favor. And Dick is no different. It helps that the food is genuinely delicious and Jason jumps at the chance to refill his plate. Jason unknowingly dodged a bullet there.

Dick becomes protective of Jason. Jason is his now in the same way Bruce and Alfred are. They’re human. He’s fae. They’re so very vulnerable and susceptible to injury and manipulation.

Jason avoids wandering the halls of Wayne manor alone for the longest time because he always feels there are eyes following him. (They are.)

The manor, reacting to Dick’s inherent magic, shortens each of Jason’s routes. It creeps Jason out even more

Sometimes there are feathers at the foot of Jason’s bed. He doesn’t know what kind of bird they could be from. When he shows them to Bruce the man just sighs

Jason has a temper tantrum and retreats into the woods behind the manor. He can’t find his way back until he calls out for Dick and suddenly the manor looms behind the next tree

[vera-bees-hyperfixations]

Dick Grayson as a Fae

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompts in Memes 7

[mylifeisfruk4ever]

Tim's father was ill.

It was something that even a child would have seen: he had started to forget things, stare into space, and suddenly change his mood. Despite his wife's insistence, Jack refused to go to the doctor, saying he was just tired.

It wasn't tiredness: months later, when he finally decided to go to a doctor, the diagnosis was a brain tumour. It's not common among people this young, but it can happen.

His father rebelled against the diagnosis as he had done with all those old professors who didn't believe in his research.

He fought tooth and nail, like a Drake, because there was no way he would give up.

All in vain: he had arrived late.

However, if there was one thing the Drakes had learned from years of archaeological digging and world travel, it was that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of by man.

And his mother had always had a knack for deals. Janet was skilled, the real brains of the couple, and when necessary, she took matters into her own hands.

When her husband was dying, she did just that: she took matters into her own hands and decided to do the impossible.

She decided to make a pact with a fae. In a world where Amazons, demigods, aliens, and whatnot saved the world regularly, a deal with a magical being was also pretty par for the course.

His mother got a great deal, getting the most while giving up the least.

Jack would live, recover completely, and live to a ripe old age. The price was minimal: Tim.

Thus it was that at nine years old Tim found himself serving as a servant in the Unseelie Court, uncertain how much time had passed since he had been sold by his mother.

(“You will stay with them for a short time,” she told him before they took him away.

“Until you come of age, then you will come back with us. You are doing a lot for us, Timothy.”)

Tim didn't know how much time had passed, but he was still nine years old, and the fae didn't seem willing to let him go anytime soon. He was almost resigned to his fate, when one day, someone new was brought to the Unseelie Queen: Bruce Wayne. Batman was there.

And if Batman was there, Tim had some chance of escaping. It was a risky gamble, and there was no certainty that the plan would work. But what else did he have to lose? His life? That had already been sold.

(Bruce had just lost Jason, had fallen into a trap and was now risking a marriage to a magical being. He had to escape before the wedding was celebrated, or he will be stuck there forever. His only ally is a painfully young child who shouldn't be there. Bruce will be damned if he lets another child die because of him.)