#and also stop seeing tim as a 5 year old

[mikakuna]

the way people care more about jason fighting tim than like any other rogue fighting tim during his robin run is...!

"they're brothers! jason is so horrible to attack his little brother."

aside from the obvious twinkification of tim, stop pushing the family narrative on two people who did not see each other as siblings at that moment.

#and also stop seeing tim as a 5 year old #jason fought him to prove a point #sometimes i wish he really did some serious damage to tim just so you guys would have something reasonable to complain about #gosh a 16-17yr old crime fighter who fights people like bane for a living definitely has trauma from a guy two years older than him #fighting him #yes jason todd the kid who was murdered for being robin would definitely go out and kill the next kid who is robin #because yessss his whole point is that he's jealous of the next robin and therefore needs to harm him worse than the joker harmed jason #like please i'm so tired of this discourse #why the fuck would jason- the child murder victim who died as robin and bc of batman taking on a child soldier- want to kill the next robin #you'd think the narrative that jason tried to kill tim would only be in like some fics #but nope! it's in every goddamn batfam fic i've ever read to this day #not even exaggerating #anti tim drake #anti batfam #jason todd #red hood #batman #dc

[kitkats-and-kittens]

I know it will never happen because DC are cowards but the only thing I want from life is to watch Damian grow up and leave vigilantism behind forever.

He was the only one of his siblings who didn’t in someway choose to fight. He didn’t become Robin because he wanted to keep people safe or because no one else was available or because he was watching the hero that he idolised crumble before his eyes. He didn’t see it as magic or some lost connection to his parents or an opportunity to defend people who couldn’t defend themselves.

He’s Robin because it’s what he was told to be. Talia sent him to Bruce to learn from him (and kill Dick I think) but regardless Robin wasn’t necessarily supposed to be a part of that. Damian wanted it to prove his was better than Tim and because he saw being his fathers partner as being the only way to learn from him.

But I kinda want Damian to grow up and realise he doesn’t need to fight anymore. I mean idk how it would go but I think there’s potential for a pretty fucked up angst filled realisation that he died at like 12 years old.

I feel like that’s a good enough reason to stop the whole crime fighting thing.

Me personally, I just want to see him settle down into a civilian lifestyle. Become a doctor or a vet or a zoologist and just live his life.

Also I think the idea of med-student Damian running on coffee and adrenaline a week before finals having like 5 muggers bust into his tiny studio apartment (because this is Gotham and shit happens) just get absolutely floored by a teenager wearing sweats and a hoodie looking like death itself is absolutely hilarious.

#dc comics #damian wayne #batfam #dc robin #dick grayson #bruce wayne #angst #also it is super fucked that he died at 12 years old #I feel like that isn’t acknowledge enough #league of assassins #talia al ghul #damian al ghul #i just want him to be happy #and normal

[bruciemilf]

A crack treated seriously concept that I have just swimming in my mind;

Runaway sugar baby Bruce Wayne AU.

Here's the thing; Bruce and Harvey are married. Bruce may not realize they are! but they are.

Oblivious fucker really went,

" yes, I will have children with my best friend, raise them together happily, occasionally have sex, and wear this cool ring he gave me. Platonically, of course."

I think it all started when Tim came home from school, wearing a bit of a guilty expression, asking with a pinch embarrassment if Bruce could pretend to be a doctor for career day.

Bruce blinks, " I am a doctor, darling." Graduated with flying colors, mind you!

"Well, yeah, but...You know, not anymore. "

True. Ever since he adopted Jason and Tim, he just found it harder and harder to leave home. They were just too precious and he didn't want to miss a moment!

"I just don't understand why he'd lie about it."

"I can," Harvey looks so handsome, arranging his tie. He does a mess of it, but he doesn't look less tantalising,

" Little brats would be...Yknow, mean. They get finicky when they see a weak spot."

He knows it's Harvey because there's no accent melting like whisky on his mouth. " Weak spot?"

" doll, cmon, --"

" I do work, Harvey. Just because it's not defending criminals doesn't mean it's less vital."

" I knowthat. But you're also a rich guy who, let's face it, wouldn't need to work a day In his life. And that's fine by me. "

because Harvey HATED seeing his mom break her back to support their family when his father was drowning face down in debts.

He wouldn't put anyone through that, let alone his pretty little husband. But Bruce doesn't take this well.

" well! I'll show you! I'm more than capable of making it on my own, I'll prove it!"

Now. Bruce doesn't think too much. He's not an expert in it. Man can stitch up a 5 inch incision with floss, but his own well being? Leave it to Alfred.

But he'll make them proud. So next time, they don't have to lie.

He just packs up way too many luggages, packs Damian up too, and leaves while Harvey's at oh his back breaking, gruelling office job.

It's only when he's on a bus that he realizes he forgot the rest, but that'd be cruel! Their boys loved their father.

Dick, who's in his I Hate Dad phase, is extremely hysterical while they leave to find Bruce. Only stopping occasionally to fix his eyeliner, then start over again.

Jason, Harvey's second oldest, drives beside them on his motorbike.

He guesses its an extra middle finger to him to not wear a helmet. His beloved little hellion, raised on the devil's edge.

"Listen to me; If I find him, I'm moving back home. If I don't, I'll put you in the ground."

" I'll let you."

Now; Bruce does find a place. It's a little town with big characters.

Harley has a diner that she's more than happy to welcome him in, even if Bruce, Spoiled Spouse of the Year, can't quite pick up.

Anything for old roomies.

But there is someone in there who catches Bruce's attention. Towns mechanic.

Clark, his name tag says, who played with Damian behind Bruce's back while he talked to Harley.

He smells of salty motor oil; Fresh sweat, smoked apple pie. His eyes are dreamy blue, rendered with sharp cleverness. And Clark likes him.

Clark recommends him a good motel, brings Damian some toys to play with, even brings his own babies so they can have a playdate. " They're not mine. The toys! These two are. I have a receipt from the hospital."

"...A birth certificate?"

He's delightfully awkward.

When Harvey comes to pick him up, when Bruce jumps in his arms, claws at a pristine shirt stained with his brand new blisters and cracks and worked hands, he's not awkward.

He's disappointed; Like Bruce strangled the joy from his soul.

"You're...Married?"

When Bruce and Harvey respond, in perfect, consice sync, " Oh no, darling,--" " Yes he is, four eyes--" they're ALL confused.

"Oh, dear..."

#bruce wayne #dc #dc comics #dick grayson #tim drake #harvey dent #clark kent #bruharvey #superbat #runaway sugar baby au #no capes au #text #text post #batfamily #batfam #jason todd

[nucifraga]

so... who was going to tell me that my estimates of the tma characters' ages was WAYYY off??

and i know jonny probably meant it to be that way so that there'd be leeway for creative interpretation of the characters and all, but my brain wants them pinned down. so. here's a mini-list/research rant of my favs. presently the list consists of:

Jonathan Sims

Martin Blackwood

Sasha James

Timothy Stoker

Mike Crew !

Oliver Banks

Michael Shelley

Gerard Keay

Three disclaimers – (i) The TMA timeline is a trainwreck. Many assumptions have been made. At least half of them are probably wrong (especially where University is used as an age marker) and also my maths ability sucks because I haven’t done maths in two years, so where there are glaring issues, so feel free to correct me and I will edit accordingly :’) (ii) This is by no means definite. See above. Honestly, attempting to decipher them feels like trying to understand the Spiral. But I’m doing it anyway, because as both a fanfic writer and an academic, I want to at least try. (iii) SPOILER WARNING!! SO MANY SPOILERS! I think the only seaosn that isn't spoiled is maybeeee S5 ???

With that, let's go! [Ages are approximate & as-of 2016 / S1]

Jonathan Sims Age: 28 Birth year: 1987-1988 There seems to be a general consensus on this one. MAG81 appears to be one of the key clues here – ‘Jon says that he was about 8 during the events of the statement and that it happened a year or two after Leitner's library ended, which was in 1994. So he's born around 1987-88.’ [source: reddit]Of note is the fact that he lied about his age and pretended to be older, which is hilarious, and leads me to believe that he’s the youngest of the Archives crew – or at least, near there.

Martin Blackwood Age: 28-ish Birth year: 1988 Has worked for the Institute since at least 2009. He’s lied about having a Master’s in parapsychology, so is likely old enough to feasibly be able to have one. As all institute staff have to at least have a Master’s in something archive-related (iirc), all of them must hence be at least 22/23, assuming the Master’s courses are 1 year long. Jonny has, however, stated that Martin is either a bit older or a bit younger than Jon, and I’m tempted to believe it’s the former (see above).

Sasha James Age: 28-34, 30-ish? Birth year: 1981-1987 There’s like, nothing on Sasha. I’m assuming she’s at least older than Jon, because that might be why he began faking his age. The only possible marker would be that Sasha’s worked in Artefact Storage (for 3 months), Research (for longer, I assume) and long enough in Archives to be considered as Gertrude’s likely successor. So, definitely more qualified, and also older than Jon.

Timothy Stoker Age: 30-ish Birth year: 1986? Tim has a degree in Anthropology from Trinity College (I assume this to be Oxbridge, rather than Ireland or something, since he resides in London), and spent 5 years working at a publishing firm. This puts him at 26 (18+3+5) in 2013 when Danny was taken. As he says he began working for the Institute shortly after, I would assume that this is when he stopped working for the firm. I’ve added a bit of buffer because nobody’s birthdays are given, ever, and also there might have been a bit of time between leaving university and joining the firm and/or leaving the firm and finding the Institute. So – 30.

Okay that’s the core staff, onto my other favs.

Michael 'Mike' Crew Age: 37-ish Birth year: ~1979 My #1 avatar! I did a double-take after I worked out his entire timeline, but here’s the highlights: He was a uni student during late 1997-early 1998 when he went looking for Ex Altiora in Lion Books. I’m assuming he was a first year, because generally uni students stay in the sameish area for the whole course and I don’t see him missing out on an opportunity to Leitner-hunt just because the store was in a slightly out-of-the-way part of town. So! This puts his birthdate at around 1979-1980.

Oliver Banks Age: 28-ish Birth year: ~1987 Oliver Banks’ timeline during & post-Uni makes NO SENSE. Fortunately, we do know that he moved to London around 2005 to do his undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics. Which puts him at around 18 in 2005, and his birth year can be worked out from there. Quick rant about Oliver’s timeline: Oliver is working at Barclays by 2007, and he was recruited after graduating. Which means he both began and subsequently completed his undergraduate degree between 2005 and 2007. That’s literally impossible for a standard 3 year course. Plus, by around 2007, he’s been working for nearly a year at Barclays, so he started in 2006… so apparently he began his degree and completed it in under a year, since the academic year starts in September??

Michael Shelley / Michael the Distortion Age: 31 / 49 / early 50s (but canonically 92 at all points in the timeline) Birth year: ??? I didn’t do the research on this one, so here’s my source because I don’t think there’s any more I can add.This mess is truly Spiral-worthy, which could have been intended, but also may just be the TMA timeline wonkiness at work. There’s also been some speculation that he was hired at even younger than 18, but equally it’s possible that he was hired older, which puts his age squarely into the [I don’t have a fucking clue] range.

Gerard Keay Age: technically 32 Birth year: ~1984 Gerry was born in the 80s, and given that the above source states he was in his ‘late teens’ in 2002, this tracks. Making the assumption that he’s 18 in 2002, I’m going to place his birth year at around 1984. However, he died in 2014 (I’m assuming late-2014, given that he had time to encounter Leitner in London & travel a bit with Gertrude before his death) in the USA, putting him at around 30 at the age of his death. Since he’s dead, he doesn’t really age, but he is ‘aware’ enough to be in existential pain so I’m going to go with Descartes on this one and say he’s ‘alive’ enough to continue counting his years of existence. Poor guy. Doesn’t even get to actually die til August 2017 either.

Part 2 ft. the 4 Grandpas of the Apocalypse here

#character ages #the magnus archives #tma #magnus archives #tma spoilers #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #timothy stoker #tim stoker #sasha james #michael shelley #mike crew #michael crew #gerard keay #gerry keay #oliver banks #michael the distortion #i don't know how to tag i don't use tumblr nearly enough for this #tma research #tma headcanons #tumblr keeps destroying my formatting how do i fix this

[ghost-bxrd]

Hello. In the final end notes of ‘What You’re Longing For (you claim to abhor)’ you mention the goons picking up the wrong clues from the Entire Mess of the final chapter. Is there any chance you’d be willing to expand more on that?

Additionally, I find myself curious: in the time after the fic, would Talia ever kidnap Jason for a bit of family bonding time(probably murdering dudes in the middle of nowhere or something, but still.)

Thank you for your time,

Desire

Hi! I’m not sure if this is a follow up request you’d like to feature in Ghost Stories so I’ll just list some of my thoughts here 💚

So Dave, Jones and McKenzie are a very very tight knit little group that established itself after being hired by the Red Hood. Despite working as goons, they each have their own moral compass that perfectly aligns with Hood’s rules. Consequently, they ended up being Jason’s most loyal and trusted underlings.

Jason didn’t intend to get attached to the three but he did and as a result let slip some personal info form time to time. Jones, Dave and McKenzie all made a game out of collecting clues to Hood’s real identity and background to the point where they’d sit down after work and pool their information. They’ve got a pinboard and everything lol.

Sadly Jason’s life was depressing af for the most part so the things he accidentally mentioned didn’t paint a very pretty picture. And when he used typical teenage slang one too many times Dave correctly inferred that their boss is much younger than any of them originally thought.

So in the end they had hundreds of little clues that all added up to the following (in their mind):

1. Red Hood is actually anywhere from 20-28 years old (+/- a couple years) and not a fourty-something rogue with plans of grandeur

2. Hood was abused as a kid

3. Hood hates Batman

4. Hood hates Robin and Nightwing but not as much as Batman

5. Hood hates Robin but still mother hens him like crazy and seems reluctant to let him go back to the Bat every time

6. Hood is a young guy with better training and tactical thinking than a trained navy seals soldier

7. Hood is intimately aware of how the Bats operate,l fight, and think

Conclusion: Batman used to train Hood and was also the one who abused him—> he’s concerned the same thing is now happening to Robin.

So yeah, that’s pretty much the train of thought they’re having right now. So while Dave, Jones and McKenzie definitely won’t shoot Robin (or Nightwing), they’ll definitely try to gun down Batman.

At least until Jason remembers to retract the order lol. (After which they reluctantly stop shooting at Batman but still not-so-subtly drop hints that they’d absolutely have Hood’s back if he ever needs help with the asshole. Jason doesn’t know what all the fuss is about all of a sudden.)

As for the “would Talia ever kidnap Jason for family time” question:

Yes. Absolutely. And if Talia was busy Ra’s would show up and do it instead.

The al Ghuls adopted Jason into the family. No takebacksies. And while they think Bruce’s overprotectiveness of Jason is amusing (and totally warranted given Jason’s penchant for getting himself into trouble) they draw the line at being barred from seeing their precious sons/grandsons.

So yeah, Bruce and Dick have to deal with Damian and Jason disappearing for a couple days every two months at least.

The first time it happened Bruce, Dick and Tim all lost their minds with panic and when Jason and Dami returned it was to a frantic batfam and the entire JLA in Gotham, on the hunt for Hood and his assassin baby brother ksksks

#what you’re longing for you claim to abhor #ghost talks #musings #jason todd #batfamily #dick grayson #batfam #bruce wayne #robin #tim drake #red hood #batman

[a-god-in-crime-alley]

So I’mma do a quick rant on Tim and the whole “forever 17” thing people are always going on about.

Disclaimer: some of this is based on my own experience with how I changed as I got older and comments from people that I went months and years without seeing.

I’m AFAB so it’s not quite the same. But I’ve never been one to remember a skin care routine and have relied on good genetics and good hygiene to make this point.

When doing some calculations for another post (you’ve probably seen that post I reblogged about the batkids ages) it hit me WHY it doesn’t look like Tim has aged.

Sure it might just be a style choice because DC wants to keep a chokehold on their Teen audience with Tim. (Even though Damian is RIGHT THERE!!! DC stop making Damian look like Tim for the love of GOD!)

A lot of people don’t actually CHANGE that much from ages 16-24 as long as they are keeping to the same exercise routines and diets. With the exception of Tim’s Brucequest, he kept to a fairly stable routine for Years!

The reason most people change so much early on is because they drop off their usual exercise (gym class) and repetitive diet (school or packed lunch). So you see people’s weight fluctuating (this can have an effect of visible face shape) hair either thinning or thickening and skin either clearing or getting more acne.

Add this to Tim probably having pretty good genetics (his mom looked like she was maybe pushing 30 when she died but was probably closer to mid 40s. Both Janet and Jack were around 10 years older than Bruce, who would have been mid 30s at the time.)

Tim not showing any signs of facial hair can also be down to genetics. Some cis men just NEVER get more than a single chin hair, maybe a max of 5 sparsely scattered along their chin. Those guys usually just pluck them out. They never actually have to shave. Though I think we Have seen Tim shaving again one point. Can’t remember when.

Either way, it makes sense for Tim not to actually look his age in any more than muscle mass. He’s noticeably built compared to how he was when Damian was introduced. (When the artists are going for a more realistic art style.)

Then considering his most recent dimensional adventure to save Bruce after the shit with Failsafe, you see just how much older he looks next to his mother (from that universe) and she didn’t seem that surprised with how he looked. Meaning her version of him is probably around the same age, and anyone who read that issue can see she looked pretty young.

Add all this to the fact it’s Canon that Jason is 23! He’s only at most 3 years older than Tim but is probably closer to 2 years older. (With Jason being 15 going on 16 when he died. And Tim was 12-13 by the 6 month mark after Jason died and Tim became Robin.)

So in conclusion, DC needs to stop acting like Tim’s still a Teenager and acknowledge that he’s a lot closer to 21 (hell, if we go by proper calculations he SHOULD BE 21).

What I’m saying is give us Tim going out for drinks with his older brothers. Have him show up at Jason’s after something bad happens and ask if he’s still up for that drink (in reference to that one time Jason offered to get a 16 year old Tim into a bar.)

Give us Funny Drunk Tim shenanigans to balance out that Dick is a miserable drunk! Have Jason get stuck babysitting both of them because he’s the only one that can actually hold his alcohol. Have the Girls be watching and laughing from across the bar because they unintentionally had their Girls Night and the same place the guys had their Boys Night.

Please DC, I am Begging you!

#tim drake #dick grayson #jason todd #Batfam #Tim isn’t 17 and I will die on this hill #neither are any of the Core Four #Connor isn’t even SUPPOSED to look like he’s aging because he was artificially aged in the cloning pod #Connor looks like a young 20 something and he’s supposed too!!!! #Literally all three of the others are Metas with powers than make aging moot! #Bart has super speed and such has super Healing #Cassie is a Demigoddess!!!!

[ectonurites]

Are Tim and Cass Cain actually close in canon? Or is that more of a fanon thing that gained canon status?

Alright, so the tldr answer is that yes pre-reboot they were close—but it wasn't something that happened immediately/right off the bat, it took time, and they didn't always perfectly see eye-to-eye. But like, it's not just some totally fanon thing, they were absolutely close.

I'm using past-tense in the above though because it's like... all the actual content with them becoming/being close is pre-reboot. Anything post-reboot with them either had them back at square one (during N52 stuff) or like, just sort of handwavey 'oh they're close again' without much actual elaboration/explanation. Theoretically nowadays everything's canon again so all the old stuff applies, but as far as I'm aware nothing has really dug all that deep back into the two of them/their dynamic.

Now, to give a brief crash course on Tim & Cass's relationship in canon...

Early on they weren’t all that close because Tim was absolutely intimidated by her & her background and like, in general seemed to just find her kinda off-putting:

(Robin (1993) #73)

However Tim eventually gets over himself & after working side-by-side with her a little bit realizes he shouldn't let being intimidated by her stop them from being friends and working together:

(Batgirl (2000) #18)

After this point they work together on several occasions, definitely communicating much better than in their initial appearances together and clearly getting along well. They're a fun lil duo:

(Superman/Batman Vol. 1 #5, Superboy Vol. 4 #85)

Then… after a while, War Games happens. Gotham goes to shit, Steph dies (well, we nowadays know she didn't really, but they sure were both grieving) and so they both independently move to Blüdhaven, which leads us to the Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood crossover. Which has some fun little moments with them:

(Batgirl (2000) #58)

As well as some on the more tense side, as they both navigate mourning Steph and the clashes in their ideologies/approaches to hero work—the fact that Cass wants to be & be like Batman, and the fact that Tim absolutely does not:

(Batgirl (2000) #59)

After the crossover they mostly do their own thing staying out of each other's ways in Blüdhaven—though they do get another little story together in this timeframe in Batman Allies: Secret Files & Origins that sort of rehashes the above conflict during some training together & a team-up.

And we DO also get the cute (and oft-mentioned by the fandom) moment where Tim mentions she frequently breaks into his house to shower & steal rice krispies (just for clarity sake, while fandom almost exclusively calls her 'Cass' largely to avoid confusion with Cassandra 'Cassie' Sandsmark, within the comics themselves both Cassandras get called 'Cass' and 'Cassie' at various points—considering Cass is the one who lives in the same city as Tim at this point in canon, that's definitely who he's talking about here)

(Robin (1993) #138)

So like, at this point they are absolutely comfortable with one another and pretty close, but just, they don't see eye-to-eye on everything so it's not some flawless friendship (and I say friendship specifically because at this point we're still a few years out from them actually becoming siblings). But it's absolutely an interesting dynamic!

Then… after Infinite Crisis we get to the One Year Later/OYL era which is... bad for Cass. Terrible horrible character assassination we all refer to as the 'Evil Cass arc' which began in Tim's book. I don't wanna pull panels from it because it's just... it's bad!!!!!!!!!!!! There's a reason it got retconned into Cass having been brainwashed—because it was bad.

I guess the only thing worth bringing up here in relation to Tim & Cass's relationship though (because as mentioned, Cass gets retconned into it having been brainwashing so anything from her in this era is irrelevant/moot) is the fact that Tim was obviously very upset about the whole situation because Cass is someone he cares about and he even says he considers family.

To fast forward through that mess, when we get to the end of it and the 'oh it was brainwashing haha!' retcon, Tim was the one to have on hand a counter-serum that could free her from Deathstroke's control:

(Teen Titans Vol. 3 #44)

Once Cass is no longer forced to be evil and ooc, she gets a little mini at the end of which Bruce formally offers to adopt her (and Tim, who had earlier been adopted by Bruce, is present for this—so from this point on they go from a more general 'we're like family' to actually 'we are adopted siblings').

Buuuut then Final Crisis & Battle for the Cowl both occur and Cass gets extremely pushed aside by DC, giving up the Batgirl mantle to Steph and heading off to Hong Kong.

At which point we find out that Tim & Cass have actually kept in contact (just... off-panel) during this time when she's been out of Gotham and he's been off doing all sorts of stuff:

(Red Robin #17)

When they see each other in person again, Tim urges her to be a Bat again. Maybe not Batgirl if that's not what she wants, but to wear the symbol and be part of the family. (Which she does take him up on, keeping the suit he brought her and becoming Black Bat).

She pops up again at the end of Red Robin to save Tim & also help him pull off a fake assassination attempt on himself—ya know standard stuff.

And then right before the reboot we get to see them working alongside Damian and Dick in Gates of Gotham, and see one final time that yeah—these two have kept in touch after everything, and are definitely far more on one another's wavelength nowadays than they were back in the 'fresh out of War Games' era:

(Batman: Gates of Gotham #2, #5)

So like, does fanon over exaggerate them and their relationship? Aaaaabsolutely—that’s what fanon does. But they did definitely become close after everything they went through and had a fun dynamic together!

Sadly though, as I mentioned at the start of the post, the n52 wiped everything back to a clean slate. And while nowadays post-Infinite Frontier everyone’s histories have been restored their dynamic has never really been the same again.

#sam explains

[gerryrigged]

For the wip ask game, could you say more about the DickTim reverse robin AU? 👀

Ahhh, I love that one, but it has several backstory/set-up arcs before the romance can even kick off hghkkldjfs THE STRUGGLES

OKAY SO. This is a story about a young Dick being in love with a years-older Tim from childhood, reversing their usual ship dynamic. Most of what I have so far is concerning their backstories, when Dick is still quite young (5-10-ish), so it's more of a puppy love at that point, while Tim sees him as a child.

Overview of the first arc below the cut.

First off, 12-year-old Tim is newly training to be Shrike (the hero identity Damian Wayne abandoned (or Batman took away from him; opinions differ) after he and Bruce had a serious falling out). As part of that training, he's sent to learn from various experts in physical and crime-fighting arts, much as Bruce did when he first left Gotham, or as Tim was meant to on his first Paris trip in canon.

So Tim ends up training in acrobatics for a month with the famous Flying Graysons, whom he has long admired - along with their 5-year-old wunderkind son, Dickie. Who absolutely adores Tim, following him around everywhere, showing off his own (legitimately incredible) skills, sweetly promising to 'teach Timmy everything he knows' and insisting on flying with Tim on the trapeze at every opportunity. Tim fully dotes on him, and Dick just blooms like a little flower whenever he has the older boy's attention.

When Tim isn't training (or catering to Dick's adorably bossy whims), he's often taking pictures with the beloved camera he couldn't bring himself to leave at home. And the circus provides such a vivid panorama to capture - something new every moment!

Once, however, he unknowingly photographs something dangerous, and when someone is sent to steal the evidence (ie Tim's camera), Dickie walks in on the attempted theft. He starts to shout, but is immediately grabbed and a hand clamped over his mouth. Dickie struggles harder, kicking and screaming even with his mouth closed, so the man shushing him grips even tighter, his big hand covering the whole of Dickie's tiny mouth and nose.

Dickie soon starts to suffocate.

Until Tim bursts in, fast and furious. Dick, still thrashing weakly but fading fast, sees Tim run up and do a flying kick to take down the other thug on the scene. He hears Tim yell out for him, just as his eyes roll up and he loses consciousness.

Tim ends up having to perform CPR - luckily, learning first aid, including forms of CPR for all ages, was one of the first things Bruce set him to learning.

Dickie wakes up with Tim breathing life into him, while John and Mary also kneel close by, frantic, with various circus folk pacing on phones to 9-1-1 or kicking the tied-up thugs in the background.

Dickie stares up at Tim, the fuzzy white static of oxygen deprivation painting a halo all around him in Dickie's vision. His knight in shining armor!!! His HERO!!!!!!

(Meanwhile, Tim is trying not to break down crying or hug Dickie so tight in relief that he has trouble breathing again.)

The Graysons REALLY adopt Tim after that. The whole circus does.

("I'm gonna marry Timmy!" Dickie insists after they get home from the hospital. He's suckered Tim onto his bed with him with tearful eyes (Tim really didn't need much prodding to come and cuddle him immediately) and is glommed onto Tim's waist, clinging. "Just you watch." Mary teases (somewhat emotionally) that Tim already stole Dickie's first kiss, so of course he has to make an honest boy of him. Then Tim can be a Grayson 'officially' - hurray, she's so happy!)

(Tim can't stop smiling, so he hides it by pressing his lips to Dickie's hair.)

Tim keeps in contact with Mary, John, and especially Dick after he has to leave. Video calls, texts, postcards, the works. And he makes time to fly out whenever Haly's is traveling the eastern seaboard - to visit, cheer on their performances, spend time playing around with Dickie all over the circus and on the trapeze.

He's family.

("He's my fiance," Dickie corrects. "I thought you said he was your older brother?" one of the clowns asks, tapping his nose teasingly. "Same thing," Dickie sniffs, batting him away.)

So of course 8-year-old Dick notices immediately when Tim stops returning his texts. And his emails. And answering his phone - until his voicemail fills all the way up from Dickie's frantic calls.

It takes them a while to track down Tim's obituary, and the write-up of his funeral, in the Gotham Gazette. Tim had been so private about the people in his life away from the circus, so they hadn't had anyone else to call and ask, and limited resources to put into the search from their tour on the other side of the continent.

When they find out, Dick sinks to the floor and curls into a ball, a silent little pillbug of lost, confused grief. Mary scoops him up and wraps herself around him, and John wraps himself around Mary. They rock, and they soak each other's skin with tears, until Dick's heart cracks open and a thin, wavering wail pours out. It never seems to stop.

He doesn't smile or speak for weeks.

#dicktim #asks #gerryrigged #gerry words #dc #dick will eventually end up with the waynes #and tim will eventually reappear like a knife sliding into gotham's meaty heart #and EVENTUALLY their romance can start once dick is not a literal child hghkldjfks

[albatmobile]

Cardinal Sins Chapter 1

𓅪 Living with your vigilante boyfriends for the past year has been amazing, well, almost. Butting heads, old wounds resurfacing and a deadly threat still looming overhead could threaten the sanctity of everything you've ever fought for. Will you finally overcome your tainted past and survive the trials and tribulations, or will your relationships and your faith crumble under the pressure?

Rated: M | 6.5k fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist] Previous in Series: Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds

Chapter One: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

It’s only been mere hours since Bruce had handed you three sets of keys.

You’d met him in the lobby of your current place after you got a random text that he was in the neighborhood. 

“The keys activate the elevator,” He dangled a set of gold keys in front of you before handing the rest over. “These act as keys to your new place.”

“Mine?” You questioned with a raised brow. 

Time’s really flown. 

You, Roy and Jason had been dating for a year now and your lease at your old apartment was coming to an end next week.

He smiled, patting you on the shoulder, “The lease is in your name.”

“That’s too much!” You shook your head, making to give back the keys but he refused the action with a chuckle. 

“You’re practically one of my own.” Your heart thrummed in disbelief. “It’s the least I can do, seeing as I own the place and all.” You didn’t know why, but you though you saw a twinge of pride in his eyes. “Alfred’s cooking a Sunday roast for the family,” He opened the lobby door and began to walk backward out of the building, facing you all the while. “The four of you should stop by the manor once you get settled in. The movers should already have new furniture all set up, so it’s just a matter of unpacking.”

Ever since freshman year of high school, you’d found your life intertwined with everyone who’s stepped foot in that manor.

Damian had taken you in as a stray within your first week at Gotham Academy. Soon so did Tim, your lockermate and Stephanie, his on-again off-again girlfriend. After that, you were over at the manor daily and spending the night nearly every night of the week. 

Jason had been unexpected, having quite literally crashed into your life. 

After him, Roy had been an easy addition; that is, as soon as you got through Jason’s prickly exterior. They were both three years older than you, but it hadn’t stopped you from chasing after them.

When Jason and Roy had disappeared before their graduation, you hadn’t realized you wouldn’t hear from them for another 5 years.

That’s right- it wasn’t until nearly two years ago that they finally reached out to reveal what had kept them from you for so long. Though, it hadn’t actually been that easy because, well, Jason and Roy are also Red Hood and Arsenal. 

You showed up at their apartment door to find Roy with a bionic arm and a kid and only much later did you figure out their secret identities. 

Soon after they reappeared in your life, your parents did as well. Them and a barrage of Gotham’s finest criminals, which ultimately ended in a dockyard fight with you and the entire Batfamily.

“Sounds good,” You’d waved him goodbye, smiling as he sauntered away with his Bruce Wayne persona. “Thank you for everything, Bruce!”

At his name, flocks of people turned around and began to pull out their phones. He’d turned around to shoot you an annoyed, yet obviously mirthful look at the fact that you’d started a media frenzy.

You stood there a moment longer, watching as he avoided questions with grace before disappearing into his flashy Lamborghini with a small wave back.

Now, here you are piled into a fancy elevator with Jason, Roy, Lian and a shit ton of boxes.

“Old man never gave me shit,” Jason grumbles as he turns the key in the penthouse slot. 

You were surprised by the generosity as well.

You’ve always considered Bruce a father figure ever since he stepped in to help you fight, well, your actual father. That dockyard battle for example??? Yeah, that shit had all been organized by your biological parents.

Ever since your conception, it had been planned that you would be Gotham’s reckoning. 

Your parents had created a trust fund for Gotham’s criminals to funnel money, meaning your death had been planned from the start. All the while, you were to be used as a lab rat for the Joker’s experiments, which were to then be used on the organization’s enemies.

Picture this: 15 years old, wearing a ballgown your mother had stolen to the Wayne Gala only to get beaten and injected by the Joker and his goons. Now, picture 20 years old, surrounded by your found family while your actual family tried to murder you for the 

Talk about trauma, right?

Lian giggles at Jason’s curse, leaving Roy to glare in the raven’s direction. “Oh, so the safehouses he paid for don’t count now, Jay?” Jason merely glares at him in response, undoubtedly saving Lian’s ears from any further cursing.

Recently, Lian’s taken to repeating everything. Literally everything.

From the weather report, to Titus’ barks, to curses and anything and everything she hears from her superhero cartoons, she repeats it all.

You can’t help but feel stuck on what Bruce said when he’d handed you the keys.

“He said I was ‘practically one of his own,’” Your eyebrows furrow in confusion, looking to Jason for an answer. 

“Told you,” Roy mutters under his breath, seemingly to no one and everyone at the same time. 

Ever since your biological family had given you up, you’d felt misplaced and unwanted.

Yes, you had Jason, Roy and Lian, but you wanted a parental figure, something you’d never had. Part of you was starting to feel like Bruce was that, but you could never be too sure. The man kept his cards close and his emotions closer- practically the paragon of a closed book.

“I do, you know,” You trail off self-consciously, rubbing at your forearm for comfort, “view him as a father figure.” You’re not sure who chokes first, but both of them immediately begin coughing. “I mean, like, in the least weirdest way possible!” You attempt to rectify your statement, but it’s too late. Your cards are on the table. 

You see, while Jason isn’t biologically related to Bruce and neither are you, you both see him as a father, which does tend to make things… odd.

“Well,” He drawls, “that didn’t sound grammatically correct in the slightest.” 

Of course he’d deflect.

You let out an annoyed sigh, “Fuck you.” 

So, the honeymoon period is definitely a thing.

For real.

Not that it wasn’t currently still going on, nor do you doubt the feeling will ever truly wane with two men like Jason and Roy. All you’re saying is that cracks in the relationship and points of contention have been becoming more obvious. You tell yourself that it’s only natural this happens, though you’re not entirely sure since this is your first long-term relationship.

One point of contention being: Jason dodging any and every serious conversation. 

Example: right now.

Even Roy, who seems to rely on humor to get out of tough situations can sit down and talk it through. Jason, on the other hand? He needs a lot of coaxing and it’s not the way you roll.

“Hey,” Roy rubs your shoulder with his bionic arm before the two of you can start squabbling. “We’re just glad you have family and to be your family. Technicalities and all,” He gives your shoulder a light squeeze as the elevator comes to a halt.

The doors open to reveal a penthouse not even Damian could dream of.

“Holy shi-,” Jason’s elbow to the chest prevents Roy from finishing the curse, though Lian already has it memorized.

“Oh, shit!” She squeals as she breaks into a run. She manages to dodge Jason and Roy’s attempts to collect her and calm her down by squirming and ducking under all the new, read: expensive, furniture. 

“Looks like the latest edition of Architectural Digest in here,” You whistle lowly as you take in the expansive room with wall-to-floor windows. 

Roy’s too busy following after Lian, grabbing falling lamps and vases that she’s run into to respond.

Jason still seems stuck on your irritation in the elevator, but, as usual, he says nothing. All you want is validation from him that you belong in his family, yet he refuses to give it to you and you can’t pinpoint why.

“Since when have you read that shit?”

You know moving’s hard, so you take it easy on him. 

For now.

“It’s called manifestation, whore.”

It’s at this exact moment, of course, that Lian sprints into the main living room with an attached kitchen and dining room.

“S’called manifestation, roar!” Lian screeches with a devilish smile.

“Oh, thank fuck she heard that wrong,” Roy hurriedly runs past you and Jason who are still stationed in the entryway.

“Oh, thank fuck!” She maniacally giggles as she crawls out from under the couch and makes her way back over toward you and her daddy.

As she’s passing, you reach down, catching Lian in your arms. She attempts to keep running even in your strong grasp but eventually tires out like a wind-up toy reaching the end of its winding.

Eventually, she settles down for a nap in her new lily pad styled bed. The whole room looked straight out of Princess and the Frog with dreamy shades of green, purple, pink and blue scattered throughout.

Tiny pixie lights were strung up and cascaded their twinkling glow down the walls.

While she’s conked out, you, Jason and Roy set to work on unpacking the few boxes you’ve brought. It doesn’t even take two hours, but it’s enough to leave you exhausted.

You plop down to your new sectional with a tired huff.

Jason and Roy are in the same boat.

Jason groans as soon as his body hits the couch, “God, I can’t wait to not fucking do anything.” He closes his eyes and rubs at the bridge between them, “We’re going to stay on this couch and order pizza.”

“Pizza,” Roy tiredly agrees from next to you. “Definitely pizza.”

“I forgot to mention,” You clear your throat, catching both of your boyfriend’s attention as you do. “We’ve got dinner at the manor.”

•••

When you get to the manor, everyone’s already mulling about, laughing as they help Alfred set the table.

Once you’ve greeted everyone and handed Lian off to Dick and Wally, everyone helps themselves to a plate from the kitchen and takes a seat.

It’s truly a full house with your family of four and Bruce and Alfred, of course. Dick brought along his fiancé Wally, while Damian seemed to have a similar idea as Jon is also milling about in the kitchen. Barbra’s here, but what you can’t figure out is why Tim and Stephanie seem to have both brought Conner Kent to dinner.

You vaguely remember him from the college party all those years ago, but since when had either of them been that close to Connor? As far as you’d heard, Tim and Stephanie had been official ever since the dockyard battle, soooo what the fuck is Kent doing at Sunday dinner?

Everyone seems to be thinking the same thing, but with him being a half-blooded Kryptonian and all, no one raises the question. 

“You wanna talk embarrassing?” Dick scoffs, “Wally, over here, decided last Hanukkah,” Wally groans, shaking his head in his hand, “that it’d be a good idea to do a ‘Secret Santa’ for it.”

“Dick, dude, do you even know the definition of embarrassing?” Roy goes into a whole reenactment of the coffee shop debacle, back before you knew about them being heroes. By the time Roy gets to the main part of the story, nearly everyone’s in tears, “And then she smashed a toilet lid over his head, swear,” Roy has to catch his breath, “funniest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. Jay went down like a ton of bricks and the whole time I had to stay in character.”

Where Dick, Babs and Steph are doubled over laughing, Jason looks like he’s already planning where to hide your other boyfriend’s body.

Damian ‘tchs,’ “Pathetic, Todd. You allowed an untrained girl to disarm you so easily?”

“You,” Jason brushes him off easily, “you, I don’t want to hear from.”

“Refusing to hear the truth?” Damian scoffs. “Even more pathetic than I thought.”

Connor looks around the room, gauging everyone else’s reactions, though everyone’s already used to their constant bickering.

“No one likes you, pipsqueak,” Jason sneers like the true older brother he is.

“I like him,” Jon pipes up, smiling sheepishly when Jason’s heavy glare falls upon him from across the table. “But, you are being a bit over the top, Dami. You should apologize.”

You’re pretty sure, no, you know it’s Dick who ‘coos' at their interaction and you can’t help but agree.

Jason’s glare drops as he, instead, nods approvingly Jon’s way.

Throughout your friendship, you and Damian had been in a tangled web of miscommunications, hormones, and wrong-doings. Once Jason and Roy came back for good, you knew you and Damian were meant to remain as friends. 

Damian and Jon, though? They’re definitely made for each other.

Damian, honest to god, pouts at his boyfriend before turning back to sneer at yours.

“Todd,” His voice rumbles lowly.

“Brat?” Jason’s smirking now.

Damian mutters some unkind words under his breath he’s lucky Alfred’s too old to hear before continuing, “I apologize. It appears I’ve taken things too far, though your skills still are very much questionable to me.”

Jason huffs, “Whatever.”

Tim waits a moment for the chatter that follows to die down a bit before he brings up what everyone’s been dancing around.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors that, uh,” Tim shoots an uncomfortable look at you and Jason, “Joker’s back. A few of my sources say if he hasn’t broken out already, he will soon.”

You watch as Jason’s fists clench under the table, noting how Roy’s hand immediately chases after to soothe it.

Dick shakes his head, “He’s as good as locked up. Bruce, Damian and I checked out Arkham last week. He hasn’t moved since they put him in there after his Thanksgiving bombing.”

Tim still seems unconvinced, “He’s still making moves, then.”

“Do you want him to escape, Tim?” Jason sneers, “Because that’s what it’s sounding like.”

Connor bristles, though Stephanie’s gentle hand on his shoulder has him backing down immediately. Your brow raises, thinking back to Roy’s similar gesture with Jason just moments ago. Are Stephanie and Tim back on?

Jon looks as completely bewildered as Conner does as they observe the Batfamily semantics.

Wally and Roy look like they want to step in but, ultimately, don’t want to get involved in family drama.

For Barbra and Stephanie, this is just another Sunday.

“Master Jason,” Alfred’s wise timbre stirs from the end of the table not occupied by Bruce, “Master Damian. Is it too much to ask for just one civil dinner?”

“Sorry, Alfred,” They both grumble in unison. 

Soon, everyone begins catching up once again.

Alfred cuts Lian’s roast for her at the same time Roy cuts her potatoes, Jon keeps leaning over to whisper things to Damian that draw a small smile. Dick, Wally and Roy reminisce about the Titans, eventually going over their wedding plans with Barbra and Stephanie’s excited input, while Tim and Jon argue horror movies with Jason and Connor.

And there Bruce sits; all the way at the end, hands clasped watching it all.

Your stomach is warm, filled with the inexplicable feeling of love in the room.

You listen in on it all with a huge grin that’s been present on your face ever since you arrived. You go to drink your water when, suddenly, your hand falters.

One moment, you’re there in Wayne Manor at the dinner table with your family and now you’re….

You look around, watching as groups of men swarm a truck. A group of two men present you with a box, which, when opened, reveals a stem. 

You blink.

Suddenly, you see people in some kind of uniform running all around you. When you look to the right of you, you want to stumble back, but your body only continues to run.

Joker?

You must’ve been out of it for a while because, when you come to, you’re left with 13 pairs of concerned eyes on you.

“Uh,” Stephanie chucks a potato from her fork from across the table at you. “Are you having a ‘That’s So Raven’ moment, or are you and the dickwad’s using a remote-controlled vibrator?” You shake your head, mind still clearly picturing what you’d just seen. Stephanie’s words, however, go unnoticed. Suddenly, you hear her saying your name, “You good?”

You blink.

You’re back in the manor, back at the dinner table, but your mind is clearly elsewhere.

“What?” You ask, looking around the table at everyone’s concerned faces.

Jason’s brows are furrowed in a silent question of ‘are you okay,’ while Roy’s hand rubs gently at your back. 

Are you okay?

You clear your throat and force a smile you know won’t pass in a room full of detectives, but, hey, what can you do?

The last time you had a vision that intense had been…

Your brain screams with a sting of sharp pain that leaves you clutching the tablecloth for relief. 

In the dockyard, Joker had injected you with two syringes. Immediately following the initial toxin, you’d been met with a vision right as the Joker made his escape in the helicopter. Though you’ve tried hard to remember what you’d seen in the past year, for some reason it had never been clear until now.

Joker’s hands, the glaring lights of the city below, the scrawny man beside him…

“Yeah,” You clear your throat again as you force another smile. “Acid reflux,” You shrug to solidify your false excuse. 

The table’s conversation slowly stirs again, though Jason and Roy’s eyes never leave the side of your face. You’re not ready to meet their eye contact, knowing you won’t be able to meet their concern.

“So,” Bruce begins, “I’ve heard you’ve been somewhat involved in their operations for some time now. Have you thought about what your future involvement may look like?”

“What do you mean?”

He takes a coy sip of water, “I mean, are you content with staying behind the screens? Or, is there a plan to eventually join them in the field?”

Point of contention #2: neither of your boyfriends ever wanted you involved in any confrontation.

Sure, behind the screens as ‘their own personal Oracle,’ as they called you was fine. Anything else? 

Nope. No. Nada. 

They wouldn’t have it.

Total double standard, but they’re too fogged in their love for you to care.

“Says the man who threw three kids into the field before they’d hit puberty.”

“Believe me,” Bruce says tonelessly, “you’d hit puberty, Jason.”

“Old enough to see through the bullshit, maybe,” Jason snaps back easily. “Dick was fucking 8, Bruce. Damian, 10. You don’t care about the logistics, let alone the safety. I do,” He glares at his father, “and I don’t want my family getting hurt.”

“Jay,” Dick frowns, making to put his hand on Jason’s for across the table, but Jason easily retracts his hand. “I love you and appreciate you, really, I do,” He puts his hand over his heart, “but I don’t need you to stick up for me. We’re all working on our issues; it takes time but I know we’ll all eventually get there.”

Damian seethes quietly across from you, though you know it’s in defense of his father.

“Get there eventually?” Jason snorts, throwing out his hands dramatically. “I’m sitting here, a few years off of 30 and still fucking going through it. You think she needs to go through this contention too?”

“She,” You start with purpose, “is not a child,” You reference his earlier rebuttal, “and she can stick up for myself! Uh, I mean, herself.” You shake your head in annoyance before starting over. “I’m a grown woman and I appreciate you wanting to look out for me, but that’s so hypocritical when you’re both going out every other night to do the very thing you don’t want me doing; isn’t it?”

It’s deadass quiet.

Like, you’ve never heard the manor so quiet with this many family members in it.

“Speaking for me,” Barbra’s sweet voice stirs slowly as if she’s picking and choosing her words carefully. “I went from Batgirl to Oracle, not the other way around like you.” You nod, interested in where she’s going with this. “Being Oracle has made me so much more aware of everything, regardless of physical training, being Oracle comes with its own set of skills none of you possess and that gives her an edge.” Your heart swells. “We’ve all seen her on the battlefield and seen how she can handle her own under pressure.”

“You’re a strong woman,” Stephanie concurs, saying your name as she does so. 

“At the end of the day,” Roy finally speaks up from beside you. “What you’re all saying is true and we can’t stop her. It’s her decision and we’ll support her either way.”

An actual end to the contention?

Your head snaps over to catch Jason’s reaction, but he’s glaring at the painting behind Tim’s head, “I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes.” His teeth aren’t necessarily gritted, though it sure sounds like it.

No one speaks, there’s only the clinking of forks and Alfred’s low humming to occupy the large dining room.

“Well,” Bruce’s domineering voice suddenly captures the attention of everyone at the table in an instant, “if you’re going to be going on missions, you’ll need to have a suit.” 

He gives you a pointed look that you can’t help but smile at.

“I,” You trail off, looking down at the mahogany dining table. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” 

“I’ve got that part covered,” His smile is warm, however small it may be. “You’ve got an appointment with the new co-chair of the R&D department. Right, Damian.”

Damian glares from a few seats over, correcting his father, “Head.” No matter how old he gets, he never outgrows his signature scowl. 

Bruce smiles lightly, “Of course.” Though his correction is largely ignored by his youngest son.

“Tomorrow, 10 o’clock sharp,” Damian’s eyes narrow your way. “Don’t be late.”

•••

You arrive at 9:55 in the morning out of nerves and sheer excitement.

Jon’s already there to greet you with another man you’ve seen around at a few Chrismukkahs at the Manor. The raven is quick to explain that Damian got caught up in a meeting and introduces you to the gentleman in the suit.

“Meet Luke Fox,” Jon stands a few inches taller than the darker gentleman in front of you, but he’s still quite a bit taller than you. “He co-chairs the department alongside Damian.”

The man in front of you offers a smooth smile and a firm handshake to match. “I know I’ve seen you at parties, but I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced.”

You nod, “Definitely nice to finally put a name to the face.”

He then gives you a tour of the entire floor dedicated to R&D, though you haven’t been able to get one thing off your mind.

Luke seems to sense your staring and turns around to smirk, “What?”

“You said co-chair,” He nods politely, meanwhile, Jon seems to know exactly where your line of questioning is going. “Why is Damian the head?”

“Have you met the kid?” You and Jon both snort. He flashes his badge at a scanner on the wall before dragging the two of you through another long hallway. “My dad, Lucius Fox headed this department for decades before he was finally made CEO about three years ago.” 

Suddenly, Jon cuts him off as a loud gust of sound affronts your ears.

“Woah!” Jon grabs your hand and pulls you over to one of the windows in the hallway. It looks into a lab where someone’s using a flamethrower to torch a small piece of odd-looking metal. 

“This is the innovation section of the floor,” Luke explains. “Right now, they’re testing on something called Nth Metal.”

“Neat,” Jon nods, sufficiently satisfied with his answer and finally allows your group to move along.

You fall back into step with Luke and Jon.

“So, when did you start at R&D?” 

He scratches at the back of his head, “Probably around that same time.” His laugh is as charming as his professional disposition. “Damian and I seem to know what the other doesn’t, so it’s been good to have him around.” He leans in like he’s telling you a secret, “Well, that and I get paid more, but he doesn’t need to know that.” You smile easily, failing to hide your snort. It’s something Jon catches immediately and quirks a brow at, but Luke continues on like nothing happened. “Co-chair just means I can spend less time leading and more time nerding out.”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was a Wayne heir right alongside Damian. Hell, you know Luke’s probably 10x more professional compared to Damian’s order-barking leadership style. With what Luke said, though, it seems like they’re a pretty functional team.

“Trust me, Luke,” Jon sidles up beside you like a coy cat. “This one knows all about nerding out.”

“Shut up,” You stare at him with an admonishing glare. He merely rolls his eyes, snickering all the while. “Besides, you know this is the nerdiest thing I’ve done in a while.”

Regardless of your previous warning, Jon takes it upon himself to catch Luke up on the past, oh, six years of your life? Well, as long as he’s known you for, that is, so Sophomore year and beyond.

You’re all rounding the corner to come face-to-face with a giant vaulted door, but Luke seems to move swiftly past it.

Too swiftly.

Your eyes narrow slightly, tuning out Jon’s excited chatter to catch every detail you can. 

There’s a giant red ‘ACCESS LEVEL: 84T BADGE ONLY. TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED,’ sign that takes up a majority of the door, but there’s a smaller print beneath it.

You quickly glance ahead. Luke and Jon are still just in front of you, but you’re clearly lagging. You shoot one more glance at their retreating forms before taking a look at the fine print.

‘All Rights Reserved Clean Energy Project, LLC.’

You shake your head, confused, but Luke seems content to get as far away from the door as possible.

“Ah,” Luke says a little too smoothly for someone who just rushed past a super-secret vault, “here we are.”

He inputs a lengthy code, then scans his retina before the door finally budges to reveal the impressive space.

The design room is huge, yet somehow, there’s not an inch of free space.

Mannequins and large rolls of fabric take up a majority of the space with the rest taken up by drawing boards and fancy-looking sewing machines.

“Not gonna lie,” Jon nudges you as he guides you further into the room, “Luke and I have kind of taken on this project by the horns, so I wanted to be here when you went over design ideas!” You look down at the table and begin shuffling through Damian’s sketches. He laughs when you shoot him a teasing brow, “No, I did not sketch those. You’ll never let me live down my drunken art skills from Damian’s penthouse party, will you?”

You snort, “It was so fucking bad, Jon.”

“Fuck off,” He bumps into you playfully. “Oh, wait! Go back a page.” You easily comply. “Okay, the body of this sketch,” He trails off as he searches through the pile. Luke easily hands him a sketch that compliments the previous pick, “Oh, for sure with these ears.” 

“So, you haven’t entirely figured out the final design yet?”

“Of course not!” Jon says at the same time Luke speaks up.

“Wouldn’t really be your suit if you didn’t actually have a say.” 

You can’t argue with that logic.

With that, you peer over their shoulders at their mismatched collage, realizing that you don’t have any critiques. “Well, I like what the two of you have done so far, but what about functionality?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Luke nods, stepping back from the table pensively. “What weapons would you be comfortable with?”

You think back to Jason’s advice. The one that’s rung clear in your head from the moment he’d said it.

“Nothing that I wouldn’t want used against me.”

Jon shoots Luke an inquisitive brow as if to ask if he has any ideas.

“I think we can work with that,” He says before he begins on a rough sketch. It’s obvious to you now that Damian was the most likely culprit behind the original drawings on the table.

For the next few minutes, you and Jon both chime in with ideas as Luke switches between erasing and drawing.

When he’s finished, Jon nods excitedly. Once you give the thumbs up, Jon uses his quickly arranges the final look.

“Okay,” He sets down the last paper with a wide grin. “What about this?”

“Honestly,” You squint down at the selection but are, ultimately, unable to put it all together, “Damian probably needs to sketch it out for me to fully see it.”

Before you can even finish your sentence, Damian’s signature deadpan scowl graces your line of sight.

“I heard my name,” Damian makes his dramatic entrance, sidling up beside the two of you. Jon ruins the entrance, however, by giving him a sweet peck on the lips that sends Damian into a brief state of shock. He blushes, obviously startled by the action and clears his throat and greets you both by your last names to cover it up. “Glad to see you’re still punctual.” 

“Glad to see you’re still not,” You tease easily.

He ignores you in favor of flipping through the selected pages, “Oh, good. You’ve both shown her the sketches.”

Jon nods excitedly and begins explaining the new design. You watch in amusement as they work together seamlessly to transfer the three of your ideas to paper via Damian’s hand. 

After another hour of planning, you hold the final design in your hands.

Damian clears his throat, catching your attention. “I’ve been preoccupied with some other cases recently, but I wanted to get back into what happened last year.” You nod, feeling very much in the same boat. Jason and Roy seem eager to put it in the past, but you have the gnawing feeling no matter how much they try to bury it, the situation will resuscitate regardless. “Deadshot’s a good place to start. He might have a good lead that you can follow.”

Deadshot.

The same man who’d been sent to kill you not even a year ago.

“Great,” You trail off. Meanwhile, Damian seems like he’s biting his tongue. “What?”

He sighs, looking over at you with his hazel eyes for the first time since he’d greeted you. “You don’t have to do this, you know? It’s not fun and games being a hero; people die. Heroes die every day. That’s what you’re getting into when you put on the suit.” He’s staring deep into your soul, stealing your breath as he does so, “This isn’t a comic. There is no next page, there is no second run and there is no do-over. This is real life,” Your name is barely a whisper. “You already came so close last time…” He trails off, “Just be sure this is what you really want.”

Before you can open your mouth to defend yourself, Jon butts in.

“I just got my powers. I’ve been going out almost every night on patrol and I’ve never once heard this talk from you, so why are you giving it to her?” It’s not a jealousy thing, but rather Jon pointing out his hypocrisy. “You think that just because I’m half Kryptonian doesn’t mean all of that doesn’t apply to me too?”

You nod appreciatively in Jon’s direction as Damian takes in his words.

“I,” Damian trails off again, looking at Jon for confirmation on what to do next before finally giving in, “apologize.” He briefly meets your eyes, then looks back at the design. “Do you have any questions?”

You smile lightly, accepting his apology easily. Luke, however, appears dumbfounded by words he’s obviously never heard from the Wayne heir. “How long do you think it’ll take?”

Damian speaks up, “You’ll have it sent to your new apartment before your next mission, trust me.” He scans your face up and down, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

If he means the suit, or the hero life, you don’t know. 

What you do know is that you’re ready for it all.

You look it over for a moment before facing them, “Does it come in red?”

•••

You want that lead.

You text in your group chat with Jason and Roy about Deadshot as soon as you get out of Wayne Tower.

Jason responds instantly, ‘Meet us at the park.’

The park wasn’t an unusual place to meet. 

You try to go on walks and let Lian run around the playground there every day if you can, seeing as it’s just a block away from the old apartment. Now, it’s a bit more of a trek to get to, but it’s well worth it.

When you arrive, you’re expecting to see Jason, Roy and Lian.

You’re definitely not expecting to see Deadshot.   

You don’t see Jason or Roy anywhere, so you immediately take up a defensive stance.

“Still got that spark, eh, kid?” He smiles placatingly at you and steps aside to reveal Red Hood and Arsenal sitting peacefully on the bench. “Not here to kill you this time, beautiful.”

“Watch it,” Red Hood’s robotic tone warbles from behind as he stands up. 

Deadshot’s hands immediately surrender, though he’s wearing an obvious smirk. “Can’t hate the player.”

“I can,” Red Hood threatens lowly.

The heart-stopping click of a gun’s safety being turned off is enough to wipe the smirk from Lawton’s face. “Now, now. Let’s play nice.” He tilts his head off to the right where, off in the distance, you notice a security guard. “Wouldn’t want anyone stepping in on our fun, now would we?”

It’s a thinly veiled threat and you know it.

Luckily, Arsenal steps in calmly. “We’re just here for information.”

Deadshot scoffs in amusement, crossing his muscular arms, “Didn’t think to wine a dine a gent? Just went straight to threatening?” He sighs dramatically. “What’s this profession coming to?”

“Listen,” You speak up. Everyone seems startled you’ve spoken, so you take their moment of surprise to get what you came here to get. “We need to know who hired you.”

The evening was coming on with the sun nearly being set as you all stood there in the desolate park. 

Tiny songbirds spouted out as they settled into their homes for the evening while a chorus of crickets chirped a cacophonous background melody.

“You’re cute,” He starts, regaining his smirk as he continues, “but we both know you’re not that naïve.” He chuckles, stepping away from Hood and Arsenal to come closer to you. 

Immediately, your boyfriends flock to your side, but Deadshot pays them no mind. He backs you against a tree, putting a hand right beside your head to trap you. “What’s your game?” You ask before your partners can intervene.

“Well, ring-a-ding-ding,” He drawls with a slight purr. “That’s what I’m looking for now, right?” He smiles at you like he knows he’s about to get whatever he wants. “An exchange is only fair in this business, right, gorgeous?”

He makes to tuck a stray piece of your hair behind your ear, but you smack his hand away before he can even get close.

“I know about Task Force X,” It’s your turn to smirk. “Now, talk.”

His face instantly drops and his voice deepens, “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, little girl.”

You don’t dare look over Deadshot’s shoulder where Arsenal’s undoubtedly holding Red Hood back from doing something stupid. No, instead you focus on the mercenary who’d been trying to kill you a year ago.

“I’m not a little girl,” You put all your power into pushing him away from you. He stumbles backward, nearly tripping over the bench they’d originally met on in the process, “and I do know what the FUCK I’m talking about.” You come up on him and send him flipping over the bench anyway, advancing on his fallen form before he even has time to draw his guns. You straddle him, pinning his arms above his head as you knee him in the chin. “TALK!”

“You know,” He drawls, “even when you think you’re not giving me what I want,” Deadshot winks, “you’re still giving me exactly what I want.” As if to prove his point, he bucks his hips up. You know it’s an attempt to throw you off, but you hold steady and land another knee on him- this time his side, “Hgg!” He laughs through his pained grunt. 

“Information,” You knee his other side as you continue to straddle and pin him. “Now, Lawton.”

He scoffs, “You’re don’t get to call me that. Not unless you actually give me what I want, gorgeous.“ You continue to glare at him until he rolls his eyes and continues, “You do realize I’m letting you do this, right, doll?” 

You wring his wrists at the same time you knee his side with all your might, unleashing a yelp from the man.

“Yeah,” You twist his wrists tighter until his face twists up in pain, “that’s exactly what’s happening here. Besides,” You start with an airy tone, “I thought you said I was giving you exactly what you wanted.” You turn your head menacingly at him, “Now, which is it, Lawton?”

You give him your best intimidating look, which is apparently enough to finally break him. 

“Fine, fine,” He winces at your grip. “Black Mask hired me.”

You finally break eye contact with Deadshot to peer over at your partners You motion down with your head at him and they nod, so you release him.

When he stands, he rubs distastefully at his wrists.

“What did Sionis want with her?” Arsenal asks.

Deadshot sighs, “It was a two-parter. Protect the package, kill the girl.”

“What package?” Hood demands lowly.

“Dunno,” Deadshot shrugs disinterestedly. “They switched out hired guns halfway through.” He side-eyes you, “Picked up the damn thing from Gotham Botanical Gardens, but that’s all I have to offer. Merc’s honor,” He places a sarcastic hand over his heart, but you believe him.

Red Hood and Arsenal go over a few other things with him, but all you can think of is your vision.

You’d seen a rose and Deadshot’s lead was, well, leading you to a garden.

It couldn’t be a coincidence, right?

“Not that this hasn’t been fun catching up, but I have a girl at home waiting for me,” He snickers at your horrified look. “Don’t look so jealous, beautiful; it’s just my daughter. Anyway, au revior.” He gives a half salute before disappearing off into the night.

By now, the sun had completely set, though you weren’t itching to get home just yet.

You looked between Red Hood and Arsenal with your hands on your hips, noting they seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“We need a plan.”

A/N: my first sequel!! super excited to share this with you and to introduce the badass on the cover!!!

keep an eye out for the next chapter where more will be revealed! in the meantime let me know what you think!

[next]  ||  masterlist || pinned

#my fic: cardinal sins #reader x jason todd x roy harper #jason todd x reader #reader x roy harper #reader x jason todd #cover characters created by stais-world but would stronglyy caution against working w them #x reader

[mikeylivesattheend]

Hi, I love Red Hood, Dimension Travel & Time Travel fics. Here are a 5 I enjoy that aren't immediately showing up if you sort by kudos on A03, basically. Don't forget to look at the tags! A lot of these have dark/angsty themes.

___

The Passing There by Ginevra_Benci

Dimension Travel, incomplete, 15k

Jason Todd awoke one morning from troubled dreams and found himself transformed into a monstrous—

No. God, he wished.

Metamorphosis, he could have handled. An easy fix. Hell, magic insect transformation was practically an everyday occurrence, in Gotham.

Just… not in this Gotham.

***

Jason Todd awakes one morning in a Gotham that “doesn’t like chaos”, and finds his feet.

I love the writing style here, it's updating regularly, and the plot is interesting without being too complicated.

This is the only incomplete fic here btw.

PLUTO. by Orpheusaki

Dimension Travel, complete, 22k

"I kill so others don't have to," Bruce states firmly and clearly. This entire situation didn't seem like it could get any more bizarre, what with Bruce sitting in the dark and polishing guns, but somehow it just has, "While you are here you will not kill."

Jason's throat is scratchy and dry with terror, but the insatiable feeling of being talked over and disregarded is a fresh wound. He can't back down from this if he tried, "I've killed. I still kill. Who the fuck do you think you are to stop me?"

Bruce gently sets down his gun, and picks up the blade beside him with practised ease. Jason's blood runs cold when the man wearing his father's face says, "You will die by my hand if you try."

(Jason meets a version of Bruce who has manifested his fears very differently.)

Honestly if you haven't read any of Orpheusaki's fics you should- immediately. I love fics that explore Bruce killing, and the vibes are so so right here.

This author also has another AMAZING dimension travel fic but it's abandoned I think so I cannot rec it in good conscience, sorry 😭

ghosts by roseworth

Time Travel, complete, 5k

Steph startled as a kid in a bright Robin costume jumped onto the roof in front of them.

A Robin costume she had only seen inside a glass case. A mop of curls she had only seen in pictures.

This was fucking Jason Todd.

Shit.

-

(Robin!Steph and Bruce get sent back in time to when Jason was alive. Everyone has some realizations.)

Chef's kiss, Steph gets to see Jason & learn what he was like. Not super long, but it's great

Sisyphus by EventualToast

Time Travel, complete, 8k

"Jason Todd is, for the second time in his life, sixteen years old, mortally wounded and trapped in a coffin. And this time, he takes in all the details that scream it’s reality. In his memories, he can always see the white of the silk, feel the worms crawling through his skin, even though neither of those things were possible. Now, he’s in sterile darkness. He needs to get out of here."

Or Jason and Essence get stuck in an infinite timeloop.

I love love love fics that use Jason's All Caste backstory & the time travel is wonderful. I've reread this like 5 times ngl

Ad Infinitum; Modified by familiarities (twistsandturns)

Time Travel, complete, 9k

Tim is hunched over his computer, bouncing between a report for B (Batman, not Bruce) and a spreadsheet for B (Bruce, not Batman) when Jason stumbles into the cave. If it weren’t for the fact that Jason had been in a somewhat good mood lately, Tim probably would have been a little more concerned about this fact. Still, it’s weird when, instead of ignoring Tim’s existence like he usually does, Jason walks over to him directly and says, “I'm in a time loop and I don't know why. Fix it."

The outsider pov on a time loop is so well done, and I love seeing Jason change from afar

___

Uhh yeah that's it. I've read a lot more than these, but there are better rec lists to get those. These are just ones that tickle my brain. A lot of these authors are on Tumblr too, so thats neat.

#time travel #dimension travel #fic recs #red hood #batman #alternate universe #fanfic #jason todd #jason todd apologist #ik the formatting is shit #you came here no one can judge me #my post

[convolutings]

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again:

I LOVE THAT CHENFORD ARE TOGETHER! Since they’ve started their relationship their communication is peak romance and I will expect it from every other ship. They just care about each other so much and ughhhh last night I died at how much they were willing to sacrifice for each other to finally be together out in the open. We finally got to see Lucy talk about them to another person without any barriers.

but…

their getting together and the way they approached their relationship still doesn’t make any sense and it makes it difficult to appreciate their relationship as it is now.

There was no indication that they were ready to approach real feelings. Ashley and Chris were completely misused and did not bring any development to Tim and Lucy as individuals or as a couple. There has not even been a discussion about how they almost cheated on their SOs with each other. Where did Tim’s morals and Lucy’s trauma from having been cheated on before go?

As I said previously, Lucy has always been a talker to understand her emotions and we never even saw her process the feelings she had towards Tim let alone talk about them. Yet somehow the one person she talks to is a 20-year-old who she’s basically fostering and who she only opened up to because she got caught?

And Tim had so much to work through re: the power dynamics and Lucy wanting to be U.C. before asking her out that it feels rushed for the power balance to have been resolved in one episode and for U.C. to have not been mentioned at all. And also he suddenly goes from being her boss and thinking about seriously being with someone else, not even really thinking about the two of them at all beyond weird feelings about kissing her to being ready to jump head first into this serious relationship?

Their characters did a complete 180° in order to be together as solidly (and wonderfully) as they are now.

It feels lazy from the writers. As if they just wanted people to stop asking when they were going to get them together.

We’ve thought it was slow and we were ready bc we’ve been shipping it since TO/Rookie days and it’s been 5 seasons. But time progresses differently in the show and it wasn’t even until that dynamic changed that they could even think about it and it’s less than a year since then and they were both with other people for more than half of that time and Lucy was grieving (not that we saw that properly).

How could they go from all that miscommunication in 5A and two kisses undercover to talking so clearly with each other in 5B. Am I wrong in thinking that just bc it’s the right person doesnt mean it’s easy to change behavior? It’s not as realistic or genuine as people are saying it is. At least not to me.

Where was the development for Tim being willing to GIVE UP HIS JOB for her? (when he gave up being a Sergeant he was at least still a TO which he loved) When did Lucy become so confident in them? Where was her realizing she didnt have to be afraid of commitment with him? Even in 5x08 she was nervous about that. Where did wanting to take things slow just two episodes prior go? They development wasn’t there yet for the steps they’ve taken.

#the rookie #the rookie spoilers #chenford #tim bradford #lucy chen #tim x lucy #it’s probably always gonna bother me

[spider-jaysart]

Headcanons for my Batkids Young age au part 4:

Batkids ages:

Damian: 5 years old

Tim: 9 years old

Jason: 12 years old

Duke: 7 years old

Cassandra: 8 years old

Stephanie: 9 years old

Dick: 15 years old

Superkids ages:

Jon: 5 years old

Kon: 9 years old

Little Damian is easy to distract with the animal discovery channel since he loves it, due to his trait of being an animal lover, especially cartoon shows that have animals as characters in it, but if anyone tries to steal the living room remote and change the channel, he will get upset and give a really big tantrum until they change it back

Jon tried pretending to be a puppy one time after wondering what it was like for Krypto, so he would always be trying to make cute little fake barks, eating his food with his mouth instead of his hands or fork and spoon (though, Lois made sure to remind him about table manners), and he would also always be playing with Krypto outside in the backyard on his hands and feet too, running around all over the dirty ground like that, which would dirty him and his clothes up, giving Clark and Lois extra, unnecessary laundry to do. Though, thankfully for his parents after almost a month of this little act of his, Jon stopped doing it after deciding that he liked living like a human better

All of the Batkids always ask Dick for piggyback rides

When Kon had came over to meet baby Jon for the first time, he was a little jealous at first at the thought of a sibling taking over his place as the new child in the family but after finally meeting Jon, those bitter emotions left him and he instantly grew to love the little half Kryptonian. He also began to enjoy spending time with little Jon, enjoying their fun times together, he later on realized that maybe having a sibling instead of being an only child probably wasn't so bad after all

Damian likes to paint on Tim's face sometimes when he's asleep and hides once he wakes up, since he'll know that it was definitely him, since it's not the first time that he usually does this to his big brother

Duke has a favorite lion plushie that helps him feel safe whenever he's having a nightmare or can't sleep at night. Though, during a loud stormy night outside the Manor, Duke, after going downstairs with his plushie to go grab some of Alfred's delicious chocolate chip cookies, bumped into little Damian in the hallway upstairs. He could see that the boy that was usually a tough one, was slightly shaking and had a bit of an almost fearful expression on his face. Duke, who was curious, asked his little brother what he was doing walking around the halls so late, though, Damian, who didn't want to look like a coward, just replied saying that he was just looking for Titus since he had left the room. Duke knew he wasn't being honest though, since he had seen the puppy peacefully sound asleep in the boy wonders bedroom while passing by after coming upstairs and before he could say anything about it, a loud thunder struck outside, creating a loud sound, made Damian jump in front of Duke, revealing how scared he was feeling, so after seeing the reaction of his little brother, he asks him if he's scared of the thunderstorm that's going on, but Damian cuts him off, telling him that he is being ridiculous, since he isn't afraid of anything, which Duke knew wasn't really true at the moment. After a few seconds of Damian still trying to deny that he was actually scared while Duke was telling him that he obviously was, Damian jumped up in fear once again, due to another thunder strike that had happened at that very moment, so Duke, who can see that he was obviously scared, gives Damian his favorite trusted lion plushie and hands him one of the cookies that he had gotten from downstairs, telling Damian "Here, you can have Liony, he's good at protecting you when you're scared." Damian, hesitantly, as he's hugging Liony the plushie tightly in his arms, asks Duke "But what about you? How are you gonna fall asleep without him?", since he knows that it's his favorite plushie, but Duke tells him that he will be fine and that he needs him more than he does and that's what Liony is there for anyways, to make sure everyone's safe. He also offers that if he wanted, he could sleep in his room for the night if he wanted and and that they could even hang out the whole night while he holds onto Liony, which Damian accepts. So they spend the whole night in Duke's room having a fun time together, building a little fort with the beds pillows and blanket sheets, then sitting in it with their flash lights on once they're done, while eating their chocolate chip cookies, talking and quietly laughing the whole night together. Later on in the early morning, Bruce and Alfred, while checking up on the two young brothers in the room, see the sweet sight of them both asleep in their fort together, both hugging eachother and Liony the brave plushie who was in the middle. A warm smile grows on both of the men's faces as they both quietly leave the room and gently close the door so that they won't wake them from their peaceful sleep

@theredheaded-stuff @paladin-of-nerd-fandom65 @camo-wolf

#Damian wayne #Jon kent #Damian al ghul #Dick grayson #Tim drake #Duke thomas #Damian al ghul wayne #Jonathan kent #Jonathan samuel kent #Kon el #Conner kent #Krypto #Lois lane #Clark kent #Bruce wayne #Alfred pennyworth #Superboy #Superman #Batman #Nightwing #Robin #Red robin #Young age au #Batfamily #Batfam #Superfamily #Superfam #dc comics #spider-jaysart headcanons

[dysfunctional-family-fight]

Propaganda for the Batfamily

"Constantly fighting, and trying to kill each other. Also are fighting the mentally I’ll at 2 in the morning while wearing glorified tights and bat ears"

"*gestures vaguely at every batfam story ever* No but like they’ve got so many issues idk where to start. Jason’s death and all the shit he started post resurrection? Damian straight up trying to kill Tim for while back in the day? Bruce’s questionable and inconsistently written parenting skills? Also they’re all vigilantes which in Gotham means they definitely have issues"

"Thomas and Martha Wayne got murdered and it's all been downhill from there"

"Bruce dresses up as a bat to fight crime and Alfred, failing to stop him, adopts a "well if you're going to do it then at least do it where I can see that you'll be safe" attitude and helps from behind the scenes. Bruce in turn adopts a child called Dick. And then a child called Jason. And then a Cass and a Tim and a Duke. It doesn't really work out with a Steph but she's family anyway. Damian doesn't need adopting because he's Bruce's bio kid that he didn't know existed for ten years. And all of the children are SO determined to fight crime that the combined forces of Bruce and Alfred aren't enough to stop them, and one by one they all become vigilantes (Bruce also adopting Alfred's attitude from before). Most of them die at least once. None of them are good at coping OR communicating OR feelings OR being a member of a functioning family but by god if they aren't trying to help. Sometimes the world, sometimes each other. They usually fare better with the former. Bruce and Dick yell at each other about everything under the sun that parents and eldest children yell at each other about. Jason is angry at Bruce because the Joker is still alive after he killed Jason. Bruce is angry at Jason for killing people. Cass is away from home a lot. Tim takes even worse care of himself than the others (on page). Duke is... actually doing pretty okay if not counting the fact that his parents got jokerised and his new family is This. Damian struggles with not killing people and a rampant animal adoption addiction. They all struggle with abandonment issues. The rest of them struggle for screentime. It's like that one vine with the girl who goes "please god, let me have just one good day" and god answers "oh my god you again? give it a rest buddy" where the family (both as a collective and as individuals) is the girl and DC Comics is god."

1 all of them have tried to kill each other at least once

2 bruce wayne is a kind of shitty dad

3 everyone but bruce and alfred were child soldiers (ish)

4 dick grayson has beefed with multiple 12 year olds after he had already grown up and moved out

5 cannot overemphasize the murders and bodily harm

6 one time bruce got lost in the timestream (comics) and everyone but tim thought he was dead and tim was like “hes alive” and everyone kinda bullied the shit out of him for it

7 one time jason got murdered by a guy and then several years later dick put him in prison down the hall from the guy

8 one time bruce beat the everloving shit out of jason for shooting a guy with a blank

9 another time bruce refused to tell jason about who killed his dad despite knowing full well

10 bruce is the main reason jason died at age 15 in the first place

11 the amount of beatings dick grayson took throughout the 50s and 60s is frankly absurd

12 in the injustice universe damian got dick killed and then bruce screamed at damian for “killing his son” despite damian also being his son. then damian joined the league of super fascists against his dad (who beat him up a lot) and then his dad put him in prison

13 bruces uncle isnt in the batfamily but after bruces traumatic orphaning his uncle did more traumatic stuff to him

"Several attempted murders, several arrests of each other, general disdain and massive fights, love that is destructive to all parties, and an inability to communicate"

"they're a family full of extremely traumatized child soldiers whose primary coping mechanism is vigilante justice. many of them have tried to kill each other multiple times. some of them have died & come back wrong. they try their best and they do care about each other but they also get into big blowout fights a lot. they all came from some form of traumatized background before being taken in. the oldest sibling (Dick) had to be a father to the youngest sibling (Damian) for a not insignificant period of time when the dad (Bruce) disappeared; this was immediately after Damian (Bruce's only biological child) had started living with them after being raised in an assassin cult by his mother for the first like decade of his life. Jason died, came back wrong, was groomed by assassins, became a drug lord, & tried to kill multiple members of his family."

"i don't think i can summarise the 80 years of familial dysfunction. my best is just. Batman is the best parental figure some of these kids have ever had. Batman."

"Take your pick of issues. Dead parents, absent parents, abusive parents, addict parents, distant parents, assassin parents. How many people are in the family? Who knows? Everyone deals with personal issues by dressing up and fighting crime in the most depressing city possible. Bruce may or may not have adopted all the kids/plays favorites."

"Bruce is addicted to adopting kids. Bruce. quit putting children into crime fighting. One of them died like how did you not learn. Dick (the first robin) is a huge ass to the next one that comes along (this is the one that died like. Super graphically and horrifically) because Bruce basically fires him as his son and Dick leaves. The one that died rose from the grave, was kidnapped/manipulated for years and has supernatural anger issues (but rightfully should be angry) tries to kill brother Tim who became robin after him for replacing him. He becomes a drug lord and starts cutting off heads. Uses guns for the bit specifically (really funny) (bruce has trauma with guns from dead parents). Bruce mean to Tim when he first comes, then finds out oh shit I have a bio kid raised by assassins that really thinks he’s epic and tries to kill Tim a bunch. It’s practically tradition for his brothers to try and kill him. I love Damian but damn babe. That’s a lot king. He also genetically got the addiction to adopting but for pets. He’s pulling up with cows and shit and keeping them. Cass is perfect and we love her. Duke has a really funny relationship with Jason, and also does some out of pocket shit in the comics (by that i mean like. Dangerous/crazy stuff but in a good way) Alfred is perpetually exhausted with them, mostly bruce. Bruce is emotionally constipated so bad, like crazy bad. This man cannot communicate and is a bad dad a lot bc of it. But he’s really trying and loves them."

#propaganda #batfamily #batman

[bruciemilf]

Screaming crying rolling in misery and softness while I think about how Bruce handles Thomas and Martha's death anniversary.

Once a year, every time, on that day, it rains very softly. It's more drops and liquid snow than water, enhancing the ghostly silence around the city.

For a single day, Gotham lays to rest.

Alfred's watching the timer and waiting for the chocholate chip cookies to finish cooking, -- Thomas and Martha always did like them extra crunchy, -- and thinks how Bruce used to handle It.

It's forever stitched into his mind, the tiny lump shaking under his parents' blankets. Bruce's snotty sniffles and hiccups and pain breaking like glass from his mouth.

It doesn't change, even when adolescents hits. Bruce was still a child, even with his father's whiskey still burning on his tongue, deciding sorrows were easier to drink away than tears.

He was still a child when he looked at Alfred, glassy eyed, tired, " It should've been me."

"No."

" They died so I could live. If this is life, I don't want it."

The familiar stab in his chest doesn't stop hurting at the memory. It rarely, rarely does.

And now.

He peeks behind the kitchen door.

Bruce gently plays with Damian's hair and Damian is determined to act like he hates it.

Alfred has the slight suspicion it was because Jon was there, calling him very cute.

Harley gets up from her cozy spot, head in Bruce's lap, feet resting on miss Ivy's thighs not unlike a spoiled cat, " Dibs on the chunky cookie!"

" Do NOT, " Dick is trying to set up the movie projector, mostly in vain, and trying not to strangle Tim for calling him old. Which is also mostly in vain, " Let her have the chunky one!"

As quickly as Harley raced towards him, multiple figures all but wrestled for the now free spot next to Bruce, much to Ivy's annoyance, and Clark's surprised amusement,

" Jason, MOVE,"

" I'd like to see you MAKE me, Timberly, "

Cass simply steals the spot as they fight, snuggling close to the grey sweater, softer, bigger than usual, and purrs when Bruce rubs her head.

Damian scoffed, crawling under Bruce's sweater, spiky hair tickling Bruce's chin, "Break eachother's noses or be quiet."

Steph, Selina, and Oliver, chant, " Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Bruce murmurs, low, shifting to the couch so everyone would fit, " Can you be nice to eachother for 10 minutes?"

Harley runs past his shoulders, cookie crumbs falling in her steps, " what are ya waiting for, Mr. Bruce's dad? Mama wants to see some blood!"

Alfred let's her pull him, push him almost intentionally close to Bruce.

Surrounded by warmth and comfort, and Bruce lays his head on his shoulder. Almost a silent, This is your day, too

Dick screeches, " I got it!"

Grey Ghost appears. They all hate it, Alfred knows, but Bruce claps softly 5 seconds in, and they all stare at him with soft smiles

#MANNN I WANT SOFTNESS FJR BRUCE AND I WANT IT NOWWWW #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #batfam #batfamily #dc #dc comics #idk if i should tag anyone else?? #maybe #damian wayne #bc babie #but #batkids #should be enough i think? #fluff #soft bruce wayne #text #text post

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Tiny Time Travel And What It Takes From Odd Squad

I didn't think I'd have to write two "Odd Squad knockoff???" essays within the span of a month. But lo and behold, an announcement came, left like a Black Friday sale, and then got extended as it was heavily promoted by PBS Kids up the wazoo.

I talk, of course, about their newest short-form series, Tiny Time Travel.

You might be wondering, "Okay, I can see one resemblance to Odd Squad...but is that really enough to compare it to a decade-old franchise?" And oh. Ohhh! I would say NAY. N A Y .

Because I've seen all the episodes of it. And I'm about to lay everything down on the line when it comes to how it's Odd Squad's adopted child.

Not a knockoff, mind you. This isn't Fear and Loathing in Wordsville 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Below the break. Chop chop. Time can only keep moving forward in the real world, sadly.

Let's start with a rundown for the uninitiated, because I guarantee hardly any of you have heard of this series.

Tiny Time Travel is a short-form series created by Tim McKeon, most famous for being a co-creator of Odd Squad. Unlike Odd Squad, it's under the banners of Marobru Productions, a prodco based in New York, and Easy as Pie Productions, a prodco based in Georgia. (Tim had his own prodco in the form of Hundredth Town Productions, along with Adam Peltzman, the other co-creator of Odd Squad. He doesn't own EAPP.) The series consists of 12 episodes, with no further seasons planned.

As for the premise...see if this rings a bell, hmm?

We have two 11-year-old boys, Tyler and Tony, the former of who invents a time machine that can send them both back and forward only a few hours at a time in order to help people in their town.

You see? All it took was the one whole entire sentence and the one whole entire screencap.

The Odd Squad episode "6:00 to 6:05" was, to absolutely no one's surprise, written by Tim McKeon. Much like Tyler and Tony's time-traveling tales, it involves Olive and Otto using Oscar's Before-Now-Machine to travel backwards by 5 minutes from 6:05 PM to 6:00 PM in order to stop dinosaurs from breaking out of their room and destroying what has to be Oprah's 1,000th Headquarters.

While the tale of Tiny Time Travel runs much deeper than an episode they copied the formula from, it's safe to say that Tim likely looked at this episode for inspiration for the series, among others. Odd Squad is more abundant with time travel than Precure is with kaijus, having several episodes about it and at least one movie. Really, if you're a writer in the TV industry, it's hard to get to a point where any ideas based around a concept you love that are posed in a writers' room are shut down on sight. Tim managed to do that single-handedly and still flipped the bird as a creator by inserting time travel as a solution in the Season 3 finale. In the industry, they call that abuse of power. In the Odd Squad branch, they call that "bending the rules just this one time".

The episodes of Tiny Time Travel range greatly in terms of plot, because each episode focuses on a different client person that Tyler and Tony help. And I use the term "plot" very loosely, because while My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale can stuff lore into 5 minutes (to...varying degrees of success), Tiny Time Travel...doesn't. It's not as lore-filled as Odd Squad and isn't even half as crazy because it's purely episodic. About the craziest thing I've seen is the neurodivergent and Hmong rep, and after watching Jelly, Ben and Pogo, that surprises me next to none. (And Odd Squad, because it's got rep up and down both streets.)

There's also the matter of differing morals. While Odd Squad teaches about mathematics, and later STEM stuff, Tiny Time Travel teaches more about social language and language in general, in a way that isn't really as seamless as Odd Squad. When creating Odd Squad, there was intent to hide the lessons so kids can watch the show and not have the math be in-your-face and up-your-butt. Tiny Time Travel is far more in-your-face and up-your-butt about the lessons by a complete longshot, which I personally can't really fault it for because 5 minutes can only get you so far. (If anything, I'll fault PBS execs, because that method of delivering morals has been standard since the 90s. But I digress. I can spew about PBS later.)

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So I might as well address the elephant in the room: is Tiny Time Travel an Odd Squad knockoff?

Short answer: no.

There's a lot of Odd Squad influence within it, in terms of humor, characters (Samira reminds me a hell of a lot of Polly Graph, and that's not even getting into the alliterative naming of the two protags) and general vibe, which is quite common with two pieces of media that share a creator. I'd also throw in that it's made in, and features, New York as a setting, which is where the Odd Squad pilot takes place, but that's a little irrelevant.

However, it's important to note that "inspired by" and "ripping off" are two very distinct things.

Take Wordsville, just as an example. Which I'm bringing up because, y'know, Odd Squad has more knockoffs than I've had good nights of sleep, but anyway. Wordsville is, as discussed before, a complete bonafide knockoff. It bounds over "inspired by" and goes straight into "I wanna watch you bleed!" territory by basically being Odd Squad but with a coat of literacy and digitization on it. Tiny Time Travel, by contrast, has very few straight similarities to Odd Squad. There's the alliterative names of Tyler and Tony, the inclusion of time travel (with limitations), similar music (thanks to Paul Buckley coming back on board), and a specific brand of humor that is pulled off well. But they are very few and far between, and there are far more differences. Tim looked to Odd Squad for inspiration, but he didn't seek to create a whole entire ripoff of Odd Squad. (Knowing PBS, though...maybe an Odd Squad ripoff was what they wanted originally. Wouldn't be the first time network execs made a request to Tim only for him to find a compromise.)

Likewise, another thing that sets Triple-T apart is how it was made. You're gonna wanna sit down for this one if you aren't sittin' already, because the amount of irony could probably level the planet.

If you're one of the old-timers of the Odd Squad fandom who qualifies for a senior's discount and Medicare, you're probably well-aware of Tim McKeon's absolute adoration for time travel, something that leaks into Odd Squad just as much as it leaks into his personal media preferences. Like I said, the franchise has had a ton of time-travel-related material, so much so that any ideas involving it were barred from the writers' room. All of it pretty much came from Tim McKeon's love of the concept. (And his love of pies. That too. Though whether that came from the prodco or from Tim himself remains up in the air. And yes, Triple-T does mention pie in one episode. And toast, believe it or not!)

Tiny Time Travel is basically what would happen if Tim flipped both birds at whatever writer bopped him with a newspaper and said "no more time travel episodes", and he made an entire series out of it with both government money and our money. It's like if you had a fanseries idea, money, enough passion, money, good connections, and money, and you turned it into a show. That's what Tiny Time Travel is. It's purely, unequivocally, a passion project for Tim.

Of course, there's also the underlying, less moral side to its making, in that it was made in order to fill a quota of PBS to get at least 25 new shows out by end of year. But this is one of the ones that's definitely filled with more quality. Let's be honest, the question of "am I gonna grow up to be a rebel leader and save humanity" is not something you'd find in typical PBS Kids fare. (And it also somehow passed S&P. But Odd Squad has over 70 questionable moments in the series alone -- and yes, I've counted -- so it's clear the rules of S&P don't apply to the god that is Tim McKeon. He flips the bird at that too.)

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So overall, Tiny Time Travel is one hell of a short-form series. City Island threw me for a loop a couple years back based on the object show comparisons alone (and when you get Adam Katz himself to recognize that shit, you're nigh-unstoppable), and this series threw me for a loop similarly just due to the sheer premise and near-immaculate quality.

Odd Squad was, on all accounts, a major influence in Triple-T's making, to such an extent where there's a cameo of two agents walking in the background that someone managed to spot long before I got to the "Tennis Talk" episode that featured the cameo to begin with. The show's cute, it's sweet, it's got hella good rep, and it's short enough to please attention spans around the world. (Or at least in 'Murica. And maybe some parts of Canada.) It wholeheartedly has the Seren seal of approval, and if you're tired of waiting for Odd Squad UK in 8 months like I am, this will tide you over in the meantime.

As for whether it'll get a Season 2...after "Surprise Party", I can't see that happening. Unlike with Odd Squad, which is constantly under the threat of cancellation, Tim had a chance to end the show on his own terms without PBS giving it the sharpest axe in the shed, and he wrapped it up beautifully. It doesn't need a second season. It's beautiful as it is. Keep it as a one-hit wonder. (And preserve it, because otherwise it'll become lost media by the time half the century is up.)

I'll see you all in the next essay. Seren out!

#seren's studies #odd squad pbs kids #odd squad #tiny time travel #pbs kids

[twistedtummies2]

Top 12 Portrayals of Belle (from "A Christmas Carol")

Last time I talked about the first of the ghosts Scrooge encounters in “A Christmas Carol.” Before we get to our final three characters for this little marathon - those being the Three Spirits of Christmas - I want to take a brief pit-stop in Scrooge’s past to talk about another major supporting character: Ebenezer’s ex-fiance, Belle. Belle is by far the single most well-known and important figure in Scrooge’s past, by all accounts. I can think of versions of the Carol story that omit his sister, Fan. I can also think of versions that omit the bubbly Fezziwig. These are not to mention all the various minor characters, such as Dick Wilkins or the Headmaster. But while many version inexplicably change the character’s name (she’s been alternately called Isabelle, Alice, and Emily, just to name three examples), no version of the Carol DARES to omit Scrooge’s former love. It’s the loss of Belle in Scrooge’s past life that acts as the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back. She isn’t by any means the reason he became the greedy old codger he is by the time the story begins, but the pain of losing her is perhaps the deepest wound Scrooge has in his heart. What’s interesting about this wound is that Scrooge loses her through his own fault, and this is part of what makes the character so impactful, and her part in the tale such an important element: throughout Scrooge’s past, he sees past nuggets of love and humanity that he held onto, such as Fan and Fezziwig…but it’s indicated, in all those cases, they are people he lost early on, who died before their time. Belle is another story: she was THERE for him. She was FINE. It is Scrooge’s own greed and ambition that pushed her away; he was caught between two worlds - a humble but happy life with uncertainties to face, but love in his heart…or clinging to material gain that he believed would give him security. Scrooge chose the latter, and as a result, while he’s financially successful…he’s not truly happy, and he’s racked with guilt and longing that he can never admit or let go of. When compiled on top of all the other tragedies in his past, many of which seem directly related to Christmastime, it’s no wonder that he not only hates the Christmas holiday, but also has become such a vile person. As a result, Belle is the one part of his past that every interpretation wisely holds onto: some versions restrain her role to simply the breakup moment, while others expand on the novel, including not only a bit of what happened to her after, but also what came before, to up the sorrow. However it is handled, the scene is always one of the most potent in the story, and one of the most heartbreaking. Many fine actresses have handled the role of the former fiance over the years, and many of them have done a splendid job. Who did so the best? I have no idea, but here’s some that I like. Ha Ha. These are my Top 12 Favorite Portrayals of Belle! (Again, the character’s name is sometimes different, but all of these are recognizably the same character.)

12. Bea Benaderet, from the Campbell Playhouse Radio Production (1939). (My thanks to a friend for helping me identify the uncredited actress for Belle.)

11. Zoe Wanamaker, from A Christmas Carol (1977).

10. Daisy Duck, from Mickey's Christmas Carol.

9. Meredith Braun, from The Muppet Christmas Carol. (This only really applies to the original director’s cut of the film, with the song sequence “When Love is Gone” included.)

8. Jane Kean, from Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. (Silly hair notwithstanding.)

7. Suzanne Neve, from Scrooge (1970).

6. Jodi Benson, from A Christmas Carol (1997). (By far the best scene in the film is Ariel and Tim Curry singing a duet as Belle and Young Scrooge.)

5. Jessie Buckley, from Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022). (This version is pretty “meh,” but it’s perhaps telling that the stuff with Belle is, by far, the best part, in my opinion.)

4. Robin Wright, from A Christmas Carol (2009).

3. Rona Anderson, from Scrooge (1951).

2. Laura Fraser, from A Christmas Carol (1999). (Don’t ask me what Lydia from Breaking Bad is doing here. Your guess is as good as mine.)

1. Lucy Gutteridge, from A Christmas Carol (1984).

#list #countdown #best #favorites #top 12 #literature #a christmas carol #charles dickens #christmas #scrooge #belle #isabel #various other names apply #ha ha #or rather #ho ho #actors #acting #portrayals #film #movies #tv #animation #radio #musicals