Headcanon that Bruce uses the term 'little one' with all the Batkids. It doesn't matter how old they get or how large in size they grow.
He even uses it on Jason. Jason allows this and secretly loves it.
Dick and Jason also both go 'I'm not so little anymore' many times when he does it.
Cass just grins and goes over to him whenever he does it.
Tim was surprised the first time Bruce called him that, back in Tim's Robin era. He eventually got used to it.
Steph complained that she wasn't little but secretly likes it.
Duke was surprised but got used to it.
Damian pretends to hate. Keyword pretends.
Dick, Jason and Cass also use it on Tim, Steph, Duke, and Damian all the time. Dick did it from the start. Cass started after a bit. Jason slowly started after a while, as he adjusted to being a big brother.
Batboys being absolute disasters in the kitchen. Poor Alfred.
Now, do I think the boys can cook? Mostly yes.
Dick and Jason I think are probably the best.
Dick - pre-Bruce he travelled and lived with people from all over, so he already had wide tastes. I think his parents and friends let him 'help' cook (stirring, liking the bowl, peeling maybe). Then Alfred is an amazing cook (and went out of his way to learn some of Dicks favourites), and Dick loved spending time with him learning to cook.
Jason - could definitely do basic food from a very young age. Way too young. He was responsible for feeding himself and him mom, then all alone. I don't think he took to the fancy restaurants, but Alfies food? Yes yes yes.
I think they both recognised Alfred as family immediately and appreciated him passing down his recipes and skills, it made them feel at home.
Tim - passable. He started on very basic stuff (like toast and heating soup) when his parents were away a lot and decided he no longer needed a nanny/au pair (like, 10?). He grew up in the same kind of environment as the manor, so is used to having people about to do stuff for him or having something to heat up ready in the fridge. Once he moved out of the manor he started doing a bit more.
Damian - he is better at survival cooking, like he is vegetarian most of the time, but if he is stuck on a mission he'll fish and hunt and can cook and he knows what plants are edible. but he's not too bad, can make stews and curries mainly (just because he isn't going to let Tim be better than him)
Bruce - absolutely feral. He probably just eats raw meat on a long mission. He isn't even allowed in the kitchen unsupervised. He can just about make a plain sandwich, but somehow makes a complete mess doing it. He cannot make anything hot. Including toast, or tea.
uhhhh right now? i have kind of a sextp (is that a thing? it should be a thing) and an otp and they’re on similar tiers i guess.
the sextp is sladexdick as i think they look amazing together and have superb sexual chemistry, butto me it’s more of a ‘frenemies with really excellent benefits’ situation.
the otp is brucexdick and i really can’t put it into words how i love how this pairing is just filled with delicious, painful pining and torturous, self-destructive longing.
boy have i got a lot of feelings about these two relationships as they kind of blend into each other, so if the above is enough to answer your Q then cool and i hope you have a nice day. BUT if you wanna read some LENGTHY (& irresponsible) headcanons buckle up cause im just gonna have at it after the jump.
(bonus little something i’ve been working on since forever and will never finish *laughcries*)
OKAY ON WE GO
My HC Bruce is privately obsessed with Dick and keeps tabs on him constantly, against Dick’s consent. Seeing Dick with others hurt him, but he feels he deserves it–he is the mentor/parental figure to Dick after all so he genuinely thinks it’s his fault for having said and done nothing all the time he watched Dick’s initial admiration and puppy love bloomed into something fiercer, darker, that is now impossible to be tempered down or reasoned with. Bruce is a guy who’s canonically defined by his anguish and personal tragedy so obviously he obsesses over this more and more, to the point where watching/listening to Dick with someone else becomes a habit, almost a kink.
Deep inside Bruce wants nothing but to turn his back against the world and to just own Dick and never lets him out of his sight, but he’s afraid that letting emotions take over means losing all semblance of his painstakingly nurtured self-control. He’s afraid to think about what he’ll do the moment he decides to let all that pent-up desire out, afraid of not being able to hold back and end up hurting the one person he arguably cares the most deeply about.
So logic prevails and his sense of responsibility and duty takes over. He pushes Dick away with little explanation, as he does; knowing he’s creating a rift between them but figures it’s better for both of them in the long run, thinking ‘Dick is young but he knows me best, he’ll understand someday’.
Meanwhile feeling he’s been discarded by Bruce breeds something ugly and destructive in Dick, something he needs to let out if he wants to stay sane, so I imagine him as the type that likes to sleep around. He puts on his natural charm and let smitten people spoil him, forever hungry for validation, for praise, for a sense of belonging and to feel most of all wanted. He has partners he cares about more than others (Jason and Babs for me) but to him nobody can replace Bruce. It’s really sort of a codependency, I think.
Like Bruce, Dick has a type: takes charge, taller than him, preferably older. He likes to be dominated during sex, enjoying the liberating feeling of not having to think or make decisions for once, just obeying commands and allowing himself to be swept up in the energy. Having his reins held firm in someone else’s hand sort of recreates the feeling of being under Bruce’s mentorship for him.
Then along comes Slade, and suddenly it’s christmas morning.
From Slade Dick gets what he can’t from Bruce, which is a dominant, non-judgemental, baggage-free partner who knows how to handle him and doesn’t treat him like he’s a precious cinnamon roll made of glass, kwim? Slade is outwardly selfish and sharp and doesn’t shy away from rough play. Canonically there was a time Deathstroke was obsessed with Robin as well and this leads to Slade knowing Dick’s limits better that Dick himself. He is always, always in control during sex so Dick knows he’s in safe hands, and it doesn’t hurt that Slade has a similar built and weight to Bruce, down to Bruce’s kind of cool, steady baritone.
Dick knows Slade is a dangerous enemy who may turn against him at any moment, but Dick believes he’s got this figured out. After all, he’s just using Slade to let off steam, nothing more. Certainly won’t develop any feelings for him. Slade understands him so much and treats him so well though? Better than Bruce? But Slade’s just pretending… isn’t he? Best not to think too much.
Slade on the other hand doesn’t really care that Dick only goes to him to get some quality dicking (heh) and to get his mind off most likely Batman and his own sense of inadequacy. Aside from the great sex Slade likes having this much power over Dick and an insight to Dick’s character that he can probably use against the Family one day. Slade is canonically manipulative, so there’s always an end to his means. He thinks Bruce Wayne is an idiot for letting such an obedient yet powerful tool slip away from his hands. A noble idiot maybe, but still.
Slade also knows Bruce knows Dick is sleeping with him and yet choosing to do nothing. So he would often do it with Dick where he knows Bruce can watch, taunting. He knows however that ol’ Bats will rain literal fire on him if he doesn’t play his card right and doesn’t think it’s time yet for a fight, so he bides his time like the masterful predator he is.
Every now and then he catches himself warming up to the kid and desiring him for more than just sex, blurring the lines and making it unclear who’s using whom. It makes him uncomfortable, but at the same time intrigued.
It’s at times like these he’s jealous of Bruce, and would give the world for a chance to slide his blade clean through that stupid logo on Batman’s sternum.
so yes that’s the whole essence of my HC trifecta. thank you for coming to my TED talk,
Hello! Just curious, but seeing all you DC stuff, I was wondering what you think of JayTim? °¬° Love your art, by the way! Absolutely stunning! Keep at it! ❤
hey hey, thank you kindly, happy you like my stuff!
jaytim eh? honestly i don’t really have an opinion; it’s just cool seeing them on my dash. I understand where the dynamic comes from especially given their tumultuous ‘Replacement’ past, but i kind of see timkon more, tbh.
headcanon: in the back of his mind Tim sees himself as an ‘outsider’ compared to Dick and Jay because Bruce didn’t exactly choose him to be robin.
Tim started off by sort of imposing himself on the fam after all, although for the greater good. Well, the Tim in my head is a shrewd little mastermind so him offering himself to help out is done mostly to serve his own agenda, but he knows ‘greater good’ is a safe bet and certainly has an idealistic ring to it. And the bats are nothing if not idealists (except for pragmatic Jay, sure, but Bruce is running the show and we know how he is).
At times Tim would see Dick and Jay and feels a pang of envy, but then logic takes over and he tells himself that he also matters, that he’s needed, that he belongs. this would sort of explain his (fanon/canon?) workaholic tendencies, because he feels the need to prove his usefulness to everyone and himself. Thankfully since he’s a natural at learning and picking up things fast, he ends up being more than just a proficient member of their operation, so it kind of works out, but it stems from an unhealthy drive.
Despite how the bats went from simple acceptance into genuinely caring for him, Tim will always have that insecurity so he’d rather look for someone without the bat logo plastered on their chest. I do think he’s totally down with doing it with Dick or Jay or Bruce (or all three if it’s been a good day and he’s feeling indulgent), providing it doesn’t meddle with work. Before being robin he was obsessed with them after all, and i guess in some way he still is. However Kon is a fellow ‘outsider in his own family’, which makes me think the bond between them would probably develop more organically than jaytim. Again this is not a preference; just a layman’s observation.
(also i imagine Jay would be more likely to sleep with Dick because to him having the Disappointment ‘ruin’ the Favorite would be a way to get back at Bruce, but i digress.)
@tremsing82 replied to your post: what-is-your-otp...
Omg this is everything I think and feel about the BruceDick pairing and the SladeDick pairing. I feel SladeDick cannot happen without there being some BruceDick pining and crushing. Small question (because this is another ship I like but it’s rare) but do you have any HC or thoughts or feelings for Thomas Wayne Jr. (Owlman) and Dick?
Wooo headcanon buddies! *highfives you*
Tbh I’ve been having trouble finding cohesive material about Owlman canon (i.e the actual comic), but the most famous I know is the one where the Dick Grayson in Owlman’s Earth-3 is dead and he abducts the ‘default’ Dick Grayson and forces him to be his Talon. If I’m not mistaken Thomas is also responsible for the death of that Earth’s John & Mary Grayson as well? I can’t be sure so sorry if I got my canons confused with my headcanon.
Yes full disclosure I actually have a similar headcanon where Bruce was behind the demise of Dick’s parents. They refused when he offered to adopt the boy under the pretense of giving him a better life, so he had them killed. So when I found out about Owlman’s story I was a little bummed because before I thought I was so ~*OrIgINaL*~. But ANYWAY LONG HEADCANON AHEAD SO BE PROPERLY HYDRATED and stuff
I honestly have no idea why people seem to avoid pairings with Thomas. Canonwise he either murdered his family or watched his family being murdered in Bruce’s place, and that he’s cruel and detached which I don’t think is a far stretch from what Bruce could have become had he have gone through (is that the correct grammar i’m sorry my english is a mess) a different path in life. So he sounds alright in my book.
In the scenario where Thomas abducted Dick, I can see Dick being drawn to this man that looks like Bruce and sounds like Bruce but has no qualms asserting absolute dominance, which Dick craves. Maybe Dick closes his eyes so he can focus on the shape of Thomas’s body and imagine that’s Bruce’s unyielding weight on him, Bruce’s hair on his damp forehead, Bruce’s large fingers wrapped around his throat so snugly he wonders if they have always belonged there. After all, Dick is a big ol’ sucker for Bruce stand-ins, and this is as close as he would ever get. (adult!Damian notwithstanding, but that’s another headcanon for another time)
Dick is also a quick learner and excels in playing by someone else’s rules, so I can see him surviving being Thomas’s pet and even enjoying it up to a point?
There are some major letdowns which may very well compel Dick to revolt/escape though. The main one is Thomas being evil and doing evil stuff. That in itself should be more than enough, but let’s say for the sake of argument that Thomas keeps Dick in his bedroom and away from his nasty dealings, so Dick only has to focus on the interaction between the two of them and not what he’s doing to others.
Thing is Dick is used to being persuaded into joining the opposition. Being convinced. Wooed. Seduced. Thomas on the other hand likes a more head-on approach to people, putting them on the brink of breaking point and if they actually break, it means they’re weak and therefore not worth his time. Thomas’s pragmatism and detachment would unnerve Dick a lot. After all, Bruce may look detached but he is actually very emotionally involved.
In addition, obviously Dick wasn’t hand-raised by Thomas like the Dick of Earth-3, so I can see him having a hard time adjusting to Thomas’s predilection for causing harm to elicit a response. Bruce, in turn, would never, ever harm him. I think Bruce may play mindgames and fuck with Dick’s head to get what he wants, sure; but he cherishes Dick far too greatly and already knows Dick reacts exceedingly well to something as simple as praise and validation. Also Thomas may share Bruce’s controlling streak big time and would keep Dick on a very short leash in order to make sure this boy doesn’t get fuckin killed like the last one, making Dick feel suffocated.
HOWEVER I think it’s canon that Thomas raises Earth-3 Dick to fill a hole left by the death of Earth-3 Bruce? As in… Thomas is using Dick as a stand-in for Earth-3 Dick, which is actually a stand in for Earth-3 Bruce???? So his endgame isn’t exactly Dick, it’s Bruce. So if we’re being canon here Truce (ThomasxBruce, which sounds as wrong as it is right) is more plausible than Thick (ThomasxDick, because I am hopeless), as in Thomas straight-up abducting Bruce to replace his Earth-3 Bruce, which is the entire fuckin point of all this abducting business, and much more in step with his straightforward way of doing things. I mean two owls instead of one? Ultraman doesn’t stand a chance.
But I digress!
I have to say that I see every Bruce stand-in as a temporary arrangement for Dick though as his heart is Bruce’s alone, so at some point Dick will want to return to Bruce, no matter how similar to Bruce Thomas looks or how great the sex or how much of his own discomfort he can ignore. The only way I can see Dick having a hard time leaving is if Thomas changes strategy and uses praises/rewards instead of coercion/punishment, but I don’t think that’s canonical to his character. Getting through to Dick by giving exactly what Bruce lacks sounds more like Slade’s thing, to me.
Personally I prefer evil!Bruce as Owlman than Thomas because Thomas feels more of a mirror, ‘what if’ character, which is just AU!Bruce in essence. Plus the thought of Bruce taking advantage of Dick’s complete trust and total devotion to him--which Dick doesn’t spare for any other character imo--to slowly corrupt the boy is just too delicious to pass up. Thick definitely has a sound premise but after this TED talk I ended up warming up to Truce more.
I hope i am making sense sorry too much canon shit to keep up with
Rebirth Deathstroke series is like reading a list of the shitty things Slade has probably done/did/will do.
true, that’s why i’m fine with it. what i don’t like abt the current run is he’s been doing shitty stuff for very long now without significant growth so i’m concerned about character stagnation, but otherwise the shittiness should be there to remind ppl that hey, this is a dangerous bad guy with little regard to people that isn’t him. his selfish character core is important to me because pairing him with the readily likeable dick–resident Good PersonTM/one of the most woobiefied characters in history–makes it easy to accidentally water slade down.
for all its flaws rebirth deathstroke provides an inkling to the lengths slade would go through, and what he’s capable of. helps to give him a nice, grounded feel and puts his personality in contrast with the (generally decent) people he (accidentally or not) surrounds himself with, plus it creates solid conflict points when he’s forced to decide between doing what’s right and what’s convenient for his version of morality.
Hey i don't know if someone has already asked or if it's something you'd reply to. But.. your headcannons for bat boys. Would they have blogs you think? Dick's is probably all about puppies or kittens idk.
oh man headcanons are my lifeblood ok ok ok let me try my hand at this:
each keep his tumblr a secret from others unless stated otherwise
dick: blog dedicated to uplifting posts to keep himself grounded and positive. reblogs a lot of wholesome memes & helpful public PSAs, ‘signal boosts’. follows back, always answers messages good-naturedly with :) a lot ;) of :)) smileys :-D. uses #YOLO liberally and inaccurately
tim: manages one respected photography blog he tells ppl about, 2nd blog is secret and autoplays peppy D-grade anime music. started using comicsans ironically, later continues out of spite. follows 1 person. shitposts a lot; reblogs opinions just to perform savage takedowns. begins sentences with “Actually,” ask page is titled, “YOU WANNA FIGHT”
damian: posts personal art, reblogs funny animals, animal care/rescue etc. struggles to pretend to be a regular adult human online and it shows. enters a fandom ~discourse~ once to post a fierce defense of nightwing and the trash-talking OP was never heard from again. mouse cursor is some cutesy animal too pixelated to recognize
jason: porn blog. updates whenever, no text, nothing is tagged, navigation is a nightmare. very popular anyways because he’s got good taste. kink revolves mainly around consensual/artistic bondage and respectful D/s relationship. dick saves almost every post but will deny this
BONUS ROUND
bruce: highbrow gothic aesthetic blog of things in black or near-black. imposes strict blogging rules for self–posts punctually on a set time, always manages to accurately source even the most reposted-through-hell-and-back posts. barely readable black helvetica with no visible page buttons. blacklists ‘superman’. the only blog tim’s shitblog follows
slade: bit creepy nightwing fanblog. neatly tags body parts, #ASS the only one in caps. every once in a while reblogs dad jokes, to the confusion of his followers
