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stxleslyds · 3 years

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Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 1.

Last Friday I was feeling extra rage-y after the news about the Titans mini with the Titans show line-up of heroes. I still think that a) Jason shouldn’t be considered a Titan or be in the team as Red Hood and b) that him going back to wearing a bat symbol on his chest is just bad but as @randomlut said there is a possibility of that book not being set in DC’s current universe and if that’s the case then okay, I will not complain about it anymore.

But this post isn’t about that Titans book it’s about Jason’s Robin’s appearances in volume two of the New Teen Titans!

Now, this won’t be an in-depth review of those issues from a story point of view, it will be a post in which I talk about Jason’s characterization and interactions with the Titans. Maybe I will even dive a little bit into why I think that the interactions that Jason and Roy have in those issues makes the relationship that they had in New52 very out of place.

Let’s begin!

· NTT (1984) #19

Jason as Robin appears here only in the last page of the issue. After the current team of the Titans appears to be falling apart Donna calls Jason and others to help in a mission, this team that she puts together resembles the “original” line-up with Robin, Speedy, (Kid) Flash, Aqualad and Hawk.

· NTT (1884) #20-21

Jason appears in the Titans tower along the OG Titans, when Donna finally tells them what the mission is all about (stopping Cheshire from interrupting a meeting) she asks if they are in on the job, Jason is not only excited about being there but about Batman actually letting him come all the way to the tower. A little bit of what Jason thinks or saw in Bruce is shown when Wally says that he “didn’t think the Batman could be thrilled by anything. He is always so grim.”

Basically, what Jason says is that the Bat isn’t that bad if you get to know him and that he cares about Jason’s education outside of vigilantism. Also, Jason seems to be grateful and very receptive of the things that Bruce taught him, he regards him as a very good mentor.

After everyone decides to help, they get on their jet. Here we have a very important interaction between Jason and Donna, she is telling him how she is feeling about the attitude of the rest of the team and about how she is a little bit lost now that she is in charge of the Titans and then she asks what Robin thinks about the whole thing, Jason is obviously thrilled once more, someone as experienced as Donna is asking him for his opinion? It blows his mind away! Batman never does that, he is always following his lead and never has a say on what they do so, to him, helping the Titans is only getting better and maybe he will ask the Bat to let him join them permanently.

Because they were talking Donna wasn’t paying much attention while flying and after they barely avoid crashing the jet, she apologizes to everyone and once more looks for reassurance with Jason, this time Jason is caught off guard but after Hawk teases him about his hesitation he tells her that “everything’s okay”.

When they arrive to Switzerland (where the meeting will be held) we have Jason’s first interaction with Roy Harper and him also slowly transforming into a burrito, that boy was cold and pissed off about it!

It’s really funny to me that Roy talking about Oliver’s pervy arrows is his very first interaction with Jason, who would have thought that a mad man would later make them besties?

They all go inside a building to get warm and for a while Jason is just chilling while the other Titans are all having an existential crisis, because here is the thing, Jason is a kid, he was presumably 14 here while all the other are in their twenties. Donna is having trouble with her new position as leader of the Titans, Wally is trying to live up to Barry, Garth is grieving his love, Roy is still very uncomfortable about being on a mission that involves Cheshire and Hank is just crazy. The others are trying to complete a mission while their real-life problems loom over them and Jason is just on an adventure with cool people.

Its not much later than Cheshire attacks the Titans, she first takes on Wally because he is her biggest threat and then detonates a bomb, now here I will give a little bit of context, Cheshire does not want to kill the Titans as of now, she just wants to incapacitate them because them being there is making her own mission more complicated, all I will say is that she doesn’t truly have villainous intentions and that she has a very weak spot for Roy.

Anyway, the bomb incapacitates Garth and Roy and Cheshire also managed to shoot Wally so only Donna, Hank and Jason are left standing to capture Cheshire, but here is the thing, Hank doesn’t want to capture her, he wants to kill her.

Jason has interacted very few times with Hank so far and it has always been Hank teasing him but now as Jason is going to fight Cheshire Hank interrupts him telling him that he will do “what has to be done”. Cheshire of course wont fall easily and I think that at this very moment she is thinking that killing Hank wouldn’t be a bad idea because he is going to mess her plans up! But not to worry as she is raising her gun Jason comes in to save his ass!

Jason is not a match for Cheshire and after that she quickly subdues him. But what’s important here is two things, first Jason doesn’t want or consider the idea of killing Jade, he just wants to capture her and bring her to justice, secondly, he doesn’t even want her to kill Hank, who has been violent towards every Titan and rude to Jason every single time that he has interacted with him. What I am trying to say is that this IS Robin Jason, he doesn’t think or act the same as Red Hood will in the future, he has his opinions on what punishments killers should get but he is not there to kill anyone himself.

There is this whole page where Donna beats Hank against a tree so he stops killing, because that’s not what the Titans do, she explains that if they do that then the public (that is already quite afraid of them) will just fear them more and they don’t need that, plus she believes that he is acting that way out of grief after losing his brother, as she is saying all of this though she is putting quite a lot of pressure on his chest and that might have ended up in her actually killing Hank if Jason hasn’t been there to stop her.

Donna is obviously not having a good time and after this she says that she “has had it” and that from now on Robin should “take command” because “its his group anyway”. Oh man…its clear to the reader that Donna is not having a good time being team leader but she also misses a certain person a lot. She is obviously not seeing Jason there, she is seeing Dick, the person that she is used to take orders from but he is not there.

Jason is aware of this, he might be a kid and might not have as many problems as the other Titans as of now but he is not a fool and he doesn’t want people to see someone else when they look at him, so he confronts Donna about what she just said/did.

Jason is just great in this scene; he just doesn’t want people that he admires to treat him as if he were someone that he isn’t. Just because Dick isn’t there doesn’t mean that he (because he is Robin) can replace him, they are not the same person and they do not have the same experience. He calls out Donna on her behaviour towards him and Donna being an adult takes responsibly for her actions and understands that ultimately, she was hurting Jason’s feelings. We have a kinda wholesome moment when they hug but because this is written by Marv Wolfman and he just can’t help himself, he proceeds to write Jason as a horny teenager. What a way to ruin the moment Marv…

Back to Cheshire, she is about to kick Wally’s face in when she decides to first tell him what he has to tell the others when they wake up, which is “Cheshire remembers”.

Wally tells the Titans Cheshire’s message but none of them truly understands what it means, Hank says that he doesn’t even understand why they are alive. Donna comes to the conclusion that Cheshire might want something from them and this is where Jason gives his thoughts, he says “Doesn’t matter what she wants. We take care of her. She’s a killer.”, its clear once more than although Jason (as Robin) wouldn’t kill anyone he does feel a certain type of way about criminals and wants them to be locked up.

After yet another verbal fight between Hank and Donna the Titans take a cable car to their next location, Jason is shown as exited about the view and the whole experience once more. When they arrive, they find Faraday (the guy that called Donna for help in #19) and he explains a bit more the situation but Jason once more is having trouble staying warm so he goes to the cable car tunnel nearby, but he doesn’t go alone, Roy goes with him because his “costume wasn’t made for this kind of weather either”, in this second interaction between these two we get to see Jason’s detective skills shine.

Jason has been watching Roy and he found his reaction to Cheshire’s message quite sus. Not only is he showing his detective skills here but he also said in a previous panel this: “The Batman keeps telling me to watch people’s eyes. And every so often I notice you become awfully agitated…like something was going on you didn’t want to be part of”. Zdarsky, hey pal, I am talking to you, look at this dude! He read Roy like an open book, this is Robin Jason, he likes being Robin and he is brilliant at it, he is methodical because he learnt from paying attention and working with Batman, so, you sir are wrong, not only did UtRH disprove your dumb narrative but so does this interaction (along all his appearances in this book).

Roy is impressed by the kid, and yeah, he calls him kid because he is a kid…Roy is visibly older than Jason as he should, do you see it Lobdell? Yeah, there is no dubious age gap between those two as you made it seem. Roy is impressed because between both of them he is the one that is most experienced, not the other way around. How did Lobdell manage to make up a whole as run where not only were Roy and Jason close in age and besties but also Jason was better at vigilantism than Roy and Roy was the one being impressed. It’s wild, wild and bad.

Back to the issue, Jason taken out of the fight quite fast once more by Cheshire and she proceeds to talk to Roy, that’s where we find out that they were lovers and that she feels weak when she is around him because he makes her feel feelings but that’s not all, she tells Roy that he is “the man that fathered my child” …Oh and now she does want to kill him. That’s where #20 ends, so let’s see what happens with Jason in #21.

In the beginning of #21 Jason is conscious once more and when he hears Cheshire’s threat, he attacks her so she can’t shoot Roy, he also says this “Sorry ‘cat’ that’s a definite no-no. Don’t you know mommy’s and daddies should never fight” I, I don’t know why he had to say it like that…the 80s were weird. While Jason is being himself Roy is thinking “Don’t be cocky kid, Jade hasn’t got a sense of humour…” but because he wants to talk to Jade, he tells Jason to go, that he will handle Cheshire and he leaves.

Roy and Jade talk, Donna and Hawk are fighting bad guys and each other and at some point, Jason joins Garth and helps him take down a couple of guys, he also tries to make conversation with him but Garth is still not talking to anybody.

Cheshire tells Roy that he will never hear about their child again and that he needs to let her do her thing and stay out of it because he doesn’t understand what’s going on, Roy doesn’t do what she asks and she “poisons” him. Donna saves a guy that Hank was trying to kill. After Cheshire leaves Roy comes to the conclusion that she wasn’t there to kill the people from the meeting or that she poisoned him, but because they were there and everything went to shit now the people that were getting together are blaming the Titans for the interruption. The whole thing is a mess and the news channel are not nice about the Titans as a whole, but I am not interested in exploring that here. All you need to know is that the people that made Cheshire do what she did to the Titans were the Brother Blood people.

It’s on the jet that we see Jason again, he and the others are going back to the tower. Because the news are painting the Titans as bad when they are arriving to the tower Jason sees a lot of people protesting about them and he feels bad. This was his first job with the Titans and he is a kid, imagine how sad it would make you if you wanted to help and after getting the job done people were mad at you. But even though he is sad about that he takes time to ask Roy if he is okay after he sees him almost running away from the tower, he doesn’t get a response but he isn’t mad about it.

Jason’s stay with the Titans comes to and end and he says that he loved hanging out with them and is grateful for having been invited, he is so sweet!

· NTT (1884) #24

Here, for some reason, we see Jason saying goodbye to the Titans again and unlike at the end of #21 Roy is there to see him leave.

I am not going to lie though; I liked this goodbye better it feels like it’s more complete than the other one. Here he says that Batman wants him back in Gotham but that if the Titans ever need him again all they need to do is call. He also mentions Nightwing which is funny because he will be called by Donna again in #26 to help the Titans get Dick back from Brother Bloods Church.

I am going to cut this part here because issues 26 to 31 have a lot of Jason content that I want to explore and I can’t put any more pictures here, also this post is already long as it is now!

I just love Jason’s little moments in these issues, him confronting Donna and reading Roy like and open book in #20 are my absolute favourite, I just think this is a nice way to kinda show how wrong some current characterizations of Robin Jason are and what better way to do that than reading and looking into some good stories.

Oh! Before I forget, in #21 Roy leaves the Titans’ tower to go see Jade and he actually gets to meet his daughter Lian for the first time, so yeah, that was a wholesome moment!

#jason todd #robin jason todd #batman and robin #titans #new teen titans #donna troy #roy harper #cheshire #garth of shayeris #wally west #red hood #urban legends red hood

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birdy-bat-writes · 4 years

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Headcanon- Kon Kent Things

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Just Conner Kent being Conner Kent. or Konathan Kent for that matter.

Requested: By @comicsandhoney and I think @offendedfishnoises and @catxsnow not sure though. Taglist is at the bottom. Feel free to message me if you would like to be added to the taglist :) Love ya! Here we go!

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- In Titans tower, far too many people have had near-heart attacks because they got up at night to get water and saw a floating body in the kitchen.

- “AhhHHhhahaha!!” everyone rushes to the kitchen to see poor Garfield shuddering on the floor.

- Tim: “What’s wrong?”

- Gar: “Possessed! Its possessed!” He points to an unconscious floating body, clinging to a blanket in the middle of the kitchen.

- Tim: “Ohhh, don’t worry about him. Conner sleep-flies.”

- Yes, my friends, Conner Kent sleep floats. Now to prevent this, Tim has started tucking him in very tight. Bart once resorted duct taping his legs to the bed.

- Kon will never invade your privacy by reading your thoughts but he will on occasion plant gift ideas into your head around a friend’s birthday or his own for that matter.

- He just happened to be walking by Cassie when she was struck with a perfect gift idea for Tim’s birthday.

- Kon has 16 leather jackets and one of them has rhinestones on it. His favorite one is the custom leather jacket that ma and pa Kent got for him and Jon. They have a matching set of 4 and there’s a picture that Kon keeps of Ma Kent, Pa Kent, him and Jon in a group hug, wearing their matching leather jackets.

- He gets along really well with Jason Todd. People don’t notice it.

- The two aren’t best buds like he and Tim are but Conner really admires Jason. Once when Tim was running late to the manor and Conner showed up early, he and Jason went for chilidogs on vine street. Thanks to Jason, Kon knows the best local places in Gotham.

- Kon was afraid that when Jon was born, he’d be left behind because Clark and Lois finally had a son they asked for. Kon and Clark’s relationship started out a bit rocky and he was worried he couldn’t be like real family to them.

- When Lois went into labor, Kon was right there. He called Clark and took Lois to the hospital. Clark, Ma and Pa joined along the way. When Jon was born, all the fear left Kon’s heart because all he could see was this little angel.

- Lois: “Conner, I want you meet your baby brother,” He felt so happy. He wasn’t replaced; he was an older brother now.

- Lois had Kon hold him and he was so scared to. She had to reassure him “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

- Kon had never felt as happy as he did when baby Jon held his finger. They didn’t even know yet if he had powers but boy did that baby have strength in his left hand. He was so small.

- When Lois and Clark saw Kon holding Jon and rocking him, they said out loud “I love our family.”

- Conner and Jon have weekly water-gun fights.

- Jon has once called Conner out for his crush in front of them. “You like that person! Talk to them.” Toddlers are loud and they definitely heard. They found it cute though. Jon was a little wingman.

- Conner really loves corn.

- He is very amused by the way humans perceived aliens before they knew about superman and Martian Manhunter.

- Just for trolling, he will hover over meadows and lay down the grass in perfect circles to freak people out and Clark will try to scold him but start laughing while trying.

- He and Tim have sleepovers that are basically just games of ‘Can I actually get Tim to sleep tonight?”

- His favorite color is red, but not just any red. He likes cool-toned deep crimson shades.

- Kon loves Ma Kent’s rhubarb pies and Pa Kent’s hamburgers. Those are his comfort foods.

- He has a minor fixation on foreign television. This boy will sit in a room and watch a 4-hour Bollywood movie in one sitting with nothing but subtitles, popcorn and very dramatic facial expressions. “Shah Rukh did WHAT?”

- His K-Drama marathons take up a lot of his mental capacity.

- “No, Tim, Park Seo Jun is was really her hero all along. He’s the main love interest! ...Puh-lease! They have so much more chemistry than that other guy! He doesn’t deserve her!”

- Conner loves math.

- He had learned how to paint nails over the course of Lois’s pregnancy to help her paint her toenails and now he paints Ma Kent’s nails once a month.

- Kon is a big love bug.

- He’s actually really good with pickup lines.

- He’s awkward with opening up about feelings but he gets there eventually.

- He takes Jon to Build-A-Bear too often. There are over 30 in Clark’s house now. Jon’s favorite is a white dog dressed as superman that they named Krypto. Jon has an entire justice league of stuffed animals by age 6.

- Wonder woman is a bunny. She finds it endearing. Green arrow is a monkey and he’s amused by that.

- Kon loves dogs and volunteers and rescue shelters.

- Conner has cut his own hair only once and never again. Tim tried to fix it. Never again. They eventually went to the parlor.

- Kon cooks really well.

- We will ignore the time he had Jon try to heat up food with his eyes. It may or may not have ended up with custard on the ceiling. Luckily, Lois doesn’t look up too often. Clark on the other hand…well, he kept the secret.

- This boy is a big goofy sweetheart.

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Taglist: @anothertimdrakestan @offendedfishnoises @comicsandhoney @river-bottom-nightmare @catxsnow @cries-in-fangirl-23 @batarella @idkmanicantenglish @sonofrobin16 @l-horizon11 @subtleappreciation

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herstarburststories · 4 years

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Swallow (Jason Todd x Reader)

✾ A/N: Hope you like it, hon!

✾ @thatgaypostsworld 's request: Do you think you could do Jason Todd from Titans x trans male, he's Hanks younger brother. They meet in Gotham and work together kinda like how Dick worked with Hawk and Dove and start dating then he Joins Titans to be closer to Jason and finds out that Hank knows Jason and can there be lots of fluff and protective older brother stuff from Dick and Hank cause Dick would have known him since he was like five. And Gar and Dawn being all for reader and Jason. xD

✾ Warning: request slightly edited from OC x Jason to Reader x Jason.

ONE YEAR AGO

GOTHAM CITY

‘'It’s over, bird boy.’’ The blue-eyed woman smirked at Jason as she pressed the barrel of the gun against his neck. Suddenly, the idea of going after a drug dealer alone to impress Batman didn't seem like the smartest thing to be done. ‘’Batman probably won't miss his dumb pet. ’’

‘’You talk too much.’’ An unknown voice was added to the conversation, followed by the typical noise of a punch. Just like that, Todd was no longer between life and death, and his main target laid unconscious on the floor among his passed out henchmen. ‘’Come on, villains. Don't you know that monologuing only gives pretext for someone to come along and save the victim?’’

‘’What did you just call me?’’ The new Robin finally turned around to face his unfortunate savior. He was also dressed in a superhero costume, although Jason couldn't quite put his tongue on the name. The outfit was, in his opinion, ridiculous. Mostly blue, but with a white front and an orange mask. At least his body looked pretty hot in that. ‘’I'm not a fucking victim, bro. Who do you think that beat the fuck out of her crowd?’’

(Y/N) rolled his eyes. Batman's new apprentice was really petulant. If Hank was there, he would probably say it was a prerequisite for being a Robin. ‘’You, me, and your ego are on the same side. By the way, I am Swallow.’’

‘’Do you suck too?’’ Jason answered in irony, already picking up his customized batarangs that had been thrown in battle.

‘’Very funny. Swallow as in for the bird, Robin. Just like you.’’

CURRENT TIME

SAN FRANCISCO

When Bruce and Dick decided it would be good for Jason to spend some time away from Gotham, it didn't occur to Jason how frustrating that could be. After all, why would he even consider that idea? Todd would stay with the Titans for a few weeks and come home as fast as possible.

‘’It’s boring as fuck. I wish you were here.’’

However, now, after two months in that tower, with Dick treating him like a child and away from home, Jason had to admit that he didn't imagine this scenario. Everything was boring compared to Gotham. He didn't go out to fight crime with anyone. In his city, every night had someone to be saved, either with Batman or (Y/N).

(Y/N) had become Todd's confidant out of necessity. Although his first mission to conquer Bruce's respect had gone wrong, Jason wouldn't stop trying. He was valuable and could be as good as Dick Grayson once was. Bruce didn't have to protect him or anything, and he would prove that.

It worked a few times, mostly with help. Jay was still inexperienced, a Robin barely for months back then. (Y/N), on the other hand, had been Swallow for years. Robin certainly didn't call him, but somehow they always ran into each other during Gotham's night routine. After a few cases together and some make-out sessions in places extremely inappropriate for any civilian, they decided to try for real. A committed relationship, Jason's first.

Video calls happened, of course, just like the one occurring in that instant. But it wasn't quite the same, at all.

‘’Me too, babe. Don’t worry, we will see each other soon. I need to go now, just arrived at the supermarket,” you said, waving your empty hand at him through the phone as your face disappeared on the screen. It was replaced by your call duration time. You smiled at the street you were on. Jason surely would love your surprise.

Todd grabbed whatever comic book he had left around the room to distract his mind. He missed his boyfriend and the excitement of his hometown. And even though he invited you a million times to become an honorary Titan, the answer was still a no. If Jason had to bet, and he was good at it, he would say that you were afraid of history repeating itself among your brother's old team, even though he had stated that Hank was not there and had never visited since they arrived at the tower.

A subtle knock met the door of Robin's room, soon followed by Gar's voice. ‘’Jason, you have a visitor.’’

He tossed the graphic novel in his hands towards the chair across the room, smiling victoriously when he hit his target before getting up and leaving the room. It must be Bruce, finally showing up to get him.

‘’About time, Bru—(Y/N)?’’ You weren’t the person he was missing that appeared in the Titans' living room, but you were still a wonderful surprise. Jason marveled at you, his heart pounding happily. ‘’What are you doing here?’’

‘’I missed you and decided to accept your invitation.’’ Your words didn't obtain any reaction from Robin. He remained there, astonished. ‘’I could always go back...’’ (Y/N) teased, the side of your mouth curved into a playful smile.

‘’Don't even fucking joke about it, baby.’’

Jason approached you, pressing his lips against yours in a needy kiss, which screamed how felt your absence had been.

‘’What the fuck is this?’’ Hank's voice surprised the two young men, causing you both to separate immediately. Gar - who had gone to the training room after calling Jason - arrived in the place with Dick. ‘’What the hell is Jason doing to my little brother, Grayson?’’

‘’I don't know,” the rising leader responded, frowning as he mentally analyzed the scene. Jason didn't have enough stability to fight in a team yet-- a romantic relationship should be his last concern. Dick himself knew how it could affect teamwork, but then, he wasn't one hundred percent ready to lead the Titans yet and had started a complicated situation with Kori months ago. Therefore, Grayson was not the best to offer advice in that department. Pursing his lips, Dick added, ‘’Anyway, I'm glad you two came back.’’

While Jason's older brother had decided to ignore the surprise in his living room to address more urgent matters, yours didn't follow the same line of thought.

‘’We came here to help you and found the new problematic Robin sticking his tongue in my little brother's throat. What the fuck, Grayson? Since when (Y/N) is with the Titans? You want to fuck up their lives with my brother's life like you did to ours?’’

Dawn placed her hand against Hank's chest in an attempt to convey some serenity to him and prevent the male from attacking Dick in a fit of rage. She smiled sweetly at the couple – Jason’s arm around your figure as the old Titans argued.

‘’He didn't know I was here, Hank. I just arrived. I wanted to see Jason.’’ You shrugged. There was no real concern for the eldest Hall's reaction. You knew your brother. He had an explosive and exaggerated tendency for being. Especially after you came out as a trans guy, which increased his protective behavior. ‘’I have known Jason since the gap year in Gotham. We are dating.'’

Hank opened his mouth and everyone in the room waited for another round of swearing, most likely to be directed at Dick and Jason, when Gar's voice interrupted, ‘‘Can someone handle Jason willingly?'’

You chuckled when Jason showed his middle finger to his teammate. It caused tiny, relieved smiles from the present adults. Dick and Hank exchanged a suggestive glance. It was the same they gave each other when a difficult mission had worked out after a few mistakes, but they were too exhausted to argue at the moment. A truce, it meant. For now.

‘’Well, I'm happy for you two. Talk to me if you need tips on how to deal with a hot-tempered Hall.’’ Dove joined the joke, eliciting more laughter and a betrayed glare from Hank, who dramatically moved away from his girlfriend.

Jason grimaced when being compared to Hank, and you placed your arms around his waist, pulling him closer. His brother tried to convince Dawn that his anger was directed to who he deserved it, which didn't make him hot-tempered. Dick stood with crossed arms, a simple smile on his face as he surveyed the room. Gar was laughing still, his old friends disagreeing in a relaxed way, and Jason was pouting, being treated by his boyfriend with quick pecks on the cheek that made him smile like a happy child.

That reunion was better than he had anticipated.

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redjaybathood · 4 years

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Bruce/Selina/Talia plotbunny

A proposal for yet another DC reboot. Or, if you will, Batman-focused line of comics, like White Knight universe. Only it starts with year one Batman who just returned to Gotham from his travels, training with the League of Assassins, starts his vigilante career, and - the tragedy of Flying Graysons happens.

Bruce takes Dick in but - plot twists - does not allow him on the streets as Robin. It’s just Batman adventures in catching criminals and raising a kid.

Then, another plot twist! Talia, heavily pregnant, comes to Gotham too. She decided that she won’t raise her child under Ra’s guidance because, let’s be honest, Ra’s is fucked up, and he fucked her up, and her siblings, so - she doesn’t want that for her child.

She seeks Bruce out for help because being pregnant makes it difficult fighting off the assassins, and she stays. Damian is born, Dick is adopted. Talia and Bruce are not getting back together (yet) because they both are emotionally constipated in different ways (Talia is still hurt because Bruce left the League left her, and she is certain he lets her stay only because a) their son and b) Ra’s is after her; Bruce is still hurt that Talia didn’t leave with him, and he’s sure she came to him only because of a) their son and b) Ra’s is after her). And, cue Selina!

Talia is not a stay at home mom though. As soon as she gives birth and recovers from it, she begins to work on rooting the League out of Gotham. She also accidentally discovers the Court of Owls (or maybe they go after her because they don’t like Ra’s - view him as their competition) and they have to go, too.

But it’s not like Talia is leaving kids untended, or only with Alfred (which was what Bruce did before she came along) - instead as they have joint custody, they switch.

They both meet Cawoman, separately: Batman one night tries to stop a robbery in a museum. Talia saves Catwoman from getting caught in a crossfire with some Assassins. Catwoman has no idea Batman and Talia (I don’t have a good secret identity name for her, sorry; maybe Muse?) know each other, and the same with Bruce and Talia. Selina flirts with both of them, more genuine on her end in Talia’s case, more playful in Bruce’s case. They both fall in love with her.

Meanwhile, Dick is introduced to other superkids, Roy, Wally, Donna, Garth. No one among them is actually allowed to be a vigilante! Instead, they form a team of kid/teenager detectives and have, like, age-appropriate adventures and help other kids, animals and adults. During these adventures, they find, help and befriend Kory, Raven, Vic, Gar, and oh god, all the Wilson kids. They call themselves Teen Titans and have a “base of operation”/”secret hideout” bankrolled by Bruce, Ollie, maybe Diana and Arthur too. Still, nodoby is in the suits! If, say, Trigon goes after Raven, or Slade tries to kidnap his kids back before finishing his parenting classes, they call adults and hold them off before the cavalry is there. If they ever have to face “evil” kids, like, I don’t know, from HIVE Academy, or Terra, they actually help them escape the adults who make them do those things, and so Titans grow. In the end, there are so many of them, Bruce has no choice but transform Titans Tower into Titans Academy for gifted kids or something like that. Every kid gets to have safe space to live, and also education. First time Dick and his friends ever suit up for real is when they are 18 or so, freshly graduated, and supervillains attack the city the school is in. It’s much higher stakes than anything they fought off before, and waiting for Justice League is not an option. Still, younger kids are not suited up, only the oldest.

After that, OG Titans become heroes but also stay young adults with things like college and jobs and stuff. Younger Titans become kid/teenage detectives, and they call in OG Titans when they get over their heads.

Meanwhile! Bruce meets Jason who tries to steal the tires off the Batmobile. Oh no, a child! He can't adopt him though because it's something that needs to be discussed first with Talia and Alfred and Dick and Damian who is like seven already.

He can't take him to Titans either because most of the kids there are metas or magic or super-related. Also, except for OG Titans, everyone there was found by Titans themselves.

So it's Ma Gunn school for him. Only of course after finding out what is going on there, he runs away and seeks out Muse (who everyone knows has a soft spot for children, and dealing with anyone who abuses kids much more definitely than Batman, so even if Batman wasn’t the one who left Jason there, Jason would still trust Muse more; AND, they met before, when Catherine was still alive - and an Untitled came to Gotham. So they worked together before! Talia even said to him to find her in a few years, when he gets older, to train - she seemed certain he had a talent for fighting evil things). Talia sees Jason and - okay, first, she apprehends Ma Gunn, second, she makes Batman investigate Gotham’s Social Services and Bruce - to donate money to fund foster programs and such. But the third thing she does is bring Jason to the manor. She talked about this with Bruce when she explained why he needed to do something about Social Services, explained things to Dick and Damian so they know that adults weren’t replacing them or love them any less but rather they had so much love around that they decided to take in another kid, and made sure Alfred was okay with caring for another child too. If anyone wasn’t okay with that, she supposed she would have to get her own place, and work out visitation for Damian and Dick. It wouldn’t have been great but she couldn’t just leave Jason. It was like fate.

Thankfully, it did not come to that. But Jason coming to live at Manor is not without the difficulties. First of all, Talia can’t just adopt him. Bruce had a lot of influence in Gotham to be allowed to adopt Dick, and also everyone thought that he’s going to marry Talia, the mother of his other child, pretty soon, but that did not happen. And for Talia, who is unmarried, and has a day job but it’s at her son’s father company, and does not have her own place to live, things are slightly more difficult. And Bruce and Talia both can’t adopt Jason as they are not married. So, they have to foster Jason for now, but they got a hint from Jason’s case worker that they could actually have a better chance at adopting Jason if they are married to each other. Both of them are like: oh no.

Thing is, they are still pining for each other, even if they also repress it with all their soul as they also love each other more than just romantically - they are family that raises two kids together. They don’t want to mess it up! And, also, both of them are pretty much in love with Catwoman, secretly, or so they think, Because at this point they know that the other one is in love with Catwoman, and so they both refuse to date her out of misplaced sense of loyalty and certainty that Selina will be happier with the other one. Selina is this close to calling their bullshit out but then, Jason comes along. And Bruce and Talia have to get fake-married. Which is in truth a real marriage, and was so for years, only without sex, mostly, because they think the other one does not love them anymore.

While adults are being dumbasses with love triangle and ignoring the simple answer of poly relationships with Selina, things are not that much better with Jason, Dick, and Damian.

Look, Jason is half-feral child who thinks the only reason Muse wants to adopt him is that she wants him to become her student and eventually, help her with getting Gotham rid of magical threats like the Untitled. Of course, she doesn’t want him as her son, she has two already and it seems like she can’t bear the idea of them fighting evil with magical punches and swords, so Jason is an expandable street rat. Damian, however, is mad jelly because mother did not ever teach him any magical punches. And everyone in this family treats him like a child! While Todd gets much more freedom. Thus, the resentment grows.

Dick, however, is just put off by Jason’s brash nature. He is more used to half-feral or full-feral kids being nicer to him (because usually he and his team are the ones that rescue them), so Jason, in his opinion, is a little asshole, who doesn’t know what is good. Also, he also jealous? Talia didn’t allow him to fight side by side with her, ever.

And Dick’s friends basically don’t like Jason either out of solidarity with him. Except for Eddie. Eddie thinks Jason is cool and a hero already.

Sorry, Tim is not going to figure out Batman’s identity, because Richard Grayson was never Robin, and Nightwing does not operate in Gotham, so Tim, even when he eventually saw Nightwing on TV, was much older at the time and forgot about the quadruple somersault and did not put two and two together.

However! After a fight with his siblings, Jason runs away from Manor, and meets Tim Drake who takes pictures of Batman, and Spoiler, who spoils Cluemaster’s plans, and Batgirl, who doesn’t talk and lives at an old clock tower that is secretly a base of operation for benevolent hacker Oracle - who is actually Commissioner Gordon’s daughter Barbara. And thing is, neither of them wants to go home - Jason, to the Manor where nobody really wants him in (or so he thinks); Tim, to the empty house; Spoiler, to her parents’ flat where her dad lives and mother sometimes remembers about her, in between highs and withdrawl; Cass has nowhere to go, actually. And Barbara doesn’t really know how to help any of them legally and not to make it worse, so she lets them all stay.

They: gather evidence and put Cluemaster behind bars; make a succesful trap for David Cain, the assassin, and he was supposed to go to the Blackgate but nobody heard of him since (because Muse found Jason very fast, actually, but was hesitant to interfere as it’s the first Jason made friends with kids his age after coming to Manor - but when she found out what Cain did to his daughter, well...); sue for Tim Drake’s emancipation; help to gather evidence that would allow for Joker’s extradiction to a state with capital punishment.

They all live at Clock Tower now. Safe, sound, not in costumes (anymore, if we’re talking about Spoiler and Batgirl).

Talia bites the bullet and asks Bruce to marry her, just so they could adopt not one but four additional kids instead. He agrees in a hearbeat (it’s for the kids! sure, Bruce).

Though, Stephanie ends up not being adopted because she does not want to part with her mom. She lives at the Manor for some time while her mom is in the rehab though.

And then, when Damian is ten, he realises that all of his siblings have a team of their own (Jason’s calling the team he is in, the Outlaws, because he’s dramatic like that, and well, technically, all of them did a lot of illegal stuff before the adoption - stealing, stalkering, fighting, hacking).

That’s when he meets Jon, and they run away together (supervised by Jon’s older borther Kon though) to find the truth about Damian’s mother’s past - they find the League, they found out that there are kids in the League like Mara al Ghul, Maya Ducard. They return to Gotham with them. In Gotham they meet and rescue Colin Wilkes. (all the adventures must be age appropriate though, no killing and no one seriously trying to kill them either).

And get their hides tanned by Wayne/Head and Kent/Lane household.

Duke Thomas, seeing how his parents weren’t Jokerized - Joker was tried and found guilty and got death penalty - still manages to find his way to the Batfam. Only this time, it’s because he’s a meta who helped to bring down the Riddler - though, not with his meta abilities but with his smarts. He is not adopted into the family, his parents are alive and well and not abusive. Instead, he is offered to join Titans Academy where all the batkids go to at this point of time. After they graduate, he and Cass form their own team, the Outsiders. Tim, Young Justuce. Jason stays with the Outlaws name though the people on the team change: Cass and Tim - obvious, Steph - joins Young Justice (because she feels it would be wierd to be on the same team as her girlfriend). Duela Dent joins Outlaws, as does Eddie Bloomberg, Grant Wilson (hey, someone needs to superwise the kids, he has experience with his younger siblings, he volunteered).

Tl;dr: Bruce adopts everyone he legally able to adopt, Talia is a good mom, every batkid has their team, nobody is allowed to be on a team until they either 18 or graduated school. Minor acts of heroics, detective work and age-appropriate adventures are fine before that, but if things become R-rated or more, kids have to call adults. Nobody dies. Everyone is happy and gets along (eventually).

#fic ideas #bruce wayne #talia al ghul #selina kyle #dick grayson #damian wayne #jason todd #tim drake #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #duke thomas #titans #outsiders #outlaws #young justice #Bruce/Selina/Talia AU

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starlesssky72 · 4 years

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Good Characters don't always make for good people and Jason Todd is no exception

Don't get me wrong Jason Todd is by far my favorite DC character but he's not a good person. This is going to kind of be a rant so strap in. (I'm not saying you can't like Jason Todd as a hero like he is in the new 52 I'm just pointing out the ways in which he by definition is a villian and not a good person) Lets start shall we.

Number One: His Treatment of Tim Drake

I know I've breifly posted about this before but Jason and Tim do not get along. During their fist meeting in Hush Jason threatens to kill Tim who is a child dare I point out whule Jason is an adult. He later breaks into the Titan Tower and beats Tim senseless. Why does Jason do this, because Tim replaced him as Robin, a title Jason could no longer hkmd becuase he was dead. None of what happens is Tim's fault yet Jason hurts him any ways.

Number Two: Battle for the Cowl

The clear antagonist of the story Jason Todd again attacks and nearly kills minors all for personal gain.

Jason does some other terrible things in Battle for the Cowl but these two are probably the worst. I really should have to say much here because I hope that most people can see what wrong with attempted murder of children.

Number Three: Batman Under the Red Hood

It's my favorite comic book story line to every be written, Judd Winick is an incredible writer. But that does not excuse the atrocities that Jason Todd commits. Though it should be mentioned that this storyline is what made me fall in love with Jason Todd's unique characterization in the firat place.

The infamous duffel bag of heads. If the decapitations of some lowly drug dealers wasn't bad enough the fact that he mentions that it took him two hours is far more concerning. Chopping someones head off doesn't take a super long time and its never explained how Jason knew were to find the location of the meeting. I'm not saying he did or didn't but it appears to be heavily implied that some other sort of torture occcured before hand.

His attack on the Joker may be the most justified out of all of these however tbe main issue lies with in the sick delight he appears to get out of it. He can't just be done with the Joker and simply kill him, no. Instead he places with his prey, tormenting them until the time is right.

Finally, I never hear this being talked about but, lets not forget the poor man the Jason sent out to die in his place. Now knowing Jason the man who acted as him was most likely not a good person but no one deserves to be sent out like a lamb to slaughter. Something that Jason Todd clearly has no issue with.

I know there are many more examples in Batman Under the Red Hood these are just the one that stood out to me the most.

Number Four: Red Hood and Penguin

Okay so this story made alot of people mad which I get and much like the Joker its a little more justified. The real issue is how he went about his revenge, with a public audience. He shot the Penguin on live televison where God know who was watching. And there were most likely familys near by when it occurred. His what for revenge is normal the way he went about it was the issue. Furthermore this whole time during DC Rebirth he was slowly making his way back to beung part of the family on the one condition that he does not kill. He was not thinking about who else he might hurt, he was only thinking about himself.

In conclusion

Jason todd is a bad person but that does nkt take way from his character. He's and entertaining and likable character a majority of the time it's just important to remember that good characters don't always equal good people. If I come across more examples I might make a part 2.

#jason todd #red hood #batman under the red hood #batman #tim drake #damian wayne #red robin #black mask #the penguin #dc comics #dc rebirth #new 52 comics

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jinmukangwrites · 5 years

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Explosion

Whumptober day 2

Summary: Tim’s definitely not feeling the best, and Jason reevaluate some things.

Warnings: Blood, description of injury, Jason swearing

-o-o-o-o-

Tim comes to first noticing how dark it is, and then the pain hits before he can process much else. He hisses as a bolt of pain races up his spine and he writhes as that bolt travels through his chest and down his arms then up to the base of his skull in the world's most agonizing migraine.

He can't focus on anything, he can't even move. His stomach is rolls and he desperately turns his neck, resulting in another wave of pure suffering tossing over his entire body, the smell of acid and blood reaches his nose.

He forces himself to stay still, holding his breath, chanting don't move don't move don't move over and over inside his mind. After what feels like a few minutes, the pain subsides, he releases the breath he was holding slowly to not trigger anymore waves of pain. Once he gets himself into a steady breathing rhythm, he begins to think.

The migraine is powerful, but his still movements and steady breathing has seemed to calm it to just a strong headache. He can think. Tim's always thinking, there's no way he'll let a little discomfort stop him from doing it.

He thinks about where he is, and the answer quickly becomes apparent that he has no clue. He can feel harsh, jagged rocks under his back, pressing into his shoulder blades uncomfortably, but that's the most that he has. He's not quite willing to open his eyes yet, just a tiny fearful of what he'll see or won't see, so he instead begins to focus on the last time he knew where he was.

It takes a minute. The last thing he can remember is from when he was standing behind Bruce as Bruce worked on the computer, pulling up different files relating to something to do with guns. He needed Tim to investigate something while he and the demon brat worked on a different case. Tim… left after that, going as Red Robin towards some kind of… warehouse? Yes, it's a warehouse. It's all slowly coming back.

He went inside the warehouse, finding it empty besides a few wooden crates. He opened one and… and…

Fire. Pain. Red and heat. A large boom that has his ears bursting.

Darkness.

An explosion.

He was just in an explosion.

He opens his eyes now, to keep himself from panic, his breath hitching. The first sight he sees is the result of his rebelling stomach from earlier. He wrinkles his nose and looks away, careful to not move his neck. He has a suspicion of why his spine hurts so much and he's not willing to prove it quite yet. He's on his back, so he has to look to the left to look up, and thankfully the sight of the sky greets him.

He's not buried, but when his eyes travel to his lower body all thoughts of relief leaves him.

No, he's not buried, just pinned under a giant support beam. It's over his stomach, but with all the rubble it's miraculously positioned so he's just very efficiently pinned, not at risk of suffocation. He would sigh in relief, but seeing the beam seems to remind him that he's in pain no matter how dulled it is from his persistent lack of movement. He winces at the aching in his chest and hips, he can feel various cuts and burns along his arms, and along his face come to think of it. The scent of blood in the air is so prominent that he knows he's bleeding, but his entire body has much the same ache so he can't pinpoint where the blood could be coming from.

He could be bleeding to death. His spine could be permanently damaged. Great. Another thing to add to his list of things wrong with him, he'll put "spine damage" next to "missing spleen" and "bleeding to death" next to "that one time Jason snuck into the Titan's tower and beat the shit out of me".

He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Now isn't the time to panic. Now is the time to take stock of himself and evaluate his next metaphorical step (because he doubts he'll be taking any actual steps soon). He counts to ten in his head and then begins to slowly wiggle his toes, and thankfully they do actually wiggle. He can move his feet. He can feel his legs. Okay, so he's not paralyzed, but if he lays here for too long he very well can start planning on it.

Okay, okay next step. See if he can contact anyone. He bites his lip and lifts one of his hands to his ear. Waves of pain travels with the movement, but he's able to ignore most of it until he finally places his fingers on his comm link.

"R-Red Robin to cave," he says, his throat hurts and his voice rattles something in his chest. He resists the urge to cough and instead clears his throat of phlegm. "Is anyone there?"

A spike of pine erupts in his lower back and he groans, tenses as a second wave of pure agony races through his body. His vision swirls and his stomach feels the need to rebel again. He doesn't know if his body goes through with the urge, all he knows is the darkness creeping in from the corners of his eyes, echoes of his name from far away, and then be completely loses consciousness.

"… help…"

-o-o-o-o-

Dog notices something's wrong a whole second before something actually goes wrong. It isn't anything dramatic, just a small boof that makes Jason look up from the book he's reading. He raises an eyebrow at her but Dog isn't looking at him, she's looking out the window of Jason's apartment, her cute doggy face scrunched up in what seems to be worry.

"What-?"

And then, the ground shakes. It's not like an earthquake, more like a rumble one can associate with a large truck driving by, rattling the walls and clinking glass dishes in the cupboards. He would have almost assumed it was just a truck driving by if not for the large boom that split the air, startling Dog to her paws and Jason to his feet. Dog barked unhappily as Jason ran to the window, looking out into the night with wide eyes.

He knows that sound. The sound of an explosion.

More sounds reaches his ears, sounds of a crumbling building nearby, but not close enough for him to see through the mess of buildings on his block.

Dog barks again and Jason turns from the window to see Dog pulling something out from under his bed. Next thing he knows, he's watching her tug out his hood and place it down at his feet with a small whine. She licks her nose and gives him a head tilt, and he can't help but smile despite the anxiety slowly clawing into his chest.

He grabs his hood and pats her on the head. "Good girl," he says, before he lifts the hood closer to his face. Something reaches his ears from inside the hood. He scowls, wondering if he accidentally kept the comm link on inside it, and places it on his head, hoping to maybe catch onto anyone having a conversation about that explosion.

"-o cave…" a weak voice says. Tim. Jason's stomach clenches. "Is anyone there?"

Then, Tim makes a pained noise and bursts into very painful coughs.

"Tim?!" Jason asks, a strange sense of alarm sending red flags into his brain. Tim doesn't reply, just continues to cough. "Tim!"

Jason swears and rushes past Dog to dig out the rest of his uniform, he's in the process of tugging his leather jacket over his arms when a very weak, wobbly voice says a single word.

"… help…"

Jason is out the door before he can think about it.

-o-o-o-o-

As much as Jason hates to even attempt it, Bruce doesn't answer the comms. Neither does Damian. Jason can only assume it's because they're on their own private line; because the alternative is Bruce ignoring them which sends Jason's mind to a very unhappy place.

Bruce cares about Tim, and Jason repeats this to himself like a mantra as he speeds faster on his motorcycle. If anything happened to Tim, Bruce would be there. Bruce would never ignore Tim's cry for help like he would ignore Jason. No, he's just on a different frequency so he and the demon spawn can communicate without background chatter.

That's it.

He's probably elbow deep in fighting bad guys so he wouldn't have noticed a building exploding on the other side of town.

That's all it is.

Alfred is a different story. He would normally be in the cave assisting with all the communication or emergency research. If he doesn't answer, it can only mean Bruce gave him the night off or he's busy doing something else. Barbara and Dick are back in Blüdhaven last Jason heard, working on exposing some major underground prostitution ring of some sort so there's no way they would have heard the cry for help. Kate, Steph, and Duke all normally do their own thing like Jason does, and Cass is all the way in Hong Kong again, so it's a miracle in of itself that Jason even heard Tim.

He forgot to turn off the comm, forgot to take it off the general frequency the entire bat clan shares like some sort of mushy gross group call from the last time he was on it. Wasn't his choice. Dick forced him to get on it when there was a city wide terrorist attack a few days ago. You know, a normal Tuesday.

Though, it's not like it matters much now. Tim has gone silent, the connection's fizzled down to a steady static. It doesn't stop him from hissing Tim's name every so often, trying to make contact. It never works, but anything is better than sitting there with the constant static.

A car honks at him as he pushes his bike faster, running a definite red light. The explosion came from somewhere in the Narrows, which could only mean a whole lot of bad. Cops are slow to report there, mostly because of the constant stream of crime that plagues the demonic island. If Jason got some cops on his trail in Crime Alley and lead them into the Narrows, it might just help.

Because Jason knows that if Tim was caught in that explosion, there's a very slim chance Jason would be able to do actually do anything helpful. Tim sounded like he needed medical attention; something that Jason knows he's not the best at.

He swerves between two cars and someone flips him off through their window, but he keeps going, desperately fighting off the terror that he's too late.

"C'mon Tim..."

-o-o-o-o-

Tim comes to a bit slower this time, a bit more numb. His eyes flutter open and he vaguely notices that the moon is in a completely different position than it was before.

He lets out a groan, a hiss through his teeth, but is careful to Not. Move. At. All.

He doesn't want to repeat his last coughing fit from hell.

Instead, he blinks and focuses on breathing, on the meditation practices Bruce taught him and the ones he thought himself. He thinks that he should try again to contact someone, but if the simple action of holding his hand to his ear was enough to knock him out last time, he doesn't want to risk it again. He can feel cold seeping into his skin, scratching at his bones. He can't quite tell where his legs are anymore, and he's not sure if it's because of spine damage or if it's because of the beam cutting off the circulation.

Or if it's just a result of blood loss. He feels nauseous and he hasn't moved a finger yet. There's a dull pressure in his thigh, that he can feel. He kinda doesn't want to know what that is.

He's so deep in his own mind, trying to keep himself calm and trying to decide if he should try again to contact someone, that he doesn't notice the loud humm of an engine until it's shut off, the sound of footsteps on uneven ground following just a second later.

It's very close by.

Now Tim's very close to panicking. It can be anyone. It can be criminals. Criminals who saw the explosion and came to see if there's any pickings left before any cops get to the scene. Red Robin is a sitting duck, there's no hiding his mask on his face or the cape below him. He'll be completely helpless if anyone with bad intentions stumble upon him.

He sucks in a breath and holds it, clenching his fingers and fighting off the nausea swimming in his gut.

If he's found by a bad guy, there's no way in hell he's not going to go down without a fight. Spine damage and nausea be damned!

"Red Robin!" A voice calls and Tim almost passed out from the relief alone.

Relief, and then complete confusion, but he tries to focus more of the relief.

Jason. Jason's here. Tim doesn't know why (or even if he's here because he wants to help...), but Jason is here.

He opens his mouth, takes a deep breath, and yells. "Here!"

The act alone makes him dizzy, so he doesn't hear Jason reply; he doesn't even realize Jason found him until there's a hand on his head. He flinches and winces as once again a bolt of agony races up his spine.

"Shit, shit," Jason's whispering, wiping Tim's hair out from his face. Tim blinks and forces his eyes to focus on Jason's… face. The hood is thrown off and laying on the ground, there's nothing but that almost too small red mask to cover his identity. "Fuck."

"F-forty dollars…" Tim groans, but tries to force a smirk on his face.

Jason gives him a look like he thinks Tim is insane, but then his face splits into what almost looks like a genuine grin. There's a tightness to it that Tim doesn't understand… or want to understand. "You're in a debris sandwich, and you're concerned about how much money I owe the swear jar?"

"S'me… someone's gotta enforce-" he cuts himself off with a fit of wracking coughs. The action pulls at every ache and pain in his body, especially his thigh. His vision swims and if takes a while to realize Jason is calling his name, patting his cheek in a series of quick, somewhat gentle slaps.

"Stop…" Tim murmurs, willing the blurriness out of his vision.

"Then don't scare me like that, jackass," Jason mutters. Tim only hums, biting back his remark that Jason owes the swear jar another five dollars, as Jason reaches towards his jacket and pulls out a burner phone.

"Wat'r you-"

"I'm calling to see what's taking those damn cops so long."

"Oh."

Jason's attention leaves Tim as someone answers the phone, and Tim finds his mind wondering. He's so numb. And tired. Everything hurts at the same time too, which is weird. To be numb and in pain. He licks his lips and let's his eyes drag to the side, looking at the distant buildings and lamplights.

Never in his dreams did he think he could ever feel safe with Jason around. But right now, he feels that. Enough to finally let his guard down, relax his shoulders and let the tension fade. Tim and Jason had a rocky start, an understandably rocky start, and since their first meeting there has always been a tension. Tim is a reminder of Jason's failure, of Jason's mistakes. Tim is a reminder that Jason's been replaced.

Tim wouldn't blame Jason if he just called the cops and then left with an indifferent goodbye. But for some reason, he gets the feeling that this time Jason wouldn't do that.

"Hey, you listenin'?"

Tim blinks and lets his eyes land back on the former Robin. Jason has his hand raised part way like he was getting ready to smack Tim again but it lowers when Tim's eyes land on his.

"Yeah?"

A smile that looks more like a grimace passes over Jason's face. "An ambulance is on its way. I also finally got ahold of B, you'll be in the caring arms of Leslie in no time."

Tim hums. "Can… can you get help me up?"

Jason winces. "I uh, don't think that's a good idea, baby bird. We'll leave it for the paramedics. Try not to move your neck, okay?"

Tim almost nods. Man, he must be out of it. Instead he hums again. "Stay with me?"

Jason actually looks startled, as if the question itself shocked him. Or the implication that he wouldn't stay. Tim frowns when Jason doesn't answer, but finally Jason clears his throat and settles down next to Tim after a few silent seconds, placing his hand gently on Tim shoulder.

"Of course…"

-o-o-o-o-

The rest is a blur. Tim blinks in and out of consciousness when the paramedics arrive. The moment the beam's hefted from his body he blacks out, but he doesn't quite escape the pain. He hears sirens, can feel straps keeping him in place, but the pain always drowns it out pretty quickly.

But Jason is there... the entire time. He can hear Jason yelling at the paramedics when they were about to take off his mask. He can feel a warm hand in his. Encouraging words reaching his ears with the voice he never expected.

Then, there's a sharp pinch in the crook of his elbow, and the black consumes him completely.

-o-o-o-o-

Jason sighs and leans forward in the cheap plastic chair of the clinic, studying Tim with sharp eyes. He almost looks like a mummy with the amount of bandages on him, and the neck brace makes him look absolutely ridiculous. One of his thighs are heavily bandaged, and Jason winces at the memory of Tim pinned under heavy metal, skewered through his leg from a metal bar is some sort. There was a lot of blood, but not as much as there could have been.

It could have been a lot worse.

Tim could have been buried. The beam could have toppled over on his head or something as vital. The bar could have impaled his heart.

Tim could have died on impact. Jason could have stumbled upon nothing more than a mangled corpse.

And the thought sends his stomach rolling.

The thought sends him somewhere else. Somewhere in the Middle East. He's almost afraid to blink, that if he closes his eyes for even a second he'll open them and he'll be back there; a crowbar hitting his flesh violently, repetitively, a wheezing laughter breaking off every so often to ask him what hurts more. Overhand? Or Backhand?

He'll see the woman who should have been his mother sobbing in her restraints as he foolishly decides to try and rescue her. He'll see the bright numbers of an electronic counter, numbers too low to do much more than panic.

If he blinks, he's afraid he'll go back there. But keeping his eyes open has him thinking too much, thinking about what if it were Tim back there?

At first, he used to take pleasure in making people suffer the way he did. Beating Joker half to death with a crowbar was so intoxicating back then. Beating Tim half to death used to be a memory that he smirked at. Poor little Robin, had no idea what he got into, what kind of man he tried to step into the shoes of.

Seeing Tim like this now… it just makes him feel like he should maybe throw up.

He sits there, staring, listening to the beeps of the machine and ignoring the vibrations of his phone announces that Bruce is finally on his way. He does nothing but wage a war of if he should blink or if he should breathe or if he should just stand up and go, but then the decision is made for him when he notices a pair of half lidded, blue eyes looking at him.

"T- Replacement," Jason says, reaching forward to press the button that will let Leslie know Tim's awake. It's important to her to be one hundred percent updated on everything, especially since Tim doesn't have a spleen and anything can go wrong.

Tim blinks lazily before more awareness floods into his gaze. He focuses on Jason, and then a very strange smile tugs the corners of his lips up.

"Didn't… didn't think you'd stay," Tim mumbles, practically trips over his words.

Jason's heart clutches. How could he have ever hated this kid? This incredibly dorky kid whose both so incredibly trusting and untrusting at the same time? How could he have ever patted himself on the back for beating the shit out of him? For smiling at the thought of doing it again?

"Someone had to make sure you didn't move when you woke up," Jason replies, trying to go for nonchalant.

Tim's tired grin widens into a smirk. "Nah, you w- you were worried."

Jason glares. Oh yeah. This is why he hated Tim. He's the ultimate smart ass. "Yeah, well, don't expect me to dig you out next time you get yourself almost buried alive."

Tim chuckles and his eyes flutter, the good stuff in his IV beginning to pull him back under. "M'not worried."

"Why so?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tim's eyes flicker closed. "Trust you…"

And then the world of the awake leaves Tim, and Jason is left sitting there, shocked once again at how trusting Tim is. How trusting of Jason he is. He's heard from Dick that he's basically Tim's hero, told to imagine how hard it was for Tim to even attempt at filling the shoes he left. Jason can imagine, he had to fill Dick's pathetic pixie boots once upon a time.

"You were Robin when he was a kid, you were the coolest thing to him, and he wanted nothing more than to live up to your legacy. Sure, I was first, but Tim was always your biggest fan," Dick had told him one rare, quiet night. Jason didn't believe it. He still doesn't quite believe it.

Leslie thankfully chose to come into the room before he could go further into that train of thought.

Bruce and Damian burst in soon after, to which Jason decides to finally take his leave. Bruce is already looking at Jason like he's done something wrong and the demon brat is scowling like he's looking for a fight and Jason just… isn't in the mood. He bids them goodbye and rushes out.

He almost makes it home, but then he's stopped in his tracks when he sees something in a passing store window. He sighs.

He's gone soft.

-o-o-o-o-

Tim can hear Bruce, his voice is muffled like he's on the other side of a door, and when Tim opens his eyes he finds that that's exactly the case. He lets his eyes roll over to where he almost expected Jason to be, but the sight that meets him is much different.

A simple teddy bear sits in the chair, dressed in a red and green suit, a yellow badge stitched on with a red R embroidered in the center, a cape tied around it’s neck.

There's a sticky note pressed into the fur of the bear, it's written sloppily and rushed, but Tim can just make out the words.

"Get well soon, Replacement"

He smiles and looks up to the ceiling, deciding whatever just transpired between Jason and Tim… it was good.

And he isn't complaining.

Though he could have done without the neck brace.

#jason todd #tim drake #red hood #red robin #dc #dc comics #batman #whumptober2019 #explosion #no.2

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gooddadstan · 5 years

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Fuzzy Walls and Tired Eyes chapter 3

At some point in time, Tim finds himself standing in a graveyard. Staring at the headstone in front of him, he recognizes it as the one with the bodies of Janet and Jack Drake, not from the unreadable words on the grave, or the scenery around him, but from the voice in the back of his mind that tells him it is, and he accepts it. All of his training along with every cynical bone in his body is saying he shouldn’t, that he should analyze and confirm the reality of the situation, but he doesn’t remember how he came to stand here anyway and every single point is telling him it’s a dream, so he’s just going to go along with it and see how it ends up. Nothing better than standing in front of your parent’s grave, right? Besides, he already tried waking himself up and it didn’t work, so he’s stuck here.

In front of the grave, his senses are accosted by the smell of wet grass and the feeling of humidity in the air, stuffy in the dressy suit he’d most certainly not been wearing seconds ago. The shadows are longer than he’d remembered, unwavering and intimidating in a way they hadn’t been in a long while. An all too familiar sense of failure and shame swells up in his chest, as off to the side a scene plays out of him standing over his father’s body, unable to do anything but stare at the corpse. He’d never really mourned the loss of his father, in the end, not other than what little he needed to do publicly. He’d only mourned the loss of the relationship they’d started to form. God, what kind of son is he? The hot, empty tears that sent rage to his core swelled in his eyes, and then he’s being lifted up with a batarang to his throat.

The fabric of the Robin uniform’s cape tangles between his feet as he struggles for a second before forcing himself into stillness, hands clutched around the arm holding him up. The arm of his brother. Not that this was his brother, but the likeness was enough to send shivers down his spine. Though the real version did attack him all the same, later on in their lives, this one was not him, and thus cannot be associated with the real being. Of course not. Then why do the memories flood over each other, fear undue for actions not Jason’s but Clayface’s. Why does he still have to fight down defensive movement when the Red Hood approaches him on patrol, in the way that he doesn’t have to do with any other Bat. It doesn’t matter, he tells himself, it’s not happening anyway. With his newfound awareness of the situation and its faults, he could feel the ever so faint motion of clay as his captor pulled him close, shifting and yelling as the same as he had years ago. So as Batman formed in front of him, in that same stance with a vague panic hidden behind the cowl, he didn’t bother with the pleasantries of flailing around and trying to break free of the grip on his body. The words being spoken were inconsequential, and he only needed to wait it all out.

His stillness is interrupted by falling towards the grass in a practiced dodge, Batman sending a kick above his head. His uniform, Red Robin now, showed the diagnostics of Bruce’s disappearance even as Dick traded blows with him. The words spoken, full of venom, weren’t coming from him, instead floating into the air from nothing without changing the flow of the scene. To be called an equal then kicked aside and belittled, no trust in his words and pity in his eyes as he throws another punch. The sting of it hurt far more than the physical pain of his body. Unimportant, focus on the issue at hand, every nerve in him screeched, but his mind wandered elsewhere. And as his surroundings shift uneasily, from the red and white of a hightop as screams rang from ahead, to the empty halls of Drake manor sitting clean and proper under his small footsteps sounding rhythmically as he meanders, to the cold but home-like metals of Titans Tower with the sounds of laughter and chattering in distant rooms. He stands there a moment before sinking into his regular spot on the couch, warm and home in a way it hadn’t been since Bruce disappeared.

It only took a second after he’d let himself relish the calm for him to be punched to the ground. A fleeting glimpse of red, yellow, and green, conflicting with his own in the whirlwind his eyes are providing him. He huffs a sigh, falling back into the motions as he rises and gets hit again and again by the man he calls his brother. Jason, the real him now, angry and looming in an outfit meant to bring comfort and reassurance. Shouting about replacements, and asking questions the same voice from the graveyard answers as well as it can. A punch flies into his face before he can block it, and immediately he’s staring into the dark ceilings of the cave as he falls from the stuffed Tyrannosaurus. Damian’s smug expression stands unwavering above, watching as the green of his uniform and the dinosaur grows farther from Tim’s grasp.

Before he could hit the ground again, he found himself standing in a warehouse.

It wasn’t a particularly familiar warehouse, but it sparked enough recognition in his mind to not set off a panic. He doesn’t think he’d ever really been standing in this warehouse. Almost as if to adjust for that, his body snapped into pain, his Red Robin uniform scratched and battered like how he’d expect from coming out of an encounter with one of the A-list rogues, not a routine drug bust. But while he was about 90% certain he’d broken at least an arm before he was in this warehouse, there’s no marks on his skin, the new holes in his suit leading way to the normal pale skin contrary to the sting of pain in his limbs.

The floor sits as a dull metal, flecks of red across it from a few too many work accidents before the site was shut down. Normal. The walls, however, look like they’re made out of shag carpeting, appearing soft and inviting in a way that the walls of a warehouse really shouldn’t be. But no alarms go off in his mind, and he has to guess that this was commandeered by some weird villains in the past. Maybe they were dealt with on one of the gala nights he always hated attending. Would’ve thought he’d have come across it on his cataloguing of the Gotham villains, though. Reaching out to touch the carpeting, the softness of it goes through his gloves to his fingertips, and doesn’t fall away when he yanks at it. Instead, it draws him in with snaking tendrils of shag that envelops him easily.

What Tim saw next was best described as a Wonderland-esque clusterfuck.

People bustled around, occasionally popping from one part of the room to another and repeating tasks they’d already completed, talking and smiling and shifting their outfits and faces to be one person then another. They’d get into conversations with other versions of one person, cracking jokes about how ‘well one of us needs to change’ and then shifting simultaneously to a different person. The background kept changing, from warehouses to the Batcave to a bowling alley Tim had only been in once to do some undercover work. There were flowers sprouting in thin air, and writhing forms of matter twisting to try and be a solid object only to melt into an ocean of nonsense once more.

The rapid changing and confusion let growing around him, becoming louder and more crowded as glimpses of memories showed between people, right and wrong and both at the same time. It was starting to give him a headache. He could operate crowds, usually, his mother wouldn’t tolerate it if he couldn’t hold his own at a gala, but this was beyond any of the parties he’d been to. Too much chaos, too much indiscriminate noise, too much pushing and prodding and swirling existence. None of the rhythm he’d grown accustomed to with large groups of people. He wanted out, the pain in his body mixing with the pain in his mind until he woke up with a gasp.

Immediately, he recognized that he was in the cave. The dark ceilings high above his head were unmistakable. Irritation bit at his face and limbs, dull stings pulsing with his heartbeat. His left arm is immobile, along with his right leg, and he can feel the bandages tight where they’re adhered. He moves his unbound arm to his face, ignoring the objections of the IV sending some sort of fluid into his system, hand slapping directly onto an oxygen mask that shifts uncomfortably on his skin. Shifting his head first to the left, he sees the other beds in the medbay, empty and eternally prepped for quick transfer of patients. The medical cabinets sit off to the other side, lining the wall as orderly as ever. Turning his head to the right, where the chairs are when they haven’t been scattered from the movement of the assorted Bats, he sees four chairs, all empty.

He shouldn’t have been expecting someone to be there when he woke up. The Joker had been loose and the Bats needed to be prioritizing that. But it still stung, more than he’d ever care to admit, that nobody was even in the cave when he woke up. The increased beeps of the heart rate monitor was more than enough to act as an indicator for anyone outside the medbay, and the sounds of him hitting the oxygen mask and moving his head would do the trick even if a fluctuating heartbeat had been normal for his unconsciousness. It was normal for Bruce to sit and wait after patrol, or Dick to hover and mother-hen, or Alfred to sit with a cup of tea during what break time he gets. Now there was… nothing. It hurt, somehow, knowing that they wouldn’t deviate from their patrols to be there. It hurt more than any of the physical injuries he had. That was probably the worst thing, that for all the pain his body was in, he let some stupid guilt hurt him more. It was unprofessional.

Tim stayed awake for somewhere between a minute and a half hour, his mind too tired to keep count and no clock in sight. When he finally heard some shuffling out in the cave, his heart leaped at the thought of someone finally being there, and the damned machine betrayed him by saying it. Almost immediately, Alfred was in the medbay, and the guarded fearful expression melted into a kind half-smile covering a grimace. He felt guilty.

“Master Timothy, I’m terribly sorry I was not here when you regained consciousness.” Despite his mouth still open and taking in a breath to continue, Tim only raised a hand and waved it away. It’s not like it was Alfred’s fault, after all, he had a lot of responsibilities around the house. No use in making him feel bad for things he couldn’t change.

With a small pained expression, Alfred walks over and begins adjusting the IV stand just out of Tim’s sight. He could turn his head and look if he wanted to, but he was just so tired, and exhaustion was setting into his bones more every second. Maybe he should just… go back to sleep.

As his eyes droop downwards, more sluggish than normal, Alfred could only hope that this sleep would be a painless one. Tears never did make good background noise, in the end.

#batfam #tim drake #batman #fwtr #i've been messing the acronym up this whole time haven't I

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