Robins of a Feather Fall Together

Batman (1940) #514

The proposal went like this:

"There's been too much sad stuff lately. My baby bro died. Your dad died. The Graysons died. We need a reason to celebrate."

A pause.

"Let's get married."

If Damian was a lesser man, he would have cried out from shock. If he was drinking, he would have spat out every drop. But he is Damian al Ghul-Wayne, raised by assassins and the goddamn Batman and he... is tired. He's weary down to his rattling bones.

Later, he would like to say that it was more romantic, as if he was the protagonist in one of his beloved shoujo titles. Later, he would like to say that Jon spoke of marriage with hope and passion before a beautiful backdrop of Venice or Paris or Seoul at sunset.

But Jon was tired too - sick and tired. There's only so much death that a body could stomach, even a Kryptonian like him.

"We're supposed to date before marriage," Damian tells him, and it's not a no.

"People date to learn about their potential partner. We don't need that."

"We've never even kissed."

Jon touches down, the soles of his feet flatly planted on the grass. They're behind Batcow's barn, with a pile of manure right next to them. It's in that strange hour between midnight and sunrise, when sleep is pointless but staying awake is hard. There's no romantic lighting, no heartwrenching music - just the sound of their breathing and the glow of firelights dancing through the grass.

"Can I kiss you?" Jon asks.

Damian hums, thinking. "You'll have to marry me."

Jon smiles.

They just wanted to live. And it really seemed like the universe was conspiring to take away any chance at life. So they thought - at the same time together like good partners do - they thought to take life if it would not be given. They would seize joy with tooth and nail, dragging it home by the scruff of its neck.

canon is what happens in the text. e.g. merlin tries to poison morgana

a headcanon is a fact that you have personally made up as an elaboration of canon. it is your invention. e.g. i think morgana and gwen had a teenage lesbian situationship before the events of canon. or, i think modern morgana would love evanesence.

an interpretation is how one reads the existing text. it is not an invented fact nor is it a headcanon, it is a reading. e.g. i think merlin tries to poison morgana out of misplaced self-hatred. or, i think that one line was delivered with suppressed malice and shows a nuanced relationship.

fanon is the general fandom’s accepted headcanons and interpretations that elaborate or recontextualize canon. e.g. merlin is a badass waif and morgana is a bitch.

He didn’t actually give them any evidence for it before running away. Didn’t even try to convince them beyond saying “he’s alive, I’ll prove it.”

He’d spent the past year trying to resurrect his dead family and friends. After 100+ cloning attempts and almost stealing Lazarus pit water, this just looks like Tim’s typical grieving pattern.

Dick, Tim, and Clark personally examined Bruce’s dead body and determined it was his!

Tim’s inner monologue in Red Robin 1 shows even he knows he’s driven by desperate hope and compounded grief: “He’s all I have and he has to be alive…Please, god, don’t let me be crazy.”

If Tim had turned out to be wrong I honestly believe he still would’ve gone looking for a way to bring Bruce back. Just like he did with Kon, Bart, Steph, Jack, and Janet.

Red Robin follows so clearly from Tim’s grief from losing Jack Drake and everyone else. DCU Halloween Special ‘09: “Our Father’s Sins” made this even more obvious by showing Red Robin Tim reflecting on his grief over Jack while he’s searching for Bruce.

He didn’t actually give them any evidence for it before running away. Didn’t even try to convince them beyond saying “he’s alive, I’ll prove it.”

He’d spent the past year trying to resurrect his dead family and friends. After 100+ cloning attempts and almost stealing Lazarus pit water, this just looks like Tim’s typical grieving pattern.

Dick, Tim, and Clark personally examined Bruce’s dead body and determined it was his!

Tim’s inner monologue in Red Robin 1 shows even he knows he’s driven by desperate hope and compounded grief: “He’s all I have and he has to be alive…Please, god, don’t let me be crazy.”

If Tim had turned out to be wrong I honestly believe he still would’ve gone looking for a way to bring Bruce back. Just like he did with Kon, Bart, Steph, Jack, and Janet.

Red Robin follows so clearly from Tim’s grief from losing Jack Drake and everyone else. DCU Halloween Special ‘09: “Our Father’s Sins” made this even more obvious by showing Red Robin Tim reflecting on his grief over Jack while he’s searching for Bruce.

He didn’t actually give them any evidence for it before running away. Didn’t even try to convince them beyond saying “he’s alive, I’ll prove it.”

He’d spent the past year trying to resurrect his dead family and friends. After 100+ cloning attempts and almost stealing Lazarus pit water, this just looks like Tim’s typical grieving pattern.

Dick, Tim, and Clark personally examined Bruce’s dead body and determined it was his!

Tim’s inner monologue in Red Robin 1 shows even he knows he’s driven by desperate hope and compounded grief: “He’s all I have and he has to be alive…Please, god, don’t let me be crazy.”

If Tim had turned out to be wrong I honestly believe he still would’ve gone looking for a way to bring Bruce back. Just like he did with Kon, Bart, Steph, Jack, and Janet.

Red Robin follows so clearly from Tim’s grief from losing Jack Drake and everyone else. DCU Halloween Special ‘09: “Our Father’s Sins” made this even more obvious by showing Red Robin Tim reflecting on his grief over Jack while he’s searching for Bruce.

(this was only supposed to be a paragraph or two i swear to god)

1. first things first, duke is a hardcore gryffindor. don’t let the yellow color scheme mislead you, okay. and while most of the time he’s depicted in fanon as “omg this family is crazy and i’m the only sane one,” it’s actually pretty much the opposite? if anything, i think the other batkids would be like “oh finally, someone who can match our level of chaotic energy. HEY DUKE WANNA BUNGEE JUMP OFF WAYNE TOWER—” and an hour later they’d all be in the batcave getting lectured by bruce for leading poor sweet innocent duke astray when really he was already planning on doing that this weekend.

listen, this is the kid who once jumped off a bridge to escape police. this is the dude who decided to fight criminals while they’re still eating their wheaties at 6am in a bright yellow suit. and while duke seems to be the best at following bruce’s command at the moment due to having been trained by him most recently compared to the others and is still figuring out how to be a hero, i’m positive that if bruce weren’t here to guide him, duke would be running around gotham taking down criminals anyway. i mean, he literally did do that with the “we are robin” kids. plus there was the whole thing when he was like ten years old and decided “i am going to singlehandedly stop the riddler in my light up sketchers and pikachu backpack. try and stop me.” 

duke is headstrong and has a strong drive toward heroism. he’s an extremely enthusiastic and passionate person in general, and i try to capture a little of that when i write him, even with mundane things like trying to beat his siblings to the last cupcake. 

2. another thing i noticed is that duke swears like a sailor in comics? seriously, this boy could give jason a run for his money with how many “@#!%” speech bubbles there are. i don’t know if this is just a trend the writers added in the comics i’ve read of him, or if it’s a genuine trait throughout every comic he’s in, but that’s something to make note of when writing dialogue for duke. after all, he did grow up in the narrows, so it makes sense that he’d use a lot of swearing and slang in his everyday vernacular.

And then I remember that Bruce personally sewed Dick’s first Robin costume.

And then I’m no longer sad.