#but I am saying read this instead of gotham war

[preciousthingsareprecious]

With volume 2 of Wayne Family Adventures freshly released, and as your local librarian and Batman nerd, I feel the need to let everyone know that Wayne Family Adventures has at least 2 more volumes set to come out!

So if you love this series as much as I do (and I mean, come on look at that family) go get volume 2 if you haven't, then pop volumes 3 and 4 on pre-order! It's a great way to let DC know just what content we love and want to see more of, especially in print! Also if you can't swing the books yourself, ask your local library to order them! It'll help share the amazing adventures with a whole new set of readers!

You can find all the associated pre-order links here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2289628/crc-payne

Now go forth and enjoy some fantastic family times!

[flyingcatstiel]

SuperbatWeek 2024 fic recs

Day 7: FREE DAY!!! Superbat? | Superbat! | Superbat

a song came after by susiecarter [T, 4,500 word count]

It requires every ounce of will he can bring to bear to force himself to meet Clark's eyes. Clark looks shocked; the expression is undiluted by anger or dismay, though perhaps he simply hasn't had time to grasp what just happened. His eyes are wide, round, impossibly blue. Color is rising into his cheeks. His mouth is half-open, slack, with the slightest damp shine where— "That was," Bruce makes himself say, and then stops. Christ, what word can he use? What adjective is there that acknowledges his trespass fully? "Inappropriate." Inadequate, but it's the best he can do, and Clark needs to hear something, needs to know Bruce recognizes his own mistake for what it is. "I apologize. I—"

Comment - This fic starts where usually fics with a similar trope end. Bruce is out of the dream world where he lived happily with his husband Clark. For thirty years. Now he's to deal with the cold reality where Clark is not his beloved. Muscle memory is his biggest enemy.

Conflated by PamiGami [T, 31,900 word count]

“Are you sure you’re feeling quite all right, sir? I was but fairly sure the head hadn't been impacted.” “No… no, please. Listen. I’m in his body, but I’m not him. I can prove it.” Ill at ease, Clark rubbed at the back of his head, not stopping to think about the weird sensation of feeling not his own curls, but somebody else��s hair. The man continued to stare at him with piercing and scolding eyes. “I believe you.” He nodded. “Mister Wayne doesn’t say please this early in the morning.”

Comment - Somehow, Batman and Superman have switched their bodies, their apartments and their day jobs. Clark and Bruce are left to figure out what to do and why they're sharing a body with some random civilian. Identity shenanigans, full throttle.

Just a Formality by FabulaRasa [E, 4,600 word count]

Bruce and Clark get married, for reasons. And then they fall in love. Nope, it's not Victorian time travel! I am straight up about this.

Comment - Clark didn't know that some things on this earth could be as painful as kryptonite. Things like fake marriage.

Saudade by liodain [T, 20,400 word count]

It's midsummer, 2006. In the wake of his son's death, Bruce Wayne tries to outrun his grief on a cross-country road trip. When his car breaks down on a dusty road in the heart of Kansas, a friendly stranger stops to lend a hand.

Comment - A soft, melancholy start to a beautiful long distance friendship between a grieving father and a Kansas youth with a heart of gold. Also known as a fic where Bruce and Clark meet before the events of Man of Steel and it changes everything.

ship-to-ship combat by pomeloquat [M, 76,800 word count]

"Clark. What the hell is this," Lois asks, staring at Clark's Bruceman WIP folder. Clark's first instinct is to fly away, but that would still leave his fic on display for her to see. His second instinct is to blast a hole straight through his laptop screen with his heat vision, which isn't much better. Clark, in an attempt to make some spare cash, unintentionally stumbles into the world of superhero fanfiction, becomes a prolific writer for Gotham's OTP, and tries his best to fend off rival fans who want him to convert to superbat instead.

Comment - Triple identity shenanigans and a love letter to fandom and shippers. This fic has everything - heartbreak, heartache, unrequited feelings in double doses, self sacrifices and near misses, ship wars and RPF. And on top of that, it's the funniest fic I've read across many fandoms, hands down.

tell all the truth (but tell it slant) by susiecarter [M, 33,000 word count]

It takes a while for Batman and Superman to work things out, once Clark comes back from the dead. Pretending to date each other in order to explain why Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are in the same place so often? Doesn't help as much as you might think.

Comment - When Batman himself is organizing and micromanaging a fake dating narrative to keep their superhero identities secret, what could go wrong? Apparently, everything. It's the worst time of Clark's life, it's the best time. It's a love story.

And last but not least, some spicy superbat fic recs!

Caught In His Gaze by DontStopHerNow [E, 1,500 word count]

This was supposed to be a stakeout to be sure Clark Kent had not lost his mind due to Kryptonite poisoning. Batman gets more of an eyeful than he expected when Clark does what people do alone in their apartments, though. He cannot look away.

What's In A Name? by frozenpotions [E, 15,000 word count]

Clark accidentally walks— or rather, flies in on Bruce enjoying a private moment. He'd probably have an easier time moving past it all if Bruce hadn't been saying Clark's name.

take a pic, strike a pose by shipyrds [E, 5,600 word count]

It’s probably a good thing Clark’s in private, because when he does check his notifications he almost cracks his phone in half. Bruce has sent him a picture. He’s in the suit, in the Batcave, and there’s probably other things happening in the picture, but Clark can’t really see any of those, because Bruce is– posing? Or maybe the camera just caught him like that; maybe he just happened to be catching his cape one-handed, setting off the sinuous curve of his bicep, the Bat logo straining across his chest. -- Bruce sends Clark a pic. Unfortunately, it goes out to some other people too.

My other superbat fic recs are here.

Happy reading!

[zahri-melitor]

Recent Reads:

Barda (2024): I am always interested in judging what they do and don't put into the young adult stories. I thought this was a solid adaption of Barda's backstory and the Furies, to my mind. I'm not across all the versions, but it felt true to what I was hoping to see in the story, which included Barda's positioning both in terms of what it's like to grow up in Apokolips but also the harm she has done as leader of the Female Furies and complicity in torture.

I enjoyed it! It's worth seeking out.

Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler: well this sure was a comic written by Tom King and drawn by Mitch Gerads. Even if I had not looked at the title page I could have told you that from the specific way their collaboration lays out a comic.

It's a very Tom King prestige comic, with all that that implies. This one isn't openly hung up on the military. (His prestige work tends to be his best work. Don't fight me on this)

This is not even near my favourite conception of Eddie, though it's also not at the bottom either. Definitely trying to lean into him as a threat. It doesn't, however, show him having fun with his puzzles, and I think at the heart of all the best Riddler depictions he needs to be both cocksure and personally entertained by what he's doing. Even (especially) when it's particularly dark.

(if you want favourite characterisations, Cliff Chiang's Catwoman: The Lonely City and the way Paul Dini writes him, particularly in 'Tec #845 are highlights)

Batman: One Bad Day - Two-Face: Mariko Tamaki did a good job here. I particularly think she has a solid grasp on Steph's character, because she had Steph argue with Bruce over Harvey and whether he's worth redemption and second chances.

"I hate it when villains aren't just villains. Maybe it's not fair to the Dents of the world, but I like to think it protects me from the creeps."

Steph's whole thesis here is that they shouldn't be making an extra effort for Harvey, just because he was Bruce's friend, because villains are villains and they can't and won't change, and even when they do, they'll ultimately backslide. It's a very conservative view of criminalisation, and it's one Steph's had since her creation by Dixon, and which makes a lot of sense given her background and her problems with her father.

Bruce and Steph then have a fight over "Harvey isn't Arthur". What makes the fight particularly interesting to me is that Steph's arguing that if Harvey was committed to changing we would see it, and she hasn't, while Bruce still believes that Harvey can change and is trying to, because he's seen Harvey work on it. While Steph has absolutely no trust or belief in her father. And they're talking past each other here while having a conversation.

It's some great character work. Because Bruce at his core is fundamentally committed to rehabilitation and hoping that everyone can be saved. While Steph, for extremely good canonical reasons, thinks that criminals remain criminals, and that if they want to stop being criminals they have to show the work for people to trust them; because she was betrayed while growing up.

(The actual plot of this story was good too. But people like to say that Steph doesn't have any good characterisation post Flashpoint, and I'm here to point wildly at things like this and Tynion's 'Tec run and ask what their issues are, because this is another extremely solid congruent-with-pre-War Games-Steph story)

Batman: One Bad Day - The Penguin: I could definitely tell this was a John Ridley story. I think part of my discomfort with this was that it wanted to be canonical and non-canonical at the same time. It's very clearly set in approximately the 2022 present for Bat comics (Renee Montoya is Commissioner, Oswald has recently been kicked out of Gotham)...but it's also very much an alternate history, where instead of pretending to be dead, he's been replaced by "The Umbrella Man" who has stolen Ozzie's life. It's rather like a rerun of the Emperor Penguin plot except for the fact that The Umbrella Man is a random black man (yes, thanks Ridley) who points out a bunch of class disparity issues to Penguin.

It's just a very odd plot choice to run for an specific oneshot at this point in the storyline, because completely separately we are in the process of doing "Oswald vs his children who have killed all their siblings to inherit the Iceberg" in main continuity. Get a second Penguin plot please.

Mostly this is a parable about accepting who you are and not being a bully, or the Penguin will rip out your throat. Or something. It worked, it was just...really obvious nobody knows what to do with a Penguin plot. Just do mafia and black market stuff!

Batman: One Bad Day - Mr Freeze: I don't recognise Gerry Duggan? He's apparently done about 2000 Marvel comics and a whole 8 DC ones. Oh! But he wrote Arkham Manor! Oh my gosh so many things suddenly make sense, including the fact that the motif of this comic was Victor making snow angels.

I loved Arkham Manor and particularly the way Victor was characterised in it, even though that characterisation wasn't exactly standard Mr Freeze (it was comedy Mr Freeze). What we got this time was hmmmm a very self-absorbed Victor, where the plot specifically removed some of the pathos of Victor's devotion to Nora by showcasing a number of ways he was overly obsessed to the point of harming Nora before she passed away. It wasn't quite the direction of depth into Freeze we've seen other stories go recently, but it definitely committed to him being potentially quite harmless if you frame things around Nora in the right way to get him to focus how you want him to.

I have to say though, I don't think Duggan has a particularly good grasp on Bruce or even Dick. There were a bunch of moments where Bruce calls a completely random street thug an "irredeemable villain" and that "he belongs in the deepest hole we can throw him in". I'm sorry, did I pick up a Bruce Wayne comic or a Jason Todd one? Because uhhhh that's not standard Bruce personality. Alfred was even snarking at Bruce about how "Forgive me gentlemen, I must be suffering from a senior moment. I thought Master Bruce just said he though a criminal could change."

YES! YES HE DOES THINK THAT! THAT'S BATMAN'S WHOLE THING! HE BELIEVES HE CAN SAVE EVERYONE! HE BELIEVES THAT THEY CAN CHANGE! We literally just had the Two-Face story two titles before this be all about how Bruce is overcommitted to believing that Harvey can recover and trying to help him!

Okay poor Bruce characterisation aside, this was a fairly fun Year 4 setting for the story, and it was the requisite Christmas episode, which I did also appreciate as thematic for release date and chosen villain. Tiny Dick is highly amusing in how he thinks he might be about to get to drive the Batmobile for the first time...and then the autopilot engages. He really wants to drive and comments on how he doesn't have his learners yet (and 7ish years down the track he can end up amused and irritated that TIM got his learners at 14)

I assume Duggan got given a slot on the strength of his Marvel work, and that's fine, except...the off characterisation makes it pretty clear he doesn't have a particularly good or current grasp on at least one of the two main characters of the title. Which is just slightly important for a special high profile series on Batman and His Villains. And I'm saying that as someone who liked Arkham Manor, but enjoyed it for being a quirky offbeat, tonally dissonant story in the middle of the unending angst that was Batman Eternal.

Everyone else in this set has big set piece previous stories involving the characters to point to as why they got picked. Duggan seems to have scraped through on "Big in Marvel, has written one of the few focused on Victor Fries stories in the last decade".

[cuephrase]

What are some things introduced new52 to current day that you like and think are an overall net positive for batfam continuity? (As in, it's not uncommon for me to see fan things that mainly focus on post crisis/pre flashpoint stuff but still incorporate new comic aspects, such as slightly changed family dynamics/new developments, and it's interesting for me to find out what different people think is and isn't worth keeping from what got added after the reboot)

ooooh this is a fun question!!

i was going to say i haven't read that many n52 and onwards runs, and then i realized i have actually read most of the ones i want to, i just haven't read any batman/'tec/batgirl/or duke's runs yet. (i read like...half of We Are Robin, Joker War, and i've read batman from where zdarsky come in so like have also read Gotham War.) (might read Catwoman?? not the point.)

since we're sticking strictly to net positives, i'll include something that i like, even if i have criticisms of it, but i won't get into those criticisms so we can stay positive!! (future cue, so this is kind of a lie but i swear i didn't go overboard.) i'm going to include stuff as minor as like costumes bc why not. also nothing is going to be in order of like what i like the most to what i like the least, just fyi. also, probs not definitive, knowing me i will forget something lmao

New52 Era-

tim's red robin costume. that suit is *chef's kiss* imo. i love that he has wings. i...i don't know if i necessarily want it back rn bc i am sososososo in love with his current robin costume, but i do adore the n52 red robin suit

i personally like that they went ahead and made jason less villain, more anti-hero. i think him trying to reintegrate with the batfam creates some very compelling crises

dick as Agent 37!! which...okay, no criticisms nvm. michael janin's art tho >>> okay well actually maybe sometimes i wish this was like elseworlds/black label instead of mainline but

might be a bit of a reach, but i really enjoy the first handful of arcs in n52 b&r and the relationship dynamic they established for bruce and dami

i like that tim and jason are somewhat friendly. i think it makes sense. for a lot of reasons. this is a somewhat controversial opinion, which i understand. but this is where i stand

did i like anything else from this era specifically?????????

OH

DUKE!!!!!!! i loooooove him very happy he was added

Rebirth Era-

the outlaws, specifically jason's relationship with bizarro. (i enjoyed artemis a lot too!! tbh, haven't read these guys outside of this run tho so zero clue how accurate these portrayals are, so grain of salt?)

the return of dick's fingerstripes!!!!!!! best part of tom taylor's run /hj

TIM'S ROBIN COSTUME AHHHHHH. i'm sorry i love that suit way too much

love damian's current robin costume, although...does he have combat boots rn still? can't remember. if he doesn't, they should give those back

damian + jon's relationship, ik it gets obliterated by the stupid age up, but super sons is still very special to me

tim being bi!! now do kon dc you cowards

alfred's death. i refuse to elaborate. i could, but i shan't (this is not alfred hate tho i swear)

i'm forgetting something rn i know it

oh yeah, i do like tim being robin again. IK. IKKKK. no, i don't think he should be robin forever. no, i don't think dami is a bad robin/shouldn't be robin.

um...i liked dick getting shot in the head. the ric era is not how i would've wanted the aftermath but

i don't want to comment on anything super recent, but i do think there's stuff going on rn that could end up being net positives

the titans being reassembled. jury's out on their location but, i do like that they're back

i'm not counting yj because they're not doing anything with them rn, but they should ugh

i think...i think that's it? there could honestly be a lot more that i'm forgetting. i hope this was interesting!! if there's anything i didn't mention that you're curious about, or something i did mention that you'd like a more in-depth answer about, please feel free to ask!! i'm curious what you consider net positives anon, you should shareeee

[havendance]

I would say ‘Huntress’ as a gimme for you but honestly I think I already know that one; how about ‘Tec runs instead?

13. David Lapham -- I AM grumpy that post-war games instead of getting a tec run that engaged with the changed status quo and the fact that Batman was now wanted by the GCPD, we instead got a 12-part overly depressing and gritty flashback story (and then when we did get something engaging with the post war games status quo it was war crimes :/)

12. David Hine -- wrote a boring joker batman imposter war story that was ostensibly dickbats but really felt like a bruce!Batman story with the details sanded off. I do respect the Question Renee story in the annuals that I'm pretty sure he wrote, but I'm not counting that here.

11. Peter Milligan -- Idk if he really belongs at the bottom here, but I read his tec stuff way back when I was first starting to dip my toe into comics and remember approximately none of it.

10. Andersen Gabrynch -- He wrote some stuff I liked (Bruce buying Jim's old house and some of the pre war games Leslie stuff), however there is also the War Games and War Crimes of it all.

9. Alan Grant -- Honestly, simliar to Milligan, I don't remember a lot of his 'tec comics and didn't read most of them. I remember his Batman and Shadow of the Bat comics more, but he also has the advantage of me liking his other comics.

8. Ed Brubaker -- His tec run was short and not particularly memorable. I remember enjoying it well enough at the time and I have vague memories of pages that were satisfyingly full of explosions at the conclusion of the arc, but I can not tell you any more details than that for the life of me.

7. Chuck Dixon -- I've mainly read his 'tec run through event tie-ins and pre Robin getting a solo series and I don't have any real desire to go back and fill in those gaps. However, those event tie ins were always perfectly serviceable and he also gets bonus points for reintroducing Helena to Gotham and also Steph during it.

6. Scott Snyder -- I agree that his Black Mirror stuff is probably the best DickBats comic, and I really liked the first three issue arc. However, this run also introduced James Jr. (not counting Batman: Year One) for which fact I'm not sure if I can forgive it.

5. Mariko Tamaki -- Her 'Tec run was very fun. I like that she used Huntress. I'm not sure if I'd call it anything outstanding but it was solid and had good art and I appreciated the ensemble aspect in the Tower of Gotham storyline.

4. Paul Dini -- I really appreciate the Dini was like 'I'm going to write so many oneshots' and they were all good. Not sure how much I care about the Heart of Hush or House of Hush plotline or whatever he did at the end, but it was very much one of the highlights of my read at that time.

3. James Tynion IV -- I can really appreciate what Tynion is doing with this run. I like the ensemble, the arts consistently good, and I'll probably end up rereading it when I get to Rebirth in my read.

2. Greg Rucka (first run/New Gotham Era)

1. Greg Rucka (Second Run/Batwoman Elegy) -- It feels a little like cheating to have Rucka in both of these slots but these are two different runs and also it's MY ranking so. They're both very good and different aspects of them live in my head, but Batwoman: Elegy has J. H. Williams art and also Helena and Renee backups so it is the clear winner here.

[moider-time]

Don't be shy tell the public abt our Romeo and Juliet bruharvey au 👀👀👀

👀👀 oh y'all ain't ready lol tbh I doubt I'm gonna do this justice (and bestie I am so stealing some of your lines cause your writing?? so good)

Let's set the scene. We have the Dents (Montagues) and the Waynes (Capulets) who are at war in the streets of Gotham. Christopher Dent thinks he can try and step to Martha and her empire despite so many other people telling him otherwise.

Gilda and Harvey recently split and he's not really in the best mental space. Well he thought focusing on work was a perfectly good distraction but according to Ivy "trying to burn out your retinas by reading legal mumbo jumbo is not fucking healthy, Dent!" So Ivy and Martinez decide that he needs a night out so they drag him to a fancy dress party to de-stress. And that's where he sees him and knows he'll never be the same.

Now Bruce hasn't been on speaking terms with his parents for a while. Not since he saw his mama Martha shoot someone. He still remembers how their blood soaked the pavement, their chest stuttering as if not sure what to do. What hurt even more was seeing Martha blank-faced, not touched by the wriggling of the man in front of her. (This couldn't be the same woman who played Princes & Princesses with him - that dressed him up and made him feel loved. It couldn't be. Why is it her?)

So he leaves, gets a small apartment in well, not the best part of Gotham but it could be worse. He focuses on his passion for art and he's not struggling but his job doesn't lend itself to financial stability. Especially not when he has his babies to think about. He still keeps in touch with Harley and when she invites him for a night out with her and Selina and rightfully brings up him rarely leaving his apartment, he can't exactly say no.

So he makes sure Dick, Cass, Jason and Tim are tucked in, kisses them on the forehead, triple locks the door and heads out. He doesn't think he'll spend that long, just enough time to relax and spend time with his sister and friend. And of course it's at this party that he sees him.

Both Harvey and Bruce can agree that they never expected to see someone so pretty at this party. They see each other across the room but find it hard to push past the ever shifting masses so they can satisfy the attraction between them.

Harvey can feel the heat of eyes across his skin, his scars. He doesn't mind when people stare after all, there's no point in caring about something you can't change. He'll always be him, and people will always be people. And anyway, he'd rather have them judge the ones on the surface. The other ones; the scars he and Jessica shared from the tip of their spine to the belt of their waists, those were worse. Those were personal. Those you kept in the house.

When they finally meet, their eyes lock and their bodies graze against each other. Bruce acknowledged him with fascination instead of disgust. As if his scars were a physical trait out of the ordinary, like purple eyes or blue hair, but not inherently disturbing.

"I like your rings," he said, dropping his doe eyes to Harvey's hands. He hated them because they were silver. He started loving them again.

"Do you want one?"

Bruce smiled with his whole mouth, "Only if you take some of mine"

The music shifts so something soft and slow and as they swap rings, their bodies begin to sway and dance. Harvey carries Bruce's sapphire blue ring on a chain right above his heart. A silent promise of sorts. Bruce wears a small coiling snake with a white diamond as one eye and a black one as the other on his thumb and even then it's a bit loose. And doesn't that sight just leave Harvey breathless?

Neither of them know when they start to lean in, when their breath starts to mingle. Bruce, standing on his toes and asking if Harvey's ok with this. Saying it's alright if he isn't, that he shouldn't feel pressur- And Harvey leans down to connect their lips while they're moving to their own music.

Kissing Harvey felt like nothing else he could've imagined. Bruce had kissed a total of 3 people by his age of 29. Selina in middle school, bored and grumpy with having to act the damsel in distress in their school play. Oliver, when they were 16 and curious, scrubbing their lips until they bled and Khoa. The last lover, the love who outlived all Bruce was.

Harvey kissing him now undid 4 years of pain. It awoke romance from its graveyard sleep and spread something lovely and gentle but aggressive and savage in Bruce still. They floated through the music, not noticing or maybe uncaring of the footsteps approaching them. Bruce floated when Thomas dragged him out the door, a snake on his finger and whiskey on his lips. He hoped Harvey floated when Jessica did the same.

[gffa]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SAME ANON AS BEFORE RIGHT HERE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REPLYING!!!!! I'll go check this issue out right this instant, though the whole Gotham War is kind of -- ehem -- STUPID AF gotta say I really, really loved what that page's just showed us ♡.

You're welcome! And hahaha I'm actually enjoying Gotham War reasonably okay so far? The set-up is flimsy as hell, anyone can spot the flaws in both sides' arguments (the ones that are being brought up and the blisteringly obvious ones that are being ignored because they would shoot holes through the storyline) but I remain convinced that Gotham War isn't actually about a war for how to fight crime, but is instead a story that's specifically designed to play on Bruce's building trauma and mounting mental health crisis. The build-up to this story has been about Zur-En-Arrh literally rattling at the cages of Bruce's mind (both in the storyline and in that whole "I Am A Gun" shorter story that Zdarsky did), the build-up has been about putting him through a run of really bad villains too close together (Insomnia, Failsafe, Red Mask, etc.) and how he's cracking under the strain of it. The first two issues of the bigger storyline are almost ENTIRELY about Bruce feeling like he's losing his mind and he's being stripped of everything that makes him Bruce Wayne instead of Batman--his home, his love interest, his kids, his city--all of it is eroding away from him when he feels like it's the only stable thing he has. Gotham War as a storyline about the crime argument is ridiculous. Gotham War about Bruce being broken down into a fractured thousand pieces and trying desperately to find things to hold onto, all while he's so bad at it because he's still dealing with unending amounts of trauma? A lot more interesting when viewed through that lens, for me. It's been playing on some very interesting struggles for him, to the point I'm enjoying him as a character on his own for almost the first time ever! (I'm usually "Ehhh, Bruce doesn't interest me unless you're having him play off someone else who is important to him. But you give him like five mental illnesses at once and suddenly I'm sitting up and going OOH TELL ME MORE. orz) So, I cautiously recommend the storyline (like my big long semi-defense of it 😂) but also no pressure, some people just aren't going to like it and that's fine, there's room for both views and opinions! But honestly I don't think it's as bad as I was fearing it was going to be, I've found a LOT of good stuff in the storyline so far! And I always want to offer conversation about why I liked something if someone wants to wander by and read it, so, you know, take or leave my views, but I actually kind of enjoy this storyline and I've got cookies made for anyone who wants to come join me. ;)

[apopcornkernel]

I dunno if Jason feels in character to me. I feel like after Gotham War an in character Jason would be desperate for proof of love (especially since Bruce asked why he shouldn't kill Jason). He isn't even crying. He can't be the emotional one but also the forgiving and calm one. In Gotham War he was criticizing Bruce but after Bruce fucked him over now they are chill? I dunno. Jason has a mean streak even if he will always choose Bruce in the end. (He definitely shouldn't be volunteering to die for Bruce after what happened in Gotham War, it feels like Bruce should be making it up to him but instead Jason is making it up to Bruce?)

Like, I am not convinced Bruce really cares about Jason at this point. (at least not in any way that matters.) So, I cannot see why Jason 'let me kill this guy to prove you love me' Todd would think so.

(He 100% should be running back to Bruce, as he always does, but he should be more violent and aggressive. Noticeably upset.)

i have no idea what prompted this ask since i havent talked about gotham war at all other than laughing at him dying again gsjdhdj but i do agree, anon!

i really don't like how zdarsky has been writing from what I've read of gotham war before & pages ive seen floating around. like, bruce essentially kills him (and that's AFTER the fear thing) and he's just okay with it?? it's beyond strange, i don't fw current batfam at ALL 😭 (<- saying that bc ive had other people argue that it's in character for jason to be more familial in this current era of comics.) the last part, absolutely. he can hold a grudge like nobody's business and if it's bruce?? even moreso!!!

[duskyashe]

NaNoWriMo Day #20

[masterlist] [part one]

=============‹«⟨··•|^^^|•··⟩»›=============

There wasn't outright panic. The League was too good for that, her father demanded nothing less. There were, however, a lot more frantic runners and assassins on guard. Somehow, someone had gotten through all their defenses, all their traps and trained sentries and her, and kidnapped the Demon Head's heir from right under their noses. And they had gotten away. No one even had any clue when the kidnapping had even happened; they hadn't discovered anything was wrong until breakfast, when Damian had failed to show after being summoned.

Talia Al Ghul stood in the eye of the deceptively calm storm that was the League of Assassins. One wrong move, one wrong breath, and everything she had worked for, everything she was, was liable to go up in flames. Her son was missing, and no one knew how it had happened. If she wasn't terrified for her own life, she'd have taken her fury at the sentries incompetence out on them already. It was their duty—

"Milady! The guest quarters are empty!"

No. He wouldn't. But he did, didn't he.

"Gather the troops, we're headed to Gotham," Talia snarled, stalking out of the chamber, barely hanging onto her temper by her fingertips.

I pray you're ready, beloved. Your son has declared war on the League.

=============‹«⟨··•|^^^|•··⟩»›=============

He tensed, stupidly, as soon as he woke up, more than half expecting pain to greet him. Instead, what greeted him was a poke to the face. Hard, but not painfully so. Screwing his face up in confusion, Jason opened his eyes, blinking furiously as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. There was a kid staring at him. A mini B, with darker skin and green eyes perhaps, but Jason had seen the older family pictures, the ones from before Batman was ever even a pipedream. The kid in front of him, who was staring at him with wary curiosity, finger still extended as though to poke him again, looked exactly like B did at three years old.

"Who are you?" Jason rasped, confused. He knew Bruce didn't have a kid, so where— "Where-wait-what—" taking the room in, really taking the room in, told Jason two very important facts. One, he wasn't with the League anymore, and two, where he was looked like any other apartment bedroom he'd ever been in. Well, except for the strange looking medical equipment, of course. How do I know it's—?

The door behind the kid that he hadn't paid attention to opened, and a guy about Dickie's age walked in. He looked like a cross between Superman and Jason, which was something he'd never thought he'd ever have to think about. Tall, strong, one heck of a presence, but with messy, unkempt black hair, clear blue eyes with caution in them, and freckles lightly dusting his nose and cheeks. He also, Jason noted as he distractedly noticed the mini B hopped down to hug the guy, felt safe. His presence, while intimidating at first, felt like a cool summer breeze while lazing about the manor gardens, reading his favorite book while B sat nearby reading a newspaper. He felt like a guiding hand, a comforting hug, a protective shield—he just... He felt safe.

"Hey, there," the guy said with a small grin. "Glad to see you awake. My name's Danny, this little guy is Damian, you're in my apartment in Amity Park, Illinois." Bright blue briefly flared pit green and Jason felt his own eyes flash back. "And though we're trying to get in contact with your legal guardian so we can explain some things, cuz I am not going to be like Vlad about this, I just gotta say, well, I've waited a long time to say this. Welcome home, Jason. Welcome home."

=============‹«⟨··•|^^^|•··⟩»›=============

I DID IT! TWO PARTS OF A FIC WITHIN A CALENDAR WEEK! WITHIN DAYS OF EACH OTHER! AHHH THIS MUST BE A MIRACLE! *ahem* Sorry about that, I, ah, got carried away (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ it's... Been awhile since I've done this, writing "chapters" of a fic and posting them as I write them, and it's been even longer since I've managed to do it within a week of each other... It's... Nice, in a way lol

This ficlet is dedicated to kyrianclawraith, whom I apparently cannot tag in this post, for giving me the motivation to actually write this continuation, like I'd been thinking about but not seriously considering yet. Thank you, friend, for your kind words! (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆ You rock.

@draconicalvara, @fisticuffsatapplebees, @onyxlightdragon, and @sachabakkerr all asked to be tagged in the continuation, so here y'all go! Hope you liked it (⁠◠⁠‿⁠◕⁠)

Have a good morning/day/night!

[batfamdcposts]

Not to be back on my bullshit again, but I’m back on my bullshit again. SO! Who wants to hear my reasoning as to which Hogwarts House each of the the batkids belongs in?

Dick “I am 9 and will absolutely put myself in the line of fire to find my parents’ killer and make this city better” Grayson is a Gryffindor, hands down. He started it all. He set the precedent for actual children fighting armed adults on the streets. “I was practically born on a trapeze, jumping and flipping off of high places—try and stop me dad, I dare you.” His compassion and kindness are so, so admirable, but they don’t outweigh the insane courage and borderline recklessness that are at the core of his character.

For the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, don’t try to tell me that Jason “I read Jane Austen in my spare time and value knowledge for the sake of it” Todd is anything except a Ravenclaw. Thank you. Ravenclaws can be agents of chaos too.

Tim “I stalked Gotham’s vigilantes from a young age, out-stubborned Batman into letting me adorn a name a child recently died in, and double-crossed Ra’s al motherfucking Guhl while simultaneously destroying another criminal organization” Drake is a Slytherin. He doesn’t value knowledge for the sake of knowledge, he values knowledge for potential future utilization. Sorry lads, he’s not a Ravenclaw. He’s a slippery little shit, that’s what he is. (affectionate)

Damian “I was raised to be a merciless killer, but I fight against that conditioning, protect my loved ones, still have enormous amounts of compassion, and try to adopt every animal I see” Wayne is a Hufflepuff, thank you very much. Hufflepuffs can be entitled and cranky too, and general demeanor doesn’t dictate the core of one’s personality.

Duke “my parents were permanently jokerized, but instead of hiding I choose to work hard to protect this city” Thomas is also a Hufflepuff, plus he looks great in yellow.

Cassandra “I couldn’t read or speak because others wanted the most effective living weapon possible, yet I try so hard to do good, save people, and grow” Cain has one of the most giant goddamned hearts I’ve ever seen. She uses her skills to help people even though she only got them by enduring so much pain. She’s unbelievably loyal to those around her and deserves to have that recognized. Congrats, it’s a Hufflepuff!

Stephanie “I didn’t even have a mentor like Dick did; despite that, I became a vigilante in my own right and brought my father down” is a Gryffindor. That takes so much courage I don’t even know what to say. Also, I love her, but my girl is as reckless as it gets. “I may have started a gang war that one time.”

Barbara “badass and clever as hell” Gordon is the information center of the bats, and she figured out a way to continue being a vigilante despite partial paralysis. I don’t think I need to continue explaining why she’s a Ravenclaw.

Thank you and goodnight!

[hood-ex]

I have read and am reading comics but it isn’t really clear to me how Jason went from trying to kill Bruce and Tim to kind of an ally. Could you explain this? And did other characters like Tim and Dick have something to do with it?

Sorry if you’ve already answered this.

(Completely separate from this but I just wanted to say it: I really love your fics and I absolutely adore your characterisations and how much they align with canon)

Right, so, Jason's relationship with the family didn't get positively rebuilt until the N52 reboot where parts of Jason's backstory were condensed to fit into N52's weird timeline. Babs summarized all the terrible shit Jason did before the reboot as "insane acts that he should be in prison for." She, rightfully, had a hostile attitude towards him.

However, Lobdell didn't write Tim with the same hostile attitude towards Jason despite the fact that Tim hated Jason in Post-Crisis. He had Tim and Jason feeding each other information instead (RHATO Vol. 1 #8). Jason admitted that he hadn't always been the nicest guy to Tim. Tim responded by essentially brushing off all the terrible shit Jason had done because Jason "had a lot to digest" after he'd been murdered/resurrected. Yeah, so, Lobdell basically had Tim wave away Jason's past crimes just to create some bullshit relationship between them.

On a separate occasion, Tim reached out to Jason and suggested that Jason should come help the family with the Court of Owls situation (AKA help them stop all the Talons from killing people). Roy, Kory, and Jason then ended up helping the batfam out. So Jason and Tim were given more of a positive relationship in N52 but it wasn't developed in a natural way that made sense. Lobdell just decided all the beef between them wouldn't exist anymore.

The aftermath of Batman: Death of the Family led to Jason being more integrated into the family. After Jason was hurt by the acid in his helmet, he and Bruce reconciled (RHATO Vol. 1 #18) enough to work together. That was why Jason agreed to go to Ethiopia with Bruce (Batman and Robin Vol. 2 #20). But during that mission, Bruce abused Jason's trust in order to get information to save Damian. Later, Bruce tried to gain Jason's trust back (and Babs and Tim's trust as well). It resulted in Bruce asking Babs, Jason, and Tim to protect Gotham while he went to Apokolips to resurrect Damian (Batman and Robin Vol. 2 #34).

After that whole mess, Jason was then seen working more with the other Robins during the Batman & Robin Eternal series and Robin War event.

So, basically, the events of Batman: The Court of Owls and Batman: Death of the Family are what led to Jason becoming more of an ally to the family. If you want an idea of what Jason's relationship with the family initially looked like during that time of rebuilding trust then I'd take a look at Batman and Robin Vol. 2 #10.

[stxleslyds]

Jason doesn't show up in DC's animated series (though the does "spiritually" show up as Tim Drake in Season 2 of Batman the Animated Series).

Jason has a strong presence in the video games, though. So what is your opinion on Jason's characterization for Arkham Knight? He is a DLC for the Injustice games as well. Judy be warned that I did watch some clips of Arkham Knight and the torture was too gruesome for me.

RED HOOD IN VIDEO GAMES.

Hey there friend, thank you for the ask!

INJUSTICE 2.

I had to do some research on Red Hood’s appearances in the Injustice games because I was never really in touch with that story. Here is what I knew about it, there are two games for PC, one of them is Injustice and the other is Injustice 2, the games also have the comic books that give context/background to the lore of the game.

I used to play Injustice: Gods Among Us on mobile phone, and I had Jason as a playable character there, I also found out way too late that “Nightwing” wasn’t really Dick Grayson, it was Damian because he took on the mantle after he and the rock killed Dick in the comic (forever mad at that ridiculous death and the kinda scary art that comic had).

I looked for information about Red Hood’s backstory in wikis and all that because I refuse to read an alternate universe book written by Tom Taylor, there are things that I am just not willing to do.

All in all, I think that this Jason was in surface level, the same as his canon comic counterpart up until the time of his resurrection. Given that the world was at war and the League of Assassins wasn’t working openly, he and the others had to live in the shadows, he seems to have been trained proficiently by both Batman and the LoA so he is a very hardcore opponent. There are some bits of his story with Damian and a place called Gorilla City that I do not understand because I haven’t read the comics but I am fine without it.

The thing is that this Jason is pretty cool, he sticks to his morals and fights for what he believes is right, he doesn’t look like the kinda guy that takes sides in this war which is probably the best idea. Both Batman and Superman seem to be on the wrong side of history with they ideals.

What I did see and I loved eternally was the ending to Red Hood’s story, I will link the video here! But I will also copy and paste all that he says there because I think it’s really important and where I was able to see more of his characterization.

"That. Felt. Good. Titanium composite hollow point bullets with a C4 kicker. Fastest, most explosive ammo in the world. I made them myself. With the invasion over, Bruce and Superman started fighting again. I wasn't down with either of them. On the one hand, the Regime's right. Scumbag murderers and rapists deserve to die. But on the other hand, I'm no fan of government authority. Especially the dictatorial variety.

So, while the world's finest fight each other, I fight for the people. The weak. The innocent. Anyone who can't protect themselves. When they cry out for a saviour, I'll answer. As for the criminals that threaten them? They need to know that their actions have consequences. That the Red Hood is coming for them.”

This is excellent, I absolutely love this, this Jason knows his morals and doesn’t bow down to anyone and in the end, he is truly a hero to the people that need heroes the most.

Him saying that he believes that some criminals have to die but that he can’t really join Superman’s side because he cannot associate with it because he isn’t a fan of dictatorial ideas, I love this man.

I feel like this is a fair characterization for Jason, I believe that if something along the lines of what happens in Injustice happens in current continuity then Jason wouldn’t join any sides, he wouldn’t be neutral per se but he will fight for his own ideals. And his ideals in most universes are protecting people and I think that’s great. I love to see a world where Jason is seen as more intelligent and put together than the Batman.

Something that I find quite funny and interesting from this game is the dialogues that characters have with each other when they fight, I found this video compilation where you can see all the dialogues between Red Hood vs Robin (Damian Wayne), they are so fun and I love the animations too.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT.

Oh, ArkhamVerse Jason, my beloved.

He is, to me, the epitome of this meme.

I have actually watched the whole game playthrough, several times, and Jason had a DLC as the Red Hood for that game (Nightwing has one too and I will talk about it later because I love this version of him). And, yes, the torture scene is very gruesome, it was incredibly sad and it made me feel bad. But I also think that they made it that way so it could support the kind of storytelling they were going for.

The reality is that this Jason suffered his whole life, and was constantly introduced to lifestyles that he never wanted to be part of. The world around this Jason wasn’t kind at all to him and there is a long list of people who did him wrong.

Although ArkhamVerse Jason didn’t die, like his comic counterpart did, he suffered the most. And his suffering really drove him to be the best version of an unhinged Jason Todd. But it’s clear, his brutality and murder intent isn’t laced with his Red Hood persona or at least not on the same level as it is with his Arkham Knight persona.

This Jason’s characterization works to perfection, but it only works that way because he was well developed within the game lore and the comics. This Jason was extremely well trained, he is probably the smartest version of Jason, his mind and his level of preparedness are unparalleled when it comes to other Jason Todd variants (a little MCU Loki talk right there).

I would go as far as to say that this Jason would be an excellent match to peak Dick Grayson from before New 52 in comics. Those two would clash so immensely, but man, it would be one hell of an intellectual and physical fight. Two Kings doing what they do best.

Anyway, for now take my word for how well characterized Jason is in the ArkhamVerse, I will make a post were I deep dive more on his character both in game and comics. There is so much to say about him, he is truly interesting and very complex.

Now, I will be a little cheeky and I will use this ask as an opportunity to talk about my man, ArkhamVerse Nightwing aka Pretty Boy.

I love him so much! In the game when you get to meet him (I will link the video here! it’s five minutes long, and worth the watch) you get to see both Nightwing’s and Dick’s personalities. Nightwing is fun and relaxed, he is a little bit cocky and doesn’t let Batman be a pain in his ass, he is truly a beast. Although he is never seen without the mask in a moment when he is alone with Bruce you can really see Dick’s personality shine through. He obviously has had issues with Bruce in the past but there is also this palpable respect coming from both of them to the other. Bruce wants to protect Dick but he acts like a jerk instead of telling him what is on his mind. Dick wants to help Bruce at all costs, he refuses to leave Gotham until they solve something that he was already working on before Bruce needed his help.

There is also this sort of goodbye scene between the two (I will link it here!) that is extremely sad because Dick doesn’t believe Bruce when he tells him that he is proud of him. Dick cuts him off just when Bruce was trying to open up and I think that scene speaks volumes about how rough their relationship was. Dick never finds out that Bruce was “dying” after being infected with the Joker’s blood/gas, so it’s very bittersweet.

There is also the Nightwing DLC, where we get to see Dick being the best of the best, he is so skilled and funny and smart. It is amazing how much this game made me love their Nightwing even though he doesn’t appear much, his dynamic with Penguin is just perfect, Dick literally makes Penguin’s life very difficult. All of the people working with Penguin kinda fear Dick a little bit, some of them are even impressed by his skills.

Oh and, when Nightwing gets captured at some point in the game, Penguin’s men are saying something along the lines of “I was sure Batman will come in” “how come?” “what’s tied up downstairs and getting the crap beat out of it?” “Oh yeah, Nightwing” and that is so true, if I were Batman, I will also risk my life for Nightwing.

I just love Nightwing, he makes me so happy! He is the best here!

Anyway, enough of me loving Nightwing uncontrollably, I will make a separate post where I only talk about ArkhamVerse Jason so, yeah, be ready for that one because I love that Jason too, he is hot.

[jinx-jade]

A little bird and his prey Chapter 2

“What do you mean Menagerie turned into a cloud?” Tim asks dumbly as Damian tells them about what happened in the warehouse.

Tim clearly hasn't had enough caffeine or sleep to be functioning. It was a miracle that Alfred hasn't sent him to bed yet.

Damian still gave him an annoyed look. Not caring how tired he was. If Tim was going to make him repeat the information then he gets to be a bit petty and say it in short 'can you understand me?' talk.

“Menagerie was trapped. She had plugged something into the computer. It beeped. Menagerie turned into a cloud. Grabbed the beeping thing. Flew outside the windows. Locked them all. Then flew away.” Damian repeated, clearly talking down to Tim, which earned Damian a glare from the offended vigilante.

“She just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Tim claimed, rolling his eyes at Damian’s antics before taking another sip of his coffee.

“Ok… So her costume looked like some kind of dragon this time… And she could turn into a cloud… Anything else?” Barbara said as she typed in the information into Menagerie’s growing file.

“Menagerie used blades this time instead of her boomerang weapon from our last encounter,” Damian informs her, Barbara quickly adding the new weapon to Menagerie’s arsenal.

“Huh. Why’d we give the meta or magic-using, always changing, weapon master villain to Demon Spawn?” Jason questioned as he read over Menagerie’s file of the information they had been able to gather in the last five years.

Jason's question as to why Damian was the one in charge of Menagerie’s case was left unanswered in favor of reviewing the file for what must have been the millionth time.

“She’s been a mouse with a whip, a horse with a boomerang weapon, a black cat with a staff, a bee with poison darts, a dog with batons, peacock with war fans, and now a dragon with a blade. How many more animal-themed costumes do you think she has?” Stephanie asked no one in particular.

"How many more weapons does she know how to use?" Jason counters, earning him a thought full look from Stephanie, as if to say 'fair point'.

The room was silent in thought. If Menagerie hasn't shown them all the weapons she knows how to use and she's been in Gotham for five years, that was a bit worrying.

The silence was broken, surprisingly, by Cass.

“Matching,” Cass says, pointing to the blurry picture of the dog costume.

The other bats looked at the dog costume trying to see what Cass sees but weren't having any luck.

“What's matching?” Bruce asked his daughter.

Cass pointed to Menagerie in her dog costume again. “Dog.” She then pointed to the batons, “Stick".

Selina was the first to catch onto Cass’s observation. “Bird and feather, bees and stinger.”

Cass nodded her head to Selina’s words.

“Match,” Cass said again.

“Menagerie matches her weapon to her costume theme," Barbara says as she typed that information into her file.

"When she uses a costume and its weapon Menagerie never has any of her other weapons with her. Why?" Tim asked a bit more awake after chugging his caffeinated beverage.

"More importantly, does she have different meta or magic abilities based on each animal?” Dick questions, Barbara making a note with his questions.

“Next time you run into one of our magic users, ask them about Menagerie. She’s a magic-user after all, so they're bound to have heard something.” Barbara says before calling it a night. Waving everyone upstairs.

All of the bat family present moved from the cave to the kitchen, Alfred handing them snacks and beverages.

“What’s the real reason so many of you are home?” Damian finally asked, knowing that while the bored excuse could have worked for Dick, it didn’t excuse the rest of his siblings randomly coming home all at once.

The Waynes shared a few glances at each other.

“You do realize Halloween is coming up soon, right, Demon spawn?” Jason questioned with an amused tone.

Damian blinked a few times, realizing his stupidity.

“Nope. I forgot.” Damian claimed, before letting out an annoyed huff, having just remembered something else. “That means Menagerie’s off the grid till after January.”

“I, for one, am glad she disappears before Halloween. We don’t need another rouge running the streets causing more work for us.” Stephanie claimed, swinging her legs back and forth from her place on the kitchen island.

“Do you think Menagerie goes home for the holidays and that’s why she disappears?” Dick questions before taking another bite of his cookie.

“It’s possible? Menagerie isn’t insane like some of the other rouges, so the probability of her taking time off to hang out with friends and family for the holidays is relatively high.” Barbara claims not looking up from her computer.

The Waynes continue to talk about Menagerie for a bit before switching to Halloween plans and tactics. They talked about who’s patrolling what area, who’s teaming up with who, and what heroes or vigilantes are coming to help.

The planning only lasted so long and soon the Waynes were joking around and poking fun at each other.

At some point, Cass went stiff, looking out the windows as if looking for something.

“Something wrong Cassandra?” Bruce asked looking out the window to try and find what was causing his daughter’s stress.

“Being…Watched?” Cass signed a bit confused.

Shortly after Cass signed that everyone seemed to whip their head in the same direction to look at the moving shadow figure.

They let out a collective sigh when they saw that it was just a fox.

It was weird to see a fox this close to the manor, but they let it be since it is only looking at them. It was almost as if they were entertainment to the little fox.

The fox has bright blue eyes with a black coat. The coat seemed to shine blue when the kitchen lights hit its fur.

This started a new round of joking and teasing about how even the foxes at Wayne manor have the 'Wayne features'.

Alfred came back into the kitchen and shooed the Waynes off to bed.

He stopped to look at the fox.

Alfred let out an exasperated sigh.

He grabbed a few cookies placing them in a bag.

Alfred offered the bag to the fox, having remembered the fox miracle likes sweet treats.

The fox took the cookies after giving Alfred a small bow.

tag list: @henie04 @only-trust-fictional-characters @lolieg @Moon5608 @animegirlweeb @asrainterstellar @toodaloo-kangaroo @mystery-5-5 @dontbenddontbreak @jayjayspixiepop

[mxtantrights]

past lives | 7

a/n: we’re coming to the end. I wanna preface this, since this is a reader insert, I'm not gonna kill you off. I save that for my OCs (tee-hee) but then also you kinda did die didn’t you?, eh it’s kinda tricky but hey here’s the next part! enjoy!!

You looked at the new phone on your sleek white desk. It had been dropped off by someone this morning before you got into work. Someone who knew you needed a phone, someone who needed to be in contact with you.

You knew exactly who it was.

And if your intuition wasn’t enough, a text can through.

Gotham Academy. 1pm. Pick up the package.

It was close to twelve thirty according to the clock on your new phone. Which meant you had about twenty minutes to get to Gotham Academy, almost seven avenues away.

You grab your coat, bag and your phone and walk out of your office. In the hallway you run into Fallon. You tell them that you’re handling something for your Aunt and you should be back before three.

Even though Ra's al Ghul gave you orders, you had built a life for yourself. You couldn’t let it crumble. 

Into the elevator and down twenty levels, you jog out of the building. Outside you reach the sidewalk and wave your hand to hail a cab. It would be much easier than ordering a ride share and you could tip greatly for increased speed.

Sure enough a black bag pulls up.

You open the backdoor quickly and get in.

“I need to get to Gotham Academy. Quickly! I’ll pay you a weeks worth”

The driver wasted no time- not even to hassle you into putting on a seatbelt. You reach into your bag and take out your special debit card. It was only used in case of emergencies, and this was. 

You swiped it through the machine in front of you. You paid for the ride first.

“I make about 540, I don’t think-” the driver begins.

You then made out your tip to be 540, which should have been invalidated, but it went through. And the driver was the amount come up on his fare dial. He laughs a bit but he also increases the speed.

He doesn’t talk much on account of the fact that he’s speeding and trying to get you to Gotham Academy in the least legal ways. And he gets you there with five minutes to spare. 

When the cab comes to a stop you thank him repeatedly. You get out of the cab and see the academy at the end of the block. Making quick work you walk there, as to not appear suspicious and text back on your phone.

arrived

you get a response seconds later.

you’re ahead of schedule. good.

Someone calls out your name and you look around. You eyes look over the people walking past you until you land on a very short person in the middle of the block. Not a short person, a child.

Damian.

You stalk over to him. He’s wearing a uniform for the school, but he’s outside of the building during school hours? Did he say that he as home schooled during the interview?

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you homeschooled?” you ask.

“I am, I am working undercover and needed something from Gotham Academy.” he answers.

“Undercover for who?” 

“I can’t talk about it here. We should-” 

Before he can finish his sentence there’s a loud boom. Out of instinct from being close to Damian, you pull him closer and tuck him underneath you. It happens really fast. Up in a window of the academy, there’s a fire.  The sound of glass breaking and shattering. And something tells you that this wasn’t random. You being here, and Damian being here. 

You drag him with you away from the building and to the end of the next block. There are swarms of people chattering and looking up at the fire from above. You pull Damian away from you and look at him.

“No cuts right? You’re okay?” you ask.

He nods his head and swats your hands that are checking over him. “I’m fine. What are you doing here?”

“I was in the area. Did you have anything to do with that?” 

“No, I was on a recon mission not- we really shouldn’t talk about this here.” he says.

Before you can say anything more, he pulls out a phone from his jacket pocket and makes a call. He calls out Alfred’s name and shares his location. You take out your phone and look at it.

package acquired?

It was Damian. Of course Ra's lured you into this by using him but that was noe thing. It’s a completely other thing to refer to his grandson as the package you were acquiring. 

You put your phone away, “When was the last time you talked to your grandfather.” 

At that Damian’s eyes widen. 

“I will not go back.”

And at his words your eyes widen. He won’t go back. Meaning he left Ra's al Ghul and he’s not happy. On top of that he’s run away to his biological father. Yeah Ghul is not happy at all. 

“How long until Alfred comes to pick you up?”

“He went to pick up some things. So about ten minutes- give or take.” 

“We need to talk about a lot. But not here- here,” you take out one of your business cards and a pen, scribbling your address on the back of it, “make sure you come undetected.”

“Why?” 

You cleared your throat. How do you tell him that his grandfather is angry and most certainly on the war path to get him back to the island, and he enlisted your help without telling you much of anything. 

You did this.

“You’re built a life for yourself Damian, and I think someone is trying to ruin that.”

“Grandfather.”

You nod once, “I’ll see you later.”

-

Back at your desk you let out a breath. You had just sit down again after running to get a cab back to work. You were lucky that there was no one above you or you wouldn’t have been able to get away with it. 

You have your phone in your hands, text messages open.

negative.

You had texted that exactly ten minutes ago with no response. It couldn’t be good, but it’s not exactly bad. There was a reason he called on you to get Damian back. It meant that you weren’t low hanging fruit like you had thought.

Now you were thinking about that comment he made about Nyssa. Why did he throw that in your face? It was no secret that you and Nyssa were as thick as thieves. But she hadn’t reached out since you left. There was no real way for you to reciprocate if she didn’t want to be contacted. So how could she miss you?

The phone buzzed.

you will get another opportunity. do not miss it.

A knock came from the other side of your door. It was probably Fallon asking if you were okay. You didn't see them when you came back. 

“Come in!”

In walks, not Fallon. Instead you see Tim Drake. Your step brother? You wondered how that worked out. 

“I thought you were someone else. Sorry, come in Mr.Drake-”

“Just Tim.” he says.

He closes the door behind him and takes a seat across from you. Within the time he does that you shut your phone and shove it into your desk drawer. 

“So what can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to pay you a visit and ask how the article is coming along.” he says.

“You came all the way over here to ask about the article? I left my phone number with your father, you know?”

which now that you thought about could be ringing off the hook. You haven't gotten around to getting a new phone yet with the same phone number as the last few days have been a bit hectic. 

You had to get on that soon.

“Okay you caught me...” his pause makes you stare. 

Was he about admit to the whole paternity thing? Why would he do that right now? And why him and not Bruce? You watch as he straightens himself out in the chair, even his tie. 

“I’m here to poach some writers from you. Sorry. I read some of their pieces online and some of them are really talented.” he answers truthfully.

You let out a bit of a laugh. Oh wow you really thought that he was about to let the cat out of the bag. Speaking of which you were gonna ask Fallon about the Catwoman piece that was coming up.

“Oh you can try. But then I'd have to steal your pretty male receptionist.”

“Derek?” he asks.

“Oh yeah, I think he really liked my receptionist Kacey. You don’t watch out I’ll be taking him off your hands and Kacey will pull him in real quick.” 

Tim laughs at that. Full on laughs. And you join him. It felt good to joke about things that didn’t concern the league or Ra's, or your paternity. Even though you two weren’t ever going to talk about that. 

“I haven’t laughed like that in a while.” 

You can see the bags under his eyes. The way his hair looks kept but if you were to run your fingers through it it’d probably give away a lot of grease. At least he doesn’t spray himself with axe body spray to get away with his lack of self-care.

“Yeah. It’s kinda hard being a twenty something with such a demanding job,” you say and he looks at you, “I would know being deputy writer is truly the most grueling work of all time.”

“I bet.” he says in-between snicker.

His phone buzzes and you can see him tense again. You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if you were Tim. To be so young and have so much on his shoulders. 

“If you ever need to talk, I’m here. Or- my phone kinda got dropped into a sewer outside the office but I’m getting a new one soon.” you say.

He gets up from his spot in the chair. 

“That’s great. I’ll take you up on that offer.”

With that he waves you goodbye and leaves your office. You want to forget for a moment that you have a text waiting for you in your desk drawer. That you’ll have another chance at picking up a package for the league. Picking up Damian for Ra’s. 

You thought to yourself about what normal could look like.

[batarangsoundsdumb]

hae interrogationes multae respondeant quia demens .

if you read this entire ask post you deserve a gold star and financial recompensation

Um, Obviously because when you’re adopted by a white guy you automatically become white duhhh

this is about this post lmao and yeah youre absolutely right, you have to hand your poc card in when you get adopted by a white guy.

Do you think Cass would listen to Yanni, the YouTube channel epic symphonic rock, or some other stuff? There's some cool mashups but idk if that's up your alley, I kinda feel like I'm pushing it with my weird taste of music by recommending an orchestra cover of metal, but i just love that sort of thing and mashups :P @harvestyourcherries 

i haven’t heard of that? but in my personal (correct) opinion steph listens to classical music, and then both modern and older, and then also stuff like black sabbath, iron maiden, but also hardrock and hardcore. i like the idea of cass just liking the most extreme screaming songs full of noise and then also listen to pachelbel’s 370th sonata yanno? THANK YOU for the rec tho

speaking of ur cass playlist hc...reminds of the time (yesterday) i found 2 playlists randomly on spotify from the same user. one was abt 3 hours of instrumental/classical "dark" & "nostalgic" music. the other almost 11 hours of nothing but hardcore bass/synth/electronic music. just an incredible tightrope act to put on in public. the synth one was also called like "psalms for synth sluts" which is Also incredible

tbh i LOVE synth SO MUCH like for no reason at all but then also cannot handle a poppy electronic beat lmao. but this seems like the kinda thing i’d do but just in one (1) playlist bc i just sort songs by vibe instead of genre? that’s how i end up with britney spears and billy ray cyrus in the same playlist. 

Oh, I want Kate Kane playlist next! It would be amazing if you could do one when you have time and will 🙏

how rude would it be of me to just say no? like sorry kate but idk you and also you seem way too keen on the us military for an institution that homophobically targeted you? (and also commits war crimes) but let’s unpack the fact that the institution that caused the death of your mom and sister and also got you blacklisted for being gay is still one you align with???

'yes i am' 'no you're not' 'yes i am' 'no you're not' 'yes i am' 'no you're not' 'yes i am' 'no you're not' 'yes i am' 'no you're not' 'yes i am' 'no you're not' --- when i tell you i fucking screamed LOL!!!!!!! i can imagine the cameraman not knowing if he should cut to commercial or keep it on these two weirdos fighting on stage (bruce definitely ruffled dick's hair/noogied him right?? 

about this post but yeah lmao. this cameraman just turns to like the audience to get a reaction and it’s just multiple moments of CLEAR shock.

you are the only funny person on this hellsite

how egotistical is it for me to say that i get this ask multiple times a month? bc it literally happens so often it’s hilarious to me.

Wish there was more john/Bruce content 😔😔😔 was so hungry I actually looked at canon media 😔😔😔 (Justice League Dark babeeeyyyyyy)

check out batman: damned for some mediocre content but at least it’s john/bruce (also very interesting story and stuff, just got very >:( over this weird part where harley quinn tried to r*pe bruce or something? it’s not for everyone)

dick grayson but he's nicki minaj

his anaconda don’t want none,,, unless...... 

Dick Grayson was never a cop, he played Marshall on Paw Patrol

you are SO right. also paw patrol is a fucking good show idc. that shit could’ve been the new steven universe on this hellsite.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS1lI0bLI7-/?utm_medium=copy_link

...

why do people keep reposting my CONTENT. if you are not funny yourself don’t just grab shit off of tumblr and post it on insta,,, get a life. sidenote: should i start an insta and get all these ppl to take my content down that would be funny as hell.

Might I suggest for a Gotham City Meme: something about the true crime fandom thirsting for the rogues gallery

ok can i just say something slightly controversial?? no? i don’t find true crime ppl who are into criminals funny, that shits disturbing irl im not gonna bring that into my very chill universe.

i may have never seen a 'jason cleaning guns in sink' fic but i do know he WOULD

THANK YOU

bestie im sorry to say this to you but while you can, and people do wash their guns in the sink, that is a lot of lead in a very vital part of the kitchen.

people tend to do it in the bathtub.

WHY???? like damn why do you even have guns

i dont think i read many gun sink fics exactly but i have read lots of fics where jason cleanes his guns in the living room. usualy dissembles them and cleans them with a rag i think

lmao fair enough, like i think that’s a large part of what i remember as well.

if you say you've seen/read gun sink fics I believe you. I think those of us who didn't see them are lucky or maybe didn't search for fics by tags or something idk

i mean ive never sought them out but i HAVE seen them,, like definitely i know almost for certain.

saw your tags and I'm interested in Steph/Kara now. They would be the most chaotic couple <3

literally thoooo, i have a wip where they get together in a zombie apocalypse and like UGGGHhhh i am so in love with them.

I am the Breece anon. Thanks for the recommendation; am reading now. I’ve always been a hardcore Superman fan because I love my pure himbo farm boy. My logic is, if one Bruce is a Broose, then multiple Broose are a herd of Breece. And this is a hill upon which I will perish.

fair enough,,,, like moose, meese, goose, geese, bruce, breece. i get your logic and i stand by it as well. (glad you enjoyed the comic recs!!!!)

It's a beautiful day in Gotham, and you are a group of horrible Breece

OH my god dude lmao

there only being 42 fics on ao3 for tim and bernard is honestly so sad i need more

it’s like twice that now!!! we did it lads. (tho very sad that my fic isnt number one but like number 4 :((((  )

i'm too late you already did the poll lol but may i suggest bethy (bernard + timothy)

shit dude that wouldve been so fucking funnyyyyy. think ppl have just stuck to timber tho, tim/bernard kinda died down recently and i think it’s too bad, they’re a great couple and i love them.

Wait, hear me out

Bernothy @redlightofdawn

great recommendation (lmao this ask is from like a month ago) but very sorry to announce that NARDTH is the superior shipname

Wait, we know that bernard likes milfs (Tim's step-mom) but what about dilfs? gilfs?

Wait no, I regret sending that ask

these were two seperate asks and they’re HILARIOUS. in my personal opinion tho,,, milfs, gilfs, dilfs are just about vibes and bernard is just attracted to sexy ppl who may sometimes be milfs, dilfs, or EVEN gilfs.

crime in bludhaven would drop to half if nightwing had a boob window. in this essay i will-

WHERE’S THE ESSAY ANON, WHERE’S THE FUCKING ESSAY

Wait if Barbra and Tim r at opposite ends at all times what happened to Barbra once everyone’s Tim’s ever love before started dying lol

she won a lottery ticket and spent 2 weeks on a resort in the bahamas before returning home and finding out that the joker was arrested for tax evasion and then spent a month staying at her big tiddie goth girlfriend’s house before conner came back to life and she broke her pinkie playing table hockey.

Why is the opposite end thing so funny and compelling to me. Tim comes back from his depression quest for Bruce and Babs is now a literal god

lmao when tim loses his spleen barbara reaches nirvana.

Are you still taking music recs because I have three songs that remind me of Jason that I think you'd like

send to me or lose a toe

🌸 ⭐ put this star into the inbox of your favorite blogs. it’s time to spread positivity! ⭐🌸😋

thanks, i wont tho on account of i wont.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMduBy3Sr/

⬆️

This is the whole of Blüdhaven and everyone anywhere.

Nightwings ass alone saves more people in a calendar year and does more for so society than most heroes do their whole career.Also u are one of the funniest tumblr pages out there. The vibes are unmatched and the memes and tags ✨send me✨.Thank u and goodnight @julia-flow 

fanksss also lmao.

That's going to be a little bit difficult to explain, but

There's some music that you listen to and you think, "oh my gosh, I can perfectly imagine Dick Grayson singing this song, with the same voice as the singer because that voice matches with Dick Grayson"?

oh yeah totally lmao. i have a lot of songs that i think are just entirely dick grayson yanno? kind of all of my playlists have that vibe, but i really find bleachers to fit with dick? idk.

"Lois lane/Superman" fics this, "Lois lane/Clark Kent" fics that, (/lh) let's get into the real good stuff. Some people ship Lois, Clark, and Superman as a throuple. Most popular fic tag for sure

yes totally, i think they’d be absolutely killer on ao3 and clark gets so fucking embarassed about it.

I miss your post, hope you’re doing okay!!

haha this was like 2 months ago, but i was doing fine then too! just didn’t have a lot of inspiration in terms of content.

Doot doot!

noot noot

I’m confused. What did DC do now? Like with nightwing? And another sibling? Please spoil everything for me

lmao they gave him a secret sister plotline where they had his dad cheat on his mom with tony zucco’s wife, bc dick’s life wasn’t traumatic enough yet.

sorry but it's so funny that batman is called "the dark knight" when the gotham city baseball team is called the gotham knights. it'd be like if a vigilante was running around new york called like "the scary yankee"

lmaooo no. but like yankee comes from dutch names or something so wouldnt it be HILARIOUS if gotham knights came from like german names and bruce would be running around called the dark KLAUS UND NIEK @graysonnightwing 

(not a batcest shipper) it’s so funny to me that the responses are “i’m a batcest shipper because i can differentiate fiction from reality and and it doesn’t bother me personally, but i understand why you oils think it’s weird” to “i wish all batcest shippers a very fucking die”

yeah lmaoo. i personally basically flipped my entire stance around to ‘i dont care please leave me and everybody else alone’ bc i think there’s really no point in starting a moral dillema over some fucking fandom bullshit. Please just,,, go home,,, log off, find a nice forest to have a little walk in and remember that somewhere in history, somebody probably died in the place you’re standing. and you will also die someday, and somebody will have to look at your internet usage and see you fighting multiple people anonymously while being named ‘nightwingsbuttchin200186′ like... calm down, we’re all gonna die this is not the thing to worry about.

so since like "wards" don't really exist in modern society almost all the batkids are foster kids, right? i used to work in the system and imagine: monthly visits from social workers and guardian ad litems, bruce having to get permission to take the boys anywhere out of state, calling their social worker at like 8 a.m. like "yeah dick broke his arm again... a gymnastics accident this time...." their poor social worker. bruce send her a huge bouquet and box of chocolates every month to stay on her good side

i imagine the social worker just getting into the case like ‘yeah let’s get this kid a good guardian’ and then ending up having to work with 22 y/o bruce wayne and his 50 y/o dad. and so this social worker is like ‘okay we can work with this, this is the best home i can find’ and then like it ends up landing on its feet and then the kid gets adopted and then they get a call a year later like ‘uhm so hi, this kid tried to steal my tyres can i adopt him?’ and like 3 years later. ‘okay so basically, my neighbours’ kid imprinted on me and now they’re dead, can i keep him?’ two years later it’s like ‘okay so this assassin child-’

ever since I saw that one post of yours, the meme that's something like "I know that abba's backup dancer got me" with a picture of discowing, I've been haunted. Every once in a while I'll be minding my own business then the image of abba's backup dancer dick grayson aka nightwing aka discowing will flash in my mind and I'll be frozen in place. Today at work I was in the middle of folding clothes and suddenly once again discowing entered my mind and I suddenly lost the ability to see anything except He. Thank you.

wow. the IMPACT.

Braver than any US marine man props to you🤝

this shit is about the time i wrote an article on batcest, like man,,, the fact that i didn’t get cancelled is MIRACULOUS. also like,,, uh if anybody on here did gossip on me,, send screenshots i’d love to see it.

Hello, just wanted to say your article was great. Thank you for taking the time to provide an unbaised answer. It should provide people with nuances they couldn't possibly conjure on their own.

May I ask where your username originates from?

yes you may (also thanks!!!) i thought it up when i was trying to find an original username bc i didnt want to be called like ‘timdrakes something something’ or ‘jason todd something smoething’ or ‘dick grayson something something’ yanno? so i thought batarangs, they sound so dumb and that’s my username story... now it’s my whole entire brand lmao.

yno that bit in kick ass where red mist asks kick ass if he wants a hit of his blunt, was that the inspo for stoner tim

no? it’s bc i think stoners are hilarious and drugs are great. (dont do drugs tho) 

How would u feel if someone actually wore one of those bruce or ollie pride shirts u edited

fenomenal next question.

Dick as lil huddy and Jason as James gave me radiation poisoning and now I’m screaming crying throwing up so thx for that

(Rico suave as Tim is perfect tho literally no changes needed)

i was so funny for that shit wasn’t i??? lmao i loved those weird ass fancasts

You're doing the Lord's work by providing us with all these Gotham/Metropolis citizens memes, thank you for being so relentlessly funny @nellethiel-aranel

you’re welcome!! i really enjoy making memes, but getting validation for my content and my memes is REALLY nice.

Bruce is such a slut in your memes and honestly i love that for him @rhodey-rhudert-rhodes-main 

he’s that much of a slut irl too dw.

Bruce and Alfred have an emergency pride flag for the batkids. Oliver Queen printed an emergency "I love my gay son" t-shirt and as soon as Roy told him he was dating Jason, Oliver started wearing that shirt everyday and Roy always cringes when he sees it. Oliver also has an emergency "I love my lesbian daughter" shirt just in case for Cissie.

lmao YES i had a post like this bc like all of their kids/family members are so gayy

stop bringing back batfam fancasts it is not real it is not real it is not- 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

oh yes it is my darling.

did discowing burn down the notredam because he hates the bees? @allulily

no he did it bc fuck the french.

im gonna beg for 1 thing and 1 thing only. please please please put physical by olivia newton john on dick's playlist

okay then beg. bc i wont. physical reminds me too much of glee and that hurts me mentally.

your playlist is sorely missing some Madonna. Specifically Into the Groove, Like a Prayer, and Vogue

i’m scared of madonna that’s why she’s not on there. she haunts me in my dreams.

suggestion: son of batman by aaron dews for dick’s playlist🤩

sorry, i listened to it and the vibe didn’t agree with me.

Hear me out, metropolis citizens sending rare pair fics of Clark Kent x Superman fics to Lois to edit

yes, absolutely hilarious. even more funny if they send like physical copies, no address attached and lois sends it back marked with red ink, SOMEHOW

Imagine all the smut Clark must of read editing the fics

clark reads smut confirmeeed

NOT LOIS READING SUPERBAT PORN AND EDITING IT A 2AM 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

hc that alfred is a meta that boosts healing factor of the people around him. if the bats are injured as much as they seem to be they would be doing bat stuff MAYBE half the year. no one including alfred knows about this. whenever the kids move out they inexplicably dont recover from injuries as fast and feel better whenever they visit the manor they just chalk it up to homesickness. bruce just thinks he heals really fast. alfred thinks everyone doesnt take care of themselves properly @finchcollector

that’s actually such a great idea, but i think that alfred would find out and learn how to concentrate it better so he can help more people, bc he’s great and i love him.

One of your dickfast posts reminded me of that tweet that goes: 'so you've had sex how many times? Yeah technically that's not a bromance' lol that's dickwally or dickroy

literally tho. like that’s all of dick’s friendships. once it gets past a certain time dick is like ‘wow i wonder what it would be like to make out with wally, wally come make out with me’ and wally’s like ‘we’ve done this like 40 times, dick, you know what it’s like’ and dick is like ‘sorry are you complaining?’ and they just make out.

superfam and batfam associations??

-batman and superman

-dick/barabara and supergirl?

-conner and tim

-jon and damian

pls enlighten me I am confused

nope,,, uhm batman and superman, but dick and superman as well, and then conner and tim, jon and damian and steph + babs with supergirl

I came across a fic in which Wonder Woman calls Batman "Stella" (like Stellaluna, the children's book) and I can imagine the batkids hop on the trend and maybe copies of the book appear at random places (aka, everywhere Bruce frequents)

sorry can’t reciprocate that was the name of my high school chemistry teacher and it gives me nightmares to think about.

good human what are your pronouns?

wouldn’t you like to know?

I need me some gothamites preferring harley over joker memes

everyone prefers harley over joker youre just very fucked up if you dont

don't understand why people try to add like veteran policy to the batfamily

dick pulling out his veteran batfam member card so he can eat first: step aside, peasants

Do you know the song Simmer by Haley Williams? It (the first verse anyways) reminds me of Jason? It's about rage.

damn yeah i LOVE HAYLEY!!!! youre right thoo

Okay so I like listen to your stoner Tim Drake playlist 24/7 but would he listen to skegss? Also I keep adding songs mentally it’s killing me 😩✋🏼 Anyways,, I literally love and worship your playlist 😃🤞🏼 And uh yeah have a good day ✨

stoner tim drake playlist is lyfeeee. also dont know who skeggs is? i’m stupid? have a good day!!

All the Robins (and Batgirl) decide to trade costumes for one night just to fuck with Batman and all the villains in Gotham. @subspacecadet 

batman knows it’s them youknow but like,,, what does he call them? he’s like ‘red hood?’ and 3 people answer and he’s not about to compromise some identities so he’s just Pissed.

I aspire to treat cops the way my dad treats them. This man is a 45 year old Asian immigrant to the US and the treats them like his pets. He talks about them like unruly children. Sometimes he pays off local cops to shut up and stop acting racist. And usually it works. I don’t know why but I can see Oliver Queen doing this

vibes... and also yes? oliver queen handing a local cop a donut to shut the fuck up lmao. but yanno i commit enough crimes to not really want to ever see a cop ever, so they kinda scare the everloving fuck out of me.

seeing as tim hasn't aged in years, that means he was 17 at peak emo tumblr era. im back on my emo tim bullshit and im not letting it go

emo tim had a wattpad account send tweet

People seem to think that batman is so dark and serious when the rainbow batsuit is right there. He wore it with no shame.

dude the 60s were a DIFFERENT TIME

dick grew up in a circus, jason grew up on the streets, and tim was probably raised by the internet

all of them cuss every other word and you cannot tell me otherwise

bitch i KNOW but dc has to change to an 18+ rating if they want to sell comix with swear words in them so we gotta deal with imagining the swear words in ourselves

thoughts on teen titans and young justice

haven’t seen teen titans on account of havent seen it and young justice was LITERALLY my favourite thing ever, tho i do gotta admit it’s not at all similar to the young justice comics unfortunately. i really wouldve liked to see timmy bart kon cassie and cissie animated on tv!!

ew ew ew how to delete batcest shippers I genuinely digust them

log off tumblr?

Okay as poc who was called racist for calling an Italian pastabrain: in the batfam are Italians bit Damian just yells various insults about the others being Italian. Just him yelling “What are you doing you moronic spaghettihead!” At steph etc

huh? i meant real italians. homeboy is telling steph he hopes she chokes on her fucking garlic.

I think it's dumb as hell to pull the batman is the best fighter in the batfam argument because like it's just irresponsible of Bruce to let his kids fight when they couldn't possibly be on his league or something

fair enough, but also like who cares they could all kill you just sit down and take a beating.

lady shiva, thalia al ghul and Selina Kyle are all milfs @notanothertimburtonenthusiastugh 

unfortunately, i have to admit,,, you’re right

why tf didn't someone give joker a death sentence already? like he's a mass murderer...give him the electric chair treatment wtf

idk i think plenty of people would have tried to murder him already (boring answer is: he is a popular character so they can’t kill him off bc he brings in lots of money)

There’s no such thing as “ copaganda”.

all american media is propaganda. happy to clear this up for you

is it bad that I find lady shiva owa owa

no. find her as owa owa as you want.

aight I'm guessing the order of your favs in batfam:

1. tim

2. Steph

3. dick

4. Duke

5. the rest

you’re wrong but it’s cute that you tried, i generally don’t have favourites, but i have a special place in my heart for steph, tim, dick and cass. bc they were like my introduction to batfam. but damian, jason, duke, bruce, babs and alfred are NOT FORGOTTEN OR UNLOVED

oh my god i was literally just readily willing to believe that italians werent white ty for clarifying it was a joke im so dumb sdkvjskdfs

i mean some italians aren’t white? italian is a nationality as well as an ethnicity, so like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

since I saw so many people doing headcanons about the nationalities of batboys, I see Dick as an Italian.

dont know if youre serious or not, but sure.

super random but

jason 🤝 damian

old english

lmao fair enough.

tim absolutely has 1 gay uncle and his parents shit talk said uncle all the time so after bruce adopts him he specifically reaches out to this uncle to be like "heyyyy just so you know you majorly influenced my life yes i know i havent seen you since i was 5 and at the family reunion yes i know you dont remember my name idc thank you im gay too" and then they never talk again.

yuppp lmao that’s definitely something that could happen. i can also consider tim having no family members, like none. until he does like a dna test and he realises he has like an aunt living barely 2 miles away from him who’s like some illegitimate child of his grandpa.

I dare you one of them sends clark superman/clark fic and clark corrects the shit out of it and then goes like ps his dick is not that big, just telling as someone who has seen it. internet either explodes or goes who tf did he not fuck at this point.

i think everybody would call clark a buzzkill and try to cancel him over that.

so you're telling me Tim Drake wouldn't buy Starbucks?

no. dunkin donuts all the way

One of my favorite things is imagining people finding out jason came back from the dead and being like "oh no does he have magic powers now?!?!?" and he just pulls out a gun and tries to shoot joker

now he doesn’t even have the gun :) lmao

my favorite batfamily fanfictions are the ones where they use their shitty codenames, unironically, in any context

bruce gets codename ‘ugh’ everytime. he hates it.

crazy that tim being a 17 y/o ceo and a stoner who does brand deals are all actual canon things written in detective comics comics and not made up for shits and giggles by you, tumblr user batarangsoundsdumb @rowdeyclown

SO CRAZY HUH?

batman au where everything is the same but his utility belt is bright pink

absolutely, but i raise you, his boots light up like sketchers when he kicks people.

unbeknownst to the superhero fandom writers in the dcuniverse, clark and BRUCE are one of the most prolific fanfic writers in the superhero rpf tag on ao3. clark writes the best lois x superman angst, full of unhappy endings and scenes that are a so detailed you'd think you were in the middle of a superhero beatdown. bruce made an ao3 account to fuel "the do the butts match" thing, and makes batman/bruce fics from time to time. he wrote a superbat fic as a joke but ended up making it REAL porny. @concrastinator

dude they’re WAY too busy for that. Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan on the other hand are the most prolific fanfic writers in the superhero rpf tag writing what is Mostly porn.

When the dining table topic gets to politics, Steph says "eat the rich" as the solution

bruce just silently takes away her fork and knife while she’s talking.

[night-fallz]

Jason Todd x Avengers Crossover

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

Ao3 // Wattpad

previous II next

Unexpected (part 3)

If he knew that he would be blamed for murdering someone the moment he got back to Gotham, then Jason would’ve waited another week or two before returning.

No matter what a lot of people said, Jason wasn’t stupid. He knows not to expect things that were unlikely to happen.

Jason couldn’t risk raising his hopes when it came to the bats.

He knew that he wasn’t gonna receive a warm welcome filled with hugs and cupcakes. Honestly, the most he expected was a nod of acknowledgment. And if he was lucky, then maybe- maybe he would’ve gotten a smile with the quiet whisper of a welcome back.

It made his heart twist in all the wrong ways to know that his family didn’t trust him as much as he thought. Jason genuinely believed that he and the bats were on good enough terms to earn him the benefit of the doubt.

He forced himself not to flinch as he met Batman’s harsh, distrustful gaze.

“I wasn’t even here when he was killed,” Jason tried to say as calmly as he could, knowing that if he loses his temper, everyone would use it against him. “I was following a case up in New York.”

He couldn’t go back to Arkham! Not again. Not with the Joker only a few cells away from him, taunting him with his laughter— his voice filled with cruel exhilaration as he continuously promised Jason that they would play together once again. How he would soon be reunited with his favorite playmate.

His favorite Robin.

He heard someone suck in a breath behind him.

Jason didn’t expect anyone to defend him. Not against Batman. But still-

He didn’t expect them to just stand and watch as Batman tore him into shreds once again. Batman threw accusation over accusation, yet he never once provided a single piece of evidence that proved it was Jason that did it.

He took a step towards Jason and he had to force himself not to flinch. Batman wouldn’t… not with his kids in the same room.

He ignored the rising panic in his stomach. Jason was safe.

He was safe.

Bruce wouldn’t beat him in the cave. Not in front of everyone. Not in front of Damian.

Jason would be able to walk out of the cave with his ability to walk. He was gonna be okay.

“Look, B. You can even ask them,” he pointed at the spot where Dick and the others were standing. “I told them that I was leaving Gotham for a while.”

Batman turned to where Jason was pointing. “Well?” he asked expectantly.

The cave was engulfed in eerie silence before Tim opened his mouth, faltering a little when he met Jason’s pleading gaze. “He’s not lying Bruce. He told me that he had a mission out of Gotham while we were hanging out a few weeks ago.”

Jason could feel his chest loosen up for a few seconds, thankful that Tim confirmed his statement.

He remembered the day that Tim was talking about. The bats were getting even clingier than usual. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were following Jason anymore.

Tim asked Jason if he wanted to watch a movie and Jason agreed.

The bats were gonna be watching him anyways— they didn’t even try to hide the fact that they bugged him and all the known safehouses he has.

At this point, Jason didn’t know whether he should feel offended with how much they underestimated or relieved.

They already viewed him as dangerous and unpredictable. If they ever find out that Jason’s been holding back, even if it was just a little-

He won’t let them throw him back to Arkham. Jason would rather go back to the League of Assassins.

If Jason wasn’t watching Batman so closely, he would’ve missed the sliver of a nod the man-made.

Jason tried not to think of the fact that Bruce immediately accepted Tim’s answer without hesitation.

For the millionth time in this conversation, he wished that he was wearing his helmet. Instead, he forced his expression to remain calm. To remain bored as turned back to Bruce an eyebrow raised.

“Is that good enough proof for you, old man?” he couldn’t help but spit out, bitterness clear in his voice.

Batman remained unaffected, not even bothering to verbally answer Jason’s question. Instead, he just nodded.

Jason’s heart clenched, of course, he wouldn’t get an apology. Batman was too prideful for that.

“Truth.” Cassandra’s voice rang across the cave, breaking the heavy silence. “No… not lie.”

Batman nodded once again and Cassandra’s eyes met his. It took everything in him to stop a retort from coming out of his mouth.

Couldn’t she have said that a few minutes ago? Before Batman ripped him apart like he was nothing but flimsy paper.

Still, he guessed he should be thankful that she defended him. Even though it was too late.

After a few seconds of no one saying anything, Dick broke the awkwardness with an annoying smile on his face. “Now that that’s settled, why don’t we get that movie started?”

It was only because of all his training that Jason didn’t break down right there.

Of course this was just another thing that they’d sweep under the rug. Something that they would never want to speak off again.

Discussions of what movie they were supposed to watch erupted the room. It didn’t take long for an argument to break out between Damian and Tim.

Jason watched the scene for a few seconds before looking away.

They looked like a real family.

He turned away, these things happened frequently enough for Jason to know that he wasn’t welcomed.

He blocked out all the noise as he walked towards his helmet, eager to put it back on.

It was only a matter of luck that the universe hated him so much that he knocked something down, the thumping noise alerting everyone that he was about to leave.

Jason couldn’t help but feel relieved that he put on his helmet as soon as he got his hands on it.

At least he didn’t have to go to all the trouble to force his expression to remain impassive anymore.

Batman could use it against him.

Dick’s eyebrows furrowed, “Where are you going, Jay? I thought you were joining us tonight.”

“Yeah, well maybe I’m not in the mood to watch a stupid movie tonight.” Jason spits out.

Was Dick being serious right now? There were so many things wrong with that question.

One: Why would Jason want to spend more time with the people who thought he murdered someone and didn’t even bother to defend him.

And two-

No one invited Jason.

Before anyone could say anything else, Jason hopped on his motorcycle. He needed to get out of the cave.

He could feel their eyes on his back but no one bothered to stop him.

The last thing he heard was Cassandra’s voice assuring the bats. “Be back,” she said with enough confidence that one would think that she could command Jason to turn around with only her words. “He will be back.”

Jason held in the harsh remark that threatened to leave his lips.

Plus, it wasn’t like Cassandra was lying. He knew it— and hell, the rest of Bats probably knew it too.

Jason would come back. He always did.

It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go.

But for now, he needed to get away. He thought that one week would be enough to calm the pit.

It wasn’t.

In fact, he feels like the interaction with the bats today just made it worst.

He’ll stay away from them for two weeks. That should be enough time for the pit to stop screaming at him.

But who would he stay with?

Jason had enough experience to know that the best way to calm the pit was to surround yourself with people you trust.

Kori and Roy were still in space.

And Talia was busy with the civil war against Ra’s.

Jason had no one else.

Except-  

His phone grew heavier in his pocket and he remembered that an Avenger owed him a favor.

Clint said that Jason could text him whenever.

And the more he thought about it, the more Jason decided that he did trust the archer in some way.  

Jason soon found himself staring at the side mirror of the vehicle and poisonous green eyes stared back.

He quickly averted his eyes.

Clint was his last choice. And Jason couldn’t risk being in the peak of a pit episode without anyone to keep him in his place.  

He could do this.

It wasn’t like he had another choice.

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

notes:

Balancing out school and volleyball was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Only one month has passed and I am swamped with work.

I don’t know how I feel about this chapter. It’s not my best work but I wanted to put something out for you guys!!

I hope that you liked it.

I’m gonna spend this weekend to try and get my life together so hopefully, that means that next week will be easier for me.

Especially since I still need to finish my permit course. (If you couldn’t tell, I’m kinda hating sophomore year of high school right now)

Like always, please leave a comment. i love reading them and they just motivate me so much! And they would help an extra ton these days.

And once again, if you have any fanfic requests, questions, or just suggestions for a specific fanfic i’m writing, just leave it in a comment down below or you can just message me here on tumblr.