#but when bruce adopts him he starts the tradition up again

[coolunspokenforname]

I headcannon that Annie (1982) is one of Jason's favourite movies. Catherine found a copy in a bargain bin when he was a kid, and she would always watch it. It became this whole tradition that, whenever Jason or her felt a little sad, they'd pop it on and sing along to the songs off key.

[macchiatosdumptruck]

Possibly a hot take but I think maybe so many newer fans are so obsessed with amping up the "family" part of the bat family because cookie cutter found family dynamics are more palatable than whatever the fuck challenging interpersonal relationships they actually have

[seleneprince]

Wife! Darling returned to her criminal roots a while after marrying Bruce and assimilating into the Wayne household.

She left that world behind at first to focus on her new family, since she wanted to try and give them the best life, to start anew. It worked for a while. When she married Bruce, she expected him to act up on his duty as a father and that the family would accept her daughter at least. They would be safe. No more living with fear or in danger. No need to get her hands dirty to protect them. She hoped to use their new status as rich people to give her children the best life possible.

But as time passed, it became increasingly, painfully obvious that her husband wasn't all in for being a father. You'll think a man known for adopting kids left and right from all backgrounds would be more open to take care of his biological daughter, but no. She's so good, so sweet, so eager to have a father's love (again). ¿Why can't he even try? It's the one thing Wife!Darling expected from him in this cursed arrangement. Not his love, or attention, hell, she barely wants to stand in the same room as him longer than necessary. No. She just wants her kids to be safe and happy. For him to take responsability for the daughter he put in her ten years ago. For ripping the love of her life away from her.

Not to mention the constant kidnappings, murder attempts, and petty crimes against her or her kids that were often overlooked. Whether from jealous socialites, the typical villains...or people from her past, still seeking a bloody closure.

Still, over and over, she had to stand there and watch as her precious girl got more and more dissapointed every time. Had to swallow her own heartbreak at seeing her little darling cry silently in her arms because she couldn't understand why she wasn't wanted, why it was never enough. She did her damn best to fill the void, to love her enough to make her forget about that stupid man she called father. Pouring her attention and devotion in the girl, taking advantage of their new wealth to shower her daughter with all the gifts that they couldn't enjoy before. Signing her up to all the activities she wanted, taking them all to long trips just the four of them, having their own little celebrations and special traditions that no one else could touch.

Wife! Darling still held some tiny hope things would change, that Bruce would see reason and get over his resentment for the forced marriage to accept his child. To treat her with at least half the care he had for the other strays. She didn't even expect him to accept her youngest two, they weren't even his and he knew that. They could be just her responsability, but her oldest was a Wayne by blood. Surely, that had to mean something.

Then, the little demon came. Damian Al-Ghul, now Wayne, Bruce's other biological child with Talia Al-Ghul, one of the many women who attempted to kill her before. Wife! Darling recognised her essence in that boy's mannerisms, his eyes, his whole persona. It reeked of his mother. Still, at first Wife! Darling was willing to accept him, since he was just a kid. Dumped at the manor by his own mother to be raised by a man he never met. She tried, biting her tongue when she witnessed Bruce slowly warming up to the boy and giving him the affection his other daughter had been craving for, fighting for. "It's just a boy", she reminded herself. "It's not his fault", she kept telling herself.

Then he tried to kill her daughter. In the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep. That little demon, that filthy spawn of his hateful mother, snuck in her girl' bedroom when she was most vulnerable and sliced her throat. Or tried to, but failed when she woke up just in time and fought back...and also when Wife! Darling pushed him away with a warning shot from her hunting rifle, brushing his shoulder. She'll never forget waking up to her daughter's screams, seeing the blood coming from her neck staining everything, her pain. She would've murdered that boy right there with bullets if Alfred haven't stopped her.

And what happened afterwards? The absolute disregard to her daughter's pain? Them asking for consideration to the boy who almost killed her? "He's had a bad upbringing", they said. "He didn't know better," they said. But it was Richard Grayson sitting down at her daughter's bed during her recovery and telling her to be considerate that cemented her decision. And it also came upon a cold, crushing realisation.

The Wayne fortune could keep them up for a while, but it wouldn't be forever. Their lives were still in danger, and if it came down to it, this family wouldn't protect them. Wife! Darling decided that, fine, if Bruce didn't want to be a father and the others didn't want to be siblings, then they wouldn't ever be. Not a single more chance. She would raise her kids by herself, relying on the Wayne money to the minimum while she built her own resources on the side. Relying on her new position to gather power, influence and allies, all from the shadows. She would teach her children to be unbreakable, to be independent and never, ever, rely on anyone but themselves. She instilled in their minds that the only family that mattered was each other, the four of them and maybe Alfred. Nobody else. She encouraged them to use her maiden name when they were out and only throw the Wayne card when they needed something important.

Slowly, piece by piece, with all the patience of the world, she built her own empire in the underground. Reached out back to old allies, showed herself, this time more powerful and untouchable. She vowed to not repeat the same mistakes. She'll make sure to never depend on anyone, much less a man, again, and the same for her kids. And so, one day, she would hand Bruce the divorce papers and leave this all behind.

Her daughter didn't need to be a Wayne heir...because she would be her mother's heir instead. One day, her darling girl would inherit the criminal empire built in the blood and bones of those who wronged them, crafted with the utmost devotion and precision by her loving mother. A gift to her children, waiting until they were ready.

[this-star-like-solitude]

extra luck

dick grayson x reader

You stood in the dim hotel hallway staring incredulously at your newly established husband "What?"

"I need to carry you across the threshold" he explains. "It's supposed to be bad luck if I don't. Plus it makes up for me seeing you in your dress before the wedding". You sigh "Did you specifically designate a time to Google every wedding superstition ever just so you could torture me?" "Maybe" He says grinning. "The Wayne adoptive family have never had a whole lot of luck. I mean, don't even get me started on what happened at Bruce and Selina's wedding." 

You sigh again "Alright, boy wonder. Hit me". He beams, scooping you over his shoulder, grabbing handfuls of your wedding dress so it doesn't drag on the carpet. He hoists you through the doorway, careful of your head, and places you down on the floor close to the doorway. "Thanks for subjecting me to that questionable tradition" you say pressing a kiss into his cheek. "Extra luck" he promises, gently tugging you closer "Next time you can do it to me".

You laugh, pulling him in for a kiss by the lapels of his jacket. When you finally break apart, you ask him. "Am I supposed to feel threatened by the fact that our gift from Jason was a set of knives?" It's Dick's turn to laugh now "Prepare for a lifetime of those kinds of gifts, Mrs. Grayson"

[mistymisfit]

Hounds of love

Summary: Jason wakes up from a bad dream, lucky for him he's got you to make him feel better. Based on the song Hounds of love by Kate Bush (and that post I made in april)

warnings: hurt/comfort, established relationship ,I think it's gender neutral but lmk if I missed anything.

wc: 1,5k

a/n: sorry for the --summarized-- psychoanalysis class lol (this has been in my drafts since april idk why I didn't post sooner)

Jason had always yearned for love, any type of love he could get. Ever since he was a child, afraid and hiding in the dark cold streets of Gotham, he's always wanted to be loved- to be so full of love he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. But he's always been a coward, every time someone would get close enough he'd start fighting it, self-sabotaging as if he subconsciously knew he did not deserve it. His own father, his mom, his stepmother, Bruce, he'd been let down time and time again by the adults in his life supposed to protect him. If they couldn't give him what he wanted, love him, who could?

The dread, or rather the certainty he had over being unlovable shadowed over him, as much as he tried to push it down and pretend he didn't need it. His own biological parents left him, they never wanted him. The very people who were supposed to love him, he was their son. They brought him into this world, it was their responsibility. Then he'd say he didn't even like Bruce to begin with, who cares if he chose to adopt him? Who cared if he looked up to him so dearly once as a child? He had died under his care, Jason had almost everything he wanted and went ahead and ruined it-- all because he was too afraid to accept it, because he was too stubborn. You just had to go after him on your own, he'd blame himself.

Now he keeps having this recurring dream; he's being chased by something in some woods, and he keeps running. He wants to ask for help, he really does but his mouth won't open. Then he gets to a lake, takes his shoes off, throws them in the lake and takes two steps on the water. Some days that does it, he feels like the thing is no longer chasing him. But most days he wakes up before he can feel he's lost the thing chasing him.

Tonight he's holding a wounded fox in his hands, attacked by bigger animals, in the midst of escaping. The poor thing looks at him with kind, almost human, eyes. He feels its little heart pounding fast on its chest, the little animal feels familiar. He knows this fox from somewhere else. How else would it let him hold it? Why else would he stop running, too guilty to leave it alone? He feels ashamed of running away, but he has to. He's too scared to be there, he doesn't know what makes him so afraid to leave the poor animal on its own. None of this was real, there was nothing following him, he's never seen what's after him. So why couldn't he stay with the fox?

This night he wakes up sweating, agitated and with his heart kicking his ribs. He immediately kicks off the covers, and takes off his shirt when he feels the cotton starts to itch and stick to his skin. He knows he should try to calm himself down before he wakes you up, you had to be up in a few hours.

"Jay?" You slur, barely a whisper.

"Sorry my love," He apologizes, looking back to you rubbing your eyes "I'll go sleep on the couch"

"mmm, stay" you hum, still groggy with sleep but a hand of yours reaches out for him "bed's too cold"

He takes your hand in his before cuddling back next to you under the covers, limbs getting tangled together once again. And before he knows it he's got his head on your chest as you wrap your legs around him to keep him close.

"Where'd your shirt go?" You mumble, hands softly going across the expanse of his back.

"You complaining?" He teases to distract you and it works because you shake your head no with blushed cheeks. His hands sneaked under your clothes to hold you in a way that was almost a tradition now. He'd reach for your skin just to feel you there, to make sure you're safe and next to him and you weren't some hallucination he'd made up in his loneliness. If Jason had to he'd die and come again, crawling out of his coffin if it only meant he'd get to hold you like this one more time.

"Do you want to talk about it?" You ask

"About what?" He hums, too comfortable in your embrace to even be bothered with remembering what he was so stressed about.

"Why you are awake" There's a beat of silence after the sentence has come out of your mouth. The only thing that can be heard is the city's never-sleeping traffic in the distance. He doesn't want to burden you with something as measly as a dream, so what if it made him wake up in a sweat? It made no sense so he had no reason to be upset.

"Had a bad dream, wasn't really a nightmare..." He confesses after the silence." 's stupid go back to sleep"

"It's not stupid, tell me about it"

"Baby" He sighs, hoping he sounds pissed off enough for you to drop the subject.

"What? A dream can be your subconscious trying to get something you can't when you're awake"

"Mine must hate me"

"It doesn't, but it may want something youre not aware of"

"Since when do you know so much about dreams? Nerd" He teases, nuzzling his head to you. Realizing you're just as stubborn as him, he accepts defeat and tells you about his dream, "There's a thing chasing me and I'm running through some woods"

"What's the thing?" You ask

"I don't know" He scoffs, quick to dismiss it.

"Just think about it," You hike your leg higher up his waist and squeeze him closer to you if it was possible. "how did it feel?"

Tangling himself with you to the point where he can't tell where you end is where he feels like he can be vulnerable. Only when it feels like he might just become one with you he can let his guard completely down. So he sighs and takes a moment to do what you ask. He knows damn well what is after him, he's always known.

"Me, I think," He hides his face even further into your chest."my feelings"

You only hum in response, so he asks "Is it hard to love me?"

Now you understand where the dream came from. The moment he connected the thing chasing him with its meaning awoke an insecurity, something he was trying to keep buried down. So you waste no time in your reply.

"Loving someone has never come easier to me"

He finally lifts his head up, big blue eyes swelling up with tears. He looked so helpless but at the same time so full of devotion for you. He's loved, you love him, so it must mean that he can be. If he's deserving of your love, your selfless and pure love, then he's not unlovable. He kisses your jaw, and then your neck hearing a soft sigh of his name coming out of your lips. Knowing he's handed you his own heart in a silver platter, that he is yours to do as you please, Jason can rest at ease that you'd never harm him.

"Why do you ask?" You don't let yourself get distracted by his kisses.

"It's just that-" He sighs, maybe he can be vulnerable one more time with you. So he fights against the need to push you away and tries to find the right words "Don't think anyone's ever felt that with me, ever"

"Jay, your father became a henchman to provide for you," you point out, holding his face with both of your hands "Catherine raised you like her own, and believe it or not Bruce loves you, even if he's too emotionally constipated to show it"

He scoffs at that last part, blinking away the tears brimming his eyes, which, in your opinion, made them look shiny like a tainted glass panel in a church.

"Your older brother, loves you too, he calls me to see how you're doing every other week 'cause you won't answer him" You continue, "So does Alfred"

"Let's go back to sleep, okay?" He stops you; the sudden reality check is much more than what he could process at the moment. He's been so deep into his own thoughts, what he believed to be truth, that he didn't even bother to see it from a different perspective.

"You didn't even tell me what happened in your dream" You insist with a pout.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, I'm sorry I kept you up"

"I'm not" You smile, giving him a quick peck on the lips. A hand cups your cheek, making the kiss longer. You know that if he was on a better mood he would've said something along the lines of it not being a proper kiss. You giggle against his lips, and Jason just wonders how was he ever able to function without you.

[prettealolilol]

So, I love the headcanon of the batfam being menaces in the kitchen, and that half of them are banned from entering for the rest of their life.

However, you can't tell me that Batman, the man who has contingency plans for his contingency plans, who carries shark spray repellent, the man who travelled for a year (i think ?) on his own with only a backpack (and a lot of money but still), doesn't know how to cook. There is no way, he can't fend for himself in any type of situation (apocalypse ? ready; zombies ? ready; stranded on an island on his own ? ready). He can definitely take care of himself without Alfred, because Bruce is paranoid and there's the eventuality of the butler dying. And anyway, he probably learnt some dishes when he was younger so he could help Alfred around the house (it made him feel closer to the only caring adult in his life). He also definitely learnt traditional dishes while travelling and every time he adopts (it's his way of showing he cares).

(Cooking was one of the ways he bonded with Jason. The boy was tense and wary, not used to having so much food for free. When Bruce realised Jason cooked, he offered to teach him a few dishes he learnt around the world. It was the first time Jason called Bruce 'dad'. Every year they would cook (and make a mess) for Alfred's birthday.)

There's this whole thing with Dick only eating cereal (I don't know much about him, sorry) and being close behind Bruce as a kitchen menace. I don't really know how life in a circus works, but I'll go with the fact that they didn't always have access to a kitchen while traveling, so the food was never sophisticated. Yet, with the circus, Dick travelled a lot and met wonderful people. Some locals would sometimes bring them traditional plates, and even teach him how to cook them. The reason he doesn't really cook is because he finds the kitchen too complicated. Who needs so many utensils ? It's disorienting and feels too clinical (Dick associates cooking with sweet lessons from his mom and having fun with the people from the circus.).

(The times he actually took the time to cook at the manor was when Jason joined and they would try to bake. Dick cooks with Damian sometimes. At first it was to make him comfortable by being domestic, giving the excuse of learning to work together, but now it's just to bond. Bruce joins them sometimes.)

As said previously Jason knows how to cook. I'm not sure if it's canon, but he cooked for his mom, and is never banned from the kitchen in what I read. Similarly to Dick, he grew up cooking easy things. He didn't have access to much food, most of the time stealing from markets and fighting for bread in back alleys. He would stand in the shadows, staring at the window of a restaurant kitchen until he knew the moves by heart and would redo them at home (he'd spend days saving money and stealing the adequate ingredients). It was always simple dishes though. So when Jason first stepped in the kitchen ? He was amazed, and felt like one of those chefs he would observe for ours. The first weeks, he'd wait until everyone was in bed and sneaked in to cook (Alfred always acted like he didn't know). When he came back to Gotham after the pit, he began stress-cooking a lot. He'd steal money from Bruce and cook enough to feed a whole building in Crime Alley (he ate some once and threw up immediately. It tasted too much like home. He never ate anything he cooked again).

(Cooking with Alfred became an excuse to come to the manor and stay for dinner and sometimes even the night. (The first few times, the butler was the only one Jason could be with without activating his fight or flight instinct.) Watching his family unknowingly eat something he cooked and praising the food makes him feel like he may be allowed to be part of the family. Slowly, he starts leaving food to them (on the batmobile because he knows Bruce didn't eat before patrol, in Tim's office because he overworked and didn't go home, in Dick's kitchen because he got hurt during his day job), and nobody ever mentions it.)

I already explained my point of view for Tim in a previous post. Whether his parents were loving or not (fanon vs canon), they still travelled a lot. So Tim grew up having to learn to cook because there wasn't always someone at Drake's manor, and Drakes don't call people in the middle of the night because they're hungry or a little sick. So Tim knew the basics to care for himself, he learnt to wrap and stitch his own wounds at ten after being too close to an explosion where Batman and Riddler fought (seeing later the pictures he got, Tim thought getting some glass in his arm was completely worth it). Of course, he doesn't know any complicated dishes, he does enjoy the chemical aspect of it, the reactions between the ingredients, the way the molecules change with time and temperature variations. Tim also enjoys the historic aspect of it, so he'd learn to make dishes just because he liked the story related to its invention (it has proven useful in many social gatherings to know so much about food and culture). When he started as Robin, those skills became useful when he had to cook for Bruce in the middle of the night because he wouldn't wake Alfred up. After moving in the manor, Tim kind of dropped this little hobby. Alfred is here to cook, and he has other things to worry about (Jason coming back, then Damian being introduced, the whole time stream issue...).

(When he has some time, Tim scrolls on his social media, saving videos about recipes and learning about dishes and their history. He promises himself he'll find some time to try them. When Jason starts leaving each of them food, Tim buys a recipe book. As often as he can, he cooks something, prints a copy of the recipe and drops it off at Jason's current place. One time, when Damian is sick and no one else but Tim is at the manor, he ends up cooking an Arabic dish (a grandma recipe for sick children). Damian stops saying he's useless after this.)

Again, I don't know much about Cass, so it's really how I feel about it. Cass grew with simple dishes. When she joined the batfam, she didn't understand the importance of sharing a meal, people eating together, Alfred spending so much time in the kitchen, or why there were so many ways to cook one ingredient. Just like Dick, the kitchen feels too unnecessarily full, too many things that are just not imperative. To her, food was here to feed and strengthen the body. Cooking should be fast and easy because food was not supposed to be pleasant, just necessary. She doesn't really know how to cook. She can prepare food so it's edible, hunt or light up a fire. But growing up with her father taught her that food is only here to feed. She actually discovers its importance after walking in on Jason and Alfred cooking together. It was one of the rare times Jason would go farther than the cave and into the manor. They were not talking, and yet the atmosphere was soft, acknowledging. Reading Jason's body, she saw happiness and contemptment, the usual tension and anger nowhere in sight. She asks Tim about him (because he's the one who offered to teach her sign language, the one who she goes to when she needs a definition.) and he tells her how cooking can be many things, it can be an offer, it can be death, it can be love, it can be survival...

(Alfred once explained how it was his way of caring. He'd make different dishes depending on people's mood or state. When Cass understood that cooking was a form of language, she took it upon herself to learn. She watches Alfred cook for days, asking questions. She goes to Jason's place to ask him his opinion, teasing him when he gets flustered under her staring. She learns to cook and enjoys it.)

At the league, Damian was a prince. He didn't cook, it was beneath his status, there were servants for that. Like Cass, although he had access to higher quality food, it was only there to feed you. When he arrived at the manor ? The shock to see only one servant, and that his Father sometimes cooked for himself. His Father, who her mother had represented as a king, someone powerful enough to have his grandfather's respect, the man he was supposed to become. It took time for Damian to step into the kitchen for different reasons. First of all, the kitchen was not his place to be, it's Pennyworth's territory. He was not welcome there and knew that to make an enemy out of the man that raised his Father. Secondly, Damian was taught restraint, he would not give in to his basic urge. He could wait until morning even if he felt like his stomach was clenching on itself. The reason for walking in the kitchen was Grayson dragging him inside, promising some bonding time necessary for working together (it was fun, although Damian would not admit it).

(After realising the importance of cooking in the household, Damian decided he could not not know how to cook. Everyone seemed to have the knowledge it wouldn't do for him not to know. Maybe, he also felt like cooking would teach him to be a better part of the family and be accepted as the method he was taught all his life did not work. He learnt to cook on his own, sneaking in the kitchen and training. When he finally mastered a dish, he announced to Alfred he'll be cooking for the evening. Even if he'd never admit it, the praises he received that evening made him feel lighter, like he belonged. And no Grayson, he was not blushing.)

When Duke moves in the manor, it's kinda weird to have a butler. Duke was raised in a normal, middle class family, so cooking is a normal thing he helped his parents with. He would come home from school and help his parents cook dinner, sometimes doing it himself if they were still at work. He didn't know anything fancy or foreign dishes, but he could cook well. So having Alfred do it alone all day ? Not how Duke was raised. The first weeks, he would go into the kitchen and offer his help to Alfred, who would constantly refuse, joking about letting him do his job or he might become useless in his old age. Although it was a joke, Duke (who had just moved in and didn't really know how to act) stopped asking, not wanting to make the butler think he was taking his place.

(He still cooks sometimes, when he feels nostalgic. Cooking reminds him of his parents, his mothers' laughter and his father(s warm hand on his shoulder. When Duke discovers that Cass is learning to cook, he decides to do it with her, learning new recipes from around the world. It helped him a lot to feel at home at the Wayne manor.)

My point is, love the massacre this family can be when left unattended in a kitchen, but they definitely know how to cook.

[deathscastle]

reverse robin

Damian’s is the first but the 2nd oldest;

I like to believe that when Bruce had taken in Damian he actually had no idea if he was ever his and Talias kid. He feels too awkward to ask for a DNA test now.

He wears a shit ton of insanely high quality traditional clothing.

Damian is nightwing but he doesn’t fight in a spandex but rather outfits closer to league uniform (he switched sides not styles) also uses a samurai no escrima sticks.

y’know how Bruce and dick fight and it ends with getting kicked out in og!universe leading to dick leading the titans and becoming nightwing; that happens again but instead of Bruce kicking Damian back he blurts out something implying he’d be better off if Damian returned to the league. And Damian (insanely hurt be this) does. He decides he’ll become nightwing after seeing superman for the first time in a year or two.

he’s off putting, and still DC’s most creative insulter btw

Jon is his only friend- he travels between metropolis and his and Dami’s appartment in blud.

his pain comes from being the heir to the bat rather than the oldest in this and how will he maintain the family :-/

he got angry at Tim being Robin because he was Bruce’s perfect child (that Bruce chose instead of being forced upon) and took the one connection with Bruce he thought was unique to them

also stays away from the rest of the hero community as much as possible.

Stephanie brown is the 2nd to show up but she’s younger than Damian (and a few months younger than Tim)

She’s gravitating and pulling the same shit on her dad and stays on the outside of Bruce’s duo but she figures out their identities pretty quickly. This kinda shuts them up into them listening to her abt her dad. (I’m meshing together multiple DC timelines cus I’m just as confused a stage writers so I’ve given up)

her dad is gonna be the mixture of the one comic where he get his hands on the lazauraus stone that he used to torture Steph with if she got puzzles and detective clues wrong and the ones where he tries to keep Steph and her mom isolated and forces Steph to drop out which leads her to just being available whenever. Since she doesn’t want to help she’ll just be in the cave whenever with new info for missions which kinda freaks Bruce out.

she gets close to Damian and they’re relationship is the exact same as their comic counterparts as I am a firm believer that Stephanie’s EQ is higher than Damian’s.

Bruce ends up adopting her after black mask kills her brown in jail. This happens after Duke comes along btw. (He kills a blond(e) in every universe) (Her mom goes into a psych ward in another city)

btw she becomes oracle same way but also adding in a medical element aswell

the JL has no idea who she is but she def digitally babysits dukes and Tim team, Damian and Jon’s antics, Jason’s insane ideas and dick (like literally babysits him in the tower)

Duke Thomas the oldest comes in next

he gets fostered by Bruce for the same reason again

you see Duke had the whole ‘we are Robin’ thing going on in og!world; he’s a natural leader, who brings outcasts or those who are being overshadowed despite their efforts together to protect unreached communities. What I’m getting at is that he’s the perfect TITANS founder and leader candidate; he also has the whole thing about how the JL respect him a shit ton

yeah basically has the entire new gen looking up to him

in his civilian persona he’s also extremely charming not in a flirty way but boy next door type of vibe he’s a cutey

He’s the big brother who you go to for hugs and the minimum teasing fine that comes along with it

eveyone believes he’s perfect but he just knows better than to commit shenanigans in Gotham and just does them in san Fransisco instead.

him and Damian had insane beef at the start as in physical fights beef and Steph was his saviour in that house. Like he is so dead serious about this.

he use escrima sticks btw

[themculibrary]

Bucky/M'Baku Masterlist

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It’s a complex problem, which demands a cool head. So M’Baku could really do without an old love coming back to haunt him, an obnoxious royal teenager, and T’Challa’s secret one-armed guest.

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Summary: Just like all of M’Baku’s other short trips to visit T’Challa, the Alpha stays at his new apartment the night before so they can visit with each other before he leaves once more for Jabari Land. Visiting meaning fucking each other silly every moment they can manage to satisfy them while they are apart. Bucky appreciates every single second, secretly hoping they never come to an end despite how unorthodox their “not a relationship” relationship is.

my spirit swims right to the hook (ao3) - napricot bucky/m’baku E, 20k

Summary: “What’s this one?” asked Oson, poking at one of the kimoyo beads. M’Baku frowned down at it. He didn’t think the princess had offered an explanation of this one, at least, not beyond it offering a connection to the internet. Was this one for Wakanda’s internet, or the rest of the world’s? He toggled it on, and squinted as the unnecessarily bright hologram beamed up, proclaiming it to be Hathor’s List. A little message offered an explanation: let Hathor guide your search for a partner, not your elders’ matchmaking! Find a perfect match, or a night of pleasure!

Oh, that little brat, thought M’Baku.

The Boy is Mine (ao3) - stececilia maria/natasha, bucky/m'baku, everett/t'challa E, 9k

Summary: T'Challa and Everett have been dating in secret ever since the fight for Wakanda with Killmonger. Everett Ross is now stationed in Wakanda as the US-Wakanda Ambassador/Liaison which does help keep their relationship under wraps. Unfortunately, all that will be challenged when T'Challa is invited to join a gala at the White House for all new members of UN.

The challenge? Everett watching T'Challa with Nakia as his plus one when Everett wishes it was him. With the help of Maria Hill and her girlfriend they try and get Everett through the night but of course nothing goes smoothly.

Under the Guise of Friendship (ao3) - Marv_with_a_v T, 2k

Summary: Bucky gives M'Baku a present. Just because.

What did I do? (ao3) - Magicalmanda bucky/sam, bucky/m'baku T, 1k

Summary: Bucky learns new things about the 21st century. Sam and Steve learn about the after-effects of Bucky's torture.

Set in the unshown spaces of canon from civil war to tfatws

What Happens in Wakanda Stays in Wakanda (ao3) - Marv_with_a_v M, 98k

Summary: …or: that time Bucky and M'Baku gave friends with benefits a fair shot and discovered everything they needed in each other.

[zahri-melitor]

Son of the Demon:

I think one of the most interesting aspects here is actually the fact that it’s all about controlling the weather by satellite. Ra's, the ecoterrorist, is very interested in this technology.

It also yes is the comic that Grant Morrison failed to read, and I guess I'm going to dig out the aspects of the romance here. It's...fine I guess? Talia and Bruce are pretty clearly on different wavelengths about what actually constitutes a wedding (Bruce is very definite Ra's using old traditions does not count) and the comic wants to insist to me that Bruce has never ever ever had sex before this, which, okay, I don't believe you, but okay.

Let's run through the steps of Damian's putative conception (actually Ibn's conception, as this is not canonical except in the most handwavy of ways)

Talia tells Bruce and Ra's she's pregnant! This whole story takes place in a period where Dick is not around. Of course, the timeline on this does not make sense but we don't need it to, this is explicitly non-canonical according to Denny O'Neil and I listen to Denny on things like timeline matters.

To celebrate Talia getting knocked up, Bruce gives her a Meaningful Necklace.

Then during a raid, Talia miscarries. Or 'miscarries'. Certainly, she thinks she's lost the pregnancy.

Right before Bruce leaves to go back to Gotham (because he finally came to his senses enough to remember he doesn't actually want to be Ra's heir or hang around here) he has this conversation with Talia, who is still in the hospital bed, where she tells Bruce to leave. Talia then starts crying once Bruce has turned away. Over Bruce leaving? Over the situation she's in? Over the fact she may have just lied? It's never made explicit.

But the very next page we get:

Oh look it's our lost heir Ibn, with his Meaningful Necklace accompanying him, being adopted out to a Nice Family (TM).

By implication, presumably Talia had a haemorrhage but didn't lose her pregnancy, or may have miscarried one of twins (hah! don't see anyone playing with THAT idea)

However (going to dip into Bride of the Demon for a moment), Talia clearly has some regrets because near the end of Bride of the Demon Talia pretty clearly is trying to psych herself up to tell Bruce a secret.

Beloved...I never told you...what fully transpired at our last meeting...

Bruce says he's not ready to talk about it, but under the circumstances I am firmly of the view that Bruce would actually very much like to know that Talia did not correct his misapprehension that she miscarried their child. Anyway Talia uses this moment as a get out of free card and does not bring the topic up again, even though this story is hypothetically set goodness knows when after the previous story.

(Also Ra's knocks up his 'Bride' in Bride of the Demon and thankfully as this is non-canonical as far as I know we never hear of the outcome of this pregnancy).

[vibrantstarfire]

bat royalty au where bruce wayne is the prince of gotham but is an antimonarchist seeking to set up representative government for his kingdom but knows there is too much corruption among the nobles for it to succeed yet. so he spends his time rooting out corruption and removing titles from corrupt nobles and deeding land back to the people. he is waiting for the moment it is safe, and when it is, gotham will become a representative democracy. to be clear, this at times sounds like he’s stalling, but he waits partly because his parents were killed by monarchists for ceding too much power away from the throne and breaking traditions etc. it threw the country into chaos for years, and he’s trying to keep war from breaking out.

he also micromanages his relationships to prevent having a “true heir” recognized by gotham nobility. but he cares about children too much not to adopt ones in need. so then when they get older he has to micromanage their relationships to avoid them having any relationship that could count as a political alliance that would give the wayne ‘bloodline’ too much power to monarchists who want to maintain the throne.

…which doesn’t seem to be so hard, until his eldest son falls in love with a princess. and his third son falls in love with the cousin of the lost prince of krypton. and when it turns out he has a blood heir, despite trying to take every precaution against one.

(notes: jason is killed in this one when bruce is on the verge of dissolving the monarchy. but it’s clear jason would just be the first of many deaths to follow; gotham nobility still is to corrupt and has too much power, and would truly start a war and force a tyrant onto the throne. the only way to keep gotham safe is for bruce to continue to lead it and continue the slow work of removing threats and boosting the people’s living conditions, education, and political rights)

(i’m also entertaining the idea of kory being an unknown princess serving as a maid in wayne manor for a time to look out for political information on the state of the world. she seeks refuge in gotham specifically for its anti monarchy sentiment, as her sister betrayed kory and their people and sold her into slavery. she escaped and fled to gotham to plan a rebellion and take back her people’s freedom. funny enough, bruce supported dickkory in this au when he thought kory wasn’t royalty because no one could claim royal blood in dick’s descendants if he married a maid. but alas she’s a princess. kory reassures him eventually that she wants her people to be liberated too, and would like them to have self-determination so they’re never at the mercy of a dictator or foreign powers, like her sister or the gordanians, ever again.)

yes this is all on one planet in like a 1700s-ish era. yes i just binge watched bridgerton. what about it.

[hollowwhisperings]

I LOVE THIS.

except.

Aside from Dick (who went behind Bruce's back & ended up being Robin just so he'd have Supervision because One Does Not Attempt To Babyjail An Acrobat) and Damian al'Ghul... none of the Robins were active when any younger than 13 when they started, at MINIMUM.

The "canon" ages are Very Muddled, given all the RetCons & Certain Writers Having No Sense Of Scale... but the WHOLE POINT of Bruce becoming "Batman" can be simplified to: "babyproof Gotham City".

While, yes, EVERY Robin would have snuck out in their Predecessor's costume at some point, the only batkids who could consistently Escape Bruce AND Alfred? Dick, an Actual Escape Artist, and Damian, Literal Ninja. Cass could, technically, but Babs had "custody" when she was still child-sized. I don't see Alfred or Bruce letting multiple escapes happen, not until they'd trained the newest kid &/or they'd already "babyproofed" the crimescene (something i imagine was true of EVERY Robin's first few patrols anyway, when possible).

The First "Era" of Batman was against Organized Crime, Rampant Corruption, & Hopelessness. The only "real" supervillains were Eccentric Crimelords like the Penguin & Rogues like Selina. It was relatively "safer" for Dick to be at Batman's Side than alone in Gotham at Night: Batman was a Cryptid, Bruce's tech was FAR more advanced than anything the gangs had packing, stealth & pre-preparation meant opponents were almost always taken by genuine surprise.

This "First Era" of Batman was when Bruce, Gordon & Harvey Dent were working together (with "The Bat" helping things along) to "Reform Gotham" from being Mob-run & Corrupt from the Top Down & Bottom Up... to something Vaguely Competent. This is when the "most" change happened for Gotham City: the Gangs were disarmed, ousted and uprooted from running the City, civilians could try Actually Trusting each other again, and the vast majority of Gotham's unchecked Chaos was either Given Better Options or "Scared To Behave". Gotham was still dangerous and corrupt but reforms were happening, more legitimate jobs came up, the cops had someone to be Accountable to (still corrupt but now they had to WORK for it instead of it being assumed by default), etc. This is all "alleged" history rather than Canon but it's the general "shape" required to mark pre-Batman Gotham from "Gotham with Bat Cryptid" and enable things like Gordon becoming Police Commissioner, "Batman" continuing to exist at all (due to affecting Actual Change), and the dissolvement of the "Traditional" Gang-ruled Gotham of The Penguin & Bruce's childhood.

...so that Harvey Dent becoming "Two-Face", and the Second Era of Cryptid-tactics being used by BOTH "sides", can be as personal and scary for Gotham as a whole. Things had been Getting Better: Bruce fears he's only made things Worse, other people Become Inspired (by Two-Face, Gordon or The Bat; by all three). Babs becomes Batgirl. The Gotham Central comics start happening. Bruce starts doubling down on building an "Alter Ego" for Bruce Wayne, the slightly less corrupt cops now Aware of The Bat & hunting him (the Rich Idiot Act also serves as a "buffer" to prevent Bruce from allowing anyone to get "too close", believing he'll Doom them by Association).

The "Second Era" is the beginnings of New Types of Criminals: Manbat, Poison Ivy, Mr Freeze, The Riddler (who is legitimately scary as an Unknown this early on), The Joker but in his "pre-Miller" incarnation. Supervillains that aren't quite "Super Villains" yet, just Sad Backstories Gone Wrong (but not TOO wrong) and Ridiculous Copycats.

I headcanon that Dick gets adopted around this time, while the "villains" are still "normal humans who would take any Out given to them". Gotham is dangerous but Not For [Lucius Fox]: money & tech still give Bruce a huge edge over everyone else, even Gotham's metahumans (after some initial failures while figuring out their limits). Dick won't let himself be kept safely in Wayne Manor & he is a LITERAL Escape Artist so trying to keep him in Baby Jail is Futile. Bruce is also more confident in his ability to keep A Child safe, he's getting an idea of how Scary this 12 year old can be without Bruce supervising. Bruce recognises Dick's anger but, unlike Bruce, Dick has the strength & agility to actually back him up: Dick can actually hurt people, something that Bruce couldn't manage until he'd started Training for it. So Dick gets to be Robin, kept in check by Batman & humbled by seeing that very little of Batman's "crimefighting" involves physical violence. It's mostly smoke & "mirrors": stealth, gathering intel, sabotaging ahead of time, using better tech, scaring & Showing Up when someone calls for help.

The time between the Second Era & the Third has things starting to become More Dangerous as Dick & Bruce start butting heads about what "Robin" is allowed to do. Dick sees the [Second Era] as a time of Wacky Villains & smalltime mooks in between Serious Challenges. Bruce sees this [Era] as "Batman" becoming less effective as he loses "Cryptid" Status. The main reason Bruce started dressing up as a Bat and only showing up at night was because he was trying to prevent senseless violence: fear was effective because most criminals were only trying to survive & weren't really committed to "being villainous". Batman getting clocked as "Dude in Cape" meant Bruce was having to PHYSICALLY fight crime, the element of surprise lost & less mooks fleeing at first provocation. Dick leaves. Jason goes for the Batmobile's tires. Bruce ends up with a second kid. It's still the Second Era but, as it nears it end, things get increasingly more Tense: Bruce & Dick aren't Speaking, Bruce is becoming more Paranoid, Jason is a sweet kid, the Rogues start feeling "safe"/familiar enough with the "routine" (Arkham Asylum isn't GREAT but it's better than Prison: the unique needs of metahumans are still being learned, stays there can be too long oe too short, identifying those who need Asylum & would take it is an ongoing process).

Then Joker breaks out of Arkham Asylum. He tortures the Gordons. The extent of his obsession with The Bat is revealed.

The Joker murders Jason: it's the Third Era and it's AWFUL.

Bruce Does Not Cope: he micromanages, he "works alone", he never "stops" Being Batman.

The Bat regains Cryptid Status. It's not just amateur crooks and would-be mooks scared by The Bat anymore: Bruce is scaring civilians, the 9-5'ers who have follow "The Code" (e.g. keep it profressional, don't use lethal force if you can avoid it, DO NOT MESS WITH KIDS), the Rogues he's developed some rapport with (Selina, Harley, Riddler), Alfred & Lucius & Gordon.

People who "Knew" Batman as someone/thing that Does Not Like Senseless Violence, who gives Second Chances and Alternatives... they do not recognise this new, reckless and violent and ANGRY Batman/[Bruce].

I don't think Gotham "at large" was ever aware enough of The Robins even existing, not this "early" on. Those who Met One would "keep the secret/to the Code": professionalism, discretion, softening their punches. Most would never have noticed a Robin was there: the Batfam primarily operate in the SHADOWS, after all. There were Rumours, naturally, but who listens to anything said by The Joker? The ones who'd bring up Batman having a kid were The Wrong Sort (not following The Code, known associates of Gotham's Worsts) or "Liars". It's only the Escalation from Joker and the other Worsts of Gotham, of Batman's reciprocating that Escalated Violence, that makes Gotham's Underbelly start dreading that those Rumours might be true: the Bat had had a kid, a kid who was sweet and cracked jokes, a kid who wasn't just murdered but tortured too.

Batman's renewed Cryptid Status comes in the wake of the Dead Robin rumours: the Robin was the Batman's "conscience"; the Bat is Gotham ITSELF, come to the cries of her children; the Robin was an Orphan who summoned his Father from Hell itself and, with his child dead, there was no one to send the Demon back.

The Third Era has a drop in standard crime but a ramping up of Terror: Tim, Steph and Bab's Birds of Prey step up in response. Bruce Does Not Take New Kids Well. He is awful to Steph, furious with Tim (Babs is one of the few Bruce feels has "Understood" how Gothan has Changed: her business is her own, so long as her at know not to "interfere" with Gotham on their own).

Tim is too tenacious, too ambitious, too stupidly capable of matching wits against Bruce at his Worst: Bruce takes him in but REFUSES to put Tim in a Suit ("Robin" is completely off limits) until he was Not A Child (15+) and Bruce had TRAINED him.

Even with Tim's age going up & down according to the writer, the Mythos of Batfam in this "Third Era" does not allow for Bruce to ever put anyone younger than 15/16 in the "scope" of the Joker or his other Enemies (Bane seems very Third Era). Cass is an anomaly, wherever she fits between Jason & Tim, due to how immediately she & Bruce were able to "understand" each other. It helps that she was ALREADY more physically skilled than Bruce & had demonstrated complete mastery of non-lethal combat. The nature of Cassandra's life had her "involved" with the Dark Underbelky of the World long before she even arrived in Gotham... and, all that aside, it was Babs who "took her in" anyway.

The "Fourth Era" would be Batman "having a Robin again": it's a relief for Gotham as a whole. Bruce (& thus Batman) is still VERY paranoid and more Terrifying than he ever was with the First Robins... but Tim's presence does "stabilize" him.

(This only furthers the Bat Cryptid "leashed only by Child" Rumours: Oracle gladly adds to them in service of the Bat Agenda)

The Fourth Era is when Supervillains become "normalised", identified as People in Suits to the masses & something any member of the Batfam has become Trained to "Handle". Most of the Rogues have been caught more than once, their weaknesses have been Noted, there are Protocols ready for almost everything. Gothamites get yearly "fear toxin" boosters, schools & workplaces have Drills for "Metahuman Events" (& Emergency Lockdown systems for Arkham Escapes, courtesy of Wayne Enterprises). Thimgs are, once again, "settling" into a New Normal.

Gotham is still more dangerous than most cities, it's also been Recognised as differently dangerous: it's rare for Outsiders to 'try their luck" by "playing hero" in Gotham, Nightwing is the "official" point of contact for any Capes or Metas expecting to be in Gotham & everyone likes Nightwing.

(Oracle is a new Cryptid: a Recognised Authority for Gotham but of Unknown Connection to it, her Birds largely operating Outside of It)

Overall, Gotham is "better" than it was pre-Batman: it's only unofficially run by Crimelords now and only half of its authorities are "Probably Corrupt"! The Bat himself is more "stable": Bruce has begun reconciling or otherwise making silent ammends to those he's alienated, he's regained SOME ability to "Trust" (his Family, some friends). Bruce knows he has never really "worked alone" (Alfred, Lucius, Leslie, Gordon) and that he needs help, that he has it: he has something of a Work/Vigilante/"Life?" Balance again.

Jason Coming Back is Fifth Era.

Bruce & the Batfam are still working things out, being prone to falling out all over again (Dick has resolved to never "abandon" his Dad again, taken up the role of "Peacemaker") and the "Red Hood" gives everyone has at least one existential crisis (at minimum). Damian showing up just as the they're understanding that Jason Is Alive and Mad About It... does not help.

Idk if Bruce faking his death is still canon? That's the "endnote" of Fifth Era.

Sixth Era starts with the "Batman" mantle being taken up by Dick, Kate & Cass. Whether Bruce is genuinely dead (to then get resurrected) or just "missing" depends on which arcs you'd consider "canon". I barely recall the explanation given at the time for Bruce Playing Dead to his entire family, just when it had finally "reunited" (largely through Attempted Murder but pssht DETAILS).

Seventh Era is the present: Bruce is Batman, the Robins & Batgirls have "graduated", the Batfamily is a Family (even when they fight, they protect each other & revere Alfred). Organized crime, supervillains & metahuman events in Gotham have become Slice Of Life events for the Batfam: there's more of them than ever, they have multiple Point persons, they know how to work together, they know their own limits & when to call for Backup (except Bruce but his Kids have figured out how to "compensate" for the Batdad's Paranoia/Lack of Self Preservation/Overprotectiveness: Jason is the Best at this, obviously).

Gothamites during the Seventh Era have Adapted to seeing Grown Up Robins out in the Daytime; the "Cryptid or Very Dedicated Dad?" discourse continues, actively encouraged by Said Robins (consensus from Gotham At Large is split between those that consider Batgirls to be "Robin" figures, generally a position held by those most familiar with [Babs] &/or [Steph] while other views have [Cass] &/or [Kate] as alternate forms that the Bat Cryptid can take). Duke joins the family.

"Seventh Era" Bruce is Renewed in his dedication to combating crime before it happens by addressing its causes: affordable housing, unemployment, rehabilitation, discrimination against ex-cons, accessible healthcare, conflict resolution training by emergency services, etc. Bruce lets himself "retire" his Rich Idiot mask to further his philanthropy, the extended Wayne Family all onboard & leading different avenues of reform. Older Gothamites become Nostalgic, recalling Bruce's parents & the still-active Dr Leslie.

The "Veterans" of Gotham's Criminal Underbelly are Nostalgic over having a "Tiny Robin and Bat Cryptid" active again. The "Code" is not onlu adhered to but internally enforced: The Bat's Madness at the loss of its Robin is still too recent, injuries still newly healed, sentences only recently completed. That there are Multiple Robins and Multiple Cryptids, all of them terrifyingly protective of each other... one of the first things taught to any prospective gang member is "kids are off-limits, even Robins: ESPECIALLY Robins!". Self-defence is fine, expected, but Certain Weapons & Certain Acts of Violence? If the Cryptids h

don't get you, a supervillain or other gangs will. It's the unorganized crime that Gothamites are most wary of.

The scariest word a wannabe-bad guy can hear in Gotham is "Dad/Baba/Father". Any of the Robins might do it. Some of the Cryptids do it. If you hear a child calling for their parent? It's Surrender or Play Dead: hearing that word means They (the Cryptids, Nightwing, the Robins, Batgirl, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Two-Face!) will end you. You will wish they would just "kill" you (the Ghost Robin or the Rogues just might).

I split Batman's "Career" into "Eras" because it's a way to Mentally make Past & Current "canon" internally consistent... give or take an anachronism.

Dick was anywhere from 10 to 12 when he became Robin but it was also the Era where Batman was Mythic, his Tech outmatching most everything Gotham could offer, where No One Was Expecting A Child Ninja (Dick was an internationally acclaimed gymnast: that reads like "ninja" to the unprepared).

Jason and Tim were older (14-16) but both could easily read as "younger" due to the Cryptid Nature of Batman by that time, their only showing up at Night, kids looking Younger the Older you get, the bright colours of their suits, the stealth & social tactics used by the Batfam as a whole.

I REALLY like how this idea of "[Bat]Dad" can fuel Gotham's Underworld paranoia in their ongoing efforts to figure out "Batman": an urban legend, "Gotham Personified", "Cryptid?", dude dressed like a bat, "vampire?"... all the way to "Cryptid Parent summoned from Hell by Children of Gotham, the Robins, who are the Only Beings capable of putting the Bat Demon back to Rest".

Especially if this "mythology" is started independently of any rumours of The Batman that Bruce was TRYING to proliferate & gained traction with every addition to the Extended Batfamily (official and otherwise). Bruce can't even "get mad" about how his myth has changed because, at its core, Bruce's "Motive" for being Batman can be "summed up" as... [babyproof Gotham for every future generation].

So my Batfamily brain rot is back (not that it ever really left) and I just had a thought like…

If you’re a henchman/criminal in Gotham, seeing your life flash past your eyes is gonna be a somewhat regular occurance but… what if like… the thing that truly made a henchman’s heart fall to his ass was when they hit Robin just a little too hard and this 10 year old kid just starts crying and goes ‘Daaaaaadddd!’

That’s the moment when they truly think they’re going to die because said dad, the kid is calling for is a 6’6 demon from hell who’s all muscle and shadows and vengance and a lot of Gotham still thinks he’s a cryptid

The henchmen all drop their guns and try to calm the kid down but it’s over in 5 seconds flat. Batman breaks several bones before speaking to Robin in the softest voice they’ve ever heard him use and the criminal world, who was already a bit hesitant to fight a kid have even more reason to take it just a little easy on Robin.

And like, I can picture different reactions with every Robin.

Like, for Dick, he’s ten and we all know he was the most violent Robin second only to Damian so maybe when he’s ten or eleven and has calmed down a little, a henchback who still remembers what a little shit he used to be decides to get back at Robin, slips on a pair of brass knuckles and BAM

And then, little Dick just stares for a moment in shock, cheek already starting to bruise, the criminals he’d been fighting all stay still because it was a nasty punch and then…

“Daaaaad!!!” He cries out in a whiny voice that reminds them that Robin really is just a kid and it all clicks into place.

Even Bruce wasn’t expecting that, Dick has just started calling him dad and he still isn’t used to being called that so to hear his kid calling for him in the moment where he is startled and hurt and a little scared… the henchmen don’t even have time to react and they wake up in the hospital with concussions and maybe a few broken bones.

It doesn’t take Dick long to calm down, it was mostly that the hit from a random henchmen really startled him and got him right in the cheekbone. But Bruce still finishes patrol early and Dick still hides under Bruce’s cape all the way to the Batmobile.

Then comes Jason and Jason was such a sweet kid, I headcannon he was the one that called Bruce dad the most often while being Robin. So one night during patrol maybe he finds himself fighting Penguin or Two-Face and it’s been a long night and he has an exam the following day and Bruce is fighting another villain at the other side of the warehouse

The point is, the henchmen and Two-Face start landing hits on eleven year old Jason in his gut and at some point he loses sight of Batman fighting on the other side of the room. Jason gets scared because he’s never really fought without Batman and while he knows that Bruce is still in the warehouse, he can’t see him and the handle of a gun hits the back of his ankle and he falls and he sees Two-Face or Penguin or one of the henchmen getting ready to grab the front of his uniform and beat him up and…

“Daaaaddd!”

The criminals freeze for a moment. They’ve heard the stories of what happened the last time a Robin called scared for dad.

They’re fucked.

They all drop their guns and try to get Jason to calm down, but he’s crying just a little bit and calls again, his voice breaking and despite having been at the other side of the warehouse just a second ago, Bruce somehow drops from the ceiling and it’s over before the criminals can keep pleading with Robin to calm down.

Jason tries to apologize for ‘acting like a baby’ but Bruce is having none of it and carries him back to the Batmobile and Jason is happy to just hide his face in Bruce’s cape because he knows his dad will always be there to save him.

Then comes Tim.

And Tim gets found out while doing reconnisance and somehow he finds himself face to face with Bane who manages to wrench away his bo staff and Tim is just eleven and he is scared because Bane doesn’t look like he’s going to hold back

All Tim knows is that the crack he hears must surely be his ribs either cracking or breaking and he can’t breath and he can only muster enough air for a single word… and he calls for his dad through tears and fear

And at this point… at this point Batman has already lost a Robin, Tim may not be his legally but he is his son just as much as Jason was

Bane spends a month in the ICU

Tim is embarrased that he reacted like that. He thinks it makes him less of a Robin to called scared for Batman… for dad.

So Bruce tells him of the other two times it happened. It’s one of the first times he’s spoken about Jason to Tim so bluntly.

Then comes Stephanie.

Stephanie never calls Bruce dad when she’s Robin. She’s not his daughter and he’s not her dad. They’re not sure what exactly they are to one another.

As far as Bruce knows, Stephanie’s version of Robin never called out to him when she was scared.

What he doesn’t know is that it did happen. Just once

It was the last time she was Robin. When Black Mask had her and she thought she was going to die

At some point while bleeding and feeling nauseous and so scared she could barely hear anything that wasn’t her own heart beating wildly against her chest… she called for dad. Not for Arthur Brown, but for Bruce

Black Mask laughed at her

Stephanie never tells Bruce

And finally… Damian

Now, we know Damian would probably never be startled enough to call for Bruce out of instinct, so I can see 2 scenarios in which this could happen.

First, he sees another kid do it. He sees a kid close to his own age laughing and playing, then tripping and staying quiet for a split second before crying out for mom and dad and he just… assumes that’s something kids do when scared and hurt and startled and does it mostly in an attempt to be a little more ‘normal’

Or, my favorite scenario… he hears of the other times it has happened. He overhears maybe Dick remind Jason of what Bruce did when Jason called out to dad as Robin. Tim maybe jokes that a Robin calling for dad is still the villains’ greatest fear

So Damian stores that knowledge away as a battle strategy just in case he ever needs it… and maybe a small part of him wants to put it to the test, to see if his father would protect him as brutally as he’s protected the Robins before him

So some random night during patrol, he’s up against several henchmen, a few of them grab him from behind, trying to hold him down. Damian is fighting against them when one of them swings a cylinder of metal that Damian thinks might’ve been meant for the plumbing and…

The henchman breaks Damian’s nose, there’s blood dripping down his chin and staining his uniform

Now… it is most certainly not the first time he’s broken something, he’s more than used to the pain, in fact, he barely feels it. However, it gives him a chance to put his little theory to the test

And so Damian allows himself to sound like the ten year old that he is and in a whiny, teary voice, goes… “Babaaaaa!” (Bonus points if it’s the first or second time he’s called Bruce baba instead of father)

What Damian didn’t take into account though, is that Batman and Robin aren’t the only ones on patrol that night. They made a big bust. The biggest part of the operation was over but they were still fighting a few stragglers. The whole fucking family is here.

And they all hear his cry.

Damian doesn’t think he’s ever seen a fight end so quickly. The henchmen only have a split-second of surprise before vanishing, being tackled or shot or having knives buried on their shoulders by his siblings.

The one that actually broke Damian’s nose is being beaten up by Nightwing, Damian doesn’t think he’s ever seen Grayson so angry.

A shadow kneels in front of him, father. Baba. He’s checking Damian and Todd is right at his side, both speaking in hushed tones, checking his injuries and wiping the tears that usually came with a broken nose.

And now… Damian is used to his father and Grayson treating him like a child, trying to be as soft as they can with him. Even Cain does it to some extent.

But… having Drake wrap an arm around him, calling him baby when knocking out one of the criminals that had hurt him ‘that’s my fucking baby brother!’ and continue to hold him later into the night on the couch, having Brown willingly give up all the snacks she keeps in her utility belt and promise to take him to Batburger the following day for milkshakes because he was ‘a champ’. And Thomas wraps his favorite blanket around Damian while they’re fixing him up.

Todd decides to stay the night at the manor. Which he never does. They all decide to spend the night at the manor when Damian still sniffles on the Batmobile and they have breakfast all of them together. Which Damian isn’t sure has ever happened before and Cain gets Alfred to make pancakes with chocolate chips instead of blueberries.

They call him baby in hushed whispers but for once, it doesn’t bother him even though it really should

But most of all, Bruce refuses to let him go for a good five minutes after he first cries for him. Smoothing down his hair and whispering that it’ll be okay and just being soft in a way Damian has never seen before.

He sleeps between his Baba and Grayson and he knows that Todd and Drake and Cain check in on them at least twice in the night for some reason.

And he realizes it’s… it’s nice. Maybe this really could be an effective battle strategy to be employed again someday.

[marnikula]

Every Universe

So I had this cute DC prompt that I'm not going to write considering I'm not good enough at writing to confidently post it, so here you go. I imagined this with Dick, but you can write this with any character you see fit, it doesn't even need to be a DC character Imagine Dick gets sucked into an alternate universe out of nowhere, the only thing he knows about his situation is that he needs to find her

He soon meets the alternate version of himself who was adopted by an average family instead of Bruce and is taken back to the alternates house, where he meets a woman, alternate Dick's wife, whose beauty puts the heavens themselves to shame. He learns her name listens to their story and learns that they met when he was 15. He barely stays in that universe for an hour.

Soon Dick finds himself in another universe where he meets a version of himself whose parents never died. He gets taken to the circus and meets his trapeze partner, the woman from the previous universe, who is once more married to the alternate version of himself. Again he learns their story, and again he learns what age they met, 17.

Universe after universe he travels, meeting himself and that universe's version of his wife. Universe after universe he learns their stories and notices a pattern. They all met in similar yet widely different ways (you get to choose) and they all met between the ages of 13 and 19, but never before and never after. Dick is currently 23.

Dick is jealous. They look so happy and so in love, no matter what situation they are in. Hell, he even meets a version of them that hops between homeless shelters because of financial difficulties, but still, they are happier than he is with his life where he can have everything he wants. He has seen them have children, pets, and even their own businesses, and he. is. jealous.

Then Dick appears in a graveyard where he sees himself kneeling by a gravestone, tears in his eyes as the man who seems only slightly older than himself mourns. They end up talking and Dick learns that he of this universe lost his wife barely a year ago and that he comes to lay her favorite flowers on her grave every day, a tradition he had kept going from when they first started dating. They talk and talk and Dick stays there longer than he has ever stayed in a single universe.

In the end, when Dick finally leaves, he has realized a few things, one of those things being that his universe is the one where he never meets his wife, and yet in the back of his mind he still hears the voice chanting for him to find her

In the next universe, he lands at the feet of the version of his wife who has never met him, and suddenly the voice quiets, knowing that he has found his version of her.

Even in the universes where the other doesn't exist, they still manage to find each other

===

this prompt was inspired by the EPIC musical "Would You Fall in Love with Me Again" Sorry for the horrible format, I am sleep-deprived and honestly do not have many cares to give, I just wanted to put this out there

[damianbugs]

please share your dick and bruce fic recs, both sad and fun stuff

–someone who thinks about them a normal amount

OHHH my friend my dearest friend i will totally share the best most crazy brainworm inducing bruce and dick fics i have ever read. i wish i was exaggerating when i say this dynamic changed me as a person, but it is the truth i fear. THE troubled father and son blueprint.

DICK AND BRUCE FIC RECS ON AO3

a pointless resistance by emavee

It starts with a news report running in the background of a greasy little diner, but it ends with Dick dead. Except, it doesn't stop there. It keeps on ending, over and over. Bruce's son keeps dying, and nothing he does seems to make any sort of difference.

MY NOTES: whenever i stumble upon an emotionally repressed individual i imagine a little cartoon person in my head shouting SEND HIM TO THE TIME LOOP because it truly does fix all problems. wonderful bruce and dick writing and the dialogue was so real to me i have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. it is also set during the robin jason era!

Making Time by CaptainOzone

Bruce does not remember anything leading up to this moment. He does not remember teaming up with Superman recently, nor does he remember being anywhere but Gotham proper. He does remember having Robin at his side. Robin, it turns out, is not there any longer. God does he hate magic.

MY NOTES: you'll notice a common theme with these recs and that is bruce needs to be having a horrible time and then is forced to confront his emotions and express them accordingly to dick. there is something very bittersweet about this yet it was handled so wonderfully. again, tears in my eyes.

Catch and Release by snackbaskets

There's a tradition among the family: when in danger, you grab the smallest Robin and hang on tight. But like all traditions, this one had to start somewhere, right? Alternately: three times Dick bodily attacks his father (with love)

MY NOTES: ohhh i think about the last part of this fic like all the time. something so sweet and precious about it to me. such a fun and comforting read.

Afraid of the Dark by WrongLeverKronk

The wind whispered outside his window and the dim moon failed to provide comfort. He was embarrassed. Richard Grayson sat on his bed, above the covers, with his arms wrapped firmly around his knees that were tucked against his chest. He thought everything would be fine when he parted from his friends for the evening, that his confidence would follow him in solitary. He regretted parting as soon as he turned out the lights in his bedroom and became enclosed by the eerie atmosphere. (Or: the aftermath of the episode in which Robin hallucinates Slade. He calls Batman)

MY NOTES: can u hear the sounds of me screaming crying sobbing. one of my first ever dick and bruce fics. fun fact i have never watched teen titans but watched this episode specifically just for fun and then read this and now it is seared permanently into my mind forever. anyways read this.

in the dark of the night by fanfictiongreenirises

“I already have a dad, y’know? So you don’t have to be my new dad. I don’t really want you to be my dad, anyway. We can be friends. Partners.” Bruce seems to sigh in relief, having stiffened up halfway through Dick’s speech. “Friends and partners, then.” And they were in agreement. Bruce and Dick and a series of steps and leaps and jumps.

MY NOTES: sometimes im okay and then i remember how many times dc COULD have made bruce adopt dick and DIDNT because they SUCK and so this fic is here to warm the hearts of all those who need it. so lovely.

After the Wake by nighhtwing (divineauthor)

Fathers should not bury their children. —•— When Jason dies, Dick comes home, and Bruce muses on being a parent.

MY NOTES: a shorter one, but man does it pack a real punch to the heart. i find bruce and dicks dynamic immediately after jasons death the most fascinating and this was a wonderful spin on it!

You Are My Reflection (As I Am Yours) by Fairy527

A rope snaps. A collective scream echoes in the tent. (A threatening low voice. A sinister metallic click.) The Flying Graysons fall, and Bruce is sent back to that fateful night in Crime Alley

MY NOTES: clutches my heart screaming OHH. OH THE PARALLELS. there is just something so personal about the night the graysons fell and the night the waynes died being referenced with one another AND THIS GOT IT SOOO WELL. tears. tears forever.

i can't promise (it's not written in the stars) by konan_konan

Batman is following him, surely, but he’s smaller and faster and he’s not going to let someone take him and lock him up again. Wayne Manor, he’s learned, is just another kind of prison. It may be big and fancy but it is also empty and cold and he’s not going back. Tony Zucco dies tonight, he tells himself. It is the only thing that matters. or: dick loses two soulmates, and gains three.

MY NOTES: oh this fic. i need a moment. soulmate aus can be a real hit or miss sometimes but the way it was portrayed in this literally surpasses all expectation it was just SO GOOD. the dick introspection is honestly one of my favourites like. ever.

In This or Any Other Universe by wildsofmarch

There was a new vigilante in his city: a man who smiled too much and talked too loud and knew his way around a fight a little too well. Bruce wasn't bothered by his antics. Except the man also seemed to know a little too much about him. Who was this Nightwing, anyway? ------ OR: Dick Grayson (DCU) accidentally lands himself in Battinson’s Gotham.

MY NOTES: here it is. my favourite bruce and dick fic of all time forever and ever. im so serious. the tears are not in my eyes because they are streaming down my face. the idea of battinson with a robin was lovely and now that this gives us battinson with NIGHTWING i am just inconsolable. MUST READ.

[book-place]

A Day With Jay- (Jason Todd x sister reader, Bruce Wayne x daughter reader) Bruce is left with no other choice but to leave his youngest child in the care of his second eldest

Welcome Home- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) You were the one to make the decision to run away all of those years ago, so you really have no one to blame but yourself for the situation you now find yourself in

↳ Now That You’re Home- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) After finally getting home, things can’t be expected to go back to normal right away. You were gone for far too long

Hey Brother- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) Family strengths are always proven in the worst situations

Way the Cookie Crumbles- (Batfamily x child reader) There’s a tradition your family has, and it’s about time you introduce it to the newest member of your chaotic family

Rooftop Run- (Jason Todd x sister reader, Dick Grayson x sister reader) Your practice runs late, but turns out you weren’t even at practice. And your two older brothers start to worry

Family Dinner and Other Catastrophes- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) You didn’t exactly know what to expect when you brought your girlfriend to meet your family for the first tim

Little Flinches- (Damian Wayne x best friend reader, Batfamily x teen reader) A change in your behavior makes Damian begin to question things

Back Again- (Jason Todd x sister reader) Jason was back, but there was one person he was the most terrifed of seeing

Disaster Twins- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) When Bruce adopted you and your brother, he didn’t expect for as much chaos to ensue as it did

History Repeats Itself- (Batfamily x reader platonic) You go to your best friends with news, but their reactions are less than pleasing

Silent Night- (Batfamily x reader platonic) During a small Christmas get together, you were asked an unexpected question

Holiday Secret- (Batfamily x reader platonic) You give Damian a very unexpected surprise for the holidays

Holiday Hero- (Damian Wayne x reader platonic) You presented Damian with a gift before giving him the heartbreaking news

Most Wonderful Time- (Batfamily x reader platonic, Wanda Maximoff x daughter reader, Vision x daughter reader) An idea came to you suddenly about the flashbacks you had been having of your past life <crossover>

Sleigh Ride- (Damian Wayne x reader platonic) Damian wasn’t happy when he heard who you were spending Christmas with

Tis the Season- (Damian Wayne x reader platonic) Things get to be too much during Damian’s Christmas party

Possession- (Batfamily x batsis!reader, John Constantine x reader platonic) Nobody believed you when you told them there was a demon, but it wasn’t exactly a good thing that you were able to prove them wrong

Twice Cursed- (Batfamily x reader platonic) You aren’t able to hear as well as normal, and it freaks you out

Heartbreak- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) You’ve been in love with this boy forever, but he doesn’t return your feelings

What They’re For- (Dick Grayson x reader platonic) You were always the best friend that Dick needed, even if he didn’t always deserve it

Sulking at the Gala- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) You absolutely hate going to galas. You’re always miserable during them… right?

Never Grow Up- (Batfamily x batsis!reader) Your family might have grown over the years, but your bond always stayed the same

Safe With You- (Jason Todd x sister reader) Jason tried to keep you safe, he really did

Promotion Rejections- (Bruce Wayne x reader platonic) There is a sense of respect between you and Batman

[clockwayswrites]

@ladykarmastrikeblog

#but could we have a single thought as a treat?

Well, since you asked so nicely... hum... which one... which one...

When the press catches the leaked news that Bruce Wayne has adopted another child, of course they go wild. Now none of Bruce's children were every introduced on a proper schedule, but the press can't even get a good photo of this new one. The few times they are out, always flanked and hidden by siblings, they're in a hat and covered up.

Rumors start going around that there is something "wrong with this one". Bruce just about mauls the reporter who dares to say that to his face. (He would have if Jason hadn't stopped him. Jason is fully aware of the irony of him being the one to hold Bruce back.)

Finally though the press has a name: Thomas Wayne (and doesn't the city go wild for that) and the date of the first public appearance: a gala. The family thinks it will work best because they can have Tom in and out, with limited press time, and always well guarded.

Phantom- Tom isn't so sure about it all himself, but he's trying, of course he is. He's always trying so hard. So he puts up with the tailor's visit and the fitting and goes to the bathroom to change into the suit he was handed. It's a traditional black and white tux. Can't go wrong with that, the tailor had said.

But when Tom puts on the suit and sees himself in the mirror in sharp black and crisp white he wants to just scream. He can't be in those colors not again- no no no!

It's the first time Tom has gone full, intangible shadow in a very long time. Needless to say, the family panics. Especially when they can't find him at first.

I'm sitting here rolling in post Shadow of a Bat thoughts like NO. You have things in progress! Many things! Work on them.

[fakakta-art]

I have this Jewish Dick Grayson headcanon but I'm not Jewish so I was wondering if you'd give me feedback or something like that if it's not too much trouble. I imagine he'd be raised secular by his parents and when he starts living with Bruce he participates in Jewish traditions/holidays because Bruce uses his own family experiences to try and connect with his new kid. so Dick decides to fully lean into it and convert to Judaism. I think he'd have a Bar Mitzvah to formally show that, but Bruce didn't have any formal event for his because without his parents it's difficult. so when Dick gets to really celebrate his Bar Mitzvah it's a special moment of connection for them and Bruce is very proud. Dick becoming Jewish helped him reconnect with his mom after her death and it's all very sentimental. once again I'm not Jewish so I don't know if that makes sense

I'm always happy to talk Jewish batfam and i absolutely love when people share their HCs with me! :D I'm so flattered you reached out! If you mean you HC Dick as having a Jewish parent/parents, but just not being raised religiously Jewish, he wouldn't actually need to "convert". Judaism is an Ethnoreligion, aka: an ethnicity AND a religion, so you can be ethnically Jewish and not religiously, and vice-versa. It is enough to simply be born to Jewish parents (Mother if you're traditional, either if you're more reform). Conversion in Judaism is quite different from a lot of other religions, since Judaism is considered a "closed" religion. Gentiles (non-Jews) can convert, but the process is arduous and involves lots of study and communications with rabbis, etc.

If you mean raised secular in that John and Mary are both gentiles, but Dick ends up adopted as a kid by Bruce (a Jewish man), then he could be raised culturally Jewish, and might even be accepted as such in some Jewish communities depending on the denomination and such, but he would technically still need to convert to be "officially" Jewish.

A Bar Mitzvah does not count as a conversion, it's a separate, but very important coming-of-age ceremony that considers you a Jewish adult when a boy turns 13. It comes with responsibilities and practices, definitely something I love imagining Dick having, being supported by Bruce though, and reconciling with his past and such.

For the sake of not making the worlds longest post, I'm putting the rest under the cut!

I'm totally a sucker for HCs of someone reconnecting to their religion, I'm also totally a sucker for Jewish HCs so you're totally in my wheelhouse! I absolutely invite you anytime to message me or anything cause I could go for days on this.

I wont dump my entire hoard of HCs on you, but yours are actually quite similar to some of mine!! I figured I'd share some ehe, no obligation to read it or nothin'

Bruce I HC to be Ashkenazi Jewish, on both Martha and Thomas's side. I imagine they were somewhat conservative (Masorti) Jewish, but Martha's extended family was Orthodox. I HC Bruce was raised pretty Jewishly until his parents were killed, and from then on Alfred, who is not Jewish, did his best to uphold the values and religion that Bruce's parents had left behind with him. Also, bc I always establish a latke Opinion for every Jewish HC I Have...Bruce would totally be a cream cheese and lox latke guy, bougie ass. As for a Bar Mitzvah for Bruce...I usually waffle between HCs of either

A) Bruce not doing a bar mitzvah celebration since there's many practices associated w the parents that he knew would be too painful, but as an adult he regrets not having one or might even do a belated one as an adult at some point with prodding from his kids

Or B) Alfred, knowing the importance of it, pushes Bruce to actually do it and tries his best to do the parental duties. It's sweet small and all that but still nice

As for Dick, I usually HC that his father John was Romani and his mother Mary was Jewish, born Miryam (Jewish name) but changed it to Mary to pass as gentile cause of the Antisemeitism. I HC her, and by extension Dick, as Sephardic rather than Ashkenazi (regionally different flavors of Judaism due to diaspora, very interesting to look up if you have time). Anyways, Bruce and Dick def had a "similar but different" motif about it but very wholesome. I think Dick still knew stuff and had a connection to it, but didn't like, attend services or anything pre-Bruce. He probably loved Purim, though. I imagine when Dick was young, he and Bruce would celebrate Shabbat together and light the candles every week. As for Latke pref...applesauce and sour cream at the same time on the same latke.

For Jason, I actually HC him as mixed race (afrolatino, white, etc) and raised Catholic, so pre-Bruce he didn't know anything about Judaism at all. I don't think he'd have crazy strong connections to religion of any sort, but he'd still have some adjusting to do. I think he'd participate culturally with the fam, doing Passover seders, playing dreidel, etc, but I don't think he'd be doing much praying or anything. Sour cream on Latkes truther, but he'll add pico de gallo sometimes if he's got it.

Now for Tim, I also HC as Jewish, but whereas Martha and Thomas were very outwardly Jewish, I imagine Tim's parents were not. In my hcs, Janet was raised conservative but sorta dropped it. Jack was raised reform and didn't really practice anything. I imagine they didn't want to broadcast a lot of their Jewishness out of fear it would impact their business, which they cared about more. Most of Tim's participation started and ended with the High Holy Days, or the occasional moment his parents ever rarely felt religiously inclined. Maybe some brief Hanukkah stuff, cause of the capitalism and whatnot. I think he would do a lot of his own research, though, and know enough to get by. I think he would also eat his Latkes with ketchup, bc he's bonkers.

Now for Damian, obviously he's half Jewish cause Bruce is his father, but Talia I HC as Muslim (can't remember how canon it is) and raising him practicing Islam I think makes him lean more towards that religiously even if he is ethnically both. He's interested in Bruce's culture, bc thats his dad! but not like, with spiritual intent at his age. I think the whole fam though is happy to celebrate Eid with him, support him fasting during Ramadan, etc, though! When Alfred makes Latkes though he prefers applesauce or plain, as most kids in my experience prefer.

ANYWAYS sorry this got WAY longer than I thought it would. I have more for the rest of the batfam and stuff but i'll stop here. Biggest HC dump EVER huh..anyways if you actually got to the end thanks for reading it! feel free to message me any questions or send another ask, clearly, I usually have something to say about it LOL