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littleeyesofpallas · 4 years

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I don’t usually dwell on American cape comic shenanigans too much, because it’s a fast and loose kind of writing that doesn’t really play well with being scrutinized or really thought about at all, at least any longer than it takes to get through a page, but man... this whole Tynion IV Batman thing is still rubbing me the wrong way... and what bugs me is how it’s definitely not all “bad,” and in fact a lot of the build up is great, but then the resolutions (or lack there of) are massive let downs, but then also he keeps skirting by with these loose ends that feel like they weren’t forgotten but that they might get picked up later. It would almost suggest he has a real big picture planned as a through line across multiple stories...

So, when Tynion took over with issue 86 and Their Dark Designs, he actually provided a great premise: In the aftermath of City of Bane and Alfred Pennyworth’s death, Bruce muses over his apparent old habit of sketching himself little snapshots of an idealized Gotham he holds in his head. We have a clear establishment of the theme of Design, and also the idea that Bruce has an end game in mind. He’s not just reacting to crime as it happens, he has a long term plan. This is a genuinely good angle to have for a Batman story.

To build on this, we learn that Lucius is working on some new tech for Bruce and he specifically marvels at how far Bruce’s war on crime has escalated. The bat-gear hasn’t just been getting more sophisticated over the years, its development is beginning to outpace its practical applications.

Additionally, we get a weird kind of distraction of a B-plot with various master assassins convening in Gotham under a singular organized job, but among them the spotlight falls on Deathstroke. Does Tynion talk about Deathstroke being one of the classic anti-batmen? Does he talk about Deathstroke’s healing factor? No. He talks about Deathstroke’s augmented brain processing faster than Bruce can keep up with (a trait most authors tend to overlook with Slade); this means his only means of competing with Slade is to have a plan that puts him down before his super fast brain can think of a way out, because implicitly he will out think Batman given time, and if they’re both whittled down to adapting to one another in the moment, Slade wins.

Again, our theme is Master plans/Designs/end games.

Enter the heretofore unmentioned legendary, nigh mythical, Gotham villain named The Designer has reemerged after an indistinct time missing from the criminal underworld. His claim to fame is planning 20 steps ahead, outpacing his adversary’s planning to snub any and all resistance utterly and completely.

He’s brought up because he once mentored Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Joker in their early days(and in their 90s era outfits as a clever reference) and apparently the master plans he devised with each of them that were never enacted have been queued up by “someone.” Designer is back, but he’s supposed to be dead; In a painfully uninteresting, cliche “twist” Joker was too KuHrAaZzY to handle and Designer turned on him rather than finish his tutelage, and in the ensuing firefight the 4 Gotham rogues killed the legendary Designer.

So, there are a lot of fun questions this raises, like who the apparent new Designer is, what his plan is, and what he wants...

Bruce has another run in with Slade and launches into an awkward, kinda whiny rant where he tells Slade that if only super villains hadn’t wasted so much of his time escalating the arms race of powers and gadgets and gimmicks, that he could have fixed Gotham years ago. So, here we are again, this idea of plans, of reactionary escalation, and of the absolute need for a master plan that snubs the opposition before they can react and learn. Batman beats Slade, of course, which just goes to show what we’re always meant to assume from Batman anyway, that he already had Slade beat from the get go. He had a plan; Batman always has a plan.

So this is super cool! It took us kind of a plodding 6 out of 9 issues of this story to get here, but this is a good place! We know Batman has a master plan for Gotham, we know from what we’ve heard about plans/Designs as a theme that means he’s already got all his villains accounted for, and that he’s just going through the motions: turning the wheels to make the machine work. It’s only a matter of time, now.

I’ll be honest, my thought at first when I was reading these? I thought The Designer was Batman, or some part of Batman’s plan. That he’d resurrected this mythical villain as part of his own master plan, to perhaps trick all his biggest adversaries to go all in on a singular massive criminal enterprise that Bruce had already designed from the get go to fail, and to take them all down with it once and for all. It fit the profiles, and it felt like the natural direction this all was headed...

But then it was just The Joker. Designer really was dead, Joker brought him back, stole his master plan and pulled it off himself. He stole Batman’s money and gadgets, and took over Gotham (again). That’s it. It was a 9 issue/4 month long fucking prologue to Joker War. And more importantly... NONE of these themes paid off, even a little... And to be fair, if these had turned into something to be addressed and resolved in Joker War, I might have been okay with it... But they weren’t...

Also there’s a (would be)great little moment towards the end here where we learn that The Designer’s original nemesis, a master detective whom he crushed and humiliated, once taught Bruce “how to lose.” And this went nowhere. But it could have been super interesting, because what exactly does that even mean? Does it mean learning to accept loss and move on? Does it mean letting the opponent’s plan succeed because if they put everything into the one plan, then it means they never actually had a follow through, so now the board is wiped clean and everyone’s back to square 1? What exactly was the point of bringing back the Designer’s legacy if we just learned that the real Designer wasn’t even the master mind of this whole story?

So then we meander into Joker War, curiosity still piqued, but expectations drastically lowered...

Joker has all Batman’s gadgets: that’s actually kind of cool. I like the idea of Joker having infinite resources and Batman being the one working underground. It’s kind of been done before in pieces, but never quite as explicit as this. It’s not genius, but its a solid premise. Joker goes on a meta-rant about people watching “the classics” over and over, and audiences being content to see the same old story, provided it’s done right. (A bold called shot, Tynion.)

And we glimpse the mysterious future Batsuit that apparently Bruce doesn’t remember designing. It’s kind of a throwback to the gray and blue look of the silver age Batman, when comics were a little more cheery and goofy and child friendly. It’s a nice commentary on the idea that Bruce wants to make Gotham into a better place, not where he doesn’t need to be Batman, but where he can be a less grim Batman. It speaks to Bruce’s character, his vision for Gotham, and Tynion’s nostalgia that is now being strongly established as a driving force of these stories...

Joker’s plan involves paying Gothamites, in the middle of this citywide takeover by clown gangs, to attend screenings of Zorro, at which point he’ll kill them walking out of the theaters. Batman shows up at one theater, fights some Joker zombie things, get gassed, gets rescued by Harley and given an antidote that induces a hallucination chat with Alfred.

Laughably, in this talk Bruce admits “I failed...” when talking about letting Alfred die and letting Joker take over the city but then hallucination Alfred talks Bruce OUT of it. So whatever it was Bruce learned about losing from the old detective, this apparently wasn’t it; this was the wrong kind of losing.

Joker mentions part of his plan was to make a new generation of heroes and villains with the massive shared trauma of the theater killings. We’d been seeing bits of Clown Killer, but that’s it. He actually seems pretty cool, but he wasn’t really doing much more than cameo in this. No new villains* actually, not until the epilogue gives us the anti-hero GhostMaker.

*correction: there are a few retroactively established villains who are new to publication, but no new villains born out of the actual Joker War scenario.

The whole Batfam shows up to wrestle clowns. For some reason Tynion or DC editorial in general went to GREAT lengths to contrive Dick being back in the old Nightwing outfit, Tim being Robin again, Cass and Steph being Batgirls, Babs being Oracle, and Damian having renounced the Robin title for this... They don’t do jack shit; They wrestle clown goons in the background.

Yet, again one of Joker’s stupid genius plans ends with a fist fight between a highly trained martial artist and a guy in a purple suit and we’re expected to be excited about this. Harley shows up to trick Bruce into leaving Joker to die, but of course he survives anyway...

So there are a few themes here that got heinously underutilized... Joker’s super into this self-aware thing about this being just another Batman-v-Joker affair, and about recreating Batman’s origin, and we see this play out on the other side with the weird walk back on the Batfam’s costumes. But we know Joker will lose, so ostensibly the bottom line here should be that, no, actually... doing the same old thing isn’t enough, and people aren’t as predictable as Joker thinks.

But if we’re acknowledging this idea that Batman-v-Joker is a thing that happens in cycles and it’s always kind of the same thing, and people are sick of it, then you know what one undeniable fact of continuity flies in the face of that? That no matter how many times we reboot the universe and repeat this whole song and dance, Batman keeps accumulating more sidekicks. I’d have loved if this whole thing had just climaxed with Joker “winning” in his over elaborate 1v1 grudge match only to have half a dozen extra bats bust in and kick his ass.

But more over, Batman NEVER had any sort of plan in this... The whole lead up in Their Dark Designs, which took LONGER to set up Joker War than Joker War actually lasted, was about Bruce having this Design for Gotham... And Joker War goes out of its way to remind us of this lingering concept, and doesn’t actually do anything with it, but tries to still dangle it over us, like... “oh no, we didn’t forget it, it’s just for later!” And like, I’m still kind of on board for it, but less and less so the more this shit drags out without any satisfying benchmarks along the way. And it’s just super frustrating to want to give Tynion credit for the genuinely good set up he seems to have here... Except is it still a “good setup” of it ends up not actually setting anything up? or if what it sets up turns out to be disappointing and bad??

It’s just really bizarre to me that I honestly kind of desperately want to like Tynion’s Batman (Clearly I’m having a fucking field day digging my teeth into it) but in spite of the good that’s there, and the clear forethought that appears to have gone into it, he keeps tripping himself up somehow.

#batman

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incoherentbabblings · 4 years

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First Date (9/9)

Tim has one more test to pass before Bruce will allow him out as Robin. Like Dick and Jason before him, he has to avoid being caught by Batman for one night. He has already failed once, and is determined to succeed this time. Determination which might not count for much when Stephanie Brown is on the run from the mob. Her mother kidnapped as a way to threaten her father, Stephanie manages to escape and run into Tim. Unable to leave Stephanie alone when she is in need, Tim decides to try and multi-task. All he has to do is rescue Stephanie’s mother, take down the mob, avoid Batman, and get Stephanie to agree to a proper date all in one night. Absolute anarchy ensues Ao3 link here!

Tim hadn’t felt so close to crying since his mom’s death and dad’s coma. He sat, silent and despondent, staring at his knees, trying very hard to not start blubbering.

Batman, as always, was a stone pillar next to him. Saying nothing, making no noise, not even breathing for all Tim knew. He was brooding as much as Tim was.

He had failed the test. Again. But more than that, he had endangered a mother and daughter, and allowed a man to have been killed.

Head blown off. What a way to go.

Dick had warned him once, that not stepping in front of a bullet was not the same as firing the gun. Dick spoke as if he knew from first-hand experience. Tim couldn’t hold himself responsible for every injury and death that occurred, it would drive him insane with guilt, but still, Tim wondered what would have happened if he had done what he was supposed to.

Stephanie wouldn’t have gotten shot and fallen off the bridge for one thing.

All that was bad enough, but when Bruce said that he had found Tim just before he had run into Stephanie, Tim began to choke on his tears. He hadn’t even managed an hour. He had failed in every possible way.

He coughed in a lame attempt to cover up his unsteady breathing and to force air down his constricted throat. Batman finally took pity on him and spoke quietly once more. Thanking every god in every possible form, he didn’t sound angry.

“We’ll get back to the cave, Alfred will give you the once over, then I want you to go home. We’ll talk properly next weekend. Your father will be expecting you home soon. I’ll find Arthur Brown this week without you in the cave.”

Nope. The disappointed tone was worse. What Bruce was saying was reasonable, but Tim really didn’t want to sit around waiting to hear that Robin was a dead pipe dream.

“What time?” Tim asked. Bruce opened his mouth to respond, but Tim interrupted before he could reply. His nerves were getting to him. “I’ll come around at three. Yeah, I’ll do that.”

Bruce pressed his lips together and said nothing. Tim took that as a fine.

He managed to hold it together for Alfred to give him the metaphorical thumbs up. Changing into clean clothes, Tim waited whilst Bruce was checked and promptly sent straight to bed to rest. Tim rummaged through his bag, eating food he’d purchased at the corner store, and turned his phone back on. There were no messages from either Ives nor his father, so Tim guessed his lie had been a success. Alfred offered to drive Tim to his car in town, ready for Tim to drive back again to his father’s, and pretend he’d had a nice evening with Ives.

Sometimes lying to his father was easy. This was not going to be one of those times. Standing in the car park, Alfred placed a gentle hand on Tim’s shoulder, sympathetically – practically – saying goodbye and sorry. Tim smiled and shrugged it off. He got in his car and watched as Alfred left. The weather was still awful, grey and wet and chiller than it had been yesterday. It seemed to match his mood.

Head falling forward, Tim banged his temple against the steering wheel of the car, cursing himself for several hard years work, effort and dreams gone down the drain.

For the sake of a girl.

Tim felt no resentment at Stephanie. Not for one moment did he think anything that had happened last night was her fault. No, honestly, Tim knew where the fault lay.

Driving home was slow and painful. Traffic was bad and the weather was worse. By the time he got home, he just wanted to crash into bed and not emerge for the next week. But no, Monday was just around the corner, he had a week of school to get through. Maybe it would be easier, without training in the evening. Without anything to work towards.

Plonking up the steps to the front door, and desperate to distract himself from the heartbreak, Tim wondered how he could go about getting in contact with Stephanie. Opening and closing the front door, Tim somewhat resembled a drowned puppy.

“Tim?” He heard his father call from the living room. Steeling himself, Tim took off his shoes, and tried to smile.

“Hey dad.”

His father was bent over the coffee table, assorted papers and what looked like bills in his hand. Dana was probably working with a client in town.

“You just back?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I’m a bit soaked and shattered. Didn’t get much sleep.”

“You head out at all with Ives?”

“Um, just for a second, picked up some food and stuff. Played games mostly.”

His father nodded, then looked away, satisfied with Tim’s succinct responses and ready to return to his work.

“Well go ahead and take a nap if you want. It’s still early.”

“’Kay.”

Tim went to go up the stairs, then paused for a moment and turned back. He sat on the couch next to his father, who blinked owlishly at his son. They so rarely spoke, but even Jack recognized the solemnness in his son’s posture.

“Dad…how did you and mom meet?”

Jack was not expecting this question. He swallowed uncomfortably and put down the papers.

“We met through work. There’s not really a grand story to tell.”

“But how quick did you know? That you…liked her.”

Jack frowned, like he knew he wasn’t able to give the answer Tim wanted to hear. A broken marriage close to divorce before Janet’s death did not make a romantic story. “Tim… I don’t know. Honestly, I never really thought about it. Why? What’s brought this up?”

Telling half-truths was than flat out lies, so Tim twisted his hands and tried not to burn red from embarrassment.

“When I was out yesterday, I ran into a girl.”

That made Jack interested, he puffed out his chest and leaned back against the sofa, smirking knowingly and ready to needle Tim.

“Oh? And you think you’re head over heels?”

“After less than a day? Yeah, a little.”

Jack smiled kindly. “Everyone’s different Tim. Just because your mother and I didn’t…” His discomfort returned, like he wasn’t willing to lay bare his relationship with Janet to Tim. He broke off abruptly, then smiled once more, but this time it struck Tim as slightly patronising. “Doesn’t matter. You’re only sixteen Tim. Got your whole life ahead of you.”

Tim said nothing, trying not to start crying again. What he had wanted and planned for his life to be was no longer an option. A whole life of what? Taking up the family business? He felt the corners of his mouth turn down, and he struggled to neutralise his expression. Jack watched him with some concern.

“I guess so. Still, you’d like her. I think. She’s… pretty sharp.”

“She have a name?”

“Stephanie.”

As he spoke, Tim froze, remembering he had his phone. Pulling it out, he went to Facebook, and tried a search to see if she would come up. He found her not too far down, smiling beatifically in a cheesy grin for the camera. She was sitting at a dining table, probably at her school. A girl with bright blue hair was sat next to her, resting her head on Stephanie’s shoulder. The rest of her profile was private. Jack tilted his head as he looked, musing on whether or not he liked the name or the face. Abruptly ashamed for some reason, Tim decided to leave before the conversation could get derailed and Jack could give an unsolicited opinion.

“Anyway,” Tim stood up, leaving behind a wet patch on the sofa from his wet jeans and jacket. “I’m gonna go nap. See you later.”

Glad for the awkward conversation to be over, Jack waved Tim off silently and returned to his work.

Slipping into his room, Tim pulled out his phone once more. Staring at the smiling Stephanie, he hesitated only for a moment, then clicked to send her a friend request. He threw his phone onto his bed and tugged his shirt off to change into his pyjamas, exhaustion quickly making him feel a bit dead on his feet. Crawling into bed with wet hair, he sighed sadly. He truly didn’t want to face the next week. He buried his face into the pillow, and his chest began to shake with unspilt tears.

An aggressive buzz buzz on his phone pulled him away from despair long enough to activate his home screen.

A notification lit up before his eyes – Stephanie had accepted his request.

Tim didn’t know he was doing it, but he smiled at his phone, and for a moment the disappointment and crushed dreams vanished.

When one door closes…

***

“Is it okay that we talk out here?”

Bruce, who had opened the front door for Tim, paused, but nodded. Tim was being cowardly, refusing to go all the way downstairs only to do a walk of shame back up and off the estate. Best to get it done over and quickly, like ripping off a bandage, but Tim thought it more akin to hacking off a leg.

Shutting the door firmly behind him, Bruce and Tim sat on the stairs to the entrance of Wayne Manor. Tim placed his skateboard down in between them, to act as a literal and even metaphorical shield from anything that would come his way during the awful conversation. The sun was out, for once, and it was warm enough to not need a jacket. The two sat silent for a moment, watching the gravel path up the hill. The wind blew gently, disturbing the taller grass.

Tim waited for the anvil to drop.

“Arthur Brown was hidden over in Gotham Village, near the university campus. He’s back in police custody. Said he was doing the world a favour, stealing the money from human traffickers, said he did nothing wrong. His wife and daughter are going to have to testify about what happened to them. I trust Stephanie won’t reveal who helped her last week?”

“She hasn’t so far, no.”

“Hmph. You did well Tim, given what you had to work with.”

Tim stared at Bruce from the corner of his eyes, keeping his face turned forward, and expression caught between incredulous and anxious.

“I doubt that.”

“Look, there are two aspects to last week. The first, the test, you failed miserably. I told you not to linger at the starting point, which you proceeded to do. I don’t know if Dick told you that disobeying my advice is a good idea, but it wasn’t. You were told, you didn’t listen, and it backfired.”

This was what Tim had been expecting. A shopping list of what he had done wrong.

“That would have been that, except I think meeting Stephanie changed everything.”

Tim slowly turned his head towards Bruce, who was in return not looking at Tim. The kindlings of hope sparked.

“You tired to balance the test with looking out for a civilian hunted by the mob. I understand why you did what you did. It was all for moot considering you had already failed by that point-”

Ouch.

“But you protected her, saved the mother and made a significant dent on one of Gotham’s mob groups. Any other night that would have been a success. But you failed the primary objective.”

Tim took the stillness after Bruce’s speech as his cue to defend himself, but he didn’t grab it. “I could have activated the beacon you gave me. She could have been safe with you the entire time.”

“And I still would have failed at the warehouse. Except there may have been more of them there instead of arrested on the bridge and corner shops. You came, you won.”

“It was Steph’s idea… And she took out loads of people along the way.”

“Would she have managed alone?”

“No. No, she asked me to stay with her. She couldn’t have done it alone.”

“And neither did I.”

Baffled by what Bruce was saying, Tim tried to catch Bruce’s gaze, but he seemed stubborn to avoid it, as if he wouldn’t get the words out if he looked at Tim.

“I spoke at length with Alfred, Dick and Barbara. They think you’ve warranted the name. I suppose Dick’s opinion counts for Robin more than the others.”

“…What did he say?”

Sighing, Bruce planted his hands down behind him, leaning back, face contemplative.

“That Robin wasn’t mine to give, regardless. Dick had given you his blessing, and that was all that mattered. I said perhaps, but Tim also wants to work with me, and that part I do need to give my blessing to.”

“And… do…you…?” Whispered out of fear of what one syllable word was to follow, Tim watched, chest and stomach squirming with anguish, as Bruce blew an angry gust of air out and screwed up his face.

Alfred poked his head out the door then, making Tim jump a mile. Alfred smiled mischievously.

“Master Tim, I’ve let a young girl through the front gate. I believe you know her?”

“Wait what the what?” Tim turned to see Stephanie huffing over the crest of the hill on a bicycle. Tim and Bruce both stared in utter astonishment as the girl who had been shot twice less than a week ago began to wheel down the slope, apparently quite happy and over her brutal injuries.

“Well then,” muttered Bruce, standing up. He stared at Stephanie was a sort of fond bemusement. A distant echo of, “Oh this is a bigger hill than I thought,” drifted over to the manor, and they watched as she whirled over, pink helmet juddering up and down on her head. She was wearing jeggings with giant sneakers, and an oversized sweater that made her look like she was from the wrong decade. She belonged in a nineteen eighties teen sitcom, not twenty first century ragged Gotham.

She came to an abrupt stop at the base of the steps, losing control of the bike as it turned sideways sharply. She stumbled off, catching her foot on the pedals, squealing as the bike fell over onto her. She caught it, and corrected herself. Smiling brightly, she took off her helmet. Her golden hair had gone a bit static, flyaway strands sticking upwards. Bright red cheeks and a breathless joy made Tim’s mood lighter just from watching her.

“Hullo!” She greeted, glib as always. She wasn’t looking at any of the three men on the steps, however, she was focused on the massive scale of the stone house looming down. “Nice to meet you Mr. Wayne. Your house is very big.”

Bruce had put on his Brucie face and laughed fakely. “Yes, it is big. Who are you?”

Stephanie started awkwardly, and laughed, finally looking at Bruce, Alfred and Tim. “Oh. Sorry. This is rude. I’m Stephanie Brown. I’m hunting for Tim Drake which, hah, found you.”

Tim trotted down the steps and reached for her bike, holding it for her. “And how’d you do that?”

“Well, I found out where your dad lives, which – long story – was funny ‘cause when I turned up he said you were at Wayne Manor ‘cause you know you just casually hang out at Wayne Manor sometimes, like normal people do, so I asked him to tell me where it was ‘cause I wanted to surprise you! Are you busy? I think I’m interrupting something aren’t I? I can go if you want. Your dad was looking at me funny. Did you tell him about me? Did you tell him you’re madly in love with me?”

Tim blushed, Bruce stared, and Stephanie laughed.

“Seriously though, have I come at a bad time?”

“No! No, you’re fine.”

She really wasn’t fine, nor was she supposed to just roll up to Wayne Manor with no invitation, but Alfred could have turned her away if he felt there was a need to.

“Oh, good, I just don’t want to be a bo – Hey! That’s your skateboard?”

Tim looked back at it sitting on the top step. “Oh. Yeah, that’s it.”

“That’s so cool! Can you show me how to ride it? Got time to go to the park?”

Stephanie was interrupted by Bruce, who walked down to be on equal standing with the young couple. “Stephanie?”

“Yes?”

“I’m just finishing up with Tim. He runs chores for us every now and then you see. But we’re pretty much done now.”

Tim reached out and held Stephanie’s wrist, needing the physical contact. She nodded, completely oblivious to his mood.

“Sure sure. Sorry both, I know this is a little off the cuff.”

“Quite alright!” Bruce said, turning away. He reached across and grabbed Tim’s skateboard, and held it out for him. More than a little despondent, Tim limply took it.

“Tim, see that you come back around tonight though. Need to start fitting the suit for the thingy. Better let your dad know that your workload is going to go up from now on.”

Blinking at the floor, Tim felt the gears grinding in his head as the dots connected and the stars aligned. He looked upwards at Bruce; Alfred’s nose twitched mischievously at his employer.

“…Sure. I’ll tell him.”

“Grand. See you tonight Tim. Nice to meet you Stephanie.”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Tim stood, jaw against the floor, unable to comprehend what he thought had just been hinted. Bruce said nothing more and returned inside the manor.

Suit…Work…Evenings…Robin???

“I will buzz you out once you reach the front gate Miss Brown.”

“Thank you Mr…”

“Pennyworth.”

“Pennyworth! Thank you, Mr Pennyworth!”

Alfred rolled his eyes and closed the front door, leaving Tim and Stephanie alone in the front porch. Tim wanted to run a mile. He wanted to jump up and down. He wanted to swing Stephanie around. He wanted to ring Dick or Babs and just scream down the other end.

Instead, he turned to Stephanie, and kissed her cheek.

“Can’t believe you tracked me down.”

“I have my ways.” She whispered conspiratorially. “You know you can look people up from when they register to vote? Your dad’s a good citizen.”

“Oh… yeah. He tries.”

She giggled and went to climb back on her bike.

“To the park then? Then dinner.”

Tim gently bumped her back off. Saying nothing, he stuffed his board in his backpack and climbed on her pink bike. He gestured for her to clamber on as well, perched on the bars on the back wheel. She chuckled, the playfully slapped her helmet on his head and buckled it nice and neat.

“Onwards chauffeur.”

“You know,” he said as they set off. Getting over the hill was going to be a nightmare, Stephanie would be just as quick walking, but a strike of insanity made him determined to carry the two of them over the hill. He began to puff with the strain. “You shouldn’t�� have cycled all this way! Your stitches…”

“Ah, it’s fine! Fit as a fiddle. Clean bill of health, mental and physical. Well kinda, but hey. I’ll get there. Mom and me got a court hearing in a few days. Starting to get on first name basis with those guys, seems like we’re there once a year… Anyway, you’ve been doing okay this week? I was worried about you. After the friend request I hear nothing…”

“Me? Stephie, I’m not the one who was… sick all over herself, hunted by the mob, shot in the leg, shot in the stomach… thrown off a bridge, betrayed by her father, tasered two people… and knocked out a few others, and of course let’s not forget running over your mother.”

“…Words hurt Timothy.”

“Wow… Timothy. Full name derision.”

He huffed and pressed on, struggling up the hill. He was determined to succeed, if only for the fact that he had a sneaking suspicion that Bruce was definitely watching through the front window. He was Robin now, he would cycle up a hill for goodness sake!

“Hey come on. Going home with Batman after… he wasn’t cruel was he?”

“Cruel? No. Felt like it at the time... He’s a big fan of the silent treatment. But –”

The bike wobbled as it had slowed down to an unbalancing pace. Tim grunted and stood up to gain more momentum. Stephanie saw the effort he was putting in and decided to tease him.

“But…?”

“But… it’s…fine.” Stephanie grinned as he punctuated each word with a cycle of the pedals, watching his cheeks puff in and out with the effort of speaking. “I…failed…the test… but… I still… got Robin…Wheew!” He stopped as he reached the top, collapsing on the hard seat. Stephanie tapped the top of the helmet, Tim’s jaw vibrating from the impact. She clambered off the bike, noticing he wasn’t pressing the breaks. The hill turned downwards, straight towards the large black gates that Mr Pennyworth had promised to open for them.

“As you should! Best guy for the job.” She moved to the back and rested her hands on the back wheel and frame of the bike. She rocked it back and forth, Tim raising his heels off the floor to allow her to do so. “And this is good. Now you can train me too to help at night.”

“Wait wh-”

She shoved as hard as she could, sending Tim rocketing down the hill. He screamed the whole way down, causing her to double over with laughter. He jolted the bike to the right as she had done, but still flipped completely over, rolling professionally as he was no doubt trained to do. Stephanie ran down the hill, breathless with joy. The bike clanged against the fence, which comically began to swing open a moment too late to prevent Tim’s accident. As she approached, she could hear him bitching to himself.

“God what the hell! Some warning would be you know…welcome”

She crashed into him, kissing him hard on the lips. Instantly his hands went up, squishing her cheeks. It was a wet and clumsy kiss, one that made a squelching sucking noise when they separated, but to Tim it was perfect. Steph pecked his lips once more.

“You have no idea how glad I am you were there last week.”

“Me too.”

She smiled, then reached behind Tim and tugged out his skateboard.

“C’mon, it’s flat from here on out. You skate and I’ll cycle. My dad’s going back to prison, my mom is safe, and I am healing nicely. Now…I want my first date, boy wonder.”

Taking off her helmet from his head, she set off, waving him to follow her. She wanted to move past her parents, wanted to look forward to something better, something more. That sweet, earnest, handsome boy who was more a hero than any Bat. Tim was her greatest chance to do more, to be more.

Snapping the board and wheels down, Tim kicked the ground a few times, then caught up. The past week of misery fell behind him, and instead of one door being slammed shut in his face, it was like the entire wall had caved in. So many new possibilities, and all with this mystifyingly bright faced blonde riding next to him.

***

Bruce and Alfred watched on the CCTV monitors as the pair rounded the hill and stumbled through the gate together. Both men were struck with how young they were.

Alfred coughed politely. “Those two may grow to be joint at the hip Master Bruce.”

Bruce said nothing and continued to watch. He frowned momentarily, but not from anger, only from being deep in thought.

“You think so?”

“I received the impression they are quite smitten with each other.”

“Let’s see what happens. If Stephanie truly does want training, to prevent a repeat of last week, maybe we can help her. Her mother and her are a bigger target than ever.”

“Hmm. I will inform Miss Gordon. She seemed quite intrigued by Miss Brown.”

“Sounds good Alfred. I need to call Dick, see if he can come home tonight.”

Bruce continued to watch until the pair were out of sight of the cameras. He laughed quietly to himself. Any plans he had made for Tim becoming Robin were looking increasingly vague.

Somehow, he didn’t particularly mind.

#dc #timsteph #tim drake #stephanie brown #bruce wayne #my fic tag #finished!!

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