#yes he's a drake child. no i have no regrets | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sohotthateveryonedied · 2 years

Note

What was Tim’s relationship with his parents like? It seems like they left him alone a lot, based on fanon - is that true?

Tim's relationship with Jack and Janet Drake is...messy. Very messy. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around about how Jack and Janet really were as parents, largely due to headcanons and fanfiction exaggerating their abuse/neglect of Tim. So, we're going to clear all of that up by analyzing how Tim's parents were as evidenced in canon.

From the very beginning of his time in comics, it's clear that Tim's parents are hella neglectful. The writers needed a Robin who would be able to do his crimefighting without the interference of parental figures, so they gave him rich absentee parents to achieve that.

Tim's parents mean well; they do genuinely love and care about Tim, considering that the first glimpse we get of them is the Drake family enjoying a trip to the circus together. At face level, they look like a typical happy family.

Batman #436

However, Tim's parents have a tendency to take long trips around the world for their job and leave Tim behind with the nanny. They were noted to be gone for long periods of time during Tim's Robin training, only keeping in touch with their son through halfhearted postcards promising to call soon. They also were prone to extending trips or leaving without warning, giving Tim very little input or notice when it came to whether or not he would be able to spend time with his own parents anytime soon. It got to the point where Bruce became suspicious of the Drakes’ neglect of their son.

Detective Comics #618

Robin #1

Robin #11

“I guess that sums them up! Never know where they’re going to be—or when—or even how long!”

Ah, yes, this is the proper way to raise your child.

So, it is firmly established that Tim’s parents are inattentive and neglectful. They love Tim in their own way, but not enough to be at home often and spend time with him, or to take him across the world with them. Granted, they are incredibly wealthy people with a large company, but…so is Bruce. And Jack and Janet don’t even moonlight as vigilantes, which doesn’t give them much of an excuse.

(I do think that comics tend to use Bruce’s relationship with Tim as a juxtaposition to show just how harmful Jack and Janet’s parenting is for Tim, such as neglecting his emotional needs, not respecting his privacy, etc. Over time, this leads to even Jack having this silent rivalry with Bruce over Tim’s affection. But I’ll get to that later.)

To contrast, here is Bruce offering to take the night off to stay with Tim and comfort him after his parents have been kidnapped:

Detective Comics #619

And Bruce has a reputation for being a questionable parental figure, which just makes Jack and Janet look even worse in comparison.

Then the Drakes are poisoned by the Obeah Man: Tim’s mother dies and his father falls into a coma. Janet’s term in comics was short, so we don’t know a lot about her personality or how she was as a parent, other than that she was not home often. When she and Jack were kidnapped, Janet seemed to express regret about her choices in life, possibly including not spending time with her son while she could.

Detective Comics #620

Otherwise, that’s about it for Janet. There is a fever dream Tim has when he’s dying of the Clench in which he imagines his parents both alive and knowing that he’s Robin. It’s a happy scene, with Janet preparing a home-cooked meal and being warm and present, which could possibly be Tim’s subconscious wishing that this was how his life could have been, but we don’t know enough about Janet’s actual parenting to do much with that. I personally choose to interpret it as Tim’s longing for the ideal family dynamic he never got to have, with both his parents home and acting like a real family.

Batman Chronicles #4

Now, Jack and Tim’s relationship is rocky from start to finish. One minute they’re getting along, the next everything is a disaster, over and over until Jack’s death.

After the Obeah Man incident, Tim is left grieving his mother and worrying about his paralyzed, comatose father. He continues to live with Bruce at Wayne Manor during this time, hoping for Jack to wake up.

Robin II: Joker’s Wild #4

Tim becomes conflicted over the fact that, with the Waynes, he feels for the first time like he’s part of a real family. Which is...very telling. But we already know how neglectful Janet and Jack were of Tim, so are we really surprised? The closest thing Tim had to a “real” family before Bruce was Mrs. Mac the housekeeper.

Upon waking from his coma, Jack has this great epiphany that he’s going to be a better father for Tim and right all the wrongs he made in life.

Batman #480

“I’ll make it up to you—starting tomorrow!”

With his father in a wheelchair and needing all kinds of medical care as he recovers, Tim feels obligated to move back in with Jack and take care of him.

Batman #480

Tim writes his dad a letter venting all of his inner conflicts and harbored resentment, saying that he never felt like he was part of a family before becoming Robin and meeting the Waynes. He wishes he could tell Jack the truth instead of hiding the most important part of his life from him, which causes a rift between Tim and Jack that honestly never fully heals until War Games.

Aptly, the letter is addressed, “To the Father I Never Knew.”

Batman #480

As it turns out, Jack Drake is deeply insecure when it comes to his place in Tim’s life. Jack has no regrets about neglecting Tim until he learns that Tim has a new father figure in his life, AKA Bruce, the resident Dad Supreme. Jack becomes jealous of Bruce, trying to get back into Tim’s good graces because he knows that, in comparison, he’s looking like a pretty shitty father compared to Brucie Wayne, the irresponsible playboy. Ouch.

Batman #480

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #3

This all comes to a head when Jack gets angry with Tim for acting out, cutting school, getting into fights, etc. In turn, Tim gets fed up and confronts Jack about his poor parenting.

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #4

“Who is the son you know, Dad? You don’t know me. You never bothered.”

By the end of the miniseries, they eventually work things out and apologize to each other. Honestly, the biggest problem Tim and Jack have when it comes to their relationship is miscommunication. They both want to be a real father and son, but there are too many obstacles in their way (Tim’s Robin activities, Jack’s inability to care about his son unless it’s convenient for him, Tim’s bond with Bruce) that keep them from having the close relationship they both clearly want.

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #4

Jack really does try to be a better father for Tim over the next few years, but he makes a lot of mistakes along the way. After being kidnapped (again), Jack tells Tim that he’s yet again going to try and be a more attentive father. (As if Tim hasn’t already heard this speech before lmao.)

Robin #7

Jack tries to spend more time with Tim, but his version of spending time together is mostly just springing new plans on Tim and giving Tim little say in any of it.

Robin #11

Robin #12

(It also shows how little attention Jack pays to Tim, since he doesn’t notice that his son has a literal six-pack and could probably benchpress his own weight by now.)

Jack eventually falls in love with Dana, his physical therapist, and she more or less takes up all of his attention for the time being. Tim once again falls out of the spotlight. Tim is partly relieved about this, since it means that Jack is less likely to catch on to Tim’s Robin outings with Dana as a convenient distraction.

Robin #12

Robin #15

Jack goes to all the trouble of making plans with Tim, only to cancel the moment something shiny and new moves into his line of sight. Great parenting, Jack. A+ work. Tim sees this as less of a problem than it is, thanks to his second identity, but any other child would be severely impacted by this “whenever I feel like it” method of parenting. Regardless, Tim and Jack’s relationship at this point is on its way to leveling out for the time being. They still don’t communicate very well, but they generally get along with each other.

After Tim runs away from home and causes a whole incident during No Man’s Land, Jack sends Tim away to Brentwood Academy, a boarding school literally in the same city as them, as punishment for being a lil hooligan. Just say you don’t feel like dealing with Tim anymore and move on, Jack.

Robin #74

When Tim is at Brentwood, Jack informs Tim that he and Dana are engaged through a phone call. Tim is not even an hour away, but Jack figures why waste a day spending time with his own son to tell him the good news when you can accomplish it with a phone call, right?

Robin #78

It isn’t long before Jack Drake goes broke due to his company losing money or however bankruptcy works, and Tim gets to leave Brentwood. Jack chooses this time to once again try to work on his relationship with Tim...

Robin #100

...and then slides right back into ignoring Tim when the loss of his fortune makes Jack too depressed to do much of anything. Not that it’s a huge loss, considering that when Jack does bother to pay attention to Tim, it doesn’t often go well. He has a reputation for getting overly aggressive when Tim acts out, and he has a habit of dragging Tim into obligations he doesn’t want to do for the sake of looking like a present parent, trying to exert control over Tim that he hasn’t quite earned.

(It’s also interesting the way Tim starts to question Jack’s decision, then quickly stops himself and agrees to whatever it is Jack wants, as if Tim has gotten used to being allowed to think and act for himself during his time with Bruce, and now he’s remembering that things are different in the Drake household. He has to go back to Good Obedient Son mode, and if that doesn’t make you sad then I don’t know what will.)

Batman #480

Robin #45

Robin #92

By the time Jack finally gets out of his funk, Tim (of course) forgives him immediately, so they’re back on track again.

Robin #116

(It’s also worth mentioning that Jack forgot Tim’s birthday. Yeah, he was going through his own depressive spiral at the time, but still. Dick move.)

Robin #116

Honestly, I owe a lot of the good moments in Tim and Jack’s relationship to Dana’s influence. She’s a great stepmother to Tim and she helps rein Jack in when he’s being an asshole. Her parenting style is far more caring and considerate compared to Jack’s, who tries to mold Tim into his idea of a perfect son: obedient, masculine, and quiet (whenever he feels like paying attention, that is).

Robin #122

Robin #127

Robin #45

Robin III: Cry of the Huntress #1

Robin 80-Page Giant (2000)

Where Dana is understanding and patient, Jack is commanding and rigid. Over time, Dana softens him enough so that Jack is more of a well-meaning dad clumsily trying his best than an abusive asshole, but still.

Jack acknowledging that he screwed up and is trying to fix his and Tim’s relationship has been a major plot point for years up to this point, and it remains a central part of Tim’s civilian narrative for as long as Jack is alive. Jack tries to fix what’s wrong between them, and Tim is eager to have a closer relationship with his dad, even if it’s difficult to accomplish due to his Robin activities. I repeat: They both want to have a good relationship. It isn’t that Jack simply doesn’t care about Tim (which, it could be argued that he didn’t care about Tim until Janet died). They both really do try to fix what’s broken between them. It’s just that Jack can’t accept that Tim is his own person, and Tim can’t risk compromising his identity.

Robin #71

For a small while, things are okay between Tim and Jack.

Robin #124

But pretty soon the inevitable happens: Jack snaps when he catches Tim in a lie about joining the football team to explain a black eye. Instead of confronting Tim about it, Jack decides the best course of action is to ransack Tim’s bedroom for evidence of his delinquency.

Robin #124

Jack inevitably finds Tim’s Robin gear in the closet. Instead of asking Tim about it, like a sensible human, Jack’s second genius move of the day is to go all the way to Wayne Manor and point a gun at Bruce’s face, demanding he return Tim to him.

Robin #124

(Personally, I think Jack’s reaction wouldn’t have been so violent if it weren’t for the fact that it’s Bruce, whom Jack was already jealous of for being closer to Tim than Jack ever was.)

Robin #125

With Jack threatening to expose everyone’s identities and ruin their lives, Tim agrees to give up the Robin mantle to keep Jack quiet.

Robin #125

After that, things between Tim and his dad are relatively okay. Tim is happy to be having a normal life for once, and Jack is appeased now that he has Tim all to himself.

Teen Titans #14

Then War Games rolls around and Tim once again dons the cape and boots to help in the gang war, and he and Jack finally have an honest conversation about Tim’s Robin activities. This time Tim isn’t just giving in to make his father happy, and he’s not struggling with the question if maybe he’ll be better off as a civilian, because he already tried that and he knows now that this is the life for him.

And for once, Jack actually listens to Tim.

Robin #130

They come to an understanding after that. For the first time in Tim’s whole life, he has an honest and loving relationship with his father.

Robin #131

Of course, this is about a week before everything goes to shit and Jack is murdered by Captain Boomerang during Identity Crisis. You win some, you lose some.

(What makes it even worse for Tim is that Jack asked him to stay in that night, but Tim chose to go out and help, so he wasn’t there when Boomerang came for Jack. Oof.)

Identity Crisis #5

In Jack’s last moments, he tells Tim that he loves him and that being Robin is a good thing and he should never turn his back on being a hero.

Identity Crisis #5-6

Unsurprisingly, Tim takes the loss extremely hard. It almost rivals Tim’s reaction to Bruce’s death, probably. After all, it’s his dad. Sure, Tim and Jack had their problems, but he was still his father and he loved him.

I also think a big part of it is that Jack was taken at a time when he and Tim were finally starting to see eye to eye. They finally had the relationship they both always wanted, and then a week later Jack gets murdered. I see it as Tim mourning the relationship he and Jack could have had, rather than the one they did. Tim never got to see what it would have been like to have a perfect relationship with his father because the second everything finally fell into place, Jack was taken away from Tim.

Identity Crisis #7

Robin #167

“Sometimes it’s for Bruce. Sometimes it’s for Conner. But a lot of times, I do it for you. Because you were brave enough to understand the man I wanted to be.”

DCU Holiday Special (2009)

Teen Titans (2003) #34

(Tim’s guilt and grief becomes all-encompassing to the point where he invents a fake uncle just to avoid being adopted by Bruce, but that’s a story for another day.)

Sooooo yeah, that’s about it. Tim loved his parents and they loved him back in their own ways, but he never had a perfect relationship with either of them by any definition.

5K notes · View notes

missbluesunflowersstuff · 7 months

Text

Some Tim Drake headcanon

I did some headcanon based in canon stuff and also random things, this is more around the batkids and Tim. Please respect

Tim likes to think of himself as a street smarth, but he's not. He is academically smarth, but not a street smart kid (he grew up in a mansion with several servants, even though he is hella neglected, he wouldn't know how to survive on the streets of Gotham in the same way that Jason, Duke, Dick)

(ok I noticed some confusion with my worlds here, then Tim Drake is a child from Gotham, his way of surviving there is a little different from his brother but he still would figure it out. That's what I was saying, thanks for the comprehension)

whenever Tim needs someone to talk to he looks for Dick, he knows that Dick will listening to him and his older brother will also give him useful advice/ help him solve the problem

He's afraid of having redhead fever from his older brothers (Dick being friend with Babs, Wally, Kor'i and Roy and Jason being friend with Artemis, Roy and Kor'i), not in a romantic way or anything, he just doesn't know how to explain how Dick and Jason attract so many redheaded friends

He fears info dumping someone when he talks; Duke once commented that he liked the smell of rain when it rained on very hot days, and Tim began to explain that this was due to a fungus. Duke just listened silently and then shy smiled. And only later did Tim think he had ruined the peaceful moment, as he noticed how Duke and Cass lay quietly enjoying the rain...

His relationship with Steph isn't that complicated, they dated in the past, but nowadays they both try their best to remain good friends

He tries to plan several cute dates with Bernard, but he always ends up overthinking so he chooses the simplest route, cinema and burgers (Kon and Bart helped him choose this as perfect date)

When Tim is having problems with Bruce, he always turns to Dick, knowing that his older brother will help him with whatever he needs

Tim regrets the beginning between him and Damian, not just the assassination attempts, but Tim didn't try to trust Damian and always accused Damian's people of being bad and had an offense towards Damian's origins (both were wrong, Damian in his trauma stuff and I dislike how "his people are evil" that DC wrote at that time)

He is secretly afraid of someone discovering the bomb in Nanda Parbat, yes there were murderers there, but it was a city that also had civilians there and as a hero he shouldn't put the lives of innocent people at risk (why does DC keep writing him like that???)

There are actually several theories in Gotham about why he doesn't age, some say he's a vampire and others say he bathes in the blood of innocents, no one knows who start these theories (Dick blames Jason, Jason blames Damian, Damian blames Steph, Steph blames Bernard and Kon and Bart blames each others)

his worst nightmare is being the only survivor of his entire family (again)

Loneliness can hurt him in ways no villain could, being alone can drive him crazy. Therefore, unlike his brothers (who can work alone), Tim tries his best to work in teams

Because Bruce and Tim were born into a rich house, they are out of touch with normal stuff sometimes

he really enjoys listening to Bernard's theories and sometimes encourages him with something stupid

Tim likes to think that If his mother were alive she would like Bernard

Tim is the only one in the family who shows concern about Damian's addiction to adopting animals, afraid that it will turn into something similar to Bruce

Tim learned a lot about motorcycles because he thought it would be a good topic to talk about with Jason

Tim has and listens to his emo playlist

Even when he hates loneliness, he can disappear for a while, either because he wants someone to look for him or because of something Bruce said. When this happend, he usually comes back when he is tired of being alone or someone go look for him (man this is pretty sad...let me write something...)

There was a time when he disappeared for a while, he hid in a safehouse outside the country and when he started to wonder if anyone would miss him the door was shut down, Damian, Jon and a girl in a white mask that he didn't recognize entered

"tt if I knew you weren't in danger I would have feared more" "what?" "come on, get on the Goliath, we have to go home" "did something happen?" "Batcow. Cows have a circle of friends and they can get depressed if a friend disappears

Ok Tim knew about cows due to Kon living on a farm, but he was extremely confused about being kidnapped rescued by Damian, Jon and Nobody just because the kids were worried about the Batcow mental health

Coming back was strange, since Bruce didn't even notice he was gone, but soon he felt Alfred the cat rubbing against him, Titus licking his hand and the cow mooing at him, Tim was a little happier to come back (I'm not good to write fluffly you guys are struck with this)

Nowadays Tim is very smug because he was the first of the brothers to fly in Goliath

Some batkid headcanon: Damian || Duke || Cassandra || Stephanie || Tim || Jason || Dick

#dc comics #batfamily #tim drake #damian wayne #jason todd #dick grayson #batfam #bruce wayne #batfam headcanons #batfamily headcanons #stephanie brown #bernard dowd

80 notes · View notes

jtl-fics · 11 months

Note

Hey, no need to respond to this, truly, but I just had to say something. Feel free to ignore and I won’t bother you about this again, but it makes me uncomfortable how you portray Riko as this traumatized kid who just needs love&attention in your writing when he is canonically an abuser. He nearly beat Jean to death and ordered other Ravens to rape him. He broke Kevin’s hand and tried to emotionally abuse him into returning to him. He helped Drake cross state borders while he was being investigated for child sexual assault and pointed him at Andrew. He paid Proust to assault Andrew. He tied Neil to a bed and tortured him. He killed Seth. Yes, his backstory is tragic but he is an abuser. And it’s uncomfortable reading about how his victims should feel sorry for him bc now they’re older and more mature and Riko “was a kid”. I recognize you have the right to write what you want, I just wanted to tell you how it reads. I’m not trying to be mean or harass you & I won’t send anything else other than this. And do not post this to the public if you don’t want to! Seriously, I’m not trying to be mean or hurt your feelings, you’re a great writer and I don’t believe you meant anything malicious or were trying to communicate what I took from how you wrote Riko, just that that’s how it comes off.

Hey, I am going to respond to this just because I want to be clear that I am writing Riko very very aware of the fact that he has done things in the books that make me really dislike / hate him as a person. Still, as a character there are things I want to explore with him y’know?

Especially from people who he really has no power over at this point. Especially from people who he did use to have power over at one point.

Some of this might be coming across a certain way just due to the fact that I had some ideas earlier on in the writing of these that I've discard. Such is the nature of a WIP. The other part is that a lot of the snippets are missing broader context. Such is the nature of a Snippet.

Either way you're fine to be uncomfortable with that and to not like how I'm writing it but I do just want to cover generally how I'm approaching Riko in the 2 AUs I'm really treating him differently than canon.

In the Math Nerd AU I want to explore a Neil who is a lot older and who still, honestly, hates Riko. He hates him and would love to watch him sink into the pits of hell once again.... but he's also a Neil who has grown a lot since he was 18-19 and dealing with Riko the first time around. He's a Neil who not only benefited from but now truly and absolutely believes in the power of giving someone a chance. Wymack has had that level of influence on his thinking.

He was a Captain and stayed close with the Foxes and Wymack over the years. He has seen all of the kids that Wymack gave 2nd chances to.

Some of them deserved that second chance and they utilize it.

Some of them deserved that second chance and failed to utilize it.

Some of them didn't deserve those second chances and did utilize it.

Some of them didn't deserve that second chance and proved that they didn't deserve it.

Wymack still offered it to all of them and he didn't always like those kids but Wymack still did his best to help them. Neil thinks Wymack died with his only regret being that he didn't have a chance to drink the pricey bourbon they'd gotten him and that he wouldn't get to call Kevin after his games.

Neil WANTS / NEEDS / CRAVES that peace of mind for reasons I'm not going to touch on here because it doesn't involve Riko.

I have decided on a few things that are different from the initial description, such is the nature of a WIP.

Its not quite clear in the snippets because hey they’re snippets and not the full story and honestly I’ve avoided doing these snippets from Neil’s POV. All Neil is doing right now? He’s offering Riko a chance and that's it.

What Riko does with that chance I haven’t touched on at all. Neil is offering a Riko an opportunity to stop before he sinks his own ship and Neil won't even toss a life preserver because watching him drown was immensely personally satisfying to Neil last time. What he wants is the certainty that there was no redeeming Riko, that there was no excuse, and that he's totally normal for thinking about how Riko looked the night he died with warmth. If Riko proves him wrong? If all Riko really did need was someone he had no power over to treat him like a person and not a commodity?

It'd be the ultimate proof that anyone can benefit from a second chance, that Wymack was always right to offer it. He'd be okay with that too.

I also want to explore what Neil can gain by delaying the satisfaction he got the first time around by outright telling Riko to just fuck off. How playing it a bit nicer / smarter with Riko means that the Foxes are safer and also gives him the opportunity to protect other people he has had a hand in saving. Andrew was the first person that Neil saved when he went back in time, but he wasn't the last. Neil also wasn't always successful in saving some people despite his foreknowledge.

Again, nature of the WIP and nature of the Snippet were not everything is here since I sure as hell am not writing this in order with the snippets but I am going to touch on it in a WIP Wednesday ask pretty soon, probably once I finish this beast / make myself dinner.

For New Kings it's a lot easier since mostly I'm treating Riko as a joke. Someone who wants to be a threat, who remembers being terrifying to these Foxes. Except now he...just kind of isn't. He has no power over any of them. Like Nicky said, he's seen home loans scarier than Riko is at this point.

It really is them just seeing someone they remember being so huge and threatening and scary and…..its just this sad sack 20 something playing at being God because he’s good at a sport. Honestly, in comparison to what some of them got up to later? He's not even that good.

They won’t take him seriously because why the fuck should they? That would just feed into his already insane ego. In my experience there’s nothing that upsets an abuser more than his once victims just won’t give him any power over them. (Again its the nature of the snippet in that its not the full picture and I haven’t even covered Riko’s reaction to the Fox’s dismissal of him as a threat in all its unhinged glory nor Renee's grand theft Moreau.)

STILL, if that isn’t something you want to read then please just add the tags #Math Nerd AU and #New Kings AU or ME (jtl-fics & justthislazy) to a block list. I'm religious about tagging so if you still want to read other stuff then just blacklisting those tags will keep you safe.

I can add Riko Moriyama as a tag on the parts that involve / mention him if you still want to read the snippets that don't include him.

I’m not out here to make someone uncomfortable but I do want to explore these things in my writing. It might change the further I go but it might not so please proceed at your comfort level.

Thank you for writing to me with your concern and I’m more than happy to accommodate with tags if you wanna message me.

Still, like you said, I'm going to write what I want.

#my writing #Riko Moriyama #Math Nerd AU #New Kings AU #This thing is very wordy #TL;DR Right now it's a WIP with SNIPS and I haven't put the full context out #I am thankful for this ask so people can make the decision if they want to read further #I will now take a shower cook dinner and write some more ASK WIPS

78 notes · View notes

jtficprompt · 8 months

Text

A Young Outlaw's Guide to Hitching a Ride Home

Prompts for a series of fics I'll likely not get around to ever writing.

Feel free to adopt and adapt, using as little or as much as you like.

----

Wonder Woman; Tim Drake; Ferdinand the Kithotaur (title ideas: "Tell an Adult" "Doing what needs to be done")

Batman is on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic. A slow civilian plane, that definitely isn't big enough to fit the BatPlane in the hold.

Which isn't kind of plane Batman takes when he knows Robin is being hunted by the Joker.

Superman looked half dead in the news footage. He was barely walking by the time parasite was arrested.

The Titans seem to be off world. Tim has no idea how to contact the Flash.

That means Wonder Woman. Which means Tim need to get to the Themiscarian Embassy in DC as fast as possible.

(Also featuring: Cooking lessons and discrete child neglect assessment questions with Ferdinand the Kithotaur.)

----

Roy Harper (title ideas: "Friends in Low Places" "The Corn Pollen Path" "First Step")

You don't stop shooting up because heroin stops feeling like heroin. You stop shooting up because you find something more important than the next score.

Roy Harper finds that in a seedy bar in eastern Kasnia, when he hears two thugs he recognizes as Joker henchmen talking about "the boss" going bird hunting in Ethopia.

He may be an addict. He may be a has-been. But he was a Titan, and he will be damned if he scrounges for his next score while another Titan falls into that clown's trap.

Even if it kills him. (He tries not to hope too hard that it does).

----

Veronica Vreeland; Roxy Rocket (title ideas: "Ronnie & Roxy's Rescue Service" "I'm the Cool Aunt")

"Roxie! Darling! I need a ride! I have to get to Ethopia so I can kill Harley's ex."

Roxie knew Veroinca Vreeland was crazy. She regularly encouraged Harley to kidnap her "for brunch." She dated the Penguin. Voluntarily. Before today, she just didn't know that "crazy" extended to HALO jumps from a rocket plane on a mission to kill the Joker. … Maybe Ozzie has good taste after all.

----

Jordan Hill; Barbara Gordon (title ideas: "Someone who's been there before")

"I'm not an idiot, Babs. I've known you and every single member of the Wayne family since we were kids. We don't have time for this. I don't care what you all get up to at night: Jeckko is hunting Jason, and I'll be damned if I let that asshole hurt another kid."

----

Garth of Shayaris (title ideas: "Tagging in" "The-Batman's-an-Asshole-Phone-Tree")

"You're telling me that Vic has a program running that goes through the entire internet to sort out if I'm doing 'something weird'."

"I mean, it used to track Dickie-bird. But yeah."

"Because if Dick was doing something weird, it means B was an asshole."

"Obviously. He's still an asshole, right?"

"Yes. And there is a phone tree for this. For when B is an asshole."

"Yes."

"Aren't you supposed to be King of Atlantis right now? Seems like you should have shit to do. Besides following my ass to Ethopia."

"Acting King. And if Arthur can be an asshole and dump all his work on me without asking, I can definitely take a personal day."

----

Ra's Al Ghul (title ideas: "Ra's Al Ghul is many things")

"Sir, he has the boy."

"Where is the Detective?"

"He's on his way. But, sir, he won't make it there in time."

"I should never have allied myself with that madman."

Ra's paused and gazed out the window. Talia wondered how may people besides her would recognize regret in her father's face.

"Then I must go in the Detective's stead. Have the hangars ready our fastest plane, then fetch my armor and swords." Her father did not turn from the window as Ubu rushed out to see to his orders. He simply stared out the window until he spoke again.

"Talia. Prepare the pit while I am gone. His father will not thank me for it, but if my folly comes to its worst end I will not deprive my grandson of his brother."

26 notes · View notes

tessa-liam · 1 year

Text

Smoke and Mirrors

8- The Mirror Doesn't Lie

Book: The Royal Romance Finale+, Alternate Universe

Series Premise: Hidden in the shadows, poised to challenge the status quo are enemies of the state. The loyalties and honesty of family and friends will be tested. ‘Keep your friends close, your enemies closer’.

Smoke and Mirrors Masterlist

Main Pairing: Liam Rys x F!MC Riley Brooks-Rys, OTP ‘LiRi’

2nd Pairings: Leo Rys x Amalas, Drake Walker x F!OC Delaney Leigh, Olivia Nevrakis x M!OC Alex Cossoy

*Most characters belong to Pixelberry

*Not Beta’d, please excuse all errors.

Rating: M🔞*Series Warnings: NSFW material, sexual innuendo, adult language/swearing/drinking/gun violence. Not recommended for anyone under 18 years of age.

Category: Alternate Universe/on-going series/angst/fluff

Words: 1990

8- The Mirror Doesn’t Lie

Chapter Summary: Preparations for the Celebration Ball continue for the upcoming Saturday at the palace to officially inform the court of the princes and their expected arrival date in August. Drake’s revelations about his future are revealed with memories of the past for Liam. Lena, under custody with Interpol is transferred to Lyon, France.

Music and Title Inspiration:

Simply the Best, Sara Beth Mirrors, Justin Timberlake

A/N1: My submission for @choicesflashfics Week #38, Prompt #1 - “I love your curves. I think it’s one of the best things about you.”, Prompt #2 - “Pretending to be happy is pretty damn exhausting.”

A/N2: My submission for Choices June Challenge, Prompt – Nature – Run (jogging), beach, sunshine, summer. @liaromancewriter

A/N3: My submission for Character Summer Challenge, Prompt – beach @choicesficwriterscreations

Bright, early mornings in the summer always brought a calming solace for Liam. As he jogged along the coastline of the private, secluded beach near the Capital, the sunshine and cool sea breeze invigorated him and allowed for clarity of thought; a guilty pleasure that he took for himself. Listening to calming music through his ear buds, and with the steady pace of his jog, his thoughts eventually turned to the conversation that he had had with his brother the previous evening. Liam shook his head, remembering with regret how the phone conversation quickly got heated...

‘Leo, are you trying to tell me that I need to give this woman, this stranger, the benefit of the doubt?”

All I am saying Liam, is that our father turned his back on his own daughter, on your sister, my half sister.

Oh, in that case you are trying to tell me that I am just like our father?!

This woman threatened my daughter, stalked my wife, told you that she wanted my throne because she felt that I was not worthy of it.

And what, I should just let her have access to me and to my family without consequence?

Are you insane?! '

Liam stopped abruptly, not realizing his calming jog had turned into a fast-paced run. He bent over, slowing down his breathing as he swept the sweat from his brow.

The sunshine glinted off the bows of the yachts docked at the marina just up ahead as he looked up. Chuckling to himself, he realized how far and fast he ran.

This argument had swiftly spiraled into a shouting match and ended with Liam curtly ending that conversation.

Shaking his head, he chastised himself, thinking that when he returned to the palace, he needed to call Leo to further explain his reasoning and to apologize for the conversation getting out of hand.

Of course, he was curious, and wanted answers from this woman, his ‘sister’. What he really needed was answers from his father.

Why did he not embrace his own flesh and blood? Why?

Why would he knowingly abandon his child?

Why keep this child away from him?

Was his father’s paranoia the reason?

These are missing pieces to this puzzle that confounded him. Should he give her the benefit of a doubt? Yes, he can. However, there are qualified Interpol Inspectors that are trained to vet situations like this.

His responsibility, no... his duty was to protect his queen and family at all costs. Which makes it a critical priority to keep this woman physically away from Cordonia’s borders.

Liam made a mental note to call back Olivia and Inspector Cossoy back to the capital, once Lena was secured in Lyon, France.

Picking up his jog again, he continued at a steady pace, changing his thoughts to the upcoming celebration ball being held at the palace on Saturday. Deciding to formally invite Amalas, he was sure that his brother would follow her back to Cordonia. That would be the perfect opportunity to extend an olive branch.

“Li, hold up.” Drake appeared walking on the dock, interrupting his thoughts.

“Hey, Drake, good morning.” Liam slowed to a stop, turning to greet his friend.

“Welcome back, how was your trip?” This being the first conversation that the friends had since their talk; Liam was curious about how his trip to the U.S. played out.

“Pretty good, all things considered.” Drake acknowledged.

“Delaney’s parents were very welcoming. Her older brother, not so much.”

“Oh, oh! That must have been uncomfortable, what did you do?” Liam joked, clapping Drake on the back.

“He was asking me more questions about my intentions than her father did.” Drake rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“It made me wonder what Laney told him about me.”

“Why would she disparage you?”

Drake ran his hand down his face, sighing, “we had an argument just before we left the hotel to meet her family at the restaurant. She seems to think that I am afraid of commitment.”

Liam looked at his friend, “well, she may have a point there.”

“Not you too,” Drake complained. “I just like my space.”

“Yes, well, it sounds like she wants a future with you, Drake, and that means compromise.”

Groaning, “I get that, Li, it's just that.... Drake paused and exhaled loudly, closing his eyes.

Liam noticed the tells of Drake’s nervousness and stopped to look directly at his friend.

For whatever reason, Drake was having a rough time returning eye contact.

Without looking up, Drake reached into his backpack that was slung over his shoulder.

“I have something for you. It is an invitation for you and Riley.”

Surprised, Liam reached for the sealed envelope. “This? An invitation for what?

Drake, speaking very quietly, “well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise... But it is something incredibly special from Delaney and I.”

Liam’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, reading the look on Drake’s face as apprehensive.

“Delaney and I have come to an agreement.” Drake looked everywhere but did not return Liam’s questioning gaze.

“We have decided to set up roots, here, in Cordonia, as a couple.”

“Really? What happened to change her mind about moving back to Austin?”

“We came to a compromise.”

This piqued Liam’s curiosity. “What exactly did you agree to?”

“In your hand, Li, is a wedding invitation.” Drake revealed, his eyes not looking up from the ground.

“Well, well, well...this is, a surprise. Congratulations, my friend! Riley will be delighted to hear this.”

Still looking at the ground, Drake nodded, “thank you, Liam.”

Furrowing his brows, Liam looked at his friend in confusion, not saying a word.

“Watching you with Brooks, all these years.... I want that too.” Drake spoke hesitantly.

It wasn’t lost on Liam; the meaning behind those words. Knowing that Drake had feelings for Riley, once upon a time, that had sparked during his social season. Confessed feelings that still lingered for Drake, but feelings that were never returned by Riley.

“Pretending to be happy is pretty damn exhausting,” Drake confessed.

♤♡◇♧

Royal Boutique, Cordonian Palace

Eleanor squealed, “mommy, look at all the pretty dresses! I want that one! Oh, oh, look at this one! Mommy, pleeease, may I have both?”

It was the Friday before the Celebration Ball at the Palace. Promising her daughter, the particularly important grown-up task of choosing her formal wear, Riley watched her little girl excitedly choose two dresses to try.

“Well, Ellie, since you can only wear one dress to the ball tomorrow, the other dress you can wear to the next event. Choose the one that you think fits the purpose of having this ball.”

Eleanor tapped her finger to her chin, debating her choice.

“You handled that situation perfectly, your majesty.” Riley’s personal assistant, Claire, whispered.

“Mommy, I have decided.”

Riley looked expectantly at her daughter.

“These dresses are wrong,” Eleanor answered. “These dresses aren’t blue.”

Claire grinned watching Riley’s reaction, as Ellie plucked the blue dress from the rack to try on, leaving the other selections behind.

Shaking her head with a smile, Riley resumed looking through the ball gowns in the boutique. It was time to find a gown that would fit her now rapidly changing body and her personal assistant suggested an A-line pastel yellow tulle ball gown with an embellished plunging neckline.

Gazing at her reflection in the full-length mirror she smiled as she felt flutters in her tummy. The twins were very active in their daily movements tucked securely inside her body.

“Claire, this is the one.” Riley called out to her assistant from the dressing room.

Hearing the dressing room door click behind her, Riley was delighted when she felt Liam’s strong arms wrap around her; clearly not Claire.

Riley closed her eyes, when she felt his lips kiss her ear.

“Mm mm... what did you do with my assistant?” Riley tittered.

“I sent her away. You have me to attend to your needs.” Liam responded, kissing down her neck.

“In that case, what do you think of this gown? Do you think the bodice is too revealing?”

“I love your curves. I think it’s one of the best things about you.”

Giggling, Riley playfully swatted his arm. “Liam, I am serious!”

“I am too, love.... You are ravishing.”

♤♡◇♧

Monterrisian Royal Palace

The unmarked black SUV passed through the palace side gate as Alex and Olivia watched. Lena was being transported out of the country by Interpol today.

Once Lena arrives at the Interpol headquarters in France, she will be given a psychological evaluation and be officially charged for her crimes.

Alex overheard Leo's question for Olivia...

“She did not look happy, but at least she wasn’t resisting or trying to escape.” Olivia answered Leo on her cell speakerphone.

"Good to hear. Amalas notified Liam this morning about the transfer."

"Are the two of you planning to attend the celebration ball tomorrow?"

Olivia was well aware of the 'conversation' between the brothers.

Agreeing with Liam, Olivia was very vocal about her position to Leo after their conversation ended.

"Yes, Liv, I will go but I am going solo."

Olivia looked at Alex, raising her brow, and answering Leo.

"This will be an interesting evening,"

Thank you for reading🤎🤎🤎

Please let me know if you would like to be added@ or removed from tags⚘️

@ao719 @txemrn @queenmiarys @sfb123 @twinkleallnight @alj4890 @differenttyphoonwerewolf @harleybeaumont @busywoman @karahalloway @kingliam2019 @imjusthereforliam @lovingchoices14 @kyra75 @tinkie1973 @emkay512 @malblk21 @kristinamae093 @jared2612 @thesvnsins @irisk12 @walkerdrakewalker @charlotteg234

@choicesficwriterscreations

#choicesflashfics #choices june challenge #character summer challenge #choices fic writers creations #liam rys #the royal romance #trr #trr liam x mc #riley brooks #trr fanfic #king liam #king liam rys #tessa liam writes #smoke and mirrors #drake walker #olivia nevrakis #leo rys #amalas #always liam and riley

47 notes · View notes

cephalog0d · 1 year

Text

Batfic - "Musical Costumes"

Rating: Teen and Up (Language)

Category: Gen

Relationships/Characters: Bruce Wayne & Jason Todd & Tim Drake & Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Duke Thomas & Damian Wayne & Barbara Gordon & Alfred Pennyworth; Dick Grayson (mentioned)

Additional Tags: Humor, Banter, Batkids Being Batsibs

Words: 1,057

Summary:

There was a quiet moment before Jason felt the prickle of eyes and looked up from where he'd been absently scratching lines in the arm of the chair (sorry Alfred) to see the collective attention of the room placed on him.

"Absolutely fucking not," he snapped vehemently.

(Full text after the cut or over on AO3)

"-so someone will have to be spotted as Nightwing a few times for the next week or so," Bruce's briefing concluded. There was a quiet moment before Jason felt the prickle of eyes and looked up from where he'd been absently scratching lines in the arm of the chair (sorry Alfred) to see the collective attention of the room placed on him.

"Absolutely fucking not," he snapped vehemently.

"You are the closest-" Bruce started.

"No I'm fucking not!" Jason gestured at his own torso to emphasize the point.

"Height-wise you are," Steph added very unhelpfully. "Weight wise it's more…equidistant," she conceded with a loose wave between Jason and Tim.

"Technically Duke is the closest but I think even Gotham's criminal masterminds might notice that," Tim threw out, pedantic as ever.

"What, because I'm a meta?" Duke asked with an impressively straight face.

"Yes," Tim said in the same flat tone. Cass only barely tried to muffle a laugh. Steph didn't try at all. Jason chose to ignore all of them, glaring defiantly at Bruce, who mostly just looked like he wanted a nap. Or a child free vacation. Whatever, it was his own fault he kept collecting more and that they were all awful.

"No," Jason repeated. "I am not running around in that stupid suit just because Dickhead managed to break himself showing off."

"That is not an accurate-" Damian interjected, predictably jumping to Dick's defense in absentia.

"You have before," Cass interrupted him neatly. Her expression was a lot more controlled than Steph's, but her eyes were bright with suppressed laughter.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jason said pointedly.

"Dick's current suit isn't even that bad. It's not like you have to wear the old Robin suit. Again," Tim said mildly. Jason narrowed his eyes at Tim, who met his gaze unflinchingly and took a slow, deliberate drink.

"Boys," Bruce cut in, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh. Jason decided to temporarily let it go and ignore both the way Tim smirked behind his cup and Steph's quiet "oooooh".

"Do it yourself," Jason challenged Bruce, earning a burst of laughter from the rest of the room. Bruce's expression did the constipated thing that usually meant he was at least mildly regretting his choices in family. Good.

"Oh my god please do, I will pay so much money to see that," Steph gasped breathlessly.

"Stephanie." Bruce's reprimand, predictably, did nothing to silence her.

"Father has his own duties as Batman," Damian said snippily.

"Additionally, I do not believe Master Bruce's joints would appreciate those kind of acrobatics," Alfred added as he appeared and started clearing things off the table.

"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce said with another sigh.

"Cass can do all that flippy bullsh-oot," Jason hastily corrected when Alfred glanced at him.

"Are you saying you can't?" Cass asked sweetly.

“Of course he can’t,” Damian scoffed not all that quietly.

“Damian,” Bruce said. Cass ignored them both. She met Jason's glare for several seconds, just smiling and waiting.

"I know what you're doing," Jason finally said, jabbing a finger at her.

"But it's still working," Tim muttered.

"No, it's not."

"It's okay if you can't," Cass said sympathetically. "I can."

The right answer was to leave it at that and walk away and Jason knew that, he wasn't an idiot and he didn't have to prove anything to these assholes, he should just get up and leave and let them sort their shit out amongst themselves, they were manipulating him, Cass with her disingenuous smile and Steph with her barely restrained laughter and Tim with his infuriating little smirk and Damian with his condescending sneer and Duke just watching them all with amusement while he finished his post-patrol sandwich.

But.

That spiteful little thing in his chest that had guided so many of his most ill advised decisions in the past had taken hold and just because he knew they were baiting him didn't mean he didn't still want to prove them wrong.

"Fine!" he snapped finally. "Fu-reaking fine!" Alfred gave him a knowing look but didn't say anything about the slip. "I refuse to do the stupid puns, though." He could at least draw that line.

"It's okay if you're not clever enough to do that part," Tim said with a condescending pat on the arm. Jason very maturely did not break his fucking fingers, but he did bare his teeth in what was only barely a smile.

"I'm going to glitter bomb your apartment. Emphasis on the bomb." Okay so not that mature, so sue him, Tim started it. Tim opened his mouth, presumably to say something even more inflammatory, but got interrupted.

"Boys," Bruce said again, more sharply. “Tim, leave your brother alone. Jason, thank you for your assistance. Stephanie, whatever you’re planning don’t.”

Steph made an affronted noise and widened in her eyes in a comically innocent expression that did not fool anyone for even a second.

“Right, well, some of us have been up all day,” Duke said as he stood. “Good luck, Hoodwing.” He left the room, grinning, as Tim choked on his drink and Bruce sighed again and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Hoodwing?” Cass repeated thoughtfully, testing out the word. “Redwing? Nighthood?”

“I like Nighthood,” Babs’s voice spoke up. None of them would admit to being startled, but several of them did perhaps sit up a little straighter at the sudden addition.

“Have you been listening this whole time?” Jason asked, and immediately mentally face-palmed.

“Jason.”

“I know, I heard it when I said it.”

“Anyway, I’ve got some alerts that need looking into, if you’ve all decided who’s wearing what costume.”

“No one else is swapping costumes,” Bruce said sternly. “Everyone go get ready. Oracle, tell me what you’ve got.”

There was a brief scramble of finishing drinks and snacks and everyone broke to go gear up. Steph had a scheming look that Jason absolutely did not trust in the slightest but she was dragged off by Cass before he could get a further read on it.

A few minutes later, though, he got a text.

((I have a whole headcanon that people swapping costumes temporarily is just a commonplace thing for Secret Identity purposes, because half of them are public figures, so if one of them gets injured or has to travel as a civilian they'll get one of the others to be spotted in their suit while they're out so nobody puts together "This Bat doesn't show up when this Well Known Public Figure is out of town/obviously injured".

(Hey remember in Batgirl: Year One where Bats made Dick dress up as her to throw Gordon off her trail?)

Of course, some people make better duplicates than others.

(Tim is referencing the fact that in the comics, Jason was fully wearing a copy of his old Robin costume, complete with the lack of pants, during their infamous Titans Tower altercation. Because I will never let go of that fact, it is absurd, absolute drama queen Jason Todd, what a doofus, I love him. Cass is referencing in preboot Nightwing where there was an arc where Jason was running around murdering folks in a Nightwing costume to undermine Dick.)))

#Batman later: Why are the only suits left in the cave the ones that are brightly colored #Bruce doing the Bob's Burgers 'you're my family and i love you but you're all terrible'#According to canon stats Duke is like 1 inch and 5 pounds smaller than Dick so he would in fact be the closest match size-wise #Agent of Chaos Stephanie Brown #Tim Drake Being A Little Shit #(mostly to Jason who has more than earned it honestly)#Jason Todd is powered by spite #Cass is also a Troll here #writing #ceph writes things #batfam #jason todd #cassandra cain #tim drake #stephanie brown #duke thomas #damian wayne #bruce wayne

60 notes · View notes

ownworldresident · 5 months

Text

Side by Side Chapter 3: Legitimate

The revamp of a long-ago series because I wrote myself into a corner

Book: The Royal Romance.

Premise: With new additions to their family, King Liam and Rayne must re-evaluate their relationship dynamic.

Themes: Found family, hurt/comfort, angst, fluff, family.

Word Count: 3.2k per chapter, 18 chapters. About 60k.

Note: This story started just after TRR3 ended, and has no association with TRH. Master Masterlist Link

Eight Months Ago

Liam

“Just get wasted. You won’t remember a thing.” Drake’s attempted nonchalance broke through the room’s noise and Liam groaned, rubbing both hands over his face.

“Seconded,” said Leo from his other side. “As if she could expect anything less from you.”

At the edge of the decadent hall, he watched the wedding guests beaming and dancing in distinct contrast to the dread curling in his stomach. Leo and Drake had assigned themselves as sort of guards, feigning deep, intense discussion and warding off anyone who came too close.

“So, ah…” Drake started, and when he didn’t continue, Liam looked up at him.

“Yes?”

“Ah…” he repeated, clearing his throat. “How’s Kham?”

Liam watched his friend’s discomfort, guilt clawing at him as he turned to search the hall. Rayne sat at a table with Maxwell and Olivia and a glass of champagne. He was glad to see her feeling better. She was laughing as Maxwell animatedly recounted a story, then speaking to both of them with a smile he could not emulate. They had been so close… that regret would never leave him. Nor should it.

In lieu of his friends, what kept Liam company later that evening was a bottle of smooth bourbon. Seated in a deep armchair, he threw back the whole glass and poured another, savouring the fire in his throat. Madeleine was in the bathroom of their honeymoon suite. He had no idea what she was doing, but her absence gave him the opportunity to extinguish coherent thought.

Unfortunately, he could still think straight when she re-emerged in full silk pyjamas.

“Stop drinking,” she said. Liam locked eyes with her as he finished the glass, as if this tiny rebellion was worth anything. She rolled her eyes and snatched the bottle.

“Hey!”

“I know what you’re doing,” she said before he could protest further. “And it’s unnecessary.”

“I strongly disagree.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“I- what?” It took a few moments to process the words.

"I'm not going to sleep with you. Not now, not ever."

He blinked, rising to his feet, and the room swayed as he tried to absorb the words half as well as his body absorbed the alcohol.

"You know how this works. The Crown needs heirs." The thought made him sick, and he again silently apologised for the betrayal.

"Lucky for you, I cannot have children, and your carelessness has provided a different option. You can legitimise your mistress’s child."

There were a lot of things in her words that he needed to unpack, and none of it stood out. But then…

"I'm sorry to hear you can't have children."

"Save it." Her expression tightened. "That's no longer your concern."

"What do you mean by my 'mistress’s child'?"

"Shit, Liam." Madeleine set down the bourbon bottle hard, jarring him back to some awareness. "You really need me to spell it out for you? You’ve been screwing her for months."

"She isn't my mistress."

"For all intents and purposes she is. How long before she's set up in the royal wing? In your apartments, perhaps? And is that really the part that you’re fixating on?" She stepped away, combing her fingers through her hair, and rolled her shoulders back. "I just told you you can go ahead and get as many heirs on her as you want. I couldn’t care less what you call her."

Bypassing the insults, Liam finally connected the earlier point. "Her child…" he breathed, setting down his glass beside the bottle.

"I think she'll find out in a day or two." She paused, watching him. "Congratulations. You're going to be a father."

He stared at her. Then the words clicked. "Rayne… is pregnant?"

Madeleine raised an eyebrow and that was all the confirmation he needed. For a moment the room faded, and all he felt was the ache of Rayne’s absence, and something else, something warmer. But then he realised where he was, and who had told him.

"You knew?" He rounded on her. "And you kept this from her? From me!" All the limits he assumed she would not break shattered then, and with it all remnants of the bourbon infused haze. "You took personal, private information and withheld it for personal gain. This was not yours to control, you had no right."

"As the Queen, I have every right."

"But you weren't Queen yet. You've had this information longer than six hours. That is unacceptable." His voice shook, but she didn't even flinch.

"Do with it what you will. Must have slipped my mind," she said instead. Liam opened his mouth to retaliate but she cut him off. "End of discussion. It's been a long day. I'm taking the bed, enjoy the couch." With that parting remark she left, and Liam stood rooted to the floor, trying to comprehend the implications of the discovery.

Present Day

Rayne

Ten days after the twins arrived, Rayne was released from hospital. After nearly three weeks here, the lack of control over her environment was getting to her. But stepping out of the hospital doors meant facing the scrutiny of the press, and standing with Liam and Madeleine to answer questions and pose for photos.

A small retinue of staff followed them. All for her and the twins, and they made her nervous. One had done her hair and makeup, a less than pleasant reminder of how awful she must look. And how important appearances were in this public life.

Her solace was the royal blue dress she wore, because she knew Liam had chosen it, and in a move reminiscent of their courtship he had matched his attire to hers. He wrapped his free arm around her now as they reached the doors, rubbing her shoulder and leaning down for a gentle kiss.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"A bit sick," she admitted. Then, when he looked concerned, she added, "Nerves."

He nodded. "We're going to be fine, I promise. They understand you're still recovering, and will respect that."

"How do you know?"

"Because I asked them to." He pressed a kiss to her temple, then brought his arm back to support Eleanor with both. Rayne watched as he ran a thumb over his daughter’s cheek and Evelyn returned his smile with a crooked one of her own.

"I love you," Rayne said. Liam turned to her and his expression said the same.

"I love you, too." He smiled, and they held their gaze before the doors opened, and they stepped outside. He leaned in once more. "Game faces on."

She blinked in the sunlight as they stopped at the top of a short staircase. On her side stood Leo, Drake, Olivia and Maxwell. A group of reporters spread before them. And on Liam’s side was Madeleine, composed as ever. Rayne's confidence faltered a moment, but this wasn’t the time for doubt. She quickly schooled a warm smile, right as a flash went off.

Of course Madeleine looked happy to be here, though Rayne knew the woman despised her. She had not seen her since well before she went into hospital and was glad for it.

"King Liam! Lady Rayne!" called Donnie. They turned to him. “Can we get a photo?” Like clockwork, they both nodded and smiled as the flash went off. “Perfect.”

“Good afternoon everyone.” Liam projected his voice over the bank of reporters as easily as if he were speaking to an old friend. They fell silent immediately, and Rayne heard the faint tell of his excitement where the intonation of his sentences shifted its impression. “Thank you for coming to celebrate the arrival of the two newest members of the Cordonian Royal Family.”

“We are honoured, Your Majesty,” Ana said, then turned her focus. “Lady Rayne, what have you and King Liam named them?”

Their decision to ask her was reassuring, and potentially set a trend for future appearances. She looked down at her sleeping son, wondering how the noise hadn’t woken him, then back out, and raised her voice. “In my arms I hold the Crown Prince of Cordonia, Leo Drake Rys.”

“And in mine,” Liam said after a pause, “I hold Princess Evelyn Seng Rys.” He looked down at Evelyn, then over at Rayne with a bright smile.

“Wonderful!” said Ana. They looked back out at the press.

“King Liam and I are very grateful to Lady Rayne,” Madeleine began, jarring Rayne back to a more sobering reality, “for granting us the opportunity to raise the Prince and Princess.”

Rayne grit her teeth at the reference to her children as an ‘opportunity’. They were not the Queen’s and never would be, and it terrified her that Madeleine might flex her rank to claim them. Liam had said…

A steady hand rested on her other shoulder and she turned to see Leo. He nodded to her, squeezing her shoulder, and she breathed a little easier. That would never happen.

Her son woke then and began to cry, as Liam was speaking, and he took that as leave to end the interview. They descended the stairs, the press parting to allow them and their entourage of royal guards, support staff and friends through to their motorcade. Holding Leo close she kept her chin up, like she had done this her whole life. It was her nerves that had woken him, and the sooner they were somewhere quiet and soothing the better.

Liam

On the way back to the palace, he and Rayne and the twins sat in the back of their own SUV. The infant seats were between them, and they exchanged tender glances during the drive, their fingers laced together and the intensity of the last however long behind them. He knew how important it was for Rayne to have some measure of control over her environment, and being in the hospital, or before that when she had to rely on others for so many things, had grated on her. Now he could see her relax, for the first time in weeks, and it was a relief to have her back.

They had stayed together most nights before he was married and almost every night since. Sleeping in his old quarters without her the last few weeks, just a few hours a night, had felt wrong. He couldn’t remember a time when it didn’t. The choice would be hers, but he longed to hold her again.

“How are you feeling?” he asked gently, drawing Rayne’s attention from the window.

“Better, now that’s over. I think I’ll lie down when we get home though. It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed again.” She smiled, squeezing his fnigers, and he responded in kind.

“You did admirably,” he said.

“I hope so.”

“I know so. You had many reasons to find today difficult. I was nervous myself. But at this stage I believe you could give a press conference in your sleep. Even with these two, and everything you’ve been through, you comport yourself with grace.”

“I would be interested to see how I went about answering to the masses in my sleep.” She raised a brow. “I thought you weren’t going to be surprised by me anymore?”

He sighed. “I try not to be, but you still manage it.” He turned his focus to his son and daughter sleeping between them. Then the words tumble from his lips. “I’m so proud of you.” He looked up. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” Her smile grew, and she bit her lip, knowing full well that expression got him every time. “That was a good night.”

He chuckled. “An incredible night.”

“If it didn’t cure your fear of boats, I don’t know what will.” She winked, and Liam pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.

“More than. Perhaps I will name one after you.”

“No!” Her eyes widened, the expression spoiled by a grin. “Then you might have to tell everyone what we were doing.”

“Not at all,” he chuckled. “That will remain our secret.”

“Well, ours and about a thousand koi fish.” She cast her eyes out the window again with a little more energy. Liam was glad to see her coming back to herself, but sobered at what had followed that night. So much hope, so much work, but they never found Tariq, and it was all for nothing.

“I wish things had been easier for you,” he said with less energy. Rayne turned back and took his hand in both of hers.

“Liam, you are all I need. You and Leo and Evelyn, you are all I need. As long as I have you, I can deal with everything else.” The certainty of her resolve melted in a warm smile as she kept his gaze, and the depth of the feeling in her eyes was more than he deserved. Yet here she was.

“You will always have me, love. And these two.”

“Then I will always be perfectly happy.”

Drake

It took a week to lure Liam out for a drink to celebrate his kids’ and Rayne’s return to the palace. Drake waited with Leo in the lounge area of Liam’s old apartments, which were adjacent to Rayne’s.

“D’you reckon he’s taking time off on his terms? Or was granted time off by the woman in charge?”

“Maybe he snuck out while she was sleeping. Can’t imagine Rayne being controlling of his movements.”

“She’s a mum now.” Leo shrugged. “She might have transformed into something unrecognisable.”

Drake rolled his eyes, smirking. “She’s the same person. Just more tired.”

“I’m just saying, he’s got a heavy commitment. Maybe he bailed to watch them sleep.”

“All good theories,” Liam answered as he walked in. “Just took a bit longer to get them down than I anticipated.”

Leo stood to give his brother a hug, before pouring him a drink.

“No thanks, not when I’m getting up five times a night.”

“That’s no excuse,” Leo said, turning back with a bottle of gin and a frown. “First up, we’re celebrating, and second, five times? Are you doing something wrong?”

Drake hid his smile behind his whiskey, taking a sip as Leo poured Liam’s gin into his own glass and sat back down.

“Not an excuse, a reason.” Liam sank into his preferred lounge chair. “And maybe not five, but there are two of them, and we’re still learning.” Beneath Liam’s eyes were heavy, dark circles that gave Drake some concern. On top of being with his family, Liam was still the king and there were only so many tasks he could delegate.

“You look exhausted.” He regretted the words immediately. Leo broke the tension.

“Mm. Don’t you have to wait a certain amount of time before you get back into it?” But there was concern in his voice as well.

“No, just not sleeping much,” Liam answered tiredly. “It’s strange to be back here, actually.” He looked around the room and Drake glanced at Leo.

“I ask again. Why didn’t you just move Kham back into this room? You spent most nights here before.” And Drake had spent many days here, entertaining Rayne and helping where he could. Regardless of his role, it felt wrong to give the crown prince his name. It didn’t fit the title.

“She doesn’t like it,” Liam said, “and her rooms are fitted out better for the twins. Honestly I think I prefer the bed there.”

“You’d prefer any bed she was in,” Drake said. “No need to dodge that.”

“Agreed.” Leo lifted his glass to amplify the gesture. “And in that spirit, I’d be happy to take this room, it’s further from Madeleine’s.”

“Yes, this is definitely what I have missed about meeting up with the two of you.” Liam rose to his feet to pour himself a glass of water, much to Leo and Drake’s dissatisfaction. “There are plenty of other rooms for you to move to.” He turned back, one brow raised at his brother, water glass in hand.

“Not where I can get any privacy. So many people come and go from this place, you never know who you’ll have to put up with.”

“You really think being next to Liam and Kham would be any different?” Drake pointed out. Leo laughed, and Liam sighed as he returned to his chair.

“You make a good point.” Leo nodded, sipping his drink. “That could get tense for them.”

“I’d be more concerned about sharing a wall with Drake right now.” Liam smirked at him, and he was glad to see his friend getting back into the swing of their usual conversation antics. Then the reference clicked, and he took a long drink to compose himself. A glass or two of whiskey should help.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” he said to his glass. The others laughed.

“Come off it. How many times have you had her over in the last week?”

He fought to keep his expression smooth. “Don’t know what you mean.”

“I’ve seen Livvy coming out of your room half a dozen times in the last week and a half.” Leo grinned. Drake stared at him, then groaned.

“I thought we were discussing Li?”

“It would seem not, friend.” Liam chuckled, then settled back and closed his eyes with a contented smile.

“Okay we will then. I want to know how Kham is doing with this whole arrangement thing.”

That cut to it, and Drake felt a twinge of guilt for broaching the familiar discourse. Leo stared at him, and though Liam’s eyes remained closed, his features tightened into something pained. Drake wanted to know, though. He hated it and he cared about her and he wanted to know. And Liam didn’t clam up like Rayne did whenever he asked.

“Rayne is…” Liam opened his eyes, sighing and setting down his glass. “She’s tired, and her resilience is low, but she wants only to have the twins and me close. And unless she shifts that resolve, or tells me otherwise, I will respect her wishes. I trust her.” He looked at Drake now. “As should, I would hope, everyone else.”

The room quieted a moment, and Drake frowned. After everything Rayne had done for this country, and everyone who supported her, she should be more confident in that. Evidently that was not the case.

“Everyone knows she would make an excellent queen,” Leo said quietly. Liam heaved a heavy sigh.

“I agree, but Rayne doesn’t, and I will not pressure her.”

---- ----

The list below is from my previous SbS masterlist. If you'd like to be added or removed please let me know!

Tag List: @leelee10898 @indiacater @speedyoperarascalparty @brightpinkpeppercorn @riseandshinelittleblossom @bella-ca @custaroonie @furiousherringoperatortoad @missevabean @thequeenofcronuts @kuladekiwi @mfackenthal @iplaydrake @lodberg @annekebbphotography @carabeth @wannabemc @explorer-of-gems @be-still-my-aching-heart @kateslayer @kingliam2019 @kalirosesummers @umccall71

@tessa-liam

#choices the royal romance #trr liam #the royal romance #choices trr #trr fanfic #trr mc #liam x mc #trr fandom

8 notes · View notes

trust-and-jump · 1 year

Text

Problems with Reverse Robins Tim Drake again (he's evilllll) (not really)

I KNOW I SAID I WILL POST ABOUT RED HOOD ARC WITH TIM BUT I JUST CAME UP WITH SOMETHING MORE INTERESTING TO ME. /I don't even like Tim and still, I don't know why i post and write about him more than about Damian who's more interesting to me, or about Jason, who is my favourite, but NEVERMIND/

This is going to be bad. Tim is not good. He's not truly bad either but.. Nah.

Bad English and typos, by the way! But here's this dumb post- - - - - - - -

Okay but even after returning to the family my Tim still has very few limits. He admits to himself that he loves and needs his family and he welcomed Dick and tries to fix things with Jason (and, well, he did some pretty bad things in cold blood with Jason, but he did regret it after everything), and he follows Bruce's rules, trying to redeem himself, but.

But.

Just when things are starting to get brighter than ever - Gotham finally gets actually better and safer, Bruce becomes a human being, Alfred is no more a soldier in a war, Cass almost completely stops being a vigilante and tries to build a new life, Jason decides he should get a new identity since Shrike's darkness is no longer needed in their city and to their Batman, Damian is calmer and more relaxed than ever— Jason dies. Not gonna explain how because it's a long story and it's different from canon (bc Jay is more confident with his place in the family and Bruce is more emotionally open and he has a brother Damian who cares about him a lot and actually spends time with him) but it's still a Joker mess and he still gets beaten with our favourite crowbar and blown up and dies.

And, ah, don't get me wrong, they are all shaken by it (Bruce is Bruce, all his emotional progress being ruined, Cass is cold and uncaring and angry and feels she should fill the gap and be vigilante again even though she doesn't want to, Damian, after some time, stops talking, Alfred is distracted, distant, Dick's 'confidence in tomorrow' is under threat, he just started building relationship with others), but Tim? Tim's a desperate young man, and he clings to his family and he, not unlike the others, didn't have a lot of experience with family. And he's, ah, he still didn't learn. Dami, Cass, Jason - they didn't have much of a child hood, but Bruce gave him a little of it, just a bit, just enough to find out how to love and how to express it. But when Drake got to Bruce he still had parents and kept emotional distance because, well, Bruce was a mentor, a close teacher, a worried adult, yes, and "it's good to be with him", yes, but Tim had living parents, so no, no, no. And it's not like Damian was nice to him once he found out that Tim stole Shrike and Bruce let him do it. Then the incident with his parents happened and then, at the end, he died the same day his father died, at the hand of the same murderer.

Again, Tim's childhood before joining Batman was more or less ordinary. Yes, his parents loved him but, sadly, starting from a certain age, weren't around much. And despite having babysitters and going to school, it's just... well, you know the opinion that almost all kids by default are sadistic psychopaths a little, and what makes some of them so insufferable is that they didn't learn better yet? Well. I, for example, was a little psycho because I remember really fcking well how I couldn't comprehend very 'simple' things such as love and genuinly caring about someone closer to me, and why putting myself in danger can upset the others (because I didn't feel it). And you know what, maybe it was because my parents were working hard and i almost never saw them back then. i wasn't lonely or something, I had A LOT of people around me. I, like, knew i wouldn't really care if anyone of them died. I know, it's horrible, I'm not like that anymore, it was late but I somehow learned how to love, i worked hard on it, i woke up when I was 16 or so and it was so, so exciting to realize that I'm not mimicking feelings anymore, and that I now know from an experience what others are feeling. And i was learning and it was very interesting to actually know what are the emotional problems in my family and i started to fix them using my old knowledge and my new experience and it actually sometimes worked. Just. Wow. I felt like I'm the puppeteer! I was burnt by this few times but mostly it was all great. Sometimes I still feel it, when I'm not busy deciding if i should kill myself or shouldn't.

So, Tim is a fictional character, and he's, like, a genius, so it wouldn't be the same, but.... But.

I'm obsessed with Tim "failing successfully".

You know that thing when a grieving family often has that one person in it who's more ready than others to keep everyone going? Look. It's supposed to be Cass here, but she's 16 and still not good with words and she feels too helpless. So she does that, but... Ah, just, look.

So, like I said, Tim got attached to Jason, of course (especially because of guilt), but when he died, after the initial shock dissapeared, Tim was much more worried about others. Jason was dead, but others weren't. And their job is dangerous enough to kill them if they are not at their best.

So. Are you ready? Because it's going to be a shitshow. Not as bad as it could be, but definitely a Tim Plan™️. Not much of a plan but something like that.

How WRONG is it to use your youngest recently adopted brother to emotionally replace your deceased brother in order to keep your grieving family from imaginary collapse (because you are a sucker with the IQ of a genius but you are not able to treat the family object humanely), literally instructing this little brother about how he should behave in order to, quote, "save" the others, and trying to make him a new Robin (not a Shrike because nooo, it wouldn't work with others) in order to fill the hole left from the one who died?

you know what Dick should say to Bruce, you know when Dick should try to cheer up Cass, you know when Dick should be vulnerable with Damian, you know how Dick should spend time with Alfred, and you teach that Dick, because you're smart enough, and you understand now, and it terrifies you how everything seems to fall apart, how every member of your family is acting different and how something worse is bound to happen.

Oh, yes, about the question of who "you" are: you're a person who died once as a civilian and, after resurrection, got rid of the remnants of your flimsy morality with help of Ra's al Ghul; you are a person who worked for the League of Assassins for a couple of years by your own choice, and then, upon returning to the family and realizing that Ra's left you a 'gift' in your body, agreed to follow the Bruce's rules and redeem yourself for some of shit that you did to this family both when you were sane and when you gave in to Pit madness. And when everything just started to look good, and you even realized that you love this imperfect family, the bro you once tortured (while you were "on the bad" side) and regretted about it later, died, and now you see how bad everything is and decide with your stupid smart head that, in order to reduce suicidal tendencies of the head of the family, to return to the older brother something he could focuse to protect and care about, as well as to make your sister Cass once again be kind and gentle and caring/not angry to everyone, you need a plan for the emotional replacement of this deceased brother, who, it seems to you, was a glue, and your youngest sibling — (you should first get him out of Kent family where he was sent to spend a little time while the bats deal with shithole Gotham became again after Shrike's death and Joker's latest joke) — is the ideal option, being naive and selfless enough to do whatever you say, because it "helps our family to keep their sanity, see? Damian can talk again, Cassandra is at home more often, and Bruce finally started to come to his senses! Be patient, everything will be fine, you're doing great, it's almost done."

You're Tim Drake.

And... Two things.

This scheme worked, it helped.

Tim doesn't understand few things: you shouldn't try to 'save' family from grief. The family wouldn't fall apart without you trying to do it. Things would get better after some time. Tim is DUMB. DUMB. And Dickie doesn't exactly suffer but. It's just a lot. It's a very hard thing to do even when you are an adult. And when you're a child? Well. It's exhausting and it feels wrong to always behave around others exactly as you told to behave. And when it's suggested like a mission, and when Tim played it as the first step to be a bat like EVERYONE ELSE in this family, so you can finally help instead of just watching how everyone gets hurt in their nightlife. It's just. Wrong. Even though he's supporting Dick all the ways he can and spends a lot of time with him. It's still terribly wrong.

Guys, Tim is dumb here, sorry. He is clever. But he is dumb. I mean. He used himself like that in canon, but here he is a young adult (20-22 y? I'm not sure) and he knows much more, enough to do it much better. He would do it himself, would work hard to make each of them happier, but he thinks he's not the right person for this, considering how much shit he's done to them. He is wrong, because he definitely could do things better if he tried. But he didn't try. He just thinks that this plan with him would be 'Inefficient'. He is dumb.

AND ME TOO. I WOULD TOTALLY DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS IF I WERE IN HIS PLACE. I KNOW IT. OH MY GOD 😭😭😭 i know that maybe this whole mess doesn't make sence to some of you but i swear it does to me because I would do it. I would do it.

10 notes · View notes

applejee · 1 year

Text

I posted 17,813 times in 2022

That's 80 more posts than 2021!

151 posts created (1%)

17,662 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@celeryw

@pishposhbagosh

@blas-ph-emy

@lemontongues

@ officialspec

I tagged 3,777 of my posts in 2022

#dc - 1,160 posts

#batfam - 683 posts

#just us - 204 posts

#csm - 180 posts

#sandman - 178 posts

#q - 143 posts

#batman - 132 posts

#timkon - 104 posts

#cute - 103 posts

#goncharov - 94 posts

Longest Tag: 118 characters

#burning the receipt so you can keep the kid you were handed for a weekend who is painfully cute and a cool little dude

My Top Posts in 2022:

who’s ready for

See the full post

68 notes - Posted December 6, 2022

Hi! Any recs for timkon, or kon centric fics? It only tends to be in the background/implied in batfam centric fics that i read, but i keep seeing you post about timkon and 🥺🥰 I’m catching feelings about it

i’ll be real... im glad u asked bc i read So much timkon ♥ sorting by kudos for timkon is hard bc yeah... its so often background..... kon deserves better!!!!!! so here are some stories u should definitely read, by some lovely authors whose works i am absolutely normal about:

- everything by @batfam-chaos especially this one. kon is injured and tim panics my beloved... their stuff is *chefs kiss*

- everything by @lemontongues especially this one! slowburn in kansas.... their 2021 whumptober is very kon-centric as well!

- everything by @mindshelter, this one in particular makes me CRAAAZY

- composed of us by @starlikeknight which so far is tim centric BUT itll be eventual timkon and its already amazing so you know the timkon will be too

here are some others i like, found in my bookmarks:

- Gonna Be A Better One (A Thousand Miles To Your Door) by Traincat

- Leap, Fall, Fly by malcyon

- A Night In by Musafir

- Three Little Words by timkons

- please don't live in fear by murmurare

- time flies by by Laroyena

- shenanigans’ timkon my beloved

sadly, i read less kon-centric fic simply cause i am so obsessed with tim my little guy, my poor little meow meow, but again there is good stuff out there. u may have to search excluding timkon on ao3. REGARDLESS,

this is everything i can find off the top of my head, really. trust me theres so much more out there i adore (like the pretending to be a gold digger wip, or the catfishing fic, or the hannah montana-style identity shenanigans fic, or this one astolat fic, or the one where dick picks up kon as a cop and tim on the phone asks if he’s cute, or any of the countless other stories out there) so definitely go and have a search!! yeehaw!!!!! hope that helps!

96 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

omg omg i just BLEW through your dc fics (showstopping. incredible. magnificent) and AH TIM and was wondering do you have any Tim-centric fic recs? with that GOOD angst? no pressure or anything, thanks for all your hard work 💕💕💕💕💕

omg anon 😳😳😳😳 thank you im so glad to hear it <3

also FYCK YES IM HERE TO GIVE OUT ANGSTY TIM FICS. first and foremost u should probably jsut go thru my entire bookmark tag with tim drake but i will pick and choose the best for u here, i hopeu enjoy.

also fair warning all these may include, to some degree, violence, torture, child abuse, implied or referenced non con, etc, due to the fact these are very angsty and filled with hurt and comfort and lots of whump, so pls read the tags!

A Meditation on Railroading by eggmacguffin

this one is the best. i love it. @eggmacguffin blew it out of the PARK with this once ive reread it an absurd amount of times. tim's dad leaves him in atlanta so he makes his own way home, runs into jason, and shit happens. also, read ALL their other tim fic ok. u wont regret.

buried birds by envysparkler

have i told you to read everything by envysparkler? read everything by envysparkler. her shit is the BEST. buried birds is one of my faves, as tim is buried alive in a coffin and jason rescues him. luv it

Grilled Cheese by crumpetz

hooooooo 8k of pure tear inducing deliciousness. i reread this constantly for the catharsis. makes me cry everytime. cw for graphic injury

Echoes of You by SilverSkiesAtMidnight

wherein tim dies, is resurrected, and jason is the one to find him fresh out the grave. trauma times two electric boogaloo! check out their current wip and recent works as well!

best laid plans by Valkirin

ra's steals tim away at the same time as jason, freshly unearthed from his grave. Shit Happens. LOVE valkirin’s stuff

The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks

essential reading. what happens after batman's brought back out of time. read all their other tim fic if u havent yet

It's Not That Funny by Ionaperidot

tim becomes joker junior! uh oh! tim's brain is scrambled by the joker and ra's and he and jason maybe become serial killers and highly codependant but they slowly heal and rejoin the family. so good. cw for graphc violence and so much more, check the tags

On the Way Home by ignesfatuis

little wolf shifter tim is kidnapped, then rescued, and stays with the waynes to heal while he cant shift back. chicken soup for the soul

Fussing Over Scars by maychorian

platonic soulmate au! i cried. check out all of maychorians stuff for more tim angst!!

Dangerous and Noble Things by destiny919

tim is kidnapped by ra’s, and four years later the bats rescue him, and whaddaya know! he comes with a sister <3 love it. they have a bunch of other tim fic too!

more behind the cut!!

now theres a ghost in the back of this room by CosmoKid

tim helps an abused kid and comes to some Revelations of his own

whumptober 2021 by CosmoKid

just read all of it. chefs kiss. cosmokid has a lot of angsty tim fics and u should read them all

Bristol Kids by Anonymous

See the full post

109 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

reminded seeing the collection of the batfam fic survey i voted in (which is fun and exciting, ill be checking some of those out later!!!!!) of some of the batshit collections people have requested my works be added to.

straight up some of you need to just use the bookmark function because it is beyond offensive to have your fic added to a collection titled “dumb bullshit to satiate my escapism”. like, really? obviously i rejected that one, and ive rejected a few others just because. that’s not what collections are for.

do people forget collections are public? do people forget that you see a list of collections a work is in directly under the tags? i’m honoured to accept my works into collections titled “fics i love”; “fics i’ll reread until the end of time”; “fics with good stephanie characterisation”—these are compliments, and things like “robin vs red hood” collect specific tropes and AUs together that ao3 may not have the tags for yet. they serve a function

i dunno, i think collection use has got a bit out of hand. im complaining on main because this keeps happening and at one extreme it’s offensive (dumb bullshit??) and at the other extreme there already exists a function for tracking it (“fics i have read”?)

respectfully, i think some people may benefit from bookmarks and bookmark tags. for one, you can tag nigh limitlessly, and search them on your bookmarks page using both the tags and the notes. also, most importantly, you can make them private. want to leave a note for yourself as to why you didn’t fully enjoy a fic? remind yourself of something that triggered you? want to simply keep track of a fic you didn’t enjoy as much as others? private bookmark, and the author never has to know.

this is a little bit of a rant but when i have rejected my works being added to collections multiple times it adds up, lol.

202 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

since i cannot find the masterpost i initially used to obtain all these extensions initially, here’s a list of privacy extensions i use in conjunction with firefox! i’ve included a link to each of them which is very easy if you use firefox. pls use firefox. brave is also good for privacy. there are others out there so do your research, and again, please for the love of god, switch from chrome if you can xx

–

Bypass Paywalls Clean - bypasses paywalls. v helpful. this one isn’t verified by firefox however

Decentraleyes - this helps to prevent websites from tracking you and blocks requests

Don’t track me google - stops google from lengthening urls theycan track you with. godsend

DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials - blocks tracking, enables https where possible, overall a good and helpful extension

Facebook Container - isolates facebook in its own container so its much harder for them to track you. always a bonus

HTTPS Everywhere - does what it says!

Privacy Badger - blocks trackers, similar to some of the others listed. can never have too many

Shinigami eyes - if you dont have this enabled wyd? marks trans friendly accounts as green and transphobic ones as red, or other colours based on your preference. makes blocking very quick and easy! not verified by firefox, but just as essential as the rest

uBlock Origin - basically an ad blocker, the best of the bunch; also prevents a lot of tracking and coin miners too

–

if you have any privacy extensions you use or find useful, feel free to reblog with your own suggestions!

248 notes - Posted January 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #mostly reblogged from mutuals hiiii ❤️

7 notes · View notes

ao3feed-brucewayne · 2 years

Text

The Funny Tricks of Time

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2AKfzix

by disaster_friend

“Are you the only person who lives here?” “Alfred does too-” “Why is your house so big if it’s only for two people?” “Well now it’s for three.” “Hmm, I guess that makes sense. Do you have a nickname?” “Do I what?” “A nickname, do you have one? I have one now and I love it, do you want one?” “Do you want to give me one?” “Yes.” “Then sure,” Bruce was curious to see what this child came up with. “Hm, Bruce is too short to shorten, but I won’t call you Brucie, that’s just weird. I think I’ll call you… B.”

Or: A series of vignettes about Dick and Bruce's relationship as they change and help each other grieve, heal, and grow.

Words: 2403, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death

Categories: Gen

Characters: Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Duke Thomas, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown

Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson

Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, At Least He's Trying To Be, Canon Temporary Character Death, Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson-centric, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Swearing, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, there isn't really a plot, The Author Regrets Nothing

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2AKfzix

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

4 notes · View notes

theworldwalkerswols · 2 years

Photo

Get to know Zane Drake!

1. Zane is slow to anger. When he's angry he has tells, but they're small. He grew up in a large (adoptive) family, so he's developed healthy outlets for most of his emotions. He is seldom furious, but if he gets there he is the type to shake with it, perhaps even cry.

2. "I...want to believe in soulmates, yes!" His childhood sweetheart, and once he was an adult the only person he thought he could ever marry, married someone else. They remain friends, but he hasn't fully shaken his feelings of regret, or wondering how it could have been.

3. People who constantly chew with their mouths open really grind his gears. He's pretty patient about most other things though (again, see: grew up in a huge family).

4. Zane's adopted mother is a member of the Botanist's guild in Gridania, so his mental happy place is a lush and beautiful garden, where things bloom regardless of their season. Peaceful, pastoral, alive.

5. Zane has always been and always will be a sunshiney lad. But being a child, with his closest siblings and their friends, running wild and free in the Twelveswood - that will always be a bright point in his memory.

6. As Zane came into adolescence and early adulthood he began to recognize the racism that runs rampant in Gridania, in the Shroud at large: feeling abruptly out of place in his own home, in his own family as he's the only Duskwight, was extremely hard.

7. Zane is generous and easygoing by nature, he would happily buy a possible new friend a drink! And if someone beat him to their purse, he'd happily accept! (He's extremely demi so drinks on his end would be Platonic almost certainly)

8. Zane has almost certainly broken a bone and it would have been while working in the fields with the Botanist's guild/his family. He probably broke something falling wrong off an orchard ladder.

9. "....no. My memories make me who I am. The bad with the good." Though sometimes he does with that his childhood sweetheart hadn't laughed when he kissed her on the cheek... He doesn't blame her for this, but it still stung at the time.

10. "Sitting around the fire, all of us, after a long day. The wind of a storm in the flue. Telling stories and listening and laughing. Mother singing."

11. Zane does't have a type! He's demisexual and biromantic (like me jdlfksjdfl) and it takes him knowing a person for some time for him to fall for them. But when he does fall for someone, it's like a switch being flipped, a moment of epiphany.

12. Zane's favorite possession is a necklace. In WoL!verse it was around his neck when his adoptive family found him, abandoned in the Twelveswood. He likes to think it was his birth mother's.

13. Zane does not currently have any tattoos. He would consider getting one if something significant enough happened, or if he formed a significant enough association with an image.

14. Zane does not have any piercings. I think it would take him becoming very interested in jewelry for him to brave being pierced - he doesn't like the idea of a needle that large - and he doesn't see himself as someone who'd look good with it.

15. Zane's dream house is somewhere quiet, surrounded by nature, where he can keep animals and tend the earth in peace. Ideally close enough to its local community that he can easily be a part of that community, but still set apart somewhat. A retreat.

16. Zane can Really hold his liquor.

17. Zane is really good at choosing gifts for people! He's attentive, remembers what folks like, and has had lots of practice from coming up in a big family. And, if nothing else, how earnest he is about it helps. :,D

18. Zane is proud of his ability to mend things - from clothes to tools. It's not always perfect, but it'll hold for a bit longer!

19. Someone who just met Zane for the first time would probably describe him as cheerful, friendly, and/or pleasant.

20. Longtime friends would describe Zane as good, caring, kind, the sort of person who looks for the good in things and in people, trusting, sweet. But they also might say he’s naïve, idealistic, a touch unrealistic.

21. Zane can be insecure about his lack of worldly experience: he grew up sheltered in his community and there’s a great deal about the world he simply doesn’t know. He worries sometimes about seeming like a backwards country bumpkin, or playing into the stereotype of one.

22. Zane’s highest stats are stamina and charisma! Strength would be a close second, both from having grown up doing physical labor, and charisma because he’s emotionally intelligent and socially sensitive.

23. Zane’s initial reaction to learning he was deceived by someone close is dismay and hurt: why didn’t they trust him with the truth? He is more understanding of it if they talk it out and the other person felt they only had one course of action available to them, but that doesn’t remove the hurt. He would tell them that they can trust him in the future and leave it at that. He knows what it’s like to have to lie to protect another person.

24. “I like seasons!” Zane can handle most temperatures, it’s the variety, the change of the seasons that he loves.

25. With platonic and familial love, it is easy as breathing for Zane to say “I love you!” With romantic love, because it happens so rarely - arguably he’s never been in romantic love, not yet - he’ll fluster, get nervous, but ultimately say it before the moment passes him by

26. How easily Zane talks about his worries depends entirely on who he’s talking to. If they’re close, it’s a little easier, but he does tend to get caught up on the idea of burdening his loved ones needlessly. Once they give him a dose of his own “you can talk to me about anything” medicine he opens up.

27. Before MSQ? No. During? :,) Being a killer, of anything, even in self-defense, sits ill with Zane.

28. Zane is ticklish! But since he grew up with younger siblings he is also a champion at turning the tables and tickling back~

29. Zane’s pain tolerance is middling. He’s no stranger to hard work or injury, but wounds...that’s different.

30. Zane secretly wishes he could learn about his birth parents. He wants to know who they were, why they abandoned him, whether they’re alive, where they were from and where they went...all of it.

31. Zane tries to be a neat eater, but his table manners do, in fact, betray a certain lack of etiquette. He also probably eats too fast.

32. Zane is very lucky (and he knows it!) in that he pretty much always feels loved by /someone/, especially since in WoL!verse he has an adoptive family to go home to. Being rejected by his first love was pretty hard on him though.

33. When Zane inevitably had the “you’re not my real family, are you?” conversation as a kid, his adoptive folks essentially telling him that while they aren’t blood they ARE family and always would be was pivotal for him. He still feels so loved because of that.

34. I think Zane would hate to lose his vision the most: he wouldn’t be able to see the changing of the seasons, see the plants he loves to tend.

35. Zane is a champion of small talk, and of socializing in general.

36. If there was someone he knew could tell him the truth of his birth family, he would ask. He’d be scared to, but he’s always wanted to know.

37. “Why should I want to go to the past or the future when there’s so much of the present to see?”

38. In a universe in which he meets his brother, Kyler has the most impact on his life, full stop. Otherwise, greatest positive impact would be Fufucha, guildmaster of the Botanist’s guild (and honorary auntie of his family). Greatest negative thus far...would have to be whoever made him realize how racist Gridania/the world is :(

39. Zane is extremely social and loves community, so he would love to live in a close, friendly village where people know and care about each other.

40. If a situation places anyone he cares for in danger in general, but especially if he thinks that situation will take that person from him...that immediately instills fear in him.

AND THAT’S THE LAD!! Thank you for reading and if you have further questions for Zane please feel free to ask!! <3

#OC questions #WoL!Zane Drake #Canon!Zane Drake #FFXIV screenies

0 notes

faintblueivy · 4 years

Text

So Imagine...

A world where Bruce Wayne died as a child in that alley that day, Martha and Thomas Wayne grieve as normal parents. They DO NOT BECOME BATMAN AND JOKER.

Nothing ever remains the same after losing their little boy. So, Thomas buries himself in his work and Martha drowns herself in depression and pain. They do therapy and it works a little and life becomes bearable but...not happy.

One day, Alfred badgers the couple to go out and relax a little and buys them tickets for a circus - Haly’s circus. Everything was going nice and dandy and Martha was in awe of this little acrobat as much as the rest of the crowd when suddenly the rope snaps and the boy’s parents fall to their deaths - right in front of him and the gathering. Thomas is quick to jump in to see if he could help them in any way but Martha can see it in his eyes that they are as dead as they can be.

They return to home with heavy hearts and Martha can’t get the image of the little boy out of her head. His skin was a light shade of bronze but his dark hair and bright cerulean blue eyes reminded her so much of Bruce that her heart wouldn’t rest. So a few days later she uses her connections to know if the child is safe and well cared for, when to her immense horror, she is replied that he was shipped to Gotham Juvie due to the lack of foster homes. She is enraged.

She calls Thomas and Alfred and lets them know about the little acrobat’s situation and declares that she was going to adopt him. They hesitate a little but she is not to be deterred as she goes ahead and brings the little boy home.

Richard John Grayson - Wayne. Or Dick, as he likes to call himself.

He is adamant that he wants no parents and Martha is fine because not only that she is old enough to be not his mother but also because no child can ever be her Bruce.

“You can just call me Grandma then.” She tells him.

His eyes are wide but he nods and then smiles and Martha, in a long while, has never felt this happy.

Her new Grandson, despite losing his parents, is a ray of sunshine with unlimited supply of energy and the cold and empty manor is warm and happy again.

Dick is a little charmer and even after Thomas and Alfred’s initial reluctance, they immediately fall in love with the boy and one day, when Martha comes down to the morning breakfast, she hears a happy, deep rumble - one she has not heard in many years. Thomas is laughing.

There on the dining table, seated beside Dick, was Thomas laughing. Her eyes water at the scene and Alfred, who is standing beside her offers her a handkerchief. None of them mention how his own eyes are wet too.

...

Dick is sixteen, a brilliant boy in academics as much as they disinterest him but an invincible athlete. Martha has been told time and time again that her grandson is undoubtedly a international level gymnast. But he is a teenager.

And teenagers steal their grandparent’s ‘coolest’ car and rush off into the night. But they don’t come back with a little battered and bruised, homeless kid tucked under their arm.

“He had jacked three tires off your car. When I confronted him, he tried to hit me with a tire iron.” He says, amused, as Thomas tries to convince the child to show him his injuries.

“I didn’t do nothin’! He’s a fuckin’ big boob liar!” They boy screams, his blue green eyes glaring daggers at Dick.

“Language.” Both her and Alfred warn simultaneously.

After hours of struggle, interrogation and fuck you’s, Martha learns that the child’s name is Jason. He is twelve. Mother died form drug overdosing and Dad is a petty henchman of some crime lord. He ran away from multiple foster homes because they are so abusive that the child feels safer on streets.

Martha goes on a rampage over Gotham’s foster care after that. She did not donate millions of dollars annually for children to feel safer on streets. After of lot of talks and reassurances and promises, Martha acquires her second grandchild.

Jason Peter Todd - Wayne.

Jason is tiny. Malnourished like Leslie said. But he is sharp, observant and hungry for knowledge. Martha and Alfred joke that Jason is Thomas' soul child. Where Dick had loved activity and movement, Jason liked quiet and stability - Martha thinks that running and fighting for survival on streets every single day does that you. So evenings often found her and Dick in the garden but Thomas and Jason in the library pouring over as many books as they can.

And to nobody's surprise, despite their rocky start, the boys become inseparable. They are outwardly different, with clashing interests and behaviors but Martha can see that they both carry the same cores of light.

When the morning of Dick’s Parent’s death anniversary comes around, both her and Thomas find Jason on Dick’s bed, arms curled protectively around his big brother. For the first time in so many years, Dick wakes up to warmth surrounding him, not nightmares.

...

Both her grandsons attend Gotham Academy so when she receives a phone call from the Principal, she is half surprised and half not. When she enters the Principal’s office, both her boys are standing on one side, Jason with his head hung in shame and Dick glaring daggers at the other side. The boy who seems to be injured is being coddled by his mother who is shooting nasty glares at her grandchildren periodically.

Then she notices another small boy standing beside her boys, trying to melt into the wall.

Tim Drake. The only son of Jack and Janet Drake of Drake Industries.

She arches a questioning eyebrow at Dick who shakes his head and then she turns to the Principal.

“What happened here?”

“Glad to see you’re here Mrs. Wayne.” The Principal says, pushing his glasses up his nose, “I regret to inform you that your ward Jason Peter Todd attacked this young man here.” He gestures to the other boy.

“Madam, Gotham Academy is a prestigious school and we do not encourage physical violence here. Yes, it might have been acceptable from where he came from but it won’t be, here. I hope you give us the right to punish Mr. Todd here appropriately.”

Martha inwardly bristles at the jab at her grandson and says crisply, “Mr. Wayne.”

“What?”

“He’s not just Todd. He is a Wayne. Please remember that.”

“Principal Sir.” Dick cuts in and Martha is confused because as hyperactive as Dick is, he is a mannerly child and knows better than to cut in a conversation like this but what draws her attention is the chilling tone which Dick almost never uses. Dick continues, “Why don’t you tell our grandmother more of your regrets? Or the prestigious Gotham Academy believes that bullying is acceptable.”

Martha has been told what she needs to know.

“Jason?” she calls out to her youngest grandson softly, “What happened?”

Jason is quiet when suddenly Tim Drake moves forward. She can see he is scared the way his hands shake but determination shines in his blue eyes. She likes him.

“I want to say something.”

He narrates the tale of how he was being bullied and how the boy on the other side with his mother threw his science project model away and broke it and physically tried to attack him when Jason stepped in to save him. Martha felt nothing but pride at Jason’s righteous indignation.

Tim also explained that Jason exercised immense control even after these bullies called him ‘street rat’, but the verbal spar intensified after Dick was insulted for his Romani heritage, but it came to fist fight after Thomas and Martha were insulted, and Bruce’s death was made fun of.

Her gaze snaps to the other three occupants of the room and they are all in various shades of pale. Apparently, the Principal had not done his homework.

“Principal” She says icily, “Yes, I give you the authority to punish Jason appropriately but only when this young man here”, she gestures to the boy who was now cowering behind his mother, “Is dealt with in the same way.”

After threatening the Principal in soft words but harsh tone about not tolerating to having her grandsons bullied the next time, she grabs Jason’s hand to drag him away from these people who don’t deserve his company, when her eyes fall on the little trembling Tim.

She offers him her hand.

He stares at it, shocked but after an encouraging smile from Dick and a small shove from Jason, he takes it shyly.

And since that day, Tim becomes a member of Martha’s family. The boys stay together so much that even Thomas forgets that Tim is not theirs.

Tim’s upbringing sends Martha’s grandmother instincts on a haywire and she resents the Drakes for their criminal neglect towards Tim.

It is rewarding that Tim flourishes in their attention.

She learns that his hobby is Photography and he is excellent at it. And he is a genius when it comes to science, computers and gadgets. He likes crime thrillers movies and books and often picks them apart with his scarily good knowledge about forensics that leave the rest of the family in awe and slightly disturbed.

The dam breaks when one day Jason and Dick return back from school telling her that Tim was absent today and they are worried about him. When they later sneak into the Drake mansion in the evening, Thomas receives a frantic call from their oldest grandchild that Tim was burning with fever. Because Thomas is a doctor, they save Tim before anything serious happens.

This time, it is Thomas who sues the Drakes for Tim’s custody after him and Jason had, had enough of ‘Timbo’s shitty parents’.

“Timothy?” Martha brushes his sweat soaked forehead gently. “Would you like to be a member of our family legally?"

Tim is hesitant about this but he admits that he likes Wayne manor much better than he ever liked Drake mansion. He confesses that he loves Jason and Dick as brothers and sees Martha, Thomas and Alfred as his grandparents as well.

The long custody battle ends with both Jack and Janet Drake dying at the hands of two different tragedies, leaving Tim an orphan, but also with a loving family consisting of three grandparents and two brothers by his side.

Timothy Jackson Drake - Wayne is adopted into the Wayne family as her and Thomas’ third grandson.

...

A year after they adopt Tim, Thomas comes home with a small girl on his side. She is clearly an east Asian in heritage with dark hair and dark eyes and is speech deprived. Thomas is clearly distressed after Cassandra - her name is Cassandra - is safely secured in warm bed in a nice room across Jason’s. He calls her, the three boys and Alfred to his study to explain about the small girl.

He talks about how Gordon brought the girl to him and after hours of wordless, signed and clumsily sketched on paper conversations with the little girl they were able to determine that Cassandra was hiding from her father who was an assassin and wanted to drag the little girl down the same path before she ran away. The more he talks about the damage and abuse the girl had experienced at the hands on her own father, the more furious Martha becomes. When Thomas’ explanations ends, Jason slams a punch into the wall making a dent but no one has the heart to reprimand him for that.

The following morning, Martha can see that her three boys have unanimously decided that they are adopting Cassandra as their sister. She is treated like a Princess, and given the nick name ‘Cass’.

Slowly but surely, Cass learns what it means to love through Dick’s bright kindness, Jason’s quiet protection and Tim’s infinite patience. After her father is finally apprehended, the family celebrates.

Cassandra Wayne, soon after, becomes the beloved Wayne Princess of Gotham.

Martha and Thomas often accompany their only granddaughter to her speech therapy lessons, so after six months of her adoption, at dinner, she places a kiss on everyone’s forehead - her three brothers and three grandparents, stands at the head of the table and croaks out, slowly, “Thank...thank you.” All of them stare at her flabbergasted, but it appears that she was planning to shock them even more.

“You...Love. Love you...”

The silence that follows her broken but sure words is deafening. Surprisingly it is Tim who breaks it as he scrambles out of his chair and launches himself at Cass, wrapping his arms around her and both Jason and Dick follow him, grabbing both their youngest siblings fiercely.

A quiet sob breaks her out of the trance and she smiles when she watches Thomas furiously wiping his tears from the sleeve of his shirt. The last time he had cried was at Bruce’s funeral. And Martha is infinitely grateful that this time these are happy tears.

...

Sometimes Martha wonders what would have happened if Bruce had lived. If these children are her grandchildren then does that mean they are Bruce’s kids? Had Bruce lived, would he have accepted these gaggle of kids that her and Thomas have collected over the years as his own? Would he have kids of his own?

Her questions are answered when one day she hears a slight commotion in the entrance is surprised to see a young woman with a sword threatening Alfred.

“I want to meet the Master of this house. Let them know immediately.” She demands in an authoritative but silky voice, and Martha suddenly sees the Toddler clutched in her arm.

“What is it?” Martha speaks as soon as she can when the woman notices her. She looks surprised for a second but immediately schools her features as the baby fusses.

“You’re alive.” She whispers and before any of them could make an indignant comment about her wordings, she says, “It appears that I might have traveled in to the wrong universe.”

Now that is interesting. Martha lives in a world where they are protected by aliens...so, it is certainly worth hearing for.

Martha offers the young lady an invitation for tea which she accepts. She notices how the woman carries herself with lethal grace and dignity as if she was a Princess but much more. As they sit and Alfred leaves to bring the promised team Martha notices how the woman’s eyes sweep over the place.

“How may I help you?”

Her voice attracts the attention of the toddler and this time, he is not clutched tightly enough to his mother’s chest to turn his small head and look at her. Martha gasps. Because the child looks too much like Toddler Bruce. But instead of the blue eyes like her son, this child has glowing green ones, like his mother. But still, the resemblance is uncanny.

“Yes, he is your son’s.” The woman answers the unasked question.

She is explained the existence of Multiverse, and it’s workings and how Bruce survived instead of them in that world, met Talia (the woman’s name is Talia Al Ghul) and had a child but had to leave. Talia mentions the reason she came here was because her son’s life was in danger and Talia’s father wanted to raise her son as an assassin Prince and a tool for him to use. Talia’s solution to protect her son was for her to give her son to the Bruce of this world to raise, since the Bruce of that world had gone missing.

“I can raise him.” Martha suddenly declares and the woman looks at him shocked. “I will not raise him into a life of violence but I can certainly protect him and give him a happy civilian life.”

Talia looks unsure, hesitant, but says, “I...have been a warrior since the day I can remember. Never once have I ever thought of my son not being a warrior. He was...born to be one.”

Martha smiles. “He doesn’t have to be one. Yes, his life will be infinitely different than the one you imagined but...he will be well loved and protected. I can assure you of that.”

“Damian.” Talia whispers as he deposits the baby in her arms after a lot of consideration. “His name is Damian.”

She looks at her son tenderly one last time and places a kiss on his forehead and Martha’s heart breaks a little for the young mother.

“Will you return back for him?” Martha asks as she follows the Talia to the door.

“No.” Talia whispers, her voice strained. “I will not. Any action taken by me is monitored by my father closely. If I return back, then he might know that I have left Damian here and I cannot let that happen. He is yours, forever.”

Martha gives her a sad smile. “You’re a brave and good mother Talia. Thank you for doing what is best for your son.”

She nods, not turning to look at Damian one last time as she leaves the manor grounds, never to return.

Martha looks at the baby secure in her arms and her lips quirk up into a grin at the sight of two curious green eyes watching her with interest.

“Welcome to the family, little Damian.”

When she introduces the new addition to the family, Thomas is dumbfounded. Dick is ecstatic at the prospect of having a new baby brother, Jason is secretly pleased, Cass is happiest and Tim looks unsure.

That’s how Damian Wayne - Al Ghul joins the family.

Damian fits in their home spectacularly. After few days of hesitation, like he had with Dick, Thomas takes to Damian quickly. He has an epic competition going on with their eldest grandson to become the baby’s favorite. Damian refuses to sleep without Thomas but his tantrums are only controlled and won over by Dick. Damian loves Jason manhandling him and giggles happily when the older boy throws him in the air or swings him around. Damian loves Cassandra because she knows what he wants before any of them do. And Cass loves to carry her little brother around to watch birds and animals in the manor grounds.

The only person Damian seems to not get along with is Tim and the older boy seems not be fond of him either. Because Damian wants everything Tim does and the older brother has to compromise for Damian every time. But Martha has to bite laughs a lot now a days because almost everytime Damian falls asleep, it is with Tim in vicinity. And she has caught the older boy tenderly covering Damian in his favorite blanket more often than not. Martha thinks that this is kind of cute but keeps her opinion to herself.

Her little grandson is quite protective of his siblings though. Anytime someone upsets any of his siblings, they are threatened with scowls, growls and even bites and stabbings in extreme cases.

Like last time when Mrs. Park made fun of Cassandra’s speech impairment, Damian almost bit her finger off. Damian hates one of Dick’s racist colleague (they all do) so much that anytime the man enters his field of vision, the first thing Damian gets his hand on is thrown at the guy’s head. With deadly precision. And last time when Mr. Link had called Jason ‘street rat’ for personally volunteering charity work for poor and homeless, Damian had smeared his juice and drool covered hands on the Man’s thousand dollars suit. And when one time, a reporter had infiltrated a Gala and chased Tim around to ask uncomfortable questions about his parent’s death and the Wayne’s involvement in it, Damian, noticing Tim’s distress had stabbed the reporter with a fork with no hesitation.

Martha is still not sure if she should encourage or reprimand Damian for that.

...

As she sits on the head of the table with Thomas on her side and Alfred on the other end, she wonders how miraculous it is for her to have all these children in her life.

Dick is engaged in an animated conversation with Stephanie who was introduced to the family as Tim’s girlfriend. Barbara, the daughter of James Gordon and Dick’s girlfirend/or not was helping Cass pile up food on her plate. Damian and Tim were bickering over something as usual but Jason trying to hide his snickers in guise of drinking water which made Martha sure that the something was Jason’s doing.

These people were her family. The ones she had gained after losing Bruce. She wonders, if there was a universe where Bruce got to meet her grandchildren.

Would he accept them? As family?

Would he love them? As family?

She brightly smiles when the multiple sets of eyes turn to her waiting for her to blow the candle.

“Happy Birthday Martha.”

Thomas says warmly, his voice thick with emotion and she meets his gaze and sees the love, affection and thankfulness in his eyes for this family that they had created after their earth shattering loss. She knows what she wants as she blows the candle on the cake flickering in front of her.

I wish for us to be family in every universe.

15K notes · View notes

robinofgothamcity · 3 years

Text

♡ prompt: "no one is going to hurt you. i'll make sure of that."

♡ pairing: dick grayson ( nightwing ) x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / my schedule is going to become more sporadic starting next week :/ officially starting my last year of college and although my schedule isn't too hectic, i am going to be doing a lot of work with my sorority this semester so i apologize in advance but here's a dick grayson blurb !

you typed away on your computer, trying to finish up investigative work for Superman as he had finished busting a drug trafficking ring in a dingy part of Metropolis. you were also done with he file as Tim Drake worked next to you, offering pieces of advice here and there. Batman had gone on the trip as well and you figured it was easier to find answers with Tim helping you out.

you had quit active patrolling years ago. you had an accident that left you injured for months at a time and had an epiphany that if you didn't stop then, you'd eventually get yourself injured. this was at the time that you were working with Dick Grayson and his titans and after your incident, you ceased contact with him alone.

you leaving the titans struck in heart that ended with you two arguing so loudly that you were sure that all of Gotham heard you. things that you both lived to regret ended up being said and you hadn't talked to him since. you still offered to help Bruce with his work but you explicitly told him to never have you working with Dick again.

Dick felt the same way.

he hated the way the two of you ended. he genuinely felt disgusted at the things he said to you and truthfully, never lived to forgive himself. the pain in your eyes were evident and as he went to apologize that night, the look of pure hatred flashed before your eyes as you dropped your defense weapon and practically spat to him that you'd never return to hero work, especially if it was to work under him.

you closed your laptop and looked over at the time, "it's still pretty early, you down to catch dinner?" you asked Tim. he shook his head no, yawning, "catching up with Bernard in a few minutes. you heading to that dinner with Zatanna and Donna?" he asked. you nodded excitedly, "yeah, Donna got a few reservations at that new bar downtown and she's going to kill me if I'm even more late than I already am," you responded, getting up and packing a few things into your bag.

you had packed your things for the night out in the same bag and told Tim you were gong to change before heading you. what you didn't know was that Donna had invited Dick to the same outting, not realizing that the two of you still had that mutual bond of hatred.

"Dick, I'm sorry that you feel angry that I'm leaving but I can't go out there and risk my life anymore!" you yelled as Dick laughed, anger still evident in his laugh, "so you're just going to leave me? the team?" he responded, his domino mask falling off of his face and onto the ground.

you nodded yes, not bothering to speak as his tone of voice was shocking to hear. it sounded as if he instantly flipped a switch and seethed out hatred for you, "typical, who doesn't leave me," your eyes widened, not believing what you just heard. you walked up to him, pointing your finger at his chest, "listen Grayson, your past is your past and I have told you several times that what happened to you as a child is heartbreaking and no kid should ever go through that but what you will not do is blame me for something like valuing my own life."

he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"right. leave the team and what? we lost our second leader. should have went with giving someone else the position."

you stepped back, looking at Dick, no longer angry but upset. "if that's how you really feel, maybe it was a good thing the people in your life left you." the tension in the room could be heard a mile away. you knew you had crossed a line by mentioning his dead parents but at this point, it was like a game of tug-o-war to see who could say the most disrespectful things first.

you put your cape on the mantel in the kitchen before looking at Dick once more before leaving. you choked back tears, not wanting Dick to hear you sobbing in the hallway as you picked up your bag.

you met Zatanna and Donna at your apartment as Donna offered to make herself DD for the night. you hadn't had a night out in what felt like months and you were more than ecstatic to be getting plastered tonight with wanting to not have any recollection of what you did tonight in the morning.

the drive to the restaurant was filled with chatter of what all of you were doing in your personal lives. you had a job working with the Daily Planet and worked strictly under Clark. it was pretty easy to work with Clark considering you were also one of his allies in the JL. sometimes the two of you even managed to get JL work done while working your regular nine to five.

the restaurant came in full view as there was a line out of the door for people trying to get reservations. Donna flashed all of your tickets as the hostess nodded, grabbing a few things and leading the two of you to the table. you stopped mid aisle as your eyes dawned on Dick, who looked just as surprised as you did.

"you fucking assholes," you spoke, immediately turning around to leave. steam from anger could be seen coming out of your ears as Donna and Wally stared at the two of you, "you can't be serious," Wally said to Dick as Donna looked back at you, "the two of you are still angry at each other?"

Zatanna sat back in confusion. she knew the two of you hardly spoke to each other but didn't know as to why although she knew it was best to just not speak up and ask why. you stared at Dick, who was trying to avoid your line of vision. Donna sighed, "can we be civil for once? this is the first time the original three are together and you're going to ruin it by arguing," she exclaimed.

"Garth is actually missing," you replied as Donna rolled her eyes even harder, "be civil," she threatened as you growled and sat down. you sat in the seat farthest from Dick as you struck up a conversation with Wally. you hadn't seen him in what felt like years and that was partially because you tried not to associate yourself with the people that were closest to Dick. Wally was one of them.

throughout the night, you managed to remain on civil terms for Donna's sake. every now and again, you could sense Dick looking at you. you tried to pay no mind to him but it was hard. the two of you had so much history together and even shared your 'firsts' with him. it was hard to see the love of your life for the first time in years and you knew if that you got as drunk as you planned on being, you had no idea how you'd hold yourself back.

"I'll buy first round I guess," you told the table before heading to the bar. as soon as you were out of ear shot, everyone looked to Dick, "you're still in love with her, oh my god," Donna whispered as Wally chuckled, "I fucking told you and you refused to listen," Wally added on. Zatanna nodded, "it's written all over your face," she continued.

Dick sighed, not knowing how to respond. he knew that he was still in love with you. there was a reason why he never got into a serious relationship with someone and only ever had casual hookups. "you saw the way she acted when she saw me. it's like she saw a ghost," he murmured as you walked back to the table with glasses filled with tequila for everyone except Donna.

you passed them to everyone, reluctantly handing one to Dick. Donna held up her water and put it in the middle, "to a great night," she yelled as all of you drank down the tequila. your face cringed at the taste of the tequila but whose face didn't?

through the rest of the night, you got yourself to relax a bit more. the anger towards Dick was washed away as you got progressively more drunk. you hadn't even realized that you were getting as drunk as you were until you got up from the table and tried to drag Donna onto the dance floor.

Donna being the only sober one of the group denied causing you too pout. you shrugged, realizing that no one was willing to dance with you and you figured you might as well go and dance on your own. you tended to be a happy drunk so dancing by yourself was not foreign to others.

"mind if I dance with you?" you heard a voice say behind you. you didn't recognize the face but you figured he was hot enough to dance with you.

Dick stared as you continued to dance with the stranger. his eye twitched in anger as he tried to hold himself back. it felt like he was a teenager all over again and watching you flirt with people you knew from school or going on dates with people you had met in college. "what're you thinking about?" Wally asked, questioning Dick's angered face.

Dick didn't respond; however, he did get up and tap the man on the back, "thanks, I'll be taking it from here," he told the man as he played up his angry 'Nightwing' face. you growled, trying to get away but before you could, Dick grabbed your wrists, "we're squishing this anger we have towards each other, once and for all," he stated, holding you close.

"that day that every thing happened was because of you! you were the one who blew every thing out of the water!" you yelled. luckily, the music was too loud for everyone to hear, "I know I'm sorry. I never meant to make you angry but it's time we forget that night," he restated.

you remained quiet as Dick held you close, "I know why you quit being a hero and you have every right to be on the side, helping us out when you can but jesus christ, I fucking miss you," he whispered in your ear. you felt tears wanting to spring out of your eyes. you had no idea if it was from all the built up emotions you had against Dick or if it was from being drunk but as he swayed you slowly, the tears came down, "no one is going to hurt you. I'll make sure of that," he murmured into your ear as you nodded softly.

"I'm so sorry for what I said that night. you didn't deserve to hear what I said because I was angry and if I could take it back, I would," you replied, hinting at the distasteful comment you made about his parents. Dick chuckled, "I know you didn't mean it. we both said things we should have and I'm happy that we're finally getting over this," he replied.

Donna, Wally, and Zatanna smirked to themselves. both Donna and Wally knew that it was time the two of you got over that night and finally be together. it didn't take an idiot to see the way you felt about each other. whenever one name was mentioned when the other was around, they could see the way both of your eyes lit up in happiness and in sadness.

"so you forgive me?" Dick asked as you nodded happily, "than I hope you don't mind if I do this," he whispered as he crashed his lips onto yours. you instantly wrapped your arms around his neck as he brought his to your waist, "I really don't mind," you replied, kissing him more aggressively this time.

"thirty dollars they land at one of their apartments tonight," Donna whispered to Zatanna. Wally nodded in agreement as they saw the way Dick was basically holding you as tightly as he could against himself, "I'll place an ever quicker bet. thirty dollars they land at one of their apartments in the next hour," Wally said.

"my place or yours?" you asked Dick. he thought for a moment, "mine. I got a new place and I want to show you," he replied as he grabbed you by the wrist and started dragging you away from the dance floor.

#dick grayson x y/n #dick grayson x you #dick grayson imagine #dick grayson x reader #dick grayson #nightwing x you #nightwing imagine #nightwing x reader #nightwing #dc x reader #dc imagine #dc comics #dc

214 notes · View notes

angelasscribbles · 3 years

Text

Heir Apparent Chapter 4: We Can Work It Out

Heir Apparent is a series which finds Riley married to Drake but possibly pregnant with Liam’s child.

Catch up here: Heir Apparent.

Everything else: Master List.

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Characters: Drake Walker, Liam Rys, Riley Campbell

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Language, references to sex

Song Inspiration for this chapter: We Can Work It Out by The Beatles

Disclaimer: Characters represented here as well as the original story are owned by pixelberry. This content has been written by Angela Harrison based on those characters/stories.

He had no idea how much time had passed when he woke up, it was still daylight out. He felt Riley shift beside him and gazed down at her. She rolled toward him as she blinked awake. She gave him a sleepy smile.

His eyes swept over her body and guilt crashed into him. Dark splotches were spreading across her neck, deep and ugly looking. His eyes dipped to her hips where his fingers had gouged into her, leaving angry bruises. “Oh God, Riley, baby, I’m so sorry.”

She looked at him quizzically, “For what?”

“I hurt you!” He leaned down and laid gentle, restrained kisses across the bruises dotting her hip bone, His fingers ghosting over them following the trail of his warm kisses. He moved up to her neck, brushing her hair aside with tenderness and running his fingers along the blotchy spots marring her perfect skin. He felt regret hit him like a physical blow.

Riley shivered under his touch. “Drake, we’ve had rough sex before.”

“Not quite like…….that.” That hadn’t been rough sex, that had been angry sex.

“Still. It’s fine, I’m fine.” She assured him.

“But the baby-“

She peered up at him cautiously, “You…you’re worried about the baby?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I-“ he pulled away from her and sat up, “Jesus! What kind of a monster do you think I am? Even if the baby isn’t mine, it’s still a baby! Fucking Christ woman!”

“No, Drake! I didn’t mean-“ she was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. It was Liam. Riley had customized ring tones for everyone in their circle and Drake recognized the tune from The Lion King as “I just can’t wait to be king” blared out of Riley’s phone.

“Better get that.” He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice as he slipped from the bed.

Riley hit end on the phone without answering, “Drake, wait! What are you doing?”

“I’m getting dressed.” He said as he pulled on his boxer briefs followed by a pair of jeans.

“Why?” She demanded as she hopped out of bed and reached for her robe from the hook on the wall.

“That’s what one does when one is naked.” He replied while slipping a t-shirt over his head.

“You know what I mean, you’re not leaving again are you?” Leaving me, she thought as she pulled on the robe.

Her phone rang again. Liam. Again.

Drake raked a hand through his hair and blew out a frustrated breath, “You might as well answer, he’s not going to stop calling.”

Riley walked back to the bed, hit end on her phone again and tossed it to the side, “Drake, why is Liam calling me?”

He turned to stare at her in stunned disbelief, “Why the fuck do you think?”

She felt her heart sink. No, no, no, no, no! She stared at him, horrified, “You told him?!” She lowered herself onto the bed as panic sliced through her.

Drake shook his head in frustration, “Yes! I told him! Don’t you think he has a right to know?”

“No!”

“No?”

“No! Not yet anyway! Fuck Drake, this is our life, our baby-“

“Well, you didn’t seem so sure about that this morning!” He wanted to cry again; it was easier to be angry.

“Goddamn it Drake! What if the baby is yours? Did you stop to think about that for one fucking minute? Then you got Liam involved for nothing! He never even had to know about the possibility! This is something we should have dealt with first, together, before getting anyone else involved, fuck! And did it ever occur to you that if it is Liam’s baby, I might want some input into how and when to tell him? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours yet and I’m already fielding phone calls from him! We could have waited until we knew for sure, and until we, you and I, had decided the best course of action. Then we could have told him together, presented a united front. After we’d had time to figure out our own shit. Which is way more important to me than when Liam finds out!”

Drake stared at her; all the fight gone out of him. Shit! He hadn’t thought of any of that, he had just reacted. He stopped angrily getting dressed and pulled himself up to sit on top of the long dresser across from the bed as he watched her. She was so fucking beautiful, even angry, maybe especially angry. Her long auburn locks cascaded over her shoulders, messy and wild. Her emerald eyes snapped with fire.

He dropped his eyes, not wanting her to know how she was affecting him. His heart clenched and butterflies erupted in his stomach. She had a way of making him nervous, fidgety, even now.

“You’re right. I didn’t think about any of that. I was just angry, and I wanted to confront him about Vegas.”

“Is that how you got the bruises?” She asked softly.

She wanted to ask how Liam was, but she was afraid he would misinterpret that. Of course she cared if Liam was ok, she cared about him, deeply but it didn’t touch what she felt for Drake. She had never been able to convince him of that though.

At least not until she had turned down Liam’s proposal and accepted his. She thought that had been a turning point. And maybe it was. All the progress they had made, Vegas had erased. She felt like they were back at square one. She mentally cursed herself. Everything had been going so well and they had been so happy, finally.

“Yeah.” He said, one hand coming up to rub his sore jaw, “It took five guards to pull us apart.”

“But…..why?”

“Why?” He stared at her in shocked confusion. How the hell did she not get it? He was weak for her, he was crazy, head over heels in love with her. She destroyed all his common sense, all his better judgement. She left his ego in tatters, and he didn’t even mind. He was completely and utterly at her mercy; he would crawl through broken glass for her. She was everything to him, his whole world.

And deep down, in the bottom of his heart, he knew he wasn’t good enough for her. He’d do anything to make her happy, give her anything within his power to give, but he was always afraid it wouldn’t be enough, that he wouldn’t be enough.

Finding out about Vegas was verification of his worst fears. Just when he had started to relax, just when he let himself believe she was really his, she had dropped that bombshell and blown everything out of the water.

Why. She wanted to know why.

“Because I fucking love you, that’s why! I married you! He betrayed me Riley, you betrayed me! I- fuck!” He jumped down from the dresser and turned around to kick it.

He turned back toward her as he sank to the ground, leaning back against it and gave her a look that was so wounded she thought her heart might break right in two. ��How could you? I thought you loved me too.”

She made it out of bed and across the room to him in record time, she slid to the floor next to him, tears pouring down her face. She dropped to her knees in front of him, grabbed him with both arms and pulled him into her.

He let her, making no move to embrace her back but burying his face in her chest as his body heaved with sobs.

“I do love you! That’s why I married you! I love you so much that sometimes I can’t breathe! I never meant to hurt you, I never meant for any of this to happen! I’m sorry Drake! I’m so, so fucking sorry!” She started crying harder and finally his arms went around her and they clung to each other while the grief and anguish poured out of them.

When the tears subsided, they pulled apart, arms still around one another and sat staring into each other’s eyes, neither one sure what to say next.

Riley’s phone rang again.

“God damn it!” Drake sprang up off the floor and was at the bed before Riley realized what he was doing.

He hit talk and without giving Liam a chance to say anything, bellowed into it, “She’s busy! She’ll call you back when she’s ready, stop blowing up her fucking phone!”

He hit end and threw it back on the bed, then spun around, strode back across the room, dropped to the floor beside her, drew his knees up, clasped his arms around them, fixed her with a level stare and asked, “Why?”

She blinked, “Why what?”

He made a quite sound of disbelief and rolled his eyes. Was she being obtuse on purpose?

“Why did you do it then? If you love me, why did Vegas happen?”

He waited, refusing to drop her gaze, hope and dread fighting for dominance inside him. He knew there was nothing she could say to make it ok, but his idiot heart still hoped with everything in him that he was wrong, that there was some explanation that would make things ok between them again. Anything. He was grasping at straws.

Riley’s gaze darted away as guilt flashed across her face. She closed her eyes while she tried to form her thoughts into something that would make sense to him. Or, at the very least, not hurt him any more than she already had.

“The least you can do is give me an explanation. I think you owe me that much.” He said it so softly, almost a whisper. Nothing like his normal voice.

“I know.” She whispered, “And that’s not all I owe you. I owe you everything.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I mean, you saved my life-“

Drake threw his hands up in the air, “Not that again! I’ve told you a million times, you don’t owe me for that! I’d do it again, right now, even though you’ve put a knife through my heart, I’d still take a bullet for you! But I sure as hell never wanted you to pick me on the basis of that!” I just want you to want me, love me.

“That’s not why I chose you!” She touched his face, lifting his chin so he was looking at her, “I chose you because I love you. I have never loved anyone the way I love you!”

She said it with such heat and conviction that he almost believed it. He wanted to believe it.

“Then why?” He had to know. It was probably stupid on his part to demand answers, but he had to know, he didn’t think they could move forward otherwise. And he so wanted to move forward, move past this.

Riley drew in a deep breath, “Honestly? Closure, I guess. And tequila. I mean, I’m not blaming the tequila precisely, but if I hadn’t been drunk, I don’t think it would have happened.”

“Closure for who? You? Him?”

“Maybe a little of both. Drake, we were so happy that night, you and I. And he was so sad. I know he didn’t really show it, but I could see it.”

“So, what? You fucked him because he was sad? Are you going to fuck him every time he’s sad?”

“Of course not! That’s…that’s not what I meant….”

“Then what did you mean? Because I really need to know you’re not going to fall into bed with him every time he’s sad about losing you! If that’s the case, are you going to give him pity fucks forever?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Of course not, huh? I mean, that’s what I would have said about you doing him in Vegas but here we are.”

And it wasn’t just that she had slept with him. If it wasn’t for the issue of paternity, it would be a lot easier to get over. Not easy. Just easier.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut. Damn it, damn it, damn it! She drew a shaky breath and tried again, “Ok, I’m trying to explain but can I please point out that I really, truly thought you had agreed and were ok with it? I didn’t mean to betray you! I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you!”

He snorted a humorless laugh, “How drunk were you?”

“Pretty fucking drunk, seriously, sloppily drunk. Not that I’m saying it excuses anything but sheesh, it at least helps explain it, doesn’t it?”

He thought about it for a long moment. He’d had nights he’d been blackout drunk. He’d woken up with zero memory of the night before. He strained to remember that particular night because to be fair, he had been pretty damn drunk himself.

She had asked if she could have one last fling. He had said yes. He had thought she was joking, because he was too drunk to read her body language. She had thought he was serious for the same reason.

A stab of pain flashed through him at the thought that a simple, drunken miscommunication had caused all this. How stupid and utterly preventable.

He felt the tightness in chest relax a little. She hadn’t meant to lie to him, to hide things from him. But the bigger question remained, why would she have asked in the first place?

“Ok,” he conceded, “the drinking explains how it happened, but god damn it baby, I still need to know why! I’ll give you that you thought I knew and was on board. But why did you want to…do that…anyway? Two days before our wedding?”

“I don’t know!” She wailed, “I felt guilty that I was so fucking happy, that we were so happy! I know he thought I was his chance to marry for love and I feel like I took that away from him, like I kicked his damn puppy or something.”

Drake actually did understand that, he felt the same guilt, the same sense of responsibility for tanking Liam’s chance at happily ever after. It’s why he had fought his feelings for her so hard for so long.

“I thought it was goodbye, you know, a way for him to move on. We never really talked about it, after he proposed and I said no and told him I was in love with you. You didn’t see his face in that moment. I crushed him, Drake, I destroyed him! I didn’t mean to but-”her words cut off as the tears overtook her again.

He scooted over and put his arms around her without even thinking about it. “It’s ok, baby, it’s ok.” Her murmured into her hair as he rested his head against hers.

“It’s not ok!” She sobbed, “It’s not because I hurt you! I hurt us! I ruined everything!” The tears started coming harder and he hugged her to him tighter.

He never could stand to see her cry. “It is ok, or at least, it’s going to be. Please don’t cry.”

She looked up at him, her face red and blotchy and streaked with tears, “Are you ever going to forgive me? Please, please tell me we can work this out!” She pleaded.

Before he could reply, there was a knock on the door.

“Seriously?” He growled under his breath. Out loud he yelled, “What?”

Through the door, one of the maids answered, “Sorry to interrupt your grace, but you have company.”

Drake looked at Riley, she shook her head to indicated she had no idea who it might be.

“Who?” He asked.

“It’s the king.”

Drake’s head thunked back against the dresser as he hissed out, “Bloody fucking hell!”

#drake walker #choices #trr #drake x mc #angelasscribbles #the royal romance fanfic #the royal romance #choices stories you play #liam rys #liam x mc #heir apparent #drake x riley #riley campbell #cfwc fics of the week #fics of the week #choices fic writers creations

76 notes · View notes

flashflashhundredyarddash · 3 years

Text

batkids and their relationships with their siblings headcanons. under read more because this got fucking LONGGG

dick

dick is the eldest so he doesnt want to bog down his younger siblings with his problems, but if he DOES, he tends to talk to jason about it

dick and cass start to really begin to bond when Cass shows up to dicks gymnastics class for 3rd-6th graders and then cass shows up all the sixth graders and they get frozen yogurt after lmao

dick and tim are Very much thick as thieves. tim is very much like bruce on the Emotional Suppression scale, so dick just really wants to make sure his little brother is safe and happy ALL the time

Duke and Damian are the only two really permanently at the manor anymore, so when dick drops by he tries to do something with both of them. duke frantically zoom calls dick every other week to help him with his his trig homework. dick shows up to dukes high school graduation with literally the BIGGEST SIGN

everyone insists damian is dicks favorite but he does actually genuinely love all his siblings equally, his relationship with damian is just Very different from the others because of the age gap and being dami's primary caretaker for a year. dick babies dami every chance he gets

jason

would sell Dick to satan for One corn chip

him and cass don't have the greatest start to their relationship because cass is very much Against Killing so it takes a while for jason to warm up to her and earn her trust. now, though, jason is competing with steph by showing cass all the classic American Teenager things she missed out on. steph is currently winning but jason is like 98% positive a crunch wrap from taco bell is going to push him over the edge

tim and jason are currently competing over who can solve the most cases in a month. tim is winning. that won't last long.

jason Loves to Big Brother duke its so embarrassing. duke will get out of school and go to his car and jason is SITTING IN THE FRONT SEAT FRANTICALLY WAVING TO GET DUKES ATTENTION. JASON THAT IS MY CAR. signal has one (1) mission with arsenal and arsenal goes hey did you ask that girl to homecoming yet and duke is like I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU.

Damian is proof that Actually, Little Brothers are Pests. Jason fully believes that he was brought back from the dead PURELY to torment damian and he will fulfill this mission at any cost

cassandra

it actually really upset her when Dick didn't accept her at first. she knows her other siblings really adore dick so his lack of trust was really disheartening. it takes dick a while but once he Actually Accepts that cass is going to be a permanent part of their life and oh, wow, dick you really hurt her feelings he really hyperfocuses on bonding with cass for a couple of months which definitely improves their relationship

she really likes jason!! their relationship doesn't start well but because he's close with steph and tim who are cass's top two favorite people to exist ever, cass is like well i GUESS ill hang out with him more. jason is fun to talk to because he always tries his best to explain jokes and give context to what people are talking about (also tim took her to taco bell already but she didn't tell jason she just wanted to hang out)

cass LOVES tim. they just click okay. tim always seems to know when to give her space and when to push and come closer. Tim's "guest room" is just her room lets be real. tim and cass occasionally get mistaken for twins and Cass Loves it.

duke makes cass listen to metal once and cass loses. her. damn. mind. they bond over music a lot because they both Love Music to a degree the others in their family don't.

damian!! damian is her little brother!!! dami isn't As Hostile to cass at first because he is 100% aware cass has the edge in fighting and respects her. cass likes all of his instagram posts and they have a snapchat streak going

tim

tim Loves dick, dick was his first sibling!! he had Very strong hero worship when he first met dick but it mellowed out when tim got older because wow 17 is really not that cool and mature lol. tim has an open invitation to dick's apartment which he does occasionally take advantage of. tim has more than once scared the shit out of wally when wally comes over and wally is convinced they're being robbed (HA) for half a second. i mean. he's not wrong.

listen. tim understands that forgiving the guy who tried to kill you would be a Struggle for some people and it was! definitely! but also at least he can trust jason to, uh, be open about if he doesn't like tim. which is not an assurance he has with other people. so if the guy who tried to kill him tells him tim is cool now then like. maybe tim isn't that bad or annoying a person? also jason arrested a whole gang and won the cases competition but then it created a power vacuum that the whole batfam had to clean up the rest of the month. thanks, jason.

tim LOVES cass. you know how most of the time theres this empty feeling inside you and you just kind of ignore it because you don't know what will fix it or if you do, you know you can't fix it? cass makes that empty feeling feel a little less empty. they just click. tim always tries to travel with cass whenever she leaves gotham.

tim and duke. Tim is actually the sibling who duke goes to whenever he has questions he doesn't want to ask bruce or alfred about, like, life or vigilante-ing or school or college or whatever and Tim is always like yes!! i love Giving Advice and Solving Problems!! tim and duke and jason fill out their college applications together.

tim and damian. LMAO. ROUGH START THAT'S ALL ILL SAY. at some point alfred goes like fuck it. family therapy. and tim and dami are PISSED. tim and damian get along best when they have a common enemy to work against. their relationship gets much better when damian is older and they actually talk about their feelings like emotionally stunted bats. despite how bad their relationship was, tim will ALWAYS protect damian

duke

very much intimidated by dick at first. dick is so much older and has his own job and friends and life and is very much AN ADULT. dick likes to take duke out to do lots of cool stuff (paintball, lasertag, tech exhibitions, concerts, etc). also, dick PERSONALLY introduced duke to superman and is dating THE FLASH. 10/10 awesome big brother.

was intimidated by jason for 0.5 seconds before jason actually opened his mouth and started speaking. jason is literally. So Embarrassing. which is weird because nobody else really seems to feel that way about jason but duke knows he's 100% in the right here. like yeah jason is also An Adult and does Adult Stuff but he's also at the manor like every other weekend???? and he always complains about bruce but always seems to be in the same room bruce is in????? like okay jason. they bond over literature!! jason and duke and alfred will spend literal hours talking about books and duke loves it. duke is the only one who doesn't think jason is funny and jason gets so upset about it lmao.

cass has this one week where she gets really into photography and by virtue of being nearby (and also not nocturnal), duke becomes her victim subject. duke prints out all the pictures and hangs them up in his room (his favorite is one he took when he stole the camera and took a really bad selfie of them together).

tim is closest in age to duke so duke tends to hang around with him a lot. tim introduced duke to his young justice friends and duke is like yes!!! meta-friends!!!! tim really helps duke out with his powers because tim is always like wow i wonder if your powers would work if we did This? can you see farther than other people? is your visible spectrum of light different than other humans? Bruce does the same thing but bruce is boring about it lol.

damian and duke live in the same house and will be in the same room and just send each other social media posts back and forth. they follow each other on instagram and will, OCCASIONALLY, make tik toks together because they're tik tok fiends. each of his siblings have visited his parents once or twice but damian routinely comes with him.

damian

damian gets a special bullet point to say that it took him. forever to come around to the idea of having siblings. he very much believed that he was Bruce's Blood Son and everyone else were just tagalongs or allies. it took him ages to acknowledge that dick, jason, tim, and cass were his siblings, so when duke came and like a week later damian was like Ah, Yes, this is my brother Thomas everyone else was like dude wtf

listen. LISTEN. Obviously. Richard is very highly skilled. and also Father values him highly. and also Richard will listen to Damian complain about his schoolmates. and also Richard is much more patient with Damian than other members of his family. listen....,,, (all this to say damian kind of fucking adores dick lmaooooo this kid).

Todd is kind of unbearable but damian has been informed this is both a normal feeling when it comes to Todd and also big brothers. damian was an only child for ten years so yes, Father, if Todd attempts to tickle me I WILL break his fucking nose. yes i WILL put money in the swear jar but I want you to know i don't regret it. they always try to sneak up on each other but mostly fail.

DRAKE!!! but no lol once damian grows up and is like I Apologize for attempting to murder you it was wrong and you are just as much a son to Father as I am tim is like UGH i guess its cool since ur being so emotionally mature and all. also im 2 for 5 on siblings trying to murder me so im definitely going to win trauma bingo and damian is like i take it back you are insufferable. When Will My Older Siblings Stop Joking About Their Trauma.

CASS!!! listen. cass is cool. Cass Gets It. They have a special Bond. also damian really likes it whenever cass is home because 1) he gets to hang out and do something cool with cass and 2) he feels significantly safer with cass in the house because Nobody will be able to hurt any of their family if Cass is there. ALSO he tries to call her cain but everyone is like DONT DO THAT and he doesn't want to call her wayne bcus theyre ALL wayne (dick adds it on as a middle name but also Richard John Wayne West-Grayson is just. the lamest name ever so dick needs to reconsider it before his upcoming nuptials)((dick will not reconsider it except maybe whether grayson-west would work better)) and so he tries cassandra but cass is like :) call me cass and damian is like cassandra is more formal and respectful and cass is like :) and finally damian just has to give in.

Duke! him and duke actually live together so they get the Most Bonding Time and have a bunch of inside jokes as a result. (is it bad i wanted to laugh because inside jokes... joker... i'll see myself out). they're eating breakfast together (and also alfred sits with them IM NOT A MONSTER ALFIE'S LIKE 70 NOW OKAY) and duke laughs and bruce is like what are you laughing at, son? and duke is like oh damian just showed me this funny meme and then he shows the phone to bruce and bruce grabs it (both the boys groan) and after WAY TOO LONG is like "i don't get it" and so now duke and damian have to try and explain the comedic intricacy of bob's burgers

#this took. two fucking hours #batfam #batman #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #cassandra cain #cassandra wayne #not sure which one to commit to yet #tim drake #duke thomas #damian wayne #dc #the burd squawks #birdflash #birdflash was like. one of my first ships lmao

454 notes · View notes