#bruce and jason can both understand logically that gotham systems are fucked but jason knows it intimately

[brucewaynehater101]

Alright. Willis Todd being an abusive father to Jason is a trope often utilized. Comparing this version of him to Bruce's reactions to Red Hood is fantastic. Lots to analyze there.

However, I raise you. There needs to be more fanwork addressing the classism behind Willis Todd being characterized as an abusive alcoholic. In some version of canon, Willis Todd was a good dad in a shitty situation. He was poor, his wife (Catherine) was sick, and he had a newborn baby he needed to provide for. In this horrid situation, where he has no family to fall back on and no higher education to obtain a decent well-paying job, he tries to get quick money. He's desperate to keep both his wife and son alive.

Catherine turns to drugs because it's easier and cheaper to buy drugs than healthcare. The pain she experiences is debilitating, and she'd do anything to not feel pain for one godsdamned second. Unfortunately, this turns into an addiction.

This ultimately shapes the way that Jason views crime. Bruce, while he may be sympathetic to individuals who resort to crime to pay their bills, will not understand huddling in Crime Alley in the dead of winter as he debates whether to buy food or pay for heating. He won't understand the bitterness, hatred, pain, and resignation of never having enough money to survive as you get chewed up again and again.

If Jason's dad is just an abusive criminal, that not only perpetuates the notion that all criminals are evil, but it will shape how Jason views those who commit crime. Breaking the law doesn't make someone bad. There's plenty of reasons people commit crime, whether to survive, protect someone, or something else. The issue, especially in Gotham, is the system that perpetuates wealth inequality through bribes and unethical governmental practices.

Anyway, I think Jason's Red Hood is more fleshed out if it accounts for him acknowledging the desperation behind goons and small-time criminals because he grew up without other options.

#dc comics #dc universe #jason todd #catherine todd #willis todd #as far as i know catherine's health problems (outside addiction) are implied but not explicitly stated #yes jason did crime as well as a kid but seeing your father commit crime to survive is another matter #bruce commits crime out of choice not survivalistic need #bruce has suffered but he doesn't have this experience or understanding that Jason did #bruce and jason can both understand logically that gotham systems are fucked but jason knows it intimately #jason being bitter and angry at the world for the wealth inequality and corrupt/cruel systems in place should come up more

[evilwickedme]

I'm only just getting into the comics and haven't read much yet, but is Pit Madness an actual thing in canon or just widespread fanon? Bc yeah, I don't like it either but there's so much of it I assumed it was rooted in the text

I've never seen it in a Jason comic, although I don't exactly have an encyclopedic knowledge of his appearances (reminder that I'm doing my best, but I've only been reading DC comics for less than a year). I understand that it's mentioned in comics related to Ra's Al Ghul, but the Pit is used rarely both in and out of text and is one of those things that works however the writer wants it to work.

I can tell you that in the comics I've read that are pre-N52 Jason is extremely angry, but he's also calm and calculated about it, and in n52 comics that I've read he's extremely angry, but mostly reads as impulsive, not sadistic. I haven't gotten to post rebirth Jason comics yet except for a few panels here and there and the Robins: Being Robin comic which was pretty bad in general don't read it, but my impression is they haven't stopped trying to retcon him into "the angry robin" (which, uh, fuck that) but have leaned more into his emotional side as a core aspect of him in recent years, which I in general approve of. Either way, I have never seen a mention of pit rage, only of him being thrown in the Pit to heal his medically impossible walking coma (but this is comics and he gets healed by green goo, so let's not take medical accuracy too seriously).

I understand the appeal of pit madness in two ways: the first is that it makes for an easy motivator. You throw him in the pit, he gets Angry™, and you can use that to tell a pretty interesting story (Red Robin Hood likens it to an addiction, for example, which I found really interesting actually).

But the second is the one I suspect is more common. I think people are uncomfortable with liking a character who is genuinely unremorseful about killing. It directly negates their values. On the one hand, it's super badass when Jason throws that duffel bag of heads onto the table of drug lords in the beginning of under the red hood - on the other hand, gross, right? This is why so many pit rage stories focus on him "getting better". Whether that means being literally magically healed from the pit's effects or if that means learning that killing is wrong, actually, the pit's influence, by the end of the fic, is gone, and the batfam forgives him for all the murder because it wasn't REALLY Jason, it was the Pit!

But like... No it isn't? Like there is zero evidence of the Pit ever influencing any of Jason's actions. Like, if anything, one of my favorite things about UTRH as a story is the fact that Jason is calm, calculated, AND IN THE RIGHT. Not that Batman is necessarily wrong - I mean, I think his particular reasoning is stupid, it's not a fucking slippery slope for most of us, but I also think that murder is, you know, wrong. But Jason is also right - he came back to life to find that nothing had changed in the batfam and Gotham, or if it had, it had changed for the worse! The Joker has done nothing but become more and more threatening as a villain and Bruce has done nothing to amend his methods of dealing with the Joker at all.

Jason's solution is simple, elegant - kill the Joker, he can no longer hurt anyone else. And in a system like Gotham's where corruption makes both rehabilitation and straight up locking someone away for good impossibilities, the genuinely most logical solution is to kill the Joker. Not necessarily the most moral from your or my point of view. But one that makes sense when you look at it through Jason's eyes as a deeply traumatized victim.

I think that if the Pit really had influenced Jason, the best way to use it as a narrative device is as another source of trauma - something that I have seen extremely occasionally in fics. Not as something that influenced his actions, necessarily, but maybe as something that was forced upon him, a kind of loss of bodily autonomy.

But at the end of the day, most of the time the point of pit madness in Jason Todd/batfam fic is to excuse extreme abusive behavior and make it all okay in the end, and I think it's because so many of the people writing him don't understand why and how he uses extreme violence in the ways he does and who feel extremely uncomfortable being fans of someone who genuinely believes that some people deserve to die.

#jason todd #dc #dc meta #lazarus pit #pit madness #batman #bruce wayne #gail speaks #ask #anonymous #jason todd my beloved #jt

[jcmorgenstern]

@superohclair oh god okay please know these are all just incoherent ramblings so like, idk, please feel free to add on or ignore me if im just wildly off base but this is a bad summary of what ive been thinking about and also my first titans/batman meta?? (also, hi!)

okay so for the disclaimer round: I am not an actual cultural studies major, nor do I have an extensive background in looking at the police/military industrial complex in media. also my comics knowledge is pretty shaky and im a big noob(I recently got into titans, and before that was pretty ignorant of the dceu besides batman) so I’ll kind of focus in on the show and stuff im more familiar with and apologize in advance?. basically im just a semi-educated idiot with Opinions, anyone with more knowledge/expertise please jump in! this is literally just the bullshit I spat out incoherently off the top of my head. did i mention im a comics noob? because im a comics noob.

so on a general level, I think we can all agree that batman as a cultural force is somewhat on the conservative side, if not simply due to its age and commercial positioning in American culture. there are a lot of challenges and nuances to that and it’s definitely expanding and changing as DC tries to position itself in the way that will...make the most money, but all you have to do is take a gander through the different iterations of the stories in the comics and it’ll smack you in the fucking face. like compare the first iteration of Jason keeping kids out of drugs to the titans version and you’ve got to at least chuckle. at the end of the day, this is a story about a (white male) billionaire who fights crime.

to be fair, I’d argue the romanticization of the police isn’t as aggressive as it could be—they are most often presented as corrupt and incompetent. However, considering the main cop characters depicted like Jim Gordon, the guys in Gotham (it’s been a while since I saw it, sorry) are often the romanticized “good few” (and often or almost always white cis/het men), that’s on pretty shaky ground. I don’t have the background in the comics strong enough to make specific arguments, so I’ll cede the point to someone who does and disagrees, but having recently watched a show that deals excellently with police incompetence, racism, and brutality (7 Seconds on Netflix), I feel at the very least something is deeply missing. like, analysis of race wrt police brutality in any aspect at all whatsoever.

I think it can be compellingly read that batman does heavily play into the military/police industrial complex due to its takes on violence—just play the Arkham games for more than an hour and you’ll know what I mean. to be a little less vague, even though batman as a franchise valorizes “psychiatric treatment” and “nonviolence,” the entire game seems pretty aware it characterizes treatment as a madhouse and nonviolence as breaking someone’s back or neck magically without killing them because you’re a “good guy.” while it is definitely subversive that the franchise even considers these elements at all, they don’t always do a fantastic job living up to them.

and then when you consider the fetishization of tools of violence both in canon and in the fandom, it gets worse. same with prisons—if anything it dehumanizes people in prisons even more than like, cop shows in general, which is pretty impressive(ly bad). like there’s just no nuance afforded and arkham is generally glamorized. the fact that one of the inmates is a crocodile assassin, I will admit, does not help. im not really sure how to mitigate that when, again, one of the inmates is a crocodile assassin, but I think my point still stands. fuck you, killer croc. (im just kidding unfuck him or whatever)

not to take this on a Jason Todd tangent but I was thinking about it this afternoon and again when thinking about that cop scene again and in many ways he does serve as a challenge to both batman’s ideology as well as the ideology of the franchise in general. his depiction is always a bit of a sticking point and it’s always fascinating to me to see how any given adaptation handles it. like Jason’s “”street”” origin has become inseparable from his characterization as an angry, brash, violent kid, and that in itself reflects a whole host of cultural stereotypes that I might argue occasionally/often dip into racialized tropes (like just imagine if he wasn’t white, ok). red hood (a play on robin hood and the outlaws, as I just realized...today) is in my exposure/experience mostly depicted as a villain, but he challenges batman’s no-kill philosophy both on an ethical and practical level. every time the joker escapes he kills a whole score more of innocent people, let alone the other rogues—is it truly ethical to let him live or avoid killing him for the cost of one life and let others die?

moreover, batman’s ““blind”” faith in the justice system (prisons, publicly-funded asylum prisons, courts) is conveniently elided—the story usually ends when he drops bad guy of the day off at arkham or ties up the bad guys and lets the police come etc etc. part of this is obviously bc car chases are more cinematic than dry court procedurals, but there is an alternate universe where bruce wayne never becomes batman and instead advocates for the arkham warden to be replaced with someone competent and the system overhauled, or in programs encouraging a more diverse and educated police force, or even into social welfare programs. (I am vaguely aware this is sometimes/often part of canon, but I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s the main focus. and again, I get it’s not nearly as cinematic).

overall, I think the most frustrating thing about the batman franchise or at least what I’ve seen or read of it is that while it does attempt to deal with corruption and injustice at all levels of the criminal justice system/government, it does so either by treating it as “just how life is” or having Dick or Jim Gordon or whoever the fuckjust wipe it out by “eliminating the dirty cops,” completely ignoring the non-fantasy ways these problems are dealt with in real life. it just isn’t realistic. instead of putting restrictions on police violence or educating cops on how to use their weapons or putting work into eradicating the culture of racism and prejudice or god basically anything it’s just all cinematized into the “good few” triumphing over the bad...somehow. its always unsatisfying and ultimately feels like lip service to me, personally.

this also dovetails with the very frustrating way mental health/”insanity” or “madness” is dealt with in canon, very typical of mainstream fiction. like for example:“madness is like gravity, all it takes is a little push.” yikes, if by ‘push’ you mean significant life stressors, genetic load, and environemntal influences,  then sure. challenge any dudebro joker fanboy to explain exactly what combination of DSM disorders the joker has to explain his “””insanity””” and see what happens. (these are, in fact, my plans for this Friday evening. im a hit at parties).

anyway I do really want to wax poetic about that cop scene in 1x06 so im gonna do just that! honestly when I first saw that I immediately sat up like I’d sat on a fucking tack, my cultural studies senses were tingling. the whole “fuck batman” ethos of the show had already been interesting to me, esp in s1, when bruce was basically standing in for the baby boomers and dick being our millennial/GenX hero. I do think dick was explicitly intended to appeal to a millennial audience and embody the millennial ethos. By that logic, the tension between dick and Jason immediately struck me as allegorical (Jason constantly commenting on dick being old, outdated, using slang dick doesn’t understand and generally being full of youthful obnoxious fistbumping energy).

Even if subconsciously on the part of the writers, jason’s over-aggressive energy can be read as a commentary on genZ—seen by mainstream millennial/GenX audiences as taking things too far. Like, the cops in 1x06 could have been Nick Zucco’s hired men or idk pretty much anyone, yet they explicitly chose cops and even had Jason explain why he deliberately went after them for being cops so dick (cop) could judge him for it. his rationale? he was beaten up by cops on the street, so he’s returning the favor. he doesn’t have the focused “righteous” rage of batman or dick/nightwing towards valid targets, he just has rage at the world and specifically the system—framed here as unacceptable or fanatical. as if like, dressing up like a bat and punching people at night is, um, totally normal and uncontroversial.

on a slightly wider scope, the show seems to internally struggle with its own progressive ethos—on the one hand, they hire the wildly talented chellah man, but on the other hand they will likely kill him off soon. or they cast anna diop, drawing wrath from the loudly racist underbelly of fandom, but sideline her. perhaps it’s a genuine struggle, perhaps they simply don’t want to alienate the bigots in the fanbase, but the issue of cops stuck out to me when I was watching as an social issue where they explicitly came down on one side over the other. jason’s characterization is, I admit and appreciate, still nuanced, but I’d argue that’s literally just bc he’s a white guy and a fan favorite. cast an actor of color as Jason and see how fast fandom and the writer’s room turns on him.

anyway i don’t really have the place to speak about what an explicitly nonwhite!cop!dick grayson would look like, but I do think it would be a fascinating and exciting place to start in exploring and correcting the kind of vague and nebulous complaints i raise above. (edit: i should have made more clear, i mean in the show, which hasn’t dealt with dick’s heritage afaik). also, there’s something to be said about the cop vs detective thing but I don’t really have the brain juice or expertise to say it? anyway if you got this far i hope it was at least interesting and again pls jump in id love to hear other people’s takes!!

tldr i took two (2) cultural studies classes and have Opinions

#wow this was a hot fucking mess #i tried to be organized but my thoughts weren't coming out super well #again anyone interested please feel free to jump in or correct me at any place you feel like #i die on the ''jason todd would be treated horribly by fandom if he were a character of color' hill tho #i could go on about 1x06 until im blue in the face but that's the uhh overview. the executive summary. #dc titans #i need meta tags and shit for this show #god help me in too deep #finding the meta side of fandom was a GIFT tho i love this shit #so excited

[edyacouky]

Can I Protect You? (3/4)

Like promise after the poll, here the next chapter of this fic

Hope you will like it (＾▽＾)

Can be read on AO3 Chapter 01, Chapter 02, Chapter 03

Can be read on Tumblr Partie 01, Partie 02 

                                                     ~*~

Roy has to leave Jason. Both of the omega were distress but they listen to their logical brain.

They know Roy have to retrieve Lian. She can stay at Star City indefinitely with Dinah and Ollie. Especially because Jason want to see her. Since Jason will stay at this hospital, they also have to move at Gotham. Fortunately, Jason still has a few safe houses so Roy have just to bring some of their things so Roy and Lian can live comfortably here.

“I will bring you yours books. Roy said before leave

-You realize that there will not have any place in this room. Jason smile

-Only your favorites ones then.”

They kiss then Roy leaves.

At first, Jason doesn’t believe he can fall asleep. Every time his eyes start closed, he was afraid that when they will open up again his baby will be definitely gone. He keeps rub his belly humming a lullaby. Then finally he was too tired.

When he wakes up, he jumps surprised and disoriented. He didn’t understand why he was feeling so unsafe.

Then he saw Bruce appears in one of the corner of the room.

“What the fuck? B, what are you doing here?

-I told you I will come back. Bruce said seating on the bed

-He is fucking one a.m. Jason groans after looking at his phone. Why are you here now?

-You’re in hospital

.-No shit Sherlock. 

-You are pregnant.

-Yeah, so what? You will give The talk after or before you tell me how stupid I was?

-Jason…

-What? Like you don’t want say: “How can you be so stupid in using Catherine’s maiden name, Jason? How can you think you can be a mother, Jason? Why do you think we needed it you, Jason? You only cause trouble, Jason.”

-Jason, please …

-No. Shut up. I don’t want listen to you. Just go.

-Ok, I will leave. Bruce concedes after a long silence. But first I have to warn you.

-Warn me about what? Jason asks afraid he puts his arms on his belly

-I … I didn’t react the way I should have when Dick and Kate bring you to the hospital.

-What did you do?

-I tell the hospital you were my son, as Bruce Wayne. Bruce admit

-Are you serious? Jason start to yell-

Look I just wanted tell you that the journalist may come here.

-May? They will come! I can’t believe you … Fuck. And I was thinking that I was stupid.

-Of course we will do everything so you can rest and focus on your and your child’s health.

-What will you do? Jason asks suspicious

-Well, we will be kept an eye on the hospital to be sure none journalists come bother you. Bruce said like he explains a plan to the Justice League or a project to the board of the Wayne Company. We will make sure the story of your coming back to the family will be legal, you will be …

-No.

-What?

-I will not coming back to the family. It is out of question. Forget about it.

-Why? It will be simpler.

-No it wouldn’t be. Roy and I are both omega. In the United State, an alpha from our packs can easily found a judge who you agree to entrust our children with him, withdrawing their guard. So no, there is no way I accept you as legally my alpha.

-Oliver Queen is Roy’s alpha. I know you let him babysitting Lian. Bruce said trying to understand Jason’s refusal

-We made him sign paper abandonment of kinship on our children. Roy and him discuss about a compromise if he wanted part of Roy’s life, part of our children’s life. He didn’t appear in our life like he own the place clamming to anyone that Roy is his omega!

-But … Jason … Bruce said dazed, you don’t believe I want take you your child, do you?

-I think you can do anything if you're sure you're right.”

Bruce can’t believe he really hear that. But Jason’s scent smell distrust and he keeps his arms protecting his belly and he fold up his leg against him.

Bruce knows how to control his smell but this time he can’t hide on distress he feels. 

 “I knew … Of course I knew even before you … before you go to Ethiopia that our relationship wasn’t … perfect. Why would you have run away otherwise if you were happy at the Manor? But I … I always that you knew … Since I found you in Crime Alley the only think I wish for you was to be happy and wealthy. That the only thing I want for you. Do you trust me?”

Jason looks deeply at Bruce trying to read his mind. He believes that Bruce was honest here with him. When he died, he didn’t doubt that Bruce loved him. Even after his bloody coming back, even after all their argument, he still believes it.

But he also believes that Bruce is a control freak, that he didn’t trust Jason’s choice. And he’s ready to anything if he though he has right.

“No. Jason realizes. I don’t trust you. Whether you find a story explain why Brucie Wayne though that Jason Johnson is his son, which he isn’t, and you can still be part of my life, whether you leave.

-Jason, let me think about that.

-What do you have to though?”

Bruce stays silent while Jason observes him with a frown. After a while, Jason said astonished:

“You will not even propose to sign the paper?

-Of course not. Bruce answers honestly. I can’t sign this.

-I can’t believe you.”

Suddenly, Bruce realizes that Jason has tested him, and for now, he fails the test. But if Jason could listen to him, he will understand why Bruce is right.

“Jason, you have to think about what will happen to your children if Roy and you died.

-What?

-If Oliver and I sign this paper, when after your death your children will be put on the system. You have no more parents beside us.

-Because you think that this time, you will survive us?

-Jason …

-And you have the pretension to believe Roy and I want you to have custody of our children?

-They will be my family. Bruce argues. I am wealthy…

-You’re a control freak and you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon! You’re really thought we want our children alone in your gloomy manor with only Alfred as company?

-It was not so awful when I took care of you, was it?

-Look at all your children. Have you really no idea how you make us feel?

-Jason, do you really prefer your children put on the system rather than with me? Bruce asks judgmental

-Of course they will not put on the system. We will choose a guardian. You know what? I don’t have talk to you about that. Just … just leave. Jason whispers tired

-Ok … Ok.”

Bruce raises his hand to stroke Jason’s hair but he moves his head so Bruce can’t touch him.

“Don’t come back.”

Bruce didn’t insist and disappears.

                                                    ~*~

After that, Jason was unable to sleep again. He was tetanized that abruptly someone will come force him to abandon his child after their birth. Roy seems like he has forgiven him for putting them in a dangerous situation, like he agree that Jason stay in their life. He doesn’t want judgmental Bruce to interfere.

When the nurse comes take his blood pressure, they almost suffocate in his frightened and vulnerable scent.

“What’s going on? Are you in pain somewhere?” They asks gently

Jason shakes his head.

“I just … Shit … Sorry …

-First pregnancy?”

Jason nods miserably.

“Don’t worry. It is pretty normal you feel like shit during all your pregnancy. Sometimes for nothing.

-I wish I knew that.

-That’s ok. Do you need more blanket? A phone to call someone?

-My mate will come today with some of my stuff. I will be good until now.

-Ok. In the meantime don’t hesitate watch the TV.

-Thanks.”

Jason watches a random TV channel trying to calm him vainly.

When finally Roy and Lian visit him, he starts to relax. Lian jumps on his bed crying.

“Jayjay! She screams hug him

-Hey Sweetheart. Shh. Everything will be alright.”

Roy put Jason’s things before kiss him and murmur him:

“I have your books, your phone and PC.

-Thank you.

-Why are you in a hospital? Lian asks

-Just a too little problem with the baby. Nothing’s too bad.

-So you come back to home with us?

-Not today. The doctor wants to be sure the baby will be ok.

-Jayjay may stay here for all the pregnancy. Roy adds

-What? That’s not good!”

Roy and Jason smile at her tenderly while hugging her.

“Everything will be alright. Roy said as much for Lian than for Jason. While you and I will have fun in Gotham. Jayjay could studies peacefully for his test.

-F… Fudge! Jason realizes. My test! I have to go to the college to pass them.

-No, I call them and they say with a sicknote you could have a permission to pass them by correspondence.

-You already call them? Jason asks amazed

-Of course. Well the jet lag helps. It was afternoon for them.

-Thanks Roy. I love you.

-I love you too.”

They kiss tenderly while Lian still hug Jason, rubbing her head on Jason’s scent gland. Jason and Roy discuss about Bruce’s visit via their phone for not disturb more Lian.

If Lian finally calm down with one of her coloring book, Roy was visibly angry with each sentence Jason send him.

“I can’t believe him. Roy sends

-I can.

-We will find a way not let him prevail on our life. Ok?

-Ok.”

They smile to each other before Lian shows them her drawing.

“That’s beautiful, Pumpkins.

-Very lovely.

-Thank you. She said proudly

-Before I forget, Roy said, Dinah and Oliver want know if they can come visit you. Do you want see them?

-They want see me?

-Of course. I explain the situation to Dinah when I was recovering Lian, so they are worried now.

-That’s nice of them. Yes. They can come if they really want.

-Didi and Ollie come? When?” Lian asks with bright eyes

Oliver was still pretty uncomfortable with them and make up by brings gifts for Lian every time he comes visit them. And Lian noticed the pattern.

“Don’t know yet. Maybe this week.

-Cool.” She smiles

                                                    ~*~

The doctor comes to Jason’s room to know how he feels and to inform him that she wants him have some test like ultrasound to monitor evolution of the hematoma.

“What’s a hematoma? Lian asks curiously

-It is a thick mass of blood anywhere in the body resulting from an injury or blood disorder. Doctor Armstrong answers without thinking

-Is that a bad thing? She starts to panic

-No. Roy said immediately. Do you remember when you hurt your knee when you fall there is two days? You had a hematoma and it wasn’t too bad, was it?

-The doctor is just being mindful because the baby need more attention.” That’s all. Jason adds

Lian look at her parents suspiciously before looking at the doctor. Doctor Armstrong looks unsettled to have this little girl focuses on her.

“That’s true.” She just said

Lian finally nods happily by that answer and let the nurses bring Jason to do the first test without a groan.

It was the first time Lian assist to an ultrasound and she was more impressed by the sticky substance on Jason’s belly than the blurring picture of the baby.

“Do you know their gender? One of the nurses asks. Do you want to know?

-No thanks. We want that to be a surprise.”

Good news is the hematoma doesn’t seem to grow up but the bad news is it doesn’t to seem to heal either. The next weeks could bring more information.

When they come back to the room, they were surprise that they were expected.

“Littlewing! Dick exclaims. Are you and your baby alright?

-I am sorry, sirs. Doctor Armstrong said to Dick and Tim. But I don’t remember that you allowed for visits.

-That’s alright, Doctor. Jason said surprising everyone. They can stay.

-Ok. I will let you for now. Don’t hesitate call me or a nurse if you need anything.” The doctor said before leave them.

Without letting time to the adults said a world, Lian asks:

“Who are you?

-That’s true you were so little last time I saw you. Dick answer sadly

-I know you? Lian insist

-Well, Roy said, Dick and I were best friend when you were a baby. He was babysitting you sometimes.

-Why did I saw you no more now?

-Life happens. Dick simply answer embarrassed

-I am just Dick’s brother.” Tim said when Lian look at him

After all was clear, Lian was relaxed, even if the adults weren’t, and say nothing when Dick and Tim sat on Jason’s bed.

“So, Dick said, how are you feeling Littlewing?

-I am fine. He answers looking insistently at Lian then at Dick, hoping he will understand they can’t talk about everything with her here

-Good. Did you have anything you need? Can you bring you something?

-No, we’re good. Jason said showing his books

-Oh! Did you pursuit your studies? Dick asks when showing the titles

-Lian, sweetheart, Jason tells her, can you get me a juice, please?”

Lian pouts but when Jason insists she obeys.

“Are you sure? Roy asks

-Yeah.

-Ok.” Roy kiss Jason before exist the room with Lian, letting the three ex-Robin alone

Suddenly, Dick loses his smile and Jason doesn’t hide anymore his anger at them. Only Tim stays calm.

“What the fuck were you think, Jason? Dick attacks immediately. You are pregnant! Why the fuck were you in this storage? You … you almost lost your child! God… We almost lost you … again … Why?

-Alfred calls me … What was I suppose do?

-Not come! We try contact you I don’t know many time the last past month, and you never answer…

-It is Lian who pick up my phone.”

Jason does not know why, but he cannot help but put himself on the defensive. Maybe he should not have let Roy go.

Dick looks at him astonished before he laughs.

“Oh man, this is so absurd.

-Shut up Dickhead! Jason groans. Replacement, maybe you have something else to say?

-Stephanie want you to know that she is deeply sorry and, she hope you will agree she comes visit you when she will feel better.”

Jason feels stupid now, he didn’t expect that.

“She has nothing to apologize for. Nothing was her fault.

-And thank you. Tim adds. Without you, we couldn’t have found her.

-Tim! Dick yells visibly angry

-It is true.

-What the fuck are you doing? Playing Bad cops, Good cops? You suck.

-We’re not play. Dick grumbles. Tim should say that.

-That’s true. Tim argues

-Please! Just stop. Why are you here? For real.

-Pass Stephanie’s message and make sure you’re alright.

-So, are you and your baby alright?

-Well, I may lose my baby, Jason answer bitterly hopping to offend them; the doctor can’t guarantee that my pregnancy will end well. And even if it did, Bruce will take my baby. So no, I am not alright. Are you happy now?”

Jason breathes loudly. He doesn’t want cry in front of Tim and Dick, especially with Lian who can enter in his room at any moment.

“What? Of course no!

-What do you mean Bruce will take your kid?

-What do you think that will happen now that the press knows he tells to the hospital I am his son? And he didn’t want deny or sign the papers.

-Which papers?”

When they hear Roy talk more loudly than necessary in front of the door, they stop the conversation immediately.

“Tadam! Lian exclaims showing all the different juices in her arms

-All of that just for me? Jason said exaggeratedly excited

-Everything is alright? Roy asks while Lian nods vigorously

-Yeah. They were leaving. Jason answers without looking at them, only smiling to Lian

-Yeah, we will leave you. Dick confirms. See you soon. And don’t worry Littlewing, everything will be alright, ok?

-Yeah sure. See you soon.

-For Steph, can she come see you? Tim asks

-If she doesn’t have much more interesting things to do.

-Ok. See ya.

-See ya.”

When they were alone, Lian seat on Jason’s bed and babble about all the juice she brings to him.

“You’re the perfect daughter. Jason praises her. There is everything I love. Thank you so much, Pumpkins.”

Roy kisses lovingly Jason while Lian place the juice box on the Jason’s shelf.

“Is everything alright? Roy asks him

-Yeah. It was just some tiring hours.

-Hey. I love you.

-I love you too.”

                                                    ~*~

The rest of the day was happier. All the tests making by the doctor shows that for now the baby was healthy. Lian was loving against Jason during all the during of the visit, groans to everyone who could perturb their tranquility.

They can’t be sure until she will be a teenager, but she acts more and more like an alpha kid.

Roy keeps talking about how the moving was going on. Since Jason has letting some furniture and that he was paying someone to clean up once in two weeks, Roy and Lian don’t have much to do.

They have still some things they have to tidy and some decoration to change so that can really feel like home.

“I took one of your safe house where there are three bedrooms. In case, we have to stay in Gotham after the birth.

-Fu … Fudge I hope not.

-So, I was thinking about decorate the room for the future baby. Which color would you like?

-Purple! Lian exclaims

-Purple will be your room, Pumpkins. Roy smiles

-Purple is the best color. All the rooms should be purple. She retorts

-Maybe not all the rooms. I like my kitchen the way it is. Jason laughs

-So, for the baby’s room…

-Roy, we might not bring them at home. Jason interrupts him. You shouldn’t waste your time with that.

-It wouldn’t be a waste of time. Look, you’re fine. The baby is fine.

-Roy, I don’t want talk about that now.

-Ok. Roy finally said despite wanting insist

-Thank you.”

Roy kisses him instead of answering him. He understands that Jason doesn’t want hopping too much but Roy can’t believe that they will lose their child.

He feels them move each time he puts his hands on Jason’s belly. That’s can be only the proof that they are alive and want to birth. They have to be ready to welcome them in their family. The child cannot believe that they weren’t wanted.

                                                    ~*~

Later this week, one hour later after Roy and Lian go out to eat, Oliver and Dinah arrive to visit him. Oliver pushes two caddies full of presents.

“What the fuck is all of that? Jason yells shocked

-I promise I tried to stop him. Dinah tries to defend herself. But there were so many cute things in the stores!”

She kisses his cheek with a big smile.

“When I though people think you’re here to stop me. Olivier said before puts awkwardly his hand on Jason’s shoulder. This one is for Lian and the other for the baby.

-Oh … Roy didn’t tell you … we may …

-He told us everything. Dinah ensure him

-So why did you …? You may waste your money.

-That’s not a waste.

-Roy talks to you about the baby’s room too. Jason said narrowed his eyes. Are you here for that?

-First, we’re here for you. To know how you are feeling.

-You’re totally here for that. Why will you arrive when Roy and Lian aren’t here otherwise?

-Well, Oliver said, because of another discussion I had.

-With who?

-With Bruce. Oliver finally admit when Dinah gets away from Jason’s bed so he doesn’t feel surround

-What?

-He comes to our house. Oliver explains. He learns about the fact that I sign this paper to guarantee for you and Roy I will never do anything to take away your children. And the fact that you want him signs it too.

-I told him. Jason admits. So what? Do you agree with him? Is for that you don’t want Roy here?

-God no, I don’t agree with him.

-Why are you here talking about that then?

-Because Bruce come on alpha bullshit mode and he makes me promise to try change your mind. You know how he can get.”

Jason loves when an alpha recognizes that “alpha bullshit mode” exist and use it to describe an alpha comportment. Especially Bruce’s comportment.

“So, are you sure you don’t want Bruce raise your children if an unfortunate event happen to you and Roy?

-I am positively sure.

-Cool. Good talk.

-Now that is over. Dinah exclaims. Let’s eat the cake.

-You bring a cake?

-Big enough to be sure Roy and Lian will have a piece when they will come back. So eat.

-That’s too is alpha bullshit. Jason said jokingly taking the spoon Dinah gives him. Try to force a pregnant omega to eat. But it is my favorite cake so I will let it pass.

-Too kind of you.” Dinah laughs

Lian was ecstatic when she saw the presents and the cake. She hugs Dinah and Oliver telling them they were the best grandparent ever.

After that Oliver ensures them that they have his support, that he will help him as much as he can with Bruce and the press.

“Talking about support, Oliver said with Lian on his knees playing with the little car that was brought to her, this room is too small and the hospital lacks of means…

-Please Oliver, no. Roy groans

-What I can say is Jason and our baby will be more comfortable if you let me pay you a better room. One with a bigger bed, a better bathroom maybe with a bathtub.

-Oh, I love that idea. Jason said. But we don’t need your money neither take more place that you could be more useful for someone else.

-If I give them enough money so they can reopen an aisle, you will not take too much place.

-Ok this is too much. Jason laughs

-But not a bad idea.

-Roy!

-What? Don’t you want this hospital have a new aisle?

-Why did I become the bad guy now?

-You should just accept Jaybird.”

                                                    ~*~

During this month, members of the hospital were nicer with Jason. Not only because of Oliver’s donation, but also because a second anonymous donation was made. Certainly Bruce. Jason doesn’t know if he does that because it is the only he found to show that he cares or because he was annoyed that Oliver make a donation in his city.

The doctor Armstrong admits that she wasn’t worry anymore about his baby’s health and if Jason want he could go back home. But the administrator doesn’t want him go because they fear lose the donation.

Jason hesitates many days but finally decide he was safer if he stay at the hospital. The cost wasn’t a problem and in case something wrong happen, the doctors and nurses could help him quickly.

The Batfamily and the Arrowfamily keep visit him. Even Bruce, at the night when he thinks Jason sleep.

Maybe Jason should admit that he was wake up, but it was easy ignore him the night and thinking about which decoration putting in the baby’s room in the day.

But when a photograph takes a nth photo of him in his hospital bed, he have to put an end to all of this.

So when Bruce enters to his room at midnight, Jason seat and said:

“That need to stop.

-I know you tell me not come back …

-But you still do it. And you dare ask me if I trust you for not taking my children.

-Jason …

-No. You will shut up and listen to me. You will deny your stupid declaration about me being your son …

-You’re my son.

-No. And don’t interrupt me again. You will deny your stupid declaration. And maybe, maybe I will let you saw them. But, if you stay stubborn about that, well ok I will be “your son”. Then you can be sure I will sue you.

-What are you …?

-I will accuse you to try illegally incorporating me in your pack. Look at me; I am a poor pregnant distress omega, while you’re a rich, powerful, arrogant alpha. I will make sure the trial will never end. That the investigation has to put in the light all your secret. The medical file of all your children. The anomaly about how you use some of your company’s benefice. If I have to I will recall that I wasn’t found in the same clothes I died. I will make sure everybody remember you were the only witness of my death. You, a playboy alpha you keep adopt young boy.

-You wouldn’t dare … Do you imagine in which situation it will put us?

-You know what you have to do.

-I will sign the paper. You win I will sign it. Please, Jason, I want …

-I don’t give a fuck about what you want! I am tired of giving a fuck about what you want!”

Jason feels pitiful when he can control his tears. He doesn’t want cry in front of Bruce. But he is so tired. He is always wanted his father to love him. He is always wanted to be a good son to him. But he can’t be happy if he worried every time about what Bruce may think of him. He can’t go forward with all the love, the bitterness he feels for Bruce. He had to let him go. He had to abandon who he was before his death. He has to focus on the family he creates with Roy.

“Let me go.”

He cries and keeps crying. He doesn’t even have enough strength when Bruce hugs him to push him. He hears Bruce crying too but he keeps begs him to let him go.

“Ok. Bruce finally said after a long moment. Ok. I will do what I have to do.”

For weeks he doesn’t have news from Bruce. Jason informs Roy about what happen. Roy wasn’t happy that Jason confronts him without him and was worried about Bruce’s reaction.

“Do you know what he will do? Roy asks him

-No. I have no idea.

-I will see him.

-Roy …

-I am a big boy Jason. If you can support Ollie, I can deal with Bruce. Just focus on your studies and the baby.”

Jason laughs.

“That’s so an alpha thing to say.”

That’s make Roy laughs too before they kiss.

“Everything will be alright.”

Jason doesn’t know exactly what Roy and Bruce said to each other. Roy just said him that Bruce seems exhausted and that he will make a press release this Friday. Bruce just to Roy that they all get what they want.

Jason hates waiting to know what Bruce decides. Can’t he tell him like any other normal human being?

Bruce Wayne was invited for the first day of the new art exposition at Gotham Museum. And if at first the question was only about the exposition, rapidly the journalists ask him about his declaration at the hospital.

Bruce inhale deeply before exhale.

“Despite the fact the topic of today is the new exposition, I will answer only once at your question. I will not repeat myself. Like you must know, I lost my second son, Jason Todd, when he was only fifteen years old. I never forget him. When a month ago, my older son, Richard Grayson, learning that the mate of his friend, Roy Harper, has difficulty during his pregnancy, I was there. When I heard an omega named Jason, who is the same age my son would be if he was alive, was distress on a hospital, I just … snap. I was convinced that this omega was my second son; I wished that this omega was my second son, because … I wanted to see my son grows up, happy, start a family. Roy Harper and Jason Johnson were kind enough to deal with my momentary snap despite the difficult moment they have to deal with it. By respect for them, I ask you to let them alone. That’s all. Thank you for your attention.”

Roy and Jason almost cry from relief. Finally, Bruce listens to what they want and take that in consideration. The press should let them alone after that. Maybe they will come back to divulge their baby’s gender but it won’t happen till three month.

The next time the doctor prints a photo from the ultrasound, Jason ask if he can have a second.

He put it on an envelope that he gives to Alfred for Bruce.

Moved by the gesture, Bruce isolates himself on his office to look at what Jason sends him. He was immediately smitten by this unborn child. By his first grandchild, he realizes even if Jason wouldn’t agree that Bruce doesn’t count Lian.

In the back of the photo, Jason writes his phone number with the following message:

“B,

Thank you. I know it must have been difficult for you. You’re welcome to visit them during the day if you would like that.

J”

After hesitate a few hours, Bruce finally screw up one’s courage and calls Jason.

“Hey. Yeah. Alfred gives it to me. Sound like they will have your eyes.”

They both laugh awkwardly before Bruce pursuit:

“If… if you still agree, I would like to … Yeah, tomorrow will be good. Just … Promise me that Ollie won’t be there.”

                                                    ~*~

Jason was almost eight month pregnant; when Scarecrow decides terrorize Gotham with a new toxin. Obviously Jason didn’t help the Batfamily, but Roy did so Oliver and Dinah babysit Lian in Star City.

Jason was worried about Roy, but also about the baby. The members of the hospital were too much occupied that they could keep doing as much test to ensure his baby’s health that they used to.

Every time they bring him to the test and bring him back to his room, his bed was collide with others patients bed. It doesn’t help him to reassure him.

But the panic provokes by Scarecrow pass and nothing bad happen to Roy or the baby, so Jason relax.

He was reading one of his school book while Lian coloring in her book. He will have to pass his test next week and was getting nervous. For this reason, he doesn’t realize something is wrong.

He feels a sting pain in his stomach but it was almost midday, reason for tha Roy went to fetch them food.

He feels humidity in his legs but, and it was embarrassing, it’s happen that he was wetting for nothing.

He sights and raises his sheet. He freezes immediately.

There is blood. Too much blood.

#dc comics #jayroy #fanfic #jason todd #roy harper #lian harper #bruce wayne #oliver queen #dinah lance #dick grayson #tim drake

[iphoenixrising]

Doctor!Tim Drabble

ll because of my lovely @satire-please. Ah, also Yang12 left a comment on the AO3 version of this thing and is a doctor. I got a cookie, so I did a little research hoping for another ;)  Ah, sorry if some of it is inaccurate and terribly edited since I’m running on Tim’s usual sleep-deprivation slowly being worn down by immense amounts of coffee.

 **

“Please. He cannot die”

And this? This is going to get him killed eventually.

(But it’s not like that possibility is going to stop him, is it? He’s already too far gone)

His body moves through the dark recesses of the Narrows, Gotham’s notorious underground, and he’s very, very lucky he got Steph’s dark purple scrubs today instead of his usual blue, or he would have stood out ever more than usual against the darkness.

And while he’s trying to breathe, trying to push his body faster, trying to fucking get there, he’s not thinking about the potential slew of criminals that would probably love to take him down for his shoes and wallet; he tries not to think about the hundreds of kids all over this part of town that hadn’t seen a doctor ever. He tries not to think about the drug addicts and petty crooks trying to feed their families.

He tries very hard not to think.

Instead, he focuses on the burn of his calves and thighs and lungs where he feels like he can’t get a full breath and not because he’s running his ass off. He feels the handle of his doctor’s bag probably permanently embedded in his palm from the grip (because he needs it and no one is going to take it, oh fuck no).

He tries to maintain his usual logical progression of thoughts, the next steps in the process, the possible deviations and plans contingencies depending on what he falls into once he fucking gets there.

He’s up in the air, jumping over the bus bench and subsequent homeless patron already asleep, landing it without pausing.

The text still on the main screen of his phone is terrifying, burning in his pocket as much as his calves are.

Three more blocks.

And of course he knew what could happen, what has already happened, what the dangers are, what strains are put on the body. In the last year, he’s learned with real hands-on experience that there are no lines in their world. No one to call time. No one to stop it from happening. He knows the statistics and probabilities, he’s made the calculations himself, given them the numbers because, you know, he needs them to understand. He needs them to know.

And he almost skids past the alleyway, chest heaving, legs trembling slightly with the twelve block sprint.

Robin’s body reacts instinctively to possible danger, arm raised to throw something potentially fatal before he seems to realize who’s already moving into their space.

Tim falls hard to his knees, muscle in his jaw twitching with how hard his teeth are clenched.

“Deets, Rob,” and he can’t pause, he can’t take a second to look at Nightwing’s closed eyes and slack features, he can’t just be the terrified boyfriend that wants to grip the hand and beg for some sign of life.

He’s never been able to be that guy.

No matter how much he secretly wanted to be.

Robin (Damian) eases down slightly when the bag snaps open and gloves are automatic, when hands rip into the skin-tight bodysuit, and the motions are smooth, unhurried, knowledgeable, just like when Robin throws a punch or a kick, when he takes down the wicked.

And even though he feels this man to be an interloper, an intruder, an outsider, to their world, he cannot help but be relieved (grateful) at watching things happen quickly.

“Crane...The Scarecrow—”

“Gas? Some other fear agent?” He cuts in, ripping open antiseptic wipes and cleaning the blood (while for some reason, the ABCDEs— Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure— keep running over his singed nerves).

“Possibly,” Robin admits low and graveled (because he feels guilty and Tim gets the picture of what probably happened), “he was wearing his re-breather, but Crane had his scythe, he could have-”

Robin pauses abruptly, one gloved hand coming up to his ear, tapping the comm to on.

Tim goes back to it, assessing the deep slice bisecting Nightwing’s thorax (and things like aortic disruption slap him in the face with the bruises of more blunt trauma), but a few seconds with the stethoscope gives him enough to know he’s not going to have to be worried about aortic trauma or pneumothorax. While he’s taking care of the laceration, he’s thinking about the effect of fear toxin and what kind of things N will have to deal with once he regains consciousness and—

“The Doctor,” is Robin’s reply to something, filtering around his running thoughts. “He is prepping N for transport.”

Am I? And with the stitches already started, he guesses he is.

“Do you have an antidote for the toxin?” Is the next thought, turning to Robin briefly. The rancid smell of old fish sticks finally filters in now that he’s not in frantic save my boyfriend mode. If the Red Hood was here, he would probably be worse, but at least Kory and Roy would take good care of him while he was away.

“Administered,” Robin answers shortly, listening to whoever is on the other side of the comm.

As the last necessary stitch is done, Nightwing jerks to awareness (not that he would necessarily be able to tell with the whiteouts but muscles tensing isn’t really something he’d be able to miss this close).

“Hey, hey, it’s me okay?” He tries while tying off and pulling out gauze pads, “Nightwing, can you hear me?”

The gloved hand finding his ankle is all the answer he needs.

“You were hurt in a fight with the Scarecrow. Do you remember anything?”

A huff of air, something that ends on a pained noise.

“I know, I know. I’ve got you so far. Robin gave you the antidote, so you just need to relax. We’re out of sight.”

And his fingers tremble just slightly when he pulls one glove off and reaches to touch the spot on the domino to slide the whiteout lenses up so he can see those dazed blue eyes looking right at him.

His smile might be shaky but at least the adrenaline has finally worn the fuck off and the hand around his ankle tightens again.

**

If he’d have known Robin was talking to Batman (you know, the motherfucking Batman), he would have made more of an effort to get the hell gone after making sure Nightwing wasn’t in any immediate peril.

When the rumbling sound of oh shit, run hits the mouth of the alley, Dr. Drake has an oh shit moment because he realizes who is providing transport tonight (and if he hadn’t been completely focused on Dick and the possible problems fear toxin could cause, he would have already been ghost).

Because he hasn’t met the Batman and hadn’t seen Bruce Wayne, his neighbor, since his parents were murdered a few months after he’d turned twelve. Bruce was the first person other than police to show up at his door once word Jack and Janet Drake weren’t coming back from overseas (where he learned a guy name the Obeah Man had poisoned them both) and offer him a place in Wayne Manor until CPS could figure out what to do with him.

He’d spent a night in Wayne Manor, supposedly between Jason and Dami’s run as Robin, and went back to the Drake Estate the next day.

(And maybe he’d secretly hoped Bruce Wayne would have offered him a place since, you know, orphans and such, but he always understood it was too soon after Jason died…he remembered the down spiral of the Batman, of how close he’d come to dying so many times before the JLA got Dick involved).

He’d known back then too but hadn’t felt any need to tell the billionaire/vigilante about his mounds of evidence. He’d gone into the system while caretakers kept the Estate and Drake Industries running.

This time he’d face the Batman who was probably seriously annoyed someone else outside “the family” knew the big secret.

It’s not the meeting he’d been looking forward to. You know, ever. As long as he stayed away from the vigilante, just catered to Nightwing and the Red Hood, kept himself firmly in the role of civilian, he’d hoped maybe Batman could overlook him, ignore him, whatever. But the imposing shadow falls over them while he’s working at the last vestiges of bandages around N’s upper body and checking the dilation of his pupils at intervals.

“Shit,” he manages very, very softly, slowly raising both gloved hands, palm out in the whole I surrender, don’t kick my ass motion he’s got going on. Slowly, he eases away from Nightwing while Robin already crosses the dirty alleyway to put himself right in front of the Dark Knight to apparently take the blame for calling in a civilian.

The two only get about sixty seconds of banter before Nightwing comes to abrupt, terrifying fear-toxined consciousness and takes Tim down to the ground with one leap (not that it isn’t a stretch or anything). His eyes are a wild, insane blue while he wraps both hands around Tim’s throat and proceeds to use all his vigilante experience to strangle him.

Tim gets barely a breath to hold before the hands, those hands, the ones that held him with absurd tenderness, that mapped out his body, that gripped his hips, that gave and took pleasure, that defended Gotham from the worst type of criminal, the hands Tim would stupidly hold on to once Nightwing finally passed out for the night/day, when those hands constricted his airway and show him the real danger behind the exterior.

He only gets a heartbeat or two before the shadow of the Bat was right over Nightwing’s shoulder, moving with incredible speed to catch Nightwing’s shoulder in an unbreakable grip and throw him the hell off Tim.

Robin, for as much as he seriously hates Tim, is still there, gripping the surgeon under the arms while he’s trying to get some air back into his body, pulling him up and away from where the Batman is facing off with Nightwing.

And even dizzy, almost unconscious himself, he can see the fine trembling of Nightwing’s muscles, the glint off his teeth white in the night.

It might be the lack of oxygen, but the two fighting looks like fast and furious swishes taking pieces out of the darkness, or it could be the way Robin is trying to drag him up to the side of the building so he can use the grapple and get Tim the hell out of there.

Either way, Crane’s fear toxin could hit Nightwing’s heart, accelerate it to the point of ventricular fibrillation and…

Woozy, he pulls out of Robin’s hands as the shortest vigilante fires his grapple, and manages to stumble forward on shaky legs, calling out a series of numbers.

Eight numbers.

Nightwing would know. Would know the year, the date, the day. Would know it was the same day he met a small boy who thought he was the world.

Like he’d thrown a switch, Nightwing stops long enough to stare at him, long enough for the flapping suit to still, and the bandage over his chest seem that much more white.

“It seems like everything is wrong and dangerous and scary,” he hurries regardless of the owfuck that is his treachea since his heavily compromised significant other pauses, “your brain is telling you these things, but I swear. Dick, I swear, it’s just me. It’s me and B and Little D, okay? Whatever you’re seeing is just the fear chemicals in your brain. It’s not real. I wouldn’t lie to you about this.”

He barely feels the gloved hand gripping the scrub top, pulling him back a step with real strength, but below the domino, Robin’s face is frozen in a stern scowl, the younger vigilante putting himself in front of Tim without a hitch.

“Grayson,” is the low entreaty, “he does not lie. Crane’s scythe was poisoned. And you...you fool. I should have been the one to take that hit. I was the one too slow. I underestimated him and we both know it. You should have let me—”

And a shuddering breath, Nightwing closes his eyes, muscles trembling finely while his pants fill up the alleyway.

The Batman, however, doesn’t move, doesn’t even seem to be breathing. “With us?”

“I...Boss, the toxin—”

And who knew what kind of hallucinations are right there in N’s frontal lobe for the toxin to play with. Who knew what kind of monsters were right there?

The Batman did apparently.

“Sorry, Dick.”

Tim just blinks and the Batman is just that fast because he only sees a blur where the back of the gauntleted hand takes out N’s lower jaw with enough force to topple the struggling vigilante.

**

“Get in,” is the only thing he registers while watching the Batman load Nightwing’s unconscious body into the front seat (and yes, he’s staring at it a little dazed because it’s the fucking Batmobile) while Robin hops into the back.

“Wh—? I’m sorry?” He manages hoarsely, coming out of his nerdgasm.

The way the cowl turns toward him gives the impression of impending doom. He’s pretty sure that Batman does really like to repeat himself.

“Get. In.”

Welp, okay. Getting in then.

He manages to maneuver Nightwing’s unconscious body around so they can share the front seat, his significant other pretty much laying on top of him with both Tim’s arms around him to keep them both in the seat when they reach impossible speeds. He manages to get one arm high enough to keep two fingers on the meaty beat at N’s jugular.

And the rumble of his thighs, the glass dome overhead, all of it just amazing (but would be life affirming if his boyfriend wasn’t fear-toxined as fuck and could come to and kick his ass easily at any possible second).

Before they reach the outskirts of Gotham, Robin leans forward from the emergency back-seat and starts tying a blindfold around his eyes, taking the nearly imperceptible nod from the Batman as some secret language (who knew, maybe they kidnap civilians all the time?). He doesn’t flinch away, doesn’t try to fight it, just shifts his grip on Nightwing and tries to swallow past the ache in his throat.

Both Bats are silent on the fast and furious ride, and he doesn’t say a word since the pulse under his fingers is steady at sixty-seven beats per minute. (And it’s nice, not hitting tachycardia right about now. Shit, now he jinxed himself).

“I understand you found out,” is the first thing he’s heard when the car finally slows and rolls to a final stop.

“Are we speaking the same language?” He asks, turning his head even with the blindfold, “found out? I mean, he told you, didn’t he?”

There’s a “tt,” loud enough to be obvious before the feel of air and movement behind them. The top has retracted and Robin already out.

Movement from beside him is the Batman leaping out, talking while he comes around the front of the car. Tim tracks him even if the echo might be messing with his equilibrium, “they told me you figured it out when Dick was in the cape.”

Abruptly, the blindfold is jerked off, and it’s literally a bat cave. It’s a bat cave.

A Bat Cave.

His inner fanboy is almost comatose.

He gets it together when Nightwing is pulled out of his arm, and the cowl moves in a subtle “here boy, heel,” motion.

Pet Doctor it is then.

Tim scrambles out over the side of the car, his “vigilante only” doctor’s bag with him as he breathes and tries to take it all in.

There’s a huge dinosaur and a penny the size of a small building. He pretty much drools over the massive supercomputer across the room, and bites down on his lip hard when they pass a massive workbench of microscopes, beakers, and more fun things than he’d had in the last year as an Attending. Still, he has to give them props for having state-of-the-art equipment in their contained medical area.

Once he steps across the curtain, he’s on his game, stepping into the role.

The Batman is laying Nightwing out while Tim does a quick scrub up before re-gloving. He’s turning on devices, ripping the suit further to attach the pads so he’s got a familiar litany of beeping and brightly colored read-outs.

He takes a step to the side, eyes wandering over the wall of containers, guessing at which one had saline IV bags to try flushing the drug out faster.

He’s already got tubing and a labeled clear bag without the Bats bothering to stop him.

Well, since he’s right on the edge of his nerves anyway, the unavoidable word vomit starts up anyway, “Crane is pretty consistent with the building blocks of his fear toxins. That makes it easier to treat, something to neutralize one of the components is enough to knock out most of the formula. The patient might experience more subtle hallucinations, but that’s about it. The full effects are gone within twenty minutes or so. I mean, if you’ve got a little—”

“How do you know all this?” Is Robin’s voice from the bottom of the gurney. “I believed you to be a surgeon.”

“I have other hobbies,” is his short comeback while focusing on getting the IV home. “Dating vigilantes is one of the more mild ones.”

And yes. Just yes. He sees the smallest quirk to the Batman’s mouth and totally gives himself a gold star.

But it’s just like back in his bedroom when he admitted to the truth, it’s something that has to come out because...because he has to make sure they know. It doesn’t matter if they believe, if he has no other part in their world other than patching up potentially lethal injuries and giving two former Robins a perch free of all this.  So he pauses once the IV is taped down, looking up at the cowled crime fighter and then at his sidekick (son) with eyes dark and a straight spine. With his purple scrubs, he looks so utterly badass.

“I’ve never told anyone. I wouldn’t do that, not with all the good you guys do for Gotham.” His gloved hands are braced on the rails by Nightwing’s bicep. “I’ve seen first-hand what these crazy assholes will do to innocent people. I’ve had enough of them on my fucking table to get why you guys are fighting the good fight.” A little softer even with his half-hoarse voice anyway, “Gotham is lucky to have you.”

The creepy Bat-stillness just makes him take in a painful breath, go back to the massive wall-o-medical-supplies to pull out drawers until he finds the right sealed trays he needs. “So. I mean, I won’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe, Mr. Wayne.”

In his peripheral, Robin doesn’t really twitch, but it’s a close thing.

The quirk to the Batman’s mouth gets sharper, and while he’s attaching the tube to the syringe, a gloved hand rises, makes a few presses before the cowl is swept off over the lower half of the face to reveal disheveled dark hair and electric blue eyes, eyes that missed nothing. Eyes that saw it all.

Tim almost drops the syringe when he’s looking at Bruce Wayne in the Batsuit.

Best.

Reveal.

In.

History.

When he realizes his mouth is hanging open in shock (and wow, he’s never getting an invite back to the BAT CAVE. Good job him), his jaw click shut and he goes right back to drawing blood out of the crook of his boyfriend’s arm.

“Bruce,” the crime fighter replies. “ It’s nice to see you again, Tim.”

And just like that, Robin pulls off the domino to become Damian Wayne, his expression neutral, but the head nod is really more than he would have ever imagined.

Tim looks from one to another while pressing a cotton ball on the tiny wound, holding up a blood sample in his other hand that he fully intended to take over to that workbench and analyze. He fully intended to talk out the components, to use the very expensive and handy-as-hell equipment, give Batm—Bruce—B—the full breakdown and give a comparison of possible ways to counter the effects.

And well, yes, he was already moving that way, sliding on a conveniently placed stool, picking out a blank slide from the box caddy-cornered to the microscope, and to putting a sample on a blank slide to study. It wouldn’t take him long to figure out what they needed to know to synthesize another cure more specialized to this strain of toxin and—

Divesting himself of gloves and gauntlets, cape and the body suit somewhere along the way, Bruce is moving into the secondary work space, taking the syringe to get his own sample and start-up with warming the equipment to get to work.

Apparently at some point, he his life his Wonderland proportions because he’s about to do the legwork on the Scarecrow’s fear toxin with the real Batman.

It’s another foot in their world, another step closer to danger and possible horrible death, the stupid things Dick and Jason worry about all the time, their paranoia just another reason his locks are new and suddenly his windows are oddly reinforced.

Even though it’s a terrifying thing, to be thrown into their world where the odds will always be stacked against them, where there’s little more than pain and fear and bad guys and hard nights, he’s oddly can’t find anything wrong with sitting his ass right here and picking out the four major building blocks while Bruce is pulling together what they would need to counteract them.

When Dick’s heart picks up abruptly, quickly, the phrase ventricular fibrillation, he’s the one across the room like a shot, throwing himself up on the gurney to straddle Dick’s hips and use both palms over his heart to try slowing the fluttering rhythm the hard way the antidote goes through the final few minutes of preparation.

If he babbles stupid things about how no, you don’t get to do this and you’re not going to lay down and die on me and fight, Dick. Fucking FIGHT!, neither Bruce or Damian say a word about it, not while Damian grips Dick’s bicep, face furrowed and closed-off and Bruce hurries the process, eyes moving from Tim on Dick’s chest to the final countdown until the antidote is ready.

“Please, babe,” he finally breathes out, husky voice catching while his shoulders and arms start feeling the strain. “Please.”

Dick’s body jerks once, a sharp spasm that almost throws him off, but Tim hangs on long enough for Bruce to shove the syringe in Dick’s neck and push the plunger.

Thirty seconds.

He tastes copper in the back of his mouth.

One minute.

The machines are blaring as a side note, but fuck, he can’t give up. Bruce is staunch beside him, Damian unconsciously leaning closer.

Two minutes.

And the beats even out, slow down to the steady rhythm of his hands.

Dick’s whole body seems to go slack under his thighs.

Even as he eases off with chest compressions, all three of them let out a hard, deep sigh of relief. He unwinds his stethoscope free hand gripping Dick’s shoulder like a lifeline while he presses the disc right over the calming heart. He doesn’t ease up for long, aching minutes, even when Bruce and Damian step away.

“I assume coffee and dinner wouldn’t be remiss at the moment, Master Timothy.”

Blinking because he’d been kind of lost counting Dick’s heartbeat and staring down at his closed eyes, he turns to a slightly older Alfred Pennyworth. The man still striking in his professional suit, a calm eye in the storm.

“Coffee?” He repeats dumbly, almost desperately, several of his vertebrae cracking sharply (and there’s no clock so he has no idea how long he’s been leaning over his vigilante boyfriend/patient, just listening to his heartbeat).

“Indeed,” the butler cajoles with an easy, pleasant air, “perhaps the homemade pizza would also be to your liking, Sir?”

“Coffee and pizza?”

Yup. Count him in.

Free food and caffeine is always a win.

Bruce and Damian sit at a workbench with him and the three of them devour enough to make Alfred Pennyworth look please enough to bring more.

Somehow, between the sixth slice and bottom of his third cup of coffee, he somehow wedges himself under the medical gurney Dick’s laying on to sleep the sleep of the just and highly over-worked while the steady beat of the heart monitor lulls him further under. If someone (like Damian) throws a blanket over him before they go upstairs for the night, well, the surveillance footage of the Bat Cave accessed later by the Red Hood would never show it.

#doctor!tim #tim drake #dick grayson #bruce wayne #damian wayne #this was fun #mentions of Dickjaytim #my fic #my writing #long post