#could be read as Tim Steph

[welcometogrouchland]

Disgustingly messy and crusty sketch dump but I couldn't get my own terrible theory out of my head and ended up making a bunch of sketches about it. Also at the end a bonus dickbats and Damian doodle bc I was reading an issue of their Batman and Robin run (IDs in Alt)

[horsechestnut]

AU to add to the list of AUs I'll never write: All of the Robins are de-aged to the age they were when they became Robin. Their memories are also reset to that point, and somehow they're in their Robin suits.

So you have a 16 year old Steph, desperately trying to wrangle 4 feral children who look nearly identical and won't tell her their names because "you do know what a secret identity is, don't you Stephanie?"

[necrotic-nephilim]

for the ask game

tim creates a clone of kon, but this is dicktim tim has to carry the fetus or breastfeed it, but dick suddenly gets a mommy kink and immediately falls in love

for the ask game!

DICKTIM MOMMY KINK. how did you know i have such a thing for just about any Batcest ship where the other person calls Tim mommy. i don't even know why i just think that shit is so fun.

it'd have to be Omegaverse for me, that's the only scenario i personally could write m-preg. i like the thought of no one knowing that Tim has gone on this crusade. and after 99 failures, Tim's so desperate and angry he tries in vitro fertilization. the first few times it doesn't work so he doesn't take it too seriously, at this point it's just a compulsion. he gets to a point he stops taking the pregnancy tests. so when about a month later, he's experiencing morning sickness and he's missed his heat, Tim has an 'oh, shit.' moment. and well. telling Dick first is his *natural* answer. (i think he'd also go to Steph, but in canon she'd be "dead" at this point) Tim doesn't know what to do, he didn't think he'd get this far. Dick is comforting and grounding, agreeing to help Tim hide this the best he can. Tim has to time it right, fake a bad injury so it makes sense he's benched and wearing baggy sweaters for a few months.

it's platonic at first. Dick is an alpha but his bond with Tim is more of a pack bond and he's just trying to help Tim through this awkward situation he got himself into. (and not laugh at him too much in the process bc well. only Tim. only Tim could manage this.) the pregnancy hormones have Tim all over the place. he's seeking comfort and Dick is trying to keep it platonic and professional, even when he's cuddling Tim or bringing him weird cravings at 2 am. the trust in Dick and Tim's bond makes Dick Tim's only real support system. (also just bc the Titans were a goddamn mess in this era) maybe at some point they tell Bruce the truth but Bruce is dealing with Jason so. bigger fish. it forces them closer as Dick is the only one who can help Tim with the awkward sides of pregnancy. Dick is basically living with Tim and because Tim can't satiate the itch to be in the field (he's tried sneaking out, it earned him a lecture from Dick and a warning that Dick would handcuff him to the radiator if Tim tried that again) so Tim runs comms. for anyone who asks, but mostly for Dick, to the point he's in Dick's ear even when Dick doesn't need the backup, just to keep each other company.

i think, as the pregnancy went on and Tim's chest started to fill out and his hips are bigger, that's when Dick's feeling shift. one second Tim is just his pack, the next Tim is suddenly a very pretty, very vulnerable omega that's Dick is protecting and his wires get all kinds of crossed about it. he starts dousing himself in scent blockers so Tim doesn't notice the change, can't smell how much Dick wants him. which makes Tim annoyed because Dick's scent has been a consistent calming factor keeping the worst of his hormones in check. it'd lead to an awkward fight where Dick is dancing around the truth and Tim just wants to bite him out of anger. finally, Dick admits it and. Tim kind of bluescreens bc sure he's had a crush on Dick for years, but it's sort of like your celebrity crush calling you up and asking for a date. it makes no sense and he can't wrap his head around it. he almost thinks Dick is making fun of him, because Tim is super self-conscious about the pregnancy and mortified he put himself in this situation. it takes a lot of reassurance and a long conversation, but. well, they do end up having sex.

Dick doesn't *mean* to call Tim mommy the first time. he knows Tim hates being emasculated as an omega, and knows Tim is vulnerable about being pregnant. their sex is gentle, no matter how much Tim insists he can take it because Dick doesn't want to hurt the baby, or Tim. it's when Tim finally huffs with annoyance and flips them over -reminding Dick that Tim is still trained and deadly, even like this- to take control and actually get the rough sex he needs right now, when it slips out. there's something just very pretty about Tim taking control and taking what he needs from Dick, but still being whiny and squirmy on top of him. so the first time Dick calls him mommy is an accident and they're *both* startled by just how much they like it. their sex life goes from soft and caring to *very* interesting overnight, where Dick doesn't hide how much he likes Tim's chest. and well. breastfeeding kink. for completely scientific reasons, of course. just to help the milk flow and make sure Tim's body is adjusting well. definitely not bc of the noises Tim makes when Dick does it no sir.

when Tim finally has the clone baby, they're both smitten with this tiny clone. i think they'd end up mating and either say it's Dick's baby or they adopted it. (the lie only works short term bc well, sooner or later that baby's going to start lifting trucks. not to mention Kon does come back to life and is perturbed by how much Tim's kid looks like him.) it's a very cute, fluffy happily ever after sort of deal, with plenty of mommy kink. i think Tim would be huffy and annoyed at how long he'd have to wait for sex bc in my mind, Tim uses sex as a stress relief and is very annoyed when he's deprived of it so, they'd find creative ways around it.

[goatsghost]

so i have a jon kent question: when he started dating jay, all of the irl news articles declared “superman is bi” and such. but did we get written confirmation that he’s explicitly bisexual and not gay?

i don’t remember him having a crush on a girl when he was a kid, but he did jump very quickly from eleven to seventeen, so that’s understandable if not. did he ever tell anyone he’s bisexual? or is it a writer’s confirmation later on?

[lazaruspiss]

characters that make sense to be living in wayne manor without much if any explanation: bruce, alfred, damian, tim, cass

[rocker-socks]

not to be insane but Stephanie Brown is so underrated and i really do hate to say its misogyny but. well. It is.

[megaerakles]

I keep playing with a Batfam/the odyssey fusion where Bruce is Odysseus and instead of getting fucked over by the gods for ten years he takes like six months to get home and finds a new kid practically every time he stops his boat

[mzminola]

Okay so this is funny to me. I’m only partway through the Brentwood arc but I already know some of Tim’s trajectory after that from fandom osmosis, so.

When Tim & Steph first meet, they are both living in the suburbs. Steph in Manchester, Tim in Bristol (I don’t remember if it’s after Jack woke up and moved them there, or if Tim was living with Bruce, but it’s definitely after losing Janet). There’s not really maps to show how close or far from each other these are, but Steph considers it part of her turf to investigate things at Tim’s school, Gotham Heights High, which she does not attend.

The quake results in a lot of people leaving Gotham City, and students getting shuffled around, and for some reason despite not moving, Steph is transferred from ‘City Central’ to ‘Gotham Heights’... but Tim only sees her there exactly once, when she’s coming to collect stuff because she’s temporarily homeschooling during her pregnancy. We get the name of her old school because she mentions that the girls who talked to her were from there too.

Tim’s dad yeets the family to Keystone, Tim comes back for Steph’s labor, and talks his dad into moving back to Gotham/Bristol (Jack does not take much convincing). Tim then winds up in Gotham City when it’s No Man’s Land, and then airlifted out, and since this is Tim’s third Very Worrying Running Away Incident from Jack’s perspective, he enrolls Tim in Brentwood, and makes him board despite it being close enough to attend as a day student.

Steph is presumably back at Gotham Heights High still, pregnancy done, though maybe she goes back to City Central, idk. She & her mom are still in the house we met them in, because it becomes a plot point that Arthur has his name on the mortgage (fuck that guy).

This shuffling is all during the era where Steph doesn’t know Tim’s identity. So keeping them Not At The Same School is important for the writers, but there isn’t really any reason to have her be at Gotham Heights at all except to give Tim a jump scare. The preachy convo with her classmates could’ve happened in one of her own sections, which the comics have never shied away from.

Then during the Brentwood arc, Bruce is a jackass and tells Steph Tim’s identity.

So the writers don’t need to keep them apart at school anymore, right? Presumably?

BUT THEY DO ANYWAY!

This is hysterical.

Tim leaves Brentwood because Drake Industries goes up in smoke so Jack can’t pay the private school tuition, and sells the house in Bristol and moves them back into the city, where Tim attends Louis E. Grave Memorial High, while Steph still lives out in the burbs and presumably goes to school there.

So when the writers want More Assumed Cheating Drama of having Steph see Tim’s classmate kiss him, they have to have her stalking him rather than just, like, turning down the hallway at the wrong moment. Or meeting him to study in the library after class lets out. Or anything other than Batman levels of unnecessary creepiness.

Then Steph is ‘dead’ for a bit, we’re skipping all that, Tim eventually winds up at Gotham City High, which as far as I can tell is in the city itself, and hey, Ives comes back! Yay Ives :D

The fanwiki tells me Steph graduated from Gotham City High, but I have no idea if she and Tim are actually there at the same time because her return is a clusterfuck near the end of the series, and she’s at college during Red Robin, which would’ve been his senior year if he hadn’t dropped out. Her age shifts around in canon but she’s consistently older than him.

They are NEVER at the same school I love it. Fucking hilarious.

[roobylavender]

another tangent to that but the funniest thing about the modern conflict and dynamic between bruce and talia is that if you wanted to pit them against each other in terms of parenting philosophies you could have done that just as easily going off of son of the demon alone. talia being an abusive mother is never something that should have been in the cards but her choice to prioritize bruce’s position as batman over the life they could have had together as parents of their child is something i think about a lot and generally talia is someone who was shown to criticize bruce when he let personal emotions and conflicts get in the way of honoring his duty. i could totally see her struggling to fulfill her role as a mother bc of how seriously she takes her ethical duty regardless of however much love she has for her child meanwhile bruce would take one look at an under-10 damian and be on the verge of dropping everything for him out of grief and severely emotionally clouded judgment bc that’s just who he is when it comes to his blorbos in dire straits 

[welcometogrouchland]

It's mostly the fault of poor editorial practices that B&R is so heavily misaligned continuity-wise w/ the main batman book. But walk with me for a minute:

You are Damian Wayne. You are 14 years old and have had one of the worst years of your life last year. Which is saying a lot.

Your brother, one of the people you were closest to, got shot in the head and forgot who you were. Your best friend went to space for a week and came back 3/4 years older than you, taking away your previously established dynamic and leaving you to have to bond all over again w/ a new one. You may or may not have gone wayyy too far with your new superhero team, who now all hate you, because you fucked up big time*

And worst of all, when you do try to do the right thing, you end up forced to watch Alfred, a father figure to you, the only one at your birthday that year, the person who has been so patient, loving and trusting with you, even when you probably didnt deserve it...die. you watch him die, and feel it's all your fault.

And your dad never corrects you on that last point. So you run away.

First to your mom who can tell something's up with you, she knows you don't give up that easy, you decide not to stay with her because you remembered how actually, neither of your parents are good at communicating with you despite their best efforts, so now you're 14 and flying solo.

And you do fly solo. For a while. Make new friends, new enemies. You think you're better off for it. You've got your best friend and your brother back. They're not around as much. It's fine.

And eventually your dad tells you that it's not your fault that Alfred died. Bit late but it's appreciated. Really. There's a bit of a hiccup where you get possessed by a demon and wage war against your father but after that, all in all, you two are...together again.

You start to think maybe you want to give him another chance, for the two of you to be father and son.

And in a change of pace, it works out! It's going good, mostly. He insists you go to highschool, you resist, feel like he wants you to be something that you're not (wants you to be normal), but eventually you acquiesce for your own reasons. He cheers you on at soccer and nosies around at your fundraising events with the other parents and gives you a stern talking to about your choice of girlfriend. Because he cares.

Except all the while this is going on, your dad is currently having his brain slowly taken over by an evil version of himself that he created and every time you look away he's slowly tearing your family apart (your brothers are just barely keeping it together. The ones who didn't get lobotmized that is Jesus Christ). You keep taking his side in these conflicts, for whatever reason. Maybe because he promised it would be different this time, and it isn't** and you're going to stick with him until he keeps his word for once.

But at the end of the day?

It's like your brother says. You're not the one who saves him. Broadly speaking, you've made things worse and needed others to come save you. And what else is Robin really for? You thought it was about redemption and teamwork but guess you're wrong. It's about saving your self destructive, apparently two-faced and erratic father. And you can't even do that right.

* TT (2016) by Adam Glass is a racist ooc mess, but unfortunately it's still canon so I'm referencing here, though like a lot of works authors clearly wish weren't canon but are, it's been subsequently glossed over. Win? Maybe? Or not?

** again Zdarky's characterization of Damian is so outdated as to be ooc, and considering the way he constantly and explicitly uses it to illustrate Tim's strengths as robin, I'd argue there's. Also implications there. But the batshit insanity of the main batbook compared to B&R rn is crucial for this post, so I'm attempting to justify it. This time..

[anthyies]

just finished young justice vol 1. now what

[fancyfade]

nicieza writes an OK damian in the batman comics at the time (or 'tec? I can't remember) but not when Tim shows up it's like whenever Tim shows up on page his writer brain immediately deactivates and fanboy brain takes over

[spacebubblehomebase]

I will always love the idea that the Batfam all have different religions and yet can coexist with each other peacefully... At least in that regard. So many others cannot say the same.

Though it's probably also because they fight about every other thing that religion is far down the list of things to be worrying about.

More of my boy catholic Jason Todd.

Damian: Shouldn't you be at church?

Jason: Nah, I have a couple more sins to add up the list

Alfred: Pardon?

Jason: Nothing.

---

Penguin: Why don't finish this ridiculous charade? Aren't you're going to hell anyway?

Jason: Aren't you're getting your ass sended back to Arkham ever shitty crime you commit anyway and yet here we fucking are.

---

Damian petting the Batcow:

Jason: What she got?

Damian: She's sick.

Jason: Give me her name, I'll put her in my prayers.

Damian:

Damian: You seriously think God going to magically cure her?

Jason: No dumbass. It's saint– (pause) DICK WHO WAS THE SAINT THAT CURE ANIMALS AGAIN?

Dick (from the kitchen): SAINT FRANCIS

Jason: Saint Francis it's goings to magically cure her.

Damian: That's stupid.

Jason: You want the prayer or not.

Damian narrowing his eyes, immediately: Batcow.

[we-r-robin]

Bruce yells “Robin” across the room to his kids. Nobody moves.

Duke: Who is he talking to?

Steph: Pretty sure he’s talking to you.

Duke: I’m not Robin?

Tim: He started calling all of us Robin.

Steph: Cause we lack self identity.

Duke: Fuck that, I’m not going over there until he calls me my name.

Damian: It could be life or death.

Duke: He’s literally just reading a newspaper? There’s no way it’s life or death.

Bruce, again: Robin!

Duke: He’s not even looking up from his newspaper!

Dick: Yeah he does that… it sucks but—

Duke: Fuck this I’m going on patrol. Bye Robins!

Damian: What if someone died. Would you just ignore—

*Duke Leaves*

Steph: Damn I like this kid.

[incorrect-batfam-quotes-mostly]

Bruce: *Posts a super low-quality image to the family group chat*

Dick: If I had a dollar for every pixel in this image, I’d have 15 cents

Jason: If I had a dollar for every ounce of rage I felt in my body after I read this text, I would have enough money to buy a cannon to fire at you

Barbara: Actually I did the math, Dick would have $225, not $0.15.

Steph: If I had a dollar I would buy a can of soda :)

Dick: while you’re there could you buy me an apply juice please

Steph: Sorry I only have a dollar

Dick: :(

Barbara: correction, Dick would have $22,500 because it's a dollar for every pixel, not a cent

Steph: If I had $22,500 I would buy a can of soda and an apply juice

Damian: You can buy anything you want with $22,500

Jason: Yeah and they want soda and apply juice

Dick: Apply juice to what

Steph: Directly to the forehead

Tim: Great chat everyone

[starlooove]

Dickbea JayDana timtam I will always love u