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dying-birds · 2 months

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Dying birds (Reverse robins Au)

(storyline part one)

Damian Wayne's childhood was unconventional, to say the least, raised by assassins only to be dropped off at his father's doorstep for his own protection. Consumed not only by wrath but the overwhelming pressure to please his grandfather, Damian was headed down a dark path of vengeance and blood. A path his father Bruce Wayne, was all too familiar with his father. Bruce took him on as a sidekick hoping to instill the values of justice and human life. Bruce becomes a more lighthearted Batman for Damian's sake.

After getting settled into his new role Damian was introduced to many other heroes and sidekicks, one of them being a redhead speedster. Wally West aka Kid Flash, may be the most annoying person Damian has ever met and yet he somehow he was also Damian's best friend.

As Damian grew older he found himself constantly butting heads with his father leading him to move out. A life away from Bruce and the constant fight had done him good Damina even considered doing away with the capes and mask sadly Gotham had other plans for him. Damian had been walking home from the store when he witnessed what appeared to be a mugging. He stepped in and things went south real quickly as he was shot by an unknown marksman. Bruce found his son bleeding out in the streets, a war on Gotham had begun. Damian woke up in a Gotham hospital unable to move his legs. Things were revealed about the mugging turning him bitter toward Bruce. Damian left Gotham altogether and Bruce became a harsher Batman

Tim Drake a mistreated child with a knack for photography, the next sidekick. Bruce would find this kid standing in the middle of his cave. Batman was on the edge of going rogue, Tim could let that happen. He pushed into taking the mantel out of necessity

The start of Tim's vigilante career was spent trying to get Bruce and Damian to talk to each other. For all his efforts he was treated horribly, Bruce's training was brutal and Damian treated Him harshly. For a while, Damian blamed Tim for taking his place but the truth was Damian thinks of himself as broken and sees what he could have been in Tim. Tim eventually does break through to Damian and the older boy comes back to Gotham taking up an oracle-type role.

Damian starts to see Tim as a little brother and enjoys having him around. Not long after Tim meets a ninja girl named Stephine Brown. Through a series of events convinces her to join the bats. Taking her under his wing Tim trains her to take his place so he can leave for a secret project called Titan. Only Steph and Damian know about this project.

One day on patrol Tim tries to help the wrong person causing him to get shot in the stomach. Tim gets away but he's bleeding heavily. Damian's on the comms trying to help him but everyone is to far away. Tim stumbles through the street before sliding down against a pole. In his last minutes, he talks to Damian and Bruce about how grateful he was to be a bat and tells Stephine how much he appreciated her friendship and how proud he was of her. Damian is on the comms the entire time helpless as his brother dies, his last words I love you guys.

#reverse robins #reverse batfam #damian wayne #tim drake #stephanie brown #batfam #batman #bruce wayne

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tomboy014 · 1 year

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I’m mostly going off of fanon when it comes to Constantine, so bear with me, but after all the times Constantine has complained to the JLA for dragging him into whatever problem they’ve managed to bumble into, Batman and Oracle have started looking for alternative occult and supernatural consultants, but it’s not like they can just look someone up in the phone book… right?

Except that’s exactly where Oracle finds Harry Dresden, Professional Wizard.

There aren’t many records Oracle’s able to pull up, and what she does find is a mixed bag. He’s got a fairly decent record working as a consultant with the Chicago PD, but he’s also worked with known criminal organizations. There’s a pending lawsuit with TV studio over some wrecked equipment, good reviews from his former landlady, and a mix of dissatisfied and very satisfied customers, but it seems like, for the most part, he gets results.

Plus, his rates are reasonable and he’s willing to travel; might as well bring him in on a trial run.

Nothing big at first. Break up a new cult, disprove a haunting, all much smaller and easier than what he usually deals with back in Chicago. He’s even managed to not burn down a building or two while he’s been here. And while his methods can be… unorthodox, he can hold his own in a fight using both magical and mundane methods. He’s a good detective and can work a crime scene. He’s a hell of a lot more personable than Constantine. Most importantly, he’s willing to teach. Giant dork that he is, he’s eager to explain the magical theory behind his methods.

After a few months, Batman asks if Dresden is willing to be brought on full time, so to speak, and work his first “big” case.

“Only if you can provide a babysitter.”

…What?

The Carpenter’s are on their family trip, and he doesn’t really have anyone else who can watch his kid. He can only help if they can get him a babysitter.

Not what any of the Bats were expecting, but Batman can call in a “favor.”

Cue Dresden rolling up to Wayne Manor with little Maggie and her trusty sidekick, Mouse, in tow.

Alfred gets Maggie and Mouse settled in, and once she’s out of the room, Dresden turns to Bruce Wayne and casually asks if he gets to see the Batcave.

Dresden is aware he’s not always the brightest crayon in the toolshed, but he’s still a damn good detective, and he knows people. It didn’t take him long to puzzle out that Bruce and the kids are vigilantes. Bruce isn’t happy, but it does make things easier going forward.

Other than Tim, the Birds take to Dresden quickly. He’s good with kids, never talking down to them, and is full of dorky movie and book references. He can sling almost as much sass and sarcasm around as Steph. Maggie is tiny and adorable and looks like a mini-Cass they can all coo over. And Damian cannot get enough of Mouse who is just so large and fluffy and so much dog! Tim doesn’t want Dresden to come anywhere near him; he shorts out every tablet and has to stay at least 20ft from the Bat Computer to keep it from shorting out.

So, Dresden finally works with the Justice League on some big, world-ending doomsday case, and yeah, this is unfortunately the speed he’s used to working at. And, of course, a building burns down, but it was mostly not his fault! But, everyone comes out more or less in one piece, the day is saved, and a bruised and beaten Dresden drags himself back to Wayne manor to recover before heading back to Chicago.

Just a normal day for Harry Dresden, professional wizard and supernatural consultant for the Justice League of America.

Still a much better deal than he’s used to getting. The pay is good, and he doesn’t have to constantly watch his back against his own teammates. Perk of working with superheroes; they’re generally good guys.

But the biggest perks have been the positive effects on his daughter, Maggie. It’s no Chez Carpenter, but the Manor and all the bat kids have a strong and warm family vibe of their own. They’re (worryingly) good at helping talk her down from panic attacks and PTSD episodes. They’ve got a lot of parenting advice to give, too.

And Maggie can finally get the therapy she needs from Black Canary without Dresden worrying about her being thrown into a loony bin for talking about the literal monsters she’ been exposed to. Harry, too.

This is the best Harry and Maggie have been doing in a long time.

John Constantine, on the other hand, is getting worried. The JLA have gone a suspiciously long time without getting themselves into trouble, and despite the way he acts, he does care in his own way, so he goes to check on them. And who does he find they’ve invited into their house? Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, apprentice of Justin DuMorne, son of Margaret LeFay, fiancé to Lara Raith of the White Court of Vampires, and the right-hand goon of the Dark Faerie Queen herself, Mab. For Dresden, he can’t believe John Constantine, renegade warlock, necromance and black magic practitioner, just walked in. He’s been on the Warden’s list for years.

Both parties are trying to make their case about why they shouldn’t be using the other; they’re evil! But the more Dresden and Constantine yell and argue with each other, the more they realize that they’re both working outside boundaries, but generally in the direction of good. The two end up in positions that require them to work together, and it goes surprisingly well. Their knowledge and experiences complement each other’s, and they make a well-oiled, if reluctant, duo.

#dc #john constantine #dresden files #harry dresden #dc crossover

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bibatfamdisaster · 2 years

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Bruce: Did you buy the eggs like i asked?

Damian: I found a much better alternative

Bruce: Damian, what did you-

Damian: *holding up a chicken* Father, meet Carl

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dukethomas · 3 years

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Summary: Duke’s parents recover and come home. Written for Duke Week 2021 Day Six: Family Bonding.

I was going to write something angstier for this prompt, but it actually turned into just the comfort part of hurt/comfort. Sometimes I need a good cry about something good happening to characters I love.

Also read it here on AO3!

His parents were back.

His parents were back, and Duke could cry and cry and cry forever. He sobbed into his mom’s shoulder for who knows how long when he saw them. His mom pat his back—he was taller than her now—and murmured to him, “It’s okay, baby bird. We’re here.”

The use of the nickname he hadn’t heard since he was in elementary school made him sob harder.

His mom and his dad were, were okay, their mouths weren’t contorted into unnatural grins and they didn’t carry that gleam of hatred and they said they were so sorry and they loved him so much and wow, hadn’t he grown up so much—he turned out to be the spitting image of his mother, didn’t he think?

Duke didn’t think he’d ever stop crying.

“I missed you,” he blubbered. “I missed you every day, I swear, I tried so hard to find a cure or something—”

His dad smiled at him, softly, tears in the corners of his eyes. “And you did. We’re right here, Duke. You brought us back.”

He had to call Jay to pick them up, because his parents no longer had licenses and Duke didn’t trust his hands to not shake in the full force of his joy.

In the days that followed, Duke didn’t go out as the Signal. How could he? This all felt like a fever dream; he’d been wanting this for so long. If he didn’t spend every waking moment with his parents, he feared they could revert back to what they were, and it would be a dream after all.

Jay took a few days off of work, and Duke called in sick for a few days at school. The Thomas family glowed with genuine grins, because they were whole. They spent the time catching his mom and dad up on what they missed, and having fun playing games or going out the rest of the time. To his dad’s chagrin, Duke had gotten much better at chess, but no one could beat his mom at Monopoly.

Then life came crashing down around them. Jay had to go to work, Duke had to go back to school, and his parents needed to begin a new chapter of their lives. Unbeknownst to Jay and his parents, Duke skipped his first day back at school to chase down a string of thefts he’d read about in the news.

He could never stay away from Signal for long. Gotham needed him, needed all the help it could get.

It wasn’t a difficult case, by any means. Mad Hatter was about as subtle as a barge. Still, Duke embraced the thrill of hunting them down, as the trail of clues led him right towards a newly opened costume store, Wonderland Haberdashery.

Again. Subtle as a barge.

“What are we waiting for?” a man dressed as a giant white rabbit complained.

The dormouse next to him shushed him loudly. She hissed, “The boss’ signal.”

Duke took that as his cue. He launched into action, running forward with a well-timed punch to the rabbit’s face. “You’ve got one right here.” (Those jokes never got old.)

He let himself loose, using all of his training as well as his own metahuman power to demolish his way through the storybook-themed goons. He couldn’t fight the grin on his face; he was having too much fun. His heart reached a thunderous frenzy in his ears and he loved every second of it. These guys couldn’t touch him.

When the time came to knock out Jervis Tetch himself, Duke obliged with glee. He’d just finished tying him to the wall when his phone buzzed with a notification.

It was three, school was over, and he should be heading home. His parents should be home.

His parents were home. It still felt surreal.

He ran into Jay’s apartment and kicked off his shoes faster than he ever had when doing a superheroic change of clothes.

“Hey Mom! Hey Dad! I’m home!” he called. When he heard no response, a chill went down his spine, and he rushed to the living room. There, his parents sat on the couch, fixated on the TV. The news channel was on, talking about an altercation at—oh.

It was talking about him.

“That’s you,” his mom said without turning back to look at him.

A wad of bile as large as a stone formed in his throat. He knew Bruce probably had contingencies for if anyone guessed his identity. Deny it, prove that he was in school, get a shapeshifter to pose as Signal in the same room as him. But he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Yeah.” He couldn’t, he wouldn’t lie to his parents. “Are you upset?”

He’d imagined this scenario many times. What would his parents say about his vigilantism? He was risking his life every time he was out there, and no parent would want that, but he was helping Gotham. He was helping Gotham’s people, just like they had taught him to do.

“Let me take a look at you,” his mom told him, beckoning him towards the couch. Duke listened, sitting in between his mom and dad. His mom cupped his face with her rough hands, and he leaned into the touch. “It’s dangerous,” she murmured; Duke squeezed his eyes shut.

A firm arm reached around his shoulders, holding him tight. His dad. “But you’re happy,” he said.

Duke nodded, his chin trembling.

They dwelled in a moment’s pause, until he was being hugged from both sides. Duke opened his eyes to see his parents with faint smiles. “We couldn’t be there for you,” said his mom, “but you found yourself.”

“I did,” Duke whispered, crying for the millionth time this week. “I did.”

“We’re so, so unbelievably proud of the person you’ve grown up to be, baby bird. We just wish… we just wish we could have been here to see it happen.”

His parents laid down some ground rules. No more skipping school unless he had all his assignments done and he had straight A’s. He had to be home for dinner, and after sundown he was off his shift. He could join night shift with the other Bats only twice a week in a limited capacity, and he had to go to sleep before midnight on school nights. And he would tell Jay his secret.

That had been the hardest one. Duke could barely get the words out, suddenly filled with shame for not telling Jay earlier.

But as it turned out, Jay already suspected it. “I’m no genius, but you’re disappearing constantly. I can never find you. Wayne takes you out of Gotham all the time. That’s not just an internship, Duke.” His jaw hardened. “But don’t think that I’m going to be the cool cousin now and let you break any of those new rules your parents set. Safety first.”

Duke rolled his eyes and hugged him. “Love you, man.”

“Love you too, rascal.”

He had to let Bruce know. He’d been keeping in touch with Bruce throughout all of this, but sparingly. He got the vibe that Bruce was keeping his distance out of respect for him and his parents.

Well, no more of that. Duke shot off a text to Bruce to let him know he was coming, then pocketed his phone. “Hey, Mom? Dad? You wanna ride with me on my motorcycle to Wayne Manor?”

He wouldn’t have actually done it (it was too big of an identity risk), but it was worth it to see his parents’ briefly stunned looks before his dad started chasing him with a noogie at the ready.

Jay drove them all to Wayne Manor. His mom and dad walked out of the car tentatively, scrutinizing their surroundings. Duke fidgeted with his shirt, wondering what they thought. For all intents and purposes, this was his home, if only for a little over a year.

Duke rang the doorbell, ready to greet Alfred, but it was Bruce who opened the door for once. The way he held himself struck Duke. It wasn’t extravagant and flighty like Brucie, nor grim and tense like Batman. Duke’s family were some of the very few to see Bruce Wayne as he really was, without a persona.

“You took Duke in while we were… unavailable,” his mom said before Bruce could say hello.

“Yes,” replied Bruce calmly, wearing something on his face Duke didn’t often see. Vulnerability. Anxiety .

His dad held out his hand. “Doug Thomas. Thank you. Thank you for taking care of our boy.”

“It was a pleasure.” Bruce shook Duke’s dad’s hand. “Duke was a delight to mentor and guide. I’m glad he has you both back.”

Duke grinned. “He says I’m a delight but he didn’t think so every time I snuck out of the Manor to track down a lead.”

“You were supposed to be on bed rest.”

“And I rested, in a bed, after I solved the case! I do it every night when I sleep—that’s working overtime on bed rest, Bruce.”

“And you won’t be pulling any of that with us, young man,” his mom told him in a stern tone.

Duke quickly made his eyes as wide, pleading, and innocent as possible. He would never, he was about to say, when Bruce told them to come in.

“A better man than I expected him to be,” his dad said once Bruce had moved far enough he wouldn't hear. His mom hummed in agreement. “And Duke, you felt safe with him?”

Duke snorted. “Define safe.”

“Smartass,” Jay muttered, behind the three of them. He’d been through the tour already. He had a begrudging respect for Bruce, but he wasn’t impressed.

“And who taught me to do that, ever since I was a little kid?”

Duke yelped as he dodged a smack from Jay. “I’m fragile, don’t hurt me!”

“You’re not fragile,” said the amused voice coming from down the hall. Cass, here because Duke asked her to be. Because he wanted his family to meet his family.

“Oh! Mom, Dad, Jay, this is Cass.” He dragged them over to meet her. “She’s like… she’s my sister.”

Cass nodded, observing Duke’s family. “Good to meet you.”

At his parents’ confused glance, he told them, “When you were gone, I made new friends, but I also found new family. Cass isn’t your daughter or Jay’s cousin, but she’s my sister.” In his chest, he felt a weight alleviate, one he hadn’t even been aware of. “Wait until you meet Damian. Remember how I always wanted a baby brother when I was a kid, but you guys kept telling me that I was enough of a handful?”

As he kept introducing his parents to the family he made, he felt a warmth grow within him, tickling his ribs, infecting his lungs. It was like he couldn’t do anything but beam from ear to ear, now that he had almost everyone important in his life gathered together. (He would introduce them to Izzy, Riko, and the rest of the Robins soon.)

His family had been shattered, but Duke had picked up the pieces and created something new. And it could never be the way it was, but that was okay. Duke was happy with his family the way it was now.

His parents were home; all his family was home. Duke couldn’t be happier.

#dukeweek2021 #duke thomas #doug thomas #elaine thomas #dc #batfam #crys writes #this doesn't actually have..... a plot. but that's okay <3 #me writing duke and his parents: so how do normal people without my specific parental issues act

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oh-crap-im-attatched · 3 years

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Ok, so I’ve been really into batfamily reverse age au’s lately, but a lot of the fics I’ve read just insert Tim Drake into Jason’s story with minor changes. That’s fine, but it got me thinking about what would’ve happened if Tim was the second Robin.

And I may or may not have gotten a little out of control.

Anyways, enjoy.

So Talia would drop Damian off on Bruce first. Which, I mean imagine Bruce having to learn how to parent with Damian. Anyway, Damian becomes Bruce’s first sidekick, not Robin because Dick came up with the name Robin, so for the sake of this rant I’m going to call him Blackbird. I think that would go pretty similarly to canon, with Damian eventually wanting to go off by himself, having a falling out with Bruce, etc. I imagine reverse Damian as less bratty than regular Damian, because he doesn’t have a Robin legacy to live up to or a mantle to earn. He was the first. I mean he’s still Damian, and still has to learn how to go from assassin to vigilante, but he is definitely more confident with his place. I think he’d be a lot like Bruce because 1. Regular Damian is already similar to Bruce and 2. He didn’t have any other role models, so there was no Dick Grayson to admire instead. So, eventually, Damian goes off by himself as a new vigilante (that isn’t Nightwing.)

Then Tim shows up. Bruce is upset that his son left and is trying to learn how to deal with the fact that Damian grew up, no longer needs him, etc. Bruce probably blames himself partly, thinking that he was a bad parent to Damian, and starts getting more violent with criminals. Taking his own guilt out on them, when a boy shows up at his door talking about how he knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Now there was no Dick Grayson doing a quadruple flip for Tim to figure it out, so he had to figure out a different way. Maybe he met Damian at a gala and was able to connect his formal speech patterns with Blackbird’s, and then everything else clicked into place. Anyway, Tim saw that there wasn’t a Blackbird anymore and saw that Batman started getting more violent with criminals and needed a sidekick, so he volunteered. It would take way less convincing from Tim in this au, because Damian didn’t die, especially when Bruce finds out about the neglectful parents. Tim would be closer with Bruce right off the bat too. So Tim becomes Blackbird. Everything’s great for a while, and when Tim’s parents die, Bruce adopts him. I think that Tim would always help the street kids, because he started becoming friends with some of them while following Batman and Blackbird.

Now, I’m thinking that Tim encountered the Joker in a very different way than Jason. Tim is smart enough that he can’t be easily tricked into a trap like Jason did, and he’s less impulsive. I think the same thing that happens to Jason would happen to Tim though, because the timing wouldn’t change. The Joker would want to traumatize Batman by killing his sidekick at the same time as canon. Who that sidekick is doesn’t really matter. It probably would’ve happened similarly to in Batman Beyond, where Tim was chasing a criminal or Harely and ended up getting knocked out. After that, the same thing in canon would happen, beaten, blown up, dead.

Bruce would be devestated. He’d probably be even more guilty than in canon because he let Tim convince him to be Blackbird in the first place, when Tim wasn’t even part of the family yet. He’d get even more violent than before, probably suicidal, starting to lose it. Damian would come back to Gotham to try to help his father, and mourn Tim himself. Damian and Tim didn’t have a strong relationship, but Damian respected his intelligence and the boy started to grow in him. Damian would feel that he should’ve gotten to know Tim better.

Then Jason would come flying into everyone’s lives. Bruce is worse than ever, when he comes across a boy stealing his tires. He’s surprised and a little shocked at the absolute balls this kid has, stealing from the batmobile, and dazedly asks if Jason was hungry. Jason would remind Bruce of Tim, and how Tim was always so good with the younger street kids and how he would want to help Jason. Long story short, Jason gets adopted. Jason in this au wouldn’t become Blackbird for a decent amount of time, even when he discovers Bruce is Batman, because Bruce is so scared at the thought of losing another son, but he eventually relents. Jason wouldn’t be able to get away with as many impulsive moves as in canon, because Bruce is way more cautious now. Anyway, Batman calms down, and everything’s normal for a while.

Then Tim comes back.

The same thing would happen as in canon. Ra’s Al Ghul heard that the smart Blackbird died, and starts plotting. Cut to grace robbing and Lazarus pit ex machina. Now, Tim wouldn’t respond to the same manipulation that Jason did. He doesn’t want people to die, he wouldn’t be that mad at Bruce for not killing the Joker, because he understands Batman, he followed him, studied him, flew with him. He knows why Bruce didn’t kill the Joker. No, Ra’s would have to resort to different tactics. Jason. Ra’s would play it that Bruce immediately took a new son off of the streets, a new Blackbird. That would get to Tim. If Tim thought that Bruce immediately got a new sidekick to put in harm’s way, didn’t even pause, and a street kid at that, who wouldn’t have a better alternative. That would get Tim mad. Tim wouldn’t be mad at being replaced, but that he got replaced with a kid who didn’t know better, immediately, and that Damian didn’t stop it. That would break through Tim’s walls enough for Ra’s to get to him. And given a year, Ra’s could manipulate him into wanted to kill Bruce. “For everyone’s sake,” Ra’s would say. “How many kids will he get killed.” Damian would be used as fuel too. Ra’s would say that he knows Damian. That Damian would stand by and let it happen if it meant he got to stay as a solo vigilante. That Damian doesn’t care about anyone else. Tim’s smart enough to logic his way through most of these lies, and he knows full well how much trouble Ra’s is, given that Damian was his predecessor, But, it wouldn’t matter how smart Tim was, given enough time and sole exposure to the league. Ra’s would shape Tim into his heir. Damian was a failure in that regard, and Tim is smarter anyway.

Eventually, Ra’s would be confident enough in Tim’s brainwashing that he would bring Tim back to Gotham. Not as the Red Hood, but as an assassin. A very well-trained assassin. Tim wouldn’t just kill people like Jason did, he’d probably have killed people with the league but not a lot. Forcing Tim to kill a lot would shake him out of the brainwashing more, because of his morals. No, Ra’s would be the one to get Batman’s attention. When Bruce eventually figured out Ra’s was in town, he’d go find him, and find Tim instead. Tim would have swords on him, and be in league of assassins uniform, but would probably be holding a gun at Bruce, because he could still beat Tim in a one on one fight. Damian would be there too, because he can handle his grandfather, but when he sees Tim, he’d blanch. Because, despite not being incredibly close to Tim, that was still his little brother, his dead little brother with his grandfather behind him. Oh, Damian would know exactly what happened.

Bruce would try to talk Tim down, and so would Damian, but with Ra’s right there as well, Tim wouldn’t shake enough to back down. Then, Jason shows up. I think that’s what gets through to Tim. Jason would’ve heard about Tim, and wanted to be just like him. He’d say as much to him. That is what would make a Tim pause, because according to Ra’s, Bruce made Jason Blackbird, Tim didn’t even think about if Jason had to convince Bruce to become Blackbird. He wasn’t able to with being around Ra’s constantly for a year. But with Jason standing right in front of him, completely unharmed, saying he wanted to be like Tim. That would shock Tim’s brain enough to actually think about what Damian and Bruce were saying. It would be like his entire word view suddenly tilted. His hand would start shaking. Damian would try to get him to see reason again, to reach out to Tim for what is pretty much the first time, and Ra’s gets cocky. He forgets that Tim’s intelligence doesn’t belong to him or Bruce. Tim would be reevaluating everything and start seeing more and more holes with Ra’s arguments. Tim’s more rational that regularJason, he’d be able to see that reverse Jason seems to want to be Blackbird, just like Tim wanted to be. I think that untimately it would take Bruce reaching out to him, calling him son, calking him back to truly break him. I think that Tim would go after Ra’s, pit madness still being a thing. Tim would probably almost kill him because a Ra’s would be caught off guard. Damian would be the one to stop him, to pull him back.

Afterwards, Tim would have a lot to sort through, and still wouldn’t exactly trust Bruce. He’d talk to Jason though. He and Jason would be very close, with Jason helping with a lot of his recovery. Giving constant assurance that he’s ok and that he loves being Blackbird. Tim would be very protective over him. Damian and Tim would get a lot closer too. Damian helping to undo all the conditioning and lies that Tim endured while with the league. Damian understands, and Tim would see that. Given enough time Tim would eventually go back home for good, go back to Bruce. When he finally rejoins the family he’d become a solo vigilante. His name would be Cardinal. A bird representing dead loved ones watching over you.

Bruce “dying” would still happen and I think that Tim would still be the one to figure it out, Damian might be a little skeptical because of Tim’s admittedly less than amazing mental state, but would offer assistance. He’d seen enough people coming back to life to be to sure that it’s impossible, and Jason really likes Tim at this point and wants Bruce back, so he’d be all for it. They’d bring Bruce back together, without the league of assassins, although Tim still finds a way to blow up half of Ra’s bases.

Dick would be like a breath of fresh air after the chaos of the first three. Bruce and the family would go to the circus for bonding. Maybe Tim mentioned seeing a circus performance when he was little, a Bruce wanted something to help Tim get even more comfortable being around him and the family again. They’d see the Flying Graysons fall, and see poor little Dick Grayson crying over the dead bodies of his family and immediately come to a consensus. Dick would get adopted soon after. He wouldn’t become Blackbird very quickly, as Jason still held the mantle, and maybe he wouldn’t at all. Maybe when the family finally deemed him ready to join them as a vigilante, he’d take the name Robin. The older siblings would love Dick and want to protect this boy with endless energy and a wide smile no matter what. Tim now having a strong urge when it comes to protecting his younger brothers because of Ra’s, Damian finally knowing how to big brother (in a very Damian way) at this point, and Jason getting to take care of someone younger than him. All of them would be a strong family unit at this point. And no one could tear them apart again.

#tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #bruce wayne #ra’s al ghul #reverse age au #reverse batfam #this is longer than i thought it would be #oh well #hope you enjoyed #I’ll probably write the batgirls version to this at some point too #batfamily

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we-dragons · 3 years

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I'm from a different dimension actually Chapter 5 Damian x reader

Pulled away to another world, Y/N uses magic science and a Little bird to help her get back home and possibly be rid of an apocalyptic event. "So, will you succumb to your doubts completely or step into the sun of this new world?"

" A few days, but I didn't expect the entire week, thank god for Molly." The emotional stress I had felt in the beginning influenced the behavior of the scales on my skin it took more hot water and hydrogen peroxide than I had originally would have needed. Even after all that, my skin was turned ashen and my breath was so shallow that Nightmare could lap from it as if it was his water bowl. The scales I have removed were not ready for healing uses yet, at least not for another three days. Nightmare had remained at my side barely even moving from his spot curled up on the pillow next to mine, the only time he moved is when Molly came over. Molly would drop off the homework, she told me she took the written project to Damian and he was ready to deliver it when it was due in 10 days from now. Molly would come by every day at 4, made sure I and Nightmare ate and rested well, told me about herself self and left. And I thank god I'm feeling better after all of that.

Today was Friday and I still wasn't feeling the best even after she left, Nightmare crawled up onto my lap while I had sat on the couch watching the news. I never liked watching the news but considering that I had an unexpected visitor I had hoped to find out more. I'm not disappointed, Vigilanties that appear in Gotham with the exception of Nightwing who occasionally visited from Blüdhaven the sister city of Gotham, and the character Red Hood an anti-hero who fights for his own needs, he arrived in Gotham a few years ago and became a crime fighter. Then there were the other three, Red robin seen with the dynamic duo Batman and Robin, seen all over Gotham. All of them well known and on the news constantly in a large group even that fight bad guys of all sorts a from a clown, to plant creatures and more.

"Wow their just like them." I feel a wave of nostalgia float over me, I remember what it was like at home. In Minnesota. With the tall evergreens and the marvelous lilacs that mom would grow in our backyard, my family, and friends. Everything at least before all the drama in New York happened. "Dear God, I'm becoming an over-sentimental sad sack I can't think of them now, not yet." I get up from my seat to head to the kitchen Nightmare jumping off me when I hear a knock from my balcony. I continue my walk to the kitchen to peer out at it, I didn't see anything there even so I open it. Nightmare runs out before me hissing at something on the left.

"Nightmare what are you-Oh...." Robin stares at me from the railing of the balcony. He's leaning back on it a scornful look upon his face. Confusion settles in me as I just stare at him.

"Are you sick?" He asks walking to me while doing so.

"Y-yeah I was out too long in the rain." He stops just in front of me.

"Don't you bring an umbrella with you?"

"Not that day," I clear my throat a little. "why are you here?" He pauses as if coming up with the reason shocks even himself. He arches his arm back behind his back, slowly moving his arm out.

"My box! So you did take it," I exclaim grabbing the box tenderly opeining the lid, I smile sadly looking at the glinting scales inside the box. " did they help you." I look back up, his faces move to confusion.

"I stole them from you and you're asking me if they helped me?"

"Well, you also needed it more than me, and I can see it did wonders. Your up and running again." I start hacking for a strait minute and grab onto the railing. I look up to the door moving to pick up Nightmare. "Would you like to come in for some tea," NIghtmare squirms in my arms jumping out when I enter the kitchen from the balcony. I open the cupboard and pull out the only three kinds of tea I have, setting aside the box with the X on it. "There's peppermint, cinnamon chai, and pumpkin if your interested." He stares at me from the entryway.

"No thank you," He says " I need to leave, I wasn't supposed to be here anyway." I set the pot on the stove anyway and pull out the pumpkin tea and my favorite mug with Arab henna designs decorating even the inside. I look back to the outside, he is still standing in the entryway shifting uncomfortably.

"You Know, the fact that you haven't left yet contradicts your own words, Robin." I pour the hot water over my tea while I wait for him to answer. He stirs slightly moving back and forth on his feet.

"I'll come back tomorrow," I spit out my tea.

"What didn't you say you weren't supposed to be here?"

He shrugs pulling a grappling hook from his belt and swang off. If I wasn't feeling so sick and had just spat out some tea causing me to cough some more, I would have gone after him. I just stared out through the night air as the familiar feeling of dread washed over me, I close the door to the outside and look at the box. NIghtmare gave me a look moving the box and pawing the X on the top.

"We can't call him yet, didn't you hear, their back. If I call him now it compromises everything they have worked for," I pick up the box and move over to the couch, Nightmare followed suit, we both laid down, me clutching the box. "We can't do anything yet anyway, it violates the treaty. We have to wait for the first kill."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

True to his word he came back, he arrived sometime after Molly left, I don't know exactly when he arrived but I know it wasn't long. It was 2 pm when Molly forced meds in my mouth and put me to sleep. It was 2:40 when I heard him clatter in my kitchen nearly killing him with the broom. He was making tea he brought, he told me that he said it works for sore throats, even though it's just lemon juice, water, and honey.

" You realize this is twice you have broken and entered into my home right?" He tsked crossing his arms from his where he is seated across from me.

"The first time was not on purpose."

"I mean you did break my window."

"I crashed through it."

"Pretty sure that there was broken glass I had to pull out of you and sweep off my floor." I laugh for a little bit while he grunts in his seat in front of me.

"Hey why are you here anyway, You dropped off my box, you're healed up why are you back?"

He moves forward resting his arms on the table. "what do you know about the Crows?"

My mug shatters the pieces scattered on the floor, my hands are shaking and that feeling of dread washes over me again.

"Oops sorry, my hands must have slipped even as I'm feeling better I see I didn't recover all my strength, haha..." I stand up to get the broom.

"They killed three people that day," I froze turning to Nightmare who was resting on the counter, his ears are folded back, his hair also standing on end." six were maimed they were monsters that said their names in the third person. They said they are looking for 'the scaled one' and I believe they are looking for you." The air becomes cold around us to a literal point where I can see my breath.

"They drew first blood," The words finally sink in my fears had manifested themselves, I know that I should have guessed it when I saw him but I had hoped they weren't going to be in physical form yet. I rush to my closet pull another box out from the top, a black box big enough to hold a dress, bearing the same markings as the smaller one. I bring it to the table Robin and I are seated at and set it down pulling off the top.

"How much do you know about The Crows already?" I begin pulling out the things inside one by one, recalling their names and what they are for, looking for my com piece.

"That's what I'm asking you, what is all this?"

"They come from an interdimensional planetary void, The Crow where once a proud and advance society until the gave up their freedom for more knowledge, Jal-sein holds their control now. They are dangerous and they are after the very thing that nearly killed everyone on my earth. Ah! Found it!" I move to my living room pushing away my coffee table setting it on the ground making sure there is enough space. Robin had moved up from the kitchen a worried look set on his face.

"What is Jal-sein? What is this other earth aren't you from Minnesota?"

"Yep but here's the thing," I press the silver X on the com and it starts calling, lights flicker in the room from the device as the figure forms."I'm from another dimension actually."

The figure in the holographic com finalizes and I smile at the old man I see.

"Hello Y/N, I suppose they have found you then? It good to see you even in such circumstances?" His voice is grim and shallow, he sounds older than usual and his head is covered with a silver helmet with tubes coming from it.

"Yes, they have, It"s good to see you, Professor X."

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thattimdrakeguy · 3 years

Note

Why, uh, do ppl hate Tim so much? I just fell down a hole of anti tim and I can’t find a..valid reason for the hate besides that fact tht hes rich and white?

From my experience it’s one of those things where Tim has antagonistic relationships with other Bat-Family members like Damian, Jason, and even partially Steph. So they just crap on Tim, because it’ll make their favs look better.

Like that’s genuinely been the main reason I see, and they use the fact he’s rich and white to make it seem like it’s a social justice thing, even though in the end it really isn’t.

I sort of rant for the rest of the post going in more detail, and mentioning things I’ve been shown, and why I think a lot of it is dumb, but basically it’s just people being petty and insecure, and being unable to handle things in any other way than childishly.

For some Jason fans I’ve seen them talk about how much they hate Tim because they replaced the poor kid with a rich kid, but I’m really freaking poor myself. Obviously I’m not homeless, but there was a time in my life where I slept on the floor, and later on after I did have a bed my bed room had a hole in the floor. But, they’re just looking too deep into stuff just to find a problem anywhere they can.

I’ve also seen some say Tim bullied his way into being Robin after the poor kid died. When 1) that isn’t even an accurate description of what happened and 2) they’re obviously just trying to word it the worst way possible, because they’re pretty freaking childish.

Damian fans try to make Tim and his fans out to be racist cause Tim doesn’t like Damian, when that’s actually because Damian got so close to killing Tim I’m pretty sure Tim actually did nearly die from bleeding out. I think also because Tim once said “what about his biology” when referring to Damian, when Tim wasn’t referring to his race, he was referring to how he’s related to criminals and Damian literally had his biology messed with to make him a fierce warrior and a good body for Ra’s.

Steph fans also try to make Tim and his fans out to be sexist. But their reasoning is really weak, because it’s literally just boiled down to Tim being mean to Steph sometimes, but it’s not like that’s cause of her gender for that to make sense. It’s because in context she is an untrained citizens constantly putting herself and potentially others in-danger without any training to feel safe with her constantly being out there. Plus she flirted with him so much to the point it made him uncomfortable and fit the literal definition of sexual harassment.

And they always do that thing where they gotta make their favs sound better, and Tim sound worse. Which admittedly Tim fans do the same thing, but I’m not really here to pick a side. I’m just here pointing out how freaking annoying fandoms can be, because ultimately I don’t really care what fandom does it. At the moment though I can confidently say, that other fandoms are doing it a lot more than Tim ones lately, because I’m in the Tim tags at least twice a day most days and I’ve barely seen it lately.

It’s kind of a thing to project a lot of stuff on the Tim fandom for the same faux-social-justice kind of jargon they try to do. When you see it from a view like mine, where I’m not on any side of any fandom, even if I am a Tim fan (cause I never really been into deep fandom stuff), it just comes off as hypocritical frankly.

(If you want to hear some dumb things some Tim fans do to even it up, they make him the most frail, emo, emotionally unstable kid ever sometimes. They can focus way too much on making him sympathetic (but even then, literally every fandom does that, but the Tim fandom always does it in a very notable depressing way). They also focus so much on coffee and practically act like he’s all pilled up on anti-depressants he just acts weird that it just seems obsessive and very out of character.)

Like as some examples they’ll bring up how Tim doesn’t trust Damian and put him on a list of potential threats. But Damian literally nearly caused Tim’s death, nearly caused it again in the same story, and at the end it’s shown that Damian isn’t on there because Tim considers him a villain, it’s because he has potential to be dangerous. Wonder Woman and Red Tornado are also on the same list.

To me, I just look at that story as ridiculous, because Damian isn’t dumb, and Tim literally spoke against contingency plan stuff before. Damian’s going to need more than to be on a vague list as a potential threat, especially when he’s visibly on the hero side of it. Damian’s not that thinned skin. He’s got a temper, and obviously really doesn’t like Tim, but even when he felt Tim was insulting him or being patronizing to him before he didn’t try to kill him then immediately. He tried to kill him because he thought that’s what he was supposed to do to earn his place beside his father.

The story’s just dumb in-general.

And then they pull out the New 52 story where Tim is just being a dick to Damian for no good reason, but it’s the same kind of thing. Tim was never that much of a dick without being provoked. The only time I think Tim started a fight was in Red Robin where he was on pills that messed with his mental state, and again had everyone out of character regardless. Because 1) Dick wouldn’t just give away Robin from Tim, because he knows better than that. 2) Damian acts like he’s happy his dad is dead and just acts like a generic child and not even like Damian. And 3) I legitimately can’t see Tim just hitting a kid, even Damian, unless a fight already breaks out.

For Steph fans they point out how Tim is passive aggressive to her, constantly doesn’t want her to be Spoiler, and yada yada. Probably because her Batgirl run portrayed that as being mentally scarring to Steph. Even though one of the panels they chose of Tim being upset and not wanting her to be Spoiler, was after Steph caused Tim to be disfigured and on the pills that messed with his mental state to begin with. Which inadvertedly just makes her look self-centered and narcissistic. But again, I don’t even consider that in-character, because 1) I don’t buy that Steph would listen to Batman especially when it puts Tim in danger, because she never gave a crap about what Batman said till they needed to villainize her before she died. 2) Steph can be arrogant and self-centered, she has it in her, but she wouldn’t ever be that self-centered, to the point she just looks narcissistic. 3) I’m pretty sure at the actual time it happened, Steph is shown being aware she messed up. 4) Steph never cared what others thought. She trespassed on other people’s property to party. She’s a very confident person the majority of the time. Batman tells her to knock it off, she might as well flip him the bird because she just finds him more annoying than anything else. It’s literally in her origin that she doesn’t even like Batman.

There’s also the context for in the 90s when Tim first started doing it. Steph was portrayed as a reckless citizen that could potentially get herself and others into harm because she didn’t know what she was doing, and didn’t have the highest morals. That’s not anything any of the bats would encourage. If Tim was extra passive aggressive, he’s a literal thirteen to fifteen year old boy during that time, no duh he’s going to be immature. That still isn’t a sexism thing. Steph may had saved him twice, but that wasn’t portrayed even in-story as a sign she can handle it like a pro. It was always portrayed as “thank goodness she was with Tim at that time, and knew where he was to save him”. Not to say she was completely unskilled, because I’m not taking that far, but just speaking in generalizations.

She was originally added into Robin to be a very specific foil to Tim, and be a general pain in his side. That was their dynamic. If that makes it seem weird that they eventually had them date then I agree.

And at the same time for both of their characters they also ignore what the character they’re trying to defend has done, because Damian literally nearly killed Tim. They act like Tim should just get over it, because Damian was a kid in a cult, but that explains why Damian did it, it doesn’t excuse it. When something like that happens the person who was nearly killed is probably going to be traumatized (rather or not Tim was can be argued, I’m not saying he was or wasn’t), and not ever trust the person. Like that is the natural and most accurate response for it.

It’s just villainizing for the sake of being petty.

With Steph they ignore the fact she essentially sexually harassed Tim all the time and straight up emotionally abused him for an arc. Which her fans hate to hear, but that is stuff that happened. It was written by her creator. I don’t really care if Tim took her costume away or kissed her first, because I’m aware, and I know the contexts, and it doesn’t take away from what she’s done, because that’s not how that works. They also ignore she caused Tim to be disfigured by saying she was just doing what Batman said. But at that point she was also an adult, and would know better.

Like Steph can be reckless, that’s part of her character, but she isn’t an idiot.

In the end, from what all I’ve seen, it’s literally just fandom pettiness. There’s a lot of fans out there that act childish, treat people like idiots, blatantly lie about things, or exaggerate stuff.

It’s all very dumb, but I find it hard to take serious, because if they can’t acknowledge what their own favs have actually done, it just comes across like they genuinely don’t like the character and can’t admit it. They prefer to stay in their candy land so they gaslit others instead.

For me it’s as easy as paying attention to the story, seeing the contexts, and a lot of the time it’s not even a thing that’s in-character for any of the characters involved, or at least the very least not nearly as serious as they treat it.

Especially for around the past 15 or more years or so. By then the care in making everything is crafted and makes sense went down the drain so it’s often that a story doesn’t even make sense to begin with.

They think fandom is about making everyone else look bad apparently, or at least they sure act like it.

Like it’s comics. I think the fandom in-general that gets so worked up over stuff needs to relax, deattach yourself to look at it from the grander view, and calm down over it. Because things aren’t always what they seem. People try to convince themselves of so much stuff, or bully others for so much stuff, and it’s all so petty and unhealthy.

My personal philosophy in the fandom to avoid any toxic behavior is to just keep it real. I don’t lie to myself, I give everything the same standard, I definitely don’t bully or gaslit anyone, I don’t treat my favorite like they’re a real dang person either, and I look at it all like how it is, fiction.

It’s the reason why I get upset at writing and not fictional characters. I don’t ultimately care when a character does a bad thing, unless it’s out of character. To me the only thing I get upset with is the writing, because it’s the only thing that’s real.

Don’t be obsessed, and keep the peace essentially.

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incogneat-oh · 4 years

Text

burn my lungs and curse my eyes [gen]

Hello all! The world is a disaster and a lot of you are probably in self-isolation/quarantine. I wrote a short fic in the hope that it can provide brief entertainment or distraction from the Everything that is happening. Is the fic dumb? Yes! So is literally everything else at the moment!!

Please, stay safe. Keep others safe. Wash your goddamn hands.

Characters: Jason, Tim, Dick, Bruce (references to Alfred and Damian)

For teens and up, for coarse language and smoking themes.

----

It’s dark and the air is crisp. In the city proper, it smells of steel and smoke and smog; even uptown there’s the faint smell of people. Rot and sewage. Out here though, it smells mostly like nothing.

Jason inhales deep through his nose, leans hard against the balcony railing. The corner of his mouth ticks upward in a smile. Not nothing, technically. He can still smell, faintly, traces of Alfred’s pine-and-lemon cleaner where it lingers on his hands, the collar of his shirt.

He’d called it ‘Spring cleaning’, and when they’d unwisely argued that it was definitely the wrong time of year for it, Alfred’s lips had pressed so tightly together they’d disappeared; truly a dangerous sign. Alfred had directed them to the laundry room cupboard, clearing his throat to dole out instructions as well as cleaning supplies. But Big Bird had made off with a duster immediately, cackling, making a break for the staircase chandelier. Alfred had hurried after him, shouting “Master Richard!”, fruitlessly. Dickie had probably learned the selective hearing schtick from the big man.

Jason, wanting no part of Dick’s nonsense, had grabbed a pair of gardening gloves and headed straight outside to pull up some of the more obstructive weeds from Alfred’s vegetable garden. After that had been polishing the upstairs hallway floor, dusting the attic, wiping down surfaces in all common areas, changing six lightbulbs in various parts of the house, and helping clean the broken glass in the entryway. It was kind of nice to be sore and tired for an entirely nonviolent reason, for a change. (Smacking Dick upside the head didn’t really count.)

He’s lost in thought, eyes on the stars not blanketed by clouds. Absently, habitually pulling out his packet of smokes and fumbling for the lighter he’s forever putting in the wrong pocket. He’s just taken the first drag when he hears a knock behind him.

When he turns, Tim stands in the half-open doorway. His smile has an air of sheepishness to it, but too much teeth. He holds up Jason’s jacket in wordless offering.

Jason shuffles along the railing, making space for Tim beside him while he shrugs on the jacket. He turns back to the night sky; he likes nights like this. He can feel Tim’s gaze, unwavering, intense, on the side of his face. He tilts his head towards Tim, quirking an eyebrow. For all Dick, and hell, half the Justice League, like to make jokes about Bruce’s stare… he’s got nothing on Tim.

When Jason was younger, after his mom had passed but before he’d known Bruce, he’d encountered a dog. Half-starved, mangy fur matted with filth, lean and mean and showing teeth. It had come face-to-face with Jason over the remains of someone’s dinner in a trash can, had stared him down with its pale, wild eyes. It had snatched the food and bolted, and Jason, half-starved himself, had just watched it happen.

Tim’s stare is kind of like that.

Sometimes, he thinks, Tim is the hungriest person he’s ever met. For what, it’s kind of hard to say. It depends on the day, the minute. Attention, recognition, a fight, adventure, a challenge. Probably pizza, at least some of the time.

He half-smiles at the kid, murmurs “Oh I’m sorry, where are my manners?” and offers his cigarette.

Tim doesn’t break eye contact, but his eyes do narrow slightly. Amusement, exasperation. Recognition of the challenge. But he takes the smoke, casual as anything. Puts it to his constantly pink-bitten lips. They’re curling into a smile around the filter, and he starts to inhale, preparing to speak, and—

“Timothy Jimothy Jackson Drake-Wayne!”

Quick as a shot and twice as guilty, Tim and Jason swivel as one to face Dick, where he stands in the balcony doorway.

He looks furious, agitated. His hair, sticking up in all directions, still has a couple cobwebs in it. It really adds to the unpredictable wildness of his expression.

Tim’s mouth has fallen open; the cigarette is stuck to the corner of his lip and he fumbles for it a little unsteadily.

“Hi Dickie-bird,” says Jason, brightly, while Tim goes with “It wasn’t—”

“Smoking? Seriously? You’re that desperate to pick up another self-destructive habit-? Drinking 2 gallons of coffee a day, getting—getting 45 minutes of sleep a night, going out with no backup, hell, picking fights with Ra’s Al-Goddamn-Ghul, none of that—none of that is enough for you, Tim?”

Tim had started off looking a little guilty, shamefaced, but that’s morphed into anger now. “Dick,” he starts, quietly, dangerously.

But Dick doesn’t even notice, has deigned to finally acknowledge Jason; “And you! It’s bad enough you ruin your own life, but you’re happy enough to be a bad influence on your younger brothers? Honestly, I—” and Dick stops. Eyes bugging out just a little. “Did you just light a cigarette while I was talking?!”

Jason exhales a lungful of smoke, not exactly at Dick, but not really away from him either. He says, blandly, “Oopsie. Sorry, Mother Grayson.”

“So I’m Mother Grayson now? Jesus Christ, Jay—”

And Jason should probably feel bad about the guilty little thrill he gets, knowing he can still turn saintly Dick into this snarling, ugly-tempered version of himself so easily. But he doesn’t. So he says, peaceably, “Apparently,” and takes another slow drag. “Mother Grayson.” He feels, rather than hears, Tim’s tiny laugh beside him.

“Oh, well, that’s fine,” says Dick. He storms forward onto the balcony, snatches the first cigarette from Tim. It’s practically burned down to the filter now. And Dick sticks it, furiously, in his mouth before he gets in Jason’s face and says, “Okay? Why don’t we all just smoke together? Is that what you want? Why don’t we call Damian up here, and you know, Alfred too. It can be a family activity.” He exhales a bit of smoke, sputtering slightly. “We all happy now?”

“Dick,” says Jason, exasperated now. This is getting less fun by the second. “That’s not—”

“No it’s fine, Jay, this is apparently just how we’re doing things now,” and he’s putting the cigarette to his mouth again, when Jason sees movement from the corner of his eye. Shit.

“Dick!” thunders Bruce, and Christ, Jason will need to pick another goddamn balcony next time for his occasional smokes. “Are you smoking a cigarette?”

Dick looks a little pale and queasy, but it’s unclear to Jason whether that’s the nicotine or the shouting from Bruce. ��Bruce, it’s not—”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses, Dick,” says Bruce, joining them on the balcony, and it’s worse, geez, it’s so much worse. Because he’s moving from immediate, shocked anger into his disappointed Dad voice. Dick’s fatal weakness. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this. I’m just grateful Tim and Damian aren’t here to follow your example-”

Bug-eyed, Dick swivels rapidly. But Tim has vanished, the crafty little asshole. Must’ve been when Dick started shouting at him. And Jason has to swallow down on a loud laugh, especially when Bruce obliviously continues;

“Now Jason, I know you struggle with addiction-” (and here, Jason nods sadly, eyes artfully downcast until Bruce turns back to Dickie) “-but I’m truly horrified that you would try and pick up such an unhealthy habit, out of nowhere. We should be fostering an environment here to help support Jason when he’s ready to try and quit smoking, instead of-”

“I wasn’t—” Dick starts, indignantly, but Bruce just raises his voice;

“-actively trying to sabotage the efforts of someone you’re supposed to care about, Dick. I really expected better of you. I know you pride yourself on being a good older brother, a good example…”

And over Bruce’s shoulder, in the dark of the Manor, Jason can make out Tim standing there. He sees the moment Dick spots him too, because his shoulders straighten, mouth falling open. And Jason sees, too, the sense of defeated betrayal in Dick’s eyes when he realises Tim is holding up both middle fingers in Dick’s direction, tongue poked out between his bared teeth.

“Dad,” Dick says, weakly, not even interrupting the lecture. It’s too late. Tim’s gone anyway, having made his perfect escape.

And Jason has to turn away, facing the Manor grounds again, to try and swallow his laughter.

Behind him, he can hear Bruce’s lecture continue on, invoking Alfred’s name, and Damian’s impressionability, before it circles back again to him and the family support he needs, eventually moving into how Dick himself is very important to the family, and if he’s falling into some dark spiral he needs to own up to it and face it before his bad coping mechanisms are too ingrained.

Honestly, the lecture is a work of art. Bruce has probably been practicing it in the mirror for a good couple years now. Hell, if it had been targeted at a 15 year old Jason, it totally would’ve worked to dissuade him from smoking. He’s pretty close to immune to the disappointed Dad voice at this point, though.

Dick, still standing closely beside him, is silent and dejected. Bearing Bruce’s speech in a slightly injured silence.

Jason, along for the ride, just lights another cigarette and huffs out a laugh.

END.

Tim is feral, y’all. Pass it on.

#batfic #batfamily #jason todd #dick grayson #tim drake #bruce wayne #slice of life ish.......#but also: weird. because batfam

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scribble-blog · 4 years

Text

Black Cats and Robinettes part 3!!!!

Part 1 Part 2

“No.”

Marinette eyed her brother balefully, even as she stuck another pin into the sleeve she was working on. “I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

“You’re my little sister,” Dick lamented. “I feel that it is completely my business to veto your budding love life.”

“The love life you know of,” Marinette muttered, ignoring Dick’s yelp as she stuck him with a pin. “Can you leave it be?”

“Can you leave him be?” Dick mocked her, rubbing the spot where she’d pricked him.

“We’ve got more important things,” Marinette directed him to move, having him spin as her keen eyes watched. He did some light stretches to test the fabric, and she nodded. “Like, I don’t know, that hero Dad wants us to meet with?”

“Hero schmero,” Dick grinned. “What are the volatile superhero politics of a different country compared to the love life of Gotham’s sunshine princess? And what are you going to have Alfred cook up to woo him tomorrow night?”

“Had it not been for the laws of this land, I would have slaughtered you,” She scowled, punching him. He just laughed in return.

———

Damian was not sitting on his bed mooning over Marinette Wayne.

No, Damian was staring out his window and mooning over Marinette Wayne. It was a small difference but it mattered, mostly because if he hadn’t been staring at the cloud cloaked sky and wondering if she had been flirting with him the rest of the day after her masterful takedown of Lila that had left the girl sobbing. She’d invited Adrien and Chloé, and him he supposed, to dine with her family the next night. She’d actually tried to include him in what could clearly have just been time for her to spend with her friends.

What did it mean??

Staring out the window was nice, a sobering reminder that even if anything could come from this, Marinette Wayne was still the rich, beautiful, girl who was regarded as the Princess of Gotham. And he lived in Paris.

And speaking of Paris, he caught the familiar movement of a red and a yellow suit, moving over the rooftops.

He couldn’t stop himself from standing up, a small intake of breath his only outward sign of surprise. Ladybug and Queen Bee? He watched them, spots and stripes, dart over a roof break, the streetlight filtering up and leaving them in stark definition.

“Plagg,” Damian said, and the Kwami looked up from where he had retreated when it seemed clear that he was just going to pine over a girl for the whole evening. “Do you know why Ladybug and Queen Bee are here?”

“Why should I know that?” Plagg snacked on another piece of Camembert. Damian made a face, incredibly glad he’d started putting Camembert in double ziplock bags to keep from smelling like it constantly. “I’m your kwami, not theirs.”

“Claws out, Plagg.”

It was a simple matter to climb out of the window, and throw himself to the rooftops using the staff.

He spotted them immediately, the familiar joking and banter that Queen Bee and Ladybug exhibited during battles easy to hear. But now, with them here, he honestly would have felt stupid if he hadn’t already known that there was magic that kept any casual comparisons from revealing their identities.

Of course, it was Adrien and Chloe. Of course it was his two friends. Out of all of the idiots in Paris, it had to be his two idiots who ran around in magical spandex fighting monsters with him.

There wasn’t any other explanation for why they would be in Gotham of all places. And if they were using the Horse Miraculous to return to Paris for akumas-

Damian scowled. And now they were going on a joy run around a city they had no business being in? If anyone else was able to make these connections like him-

“So,” a voice behind him interrupted his train of thought. “Are you just an opportunist in a cat costume trying to meddle in the Bat’s affairs? An amateur wannabe hero? Should I let Catwoman know she’s got a copycat running around Gotham?”

Damian spun. Behind him was a girl, shorter than him despite the clear platforms on the boots, dark green mask glinting in the low evening light.

“I thought capelets were out of fashion,” Damian said dumbly. The girl smirked at him.

“Well,” she shrugged, “It’s part of the Robin ensemble. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to deal with a full cape.” Her pose never faltered from battle-ready, despite her easy tone. “Now what’s a boy like you doing in a place like this?”

Damian spluttered. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” She nodded towards where Ladybug and Queen Bee had been, stepping forward, into his space. “You were following the two Parisian heroes. Don’t argue, I caught you at it. What do you want with them, catboy?”

Damian wished very desperately that his mask could keep him from blushing. Was there something wrong with him today? First Marinette Wayne, and now Robin? Batman’s partner? Why was he noticing how cute she was when he’d been pining after Marinette earlier? Was there something wrong with him?

“Well?” Robin challenged.

“I’m Chat Noir,” He started babbling. “I’m their partner too, but I didn’t know they were here in Gotham, and I’d prefer they didn’t-”

“Find out?” Robin grinned, backing away a step. “You scared they’ll be upset for the misunderstanding?”

Damian fought the urge to squirm under the blank white eyes of her mask. What to tell her? “They don’t know who I am, and I’d really rather not have to deal with revealing myself tonight.”

She leaned away, taken aback. “You don’t know who each other are? How do you get anything done?”

Damian laughed. “Honestly, we don’t. I’m thinking that’s probably why they’re here, isn’t it? To ask you and your group for help. That’s how you knew they were Parisian. They’re here to meet you.”

She finally dropped from her fighting-ready pose, tilting her head as she looked at him. “You’re pretty sharp. I wish I could trust you.”

And then she swung, and Damian jumped back automatically. She had a staff, an extendable one, and she knew how to use it. Before she could make another move, Damian swung himself out over the open street, dropping until his staff caught him, carrying him to the next rooftop over.

“I don’t want to fight you!” He yelled back at her. He could practically see the way she rolled her eyes. Honestly, if this had happened to him back in Paris, he couldn’t say he’d be any less suspicious than she was, but it was still annoying him that she couldn’t just take his word for it.

Which meant that he had three options, he reasoned as they stood off against each other, the river of traffic between and far below them. He could try to fight her and possibly incur the wrath of the rest of Gotham’s vigilantes, which, no. He could try to run away and transform back, and give up this whole outing before making his way back to the hotel. Or he could go after Chloe and Adrien, possibly reveal himself and them to the vigilantes they were meeting with, but prove to Robin that he really wasn’t just some masked asshole making the best of the rooftops that night.

He wanted to groan as he watched her pull out a grappling gun. And he decided that sometimes, retreat really was the better part of valor.

He leapt for the next rooftop, only to have her swing in front of him. He tried to course correct, but she managed to block him, leaving him lunging for the next roof.

He swerved the second he landed, immediately jumping again. He had super strength! It shouldn’t be hard to out distance her!

Except that whenever he thought he’d managed to get out of her sight, she’d corner him again.

Finally, he realized mid leap that she wasn’t trying to catch him. In fact, she was barey trying to chase him.

No, she was corralling him somewhere. He sprang from the edge, to another, and found out where she’d been forcing him.

“Chat?”

“Chat?!”

Ladybug and Queen Bee were waiting there, along with two other masked individuals. Damian didn’t scowl when he heard Robin’s landing behind him, but it was a close thing.

“Oh my god,” one of the others whispered. “We have to tell Catwoman. It’s fucking genetic.”

“Shhhh,” the taller hushed. “Robin. I take it this is Chat Noir?”

“Yes,” Ladybug answered for him, green eyes burning into his. “Glad you made it, Chat.”

Ah. Okay. Damian could put off talking to them until later then. Thank god. But he turned back to Robin, one brow raised. “Good enough for you?”

“Oh,” Robin grinned, and despite being named for a bird, she looked like the cat that caught the canary. “What do you think we are? I’ve known you weren’t lying the whole time. Welcome to Gotham, Chat Noir.”

Her teasing smile made his heart stutter. He might honestly have gone a bit weak in the knees.

Gotham was trying to kill him, he realized. And it’s chosen method was flirty dark-haired girls who were out of his league and far more trouble than he thought.

TAGLIST:

@silverwhiteraven

@ash-amg @vixen-uchiha @redscarlet95 @dramatic-squirrel @athena452 @novaloptr @bee-wrecker @constancetruggle @pr-y-sha

@thestressmademedoit @noirdots @ranger-gothamite @the-fair-maiden-of-fandom @zalladane @mewwitch @mochegato @justafanwarrior @catcusxx @indecisive-mess-named-me @resignedcatservant @marinettepotterandplagg @myazael @mochinek0 @shizukiryuu @fancandi @fusser90 @loveswifi @gm-nasai @peachedpocky @danielslilangel @whatthefox22 @jardimazul @ladybug-182 @schrodingers25 @karategirl119 @smolplantmum @maribat-is-lifeblood @thebookwormfairy @sassakitty @area51qt @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @amayakans @dast218 @myvividreams @dorkus-minimus @alexandriamw @elmokingkong @tis-i-beanbandit

#maribat #daminette #daminette role reversal #black cats and robinettes #fanfic #OH BOY DAMIAN youre really in it now huh #the other two are Tim and Dick jsyk #back in the hotel room after...#Adrien: what the FUCK is Chat doing here #Chloe: oh no I've known Damian was Chat Noir almost as long as I knew you were Ladybug #Adrien: WHAT

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whereflowersbloom · 4 years

Text

Alfred’s farewell

The sky had begun gloomy since even before the sun had the chance to rise. Mist was overshadowing the city of Gotham, and drops of dew are still littering every surface. The birds were unusually quiet, nestling safely under the warmth of their nest. A large group of grey clouds lingering above the place, promising unpleasant weather to deal with later on. Lighting crackled in the grey sky and snatched away any hope of a golden day. Only songs of sadness spread around, feeling the sorrow taking place. Even the world is holding its breath and everything is still, the earth seemed to be mourning as well the unexpected loss. The atmosphere was exceptionally dark and lifeless, each face filled with silent and bitter grief and regret. Tears do not fall, there’s a blackhole forming in place of his heart. This date…this date would be burned into his soul for the rest of his existence, it would be a permanent reminder to himself of how foolish he was, how everything…could change in matter of seconds. Seconds only a few more seconds would have made the difference. The tree that was once full of life, the one Alfred looked after kindly, because he planted it himself after coming to work for Thomas and Martha Wayne, was now barren as the weather grew colder and the icy wind blew the leaves away.

There’s people gathering, familiar faces and unknown ones. The solemn mode had settled between them, and soon the ceremony comes to an end. It’s time to say farewell.

Will I always, from now on, be this cold? Was Pennyworth really gone? He didn’t dare to pronounce his name. He discerned the sounds of footsteps slowly fading away and all that was heard afterwards was the thud of knees hitting the ground. Grayson. Even Dick was so lost and crushed, the man who always looked so high-spirited and brave, so even-tempered and filled with honor, seemed so weak now.

“Alfred, I am so sorry…” Richard whispered with a low-pitched and desperate sob as he caressed the stone with his trembling hand. His face, marred for life, had an even more painful expression plastered on his face as tears started to fall slowly onto the dirt. But it’s not your fault. Damian wanted to let him know. He wasn’t there to stop it. Unlike you his mind whispered.

Jason Todd remained silent. Todd had always been quick to emotion in general, to tears when someone else was sad, to contagious laughter when their siblings were smiling, quick-tempered, choleric when provoked. Surprisingly an empathetic sensitive soul, spent many years alone, hungry for tenderness and familial ties. And yet he was wearing an expressionless mask, but his body betrayed his affliction, shaking so badly that Tim had to grasp tightly at his arms to prevent him from going down. Drake. Tim was clearly having so much invisible burden on his shoulders. His curved jaw clenching tight, and his dark blue eyes cast downwards and unblinking. He didn’t have his daily cup of black coffee. No, he didn’t have a single drop of his precious caffeine today. He kept his head low the entire ceremony, maybe he didn’t have the heart to look up at the crying mess everyone was. Perhaps he thought somebody had to tough it out, specially considering Father’s absence.

Stephanie standing close to him, blonde curls dancing with the autumn wind, biting her lips the entire time. Stephanie who tried to be strong and now, after holding in for too long, the tears break out like a leaking dam. She was devastated and weeped openly, clinging to Tim’s coat as if her life depended on it, as if she were drowning, the sight made the hole in Damian’s chest squeeze around his heart. Guilt. Distress.

Cassandra was hardly moving from her spot. She had a deep crease on her brow, and face as hard as rock. She hugged herself in the arms, shielding her frame from the icy wind, when Duke swiftly placed his Armani cashmere coat on her shoulders, her hands were going cold, and the moment Duke noticed the way she shivers with small movements. He considerately held them between his, providing temporary warmth, trying to find some kind of comfort in each other, but Cassandra avoided making eye contact with anyone, her mind was really blank as a void. Possibly still attempting to process the reality. Duke Thomas, the only one that hasn’t lost his mind amid this consequent emotional instability, drops of tears still hanging from the corner of his eyes, while the rests were slowly drying on his cheeks. Damian wasn’t exactly close to Duke but he wondered how he managed to carry on. Where did he find the strength to persist? Damian walked closer to the tombstone, feeling resignation seep into his bones.

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth, beloved father, grandfather, mentor, friend, heroic veteran, a talented cook, a man of family, with a great big heart. Alfred Pennyworth had been a man with many facets. He brought balance to this dysfunctional family, he was the peace and voice of reason. Alfred who made Dick stay in bed when he was badly injured and encouraged him to eat proper meals, lectured Jason for his vulgar language, introduced Jason into the culinary arts, trusting him with the top secret Pennyworth recipes, who secretly switched Tim’s coffee for decaffeinated when he had too much, who prepared Stephanie waffles after a night out patrolling, didn’t say a word of the nights she sneaked out with Kara, who enjoyed the company of Cassandra lurking around the manor, when she’s having a bad day he used to watch the stars with her, listening to Cass make up stories about each star, Alfred who never had to fix anything Duke broke because Thomas instantly apologized and offered to fix it himself, Alfred that found intriguing sudden Duke’s interest in gardening. Alfred... who who spend each and every Damian’s birthdays with him ‘every birthday is special and must be celebrated Master Damian’, gifted him a cat because it made him think of him, offered him a cup of hot chocolate or tea sleepless nights. Alfred, who told him he was proud of him. Alfred, who raised him and loved him wholeheartedly until his last breath.

Damian ran his hand down a large polished stone, ‘Wayne’ carved into it expertly. He sighed wearily and stood beside a gravestone, right next to the family stone, he absentmindedly ran his fingertips along the engraved letters.

‘Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth’

August 16, 1943

October 10, 2019

‘The light of our household is gone. Leaving only haunting echoes lingering in this home. A place is vacant in our hearts, which will never be filled.’

It was indeed fitting. Their light was Alfred and he was gone for good. For good the words echoed in his head like an incessant prayer. He felt a pang of pain surge through him as he recalled his last moments with the man who raised him. It felt as if his life was torn apart just yesterday.

‘I miss him already.’ Cassandra gestured in sign language, a single tear rolling down her cheeks. Damian didn’t know if she was saying it to him or his siblings, maybe she just wished to get the weight off her chest, when he didn’t think it could, his heart broke even more.

“Fuck.” Jason swore with pained voice, his turquoise eyes blurring with angry tears that he wiped away roughly. Not particularly at his siblings but himself. For not being able to protect the man who offered a ray of kindness to him, who nurtured his severely malnourished body to health. He didn’t blame Bruce or the others. He was supposed to be better, strong enough to defend his father. Dick was a fucking mess in the dirt,embracing the tombstone with all his strength, like it would somehow bring the dead man back to life. Steph wouldn’t stop crying. Tim was silently punishing himself in his own way, and Cass had been in a mental limbo until a a minute ago. Bruce wouldn’t leave his room for Pete’s sake. He isolated himself from everything and everyone, he simply existed in his bedroom. Not surprised. He should be here, saying goodbye to Alfred, who dedicate his entire life to help him, instead of retreating to a dark room and lying in bed, brooding over his problems. Damian. Damian was so young, he looked like hell, devastated as everyone else. Jason could detect the shadow of regret in his green eyes. He’s seen it before because he experienced it and he saw it every day in Bruce’s eyes. But at least Damian was here, dealing with the crude reality and his anguish.

It felt unreal, like this was only a horrible slow-motion nightmare and they would wake up any minute, a sharp knife that bore a hole through their hearts yet they kept on standing still.

Perhaps it was time to fulfill Alfred’s wishes. He wanted Bruce to set his thirst for justice aside and find happiness, maybe a companion, spend quality time with the children, who clearly weren’t children anymore. The youngest being Damian, who just turned fifteen a couple of months ago. He wanted Richard to start a family of his own with Barbara. He wanted Jason to come back home and stop fighting with a Bruce. He wanted a Tim to seek professional help, see a counselor, quit drinking that damned coffee in excess. Stephanie to stop denying her feelings for Tim and give their relationship a chance. Cassandra constantly suppressing her emotions, fearing to get attached, she was human not a machine trained to commit murder when ordered. Duke should leave behind any doubts to forge his own path and accept he was loved by their family. Damian who Alfred loved like his own grandchild, no matter what he did or what type of person he decided to become, Alfred would always be proud of Damian. ‘In the end, you makes you. No one else, Master Damian.’

“How are you holding up, shortstack?” Jason asked him unexpectedly, snapping out of it, he didn’t know how long his mind had been replaying fond memories with Alfred, he felt the weight of Jason’s hand falling on his shoulder, wearing a genuinely concerned expression.

A cold wind passed by, gracing the leaves and making some brief sounds. The wind leaving with a trail in the form of chilly, close to freezing air. Damian weighted the question in his head. There was only ever-growing emptiness in his chest. After a long moment he spoke.

“I will live.” Damian answered softly, eyes completely fixed on the stone. “I’ll miss him, too...brother.” The young Robin unreservedly confessed, Jason looked slightly taken aback at the words Damian muttered. Damian’s emotions were expressed with snarky comments, throwing daggers and knives, making deadly threats and intimidating stares. He had an aggressive and confrontational demeanor. Damian has never called Jason brother, but it made his lips curl into a small smile. Yes, he was his brother.

Damian was vaguely aware of Jason’s body heat now at his side, followed by Richard who was helped by Tim to stand up, his chest sore from sobbing, black suit covered in dirt but he didn’t seem to care. Meaningless material assets, nothing compared to the irreparable loss they suffered hours ago. Steph took a couple of steps closer to them, her eyes, twins pools of sadness, red and swollen, soon the Wayne siblings gathered around their youngest brother. Embracing tightly the teenager into a group hug.

They shared the same deep numbing pain, but it's more agonizing for Damian because he had been there when it happened, they all knew Damian was suffering so much. The feeling ate him inside, consuming and breaking every part of him miserably. But he isn’t alone anymore, he has his family with him. Damian’s tears are hot and travel down his tanned cheeks, he didn’t want to cry but he couldn’t hold it in any longer, the heartache, the loss, agony, guilt, everything was hitting him all at once. It hurt so much knowing full well that Alfred won't wake up ever again from this neverending deep sleep, buried under the ground lonely and cold and breathless. His grandfather.

It'll be just the the eight of them and it is frightening to accept the truth, that Alfred wouldn’t be around anymore to look after them like he did after all these years. Ever since he first set foot in the Wayne manor. He would me missed every single day. Rchard’s heart broke at the sight of Damian in such crumbling state, his characteristic composure fallen and so alien after living together so many years. Damian was broken too. Dick did the only thing he could think of, patted him affectionately on the back, rubbing it soothingly, mumbling quietly “We are here, Dami.” Letting him know they were all there for him in every possible way. They would try to carry our Alfred’s last wish, for them to get along, integrate, be an harmonious family. Be true siblings. Always Alfred’s children. Together they sang farewell to Alfred with broken chords.

I am not sure if I want to edit this later but here s the progress. I might add Bruce’s part later or tomorrow. My tribute to Alfred 💜❤️❤️❤️

@sofiii @chromium7sky @deep-in-mind67

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dessarious · 4 years

Text

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt62

Inspired by @ozmav Maribat AU

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

“So your plan is to gather information while attacking? That seems rather desperate.” Damian wasn’t actually trying to be insulting, but he saw Chloe bristling at his words. Marinette just gave a tired sigh.

“We are desperate in a way. We can’t wait for Gabriel to make another move and hope we can counter it. Taking the fight to him is the best option especially since we can gather information this way. I haven’t used Viperion in a fight, or any other holders for that matter, in over six months so it’s unlikely he’ll be expecting it.” Damian just gave a non committal hum. It was brash and foolish, but she knew the magic far better than he did and she was right about not waiting. Before he could answer, they all froze at the sound of keys in the door.

Damian motioned the others into the bedroom. They went, though Marinette was obviously reluctant to leave him alone. He rolled his eyes at her in response. If it was Gabriel chances were slim to none he’d be using keys. Any other threats he was perfectly capable of handling. He turned off the lights and waited for the door to open. As soon as there was enough light from the hallway to make out the intruder he attacked. The startled yelp as he tackled the person to the ground was familiar and it was tempting to break the arm he was holding behind their back.

“Seriously Damian? When did we revert to you trying to kill me again?” Damian put a little more pressure on the arm.

“Why are you here Drake? And why wasn’t I informed you were coming?” He was so tired of his family steamrolling over him and keeping secrets when he needed to know. There was also the issue of Luka and he absolutely didn’t need his family screwing that up too. “Ladybug hasn’t lifted her ban on Justice League members coming to Paris either which means you’re due for a trip to Siberia.”

“Wait, Bruce didn’t call you? He said he called you.” Drake sounded annoyed and Damian could hear real surprise in his voice. At least he wasn’t the only one left in the dark. “You’re a minor Damian. You can just stay in Paris alone without it raising questions. I was sent to be your guardian and offer on site tech help.”

“I don’t need a babysitter and that doesn’t change the fact that none of this was approved by Ladybug. This is her city and you aren’t welcome in it.” Damian knew he’d almost slipped and said ‘our city’ which made him pause to think about it. Even though he was relegated to the sidelines for the most part he still felt more involved here than he did in Gotham, the question was why?

In the end the answer was simple. His family treated him like a child. They constantly kept him in the dark even when he needed the information, just like sending Drake here with no warning. He and Marinette had their differences but she only kept secrets when absolutely necessary and it was never information that could get him killed. Maybe it was just because they were the same age, but she actually treated him like an equal member of the team rather than a tag a long she didn’t have time to deal with.

“She doesn’t have to know I’m here. We all know you were the one telling her when league members showed up in Paris, so this time you just don’t tell her.” Damian just glared down at the other boy. He hadn’t told them he and Marinette knew each other’s identities so it wasn’t really surprising they thought it would be that easy.

“Oh yes that’s great. Let's give her a reason to kick us both out of Paris. Not to mention her reason for not wanting you here is still in play and very valid. As much as I’d like an excuse to give you the beating you deserve I’m not going to go against Ladybug’s orders to do it. She has enough to deal with and I’m not about to break her trust because you all decided rules don’t apply to you.” Damian was mentally cursing himself as well. He really should have seen this coming.

“You really do have a crush on this girl don’t you?” Drake sounded amused. Damian ‘slipped’ and elbowed him in the head. As annoying as that assumption was it was better than any of his siblings finding out the truth. The last thing he needed was their idiotic input, especially when he was still figuring everything out himself.

“I have a work relationship with her built on trust and respect which I know must be a hard concept for you to grasp.” He finally let go and got off the other boy to go turn the light back on. He watched with a satisfied smirk and Drake massaged his shoulder. He pulled out his phone to text Marinette, hoping hers was on silent or she and the others had left through the window. He forced himself not to sigh in relief when he didn’t hear anything. The text he got back was short and to the point.

“Can he be trusted?” That was it but he knew the answer was anything but simple. Could he be trusted to help? Yes. Could he be trusted not to report everything to his father? Absolutely not.

“There will be conditions if you stay. If you don’t agree to them, I know of a family that would likely be willing to host me for the rest of my stay so don’t think telling me I need a guardian is going to get you out of them.” Damian felt his temper flare as Drake rolled his eyes and had to take a deep breath. He wasn’t about to let this idiot get him Akumatized.

“Calm down baby bird. What do you want privacy so you can be with your girlfriend?” It was moments like these Damian was sorely tempted to start killing again, just so that his family would take him seriously even if it was as a threat. He glanced down at his phone before speaking.

“First and foremost, no information is to be relayed to anyone without Ladybug’s approval. That means you aren’t allowed to tell anyone what’s going on or what we’re doing. And anyone includes father and the rest.” Tim actually scoffed at him.

“You know I can’t agree to that.” Tim sounded like he was lecturing a toddler and Damian narrowed his eyes at him.

“Then you will be required to leave. By force if necessary.”

AO3 Beginning Previous Next

Ko-Fi

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random-fandom-prompts · 4 years

Text

a conundrum of competing legacies and learning to live for yourself

in many alternate universes, damian wayne becomes a villain. he gets sick and tired of being treated like he will never change, treated like he’s made of glass, treated like a murderer. like a bad person.

so, if people are never going to believe that he’s different, he’s changed, he’s a good person now, really! then why not give the people what they want?

you wanted me to be evil? fine.

so be it.

he fulfills his legacy. becomes the demon’s head. the long line of al ghuls will not end with him. the people are happy, but is damian?

but this is not that story. this isn’t a story where the heroes are right. everyone makes mistakes, everyone is wrong sometimes, and what are heroes if not everyone?

so no. this isn’t a story where a good boy faces the whole world telling him he’s evil and his spirit shattering. this is a story about defying legacies. defying family names and bloodlines and expectations.

in many alternate universes, and indeed maybe the future, damian wayne becomes evil.

but in this one? in this one he learns that you don’t have to wear a cape to save people.

and maybe sometimes, sometimes it’s ok to save yourself.

in the end, he goes to jason. tracks him down to a rundown apartment in crime alley, and they talk.

the one thing their family has never been good at.

what do i do, to- jason. i can't go back to bruce, and i definitely can't go back to the league. i- i can’t-

that's what they want me to do. i’m done with doing what they want, but i don’t-

calm down, kid. this is an easy problem to fix. what do you want to do?

i don’t- i don’t want-

i don’t want to fight anymore.

then don't.

----------

in the end, he goes to england. maybe it’s for a new start, maybe it’s to remind him of what was. what could’ve been.

whatever the reason, he goes.

he rents a small house in a small town in the countryside, and he draws.

and draws

and draws.

he draws pictures of the birds, of the goldfinches that nest on his windowsill, of the robins in the trees. (and isn’t that just ironic.)

(he draws to distract himself from the empty house.

draws to distract himself from the empty inside.)

he can live with his neighbors constantly asking if he wants to have tea and-

come in dear boy! we have tea and crumpets and you need a little more meat on those bones!

he declines.

----------

but they are persistent, and in the end he says yes.

----------

their tea tastes like pen- like al- like his and he can’t he can’t-

he’s crying.

but he’s in the house of two grandmothers who couldn’t have children and he doesn’t eat enough, and goddammit they will save this breaking boy if it's the last thing they do.

look at those scars, riri. he needs us.

i know, anne. i know.

----------

they let him cry, which is nice.

they sit near him, but not enough to crowd. close enough for him to go to them, which he appreciates.

he cries and he cries and he cries.

you look like you need someone to talk to dearie. i can’t promise that we will understand, but i can promise that we will listen. a boy like you shouldn't have to carry all this weight alone.

damian wants to scream, to yell: you don't understand!! i’ve lost everything! everyone! they all think i’m evil and i can’t replace him, please-

but they said they would listen, and damian doesn't want to fight anymore. he’s tired, and so he talks.

it's what he would like, and isn't that enough?

----------

damian doesn't spare details. he doesn't care enough to hide anymore.

he should care. he should be wary. they could spill his secrets in a second, but the tea smells like home and their expressions are open, and really. what does he have left to lose?

so he spills his secrets to these sweet old ladies who saw a broken, lonely boy, and offered him some tea despite his prickly exterior, despite his god awful superiority complex, despite his saying: no, i don’t want your stupid tea, you hear me? leave. me. alone.

they saw this broken boy, and they didn't need capes to try and save him.

----------

my first kill was at four, a traitor to the crown, and i was excited.

i tried to kill him! simply because i was jealous. he was everything i wasn't, and i wanted him dead for it.

grayson helped me a lot. they both did. they were my fathers when bruce couldn't be.

and jon, sweet, kind jon, partner, my best friend, superboy and robin, one of the only people on this horrid planet who didn't think i was (am) a terrible person, he got lost in space and suddenly he's seventeen and wants nothing to do with me, he goes to the future with hardly a goodbye, and-

he shot him and he lost his memories, my mentor, my brother, one of the only people in that god awful house who actually cared.

and my team- old team now, i guess, stopped me from killing him, but they just keep escaping! it's an endless cycle of jail and needless murder, it's ridding the world of a monster, and my hands are already covered in blood, and if there is one thing i learned from my mother it's to play by the cheater’s rules-

and he crushed his skull in front of me! i tasted his brain, i can’t-

i can’t-

i don’t want to fight anymore, but what else is there?

----------

in the end, he stays over. they tuck him in in a flowery comforter with bird patterned wallpaper, and he sleeps for the first time in what feels like years.

marjorie and anne talk in quiet whispers in their bedroom about how to help this poor broken kid, this little robin with too many legacies to live up to.

he needs therapy, anne.

i agree riri, but this isn't something that we should tell just anyone, i’d offer to help but i retired years ago.

are you really going to let this poor boy go? he might turn to worse things than disassociation if we leave him be.

i know, i know.

----------

in the end, they give him two choices.

you can stay here, and go to a therapist, or you can stay here, and talk to marjorie, who’s a retired therapist.

he wants to say no, to argue. i can take care of myself, i’ve been doing it for years, i don’t need the help of some old decrepit ladies-

but damian doesn't want to fight anymore, and he so he doesn't.

and, oh, doesn't being ok just sound magical?

i will stay, and i will talk to marjorie. but i don't have to talk about anything i don’t want too.

and for now, that's enough.

and for now, maybe he can believe that hope has room for him, too.

----------

have you tried writing letters to him, dearie? i know you love to draw, and that's a great coping mechanism, but maybe writing will help?

and it's been about a month here, here with his sweet, lesbian grandmas, and they are just trying to help, and maybe, just maybe, they are softening his edges just a bit.

and really, what harm will it do?

----------

dear pennyworth,

hello.

when i was young, mother used to tell me that there was a place for everyone after death. that allah had room in his heart for everyone.

excuse my language, but grandfather taught me that was bullshit.

but knowing so many people who have died and come back, (myself included,) has made me start to believe her more.

and maybe it's just that small part of me hoping i will get to see you again, or maybe it's a fool's hope, but living here, with marjorie and anne, they’ve taught me that maybe hope isn't so foolish after all.

so maybe i can afford a little hope.

your young charge,

damian wayne.

----------

the thing about legacies, sweetheart, is that they often leave you in the shadows. don't you think you deserve a little sun?

it's been about three months here, with marjorie and anne, and, yeah, doesn't he deserve a little sun?

things are starting to look up, and maybe it's time to test his wings.

----------

dear alfred,

it's been about three years here, in england with marjorie and anne. and honestly? i think this is the happiest i’ve been.

there have been setbacks, like starting school again, and bruce trying to contact me, but i think i’ve found something here.

i started finding it when i first moved to the manor, with you and with grayson. i started finding it while befriending jon, getting titus and alfred. (i miss them.)

started finding it when i found my first family.

i think i lost it, for a bit there. when you died, when richard lost his memory, when jon left for the future.

but i found it here, in england, with marjorie and anne and the birds i’ve befriended in the forest, and the few people i've found at school who tolerate me.

i’ve changed, alfred. i don’t quite think you’d recognize me. i suppose i must introduce myself, then.

so hello. my name is sparrow jon crane.

what i’ve been trying to find all my life, alfred, was myself. and i think i’ve finally got it.

your great grandson,

sparrow crane.

this is the longest thing ive ever written and GODDAMN am i proud of it

#damian wayne #alfred pennyworth #fic #fanfiction #batman fanfic #letters #dealing with grief #finding yourself #dc #probably too much bird symbolism #dami leaves gotham and robin after that one comic and gets adopted by british lesbian grandmas and finds himself after all the tragedy #i might write a sequel where he goes back to gotham to get some closure #idk #maybe out of character but if dc really hates damian so much just do this and dont touch his character for awhile #anyway yeah #im super proud of this

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crypterion-moon · 5 years

Text

Red Prince Eternal/4

Tim’s nightmares haunt him constantly, the words that bit him to the bone and stripped him of his dignity and he was kicked to the ground. The despair still haunt him. But the longer he spends with Kon, the more he begins to realize how much the superhero means to him.

His new companion is wary of such attachment.

He was aware that Batman was not the most welcoming of men or heroes but it didn’t make the words any softer in Tim’s mind.

“Back off, kid, this isn’t a game you can get into and out of.”

“I know Bruce,” there’s no one around, no one would hear the whisper of his name but Batman heard it loud and clear and it made him stiffen. Natural, a little boy knows who he is and little boys can say anything.

“I’ve always known, the lines were there, I just connected them and what evidence I had, I know Dick is with you and so was Jason. I’m only here because I want to help.”

“Don’t talk about them.”

“What-”

Suddenly Batman lost it, and he sent the table flying, “Don’t talk like you know, Tim, they suffered and still fought like soldiers. They know what it’s like to be stuck in the filth this world can offer, what do you know about that?”

“I know, Batman, I’m no street urchin or orphan, but pain is everywhere,” Tim stopped, remembered Jason, “I’m sorry about Robin.”

Bruce glared at him for the longest time before he turned, “Don’t ever speak to me again.”

Of all the people, he would’ve thought Dick would understand, but even the more cheerful counterpart to Batman was...less than pleased. Especially when Tim showed up on his front door with an apology. Dick spent the next hour denying he was Nightwing.

“Dick, I’m not dumb. I still remember the day at the carnival,” Tim fished the photo from his jacket, “The day we took this picture together.”

It was Tim and Dick years younger on the night Dick’s parents died, their performance sabotaged by Zucco. Dick was holding Tim while their parents stood happily behind them. Tim wearing a big baby faced smile. Seeing his parents’ faces made Dick grimace. Tim quickly put the photo away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

It was a bad move to mention the man’s parents, an old scar that he’d opened up unwittingly. Dick held face and his eyes became stern.

“What do you want, Tim, this is beyond you.”

“What I want is to help, Bruce is taking things harder and he’s trying to do it alone. He doesn’t believe me, no one does, I came to you because I hoped-”

“No,” Dick said, finality in his tone, “No way in hell.”

“But-”

The sudden bang as Dick brought his cup down hard on the table made Tim nearly jump right off his chair.

“No! You have no idea what it’s like. It’s not fun and games, people get hurt if you make a mistake,” you won’t last a week so just stop, forget it.”

Dick had enough of the discussion, glancing at the clock. Get out. The unspoken words rang out, striking Tim in his heart. He thought-, he’d hoped, it might work out this time but there was little chance if not even Dick believed in him. Tim nodded and left promptly.

He may not be able to join their fight in person but at least he could drop important information disguised as someone else. Tim was a computer genius at a young age and he was nothing if not persistent. Informer became a vital addition to their missions, his information drops invaluable. All the while they’d assumed it was a mysterious person who had established himself elsewhere, never Tim.

When Jason returned, Tim felt the thread in his network tremble. Red Hood, notorious avenger and unabashed killer of criminals. He was so different from the Robin he’d met one night it was frightening but Tim hoped still that there was a way to redeem the former Robin. So he pulled some strings, dropped notes until they all found out thanks to Oracle and her superior tracing, they managed to trace the trail all the way back to the little ten year old. No, they definitely weren’t pleased, especially when they realized that Tim had taken advantage of a loophole. It was as if, he had a feeling, that they were angry or disturbed that he was far more crafty for a little boy his age should be. True.

What truly scared Tim though, was that Jason had said nothing while Dick and Bruce lay into him with all the reprimanding, but his body was tense. Wound tighter than a spring and ready to break. A storm was brewing.

Tim startled awake and realized where he was, back in the present and in his bedroom lit only by the glow of his computer. He sighed and kneaded gently at the knots in his neck and between his eyes. His memories haunted him even in sleep or what little there was of it. He wished he could boast that he’d gotten over those years, the hurt, but it still weighed on his conscious and subconscious. Perhaps, in time, but certainly not for the time being.

He can hear the rustling behind him as he worked on the latest client, well, victim actually, but they didn’t need to know that. The noise is intentional. Tim knows because Tiamat, as beautiful as he is, is frightening all the same. Too much shadow and of enough human on the outside. He’s used to it by now or else he’d have jumped up a few feet off his chair like the first time he slithered up behind him. It’s been a while since Tim first brought him home but already they fit, it’s...weird though, he’s...

“Happy Birthday,” a soft voice hummed by his ear. A body slithered up behind him. He could almost feel the grin.

“It’s still a few days off,” Tim chuckled.

“Hmm,” Tiamat let out a soft breath, a chuckle, “I wanted to say it first.”

“Congratulations, you got to say it first before all the other goofballs get here.”

Tiamat’s expression dropped a bit, “I won’t be able to when they do.”

He always disappeared when they arrived, slinking off into the shadows in Tim’s room and avoiding them all together. Usually, he’d still be there, watching from the shadows. If Raven was there, he’d be gone completely. He’d rather not, Tim quite enjoyed the feeling of Tiamat’s presence in the room, though the others unaware of his new roommate did not, for some strange reason. Beast Boy would always note a certain uneasiness. Tim would shrug it off. He was certain it would be a bad idea to tell them judging by their reactions alone. They might even end up fighting.

Tiamat was still recovering from the wounds he’d gotten when Tim found him on the banks of a nearby river, severely weakened and shivering like an injured animal. He brought the stranger back and tended to him as much as he could. He couldn’t eat anything for some reason, nothing Tim brought him helped They were tentative at first, Tim didn’t know how to deal with this strange creature that had literally fallen outside his doorstep and Tiamat, a shadowy figure who looked strangely familiar was shiftier than a cat, he spent a lot of the time staring straight at Tim and didn’t speak, not until he’d seemed to have acquired all he needed to know about the boy.

“I never told you my Birthday,” Tim remarked, a question disguised as a statement but he knows the answer.

“Our birth dates are similar across worlds, Tim,” not one but many, many more Tim Drake’s out there, this one was his shadowy mirror. Honestly, he’d never imagined meeting another him, less likely imagine himself in a form like this. Tiamat has mostly abandoned his former life.

“Is it strange?...” to call me by your name? Our names. We’re supposed to be the same but we’re so different. Tim doesn’t say it out loud but Tiamat smiles a smile of many answers and more questions. He stops and jerks to look at the window.

“They’re here,” Tiamat hissed, drifting off into smoke. Just as the knocking on his window drew Tim’s attention. He padded over and pushed it open to greet two teenagers and a green bird.

“Hey there, Tim,” Kon said with his lopsided smile, “Can we come in?”

“Sure,” Tim stepped back and allowed them to float closer and climb through, Beast Boy flew in and settled on the carpet as he transformed back into a boy. Without acknowledging his guests further, Tim went over to turn his computer off. Thankfully, nothing unscrupulous was open, but just to be safe. Kon looked around, his ears perking.

“Guess they’re not home again?” he said rather disappointed for Tim.

“Three month trip this time, they won’t be for a good while.”

“That’s no way to live,” Cassie said.

“You’d be surprised how a people can live once they get used to it, so,” Tim sat down casually at his desk, twirling around to face them, “How can I help you?”

Con shifted uneasily from foot to foot as if unsure of how he was going to form his next words. Cass elbowed him rather harshly as Tim waited patiently for the response.

“Well uh, we’ve hung out a lot at your place and the Titans haven’t really thought of going anywhere else, and uh, we found a pretty cool spot recently while we were busting some alien asses last time, that was so cool you should’ve seen- OW!” Kon yelled as Cass elbowed him again, this time a bit harder, “Geez, you’re gonna bruise me. So I was saying, since we found a pretty cool spot I thought all of us could-”

“Oh for goodness sake,” an irritated bratty voice growled as another figure hopped onto the window sill, “Can’t your small half-kryptonian brain at least form one simple request?”

Damian was Robin now, congratulations, and part of the Teen Titans. Something Tim would have dreamed of in another lifetime. From the looks of it, and the silence that still graced Tim, Robin hadn’t disclosed anything about his mentor to the Bats, just as he’d asked. But now, there was awkward tension between them, Tim could guess that somewhere in Damian’s mind, he was still confused as to why Tim wouldn’t want his father and now brothers to know about him. That he was required to treat him as a stranger and whenever they met.

However, Robin respected his decision and even covered for him whenever Kon or anyone was close to revealing Tim’s role in their lives. Tim owed him an explanation, he really wished he could, but some things are better left unknown. Tim glanced at Robin briefly before turning back to the three amigos.

“So, where is this place we’re going?”

Later, when the whole group had left, settled back in his chair, exhausted mostly by the strain of having to talk more than usual. Normally, he wouldn’t be so exhausted, Tim wouldn’t exert himself so, but having to deal with so many people, with Kon and his endearing idiocy sometimes and have all the patience of a sage pushed Tim a little further than usual. His health hasn't been right, since the fall, and the depression that followed. He’s never been a fittest but he’s sure things would’ve been slightly different if he’d had any reason to train his body. But no, what’s the point, so what if he had a failing defective, body. It wasn’t as if anybody would care.

“Why do you push yourself for them?” A whispering voice reached around, seemingly to wrap around Tim and comfort him. He nestled in his chair not even caring that the lights had gone out.

“I don't usually, but it's been getting worse,” Tim let his fall back on the headrest, “I don't know, I don't know why I….That's not true, is it?”

A face in the darkness, reflecting his own, Older and beautiful, they both have the same eyes. This dark soul that bound himself to Tim. He could feel his own stained heart whenever he looked at the shadow, like a cancer spreading over him. Maybe that's why he does it. To cling on to the light he found even if he'd convinced himself the opposite. So irritating and yet, the times when Kon made him laugh, when he and Raven formed a powerful pair of sarcasm and dry wit, when he genuinely admired Cyborg's good taste in technology and pizza, those moments were when he felt most human. Not an object useless or otherwise, made to be on display, discarded and pushed away. Moments when Kon held or brushed against him, when his eyes held a certain unnamed emotion for Tim, was when Tim felt more like a person, enough to start loving again.

“You love them don't you?” it wasn’t a question and Tiamat did not wait for an answer, “And him, far more deeply.”

“What? No, no I...he’s a friend too, he-, he was the first person who treated me like another person and not something with a name on it,” the first person to call Tim by name, “But I don’t...there’s nothing between us.”

He was lying to his own reflection, or he might as well been because those eyes were looking straight through him. Into his heart.

“I can’t...”

“Because you are weak, and broken?”

Thou art weak, a poor broken child

“I can’t...”

“That you can be thrown away?”

Easily thrown aside, thy heart’s love

“Please,” Tim felt himself collapsing without even realizing he was no longer seated, that he’d gotten up only a few seconds later. It was so dark, he couldn’t eve see what he was doing. He felt hands on his face, covering it, his hands, he wanted to cry but they’d dried up long ago.

“I don’t want to go back, I was an idiot, I don’t want to go back to being an idiot, I don’t care what I have to become.”

Hands not his but his likeness, smooth as silk yet cold and solid as marble until they conjured fire from their palms gently slid his own down from his eyes, sapphire eyes glowing in the shadow stared deeply and tenderly into his, capturing his soul as Tiamat spoke, “You have time, when your decision is made, ask me again.”

Time still remains, when thy decision is made, call upon me once more

#tim drake #timkon #kontim #timdami #damitim #angst #tragedy #alternate universe #vampire!tim

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iamfitzwilliamdarcy · 7 years

Text

Title: The (Step) Mothering Business

Summary: Damian is less than thrilled about Selina and Bruce’s upcoming marriage. Selina has a little something up her sleeve, though (literally). (Selina, Damian, a kitten) (ao3)

Note: It’s Catie’s birthday!!!! If you’re not following @catie-does-things you’re seriously missing out (but i mean i do reblog like everything of hers so if you’re following me by extension you follow her lmao). ANYWAY CATIE I hope you have the HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS i love you so so so much you’re always so thoughtful, kind, and insightful and make me want to be both a better consumer/reader and y’know person <3

The thing about marriage was that you married into a family. And for Selina Kyle that meant marrying a man who’d adopted five kids. Marrying into an emotionally constipated vigilante family of bats and birds. Some of them who have died. More than once.

Tell that one to the guy in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Ha.

She dresses up like a cat, though, so she probably deserves it.

It’s actually not that bad. Really. The kids are mostly grown. She’s had a soft spot for little Dickie Grayson since the day he tumbled into Bruce Wayne’s public life. She’d been at that party, his first “debut,” months and months after his parents had died. Seen how he’d smiled and charmed the adults. But she’d also seen how he’d tugged nervously at his tie, had stayed glued to Bruce’s side.

How he’d picked up the earrings she’d dropped when a server had bumped into her. Rookie mistake, she’d thought at the time, when he plopped them back into her hand, “Miss, you dropped these.”

He frowned down at them and added, “Those look like the one’s the Senator’s wife was wearing.”

She closed her fist around them hurriedly, but he continued, giving her sudden, small, shy smile. “Are you not wearing them ‘cause they match hers? ‘Cause you would look just as good in them.”

And he’d bounced away back to Bruce’s side, never knowing that they were the Senator’s wife’s earrings. She wonders, sometimes, if he remembers her from that night. She’s never asked.

He was suspicious of her enough as Robin, especially those nights she stole Batman away from him. He’s grown up a lot since then. It startles her, sometimes, to see him now, a man (even if a young one) in his own right.

Jason’s one she wishes she had found before Bruce. It’s the Gotham street kid in her. She’d nagged Bruce about the kid constantly. Had cried for hours when she found out, too late, long after his funeral, that he’d died.

She still drops in on the Red Hood’s patrol routes. He pretends he minds. She knows he doesn’t. Sometimes he mentions a kid who could maybe use a cat, if she had a spare one lying around. She whispers tips to him, when she gets them. When they’re useful. Sometimes she leaves food at his safe house. He never mentions it.

Tim she did find before Bruce, trailing along rooftops at night, all of 11 years old with a camera slung around his neck. She’d taken him back to her place and given him some food. He had protested, saying he had plenty to eat, but she knew hunger could come in the form of loneliness, so she’d listened to him talk about Batman and Robin and veiled comments about his parents’ being gone on vacation or travel for work and him sneaking away from the nanny.

He came back a few times. Feed strays, and they always do. Selina knew better, but soft spots and all. He found Bruce not too long after, anyway.

He was smart as a whip, sneaky, analytical. She’d told Bruce, late in his Robin career, that Tim would make a good thief. He wouldn’t speak to her for a month after that.

Then there was Cassandra. She didn’t know her very well, but they’d sparred a few times, and she always smiled her hockey smile at Selina. The last time, just a few weeks ago, she’d said, “Graceful,” when they were done.

Selina had paused in sipping from her water bottle, and Cassandra, sensing (reading?) her uncertainty, repeated, “Graceful. You fight graceful. Like cat.” And she’d held up her hands to her face like paws and hissed. Smiled her gap-toothed grin again. Selina thought that was friendship.

It was Damian who was the problem. Damian was still little, not even eleven yet, and he’d declared, in his lofty way, more than once, how disapproving he was of his father’s impending marriage.

“I don’t know what to do with him,” Bruce says, once morning.

It isn’t quite dawn yet, and she’s snuggled up under his arm, (in her apartment because Alfred has gone suddenly traditional on them, leading up to the wedding, leaving Bruce confused, picking his battles), head resting on his chest. She can hear his heart beat. She thinks she’ll never be over how massive he was. How much space he takes up and how she fits right in.

“I’ve tried talking to him,” Bruce continues. “He won’t listen. I try telling him but you know how…independent he is.”

“I was going to say stubborn,” she says.

“That too,” he agrees. He huffs out a sight, lets his head flop against the backboard. “I’m just out of ideas.”

Selina laughs, a little. Half the time, Bruce is bewildered by his kids, has no idea what to do with them.

“You take a break,” she says. “I’ll see what I can do about this one.”

Bruce looks at her skeptically, and she smiles back. She may not know exactly how to handle Damian, but she knows who to ask.

And so it’s with Dick Grayson’s advice and her own spunk that she finds the kid on the Manor grounds. It’s chilly, afternoon, October with a gray sky and colorful trees. He’s wearing a navy hoodie, huddled on top of a slope, hunched over a sketchbook.

He doesn’t say anything as she approaches, but she knows he knows she’s there. He’s been raised by assassins and his father makes it his business to be aware of his surroundings.

“Can I join you?” she asks, and takes his irritated TT as a yes.

She settles down next to him, glad she wore pants (instead of the wooly black skirt Bruce bought her last week, the one she’s been dying to wear) and leans back on her hands. He scrunches around his sketchbook to keep her from seeing what he’s drawing; she doesn’t try to look. She sits in silence for a while, lets him get used to her presence, and then says, “I have a present for you.”

Damian tuts again. “Any attempts at bribery won’t change how I feel about your impending marriage to my father.”

“It’s a kitten,” Selina continues, as if he hasn’t spoken. “A stray I picked up a few days ago. I’m having trouble thinking of a name for her. I thought you might be able to help.”

Damian focuses in on his sketchbook, but she can see he’s listening. Interested. She turns to her bag and snaps it open, lets the little calico cat clamber into her arms. She catches Damian sneaking a glance, but he tuts once more, turns back to his sketch.

“Her mother rejected her,” Selina says. She puts the kitten on the ground, and she bats at her hand. “She was starving. I’ve been bottle feeding her.”

And she had put on a bit of weight since then, was doing well. Curious, playful, sweet. Thriving. She adventures over to Damian, who reaches out a hand gently, lets her sniff it.

They both watch her for a bit. Finally, Selina says, “Damian, I’m not here to replace your mother.”

He stiffens all over. He looks like his father, when she’s caught him off guard, and it catches her off guard, how much they look a like.

He says, “You could never replace Mother.”

Selina nods. “Talia is certainly a force to be reckoned with.”

“The thing is,” she continues after a moment, “I don’t want to try to replace her. I’m not your mother. I won’t ever be. But I am a part of your father’s life, and I’d like to at least be a part of yours, if you’d let me.”

The kitten decides she likes Damian, stands up on her hind legs to paw at his knees. He dangles his pencil in front of her.

“Father has made it clear I have little say in the matter,” Damian says, not looking at her, focused on the kitten. “And I know you only brought this stray because Grayson suggested it might be a bonding experience.”

Selina takes a moment to be impressed in how much disdain such a small person could put into his sneer. Then, she concedes, “Dick did suggest you like animals.”

“Grayson is a sentimental fool,” Damian says, but without much heat. The kitten had climbed into his lap, and he was stroking her head. And anyway, Selina has seen the two of them together as Batman and Robin, knows Damian loves Dick Grayson as best he knows how.

“Maybe so,” she says.

They’re silent for a while longer. To Selina’s surprise, it’s Damian who breaks it, “Her mother, you said--.” Trails off.

“Abandoned her, yes” Selina finishes. “Sometimes mothers do that.”

“Darwinism,” Damian says. “Survival of the fittest.”

“Mm,” Selina agrees.

“It’s not cruel,” Damain adds.

“No,” Selina says. “But sometimes it’s nice to have someone to intervene. The kittens usually grow just fine, with a little TLC. I sometimes wish,” she confesses, not looking at him though she can feel him looking at her. She breaks off, starts differently, “Mothers are at tricky thing. I sometimes wish,” she repeats. “Sometimes wish someone had for me, too. Intervened, I mean.” She shakes her head, and glances over, meets his gaze.

Damian looks away, down at the kitten, and then back over at her. “You are not my mother,” he repeats.

“No,” she agrees. “I’m not.”

Damian hums. “As long as that’s clear,” he says. His voice is clipped, in the way she’s learned, already, means he’s feeling uncomfortable, hiding emotion he feels is a weakness.

“Absolutely,” she confirms.

They’re silent a while longer. The wind picks up, an the gray clouds darken with the setting sun. She gets up to leave, bends over to pluck the kitten out of Damian’s lap. Maybe it had been a bad idea after all.

But Damian shifts so she can’t touch the kitten, clutches it to him. It’s very small, even in the arms of such a small boy.

“Delilah will need to get used to her new home,” Damian tells her. “And be introduced to Alfred, Bat-Cow, Titus, and Goliath. I think it best she stays rather than move again after your…marriage.”

He doesn’t quite manage to say marriage without a hint of disapproval, but it’s only a small one. Selina hides her smile, nods. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you and Delilah soon,” she says.

“Unfortunately, I expect so,” Damian agrees.

She reaches out and scratches the kitten’s ears, resists the urge to push her luck and ruffle Damian’s hair, and heads back to the Manor where she can’t wait to, very smugly, tell Bruce about her breakthrough. And the new addition to his menagerie.

Well, it’s not like Bruce doesn’t have a stray habit, too.

#Selina Kyle #Damian Wayne #Bruce Wayne #Batfam #catie-does-things #my fic #fanfic tag #katie's adventures in writing

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dylan-hague · 7 years

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Chapter 36

Titans Tower. May 11th, 2018. 4:34 PM.

Damian had to admit… being on bed rest had its perks.

Don’t misunderstand, he still hated not being out in the field; not using his talents to keep Jump City clean made him feel lazy, and not being able to do so made him feel impotent. But at the very least, he was able to contribute as an extra mind back at home base, and his father and sister had come to do their part to keep Jump protected for awhile (leaving Gotham in the hands of Todd, Kelley, and the GCPD until they returned). And aside from that, Damian did enjoy being able to spend more downtime with his friends than usual; even though they kept to their regular schedules, Damian’s regimen had always been more demanding than those of the other Titans. Now that he wasn’t constantly training, he was able to enjoy time with his teammates. A movie with Jon and Jaime, television with Garfield and Tara… he even found time to talk to Kori and learn a bit more about Tamaranean culture, which he’d brushed off before rather harshly. And of course, being stuck at home also came with the added bonus of spending more time with his fiancée; Raven insisted on being by his side at almost all times, which he quietly thanked Azar for again and again. It made his predicament of being stuck in a wheelchair for the remainder of his recovery much more bearable knowing it was her wheeling him around. (Damian still couldn’t wrap his head around the decision to put him in a chair; the doctors specifically said that he was fine, that there was no serious injury aside from his concussion. But apparently, walking around the hospital revealed that he had been damaging the muscles in his back little by little with each step, so now he wouldn’t be allowed to walk again until the wounds healed completely and the stitches came out.)

Hands down, though, the best part of the experience of being stuck at the Tower was getting to FaceTime Grayson and Barbara to see how Tommy was growing. For the past three days, Damian got a call at about three in the afternoon, and when he answered his phone, there on his screen popped up the little five-week-old baby, blinking and waving his hands around, reaching for his mother’s phone. He and Raven would sit on the couch or in Damian’s bed and coo into the camera, and he and Grayson would carry on about whatever cases they had been working on lately (the debate on the ethics of this had long since been abandoned, especially considering the fact that both Red X and Nightwing had been taught by Batman that any information relating to a crime was to be shared amongst members of the family, so that they could help one another protect their respective cities). Tommy was certainly still small; Damian had been told he was on the small side as an infant, but he never realized just how small that meant. Tommy was a month old, but he still fit perfectly well into his newborn clothes… perhaps all babies were like that, but it had never occurred to Damian before. Damian had held kittens bigger than his nephew. Still, looking into those bright blue eyes every day made the frustration of his current lack of mobility much easier to bear.

And then there were days like this one. Days that felt like they were spent almost entirely in bed, his Beloved curled up next to him, eyes shut as the afternoon sun cast yellow-orange rays of light in through his window. Days that felt still, quiet. Days that made the long-term goal of retiring seem more and more appealing. After all, if he wasn’t out fighting crime all night, wouldn’t that mean more quality time he could spend with his Raven? That sounded like a dream… of course, Damian knew he could never just quit. As much as it killed to admit it, the Son of Batman knew that the people of his city depended on him. But perhaps years from now, when things were better, once the world didn’t need heroes anymore… then he could rest. But for now, Damian smiled and focused on the woman with her head on his chest, letting his mind focus on her warmth, on the rise and fall of her quiet breath. He slowly pulled her closer in his arms, taking care not to wake her as he held her close to him. This was good… this made it worth not walking for awhile.

“Mmmh…”

Damian slowly opened one eye and peeked down at the girl beside him, and blushed at the little smile that played on her lips. She shifted a bit, crawling further up the bed in her sleep and nestling her head into Damian’s neck.

“Hmmm…” Raven sighed in her sleep as her hand ran up Damian’s chest before slipping it over his shoulder. Damian just smiled and planted a quick kiss on her forehead. She looked so happy like this… he would never forgive himself if he were to accidentally–

“Oh, Tiiiiiitaaaaaaaans~!”

… That bastard.

Raven groaned, pulling the covers over her head as Damian reached for his phone on the nightstand. “Make him go awaaaay…” the witch-girl whined groggily. Damian’s brow furrowed as he slid his mask back on and held the phone up to his face.

“What do you want, Riddler?” Red X growled.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! Did I mistakenly interrupt anything important?” Nygma’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “And please, PLEASE tell me you actually sleep with your mask on. That is so you.”

“Shut up and get on with your stupid riddle, Nashton,” Damian barked.

“Okay, one? Rude.” Riddler’s voice suddenly became harsh, angry. “Two, don’t EVER call me that. You call me Nygma or Riddler. Eddie Nashton is dead. And third, I’ll give you my riddles on my OWN schedule, when I decide I want you to be stumped. You’re very lucky that right now happens to be one of those times.”

“Look, I’m in the middle of recovering from surgery right now. I’m sort of stuck in a wheelchair for the time being, so forward your stupid game to Red Robin. He’s filling in for me.”

“O-oh. Oh? Well… that’s unfortunate.” His face was still concealed, but Damian swore he could practically hear Riddler frowning. “My puzzles require you to be able to move around Jump City. Given that that’s the case, I have to be able to challenge you physically in order to challenge you mentally. And if I can’t properly challenge you physically, then there’s no point to the challenges I’ve put together for you!”

“Look, just…” Damian rubbed his eyes in frustration, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “I know you can get into contact with Red Robin. Just pose all your challenges to him, he’s here subbing for me. Okay? I need to get back to sleep. The sooner I get healed, the sooner I can get back to my job…”

“But I wasn’t planning on beating Red Robin until after you! This is all wrong!!” Damian could detect the panic in Riddler’s voice.

“Look, I’m… sorry? I guess? But I’m not going anywhere for awhile. Just… deal with it.” Damian hit the end call button, dropping the phone back onto his nightstand as Raven’s head crept out from underneath the blanket.

“Damian…?”

“Yeah, Raven?”

“… being a superhero sucks.”

“… Yeah, it does.”

The witch-girl slowly lifted her head up and stared blankly at the glass walk at the far end of the room. She raised a lazy hand, and the curtains pulled themselves shut, blocking out the late-day sunbeams. Damian grinned as Raven brought herself back down over him, wrapping her arm back around his neck. She’d best take care, or she was going to slip out of the hero habit. But one more day of lazing around in bed wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it? He put his arms around her waist, and decided to himself that no, it wouldn’t hurt anyone at all. In fact, Raven could use the break after everything going on recently with his injury, and helping train Jonathan, and the false Red X. She’s been working so hard lately, she needed to rest a bit; she hardly ever took any personal time. Barring his family, he hadn’t seen someone so dedicated to what they do since…

“… Oh crap, that’s it.”

…

Tim chuckled as he darted across the training room, narrowly evading Jon’s heat vision as he ran circles around the fourteen-year-old. He was happy to help train the new Titans as best he could, but this? This was just fun. Apparently, Superman’s son trains by getting really mad. And if there was anything Dick taught him about being a Robin, it was how to piss people off. The kid was fast, sure, maybe even faster than a speeding bullet. But Tim knew how to distract, keep Jon’s eyes off him, even in the open space of the training room. He was getting better, almost managed to slice through Tim’s cape a minute ago, but he still had a lot to learn; Jon let his heat control his actions, affect his judgment. He needed to learn to use his head.

“STAND STILL SO I CAN BLAST YOU, YA DUMB BIRD!!” Jon yelled as he whipped his head around, firing another burst of heat from his eyes that just barely singed Red Robin’s hair. Tim’s eyes widened as he arced through the air, and he almost hesitated as he lighted on the floormat. But Tim was nothing if not a quick thinker, and he realized it was probably time to go on the offensive.

“Come on, short stack! You’re getting carried away, that’s dangerous!” the former Titan jeered as he began to serpentine his way closer to Jon. He reached into his belt and quickly equipped his set of red knuckles–he knew Kryptonite was going to be the only way he’d be able to turn this around without those bulky suits of armor Bruce had designed, but Tim had no intention of killing the kid. After a quick front flip over Jon’s head (for style points; Steph was watching, after all), Tim dropped into stance and threw a jab at the boy’s face. Jon quickly shifted out of the way, throwing his own hands up and moving into the offensive. He fought like a boxer once his powers were gone–Damian had no doubt been teaching him a thing or two. The kid was quick, bobbing and weaving in and out of Tim’s range like a moth dancing around a candle. But Red Robin just smirked and closed the gap, throwing a few more shots Jon’s way. One punch caught the little guy right in the side, and he dropped for just a second. Tim saw the opportunity, and raised his hands over his head to bring the hammer down and wrap this fight up, but Jon recovered just in time, and a loud CRACK sounded through the room as Superboy connected a fierce uppercut to Tim’s jaw, sending the human flying across the room and leaving a sizable crack in the wall. At this point Starfire, who was observing from the sidelines, decided that was enough for today, and moved in to calm Jon down.

“That’s enough, Jonathan!!” Kori shouted, locking her arms around the hybrid alien. Jonathan struggled in her arms for a moment before sucking in several heated breaths through grit teeth. “Calm down, it’s alright! You’re okay, Jonny…”

“Don’t call me Jonny…” Jon hissed. “Don’t call me… hah… hahh… huhhhhhh…”

“Sorry…” Kori whispered, stroking the youngest Titan’s hair. “I won’t do it again, okay?”

Jon nodded as the red glow faded from his eyes, and his body relaxed. “Mm… M'kay, I… I’m good…”

“There you are, little one…” the Tamaranean cooed as she squeezed Jon gently. “You’re okay now.”

“M'kay…”

Tim wiped the sweat from his brow, and grinned up at the camera where he knew Stephanie was looking back at him. “How’d we do, babe?”

“Not bad T, but don’t get cocky!” Spoiler’s voice crackled over the intercom. “You did pretty good to, Jonno! Real crash stuff there!”

Jon slowly sank to the floor in exhaustion. “Thanks Ms. Stephanie… I’m doin’ my best…”

“Whoa… Tim, you better get up here. Bruce is back, and… you just need to get up here.”

Tim paused for a brief moment before walking out of the Training Room and heading for the Security Office. Steph seemed really worried over the intercom, which worried Tim. Was it about Damian’s recovery, or something else?

As Tim stepped into the Security Office, he was greeted by Bruce’s grimacing face… and Talia’s. Tim wasn’t expecting, but his brother’s mother stood there looking back at him. And… oh crap, she was wearing a new uniform. Black suit, grey cloak, claws… some kind of blade on her right hand? What is this??

“… Bruce, what is this?”

Bruce let out a growl under his breath. “Damian thinks he’s figured out who the fake X is. Turns out, she’s got incredibly close ties to the al Ghuls… so we’re bringing in Talia to hunt her down.”

Tim nodded slowly. “Okay… so what do we call her?”

Talia pulled on her mask and hood. “You may call me…” she hissed through her voice modulator. “… Phantasm.”

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