#bruce getting chewed out for stealing dick

[prlssprfctn]

Need more of freshly adopted Jason, who cannot bring himself to feel relaxed in his new house. To allow himself to act a little childishly. And Bruce is... confused at first. He is not sure if this kid is just disciplined like that or something is wrong.

He thinks of Dick, who often indulged himself in lazily laying under blankets after waking up, no matter how late he could get to school. Who sneaked to steal chips that Alfred for sure prohibited eating before the dinner. Who napped in the daylight if he felt like it. Who jumped around the house and from table to table, despite all restrictions Bruce tried to put on him.

And then he glances at Jason, who wakes up strictly following the schedule - sometimes, being for the breakfast even earlier than he is. Who does his bed himself, never really says that he is lazy about doing something, and who eats whatever Alfred cooks, without asking for specific dishes. He is on his legs the whole day, unless Bruce sends him to sleep after the patrol, and he often asks if he can visit a certain room in the manor, even if Bruce told him a thousand times that he can do whatever he wants.

It is... strange. Should he talk about this with him? Is that just how Jason is? Bruce doesn't really want to call him out, in case if it is just a part of his character - there is no need to make kid feel ashamed of himself, after all.

Until once Bruce and Alfred leave the manor for a day or so, and when Bruce briefly checks the CCTV around the house, he sees Jason (always collected Jason) lurk around the manor in his pyjamas. He is napping on the coach. And chews on the dry cereals and plain bread, while watching Looney Tunes. For once, Jason acts like a kid of his age.

Bruce makes a mental note to discuss it with his son once he is back.

[nightwings-robin]

On how Jason became Robin pre-Crisis versus post-Crisis and how the Robin mantle should be Dick's to pass on, not Bruce's.

I want to talk about how I actually prefer the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths canon of how Jason became Robin. Don't misunderstand me, I do think him steeling the wheels off the Batmobile is 100% a better backstory for him than circus acrobat like in pre-Crisis canon. I just personally prefer the way he receives the Robin mantle in pre-Crisis.

For one thing, in pre-Crisis, Dick is the one to allow Jason to be Robin. Not Bruce. I think that's an important distinction. In the post-Crisis continuity, Bruce fires Dick and gives Jason the Robin name and costume and only many issues later does Dick give his blessing. While in pre-Crisis, Jason puts on the Robin costume without either of their permission and Bruce chews him out for stealing someone else's identity, then Jason wears a non-Robin costume and tries to think of his own hero name, only for Dick to give his blessing for Jason to be Robin.

This got very long so the rest is under the cut.

Let's take a look:

The first vigilante costume that Jason actually wears isn't even a proper Robin costume though it is still implied to have belonged to Dick. This is in Detective Comics (1937) #526.

He doesn't immediately go for the traditional Robin costume because well, Dick is very much still Robin when this happens. Dick hasn't quit yet. And in this continuity, Dick chooses to not be Robin anymore as opposed to Bruce firing him like in post-Crisis. Then when Jason does actually put on the OG Robin costume in Batman (1940) #366, Bruce is angry with him.

Bruce is upset with Jason for being Robin this first time explicitly because he doesn't have Dick's permission. Bruce is saying that being Robin is an identity that has to be earned and given consent by who the identity originally belonged to. He doesn't outright say that Jason needs Dick's permission to be Robin but it is implied (at least that's how I interpret it).

Jason then goes back to wearing the first costume and not really going by a code-name until Dick shows up.

These panels from Batman (1940) #368 show that Jason had tried to be a hero without being Robin. He had a different costume and was brainstorming different names. He does this because he doesn't want to "steal" Dick's identity as Robin. Jason had already used the Robin costume and name without thinking about how that would make Dick and Bruce feel. He didn't intentionally want to cause harm but Bruce was still upset with him for putting on Dick's costume without permission specifically from Dick. So it's important that now in these panels, Dick willingly gives Jason the Robin costume and lets him use the Robin name.

Jason had even asked Dick earlier to be Robin in The New Teen Titans (1980) #37, which Dick initially refused.

The Robin mantle wasn't something that Dick wanted to give up lightly and I think it's very telling that Jason asks Dick instead of asking Bruce.

But Dick doesn't stay Robin for much longer. Just two issues later in The New Teen Titans (1980) #39, Dick decided he no longer wants it. I think it's important that he makes that decision for himself. The role of Robin isn't forcefully taken from him by Bruce.

Dick wants to grow up and be his own person, outside of the shadow of Bruce and Batman. He loves the Robin mantle and is proud of what he did as Robin but he recognizes that it is something that he has now outgrown. What's so important to me here is that Dick willingly chooses to not be Robin anymore. He has agency in what he wants his identity to be, and later has agency over who gets to take on the Robin identity after him.

It's a bit later during the Judas Contract that he chooses to become Nightwing.

Even a few years later (in real time) in The New Teen Titans (1984) #47 it is still recognized that Dick willingly stopped being Robin and allowed Jason to take the mantle.

Compare all of this to post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. That's when Jason's backstory changes to the one of him stealing tires off the Batmobile, and as stated earlier, I do think this is a much better and more interesting backstory for Jason than the copy-and-paste of Dick's backstory of being a circus acrobat. However, what I don't like is how post-Crisis changes how Dick quit being Robin and became Nightwing. Because he didn't quit being Robin. Bruce fired him.

Bruce fired Dick in Batman(1940) #408 because it's a dangerous line of work and Dick disobeyed orders. I can understand Bruce firing Dick for not following orders but the part about it being too dangerous doesn't hold up when he almost immediately lets Jason be Robin, who is younger and far less experienced than Dick. It just doesn't make sense.

The very next issue in Batman (1940) #409 is when Bruce asks Jason to be Robin. It just feels hypocritical and even illogical of Bruce to fire Dick as Robin because of the dangers it brings, just to make Jason be Robin a few weeks later.

Then in Batman (1940) #410, Bruce gives Jason the Robin costume:

Only later in Batman (1940) #416 does Dick give Jason another, identical Robin costume:

Something about this chain of events just doesn't sit right with me. Bruce fires Dick from being Robin when Robin was Dick's own identity that in some continuities came from a nickname that Mary Grayson used for Dick, then Bruce hired a younger less experienced kid as the new Robin without consulting Dick, only for Dick to eventually give his consent at a later time.

I just feel like Dick giving Jason a Robin costume doesn't hold much weight when Jason is already wearing a Robin costume, you know?

I think it's far more logical and respectful when Dick willing stops being Robin of his own free will and then chooses to let Jason be Robin afterwards. Bruce has little to no say in the decision. Because Robin isn't Bruce's legacy. It's Dick's.

While I do generally like those fanon memes of Dick coming home only to find this random kid in his old Robin costume and being like "Bruce who the fuck is this?" and Bruce being like "Oh that's Jason, he's Robin now," they just won't ever compare to pre-Crisis canon when Dick actually gave his blessing for Jason to be Robin before Bruce did.

[gotham-gremlin]

MY TIME TO SHINE

I love giving my interpretations of characters so much (canon is my estranged spouse that still comes over most nights but we tell our friends there's nothing between us anymore)

tim drake - a stained blue hoodie with messy cuffs on its sleeves because he chews on them, glasses that are always crooked from dick ruffling his hair, light up blue keyboard, quietly sitting in the same room as barbara as they each do separate activities just vibing in each other's presence, correcting people's grammar in arguments, clicking a ballpoint pen, spinny office chairs, keeping hair ties on his wrist for his sisters, sustaining himself off blue powerade alone, humming steph's ABBA while disabling security cameras so she can beat up riddler in peace, getting extremely competitive at Just Dance with Damian, messy eyeliner that's been through five showers and eight mental breakdowns, wearing the bracelet Bernard gave him until it breaks and then blowing off all his plans to fix it, stealing bruce's rings all the time, infodumping about physics to Alfred, muttering the shoelace rhyme every time he ties them, picking at the skin of his lip when he's thinking, laying down on the cool tile of his bathroom floor when his headaches get bad, drawing constellations with the freckles on Bernard's face, being late to everything all the time despite religiously wearing the watch dick gave him for his birthday, those ridiculously complicated Rubik's cubes with a million parts you know the ones, watching Conner play video games and pointing out the physics mistakes -

just tim drake being a greasy little rat nerd man who loves his boyfriend and his family and his friends and can't express anything ever to anyone at any point in time

guys, because we can never decide on how we see tim, i want to know how people see them.

rb and tell me please i want new interps.

rn i see him as a typical alex g boy. a bit dirty most of the time, not good personal hygiene unless he really needs to, messy overgrown hair and this makes bruce have to go through industrial treatment before public appearances. untied laces, watching the sunrise and rooftops. not sleeping, or sleeping too much, just a twinge too much of carelessness that starts to affect himself.

[underthewaterlily]

Damian Wayne relationship scenarios

Warnings: mentions of sleeping on the highway as a joke, lmk if I missed anything else A/N: I imagine Damian's 16 in this. mentions celebrating Christmas briefly at the end, but it's not a theme throughout. so if you don't celebrate Christmas, you can still read.

you and Damian were asked to do the BuzzFeed puppy interview

you and him sat on the floor and answered questions as a litter of puppies chewed on your expensive heels and fell asleep on your and Damian's lap

a funny moment happened when you pointed to one of the puppies and said you were gonna name it after your favorite Wayne

Damian looked at you with a soft smile before you slapped your lap to get the dog's attention and, in a high-pitched voice, said, "c'mere Dick, come here, boy!"

Damian's smile comedically drops as you laugh

a little after that, you have a handful of puppies in your arms, and you look at Damian, asking if you could bring them home "no, maybe you should ask your favorite Wayne." he scoffs before his facade fades, and he starts laughing with you

never before has he been so open in an interview. He even called you beloved while the cameras were rolling, beloved is a name he solely uses in private, so for him to say it on camera is a really big deal

this fills the fan's love for you both, and a slew of edits became of your interactions, with each other and the puppies with captains like

"sleeping on the highway tn" "IF THEY BREAK UP IM GONNA LOSE FAITH IN LOVE," "get you someone who looks at you the way Damian looks at y/n"

Damian defiantly shows off for you

if you walk into him sparring, he will go from 0 to 100 because there is no way he's losing in front of you

on the off chance he does lose, he tries to not act but hurt, but he defiantly is

all you have to do is compliment his fighting or his technique, and he will be fine again

stupid idea activity rises 70% when you're around

yall will be chilling on the couch, and he will casually say, "want to steal the bat mobile?"

cue two hours of riding around Gotham listening to music and getting out once or twice to stop crime before hopping back in and continuing the drive

you were only stopped when none other than the big bad bat himself jumped on the roof of the batmobile as it was moving

and boy, did you both get an ear full not only did bruce have something to say about both of your reckless behavers but so did black canary, your mentor

you were both benched from crime fighting for the next week (not that it was going to you both)

after the chew out, Jason makes himself known from where he was leaning against the doorway "tsk tsk tsk you kids really should know better" "shut up, todd," Damian shoots back

if you celebrate Christmas, Damian will invite you to Christmas with his family

sometimes it surprises you just how many people are in his family, and Christmas at the Waynes can get a little crazy

you guys have ugly sweater competitions that get extremely competitive, and Alfred makes the most amazing Christmas cookies

all around, you and Damian have a great time together in and out of costume

[incorrectbatfam]

Tim using his middle child privilege

Tim brings a blood-stained gun from a crime scene into the Batcave but forgets to put it in an evidence bag so when Bruce sees it laying on the table Jason gets chewed out

And he manages to get away with a whole-ass amateur drag queen side hustle because all the clothes and accessories he leaves laying around get pinned on the girls or Dick

At the same time, Tim knows he shares the middle child status with everyone except Dick and Damian

Tim and Duke form the Middle Child Coalition

And imagine Cass and Jason's faces when they're denied entry

Tim's reasoning is that they don't qualify for true Middle Child status since Cass is Bruce's princess and Jason is the black sheep who Bruce keeps the closest eye on

Whenever Tim wants something from an older sibling, Bruce tells them to give it because Tim's younger

And when he wants something to Damian, Bruce tells him to give it because Tim's older

Tim can literally sneak the entire Young Justice team into the manor, raid the entire kitchen in plain sight, and pull an all-night karaoke slumber party and no one will notice

Except for Duke

But he can't snitch because he was invited

Tim can get his brothers to blame each other for stealing clothes that he's literally wearing at the moment

Not even Bruce is safe—he gets the brunt end of Alfred's wrath when Tim puts a bowl of ramen in the microwave for 2 hours and 30 minutes instead of 2 minutes and 30 seconds

[comatose--overdose]

After getting into an argument with the family, Jason gets magically turned into a cat while on patrol. He retains his human mind but recognizes a golden opportunity when he sees one and so he pretends that he didn't.

He proceeds to knock every single item off of every single shelf in the bat cave and Bruce's office.

He makes Tim watch as he pushes his favorite mug off the table

He's huge and he's FLUFFY. Solid black except for a white spot in the middle of his forehead between his ears and at the very tip of his tail. Big boy, weighs like 20 lbs and it's all muscle.

"This isn't a house cat, it's a fucking long-haired mini-panther" -Tim, before Jason promptly starts chewing on his shoelaces and unties them so he trips.

There are hairballs in most of Bruce's shoes, and even one on Dick's favorite pair too.

He pees on Tim's bed.

Any time anyone tries to pet him he immediately sticks his ass in their face

He considers catching the tiny gray mouse that's been driving Alfred insane for the last two weeks but he can't bring himself to do it because it turns out the mouse is actually very sweet. Her name is Millie, and she wishes Gotham wasn't so cold. But the Manor is warm and there's so much to eat, she's never had a home this wonderful before. Jason can relate. He carefully sets off all the mouse traps hidden around so they can't hurt her. Alfred just stares when he goes into the pantry only to see his grandchild, as a cat, curled up napping with a mouse. Jason looks up and actually glares at him. Unbelievable.

She shows him all the little nooks and crannies and pathways that are much too small for humans. Jason now knows the Manor better than even Alfred.

(when he's human again, Jason carefully catches Millie, who seems to still recognize him, and keeps her safe and happy with a big warm habitat and lots of food. Jason always remembers who his friends are, even if they can't communicate anymore)

He repeatedly steals meat from Bruce, Stephanie, and Duke. He'll wait until they aren't looking and then drag it off their plate and trot off to enjoy his pilfered meal (sometimes he shares with Cat Alfred or Millie). Dick just gives him some of his because honestly, Jason's a little shit but he's never been more adorable and he's still his little brother. Big Birb feeds the little wings.

They start making him his own plate of meat because one, they got tired of theirs being stolen (not that that stopped) and two: they only had to make the mistake of offering him regular cat food once to know to never try it again

(Bruce had to spend a fortune on new furniture and curtains AND Tim needed stitches from all the biting, because of course he was the one who tried to feed him cat food.

"What?! He's a cat! I thought he'd like it!"

It nearly broke his cover but fuck that, he was not eating that shit. Baby bird gon' learn today.)

He finally spends some time bonding with Jarro

Every time someone uses a laptop or the batcomputer he lays all over the keyboard and rolls around, refusing to move.

Bruce is just.... Covered in scratches. Jason swipes at his ankles every time he walks by, Bruce tries to pet him and he latches on with all four paws and teeth. He'll deliberately lay traps the old man can't resist, rolling over to show his belly and Bruce falls for it every time. Weak.

Just open the goddamn door and let him into the garden, please, he is NOT gonna shit in a box. He'll shit in your shoes first, Steph.

It turns out Alfred the Cat is a wonderful conversationalist. He is also friends with Millie and has been trying to bring her to Damian's attention for a while now so he can protect her.

(Jason tells Damian this later, who then gives Cat Alfred ALL the scritches and offers to help Jason look after Millie if he ever has to be away for an extended period of time)

Titus is a good boy who doesn't give him any trouble, but for the time being, he tries (and often fails) to avoid Ace. Not because he's hostile, but because he still recognizes him as Jason and COVERS him in spit. He will not stop licking him. Alfred has to give him a bath because Ace licks him after getting into some peanut butter and honestly Jason has never been more disgusted in his life because it's EVERYWHERE but Cats Don't Like Water so he takes two Ls back-to-back there. The yowling made everyone worried he was dying and they all came running, but he was just being Dramatic™️

(He can't be mad at Ace tho, he knows he's always been Ace's favorite. Ace is a sweet boi)

Every time he breaks something, Tim threatens to have him neutered.

"The price of the next mug is gonna be your balls you furry little asshole."

He pees in Tim's bed again.

The only ones he doesn't terrorize are Alfred, out of respect (mouse protection aside), Cass, because She Somehow Knows and is just letting him have his fun without spoiling it, and Damian, because resisting his Disney Princess bullshit is honestly the most likely thing to immediately give the game away to everyone else. Plus, Dami may be a brat but he's not gonna scratch a kid on purpose and besides, he's honestly never been nicer to Jason. Figures he has to have fur and four legs for the Demon to show some affection.

Roy catches wind of what's happening because Dick's got a big mouth when it comes to things like this and so he shows up to see it for himself and everyone is LIVID when he's the only one (other than the aforementioned three) allowed to pet Jason and rub his belly without getting clawed. Boyfriend privileges, bitches.

As soon as Jason and Roy are alone for a few minutes, Jay starts tapping out Morse code and lets him in on the act so he can help him cause chaos and jealousy.

Oh he just loooves Roy, just loves laying in his lap and rubbing their faces together and flopping over against his side, even licks him on the cheek. Look how cute he is guys, just a cuddly little cat, don't you just wanna hold him and squeeze him and give him scritches? But you can't!! But Roy can.

Dick and Bruce are fuming. Tim is starting to figure out they're being conned but he can't prove it, goddammit.

Roy's just enjoying the cuddles and snuggles. Jason isn't usually this affectionate when other people are around. Jay may be a cat right now, but Roy will take what he can get.

He will chase the laser light. For appearances. Only... Only for appearances... Must...catch...fairy....

Catnip is the best damn thing in the world, holy SHIT.

There's nothing Zatanna or Constantine can do, the spell just has to wear off, but he gets two weeks of (mostly) consequence free mischief in the meantime.

[More Cat!Jason posts here]

[captainlordauditor]

@perseph​​ reblogging so I can add pictures and because this was getting too long for the replies:

I use “recent” kind of loosely, but it was after the most recent reboot, so in my head it qualifies. It was around 2016, 2017, the beginning of the current run (something like issues 1-8 or something like that). It was very, very, very bad, in every way - the colorism is just the fastest complaint to fit in the limited space of a tumblr reply. The summary of it is that Nightwing gets a new villain Raptor who's an old friend of his mother's, and is a thief who um [checks notes] steals from and kills rich people and is mad that Bruce raised Dick instead of a Rom foster parent. Raptor is of course several shades darker skinned than Dick:

This is from a later appearance, but he’s drawn the same both times. Yes, that is Dick on the left. These men are supposed to be the same ethnicity). Raptor also appears in Deathstroke, where Christopher Priest, a Black writer, presumably took one look at this and said “WTF”, and wrote him with (somewhat) more sympathy, and well....

I mean, I’m all for Dick running into a friend of his parents who is upset he was raised by Bruce, but putting it on the same page as said character’s big villain speech is just a bad idea.

And this is why I won’t buy any books by Tim Seeley.

I know you’re a Marvel person, but what are your thoughts on Zatanna from DC?

I really haven't read much about her. I find her to be one of those elusive characters who is very different in every continuity reboot and adaptation-- which is my biggest challenge with DC in general. So I can't really speak that much to her characterization or her storylines.

I do think that the concept of a stage magician who does real magic is super fun and I appreciate that her aesthetic and visual style are so distinct among super heroes and, specifically, among magic characters. She is a very unique character, and I get the appeal.

I'm not really a big fan of the homo magi concept. On the one hand, it provides a more cohesive and functional framework for magic in the larger superhero setting than what Marvel has. On the other hand, it tends to scrub out the uniqueness of cultural magic practices and overshadow ancient religions and mythologies, which are usually afforded a lot of gravity and power in the Marvel world. You can probably imagine which approach I prefer.

I know that there have been indications of Zatanna having Romani ancestry, but I've had a hard time tracking down specific instances. From what I understand, they're pretty few and far between, and don't often amount to more than vague stereotyping and racist language. Dick Grayson has a similar problem, where his heritage (which was retroactively established several decades into his publication history) was only seriously featured in one poorly executed storyline and is otherwise just gestured at in a manner that usually comes off pretty problematic. In both cases, Romani heritage exists only to lend exoticism to their magical nature or sexuality.

The Grayson and Zatara families both come from showman and performer backgrounds, which are traditional occupations in many Romani communities. In comic books and related media, we're mostly represented as fortune tellers, witches, and itinerant workers who live in caravans. Exploring showman culture would be a refreshing change of pace, and the stage magician aesthetic would be cool subversion of the Romani witch archetypes, but it would certainly take a lot of careful work to get it right.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like writers are actually interested in showcasing either Dick or Zatanna's heritage in those contexts. I've read both The Lost Carnival and Jewel of Gravesend-- standalone graphic novels that retell Dick and Zatanna's early lives in modern settings. Both of those books would have been perfect opportunities to incorporate Romani visibility into their family lives and performer lifestyle, but that's not what happened, and honestly, I was pretty disappointed. That pretty much sums up my feelings about both Dick and Zatanna-- I'd really like for them to be fully realized Romani characters, but their representation has been very minimal and largely offensive. I think they'd both need a major overhaul-- Zatanna especially-- to bring it to a place of authenticity.

[book-place]

What They’re For

Warnings: slight mentions of injuries, let me know if I missed any :)

Pairings: Dick Grayson x reader platonic

Request: Dick x best friend reader! They’ve been best friends ever since they were kids, always having each other’s backs. S/O always covered his back at school, like getting his homework for him whenever he had to go on patrol. She never seems bothered whenever he seems too busy to hang out or breaks his promises to her. After many years, they always are close. One thing is that he never once told her his secret identity even as they grew up. She always comforted him without asking anything in return

Request by: Anon

*not my gif*

Summary: You were always the best friend that Dick needed, even if he didn’t always deserve it

A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out

Please don’t plagiarize my work, you may reblog if you like but I’m asking that you don’t steal my hard work

“Hey, n/n,” Dick greeted sheepishly, leaning against the locker next to yours.

Your eyes flitted over to him and raised an eyebrow in question, not slowing your movements of putting books away and taking others out.

Ever since Bruce had adopted and taken Dick in from a young age, you had been the best of friends. The billionaire had enrolled the boy in the same elementary school as you, and it was clear that the two of you just clicked right away.

You would admit, at first you thought something weird was going on with him, always coming in half asleep as if he had been up all night, oftentimes with bruises and cuts. But you never once questioned it. Whatever happened to him was his own business, not yours to interfere with.

Of course, you had made sure everything was okay at his home before shrugging it off.

Now, in middle school, nothing had changed between the two of you, even as life went on and morphed in new ways around you, your friendship was the one thing that stayed the same.

“I’ve kinda got something going on tonight…” He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck before taking a deep breath and quickly rushing out, “And you know I hate to ask you this-“

You interrupted him by simply holding out a hand, “I’ve got your homework, Grayson, just hand it over.”

Relief immediately washed over his features as he scrambled to pull it from his bag and present it to you before hopping up and placing a kiss on the side of your head, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

You rolled your eyes playfully and gave him a slight shove in the opposite direction, fighting off the smile that threatened to crawl upon your lips, “Yeah, yeah, just get out of here.”

He practically skipped backwards, signature smile lighting up his face, “You’re the best!” He called back without a care in the world about the other students giving him weird looks.

You made a goofy face at him in return, turning on your heel and starting off to your own class, finally allowing the smile to grow on your face.

-•-

“I know I said I could hang out after school, but I can’t tonight, something came up,” Dicks upset voice came through the speaker of your phone, “Listen, I’m really, really sorry.”

“It’s fine, Dick.” You assured him. And though you couldn’t see him, you knew him well enough to know that he was chewing on his bottom lip as the two of you spoke.

“Are you sure?” He asked worriedly.

You laughed, “Of course, I’m sure.” You looked around your room, “I should clean my room anyways.”

A sigh of relief escaped your best friend's lips, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise!” Was all he said before something in the background happened and he hung up.

You sighed, turning your phone off and looking around at your already tidy room.

-•-

“Hey? Do you see that? That’s Bruce Wayne’s kid! Kid! Hey, kid! Over here!”

You and Dick were out at a coffee shop for one of the rare times that he was actually available- and didn’t cancel- to hang out.

Of course though, you should have both known that the paparazzi would take this opportunity to attack like seagulls.

“Who’s that you’re with?”

“Are you two dating?”

“Can you confirm the rumors that your father is actually in cahoots with The Penguin?”

Dick let loose a small sigh, immediately reaching back and taking your hand in his, “Come on,” He mumbled so only you could hear, “Let’s get out of here.”

Coffees completely forgotten, the two of you began jogging down the sidewalk and away from the cameras, taking a sharp turn down an alley when nobody would notice.

You panted, tentatively peeking around the corner, “I think we lost them,” Your finally told him.

He was leaning against the alley wall, banging his head against it a couple times as he sighed yet again, “I’m sorry, n/n,” His eyes shone brightly as he looked at you, “I should have known that they were going to show up, and now our hang out spot is ruined.”

You smiled lightly, walking over and placing your hand comfortingly on his shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay, you couldn’t have known.”

“But, the one time we finally get to hang out-“

“We’ll just find a new spot,” You shrugged, “It’s not that big of a deal, Dick. It’s okay, really, it is.”

He looked up at you admiringly, “You really are the best, you know that?”

A laugh escaped your lips at his frequently used words and you playfully shoved the side of his head, “Yeah, yeah. Now come on, let’s go find a different coffee shop.”

-•-

Dick watched as you watched the movie playing on the large screen in front of you with a small frown as you both ate the popcorn in front of you.

After a moment, you caught onto his staring and furrowed your eyebrows a bit as you looked at him, “What’s up?” You whispered, still trying to be courteous to the other people in the theater that were still trying to watch the movie.

“I haven’t been a very good friend to you, have I?” His tone was soft and his eyes were sad.

All at once, your entire attention was snapped over to him, no longer caring about the parts of the film you were missing, “What do you mean?”

“You’re always covering for me, I’m always missing our set times to meet up-“

You cut him off, “I don’t mind, Dick.” You told him genuinely, “You’re my best friend, no matter what. And this is what best friends do for each other.”

His frown deepened at your words, and he came to the realization that he needed to tell you why you had to put up with all those things- because of his secret identity, “There’s- there’s something I should tell you, then-“

“Dick.” You cut him off, voice turning slightly stern, “I know you’re keeping something from me, I’ve known for a while.”

Mouth dropping open, he attempted to talk once more, “How-“

“But I don’t want you to feel like you should tell me,” You continued without missing a beat, “I want you to tell me when you want me to know. When you’re ready to tell me.”

Tears filled his eyes, “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you-“

“But you’re just not ready yet.” You nodded your head understandingly, “I don’t want you to rush at all. Take your time, I can wait and I’ll still be here when and if you ever decide to tell me.”

He could have burst into sobs right then and there, “T-thank you, I mean it. Thank you.”

You smiled at him once more before turning back to the movie, “What are best friends for?”

The Superior Robin ❤️- @ineedmorefanfics2 @sambucky8 @spidyyparker @i-writes-things @ladyagagaslefttoe

[apleye]

Some quick batfam headcanons I’ve been saving up

Bruce knows short capes are more practical, and at first he resists the temptation of the inherent drama of floor-length capes, but he caves when he realizes that floor-length capes make great hiding places for robins- At least that’s his excuse

At first he switches back to a shorter cape as each robin gets too old, but eventually his life just becomes a revolving door of parenthood and just,, gives into the long-cape-urge

Before Jason’s death, Dick snuck back to Gotham specifically to hang out with Jason. Bruce secretly knew this and was overjoyed

Jason grew taller than Bruce while presumed dead, Bruce will never get used to it

Jason swore to himself he’d never stoop to Bruce’s level of fashion, if ya can’t buy it in a store somewhere it isn’t valid (yes, the black market counts, no that didn’t stop him from stealing and repurposing an entire batsuit for red hood body armor)

Bruce changes his cape-lining from blue to purple in honor of bab’s batgirl after the Joker shoots her

Tim chews gum, it may or may not be full of caffeine

Nobody uses the fireman poles in the batcave responsibly except Bruce and Damian

Everyone tries to get Damian to use them irresponsibly

Tim, Duke, and Barbara are the dream team and can and will solve ANYTHING (Tim is objectively the best detective, Duke is so fucking good at puzzles and patterns and always knows a guy, and obviously Barbara is the superhacker) together they have a higher iq than the rest of the batfam combinedddd)

[campog]

batfam headcanons!!

damian wayne:

-Ace/Aro and uses He/They/It pronouns (agender/amab.)

-He steals hoodies from drake and todd when mad at them, but they kind of turned into comfort items (not that he would every admit that.) 

-Has kinda chubby arms and calves from all the muscles and working out.

-They have chronic pain in his stomach and feet from the abuse and torture he endured in the league of assassins.

-He’s Muslim but almost no one knows because he tries to hide it, ashamed of it in a way. The only reason the batfam even found out was because they found him praying.

-Hates skirts with a burning passion but will wear dresses.

-Has scars literally all over his body from the league, villains, training gone wrong, and dumb mistakes on patrol. Scars are particularly worse on his face, lower stomach, and thighs.

-He sleeps with a dagger under his pillow.

-They constantly try to convince Alfred and Bruce to let him keep random stray animals he finds out on the streets during patrol.

-Throws forks at Tim constantly.

-Has very sensitive eyes, can’t handle bright colors well.

-Cannot sleep without Titus or Alfred The Cat with him so if they ever have to travel he normally gets drugged with sleeping pills by Bruce or Dick or just complains the whole time.

-He doesn’t know how to ask for help or for backup so he constantly tries to hide injuries.

tim drake:

-Pansexual and uses He/They pronouns (transmasc/afab.)

-He wears orange lipstick majority of the time to try and pass as more masculine (despite the fact he has a shit ton of muscles and has had top surgery he is still insecure of not passing as cis.)

-He used to not just drink coffee and also drink a shit ton of energy drinks, especially red bull and monster energy. However because Alfred is well Alfred and is very strict about physical health and diets he quickly shut that down and only allows Tim to have coffee. Of course if given the chance they will sneak a energy drink though.

-They like space and stars a lot.

-A ton of scars along his stomach, neck, and back.

-They have OCD

-Gets bloody noses when anxious or overwhelmed.

-He has worn a skirt before to spite homophobes, but does it extremely rarely because of dysphoria.

-They love the color yellow.

-He is a perfectionist and gets overwhelmed and anxious when anyone tries to rush him. Because of this any case he works on normally takes longer to solve cause, while they figure it out quickly, he needs all of the details.

-Brings a camera and laptop bag with him everywhere.

dick grayson:

-Bisexual and uses He/Him pronouns (cis/amab.)

-He has ADHD.

-He really likes disney movies and has tried getting the others to watch them, no one else ever seems interested enough though.

-Loves elephants.

-Has a huge trigger over falling/watching people fall, causes trauma memories of his parents death to resurface.

-Carries stim toys with him in case they come across a child victim on patrol (or if Damien or Todd need help calming down during a panic attack, but if he said that he’d get forks thrown at him.)

-Flirts with practically every man or woman he meets.

-He hates  beer, only alc he will drink is wine or vodka (or anything mixed in with a shit ton of juice.)

-He watches a lot of comedy and animated kids movies/shows.

jason todd:

-Bisexual and uses He/It pronouns (nonbinary/amab.)

-Big explosion scars along his face, arms, back, thighs, and neck.

-His terrible posture is caused by the barbwire torture Joker did (seen in the vr game), because of that trauma he literally cannot stand up straight because it is still paranoid barbwires might be hooked around their shoulders.

-He has night terrors and extreme PTSD, resulting in constant paranoia and hallucinations.

-His jaw gets overly tense which causes his entire face to get sore so he chews on his knuckles a lot, when he was a kid Alfred would give him necklaces with rubber at the ends for him to chew on.

-He is by far one of the strongest supporters of anyone in the LGBTQ+ community, he simply doesn’t care wtf you identify as or what pronouns you use- if you tell him he’ll respect it and treat you the as the same person. 

-He smokes weed constantly.

alfred:

-Straight (is actually ace/aro but doesn’t care enough about labels) and uses He/Him pronouns (cis/amab.)

-Does research for anything he feels he needs to be educated on. When Tim got diagnosed with OCD he spent hours looking up things that can help and what it is, did the same when they found out Damian was Muslim.

-Is very strict about unhealthy foods, most sugary things are rare treats or only given when someone is injured.

-He collects art and paintings and loves going to art museums, would frequently take Bruce when Bruce was young.

bruce wayne:

-Unlabeled and uses He/Him pronouns (cis/amab.)

-Concern and fear normally just turn into anger for him as he has a hard time expressing emotions.

-He has insomnia.

-He very rarely gets into arguments with his sons but when he does he is very stubborn about it.

-He stays up late in his office working cases, Alfred or Dick (if he’s staying at the manor) normally has to actually drag him to bed otherwise he won’t sleep.

-He litteraly cannot cry, like it is physically impossible and never happens.

[dc-himbo]

Monday AU Madness!

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

So this is a random thing I might do since I always be thinking of AU stuff all the time.

Feel free to write one of these out if inspiration strikes. I might stick with doing this every Monday until I get distracted and eventually stop. 😅

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

Batman AU Idea

Victorian Vampire Clan/Supernatural AU

Obviously Bruce Wayne is the head of the family. Vampire. Lives in Castle Wayne on a set of cliffs that overlook the town if Gotham (Victorian London analog obviously.) He is reclusive, but his wealth is vast and his family name carries weight. There are rumors that he is...different. Not all a man. Most are happy to divulge in the rumors out of fear of them being truth...he gets left alone...for the most part.

He embraced adult Detective Dick Grayson first, who was looking into the cold case murder of his parents. The murder was caused by a rival clan (The Court) who appeared to have left Dick to die when he got to close, but Bruce intervened. The Court had intentions of embracing Dick, so they saw Bruce's intervention as a slight.

Jason Todd was a local who lived in the shadow of Castle Wayne. He was one who grew bitter that there was a Lord in his castle while they all lived in filth and squalor. He broke into the house to steal something to change is circumstances and bit off more than he could chew. Bruce and Dick took a liking to him and brought him in as a ward. For a time things were going well until the Phantom known only by Joker aimed to hurt Bruce where he was vulnerable. Young Master Todd was assumed dead, murdered by Bruce's greatest foe...but there are whispers that Master Todd has been sighted again. Maybe his arrival has something to do with the seemingly convenient arrival of The Wizard Ra's al Ghul? (I never can resist some Lovecraftian Necromancy...that's the vibe of Ra's in this AU.)

Timothy Drake has always been sensitive to the supernatural. He's always heard whispers that were too muffled to discern meaning when alone. Always saw the faint differences in the shadows of the city at night. The disappearance of Jason Todd was a case he wanted desperately to solve. The answers he uncovered led him to Castle Wayne and led him to Bruce Wayne. He's getting so close to finally lifting the veil between worlds once and for all and Bruce is the key to his salvation or doom in this world he's found himself in. (I think it's fun to imagine him as a Human Medium to start with and then as the story progresses he will eventually become embraced...or suffer a worse fate? Who knows!)

Damian Wayne. Distant Bastard relative of the Wayne name, adopted and raised by the Wizard Ra's al Ghul and his older daughter Talia. Trained in the arcane arts and armed with the terrible and vast knowledge of the world beyond, he is sent to spy on Bruce Wayne and the Wayne clan. Will he learn that they can save him from the dark fate Ra's has planned? How long can he survive with the shadows of the eldritch horrors always lurking within his sight? What is truly thicker, blood or pacts?

FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THIS OR ADOPT FOR STORY IDEAS! This was fun to imagine. At first I wanted to go strictly vampires, but I like the idea of everyone having different supernatural ties and the idea kind of ran away with itself. For fear of making this too long, I'm only doing this characters for now. I might add to things. What do you all think?!

[liquid-luck-00]

Connections 10

Chapter 10

this is based on @thepeacetea daminette soulmate au

Masterlist *** First *** Previous *** Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving in Themyscira, they were greeted by Queen Hippolyta and guided them to large hall. Introductions were made and Tikki zipped towards Hippolyta, nuzzling her cheek.

"You are the Ladybug of this generation?" The Amazonian Queen asked the youngest in the room.

"Yes, Ma’am." Marinette answered quickly and slightly panicked in the Queen's presence.

"Your soul is a true creation soul," she began her explanation. "As your soulmate and intended cat is a true destruction soul." As if on cue Damian, in corporeal form, 'crashed' through the ceiling, falling, and landing with a thud.

"Nice entrance Demon spawn." Jason snickered as Damian stood up.

"Tt. When I get my body back Grayson and Drake help me with this.” He demanded, but was actually asked of his brothers. He held up two batons.

“Dick would be better than...” Tim’s voice cut off as Damian merged the two and it expanded into a bo staff. “I stand corrected.”

“The Black Cat is the most offensive Miraculous," Hippolyta continued to explain. "As you've already found the first two, attempt to find the third."

"There are five total," Tikki chimed in. "But you'll need Plagg for the other two and to use your Power." Damian nodded and sat down fiddling with the staff, then batons, then the staff again, while listening to the Amazonian Queen.

"What does this have to do with the Lazarus Pit and bringing Damian back?” was asked by Bruce.

"Everything. Understanding the power that she is and he will, wield explains why there will not be an adverse effect on him." Hippolyta calmly explained. “The Ladybug as you may know uses a yo-yo as the primary weapon, but you also have two collapsed escrima sticks. Your powers include the 'Lucky Charm' and 'Miracle Cure’ used together you can reverse all damage caused as a result of the miraculous, or if any miraculous took part during anytime of the altercation. It is also possible to revive the dead with your power."

"So is it possible for Mari to bring back Damian?" Was asked by a hopeful Dick.

"Unfortunately not. What occurred was a result of the soul bond and the magic embedded into Marinette." A sad knowing look crossed the Queen's features. "This is where the Pits of Lazarus comes into play. As Marinette is the embodiment of creation and luck, as Damian is the embodiment of destruction and misfortune they are the two souls of this generation who can enter its waters without corruption."

"Why?" was chorused by the four eldest Waynes.

"The Pits were created by a wish merging the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous." Tikki now spoke again. "But with such powerful magic it comes with a cost. Pit madness comes when a person has a soul alignment with a miraculous, like Jason. For others it may vary, but for souls like the two of you, as part of Plagg and I, you are immune to the madness only reaping the benefits."

"Why didn't you say this before, Tikki." Tim brought up. "Because I can't see souls like my chosen can and Mari is too young to see them now." the miniature goddess responded.

"Pits as in more than one?" Bruce whispered, as if in deep thought.

"There are half a dozen pits around the world hidden away. Each is guarded by one of the inner kwamii, but that is more of a tidbit than necessary information." the Queen smiled. “Now has that calmed some concerns?"

"Is there a Pit not controlled by the League?" Jason blurted out. Because logically the league couldn't control all of them.

"A few, such as the one here on Paradise Island." Queen Hippolyta answered in turn.

"I can get my body back without the League?" Damian whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

This was the best news they could get. Damian could be revived while not having to struggle with the Pit madness. He wouldn't need to be near the League which means he wouldn't question himself. That he is able to build upon what he has since moving to Gotham without being the Prince of Assassins.

"Yes. Now come little bug, little cat." Marinette and Damian each flanked the Queen as the rest followed behind.

A short trek into the Mountains and they arrived at a pit. The same acidic green with chaos and creation swirled. Damian's body was deposited next to the swirling pool.

"Understand that when you emerge, both of you, will train here in order to strengthen and teach you the magic you will wield." the two children nodded, clear resolve on their features. "Good."

After bringing Damian back from the dead they almost immediately were placed into training. It was true that there was no madness, his mind was intact without being clouded by anger. Their soul bond was a huge benefit. Where Damian caught the physical aspect quickly and it transferred to Mari. While Mari was a natural at magic and helped guide Damian through.

Yes the Amazon’s did not particularly trust men but they could recognize Damian as a Black Cat, which along with his brother’s nickname Demon Spawn, he gained the name Hellcat. That and they could clearly see that Damian was Marinette’s soulmate, but didn’t treat her as a damsel in distress, instead as a partner and equal. Which helped him earn some respect to the warriors around them. Which was how the two spent most of the week before going back.

What they couldn't be prepared for was the tornado named Jagged. As soon as they arrived in the manor he was there in a fury of a whirlwind.

"Hey little Rocker, how was the trip?"

"It was fun." Marinette smiled at her dad.

"So got any pictures to show your papa, love." he asked excitedly.

"Pictures?" she repeated quizzically.

That was when the Wayne’s and Mari began to laugh

"What’s so funny?" The rocker asked confused.

"Apparently we were so caught up in the vacation we didn’t take pictures." Tim grinned, the little liar he is, spoke up. He had pictures but they were mostly of his brothers getting their asses handed to them by the Amazons. And he couldn’t explain how they happened to be on the secret hidden island filled with Amazonian warriors. "Their also was zero service on the island." He finished with a shrug.

"Ohh I did bring back some shells and crystals and some seeds for my garden." Mari chimed in. "I can tell you all about it."

"Yes you can on the plane to wherever you and the bird you choose to come with us." Jagged smiled at his daughter.

"Jared what are you..." Bruce near finished his sentence.

Jagged having interrupted his thoughts he sentence. “Come now Batsey you steal little rocker for a week so I steal one of your birds." He stated as a matter of fact.

Bruce just stood with his jaw slack. Sure Mari told them he figured them out, but he forgot, he had a child to revive goddamn it. “Fine but I think it’ll be a good idea to tell him Mari." He turned to the young girl.

The girl chewed her lip before putting her hand in her light vest shirt. A red pixie bug flew out and sat on Mari’s head.

"Hello I’m Tikki the Ladybug kwamii, Marinette is my chosen holder." Tikki's voice rang through the room.

"I’m sorry what now?" The rocker was eerily still and quiet.

"Long story short your daughter is a magical girl and Demon Spawn is her soulmate and is also a magical girl, boy, you get the idea." Jason chuckled.

"Okay let me get this straight. Mari's soulmate is the Grumpy Gargoyle, they are both magical kids who are chosen by fairies. All of you are Gotham's vigilantes, which I'm assuming you've been training Little Rocker."

"Yes.??” Dick answered unsure.

"Okay."

"Okay." Dick again responded. Before realizing, "Wait! Okay!”

"Ya," Jagged shrugged. "You've all met Mari. This is completely plausible with her. So who are we stealing from Bruce?"

"Dames!" she jumped to hug him from behind, arms wrapped around his neck.

Damian for his part didn't throw Marinette off. In fact he repositioned to piggy back her, a ghost of a smile spread on his neutral features.

"So where are we going?"

Yucatan Peninsula

Why?

The Twins said a gift for future bugs and cats were there.

Haven't their been cats and bugs since them?

Yes but travel was limited.

In other words scavenger hunt.

Yes. How's your Spanish? Because the most logical place to start would be the Mayan ruins.

"Mejor que eI tuyo." she smirked at him.

"God damn it their doing it again." Jason dragged his hands down his face.

"Doing what?"

"Their bond is shockingly rare, its a Mind link sharing knowledge, meaning basically anything one knows so does the other. As if that isn't enough now they can communicate telepathically."

"So why the Spanish rocker?"

"Cancun, Mayan scavenger hunt." she grinned.

"Sounds good. I'll shoot Penny a text and we'll leave tomorrow sound good?"

"Yup." She responded, Damian nodded and finally set her down.

Your helping me pack.

As if I'd let you do it yourself.

Knowing you, you'd pack your Robin uniform.

'Pfft'

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

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[bigskydreaming]

I agree with everything you said in the last post but especially the Damian part.

Like I don’t know why people treat it like Dick had to choose between two toys and he chose the shinier model. He was in a situation where a 9/10 year old child was going to go back to a murder cult if he didn’t find a quick way to sure he stayed. And no option was good if Damian left. It was either Ra is going to steal his body or would become a powerful supervillain who would resent the whole family and between that is a whole lot of child abuse. It not like Dick had all the time in the world to figure out a different way for Damian to stay he had maybe like a day. 

Also we never actually got to see Dick’s view on the situation only Tim’s because the only time we got to see that conversation was in Red Robin ( which might be wrong but I’m pretty sure I’m right). Tim was having a slight mental breakdown so maybe not the best narrator. 

Like, the ONE thing I'd love for people to keep more centered in the varying discourses about Dick, Tim, Robin and Red Robin, is that like.....

The writer himself had Tim and Dick reconcile and work together in the aftermath of Tim leaving because he was upset.

It really doesn't get mentioned enough IMO that at no point in the actual canon stories was Dick ever oblivious to Tim being hurt, uncaring of this, nor did the canon ever try to claim on Dick's behalf that he DIDN'T hurt Tim, y'know?

I talked earlier tonight about the importance of remembering that these are fictional characters who can not CHOOSE any actions for themselves, but rather are ruled entirely by what the writers choose FOR them.

And the thing is.....for all that Dick is often characterized in fanfics as being oblivious or uncaring to having hurt Tim, or say that he kicked Tim out of the house and the city, or that he called Tim crazy or that he chose Damian OVER Tim or all these other things.....

None of those things say anything about Dick or what kind of character he is, despite the fact that fanon and fics have made a huge deal OUT of running with the idea that THOSE acts in fact say a LOT about Dick's actual character or whatever.....

But like, the point is not just that none of those things say anything about Dick simply because they're not how the canon went....

JUST as important, IMO, is the fact that none of those things are even in the BALLPARK of saying anything about Dick's actual character.....

Because the actual canon was written the way it was for the sake of TIM'S story. It was never about trying to make Dick look good, the events played out the way they did because the writer INTENDED there to be conflict between the brothers about it! Dick didn't find some magical way of ensuring that he delivered the news to Tim in the absolute right way possible because he just didn't care enough about Tim's feelings to do so....Damian delivered the news to Tim in the absolute worst way possible BECAUSE the writer WANTED the chasm between Dick and Tim.

THE CONFLICT WAS THE STORY!

And just as importantly.....the same writer who caused the conflict also RESOLVED the conflict. In his own same stories. Tim and Dick may have never hashed over every single detail of Tim's issues with Dick, but there was CLEARLY a reconciliation. Tim showed his forgiveness, his understanding of why Dick had done what he'd done and the fact that he'd made his peace with it, in a variety of ways from telling Dick he still had his trust, joking with Dick in SPECIFIC ways that called back to personal in-jokes that they'd had since the 90s -

(and that in fact were originally written by the same writer....like, the Brady Bunch jokes are a SPECIFICALLY Fabian Nicieza thing, as in he's the only writer who has EVER had Dick and Tim having that particular in joke between them, and he established it when he first wrote Tim, when he and Dick were great during Tim's time as Robin in the 90s. Tim calling back to those jokes during Red Robin and specifically reinviting memories of some of his favorite moments with his brother HIMSELF, like was as clear a peace gesture as you can get, IMO.)

But point is....the conflict happened the way it did, because it was MEANT to happen. There was supposed to be conflict, so by that very token, Dick wasn't MEANT to find the perfect way to handle the Robin situation that made sure Tim didn't suffer any negative feelings about it.

The reason its lasted so long as discourse in fandom was that regardless of the fact that the writers and characters both showed a resolution to the conflict that was deliberately sown to BE a conflict in the first place....

Fans of Tim decided this resolution wasn't adequate enough.

And so the events of it have been tweaked endlessly, as has the fact that the brothers reconciled itself, in order to keep this conflict extended far beyond the parameters or duration of the ACTUAL canon conflict its based on....with Dick further exaggerated into this uncaring instigator because the conflict FANS wanted was one in which Tim was Dick's victim in a way that he was never intended to be by the initial source conflict, which wanted BOTH characters to be somewhat sympathetic but now turned into a one-sided thing where only ONE character is 'deserving' of sympathy.....

But the problem is....that wasn't the story. And this wouldn't BE a problem, due to it being fanfic and fanfic being innately transformative, if not for the fact that people keep trying to point to canon actions as the proof of conclusions they're drawing about Dick's actions in the FANON conflict.....when the only thing the canon actions are meant to serve as the foundation for, is the conflict which ACTUALLY happened AND was resolved in canon!

And the thing is, a lot of fandom have done a lot to compare this situation to Dick losing Robin in the first place, but without actually leaning into that comparison in order to examine how Dick truly felt about that then, and ACTUALLY make it the comparison they're raising it as.....

(people can't claim that they've done this if they themselves are calling the situations parallel and yet clearly holding Tim and his feelings as innately more sympathetic and deserving of understanding than they're willing to even retroactively apply to Dick in the very situation they themselves have invited comparisons to....like if you're STILL calling for Dick's head for what he did with Robin here in a way that you're not having any characters anywhere, even just in reference or passing say that Bruce deserves being chewed out for to similar degrees.....your comparison is rigged from the start, it just is)....

But ultimately at the end of the day, there IS an answer for why Dick wasn't more careful and studious in his handling of the Robin situation....and that answer, for better or worse, is that he wasn't MEANT to be. The handling exists the way it played out, because it was meant to engender a specific conflict, one that was then resolved to the satisfaction of the story's writer.

If that wasn't to the satisfaction of fans, that's understandable! No story ever satisfies all fans!

But the problem is, the transformative nature of fanfic cuts two ways. And this is what people so often conveniently overlook when they cite that you can do anything with fanfic and that its subject to everyone's personal wants and agenda.

Like this is all perfectly true. But what people CAN'T do, is forbid others from drawing conclusions based on what decisions you do and don't make with fanfic.

And the problem with the Red Robin discourse, is we have a conflict that was engineered from the start, and negatively impacted a particular character aka Tim.

And the resolution the canon offered didn't satisfy the itch a lot of Tim's fans had for that particular conflict.

But the thing is.....there's two entirely different ways to tweak a conflict with fanfic.

You can make it BETTER.

Or you can make it WORSE.

And nine out of ten times - with this being especially obvious when you keep in mind that the canon itself DID CREATE RESOLUTION TO ITS OWN CONFLICT - its very apparent that a lot of fans just were not interested in making the resolution of this conflict even BETTER than what we got in the canon.

See, because the reason it happened in canon at all was NOT in fact because Dick was just as uncaring and neglectful as FANON of this conflict makes him out to be....since the reason it happened that way at all was ONLY because the writer needed it to happen in SOME way that sowed conflict between Tim and Dick and sparked Tim's solo journey of self-discovery.....

The only real way to BETTER resolve the conflict of the Robin mantle transition...

Would be for Dick to specifically approach Tim in such a way as to take his feelings about the matter into account and make his argument for why he felt Damian needed this now.

And that's something that's ABSOLUTELY easy to do, because the only reasons things DIDN'T happen that way in the first place, was circumstantial! Because the story was PLOTTED to have Damian spill the beans before Dick even had an opportunity to talk to Tim one on one. Changing a story's direction born of circumstance is one of the easiest things to do with fanfic since all you have to do is write different circumstances! Nobody's character even needs addressing there, because no character is inherently flawed for that story happening the way it did....that's why the story WORKED, in canon! Dick just circumstantially wasn't given even an OPPORTUNITY to be as conscientious about the matter as we would have liked him to be.

Easy, EASY fix with fanfic.

But that's not what fanfic tends to do with this particular story point, is it?

Instead, we get constant worsenings of Dick's motivations, Dick's choices, Dick's reaction to Tim's response, etc, etc.

The slant is entirely one-sided, aimed at making Tim not just more sympathetic, but Dick LESS sympathetic. Making it a nuance-free example of not even two brothers fighting in the face of their mutual grief, but one being VICTIMIZED by the other's willful ignorance of their feelings and loss, while simultaneously demonstrating none of the same himself.

And that's a choice that tons of fanfic writers have made, and they GET to make that choice, but what doesn't get to happen is making everyone else pretend that this was the only way the story COULD have gone, the TRUE resolution it deserved and the thing that ACTUALLY said something indicative of Dick's character.....

When not only were there these other opportunities to resolve the conflict in ways better for BOTH characters....the resolution of the actual conflict is considered irrelevant even though creating a conflict that could be resolved in story was the ONLY reason for the characters making the specific choices they made in the first place!

The discourse is literally all just born of people using the slight against Tim's character as an excuse to make Dick's character look worse. IMO to distract from the fact that this happened at all, because the real gripe was with Tim not being Robin anymore but there was no way to unilaterally decry that WITHOUT making the case that Damian should never have been Robin, and most fans I think recognize that would have been a nonstarter, discourse wise. There’s no rolling the clock back on a new Robin EXISTING, that’s been proven conclusively in the past. Once a character has been a Robin, you can’t argue away their right to ever be one period. If it couldn’t happen with Steph, despite the shortness of her Robin tenure and the smaller size of the girls’ fanbases relative the various Batboys (and let’s not pretend a disparity doesn’t exist there), then it wasn’t going to happen with Damian. So fans made their displeasure known in another way - venting it on the character that precipitated the changing of this particular guard.

And the thing is, ultimately, for all the comparisons made to the Bruce and Dick Robin debacle, they all fall short of being valid given two fundamental differences:

1) Canon has one hundred percent refused to ever fully address the conflict Bruce created in story when he fired Dick or just gave Robin away to Jason, with the only time its ever really been addressed in the comics being when Dick came to confront Bruce about it and Bruce made no form of actual apology or recourse, but instead ultimately just yelled at Dick about missing him and then told him to go. Which umm. Yeah. Oh, the resolution of it all.

2) The other key difference being that while there are certainly fans who have used these story points simply TO make Bruce look worse, the same as I'd argued happened with Dick in the Red Robin scenario.....it is still undeniable that there are a sizable number of fans such as myself who have always insisted we only raise this particular story element because we WANT to see better or actual resolution of the conflict raised in story - aka Bruce firing Dick or just giving away Robin - AS WELL AS being very clear on a perfectly easy way TO showcase better resolution: just having Bruce fucking OWN HIS ACTIONS AND APOLOGIZE FOR THEM.

So even with the awareness that while ultimately both Robin turnovers only happened because the writers chose that conflict happen, they remain incomparable in my mind purely because only one of them was ACTUALLY resolved or treated as resolved in canon, and like.....the other one is the only one that actually has fans continuously making the point of what story actions can actually be taken in meta, headcanons and fics, TO create the resolution we want.....whereas the other conflict will never be resolved any better than it is in canon, because the people who keep raising the conflict don't even want to acknowledge that it even WAS resolved in canon at all, because that would defeat the entire purpose of continuously worsening the conflict specifically TO create reasons for a continued grudge against Dick's character.

And you flat out just can't ever resolve a conflict that people ultimately WANT to exist.

[bowditch]

What are the preferred candy and/or breakfasts of the batfam in CEC?

Thesis-level reasoning would be appreciated.

Please and thank you. ;)

Bruce: Reese's Cups for candy, Alfred's waffles for breakfast. Alfred's waffles taste awful. They were an early recipe attempt gone wrong and Bruce latched onto the bad batches as a comfort food. Alfred can make normal waffles now but never does because Bruce's face goes :/

Dick: Sour patch kids. He used to sneak them on patrol and eat them one at a time from his belt, sucking on them when he was getting sleepy and didn't want to admit it, because being with Bruce was his favorite thing in the world. It still is in the top three. The flavor of the red ones in particular still have strong sense-memories of feeling safe beside Bruce. He couldn't eat them when Bruce was "dead." He eats them again now, especially when he's feeling down. And for breakfast? Chocolate chocolate chip pancakes, covered in plain yogurt.

Jason: Champagne truffles dusted with gold. Jason will eat almost anything, but an unfortunate side effect of going from homeless to billionaire is accidentally developing a bougie palate he used to mock. When he got back to Gotham, and when he found out Bruce didn't have cancer, he celebrated both by going out and buying a pound of them. His favorite breakfast, to what he hopes is Tim's dismay, is Tim's organic Lucky Charms.

Steph: Atomic fireballs. She leaves them around the cave sometimes because Bruce also likes them. She likes to chew them so they cronch, and this noise delights Cass and horrifies almost everyone else. Breakfast is scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and OJ, because she likes the tastes and it makes her feel like she has her life together like a normal suburban family in a TV sitcom. You were probably expecting waffles, but those are her favorite "any other meal or snack" food.

Tim: Altoids. He eats the peppermint ones like popcorn. He used to sneak them out of Janet’s purse. Dick has been trying to convince him for years they don’t count as candy. Tim refuses to concede. His favorite breakfast is Jason’s expensive protein-added oatmeal with one of Alfred’s rare homemade bagels on the side. He keeps buying organic Lucky Charms. Cassandra: Gummy worms dipped in vanilla icing, and if that isn’t available, caramel sauce. Cassandra’s philosophy about candy is that if it doesn’t hurt her teeth she’s not getting enough sugar at once. Bruce will sometimes join her. Her favorite breakfast is also gummy worms dipped in vanilla icing, but this time, on toasted chocolate chip bread, with a fresh banana smeared with peanut butter on the side. Alfred does not allow Cass to choose the breakfast menu very often.

Damian: It used to be nothing, and then it was gummy bears, and then it turned into wine gums. This has nothing to do with the fact that Alfred considers it one of the sensible sweets, nothing at all. His favorite breakfast is a milkshake. This has nothing to do with the fact that in early days in Gotham, sneaking early morning milkshakes was one of the times Richard really, truly smiled. Sometimes, when he’s feeling Responsible, he mixes a scoop of kale powder in, because Tim told him this makes anything healthy. 

Dev: Werther’s Originals. Tim tells people, loudly, that he’s actually in his late seventies, but is not beyond stealing a handful to eat. Dev usually has one in his pocket. His favorite breakfast is cold chicken strips from the hospital cafeteria, stashed in a minifridge overnight. Alfred has not yet convinced him that his favorite breakfast is actually hardboiled eggs (easy and also cold) but God in Heaven, he is trying.

Alfred: Pez. He has a little Batman dispenser that he usually keeps full with lemon ones. It was given to him as a joke but he ended up really liking the candy and the dispenser and he finds the little painted scowl sort of cheery. His favorite breakfast is toast and soft boiled eggs. 

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

Fic: move on

i’ve been meaning to write this for a while and finished it during a much needed spurt of inspiration - yay!

summary: missing scene from titans 3.08. dick returns from the hospital to the manor, battered physically and mentally. gar finds him.

warnings: big honking SPOILERS for titans 3.08. deals heavily with dick’s canonical mental health issues, including hallucinations.

move on

The manor is quiet when Dick comes back from the hospital; he’s not sure where the others are gone, but he thinks that Gar is still in the batcave. He’s noticed that Gar spends almost all of his time down there these days, from having his meals there to taking catnaps in between obsessively researching on the batcomputer. Dick knows that it’s not a terribly healthy situation, but he’s not sure how Gar would react to that opinion coming from him. It occurs to him that he can’t be a leader and a Bat at the same time, but that level of self-awareness is too much for him to process right now, so he lets the thought go.

For now, he relishes this rare moment of peace. Late afternoon sunlight slants in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and the silence is like a blanket over the sharp edges of the near-constant state of crisis that Dick and his team have been in the last week or two. Dick doesn’t have any immediate lead to follow as far as Jason or the Scarecrow is concerned, and… it’s okay. He’ll get back on that after a minute.

Just… a minute.

He’s got a headache to worry about, for starters: the doctor who discharged him told him it was a ‘mild concussion’ but that seems to be underselling the way his head throbs insistently like there’s someone in there jabbing his brain with a pickaxe, or the way his vision blurs without warning, or how the mere thought of food is enough to make his gorge rise. His chest twinges with every inhale and exhale, both from cracked ribs and the just-starting-to-heal bullet wound. Exhaustion seeps into every pore of his body in the wake of too much adrenaline and too much stress in too short a time, and it makes his joints ache and his skin burn.

And, oh. He’s hallucinating. Again. He thinks about the script for antipsychotics he has tucked somewhere in his bathroom cabinet, but choosing between taking them or just powering through with no treatment is a bit like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea: not being completely in touch with reality could turn out to be a liability on the field, but he knows from experience that meds take a long time to get used to, and he can’t afford to be drowsy or stiff while jumping off buildings and leading a team of superheroes. 

So… the hallucinations are just there, and he manages. He thinks about talking about them with Leslie, but again… too much to process. He’s not sure he has the vocabulary to talk about them or the feelings they engender. Alexithymia, Leslie might say. Who knows.

He’s sunk enough into the plush leather sofa in the living room that he feels enveloped by it, warm for the first time since scarfing down a burger last night while talking to Barbara and Kory. He even imagines that he can smell Bruce’s cologne, and the thought creates a pang in his chest. He misses Bruce. Even when he ran away, even when he thought he hated and resented Bruce with every fibre of his being, there was something reassuring about searching for Gotham news on his phone and seeing amateur clips of Batman foiling some nefarious thing or the other scattered across his social media feed. Hell, he’d even settle for hallucinating Bruce now, as caustic and knife-tongued as he can be. The complete radio silence is unnerving.

(The prospect of him never leaving Gotham again is much worse.)

“Dick?”

Gar’s voice startles Dick, and he snaps his eyes open (when did he close them/?). A fresh bolt of pain ricochets in his chest at the sudden motion, and Dick leans forward and hisses. 

“Sorry!” Gar says quickly. He’s standing in front of Dick, a little closer than before, his hands up like he wanted to touch Dick but stopped himself from doing so at the last minute. “You okay?”

Dick nods. If the movement makes his vision wobble for a second, well, it’s not like he or Gar can do anything about it right now, can they? “I took a bit of a spill but I’m okay.”

“Yeah, Commissioner Gordon called,” Gar says, “and she said you nearly died.”

Dick spreads his arms. “A little banged up but in one piece and ready to go. The accident wasn’t as bad as it looked.”

He watches Gar chew his lip and look at him sceptically. Dick misses when Gar would act like Dick hung the moon, hanging onto his every word and following him without question. He’s done so much to shatter that trust and innocence that he’s lucky that Gar’s sticking with him at all; it’s so similar to what he thought Bruce did to him that--

No. No. Still can’t process thoughts like that. His brain is fried until this crisis is done and dusted.

(that’s when you usually throw yourself into the next crisis)

Gar sighs. “You know, Dick, we’ve got all hands on deck here. It’s ok to take a break to give yourself time to heal.”

He looks tired, Dick thinks. He doesn’t remember the last time his team had to unwind, to relax and be themselves without racing against the clock to prevent some catastrophe or the other. He’d tried to schedule weekly movie nights back in San Francisco and tried to take Gar and Conner out as much as he could, but he was always… aware of this barrier between them, the way he couldn’t get their wires to align enough to connect, no matter how hard he tried. He loves them, and knows that they love him too, but no matter how hard he works to deserve that love, he’s afraid that he’ll never succeed, and so terribly, terribly afraid that they’ll realise this and leave him for good.

(The only barrier is that stick up your ass, Hank would say to all of this, and the thought, unbidden, is so much more painful than his cracked ribs or his concussed brain that Dick takes the thought and the ocean of grief it’s floating on and crams it into its dedicated box inside his head before he can break down.)

Dick sets his jaw and gets up from the (warm, warm) couch and shrugs his jacket on. “I’m healing,” he says, “and we’ll all have time to sleep once we can stop whatever Crane’s doing and get a hold of Jason.” He turns to get his phone just as he’s putting his arm in the jacket sleeve, and it’s a mistake: the pain is like a vise around his ribcage, stealing his breath, and he stumbles. Gar is quick to catch him, and they both stand like that for a long moment while Dick catches his breath.

“Dick,” Gar says, and Dick can hardly stand the softness in that word, the familiarity, the sorrow. It’s too much. He can’t deal with this right now. He needs to focus.

He gently shrugs off Gar’s hold. Behind Gar, Dick-as-a-little-boy cocks his head at him, wide eyes blinking like an owl.

“You got any updates on Jason?”

Gar steps back, takes a deep breath. He looks resigned for a moment, then determined. “As a matter of fact,” he says, “I do.”

[thr-333]

Mismatch- Part 4

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

The meeting! always a precious moment when you see your child for the first time. Although they usually aren't 18 when you do, and you usually know they are your child too!

First< Previous> Next

----

“Marinette! Marinette! Wake up!”

“Five more minutes Tikki,” Marinette groans, rolling over.

“This is why I wanted you to come back earlier,” The Kwami chastises.

“Uhhhhggghh,”

“Marinette!” Chloe bursts through the door, Tikki darting off to hide, “Get up, get ready,”

“Nooo- Hey! Chloe,” Marinette tries to tug the blanket back up.

“No you don’t! I am not leaving you behind again!" She drags the blanket out of the room.

“Ugh,” Marinette rolls out of bed, padding out the room.

“Good morning,” Kagami greets, already dressed, hair perfectly brushed, sipping what must be tea.

“Morning people,” Marinette glares shuffling to the bathroom, hair out of place, pyjamas ruffled.

“Don’t worry about it,” Marinette hears from the living room, “It’s just jet-lag,”

“Taking a shower,” Marinette calls, closing the door.

“We’ve already had one,” Kagami answers, “.... separately,”

“You didn’t need to specify!” Marinette can hear the blush in Chloe's voice.

Marinette quickly showers, waking up enough to realise she left everything in her room. As she dries her hair she quickly notices the bathroom was already littered with makeup and hair products from Chloe.

“Alright this, or this one?” Chloe asks holding up two jackets for Kagami. Marinette leaves the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

“Which is warmer?” Kagami is now cleaning her mug.

“Why would that matter?” Chloe inspects herself in a mirror.

Marinette closes the door on Kagami launching into a lecture. She looks around the room to see pieces of her costume littering the ground. She starts with her thermal black tights. Zipping Marion's makeshift cape back up she turns it into a skirt, flipping to the pink side. She turns her jumper inside out, back to the white with a cherry blossom pattern. Underneath she pulls on a bullet proof vest/shirt combination, the chunkiness being hidden by the jumper. Lastly she pulls on her gloves and boots, taking note that Marion must still have her scarf. While she still has his jacket.

“Hurry up!” Chloe knocked on her door, “We need to get breakfast!”

“I’m coming,” Marinette stuffs the jacket into her backpack with the Miracle box, Tikki flying in after it, “Ready to go,”

They walk down to breakfast to the hotel's complimentary breakfast. As part of their trip they would be getting dinner as well.

“Over here,” Marinette hears someone call, turning to see Adrien waving from a table across the restaurant, with a tired Nino and an exhausted Marion.

“Good Morning,” She says cheerfully, specifically to Adrien as she doesn't think the others would agree.

“How dare you,” Marion grumbles, slowly chewing his toast.

“Sleep well?” Marinette specifically asks Marion, taking a seat.

“How dare you,” He repeats, swallowing with a sour face.

Marinette steals his plate while Kagami and Chloe go to serve themselves.

“Ha, you’re loss, it sucks,” Marion doesn't even try to reach for the plate.

“You’re just grumpy,” Marinette hums, taking a bite of the admittedly sub par pastries.

“And you live in a bakery,” Adrien adds a touch dreamily, Marinette blushes and nods.

“So, Nette, did you know about Mari’s little crush,” Nino leans forward.

“Not again,” Marion lets his head hit the table.

“Oh? He told you?” Marinette smiles evilly.

“Yep,”

“Not willingly!” Marion shouts into the table.

“What’s this about a crush?” Chloe takes a seat next to Kagami.

“Marion’s,” Nino specifies, mirroring each other's growing grins, “Can you guess who?”

“Hmmmm…. in our class?” She butters a roll, seeming to be solely focused on it.

“Nope, a Hero,” Nino watches as Marion tries to disappear into the table.

“In Gotham?” She guesses, taking a bite.

“Yep,”

“Batman?”

“No!” Marion slams his hands down on the table, Chloe laughs.

“Come on, I know it’s Red Hood, you wear that outfit everyday,” She teases.

“You already knew?” Marion whines.

“Awe, sweetie, you aren’t subtle,” Chloe pats him on the head.

“You’re all the worst,” Marion glares at the table, “Except you Kagami, you’re cool,”

“Thank you,” Kagami nods ignoring Chloe's offended jabbering.

“Speaking of my outfit, which I wear because it is cool and for no other reason-”

“Sure,” Chloe snorts, Marion gives her a glare.

“-I’m missing my jacket, Nette come with me?” Marion stands up turning to Marinette.

“Why?” Adrien says, probably louder than needed, as Marinette grabs her backpack.

“Because the second I see my bed I’m going to fall asleep and I need someone to wake me up,” Marinette follows Marion to the elevators.

“You got my jacket?” He asks, as soon as they step in.

“Right here,” Marinette fishes it out of her bag, disturbing Tikki munching on cookies.

“I’m going back to Paris for patrol, cover for me?” Marion shrugs on the brown leather jacket, the red embroidered bats on the back matching his hoodie.

“You’re going to be late for the tour,” Marinette warns, walking him to his room.

“No one will notice, if they do just say I’ll be there later,” Marion opens a door with his keycard, “I’ll transport back right outside of Wayne Tower,”

“Don’t be late,” Marinette closes the door behind them. Marion lets his Kwami's fly out. Marinette spots a pile of sugar packets stolen from the hotels restaurant.

“I won’t,” Marion gives her a smile that is not at all trustworthy. “Plagg! Kaalki! Combine!”

A flash of light and a portal later Marion was gone. Marinette went back down to finish breakfast.

“Where’s Marion?” Kagami asks, as Marinette sits back down.

“He made the mistake of looking in the mirror and is now trying to tame his hair,” Marinette takes another bite of a sad excuse of a croissant, “He’s losing,”

The rest of the table chuckled. More classmates started to come down. Nino left to say good morning to Alya, and stayed sitting at Lila’s table.

“Make sure you’re out front for the bus in ten minutes,” Madame Bustier warns them, walking by their table.

“Marion’s still not down?” Adrien looks around, as if he was some reason hiding from them.

“Did you see his hair?” Chloe plays with her own, “I would never be caught dead,”

“What about this morning when-”

“No idea what you're talking about,” Chloe says over Kagami.

“I texted him,” Marinette waves her phone, “He fell asleep, made it worse, says he won't be coming until it’s perfect,”

“That will never happen,” Chloe scoffs.

When the bus arrives they all pile on. Madame Bustier does a quick scan on the bus before nodding to herself.

“Marion isn’t here,” Kagami hisses.

“It’s fine, he know where we’re going,” Marinette pulls her back down, “he says he’ll meet us there,”

“Why wouldn’t she check?” Kagami glares at the back of their teachers' heads.

“She must have just thought he was with me,” Marinette placates taking her hand, Kagami practically growls but doesn't say anything more.

They arrive at Wayne tower, quickly being approached by a dark haired man with a smile.

“Hello, I’m Richard, but please call me Dick, I’ll be your guide today,” He scans the students, smile dropping, before addressing Madame Bustier, “You seem to be missing a student,”

“Really?” She turns around, passing right over Marinette, “Who?”

“Marion is still at the hotel,” Kagami snaps, Madame Bustiers eyes land on Marinette seeming to notice for the first time that Marion wasn’t with her.

“Oh dear I assumed he was with you Marinette,” Marinette watches the disbelief on Dick’s face grow.

“He was running behind, told us to go on without him,” Marinette curses Marion inwardly.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that,” Madame Bustier fixes her with a disappointed stare.

“I-”

“Isn’t it your job to look after your students,” Dick glowers, Madame Bustier looks at him surprised, “Why wouldn’t you do an actual headcount?”

“Well I assumed-”

“You assumed your students safety?” Marinette can feel how uncomfortable their flustered teacher is getting.

“I thought they would speak up if someone was missing,” Madame Bustier defends herself, "My students are very responsible,"

“That’s not their responsibility, It’s yours,” The whole class watches wide eyed. Marinette looks over to see both Kagami and Chloe wearing satisfied smirks.

“Well it all worked out,” Madame Bustier give a fake smile, “Marinette said Marion could make his own way here so-”

“You do realise Gotham is dangerous, right?” Dick wasn’t about to let her off the hook.

“Yes, I reminded the students not to run off on their own,” Her tone starts to turn annoyed at his insistence.

“You are allowing them to ‘run off’ by not checking on them,” Dick chastises, “You should have held the bus until all your student was ready,”

“Mr Richard,” Lila cuts in, apparently having taken as much as she can bear of not being the center of attention, “Marinette and Marion are always disappearing to get attention, just ignore them,”

“Miss, a classmate of yours is missing and could potentially be in danger,” Dick berates, turning his glare to Lila, “It is not something to be ignored,”

“Well,” Lila doesn't shrink under his glare, “I think-”

“Uh, what's going on?” All heads turn to Marion who is standing behind the group, out of breath.

“Marion! You’re here,” Madame Bustier’s relief is clear.

“Uh, yeah,” Marion shuffles awkwardly under the attention, “My taxi got stuck in traffic so I had to run, sorry I’m late,”

“That all right, just make sure you-” Madame Bustier pauses as Dick’s glare snaps back to her, “We’ll just have to make sure to do a headcount from now on,”

“Right, sorry again,” He looks around the room, “We should probably step away from the entrance?”

“Of course,” Madame Bustier startles, having forgotten where they were. She addresses Dick a little awkwardly. “Now that everyone’s here should we start?”

“Of course,” Dick clears his throat, “This way please,”

“After all that your hair is still a mess,” Chloe sighs, as the four of them follow behind Dick.

“What?” Marinette kicks him, “... You try running four blocks and see how good your hair looks,”

“Thats where you’re wrong,” Chloe shakes her head as the rest of the class follow behind them, Madame Bustier at the back, “My hair looks fabulous no matter what,”

“Except for this morning when-”

“Would you stop bringing that up!?” Chloe shouts at Kagami.

“Be quiet and listen,” Marinette hushes them, as Dick starts talking.

Not everyone shares the same sentiment, as they can hear Lila from all the way in the back

“I can’t believe he would do something like that for attention, I was so worried,” Neither bother looking back to see Lila.

“I’m just glad Marions ok,” Mylene says, much quieter, “I was getting really scared he would get attacked with the way the guide was reacting,”

“Me too,” Lila sighs, “I can’t help thinking this is all my fault,”

“Why would it be your fault girl,” Alya takes the bait.

“Well last night we were talking, and I told him I was excited to come to Wayne tower to see my good friend Bruce and he just stormed off,” Marinette rolls her eyes, knowing Marion was punching people like her last night.

“You know Bruce Wayne?!” Alya whisper-shouts. This draws Dicks attention, Marinette just shakes her head, hoping he’ll get the message. He seems to as he focuses back on the tour, with a strangely amused if not angry expression.

“Oh, I know all the Waynes, I met them as part of my charity work, but we’ve become good friends,” Lila’s group burst out in excitement at the news asking her a million questions. Even Nathaniel seems to be interested.

The only others who aren't talking are Max and Alix, walking in the middle of the two group. Dick starts to speak louder over the trying-to-be-whispers and Lila’s loud jabbering.

“And this branch was put in place in 1988 to- they aren’t listening are they?” Dick asks Marinette and her friends.

“Sorry, about them, trust me you’re a thousand times more interesting than those lies,” Dick beams at her compliment.

“They really believe all that?” Dick shakes his head as Lila starts going on how she dated the CEO, Tim Drake.

“For some reason,” Chloe scoffs, “They all seem to be under a spell,”

“That looks like some black magic, maybe we should hold a witch trial?” Dick whispers, getting hushed laughs.

With that, a cruel truth is discovered. Dick seems to share the same kind of humour as Marion and Adrien, that is to say; terrible. This leaves those who are actually paying attention to suffer at the hands of an onslaught of terrible jokes and puns. The tour becoming a horrendous mix of education and bad comedy, as they make their way to the top.

“And here we have the some main meeting rooms, where all the bosses decide to get someone else to do their jobs,” Dick guided them down the halls. Marinette spots a familiar figure leaning against the wall up ahead.

“Aunt Selina!” Marion races down the hall a split second before Marinette does.

“What-” She looks up just in time to be knocked over by the twins and tackled into a hug, “What, are you two doing here?”

“We told you we had a class trip in Gotham,” Marinette smiles as she hugs them both tighter.

“That was this month?” She goes wide eyed, “When did you arrive,”

“Yesterday,” Marion helps her stand up.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” She ruffles his hair playfully.

“Well-”

“Oh my god, you two can’t just run into people like that, you need to stop being so clumsy” Lila chides, the rest of the group having caught up with them. They all looked in varying degrees of confusion, Dick seemingly the most taken aback.

“Did you not hear them call me Aunt,” Seleina glares down at Lila standing protectively in front of the twins, “I would be insulted if they did anything less than bowl me over for a hug,”

“I just-”

“You didn’t tell me about this,” Chloe cuts Lila off.

“Sorry Chlo,” Marion turns to Aunt Selina, “These our are friends, Chloe, Kagami and Adrien, that's Nino and Max, the rest are our classmates,”

“Nice to meet you,” Selina addresses those named. She looks proud of Marion managing to insult the rest of the class, judging by their annoyed expressions.

“Selina,” Dick speaks up, “I didn’t know you were the twins Aunt,”

“There's a lot you don’t know,” Selina hugs the two closer as the door next to them opens.

A man Marinette recognises as Bruce Wayne steps out. Followed by Tim from the airport.

“Selina are you ready to-” Bruce’s eyes land on them, glancing back at the class, “What’s going on,”

“Uhh,” Selina hesitates, something Marinette hardly ever heard her Aunt do.

“They’re Selina’s niece and nephew,” Dick responds for her, still sounding bewildered.

“.... I wasn't aware,” Bruce glances at Selina who just shrugs. He offers his hand to the twins. “I’m Bruce Wayne, Selina's fiance,”

“Oh! Nice to meet you, I’m Marinette,” She shakes his hand with a smile.

“Marion," Marion shakes his hand after, bouncing with excitement, "Aunt Selina didn’t tell us she was engaged,”

“Surprises all around,” Their Aunt says strained.

“Indeed,” Bruce stares down Selina, who rises to the challenge.

“I know you!” Marion notices Tim, “Thanks again for yesterday,”

“Not a problem, seems I made the right choice,” Marion looks puzzled, “Bruce is my adoptive Father,”

“Cool… wait does that mean we’re going to be cousins?” Marion beams, seemingly catching Tim off guard. Marinette joined them while Selina and Bruce were whispering off to the side.

“I suppose it does,” Dick came up behind them, slinging a arm around Tim “I’m Tim’s brother,”

“Really? He told us about you,” Marinette teases, sharing a smirk with the boys.

“What did he say?” Their smirks grew wider, “Tim, what did you say!?”

“Don’t you have a tour to lead?” Time dodges the question.

“We should let you go,” Bruce breaks from his conversation, “You two should come over for dinner tonight,”

“Sounds lovely,” Marinette agrees, Marion nodding, “What should we wear?”

“Anything you like,” Bruce chuckles, “Trust me, we’re not that formal,”

“Alright see you tonight,” Marion stops her from asking again. “Bye,”

Tim and Bruce leave saying their goodbyes. The twins turn to Selina.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Marion interrogates.

“Because you would tell Tom,” Selina boops him on the nose, “And I don’t want my brother making a wedding cake before a date is even set,”

“Papa would do that,” Marinette hugs their Aunt, “See you tonight?”

“Of course, kittens,”