#batman and robin is out nightwing and robin is in

[dc-posting]

Young Tim who makes kandi/friendship bracelets for Robin and Batman (mostly Robin, he just doesn’t want Batman to feel left out) and leaves them in the Bats’ most common brooding/surveillance spots.

He does this for years, perfecting his craft. He makes bracelets with multiple chains, his beads get higher quality, his finishings improve (he learns that gluing the knot and trimming down the string is better than just tying it off and cutting it down.) and he loves to make bracelets for the two Robins, and for Nightwing, when Robin I eventually becomes his own hero.

When Jason dies, Tim sneaks over to leave kandi at his grave, nothing that would incriminate him as Robin, just things Tim thinks he would like. Kandi strung in his favourite colours, a cuff with a quote from his favourite book, intricate designs woven with pieces of Tim’s heart and his sorrow for his favourite Robin, his hero.

They’re cleared away often, but Tim replaces them with new kandi diligently.

He also turns Robin II’s favourite gargoyle into a mini shrine, bracelets and kandi chains decorating the stone high above Gotham’s streets, dedicated to his hero.

When Jason arrives to the tower, ready to break his replacement’s wings, he instead finds a sixteen year old boy sitting cross legged on the floor, surrounded by boxes of beads. He has a tray in front of him, a design laid out that he is carefully transferring one by one onto the elastic string.

“Stupid Bruce clearing the stupid grave.” He mutters angrily, tying off the bracelet. “Have to replace these every other week.” He adds a dollop of glue, ties the string again, adds another bit of glue, and then sets the piece down to dry. Jason watches as he carefully manoeuvres the glued knot to rest in one of the beads, ensuring that’s its secured to itself as well as to the bead.

He would be impressed by the attention to detail if he wasn’t currently processing that Tim fucking Drake is Robin’s stalker.

He thinks back to his room at the manor, at least fifty bracelets for Robin II found on rooftops (and once, on the passenger seat of the Batmobile. God, the look on Bruce’s face.) stored securely in a plastic box at the very back of his closet. His most prized possessions. He knows Dick has one just like it.

Whatever plans for revenge being enacted through the vessel of his replacement are immediately scrapped.

“Those for me?” He asks, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms.

Tim whips around, beads clattering off the bracelet he was carefully stringing together.

“Not unless you’re my neighbour’s dead son.” He shoots back, tone aiming for joking, scrambling for his staff. Play cool, play cool.

Jason barely thinks for a moment before he removes his helmet. He peels off the domino mask, wincing as it pulls slightly.

“Uh…” Tim stalls, staff at the ready.

“You left me bracelets, all around Gotham. For years. For Nightwing too, and the Bat.” Jason tilts his head. “You said those were for your dead neighbour. You make them for me out of the mask too?” Tim nods wordlessly, stepping aside so that Jason can rifle through the pile of bracelets waiting for their glue to fully dry.

He finally finds his words as Jason starts trying on various pieces.

“I started leaving them after you- after everything. At your… grave. B and A clear them away every few weeks, I don’t know if they keep them, but I replace them.” He sounds unsure, Jason thinks that’s reasonable.

“You don’t even know me.” He says, he knows why someone would leave gifts for Robin, but Jason Todd? No way.

“You were my hero. You are my hero.” Tim responds, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Guess we gotta break into the manor and see where he’s hiding those bracelets then, eh?” Jason pushes through the warm feeling in his chest. He doesn’t have time to analyse that now.

“Only if you agree to let me run tests in the cave.” Tim still holds his staff in an iron grip.

Jason would expect nothing less from his Robin.

It’s only a small price to pay for those kandi after all.

[voiider]

thinking about Reverse Robins with Red Hood Steph and Oracle Tim

and his best friend (almost girlfriend) died and it was Batman's Fault. I'm thinking Tim was a Friend Behind The Scenes like he figured out who Damian and Bruce were somehow and also met Steph when she was starting out as spoiler, and maybe he's the one who pushes her into being Robin bc Batman hasn't been the same since Damian left to be Nightwing in Bludhaven. So he feels guilty bc the joker killed her and he's the one who told her to be Robin but Batman is the one who's supposed to look out for Robin in the first place!

And Oracle would've been a name they came up with together and he would help her on cases and give her and Batman information and tip off the police sometimes. So Bruce knew Steph had a friend that helped out but never found a good time to address the possible leak.

And then at Stephanie's funeral one Timothy Drake accosts him. Crying and beating his chest and saying "it's your fault you were supposed to protect her" and Bruce doesn't know how to react because he wasn't aware Tim Drake and Stephanie (Almost Wayne) knew each other. But I think he'd connect the dots even if he doesn't say anything because it's the least he can do after letting Stephanie die.

And Tim who tries his best to avenge his best friend goes after The Joker himself, knowing he can't expect The Batman to kill. Not even for Stephanie. And it almost works but Batman shows up and tries to stop him and the Joker gets away and Tim is impaled by Something (rebar, pipe, crowbar idk) and has to get a splenectomy <3

(Raye is in my chat as we speak doing research on Post-sepsis syndrome (PSS) and overwhelming post splenectomy infection (OPSI) for me)

So he stays in his clock tower where he can make sure everything is sterilized because he is excessively immunocompromized and he takes his meds and he watches from behind his hundreds of screens. Mitigating his symptoms as best he can as he keeps an eye on the new Robin and the whole of Gotham.

Is he pissed there's a new Robin? Yeah ofc. But By God he will not let another Robin die. So he's helping on coms and keeping an eye on things as best he can and Jason is like "B literally who the fuck is this". And Bruce WON'T TELL HIM (because he doesn't know? Unsure) all B will say is that "You can trust Oracle." which is pretty sus even coming from Batman.

I think the relationship between Tim and Damian would be interesting esp if Damian wasn't a great older brother/mentor to Steph. So Damian is telling Jason NOT to trust Oracle under any circumstance and Bruce is telling him it's okay, and Oracle is helping him out but is all pissy about it so he is getting the most mixed signals of all time.

And then the Red Hood shows up. Starts taking out gang members. Delivers a bag full of heads to the leaders in order to threaten her way to power. Wages war against Black Mask and the Penguin in less than a week.

Declares Crime Alley as Her's (which is totally unfair to Robin who lived there and still visits regularly) and starts taking out the trash.

The Joker is still alive and Batman has replaced her as Robin, it doesn't matter if Steph knows that Talia was manipulating her that still hurts. What's worse? Steph's best friend is nowhere to be found. His parents died a year or so back, his old house is sold to new owners, and Timothy Drake has dropped out of the public view.

[veryace-ficrecs]

Damian Wayne-Centric Fic Recs

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

Damian's Secret Friend by LakeAwen - Rated G

5 times Damian's family panicked over him sneaking out, and 1 time they found out who he was meeting. OR The camera almost slipped from his hands. That was the demon brat. That was Damian. That was his grouchy kind-of baby brother hugging the Red-goddamn-Hood. Tim took a couple shots, because he was pretty sure he’d convince himself he was hallucinating if he didn’t have photo evidence. Definitely no one else would believe him. Tim thought he had contingencies for every possibility, but somehow none of those had included a scenario where Damian snuck out to eat Alfred’s butterscotch cookies with Red Hood.

I'll Only Say It When I Whisper by BrickSheep - Rated T

Red Robin, Red Hood, and Nightwing end up kidnapped. Unfortuantely for their kidnapper, that means baby brother is on the case, full-on prepared to live up to the nickname hellspawn.

Paint the Town by YesAlways - Rated T

The boy became less and less recognizable the longer she grinned at him. There was still a familiar arrogance, but it was faded, stuck between previously unidentifiable traits. It slowly dawned on her that she had become so lost in her own frenzied world of pre-med and Batgirling that she only clocked the boy’s growth as Robin, hardly stopping to note the Damian growing underneath the mask. In no time, the boy once incapable of fun or any social interaction was volunteering at school for something the old Damian would have labeled completely trivial. Oh no, Stephanie was getting old.

Stephanie offers Damian help, which he actually accepts, sending her down an existential crisis.

A Child? On My Patrol? by Lilacs_and_the_sea - Rated G

“What…is that?” “That's a child, Robin,” Tim replies with amusement. “Well, obviously. But what am I supposed to do with him?”

Tooth and Claw by BrickSheep - Rated T

Damian is the only dragon that he knows of, but his mother tells him that things will be different one day. Unfortunately, his mother gets into an accident, and Damian is left alone in a forest. He eventually grabs the attention of the owner of the territory. Bruce Wayne.

Give Me Your Armor by Ellegrine - Rated T

No place is ever truly safe. Even knowing that, Damian feels safe in Wayne Manor. It has nothing to do with Grayson's presence.

Some Common Ground by Do_wa_diddy - Rated T

Once upon a time, Tim and Damian wanted each other dead. Now they're sure that the other is the only one that really gets it anymore. AKA Tim and Damian have the same trauma around training that they consider to be the norm and are glad to find another person who "trains like a normal person" instead of realizing that they're the outliers.

Like a Painted Canvas by Listentothelittlebird - Rated T

Damian has been revived. In the wake of his resurrection, he reflects on his past... and leaves Gotham. There are things to be done - mistakes that Damian needs to atone for. (This fic takes inspiration from Robin: Son of Batman, Year of Blood, but does not follow through with proper canon.) Rated T for descriptions of murdered skeletons, I guess

Thera-Pet by Jlynn105 - Rated G

Tim has a glorious idea and no one will convince him it isn't going to work. "I'm telling you, Titus could be easily trained to be a service dog." or Bruce convinces Damian to go on a summer camp trip with Jon and when he comes back Titus behaves...differently.

Erasers? by Fae_Winter - Rated G

Damian... could not tell you why erasers mean so much to him.

Car Wreck by Jlynn105 - Rated G

He was driving back home after going to dinner in town. The roads were completely shadowed and his headlights seemed to be combatting the Gotham fog. He went as close to the speedlimit as was reasonable given the weather conditions, when the unthinkable happened. A dog ran across the road. Or.... Damian gets very injured to stop himself from hurting a doggy. (Doggy is ok).

[Snow] Storms by Jlynn105 - Rated G

I wonder if it’s cold in Nanda Parbat. Damian often felt his thoughts wander back to home on nights when he was alone or not feeling his best. His eyes drifted to his balcony and he left the covers to go outside, where it was significantly colder given the snow, so that he could look up at the stars. or.. Damian has a flashback during a power outage and gets a hug.

Be My Cornerstone (So I Can Fly) by Nation_Ustria - Rated T

There are reasons that the dragons in legends always had hoards, or carried off maidens to keep for themselves. Dragons are possessive, carnal beasts, and imprint their magic on anything they desire, claiming it for themselves and themselves alone—and they viciously, violently tear apart anyone who try to take what is theirs. Damian is not a dragon. He has dragon blood, yes, meant to enhance his combat abilities, but Mother had used magic to ensure that he will never devolve into such a horrible beast. It’s one of the many reasons that he is suited to be Grandfather’s heir. The problem is that Damian can’t manage to stop claiming things for himself. Or, what happens when a baby dragon is taught to deny himself a process that is vital to a dragon’s emotional health and stability, and then gets thrown into a mess of a family where no one—not even himself, in a sense—knows that he’s a baby dragon.

Father's day by Vale_mlcek - Rated G

"And according to what school had taught him about what being a father meant, Richard fit all those characteristics: he cared for him, scolded him when he misbehaved, and supported him in everything that made him happy. Grayson was all of that, not Bruce." --> It's Father's Day, and Damian is thinking about what he could gift Richard.

Hypothermia by Jlynn105 - Rated G

Whumptober day 5- Every whumpees needs Damian is new to Gotham and misses having a parent who cares. Spoiler: he has one.

(wanderin’ free, wish i could be) part of your world by airyfaerie - Rated T

Confess, repent, atone. He labors in his efforts to abide by these three words. They’re his hope, his key to salvation, to turn over a new leaf and grow. To become a champion of life instead of a butcher. But Father sits comfortably on his throne fashioned by sanctimony and pietism as Damian's hands are sanded to the bone in an attempt to save all the lives he has encountered and his legs can't support the weight of the lives he has taken along with his verdict, heavy in its righteousness. Condemn, condemn, condemn are reflected in Father's ice cold irises as he scrambles to right his wrongs. No rest for the wicked. ** A hair salon can be seen as a communal rest stop on the road of life.

you stay soft, get eaten (only natural to harden up) by tsuchann - Rated G

The cat stared up at Damian with his trusting baby blues, his tail, a cheeto-puff orange as the rest of it’s tiny body, bounced absentmindedly. Damian brought his sword down it’s neck with a sickening precision, biting back the bile in his throat as the cat’s body fell to the floor near his feet. — Or, Damian encounters a sick kitten during patrol and is brought back to his first memory with a cat.

Hopping Around the Issue by simpliho - Rated T

The brightness forced Damian to turn his face away for a second. He heard a dull clatter, sounding concerningly like a bo staff being dropped onto the ground. When his vision recovered, he immediately looked back at the scene of the fight. Timothy was… gone. In his place there was a pile of clothing and possessions, reminiscent of the scenes of disappearances they’d been investigating… with a stunned-looking black rabbit in the middle. Damian and Tim are forced to go on patrol together, they separate and Tim gets turned into a bunny, and then they bond.

[varpusvaras]

So, Dick is in Gotham one night. He's not really sure why, but he's there, and he gets out of his car to help some old lady, and when he gets back, there's a kid trying to steal his tires.

Before Dick can say anything, they both proceed to get mugged. Dick goes ah fuck it and fights back because one of them tries to hit the kid. One guy almost gets a hit on him but the kid takes the tire iron and smacks the guy's knees in.

Dick looks at it all and he is so very tired and so he just looks at the kid like. You want food or something?

He asks because the kid looks...eerily like himself. Dark hair and blue eyes. Tiny. Their faces are different, of course, but for someone who didn't know, they could pass as brothers. He looks sad and lonely, just like Dick felt back then (just like he feels now)

The kid nods. No street kid will pass free food. And Dick isn't smacking him around either.

So Dick buys the kid food with the twenty dollars he had in his pocket. The kid eats like he is starving, and then promptly passes the fuck out on the seat of Dicks car because at least the heating works and he's full and comfortable and Dick goes wtf do I do now? Do I own him or what?

Anyways Robin was the name Dick's mom gave him. It's his to give forward. It's Nightwing and Robin now, bitches.

[iamthemess]

JL finding out bat secrets, but it's in the most simple ways.

Barry: how old do you think Robin is?

Oliver: you met him last week, he's like 12

Barry: yeah but like, he was 14-ish when we started the justice league

Hal: maybe he's an immortal vampire like batman

Nightwing: that's ridiculous

Hal: we have aliens and gods on this team. Why not vampires?!

Wally: can't be immortal if he was 14 then but 12 now

Barry: I've cracked it, there's more than one

Oliver: Your genius amazes and astounds

Barry: So the first Robin should be like 30 by now

Dick: WHAT

Dick: 30! IM 26

Dick now in crisis: I AM NOT THAT OLD YET

Barry: Hold on, wha-

*Wally silently laughing at Dick despite them being almost the same age*

Oliver: Were you Robin?!?!?!

Dick: I can't believe this betrayal! It's called mid 20's and you're no longer invited to Christmas Ollie!

Oliver: I was invited to your Christmas!?!

Wally: Well, not anymore you're not

Hal: Can I come?

Dick: that's up to Batman

Hal:...

Dick: Coward, this is why you aren't invited to family Christmas

Barry: YOURE RELATED TO BATMAN?!

Oliver: I WAS INVITED TO BATMANS FAMILY CHRISTMAS?!?!?!

[demonicsuffrage]

[copper-meadows]

It terrifies Bruce, a little, that the first time Batman and Robin pull up to a mauling victim, Robin is acutely calm.

The girl is young, and Batman and Robin were made known to the scene pretty quickly as Batman scares off the dog with a taser.

Despite being the adult, he balks a little at how well Dick handles the toddler in front of him.

Later on, when the girl is seen by paramedics and the mother is finally calmed after being assured that the only physical damage present would be some scarring on her left leg, Bruce takes Dick out for ice cream for being so brave.

Then again, Dick was the one to threaten death upon his parents' murder at the ripe age of 9.

But the incident is filed away, deep in the archives of the BatComputer.

Dick is much older, and has seen much more, but he's still calm when one of his brothers is half-torn apart by a shark on an impulsive surfing trip with their hero friends.

Everyone is panicking because as much as they'd loathe to admit, seeing something that gory is so completely different than being in costume (because being in costume means they're at the very least prepared).

But Dick is calm, and his first aid more immaculate than ever.

When someone asks him about it, how he can stay so calm, he's suddenly 7 again.

He's 7 again and watching his Uncle-not-really-uncle getting mauled by one of the sick tigers. He's watching as his father rushes to help and calms the crowd down.

When he asks his father why he was not scared, he receives this.

"I was terrified for my friend, but panic makes your hands shake, makes you slow. He did not need my fear, he needed me."

Dick tells them that.

[ochibrochi]

🌻 comm for gee! thank you 💖

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

To me, Dick's actions constantly prove Helena's every intuition in Nightwing/Huntress correct; she's too independent and antiauthority for him, and he'll never truly be there for her because he loves Bruce too much. It's painful because they're both so fond of each other but she knows he's always looking over his shoulder for Bruce.

Tim empathises with and wants to be there for Helena most, but he's a 15 year-old kid written by Chuck Dixon working with a bunch of adults who all alienate her. In one part, his passivity during NML makes his defiant defence of Helena during Cry for Blood even more meaningful.

Added some excerpts from the novel from after the disney channel finally shows up:

“You’ve been watching me for an hour. He send you to make certain I wasn’t fouling up his plans any further?”

“No, I’m here on my own.”

“Oh, so he let you off the leash, did he?”

Nightwing blew a sharp breath out his nose...

... “You’re not alone,” Nightwing said. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

“What do you know about it?” [Huntress] whispered, and then continued watching the street.

[Robin] kinda liked [Huntress], and now, after watching her and Billy Pettit’s Strong Men for five days, he’d reached a couple of conclusions. One of them was that she deserved better than this. She shouldn’t have to baby-sit Billy Pettit and not even know that was exactly what Batman had wanted her to do way back when he’d stripped her of the Batgirl mask...

... “And Huntress?”

Robin glanced back at the window, trying to think of the best way to speak his mind. “She went outside a couple times today, patrolling the perimeter. I stayed out of sight, she didn’t see me.”

“Not what I meant.”

“I know what you meant. Best that I can tell, she’s not a happy camper.” ...

... “She’ll make it,” [Batman] told Robin. “She’s strong.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Rereading the No Man's Land saga and, not for first time, mulling over the fact that both Dick and Tim a) knew Helena had been manipulated by Bruce into a soul-killing and life-threatening position babysitting an unhinged Billy Pettit, b) absolutely hated it, and c) didn't confront him on it or defy his orders about it.

It's a lot to chew on. Pages are from Batman #573, 'Tec #740, and LOTDK #126

[sourkreem]

they decided to crash jasons place after patrol (jason did not agree to this)

[notrobinsomethingworse]

Dick (Nightwing) and Jason (Robin) stare at Bruce. One sports pleading eyes, the other a shit eating grin. There’s a child between them with black hair and blue eyes.

Bruce, he doesn’t know what’s happening but he doesn’t like it: No.

Dick, grinning: He’s our younger brother now.

Jason, nodding seriously: You’re not gonna take him from us.

Tim, got kidnapped while taking photos of patrol, just happy to be there: Where’s the Batcave?

Bruce: what.

Dick, grinning wider: He’s ours now.

[bitter-hibiscus]

Red Hood joins twitter. Chaos arises

pt2

[femmehaljordan]

HIIIII. so there’s actually an explanation for this!!

Crisis on infinite earths! In basic terms the main DC universe rebooted in 86 and one of the major changes was Jason‘s background which involved changing how Dick gave up Robin.

Because originally he voluntarily gave it to Jason in Batman #386 in 1984 because he saw a lot of of himself and Jason, considering Jason was originally an acrobat from a family called “the flying Todd’s”

And then post crisis they changed Jason‘s backstory to what we know now with the stealing the tires Batman #408. But the thing is, Dick was already established as Nightwing. So they had to figure out how to have Jason become Robin while Dick was already gone. The getting fired for being shot is a flashback! It doesn’t happen in the moment in the comic. 

Also I noticed in the tags you were confused about Jason‘s first appearance. It was in Batman #357 published in 1982!

Comics drive me nuts bc what do you mean that in New Teen Titans, Dick Grayson willingly gave up being Robin to try and figure out what he wanted to do next, then three real years later in Batman it's shown that he got shot and Bruce fired him?? I'm losing it fr...

[dudedidujust]

The daily planet runs a front page article calling superman the light of mankind

Cue the batfam launching a counter campaign in support of Signal,  the real Light of Mankind.

It starts as a joke but quickly derails into an all out war.

[luca-is-a-pengu]

The real reason why none of the bat-boys are allowed in the kitchen

[thefriendlyneighborhoodqueer]

sometimes i think about how funny it would be if bruce had a slight english accent as a result of alfred being the only adult in his life for most of his formative years. that or he just says british slang instead of english.

this either drives his children insane, or they think it’s the most hilarious thing ever.

__________________________

Bruce: Can you pass the chips?

Dick: Sure, B. *passes over the potato chips*

Bruce: No, the chips.

Dick: ???? … yeah? here?

Bruce: NO! THE CHIPS! *gesturing wildly for the french fries*

Damian: Father, are you having a stroke?

———

Batman: Alright, this mission is very important. It is imperative that everything goes to schedule. (shh-edule)

*red robin and red hood snicker*

Batman: *glare* As I was saying, it all must go to shh-edule…

RR & RH : *uproariously laughter *

Batman: *harsher glare* Is something funny?

RR: Oh nothing, B, don’t worry.

RH: Absolutely nothing wrong, “left-tenant”

RR & RH: *dying of laughter *

———

Bruce: *reaching the end of a long rant about responsibility and making sure you are keeping yourself and others safe* And what do you have to say for yourself??

Duke: … You sound like Alfred…

Bruce: *horrified look over coming him* … what

Cass: *furious nodding*

*Some time later, after B has been fished out of Gotham Harbor, which he jumped into after declaring that he “couldn’t turn into his father”*

Alfred: *reaching the end of a long rant about responsibility and making sure you are keeping yourself and others safe* And what do you have to say for yourself??

Bruce: *white as a sheet* … Sorry Alfie…

*Steph is heard furiously cackling in the background*

_______________________

anyways i just thought this was fun