Hi! I just recently followed you after getting back into the bat family and I love your art ❤ I was just thinking about the boys helping each other preen when you mentioned it in your most recent birdflash post and I wanted to ask - do you have any headcanons about who the boys like to help them preen? Like if they have a preferred person they like to help them, or if they all just get into a train/circle? The topic is just so cute and sweet and I think you'd have lovely ideas for it ❤
Hello!! Thank you a ton! <3 Im so sorry this took forever to be answered, but I couldn’t write more so we’ll only have what I had written since getting this ask! Thank you so much again! And im sorry if some might be out of character :’3
The boys in winged AU definitely help each other preen, some is less than willing to let others do it for them cause they're STUBBORn in their own ways, but here's some (SURPRISINGLY LONG) headcanon I have for how things go!
Buckle up, we're going DOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN at a very slow speed- cause HOUGH that's a BUNCHA WORDS!!
Dick
Preening others
Dick, of course, helps the others whenever he has the chance to. They can't really say no to Dick for long either, Dick is insistent on making sure his brothers' wings are at peak condition! He's very experienced since his mother used to help teach him all the tips and tricks to keep them at their best look! "How would us Graysons fly if our wings aren't well taken care of?"
Damian is his favorite to help! At first, Damian would outright refuse to have anyone try and preen his wings or let alone touch them, but he warmed up eventually! Dick can't help but think of Damian as a very small angry bird when his wings are all ruffled up.
His first attempt to help Jason ended up with him getting a face full of wings smacked right in his face full force. Jason comes around eventually. They settle into an awkward silence (For Jason), but sometimes they crack jokes and get into a comfortable atmosphere later.
Tim isn't vocal about his protest nor does he have any tbh. I think he's one to allow Dick to preen his wings whenever since most of the time he's half asleep or too tired to fully get to every part of his wings. He also has his nose buried in work if he's not dozing off so he appreciates the help. Dick enjoys the silence with Tim and they strike up small conversations too. Sometimes during the preening, Tim just fucking passes out in the middle of it.
Being preened
Dick likes being preened by any of his brothers, to be honest! They're all trying and that's enough for Dick to get a full night of peaceful sleep. Sometimes he has them all join in a session where (as you mentioned!) they form a little circle/train and swap around to get each other's wings preened.
Damian tries his best to help with the wings, but since Dick's wings (and almost everyone-) are larger than his, Dick lends a hand on his own too to make their session quicker, but sometimes Damian is insistent on doing it himself telling, "Grayson, I'm experienced enough to do this on my own," which is his own way of telling Dick to relax and enjoy it. Dick knows Damian just wants an excuse to spend more time with him and he can't say no to spending time with his Robin.
While Jason is surprisingly delicate with preening, he's not used to doing it for others a lot of times, but whenever he catches Dick feeling down he awkwardly offers to help. I think a fun scenario is where Dick is not preening his wings like he usually does, so Jason knows something's up.
If no one else is around, he hesitantly offers, "Your wings are gonna be fucked up if you don't take care of it, Dickhead," and sits them both down so he can help and Dick can't refuse cause Jason will just shush him. Dick can't help but let himself smile at Jason's fussing while he worked. Jason isn't bad at preening, just more used to helping himself than others, but he does a great job for both regardless!
Tim. Oh Timbo. He's ready when he wants to return the favor to his big brother Big Blue and he's often equipped with tools just in case to help make the process easier (TOTALLY NOT because he's inexperienced with preening cause half the time he's doing something else so, yeah having tools should help, Tim had told him.)
Dick really appreciated Tim's attempts, but usually, he'll have to lay down since it does take significantly longer with Tim, and he's giving Tim pointers and offering help if Tim is struggling with something. The time has lessened significantly and sometimes Dick wonders if Tim is only taking his time as a silent excuse to spend time with Dick and also take a break from other less fun things he has to do like reading files and emails on Wayne Enterprise n all that.
Jason
Preening Others
Jason "Why is everyone surprised I know how to preen" Todd. Tim's the one who needs help with how to do it >:(
