#the batfam is extremely dysfunctional but they're trying

[helloilikepurple]

I imagine it'd be right before Damian shows up. Suddenly, Bruce has a feral assassin child and a mystery toddler under his care and is not coping well. This man is stressed. God bless Alfred because he wouldn't be keeping it together without him.

It starts off really rocky. Danny's clearly traumatised from something, severely touch-starved and very clingy. Damian is prone to trying to kill his siblings and so closed off from how he was raised that they're like polar opposites. Not to mention how young they are. Danny's too young to even start self-defence classes, let alone know about their nightly activities.

Jason hates Bruce, but he misses Alfred and wants to look out for Damian and Danny because he's worried Bruce will ruin them. Besides, he may have never met Damian, but Talia spoke of him plenty. He can't help but feel a little protective of the guy.

So he comes to the manor. He tries to time it for when Bruce will be out and avoids Tim like he's contagious. He's brilliant with Danny. Danny feels something's familiar about him but can't place it so he's just extra curious about him. Damian is thankful Jason doesn't treat him like a kid or ridicule him for being a killer, though he'd never admit it.

Tim doesn't feel like he's part of the family. Damian tried to kill him, he's not Robin anymore, and there's two new little kids running about for everyone to focus on. It's like he doesn't exist. So he keeps to himself, running himself ragged working away with basically no supervision.

Dick is just trying to be a good big brother and keep everyone and himself together. It's not his fault he forgets to check up on Tim. He's stressed and exhausted and trying to be everywhere at once.

Cut to, Bruce "dies". Everyone sort of splits up. Tim is alone, naturally, Dick and Damian slot into place at each other's sides, and Jason is busy dealing with a bunch of unresolved trauma and being a crime boss. Alfred tries his best, but it's impossible for him to upkeep the manor and look after a five-year-old kid all at once.

So Danny's alone. Bruce died and everyone left. It wasn't purposeful, obviously, but everyone sort of assumed someone else would look after him and they've never been great at communicating with each other. Danny's confused. He knows ghosts are real, so why is everyone so sad Bruce is dead? He's not gone forever.

He's also so, so lonely. He got used to being actually cared for, and suddenly that care is gone. He becomes very quiet, drawing into himself and wandering the silent manor all alone. Damian and Tim still live with him but they're doing their own things, busy with their lives. They don't have time for him. Danny doesn't try to reach out.

Tim is convinced Bruce is alive. He's exhausting every avenue he can think of, distancing himself from everyone even further in the process. No one notices, because why would they? He's not resentful or anything. Just resigned.

And then Danny and Tim cross paths in the manor. Danny's crying because he's scared and no one's around. Was it something he did? Tim sees little Danny who he's barely interacted with one-on-one crying in a communal space and awkwardly tries to cheer him up. After that Danny attaches himself to Tim's side.

Tim's not sure how to treat him, but he tries to be a good brother. Alfred seems happy they're spending time together (and Tim's realising how overworked the poor man has been) and Danny's soaking up his affection like he's never known love in his life. It's familiar. He sees himself in Danny.

So he can't turn him away.

Danny and Tim become really close. Tim rambles to him about his theories, assuming Danny wouldn't understand because he's so young, and Danny doesn't get all of it but he believes Tim wholeheartedly. His input even helps pull Tim out spirals several times. Having someone, even if it's a five-year-old, believe him does wonders for Tim's psyche.

Tim was ready to kill himself to get Bruce back. That was his job; be Bruce's guardian. But suddenly there's a toddler who follows him around and looks at him like he hung the stars, listening to every word he says with wide, trusting eyes, and Tim can't just leave him alone. So he's less reckless. Just as determined, of course, but no longer downright suicidal.

Tim gets involved with the League. He's absolutely ruthless. You know how it went in the comics (with him blowing up bases)? Yeah, well it's worse now. Tim has to get back home to Danny. He can't trade his life for Bruce's or spend a long time away. He speeds up his plans and leaves an even bigger lasting impression as a result. Who cares about his kill count? Most of the family has one.

Yadda yadda, Bruce is back. Everyone slowly comes together again, and are surprised to see how close Danny and Tim are. They ask about how it happened. Danny says after everyone left when Bruce died Tim still loved him, which leads to realisations all around about how they've taken Tim for granted and sort of abandoned him and Danny.

This leads to them being an even better family. They all put in an effort to be there, especially for Tim and Danny. Tim is unused to people caring about him, and thinks it's temporary. Everyone goes out of their way to prove it's not. (Well, except Jason, who still has to be sort of dragged into family events and such.)

EDIT: it cut off my tags so let me include

Tim gets Danny a really fancy telescope for his birthday and Danny is over the moon. This causes Bruce to realise he doesn't know his kids' interests and stalks them to find out what they like because he can't communicate like a normal person.

Dick gets Danny a star teddy and Danny carries it around everywhere.

Danny is super affectionate. He says "I love you" and initiates hugs and so on. This leads to everyone else saying "I love you" back and it becomes normalised to just say "I love you" to each other whenever.

Tim has a panic attack the first time Bruce says he loves him. He assumes Bruce has been possessed or replaced or something. It takes a lot to talk him out of it. Bruce has a lot of realisations about his shitty parenting as a result.

Basically, Danny makes the family less dysfunctional by just existing.

Danny doesn't want to be a vigilante or hero and cries when he finds out his family are. He wants to be an astronaut so bad. Bruce is so relieved.

Danny still has his powers he's just hiding them because it's what he knows to do.

Cujo shows up and none of the bats can figure out what he is (a ghost) but deem him a non-threat and let Danny keep him as a pet following lots of pleading.

DC X DP - DeAged

The Nasty Burger explosion took a lot from Danny.

Stopping Dan meant nothing when Danny lost everything. His friends, his parents, his sister, his teacher - all gone. Danny, desperate to not become Dan, fled. He would not let Vlad destroy the only thing he had left; himself. He didn't turn human again if he could avoid it. Let Danny Fenton die with his family.

He did what he could, trying to keep it all together. Avoid Vlad. Catch havoc-wreaking ghosts. Try to not have a panic attack every time he saw his reflection. FentonWorks became out-of-bounds. No one was sure how to turn off the portal or any of the house's defence mechanisms so it was taped up instead.

Danny kept the GIW away. They wanted his parents' research, even if they had to bend the law to get it. Danny would not let them have it. Never.

But the GIW was persistent and Danny weak from nearly two months of being Phantom and nothing else. He was so tired. Tired from grieving, from fighting, from wandering around, completely lost and alone.

The GIW got a lucky shot in. Danny went down. He woke up, still ghost, somewhere white. He'd trained himself not to have to turn back. He was grateful he did.

The GIW studied him. Danny did not have the energy to fight back. The will to survive. Curled up in his cell, bloody and becoming less human with every passing day, Clockwork finally intervened.

He could not let the future High King wither away into nothing.

With Nocturn's help, he whisked him away. His world was dying anyway. With no one to maintain the portal, it would soon overload and explode. The radiation would kill all life on Earth, leaving nothing behind, and taking with it the potential for new life. One world among infinite realities meant nothing. But Danny, as High King, is a singularity. A unique existence, only found in one reality. Clockwork, for the sake of everything that lives and dies, could not let Danny fade away.

Danny slept at the Far Frozen, dreaming of his family, his friends, and the stars he would one day rule over. He healed, wounds knitting together into scars and fractured core slowly, ever so slowly, repairing itself. A future Ancient, bound to protect all that is and will be, was bound to be very badly hurt from such a loss.

Clockwork only wished he could have done more, but to remove Danny too early would have spelt disaster worse than the deaths of billions. This boy would someday be someone he'd proudly call his grandson. Seeing that future alone was enough to make his own core ache for the young one.

The Infinite Realms wept for its child, still but a babe yet having suffered so much. It embraced its future King, blessing him with its loyalty and adoration. The ghosts of the realms, spread far and wide over distant realities, timelines and worlds, felt the loss too.

Danny healed, unaware of how loved and precious he was to so many - how far he was from alone. The dead's sudden quiet unsettled many. Enemies froze in the silent mourning, animosity forgotten. Raging wars came to abrupt ends. So many, unable to bear the ever-reaching, unidentifiable pain in the air killed themselves. Good, kind people cried alone.

Magic users, like Constantine and Zatanna, hid, waiting out the Infinite Realm's despair for its child. No one spoke of it, for fear of disrespecting the dimension between dimensions. But they hid, and they waited, and they couldn't help but worry for themselves and everything and everyone else.

Danny got a lot of visitors. Ancients, regular ghosts, crowded around his bed, gifting him blessings and support. Danny slept, he healed, and his world died, taking with it all he'd known. He wouldn't remember or know of any of this when he woke  - even the memories of his pleasant dreams will have left him. He'll awaken and think himself entirely alone.

But he'll know, someday.

Clockwork will make sure of it.

---

Danny doesn't know where he is or who he is.

He has a vague idea. His name. His life and his death. But so much is so distant, like impressions on sand, washed away by the ocean. He knows he should be bigger. He knows this isn't home. He knows there is no home anymore.

He knows there are people he misses, but he doesn't know who they are or where they've gone. He knows so little yet so much. White walls and orange hair, green (toxic, writhing green) and hazmat suits, white and black and orange and blue. Expensive, Packers-branded cologne, burning flesh, the scream of an alarm and laughter and fear and hope and love and pain and loss. Disjointed flashes, snippets of another life.

And this isn't familiar - this city and these people. These crowded, filthy streets aren't home, but there's no home anymore so of course they aren't. And maybe Danny should be afraid. He doesn't know where he is, or how he got here. There are people, so tall, walking around him not sparing him a glance. It's loud and smelly and so much to process all at once.

But Danny doesn't care because he's so tired, and he wants nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep the day away. But he doesn't have a home, so obviously he doesn't have a bed either. He looks around for somewhere else to sleep, rubbing at his chest subconsciously as he does.

There, a building, on the other side of the road. The windows are tinted, but the doors open and Danny, through the crowds and passing traffic, catches a glimpse of what has to be a couch. Maybe the people that own the building will let him sleep on their couch for a little bit.

So he crosses the street, sticking close to the legs of some lady with skinny heels that go tap-tap-tap so the cars don't go because they can't see him. The lady turns to go a different way after but it's okay because Danny is in front of the building now.

He pushes the door open and slips inside. It's quieter inside, and warmer. Danny wasn't cold outside but in here there's a nice heat that makes him feel even sleepier. He looks around at the fancy chairs and potted plants and lights, and is happy to see there are couches. Long couches, with lots of pillows and space for him to spread out.

He walks up to the desk. He's too short to see over it, and it makes him kind of angry because he's sure he's supposed to be taller. But he figures maybe he remembers wrong because people don't just shrink. Except, he's a halfa so maybe ghosts do?

"Hello?"

There's a lady here too, behind the desk, but unlike the one he followed across the street she has short, curly hair. Danny wonders if she's wearing skinny heels too. Leaning his head back, he can see her look up, glance around, and then look back down.

Danny pouts. Did she not see him?

"Hello?"

He waves an arm this time, reaching as high as he can to catch her attention. She finally sees him, eyes widening in surprise. "Oh, sorry! Hello." She has a nice voice.

"Your voice is pretty."

She smiles, and Danny decides her smile is nice too. "Why thank you. You have a pretty voice too. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Can I please sleep on your couch? Just for a little bit."

"Of course you can. Would you like a blanket? I could fetch one for you from the staff room."

Danny shakes his head. "I'm okay. Thank you."

"Alright. But if you change your mind, do tell me."

"You're very nice."

"Thank you, but it's really no problem. Not much to do today anyway."

"You should sleep too then. Sleep is good."

She giggles. "That is a very good idea. I just might take your advice." Danny nods. He has lots of good ideas. "Okay. I'm gonna' go nap now. Bye-bye."

"Sleep well."

There are a few couches, and for a bit Danny's not sure which one to sleep on. He chooses the one with the most pillows. It's very comfy, and the pillows are nice too. He puts one under his head and hugs another, curling up around it. He falls asleep in seconds.

-

When a toddler with black and blue eyes asked to sleep on one of the couches on in the reception hall of Wayne enterprises, May had assumed he was one of Bruce's boys. He certainly fit the type Gotham's favourite playboy liked to adopt, and it wasn't unusual for his wards to show up out of the blue.

Once she found Tim Drake passed out on the floor under her desk. Apparently, he'd been hiding from Dick who was visiting from Blüdhaven and forgot to bring his coffee with him, consequently falling asleep while he waited for her to arrive so he could ask her to go pick some up for him. That had been an interesting Thursday morning. 

On another memorable occasion, Cass, Bruce's only official daughter, and her girlfriend Steph had shown up, said hi, went upstairs, then came back down after about an hour, giggling as they ran out with a wave goodbye. Not even ten minutes later, Bruce himself stumbled out of the elevator, absolutely covered in purple glitter. May remembers raising an eyebrow and asking if Bruce wanted her to have another suit brought in.

He'd ended up collapsing on one of the couches with an exhausted sigh, and said he'd have Alfred pick him up instead. He left a sparkly trail behind him when he walked, and the couch he sat on had to be replaced because, even after numerous cleaning attempts, no one could get the glitter out. He had glitter in his hair for months afterwards.

So, May hadn't bat an eye when the little boy came in. Well aware Bruce had several meetings scheduled that day, she sent him an email saying one of his kids was taking a nap in the reception hall and resolved to look out for the boy herself. Throughout the day, she made sure to check on him often, making sure no one picked him up ran (this was Gotham after all).

He slept soundly for most of her work day, barely shifting. She ended up putting a blanket on him herself during her lunch break and leaving him a water bottle and little snack for when he woke up. She also made sure security kept an eye on him whenever she left for whatever reason.

It was well into the afternoon when Bruce finally replied to her email and asked if his kid was still sleeping downstairs. She said yes, and not long after he arrived on the ground level. He walked up to her desk and asked if his kid had caused her any trouble. She smiled and assured him no.

Then Bruce asked where Tim was.

"Sorry? Tim isn't here today."

Bruce frowned, looking just as confused as she felt. "My apologies. You said one of my wards was asleep here. I assumed it was Tim."

"Oh! No, no, it's not Tim. Well, I don't actually know his name but the little guy has been here since this morning." She gestured to the toddler in question.

Bruce turned around, saw him, and frowned. "He's not one of mine."

"He's not?"

"No. Are you sure he's not an employee's child?" He kept his eyes on the boy, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Yes, I am. Only three employees brought in their children today, and all of them are ten or above. He can't be older than five." She frowned now too, turning to her computer to double check. "I'll send out a company-wide email to be sure. I should have done this sooner. I'm sorry, I was just so sure he was under your care."

"It's alright, May. I'm not upset. I'm just worried about him. When about in the morning did he get here?"

She glanced up, but Bruce was still looking at the sleeping boy. "A little after nine."

"And he's been sleeping all that time?"

"Yes, as far as I'm aware."

"Alright. Thank you for looking after him. I'll take it from here."

"Of course, sir. I'll reach out to you if anyone identifies him."

He nodded appreciatively and walked over to the boy. She watched, frustrated with herself. She's worked as one of Wayne Enterprise's receptionists for over four years. She should have known better than to just assume some random, black haired blue eyed child was Bruce's kid. She should have at least reached out to make sure that was the case.

She sighed as Bruce knelt down by the couch and gently shook the little boy awake, resting her head in the palm of her hand. This poor child. His poor parents. They must be worried sick.

She has to make this right.

---

[creetchure]

Comic reading 101 or: I don't know what I want to read, can you help?

my inbox is open if you have some story you'd like to read specifically, those are just recs of storylines that I really like.

This lists purpose is to give you general recommendations. Scroll down a bit through the bolded parts, see if something sounds good.

You want to read about a group of teenagers doing teenage shenanigans? I recommend New Teen Titans (1983), or Young Justice (1998)

New teen titans is the team you're used to if you used to watch the teen titans show. Much like the other comics at that time, the issues can seem disconnected, and the story arcs are short. If you want to read about Dick Grayson, that would be a good place to read about him.

If you'd rather read about Tim Drake, or you would like something where the absurdity is closer to the 90s and early 2000s, Young Justice is excellent. If you enjoyed watching DC legends of tomorrow, this might be the run for you. Much like in legends, they play a game to save the Earth, once, and also kill Santa Claus.

You got here from Batfamily, and you'd like to read about the members? Let me do a rapid fire list of good stories for each.

For Bruce: there are a thousand reading guides out there, but the storylines you'll most likely be most interested in will be the Jason dies, and the Tim joins the batfamily ones. Those are respectively, Death of the Family, and A Lonely Place for Dying

For Dick: I don't have a solid recommendation for a run, but I'll tell you that I did enjoy Nightwing Rebirth and Nightwing Infinite. Those are both under the Nightwing (2016) label, and are issues 1-50, then 73-present. The twenty five issues in the middle are not worth reading.

For Jason: Under the Red Hood is a must, but if you're tired of reading by that point, the animated movie is a good substitute. After that, I'd recommend Red Hood Lost Days. I'd also recommend, for your hurt/comfort, the story Cheer, which you can find in issues 1-6 of Batman Urban Legends.

For Tim: after a lonely place for dying, if Tim really is your little guy, he has a long run in 1993. It's extremely dense, and it should last you a while. After that, you can look up Battle for the Cowl (no need to read it), and jump into Red Robin.

For Cass: Batgirl (2000) is a must, as well as the No Man's land storyline, though that one is harder to read.

For Steph: Batgirl (2009) is the largest solo run she's had. It's very good.

For Duke: We Are Robins is a twelve issues mini that fully introduces his character. After that, he appears in Batman (2016).

For Damian: Robin: son of Batman, then Batman&Robin, both by Tomasi and Morrison ate where a large part of his character développement come from. For something light hearted, try Supersons and Adventures of the Supersons.

What appealed to me in Batfam was the found family, but they're too dysfunctional in canon, what can I read with those same feels? The found family is pretty much there in any superhero comics, but I feel you. Ranked by levels of functionality:

The flashfam is there for your fluff and light conflict. They don't always get along (see: flash war) but they generally like each other, and they generally don't have the sort of conflict the batfam has. Most of them *are* biologically related, but it's all kind of weird. For a kid getting a father figure, read Impulse (1995), or Wally West's early appearances.

The superfam has issues, but they've mostly worked through them. Kind of. Right now, in Action Comics, they get along. You can pretty much pick any character who isn't Clark or Jon, and start reading about them, and they're found familied. If you want some specifically family related conflict, though, I'd read about Kon.

The arrowfam is like the Batfamily, only they actually try to communicate. I've got different shades of found family in that one: if you want a biological son reconnects with his father after said father was dead for a period of time, read about Connor Hawke (green arrow 2001). If you want father daughter bonding between a man and a kid he collected, read about Mia (green arrow 2001). If you want to read about the first kid that got adopted, it'll be a tad trickier, but read about Roy Harper (issues in Action Comics, you'll have to look that one up, but it's usually only a dozen issues at a time)

The batfamily, but I put a guide higher up.

I kind of want to read about a character that not many people talk about, because I'm scared I'll post a bad take and get dogpiled. First off, that shouldn't happen, and if it does, assume it's from a comic bro not worth your time. Second off, I can only offer EXTRMELY biased recs here, but it's a wild world, if you want a specific flavor of character, it exists. Most of the ones I like turn out to be similar enough.

Thad Thawne: you can read his major storyline in Impulse 1995, issues 62-66. He's of the traumatized child variety.

Jean-Paul Valley: he has quite a large role in 90s comics, during the Knightfall saga, but reading Dark Knight Of The Soul and Sword of Azrael (both from around 2020) are a decent intro. Of the cult made variety.

Lonnie Machin: you can read him in his two solos, Anarky 97 and Anarky 99, and there is a comprehensive reading guide on @/azbats page. It doesn't take long to go through.

Mother Panic: also of the cult made variety, she has a 12 issues mini called Mother Panic, as well as a 6 issues one called Mother Panic Gotham AD.

Xanthe: this one can be found currently, in Spirit World. It's only 4 issues so far, not much to catch up on.

In general, fans of the characters that usually don't get much mainstream content (the magic people of DC, like Constantine or Zatanna, or the Aquaman family, or the Amazon family for exemple) are very open to new comers wanting to learn more about these characters. They'll be extatic to give you short reading guides if you ask for them (and you can ask simply for the barebones recommendations, to get the very gist of the character)

There are a lot more out there. A *lot*. You'll find a character you like.

I want to read classic comics, so that I know the very basic ones. Kind of a tough question, and one I don't fully have a response to. I can give you well known Batman storylines but what is considered a classic varies from person to person. In no particular order:

Batman: A long Halloween

Batman: Hush

Batman: Death of the Family

Batman: Under the Red Hood

I want an au, I don't like the way things are in batman comics. I can't offer you that many, it's not something I read a lot about, but:

Batman: White Knight (start with white knight, there are many spin offs, but they're generally given at the end of the last issue)

Dark Knights of Steel (12 issues!)

I want something that feels like fanfiction! There's some of that too, trust me

Cheer (Jason hurt/comfort) (batman: urban legends 1-6)

Knight Terrors Robin (Tim and Jason bonding) (2 issues)

Nightwing written by Tom Taylor (Dick fixing issues) (issues 73 on)

Red Robin (Tim having an absolute shit time and being a badass) (less than 30 issues)

All of these are generic recommendations. They're not the end all be all of reading lists for any given character, far from it. But hopefully, you manage to narrow down the vibe you want, and find something that interests you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in my inbox, I'll be glad to infodump.

To read any of this, typing "[comic title] read online" is extremely effective, so long as you have an adblocker.