#batman from after robin dies & before the beyond suit

[holly-natnicole]

Insertadrawingofall3(or4ifIdecidetoincludetherainbowoneinmymaintimeline)BatmanoutfitsBrucewears,theBeyondonehavingitswingsout;Bruceisstandingwiththecowlormaskoninall3(or4)drawings.

Edit: What the frick??!! Why did people give this post social media Likes??!! It's literally a reminder for myself that got posted too soon since I haven't drawn anything yet!!

[ideas-ideasideasideas]

JayTim omegaverse AU where Tim presents as an omega when he’s stalking Batman and Jason-as-Robin. Jason finds him collapsed on a rooftop and tries to help him but the proximity triggers his own presentation as an alpha. From there things go to hell in a hand basket and they ride out their first heat/rut together. In the immediate aftermath, once they have both recovered enough presence of mind, they agree that this is no one’s fault but it doesn’t stop Jason from feeling guilty about taking advantage of Tim so he escorts Tim home (in the process finding out they’re neighbours) and asks if there’s anything that he can do for him to make up for whatever the hell just happened.

There’s a lot of trauma to unpack here for the both of them but Tim is barely a teenager and Jason has emotionally repressed Batman for a parental figure so they just mutually decide not to mention it ever again because if you pretend it never happened then it can’t hurt you right? (Wrong.) Anyway, Tim tells Jason that if he really wants to do something for him then maybe he can just not tell Batman that Tim was on a rooftop at night, pretty please? At which point Jason, horrified that a boy Tim’s age is running around on rooftops unsupervised in the most crime-ridden parts of Gotham at the most crime-infested time of the day, makes it his personal duty to figure out why Tim does this and also how he can convince him to NOT do this. What he did to Tim was wrong on so many levels but oh god, what if someone so much worse found Tim instead? He agrees to Tim’s request on the condition that Tim carries a beacon at all times during his nighttime extracurricular activities.

Jason brings the beacon over as soon as possible, which turns out to be the next day after school (as Robin of course), and the sight of Tim alone in a giant house compels him to stay for a while, and a while turns into the rest of the day. Tim shows off the photos he’s taken of Batman and the Robins, and Jason is reluctantly but appropriately impressed by Tim’s stealth.

A friendship grows between them.

And then Jason dies.

And Batman grows too reckless.

And Dick refuses to be Robin again.

And Tim becomes Robin—

Except he doesn’t. Not really. He wears Jason’s Robin suit for a very short time before random bouts of nausea take him off the field. But Batman is still beating the shit out of petty criminals and Tim is desperate to help, so he allows Alfred (bless him) to call him a discreet doctor to ensure that his illness is not due to anything he was exposed to while Batman-wrangling before he’s allowed back on the field. Tim just wants it over and done with quickly so he can get back out there and—

He’s not allowed to back on the field.

He’s holding a little black-and-white picture of a literal human growing inside him and he is absolutely benched until there is no longer a literal human growing inside him.

Doctor Thompkins lays out his options, is brutally honest about how his body (too young, too small) will handle a pregnancy (not well), and asks if there is anything he wants to tell her (if there’s anyone Batman needs to put in jail for touching him). Tim doesn’t have long to consider his options—he’s nearly too far along for most clinics to be comfortable performing an abortion (although, given his age, they might be sympathetic enough to bend the rules if Doctor Thompkins can’t perform the procedure for him).

He decides to keep it, a parting gift from his friend Robin to be cherished beyond his death. There is a difficult conversation with Bruce about the child’s father (no, you can’t arrest them, they’re already dead, no, I’m not defending a heinous rapist, it’s your goddamn son, Bruce, this is your grandchild). An unforeseen but extremely welcome consequence of this is that Batman starts pulling his punches, now that he has something to live for again. He looks only half-broken now and he offers Tim a room at the Wayne manor when he finally learns about Tim’s extremely absent parents.

(Tim worries about how to break the news to his parents until he no longer has to worry about it because his mother is dead and his father is in a coma and god he wanted to avoid having that conversation with them but this wasn’t how he wanted it to happen.)

Properly benched now for the foreseeable future, Tim picks up remote vigilante-wrangling instead (from Babs?) and makes headway in some cold cases. He pulls out of school to be homeschooled instead, keeps out of the public eye, and generally avoids leaving Wayne manor because a thirteen-year-old pregnant omega living alone with an adult alpha (and his butler) is a Very Bad Look even for Brucie Wayne and Tim would rather not be known as Bruce Wayne’s child bride thank you very much.

Life proceeds in this manner, the child is delivered by Caesarian with very little fanfare. It is, unfortunately, very difficult to hide the presence of a whole infant. The public settles on the theory that the child is Bruce’s illegitimate son from one of his many dalliances and Tim allows the misconception to propagate simply because no good can come out of him, all of fourteen, publicly claiming his child. But it still stings, just a little. He made this child, held him safe in his womb for eight months. He puts him to bed and nurses him and loves him so much but nobody outside the manor will see it.

Tim bursts back into society when he’s officially adopted by Bruce. He refused to register his son as Bruce’s (it takes some extremely deft work by Oracle to file the appropriate documents for Tim’s claim on his child to be legally valid without alerting the press) but he also understands that Bruce wants a legal connection to his grandchild, so he becomes his son’s dead father’s legally adopted brother. It’s a mess, but at least people who should be are allowed into hospital rooms. It’s not like it will matter, right? Jason’s dead, right?

Wrong.

Jason is very much not dead and very much bewildered by the presence of a baby Wayne that isn’t Damian and it completely derails his plans to exact revenge on Bruce for not killing the Joker. It fucking hurts to see that he’s been replaced by not one but TWO new children but at least they aren’t Robin. At least no one is Robin. At least one of them is Tim, his lonely friend who deserves a family. He returns to Gotham, heads to Crime Alley, becomes Red Hood, and buries himself in shooting out enough kneecaps to push Bruce and Batman from his mind. That was another life. He’s fucking furious at Bruce and his replacements but god the baby has the same curly hair that Jason did and Jason can’t help but think that Bruce might actually have missed him, at least a little.

But probably not enough to love Jason as he is now, full of anger and rage and impulse to hurt hurt hurt the people who hurt others. He channels it all into cleaning up the Alley, perhaps more aggressively than Batman would (should) have, but Batman doesn’t give enough of a shit about the Alley to know that what he’s doing isn’t enough and it’s up to Jason to get his hands downright filthy if he wants to make any changes around here.

Tim notices Red Hood, because of course he does. And it takes him no time at all to realise, oh, that’s Jason. That’s Jason.

[soulless-bex]

the evolution of the Robin costume according to me myself and i:

the first version of the costume was Dick. everything about it was an homage to his parents. the colours, the design, the name of what would become a familial mantel, all of it came from John and Mary Grayson. Dick poured his grief and love into that costume and became stronger through it.

Jason’s costume was the same as Dick’s, only tailored to his size. it was smaller probably than it had ever been for Dick, but beyond very little alterations (probably a longer short and more secure boots, because at the end of the day, Jason is a survivor, and he wouldn't allow himself to go out there wearing something too revealing and shoes he didn't feel comfortable running in. Jason knew Gotham's streets and knew that was where the worst of humanity indulged in their darkest urges), the costume remained the. exact. same. maybe he didn't see the need to change it. more probably, it came from a place of insecurity and uncertainty about his place in the family. he looked up to Dick so much and wanted to make him proud so badly that he spent the rest of his short life doing his best to try and emulate Dick even if that meant erasing himself.

when Tim inherited (read; blackmailed Batman into giving it to him) the mantel, keeping the same costume was no longer possible. of course, Bruce could have had one made that was identical to the one Dick and Jason wore before him, but no one involved at this point would have allowed it. after losing Jason, both Dick and Bruce went all in with the protective measures that were added to the suit. there would not be another dead bird under their watch. Tim wouldn't have allowed it either: he couldn't have lived with himself if he did: wearing the same costume Jason had died in would have felt like an insult to his memory. using the same mantel was already bad enough, but he would have to live with it: Batman needed a Robin after all. the costume gained pants, reinforced armour, and the cape became black on the outside. they said it was for stealth, but really, to Tim, it was a way to honour Jason's memory: from now on, Robin would wear the grief for those who fell into battle. Robin, for the better or the worst, lost a little of its magic after that.

Stephanie knew her time as Robin would be short. she was only doing Tim a favour after all. so she didn’t bother personalizing the suit beyond adding a few accessories to it. she got one of Tim’s back up suits, only one of them, tailored to her. she found it lucky that Tim was so short: they were practically the same size, and the alterations needed were minimal.

when Stephabie followed into Jason’s footsteps and died on the job, Tim retired that design of the suit. he designed another one. the Robin costume once again became darker, losing the green and gaining a lot more black elements. a lot of red, too. maybe it wasn’t a conscious decision, but the mantle who saw two kids die became dyed with blood.

when Damian came around, he wasn’t all that aware of the history of the mantle. he knew the facts, obviously, he had learned everything he could about the previous Robins so he would be prepared to take over once he joined his father, but he wasn’t aware of the emotional weight the suit and being Robin carried. he wasn’t aware of the shackle Tim had put on himself through the mantle. his only thought when he designed his own version of the Robin suit was that he wouldn’t wear the same thing Tim wore. he was too busy trying to paint himself in the most flattering light that he forgot to learn from his predecessors: Damian’s suit stayed dark, like Tim’s had been, but it became more muted also, like he was wearing a grief that wasn’t his, because actually that’s exactly what it was. the Robin costume became greyer and lost a lot of his colours.

when Tim created his own mantle, he brought his pains and that of his predecessors with him. he started something new, but still draped himself with the history of the Robin mantle. the Red Robin suit was red and black, just like his last iteration of the Robin costume

:D

[laufire]

several sentences sunday

Just some short thing I wrote the other day, as I thought about my new earth!Jayroy idea.

“I knew Cheshire, from my blink-and-you-miss-it tenure as a Titan,” Jason said. “I remember you were eager to leave at the end of that mission. Was that when you met her? Your daughter, I mean.” “You remember that? Were you already paying that much attention to little ol’ me?” Roy deflected. Jason regaled with such an unimpressed expression it rivalled Batman’s most glacial looks; Roy would know. “I was an impressionable teenager surrounded by fit heroes, just at the right age to mistakenly think you were all... cool.” Roy would allow that. The team had been even more of a fucking mess the first time Jason joined in. “I paid attention to most of you. And you risked yourself without powers, too. You stood out.” His tone was neutral, just as it’d been when he brought up Lian, instead of acquiring that soft-spoken, pitying cadence belonging to everyone else’s these days. Maybe that’s why Roy found it easier to talk; once, she’d been her favourite conversation topic. “Yes,” he said, “that’s when I met her. Though she didn’t start living with me until a year later.” “Dick told me about her, back then, just before leaving to space.” Roy thought about what other things about him Dick might’ve told him. It’d been obvious over the years that Dick’s memories occassionally lingered on Jason, marinating in pain and misplaced guilt, but he guarded them jealously, protective –just as he’d always been about Robin, despite Bruce’s appalling lack of parental skills when it came to introducing his two sons leading to a briefly bumpy start. It’d taken years for Roy to even hear a vague allusion to Jason taking care of an addict growing up, and knowing that, Dick might’ve not brought Roy’s own issues in front of the kid. Maybe Bruce would’ve had less qualms about it, if he'd thought it might keep Jason away from sneaking out to yet more dangerous team missions. He wondered what Jason had thought about it, if he'd thought about it at all. Even if he didn’t know then, he certainly knew now, and it didn’t seem to factor in his attitude towards Roy. “I wanted to meet her.” Jason’s reminiscing interrupted Roy’s thoughts. “I was curious, I’d never really met any babies.” Of course, that hadn’t been possible. Robin was murdered shortly after Lian came to live with him. Roy remembered that well. He had barely known Jason, and his impression on him didn’t go far beyond thinking he was a shy, helpful kid. But he remembered how affected Dick had been and, on a more abstract level, how affected Roy had been, hearing about a child’s death. For months he’d have a recurrent nightmare where Lian died wearing an ill-fitting Speedy suit, blood-stained red cloth hanging way past her tiny little limbs, too big for her. It was laughable, how little keeping her away from that suit, any suit, had mattered in the end.

[wesavegotham]

Maybe we should simply start spreading unnuanced and badly researched half-truths to promote Damian too, wouldn't that be fun and an enrichment for online comic book discourse🤦‍♀️

Damian is the smartest Robin, he was Phd level educated before age 10 and was trained by the best of the best in arts, science, fighting and strategy, he is universally regarded as an exceptional prodigy, the other Robins can't compare.

Damian is the true Robin, he is the only one Dick deemed worthy to become Robin himself while Tim totally forced a grieving Bruce to make him Robin after discovering Batman's identity through cheer luck. He only saw Robin as a fanboy dream come true, he lacks Damian's and most importantly Bruce's deeply personal dedication to ridding the world of crime.

Damian successfully straightened out Wayne Enterprise's finances when Bruce was gone, so he clearly deserves to take over the company one day. Or why wait? Just let him run it right now. Duh.

Bruce loves Damian the most, he's the only dead member of the batfamily Bruce tried to resurrect, so clearly Damian is the best. No, of course this had nothing to do with editorial wanting certain characters alive and others dead or with the fact that they had already revealed that the character hadn't actually died and thus didn't need a resurrection storyline, context doesn't matter when discussing comics!

Tim should just retire as a hero, his last two books Young Justice and Tim Drake: Robin both didn't sell despite DC making him Robin again while Damian's books sell and only ended early because editorial has bigger plans for Damian.

In fact Tim should have retired the second Damian managed to beat him during his very first appearance, clearly Tim is not cut out for the vigilante life if he can be be beaten by a ten-year-old.

Ra's has called Damian better than himself and Batman, thus Damian is clearly the best detective in the world.

Damian knows all fighting techniques Batman knows, plus ones unknown to Batman so clearly he will be a better fighter than Bruce one day, in fact the Batman Beyond comic confirmed that Damian will surpass Bruce at his prime when he's an adult.

Batman is all about striving towards peak human performance and Damian was genetically perfected and trained since birth, because of that he is the only one worthy of becoming the next Batman, none of the others show the necessary amount of strive towards human perfection needed to be Batman.

These are all facts, totally unbiased, completely canon, not based on weird values at all and you are a dumbass if you try to correct me by citing contradicting "evidence" from comics I haven't read or have read, but decided to twist to unreasonable degrees to suit my narrative.

I just love the Tim stans on reddit and twitter that hate Damian for acting "arrogant, entitled, violent and rude" and then continue to write about how the Robin mantle belongs to Tim and Tim alone (even though Dick created the damn mantle), vastly overrate Tim's abilities and achievements while underrating or straight up ignoring all the skills and achievements of the other members of the batfamily and then top it all off with a barely disguised violent fantasy about how much they want to hurt or even kill a fictional child.

I love them even more when at some point in their rant they end up admitting that they haven't even read Damian's comics before coming to their conclusions about him, but show no awareness that their lack of knowledge probably means their opinion is of little value in a serious discussion about the characters.

Congratulations, you have become exactly what you claim to hate.

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

it wasn’t power i coveted; it was acceptance.

Titans 3.06

y’know, i was just thinking the other day that 1.06/1.07 and 2.06/2.07 were the best episodes of their respective seasons, so i have great hopes going in to this one. fingers crossed!

as always, typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. oh! um... that was a Cold Open, all right. *nudges* get it? cold? because it’s snowing? and two people got murdered in cold blood? eh?

... oh, i’ve just started.

1.5. i wonder if “i want to be sipping pina coladas on a beach with you” is the new “i’m just one day away from retiring.” i was so on edge after that--i kept expecting that car to explode. even so, the way they died wasn’t an anticlimax: brutal, and quick. 

1.75. so i’m assuming that’s the titular lady vic! this show better bring up why this doll was important or why these two cops needed to be killed, and not leave it to the ether like jericho’s little mindscape jaunt in 2.08 (i’m still dying to know what that was about???)

2.

i love how deliberately unappealing wayne manor is. 

(sorry for the pic quality. i don’t have hbo max! ssshhh.)

2.3. i love the many references to “home” and “our house” when they’ve been here for less than a week and saw one of their friends get blown into pieces. i mean, i unironically love it: home is where family is, after all!

2.5. i’d like to say that kom is playing some sort of long game here, especially given the build-up we had last season and some of the more niggling details this season: why did kom choose now to use her bond to lure kory when she’s been on earth for months? why did justin call kory now, just around the time that she started getting kom’s visions? and what about kom’s ability to exactly imitate other people? hmmm.

2.75. the reason i wrote i’d like to say is that i’ve made the mistake of assuming plot complexity where there is none; i was so invested in the jason todd orchestrated his own death theory for instance, when it turns out that oops! ra’s al ghul just happened to leave a little lazarus puddle in gotham, and oh yeah! scarecrow just happens to have a network of henchmen working for him on the outside and a fully functional laboratory and a weapons cache fit for a new supervillain in the basement of the high security psychiatric unit/prison that he’s in! 

(no i’m not bitter, why do you ask)

2.8. iiiii don’t know what to say about the implications of sex slavery being a thing on tamaran, so i’m not going to say anything at all. for now.

3. gotham, six years ago... wasn’t it five years before s2 that jericho died and the titans disbanded? and when was the flashback from 1.06 where dick let zucco die? i think it was after the events of 2.08: jericho? i can’t seem to find any transcripts or reliable information online, so i’m going to have to rewatch 1.06 at some point. 

(i love the old-fashioned batman music in this heist scene)

3.5. “security is a joke... it’s my way of keeping my dad on his toes”. what you’re an ethical thief now, like an ethical hacker? i don’t think that excuse is going to sell, barbara, on the day you do encounter a decent security system and your father is forced to arrest you.

(then again, gotham’s security is piss-poor. did you know that you could just walk into arkham asylum without any official clearance, ply one of its most dangerous inhabitants with contraband, and said inmate could get away with having an entire laboratory and weapons cache--NO I’M NOT GOING TO LET THIS GO)

3.8 so that flashback between dick and barbara was really cute! and also illuminating:

a) dick sounds so light, so... um. look. i have some apologies to tender to mr thwaites, because while i’ve always thought he does a fine job as dick grayson, i’ve never been terribly fond of his cadence as he delivers dialogue. it’s often monotonous, i thought, but then again, he’s usually delivering exposition or dealing with one soul-crushing crisis or the other. so i was pleasantly surprised to hear dick sound so carefree and alive in his conversation with barbara, laughing frequently, his emotions so bare and bubbling to the surface. it’s really a fantastic contrast to the traumatised and world-weary dick grayson that we see now, even more so than the costume department just bunging a backwards-baseball cap on mr thwaites’ head and hoping that will convince us of his relative youth. 

b) and god, when he wakes up from that memory, all alone in his bed, bleeding from bullet holes in his shoulder (bullet holes that are--in a somewhat convoluted way--barbara’s fault)? yikes. it’s great. you have my apologies, mr thwaites!

c) can you imagine dick just... crawling back to wayne manor, trying not to be seen by anybody, shedding his suit and just... collapsing onto his bed without even tending to his wound? the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion of it? 

d) it’s so interesting to see how barbara and dick approach the idea of legacy--a big theme on the show!--in this flashback. barbara is the one bucking the idea that she should follow in her father’s footsteps, while dick seems pretty content with the batman-and-robin setup, and even tries to get barbara to join their team (robin-girl. pfffft). obviously after this several traumatic things happen wherein dick ends up questioning and then resenting his role as robin, his relationship with batman or even returning as a vigilante at all. and barbara... ends up replacing her father as commissioner. it’s tragic, really. 

e) the dynamic between dick and barbara in the flashback reminds me of how it was between dick and donna in 1.08 and even between kory and dick in early s1. it’s like having an older, strong-willed woman by his side means he gives over the steering wheel for a while and lets himself... unspool, a little bit. it’s kinda endearing.

also:

*pinches his cheeks*

3. you know, we talk about dick and Eldest Daughter Syndrome, and that’s definitely valid, but here gar seems to me the embodiment of it, with all the emotional gardening and firefighting that he’s expected to do. he’s kind of the guy expected to keep his shit together and take care of everyone else while they are falling completely to pieces, unable to carve out time to process his own trauma. he’s also picked up dick’s and kory’s tendencies to bottle up their struggles and shun appearing vulnerable, and he’s struggling in the shadow of both dick and kory undergoing acute crises, his best friend (and frequent confidante) on the other side of the world, and seeing hank die, utterly helpless to stop it. 

i’m glad that he got a chance to tell dick even a smidgeon of what he really feels, and i hope this is at least a semblance of a wake up call for dick to actually sit down and work with the people he repeatedly calls family.

3.5. it’s heartening to see that dick immediately makes it his priority to go talk to gar. but don’t blow off kory in the process, man!

4. i’m really loving this dynamic between kom and conner--i get the idea that both of them consider each other as Unknowns, alien two times over. but conner’s only ever known the titans, who embrace being different, and kom’s only ever known... well. 

anyway, kory is Really Stressed, and honestly? #relatable. 

when you’re forced to bring an estranged family member to hang out with your friends...

4.5. i love that the titans are spending so much time in the kitchen. a real family!

5. jonathan crane is a creep and i absolutely cannot stand him.

5.25. how did he get a whole lab setup (in the basement of a hospital...?) with a bunch of whitecoats to work for him? how did he just waltz into the viewing room of an operation theatre when he’s one of the most wanted men in gotham right now? why is jason wandering around maskless when--presumably--as the adopted son of the most famous person in gotham he’d be a tad more recognisable than your average joe?

why do i expect this show to answer anything anymore?

5.5. that’s not necessarily a criticism, mind; i’ve said since season 1 that titans is very comics-like in this aspect, all about the Aesthetic and the splash-page splendour rather than the niggling unimportant details of how or when the characters got to said location. like. the camera gliding over the operation being set-up, lady vic bursting in and doing her murder dance (imagine the luck of the poor intern who chose this day and this surgery to assist) and jason, shocked and slack-jawed, framed by blood.

5.75. it’s a sobering reminder for jason that, though he chose this path in order to gain control over a world that seemed like it was rapidly spinning out of his grip, he’s only succeeded in handing over even more control to a man with an agenda that is very clearly not aligned with his own. he’s in too far to stop now, though.

5.9. i have a lot more thoughts about jason! saving it up for the end of this recap, though.

6. more kitchen time! i better see dick do some cooking soon...

(”our kitchen”! it still delights me! kitchens are So Important)

6.25. so much of dick’s issues have revolved around his relationship with bruce, so it’s completely understandable that in the wake of a huge crisis where bruce literally asks dick to replace him and be a “better” him, dick would default to all the worst things he learned from the man. and i’m glad kory’s having none of it, but come on, guys. the woman’s literally fetched her fratricidal sister out of a hole in the ground with no idea what said sister is going to do next and experiencing a burgeoning sense of guilt far, far beyond her history with the titans, and dick’s too far into his autocolonoscopy that he can’t see that she needs help.

6.5. “he services your urges”--well, as far as we know, kory is the last person he had sex with...

7. “i hope [gar] isn’t angry with me...” SIR! i thought you’d already spoken to him! smh, as the kids say. kory wouldn’t be needing to reassure you if you just took the effort to build two way emotional relationships with the rest of the team. @superohclair​ was taking about dick’s relatively low emotional intelligence? i agree.

7.5. “i got my own problems [...] you and barbara? fix it.” YOU TELL HIM, KORY

8. man i really like this weird, sad tension between dick and barbara--this sense that both of them are approaching the other based on how they remember them and are ultimately disappointed by the truth. barbara thought she could trust dick to... well, be a better batman, but dick has not only failed at that in her eyes, but repeatedly undermined her while exploiting the authority that she gave him. in dick’s eyes, this is nothing like the barbara that he knew, rebellious and ready to do whatever it takes to find something. 

like. this show sometimes really hits me in the chest about the ways it shows kids grow into adults and into caretakers, and the way it’s stop-start, the ways nothing can happen at all for a long time and then it’s Crisis Central all at once and there’s no space to breathe. the weird sort of sadness that comes with nostalgia. 

8.5. oracle name drop! i agree with barbara, any system that can just randomly tap into gotham phonelines is a monster.

8.7. (i don’t know if it’s my imagination, but is dick holding himself... differently in this episode? like that wound is definitely bothering him, and he’s running on fumes)

9. man, that was a really sweet scene between kom and conner. “feeling alien in your own world”... “not quite here nor there”

honestly this team runs on conner and gar’s faith in their value as a family, and it’s a sign of conner’s generous heart that he extends that opportunity to blackfire. this arc of maturation for him, where he’s now able to consciously choose which parts of himself he can use to do the thing he wants to so--save people--has been so fulfilling to recognise. this baby’s grown with the titans! and what he’s learnt is that people can get fucked up, but the titans is a place where they can be fucked up, and grow.

MY MAN CONNER

10. oh man i’m drinking in the gar-dick interaction in this episode like i’m three days into the desert and it’s the only source of water for miles around!

a) gar is absolutely not dealing with dick’s bullshit this episode and I LOVE IT. it’s such a far cry from the man who was idolising dick/robin back in s1 and expecting him to solve all their problems. dick is fallible, dick is fucked up, but he Tries His Best and that’s ok.

b) dick, huffing and puffing through that vent, unable to put any pressure on his left shoulder, trying to have a heart to heart with gar... fuck i love this asshole. 

c) bruce took in a kid who was suffering... “and made him into a weapon”. well. i absolutely agree with dick that it was bruce who put these kids into these horrible situations with him and they came away with a bucketload of trauma to add to the one that they already had. but we know that bruce was really trying with jason, and at the end of s2, dick was coming to acknowledge that bruce had offered him something that wasn’t just darkness. jason’s death and bruce’s reaction to that shattered that fragile progress.

d) “gotham got to me too.” i feel more sympathetic towards dick running off on his own than most, and it’s not just because i’m an unapologetic stan.  we’ve seen before that dick... devolves when overwhelmed, and he lashes out and makes ill thought out decisions and just Does Not Deal. it happened after hearing the news that deathstroke had returned in s2, and it didn’t help that everyone around him was reeling at the news, either. this time, however, he has his salvation in his family, and despite some stupid decisions like running off and kidnapping supervillains without telling his team, he’s been really on the ball this season. thinking clearly and logically, holding it together and working on a plan, thinking two steps ahead of the villains... yes.

e) gar needing to believe that jason isn’t beyond redemption... there’s a lot of blood on his hands, too, from when he was manipulated by cadmus last season. it makes sense why he’d relate to jason’s predicament, and i hope dick picked up on that.

f) my head just added a plaintive ow after dick jumped feet first into the storage room

i need, crave gifs of this scene!

11. *sits on hands* i’m going to talk more about red hood, i promise!

12. more gar and dick! is it my birthday??!!

(actually, according to the tamil calendar, it is my birthday! my “star” birthday)

12.5. excellent. dick using some implausible training that bruce taught him to solve a mystery? passing some of that knowledge onto gar? that proud smile when he sees gar perfectly execute moves that he taught him? MY HEART IS EXPLODING

13. aw, i love flashback!dick and barbara, they’re so cute <3

13.25. why does it not surprise me that the way he proposes a relationship to barbara is by saying “we make sense”? this guy can deduce exactly who was present where and what weapon they were holding from a garbled audio recording but other times he’s utterly clueless, and that’s a consistent character beat right from s1

13.5. so.... that’s why lady vic has it out for... barbara....? i don’t get it. it’s flimsy. but hey! the fun thing about titans is that i don’t have to get it. the payoff has nothing to do with the plot.

14. i can’t believe that barbara fell for that, but at least that wheelchair fight looked awesome, so.

15. oh yeah, i forgot that red hood bullied the mob into helping him and scarecrow... at least that explains the whitecoats and the elaborate set-up.

15.5. honestly i love how this dynamic between kory and kom is developing, though i wish more of the team would pay attention to it. time to call justin, i think!

16. i wonder what happened after that second flashback where barbara got hurt during that heist. did she give up on doing any more (maybe jim caught her)? was it because dick was called away by bruce and then the titans and got caught up in his own issues? maybe barbara froze him out because she wasn’t looking for the relationship that he was looking for? maybe the idea of doing that with someone turning into batman-lite was just... unappealing? scary?

whatever it is, it doesn’t look like dick ever processed the end of that relationship. it’s very intriguing to see where their dynamic goes next.

17. so.... what, did vic deliver some fear toxin to barbara? i... what?

17.5. and i TOLD YOU that they would never explain that doll or why vic attacked those two cops at the beginning! oh, titans. never change. 

18. did jason just randomly have tim’s restaurant burgled? god, i’m feeling a bit nauseous... are they going to kill tim’s father?

18.25. i feel like the rest of the season is going to wrestle with jason’s culpability in the horrible stuff he’s doing and i’m already seeing that prospect divide fans. on one hand, his story is taking a lot of oxygen away from other equally interesting story arcs, and he’s done some truly awful things, like indiscriminate murder, threatening to kill children, blowing up hank, and potentially killing tim’s parents. 

there’s something to be said for the kind of hold that crane has over him, and the so-called ‘anti-fear’ drug that he keeps plying jason with--he’s alone, drugged almost constantly (to the level of dependence), fresh from the trauma of being bludgeoned to death. he hasn’t conquered fear; he’s ruled by it. on the other hand, given that he’s the one character on the show given an obvious and identifiable ‘mental illness’ arc (maaaaybe dick too), one can argue that it’s irresponsible to show this progress into such violence: jason was vulnerable because he was struggling, and that left him vulnerable, but it took only a push before he became a fucking serial killer.

but that could mean we underestimate the degree of that vulnerability, and the mechanics of this universe where he fell into the clutches of the one supervillain perfectly designed to exploit that vulnerability. that helpless spiral into further and further self-destruction is all too real. it’s valuable to know that someone who has sunk that low can still seek help--actual help--and get it. 

18.5. i don’t know. it’s not a question i’m going to resolve at the end of an overlong recap at 1 in the morning. i don’t believe it’s even a question that titans can resolve. but i am interested in where they’re going next with jason.

19. this episode was genuinely great! i’m pumped for the rest of the season!

[theodorecanaryhood]

Dark days

Requested by anonymous... this really is the darkest and saddest fic I've written.

Jason Todd and his wife (reader) have two children and when Joker breaks loose again. He targets the new Robin, your son.

Jason Todd x female reader x Batman

Warning ⚠️ have a hanky on the go for some parts. Has a happy ending though.

The day you met Jason you knew he would turn your life over and out. He was the best and the worst thing at the same time.

You had been together for what felt like a lifetime now, you had beautiful twins Nathan and Delilah. They were now so much like their Father.

Nathan was really into the whole 'nighttime' thing Jason and his family did. He may have been the youngest Robin ever, but he was good for it.

Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl and you the Crow. A flock to be messed with was deadly. But something much deadlier was at bay.

'Where is my son?' You shouted to Bruce who was sitting across from you in the Batcave, he was brooding as usual. He wasn't answering your questions.

'Y/n I' Bruce tried to speak but the look on your face, made it hard for him to tell you.

'He was supposed to be safe, where is he?' You said, Bruce just started welling up. You looked at him, the look on his face, in his eyes.

'Y/n?' Dick said calmly, you turned around to find Jason carrying Nathan in his arms. Still in his Robin suit.

'No' you screamed, falling on the floor in tears as you realised. Your son, your Nathan was dead.

Jason just stood holding his son in his arms, not moving or speaking. Just crying. Dick wrapped his arms around you, holding you while you cried, him also crying.

'I'm so sorry, I'm sorry' Dick whispered to you as he kissed your head. Jason then dropped to his knees, looking at Bruce.

'Old man, he is gonna pay' was all he said in a dark voice.

...

It had been a month by now and Nathan's funeral was beautiful. His twin sister Delilah looked lost lately, you were miserable all the time. And Jason, he was just angry, determined to get the Joker. He blamed Bruce for so long for not killing the Joker after he was himself murdered, the fact Joker walked free to do it again to his son was the final straw. Jason was beyond pissed, beyond angry. He was so full of hate.

Jason sat at the dining room table drinking, again. You walked in, rolled your eyes and sighed.

'Drinking isn't going to solve anything Jason' you said, Jason didn't look at you.

'I'm trying to drink him alive would you like me to stop? Have a drink everytime you feel like hitting something' Jason spoke monotone.

'Can we talk?' You asked, choking a little. You'd been thinking for about a week or so now it's best to have space from Jason. Delilah needs as much attention as she can get. She isn't getting it from him.

'About what? What is there to even talk about now? It's done, our son is dead' Jason spat at you, he was looking at you now, but he looked so angry, so evil. You hated him now.

'Fuck you, Jason' you spat back, shocking Jason. 'Yeah, our son is dead. Our marriage is dead. But our Daughter isn't, she needs us now more than ever' you started to cry, Jason just sat looking at you, 'I know you're angry, I know you feel guilty and I know you're in pain. But we need to communicate if we're going to get through this'.

Jason said nothing, he finished the rest of his drink and walked out the back door. You stood crying in the doorway.

...

'Y/n?' Jason called out as he walked in a few hours later, 'I wanna talk now, you home?' He called again. Jason's phone started ringing.

'Hello?' He said, he didn't recognise the voice on the other end.

'Yeah this Jason Todd, who is this?' He spoke again, his blood ran cold, his face turned white. He went hot, he went cold. He dropped his phone, fell to his knees and let out a gut wrenching, blood curdling scream.

'No' he said to himself, he was crying so hard now. He was broken beyond repair. His son, his wife, his little girl Delilah. All dead.

When Jason left you earlier you took Delilah out in the car. Not knowing where to go you just drove. That's when a drunk driver hit you.

Jason was so cold now he couldn't move, he just curled in a ball and cried to himself.

...

'Any news?' Bruce asked as he walked into the batcave, Tim didn't look away from the screen.

'It's bad B, really bad' Tim turned to look at his Father.

'Tell me'

'It's Jason, he's gone rogue since y/n and the twins. He's broken Joker out of Arkham' Tim said.

'Where are they?' Bruce asked, Tim didn't speak but pointed to a place on the map. Then edge of town by the cliffs.

'Hurry, before he does something he'll regret' Tim says sincere, with sadness in his voice.

...

They had driven for about an hour now, in silence. Joker knew what was about to happen to him. He knew.

'Get out' Jason growled as he ripped Joker from the car. Pushing him towards the end of the cliffs, holding his gun up.

'That's my boy' Joker laughed his usual maniac laugh. Jason held the gun to Joker's head,

'Any last words?' Jason growled again, Joker just laughed hysterically as Batman appeared behind Jason.

'Stand down son' Bruce said calmly, Jason turned his head to look at Batman.

'Go away old man, this piece of shit needs to die' Jason speaks,

'Think of y/n' Batman says softly, Jason roars.

'I am...you can't tell me you weren't tempted to do this. You didn't think about it' Jason boomed.

'He'll kill again' Jason almost whispers. Batman turns his back to Jason, not looking.

'Robin' Joker said, almost serious, Jason looked at Joker with black eyes.

'Make it count' Joker finished as he smiled, Jason pulled the trigger, shooting Joker in the head. Killing him. Jason started to cry, he felt nothing. No revenge for his own death. No revenge for his son's. Nothing.

...

It was late, at least 3am by now or maybe later but Jason didn't care. He was a man on a mission. He knew exactly what to do.

He dug up Nathan's grave, took yours and Delilah's bodies from the morgue and took you to the one place he knew he could have you all again.

Bruce knew what Jason was doing, but he didn't stop him. He let him do what he wanted as Jason said it was this, or Jason dies again. Either option he gets you back. All of you.

The sun came up strong today, Jason knew it was going to be a better day than the ones before. The waters were bubbling, the water was moving. Then he knew it had worked. The Lazarus pit had given him a third chance at life. It had given him his wife and twins back.

You grabbed hold of your daughter, then you grabbed hold of your son.

'Oh my God, my boy. My little boy. My little girl' you cried with happiness, Jason stood and cried with joy as he ran over to you.

'Baby' he said to you shyly, you smiled as you stood. Your twins hugging you, then their Father. Jason cried again, so happy to have you all back.

'I'll never let you go again' Jason says, looking at all three if you.

'Joker?' You said, Jason shook his head.

'Gone' he smiled, you kissed Jason hard as you took his hand.

'Let's go home' you said. Walking out holding hands, holding your children. Better days.

[catxsnow]

SAME FATE J.T.

Request: Hi, I have loved your work as of late I mean top tier work. I was wondering if you can do platonic Jason Todd imagine where the reader was the newest robin and a spitting image of him when he was robin so happy and proud to be a robin and Jason hates her because of it and one day he sort of leads her into a trap just to scare her and something wrong. She is killed by it and beyond being brought back by the pit. Sorry for the angst, I am just in an angsty mood and know that you will do it justice.

Warning: death, blood, angst. 

A/N: I changed the request a little bit, hope you don’t mind. Just didn’t quite see Jason doing this but I think I envisioned enough angst in here to satisfy you. 

Hope you enjoy! Requests are still open :)

GIF not mine

Word count: 2.1k

Jason Todd didn't like you. At all.

Everyone knew it: Bruce, Dick, Tim - they were all aware of how much the second Robin hated you. Even you were aware of it, even though you had done nothing to him to make him feel this way. He even hated you more than Tim and Tim was the one to take his spot as Robin. You had taken Tim's place and if anyone was to be angry it should have been him.

Instead, it was Jason.

No one knew why he hated you so much - in fact everyone thought that the two of you would have gotten along well considering how similar you were. Much like Jason, you had extremely terrible parents. Neither of them cared about you, put food on the table, and most times there wasn't even a roof of your head.

All the money that was brought in was spent on drugs and alcohol and whatever item that had value of your had to be well hidden if you wanted to keep it. All in all, when your father was sent to jail and your mom died of overdose? You didn't complain about it. Life was easier without them in it.

That was when Bruce found you. He had taken you in to live in the Manor and trained you to be the next Robin. You had learned pretty quick too, it was only months that you were there before taking Tim's mantle. The difference between the two of you and how you upheld Robin was drastic.

The first time you had tried on the suit, you had nearly screamed with excitement. Bruce watched you prance around the batcave with a grin on your face. You flipped and jump around, showing off some of the moves you had been taught. 

“This is best thing that’s ever happened to me!” You were so proud to take on the mantle of Robin. When you were a kid, Batman and Robin would always bring you hope that things would be better, that they would change. Now, you got to make that happen yourself. 

God, did Bruce see so much Jason in you. 

You were reckless, dauntless when it came to being out in the streets beside Batman. Running towards bullets, narrowly escaping time and time again, you lived on the edge. Just like Jason. Also just like him, you were aggressive to the point that Bruce couldn't control you just like he couldn't control Jason.

Everyday he saw more and more of his second son in you. Bruce knew that he needed to keep you from making the same mistake that Jason ever did. He couldn't lose you too - even if Jason was back from the dead. No one was willing to take that same risk again, not without a Lazarus pit hidden within the batcave.

Each and every time that Jason showed up to the Manor, he had vocally expressed how he didn't like you. He was rude and undermining to you more than to anyone else. It hurt more than you thought it would. In a lot of ways, you looked up to Jason.

The way that he upheld Robin was something that you always thrived for. You wanted to be like him but, the more that you pushed to be like him, the more he seemed to hate you. He made you doubt your skill as Robin and as yourself. Jason was terrible to you, and you never knew why.

Night after night you would cry yourself to sleep. It wasn't often that someone would get to you but Jason had managed to do it. He didn't just break your walls down, he demolished them. Jason made you feel like a weak little girl, something that you hadn't felt like in years. After everything that you had gone through in life, this shouldn't have been your weakness, yet it was.

The night that you went patrolling on your own was a stormy one. Rain droplets blocked your vision and made everything twice as hard as it normally was. Bruce was busy with an event for WE and you weren't ready to call it a night. Crime didn't stop just because there was rain.

The night went as it always did. Taking out anyone you saw breaking the law and bounding across the city to find someone else to bring to justice. It was nights like those that made you wonder why Jason hated you so much - you were doing great on your own. In fact, you had to admit that you were just as good as he was.

Tim saw it in you. From what he knew about Jason, you not only had the same amount of skill, but the same kind. Bruce had confided in him about how much he saw Jason in you and how worried it made him.

He should have been more worried.

As the night seemed to get quiet, you had let your guard down. That had been the mostly costly mistake that you had ever made. You had just finished knocking out some sleeze when another figure arrived. Between the loud booms of thunder and the traffic on the street, you couldn't hear them approach you.

Before you could even turn around, you were out cold.

><

The second that Bruce got the picture of you he sent every resource available searching Gotham for you.

It was Penguin that had captured you - why, he still didn't know. The picture that was published for all the world to see was of you completely bloody and bruised. You hung from chains by your wrists, blood dripping from your face, soaking your suit, and onto the cement. You looked terrible.

The picture was posted on every single news channel, article, papers, it was everywhere. Penguin wanted to city to know that he could capture a Robin and torture them without getting caught. He had Batman in the palm of his hand if he ever wished to see his precious Robin again.

Bruce had everyone searching for you. Even Jason Todd, the one person on this planet that seemed to hate your guts, agreed to help find you. It had been a long time since any of them had seen Bruce this worried about someone. He had every right to be, this exact situation happened to Jason only a few years ago.

At least Penguin was a little more sane.

It had been just over forty-eight hours since you had been taken. Forty-eight hours of nothing but torture and pain. Bruce couldn't imagine what you were going through right now, he didn't want to. The entire time he hadn't slept, he had only been focused on finding you. This couldn't happen to him again.

Jason Todd might have hated you, but he knew that no one ever deserved to be in the same situation that he was in. That was why he spent day and night searching for you. Penguin had hid you well, too well for anyone to find you - hell they didn't even know if you were still in Gotham or not.

It was late at night when the video broadcast on every screen in Gotham. You looked worse than before. Suit torn, more blood and bruises than skin. Your head hung low and you could barely stand any longer. Penguin had put a number on you.

"Batman..." You coughed, blood spit down your chin and onto the floor. One of the Penguin's goons lifted your head up by the hair so that you fully faced the camera. "Penguin...  admits he's got the smallest dick in Gotham and not even a goat would -"

The camera shut off the moment that you got another punch to the face. As dire of a situation that this was, Jason couldn't help but chuckle at you. Even in the face of death - you were going to give them hell.

"Got them," Tim's voice echoed over the comms. Thankfully, you had been on air just long enough or him to track down the signal. "He's got her in a warehouse down on fourth and twentieth."

"I'm right there, I'll go," Jason responded. He was already starting up his bike and driving to the warehouse that you were supposedly in. God forbid that Tim was right - after the comment you made Penguin was not going to be happy.

Jason's bike barely stopped before he hopped up. The place looked empty - the only sign of life was a singular light going off in the building. Gun's out and up, he kicked open the door and was ready to shoot anyone that stood in his way. However, there was no one. For a second, he thought that Tim had gotten the place wrong until he saw a lump of red, green, and yellow lit up.

Jason holstered his guns and ran over to you. A pool of blood surrounded your limp body and as he turned you onto your back, he had seen while. Two bullet holes punctured your suit and deep into your abdomen.

"Fuck," Jason muttered. He pulled his helmet off, not wanting to scare you more than you already were. You eyes fluttered up to him and you had to use all of your strength just to keep them open. "Batman, fuck, hurry."

Jason pressed down on your fresh wounds in hope to stop the bleeding but it already looked like you had lost too much. There was no way that he could move you - not when he only had his bike with him.

"You're gonna be just fine, (Y/N)," Jason tried to comfort you. You didn't feel the need to be comforted - in fact you didn't feel anything at all. Jason'a face was blurry above you and a ringing vibrated through your ears. No pain was felt in your body, just acceptance. "Stay with me."

"Bru..." You tried to talk but nothing was able to come out. Blood stained your teeth, only the metallic taste of blood was what you could sense. "Sorry..."

This time, your eyes didn't open again. "(Y/N)," Jason called to you. Your body was completely dead weight in his arms and your chest no longer rose up. "(Y/N)," Jason tried again. He ripped off his gloves and pressed his fingers to your neck. No pulse. "No! (Y/N)!"

Jason felt an overwhelming sadness fill his chest. For years he was never fond of you. You were reckless, dangerous, even a threat to this team. You cared about the thrill of it all no matter what kind of spot that put you in. You came from a broken home, just excited that you finally had a roof over your head.

You were just like him.

That was why Jason hated you so much. You reminded him too much of himself. Too much of what he used to be before Joker had gotten to him. Every time he looked at you, all he could see was what his life used to be like. He had everything he could have wanted, just like you had.

Whatever sick people looked over you had the same kind of fate in mind. You had gotten the same terrible ending that he had gotten. The ending that he didn't want for Tim, that he didn't want for you. That was why he hated you so much.

“Fuck, (Y/N). I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Jason’s voice cracked as he held back sobs. 

The sadness and grief that filled Jason's chest grew so much that he could no longer contain it. Tears slid down his cheeks as he held onto your body. Sobs echoed through the empty warehouse for the loss of Robin. Jason had reached his breaking point with you.

He was angry with himself for neglecting you all these years. After being able to see so much of himself in you, he should have known that you could have followed him down the same path, he just didn't expect it to be this one. He never expected anyone to be in this same position again, especially with someone other than the joker.

Jason could have taken you under his protection, he could have taught you everything that he knew. Bruce had told him that you looked up to him in so many ways and he denied that you ever cared about him. It was easier to look you than to see the similarities within you.

Bruce had arrived too late as well. The second that he saw your dead body in Jason's arms, he had fallen to his knees in despair. Bruce has to watch his Robin die for a second time. What broke him even more, was seeing the absolute heartbreak on Jason's face. They had all been too late.

Jason Todd had failed you, and he was going to live with that guilt for the rest of his life.

[peppersonironi]

How I Picture a Batfam Age Reversal

I’m going to write this as a fic (And I want to go on into a young justice world where dick forms the team and his siblings are protective) but here is the outline in bullet points in case anyone is interested. Please note this is VERY first draft.

Ages (At end) & Order:

Damian- 24

Duke- 21

Stephanie- 20

Tim- 21

Cassandra- 19

Jason- 19

Barbara- 15

Dick- 13

Damian is Ten when he is sent to live w/ his father. Bruce is 30.

They don’t really work well together at first. But Selina, Alfred, and Clark somehow get it through Bruce’s thick skull that he has to care for this child.

Damian keeps sneaking out on patrol, against B’s wishes. Eventually, he let’s Damian join and tells him to choose a name (Not what we meant, Bruce!)

Damian wants to go for something like Shadow, or Demon, but Bruce puts his foot down. He says that Damian shouldn’t try to be darkness.

Damian is pouting in the gardens when he finds a wounded robin. It’s wing is broken. He demands that the animal should be taken to a shelter, and carries it in his hand the whole way there.

The bird makes it, and Damian demands to be called Robin. He designs his suit, going slightly more colorful. “I might be called Robin, but I am NOT wearing brown, Pennyworth.”

Bruce introduces him to Superboy (Jon, note: less age dif) and the pair are close friends.

He is Robin for a little over seven years before he begins to fight with Bruce about being allowed to patrol alone, and being his own hero. (basically what happened w/ Dick).

Damian leaves Gotham, opting to claim Bludhaven. Jon joins him. He suggests they call each other Nightwing and Flamebird. Damian thinks it’s a bit childish, but he can’t say no to Jon. They’re costumes are here. (done by @hyperactive-lectiophile! Fantastic job!)

They eventually realize they’re in love w/ each other, all while trying to figure their lives  out. Damian briefly tries to join the police. He hates it. Eventually, he enrolls in BH college for a major in Art and a minor in business.

Later in Gotham, the We Are Robin/Robin War stuff happens. Long story short, Duke is adopted. 

Damian is angry to find out he has a new brother, goes to Gotham to yell at Bruce, but then meets Duke. They bond, and are close siblings. Damian makes his father promise to not adopt any more strays.

Stephanie Brown wants to stop her Father, so she sews up a costume and goes out as Batgirl. Bruce is apprehensive at first, but his family basically yells at him to train the poor girl before she gets hurt.

He does, and after Steph meets Damian, who she absolutely adores (He loves her too. The way she pisses his father off is legendary), Stephanie decides she wants to be Robin. Batgirl was good for dealing with her father, but she wants to belong to this new family, and, w/ Damian’s blessing, she makes a new costume.

Unfortunately, after a while, Stephanie is killed by Black Mask (her death is faked, like in the comics, but the Fam doesn’t know)

Enter Tim Drake. Batman has been going crazy over grief, and not even Nightwing, Catwoman (this is SOOOO batcat, btw) or The Signal can calm him down. Tim steps right up, and demands to be robin.

Damian and Bruce fight over this. Surprisingly, Damian is the one who thinks Tim should be given a chance. He sees how his father has been acting. Damian knows that Tim must be brilliant to figure out their identities, and thinks that should count for something. Duke takes his side, knowing that it takes guts to talk to batman, and be willing to join him. Bruce, meanwhile, is a constant chant of “no more dead robins”. After a while, and lots of arguing, Tim takes his place as Robin. They redesign the suit, and he takes his place as robin.

It’s little while after this that Stephanie comes back. Tim offers Robin back, but Stephanie declines. They talk and grow closer. At one point they talk about Stephanie’s new moniker. She says she doesn’t want to be Batgirl either. She wants something new. Tim suggests Spoiler (Bad pun turned brilliant idea?).

Cassandra Cain arrives on the scene next. She saves the commissioner’s life (like No Man’s Land, minus No Man’s Land), and Stephanie immediately imprints on this tiny assassin child (So do the rest of the family, but Steph claims the fourteen-year old first. She and Bruce fight over custody.). She offers Cass Batgirl. Gotham gained a new vigilante, and Bruce Wayne adopted a new child. (Faster than the comics, I KNOW. But Cass deserves happiness)

Everyone loves their new sister, and everyone spoils her. Duke is the one to take her to a ballet the first time. She immediately begs to be put into lessons.

Somewhere in here Tim’s mom dies and his dad is in a coma. Bruce takes him in.

Eventually, Bruce decides to offer Tim Red Robin, hoping to avoid the strife he had with Damian. (Like in the comics, Bruce was going to give Jason Red Robin)

Tim is unsure of this, and puts off deciding. Then little Jason Peter Todd decides to jack the tires of the batmobile and is immediately taken in.

Everyone is captivated by the tiniest addition to their family, but it's also at this time that Jack Drake finds out about Robin and forces Tim to quit. Tim gives Jason his blessing to become Robin.

Everyone pitches in on helping train the newest Robin. Damian teaches the kid things he learned from the league (non-lethal things, since Damian loves this kid), Duke teaches him escrima fighting, Stephanie (Much to Bruce’s dismay) has a full seminar of the delicacies of glitter bomb making. Tim teaches the kid hacking, when he can get away from his dad. 

Unfortunately, when Jason has been Robin for almost a year, he is killed by the Joker.

The family is torn apart by greif. But this time around, Bruce has a much larger support system. All of them lean on each other.

The only time that Damian ever broke his no-kill rule while living with his father was to kill the Joker. He hunted and murdered the clown, sparing Harley. He had been friends with Quinzel since he was Robin, and knew how the Joker treated her. Harley became the batfam’s honorary aunt after this.

Bruce was too emotionally tired to fight with Damian over his actions, so no one said anything. Eventually, Bruce and Damian did argue. Damian refused to apologize,, though he did promise his father to never kill again. Their relationship was strained for a while, but they worked through it.

Less than a year later, Jack Drake dies, and Tim comes back onto the vigilante scene. He refuses to become Robin, however, choosing to take Bruce up on his offer and become Red Robin. He designs his own suit, and the world seems to slowly become normal. Or some semblance of it.

One night, the circus is in town and the whole family (except Alfred) is home. Duke, Tim, and Steph drag Bruce, Cass, and Damian to go see it.

It is on this night that Dick Grayson’s parents fall to their death. Dick is sent to live in juvi, meanwhile Bruce tries to adopt Dick. He succeeds, and the manor once again has a bright young child running through it’s halls.

Dick figures out the secret identities of his family and instantly demands to be allowed out. He wants to take down Zucko, and won’t settle for every single member hunting for him. Dick wants to take down his parent’s murdered himself. He tries to sneak out multiple times, but is always stopped.

Damian talks to Dick (They are extremely close) and explains the origins of Robin. He says that the mantle was born out of a want to distance himself from the revenge and violence of the league. Dick cries when he learns this and says that his own parents used to call him Robin. He suggests that the mantle is more than a personal need. Robin is Family.

Damian almost immediately demands that Dick be trained and help catch Zucko. Bruce is confused, as before, Damian was strongly against letting a nine-year-old fight crime. Damian explains (after much cajoling. He might be more emotionally open and healthy than when he first arrived in the manor, but the kid is still constipated) what Dick had said, and that Damian understands the kid’s need for direction. “When I first came here, I needed Robin. I might not have known it, but I did. Richard needs Robin now, as well.”

The family took sides on the issue, but eventually Dick (with the aid of his puppy-dog-eyes™) won everyone over. He got his own Robin costume, and they caught Zucko.

Dick refused to stop being Robin, and so Gotham gained a new bird.

Dick was Robin for almost two years when The Red Hood made his appearance in Gotham. No one knew what he wanted, as he didn’t seem to do much beyond killing criminals. They thought he was a vigilante at first, but then he began to take over the criminal underbelly of Gotham, regulating crime. On top of that, Red Hood targeted Robin. Attacking the boy wonder when no one else was around. After the red helmeted rogue let loose a few hints about the league of shadows, Damian interrogated his mother, who explained the identity of The Red Hood, and how she had set him on Gotham.

As soon as the family figured out the newcomer’s identity, and the reason he was alive Damian tracked him down. He knew how to deal with pit rage from his childhood, and brought the lost bird back to the nest.

The family was whole for the first time in years. Jason was still angry and resentful, but he had his family back. Jason was grateful for Damian taking revenge for him, and they were once again close. 

Slowly, Jason let everyone back in, including Bruce. Dick is wary at first of this new older brother, but the little chicken nugget quickly warms up to Jason, and even convinces him to teach him how to shoot a gun (In secret, of course, Dami and Bruce would blow a gasket). Jason couldn’t resist the kid. It was physically impossible.

A year later, Cass decides to pursue dance as her career. She gets a job with the Hong Kong Ballet company. She moves there, and decides to take a new moniker: Black Bat. Her family is so proud of her, but they miss her dearly. Duke visits often, bringing new back to the family.

The absence of Batgirl is filled after a while by Barbara Gordan. She makes her own costume and starts going out. Once again, Stephanie Brown adopts a smol bean (Well, not legally. The commissioner is still alive) and outfits her with a more Gotham-friendly suit and weaponry (I.e. heavy kevlar and leather)

Babs is taken whole-heartedly into the fold, and is made an honorary sister.

[titusbias]

Sometimes I think I would've liked to see John Blake as Robin in more than Nolan's movies. Maybe in a comic, because if Terry got his miniseries of comics after Batman Beyond animated series, then it isn't impossible. Maybe it can't happen because Christopher Nolan didn't have that in mind when he created John Blake, but guys, we can't deny the character has potential.

I mean, he found out by himself, like Tim, that Bruce was Batman. He admired the Dark Knight since he was a little kid and knowing that Bruce became what he became after the death of his parents, being John himself an orphan, motivated him. That's why he decided to be a policeman in the first place and then to make justice by his hands and quite the GCPD.

He believed in Bruce and everything that Batman represented even after the big scandal of Harvey Dent and bla bla bla, which for me is great. He went as far as to go to Wayne's manor to make Bruce wake up and face the world they were living. He's the one who pulled Bruce out of his shell after all those years.

«I figured it out too late. You got to learn to hide the anger, practice smiling in a mirror.

It's like putting on a mask»

Genius line, btw.

They don't show us too much about his past, but he had a hard childhood. Moving to a foster home till his foster parents get frustrated and sent him to an orphanage, all of this after his mother died in a car accident and his father got shot. He felt angry, but never understood. And when he met Bruce Wayne for the first time, he knew he was like him. That he understood. And that he was Batman.

In the movie this is not explain, but John said:

«Right when I saw you, I knew who you really were. I'd seen that look on your face before.

It's the same one I taught myself»

So leaves it to your own interpretation, pretty much the same Nolan does with all his movies. But still a genius line.

John actually cares about the children of Gotham, being a volunteer in his former orphanage and trying to support them in any way possible. He even knows all the names of the orphans and is happy when he learns that Bruce transformed the manor to be the Martha and Thomas Wayne home for children.

At first he is a loyal follower of the law, saying to Jim that he betrayed everything he stood for and showing himself disappointed with what Gordon did. But as the movie progresses, John begins to understand the point of view of the Commissioner, that sometimes you have to break the rules to catch the bad guys. The scene when he becomes aware that he just killed two people is underrated. Also, from the start of the film, we see that John is not exactly an obedient cop, often trying to do risky moves and things he considers necessary. He's reckless and his priorities are far away from the ones of his colleagues. He obeys his own rules.

So Blake leaves the GCPD the moment he realizes, in that bridge, that Batman is gone and Gotham has no one to protect it in a way the police couldn't. He takes the responsibility that Bruce left him.

«You know what you said about structures becoming shackles?

You were right, and I can't take it, the injustice»

That's a character development I enjoyed. Wtf all his lines are genius

John has a lot of things that makes me remember all the other Robins. These are a few I remember.

He's an orphan, like basically half the batfam.

John knew Batman's secret identity from the beginning, like Tim.

He's a person motivated by his past, the anger and the desire of justice. Like everyone.

John called out Bruce on his bullshit, like all his sons do.

He has black hair (???

He killed people, oof.

He looks hella good in a suit, the most important requirement to be a bat.

He often disagrees with the law.

John admired Bruce since he was a child and grow up trying to follow his path. Tim vibes.

Well, he gives all the vibes. With Dick, specially the cop part and the 'I love kids' thing, Jason and his anger when he was a teenager and ofc Tim, cause he trained his skills to achieve a goal. I can't think of things he has in common with Damian (?

Reasons I wanted more of John Blake:

Because his official name is Robin, that's freaking cool.

Bruce trusted him with his legacy.

His story is promising. DC get a whole plot from the 'Dick get shot' thing, I'm sure they can do anything.

He would be a refreshing character, like Terry.

We didn't get the chance to see his trajectory as Robin and that's something I will regret the rest of my life.

Idk I have curiosity of what sort of story it could become. One without a Batman and a new and inexpert Robin having bittersweet adventures. Saying that Bruce is really death or not going back, which could be another reason to make it a series.

Assuming that a comic about Nolan's universe would follow the original storyline. Like Batman Beyond.

Did I already said all his lines are epic af?

The last three draws kinda look like Nightwing symbol more than Batman's

Only reason I don't want more of John Blake:

Because Christopher Nolan ended it there and he's my lord (???

But then, I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and all the characters he plays and John "Robin" Blake is no exception.

Yeah, I did this because I was rewatching the Dark Knight Rises and it suddenly came to my mind.

I wrote it in 5 minutes I don't even know

[delusionland]

long ass hcs that feature interracial batfam dynamics ( tw racism, mentions of this blog typical abuse )

my bruce is a ace bi trans man and alfred is a bisexual old queen so when it comes to gender & sexuality---this team of adoptive fathers has the game down. the kids always know it’s fine to be lgbt. bruce&alfred help them with vocal training if they want it. they have literally multiple billions of dollars for any gender confirmation surgery, hrt, doctors, tho therapists are sort of off the table. (reasons to become robin: free top/bottom surgery whats better than this.) it feels easy to come out to them, even bruce, bc brucie has always been public about being trans, and you ALWAYS know brucie before u know batman---and what a shock that is, this nice lgbt man who is wonderful & sensitive in every way is actually a bastard--and alfred is. well he’s camp as all hell. you don’t even really have to come out to bruce or alfred tho. one day u just go ‘i want u to buy me something’ or ‘i’m bringing my girlfriend / boyfriend home’ and bruce takes out a hundred dollar and alfred puts out his hand, and bruce goes ‘who is it.’ and if it’s who alfred thinks it is, he wins the bet LOL.

but when it comes to race stuff. bruce falls flat on his ass. don’t get him wrong. if you fuck with his kids in public or where he can see---he has ur job and ur life on the line, he will fucking ANNIHILATE ur career & ur livelihood. lose ur fucking house & probably get the shit kicked out of you for writing a shitty tabloid article about the new kid of color in a suit at the latest gotham gala. bruce has so much trauma from tabloids as the most publically out trans person from the SIXTIES, and he’s not letting that happen to his kids without brucie AND batman eviscerating them. it’s a bit of a ptsd response, in truth, but the only person who can really ‘cancel’ you in this world is bruce fucking batman wayne and he fucking will do it!!!!! don’t TEST him or his kids. ( several publications have gone out of business just bc of this shit and bruce refusing to stand for it. tmz and p/erez hilton and fuckin pie/rs morgan do Not Exist In The DC Universe Any Longer LOL )

but when it comes to connecting with them on that level, being the white parent that connects them back to their culture & mentors & friends of their own ethnicity after their parents of color die (or were just never around in the case of my jason & cass), he doesn’t really know what to do.

when bruce interacts with his children---in his best moments, it’s about HIS interests and hobbies and what he thinks a father should be, and its very. tvland in a lot of respects. it’s what HIS father would do in his mind---fishing trips, movie nights, fatherly advice, and his father was all about apperances and died when bruce was very young, so it’s like. bruce doesn’t have the best roadmap here, and then when u add interracial family dynamics on that and the ways white richness has insulated bruce---it gets harder to connect with his children on that level.

alfred on the other hand---is rich only by association and skimming off the top, and is only high society because he was an aesthete poor british kid from liverpool that wanted to be a shakespearean actor when he became a butler like his similarly poor father who sent money across the pond. he gets poor kids more than bruce does---but he’s also, just a better person and father and more willing to meet these children in ways they need him to meet them. alfred learns how to cook romani food with and for dick, writes down the recipes with him so he’ll have a piece of his family forever. alfred learns WITH cass & jason for fun how to speak mandarin & cantonese bc u know. why not. they pretend it’s for him or for fun as  well, but they never have to say ‘its embarrassing when other asian people think i know their language but i don’t and i feel like an idiot.’

there’s a disonance, always---between bruce & his children and alfred and his children. it becomes bruce is the ‘public dad’ and the dad they want to be a dad when they’re older---but at the time, bruce is kind of like a big brother and boss that is not emotionally mature enough to actually raise them beyond tvland affectations and cliches. alfred is the one that does the actual paternal & maternal instincts, that connects with them as a true caretaker---but just as alfred enabled bruce all his life, alfred often enables his other children more than he should. the thing that seperates bruce’s childhood from his friends, truly, and the way he is raised under the wayne household----bruce never got the discipline he needed, and the batkids get too much from bruce that alfred just kind of has to bandaid up the emotional wounds.

in a way alfred views that as his fault as well, though. if he had raised bruce better---maybe bruce would be a better father.

alfred has a hard time seeing bruce as anything other than a son, though. likewise, he ALSO views bruce & the batkids more as siblings than adult & children. just like bruce will always view his children as extensions of who he was when his parents died and the little boy & happiness he thinks he lost---alfred never stops thinking of BRUCE that way, as the little boy he was when alfred met him, to everyone’s detriment.

[themandylion]

Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Red Robin (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Tim Drake, Prudence Wood, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary: When Jack Drake died, Tim appended a Wayne to his name, moved into the manor, and no one there had any reason whatsoever to examine his family tree.

—

The first time Tim did it on purpose was while he was still following Batman and Robin. He'd gotten some really excellent shots of Robin silhouetted against a rare clear patch of sky and his mind wasn't on his surroundings. When he turned to go, he found the mouth of the alley blocked by a group of thugs, more than eager to relieve him of his fancy camera.

They were all bigger than him, and armed to boot. There was no point in trying to fight or cry for help. He was cornered, they all knew it, so Tim did what his dad always told him to do if he ever found himself in a situation like that.

He screamed.

Tim didn't stick around to see the fallout, after. Just ran home and hid under the covers on his bed and waited for morning, his heart pounding his chest. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time, something he both did and didn't want to do ever again. In the moment, he swore to himself he was done following heroes, that he'd never do it again.

He was out again a fortnight later, though he now carried a collapsible baton with him, just in case.

—

Batman didn't want metas in Gotham, didn't think them fair or sporting. He liked things he could measure, could understand, could predict all the outcomes of.

Tim respected that and, even more importantly, respected Batman. Once he was Robin, he used his hands, his legs, his feet, his mind, his staff—sometimes all of them together. The only time he used his voice was to cajole or taunt or query.

He didn't scream, even when he wanted to. Batman wouldn't like it, wouldn't want a Robin who could do that, and Tim—

Tim needed Robin maybe just as much as Batman did, sometimes.

—

When Jack Drake died, Tim picked the lock on his father's safe and replaced the will there with a carefully altered one. He didn't think he was really ready to be Bruce Wayne's son, but he also wasn't ready to stop being Robin, and there were things that would need adjusting if he wanted that to happen.

He was pretty sure his cousin would understand. After all, she'd seen Bruce at the funeral, had shared a long, meaningful look with Tim before ducking out early.

Less than a month later, Tim appended a Wayne to his name, moved into the manor, and no one there had any reason whatsoever to examine his family tree.

—

The second time Tim did it on purpose, it was too late to worry about losing Robin, maybe even too late to worry about upsetting Bruce. He didn't have a name anymore, at least not one beyond 'Tim Drake-Wayne,' and he wasn't sure if he even had all of that, now.

What he did have was another thug, another tight situation. No escape, no one to call for help. But he wasn't Robin and he wasn't in Gotham, so Batman's rules didn't apply. And besides all that, it wasn't just his own life on the line this time.

Widower's blades flashed, Z and Owens fell, and Tim screamed.

Riding back to the hotel, after, he glanced at Pru in the passenger seat. She was clutching her side, the wound she received before she could take out the stunned assassin still oozing a slow trickle of blood.

"I'd appreciate it," he said, "if you didn't mention what happened back there to anyone." He didn't say that he meant to Ra's, but then he didn't really think he needed to.

"Don't know why you use that bloody stick with a voice like that," she grumbled.

"Batman doesn't like his people to have anything… abnormal about them."

She snorted and shook her head. "If I was working for someone who didn't appreciate my natural talents for what they are, I'd find a new boss."

"Yeah? And how's that working out for you?" he asked, thinking of her partners they left in cave miles behind them, victims of a battle they didn't even know they were fighting. He wondered if Ra's even knew any of their names, or if they were all just faceless, disposable lackies to him.

"Found you, didn't I?"

—

They found Lucius's youngest daughter in the hotel room when they arrived, there at her father's request to drag Tim back to Gotham. She was obviously completely ignorant of just what the Wayne family got up to after hours, despite her father being all too aware.

He and Pru passed her back and forth as they battled the ninja Ra's sent swarming into the room, and while Tam Fox was far from unskilled, it was all too clear that she was way over her head. With people like Lucius to look up to, it was no wonder Bruce's parenting tactics were far from optimal.

It was enough to make a guy think.

—

"Hey, it's me. I know it's been a while, but I was wondering—is your offer still open? I've got some stuff to take care of in Gotham, but after that… I think I'm ready."

—

They didn't manage to leave Ra's al Ghul behind.

Tim found himself cornered in an office. A window at his back, a sword-wielding psychopath coming at him and—

He was back in Gotham, but no longer Robin. He wasn't sure if he was even part of Batman's brood anymore, if he even wanted to be.

Thoughts were whizzing through his mind and there were things he wanted, things he wished for—

But wishes never got anyone anywhere, and Bruce wasn't back quite yet. Not to mention the man currently running around the city as Batman had slightly different priorities than his predecessor.

Ra's was coming at him, he had to make a split-second decision, and while he might have chosen differently just a few short months ago, he knew what he had to do now.

Tim screamed.

—

Bruce came back.

—

Bruce came back, completely ignorant of everything Tim went through in order to make it happen. He came back and right away started asking for more—more work, more lies, more time. More years of Tim's life.

"I don't know if I'm ready to be back for good just yet. There are some things I need to see to, and it would be easier to do that while I'm not exactly back yet, officially." Bruce said it like it was the most logical thing ever.

It wasn't. It didn't make sense at all. Between Hush pretending to be him out of the mask and Dick continuing his legacy in it, it wasn't like Bruce had ever actually been gone. Except to the people that mattered most. To his friends and colleagues. His family.

"You do you," Tim said, pulling off Red Robin's cowl and handing it to him. "But you'll have to do it without me."

"What?"

"I realized some things, while you were gone," Tim explained as he began pulling off the rest of the suit. "Things about myself. Things about you."

"You're quitting?"

"Yes. No. Maybe?" Tim shrugged as he pulled off the last piece, then began replacing it all with regular, comfortable clothes. His clothes. "All this time I followed your rules, thinking that made me something stronger, something better. Took you being gone for me to realize that all it was really doing was holding me back."

"Tim… I don't understand."

"There comes a time when every bird has to fly free of the nest and find its own song." Tim slipped on his shoes, picked up his pack. "I'll see you around, Bruce."

—

Dinah met him at the manor gates with a fast bike and an extra helmet.

This time, he didn't look back.

[jasontoddiefor]

Batfam Fanfic Rec Sunday!

I’ve decided to do something worthwhile with my 1400+ Batfam bookmarks, therefore I welcome you to my first Fanfic Rec Sunday. Every Sunday I guess I’ll recommend fanfictions for a specific theme, AU, trope, etc.

Feel free to request specific themes or AUs and I’ll do my best to search for fitting fanfiction!

(”Oh, I’ve always wanted to read something like a Brooklyn 99 crossover!” ”I’ve got your back, young reader.”)

This week’s theme is Time Travel & Batman Beyond!

And I’ve got 28 amazing fanfics for you below the read more!

Have fun and don’t forget to leave these lovely writers a comment!

Title: A Gift to Cherish Summary: The wonderful thing about being hurdled through time and space is that Jason doesn’t have to deal with the fallout of not listening to Bruce. The awful, terrible, no good very bad part of hurtling through time and space is that he has no idea where he is. It’s all up to wormhole he was thrown into to decide where he gets spit out to. In which Jason is thrown into a future he never came back to, and gets to heal, just a little bit. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20226775

Title: A Good Place Summary: Damian Wayne is kidnapped and sent back years through time. Together, he and Father – who's only been Batman for a mere six months –must figure out how to return him to his own time. Over the course of the next week, Damian discovers that Mexican gangsters do not mess around, that social workers find Bruce annoying, that Bruce might be a little messed up, and that crystal chandeliers create the fondest memories. Oh. And Alfred has hair. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13515501

Title: A hundred miles through the desert Summary: Finding himself nearly three decades into the past hadn't been part of Jason's plans for the day, but he could manage. Having no idea how he got there, no clear path home and a recently orphaned Bruce Wayne determined to drag Jason into his search for his parents' killer - that might be a little more complicated. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18197330

Title: And They’re Only Getting Better Summary: 90's!Tim Drake wakes up in his Red Robin body. Exhausted from a YJ mission, he chooses to focus on getting through a normal day so as not to disrupt things for his future self. But, y'know, his way. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10522401

Title: A Time to Reflect Summary: Bruce finds himself stuck in the past, and while waiting for the league to pick him up, struggles to get along with his past self. Plus being in a practically empty manor is a bigger adjustment than he'd like to admit. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20156707

Title: Back to the Past Summary: Bruce is Robin, his dad isn't Batman though, despite how similar the outfits are. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17237258

Title: Careful what you wish for Summary: Sometimes, Batman can’t help but miss the time when Dick was the one and only Robin. In a world with magical imps, he should have known better. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15009647

Title: Choose - Lose Summary: Tim looked to the empty space where the time traveler had stood, a forgettable man with a forgettable face in a forgettable shabby brown suit, and had made his unforgettable offer. You can save him. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18320876

Title: Cocoa in April Summary: There are strict rules when it comes to time-traveling. But when Dick is faced with an adorable young Bruce when he's accidentally sent back to 1988, he can't resist a conversation. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888914

Title: death sucks (and then you live) Summary: Red Hood is starting to put some serious plans in motion when he's attacked by a not-so-welcome blast from the past. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15532380

Title: Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep Summary: I am not here I do not sleep. Terry wants to say he's okay with cemeteries. But taking your kinda boss, kinda mentor, kinda surrogate father-figure to his creepy family cemetery does not make him feel good. He didn't realize just how much Bruce mourns. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19378990

Title: In my arms Summary: There was nothing he could do. Nothing he could change. Those were the rules of the past. Besides, babies cried all the time, even if this was less a cry and more of an angry wail from a little one pushed past its limits. But still. He should have been on his way. He likely would have been, had this been a different home. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20728655

Title: Innocence and experience Summary: What starts as a normal patrol ends up shaking up the world of Young Justice when a boy claiming to be a future Robin drops from the sky while chasing after a man in white. The Team struggles to deal with Damian and the future he represents all the while trying to return him to his rightful time. But for what purpose is this new villain in the past and can Damian and the Team stop him? Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9224534

Title: I Used to Be an Adventurer Like You, Then I Took an Arrow to the Knee Summary: Stephanie was just on patrol and now she’s stuck somewhere, sometime, with Bruce. They bleed and bond and mostly try to keep each other alive— you know, just a Tuesday. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16437716

Title: life, if well lived Summary: Jason wakes up from a time-travel mishap to find Thomas and Martha Wayne hovering over him. Just another day in the life, right? ...Not quite. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18378512

Title: Lost and Found Summary: Bruce is dying. Slowly, painfully. Not going out in a blaze of glory and defiance for a greater purpose. He's caving under the weight of his own age, under the damage he's done to his heart through the years. Terry can't be by his side constantly to do damage control. More than that, he can't watch it happen with no reprieve. But there's no one else. Terry needs help keeping vigil by an ill Bruce's bedside. But the old man had kids once, didn't he? Are the bridges he burned unable to be rebuilt? As he observes, Terry definitely starts to wonder how this family used to be. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12214692

Title: meet the robins Summary: sad little orphan bruce travels to the future and meets the family he’ll have one day :) too bad he can’t stay forever :( Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2685095

Title: Mint Chocolate Chip Summary: Summer vacations have been going on just long enough for Jason to start getting bored, when he gets an unexpected visitor. From the future. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18860545

Title: no one seems to go Summary: “Father,” Bruce mumbles, “I am something of an outlaw.” “Were you always this dramatic, son?” Thomas asks, the bed beneath them shaking as he shifts. “Alfred.” Bruce snorts, shaking his head. “Theatrics are his speciality, remember?” Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15663957

Title: Of your own making Summary: Jason died. Then he came back, forty years too late. It takes time to adjust. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20211523

Title: One Big Batty Family Summary: In which Billy Batson and the McGinnis siblings join the present day Batfam. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1133567

Title: Oops I did it again Summary: "You're insane." Or possibly an insane dream from eating chili dogs before bed. Which one Jason wasn't sure since he had yet to pinch himself. "I'm a member of the longer existing Dead Robins Club that doesn't even give you a lousy shirt. Not shocking Jay." Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/936921

Title: Raisin Delight Summary: A year after Jason Todd dies, Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne take on the case when they notice strange occurrences in Gotham city. This has disastrous consequences, but so do most things that Tim gets caught up in, so what's new, really. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15644082

Title: Realization Summary: Bruce makes a discovery while conducting a check-up on Terry. Takes place midway through the "Splicers" episode. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377468

Title: Strange Manor Summary: Bruce let his eyes close to wallow for a moment in worry and fear for Jason. One second, two, three. He opened his eyes. Time to act. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13474308

Title: The Incandescent Rose Summary: Terry McGinnis (the new Batman) impulsively asks marriage proposal advice from his mentor and grumpy father figure Bruce Wayne. When the older man describes a proposal in which he had been yelled at and abandoned, Terry can't help investigate the matter by seeing some of Bruce's most knowledgeable friends and family members. This search prompts someone else into action. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19414228

Title: The Time Travel Problem Summary: Barry Allen and Clark Kent, follow Bruce around during a time travel mission through Gotham City's recent past. If only Bruce would stay focused. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21143081

Title: Younger Bruce, Older Jason Summary: Jason wakes up in the dead of night to an unexpected visitor. (Like you’ve never heard that one before...) Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867975

[meterokinesis]

Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Read it on AO3

Prompt: Sleep deprivation

TW: Some mentions of blood, implied caffeine addiction

Summary: Gotham isn't the city that never sleeps, but when it does nightmares are sure to follow.

It was just sleeping.

Babies did it for sixteen hours a day. Tim was better than a baby. He could just close his eyes and not be conscious for a few hours like a normal person. This shouldn’t be so hard.

He’d done everything the experts said to. No caffeine for six hours before bed, no phone for the last two hours, and a calming, relaxing bedtime routine that involved lavender oil and breathing exercises.

It sucked.

But Bruce was adamant about him staying on a semi-regular schedule. The agreement they’d come to was four hours a night for two weeks straight, then they’d reassess. It had been six weeks since that deal and he still hadn’t managed to do it.

                                        ________________

When he was little and still doted on, his parents always talked about how he never slept as a baby. His mom would joke about how he was so excited to see the world that sleeping came second. They’d brought him to pediatricians and sleep specialists and holistic healers, but they all got the same response: he’ll sleep when he’s tired.

Tim eventually grew out of his night owl tendencies. He was never scared of monsters in his closet or the boogeyman under his bed. Nannies and babysitters would coo to his parents, on the rare occasions they were around, that he was such an easy kid--no muss, no fuss. His father would give a tight-lipped smile and shell out hundreds to the women who raised Tim while they were out performing new-age colonization in the name of science.

                                       ________________

The sleeplessness returned when he figured out who Batman and Robin really were. He’d like to say it was the adventure, but it was more than that. It was how he felt like part of something, even if it only lasted a few hours every night. Sacrificing some shut-eye was worth it to run across the rooftops like his heroes.

The sleeplessness didn’t get worse when he stopped needing a full-time nanny, it just was given more space to grow. He no longer needed to strategize his escapades or sneak “patrol” snacks. He could just come home from school, finish his homework, make dinner, take a nap, follow the Bats around in the wee hours of the morning, then crash until he had to wake up for class and do it all again. All in all it was a great system for a ten year old.

                                       ________________

Then Tim became Robin. And that schedule changed to accommodate training and significantly more Red Bull than any twelve year old has the right to consume. But he handled it, as he always did. He still aced his classes and learned jiu jitsu and managed to fake a smile when his parents inevitably left again.

                                       ________________

Everything got complicated when his mom died, as things usually do. His dad was paralyzed and possibly never waking up, and his mom was, y’know, dead, which is a lot of stress for a thirteen year old kid to handle, let alone a thirteen year old who is also supposed to save the world every other week. Tim spent his nights studying and training and overthinking instead of sleeping, but he still got mostly As and only fell asleep on patrol twice, so it was fine. After all, Bruce didn’t need to know about the mini-fridge full of Red Bull and Bang and 5-Hour Energy shots shoved in his closet.

When his dad woke up, it was even easier to hide his sleeping patterns. The 24/7 medical aide was under strict instructions not to disturb Tim while he was sleeping and his dad was too busy flirting with his physical therapist to notice his son sneaking out. Even if he did, he never cared enough to stop him.

                                       ________________

Then there was Steph. He’d sneak through her window and hold her until her mom came home. Those nights he would actually doze for a little while, enough to dream. Steph never brought up the nightmares, just held him as he silently cried. Even his sobs were quiet and obedient, just like how his parents always wanted.

Even when his dad forbade him from being Robin, Tim didn’t sleep. He stared at the ceiling every night, listening to the same 50 songs and wondering why this was his life. This trend continued even after he was reinstated as Robin, and his few designated sleeping hours were instead dedicated to making sure neither of his lives collapsed around him.

He stopped sleeping entirely when Steph died. Stopped eating too. He didn’t cry or scream or breakdown, just felt completely numb. He went on patrol and aced his classes and didn’t feel a thing. At night, he just replayed her final moments over and over. Sometimes he’d go to her grave and talk to her, just to see if it would finally make him feel something. It didn’t.

                                       ________________

Not even two months later, his dad was killed. The constant replays had new content now: Tim holding onto his dad like he was the last thing keeping him grounded, ignoring the iron smell of the blood seeping into his suit. Tim spent these nights in tears, and his pillow hadn’t seen a dry night in months. Tim started to pour Red Bull into his morning coffee to get himself through Pre Calc.

Every new death and disappearance just added more nightmare fodder. Were they even nightmares if he didn’t have to sleep to see them? Tim quickly learned that if he just worked through the night, he was 56% less likely to spend it hyperventilating into his comforter. It also let him work on cases and get extra credit done for class, so if anything he was doing a good job.

A few times Alfred had to tranq him to get him to rest. This practice was quickly ended after Tim had a panic attack shortly after waking up, which ended in a 7 hour long game of Where in the World is Tim Drake? (He was in the Tower’s broom closet.)

                                       ________________

The next few months fell into the same sort of routine. Tim would complete hours of homework, then go on patrol, then finish up whatever reports needed to be done. If there were a few hours left before his alarm, maybe he’d fall asleep watching old YouTube videos. If not, he’d catch a power nap then slam a Monster before first period. It was a flawed system, but it worked.

                                       ________________

Then Bruce disappeared. When he wasn’t fighting for his life against Gotham’s gangs, he was researching. And when Dick took his mantle, he left. Those months on the road were beyond sleepless. Tim was running on caffeine, sheer will, and a prayer. Sleep felt like a death sentence. He was like a shark: if he stopped moving, he’d die. And he did die. Almost.

Sleeping at the League was obviously a dumb descision, so he didn’t. Point to Tim and his totally functioning braincell.

                                       ________________

And now he was here. Bruce was alive and Stephanie was alive and he was as safe as he’d been since he saw that quadruple somersault. For once there wqas no big scheme to be solved--outside of that Falcone case that had been nagging him for weeks--or emergency that needs him. He wasn’t supposed to worry about senior year or AP classes or college applications. He was just supposed to sleep.

Tim glanced over at his alarm clock. It was 5:17. Not worth sleeping if he would just have to wake up in less than three hours anyway. He’d just try again tomorrow.

[our-happygirl500-fan]

The Batman Reborn era is my favourite time in comics because it was when I first started really getting into them so it has a large nostalgia factor for me and I love that period even more after over ten years because it was a time when not only did Stephanie Brown (my favourite character in comics) become Batgirl and get her own book as well as the recognition she deserves but I also really liked Dick Bats and his dynamic with Damian and I really loved how Gotham had a new Batman, Robin and Batgirl and they were all learning and trying to grow into those roles and I honestly would have loved to see more of the Dick, Damian, Steph dynamic.

My only real problem with the Batman Reborn era was the distinct lack of Cass and if I could redo it I would have made the Red Robin book a ‘Red Robin and Black Bat’ book. Basically Cass would come in around issue 2 or 3 maybe we’d need an extra issue but anyway there would be flashbacks to Cass trying to keep the peace around Gotham while it goes slightly crazy at the loss of Batman but as she fights each criminal you can tell she’s slightly distracted and there’s a voice over of Bruce’s messages and instructions to her.

And as the instruction to give Steph Batgirl comes up Spoiler suddenly appears and helps Cass take out the last few criminals. Then in the rain Steph rips off her mask and we see that she’s in tears, she’s just come from her confrontation with Tim and Cass learns what’s been happening with Tim who’s been distant and avoiding her to this point since Bruce ‘died’ and Cass asks Steph whether or not she thinks Tim’s crazy and if she believes if Bruce is alive. Steph says she doesn’t know if Bruce is really dead and she doesn’t think Tim is crazy but says that she is scared of Tim going off on his own and she’s worried that Tim’s going to end up in a dark place.

Cass pauses and then nods finally sure about what she has to do and starts taking off the Batgirl suit and Steph asks what she’s doing and Cass says ‘Tim isn’t crazy and Bruce isn’t dead I’m going after him. I’ll take care of Tim and you’ll take care of Gotham’.

Then it jumps back to present day with Cass confronting Tim in Paris and she’s wearing the outfit we see her in in Red Robin #17 

Tim starts off defensive and confrontational and demands to know what Cass is doing in Paris and Cass says that Steph was worried about him which stops Tim in his tracks for a second before he gets defensive again and says that he’s not crazy and Cass says that Steph doesn’t think he’s crazy she thinks he’s right which stops Tim in his tracks again and Cass continues saying that Steph’s just worried about Tim going off on his own and Tim is quiet for a second and asks Cass what she thinks and if she thinks he’s crazy and Cass says that she agrees with Steph and says that Tim isn’t crazy and she also says that she doesn’t believe that Bruce would die so easily and Tim snorts saying that only Cass would say getting killed by Darkseid would be dying ‘easily’. Cass then tells Tim that there are people who believe in him and questions whether or not he really wants to do this alone and leaves him alone with his thoughts.

We then flashback to Steph confronting Cass at the airport begging Cass not to leave and Cass says she has to and tells Steph not to come after her and Steph tells Cass that Gotham needs Batgirl and Cass tells Steph ‘it already has one’.

We then see Cass confronting Tim in Berlin and Tim quietly thinks that he’s not surprised she tracked him so easily. Tim tells Cass that he’s gotten a good lead and that he’s heading to Baghdad next to follow it up. Tim then hands Cass her Batgirl suit (don’t ask him where he got it) and tells her he doesn’t know why she isn’t dressed as Batgirl but that even if Bruce had died, Bruce dying doesn’t change that and Cass tells Tim that she doesn’t know if she can be Batgirl anymore and Tim reassures her saying that he doesn’t really feel like he could go back to Robin right now either honestly but that no matter what Cass calls herself whether it’s Bat-Chick, Knight Bat or Black Robin she’s always his sister and the Bats are always her family Cass tells them those are all terrible names but takes the suit anyway and leaves.

Cass then appears again in issue 5 wearing the Black Bat costume, storming the League of Assassins compound to save Tim and Tam but Tim calms her down. Tim then convinces Cass to go along with his plan to work with the League and Cass doesn’t like it but agrees to the plan. Tim then asks what he’s supposed to call her and Cass answers Black Bat.

Cass then works with Tim and they blow up a bunch of League compounds and then race to Gotham to protect it. There they finally see Steph as Batgirl, Tim is surprised while Cass is happy and proud. Also in this rewrite there are twelve targets not eleven like in canon and the 12th target is Jason who Ra’s calls ‘the lost soldier’ and Tim sends Cass to protect him. Jason tells Cass that he didn’t need protecting and Cass gives a look and tells him that she could arrest him right now but she has more important things to do and also admits that she doesn’t want to and gives Jason a ‘you can change speech’ before going back to the others.

Even though Tim’s proven Bruce is alive Cass can tell that Tim wants to kill Captain Boomerang and decides to stay with him to stop him from making that mistake. So she ends up going on all his adventures with him acting as a sort of moral compass at times.

Mingjue Helen Chen did a Burnsides Batgirl design for Cass and Steph here 

And I kind of want that to be Cass’s Undernet outfit it’s either that or a Batman Beyond outfit anyway Cass wakes up in the opposite end of Undernet Gotham than Tim and when she wakes up there’s a little Robin Steph (who I imagine having her World Without Young Justice design) there giving Cass advice and helping Cass manoeuvre through Undernet Gotham like how Tim had Riddler representing his subconscious mind trying to figure the situation out Cass’s subconscious creates a little Robin Steph that voices all of Cass’s worries like where she’s going from now on, her thoughts on giving up Batgirl and how she’s worried that Tim’s going down a path that she can’t stop but the Little Subconscious Robin Steph also gives Cass advice and support and tells Cass that she can do anything.

It’s sort of like an internal pick-me-up.

Cass and Subconscious Robin Steph find Tim and Tam and Anarchy and Tim is shocked to see Subconscious Robin Steph and he keeps staring at her while Cass notes that Tim has one too looking at Subconscious Riddler and Tim realises that Robin Steph was created out of Cass’s subconscious and looks sad for a second while Lonnie notes that ‘there was a girl Robin for a little bit wasn’t there?’

When Tim summons the ‘Future Heroes’ 

Cass has a small moment of just looking at her Batman self in awe because that’s her dream that’s everything she wants to be and that’s how Tim sees her which makes her a little emotional.

Then Robin Steph goes to join the battle and Cass asks what she’s doing and Subconscious Robin Steph goes ‘that’s Batman and I’m Robin what do you think I’m doing?’

When Anarchy offers to stay behind to keep the heroes present Cass points at Robin Steph who’s standing proudly next to Batman Cass and tells him to take care of her and Anarchy joke ‘oh well I have to now’

 Any way that’s my Red Robin rewrite I hope you like it the art is by @multiple-non-alcoholic-dogs​ who drew it for me and let me post with permission

[demonqueenbeee]

Slighly NSFW but really only slightly.

Scars

Raven only had three scars on her entire body.

It was actually very little when you considered her day job. He knew that her lack of scars was due to her ability to heal herself and others. So two is all that had managed to stick to her almost flawless skin.

Three very different scars that made him feel two very different ways.

He traced his fingers over the first one. It started right at the top of her sternum and trailed about 4 inches down between the valley of her breasts. The second scar was parallel to the first but on her back. About four inches right between her shoulder blades.

He hated those scars. They reminded him of the day he nearly lost her because of his own stupidity.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” she said grabbing onto his hands. “Dick let me help you with this.”

He shook his head.

“He said to go alone,” he replied. “This is the only chance to save those kids. It's my fault they were captured in the first place! God fucking knows what that madman has done to them...god knows if they’re even...”

He didn’t even want to think of that.

If all those kids were dead, it would be his fault. With that in mind, he pushed her hands away and angrily began to suit up.

“Richard,” she said using his full name and running after him. “Please look at me, please! It isn’t your fault that those teenagers decided to play vigilante and got caught by the Joker! That being said, you are not okay right now. You aren’t level headed, you’re going to overthink things and get distracted!”

“They followed me ,RAVEN!” He yelled. “They followed me into trouble and I wasn't able to stop or save them! I have to at least try now! I cant sit here and wait for Batman or Superman to pick up the fucking phone! And I sure as hell am not putting you in danger! The Joker is next level evil, Raven. Not something a teenager should handle!”

She glared at him for using the teenager card.

“I may be a teenager,” she said. “But I am no child. You were barely a teenager one year ago! Less even! And do not get me started on next level evil!”

He hit the nearest wall, his fist leaving a large indent in the wall. It caused Raven to jump back in shock.

“The difference between me and you is that I have fought him!” He yelled, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. “I am not letting you near him and if I have to lock you up in the Trigon room, I will.”

Raven was shocked beyond words at his behavior but he had no time for apologies.

“Stay here,” he commanded.

She shook her head and turned away.

......

He traced the darkened edge that made the scar a scar. The skin was slightly raised. A slightly darker color than her natural pale skin.

If he had listened to her that day, she might have never gotten the nearly fatal wound that left her permanently scarred.

....

When he made it to the rendezvous point, it had been too late. Three of the four boys were dead, the joker long gone.

One of the boys was still breathing but needed medical help. He quickly got the boy out of the abandoned building and into the streets where he promptly called for an ambulance.

The kid started to wake up as they waited.

“Nightwing?” He coughed out.

He was hacking up his lungs and Nightwing was worried he wouldn’t make it.

“Its okay, kid,” he said, trying to keep him calm. “Just stay calm. Help is on its way!”

“No,” the boy coughed. “No you don't understand. It's a plot!”

Nightwing nodded. He figured as much. He bet the Joker expected him to go back in for the other boys and then attack. But he had seen enough dead bodies to know it was futile. He would get the other kid back to safety and then try to get Batman or Red Robin or even freaking Red Hood down to help him.

“Just keep calm,” he told the boy again. “An ambulance is on its way. Your friends didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”

“I know,” he replied back, his voice still breaking. “I know! He made me watch and he told me he was only luring you to get to your friend! He said you were the Robin that fought with the Titans and that you brought that goth hero with you! That you two were close! He’s going after her!”

Nightwing felt his blood rush away from his face and he knew he had paled. He stayed calm, however, knowing that Raven was in his apartment probably meditating her anger away.

A siren and the sight of blaring ambulance lights were on the horizon. He would check on Raven immediately after.

“You have to find her!” The boy said. “He said he’d hurt her. He said he’d do such nasty things.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” he told the young boy. “She’s going to be okay, right now we need to focus on you.”

The boy shook his head. He was only about thirteen , maybe even twelve. He should have been going through this.

How Nightwing hated the Joker. The madman.

He spoke to the emts and gave them instructions to get away fast.

It was almost midnight and Nightwing needed to check on Raven.

“Nightwing,” a dark voice said, jumping down next to him. “Status report.”

He looked up to see Batman and Robin landing next to him.

“Trap,” he said to him. “This kid was the only survivor. The other boys are still in there but it's a trap. Joker is apparently out looking for Raven so I need to go check on her.”

Robin looked to Batman with worry on her face.

“Check on her now,” Batman said with his most serious of voices. “Red Robin and Red Hood were both responding to trouble. Oracle had to call both Batgirl and Raven to two more separate issues. Go now, I'll send you the coordinates, me and Robin will take over this.”

Nightwing shook his head in fear and took off immediately.

.............

He laid his head between her breasts and kissed the scar. If he had never asked her to stay alone, she would have never been alone.

Hell..if he had just trusted her.....

If he had stayed calm..

There were so many ifs.

.....

He got to where she was and she was alive. He breathed a sigh of relief. She was holding her head in what seemed like intense pain

“Raven!” he yelled.

She turned to look at him but her face was horrified.

“No,” she yelled.

But it was too late.

He heard something fire and turned to see a harpoon. A literal harpoon made its way towards him.

Towards him and not her. It had been more than just a trap to get Raven. It had been a trap to get him too. It had been aimed for him mostly.

He had no time to move as the harpoon flew at him. He knew he was going to die.

He heard as the harpoon made contact with skin and clothing and felt a small pain in his chest area and blood splatter onto him.

But it wasn't enough pain and he was definitely still alive.

He opened his eyes and he knew the sight before him would haunt him for the rest of his life.

....

He was doing the scar thing again. She shook her head at his actions. Every so often when he was able to get her naked, he would go into a dark and regretful mood.

It drove her nuts. It had been almost 5 years and tt was the past . Yes 3 innocent thirteen year old boys had died and one was almost fatally injured, but it had not been his fault.

Her getting harpooned in the chest had not been his fault either but he refused to believe it. She jumped in front of him to save him knowing full well the consequences. In the end she had survived. She got two nasty scars out of it but she had survived.

He had more death defying scars then she did , anyways. Like the ones on his own back from a fight gone wrong with Dr. Light.

She shrugged her shoulders and decided she would join in on the fun. She traced the raised skin with her nimble fingers. The muscles on his back were taught and slightly moist from the sweat that had gathered. She loved the way the muscles on his back felt.

The scars added to it, in her opinion. It made them feel almost jagged, textured was a better way to explain it.

She traced her hands down his strong arms, grasping the biceps. He had scars there too and she traced them with her thumbs.

A kiss near her nipple made her gasp.

“Dick,” she said. “Stop playing, you’ve been focused on those scars for 5 minutes now.”

He raised himself to look at her face.

“Your right,” he said. “I should pay attention to the other scar.”

She flushed as he lowered himself right down to the lowest part of her belly.

“I like this one,” he said, suddenly kissing the scar. “I really do.”

She smiled at the love he was radiating.

That scar had been caused by something that had almost ended her life as well but it had definitely been worth it.

If she was being honest she missed the little trouble maker but it was their first night alone and Alfred had been so happy to take the baby.

Their baby.

Their son who had also almost ended both their lives when his power developed in utero. He had inherited his mother's dark telekinetic powers and three months before he should have been born, he tore through her uterus and her skin. It was a horrifically bloody sight.

She required an emergency cesarean and Dick had gotten so stressed out, he had a panic attack and fainted. They had thought he had a heart attack but his heart had no signs of ischemia (which she would have healed anyways).

But the best news was that the baby had survived. He was premature and very tiny but he would be okay. And he was okay.

He was perfect in fact. Even with his powers.

Raven had the ability to counteract them so as long as he was with her, he was fine. And with Alfred too. He had taken a liking to Alfred and his powers would sooner protect them then hurt him. So he was the perfect babysitter for their first night alone in almost 6 months.

Raven focused her attention back to her husband of 3 years.

He was more than just kissing the scar now, he was trailing down and Raven knew it was going to be a good night.

A good night indeed.

End