12 year old Jay (12 and a half, if you asked him)

Posting this before I look at it too much and don't like it anymore

DP x DC AU: Bruce is the one to invite Constantine over, and no, it's not to improve his tenuous working relationship with the asshole. It's the opposite of that.

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Danny had become a frequent visitor of Wayne Manor in the last few months, and Bruce had to admit that while the kid was certainly a bit ominous for his liking for a partner to Tim, he was a generally kind and happy soul. They'd been dating for a lot longer than the Bats knew of- Kon had been the one to let it slip to Jon who told Damian and so on- and since the relationship was no longer secret, Tim brings him to family functions.

The thing about Danny is... He's dead. More than half of the time. Which again, is not Ideal for Bruce's wishes for Tim's future husband, but it also means that he reviles in being alive. Danny is downright joyous about using his time left on earth properly. He makes Tim eat real food, enjoy real sleep and generally live a more fulfilled life than he had been. The whole family noticed the changes in Tim, and it made them like Danny even more.

So after a particularly grueling day of dealing with Trigon and therefore the JLD's lack of coordination and sensible planning- Bruce gets the idea. John couldn't fucking contain himself admonishing Bruce, and perhaps it was vindictive, but Bruce figures that John should meet Danny. Sans context of course.

...

John is really over dealing with Batman's prissy, over complicated and perfectionist attitude. Come to the Cave he'd demanded, as though John didn't have a favorite bar to get back to, deal with a ghost he ordered like John didn't have other priorities than some random shade.

When walking into the space however, the second his teleportation portal closed, John knew something was deeply, deeply fucked. The shadows were growing longer, the second hand on his watch ticked slower, the air smelled of sulfur and... Red Robin was sitting working at the computer like nothing was wrong. But what was wrong, was the kid was marked by The End. Marked by The Infinite. FUCK.

John knew Death, the Endless, and knew she could pick favorites just like her siblings (Dream's immortal drinking buddy comes to mind). But this wasn't her work, this was something other.

"Mate- the Bat said there was a ghost?" John feels like he might throw up, the eerie atmosphere complicating what should have been a simple request.

"Uh, obviously." The kid didn't even look over from his screen or pause his typing.

John slowly approached, looking over each shoulder a few times, turning in a few circles as the shadows appeared to dance and echo within the cave. He could see his breath, the air became so cold so suddenly. And then, with the gentleness of a pin drop, a new agonizing sound appeared with a Kid walking down the cave stairs. The aura of the room turned dark, every cell in John's body screaming to run, that this was basically the little girl from the ring crawling through the TV as the young man walked down the steps.

"Babe, your grampa says that dinners going to be ready in a second. Oh, uh, hey dude." The creature speaks, turning his eyes to John for only a moment to study him. It feels equivalent to a butterfly being pinned by its wings.

"Y-y-you, you're, you're one of the Endless?" John stutters, his body reacting in fear despite the nonchalant posture of the Beast. The young man rolls his eyes.

"Nah, one of the Ancients but like uh, I'm new in town. And hon seriously don't be late, A made tiramisu for dessert and you're not allowed to have any if you're late and I don't want to deal with you pouting."

"You had me at Tiramisu!" Red stands up from his computer and then turns, "John, what are you doing here again?" Red Robin finally looks over at him, completely confused.

"Just leaving." John mutters, his eyes still trained on the ANCIENT.

---

Bruce could barely hide his laugh when Tim reported the Magician meeting Danny in the cave.

That'll show the asshole to question Batman's knowledge of the occult.

Our second DCXDP au has Danny hiding in Gotham with the cores of Dani, Dan and two other clones who survived. They need DNA to be able to reform but it's in a ‘it doesn't have to be now’ kind of way. Not just Danny’s DNA but another to to balance out their genes.

They'll become babies and be raised up. Dani was melting but forced Danny to promise he wouldn't find someone right away he'd take his time to fall in love first. Dan did the same and the twin clones did to.

Danny decides it's a good idea but keeps the cores safe. He ran to Gotham in the DC universe because the GIW were to close to killing him. His parents, Jazz, Sam, Grandma Ida and the Foleys all followed. Grandma Ida is running some gang down in crime alley having a blast with Sam, constantly trying to hook Sam up with Jason who Ida is in a turf war with. Tucker is happily running a tech company that will soon outstrip it's competitors., his parents helping Jazz is terrifying in Arkham as she tears our corruption.

Maddie abd Jack found out about the Leauge of Assassins and went: study time. Danny, knowing its corrupted ecto and also not wanting to deal with assassins lets then have fun. So Ra’s is dealing with liminal mad scientists who keep stealing the Pits and also have uncovered two Damian clones they kidnapped. Their kids now.

But we’re focusing on Danny who is in college and living a peaceful life which is what he wants most of all. The cores of his kids are always on him just in case and he's casually dating. It's great. He can just be Danny the guy who is super into space and plans on being a mechanic for the watch tower.

Then one day Two-Face attacks the cafe he's at (because of a sale it was having where it was two for one on some sort of new treat). Danny has to run for his life. He gets hit and the bag he has the cores in is harmed. One falls out and he freaks, diving for it. He grabs it just as Black Bat swoops in to save him. She flies him up to a roof.

They land and then she moves to grab one of the cores that fell out. Danny gets antsy but it requires skin contact so it should be okay, she's wearing gloves after all. It'll be fine!

On her part, Cass is wondering why her hand feels tingly but there isn't anything malicious in the mans face so she thinks it might just be the orb she caught being weird. She swings off, noting that she has a hole in her glove.

Danny goes home and doesn't think about it until he realizes that the core the hero touched is growing. And it's getting sick without the touch of its other parent.

Cass on the other hand feels strange. Like she's pulled somewhere. She instantly thinks of the guy and alerts the others to him. They hunt him down to find him on a rooftop. He's surprised to see them, holding an Orb that’s glowing.

“I thought it would take longer…” the man says. He shakes his head. “Umm… rip the band-aids off- I'm nottotslly human.”

The Batfam kinda pauses cause he's giving this info up for free. Cass is eyeing him closely. It's just her, Batman and Robin in front of the man. Everyone else is listening in or in the shadows.

“I ran away from my home dimension cause they were hunting me down to kill me because they believed I was non-sentient. You know sad trench- I mean, John Constantine? I think he put in the word we’re friendly,” the man babbles. The orb shines. “Okay, okay. I need to… Black Bat did your glove have a hole in it when you touched this?”

Cass hums but nods. Barbara has Constantine on the line (and no one wants to know the blckmail she has to make him answer) and he's confirming it's a friendly.

“Okay, okay… this is a Core and it's the heart, soul, brain, everything of an ecto-entity like me. And it… it’s my child. But it needed a second set of DNA. It's fine dormant, it doesn't hurt the baby. But it…” the man swallows. “Skin touch.”

Cass knows in a second what he's leading up to. She touched the orb. It needed DNA.

That's her baby in his hands.

Que the chaos.

ya know the thing is Bruce could try and pull his patented "in worried about you and instead of expressing that I'm going to pull you off of vigilante work" on Duke and it Would Not Work.

Bruce could pull him off the outsiders sure but 100% Bruce could not make Duke stop patrolling

Duke, staring Bruce's lil bat peepers down, with the power of gd and anime on his side: you could call Superman to sit on me and it Still wouldn't keep me from going out

Kory having a miscarriage is one of those details that might have happened that I personally keep in her history and that I wish writers had done something with.

Do you have any detail about Dick that writers forget or that nobody really cares about but it’s important to you and it’s important to the history you have of him?

PTSD triggered by fire.

Nightwing (Vol. 2) #97

He never gets to keep anything personal because his home and possessions are always being blown up/thrown away + Haly's is targeted because of him which is another personal thing of his that doesn't stay sacred.

The New Titans #97

Nightwing (Vol. 2) #89

Nightwing (Vol. 3) #16

He's a runner, he's a track star. This one isn't traumatic, I just like seeing Dick work on his stamina because it's something he needs to do consistently for Nightwing-related stuff.

The New Teen Titans: Games

Joker dug up the corpses of dead members of Haly's Circus and displayed them like museum pieces for Dick to see. He then made all of them explode which released a toxin in the air. Then current members of Haly's Circus (who were poisoned) ganged up on Dick and beat him so bad that he blacked out.

Nightwing (Vol. 3) #16

There's just something so painful about taking Dick's safe place at the circus and turning it into a horror show where people get hurt or killed because of him. It's also terrible for Joker to weaponize the people Dick cares about and to use them against him.

Speaking of Joker, another trauma he created was by implanting false memories in Dick's head which made Dick believe that his parents were drug addicts who abused him. Dick now has those memories swirling around in the back of his brain somewhere, and I wonder if those memories sometimes overwrite his original memories of his parents.

Nightwing (Vol. 4) #73

batman: track and field au

author's note: i just miss track and field varsity even though i wasnt even that good... and ive been thinking about batman track and field au for FOREVER. so today i wrote a bit 📝

things u need to know: bruce is not batman. he's a coach at a school where the rest of the justice league teaches. yes, they're still the justice league. and yes, his robins still end up as vigilantes. jason is 15 in this; the joker hasn't gotten to him yet. also i added some characters ahead of the timeline bc i love them :/

Jason stumbles over from the finish line, grinning and sweat-drenched. And then his face screws up in sudden distress, and he promptly wobbles and collapses onto the hot stadium mat.

A half-formed sound of alarm—

Bruce leaps over the bleacher railing and sprints.

A poor, well-meaning race official gets there first, but Bruce shoulders him roughly aside and crouches by Jason. Jason has turned on his side, holding his right knee tight to his chest and making little pained gasps.

It tears at his heart. “Jason,” Bruce says.

Jason’s eyes are screwed shut, and he says nothing, but one of his hands reach blindly in Bruce’s direction and Bruce grasps it tightly.

“You were terrific, chum.” He squeezes, and feels the tremor that goes through his son. “Stretch your leg out for me.”

Jason shakes his head. “Hurts—”

“I know. I know. Please, Jay.”

It’s slow, and excruciating, but between the two of them they manage to get Jason sitting up, his leg extended straight against the ground. One hand of Bruce’s presses down firmly on the knee, and the other pushes his foot to flex, the metal spikes of Jason’s shoes digging hard into the callused flesh of Bruce’s palm. Jason leans back on his hands, spread flat against the ground, head tilted up to open, cloudless sky, exhaling drawn-out, shaky breaths.

The speakers blare out the next events—second call for Male C’s 400-meter hurdles, and third call for Female B’s high jump. The left side of the crowd begins clapping on beat for their star javelin thrower as she rocks back on her feet, once, twice, and begins bounding forward. Bruce makes a displeased noise. He hopes his throwers remember to pay attention.

A mosquito buzzes by Bruce’s ear and he shakes his head sharply to drive it away. The sweat has been beading at his hairline all throughout, and now it rolls torturously slow down his face. As his hands are otherwise occupied, he makes no move to wipe it, and does his best to ignore the unpleasant sensation.

At last, Jason’s breathing evens out. He tugs his leg gingerly away from Bruce’s hold, cheeks flushed with exertion and, doubtless, embarrassment. “Thanks.”

Bruce sits back on his haunches and wipes the sweat off his face. “Ready to stand?”

Jason raises a hand, wincing as he tests the muscles of his leg. “One sec.”

Bruce nods shortly. Jason safe, his attention wanders over to the bleachers. Tim, thank God, is dragging Damian away from the high railing. Dick and Cass are eating lunch with much avidity—Dick’s best event, high jump, had just ended before Jason’s, and Cass seems to have just returned from shot put. Duke and Stephanie are nowhere in sight, and for a moment Bruce is alarmed, but then he spots them at the stage and relaxes. Duke must have won his high jump—he stands on the highest podium, and even from here Bruce can tell he’s grinning—and Stephanie is clicking away on the school camera next to the official photographer.

As he watches Stephanie turn the camera backward and attempt to take a selfie with Duke, there’s a tap on his thigh. Bruce extends his hand without looking and grasps the hand that interlocks with his, pulling Jason up with ease.

Bruce glances at Jason, and notes how he squints against the glaring afternoon. “Remember to reapply your sunscreen when you get back.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “Not everyone is ghost-white like you.”

“You do not have to be ghost-white to get skin cancer.”

Jason grumbles, but when Bruce raises an imperious eyebrow at him, he raises his hands in surrender. “Fine. Whatever you say, boss.”

“Good. And, Jay...” Bruce reaches out, tentative, and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I meant it. You did terrific.”

Jason beams, bright enough to outshine the day, and something in Bruce’s chest uncurls into warmth.

How many times do I have to hit the stupid fanboys with a bat before they get that Robin is an integral part of Batman's story? And How many times do I have to hit DC with a bat before they get that too?

The New Titans #55 (1989)

Batman (2010-) #641

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Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016-) #6

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Batman and Red Hood (2011-) #20

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Batman (2016-) #138

They sure do bAT&Tman. They sure as hell do.

Yet Jason never thought this way about you.

babs and wally just chilling on the phone (nightwing vol 2 #73) 👍

checking in on her after the devin grayson dickbabs breakup 👍 (nightwing vol 2 #88)

Been thinking of an AU on and off for a few days (after consuming a few dozen sad boy Tim fics because yassss) where once Bruce is stabilized as Batman, when he’s back on better terms with Dick and the League, Tim looks around and is like “Yup, I did my job. Catch you guys later.” And just walks back to Drake Manor.

There’s something sad and yet blindingly, ironically hilarious about Tim choosing to walk out of the Batfam without any real fanfare. Bruce is waiting for Tim to patrol, walks over and Tim is like “bro I was just the temp you needed to get your shit together. You’re well enough to find a long term investment orphan.” and Bruce is just boggled, uncomfortable and very stressed.

Queue everyone trying to pssp pssp pssp Tim back into being Robin and Tim is like “No, no, this is a great opportunity for Bruce to find himself a real child and partner.” I always want to emphasize Tim is also doing reckless and weird shit on his own, he’s definitely going back to his stalker tendencies, taking pictures of crime for evidence then stopping it. Just not as Robin. But he’s very much pretending to be a normal little boy to everyone. 

The Bats are stressing because Tim won’t come home. I want Tim coming back over to Wayne Manor like a frustrated lawyer on OT helping Bruce to pick out a suitable orphan. I want the Titans to shrug and just start hanging out with Tim outside of the costume in increasingly more harrowing incidents that basically are hero missions but they claim are just “normal teen activities”. Jason and later Damian come into the picture and are mad at Tim who, meanwhile, is very insistent that the Waynes didn’t even like him and he wasn’t supposed to be Robin. Jay is looking at B like “what the fuck did you do to this kid?” and Bruce is fighting off a headache saying “Nothing, he came like this”

I just really think Sam Axe is the character of all time. he was a Navy SEAL, his wardrobe is 90% Hawaiian shirts, he’s a lowkey functioning alcoholic, he jumps from sugar mommy to sugar mommy, he’s so fucking horny and canonically so good at sex that women spoil him for it, he’s so friendly he’s got buddies in almost every government agency, the CIA fucking hates him, he’s been a hostage multiple times and one of those times he critiqued how the kidnapper hit him, he pays for 1 out of every 10 dinners with his lady friend because he’s poor but he cares, he’s Michael and Madeline Westen’s best friend, he’s pretended to be Fiona’s partner undercover more than Michael has, he refuses to change his cover ID, he’s skilled at forgery, surveillance, wiretapping, hand to hand combat, marksmanship, throwing a fit in public, and wearing suspenders, he consistently breaks the law for good reasons, he was forced to retire for doing the right thing and he greymailed his way into keeping his pension, the whole situation started because he accidentally fucked a superior’s wife, he has a 12-3:30 PM nap time, he’s a grown man who once told someone he was trying to explode them with his mind, he’s still legally married, he brags about being a boy toy and is genuinely a caring, affectionate, helpful boyfriend despite going after rich women, he loves snacks and mojitos and strung a bunch of FBI agents along to do his best to protect Michael while protecting his own pension, and was like “they buy me lunch when they think they’re getting something good : )”. he is simply the perfect man!!

Rambles inbound

Recently learned about the Ghost-Maker character and his sidekick experiment, Phantom-One. And damn do I ever want to contrive a situation where a vengeful Jazz that has lost everything and everyone she loves seeks out Ghost-Maker so he can teach her how to fight and take down corrupt organizations like the GIW, which leads to her becoming Phantom-Two.

Like she would definitely recognize that Minhkoa is a clinical psychopath and would just roll with it. She would never expect him to actually care for her and would tell him that once he inevitably grows tired of her that she will leave with no questions asked.

Kinda see her in this situation as being a loose Tim Drake parallel with her butting into Minhkoa's life and having no illusions that she matters to him. She is just a placeholder, an experiment for the artistic, psychopathic crime fighter and she is ok with that. She will use her intellect to aid her mentor but neither actually have any emotional connection with each other.

IDK my brain just loves the thought of her becoming Phantom-Two and the personal meaning that name would have for her. Sure, Minhkoa named his first sidekick Phantom-One and she is just the next numbered experiment for him but Phantom was Danny's name, his identity. She is not Phantom but she will carry the name when she finally returns to the United States and burns the GIW to the ground.

There is also something to be said for Ghost-Maker and Phantom-One wearing white as their dominant color. It would be lovely to have this new Phantom-Two wearing the same white that the GIW love so much as she cuts a bloody trail through their agents.

I am once again thinking about that one time Clark saw Bruce scoring some hot babes in Ye Olde Times and got jealous, so he framed Bruce for witchcraft by flying on a broom dressed like him and using his super-ventriloquism powers to make a black cat talk:

Everything about World's Finest Comics #186 is utterly hilarious, but I personally believe Clark did not go FAR ENOUGH.

Fashion a pointy hat with little bat ears to put on Bruce's head. Lure Bruce to a place with a steaming cauldron of potion-looking liquid and then scream like a banshee to bring the village on his head. Pretend he got possessed by a demon and say that Bruce summoned it!! Endless possibilities--

Headcanon: Bruce is afraid of thunderstorms

I like this hc! Because I can see it as a fear he had before the basement and it only amplified after coming home. But having a friend there always makes it more manageable and sometimes he even gets a good nap out of it.

detective comics #470

[ID: Jim Gordon in a hospital bed as he impassively watches Alfred Pennyworth and Batman talk. Alfred worriedly asks, “Beg pardon, Batman — but are those bulges I see under your cowl?” Batman dismisses, “Bandages, Alfred! I got burned this morning.” He doesn't elaborate that it's radiation burns. END ID]