Tim Drake's Horrors (literal)
The Day 2 fic I've written for whumptober is probably one of my favorites XD The title is 'The Twisted Tale of Tim Drake', which in itself sounds fun.
Basically, it's an AU where Tim sees hallucinations which he calls The Horrors (he's like eight, give me a break). These Horrors are characters from the non-age-appropriate stories Janet told him when he was younger to discipline him. I pulled out these Horrors from stuff I used to watch as a kid like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Flapjack and Coraline, and just some "Horrors" I imagined up as a kid myself (I did not hallucinate, don't worry, the ones I imagined up were on purpose, i'm not crazy I swear). Now that I've finished the fic and left it as a oneshot, there are SO MANY things about this AU that I want to explore more.
Once you read the fic, you'll understand it more, but here's a bit of how they work:
The Horrors only ever came during the night, they hated sunlight and loved the shadows. They also avoided his parents, so they were never there when Jack and Janet were home, which wasn’t very often. They never spoke, but always listened. Never touched things and didn’t like being touched either. And they never ever came more than two feet close to Tim. Once he realized that, he wasn’t too bothered by their presence.
He still was, don’t get him wrong. He was terrified of the monsters that followed him like shadows. Goosebumps never failed to break out all over his skin every time they came. They appeared often enough that he didn’t pass out of fear, but sparse enough to make his heart jump and race every time.
One thing that Tim found interesting though, was that just like his parents, the Horrors seemed to avoid Gotham’s vigilantes too. Every time he spotted Robin or Batman or Batgirl during his Gotham night outings, they disappeared in a blink. Then as soon as they were gone, they apparated back just as quickly. It made him love Gotham night outings even more.
Here are some examples of what they look like:
"Since then, with every passing week he spent alone in a giant, creaky, empty manor, Tim met more and more of the Horrors. He met Rasma the man made of strings, Tispy the giant floating white head, Juno the hungry snake with caterpillar feet, Dolly the doll whose eyes and tongue popped out of her head every few minutes, and many more."
"He was out, fiddling with his camera, when Pan the red boy who could fly appeared out of nowhere on the rooftop across from him. It waved at him, the blood on his hand flying everywhere. It laughed without sound at his horrorstruck face with a pointing finger."
My further thoughts on this AU:
Tim's Horrors are there to help him and warn him of danger, making him especially tuned to his surroundings
They watch over him like his personal guardian angels (or demons)
No one else can see them except Tim, so he won't be discovered when they try to help him
But this also means that he can't use them to his advantage during fights or interrogations to scare criminals (and sometimes siblings)
They don't talk so Tim has to rely on their body language cues which gets even harder seeing as their bodies are weird amalgamations
They do still disappear when Tim's safe people arrive though. So Tim can feel completely safe with them.
But somewhere along the line, after the events of the fic, Jack and Janet stop being safe for Tim and the Horrors are there at the same time as they are to help him cope.
Even though he gets used to seeing the Horrors and doesn't get as scared anymore, he still spirals into a freak out and even a panic attack sometimes when a new Horror shows up, because Tim hasn't becomes used to it yet.
One of my favourite parts of this concept is a spoiler for the fic, but has something to do with Tim and his relationship with the emotion of fear.
I'm not sure whether to make them just Tim's hallucinations, or actual beings from another world who have taken a liking to Tim.
I mean, the fic definitely implies the latter even though I haven't made up my mind yet. Because if these are just hallucinations, then the limits of what they can do to help Tim are very large.
If they are otherworldly beings, then is it just one being in different forms or several beings who just collectively like Tim and want to protect him.
If they're a group, then did one of them go like "Yo, I found this cute neglected kid. Check it out."
They've all just adopted Tim as their own child. Tim just has that sort of face where the people who meet him can't help but adopt him. It happened with Bruce, it happened with Jason, it happened with Dick and Alfred and Barbara. It's really not that crazy to think that these alien, ethereal terrors from a secret circle of hell want to adopt him too.
By the time Tim becomes Robin, he grows more comfortable with his Horrors and has figured out how to train them to help him during fights. He hones this talent so well that the Horrors work just as well as Duke's powers too, except they don't require light and are okay in almost every situation.
They shield Tim strongly from mind-control and mind-reading because anyone who tries to get in his head sees the Horror and immediately backs out (also important to note that the Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian are now extremely terrified of him and leave the room as soon as he appears. His Horrors find it funny, Tim does too but doesn't openly say it).
People often find him talking to himself. Only the batfam (and the martians) know that he's really talking to his Horrors. Cue interactions like:
"Jason, my Horrors say that I shouldn't forgive you for what you did at Titans Tower. The only exception is if you grant me ten no-questions-asked favors and bake me 3 cakes and a 5-course-meal. Oh and twenty hugs."
"Damian, I know you cut my grapple line. Go and fix it right now before I tell Rasma to visit you in your sleep." (they can't, but he's not about to let him know that)
"Dick, Dolly says that you look very nice in that shirt. I think she has a bit of a crush on you *wink*." "Tim, I know that your Horrors' version of beautiful means a mixture of the ugliest and most horrendous things to ever exist on Earth. I saw you complaining about how Dolly finds literal dogshit attractive. I'm not falling for that *puts shirt away*" Tim: *grumbles and walks away*
Bruce finds Tim's hallucinations concerning, but he can't help but admit that he's fascinated by them too. He asks Tim about them in a way dads ask their daughters about their friends like, "Tim? What do your Horrors say about Scarecrow's new strand of fear toxin." "Everything alright with you and your Horrors? You seem really upset." "Interesting. Tell me more about Uloo's paper-eating obsession."
Damian gets jealous a few times because he wants to have horrifying hallucination friends like Tim too. But one day, he walks in on Tim having a panic attack and freaking out at a new Horror who just appeared, throwing Tim off because he wasn't used to this one.
Damian enters the room and the Horror disappears, leaving Tim sobbing in relief. After that, Damian realizes just how much Tim was actually hiding under his cheerful mask.
Damian creates a system so that there is at least one person available near Tim every time a new Horror appears (which doesn't happen as often as it used to, but they change every week).
Tim is very grateful to have the people he does now.
That's all I have for now!
I'm really really excited for you guys to read this fic ^^ If you have any more questions, comments or even new ideas for this AU, please lmk!!
