#sigh8

[writergeek]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Clark, Diana, and J’onn – Superman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter – call Batman to the JLA for his Tribunal. It… goes about as well as they expect.

~~~

For the record, actually holding the Tribunal takes some scheduling, since this involves one of the main Founders of the JLA. And they always seem to be busy with something or other.

And it hasn’t escaped Clark’s notice that Batman has been basically operating as if everything is normal. Like nothing has changed when everything has. He’s holding down shifts on monitor duty; taking part on missions; spending time in his city; you know, doing the usual Batman things.

The only difference between now and Batman’s usual habits is that he’s just a little bit gruffer on comms. But given Bats' usual taciturn nature, well, that’s a bit of a moot point.

They’ve discussed getting Batman up to the Watchtower through various means, from deceitful to subtle, but in the end, they settle for something much more direct. They send him an encrypted text through JLA channels.

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[writergeek]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 14/? Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Batfamily Members & Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & The Titans Characters: Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Harley Quinn, Batfamily Members, The Titans - Character, Justice League - Character, Gothamites, Original Characters Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Whump, Emotional Whump, Angst, Angst with feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, YMMV but the comfort WILL be there, Unreliable Narrator, Trauma, healing process, (bc healing is a journey and sometimes we have to take a step back before we can go forward), (and sometimes we hit rock bottom BEFORE we can go up), PTSD, Suicidal Ideation Mention, Therapy, Permanent Injury, Injury Recovery, injury aftermath, Past Eye Trauma, Implied/References to Past Abuse, Found Family, (sometimes found family is the people we find along the way… the people who CHOOSE to take us in), Consent Issues, (in that people learn what consent means. and hop aboard the consent train), Which leads to, the joker dies, (that is very much a thing that happens in this fic), Canon Typical Violence, Hurt Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson Gets a Hug, Hurt Jason Todd, All The Kids Need Hugs, All The Kids Get Hugs, The batkids are siblings and I will die on this hill, sibling shenanigans, Awesome Alfred, Bruce Wayne is not present but he does haunt the narrative, (all these are not tangentially related tags btw), do not copy to another site, in this house we stand against AI, Batfam Big Bang 2025, Batfam Big Bang, Past Rape/Non-con, (Dick has flashbacks to Mirage/Tarantula) Series: Part 8 of Stones In Glasshouses Chapter Summary: The family finally watches the contents of a few certain thumbdrives, that hold certain stolen files. Or that is, they try to, because they wouldn't be them if they didn't keep getting interrupted.

~~~~

Duke is the first to admit that he’s nervous, sitting on the couch in the living room and waiting for everyone to arrive. They’re going to watch the files Tim has gathered for them – or rather, that Tim has grabbed from Batman.

He’s not sure why he’d be nervous, because it’s not like he’s got much to hide. Or, well, to hear Tim mutter about things, it’s not like he’s died. And that’s what most of the files are about, right? That Batman has chosen to hoard footage of their deaths, and isn’t that just… weird.

Yeah, that’s one word for it.

Ghoulish. That’s another.

It makes him uncomfortable, honestly. Duke can’t… he’s not sure he can explain why he doesn’t like it, even now, even after leaving the Cave over it. (Just like he’s not really sure where he stood with Bruce. With Batman. Apart from being the day shift… and maybe even the token meta and black kid, to tick the diversity boxes.)

But he does know where he stands with Alfred, with this… group of people that he’s coming to call his family. Well, adopted family, considering that his actual family is still alive. (Sorta.) He knows that Alfred would happily claim him as his grandson… and he’s starting to realize that it’s mutual, that he’d claim Alfred back. Even if that means claiming everyone else as his brothers and sisters, who seem equally as intent on claiming him as family even though he’s had very little interaction with them before all this.

Not gonna lie, having Alfred kill to keep them safe went a long way to, well, killing his doubts. Pardon the pun.

Duke feels safe here. He knows they’ve got his back, and the least he could do was have their back in return, right?

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[writergeek]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Harley— Sorry, Harls continues to meet the batkids. It goes about as well as she (and Jason) expected.

~~~

As soon as they leave the kitchen, Steph hands the plate of cookies to Harle—to Harls.

She didn’t miss the moment that passed between Harley and Cass there in the kitchen, although she’s willing to lay long odds that Harls hadn’t realized the full importance of it. But then, most people don’t, not when they’re meeting Cass for the first time.

Cass has that effect on people.

Dick says it’s because Cass never quite learned to blink at a normal frequency – usually said with muttered curses on David Cain and his training methods. Cass’ unblinking stare unsettles a lot of people when they’re not used to it, even if they don’t initially realize why.

The family is used to Cass’ quirks. More than that, they’re familiar with Cass’ abilities.

And, with Cass’ permission, they exploit them.

Like having Cass greet newcomers to the house. Or new people to the family, in this case.

...

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