#justiceiscalling

he always has a comment. on occasion, he has been the ‘um, actually’ kid except his ‘um actually’ is ‘incorrect. according to (some old ass book), this and this happened. and this is why you’re fucking stupid.’

he makes people want to bang their heads in the wall. teachers never call on him when his hands raised, so much so he’s grown used to just speaking out of turn. it gets so bad bruce is called to the office.

bruce: ‘damian just raise your hand next time’

damian: ‘i rather speak out of turn then listen to these imbeciles incorrectly answer questions referring to newtons law. newtons law. where were they throughout middle school?! father, i believe you should rescind your donations to this school, it is clearly—‘

he doesn’t like talking but he can’t help it. everyone is just so fucking stupid. he can’t wait to graduate. or to go to med school and attend a school with actual intelligent people and not those who get thomas jefferson and benjamin franklin confused.

in all his classes he’s insufferable. but in history? of god he’s the worst. he knows an uncanny amount of knowledge about the medieval era and, for some strange reason, even more than than the person who wrote the goddamn text book once they get to the age of superheroes.

it pisses everyone off, rightfully so. the only time he was greeted with sighs of relief and a round of applause was when a test was handed out in one of his classes and damian pointed out several questions with no correct answers on display, making the teacher move the day of the test.

like, wills a clone, he’s handling it terribly (like one would) but he knows he has to find the real roy, he won’t ever stop looking until he finds the real roy. and the heartbreaking part? he’s the only one.

ollie and dinah and dick and basically everyone could not care less about real roy. dick literally said ‘we did the math, we never even met real roy’ and just decided roy wasn’t worth looking for. and, kind of understandably (but also not), ollie gave up. but you know what’s really the worst part? the real icing on the cake? will finds him.

he finds roy.

will has to tell roy that his family, his team, gave up on him. nightwing and artemis and kid flash and them—they’re excused. because why would people who don’t know him look for him? but ollie? dinah? he met them. roy built relationships and partnerships with them and the only person who looked for him was a fucking clone. and not because the clone loved him or missed him, because will had felt guilty for stealing roy’s life.

i’m so sad how that story line kinda fell flat. we could’ve gotten so much more. i wanted to see roy adapting to this, i wanted to see more of will searching for roy. im not even going to lie, i wanted one of them to struggle with addiction. i think roy and wills characters are just so fucking interesting.

imagine a fifth season where real roy meets red hood jason. imagine how well they’d fucking bond. because, i’m not 100% sure but didn’t roy not age? so he’s around jason’s age. and, anyway, you just know those two have so much in common. they both also missed out on so much with being dead and kidnapped. plus, it takes away from the thing most people hate about the jason and roy friendship. in YJ, roy was never friends with dick. dick was friends with will, made it abundantly clear when he stopped looking for roy.

and since YJ’s pretty open to LGBTQ aspects… well i think you know what im implying. i’d be happy either way. jason and roy make good best friends—i really do think they could also make good more than best friends.

overall, he’s honestly a good dad. he’s there when he’s not busy with the league and batman, which is rare but he tries to make breakfast every morning and at least one family dinner. he spars with his family but he holds back and only dishes out what he knows they can handle (he’s gotten yelled at by all his kids for going easy on them, mainly from tim and damian). he tries to stay present in his kids lives but to tell the truth he can barely keep up. he just knows that they’re alive and healthy, that’s all that matters.

i know, this seems like a good dad. so where’s the bad dad?

he’s manipulative as fuck.

bruce wayne is insanely charismatic. he puts on the bruce wayne persona without blinking, he manipulates people everyday in every way possible, he can make a right wing pro choice in a matter of minutes, he could make a heavy leftist senator vote for pro guns (not saying he would or wouldn’t do either, these are just examples) and manipulating people is far too natural for him.

and it’s an easy way out. he doesn’t want to do something? well… he doesn’t have to. tim wants to quit red robin but bruce knows how much he is needed for their team? let’s just say tim signed his life away the day he put on that suit—plus, bruce knows he loves the wind against his skin, he just needs a reminder.

intentionally or unintentionally bruce manipulates the fuck out of his kids on a daily basis. it took everyone a while to notice it, sometimes they still don’t—and, honestly, duke and damian are in denial.

so yeah. that’s my take on bad dad bruce. he’s good. he cares. it’s just he cares too much and he’s super controlling and needs things to go his way in his city, for better or for worse. of course, i also LOVE to write good dad bruce where everything he does for his family is just misunderstood bc his wordings as shit as his comprehension of emotions.

and even then—why don’t fics mention it? damian went to hell! literal hell! that’s prime angst material right there. i don’t understand people sometimes. everyone ignores the important aspects of jason and damian’s deaths, they only take note that they died. like the fic ideas i have for this is limitless.

catholic jason todd dies and sees nothing. no heaven, no hell. no jesus, no devil. he comes back brain damaged, then fucked up in the head, and when he finally gets his feet underneath him, he has a crisis of faith. then damian wayne fucking dies, comes back a year later (double it and give it to the next ts). bonding ensues.

“You trashed it.” Tim notes, looking down at the shirt that’s covered with paint, grime, and the distinct scent of the sewer.

Duke looks over at the shirt and scrunches his nose, glancing between it and Damian. “Just throw it in his closet. Maybe he won’t notice.”

Tim gives Duke a look. “It reeks of the sewer. Dicks not that messy.”

Damian frowns at the shirt. His trip through Gothams sewers hadn’t been intentional, it was a detour he had to make when an assassin cornered him. Unfortunately, at the time he was wearing Dicks blue ‘Nightwing’ shirt (yes he has his own merch. Yes it is because he is full of himself).

A low whistle draws Damian’s attention away from the shirt. He looks up and meets Jason’s eyes. His hair has grown out since Damian last saw him two weeks ago. If he refused to go to the barber then he should at least let Alfred cut it, do the entire world a favor. “Oh, Dicks going to kill you.”

“I hope not,” Damian says absentmindedly, putting the shirt down. Lest he start smelling like the sewer again. It took four hours to get the scent out of his hair, an additional two to get it off his body. “I’m not dressed properly.”

It’s meant to be a joke. Him and Jon aren’t exactly ‘working on them’ but he has been a test dummy for a few. Damian came to realize Jon laughed at everything, no matter if it was funny or not. The trio in front of him laugh as if it’s funny—Damian is about to dedicate an entire thirty seconds to basking in glory at the victory of making three out of four of his brothers laugh—but it’s when Tim speaks that Damian realizes it was interpreted wrong.

"What, you too cool to die in a hoodie and sweats?" He gestures to Damians outfit, a Gotham Academy hoodie paired with its matching Gotham Academy sweats. Underneath the black hoodie, is a black long sleeve shirt that had the Gotham Academy symbol on the sleeve.

Duke straightens up to get his own joke out. "Obviously.” He says with complete seriousness. “He has to die wearing Prada. Keep up, Tim.” He looks over at Jason, “Get a load of this guy.”

Jason snorts in response. “Gotta die in style. Dying in uniform is so outdated.” That earns a loud laugh from Duke, the only person who has yet to tire of Jason’s ‘I died’ jokes.

“Imbeciles.” Damian rolls his eyes, his tanned cheeks were probably coated in pink dye to embarrassment. He would never imply he had to die in a certain outfit if it wasn’t half-true. “That is not what I meant.”

“Please do explain, O-Wise one.”

Damian clicks his tongue at Dukes nickname but does as asked. “When I died before,” He doesn’t miss the way Tim and Jason stiffen at the mention. Duke just kind of pauses. “It was hot. You cannot exactly ditch clothes in hell.”

He’s met with silence. Well, he didn’t expect to be met with laughs.

Jokes aren’t funny after you explain the joke. Damian busies himself with folding the shirt he had previously let go of, the one that smelled of the sewer. “You…” Tim pauses, tilts his head, then continues. “What?”

“You broke Tim.” Duke comments, though he doesn’t seem fully there either.

“I don’t understand.” Damian furrows his brows look from Duke to Tim. Finally, he decides to look over at Jason.

Jason doesn’t seem tense, the only sign he was was the hand he had clenched together in a fist, which he quickly got rid of. In reality, it’s his face that gives him away. Jason’s always been emotional, you could read his emotions far too easy off his face if you were trained to do so. It’s a good thing he wears a helmet. “Hell. You went to hell.”

“Yes.” Damian says, because, was it ever a secret? Did he forget to mention that? He didn’t exactly have to write a mission report on his death. “I assume you did not.” His voice is stiff. Hell isn’t his favorite topic.

“No. I didn’t.” Jason confirms.

“How was Heaven?” His tone is slightly bitter, he can’t help it. Even though he knows Jason was good pre-death. Didnt lay a finger on a soul, and when he did, they were deserving of it and walked away breathing just fine.

“Wouldn’t know.” Jason shrugs. “Wasn’t important enough to get either.” He explains.

and yk bonding brother stuff. the potential is just sitting there untouched. like if someone doesn’t use it ill tweak out. feel free to rec fics, im clearly in need. only crossover fics id enjoy are marvel/mcu and criminal minds.

use this for an idea if you want, give credit obv.

edit: i've been informed that jason, in some iterations, did go to heaven but just doesn't remember it. so...even better ngl.

in my mind, the bat-fam (main members only) have a specific age gap that almost never changes throughout fics that i write. so, in an attempt to reignite my love for batfam (which will probably happen when i run out of marauders fics to read. yes, i’ve reverted back to my 2020 ways), here are the age gaps i tend to keep for the main batfam members along with some general timeline stuff i maintain regularly. some will be more specific then others because i have obvious preferences.

broad/vague

alfred dies in his mid to late 70s, possibly early 80s.

dick has a minimum of five years as robin. preferably, it lasts almost ten years (starting when he’s eight/nine and ending when he’s about eighteen/nineteen)

barbara is older than dick by at the very least, a year.

bruce has at least one year patrolling alone as batman, preferably two, and definitely not more than three

bruce was eight when his parents died.

bruce and dick have a fifteen year age gap so when dick becomes his ward, he is (somewhat) a child raiding a child.

similarly, dick and damian have a 15 year age gap to parallel this.

jason dies at 15

semi-specific

jason and dick have about a 5-7 year age gap.

dick always is born in 19… (ex: in my marvel/dc crossover fic he is born in 1989). this just helps to the headcanon i have of everyone of dicks siblings calling him prehistoric.

jason has max three years as robin, but normally i do about two or two and a half.

cass is born ABOUT six to seven months before jason.

duke and damian go to high school at the same time for a year or two

tim and jason have a 3-5 year age gap

no matter WHAT damian has to be born fifteen years after dick, meaning he had to have been conceived while dick was robin, meaning potential for a talia/bruce fic that includes robin!dick grayson arguing with talia.

stephanie is a year older than tim and born in august, which can make them in the same school year but in most fics by me she would be a year older out of preference.

specific

cassandra’s birthday is january 26th and jason’s is august 16th. it pisses him off to no extent that cass is older. i like the idea that cass’ bday is in jan rather than feb, no clue if this is canon or not lol. :) (edit: LMAO her birthday is quite literally jan 26th, idk y i thought otherwise..)

damian’s birthday is january 9. i don’t like how crowded august is birthday wise so i moved him. they still have too much ppl IMO but wtv.

canonically i think dukes birthday is august, but i would place him anywhere between late august to mid september (specifically august 13th or september 19th. but october 16th-20th could be argued for him)

dick is a march 20th birthday king i love the start of spring b-day thing better than the december b-day thing

the ages i put in a majority of my fics

dick is thirty.

jason and cass are 25

tim is early 20s, no younger than 20 and no older than 23. COMPLETELY reliant on if cass and jason are main characters.

stephanies age is reliant on tim’s age, typically 23-24.

duke is almost always 18, i will never make him younger than 18 unless the fic is about him TURNING 18. i never make him older than 19 either.

damian is 14-16. IMO, perfect age to make him. i like when he’s no longer that assassin 10 year old, having half a decade with his fathers side can really change him and leaves for some great character exploration. also, canonically he’s around this age in comics rn. since he’s in high school he’s at the very least 14, given in the comics his birthday is in august. i always say he’s 15 in my fics because i like to do the whole turning 16 thing, but yk, to each their own.

what does one even say to this? like holy fuck you really don’t like my work (which is totally fine). i genuinely dk how to respond? criticism is welcome as long as it’s constructive and this doesn’t feel very constructive.

is it okay to like.. just delete hate comments? or should i leave it up. it doesn’t really effect me like emotionally, i write for my entertainment and publish it bc i can, i don’t think im owed an audience. i’m painfully aware that my take on the character isn’t as accurate as id like it to be, and that, sometimes, my OC’s come off corny. i however like that and find it funny at times so idk man???

anyway, after a long hiatus, this comment just encouraged me to write more solely to piss them off lol. what do you guys do to ur hate comments?

Now I can subscribe to wasian Tim because you can still be heavily white passing and asian and Janet Drake is a severely underdeveloped part of his backstory especially notable since she died in his early teens so he still has memory of her.

Janet herself could be half asian or asian.

The final concern I have is stereotypes.

Ahem… tim is the smart robin in fandom and to DC editorial.

I‘m fine if it does become canon but as a fully black person I think It’s fine to be a fan of a mostly white family representation comes from writing characters with the intent of exploring all of their identity and not necessarily retroactively rewriting them which can ruin what made the original aspects of their character effective in the first place.

For the longest time Tim Drake been in my head as the privileged white robin that had a choice to cover his ears and live comfortably without interacting with the suffering around him. He saw someone with a similar privilege position as him (Bruce Wayne) spiralling.

A man who choose to try and fix the city in his own way for it the continuing to destroy what he loves for his efforts, and ultimately came to the decision that he can just stand idle anymore, even if it meant fighting the worst of the worst himself.

Either way I think it’s all interesting and fandom and comic writers will write characters as they see fit.

as someone who sees tim as wasian, i agree with what you’re saying. race swapping already canon characters has proven to not work out amongst the fans (example: tim drake in the tv show ‘titans’). i myself have a large hatred for unnecessary race swaps for diversity points.

i, however, don’t hate wasian tim. i understand that the stereotype is off putting, and sometimes distasteful, but i started in this fandom fully believing tim was asian. i found a tumblr post on asian tim, saw a few people give him asian face clams, saw a comic excerpt where i simply assumed he was asian, and saw someone hating on the live action tim drake for not being asian. obviously, you can understand my confusion. even when i started reading comics i just assumed he was wasian. imagine my surprise when i find out that man was white.

anyway, that’s why i love it. not because he fits asian stereotypes, but because when i first began in this fandom as a little baby many years ago, i fully believed he was asian and now its hard to seem him as anything else.

i will admit, race swapping in the batfamily is insanely unnecessary. they have their POC characters and if people want more than simply make more, as hypocritical as i sound, don’t change an already developed character to scratch an itch.

all in all, yeah, wasian tim is a ‘eh’ talking point. about as much as hispanic jason todd (don’t get me started on how distasteful that is) and lady shivas son jason todd (wow, anything but white, huh jay?). i obviously feel less strongly for tim since i knew him as asian for about as long as i’ve been a fan. yes it can be distasteful. it’s one of those things you just smile and nod at and tell your kid ‘don’t look over there sweetie.’