#bruce eventually finds out that jason is alive because jason calls him to get dick to leave him alone

[undertheredhood]

AU where jason todd never becomes the red hood because talia told dick that jason was alive immediately after learning what he was planning to do when he returned to gotham.

and now jason has to deal with his clingy older brother and his equally clingy group of friends who keep sobbing over him.

[witherby]

When Bruce brought Mousy in, they had that new baby smell. The baby smell that always seems to be on few months babies. Which is exclusively why weekly cuddle huddles now exists in the manor. Just one day/half day in a week with the whole Batfam +Alfred huddled around in the living room under a giant pillow fort and they just relax and play with Mouse before eventually taking a short group nap to calm down a little bit from all the stress of vigilantism from the week.

-🍨

That's so sweet and cute. Allow me to show you what it looked like before they established the weekly cuddle huddle.

The Littlest Wayne: New Baby Smell

"The baby's gonna have a nose-shaped dent on top of their head if you keep doing that."

Bruce lifts his head just enough to press his cheek to the top of your tiny head instead, then settles back down into the couch. Tim rolls his eyes.

"How good even is the smell? They're a baby," he says, opening his hands. "B, my turn. Give."

"Hmm. Fine, but remember to support the head. They don't have any well-developed neck muscles yet."

Tim scoops you up and sniffs your face. Then he does it again at the crown. You make a low, curious noise, but otherwise don't care.

"What the hell, this is amazing." Tim turns and walks out of the room with you.

"Tim!" Bruce calls, offended. "Hello? Give me back my baby?"

"My baby now." Tim keeps walking and Bruce gets up and follows him until they're both in the day room. The teen sinks into the much more plush couch cushions and gently presses his nose to your head. "What do they do to babies to make this happen?"

"Google it. I'll hold them while you do," Bruce says, reaching for you again. Tim ducks away from his hands. "That was rude. Don't you have anything else to do today?"

"Cleared my schedule," Tim says. "I'm totally free. Don't need to do a thing but this." He sniffs you again. "Babies are so weird. Hey. Hey you. Yeah, hello, open your eyes. Hi! You're silly and weird and smell great. Do you know that?"

You squint, nose crinkling in irritation. Why is your warm bed being so noisy? You are tired. Silence, warm bed.

"You're bothering them. Give me the baby," says Bruce.

"You're bothering them. Go annoy one of your other kids. I'm getting my brotherly bonding in."

"Bothering? I love bothering people," Jason says, strolling into the room. "What are we doing?"

"Why are you here?" Tim asks.

"Cause I'm also nosy. Answer the question, Replacement."

After some gentle wheeling (read: Jason threatening to go declare himself alive just to make their already hectic schedules ten times worse), they tell him. Dick, who was passing by, hears this and peeks his head in, too, and it's not long before you're being passed around like a bong at a campfire so your family can get a hit of that new baby scent.

Damian finds his whole family another hour later, curled up in a big, careful pile around you and dozing.

"Ridiculous," the assassin mutters, whisking you away to be placed back in your crib. "Don't they know that smell is strongest at your head because it's coming from your brain, which you can only detect because your skull hasn't fully hardened yet? If you smell good, your parents won't want to abandon or kill you in favor of raising your stronger kin, thus greatly increasing your chances of survival. Classic evolutionary biology."

He lowers you back down into the crib. Instinctively, your tiny hand finds its way around his finger and grips it tight. Damian thumbs over the back of your hand for a moment, quickly checks over his shoulder, then leans down and sniffs your head.

"Bye," he mutters, gently prying his hand free and leaving you to rest.

[thesummerstorms]

So I read Batman #416 last night...

They haven’t talked in a year and a half according to this issue. Bruce literally did not attempt to talk to Dick once after “firing” him in this version of the continuity? Phones go two way, Bruce, especially if you’re supposed to be the parent/adult in this situation.

And Dick looks so sad. Like for all people like to talk about JT being “replaced”, I don’t know that I would have it in me to get over it if my father figure knew I was alive and well after he basically cut me off, didn’t bother to speak to me for 18 months or attempt any kind of communication, and I had to go find him when all of a sudden he gave the job I was fired from, that had defined our relationship, to a teenager, who was even more at risk than I had been.

“It was Alfred who forced money on me so I’d have something to live on. You couldn’t even be bothered to say goodbye.”

“ I was involved with a case. I didn’t…”

This is so much sadder than the original New Teen Titans/pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths version??? Like this is so fucking sad.

Then instead of leaving school on his own, Dick fails out because he’s too distracted and is asked not to come back? Like eventually he has the Titans, but taking away this being his choice and making it something he experienced because Bruce felt guilty he was shot makes it so much worse.

And then this set of panels…

“ It didn’t matter to you that I didn’t have any life other than the one we shared .”

Ymmv on whether Dick leading on his own terms or because he was fired as a change for the better or the worse, but holy God, does it change the dynamics of this relationship.

The way Dick reaches out for him… and Bruce shuts him out and tells him to leave. Just like he will after Jason actually dies, except this time, he only punched the glass and not Dick. Dick is trying to be the first one to reconcile, but Bruce won’t let him. Calling him Nightwing instead of by his name as a form of distancing him and everything.

And yet, for all the five trillion posts and fics I’ve seen about how Dick supposedly treated Jason badly due to jealousy and felt bad after he died, his next move? Is to go help Jason, give him his approval, and then offered to talk to him when Bruce wouldn’t and things were difficult.

TBH, I'm pretty sure that Dick Grayson is a way better fucking person than me. Because I like to think I wouldn't have taken it out on Jason directly, but I also would not have gone to find him, reassure him/give him my approval, and offer him a support network in the immediate aftermath of that conversation either. I would not have had it in me after ... *points to all of Bruce's bullshit*

[dc-comics-enjoyer]

Good Dad™ Bruce headcanons (part 1) :

(because we deserve it and need to heal)

Cass and Bruce connect a lot through shared meditation sessions. Just silently and calmly existing with each other.

Bruce often unwinds by playing the piano alone in the Wayne Manor music room. One evening, Steph heard him and joined in with a guitar she found there. Bruce didn't mind. Since then, whenever he starts playing, Steph often grabs an instrument, turning his solo sessions into lively jam sessions.

Bruce has a habit of calling Dick under the guise of needing his advice on a case. Once they’ve discussed the "urgent" matter, Bruce smoothly transitions to the real conversation to get updates on what's been going on in Dick's life :

"What happened with that noisy neighbor of yours ?"/"Did you find those jeans you were looking for ?"/"How was your date ?"/"How's the shoulder ?"/"Did you get the plumbing issue fixed ?"

Every time Bruce can spend time with Damian, he would introduce him to different strategy board games from around the world. They'd play chess, of course, but they would also play Go, Checkers, Mancala, Backgammon, Mahjong, Barjees, etc.

When they're confronting a bigger threat than usual, Bruce would make sure to leave tiny personalized notes in their utility belts. For Dick, he'd just shove it in his hand while walking past him :

To Dick : "Trust your instincts. You've got this. – Bruce"

To Jason : "Remember your training. I'm proud of you. – Bruce"

To Tim : "Your mind is your greatest weapon. Stay sharp. – Bruce"

To Damian : [in arabic] "You are stronger than you know. Stay focused. – Your father"

To Steph : "Believe in yourself as I believe in you. – Bruce"

To Cass : "Your skills are unmatched. Stay confident. – Bruce"

To Duke : "Your determination inspires us all. Keep it up. – Bruce"

When he was 13, Jason mentioned once how much he liked banana-flavored protein bars. Since then, Bruce always made sure to have some in the batcave. He never stopped, even when Jason was no longer around. It was a small but meaningful way for Bruce to keep a piece of Jason's memory alive. When Jason eventually returned, he was stunned to find the familiar protein bars still stocked, knowing no one else liked them that much.

Duke is a cinephile, so in his free time he loves watching movies. Bruce sneaked next to him in the manor's home cinema once. Since then, they created this unspoken tradition of watching classic movies together whenever their free time coincides.

To show his support after Tim’s coming out, Bruce discreetly hung small bisexual pride flags in multiple places : one in the Batcave, right next to the monitors where Tim often worked, one in the Batmobile on the rear mirror, one placed next to the family picture in Bruce’s room, and one on the training room's wall. It showed Bruce's acceptance and support in a way that blended seamlessly into their everyday life. It made Tim feel seen and valued.

-------------

(here's part 2)

[alittlesongbirdchirps]

MY WORLD AU

Bruce Wayne isn't human he never was.

His body was a false form created to do his task, his mission, to gather information on Earth.

And that information would help his kind decide whether or not to destroy the entire planet and everything on it.

And his kind one of them could do it with a mere hand completely crush it in their grasp.

But no they won't judge based on an outside point of view.

So that's why Bruce is sent there, given a human form, he's not allowed to do anything unless it is human-like not even allowed to use his powers, not allowed to kill any humans.

Because It will muddy the water, and mess up the result.

Only after he's done observing, gathering all the data possible for judgment may he return to his true form.

His body's parents, no the character he plays to observe, Bruce Wayne's parents are murdered.

He uses all the information he gathered so far in his short time on earth from the television show he witnessed and vows vengeance on all criminals.

He begins to think maybe that's not a normal human reaction, that's until he takes in Dick.

Not out of care but out of the fact, that this is an actual human that also witnessed his parents die, so it's more out of the purpose he wants to see if he performed his so-called grief correctly, and humanely.

And apparently, he did since Dick acted similar to how he did all those years ago.

But when Jason came into his life it was the same at that start only taking him in to gather more information in particular he wanted to see if he could change human behavior if he took him in.

So he gave him more attention than he ever did Dick but at some point with Jason, or maybe it was even with Dick but he began to care though he wouldn't admit it not until Jason died.

Rage, an emotion he never felt before, and true grief, he was gonna kill the Joker fuck this stupid study.

And he will do it while in this human form, so it's slow and painful but Superman stops him, Bruce nearly swings at him but manages to stop himself managing to get his bearing back and now it was solely about this mission again.

No longer holding back against criminals anymore, he won't kill them but if they died from the injuries it wasn't his fault it was theirs.

Eventually, Tim Drake comes into his life almost like a whirlwind, demanding to be robin he refuses mainly because he doesn't need any more data on human younglings, but Tim threatens to compromise his mission as Batman, he doesn't know what Bruce truly is not yet.

Tim figures something out at some point, that Bruce isn't human it wasn't like Bruce was trying to hide it anymore.

Tim begins to ask him many questions with the underlying unspoken words, I know you're not human but I won't bring it up.

Oddly Bruce finds himself intrigued by this human this youngling is smart, especially by human standards, and he begins to study him he's different than the others, smarter, similar to the whole Bruce character He temporarily is until he finishes his mission.

Much later on;

When Bruce is 'killed.' by Darkside, he's simply beamed back to relay his data, and he lies he knows what his kind will do, destroy his earth, it is his earth, destroy his family that he built.

His kind doesn't lie, it's beneath them, so they believe him, for now, he makes a few requests for extra measures, like getting the earth to be put in his true name before returning.

Of course, Tim believed he was alive he was the only one who truly knew Bruce wasn't human but he didn't know what.

But something happens whether the Joker again or an invasion because his kind realizes his bitch ass lied.

So he protects them, he protects his earth, his true form his true size briefly leaking out, and he easily defeats them.

The league of course asks him what happened and what was that, and he simply lies that he was briefly possessed by some cosmic entity. Obviously, the bats call bullshit but don't call him out until they return to the cave demanding answers. LOL

(Little drabble idea.)

NOT EDITED LATE NIGHT, CONSIDERED THIS TIRED BULLSHIT SCRIBBLES OF WRITING.

[ktkat99]

Reverse Robins prompt if you're looking

Batman swears he doesn't want a partner. Until he meets Damian. Talia drops him off to be raised by Bruce and, as Bruce has no other kids, the two are free to train as they pleased. Damian grows up and moves out, taking his own section of Gotham to protect under his new, adult identity.

Batman, struggling to get himself reaccustomed to working without a partner, meets Tim.

Tim knows who they are and has been following them, taking pics and copying their moves to teach himself martial arts for years.

He's seen Batman having trouble and insists that he needs a new Robin.

Him.

After protesting and trying to chase him away, Bruce finds out just how alone Tim is at home and decides to take him up on it.

Damian feels replaced and is immediately antagonistic to Tim.

He hates how happy the damn kid always is.

He hates how Bruce is spending more time training him.

He hates how Alfred has changed typical meals that Bruce liked to remove seafood, which Tim is allergic to.

When Tim asks to train with him, Damian goes far too hard on him.

When Tim sleeps over and eventually moves in, having officially been adopted, Damian wastes no opportunity to remind him who the Blood Son is, and tell Tim that he's just a stand-in. Basically cannon fodder. Bruce didn't *really* love him. He'd just needed a soldier.

Over the next few years, Tim gradually grows stronger, but also more withdrawn and depressed.

Bruce takes in Jason and Tim starts going solo on patrol, but he always makes time to train/hang out with/play with Jason, wanting to be the big brother Damian had never been to him.

And then one night Tim never returns to the cave.

There's no call.

No heads up.

No distress signal.

No one knows where he is.

No one can find him.

Damian insists Tim must have just left and openly mocks him for trying to get attention or having not had the spine to quit face to face.

Until Damian finds him three weeks later, having been captured, tortured, and turned into Joker Jr.

Damian is horrified and ends up killing the Joker to save Tim, but its too late.

Tim dies in his arms waiting for help to arrive.

They're all grieving and devastated, but no one besides Jason blames Damian for Tim's death to his face, making Damian feel even worse.

He blames himself for not helping search for Tim.

He blames himself for failing to save him.

He blames himself for being a bully, rather than a brother.

He finally has to take a break from being a vigilante and moves back to Nanda Parbat, throwing himself into his training and confessing what happened to his mother and grandfather.

When he's feeling able to resume his job again, Damian moves back to the manor and life goes on as much as it can.

They all still miss Tim.

But they're learning to live without him.

Talia and Ra's, seeing how rattled and off his game Damian was, decide to follow him back to Gotham, steal Tim's body, and see if they can revive him in a Lazarus Pit.

Tim comes back to life, but instead of returning home immediately, he watches them from a distance.

Damian has moved back home to the manor, despite having an apartment in the city.

Despite Bruce still having Jason.

Tim remembers how Damian used to treat him, all because he was adopted, and gets angry.

He becomes Red Hood, but while Jason!Red Hood's problem was that he wasn't avenged, Tim!Red Hood is more concerned with saving Jason from the abuse he had to endure from Damian.

He breaks into the manor one night as Red Hood, making sure to avoid every trap and alarm while still leaving obvious signs all over the cave and the manor, wanting to send the message 'I know you're Batman. I was in your house while you were asleep. I'm dangerous, and I know all your tricks.'

And then he goes upstairs to kidnap Jason.

Jason is overjoyed to find out Tim is alive, but right as Tim's about to take him and leave, another little kid is suddenly in the room.

Jason explains that Dick recently lost his family and Bruce took him in.

Tim knows he has to save both boys, but now is also even more caught off guard.

He'd spent so long trying to tell Damian that he was wrong, that Bruce really did love him like a son.

But the fact that he'd not only been replaced, but Bruce was still sending kids into battle, even after what happened to him was too much.

Tim tries to kidnap them both, but Dick, who's never met Tim before, gets scared and runs to Damians room for help.

Damian fights off the intruder, but then Tim's helmet falls off/Jason says his name/Damian recognizes the fighting style/he somehow finds out that he's fighting Tim and freezes, allowing him to escape.

Damian is shocked that Tim's alive and he and Bruce work to find him and bring him home.

Only, Tim doesn't want to come home.

Not when Damian is there.

Not with Bruce and Alfred, who never did enough to protect him.

But...

He finally accepts, solely to protect Jason and Dick.

So the family gets to work towards the second chance they never thought they'd get, Tim gets a family who loves him, and Jason and Dick get a very protective older brother.

[deadjaywalking]

Info dump about my own fic ahead, if you are of the few people reading it and don't want to know what it's going to happen, don't read(?

Okay so, I know how the fic is going to keep moving. I was in a stump, but then, going home I my car with my boyfriend while singing/screaming The way I loved you by Taylor swift, I got an idea. As always, Taylor is a great muse.

So, Dick is going to keep away from John for the most part, ofc some drunk phone calls are going to happen they are both very messy bisexuals.

Dick is going to be sad out of his mind, and sicking comfort in his bff. Wally. The guy who had a crush on Dick since forever, something that they both knew, it was obvious, not a secret. No one takes advantage of anyone btw. But, Dick IS lonely. And Wally is right there.

So they make out and it starts getting bigger and bigger and eventually, they are together. And Wally is perfect, he is the perfect boyfriend. Yes, he is late almost always. But, he get along with all his family, they love him. He talks science with his dad and his brother Tim. He dodges knifes with Damian. And he talks explosives with Jason and Roy. He listens to Dick. He loves him. They don't fight, they have nothing to fight about. They kiss softly. They fuck kindly. And Dick feels nothing. He loves Wally, he is his best friend, and he thought he could be more. He thought he would be the one. That John was in the past.

But one drunk phone call from John, asking him if he had truly moved on with Wally showed him the truth. Dick wasn't feeling anything more than friendly affection. The rush, the thrill, the excitement, all of it, it wasn't there. The messy make outs. The angry shouting about nothing, just to end up having sex and laughing. It was all John. John made him feel. Truly feel.

Dick wastes no time breaking up with Wally, because even if he wasn't in love, he loved him. And he wouldn't be with him just because, he wouldn't lead him on. He wanted Wally to be happy.

Wally was smart, he always knew whatever he had with Dick, it was temporary. His heart was somewhere else. With John. It hurt, when it ended, but it didn't surprise him. They still had fun, and Wally would eventually find the right person for him. He would marry and have kids. He would the happiest man alive, not just the fastest. Dick would still be his best friend, and their brief relationship would be something he would think of fondly, but nothing more. Until then, it would hurt. And he would get over it.

Dick wouldn't get back together with John tho. John broke his heart, his trust. That would happen when the world came to an end. (Something that will literally happen later) until then, they would just avoid each other. Unless, ofc, they were drunk and not completely able to stop their impulses. After the first 5 times of ending in each other's beds when drunk, they stopped pretending it would the last time.

Again, his family didn't approve of his relationship with John. Mostly because he was drinking, something that just Bruce and Roy truly knew how dangerous it was for Dick. What it truly meant.

[cardcaptorsakura29]

Tim Drake HC if he never became robin

(Let's face it, no way he was normal. the brain rot is real)

He was thirteen when Jason died, and he was getting pretty concerned for Bruce, but also getting really off put by the violence becuase batman was never that violent

This pretty much culminates in THE INCIDENT

Tim isn't even taking pictures that night, he had after school detention, and because he knew gotham so well, was decently more muscular then the average person and very fast, he was taking his time

He watches batman almost kill someone. The man will never be able to walk again.

He calls the police, and continues hiding and following Bruce, because something was going on, and lets face it, he didn't really have any plans.

He doesn't know this, but lady shiva is in gotham, and doing the same thing

It turns out theres a villan AND hero intervention going on, where clark may or may not be guilt tripping bruce HARD into getting help

However, before Tim can trail him to the intervention, someone catches his eye

He's not that well dressed, Suit looks nice-ish, but the tie is obviously thrifted, and his watch is a little too good (classic signs of working for a gang, intimidation, spurts of money, clearly not knowing how to spend smart)

Tim decides that this is more important. Plus, what's he going to do tailing batman? Get caught while not even doing anything? No thank you

It turns out that guy worked falcon, and long story short, Tim ends up fighting a bunch of gang members in a wearhouse.

He takes out around half before, Oh lookie there, its batman, and he's rescheduled his intervention till the morning.

Tim is proper injured, a few good bruises and a couple generously bleeding cuts.

Then, because batman is fighting everyone in the warehouse, not just goons, because he doesn’t know what Tim is doing there, skewers him to the wall with a batarang.

Tim pretends to be knocked out but is going what the fuck batman inside his head

Shiva, who has been watching this entire encounter, and was very impressed by someone with little to no formal training goes and drops down menacingly from the rafters

She offers to train Tim and he's like sure ;-;

They go back to paris, and just to say, Tim's parents aren't just MIA. They straight up moved out of gotham and keep limated contact with tim, just making sure CPS doesn't get them into legal trouble

Tims fine with that too

So, in paris, Tim and lady shiva are kicking ass. Tim is learning to play dirty but also gains a strict code

He's very clear that he wont kill anyone, and that he believes keeping them alive is a sign of strength. that he wasn't so weak that killing them was his only option

They disagree but eventually Tim's pretty good at combat and Shiva sends him on his marry way (he beats her in a fight by drugging some food she ate four days prior and wouldn't set in until she was testing him)

Tim starts moonlighting league of assassins, just doing whatever really, and finds out the holly shit, Talia had a thing for bruce and his dead hero jason, brought jason back to life, send him and their secret love child to gotham, and also disrespected Ra's

He thinks shes so cool, and decides to drop by gotham, yk go home, throw in a public appearance with his parents, try the new zelda game

TURNS OUT HIS PARENTS DIE ON THE WAY OVER, ON HIS FOURTEENTH BIRTHDAY

What the flip man, says Tim, on live television, reading a text finding out his parents are dead.

He doesn't say what the text was about though, so the people of gotham make a twitter meme about some rando kid at a gala

The whole things kinda a disaster anyway, so its fine (its later known as The Gala of [insert year])

Dick Grayson just got back from traveling (space) and finds out Jason and Dami are alive/exist, and tries hiding in the back, ending up in the same room as Tim

_______________

"Why are you back here?" Dick Grayson asks the black haired kid sitting at the table, playing what looks like a knock off of neopets. "My parents just died." He says sagely, not looking up from his phone. Dick doesn't really know how to respond to that but ask more questions. "How- uh how did they die?"

Black haired kid shrugs.

[ghost-bxrd]

Back again with another Calvin in Owl Song thought 🦉🦉🦉:

So Calvin is working for the Court still, and somehow they end up assigning him to work for the Joker for a night. All hes doing is being extra security, and making sure the Bat doesn't find the Clown too soon, easy enough.

Until Sheila sells Robin out. Until the Clown starts beating him.

Until Robin starts calling out for his dad, asking his mom why she would do that. And Robin is a kid, he's a scrawny little kid, scared and confused and wanting his parent's protection, and Calvin can't do this.

He kills everyone in that warehouse, he can't leave any witnesses, then he grabs Robin and flees; he can't return to the Court after this, nor will Robin return to the Bat, who didnt save him.

Bruce still gets to the warehouse, but just as he gets there, it goes up in flames. When he frantically searches the rubble, there's blood and gore but burned beyond recognition; he has no way of identifying if it's Jason's or not. He has no way of knowing his son wasn't in that warehouse, no way of knowing Jason's still alive.

He plans a funeral and buries an empty casket. Dick loses his mind at the loss of his beloved owlet.

Meanwhile Jason is on the run with Calvin, who refuses to let the little bird out of his sight. The kid clearly doesn't have good parents, so it's up to Calvin to protect him.

And Jason already knows how to deal with Talons, how to communicate with owl noises and body language. He also knows that this Talon cares for him, feels protective of him, but won't let him leave, and he knows he can't run from a Talon; Dick would always find him whenever he tried to hide, for whatever reason. So all Jason could do was try and convince Calvin to take him back to Gotham.

Except as soon as he manages that, assuming Nightwing is patrolling, Dick notices a Talon's presence in the city. Of course he does.

He thinks nothing of it when he catches glimpses of Jason; hallucinations are becoming increasingly normal for him. But what chills him to the bone is that whenever he sees his owlet, the Talon he's noticed is never far behind; always watching, always there.

Calvin means it as protection, Dick sees it as a threat.

Eventually everything comes to a head after tension builds; maybe Dick somehow realized Jason was alive and thinks he's being stalked by the Court as a prospective Talon, so he lashes out at Calvin who fights back and eventually Jason has to get between them and explain everything.

Except Calvin has gotten attached at this point so he ends up getting dragged to Wayne Manor where he's accepted with open arms; Dick likes that he protected Jason and killed both Joker and Sheila, and everyone already knows how to deal with Talons so he's in good hands.

(wow this came out longer than I expected lmao)

Omg poor Dick would feel like he’s perpetually haunted by glimpses of the past because— that Talon could very well be himself. Or he’s reminded of alternate universes and is heartbreakingly relieved that at least one version of him didn’t let his precious owlet die….

Meanwhile Calvin has hardcore imprinted on Jason, and Jason… well, he’s got experience wrangling Talons. This one obviously needs his help. Also, he may be a teeny-tiny bit pissed at Dick and Bruce. So, no going back home until he’s blown off some steam. Socialized Calvin. All that.

And with Jason and Calvin both busy navigating life (and some awful injuries), they both miss the nuclear fallout of Robin’s death….

[malfiora]

I'm rewriting Jason's resurrection and reconciliation with the fam for my own sanity:

Jason dies tragically and horrifically at age 15

A year later, Superboy Prime punches through universes, collapsing two realities onto each other: one where Jason dies, the other in which he survives. Jason comes back to life but is semi-conscious. Talia finds him and takes him to the League

Jason regains full consciousness after a dip in the Lazarus. For two years, Jason trains and slowly regains his memories. Once he's 18, he decides to return to Gotham, despite Talia's wishes

Quickly becomes clear that Gotham hasn't changed much, which disappoints Jason. He decides to put his League training to use and control crime as a harm reduction tactic, and he goes back and forth on contacting Bruce, especially after he hears rumors of a new Robin

Joker pops up with a new scheme, and this is the last straw. Jason concocts a plan to kidnap and finally kill Joker and confront Batman about all the ways he's failed him and Gotham. When Batman refuses to kill Joker, Jason feints like he's going to kill Tim to "save him the trouble" since Batman clearly cares so little for his sidekicks. ("Hey, kid, at least I'll make it painless.") This gets a reaction from Batman, who incapacitates Jason and rescues Robin. Jason retreats to lick his wounds and reconsider everything

Jason takes time to ruminate on all of this. He's still hurt that his death meant nothing in the grand scheme of things but thinks about Batman's reaction to Tim being in danger and has to wonder if that's how he acted when Jason was in that warehouse

Out of morbid curiosity and a little bit of fanboyishness, Tim monitors Jason. Jason knows this and eventually confronts him. He feels bad for scaring Tim but has to maintain his edge so he tries not to be too scary. At some point, Tim speaks his mind and tells Jason that he has no idea what things were like while he was dead. "Batman was a mess, he almost killed people. That's why I became Robin. I had to put him back together, so you don't get to act like you know everything that happened the past 3 years because you been back a couple months." Jason takes this in. They part ways. (Jason: "Don't die." Tim: "Don't change.")

The Chemo incident happens. Jason rushes to Blüdhaven to make sure Dick is alive and okay, thus revealing he's alive to the Titans. After the dust settles, he and Dick talk privately so that Dick can react properly. (Dick: "No, Batman didn't tell me." Jason: "Yeah, he has a habit of doing that.")

Jason gets to ask if Tim's claim of Batman being a mess is founded. It is. He asks Dick if it's worth doing things the same way. "It is." That doesn't help.

Eventually Jason and Bruce have their equivalent of a heart to heart. Basically they both go, "I love you even if I think you're wrong."

Jason forms the Outlaws, but the moment he gets the distress call from the fam, he comes rushing back to help. He's offended that Bruce is surprised (Tim is hopeful, Dick isn't remotely shocked)

When Dick "dies," Jay comes back to take his place as Eldest Son. He sticks around through the end of the Robin War

Other important events that definitely happen but just don't fit neatly into a timeline:

Barbara and Jason team up on a mission shortly after Bruce tells Barbara that Jason is back. She's happy and immediately falls into big sister/mother hen mode and chides him for not seeing her sooner and makes him promise to stop by the clocktower regardless of whatever is happening between him and Bruce. She promises to help him upgrade his tech if he does. (Barbara has always been more lenient with killers and believes wholly in second chances.)

Cass stops Jason from killing someone who "deserves it," resulting in them fighting. Cass is better trained but she refuses to kill Jason, who won't stop. Eventually, they call a ceasefire and talk a bit. "All life has meaning," Cass says. Jason scoffs. "Even the Joker's?" "All life," she insists. Jason quietly disagrees but he respects Cass's determination. This starts a back and forth of him testing her anytime they're grouped together. ("Even this lowlife, Cass?" or "She's worth your own life?" or "They wouldn't spare you, why bother?") Each and every time she sticks to her principles.

Jay and Steph grab food together after a patrol one night and bond over being the family outcasts (i.e. the ones Bruce doesn't implicitly trust). Jason vows to make Steph his Robin if he ever becomes Batman. She laughs but is secretly touched

***I can never decide what to do with Damian. On the one hand, it's hilarious if Jason knows about him and keeps quiet about it. On the other, I don't see why Jason wouldn't tell Bruce about Damian's existence. Maybe once he's on speaking terms with Bruce again, he does tell him about Damian, which then prompts Jason to encourage Talia to let Damian meet Bruce. This is accelerated by Talia discovering Ra's' plan for Damian and wanting to get Damian away from the League

[pluckyredhead]

Since we are FINALLY getting a new Green Arrow comic next week, I wanted to talk about my favorite GA story in a very long time: “Earn It Back” by Dave Wielgosz and Mike Norton, which was part of last year’s DC’s Saved By the Belle Reve anthology. I picked up this comic because the solicit mentioned Super Sons and Gotham Academy stories, but the solicit, cover, and variant cover gave zero indication that there would be any GA content at all, let alone maybe the best Ollie + baby Roy story...ever??? (Side note: this is why I am Comics Georg. If you read EVERYTHING, you will eventually find treasure.)

The story takes place “years ago,” when Roy is in 8th grade. (For non-Americans, that means 13 or 14, depending on when exactly in the year it is. Roy’s birthday is in November so he’s probably 14 here.)

It starts with Ollie being called in to Roy’s school to speak to the vice principal, and oh man, Ollie is a disaster here:

There is so much to love already:

1. Mike Norton’s art! I always enjoy his work so much. Take it as given that for every page I am loving the art, so I won’t keep saying it. (Also this is a tiny detail but colorist Steve Wands picked just the perfect shade of green for Ollie’s shirt.)

2. “He’s not an idiot.” Already Ollie is in a defensive panic and absolutely flailing. It’s worth noting that Ollie has always and will always be someone who says the very first thought that comes to mind, and this is before he lost all his money and grew a social conscience so he is using thoughtless, offense language. But also, as will be made explicit by the end of the story, Ollie is not someone who did well academically. When Ollie uses the word “idiot,” he means himself. Roy himself once said Ollie is both proud and ashamed that Roy is so much like him and the fact that Roy phrased it that way makes my heart hurt, but it’s probably more accurate to say: Ollie recognizes that Roy is very like him and it worries him because he is intimately familiar with his own faults.

3. This story sits pretty completely within pre-Flashpoint continuity and characterization - it doesn’t match Roy’s New 52 or Rebirth backstories at all. And as a pre-Flashpoint fan, I do love that. But one thing that emerges from the mess of contradictory versions of Roy’s backstory in the New 52 is that it’s really easy to headcanon that version of him - eternally bored in school, miles ahead of the class and unable to sit still, eventually seeking solace in acting out and substance abuse - as neurodivergent, potentially ADHD. And this story also hints at those tendencies, which there is zero indication of in pre-Flashpoint. I just think it does a great job gracefully combining multiple characterizations of Roy so that no one’s is “wrong.”

Ollie: “Hey Barry. you’re a fucking nerd, right?” Barry: “...Yes. 😔”

ANYWAY LOOK HOW MUCH OLLIE LOVES ROY!!! HE THINKS ROY IS AMAZING!!

My single solitary issue with this story is that it posits that Bruce is someone it would be logical to turn to for parenting advice, but I guess this early on, before Dick started butting heads with him - let alone before Jason showed up - both Bruce and Ollie could be dumb enough to think he was.

I will never get over how cute Roy’s little face is when he’s talking about shooting Wally. I kiss him! I pinch his cheeks!

Weeks go by. Roy’s grades improve, but he’s miserable:

Truly Mike Norton is just drawing my headcanons at this point. Yes, that is what Ollie’s house looks like. Yes, that is how he dresses. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Look how mad the Titans are! Look at Garth stomping off! This is so cute, I’m dying.

Again, BRUCE IS NOT A MODEL PARENT. He’s so condescending here, too. AT LEAST OLLIE'S KIDS ALL MAKE IT OUT OF ADOLESCENCE ALIVE, BRUCE.

(The Dinah cameo is interesting, since she and Ollie don’t interact. It makes this story tricky to place in any prior continuity, since pre-Crisis she didn’t join the League until after Ollie had already grown his beard. I guess this could be the post-Crisis continuity established by JLA: Year One, because Ollie is clean-shaven in that book, which has the pleasing implication that she is a veteran founding member here and Bruce and Ollie are rookies.)

Anyway, it’s the VP calling to let Ollie know that Roy has been cutting school:

BABY IS ANGRY. Baby also has impeccable aim (of course), because oh man, telling Ollie he’s a tyrant and a fake and flaky is one THOUSAND percent hitting him where it hurts. “You gave up on me” oh BOY the abandonment issues started early.

Other things I love: how incredibly daddish Ollie sounds in the “Keep going, Roy” line. Also, “Being his friend didn’t work.” DAVE WIELGOSZ IS ALSO JUST WRITING MY HEADCANONS!!! I have said for literally decades at this point that Ollie’s early parenting style was permissive to a fault because Roy is his buddy! His pal! His little fella!

Like I said at the beginning, Ollie’s panicked “He’s not an idiot!” was not about Roy, it was about Ollie. He doesn’t want to see Roy make the same mistakes he did. (He should probably have told Roy about contraceptives then, but...) (Actually he did tell Roy not to get Donna pregnant in Teen Titans: Year One, but probably he should have been clearer about the means.)

Panel three makes me want to sob. THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MU-HU-HUCH. (Ollie and Roy, I mean. Not Ollie and Vice Principal Parks.)

P.S. The posters on Roy’s wall! What a nerd!

😭😭😭

This is such a complicated little emotional beat and I love it. Roy has been so angry at Ollie but his immediate uncomfortable forgiveness and the way Ollie recognizes it for what it is is so good. (Also of course Robert went along with it, Robert Queen was trash.)

THEY LOVE EACH OTHER! OLLIE THINKS ROY IS THE GREATEST PERSON ALIVE! ROY SHOWS HIS FORGIVENESS BY ROASTING HIS OLD MAN!

(We don’t need to discuss the part where I’m pretty sure Roy never finished high school. It’s a happy ending for now, okay?)

Anyway, I love this story very very much and just wanted to gush about it. if the new GA book is anywhere close to this high quality, I will be very happy indeed.

[undertheredhood]

AU where instead of becoming the red hood and taking over gotham’s criminal underground at 18-19, jason todd decides to go back to school and graduate from college, and just generally live the life his parents (read: catherine and willis todd) would have wanted him to have that they unfortunately couldn't have given him due to their circumstances.

and what does jason get his college degree in, might you ask? he graduates with full honours as a political science major, minoring in english with plans to work in public policy.

and y'know, after graduating and working for a couple of years, things seem to be actually looking up for jason. he has good friends, a stable income with a job that he actually enjoys, he owns a home, his romantic life is pretty decent, and he's actually healing from the trauma of his death. there’s nothing that could possibly go wrong in his life, right? not when it’s been the best it’s ever been in years, right?

well, that’s where you’re wrong because when he comes home from his 9-5 shift, jason finds the batman himself brooding in the dark while sitting criss cross applesauce on his very new leather sofa.

and just when jason thought he was having a good week.

(this idea was kinda inspired by this post that i made a while back, where jason goes back to school, and now i’m having too many ‘what would jason have become if he didn’t become the red hood?’ thoughts running through my brain because of it, lmao.)

[soulless-bex]

dc x pjo where Percy was adopted into the Wayne family at a rather young age (probably not long before he started getting send the country by the gods like some wannabe errand boy, and probably because his mom died in a tragic but completely mundane way. people die all the time, and contrary to popular belief, Sally Jackson is not, in fact, immune to death. she probably will make a great friend out of Persephone though. that’s a problem for future Percy).

he’s taken in around the same time Jason is, probably because they helped each other while on the street (i lied; it’s because Jay saw himself in the little orphan boy with an absentee father who just lost his mom and adopted him on sight. Bruce couldn’t have separated them even if he wanted to), but Jason is at least a few years older than him. the two of them are stupidly close, which means that when Jason dies it doesn’t go over well. Percy’s not dealing with his grief well, Bruce is somehow dealing with his grief even worse that Percy is, everyone is sad and grieving and etcetera, so truly, no one foresees the way Percy would run away over it.

baby Percy is sad and grieving and he just lost his big brother and his dad won’t pull his head out of his ass about it so he goes back to the one other place where he knows he could get support, aka camp half-blood. he completely drops off the map and no matter how hard the bats may try over the years, they can’t seem to find him. he just vanished, and eventually the searches come to an halt, because clearly Percy doesn’t want to be found (they willfully ignore the fact that they are the best detectives in the world and that Percy is a teen with, to their knowledge, barely any training; Percy’s probably dead and none of them are ready to accept that possibility)

obviously, Percy’s missing-ness only adds oil to the fire when Jason gets back, and thus everything that happens with that is much worse and much angstier. he still reconciles with the family (eventually) but the grudge he holds against Bruce for losing Percy sticks and surpasses even the one he held against him for keeping the Joker alive. much angst. his siblings understand, to some level, (not really, most of them never even met Percy, they don’t know him like he did, they don’t understand his grief) and mostly let him be broody by himself. Bruce understands too, but he’s a self flagellating idiot who thinks he deserves this shitty relationships with his son as a punishment for his mistakes and doesn’t do anything about it, never mind that it’s hurting Jason just as much as he’s hurting him.

ANYWAY

years later, after going through two wars, Percy lets himself be convinced by Jason (Grace (his boyfriend (he calls him by his last name because it’s weird even to him to be in a relationship with a guy who shares a name with his dead brother (if you don’t like the ship get lost. this is my prompt and i do what i want)))) to try and reconcile with his family. he’s absolutely not ready (or willing) to deal with Bruce again so with the help of his friends he manages to track down Dick’s address and just. shows up.

Dick about has a heart attack when, as he’s riding off a concussion in his flat or something (i don’t know, i feeled like giving him a concussion just now), his missing brother just shows up at his door with the biggest dog he’s ever seen (Mrs O’Leary is here to provide emotional support (service dog Mrs O’Leary?)) looking both sheepish and vastly uncomfortable

[piedpiperart]

DC x SPN prompt idea

Sam and Dean get a tip about a haunted mansion from Bobby and they go check it out. It’s Drake Manor in Gotham City, which wouldn’t be a problem since no one was supposed to be living there. Except there was.

Sam and Dean meet Tim as they break into his house. Tim at first thinks they’re burglars but notices they’re carrying strange occult stuff. Tim looks at their stuff for a sec and just goes oh, are you here for the ghost?

And the boys, who had thought the kid was a) not alive or b) some sort of creature, are a bit thrown that this tiny child was left alone for months dealing with this ghost haunting his house.

Tim explains that he thinks she’s the ghost of his previous nanny before his parents fired her, but says she doesn’t do anything harmful, just tries to keep him company or get him to eat more often. She only breaks stuff when his parents are around but she stopped after it got him in trouble.

While Tim is sad for his ghost friend to be gone, he absolutely questions the heck out of Sam and Dean about all sorts of supernatural creatures and ghosts. Sam shows him ways to stay safe and avoid places with signs, etc. Dean teaches him how to fight and shoot weapons.

Tim is like seven or eight and pretty much blackmails Sam and Dean into teaching him how to be a hunter, and Tim ends up finding missions for them because he turns out to be a better hacker than Sam and Bobby. He gets the hunters money, sets up a network of information where hunters work together, and makes gadgets and gizmos for the guys to use against creatures.

Dean and Sam are worried about this small child alone in the house but think he’s better off there than as a hunter out in the real world. They don’t expect Tim to force his way into helping them, and every so often when they need help or info they call Tim then remind him to do homework or eat something.

Their road-trips now have frequent stops by Gotham, and even Bobby’s been able to make the trip to meet the lil guy who hacks his computer every week.

Tim also still knows Bruce is batman, and eventually becomes Robin, right. So he’s off doing that and keeping the whole supernatural world secret from Batman. Sam and Dean however, know the kid too well and eventually find out Tim is Robin. They may or may not take that well.

But! Since Tim is already aware of the ways of browsing the news and internet for crazy interesting cases and crimes, he comes across some posts about a potential zombie. Lo and behold- it’s Jason! So Tim calls Bruce and gets them sorted out. Maybe Talia still finds a way to kidnap him though, or Tim fights her on his own to keep Jason and loses, etc.

Either way, Tim ends up on the outs with the family still because he thinks he’s just filling in for Jason. So when his parents die and Tim is in need of a fake uncle? Who else would he call but Bobby!!

Just imagining Bruce and Bobby in the same room oh man. No doubt Alfred and Bobby would get along or absolutely hate each-other and no in between. I think Bobby would win in a fight against Alfred though. Just sayin.

Que Tim taking a call from Dean while he’s patrolling, thinking he’s alone as he details how to graphically kill someone, only to hang up and turn to see Jason standing right there.

Just, many shenanigans for how Tim seems a bit more unhinged than they thought. Like yeah Robin doesn’t kill, can’t kill when you work for Bats, but Tim Drake the Hunter made no such promises. Tim’s like ‘my first kill-‘ and freaks out the bats until he saves it by saying he’s talking about a game.

Sam and Dean come for a visit and Dick is suspicious. Tim goes on hunter missions and comes back with unexplained wounds. One of the bats might see him kill something and the guy turns to dust. Tim’s like no one will ever believe you.

As Tim drifts away from the bats he goes on trips with sam and Dean or helps bobby upgrade his tech. He lets Dean keep a batarang.

Maybe when Bruce is stuck in the time stream the first person he calls is Dean and Sam and Bobby. They’re like oh hey meet Cas, who then is like “Batman should not be allowed to alter the timeline” and just brings him back. He starts maybe using Cas for emergencies, or Dean tells Cas to keep an eye on tim only for him to step in whenever Tim seems in danger, even when he isn’t. Que Tim trying to convince Cas to wear a disguise when rescuing him in the field, etc..

Or maybe Tim makes a deal with a demon! He brings back Bruce but is fantastic at loopholes and gets out of hell card. Maybe Crowley is angry and takes his spleen just cuz. Dean is not happy.

Supernatural occurrences in the field happen and Tim solves it easily. No explanation. Maybe Constantine comes to solve it only to take one look at Tim and go “fuckin’ hunters, geez”. Or alternatively Tim corrects Constantine, saying stuff like you mispronounced (insert Latin word) or something like that.

Just, overall Tim shenanigans because if one of the bats had knowledge of the supernatural it would totally be Tim.

[weebsinstash]

And if one of the batfam just so happen to develop not-quite-so-platonic feelings for the reader, so be it :)

Honestly I've consumed Batman media but when it comes to comics and the lore of the Robins and all that, I'm remarkably uninformed, but the one I'm leaning towards the hardest, besides Bruce obviously, is Jason

I mean, for the sake of informing those not in the know, the original first Robin was Dick Grayson and after he became older, Batman found another protégé in Jason Todd, but at some point Jason is kidnapped by the Joker and horrifically tortured over the course of i think its a full year, beaten with a crowbar, and presumably killed with the "evidence" sent to Batman who believes he's dead and, never finds Jason, who is resurrected with the Lazarus Pit (something something evil league of assassins and also the mother of Bruce's blood son Damian is here, Talia Al'Ghul)

Eventually Jason comes back to Gotham as his own antihero identity, Red Hood, and he has his own take on justice greatly varying from his mentor: he now uses guns and even kills when he deems it necessary. And when Jason and Bruce finally meet and Bruce finds out Jason was alive this whole time, Jason's reaction is "I wasn't mad you never found me. I'm mad you let Joker do that to me and you still let him live" like he was deeply wounded by this betrayal and has to be basically rehabilitated back to being a hero (and also that performance is by Jensen Ackles which I never knew until today lol)

So I can just only imagine the levels of unhinged if Jason gets over his, you know, constant killing and is finally back to being like somewhat relatively normal and a vigilante again and then you have a situation like "oh Reader is kidnapped and hurt by the Joker too, maybe even sexually assaulted" and when Jason finds out it just triggers him being Red Hood all over again. I can imagine him wanting to take you away from this horrible life and this man (Bruce) who keeps getting everyone around him hurt and still doesn't have the balls to get the job done, at least in Jason's eyes

I remember watching this scene from Death in the Family and thinking about, what if Jason is just sitting there in that bed having this angry monologue and his thoughts shift to Reader and he has no hatred or animosity towards them at all, in fact, he's horrified. Why is Bruce risking your life by bringing you into this sort of lifestyle? So the man doesn't love Jason OR you? And he makes the decision that you're only going to get hurt if you stay with "the family" as it now disgusts him to even call it that

Like can you even imagine the rage and trauma and anguish he would feel if you know, the Batfam is gathered around and welcoming him back, and then, after everyone else has gone, you come into the room and you're just an absolute mess, shaking at the sight of him, instantly crying. "I wanted to keep looking for you," just absolutely weeping "they told me you were gone and I needed to move on but I kept wanting to at least-at least find your body and they... they...!" And Jason finds out, well of course YOU never could have rescued him or killed the Joker, because Jason's disappearance and 'death' was the last straw that finally sent you into a mental breakdown after dedicating yourself to Bruce's "mission" and you're not even allowed to leave the manor by yourself anymore and he can tell by looking at you that you've lost so much weight and not in a healthy way

And just like that, Jason readjusts his plans. He is not the only one who is going to escape from this mansion tonight. He feels rage boiling his blood as Bruce finally realizes you've spent so long in his room talking to him and one look at your puffy eyes and ragged breathing and the man decides, well you're just simply too overwhelmed to keep talking to Jason right now, you better go eat dinner and get some rest. And Jason grits his teeth as he sees you just, relent, as if you're used to not even having an option, still crying and obviously not wanting to go, still wanting to see him and touch him and talk to him and know he's still alive, but Bruce says to go, and so, you go.

And Jason would rather die a second time than let things end here.

[msfcatlover]

Okay, but in the Reverse!Robins AU, when Bruce is dead & everything is a mess, here’s how Jason gets the Red Robin arc:

Jason just wants to help, but it gets spoiled at every turn.

Damian is having an existential crisis because he’s been working so hard for nearly a decade to define his own path/identity, but there’s a big part of him that still feels like it’s his duty to follow in his father’s footsteps. It’s tearing him apart inside over whether he’s a bad brother for trying to take what he’s already abdicated, or a bad brother for forcing the others to carry the mantle, or a bad son for not stepping up, even though that’s what Talia wanted more than Bruce, but Bruce & Damian aren’t that close since Steph died, and maybe Damian’s been wrong this whole time—

Cass doesn’t know how to process grief really, because the only huge losses in her life are Steph’s death & Tim’s mobility, and with the latter she was mostly relieved he wasn’t dead too. She’s getting everyone’s grief 24/7, but she doesn’t know how to talk to them about it or her own. She declared long ago she wanted to be Batman, and everyone seemed very happy then, but suddenly she doesn’t feel ready for it. And on top of all that, she’s the only one Dick even tries to spend time with, because she’s the only one who doesn’t either lash out at him or try to get him to talk when he doesn’t want to.

Duke is trying to hold everyone together, and as the oldest he’s trying to get Bruce’s affairs in order, and it’s such a mess he actually has to stop being the Signal for a little while. Even though he’s normally the family’s emotional rock, he’s frazzled & exhausted, he doesn’t know what to do, and his temper is burning pretty short even as he tries to hold it together for his siblings.

Dick honestly seems to hate Jason, for reasons Jason cannot comprehend. Every time Jason tries to reach out to Dick, he ends up getting screamed at or having something thrown at him, and eventually Jason just gives up. (Dick is a complete fucking mess, because just as he was starting to settle in at the Manor and find something resembling stability again, his foster father went & died on him.)

Steph is AWOL since the funeral, and generally ignores “family troubles” like the plague.

Tim still figures out Bruce is still alive. He doesn’t want to get the younger kids’ hopes up, so he approaches Duke, Damian, & Cass with his evidence instead of calling a family meeting. It… does not go well.

Jason beats a retreat from the tension at the manor, telling Alfred he’s going to crash with Tim for a while. Alfred, Cass, & Duke all try to hide their relief over not having to worry about Jason for a little while. Wrongly believing Jason & Tim will keep eachother grounded.

While at Tim’s, Jason find his folder of evidence. Jason immediately confronts Tim with it, and Tim starts to get defensive before realizing Jason believes him. They go over all of it, as well as Tim’s plans & theories for where/how to find further information.

But Jason sees several problems Tim refuses to acknowledge. Gotham needs Oracle, now more than ever. And a not insignificant part of Tim’s plan relies on exploiting the resources of a certain obvious but unnamed group. Everyone knows Ra’s put the hit out on Tim all those years ago as a sort of “if I can’t have you, no one can” thing, and either intended to end Tim’s vigilante career or figured being unable to stand without crutches was significant enough punishment. But only Jason was there when Tim found the card inviting Tim back for a dip in the Pit whenever Tim was ready to admit he ‘needed’ it; Jason leant Tim his lighter to burn the note. So Jason might be the only one who knows Ra’s has been waiting for Tim to come groveling back ever since that bullet clipped Tim’s spine. And Ra’s definitely won’t deign to help Tim without ‘fixing’ him first. 

Jason’s not about to let his big brother get sucked back into that mess. Not Ra’s spiral of abuse & manipulation, not the potentially devastating side effects of the Pit, and not the struggles with worth Tim’s had since he had to hang up his cape. No way.

And Talia has made it very clear she’d be interested in training Jason.

So Jason steals Tim’s plans. Jason modifies them. Jason tells Tim that Jason’s going to go stay with the Titans, because Jason needs to get out of Gotham for a little while, and asks Tim to cover for him.

Jason steals a credit card for one of Damian’s alternate identities, knowing full well Damian’s too much of a mess to notice the charges until it’s too late.

Jason zetas to San Francisco, and asks the Titans to cover for him if anyone comes asking.

Jason uses Damian’s card to buy a plane ticket.

By the time anyone realizes what’s happened, Jason’s in too deep to risk extraction. After all, you can’t just flatter your way into an al Ghul’s favor only to back out at the last second, and no one in the family is emotionally equipped for delicacy right now.

Tim just has to do his best to make things easier for Jason, play dumb when anybody asks, and pray he isn’t setting his baby brother up to get murdered.