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lazycats-stuff · 6 months

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Okay, so I want some angst, so could you do something with Bruce and batbro where reader is the newest member of the batfamily and also a vigilante. His backstory is really sad and never had a parental figure. So when he does something stupid on a mission with no regard of his own health, Bruce scolds and lectures him about it, so reader snaps and says something like “I don’t know why you care so much!” And Bruce reply’s back with something like “because I am your father.” But the reader isn’t having it, overwhelmed with his feelings, he yells something like “you are NOT my father and I’m sure as hell not your son!” And runs away After that. Honestly I’m not sure how to end this so maybe you could think of something 😅😭

Oh anon, it's going to end with fluff. You are going to get angst, but the end will be fluffy. I can't handle pure angst.

Summary: (Y/N) has no regards to his own health and Bruce reprimands him. (Y/N) lets his feelings be known.

Warnings: Angst and fluff essentially, minor cursing, (Y/N) is confused, mentions of injuries.

(Y/N) struggled badly with fitting in. Getting adopted by Bruce Wayne wasn't in his life plans. (Y/N) was fine on the streets. He educated himself in the library and he didn't need to go to school. Well, prison according to (Y/N)'s words. He didn't see a point in sitting in a classroom for hours on end.

And what was he going to learn there? He knows the basics of mathematics and he knows how to read and how to write. What more do you need in life? Equations?

Not in (Y/N)'s eyes.

It happened by pure accident. He was looking for his friend, hearing that he might have been in danger. Local gang was working through their neighborhood and he didn't like it.

He made sure to stay out of their way and he has advised his friends to do the same. However, people are not known to listen to directions and advices are they? The friend went missing and (Y/N) had to find him.

He didn't have many friends on the streets. It wasn't a bad thing, but you need to have some acquaintances. (Y/N) tried to be nice to everyone he came across, of course, he can't make everyone like him, but he tries.

He doesn't want any trouble. He just wants to get on his life easily.

During that fateful night, Batman and (Y/N) met one another for the first time. (Y/N) was shocked to find him here, but has guessed that he was just investigating. Bruce observed the boy for a moment before starting his interrogation.

He saw (Y/N)'s fear. His eyes widened, hands trembling at the sides. Not to mention the fact that (Y/N) was high on adrenaline. Bruce saw that he wasn't an enemy, just a scared kid. Bruce relaxed and asked (Y/N) some questions.

(Y/N) was stuttering as he answered Batman's questions. It was scary to see the Dark Knight in such proximity. (Y/N) knew that one wrong more will cause him to be maimed.

Of course, Batman wouldn't harm kids, but he is not really known to be patient for information so there was this inate fear that Batman might beat him up. (Y/N) doesn't have any type of medical insurance and...

But Batman was nice to him ever so gently asking him questions about the local gang that's moving in the neighborhood. He offered (Y/N) a position on an informant, but (Y/N) had to decline. Snitches get stiches and (Y/N) didn't want to die.

Bruce nodded at that statement. He understood. Nobody wants to be put in that type of situation. The stress, pressure... Bruce went home that night and he couldn't stop thinking about (Y/N). There was something about the kid that Bruce couldn't stop thinking about.

Maybe he sensed a lack of parental, more so a fatherly figure. Afterall, Bruce has a problem with adopting children and more so, taking strays in.

One night, he was taken to CPS and from there to an orphanage. He was shocked at how fast it has happened. From the cold streets to at least warm bed.

The kids there are not really something that he... Liked per say. Growing up on the streets, he didn't trust anyone, except one person, from whom he was now far away from. Unfortunately, he had no way of getting out, even after observing the pattern of how things to work around here.

Their patrols were good and chances of him escaping are slim. No, not slim, they are non existent. So he gave up after a while. He sat on his bed, reading a book from the library. Somehow (Y/N) ended up in a Wayne Orphanage and it had a library. Bruce Wayne is posh as hell.

(Y/N) looked from his book when he heard a knock on his door. It was Lisa who entered. She is a nice lady and (Y/N) liked her a lot. She understood him and she was never pushy with him.

" Hey (Y/N). There is a man here who wants to talk to you. " She said, all smiles. (Y/N) raised his brow in curiosity. He closed the book and put it aside, standing from the bed.

" What for? " (Y/N) asked as he followed Lisa through the halls. He wondered what it was. If it was GCPD, he won't talk. Again, he isn't a snitch.

" Oh don't worry, it's nothing really serious. Well- You know, you will see. " Lisa said, all smiles still.

" Oh no. " (Y/N) said quietly as they stopped at the director's office. She knocked before entering, letting (Y/N) go to the chair first then closed the door before sitting down herself.

(Y/N) turned his head and it was Bruce Wayne himself. What the hell?

" (Y/N), I have some good news for you. " The director started and (Y/N) felt nervous beyond belief now. And it had to involve Bruce Wayne somehow? Oh dear God.

" Bruce Wayne wants to adopt you. " The director said, clapping his hands. (Y/N)'s mouth dropped a little bit.

" What? " (Y/N) asked quietly, wondering what was happening. His mind couldn't even wrap itself around the concept of adoption.

" I know, it seems like a lot, but you are going to be adopted. " Director smiled and (Y/N) tried to say something, but couldn't.

" Now, you can go back to your room to pack up. " Director said and (Y/N) stood up, feeling like he could keel over at any point. Lisa went with him, seeing that he is very shocked. She saw that he didn't want to talk, but she was worried about him passing out on the way.

" Are you happy? " Lisa asked as they walked into (Y/N)'s room.

" I mean... " (Y/N) started talking as he took a sports bag. " I'm shocked. " (Y/N) whispered, packing his clothes. He took his personal stuff and put them in the bag.

" I know. But you have a chance to have a great life. " Lisa said, trying to help him out. (Y/N) sighed quietly as he packed up. He didn't have a lot either.

" I know. But still. " (Y/N) said, putting the bag on his shoulder. He looked back once more to see if he missed anything.

" Hey, if you ever need to talk, you can always talk to me. " Lisa said, giving him a quick hug before stepping aside to walk (Y/N) back to the office.

(Y/N) has never felt so nervous in his life. He only had his mother, but when she passed away, he ended up on the streets. Having a father figure now is something new to him. He didn't really don't know how to feel.

" Hey, don't worry. " Lisa said, putting a hand on his shoulder to bring him back from his head. (Y/N) nodded, but Lisa still knows that he never had a father figure. And fathers and mothers are very different parent types.

" He is aware of what you have been through. " Lisa tried to console him, but he didn't find any comfort in her words. He didn't like it at all.

It has been a year since he started living with Bruce Wayne and (Y/N) felt like he was out of place. The other kids are okay and they actually like him, but (Y/N) feels like he doesn't belong here. He is only used to mother like figures and connecting to Bruce in general is hard. To (Y/N) he looks like he is allergic to emotions.

Not to mention the fact that he is Batman and the others are Robins. He fainted when he found out and he was offered training to become a vigilante himself. (Y/N) thought about it for a long time.

It's a big commitment to become a vigilante. You need to keep your head calm and you yourself need to have the nerves to be patient. (Y/N) didn't think he could do it because there was so much anger inside of him.

It wasn't loud anger, no. It was quiet anger. It's a more dangerous type of anger and it's the one that eats you from the inside out. Not to mention, you need to be talkative, you need to talk through the comms and what not.

But (Y/N) didn't really enjoy it. He is an introverted person and he didn't really like to talk or go out somewhere and fight crime. But in the end, he thought about making a difference.

Will he make it though?

(Y/N) remembered every time he was out on the street. He stayed out of every ones way. Even though he had a great friend on the streets, he still never opened up to him fully. He has never bared his soul open for anyone to see.

He probably never will bare it to anyone. And one thing that made him think against being a vigilante was the fact that he can't really follow direction and orders.

But then again, maybe he is could make a difference. Batman can't eradicate crime, but he can give the city a boost and he has already given the criminals the fear. (Y/N) knew the fear very well. There was often a thought on his mind, whether or not Batman was watching.

But in the end, he decided to join. Bruce trained him and it felt weird to have some sort of guidance. And to have a support from a male figure is something... Nice and yet confusing beyond belief.

But he still couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that he had a father figure. And he felt some of the quiet anger disappear. It felt nice.

All of (Y/N)'s feelings boiled over when patrol went wrong. He disobeyed Bruce's direct orders. (Y/N) knew that he was in so much trouble, but the night has been so tiring and so exhausting. He got hurt, his body bruised and everything in him ached. He just wanted to take a cold shower and go to bed.

But that won't happen ever so easily.

(Y/N) walked off, not in the mood to listen to Bruce's lecture. It was just the two of them, since the others were busy with their own things. He didn't want to prolong this shit.

" (Y/N)! Stop right there! " Bruce yelled and Alfred turned his head. He knew that (Y/N) has put himself in danger by disobeying an order, but he couldn't stop his worry from showing on his face.

Oh no.

(Y/N) listened to Bruce, refusing to turn himself to face Bruce. He could feel anger rolling off of him in waves. He had to think of something that wouldn't result in him further angering Bruce.

" Turn around. " Bruce said, ever so calmly. (Y/N) knew that this is anything but calm. (Y/N) listened to the order, slowly turning.

Bruce's face was neutral, but (Y/N) saw anger in his eyes. Oh, he was in for a treat.

" You disobeyed a direct order! You could have died! " Bruce started and (Y/N) felt his fists clench. There was something building in his chest, something hot and heavy, settling near the heart.

" I had a plan! When I tell you to do something in the field, you listen to me! " Bruce kept on yelling and (Y/N) felt like he was going to keel over. He tried to unclench his fists, but he couldn't.

The anger had kept growing and growing.

" Why do you even care?! " (Y/N) yelled back, allowing the anger to take over. Bruce didn't even flinch at the yelling and he seemingly got louder.

" Because I'm your FATHER! " Bruce said, making sure to put importance on the word father. Something got triggered in (Y/N) and the thing that has settled near the heart exploded.

" YOU AREN'T MY FATHER AND I'M NOT YOUR SON! " (Y/N) yelled back with so much ferocity and so much anger that Bruce had to rear back a little bit.

The words stung a little bit and Bruce saw tears falling down (Y/N)'s face. (Y/N) took a deep breath before walking off up the surface and out of the cave. Bruce stood still and Alfred looked at one another.

" Well, I think he finally let it out. " Alfred said, trying to light up the mood, but it didn't work.

" Should I let him be for now? " Bruce wondered rubbing his face.

" Yes. He is at the moment angry and he needs to let it out. " Alfred said, rubbing the back of his neck.

While the two are having a discussion on what to do and how to approach (Y/N), the said boy ran to his room breaking down in the hall, just before entering. He fell down on his knees, sobbing quietly. He wiped his face before entering his dark room.

He quickly removed his suit before stepping into the shower. He showered with ice cold water to ease the pain of some bruises. He tried to calm down, but nothing worked. He changed into his pajamas and just crawled into bed.

He had no interest in staying awake anymore. But he couldn't go to sleep. Did he have to yell like that? Probably not. But those feelings are something that have been bubbling for a little over a year and if he kept them in for a while longer, it would eat him up completely.

But Bruce was very nice to him for the time (Y/N) has been here. (Y/N) closed his eyes as he tried to sleep, but he couldn't. His mom once said to never go to bed angry, but he was to stubborn too look for Bruce.

But it seems that fate would have it that Bruce seeks (Y/N) out first. Bruce entered the room quietly and (Y/N) was just still, pretending to be asleep. Bruce knows this trick very well, but he played along for (Y/N)'s sake.

Bruce sat on the edge of the bed, near his back. (Y/N) felt the bed dip and he remained still as possible.

" I know you think I don't care, but I do. You are my son no matter what and seeing you hurt on patrol made me feel scared. I shouldn't have yelled at you, but I was scared and angry at myself. " Bruce said and (Y/N) moved closer to Bruce, trying to find some comfort in his arms.

Bruce didn't say anything else as he embraced his son, who sobbed quietly in his embrace. Bruce knew that (Y/N) has never had a father figure in his life, but he didn't realize it was that bad.

Bruce would try to be better for (Y/N), but for now, the night is too fragile for something bigger. It was just enough for tonight.

#x male reader #dc x male reader #dc comics #bruce wayne x male reader #batman x male reader #fluff #some angst #fluff and angst

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flamingpudding · 5 months

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Lost in memories

A/N: personally I am currently hating myself and the writer part of my brain for this. This idea got stuck in my head after I read a couple of amnesiac Danny fics and prompts. I needed to get it out of my head because it occupied to much free estate and distracted me from other things. So with all ideas that bother me like this I write it out. Also I have no idea if I will continue on this or if I will leave it like this that depends on how much free estate it continues to occupies in my head. But here a warning. It's Angsty (?), but if I continue this it will probably be Angst with a happy ending.

Things were good. Danny was happy. After having lost everything before and after many struggles he was happy again, having gained a second family. They weren't replacing his previous family but they helped him fill the emptiness that nearly tore him apart before. They helped him over his grief and hurt as well as protected him from himself and others.

He had more brothers and sisters than before, he even was a big brother now. There was a father figure now also, one that was at least somewhat better at parenting that his father was before but well not perfect with still a bunch of faults Jazz would have loved to analyse. And a grandfather that made the best cookies he had ever eaten before. Best of all they had accepted him the way he was too, even his ghostlyness.

It was also an added bonus that his new family put in the effort to help him have a better schedule and a more regulated life. It came in handy when your entire new family was in the vigilante business and had experience in managing and balancing it. With them he was truly feeling safe and happy now and wished for it to last for as long as possible.

To the Waynes Danny was the baby of the family. Sure he wasn't the youngest, that was still Damian. But Danny was the most open about his feelings and his show of affection from the moment they had saved him and managed to keep him. Alfred wasn't even sure if it was Bruce that had initiated the adoption or if it were the children that did it. After all Jason had stated his brotherly claim on Danny first before Dick AND Damian fought him over it, leaving an opening for Tim and Duke whisking in by having shared interests only for Cass beat them all by gaining his trust first and giving her the favorite sibling spot.

Eitherway Danny had wormed his way into the Wayne family after all the initial struggles and trust issues and became the perfect addition. His way of openly showing how much he loved and cared about his new family quickly stirred the protectiveness the entire bat clan had over him. He might be not as innocent as he appears but to them Danny was the baby.

That was why they were in a close to panic state now.

There had been an oversight on their part. They thought that after dealing with the Anti-Ecto Acts and the disbanding of the Government branch dedicated to hunt beings like Danny that he would be save with them. That there was no danger to him anymore. That he could be free now and do what he wanted, be it a vigilante or life a semi normal life. Sure they knew about the small reminds of these people but, the bats had made sure they never would get even remotely close to Danny.

Jason especially had enjoyed hunting these guys.

Yet somehow a small group of them had managed to evade their attention. They had napped Danny from them. Tim and their ghost boy had been out on a coffee-run they had been discussing on of their latest invention they were working on together. Something that was going to emulate Danny's ice to make it easier to catch certain rogues. Tim had left Danny's side only shortly to get their coffee order but that little time frame had been enough.

At first Tim had thought that his little brother was pulling one of his vanishing pranks on him again. But when Danny didn't reappear no matter how long Tim waited or how much he looked for him, he had grown more and more worried. To the point that he messaged the group chat, alerting all their other siblings.

From there they quickly figured out thanks to the surveillance cameras that Danny got abducted. The fact that the group that took him used tech that Danny personally had shown to them before was the glaring fact that a leftover group was the culprit.

Of course they had instantly gone to rescue their brother. They hadn't forgotten the horrors they had seen before when they had disbanded the original government branch. Even Dick came from Bludhaven to help, knowing the seriousness of the situation.

Yet when they finally got to Danny, it made them feel like they had been too late. Unconscious and a lot of green red blood and wounds placed right where years old scarring was. It had driven Jason into a green haze, something that hadn't happened since Danny had joined the family.

Right now Danny laid unconscious in the medbay. Jason and Cass were with him. The second eldest Wayne had refused to leave Danny's side ever since they had recovered him. Tim wasn't too far away from there either, guilt making him unable to leave. Duke was the one staying next to him for comfort. Damian was pacing by the Batcomputer with Dick trying to help their youngest calming down while Bruce was working on finding if there was anything more they might have overlooked.

A crash in the medbay caused everything to stop. There was only one second of stillness before shouting resounded from there. Making them all rush towards it. But that was what appeared to make the situation worse.

The moment they burst through the door of the medbay they found their brother hovering near the ceiling, staring at them all wide eyed. One hand was clutching the area around his stomach, no doubt having reopened the wounds Alfred had stitched up with that special thread that was only used for Danny, while his other hand was outstretched towards them with a green glow.

"Danny calm down! You're safe!" They heard Dick shout as he tried to get closer but stopped when Jason held an arm out to stop them from getting closer, shaking his head as he glared. It wasn't a glare directed at them but something was clearly making him angry. That was when Damian noticed it, Danny had flinched back at Dick's shout.

He flinched back, from them, looking every bit like he was about to run away.

That was when the rest of them finally saw how Danny watched them with eyes blown wide and filled with fear and panic. But worst of all there was no recognition in his eyes. He looked like one of those affected by fear gas, even though that stuff didn't even work on Danny. He wasn't in a rational state of mind.

"Danny?" Tim carefully asked, he didn't step closer. Doing that right now would most likely trigger their brother even more, he remembered all too well how flighty Danny had been with them in the beginning. He exchanged side glances with his siblings. They needed to calm Danny down before he ripped open even more wounds. They could already see green red stains showing through the shirt Alfred had dressed him in earlier.

"Who…" Danny's voice was barely hearable, cracking even. There was a glass of water by the bedside table prepared for this. But there was no way they could get Danny to drink it right now.

"Who are you people?"

It wasn't often that one simple question could cause so much heartbreak at once. But if your loving brother that has known you for a little over a year or two, the one family member that showed you openly affection and constantly reminded you how much he cared and had come to love you, says it then there was no other way to avoid the pain it caused. None of them showed it but they all felt it the moment Danny finished his sentence.

All the bat siblings had one collective thought as Damian clicked his tongue in an especially frustrated and annoyed way.

I am going to murder these Guy's in White.

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armed-with-a-waffle-iron · 7 months

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Stephanie Brown ACTUALLY having the character arc that fanon pretends Jason Todd had (plus a defence of canon Jason)

What I'm really saying is that Stephanie Brown is underappreciated, Jason Todd is often misinterpreted, and, though it should go without saying, ignoring canon is poor media literacy. So let's actually analyse canon and get to the bottom of what the stories are trying to say and how they use their characters to tell this, as opposed to just which character should we stan.

I'm arguing that Stephanie Brown's story actually features a redemption arc that sees her transform from a violent, almost murderous teenager into the most unwaveringly hopeful of heroes and that Jason's story is about a villain who we're meant to empathise with to expose the cracks in the Batman's heroic facade; a Frankenstein's monster if you will. Here's a numbered list:

Part 1: Outgrowing Violence, Anger and Murder

A big part of Stephanie Brown's growth in canon is her learning not to kill or use excessive force. But it's not as simple as just killing is wrong, don't question it.

Let's begin with the narrative's relationship to violence, anger and murder. Why doesn't Batman kill? Because "[those] who [fight] with monsters might take care lest [they] thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you". If he kills, he's playing god, choosing who gets to live and die. No one deserves that kind of absolute power and absolute power also corrupts. Batman doesn't want to lose sight of himself or his cause. Deliberate murder is treated VERY negatively in the Batman mythos.

Enter Stephanie Brown.

Stephanie was a working class latchkey kid who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. She had an abusive, criminal father, who was in and out of jail, and a mother struggling with addiction, who Steph became a carer for at just 15. Steph also became pregnant with the child of her horrible ex. At 16, she gave birth to that child and had to give her up for adoption. Steph is also a survivor.

The world was never kind to Steph and left this teenager with a hell of a lot of bitterness and rage which her vigilante career became an outlet for. You can tell by the way she fights since Steph fights DIRTY; she'll tug hair and spit in your eyes and strike below the belt and catch a kick to twist your ankle and dislodge your already broken nose. On the one hand; the narrative tells us Steph is resourceful. She's 5'5", 130 lb and has zero powers, but can always find an opening even when going up against Gotham's grizzliest. It's telling that quick thinking, savviness and spontaneity become her thing when she becomes Batgirl; Steph is the wild card. On the other hand, she was a real diamond in the rough and a complete loose canon. In her first arc, it's Batman who stops her from making the biggest mistake of her life; killing her dad. To deliberately kill; to play god, is to lose yourself, remember. Her first arc is about not being defined by who your parents are and about not giving up on yourself. Batman basically tells her, there's hope for you yet Stephanie Brown, by getting her to spare her dad. And she does. And so began her superhero career.

Nonetheless, it's never that simple. Steph is still a bitter, angry teenager, no matter how many jokes she cracks. It becomes a personal crusade when she, now Robin, discovers that The Penguin is using children as runners. It takes Cassandra Cain to stop her from inflicting anything she may regret.

The narrative wants to show us how cruel the world can be and that it isn't black and white, either. The story ends with an angry Stephanie lamenting "why". It's a "why" she is asking herself too. Why does she do what she does? And it informs us that she, and maybe us the reader too, still have a lot to learn. Murder's not the answer but what is?

Stephanie later saves Bruce by almost murdering serial killer Victor Zsasz. Bruce reprimands her and she cries, quite honestly, "I don't get it, I really don't", following on from where we left off in Batgirl. "There are always other options than to kill" asserts Bruce, forget not being on the same page, they're reading different books. The thesis of the story is what Bruce should have told Steph when she was an angry 15 year old about to murder her dad; "[those] who [fight] with monsters might take care lest [they] thereby become a monster". The world's cruel, Steph, but that doesn't mean you have to be too. "Are you firing me?" "No, I'm teaching you".

Over 2 years down the line, an around 19 year old Stephanie, establishing herself as the new, hoping-inspiring Batgirl, is now teaching a brash Damian Wayne what she's learned.

"To murder or not to murder" is just a plot device to the themes of overcoming your own anger at the world's cruelty to contribute good, coming to terms with shades of grey, not giving up on yourself and staying hopeful in the face of adversity and horror. These are Stephanie's arcs and as a consequence, she goes from would-be-murderer to Gotham's cheeriest caped crusader.

Part 2: Double Standards and Second Chances

Another huge part of Stephanie's story is her overcoming double standards and doubters, to earn her own second chances. Her resurrection and rise to the role of Batgirl were choices made to hammer home this theme; it's never too late to turn things around.

There's some juicy metatext to analyse here too. DC editorial's treatment of Stephanie during War Games was horrific and panned by both fans and writers. To reperate for these harms, Steph was retconned back to life and then made Batgirl during Batman: Reborn. Here's a quote by Batgirl (2009) author Bryan Q. Miller on what his run aimed to bring out of Steph:

The whole point of Stephanie's resurrection and take over of the Batgirl title was to give her a redemption arc.

In text, Stephanie was unfairly treated too, notwithstanding that she was brash and had a massive violent streak in her Spoiler and Robin days. Tim Drake constantly condescends her and tells her to give up vigilante life, even though she was ALWAYS a match for Tim according to Convergence: Batgirl. Cassandra Cain constantly underestimates Steph. Bruce Wayne tells his allies to cut off ties with Steph and then later fires her as Robin for DISOBEYING HIM as if that's not the first thing Dick Grayson ever did as Robin. Barbara Gordon tells Steph she has a death wish. Dick deems Steph too reckless (moments before he resurrects a zombie Batman). And Damian is an entitled brat who gives her a hard time for no reason. Everyone doubts Stephanie and it generally says more about the doubter than it does Stephanie.

Stephanie was never great with authority or criticism so she still went out there and earned her second chance. And it felt rewarding when her doubters came around too.

Stephanie was brought back from the dead to be redeemed and man did she take that chance!

Part 3: What is Jason Todd's Story Meant to Tell Us and My Defence of Canon Jason

Jason Todd returns from the dead as a ghost of Batman's past; he is the living embodiment of Batman's greatest mistake who couldn't stay buried and is back to haunt him. He's a character we are meant to empathise with but he's a villain nonetheless. He's not irredeemable but for the most part his story is not really about redemption. Succinctly, it revolves around the idea that "we are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell” to quote Oscar Wilde.

When we first meet the resurrected Jason, he's a cold-blooded murderer who's slinging guns and using The Joker's old moniker. These choices are made to emphasise that he went down the wrong path; he's breaking Batman's "don't play god" rule and his actions become eerily closer to those of the Clown Prince of Crime than Batman's. In fact Nightwing and Batman spend some quality time together in the next two issues because Nightwing is the foil to the Red Hood; he's what Bruce considers his greatest success. Remember that thing about "those who [fight] with monsters might take care lest [they] thereby become a monster"? Well Jason DID become a monster. And if he's the monster, then Bruce Wayne is Frankenstein.

We're not supposed to think "yes, kill the The Joker, Jason", we're supposed to think "good god, please Jason, it's not too late to turn your life around". Here's Dick and Jason being the exact opposite of each other, an issue apart.

So what was Jason's villainous return trying to say? For one, that people are the products of their circumstance, lest we forget Jason was once an eager and studious Robin who just wanted to be part of something greater when life, but specifically Bruce, sent him awry. This is also a story about Bruce which tells us says that our mistakes have consequences that don't stay buried, and that we will always be forced to reckon with our histories or it becomes everyone's problem. This next panel shows this best. All of Jason's killing and torture and fear-spreading and chaos does not come down to some "murder or not to murder" debate, it comes down to his relationship with Bruce. He is the monster that Frankenstein created who's back to haunt him and no one is safe.

Jason's initial Red Hood arcs were never supposed to pose the question "should Batman kill The Joker or not?". The answer is no and always has been. They are supposed to show us how Bruce's poor fatherhood of and partnership with Jason Todd led to all this horror. And Bruce can't turn back the clock, he has to reckon with the consequences of his actions in the present or more people will get hurt. It's significant that these first arcs don't end with Jason returning to the manor and seeking help surrounded by family.

We then see Jason and his issues with Bruce threaten the lives of others like when he beat Tim half to death twice, tried to blow up Mia Dearden and then tried to become a murderous, gun-touting Batman after Bruce's "death".

Once Dick Grayson becomes Batman, the narrative sheds a bit more light on how Bruce's Frankenstein created a monster in Jason; Bruce wanted Jason to be another Dick Grayson.

The red hair is a perfect metaphor. Jason is naturally red-haired and he is now balding because Bruce made him dye his hair black so he'd look like Dick as Robin. That sums it up for me. Bruce really created his own demon here and Dick, as the new Batman, is trying to make amends with the sins of the Batman's past. Jason's a great choice for a Dick Grayson villain because of their histories, considering Dick Grayson is the legacy Batman.

"I tried really hard to be what batman wanted me to be...which is you." Jason tells Dick.

That line is so painful and way more recognisable and relatable than anything fanon has produced.

"But this world...this dirty, twisted, cruel and ugly dungheap had...other plans for me."

Look no further, this is who Jason Todd is.

That's a powerful story if you ask me, and this is why I like Jason Todd as a character; a villain I pity deeply, who is portrayed as a product of their circumstances without diminishing their agency and who makes me see the cracks in the hero's facade because they are the monster our "hero" created. He's also a very nuanced foil to the ever-shining light that is Dick Grayson. The appeal to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein isn't that the monster murdered people. I also would never swap canon Jason out for, I dunno, Wayne Family Adventures Jason who's the amalgamation of 3 or 4 common fanon tropes. This is my two cents.

#stephanie brown that ball of anger and vengeance that we saw grow into one of the most well-rounded capable and cheerful bats around #stephanie brown #vengeance is purple #fanon vs canon #jason tood #robin #batgirl #the spoiler #red hood #batman and robin #dc comics #comics #metas #batman #batfam #wayne family adventures #bruce wayne #dick grayson

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solar-wing · 9 months

Text

⚣ Duke To The Rescue 💈

⚣💈A/N → Usually, I write my reader characters as general as possible in all manors of looks and traits so as many people as possible can relate (whether male or g/n). But, I wanted to give some special attention since I rarely see any content like this being an African-American writer and reader myself. Hope you all like it! Plus, this is triggering some dark memories of when I used to get my hair cut so enjoy my pain lol.

⚣💈 Summary → You're the newly adopted Wayne kid after your parents are caught in the crossfire of one of Batman's battles. Bruce, trying to prove himself a better father, attempts to do your hair but since he knows nothing about African-American haircare, you're in for a painful ride. Your poor hairline...

⚣💈 Words → 2.0k

REBLOGS and replies are greatly appreciated, please!💛

⚣ ENJOY 💈

“Okay, so how do I do this?” Your dear old dad asks.

“I don’t know! I’m just a kid! Aren’t you supposed to be the parent and know these things?” You asked with your hands waving around animatedly as you sat on a stool chair taken from the dining room into one of the many bathrooms.

Bruce gave you his signature frown while looking at the assortment of combs and hair products on the sink.

After your parents had gotten caught in the crossfire between Batman and one of his notable nemeses, the billionaire decided to take you in, making you an official Wayne kid.

For a 7-year-old, you were very knowledgeable. Something your new legal guardian immediately noticed after adopting you, and because of your age, you were now officially the youngest kid Bruce had taken in.

You were also the only other African-American kid Bruce decided to take in outside of Duke. And that didn’t even really technically count since Duke was already a teenager by the time Bruce officially adopted him.

So, your adopted father was at a loss for words while staring in the mirror at your hair while you played games on his phone. Your hair had grown to a considerable length, and you’d been asking your adoptive father for a while now to help you get this new style that was becoming more popular called ‘twists.’ Well, new to you since you hadn’t seen it before.

‘I thought that was a dance move.’ Bruce thought to himself.

When you showed him the video you saw, the Dark Knight persona immediately decided he was taking you to a professional barber who knew more about your hair texture and maintenance to give you what you needed.

At least until Jason ran his big mouth.

“Wow, old man. Can’t even take care of your own kid’s hair. Shameful.”

He was really just patronizing the older man, always enjoying the moments when he got a reaction from him now and then. But, he’d begun to regret that decision when he along with your other siblings saw Bruce carrying an armful of hair products and tools to the upstairs bathroom while holding your hand in his other hand leading you upstairs.

It was quite comical seeing the frightened look you threw at your second oldest brother as he along with your other siblings watched Bruce’s towering frame lead your tinier one up the grand staircase with you looking like you were heading for your doom.

In hindsight, you might have been, and Jason could only smile sheepishly at you as Bruce led you toward the bathroom.

Now, they all stood outside the bathroom watching their shared father struggle as he read over the ingredients from the different hair products.

“How bad do you think this is gonna go?” Steph asked.

“Oh, I’m betting on a full shit show within the first 10 minutes,” Dick said while munching on some popcorn.

“10? You’re too graceful dickhead. I’m betting 3 and half minutes tops.” Jason threw out while reaching to grab some popcorn before having his hand slapped by the acrobat. “Hey!” He yelled in offense before getting into a sorta-ish fight with Dick, trying to tug the bag of popcorn from him.

“Cut it out, you two! You act like wild children throwing tantrums.” Damian snapped at the two vigilantes.

“Says the actual child who throws ninja stars and daggers during a tantrum when daddy grounds him from patrol,” The Red Hood persona remarked, stuffing his mouth with a handful of buttery popcorn after nabbing the bag from his older brother who was now mean-muggin' the shit of him.

Damian growled at Jason, rolling up his sleeves before Steph grabbed him by the back of his shirt, pulling him back to his place. The second Robin laughed while taunting the young assassin, throwing kernels at his face.

While that was going on, you sat and watched Bruce read label after label on the various hair-care product bottles.

“Uh, Bruce, are you sure we can’t just go to a barber?” You asked, a fearful tone evident in your voice which did not do well for Bruce’s confidence. Even as a 7-year-old, you could tell when a situation was about to go left without the side comments from your adoptive siblings.

“No, no, Y/N! I got this. What kind of father would I be if I didn’t take care of my own child’s hair.” Bruce said while reading the red bottle. He was holding his phone in the other hand, reading a review online under his breath, “...mixed with a high amount of sulfates to help cleanse build-up of oils and other products in the hair.”

“You realize Jason was joking, right? Right?! Jason, tell him you were joking!” You frantically shouted, turning in your seat towards the vigilante who held a sheepish smile while his mouth was full of popcorn.

“I was joking.” He tried to say, words muffled by his chewing.

“Y/N, calm down. If Bruce can handle taking down crazy madmen and women at night as Batman, how hard could it be to do a simple hairstyle?” Tim spoke trying to reassure you.

And it almost worked…until you felt Bruce try to brush your hair with what you were sure was Stephanie’s hair brush.

“Is that my hairbrush?” Steph asked.

“It says I’m supposed to pick his hair out before washing? Is brushing not the same as picking?” Bruce asked, looking at his kids with the most confused face.

“I’ll pray for you at your funeral, Y/N.”

The desperate and confused face on Bruce's face was actually so adorable that if you weren’t terrified for your scalp (and life) at that moment, you would’ve hugged him just to help him feel better.

Cass had walked into the bathroom before grabbing a larger comb off the counter and switching it with the hairbrush in Bruce’s hands before returning the purple hair tool to its rightful owner.

“Thanks, Cass,” Steph said.

‘You’re welcome.’ She signed back.

“Alright, here we go,” Bruce uttered before grabbing your shoulder and placing the comb at the base of your scalp, pulling back to ‘pick’ through your hair.

“Ow, OW, OOOWWWWWW!” You shouted in pain while holding on to the counter for dear life, feeling like your face would tear in half.

“Bruce, you’re going to rip his head off!” Dick yelled, coming to your rescue, “You gotta comb from the sides.”

He pulled the comb to the side of your hair causing your head to yank in that direction.

“OW!”

“Whoops, okay, maybe that was wrong,” Dick said, smiling in apology at you.

“Alright, you idiots, get out of the way. Looks like another issue I have to take care of for you.” Jason stated, placing the popcorn down before cracking his knuckles which really did not help ease the nerves and fear you were feeling in your stomach. He pulled up his sleeves and licked the butter off his fingers, which, gross by the way, “You gotta pull with some strength.”

“OOOWWW!” You yelled, glaring hard at your older brother who once again just smiled sheepishly at you.

“You guys are hopeless,” Tim sighed, grabbing the comb only to make it worse by tangling more into your hair.

“TIM!” You screamed.

“Maybe I’m hopeless too.” He said, a confused expression taking over his face as he tried to figure out how to solve this.

“Okay, simpletons. Move over.” Damian said.

Your eyes went wide at that.

“UH UH, back away gremlin!” You grabbed the nearest thing that could be considered a weapon which turned out to be another hairbrush. Not even caring, you decided you would make it work.

Damian was not allowed anywhere near your hair.

“What the- I’m older than you!”

“So?!”

“Fair point, brother.”

Stephanie tried to help but only managed to get the comb fully lost in your hair. You could feel yourself getting dizzy and a headache coming on as your head had been yanked back and forth in different directions.

As your family was busy yelling back and forth at each other while playing tug-of-war with your scalp, none of them even noticed when Duke came up the stairs, confused by all the chaos.

“What’s going on?” The Signal persona asked Cassandra.

‘They’re trying to do Y/N’s hair,” She signed.

Duke’s eyes went wide as he heard your cries of pain before rushing into the bathroom.

The tears forming in your eyes were clear as day as your tiny hands gripped the counter with everything you had, feeling like if you’d let go at any moment, you’d be yanked out of the chair and swung back and forth like a yo-yo. Duke also saw Damian creeping through the mess to grab at the tangled comb in your hair, giving it a yank causing another cry of pain from you making him smirk in cruel enjoyment.

“Hey!” Duke screamed at the top of his lungs, effectively shutting everyone up and turning their attention toward him. “Everyone out!” He pointed his thumb behind him. They all quickly shuffled out of the bathroom, mumbling to themselves while Bruce remained behind, looking quite beside himself.

Duke picked up the bottle the older man was holding in his hand before turning it over, seeing the ingredients and what he had pulled up on his phone.

“Really, Bruce? Sulfate?” Duke said.

The billionaire only groaned before his forehead fell into this palm, “I should’ve just taken him to a barber.” He grumbled,

Duke looked towards you, seeing how tense you were and the fresh tears in your eyes from the amount of pain your scalp was in.

“Don’t worry, little bud, I got ya.”

~~~

A few hours later, everyone was waiting in the kitchen while Alfred served refreshments before hearing your happy feet skipping down the hallway, Duke right on your trail. Your hair was done, washed and conditioned, and twisted right into the style you wanted.

“Ta-da!” You yelled upon entering the kitchen, opening your arms as if you were giving a grand finale. A mix of delightful reactions and cheers filled the room from your family members, everyone smiling at how excited you looked. Even JDamian, despite how small it was.

“Wow! Look at you, Y/N,” Dick said, biting into an apple.

“Hold still! I’ve got to get pictures for my feed.” Steph said while coming to take some pics of you.

“You look quite charming if I do say so myself, Master Y/N,” Alfred said, before handing you a cookie.

“Thanks, Alfred!” You said, happily munching on the treat, before climbing into one of the stools without any assistance. Okay, you had a little help from Jason to make sure you didn’t slip, but since he didn’t mention it, neither would you.

Bruce walked up to Duke, who was still standing by the entrance to the kitchen leaning against the wall.

“Thank you, Duke.” He said, patting his shoulder, which was weird for Bruce, but he was learning how to show more affection to his kids now that he had you so everyone was slowly getting used to it.

They were also weirded out by it too.

“No problem. Just glad I got here when I did. By the way, why didn’t you just take him to a barber?” He asked.

Bruce looked reluctant to say, so the brown-skinned boy didn’t push it, “Don’t worry. I won’t ask. But, if you want me to teach you how to take care of it, just ask. I learned from watching my parents do my hair growing up. Then, when I kind of had to start taking care of myself in the foster system, I picked up some different tricks here and there.” He explained, answering Bruce’s questions before he could even ask.

“Thank you,” The older man said before their heads turned at the sound of you screaming.

They saw Damian next to you with another smirk as you rubbed the back of your still tender head with an irritated grimace at the youngest Robin.

“Damian!” Bruce shouted.

“What? That’s what he gets for calling me a gremlin.” Damian said before he felt a harsh tug on his own hair, looking back to see you with your own mischievous smile.

“Ow!”

“Now, we’re even, gremlin.”

☀️ | Bat Family | ☀️

☀️ | Masterlists | ☀️

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phantomposting · 1 year

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Time for another soupy 4am half asleep romps cause this idea is keeping me awake. Sorry in advance for grammatical and spelling errors.

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So I've been stuck hyperfixated on twin aus lately cause I'm an absolute sucker for supportive found family stuff. However I've begun to run out of ideas to rotate in my brain and timeline out. This one popped in my head yesterday tho and it's been stuck in my noggin ever since.

Instead of just one twin going missing from the league on a mission both end up lost. Maybe the league assumes Damian and Danyal died and the bodies simply couldn't be recovered. Either way they stick together both ending up with the Fenton's in aminty Park Illinois.

Damian is still his prideful headstrong self. It takes him a long time to actually bond with Jazz due to his stand offish nature. But eventually they become close. Danny has just about the same character development but he is inseparable with Damian and Damian helps him become a little more self confident.

When it's time for the accident to occur both twins are caught in it. Both gain ghost powers and walk the fine live between dead and alive. Danny has a protection obsession and a minor space obsession, Damian has a protection obsession in the sense he must keep his family safe and his minor obsession is animals.

Danny takes up the alias Phantom and Damian takes up Ghoul. Together they make an unstoppable undead vigilante duo many of the ghost rouges refer to as the demon twins. Damian absolute retained more of his league training than Danny so Damian has an easier time at the whole ghostly hero biz than Danny. But he's very encouraging towards Danny in the hopes up helping him and his confidence. Probably has a bit that focuses mainly on that struggle with his confidence.

Phantom still has his white hair and green eyes and ice core and Ghoul has white hair and blue eyes and a shadow core. With this shadow core he can manipulate the shadows to give him the cover of darkness or make shadowy weapons. He uses this to take a more stealthy assassin approach to his heroing.

Eventually down the line the Fenton parents fond out Damian and Danny's secret. I like to think Danny couldn't stand to keep it a secret anymore but Damian didn't deem it safe enough to open up yet. As a result Danny opens up only about himself which leads to Jack and Maddie trying to "fix" him. Damian rescues him and they go on the run.

They end up on Gotham and the bats start getting suspicious of the two meta children going around fighting crime in their city. Don't they know there's a no metas rule?

Chaos ensues and Bruce finds out that these two homeless meta twins are actually his children and he has to slowly earn these kids trust so he can help them and bring them into the family. Lots of chaos, trauma, and happy moments later and the whole batclan welcomes the two with open arms :D

#danny phantom #dp x dc #batman crossover #dp au #damian wayne #danny and damian are twins #writing prompt #not as detailed as i wanna be #sorry im so sleepy it bled into this one a bit #i hope it's still enjoyable despite the half asleepness

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lazydoodlesandfanfic · 2 years

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Turning Into Jason (Bruce Wayne X Daughter!Reader) *PARENTAL

Characters: Bruce Wayne X Daughter!Reader, Jason Todd X Sister!Reader

Universe: DC, Batman

Warnings: Murder, attempted murder (both off screen) blood and violence, swearing

Request: Bruce's daughter killing someone in cold blood on a mission out of anger (they disserved it tbh) and bruce having to talk her out of becoming like jason. (She doesn't listen tho.)

Bruce had long learned about the complexity of having multiple children, and their relationships with each other; Dick seemed to get along with everyone for the most part, though he got along best with Tim and Duke, Tim, Duke and Cass got along quite well, as well as with Damian in a strange way, Damian mostly hid any actual preference or feelings behind a cold exterior, but as referenced earlier, he got along strangely with Tim, and he also had a rather healthy relationship with Cass. However, there were two odd ones in that group: You and Jason. Jason, being the second oldest, was always standoff-ish, had a temper and had never really gotten close to anyone in the family, always keeping a wall between himself and others, even more so after his resurrection. You were quite similar, though several years younger. By the time you joined the family, Jason had died, been resurrected, and was on speaking terms with the family again, and when he came to see his new sibling, you two immediately connected very similarly to the way that the others had connected with each other. At the time, this had actually made Bruce happy- a sort of reassurance that you had someone, and so did Jason. Someone you actually related to to help each other in rough patches.

Well, now that wasn’t the case. Honestly, Bruce blamed himself for not thinking about the fact that Jason- his wild child and the one who actively doesn’t listen to him and goes out of his way to kill criminals, was so close to his little sister, an impressionable teen who looked up to him and saw herself in him in so many ways. He should have talked to you- or Jason, about keeping you away from that side of Jason’s work, or maybe not have involved you in the vigilante lifestyle at all. Because you’d done it. You’d crossed the line. You killed someone.

Bruce wasn’t sure what to do, in all honesty. You had been out on Patrol unsupervised, and it was a busy night so it took a moment for anyone to realised you hadn’t checked in for a while, and then they couldn’t get ahold of you, leading to your father going to search for you, leaving strict instructions to hold off on telling Jason, knowing he’d kick off and go full guns blazing, and he was glad they’d listened. He was able to trace your steps, and soon found you heaving for breath, sat against a wall in an alley, covered in blood with a distant look in your eye. Bruce immediately presumed you were hurt, in shock and struggling to process anything. Then he saw the body further down the dark and damp snicket, not moving in any way. He went over to the man, confirming he was dead- with a cut to the throat of all things, the weapon- a batarang- nearby. Bruce picked up the weapon, turned back to you, walked over, grabbed your arm and heaving you up, and pulled you home, where you were now.

You were still in your vigilante attire, though the mask was off, and you hadn’t moved from the chair that your father had sat you down in. He didn’t know what to say and where to start. He wanted to yell at you till his voice was hoarse, asking, begging, demanding that you give him answers to what happened and what led you to that point, but then he remembered how he did that to Jason, and how it only widened the gap between him and his second eldest, contributing to the domino effect that led to his death. He’d grown from that, at least he hoped he had, and he tried to prove that by waiting to gather himself in some way, promising that he was going to do this right this time, but he didn’t know what the right action was yet. He didn’t want to give you in, and your actions since he had found you had made him believe something happened that you hadn’t told him yet. He needed to talk to you. Alone. No Jason, no Alfred, no one else. He pulled a seat up, sitting down and facing you, arms resting on his knees. You were sitting back in your seat, arms flopped in your lap, head low, an almost dead look behind your eyes, not really looking at anything. “Y/N?” He called your name, and almost immediately your eyes looked up at him, meeting his own. “I don’t think you need me to say that I’m not happy about this. At all. You know we have a no kill rule, and for good reason, so you better have a pretty good reason.”

You didn’t answer him immediately. Instead, your eyes wandered down to your hands, still covered in the man’s blood, though no longer wet, and now soaking moisture out of your skin. You lightly picked and pulled pieces away from your skin. “You know those murders happening?”

“You need to be more specific.” Bruce hated that he had to say that, but it was true. Murder was daily occurence in this city, no matter how hard he tried.

“There’s been a series of murders on young women in that specific area. I always like to note down every case across the city just in case I notice a pattern and a link and… I found one. All the victims have similar appearances, similar age, and were killed in similar fashion. All were different from the usual attacks, and I realised it might be a serial killer…”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and be completely wrong and cause panic. I actually hoped I was wrong and none of these cases were linked, but… I decided to gather more evidence first before showing it to you. I went to investigate the location of where one of the women was found and… he showed up while I was there. I was looking for anything the police missed or left behind, and he came up behind me and-”

“What the fuck happened?”

The voice interrupted your explanation, and both yourself and Bruce became tense, knowing who that voice belonged to. Jason. He came rushing out of the elevator from upstairs, practically shoving Bruce to the side to look at you, ripping off his helmet so you could see him properly as he examined your hands, and then the blood on the rest of the clothes. “It was an accident. He was gonna kill me. I didn’t know what else to do.” You started to crumble so easily now that he was there, and Bruce watched as you let yourself immediately break down, becoming vulnerable and showing all your weakness in the presence of your big brother, who immediately made you feel safe with a soothing shush and pulling you into his arms as you started to sob. He got his answer. He now knew what happened. He of course still wasn’t happy it happened, but… He understood.

“You did the right thing. You shouldn’t feel bad for defending yourself, you hear me?” Jason assured you. You nodded, sniffing as you pulled away, but still leant forward to be close to Jason, who still remained knelt down in front of you. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

“She went off by herself to investigate a possible serial killer.”

“Oh? You got a serial killer? That’s great! Do you have any idea how many people you’ve probably saved? Think about it. That’s pretty special.” Jason responded to Bruce’s little comment, being complimentary and keeping his voice low, calm and kind when talking to you still, though there was a dog whistle of a threat in there that Bruce heard loud and clear, backed up when Jason looked over his shoulder to glare freezing, deadly daggers at him, telling to shut up. “But you’ll still feel bad for taking someone’s life. That’s normal, it’s expected, and it’ll be hard to deal with, but I’ll help you, okay?” Jason promised, looking back at you. “Want me to stay over for a few days? Help with any nightmares?”

“Yes please.” You answered quietly. Jason nodded, standing up in front of you.

“Go take a bath, I’ll be up in a bit to set up a bed on your floor, if you need me, holler.” Jason told you, and you quietly and quickly walked to the elevator, head still low, still picking at your hands. The second the door shut, Jason turned to Bruce, and pointed to him. “Don’t you fucking dare blame her for what happened.”

“Jason-”

“You heard her! She was attacked by a killer. He was gonna kill her, and she had no choice but to fight back with whatever she had available. It was him or her, be glad your daughter’s alive. Imagine if you found her dead, not him. Could you live with yourself if you lost another one of your children to a murderer?” Jason questioned, not caring if his voice echoed through the cave, disrupting the bats ahead, because he knew Bruce needed to hear it.

“...I’m afraid she’s turning into you.”

“Oh don’t you dare.” Jason growled, sort of pacing in an infrequent manner without pattern around the man, who remained perfectly still, not moving except his eyes who followed his second oldest. “Don’t you dare compare her to me. She is so much better than me. I know I’m a cold hearted son of a bitch, but her? She gives a fuck about Gotham, she wants to do what’s right still, and believe it or not, she wants to do you proud, she still has hope. This… accident will change her. It might break her. I don’t know to what extent, but what she needs is her family backing her up, being there for her, not demonising her and having her compared to the black sheep of the family, essentially threatening to disown her for not dying for your pathetic cause!” He snapped. The words made Bruce flinch slightly, though he hid it by looking down and making it seem like a long blink. Deep down, no matter how much it hurt, he knew Jason was right. He still didn’t know how to handle situations like these. He didn’t understand Jason, and he didn’t understand you. But Jason did. And so, with great reluctance, Bruce spoke up.

“You know her best. What should I do? To help her?” He asked quietly, just above a whisper. This seemed to be the right answer, snuffing out Jason’s fuse, at least for a moment.

“When everyone gets back, you explain to them what happened. Carefully. You tell them how Y/N was attacked by a serial killer, and in self defense, killed him. You tell them how she’s clearly shook up by the event, because she is. You make sure they don’t see her as another criminal, because if she feels like the people who are supposed to have her back are turning on her for this… then she will turn into me, and trust me, no one wants that. Especially me.”

Hope you like it! If you have any questions, please send them in!

*Not my gif

TAGS: @freyathehuntress @courtneychicken @graysonmalfoy @bellero @originalpottervengerlock @supernatural-pan @esoltis280 @lady-of-lies @lenaswritingandstuff @macbetheliza @mandywholock1980 @cdwmtjb8 @caswinchester2000 @determinedpines @huntheimpossible

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haloabove · 1 month

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Do you have a personal preference for how Bruce should behave in his civilian and vigilante persona respectively?

For example: Should he play up the dumb himbo angle, should he use excessive violence, does he do talk shows, is he straight/bisexual, etc, does/should he have kids, how is his relationship with Alfred (i.e. employee/employer or father-and-son, I don't mean romantic), is his smile obviously fake or can people not tell,...?

You can answer whatever you like, that list is just to give examples. Would love to hear your own headcanons, too!!

Have a nice day!! <3

Hello!! This is such an amazing question, I’ve been thinking about it for a bit now and here’s what i have for you :D (Its a long one so I’ve put it all under the cut)

I do think Bruce has a bit of a “snobby rich boy” persona especially when it comes to press because he’s overly protective of his privacy and in his mind that also includes his real personality. However, anyone that has spoken to him at events understands that this persona crumbles the moment someone challenges his intelligence. He knows he’s smart and he’s not afraid to show it if someone questions it but until then snobby Bruce stays at the forefront.

Im a strong believer in Bruce being a charming man and he knows how to use it to his advantage. He can talk his way out of any situation, a flash of his smile and a few charming words and people will do anything he wants. So when his company gets bad press or a rumour is spreading about him that he needs to nip at the bud, he’ll slowly increase the press appearances and maybe he’ll flirt with someone and let the media he controls snap a few shots and suddenly he’s working the narrative into something that benefits him and whatever he needs. It’s dirty play but the man never knew how to play clean.

I do think Bruce is bisexual and is fairly open about it but the man has never been in a relationship with anyone long enough to know what fits well for him outside of a purely physical relationship. As for if he has kids, I like to think he has his robins but the Bruce I have in my mind was never made to be a father. That’s not to say he wouldn’t be a good dad if it came down to it but he’s spent so much of his life just him and Alfred that when he has to suddenly stop his very active life for a person who is wholly dependent on him, I just don’t think he’d cope well when it comes to caring for young kids. However, I think he would be much better with older children (like 16-19 year olds) because while children still need affection from parents (which i think he would give in his own way), older teenagers are much less dependent on a parent which is the main aspect he would probably struggle with.

With his relationship with Alfred, I’m a big fan of the (not quite) father-son dynamic for them. Alfred raised Bruce for most of his life and Bruce probably views him as a father figure but will not see him as his father because neither of them will lean into that. Alfred views Bruce as a son he didn’t have, the son that he should never have had to take in. He saw him through the murder of both of his parents and had to emotionally support him through so many major life moments, filling in for where both his parents should’ve stood. At some point, it probably became less about how this is his job and more about keeping Bruce happy and healthy and letting him grow into a person Thomas and Martha Wayne would’ve been proud of.

As for the Batman persona, I’m really not sure about his whole “no-kill” policy because as a vigilante, should he have special rights into taking a criminal’s life but also then we also have to account for the view of should we be killing criminals or rehabilitating them which is a whole other kettle of fish I’m sure Bruce Wayne thinks about a lot. I don’t see why he should be excessively violent but i can understand the concept of equal force of violence. if a criminal knifes an innocent then Batman would have the right to stab them back, I think Bruce would follow this as much as he could but the man is 100% torn up about the ethics of his vigilantism sometimes but if he dwells too much on it then it’ll probably send him into a spiral so he doesn’t.

#halo is yapping #this was such an interesting question #if you want more on the topic please ask and ill keep going

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dysfunctional-family-fight · 9 months

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Propaganda for the Batfamily

"Constantly fighting, and trying to kill each other. Also are fighting the mentally I’ll at 2 in the morning while wearing glorified tights and bat ears"

"*gestures vaguely at every batfam story ever* No but like they’ve got so many issues idk where to start. Jason’s death and all the shit he started post resurrection? Damian straight up trying to kill Tim for while back in the day? Bruce’s questionable and inconsistently written parenting skills? Also they’re all vigilantes which in Gotham means they definitely have issues"

"Thomas and Martha Wayne got murdered and it's all been downhill from there"

"Bruce dresses up as a bat to fight crime and Alfred, failing to stop him, adopts a "well if you're going to do it then at least do it where I can see that you'll be safe" attitude and helps from behind the scenes. Bruce in turn adopts a child called Dick. And then a child called Jason. And then a Cass and a Tim and a Duke. It doesn't really work out with a Steph but she's family anyway. Damian doesn't need adopting because he's Bruce's bio kid that he didn't know existed for ten years. And all of the children are SO determined to fight crime that the combined forces of Bruce and Alfred aren't enough to stop them, and one by one they all become vigilantes (Bruce also adopting Alfred's attitude from before). Most of them die at least once. None of them are good at coping OR communicating OR feelings OR being a member of a functioning family but by god if they aren't trying to help. Sometimes the world, sometimes each other. They usually fare better with the former. Bruce and Dick yell at each other about everything under the sun that parents and eldest children yell at each other about. Jason is angry at Bruce because the Joker is still alive after he killed Jason. Bruce is angry at Jason for killing people. Cass is away from home a lot. Tim takes even worse care of himself than the others (on page). Duke is... actually doing pretty okay if not counting the fact that his parents got jokerised and his new family is This. Damian struggles with not killing people and a rampant animal adoption addiction. They all struggle with abandonment issues. The rest of them struggle for screentime. It's like that one vine with the girl who goes "please god, let me have just one good day" and god answers "oh my god you again? give it a rest buddy" where the family (both as a collective and as individuals) is the girl and DC Comics is god."

1 all of them have tried to kill each other at least once

2 bruce wayne is a kind of shitty dad

3 everyone but bruce and alfred were child soldiers (ish)

4 dick grayson has beefed with multiple 12 year olds after he had already grown up and moved out

5 cannot overemphasize the murders and bodily harm

6 one time bruce got lost in the timestream (comics) and everyone but tim thought he was dead and tim was like “hes alive” and everyone kinda bullied the shit out of him for it

7 one time jason got murdered by a guy and then several years later dick put him in prison down the hall from the guy

8 one time bruce beat the everloving shit out of jason for shooting a guy with a blank

9 another time bruce refused to tell jason about who killed his dad despite knowing full well

10 bruce is the main reason jason died at age 15 in the first place

11 the amount of beatings dick grayson took throughout the 50s and 60s is frankly absurd

12 in the injustice universe damian got dick killed and then bruce screamed at damian for “killing his son” despite damian also being his son. then damian joined the league of super fascists against his dad (who beat him up a lot) and then his dad put him in prison

13 bruces uncle isnt in the batfamily but after bruces traumatic orphaning his uncle did more traumatic stuff to him

"Several attempted murders, several arrests of each other, general disdain and massive fights, love that is destructive to all parties, and an inability to communicate"

"they're a family full of extremely traumatized child soldiers whose primary coping mechanism is vigilante justice. many of them have tried to kill each other multiple times. some of them have died & come back wrong. they try their best and they do care about each other but they also get into big blowout fights a lot. they all came from some form of traumatized background before being taken in. the oldest sibling (Dick) had to be a father to the youngest sibling (Damian) for a not insignificant period of time when the dad (Bruce) disappeared; this was immediately after Damian (Bruce's only biological child) had started living with them after being raised in an assassin cult by his mother for the first like decade of his life. Jason died, came back wrong, was groomed by assassins, became a drug lord, & tried to kill multiple members of his family."

"i don't think i can summarise the 80 years of familial dysfunction. my best is just. Batman is the best parental figure some of these kids have ever had. Batman."

"Take your pick of issues. Dead parents, absent parents, abusive parents, addict parents, distant parents, assassin parents. How many people are in the family? Who knows? Everyone deals with personal issues by dressing up and fighting crime in the most depressing city possible. Bruce may or may not have adopted all the kids/plays favorites."

"Bruce is addicted to adopting kids. Bruce. quit putting children into crime fighting. One of them died like how did you not learn. Dick (the first robin) is a huge ass to the next one that comes along (this is the one that died like. Super graphically and horrifically) because Bruce basically fires him as his son and Dick leaves. The one that died rose from the grave, was kidnapped/manipulated for years and has supernatural anger issues (but rightfully should be angry) tries to kill brother Tim who became robin after him for replacing him. He becomes a drug lord and starts cutting off heads. Uses guns for the bit specifically (really funny) (bruce has trauma with guns from dead parents). Bruce mean to Tim when he first comes, then finds out oh shit I have a bio kid raised by assassins that really thinks he’s epic and tries to kill Tim a bunch. It’s practically tradition for his brothers to try and kill him. I love Damian but damn babe. That’s a lot king. He also genetically got the addiction to adopting but for pets. He’s pulling up with cows and shit and keeping them. Cass is perfect and we love her. Duke has a really funny relationship with Jason, and also does some out of pocket shit in the comics (by that i mean like. Dangerous/crazy stuff but in a good way) Alfred is perpetually exhausted with them, mostly bruce. Bruce is emotionally constipated so bad, like crazy bad. This man cannot communicate and is a bad dad a lot bc of it. But he’s really trying and loves them."

#propaganda #batfamily #batman

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zahri-melitor · 1 year

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I figured out what bugs me so much about most of the Bruce and the Rest of the Family Get Therapy™ stories.

It’s not just the overwhelming levels of “He would never say that”. It’s the Actually Bruce Is A Great Dad, Look At Him Checking Off These Parenting Concepts And Respecting His Children’s Boundaries. And abandons all of the complexity and struggle of parenting, particularly single parenting, because while Alfred has areas of authority over the household he very specifically refuses to have parental authority most of the time, and generally avoids doing things like set consequences or punishments because he considers that to not be his job. (This is totally fine! Not every adult in a household needs to have parental authority! Alfred in particular is an employee, a complexity that is frequently lost when lumping him into being Bat Granddad)

It also just…removes Bruce’s agency and ability to mess up and misunderstand and make mistakes, even well intentioned ones. And I’m going to suggest that many of the writers of these stories probably are overprojecting their own dreams and therapy sessions onto the narrative (and tend to be pretty young).

Plus this is BRUCE WAYNE we are reading about. He is incredible but he is also incredibly good at shooting himself in the foot for anything involving emotions. And avoiding saying what he means, out loud, to other people. He’s from Guess culture, people, not Ask. Goodness gracious is he ever from Guess culture. He thinks you’re supposed to figure things out detective-style from what is NOT said.

Also there is just a tendency, despite all the hype about respecting boundaries, to actually sort of eliminate the characters’ actual personal boundaries? Nobody’s allowed to go and have time by themselves without another person checking in on them. There’s that weird habit of having sleepovers in Bruce’s bed, a thing I fundamentally disbelieve would happen in a household of highly trained VIGILANTES all of whom have startle reflexes. If they’re not used to sleeping with those other people in the room it’s actually going to be MORE disruptive to sleep rather than less. And generally, you know, children stop going to sleep in their parents’ bedrooms at a much younger age for a whole host of reasons, not the least the ability to self soothe and teenagers having an awful lot of independence and outraged modesty (and ‘ew my parents have have sex in THAT BED’ realisations).

Like. There are well written ‘Bruce is a Good Father’ stories and I have enjoyed many of them. But pretty much all of them get the basic concept that parenting is HARD.

#argh just needed a rant #also the therapy speak in the sort of fic I’m talking about drives me up the wall #it’s perfectly possible to be an excellent present parental figure acknowledging a child’s emotions and still talk normally

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roobylavender · 1 year

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I was thinking about Koriand’r as one does, and thinking about all the imagery we get when she’s hovering over earth and is in the middle between the lonely stars and the place where there is so much life. And I’m thinking about how earth despite her welcoming it so much into her life and trying to make it her home, like it didn’t love her back. I remember how awful she was talked about when it was announced she was going to marry Dick and how the citizens would call her names or not even really acknowledge her as a person with those kind of rights and she didn’t understand why they said those awful things to her. And I’m thinking about this because I feel like it’s something nobody talks about when it comes to suddenly giving Dick different ethnicities (which is usually to be like see he has it harder than everyone else) like idk… and then I think about how you said that Bruce wanted something for all his children and Dick making hero-ing his whole life. And I think that’s interesting when you compare to Koriand’r because I don’t necessarily think that she would have been upset with that lifestyle because she just wanted to belong to something but she also would have agreed with Bruce with wanting more for Dick because they know him and his needs and she like Bruce had seen him go through different masks while growing up and knows everything he could have. And here she is as his lover and his friend who was willing to follow him, and Dick was clinging to her but didn’t know who to vocalize what he should have and she had abandonment issues. Like what would I have given to have so many of these issues addressed between them and show that yes the love was always there and they were what the other needed but it was just the wrong time. Like it’s all tragic.. sorry if this doesn’t make sense I was going somewhere with it but I lost the plot lol

i am so sorry for letting this rot in my inbox for so long but GOD yeah like with the titans in general i think what wolfman really marvelously created was this group of people all suffering from various identity crises with respect to the place vigilantism had in their life as something inherited whether by way of legacy or circumstance. like all of these new adults were searching for somewhere to belong and permanently stick their roots and it was hard. and like you said for kory that struggle was twofold bc most if not all of her teammates at least had somewhere else to turn to if they failed to find themselves but kory had no one. like where would she go if she failed to make earth home? it's not like tamaran was an option as much as she loved it and had sacrificed herself for it and would do again at the drop of a hat if circumstances called for it. i can't remember what issue maybe it's from one of the later titans volumes where she's like "no matter how long i live on this planet, no matter who i meet, nobody means more to me than dick. more than a friend. more than a teammate. more than a lover. from the very beginning he was my connection to this planet. there was a time when i though we would spend our entire lives together as soulmates" like he was her CENTERPOINT. everyone else had homes or parents or towns to go back to in the event they failed themselves and all she had was HIM. the rest of the titans too by that point obv but we all know with dick it was different. and like you said i can't imagine the kind of emotional damage it inflicted upon her to have finally broken things off and the fact that writers never really bothered trying to explore that vacuum in the aftermath is so frustrating bc it wouldn't only have been about the dick and kory relationship but also about their own weaknesses as people and needing to overcome them and in the end we might have seen them become the people they needed to be when they were in the relationship in the first place. we might have seen them become whole

#outbox #ahhhh fack. dog gnawing cabbage gif #ALTHOUGH side note tangentially i do like the small nudges some writers gave wrt donna and kory in later years #but i also think you could probably foray into donna and kory acting as each other's strength as much as each other's crutch potentially #kinda like in a dick and roy way ya know. except they're not as constipated. but still very emotionally wrecked #low self esteem. princess imposter syndrome complex whatever it's called. etc etc

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punkyblooze · 2 years

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About Me:

Aye! My name is PunkyBlooze, I'm a transenby artist (he/they) new to Tumblr. This is a big ol TL;DR post just summarizing who I am and what I'm doing as an artist/author.

I'm a published author/illustrator that's working on their first novel, an anarcho-anti-superhero novel called Geist that follows protagonist Abel (the character in the middle) as he attempts to navigate the dystopian capitalist hellscape that is the City of Alastor hundreds of years in the unknown future. I plan to self-publish and sell it for cheap while I turn it into a free webcomic on tapas & social media. I'm also on Twitter, DeviantArt, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, everything. Most active on Twitter & DA. Getting an account on Mastodon too.

I have many stories in the works aside from Geist, ranging from children's stories to more adult stuff, but since I do venture into adult/NSFW territory, I keep all my accounts 18+. So if you're a minor, please stay away and do not interact. I will block you if I find out you're trying to follow me.

About Geist & Batman 2020:

Geist is basically anarcho-socialist propaganda packaged as a "superhero" story, in the vein of stories like V for Vendetta, Watchmen, & The Boys. It's been a vehicle for me to explore both my own political development and social consciousness, as well as my personal traumas and problems.

The story began as my own unique take on Batman, titled Batman 2020: Smile Like You Mean It, a story I began seriously developing back in the year 2020 when the Pandemic was going strong, and I was suffering through some intense family-related trauma.

Abel was originally Bruce Wayne/Batman & Jay (his blue haired counterpart) was Joker. The story and characters were extremely different from their source material. I changed up a lot of the races, genders, religions, physical appearances, backgrounds, and sexualities of the cast because I'm just tired of stories dominated by cishet white men & the toxic, bigoted culture that always follows them.

So, Batman became Black and pansexual, Joker became openly gay and genderqueer, and I decided to explore their obviously homoerotic relationship more directly.

Summary of Batman 2020:

"A year after the murder of his parents, young Bruce Wayne returns to “Crime Alley”, seeking vengeance. But what he finds instead is Jay, a strange boy with whom he forms a close bond as they team up to search the most dangerous parts of Gotham for the murderer.

Now a grown man, Bruce Wayne struggles with the haunting memories of what he experienced all those years ago. Meanwhile, an unknown killer frames his alter-ego, Batman, for the murders of the criminal associates of Carmine Falcone. With his relationship with the GCPD in shambles due to unchecked police brutality and the threat of Falcone plotting with Oswald Cobblepot to put an end to the Dark Knight once and for all, Batman is on his own to catch the real killer. And when Jay suddenly reappears, Bruce courts a dangerous relationship with his childhood friend as facts begin to bleed into fiction."

If you're interested, Batman 2020 can still be viewed on AO3 here: Batman 2020: Smile Like You Mean It - Chapter 1 - PunkyBlooze - Batman - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

A lot of Batman 2020 was my attempt to reconcile my love of Batman, this wonderfully angsty fictional hero I'd grown up with, with the fascist reality of a billionaire decking himself out like a militant SuperCop Vigilante & violating everyone's rights to brutalize the shit out of poor people w/o ever thinking too hard about WHY crime never gets any better in Gotham.

Batman 2020 attempted to have Bruce Wayne himself come to these conclusions, including engaging in therapy and deeply questioning his own motives--whether or not he's actually helping anyone. I wanted him to realize it was his own kind, the uberwealthy that never go to jail and who's crimes against humanity are often legal or very easy to commit & escape jailtime from, that are destroying the city and his attempt to engage with real revolution.

I wanted to paint "superheroes" more like revolutionary anarchists and journalists, rather than fascist super cops. I also wanted to examine the dark side of that as well, with Jay/Joker representing the opposite end of the spectrum--the incendiary anarchist that just wants to burn everything down rather than build a new future.

However, I grew tired of being held back by the source material and the fact that the story had a snowballs chance in hell of ever getting picked up by DC or being monetized, so I put a hell of a lot more work into it and grew it into something entirely unique.

The dichotomy of Batman - The Fascist Supercop vs. The Bourgeoning Anarchistic Rebel - ended up splitting the character into two separate characters: Abel (Codename: Geist), my main protagonist, and Hunter (Codename: Lux), my main antagonist.

Abel is a man in his late 20's who spends the vast majority of his time actually helping his suffering community. He's not a millionaire, but he's a very well-off trust fund kid (with a TragicBackstoryTM) who invests every penny into his neighborhood. He's a volunteer firefighter and emergency responder, he volunteers on and funds an urban farm and community assistance programs, he engages with the homeless, disabled, & mentally ill, he teaches free self-defense classes, makes the effort to keep his neighborhood clean, etc. etc. etc.

The City of Alastor exists in a dystopian future hundreds of years after a huge meteor almost wipes out the United States as we know it. The City rises in the wake of that tragedy, but it's strangled by fascism, unregulated, bigoted privatization, monopolization by corporations, neutered Federal power and protection, and a terrible social caste system.

It was built in the belly of the crater where the meteor fell and grew in many floors on top of one another, with access to the best schools, jobs, transportation, healthcare, maintenance, etc. restricted to certain floors and neighborhoods that cannot be accessed without special working or housing VISAs.

By deliberate design, the bottom floors rot with poverty, disease, and violence, which they're unfairly blamed for and all but abandoned in. Most of the businesses and services are owned by a predatory corporation known as Valkyrie, which runs them like Company Towns. It owns everything from grocery stores to hospitals to schools and pays its employees in "Company Credits", little better than monopoly money, so they can never escape.

Abel's superpowers include turning invisible, which is an ability tied very tightly to his depression, and the psychic ability to engage with the dead, mostly through viewing their last memories and experiencing their deaths, which is traumatic and haunting for him. There are many people like him in Alastor who have mutated to develop powers, but they all hide it very well because everyone knows that mutants get Black Bagged and are never seen again.

His parents were the original two "superheroes" in Alastor, before the city got really bad. His mother, Mercy, engaged with "superhero" work more like Spiderman than Batman? Really light-hearted, mostly just trying to help her neighbors and behaving like a detective, but the horrible realities of the city push her into darker and darker territory along with her best friend and partner in crime, Valencia.

Eventually, the rich and powerful American Oligarchs that built and run Alastor catch on to what she and her partner are doing, and decide they want to cash in on vigilantism because the public approves of them. A powerful CEO runs for mayor on a platform of creating and legalizing a privatized police unit of "superheroes" with disturbingly little oversite and anonymous identities to be deployed in what they call "extreme situations". This mirrors the idea in Batman that Gotham "hands power over to the Batman" only in cases of dire need and how that would obviously go horrifically wrong in practice.

Naturally, Mercy and Val are mortified by the Oligarchs usurping their ideologies to promote the sort of fascism that they actively fight against. That story could be a whole book in and of itself, but the short version is they team up with an unlikely ally (the son of the CEO in question, Abel's father) and manage to foil his plans, causing him to lose the election to a man who is very actively against "superheroes". He's not perfect, but they had no other choice. They hang up their "superhero" identities and decide to engage in revolutionary work in other, legitimate ways.

However, the power structures of Alastor are a well-oiled machine, protected by Oligarchs with all the wealth and power to be utter immune to the law, and old enemies find out the heroes' identities. For their efforts to make the world a better and fairer place, Abel's parents are murdered after their 12-year-old son, Abel, is kidnapped and used to lure them into a trap.

This is a horrific memory for Abel, who struggles with CPTSD and a myriad of control and depression issues because of it. Although he inherits great wealth through the trust fund he was left, he's deeply fearful of the world and what he knows could happen if he rocks the boat too hard. He tries desperately to find hope, but often it eludes him, which is why he spends so much time trying to help the people around him (but not too loudly).

He's finally forced to reconcile this struggle when an old enemy rises anew. Once again, the idea of a privatized police force comes up in politics, but this time it is approved and unleashed on the lower levels of Alastor to combat rising rates of violence and crime. This force is spearheaded by a demented and morally corrupt man codenamed "Lux" who stalks the city at night and becomes a true terror to behold.

Unable to ignore the sheer brutality being inflicted upon his community, Abel takes up "superhero" work like his mother before him. But instead of chasing down petty thieves and playing fireman, he teams up with a group of like-minded individuals who strive to reveal the crimes and identities of the Oligarchs and their pawns to the world in the desperate hope that the truth will help spurn the people to Revolution.

#original story #fiction #superhero #comics #webcomic #original content #original character #original work #story spoilers #political #antifascism #anarchism #batman #authors #novel writing #writer #writingcommunity #comic book art #digital art

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incoherentbabblings · 3 years

Note

Hi!

I love your content, your love for TimSteph, and I was actually going to ask what you love so much about them. I, for extra credit for English, decided to write an analysis of Stephanie (and why I love her so much), but I just got into comics, and cannot really put my feelings for her in words ... which is odd, considering how much I love her and writing. Also, I was going to do a section on why TimSteph is narrative genius, and I needed help elaborating on that too.

Could you help me out, please? Thanks!

(I feel the need to mention that I have read quite a lot of comics with Stephanie in them, though not all. I'm not much of a comic book fan, but I'm really interested in the Batfamily!)

I'll be very happy to write out bullet points that you could talk about, and feel free to go through my ask and I'll babble/TimSteph meta tags for anything that you think may be worth discussing in your own words - there's like four or so years of stuff there to spark your brain.

HOWEVER!!!! Keep in mind though that much of what I have written is half based on textual evidence and half me just writing what I like/wish would crop up in canon.

For example, yes I like to draw comparisons between Tim being cold and Steph being warm, moon and sun and so on, but there's genuinely nothing in text to hint as this being an actual character trait or symbolism. If anything Tim's stated to be warm several times, more than Steph.

So, and I am sorry to be so blunt, but if I take your request in bad faith for a moment, don't use either directly or indirectly what I've written for your work. Especially without actually going and reading the arcs I talk about. A lot of the time it doesn't hold up under genuine textual scrutiny, and we want to be good academics here! There's Death of the Author and then there's me making crap up because I want to include it in a fanfic. Not the same thing! My blog is called IncoherentBabblings for a reason after all!

I will therefore say this: If you want to write about Steph as a character, I would use the below video as a point of reference. Using the below, you can then go into why she resonates with you the way she does, or why her relationship with Tim is so interesting to you.

youtube

If I were you: focus on her dynamic character development: cynical to idealistic. And use three points in her publication history to do this: her introduction in Detective Comics, War Games, and Batgirl. I am sorry to recommend War Games as something to read but it is important to her character. Use the Stephanie Brown Wiki to help!

That lends itself to a biography of her character, a look at her motivations and values, her role within the batfam, and so on. You can also use this to make comparisons with her peers, specifically Tim moving in the exact opposite direction development wise; Babs and Cass in their approaches to Batgirl; and the other Robins through her similar character progression as Dick, which in turn allows her to be a good mentor to Damian, and finally how her character arc runs perpendicular to Jason's. Does that make sense?

Anyway, let's get going! If I were to write an academic piece on Stephanie, these are the main points I would work through. In other words, this is what I would do. You probably will not need nor want to go into this level of depth, and you will want to make it much more personal about why she resonates with you, which may be different to why I love her. So don't worry about touching base with all of them. This is like... 10,000 word essay level stuff. And don't get overwhelmed. I've taken your request far too seriously is all.

Again, I can't write it for you! You gotta do the reading and writing I'm afraid.

...But I still wrote 1,500 words anyway. Gosh darnnit.

Steph’s Character Development

Always keep three points in her character history in mind – her aged 14/15 in her introductory arc in Detective Comics, her aged 16 in War Games, and her aged 18/19 in her Batgirl run.

How does she change? How does she grow as a character? What events caused these changes? Compare that angry 14-year-old trying to choke her father, to the 19-year-old crying happily on the roof. A lot happened between those two points! Outline the main plot beats.

Steph's Role as a Batfam Character:

Protagonist or Antagonist: Supporting Protagonist

Static or Dynamic: Dynamic (think of her character development - angry to alturistic; she softens in her life outlook and in the way she treats others as the years go by)

Minor or Major: Minor and we all mourn that fact :(

Foil or Symbolic: A foil to Tim Drake (and to a lesser extent the other Robins, specifically Jason Todd)

Importance of the character/Position in Society: Fourth Robin, third Batgirl, own superhero. Tim's girlfriend, Cassandra's best friend, one of many of Bruce's 'children'. Initially introduced just as a one-off character for a small arc in Detective Comics, brought back with the intention of being a supporting character to Tim Drake, and eventual love interest. Eventually gained enough popularity on her own terms to support her own solo comic, but has since returned to a supporting role. The character she supports, at the end of the day, is Bruce Wayne.

Motivation

What influences their decisions?: Stephanie's dynamic characterisation comes in here. Compare her motivations during her introductory arc, versus why she does what she does in War Games, versus why she dresses up at Batgirl - Stopping her father, getting Batman's approval, need for redemption.

What do they value?: Values emotional openness, vulnerability, second/third/fourth chances.

Goals/Hopes/Dreams: No long term goals/hopes/dreams in the domestic sense... Continue to be vigilante. Be respected by her peers. Continue to improve self worth through deeds. Graduate college?

What are their views: Views the justice system and police as corrupt, but still trusts in the inherent goodness of people. Focus is usually on the individual, rather than societal or structural.

Actions

Behaviour, Attitudes, Impact on Story and other Characters, Internal Struggle (Wants versus Needs): This is why I think you are best to look at three points in her story - Intro Arc, War Games, Batgirl. Focus on her Wants versus Needs - Steph's take a very long time to align, but they finally do in Batgirl.

Character development is usually driven by the conflict between what a character wants. The plot forces them normally to confront the fact that what they want is not gonna work out, and what they needed instead takes priority.

Everything usually goes tits up for Steph when she is in the driver's seat of the narrative because what she wants from a situation is rarely what she actually needs to happen. See every time she seeks Bruce's approval. She wants it. She absolutely does not need it. And only as Batgirl do we get that acknowledgement, which coincides with her being at the healthiest point in her life emotionally. Look at what she wants as Spoiler during her introductory arc, as Robin/Spoiler during War Games, and then as Batgirl. Why is she so unhappy in the former two? Why have her wants finally aligned with her needs with her time as Batgirl?

Character Traits

Personality: Cynical but perky. Sardonic but sincere. Think about how she changes over the time. This can be attributed to her different writers, but - for example - is there a universe reason for why Batgirl Stephanie is so much more socially awkward than Spoiler Stephanie?

Strengths & Weaknesses: Link these two together because Steph is a very good example where her strengths as a character can simultaneously be a weakness. Her determination can lead to her making ill conceived decisions. Her empathy can lead to her putting her trust in the wrong people. Her forgiving nature can lead to her being taken advantage of. Her temper, whilst landing her in hot water, can also just as often get her out of it.

Relationships

How do they interact with others: Focus on which characters pop up in all three arcs – Steph and her parents; Steph and Bruce; Steph and Tim. I am chucking Cass out the window here, sorry Cass, but if you’re focusing on these three arcs, Cass doesn’t really fit in.

How others view them: Conditional love/affection from her father and Bruce. Unconditional love/affection from Tim and her mother (though both are not without serious pitfalls).

How they view others: Stephanie has explicitly never loved her father. She has also never explicitly hated him either. What does that say about her? Look at her changing closeness with her mother. What changed between them, and again, what does that say about Stephanie? Crystal got sober, supported Stephanie through her pregnancy, Arthur was removed from their lives, Stephanie makes a conscious effort to be closer to her after returning ‘from the dead’, though continues to lie consistently to her. Stephanie admires Bruce, whilst also right from the get go insisting she does not answer to him. She never quite lets go of wanting that approval.

How does society view them: Her outsider role within the Batfam. She never quite belongs, and at points her closest relationships are actively discouraged from seeing her. Which Tim specifically never entertains. This outsider nature bites literally everyone in the butt during War Games. Her outsider status is still in place by the time Batgirl concludes, due to its largely self-contained nature as a book, but this is less being an outsider more having earned to right to operate independently. Trust has been given and earned.

Dialogue

What does she say and how: A teenage girl in New Jersey from a working class background has a very distinct voice. She does not mince words, nor does she hide what she is feeling. If she is happy, she will say so. If she is annoyed, she will say so. What she won’t do is ask for help when she needs it, due to her background formulating a need for her ‘to do things on her own’.

Think of famous/important Steph quotes from the three arcs I keep talking about – the excuse me if I don’t jump when you bark, the I really was part of the legend, the only variable you can control is yourself. These show how Steph views others and herself.

When I was writing I Would Have Loved You, I literally made a spreadsheet where I have picked out what I think are pertinent quotes from every New 52 issue featuring Tim or Steph along with a synopsis that explained what they were up to/what the main theme of the issue was. Not saying you should do the same because I’m just that goddamn anal when it comes to this sort of stuff, but the point is – look for quotes by/about Steph which highlight the above things we’ve talked about. You have thirty years to go through!

Author Intention

What purpose does this character serve?: A character that young female readers could get attached to – the every girl/girl next door archetype or a character that young boys could have a crush on – the kind of girl who’s into the same sort of stuff as you, I think Chuck Dixon once said of her, from her initial appearance. Fodder for Bruce and Tim’s man pain in War Games. Batgirl it’s a combination of filling the void for a female lead solo character in the batbooks, but also tonally taking on a much lighter and self-contained book that new readers could jump into very easily, directly compared to the more lore heavy Batman, Detective Comics, and Red Robin books.

What is the author trying to communicate: Steph’s character shows that determination can only get a person so far, a support system and doing things for the right reasons (again remember that want versus need argument) is the only way a person will genuinely succeed.

What is her main theme?: Balancing cynicism and idealism – doing acts for the right reasons, and discovering what these reasons actually are.

...

Is this even usable for anyone but myself? Possibly not!

Still... Go write! And good luck!

#ask and i'll babble #stephanie brown #tim drake #timsteph #dc #anon i am sorry if i misconstrued your intentions #but i hope if nothing else this helps you verbalise why you like steph and timsteph by extension #good luck for your writing!

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ellana-ravenwood · 4 years

Text

“I wish I knew how to help you” - Batsis x Batfamily

Synopsis : Everyone has tough times at some point in their lives. Bruce Wayne most definitely knows that. But when his own daughter is going through a really rough patch, he finds himself not really knowing how to fix things...

This particular subject has been requested so many times (the earliest request dating from August 2018....mmmm..), so watch me butcher it with bad writing. I thought, given how I feel lately, it was the perfect time to finally write it. I hope you will like it (runs away to hide) :

TW : Anxiety, depression, mention of suicide.

My Masterlist : @ella-ravenwood-archives.

__________________________________________________

There hasn’t been a lot of time in his life where Bruce Wayne felt so completely lost. Of course, he would be lying if he was saying he never got confused, or if sometimes, he wasn’t quite sure what to do, what to say...

But if there was one thing he was great at, it was problem solving.

Even in desperate situations, he could always trust his analytical and collected mind to help him out.

In fact, Bruce Wayne could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times he felt utterly lost, defenseless, and couldn't figure out a solution to his troubles. Not even a questionable one, like bottling up all of his feelings and pretending he doesn’t care while he’s screaming and dying inside.

He recollected exactly five times of such an event occurring in his life :

The day his parents died.

The day he realized he couldn’t save everyone.

The day Dick came to live at the Manor, and Bruce realized he had no idea how to raise a child.

The day Jason died.

The day he saw Damian kill.

And now, spilling onto another hand :

...The day he realized he had no idea how to help his daughter, you, with her mental health struggles.

Each time he had been completely lost, there was someone to help him.

For his parents’ death, it was Alfred.

For the day he realized even as Batman he would never be able to save everyone ? It was Commissioner Gordon, and his years of being a cop in a city like Gotham.

Dick himself, and Alfred of course, quickly helped Bruce to understand what it meant to be a father.

Tim’s arrival helped him grieve Jason.

And all his children, from Dick to Cass, and the experience he acquired trying to raise them helped him manage Damian’s problems. It was a plus for sure, that the boy wanted to be helped.

But with you...Any attempt of his trying to breach the subject would result in you brushing his concerns off, getting frustrated, or sighing “I’m fine” and leaving to isolate yourself in your room.

Sometimes, it felt like you really wanted to talk to him. Like you wanted to vent, and tell him what was wrong. But you always seemed to decide against it, maybe in fear of bothering him ?

Most of the time, it felt like you were living with your anxiety in peace. Like you greeted it like a good friend. Bruce had always known you were a rather stressed individual, but you always held yourself up so well ?

Most of the time, it felt like you were perfectly fine. How could he have known ? How could he have known you weren’t ? Ah...but maybe the signs were all there all along...

And Bruce just didn’t know how to help, when even you, didn’t seem to want the help...But maybe that was the trick ? To keep trying no matter what ?

At first, it didn’t seem to him like this would be an issue that could render him absolutely lost like this. And he hated the fact that he thought that.

Because it stemmed from one pervasive thought that made him despise himself : “Her fight with her own mind aren’t as bad as Damian’s, Cass’s, or Jason’s trauma. Aren’t like what Dick went through. It will be easier to fix.” And maybe you felt that, maybe that’s why you wouldn’t let him help ?

Why would it be easier anyway ?

Because you had a calmer childhood. Of course, being Batman’s daughter meant you definitely went through things most children will never experience. But compared to your siblings, you had a somewhat normal childhood.

The biggest trauma of it being the fact your mother, Selina Kyle (author’s note : I’m not particularly talking biological child here by the way, just to make sure y’all can all identify to this. Thought I’d mention it), decided to leave you in your dad’s care and had a very little part in your upbringing up until you turned 12 or so, which is the time she came back. You never seemed to even be mad about this. It always felt like you knew your mom had her own battles to win, that she wasn’t quite ready to have a child, and you forgave her as soon as she came back into your life.

But maybe that was the problem ? The fact Bruce always thought you were strong enough to handle things ? You always seemed to hold your own. You’d always been fiercely independent. Like you never needed help.

When Dick had fits of anger, you’d just stay quiet and withhold it.

When Jason was sometimes overzealous, you’d just stay calm and collected.

When Tim had massive freak outs at times because he felt he wasn’t enough, you’d just reassure him and stay grounded.

When Cass would have nightmare at night and be so scared she couldn’t find her voice again, you’d stay up with her and make sure to soothe her back to sleep, even if it meant not sleeping yourself.

When Damian would realize how much he missed out in life, in his childhood, and how little he knew about the real world...You’d be there, holding his hand while explaining in details why he felt the way he felt.

Even Duke, who arguably was the “sanest” of them all, had times where things were too much for him, and you’d magically appear by his side to help him through it.

You always seemed to be the one everyone relied on.

The one that has it all figured out, that has it together. The one most like Bruce, able to control her emotions. But the one even better than him, because you could also help others understand how they felt.

And that was why Bruce never really noticed your every day struggles.

Come to think of it, the fact you were always so on point and great in your explanations as to why someone felt the way they did, probably meant you felt like them before...

Oh god. God, Bruce hated this. Hated himself, even.

Hated the fact that he thought your fights with your own mind weren’t as bad as what Damian or Dick went through, as bad as Cass or Jason’s traumas. As bad as Duke witnessing what happened to his parents, because you...Well you still had both of them. And they were on good terms, now.

He hated the fact that it took you almost dying for him to realize you had a real problem too. For him to realize your apparent “I can handle my own” attitude was all a fragile facade that could break any time.

He hated the fact that he had to witness you almost letting yourself die, to realize this...The scene kept replaying in his mind.

A night out as vigilantes. Part of a building collapsing. You pushing a woman out of its way, but then just staring up at the crumbling wall that would crush you, not moving. And the state of daze you were in, when you found yourself in your father’s arms as he saved you in extremis from a certain death that you were clearly letting happen.

You later said it was a mistake. It was a simple mistake.

But Bruce, from that point and on, knew better. There had been a time, not long after his parents’ death, where he wondered what even was the point in living anymore. Where he found himself in a similar situation too, where he could save himself and yet stayed in front of the death threat. Alfred saved him at the time, gave him a good scolding which Bruce didn’t even register.

He recognize that look in your eyes.

Because he had the same one, many years ago, before he had a chance at having a family again. Before you, Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Damian...It was a look that meant : “What if I just let it happen, what if I end the pain by ending it all ?”.

And Bruce hated the fact that it took him witnessing this look in your eyes for him to finally realize you needed help. It tore his heart apart.

He hated the fact it took him so long to finally act upon it, to finally do something for you. No matter how lost he was as to where to even begin.

And so here he was, on a calm night in Gotham, sitting on a roof and researching on the internet what can be done to help people riddled with anxiety and such. He knew you enough to know you’d never accept to go see a therapist. But maybe...maybe he could help just as good ?

He knew how he got rid of his own anxiety.

The same way he got rid of many other things...He submitted himself to a strict training allowing him to control all of his emotions, shutting some away when needed.

But he couldn’t even imagine making you go through the things he made himself do. Not his daughter. Not any of his children.

There was a reason, the training he gave all of you wasn’t even 10% of what he used to do. Because he had nothing to live for except becoming strong enough to bring back justice to Gotham. Because he had nothing to look forward to except the fact that he was going to make sure no kid in that god forsaken city would go through what he went through ever again...

He gave himself the ability to turn into a machine. To shun all feelings away. Because he had a mission.

He would never, ever want any of his children to feel like this. Even if he managed to, in appearance, make himself feel nothing...It would always cause him tremendous pain. He knew how this felt, to force yourself to control everything.

No. His method was most definitely not fit for his daughter. He did not want her to become like him. And so, scrolling through forums, websites and blogs, he tried to find the best way he could to help his kiddo. It seems like there was almost like a “list” of things every person suffering from anxiety went through every day...

Wondering if your loved ones are upset with you.

“Are you mad at me ?”

Is the text you send to your oldest brother, Dick, immediately regretting it.

Because now, you were sure he’d find you annoying, pushy or anything of the like. Of course, Dick would never. But your mind was telling you he would.

He hadn’t responded to your text in a day, while he would usually be very reactive, and you didn’t need more to think he hated you, now.

Knowing there is no reason for you to feel that way.

Knowing for Dick to be “mad” at his little siblings, it would take a lot (you weren’t even sure you’ve ever seem him mad at any of you, except maybe the times you put yourselves in danger while he’s your team leader, but then it’s more a problem of being mad at himself than really at you.

Yet you cannot control it. You cannot. You are sure now, that he hates you.

Your father doesn’t understand why you’re so morose that day, and why you snap at everyone. He doesn’t understand, and you don’t tell him. And Bruce just ends up thinking you’re in a bad mood and leave you alone, while you desperately want to talk.

You want to tell him that you think Dick hates you. You want to hear him reassure you, even if technically, there is no need for reassurance. Of course your brother doesn’t hate you, he’s probably just busy, he just started his new job in Bludhaven, and moved in a new apartment and...Yes.

Rationally, of course you knew your brother, who has always been there and never shied away from saying he cared about you and love you, doesn’t hate you.

Yet you cannot help but think you did something wrong. You cannot help but think maybe he does. And you want to tell your dad, and have him reassure you, even if you don’t need to.

But instead, you snap at him. Instead, you push him away. Because you couldn’t handle your dad too thinking your annoying. Of course, he would think you’re annoying, a nuisance, if you told him you think Dick hates you...because obviously he doesn’t.

It was a vicious circle. So instead of possibly-but-probably-not-but-still-maybe be hurt, you pushed the one person you wanted close away, snapping at him and isolating yourself in your room.

TING ! Your phone, it’s ringing ! Oh please god, please be Dick !

It is your brother. He answered !

“Of course not ! Why would you think that ?”

You analyze every single word, and how he didn’t use an emoji, while he always does ! And the way he said “why would you think that ?”...he’s for sure mad at you now, and he thinks you’re the most obnoxious little sister that ever walked this Earth.

But you answer :

“Oh no reason lol. Hey wanna binge watch Gilmore Girls with me this week end ? Only you understand how a true masterpiece this show is.”

He doesn’t reply that day, and you think about it the entire night. He doesn’t come at the patrol of course, as again, he just settled in Bludhaven. And it starts. The spiraling of overwhelming feelings, the impossibility to let go of something.

You cannot think of anything else but sending another text to ask if he’s really not mad at you. You decide against it, because you don’t want him to think you’re annoying. Because you understand he has his own life now. Now that he moved from the Manor.

You understand he must be busy. That he has to settle in. That he doesn’t have to be available whenever you want, and that the fact he had always been up until now proved he was the best big brother anyone could ask for.

But you can’t help it. You think it must be you. That he’s not answering because it’s you.

And all of a sudden, you question every relationship you have. What if none of your siblings love you, and are just polite ? What if they’re lying because you’re really the only sibling out of all of you they don’t like and they’re just too nice to...Oh god. Your dad must hate you too.

Because you keep needing him to reassure you about stuffs. Ah yes, today you shunned him away, but sometimes, you guilt trip him so he says he cares about you. Or so he tells you nice things.

And suddenly, one of your biggest fear, the one where you ask for too much out of the people you love is back. And you cry. You cry all night. Because you have too many mood swings. You isolate yourself too much. But you don’t know, you don’t know how to make them see your fear of not being cared for...

And so you cry. Wondering over and over again “why am I like this ????” as you think all of your loved one are upset with you, and will never want to talk to you again.

Later in the day, Dick answers that he would love to watch GG with you, and there’s an emoji this time. Ah. So maybe he doesn’t hate you...

So many people wouldn’t even think this was a big deal, but for you...for you, it was...

Every small decision feels like it has life or death consequences.

You want to tell them. You want to tell them that’s why you couldn't choose what you wanted at the drive through fast enough. Why you stumbled on your words, and ended up blurting out : “Whatever Jason took !” because your taste in food was the closest to his.

You want to tell them, that even such a small issue, in your head, took a huge place. That you rehearsed what you were going to say when it would be your turn to speak to the waiter. That you got all tangled up, and didn’t ask what you actually wanted.

You want to tell them that sometimes, even the smallest “yes or no” question haunts you for days. That “what ifs” won’t let you alone.

You want to tell them, but instead you take the meal you didn’t really want, and eat it in silence, listening to everyone talking and enjoying this family moment. You stay quiet, your mind focus on how clumsy, dumb and useless you are.

Just because you couldn’t order something at the drive through.

You stay quiet, but your mind is racing about how much you suck. How you should get out of everyone’s way. Because you can’t even order food properly.

You feel guilty, because this is one rare family moment when you’re all together, and your siblings all have fun teasing each others, laughing and talking, while you just nod sometimes, smile, and die inside.

Just because you couldn’t order something at the drive through.

You think you’re absolutely insane. That you should be checked in in Arkham. You-

Bruce notices you’re quieter than usual. He notices you didn’t take your favorite burger. He wonders why, because he knows you really REALLY like that burger. Sometimes, he goes out of his way to go get you guys’ favorite food, and he knows that this burger is one of yours...

But he doesn’t dwell on it. Maybe you just wanted to change for once (which wasn’t much like you but oh well). And the fact you’re quiet ? Maybe you’re just lost in your own thoughts and day dreaming. After all, you do like to have some quiet and alone time, and this family dinner is happening on this time.

So Bruce doesn’t say anything, even if his guts tell him something is wrong.

Overthinking. Fearing something could go wrong.

You are in constant fear of what's going to happen if and when something happens to your dad ! Or your siblings ! What if you become homeless for some reasons ? What if you have no friends or family to return to ? What if what if what if what if what if what if what if what if what if what if what if...

Intrusive thoughts, they call them. And they don’t want to leave for sure. They’re persistant. They stay up until you overthink them to the point nothing makes sense anymore. To the dissociation.

And it makes your every day life a living nightmare.

Bruce, as he reads this part of an article on the internet, about how people suffering from anxiety are in a constant state of worry, feels his heart tighten at the mere idea you are going through this.

He knows you are. And he hates the fact it took him so long to realize because...

Not being able to control what's happening now or in the future.

Bruce could recollect so many times where, even as a child, you’d ask him questions like : “What happens after you die ?”, “What will happen to me when I get old ?” etc etc.

At the time, of course, he dismissed it as questions every kid asks. Wondering about the world around them. He never saw how much those questions would haunt you, how much sometimes, you couldn’t let go of things you perfectly knew you had no control over...

The signs were all there though.

You weren’t lost in day dreams, you were lost in nightmarish scenarios about what could possibly happen in the near future.

You were, every minute of every day, worrying about something that was currently happening, something that happened recently, or something that might happen in the next few moment, later the same day or in the future.

It was something you had to live with, and it never been just a child curiosity. As you grow up you stopped asking those questions out loud, didn’t mean they weren’t haunting you...

Making a mistake that will result in someone judging you.

You always had to be irreproachable.

You were a perfectionist.

A lot of time, people passed it as : “like father, like daughter.”

And Bruce should’ve known better...Why was he like this ? This part of him certainly didn’t stem from anything good. Yet he ignored the fact you acted exactly like him. The fact you were turning into him, on that front...

My brain is a TV and someone else has the remote.

... ... ... ...

************

Bruce had enough. He knew. He knew how you felt, and why you acted the way you did sometimes. And it was time. It was time to finally take action.

But he couldn’t do it alone. And he wouldn’t. In fact, they’d all be so mad, if he executed this plan on his own...

Because you. You were their precious sister.

They loved you, so much. And it would kill them, if they knew you really meant it, when you asked if they were mad at you. If they hated you. If they...

They always think you’re joking, or that you’re tired or something. That you have “mood swings”.

You don’t.

For you, all those issues are very real. But they don’t understand, because you’re always there to catch them, and they never expected you needed to be caught.

So when their father expose to them what he thinks is going on with them, and when they realize he’s right...

They feel crushed.

How ? How could they not notice their beloved sister was suffering so much ?

And so that day, they all swear that they are going to do everything in their power to help you. No matter what.

They will never give up on you.

No matter what..

************

“Why am I like this ? Why am I like this ? Why am I like this ?” You repeat to yourself, over and over again, as you feel your heart beat like crazy while it has no reason to.

While your chest hurt, and you feel the weight of anxiety on your shoulder, without even knowing why.

You keep telling yourself you suck, you keep being too harsh on yourself, and oh, oh if you only knew that your entire family right now, was plotting to help you feel better.

Unfortunately...

************

Dick’s antics soothe you for a bit, but as soon as he’s gone your heart goes wild again, refusing to stop, and your mind repeats bad thoughts to you.

The next day, Dick planned the PERFECT sister/brother day. Planning things to spend time with you, just like when you were little and it was just you and him.

It’s a perfect day indeed. Everything makes you forget your anxiety. You smile, for the first time in months since this weird extreme anxious state started.

Dick always knew how to make you laugh, and how to tease you just enough so that you wanted to show him what you were made of !

But once you’re home...

And Dick can try, try and try again, but no matter his effort, he can only relieve your pain when he’s around, and unfortunately, he isn’t always around.

************

Jason is patient, with you.

He listens, he empathizes and does not patronizes.

He’s there when you need him. He celebrates every small victory from you (like finally being able to order the burger you want). He encourages you, gives you all the hope he can. And it means a lot, coming from him.

Because Jason suffered a lot. He went through a lot. His death, and his traumatic return...

He tries to keep you hopeful. He is patient. Available. But he does things too well. You’re afraid he spends too much time with you, and forgets his own mental health. You know he loves to meditate, but haven’t seen him do it in ages.

Because he’s also keeping an eye on you. Your father probably told him the crumbling building debacle...And now he makes sure you’re ok.

But to the detriment of his own mental well being ?

You feel like you’re weighting him down. And slowly, he notices you’re avoiding him. And he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t want to push you, or force you to do anything...

************

It has always been easy, to talk to Tim.

Your brother is the only one in the family that did not become a Robin for personal reasons. Sure, he was struck with tragedy later in life (or he would never be your brother now...), but at the core of it...He was just a kid who wanted to help.

He was a fan of Batman, who really REALLY wanted to make himself useful. He became Robin, not because of any personal motivation but because he was just that selfless.

And so, it has always been easy to talk to Tim.

Which is why he’s surprised, when he realizes you’ve never told him about your anxiety. About your depressed thoughts. You vent a lot to him, but about small things. About things you can both laugh about.

It has always been easy to talk to Tim, and the fact you cannot address your anxiety problems tells him all the extent of it.

Tells him you’re truly suffering, and that he needs to get better.

To become an even better listener, for you. And as you witness him, just like Jason, sort of forgetting about his own well being, you cannot help but feel even worst...

They mean well. They mean so well. But you cannot stand them putting their own health on the line just for you. After all, you’re just a loser who doesn’t deserve any of those wonderful brothers and sister...

************

Duke tries to help you “temper your thoughts”.

His mom used to do that to him, as a child. He was always rather active, suffering from ADHD and such. In a lot of ways, his trouble resembled the ones you had with anxiety.

And he thought that maybe, helping you tempering your thoughts would be the best.

What does that even mean ? Well. Whenever he felt like you were anxious about something, scared or stressed, he would ask you if you were alright up until you’d finally tell him what was making you anxious.

And then he’d ask you the series of question his mom asked : “What’s the worst that can happen ? What’s the best that can happen ? What’s most realistic, or likely ?”...At first you didn’t really understand the point.

But soon enough, you got it. This was helping you turning your intrusive thoughts against themselves. Helping you see the good sides of things.

Unfortunately, just like with Dick’s technique of making you laugh and such, when Duke wasn’t around to remind you to consider the best, worst and most likely option...you forgot that trick.

************

"Let’s go to a quieter place, or go for a walk.”

Cassandra tells you, whenever she sees you get overwhelmed by something. And it works. It does.

You two just walk in silence, hand in hand.

Your sister’s presence reassuring, and warm. Her care for you sipping out of her very being, from her hand to yours.

“Let’s go to a quieter place, or for a walk.”

You go outside, and you don’t speak. She’s just here for you.

But she can’t always be around, can she ? She can’t always just magically appear next to you in moments of need, and say :

“Let’s go to a quieter place, or for a walk.”

But when she can. She does.

She knows when you get overwhelmed by sounds, by smells, by anything. And she brings you to places that makes you feel at peace.

Cassandra was never one to speak a lot, but she always understood.

************

Damian can’t help but feel sad that he, and the rest of the family, aren’t enough for you to feel better. That they can’t win against your depression and anxiety, no matter how hard they try.

And Damian. Oh Damian tries.

He makes sure you have everything you need. He makes sure to be there when it feels like you’re not feeling well, he follows you like a shadow and...

You both get more and more frustrated.

Damian puts a lot of effort into making you feel better, and you keep snapping at him, or pushing him away.

It’s because YOU’RE the big sister. YOU’RE the one who’s supposed to take care of him. But it seems like lately, Damian is obsessed with your well being, and he doesn’t even let you tuck him in anymore...He’s the one that comes tuck you in.

And deep down, you feel like it’s exactly what you need. You want to let your baby brother take care of you. And his worries are so sweet, and makes you feel all warm inside by how adorable this kid can be. How far he came back from.

Deep down.

But you’re not ready to admit you need help. Especially not from your 11 years old brother. No. He’s the one that needs the cuddles and the reassuring words. He’s the one that had it way tougher than you. And him taking care of you, although it feels nice, doesn’t feel right.

And it hurts, to see your little brother get sad because he can’t help you like he wants to. Because he thinks he’s not enough for you, and that’s why you’re feeling the way you are...

************

Nothing goes how they think it was going to go.

You do not get better right away. It doesn’t even feel like you’re getting better at all. On the contrary.

It feels like you push them away even more, that you become even more irritable, that...that...that you go further and further away from them.

And they don’t understand.

Even you, don’t understand.

Why do you feel so bad ? So Sad ? So anxious all the time ?

You don’t know. You don’t know. You don’t know.

“Why am I like this ? Why am I like this ? Why am I like this ?!”

You repeat this to yourself every day, without being able to find an answer.

And Bruce...Oh, your father came to the conclusion that the last and only option is that you need to go to therapy, you need professional help.

************

“What ? Why ? I’m fine dad !”

You say, anger pointing in your voice, as he tells you that.

“No you’re not, (Y/N). We can all see it. And there’s so much we can do we...I...”

There’s a silence. A heavy one. And it breaks Bruce’s heart, to see tears welling up at the corner of your eyes :

“It’s fine. I get it. I’m too much, aren’t I ? That’s why right ? I ruin you guys’ life ? You know, I noticed a shift not long ago. I know you’re trying to make me feel better, and I know you all get frustrated because you can’t. I swear I try dad. I swear I try to not get those bad thoughts. To not think you don’t love me, for whatever reason. To not think like I’m a burden. I swear I try to not be anxious. I try to not worry, about every little thing. I try so hard ok ?! But it doesn’t work ! And I know it’s wearing all of you down. I know it. But...I’m...It’ll be fine ! IT’LL BE FINE !!”

You scream those last few words, and a silence installs itself between you and your father.

Bruce just looks at you, and you cannot stand the pained look in his eyes. You never wanted your burden to transfer on your family like that...why ? Why did you get worst and made them notice you weren’t ok ? Why ?

Maybe it would’ve been better, if your dad didn’t see you about to get crush by this building, and hadn’t saved you. They’d have a-

“I won’t stop trying.”

Your father’s voice cuts your terrible thought, and you look up at him. He walked slowly to you, carefully, as if afraid to scare you. As if afraid you’re gonna “tt” him, and run to lock yourself in your room.

But for some reason, you don’t move. And you let him come close.

He brushes a few fingers on your cheek, as he used to when you were a child and unable to sleep. Him softly humming to you and brushing your cheeks slowly always made you fall right asleep...

“Until you feel better. And I will tell you over and over again that I love you and that I am here for you, if it’s what you need. I am your dad. I am here for you.”

And he understands your pain oh too well. It’s not because he managed to be able to shut his own mental health problems out, that he never feels them.

You are your father’s daughter. Unfortunately in that case.

Oh. Oh he wishes he could take on your pain. He could take on his shoulders your entire burden. He wishes it was only him, that felt that way. That you would never, ever feel anxiety, or depression again.

He knows it is not that easy. He understands.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Something breaks inside you. Something that was on the verge of shattering for years, but snapped only now.

“I just...I just wish I could help you. I just wish I knew how. I am trying too, (Y/N). And I won’t give up on you. No matter what you think. I will never give up on you.”

Those words. Those were so simple. Yet what you needed to hear for so long.

Because no matter your siblings’ effort, or Alfred’s, or your dad’s. Your friends at the Young Justice. Anyone you ever cared for...You always were afraid that one day, you’d be too much for them.

That one day, all your mood swings, pushing them away, venting and complaining often...would be too much. And that they’d leave you.

Alone forever.

“I’m not giving up on you.”

Coming from your dad. You knew he said the truth. You knew.

There’s a short silence. You look at your father, and even Queen Anxiety couldn’t make you think he wasn’t being genuine.

“You...That’s...I...”

Getting chocked up, you weren’t able to say anything, but he understood.

And he was there to catch you. You went right into his arms, and he held you tight, trying to convey to you all the unconditional love he has and will always have for you, no matter what.

No matter how much you push him away, how broken you get, how much you hate yourself and think you don’t deserve any kind of love...he’d always, ALWAYS love you. And would never give up.

“I’m here. I’m here. I will always be here.”

His voice was soothing. It has always been soothing. And he was there.

He was there.

“Thank you...”

You manage to whimper out, as he holds you against his heart.

And, finding it hard to reign his own emotions in (his children have always been the only ones who could cross all his walls and find the vulnerable Bruce who feels everything), Bruce repeated as much as you needed to hear that he was here.

He would always be here for you.

Always..

And the path to your recovery was now open.

__________________________________________________

Here we are. I am sorry if this is sort of...bluargh. Or not what you wanted. But I do hope you liked it. Haha I feel like this story is so ridiculous...I guess this feeling is in the theme eh..........Maybe it’s also because as usual, I wrote very late into the night, and sleep deprivation always make me feel like I do stupid things. Write terrible stuffs.

Reblogs and feedbacks are always welcomed ?

Haha. Convincing.

See you soon with another story, much lighter than this one for sure haha...

2K notes · View notes

diyunho · 4 years

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The Joker x Reader - “Gotham Comic Con”

The Joker and his girlfriend decided to attend “Gotham Comic Con” this year dressed as The Batman and Cat Woman. It took Y/N some time to convince her boyfriend but here they are about to have fun and nothing could spoil the event. Right?...

“Oh my God, this is awesome!” you giggle entering the venue designated for the yearly special event “Gotham Comic-Con” dressed as Cat Woman.

The Joker is right behind you sporting The Batman outfit and he flexes his knees a few times, growling.

“What’s wrong?” you ask although you have a clue because J’s been complaining about since he got off the van parked on Lot B5.

“I hate these stretchy pants! I don’t know how that asshole does it!”

“You’re the one that insisted to come as Batsy,” you reveal point out the truth. “You could have been anyone else.”

“Like who?”

“Cinderella,” you elbow him and your boyfriend is not a huge fan of the concept.

“Why??!!”

“The drama, obviously,” you keep walking alongside him and he’s definitely ready to blow at your insinuation when you gasp. ”Baby, I think that’s Bane!” you gesture towards a massive individual flaunting a Sub-Zero costume.

“How can you tell?” The Joker squints his eyes and the bubbly Y/N has to say it:

“I would recognize his physique anywhere! Plus, he still has the scar between his eyes,” you pucker your lips and The King mumbles a bunch of PG 13 rated things regarding his business partner.

Why?

Last week they got into a brawling and almost killed each other.

The reason?

Y/N.

The Joker believes that Bane always flirts with you (which he does since he likes to refer to you as “a breath of fresh air”); stuff escalated until you had to break it up: J ended up with a busted lip, Bane with a cut between his eyes due to The Clown trying to stab him in the head and you ended up with an inflated ego.

“Hello Mister B.,” you tap the pile of muscles and he turns around to see who’s bothering him.

“Y/N!” he excitedly exclaims, immediately unhappy at the sight of his business partner. “Joker…” the low tone greets.

“Bane…” J sneers.

“What are you two doing here?” Bane inquires.

“Having fun; I finally convinced him we should do this and mingle for once. No better way to spend the day,” the bubbly comment pleases your conversation partner. “So we dressed up and here we are.”

“I must say you’re like a breath of fresh air,” Bane admires your skin tight costume and stilettos which prompts The Joker’s disapproval:

“If you want fresh air, go outside!”

“Make me!”

Oh no! Not again!

“Are you here alone?” you change the subject and distract them from getting into a fight. Not that you wouldn’t enjoy it, but… too many witnesses at the packed Comic Con, it could end up in a total disaster.

“With my niece and nephew. I lost them for a second and I’m searching the premises; they can’t be far,” Bane reports. “Which reminds me: I should get going and find them otherwise my sister will go ballistic. I’ll see you later, Y/N,” he acknowledges you and ignores your man.

“Bye Mister B.,” The Queen snickers at the evident teasing.

“Just her, huh?” The Joker grumbles. “What about me? Did you forget we have a meeting next week???”

“Too bad and super sad: I’m not talking to you!” Bane’s attitude emerges.

“I certainly could care less because I’m not talking to you either!” The King strikes back.

“Then what are we going to do?” Sub-Zero’s better judgement brings up a good argument.

“Y/N will translate!” J proudly states.

Oh no! Not again!

That means they will snarl and make weird noises and you’ll have to guess what it means; an absolutely excruciating task that even a breath of fresh air can’t accomplish without losing it.

Maybe you should let them kill each other.

“Fine!” Bane decides and distances himself from the couple while the Joker shouts since he has to have the last word:

“Fine!”

“Mister Batman?” the 5 years old dressed as a hobbit shily tugs on J’s cape.

“Hm?” the fake vigilante looks down. The little boy suddenly sneezes and wipes his nose with the fabric as the mad man is less than lenient at someone ruining the outfit replica he paid a fortune to have.

“Goddamn…” and he can’t finish his sentence because a large group of screaming children surround him in a heartbeat.

“Batman! Batman!” they jump up and down hyped up to see their hero.

“Go away!” J attempts to reason with the sea of kids he has no patience for. Of course nobody can hear him over the deafening sounds that attract more offsprings and parents.

“That’s so cute!” one of the moms gushes and takes a picture. “It’s delightful seeing a guy dressed as The Batman performing such a public service for our town!”

“He loves people, especially babies, “ you lie without blinking and immortalize the moment yourself.

“Awww,” a few people sigh touched by your praises.

“He must be a nice dude,” a kid’s dad concludes and you sweetly smile from under your mask:

“You have no idea.”

Somebody from the crowd places an infant girl in The Joker’s arms and the mob goes ballistic!! Rosie cheeks keeps sucking from her binky, glaring at the interesting person.

Clapping, cheering and whistling intensify whilst J feels compelled by his increasing popularity to lift the 6 months old above his head for everyone to see how cool he is.

This is not bad, The King enjoys an endless string of applause and the sudden explosion occurring in the diaper followed by quite a foul smell puts an end to his exuberance.

“Jesus!” he crinkles his nose, appalled. “Whose kid is this?” he yells and the thrilled parent waves at him, taking back the stinky, adorable bundle of joy. “Uncle Batsy needs to run!!” J makes up a random plan although nobody can hear him: the noise is overwhelming after he hyped them all up. “Let’s bail before they trap me again! Pretty soon I won’t be able to walk, Princess. Everything is crammed in there, a total mess! I hate stretchy pants!!” he addresses his woman and quickens the pace until an atrocious abomination stops him in his tracks.

A specimen mocking The Joker wearing a purple suit is getting quite the attention: over exaggerated red lips smudged over the lip line, tattoo on the forehead that spells “Cabbaged”, a bunch of cheap golden chains from the Dollar Store around his neck and a sloppy green wig complete the assemble in a cringy manner.

You are equally speechless and The Joker manages to utter:

“What… THE HELL… is that????!!!!”

“Ummm… a Clown?” your sassy remark doesn’t score high marks as expected; you feel his eyes burning holes through you.

“You’re hilarious! Would you like to share your standup comedy talents on the stage??!” his index finger points at the platform meant to host a guest appearance from Bruce Wayne in the next hour.

Courtesy of “Wayne Enterprise” sponsoring the event: free food and refreshments for everyone under 18 years old.

You don’t answer and pout, upset J’s pissed attitude is already ruining your mood.

“I’m going to kill that buffoon posing as me!” he inhales full of spite and reaches for the knife hidden in his left boot.

“You can’t…” you hesitantly halt his movement. “Dozens of people, that’s just asking for trouble!”

“I’m not going to let a prick disrespect me!”

“You won’t, we’ll figure something afterwards. We can wait for him outside in the parking lot and take care of it without drawing attention! Please?” you beg hoping he’ll listen to you. “Pleeeaaaase!!!!“ you insist, perfectly aware he’s about to commit murder regardless. “I have a bunch of VIP passes to take pictures with celebrities. You promised J!” you stomp your high heels, exasperated. “You promised we’ll have a fun date!!”

“Why do I have to take pics with celebrities?! I don’t like anybody!”

The look on Y/N’s face: sheer disappointment; most of her features are covered with the mask yet he can tell.

“But I like you so the most I’ll do is take a selfie with you!” The Joker makes amendments on his own terms.

The Queen sniffles, trying to bottle up her emotions and she can’t help it: she bursts up in tears at her boyfriend’s candor.

Oh no! Not again!

Why?

The King of Gotham says nice things maybe twice a year and each time you struggle not to cry but it’s impossible: how can one resist such charm?!

Your complete meltdown makes him roll his eyes while your shaky hand takes a picture of the royal duo.

“Ugghhh…” J’s grimace turns your attention towards him.

“What is it baby?” you wipe your tears with his cape.

He would probably criticize such affront still there’s a pressing issue taking precedent.

“Princess, these tights are making my legs numb. I can’t feel my crown jewelry anymore.”

“Huh?” you forget to weep, startled.

“Cursed stretchy pants! I think I won’t be able to have sex for a month!” The Joker stretches his feet, uncomfortable.

“What??!!!” you raise your voice, panicked. “A month???!!”

Hell no!

Y/N grabs The Joker’s right hand and starts dragging him after her, yelling:

“Out of the way! Out of the way, it’s an emergency!!” whilst everyone is wondering how can someone wearing those 7-inch stilettos can march so fast.

“Where are we going, Pumpkin?!” J is inquiring and you yank at his arm, alarmed.

“To the car!”

“Why?”

Y/N doesn’t have time for explanations: she basically flies across the parking lot to get to section B5, opens the van’s back door and shoves J inside. He lands on his abs as you relentlessly pull on his boots, accomplishing to take them off in record time. Then you heave at his tights, huffing a storm at the stiff garment:

“I’ll be damn if I’ll wait a month for a ride in Funky Town!”

A mother and her 11 years old son pass by and she covers his eyes, horrified at the indecency as she guides him throughout the maze of vehicles.

“There are children here!” the woman protests. “Get a room!”

Luckily, she wasn’t heard by The Clown and his girl because… victory! The stretchy pants are off, J only in his boxers now.

“How are you feeling?” you roll him and he exhales, assessing the damage succeeding Y/N swift actions.

“Not sure, same?... Sit on my lap,” J offers and you don’t need a second invitation.

“Well?” you hold in the anxiety reaching high levels under these dire circumstances.

“Dunno, kiss me and we’ll see.”

You kiss him and he purrs.

“Well?” you interrogate again.

“Kiss me again!” he orders and you put more passion into it since your future happiness depends on it. “Hmm…” J groans. “I believe things are improving.”

“Yeah?” Y/N is about to have another breakdown although J didn’t say sweet rubbish; it’s just that kind of occasion.

“U-hum!”

“Then… what do you say we go home and celebrate your recovery?” you whisper in his ear.

“What about Comic Con?”

“Screw it!” you hop off his knees. “I’ll drive, you focus on your convalescence, ok baby?”

“Ok,” The Joker agrees and begins to stride around the van as Bruce Wayne’s limousine happens to drive by, the billionaire preparing to attend the event he sponsored.

“Stop the car!” Bruce commands at the weird view in the distance: a man wearing a replica of his Batman suit-- helmet, mask, gloves, cape… but no pants or boots, the bottom part of his attire consisting solely of underwear. “Right when you think you saw it all…” he shakes his head in denial, oblivious about who the person is.

Mister Wayne should at least have some empathy for the man enduring those tights for as long as he could; it might not be a record, but who could ever beat the real Batman at wearing stretchy pants anyway?!