#bruce looks like he's trying to copy jason but failing

[inkpotsprite]

This is so funny without context.

[stormyelliotwritez]

Hey could you write batfam x male reader who is Jason's secret brother? Like batfam as in Bruce, dick, Jason, Tim and Damian, and like after Jason's death and resurrection they finally figure out that Jason had an older brother? Jason hardly remebers him because 1. He died and his memories are a bit fuzzy and 2. He was very young when he last saw his brother. I feel like the male reader took care of Jason, but at some point to try and give Jason a better life he left for sile shady work that promised a good amount of money, that would help Jason stay afloat? And after the batfam find out they obviously try to find him, and Bruce obviously tries to adopt him (even if he's an adult) so he can be reunited with his brother

yes yes yesssss. I was just going to write headcanons but I ended up with too many ideas so have a mini fic! I don't have the best grasp on the whole resurrection part coz I haven't read under the red so that'll be a bit vague. I'm so sorry this took so long. I got crazy writers block but here it is. Tell me if you want more of them or like headcanons because I'm lowkey obsessed with Jason having an older brother.

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"Hey Bruce, why isn't Jason the first Todd that comes up when you look up Todd death report?" Dick asked as he walked into the Batcave and sat down on the table behind Bruce.

Bruce turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what his son was talking about as he'd never looked up the reports. He knew his son had died and he hadn't wanted to know anything more. He'd failed his son, and he didn't want to be reminded of it.

"He's the only Todd I'm aware of," Bruce turned his chair around and looked at his eldest son, "Jason doesn't have any relatives."

Dick turned his laptop around and right at the top of the report, it said Y/N Todd. The cause of death just said explosion and body not found.

"Does that sound suspicious to you as well, Bruce?" Dick asked as he leaned forwards slightly.

"Go ask Tim to look more into it," Bruce turned his chair back around, "and don't tell Jason. We've only just got him to stay so there's no need to spook him."

Dick nodded and then walked out of the Batcave.

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~

A few days had passed, and Dick hadn’t brought it up to Bruce again. He had gone and asked Tim though and sworn him to secrecy. He didn’t talk to Jason much, so it wasn’t that hard anyways.

Jason was sitting in the library when Dick came in and seemed to be second guessing himself.

“You don’t read,” Jason said bluntly without looking up from his copy of Pride and Prejudice.

“I totally read,” Dick stumbled through the sentence as he walked over and sat down on an armchair opposite from Jason, “What are you reading anyways?”

Jason looked up at him, confused. What the fuck is Dick on, was all he was thinking. Dick was being nice, and he was normally nice, but this was awkward. This was like the same level of awkward he’d been for the first few days that Jason had been living at Wayne Manor. He had been so confident but also such a nervous wreck.

“Pride and Prejudice. Did you get sprayed with some drug on patrol?” Jason asked as he looked his older brother up and down.

“Nope nopity nope. I just wanted to hang out with you,” Dick said as though that explained why he was more skittish than a newborn kitten.

Jason nodded and then went back to reading. “I don’t remember him that much,” he said offhandedly as Dick went to stand up.

“How did you-” Dick said as he swung around and almost tripped over his feet.

“Tim talks a lot when he’s tired and you’re holding a coffee that he so desperately wants,” Jason replied with a shrug.

Dick’s jaw dropped. “You’re not mad that I’m snooping in your business? When you were little, I touched one of your first edition books and you cried for days.”

Jason’s head turned to look at Dick in two seconds flat. “I what?”

Dick’s eyebrow raised as he stared blankly at his little brother. “You don’t remember?”

The two of them stood silently as they processed what had been said. Jason hadn’t thought he’d lost that much. Dick hadn’t realized that either. He hadn’t realized Jason had lost anything. They didn’t talk much. Talking hurts and they’re both fragile which is seeming to be a trend in this family. (Bruce pay for therapy challenge???)

They stayed in silence for a few minutes before the door opened again and Damian walked in.

“Tim snitched. Your brother worked for some gang guy in Star City until he somehow quit. He’s back in Gotham for the next two weeks staying with,” Damian looked down at his phone and raised an eyebrow, “Selina?”

“How does Tim still keep his identity secret? Wait, so like dads on-off girlfriend, Selina?” Dick asked as he looked at their youngest brother with his eyebrows raised.

“Do we know any other Selinas, big bird?” Jason asked as his head swivelled to look in Dicks direction again.

Dick shrugged and seemed to be thinking. “So, we could just call Selina and ask about your mysterious brother?” He said observantly.

Damian sighed in frustration. “Yes, lets just call up Selina and ask her if she’s hosting Jason’s supposed to be dead brother!”

“It’s a good idea,” Dick tried to protest as he looked to Jason for backup. Jason raised his hands as if to say nope don’t involve me.

“No, it’s not. It’s really surprising that you’re not father’s actual son. You’re both stupid,” Damian replied as he scrolled on his phone until he found what he was looking for. His face lit up and he showed the screen. “There’s a gala on tomorrow. Selinas bound to go just to flirt with father, and she’ll probably take Y/N.”

“Ok, that is a better idea than mine,” Dick muttered as he crossed his arms and sulked.

“All of demon brats ideas are better than yours, Dickybird,” Jason said as he sat back down and reopened his book.

                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night of the gala couldn’t come quick enough. Bruce was sitting at the kitchen table in his suit a good hour before they had to go and at that point, he wished he’d hadn’t broken his earbuds the day before. Jason and Tim were shouting at each other in the main first floor bathroom and Damian was about to tackle Dick for making him wear a blue tie. Cass and Steph were on a video chat with Barbs because she was currently at a tech conference so couldn’t make it.

Five minutes before they had to leave, Damian ran out of some room with Dick chasing him. Jason and Tim both tried to run out of the bathroom door at the same time, so Tim slammed into the wall. Steph and Cass walked calmy into the kitchen and laughed at the boys running rampant. Duke had offered to go on patrol solely because he didn’t want to go to the gala.

They all left the mansion and clambered into multiple cars.

                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gala was bustling, and Bruce made his entrance followed by his entourage of children. The questions started up, but all Jason could think about was whether his older brother was there. Dick was standing close to him and swatting away any stuffy aristocrats who wanted to say how much he looked like the Wayne son who had died as a child.

Tim dragged his feet across the gala to where Dick and Jason were standing. He flopped onto the chair next to Jason and slammed his head down onto the table.

“No coffee?” Dick asked as he leaned against the wall and death stared another aristocrat who wanted their weekly Wayne drama fix.

“When have any of these events ever had coffee and I’m too young to drink and also Y/N is at the bar,” Tim rambled as he sat up straight and rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

“You’re like 18, I was drinking from like 15,” Jason started before his brain caught up with the whole sentence, “The bar?”

Tim nodded and fell forwards again. Dick put his hand out at a speed that could rival Wally and caught his younger brothers head. He nodded at Jason who jumped out of his chair and started briskly walking towards the bar.

At the bar, there sat a guy who looked to be in his 30s with bright red hair. A champagne glass was seated in front of him, and he was staring off into space.

Jason walked over and sat down next to him. He didn’t say anything but instead asked the bartender for a gin and tonic and glanced next to him. Y/N looked just like the fuzzy memories he had of him.

“You new around here?” Jason asked as he waited for the bartender to finish his drink.

The guy who was most likely his older brother didn’t say anything in response. He just sighed and sipped his champagne.

“Haven’t seen you at one of these before. You, uh, came with Ms Kyle?”

The guy gave him a nod in response as he rolled up his sleeves slightly. Jason looked down and saw the burn scar from when they’d been making pasta when he was little. His jaw dropped slightly before he recovered quickly. This was absolutely his older brother so what was he supposed to do now?

“I’m Jason Wayne,” he said so as to not spook Y/N.

“Y/N Todd,” Y/N glanced at Jason, “You look like someone I used to know. Have we met before?”

Jason laughed nervously. “If you’ve come to a gala before, probably.”

“Yeah, probably,” Y/N stood up from the chair, “Well I think Selina wanted an early night so I should go. Nice meeting you.”

Jason sighed as his older brother walked away. He downed his gin and tonic before standing up and walking over to where Dick was still sitting with Tim. He sat down on a free chair and leaned his head on the table.

“So?” Dick asked cautiously as he moved his hand out from under Tim’s forehead.

“He’s my brother,” Jason said tiredly.

Dick gasped and leaned in closer. “So, what you going to do about that, little bird?”

“No idea,” Jason said as he sighed.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, Jason was sitting in the library again when Tim ran inside. Jason looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

“He’s been spotted. Cass saw him. Dick’s waiting for you at Wayne Industries,” Tim said out of breath.

Jason placed his book down and ran out of the library. He sprinted down to the Batcave and got changed into his suit. He ran to his bike and pulled out of the cave. He drove down the highways and roads and felt the wind pushing against him. It felt just like how when he was younger, and it was just him and his older brother against the world. He flew down streets and side alleys. He pulled up in front of Wayne Industries and saw Dick sitting on a brick wall nearby. Their comms crackled to life.

“Cass has him and Selina on the roof of Wayne Industries, come on,” Dick said before he ran at the building and started scaling it.

Jason followed suite. The two of them made it to the top in record time and looked around. Cass waved from where she was standing and chatting to Selina. Jason’s older brother was leaning against the staircase door with a frown on his face as he glanced around.

Jason watched him for a moment. He had red hair just like how he did when he didn’t dye it. He was wearing a leather jacket like he did. He had a mask on which resembled the Robin one but not fully. It looked more like a masquerade mask. He was wearing boots, a pair that looked like ones Jason remembered sitting by their childhood apartments door. His older brother looked just like he remembered but also nothing like the teenager he’d idolized.

There was a scar above his eye. There was a necklace around his neck with a black rock. His hair was short and clipped, unlike when they were younger,

 and it sat above his shoulders. He looked so grumpy. Jason had never seen his older brother look that annoyed. He’d always been patient and kind.

“Selina, can we go? I didn’t come all this way just to stand around and chat with your boytoys kids,” Y/N said loudly, interrupting Jason’s thoughts.

Selina turned from Cass and scoffed. “Yeah, you came so far, all the way from Star City and your sad little retail job,” she said sarcastically before turning back to Cass.

Y/N rolled his eyes and finally noticed Jason and Dick. “He has more? How many of you vigilantes are there? Does he grow you in like a lab?”

“One of us was actually,” Dick said as he took a step forward, so he stood in front of Jason, once a protective big brother, always a protective big brother.

“Long story? Yeah, I’m getting used to that,” Y/N shook his head before he glanced at Jason, “What you staring at me like that for?”

Jason tilted his head slightly before taking off his helmet which caused Dick to groan.

“Secret identities, little bird,” Dick said annoyed as he slapped his forehead.

“Oh, shut up,” Jason stepped around Dick, “It’s me, Jason.”

Y/N took a step back and slammed against the wall. “You’re dead.”

Cass turned from where she was talking to Selina and rolled her eyes before resuming their conversation.

“Surprise?” Jason said with jazz hands. “I think we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

Y/N nodded and took off his mask. “Yeah, I think we do.”

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later…

Y/N, Bruce and Jason were sitting around the manor’s dining table. Bruce was leaned forwards and staring Y/N down. Jason was leaned back and smiling. He hadn’t stopped since he got Y/N back. Y/N looked like he was about to run out of the room.

“Jason, tell your creepy dad he can’t adopt me. I’m a grown ass man who isn’t going anywhere anyways,” He said as he scooted his chair slightly further away from Bruce.

“Hey, he’s still trying to figure out if he can adopt me and I’m legally dead,” Jason said as he raised his hands in mock surrender.

“So am I!” His brother replied exasperatedly.

“I already adopted you, Jason,” Bruce leaned back in his chair, “Found a technicality.”

Jason turned quickly to face his dad. “Ok, you cannot just drop that in conversation, old man.”

Bruce stood up from his chair. “I’m not even 50 yet. You’ve gotta stop calling me that.”

Jason smiled and shook his head. “I’ll call you what I want, Bruce.”

Bruce smiled to himself and walked out of the room. The older Todd leaned closer to Jason and smiled.

“Your family is weird, Jase,” he said with a chuckle.

“Our family actually, big brother,” Jason said with a wide grin as he stood up from his chair. “Wanna go for a ride?”

His big brother jumped out of his chair and smiled. “I bet my bike goes faster than yours.”

The two of them ran towards the manors front door with the widest grins.

Up on the staircase, Bruce stood as he watched them with a smile. Alfred walked up behind him with a smile and tapped him on the shoulder.

“You must stop adopting all these children, Master Bruce,” he said quietly.

“He makes Jason happy, doesn’t he?” Bruce asked.

Alfred pondered for a moment before replying.

“Yes, he does, Master Bruce. That doesn’t mean Master Jason doesn’t still need his father though,” Alfred said, his voice full of care and love for the two of them.

Bruce nodded as he heard the motorbikes start outside. He then smiled and walked off to attend to his work.

                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[simp-for-the-batfam]

It is a rare day when the Batfamily has a declared day and night off (usually instituted by Alfred when everyone is injured). They decided to spend the day watching a movie together. Only, Bruce is fed up with the Batkids spending too much time arguing over what movie they should watch and turns it to a random channel that happened to be playing Phineas and Ferb. He states that 'if you act like children, you watch childish things'. Little did Bruce know how much of a pain it would cause him.

First off, Damian has never seen the show, but now that he has, the OWCA agents, especially Agent P, are his favorites. He is already compiling a list of measurements as to give Alfred to make custom fedoras for Titus, Alfred the Cat, Batcow, and any other pet the Wayne's own. Alfred already has the sewing machine out. Damian even commissioned one for Hailey that Dick can't wait to put on her. And on a completely unrelated note, an animal smuggling ring that Damian busted last week happened to have an abused platypus that Damian has now decided would be better fit in the Wayne Manner than taken care of in some wildlife preserve.

Dick remembers trying to recreate do everything Phineas and Ferb's summer as a kid, and is now determined to do it again. While everyone is distracted by the show, he calling is order and favors, determined to make things and contacting anyone who could help. He already has the Teen Titans on his side. He even ordered roller coaster parts that should come tomorrow and who knows what else. While he might not be able to personally build everything, he knows people who could. But for some reason, the parts never arrive at the manor.

Jason is hardcore identifying with Candace. While he is not the oldest, he knows what it is like to have the perfect sibling that never gets caught for their wrongdoing (*cough*cough* Dick). He already had to go through Dick's crazy summer plans before when he was Robin, trying to stop Dick from getting himself killed, and he doesn't want to do it again. Throughout the show, he is trying to bust Dick whenever he leaves to make a suspicious phone call, but Dick always says he is ordering takeout. Jason is pulling his hair out wondering how come no one has questioned the amount of times Dick has left to order food and how none of it has arrived yet. When he gets a chance, he sings E.V.I.L. B.O.Y.Z. directed toward Dick, who sits up front looking completely innocent.

The minute Phineas and Ferb is mentioned, Stephanie quicky fled the room only to roll back in full Duckie Momo apparel. She has on a Duckie Momo onesie, Duckie Momo slippers, and Duckie Momo glasses. In fact, the whole floor has become a Duckie Momo nest, complet with blankets and pillows. She even had a matching onesie for Cass. She also came in knowing all of the songs word for word and had so much fun recreating the "Squirrels in my pants" dance.

When Cass isn't in the Duckie Momo nest with Steph, cuddling a Duckie Momo plushie, she is copying fight scenes from the show. It started off as Steph asking if she could do a move Agent P did, only for her to recreate the whole scene. Now everyone is wanting Cass to copy any of the animals fighting moves, but she declined until she also got a fedora. Damian quickly got her one and declared her an honorary OWCA Agent. Dick tried to join in, but failed. Jason about died laughing about how a platypus could beat Dick in a fight, only for Damian to yell, "Agent P is a worthy opponent, Todd!" with Cass nodding in agreement. Either way, Dick has mainly been pouting ever since.

Tim has been up for about a week before he got dragged into family time. Now, he is just staring numbly at the TV, saying 'mood' whenever Doofenshmirtz talks about his awful childhood backstories (like the one where his parents didn't show up for his birth), giving Bruce an aneurysm each time. Tim is already on the edge, and Bruce just hopes he doesn't gain any motivation to copy Doof's 'take over the Tri-state area' schemes. Bruce especially worries whenever Tim spots a machine and says 'I could build that'.

Unbeknownst to Bruce, Barbara already has the schematics for all of Doof's machines as well as Phineas and Ferb's. What started as a bored interest during summer as a child grew over time, especially with all resources she gained by being Batgirl and Oracle. The information on both are kept in separate secret heavily protected files to keep Tim away from Doof's and Dick away from Phineas and Ferb's. She even has a warning system in place if either of them get close to making one of the machines, either on accident or on purpose, and diverts them away from completing it. The system also includes orders to return any shipments made solely for the purpose of recreating a machine and deleting any records of the order in the first place (hence why Dick's shipment never came). But Babs is content with letting Bruce worry and continues to watch the show with a Duckie Momo blanket spread over her lap (courtesy of Steph).

Since Duke was still working day shift (he wasn't as injured as the others and wanted to flee before there was bloodshed over choosing the movie), he comes back home and happens to conveniently be listening to a playlist of Phineas and Ferb's greatest hits. Upon seeing everyone, Duke takes an earbud out and asks, "Whatcha doin'?" The only answer he got was Steph throwing another Duckie Momo onesie in his face.

An hour later, Jason and Steph are singing BUSTED on top of a table, Jason as a warning to Dick and Steph just for the heck of it. Meanwhile, Cass and Duke acts as Duckie Momo backup dancers with full choreography. Dick wanted to join in as well, but Jason forced him to sit down and watch, hoping the message will sink through, but Dick thinks it is because they don't like his dancing so now he is pouting again. Tim is waving his cellphone light as if this is the most meaningful part of the night, while Damian is about to wrestle the fedora onto Alfred the Cat, as the cat keeps batting it away. All the while, Babs is recording everything.

Bruce is reminded that this is why you should never watch daytime television and turns the channel, despite the cries of anguish. Only to be horrified when Alfred reminds him and the children that show is can be viewed on Disney + and can be streamed at anytime. He runs back to his room as the beginning notes to the intro fill the air and all his children sing along.

[ktkat99]

Reverse Robins prompt if you're looking

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

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

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

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

Him.

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

Damian feels replaced and is immediately antagonistic to Tim.

He hates how happy the damn kid always is.

He hates how Bruce is spending more time training him.

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

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

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

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

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

And then one night Tim never returns to the cave.

There's no call.

No heads up.

No distress signal.

No one knows where he is.

No one can find him.

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

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

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

Tim dies in his arms waiting for help to arrive.

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

He blames himself for not helping search for Tim.

He blames himself for failing to save him.

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

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

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

They all still miss Tim.

But they're learning to live without him.

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

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

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

Despite Bruce still having Jason.

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

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

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

And then he goes upstairs to kidnap Jason.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Only, Tim doesn't want to come home.

Not when Damian is there.

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

But...

He finally accepts, solely to protect Jason and Dick.

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

[wolfjackle-creates]

Ghost!Robin Part 4

Here's your next part of the Ghost!Robin fic for WIP Wednesday. I'm gonna start putting fic designation in the title field rather than WIP Wednesday because I think it makes it easier to read.

Also, everyone came out in numbers for last week's segment! Damn! Thank you and I'm glad so many of you are enjoying this little fic of mine. We'll probably get one more week of this before I go back to Bring Me Home, but it'll depend what I feel like. I want to rework some of what I have written next.

First, Previous

1.1k words + a 464 word Omake (cut scene)

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Tim asked more details on the specs of the PDA which Danny happily answered. The things he built with Tucker were always his favorite inventions.

“So are you in school to become an engineer or something?” asked Dick who’d gotten Damian calmed down and sitting. The boy had gotten his knife back and was spinning it in his hands. Bruce seemed to be fondly exacerbated by the scene. Robin had pulled out a ghostly weapon and was trying to copy Damian’s movements, though he wasn’t quite as adept.

Danny shook his head to Dick’s question. “Nah. Hard to get into engineering school when you fail high school.” Danny narrowed his eyes as Damian’s mouth opened, but Dick whispered in his ear again and the boy didn’t say anything.

“I ended up dropping out of high school and getting a GED,” said Tim. “It can work just as well.”

Robin was nodding along and pointing at himself, too. Had he died before he could complete his schooling, too?

“I’m sure. It’s just not a priority for me right now. I don’t need one for my job and I can’t become an astronaut because of my accident when I was fourteen.”

Dick was nodding, but Tim looked confused and asked, “Fourteen? I thought you had your accident when you were older?”

“Why would you think that?” Had he or Jazz made any reference to when his accident was? “No, it happened when I was fourteen. A few weeks before I started my freshman year of high school.

Before Tim could ask anything else, Steph called out from the other side of the room. “Did you say you wanted to be an astronaut? Totally awesome. What made you pick that?”

“I honestly don’t know why everyone doesn’t want to be astronauts! Space is so cool. We can learn so much about the universe by studying it in closer detail. And with how many aliens are now living at least part time on Earth, it only makes sense to explore and see what else might be out there.”

Bruce nodded at him. “I am sorry you aren’t able to become one.”

Danny just waved a hand in the air. “I came to terms with it a long time ago. And my current job is fine. Might not be what I would’ve chosen, but I’ve made it work for me.” Deciding he should change the subject before someone had the brilliant idea to ask more about his accident or job, he asked, “So what is for dinner, anyway? You’ve all talked about how amazing the food is, but what are we having?”

Someone tried to speak up, but Jason held up a hand. “I’m the one who helped Alfie cook. Demon-brat is vegetarian so we have a vegetarian curry. If you like meat, there’s a prime rib roast. Then a half dozen different sides—vegetables, rice, potatoes. Huge salad with all the fixings and a dozen different dressings to choose from. And dessert after.”

“Damn, that sounds amazing. I haven’t had a good home cooked meal in ages, so I’ve been looking forward to this.”

“Has your Grandpa been keeping you that busy?” asked Jazz.

“That, but also getting things in order to take this evening off. There’s just been a lot. I’m spending the night at yours, by the way.”

“I’d be offended if you didn’t.”

Danny knew he could rely on Jazz.

“Ooh, do you have any good stories about Jazz as a kid?” asked Jason.

Laughing, Danny said, “So many! But I don’t think we’ll be able to get to those tonight. I’ve a feeling you’ll be interested in other things by that point.” At his words, Robin grinned and pointed at himself. Danny gave him a slight nod to confirm that yes, they’d be talking about him.

Before Jason could ask for clarification, Alfred came in to announce dinner was ready.

Robin cheered and flew over to sit on Alfred’s shoulders, hand extended, to lead the way to the dinning room. Danny couldn’t hold back the chuckle and Jazz shot him a look which he ignored.

“There better be a place setting for you, Alfie!” called Jason as they followed.

“You made your opinion quite clear, Master Jason. And as I wish to meet your young lady and her brother as well, I have set myself a plate at the main table.”

Tim leaned over to whisper to Danny. “Alfred considers his role as butler very important. He rarely eats with the rest of us unless we join him in the kitchen.”

Danny nodded to show he understood, but had no idea how to actually reply to that. It seemed needlessly complicated.

Once they made it to the dining room, Danny grinned as Robin did a flip off of Alfred’s shoulders and landed sitting down on one of the place settings facing the associated chair. He bit his cheek to keep from laughing as Jason sat down at that same place. Jazz took a seat next to him and Danny sat to her other side. Dick ended up sitting next to him.

The scents of all the food wafting off the table made his mouth water and he closed his eyes just to breathe it in. “This smells amazing. Thanks Alfred. And Jason.”

Even Robin had moved to look over every dish, reaching out a hand to try and take something and sighing when he just phased through it.

Even Jazz looked a bit overwhelmed at the quantity of food. “This is so much effort. You didn’t have to do all this just for Danny and me.”

Bruce smiled at her. “It is so rare for all of us to be together for dinner so we make a spectacle of it any time it happens. And this is the first time Jason has ever brought anyone with him which makes it an even bigger event.”

Danny nudged her. “So, Jazz, what’s it like living with someone who can cook?”

Jason laughed. “Jazz isn’t allowed in the kitchen. You know, I caught her grabbing my chef’s knife before going into the fridge the other day!”

Danny furrowed his brow. “Of course she did. It’s a fridge.”

“Wait, is that a family trait? Why do you grab a knife to open the fridge? There’s gotta be a good story behind that.”

Before Danny could make the obvious statement regarding attacking food, Jazz elbowed him. “We’ll tell you later. It has to do with our parents and that’s a large topic and not one we should get into now.”

Before Danny could ask any questions about what the big deal was, Dick nudged him. “Which do you want—curry or beef?”

---------

Omake

Ignoring all of it, Danny shook his head and answered Dick. “Nah. Hard to get into college when you fail high school and are legally dead.”

Multiple people, including Jason, exclaimed at that statement and he looked to Jazz.

“Did Jazz not tell you about that? Our parents swear they saw my ghost and had me declared legally dead. I was missing at the time so the coroner agreed. Sighting the ghost of a missing person is all you need to confirm death in Amity.”

Under her breath, Jazz added, “You were only missing because they had you.”

Danny elbowed her and quietly chirped a Safe now.

Bruce was no longer smiling and was looking at Danny with narrowed eyes. “Your parents had you declared dead.”

“Yeah. It’s fine, though. I’ve an amazing doctor if I get into trouble. My grandfather is watching out for me. I’m financially stable. My partners are able to rent an apartment large enough for all three of us. I have other places to stay when I’m traveling. Honestly, it doesn’t impact my life all that much. Just means I’m not gonna go to college. And only reason I wanted to go to college was to be an astronaut, but my health makes that impossible.”

“Hn…” Bruce hummed.

And Danny had no idea what that meant, but Robin was now laughing, and Dick was exchanging grins with Tim, and Steph and Cass were whispering together. Damian was glaring at him even harder, blade hilt gripped in his hand. These people were strange.

Danny looked over at Jazz who shrugged. Jason was glaring at Bruce and said, “Don’t you dare.”

“Look, it’s really not a big deal. I know it’s kinda a messed up situation, but ghosts are generally treated really well in Amity. As well as any living human, at least. So long as you avoid the Guys in White and my parents that is. So outside of interactions with them, nothing has changed.”

“If you are ever in need of a place to stay or a meal or anything, you’ll have a room here,” offered Bruce.

Robin landed on Danny’s shoulders and was sending out happy-celebrate feelings. Steph handed Cass a few bills. Tim and Dick mimed giving each other fist bumps. Jason put his head in his hands and groaned. Duke was grinning at them all.

Damian half stood and said, “Father—!”

But Dick was at his side and pulling him back down to the couch with an arm around his shoulders, hand over his mouth, and whispering into his ear before he could do more than say the one word.

“Seriously, it’s not a big deal.” Trying to think of anyway to change the subject, he asked, “So what’s for dinner, anyway?”

And for the Tag List! (Which absolutely exploded this week. Holy shit.)

----------

Next

@addie-lover-of-stories, @justwannabecat, @gin2212, @amercurio, @regonold, @overtherose, @readerzj, @sjrose1216, @echoednonny, @deeterzz, @blu-lilac, @number-one-jew, @rowanaway-fromthisbs, @vythika96, @tired-yet-awaken, @themirrorghost, @all-mights-asscheeks, @darkhinauniverse, @blep-23, @phandomhyperfixationblog, @larkcoe1, @thegatorsgoose, @job-ross-the-second, @britcision, @lenacraft, @bubblemixer, @androgynouslordofescapism, @purefrickingspite, @leftmiraclechaos, @lizisipancardo, @starlight-sparks, @miraculousandmore, @gildedphoenix, @sometimesthingsfallapart, @letmesayfuxk, @phoenixcatch7, @skulld3mort-1fan, @abaowo, @dhampir-princess, @idkmrpianoman, @sarina-elais, @ballzfrog-blog, @undead-essence, @spookytragedyshark, @emeraldcorpral

The celebration post for 100 followers will be going out in another day or two! I've just had a really busy few weeks and didn't do as much writing as I was hoping for. But I hope to finish writing today and then I'll just take a few hours to edit.

[havendance]

Finally returning to my version of the AU where Jason lives because Dick dies:

Let's get this out of the way: this is not an AU where Dick dies in Ethiopia instead of Jason. In fact, in this AU, no one makes it out to Ethiopia at all. 

I'm still doing my NTT reading, but we're going to mess with the timeline somewhat. Jason is benched because of the whole Garzonas incident, but before he can run off to Ethiopia and get himself killed, Dick Grayson dies. 

The Titans aren't in space because that complicates the timing and logistics and whatnot, so instead, let's say, hmmm, Brother Blood did it. 

Bruce takes the news extremely poorly of course. Jason is now benched indefinitely because Bruce expresses his emotions through being controlling. Bruce also proceeds to go and try to boss around the Titans and take down Brother Blood. The Titans, who are also mourning their friend and have little love for Batman, don't take kindly to this. The following clusterf*** of a situation leads to Brother Blood manipulating circumstances in his favor so that he gets away with killing Dick, somehow. 

Following that disaster, no longer having the outlet of action, Bruce begins to sink into despair. He fights crime by rote and the mix of rage and despair his grief takes means he doesn't particularly care about the condition that both he and the people he fights come out in. 

Meanwhile, Jason is also upset. He and Dick had their rocky moments, sure, but they still had something that was almost brotherhood. He's upset that Dick is dead and guilty because part of him thinks he should feel worse. He fights with Bruce in the aftermath (words only, not blows) over the way Bruce is handling it: the way that he benched Jason and is pushing him away. Bruce responds by doing this even moreso. Jason in turn responds by purposefully avoiding Bruce. It's quite some time before they're in the same room as each other again. 

Tim is in school when he hears about Nightwing's death. For maximum angst, lets say that he died on live television while Brother Blood arranged things to either look like he was only acting in self-defense after the misguided and out of control Titans attacked him, or that it was a tragic accident that he tried and failed to stop. Maybe he fell to his death.

Tim also takes this poorly. Nightwing was his hero. His nightmares come back, his grades start to drop. He sneaks away from boarding school to attend Dick Grayson's funeral (mostly a closed, private ceremony, but he hides in the back) and again to visit his grave after one too many sleepless nights, leaving a copy of the picture of them at the circus.

(I know A Death in the Family takes place in the spring, but we're putting Dick's death in the fall in this AU for school year timeline purposes.) 

The school calls Tim's parents about this and they're so worried about it that they decide to cut their business short and come home early. This would've been a good choice on their part if this weren't also a 'Tim joins the Batfam AU'. As it is though, I need to make Tim an orphan somehow and they both die in a tragic plane accident, or maybe in a car crash on the way to the airport. 

This devestates Tim even further and he becomes very depressed :( 

But back to Jason. Frustrated with Bruce and his own roiling emotions, Jason decides to cope with his grief in the traditional (very healthy) bat way by putting on a mask and fighting crime. Since Robin is still benched and Jason is still avoiding Bruce, he puts together a new costume. It's probably very emo and edgy with lots of reds and blacks; he calls himself, hmmm, let's say Corvus (Latin for crow) to stick with the bird theme. 

While sneaking out at night to dispense vigilante justice, he runs into none other than the Huntress! 

Helena can see some of herself in the kid, in the way he fights like there's  something trying to break free, the way they share similar ideas about what Justice sometimes entails. And besides, he's a kid, she doesn't want anything to happen to him. So she takes him under her wing. 

With her coming off of a two year hiatus, he's got nearly as much experience as she has. Helena can offer a certain maturity and more life experience. Jason, in turn, knows more about detective work. (He was trained by Batman; She's self-taught) 

Jason confides in her that he wants to kill the man who killed his brother. Helena's torn because, on the one hand, that was what she was after. That was what she did. But on the other, Jason's a boy. He's still young. She was an adult when she did it. She knew what she was getting into. She doesn't know if Jason does. 

(Also, I think I've heard that Jason having mommy-issues were a thing? Maybe play with those?) 

Tim, meanwhile, is in foster care probably, but has definitely been transferred to the public school system and has ended up in none other than Helena Bertinelli's English class. 

(He doesn’t know that she's a vigilante and is too depressed to find out.) 

In the habit of sneaking away to visit Dick's grave, he runs into Jason once. 

He met Dick once, he says when Jason asks him why he's there. It's kind of stupid, he admits, he didn't even know him, so why does his death hurt so much? 

I'm going to borrow an idea from scintilly's one dick & tim au now and say that there's that one corrupt Drake Industries executive who's embezzling money and framing a 13 year old orphan for it. Tim is too depressed to really clock when the police start asking pointed questions, but Helena is getting a bad feeling about how the cops keep pulling him out of class to question him. She begins to investigate and Jason joins her. 

Jason and Helena uncover what's going on and this somehow culminates in a cool action sequence where Huntress and Corvus have to save Tim from a hitman that the exec sent after him or something, idk 

The important part is that, when everything's done, Tim gets a good look at Huntress for the first time and has just enough adrenaline flowing through his brains to make an intuitive leap. 

"You're my English teacher," he says. 

When pressed why, he admits that he was her meeting with Jason once after school. (He doesn't name Jason, he gestures at Corvus.) When asked why he knew it was Corvus, he's like "Well, you used to be the new Robin." 

Jason takes offense at being called the new Robin (he's been doing this for two years!) and also wants to know how Tim recognized him out of costume. 

Tim clams up. When pressed, he starts crying and rambling about quadruple somersaults and how everyone who could do them are dead and Jason eventually pieces that together with what he remembers from that one time he met Tim at Dick's grave to figure out what's going on. 

And if he knows Dick's ID and he knows Jason's then... "Do you know who Batman is?" he asks. 

Tim, still crying, nods. 

Jason swears. Well, they can't just leave him alone after all of that can they? 

I can get a fostering license, Helena says. 

Jason shakes his head. I know a guy, he says. 

Is your guy Batman? she asks. 

Jason's like, you don't know that. 

(It is Batman) 

So they drop Tim off somewhere safe until things can be finalized. (Tim makes many promises about how he isn't going to tell anyone anything) and Jason goes off to talk to Bruce for the first time in forever. 

While all of this has been going on, Bruce has continued to self-destruct: he's constantly coming home beat to hell, the GCPD are whispering about maybe taking down the giant bat spotlight they unofficially have on the roof, etc etc. 

Jason hasn't been in the same room as Bruce in over two months because of grief and also the whole hiding the fact that he's been sneaking out as an unsanctioned vigilante thing. When he finally seeks out Bruce to talk to him about Tim, and sees how bad of a shape the man is in, he breaks down. 

Look, Jason's been going through a lot and that's his dad who looks half-dead. Jason doesn't want to lose a father as well as a brother. 

They finally get to have a heart to heart where Jason talks about his feelings and admits what he's been getting up to. Bruce listens and remembers that he has more than one son and promises to try and do better by Jason. They hug. It's all very sweet. 

Then, when that's done and Jason remembers why he went looking for Bruce in the first place, he's like, "So, uh, there's something else..." 

Congratulations, Bruce! It's a boy! 

So Tim becomes fostered by Bruce Wayne, Jason goes back to being Robin, and slowly things get better. 

Jason continues to go hang out with Helena, and Tim stays as a student in her class. They all hang out together sometimes and Helena shows Tim how to use a crossbow. 

Reusing one of my old ideas and going with Tim becomes Robin during No Man's Land when he and Jason run away into the restricted zone as Batman & Robin 2.0, only in this version they also team up with Helena during it. 

I also feel like Tim's Robin costume should integrate the color blue in it somehow to honor Dick. 

Ummm, skip forward some to get to the part of this AU I was originally thinking about (making fanon Jason & Tim about Dick & Tim) 

Dick Grayson is resurrected somehow by Brother Blood. Unfortunately, this means that he is brainwashed and evil. 

(Part of me wonders if this should be a mainly Teen Titans story since Dick died under the Titan's editorial) 

Anyway, Dick, probably called something edge like "Bloodwing" or something, is sent to kill Robin. While attacking Tim, he sees the picture of him and his parents with Tim at the circus and it causes the brainwashing to crack.  

Instead of killing Tim, he kidnaps him and brings him back to Brother Blood's cult. They proceed to have a very bad time together and probably develop a codependent relationship between brainwashing sessions and cult stuff and, idk, other whumpy stuff. 

The rest of the Teen Titans show up and save the day. Dick and Tim get deprogrammed. There are lots of tearful reunions between Dick and his friends/family. 

Happy endings (until the next major event that is) 

[andi-dromeda]

Long before he was Red Hood, a dead man walking or a Robin, Jason was Willis and Cathy's son. No matter how bleak things got, how many times he had to reevaluate who he was, he could always be sure of two things: the universe hated him but his parents loved him. Love isn't always perfect and pure. Love can't stave off the cold or put food on the table, but his parents' love was the one thing no one could ever take from him. Even after they died, he still knew his parents loved him.

They had a small apartment. Most of the furniture and cutlery were a patchwork of items collected in yard sales or discount bins which meant that there was a wide range of colours. Beggers can't be choosers and what not. But there was always slightly more red than any other colour. His favourite blanket was red, his dad's hoodie was red, the kettle was red and Cathy's hair was red. Red meant safety. Red meant warmth. Red meant home.

Then Jason woke up from a haze of darkness to searing gold. One moment he was in the lazarus pit and the next Talia was tossing him off a cliff. She picked him up after that and carefully tried to steer him away from vengeance. She distracted him with teachers and training but Jason's mind never left his end goal - confronting Bruce.

He came back to Gotham on a ferry. It cut through the polluted waters like a well made knife. And that's what this was wasn't it? Because even with all his planning, Bruce still slit his throat. Bruce still chose a madman over his the boy he failed. Bruce wanted a soldier not a son. Looking back he couldn't tell you when he realised Bruce wouldn't pick him. It was kind of like walking around in a horror game and realising it just saved. There was this slow, creeping sense of dread that he tried to ignore until he was clawing at his throat, trying to stop himself from bleeding out. It'd be foolish to keep living in optimistic ignorance. He wasnt Bruce. He could acknowledge reality.

His new undoubtable truths were:

• Cathy, Willis and Natalia loved him

• The universe hates him

• Bruce does too

So he adjusted to his new reality. He operated as Red Hood and had a strict no bats rule throughout all his territory. Red still meant home, just less like a cozy family and more like neighbours united by blood shed. Red became anger and danger too. Red was versatile, just like Jason. He'd been trained by the bat, the league of assasins and the All Caste - a special group of warriors who united to fight against magical evils.

This probably isn't shocking to anyone but Gotham's weird and messed up. Naturally, this means they have a lot of magical evils causing chaos and generally being a pain. Jason had been wielding the all blades and chasing some sort of rabbit, lion, duck hybrid through crime alley when a blast of fire hit it. It poofed and left only an odd amulet. A white haired woman picked it up and tensley glanced at him.

"I'm not a bat, I have nothing to do with drugs and I have no proper ties to any rogue. I'm not breaking any of your rules." She kept her eyes trained on his helmet and he noticed they were red. Danger? Home? Anger? Warmth? Versatile? Safety? There was too many possibilities to be in complete control of the situation and the last time Jason left something up to chance he'd gotten his throat slit. Replaying the events, it was obvious she had fire powers. Judging by her clothes, stature and build he could confidently guess she was University age. He knew the hybrid thing was magic so her powers were probably magical too. Regardless of if they were just meta abilities, she knew about about magic. Which meant she could be useful... or dangerous.

"I appreciate that." He nodded and shifted slightly to make himself look less hostile. The real reason no one ever figured out Clark Kent was Superman was the body language. Clark managed to look timid and small whilst being 6'3. Truly it was an art. Jason copied the technique and made the all blades vanish. "As I'm sure you know, I'm Red Hood. May I ask your name or would you prefer to give me an alias?"

"What's the point? You're a bat, you'll figure it out anyway and go reporting back to him." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Olive Silverlock."

"I'm not a bat."

"The red one on your chest could've fooled me"

"I'm reclaiming bats. I'm turning the symbol into what it should've been. Batman is a hypocrital control freak who cares more about his own ego than actually helping people. I don't work for him."

At that she seemed to relax which ironically wasn't necessarily a good sign. Clearly she'd had a run in with Bruce and hated bats. If the only thing making her tense around a well known crime lord was him possibly reporting back to the bat, that meant she could handle herself. So she was strong, had magical knowledge, a grudge against Bruce and the most captivating red eyes he'd ever seen.

She could be dangerous. Certainly a formidable foe. But that meant she could also be a powerful ally. There weren't many vigalante friendly magicians in Gotham after all.

"Is that amulet dangerous?" He asked less interested in the answer and far more focused on learning more about her.

"Not in this form and I can promise you it won't be switching forms again any time soon."

"So you've stopped a threat from running around my territory?"

"I guess."

"Guess I owe you one then." Jason approached her slowly and gently grabbed her hand. She stared at up at him and for a second he forgot what he was doing, just enjoying the moment. Just enjoying the warmth that seemed to radiate off of her. Then he snapped back to reality and closed her hand.

"If you ever need a favour, just close your hand and say 'All Son I summon thee'."

Her palm started to glow red and he pulled away. After feeling her warmth, the night air seemed bitingly cold but he lived in crime alley during winter. He could handle it.

"Thanks." Her widened eyes slowly closed again and she gave the Red Hood a soft smile. "Its nice to meet another magically inclined batman hater."

"Very nice." He nodded unsure of what to do with his hands now that he wasn't holding hers. Usually he'd start fiding with his guns but he figured that might give the wrong impression. "Are you going to be alright getting home?"

"I can handle myself." She smirked like she'd just said a joke he wasn't in on. "But I'm not heading home. I've actually got to return a book before midnight and this whole amulet situation means I've got like-" She checked the clock on her watch and froze. "Twenty minutes!?"

"I could drive you." He instantly offered and Olive frowned.

"But I wanted to use that favour to mess with Batman." She sighed dissapointedly.

"I'm offering for free. I don't want anything."

"Really?"

"Of course. Library fees are no joke."

"Thanks. Where's your car?"

"About that-"

Red Hood handed her a helmet and just like that, they were zooming through Gotham on his bike. It was kind of exhilarating. Everything around them seemed to blur into dark blobs with tiny dots of light.

They arrived at Gotham library with seven minutes to spare. They leaped off the bike, sprinted up the steps and quickly but quietly walked through the doors. There weren't many people, just a bored librarian and a few tired students who did a double take at the feared crime lord casually showing up at the library. Olive dug through her bag and pulled out a copy of Hamlet. She placed it in the returns box and they walked back to the bike.

"Thanks Hood."

"Don't mention it." An odd silence hung between them for a moment. "So Hamlet huh?"

"Yeah, I'm getting a degree in theatre and had to a write character analysis of lady macbeth. It was fun. It reminded me of the time I was lady macbeth in high school, then clayface ruined the play by trying to kill my theatre teacher."

They chuckled and Olive moved to take the helmet off.

"Wait, do you want a ride home?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Right but can I at least drop you off somewhere less public? I wouldn't want anyone recognising you and then trying to target you to get to me."

Olive considered it for a moment before nodding. They hopped back on the bike and Jason smiled at the chance to talk to her for longer. By the time he stopped in an alley near Gotham U, it had started to rain. Once her arms had left his waist, he felt cold again. He shrugged it off as the weather and watched Olive pull out an umbrella. The umbrella just so happened to be red. She looked back at him, smiled, waved and walked off into the night. He watched the dot of red disappear into the shadows of Gotham and rode off to his nearest safe house.

Danger? Home? Anger? Warmth? Versatile? Safety? Red. Whatever it meant, it was still his favourite color. Always had been. Just like Cathy, Willis and Natalia always loved him. Bruce hadn't always hated him but he did now. Olive hated Bruce which was... intriguing and kind of validating. But did the universe always hate him? Did the universe hate him at all? He wasn't so sure anymore.

He climbed up the side of his building and swung through the window. His helmet came off quickly, and the rest of his armour followed soon after. A cold breeze ran through his apartment so he decided to call it an early night. He dropped onto his bed and wrapped himself in a nostalgic, red blanket. He dozed off finally warm.

Olive quietly crept through her dorm and tried not to wake Pom. She put the amulet into a sealed jar on her nightstand, changed into her pajamas and collapsed on to her bed. The adrenaline had finally run out and she was exhausted. Unfortunately, her brain hated her and refused to let her sleep. Too tired to grab her phone, she decided to stare at her hand. It felt tingly but not in a pins and needles way. She started to wonder how she could use the favour to get back at Batman and drifted off dreaming of annoying Gotham's most annoying caped crusader. Red Hood seemed like a good ally to have. Even if he turned out to be terrible, at least he had good taste. Red was her favourite color after all.

[batfambitches]

Jason Todd; Robin Red Hood:

Age: 22 (generally, flexible)

Alias: Red Hood

Headcanons

Jason has ADHD

Jason Todd had a less than ideal childhood, a father locked in jail and a drug addict mother who seemed to love him back lacked the ability to care for either of them. He was just a child when he got caught up in the craziness that was Bruce's world, unknown to him? After her encounter with him Talia orchestrated it so that he would come across Bruce, what she didn't plan for was him stealing the tires off the batmobile. She was both pleasantly impressed and amused by the antics. He did manage to catch Bruce's attention and eventually he became the new Robin, which was what eventually lead to his death.

When he was resurrected about 6 months after his death it wasn't complete, his body was alive and his mind had the vague memories of his life but he was a remnant of his former self; his soul had failed to come back with him. Talia was the one who scooped him up from where he was and tossed his body into the pit in hopes of fixing him, and it worked. His soul was able to reunite with his body, though there was a latent rage that some got from use of The Pits and he had to work to overcome that.

Well with Talia working on his Pit Rage he met Damian a few times and Aidan once (@aidanwaynealghul), though most of his time with Talia is a hazy so he figured he was just remembering wrong with the vague memory of Damian being lighter with blue eyes. Then he met Danielle Master Phantom and things started to come to light, it wasn't until she mentioned Amity on accident that he finally started putting the pieces together. She had gone off to apparently go to some coronation before he "came to drag her back to Amity", and that was after she destroyed his TV on impulse when Vald Masters came on the screen. That was all he needed to ask Barbara to look into her for him.

What she found was a a lot of jumbled disconnected information, but when Jason saw the image of Aidan with what seemed to be a couple of friends his memories became just a bit clearer. He was labeled as "Daniel 'Danny' James Fenton", but he looked so much like Damian even Barb saw it when she was showing him what she found.

When Dani came back Barbara got to meet her, and they got out of her who exactly she was and why she looked like a copy of Aidan. He'd half died in an accident similar to one Vlad Masters had and it made him obsessed with making him his son, which led to a cloning attempt that ended with Dani as the only stable clone. He told her she had 3 months to talk to Danny before he went to Bruce and Damian.

Before that could come about though Danny ended up telling his parents about his condition and they reacted as well as most would expect them to. When they began 'trying to free their son of the ghost possessing him' Dani felt it, as the only family he actually knew or cared about that was dead or half dead? The realm considered her his heir, and when he was being hurt by The Fentons she could feel both that and The Infinite Realm trying to call her back.

Jason in his panic brought her to the cave, at the explanation given Damian was both angry and ready to run off to find Danny. It was only Bruce telling him they needed a plan or Aidan could be in even more danger that stopped him, Jason was more worried about making sure that Dani was alright and threatening the other's for the sly comments they made about him being like Bruce for taking her in. "Not my fault she pulled a Tim and refused to leave" being said more than once in the days following.

[yeetus-feetus]

Tim isn't like Bruce btw. Tim is like Lex Luthor. (Like when we think of supervillain Tim he's not depicted in the way, say, Owlman is, he's depicted as more of a mad scientist type.) Most of the times he's gone off the rails I see him as cunning and cold and a little desperate, but he knows what he wants and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get it- typically Luthor traits. (Also very popular fanfics lean heavily into the cloning aspect and Bruce would never do that lol.)

Cass is like Bruce. Damian is like Bruce too. (Their evil alternate selves would so give Owlman vibes honestly.) They walk they Bruce, they fight like Bruce, they're emotionally constipated like Bruce, they're blunt and to the point like Bruce. Also if Bruce went off the rails it'd be mostly thoughtless murder murder murder and these two would definitely fall into that too if they went off the rails.

I like to think Dick is like his mother. That's why he's so good and confident and loud despite... well, Bruce. He gets his stunning looks from his mother too. And his heart is inherited from her, for sure. And his athletic ability is her. The manipulation tactics were probably picked up from Bruce tho ngl. But Dick is his mother's son in my eyes.

And Jason is his own person. He's purposely that way. After trying so hard to be someone else, trying to be a perfect copy of Dick, he can only be himself. Sometimes he sees his mother in his eyes and his father in the curl of his lips and Bruce in the way he holds himself, and he thinks he's them and that he's failed to be different and it scares him, but he's undoubtedly himself. And he's definitely not Bruce.

[arobinwithoutbatman]

[let me remind you: you asked for this]

What am I gonna tell Jack…?

That had been the question he'd wrestled with most, once the shock had worn off. Well. It hadn't worn off at all, yet; he'd just forced his brain back into some semblance of functionality.

What am I gonna tell Jack…?

They have protocols in place, of course; contingency plans that Bruce had tortured himself come up with in order to make sure their identities remain secret. No one outside the family knows that Tim Drake was Robin, and it's going to stay that way. But that means finding a way to explain the loss of a sixteen year old boy who should be looking at early college enrollment instead of lying in a coffin. And that means having to lie to the boy's father about just how he died.

Dick already knows Jack doesn't like him. Doesn't approve of him. Knows it would just get worse if Jack had the first idea just what Tim actually got up to, the kind of life Bruce - and then Dick - had allowed his son to get into. It's terrible, because Tim is - was - is a hero, someone Jack should be proud of for all the good he's done, and Dick can't tell him any of it. Hell, he's not even sure Jack would believe him.

He's certainly not sure Tim would even want the man to know.

So he's kept his mouth shut, spun some believably tragic yet mundane story, and earned himself a sold punch to the jaw from an angry, grieving father who feels he's been proven right that flighty, airheaded Dickie Grayson had no business looking after his son. And hell, maybe he is right; if Dick had been better, had been faster, had paid more attention, then Tim would still be here. And he's not.

Jack's demanded all of Tim's things, too, and Dick has no room to refuse. No legal recourse. On paper, Jack is still the boy's father, while Dick is just a friend. The ward of the man who'd been Tim's de facto guardian, nothing more. Bad enough Dick has to box up his brother's possessions, but to give them to a man who's barely ever been there for Tim aches in the worst of ways.

At least Jack doesn't know about the photo albums. Or the secure laptop with its digital copies. And there's Robin's suit and weapons, but those...those hurt too much to look at. There are a few other bits and pieces, too, that Dick manages to keep back. Little things, keepsakes, for the family. For himself, for Alfred, for Jason and Babs...keeping a few things back won't hurt, right? After all, a part of him argues, how many of Tim's effects would Jack even recognize?

Is Jack even going to realize Dick's kept Tim's camera?

He's not even sure he's allowed at the funeral, but he goes anyway. Keeps to the back out of respect. Hates the fact that Tim's grave isn't up with Bruce's, where it belongs, but that hadn't been his call to make. Hates the fact that he now has to tell Bruce about it. About why Tim is gone. About how Dick failed both of them. Failed all of them. Tim and Bruce, Jack, the rest of the family…it's his job to keep them safe, keep them together, and he failed.

They'll have a memorial for him themselves, of course; Dick also has to tell Tim's teammates in San Francisco, and they'll want a chance to pay their respects too. And he still has to go out on patrol, keep working, keep trying, even as shattered as he is right now. It takes effort, far more effort than Dick wants to admit, just to put his mask on these days, but he does it. He has to. He can't just stop, no matter how much a part of him might want to; Tim would never forgive him if he does.

And Tim's left too many unfinished projects. Arkham's reformation, the new planned mental hospital, outreach and awareness programs for mental health and neurodivergence…who's going to make them happen now, if not Dick? He's failed his little brother once already, in the worst of ways; he can't fail him again.

((...I did what now? -Checks blog for what the queue spat out- OH... OH NO

Kei. My friend. Surrogate older brother. You are a menace, meet me on discord for an ass kicking, my heart hurts in the good way but I'm still gonna kick your ass!

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭))

[toosicktoocare]

Okay, I’m very much obsessed with the web comic “Batman: Wayne Family Adventures,” and I want to write little one-shots for it. 

If you’d like to see something written, drop a prompt in my inbox! 

Also found on AO3!

1: Better Than Dick Grayson

Jason’s beat by the time he guides his bike through an underground entrance to the Bat Cave. Patrol wasn’t hard – more annoying than anything else. There’s been an increase in copy-cat villains lurking the shadows of Crime Alley, all who can’t even follow through with a napkin-scribbled plan properly.

“Nice work tonight, Hood.”

Jason slips off his bike, boots heavy against the steel floor below him. He taps the comm nestled in his ear. “Thanks, O. Time to sign off? I’m sure you have an absolutely riveting day at the library tomorrow.” A cheeky smile plays at his lips as he slips his helmet off, huffing around a laugh at Barbara’s drawn-out sigh in his ear.

“I honestly don’t know why I help you every night.”

“Come on, O. You know you look forward to our quick-witted banter every day. That’s our thing – our trademark, if you will.” His smile widens when Barbara chuckles in his ear.

“You’re ridiculous, Hood.”

Jason slips into a changing room, grimacing as he cards his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair. “Please, O. You know you love me.” His suit is damp against him, an uncomfortable testament to just how much he’s done on patrol in the few hours he was out.

“Maybe a little.”  

Smirking, he shrugs his jacket off and reaches to the back of his neck, working his damp suit off until it’s hanging low at his waist. “You flirting with me, Babs? I’ll tattle to Dick.” He barks out a laugh at the low, impressive string of curse words that echo from his comm.

“I retract my previous statement. My tolerable feelings toward you stem from obligation alone.”

“Babs,” Jason whines, slamming a hand to his chest, “you wound me! Now I’m really going to tell Dick!”

“Well, you’re out of luck. He left for Bludhaven an hour ago.”

Jason pushes down on his suit until he’s stepping out of it, kicking it to the corner of the changing room with the notion that he’ll deal with it later. Tomorrow. He sighs – eventually.

“Detective Grayson summoned for an assignment?” He turns on his heel, snagging a towel that he drapes over his shoulders, using one corner to mop the sweat dripping from his hair.

“Something like that.”

Barbara’s voice goes soft on the other line, and Jason stops, frowning smally. “What’s up, Babs?”

“Damian and Bruce are still out, so I need to get back to them. Can you check in on Tim for me? Steph said he’s been quieter than usual all day.”

“Pump the kid up with coffee, then? I can do that.”

“Jason.”

Jason holds his hand’s up in mock defense out of habit, sighing between his teeth. “Fine, yes. I’ll follow in golden child Dick’s footsteps and take my role as the dutiful big brother.”

“Good. Also, I have that on recording now for the next time you try to sarcastically remove yourself from a family affair.”

“Barbara!”

“Later, Jason!”

There’s a crackle in Jason’s ear, and then the line goes dead. Rolling his eyes, he pulls the comm free, dropping it beside a large monitor in the cave before padding upstairs, eager to shower Crime Alley’s discount villains away.

He swings by Tim’s room first, finding him at his desk, eyes soft and cast toward the window. His expression is somber albeit a tad thoughtful, and Jason promptly pulls him out of whatever muted stupor he’s currently lost in.

“Well,” he starts, nudging the door open wider, eyes flicking to the textbook open at the desk. “You’re doing better than I did. Studying wasn’t really my forte.”

Tim twists around and cocks his head to the side. “You were a straight-A student.”

Scoffing, Jason drops against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Hey. I didn’t say I wasn’t smart.” He nods to the book. “And you’re essentially a boy genius, so do you really need to do that?”

“It’s a good distraction,” Tim sighs, turning back to the window and dropping his cheek against his fist.

“A distraction from what?” Jason’s eyes narrow into sharp slits, watching a small line of tension take to Tim’s shoulders.

“Dick left.”

Jason’s taken aback. Dick comes and goes all the time – they all do. He can’t imagine Tim will be here long, and he, himself, is only staying the night before he heads back to the safe house he’s been frequenting by himself in the morning. Now that he thinks of it, he’s sure he overheard Steph mentioning packing for a trip with Barbara in a few days.

“He’ll come back,” Jason responds, and Tim spins around in his desk chair with a sigh that’s far too long and heavy for a kid his age.

“I know that. It’s just,” Tim pauses, waving one hand around, “too quiet without him here.”

“That’s a bad thing?” Jason cocks a brow, and Tim huffs.

“You know what I mean – Dick’s all energy and smiles, and everything just feels better when he’s here. When we’re all here together.”

This, Jason thinks, is edging a delicate territory he’s not adept to handle. His vocabulary rivals Alfred’s, and yet, piecing together words into a sentence that’s both optimistic and comforting is not something he feels he’s capable of. Instead, he steps into the room, dropping his palm to Tim’s head, and the silence that follows is sharper than Bruce’s best batarang.

“Jason,” Tim finally mutters, voice flat.

“Is this comforting?”

“No, it’s weird.”

Jason rips his hand away, a sigh of relief slipping past his lips. “Well, that’s one thing we can agree on.” He turns toward the door, muscles faintly aching, his reminder that he really wants to shower and sleep. “Night, Timmy. Dick will come back soon.”

He opts not to look behind him lest he wants to feel a big-brother spark of guilt he’s just too exhausted to handle. Instead, he slips out of the room without so much of an over-the-shoulder glance.

---

Jason’s alarm starts softly from his phone, and he slams his hand against it with a low groan, trained to wake at the quietest of sounds. Outside, the sun’s not quite made it up and over the horizon, still casting the manor in a soft glow – a view that Dick swears by. Jason shuffles over to his window and takes in the view for roughly four seconds before he decides he’d rather see it through the visor of his bike’s helmet.

Still, before he can leave, he’s got one more thing he needs to do at the manor – a rather brilliant idea, if you ask him, he came up with in a sleep-ridden mind right before he conked out for the night.

He’s not Dick. He’s better than Dick.

He changes and perks an ear to the sounds down the hall, hearing the others waking. Once he hears Tim’s bedroom Keurig stop running, he acts, plastering a triple-watt smile to his face and storming out of his room.

“Ugh, Jason,” Cass mutters, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing?”

Jason doesn’t respond, waiting, instead, for Tim to open his bedroom door, and the moment he does, Jason sucks in a long, swelling breath.

“Good morning!” He shouts, dragging out each word, making his voice as loud as possible, a bright bellow that sinks into every crevice of the manor.

Beside him, Cass cups both hands over her ears, and Damian merely turns back into his room, slamming the door behind him. Duke can’t get to his phone fast enough, and Tim promptly jumps out of his skin, his coffee splashing from his mug to burn against his hand and stain the floor. There are footsteps pounding up the stairs, and Jason smiles even wider, his cheeks stretched and tight, and he sucks in another large breath.

“Jason, what the hell—”

Jason cartwheels down the hall, narrowly avoiding a puddle of coffee to stop upright before Tim. He ruffles Tim’s hair, his forced smile fading to something softer, more genuine. “Morning, Timmers!”

“What in the world is going on?”

Bruce is breathless at the end of the hall, and Alfred’s trying, and horribly failing, to hide a laugh behind a cough.

“I’m telling my family good morning,” Jason shouts, arms outstretched. He offers Tim a wink and leans in close. “Grayson’s got nothing on me,” he whispers, tone devious, before he presses a kiss to Tim’s cheek and claps a hand to Tim’s shoulder.

When he pulls away, he slips past Bruce and Alfred, maneuvering around them with a practiced grace that could rival Dick Grayson. “Something smells incredible down here!” He adds from the stairs.

“Oh, Dick’s going to love this,” Duke mutters, ending the video recording on his phone.

“Should I call Leslie?” Bruce asks, worried, his attention torn between the startled and amused faces before him, and the echoing sound of Jason singing Broadway showtunes from the kitchen downstairs.

Tim looks down to his coffee mug, his hand faintly burning and sticky, and he smiles warmly. “Nah, Jason’s fine.”

[ambelle]

Alright I got some shit to say about Dick Grayson. This is probably full of typos but oh well.

I know it’s popular now to hate on Dick and I’ve even seen people say they hope he dies. For me I’m just sad. This isn’t the natural trajectory of his character. And it’s worse than Bruce because what drove Bruce to be such a bastard was how alone he was. Dick is not alone so the switch up doesn’t even make sense in that regard. When he was “being Batman” in season 2 he was doing so in the way he went about solving the case. Using Joey to find his father was cold but Dick himself didn’t become cold. He still cared about people around him and didn’t dismiss them.

And frankly it doesn’t help that the Bruce they’ve shown to us in s3 is a bad father but also seems more crazy than anything. He had an emotional breakdown and killed the Joker and then tried to kill himself. There’s nothing to suggest that Bruce didn’t stop being cold and awful after his BS pushed Dick away. He got Jason almost immediately after and when Dick told Bruce why he left Bruce decided maybe he shouldn’t be the one to help Jason. Maybe the Titans are better off at helping the kid out and when that failed he got him therapy, called him his son, urged him to quit being robin because evidently it hurts people. He did none of that for Dick- Bruce is not the same.

I don’t say any of this to let Bruce off the hook. I say all this to point out that Dick and Bruce resolved this last season. That Dick grew passed this and rebuilt himself so he’d never try and be someone else again. To point out Dick would copy Bruce’s methods but never the way he treated people. And most importantly that if they wanted us to believe Dick’s behavior is so terrible and so off putting, then having Babs fall for him doesn’t make sense. She’s against everything Bruce is allegedly and yet… The barely negative reaction from those surrounding him feels like enabling. And having Tim come in to force Dick to do what Bruce did- recruit some innocent to be Robin- doesn’t make sense.

Why would the show ever force him to do that? To literally become Batman and train a new Robin ( which any and all bad things that happen to Tim as Robin will be Dicks fault by the shows logic ). And you have the fans saying “OMG Dick don’t be a jerk let Tim help.” But???? Is the entire season not about how Bruce abused poor Jason and made him fight crime and it screwed him up so bad he became a drug addicted terrorist? Did Babs not lay into Bruce about Robin ruining Dick’s life while everyone clapped and said “OMG yasss Queen you sure girl bossed him!”

So I have to believe the writers simply hate Dick and Nightwing. Nothing else makes sense unless I look at this from the perspective of people who want to torture him and turn his fanbase against him. I’m mad at Dick but at the same time I feel like I’m not even looking at the same character. Maybe they wanted us to turn on him in s2 and it didn’t work so now they are trying harder. Maybe they really will kill him off the show at some point and have a Robin they like take over.

This soft reboot they did this season undid all of his progress, it undid everything we know about Dick’s core values, it introduced Babs as someone who talks shit about Batman but apparently wants to date him actually, and it made the Titans background noise. It’s the worse case scenario but I gotta say I never thought this show would make me not like Dick. Like I truly didn’t think they’d change who he is at his core and it’s not even to drive a plot because nothing is happening. Every single thing Babs said in that scene to Bruce all of it means shit if Tim becomes Robin. And if Dick is responsible for that I don’t know how his character is meant to bounce back from that.

RIP though king cause I do love you even if the writers don’t

[redjaybathood]

Ghosts of a future past

"A man should stand for something," Willis says.

He is crouching not that far away, his hands on his thighs, no movement to help Jason drag himself up. Jason doesn't need it, and honestly, doesn't expect it from Willis.

"What lesson did we learn today?" Willis said just a moment before.

The answer is, don't expect fathers to do anything for you. You just setting yourself up to the world of hurt.

"See, Bruce, he did it because he stands for justice, not revenge. The fact that he killed you is immaterial."

Jason coughs the waters out of his lungs, finally, and picks himself up.

The beach he washed up on is familiar. He doesn't recognize the buildings that surround it, probably built after the earthquake. But he knows this grey sand, this fishy smell in the air all the more disgusting if you know there's no fish in Gotham Bay.

A gunshot rings. A scream. Sounds of people running, swearing, impact.

Home, sweet home.

Jason looks down on himself - somehow, he is still in the funeral suit, and he is puny. He wants to ask Willis what year it is, but he's a hallucination, he doesn't know shit. About time, or about Bruce.

Jason goes to where the fight is. Always does.

Some time obviously passed. He doesn't recognize the colors: it's neither Black Mask's nor his. His arrival doesn't stop them from trying to beat each other. And now, being what he is (and what it is, exactly? Except a game-saved copy of what he looked at fifteen and back from the dead), he can't make them stop. No AK-47 to take their minds off each other and pay attention to him, no intimidating built.

No idea if he actually should interfere. There are no firearms in sight now, and the fight seems personal, not business. Something about "not looking so hot without your gun, huh?" and going out with someone's sister, gun or not, they would make him pay.

"That's right," Willis appears behind his back. Talks directly into his ear. "You don't give a shit if they kill each other because when you ever gave a shit about people last? It's all me, me, me, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. All your speeches about saving people when all you do is kill."

"I also maim. And set fires. I'm a well-rounded individual," Jason says.

And that gets him noticed.

"Who are you?" one of the boys shouts at him. "Are you with this piece of shit?"

Jason sees that the boy, the one accosted by three others, looks at him briefly to check if he maybe should claim him or not. Jason doesn't look all that imposing - or like a normal person at all, with his black suit wet to the point water still is running down in a puddle at his feet. The boy decides not to, but uses this time to run away.

"Do you know how to get into the library?" He says to distract the others.

One of them tries to catch up with their target but fails. The rest quickly close on Jason, ready to work off some frustration.

Thing is, Jason could fight all of them off. Willis, unseen to them, goads him to do it. But he doesn't want to move much. Doesn't want to do anything at all.

He knows perfectly well that even if he wipes the concrete with them, it's not going to stop them from going after that kid, maybe even with bigger numbers. Three to one, from what Jason's seen, didn't do much for them.

So the only reliable way to stop them is to kill them, which is overkill.

"What are you gonna do in the library at ten at night?" One of them shoves Jason's chest.

"I came from waters but I have a sudden thirst for knowledge. I don't seem to know a lot of things: what day and year is today? And where did you get your gun?"

"Oh, shit, the gun," a tall and lanky one says and jogs to where, presumably, the gun was thrown off. It takes him some time to find it.

"What's it to you, wanna buy? Do you have the cash?"

"Professional curiosity," Jason says. "I was out of town for a bit, but before I left, I worked for Red Hood for a while. I remember him enforcing the "no dealing to kids" rule, which included weapons as well as drugs."

"Shit, you were really gone for ages, man. Red Hood is dead. His rules don't matter anymore, and you won't get clout throwing his name around."

He is shoved again, but this time, he catches the teen's hand. It's a short brawl. They swing at Jason, Jason throws them to the ground. Repeat. Repeat.

"Tired yet?" he asks.

He gets a string of unimaginative expletives in return. Kids these days.

"Do you really want to know where did he get the gun?" Willis asks from where he's sitting on the ground, wet dirt not concerning him at all.

Probably because he's not really here. The cigarette he's holding seems real, though. The smoke churning Jason's guts.

"What are you going to do, knock on some doors, guns blazing? You don't even have guns, and you dream if you think Batman didn't find your stash. Talia isn't going to back you either. She bet on Black Mask, didn't she? She told you to leave Batman alone. She never wanted you to go after him. She cared for you, but she loves Bruce. And you tried to hurt him. And come on, you don't really believe in all that bullshit about keeping kids safe, do you? Not after you beat the new Robin up. So who are you pretending for? Just kill them if you want to kill, leave them be if you don't."

"I asked you guys two simple questions," Jason says evenly. He's not even out of breath, and the teenagers are lying on the ground now, seemingly giving up on trying to continue. "Today's date and where the gun comes from?"

"For fuck's sake, you psycho," the owner of the gun says. "It's 2006 and it's my dad's, okay? He worked for that asshole Red Hood, too, and he's in prison now. Not like he can use it, getting 20 for possession with intent to distribute. I knew where he's hiding it. Nobody sold it to me or anything."

"See, that wasn't hard," Jason says and picks the said gun, intending to throw it into the bay at the first opportunity. "Now, go home, kids. Stay in school, don't do drugs, yadda yadda."

He gets a middle finger in response. All in all, it went better than expected. He doesn't need to go track the seller down. Doesn't need to do anything.

He doesn't want to do anything, that's the problem.

Except maybe for Willis to shut up.

He checks the safehouse. It's in pristine condition. He can't even find bugs, and all the weapons and money are still there. The armor doesn't fit him, and he doesn't really look like his fake IDs.

He checks his messages. They stopped coming about a month after his death. Batman cracked down on Red Hoods hard. Good for him, Jason thinks. He can't muster the energy to handle them right now, and it's a relief he doesn't have to.

It's not that the plan itself was bad. He talked about this option with Bruce, before: taking over the underworld - with less murder, but he was on a short timetable, here. The principle is the same anyway. You establish yourself, you make them listen to you only, and you go from there. Initially, Bruce proposed to gather all them in one place and make a police raid. Only Jason argued that it would never work because police literally can't keep their mouths shut, someone would let it slip, that it is a sting operation. Better, he said, to take them one by one, seemingly unrelated to you.

Both of their plans failed. He probably can try again, focus only on that, no distractions. But.

Jason goes to sleep.

When he wakes up, there is no Willis. Sun doesn't shine through blackout curtains but he knows it's daytime.

He finds himself a doctor. A week of scans and tests, the doctor surmise tentatively that there's nothing wrong with his brain.

"Except for how I see dead people," Jason says wryly. "And barely can get out of bed sometimes."

"Well, it looks like maybe a psychiatrist would be a better help," the doctor says. "Or an exorcist. It's Gotham, after all. Your father may just as well be a manifestation of grief as a ghost."

Yeah, no. This isn't Hamlet, and Jason doesn't grief for Willis anymore. He made peace with his death. Made peace with his killer - saved his life, even. 13 years old Jason was kind of dumb. Or was he? Dent really went on the straight and narrow, eventually, after his face was restored. Before killing Hush. But Tommy Elliott is the kind of man killing who is the only sane choice.

"Just like you," Willis says in the evening. "That's why Bruce killed you, isn't it? Why Ra's wanted to. You're dangerous. You're a curse upon this world. You only bring trouble: Sheila has to flee the country and ended up going to Joker for help. Cathy got stuck with you, and you know how it was for her since then, the pills and then the needle was the only escape. And your dad, he's worked my ass off to provide for you and got thrown to jail. And died. And you couldn't even kill Two-Face for that. But somehow you expected someone to do it for you. You expected Bruce to do it for you. And threw a goddamn tantrum when it didn't happen."

Okay, so, psychiatrists? He doesn't trust them, not in this city. But exorcist is an idea.

He doesn't know one off the top of his head, but he knows someone who might know: Zatanna.

Okay, so he knows of her. It's better that they never met before. Maybe she didn't even hear about Red Hood and would be inclined to help him get in touch with people who deal with hauntings.

It's hard to find her contact information. There are no shows booked, and the contact form on her website seems to be a void. Jason doesn't know if she even received his message.

But, another Zatara pops up - Zachary. The best teen magician of all time. Briefly on Teen Titans team, though it's pointedly not on the advertisement. And the next show is just an hour away from where Jason is.

Of course, he goes.

He doesn't watch the show itself. Seems like Zac uses real magic instead of stage one. It takes all the fun out, in Jason's opinion. So he times it, he is going to intercept the magician in between his performances. It's only 15-minute window, and it's going to be his eighth performance in a day. No way labor laws allow that. Being overworked, an in-demand performer, and a teenager makes Zatara an asshole. Based on what he's hearing.

Jason waits until Zatara is alone in his room - and the moment doesn't come. Eddie Bloomberg does.

Jason freezes. Eddie grew taller. He seems like life's been rough for a while, and yet his voice still carries that upbeat quality. It's good, that life didn't put out the spark in him.

It's bad that Eddie tries to light the demon's candle.

Jason throws the door open but it's too late - the only thing he can do is to follow through to the portal.

And they go straight to Hell. Probably. It might be just a dedicatedly decorated basement somewhere.

There's a lot of gasps and who are yous (from Zatara) and are you really alive (from Eddie) and let's get back to business (Neron).

"I can offer you power, Eddie Bloomberg," the demon says. "Let's make a bet."

"Let's not," Jason interferes. "Eddie, you don't need powers. You're perfect as you are. You are a hero because you want to be."

"No offense, Jason," Eddie looks at him like he's haunted. "But you don't know what's it been like, for me, the past few years."

"I don't, so let's just, go somewhere where you could tell me? Zatara," he says to the magician. "Get us out of here, now."

Zatara doesn't say anything and doesn't get them out of here.

"Please," Jason adds.

Neron laughs.

"He can't, can you? You pride yourself on being the best teen magician, but it's only because your cousin overgrew this category. No, your power has limitations, Zatara. Maybe I ought to offer you a deal too."

Zatara only squeezes his mouth tight.

"I'm sorry," Eddie says earnestly. "I didn't listen to what you wanted to say. You wanted to warn me you won't be able to get us out, right? I didn't listen and now we can't get out of here."

"No, you didn't," Zatara snaps. "So listen to me now: don't make any deals!"

Eddie starts to nod but then Neron speaks again.

"I can hardly let you go without you even listening to the terms, can I? So here's my proposal. Is your trust in Blue Devil strong, Kid Devil?"

"Yes."

"And nothing can shake it?"

"Yes! I trust him with my life. I looked up to him all my life. And will continue to do so."

Jason has a bad feeling.

"So here's the bet," Neron says. "I will grant you powers, and if you keep your trust in Blue Devil for three years, until you're twenty, this is it. The bargain is fulfilled. But if you lose this trust, come your twentieth birthday, I will get you body and soul. You will become my protege. I will understand, of course, if your faith in your hero isn't as strong as you would make us believe..."

Jason sees Eddie opening his mouth, to argue, to agree. He claps his hands, once, to break the moment.

"How about a counter bet?" He says. "I don't know if you know who I am. But I'm really not that bad. Someone even predicted I will destroy the Earth. So, let me be the price. You give Eddie powers, and me, a condition, similar to what Eddie got. Though maybe the opposite. I had my trust in my mentor shaken. If I start to trust him again before I'm twenty, the bet is forfeited, you get me, and you don't touch Eddie."

"I know who you are, Jason Todd. And I don't make bets where I don't have any chance of winning. You know how I know you? I offered your mentor to resurrect you, and he refused. Not even thought long on that one. So no, I don't think you will ever restore your trust in him. However..." Neron looked him up and down. "You have a new faith now, don't you? You believe you can see who's guilty enough to deserve death. So if you are all too willing to sell your immortal soul in place of Kid Devil, I will accept. Only the terms are as follows: if you ever kill an innocent person, you not only going to Hell, you are going to be mine."

"No, Jason, you don't have to..." Eddie says.

Yeah, see how it feels now, Eddie, don't you.

"Agree," Jason says.

So the deal is struck. Eddie becomes much redder, taller than even Jason was before he dies, and he has a tail now. It moves anxiously from side to side, as though it belongs to a big cat.

Oh, and there's also horns, but those are cute, too.

They are transported back to Zatara's lounge.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" Zatara rages.

But Bunny, his assistant, appears. He's awaited on stage. So he doesn't get a speech in.

Instead, it's Eddie who is asking him tentatively.

"What did Neron say about killing people?"

"I did that because I thought that what I was doing before Joker killed me didn't work," Jason says. "So I tried harder. And I still died, again. Oh, it's why I came to Zatara. Thought he could help me check what's up with me coming back to life. And if there is a ghost haunting me. I'm not too sure."

"Wait up. You tried killing people? And you died again? When? How? How long you have been alive again?"

"The second time? A week. Before that, for about a year and a half, two, depending on how to count."

"Oh."

Eddie looks not hurt, exactly, but lost. Jason feels guilty, but he knows he was right not to reach out to Eddie. Ut would bring him only problems.

"How you've been? Why did you want powers all of sudden, something wrong with your suit?"

Eddie rubs his neck.

"Well, besides it's being lame?"

"No way. You built it yourself, and it wasn't only armor, you could fly with your Trident! Robin suit never had anything that could let me fly. You were always twice the hero I was, or any Robin, really. The current Robin? Pshsh, talk about lame. He wears pants, it's weaksauce."

"I tried to join his team. Twice. First time, I almost got in, but Young Justice disbanded immediately. Then I wanted to join the Titans - but there were so many people at the audition. And everyone had powers."

Jason nods.

"Well, since Titans were established, they had at least one powerless guy on a team at all times. Robin. So powers aren't everything."

"You guys got training, gadgets, experience. Blue Devil never liked that I tried to emulate him. One time, we saved a plane from crashing. He called my parents on me. Then he pretty much ghosted me until my aunt died. And then he died a couple of times, and now he's back again but. We're not in touch."

Oh. So now Jason feels even more of an asshole. He tries to come up with apology, or words of comfort.

"Believe me, having a mentor like Batman isn't all that cracked up to be," he says instead. "I mean. Two Robins died, you know? And I don't know about the current Robin, but my predecessor, he couldn't wait to get out of the house. When he came back, sometimes, they were at each other's throats. I think it got physical a couple of times. I didn't realize how messed up it was until way after. Until."

He rubs his throat.

Willis takes an opportunity to show up.

"Until it's been the same with you, huh? Only it's not the same. You deserved it."

"Whoa," Eddie jumps. "How did you get here? Jason, who is it?"

"You can see him?"

"Well, he's right here! You look very similar, actually."

"That's because he's my dad," Jason explains.

His relief, however, is short-lived.

"That's because I'm him."

tbc

[mxtantrights]

PAST LIVES - 2 blurb

this takes place after the epilogue, when the reader and bruce’s relationship is growing. happy reading!

“And what can I get your partner?” the waiter asks.

You do an actual spit take. The waiter jumps back a bit at your reaction, and begins to stutter in his place. Bruce puts his hand up to calm him down.

“It’s alright. We’re uh-” Bruce begins to wonder what word would fit best.

You want to laugh a bit. Because to you, there’s only one word to explain it. Family. He’s your father. Your his child. But you haven’t had any run-in’s with people who have, to your face, mistaken your relationship. Therefore, there was no way to correct them.

“Family,” You begin then look down at the menu, “I’ll take the clam chowder soup. Do you also have the crackers you know to- dip?” 

The waiter nods his head feverishly. He then takes the menu from you.

“Coming right up, and I'm sorry about the mistake.” he says.

“You’re good.” you and Bruce say at once.

The young man leaves your table. You look at Bruce and he’s got that same look on his face. It’s a copy of the one that he had when you talked while cleaning the dishes. It felt like a life time ago.

“It would probably be good to get ahead of the rumors.” you say.

“Yes.” he says.

“I mean, if we do continue to have fancy lunches like these.” 

And by some stroke of luck, you see Bruce Wayne crack a smile in public. And not the ones that Dick says he plasters on for others. The one that doesn’t reach his eyes, and doesn’t show his bottom teeth.

He clears his throat, “How do you suggest we do so?” 

You raise your pointer finger up while you other hand digs into your coat pocket. When you take out your phone, you unlock it with your finger print and open instagram. 

You rarely use it. It’s really just a place to post cool photos of food and sunsets from your place. And it’s basically Fallon’s fan account. 

With a few click you open the camera and turn around in your seat. You watch through the screen as Bruce seems to pose? You only question it because it feels like he doesn’t do much. He just shifts into a better position and smiles.

You snap the picture and turn back around in your chair.

Putting your phone on the table so he can approve of the picture.

“Operation Rumor Queller is a go.” 

You feign a pained look, “Please tell me you don’t name all the operations and missions.”

He shakes his head.

“I leave that to the boys. Mostly Dick and Tim. Jason when he feels like it.” 

“And Damian?” “He’s only come up with one mission name so far.”

“Which one was that?” “The mission to save you from al Ghul. He said it under his breath, though.”

You gulp. It’s not that you didn’t think Damian didn’t care about you. In fact you could place a very big bet that he cared ample about you. But you know that him growing up with Ra’s made it difficult for him to outwardly express emotions.

You only spent a couple of of years there and you found it hard, once back in Gotham, to control your resting face. Let alone expressing your emotions.

“What did he call it?” you ask.

“Operation half blood.”

“Jeez, okay I won’t hold it against him. He’s only a child.”

-

TWENTY FOUR HOURS LATER

You sit with Bruce on the patio. Since you were working on an upcoming project about Dog’s you were granted permission by Damian to hang out with Titus. 

You laptop hasn't been opened even a crack. You’re lap was occupied with more precious cargo, Titus’ head. And even though he was sleeping, you could tell Bruce had something on his mind. Something he wanted to ask you.

“Okay if you hated the selfie you can tell me that, the silence if really unnerving.” you say.

Bruce lets out a very quick chuckle. 

“It’s not the picture. Which, by the way, Tim put up on his wall.” he says.

You laugh lightly at that, trying not to wake Titus. But you don’t make another nudge to get him to speak. You’ve found that once you’ve asked him something, he’ll answer in one form or another. 

“When you were fighting Ra’s, you took the hits like they were nothing.” he says.

You don’t know what to say really. You’ve been in enough counseling and therapy sessions to know that it must’ve effected him to see that, and to want to bring it up. But there’s no sweet words that you can offer him about it.

“I’m okay now.” you say.

Out of your peripheral vision you see him shift in his chair. He’s uncomfortable.

“I know you are, but- I just couldn’t stand to see it. You're-”

“I’m your child. I know. It’s hard to see your child get a beating by an immortal mad man.” 

You want to laugh because the joke you made was kinda funny. But you also know the it’s not the time. Bruce Wayne was a man of many faucets and he was trying to make emotions one of them. Right now. With you.

“I’m sorry for failing you.” 

It hits you like a ton of bricks really. You don’t think he would ever say that. Because you don’t blame him for anything. You’ve learned to not blame anyone for anything, on most days. Bruce wasn’t to blame for anything that happened to you, on any day.

You turn you head over to get a good look at him. He’s got the beginning streaks of grey in his hair. He hasn’t shaved in a while, no Gala’s this month. And Tim has been handling things publicly for the company.

And yet he’s got bags under his eyes. Visible bags. 

“You couldn’t have failed me Bruce, you didn’t know there was a ‘me’ to fail. Besides, right here and now, I think you’re doing a great job.”

He looks over at you. And maybe he’s got allergies. Or he’s just put in eye drops while you weren’t looking at him at the speed of light. But you swear you can see his eyes are glassy.

-

A WEEK LATER 

“And what happened to your reflexes?” Damian asks.

It becomes silent at the dining table. You’ve sat across from Damian and his friend Jon. To your right is Jason, your left is Tim. Across from Tim is Conner. Bruce is at the head of the table like usual.

“I mean I haven’t had the need for them so...” you trail off.

“Not at dinner Damian.” Bruce says.

Damian rolls his eyes and you stifle a laugh. 

“I mean I was able to get your grandfather off my tail a bit so they’re not lost.” you say.

Damian smirks.

“Knock it off we have guests.” Bruce tries again.

“Oh come on, it’s nothing new to them.” Tim says.

Bruce stills for a moment. Tim’s comment makes you look at the two young men. They were brothers, as you were told, and that was about it. You knew they had to have known something about the LARPing that goes on at night. But you wondered how much they knew.

Jason sighed, “They’re part of the superfamily.”

Your eyebrows rise up your forehead, “Woah.”

Both boys look at you sheepishly. Then it hits you. How Damian was able to get into your apartment the other time when it wasn’t connected to the fire escape. He provided Jon as the reason, and now you knew why.

You put your fork down.

“Okay but wait- does this mean your best friend is superman?” you ask Bruce.

He puts his fork down too.

“Define ‘best’.” he says.

“Oh, so he’s you’re only friend. Got it.” you answer with a curt nod.

Tim and Jason laugh at that. The super boys hold back their chuckles. Damian’s smirk is still on his face.

“I’m going to give your phone back to Killer Croc.”

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

Copy or Individual? (Prompt Drabble)

Warning: Itsy, bitsy Angst Word count: ~660 Prompt: “I’m (Y/N) Fucking (Y/L/N)”|”Are you proud of me?” Pairing: Batfam x reader (platonic) Requested by @krystelitabella09

“Which weapon do you want to train with Today?” Jason asked you as he stepped into the ring in his training clothes. You were standing a few feet away at the weapon board and mustered your choices. “I thought maybe I’d go with the nunchucks, I really like their flow,” you smiled, your hands already laying on your choice. “Oh, Dick tried that when he first took on the mantle, didn’t go very well, I don’t even know why we still have them,” Bruce intervened and walked over to you, taking the nunchucks out of your hands. “But-” you tried and he immediately interrupted. “No, believe me, it’s better that way.” He walked away with the weapons in hand and disappeared into the training area. “I’d try the Bo-staff,” Jason ignored your slacked shoulders and the frustration radiated by you, “There’s a reason it’s Tim’s favorite.” You wanted to protest, wanted to fucking explode after months upon months of being compared to your priors like you weren’t your own person but a new copy. But you didn’t. You just stayed silent and took the Staff.

That was the beginning of the end. After that, you noticed it more frequently, hourly even, and you tried the best you could to ignore it. But the thing that finally set you off was when you were being scolded by your team-members for a SUCCESFUL mission. They were going on about how your tactic was completely uncalled for and about how they all had told you their way of handling it which would have worked so much faster or so much better. “We explicitly told you about how Damian hand-” “STOP!” you finally snapped and shot up from your seat, balling your fists in frustration. “Fucking stop! I’m (Y/N) fucking (Y/L/N)! I’m not Dick Grayson or Jason Todd. I’m certainly not Tim Drake and in no way am I Damian Wayne! But when I became Robin I thought that was what made each of you so great! That you’re all different from each other and not just plain copies, but I guess I was wrong! You know what?” you ripped off the metal R of your suit and threw it to their feet, “I’m done. I’m just fucking done.” You heard them say something from behind you, but you ignore it, ran over to Jason’s bike (which luckily still had the key in) and drove away into the night. Bruce had seen the whole ordeal and he knew you were right. He hadn’t noticed before, but you saying it out loud made it clear. Somehow they had all tried to project themselves on you and failed to see that you were already great in your own way. The others wanted to go search for you, but Bruce quickly shot them down and made his own way to where he thought he would find you. It was a rooftop in central Gotham. The same rooftop he had first met you. 

He almost sighed from relief when he found you sitting on the edge of it. He was still ten feet away from you when he heard your voice. “Are you proud of me?” Your voice was timid and filled with sadness. “Of course I am,” he said and stopped beside you, looking down at his city, “And I’m sorry that I was so horrible at showing it. Even after five children I still don’t really know how to be a good dad or a mentor. And you deserve better. You’d be better off with Green Arrow and Black Canary in Star city.” “But I don’t want to be in Star city, I want to be here, I want to be Robin, but my own version of it,” you shook your head. “And I want you to be that,” Bruce agreed and pulled the Nunchucks out from under his cape, “And I know just how to start with you being a new Robin.”

[odos-bucket]

So to continue my thoughts on Clark and Bruce adopting Jason together (begun here)

They go back to crime alley the next day. Bruce brings a copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel for Jason, who seems vaguely surprised to see them again. He isn’t as wary as he had been when they’d met in the middle of the night, and even sits beside Clark when they get onto the bus (though both end up giving their places up to other passengers before they can reach their destination).

At this point Clark and Bruce are focused on the idea of getting Jason enrolled in school, so the intention with this get together is to familiarize him with some potential institutions. Bruce was up all the previous night researching Gotham boarding schools, and reaching out to faculty members.

Despite all the preparation, the whole thing goes terribly.

Jason seems fine on the bus, but is tense and anxious during the actual school visits. He’s engaged by the classes and lectures he sits in on, but overall feels out of place, and is distrustful of pretty much everyone he ends up interacting with. He’s feeling conflicted, because he loves school, and he knows he’ll be pissed at himself forever if he really has this opportunity and ends up letting it slip by. But on the other hand he’s justifiably paranoid about perceived kindness from strangers (and yeah maybe it’s a little easier to trust Superman than it would be just anybody, but he still doesn’t really know the guy). And even if there isn’t some hidden catch to the offer, he’s not sure he can get on board with living somewhere where there’s a curfew, where his activities would be monitored. The idea of ceding any amount of control in his life at this point makes his skin crawl. He figures he owes it to himself to at least see if this is something that could work out, but goddamn if everything about it isn’t overwhelming and kind of horrifying.

And that’s all before other people start making themselves problems. Everywhere they end up going there’s bullshit to deal with from students, teachers, and administration.

Because of course the people running facilities designed to cater to Gotham socialites don’t treat Jason right. Even with freakin’ Batman and Superman with him he gets suspicious glares and withering looks.

None of that is any less than he expected. What really gets Jason is how put off everyone seems to be by his questions. He comes into every office with a list of things he’s curious about (Batman isn’t the only one who stayed up the previous night to prepare). He wants to know what percentage of the student bodies are there on scholarship, how the meal plans work, what the curfews are, how tightly regulated students’ time is outside of classes, what his life would be like if he put it into their hands.

The administrators don’t like the ‘interrogation’. Which is absolutely insane, because really they should expect any prospective student to have questions. And they should be prepared to answer them. That should be a part of their job, right??

But there’s this attitude of, “We don’t need to explain ourselves to the likes of you,” of, “Just be grateful you have a place here at all.” And that’s what puts Jason over the edge, has him realizing that this isn’t something he’s going to be able to deal with.

It’s after he gets more or less the same reception at the third place they’ve visited, that he finally just has to leave. He can’t take it, he can’t stand it, he has to get out of the office before he bites somebody’s head off.

He gets outside as quickly as he can, and feels some relief breathing in the fresh air (fresh by Gotham standards at least). He feels so stupid for believing he could have this. Really he should have known better. And he hates feeling stupid more than anything.

Superman trails out after him. And Jason can’t figure out what he’s still doing here. And he’s embarrassed to be upset in front of him. And he’s angry that he feels embarrassed when he doesn’t have any good reason to be. And-

“Jason.”

His name ends up cutting through the disorientation he hadn’t quite realized he was experiencing.

Superman is in front of him, just far enough away that he can’t reach out and touch him. Jason stares at him.

“This is shit,” he says, trying to keep his voice casual.

“What happened?”

They had offered to go in with him to meet the dean of the first school. Jason had turned them down, and they hadn’t offered any of the subsequent times. He hadn’t exactly been keeping them apprized of what was going on either, even though questioning him wasn’t something they had given up on after it had failed to yield anything the first time.

“The same thing that always happens,” Jason says. “No one really want someone like me at their fancy school.”

Superman’s eyes narrow.

“What happened?” He asks again. “What did he say?”

“Doesn’t matter… Look, this has been fun and all, but I kinda just want to go home. So if you don’t mind-“

Batman appears with them as quickly as he’s able to disappear. Neither see where he comes from. He’s just suddenly walking toward them, meeting them, and continuing on without slowing down.

“We’re leaving,” he grunts.

Jason hesitates briefly, confused. But then his thoughts catch up to him enough to realize that leaving is exactly what he wants to be doing, and he hurries after Batman.

The heroes are deeply engrossed in their own conversation as they make their way off the grounds. It’s soft, and urgent, and Jason assumes it has something to do with the fate of the world, which he’s vaguely interested in. But he doesn’t think they’d appreciate him asking questions about things that don’t directly concern him. So he says nothing.

As they get closer to the street he realizes he’s not sure what happens next. He’s feeling tired, and frustrated, and he both really wants to be alone, and doesn’t want them to leave him. Mostly- at least so he tells himself- he wants to make sure that they don’t leave him without bus fare. He’s pretty sure they’ll give it to him if he asks, but he’s also hoping that he doesn’t need to ask.

Once they’re off the property, Batman turns around to face him.

“Jason, I’m so sorry. I don’t know exactly what Dean Sterlins said to you, but if it was anything like what he was saying while I was in there, it was way way out of line.” He starts off sounding tired, and ends up sounding angry.

Angry grownups are something that Jason generally tries to avoid, but Batman’s anger doesn’t feel particularly dangerous, and as he goes on it shifts into something more like urgency.

“Please believe, we never would have knowingly put you in that situation. I- Were the others the same?” There’s a hint of resignation in his tone that suggests he already knows the answer to that, so Jason doesn’t feel the need to do more than shrug.

Batman sighs, and it comes out as such an unexpectedly sad sound that he almost snorts out a laugh.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” Superman asks gently.

Because he had been holding out a stupid hope that if he stuck with this long enough he might find something worthwhile. Because he didn’t want to give them a reason to believe he’s more trouble than he’s worth. Because it didn’t occur to him that they might genuinely want to know until literally just now.

He shrugs. The heroes exchange a look.

Jason’s grip on the book Batman gave him tightens slightly, and he clears his throat.

“Look, uh, I’m sure there’s somewhere else you guys need to be. I appreciate you taking the time to…” He gestures around. “You know.”

“There’s no where else we need to be today,” Superman says.

“Oh… Okay?”

“There’s one more place we’d like to take you,” he continues. “If it’s all right with you. It’ll be the last one.”

Jason wrinkles his nose. He kind of just wants to go home at this point. The optimistic ‘maybe the next place will be different’ feeling he’d had at the beginning of the day has long since shriveled. And curling up with his new book sounds pretty nice right now.

But at the same time, the last three visits have all included opportunities for free food. It stands to reason that this next one will as well. That should make it worth it even if he already knows with near certainty that they can’t be heading somewhere where he might actually have a future. Plus, Superman has this dumb, hopeful look on his face that it’s hard to say no to.

So he takes the bus with them to a fourth location. The ride’s a little less than half an hour long, and the building they arrive at looks different from the campuses they’d been to earlier. It’s not huge. The architecture is pretty simple by Gotham standards. It’s more immediately recognizable as a school.

They go inside, and Batman stops to exchange a few brief words with a woman in the front office.

“There’s a seventh grade English class starting in about ten minutes,” he informs Jason afterwards. “Would you like to sit in on it? We can meet back here afterwards.”

Jason agrees eagerly. This was the part of the last three trips that he’d actually liked. Maybe he can get in and out without needing to sit down with any deans or headmasters.

He attends a class where the students aren’t wearing uniforms, where he gets a few curious glances, but no lingering glares. He gives a note from the woman at the front desk to the teacher, and a few kids offer him greeting nods or smiles before the lecture begins.

The class is more than halfway done, and he’s been deeply engrossed in a discussion about The Giver- which he has never read, but now fully intends to- when all the observations he’s been making about this place click together.

The class ends, and he meets his chaperones back in the hall- where Superman is entertaining a group of ten year olds- to inform them of his realization.

“This isn’t a boarding school,” he says, once the rest of the kids have shuffled on to their next classes.

“No it is not,” Batman agrees.

Jason scowls.

“I stopped going to regular school for a reason,” he reminds them. “I can’t do this. As in literally can’t. I tried!” He’s trying not to sound upset, but it feels like they’re teasing him with this one.

“School’s a lot to manage without a stable living situation.” Batman says.

Jason huffs out a low agreement.

“So we were thinking…” He looks around, as if confirming the hall’s emptiness, before stepping into Jason’s line of sight. “We were thinking you could come and stay with us, and we could bring you to school here.”

Jason’s mind doesn’t process the offer fast enough for him to react immediately. Even once he’s sure of what he’s heard he thinks he must be misunderstanding. He looks up and at each of them try to draw clues from their expressions, their body language. It’s nearly impossible to do with Batman. Superman looks open, honest, and… hopeful. But that’s how he always looks, so does it really even mean anything?

Unable to make any useful interpretations, he asks the only question his mind has been able to form.

“What?”

“Would you like to come and live with us?” Superman says clearly.

Jason continues to stare for several seconds.

“Both of you?” He asks, because that’s interesting, and far easier to comprehend than the idea that someone might want him.

Batman clears his throat, and Superman-

-Superman blushes, which is enough to distract Jason from all the bizarre turns this day has taken.

“And, um, and our son,” he adds. “We have a son. He’s about five years older than you.”

The gears in Jason’s brain turn and click together.

“Robin,” he says quietly.

The vigilantes exchange uncertain looks, like they’ve been doing all day.

“Nightwing now,” Batman says, barely loud enough to be a whisper.

Jason just nods, because this is insane, and despite being born and raised in Gotham, he doesn’t always have a prepared response to insanity. A long moment passes, and all three of them stare at each other.

“Y- you want to foster me?” He says the words so so carefully, like he could chase the reality of them out of existence if he misspeaks, like he’s sure he hasn’t understood them properly.

“We do,” Superman says, quickly enough that the breath that had caught in Jason’s throat as soon as he’d gotten the question out can escape before it gets the chance to make him light headed. “We really do.”

Jason can’t imagine how this will work. He’s pretty sure it’s not a process that can be undergone with fake identities. Does that mean they’re willing to let him know who they are? Or maybe there’s some kind of exception for super heroes. He understands the procedure well enough to know that it’s bound to be a bureaucratic nightmare.

“Yeah,” he finds himself saying before he’s done thinking it through.

Today has been weird, and exhausting. But he likes this place. And he’s pretty sure he likes these people. And really, he would be crazy to say no, wouldn’t he.

“Let’s try it.”