#dick hears about it from one of the batkids the next day and he calls up jason immediately

[undertheredhood]

one of jason’s love interests deciding to make the first move (because we all know jason wouldn’t be the one to do it because he’s a loser): hey handsome, do you come here often?

jason todd (a nerd who’s last somewhat serious romantic relationship happened before his death): get the hell out of my city

[celaenaeiln]

i mean this in the most neutral tone, but, im genuinely confused with this eldest daughter syndrome dick thing? as far as i know, he never lives in the manor with other batsiblings and personally take care of them except damian, and just "yeets" from any possible trouble or tension within the siblings or when they have issues with bruce

No worries I totally get it! And I'm here to deliver!

First, to be fair to Dick, no one lives in the manor aside from Damian and sometimes Tim.

Dick lives in Bludhaven, Steph lives in Gotham U? She's been in and out of comics but otherwise her own house. Cass lives in Leslie's clinic, Tim alternates between the Titans and the manor, Jason lives anywhere that doesn't have Bruce, and Duke lives with his uncle.

However that doesn't mean they don't all rely on him.

I think the confusion comes from scenes like this-

Batman: Urban Legends Issue #10

Where it seems like Dick just left Tim to deal with Bruce on his own. But-

Batman: Urban Legends Issue #10

Dick called him. When Tim when to him for advice, he gave him advice but also knew it couldn't just stop there. So he called Bruce to get it through his thick head that he's allowed to be happy. If there's anyone that can change Bruce's mind on anything it's Dick.

Which brings me to my next instance of Dick acting as the mediator and emotional burden lifter of his family. When each batkid dies (or almost dies in Dick's case), Bruce grieves in a different way. With Jason he took it out on criminals, with Tim he took it out on himself, with Dick he took it out on criminals and heroes, and with Damian, he wanted to undo what happened. He torments Jason about it, goes too hard on the criminals, gets worsened by Barbara, gets helped a little by Selina but also feels a billion times worse about Damian's death so-

Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #23

He locks himself in a simulator for days trying to see and fix where he went from when Heretic killed Damian. Nothing gets through to him so Alfred pulls out the Big Guns - he calls in Dick.

Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #23

"Richard just came in from Chicago to--"

"Talk some sense into me?"

"Yes, I've implored you to shut this...thing off and join the living, but you have turned a deaf ear for days."

"This calling in the cavalry routine is getting old, Alfred."

Since the dawn of Batman and Robin, Dick has always acted as the mediator for Bruce and the family. Always.

With Dick's help, finally, after days, Damian's saved.

Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #23

And Dick finally brings Bruce back to life.

Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #23

He took a destructive, dead-man-walking and breathed life and hope back into him to stop him from taking his grief and anger out on his family and criminals.

Also-

LOOK AT THE WAY THEY'RE SEATED. DICK IS LITERALLY BRUCE'S THERAPIST.

Batman and Robin (2011) Issue #23

Calling in the cavalry always works.

Of course there's times when Dick doesn't help mediate. But the issue is not that he doesn't want to or he pushes it off, it's that he can't. What the hell are you supposed to do when the mediator who mediates all your problems is themself broken?

Dick really wants to help Tim but he can't. He can't find it in himself to barely live right now because Donna-his platonic soulmate-is dead.

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files

He really can't.

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files

She was his sister too. Pretty much blood.

I actually think the fact that Dick doesn't live in the manor makes the fact that he still takes care of all his siblings and their problems with Bruce even more important. To calm and rationalize down Bruce and take care of his siblings, he's constantly flying or driving back and forth between different cities, dropping his cases and work, ignoring his problems, just to be there for them.

For another example, when Dick hears that the newest Batman is causing problems in Gotham and Bruce just abandoned Tim to deal with everything and Tim nearly got hurt, he comes all the way back to Gotham to rail Bruce out for doing that to him.

Robin (1993) Issue #8

When Bruce teams with Damian their relationship so tumultuous but once again Dick steps in.

Batman: The Return

"I need a partner who can stay focused and keep up."

"Bruce, come on! I made a career out of not doing anything I was told when I was Robin. He gave up everything for this. You can't just take it away...you can't cut him out."

He keeps Robin from being fired and continues being Damian's support system.

It's not just mediating though, Dick fully steps in to take care of the batfamily whenever Bruce absconds or there's trouble.

Batman and Robin Eternal Issue #24

He's like the command center of the family.

This picture just embodies his role.

Batman (2011) Issue #15

And as Bruce once said-

Batman: Urban Legends Issue #22

He's really the eldest daughter and caretaker.

[haveihitanerve]

Whats the Password?

“Okay B! We got the codes!” “good work… BatFam.” Bruce said into the comms. The entire brigade of batkids cheered from their respective places around Gotham. “He used it!” Steph cheered. There was a soft laugh and the others grinned, identifying it immediately as Cass’s. “B, the BatComputers on right?” Dick asked, swinging from one building to the next. “Yeah it should be.” Bruce answered, starting the Batmobile. “Oh, wait no. Actually its not. I turned it off because Al threatened to deep fry me the next time he was able to cook an omelet on it.” “the next time?” Jason asked. Bruce grimaced and tim crowed with laughter. “Oh yeah. I remember that. Never seen B so scared as the day we rolled into the Batcave to find al casually flipping an omelet. He served it to us right there. B looked so damn scared. And then i went upstairs and put in my noise canceling earplugs and went to bed.” The Batkids laughed. “No fucking way.” Jason gasped, holding his sides with laughter. Bruce sent his second oldest a look. “Anywho, whats the password then B? I assume you'll take a while.” Bruce nodded, even though they couldn't see. “Oh yeah. The password is- ~~~~~~~*static*~~~~~~~” “What did he say?” Tim asked, tapping his comm. “I dunno.” Dick answered, frowning. “Dad?” But bruces comm had cut out completely. “He said its his favorite kids name.” damian answered. “Gods how guys even survived this long without being able to hear this sort of stuff is beyond me.” he muttered. “No he didn't!” Steph said. “Theres no way!” “yes way!” Jason called. “First one to the cave gets to put in their name!” Duke called and they heard his engine rev. “Hold the fuck up!” Tim bellowed and each kid raced to the Batcave.

Tim, ultimately, got there first. “Haha! Suckers!” he stuck his tongue out at them and quickly typed in his name. Tim Drake-Wayne. ERROR. Dick grinned, shoving his brother out of the way. “Move aside. Favorite kid coming through.” He quickly typed his name in, but the keypad showed the same result. ERROR. Dick growled and handed the keypad to damian who grinned smugly, then immediately snarled when his name also didn't match. He handed it to cass who handed it to steph who handed it to Duke but none of them worked. Jason laughed. “Amatures.” He said. “Oh really?” dick scoffed. “Like it'd be your name!” Damian shot. Jason chuckled, reaching out a hand. “Try me.” Duke frowned, but handed it over. WELCOME, BATMAN The computer said, unlocking. 

When Bruce rolled into the Batcave later he had expected to find his children training, maybe cleaning up and even dining, even though he knew they would wait for him to come before eating a meal. What he did not, however, expect to find, was Dick sobbing in the corner, Duke screaming Bloody Mary at the top of his lungs, tim and damian breaking everything in sight and attempting to break each other, while Stephanie and Cass glared at Jason, who was sitting on top of the massive Bat Computer screen, grinning ear to ear. When they heard the Batmobile each of his children stopped, and slowly, like in a horror movie, they turned to look at him. “Ah.” Dick said, standing. “If it isn't the traitor.” Bruce looked between them in confusion. “Im sorry what?” he looked to Cass for help, but she turned away, nose in the air. “Tim?” But tim just glowered. “How Father?” damian seethed. “How can you allow him!” he pointed at jason, who just waved. “Him!!! The honor?” Bruce was now thoroughly confused. “Jason!” he called. “Get down here. Whats going on? Did the codes not work?” “oh they worked.” Dick sniffed, handing over the keypad. “I put them in.” Bruce nodded. “Good. Good. Now what is this all about?” He asked. Dick let out a huff, then answered. “You told us your password was your favorite child's name. So we ran back here and each of us put in our names. But it didn't work!” he glared at Bruce. “Until Jason tried it. Really? Hes your favorite? You two fight daily! Not to mention you let him die!” “woah!” bruce held up his hands. “First of all, no. Secondly, who said it was my favorite child?” Dick blinked. “You did.” Bruce shook his head. “What? No!!! I said it was my favorite ice cream. How did you get favorite child's name from that?!?!?” They all turned accusatory looks on damian. He melted slightly. “Also!” Bruce whirled on his second oldest who was now leaned against a pillar, perfectly at ease. “Jay! You were next to me when I said that! Why didn't you correct them?” Jason’s answering smile was slow. “I liked to watch them panic.” 

[little-pondhead]

“Dick?” Bruce looked tired and resigned. Like he knew how this conversation would go but had to do it anyways.

The eldest Wayne looked up from his phone, a bite of waffles halfway to his mouth. “Yeah, B?” He said, a bit too innocently. It was early morning on the first day of summer break, and miraculously, all the Batkids were all together and eating breakfast, albeit at varying stages of liveliness.

Bruce took a sip of coffee before he continued. He held onto his mug like it held liquid courage instead of glorified bean juice. “Is your…friend coming by next week?” A few kids perked up at his tone.

Dick himself just smirked and continued eating his waffles. “The possibility exists.”

Groaning, Bruce rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. “Dammit Dick; if he is, try to keep the damage to a minimum. I don’t want to replace every Batburger sign in Gotham again.”

“Sorry,” Tim interrupted. He looked remarkably awake for how early it was. “What’s going on?”

His brother snickered at the look on Bruce’s face. “I have a friend that likes to stop by every once in a while when he’s free, usually during the summer months. We met at some gymnastics camp when I was like, ten.”

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Danny. He’s a riot to be around.” Dick finished off his plate and got up to clear his spot.

“If by ‘riot’ you mean an arsonist who’s too good at avoiding the law, then yes, he’s a riot.” Bruce rolled his eyes.

“The arson was one time!” Dick called over his shoulder as he left the room. “Danny is much more into sabotaging corrupt corporate giants these days.”

“Like that makes it any better!!”

———

“So, tell me something about Danny.”

Dick glanced up from his pile of paperwork at the table, still in his police uniform, to see both of his sisters sitting in his living room, consuming his box of Cheez-Its like there was no tomorrow. Steph was looking at him expectantly.

He leaned back, silently grateful for the distraction. Case paperwork wouldn’t write itself, but still! “Well,” he mused. “He lives in Illinois.”

Cass raised an eyebrow. The silent And? was obvious enough.

“Danny is a great contortionist,” Dick continued. “He’s about a year younger than me, I think, but has the best damn skincare routine I’ve ever seen. The kid practically glows. Oh!” He leaned forward, like he was sharing some big secret. “And his sister is really hot.”

Steph scrunched your her nose. “No! Not that stuff! I wanna hear the weird stories so I can annoy Bruce with them later!”

“Hmmmmm…” Dick checked his watch. He’s got time. “Well, we like to swap stories a lot. He doesn’t know I’m a vigilante, but I swear, his life is almost as crazy as ours. He fist-fought his town’s mayor on live-TV once; I have the clip somewhere.”

“Send it to me.”

“Sure. Also, his parents are the crazy mad scientist types, and he’s the godson of Vlad Masters.”

“THE Vlad Masters??”

“Yup. I think he and Danny’s parents were friends in college. But yeah, Danny and Vlad don’t get along very well and he tells me that at this point, he just immediately starts throwing hands with the guy as soon as they enter the same room. His parents just think it’s fun family bonding.”

“Wow,” Cass whispered, her eyes wide.

Dick nodded, feeling a curl of warmth in his chest as he thought about his oldest friend. “There was this one time he beat a robber unconscious with a thermos, he lost an arm during a rogue attack three separate times (he got it back don’t worry), he likes to mess with this one guy who wants to skin him alive, I have a few videos of him beating sentient hotdogs to death, he led a revolt against a dead tyrant in another dimension once, yells at eyeballs every once in a while, got cloned and has been pulling out all the dad jokes he can since then, oh and he absolutely abhors Christmas. That’s just a couple things, I have a ton more stories.”

Both girls were staring at Dick with concerned and slightly horrified looks on their faces. “I feel like,” Steph swallowed. The cheese from her snack felt heavy on her tongue. “This is something we should look into? Like, someone wants to skin him alive? Revolting against a dead tyrant?? Should we enforce the Meta Protection laws for him???”

“What do you mean?” Dick looked confused. “Danny isn’t a meta.”

Dick and Danny having met at some acrobatics camp and staying friends since, they never tell the other they are vigilante, but they do share stories

They both just think the other is always up to some shenanigans

"Yeah I had to dig robin out of rubble again, gave batsy one hell of a flashback"

And dannys like "good ole dick"

"He and my weird millionaire guy thought each other cause one wants my pelt and the other wants me, like son way but I only lost one arm this time"

And dick just chuckles

[moonlit-imagines]

Misbehavior (Part 1)

Jason Todd x batkid!reader

warnings:

a/n: tysm anon!!

prompt: anonymous: “Hello Lacey! Hope your doing great! Could I please request a bat family x batsis!reader where the reader is Kind of the middle child (I was thinking older than Damian but younger than Tim) and she’s always forgotten and in the back. Maybe some scenarios can be that no one listens when she talks or they forget to invite her to do stuff. So then one day she acts up in school like maybe punching someone for no good reason because she’s craving attention but instead of Bruce showing up to get her Jason shows up and he sees that she’s actually really sad and starts to question her until she tells him everything and maybe spills some tears and it ends with just Jason comforting her and cheering her up. Just some soft Jason for my soul! Also have a great day and I hope that you feel better and more motivated now after your break! 😘”

part 2

No matter what you did, none of your deeds went unnoticed. Good or bad.

You always heard how Dick was so independent, the one everyone should use as an example.

You always heard how Barbara could do it all, she never failed to impress.

You always heard how Jason was reckless, someone who needed to get his act together.

You always heard how Tim was such a prodigy, he was one of a kind.

You always heard how Steph was so determined, she had such amazing goals.

You always heard that Cass was perfect, they’d never change a thing about her.

You always heard that Duke was so strong, he’d never give up no matter what stood in his way.

You always heard that Damian was dangerous, a kid that needed to be guided.

But what about you? What did they hear about you? Nothing. No one ever spoke of you, they didn’t have the time. It seemed as if you were just unimpressive, there wasn’t one thing that needed to be mentioned. Stuck in the middle of a bunch of bats and birds, no way to stand out in the crowd.

Maybe not in a mask or a cowl, a dress or a suit, behind a computer or among the darkness, but there was one place you couldn’t be ignored...

You sat at your desk, picking at old tape with the tip of your fingernail. The teacher had nothing interesting to say, so what was the point of being here? What made Gotham Academy so special that you just had to attend this place?

The uniform was overkill, the classes went nowhere, the students were too preppy, and you didn’t have a single thing in common with anyone here.

Anger was starting to bubble inside you as you continued your internal self-loathing. Your mind was only focused on the negative, but it was shifting from school back to home.

No one was ever there for you, not even on patrol. You’d called for backup several times on missions and nearly lost it all when you had to go in alone. If it were anyone else, a teammate would have met them in a heartbeat.

Your plans were always overshadowed whenever you tried to set up a mission or even just a day off. You wanted cookies? Too bad, Tim wants brownies. You wanted to watch a movie? Too bad, everyone chose a TV show. It was the little things that irked you the most. Half the time, you never even got the memo.

And what about when you all come back from patrol with all sorts of injuries and Alfred comes to patch you up? Well, not you. He’ll run to check on cuts and scrapes. Meanwhile, you had a broken wrist and a black eye.

You’d finally run out of things to pick at around your desk which resorted in you tapping instead. There was a brief bit of zoning out as you remembered the time that Damian’s plan for evading Killer Croc’s attack was to push you in the way. Or the time that Jason hid his guns in your bed for reasons he didn’t care to explain. Or when Dick drank the last of the milk and didn’t tell you until after you poured your cereal. Or when Tim told you that you weren’t fit for the mission he had been planning. Or when Bruce blatantly ignored the story you told out of pure excitement, giving you nothing but a “sounds like you had fun.”

While you were in a horrible daze, you felt a hand on your shoulder that snapped you out of it faster than the Barry Allen. Without even evaluating the situation, your reflexes caused you to turn and twist your classmates arm backwards as he screamed.

“Hey! Stop, ow, that hurts! Stop! Stop it!” You processed his words too late and knew exactly what was coming next.

“Y/N L/N!” You teacher shouted as you drew your hand back. “Dean’s office. Right now.” Her sharp voice sent a chill down your spine, not even the Joker could do that. You’d be able to explain the situation pretty easily, you just didn’t want to make it worse. But there was one ankle that sent you off the edge. Another student tripped you on your way through the aisles, and that student caught a fist to the face. The audience gasped and shouting from your teacher ensued, but you didn’t listen, you’d take the punishment at this point. So you walked right out and headed for the dean’s office without so much as a hall pass.

“Mx. l/n? What’s this about?” Dean Williams was surprised to say the least, you’d never been sent in for discipline before. Was there a certain way to do this?

“Well, I zoned out and some kid behind me grabbed my shoulder, I accidentally twisted his arm.” You retold your story, the abridged version. “But on my way out I punched a kid in the face because he tripped me. That one’s on me.”

“...Well,” the dean frowned at his obligations, but had to go through with some kind of punishment, “I’m going to have to suspend you for physical contact with a student. I’ll call your father to come pick you up.” You shrugged and slouched back in your chair, giving up on any hope of talking your way out of this. It might as well just happen. You listened to the clicking of the buttons on the dean’s phone as he typed in the Wayne Manor phone number, obviously reaching Alfred almost immediately.

“Wayne Manor.” You eard his faint voice through the speaker.

“Hello, this is Dean Williams from Gotham Academy, may I speak to Mr. Wayne? I have his child in my office.” Your dean explained over the phone, peeking back at your for a split second. You were completely unbothered, it was baffling.

“Is it Damian?” You heard him ask, causing an involuntary eye roll.

“Y/N, actually.” There was a long pause before someone else picked up the phone. “Mr. Wayne, this is Dean Williams at Gotham Academy. I have y/n sitting across from me right now, they seemed to have gotten themself into a physical altercation with two separate students, I have no choice but to suspend them.” You heard a deep sigh over the phone, then the handheld piece was handed to you.

“Bruce?” You asked.

“Really? Fighting at school?” He sounded unimpressed. Nothing new, even when you do something new.

“Something like that. Whoops.” He hung up on you right after that, so you handed the phone back and told your dean, “Guess they’ll get me soon.”

“You call your father by his first name?” Dean Williams had nosily questioned.

“I’m adopted.” He obviously didn’t know you as well as your more troublesome sibling, it was time he just minded his business.

After a good thirty minutes of silent waiting while listening to keyboard clacking and papers flipping by the front desk, the office door opened, and to your surprise, it was one of your brothers.

“I’m here for y/n.” He mumbled, signing the piece of paper and showing his ID.

“Alright, Mr. Harper, I just have to check some paperwork really quick...” The receptionist went into your file and checked for your emergency contacts. “You’re all set. Now, y/n has been suspended for two weeks. I suggest you get to the bottom of their little ‘outburst’ before they’re able to come back to school.” It actually pissed Jason off to hear her say that.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” His sarcasm wasn’t subtle. “Come on, kid.” Your brother gripped your arm and led you out of the office, noticing your bitter expression that he couldn’t even rationalize. Was that normal? “So what happened. Bruce just told me to come get you.”

“Of course he did.” You rolled your eyes on the brink of tears, he didn’t even come to get you himself. Jason opened the car door for you and nudged you inside, slamming it once you were clear.

“You better have a good reason,” he warned as he started the engine, “I was in the middle of a poker game.”

“Oh, yeah, ‘cause I’m such an inconvenience.” You were starting to remind him of himself. That was never a good thing.

“Okay, my bad. I didn’t mean it like that.” Jason began speeding down the block, you’d never once seen him obey a speed limit. You’d think someone with a fake ID and a death certificate would want to avoid any run-ins with the cops, but Gotham was just one of those cities.

“Yeah, right.” You reached for the radio knobs and felt Jason’s hand wrap around your wrist.

“No music until you explain yourself.” You fell back into your seat to pout, muttering some curses under your breath. “I won’t tell Bruce or anyone. I swear.”

“I just zoned out. Reflexes.” You bluntly replied.

“What?” He still didn’t have any context to go off of.

“I twisted someone’s arm backwards. Honest mistake.” Jason knew there was more to this story. “But on my way out of the classroom, I punched this kid who tried to trip me. That was on him.”

“As much as I condone payback, you can’t do that at school.” He sighed. “You’ve never been sent home before. That I know of. So why now?”

“Yeah, you know, maybe that’s the issue? You couldn’t tell me if I’ve ever gotten in trouble before. None of you could. You couldn’t tell me a definitive thing about me. When’s my birthday, Jason?” He was at a loss for words. “That’s what I thought.”

“So this was all for attention?” Jason asked. “There’s a hell of a lot of better ways to go about that.”

“Tried them all, this one barely even worked.” You replied with a crack in your voice. “How come none of you care about me? Why am I always looked over? I’m just like the rest of you. I put on that stupid suit every night and kick ass, I get my job done, I get good grades, I’m resourceful, I’m special—” You’d let that last one slip in your rant to your older brother, it shocked him so bad he stopped the car.

“I know what you mean.” Jason stared straight ahead at the empty road. “I felt the same way when I came back. After everyone was used to me being back, it was like nothing ever happened. Bruce just went back to calling me careless, irresponsible.”

“At least you get noticed, Jason. Your identifiable.” You turned to him with a pained look and he risked his confidence to look you in the eye. Once he did, he couldn’t look away. It hurt him to see someone so familiar to himself have tears running down their face because they felt forgotten. No kid should ever have to feel like that. That was why Bruce took him in. That was how Jason became Robin.

“Fuck this.” Jason hit the gas and turned the car around. “We’re getting ice cream. Do you like ice cream? That’s a serious question.”

“I...I guess.” You were somewhat confused by his sudden literal change in direction.

“Good. You’re my kid for today, all my attention goes to you. I’m sure Bruce won’t notice if you’re gone for a few hours.” Jason’s jaw dropped at his last comment. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, you’re right and you should say it.”

taglist: @thatwaspossession // @ravenmoore14 // @thisetaernallove // @kinoko-kai //

[crashcitycentral]

I love the idea of Bart integrating himself into the batfam, but totally under the radar of Tim.

Bart likes hanging out with Tim from the comics, as he’s stated on multiple occasions. So I can imagine he visits the manor too when he gets the chance. Thing is, Tim isn’t usually there either so that leaves Bart with the decision “go home and be bored or find a new victim”… Find a new victim it is.

One day Tim and Bart go to the manor together after an exceptionally long mission and Tim just missed his friend so he invites him over.

Clue #1 Tim picks up on, Alfred greets them at the door and says hello to Bart fondly, Bart even calling him “Alfie”.

Clue #2, if Dick is around he cheerfully waves at them both and gives Bart a small noogie. Not too out of the ordinary, Nightwing assists the titans- their team, so they know each other.

Clue #3, and Tim is now sus as Hell about the situation, Jason and Bart have just cracked some crazy, elaborate inside joke they share and are laughing about it hysterically. Tim is in shock at his elder brothers mirth.

Clue #4, Tim is about to put everyone under interrogation lights because this is just too weird. Damian snaps something rude at Tim, and Bart laughs with an arm flung around the demons shoulder asking if he’s seen the latest chopstick cat video.

At this point, he thought he couldn’t get more surprised, but then Clue #5 walks in. Bruce shows up and looks at Bart saying “Back so soon?” In that teasing dad voice only the batkids hear and Tim is just in awe.

Steph and Cass come in soon after and Bart’s babbling on about the next “girls night” and Tim just wants to either drown in coffee or pass out for the next 80 years, or at least until the next apocalypse.

All in all, Bart in the Batfam plz.

[ur-favorite-queer-queen]

Protect

For Maribat March day 18 theme protect 

Master List 

“DEAREST BIG BROTHER! I’M HOME!” A female shout came from the foyer of the manor. 

Dick, Jason, Tim, Babs, Steph, and Cass were hanging out in one of the many rooms the manor held. Alfred had just walked in with a tray of drinks but froze at the sound of the voice.

“THE HECK!” Was shouted by the same voice followed by Damian’s voice shouting, 

“WHO ARE YOU!?!?! HOW DID YOU GET IN!?!?!” 

Alfred was out of the room in an instant. He was not sprinting but he might as well be with how fast he was walking. The batkids immediately followed after him. 

They walked in on a sight none of them will ever forget. Literally, Jason had taken a picture. A strange woman who looked like a female, miniature version of Bruce had Damian’s precious katana and seemed to be taunting him with it. 

“Miss Marinette!” Alfred called and got both the woman’s and Damian’s attention. 

“Alfred!” The woman replied, running over and giving him a hug, katana still in her hand. 

“Wait, Aunt Nettie?” Dick spoke up, walking over to the pair. 

“Little Wing! Wow, you got so much bigger since the last time I saw you.” She responded, giving him a hug. 

“Wait, wait, your Aunt Nettie?” Jason asked, crossing his arms. 

“Aww, Little Blue Jay, you don’t remember me?” She shot back, crossing her arms as well. 

“Blue Jay, why is that familiar?” Jason muttered to himself, not quietly enough since everyone heard him. 

“Aunt Nettie, you only visited once when he was here.” Dick reminded her. 

“Oh, well that will explain that. Also how many more kids did Bruce adopt? I thought it was only the 2 of you, the Drake kid, and his bio kid.” She questioned, motioning to each child she remembered. 

“The only other kid he adopted is Cass, Steph and Babs are family friends.” Dick clarified. 

“Babs, the first Batgirl correct?” She asked, turning to the girl in question. Everyone froze at that, this girl who was apparently Bruce’s sister knew who they were.

“It’s fine guys, she’s known since the beginning of his time as Batman.” Dick assured. 

“Yep, speaking of my big brother, where is he?” 

“Master Bruce is currently at a WE meeting, but he will be back in time for dinner.” Alfred answered for her. 

“How come father never told us about you?” Damian voiced, glaring at her and looking like he wanted to attack her again. Probably because she still had his katana. 

“I rarely visit nowadays and he’s probably still upset after last time.” Marinette smirked, like she had won some sort of battle. Noticing she still had his katana, she handed the blade back to Damian. 

“Last time?” Tim hesitantly echoed. 

“How about Miss Marinette shares the story in the living room? I can bring snacks.” Alfred offered, Marinette looked like she was about to say something but Alfred beat her to it, “You bond with your nieces and nephews, I will be fine.” 

“Come on Marinette! You can tell them about how you helped train Bruce! Oh did you bring any kwamis with you?” Dick rambled, pulling Marinette with him into the room they were hanging out in before her appearance. 

Once they were all seated Tim started the conversation, “So I’m not hallucinating, you are actually Bruce’s sister.” 

“Yes, Bruce is 3 years older than me. I know that he is Batman and you guys are the bats and the birds.” She calmly responded. 

“What did Dick mean by you helped train Bruce? And what is a Kwami?” Babs continued. 

“Kwami are basically magical beings, kinda like gods, that are bound to jewels called miraculous. Since I’m the guardian I protect these jewels. I trained Bruce by helping my old mentor from Tibet train him.” Marinette explained. 

“What happened last time? And why don’t you visit often?” Damian asked, carefully hidden curiosity in his eyes. 

“Back in my first year of highschool, Bruce was very protective of me. Like very protective. No boy he didn’t approve of, which meant I could never talk to a single boy, could get within 10 feet of me without him present. Asking me out, out of the question. Pretty sure this one guy, Adam, wanted to ask me out but Bruce interrupted before he could. I never talked to him again after that. I got pretty tired of it so I signed up for the foreign exchange program and went to school in Paris.” 

“Wait,” Steph interrupted, “Bruce was an overprotective brother?” 

“One of the worst kinds. I’m sure if our parents were still alive he might’ve been worse than my dad.”

“What importance does this have to the questions?” Damian sneered, annoyed that he wasn’t getting any answers. 

“Hold on I’m getting there. So anyways it was in my sophomore year of highschool at Paris that a supervillain attacked. He called himself Hawkmoth, he used the butterfly miraculous to transform people into his puppets by using their emotions against them. I didn’t think much of it since it didn’t concern me, my host family agreed thinking it wouldn’t last long. But when I got to my room there was a little box sitting on my desk and that’s where I found the ladybug miraculous. The most powerful miraculous besides the cat miraculous. I told Bruce, he wasn’t too happy about it, but there wasn’t much he could do. So much happened in that amount of time that I don’t think I could summarize it all before Bruce gets back but just know that in that span of time I met the current guardian. Hawkmoth gained an ally who used the peacock miraculous, Mayura. Also a miraculous that could manipulate emotions. 

After I and my partner had defeated Hawkmoth and Mayura, sometime during my senior year, we revealed our identities, dated for a few months before I ended things. Then I went back home and Bruce was getting ready to go on his soul-searching journey to be trained by masters or whatever and I suggested he be trained by my mentor who was in Tibet. I went with him, we trained for a couple of months before he left. I decided to stay in Tibet to train to become the next guardian. Eventually my mentor died and gave me guardianship. 

Then I returned to Gotham and Bruce had adopted Little Wing over there. So I stayed here for a while before I decided to go around the world doing guardian things. Bruce didn’t like the idea but there wasn’t much he could do. I ended up catching up with an old friend of mine on one of my travels and we started dating before I came back here. That’s when I met Little Blue Jay for the first and last time.

Before you guys had gone on patrol I tried to ask Bruce to give my boyfriend a chance but he didn’t agree. I’ve always been his little sister in his eyes, I think he couldn’t handle the fact I had grown up. Nasty words were exchanged between us and I haven’t returned since. In the end me and him didn’t work out but I couldn’t bring myself to return, until now at least.” 

“Why now?” Damian immediately pressed once she finished her explanation. 

“Dusuu was missing Alfred. It has been like a decade or something.” She remarked, pulling out a peacock shaped brooch. 

“Didn’t you say that the peacock miraculous was evil?” Cass signed, raising an eyebrow at the brooch. 

“No, I said it was used for evil. The miraculous are technically neutral, can be used for good or evil. Depends on who is wielding them.” Marinette bit back, as a flash of light emitted from the brooch. Suddenly a small floating peacock creature stood in front of Marinette. 

“Is that a kwami?” Steph asked. 

“Yes, this is Dusuu, the peacock kwami of emotions.”

“Hello! It’s so nice to meet you!” Dusuu chirped, “Where’s Alfred?” 

“I am right here Dusuu. It is lovely to see you again.” Alfred spoke from the doorway, holding a tray of snacks and drinks. 

“Alfred!” Dusuu cheered before flying over and hugging the older man. 

“In all honesty Bruce doesn’t sound like the best brother.” Jason pointed out. 

“I know it may seem like he’s a shitty brother, and at the time I totally thought he was and still is, but I know where he’s coming from. Bruce was always the more reserved and protective out of the 2 of us even before what happened to our parents. I think our parents' death solidified his need to protect me from anything and anyone. And we all know how horrible Bruce is at showing his emotions so I know his heart was in the right place. Plus, we’ve had years to cool off, I’m sure we can have a mature conversation now.” Marinette explained, a fond smile gracing her lips. 

Faintly in the distance they heard Alfred say, “Welcome home, Master Bruce.” 

“That’s my cue!” Marinette said before bolting off in the direction of the foyer. 

“Alfred something’s off, what are you not telling me?” The second those words left his mouth a weight connected with his back, arms wrapped around his neck and a familiar, 

“HEY BIG BRO!” Was registered by his ears. 

The weight slipped off his back and as he turned around he was met with the familiar sight of his little sister. “Marinette.” 

“Bruce.”

“You’re here.” 

“I am.” 

“I thought-”

“That I was mad at you.”

“You didn’t visit for 10 years.” 

“Life got busy.” 

They stood in silence for a minute. 

“I missed you.” Marinette whispered, so much different from the girl that was telling them a brief summary of her life. She seemed so much more vulnerable uttering those words than when she had revealed why she hadn’t come back in the first place. 

Turns out that was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Bruce wrapped Marinette in a hug as tears slipped from his eyes. They could hear him whispering over and over again, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I did all those years ago.” 

It was weird for them all to see, including Dick who knew how much Marinette meant to Bruce. Bruce kept his emotions so closed up, master of the stoic face, but here he was breaking down in front of the all. Here he was crying and apologizing. 

“I believe we should leave them alone for now.” Alfred spoke up heading for the dining room. They followed. Later Bruce and Marinette would join them, a little red-eyed with their cheeks tear-stained, but small smiles on their faces. 

It was then that all the batkids knew that they would be seeing this ‘Aunt Nettie’ much more often. 

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

Look at that, I’m super late again! Nothing new, I think day 14 was a one time thing unfortunately. 

I’ve seen a ton of fics where Marinette was Bruce’s older sister but what about where she’s his younger sister? Bruce would so be an overprotective older brother. 

I hoped you enjoyed this! I’m planning on making a part 2 of this for ‘contest’. So stay tuned!

@maribatmarch-2k21 

[sun-moon-stars-jedi]

So we all know that Jason is a theatre kid, right? That boy loves Shakespeare and the classics, and he’s got such a natural flair for drama, he was practically born for the stage.

I imagine during his time at Gotham Academy Jason might not have had many friends or been really all that social on account of his background and most of the other students being snobs, so he wasn’t very interested in spending more time at the school than he had to. The one after-school activity Jason just couldn’t resist joining though was the theatre club.

What I want to get at is that somewhere in Wayne Manor there are videotapes hidden in a closet of fourteen-year-old Jason performing in his first (and only) school play, complete with Jason beaming at Bruce and waving at him after the final bow and Bruce’s proud “That’s my son!” coming loudly from behind the camera.

Those tapes haven’t seen the light of day in a long time and as such Tim and  Damian have absolutely no idea what they are when they stumble across them one afternoon while cleaning the Manor (Alfred’s newest form of punishment when they get into fights).

As detectives the two of them obviously have to find out what’s on the tapes (and also they’ll take any excuse to stop cleaning - the Manor is freaking huge, you know?) so they unearth a VHS player from somewhere and hunker down in one of the less used sitting rooms, hoping that it’ll be a while until Alfred finds them slacking off.

At first they’re kind of disappointed when a stage and some clearly untalented teenagers appear on the screen, having expected something much jucier hidden away in the depths of the house.

But then little Jason Todd walks onto the stage, in costume and everything, and the video becomes a lot more interesting.

At first Tim and Damian are grinning, exchanging a rare, completely in sync look, because they both recognize an opportunity for blackmail material when they see one.

But then Jason begins to speak and they are both instantly captured by how confidently his words carry across the stage, recognizable even on a VHS tape, how he moves as if the stage was all he had ever known, how all the other actors seemed to gravitate towards him and their perfomances seemed to get better just because Jason was there.

They realise that Jason is good at this.

And not just a good actor like all the Bats are when they have to be, but with Jason it seems to go deeper, something coming alive in the boy they are watching from across the years, like he has found a place where he can shine on the stage.

Tim and Damian get so sucked into the performance that they don’t even notice how much time passes until they hear a soft “Oh” from behind them and turn to find Bruce standing there, something vulnerable and longing in his expression as he watches young Jason on the screen.

Neither of them says anything when their father joins them on the couch, eyes never leaving the TV, and together they watch until the play ends, Jason’s smiling face the last image on the screen before it turns black.

They sit there in silence for a while, each of them obviously thinking about the bright young boy they had just watched and comparing him to the Jason they know now. And yes, Jason isn’t trying to kill them anymore, he’s even working with the Bats most of the time and somewhat reluctantly acknowledges them as family, but he’s still so closed off, as if he doesn’t allow himself to come back fully to the family out of some sense of self-punishment.

“Jay‘s a good actor,” Tim finally says, the words inadequate, but they break the silence that had started to become oppressive. “Did he like the theatre club?”

“Yes,” Bruce answers, his mind clearly far away, “he wouldn’t shut up about it for months. He was so excited they gave him the lead in the next play because his first performance was so great, but then...”

They all know what happened then, and instantly the silence is back, heavier than before.

“Excuse me,” Bruce mumbles and then it’s just Tim and Damian on the couch, looking after their retreating father before meeting each other’s eyes.

And they may not have the easy brotherhood between them that they share with Dick, or the understanding that is so inherent in every interaction with Cassandra, but in that moment Tim and Damian both know exactly what they have to do and that they will do it together.

So it comes to pass that Tim hacks into Gotham Academy to find out which play the theatre club performed the year Jason died while Damian somehow bullies his way onto the theatre club and manages to make them pick that same play for this year’s performance.

And so Damian, pretending to be deeply unhappy about it, asks all of his siblings to help him prepare at home, because the imbeciles he goes to school with are obviously not on par with his own acting abilities, and even though his siblings are also not as great as Damian, they are adequate for the purpose.

Dick of course agrees immediatly, always eager for family time. Cass just smiles knowingly at Damian (and Tim) before she nods and Tim pretends to be annoyed but eventually agrees under the pretense of wanting blackmail material.

Jason takes the longest to agree, finally doing so with the declaration that he just wants to see Damian make an ass of himself in front of his whole school, but Tim and Damian can tell that underneath he’s actually excited about this.

So from then on the five of them meet regularly, which has never really happened outside of patrol, and it turns out they really have a lot of fun together. They joke, tease each other, make fun of Bruce, the usual stuff, but everything feels lighter when the thing bringing them together isn’t Bat-related for once.

Jason also starts to spend a lot more time at the Manor, not only with his siblings, but also with Alfred and eventually even Bruce and that is something Tim and Damian hadn’t expected, but they certainly aren’t complaining. It’s finally like Jason is a real part of the family again and they both have to admit they like having their big brother around - he’s different from Dick, rougher around the edges and not as openly affectionate, but it’s nice to not be babied or told to go to bed at a sensible hour, and Jason is always up for a prank war or other dumb ideas, so Tim and Damian actually have a lot of fun with him.

Then, after months of preparation, the play of course finally has to be performed.

Damian claims he wants a proper rehearsal before having to perform in front of the whole school and it’s not as if the other Batkids don’t know their parts by now, so they build a makeshift stage in the ballroom of the Manor and finally perform the full play, with Bruce and Alfred as their audience.

And while Jason was of course good in the rehearsals before, the moment he steps onto the stage this time it is once again as if he has found his true calling, as if something inside him has come awake that makes him radiate with confidence and charisma. His performance is breathtaking, so much so that his siblings oftentimes nearly miss their cues because they are so captivated just watching him.

After the final line a silence falls over the room, as if everyone is holding their breath, until it is broken by Bruce standing up, clapping as he looks from one of his kids to the next, something fiercely proud and loving in his expression.

His gaze meets Jason’s last, and they just look at each other for a long time, something seeming to settle between them after all these years. It’s not that time has been rewound and this certainly doesn’t erase the past, but maybe if they can have this moment that they both thought lost to a crowbar and an explosion, there can be others like it.

Tim and Damian share a look and even a tentative smile, and maybe this whole idea wasn’t only good for Bruce and Jason’s relationship.

When Damian stands on his school’s stage the next evening he finds six faces in the crowd that are only focused on him, and there is even a camera standing on a tripod next to his father, who is smiling proudly up at him.

Next to him sits Jason, draped casually across his seat, but he’s also smiling and leaning against Bruce’s shoulder in a way he wouldn’t have just a month or two ago, and that certainly makes this worth it, even if Damian will have to endure several more performances next to some of his less than talented classmates.

The things one does for family...

[baticorngirl]

Title: In Mother’s Arms

Fandom: Batman

Characters: Damian Wayne, Talia Al Ghul, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson, Ra’s Al Ghul (Hallucinated), Tim Drake,

Relationships: Talia al Ghul & Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth & Damian Wayne, Batfamily Members & Damian Wayne, (Minor) Talia al Ghul/ Bruce Wayne, Titus & Damian Wayne, Damian Wayne & Original Dog Character

Summary: Damian Wayne had went through so much effort to finally go on patrol by himself. But once he achieves this, it almost immediately backfires. With Scarecrow standing in front of him in victory, and all his fears coming to life, how will he get out of this mess? Who could manage to save the scared little boy now?

A/N: So... a while back, I was looking for Damian Wayne Fear Toxin fics, but unfortunately, none of them had any Good Parent Talia. So yeah, this is my self-indulgent fic to make up for it. And fittingly enough, it's also Mother's Day!

Fair Warning that there's panic attacks and hallucinations in this fic, so if you're sensitive to that stuff, please don't read it.

Also, I'd like to thank @mac-attack5 for helping me flesh out the details of the plot.

Click HERE to read it on Ao3

Click HERE to read it on FF.Net

___________________________________________________

Damian felt a drop of sweat roll down his face. He tugged his cloak around himself, the night suddenly feeling so much colder. The boy's breath was stuttery and shaky. His heartbeat loudly thumped in his ears. Dropping on to his knees, the poor child watched as his vision became blurry with tears.

He wasn't sure why he felt the undying need to never listen to his family when they told him these things were too dangerous. All he knew was that he certainly wouldn't be out here, fearful and cold, if it weren't for it.

Just earlier that day, he had been so very happy. Rain had been pouring outside, and clouds had swarmed the sky, but the gloom had not ruined Damian's mood. In his arms, lay a soft, playful, little puppy with golden fur named Warrior. Damian had adopted the puppy fairly recently, and he had already fallen in love with him. Everyday since his adoption, Damian always found something new about the puppy that was just absolutely amazing in his eyes. That specific day, it had been his speed.

"I timed him, Grayson. He could run 25 miles per hour!" Damian had informed his elder brother, with a proud smile on his face. Dick reached down and ruffled his hair, smiling back. Nighwing turned his attention towards the puppy that sat next to Damian.

"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" He sat down near the puppy and petted it. The dog woofed and jumped closer to Dick. Damian joined the two of them on the ground, getting out treats for the puppy.

"He is!" Damian tossed the treats next to the puppy. "And no matter what happens, he always will be." He wrapped his arm around the dog, pouting stubbornly to prove that nothing would take him away from his new pet.

Even that pout, though, had been a happy, loving, one. And in addition, his joy seemed to only continue. Damian had felt incredibly confident that afternoon. He carried himself with his head up even higher than usually, and he had a stern, strong look on his face. So just like any other time the boy felt incredibly confident, he would argue with his father over everything.

"I am undoubtedly strong enough to go on my own." Damian insisted, looking up at Bruce adamantly. His arms were tightly crossed over his chest. "You are just being paranoid, Father."

"You're ten years old. If you want, you can partner up with Dick, but you're too young to be without a partner." Bruce responded, his mouth resting in an apathetic frown. He glared down at the boy to make it clear that debating wasn't going to change his mind. "Come on, Damian. Are you coming, or not?"

Damian picked up his mask and adjusted it on his face, "I'm ready, but I refuse to go if you're going to treat me like an infant." He pivoted around to face a wall. Bruce sighed, putting a hand on Damian's shoulder.

"Fine, Damian, fine… Stay home, then." He began to turn around, walking over to the batmobile. He jumped, springing himself into the driver's seat. Turning back towards Damian for one more moment, Bruce sighed again. "Just... be good for Alfred while your siblings and I are gone."

Whoosh! The batmobile and the other batkid's motorcycles began to speed off, leaving Damian and Alfred alone together. They turned to look at each other for a moment, but looked away again just as quickly.

"Very well then, Master Damian. I'll go upstairs, and you may join me if you please." Alfred spun around and began to march into the elevator. Damian watched silently, not daring to move until Alfred was completely gone.

The minute Alfred had fully exited, he raced towards the exit. He jumped on to his motorcycle, and immediately turned it on. It sputtered out a loud, attention-grabbing vroom, but fortunately, Damian was able to turn up the speed before Alfred came back down.

Whoosh! Alfred came down just quick enough to see a blur zooming out. "Master Damian…?" He called, a worried tone in his voice. He ran over to the batcomputer, quickly turning on the communicator. "Master Bruce, it seems Master Damian has… left."

"Left?" Bruce repeated. The communicator went silent as he processed this information. For the third time that night, he sighed. As thoughts spun in his head, Bruce quickly made a realization. "Damian, do you have your communicator with you?"

Meanwhile, Damian had just jumped off his bike. His boots aimlessly kicked the pebbles in front of him. Suddenly, though, Damian felt a buzz near his waist. His eyes widened abruptly. Sound… or more, his father's voice... was crackling out of it. Panic ran through his head, but he picked up the communicator anyway.

"Damian? Hello? If you respond, I might allow you to continue." Bruce persisted with fishing for Damian's response. Tempted by the thought of being permitted to continue, Damian slowly pressed to unmute himself.

He pulled the communicator up to his mouth. "Father…?" He muttered into it. On a rooftop somewhere else in the city, Bruce snapped back to attention. "I have responded. May I now proceed?" Damian continued.

For the fourth time that day, Bruce sighed. "Fine... but tell the rest of us if you need anything." Him and Damian both muted themselves. Damian smirked, making a small cheering gesture with his arms. Pulling out his grappling hook, he latched it on to a nearby roof. His eyes widened as he stared down at the sparkling lights of the city in awe.

But not everything could go his way. Nearby, Damian heard a soft cackle. It was soft like a whisper, yet clear and coherent. Turning around, he felt his boots clacking underneath him as he ran towards the sound, sword in hand. The maniacal laugh happened again, followed by talking, which unfortunately was too far away to be audible.

"Freeze, criminal peasants!" Damian burst into the door to the building he'd heard the suspicious sounds from, kicking it down with as much force as a 10-year-old could manage. Inside, a criminal and his henchmen were working together to rob the building. The criminal had an eerie mask over his face that looked almost like a light green sack, except with holes for his eyes and mouth. Ropes held the odd fabrics to the villain's face, crossing over his mouth as if they were teeth. On top of his head lay an old, stitch-covered hat, similar to one a witch might wear. Scarecrow, Damian thought.

He ran over to the criminal, swinging his sword nearby. But just as Damian was about to hit Scarecrow, gas swarmed the air. The boy clenched at his throat and nose, instinctively dropping his sword as he did so. The muscles in his limbs tightened, the gas seeping into his body. Damian reached for his gas mask, only to have a wave of nausea stop him before it was too late.

Damian unmuted his communicator "I may… need… just a little bit… of backup." The world flickered in front of his eyes, forcing him to drop his communicator out of confusion. In the distance, he saw the dark, shadowy, figure of a man coming towards him.

"Good luck with that..." He heard Scarecrow whisper, the last bits of reality starting to fade out. In front of him, the only thing he could seem to see (or at least focus on) was the man. As the figure came closer, Damian could see he was wearing an iconic green cape with golden trimmings. Once his face began to show itself, it became obvious who it was. His hair stuck up a bit, the top of it being black, and the side being more of a white or light grey color. Thin beard hair creeped out from the sides of his chin.

"Grandfather?" Damian mumbled. The man nodded, an aggressive frown on his face. Damian reached for his sword again. "What are you doing here? What are you planning?" Ra's seemed content with the idea of just standing there silently, but after a moment, he finally opened his mouth to answer.

"I'm not planning anything, my grandson… my traitorous grandson." Ra's responded, his voice varying in volume as he spoke. Some words were spoken eerily softly, while others boomed into Damian's ears, sounding as startling as hearing a toilet flush in an otherwise silent night. "Plans are for the future. My past, even just my immediate past, holds much more value event-wise."

"What do…. What do you mean?" The boy stuttered, slowly pulling his sword a little higher in front of himself. The sword's smooth yet pointy blade perfectly covered Ra's, hiding him from Damian's vision. But just as he felt a small ting of relief from the illusion of security it gave him, it seemed to become translucent. Damian's eyebrow rose, puzzled at why he could still see Ra's despite the sword seemingly blocking his vision.

Ra's took a step closer. The sudden movement made Damian look up from the sword in surprise. He stared up at Ra's, glaring in anger. Ra's simply smiled menacingly and began to explain. "I have hundreds of assassins, Damian… You know that. It's about time I used my abundance of them to do something productive. So with the family of detectives split into groups out for patrol, I could easily assign a few assassins to deal with each. You don't think I, The Head of the Demon, would've missed such an extraordinary opportunity, do you?"

Damian stumbled backwards fearfully. He looked down at the ground, attempting to deny what he knew Ra's was saying. "You k-" He swallowed back tears. "They're d-"

"Yes, Damian," Ra's made a small motion to Ubu, who ran back to get something. Ubu came back with other assassins, all carrying corpses… corpses of Damian's family. "See for yourself."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the still-unmuted communicator, Bruce was yelling out questions. "Damian? I thought I heard the scarecrow in the background. Is everything alright? Did he intoxicate you? Damian! I can't hear you. Can you hear me?" He kicked a crook's head to the ground before quickly looking at Damian's location. It was way across the city from him. Quickly, Bruce jumped into the batmobile and began his long drive over.

"He got gassed, didn't he?" Tim questioned over the communicators.

"That's what I'm worried about… and from what we could hear, it seems likely." Bruce confirmed, looking down only for a moment before focusing back on driving. He pressed his foot firmly on the pedals, but no matter how fast he went, he knew it would take far too long to get to Damian.

Back on the other side of Gotham, Damian stared at the dead bodies in front of him. Every single one looked pale, not a single bit of life on their faces. He wanted to be with someone, hear a loved one's voice, but every single one of his loved one's in front of him. It was obvious he would never hear their voices again.

Just to be sure, he began to count under his breath, "Father, Grayson…" Everyone in the batfamily was certainly there. But it wasn't just them. "Goliath? Warrior… Mother?" He gritted his teeth even harder. That monster had really gone out of his way to kill every single person Damian cared a smidge about.

Damian turned back towards Ra's, about to make him pay for this, but his eyes glanced back towards his family just won more time. Suddenly, his teeth felt too weak to grit. Everything he loved about every single member of his family seemed to flash through his mind, making him dizzy. They were gone.

Cold sweat rolled down Damian's forehead. His legs felt like sticks as he stumbled on to the ground. The boy attempted to breath, but he stuttered and coughed instead. His head leaned down as he curled up in his cloak, tears streaming down his face. The only noise coming out was soft, miserable, sobs.

"I've taught you better than to be this weak." Ra's stated, frowning at the ball-shaped boy that was in front of him. "Didn't you know this was going to happen? What else did you expect after such a betrayal as your own? I couldn't just allow you to get away with it. Making your life miserable was just what you deserved."

Damian covered his ears, thinking back to the impossibly translucent sword. "This is all just an illusion…" He mumbled. "Just an illusion… Just an illusion…" He attempted to console himself, but felt his breath become even more shaky every time he spoke.

Slowly, though, he got up the courage to uncurl a little. Still moving at a slow speed, he began to turn his head back towards Ra's and the corpse.

"Noooo!" At the sight of his family's dead bodies, he immediately curled back up. Ra's sighed, turning away from Damian in disappointment.

Not far away, Talia had been jumping from rooftop to rooftop, looking for Wayne Manor. After getting a break from her assassins duties, she had immediately decided she wanted to visit Gotham to see her son. Damian's screams startled her, making her immediately head in his direction.

"Damian?" She asked, a worried tone in her voice. After only a moment, she burst into the building. Inside, her eyes darted right towards Scarecrow, who was smiling wickedly at a terrified Damian. She ran over to Scarecrow, throwing him on to the ground with all her might. "STAY. AWAY. FROM. MY. SON!" She shoved her foot up against his face, squishing him on to the floor.

With his head still crammed downwards, she took out her sword and put it up to his neck. "Forget what I just said… I don't think I should even let you have the choice." She carefully moved it even closer to his neck than before, hearing muffled yelps from him in response.

"Pleeeease… don't… hurt… me." Scarecrow managed to gasp out from the awkward position. Now even closer to the neck, she began to put it through. But just as she was doing this, she turned towards Damian. He was still curled up near a corner, sobbing. Knowing Scarecrow was already too scared to harm Damian any more, she ran over to her child.

"Grand… father… I'm sorry." Damian mumbled in between sobs. "I'm.. sorry." His head was curled downwards, not daring to even look up to see whoever had come over to him. Even from a couple feet away, Talia could hear his shaky breath. Even his loud heartbeat was slightly audible. Her mouth partially dropped, her heart breaking at the poor, small, child in front of her.

"Damian…" Slowly, as if to not startle him, she wrapped her arms around him. She carefully weaved them through his cape until they were all the way around. Feeling the warmth of her, Damian leaned closer to her. He hiccuped as he did, tears still rolling down his face.

She gently nudged him to lean on her shoulder, "It's going to be okay… no one can hurt you." Talia moved her hand on to his cheek, gently turning his head to face her. A soft, solemn, smile was now on her face. "I won't let them." Damian looked up to her, still visibly miserable, but at least happy for her comfort.

As soon as she let go, he wilted back down onto her shoulder, cuddling into her arms. She squeezed him tight, the soft smile fading to just a look of concern. Talia bent an elbow to massage and ruffle his hair relaxingly.

"But- but I'm not the one he's going to hurt." Damian whispered fearfully. He attempted to get out from her hugs, not wanting to be seen as weak. "Grandfather's going to hurt Father… and you. And everyone. There's nothing you can do."

"I'm… I'm really sorry, Damian." She whispered back, looking down at him sorrowfully. "Your grandfather is in the past, though. Or at least your time with him. Now that he's away from him, I'll make sure he stays away from you… and the rest of your family. But if it's me you're worried about, just know that he wouldn't dare actually kill me.. And I'd like to believe he wouldn't kill you, either." She turned around slightly and kissed Damian on the forehead.

Damian hiccuped again. Tears rolled down his face even faster than before. Still shaking, he buried his face into her shoulder. Talia rubbed his back, slowly trying to calm the boy down. After a few moments, he began to calm down and sob a little less.

Sighing, Talia wrapped her arms back around Damian firmly. She scooped him up off the ground like you might hold a toddler. His head continued to lean on her shoulder, but now, his body was farther in front of her than before, with her arms carrying it.

Talia continued to rub his back as well as she could, while carrying him outside the building. She pushed his cape around him tighter as a breeze trickled through. Beginning to close his eyes, Damia felt his consciousness drift away. His mother carefully dropped him down onto the ground again once they were outside.

Damian shook himself back to consciousness, "Mother, I'm too old to be carried." He complained, but there was a hint of exhaustion in his voice. It was obvious that after the emotionally-draining hallucinations he just experienced, he wasn't really going to get into a full-on argument.

Talia ignored his complaints, "Are you still seeing the hallucinations?" She asked him worriedly. Damian then realized that his eyes were still partly squinting, so he opened them farther. In front of him, he could still see a blurry vision of Ra's.. and some of the corpses, too. And faintly, he was still sure he could hear his grandfather whisper something menacing.

"A little.. But I… I can handle them." He shook his head again to try to get them to get away. Unfortunately, they only seemed to grow more vivid. Damian's heartbeat thumped, and he momentarily forgot to breath as Ra's started taunting him again.

"Now it's only a matter of time before you make new allies... certainly not ones my army can't defeat, though." Ra's stated matter-of-factorily. Damian made a small yelp, making Talia instinctively wrap her arms back around him.

"I don't think you can…" Talia mumbled, "I'll call up a-" Just as she was about to speak, a car zoomed by. It was mostly black, but with small yellow tints in some places. From inside, a dark figure popped out. She moved herself in front of Damian, but immediately smiled when she was the person's face. "Beloved!"

"Talia?" Bruce's eyes widened at the sight of her.

"You don't happen to have the fear toxin antidote on you, do you?" She asked, getting straight to the point. Talia scouched her son closer to Batman so he could see him better. "Damian got gassed, and he's not doing very well." She laid Damian onto her lap.

"Considering Scarecrow's such a common villain, I always do." Bruce slid down to a kneeling stance. Talia shifted Damian and herself to face Bruce, positioning Damian's arm higher so it was easy to inject into. He pulled out the antidote as quick as he could, and pushed it straight into Damian's arm.

Talia and Bruce both held each of Damian's hands, leading the sleepy boy over to the batmobile. She strapped him in just before Bruce began to drive off. As they rode, Damian's head gently bounced with the car's movements, rocking him to sleep.

When Damian woke up, he was back at the manor, curled up in bed. His mother, father, and siblings (plus Alfred) were all huddled around his bed. He yawned, suddenly turning to see the dogs beside him. Titus and Warrior both reached in to nuzzle Damian. Warrior, being the younger one, playfully bounced on to Damian's lap, meanwhile Titus simply stood at his side, and gave him a soft lick on the cheek.

"You're awake," Everyone responded, not at all in unison. Some said it fast and excitedly, while others said it slow and disappointedly. Either way, Damian was sure that every single person there said it, even if it was in their own odd way. He watched as Alfred set down some cookies and milk in front of him as a comforting treat.

Overwhelmed by the sound, Damian pulled the blankets up over his face. But as the dogs continued to lick at their owner, the blanket didn't stay up for long. Damian sighed, wrapping his arms around the dogs to nudge them under the covers with him. They quickly went under, making Damian hold back smiling from all the warmth it gave him.

"Let's just let him rest…" Talia suggested, standing up. She quickly motioned for the rest to leave the room. They slowly began to do what they were told. Bruce stayed to ruffle Damian's hair, but followed the rest immediately after.

Looking to his side, Damian sighed. Even as they left, he could still hear their rustling. As annoying as they were, they weren't going anywhere any time soon. Yes, his humongous family would stay by his side for a long while… and there was nothing even Ra's could do about it.

[pineapple-qween]

Too Good to be True

Relationship: Batfam x Reader, Tim Drake x Reader

Summary: hey, i saw that you take requests and thought could you maybe (only when you feel like it, no pressure or something) write something sad where reader is good friends with the Batkids maybe is in tims age (and in love with him) but one day she is not with them anymore like she lost her scholarship on Gotham Academy but didn’t tell anybody because she doesn’t want to bother them because they always habe their batstuff to do ?

Key: Y/N= your name, L/N= your last name, italics= phone text

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

“Tim, hey!” You adjusted the backpack on your back and ran across the quad to your best friend Tim Drake. 

“Y/N, what’s up?”

“I need your help,” you watched as Tim began to groan. “Before you ‘uughh’ you promised you’d help me with your super research skills for my super boring research paper.”

“Oh yeah, I did.” You watched as Tim’s face fell and you knew right away he was going to come up with an excuse. “I would love to-”

“But,” you interrupted, “you have to ‘work’ with your family tonight. Again.” You shook your head and laughed to yourself. It wasn’t unusual for Tim to have to excuse himself from hanging out with you to be with his family. Well, you knew what he did at night.

“I’m really, really sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” Tim wrapped his arm around you and gave you a side hug. The touch made your heart flutter, but you forced yourself to not react.

“Yeah, yeah,” you pulled away and started backwards walking in front of him, “how about you buy me lunch and we’ll see if that fixes things.”

Tim chuckled, “Okay, but Damian’s gonna be joining us.”

“Yes! Damian is hilarious!”

“Damian would kill you if you said that to his face.”

You sat at your desk after school and stared at a blank computer screen. The cursor flashed, awaiting your words, and all you could do was spin your pen in your fingers. You sighed and closed out the window. Maybe if you took a break, you’d come back with fresh eyes.

You pulled up Twitter and scrolled through your feed. It wasn’t all too exciting, but then you pulled up the “Batman” tag and scrolled through its recent posts.

Just saw Red Robin on Killer Croc’s back riding him like a bull #onlyingotham #batman

You laughed at the image of Tim being bucked around on Croc’s back that formed in your head. You saw a couple similar posts and then some talking about spotting Dick and Damian before you closed out the tab.

It wasn’t that you were jealous of Tim, you thought it was amazing that he was a superhero, but it was frustrating that he never had time to hang out with you anymore. You used to go over to Wayne Manor every day after school to do homework with Tim and you loved it. Wayne Manor was always full of life with all of his brother. All of whom had taken to you and basically claimed you as a sister. Recently, however, Tim and his brothers were busier than ever and he didn’t tell you why, beyond “Bat things”. 

You pulled up your blank research report and began to write.

“Miss L/N, I need you to stay after class.” Your teacher caught you just before you left the classroom. You groan internally and turned around to face him.

“Yes, Mr. Toffer?” 

He gestured to the desk in front of his and you sat across from him. After you sat down, he handed you your paper. 

“A ‘C’?” You couldn’t believe it. 

“Yes Miss L/N, a ‘C’. I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are in danger of losing your scholarship. If you keep slipping in my class, the board will have no choice but to pull it.” He said it all so matter of fact-ly, but his eyes gave him away. You saw the sadness and the slight regret as he told you about this.

“Is-is there anything I can do? Could I rewrite this paper? Or do extra credit?”

“You know my extra credit policy. It would be disingenuous to the other students I have to give you what I don’t extend to them.” You could feel the disappointment burrow onto your face. “All I can say is you need to study hard for the upcoming final and if you get anything less than a 90%, your scholarship will be revoked.” 

You walked out that room dazed. You couldn’t believe you were in danger of losing your scholarship. Your mom was so proud of you for getting into Gotham Academy, especially on academic scholarship. You couldn’t bare to think about telling her you might lose it.

While mulling this over, you literally ran into Tim. “Woah there! Y/N, you good?”

“Uh, yeah. Just a little distracted,” you put on a smile and looked up at Tim. “Homework party tonight?”

“I’d love to, but...”

You sighed, “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Oh yeah, by the way, Dick wants to know if you still had his CD player. He needs it for sometime that I wasn’t paying attention to.”

You perked up, “I can bring it over sometime this week?”

“Nah, if you just bring it here, I’ll take it home after school.” He obviously didn’t see how much that hurt to hear, but you just nodded and the two of you walked the halls till you got to your next class.

One last night before your test and studying was getting you nowhere. You couldn’t focus. You were so afraid of failing this test, of losing your scholarship, and the fact that you seemed to be losing Tim. You looked at you phone and thought about texting him, even though you knew fully well that he was on patrol.

Hey, Tim. We good?

You sent it with no expectation of a response, but you needed to get at least one thing off your chest tonight. You set down your phone and looked back at your textbook, hoping to actually retain some information. You barely read one paragraph before you saw your phone light up.

Yeah! Why? Is something up?

You were shocked to see it was from Tim. You were so unprepared to get a response you didn’t know how to respond.

No! Nothing. Just wondering if Damian knew I called him hilarious and was getting back at me through keeping you busy.

You knew that wasn’t the truth, but you couldn’t tell him that it was because you thought he didn’t like you anymore. That you thought his family didn’t want to see you again.

Haha, no Damian still likes you, which is an amazing feat

I gotta go, Joker ou t, t al k l8r

And with that you knew he was gone. You turned back to your textbook, but you knew there was no way you’d be able to focus.

The next time you looked at your phone, it was 6 am and you hadn’t slept all night.

The next week flew by. Tim started ditching you at school, not just after. That made it easier when you got a 88% on your final and you had to meet with the board about your scholarship. They confirmed what Mr. Toffer had told you and revoked your scholarship. They politely informed you that you would not be returning the next semester.

You couldn’t face any of your friends. You closed yourself off, started finding all kinds of ways to avoid Tim and Damian, and waited out the end of the semester. 

As you walked out on your last day, you decided to pretend Gotham Academy was a dream. A wonderful dream. You walked away, ready to forget Tim and your feelings. You knew it all had to be too good to be true.

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

The winter break came and went. Tim walked into the Gotham Academy quad, Damian hot on his heels.

“Drake! You have yet to tell me why Y/N didn’t come over during our break.” Damian demanded as he finally caught up. 

Tim didn’t want to respond, mostly because he didn’t even know. He waited all break to get a message from you, but it never came. It didn’t help the Mr. Freeze was incredibly problematic for most of the break and Tim was a little too distracted.

“She was probably busy Damian. Don’t worry, you’ll see her today I’m sure.”

“It’s already been ten minutes past eight, she’s never this late.”

Damian was right, Y/N was never late to meet them. “Damian, please. I have to get to homeroom. I’ll text you the moment I see her okay?” Tim looked Damian in the eyes as he said this, to reassure him that he was being honest.

“Tt-tt, okay. I will see you at lunch.” Damian walked off towards his class.

Tim nodded, then his head shot up after, “Wait what.”

The end of the school day came and went. Tim never saw you once. Damian approached him as they waited for Alfred to pick them up. Tim was grateful for the 31 seconds of peace before Damian spoke.

“You never saw Y/N today, did you?”

It wasn’t accusatory. Damian actually sounded...sad. Tim didn’t know how to react at first. He opened his mouth and closed it a couple times, looking for the words. Eventually, he just said, “No.”

Damian looked up at him. “Will you text her?”

Tim looked into the boy’s sad eyes, an unusual sight, and sighed while pulling out his phone.

Hey Y/N, you good? Didn’t see you at school today

Tim didn’t have to wait long until his phone buzzed.

We’re sorry but the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in service.

Tim stared at his phone dumbfounded.

Damian cut through his daze with his voice, “Well? Anything?”

Just then, Alfred pulled up, waiting for the two boys get in. “Uh, no. Don’t worry about it.”

When Tim got back to his room, he tried various ways to get in contact with Y/N. Everything failed. Eventually he gave up on conventional means and started using his hacking skills.

“...no”

The first thing he found was the removal of her scholarship eligibility. The next was her enrollment in the Gotham public school system. 

“God, no.” 

When did this happen? Why did this happen?

Why didn’t he ever reach out to you?

[powerosewaterpuff]

so i was having some late night feels (angst) aaanddd i’m adding onto the reverse robin au i was playing around with a while ago, which is jason being the oldest of the batkids with dick coming while he’s bruce’s partner aaaand yk i might’ve cried bUt yOU CANT PROVE ANYTHING

dick and jason had a little ritual they would do, whenever jason came back from patrol they would sit together, some reality tv playing as they just talked. it was mundane, and really wasn’t all that special as they debated whether real housewives of beverly hills was better than real housewives of new jersey, but dick found himself desperately yearning for it as he curled underneath jason’s bedsheets, hugging an old sweater that smelled like his older brother, whispering to a pillow, pretending that maybe it was jason

the night bruce came back, his heart gutted and carved out, resting heavily in his hollow chest, is not a day they ever talk about, ever. dick claims not to remember much of it, too much confusion and heartache. but he remembers counting every single breath bruce took before uttering the words that sent his world crashing down once again. he remembers the racking sobs that pierced into dicks ribs, as he kept repeating a self assuring mantra of thisisnthappeningthisisnthappeningthisisnthappening. he remembers bruce collapsing onto the caves floors, the weight of the world crushing him with its unrelenting rage. he remembers feeling paralyzed, unable to reach out to bruce and unable to comprehend what was happening, just like how frozen he was when his mother just slipped past his fingers, just brushing against it ever so lightly before crashing into a mess of blood and brain. he remembers running, running up the stairs, running from alfreds call, running from bruce’s shaking hand reaching out for him, running into jason’s room because he was alive, he knew he was alive this was all nightmare constructed in his head, only a nightmare that was bound to end (it never did)

bruce was against robin. bruce was against every shred of robin. he was against the idea of robin, the conception of robin, anything that had to do with robin was banned. he wouldn’t hear of it. but dick was always told he was a little bird born with a lions heart, and he proudly displayed it. he fought and fought and fought, because goddamnit bruce you’re killing yourself. bruce never really allowed it, but dick still did it. bruce would be on a constant lecture in patrols that consisted of go home right now or i’m dragging you back cape and all. it never really worked though, no matter how hard bruce tried to suppress it. dick would just come out the next night, ready to fight crime by bruce’s side with too much heart and too much enthusiasm (it was jason all over again.)

dick became far better at faking smiles from then on. it was ironic, if he really thought about it. his own performer parents had never taught him to lie so well, to grin so easily when his heart was aching with an immovable weight. but he knew he had to do it. his days were a sacrifice he was willing to give to make bruce content, if he could even do that. he knew bruce never slept, so he would trot into his room and plop onto his bed, and force bruce to read a book to him. dick didn’t really sleep, but he knew it brought bruce some shred of comfort when his son was by his side, safe and present. it was okay, really it was. dick could fake smiles for the rest of his life if it made bruce smile at him one more time.

bruce hadn’t been able to stomach looking at jason’s grave ever since the funeral. dick went every other day. he did a similar thing with his parents, because a lesson he had always been taught by them was that the dead while may not be able to talk back, did quite enjoy being talked to. maybe it was a silly childhood reassurance, to sooth dicks worries about death, but it helped. he would sit by jason’s grave and discuss anything and everything. he told him about how he had met this girl barbara who was the commissioners daughter and she was really awesome. he would blather on about how wally has already hit a growth spurt and roy was even taller then both of them which annoyed him to no end. it leaned towards nervous rambling at some point but that was okay, dick liked talking. it helped quiet his mind.

it was the small things that dick noticed that were never going to be the same. jason’s “designated” spot at the kitchen table was never touched. the console he had bought when he was around 14 wasn’t touched until a solid year later, but even then dick felt a little weird playing anything without jason’s snarky comments. waking up in the morning to go to school without jason either throwing a pillow at his face or dumping a bottle of water onto him is something he hates. jason’s phone was also kept in its exact spot, inside of the drawer of his nightstand without ever moving. (dick used to call it sometimes, just to hear the voicemail. he would leave a message behind too, but no one knew. no one ever found out about it either.)

dick hated how much he missed being called sky monkey. it was such a stupid nickname, from all the plethora of nicknames he had generously given jason the permission to use, he had stuck with baby bird and sky monkey. but jason used to laugh about it, telling him dick would never get a more fitting description of himself.

dick and bruce had one of their most heated arguments over that stupid plaque and case. dick remembers spitting out that bruce could stand looking at that good soldier but couldn’t even go see his sons grave. he knows it’s a low blow, but he’s burning with confusion and venom is dripping from his tongue. they (dick) talk about it a few night later, hug it out and what not, but it was a moment dick realized just how emotionally stunted bruce was and it set off a little angry flame in his chest. one that never quite fizzled out, but changed to sadness as the years went on.

it was weird reading shakespeare the first time in class for dick. he kept imagining jason’s voice in a midsummer nights dream. he kept closing his eyes and seeing the scene fold out in his head. jason playing lysander as he had his lines memorized the best, pouring every ounce of talent into his grand performance in their bedroom. dick had a little script in hand as he played puck, with each of them swapping out roles as the other characters. they had pranced around the room, hopping onto furniture and climbing onto beds. dick felt sick to his stomach playing lysanders role in a class reading, because he could hear so fucking clearly jason’s voice with his brimming accent come to life in his head. (or maybe it was because he felt an unexplainable feeling of pure guilt, because he lived. he’s playing lysander now. jason isn’t. and dick feels like a fucking thief)

(i’m stopping there before i cry oOPS I-UH IMMA GO REWATCH 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU BC THIS AU HAS A WAY OF DESTROYING MY HEART BUT I LOVE IT SO MUCH ANYWAYS?? OH OH AND IF ANYONE HAS ANY GOOD BATFAM FIC RECS LIKE WHOLESOME FAMILY ONES PLS SEND THEM MY WAY PLS AND THANK YOU :)!! )

[mischiefandspirits]

Exploration

Sequel to Odd One Out

Alternate title: Five times the batkids' teammates didn't realize they have powers and one time their family already knew?

At the request of etherealizt on AO3

One ~ Oracle

Barbara sighed as she sunk further into the water, blowing a few bubbles away from her nose.

She was having a night of rest and relaxation. She’d told the Birds she was taking the night off and had threatened all the other bats with eternal rickrolling if any of them interrupted. The soft music Dinah had recommended was playing from her phone’s speakers on the counter and the lights were dimmed. She was trying out the strawberry and grapefruit bubble bar Carrie had made and had finally opened the rosé Bruce had gifted her when she’d moved into the Clock Tower. An Alfred-made meal was warming in the oven, courtesy of Jason paying her back a favor. After her bath, she’d eat dinner then watch some of the movies on Dick’s Babs Needs to See This!!!! playlist before heading to bed early.

It was meant to be a nice quiet night.

Which meant that whoever had decided to call her not ten minutes after she had lowered herself into the water and gotten comfortable was going to have some very annoying problems with their technology for the next week.

She gave the phone a good long glare before laying her head back and closing her eyes.

“This better be good,” she growled once she’d connected to her cell and answered the call on speakerphone.

“I know, I know, I’m so sorry,” Mari said quickly. “It’s just… we went on this mission -- just a quick in and out thing, or it was supposed to be -- and we thought we wouldn’t need your help, but we kind of do and now it’s too late to back out.”

Barbara sighed. “I was taking a bath.”

About five thousand miles away, Vixen flinched and looked at her fellow Birds. She mouthed, She’s taking a bath.

Canary flinched as well while Katana and Huntress shared a look and Question shifted guiltily. All five women had stayed at the Clock Tower before so they knew how Oracle preferred to take showers because of how arduous it was for her to get into the bath, even with the bath lift.

The times she actually got to take a bath were to be treasured.

“Shoot, I mean, we’ll handle it.”

“I’d hope you wouldn’t have called me if you could handle it,” Oracle joked.

“No. I mean, yeah, we didn’t interrupt your night lightly, but we’ll figure something out. We don’t want to ruin your b-”

“It’s fine. I’m already logging into my system. What are we looking at?”

She’s already logging in? But that means... Vixen slumped back against the wall she’d been standing in front of as she realized Oracle must have started getting out before she’d even picked up the phone. They’d ruined her night the moment Vixen had pressed call. Well, no reason to waste even more of her night.

The mission went fast with Oracle’s help and the team was out in just under half an hour. They all gave their thanks and apologized again for interrupting her night, but she waved it away before signing off.

“I still feel bad about ruining her bath. Maybe we should get her something to make up for it,” Dinah said as they were on their way home.

“Maybe we didn’t. She got on pretty quickly. She might have just had a tablet near the bath,” Helena suggested.

Renee shook her head. “She had too many things going at once. She couldn’t have managed it all with just one device.”

Tatsu smirked and chuckled, “Even the great Oracle could not handle such limitations. We'll all chip in to show our thanks.”

Back in Gotham, Barbara sunk a little further into the water with a pleased moan.

While it was a headache to manage an entire mission remotely, it was worth it to remain wrapped in the warm water and fruity scents. Thankfully it was just a short one this time, but maybe next time she’ll ask Tim to cover her in case of another emergency.

She started the music on her phone again then reached out to dry off her hand so she could finally grab her wine and start her night of relaxation.

Two ~ Nightwing

Green Arrow frowned as he watched the goon in the interview room. He, Batman, Hawkwoman, Flash, and Cyborg had picked the guy up the day before while trying to locate an experimental power core that had been stolen from S.T.A.R. Labs. They’d tracked the core to a shipping yard, but lost it there. Most of the yard’s crew were clean, but the manager was clearly on the take and knew something.

The only problem was that he wouldn’t talk.

They’d tried intimidation, logic, bribery, and charisma, but nothing had worked. Since Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter were off-world and Zatanna was unreachable (something about alternate dimensions and a tiefling warlock’s pet eldritch book-dogs), that meant the lasso of truth, mind reading, and truth spells were out.

“There has to be some way we can get him to talk,” Vic said from where he was sitting on the floor next to Wally.

“I could get him to talk,” Shayera muttered, thumbing one of the spikes on her mace.

“No,” Bruce objected as he walked up.

“We’re running out of time.”

“I know, which is why I called for help.”

“Help?” Oliver asked.

“Me.”

Shayera and Oliver jumped and spun around to see Nightwing standing behind them, a wide impish grin on his face.

Fricking ninja bats!

“Oh heck yes!” Wally cheered before bending over in a coughing fit as he choked on the bite of sandwich that had been in his mouth, Vic patting his back.

Dick winked at his friends and looked through the two-way mirror. “Double-R filled me in. This is the guy giving you trouble?”

Bruce grunted.

“I think I’ll be able to take him,” Dick said, walking over to lean against his father. “I’m going to need to borrow Robin for a few days after this, though.”

Oliver swore he could see Bruce’s eyebrow raise beneath the cowl. “For a mission or fun?”

“I need someone small to help with an infiltration… and Jump Wildlife Park has a new Snakes of the Outback exhibit.”

Sighing, Bruce shook his head. “Robin’s benched for the next week, as I’m sure you know. He’s not getting out of it. You can take Catgirl if Catwoman doesn’t need her. I’ll allow a trip to the zoo, however.”

“I’ll take it.” Dick shot him finger guns as he backed towards the door. He then spun around on his heel, high-fived the now standing Wally and Vic, and skipped into the interrogation room. He dropped into the chair across the table from the goon, leaning it back so he could rest his feet on the table. “Hi, there, I’m Nightwing.”

The goon glared at him.

“No introductions then, alright. I’ll make this quick since I’m sure you want to get out of here and I’m currently in a game of hide-and-seek with some of the other bats and I’m not about to lose because B’s having an off day. You tell me what I want to know and I won't have to make you.”

The goon snorted. “Am I really supposed to be scared by that?”

Dick shrugged. “If I wanted to scare you I’d break your fingers. We can try that if you want.”

“The winged chick already offered and it didn’t scare me then either.” The man looked Nightwing over then gave a grin that Oliver was sure set off Batman’s dad mode, even if the man hadn’t responded in any visible way. “You’re welcome to try, though. At least you’re prettier than that bitch.”

Oliver grabbed Shayera’s shoulder when she stepped forward and Vic placed himself between her and the door without looking away from the mirror.

Dick hummed then dropped his legs. The chair fell back onto all fours and he followed the motion so he was leaning against the table, elbows on top with his hand clasped together to create a V that his chin rested on. “You think I’m pretty?”

Oliver blinked and focused his attention on Dick. His voice sounded… different. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was. It just sounded… nice.

Distantly, he was aware there was another voice talking as well.

What was it about Dick’s voice?

Suddenly Dick was standing up and patting the goon on the shoulder. “Thanks, you’ve been a big help.”

The goon nodded, blinking up at Dick in a daze.

Dick skipped back out of the room. “You got everything you need then?”

Did they? Crud, Oliver had zoned out of the entire interrogation. Bats was definitely going to tear him a new one.

Bruce grunted and Dick smiled. “You’re welcome. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get lost before Batgirl bribes my location out of Double-R.”

And with that, the younger Bat was booking it down the hall.

“I’m going to write up a report on the interrogation. Review the footage and meet up in conference hall F so we can plan our next move,” Bruce said before marching off.

There was a moment of silence then Shayera asked, “What the hell was that?”

Vic rolled his eyes and Wally nodded, “It’s always a little distracting, we know.”

“Speak for yourself,” Vic snorted, elbowing the speedster. “The Titans call it Wing’s Milk and Honey voice. He barely ever uses it, but when he does, he always manages to get the information we need out of whoever we’re interrogating. It’s freaky.”

“It’s awesome. Just wish he’d talk to me in that voice.”

Vic glared at Wally. “I did not need to hear that.”

The speedster snickered.

“Did any of you catch what the goon in there actually said?” Oliver asked reluctantly and was relieved when both Shayera and Wally shook their heads.

Vic made a so-so motion. “I know he said he was working for Luthor and the core got moved to a warehouse just outside Metropolis, but the rest kind of got lost. Dick’s…”

“Distracting?” Wally suggested and Vic elbowed him again.

“Just listen to the recording. It gets easier the more you hear it. Kind of,” Vic suggested.

“Standard Milk and Honey protocol,” Wally said with a nod. “Dick’s just too charismatic for his own good.”

Before anything else could be said, Dick’s affronted yelp came echoing down the hall.

“At least when it’s not one of his siblings.”

Three ~ Red Robin and Batgirl

The Young Justice team had just gotten back from a mission. Bart, Kon, Jaime, and Tim were all resting in the lounge. Artemis had retreated to her room while Cassie and Kara had had to head home. Stephanie had been hanging out with the boys, but had disappeared a few minutes in.

Kon was asleep on the couch with his head resting on Tim’s lap. Tim, meanwhile, was working on a report, his laptop on the couch’s arm so as not to disturb Kon. Jaime was sitting on the coffee table in front of them and playing a video game on the main screen. Bart was curled up in an armchair off to the side, working through his post-mission meal.

A cymbal-banging monkey toy sitting on the shelves behind Bart slid forward a little.

The speedster turned at the noise and blinked at the unfamiliar toy. He shrugged it off and turned back to his food.

The monkey slid a little closer.

Bart turned around and frowned at the toy. He stared at it for a moment then slowly turned back around.

A minute went by, then the toy slid noticeably closer.

Bart spun around, jumping out of his seat and pointing at the toy. “I knew it!”

Tim and Jaime both turned to him, but the Kryptonian-strength earplugs did their job and Kon didn’t wake.

“What are you yelling about?” Tim asked.

“The monkey, it’s moving!”

Both boys looked between the monkey and their friend.

“You’re crazy,” Jaime said, turning back to his game.

“It is!”

“Did you see it move?” Tim asked.

“Well, no, but it’s not in the same spot!”

“Your eyes are probably just playing tricks on you. Maybe your blood sugar’s low or something. You haven’t eaten much yet,” the vigilante suggested before going back to his report.

“Like you’re one to talk about not eating,” Bart muttered as he grabbed his chair and turned it to face the self. “It moved! I’ll prove it!”

Bart didn’t take his eyes off the monkey for the next five minutes, even as he continued to eat.

Then his shadow reached out and tapped him on the shoulder before quickly returning to its proper place on the back of the chair.

He looked up and scowled when he didn’t see anyone. He returned his focus to the shelf, only to find himself nose to nose with the monkey just as it started banging its cymbals.

Bart bolted from the room, screaming about calling someone to come deal with the possessed toy.

Jaime glanced up, then shook his head and resumed playing his game.

A few seconds later Stephanie walked in, her magic bracelet on her wrist, and high-fived Tim.

Four ~ Black Bat and Signal

“Hey, Halo. Don’t turn on the lights.”

Violet paused in the doorway of the pitch-black warehouse, hand on the light switch. “Signal?”

“BB and I are here too,” Lia called.

“Looker? Why are you three sitting around in the dark?” ey called as ey carefully tried to make eir way towards the group by sound and memory.

“Looker and Signal are playing poker. The lights are off so Signal can’t cheat with his vision,” Cass explained.

“And yet the kid’s still cheating,” Lia huffed.

“I am not!” Duke said in an offended voice.

“How are you guys reading the cards?” Violet asked as eir hands finally touched the card table ey hoped the three were using for eir game. “And who’s sitting where?”

A hand came from eir left and brushed against eir arm. “I’m here. BB is next to me and Sig’s across from her. There’s a free seat across from me if you want to sit with us until BL gets here. Also, we’re using cards with braille. I can see the pictures and Sig can read braille so we’re all good.”

“You can read braille?”

“Batman.”

“Yeah, okay, that makes sense.” Violet slipped around the table and reached around until eir hand found the chair. As ey sat down, ey asked, “Is Signal even old enough to play?”

“Does this look like a casino? Who cares? It’s not like I’m sneaking him alcohol or cigarettes or anything,” Lia scoffed.

“Nightwing let me try a sip of beer once. It was awful,” Duke said.

She snorted. “Big Bro probably gave you the shi-bad stuff to scare you off.”

“You know, I patrol Gotham. I’ve heard all the swears before.”

“I am not getting caught swearing in front of Batman’s baby, thanks.”

“Robin and Catgirl are both younger than me!”

“CG is the Cat’s baby and Rob’s an assassin lovechild. You are the Bat's baby.”

Suddenly the room flooded with light, earning hisses, groans, and curses from the quartet.

“Why are you four playing cards in the dark?” Jefferson asked and the four saw him walking up to the table once they’d blinked the stars out of their eyes.

Violet could also now see that Cass was leaning against Lia with one of her arms stretched over the table to hold hands with her brother. The two let go, however, at their leader’s approach and Cass sat up. All three were suited up like Violet, though Cass’s mask was sitting on the table.

“We were playing cards," Lia said. "The dark was supposed to keep the kid from cheating. It didn’t work.”

“Whatever you say,” Duke snorted, gathering up his winnings. He sorted through it, then gave half to Cass.

“Why does she get half?”

Duke shrugged and Cass smiled. “Family helps each other out.”

Lia looked confused while Violet nodded slowly.

Jefferson just sighed. “Right… Well, get this cleaned up then we can discuss tonight’s mission.”

Five ~ Robin and Catgirl

Jon smiled at Goliath as he stroked the dragon bat’s ear. “Who’s the bestest dragon bat? You are! Yes, you are!”

“Bestest is not a word, Kent. Don’t teach Goliath bad grammar,” Damian tutted from where he was brushing Alfred the Cat.

“Gee Damian! How come your dad lets you get so many cool pets?” Kathy asked from where she was laying on Bat-Cow’s back. “I mean, the cow, dog, and cat are normal, -”

“Normal for farm girls, at least,” Colin chirped from where he was scratching Titus’s belly.

“- but the dragon bat’s insane! And now you’ve got a tiger too! Is there anything your dad won’t let you have?”

“Tiger?” Jon, Colin, and Damian all asked and Kathy pointed off to the side where Maya was slowly approaching the Malayan tiger cub that was stretched out on a large pillow and watching the girl through half-lidded eyes.

“That’s Kelley,” Damian said blankly.

“Aw, you named her after your sister?” Jon said, grinning widely at his best friend.

His best friend scowled at him in return. “She is not my sister.”

“I mean, your dad married her mom. That kind of makes her your sister,” Colin shot back and the scowl was turned on him.

“Does she accept pets or am I about to get my arm ripped off?” Maya asked softly as she sidestepped a little closer to the tiger in a crouch.

“Why would you wait this long to ask?” Kathy huffed.

“Kelley couldn’t rip your arm off if she wanted to,” Damian scoffed and turned back to his brushing.

Like she could understand him, the tiger’s head whipped towards him and she bared her teeth. With a low growl, she shifted onto her feet. Alfred realized what was happening as the tiger started bounding towards the bird-themed vigilante and jumped off Damian’s lap just before he was crushed under a juvenile tiger.

“Get off me! Get off me right now or I will skin you and use your pelt as a rug!” Damian snarled.

Jon considered helping his friend, but the tiger wasn’t doing anything more than licking his hair now that she had him pinned. After a quick use of x-ray vision proved that Damian didn’t actually have any weapons on him for once, Jon decided to leave the older boy to his pet and focus back on Goliath.

“KELLEY!”

“You’re the bestest dragon bat in the world, aren’t you? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!”

Plus One ~ Jason

Bruce scowled as he typed away at the computer.

The mission was supposed to be an easy one. Just a quick in and out. But they had gotten just one wrong piece of misinformation and now most of Bruce’s children were lying in the Batcave boasting some form of injury.

Worst of all, Bruce hadn’t been there. He and Selina had been on a date night across the city at the insistence of all the children.

The father paused in his typing to glance around the cave.

Carrie was lying on her pillow in tiger form. Either Tim or Duke had managed to slip a cone around her neck since the last time he’d checked on the kids. Considering the lack of shouting, snarling, growling, or baby roars, Bruce was assuming she was humoring the cone for now. Normally he’d make the boys take it off since it impaired her vision too much for comfort in the cave, but she wouldn’t be running around for a few days and the cone would remind her not to lick at her stitches, something she occasionally forgot while in tiger form.

Speaking of the boys, Bruce could see the cocoon of shadows Tim had wrapped them in on one of the larger infirmary cots. The shadows were meant to help with Tim’s concussion while providing Duke with the darkness he needed to get to sleep. A flaw with Duke’s powers was that it was hard for him to get to sleep in anything but the darkest of rooms, especially after an adrenaline-heavy mission got his photosensitivity at its peak. Normally they’d send him up to rest in his room since Bruce had installed special black-out windows for just this occasion, but Alfred wanted him to remain hooked up to an EKG machine overnight due to an electrical shock he’d received during the mission.

Dick and Damian were on the training mats, though Bruce only knew the former because of the thin, whip-like tail poking out from the mass of feathers to wrap gently around Dick’s leg brace. Otherwise, his youngest was completely hidden within his eldest's wings, bundled up against Dick’s chest to keep the boy from attempting to “train” his recently relocated shoulder “back to form.”

Stephanie was nowhere to be seen, though Damian assured them she’d returned home with the group and the occasional nudging of Bruce’s mug towards the edge of the desk confirmed it. Her bracelet sat next to Bruce, the focusing stone in need of replacement. Thankfully he’d thought ahead and had extras on hand so he’d just need to bring the bracelet to a jeweler friend in the morning to have it set properly.

Cass was curled up in one chair at the meeting table with her legs resting on another as she nibbled at a sandwich with one hand and held an ice pack to her bruised ribs with the other. Her eyes had been closed and she’d looked half-asleep when he’d first looked, but as the sound of a motorcycle reached them through the tunnels, her head perked up.

Bruce turned as his second-eldest arrived. Jason parked the bike and climbed off before pulling his helmet off and looking around. He whistled.

“How’d your mission with the Outlaws go?” Bruce asked.

“Better than the mission these idiots went on, apparently.”

“We got some faulty information. You hurt?”

“Nah. Kory, Artemis, and Biz got to have all the fun this time. Roy and I played sniper. What’s -”

Jason cut off as a black form leaped onto his back. Cass quickly wrapped her arms and legs around him before he could toss her off. Nuzzling into his neck, she cooed, “Big brother!”

“Hey, do I look like a horse!” He huffed, tugging at her arms and legs. Suddenly there was a bird in his place, with a plump body and long legs and neck. He flapped his wings and shook, but Cass had anticipated the change and shifted her grip to compensate.

Bruce smiled at the two, knowing Jason was just putting on a show of being annoyed. It was obvious by the fact he didn’t simply change into pure flames so she’d have nothing to hold onto and the way the feathers around Cass’s chest were alight, the flames rising up to brush against where the ice pack had been resting before.

Phoenixes couldn’t actually heal as some stories stated, but their flames could promote healing and ward off infection. Most importantly, though, they could soothe pains. And despite all his huffing and puffing, Jason hated seeing the people he cared about in pain.

The young man gave one last gentle shake before hissing and stomping off to his and Dick’s nest. He lowered himself down and Cass rolled off his back. She moved around to his front and leaned against the edge of the nest while he draped his neck over her chest. As she began to carefully brush her fingers through the burning feathers on his neck, the feathers on his back lit up once more. From where he was, Bruce could just barely see the faint traces of Stephanie’s face in the flames.

At the same time, Carrie yawned and carefully climbed to her feet before shuffling over and into the nest. She nudged the cone into Jason’s side until he stretched out a wing for her to curl up under.

A moment later, the shadows rose on Jason’s other side and he draped his other wing over them with a click.

Smiling at his children’s antics, Bruce double-checked that Tim had left the shadows open for the EKG machine’s wires then went back to his report.

By the time he looked up again a half-hour later, the ball of near-black feathers had relocated to under Jason's fantail and phoenix flames were covering the whole nest in soothing warmth.

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

Cookie to anyone who actually gets the book-dog reference at the beginning of Dick's part because I've been spending too much time on Youtube.

Funny story about Halo: I was looking up different characters that have been on the Outsiders team to put with Duke and Cass since I accidentally put Katana with the Birds before realizing she's the only other member of their team besides Black Lightning and didn't want her to show up in two parts (I've decided she runs with both teams in this universe). I decided on Looker because she seemed cool then was reading up on Halo. I remembered the character from clips of Young Justice animated and thought they were cool. I wasn't too surprised to see the original character didn't wear a hijab, but I was surprised that Wikipedia uses they/them pronouns for the part talking about YJA's Halo post becoming Halo. I thought the character was nonbinary until I checked the YJA wiki for something and saw it uses only she/her pronouns. I'm pretty sure that means Wikipedia's just being weird, but I decided to make Halo bigender anyways so she uses she/ey pronouns in this universe.

[dented-nado]

We’ll Always Have Each Other

I’M BACK! AND I WROTE A THING [Have an angsty fic with the aftermath of Bruce nearly dying - and also me trying to write Damian for the first time... ... ever] Warning for MC death although it’s brief and a slight existential crisis - but this fic is mostly about family bonding and how Bruce really isn’t a loner. (some swb mentions if you squint) ---- ---

It happened so fast… so sharp he both felt it and wasn’t sure he felt anything. Ears feeling like they were stuffed with cotton.

He stared at the sharp bit of metal that he had been stabbed with that was sticking out of his torso, not knowing what to think of it… or maybe now unable to think about it at all.

As Bruce felt his vision go black, he heard a laugh… what sounded like Dick yelling…

Was Damian screaming? Damian didn’t have large outbursts, so that couldn’t be right. Someone cradled his head, and he heard what sounded like Tim crying as he whispered.

“no no… no .. please don’t go…”

And that was it… nothing more. Not a thought not a sound. Except maybe a light… or many lights… or even just two, he wasn’t sure.

He heard whispering above him, his body felt… numb, mind blurry… there were several people around him, he knew that.

“Bruce?” Clark called for him, his voice sounded distant, but it was there.

Light began seeping back into his eyes as he slowly opened them, he winced slightly at the sudden brightness in the room around him. There were many faces staring down at him…he subconsciously took stock as the parent of many kids often did.

Dick… Tim… Stephanie… Duke… Cass… Barbara… Alfred… Clark… Diana… J’onn…

All of them looked like they had been crying, all held mixed expressions of distress and relief.

“Did I die?”  Bruce thought.

��It was an odd thought, and he realized if he had been dead he didn’t really remember what it was like, only that it had happened.

Then he remembered hearing a scream.

“Where…?” He winced, feeling an ache in his abdomen

Where was Damian?

“Don’t try to talk a lot yet B… you have to not move a lot for a while.” Clark hushed.

“You were impaled, but you were lucky that the metal you were pierced with managed to miss your vital organs and major blood vessels.” J’onn explained calmly, knowing that would inevitably be Bruce’s next question.

Bruce looked around blearily. They had to have him on some powerful pain killers, especially since they likely had to take Bruce’s tendency to muscle through pain with his own brand of concentrated pain killers into account.

He must have passed out when he tried to blink, because when he opened his eyes again, he just saw Dick sitting in a chair next to him reading a book. He seemed to notice Bruce stirring and looked over with a small smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Bruce wheezed.  His voice was weak but the aching pain wasn’t as bad.

“How long…”

“About a week.” Dick answered. “You’ve stirred and started mumbling a few times, but you kind of had to stay put so you could be treated and heal and all that jazz. We’ve all been visiting and hanging out with you, even if you’re a loner and all.”

The corners of Bruce’s lips quirked up. He slowly began trying to see if he could sit up , but he decided not to push it. He sighed, not looking forward to the recovery time of trying to move around again.

“Where’s Damian?” Bruce was finally able to ask.

Dick took a deep breath. Setting his book down. “He demanded he be put in one of the watchtower cells. He’s insisting on “turning himself in.”

Bruce almost shot up before remembering he couldn’t really move fast right now. “What?? Why?”

“Well… when we all thought … you know… you were dead, the kid kind of lost it, not that I blame him, I kinda… did too… and he, you know… did his miniature assassin thing and uh… The Joker is dead. And ‘cause he killed, he thinks you’d be disappointed or mad at him. So he’s uh… insisting he be “punished”.” Dick confessed.

Bruce’s heart sank.

“Clark tried to talk to him, I tried to talk to him, Tim left him alone… His eyes lit up when he heard your okay but he said and I quote “Please inform father that I fully intend to pay for disobeying him.” “

Bruce groaned. Wishing he could leap up right that second and tell Damian he wasn’t mad… not even slightly… but apparently this was another one of those moments where him and Damian were more stubbornly similar than they were different.

“Do you think you could convince him to come see me?” Bruce asked.

Dick shrugged. “I can sure try.”

“Thanks chum.”

Dick smiled and patted his dad on the shoulder as he stood up in response and went off to try and get his youngest brother to face Bruce now that he was up and more coherent.

Bruce breathed deeply. Wondering briefly, if death had really been nothingness or he just couldn’t, or was physically unable to remember whatever it was he encountered. That was an existential crisis he’d put off for another day.

When Damian came in, Dick right behind him, the boy was hanging his head. He saw Damian nervously take a glance up to him. He saw his son’s eyes were red… and he was trying to hide it.

“Damian…” He tried to begin.

“Father… I…” Damian interrupted, hanging his head. “I have killed, even though it was against your wishes. I have disobeyed you, and I will accept any punishment you have for me.”

Damian was obviously trying to speak in a slightly disconnected tone, but Bruce could see his hands trembling.

“Damian, I’m not mad. I’m worried about you.” Bruce replied softly.

Damian’s head shot up, and now Bruce could officially see now that the boy’s eyes were wet. “But-!” He protested.

“Shh. Come here.” Bruce beckoned, holding his arm out weakly.

Damian hesitated, glancing up at Dick who nodded at him before slowly moving over to his father’s side. Bruce trapped him in a sideways hug that made Damian jump slightly.

“When Jason ‘died’, the first thing I did was grab a gun.” Bruce confessed slowly.

Both Dick and Damian looked at him shocked. He had never opened up about this, but he supposed now was the time. Dick sat back down in his chair quietly to listen.

“I was going to shoot that clown right in the head, maybe torture him a bit before doing it for taking my child away from me. But you know who stopped me?”

“Who?” Damian asked.

“Clark did.”

“The alien??”

Bruce gave him a slightly disapproving look.

Damian shifted slightly looking guilty and corrected himself. “Yes, Clark, Superman… why did he stop you?”

“Because he knew I’d regret it, not because Joker shouldn’t die or should serve justice for what he’s done… but because he knew revenge wouldn’t make it hurt any less… and that I’d regret it because I’d have to live with the fact that the Joker finally got to me, and the trauma from taking a life might do me in for good.” Bruce confessed. “Especially since picking up a gun was something I never ever wanted to do.”

Damian looked down, leaning into Bruce slightly. “When… When I destroyed him, I thought that avenging your death would make it better. But it didn’t. Because you were still gone, and I had broken my promise to you.” He mumbled quietly. “I failed to be strong like you… and resist the temptation.”

Bruce hugged him tighter. “No, you didn’t fail. I’m not disappointed, or mad. I understand. You had a normal… human… reaction.”

“He’s right Dami, in that moment… when that happened, if it hadn’t been you… it would have been me, or Tim, or any of us really. You saw the way Superman looked even when he came. You were just the fastest.”

“It’s not your fault that a very sick person got a high out of getting reactions out of people by killing or harming those they care about.” Bruce comforted. “As I’ve learned… Valuing life… and family, is not weakness.”

Damian was trembling again, obviously still trying to hide anything he was feeling. “But father… you said it yourself, because he got me to react… he won.”

Bruce shook his head. “No, he hasn’t won. Not yet. We can heal from the scars he left behind, on us, on our family, on Gotham, and eventually, we can make sure he’ll be forgotten, we won’t let him have a lasting effect on us, not anymore. We won’t give him that satisfaction, because we’ll still have each other. Okay?”

Damian looked at Bruce with wide eyes and slowly nodded. Bruce pulled his son up so he could hug him tight with both arms.

“I love you, and I’m proud of you, I’m so proud of all of you, you all mean a lot to me, and I’m never going to leave you or my family like that again.”

This seemed to be what finally caused Damian to break, for all the floodgates that were being held back to burst open. He buried his face in his dad’s chest, clinging to him as all the stress, guilt, grief, and fear came flooding out, no longer caring enough about pride to hide that he was crying.

Bruce felt Dick wrap his arms around both of them, ruffling Damian’s hair just as he did.

Then, like a stampede, the door burst open causing the three of them to jump as they were piled on with a group hug as the batkids, Alfred, Clark, Diana, and several members of the league ran in excitedly at seeing Bruce up, being just careful enough to make sure they didn’t re-hurt Bruce as they piled onto the group hug.

Bruce smiled as he heard a small but rare laugh from Damian, and maybe understood now why Clark and Diana seemed to light up when Bruce himself smiled or laughed. He now only hoped that any sounds of laughter they heard from now on would be from each other and out of happiness and joy.

[codenamed-queenie]

Bruce sat up in bed so quickly he almost hit the ceiling.

“Alfred! Alfred!” he called to the hallway. “What day is it?”

“I think you know, Master Bruce,” came the soft, fearful reply. 

In the distance, he heard a booming explosion. Dick was screaming. Timothy was laughing manically. Stephanie was cursing profusely as Damian shrieked. Jason was silent...and that in itself was perhaps the most concerning of all...

A Complete List of the Batkids’ Pranks, April 2019

Itching Powder in clothing. 

Everyone’s clothing. 

But Especially Tim’s.

Stephanie replaced every light bulb in the house with black lights.

Because Babs and Cass painted everything with glow-in-the-dark paint.

And I do mean everything. 

It took Alfred and Bruce three hours to re-replace the bulbs, but it was a glorious three hours. 

Especially when the boys brought in the laser tag guns.

Damian purchased no less than seven (7) plastic owls and hid them all over the house. 

(Bruce hates owls. And so does Dick)

Cue frantic screaming whenever they stumbled upon one.

Bruce almost wrecked the Batmobile when he saw one in the rear-view mirror.

Cass put glitter on all the ceiling fans. 

Stephanie--her partner in crime--complained about feeling overheated until some poor fool flipped the switch. 

There is a photograph circulating on social media of a Very P.O.’d Bruce Wayne covered in enough pink and purple glitter to make him resemble something from the set of a Lady Gaga music video. 

Jason hid lemons all over the manor. 

In beds. In random appliances. In the vents. In the dishwasher. In the bathtub. Inside shoes. Everywhere.

For months, the manor will smell like rotting lemons until all of them have been found. 

No one knows how many there actually are. 

(But its 847. Let’s just say that Roy knows a guy.)

He also put a packet of red paint in every shower head in the house. 

Tim came out looking like a tomato. 

Damian caught on faster, and got out in time. 

But he still came out looking like he’d survived a bloody battle. 

“D-Damian? Son? W-what...happened?”

“It was a blood bath, Father.”

“Whose blood is--?”

Damian looked disinterestedly down at his stained arm. “Todd’s, most likely.”

“Most likely?” 

Bruce fainted. He was out for a few hours. 

Jason also put hair dye in the shampoo. 

So, at least for the foreseeable future, Tim Drake is now a blond. 

Stephanie escaped relatively unscathed--for obvious reasons.

Dick replaced all the glue in the house with candy. 

No one really caught on for a few weeks.

But Damian had a school project due the next morning, and couldn’t for the life of him understand why the oddly-colored glue stick wasn’t working on his Civil War poster. 

Tim hacked the Batcomputer, and changed the language to ‘Pig Latin’. 

Proceeded to change the text font on everyone’s phones to Comic Sans.

With Barbara’s help, the others hacked into the League’s databases and changed everything to regular Latin. 

Diana and a few others were unfazed. 

Barry, who was on monitor duty, started crying took it like a champ.

On patrol, everyone spoke in a different language. 

Except for Dick, who ‘pretended’ to lose his voice.

Jason: “ Y el inconveniente es...?” (And the downside is?)

Damian: “Δεν υπάρχει κανένα μειονέκτημα.” (There is no disadvantage.)

Dick: “Hey!”

Steph: “Ha! Je savais qu'il n'aurait pas durer!” (Ha! I knew he wouldn’t last!)

Bruce:  “As crianças, deixar seu irmão sozinho, todos sabíamos que ele não iria durar.” (Kids, leave your brother alone, we all knew he wouldn’t last.)

Tim:  “어이, 이봐, 진행 중인 사건이 여기 있다. 누구나 관심을 갖고 있다면...” (Hey, guys, there’s a robbery in progress down here. If anyone cares...)

They got bored, eventually, and started singing Bohemian Rhapsody.

In their different languages--

--giving everyone they encountered a small heart attack.

Tim rigged the microwave with spring-loaded Diethylzinc. 

Jason went to cook a microwave breakfast burrito and set the kitchen on fire. 

No one was harmed--except for Jason’s eyebrows. 

And Bruce’s blood pressure (this was the explosion he woke up to.)

In retaliation, Jason booby-trapped the Red Robin suit with a mixture of  hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide, soap, and food coloring. 

Ever hear of Elephant Toothpaste?

Tim was luckily not in the suit when the explosion went off. (The reaction gives off a lot of heat.)

Bruce sat everyone down at the end of the day. 

“Kids. I want to thank you all for a very entertaining day. No one was injured--”

Dick cleared his throat meaningfully.

“--No one was seriously injured, and no one was killed--right? Is everyone here and accounted for? Barbara...?”

[Over the comms] “I’m alive, but heaven help the poor soul who decided to put those TNT poppers in my chair’s tire treads...”

Stephanie pursed her lips, eyes widening. 

“What about Duke? Has anyone seen Duke?”

“He, uh, he may or may not be on a plane to Morocco at the moment...”

“He’ll be fine.”

“Hopefully.”

“Totally!”

[Deep sigh] “But there was no lasting property damage done this year. At least, nothing a few hundred dollars can’t solve.”

Jason leaned over to the others and stage-whispered. “Nobody better say anything about the BatSub.”

“The what?”

“Hearing voices again, old man? Might need to get your hearing checked.”

“Hn. Well, all in all, this was a very mild April Fool’s Day, by our standards. So I’d like to thank everyone for dialing things back this year. Meeting adjourned.”

[currentfandomkick]

Bio! Dad Strange part 3

Marinette, she had no idea how this happened, she swore, somehow got lost in gotham during an Arkham jailbreak. All she knew was one minute she was talking to Uncle Ed and then the next there was explosions and then she was... wherever she was.

Apparently Two-Face recognized her on the streets and grabbed her... only she didnt know him.

Her response was to flip him over her tiny shoulder and flee with a vengence. Guess which member of the batfam saw?

If you guessed Tim before he became a Robin because Dick was still Robin—albeit in charge of the Titans and not in Gotham at the time.

Tim did the reasonable thing and somehow convinced the freaked out french girl to go into a cafe while they called her parents.

Two-Face, convinced that tiny Tim kidnapped tiny Marinette and somehow his family would hurt tiny Marinette. Which given that she has how many Rogues around her little finger—Strange, Joker, Quinn, Ivy, Riddler, Penguin AND Zsasz. He did a coin flip to see if he should save her from being in the public eye and possibly expose her family. The coin was in favor of keeping Marinette from being on the news with pictures.

Two-Face decided it was safer to kidnap her from said public place and bring her to Ivy and Harley.

So he grabbed mutliple machine guns, raided the cafe and threw tiny Marinette over his shoulder and sent out shots at abyone that tried to get near them. He wasnt dying becuase of this kid, ok?

Of course said kid is super-powered, terrified, and did i mention its sunny out so her treatments are wearing out faster? No, well they are. This means everything is much scarier and louder and overwhelming that bwing thrown over a stranger that shot at people should be in any situation.

Tiny Tim is very scared for her. He finds Batman and alerts him to the tiny foreigner’s kidnapping—nearly getting killed by Mr. Freeze in the process to boot.

Batman is angry for many reasons, manages to take down Mr. Freeze and tells Gordon to be on alert for Two-Face who kidnapped a tiny french girl.

Only it gets worse.

Superman saw what was going on in Gotham and went to help out—his freind was dealing with a mass prison break of very dangerous criminals, why wouldnt he help?

And on hearing a tiny kid that freaked out in french was in danger? Well, what was he supposed to do Bruce? Ignore her?

He sent Conner after her while he helped out with a number of distrubed individuals, including a pyromaniac (firefly).

Conner manages to track down the pair on his own and almost loses it when he sees tiny Marinette kick Two-Face hard enough he falls down and the girl bolts a lot faster than a normal kid should. He comms in that the girl is a scared foriegn meta, and requests backup.

Kidflash is the one who answers, and takes care of Twoface while Conner tries to track down a terrifed tiny meta that screams in french.

Conner sees her running to a greenhouse and follows her in. Especially as the tiny girl jumped a lot higher than she should and it felt too familiar for comfort.

He manages to sneak in, followed by Kidflash, and they have an ‘oh shit’ moment when they see the scared girl run to a younger Poison Ivy with brown hair, crying. This teen holding a crying child is Rose.

Rose is visibly pissed. “Do you want me to kill him? J called dibs on his brother this time and Harley’s aiming for Tetch after last week.”

Tiny marinette shakes her head and delivers the best line for the young justice members, but worst for a baby Rogue.

“I dont want him to die, i just want him to stop hurting people.”

*remember, she is Jill in Gotham.

“Jilly bean, the world isnt nice. If it was, then batsy wouldnt have dropped me onto an ecoterrorist when i was a week old, and i would be allowed to leave the greenhouse. You wouldnt need to have nearly as many aliases as you do. You can try to make it nice in a lot of ways. I’m happy to handle extermination sicne thats the only thing i have shot at besides the rkc.”

Tiny marinette is frowning. “But then the world wins. I want to beat the world, not lose by being like it.”

Conner is (understandably) confused. Kidflash is processing that oh fuck. This is a meta raised by villians. And another meta raised by villians and goddamnit batman, why did you give a villian a baby? (He didnt. He gave ivy a ten year old. He thought she was her kid and she was raising her or something.)

Tiny Marinette is not happy with Rose’s conclusions.

“Can we call Ghoul and Frost? Maybe they can help with their dads?”

“And why not Puzzles?”

“He has asthma and he cant dodge.”

Rose considers for a moment before nodding. She grabs a plant and talks into it. “Ghoul, Frost, i need you at HQ. Someone has to reign in our dumbass parents. Bring the nuetralizers and tranqs.”

A voice came from another flower. “Should we have zsasz come with?”

“No! He’ll switch sides again!” Marinette yelled.

“Oh. Nets, what the hell are you doing at HQ?”

“Two-Face stole me. I ran.”

“Well, Fuck. Be there in five. Uh, how are your treatments holding?”

“She’s getting lighter. Might want to break out the rocks again.”

“Double fuck. Ill force Frost out of lab. Be there in a few—any crews to aviod or...”

“If they have a green arm band dont give them the fear toxin fixes, and Jerimah’s cult is back,” Marinette added.

“Fuck me up why dont you Gotham!” Ghoul cursed.

“Hey, she’s a kid!” Rose snapped

“Im older than you though!” Marientte chirped.

Conner had a lot to process with this information. Kidflash put together that they were applarently going to try to help the gothamites rather than the rogues, and decided they should leave and focus on helping the others.

Given that Marinette didnt catch the pair (she was still trying to focus on near things) she doesnt know that anyone but Batman and maybe Batgirl is fighting.

So she doesnt hide her abilities, flying at low levels to aviod Batman’s attention. But Kidflash and Batman see her and have a Moment of ‘which of us is telling Superman he might have another clone?’

Marinette, oblivious to this, is seen beside Jason Todd giving people Fear Toxin Antidote and Joker Gas Nuetralizer. Marinette is getting and distributing the antidotes. Jason Todd is making sure she doesnt die by wielding his baseball bat and riding his bike while she flies.

The day ends with most going back to Arkham and Marinette and Jason hiding from heroes for obvious reasons—including a teen and small child ignoring evacuation orders and avoiding GCPS.

Batman is aware of Marinette’s existence as “Jill” and “Nets” and that she helps a group of Rogue’s children that are content to undercut their parents crime. And now he knows Rose is either mcuh younger than he thought when he gave her (he thought brought her back home to) Poison Ivy. And is feeling guiltyTM

If you thought he was having a case of Serial Adopter Bruce Wayne, you are correct. He is now actively looking for these kids and where they are hiding since they moved post-breakout.

Zsasz is only slightly disappointed that Marinette didnt kill Two-Face. Jerome thinks its great and somehow convinces him to apoligize to her by offering to make up a number of contracts between rogues and the gotham underground in general to make things more organized so she and other rogue kids have a safe way of handling situations like that in the future.

Why dies JEROME of all people think this up and not Eddy or Riddler? The answer is he stole the idea from them, gave them no credit, and yes, is doing this as an attempt to score a few extra of marinette’s cookies. He has no shame in this, and riddler hates sweets so he isnt mad. Ed is too busy teaching Marinette Science to realize what happened until long after it did.

This puts Marinette and the RKC in a very odd position. Not only is The Batman trying to find them now, but they have to handle the Rogues trying to baby them. Ghoul and Frost are almost an adults, most people think Rose is almost an adult when irl she’s 5, and yes, Marinette is very much now Gotham Underground’s Princess as the Council is basically set up to ensure her safety.

Marinette knows none of this, as she is small child that just wants to cuddle her stuffed kitty Chaton and sleep on her Father (Strange) while he finishes up in his lab. She does this.

Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow got pictures. They use these to insert themselves in the Teach the Kids Science and Dangerous ThingsTM.

At one point marientte learns how to diassemble a bomb, reassemble one, and diffuse various bombs.

Riddler starts to use bombs more when she’s around to help her practice. Batman is confused as that is Not his usual M.O. Robin/ Dick gets called in and thigns get messy for the Batfam dynamics (he saw the research on the RKC and is pissed that He Was Right! Ivy Didnt Have Rose! and then saw plans for new batkids and reacted BadlyTM due to Teen AngstTM).

The summer ends with Batman having a bad fallout with Robin, Marinette thinking No One knows she’s kyptonian. When Conner suspects, Batman and Kidflash put two and two together, and no one has told Superman yet because um. Well.

They need the girl as proof and would rather not send Clark into another spiral about havig kids he wasnt aware of, ok? He just got decent with Conner. No need to rock the boat, right? (Wrong)

[bigfan-fanfic]

The Bat-dads 3 (Male!Reader x Batfamily)

Yes, your kids are absolutely crazy.

In some ways, your relationship with the batkids are even more complicated than Bruce’s

Because he is a father-figure-slash-employer-slash-colleague.

But you are father/friend/caretaker/doctor/advisor/cheerleader/protector/consultant/secret keeper/advocate/therapist/et cetera.

When any one of them has a problem, you are the first person to go to.

Honestly, Alfred would be first, but he tends to tell Bruce everything.

(It’s how Bruce found out that Jason was reading the dirty books in the Manor’s library)

You, however, don’t have the need to tell your husband everything.

So they’re comfortable with you.

Dick

Honestly the most normal

Was depressed following his parents’ death, but you single-handedly brought the sunshine back to his life.

Calls you “Pops”

He called John Grayson “Dad,” so this acknowledges your role in his life

Bruce is jealous

Dick tells you everything. If you aren’t already, you learn to be a good listener.

Dick is hopeless at food preparation, but he likes to hang out in the kitchen and chat while you and Bruce help Alfred bake Christmas cookies or birthday cakes or whatever.

Whenever you two are driving, expect to belt out whatever is on the radio. Even when (especially when) the others are in the car. (Jason, Damian, and Tim have nearly killed the two of you for it - Damian actually did consider it)

Dick hides this from his brothers. but he has a Spotify playlist full of catchy pop songs to sing along to. 

He really does tell you everything. Seriously. He basically talked non-stop during puberty.

If you had had to hear about his crush on Barbara one more time, you might have snapped.

You are the only one allowed to go with Dick to his parents’ graves to pay tribute

And the only one allowed to call him when he runs off to Bludhaven

You have a standing appointment to have lunch once a week whenever he’s in Bludhaven

There’s a picture on social media that keeps cropping up of you and Dick celebrating his first full year at the Manor, with kid Dick resting his arms on top of your head and grinning like an idiot.

You recreated it for a Father’s Day post recently and posted it side by side the old one, and #cutestwaynesever broke Twitter for a while

Although now Dick is a lot heavier. 

Jason

Hard to deal with at first.

He stole the Batmobile’s wheel, for crying out loud.

What was he, crazy?

Likes to test your patience.

There are only three ways to deal with his sarcasm: ignore it

*big smile* “Hey, Jason, you wanna come with me to the store?”

“Oh, the store? *Wow*, I’ve never been to the store before!”

*expression unchanged* “Great, come on!”

*surprised* “Wait, what?”

Be uber-sarcastic right back

*saunters in* “Can I have some money?”

*chill* “I don’t know, Jason, can you? Oh wait, I know this one. No.”

Y/N used Sarcasm!

It’s super effective!

The wild Jason was knocked out!

Or psychologically condition him by insisting the two of you watch the entire Disney catalogue and learning the scripts by heart.

If you choose this option, for the rest of his life, Jason will unthinkingly respond using Disney quotes and songs at random times.

You’ve never lived until you’ve heard the Red Hood throw a man off of a roof while saying “Long - live - the king” in a Jeremy Irons voice.

Or heard him hum “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” while Batman and Catwoman are talking

Jason calls you “Mom.”

It used to be sarcastic, but it evolved into his actual term for you, particularly after he came back from the dead and found out you had submitted an opinion to the court advocating the execution of the Joker instead of incarceration on grounds of insanity

Coming closer than anyone has to killing the Joker

The only reason it didn’t work is because Harley and the Joker Gang threatened the court.

He thinks you’re a badass for that.

Anyway - Jason and you bond over food.

Not cooking - eating.

You go out for something incredibly unhealthy once a month and call it your little secret. He loves this.

Everybody knows, but pretends not to. Alfred even serves a normal dinner afterward that you two pretend to get full quickly at.

You regret it in the morning, but you always go out again the next month.