Reverse Robins AU but the adoption order stays the same
Bruce had been Batman for around 2 decades when he witnessed the Graysons fall. He takes in little 8-year-old Dick Grayson and they become Batman & Robin a couple of months later.
Jason still tried to steal the Batmobile’s tires, but this time Dick is there with Bruce. And Dick immediately goes: friend?! Because who’s cooler than an older boy who has the audacity to steal your dad’s crime-fighting tires? Bruce doesn’t immediately take him in but he does adopt him soon after nonetheless. A year later, Batman gains a new sidekick partner.
Tim still puts together the Bats’ IDs by recognizing Robin’s quadruple somersault. He keeps this info to himself but his father’s death breaks something in him and he becomes reckless and directionless. He’s saved by one of the Bats, maybe little 11 year old Robin, and he just blurts out his name. He tells him how he was at the Graysons’ last show, how he and his parents were such huge fans. Bruce shows up but it’s too late, Dick’s already attached to his new big brother.
This teenager is obviously a threat, he knows their secret identities, but Bruce can see a bit of himself in the lost young man in front of him. He’s around the same age he was when he made the choice that changed his life forever. And having two young boys in his life, two young heroes, he can’t help but want to help Tim. It doesn’t hurt that the kid’s obviously smart and in good shape. A year later, Batman gains another partner.
Damian was never sent to Bruce, he stayed with the League. Eventually, he and Talia killed Ra’s. He becomes Talia’s right-hand but he doesn’t want it. He’s so disinterested in his own life and Talia, for all her flaws, loves her son. She tells him to leave, to “find himself or whatever it is young people do” and so Damian does. He leaves Nanda Parbat at ~18 and travels.
Damian has many skills, but he feels he’s best at killing people, so it doesn’t take long for him to take up contracts. Traveling’s fun and all but he grew restless. He does this for years, he makes a name for himself outside of being an Al’Ghul. And he’s visited Gotham, of course he has, but he doesn’t long for Bruce’s approval. He isn’t a child, he isn’t good person, and he isn’t a Wayne. Bruce means nothing to him, not really he doesn’t think Bruce would ever want him.
So, he keeps an ear out for news regarding the Bats. He visits Gotham every time he learns of a new child but he never allows himself to be noticed. One day, he hears whispers of the Wayne children being in Ethiopia of all places and he can’t help but seek them out. He gets there in time to put the Joker down permanently and prevent any lasting damage to any of them. They’re all taken by this mysterious savior to varying degrees (Tim’s the most cautious), but Dick is especially enthusiastic.
They manage to distract Damian long time enough for Bruce to get there. The long await meeting occurs and Damian decides fuck it, might as well let his father know about him. Bruce has more than enough children to fuss over and he’s an adult with his own life completely separate from Bruce, no need to make a big deal out of it. It is a big deal and Bruce is in shock and infuriated and heartbroken about his very much adult son being kept from him all this time.
As much as Bruce begs, Damian doesn’t go back to Gotham with them. Regardless, he keeps up his occasional visits and stays out of sight. Surprisingly, or maybe not, Dick is the first to find him out. And Dick, amazing human bean that he is, grows on Damian with time and interactions. He’s impressed by this child his father took in and he can’t help but want to teach him a few moves. Bruce wasn’t as oblivious to these meetings as he made himself seem, but he knows Damian isn’t interested in Bruce being his father. He’s hoping he can bridge this gap between them with Dick.
It works.
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#22.4 Result
Even though his team had more members, Khun did not anticipate the speedster in Agni's team who managed to steal the princesses' tags in just a few seconds. Basically leave half of his team's fishermen immobile right from the start.
Khun managed to stop Dan with lighthouse flow control, and Rak was able to steal Dan's black tag. Yet Agni managed to undo the flow control and free Dan before Rak could take back the tags that Dan had stolen.
Endorsi was then given Laure's tag and fought with Gyetang, while Anaak was given Shibisu's tag and fought Agni along with Rak. Ran didn't lose his tag and had been countering Novick since the start of the game. Surprisingly, they seemed to be on par with each other. Khun didn't know who won by the end, since he was too busy trying to catch Dan, who managed to steal Hatz's tag at one point.
Suddenly, his lighthouse was no longer being interfered with by Agni, and only then he saw that Endorsi had joined hands to fight Agni after rendering Gyetang immobile. With Agni's attention diverted by three main powers, Khun was finally able to immobilize Dan. However, he only managed to retrieve one white tag, since all the other stolen tags were already handed over. He gave the white tag to Hatz to get him back into the game, but by that time Gyetang was also back on his feet, so they were sent to fight each other.
Ten minutes went by too fast. Khun slumped to the floor and finally took some deep breaths. Clearly, Agni's team didn't go easy on them, and he was lucky enough to keep his tag.
"I see you've given your best." Agni said as he caught Ran in his arms before he fell face flat onto the floor. Ran must've swallowed the lightning pill halfway through the fight, and Khun didn't really know how to feel about that.
Khun looked up to the second floor balcony where Bam and Grace were talking. He could feel the corner of his lips pull up when he saw Bam looking bashful as Grace ruffled his hair.
"Gather up everyone," Agni called them, still holding Ran's limp body. He looked like he was about to pass out himself, though. Handling both princesses and Rak all by himself while still assisting his other team members was really impressive in Khun's opinion, even if it was only for ten minutes.
Everyone, including Agni's team, sat down in a loose circle, exceptions being Ran who was laid down in front of Agni and being tended to, and Laure who was sleeping soundly on the floor behind Hatz. Most of the others looked worn out and some were even hiding a limp, but the moment Gyetang and Dan started to excitedly recount and compliment everyone, his team was easily drawn into the conversation.
Bam and Grace came to join them a moment later, bringing bottled water and a first aid kit. Grace offered to check on each one of them, which unsurprisingly started from Agni. Though Khun declined his offer when it was his turn. He didn't get any bone-shattering hits, so he was fine. Grace didn't look happy with it, but he moved on.
Meanwhile, Bam distributed the water, bandages and ointment. Then he decided to go sit near him and Rak, to Khun's delight. It felt like their missing puzzle piece was finally fitted back into place.
"It's nice…to be with everyone again." Bam mumbled to himself, yet Khun heard him clearly. And so did their friends, who were looking at Bam wistfully.
Bam was holding his knees that were folded close to his chest, making him look small and closed up. Golden eyes were shadowed from view by his long bangs. It was like there was still an invisible wall that divided him from everyone else, keeping him unreachable. Khun itched to touch him, to get rid of that wall and pull Bam back to him, to what they used to have.
There was so much yet so little to talk about, and Khun felt himself hesitating, especially with this many eyes on Bam. He finally understood why Agni set the tag prizes as is.
Khun touched Bam's arm with his fist, and smiled tiredly when Bam turned his head at him. "It's good to have you back, Bam."
Many emotions flashed in those golden eyes; disbelief, fear, sadness, hurt, longing, relief, joy. Even though he had heard the story from Bam, Khun still couldn't imagine how much suffering Bam had gone through during all those years they were apart. How lonely he must be, and there was nothing Khun could do to fix what had been done. But when Bam finally smiled back, crooked like he just fixed himself back together, Khun vowed that he'd never let anyone take anything away from Bam ever again.
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something that is just as strange to me as reading with shipping goggles ... is reading without shipping goggles, when everybody else is wearing them.
this thought comes from the fact that i am reading the iliad and slowly getting back into les mis at the same time, and i'm wondering how everyone can read these stories almost exactly alike, except for me. (this is in terms of patrochilles and exr, for the record.)
i think that in both cases, it's a matter of my personal experience as an aroace not quite lining up with everybody else's as allo queers. like, i simply don't read iliad patrochilles as a ship! they're best friends, that's for damn sure. they're closer friends than most people in the camp. but i guess i don't particularly feel that there's anything to suggest they're into each other romantically or sexually. i've got a whole set of thoughts about the two of them across different versions of the story that i won't get into now, but that's the gist of it. (except: the version of them i do enjoy shipping is the paris the musical version. they're snarky mean gays in paris the musical, and it's very good.)
in a similar vein, it's probably because i read/project onto enjolras as aroace that i don't ship exr. i see grantaire's pining, and there's a ton to support the ship, i just ... don't ship it. enjolras pretty canonically has little-to-no interest in dating. he's got bigger things to worry about. so the ship just doesn't sail for me.
all that to say, ship who you like! it's all good fun yk. everyone has their own experiences that impact how they process the world, including how they process stories. that's pretty cool ngl. im just feeling the sad aroace feels, is all.
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