Tim Drake Redesign - Rumour

i combined a lot of his past outfits into this one, the belts obviously inspired by his red robin outfit, and his gloves and boots inspired by his current robin outfit, minus the shoe shape, which i decided myself to give him ninja like shoes to sneak around better. I also gave his elbows yellow patches to match his knees, but its hard to see in this pic.

I decided to keep his current R as his Rumour symbol bc no.1 he's pretty clearly attached to his robin days, i thought it might comfort him thru the change :(. no.2 theres no real symbol for a rumour? like for spoiler she could honestly have an exclamation mark, but nothing for a rumour, so yeah, R it is. (although the robin symbol is an R despite it being a bird so... maybe the robin symbol should change to a bird instead.)

feel free to use in fanfics and such! i imagine him as a duo with steph, with her being the loud front attack (like a spoiler) so that rumour could sneak around back to do his own damage u know?

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨

Ok so I CANNOT answer these for myself because this changes so frequently for me. So instead!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets look at 5 songs that make me think of TimSteph and one just solid Steph jam.

Chemicals React: Aly and AJ

This is such a TimSteph jam, it is, okay???

You make me feel out of my element Like I'm walking on broken glass Like my world spinnin' in slow motion And you're movin' too fast

Were you right was I wrong Were you weak, was I strong Yeah, both of us broken Caught in a moment We lived and we loved And we hurt and we jumped yeah

2. Brutal: Olivia Rodrigo.

This is very much a Steph song imo...

All I did was try my best This the kind of thanks I get? Unrelentlessly upset They say these are the golden years But I wish I could disappear Ego crush is so severe God, it's brutal out here

3. Heaven: The Cure

Very Robin and Spoiler days. Bit wild and unsteady.

Spinning on that dizzy edge Kissed her face and kissed her head Dreamed of all the different ways I had to make her glow "Why are you so far away?", she said "Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you That I'm in love with you?"

4. Issues: Julia Michaels

They certainly are a mess aren't they?

'Cause I got issues But you got 'em too So give 'em all to me And I'll give mine to you Bask in the glory Of all our problems 'Cause we got the kind of love It takes to solve 'em

5. Friday I'm in Love: Phoebe Bridgers

Don't touch me. There's something so soft and sweet about this cover that makes me think of their weekly date nights and sitting on rooftops and just being teenagers in love all precious and a bit naïve.

I don't care if Monday's blue Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too Thursday, I don't care about you It's Friday, I'm in love Monday you can fall apart Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart Oh, Thursday doesn't even start It's Friday, I'm in love

This playlist is ever growing, idk. It's just there. Good for fic inspo if I want to know where to really press the angst or dial up the sappiness.

are u ever going to write any smut 👀

I admire your forwardness anon. 😅 And you know never say never but... For TimSteph? Probably never. I mean probably not. I've grown less comfortable reading smut for those two as the age gap between me and them has only continued to grow. I don't think I could write full on smut at this point. I think Tim might have gotten over the hump of 18 recently, judging by inferences in recent comics and solicits, but I think I need confirmation there...

If I ever actually pluck up the courage to write Dick Grayson fics... Maybe? Maybe.

Like I genuinely tried in Take Back the Cake. Honest. One of the aims of me writing that was to try and flex my writing muscles but I literally got too embarrassed and had to stop. 😳😂 Even the scenes in Light at the End of the Tunnel in Summer I was redder than a tomato writing. I think somewhere around there is my limit.

Having said all that, one fic on my to do list is the road trip Steph and Tim were on in between Rebirth Tec and YJ where I did write a tiny one-shot which will be greatly expanded one day. There was back seat truck sex in that, so I'll try and keep that in there. Maybe some others. Who knows.

So no smutty smut smut from me, no. I appreciate that you would like me to though; very confidence building! 🤭

Hi blu! It’s robrae week & I know you’re more of a jayrae writer, but were you planning on writing something for it? (Big big fan of your stuff & ive noticed you’ve shown interest in dickrae/robrae which is why I’m asking) I hope u have a wonderful day!!!!

Hello,

I’m so happy to hear you enjoy my work! The stories are so fun to write! as to RobRae week... There’s been so many Robins, they should really clarify WHICH Robin is to be used for RobRae week.

I’m not a big DickRae shipper, past insinuating that Raven had a crush on him. Mostly I don’t ship it because it was forced in both writing and in the old comics, which was disappointing. Besides that, I’m a HUGE DickKori lover, also enjoy DickBabs (if written well and left as it was, a teenage romance), and DickZatanna is an interesting pair.

Obviously I’m a sucker for JayRae. And Jason was a Robin, so should they or should they not be counted as RobRae? 

I liked TimRae, but mostly as friends. I don’t see much ship potential there to be honest, and they seemed to be great for each other as friends. They balanced each other out when they needed balance; also I like TimSteph or TimKon. A lot.

Is StephRae even a ship? Or anything? I mean Stephanie was technically a Robin too, so it’s a legit question. I think they’d be awesome friends though. Not sure if there’d be much chemistry there for a ship.

DamiRae is cute, but not really my thing. Though I must admit there is some gorgeous art for it, and humorous stories. I still just don’t ship. I think with their age gap Damian would come to appreciate Raven as a friend and counsel.

DukeRae might be interesting, Duke was briefly a Robin. But I don’t see much romantic potential here if I’m honest. They’re too chill, they might be good friends though. 

If there’s a CarrieRae ever, we’re going to have to have a talk with Raven’s writers for always de-aging her so much.

Okay, so I just got an idea on the RobRae week thing, I might be a bit, but keep a watch on the tags I guess. Give me some time though, I’m working on a few other things too, but this week ought to be interesting.

I love timsteph but it's depressing trying to find fics where they aren't exes or the main pairing isn't batcest or some other tim and stephanie ship with other people. I found some anti saying it was boring and steph was irrelevant unless she was with tim, that the shippers were annoying and they hated her. Their username is corefour on AO3. Can you please tell me why you ship timsteph and why they work well together, that anti's toxic rhetoric really brought me down and I like your timsteph.

I know that feeling anon.  I remember when it was still common to call Steph Tim’s beard and how angry that used to make me.  I saw that fic.  Do your best to not engage with things that make you sad. They can post what they like, and as much as I wish it wasn’t in the pairing tag, these things happen so best just let it pass you by.  I got back into fic writing because YJ#5 just made me so happy, and yeah there are days when I come back from the office and I don’t get any writing done, but if I could not work a 9-5 job rest assured I’d be writing all day to clean up the pairing tag (and doing my cross stitch… and playing my nintendo games… and cooking mac n cheese)

To help cheer you up, here are some things I love about Tim and Steph as a couple.

Okay, so there’s this tie in issue to Batman Brave and the Bold cartoon series and it’s just a little side story where all the robins are called across time to help Batman out and aside from a great moment where Damian tells Jason that yes Dick is in charge so suck it up (he’s Dami’s Batman after all) Dick pairs of Tim and Steph to watch over Bruce whilst he Jason Damian and Carrie go get help. Anyway here’s my two favourite panels:

So in these couple of panels, you have Steph’s inferiority complex rearing its head, which she always reacts defensively to, Tim reassuring her. Then you have Dick noting that yeah she’s good but paired with Tim they are a pretty solid pair. Like this is a solid trope - Red Oni, Blue Oni, Leader and Lancer… like that’s a tried and tested formula that works well, and those two fit it to a t. 

When Tim is honest with Stephanie, she is a non judgemental voice for him to voice his concerns to - she’s the only one who knows him for every aspect of his life, and can still give an outsiders perspective.  She’s protective over him from Bruce’s treatment, she isn’t really keen on Jack.

When Stephanie is honest with Tim, he pulls her back to what actually is the core of the issue, as she tends to always assume the worst in folk (low self esteem yello) and he gives her a lot of help when she’s first getting started.  Equipment, training, missions with him.

You can argue that Tim wasn’t supportive of Steph but honestly I dunno.  He has been extremely supportive of her since the reboot right from the word go (before then… he was one of the only people taking her social media warnings seriously), Jon Lewis wrote Tim and Steph are like… a unit, and Chuck Dixon had most of Tim’s complaints about Steph be so superficial as the aim was to show that Tim really actually was enjoying Steph’s company more than he was willing to admit to himself at the time.  Tim’s just…a happier person with Steph in Gotham.  Besides, Tim grew up and realised that with Batgirl came a lot of maturing for Steph.  All he does is compliment her after the initial hurr burr I told u no costume hurr burr argument.

He respects her space, and so does she.  Honestly before the arc leading up to the name reveal she never nagged him about who he was, Tim just would blab to her because, as I mentioned, she’s a good listener with an outsider’s perspective and Tim would often slip up and let things slide like Ari or his friends or even Bruce. The more he did this the more Steph grew head over heels for him.  This boy?  This brave, gentle, kind, earnest boy chose her.  And he can’t tell her everything though it’s obvious he really wants to… so she’ll listen, and be what she can for him.

Listen, I love them both because it’s two teenagers who have grown up in emotionally difficult circumstances, either through outright abuse or neglect, finding out what it’s like to be in love with someone who loves you back for the first time and neither of them are very good at accepting that fact, and Steph’s insecurities get the better of her to the point where, yes, it does wreck the relationship, and by the time she works her way through them and pays the city back for what happened during the gang war Tim has started to emotionally shut down.  And that’s heartbreaking for them, as Tim wants to be with her but she sees someone who just isn’t stable or open enough to see it through.

And yet, she gets through to him every time, and he knows he can call on her for help.  And then in Convergence it’s still Steph saying “Look you have to talk to me, please.” and Tim providing her with a physical comfort she can’t find elsewhere. 

Post reboot it’s just two teenagers completely head over heels for the other and even then it’s because the two of them are one hundred percent supportive of the other and Steph sees Tim a legit madman who’s her best hope of helping people whilst also having a much better life then what her parents would have given her and Tim is so head over heels for her he drops Cassandra ‘literal demigoddess’ Sandsmark in favour of this homeless hobo girl who: a) probably hadn’t had the chance to shower in days and b) punched Owlman in the face screaming that she was Batman.  What a legend. I would go full heart eyes too for her.

The tragedy for both of them is that they kind of want that white picket fence life, they want to be selfish.  But they can’t ever turn away from people that need them and that’s kind of what I love best about them.  They’re just two people who want to do well by others.  How can I not love them? 

What do u think are some of the biggest misconceptions about tim and steph both as individual characters and as a couple

I mean I am not claiming to be an expert in either character, my opinions for them are half canon readings and half just meta which has wormed its way into how I read them. I’m sure you can find as many panels contradicting what I write as I can find panels supporting what I’ve written so…uh.  Behold.  A ramble:

Steph: I honestly do not think Steph hates or even resents Bruce or Batman, if you go with her being a second stab at Jason’s character archetype in that she is the child of a criminal father and a drug addict mother who allowed their anger to colour their crime fighting only for them to be brutally tortured, ‘die’, then return to Gotham… Jason returns and is irrevocably jaded, Steph returns and is the exact opposite.  She doesn’t blame Bruce for what happened, and she still trusts him.  Anytime she does think of how he screwed her over she shakes it off.  She’s a forgiving person.  She forgives her mother, she forgives Tim for a lot, and she forgives Bruce.  She gives second chances, it’s only when a person (her father) shows no sign or remorse or growth that she hates them, and even then, she isn’t sure if she does hate him, or just pity him.  

Tim: I have a lot of unpopular opinions for Tim, which, uh, sorry. Mostly revolving around how I think he honestly does have the weakest arc of the five robins.  I think to understand Tim you have to understand that, relatively speaking to other Batfam characters, he’s quite passive after his initial taking of the Robin title.  Qualifying statement: my personal fave Robins in order are Dick and Steph, Tim, then Damian.  Then Jason way down a rabbit hole and no I will not expand.  Tim’s a sweet boy who starts off doing good for the sake of doing good but through character development (which is largely externally motivated, him joining the Teen Titans, everyone dying, not allowed to be Robin… Tim drives none of that forward.  Things happen to him, he reacts) he starts to lose any will to exist genuinely outside of his superhero suit, aka he becomes more Batman like than any of the other Robins.  But there’s not a lot you can go with that afterwards aside from where they went, evil timeline and moral ambiguity and all that.  Tynion gives him external interests and draws on that ‘I can do good better than others can’ late Red Robin mentality but takes away the trauma and anger of that statement to try and make it a bit more proactive in terms of Tim’s character development. Tim’s actions have consequences on himself, it’s not just a case of others actions having consequences on him.  I really like Tynion’s Tim and I think I’m like one of five tumblr Tim stans who does. He’s an interesting character darn it.

TimSteph: The idea that these two would have nothing if not for their costumes kinda gets my goat, because it’s contradicted so many times not only in actions but also from the character’s own mouths.  One of the points of Stephanie’s pregnancy arc was to show them growing closer outside of the costumes which added to the conflict of not telling Steph who he was because she was starting to know and love every part of him. Steph even spells it #119 where she says, “My feelings for you aren’t based on a suit.” which again is referenced in the Rebirth Tec run where again Steph states that she really doesn’t give a shit what Tim calls himself because she knows him she loves him that’s all that counts at the end of the day.  

Tim and Stephanie also have buckets in common.  From the shallow in that, they both have terrible tastes in music, like nerdy/geeky things and have a general interest in pop culture.  They both say pwned.  I mean… c’mon.  On a deeper level in that, both were brought up with the idea that love is conditional and a lot of emotional neglect.  Both of their deepest fears are not being good enough at being a hero, child, friend, significant other etc., i.e. the conditional affection they received growing up means they can be very insecure with their place in the world. Tim takes this as fact, Stephanie rages against it. 

Also, yes yes yes to the idea that given the chance, both are openly affectionate with their loved ones.

They are soft and sweet.  Steph likes kisses, Tim likes hugs and hand holding and snuggles.  Gosh I love them.