#in reality Jason pretty much raised Damian

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Jason is terrified of Damian al Ghul-Wayne.

Talia dipped him in the Pit, fed him lies, put him through the worst kinds of pain possible for the sake of training and turned him into a monster that went to heel when called. A monster even Ra’s was wary of.

He’s terrified of Damian, because if his mother managed to manipulate and play him like a fiddle, then she must have taught the same to her son.

Damian, who only has memories of a catatonic Jason cooing at him, cuddling him and protecting him, is becoming progressively more distressed by Jason’s perpetual cold shoulder and skittish behavior whenever Jason sees him.

[gothamhappiness]

You are my heaven 3 (Bruce Wayne x f!reader)

It was supposed to be a little imagine of a dark and lonely Bruce Wayne switching place with another Bruce Wayne from a parallal universe, but I wrote more than I thought. And then you asked for more :)

My masterlist is here.

Part 1 // Part 2

Warnings: no proof reading, stressed out neglect!Bruce, mentions of dead characters, jealousy and all kind of bad feelings, language

This was Hell. It had to be a nightmare, right? It couldn’t be the reality. It couldn’t be the truth. Someone was toying with him, torturing him even. It had to be an illusion of some sort. Or maybe he was stuck in the darkest part of this mind, full of his worst fears.

No child, no wife, no Alfred, no Justice League, no good day, no good night. 

Gotham wasn’t usually funny, but this was pure punishment.

At first, Bruce thought that the worst part was how awful the business was with Wayne Enterprises; there was so much work to take care of, all the time, and no one he felt like he could trust. 

Then he realised how empty his manor was. It was dark and quiet. It was making him want to throw up because of how tight it was making his chest and stomach. He couldn’t stand this utter silence. He couldn’t stand to not be able to play the annoyed mentor with his children and the good husband to you.

Not even having Alfred was a punishment, a torture, a cruel life. How was he supposed to care about everything without Alfred? How was he supposed to stay sane without the man who raised him? How was he supposed to survive without him? 

He so deeply missed the children. He tried to find them, but they were in prison, dead or gone from Gotham: Dick was a police officer who died during a mission, Jason was in prison, Tim died in his parents' accident, Stephanie had left Gotham forever, Cassandra killed herself to not be a killer anymore, Duke died as he looked for the Joker, Damian didn’t exist.

And Barbara looked so happy, Bruce didn’t even dare going to talk to her. And when he passed by her, hoping she would talk to him, she just seemed surprised to see Bruce Wayne in her local library. All the people he knew didn’t know him anymore or weren’t there to know him or to care about him.

In some desperate attempt, he looked for Talia, but the league of assassins simply kicked his ass for having tried and reached for her. They weren’t interested in him, merely wondering how he knew about them. He almost got killed that night, but he found a way out, like he always did.

Except he didn’t seem to be able to find a way out from this Hell.

The worst part was definitely your absence. He was so used to going to bed with a pretty little wife by his side. He was so used to kissing her goodnight. He was so used to her cute little whines for five minutes more of cuddles in the morning. He was so used to having his arm around her waist wherever they went. And he missed that so much. He wanted you so badly. He needed you so badly.

Fuck, he promised himself to not ditch any more dates with you once he would be back to what reality was supposed to be. He would take such good care of you. He would make you forget about the divorce papers and not just by saying to Alfred “She had a good life here and she loves the children, so she’ll stay”. No, he would make sure you actually wanted to stay. With him. With your husband.

He needed to find you in this world. Maybe you could help him, at least to not completely go insane.

He quickly found you, and for a brief instant, he was so relieved that you seemed to know him. You clearly weren’t his wife since you didn’t even live in the manor, but thank god he hoped you were his girlfriend. But your coldness hurt him more than he would ever admit it.

“What do you want, Bruce?” you groaned when you saw him at your door

“Just wanted to check on you” the man tried to smile

“Look, I’ve already told you that I’m not interested. You creep me out, man. And it’s not because the cops won’t do anything if I call them, that you can keep going here. So please, stay away from me and stop sending me gifts that I need to send you back. We’re not a thing, and we’ll never be” you told him before closing your door.

Bruce knew he was going to lose it.

He started to try and recall what happened the night before everything changed so drastically in his life. He slowly remembered this mission with the mad scientist. He remembered the light he saw right after he was going to sleep by your side. He was feeling so weak and strange then. Something happened then.

He needed to find the man. When he did, the scientist was actually a teacher in the University of Gotham, who was talking about the possibilities of parallel universes. It was how Bruce finally understood what happened. It wasn’t his reality. It wasn't an illusion. It was another world.

For a very brief instant, he felt very bad for the version of himself who had to deal with this world and this constant loneliness. But he couldn’t care. He wanted to get back home, surrounded by his people and their attention. He was relieved in a way because now he knew how to escape from this place.

He worked hard for several months. He showed a very dark version of himself, as he was forcing the scientist to find a way to send him back. He was slowly losing himself. He needed to come back home soon, or he would start to actually kill; why would he care about crossing the lines in a world that wasn’t his? In a city that didn’t like him anyway? In a life where no one loved him?

The media were commenting on how ruthless Batman was lately. Bruce couldn’t help it. He was feeling so bad. And there was this nasty little voice inside his head telling him over and over again that “Maybe no one realised you were gone. Maybe no one wants you back. Maybe that’s why you’re still there months after. Another man is fucking your wife, another man is talking to your children and to Alfred, another man is leading WE and the Justice League. And they all don’t care. Worst, they like him better”

The scientist wasn’t obsessed with the idea of getting rid of Batman so he thought about things quite differently. He found a way to send Bruce back to his world but he didn’t switch places. So when Bruce arrived where he was supposed to be, he was quite shocked to see another him.

What was worse was that you were by his side, laughing at something the man murmured to you. His arm was wrapped around your waist. It was then that your husband noticed how round your belly was. You were pregnant. You were heavily pregnant. There was no way it was actually his child. It had to be his. Didn’t you notice it wasn’t your husband who was making love to you? Or did you want it? Him?

The sole idea was driving him crazy with pain and raw jealousy. The jealousy that the Bruce of the other world felt when he first arrived in this world, the “real” Bruce” felt it too. His life has been stolen away from him, and he needed to get it back. 

It drove him even crazier when he saw how his children acted around the stranger. How could they all seem so happy around him? He hoped that no one understood what happened. He hoped that you all thought it was him.

He didn’t know what to do though. He couldn’t come back to the manor, he couldn’t show his face, so he hid in the dark for a little while. He kept stalking all of you, getting sick in the stomach each time he saw his children or you or the Justice League with his other self. Everyone seemed to do so much better.

Or maybe it was just his paranoia and the mean voices inside his head that wanted to make him believe that you all loved this other Bruce better than him. He couldn’t stop thinking about the child you were carrying. He had wanted that too, but you never seemed ready.

And now…

Now he needed to find you.

--

Part 4

--

Taglist for all my work <3

@blublock404

@wind-canoe

Taglist for this series <3 (you’re my heaven)

@bat1212

@karakento

@kneelforloki

Thanks for the ideas <3

@motherofdragons1998

@silverklaus

@optimisticmoonunknown

@kazuko-stuff

[jinjeriffic]

DCxDP Prophecy Universe Part 5

Part 4

After collecting their bags from the library lockers Jazz led him down the hallway until she found a small, unlocked, empty classroom. The room was barren except for desks and a whiteboard. I guess they don’t bother locking it if there’s nothing worth stealing.

Jazz sat her messenger bag down on the teacher’s desk and pulled a whiteboard marker out of a side pocket.

“Right,” Jazz began, “I don’t know how much you know about ecto-entities and since, as you said, the reports on them tend to be pretty biased, I’m just going to start from scratch. Sounds good?” she rambled.

Tim hopped up onto the front row desk and tried his best to look like an attentive teacher’s pet.

“Yes, Ms Fenton,” he said cheekily.

Jazz gave him an amused look.

“Careful Mr Taylor, or you’ll end up in detention,” she said lightly. She turned to the whiteboard and gathered her thoughts for a moment, then wrote ECTO-ENTITIES in large block letters, “Many people refer to all ecto-entities as ghosts, but this is actually a misnomer. Ghosts as most people think of them, i.e. the restless spirits of the dead, are only a small subset of the ectoplasmic population. There’s plenty of them that were never human to begin with,” higher up on the board, she wrote INFINITE REALMS, “Ecto-entities originate from a parallel dimension to ours, which is called the Infinite Realms by its inhabitants. Though my parents refer to it as the Ghost Zone, that name is woefully inadequate.” Jazz paused and glanced at him.

“Kinda like foreigners renaming places instead of using the one in the native language, gotcha,” Tim nodded. They had dealt with alternate realities before, so this wasn’t completely out of left field. He would go along with it for now. Jazz gave him a small smile.

“That’s right!” she said and tapped the whiteboard, “Now, the Infinite Realms and our dimension are closely interconnected, like two sides of the same coin. Large scale damage to one would cause similar devastation on the opposite side and vice versa,” she gave him a serious look.

“Which makes the hostile attitude of the paranormal research community rather worrying,” Tim mused, “If someone did something stupid the blowback would hit us too,” If he wasn’t trained to read people he would have missed the slight tightening around Jazz’s eyes.

“That’s the theory anyway. And it’s not like the US government ever dropped bombs on people just to see what would happen,” she chirped with false cheeriness.

There’s a story there, Tim thought, and not the kind you would find in a history book. What the hell has been going on?

“I’m guessing getting access to the Infinite Realms isn’t as easy as calling an Uber though,” he joked.

“You’d be surprised,” Jazz said wryly, receiving a raised eyebrow in response, “there are places where the barrier between worlds is naturally thin, allowing temporary rifts to form more easily, but they can pop up pretty much anywhere in the world. It’s what allows ecto-entities to enter our dimension. It’s also not unheard of for humans to stumble into the Realms either, though they’re lucky to return at all,” she twirled the marker between her fingers, “Time doesn’t seem to work the same way in the Realms as it does here. Just in case you ever come across one, make sure to leave through the same portal you entered. Otherwise you might find yourself stranded in the Middle Ages, or far in the future with everyone you know and love long dead.”

Tim had to fight to keep down a wince. The whole Bruce Lost In Time Debacle was still an emotional scar for the family, they really didn’t need a repeat performance.

“Duly noted.”

“Some entities are able to open and close rifts at will,” Jazz continued, unfazed by Tim’s dry tone, ”though that ability seems to be pretty rare. It probably requires an unusual level of power or incursions would be much more common.”

“That would explain the little disappearing trick Damian’s delivery guy pulled,” Jason murmured through Tim’s earpiece, “But does that mean we’re dealing with a fucking super ghost?”

Tim gave a thoughtful hum and drummed his fingers against the edge of the desk.

“Do you think humans could open a portal to the Realms?”

Jazz gave him a wry smile.

“You just summed up the bulk of my parents’ research over the last two decades. They managed to build a functioning portal about two years ago.”

Tim choked. Jason swore.

“What?! But that’s-! How is that not all over the news?!” Tim sputtered. Jazz just sighed.

“My parents have been ranting about ghosts since they were in college,” she said wearily, ”Most of the scientific community had written them off as crackpots years ago. It doesn’t help that large concentrations of ectoplasm generate some kind of interference that messes with recording equipment. Short of kidnapping the naysayers and shoving them bodily through the Fenton Ghost Portal it’s hard to prove anything. And thankfully even my parents aren’t that crazy,” she finished with an eye roll.

Tim buried his face in his hands. An interdimensional portal. What the fuck. He thought back on everything Jazz had told him so far.

“What’s ectoplasm?”

“You’ve been paying attention!” she smiled and added some notes to the whiteboard, “Ectoplasm is the basic building block of everything in the Infinite Realms, and by extension ecto-entities. Hence the name. It’s the equivalent of matter in our dimension; atoms, protons, quarks, etcetera. I’m not a physicist, so I can’t tell you exactly how it works, but that’s why ecto-entities are able to interact with our physical world in such fascinating ways. Flight, intangibility and invisibility are all common abilities for them.”

“Wow, what a fucking security nightmare. B is gonna freak,” Jason groused. Tim tuned him out to focus on Jazz’s continued explanation.

“My parents have been experimenting with using ectoplasm for power generation, but it’s proven extremely volatile. It seems like it’s affected by things like belief and emotion which is absolutely fascinating,” she said with a gleam in her eye, “not to mention its effects on organic tissue. Have you ever had your dinner come to life and try to eat you?”

Tim had a sudden, horrible suspicion.

“Can’t say that I have,” he managed to squeeze out past the lump in his throat, “Um… Jazz, what does ectoplasm look like?”

“Well that depends on what it’s been affected and shaped by but in its raw form it looks like a bright green, glowing liquid,” she tilted her head, “Why do you ask?”

Over the comms, Jason made a sound like someone had kicked him in the crotch.

“Lazarus water?! Is she talking about the fucking pits?!” he choked out.

Tim made a valiant effort to keep his own reaction in check.

“Oh, just wondering how I’ll recognize a ghost- er, ecto-entity when I see one,” he lied with fake casualness, “You mentioned something about powers?”

“Yes! All the entities we’ve encountered so far have exhibited powers which are common to their species, as well as additional powers that seem to depend on the individual core. I’ve theorized that powers develop as a response to stress related to either their Obsession or death trauma…” Jazz trailed off, “aaaaaand I’ve lost you.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, I know I have a tendency to ramble,” she said sheepishly and considered the bullet points she had written so far, “Let me backtrack a bit. Not all ecto-entities are ghosts. There’s personifications of concepts, which I theorize are formed through the collective consciousness of living beings. They are entities which represent Hope or Justice or-”

“Time?” Tim interjected. Jazz gave him a calculating look.

“...sure. They are among the most powerful entities and have powers related to what they represent. I suspect they may have even been worshipped as gods at some point. You definitely wouldn’t want to mess with them,” at Tim’s nod, she continued, “There’s also the Neverborn, which are formed when ecto-entities choose to reproduce. They are entirely of the Infinite Realms, and thus were never ‘born’ into our world.”

“Ghosts can have children?” he said, surprised.

“Yes, although I’ve never been able to get the details on how it works. They don’t like to discuss it with outsiders. And considering they can look like dragons or disembodied floating eyeballs I’m not sure I’d want to know the exact mechanics,” she joked.

“I’m sure there’s plenty of people who’d disagree with you on that,” Tim muttered, then paused. “Wait, dragons?”

Jazz waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. The point is that there’s way more to the other side than most people realize. There’s probably lots of things I’ve never even heard of. It’s quite exciting, really!”

Tim worried about it. A lot. Jason had also gone suspiciously quiet.

“So, ghosts are just the tip of the iceberg?” Tim hedged.

“Exactly. What sets them apart from other ecto-entities is that they are usually created upon the death of someone or something from our dimension, which gives them motivation to come back here,” Jazz added more notes and arrows to the whiteboard. “All entities have something they call a core; think of it as their central organ or brain. It houses their consciousness, and its nature affects what powers they get. There’s all kinds of elemental cores like fire and water, but also more esoteric ones like shadow or technology. An ecto-entity’s body is composed of ectoplasm and moulded by their core. Their physical form is malleable and heavily based on their self-perception. With experience they can change shape to suit their needs.”

Tim mentally added shapeshifting to the growing list of powers to worry about. So far it sounded a lot like a Martian’s.

“So can ecto-entities grow and age?”

“It depends. The Neverborn usually do, but a lot of ghosts have a bit of a Peter Pan thing going on where they don’t want to. They are often ‘stuck’ at the age they were when they died, physically and mentally. Though there’s always exceptions.”

Tim hummed thoughtfully. Something had been bothering him since ghosts had first entered the equation.

“Jazz, if ghosts don’t age or die, why aren’t they all over the place? Even if rifts are rare, shouldn’t there be hundreds of thousands of years worth of dead folks wandering the Earth?”

She gave him a sad smile.

“I never said ghosts couldn’t die, Adam,” she said carefully, ”And not everyone who dies comes back as a ghost. The ones who do typically have some unfinished business holding them back. Like an obsession they never got to fulfill, or a loved one they are watching over. Once they are done, they are free to move on to whatever Afterlife awaits them,” she sighed and crossed her arms, “It also takes a lot of energy for a ghost to do anything in our world. I think a majority of them never hit that level, or can’t keep it up for any significant amount of time. It’s also part of the reason my parents are so biased against them.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“Think about it. Most ecto-entities are just like regular people, going about their business and keeping their heads down. The ones who are both motivated to cross into our world, powerful enough to manifest and tend to make themselves known are the troublemakers. It would be like an alien looking at the population of Belle Reve and concluding that the majority of humans must be super villains! It’s sample bias.”

Tim bit his lip. This all sounded worryingly plausible, which would mean a literal world of trouble about to come down on their heads. Fuck, just what we needed.

“You mentioned that ghosts can die. I assume you don’t mean from old age, right?” he queried. Jazz looked at him wearily.

“You’d be right. If an ecto-entity’s core is too badly damaged, they will cease to exist,” she said cautiously, “It doesn’t help that ghosts tend to maintain a strength based social hierarchy and are fiercely protective of their territory. Ecto-entities usually have a lair within the Infinite Realms, and those who cross over to our dimension often establish a haunt to call their own. Any intruders would be met with violence,” she sighed and rubbed her forehead, “My parents have also been developing weapons to fight ghosts with… varying degrees of success. A lot of their tech runs on ectoplasm which makes it pretty temperamental.”

Seeing Jazz’s obvious discomfort with the topic, Tim decided to switch tracks.

“Is there any way to tell for sure if my brother came back as a ghost?”

Relieved at the change, Jazz made a see-sawing motion with her hand.

“Kind of? My parents tried for ages to build a ghost detector but they never got it to work quite right. Too much ambient ectoplasm in Amity I guess,” she shrugged as if that statement wasn’t extremely worrying. “You could always grab a ouija board or something and try asking. Just… don’t ask a ghost about their death. It’s a major trauma for most of them and there’s no better way to send them into a frothing rage. If they volunteer the information that’s one thing, but to ask about it is like the social faux pas among ecto-entities.”

Tim nodded and made a mental note to get his hands on some Fenton tech. He had a feeling it was going to be a long week for him.

Jason and Tim didn’t speak until they were safely back in the car. Tim was mentally composing the report they would have to make to Bruce. He was not looking forward to his reaction.

“So,” Jason began with fake casualness, “an interdimensional portal in Illinois.”

“Yep.”

“Creatures made of fucking Lazarus Water.”

“Sounds like it.”

“And we still don’t know if our mystery meta is Bruce’s dead kid or not.”

Tim groaned.

“It all adds up though, doesn’t it? The camera glitching, the powers, the portal…”

“And that damned prophecy. The personification of Time, huh?”

Tim pinched his nose to stave off the growing headache. They contemplated the fucked up situation they had stumbled into in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Jason sighed and started up the engine.

“Rock-paper-scissors for who has to tell B?”

Part 6

[bonchobrick]

Duke and Danny bestie fic im co-authoring with some cool people for Patrol Partners! :D

A fic where Duke knows a lot about Gotham’s new problem, ghosts. The Waynes think the worst and assume he’s had some terrible experience with ghosts in the past (in reality is just very happy to talk about his best friends culture and doesnt realize how odd it is that he knows all this stuff)

Or

Duke is pretty much just vibing, the bats are having a meltdown, and Danny is having a blast!

—-

Then Duke pops the question

“So, what are you guys researching?” He asks raising a brow to the papers littered all over the room

Collectively the entire room groans as Duke absentmindedly picks up a paper on the table with the failed, static over-run image.

“We don't know!” Steph bemoans frustrated

Tim starts, “There are new entities–”

“Creatures.” Bruce corrects

Tim casts a piercing glance at his father, “I am pretty sure those are entities. Eye witness reports state that they look fairly human-like–”

Bruce challenges him right back, “Eye witness reports were also very likely to be unfactual, they seemed partially intoxicated. It’s more likely they are some kind of mutated animal.”

His son’s teeth grit, “Even so we still can’t rule out–”

“Oh right, the ghosts are back in town,” Duke's comments, gaze absorbed in the static image

Silence drowns the room as their weary eyes blink at Duke, processing what he had just said.

Then it clicks

“R-repeat that?” Tim stares intensely at Duke

“Um, the ghosts are back? That's what these are.” Duke nervously replies confused, “It’s been a bit since they visited Gotham

Tim opens and closes his mouth, immensely struggling to find any words to say. It seems like the rest of his family is fairing no better, some of them letting out noises of surprise and shock with others trying to hear if they heard that sentence right.

“There used to be ghosts in Gotham?” Bruce says incredulously

“Yeah?” Duke tilts his head, “I mean they don’t like living here with the corrupt ectoplasm but I’m friends with a few ghosts?”

Jason springs on him with wide eyes, “What are ghosts like, personality-wise?”

Duke thinks and responds with the first thought that comes to mind, “Fickle, they can be super friendly or super destructive. They do whatever they’re in the mood to.”

“Are they aggressive?”

“Sure? Sometimes?” Duke blinks at them bewildered before a petty smile crosses his lips, “They can be, hmm, commanding.”

Dicks eyes turn cold and protective, “What–”

“Listen guys,” Duke backs away from the discussion going with his internal task list in mind, “I gotta go wrap up putting together all my documents for my topic on my science fair project so uh, see-ya!”

The second youngest bounces out of the cave and the rest of the family stare dumbstruck at him.

New entities (ghosts?) pop up in Gotham + Duke describes them as fickle and commanding =

Duke is being made to do things for Ghosts who can be kind and cruel which =

= Duke is being bullied by Ghosts?!

Not on their Bat-watch!

Damian is already sharpening his ‘not murder tools’, Tim has sprung into research on the bat computer and the rest of the family have already dipped into Gotham ready to search for these perps!

Paranoid Family #1 will help Duke’s ghost problem starting now!

( pssst heres the fic :)

[ao3-top-batfam-ships-bracket]

My problem with Bat/ Bat ships isn't that they exist, it's how many people like them.

Wait! Hear me out. I swear I have a reason.

I'm good at ignoring ships that squick me, so I do. I also want to make it very clear I am not I am not hating on individuums who ship Bat/ Bat.

But to me, how much people ship them is kind of indicative of how little we value adopted children in our society. People say they aren't "really related" so it's fine.

Because you just don't see that level of engagement with ships involving biologically related family.

And it's that attitude shining through more than the shipping itself I dislike.

"Fiction isn't reality" no, it isn't, write the darkest thing you want. Explore fucked up concepts. That doesn't make you a bad person. It's completely normal.

However oftentimes Fiction is often still a reflection of reality. From reading, we can learn about our society (or other societies, if we venture beyond our own culture.) It says something, whether the author meant for it to mean something or not.

We understand where you're coming from and agree that adopted children/siblings are real family and shouldn't be valued less. We also agree that fiction mirrors reality which mirrors fiction, although that process is much more complex than many people claim.

However, 1) not every family is your typical nuclear family. Everybody defines their family and their relationships with its members in their own way. Some people call all adults that are close to them uncles and aunts, regardless of any actual biological connection. Someone could have been raised by their biological parents, but don't claim them as parents because of personal reasons and even view other adults who filled the parental roles better as their actual parents. Someone could have a biological sibling that is much older than them, grow up without them in their life and due to that think of them as more of a cool friend than a sibling. (All examples are taken from our own personal experiences.)

It's especially apparent in cases of found family, which batfamily certainly is. Tim and Jason haven't met until Jason was 18 and Tim was 16. Both were adopted by the same man, but they didn't know each other. Does that automatically makes them brothers? Even though without the adoption papers they would be total strangers? If Jason's death invalidated the adoption papers does it mean he and Bruce stopped thinking of each other as parent and child? Bruce and Dick have an age difference between 10 to 20 years and viewed each other more as brothers, partners and mentor/mentee at first. Bruce and Tim for a long time also thought of each other as mentor/mentee, especially since Tim still had a living father. That was also the case of Dick and Damian. Tim had a crush on Cass in the comics at the beginning of their friendship. Jason and Dick were technically brothers before Jason's death, but they weren't close at all and only met a few times. Barbara is a mother/sister figure to Cass even when she was dating Cass' adopted brother Dick. We don't think Jason and Cass even met once in post-crisis comics, despite technically being siblings. (Sorry we're only mentioning that one era, we aren't as knowledgeable about new52 and rebirth.)

The recent push to make the batfamily a nuclear family in our opinion does a huge disservice to the characters and their interesting and complicated relationships that can't fit neatly into boxes labeled "sibling" or "parent".

2) some people think of batfamily as a family AND still ship them at the same time. Yes, some claim they aren't "really related", but there's another side that absolutely views them as related and wants to explore what happens when two brothers or a father and son fall in love.

3) there's actually a pretty big engagement with ships involving biologically related family. Wincest (ship between biological brothers Sam and Dean from Supernatural) is the 15th most popular ship on AO3 of all time. We still remember how prominent the fandom discourse about shipping the Weasley twins from Harry Potter was. In almost every fandom, there're at least a few incest ships. Are they more popular than adopted sibling incest ships? We don't know, but if anyone wants to measure it in some way, we'd love to find out.

Edit: 4) as people have rightfully pointed out in the comments and reblogs, a lot of fics are AUs where one or both characters weren't even adopted and met in different circumstances. You can see that in a lot of fandoms, people will imagine close friends or even strangers as biological family and vice versa: write biological or adopted family as just friends or even strangers.

We're looking forward to hearing what other people think about this topic!

[tarta-de-limon]

not a request but can u do a post explaining the bat family?? (i’m new here and just know batman and robin lol) 😭

OH MY GOSH, it took me so long to reply to this, at this point you might as well know more than me LMAO.

To be honest Idk either💀 I started in the fandom because I saw a clip of the DC animated universe of Damian. And if I like the voice of a character I just love them already. Happened with HXH, with Killua, with Hunter and Luz, from the owl house, with Scaramouche, from Genshin impact.

Then I started reading all the comics Damian appeared, then I started reading Wayne Family adventures and I discovered Jason and Cass and Steph and—

Whatever I say here might be wrong because I'm not really into every member of the Bat-family, just in a couple of them. Literally just a couple of them.

So, there's Bruce Wayne, he lost his parents because they went to the movies and, for some reason, his parents decided to go home walking through a dark alley. Great choice. Anyways, he's Batman, everyone knows him and everyone knows Alfred, his butler

Then there's Dick Grayson! Circus boy, saw his parents die and became the first Robin! I really like the idea of him being angry asf, but I don't know if that's canon so, idk. Turns out he's involved with the Court of Owls and—yeah, i Don't really understand much either. I remember that the circus he grew up kind of, raised Talons, a group of highly trained assassins loyal to the Court of Owls (ty google). But then Bruce found him before the court did, so he became Robin. The court of Owls still wants him...at least that's the last thing I read in comics/don't trust me because I have horrible memory.

Something about a bunch of kids saying they're Robin, and a war against the court, Damian betraying the family, sike! He's still a good person, but he has a mask and has explosives, or something like that, and so Damian keeps living Dick accepted to work with the court and—

I don't remember how that ended. Actually I'm sorry I just spoiled you like, a whole comic, sorry not sorry.

Uh, let's keep going.

Then there's Jason! Pretty baby Jason! Second robin, used to be a stray kid, Bruce took him in when he tried to steak his wires, and he discovers that his mother isn't his real mother and the joker tricks him an—AND HE DIES, HE EXPLODES.

Then he revives, six months later, because...superboy? Superman? I can't remember anymore, hits...reality? And well, he comes back to life. To be honest, I don't remember how this goes. There's a version where he does and Talia brings him back. Then he goes all cray-cray and turns in the red hood.

But-then there's this thing with superboy prime, and I remember something about him getting hit by a truck...but I don't remember if that was canon or fanon or from a fanfic... Yeah, just, just know that in both cases he ends up in the Lazarus Pit and goes all crazy. Have you seen his suit in batman and Robin, when Damian is Robin for the first time?

THAT'S HIM, LMAO.

And to be honest? I did a drawing of him with braided hair like Ana from Frozen because;

REDHEAD, BABY!

AND there's Tim Drake. Jason's mad at him because he sees him as his replacement/at first. He kinda... blackmailed Bruce??? And to be honest, that's all I know. Yup, I'm not a big Tim Fan, nothing against him, of course!

Then there's Steph!... And I don't know anything about her either! Next! Nah, she's the daughter of...a villain, I think? Then she dies while being Robin...she didn't actually die, she was alive all along...then she's Batgirl, then she's spoiler... And that's it. Yeah, I love Steph but I haven't read anything about her. Same with... Cass, and Thomas. Yup. Bat-family's #1 fan right here y'all. Cass was raised to be weapon, and that's literally, literally all I know about her.

...

She's Chinese???? And, uh...She likes pancakes.

Thomas, I think he appeared in Robin war(the whole comic I just spoiled you) but that's all I know about him. that, and what appears In Wayne Family adventures lmao.

AND THEN, THEN THERE'S MY BABY BOY, PRECIOUS DAMIAN WAYNE. Raise to be a weapon, in the League of Assassins, son of the Bat and Talia Al Ghul, Grandson of the demon head!!!(tell me u have a favorite without telling me you have a favorite) he's the one I'm ALWAYS drawing.

In the DC animated universe he's send away after the League is attacked. I don't know if there's a new version in the comics, but he actually earned the right to meet his Father after beating his mother in a fight! I LOOOVE the fact that in the DCAU they kept the; I thought you'd be taller, father. FANGIRL MOMENT, BEHOLD.

He literally just wants to impress his father. That's the whole reason why he's grumpy and aggressive when they meet! Bruce treats him like a nuisance and he literally trained so hard to meet him! Damian hates being patronized, literally. This baby bat is Tim drake #1 hater at first. He beats his ass!

Thing is, well, things get complicated and Bruce is lost in time or something like that, so Dick is Batman and that's why Dick and Damian have such a strong bond!

And well, there's a lot of things to explain about this character...I really want to say everything about him but this is too long already lmao.

Well, that's all I think! I'm pretty sure this didn't help you at all, but hey, I had fun rambling! Thank you so much for asking and I'm so sorry this is all useless rambling lmao

Lots of love and have a great day or night! Yk what, have a great day, month and year! Have a great life! 🫵🫵🫵🫵

[kiragecko]

If you asked the batkids (generations Dick to Damian) who Bruce’s favorite child is, what would they answer?

Ugh, you asked about what they'd say, rather than what they believe. This is a much harder question!

(I'm including Babs and Duke anyways. I will figure Duke out through answering asks and you can't stop me!)

I'm not sure if ANY of these kids would have a set answer. It would vary so much based on who their audience was, and what period of their life the question was asked.

Dick - Why are you so cruel??? Unless you are a Titan, or maybe Babs, you aren't getting a truthful answer. He's going to answer whatever would be best for his siblings to overhear. And he's going to respect you less. Don't ask him this question. As for what he actually thinks - I ... I have no clue. Not him. He probably realizes it isn't Damian, and is angry about that. Other than that, I don't know! While Jason was dead (and before his death) he almost certainly thought Jason was. But now Cass and Tim are in the mix. A mystery.

Babs - She's been an outside observer for all these kids, so I'm guessing she'd think it was Jason. Bruce was gentle and openly affectionate in ways he wasn't with the others for both Dick and Jason, but with Jason, he did it without prompting. I think she'd be disgusted with the question and wouldn't answer, though.

Jason - Either Dick or, "He doesn't care about any of us, we're just cannon fodder." I suspect love may be boolean for him - either there or not, so 'favourite' might not be meaningful.

Tim - Okay, he could say anyone. Because he is NOT answering this question truthfully. No. That is not a form of vulnerability he could handle. You are getting managed. In reality, he thinks it's either Dick or Jason (depending on when this question is asked), but he is doing SO MUCH PROJECTING, you guys. He's basing it off what he saw before he joined the family, what he secretly feels about his siblings, and complex mental models of his dad that are only semi-connected to reality.

Steph - She'd say Cass, out of loyalty. And to make sure people don't forget Cass. Steph saw such a distorted version of Bruce - he was at his worst when interacting with her and Tim together, which is how he usually interacted with her. And she saw very little of Dick or Jason. My closest guess for her actual opinion is, "I HOPE it's not Tim. Surely he can do better than THAT, right?"

Cass - Cass MIGHT say herself? Especially if she was teasing a little. If she was trying to be serious, I think she would need to know context. Favourite to patrol with? Tim. Favourite to bring to galas? Cass or Dick. (He enjoys watching her, and appreciates how well Dick handles them.) Etc. I'm not sure she would understand the idea of a general favourite, since those aren't really a real thing? People are more complex than that.

Damian - early Damian of course says, "I am his ONLY child and am superior in every way." Later Damian would probably still say himself, in most situations. As for who he THINKS is the favourite? I'm not sure if he thinks of Dick as 'Bruce's Child'. Dick is an adult, and raised Damian. Sure, Dick calls himself Damian's brother, but he isn't competition. Jason isn't shown favouritism in any way Damian can recognize, Cass isn't around, and Steph and Babs don't claim to be family. So that leaves Tim, and later Duke. And I think he is CONSTANTLY keeping a running tally of who is currently doing better in the cut-throat 'Bruce's Favourite' and 'Dick's Favourite' competitions.

Duke - Duke missed most of the drama. All he has is the current relationships to go on. Ignoring everything but his own continuity, post-Flashpoint (because Damian did not go off on his own as a young teen. That's unacceptable), I suspect that he'd think he had it pretty good. Dick and Tim have so much responsibility, and always seem insecure about how well they're doing. Bruce fights with Jason and Damian a lot. And Cass is rarely there. Duke isn't sure which relationship is BRUCE'S favourite, but he knows that he definitely prefers his own relationship with Bruce over everyone else's.

[elvesandlanterns]

DC-Verse Theater part 3

“Alrighty next clip is a sibling universe of this universe so again most things are the same as yours with some slight differences.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed as he tried to spy on her phone with Jon in between them, “What kind of differences.”

“Well in this universe Jason and Bruce manage to talk some things out. A more glaring difference is that this Jason is a scientist.”

“Woah, really Jason?”

The man in question smacked the archers shoulder playfully, “Hey what that’s supposed to mean! I’m smart!”

“Yup Jason in this universe practically lives in space!”

The video started to play, “Oh also in this universe Konner doesn’t exist.”

“Wait what!” Tim was horrified, Konner nodded it made sense they couldn’t all exist every time… especially when they weren’t even born in the first place.

The scene opened on Jason and Tim in Jasons apartment kitchen. It was kinda creepy how the apartment looked exactly the same, until they kept walking. Leading them both into a room that looked like Roy’s workshop, me mechanical garbage thrown everywhere.

“I am wiped out guess I’ll turn in.”

Cass raised an eyebrow, usually they had to fight for Tim to sleep.

“Cool.”

Jason looked at the screen, huh looks like him and replacement had a good relationship here. He felt bitter about it, not that he deserved a good relationship with the replacement.

“Jay, I feel like I’ve spent my whole life pretending Bruce is a great guy and trying to be like him and the ugly truth has always been-“

Tim didn’t like were this was going, but at least him and Jason were close. Close enough for Tim to tell him things like this, real brothers.

“That he’s not that great a guy and you are exactly like him?”

“Am I evil?”

Bruce felt like his nerves were on fire, he knew he wasn’t a good man but Tim?

Damian scoffed, “As if you have the capacity to ever be Batman.”

“Actually Tim is the most like me.”

The room grew silent, as Tim hunched his shoulders. He never wanted to be Batman in the first place.

“Worse you’re smart. When you know nothing matters the universe is yours and I have never met a universe that was into it.

It was Hals turn to raise an eyebrow, “That kinda sounds like he drops into different dimensions a lot.”

Chimera smiled, “Oo! Got it in one! And people saw your the dumb one.”

The universe is basically an animal that grazes on the ordinary creates infinite idiots just to eat them not unlike your husband Brecard -“

“Bernard”

“Yeah hardly matters now sweetie.”

“I MARRIED Bernard !!!”

Konner could admit to being a little itty bit jealous.

“Jay I’m out of excuses to not be who I am … so who am I ? What do I do?”

“You’re asking Jason for advice?- ow”

“I’m asking Jason for advice? I guess we’re close …” it felt nice to know there was one world out there where his Robin liked him.

“My advice? Take off, leave Gotham before it eats you.”

“Jason!”

“What Dick! It’s not like any of you would even notice if he left and it’s obvious that this Tim isn’t happy to be there.”

“I can’t do that! The titans, Dick, my job and as much as I hate to admit it ABCs the Bachelor- “

Dick couldn’t help but feel vindicated, of course Tim wouldn’t leave. “I Knew it I knew you liked the Bachelor! We should have a movie night Tim-“

“Oh maybe Dick, I’m pretty busy.”

“Oh okay no worries Timmy.”

“I can make a clone of you.

Konner couldn’t breath.

A perfect instance of you with all of your memories an exact copy in every way. It will love and provide for the family, do your job and consume broadcast network reality tv on the same alleged ironic level you do. You could be gone a day, a week of the rest of your life with zero consequences. The moment you decide to come back I flip a switch and the clones job is done. It feels no pain, it regrets nothing, it has zero chance of going BladeRunner.”

“Konner-“

“I’m fine.” And he was he didn’t need Superman’s pity, he didn’t want it. He didn’t get to do that, he had made his choice.

“If nothing matters, why would you do that for me?”

Jason rede used to ever admit it but he actually did like replac- Tim. He liked Tim, but after everything Jason didn’t have any room left to stand on with the kid. And he had done it to himself.

“I dunno maybe you matter so little that I like you. Or maybe it makes you matter. Maybe I love you. Maybe something about the Pits. Don’t jump a gift shark in the mouth.”

Bruce took note of Pits being mentioned, at the very least maybe these videos could help him figure something’s out. They might even give him information on how to help Jason.

“I don’t know if I can do it.”

Divk smiled of course not, this was Tim. His little brother wouldn’t just leave. Not like that, he couldn’t lose a brother like that. Even if Tim was cloned he’d notice! He’s know Tim since he was eight!

“Then stay and luxuriate in a life that you can finally know you’ve chosen.

Damian scoffed, ‘chosen’ of course Drake was the only one to get a choice. Everyone else had been dragged into the Batfamily, but Drake? Drake just waltzed in like it was nothing.

My secret bonus is no matter what you choose you’re finally gonna chill the fuck out.”

Jason laughed, “Yeah Timborine fucking chill out with your identity crisis and pick a lane.”

“Okay I know what I wanna do.”

“Tim…?” Stephanie would like to believe that Tim wouldn’t but… after everything Tim had changed.

Tim folded into Konner.

Note: this is from Rick and Morty

[arabian-batboy]

Say, at some point I would like to do a 3 Misconceptions About Damian' episode, but haven't read as much of his stuff as I have say, Steph's, would you have any recommended for issues to address or relevant issues?

Thank you so much for considering asking me! I love your videos so much and I'm happy that you're finally doing a video on Damian, to be honest I don't interact with casual fans/normies that much because I know they will give me a headache, so I may not be that knowledgable about how they view Damian. From what I have seen, the majority of Damian's misconceptions come from his very first appearance and the DCAMU, people don't bother keeping up with his stories and thus they missed his character journey and assumes that he's still the same kid he was from "Batman and Son."

To name a few, Damian isn't some eugenicist who think he's superior to everyone because he has Bruce's blood nor does he go around announcing that he's "the blood son!" every 5 minutes (I'm pretty sure that phrase is a DCAMU-exclusive thing and he never actually said it in the comics), I can probably count all the times he said or hinted that he's more of Bruce's child than his adopted siblings because he's the biological son on one hand only and yes, most of them are from his early appearances, matter of fact, Damian has stopped putting Bruce on a pedestal after like 1 week of living with him really. This misconception probably comes from DC heavily promoting him as Batman's son (so if anything, THEY are the adoption-hating eugenicist here) but most of the time he just says he's Batman's son without putting emphasis on his blood or belittling his adopted siblings (You can make this another point or keep it as an additional note, but Damian DOES view his adopted siblings as his real siblings and has referred to Dick as his brother to his face before without any problems, he's just shy and needs time to do that to the rest)

The 2nd thing that comes to mind is that he's not a bloodthirsty serial killer, whenever someone explains Damian's backstory and mention that he was raised from birth in the League of Assassins to someone, they will get this misconception that he's some sociopath that loves to kill, when in reality Damian at best was only "indifferent" about killing before joining the Batfamily. He has been killing since birth, so obviously he would be desensitized to it by now (not all the time though, him killing Goliath's family is an example of the straw that broke the camel's back imo) but Damian has never ever showed any joy in killing people, to him it was basically doing chores and his duty as the grandson of Ra's al Ghul, but it was never something that he genuinely loved or believed would make the world a better place. (I talked about this more here: https://arabian-batboy.tumblr.com/post/163803151491/whats-the-difference-between-jason-killing-people)

The 3rd point would be Damian's great intellect that is always overlooked, due to the "being raised by assassins" backstory and how rude (in an endearing way of course) he can be to others, a lot of people assumes that Damian is just a killing-machine brat and sometime would even call him "feral" which I absolutely hate. Damian had one of the most sophisticated upbringing in the DC's universe, yes he was definitely abused there's no denying that, but he was also almost the "prince" of the LOS. He had the best tutors, the best clothes and the best food growing up. His knowledgeable and skills are way beyond his years in so many field from music, languages, medicine, machinery and business. Whatever you can think of, he was probably taught about it, yet people always downplay him into a demonic brat who wants to fight everyone (I spoke more about that here: https://arabian-batboy.tumblr.com/post/669044306245468160/scooby-doo-is-best-robin-some-of-yall-dance-and)

I hope all of that helps, I probably could have added more, but I just woke up and these 3 points are the first thing that came to my mind. Looking forward to the video!

[redjaybathood]

So you know how jason and bruce actually had a really good father relationship til jason died? Jason ressurection doesn't happen until after all the important stuff so by the time a 15 year old jason comes back duke was the latest adoptee. So this jason stumbles his way to the manor after waking and has to meet with how much bruce has changed

"Who are you?" The teenager on the front porch asks.

He's white, maybe Duke's age or younger, looks like he has money (good suit, and now Duke has to live with a reality where he knows things like what makes a suit good: this one - a quality fabric; classic cut, so it could have been made ten years ago and still doesn't look out of place; even seems, and tasteful furniture - though the belt is missing), but had a rough time very recently. He's dirty all over, especially his hands, and he smells like sweat and decay.

Maybe one of Damian's classmates? In trouble, seeking help? He told Duke they're pretty much all assholes, most of them racist assholes. Tracks with this demanding tone: "Who are you?", like there's no believable explanation for Duke's presence here.

"Here's there I live," he says, gesturing at his jogging clothes and athletic water battle. He was just coming in from a run when he noticed a stranger sitting, propping his back to the door. "Who are you?"

"No, you're fucking not."

The teen raises to his feet. He's a midget, barely higher than Damian, so he only comes up to Duke's chest. But he in the way and doesn't seem to get the hint when Duke's dangling the keys.

"I live here!" He says. And then, looking at the keys, his brows furrows and he repeats, quieter. "I live here."

"Pretty sure it's just me, my dad, his dad and my siblings," Duke says.

He isn't trying to be ab asshole, but the guy now looks sucker-punched. "Siblings," he sees him mouth.

"Uh," Duke says. "Are you okay? Do you need me to call anyone? Ambulance?"

"No," the kid runs a hand over his face, smudging some of the dirt even worse, but wiping that lost expression. "Sorry, man, my mistake."

He moves around Duke and jogs down the stairs faster when Duke can raise a hand to stop him. It doesn't feel right, letting the kid go like this. He seems to have some cognitive issues, maybe memory problems. But he doesn't seem quite like an asshole Duke thought he was.

"Hey, do you want to come in? Wash your face, get some water and food in you?"

The kid doesn't stop for a few steps. But then, as though he needed some extra time to process, he does stop.

"I can lend you some fresh clothes," Duke offers. "And if you need medical help..."

"I don't," the kid turns to him. Tries for a smile. "But thanks, a change of clothes and a glass of water sounds like heaven."

Something in his own words seems to amuse him, because his smile turns more genuine.

Duke doesn't quite get the joke, but it doesn't matter. Kid's in his own world, and it's a dangerous place to be, in Gotham. He's mentally making a list of ways he can track down who he is or what happened to him.

Duke invites him in. The kid stops in the middle of the foyer, turning his head this and that way.

"Could be overwhelming," Duke offers. Probs. Maybe the guy doesn't come from money after all, with how almost greedy he is to take it all in. "The first week I lived here, it was like..."

"Godsamn museum. And you're afraid to even sit on a chair..."

"Well, not quite to this level," Duke smirks. "Come on, let's get you into a shower first, and then I will find you some clothes."

The kid heads for where the stairs are, even before Duke points it out. He files it away. But then he stops mid-step.

"You sure your folks wouldn't mind?"

"I'm alone here for the afternoon," Duke shrugs.

The kid winces.

"You can't just tell me those things! You don't even know my name, you know, I could be an ax murderer."

"Having an ax is kinda a prerequisite for that one," Duke points out. "And I wasn't sure how comfortable you were with sharing names."

Besides, if this kid has something wrong with him, and he attacks Duke, he's pretty sure it would be easy to handle.

"Jay," the kid says after a pause.

"Duke. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

This time Jay waits for him to lead the way. Duke leaves him in a guest room on a second floor, finds some old Tim's clothes, places them on the bed, and goes to make something to eat.

It's not only for Jay's benefit. Duke is pretty hungry too, after the run. He microwaves a bowl of soup for the guest (not knowing when he last ate, it's a good idea to start with liquids) and makes some sandwiches for himself.

The food heats up and then gets cold. It's figured that Jay would be either someone who took 3 minutes in the shower (because naked+in a house of a stranger doesn't feel very relaxing), or 30 (because he really, really misses the hot water). In this case, it's the latter.

Of course, it might be that he's already out and snooping around for some nefarious purpose, but Duke just doesn't see it. Still, he does due diligence. He brings up the security footage from the front door's camera on his tablet, makes a screenshot, and sends it to a group chat.

"just showed up while I was out running; no idea how he got past the gates; anyone you know?"

He figures, maybe it's someone like Timmy, who lives nearby, has it rough at home, had to come over once or twice in the past. Waynes are the people who would allow a kid in trouble a safe place to stay, even if they're not home.

It takes maybe a second for the message to be read. But after that, nothing. Okay, Duke thinks, it was kinda a long shot. Maybe he has to check local missing teenagers, just in case.

Before he has a chance to do that, Jay comes down. He finds kitthe chen without issue, takes a seat at the breakfast counter, and sprawls there, face down with forehead on his locked hands.

"Soup?" Duke gives him the bowl.

The guy blinks at him, before straightening up.

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry, I'm just. A bit out of it, I guess. Soup sounds great right now. And, hey, thank you for - doing it all for me. I mean, who would just invite a random guy to their house in this neighborhood?"

Duke shrugs.

"Didn't grow up here."

"Moved recently? Where from?"

"Tracey Towers, initially.

"Ouch," Jay winces. "Narrows. Every Arkham breakout, you're the ones who hit first."

"There's a bit less of them nowadays. But yeah, that wasn't fun. Then I got moved, a bit here, there."

"I know how it is. Well - not personally, didn't want to take a chance on Child Services, but. You hear stories."

Duke chuckles, mentally noting that no, Jay's probably not local here in Bristol.

"Well, it wasn't all that bad. Then I landed here. You?"

Jay gulps down some soup, maybe that hungry maybe doesn't want to be too hasty with answer. Then he puts the spoon down.

"Oh, I'm Park Row," he says. "Originally."

"And now?"

"Uh," Jay says. "I guess I temporarily don't have a place of permanent residence. Kind of trashed my last place. To be fair, it was really tiny and smelled like mold."

"Fair enough," Duke nods. "Look. Forgive me for asking, and you're free to tell me to piss off, but you don't really look like you're old enough to stay on your own. And I know Gotham's Child Services have a reputation a mile wide..."

Jay rolls his eyes.

"One time I decided to trust the system because someone convinced me to, I ended up in a boarding school where they brainwashed kids to commit robberies."

"Wow," Duke says. "Must have been quite a story."

"Yeah," Jay says but doesn't elaborate. He points behind his back, vaguely in direction of the common room, struggling to change the topic. "That your family's portrait there?"

"Yeah," Duke smiles. "It's nuts, I went from an only kid to like seventh. Was a bit of an adjustment, but they're good people. Not nice," he rolls his eyes, "Especially if it's the morning, and you have to be in school in an hour, and they're going to take class photos today, for the album, and your little brother put purple dye in your shampoo. And tried to blame it on your sister's girlfriend. How about your folks?"

Jay rubs a place just above his brow.

"Uh," he says.

Duke places his hands up.

"You don't have to talk about them if you don't want to."

"No, it's, I mean, I would have asked you questions too. I am asking your questions. So. My folks, yeah? They - I was an only child, too. I guess I had an older brother but, he left home after he turned eighteen. We weren't really close or anything. The only thing we had in common is one parent. And he didn't exactly make it easy to exist near each other, if you know what I mean."

Duke can imagine, yes.

“And then I left too, I guess,” Jay says, looking down and the counter.

“No looking back?”

Jay shrugs.

“I guess you just can't ever go home,” he says.

He drinks a glass of water.

“Spot me a twenty?” he asks. “I mean, you already helped a lot, and I will be out of your hair anyway, but. Bus fare.”

“No problem, man,” Duke says.

And it isn’t. Until the doors are closed behind Jay, and Duke goes back to the kitchen, where the last of the sandwiches was lying, and his phone.

He had it on mute while he was talking to Jay. Didn’t want anything to unsettle the rapport they had going. There was something jumpy about him; like he thought the Manor had ghosts.

Duke unlocks his phone casually.

96 missed messages, 23 calls.

[lovecinnatwist]

How would you go about writing omega Jason with Alpha Dick?

Man oh man- Omega!Jason with Alpha!Dick is always such a bop.

It depends really! I see so many fics with insecure Jason thinking Dick is too good for him which is nice and definitely in character- but sometimes it makes me crave the other end of the spectrum?

Like a confident, sexy Jason who teases Dick with his scent and body until the alpha wants to implode? I also like the idea of Jason being raised by an Omeganist!Alfred and Omega!Talia to be badass, sassy and sensual. Bras? Suppressants? Painful heats?

Not for Jason Todd!

He embraces his Omega-ninity and it wreaks havoc on Dick's hormones. Dick being a more conservative alpha would definitely find himself overwhelmed but enamored!

Here's something playful with a clumsy Alpha!Dick and confident pack Omega!Jason!

Tiddies Out - JayDick

Tags: Omegaverse, AlphaDick, OmegaJason, Pining, Crack treated Seriously, Lactating, Heat Cycles, Omega Tim, Alpha Bruce, Pup Damian- Just Dick being an obvious pining idiot and Jason enjoying his reactions-

Jason doesn’t mind being an omega. How could he when it’s one of the superior options? While Alpha’s often lost themselves to aggression during rutting season and beta’s scrambled to placate them- Omega’s got to sit back and watch the show.

Being the object of an alpha’s fascination has many perks. First off? The gifts. Lavish offerings make their way to him with little to no effort. Weaponry from Talia, Expensive silks and poisons from Ras, The latest tech from Tim and Bruce. It's an endless parade really. One of the few things that make this more bearable to put up with.

He’s a heavy milker. Always has been.

Maybe it’s from growing up in an abusive household. Perhaps it's in response to being closer to the pack’s pups or hell, maybe his body is just gearing up for the imaginary children it wants to have. Regardless of the reason Jason’s tits are aching.

They seem extra tender tonight. The cold dingy air does little to ease the tension under his armor. He shifts and the way his pads squish under bullet proof chest plates is a pain. He curses and tries to ignore it. Something that’s getting harder as the cotton under his clothing reaches its limit. Tsk- 4 hours his ass. It’s barely been 2 and he’s about to make a mess of his gear.

As annoying as it is. He reluctantly reaches into his kit to get two fresh napkins to change. Other omega’s might be shy to do this in public but Jason has always been more practical about it. Breasts are breasts, no reason to get all crazy about it.

Though it probably didn’t hurt that Jason himself had a nice rack. He knows what the other heroes say about him behind his back. His figure has never been more appreciated than now in his prime. The dip in the pit did wonders at helping him bulk up. Thighs thick, emphasising his trim waist. In the throws of season his ample chest gives him an illusion of an hourglass figure. While some people would say omega’s should be small and dainty, he has yet to meet an alpha or beta who can resist him.

Not to be vain but he is nothing else if not attractive.

He’s got his top half way off when the sound of a near violent thud echoes out in the darkness. The hiss of pain gives away the alpha before his scent can. Jason doesn’t even turn in his direction. Instead he keeps his attention on the sopping pads under the compression shirt. He hisses as the gentle adhesive pulls from his throbbing mamories.

“ You alright over there goldie? “

He gets a groan for an answer. A nicer person would have maybe let the other man know about his current state of undress. Too bad that Jason isn’t exactly known for being ‘nice’. He carefully wraps up one cotton cloth. Once he’s clean and dry, he applies another. It’s quick and easy work. The slight chill does wonders against his flush skin.

The worn form of Nightwing crawls from the side of the building. There’s a pretty good bruise on his cheek Jason is 90% sure that the acrobat had a less than graceful landing. He’s always been weird about nudity. Even back when they mostly had the same parts. He rolls his eyes as the man pointedly tries not to look at him. He can’t help scoffing at the false modesty.

“ Hood. You shouldn’t do this out in the open like this. Anyone could see you. “

Everyone knows Jason is an omega, by extension that means Red Hood. It’s one of the reasons why his territory is so well protected. No one wants to cross an omega. While the fangs in their mouths were now more for scruffing kits, no one had forgotten the days when they were for hunting prey and tearing out throats.

He would flash his at Dick but he’s wearing his helmet and would probably just looks stupid. He manages to get the other pad off. It’s absolutely drenched. His left teet is definitely working harder than the right. The sheer weight of the cotton makes a loud squelch as it hits the little plastic bag at his feet.

He snorts. “ And you know what they’d say N? Best tits in Gotham. “

The alpha’s face is anything but amused. The furrow of his brow and spike in his scent is territorial and aggressive. It’s laughable really considering the fact that between the two of them, Jason is actually the one in charge of protecting the pack. It’s all a part of being the lead omega.

Whether Bruce or Dick want to accept it or not.

“ Stop objectifying yourself like that. “

Jason enjoys the feeling of being clean and dry as he gets the other cotton adhesive on. It’s a welcome sensation. Especially when he straightens his armor and it’s a little less chafing and tight.

“ It’s only objectication if I say I’m only a nice pair of tits Wing. Luckily I’ve got a nice set of thighs too.“

He pays Dick no mind as he stands and packs away his used pads to be thrown away later. He might have to call it an early night at the rate. With the way fall is quickly approaching his heat is just dying to make an appearance. Perhaps he could get away with offering himself to the foster system. With the amount of milk he’s making now it would be better for the pups who need it to benefit instead of it all going to the trash.

“ Hood! “ The sound is a scandalized growl. It’s funny enough that Jason throws his head back and laughs free and clear. With the voice modulator it’s mean and menacing. Amusement bubbles in his chest. He can’t help taking off his helmet so that Dick can take in just how wide his smile is.

“ Sorry Wing. I’m a pretty girl. What can I say? “

Talia is nothing but progressive. While many omega’s in the west suffer from low self esteem. Jason learned his worth quickly. Confidence is beauty. The more one loves themselves, adores them selves and takes time to know themselves the more they blossom. It’s a deep healing that not everyone gets to understand. A privilege for a few chosen omegas. He cocks his head and smiles and see’s the exact moment Dick starts losing his footing in the conversation.

The alpha is tongue tied.

“ That’s not what I mean and you know it Hood. “

Jason shrugs. Once he’s got his stuff away he’s ready to run roofs and actually get some work done.

“ Sorry Goldie. It’s 2021 and haven’t you heard? Red Hood says free the tiddies. “

He doesn’t wait for a response as he makes a running start towards the edge of the building. It’s always such a thrill. He tucks a bit to clear the gap. The moment his legs touch the concrete the sound is silent despite the bulk of his frame. Dick calls after him but he loses the words in the wind. Laughter bubbles up in his throat. He wouldn’t be a prude just because his family wanted to be sexually repressed more than they wanted to be happy.

Dick doesn’t try to catch up with him and Jason finishes the night patrolling with Tim and Stephanie.

He manages to get an entire three hours out of the next set of pads. Instead of changing out in the open he accepts Alfred’s invitation back at the manor for a warm bath and cookies. Tim stares at his chest while Jason gets himself decent.

Tim is a gorgeous omega, with a slender petite frame and porcelain doll-like features. He always seems to get shy in the presence of Jason’s more unconventional curves.

Jason knows what low self esteem looks like. The younger omega wears it no matter how much bravo he tries to exude. Jason brushes against him briefly and lightly. His usual fragrance is marshmellowy from the sweetness of milk that clings to it.

There’s an immediate blush as Tim ducks away. Clearly he’s embarrassed from being caught. Though in reality where is the shame in a little boob appreciation amongst omegas?

“ You know Timmy, you gotta stop wearing bras. Maybe if you show a glimpse of those pretty pink nips Kon would take the hint. “

Tim goes red from his ears to his chest. Jason can practically see the steam coming from his ears. He slaps his hands over his petite breast quick enough to hurt. Jason wants to let him scamper off but instead he presses into his space even more. Long gone is the perfume of pup, now that Tim has come fully into his omega hood. Every day his scent leans more and more towards caramel and sugar.

“ Uhg you’re such a jerk. “

Tim tries to dodge out of his hold but Jason gets him anyway. The omega yelps and Jason ducks him right between each swollen peck. They are red and tender from patrol. He hasn’t put on new pads yet so some milk beads at his nipples. The little shriek Tim lets out is hilarious.

“ You’re going to get milk in my hair! Jason stop- God you suck- “

The omega fights and Jason lets him go before the two actually get into it. It’s light and playful. Well for the most part. Tim gets some milk on his face and the teen honest to God looks terrified. He curses all the way to the shower stall to take another quick bath all while Jason cackles at his misfortune.

“ I swear to God, when I start milking I'm going to get you back Ten fold! “

Jason rolls his eyes. As if.The last thing Jason’s afraid of is milk. It’s a natural thing. God everyone in this pack is repressed.

“ We’ll see about that Timberella! “

The omega hisses and Jason has to hold back a laugh as he leaves the shower. He’s so light and high from the interaction that he completely for gos a shirt. Not that he really wants to wear one. Not with how milk heavy and tender his chest is. Alfred’s always been pretty cool about it too. Being from the 60’s and all that jazz.

Jason maybe gets half way through the cave before the sound of metal crashing draws his attention. Dick walks cleanly into one of the metal tables in the middle of the lab space, knocking over tools and gadgets.

Bruce is thoroughly unimpressed from where he’s helping Damian stretch before bed. He’s in half of his costume, suppressors and scent blockers gone. The sheer disappointment in Damian’s gaze is astonishing.

“ Richard, please control yourself. “

The alpha looks like a deer caught in headlights, his mortification absolutely palpable in the air.

Jason does catch his eyes on his chest though. He smirks and sees the moment horror grows in those bright blue eyes. Instead of heading towards the stairs he decides to circle back towards the group.

Bruce chuffs from his position on the floor. He doesn’t stop what he’s doing but does tilt towards him in reverence. It’s been the biggest change in their dynamic. Bruce finally learning to respect Jason as not only a pack mate, but the pack omega. He greets him with a scenting.

Unlike Dick the alpha seems to pay little attention to his milking.

Damian’s puppy nose twitches as he leans towards him. It makes his heart flutter really. While Damian would never ask, Jason has thought of offering his breast many times. While Technically too old for it, they’ve all done their fair share of growing up too quickly. Something that Jason Laments as well as appreciates.

He scents Damian more thoroughly than Bruce, making him bristle. The boy tries to move out of his hold, hands swatting him away.

“ Todd cease your pestering immediately! If I smell of milk my peers will assume I still breastfeed. “

Jason snorts and pulls back from the prickly pup. Bruce gets a stupid fond look on his face and for a brief moment he feels it echoing on his lips.

“ And what’s wrong with that? If your pack omega is milking of course as a pup you’re welcome to it. “

Damian’s green eyes widen a fraction. His mouth opens in disbelief. Clearly, Damian in fact did not know that. Bruce stares as well, his scent turning into a sweet blend of ‘love-admiration-awe’. It draws a shiver up Jason’s spine. The tender mix of affection from his pack blankets over him like a net of spun sugar.

Jason doesn’t know why he feels drawn to look at Dick. The alpha hasn’t said anything in the past minute. He cuts his gaze to the stone still alpha and his heart flutters in excitement. The looks of jealousy and want is so strong that his intentions sparkle clear like aquamarine in shallow ocean waters.

The alpha is so much more honest when he thinks Jason isn’t looking.

He grins at Dick.

The alpha immediately shrinks in shame and embarrassment.

“ And of course any alpha spending my heat with me. “

[ur-favorite-queer-queen]

Second Chance

For Maribat March day 12 theme second chance

Master List

Sometimes Marinette really wished Penny and Jagged hadn’t adopted her. It’s not that she didn’t want to be a Rolling-Stone, no that wasn’t it. In fact, she was grateful that they had saved her from the horrors that Paris now held for her. It’s just they dragged her to stuff like this, some rich man’s gala. 

She had slept for a full 12 hours after finishing Penny’s dress, only to wake up to the news she was coming with them. She probably should’ve seen it coming. Although she was hoping this would be one of the lucky cases where she didn’t have to go. Despite her protests they insisted she needed to interact with other humans who weren’t serving her coffee. In Jagged’s words, “Who knows, you might make a rock n roll friend!” 

Now here she was, in her black and purple dress that matched Penny’s and Jagged’s outfits. Letting a bit of her anxiety out as she fiddled with the strap of her matching purse. Watching her parents mingle with the rich folk while she stood off to the side. Every once in a while they would cast her a ‘go make a friend’ look but it never bothered her, she just needed to wait until they stopped turning to look back at her.  

After about 10 minutes they stopped, perfect. She casually asked a waiter where the bathroom was and made her way there. Once inside she slipped off the pearl anklet that was Daizzi’s miraculous, letting the kwami make her way into her purse, before pulling out a familiar nose ring. Now that Jagged and Penny were letting her do her own thing, she could go back to scaring people into not socializing with her. While she would’ve loved to keep Daizzi’s miraculous on so that it could combat Stompp’s miraculous side effects, she learned that it took too much energy to do so. And she didn’t want to explain why she was so tired after the gala if she wasn’t talking to anyone. 

She schooled her features before making her way back out sending a cold look to anyone who tried to come up to her. She pulled out her phone only to see that 2 hours had passed, she still had 4 more to go. Time was moving much too slowly for her liking. 

A clearing of the throat brought her out of her thoughts. She rolled her eyes, putting her phone back in her purse, getting ready to glare at the person who was going to try to talk to her, only to stare in shock at the green eyes that were watching her. The same ones that had bumped into her just days before. The same ones she had sworn she probably wouldn’t ever see again. 

Her mouth moved without her permission, again she blames Stompp, “You.” 

He smiled or maybe it was a smirk, responding with way too much amusement, “Me.” 

She once again schooled her features to look bored, but she’s pretty sure her eyes gave her away with the way he reacted, “What are you doing here?” 

Just like before it took him a moment to reply, his smirk growing just the tiniest bit, “I’m always invited to these things, I’ve never seen you before though.” 

“With any luck this will be the last time you see me.” She remarked. She didn’t mean to be so rude again she blames Stompp but she really hadn’t expected to see him. To his credit he didn’t seem deterred by her cold vibe, if anything he seemed more determined. 

“Why would you say that?” 

“These types of things,” She waved her hand around, motioning to the room, “Just aren’t my thing. My parents make it look so easy, but I’ve never been one for this kind of scene. Plus I leave Gotham in a few days.” 

“Desperate to get out here?” 

“You could say that.” 

“Who are your parents?” 

She raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” If this was the game he wanted to play she would play it. Trying to find out who she was by asking about her parents, real subtle. Well Mr. Hot shot, she’s letting Stompp take the wheel now.

“You know, you make trying to have a conversation pretty hard.” 

She rolled her eyes at him, not even trying to stop them from rolling, “Who says I wanted this conversation?” It was a rhetorical question. She turned to leave only for him to grab her wrist. 

Suddenly she was brought back to that night. The night that changed everything. Three pieces of jewelry in her hand, two brooches one ring, her earrings 2 beeps away from her transformation leaving her. 

A pale hand holding her wrist, keeping her from running away. Green eyes and blond hair belonged to the owner of the hand. 

It had happened too fast. One second she was getting ready to run and detransform. Then someone had stopped her, she turned around to meet hungry green eyes. She froze as she felt lips pressed onto her own. It was only the beeping of her earring that brought her back to reality. A knee to the groin, and she pushed him off of her. Letting the police deal with the trio as she fled. 

She turned to the owner of the tan hand that was holding her back and could only register green eyes. She wouldn’t stand still this time. She twisted her hand so that he was forced to let go. A knee to the stomach had him holding his gut and as she raised her arm ready to punch him was when she finally registered that this wasn’t Adrien. It was just some weird stranger who was persistent in getting past her walls. 

She could hear people talking around her and when she dared to glance around they were all staring. She forced the embarrassed blush that wanted to grace her cheeks down, she wasn’t 13 anymore, she was 16 god damnit! Locking eyes with the mysterious yet persistent guy again, she ran. Ran until she found herself on a balcony, the cold air brushing her face as she gripped the railing. 

Why did she react like that? Why did she always have to be so aggressive? Why couldn’t she just let go of the past and take this damn nose ring off so she didn’t have to go and do stupid shit like this?  Why couldn’t she just be normal and let people in? 

Oh yeah, because she had a bunch of shitty friends that all turned on her because of a liar. The same liar turned her already neglectful parents against her. So Jagged and Penny got custody of her in order to get her out. Her parents didn’t even put up a fight about it, too busy gushing about precious LILA! And now she has major trust issues despite wanting to open and trust people again. Man, she is a wreck. 

“Hey, are you out here?” The mystery guy spoke from the entrance of the balcony. 

“No, I’m not.” She didn’t see the point in not acknowledging him, he could probably see her from where he was standing. 

“I’m sorry about earlier, you were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed your limit. So I really am sorry.” He apologized. 

“Yeah, sorry about kneeing you in the stomach. I thought…” She cut herself off, she didn’t need to pour her whole life story out to a stranger. He probably didn’t even want to know either. 

“It’s okay, I deserved it.” He made his way to the railing, he was a good distance away that she still had her own space, but close enough they could still talk. She relaxed a little thanks to the distance, resting her elbows on the railing. He leaned his back against the railing. They stood there in silence and Marinette decided she wouldn’t mind seeing this mystery boy again. Wait she didn’t even know his name. 

It seemed like he had the same thought since he spoke up, “I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves.” 

“We didn’t.” Damn her being so cold, she should probably take this nose ring off. So that’s what she did, took the nose ring off and placed it in her purse. Maybe this would be good for her. 

“Well, I’m Damian Wayne.” He stated, holding his hand out to shake. 

“Wait, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? As in the Ice Prince of Gotham?” She questioned, shocked. 

“Oh, so you’ve heard.” He seemed a bit disappointed. 

“Yeah, but I won’t judge if you don’t judge.”

He raised an eyebrow at that before she continued, “My name is Marinette Rolling-Stone.” Now he looked surprised. 

“You're the elusive Diamond Stone?” He asked, disbelief made its way into his voice. 

“That’s what they’re calling me now. At first it was Sapphire Stone. Guess that’s what happens when I stay out of the media too long.” She chuckled a small smile making its way onto her face. 

“Wait, where did your nose ring go?” He looked around as if expecting it to magically appear. 

“I took it off.” 

“Why?” 

“Well at first I wore it to scare people off. People are scared of people that have piercings. I was thinking of getting a tattoo but I’m too young and they’re too permanent.” 

“Why would you want to scare people off?” 

“I have a complicated past. Sometimes putting your trust in someone takes too much risk, I tried to avoid it altogether.” She pulled her sketchbook as she wrote something down.

“Tried?” 

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” She tore the paper out.

“You're putting your trust in me?” 

“No.” She quickly answered, “But maybe one day.” She handed him the paper and left. 

As she walked away she released a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. Maybe giving people a second chance wouldn’t be such a bad thing. But right now she just needed to find her parents so she could head home. 

-

Damian hated galas. He hated having to talk to the stuck-up rich folk who thought they were better than everyone just because of their wealth. The girls who would try and flirt with him in order to gain his last name. And their parents who tried to push them together. 

Yes, he definitely hated galas. What made this worse was that his family wouldn’t stop teasing him about the girl who he knocked over that one time. Threatening bodily harm did nothing but amp up the teasing. It was times like this where he truly wished there was a not a no kill rule. If only to give Jason Todd some revenge. 

2 hours into the gala and he was already done. 4 girls had already tried to drape themselves over him and it took all his self-control not to hurt them. He was ready to storm out of this gala when he caught sight of her. 

The mystery girl he had bumped into days before. She was here, at a Wayne gala. Her outfit certainly looked the part of a rich socialite, She wore a long halter dress that flared out at the waist. It started out black at her neck before turning purple at the waist. The bottom of the dress had black music notes dancing across and she had a matching black and purple purse hanging off her shoulder. 

Her hair was down and she seemed to be wearing a little bit of makeup. The only reason he was able to tell it was her was because of the black nose ring that stood out against her fancy look. It looked so out of place compared to everything else. 

He watched as a man tried to approach her only to receive the same glare he had gotten days before, quickly moving on to someone else. Seems like he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be here. 

He made his way over to her, perhaps to give himself a second chance at a new impression. She proceeded to pull out her phone and look at something before deflating the tiniest bit. 

He cleared his throat to grab her attention, she looked at him with the same glare once again before her eyes took on a look of shock. 

“You.” She seemed surprised that she had stated this as well. 

He couldn’t help the smirk that spread on his face, she remembered him and still had the same spunky attitude, “Me.” 

Her features took on a look of boredom, but her eyes looked only curious yet cautious, “What are you doing here?” 

The fact that she didn’t recognize him as a Wayne was surprising. He thought that she was only in a hurry before that’s why she didn’t register it was him, but now he knew she truly didn’t know it was him. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage. “I’m always invited to these things, I’ve never seen you before though.” 

“With any luck this will be the last time you see me.” She said it with such confidence he felt inclined to believe. It was strange. He seemed to be the last person she wanted to talk to and yet he still wanted to talk to her. He didn’t want her to leave. So the next best thing is to get answers.

“Why would you say that?” 

“These types of things,” She waved her hand around to motion to the room, “Just aren’t my thing. My parents make it look so easy, but I’ve never been one for this kind of scene. Plus I leave Gotham in a few days.” 

Well that sucked for him. “Desperate to get out here?” 

“You could say that.” 

“Who are your parents?” Maybe he could try to get his father to arrange a meeting with them.

She raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” Nevermind. 

“You know, you make trying to have a conversation pretty hard.” He didn’t mean to say that, that was rude. 

She rolled her eyes at him, it looked like he was meant to see that, “Who says I wanted this conversation?” She turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist. He didn’t want her to go just yet. He felt her freeze then tense when he touched her, her breathing became a little more forced, and she seemed to shake a little. 

Suddenly she twisted out of his grip and kneed him in the stomach. She raised her arm and looked ready to punch him. Her eyes looked far and distant and afraid. They seemed to refocus on him as she dropped her arm and glanced around the room. Of course, people were talking about them.

She locked eyes with him once more before running. He ran after her before his path was blocked off by Dick Grayson. “Damian what-” He didn’t get to finish that question as he dashed passed him, determined not to lose the one girl who wasn’t a stuck up brat. 

He thought he had lost her but then he heard someone taking deep breaths from out on one of the balconies. He was about to go up to her, but from the way she reacted to his sudden hold on her arm earlier, it was probably best to give a warning. “Hey are you out here?” 

He walked out onto the balcony. “No, I’m not.” She likely didn’t want to talk to him. 

“I’m sorry about earlier, you were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed your limit. So I really am sorry.” He apologized. Which was so unlike him because here Damian Wayne was apologizing to a stranger. The weird things she made him do. 

“Yeah, sorry about kneeing you in the stomach. I thought…” She cut herself off, it looked like she wanted to say more but wasn’t going to. 

“It’s okay, I deserved it.” He walked over to the railing, making sure he was a good distance away that she had her own space, but close enough so they could still talk. She seemed to relax a little thanks to the distance, resting her elbows on the railing. He leaned his back against the railing. He quite liked the silence, her company was nice. Oh god he didn’t even know her name.

“I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves.” 

“We didn’t.” She stated in what he was pretty sure was a cold tone. Maybe she wanted to stay mysterious, so he would just introduce himself. 

“Well, I’m Damian Wayne.” He held his hand out to shake. 

“Wait, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? As in the Ice Prince of Gotham?” So she recognizes the name, not the face. Great.

“Oh, so you’ve heard.” 

“Yeah, but I won’t judge if you don’t judge.” Why would he judge her?

He raised an eyebrow at her before she continued, “My name is Marinette Rolling-Stone.” 

“You're the elusive Diamond Stone?” He asked, disbelief accidentally made its way into his voice. He couldn’t help it. She was claiming to be the adoptive daughter of famous Jagged and Penny Rolling-Stone. The girl that made Jagged’s stage outfits from scratch and managed to get the ferocious Fang, Jagged’s pet crocodile, to love her. The media could only ever get a hold of the back of her head, but those that had talked with her said she shined as bright as a diamond. Hence the nickname, Diamond Stone.

“That’s what they’re calling me now. At first it was Sapphire Stone. Guess that’s what happens when I stay out of the media too long.” She chuckled, a small smile had made its way onto her face. Sapphire Stone, he hadn’t heard of that nickname but he could always do some stalking research. That’s when he noticed. 

“Wait, where did your nose ring go?” He looked around trying to see if it had fallen off her face and she hadn’t noticed.

“I took it off.” 

“Why?” He was truly baffled. 

“Well at first I wore it to scare people off. People are scared of people that have piercings. I was thinking of getting a tattoo but I’m too young and they’re too permanent.” 

“Why would you want to scare people off?” That seems like something he would do.

“I have a complicated past. Sometimes putting your trust in someone takes too much risk, I tried to avoid it altogether.” She pulled out what looked like a sketchbook as she wrote something down. Wait what did she mean by ‘complicated past.’

“Tried?” 

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” She tore the paper out of the sketchbook.

“You're putting your trust in me?” He asked, she didn’t seem like the type to trust people quickly.

“No.” She quickly answered, he thought so, “But maybe one day.” She handed him the paper and left. As he looked down at it he saw it was her number. There was a message attached below ‘My number. Maybe we can meet up somewhere before I leave.’ He certainly wanted to take that opportunity. 

He tucked the paper into his pocket and made his way back to the gala only to be met with his annoying family. By the curious look in their eyes they wanted to know what just happened. This was not going to be fun to explain. 

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Hi, I have not disappeared, just didn’t want to write for prompts 8-11. I was honestly going to do prompt 8 but then stuff came up and I didn’t have the time to write. I was also planning to write something for tomorrow’s prompt but then I found out I have something I need to do tomorrow so nothing for tomorrow either. Because I had a specific thing I wanted to write for tomorrow I’m changing it to fit day 14′s prompt. Which means it’s not going to be mega angsty like I originally thought was gonna be 14. You have escaped mega angst and now it will only be medium angst. 

On another note that was a bitch to write and edit. And the fact I had originally planned to write more for it baffles me. I feel like I left it kind of open ended so if you want a part 3 to what I have going on here go ahead and tell me. I’m still trying to decide if I should do a part 3 yet. For those who are confused today was a part 2 to day 6′s prompt, miraculous side effects. Go to my master list and you can find it. 

You can also see on my master list that there are days that are crossed off, which means I won’t be doing those days. I can’t do every single day if I want to still get decent grades. Why I skipped days 8-11. Sorry for that long explanation/rant. Also sorry for posting so late again. I do these things all the way to the last minute. Let’s see if I can break that habit throughout the month. Probably not but a girl can hope. Anyways hope you enjoyed. 

@maribatmarch-2k21 @birdiesthings @buginetye 

[river-bottom-nightmare]

So any batfam + interrogation methods hcs 😏

ooooh ok babe. this may get a tad dark so imma put it under a cut

bruce: his chosen interrogation method is to weaponize fear. he knows how terrifying the batman is, how mysterious and near godlike. and he knows how to accentuate those rumors. he’ll conduct interrogations in utter darkness, he’ll make sure the person he’s interrogating won’t be able to see him, he’ll deliberately pause or talk over the person. anything to make the person sweat or uncomfortable. once their guard is down, he’ll ask questions and the person will be too terrified to do anything other than tell the truth.

dick: aight people may hate me for this one. but listen. dick grayson is one of the most experienced vigilantes of all time. he was a fucking child vigilante, and i don’t think some of yall understand the implications behind the word “vigilante.” he’s not just going around town beating up muggers or conducting stakeouts. no, he knows he needs information the man has and he will utilize what he has to get it. he knows he’s good looking, he knows how people look at him, and he uses that. sometimes, the person doesn’t even know they’re being interrogated: dick’ll approach them at a bar or on the street or something. other times, he’ll have them bound and isolated like in a traditional interrogation. in either case, he’ll pretend to sympathize with their situation, then go over the top in interrogations, till the other person’s breathing hard and not thinking straight. then, once dick knows the guy isn’t in his right mind, he’ll apply force at the guy’s pressure points, picking at guilt or fear or sick satisfaction or whatever else the person was feeling, and try to exploit that. the other person would be in no frame of mind to fight back, and with a bit more hands-on activity, dick would have the information he needs. interrogations always leave dick feeling sick, and leave the other person feeling either uncomfortable or way too forward. if one gets more in depth than usual, he’ll probably throw up afterwards. he’s very skilled in them, but he hates doing them, and will usually try to get someone else to take a crack at them first.

jason: blackmail. pure and simple. he’s a crime lord, he’s got connections (read: underlings) and can find out whatever dirty little thing the person he’s interrogating is trying to hide. if it comes to it, and if the person has a family, jason will threaten them and tell the person what he’s going to do to them if they don’t cooperate, but in reality, won’t ever go near the family. it’s just an effective tactic for the person he’s interrogating. he knows how intimidating he looks, because honestly, with the guns displayed casually and the leather jacket and the hood, he’ll power posture to freak the guy out. if he’s with his family, he’ll keep doing it to try and keep his manmade reputation up (not all of them fall for it.) if he’s by himself, he’ll immediately change out of his gear into like a hoodie and pajama pants or something. he hates feeling and acting like the very people he was so terrified of when he was a kid. jason’s not above using physical violence, (he’d be careful because there’s always a possibility of death with guns, even when he wasn’t aiming for anything vital) but it’s not his first choice. 

tim: i feel like tim would utilize other people a whole lot. he would use what barbara dug up on the guy or find things out with his own technology skills, and talk about the guy’s worst secrets flippantly. cassie doesn’t have her own lasso of truth, but if she’s currently borrowing donna’s or diana’s, then tim will ask to use it on the interrogator. he’ll ask bart to just be himself around the person he’s interrogating, then have bart randomly vibrate through stuff or play around with his powers. then, he’ll overexaggerate bart’s impulsiveness and remorselessness to the man (which, if i’m being honest, isn’t even that overexaggerated. comics bart is fucking terrifying with the amount of apathy he has towards anything or anyone that isn’t his friends and/or family). tim will, like, vaguely imply that if the man doesn’t tell tim what he wants to know, then bart will vibrate his hand through the guy’s body and crush his heart. or he’ll get kon to show up and have him casually use his super strength and other powers for really mundane shit, like using his heat vision to heat up coffee or using his strength to fold a metal chair to be more comfortable or never walking anywhere, just floating, to really accentuate his otherworldliness and ease he has with his powers. then, tim’ll act completely at ease around kon, like they do when they’re just hanging out as best friends, making this poor little civilian shit his pants at the sight of tim bossing around and acting like best friends with someone who’s basically god. i also think tim would do a lot of interrogations with cass

cass: she and tim would tag-team, i think. she’s not very fond of interrogations, preferring to stick to the physical side of vigilantism or letting others do the work for her. on the rare cases she does have to interrogate someone, she’ll work together with tim. mostly, the two of them will psychologically mess with people’s minds. cass isn’t a mind reader, but she’s pretty damn good at reading people’s bodies. unlike dick, who uses his emotional intelligence to help people, she uses her to find out exactly what the person’s scared of or uncomfortable about (and that’s not her fault, that’s just how she was raised). she’ll relay this information to tim, and while tim expands on what she gives her, talking and talking until the person is shivering, she’ll prowl around the person’s body, getting closer and closer until the guy doesn’t know what to focus on, cass’ clearly threatening body language or tim’s harsh words. that causes them to break soon enough.

damian: he is always physical. violent interrogations were what he grew up with in the league, and he won’t stop using them now. also, i think you guys are way too lighthearted on what you think bruce and the rest of the batfam would or would not approve of. if it’s not as major of an interrogation, then they’d stand back and let damian give them minor injuries, such as breaking fingers or dislocating joints. if it’s much more high stakes, they’ll let damian play with fire. waterboarding is a crude method, but it’s usually effective. as long as damian doesn’t kill, majorly maim, or permanently disfigure the guy, then he’s allowed to do it. (even then, i think they’d allow him chopping someone’s fingers off with a knife one by one, or maybe an ear.) 

[demigoddreamer]

Addressing Batman’s Abuse

Damian: I killed someone

Bruce(and the rest of the batfamily but mostly bruce): It’s ok it’s because of your childhood, you were raised to be an assassin as long as you didn’t murder anyone innocent and do better next time

Dick: I killed someone

Bruce: well i saved them didn’t count bye

Tim: I killed someone

Bruce: Seriously Tim? ok I’m kinda disappointed but i’ll be ok in a little bit(actually idk cause I can’t recall if tim ever killed someone)

Jason: I killed someone

Bruce: HOW DARE YOU BREAK THE NO KILL RULE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF **** WE HAVE MORALS YOU’RE JUST ANOTHER CRIMINAL, A MURDERER, A MONSTER YOU LET THEM WIN IF YOU KILL

Alright enough with the jokes let’s get serious, let’s talk about the abuse. I have a lot to unpack and if you’re like me who doesn’t have the patience to read long things if they don’t matter then i’m sorry . I can read school stuff but fanfiction more than like 30 chapters irritates me which is stupid because I love to read but the human brain is A FUCKING ANNOYING HYPOCRITE. I love the batbros with all my heart and we hate to see bad stuff happen to them. but Bruce...he can get away with hurting the people who he should see as sons and who in turn consider him a father figure. He is essentially taking advantage of their love for his cause. Because the most important thing is batman and the mission which he will hold above his own children, the people in his life who care about him and support him in his insane crusade. Batman is someone who is consumed by this darkness that causes him to sacrifice everything for the mission. It is stated multiple times that his Robins are supposed to be better than him, they’re not needed as assistants in the battlefield but rather emotional support as they bring a little light to Bruce's pain and vengeful darkness. The Robins become better people than Bruce. 

There are obvious examples of Bruce’s abuse such as his second Robin now Red Hood Jason Todd. Now I may be biased as he is my favorite but I love all the robins dearly so FREAKING much. Jason is constantly remembered as Batman’s greatest failure. Why is that? we are led to believe it’s because Bruce didn’t save him but really it’s because Jason didn’t fall in line with Batman’s code which is where we see the flaws in Batman’s philosophy. Why doesn’t Batman just kill the Joker? Jason makes some very valid points saying that all Joker does is cause pain and he keeps breaking out of prison and causing more pain and it’s a vicious cycle, a revolving door that Batman refuses to end. Joker and Batman are almost obsessed with each other. But Batman refuses to kill Joker saying if he does he can’t come back and Joker will win. It’s a war between numbers and moral high ground. But in reality who cares if Joker wins? It’s vague what does it even mean? Joker keeps on killing and if he was gone the world would be safer? It doesn’t matter if he wins as long as people live. Jason Todd is someone who is constantly hurt by the people who are supposed to love him. An example of this is Batman choosing to save Joker rather than his own son in the Under the Red Hood storyline. Jason is clearly heartbroken over the fact that Bruce refuses to kill the person who MURDERED HIM saying “I thought I’d be the last person you ever let him hurt” Jason obviously has lots of trauma PTSD depression and he probably just wants to feel safe pleading with Bruce to just kill Joker that’s it saying “doing it because he took me away from you” which Batman refuses just saying I can’t. 

Now there’s other instances that make my blood boil such as Batman and Robin #20. Damian died in Batman Inc. and obviously since Bruce can’t ever deal with pain in a healthy constructive way, he goes full dark and rage and sadness. He becomes desperate to bring Damian back, being abusive to Tim even when Batman tried to experiment on Frankenstein to bring Damian back and Tim blew the lab up. But Jason...oh god...Bruce wants Jason on a mission in Ethiopia to bring the people who tried to kill Damian justice . (Talia put a bounty on his head) and then Jason agreed, excited at the chance of working with someone he considers a father again. Jason has ceased his killing he has calmed down from when he tried to hurt them all, his mind was damaged by the lazarus pit and he went insane with pain and rage. From my pseudo psychologist perspective I think he thought hurting them would make his pain cease if he tried to hurt the things that caused his pain it would fix him. Anyway Jason is on kinder terms with them but it’s still rough. They’re not all that kind with him sure he’s made mistakes but they all have and he’s really sorry about it. Anyway after taking those bad guys down they talk about family and trust and faith. Then...Bruce does it and reveals the real reason why they came to Ethiopia. Bruce wanted to bring Jason to the place he DIED. WHERE THERE IS A BUTT TON OF TRAUMA. Jason is just so shocked at first he stands there looking numb. He isn't even angry yet. He stands there feeling the pain of that horrible day saying”You lied to me. this wasn't about taking down those mercenaries. You wanted to bring me here..to the worst place in the world...and here I was starting to believe all your crap about trust and faith” He sounds broken which he is he’s been broken by so many people and now Bruce who isn’t supposed to break him just did by taking advantage of him and bringing him to somewhere of horrible trauma. Bruce reveals that he brought Jason here so he could figure out how to bring Damian back to life explaining “Those killers were the mission but this was something else something I couldn’t ignore I thought bringing you here could jog your memory-maybe retrieve a buried buried deep in your subconscious that could help piece together how you came to life so I” and Jason finishes this saying “-could apply it to getting Damian back. Yeah I get it. Did it ever occur to you I might like keeping whatever the hell happened to me buried deep?”Obviously, Jason doesn’t want to relieve his trauma, he doesn’t want to deal with what happened to him a second time. He just wants to move on but Bruce won’t let him. Bruce doesn’t seem to acknowledge Jason’s trauma nor does he seem to care for his well being. “If you cared about me, you wouldn’t want me to dredge up the one thing I've been trying to forget. I don’t want to remember the most horrific day of my life, all right? You may like wallowing in your tragedies but I’m done looking back” which is true all Batman does is sit in the pain of his parents death and he can’t heal like and he spreads pain to others at this rate the dead parents excuse gets a little old. BUT THEN BRUCE HAS THE AUDACITY TO SAY “If you cared about me and what I’ve lost, you’d want to dredge this up! Don’t you see-there’s a chance you can help me erase one of the worst days of my life. You can give me the greatest gift of all and help me figure out how to bring my son back!” Here he uses a lot of pronouns referring to himself, CARED ABOUT ME, I’VE LOST, HELP ME, MY LIFE, GIVE ME, HELP ME, MY SON. Yes Bruce, make it all about you, cause we definitely want you too. You’re a grown ass man and Jason is the more mature person here, honestly all the Robins learn to process grief and heal and grow and they’re just generally better people. Bruce is basically saying I care more about Damian than I care about you and my needs are greater than yours so screw your feelings, your feelings don’t matter. He really only seems to care about himself and he wants to erase his own pain. He doesn’t even seem to consider what Damian would want and what being brought back to life would do to him. Jason knows what it’s like, the pain of it, he’s probably the only person who would understand why someone wouldn’t want to come back. After All of this Bruce doesn’t even apologize and makes some half assed promise for unconditional truth but Jason still accepts this and helps Bruce get Damian’s body back from Darkseid even though he didn’t have to. 

Also there’s battle of the cowl which I desperately try to ignore but what I can tell Bruce *cough* died *cough* at this rate whenever Bruce dies or some crap I’m like ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT??? But sorry back to the topic. Bruce had a message for Jason for everyone else was just like I hope you’re doing well I love y’all live your life for JASON HOWEVER. He was all like you’re a failure not because I didn’t save you but because I don’t like how you turned out. Also you have problems, you’re mentally ill(I know but don’t have to be so awful about it)and there’s a secret I shouldn’t have kept and bye. And he suggests help but WHY DIDN’T HE GET JASON HELP WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER HMMMMM? It’s so obvious Jason’s childhood is full of abuse of course he has bad mental health and all that jazz. Also he puts Jason in Arkham where the Joker is 5 DOORS DOWN. I don’t think I have to say anything but they could literally put him in ANY OTHER PRISON. Why this one idk?

Bruce beat Jason and was probably about to kill Jason in RHATO #25. All beacuse Jason shot penguin and since Red Hood is a criminal blah blah blah Bruce has to do something. Actually he doesn’t as he just assumes Jason killed him which he didn’t also he didn’t seem to consider mind control or clones or whatever and he thought it was a good idea to beat the crap out of his sons. Jason even points this out”You are a character, I’ve never seen you beat Joker that hard and you hate him”...Bruce is beating him harder than the Joker. BRUCE IS BEATING HIS GODDAMN SON, SO HE HATES HIS SON MORE THAN JOKER??? Here we see how Bruce constantly chooses Joker over Jason.

Let's also talk about Dick his first son (I love my circus boi). After Jason died *sob*(i’m gonna cry) Dick is pretty darn sad and Bruce didn’t tell him shit so he’s obv like hey what’s the deal and BRUCE HAS THE AUDACITY TO BE MAD AT DICK. and he tries to kick Dick out of his life and be like leave your key get outta my face and he punched Dick LIKE BOI YOU DIDN’T TELL HIM ABOUT THE FUNERAL OR THE FACE THAT JASON DIED. We already knew it was bad because Bruce and Dick argued like my parents argue which is pretty bad. Lo and behold Bruce doesn’t apologize.

Also Nightwing #30 after Dick was outed as Nightwing and fake died on telelvision. Bruce used like WAAAAAAY excessive force. They were sparring but it got real violent real fast. And Nightwing wasn’t in the right mindset he was traumatized and Bruce totally took advantage of him by asking him to work for Spyral which Dick obv didn’t want to do but Bruce fucking FORCED that crap onto him after something as awful as that and he probably knew Dick would give in eventually that bastard. No, Bruce doesn’t apologize either.

Most recently Batman #71...now see this is Tim’s turn and I love my big brain boi Tim... and when you love a fictional character you know something bad is gonna happen. Bruce’s abuse, it’s kinda worse cause he’s a fucking KID. now Bruce be like let’s meet and shit so most of them are there and some evil villain is doing their thang and Tim is tryin be nice comforting Bruce, telling him that Tim will always be there and that Tim will help AND BRUCE FUCKING PUNCHED HIM. HE WAS JUST TRYIN BE NICE AND HELP YOU FEEL BETTER YOU POS. Now do we see Bruce apologize? NOOOOO. What did you expect? Honestly it’s not that hard it’s a simple sentences even a dumbass like you can manage it

Now I’m not totally familiar with any abuse on Damian but it’s there. Bruce is allergic to emotions, and it’s hard for him to be emotionally supportive and show any affection whatsoever. Showing any semblance of pride to Damian is like me trying to do pushups it’s FUCKING impossible for Bruce to show any compassion toward his son whatsoever (seriously though push ups are a pain in the ass I’m not athletic whatsoever why do you think I waste my time venting on tumblr the only thing I’m good for is being the smart kid in school and even then some people outshine me in that.)...sad but I’m not here to complain about that. Anyway Dick is a BAMF and openly shows Damian hey i’m proud of you and I love you. IT’S NOT THAT HARD BRUCE.

Bruce can’t ever be happy, he doesn’t let himself be happy because he can’t move on from that tragedy that happened to him. And he doesn’t allow anyone around him to be happy either. Shown as when Dick is like hey I can be in love with someone and we can be long term we can be happy together. BRUCE BE LIKE NUH HUH VIGILANTES CAN’T BE HAPPY WE HAVE TO SACRIFICE FOR THE MISSION. Let your son be FUCKING HAPPY. I know I sound like I hate him and maybe I do a bit but I don’t think he’s like completely Joker evil and irredeemable. I just can’t deal with how DC handles abusers like Bruce and having characters enable this behavior. We need to know that Bruce’s behavior is not ok and his children are completely numb to it, it’s normal to them and it’s disgusting. Bruce needs repercussions and he needs to know that he can’t do that to kids who love and trust him.

LINK TO PART 2:

https://demigoddreamer.tumblr.com/post/639314330465222656/addressing-batmans-abuse-part-2

If a loved one is hurting you reach out and seek help. You deserve the world

[bigskydreaming]

Is it true that gymnasts can't work much when they're 30+ ? Is it like an Olympic gymnast thing or just stuntwork in general? I saw some people concerned over Dick's back causing him problems as he gets older. But then a lot of martial art guys like Donny Yen, Jet Lee are still pretty flexible aren't they?

I see this a lot in fandom too, anon, and as often happens, lol, I myself cater to the ‘fandom’s got it backwards’ take.

Fandom specifically focuses on Dick’s body giving out early on in life compared to the rest, due to acrobatics being ‘his niche’ but in reality - or as close to it as we can come in a universe that tbh really demands suspension of disbelief over the fact that any and all of the Batfam take as much punishment as they endure.....

Thing is, Dick is actually one of the family most likely to have the LONGEST longevity of physical fitness.

This is because fandom keeps correlating Dick’s niche as gymnastics, rather than what it IS - acrobatics.

Yes, gymnastics is typically considered a ‘young person’s game.’

ON AVERAGE.

But, something to keep in mind, is that there are different TYPES of gymnastics. There’s competitive artistic gymnastics, but also rhythmic gymnastics, aerobic gymnastics, and a few others. Olympics gymnasts are primarily competitive artistic gymnastics, but even there, there are specializations so to speak. All Olympic gymnasts are usually cross-trained on the various events/categories, but the teams overall put up their best gymnasts in each category to compete in that category when possible....because for the most part, someone who excels at say, floor routines, is not going to be the most optimal choice to do the high bars or the vault. That’s because floor routines emphasize more rhythmic gymnastics, whereas something like the vault is more in the arena of a power gymnast.

And these different areas of focus put different kinds of strains on the body.

So yes, while its true that a lot of gymnasts retire early and the Olympic teams as a whole tend to see their gymnasts exiting the game by 30 at the latest......the latter is because those gymnasts are expected to be at least capable and at elite levels in ALL events, so they can compete as needed for the overall team....BUT, in the case of the former, the gymnasts that retire early completely.....those are almost universally the power gymnasts, the ones who specialize and emphasize in the hard-hitting events like the vault, the beam, the uneven bars, etc.

I say hard-hitting, because I literally mean hard-hitting. 

Because these are the high impact events. The ones that see a gymnast land with the full weight and impact of their body on their feet at the end of a successful (and exponentially force-multiplying) flip, handspring, dismount, etc. 

That kind of impact puts TREMENDOUS strain on your joints....and that, specifically, is what leads to a lot of early retirements, and a lot of early wear and tear on the body. That’s the kind of punishment that the body can only withstand at elite levels for so long.

But that’s not the only kind of gymnastics, and its definitely not the thing that Dick’s known for specifically - that’s acrobatics. And while there’s similarities and crossover, that’s another ballgame entirely.

In fact, where the similarities and crossover tend to happen is in the areas of rhythmic gymastics, aerobic gymnastics.....the kind of things that you see in events like floor routines, the rings, the parallel bars, the pommel horse.

Those gymnasts, the ones who specialize primarily in those areas of focus......they tend to retire from the OLYMPICS around the same time as the others, because again, everyone on those teams needs to be on the top of their games and CAPABLE of being pitted against the power gymnasts of other teams on events like the vault if they need to fill in in a pinch.....BUT they don’t often retire at age 30 overall.

You wanna know where a lot of them end up going after that?

Cirque de Soleil.

Dead serious, I shit you not.....a ton of elite level gymnasts after leaving gymnastics end up....essentially running away to the circus, lol. A full third of Cirque de Soleil’s performers ARE former professional gymnasts.

And a lot of them end up....acrobats.

Because after all, there is a lot of crossover in the two, in terms of feats.....but the difference, the thing that lends acrobats more longevity than most power gymnasts and the like.....is the latter endure most of the abuse to their bodies and joints....when their bodies hit the ground at the end of their feats.

Acrobats, in contrast.....are kinda focused on.....not being on the ground.

A lot of the same wear and tear simply doesn’t happen on their bodies, and allows them to perform much further into life....because there’s simply less strain in the types of aerial feats acrobatics focus on, while suspended high up off the ground.

And we see this reflected in the Batfam and their various styles of fighting and focus, which is why I say despite people focusing on Dick’s body giving out soonest, as the quote unquote athlete of the family -

(Which tbh, I kinda...eh, about, because it feels often like one of those things where people NAME him ‘the athlete of the family’ just to give him his niche without having to acknowledge him as being the equal of any of the ‘brainy ones’ in that regard like Tim or Babs or Bruce, etc.....but honestly, when was the last time you saw any significant focus put on Dick being able to do something physically that the other members of his family COULDN’T do, because they’re not ‘the athlete’? Y’know what I mean? Like, there’s a lot of MENTION of how he’s the most athletic or acrobatic or all of that.....but that never seems to hold any of the others back from doing any of the equivalent physical feats one is inclined to write them doing, or allowing them to be written as sizably less skilled as fighters in any meaningful way. So focusing on Dick as being the most specifically physically minded and oriented of the family feels a bit performative, tbh, and that puts the focus on his body being specifically vulnerable to wear and tear, moreso than the others a bit.....suspect imo. BUT I DIGRESS).

My point is, regardless of that, my take is the focus on Dick’s body giving out soonest is ironically just....completely backwards. Because actually compare his form of physicality to some of the others, and you see what I’m saying:

Bruce and Jason for instance - they’re perfectly capable of high-level gymnastic feats when necessary, but their overall approach to flips and jumps and grappling swinging and the like is to use it as a means to an end. Its always in service to getting them ON THE GROUND as quickly and efficiently as possible....where they can use their brute strength and mass and physicality to its most effectiveness, wading in to brawl hand to hand with combatants anywhere possible (excepting of course when Jason is using guns from a distance, or Bruce his Batarangs, but you get what I mean in terms of overall styles).

But THAT kind of thing....is far more the realm of the power gymnast. The kind of high impact landings and force-multiplying jumps and flips meant to just....cut straight to it. Hone in like a heat-seeking missile. Deliver the full force of them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

In contrast....Dick’s style is entirely different, and hails directly from his origins and his strengths as an acrobat. He’s NOTED for basically spending as much time IN THE AIR during a fight as possible. He soars above when possible, rather than engage up front and hand to hand. He’s more likely to leap over criminals’ heads, kicking out and navigating upwards on his way to ‘tag’ the next one in any manner he can....dodging in and out, using confusion, weaponizing evasive maneuvers, getting his opponents to get tangled up in each other’s way...that’s HIS style.

Dick deliberately keeps himself at a distance as long as possible, not out of fear but out of basic awareness of his own strengths and weaknesses and his instinctive (due to being a born and raised athlete every bit as much as Damian and Cass are born and raised fighters) drive to look after his own body and keep it maintained and honed and efficient for as long as he can - something that I don’t doubt was drilled into him by his acrobats-as-their-livelihood-family from the very first moment they began training him. 

The less he HAS to engage hand to hand, the less he HAS to land feet flat on the ground after a flip rather than using the balls of his feet to simply spring off even further and then transition into firing his grappling hook mid-air, the less he HAS to block a strike with the side of his forearm or strike someone fist to face rather than block with an escrima stick and strike with the other.....

The longer Dick’s body stays in strong enough condition to remain his most effective weapon.

And that’s not something everyone in his family can claim, or even point to as a priority of any kind.

Which is why I maintain that focusing on Dick’s body giving out young is not only a bit....eh....given they all perform equivalent levels of physicality in their vigilantism day in and day out.....its also, IMO, focusing on the wrong family members entirely. 

(Overall, personally I’d rate Dick, Tim and Cass the ones most likely to retain their physical fitness the longest based on their respective styles and how they’re typically depicted in fight scenes).

[slidewhistlebj]

With all the Wandavision hype right now, I have a X-men AU for the batfam that I wanna talk about

So in this story Gotham serves more as a mutant hub amplifying the pro and anti mutant struggles in the city than an anti-nonhuman zone, each member of the family is a meta matching one in the Magneto family from the X-men and MCU

Bruce - Magneto: Obviously as the head of the family this connection makes sense, they’re both heavily traumatized and working from that place of loss to try to make the world a better place for others. This version of them, Bruce isn’t such an overt criminal (Magneto typically commits a war crime to wake up in the morning) and he sticks with the more night time themes of Batman, he works very distantly with the Justice League typically protecting Gotham and only appearing to others for world-ending threats. His mutant rights work is as Bruce, playing political and social games that someone like him has access to via possessing an insane amount of money to change laws

Dick - Scarlet Witch: I think that Dick is strong as hell but tends to be underrated on the combat side of things in order to represent his emotional skills so Scarlet Witch is the perfect comparison (also don’t think about an angsty version of the young justice Wally West dying story with a wandavison-esque reality rewrite oof) In this story, Dick and the rest are adopted like canon but their powers all match Magnetos canon children and family. Dick grew up with Bruce, exploring his powers and limits until he became a full-fledged meta “hero” (His methods don’t always have the moral high ground but he is on the side of good) There is no robin role, but Bruce occasionally takes them out for training (the older and more control they have, the more he takes them out) Dick is the most outwardly social of the Gotham supers and he works in Bludhaven as a gymnast / gym trainer (ACAB dude, no Dick cop rights on this blog) After Jason’s death, Dick killed the Joker and began taking a more proactive role in superhero work in order to protect other kids

Jason - Polaris: Jason pushes so hard against being similar to Bruce because they are have so much of the same emotional problems / they’re so similar to one another, matching mutant abilities is the best exploration of that as Jason struggles with his identity around Bruce and his legacy as well as who he wants to be as an individual (Also her color is green, the connection to the pits is a perfect cherry on top) Jason was adopted by Bruce, they grew really close and bonded over their abilities (like the legacy of the Batman mantle, but Magneto since powers are def crucial to passing that on) Jason’s death and revival go the same as canon, but now he wears the pit colors as a sign of what happened to him and to separate himself from Bruce (Black with red is how I see Batman and Magnetos designs combining) Jason’s overly aggressive fighting tactics are against anti-mutant groups, fighting the criminals in the ways Bruce often can’t during the daytime social games he plays to change things on the legal level

Tim - Quicksilver: I’m not as sure with how Tim fits in this AU but I can see Quicksilver being a strong match as the X-man universe has set up Quicksilver and Magneto as estranged and making the choice to try to be family and support each other which is similar to Tim’s own story. Quicksilver is also light-hearted and snarky and I think Tim is a 17 year old who wants to do kick flips in the boardroom so that’s a great match. In this AU, the Drakes are pretty big anti-mutant adovocates so as Tim grew into his powers he made sure to hide them, only letting loose to follow Magneto Bruce and his family as they go out and fight criminals. Eventually he finds out who they are and when Jason dies he begins spending more time with them as support for Bruce and a safe enviornment to be himself. The Drakes aren’t dead in this AU just disconnected and travelling often so Tim has to be careful about being seen with the Wayne’s meta or day time personalities as both are very pro-mutants. His relationship with Jason and Damian is distinctly different as they’ve attacked him but he had the abilities to get away easily (The Time in a Bottle scene but it’s just Jason trying to kick Tim’s ass) and it became a more playful game / rivalry relatively quickly

Damian - Billy / Wiccan: much like canon, Damian is Bruce’s kid with Talia, raised in the league with intense training and expectations of his abilities (Powerful + Metal Control are practically his mantra), as his abilities present similarly to Dicks Ras and Talia decide that he needs to go to Gotham to learn with his father and Dick about how to control himself. Tension between Dick as his dad and Bruce as his biological father are heightened by the power similarities between Damian & Dick and Bruce & Jason and as Damian grows more powerful, needing advice and help only Dick can give him. I feel like there are so many good feels that could come from Damian eventually breaking out of his legacy under Talia and Bruce and following in Dicks steps as a (powerful as fuck) independent hero

I’m not specifically sure how the other bat kids fit into this AU but Magneto has a lot of grandkids and there are plenty of interesting way that they could fit into the story as even just talented humans who serve as medics and similar to change some of the anti-human sentiments Magneto has (Steph being the first human to join the family could stand for why she has such a rocky + independant relationship from Bruce) This has been bouncing around my head since Wandavision started and I wanted to see what other people thought about it :D