Healthy Batfam Is The Best

I find the discourse of “Jason is just a big softie” vs “no, he’s a brute” to be so telling. He’s both AND he’s neither. The idea that Jason is a softie comes from people looking down on his extreme empathy towards women and children. The idea that he’s a brute is usually a classist argument because he grew up in Crime Alley.

all of batfam has undiagnosed autism, that we all know

bruce? the most classical stoic boyautism that borders on sociopathy, his hyperfocus used to be the autistic cliché god damn trains until the his parents dying thing happened and his hyperfocus has become all of gotham and her ugly sides since then

barbara? it wasn't her PhD in library sciences that taught her to be The Best Hacker there is, it was her autism, her hyperfocus is electronics and codes and she's way too busy being oracle 24/7 to think about her gender to notice she might be closer to nonbinary (pun very much intended) than she thinks

jason? nerd autism with a hyperfocus on english literature, they keep forgetting he was the only robin who loved and aced school, and they never stop being surprised at how many accents he can nail perfectly

tim? the quirky freak autism who's too weird even for autistic people, his hyperfocus is mysteries and murder and crime and blood and sometimes everyone is scared he's secretly a psychopath with how his dopamine only shows when some crazy fucked up shit happens

steph? the "but you don't look/act autistic" - "thanks it's the trauma" autism, everyone thinks she loves the colour purple and well yeah but she literally needs the colour purple to not have a mental breakdown, it stimulates her mind perfectly like no other colour does

cass? selective mute autism and her hyperfocus is human body language and human relationships, the only reason she doesn't like to talk is because she thinks that words do not always represent what and how people feel, and she can't multi-task, so talking is like having her defenses down hence why she only ever talks a bit when in the manor

damian? the "I promise you he isn't an asshole, he's just autistic" autism (tim: "he's autistic and an asshole"), outside of analysing criminals, he's super duper bad at reading social intentions of people that approach him, he knows sooner that a random street cat's specific meow means "I have kittens I have to take care of 2 streets down in a garbage bin but I'm hungry and haven't eaten for 4 days" than some whatever for it is his classmates keep asking him what he's doing on the weekends, his hyperfocus is swords and knives duh

duke? the Masking Hard autism, the my autism only shows when I'm so low on energy that I break down, but it rarely happens and even if you tell me I can relax, I will still be masking. "I don't have a hyperfocus" he says but will literally lose hair over injustice and unsolved riddles (the one time damian and tim pranked him over a riddle without an actual answer, duke literally woke up with white strands the next day)

and then there is dick.

they lie down like a mess all over the couch and living room after a patrol that took too long for anyone to drive home to catch sleep, talking about everything and nothing at the same time

and tim goes "you know, it's a good thing dick is the only one without autism, loves socialising, won't stop yapping and loves all the hugging he can get and all, we need one bat that is a person"

Jason adds, "yeah man. though he should get checked for adhd his constant fidgeting is driving me fucking insane, can't sit on his ass for 5 seconds"

damian asks, "does the autism spectrum disorder even come with extroversion?"

dick answers "I mean probably. considering I got diagnosed when I was like 5 because I just wouldn't talk at all until my parents figured out I'd start talking only on the ropes, don't remember if adhd was included tho"

"WHAT?!" everyone shouts (damian, too, because how did he Nnot Know this about his favourite brother, and stephanie spits her drink right into jason's face who doesn't even notice with how shocked he is)

they swear to get an official diagnosis, too, because they can't just let god damn dick "I will literally die if you don't hug me right now" grayson be the only medically approved autistic freak in the family

if alfred knew that knowing dick was the only one with an official autism diagnosis would make the kids finally go see a mental health professional, he'd been the one to do it sooner

Yes(?)

So Dick is 16 here, but turning 17 in a month. This is from Nightwing (1996) #134 for your reading pleasure — or displeasure, as it were, because this is also where Liu comes in. Rhymes with “ew” for a reason.

Basically Bruce gets mad at Dick for taking a risk, Dick says Bruce should’ve trusted him, Bruce says he would’ve never taken Dick under his wing nowadays if he knew what Dick would be, Dick leaves, and Bruce doesn’t try to find him.

There are other cases like this in the comics where Dick isn’t necessarily “kicked out”, but Bruce bans him from being Robin or says he would’ve never wanted him as Robin and is incredibly cold thereafter in a way that a child or teenager could interpret as not being wanted period. Note how he says “have it your way” as he’s leaving, meaning he believes Bruce doesn’t want him (and Bruce doesn’t correct him lol). Also see Robin: Year One by Chuck Dixon for another instance of this. In every case Dick ends up leaving, and rather than trying to get his kid, Bruce just kinda… leaves him to get fucked up as a child on the streets? Like in Robin: Year One, bro was 11-13ish and got nabbed by a mercenary group. Here he got Liu’d.

So the idea that Dick has been kicked out a million times is a bit of a misnomer, but not by much. It’s more like he has a normal child/teenage angst moment but, unlike most parents who would stop their kid or report their kid missing/try to find them/make sure they’re at a friends house or okay, Bruce… doesn’t. Even to the point where after Dick starts to regret it or needs help a few weeks in and tries to call him, his calls aren’t answered, which could be interpreted as retroactive abandonment.

(ignore the spelling errors i got 3 hours of sleep and im too lazy to fix it now)

Somehow, miraculously, they all decide to spend Christmas together. None of them expect it to go well, but they also don’t quite expect the level of chaos they get. Two weeks before Christmas, Joker breaks out of Arkham and goes on a rampage. Jason, in all his Jason-ness, does not take this well and spends copious amounts of time reminding everyone about his death, about how he’s unavenged, and about how unfair it is that Joker gets to walk free. Dick, in all his Dick-ness, says “fuck it, we ball” and decides to do something about it. After all, he’s already crossed the line and killed Blockbuster, he might as well get rid of Joker too (he also, definitely, 100% isn’t doing this because he forgot to work Jason into his Christmas budget - not that he had much of a budget anymore considering his apartment was gone).

Dick doesn’t say a word to anyone. He worries that Bruce has caught on, but the man is nothing but pleasant to Dick leading up Christmas. Dick isn’t sure if he’s trying to make up for the past, or if he’s just trying to make sure Dick stays so that Jason doesn’t get upset. Either way, Dick’s not really complaining. He’s more focused on the overwhelming guilt he feels, and the fact that every time he feels guilty, he hears the voice of Jason’s Robin telling him he did the right thing.

The day finally comes. Dick is almost sick with anticipation, the past few days passing by in a dream-like haze. Jason gets to open his presents first, considering he missed out on the past few christmases. Dick makes sure Jason saves his present for last, despite the anxiety bubbling in his gut. He barely tracks the way Jason’s eyes go wide when he opens Tim present (a photo of Jason flying around the streets of Gotham, back when he was robin) or how his brow twitches when he opens Bruce’s (a stun gun, rubber bullets, a long handwritten letter, along with some other trinkets).

I am not talking about 'canon'. I have my own personal beliefs for whether Duke would like/dislike people based on comics, but this isn't about interpretation. It's about people being absolutely unwilling to entertain the idea that Duke could dislike a White Batfam member, that anything he says/does must be a reflection of either what the OP believes or what is 'morally correct'. Because there is a tendency to treat Duke as if he's an unassailable paragon of virtue and not a character with biases, personal history, and contradictions. To use an example, one post insinuated that Duke could never hate Dick for being a cop because Dick was 'trying to root out corruption'. Besides the fact that the post misconstrues what ACAB actually is, whether or not Dick was in the 'right' is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT. Duke is not an all-knowing objective entity, he is a CHARACTER with a LIMITED PERSPECTIVE. He is ALLOWED to make judgements on characters whether or not they are 100% accurate, just like White characters can!

When someone reacts so strongly against the idea that Duke could dislike their fav, to me it reads like they cannot engage with Duke as a character with his own thoughts & feelings. That post btw also insinuated that canon!Duke is "smart" for liking Dick, which reveals the underlying belief that Duke is only worth something insofar as he makes their White fav look good. You see this in the recurring belief that Tim should be Duke's Robin - Duke draws no benefit from this headcanon, in fact his belief in Robinhood has to be butchered in order for this to work, yet this hc persists because it props Tim up. Same for some Jason fans who are extremely hostile to the idea of Duke disliking him (canon is ambivalent as to whether Duke likes Jason btw); same for that Bruce fan who, on a post that was simply about Duke holding Bruce accountable, stated that Duke was horrible because he was 'yelling'. AT AN ADULT.

Disallowing Duke any negative emotions, any grudges, is anti-Black. It shows an unwillingness to engage with Duke as a character in his own right. To be clear posts about Duke liking White Batfam members/disagreeing with other posts are welcome - I do it! A lot of Duke fans do it! But it is the viscerally angry reaction some people have with the possibility of Duke disliking their fav that I take issue with, as if Duke's anger is something incomprehensible, taboo. This is not limited to Duke, if the conversations around Cass & Jason are anything to go by. Isn't it interesting that it is always the character of colour who must be amenable? That in a fandom that purports to love 'messy' relationships, characters of colour are somehow not included?

Tim: *taking pictures of Damian on his first date*

Jason, popping up behind him: Tim, what the fuck are you doing?

Tim, without flinching: Making a scrapbook.

Jason: A… scrapbook??

Tim: For posterity.

John, casually purifying it by dropping a charm no bigger than his pinkie into the water and then walking away: call me again when you’ve turned an orphanage into inside-out land sharks or something

John, who specifically chose this partner because he was a serial killer and therefore expendable, and was also planning to feed him to Dagon tomorrow anyway: aw thanks mate, you’ve saved me an arseload of trouble

Joker: …

John: haha I’m dating King Shark so good bloody luck

I'm back