#he isn't nightwing

[llillilholillill]

so i’ve been thinking... here’s some snippets for arrowverse!jason that i’ve been craving.

please don’t steal my work and/or put it on other platforms w/o my permission this will result in a block + report.

¹

Jason knows something is wrong the moment Talia does not pick up the phone. He suspected something was up when he did not get a call as soon as he left All-Caste. And that makes him pause just long enough to see the news. He is not really concentrating on grainy and shaky footage of ruins of Starling City, no. His attention focuses on the caption below that has absolutely nothing to do with whatever happened in the city.

‘Gotham’s city billionaire Bruce Wayne has been missing for over two years. GCPD refuse to give any comments.’

His blood runs cold.

It cannot be true. It... It is just some weird plan. A ploy to lull rouges into false sense of security, so it will be easy to catch them at once and throw back to prisons that are just as efficient as paper towels against the flood.

Talia does not pick up the phone. Twice. In a row.

Jason calls the manor. Alfred. Alfred is going to answer and he will know it is just a fake piece of news.

No one answers.

He calls again.

And again.

And again.

The sense of dread is so overwhelming it even dulls the burning hungry feeling of bloodlust that has been nagging him ever since he came back. And Jason can think without the constant desire to take someone’s life for the first time in almost four years.

²

Gotham is still a shithole. But not that kind that has paranoid old bastard in a furry batsuit as her vengeful protector. The kind that has been stewing for far too long without any supervision.

The manor is... For Jason it has always looked empty, no matter what Alfred tried to do. But now. Now it is truly abandoned. Jason can feel chills running down his spine. The flames of his soul that make All-Blades are the only thing that keeps him from shivering in his All-Caste uniform. Everything inside is covered in dust.

The cave is dark. It is silent. Jason realises there are no bats here when he switches on the lights. He looks around. Nothing is out of the place or broken. Everything is just the same as it has been when he wore stupid traffic light costume. The one that... His gaze falls onto the glass case with it torn and bloody inside and right above it is a golden plaque with ‘In Memory of Jason Todd — Robin — A Good Soldier’. 

Of fucking course.

³

Jason sits on his favourite roof with his gargoyle friend, fidgeting with the phone. Gotham’s sky is still as smoggy at night as he remembers it to be.

He calls Barbara’s old phone number. It disconnects. He tries calling the last known one, the one from Bruce’s database. It does as well.

He calls Dick, muscle memory typing in the number Jason used that day four years ago before going to Ethiopia. It goes to the voicemail. Fucking again. Jason shakes himself out of the flashback.

Why did the call come through? Dick has new number now.

He calls his new one, hoping the rumors he has heard about some crazy guy in black costume with blue bird on his chest are true and not just a ghost stories. It disconnects.

No.

Fuck.

No, no, no.

Without any hesitation Jason types in the emergency number, the one Bruce has said to only use when there was no other option. The call goes to the voicemail.

Jason stands up, walking away from his gargoyle, and punches the brick wall of the roof entrance.

“What the fuck!” He yells, wishing for all this to just be a nightmare. Jason even promises to himself he will throw away his stupid revenge plan and go back to the manor, to Alfred, to Bruce, to his dad. It was an idiotic plan, he knows, he fucking knows, why is not he waking up?

⁴

Commissioner Gordon lights up Bat Signal every night. And every night no one answers.

⁵

“Was I really just a soldier to you, Bruce?” Jason is in the cave again. He cannot stop going here, cannot stop torturing himself, cannot stop staring at his old Robin uniform and at the empty mannequin near the changing area.

No one answers him.

It is already a pattern he has grown familiar with.

⁶

He cleans the manor. All of it. Until it fucking sparkles.

⁷

Jason is walking through Crime Alley when he hears a whistle. Not the Robin kind. But the one some of the gangs used when he was a kid.

Actually, he tilts his head to the side, there was only one asshole who preferred it more than anything else.

Another whistle. This one is shorter.

Seems like Black Mask decided to expand his business.

Whatever.

It is not his problem. Jason needs to find Bruce. Or at least find out if Dick is in New York or not. If someone stole Bluebird from his brother and if yes who is he killing.

⁸

Joker escapes Arkham.

Gotham is ghost city for the next three days. No one even dares to open the curtains. Then there is a live broadcast with a teen dressed in a cheap Halloween Robin costume tied to a chair. She has blonde hair and looks so tiny Jason thinks she must be twelve, but then Joker gleefully tells:

“This little birdie here is just as old as the last one I killed! What a day it was! Magnificent! My dear friend was on a roll beating that brat for not having any manners with me! How sad she can’t join us today and that we have to play with dollar version of the real deal, who doesn’t even know how to fly, but don't ya worry folks, we’ll still clip her wings!” Joker is holding a crowbar.

Joker is holding a crowbar ready to strike Robin.

‘The party’s just got started.’

Joker is holding a crowbar ready to strike a kid.

‘...this is going to hurt you a lot more than it does me.’

Joker is holding a crowbar ready to kill a kid in Robin colors.

‘What the Batman doesn't know can't hurt me!’

⁹

Batman may not know but Jason does. He does and he is in his All-Caste uniform. He does and he is no Batman. He does and he has absolutely no moral code when it comes to shutting down the livestream and beating Joker to death with the crowbar that has child’s blood on it.

Jason stabs him with the All-Blades, burning Joker’s soul with magic he is yet to fully grasp just so no one ever will be able to bring this fucker back.

“Fuck..ing... end h...him,” the girl’s voice is barely audible amongst the sickening crunch of bones being methodically broken and screeches of bloodlust in his head.

¹⁰

Jason goes on his first patrol four months after he moved back to Gotham. He is not wearing Robin uniform or even Bruce’s classic Batman costume. He has bright red bat on his chest; it is the exact shade as the one that has been used in his Robin costume. Scarlet muzzle and domino mask of the same color connected to it. He added a hood to the cape after some thinking.

He does not have guns on him. But he hides small daggers, a lot of them actually, while batarangs are safely tucked in the utility belt.

¹¹

“You aren’t Batman.”

“Kid, be careful with the bo, I’m not gonna fight you,” Jason raises his hands, standing in front of the Batmobile, — can it even be call that now? — he cannot really get inside because the kid with quite expensive looking bo is blocking the door to the driver’s sit.

The kid hits him on the head with the metal bo. Then he squeaks, realizing who exactly he has just hit. And yet Jason can see he has not lost determined look in his eyes, even though he is clearly terrified.

Jason laughs. His head hurts.

“Are you hungry?” He is going to buy this scrawny teenager a burger.

Fuck. He even has black hair and blue eyes.

¹¹

“No.”

“But—”

“I said ‘no’, Tim.”

“You were Robin when you were my age!”

“How'd—” Jason looks at the kid, teenager, closer. “You're that stalker kid obsessed with first Robin. I even bought you a milkshake and you said I still wasn’t your favourite,” Tim’s face goes bright red, he tries to hide behind his burger. “You know who I am under the mask.”

“I figured,” Tim says in a small voice. “You were Robin.”

“And I died, Tim, I’m not going to let you—”

“I’ll help you find Mr. Wayne! And... And I almost found out where Mr. Grayson lives in New York!”

Jason chokes.

“Dick’s alive?..”

Tim lowers his gaze, taking a large bite.

“I think. There is Bluebird in New York for sure. But I’m not certain if it is your brother.”

“Where are your parents, kid?” Jason sighs.

“In Egypt, they'll be back in two months for three days.”

“The fuck?”

¹²

“You should answer Bat Signal.”

“You should go to sleep, it’s past your bed time.”

¹³

“Jason.”

“No, Tim.”

“Just... Just teach me how to defend myself?”

Jason rolls away from the Bat computer, staring intently on Tim who is holding his collapsible bo in hands.

“You’re telling me you’ve got no idea how to actually use it?”

“Um. I know. In theory. And I took self-defense classes! I just haven’t really used bo before.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Jason stands up, going to the training area. “C’mon, kid.”

“Not a kid.”

“Uh-huh.”

¹⁴

“Are you going to answer Bat Signal?” Tim asks in his comms.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

¹⁵

“Why the fuck they call me Red Bat?”

“Are you dump or really don’t know?” Tim pointedly looks at the emblem on the chest of his costume.

“Oh, shut it, you know that rumors about Batman shouldn’t change or—”

“—or people would realize story isn’t a hoax,” Tim ponders it for a second. “You think, it'll be bad? If people knew you were real? Gotham is different. But Starling is shitty and they know Arrow or whatever that guy calls himself is real.”

“You said it yourself, Timmy, Gotham’s different,” Jason runs a hand through his hair. “And Oliver Queen has some agenda on top of whatever’s going on between him and the league. I’m just trying to protect Gotham as best as I can,” he knows there is bitterness in his voice, but he cannot do anything about it.

“Found out who he is?”

“Please, as if it was hard.”

¹⁶

“I’m skipping patrol,” Jason declares.

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m teaching you how to make cookies and after that we’re watching movies.”

¹⁷

“It was you. You killed Joker.”

Jason stops on the rooftop, all his attention is focused on Tim’s words.

“I thought you knew?”

There is silence.

“I... you... Batman doesn’t kill.”

Don’t I fucking know that.

“I wasn’t Batman. And I wasn’t gonna let that fucker go after what he did to Stephanie,” the girl’s name feels heavy on his tongue, he was almost too late to save her, he was too late to save the child she was carrying.

“Do you... Are you still?..”

“I’m not gonna kill while you're in my ears, kid.”

“Not a kid, Red.”

“Then choose a codename if you insisting on bothering me throughout the night.”

¹⁸

“My parents had to leave earlier can I stay at the manor? It’ll be more effici—”

“Get inside, I’m rewatching ‘Home alone’.”

¹⁹

“Red Bat, stop!” Tim’s voice brakes the blissful haze that bloodlust always cocoons him in. “Red, you need to stop please! You’ll kill him, you... You promised not to—”

“Where’s GCPD?” Jason zip-ties the pimp he has almost beaten to death; it reminds him of the day. The day Batman decided he became too aggressive to be Robin.

“ETA two minutes,” in a slightly shaky tone Tim informs him.

Jason leaves the guy on the ground, finding an access to the roof.

He breathes in cold winter air, stinking of something distinctly Gotham. It grounds him.

“I’m sorry, kid,” finally says Jason.

“You were dumped in Lazarus waters, weren’t you?”

And Jason wants to use it as an excuse. To pretend he has not killed by his own choice. To assure Tim he is not truly a monster who kills because he wishes to do so, but because he came back fucked up.

But it will be a lie, will it not?

His silence is the only answer Tim gets.

“I thought it is impossible to snap out of the—” there is typing on the Tim’s end, “—bloodlust.”

“Ra’s not a mindless monster high on it all the time,” Jason points out.

“You know what I mean. You were as you said ‘high’ and you stopped.”

Jason chuckles. He wants to laugh, loud and hysterical.

“Go dress in your pjs, we’re watching ‘Pride & Prejudice’,” he tells Tim.

“Not again,” he groans in response.

“Yeah again.”

²⁰

Jason is still shivering, his heart beats in his throat, and everything is in the sickly tinge of yellow from Fear Gas. His white knuckle grip leaves dents on the table.

“Tim, why are you wearing Robin suit?”

“I—”

“I told you ‘no’.”

“Yo—”

“Many times, Tim,” Jason’s voice shakes, he does not know if it is from the lingering terror or from anger. “You could’ve died!” He shouts.

Tim’s gaze shines with steel determination, he squares his shoulders, his neon yellow on the inside cape flutters with the movement.

“You would have died! Again!” Tim screams in response. “I saved you! You can at fucking least say thank you, asshole!”

“Ti—”

“And just so you know. If you did die, I would go and wear this,” Tim jabs red bat on his chest, “and do all the reckless stupid things you stop me from doing!”

Jason sighs deep through his nose.

“Where did you get this costume?” It is not Dick’s or one of his. For starters it has actual pants.

“Remember you were wondering why you were spending more on other stuff for the last six months?” mumbles Tim, his face goes as red as the upper part of Robin’s suit. “And I am an heir to Drake estate.”

²¹

“That’s so cool!” Tim, Robin, flies above Gotham’s dirty alleyways.

Jason, Red Bat, is right behind like a protective shadow.

²²

“They call me Red Robin,” Tim smirks, shoving Jason. “You started a trend, old man.”

“Hey, I’m not that old!”

²³

“Who the fuck are you?!” growls Bluebird, it is Dick, it is his big brother, shoving his escrima stick under his jaw with his fingers on the button, ready to zap him.

“I thought you were smarter, birdbrain!” Tim jumps from the shadows, distracting Dick with the neon yellow color of his cape just enough to throw one of his birdarangs at him. “I liked you more because of it!”

“Did you just call me stupid?!” Jason pushes Dick on the ground and takes off his face mask. “Hey, hey, Dickiebird, it’s me,” he smiles unsurely.

“Little Wing?.. Jay... Jason? Wha?.. How?”

His face gets scratched.

“What the fuck was it for?”

“You’re not Clayface.”

“Since when Clayface calls you ‘Dickiebird’, dickface?”

— end of the season one —

[ehliena]

Tim: My stomach's been feeling off lately.

Dick: Maybe you're pregnant.

Bruce: Don't be ridiculous. Clark has never impregnated a male, there's no chance Conner could.

Tim: Clark didn't have TTK either, but look at Kon.

Dick: *chokes*

Bruce: ...HN.

[theerurishipper]

-

-

-

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I tried something new

Part 1 -> Part 2

Masterpost

[inkpotsprite]

Jason (buried underground): *panic, clawing, digging, catatonia*

Dick: *sings the beatles*

[farshootergotme]

I believe Dick views acrobatics the way artists view nude art.

Outsiders will be talking about how 'sexy' or 'hot' it is. Many sexualize it because they have all the inappropriate thoughts about his flexibility and body. The muscles, the curves... Some will think he does it on purpose. Such a tight costume? Of course he does it on purpose, right?

But it's nothing like that to Dick. He enjoys it like an artist does painting. He sees beauty in the art of acrobatics and performs with every movement. It's what his parents taught him, what's been part of him practically his whole life. You don't think of exotic something you see as natural. It's not erotic when it was never presented to you with that purpose. You don't think of double meanings when it only means one thing to you.

[racingwest]

i think it's pretty clear who's who

[demonicsuffrage]

Robins at therapy, ft. Dr Harley Quinn(pt 1)

Jason: So yeah, That's why my most favourite place to visit in Gotham is gargoyle number 256-

Harley: Let's talk about batman now.

Jason: no.

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

Tim: It just scares me! Why am I gonna be Gun Batman?

Harley: You're gonna be what?

Tim: Is it because I don't have a spleen?! DOES NOT HAVING A SPLEEN MAKE ME AMORAL?

Harley: Hold on! Lemme just refer you to my therapist!

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

Dick: I guess the way Batman just brought the joker back was one of the reasons I lost faith in him

Harley: That won't do! Get in the car, we'll end him again so ya feel better !

Dick: Yay!

[gothamite-rambler]

Nightwing (prodding his father's arm with his shoe): Batman? Batman? Hey, Batman?!

Batman (lying on the dirt ground in pain): What?!

Nightwing: You're clearly too… um, sore to drive. I'm going to take you home.

Batman (weakly raising his arm): You… can't drive the Batmobile! You're not equipped.

Nightwing: I’ve driven it before, you had me drive it when I was fourteen. Then I would take it for a joyride around Gotham when I was a teenager.

Batman: You what—? Oh, I felt a pop in my spine.

Nightwing (shrugging with a smile): I did a lot of things as a pre-teen and then when I got my license I really enjoyed taking the car for a spin. Did you know about the time I tried heroin? Never did that again. Still not sure how Roy got addicted, I had to go to the hospital. The doctor was nice that night. Oh, and then there was the time I snuck Kori into the pool house? Well when we first started dating and then again when we got back together. Fun times. Oh and then there was the time I used the Batmobile to take Jason out for ice cream. He was just a little kid back then!

Batman: He was fourteen! Why are you telling me all of this?

Nightwing helped prop up his father on his back and began to walk him to the Batmobile.

Nightwing: Because you’re too sore to stand up and scold me. Besides, I was a teenager; I did teenager stuff.

Batman: Trying heroin isn't "teen stuff"!

Nightwing: Alfred told me you smoked weed while traveling to Germany at seventeen.

Batman sighed, clearly annoyed.

Batman: The keys are in one of my pockets. If you can just get me into the passenger seat, I’ll pull them out myself.

Nightwing: Awesome! Ice cream is on me.

Batman (begrudgingly): I want rocky road.

Nightwing: I knew you'd say that.

[tragedyliker]

Batfam in the new batman ninja trailer

[nightmare-foundation]

Nightwing is not the favorite child, he's the favorite soldier. Dick Grayson is the golden child turned scapegoat. Everyone needs Nightwing but no one needs Dick. In this essay I will-

[damian-al-ghul-wayne]

She's sweet. I agree.

Richard has not answered my messages, so I would like to add in my 2 cents and say,,

Count your days, Richard Grayson.

⭐️🔥

Ahlan. It has been awhile since I have posted any of my artwork. I decided to ask my siblings on what I should draw, and of course, one of them had told me to draw Starfire. I assumed it was mainly out of his... own liking... but, I agreed only because I wanted to do my facial study.

Here's the sketch. /ᐠ - ˕ -マ Ⳋ

[k0nanharv3y]

Am I giving Tim too much power and making him almost untouchable with many plot holes, and in fact, nothing you read will make sense? Yes, I am doing that, is there a problem?

Robin Hood AU Part 1

Tim Drake Saved Gotham from Batman. Yeah, but lets say that he didn't do it becoming Robin

He Saved Gotham by becoming the focus of attention and method of anger release for Batman

///

And then there was a new rogue in Gotham. Batman didn't know who they were, what did they wanted, and why they seemed to be targeting only him. Inside and outside the mask, as Bruce Wayne and as the Dark Knight

He didn't have time for this, when he had them, when he found out who they were, he would destroy them, if necessary he would burn the world down, because his world burned with his son in that warehouse. Whoever the guy behind the attacks was, he would know the full wrath of the Dark Knight

But Tim was already hiding well from Batman right under his nose, Tim grew up following, watching and absorbing everything from the adults around him. But most of all he learned not to make mistakes. Tim would use the mistakes of the Joker, of Riddle, of each and every one of Gotham's rogues and learn not to leave clues, not to get caught, to hide right next to Batman, because it's a popular lie, Batman doesn't have eyes in the back of his head. The extra eyes he had died in Ethiopia

Tim had resources, time and only 12 years old, he was still moldable, he could fill any mold to perfection, so he forced himself to fit the mold of the rogue that Gotham would love. Because Tim wouldn't go for the city, he loved Gotham too much to destroy it trying to save a man who seemed to be digging his own grave, one in which he was dragging the city with him. Tim strategically targeted Bruce Wayne and Batman so that the man would get a slap in the face for his behavior. And if a building exploded, Tim would make sure that the people who worked or lived there would have good insurance and new jobs and compensation from Wayne Enterprises.

And Batman turned against the rogue who forced him to bury his own pain with his son and went to fight this guy who seemed to be virtually and physically everywhere. Batman knew the guy knew his identity, because the attacks were personal, lethal in any case, he was playing with him, mocking him. Until he seemed to stop

One day a letter on his door telling Batman how sorry he was and that "I had done what had to be done" and "I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Wayne, but you were destroying the city with you" was all he got before the depressing silence of a quiet city -No, not a city, of Quiet Gotham-

The world kept turning and both lives continued

One next to the other

///

Steph became Robin long before because Batman was trying to open his heart to another child, Cassandra arrived just as she was supposed to, Steph never died because Batman was there and Dick made peace with the brother he could never love and loved his sisters and when Jason came back to life there was no vengeance in his blood because Batman never replaced him 10 minutes after Jason died. Yes, he was angry at the Joker and Batman's inability to kill him, but someone else did and Jason will embrace whoever did it. And when Damian got home everything was fine and he didn't steal the mantle from anyone because Steph was eager to give it to someone else and get Batman off her ass.

And Tim's life was lonely. His parents never stopped being absent, and the plane crash still happened because that wasn't because he was Robin, but because he was simply a living being. (Yes, I'm changing things up here) Janet was left in a coma and Jack died and in the end he was just a kid in a mansion that was too big, but so afraid of depending on someone (the last time he saw someone depending on someone else he had to blow up several buildings and cyberbully them to calm them down) who took the reins of Drake Industries and invented an uncle just to not be put in the system and still be off the bats' radar

And then Batman died

///

Hey you!, Yeah you!, Imagine that in the middle of the Bats' life, every time someone (a rogue) attacked Gotham, Tim would appear out of nowhere and digitally betray them to the Bats, and if Oracle isn't mentioned here, it's because you and I know that she would dismantle Tim from day one, so shut up, she's busy with her Birds of Prey or something, I DON'T KNOW, I'VE BEEN AWAKE FOR 26 HOURS

Part 2 of this bullshit

Part 3 cuz somehow I manage to make another one of these

Part 4

Part 5??????? Why????

Part 6 ma british accent write this

Part 7.5 We've gotten fanciers

Part 8 It took more than a while

[littlefankingdom]

"Nightwing joins the Justice League and they are weirded out by how close he is to Batman (Batfam reveals)" but it's early years Nightwing, which means he is in his rebellious era. He doesn't want to work with Batman, he wants to be independent, he doesn't want to be in the man's shadow. So, he isn't nice to Batman, he is trying to keep as much distance between them as possible. The Justice League is shocked because he insults Batman and screams at him in his face, calling him names, and the dark knight doesn't react like he would if someone else was talking like this to him. Weirder, Batman keeps dotting on Nightwing. He tries to make him wear warmer clothes during winter or mission calling for it. He tries to make him eat more, even giving him snacks (that Nightwing will or will not refuse). He is very protective of him and always checks if he is fine first after every mission, forcing him to get a full scan.

The Justice League cannot deny it any longer: Batman is a mother hen.

[mysterycitrus]

my other thought for today is that i know there's this predisposed fixation on all the bats being Freaks™ but in my mind there are only three that are certifiably freaky on the inhuman scale

cass is the obvious, borderline inhuman combatant freak. the body is a language that she and only one other person truly speaks. she can win against any human on earth, and sees herself in every killer. she makes me crazy. imagine being the world's greatest killing machine and literally taking a life for the first time and reading that pain in the body. that's crazy. 10/10

babs is the actual mega-genius freak in gotham. there's no competition. she's out-hacked brainiac. her online persona has an almost physical presence. she got a law degree in her spare time. her ability to process information is almost unparralled, even among superhumans, and her vast swath of allies just makes her more dangerous. toxic girlboss freak behaviours

dick grayson is a trigonometry and spacial awareness freak. this is probably the more controversial take but i do think that based on his feats and abilities his ability to calculate how to land and where to fall isn't comparable to anyone else. he was an acrobatic prodigy by the time he was four. he jumps off buildings and out of planes with no gear for a good time. he can fold himself up like a pretzel and crawl into the batcave through a hole in the ground. freak!

bruce is an honorary fourth freak but just because he's Like That

[erinwantstowrite]

the discowing suit was not THAT bad and i will die on this hill

people who hate on discowing just can't see the vision 💔😔

also i fully believe it's because artists could not figure out how big to make the popped collar and that RUINED the design. it's fine when it's short but it got fucking ridículous in some issues

like look at this. if you edit the popped collar to be chill again then it's not half bad and i think it really fits the fun of the 80's

[thesulkycroissant]

Something in World's Finest that I think needs to be taken into account in understanding Dick's relationship with Bruce, and Clark, and arguably the whole caped community, is that they don't perceive him as a child. I don't know exactly how old he's meant to be in World's Finest, but there is a clear delineation even between the way they treat the other Titans and the way they treat Dick. It means Dick gets treated as an equal (important and valuable to their dynamic working), but also that, inevitably, he gets less grace (even though he is a child).