#not that i would make Tim beg for Dick's forgiveness - Dick would forgive him in like .000001 seconds and def doesn't hold it against him

[bluerosefox]

Ghost Marriage Allows More Than One!

Tim wakes up in a hotel room in Vegas snuggled against a chest but he wasn't surprised.

He had been in the Sin City for a WE meeting and had brought Bernard along the trip since Tim's birthday was just shy a few days into it and well he wanted to spend time with his boyfriend since most of his family were off world (Dick, Jason, and Bruce all had important missions and they all apologized for missing out and Tim couldn't blame them he understood and he himself couldn't get out of the Vegas meetings no matter what he tried to do.) Or couldn't come to join him (Damian had school as did Duke and Alfred was taking care of them while the others were gone. Steph and Cass were out of country working with some important things with Babs and again he understood.) (Did it still sting yes but they all promised to make it up when they got back, Alfred even promised a coffee cake just for him)

So yeah, Vegas meeting trip turned somewhat birthday fun with his boyfriend. And since Bernard has always been good with encouraging Tim to try things it came to no surprise that during their stay he had managed to convince Tim to try drinking for the night.

Yes terrible influence Bernard was sometimes, but he did make a point. Tim was an adult now and sometimes it's okay to at least try adult dumb stuff, he didn't have to like it and could stop if he really didnt want to but he can at least say he tried it once. That it was okay for Tim to let go of his vigilante brain and just have fun in the one city that was made for it.

So try Tim did. Just for the night.

So yeah, Tim wasn't really surprised when he woke up the next morning, alcohol aftertaste on his breath, head pounding, nose scrunched up from the light of the sun peeking in from the curtains, and snuggling himself into a rather chilly chest...

Wait...

Chilly?

Tim opened his eyes when he realized that. Bernard never felt cold to Tim when they would snuggle, no he was always warm, like a warm heating blanket. It was why Tim loved snuggling him. Why was he-

Tim's eyes widened when he saw not blonde hair on the body in the bed with him but black hair. He almost flung himself off the bed from him startling awake and watched the one he had been snuggled next to mumble in his sleep and turn over.

Tim felt pure dread as he continued to stare, his stomach turning as his thoughts got bad, oh god..God... did he... oh no, no, no no. Oh where was Bernard- FUCK did he really-

Tim flinched when he heard a door open and snapped his eyes towards it. He felt his mouth go dry when he spotted his boyfriend coming out of what was the bathroom of the room and had just finished taking a shower from the sounds of left over dripping water and from the towel he was using to clean his hair.

Bernard stopped in his spot when he noticed Tim staring at him before he gave Tim a very uneasy chuckle, his eyes darting towards the sleeping body on the bed "H-Hey, good morning T. I see you... uhh seen our guest."

Tim felt ready to cry, to beg for forgiveness, but the only sound that came out was a strangled sound because of course he fucked up and ruined one of the best things that ever happened to him and-

But before he could spiral further into his anxiety and dread Bernard kept speaking.

"So ummm. Do you also remember meeting Danny at the bar, getting really tipsy, hanging out, having fun and then like going to a ghost bar with him so he could really drunk because he's like half ghost. And I mean like a legit ghost bar, like we saw Elvis and Marilyn Monroe there and they were like floating. Then we all got like super mega drunk and then... maybe kinda sorta got ghost married... because ghost marriage allows unlimited spouses cause you know, already dead doesn't matter and it's also almost permanent cause again the whole dead thing... Or did I hallucinate all that last night and we just brought in a random stranger to bed?" He asked his voice unsure as he looked between Tim and the stranger Danny in bed before lifting his hand up and showing Tim a glowing ring on it. "I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it up because I kinda woke up with this, and it refuses to come off."

Tim went silent for a moment, wide eyed as he stared back at Bernard before the pounding headache he had hit him harder than ever when the very memories of everything Bernard had said came flooding back to him. With a gasp Tim quickly looked st his own hand and sure enough on his finger was a matching glowing wedding band on it, his eyes snapped towards Danny... Danny Nightingale? Or was it Phantom? said his name was and spotted another matching one as well.

"B is going to kill us." Was the only thing Tim could muster up to say.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dp x dc #blue rambles #crossover #writing ideas #random idea #danny phantom dc #dpxdc #tim x bernard #timxbernardxdanny #The trope of waking up married in Vegas #but with a twist #Tim was in Vegas for mostly a WE meetings #and brought his BF cause his bday was a few days later #and the rest of the fam couldnt go or had missions #so it was going to be a fun bday with his BF #Bernard encourages Tim to do dumb things sometimes #mostly to get Tim to put down the Vigilantly thoughts and just have fun #so its both a good and bad thing he does #but they do try to be safe about it #he encouraged the drinking so Tim can at least say he has gotten drunk at least once #tbh this is me. Ive gotten legit drunk twice in my entire life #and its been years since my last actual drink tbh #Anyways they meet Danny at the bar #whose taking a small vacation time away from the Realms #Danny started chatting with them and they all got kinda tipsy #well Bernard and Tim were a lot more than Danny #and Danny wanted to kinda join them and suggested a ghost bar #and the rest well... It all kinda just happens

[zeroducks-2]

This is quite random sorry but has Dick ever acknowledge (or as close to it) that a lot of things that Bruce did to him are abusive? (this is for a fic I’m trying to write)

Yes and no!

Dick knows Bruce is an assholes and WILL yell at him to stop being an asshole, or at least he used to. Dick would call him out on his BS and wouldn't let him get away with a lot of things, but this was once upon a time, before they rebooted everything and erased decades of character development. The closest he gets to that post reboot is after Forever Evil - everyone thinks Dick is dead, and Bruce wants people to keep thinking that, hence he forces Dick to join Spiral and become Agent 37.

Dick is, as you can imagine, not thrilled. He yells and fights and Bruce beats the everloving shit out of him in a very upsetting sequence, where Dick is half naked and Bruce is wearing most of his gear while he keeps hitting him to the point of leaving him bleeding on the floor of the Batcave.

Dick begs and tries to appeal to everything he can including the "things can never be the same between us after this", to which Bruce essentially replies that it's a sacrifice he's willing to make. Ha. I say that this is especially upsetting because Dick went through a horribly traumatic experience during the events of Forever Evil, in which among other things he was tortured by Thomas Wayne Jr AKA Owlman, who wanted to turn Dick into his own sidekick after losing his Talon. The way Bruce beats and humiliates Dick is drawn in a way which creates a clear parallel between Thomas and Bruce's actions towards Dick, in a way that suggests they're "not that different after all", but this narratively goes nowhere and I don't get why they fuck they even came up with that. But anyway.

All of this gets forgotten soon enough. Despite his own warnings Dick forgives Bruce after a very short time, pines for home and tries to communicate with Bruce in any way he can because he "misses his dad", which to be honest made my guts churn and my bile rise after Bruce nearly beat him comatose. Essentially the story forgets Bruce did all of that and so does Dick, but for the brief time Dick was allowed to be aware of it and angry about it, he was indeed aware that he was being abused even if he never used the word abuse.

This is the case for lots of stories in which similar instances happen, as I mentioned before especially pre-reboot. Dick does call Bruce out on his bullshit - especially if Bruce is being an abusive asshole to someone else, since Dick is way more prone to defend other people than he is to defend himself, like here

or here

But despite being obviously aware that there are issues in the way Bruce does things, to put it mildly, he never uses the word "abuse" (which is sort of a prohibited word for DC standards, kind of like "rape". They're way more likely to say non consensual than rape because it's a less upsetting word apparently).

There is an instance of this post reboot, and it's during a conversation Dick has with Tim. I believe it happens in the Pride comics of 2022, but I don't have the panels on hand at the moment. Basically Tim asks for advice on how to please Bruce, being the man demanding and prone to bad moods, and Dick flat out replies "I spent a very big part of my life trying to please him, and I left when I realized it was impossible" which to me is so interesting since it's the textbook reaction of a former Golden Child who fell from grace and became a Scapegoat (please note that tumblr's definition of Golden Child is completely arbitrary; golden child doesn't mean "good kid", it means a child who the parent holds to the highest standards, on which there are the biggest expectations and the strongest pressure regarding everything the child does. Sometimes a parent lives vicariously through them and perceives them as an extension of themselves, but not necessarily. If you watched Encanto, Isabella is the Golden Child of the family).

Something similar happens during Nightwing's run from the 90s.

Dick lives in Bludhaven and at this point he's gone essentially no-contact with Bruce. Tim, being the new Golden Child, is trying to reel Dick back into the toxic dynamic because he genuinely thinks it's going to be good for both Dick and Bruce.

I'm pointing this out not to fault Tim in any way, he's just a kid what does he know, but to show you that indeed yes, Dick is aware that he's been abused otherwise he wouldn't have left, he wouldn't be on a no talking basis with his parental figure, and he wouldn't reply to Tim that he spent so much time of his life deluding himself into thinking that Batman actually needed him. Of course this also goes nowhere and their relationship isn't allowed to grow or heal (things are just conveniently forgotten after a while), but as I mentioned, Dick knows what's up.

That being said, I believe it's also worth noting that many many times Bruce abuses the fuck out of Dick and Dick doesn't really acknowledge it, just takes it. Sometimes he doesn't have the spoons to fight back, sometimes he thinks he deserves it, sometimes he just doesn't know how to react because Bruce strikes like an unprovoked viper (this happens especially when Dick was still a kid but already a Titan). A very good example of this is what happens after Jason's death.

Bruce doesn't tell Dick that Jason died. When Alfred offers to let him know, Bruce says "I will handle it", and he doesn't. Then there's Jason's funeral and Bruce doesn't tell Dick about it, again Alfred offers to inform him, Bruce says he will handle it. He doesn't.

Eventually Dick finds out for collateral reasons and has an emotional breakdown in front of the other Titans, which are powerless to help him. For reference, this is how he reacts when he has definitive proof that the boy is undoubtedly gone, if there was any doubt that Dick did care about Jason.

So Dick goes to the grave with Kory but then decided to confront Bruce alone, and Bruce, in the abusive feat of the century, blames Dick for not having showed up to Jason's funeral, despite having refused to 1: tell him about Jason's death AT ALL, and 2: refused TWICE when Alfred very gently suggested to inform Dick.

Dick of course argues that he didn't know anything, and so Bruce reacts by gaslighting him, telling him they he never cared about Jason and in fact he was angry that Bruce adopted Jason and not him. Which is not true, Dick just wanted to know WHY Bruce adopted Jason and hot him. Oh and also punches him in the face when Dick tries to argue that Jason was an untrained kid. Please note that when all of this happens, Dick is hurt and can barely stand on his feet, having one of his legs in a cast.

Cherry on top, Bruce explicitly saying that he never should have had a partner and never will again, essentially "our partnership up to this point meant nothing".

In this instance Dick is too neck-deep in his own self guilt to see that he's been through a sequence of extremely abusive behavior, and never really faults Bruce for that, using the easy-coming rationalization that Bruce was in pain, suffering for Jason's death, couldn't see reason etc etc (quick PSA: someone suffering isn't entitled to abuse and gaslight anyone. And even if we really want to enable Bruce cut Bruce some slack because he was grieving, it doesn't make his behavior any less abusive. Regardless of the reasons why, the way he acts here is very damaging towards Dick who in turn did nothing to deserve it, and is grieving Jason too).

See, the problem with Dick and Bruce is the sysyphean nature of comicbooks. Dick is doomed to be the original Golden Child who falls from grace, becomes the Scapegoat, but ultimately can never be completely free of the clutches of the relationship he has and had with Bruce, for better or worse. And since he can't ever truly get out and can't ever completely be independent, the abuse end up getting downplayed. If Dick never truly gets away from Bruce it's because it's not that bad, isn't it? Nay, it's because Dick cant. He is quite literally not allowed to, same as Bruce is not allowed to truly grow from his mistakes and learn to treat his former partner, sort-of-child and dear friend with the respect and love he actually feels for him, because despite all of this and because this is fiction, Bruce does love Dick more than it can be put into words and would set the world on fire for him. But, alas, he also is doomed to keep treating Dick like shit and never really learn from his mistakes.

So again, the answer to your question is yes and no. Dick is aware of how much of a difficult person Bruce is. He's aware of the domineering aspects of his personality. But he will ultimately brush it off in the name of the good that there is and there was between them, and he will keep answering Batman's call every time, because he's not allowed to ever truly grow apart from him. It doesn't matter how much he gets angry and how much Bruce hurts him, they're indissolubly tied in this dynamic and unless there is a huge shift in the way DC execs handle things, I don't see how this dynamic can change in the foreseeable future. Sadly enough, because I'd really like to see something new.

#long post #I tried to be as exhaustive as I can but of course I missed TONS of other instances which could have been used as examples #I hope you can make use of my analysis anyway #good luck with your fic btw! #feel free to leave me a link for it once you're done - no pressure tho! #and thanks for asking ♥ #my asks #my meta #Bruce Wayne #Dick Grayson #cw abuse in fiction

[prismuffin]

Not a request, but a question.

Which Batboys + Batman would be jealous of their partner giving an animal more attention than them?

ooo ok so personally I think-

Jason would probably not be the jealous type when it comes to you loving an animal. He knows that you love him and he loves you so why should something as simple as a dog or a cat get on his nerves? I do think though that if you started neglecting him completely for the animal he'd get more "jealous". He'd be annoyed since it's not something like an object he can just hide until you're over it. If you notice his moody attitude he'll tell you about how the animals making him feel but if you don't he'll just try and suck it up and get over his "petty feelings".

Dick would be the one to tease you. It'd be a joke at first like "Wow, y/n sometimes I think you love that (animal) more than me." but soon it turned into "Geez y/n, do you love that (animal) more than me?" When you come home and the first thing you hug/go to is that pet he'll just pout with his arms crossed until you acknowledge him. Definitely the type to play the silent game with you until you beg him for forgiveness. He'll make you say that you love him more than the animal before he stops.

Tim would try and rationalize it. Maybe you're using it as a coping mechanism, I mean it's completely normal for owners of animals to get attached. Still he wouldn't necessarily like it he'd learn to put up with it. If it makes you happy then he's happy.

Damian would be jealous for sure, always pouting and whining to get your attention. Would be the type to hate the animal when you're away like he genuinely feels like he's fighting for your affection here, and what makes it even worse is that he's losing! Tells you how he feels after you keep calling him a big baby. He's embarrassed once it's out but does appreciate you giving him a bit more attention afterwards.

Bruce would probably have been the one to get you the pet. Maybe something you can cuddle with or spend time with when he's not there. Still, when he does have the time if he notices how much more affectionate you are with the animal instead of him he'll feel pretty sad. Has he really been gone that much? He won't feel as jealous as he would guilty. He's show you much more affection out of the blue which would confuse you but you're not complaining. If you ask why he will tell you the real reason behind suddenly becoming so touchy and will ask you if it's a problem.

#batfam #batfam x reader #batman x reader #jason todd x reader #dick grayson x reader #tim drake x reader #damian wayne x reader #nightwing x reader #redhood x reader #batfam headcanons #batfam scenarios #prismuffin #prisask

[acourtofidiots]

reader getting punished in unholy!verse bcos she touched herself w/out their permissions🥺i can imagine jason being the roughest while duke is such a softy

are you...are you trying to kill me?? cause you certainly have 😩

cw: smut, dom/sub dynamics, sir kink (briefly mentioned), use of sex toys, bondage, squirting, begging, punishment, this is absolute filth i'm so sorry.

Jason: Jason is pretty rough with the reader, especially if she's broken a rule. But she loves it and would constantly try and push his buttons to keep being rough with her (not always, though, she's an angle for the most part!) I think Jason's go-to punishment for when the reader touches herself w/o permission is having both of them sit in front of a floor-length mirror, her back to his chest, and making her watch him deny so many orgasms that she's a blubbering messy and stuttering out apologies. He's just shaking his head and continuing to do it until he feels like she's earned her reward.

Duke: I agree that Duke would be a softy. I think he's not really into the whole BDSM thing, but he would be great at teasing you. Slowly kissing down your body, teasingly eating you out, and having you beg and whine for his cock. And when he would eventually fuck you, it would still be slow, and you would have tears streaming down your face when Duke decides to have mercy on you and let you come as many times as possible.

Bruce: He would tie you to a chair in the cave with a gag in your mouth and have you come over and over again with a vibe against your pussy as he finishes up cases for the night. You would be trying so hard to get his attention, but everything comes out muffled thanks to the gag, and he pays you no mind until he decides to give you a break and treat his princess to a nice hot bubble bath (cause we all know a brooding man like Bruce would secretly like having a bubble bath)

Dick: A combo of Jason and Bruce. He definitely wouldn't be as forgiving as Bruce, but he would definitely punish you for acting out of line. I could see him fucking you and acting like everything was normal but he wouldn't let you cum. And the next time he fucks you, he still wouldn't fuck you. And this continues on for a week until you're practically on your knees, begging for sir to let you cum and saying that you're very sorry for disobeying him. And oh boy, does he make it worthwhile. He makes you come so hard that your release squirts out of you, and he would be fascinated by it that he would make you do it several more times until the surface underneath you is slick with your juices.

Tim, Steph, and Cass: They would all love ganging up on you and do your punishment together. Have Tim fuck your ass while Steph fucks your cunt and Cass is riding Steph's face. Or tying you up and making you come in whatever way they find suiting. On their fingers, tongues, cocks. You would be exhausted by the time they would be finished with you, but they would treat you like a princess afterward. Rubbing you down, giving you snacks and water, and lots and lots of snuggles.

#jason todd #bruce wayne #cassandra cain #duke thomas #tim drake #stephanie brown #dick grayson #unholy verse #jason todd smut #bruce wayne smut #cassandra cain smut #duke thomas smut #tim drake smut #stephanie brown smut #dick grayson smut #julia.writes #ask julia #anon #anonymous

[daddysfangirls-dc]

UnTamed Ch.13

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Damian sighed as he cracked the window slightly. Asta hadn't been to the manor or their apartment in several days. He was worried but not enough to go looking yet. He knew she was making plans and preparing to approach Red Hood's Gang. She had to ensure her people were ready before starting any communication with his people. And Robin popping up and wondering about it wouldn't help.

Although he wanted to see her, he needed to give her space to do her business. She gave him space without complaint whenever he needed/wanted for cases, business with the Titans or Justice League, or simply hanging out with Superboy. She never questioned his need for space, and he wouldn't question hers. He hoped her need for space would not last past tomorrow and she'd return to him. 

-

The floor was cold. That's the first thing she noticed as she became conscious. It was hard and cold. Slowly opening her eyes, she finds that she is fortunate or, unfortunately, is still in the form of a black cat. Bad news, though, as she appeared to be in a cage with a blanket over it. 

Not Good. 

It was dark, but she could hear other animals, cats, and dogs, all whimpering and whining. Definitely not a safe place. She could feel all the distress and pain in the room. It was hard to focus with all the emotions overwhelming her. She didn't hear a door opening or someone approaching. It wasn't until the blanket was pulled away that she realized someone was there.

It was a boy. He looked like your average psycho-alpha radical virgin school shooter. She could smell the musk, sweat, and separation wafting from him. And feel the anger, frustration, and disgust coming from him. So powerful it weighed her down. If this were any other place, Gotham dude would definitely get an episode on deadline. 

He picked up the cage and put it on the table. The table was light wood but had dark spots on it. In the middle, there was a short pole with a leash. She crawled to the back of the cage as he reached in, but it was useless. He got her, dragged her out, and leashed her. After leashing her, he stepped away and came back with a box. He dumped the content on the table tasers, knives, torches, wooden paddles, pipes, and etc.

Not good things, not good things at all. 

-

Damian had just returned from his walk with Titus. Coming to the door, Titus began to sniff a nearby bush. "What is it, boy? " he looks into the bush to see a black cat, his black cat. " Asta?" he gently picks her up. Touching her fur, he feels wetness. He finds it to be blood. Without a word, he quickly rushed into the house and into the cave.

Damian came rushing into the cave, calling for medical help. Everyone dropped what they were doing and quickly followed him to the infirmary. Everyone was concerned, especially with the small trail of blood behind him. 

"What happened? What's wrong? Let me see" Dick quickly came to his side, looking for wounds. 

"I found her like this." The confusion was quickly cleared, and a sense of relief went through the family as he put down a black cat in the bed.

"Where did you find this one?" Tim asked, no longer feeling urgent. 

"SHE!" Damian shouted. " It is a sheet, and she is bleeding out. Please, help her," he all but begged. 

Alfred and Tim started pulling out the supplies quickly, an act of forgiveness on Tim's part. As they rushed about, Damian leaned over the cat. No one knew what he was doing until the cat started morphing into an actual person, specifically a nude girl. The concern turned in tenfolds. Alfred and Tim gathered more supplies and called Thompkins.

She was crying. Damina pushed on her largest wound, a large gash on her side. " Asta, Asta, I need you to tell me where else you're wounded. What else hurts?" he asked 

" Can't breathe, can't walk, can't-can't... help," she cried, not fully able to express herself but giving enough to let them know that her leg was broken and something was wrong with her chest or lungs.

"Damian, let them work. Let them help her," Dick said as he helped move him away, letting Alfred and Tim work. Dr. Thomkpins would join when she got there. Asta reached for him as he was pulled away. Tim pulled the curtains. No one needs to see. 

-

Duke handed Damian cold water as Dick put a blanket on him as he sat. " Who is she?" Bruce asked an irreverent question as everyone had a clue as to who she was. And insensitive as she was still in surgery, Dr. Thompkins had just arrived. 

"I shall discourse with you all after her surgical procedure. I just ... After, please." Those big, fancy, intelligent words. Damian really wasn't down for any talking at the moment. 

"I'm sorry we shouldn't have asked -"

"Damian -"

"We're sorry, and we won't ask any more questions" This time, Dick was facing Bruce. He was talking to Damian but being direct with Bruce. Everyone else also took a step back, giving Damian the space he needed at the moment. But Jason and Cass stayed close just in case. 

"That's the girl," Steph said as she and Duke followed Dick upstairs. Duke was texting Barbara about the situation. She was spending the day with her dad and, therefore, was not present. " She's a meta"

" It appears so. It explains a lot, actually." Duke said, " He's always talking about a stray. Maybe she was the stray." Duke quickly connected all the dots.

"Enough," Dick says as they emerge upstairs " Right now, the three of us are going to set up a guest room for her when she's ready, and we will move her upstairs." 

"You think B will let her-"

"Prepare a room for WHEN she comes upstairs." Duke and Steph looked at him. 

"Yes, sir".

-

His eyes were on the curtains. He could hear them whispering but couldn't make out what they were saying. Despite that, he was relieved they no longer sounded urgent, meaning her condition was no longer dier. Still, she was not healed, and -Someone was touching him.

It's Jason.

He has a wet towel in his hand. He takes his hand slowly, whipping the blood away. He didn't realize. " She'll be fine. They know what they're doing," Jason says as he handles him gently. It was like he was slowly whipping away the pain. There was a dull ache, but the burning was gone. All that was left was ash and smoldering. 

"She'll be okay."

-

He was a child again.

They were in an abandoned courtyard. It was in the deepest corner of the compound the brush had over grown and nature had reclaimed it. A baby bird in between them was green. He doesn't remember feeling this way. His Akhi picks up the baby bird, cradling it in his hands. There's a slight shake to them he doesn't comment on.  Akhi doesn't say a word; he never spoke, but he knows if he did, he'd say

" She'll be okay". 

-

Tim walks out. He stops, gives them a node, and keeps walking. Soon, Dr. Thompkins and Alfred follow, discarding their medical scrubs as they went. Bruce manifest from whatever shadow he hid in. 

"What's the situation?" 

"The inside was worse than the outside." Thompkins says as she discards her scrubs, " Besides the lacerations, punctures, cuts, and electric burns, she also had a couple of Hermatomas. A small tear in the spleen. Several punctures in the intestines and a collapsed lung... this girl has been through. Should I even ask what happened to her?"

"We aren't entirely sure ourselves," Bruce says, eyeing Damian, who is looking intensely at the other curtain. 

Thompkins sighed. She knew better than to ask, " Right now, if nothing else happens, recovery time is 6 to 12 weeks. And that's just physically."

"Thank you," Damian says as he stands. " Thank you," he repeats as he walks past her to the open curtain where she lies. Behind his back, Dr.Thompkins pulled a vial of blood out of her pocket and moved to hand it in his hand. The look Bruce gave him would scare anyone else but Jason. 

"you'll wait for them," he says. " This isn't the case. An enemy or suspect. This is his friend. You'll wait." 

With that, he walked past Damian. Unbeknownst to him, Tim had taken his own sample. 

#dc comics #dc universe #fanfiction #robin #batman #fanfic #damian al ghul #damian wayne #damian wayne fanfic #damian wayne fanfiction #untamed #damian wayne al ghul #damian wayne x oc #damian al ghul x oc

[powerosewaterpuff]

dick grayson is a great cook fight me

you can take dick being a good no acc SPECTACULAR cook out of my cold dead hands. literally, I can envision that is the way that he reconnects with his culture as many of us immigrants do, and he loves to engorge his family with his food. whether it be steaming ashak for damian when he comes home from school. an old dish that he learned from his mother, who would tear up at the sight of it. as she murmured it was the only dish she could remember her late mother teaching her, and the only dish she really could ever master she'd say with a soft giggle, wiping away the dewy tears. he remembered her saying with that smooth voice that felt like pouring warm honey over your heart that she is so proud of her bachem, that his deceased maternal grandmother hailed all the way from central Afghanistan (Hazargai his mother had said, in a distant memory, that her mother was hazara) would be so proud that he presents her food with pure pride. He feels that pride while he watches damian light up in the most wonderful ways at the ashak, thanking dick softly in that voice he holds so tightly to his chest, the little voice of the child he truly was. all dick can only think about how proud he is of his bachem.

whether it be heating the paprika soup his father used to make on celebratory days after rubbing jason's back as he heaves and sobs, as he begs for forgiveness he believes he has to earn from dick, to please love him. accept him. and dick holds his brother, oh so big but yet so fucking small against his chest, wiping jason's tears and murmuring softly that there is nothing to forgive. that jason is his baby brother, that he loves him more than his heart can hold. he helps jason up and seats him on a cushioned stool by his little kitchen, cramped just like the trailer used to be, and for some reason, it always filled dick with comfort (the manor was too vast, too big, and daunting for a slip of a thing like him). jason would slump against the counter, watching dick with mournful eyes that made dick want to start crying, eyes that begged not to be left alone, that begged for his older brother to save him. he places a little basket of ingredients next to jason, and decrees he shall be his ingredient bearer. jason thinks this is fucking stupid but dick pays him no mind as he stretches a hand out for an onion. the slicing, dicing, and stirring begin as dick feels old suddenly, so old because hadn't he watched his father do this a thousand times, with dick sitting next to him like jason was doing now. odd how time has a way of making you feel scrubbed raw yet ancient beyond belief. and when he gently hands jason the steaming bowl of soup, amalgamated with the spices and hearty flavors his father used to gush about when he found them in the marketplace because he could make one of dick’s favourite romani dishes. jason picks up a spoon and begins to sip, and dick takes that as his sign to start sipping as well with the silence of the night covering them in a soft blanket. all dick can think of is how much he adores his pral

whether it be in the early morning when dick himself is barely awake when tim comes stumbling in with bags under his eyes, and barely cohesive. when he slumps down into a chair and curls his arms around his head, dick is already up snatching ingredients for a specific batter of blinis his father used to make, which was dick’s mother's favourite as she chattered on about how it was like her aunt's blinis back in romania. dick also slyly pulls out the espresso machine to make caffe d’orzo and tim would be none the wiser. tim begins to actually wake up a bit when a fresh plate of blini sitting in front of him with smetana smeared on top with a steaming cup of what tim hoped to be coffee but dick knew better. tim looks up at dick with that look that makes dick see double; the little tim who had stars brimming in his eyes with a quick mouth but a polite rigidness that made dick want to bundle him up and hold him tight to his chest, but also the older tim with that soft bitterness that encases him wouldn't allow that. and dick didn't deserve it anyway not for the pain he caused tim, (he had just wanted to give him the chances he never had but he fucked up-fucked up so beyond repair it hurts). but for right now, with tim giving him a sleepy smile and a mumbled thank you whilst dick gives him a soft kiss on the forehead, all dick could think about is how over the moon he is to be with his little frate.

whether it be on the cusp of dusk as the evening rolls in with cass and dick standing side by side in his kitchen with flour sprinkled over their little aprons and hair. dick was supposed to take cass home after her ballet but when she silently put her head on his shoulder, nuzzling softly into his shoulder blade and murmured that she missed him. dick immediately takes a right and starts driving to his apartment instead, feeling warm when he sees his little sister give the tiniest little smile. he went through all the warms meals his father's prozia used to coax him into eating whilst the snow breezed outside of her cucina while the music crooned. hence why dick began pulling out the anise extract, the dry yeast, and the sugar then ushered cass over to teach her how to braid the dough. he starts playing the stylings of esma redzepova because he can feel when silence becomes too much for cass, when silence deafens her ears and she craves for soft noise that clamors around her like a shawl of safety (maybe he also does it for himself. maybe it's because esma redzepova reminds him of when they used to have laundry day in the circus, where her voice would spin circles around his mind and mingle with his fathers as john grayson danced circles around mary grayson, always finding ways to make her laugh). once the timer dings and they pull out the hefty loaves of bread as the moon begins to rise and the sun says farewell, cass and dick snuggle up on the couch. all dick can think about is how much sorellina means to him. whether it be when bruce has bandages upon bandages and the bags under his eyes are dragging him down, and a little dick creeps into the room, a stale mess with clothes strewn everywhere and crumpled bedsheets. he crawls onto the bed while balancing a small plate of dried apricot slices and a cup of chao, placing it delicately on his lap while handing bruce the cup. a silent treaty of peace, a soothing balm to try to heal all that is painful. dick holds a dried apricot and pressed it to bruce's mouth, quietly imploring him to eat something. bruce would look at him, with an unreadable emotion swirling through his eyes as he took a bite and leaned over to press dick closer to his side. they eat their apricots in silence, and bruce sips the tea that dick had made him with some of alfred’s help. bruce presses a kiss to dicks messy hair, hoarsely whispering a thank you. all dick can really think about is that he loves his papo. (I made food with my mom last night and I just had to write this it was an innate urge and yes there r no capitals is on purpose I know grammar I promise)

#food #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #cassandra cain #Damian Wayne #dick adores his family so so much #batfam #batfamily #flying graysons #romani dick grayson #siblings #fluff #dc #batman #dc robin #snippet #dcu #dick grayson is damian's father fight me #dick grayson is a ray of sunshine #he has so much love in his heart #familial love #familial bonds #so many writing mistakes #dick grayson #bruce wayne #there is no capitals on purpose dw

[intriq]

Letters - Alfred

after the reader's death, in a time after part 1 and before part 2, the batfam receives therapy and as part of their therapy, they write grief letters to you, the reader.

Italics are used to represent smudged words due to tears

‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎┌──═━┈━═──┐

Dear Little Moon,

I hope you’ve been… well. I hope things are doing better for you, certainly much better than they were a few months ago.

Better than how things have been for me, at least.

The others don’t stop by the manor much anymore. Cass sticks to your old bedroom, Duke seems to wander aimlessly, Jason and Steph seem to visit your grave just as much as Tim and Barbara have lately.

But most of all, Bruce is always in his study or in his room, and Dick? He hasn’t come around once since you’ve died. I’ve only overheard he’s been locking himself inside his apartment in Bludhaven.

Everyone thinks he’s punishing himself for your death, and he certainly is. But if anyone should be punished for your death, I’d say it should be me.

I.. I was the one that pulled the trigger, after all. The one that took you away from this world, as dark as Gotham may be.

You always did find a way to be some sort of light for everyone around you, even when you were a child. I always wondered how you could appear so happy all the time despite how often you cried because of your nightmares.

I spend most of my time keeping busy. Cooking meals Bruce won’t eat, cleaning again and again. Sometimes spend a few hours out of my day looking through pictures of you.

I remember how, on your tenth birthday, you wanted to go to the zoo. The one that recently opened in Metropolis, specifically.

You’d even practically begged for Bruce to come with, and I can still remember just how often you’d dragged him around to see all the things you wanted to see. While he may have seemed unamused, he was certainly happy to keep you entertained.

I even remember how long you spent looking for a gift for Bruce’s birthday that year, too. His sixteenth birthday and you wanted to make sure it was a gift he’d really like.

Truly it didn’t quite matter. He would’ve liked anything you got him, even if it was some toy from the store or anything else you quite liked at that age.

I keep most photos the manor has up of you in my room now. Ever since your funeral, ever since your death, no one’s been really able to walk in through the manors front entrance.

When they do, they usually sit there for a few minutes and stare at those photos. Or just shut their eyes and briskly walk past.

Do you remember all the times we’d spend in the manors kitchen when you were younger? How often we’d make something- anything- to make you feel better?

I certainly do.

I remembered how often you’d get at least something everywhere. Whether it was flour, sugar, or even eggs, you always managed to make a mess. But that’s fine, because I could never tire out of cleaning those up with you.

I would give anything, in fact, to have to clean up flour or cake batter off the kitchen floor at some random hour in the night again.

I would give anything to come downstairs to the manors kitchen and see you baking because you were stressed over school or something at work. I would give anything to have to wake you up in the morning because you slept through your alarm.

I’d give anything and everything to be able to talk to you again, my little moon.

But I also wonder if you’d resent me. Do you hate me, for having to kill you? Do you hate me as much as I hate myself? Would you ever be able to forgive me for what I did one day? Or would you tell me that it was okay, that I did what I had to?

I so desperately wish that things could be different. I want them to be. You used to jokingly say we wouldn’t be able to do function as a family without you, and truly? You were right. We can’t function. Much less look each other in the eyes.

The family dinners you used to love so much have been dwindling. Becoming less and less often, with less and less of the others showing up. But I think it’s because they can’t help but stare at your empty seat when they do.

I still sometimes forget you aren’t here for dinner anymore. Still make your favorite dish, set up a plate just for you in your seat, only to be reminded. I think that’s why Bruce doesn’t eat outside of his study now.

Bruce feels like he failed you. Jason, Barbara, and most of all, Dick, too. But if anyone failed you, it was me. I could’ve tried to look for other options before killing you, but I didn’t.

Even though the question of “what could we have even done” is there, I can’t help but think I could have done something different. Something that didn’t have the outcome of me having to watch you, my child, get buried before me.

There are so, so many things I still wish to see. I want to see you grow up more, see you achieve all the things you dreamed. But now I won’t even have that chance. You won’t even have the chance to one day see Damian graduate, which is something I know you were excited to see. Nor will you get to see Cassandra graduate, either.

They’ll probably still have a seat reserved for you anyway. Right in the front row. I’m positive they’ll still mention you in their graduation speech, just as the others did.

I’m sure they will remember you for a long, long time. I know we will all remember you for a long time. You are nowhere near as replaceable as you used to think you were.

It’s a fact that you aren’t replaceable to me, either, my child. My little moon.

-Alfred Pennyworth

‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎└──═━┈━═──┘

#alfred pennyworth #gender neutral reader #oneshot #gn reader #angst #dc universe #non canon compliant dc universe oneshot #vampire hunters #vampires au #may be non canon compliant dc universe oneshot #batfam #platonic #tw grief #tw grieving #tw sad shit

[albatmobile]

The Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds Chapter 16

𓅪 After not hearing from Roy or Jason for five years, you suddenly find yourself taking in extra income as a babysitter for their child.

𓅪 Rated: M | 3.3k includes: making up, karaoke, Damian appreciation

fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist]

Chapter 16: It's Gonna Be Me | ao3 - wattpad

THEN

Your apartment was cold and lonely compared to the warm bustle you'd become accustomed to at Wayne Manor, but you had a point to prove. 

Jason had texted you once, while Roy had taken to blowing up your phone in the days following. By the time Monday came around, you were shocked to find the redhead at your locker before Tim had even gotten there. 

You raised a questioning brow at his uncharacteristic timeliness to school, then covered his face by opening your locker, “What do you want?”

“Good morning to you too,” Roy’s hair flopped back into view around your locker door. “Jason made scones as an apology for being a huge dick.”

You heard a paper bag ruffle from behind you, but you focused on grabbing your books for the first half of the day. When you shut the door and he was still there, wriggling the bag in your face, you saw no better option than to grab them from his hand and chuck it into the trashcan on the other side of the hall.

The sound was a lot louder than you expected, but you went with it anyway.

His mouth dropped.

Yeah, you weren’t crawling back this time.

Damian showed up and overtook Roy’s steps as he fell in step beside you, pushing him behind the two of you in the process. You’ve never had friends, so you’d never given anyone the cold shoulder. However, the way you and Damian were chittering along like Roy wasn’t even there was definitely cold.

Like Mr. Freeze cold.

Your heart ached, knowing if you chanced a look over your shoulder, Roy would have his signature puppy pout that would make you want to forget everything and forgive him, so you forced your eyes ahead. Eventually, the trailing presence left and you and Damian made it to class minutes before the warning bell ever rang.

“You’re more tolerable than usual,” Damian commented, taking in your distracted state. 

You’re faced toward the window with the end of your paintbrush tapping against your pencil outline. 

“Less distracted, I guess,” You turned from the window to wet your brush.

Damian hummed, “The manor has been quiet.”

“I’m not a loud person,” You doubted your absence would be that noticeable in a house filled with that many kids.

“Your presence demands attention, then,” Damian restated. “You will come over tonight for a sleepover.” It wasn’t even a question, but a demand. How could you refuse?

Oh, right.

Roy’s annoying ass you could deal with, but Jason? Anyone with eyes could see you were two opposing forces.Nothing was ever easy with him. You gulped at the idea of running into him again so soon.

Damian called your name.

“Huh?” His face scrunched up in a concerned manner at your response. “Oh, sleepover. Yeah,” You trailed off, swirling your brush in the pigment. “I think I can come over.”

You didn’t bother to look over at the confused look that was undoubtedly on his face and were grateful when class started to cut off further questioning.

•

Damian didn’t question your fleeting nature in the manor when you insisted on staying in his room sketching Titus. Eventually, he got tired and begged to be let out.

Dinner ultimately went smoothly, with both Dick and Babs in attendance and Tim joining a few minutes in. 

It was dessert that was messy.

You should’ve known something was off when Alfred asked for your help on the whipped cream. You should’ve known he was the scheming old man everyone claimed him to be. 

Alfred left you to whisk the heavy cream and powdered sugar when Jason’s skunk stripe made a sudden appearance. 

You froze.

“Hey,” Your name spilled nonchalantly from his mouth. You continued whisking. If he wanted to talk, he could talk. “You doing karaoke tonight?”

Out of all the things you expected to come out of his mouth, that definitely wasn’t one of them.

“What?”

You didn’t miss the smirk that trickled onto his scarred cheeks, “Karaoke?”

You sighed.

He made his way behind you, coming up beside you while still allowing a decent amount of space between you.

Chatter from the other room carried over to the kitchen as Dick rambled on about some ski trip in the Alps. The clock in the kitchen ticked every second and the whisk beat against the metallic bowl in your hand.

“Did you like the scones?”

You didn’t rise to the bait.

The heavy cream was still far too soupy to be used, so you quickened your pace. The faster you could get this over with, the better.

Metal crashed against metal, Dick’s voice rang out and the clock chimed out eight times.

“I’m sorry.”

It was quiet.

You set the whisk down on the counter with a gentle clang but refused to face him.

“You already said that.”

Damian called what you were fixated on: the tile between the wall and the cabinets, a backsplash. You’d never been so interested in the pearlescent tile that graced the space, but it’s all you could focus on at the moment. If it weren’t for that stupid fucking tile, you’d be seconds away from walking straight out the front door again.

“Jay babe, yooo-oh,” Roy’s boisterous voice cut through the lull in the dining room, calling out jokingly to Jason only to abruptly cut himself off at the sight of your back. “Hey,” Your name is added on like a second thought.

Your fight or flight kicked in and your spine straightened in your indecision.

With both of them present, it was now or never.

Your eyes tore from the backsplash to finally confronted them, “I don’t care if you guys think I’m a bitch for acting how I did. I’m tired of being strung along,” You choked, rephrasing quickly. “As a friend, you know? You can’t just decide when you want to associate with me and when you don’t like I’m some toy. I’m not scared to be alone.” 

It was a thinly veiled threat and they knew it.

It was a lie and you knew it.

Roy stepped closer to you, testing the murky waters that separated you. His eyes searched yours for any hesitation, but your resolve quickly crumbled until he found none. “You don’t have to be alone again. At least not because of our dumbasses. I’m sorry,” He looked at Jason, “We’re sorry. You’re right.”

You let your stern look drop and look between the two of them, “Okay.”

They’d apologized and you’d forgiven them, but things still felt off. You could partially feel the walls you’d steadily been chipping away at fully fortify around them once again, taunting you in their wake.

“Don’t take it the wrong way. We’re not used to letting people in.” Jason’s voice called your attention to him, “There are some things you need to trust. Please just trust that it has to be like this.” 

The apology you could accept. Them going right back into keeping shit from you? Not so much. Regardless, you feel the need to keep the peace, “Okay.” 

Dessert goes off without a hitch, you mainly sticking to Damian’s side, talking about his latest shopping spree for Titus. You didn’t miss how their eyes followed every touch you left on Damian from across the table.

•

It’s not like you were exactly quiet or anything, but in large groups like this, you tended to hover in the shadows as an observer. Considering the last person you expected to get up and sing was Damian, you doubted you could get him up there for a duet, but damn, did you want to sing at least one song.

After watching Barbara kill at Macklemore, Tim dominate a song in perfect Japanese, then Dick downright murdering ‘Holding Out for a Hero,’ you were itching to get up there. Roy’s rendition of 'Gold Digger' was nothing compared to his duet with Jason to 'Colt 45'. 

Yes, you were still hesitant around them, but you couldn’t suppress your smile at their performance. Jason’s head nods to the beat, coupled with Roy’s obnoxious hand gestures to the lyrics, left even Damian cackling like an idiot. 

You couldn’t help but notice you hadn’t seen Stephanie around in forever and, even though you’d originally gotten off on the wrong foot, you were definitely missing her sass. Karaoke definitely seemed up her alley, so you wondered why she couldn't come.

Weird.

After Dick stole the mic for the fifteenth time of the night, he tried to wrestle it from Barbara’s grip when she snatched it away. Dick and Bab’s game of tug-of-war continued onto the makeshift stage, which forced Jason and Roy to evacuate the vicinity. 

It was weird because you swore you saw Jason and Roy hesitate about where to go as they left the stage. For once, you felt like you could read them and, for once, it seemed like they hadn’t noticed your edge above them. 

With all the couches being free and the one you were sitting on more than half occupied by Damian and yourself, you’re surprised when Roy’s feet gained confidence and headed in your direction. Jason followed skeptically behind him. He obviously didn’t want to push anything and ruin the progress you’d all made in the kitchen, but you showed no hostility. 

Honestly, you were tired of being at war with them. One weekend had been more than enough time apart, as much as you didn’t want to admit it. 

Roy fell into the seat next to you on the couch, nearly hitting you in the process. His added weight sent you falling into his side, causing his hands to go up in surrender. You quickly shuffled away to put more room between the two of you, but no matter how far you scooted, you were still tilting toward him. 

“We’re good. Right?” Roy tilted his head at you like a confused puppy. 

Jason stayed off to the side, pretending to watch Dick sing another rock ballad when, in reality, you knew he was paying attention to your every word.

“Keep asking and my answer just might change,” Damian snickered from beside you. 

“No, I just mean, like, we settled everything?” His head tilted more, a feat you didn’t think possible. “‘Cuz I can’t lie, princess, not talking to you’s been killing us.”

You nodded lightly, “Yeah, we’re good.”

It definitely felt nice to hear that the break had also impacted them. 

“Good.”

“I’m not playing that game with you,” You snorted. “So, since we’re all good, now I get to ask why you were shirtless.”

“Roy’s a whore,” Damian rolled his eyes. “Don’t waste a question on something as obvious as that.”

“Least take me out on a date before calling me those dirty names, darlin’.” 

Damian’s nose scrunched at Roy’s response, choosing to physically remove himself from the conversation to sabotage the sound system instead.

“Thanks for ditching me,” You called after his retreating form but were met with his middle finger. “So?” You looked at Roy.

“Still thinking about me shirtless, beautiful?”

“My age still not an issue for tonight?” He sputtered at your retort while Jason at least had the decency to look amused. 

“Whatever,” He bumped into you jokingly. “You singin’ or what?”

Damian was wrestling Dick while Babs filmed the whole thing and the mic had rolled onto the ground in front of you. 

“Well, there is one song I know.”

You stood up, picking up the microphone in the process and Dick and Babs immediately backed off. Damian scoffed at you but moved too, nonetheless.

You turned around and shook your head at their snickers and Dick’s wolf whistles. Hiding your smile, you waited anxiously for Dick to hit the lights and for Babs to start the song. 

Your eyes avoided everyone in the room as the opening died down and Justin Timberlake’s voice kicked in. The choreography you hadn’t realized you’d memorized came easily after. Dick, who Barbara had wrestled to the couch to prevent him from hijacking another performance, still managed to wriggle free to join your moves in unison just as the second chorus hit. 

The room got so loud when Alfred walked in on you and Dick doing the robot, leaving everyone else collectively loose their shit. The older man merely closed the door, shaking his head before retreating back downstairs and letting Bruce know karaoke night was a success. 

What Alfred didn’t know (and what Dick would never admit while he was still in police academy) was that everyone was decently tipsy off the natties Roy had lugged in. 

The final chorus kicked in and by that point, everyone but Jason and Damian were on their feet, following along with Dick's and your choreography. By the time the song ended, you were all in a howling, panting heap on the floor.

Roy’s sweaty shirt was flung onto Dick’s disgusted face as he flopped back down next to you on the floor. 

“What is with you and this shirtless thing you’ve got going on?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes,” You shifted your head to face him, flashing him a tipsy grin, “that’s why I’m asking, you weirdo.”

“Yeah, I bet you do,”He snorted and flicked his cap further down over his eyes, casting them into a shade of darkness. 

“Roy, what?” You snorted, raising your arm and letting it fall on his stomach. He rolled over on top of you in retaliation until his weight forced you to tap. He removed himself easily and your breathing finally regulated. 

Off to the side, you heard Damian call for you.

Roy pouted, “You leavin’ me all alone with Jay?”

“I’m sure you’ll survive,” You paid him no mind, knowing Roy was completely exaggerating his resistance. Damian reached his hand down toward you and hauled you upward, “Besides, I’ll see you guys tomorrow, anyway. I’m spending the night with Damian.”

Roy looked over at Jason and made grabby hands, only to be met by Jason’s middle finger. You sighed and reached your hand down to help him up. 

“Oh, princess. You sure know how to treat a gent,” He waggled his eyebrows at you obnoxiously. You were tempted to drop him right then and there, but the kind part in your heart won out and you elected to pull him to his feet instead. 

Jason waited for the two of you with Damian at the door. 

“You sure you don’t want to go out with us?” He was leaning casually against the frame. You had to physically stop yourself from rolling your eyes at his angsty-ass behavior. 

You looked at Damian, who’d yet to take his eyes off you since your karaoke number, “Uh, where to?”

“Just walking around downtown and shit.”

Damian’s eyes flickered with what you were beginning to think was jealousy. The last thing you wanted to do was upset him when he was the reason you were even here to forgive them in the first place.

“I’ll probably just stick around here with Dami,” You followed behind as they made to leave. At the nickname, everyone's steps faltered except your own. “What?”

Ever since the argument, even though all was forgiven, you still viewed them differently and they obviously viewed you differently. Whether it was sexual and out of reach or platonic and all in your head, you didn’t know. What you did know was that Damian had always been there for you. 

You parted ways with Jason and Roy, Damian absolutely preened when you walked into his room with him instead of leaving with them. You rolled your eyes; boys were so annoying.

You knew you made the right choice, though.   

His hand rested against the small of your back as he led you to his balcony. 

“This is probably one of the only places in the city where you can actually see the stars,” He nodded his head toward the sky and your eyes followed his line of sight. The inky blackness radiated flecks of white stars as if they’d been splattered across its expanse like paint on a canvas. “There’s Ursa Major,” Your eyes trailed to the end of his finger. “Right next to Cassiopeia.” 

“I always loved that myth,” You sighed dreamily, thinking back to when you’d hoarded all the mythology books you could find with Bart at your last school. While you never really talked, he was always in the library for some reason, so it made sense why your paths always seemed to cross. 

Silence with you and Damian was never awkward, especially now with all the twinkling night sky to keep you entertained.

“You performed wonderfully,” He said out of nowhere.

His room overlooked the rose garden where you’d been just a few months prior. You thought back to the shaky ground you’d found yourself on with Jason in the library after he’d denounced the garden situation. From where you were standing, you could look down and see the very fountain that you’d wrestled in. You were quite literally above the situation.

You couldn’t tell if he was being facetious or not. “Shut up.”

“I’m serious,” He was facing the gardens with both hands on the railing, but his eyes were on as if he thought you might disappear at any moment. “You make everything so beautiful.”

You couldn’t help the shock that caused your mouth to fall open, “Damian.”

He turned to face you now, “You make the simplest of things seem so magical. From the way you hold your paintbrush to the way you tuck your hair behind your ear when you’re anxious.” You hadn’t even realized you’d done that yourself, “The way your eyes glisten when you know an answer in class. It all goes back to the way you put yourself out there, not caring what anyone thinks of you,” He exhaled as if it physically pained him to get this off his chest. “You’re entirely beautiful.”

“Damian,” You said again, not quite believing what you were hearing. No one had ever written you poetry, let alone spoken such niceties to you, but Damian's words felt like a poem. Your insides felt completely warm.

“I adore you,” He took your hands in his, searching your eyes for an answer you didn’t know if you had. 

Everything with Jason and Roy was so muddled and entirely a daydream if you were being honest. Damian was within reach. He was kind, always there for you. He understood your sass and offered it back tenfold. 

He was perfect.

Your stomach clenched and your eyebrows drew together in confusion.

If he was perfect, why were you so hesitant?

“You mean so much to me, Dami.”

While you’d kissed him before, this felt like your actual first kiss.

No emotional turmoil, no traumatic event. No screaming, no blood, just the crickets, wind and stars to keep you company. 

The rose gardens shrunk from view as your face slowly inched toward Damian’s. His hands slid along the railing until his right hand brushed against your left. He allowed his pinky to graze along your own before his smaller hand tried to cover yours.

It’d been months since you’d last done anything beyond the intention of friendly, but you weren’t dumb. You knew where this was heading.

His lips were perfectly smooth as they made chaste pressure against your own.

His cheek came to rest against your warm one, causing you to tilt your head to meet his own until you were able to look up and meet his eyes. He was waiting for you to make the next move, you realized in amusement. You nudged his head with your forehead until it tilted upward, allowing you to fully capture his lips with your own.

He removed his other hand from the railing to cup your cheek. Meanwhile, yours both moved to his chest to deepen the kiss. 

When you broke apart, you couldn’t help the yawn that escaped you.

“Sorry,” You apologized with a wince. You hadn’t been getting any sleep on your shitty mattress at home and the prospect of sleeping on Damian’s cloud had you excited in the sleepiest way possible.

Damian dismissed the action as he grabbed your hand, placing a delicate peck on top of it. Without having to say anything, he opened the door for you and stripped down to his boxers with a self-conscious second glance before hopping into his bed. 

He looked at you expectantly. 

You stripped into a baggy crop top and the shorts he'd kept since the last sleepover before joining him. When Damian attempted to flip your position so he could be the big spoon, you just tightened your grip around his midsection until he gave in, snuggling against your front with a slight huff.

Though your tired eyes wailed for you to succumb to sleep, one question rang out in your head, preventing it.

Why had you kissed him?

A/N: EVERY LITTLE THING I DOOOO -- come say hi/ send me prompts!!

[next]  ||  masterlist ||  pinned

#damian wayne x reader #jason todd x reader #reader x roy harper #reader x jason todd x roy harper #my fic: the art of rehabilitating snowbirds #my fic:ars

[kleenex-tissues]

Yours Truly - Ch. 18

Ch. 18 - A Family Endeavor

Gabriel was frustrated, and after years of futile plans to bring Emilie back, he was becoming manic. Every second of every day was spent thinking, plotting, devising something – anything – to bring her back to his waiting arms. He hadn’t left the confines of his basement den in weeks. Any food was brought down to him by Natalie, and the little sleep he had gotten was on an air mattress beside his wife’s body.

He couldn’t stomach the idea of leaving her again, but he knew that he would have to for any plan to finally reach fruition. 

This one would be different.

It was time to create a team of his own, one that could outmatch Ladybug and her gaggle of pests. It was time to outsource, and he’d do it all at the Paris Young Designer’s Finale.

In the meantime, he’d just have to keep Ladybug busy.

–

Amidst the warm light of the afternoon sun peeking through her window, Marinette’s laughter echoed throughout the room. Displayed on her desktop screen was an ornate lounge room with three people. Tim stood stiff in the middle of the screen as a woman pinned the suit Marinette had sent into place around his body. Beside him, in a fluffy armchair, was Damian, brushing Alfred the cat with one hand and using the other to hold up his head. The boys were both bickering, but the amusement alight in their eyes was impossible to miss.

It had been over a week now since Damian had apologized, followed by a few phone calls from Tim and Duke, begging for her forgiveness. She happily provided it, but made sure to use the time on the phone to set boundaries for future guidance on meddling in her affairs. They were all too eager to get back on her good side, not that they had ever actually left it.

Damian’s texts and phone calls had become routine between the two. He called Marinette at 9:30 on the dot every single night. Occasionally he would facetime her, only for her to accept and be face-to-face with Titus instead. The first time she had been set into a fit of laughter so badly, she had to end the call immediately because she had accidentally peed herself. Damian found it too cute to be properly disgusted.

She was unsure how she had found herself in a strict routine, given the mess that she was, but Damian would relent on the structure at times to match her hectic schedule. Like today, a Sunday afternoon which she had been able to dedicate to monitoring the fitting of Tim’s suit. While she was sure the Wayne’s would never bring in an incompetent seamstress to assist on their end, it helped ease her mind to see for herself that her masterpiece would not be ruined by shoddy alterations.

Marinette giggled in tandem with Tim’s every complaint regarding Damian’s presence. He didn’t understand why Damian needed to be there, but she reminded them that this was the call time she had set aside for Damian, Tim’s needs just happened to overlap. If anything, Tim was the one who didn’t need to be present, but she only tossed that out to tease him.

His mock groan was interrupted by a knock at the door. She couldn’t make out the muffled speech from the other side, but seeing the annoyance flash in Damian’s eyes, she had a feeling it was one of his brothers calling.

His eyes flicked to the laptop screen he had set up for their call before he stood, gently moving Alfred the cat to spread out on the arm of the chair. He crossed the room in three long strides and ducked his head to be at eye level with the screen.

“I’m afraid Grayson wants to come in. Please know you are not obligated to give permission; I will gladly turn him away,” Damian softly spoke into the mic. 

Dick Grayson, the eldest of the Wayne brood. Marinette had heard many things about him, both from Damian and various tabloid magazines. She would often pick up Teen Weekly from the local bodega in order to keep up with American fashion trends for her business, and more often than not, Dick’s face would be sprawled across pages of the most eligible bachelors in the celebrity sphere. This was usually followed by a cheesy article on dissecting his past ‘relationships.’

According to Damian, Dick has never even met most of those girls he is said to have dated. While the media paints him as a sex icon and playboy, in reality, he was a good-natured man who was still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Kori, and spent most of his time at the gym. Damian wasn’t even sure when the last time Dick went on a date.

So, Marinette gladly gave consent to allow Dick to enter their conversation, much to Damian’s dismay.

The moment Damian called for Dick to enter, the door had been flung open and a handsome man in a pair of sweatpants and a fitted tee came bounding in. He surveyed the room around him before setting his mischievous eyes on the laptop propped up beside his brother.

“Is this the famous Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

Damian scowled in response to the excited shout and moved to block the screen from sight. Marinette blushed a little as she stared directly into his wide muscled chest. Really, what was it with this family and fitted tees?

Though she couldn’t see Dick, she heard his annoyed gasp. “Are you hoarding Marinette time now, Dami? I didn’t know you could be so possessive!”

“It is not hoarding if this time belonged to me initially. You ought to keep your crooked nose out of other people's business. We wouldn’t want Alfred to have to fix it again,” Damian grumbled. Marinette could see the muscles in his chest tightening.

Despite his threatening tone, everyone knew there was no real malice behind the statement. It would take a lot more to bring Damian to make good on his words. It was times like these that Marinette couldn’t help imagining him as a chihuahua, all bark and no bite.

Tim spoke next, “Oh, just move already. She needs to make sure the fitting goes smoothly, and you’re getting in the way.”

He had him there , she chuckled to herself. Damian still had yet to yield his guard of the screen, so Marinette finally spoke up.

“I want to meet your brother, Dami.”

Finally, he relented, stalking back over to his armchair. He flopped down aggressively, sending Alfred the cat darting out of screen. She watched as he crossed his arms like an angry child throwing a silent tantrum, but she could only laugh more, which resulted in a deep red flush to overtake his face.

Dick pointedly ignored him before approaching the laptop. He was careful to keep from blocking her view of Tim, but still allowing her to view his face. Beautiful blue eyes bore into her, so different from his brothers. Moments like these reminded her that these brothers were not linked by blood, something she tended to forget given their ability to seemingly read one another’s minds. She had grown up an only child, but this type of relationship was one she only saw in Alya’s younger twin sisters. 

“How are you today, Miss Dupain-Cheng? As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I’m Damian’s older brother, Dick.”

Marinette was a bit flustered as he stared at her so intently, a kind smile tilting his lips. It was one thing to see his perfectly airbrushed photos in magazines, but a whole other to come face to face with him. There had to be something in the water of Gotham, maybe some weird chemical that made everyone stupidly attractive. Or maybe Bruce Wayne specifically picked them out for that reason.

She swallowed hard before finding her words, albeit stuttered, “Oh, uh, just Marinette is fine! And I am doing super duper great!” She attempted to smooth off the sentence with an exaggerated smile, but soon realized the awkward pause she left. “Um, how are you, Dichard? I mean, Rick – no Dick! Dick Grayson!”

Tim burst into laughter, unwittingly pushing away the increasingly frustrated seamstress. He was doubled over, clutching at his stomach. Dick blinked a few times before awkwardly returning the wave Marinette hadn’t even realized she’d done. She did, however, realize just how much her face was burning. 

Another voice caught her attention, a deep rumble in the room, “Is there a reason Tim is dying on the floor in a suit full of pins?”

Dick’s face brightened once more, turning to face the source of the voice.

“Jay-bird! Come meet Dami’s girlfriend!” He turned back to her quickly, and she’s sure he must have realized his mistake. “That’s okay with you, right? He’s not nearly as intimidating as he wants you to think!”

Oh, he hadn’t realized. Of course, Damian had, and she could see that the red in his face had only increased. Before she could think on it further, another man came into the frame, this one much taller than his counterparts. His hair is the same shade of black with a shock of white in the front of his fringe, and his eyes are an identical green to Damian’s, yet they have a haunted look to them. He tried to smile politely, but it cannot hide the horror swirling within them.

This must be Jason. Damian speaks of him the least, and she’s seen even fewer pictures. But there is no mistaking his figure for anyone else.

He doesn’t speak, only nodding in her direction. Ah, it’s up to her to speak.

“This must be Jason, right? It’s nice to meet you!”

Dick frowns, making Tim only laugh harder. He has now found his way onto his hands and knees, the seamstress having long left out of frustration. Dick mumbles audibly to himself, “How come she’s cool with Jason? What did I do wrong?”

Damian spoke next, raising his voice to be heard above his brothers, “I apologize, Mari. It seems you have been put into an impromptu family reunion. Please do not feel you must stay if you are uncomfortable.”

All eyes shot to him and before she could even think to respond, a fifth voice echoed into the silent room. “Mari, huh?” Duke Thomas, thank the kwamis.

“I wasn’t aware Dami could call someone anything other than their last name,” chortled Jason. “Has our darling Mari tamed our own resident shrew?”

“Somebody call in Cass! We can’t leave her out of this!”

“Have you no respect for Mari? What if she does not feel comfortable?”

Above the din of conversation, Marinette managed to choke out, “No, no! It’s really fine! I am excited to meet everyone.”

Dick’s arms were flailing in front of the camera as he yelled at his brothers, “See, Mari likes us!”

And so on it went. Cass came in running, with nothing more than a wave to Marinette. Then, Stephanie, who she assumed must be some sort of cousin. Barbara, who she can already tell will become her favorite. Alfred the butler (Damian’s awful original with his pet names) , polite and well-mannered, and finally, Bruce Wayne.

He was the spitting image of his son, yet with blue eyes, a pale face, and hard lines from age. His presence caused comfort to settle in her stomach. He made her feel safe, like her own Papa.

The next hour was spent learning more about the Wayne family than she could have ever imagined. They were nothing like they were painted as in the tabloids. They were humble, kind, and seemed to love the youngest of the brood more than anything. In one conversation, she was welcomed with open arms into their family, forgetting, or perhaps ignoring, the fact that Marinette and Damian were only friends.

At the moment, that is.

She would love to be more, to find herself wrapped up in his life, for all the good and the bad, but she would not ask for more than he could give. She only hoped he might feel the same and broach the line they danced around. He brought her more joy than anyone else.

But happiness was not something she was rewarded for long, as an akuma alert brightly flashed on her cell phone screen. Ladybug took priority, no matter what Marinette felt, and the spotted hero was being called into action. 

Damian, seeing Marinette’s face drop, prodded her for information. “Is everything alright, Mari? I know my family can be a great deal to take in all at once.”

She swung her attention back to the screen, stuttering, “No, no! Everyone is great. I just - uh, my Maman texted me. She needs me to help downstairs in the bakery. I’m afraid I have to go.”

His dejected face did not miss her sight, but he let her go. She would think about this later, perhaps even discuss it. In the meantime, Paris awaited.

#wolfish-writes #batman #maribat #damian wayne #marinette dupain cheng #maridami #batbros #batfamily

[maxine-drusilla-wayne]

YOU DONT LOVE HIM!

Part 1!

(Barbara Gordon x fem!reader!)

Summary for this series:nightwing gets upset when Barbara finally gets him back by cheating on him ONCE but she gets bashed behind her back and nightwing wants to get with reader but when you tell babs she doesn’t believe reader and turns on her.

Warnings:slight stalking(later in the series),betrayal,sadness,metions of joker,reader hides a secret, revenge, heartbreak.

You had been coming downstairs when you heard a loud noise.

“Grayson what the fuck are you doing?”

You saw a broken keyboard as you came closer.”y/n. Just the person I wanted to see.” He walked closer.

“What happened? Where’s babs?” You asked trying to hide the disappointment of not seeing your crush.”we’re having a fight! That’s why I wanted see you.” He says with anger in his voice.

“Ok well what about?” You got tired of asking questions and just wanted a straight forward answer from him.”Barbara cheated on me!”Oh. You didn’t really care in fact being happy for Barbara bc she had cried so many times because of dick and now he has they audacity to be upset? Oh ok.

“Oh ok well I hope she’s feeling good right now.” You replied bluntly showing how you didn’t care how mad he was or more made he would get.

“Y/n what the fuck?! She cheated on me!”you didn’t give af. So you said that.”ummm ok? I don’t care. You cheated on her multiple times with kory and other girls. She honestly deserves better.”you didn’t care anymore especially since you started to not like him a while ago for living up to his first name.

“I know you have a crush on her but seriously y/n where’s the fucking loyalty?!” “Where’s the loyalty?!” You were appalled. “Yeah you’re supposed to be my friend!” “Motherfucker you the last person who should be talking bout “where’s the loyalty?!” You was cheating on yo girl first!” You ready to slap him.

“Those were mistakes! We all make them!” “Well then forgive her for hers!”you hated him in this moment and took every ounce of inner physical and mental strength to not put your hands on him.

“Listen I love you and want to be with you so let’s be together!” You patience is thinning.”ugh as if!” You didn’t want to settle for him. He’s an embarrassment.

“Please!” “NO!” At of anger you slapped him and ran out.

Hours passed and he blew up your phone begging to be with you. Of course you weren’t gonna let that slide but her Grayson had made up too.

At 9:00pm you decided to tell her.

Before you walked in her room you noticed Damian and Tim by her door.”tt’ I can’t believe you still tolerate little red riding hoods” Damian said “hoods” implying that she was….well I think you know. But it made no sense since at the time she was still in her wheelchair.

“God,I hate babs.” “Oh shut the fuck up mommas boy and Jason Todd’s replacement.” You said and knocked on the door. They walked away and you heard babs wheeling over to the door.

She opened it and smiled as she saw you.

“Hey y/n! What’s up?!” She greeted then asked as she opened the door more so you can walk in.”hey babs! Listen I have something really important to tell and you might not be so happy hearing it.” You said nervously.

Her face immediately dropped to a serious face. That scared you even more.

“Go on.” She replied.”well you know how you and he who shall not be name were going through some issues today?” You asked with a slight nervous laugh.

“Of course I do,what’s the matter?” She ask with a sigh and you can tell she’s already getting impatient.”ok well for the last couple of hours even after you guys made up he’s still trying to get with me!” You yell fastly in fear.

She just sits there and looks at you up and down with her eyes all still with a resting bitch face.(that you find quite attractive)

The she starting laughing…but the laugh of someone going crazyily mad and about to loose there patience.

“I can’t fucking believe you y/n! You do this to your best friend?! Your crippled one at that!” Then you can see her start have tears of frustration.”no! No babs it’s not like that please!-“ she cut you off.

“Yes! Yes it is exactly like that! Now he may do at lot if this but he wouldn’t do that to me ALREADY!” At this point now you were starting to cry.

“Babs you would really choose a ain’t shit ass guy over your best friend!?”your heart was breaking at how she would choose his word over yours.”oh and now you wanna fucking cry? You wanna cry?” Babs asks.”when you’re fucking-sucking the energy out of everyone here! And then you wanna fucking lie to me y/n?” You were sobbing.

“Babs please you know I would never lie to you!-“ “you’re fucking dead to me y/n.” She said as she stopped crying.”you don’t me that-“you say while shaking your head frantically but she cut you off.

“I mean. Ever.fucking.word. We’re done. There’s no more ‘y/n and babs’ anymore while you always try to act so fucking innocent!” She says and you’re heart is hurting.this is the worst day of your entire life.

“I love you.” You say sadly knowing that you’ll never stop.”no the fuck you don’t,you love being loved! You love my attention!” “So umm just get the fuck out of my room and you can just like stay out of my life! Forever! Bc honestly looking at you right now has me physically fucking Ill!” And with that you run out and straight to your room.

You get and text. It reads “get the fuck out” from “brucey!🦇💵” and with that you pack your things and go through the secret elevator in your room but you decide to head to the batcave first.

You see dicks phone and you have fingerprint in there so you decide to screenshot his thirsty text. Go to “wallpaper” and set it as his Lock Screen and Home Screen.

Then you decided to get your motorcycle and decided to ride to a hotel that you had book for the night. You check your phones time;9:48pm it read.

“It’s gonna be a long trip…”you thought getting on your bike and riding into the night.

#barbara gordon #barbara gordon x reader #batfam #dick grayson #damian wayne #tim drake #bruce wayne #first post #batgirl #batfam x reader #batfam x batsis

[cipheress-to-k-pop]

Roy Harper when his Future child comes to the Present

Dick Grayson Ver. | Jason Todd Ver. | Tim Drake Ver. | Damian Wayne Ver.  | Bruce Wayne Ver.

Conner Kent Ver. | Wally West Ver.| Artemis Crock Ver.

A/N: And by very very VERY popular demand, I give you Roy Harper! I really really REALLY loved the storyline for this one so I really hope you enjoy it!

You and Roy were introduced through Jason

You were with Jason and Starfire when you went to rescue Roy from Qurac

And together, the four of you formed the Outlaws

Your and Roy's relationship had been through thick and thin

You went from Jason's mutual friends

To plain acquaintances

To friends but you weren't close enough to nag or judge him for his terrible life decisions

To friends but you could nag him, but you still had boundaries

To friends who could literally be considered as married

Like legit those weird friends that could go to the bathroom while the other one would be showering

The type of friends that would cuddle with each other

Or sleep in the same bed because they feel lonely

Or hold each other because they just needed to be held

Or kiss and make out and have sex

Those kinds of friends

But even though your friendship was built over a volcano that could erupt any second

You still had a strong foundation

And you had been through a lot of shit together

Even though Jason was the one that introduced the both of you

You ended up being closer to Roy than Jason ever dreamed of getting with you

So much so that Jason calls him your Royfriend

haha play on words

Remember how I said your relationship was a volcano just waiting to explode and kill several neighbouring towns?

Well, that explosion came in the form of Jade Nguyen

Or Cheshire

Or the mother of Roy's child

What the fuck?

So, while you were seeking comfort and intimacy and security in Roy

He had been doing the same with Jade

And they had a daughter together

Even though you both weren't official

It broke your heart, and you were devastated

You couldn't bear to watch Roy with his daughter after Jade left her to him

It was too painful to think that you didn't mean as much to him as he did to you

So, you told Jason that you were quitting

And one night you took off

Without telling Roy anything

When he found out, he'll admit he was a little blindsided

But he couldn't blame you

He had known he was the bad guy in this situation

Because he knew about your feelings toward him

And to be honest, he might have felt the same way

But he was afraid to fall for someone

The intensity of his feelings scared him

Everything in his life always went so wrong

And things with you were so good the way they were

Sleeping with Jade was something he didn't expect

It was stupid and it was a mistake

And he did regret it happening at all

But regardless, he had a daughter

And he chose to love her dearly, to raise her well and healthy

Unlike the way he grew up

He wanted to find you and apologize

To get on his knees and beg for forgiveness

But he knew that you deserved better than that

I mean, really

What was he expecting?

That he'd find you and ask to raise someone else's child along with him?

The same person who he slept with despite having feelings for you?

You deserved way better than that

And that's what you believed too while you tried to forget what Roy's kisses felt like

How safe and loved you felt in his arms

How if you forgot the world for a second, you actually felt happy with him

But it was all fake, it wasn't real

Because you were the only one who felt that way

You were either a burden to him, or he was using you

And you didn't want to spend one more moment lamenting over him

And that's exactly what you plan to do

Until one day someone appears at your apartment

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Hey, mom."

"Um, wrong number."

You replied immediately before you slammed the door in her face

The knocking on the door and the ringing of the bell persisted until you opened the door again

"Okay that was a stupid opening, alright. I mean it was super sentimental and wholesome from my side. But it might have been super confusing and weird on your end."

"I'm this close to closing the door again."

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Lian Harper."

You outright laughed at her standing so confidently in front of you, pretending to be your friend's daughter like she didn't know Lian was still an infant

"Yeah, because you're definitely an infant who can't stand let alone get across the country."

"I'm Lian Harper. From 12 years in the future." She said, fishing for something in her pocket and for a second you thought it was a gun before she revealed a ring

You stopped in your tracks

That ring...

It was a family heirloom that you inherited

You glared at her, snatching the ring from her hands

"Stay. Right. Here!"

You went to check where you had hidden the ring

And there it was right where you had left it

Identical to the scratches that were left on the surface from when you used to wear it out in the field

Which meant that she was really from the future

Or had amazing forgery skills

When you opened the door again, she was smiling expectantly at you

"I don't know what the hell you want from me, but I suggest you get lost before I make you regret it."

She frowned, "Trust issues much, mom? How much proof do you want from me?"

You leaned against the doorframe, crossing your arms, "Considering you call me mom makes me suspect that you have no idea what character you're supposed to be playing."

"Or maybe I call you mom because you raised me?"

You raised a brow at her, "What the hell are you saying?"

"Look, I don't know what's going on either. I was in a fight with one of the lanterns and I woke up 12 years in the past and I remember one of your safehouses were here, so I came here to camp out until I found something but instead found you."

She was sticking to her story very vehemently, and you were compelled to believe her

You spend the night talking, trying to wrap your head around all of this

"So, I get married to your father and raise you along with Roy, is that right?"

"Yeah."

"What about your mother?"

"Who cares about her?"

This really shouldn't have surprised you

Considering you've seen A LOT of bad parental relationships

It would have been more surprising if she said that she was in a fully functioning and healthy relationship with her mother

But still, you felt sorry for her

And to be honest, the fact that you would inevitably be put in the middle of their family issues made you uncomfortable

You didn't want to be the reason their family didn't work out

Jade, Roy and Lian deserved a chance to have a happy family

Lian was stubborn though

She kept insisting that she didn't need Jade

But she was also young

You remember thinking the same at that age

But sorting out their relationship would probably benefit her in the long run

For some reason, you felt compelled to reunite her with her mother

Or set their relationship straight from the start

So right before she falls asleep in your bed

You tell her that you both are heading for Roy's place tomorrow to sort this out and try and find out how to send her home

Before going to sleep on the couch

To say Roy was surprised when you come knocking on the door with a girl that looks like a younger Jade is an understatement

He didn't believe Lian at first

But after listening to both you and her, he conceded

The three of you were standing in his living room when you heard a cry from the baby chair where little Lian was sitting

Lian grinned brightly at her younger self

"Man, I was so cute! Enjoy this time younger me, it gets real shitty when you grow up."

"Language." Roy chastised without skipping a beat and you hid a smile at it

He was such a dad

You'll admit you had doubts

But he was really pulling himself together for the sake of his daughter

Together, the three of you try to decide how to go about getting Lian back to her own time

She tells Roy all about her life in the future

And honestly just hearing her makes him feel so happy

This whole thing caught him off guard and he was never sure if he ever even wanted to be a father

He was going through his own shit before Lian came

And he was just grasping at straws when it came to this whole father thing

But she didn't seem like she hated him

She was healthy and happy

And Roy's heart had never felt so light before

All the things that were bothering him

Like whether he'd be a good father

Or whether you'd ever forgive him and come back to him

Those things seemed to go well

And he couldn't be more grateful for it

After a while though

When Lian is preoccupied with something

You pull Roy out into the hallway

To try and convince him to somehow bring Jade back into Lian's life

And how the three of them deserved to be a family

You were honestly just trying to do what you thought was best for Lian and Roy and even Jade

You didn't want to make them uncomfortable and try and fit you in their family

After all they've been through, Roy at least deserved a good family

All you wanted was their happiness

Even if it meant at your expense

But all Roy heard was that you didn't want to be part of this family

You didn't want to be put into this uncomfortable situation

You didn't want to raise Lian along with him

You didn't want to be in a relationship with him

And why should he blame you?

He shouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to be with someone who made less mistakes than him

Who was more open than him

Who was gentler and kinder and better than him

You deserved that

"I'll try and convince Jade to stay so we can be a family."

Even though both your hearts were breaking in your chest

Little did you know a third heart was cracking right as they heard you say it

The door slammed open and there stood Lian with the most betrayed expression she could muster

Her eyes were filled with tears

"I don't want Jade to come back! She chose to leave us! This was her choice!"

"Lian, I know how you feel now but if we get Jade back then we can nip this at the bud, you three can be a family."

"I already have a family! A happy one, with you and dad! I don't want her back in my life! I don't want her to ruin the family that I have!"

"Lian....she's your mother." You tried to convince

"Why are you so fixated on that?!! Yes, she is my mother, but you were the woman I ran to whenever I needed mom!"

Your eyes clouded with tears

This whole time you thought that you shouldn't be in between them

That they deserved to be a family without you

That you were just someone that Roy and Lian would settle for in Jade's absence

But she was here, and she was telling you that she just wanted you

She had a chance to choose Jade instead

But she still wanted you

And you had a place in this family

You weren't just kidding yourself

You actually had a place that mattered and a family that loved you

"Mom, please don't leave me." She whimpered out, wiping her tears and you were crying before you knew it

You hugged her so tightly and that harsh clenching of your chest ceased

It finally felt like everything would be okay

"I won't. I won't leave you. It's okay, mommy's here." You whispered into her hair, holding onto her as tightly as you could

Roy joined into the hug when you grabbed his arm

And the three of you together in the hallway hugged each other tightly

Like it was real

Like you were a family

Eventually, Lian cried so much that she tired herself out

And Roy carried her back to bed

When he came back out, you were tending to baby Lian who was just about to fall asleep as well

And Roy just took a moment to gaze at you

With his daughter in your arms as you rocked her to sleep

And he just knew that this is what he had ever wanted

Not Jade

Just you

Eventually, she fell asleep soundly, blubbering into your shirt and you chuckled at the sight of her

It was weird, you never thought you would be able to replace Jade

And maybe you wouldn't

But you had a place with them, and you were a part of this family

"I'm so sorry, (Y/N)." Roy whispered to you, trying to keep quiet for the sake of his sleeping child

You gave him a small smile

You weren't exactly sure how you felt about this situation and about him

But you knew this was where you both wanted to be

And you were going to try hard to work this out

So, you didn't say anything and just cupped his cheek before leaning in to place a soft kiss to his lips

Lian fussed in your arms from the movement, and you pulled away to make sure she fell back into her slumber

Just as you placed her back into the crib, you reached into your pocket and handed Roy something

He gazed at the ring in his palm with a brow raised

"It was a family heirloom. I guess, it belongs to our family now." You muttered, blushing furiously when you saw the smile on his face.

"Apparently you propose with this ring so I'm just going to tell you to hold onto it."

Roy gave you a look that was halfway between a smirk and a smile

"(Y/N) (L/N), are you proposing to me right now."

You mirrored the smile, "Roy Harper, I'm asking you to make me (Y/N) Harper."

He grinned brightly at you, leaning in to kiss you passionately

You heard a noise at the door

When you pulled away, Lian was standing at the door, smiling widely

"That was so romantic you guys! I can't believe I was actually here to witness the proposal!"

You scoffed before pointing at the snoozing babe in the corner of the room, "You are here."

Lian scoffed right back, and Roy chuckled, noticing the resemblance between the both of you

"She's so useless. Sleeping at a time like this."

"Hey, that's my daughter you're talking about."

If you noticed the giant smile on Roy's face after hearing that, you didn't say anything

You definitely noticed

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[river-bottom-nightmare]

when jason todd was thirteen years old, bruce bought him a collection of dusty old novels from a dingy little bookstore as a christmas present. their spines were wrinkled and their pages were musty and jason read each one fifteen times over in joy. his favourite was a no-name florist’s personal journal, in which each flower they carefully cultivated was laid out in the page with watercolour, information along with the meaning of the plant was scribbled out in ink. it still rests on the top shelf of the bookcase in jason’s old room, gathering dust and losing memories. 

vines grow all along the abandoned end of wayne manor gardens, vines that alfred doesn’t touch because he knows bruce finds the purple hyacinths beautiful. the frustrating part of these flowers, however, are that they refuse to bloom until late, when all the other flowers have blossomed and withered and died. only then do they slowly peek out of their buds, as bruce runs a gentle finger over them. please forgive me, are the words that line their petals, and bruce wonders who exactly he’s begging for forgiveness. damian, cass, for breaking all his promises for a new life? tim, for turning a smart little boy into a battle-hardened weapon? jason, for never loving him as much as he asked for? dick, for placing a responsibility on his shoulders simply because bruce can’t bear to bear it alone? or alfred, for breaking the man’s heart with every move he makes?

roy let dick borrow his pickup truck and kori was the one who lugged everything up the stairs to dick’s apartment, but dick was the one who transferred the dropping zinnias from their cracked plastic case into painted and patterned pots. they’re common, easy to grow, so dick knows he won’t mess up too badly, but their multicolored hue fills dick with a lightness that he cherishes. never forget the absent, they remind him constantly, and he never does. the orange pot on his kitchen counter makes him think of all the times wally had laughed while stuffing his face, the magenta cluster on his windowsill brings back memories of donna’s hugs. the pink pot on his coffee table is the same colour as lian’s favourite hairband, and he wishes the white flowers in a jar near his bed good morning and good night every day, twice, one for his mother and one for his father. sometimes a butterfly will come into his open window and land on the bright petals; that always makes dick smile.

jason wakes up screaming from nightmares more often than not, but he realizes too late that the screams are only ringing inside his head. the spines of asphodel flowers rake up and down his throat, scraping him raw until he drowns in his own blood. taking his rage out on anyone who crosses his path doesn’t stop them, breaking down sobbing and drunk with artemis and bizarro doesn’t stop them, staying up all night with coffee doesn’t stop them. so he visits his grave instead, and he wonders why the hell bruce keeps coming back. those ugly white flowers are always there, gently placed in front of a lovingly carved tombstone. my regrets follow you to the grave, they taunt him, and jason wonders what exactly bruce regrets: letting him die or finding out that he couldn’t love jason anymore when he came back?

janet drake’s favourite flowers were hollyhocks, and tim didn’t have the slightest idea why. he only knew this because during a birthday festival, hollyhock petals were flowered over the cake. still, he knew his mother loved them, so maybe if he became them, she would love him too. they’re hardy and they require very little care to bloom, so tim taught himself everything he needed to know and, bit by bit, clawed up a rock wall until he was entirely independent, and didn’t need his parents anymore. they came in every colour of the rainbow, so tim learned how to slip on masks as easy as a wish. the perfect partner batman could mold him into, the lightbulb of a disorganized team, a little brother for dick to love. most diseases cause minor cosmetic damage and can be disregarded, so tim took the beatings from criminals and let the scars decorate his skin without a single complaint. only years later did tim discover that hollyhocks mean ambition, and by then, tim’s ambition had far outgrown janet’s. 

how difficult is it to become a symbol of hope after years of training to be a symbol of darkness? not that difficult, cass discovers, because darkness doesn’t necessarily mean death. chrysanthemums need light to bloom, but they’re at their most beautiful in the dark. bruce may need his family’s light to stay afloat, but he’s at his most powerful in the dark. so cass steps into the dark with him, knowing that batman is learning to turn his darkness into a protective cape instead of a smothering cloak. cass wields out death darkness fear without hesitation to criminals, as ominous as chrysanthemums at a funeral. but then she flips to friendship loyalty joy with her family, holding her hands out and waiting for someone to clasp on. she can be both, she discovers. she’s allowed to be both. 

everything had a purpose. everything can be used. that’s what mother told him while applying her lipstick in the mirror, with damian sitting cross-legged on her bed, flipping a knife in his hands in coordination exercises. the lipstick was the same dark pink shade as the oleanders she ordered planted in nanda parbat, despite them not being native to the area. a single leaf could kill a man, she told him, so wield them wisely. she taught him to wield many other things too, everything from a sword to a poison to his own name. a glorious destiny, the plants whispered to him, and damian held those words up with pride until that destiny had been ripped out from underneath him, his mother abandoned him, and he was left alone in a place where he had no purpose. it was richard grayson who had smiled, tiredly but surely, and had picked him up and placed him back on his feet. “didn’t you know,” he said, “that oleanders were the first flowers to bloom after hiroshima? oleanders mean survival.”

okay so in case you missed it (because i spent wayyyy too long looking these up) here is each person, what flower i assigned them, and the flower’s meaning

bruce: purple hyacinth - please forgive me dick: zinnia - never forget the absent jason: asphodel - my regrets follow you to the grave tim: hollyhock - ambition cass: chrysanthemums - death, darkness, fear, friendship, loyalty, joy (this flower has a lot going on) damian: oleander - a glorious destiny, survival

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[lazydoodlesandfanfic]

Never Forgotten (Jason Todd X Male!Reader)

Characters: Jason Todd X Male!Reader

Universe: DC, Batman

Warnings: bit of swearing, mention of injury 

Request: ArkhamKnight!Jason x Male!reader: They were together before Jason 'died' and M!R never forgave Bruce for not taking revenge. M!R finds Jason after the Bat showdown, hurt and confused and takes him home to take care of him, to show Jay that he's loved and worth it and M!R will never let anyone hurt him again?

It has been a lonely 5 years for you. A lot had changed. Batman had a new Robin, Dick had started working with his old man again… and you were alone. You weren’t on speaking terms with Bruce, though you spoke occasionally with Dick and Barbara and Alfred, but not Bruce. You hadn’t spoken to him since Jason’s funeral. 

You had been Jason’s boyfriend when he had died. Being young and in love, Bruce had never really taken your relationship seriously, but for you and Jason it had been serious. You’d talked about future plans together, like what you both wanted in a living space, how you’d decorate it, any pets you’d have, stuff like that. You knew about him being Robin and the sort of family business, and you were always spending time at the Manor, either just helping Alfred out or talking to Jason on the comms. Alfred you felt was the most welcoming in the family, especially since at the time Dick wasn’t on speaking terms so he didn’t really know you. In fact, it had been him to give you the news that Jason had been kidnapped, and then that he had been killed. 

It was at that funeral that you had asked Bruce what was going to happen now. His response, despite how he tried to phrase it, was simple- nothing. He was going to do nothing. He wasn’t going to make sure Joker paid for taking away Jason, for hurting hundreds of people before him… You were livid. You still were, five years later, promising to never forgive him or even to talk to him until he fixed things. He was yet to do that. 

You had tried to make a life for yourself, though every day you still thought of Jason. Your apartment had been both of your idea of the perfect apartment, you even implemented some things you knew he’d want in there, like a bookshelf full of books and little hidden areas around the apartment to hide weapons just to be safe. You worked mostly in the same field and the Waynes, though you found your ways around talking to Bruce, mostly through Alfred, Barbara or Dick or when things were dire, Tim. Bruce had tried to talk to you multiple times but you always cut off communications without saying a word, simply walking away, and if he tried to stop you leaving you straight up punched him. 

Tonight had been the closest you had gotten to actually talking to Bruce. Scarecrow had wreaked havoc on Gotham- thousands were injured, hundreds either having long term effects or even dead due to the gas he’d drowned the city in, accompanied by a new face, or mask. Red Hood. You’d left the Wayne’s to deal with the big guys while you worked on getting as many people as possible into safe locations free of the toxin, or out of the city. Admittedly you hadn’t heard much from the family, other than what was being reported over the police radio, and little texts you were getting from Alfred. That was until the early mornings when your phone rang again, and you picked it up without checking. “Hello?” 

“Y/N, don’t hang up, just listen.” Bruce’s voice begged from the other sighed. You huffed, but stayed on the line. “It’s Jason. Red Hood is Jason. I don’t know where he is, but he’s angry and he won’t listen to me. You’re the only one who stands a chance at calming him down.” He told you. Only then did you hang up, and you immediately took to the streets. 

You searched every nook and cranny, desperately looking for any sign of Jason. A large part of you doubted Bruce, but you knew that Bruce would never joke about Jason being alive, especially at a time like this, with you. He had no reason to, and it was out of character for him, so you had no choice to believe him, and you couldn’t deny the fact that part of you desperately wanted it to be true. Still with this belief, it was still a shock when you actually found him.

You’d followed a blood trail leading from an opening to the underground, following it into an alley, which is where you found him, slumped against some trash cans, hurt and barely conscious. You approached carefully. “Jason?” You called quietly when there was still some distance between you both. His head shot up to look at you, and he grabbed his gun, pointing it at you. You didn’t move. “Jesus, Jason. What did he do to you?” You asked, taking slow steps forward and squatting in front of him. He dropped his gun, groaning in pain. “Come on, let’s get you home.” 

“I’m not going back to that fucking manor-”

“I’m not talking about there, dumbass.” You told him, putting his arm around your neck and heaving him up, walking him out the alley and to your car, putting him inside and getting in yourself, starting to drive. The streets were bare, most people still hiding or out of the city, the only clear sound was the sound of sirens from police cars and ambulances. Eventually you got to your apartment complex, stopping the car, pulling him out and helping him in the building. You looked up the stairs, suddenly hating your decision to be on the top floor. 

“How are we getting up there, then?” Jason asked you, leaning on the wall weakly. 

“Good to see you didn’t leave your snarkiness in the grave.” You commented at him, before grabbing him, heaving him onto your shoulder. You heard him mumble, calling you an asshole, but you just smirked to yourself, heading up the stairs till you reached your apartment, unlocking the door and walking inside, dropping him on the couch before turning back and locking the door. You turned the lights on, turning back around, and finally properly looking at Jason. He seemed to be doing the back to you. He was a lot taller, and more built than when you’d last seen him, and you could see the J carved into his cheek, now a not so subtle scar. However, you could stare for long. You came over to him, checking him over seeing where he was hurt. “I’ll get you some fresh clothes. Do you want to take a shower?” You asked him. 

“Y/N-”

“I’ll get you something to eat, I’ve got some pizza in the freezer.” You offered, going to move to the kitchen before Jason grabbed your arm, stopping you. You looked back at him. Jason was looking at you, and then he looked around at his surroundings. He eyed up the bookshelf, the colour of the wallpaper, the little nicnacs littered around… little hints of his influence. “Don’t worry, Bruce isn’t welcome here… haven’t talked to that asshole since your death.” You assured him.

“...You didn’t forget about me… you didn’t move on?” He asked you. 

“How the hell could I, Jay?” You asked him, coming back to him, sitting on the coffee table in front of him. “You’re my world. We planned our future together, I couldn’t just move on.” 

“...Have you really not spoken to Bruce since I died?” He asked, and you nodded. 

“Not a word. He’s tried to talk to me but I won’t hear him. The only time I’ve ever listened to anything he’s said to me was when he said you were alive and somewhere in Gotham, but I didn’t say anything back. He doesn’t know where I live so you’re safe here.” You assured him. “And you can stay here as long as you want. Noone’s gonna hurt you here.” You told him. 

Jason stared at you for a long time. You couldn’t really read his eyes and understand what was going through his head, but you did see one thing. You saw him remember why he loved you in the first place. A faint smile came to his lips. “Thank you Y/N… for all of this… I’m gonna go take that shower.” He said, heaving himself up. You got up as well ready to help, not prepared for him to wrap his arms around you, giving you a quick peck, before limping to the bathroom. “I’ll call if I need help.” 

Hope you like it! If you have any questions, please send them in!

*Not my gif

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[bigskydreaming]

I am looking (disrespectfully) at the trope of Bruce and other family members only seeming to respect Dick’s wishes when doing so aligns with what they already wanted to do.

Let’s go to the examples!

1) Bruce not broaching adoption with Dick because he wants to respect Dick’s first parents and feels like he would be taking their place or overstepping or putting himself in between Dick and his memories of his parents. Sometimes its cited that Dick himself expressed this wish early on after his parents died, sometimes its not and this is still just upheld as Bruce’s reasoning for not adopting Dick before he was already well into adulthood.

THE FATAL FLAW (in mine own personal opinion, natch. Personal mileage may vary, check your speedometer to be safe):

This particular plot point or tangle is in my experience ALWAYS paired with Bruce’s own insecurities about his role in Dick’s life, or not wanting to push that or receive an answer he doesn’t want to or is afraid to hear. Sometimes its about his fears of unworthiness to be Dick’s actual parent, etc, etc. But the bottom line is, there is always the presence of SOME element (and not a small one) in which Bruce’s own self-interest or feelings are protected by him NOT broaching the adoption conversation with Dick and having to confront these fears head on.

This is additionally juxtaposed with the problem that although there’s a lot of variance in regards to stories where Bruce fired Dick versus stories where Dick gave up being Robin and moved on to Nightwing voluntarily....there’s NOT a lot of stories where Dick makes Jason Robin himself or is asked by Bruce first. The part where Bruce takes this initiative on his own, without thinking through its repercussions on Dick emotionally.....this is practically always present.

Now, the problem here is that......Dick became or began becoming Robin well into his time with Bruce. Its frequently cited as the thing that began allowing them to truly connect, their time training and acting as Batman and Robin.

Meaning no matter WHAT interpretation you go with as to why specifically Dick chose the name Robin, whether it was a family nickname or an homage to Robin Hood.....the fact remains, NOTHING of Robin, THEMATICALLY, nothing that spoke to Dick in regards to what he wanted Robin to be - specifically in honor of his parents because avenging his parents and making sure what happened to them didn’t happen to others like, this was literally a key part of what bonded Dick and Bruce, the fact that Bruce was TRYING to help Dick specifically BECAUSE they shared this particular overlap of purpose - like the bottom line is, nothing about Robin CAME from Bruce. Or Dick’s feelings about Bruce. That....didn’t really even exist yet, at the time he created Robin. Everything about Robin, other than the physical costume itself, not even the design just the actual creation of it....all of that came from BEFORE he met Bruce. None of it was thoughts or feelings derived from BRUCE. Its the whole reason Dick was never Batkid or Batlad, or any derivative of Batman.

It all, ALL came from what Dick came to the manor WITH. Remnants of his life with his first family.

So the fatal flaw of Bruce’s reasoning that by not broaching the subject of adoption with Dick before well into adulthood, he was actually just respecting Dick’s relationship with his first parents and not trying to come between them and Dick’s memories and feelings about them....

All of this is inherently undermined by Bruce’s own actions.....when by repurposing Robin to ANY degree, even just to give the mantle to Jason.....this meant that he was inherently viewing Robin as being more about being Batman’s partner, HIS partner....then it was about being Dick’s heritage, his last intangible keepsake of his first family and life BEFORE Bruce.

In effect....Bruce making Jason Robin or firing Dick as Robin, either way....both betray Bruce’s OWN alleged intentions for only wanting to respect Dick’s relationship with his parents, and that being why he didn’t want to overstep by trying to impose or even ask for his own official parent/child relationship with Dick. Because that’s exactly what appropriating the Robin mantle was. It was Bruce ignoring the relationship Dick had with his parents and their memory and the fact that Robin was directly born of that....and making Robin entirely about Bruce’s OWN relationship with Dick, heedless of any other factors.

And the second Bruce did that.....his entire justification for not raising the adoption issue....disappears. It goes away. Because you can’t claim inaction being just a result of not wanting to disrespect something you’ve already voided respect for. No matter whether Bruce INTENDED it or not.....by crossing this boundary, Bruce already acted against Dick’s feelings in this regard and well, disregarded them....which makes claims of Bruce not raising the adoption issue pretty much JUST self-serving at that point. Its an alleged viewpoint of Dick’s that Bruce largely just ASSUMES....and only ultimately respects - in direct contrast to how he didn’t respect the associations Dick had with Robin - because it aligns with something Bruce ALREADY wanted to do, rather than what Dick actually wanted. It provided justification for Bruce to just....not have a conversation he was afraid to have. And that’s about Bruce at that point. Its not about Dick. Its just like...not.

2) Another example of this that is not unique to just Bruce, but recurs frequently in both canon and fanfics in Dick’s dynamics with other characters he’s close with.....is characters not apologizing for things they’ve done to Dick or raising the issue of things they did a long time ago but never apologized for....while claiming to do so because they thought DICK didn’t want to talk about it.

THE FATAL FLAW (in my own personal opinion. Nuances and variations may not be identical at all store locations, please see your local branch for details):

The particular problem I have here is that....Dick never ever ever in the history of ever and also the before ever time.....has EVER expressed a desire to avoid confrontation.

Like. That’s what he DOES. That’s his JAM. That’s literally CITED time and time again as one of the reasons he’s viewed as more of a people person and natural team leader than Bruce and other Batfam members....because he’s not afraid to cut straight (or bi) to the heart of the matter and air out a dispute.

In fact, this very character trait is one of the ones most commonly utilized AGAINST Dick in various depictions of him, as he’s often cited as TOO confrontational, TOO eager for a fight or conflict especially when his temper is engaged, such as when he’s well....personally hurt or offended.

So how does it follow, then, that avoiding tough conversations ONLY when its on the OTHER person to INITIATE, because they were the ones who DID the wrong-doing and Dick the subject of that rather than the instigator....how does it work, exactly, that these are the only times in which we DON’T tend to see a direct conversation about the harms done and the fallout that resulted? With it being claimed that this is solely for Dick’s benefit, out of a desire to avoid pulling him into an allegedly unnecessary (but really just unpleasant) confrontation?

When the concurrent reality is that whether stated or acknowledged or not.....avoiding these specific conversations and ONLY these conversations (as there never seems to be a problem finding canon or fanfic stories in which Dick apologizes for harm HE’S caused to others or is clearly expected to).....this avoidance also carries the side benefit of allowing the character who DID something wrong to Dick to....not ever have to have that super uncomfortable conversation in which they actually verbally acknowledge the thing they did to him and the effects it had on him, and apologize for that.....and then render themselves vulnerable to actually hearing whether or not he accepts their apology or is still upset with them regardless.

While - as long as they DON’T ever have this conversation, for whatever reason - they can look to the clear and consistent precedent of Dick continuing to work with people who have done things like oh, I don’t know....punched him in the face cuz they’re mad at him (and this isn’t a Bruce critical point, this is a whole damn family critical point as the only one who HASN’T actually done this is Duke. Well, Cass technically just threw him out a window, but I mean, tomato toh-mah-to). Writers and characters both can lean on the fact that actually Dick has a pretty clear track record of ultimately giving up a grudge or at least showing a willingness to look past those grudges enough that it doesn’t prevent him from still maintaining or resuming some kind of relationship with the person who hurt him.

And thus, like Example Numero Uno......this ultimately just lets other characters off the hook while claiming to do Dick a favor, but actually Dick receives no real benefit from it and instead now just has another instance of characters saying “see we respect your wishes” when ultimately their inaction is MORE in service to their own wishes and self-interests.

2b) See also the variation of this in which characters such as Bruce, Jason, Tim and assorted others like....are written specifically determining that they’re not going to apologize to Dick or beg his forgiveness because they feel they don’t DESERVE to be forgiven, and once again....its in HIS best interests that they not even give him the opportunity to say he forgives them....because they know Dick Grayson of course, and they know he’s too forgiving for his own good, so its better to like....not make it ever a possibility in this particular instance.

With the problem here being like.....Dick can’t and shouldn’t be expected to KNOW that’s their logic? So....all he’s going to actually SEE is loved ones just....not expressing remorse for hurting him or acknowledgment it even happened? Which....hurts?

So......hurting your loved one MORE after already hurting them....because you don’t feel you deserve to be forgiven for hurting them in the first place and are actually PROTECTING them from being hurt more when mistakenly forgiving you.....by.....hurting and continuing to hurt them with your silence and lack of evident remorse....

Mmmm.....

Its not the best approach, y’know?

Flaws are detected.

3) Dick’s friends and family manipulating situations in order to get the end result THEY desire, while claiming to do so for his benefit only. Dick being willing to manipulate people to achieve his own ends comes up a LOT actually....but there’s relatively little examination of how often people do this to him, claiming his best interests but really just circumventing his clearly stated desires for independence and the right to make his own choices about what HE needs....or when this is brought up, its usually limited to JUST Bruce doing it, but uh....no that ain’t it.

Specific examples of this are like when Wally joins the 1999 version of the Titans specifically to get Dick to join up, because in his estimation Dick needs more of a social life and is drowning himself with his responsibilities....and then quits not long after Dick is finally officially invested in staying with the team. Another example is when Roy gets Dick to join the Outsiders based entirely on his pitch of NOT treating the team like a family, like they did with the Titans, so that Dick could keep emotional distance and not be as worried about losing them like he suffered from losses like Donna....with his claim again being that he worried about Dick in the aftermath of that loss, etc.

And to be clear! Its not that I think Wally and Roy and others who do similar things have NEGATIVE intentions in mind for Dick. That’s the whole point of this post.....like the other examples, I fully believe THEY believe (or writers believe when writing them this way) that they have Dick’s best interests in mind and not their own. I just....disagree.

THE FATAL FLAW (at least as I see it here):

Is that I view this and Batfam members who do similar stuff as like.....falling into the trap of the savior friend complex. Its that thing when you see a friend hurting, and over time get FRUSTRATED by seeing this when a solution seems obvious to you but think they won’t take it because they’re too stubborn or don’t know what’s best for them....with this specifically recurring a LOT with Dick in particular, due to his core characterization of wanting to be the one to make his own choices. The problem here, same as the problem with the savior friend complex....is that it treats the subject of these views as like....incapable of determining what they need. Its a tacit condemnation that they actually don’t know how to cope with things and are doing it wrong - even though the ones making this assessment will never be the ones actually having to LIVE with the outcome of their meddling. Its the conviction that someone like Dick needs to be HANDLED, for his own good....because he can’t be trusted to KNOW what he needs, not as well as them at least.....and so they jump to manipulation rather than just....ASK him what he needs, or HOW they can best support him, or even just WHY he’s making the choices he is.

For instance, the problem with what Wally did was never that Dick wasn’t struggling. He was. He was drowning in his responsibilities, he had very little to no life outside of them.....Wally is not remotely in the wrong for WANTING to do something to change this situation. The problem is Wally basically defaulted to just...HANDLING his friend by restarting the Titans just to give Dick a social life again, which is pretty much a line straight out of the comics...and basically railroaded right over Dick’s initial ‘no’ when he first heard the proposal. And kept pushing things until Dick eventually joined up in order to get Wally to commit to the team too, because Wally spun it as though Dick was helping Wally by getting Wally to commit to the team for the very same reasons Wally wanted Dick to. And then....right after that, Wally quit to go back to just focusing on the Justice League, which was part of what Dick predicted would happen all along.

The thing was.....at no point along the way did Wally actually ask WHY Dick initially said no....he jumped straight to assuming his own view of the problem, that Dick just COULDN’T be made to ever see the reason to take a break occasionally and put his mental and emotional health as a priority. If he’d done this, Wally could have had dozens of other options to achieve his desired end result....he could’ve like....set up regular hangouts with Dick. 

But Wally jumped to assuming he knew the answer, he knew what was best for Dick, and that Dick’s logic was inherently self-destructive and self-flagellating.....and he felt the solution was to bring back the Titans, as he recalled their earlier times as Titans together as a time when Dick was better able to balance his social life and responsibilities.

But by not ever stopping to LISTEN to why Dick felt the way he did and was initially opposed to rejoining the Titans....Wally overlooked one crucial fact: He isn’t Dick.

And more important, his view of the past wasn’t Dick’s view of the past.

Wally was a lot more capable of viewing the Titans as not just a family, but an inherent social life, a hangout, a kind of club....because that’s what it had always been to him.

But he’d never been the leader.

Throughout all their childhoods, the whole time the Titans WERE all of the above, and relatively light-hearted in comparison to their older selves....Dick STILL had the weight of responsibilities that none of the others had by virtue of just...not being the leader. Ultimately, all of their lives were in HIS hands. He was the one calling the shots. The buck stopped with him.

And this is precisely WHY Dick had gotten to the point he had in adulthood. It wasn’t because he’d changed. It wasn’t because he’d stopped figuring out what he needed and how to take care of himself. Its because the position he’d ALWAYS been in as leader....has WEIGHT. That eventually added up more and more and weighed him down. A huge part of the reason Dick had ended up leaving the Titans in the first place, before they disbanded prior to the 1999 revival....is because of the sheer WEIGHT of all the deaths and misfortunes that had befallen the Titans....and how much he and he alone struggled with it in ways the others didn’t....because they didn’t have to. It hadn’t been their plans, their calls, their RESPONSIBILITY to find a way the others could have all made it out alive or at least less traumatized.

So.....of COURSE Dick said no when Wally first proposed restarting the Titans, before Wally defaulted to using his own membership as a lure to get Dick to agree.....because......nothing about the above paragraph had changed, via Wally’s ‘plan.’ It wasn’t because Dick just didn’t KNOW how to be a fully rounded person....it was because nobody was helping him find actual OPTIONS for doing that....that didn’t just double as MORE responsibilities! Because that’s exactly what ended up happening! Dick wound up the leader of the Titans again, just as responsible and just as invested as always.....just like he always knew he would....and also as he knew would happen...Wally ended up quitting not long into it and persuading Jessie Quick to step in as his replacement....aka just one more person for Dick to worry about when it wasn’t like he was going to be worrying any less about Wally, just now he wasn’t going to have Wally there to even POTENTIALLY be able to support him when tragedy inevitably struck because they’re freaking superheroes....and instead he’d just have another person looking to him for the answers but with no reason or chance of being the support Dick could ACTUALLY use at times like that!

Wally’s manipulations circumvented Dick’s opinion that no, actually he knew what was best for him and it wasn’t what Wally was suggesting....without actually accounting for the fact that hey, Dick might actually know that. And in the end, Wally got the result he was after, he got to feel that he’d HELPED his friend....which again, this isn’t WRONG to WANT to....but Dick didn’t...exactly....benefit from this. It wasn’t actually in his best interests ultimately.

I mean...see Donna’s death for details.

And in the aftermath of THAT....Roy essentially did exactly what Wally did....just in REVERSE! Roy got Dick to agree to lead the Outsiders, to shoulder responsibility once again....by promising that Dick WOULDN’T have to view them as family. And did Dick go too far and end up TOO uncaring about their welfare? Yup! No disagreements there! Problem is though....he only ended UP in that situation because yet again a friend thought they KNEW the solution to what Dick needed.....only for Dick to end up essentially punished and further self-blaming....just for doing exactly what Roy had told him TO do, with this particular team. Again - Roy hadn’t EXPECTED Dick to take it this far. But that’s the whole point! Roy had expectations about what Dick would ACTUALLY end up doing, that didn’t match up to the pitch Roy actually gave Dick to GET his agreement.....because Roy all along was of the assumption that by virtue of being Dick Grayson, he wouldn’t be ABLE to avoid connecting with these new teammates and viewing them as family, and thus he’d end up ‘snapping out of it’ with it being the funk he’d been in since Donna’s death.

Roy’s intentions might have been noble, once again.....but his methods stuck to the same pattern of people around Dick believing they knew what he needed or knew who he was or knew what it meant to BE Dick Grayson....better than Dick actually did...particularly when Dick said no, this isn’t what I need or this isn’t a good idea or just...I don’t want to do this.

And in the end....its Dick who ended up paying the price for it, as well as the people who got hurt because of his INTENTIONAL emotional distance.....because the ‘view all surrounding people as new surrogate family’ aspect of the Dick Grayson Experience hadn’t kicked in as Roy thought inevitably would....but the ‘view all this as directly my fault and suffer guilt for it forevermore’ aspect of the Dick Grayson Experience most certainly did! Not at all actually helped along by the fact that like....Roy also expressed frustration with Dick that like.....Dick hadn’t actually responded to Roy’s intended manipulation of his emotions the way Roy had expected him to when he EXPRESSLY TOLD DICK TO BEHAVE THE WAY THAT DICK ULTIMATELY BEHAVED. (Just, he didn’t tell Dick to dial that all the way up to Extra, but given that’s the only setting Dick does ANYTHING at, I feel its a possible outcome Roy should have at least considered. I mean, wasn’t the whole point that you know Dick Grayson better than he knows himself?)

But lo, I am salty.

LMAO, but I mean, you get it right? Obviously, I LIKE Wally and Roy. I LIKE Jason, etc. I’m not saying all of this to be like ugh how dare these characters do all this to Dick....I’m saying it because like.....they all keep falling into the same patterns of making a big fuss and acknowledgment of how much Dick prioritizes being able and free to make his own choices and decide what’s best for him and what HE wants.....

But without ever like....actively asking him AT THE RELEVANT TIME....what he thinks and feels about all this. What he thinks and feels he needs. What he ACTUALLY wants from them, or why he’s ACTUALLY saying no to something and maybe it being for reasons that aren’t just him inherently being stubborn and self-destructive.

And instead just defaulting to falling back on whatever he might have said or expressed in an entirely different context at an entirely different time.....and saying okay, by doing so, we are abiding by his wishes and thus doing what he wants and respecting his right to make his own choices.....

But ONLY when doing all of the above just so happens to align with these other characters then getting to do the thing or take the approach they’re already predisposed towards wanting to take because of their OWN self-interests at the same time.

With this never actually coming into play when respecting Dick’s wishes aligns with them taking actions they DON’T personally want to undertake, because it makes them uncomfy or they think its a bad call, even if it is something that should be his call to make.

Like....the pattern. It very much exists. And abounds. Like I could cite examples allllllllllll the way up to Ric Grayson, where Bruce respected RIC’S wishes to be left alone and not interfere in his life no matter what.....in ways Bruce almost never respects Dick’s actual expressed wish for Bruce to butt out of matters when Bruce is actually quite keen on meddling and would very much like to....

But notice how the other thing about the Ric Grayson storyline is that Ric’s expressed desire to stay the fuck out of vigilantism and superhero work, like.....just so happens to align with Bruce’s longstanding desire for Dick to like...get out of the vigilantism and superhero work? With butting out of Ric’s life and respecting his privacy in ways Dick has to FIGHT him for, like......absolutely the optimal action to take in order to allow this expressed desire of Ric’s to flourish in the ways Bruce always wished would kick in for Dick?

.....just saying. 

The pattern. It abounds.

And the key to breaking any pattern, of course, is to first recognize....and acknowledge....that it exists.

Otherwise you tend to fall into the trap of repeating and perpetuating it over and over without even realizing it, simply because its what’s familiar.

This has been A Post by Me. Thank you and have a nice day. Or don’t. Idk. I’m not the boss of you. Whatever.

[odos-bucket]

In Which Each of Bruce’s Kids Come Out to Him

and then he comes out to them

Dick

They’re working on opposite sides of the coffee table in one of the manor’s more habitable sitting room’s. It’s become a regular part of their weekday routine: Bruce finishes up whatever office work he has to do, while Dick does his homework, and talks about his day. Usually there are snacks involved. A parenting book Bruce had read recommended trying to get their work done together. It’s a good way to keep connected with their increasingly busy schedules.

“So anyways…” Dick’s story is starting to slow down a little bit, and the shift in tone has Bruce glancing up from his paperwork. “I should probably tell you, since, well, everyone knows at school now.” His voice is still conversational, and relaxed, but a little distracted.

Bruce shifts him his full attention.

“See, what happened was Cameron Josephs in my third period biology class came to school with nail polish on today, which I noticed with my clever detective skills, and promptly dismissed as unimportant, and everyone else noticed with their nosy pre-teen skills, and promptly lost their shi- I mean, minds over. And that was Mrs. Horton’s class, and she has absolutely no control over her students, so it sort of became this whole big thing. Kids were making fun of him, and other kids were yelling at them to knock it off, and he was just trying to do his work, but the rest of the class got into a big fight. And then Brad Cormick- he’s on my basketball team- made a homophobic joke, and we were sitting at the same table, and I could tell that he wanted me to laugh at it. So I told him to shut up, and said that I was bisexual, not that any of it really had anything to do with anything else that was going on, but it did get him to shut up, which was good. Except that I think it may have been because I have more friends than Cameron does, which is totally unfair, and everyone should just be nice to everyone else no matter what, but also I guess not really the point… The point is, yeah, I’m bi. Oh, also frog dissection got moved to tomorrow because one kid threw up.”

Dick takes a deep breath (finally) and a long sip of his juice, before immediately returning to doodling athletic stick figures in the margins of his algebra homework.

Bruce studies him for a moment, trying to figure out what kind of response is expected of him, what would be helpful for Dick to hear. He’s really not very good at this kind of thing.

He’s saved from the risk of putting his foot in his mouth when the science class story continues.

“Are frogs really that gross? I don’t think they are. But I guess our basement is filled with guano, so maybe my tolerance is heightened by regular exposure to the substance most frequently equated with insanity.”

Dick hadn’t seemed nervous before coming out, or relieved after. And if he’s not going to make it into a big deal then neither is Bruce, even if a part of him feels pleasantly warmed by the casual show of trust.

Jason

Bruce loves picking up his kids from school. It’s not something that his schedule allows him to do very often, and Jason- as Dick had been before him- always seems pleasantly surprised to see him. It’s a little thing in the grand scheme, but it’s just nice, normal. And he would never say it out loud- he’s not sure why, he knows he should- but he cherishes the little bit of extra time spent with his boys.

But today Jason isn’t happy to see him.

Bruce pulls up to the curb, and only has to scan the crowd of teenagers for a few seconds before spotting him. He’s on a bench with another student, their shoulders pressed together despite wide swaths of free space available on either side of them. Jason’s pointing out something in a textbook, while the other boy plays with his free hand.

Bruce pulls slightly to the side to let another car drive around him, figuring he’ll give Jason a few minutes to finish up, and notice that Bruce is there, rather than call out and risk embarrassing him.

It’s not even a full minute before they make eye contact across the lot, and immediately something in Jason’s expression changes. His eyes go wide and startled, his posture suddenly tightened. In one fast motion he shuts his book with both hands, muttering something to his friend as he practically throws himself off the bench.

Now feeling on high alert, Bruce sweeps an intense gaze over the school yard for anything that could have upset his son. He doesn’t manage to spot anything before Jason arrives at the car and pulls himself into the backseat (where he never sits, unless the front is already occupied). He starts talking before Bruce can ask what’s wrong.

“That wasn’t what it looked like!”

Bruce frowns, and looks over both Jason and the area in front of the school in an attempt to identify something that isn’t like how it looks.

“He just-“ Jason flinches, seemingly realizing something wrong with whatever he’d been about to say, and cuts himself off with a sharp breath. “I mean-“

Feeling lost is by no means a new part of parenthood for Bruce, and he’s sure it’s something he’ll experience many more times going forward. But, god, he really hates not understanding what’s going on, not knowing what to do, and he doubts that he’ll ever get used to it.

“Jason,” he tries. “Slow down.”

“Yes, sir,” Jason answers automatically. “Sorry.”

It’s been over a year since Jason’s called him ‘sir’ and the sudden reintroduction of the honorific sends a cold chill down Bruce’s spine. For a second they just stare at each other, with what Bruce is pretty sure are matching expressions of partially concealed horror.

“Jason,” he says more quietly.

“I know,” Jason interrupts. “I’m sorry. Please-“ He stops himself, covering his mouth before he can finish the thought, and then just as quickly lowering the hand back to his lap.

Another silence follows, short but harrowing. Then finally Bruce makes a rare admission

“I have no idea what’s happening right now.”

Jason stares at him, and the wider his eyes get the younger he looks, and the more Bruce wants to scoop him up into his arms. But he just waits, and tries not to look too expectant.

“I-I was holding hands with Derek,” Jason breaths out.

“…Alright?” He’s heard that name before. Jason doesn’t have as many friends at school as Dick had, so they’re a little easier to keep track of, even if Bruce has only ever met any of them in passing. “Is this someone you’re worried I’ll embarrass you in front of?” He asks after a brief pause.

Jason keeps staring at him, expression crinkling as his breathing grows erratic.

Bruce finds himself automatically exaggerating his own inhales and exhales, resting the side of one hand against his sternum, to remind Jason of some of their breathing exercises.

“That’s it, chum,” he says as he sees it slowly begin to work. “Everything’s okay.” For all he knows- or doesn’t know- right now it might not even be true, but dammit for his kid he will make everything okay.

“Everything’s okay,” Jason obediently echoes.

Bruce takes his hand off his chest, and starts to reach towards him. But Jason flinches away from him, not as violently as he had back when they were still new to each others’ lives, but it’s enough to make Bruce feel sick. He can practically feel the wrongness of it squeezing his heart into shards as he slowly withdraws his arm back into the front seat. He had truly thought that they had gotten past this.

“I’m sorry, Jay,” he says softly, a small concession to the part of himself that wants to beg his son’s forgiveness for whatever he’s done to make him afraid. “I’m so sorry.”

Jason’s not looking at him anymore. His head is down, and his gaze is fixed on his knees.

Bruce hesitates.

“I’ll never hurt you.” It’s a reassurance he had thought they were past the point of needing, but if they aren’t he’ll say it as many times as he has to. “Never.”

“Are you mad?”

“Is there something particular that I’m supposed to be mad about?” Bruce asks carefully.

“... That I was holding hands with a guy,” Jason elaborates, after a steadying breath.

Oh, Bruce is an idiot. What kind of detective is he if he can’t even- He cuts himself off, realizing he can’t wait too long to respond to that.

“Of course not. That’s what this is about?”

“I never meant for you to find out,” is the response he gets. And doesn’t that just hurt like hell to hear?

“That you like boys?” Bruce confirms.

“And girls, both. But I didn’t know what you’d think, so I figured if I couldn’t be sure it was better to keep it to myself.”

Bruce closes his eyes, taking a second to calm his own breathing.

“I never want you to feel like that,” he says. “About anything. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear. I love you, Jaylad, that isn’t contingent on anything.”

I wish I could have protected you from whatever it was that made you feel like this was something you had to hide. He doesn’t say it.

Jason is finally looking at him again, gaze thoughtful and careful. A long moment passes, before he surprises- and momentarily terrifies- Bruce by getting out of the car. But before he can react to that, Jason’s climbing into the passenger seat, and after a second of hesitation, leaning into Bruce’s side.

“Okay,” he says quietly, sounding a little choked up.

Bruce puts an arm around his shoulders. The closeness is a balm after the pain of having his son flinch away from him.

Tim

Tim isn’t supposed to come over today. His parents are in town, and Bruce had made a point of hiding his reluctance when he’d given Robin the week off, chastising himself for the empty nest syndrome he has no right to be experiencing- at least in regards to this particular child.

So he’s surprised when he hears Alfred’s throat clear, and looks up to see both Alfred and Tim lingering in the doorway to his office. It would be odd to see him here at this time of day even if they had been planning to go on patrol; sunset is still a few hours off.

Bruce immediately has a bad feeling. He knows it’s commonplace for the Drakes to disappear unexpectedly partway through whatever length of time they were meant to be spending at home. As Batman it’s made his life easier numerous times. As a parent it’s beyond his comprehension. If he still had his boys at home- but he can’t think about that, not without breaking down, and if Tim’s just been abandoned that’s the last thing he needs.

As he approaches the door, Alfred’s pointed look, and Tim’s vacant expression confirm that he’s right to be concerned.

“Tim.” He keeps his voice neutral. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

He picks up on Alfred’s glare a fraction of a second too late to realize that he’s said the wrong thing.

“I’m sorry.” There’s something miserable in Tim’s voice, that makes Bruce want to bundle him up in a blanket. Before he can assure him that he has nothing to apologize for, Alfred cuts in.

“I told Master Tim that he’s welcome to stay with us for as long as he needs.”

Bruce nods automatically, looking down at Tim, who’s glassy expression looks a million miles away.

“Tim,” he says gently, eventually drawing the boy’s gaze, but feeling disconcerted by how delayed the response is.

Alfred leaves with a comment about putting a kettle on for tea, closing the door firmly but softly behind him. The sound it makes as it pulls all the way shut still makes Tim twitch.

“Do you want to sit down?” Bruce offers.

Tim stumbles a bit on his way to the couch. He’s so out of it; He won’t be patrolling tonight, even if his schedule’s suddenly open for it. Bruce sits down on the other side.

“Are they gone again?” He asks, trusting fully that the vaguely worded question will be completely understood.

There’s a worrying delay before Tim shakes his head, giving Bruce ample time to wish for Alfred back before he can register the response enough to be surprised by it.

“So...“ he begins uncertainly, before being cut off.

“I’m sorry,” Tim says again. “I don’t mean to be a bother.”

“You aren’t a bother, Tim.”

The- admittedly somewhat monotone- assurance just gets him a shrug.

“Can you tell me what happened?” He tries.

“Do I have to?” Tim asks after a long silence. “Can’t I just stay here?”

Bruce frowns.

“Of course you can stay here. But I think I really need to know what’s going on.”

Tim stares at him, eyes shining, mouth opening and closing several times before he speaks.

“Can I- Alfred says I can tell you something, and you won’t get mad?”

“Well, that depends on what it is,” Bruce says, thinking back on every time a robin has had something to tell him, but first wanted confirmation that he wouldn’t be angry.

Tim seems to shrink at his words, his breath catching audibly as he curls in on himself. Fuck, Bruce is bad at this.

“What do you have to tell me?” He asks.

“Well now I don’t know if I want to!” It almost comes out as a yell, strained by the sound of held back tears, and Bruce is a little taken aback.

“I’ll probably find out at some point,” he reasons.

There’s a beat of silence, and then Tim chokes on something that sounds like a suppressed sob.

No, no, no no. This isn’t supposed to happen. Bruce reaches out for him in an awkward and hastily aborted movement.

“I can’t,” Tim says after a minutes, tears streaking over his pale cheeks. “If you don’t-“ His voice catches. “I need you to let me stay here.”

Bruce’s heart hurts as he scooches a little closer, reaching out to rest a hand- hopefully not too awkwardly- on Tim’s shoulder.

“Of course you can stay here,” he reiterates. “I told you you could stay here. Even if I’m mad at you you can stay here. If you-“ He searches for a moment. “-Took the batmobile out on a joyride, and drove it into the harbor, I’ll be mad at you, but you’ll still have a place here. One will never have anything to do with the other.”

Tim makes a noise that’s over too quickly for Bruce to be able to tell if it had been a laugh, or just more crying.

“Did Jason do that?” He asks in a hoarse voice.

“Dick,” Bruce corrects.

This time Tim definitely snorts, which has Bruce smiling in spite of himself.

“Did you do something worse than that?” He asks.

It’s meant to be a joke, but Tim makes an unhappy face at the question.

“I- no!” He says, defensive, but confident. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Bruce gives his shoulder a squeeze before releasing it.

“Then why would I be mad at you?”

The humor that had begun to make its way into Tim’s expression disappears again, and Bruce curses himself.

“Mom and Dad were mad,” he says quietly.

Bruce scowls. He tries pretty hard not to let his dislike of Jack and Janet show around Tim- though he’s long suspected the young detective can tell- but it’s harder to hide sometimes than others.

“You said they were still home,” he remembers. “Tim, did they kick you out?” He does his best to keep the anger out of his voice.

And then he finds himself doing his best to keep the anger off of his face when it takes Tim a moment to answer the question.

“I don’t think forever,” he says uncertainly. “Just- They said they needed time to think about it, to d-decide what to do.”

The slight stutter puts him over the age, and fury starts to trickle into Bruce’s voice.

“To think about what?” He demands. Hell, that place is more Tim’s home than it is theirs. They have absolutely no right to ask him to leave! And where the hell do they expect him to go? Bruce forces himself to clench his jaw, and take deep breaths.

“...I’m gay,” Tim finally says.

Bruce stares at him for the second that it takes for the words to register, and connect back to the rest of the conversation.

“That’s it?”

He’s wincing at himself before the question is all the way out of his mouth, immediately convinced that he’s said the wrong thing again. But then, to his immense relief, he realizes that Tim has started laughing. It isn’t deep, or sustained. His voice is still a little weak, and his eyes are still a little red. But he’s definitely laughing, and Bruce realizes vaguely that a robin laughing is still his favorite sound in the world.

“That’s it,” Tim confirms, on the tail end of his laugh.

“Oh, Tim.”

Bruce doesn’t give himself a chance to second guess the motion before he pulls the boy into a hug, satisfied that it was the right course of action when he feels Tim melt against him.

“Of course I’m not mad, of course I’m not mad,” he repeats like a mantra. “I’m sorry I let you think I would be. You’re right, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

A few seconds pass, and he realizes there’s a wet patch at his shoulder where Tim’s face is buried. Bruce freezes, totally unsure of what he’s done wrong this time.

“I’m sorry,” Tim breaths out. “I- thank you. Thank you! I don’t know what I would have done if- I- I don’t want to be alone!”

“Not alone,” Bruce promises. “You’re not alone. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

Tim presses closer, and Bruce takes it as a cue to tighten his hold.

Alfred finds them like that a few minutes later, Tim curled up in his arms, while Bruce cycles through reassurances. The look they exchange is enough to confirm that they’re both thinking the same thing: this kid is ours.

Cass

One day Cass hangs a little pride flag up on her door. Later in the week when she catches Bruce glancing at it, she comes up to him, gives the flag a meaningful nod, before just saying, “Girls!” in a happy voice, giving him a hug, and disappearing down the hall.

Damian

Bruce can identify every member of his family by their knock, but Damian’s is particularly distinctive. Not just because it tends to come from a lower part of the door, but because Damian has cultivated a strong knock, the way businessmen cultivate a strong handshake. It’s a very confident and determined sound, that he often finds himself stifling a smile at, knowing that that isn’t at all the intended reaction.

“Come in,” he calls, and there’s no pause before Damian strides into his office, confident as ever. When he speaks however, the undercurrents of his voice tell a different story.

“Father, there is something I wish to discuss with you.” There are a few hesitations, that don’t quite manage to turn into stutters in his voice, ones it’s unlikely anyone outside of their family would notice.

Bruce doesn’t comment on them, just nods for Damian to sit down and continue.

His legs don’t fully reach the floor. Something else that Bruce has learned not to let himself smile at.

“Grayson says…” he begins confidently, before trailing off.

Bruce just raises an eyebrow for him to continue, not feeling like he has enough information to put anything together from at the moment.

“Richard says,” Damian continues more carefully. “He came out to you as bisexual when he was around my age?”

Bruce nods. He has a feeling that he knows where this is going this time.

“He did.”

“He said that you were okay with it?”

Bruce nods again.

“Dick is my son. My love for him isn’t conditional, certainly not on that. There’s nothing wrong with not being straight.”

Damian had broached the topic using Dick as a proxy, so Bruce had followed his lead and assumed that Damian would know to automatically apply the assurance to himself. But Damian’s face just falls into a puzzled frown.

“So why…” he begins, before changing track. “Richard isn’t your biological son.”

Bruce frowns back.

“Damian, you know that doesn’t make a difference to me. I don’t love your siblings any less because they’re not-”

“I know,” Damian cuts in. “It isn’t about loving us differently.” He says it very matter of factly. “I have the ability to carry on your bloodline, whereas they do not.”

“That ability isn’t an obligation,” Bruce says, wondering why his kids never seem to be able to just worry about normal things. “And it’s certainly not something that you need to be thinking about at thirteen years old.”

Damian nods slowly, staring down at the desk with a look of intense concentration, before slowly raising his gaze to Bruce.

“Mother and Grandfather said that you wouldn’t like it, if I wasn’t interested in girls,” he says quietly.

Bruce sighs. of-fucking-course they did. He gets up from his chair, and moves around the desk to kneel in front of Damian.

“Well they’re wrong,” he says simply. “And they had no right to lead you to believe that it would make any difference to me. Just like I don’t love your siblings any less, my love for you is no more conditional. Understand?”

It takes a moment, but Damian nods.

“All right. In which case, I suppose... I’m gay.”

“And I’m proud of you,” Bruce says, before pulling his son into a hug.

Bruce

Bruce looks at his assembled family, and begins to feel a strange sense of trepidation tickling at the edge of his consciousness.

They’re all here. Trying to get the whole family together all at once is like pulling teeth. But he told them it was important, and they all came. There have been plenty of points over the course of the years when that wouldn’t have happened. And even though they’ve all been pretty settled with each other for a while now, he never wants to take for granted having his whole family together- not that he thinks the part of him that only seems to settle when he has all of his children within arm’s reach would let him.

The comfort of having them all be together is overwhelming, but the trepidation is still there, just like it probably always will be any time he manages to round up the courage for anything resembling feelings talk.

They’re all in one of the living rooms, sprawled in a comfortable half circle across various couches and chairs.

“There’s something I wanted to tell you all,” Bruce starts to say.

“Are you dying?” Stephanie asks casually.

Beside her, Cass freezes, looking horrified.

“I’m not dying,” Bruce says quickly.

At the same time Steph rubs a hand up and down Cass’s arm and assures her she was kidding.

“Not like he’d tell us if he was,” Dick says.

He knows it’s meant to be a joke, just like Stephanie’s question had been, but it still sends a chill through him. Mostly because he can’t say for sure that Dick is totally wrong; it’s the kind of thing he easily could have kept to himself. But then he sees the uncertain frown that Damian is giving him, and Cass’s wide, anxious eyes, and decides that he has to be wrong.

“I’m not dying,” he repeats, reaching out for Tim who’s sitting closest to him, and who’s been staring very intently at the floor since the topic came up.

Tim leans into the touch without shifting his position.

“And I would tell you,” he adds seriously, feeling absolutely wracked with guilt over the fact that up until this moment he doesn’t know if he would’ve been able to claim that with any certainty.

“I swear, if there’s anything wrong with me, all of you will know as soon as possible.” By the time it comes out of his mouth, he knows he means it with total certainty.

“I think we’re all pretty tuned into the fact that there’s something wrong with you,” Jason offers, and the tension in the room breaks.

Bruce smiles despite himself. That was agonizing. Compared to that getting on with the conversation he’d previously been so apprehensive to have will be a relief.

“What did you want to tell us?” Duke asks.

“It can be… difficult for me to articulate what it means to me whenever one of you trusts me enough to share something about yourself. I thought that I owed it to all of you to return the favor, and share a… recent discovery of mine.” He stumbles through it as awkwardly as he’d expected to.

“This is weird,” Stephanie stage whispers.

“I’m bisexual,” Bruce admits.

“Bruce!” Dick says excitedly.

“Unacceptable,” Jason cuts in. “We already have enough of that nonsense in this house!”

Tim kicks him in the side.

“Well, seeing as it’s an option, I for one prefer the idea of you pursuing romantic entanglements that bear no risk of resulting in pregnancy.”

“Noted, Damian.”

“I’m happy for you, B,” Tim says. “It can be hard figuring yourself out.���

“Thank you, Tim.”

“Is that it?” Duke asks. “I mean, not that it’s not a big deal- and I’m happy for you too by the way- it’s just that most of our family meetings involve addressing some kind of crisis.”

“That’s it,” Bruce admits.

“Perhaps- seeing as we’re all here anyways- we could take this opportunity to have dinner together as a family for once,” Alfred offers.

#batfamily #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #cassandra cain #damian wayne #batman #batfam #dc #my writing #fluff and angst

[sweet-sammy-kisses]

Ashes of a Relationship

Written for the @badthingshappenbingo​ prompt trust issues  And for @iphoenixrising for giving me the idea for this story from their amazing DickTimJason stories. Word Count: 1,749 Rating: T Fandom: Batman Pairings: Dick/Tim/Jason, Cass & Tim, Duke & Tim, Conner & Tim, Damian & Tim and Bruce & Tim Author Notes: Tim Drake centered, WIP, Tim needs a hug, Batfamily feels Summary: "In case you missed it baby bird is terrified of us. We are his deepest fear. Tim has gone up against Ra and the fucking Joker but it is us that is what scares him the most. That isn't going to be easy to fix if we can fix it at all. The brat and I have tried to kill him and no one said anything about that. We have verbally and emotionally abused Tim while those who could have said something didn't. There is no magic fix to this. And it is up to Tim and Tim alone if he wants to forgive us." You can also read it on AO3

Being in Gotham felt odd to Tim, it had been almost eight months since he last visited. He had taken to spending all of his free time in Sam Francisco to his returned friends.

To his family.

He realized that he didn't belong with the Wayne's since he disappeared for a year to find Bruce and not one of them reached out to him while he had been gone. Hell he could have been dead in an unmarked grave - he nearly was if that sword had hit in a different organ - and now he was nothing to them but support.

Red Robin had been called in to help with an all-out Arkham breakout. He had been sent after Scarecrow. Tim was grateful that he didn't have to work with anyone from his so-called family. Okay anyone but Cass and Duke.

Tim will curse himself for not paying attention.

"Got you little bird who has flown so far from the nest."

+*****+

The horrified and terrified screams echoed around the cave. The sheer terror in them making everyone there shiver.

Stephanie had been the first to leave, unable to bear to hear Tim's screams and the fear in his eyes when he looked at her.

'How did we let it get this bad? How didn't we see?'

Were the questions repeating over and over in Dick's mind as he stared at the heartbreaking sight of his second youngest brother curled up as small as he could be, his voice hoarse from all the screaming he had done. Cass curled around Tim, her fingers running soothingly through his hair as she glares at them making it clear she would take anyone of them down if they came to close. Duke was standing between the two groups making sure that no one approached the med bay bed that placed Tim on once they managed to get him back to the cave after learning he had been dosed with fear toxin.

Dick wanted to follow Stephanie's retreat but he felt like that he needed to stay here, this was his penance for letting Tim down so badly. It tore into his heart that he was one of Tim's biggest fears.

It will forever be burned into his mind the way Tim's screamed when he saw him, how Tim clawed and crawled away from him all the while begging Dick not to hurt him, not to cast him aside, not to throw him out of the family. Not to put him in Arkham.

Tim's pleas to save him as his grapple line snapped and he was falling to his death still echoed in Dick's ears only drowned out by his screams. "Why don't you love me, Dick? Was I just a replacement for you?"

Jason could feel his fingers twitching with the need for a smoke or to shoot someone as Tim's screams got to him. Tim begging Jason not to kill him, that he was his role model, that he was his Robin. Jason looked horrified and angry with himself. "You were my robin." Jason's Red Hood helmet smashed into the case that held his Robin suit as the older man fell to his knees choked sobs escaping him. He hated how he had let the pit and Talia twist him against Tim.

It ripped him apart to hear Tim begging him not to hurt him, the way his hands protected his throat and Jason felt sick over the fact that he could still remember Tim's warm blood on his hands as he left him to die, beaten and bloody.

Damian refused to let it show how much Tim's fear of him was getting to him. He wanted to claim that Tim's pleas of wanting to know why Damian hated him so much. To hear Tim say how happy he was to have a little brother, but all Damian wanted was him dead. "You accept everyone but me, why?" Had Damian turning away in shame.

Tim screaming a mixture of Damian and Jason's names begging and pleading with them not to kill him. For Dick not to toss him away. That he was still useful.

The most damning of them of all, "Why don't you love me as I love you?" Even Batman flinched at that.

"Timmy." Dick started but he couldn't find the words to continue and when Tim curled away from him deeper into Cass' embrace he froze in mid-step. Cass' headshake was gentle but her eyes were firm they were to keep away. Which was so hard when all Dick wanted to do was gather Tim up into a hug and let him know how deep love he truly is. Letting out a choked sob Dick felt his legs give out on him as he collapsed to the cold cave floor, "I'm so sorry baby bird. I'm so sorry." Dick repeated over and over again but he knew that his words did little good.

Now Jason hadn't been Timmy's biggest fan with the pit madness and Talia's mind games he had seen Tim nothing but a replacement and tried to kill him without remorse. The scar on Tim's throat served as a constant reminder to him of what he had done, cutting open his throat in a place he should have felt safe in and using Tim's blood to paint a message for Bruce. He hadn't cared that Tim was a teen barely out of his childhood he had just been so full of rage and anger and Talia's poisoned words whispered in his ears as he beat him bloody. It was no wonder Tim was afraid of him.

But to hear that to Tim he was still his Robin, his hero, tore into Jason and he felt rage, rage for himself at the pain he caused. It had been Cass of all people who forced Jason to watch the footage out of control Batman had gotten after his death - mostly because she could and would kick his ass if he didn't - it hadn't been easy to see but he saw what Tim did that Bruce was going to be lost to the darkness and when Tim took the Robin suit he pulled Batman out of the shadows that were consuming him piece by piece, he became Batman's light, just like the Robins before he had always been.

Somewhere along the way Tim had claimed a piece of his heart and dug his claws in deeply and refused to move.

From the moment he arrived Damian had seen Drake as an obstacle one that needed to be removed. He was in his rightful place as the next Robin and as Batman's partner. It had stung deeply when it became clear that he would not be his father's Robin that was Tim's place. His mother's words had whispered in him and he had lashed out, determined to remove the placeholder, to prove that he was the far superior choice. At least Grayson had sense and had given him his rightful place.

At least that is how he felt or claimed to still think and feel but that wasn't the case. Drake was someone special he was just ashamed that it had taken him this long and his actions had left such damage in his wake.

"Kon! KON!" Tim screamed knowing that his best friend will be listening for him, just like he will promise as he crawled away from the figures before him.

Dick wasn't surprised to hear Tim calling for Kon but still it hurts to know that Kon was the one Tim turned to now, that he was the one he felt safest with when once that had been him. He hated himself for how much he had missed and how much he ignored because he didn't know how to fix the damage done to their relationship and he had been too afraid to take the first step.

No one was surprised when Conner Kent came crashing into the Batcave his eyes glowing red as he looked around for his best friend. "Tim!"

Cass gentle allowed Kon to take Tim into his arms.

He needed to be safe, with those who love him and would never harm him. A feeling of warmth engulfed him and a familiar voice was whispering to him and Tim knew that he was safe in Conner's arms.

"We got this. We will take care of Tim and he will be safe with those who are his real family." Kon vowed, his eyes showing nothing but contempt for everyone but Duke and Cass.

Dick wanted to argue to claim that they were Tim's real family. But remembering the way Tim tried to get away from them, how the very sight of him made him tremble had the argument dying on his lips. "Please look after him and let us know when we can talk to him."

"That will be up to Tim and Tim alone." Kon wouldn't speak for his friend, Tim had been drifting away from Gotham. He spent more time in San Francisco these days. Hell Tim hadn't even wanted to come back to Gotham but he still had a sense of loyalty to those he once considered family.

Everyone could only look on hopelessly as Kon left the cave, the Fear Gas antidote safely in his hand and Tim safe in his arms.

"What do we do now?" Dick asked in a hopeless voice.

"We need to make amends," Bruce grumbled out.

A scoff escaped Jason, "In case you missed it baby bird is terrified of us. We are his deepest fear. Tim has gone up against Ra and the fucking Joker but it is us that is what scares him the most. That isn't going to be easy to fix if we can fix it at all. The brat and I have tried to kill him and no one said anything about that. We have verbally and emotionally abused Tim while those who could have said something didn't. There is no magic fix to this. And it is up to Tim and Tim alone if he wants to forgive us."

Dick knew that Jason was right, he didn't want him to be but he knew that he spoke the truth that Tim was the one who needed to decide if he forgave them or not. They couldn't push him into it. Even someone as forgiving as Tim had their limits and Dick was afraid that they had pushed Tim well beyond his.

#bad things happen bingo #dick x tim x jason #sherri writes #my fics #wip fic