itsme-inbooks

[itsme-inbooks]

NO MEANS NO but so does: “i don’t feel like it” “not right now” “i’m not sure” “i’m not comfortable with this” “i don’t like that” “let’s just chill”

[itsme-inbooks]

For those Titan's Tower AUs where Tim is all like, "That's Jason, so I'll let him torture/kill me when he pops by," what if Red Hood walks in on Robin being extra prepared. Tim greets him at the door with a smile, beckons him on over, and shows him the table of torture devices he gathered. It's almost like a kid trying to show their parent the amazing job they did in hopes they'll be praised.

"I wasn't sure which ones you preferred to use, so I grabbed a variety just in case."

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Alfred: Batman would certainly not approve.

Robin: Which is why–we’re certainly not going to tell him, Alfred.

–Tim Drake with Alfred Pennyworth (Robin #27 – Natural Born Healer)

[itsme-inbooks]

Tim: me too

Ra's is in Gotham

Tim: If you've git a problem, you're gonna have to get through me.

Ras, turning around to find tim: Ah, if it isn't the Young Detective.

Tim: In the flesh, you still keeping my spleen in a jar on your mantle?

Ras: Yes, and I pray to it every night that you might finally come to your senses

Tim:

Tim: Everyone heard that, right?

[itsme-inbooks]

Lois sends Clark a text telling him "not to worry, she's working on a story and vanishing for a few days" and Clark immediately realizes she's been kidnapped because everything is spelled right.

[itsme-inbooks]

I need fics where Bruce/Dick explicitly tell people that they didn’t let Tim become Robin because he knew, or because of Bruce’s mental state, or even because of the fact that Tim kept coming back.

I need them to be like “Yeah we’re pretty sure he was gonna become a villain before this. We’re honestly pretty lucky that he looked up to us. I mean, he was blackmailing us at age 12, he trained with Lady Shiva, outsmarted Ra’s, fought an evil version of himself from the future where he was a joint dictator with his friends… But he’s a good guy, and we can only hope he stays that way :)”

[itsme-inbooks]

Realized after I sent the ask that I had mentioned the idea of Tim introducing Bruce to Jack and Janet’s acquaintances which lowkey implies that they’re still alive at the time.

Just Jack and Janet realizing that their neighbor is now their grandson. Sending gifts to dote on their only grandson, telling Tim a bunch of tips that don’t really apply because Bruce is an adult man and not a baby boy who needs to be burped and tricked into not eating too fast (Tim reconsiders that advice after seeing Bruce scarf down a meal at the table to get back to the bat computer too quickly that it makes his stomach a little queasy)

Who knows they might even put their only grandson in their will (Bruce believing that they knew that he would adopt their son in the case of their death and wanted him properly taken care of which is why they left him things, he just thinks everything they give him is child support but Tim and Alfred know otherwise)

Bruce being put in the Drakes' will because he's Tim's son is everything to me. Gods, I love oblivious Bruce and semi-decent Drakes.

I just absolutely love how everyone in Tim's life supports his adoption of a grown man besides the oblivious man himself. Tim creates a community that helps him with his son as he learns to be a dad.

Tim went from wikihow articles to Ma Kent's expert advice, Alfred's gentle guidance (though I'm sure they've gotten into a few arguments on parenting), and the Drakes' not as helpful tips.

Jack and Janet are big proponents on Tim doing whatever he sets his mind and heart to. If that's adopting a man in his late 30s? Well, they'll even sign him up for parenting classes and developmental psychology. It's good practice, and Tim's giving them a grandchild that can pay for themselves. A very wealthy, reputable grandchild.

Tim's parents know that Bruce isn't aware of the adoption, but they figure Brucie Wayne is a natural airhead anyways. They'll love him all the same.

[itsme-inbooks]

First, I ficking love your shit. It's great. Please keep posting, I go feral every time.

Second, consider: with Tim having to basically be Bruce's dad, has Tim ever implemented the star sticker method? Cause the mental image of that is great (yes this came to me in the middle of the night and yes I woke up in a cold sweat and wheezing laughter over it ANYWAY!) Just Bruce knows what Tim is doing, ok HE KNOWS but damn it if he isn't going to get the fucking sticker

I don't know how to respond to compliments, but I do get giddy about them. Thank you ^^

As far as the stickers...

Yes Tim has! I've made a post about how Tim uses negative stickers (frowny faces) when Bruce does unacceptable behaviors (such as going on patrol injured, not sleeping, not getting WE work done, not eating, not taking care of wounds, etc).

Although, you made me think about the fact that Tim would probably also use Green Lantern stickers as well!

For positive stickers, Tim will use stars and smiley faces for regular good behaviors.

When Bruce does really well (such as telling Dick that he's proud of him), Tim whips out the special stickers. These include Gray Ghost, Robin, Nightwing, Batman, or Bat stickers.

Bruce will never admit it, but Tim's done the math. The stats prove how effective the chart and stickers are.

[itsme-inbooks]

Hemlo! Here are some sparkles and hearts for all the delicious posts and answers!! ✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️✨️💕❤️💖✨️ ✨️

I also have ✨️Questions✨️! In Tim being Bruce's Father Figure AU/headcanon, how do you think Tim's 16th birthday will play out? Will Bruce even plan it? And if he does, will this AU's Alfred go with it? How differently do you think Tim will go about tackling Bruce's lesson on paranoia? And how do you think he'll discipline Bruce after all is said and done? (I am sorry for the many questions 😅😅😅)

The sparkles are really cute. Also, don't know if it was on purpose, but urban dictionary says "hemlo" is how dog's pov says hi???

(Also, I love questions and asks so much. I sometimes take a bit to respond [cause I work nights, so my sleep schedule is whenever I can when I don't work], but I genuinely love all of them).

As far as Tim's 16th birthday, fuck. Alright. I guess this AU/hc can get some more angst. It's been too light and funny lately. Why not?

Okay.

~~~

Tim stares at the object that started it all. It's perched innocently on his desk, but the teen wants nothing more than to shatter it into dusty remains.

Bruce, his son that he willing took responsibility of, his son of three years, thought it was fit to cause Tim to have a mental breakdown. Bruce isn't aware of the true nature of their relationship. Bruce thought it was fit to cause rampant paranoia in a child.

Where had Tim gone wrong?

He thought Bruce was getting better.

Were the sticker charts, the car rides for sleep, the persistent checking for injuries, and the forced self care the wrong moves? Was Tim too harsh? Too soft? Where had Tim failed his son so that he thought this was an acceptable and appropriate set of actions? Why did Bruce do this to him?

He doesn't know.

And Alfred. He thought the two of them were on the same page when it came to parenting Bruce. Were the many discussions over tea, the late night baking, the aid around the house, and the chats during gardening for naught? They were supposed to rely on one another, inform the other when Bruce was going too far, and stop the man. Tim had so many fucking conversations with Alfred on permissive parenting and being a bystander. He thought they were in agreeance.

Not only did Alfred fall back to old and wrongful ways, but he was now an active participation in Bruce's emotional abuse and manipulation. Can Tim even trust Alfred to protect Bruce's kids from Bruce? Was Tim just special?

He doesn't know if it is worse for Alfred to target Tim specifically or for the older man to allow such actions against all of Bruce's children. Both thoughts are unbearable.

The man had the audacity to joke about Tim being of age after this clusterfuck, as if Tim hadn't been an adult in a child's body parenting an adult nearly three times his age. As if Tim hadn't aged a decade in the last three years. As if Tim hadn't done enough.

Gods, Tim is tired. He doesn't think reddit can help him out of this either.

Tim brushes a finger against the offending object as his face screws up in overwhelming grief, frustration, and betrayal. The smooth edges of the cube are cold, and his face feels hot.

He won't cry.

Bruce is a bastard, a man-child who criticized Tim for believing in time travel (as if they both hadn't seen it happen before).

It's infuriating and heartbreaking, but it's not the end. Tim can still fix this. He'll be more vigilant this time as he screws the errant pieces of Bruce's morality and judgment back together. He'll study more parenting books, attend more psychology online courses, and find a therapist he can ask parenting questions to anonymously. There's still more Tim can do.

He can still save his son from himself.

There's still time.

Tim pockets the reminder of his failures towards his son as he goes to Bruce.

He won't ask Bruce to apologize.

He can't.

It's Tim's fault, after all.

[itsme-inbooks]

Okay but Bruce going to the kitchen and telling Alfred that he’s going to go on patrol and Alfred just looking him up and down like “and what did Master Timothy say about that?” and Bruce just pouting like “he said no” and Alfred nodding like “exactly.If you choose to leave it will be without my permission and with the knowledge that I will not be hiding your little excursion from him.” and bruce huffing before going back to his room to rest cuz of his broken bones.

My gods, I legit chuckled out loud at work about this. Alfred and Tim coparenting Bruce while the man is oblivious to the very obvious signs is hilarious. He's acting like a child in this which makes the need for parenting even more obvious.

It's also humorous that your version has Bruce trying to pit his parents against each other and Alfred shutting that down quick. The fact that Bruce accepts Tim finding out as a bad enough consequences to not go out? Cherry on top.

I would also love to see the batkids start to notice that Bruce asks Tim for permission. It's not always a verbal response, so they miss it at first. Eventually, they start seeing that Bruce makes eye contact with Tim before doing certain actions. Tim will either narrow his eyes, not react, or very slightly smile. A few times he has even nodded.

This could be misconstrued at first as Tim being trusted the most out of all the batkids when it's really that Tim will make Bruce's life a living hell if he's not behaving. Tim worked hard for Bruce to (unknowingly) respect Tim as authority figure in his life

[itsme-inbooks]

Omg yes! That sounds like a plan

I have to do an analysis of the problem security in Gotham and... Make a security strategy 💀

Having to clean your house after spending the past few hours cleaning is such bullshit, when does the sisyphean task of cleaning end, even in my sleep I'm cleaning.

BUT on the plus side there's neither a Rogue nor Vigilante in my apartment so that's good at least.

#my brother would probably kill me if he finds out that I'm going to stranger's house #but i had done worse #(like helping shark king remove a car door from his teeths) #worse thing is #I'm the only one who has gotham #other people has cities like metropolis or central city #that professor hates me

[itsme-inbooks]

Tim almost killed Captain Boomerang for killing his dad, full beliefs that at some point in the midst of looking for his son, Tim kills Darkseid

100%.

If Tim doesn't kill Darkseid, it's only because Bruce isn't actually dead. Alfred would support and even help Tim kill Darkseid if Tim had gone through with it.

Either Darkseid is never heard from again, or Tim had made sure he would never be a problem again.

The difference between Boomerang and Darkseid is the notion and emotion. Tim would spit at Boomerang something like, "You killed my dad."

For Darkseid? The last words he would hear would be:

"You took my son away from me."

Extra angst could be added on because Tim hunts down Boomerang after Bruce returns from the timestream. If Tim had killed Darkseid, he would have to make sure Bruce never found out after that confrontation.

[itsme-inbooks]

Okay but Tim dragging Bruce to galas because he refuses to suffer alone and introducing Bruce to people that he meets through him being CEO or Jack and Janet’s acquaintances and eventually migrating towards the other parents who are all bragging about their kids and subtly starts bragging about Bruce and somehow no one says anything but the kids are all just looking at Bruce who’s standing slightly behind Tim similarly to how they’re standing slightly behind their own parents so confused because that is a grown man. That is Brucie Wayne. Their parents talk about him all the time? Is the boy in front of him just stuck with permanent baby face?

A kid, more than slightly confused what the hell is going on, asks Tim about his face wash routine. Perhaps the parent of Brucie Wayne, who looks younger than him, has some secret rich person trick. Tim responds with some very in-depth routine (thanks to Janet Drake), but nothing that would hint at why Tim's face looks so youthful.

The other parents, who look down on himbo Brucie Wayne, understand it as just weird rich people habits (like ofc Tim needs to be the parent in this situation. Have you seen how often Brucie falls, makes social errors, and says the most ridiculous things?).

It's an unspoken rule not to tell Brucie Wayne that he is being parented by Tim Drake. If you want to get any favors from WE, you can not insult Tim Drake's son either. That himbo might not understand what you're saying, but Tim Drake will find out what you said about Bruce.

It's adorable to imagine Tim at a gala gushing over his son at any person who will listen.

[itsme-inbooks]

I just want good angst about Bruce desperately trying to parent Tim but realizing he fucked it up

or Bruce realizing he kinda sees tim as a father figure in a weird way

or the bats all realizing how Tim’s been forced to mature quickly so he can take care of them, and he won’t stop trying to be the adult in situations even after the bats try to make it so he doesn’t have to

There are a few fics out there that center around Tim and Bruce's relationship after Bruce realizes how bad he treated Tim. "Grudge (I hold none)" by reinersbigtits. "Just How Much I Love You" by sElkieNight60. Honestly, a bunch of sElkieNight60 fics have Bruce trying to be a better parent. Their fic "Redraw Our Expectations" showcases Bruce trying to parent Tim and the teen finds that strange, weird, and restrictive. They chat about it.

I sadly haven't seen any fics where Bruce considers Tim to be his father. I have seen a few that describe Tim as his closest confidant or mental support, but none about the father hc/au :(

If you want some quick angst about Bruce seeing Tim as a father figure, here's an idea:

Bruce is ruminating on his kids. As he's going through his mental list of the kids (perhaps trying to remember where they all are), he realizes that it's an effort to add Tim to that list. At first, Bruce clocks it as the older man being a horrible parent to Tim or needing more time with his son. Bruce wants to fix this and sets out to do so. He tracks down Tim to spend some time with him.

Halfway through the hangout, Bruce starts to relax. They are both having a good time, chatting and laughing. It only changes when he notices Tim's subtle nods, his slight mannerisms that encourage Bruce to keep talking, and the scrunch at the corner of Tim's eyes that indicate he's proud. It's an errant thought of the older man, but one that rapidly changes his worldview.

Tim acts like Alfred.

Tim acts like a father to Bruce.

Tim has always acted like a father to Bruce.

What has Bruce done?

The comment about Tim continuing to be the "adult" or "mature one" in the situation because that's all he's known hurts. If you add that hc to the one where Tim is constantly told to "be the bigger person" when it comes to being insulted by his traumatized family members, that's painful.

Alright, let's build on this hc/au. I'm going to use subtle canon background clues to create a probable psychological assessment on Tim's behaviors. The reasonings are all hc.

Tim was emotionally neglected and abused by his parents (not nearly to the extent of fanon and his parents did love him, but that doesn't change their emotional distance or the harm Jack did after his coma). One could hc that, due to the limited time he spent with them before they left again, Tim tried to keep the peace when they were there. He wanted to spend the time with his parents not fighting, even if that meant choking down his own emotions/needs, placating his parents, and overall keeping a pleasant demeanor around them regardless of passive aggressive insults (looking at Jack here).

If his parents had marital issues, like fighting and insulting each other in front of Tim, the child might have tried to mend their fights and solve their issues in order to spend more time with happy parents. It's a helpful behavior that could've been praised by Jack and Janet, leading to Tim continuously uptaking a mediator role.

This would morph into a people pleasing attitude that heavily clashed with Tim's independence and lack of authority in his life. This is what enables him to be suited for kicking a depressed, angry Bruce into his healing arc (enables, but doesn't excuse Bruce's reliance on a child nor condone it). Tim would probably insert himself into Dick and Bruce's relationship.

Unlike his parents, Dick and Bruce probably weren't happy an unrelated kid was mediating their relationship or getting in the middle of their arguments. Because of their contant rejection to Tim's efforts, the kid's behavior could morph into a more subtle and subterfuge manner. This comes in handy when Jason and Damian come around (because they for sure would not listen to Tim's advice).

Tim, because he's spent his entire life managing other people's emotions for them, would understand where Damian and Jason are coming from as they hurt him. It is painful, and he may hold some resentment towards them (and a frozen anger), but he's used to yanking back his emotions and shoving them into an overfilled box. That's the easy part.

What's burdensome for him is the family. After realizing the lengths Tim goes to in order to ensure their bonds stay strong, they keep pressuring Tim to release some of his responsibilities. They want the relationships to be more equal.

Tim can't, though. If he lets go of his tight grip on holding the family together, he'll have to face that box of emotions he shoved down. He'll have to work through all the pain, anger, betrayal, grief, and desolation all of his family members gave him. If he accepts that he shouldn't be taking on so much emotional labor, he would have to face that he shouldn't have been subjected to so much abuse (from the Drakes or the Waynes).

Tim can't do that without falling apart.

He can't keep his hold on the family's support beams either.

It's not healthy nor productive for Tim to keep his position. Without releasing the pressure from his back, Tim will collapse and take the Waynes with him. He's too scared to let go, though. Will he survive the break? Will he have a place with the Waynes if he's not holding them up?

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What do you think would happen if after the end of the Brucequest, Tim didn't forgive the Justice League for not helping him.

Like maybe he forgave the BatFamily instantly, because to him not forgiving them wasn't even an option, but it was still an horrible year for him and he kinda wanted to vent at someone, so he basically said to the JL that since he didn't get any help from all of them at the worst time of his life, they shouldn't expect any help from him unless it's a world ending crisis.

He's not a main JL member so he wasn't expecting anything to change, he just wanted to get angry at someone, since he's not angry at all with his family, but at the very least before the end of the day he would get Young justice completely on his side

I've seen a few fics (can't remember them rn) that show YJ pulling their support of the JL after Tim's whole debacle with them. I heavily support this decision and believe it should have been the move they pulled. Part of YJ's founding and operation relied on the fact the the kids were not being supported by the adult superheroes. They found each other and, sometimes, only had each other to rely on.

After the JL demonstrated that they are unfit to take care of the younger generation by their mass lack of support to what they perceived was a grieving teen on the verge of a mental breakdown? Fuck 'em. YJ is better off without them. They were hands off anyways.

A cool aspect of this would be YJ's refusal to the JL showing the adults how the younger generation supported the JL. They ran all sorts of missions, helped with tech support, and generally did background maintenance (in a literal and more general sense) for the JL. It wouldn't necessarily devastate JL, but it would leave them unbalanced and scrambling for a bit.

It would be hella cool to see YJ and others in his generation deciding to be the buffer between the JL and heroes even younger than them (aka Damian's generation). They would offer the support and aid that YJ typically went without.

I do think that YJ would support Tim's decision, Cassie being a major proponent of it. If, theoretically, they others didn't pull their support to the JL, they would at least give the older heroes a cold shoulder and harsher attitude.

The difference between the batfam and the JL is the level of responsibility and relationships they have with Tim. The JL is a group of heroes that are supposed to do good. Tim probably would hold a harsher grudge against them because of this (what if they treated others they were supposed to save in the same way). The Bats are extremely dysfunctional, but I imagine they would try to make amends (except Bruce, but I also hate him, so...). Tim would forgive them because he loves them, he understands the circumstances they were under, and they tried to apologize.

Anyways, Tim should be able to save "fuck you" to the JL for the BruceQuest.

[itsme-inbooks]

Y'all, I need more of the hc that Tim is being 100% serious, but people think he's joking or being sarcastic.

Just Tim point blank being like "yeah, I've got plans to take over the world in case they stop selling Zesti."

And everyone is like "mood. Of course, Tim." Cass is just sitting there nodding cause she knows Tim is 100% serious on these plans. He's even shared them with her.

[itsme-inbooks]

Imagine Tim holding Brucequest over the Justice League & even Dick & Jason's heads 💀💀💀💀

Heck Tim holding the Timestream incident over Bruce's head because Tim was the only person to actually do anything to save him

((Damian gets a pass because 1. He's a KID whose cult leading gramps was involved, how about No?))

((And 2. The priority for him at the time should have been unlearning the cult teachings of the LOA))

((and also all his other siblings. Alfred too since he has a job dammit))

Tw: Violence

I love petty Tim Drake so much. He deserves to be able to hold his trauma over the people who caused it.

Jason takes the last cookie? "You might as well take me back to Titan's Tower and slit my throat again."

Dick tells Tim he needs to go to bed? "Oh. I see how it is. I thought we talked about you questioning my judgements again, but I see I was wrong."

Alfred lectures Tim about his health? "Now you're concerned about my health? You should have thought about that before putting my mental health in peril for my sixteenth birthday."

Bruce is concerned with Tim's workload? "Maybe the next time you want me to take on less work you'll write a fucking letter instead of spreading vague clues no one else believes is actually from you."

As for Damian? They exchange verbal barbs for fun and take notes from each other. It confuses the hell out of the others because do they hate each other, or are they bonding?

Steph and Tim like to get into screaming fights with each other in public. It's never about their actual fights, but they like how Gotham reacts to it (bonus points if they end up in the news).

Tim and Babs try to sabotage each other's unimportant technology. That fifth tablet Babs hardly uses? Bam! Tim's made it so it plays music whenever it's on and the music can't be turned off.

Cass and Tim just make faces at each other. Bruce has been confused as hell when one of them randomly shouts in outrage due to the other twitching their eyelids wrong.

Tim likes confusing and horrifying Duke by telling him fun facts about the family. He'll tell them in the most damning way to watch the chaos. "The scar on Jason's neck is from Bruce choosing the Joker over Jason."

And that is Tim taking it easy on the Bats because he loves and cares about them (and because it's funny).

The JL?

Red Robin terrifies all of the members who doubted him. The terror doubles when they see him happily chatting with YJ or the Bats. The version of Tim the JL gets is a scarily competent and cold persona. They thought he lost the ability to smile until Red Hood (and who let a crime lord into the Watchtower???) grabbed Red Robin a peace offering Zesti.