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Okay, so I’ve been reading a lot of fanfic about what it would be like if Batman lead the Regime and Superman lead the Insurgency instead of the other way around, and I absolutely love the idea. 

The thing is, all the origin stories get one thing wrong. It would take more than Bruce just watching his sons die. We have to remember that Bruce has seen his children die before, and while it did absolutely break him into a million pieces, he still never broke his rule. Also, we have to remember that he has no killer instinct, so even under the influence of whatever toxins Joker would give him, he wouldn’t just start killing his kids. 

What I’m saying is that Bruce, like Superman, has to be the one to kill his family. Unlike Clark, however, Bruce needs to be under some sort of mind-control situation. 

So my idea is thus: instead of Joker teaming up with Scarecrow to make Kryptonian fear toxin he teams up with Mad Hatter to make a mind control device. This is doubly heartbreaking. Because now Bruce is aware of what’s happening, but he can’t do a thing about it. That is what changes the man.

Okay, so I had a cool (I think) idea about what the future of Gotham might look like. Here it goes.

After Bruce retired, the city was effectively split into four quarters, one for each team. One quarter went to Nightwing and his teammate, Oracle. One quarter went to Red Robin and Spoiler. One quarter went to Red Hood and Black Bat. The final quarter went to the Dark Knight (Damian’s interpretation of Batman) and Signal.

Each of those eight each chose someone to take over their mantle, and this just kept going on.

200 years from the death of Batman, no one in any of those mantles know who started it all, but they do know that it’s their job to protect the city.

Okay, so since my post on rare ships, I did get a few messages about how I thought this would look like, so here is an outline of what that universe might look like.

Bruce is older now, like actually old, like 65-70ish. Alfred died a few years back and the way Bruce dealt with it drove Jason away for good. Dick is still Nightwing, although he’s also getting up there in years. His 40′s weren’t kind to him and he and Damian got into a huge fight at his 50th birthday party because Damian was almost certain that he was going to get himself killed. Damian doesn’t talk much with Bruce or Dick anymore either, which is a shame, because he’s the only one who Jason will speak to. Then there’s Tim. 

He’s in his early thirties, he was the one who took over being Batman after Bruce retired, much to Damian’s chagrin. Diana being basically immortal and Clark not ageing quite the same as a human man, are still the pillars of the League. At first, Batman wasn’t quite the image that he was when Bruce was in the role, but he made a name for himself soon enough.

He’s been Batman for a few years now, and the other day, he noticed a grey hair. He held it in his hand and stared at it for a while in front of the large window that looked out on Earth in the Watchtower. Diana came up behind him and asked if he was okay.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just... getting old I guess.”

“Is that troubling you?” Diana asked.

“Yes, more than it probably should,” Tim answered completely honestly.

This took Diana off guard, although, it shouldn’t by now. She should be used to the idea that Tim wasn’t his father, he didn’t bottle things up, not anymore. He had grown emotionally. And Diana would be lying if she didn’t notice how he had grown physically.

“Is it something that’s bothering you?” Diana asked.

Tim smiled a little at her and she smiled back. “Not really, not right now. But I’ve seen what doing this does to someone’s body. Bruce can barely walk now and it kills him. I figure I should probably stop before it gets that far.” He paused. “I probably won’t. Maybe I’ll go the same route as Jason and Damian and use a Lazarus pit.”

Diana looked concerned at this, “Would you? Consider that?”

“No. I think I’d rather die naturally than hurt the people around me with... everything that comes with the Pit.”

“I know it’s not my place, but I am relieved to hear you say that.”

“Maybe it is your place. I mean... you’re my friend.”

Diana looked at the man in the eye, they were the same height. 

“Just friends?”

A slow smiled crept onto Tim’s face, “I don’t presume to know what you’re feeling, but if you’re asking...”

“Which I am.”

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t... explore... this relationship. Beside perhaps your feelings for my father,” Tim said.

Diana shook her head a little. “You’re nothing like him.”

Tim grinned, “That’s more of a compliment than you know.”

“May I kiss you?” She asked.

“Of course,” Tim said.

<><> Years Later <><>

Tim was standing at the end of a long aisle. It wasn’t a big wedding, mostly family and friends from the superhero community. Tim’s best man was Conner Kent, Diana’s man of honour was Clark.

Bruce was sitting in the front and watched, his heart shattering, as Diana married his son.

There was a small reception outside the manor, where the wedding was taking place. Tim was chatting with some of the guests when something on the treeline caught his eye. He smiled and excused himself and walked over.

Jason was leaning against a tree, smoking. He looked the exact same as the snarky 19-year-old Tim had known what felt like a lifetime ago. Except for the hair, it was shock-white, and his eyes glowed in the dark slightly unnaturally.

“You know, you were invited,” Tim said.

“I know, but I didn’t want to make trouble for you,” Jason said. “Damian sends his best.”

Tim laughed, “No. He didn’t.”

Jason grinned, “No. He didn’t.” He took another drag. “Some things never change.”

“Yeah,” Tim agreed, giving Jason a look.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t go all Bruce and give me a lecture.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

Jason rolled his eyes and reached into his jacket, pulling out an envelope. “Here, a wedding present.”

Tim looked inside and saw that it was packed with photographs. And not just any photos.

“Jason... how did you get these, I thought Bruce destroyed them after Alfred died,” Tim looked through them with tears welling in his eyes.

Jason smiled bittersweetly, “Alfred gave me all the old photo albums.”

“Thanks, Jay. I-” Tim looked up from a photo to see that Jason was gone. He chuckled slightly, put the envelope in his suit jacket, and went back to the party.

“Where’d you sneak off to?” Diana asked slightly teasingly, though there was a hint of real concern under it.

“Jason stopped by,” Tim said.

Diana smiled a little.

<><> Ten Years Later <><>

Funnily enough, Tim and Diana only had little girls. Tim had thought that the universe was going to mess with Diana by making them have only boys. Not that Tim was complaining. He loved those girls.

He and Diana left them with Conner when they were going out on League business that day. It was a hard fight. Diana was protecting Tim, who was trying to hack into the hidden files in their latest adversary’s computer. Unfortunately, a bomb was set off when the other members of the Justice League were battling the drones on the main level, and the building began to crash around them.

The next thing Diana knew, she was opening her eyes. She seemed to have landed in an air pocket. And then she remembered who else she had been with. “Batman?!” She called. She sat up and looked around until she saw a glint of light bouncing off something. But she couldn’t tell what it was. She reached out to touch it, and her hand came back sticky.

“Timothy?” She asked the darkness, her voice wavering in a way that it hadn’t in a long time.

She crawled over to where he was laying. No pulse to be found. She cradled his body against her chest and sobbed until Superman finally dug them out of the rubble.

<><> <><>

Telling her children that their father was gone was one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

All she could think about as she stood at the grave of Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, was how she was so lucky that she still had pieces of him in the world.

She smelt the smoke before she heard him speak.

“I could bring him back, if you’d like.”

She turned to look at Jason, ever the same man, frozen in time.

“He told me he didn’t want that,” Diana replied.

Jason just nodded, “Yeah, I figured.”

There was silence for a moment before Diana spoke her mind. “Why are you here?”

“I... just thought I’d come to tell you that I’m sorry. And that you and the kids were the things that made his life worth something to him, not Batman.”

Diana stared at Jason tearily. “Thank you.”

He nodded and was about to turn away when he remembered something else he had wanted to tell her. “And... Damian’s taken this hard. He, uh, I think he has people following your girls just to make sure nothing happens. I tried to call him off but- well, it’s Damian. I know they can handle themselves, he’s just worried.”

Diana wanted to be angry, and snap at him that she can protect her children on her own, but then she remembered that she wasn’t the only one who lost someone.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

I thought it would be fun to think about how the members of the Justice League might get along together and stuff, so enjoy!

Bruce-Clark-Diana: they’re the original trio, the big three. Clark is probably one of Bruce’s only friends, and Diana and Bruce hold more respect for each other than probably anyone else.

Clark-J’onn-Cyborg: it’s definitely not a common group to look at, but since they’re all sort of ‘endangered species’, I think that they’d all hang out together so that they might feel a little less alone in the universe.

Bruce-Barry-Billy: alliterative names team! Also I kind of imagine that Bruce treats them both like they’re sort of his kids and does sort-of-not-so-accidentally ask Billy if he should “be up this late” at a Justice League meeting.

Hal-Bruce-Victor: the snarky assholes of the group. They claim to hate each other, but really, they meet up for coffee once a week. Hal gushes about Carol, Bruce shows them a million pictures of his kids, and they both question Victor about school, dating life, etc.

Diana-Arthur: literally royalty. Talk about ruling and stuff, occasionally they invite Bruce because with the number of children he basically does run a small country.

Hal-J’onn: space bros, both know about the crazy shit that’s out there and sometimes talk about it.

Okay, so since I am a lover of cheesy romance, I thought it was only fitting that I do a post about my favourite RARE ships. So for those of you who are going to be mad that I didn’t include JayTim or TimKon or DamiJon or polyamorous JayRoyKori, it’s because I love them, but those are pretty common. Without further adieu:

1. Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain So I really like this one, because I really like the duality of strengths with them. Jason is loud and flashy while Cass is best as stealth. Jason is great at verbal communication, while Cass exceeds at non-verbal communication. I just think that they would rub off on each other and be a super kick-ass couple.

2. Jason Todd and Stephanie Brown This is also one of my favourites, unlike with Cass, Jason and Steph are actually very similar in backstory and conflict with Bruce. I like the idea of them starting to hang out together because they like to complain about Bruce together, but then continuing to hang out because they actually like each other.

3. Tim Drake and Diana Prince Okay, hear me out on this one!! Imagine an older Tim, who has the strategic sense, strength, and dedication that Diana always admired in Bruce, without the emotional blockades. And then imagine Diana, who loved Bruce, but knew it could never work out because he wasn’t capable of the emotional openness that she needed. Then imagine them together as THE power couple of the DC Universe. I dare you to tell me that it’s a bad ship. I dare you.

4. Dick Grayson and Roy Harper I love this ship because I kind of imagine them coming together in a bit of an AU, each with a young daughter (Roy’s is Lian, Dick’s is Mar’i). They are both Tired Dads (TM) and they sort of start off as a relationship of convenience and then all of a sudden they realize that their kids are telling everyone that they’re sisters and Dick and Roy just stop correcting them.

5. Jason Todd and Wally West Jason’s greatest fear is being forgotten, or that people won’t come to save him in time. Well worry no more, Jason, your saviour has arrived. Wally West, as one of the fastest people in the world, will always be there. Plus Jason is actually super romantic and Wally loves that cheesy shit. Wally can also be sort of an idiot sometimes and Jason helps to balance that out with his personal brand of paranoia.

So Jason is a really good cook. Not Alfred good, but definitely good enough to be a professional chef. The other Batkids know this, hence why I present: Jason as the one everyone goes to when they need food.

It all starts when Jason starts hanging out with Stephanie. They actually have a lot in common, so they started having post-patrol hangouts and Jason’s ‘secret’ safehouse. She makes waffles one day, and Jason says: “These are good, but you know what would make them better?” And then proceeds to make the best waffles Stephanie has ever had.

One day, after a particularly gruelling patrol, Stephanie goes to Jason’s safehouse to get him to make her some waffles. What she doesn’t know is that Tim saw how worn down she was and wanted to make sure she got home okay, so he followed her. When she slipped into the window of Jason’s apartment, Tim wasn’t sure what he was going to find, but Jason sitting on the couch with a half-empty beer and Steph with a giant plate of waffles in front of her venting to Jason about the night, was not it.

Jason and Steph notice Tim right away, and Jason offers Tim some extra waffles, saying: “Babybird, you look like a small gust of wind could knock you over, you need some food.”

But Tim isn’t a great lover of waffles and tells Jason such. So Jason makes him French toast instead. Tim almost falls in love.

So now Jason has Steph and Tim coming over all the time for food. The next person to show was only a matter of time.

Jason greets Black Bat as she lands on his windowsill. She comes in and Jason asks what she wants to eat. She just shrugs, so Jason makes her a midnight taco. Steph and Tim come over later, and they have one too. Pretty quick, Cass, Steph, Tim and Jason have a regular meet up at his place where they eat his food and either play a game or just talk.

The next person to come around is Dick, and Jason tells him to fuck off, because Jason’s little club is only for the people who don’t already have a support system, and Dick has about a million friends he can go to. So Dick backs off for now.

Damian comes next, alerted by Grayson’s attempt to join this group. He doesn’t really want to join (he does, but he’d never admit it) , so when he shows up, he expects that he’ll be rejected as well. But Jason just lets him in, gives Damian his hand in the poker game he and others are playing and starts making food that Damian hasn’t eaten since he left Nanda Parbat. After that, Damian becomes a regular at Jason’s apartment.

Duke’s been having a rough week at school and turns to Jason, not for his cooking, but for his other specialized skillset: literature. Jason helps Duke write his final paper and then he makes them food and they play videogames. About halfway through a race in MarioKart, Tim and Damian show up. Jason had done some baking. Damian took it out of the oven and noticed that they were all brownies except for one. “Todd, one of your baked goods is defective.”

“Nah, we all get brownies, and Blondie gets a blondie,” Jason says as he beats Duke again.

That night, Dick comes around again. He’s very subtle with spying on them. Jason and Cass might be the only ones who notice. So Jason claims he needs a smoke break and goes up to the roof.

“Thanks for doing this, Jay,” Dick said, swinging up to Jason. “They really look up to you.”

Jason shook his head, “No, they’re just here for food.”

Dick chuckled a bit. “Sure, Jay. You’re a good brother.” Dick gripped Jason’s shoulder before turning.

“Got any cases tonight?” Jason asked. Dick turned back around, trying not to look too excited.

“No, I was just about to head back to the cave.”

Jason sighed, “Come on, Dickface.”

“Yes!”

So Jason meets up with Bruce and his family for dinner at the manor. His reunion with Alfred is tearful and touching and everything Alfred had hoped for.

Jason and Bruce and Alfred discuss what has happened while Jason has been away while Dick, Tim and Stephanie are in charge of watching Jason’s kids, Damian, Cass and Maia.

Jason tells Bruce all about what happened, how he found the kids, making his company, deciding to come to Gotham, his decision to avoid Bruce, all of it. Bruce is a little hurt, but mostly he’s so, so proud. This was not the reaction Jason was anticipating, so he was taken off guard. So then, when Alfred asks if he’ll bring himself and the children to the manor for dinner once a week, Jason finds himself accepting despite the fact that he had resolved earlier to not be a part of Bruce’s life.

Meanwhile, Tim is starting to notice something about Maia. She looks startlingly like Steph. So Tim does some quick haking on his phone and discovers that Maia is actually Stephanie’s baby, the one she put up for adoption. While Tim is debating what to do about that, Dick is talking to Maia. She’s very shy, but she eventually opens up and tells Dick about her day.

“Then Baba says Dami no knife and Dami was grrr and tt and Cassie laugh,” Maia said with a bit of a giggle.

Dick was very amused by her style of storytelling. He was drawn away because he heard Damian threatening Tim.

“I don’t know what you’re playing at, Pretender, but you will stay away from my little sisters!” Damian snapped.

“I wasn’t doing anything, I was just-”

“Hey, Damian, can we maybe put down the dagger?” Dick asked.

“Tt.” Damian put the dagger back into his jacket pocket.

“Do you just carry that around with you all the time?” Steph asked.

“Of course. Baba says it’s important to always have a weapon within arms reach.”

This is the point where Cass wakes up and starts scream-crying. Damian amps up his threats and insults toward Tim, and Stephanie realizes what Tim just realized before, that it might be possible she was Maia’s mother. Stephanie tries to approach her, but the girl freaks out and starts bawling as well.

“What is going on?” Jason’s voice boomed from the entryway. He was in full dad-mode now, and there was no stopping him.

“Damian put away the knife. Stephanie, step away from Maia, you’re scaring her,” Jason said. He quickly scooped Cass up in one arm and crouched in front of Maia, who was still crying. “Hey kiddo, you’re alright,”

“Baba!” Maia cried and hugged Jason. He stood and lifted up both of his girls effortlessly as he turned to Dick.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing! I swear! Damian was just threatening to eviscerate Tim and then Cass started crying and then-”

“Okay, shut it Bird Brain. They’re not used to new people. You freaked them out. I told you Maia was shy.”

Tim and Steph exchanged a glance. “Jason... when you adopted Maia, did they say if she had been adopted before?”

“Yeah, she had, but that family was killed in a Joker attack, then she went into the foster system with a shitty set of parents, and that’s where I picked her up from.”

Steph covered her mouth with her hand and rushed out of the room.

Jason narrowed his eyes, “What’s going on?”

“That’s Stephanie’s baby,” Tim said.

So I’m dabbling with writing an AU where Jason also raises a family of ass-kickers but does it very differently to Bruce. Here are some snapshots. (I cannot stress enough that this is an AU)

Jason takes Damian away from Talia when the kid is about 5 years old. He doesn’t like the way Talia and Ra’s are raising him, and he knows he can do better, so he takes the kid to his best teacher, Lady Shiva. Shiva likes Jason because he was an excellent student and lets him and Damian stay there while she continues to train Jason. However, Jason soon realizes that she’s pregnant with David Cain’s baby.

He’s there when Shiva gives birth to Cassandra and he helps Shiva take care of her for the first few weeks of her life before David Cain arrives at the cabin. Jason overhears David monologuing about how he’ll turn her into the perfect assassin and blah blah blah. He does not like that, not at all, so he intervenes. This Jason has done a lot more training and is perhaps less affected by the Pit than canon Jason, I imagine, so he’s like one of the best fighters out there at that moment. He takes on Cain and miraculously, he wins. Shiva, who wasn’t really interested in having a baby, entrusts Cassandra’s care to Jason.

Jason, now with 6-year-old Damian and infant Cassandra returns to Gotham. It is, after all, where he grew up and he sort of wants to prove that he can raise ninja children in Gotham without turning them into child soldiers. He also starts a company, using Talia’s money, to help the Gotham PD. They research body armour, non-lethal weapons, communications equipment and secure internet solutions. He briefly makes an appearance in the news as the city’s latest big CEO, which has him paranoid for days, but when no bats come knocking, he starts to feel a bit more confident.

One day, Jason’s smoking a cigarette on the fire escape of his apartment while Damian and Cass are napping when he hears an argument going on in the apartment below his. He sneaks down and tries to see if everyone is okay, and as it turns out, everyone is not okay. There’s this little girl, a toddler, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, that’s wailing and bleeding from a small cut on her forehead.

Jason quickly calls the police, who take forever to get there. When they do arrive, Jason goes down to talk to them and see what’s going to happen with the kid. They tell him that she’ll probably be going into the foster system and then they leave. Jason stays up all night thinking about how shitty the system is and worrying about the kid, that the next day he goes to Gotham’s social services office and requests to take her in himself. Her name is Maia.

His request is approved, and all of a sudden Jason has three children. Damian starts school, Jason enrolls him at Gotham Academy, which turns out to be his first mistake. Because Tim Drake is in his final year of high school there, and the moment he sees Damian for the first time, he knows that he’s Bruce’s son. So Tim starts looking into his family and is shocked when he pulls up a picture of Damian’s so-called father. He goes to Bruce with this information right away and Bruce begins to do his own investigation.

This man, who looks shockingly like his dead son, runs a successful business, so Bruce sets up a meeting with him. Jason worries all week about this, but he goes through with it. After all, his company is actually helping the police significantly, and Bruce’s funding could help even more. When Bruce sees the man, it’s clear he’s wearing a fake nose piece and has taken lengths to disguise what he really looks like. But what strikes Bruce as odder is that Jason walks into his own office, half an hour late and with three children.

“Sorry, Mr. Wayne, had some problems at daycare,” Jason said in a terrible mimicry of Tom Cruise’s voice.

“No troubles, I understand that. I have three children of my own,” Bruce said while making direct eye contact with Jason.

Jason knew the jig was up and removed his nose, which Maia found hilarious. Damian is appalled that Jason gave up so easily and Cass remains asleep in a baby carrier strapped to Jason’s chest.

“Jay...” Bruce starts.

“Baba, do you want me to eviscerate him for you?” Damian asks.

Jason blinks, “No, Dami, what have I said about using violence? It’s the last resort.”

“Tt. Fine.”

“Jason... who are all these kids?” Bruce asked.

Damian once again took it upon himself to speak on Jason’s behalf. “I am Damian, this is my baba-” he pointed to Jason “-this is my little sister, Maia-” he pointed to the three-year-old girl holding Jason’s hand “-and this is my baby sister Cassandra.”

Jason felt a proud smile tug at his mouth. Damian loved his little sisters very much.

Jason could tell Bruce was confused, upset, angry, sad, happy, all of the above, so he decided to help the man out a bit.

“We can talk later, over dinner,” Jason suggested.

Damian is secretly an excellent brother. Of course, he’ll never let anyone figure that out.

One night, when Dick was being an imbecile, as usual, he got hurt on patrol. He insisted that it was nothing to worry about, but Damian saw how hard he had gotten hit in the chest. He subtly messaged Alfred: “Pennyworth, we are returning from patrol, Grayson is in denial, but he is injured. Do not take no for an answer when checking him over this evening. Sincerely, Damian.”

When they returned to the cave, and Alfred guilted Dick into getting a chest x-ray which revealed several fractured ribs, Damian was very pleased with himself.

Later on, Tim was clearly about 1 gram of caffeine away from having a heart attack. Damian faked an emergency at his location. When Tim came running, Damian drugged him and promptly dragged him back to his apartment. When Tim came to (after sleeping for 16 hours straight), he didn’t even remember Damian’s fake emergency.

Jason had been having a rough go recently. He was struggling with his mental health, and while Damian was no expert on matters concerning Jason, he knows someone who is. He contacted his mother, and the next day, Jason seemed in much higher spirits.

Okay, so. I had this thought. Everyone always sees Damian and Dick being super close as they grow up, right? But why, exactly? Just because they’re close now, doesn’t really guarantee anything in the future, and I think a lot of people have overlooked something sort of important and/or interesting about Dick’s character that would perhaps make their relationship falter as Damian gets older.

So, Dick always says really cheesy stuff about why killing people is wrong, right? Stuff like: “I don’t want Jason killing because when I killed the Joker briefly, all I could feel was this big dark sad pit inside me full of regret and I don’t want Jason waking up one day and feeling that multiplied by the (insert number here) people he’s killed.”

So can we just imagine for a moment, that Dick is applying this principle to everyone he knows who has killed someone, you know... like a small Robin we know?

In Dick’s mind, he’s expecting there to be this day where he’s going to have to be there to help Damian climb out of the hole, because Damian isn’t like Jason, and surely he will one day feel the full weight of the people he’s killed on his soul. But as Damian gets older, that never happens. Damian still struggles with making the morally correct decision. Dick chalks it up to his teenage years.

Then Damian is a young adult, and he still hasn’t had the moment that Dick always expected. He still makes the ‘right’ decisions, but not really because he thinks they’re the best way, it’s just because he wants to honour his father’s legacy and because he still wants a place in the family. And Dick doesn’t know what to do. Because now he has to deal with the idea that Damian doesn’t care. 

Of course, none of this is exactly true. Because Damian did feel bad, and he did try to make up for his actions as a child. He just did it on his own. And Damian isn’t oblivious to how Dick starts acting as he gets older, starts acting around Damian like he acts around Jason. Dick still loves him, just like he still loves Jason, but it’s just not the same as it was.

Inspired by some artwork I saw on Pintrest.

Anyway, every member of the Bat-family as a member of the Super-family looking out for them (before everyone says what about Dick, don’t worry, I’ll get to that).

Bruce obviously has Clark. In the early days, Superman didn’t think Bruce was human, none of the Justice League did. When he revealed to them that he was, in fact, just a man, Clark took it upon himself to watch the Big Bat more closely. Bruce, of course, hated this and nearly got himself killed trying to sneak away from Clark during a battle. After that, Clark promised to back off. If you ask Clark, he’ll deny it, but he actually has an ear on Bruce’s pulse at all times, and if it were to ever stop or stutter, Clark would be there.

Then there was Superboy, Conner Kent. Tim and Conner were a great match, complimentary in all the right ways. Bruce and Tim often held meetings about the stupidity of their counterparts, while Conner and Clark would talk about how their bats would consistently try to get themselves killed.

Then Clark and Lois had Jon, and Bruce was given Damian, and the only natural conclusion to jump to was that they should be friends. Upon their first few meetings, however, it was clear to Bruce and Clark that they were not going to be friends. So imagine their surprise when the two started running off behind their backs. It was hard to be mad when both of them were so pleased. Suddenly, both meetings had another member.

Then Jason befriended Bizzaro, which was... bizzare. But Jason had always been good with kids, and what was Bizzaro except for a giant super-powered toddler? Bizzaro was just as protective of his Bat as the rest of them.

But what about the girls?

Well, Barbara and Cass (both members of the Birds of Prey in my mind) have Supergirl to come check in on them. She also takes her job protecting them seriously. She is actually really good friends with Barbara and she might have a teensie-weensie crush on Cass. She joins the Bat-protection squad, but unlike the others, her bats don’t have death wishes.

Stephanie has a different Super-person watching her back. Lois Lane. The two hit it off when Stephanie was younger, and now, when Steph is trying to work a case without the other bats, she’ll call up Lois to see if she knows any information. Lois sees her like the daughter she never had and she has written several small articles about the wonderfull second Batgirl.

And now... Dick Grayson.

Okay, this might be controversial, but this is my reasoning behind my sorting of the Robins into Hogwarts houses.

Dick is a Slytherin. He is ambitious and confident and I think that’s what defines Slytherin.

Jason is a Griffindor. He does what he thinks is right no matter what anyone else thinks.

Tim is a Hufflepuff. He became Robin because he wanted to help Batman and the people of Gotham. It’s also important to note that he didn’t even want the job at first but when no one else was willing to do it, he knew he had to step up.

Damian is also a Griffindor. He had the strength and bravery to move past the destinies that everyone laid out for him and to make his own. He stands up for others and he’s brave enough to confront and challenge his own prejudices.

Stephanie is a Ravenclaw. She has an intense want for training and knowledge and that defines her.

Bonus:

Barbara is a Slytherin. She is cunning and ambitious and controlling. Also, she has never once let anything get in the way of her own goals and her own power and strength.

Cassandra is a Hufflepuff. She overcame trauma in her past and despite the fact that she was raised not to care about others, she is the ultimate protector.

Jim Gordon is a Ravenclaw. He is intelligent and seeks answers to questions. He is also extremely practical and a realist.

Jason, with a therapist: I don't know, I just feel like he just doesn't take what I need seriously...

Bruce, looking at Jason through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars: Jaybird remains stationary, repeat, Jaybird remains stationary. Tim get this in the log.

Jason has become the big brother none of the other bat-kids knew they needed. Jason cooks food for Tim constantly; he helps Stephanie and Duke write book reports for school; when Cass is in Gotham for a bit from Hong Kong and she’s feeling overwhelmed, Jason will read to her in his deep but quiet voice; Jason is the first to admit that Barbara can kick his ass at everything and is the only one in the family that has never underestimated her. The only person in the family that Jason hadn’t built this strange, new relationship with was Damian. 

Secretly, this made Dick happy. He knew without a doubt that Damian preferred his company over Jason’s. Until...

Dick came across Jason and Damian having a quiet discussion on the rooftops one day and began to eavesdrop.

“I know it’s wrong, but I still miss her sometimes,” Damian said softly.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, kid,” Jason replied. “Talia is... very complicated, and I spent a long time with her and she was nothing but kind and loving to me. Have I told you about that one time she took me to Siberia?”

Damian shook his head and Jason regaled him with stories of his mother’s badassery and overprotectiveness.

Dick, despite the fact he was overjoyed Damian was sharing his emotions with someone, was very jealous. How come Damian didn’t feel comfortable sharing this sort of thing with him, but he felt comfortable turning to Jason, the grown man who has shot him before.

“Thank you, Todd, it was nice to hear someone speak of her with... kindness. Grayson very much despises her, as does father,” Damian said.

“Well, Damian, they kind of have a right to. I mean... the things she did to you were terrible, unforgivable. But that’s the problem with abusive parents, Damian, they usually do just enough to make you almost forget those parts.”

Damian was silent at this, and Dick was almost shocked. He knew that Jason was very good at dealing with victims of abuse, but he had never really seen it first-hand.

“Perhaps,” Damian said. “I must return to patrol, no doubt Grayson is concerned.”

Jason chuckled a bit, “I know you don’t think he’ll get it, but Damian? He loves you, that’s obvious to everyone, and you shouldn’t underestimate what Big Bird would do for his little brothers.”

Dick could no longer contain himself. He let out a loud coo and lept onto the roof, quickly bringing in Jason for a tight hug.

“I love you too, little brother,” Dick said in Jason’s ear.

“Ah! Jesus Christ! Get off me you sappy freak!” Jason exclaimed while trying to detach Dick’s clingy limbs.

“Love you, Jay, see you around!” Dick called behind him as he and Damian swung away.

Okay so is it just me, or does anyone else get the vibe that Bruce’s relationship with Damian is often impacted by the current state of Bruce’s relationship with Jason? Like... Bruce and Jason fight because Jason is killing people and being too much of a big meanie, but Damian has also killed people?? And also been a big meanie?? So??? Wouldn’t Damian think that Bruce’s rejection of Jason would also mirror Bruce’s feelings toward Damian?

I’m just imagining after that issue where Bruce beats the crap out of Jason for shooting the Penguin that Damian has a major freak out, because... Damian has also executed people? So does that mean Bruce is going to hurt him too??