keep your head up (it’s a cruel world) || batfam || the old guard!reverse verse au
rating: T
category: gen
warnings: mention of injuries, grief/mourning, rapid healing, mcd but extremely temporary as in tog
wordcount: 20k
a/n: huge thank you to @thychesters for being an amazing friend, beta, and cheerleader!! <3 full A/N is on ao3
summary: “Black hair, blue eyes,” Tim continues. Bruce’s hands clench to hide the trembling in his fingers. “I saw a poster for The Flying Graysons. He was at Haly’s Circus, Bruce, they’re in town right now—”
Bruce turns with a snarl, throwing his fist against the wall. He feels the bones splinter, blood seeping between his fingers as his hand is already stitching itself back together. Not now, not so soon after—
Bruce’s chest throbs.
They only lost track of Jason five years ago. Damian’s final breath was barely three months ago.
He’s not ready for another.
He can’t leave another one behind.
[image id: a panel from robin & batman #3 of a young dick grayson standing in a desolate circus tent with the fic title in white text: “keep your head up (it’s a cruel world): a batfam the old guard!reverse verse au”
preview | tog!batfam au - keep your head up (it’s a cruel world)
hello hello! I’ve been working on a the old guard/reverse!verse au for the batfam since december of 2020, and I am finally ready to post. full fic will be released tomorrow (jan 12) both here and on ao3, but for now, here’s a sneak peek:
“O, here.”
“I need a favor.”
“Depends. You funding my coffee budget for this little favor, or is this another freebie? You’re almost out of those, by the way.”
“A month’s worth, if you do it quickly,” Bruce responds, inching closer to the tail of the cruiser. He sees the cop’s eyes narrow suspiciously in the rearview mirror through the back window.
“I suppose I can lend my time. What do you need?”
“Shut off all of the security cameras in a five block radius from my location. Jam the radio of cruiser GCPD #207, and scrub all records of Richard John Grayson from police records for the next 72 hours.” He hesitates. “Aside from a record of his death tonight.”
The comm is silent.
“Oracle,” Bruce barks.
“Consider it done,” she responds. “But you damn well better explain what the hell is going on later, B.”
Bruce grunts and ends the call, pressing his foot to the gas. He races alongside the cruiser and whips the steering wheel to the side as he passes, sending his own vehicle lurching into a devastating roll. He braces as it tumbles, hears the screeching of tires as the cruiser skids to a halt, as his own car stops upside down, his wrist snapping as the back end of the vehicle grinds into a dead intersection. Bruce goes limp, feigning unconsciousness as footsteps rush across the pavement, the cop yelling into a radio that shouldn’t be working if Barbara has done her job.
“–we’ve got a 10-50, requesting an ambulance and officer backup, I have a kid in my cruiser–”
Bruce breathes as glass is expelled from his skin, as the bones in his wrist click back into place, as the cop drops to his knees next to the shattered window. Static screams over the radio and goes silent. The officer pauses.
Bruce waits.
“What– Rohrbach? Hello? Can anybody hear me?”
He clicks at his radio in confusion and Bruce lunges out the door.
after watching the old guard, I almost immediately went wait. the old guard but batfam. but also,, reverse!verse
I know a lot of people don't really like reverse verse okay but hear me out
bruce is in andy's position; oldest immortal and came about around 5500 BCE. kate follows at 5350 (a distant descendant on his mother's side), terry at 4500, and damian at 1200 BCE after bruce falls in love with talia (we're messing with timelines just go with it). ra's is around, and will use lazarus pits from here on out, and will be obsessed with how bruce's immortality works. he doesn't realize this until damian is in his late teens/early twenties, and will kill him to get at bruce...
only to find out damian picked up the trait
bruce, kate, terry, and damian do their own thing until steph comes about in 500 CE, cass following in 900 CE. tim doesn't come around until 1550 (age of knights, drakes dragons, etc), jason in the 1980s, and dick in the 2020s, where our story takes place. I'm a sucker for bruce and dick/father and son content, and dick being stuck as a baby eighty-year-old forever?? prime angst :] (also terry dies sometime between damian's first death and when cass comes around, that's still in the works)
superheroes do still exist in this universe, and that's how the fam blends in. they can still do what they (and the og old guard fam) have done for millenia, but fit in as heroes/vigilantes and stay under the radar. most of the world, or gotham at least, just thinks that they're metas with super healing, so they're able to get by without too much suspicion
aside from ra's of course, who is always on bruce's tail. but I'll stop there, because I don't want to give away any spoilers!! ;)
age-wise though, in terms of how they look, I have it lined up as such:
long time, no see batfam followers! thought I'd treat you to some the old guard!reverse verse!au for #wipwednesday :) when zucco cuts the ropes, dick dies with his parents, but a la the old guard, dick comes back to life :) at age eight :))) an immortal eight year old!! this isn't going to cause an inordinate amount of stress for bruce or anything, don't worry about it
I have a few scenes that need to be rewritten, and a few that just need to be added to, and then I'll be good to post! I'm currently finishing a zine and wrapped up in spn fic, but hopefully I can get this finished during april nano? and have this posted by may. we'll see!
live text under the cut:
"Stay away from me!" Dick yells. The man reaches for him but Dick flips over his arm, racing awayawayaway--
He spots Pop Haly across the yard.
"Pop!" he shouts. Pop turns towards his voice and goes white at the sight of him. Dick sprints towards him anyway, crashing into him and throwing his arms around him tight. Pop is frozen against him, so Dick squeezes tighter. What the heck is going on?
"Pop, Pop, those people tried to take me away! What’s going on? Where's mom?"
"...Dickie?" Pop whispers, voice breaking over the syllables. Dick frowns and pulls back. When he looks up, Pop's eyes are shining with tears.
"Pop?"
Pop crashes to his knees and crushes Dick against him with a sob. Dick stills this time, frightened. He's never ever seen Pop cry before. Dick wraps his arms around Pop's shoulders and buries his face in his neck.
"Pop?" he asks. "Where's mom? I want my mom."
Pop just cries harder and Dick's blood turns to ice in his veins. He squirms back to look Pop in the face.
"Where is she, Pop? Where's dad?"
Pop takes a shuddering, steadying breath, and puts his hands on Dick's shoulders.
"She-- they're...they’re gone, son. I-- we thought you were gone, too."
hello hello and happy #wipwednesday!! y'all are going to be getting two snippets today (yes, two!!): one batfam and one s pn. first off: the old guard!reverse verse!au :o I'm playing with what exactly reverse verse entails here; this fic is going to be entirely gen though (aside from possible hints at stephcass. we'll see)
this snippet takes place after dick dies for the first time at the circus and comes back to life; oracle helps, and B is being cryptic, as usual
live text under the the cut!
They’re five minutes out when the cruiser turns in the opposite direction of any of the closest precincts. Bruce frowns. The only place in this direction is--
The Gotham Juvenile Detention Facility.
Bruce growls, and pulls his phone out of his pocket. Dials.
“O, here.”
“I need a favor.”
“Depends. You funding my coffee budget for this little favor, or is this another freebie? You’re almost out of those, by the way.”
“A month’s worth, if you do it quickly,” Bruce responds, inching closer to the tail of the cruiser. He sees the cop’s eyes narrow suspiciously in the rearview mirror through the back window.
“I suppose I can lend my time. What do you need?”
“Shut off all of the security cameras in a five block radius from my location. Jam the radio of cruiser GCPD #207, and scrub all records of Richard John Grayson from police records for the next 72 hours.” He hesitates. “Aside from a record of his death tonight.”
The comm is silent.
“Oracle,” Bruce barks.
“Consider it done,” she responds. “But you damn well better explain what the hell is going on later, B.”
“It’s because I could kick all of your asses,” Cass says easily, snatching a handful of grapes from Alfred’s spread, jumping up onto the counter. She tosses one at Dick, and he catches it with ease, popping it into his mouth. He’s so hungry. “No sweat.”
cool
Bruce sucks in a breath in an attempt to cool down, but his fury still simmers threateningly below the surface. Jim eyes him warily.
“If word gets out,” Bruce continues, “and Dick is still around, they will capture him, they will put him through testing, and they will torture him, Jim, I can promise you that.”
evening
The drive back to the Manor is silent, Richard passing out from exhaustion; he’s slumped against the window, his head resting against the door and plush elephant clutched loosely in his grasp. His evening has been long and impossibly hard on him, Bruce knows, and he deserves the rest. Bruce plays the radio low, heat turned up to help the boy sleep.
Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!
I was tagged by the magnificent @oldkingyounggod <333
2020 was wild, and I managed to start a lot of things, but not necessarily finish them, so I’m gonna put this under a read more so I can post some snippets of wips I’m proud of! this is also going to cross over with my art account @lyssartandstars a lil bit, so there’s a whole mix of stuff in here.
I’ll taaaaag @ethari @apaladinagain @commodorecliche @demenior @curiosity-killed @thychesters and whoever else wants to play!!
here we go! in no particular order:
the old guard!reverse verse!batfam au
this one is so close to being done, y’all, just working on edits and a few rewrites!! I started this shortly after tog came out on netflix, and then slammed out the rest during nano of this year. v excited to share soon!! here’s the first few lines:
Bruce’s eyes fly open with a sharp inhale, plunky circus music, glaring lights, and horrified screams swirling in a vertigo-inducing haze through his mind. He lurches to his feet, gasping, and can hear footsteps pounding down the hall.
Tim bursts into the room, chest heaving, and Cass slips in silently behind him, her own eyes wide.
“It was a...a boy,” she whispers. “Small. Colorful. He...was flying?”
“Black hair, blue eyes,” Tim continues. Bruce’s hands clench to hide the trembling in his fingers. “I saw a poster for The Flying Graysons. He was at Haly’s Circus, Bruce, they’re in town right now—”
Bruce turns with a snarl, throwing his fist against the wall. He feels the bones splinter, blood seeping between his fingers as his hand is already stitching itself back together. Not now, not so soon after—
Bruce’s chest throbs.
They only lost track of Jason five years ago. Damian’s final breath was barely three months ago.
He’s not ready for another.
He can’t leave another one behind.
talon!au
an au I’ve had in the works since 2015. I still have sooooo much work to do on this; I’ve only written maaaaybe a third? of the main story?? so it’s going to be quite awhile before posting, but I’m still v pleased w how it’s going, and I’m hoping to crank some more out during camp nano in april!
The walls are shifting on him again.
He thought he had been keeping track of every turn, every twist, but he keeps ending up back at the fountain, despite picking a different path each time.
At least he thinks he’s picking a different path each time.
It’s getting hard to remember anything, anymore.
You cannot escape the Court, the giant owl whispers down to him. It almost seems to be laughing at him, beak stretched wide, the water pouring from its mouth laughing at his struggle. Dick clamps his hands over his ears and grits his teeth against the intrusion. You cannot escape your destiny, Gray Son.
“Shut up,” Dick hisses, turning his back on the owl and looking frantically between the pathways in front of him. Has he gone down all of them? Is there one he hasn’t tried yet?
There has to be, he thinks. There has to be a way out. There has to—
There is no escape, the owl hisses.
batfam whumptober: behind your darkest doubts
didn’t finish the whole month, but oh boy, I had fun with this is in october >:) (title link is for ao3, you can read on tumblr here)
birdflash: where do you run
definitely my favorite piece of 2020! this thing took me almost 21 hours to do, and I’m still v happy w how it turned out c:
nightwing dc fandome submission
very very proud of this!! couldn’t ever find it on the fandome site, so I’m not sure if I missed the deadline or what, but it did p well in my shop and I love how it turned out, so voila~
coming in late; ty to fuyu for picking a number! here’s a snippet from the old guard batfam au:
“Don’t take too much offense to Kate,” Steph says easily, approaching him. “We did have a long day, and she’s nearly as much of an old fart as Bruce is. Don’t take it personally.”
“Excuse me,” Bruce says.
“Oh you’re old as fuck and you know it. You’re like a benevolent immortal grandpa,” Steph snarks back at him.
“Old as fuck,” Cass agrees with a nod, “and fast as lightning.”
“You bet your ass I am,” Bruce answers.
“Yes,” Cass agrees. She smirks. “Swear jar.”
“Cassandra, I will ground you.”
“No, you won’t,” Steph calls, stooping down to gather up her bags. “She’s the favorite, grounding her would ruin your relationship and reputation.”
“I do not pick favorites.”
“It’s because I could kick all of your asses,” Cass says easily, snatching a handful of grapes from Alfred’s spread, jumping up onto the counter. She tosses one at Dick, and he catches it with ease, popping it into his mouth. He’s so hungry. “No sweat.”
“Do we even have a swear jar anymore?” Tim asks, exasperated.
“I believe I threw it out after it was caught in the crossfire of your Great Paint War of 2006,” Alfred says with a sniff. “But I would gladly procure another, if the need arises again.”
“At this rate, we might have to,” Tim grumbles. Bruce turns to catch Dick’s amused gaze.
