#it wasn't an offensive joke or anything just kind of dumb. it was a topic that I don't know much about + a meme format that was popular

[redeyye]

never going to forget the time i made a mildly stupid joke in a tumblr reply & the op reposted it and then someone in the notes was like "that person is 18 so don't be too mean to them guys" HUH? that's so unbelievably condescending. sometimes people say stupid shit how was it relevant that i was 18. and they were like early 20's too iirc ??

[saving-ray-23]

BATGIRL (TWELVE)

For the past two months, she had been patrolling. Helping. Stopping crime. Protecting the people of Somerset. After that first night, she felt like she couldn't stop. It was addicting. Even with Batman and Robin— they were only two people. They couldn't stop everything as it happened and they couldn't protect all of Gotham at once. So, while they took down the big guys like the Joker and Scarecrow, she watched the little guys. Petty crimes, attempts at rape, alleyway shootings. For years, she been learning Karate and practicing self-defense. It felt good to finally put it all to use.

The one thing she could do without was the nickname they gave her.

It was embarrassing to say the least. And she wasn't even working with Batman. She didn't think Batman knew she existed until Robin cornered her one night.

Barbara hung off the fire escape, looking down below. She was a few blocks from Crime Alley, an old-fashioned walkie-talkie in hand. It had been way too easy to access the GCPD's frequency and from there it just took some reprogramming to transmit it to the radio. She knew nearly all of the codes already; all of her sick-days as a kid were spent at the GCPD, with nothing but handbooks and open cases to look at.

Despite the high rate of crime in Gotham, the radio was mostly silent throughout the night. Nobody called in crimes that often. Most of the time, the station was filled with people caught by Batman or coming in to give a statement after the crime was committed.

She was so focused on the scanner that she didn't even realize someone was watching her until her landed on the roof.

"Bat . . . girl?" He questioned, cocking his head.

Barbara cringed under the cowl, knowing she should've just painted over the yellow symbol. "I swear I didn't come up with that name."

Robin laughed, relaxing slightly. "Good, the whole Bat-thing is kinda dumb."

"Right? No offense, but your boss literally sounds like a furry."

"Well, so do you now . . . " He joked— holy shit, she was joking around with Robin. Robin !

"I guess it's too late to rebrand?" She asked with a wince, more annoyed than ever with James and Coach Yeoh.

"Unless you want people thinking you died— it's a decent name, you'll be fine." The vigilante answered, grinning at her. "But, if Batman asks, I just told you off for this whole . . . lifestyle. Shit, that sounds— "

"Grossly sexual?"

"I was going to say weird."

The two stood facing each other on a rooftop at two in the morning, joking around and just . . . talking. Nothing that would give away anything important, although Babs had let it slip that she was from one of the worst parts of Gotham. Which was pretty much true; she wasn't living in Crime Alley directly or anything, but Somerset was known to be the hub of corruption and violence. Kind of ironic, in Barbara's opinion, considering the GCPD was in the heart of it all.

They talked for less than half an hour. Robin asked her if she could actually fight (he seemed almost impressed when she told him about the multiple black belts that were collecting dust in her closet and how close she was to receiving another). After that, he questioned her age, but she retaliated by asking his, leaving them at a standstill. Eventually, he got around to the topic of parents, asking if her parents would be worried.

"My parents aren't the caring type." She revealed with as little emotion as possible. "My . . . dad's a workaholic. Doesn't even notice I'm gone."

Babs wondered if she had said too much. It made it sound like she could go missing and nobody would care. She realized belatedly that it was somewhat true. It would probably take days for anyone to notice she was gone. Robin nodded slowly at her, holding out a piece of paper.

"I get where you're coming from— at least I think I do." He paused, smile dropping. "If you ever need help, you can call this number, day or night."

Babs hesitantly tucked the paper into her belt. "Thanks, Boy-Wonder."

After that, Barbara just became more determined.