#tim represents hope to bruce and to dick

[gremlin-bot]

The Trials and Tribulations of Summoning Your Boyfriend

This is based on this prompt from @stealingyourbones !  Hope y’all like it!

AO3 link!

Tag list-  @bewitched-forest @half-dead-ham @eyesofcrows

Tim wasn't up in the watchtower much. It's the Justice League's base and he had his own city and team to take care of (even if said team is a branch of the Justice League and he shared responsibility of Gotham with his family). All of that is to say that when he and other available members of the League were called to the watchtower, it was bad.

Tim was expecting a world ending threat. What he wasn't expecting was a summoning circle and a portion of Justice League Dark to be there. John Constantine and a summoning circle always means bad news, it's even worse that Zatanna and Captain Marvel are there helping. What kind of threat is it to warrant this? All of this is topped off with superman wheeling in a projector to the training room they are all set up in.

Bruce steps up next to the projector. He looks extremely tired, not that most people could tell but a bird knows the bat well. As Bruce turns on the machine, Constantine takes his place next to him with a book bound in leather that holds pages that glow a slight green. 

"I called you all here because of this creature attacking Central City." Projected on the wall is a blurry image of a black dragon with a purple underbelly, its whole body glowing.

"Justice League Dark was able to identify it as from a place called the Infinite Realms. They have advised us to not engage and to evacuate everyone we can from the whole city. The Flash has started that. Half of you will join him, as indicated by folders Superman is handing out. The other half will be here to help with the solution that Constantine is handling."  

As Bruce directs those in the evacuation group, Constantine takes over the debrief. "The beast in Central City is a bitch to take care of and the solution is even worse. You boy scouts are here to make sure everything doesn't go completely tits up. I hate to say this and hate fucking doing it even more, but we are trying to trying to summon the Ghost King." 

At that point Tim tuned out a bit. Usually he wouldn't have but he actually knows more about what's happening than Constantine does. Looking back at the creature still being projected, he can vaguely recognize it now. How did Aragon get out of the realms? Especially without being noticed by Da-

Tim was pulled out of his thoughts by Dick, who apparently was dragged here as well, brushing past him with a smirk. What a dick, going out of his way to mess with him. He really should get to where he was needed. 

Taking his place near the top of the summoning circle, he noticed how it was actually set up. It was wrong, completely and utterly wrong. The array was correct. It showed the right constellations and had the right places connected but the candles aren't on the circles that represent the planets, nor was the offering placed correctly. This wasn't going to summon anything. Too bad that Tim was going to let them try anyway. It's better than trying to correct it and explain why he knew it was wrong, plus where was the fun in that.

The other heroes settle into their places. The ones left were the Justice League's big three , the JLD members, Conner, Dick, and Tim himself. They all looked a little nervous and on edge in their own way, from Superman's clenched fists to Dicks never moving smile. Besides Tim who was a bit more relaxed than he really should be. He really should hide it a bit better.

Constantine reading from the book starts the summoning. Latin falling heavy from his lips, a wind that should not be possible in a satellite blows through the room, the candles' flame turns neon green. Everyone holds their breath as the chanting stops. The candles flicker once, twice, and nothing. The room quickly reverted to how it was before. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

"Bollocks." Constantine deflates. "Looks like this didn't work, we must have fucked up somewhere." 

"Why don't we explain how we set it up and go from there." Zatanna offers, gesturing for everyone to gather around her and Constantine. Tim stays back and waits for the rest to be distracted by figuring out what went wrong. He can tell that Bruce and Dick have noticed his distance from the others but they haven't done anything yet.

Once the distraction is set, Tim moves in front of the correct offering section of the array. Removing his glove and taking out a birdarang from his belt. He can hear the moment everyone notices the actions he has taken and the one about to come.

"Red Robin, step away from the summoning circle." Bruce demands with concern hidden in his voice. 

Tim doesn't listen. 

In the moment before anyone can get to him, Tim slashes his ring finger on his left hand. It wasn't deep per say but it definitely wasn't a paper cut. Blood flows out of the wound (almost like a ring), hitting the floor inside the offering ring of the array.

Several things happen at once. First, Dick who was the closest and was trying to grab him, stopped in his tracks along with everyone else. Second, the summoning changed. The first offering was ejected from its place, the crystals shattering. Candles slide at high speed, settling on the represented planets, their flames changing color. The summoning is like a loaded spring trap now. Tim grinning, sets the trap off.

"Alnilam, my love" dropped soft and sweet from Tim's lips with a crawling static buzz. Everyone could hear the buzzing honey intertwined with those words despite their low volume.

The stilled room stirred, yet no one but Tim himself had moved. A cold fog rolls out from the array, blowing a light breeze with it. The static can be felt in their scars, healed bones, all the near misses, and clipped hits. All close calls of the past haunt them in this moment. The room's lovely held in tension snaps as the soul deep buzz is pulled from them into the array. It spills into a Lazarus, toxic, death, neon green pool with small rippling waves that crest with reflection of the space that engulfs the watchtower. This rippling pool stretches upwards. Everyone struggles to move as they inch closer to Tim. As the liquid barely reaches the tall ceiling of the training room, gravity seems to take hold. It sloshes down, turning into a cool fog on impact. Leaving a being in its wake, that is kissing Tim's offered bloody hand.

Danny is in his full king garb. A black metal crown floats above his head surrounded by light similar to earth's aurora borealis. White hair glowing starlight complementing pale blue skin, that blushes the prettiest cyan, not that anyone but Tim can see that. Jewelry hanging from pointed ears and slender neck. His suit is hidden by a long cloak cut from the barrier between realities. The outside is the space outside the satellite with the interlining of a swirling Lazarus green peaking out as the end floats upward. 

Tim is grinning like a love struck fool and he knows it. This is so worth the lecture he will be getting from both Bruce and Dick. Danny raises his head, blood staining his lips as they stretch into a fanged grin just as love struck.

"Hey Red, uh what the fuck!?" Dick's voice snapped the two boys out of their own world and back into the one with everyone surrounding them with looks of concern and from certain people, bone deep exhaustion. Danny drops Tim's no longer bleeding hand, allowing Tim to turn to fully look at the group around them. Tim's grin is now one of mischief and secrets yet to be spoken. From the look on Bruce's face if Danny wasn't behind him he would be out of the watchtower and locked in the manor despite not living there anymore. Too bad that Constantine could give less of a fuck about what's going on between Danny and him.

"Your highness, we called your assistance because one of your subjects is causing trouble in the moral realm and-" as Constantine told and worked out what was going on, Danny moved so he was behind Tim, his arms loosely wrapped around Tim's neck and chin resting on top of his head. Danny was floating off the ground to do this. 

"Oh! That's Aragon, give me 10 minutes and he'll be out of your hair. There is no payment needed, I insist. But before that –'' Danny’s legs float up, flipping him to face Tim upsidedown. A grin that only means trouble for Tim sets on his pretty face. “Red, Babe, Love. You could have just called me if you wanted me to meet your dad and his superhero friends!” 

“Danny, I swear to the Ancients if you disappear –” Tim couldn’t finish the hollow threat as Danny gave him a peck on the cheek and disappeared from sight. Leaving Tim to the heroes, one being Bruce ‘Tim is my little princess’ Wayne and another is his very protective brother. 

Tim looks at his family members in the room, and wow, yeah he is not escaping the interrogation when they get back to the manor. Bruce is approaching him swiftly and looks as if he is going to grab him and never let go. Dick is no better, he has a shit eating grin with his wrist computer up and is already typing. Everyone is going to be there for the interrogation and Bruce's coddling, Tim just knows it. He's going to make Danny go back to the manor with him, he is not doing this alone. It's the least his boyfriend can do after leaving him to deal with this. It was still worth it, even if he has to flee to the Infinite Realms after all is said and done. He’ll just become a trophy husband for Danny and avoid his family at all costs in doing so.

"Red Robin, would you please explain what your relation is with the King of the Infinite Realms." Bruce is definitely in mama bear mode, he was never going to be let outside of the manor.

"I think there are more pressing matters at hand here, like how King Phantom is on his way to Central City and we have yet to inform anyone on the ground." Tim is stalling and everyone knows it, but he's not wrong.

Bruce grumbles about not knowing the king's name but still steps away from Tim and starts relaying the relevant information to the evacuation team. Dick is leaving him alone for the moment, probably waiting for more privacy. Conner on the other hand is trying to hold in his laughter at the situation he got himself into. Tim just glares at him, even if Conner can't see it under the domino. At this point he doesn't care what the rest of the League thinks, he just wants Danny back so they can face Bruce and the rest of his family like he (they) has been avoiding. 

Danny was quicker than his self-imposed time limit, taking 7 minutes instead of 10. Giving just enough time for Bruce to almost give an on the spot interrogation, almost being Tim's saving grace. Unlike Danny, who decides to drop his invisibility only after wrapping around Tim's torsos, his head and arms taking their previous places. 

"Your ghost problem is taken care of. I'll be taking Aragon back to the infinity realms, along with Red Robin here." Danny casually says, like it isn't kidnapping.

"Wait, what." Tim said in shocked silence.

"Well since you summoning me got me out of a meeting with the observants, it's a perfect time to go on a date, you know like all of our dates." Danny is saying these things on purpose and he better get them out of here quick before Bruce tackles them.

"You are a menace!" as Tim says this, ectoplasm begins to pool at their feet, spreading out making a barrier of open space around.

"A menace, you love!" Danny lovingly teases as a low rumble ripples from his core making Tim smile. This is the last thing the heroes hear before the couple drops out of the mortal realm and into the one of the dead.

#Tim drake x danny fenton #Danny Phantom #danny fenton #dp x dc crossover #prompt fill #summoning fic #ghost king danny #dc x dp #Tim Drake #Petals and Arrays of The Dead and Those Yet To Be #Writing on the walls

[tinkerbelle05]

How would Battinson react to his kids, his babies, dating, and growing up?

The first was Dick. He saw the growing embers of something more than friendship between him and Wally. The longing stares when one thought no one was looking, the longer than necessary touching, the blushes. It seemed like everyone could see but those two, and it was cute.

It stopped being cute when Dick entered his office one afternoon. Bruce hadn’t known what personal space was since Dick got comfortable with him. Dick would frequently invade it by jumping on Bruce’s back for an impromptu piggyback ride, though those were things of the past the older and bigger Dick got, or just giving him a bear hug.

But this was different. The way he actually walked rather than ran, the way his demeanor was more closed off and hesitant rather than open and relaxed like it usually was.

He walked to meet Dick halfway, abandoning his work. He gently held his shoulders.

“What’s wrong, Chum?”

Dick took a deep breath, in and out. “I have a boyfriend! It's Wally.” He blurted out and looked at Bruce.

Bruce saw fleeting hope of acceptance, of love in Dick’s eyes. But he also saw uncertainty of rejection in them too.

“That’s great, chum. Who confessed first?” Bruce was happy for Dick, he deserved happiness, especially in their line of work. But a small part of him felt bitter about it.

Not Wally himself, he knew the kid for years and he was a good one. But of what he represented, his birds were growing up and leaving the nest. Leaving him. Now, Bruce was happy to see his children growing into themselves. However, he feels like he isn’t needed anymore.

Why would they need a protector, who isn’t even that good at it anyway, when they showed again and again that they can provide for themselves?

The announcement reminded him of Jaime and Jason, he liked him and Damian certainly did, but his kids’ were leaving. Like, today Jason and Damian canceled dinner to be with Jamie and his family for dinner.

But this wasn’t about how Bruce feels. So even if it was bittersweet he listened to Dick rave about Wally.

Giving Bruce so much detail, he wasn't sure if this even was the same person, but he guessed being childhood best friends are different from being boyfriend.

“Alfred, have you seen Tim? He is not in the Cave or his room.” They were working on a hard and gruesome case, and just when Tim was healing from that nasty cut he got last night. Bruce knows how Tim gets when they have cases like these. He would work from day to night until he gets an answer, and that is if he doesn't fall asleep first. Even if he was recovering, and that missing spleen of his didn’t make things better.

It was one of the many things he neglected to teach Tim when he was first Robin, to have a good work-life balance, not that Bruce could talk but still, too filled with grief to see. But he is making a change, and that is starting with getting Tim to bed.

“No, I haven't, Master Bruce,” the butler answers, “but I’ll be on the lookout for him.”

Bruce gave a nod and continued to search the Manor looking for his son. He’d done this before, hiding from Bruce, because he knew what will happen. It’s childish and oftentimes annoying but a tiny part likes taking care of Tim. Tucking him into bed, kissing him on the forehead, and closing the door slowly.

Eventually, he does find Tim, he’s in Bruce’s room. His black hair, which was in that middle stage of looking long while short, looked like a bird’s nest and his eyes were dazed like he had taken a nap. His disheveled sheets and blankets were evidence of that.

“Good afternoon, Timmy.” Bruce greets him with a small smile.

Tim blinked at him like an owl and he came to his senses slowly. He looked like a misbehaving child who got caught red-handed with contraband cookies.

“Shit!”

“Language” Bruce corrected automatically. Raising kids for years will do that to you, especially Jason and Duke.

“Sh– shot! Sorry B I'll go.”

Bruce leaped forward to stop Tim’s frantic movements. “Tim, you don't have to leave or anything. I'm fine with you staying in my bed. I was just looking for you all over to take a break. But I see you’re already doing that..”

Red paints over Tim’s ears and neck and attempts to look away from them. “Well duh, I'm not a kid anymore B.”

His last all-nighter was 2 days ago. Duke found him in the dining chair.

Tim looks him straight in the eyes, “I heard you talking to Alfred. I was worrying you with my bad self-care habits and I decided to grow up. Besides, I can't live how I used to, especially without my spleen.”

Now it was Bruce’s turn to look surprised. He thought he would never see the day. But why are tears threatening to spill out then? Why was there a hole forming in his heart then? He should be happy, his children are growing into fine young men and women. So why....?

“Woah, woah, Bruce!” Tim’s alert voice yelled for him, breaking Bruce from his thoughts to see that tears were actually forming.

“Oh, don't mind me,” he shrugged Tim off and blinked the tears away. “I have some work that needs to get done, so you go rest up.” Bruce pushed Tim into the bed and tucked him into the covers, kissing him on the forehead, and closing the door slowly. A routine he’s done multiple times with multiple children, and his mind wonders when they’ll ask him to stop doing that.

He ignored Tim’s shouts to come back and closed the door. He walks aimlessly through the quiet and empty manor. It’s been ages since the building was filled with sound and laughter, now it sits in silence. So quiet Bruce can hear his footsteps echoing throughout the halls when 2 months ago he couldn’t even hear what Duke was saying while Tim and Damien engaged in their weekly arguments about everything and anything.

Oh, Duke. Gotham’s daytime vigilante, one of her many victims. He came to Bruce unsure in everything he was doing but nowadays he’s grown sure in his actions. On the last patrol, Tim had gotten hurt badly and the only way out was for Duke to drive. He didn't need Bruce or Babara to guide him.

His kids were growing up, and soon, they wouldn't need him anymore.

#soft bruce wayne #battinson #duke thomas #dick grayson #wally west #birdflash #tim drake #bruce wayne #insecure bruce wayne #jason todd #jamie reyes #damian wayne #batfamily angst #batfam #batdad

[pendragonsclotpole]

succession but bruce wayne is 45 and tired of having to attend pointless board meetings when he’d much rather be plotting how to get rid of all the stupid money he has (he’s tried everything, invested all of his funds into gotham, secretly funded the justice league and hid it from his tax returns in hopes that the irs would bust him. spoiler: they don’t, they consider his anonymous donations to be charity AND WRITE HIM TAX BREAKS. he’s even given everyone at WE a living wage, offered free daycare, amazing healthcare, in hopes of making running WE so expensive it drives down profits, but all it does it ramp of productivity and stock prices. he’s in too deep. let one of his children handle it pls).

candidate #1: dick grayson-wayne, bruce wayne’s eldest boy, former cop, circus acrobat, college dropout and style icon (TM). he immediately takes himself out of the running when a pap keeps calling him “richard” and he shouts back “dick.” that’s his name, but no one cares. also his pics from his mullet era resurface. the world is never the same again and the board summarily agrees he’s too divisive.

candidate #2: jason todd-wayne. initially the main contender when alleged footage of him breaking into a very important wayne warehouse leaks. he’s shouting “reclaim the means of production.” wayne enterprise stock falls but the internet is in favor. he’s unfortunately taken out of the running as all legal records indicate—he’s dead? but there’s cute footage of a 13 year old jason todd ardently defending the historical accuracy and superb writing of jane austen’s pride and prejudice. he loudly proclaims he’ll marry mr. darcy at the end. his candidacy remains very popular and the internet starts publishing memes about converting to satanism and practicing necromancy to revive jason todd-wayne.

candidate #3: tim drake. a popular front runner for the old guard of gotham as tim’s also the heir of the drake fortune. unfortunately, he runs away screaming every time someone comes up to him asking about the possibility of taking over WE full time. a major scandal breaks out when he’s caught buying something in a shady alleyway, and people are convinced he’s another partying rich boy. until the full footage leaks and it’s revealed he was buying coffee beans from a barista in the alleyway behind a newly opened coffee shop. multiple coffee shops then make posts online that yes, bruce wayne has called each of them and offered them copious sums of money to NOT serve tim drake or anyone representing tim drake caffeinated drinks after 5pm and before 5pm. many of the videos feature framed photographs of fake wanted posters featuring a very tired looking tim. tim, on a caffeine withdrawal posts a tiktok ranting about the injustice of tyrannical parents think this energy:

and the hashtag save tim wayne trends.

candidate #4: damian wayne. except as a twelve year old he’s not really in the running, except he’s the only wayne by blood so some members of the board are gunning for him. one of them kidnaps him, huge mistake, and footage leaks of him chasing his kidnappers with a katana? appears. he’s officially out of the running but it also fuels calls for bruce to be liberated so he can actually parent his children. joke’s on them, damian’s damianess is 99% thanks to richard grayson.

candidate #5: cassandra cain-wayne. she takes herself out of the running but she’s a dark horse because everyone loves her youtube channel Cass Cayne and her business decisions for brand deals are top tier. bruce makes background appearances and the internet learns cass is def the favorite.

candidate #6: stephanie brown. she’s not a wayne? people think? are 99% sure? but like she’s always there? she dated tim drake? maybe? she calls bruce dad!

#batman #bruce wayne #dc #batman comics #batman characters #richard grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #batman headcanon #batman fic #fanfic prompt

[modernday-orpheus]

Okay, hear me out. If Tim idolized Batman instead of Robin, Bruce would be dead.

Disclaimer: I am not perfect and don't know everything there is to know about comics! Some shit here may be accidentally based on fanon rather than canon! Please be nice!

Tim, of course, respects and looks up to Batman. Bruce is his mentor and his father, so it's safe to assume he loves him as well. But his Hero™ is and always has been Robin, Dick at first but especially Jason judging by the timeline. Most people in Gotham view Robin as an addendum, an extra, nothing more than a kid sidekick. They’re disappointed if her shows up without Batman, and question his abilities. Tim’s hero worship combined with his knowledge of their identities, in this case, allows him to see things as they truly are. For Tim, Robin is a light in the dark, a balancing act with Batman, not his sidekick but his partner. He’s a necessary part of the Dynamic Duo because while Batman represents Justice, Robin represents this Hope for a better future. Sure, he’s just a kid; by all accounts he shouldn’t even be out there fighting, but maybe, if he is, no other kids won’t have to fight as hard just to survive. He represents the soul of Gotham, underneath the criminality and corruption; a city full of people, tough-as-nails, saying “No, fuck you, this is our city” despite the constant danger. He represents the people who come together in times of crisis, who help out their neighbors when each new disaster strikes. He’s trained in martial arts, of course, and he’s a skilled fighter, but Robin’s primary job is always the safety of civilians. He’s the one that gets scared little kids out of a burning building while Batman keeps the villain of the week busy, the one who stays behind with SA victims walks them home because Batman is too much for those things. He uses fear where Robin uses kindness, compassion, and love.

Tim sees this. So, when Robin dies and Batman is getting rougher, more violent, more careless, he notices. He notices that Bruce is picking bigger fights than he can handle, taking hits he could dodge, breaking four ribs instead of two, barely making it back to the manor each night. If he idolized Bruce, at this point, he would trust him the way the rest of Gotham does. He would assume it was a rough patch, and Bruce would recover, and that Batman would always save the day. He would see a solitary hero, the way Batman wants to be seen. He wouldn’t think it necessary to reach out to Dick for help, and even if he did he would think Nightwing would be enough help. He wouldn’t understand the importance of the Robin mantle, the specific role that needs to be filled. Nightwing can represent a lot of things; fluidity, positive change, and freedom come to mind immediately, but there's no world where Nightwing represents Gotham and Hope the same way Robin does. He can’t serve the same purpose anymore, not in that uniform. Bruce would die at Two-Face’s hands in that very first arc, I have not a single doubt in my mind.

Then, as Tim comes back to Gotham post-training and actually starts to help out, it’s common for him to be the conscience. He falls easily into the role of Robin, the role that makes him protector of the innocent. He’s not like Jason, raised by these streets in a very different way, though I wouldn’t say either is better or worse. Where Jason struggled and had to fight, out there each night pre-Bruce out of necessity rather than choice. He knows all the best hiding spots and back-alleys because it kept him alive. He chooses to be Robin because he needed a hero and wants to be that for other people. Tim chose those streets, and he chose them for Robin. He knows the best hiding spots because they put him closer to the action, because he raised himself on all those cold nights alone on rooftops with his camera. He knows the back-alleys because they made him faster, made it so his little kid legs could keep up with his hero so he wouldn’t miss a moment. He lives for Gotham nights, for the thrill of seeing everything, getting to know everything. He chooses to be Robin because where his parents failed to teach him how to be a good person, Robin stepped up. He bases his morals off of watching Robin help people, and because he’s a kid he assumes that it’s normal to behave with altruistic intentions and prioritize others.

There’s a point to be made here, briefly, about how this lends itself to Tim’s self-worth issues and insecurities. If his job is to assist, supplement, guide, and fill in the blanks when Batman fails, he doesn’t have the option of failure. He expects that how he does his job, as long as the job gets done, doesn’t matter because he doesn’t view himself as the hero. He never views himself as a main character in his own story; he truly thinks he’s doing what anyone else in his position would gladly do. This is why he overworks himself, why he’s known for living, for lack of a better term “like a goddamn ninja turtle”. It’s why he’s always Robin or Red Robin or even his public persona Timothy Drake-Wayne but rarely Just Tim. Very few people get to see Just Tim, normal Tim, because if they’re seeing that then he’s not doing his job.

All of these factors lead to Tim’s conclusion that if no one else can get Batman out of this state, least of all Batman himself, of course the next logical conclusion is that it’s his responsibility to step up and do the job. Furthermore, it’s only because he idolized Robin that he can fill the role properly because his relationship to Bruce, especially in the beginning, is nothing like Dick and Jason’s relationships with Bruce. He’s not his kid, doesn’t bring Robin’s joy and hope home, so instead he has to work twice as hard in the field to keep Bruce away from the edge. He’s the first of the Robins to view himself as Batman’s protector rather than the other way around, and he’s the only one who Bruce acknowledges when he tries to fill that role. Bruce accepts it when Tim manages him, reorganizes his files, forces him into the medbay, even when he very occasionally goes as far as to outright scold him rather than just pressure him to make the right choices. He’s given an inch and takes a mile, because he believes (rightfully, in my opinion) that if he doesn't then all hope is lost. And Bruce allows him to help, to guide, as much as he’s willing to because he’s not his kid first. He’s Robin first.

This mentality carries over to the Red Robin arc, where Tim spends an entire year chasing after Bruce to save him. He does it alone, and although he asks for help he doesn’t actually expect it. Furthermore, because his morals are based off of Robin in his infinite altruism rather than Batman with his rigid rules, he doesn’t mind working with Ra’s al Ghul. He doesn’t mind betraying Ra’s by killing his men, by blowing up his bases. He doesn’t tell Bruce about it to protect Bruce from having another murderer under his roof, and because he doesn’t think it matters enough. Bruce isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to save him. I believe he would have been if any other Robin had shown up. He and Dick have had a strained relationship for years, he and Jason aren’t even on speaking terms, Stephanie was so often full of rage at him throughout her run as Robin and is dead at the time, and he doesn’t even really have a relationship with Damian. Aside from all of that, he’s assumed dead. He can’t assume the Justice League will spend their time saving a dead man. And yet, despite all of that, he isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to pull him out of the time stream. He’s disoriented, sure, and a little surprised it was possible for him to be saved at all, and he even wants to hear about how he figured it out, but his doubt is never placed on the fact that Tim would be the one to understand and tear the world apart to bring him home.

I believe this also helps to explain Tim’s struggle with letting go of the Robin mantle, outside of the fact that he was the first to have the choice to move on taken away from him. If he’s always been Robin first, always felt the weight of that on his shoulders, what is he supposed to do when his very identity is stripped away right as he loses everyone who got to really know him as Just Tim? How is he supposed to cope with having to reconstruct his own idea of who he is with no one around to remind him? Humans are social creatures. We learn and grow with and because of each other. He’s encouraged by Dick to grow quickly out of Robin to fill a new role, which is a nice sentiment from Dick’s own point of view, but he’s lacking a sturdy foundation. Not because it’s not actually there, or because he lacks personality or morals, but because he truly views himself and all of his good decisions as just what anybody would do and what Robin is supposed to do. He doesn’t consider that following these morals makes them his, makes them the building blocks for wherever he goes next, he considers them to be traits of a character he no longer plays; a purpose he no longer serves.

(This is the second time I've posted this, so if you see another version that's why!)

#tim drake #red robin #robin #batman #red hood #dc robin #dc comics #dc batman #dcu #robin dc #Dc #nightwing #Dick grayson #Bruce wayne #damian al ghul #damian wayne #damian wayne al ghul #tim drake wayne #character analysis

[comphetkoncass]

one-plus-one, easy math cass&kon, fake dating (no, really, she's a lesbian, this is a fake date) word count: 2557 also on ao3

“You… want me to be your plus-one?” 

Cass nods. She’s started talking lately, according to Tim, but she’s still pretty quiet. Kon thinks even when she gets more comfortable with speaking, she might still be a woman of few words – she seems the type to choose them carefully, the same way she’s precise with her movements. 

“Well…” Kon rubs the back of his neck, thinking it over. “I thought we weren’t dating anymore. I thought you were happy about not dating anymore.” 

Cass tilts her head to the side, and Kon knows she’s probably reading his entire soul. He squirms a little under her intense gaze. Then, “I am.” 

“Then…” He frowns. “Why are you asking me to be your plus one, if we’re not dating?” 

It’s a longer phrase, and Kon thinks she might struggle. But to his pleasant surprise, though she takes some time to consider her words, they don’t seem overly difficult. “...I need someone outside the family.” 

“And I’m the best choice?” he asks. “...Really?” 

“I was surprised too.” 

Kon barks out a surprised laugh. She’s learned enough for jokes, then, that’s great. She smiles, and he’s glad she’s comfortable enough to joke around with him still – he missed making her happy. As whirlwind and short-lived as their romance was, making her smile was a definite perk. He always got the feeling that joy was a rare experience for her. He just hopes she’s happy in Gotham. To him, it’s always been stifling – not least because Batman is an asshole. 

“So?” Cass asks, looking at him with intense brown eyes. 

“Ah, what the hell,” he finally says. “Sure. But I need to go shopping, I don’t have anything fancy enough for this kind of thing.” 

Cass smiles then – and holds up three separate cards in Bruce Wayne’s name. Stolen, he thinks, given the mischief on her face. Kon quickly discovers that, actually, there is a superpower better than his TTK, and it’s called money. He whoops in delight, and it doesn’t take long for them to explore Gotham’s downtown, going from shop to shop until they find the perfect outfits to blend in with high society. 

(Or, rather, how they think they could blend in with high society. Cass’s dress is probably too loose and flapper-style for the current era, and Kon’s probably has too much satin, but they match, and they make for a fun duo.) 

////////

In the end, Kon probably wasn’t the best choice for the Gala. But Dick and Tim are both gone on a mission outside Gotham, leaving Cass the only Wayne child to represent the family alongside Bruce. Kon probably wasn’t the first choice, either – and privately, Kon wonders if Cass is testing boundaries with Bruce, given he’d been all but banned from Gotham. If she is testing boundaries, he hopes she gets whatever she’s angling for, even if it’s just a little more freedom to hang out with friends. 

It’s not until halfway through the Gala that Kon starts to wonder if maybe Cass had ulterior motives after all. 

They’ve been talking and tasting the overpriced snack table for most of the night, almost-goofing-off but not blatantly enough to catch Bruce’s ire (or so Kon hopes). Kon’s been monopolizing Cass’s attention, something he’s pretty good at, if he does say so himself – he’s always been a charmer. 

But eventually, it wears off; that, or everyone waiting for a chance with Cass finally get bold enough to interrupt them. And while Cass is trying to throw a wad of caviar into Kon’s open mouth, at that. 

“Ahem,” a young man about Cass’s age says. “So terribly sorry to interrupt. May I?” 

“May you what?” Kon asks, straightening up. He wipes the tiniest trace of caviar from the corner of his lip – Cass is an excellent shot, and Kon’s pretty good at catching, so it’s not like she ever missed. 

Cass, meanwhile, stands up a little straighter. 

“Interrupt,” the young man says. “Miss Wayne, I don’t mean to take you away from… present company. But I was hoping for a dance. Perhaps a bit of light conversation.” 

Kon stares at the guy, raising a brow. 

Kon’s no body language reader. Not like Cass. But he knows her heart’s a little faster, in the bad way. The blood pressure raising way. He glances between her and the new guy, and ultimately decides, nah, he’s not going to let this happen. 

“Sorry,” he says. “Her dance card is pretty full. I could try to rearrange, but she and I, we’re pretty busy.” 

Cass looks up in surprise – an expression he’s not used to seeing on her face. 

The new guy, too, looks surprised. Kon thinks he can see his eye twitching. Kon bets his name is something silly, like Macadamian Rosegarden Cavendish the Third, and that he’s not used to being told no. 

All the more reason to say no, then. 

Kon sends him a friendly smile, then looks back over at Cass and extends her a hand. Time to go somewhere a little less approachable. “Speaking of dancing though – Cass and I should probably practice a little. I’ve got two left feet, see, and she's the best dancer I know. Cass?” 

Cass looks at Kon’s hand, then his face. Wordlessly, she takes his hand. 

Kon sends the guy a two-fingered salute, then is quick to walk with her to a less occupied part of the Gala. There’s a balcony nearby, one just big enough for the two of them. Kon makes a little more room by hopping up on the ledge, swinging his legs around so he can face Cass and the party inside the windows. 

Cass is quiet for a while, but she looks less tense out in the night air. He almost didn’t notice it beyond her heartbeat, but she’d gotten a little more tense when Macadamian Rosegarden Cavendish the Third had approached – a tension that hadn’t been there when it was just the two of them enjoying themselves. 

It takes a moment, but finally she finds her words again. “...Thank you.” 

“No problem,” Kon says. “Is it like that a lot, at these things?” 

Cass shrugs one shoulder. “Second gala,” she says. When Kon doesn’t quite understand, she pauses and elaborates, just a little. “...I don’t come to many. Not sure.”

Kon nods. That makes sense. “I hope you don’t have to go much more often then, because it must suck having to reject people so much.” 

Cass looks at the ground. 

Kon frowns a little. The wind disturbs her carefully ironed bob, and when she doesn’t try to remove it from her face, Kon reaches out with just a hint of TTK and does it for her. She looks up, equal parts confused and startled. 

“Sorry,” he says, putting both hands up and stopping his powers. “Just- Sorry. Got distracted. Wanted to help.” 

Cass crosses her arms in front of her chest. 

Kon finds his train of thought, then, and asks, “Do you usually get to reject them? Or do you end up dancing with them anyways?” 

Cass’s silence speaks volumes. 

Kon lets out a slow breath. It fogs in front of him in the chilly night air. “I’m sorry,” he says, sincerely. “That sucks.”

“Not your fault.” 

“Well… I’m glad I could come with this time,” he says. “So you don’t have to dance with anyone you don’t want to.” 

Cass nods. There is the tiniest hint of a smile again, and she tucks a lock of hair behind her ears. Then, quietly, “Even you?” 

It takes him aback for a second. Then, he understands what she means, and nods. “Well yeah, I only said your dance card was full to lose that jerk. You don’t have to actually dance with me – even though I will say, my dance moves are great, I’m an absolute party animal. I can do the Mashed Potato like nobody’s business.” 

Cass blinks, serious instead of laughing. “Mashed potato?”

Kon grins, standing on top of the balcony ledge. “I’m so glad you asked, I’d be happy to demonstrate-”

He’s pretty sure he’s not doing it exactly right, but Cass looks almost hypnotized by the way his heels click and his knees move in sync with an imaginary rhythm. He’s definitely doing the hands wrong, but he’s having more fun with it this way. 

“Dancing with yourself?” Cass asks, grinning up at him. "Not a waltz?"

“Way more fun,” Kon says with a grin. “I could show you how to do it yourself?” 

Cass just laughs at him. She’s already imitating his movement – in a way that flows better than he’s doing. Right – almost forgot, movement was her first language. Of course she’s better than him already. 

Instead of feeling put out, Kon just grins at her. 

She looks like she’s having fun again – and really, that’s all he wants. 

When she looks back up at him, her smile is everything. Kon knows she isn’t interested in a relationship – or at least, not one with him. Kon checks in with himself, gives himself a stern reminder not to read into anything. He’s here to make sure she has fun, and that’s all. 

Eventually, after teaching Cass the Twist, the Shopping Cart, and an attempt at the Moonwalk – all of which she masters immediately – Kon hops down from the ledge and moves to sit again. 

He looks up at the sky, and mourns the fact that Gotham doesn’t really have stars. “Thanks for inviting me,” he says sincerely. “It’s been really fun tonight. I haven’t gotten to go to something like this in a while, and the ones I went to before – they weren’t that fun, either, even if they were a lot less fancy than this.” 

Cass looks a little surprised. “But you’re so… exciting?” 

Kon chuckles a little. “Yeah,” he says. “But it’s still more fun here with you.” 

It takes her a moment to chew on that. Eventually, she moves to sit on top of the ledge next to him. They both look inwards at the party, watching ladies in fancy dresses dance with well-dressed men in suits. The fake laughter, the champagne glasses. Kon’s never been that familiar with the super-rich, but he’s had his fair share of parties. Especially back when he was Just Superboy. 

Ever since getting his name, and especially after moving in with Ma and Pa Kent, life’s been a lot slower. More balanced. He has room to breathe. 

Kon doesn’t know much about Cass’s life before being adopted by Bruce Wayne. But he hopes it’s been a relief for her, too. That whatever her life was like before, that she can breathe in this fresh start, too. He hopes it’s not constant vigilante work all the time. She deserves a chance to have fun and be a real person, too. 

When Kon looks back, he finds Cass staring at a young woman with a particularly daring backless dress in crushed velvet Prussian blue. 

Her cheeks are pink, he notices.

And he thinks, maybe he’s reading into this too much. But if he’s not, he thinks he understands her a little bit better. And maybe why she seemed to have a lot of fun on their date, and liked the idea of a romance, and a TTK castle in the sky, and a spark of real love with someone – but why something was missing. 

“She’s pretty,” Kon says, looking at the young woman, too. “Do you like her dress?” 

Cass turns to him, brows furrowed. She glances between his body language and his lips, seemingly puzzled. “I wouldn’t want to wear it.” 

“Sorry,” Kon says, realizing he might be confusing her by being subtle. “I wouldn’t expect you to, yeah, it’s not very practical.” 

Cass looks at him again, still confused. 

“...But,” he says, “It’s okay to like how it looks on her. It’s okay if you think she’s pretty.” 

Cass doesn’t say anything for a little while. Her face is still a little pink. 

“Pretty doesn’t matter,” Cass says, but her eyes don’t leave the blue dress. “It’s not supposed to.” 

“Sure,” Kon says. “But dancing doesn’t matter either. And it can still be fun. Pretty – sometimes pretty can be fun. Sometimes people like to look pretty just to enjoy it. Like art, or whatever.”

It takes a moment, but finally, Cass nods. “And she?” she asks. “She wants to look pretty so that someone sees her as pretty?”

“Something like that.” 

“Her date,” Cass says. Her eyes are laser-focused on the man locking arms with her. “She wants her date to see her as pretty.” She pauses for a moment. A long one. Then, in a smaller voice, “Not me.” 

Kon is quiet for a moment, not sure what to say to that. 

Cass’s shoulders slump. “I shouldn’t look. I wouldn’t want her to feel-” She frowns, looks over at the boy who had asked her to dance earlier, who Kon had helped her reject. And Kon recognizes her dilemma. The fear of looking, of asking to dance, when it’s unwanted. When there is a fundamental incompatibility. 

Cass shivers, and Kon sheds his jacket to drape over her shoulders. It’s satin, so it doesn’t do all that much to protect her from the cold, but Kon likes to think it at least helps. She pulls it closer, and looks more at ease immediately. 

“You don’t have to look if it makes you worried to think about this kind of thing,” he says, carefully. “But it’s not wrong to think she’s pretty, regardless of who she’s trying to be pretty for.” 

She looks up at him, still unsure. 

“Trust me on this,” Kon says, adding a wink for flair. “It’s okay if you don’t like boys. It’s okay if you like girls – hell, it’s okay if you only like girls. You’re not doing anything wrong.”

Cass looks in through the window, of the sea of wealthy Gothamites. Kon follows her eyes to the small, formal dance floor – where the only ones dancing are men-and-woman pairs. How they lean in close to each other; how the man leads the woman, how they’re pushed close together, how it’s impossible to miss the intimacy in the way they hold each other, even in formal dances. The way men’s suits cut neatly to their waists and flatter masculine figures; the way the women’s dresses accentuate whatever she believes her best features to be. The way they all follow the same type of dance, with no room for new steps. No room for fun. 

He thinks it cuts quite a picture against two vigilantes, teaching each other how to dance with themselves in the cold night air. 

“Someday you might get to dance with a girl,” he says. “Sorry if it might not be tonight. But someday.” 

Cass laughs a little, pink to her ears. “And you?” 

“What, who am I going to dance with?” 

She nods. 

Kon lets out a long breath, leaning backwards, elbows brushing the railing. He’s not sure himself. “I like dancing, just not the boring, stuffy kind,” he finally says. “As long as my partner’s having fun, I don’t really care how I do it, or who I’m dancing with.” 

Cass follows his eyes – the way he watches everyone inside the window, his eyes not particularly caught by any one person. 

“Okay,” she says, and accepts that as an answer. Kon thinks she reads something different in his body language – but if she does, she doesn’t tell him any different. 

"Let's stay outside a little longer, yeah?" Kon finally says. "I think I remember the Electric Slide. I've got the song on my phone and everything."

Cass grins, and Kon pulls up his phone. The Electric Slide clashes horribly against the orchestra inside, but he doesn't care. They've got their own dancing to do, and they'll be doing it to their own rhythm.

#cassandra cain #kon-el #conner kent #batgirl #superboy #cdw writes #casskon fake dating my beloved #i included a few details that have popped up on my dash lately like bruce being an asshole about no metas in gotham #but mostly the lesbian cass + kon fake dating au ive been craving

[eggplantwaffles]

i think a big problem with modern batfam comics is that they have so many characters that kinda just overlap- here’s my ideas for how to give each of them their own “niche” to make them unique. Some of this is canon or alluded to is some way- but a lot is just what i think makes sense for each character.

Bruce Wayne

Bruce retires, it’s the only way to give all his kids / kid adjacents their own chance to shine. i’m sure he grumbles about it and watches from the bat cave obsessively, but i’m the end he’s learned to trust the batfam and lets them take care of things.

Dick Grayson

I actually really like where Dick is at in comics right now, i mean it’s not perfect- but I like the idea of Nightwing being a “better” version of Batman for Blüdhaven. He leads the Titans, which are now on par pedigree wise with the Justice League, and as Dick Grayson he is an active member of the community in Blüdhaven, trying to use all his resources to help people. So basically not much changes here.

Barbara Gordon

This one’s easy, just make her Oracle all the time- in the most bad dads way possible. Give me paralyzed Barbara Gordon who has eyes and ears all over the world and is the center of ALL super hero activity. She leads the Birds of Prey, she’s in the ears of all the bats, she’s IT for the Justice League- she does all of it.

Jason Todd

I liked Jason’s character best when he serves as an antagonist. Jason goes back to being a crime lord, and we bring back his ideals of trying to control the crime as opposed to trying to stop it. Jason has good intentions, but he lacks the idealism of the other bats who are constantly trying to save the city without compromising any morals. I think that Jason often butts heads with Tim and Cass (mostly Cass due to her very strict no killing rule) but is mostly left alone by Steph and Damian, who are more willing to accept his methods even if they don’t love them.

Tim Drake

Tim should travel the world “conspiracy hunting,” kind of like how he took down the League of Assassins, except he probably chills out on the blowing up bases all around the world that might (definitely) have people inside. Tim is supposed to be the best detective of the Robins, so lean into that- I want globe trotting - mentally unwell - detective stories where Tim fights big secret organizations or takes down corrupt governments. He is also still apart of Young Justice, though they are all a bit older and are a less official group, the core four are still close and work together- they help keep Tim grounded and remember that he doesn’t have to do everything alone.

Stephanie Brown

I think Stephanie kind of separates herself from the batfamily after her time as Batgirl. I don’t mean that she give up fighting crime, or even gives up wearing the bat symbol, I just mean that she becomes a mostly solo act. Steph becomes Gothams main hero, she does normal vigilante stuff, patrolling the streets, saving the city, detective work, the typical bat stuff. But she’s far more connected to the people of Gotham than Batman ever was, stopping and talking to kids, handing out blankets to the homeless, doing cool flips and batarang trick shots for civilians passing by. Eventually she is the hero most Gothamites associate with their city, and she represents the good parts of Gotham- giving the people hope that they aren’t doomed to be consumed by the city, but that they will be stronger because of it. I also think that things are kinda awkward between her and the bats (except for Dick, Damian, and Barbara) and she tries to keep her distance a bit, considering she was kinda treated like shit as Spoiler and i think Steph deserves to be bitter about that, for a little bit at least.

Cass

Cass becomes Batman, but she operates globally. She’s not like early-Bruce batman who stayed in Gotham, she’s more similar to later batman. She’s in the league, she goes on funky missions to space or other dimensions sometimes, she fights the world ending threats that someone with no powers really should have no business fighting. She also works frequently with Tim and they do some fun little espionage stuff. And while she does return to Gotham, she’s mostly content to leave the city to Steph now- except for all the times she gets into fights with Jason, it bothers her that Steph rarely messes with his operation.

Damian

I really love the idea of Damian getting more into the magical part of DC, I think he should absolutely end up with a Justice League Dark team and learn to do cool magic shit. He goes on a training montage quest like Bruce did, except he’s learning all about magic and demons and cool stuff like that. He has cool magic swords and is sort of the connection between the more grounded part of the universe and the magic parts. He also does a fair bit of globe trotting, looking for ancient mystical artifacts or magical worlds and stuff like that.

Duke Thomas

Duke also mostly stays in Gotham, he’s kinda doing his own thing as The Signal- he still operates during the daytime meaning he doesn’t cross paths with Steph or Jason too often on patrol. There’s not much to change here because Duke is already unique in that he 1- operates during the day and 2- is the only meta-bat, so I don’t need to make a niche for him, DC just needs to use him more.

Random Stuff

- Duke is starting college and takes night classes at Gotham U, Steph is also still in college and is graduating soon

- Tim is either Red Robin, or operating under a new name (I think the Vulture or Condor would be kinda cool but idk)

- The Batfam does not get along like a real family, they are dramatic bitches who fight all the time and have cannot all be in the same room

- Damian and Steph are super close, she was the first person to insist on treating him like a child, which he hated but now that he’s older is grateful for (but he’ll never admit it)

- Damian also sees Dick as his father figure, Bruce is just kinda also there

- Bruce, Alfred, Damian, and Cass all live at the manor- but Damian and Cass are rarely there as they travel a lot and got shit to do

- Barbara lives in the clock tower, she technically lives alone but usually one of Cass, Dick, Dinah, or Helena will be crashing there

- Steph lives alone in the same house she grew up in, her Mom has moved to California or something for a fresh start as she is finally sober, but at this point Steph doesn’t need her. It’s very sad as Steph never truly had a mother, but she’s happy that Crystal is getting another chance away from Gotham.

- Duke swears he’s seen Jason at night classes at Gotham U, but Jason won’t admit it

- The only ones Jason talks to semi-frequently are Dick and Tim, the relationships are super rocky though. Dick sees Jason as his brother first, and since he’s in Blüdhaven he tries not to concern himself with Jason’s business. Tim and Jason do fight a bit but Tim is more lenient than Cass so he can tolerate Jason’s shit if he feels like it’s for the best.

#dc comics #stephanie brown #batgirl #robin #batfamily #damian wayne #tim drake #bat family #cassandra cain #dick grayson #barbara gordon #batman #batfam #batman au #i realized while typing this that i’ve actually created a whole universe in my head #i have a lot more details i could share about this #maybe i’ll learn to write and make a fanfic story in this universe #of course starring my girls steph #if you couldn’t tell she’s my favorite

[celaenaeiln]

Hi! I really love all your takes and character analysis. I'm new-ish to Batman so these are always so educational for me 😅 I was wondering, in your opinion, of all the batkids, who would you say would make the most terrifying villains? And who, canonically, would you say exercises the most self control to prevent exactly that from happening? Like every day, they have to work to prevent themselves from crossing that line.

...(Is it Dick? I feel like you're going to say Dick)

Thank you!

You got me!! Those are good questions!

I had to think a lot about this honestly.

So for most terrifying villain, I would say Dick. Mostly because it's just canon. When Dick was the villain both times in New Order and in DC vs Vampires, he practically eradicated the world based on who he felt needed to go. In DC vs Vampires he didn't care for anyone so by the time he was done there were no humans left. In New Order he lost it when the heroes accidentally killed Bruce and thus destroyed the entire justice league and remade himself as the head of all military operations under the government. Dick also knows exactly how to kill Bruce and he's terrified of it (Nightwing: Knight Terrors). Kory once told him during the Teen Titans (2003?) comic that Dick could stack up all the Titans and could take on the Justice League if he wanted to but Dick states that he knows and that's exactly why he's scared.

Also the way he manipulates every single person in existence in both his typical Nightwing runs is just a hint of the brilliance. Many times when his partners want to chase after a villain, he makes them let them go so that he grab the lizard, its hiding spot, and its family rather than just the tail.

Grayson Annual #3

Dick is not reckless in anyway either, he plans and analyzes and calculates as he moves which makes him a fantastic strategist, detective, and doer all in one.

Or actually I change my mind, I choose Cass. I forgot about her initially. Cass can beat everyone in the world (except Harley). Batman has admitted it too.

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #951

She's unstoppable. So unless the Batfamily sends in Harley, in a straight fight where no one runs away *cough* Batman Issue 137 *cough*, then Cass would win. After her though, in a tactical and fighting sense combined it would be Dick.

Jason is canonically the one who struggles with self-control everyday. But unlike some people, I don't think this a fault of his that should be changed or erased. To me, each robin represents a certain characteristic of society.

Dick - the hope of the people.

Jason - the anger of the people.

Tim - the morality of the people.

Stephanie - the safety of the people.

Damian - the rights of the people.

Dick says the meaning of robin is helping the good. And all the robins do this in their own ways.

Jason's robin represents the rightful anger by the people against the injustice. Like the Boston Tea Party against Britain's taxation, Jason was born and raised in Gotham so his love for the common people on the street is overwhelming. He wants to help every woman and child find a better life and survive because it's reflective of the life he and his mother were forced to face. So when he sees a man sexually assaulting a woman or beating a child or selling drugs, his anger bursts out. And in Gotham, there's a lot of that everywhere. So take a good person and put in him the skills and fuel for hurting the bad and you get Jason Todd. That's why from his Robin days he has struggled with self-control.

"He was a drug dealing pimp."

Batman (1940) Issue #645

"I'm sorry...but that doesn't mean he didn't deserve it."

Furthermore in the Batman Urban Legends comic also in the Batman and Robin Eternal comic it shows that Jason's greatest wish is the Joker's death and that coupled with the Gotham War and Selina's interference, Jason has the most trouble with self-control. But I believe it's rightfully so.

I think after Jason it's Dick who struggles with self-control. Not as robin but as Nightwing. Especially during his darkest days of the Nightwing (1996) comic and the Outsiders comic, Dick has been shown to forcibly stop himself when someone hurts his friends or family.

Okay, the difference between Jason and Dick's struggle with self-control is that Jason feels it all the time because his motivating factor is ever present while Dick only struggles with it when someone hurts the people he loves because that's Dick's motivating factor.

Damian is the one who has the most trouble after that. Then Stephanie, Tim, Cass, and Duke. Although if you're including Stephanie's robin days, she would be tied with Jason.

#dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #robin jason todd #bruce wayne #batman #cassandra cain #orphan #cl anon asks #thanks for the ask!

[green-eyedfirework]

"Prince Richard," said the cold, cruel general, mouth twisted into a smirk and one blue eye icy cold, "Well, I suppose you aren't a prince anymore."

Dick kept his mouth shut, and hoped that the others kept their mouths shut too.  Jason, who was the first one he'd worry about, was gone, disappeared into the night with Tim on the hunt for ghosts.  Cass was halfway across the land, too far to be hurt, which left Damian and Stephanie.  He could trust Steph to keep Damian in line.  He had to.

"If only looks could kill," Slade laughed, and his men laughed with him.  The hall was full of them, of his warriors, menacing the remainder of Dick's paltry court.  The representative from Nanda Parbat was watching intently.  Dick wasn't imagining the smile on his face.  "What's the matter, Prince Richard?  Not enjoying yourself?"

Dick felt sick.  Sick and numb.  He had been castellan of Gotham for a few paltry months before losing it.  Bruce would be so ashamed.

"It appears that the prince has lost his tongue," Slade laughed, beckoning Dick closer.  Dick knew it wasn't worth it to disobey.

Slade waited until Dick was within arm's reach of the throne before grabbing him and forcing him closer.  Dick struggled for an instant before he remembered where he was, and let Slade drag him forward.

The kiss was savage and domineering, Slade's mouth hot and devouring as he pulled Dick fully into his lap, forcing him to straddle the general as he submitted to the kiss.  His cheeks burned when he felt the hands on his ass.

"No, tongue's there all right," Slade called out when he finally pulled back.  "And I now I definitely know why there are so many odes to the prince's ass."  He paired it with a pinch.  "A big castle and a pretty prince in my lap, what more could I want?"

Slade's men were jeering, and Dick didn't dare turn around to look at Damian and Steph.  If Slade wanted—better him than them.  Please not them.

~#~

Dick shifted on his knees, hands balled into fists by his side, not looking up as the general conducted the final preparations for seizing the castle.  Dick didn't want to see Slade.  He didn't want to acknowledge any unspoken order the man would give with Dick here, kneeling between his legs, inches away from his own throne.

Please let Damian not be watching this.  Please, please, let Steph be covering his eyes, Damian shouldn't see this, he was just a child—

"I have to say," Slade mused, loud enough for the whole hall to hear, "I could get used to a sight like this."

A hand tightened in Dick's hair and he let himself be pulled up, pliant.  He wouldn't cry.  He wouldn't cry.

The man's expression was more inscrutable this time.  "All done taking your kingdom," he said, voice heavy with implication.  "Now just to take its king."

Dick locked his jaw.  He would not cry.  He would not cry.

"Someone go fetch a crown," Slade got up, dragging Dick up with him.  "I've always wanted to fuck a prince."  The jeers in the hall grew louder.  "The rest of you can take whatever spoils you like.  We won't be staying long."

They never did.  They conquered, they looted, and they went on their merry way, a vicious band of mercenaries with no code, no honor, no loyalty.

"Please," Dick finally unstuck his mouth to say, "my siblings.  Please don't—"

"The little prince and his handmaid will be fine," the general snorted, still dragging Dick along.  "You really aren't very bright, are you."

Something hot and thick crawled into Dick's throat at the insult given so bluntly.  If Dick had been smarter, he could've protected Gotham, if Dick had been a better leader, if Dick had just crowned himself king—

He could feel himself start to go numb.  Distant.  He barely registered Slade reaching his bedchamber, or shoving him inside, or the man locking the door behind him.

Overkill, Dick thought dazedly, at the numerous locks on the door.

Dick stumbles back.  Away from Slade.  From the man who will—who was planning to—who—

There was a crown in Slade's hand.  Dick didn't know who gave it to him.  Slade steps forward and Dick steps back, until he hits the edge of the bed, until there's nowhere to run.

Slade drops the crown on his head with a sardonic smile.  It's the actual crown.  Gotham's crown, to be worn only by its ruler.  It's of Gotham, the weight heavy on Dick's head, it's the literal symbol of his country.  And Dick is going to get fucked wearing it.

It feels....really heavy.  Dick is actually developing a headache.  He raises a hand to take it off but Slade catches it and forces it down.  "No," the general says sharply.

Dick should obey.  Dick has to obey.  But it's getting acutely painful and he fights against Slade's grip, trying to free his hands or toss the crown off or something to prevent this searing pain.

"It hurts," Dick gasps, vision blurry.  The room is spinning.

"Maybe if you'd just bloody crowned yourself at the start, it wouldn't have to be this way," says an unsympathetic voice, before the whole room goes dark.

#my snippets #sladick #royalty au #conquered #fear of noncon #what are slade's motives here? #uncertain

[brucewaynehater101]

Have you ever heard the song "missing hell" by sushi soucy? Bc it's,,,,, tim,,, it's all batkids tbh

Tw: abuse, emotional neglect, bad parents

I had not heard of that song before, and I love how it represents the cycle of abuse, especially through the act of gift giving.

As for whether this fits the batkids, it depends on one's perception of Bruce. Is he the type to constantly buy his children's affection? He has money he can throw around and isn't afraid to do it. Would he use his money to buy every monetary need of his children while also hoping to wield it as proof of his love?

I personally think it fits. For Dick, he lives in crappy apartments in Bludhaven because he can be financially independent from Bruce that way. There's a bit to analyze there with their relationship, but it's understandable to want to provide for yourself at a young age if your guardian constantly uses money as a means to control you.

For Tim, this song might relate to his bio parents and Bruce. While Jack and Janet weren't necessarily physically abusive, they were emotionally neglectful (Jack after the coma was portrayed as emotionally abusive). They could have provided Tim with gifts and luxury to try to excuse their absence. If Tim had complained, they could have guilted him with the things they bought and provided. Others around Tim would have berated him as well if he said he'd rather have his parents than expensive skateboards (or whatever his parents gave him).

The shitty part is the vicious cycle one can find themselves in until they are financially independent. There's the fight and anger and emotions that occur. The cooldown. The appeasement (in love bombing and gifts). The gaslighting, blaming, and guilt tripping ("I only got so mad at you because of what you did," "I apologized already," "I didn't yell at you,"). The fight again. The stages can get mixed up, but it happens again and again.

If one wants to speculate, they can add this as another reason Tim made up a fake uncle (whether from his experience with his own parents or from Bruce).

I have a song similar to this, but from the viewpoint of the abuser. "This is Love" by Air Traffic Controller details what gaslighting might happen and the dangers hidden by a person claiming "this is love" despite what they are doing not being that.

There's various kinds of abuse and tactics used. Stay safe, y'all.

#tim drake #dick grayson #tw abuse #bruce wayne #gift giving can be a means to control or guilt someone #obv not always but it's good to recognize whether gifts are being utilized as such (intentionally or not) #thank you for the ask!!!!

[zeroducks-2]

(I hope I worded this right and that it does not come across as rude or snarky, I genuinely want to hear your thoughts) So does that mean your interpretation of Bruce is that he is, how do I say it, “indefinitely fucked/flawed”? That there are not many moments where he did goodness for the pure sake of it? Or it’s something like, 90% flawed 10% good?

It actually depends on who writes him, and on the media we're taking into consideration. I know that this might sound contradictory with my previous post, but I honestly don't think there's one interpretation of a character who's 80+ year old and went through the hands of hundreds of writers.

There are a few things that only "happened once" if you understand what I mean, like Cassandra's story. That story has only one iteration, there are no variants to take into consideration or other Batman media that explore it, so we can judge it by what happened that one time, but this is a rarity among the most important Batman stories. Think of UTRH. Bruce is way less ruthless in the animated version and the ending is very different from what happens in the comics.

Bruce did a lot of good things for the pure sake of it, there's no denying that. He's able to offer a helping hand even to the most monstruous, he will help criminals because he genuinely wants them to better themselves. He will get down to his knees to hug and comfort a crying child, he will use his money and resource and do whatever he can to heal his city.

But he will also beat people to the point of crippling them, he will send folks to jail for the most minor of offences, he considers disabled and "mentally challenged" people as a burden for society.

He loves the kids he keeps around and would die for them. But he also hits Dick and will beat him into a pulp when Dick refuses to do his bidding. He suffered for Jason's death and wanted to kill Joker in the heat of the moment, but will also cut Jason's neck and leave him to die again in order to save Joker's life. As protective and sweet as he is with Tim, he used Stephanie to manipulate him into becoming Robin again, acting terribly towards both kids. And I could go on but you get the picture.

All of these things shouldn't coexist but they do because the character is written by different people with different opinions and understanding of right and wrong, of what is an isn't an acceptable behavior for a man and a parental figure to have, and of who the character is and stands for in general.

It might seem that I don't like Bruce all that much and I surely don't like him as a person, but I also love him as a character for what he represents historically, for the nuance of his many depictions. Though I rarely ever defend him when it comes to people criticising his actions, because those actions need to be criticised. And I will hiss at canon stuff that insists on making Bruce always look like the flawless hero because he ain't it, and at people who claim that nonsense takes are canon (like Cass being his favorite) because I have a personal issue with people taking a headcanon that comes from the fact that they didn't read the comics, and shoving it on everyone's face demanding they accept it as "what actually happened".

I hope it makes sense.

#My asks #Bruce Wayne #I don't really remember what I wrote in the other post I was barely even awake lol #my meta #And BTW you don't come off as snarky in any way no worries

[leoleolovesdc]

I really don't get what's so appealing to writers and fans who make Bruce an abusive father. Why is it so fun? Why do people enjoy doing one of the biggest superhero of all times that dirty? How does that make any sense?

People always complain about how Batman is a power fantasy, but the fact that his actions aren't justifiable if applied real life doesn't mean that you have to fuck the character's fictional morals.

Every hero is a power fantasy, but they are enjoyable because they are good people (or people who try to be good). Bruce Wayne is a human being and he is capable of bad parenting and committing mistakes, but making him willingly hit his kids is just stupid.

Batman is and has always been about hope, about rising above your trauma, protecting who you love, using your pain to make the world a little better. Bruce doesn't go around "beating the mentally ill' just because, he does because they are dangerous people, criminals, terrorists who are constantly harming citizens with their actions.

With all that said; Bruce hitting his children/sidekicks/allies (or just purposefully harming them in any way shape or form) is incoherent with his character and all that he represents.

Batman brought Robin, especially Dick Grayson, in to help him. He didn't want a child soldier, he was comforting this kid and taking him to the police station when he asked to be trained so he could get the guy who killed his parents. He asked to become like Batman and Bruce, realizing that they were very similar, saw that he was also filled with anger and needed to be guided. That's why Dick became a better person than Bruce ever was, not because he was inherently good or something, but because even if their relationship was not perfect and troublesome at times they understood each other's pain like no one else would.

With all of Bruce and Dick's history saying that this father-son bond was filled with physical abuse just sounds wild to me. Same thing goes for Cass, Jason, Steph, Tim, Duke, Damian and any other child that Bruce parented or taken care of.

Jason and Dick are usually the victims of writers and fans who are full one Abusive-Bruce-Shit™️, and honestly, I don't think that's because they have remarkably difficult relationships, but because this fandom loves to make their favorite pretty "white" boys suffer.

No one cares if it makes sense for Bruce to be abusive towards his first sons, they just care that Dick and Jason are angsty. My prove of that? When do you ever see content of Bruce being abusive towards Cass? Damian? Steph? Duke? Never. Because those characters are either women or people of color largely ignored by both canon and fanon.

I'll admit that Damian and Tim do get angsty abusive dad content at times, because regardless of their actual relationship with Bruce Tim is a sad white boy and Damian is the largely white washed blood son, but they are still not the most common alternatives whenever family angst is the focus (despite the large fanon torture porn industry that Tim Drake goes through it is usually focused on other aspects of his life).

I don't really know how to end this, at this point I'm just ranting about annoying batfam fans, but, yeah, don't fuck over legacy characters by making them abusive dads bcuz u like saying ur fav has it worst👍

Little edit: In this post I talked abt Dick as a white guy, would like to apologize for that, I do know that he is romani but ended up forgetting to add that. Either way my point still stands as, just like Damian, his race is pretty much ignored by writers and parts of the fandom

#dc #dc comics #batman #batfam #batfamily #robin #bruce wayne #stephanie brown #tim drake #dick grayson #jason todd #damian wayne #damian wayne al ghul #gotham war #gotham city #batman and robin #robin i #robin ii #robins #the robins #batdad #anti abusive bruce

[mid-nightowl]

steph as nightwing??? 👀

Yes, a hundred times yes. 

For me, the idea came out of this meta that @benbamboozled did ages ago (that I for the life of me cannot find now :( ) about how Barbara should have been the one to mentor Tim, but she wasn’t because dc (and superhero comics generally) are too cowardly to let a female superhero mentor a male hero. And it got me thinking--there were three “older” vigilantes and three younger vigilantes in the Batfam at this time, which then led to the whole Barbara mentoring Tim, Bruce babysitting Cass, and Dick mentoring Steph. Which would then eventually lead to Steph taking on the Nightwing mantle.

Nightwing!Steph was also an idea I had regarding the Batman!Dick era and the Tom King pitch of Tim becoming Nightwing during the Ric Grayson arc. In my delusional AU idea, after the “death” of Bruce, Dick would be Batman, Damian would be Robin, Barbara as Oracle, Cass would return as Batgirl after a short hiatus or be Black Bat, Tim would be Red Robin, Jason as Red Hood, and Steph would take over the Nightwing mantle while also attending college (a similar start to Dick’s own trajectory).   

I don’t have like a full meta on this (and I haven’t read everything regarding Steph so please correct me if I get something wrong or the vibes are off!), but I think Steph could be a worthy successor to the Nightwing mantle if there were a point in time where Dick moved on or couldn’t be Nightwing anymore. 

I think Steph embodies a lot of the same ideals and values that Dick/Nightwing resembles: hope, determination, and guts. There’s also the immediate similarity of the two of them being more light-hearted and quippy compared to the other Bats, which (almost) hides how capable and competent they are, but also how this happy-go-lucky mask hides anger and trauma.

Both of them had the guts to go out on their own, to create their own mantle and mask despite being told “no.” They both have the drive and determination in their actions to help others and stop criminals, and an innate need to be a hero/vigilante and that they can’t stop being a vigilante. And out of all the Bats, Stephanie has the most potential to represent hope, just as Dick does. 

To me, Steph has all the criteria to be one of the best vigilantes in the Batfam, but just doesn’t get the opportunities to do so. She’s got the foundations and the materials, she just needs help getting there. Being Nightwing (or being mentored by Dick) would give her the chance to showcase that. 

Being a vigilante that has ties to the Batfam but isn’t necessarily considered a sidekick character or in need of a mentor (like Batgirl or Robin), Steph could grow as a person and a vigilante with the Nightwing mantle. Nightwing is also a key component to the Batfam and is often the middle ground between the smaller groups within the family and I think Steph can easily step into that role, especially given her past relationships with Tim, Cass, and Barbara, her similarities and the trauma-bonding she does with Jason, and the older sister-younger brother relationship with Damian. Not to mention, Nightwing’s role as a leader in the Titans, which would give Steph a chance to show her capabilities to be a leader. But, Nightwing is also a stubbornly independent loner, a solo-act vigilante. So, not only can Steph be an important team player (in the Batfam and the Titans/equivalent team) but she'll also have the freedom to do her own thing. 

Nightwing (imo) was all about moving on, growing up and maturing on your own, and while Dick might not have realized what it would become later on, it’s grown to represent hope, the “universal constant,” and creating your own legacy. The transition from Robin to Nightwing is all about this, and I think this transition would have made a lot of sense for Stephanie (Spoiler to Nightwing = growing out of her anger towards her father but also growing out from underneath Batman/Batgirl’s shadows). I think there would still be issues and insecurities of Steph living up to a predecessor, similar to when she took on the roles of Robin and Batgirl, but I want to believe that Dick would train her well enough and his own belief in Steph taking on his mantle would alleviate these problems. 

There’s a lot of AU potential with Stephanie being Nightwing (I’ve got a few myself 👀), but canon wise, I don’t think we’ll see Dick move away from the Nightwing mantle ever. I think you could probably make a good argument for Steph to be Flamebird in canon and really introduce that mantle back into the Batfam (and her and Bette can bond over terrible mentors/families, being Batgirl, and being rejected).

I've got some more thoughts circling in my head about Dick mentoring a Spoiler!Steph, but I've kind of touched base about that here so I'll leave that for another time lol

thanks for letting me ramble about this idea<3 <3

#asks #felinemotif #thanks for the ask! this was a lot of fun to write up :) #i had ben's meta on the female mentors bit saved but when my laptop died i lost it 😭 ill have to track it down later #there's so many thematic parallels between steph and dick im not sure where to start #but there's definitely another aspect/parallel of moving on from a mantle via bruce being an asshole #there's also the idea in the batman!dick era of stephanie being the “light” like how dick was the light and hope for bruce #how steph was the one to step up and keep going despite the way everything seemed to fall apart after bruce died #steph being the keystone of this new batfam would have just...worked honestly #writing this just reminds me how badly dc editorial handles the female bat characters #they're never allowed to grow or evolve or be shown to have platonic relationships with the batboys or even consistent relationships #it's a bit depressing honestly big sigh #nightwing!stephanie brown #stephanie brown #batfam

[kittycat-in-the-dark]

The whole thing with the "who is the true angry Robin" thing is so stupid.

Look, generally, i have a problem with any of the Robins (but especially with Jason and Dick) being just labelled or defined as the Angry Robin. Because it is reductive as hell and is an assumption made by general fanon based mostly on some out of context panels and/or information.

This labelling of these characters is so limiting. Like, do these people think that people (and fictional characters that are supposed to represent people) are defined by only one charcateristic/emotion? It's just that I think this simple labelling is kinda dumb, idk. Especially considering that people also are doing it in the sense of "oooh look, this is proof that Dick is the angry/angriest Robin, so that means that we proved that Jason was never the angry Robin" or something.

Like, all of the Robins have had moments of anger. All of them have had and have reasons to be angry. But anger is not a characteristic that defines them as being their main one. Yes, you can make the argument that some of them let themselves be consumed by anger more often than the others or deal with it in a "worse way", but anger doesn't define any of them. Only in moments and arcs where it made sense for them to be angry. Like Dick being angry at Bruce for not telling him Jason died, being angry when he thought Joker killed Tim, Jason being angry for being unavenged, or when Bruce lied to him about his intentions when he brought him to the place Damian died. Or when they were kids and Robin, being angry because of loosing their parents. But this anger comes more from sadness and pain from their trauma.

So like, please chill with the angry Robin thing. Plus, stop making it this kind of competition for winning the "Angriest Robin" title. It's dumb. It's so dumb... just stop, stop it. It's annoying and makes no sense.

And especially to put that dumb title on DICK GRAYSON?? THE EMBODIMENT OF HOPE. THE INSPIRATION OF THE HERO COMMUNITY. THE LEVEL HEADED LEADER OF SO MANY HERO TEAMS. LIKE, ARE PEOPLE THAT CLAIM THIS HIGH OR SOMETHING??

#today i chose violence #dick grayson #jason todd #dc #alexa talks here

[dairy-farmer]

I love soulmate AUs. And I love hurting my favorite characters. I also had a very big, very long phase of Hanahaki AUs. Combine them all, I have Hanahaki disease as a consequence of soulmate rejection and Tim has this in your soulmate AU.

Tim is the smartest of the Robins, probably even smarter than Batman. But he was in love and in denial. He wanted to have a family, to live in the white picket fenced house with children and a dog or cat with his soulmate. He was in denial when Bruce keeps a relationship with Selena or when Dick was with Babs or nearly married to Kori or when he found out Red Hood was Jason and very much wants to kill him or when Damian kept on degrading or humiliating or actively trying to kill him. But he can't deny the flowers that come out of his mouth any longer. I'm not good with the flower language but imagine the different flowers that come out representing his love. He's been rejected by his soulmate. He really is as unlovable as his parents say.

I imagine the rejection comes in different times for every man. For brutim, it could be after Tim brought his soulmate back from the time stream but hadn't received any words from Bruce save for the thanks he got when he was rescued. They're at a family dinner, everyone in the family is present for once. Tim would be so excited because it's been weeks since he last saw or talked to Bruce outside patrol. He'd even ignore Damian, knowing it makes Bruce... Comfortable? Happy? That his soulmate and his son aren't fighting. So he ignored Damian even when his lung felt so suspiciously tight when he saw how differently Damian was treated from how he was treated. He tried to think logically. Damian is his son, yada, yada, yada. So he kept his mouth shut and ignored the looks Damian sent his way. But Damian didn't appreciate that and in true demon brat fashion, Damian brought up his mother wanting to see Bruce. Tim is starting to think that the spawn somehow has managed to learn that Tim is his father's soulmate. Nevermind, Tim will not dignify a response to that. But then Damian kept on pressing and decided to bring up Selena. The brat must really hate him if he's bringing up Selena and the rumors that Batman was seen with Catwoman a few nights ago, rumors that Tim desperately ignored. He doesn't know what he expects Bruce to say. Maybe deny the rumors? Defend Tim? Bruce does none of that. Tim spent the next hour of dinner, drinking water and swallowing his saliva, hoping to ease the tightness in throat and chest. He flees at the given chance, rushing to his apartment. He expects to throw up the dinner he just had. But flowers came instead. He definitely threw up his dinner after that when it became clear to him what just happened.

For dicktim, the flowers came when Dick announced that he's engaged to Kori or when Dick took Robin away. And I know that I just said that Tim was in denial when Dick was engaged to Kori. But imagine Tim who only wants to be with his soulmate, to be married to him. Weddings are a big deal to Tim. (Selena getting married to Bruce could've also been the time the flowers first appeared for brutim.) His soulmate getting married to someone else, planning a wedding with someone else. It would hurt so bad. He'll spend next few years simultaneously hoping he still wakes up the next day and hoping he doesn't. Kori and Dick doesn't last but the flowers remain. Then his dad dies, then Steph, then Bart, then Kon, then Bruce. Then Robin was gone. His soulmate gave it away to someone who has very nearly killed him. If the wedding didn't give him his flowers, this will. There are pros and cons to having the flowers early. Tim has learned how to live with the flowers threatening to fill his lungs. He doesn't know if he'll manage being so stressed out while also learning how to deal with it. But the years of abuse on his lungs have also left considerable damage on him. Enough that Ra's was considering removing the flowers regardless of the damage it may cause on Tim's soul without his consent during Tim's splenectomy. He was so sure he could've convinced the young detective. But Tim is a survivor. When Dick catches him from the fall and Tim calls Dick his brother, he has made his resolve.

For JayTim, the flowers came either on Titan's Tower or with the batarang on his chest. Maybe Jason is even aware of the Hanahaki while he was beating Tim up in the tower. Tim had no strength to keep the flowers down when it came. If Jason had more control, if he hadn't let the Pit overpower him, he would've realized that the scene of bruised bloodied skin littered with flowers was familiar, that he once knew someone else in the same state, same position as his soulmate. I'm not familiar with flowers but imagine the flowers having the same color as the bruises decorating Tim's skin. It would've been poetic and it might've lit the literature maniac part of Jason. But for now he was busy writing his name on the walls and decorating it with the blue and purple flowers. Months later, Jason is cured from the Pit. Apologies were made. Tim is rightfully distrustful but his love and duty to his family supercedes that. They form a tentative truce. The flowers are still there but for the first time, in months, his chest has felt lighter. Then Bruce dies and the Pit comes back. Jason was throwing a batarang to his chest. And Tim coughs up blood. And flowers.

For damitim, the flowers could come for so many times. Maybe when they first met and learn that they're soulmates. Maybe during the fall from the dinosaur. But I'm more partial to the time Damian cuts Tim's line. Damian was so, so angry when he saw the contingency plans his soulmate made. Contingency plans for him. He felt rejected. What's the use of a soulmate if they can't trust him? What's the use of a soulmate if they make plans to incapacitate him? Like that, Tim was rejected. His line was cut. All night, he was wondering why his chest feels tight. Why was he coughing up flowers, a few minutes before his patrol with Robin and Nightwing? Dick said Damian was better. So why? He was so preoccupied by this thoughts that he nearly hadn't been able to save himself when he realized he was falling. It took far too long for him to realize that someone cut his line, that someone wanted him dead. It took even far longer for him to realize that his soulmate wanted him dead. He tries to explain himself when he learns of the cause of his soulmate's ire. But Damian was having none of it. Not even when Bruce explained that even Batman himself, had contingency plans for his soulmate. For years, Tim tries and says sorry. Even as the flowers in his chest grew. Damian screams of rejection and betrayal. And the tired part of Tim wants to scream back. What do you know of betrayal? What do you know of rejection? You, who had no flowers growing in your chest. You, who had not laid in your bed wondering whether it's the last time or the last day. You, who had not made the difficult decision to limit your activities as a vigilante because the flowers in your lungs makes it hard to breathe, because the flowers in your lungs could very well kill you if you accidentally run into Ivy. Those were all the things Tim has to go through. Tim was the one whose relationship with the family grow even more distant, even more strained because the family sided with Damian who has been "rejected" by his soulmate. Even Bruce, who had initially came to Tim's defense, started to side with Damian.

Tim tries with all of them. He tries until he physically couldn't. He stops when a shortness of his breath, a stuttering of his heart, had distracted him and nearly killed him during a mission with the Titans. Had it not been for Kon who had heard the irregular beat of his heart. If I was a better person, Tim dies and his other half mourns. But I'm not. Tim stops going back to Gotham. He stops trying and focuses on himself. He will never reject his soulmate. He will never make them feel how he had felt all those months or years ago. He will always love them but he stops asking for more. He grows his relationships with his friends and eventually builds something more with Kon. At first, they were both worried. Tim doesn't want his soulmate to go through Hanahaki but he doesn't want to let Kon go. The first few months of their relationship was spent monitoring the health of Tim's soulmate before it's made clear that it doesn't affect them. Tim laughs when he thinks. His soulmates really didn't want him. And so he moves on. He loves them but he will move on. He's done waiting. And slowly the flowers stop growing. Slowly, he stops waking up every few hours to cough up flowers. They didn't notice it at first. They were too preoccupied worrying over the dark spot that has started growing on Kon's skin. They hadn't noticed until they're at the medbay, fussing over Tim's injury from their recent mission and Kon was using his x-ray vision to check for internal injuries. Kon sees his clear lungs, devoid of flowers that tormented his boyfriend for years. Kon was scared of what this means. Has Tim's soulmate accepted him back? Was Tim leaving him now? He was afraid and hurting but he tells Tim what he sees and braces himself for the inevitable. This is how the best relationship in Kon's life ends. But it didn't. Tim didn't want this to end. He was the happiest he has been all these months with Kon. He tells Kon that. He was going to be selfish this time. He had dealt with the flowers for so long, his soulmate could deal with it themselves. He promises himself to Kon. Maybe his soulmate was right, Tim says, the universe did make a mistake making them soulmates because if he was asked to choose a soulmate, he would've chosen Kon. They kiss and they have the best sex in their lives. The next morning, they wake up and sees the dark spot on Kon's skin had become Tim's soulmark. They're soulmates.

Meanwhile, Tim's soulmate wakes up, surrounded by the same flowers Tim used to cough up. And their soulmark gone from their skin

-🦆 (I sincerely hope no one else took this emoji as a sign. That would be awkward. I've only sent one other ask signed with this emoji)

ANON!!!! ANON ANON ANON!!!!!!! THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!! I LOVED EVERY SINGLE WORD!!!! ♥️ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥😩😩😩😩😩😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍😍😍😍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

soulmate and hanaki both carry, in my opinion, some of the best love angst fics in any fandom!!! the unrequited love tropes are so good especially when the person who was hurting ends up happy in the end!!!!!!!!!!!

i love the idea that this wasn't a 'misunderstanding' that tim and bruce/dick/jason/damian knew fully well that tim was their soulmate- not just that but that everyone else knew they were soulmates as well.

that means talia, selina, kory, barbara and everyone who were fucking or dating bruce or dick knew for a fact that tim was the soulmate- and they didn't care. or maybe it's not that they didn't care but that they were told that it was all taken care of. by bruce and dick most likely.

maybe in bruce and dick's mind it makes sense to not reciprocate because....tim is young. he's a child and he can't possibly engage in the kind of relationship they're used to- the kind of relationship where the two go on dates and have sex and are emotionally vulnerable and honest with each other. both bruce and dick go through some pretty heavy stuff and are mentally sometimes not in the best place and so tim, a child, can't provide the kind of support they need even if he tries so hard to be their equal and be their soulmate. even if tim offered they'd still say no because it's not right. tim is so young and shouldn't have to shoulder the burden and horrors of an older soulmate. soulmate age gaps aren't rare- they're quite common. but even if soulmates meet when one is an adult and the other is a child the child won't just get married- they'll stay with their parents until they're an adult. bruce and dick have both probably seen the...bad side of soulmates with age gaps where one soulmate was too young when the 'adult' stuff started. just because someone is meant for you doesn't mean you can't hurt them.

so they think they're protecting tim. by focusing on women their own age (nevermind that sometimes tim cries and wonders if because he's not a girl that they won't look at him, that they've rejected him). in bruce and dick's minds their distance from tim is justified. they can't take tim out to dinner or on dates without it looking creepy. they can't give tim a relationship when he's too physically and mentally underdeveloped. they just can't do it.

but they never tell tim this.

they never tell tim the reason why they won't look at him, why they'll get into relationships, spend the night with, and nearly marry OTHER people. and honestly....it's because they forget. tim is just always...there. he's a comfortable presence in their life. when they go through a bad breakup, when things turn sour, when they're betrayed, when they're left at the alter- tim is there. ready to comfort, offer gentle words, and squeeze their shoulders in a way that makes them feel like everything will be okay. they take him for granted.

they disregard his feelings, when he shows up to breakfast with puffy and redrimmed eyes it doesn't even occur to them that they could be the cause. tim never snaps at them, cries, or yells about how they're choosing other women, other heroes, other people over him.

they don't think about him and maybe that the cruelest part of it all.

they don't think about tim. until he's gone.

when they wake up to flower petals sprinkled over their body and their mark aching like someone has punched a hole through their heart- they panic. the terror and fear that swallows them is unlike anything they've ever felt.

they've lost their soulmate and it feels like they've been ripped in half.

until they call everyone they know, pull up security camera footage and see tim (alive, he's alive and that brings so much relief they could almost cry before the cold realization sets in) and superboy making pancakes and eggs together, laughing and looking disheveled in the way that lets people know they got laid the night before.

hurt radiates through their throat at the sight they can barely talk. disbelief and betrayal sink into them as they watch as superboy strokes at the soulmate mark- their soulmate mark printed right over where his heart is.

both dick and bruce lay a hand over where their marks used to be. there's no scar, no pain, not even an itch. there's no evidence of them ever having a soulmate.

for jason it's complicated. the fact that tim is his soulmate always gets drowned out by the fact that he's the boy bruce replaced him with. the superior model, the one that would obey, that wouldn't disappoint, the one that wasn't dirty, the one that didn't live in a gutter, who didn't have to give handies in an alley just to make a buck. maybe the old jason, the young and innocent one would've been ecstatic and so happy to meet his soulmate. jason had given up on ever finding anyone who wasn't his soulmate because he SAW how that played out. willis and catherine hadn't been soulmates and whenever jason had asked her about the splotchy soulmate mark that didn't seem to really make any sense she always got quiet. jason always swore what he and his soulmate had would be different- that his soulmate wouldn't need to suffer ever so long as jason was with them. sometimes the rage he directs at tim is the pit, other times it's genuine rage and hatred. at some point jason runs out of excuses and just needs to accept that he can't love tim more than he hates him. that he'll always hate tim for what he represents just like he'll always hate the joker for what he is. but...there are time...moments. when jason has a bit of clarity when he's not hurting as much and laughing along with tim at something stupid bruce did. when alfred is bringing them trays of hot, jam filled cookies and warm mugs of honey lemon tea because both of them have sore throats from being stuck wading water in gotham harbor for a drug dumping bust. jason thinks the first person to ever make him genuinely chuckle at something after...everything- is tim. but then bruce fucking dies or gets lost in time and all the pain and the hurt and the fact that he hadn't gotten catharsis or closure or whatever the fuck- and tim is there. like always. and maybe jason should feel bad. his soulmate had been so wary around him but had come around eventually. but in jason's mind it doesn't matter. because the joker is still around, because bruce is gone but then he's not, because so much of the pain that jason endured has gone unanswered. and tim is there and it's easy to hurt him, hate, him, taunt him using private conversations they had as ammo. jason shouldn't be surprised as he is when he wakes up while on a job and finds his bed filled with crabapple blossoms. something in his chest just goes tight. he doesn't move for what feels like hours and when he does his whole arm is shaking and pulling up feeds from gotham then san francisco because jason recalls how tim often crosses the country to be with the titans. and he finds...something that has him clenching his jaw and balling his shaking fists together. tim not being his soulmate should be a good thing. jason hated him too much, was never able to scrub away the resentment of him...but seeing him in another person's arms, seeing that person with HIS soulmark....he wants to cry. the universe has decided jason was no longer worthy of his soulmate the same way it decided he was no longer worthy of life and so took it away from him. jason should be happy but all he wants to do is cry.

damian is young, jealous, and knows nothing about selfless love. when he meets tim too much of his is brainwashed from the league and talia. when he learns tim is his soulmate too much of him is brainwashed by what he was led to believe a soulmate would be. drake doesn't welcome him with open arms, doesn't fawn over damian or forgive any of his faults. drake argues with him and fights back against damian like a cat escaping the hands grabbing them. there is tension and antagonism that runs deep between them. damian doesn't think him attempting to kill drake should be held against him because...because that's just how he is and drake should KNOW that. when he finds his name in a list of targets he cannot hold back the hurt, the pain, or the resentment. the accusations flow out of him like water. it's the worst pain he's ever felt because damian had been TRYING to get better and improve only that drake hadn't been around to see it. for nearly a year drake had abandoned him. not a single call, word, or letter until he'd blown into gotham and demanded they obey like he had any idea about what they'd endured in the city during his absence. he left gotham, he left DAMIAN and he couldn't just walk back in and expect loyalty. a year is a long time for someone like damian. he grew an inch, he got calmer, more merciful. he gained the respect of other fighters in the city, of citizens. but that wasn't enough for his soulmate who still deemed him a "threat". so yes damian is upset and he makes that known. and eventually drake leaves gothan unable to handle the fact that he was wrong about damian. no apology. no letter.

just like last time.

damian is bitter and angry and hurt, bad mouthing drake to anyone and everyone and at first he has their sympathy and ears but they start growing tired of it. red hood mocks him one night, asking if he really expected "perfect little timmy" to ever want to be soulmates with a demented league brat like him.

damian attacks him with his sword and leaves a deep cut in his thigh that has hood cursing. the attack draws the attention of other bats who are furious with him for attacking todd. grayson looks at him with deep disappointment "i thought you'd outgrown this". damian has a bad week. he's grounded and his father schedules an appointment with a therapist for his behavior, utterly unsympathetic when damian said it was drake's fault.

two days before his appointment damain wakes up in a bed of flowers that make his nose itch and no soulmark. damian's scream wakes the entire manor.

his missing soulmark has grayson turning white and sprinting for a phone. father stares at the hives forming on his skin. an allergic reaction from the flowers.

damian is given some medicine and cream and forced to watch as his soulmate is held and stroked by a clone. damian can't stop the angry tears the- the betrayed tears that burn trails down his cheeks like hot lava. damian may not have liked or loved his soulmate the way he knew he was supposed to but...but...but he didn't think he'd do this.

damian cries and no one comforts him or tries to console him.

why would they?

damian had been talking about how much he hated drake, how much the universe had made a mistake, how much drake was not and would never be his soulmate.

well damian got his wish didn't he?

now drake isn't his soulmate.

no one is.

not anymore.

#answered asks #asks #anonymous

[modernday-orpheus]

Okay, hear me out. If Tim idolized Batman instead of Robin, Bruce would be dead.

(long post under the cut!)

Disclaimer: I am not perfect and don't know everything there is to know about comics! Some shit here may be accidentally based on fanon rather than canon! Please be nice!

Tim, of course, respects and looks up to Batman. Bruce is his mentor and his father, so it's safe to assume he loves him as well. But his Hero™ is and always has been Robin, Dick at first but especially Jason judging by the timeline. Most people in Gotham view Robin as an addendum, an extra, nothing more than a kid sidekick. They’re disappointed if her shows up without Batman, and question his abilities. Tim’s hero worship combined with his knowledge of their identities, in this case, allows him to see things as they truly are. For Tim, Robin is a light in the dark, a balancing act with Batman, not his sidekick but his partner. He’s a necessary part of the Dynamic Duo because while Batman represents Justice, Robin represents this Hope for a better future. Sure, he’s just a kid; by all accounts he shouldn’t even be out there fighting, but maybe, if he is, no other kids won’t have to fight as hard just to survive. He represents the soul of Gotham, underneath the criminality and corruption; a city full of people, tough-as-nails, saying “No, fuck you, this is our city” despite the constant danger. He represents the people who come together in times of crisis, who help out their neighbors when each new disaster strikes. He’s trained in martial arts, of course, and he’s a skilled fighter, but Robin’s primary job is always the safety of civilians. He’s the one that gets scared little kids out of a burning building while Batman keeps the villain of the week busy, the one who stays behind with SA victims walks them home because Batman is too much for those things. He uses fear where Robin uses kindness, compassion, and love.

Tim sees this. So, when Robin dies and Batman is getting rougher, more violent, more careless, he notices. He notices that Bruce is picking bigger fights than he can handle, taking hits he could dodge, breaking four ribs instead of two, barely making it back to the manor each night. If he idolized Bruce, at this point, he would trust him the way the rest of Gotham does. He would assume it was a rough patch, and Bruce would recover, and that Batman would always save the day. He would see a solitary hero, the way Batman wants to be seen. He wouldn’t think it necessary to reach out to Dick for help, and even if he did he would think Nightwing would be enough help. He wouldn’t understand the importance of the Robin mantle, the specific role that needs to be filled. Nightwing can represent a lot of things; fluidity, positive change, and freedom come to mind immediately, but there's no world where Nightwing represents Gotham and Hope the same way Robin does. He can’t serve the same purpose anymore, not in that uniform. Bruce would die at Two-Face’s hands in that very first arc, I have not a single doubt in my mind.

Then, as Tim comes back to Gotham post-training and actually starts to help out, it’s common for him to be the conscience. He falls easily into the role of Robin, the role that makes him protector of the innocent. He’s not like Jason, raised by these streets in a very different way, though I wouldn’t say either is better or worse. Where Jason struggled and had to fight, out there each night pre-Bruce out of necessity rather than choice. He knows all the best hiding spots and back-alleys because it kept him alive. He chooses to be Robin because he needed a hero and wants to be that for other people. Tim chose those streets, and he chose them for Robin. He knows the best hiding spots because they put him closer to the action, because he raised himself on all those cold nights alone on rooftops with his camera. He knows the back-alleys because they made him faster, made it so his little kid legs could keep up with his hero so he wouldn’t miss a moment. He lives for Gotham nights, for the thrill of seeing everything, getting to know everything. He chooses to be Robin because where his parents failed to teach him how to be a good person, Robin stepped up. He bases his morals off of watching Robin help people, and because he’s a kid he assumes that it’s normal to behave with altruistic intentions and prioritize others.

There’s a point to be made here, briefly, about how this lends itself to Tim’s self-worth issues and insecurities. If his job is to assist, supplement, guide, and fill in the blanks when Batman fails, he doesn’t have the option of failure. He expects that how he does his job, as long as the job gets done, doesn’t matter because he doesn’t view himself as the hero. He never views himself as a main character in his own story; he truly thinks he’s doing what anyone else in his position would gladly do. This is why he overworks himself, why he’s known for living, for lack of a better term “like a goddamn ninja turtle”. It’s why he’s always Robin or Red Robin or even his public persona Timothy Drake-Wayne but rarely Just Tim. Very few people get to see Just Tim, normal Tim, because if they’re seeing that then he’s not doing his job.

All of these factors lead to Tim’s conclusion that if no one else can get Batman out of this state, least of all Batman himself, of course the next logical conclusion is that it’s his responsibility to step up and do the job. Furthermore, it’s only because he idolized Robin that he can fill the role properly because his relationship to Bruce, especially in the beginning, is nothing like Dick and Jason’s relationships with Bruce. He’s not his kid, doesn’t bring Robin’s joy and hope home, so instead he has to work twice as hard in the field to keep Bruce away from the edge. He’s the first of the Robins to view himself as Batman’s protector rather than the other way around, and he’s the only one who Bruce acknowledges when he tries to fill that role. Bruce accepts it when Tim manages him, reorganizes his files, forces him into the medbay, even when he very occasionally goes as far as to outright scold him rather than just pressure him to make the right choices. He’s given an inch and takes a mile, because he believes (rightfully, in my opinion) that if he doesn't then all hope is lost. And Bruce allows him to help, to guide, as much as he’s willing to because he’s not his kid first. He’s Robin first.

This mentality carries over to the Red Robin arc, where Tim spends an entire year chasing after Bruce to save him. He does it alone, and although he asks for help he doesn’t actually expect it. Furthermore, because his morals are based off of Robin in his infinite altruism rather than Batman with his rigid rules, he doesn’t mind working with Ra’s al Ghul. He doesn’t mind betraying Ra’s by killing his men, by blowing up his bases. He doesn’t tell Bruce about it to protect Bruce from having another murderer under his roof, and because he doesn’t think it matters enough. Bruce isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to save him. I believe he would have been if any other Robin had shown up. He and Dick have had a strained relationship for years, he and Jason aren’t even on speaking terms, Stephanie was so often full of rage at him throughout her run as Robin and is dead at the time, and he doesn’t even really have a relationship with Damian. Aside from all of that, he’s assumed dead. He can’t assume the Justice League will spend their time saving a dead man. And yet, despite all of that, he isn’t surprised when Tim is the one to pull him out of the time stream. He’s disoriented, sure, and a little surprised it was possible for him to be saved at all, and he even wants to hear about how he figured it out, but his doubt is never placed on the fact that Tim would be the one to understand and tear the world apart to bring him home.

I believe this also helps to explain Tim’s struggle with letting go of the Robin mantle, outside of the fact that he was the first to have the choice to move on taken away from him. If he’s always been Robin first, always felt the weight of that on his shoulders, what is he supposed to do when his very identity is stripped away right as he loses everyone who got to really know him as Just Tim? How is he supposed to cope with having to reconstruct his own idea of who he is with no one around to remind him? Humans are social creatures. We learn and grow with and because of each other. He’s encouraged by Dick to grow quickly out of Robin to fill a new role, which is a nice sentiment from Dick’s own point of view, but he’s lacking a sturdy foundation. Not because it’s not actually there, or because he lacks personality or morals, but because he truly views himself and all of his good decisions as just what anybody would do and what Robin is supposed to do. He doesn’t consider that following these morals makes them his, makes them the building blocks for wherever he goes next, he considers them to be traits of a character he no longer plays; a purpose he no longer serves.

#tim drake #red robin #robin #batman #dick grayson #red hood #dcu #dc batman #dc comics #dc robin #Nightwing #dick grasyon #tim drake wayne

[damianbugs]

batfam taking care of dick grayson fics !! time travel fics !! heart wrenching batfam fics that actually analyse the characters and give a good character study and don't simply accept fanon crap (coffee addict tim drake im looking at u) !! ur top 5 all time fave batfam fic !! and also, i love ur stuff so much on ao3 thank u for sharing your work w us <3

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! this is so sweet i am so happy you enjoy my work <3 i will do you one better and offer a list combining all your requests to the best of my capabilities !! you've caught me at a great time, because i am currently obsessed with batfam timetravel.

i will admit i definitely have more than five favourites (my 500+ carefully curated and organised private bookmarks should be proof enough) so i hope you like the ones i have selected here :D ! (these are in no particular order!)

MY TOP 5 FAVOURITE BATFAM FICS (on ao3) !

Tap by CKBookish

Bruce returns home from the time stream, haunted by phantoms and dreams. Dreams of a past that can't be real.

But all of that wouldn't be so bad if his home didn't feel so empty in the absence of one of his children. Jason, refuses to talk to him or even answer his calls and Bruce can't figure out why or what he did wrong, not after they had mended their fences before his disappearance.

Meanwhile,

Catherine struggles to hold it together for her and Jason as life falls apart around them. When all she has to give is love she does her best to give it all.

MY NOTES: one of my all time favourite not-exactly-time-travel time travel fics! features some wonderful character building and complicated relationships, and the plot itself is just incredibly. the way everyone is written is definitely realistic to how i would imagine them personally (especially dick).

A Good Place by LemonadeGarden

Damian Wayne is kidnapped and sent back years through time. Together, he and Father – who's only been Batman for a mere six months –must figure out how to return him to his own time.

Over the course of the next week, Damian discovers that Mexican gangsters do not mess around, that social workers find Bruce annoying, that Bruce might be a little messed up, and that crystal chandeliers create the fondest memories.

Oh. And Alfred has hair.

MY NOTES: not only is this one of my top favourite time travel fics, it is also one of my favourite bruce and damian fics. it is so witty and fun, but also hurts immensely. fics where the kids are forced to endure young bruce's ridiculousness is always a treat, and here it is infinitely more amusing because it's damian finding his father entirely silly.

Modus Tollens by fanfictiongreenirises

Dick is cursed to kill anyone he touches.

MY NOTES: this one is fantastic. really gut wrenching throughout and you really feel for dick when it gets tough, but the sweet ending makes up for all the pain. dick loves his family and his family loves him immensely.

I Used to Be an Adventurer Like You, Then I Took an Arrow to the Knee by audreycritter

Stephanie was just on patrol and now she’s stuck somewhere, sometime, with Bruce.

They bleed and bond and mostly try to keep each other alive— you know, just a Tuesday.

MY NOTES: don't mind me casually recommending just the best bruce and stephanie fic to ever be written. it is unhealthy how many times i have read this one. and it is time travel! this is my dream come true. it also features one of my most favourite studies on bruce and stephanie and what they represent to each other.

Keep Your Head, Your Backbone and Your Heart by MrMich

The last thing that Duke expected on what was supposed to be just a regular patrol was being suddenly thrown five years into the past, coming face to face with a darker, more violent Batman than the one he knew, a broken family, and a Tim who was a foot shorter than Duke, and not even Robin yet.

MY NOTES: there was a moment in time where i briefly made this fic my entire personality with how much i spoke about it. dare i say one of the best duke thomas centric fics and ITS TIME TRAVEL! it is so great. i have noticed that you rarely see tim as robin in time travel fics, and he is so lovely in this, especially his dynamic with duke. as always, young bruce is ridiculous, but how duke navigates through it all is so important to me.

OKAY i will stop here as i frantically try to shove the remaining 495 fics back into my metaphorical ao3 closet. i hope u like these anon! <3 also if you haven't already, check out all these authors other works too! they are all fantastic !!

#batfam #fic rec #bruce wayne #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #stephanie brown #tim drake #duke thomas #fic reccomendations #time travel #canon divergence #can you tell im crazy insane about these fics yet #saki batfam fic recs