scenarios Alfred Pennyworth has to be a witness to as a resident of Wayne Manor that the batkids have absolutely no shame in front of whatsoever part 20 (masterpost here)
Alfred, walking into the cave: i would like to remind you all that there is a separate laundry basket for clothing stained with blood, and it would be a great convenience to me if you children would learn to use it,
*Steph and Cass engaging in a stand-off in the middle of the cave, staring at each other, while Tim watches gleefully from the batcomputer*
Alfred: ...what is going on here?
Steph, holding a notebook and pencil: this is ridiculous. i don't care how much you learnt about body-language, you're not a mind reader.
Cass: *shrugs, smiling*
Steph:
Steph, stubbornly: do it again.
Cass, tilting her head upwards: think of a number.
Steph, eyes narrowing: *furiously scribbles on notebook, hiding her movements from Cass* ok. if you're such a telepath, what number did i write down?
Cass: *narrows eyes*
Tim: *leans over from behind and squints* *holds up three fingers*
Cass, humming: three.
Steph:
Steph, slamming the notebook down: FUCK.
Alfred, watching her storm out of the cave: ...was that really necassery?
Tim, gleeful: nah, but we've been doing it for weeks and it's not stopped being funny yet.
Alfred:
Alfred: just...
Alfred, sighing: just remember to put the bloody clothes in the right hamper when she finds out and beats you up.
I’m thinking of a de-aging scene a la my Monster in the Mirror fic, where Dick had been kidnapped by the Court of Owls at the age of like 11, and as he’s working with the yj team or whatever, he gets de-aged to a point in time where he was being tortured.
So you have this little 11 year old kid who hasn’t seen his dad or his friends in months, he thinks his grandfather is standing by with a dose of electrum and a scalpel to time how long it takes him to heal from various wounds, and he’s tired and scared and his nerves are fried and he wants to go home, and now he’s being yelled at by people he doesn’t recognize. They’re saying he should have been able to avoid an attack from a magic user. They’re grabbing him and tossing him around and they’re talking at him instead of with him and none of them are noticing the blood stains or the way his limbs are shaking or the way his eyes are specked with yellow.
His grandfather just tortured him under the guise of training, and now he’s with a bunch of unknown supers while he’s actively bleeding and trying not to pass out and the ringing in his ears is making him dizzy.
In his mind, he’s been kidnapped for months. He’s been tortured for months. He thinks he’s stuck and that no one will ever find him.
And then when he’s looking around the room, ignoring the way everyone else is shouting at him and around him and asking for explanations, he finally sees someone familiar. Maybe it’s Oliver. Maybe it’s Barry. Maybe it’s Clark.
And he just crumbles. He cries and he screams and he begs to go home when whoever it is finally comes and catches him before he can fall.
“I want my dad,” he begs. He repeats it, over and over, until he’s gasping, until he chokes on the blood in his mouth, until he’s hyperventilating and about to faint.
Until Batman finally swoops in and holds him, hides him in his cape, and whispers into his ear, “I’m here, you’re okay, it’s okay.”
Idk I just want everyone else realizing too late, “Oh…he’s bleeding. Oh…he doesn’t know who we are,” and Bruce being so angry that no one comforted his obviously distraught and injured son.
the crime alley kids love their protector :) I headcanon that the kids are somewhat wary of the other bats and are only truly comfortable with jason. they ask to try on his helmet while jason tries to calm the little ones and distribute snacks and supplies to them. All the kids in Red Hood's area wears a red bat symbol in the form of keychains, painted on their items, etc as a sign that they are under jason's protection. Whoever messes with them will have to face the wrath of Red Hood 🙏
Currently thinking about the whiplash the other JL members would get when they see Bruce and Dick outside of their Batman and Robin personas for the first time. Like, they’re so used to the ultra serious Batman and his scary little shadow Robin. Robin is a child, yes, but he’s terrifying and he’s laughed in Joker’s face and made it out alive. The two of them are so serious about their roles, and even if Robin cracks jokes and makes puns, there’s a threatening edge to it that gives them all a chill, and Batman stands behind him menacingly the entire time.
Then they finally meet Bruce and Dick, and it’s a total 180. Dick holds Bruce’s hands and rocks on his heels and grins, and suddenly the missing baby tooth isn’t frightening, it’s endearing. Bruce has no problem picking Dick up and letting Dick cup his hands around his ear to whisper a secret. Bruce is indulgent and so clearly loves his little son so much, and he brushes Dick’s hair out of his eyes and straightens the collar of his shirt when it’s gone askew from all his playing and he ties Dick’s shoelaces when he notices the knot has come undone.
Idk I just love sweet dad Bruce and sweet little kid Dick making the JL think this all an elaborate prank by Batman and Robin, that the real Batman and Robin must be hiding out somewhere watching them interact with Gotham’s favorite billionaire and his son and they must think it’s all very funny.
Dick, of course, does think it’s funny, and he whispers as much into Bruce’s ear and then they giggle together about it.
Tim drake adopted by the spirit of Gotham after dying as a child;
• Tim in his stalker era asking gotham to help him on to roofs
° gotham during tims stalker era blocking creeps and other dangers from getting too close while still teaching him how to survive
• Timothy Drake - Wayne using gothams shadows to hide from paparazzi.
• Red Robin calling gotham for help when he gets himself in far to deep and the others are too far away to save him
• even without actively talking to gotham Tim has a connection to the city that gives him insane intuition and gut feeling.
• Tim having to leave the city for whatever reason and having just a sense of wrong-sick-need-home untill he gets home
• Tim who's life is directly connected to gotham and her city and after he spends to much time away he starts fading (i think of this as nico di'angelo from PJO after shadow traveling) then him finally getting to go home and letting gothams shadows welcome him home and restore him
I highly recommend this fic. this singular idea has been bouncing around my head since I first read it.
While you should go read it, this little drabble is a AU of this fic so I'll give a summary.
Tim drake is cursed to become a gargoyle; he can control his petrification at night, any amount of sunlight will force him into being a statue. He uses his powers to spy on people while living on the streets after his parents death. Eventually he finds the red hood and works for him at a bar and red hood gives him a place to live. He causes chaos and eventually he gets brought into the family.
In this drabble he briefly works as a spy for black mask before finding the red hood, unfortunately this action has conquences.
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Tim choked at the cloth held over his face the strong chemical smell burning his nose and stealing his oxygen. He tried to jerk back but the body behind him kept him firmly in place. He desperately hoped that jason had security cameras around here somewhere and that he would see what's happened. Tim didn't even know who was currently kidnapping him. He felt his struggles getting weaker and weaker, dark spots were dancing in his vision, his brain fogging over until he went limp and distantly felt his body being slung over a shoulder and the shoulder jamming into his stomach.
Tim felt the cold floor of the van collide with his body, he felt himself sliding around and being pushed against the walls as the truck made sharp corners. At one point a harsh foot landed on his chest and held him in place as the van made what must have been a u-turn. He knew he should be trying to figure out where they were going but his brain was so foggy and his body seemed so far away he just floated. But eventually the cold metal of the floor started making its way past the fog and Tim became aware of the truck slowing down. He tried to sit up but his arms wouldn't support his weight and he could hardly twitch his legs.
The door slammed open and both Tim and the henchman froze. The henchman was wearing all black with — fuck— a black mask the ones that everyone working for Black Mask wore, that tim had once worn back when he was young, stupid, and desperate. Tim hardly had time to think about how fucked he was before the henchman had entered the van. Tim tried to scramble back but his limbs still weren't listening to him and he ended up falling and slaming his shoulder blades into the floor hard enough it knocked the breath out of his lungs. The henchman took advantage of this and quickly scooped him up over his shoulder and walked towards a building, an old wherehouse that had a flat roof and had all the windows completely boarded up —a fact tim was thankfull for considering the way the sky was lightening, the sun on the horizon a threat— and paint peeling off the walls on the outside.
The henchman man opened the door and asked the silence ''where do you want him?'' Tim tried to look around but he was still facing the door and honestly his muscles were still to weak to be of much use.
"Over here. "
Tim was fucked. That was black masks voice. The same black mask he used to work for before black mask started getting paranoid that Tim was actually spying on him. The same Black Mask that wanted to torture Tim into telling him who Tim was actually working for. The same Black Mask that wanted him dead or completely under his control.
The henchman dropped him on the floor and Tim immediately dropped his -unbound- hands to his watch that had a panic button for jason -for tims brother- to come save him. It was originally designed for if he gets caught in the sun somewhere, but black mask grabs his wrists in a brutal grip and pulls them above tims head pulling him onto his knees. "Now what do we have here." Black Mask hummed, "is this a panic button? Now we cant have this." He pulls the watch off his wrist, opting to break the watch strap instead of taking it off like a normal person. Black Mask glanced at his own watch. "Now we dont have alot of time so ill have to talk as we get you in place." He seemed to almost be talking to himself as he fully pulled Tim to his feet and towards a door in the back of the wherehouse.
Tims mind was far to busy trying to keep his feet under him —he knew from experience that him falling wouldn't slow Black Mask down any.— and trying to find a way out of this mess while also fighting back memories of the last time he was around Black Mask —Black Mask yelling at him, dragging him into a room, a room with windows and forcing him to kneel infront of a window before opening the window and forcing him to turn into a statue— to listen to more then a few words coming out of Black Masks mouth;
"...lier... simple orders........idiot child...... belongs to me... should've ...... the first time..."
Suddenly cool air hit Tim's skin and he realized that Black Mask had dragged him to the roof. Tim once again desperately tried to pull away straining against the grip on his wrists and turning them to stone when Black Mask tightened his grip enough Tim was worried about his bones, but Black Mask didn't falter as he neared the eastern corner of the roof even as tears dripped down tims face even as Tim desperately tried to blink them away. Tim could feel the sun getting closer and closer and it only fuelled his panic.
At the edge of the roof Black Mask kicked the back of tims knees forcing him to kneel on the gritty roof. Black Mask pulled out a set of hand cuffs and quickly fastened tims wrists together before chaining them to the roof. Tim was beginning to hyperventilate desperately pulling at the chains keeping him on the roof with no shadows or shade from the rising sun. Black Mask harshly grabbed tims chin and forced him to meet Black Masks eyes dragging Tim up untill he was stopped by the chains on his wrists even as Tim was trying in vane to break them.
"I'll say it once more," Black Mask spoke terrifyingly even. "You work for me. You spy for ME. You BELONG to me." His grip was getting tighter on tims face, pressing his cheeks into his teeth and making his jaw ache. Black Mask leaned in disgusting close and wiped a tear off tims face. "You will stay here until you remember that."
The sun hit the very rooftop Tim was on forcing his breaths to stop, solidifying his tears, petrifying the indents of Black Masks fingers in his cheek and the strain in his arms even as his chains stayed metal, and fully trapping Tim in his own body.
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"Jayyyyyyy" Tim called as he opened the door into jasons office, "i need your phone." He walked over to jason who was sitting at his desk and tried to snatch his phone out of his hand only for jason to pull his phone out of reach.
"What do you want my phone for?" Jason was now holding his phone above his head. Tim was still trying to get jasons phone.
"I want to attach it to another emergency alarm i made." Jason handed Tim his phone and Tim immediately started tapping away at it. "This one is constantly active, it checks in with my systems every 15 minutes, its sown into the bottom of my shoe, that way if i get caught in the sun it'll also petrify and stop sending the signals" Tim finshed typing and tossed the phone back to jason before leaving the room with a wave over his shoulder.
Jason had forgotten that Tim had put that alarm on his phone until a shrill alarm went off: the last location it had recorded was all the way down at the wherehouse district in the corner of a wherehouse. A wherehouse that Black Mask owns.
Jason hits speeds on his bike that he didn't know he could hit. The wherehouse was across town almost 45 minutes away, the sun had risen almost 20 minutes before he got the alarm. And Jason knows damn well what can happen in 10 minutes much less an hour. He cuts the drive down to almost 30 minutes.
The wherehouse is empty when he gets there. He spends far to long making sure there's no one hidden on the inside. No timmy statue, no guards, no black mask. He was almost ready to give up when he noticed the staircase to the roof access open, he drew his gun and started to climb the stairs.
Jason felt like he was going to throw up. The roof was completely empty except for a statue on the corner. Tim.
Tim was kneeling on the edge of the roof, a chain pulled tight between the cuffs around his hands and the loop that attached it to the roof. His clothes were frozen mid movement. And his face what forcefully tilted up like and invisible hand was holding him, and from the impressions frozen Into his face jason was willing to bet that's exactly what had happened, there were distinct finger shapes pressed into his cheeks, squishing his face in a way that made jasons jaw ache in sympathy. The worst part was his eyes, open wide in terror, with frozen tears running down his cheeks, pooling in the finger imprints.
Jason carefully cradled tims stone face making sure he was in Tim line of sight, "its ok im gonna get you home." Jason broke the chain and picked Tim up and quickly made his way down the stairs. Jason had brought his bike so he stole a car that was parked nearby (leaving his business card in its spot, loss of transportation has devastating affects.) and loaded Tim into the back, all while narrating everything that was happening.
When tim was finally brought to his apartment with no sunlight to keep him frozen it was like someone pressed play on the world's most upsetting TV show and suddenly jason had an arm full of sobbing teenager.
A small cut scene from Never Alone that I wanted to include but it didnt fit in nicely.
Tim was sitting on the roof fiddling with a small hand held camera jason sat down beside him ''where did you get that?''
''I always have it on me'' he held it up to take a photo, of the birds he didn't need to put effort into making it perfect, that's not the point of these photos. Cass sat down on his other side and reached out to tap the corner of the camera ''beautiful," she turned to look at him "important. Show us how it works?"
It was a bit hectic trying to get the entire bat family ready to leave the house at one time and as such no one noticed that Tim hadn't said more then three words that morning. When they finally arrived at the photo gallery damien and duke immediately made a bee line towards the first place showing which was of course displaying Gothamites work
The display showed parts of Gotham that no one would ever consider, it made it look soft-home instead of the hard-dangous-leave that everyone even other photographers seemed to miss. Everyone seemed to get lost in their own thoughts while looking at the photos:
A photo outside of a Cafe filled with people, not a single face in the photo and all the people slightly blurry with the focus being on a microphone on an empty stage, the Cafés warm lights leaking out into the cold gotham night making the Café seem like a haven even with its cracked brick walls
The next photo was of Gotham Bay. The moonlight delicately highlighting each and every wave on its surface. The picture looks so alive that the waves almost looked like they were moving. The photo looked cold but in a peaceful-much-needed-break way and not the dangerous-get-away way that the bay typically radiates.
The third of the collection was a rooftop in the far corner of the city. The photo was over looking the entire city, from this angle it looked like the city continued on forever, the city lights blending into the stars in the far distance. The corner of the rooftop was in view, a gargoyle sat on the corner facing the city at just the right angle that a pack of very old cigarettes was visible in its mouth as if someone had hidden them there years ago and never went back for them.
Behind the group jason stumbled slightly.
The fourth was of a paint pallet that had a section cut out to show the city behind it making it look like the city skyline from the bridge to enter the city was paint in the pallet waiting to be used to create something new.
The last photo was the inside of the theater, completely empty with the curtains open with a singular spotlight on pointing towards the middle of the stage where there were a set of point shoes sitting, the light caused harsh shadows and made the whole photo seem like it was waiting for somthing to happen.
The entire group stood in silence for a minute before damien and duke started talking in hushed tones debating and commenting on the meaning of each and every aspect and trying to figure out what connected them. What was the connection between the cafe and the rooftop? The rooftop to the sea? The sea to the pallet? Eventually the rest of the family had joined in being the detectives they are unable to resist a mystery. And of course this quickly turned into then trying to figure out Gothamites identity. It was during this conversation Mrs. Bell, the fine arts teacher at gotham academy and damiens teacher, joined the conversation.
Mrs. Bell looked at the pictures "he was such a sad boy, hes been winning awards since he was 7, both for his art and academic, and not once did anyone show for him." She paused "thats why he publishes anonymously. he used to talk about his competitions all the time then he slowly stopped until you wouldn't know he won until the next day when you saw him in the newspaper. I think at one point someone gave him hope that they would show, he started talking about it again then a competition went by and suddenly he wouldn't even answer questions if you asked." She tilted her head looking at the pictures more intensely "he's happy though you can see it in his photography." A twinkle of mischief in her eyes but what ever she was going to say got cut off by Tim rejoining the group.
"What are you guys talking about?" Tim stepped into the circle they had created.
"Just the photos, how do you think he got up on that roof?" She nodded towards the third photo.
"There are many different ways to get to a rooftop." Tim gave a non answer.
Mrs bell turned twords the first photograph. "What does this photo mean? Why are the people blurry? Why is the photo taken from outside the Café?"
Damien frowned that was the tone of voice and questions that Mrs Bell used to get people to reflect on their art in her classes. Why is she asking Timothy of all people such questions about Gothamites work. Timothy on the other hand replied with more non answers.
"The meaning is up for debate. The people are blurred because they are not in focus. You cant take a picture of the outside of a Café from the inside." Dispite his non answers Tim seemed interested and perhaps amused by the line of questioning like it was an inside joke. Mrs bell continued with her questions and Tim never faltered in his non answers -"why this subject?" "Perhaps it was important to gothamite."- the rest of the group faded into the background as Tim and Mrs bell went back and forth. when Mrs. Bell finshed her questions she threw her head in a laugh.
"One day Tim, one day you going to slip up and admit these are yours."
Tim shook his head "you seem very convinced. " his tone was light and teasing.
Mrs. Bell sighed "you have a very distinct style and skill" She paused and huffed a laugh before continuing "besides you are the only student to bring me photos from rooftops." She clapped him on the shoulder and walked off. Tim turned around and froze at his family's shocked faces before also turning on his heal and disappearing as fast as he can into the crowd.
The group stood frozen in silence before Jason quickly left to follow Tims retreating form into the crowd, cass watched for a second before also following. The rest stayed behind.
The silence was finally broken by Duke ''tim's Gothamite?'' It was hardly above a wisper, just loud enough for the others to hear. ''Why didnt he ever tell us?'' Duke was a mix of so many emotions it made his head spin; absolute elation at knowing who Gothamite is warred with devastion that Tim didn't tell him himself, worry for Tim because Duke couldn't imagine if someone else told the entire family about his poetry (especially if tim was used to people rejecting his art) contested with wonder at how perfectly his brother managed to capture the warmth and community that his cafe brings him -thats what the first photo is of, the cafe that duke performs his poetry at (does that mean the other photos are of his siblings other hobbies? He cant wait to ask tim about it)- and on top of it all Tim's words from his first time at the Café echo through dukes head 'i just thought, you know, that maybe you would appreciate someone comeing to listen' there was a sadness in his face when he said that but Duke had brushed it off but that was a mistake wasn't it? He needed to talk to Tim. later. After he had figured out his brain and emotions besides duke was pretty sure he saw jason and cass go after him.
"i just think that hobbies and passions are always fun to share."
Dick spoke up next ''if -if no one ever showed up, like mrs bell said, then-" the words almost seemed to choke him "-then he probably assumed we wouldn't either. " Dick felt like he was drowning, he was so full of anger and grief when tim first became robin that Dick struggled to do 'brotherly' things or even just be friendly. but that was such a short period of time surely he didn't fuck up this badly? Tim knew he would show up now right? That Tim was his brother and so he would put just as much effort into coming here that he would for any of damiens shows? He knew that right? (Dick couldn't ignore the wispers saying that he had failed tim. )
Bruce knew his boys were talking and he distantly noted damien walking off but he couldn't think over the overwhelming feeling of 'i fucked up' and overwhelming guilt making him feel sick. Mrs Bells words echoed through his head 'I think at one point someone gave him hope that they would show, he started talking about it again then a competition went by and suddenly he wouldn't even answer questions if you asked.' He was that person wasn't he? God he hardly remembered anything from tims early Robin era, too busy drowning in guilt and self hatred, but he faintly remembers finding flyers for a photo gallery left in his office (like duke did) and - and Bruce's mind come screeching to a stop. Tim asked him to go one day didn't he. Bruce remembers now; he was having an even worse day then normal, he had been going through old cases and found one half completed from Jason and Tim had come over to the computer and shyly invited him to a school event. Bruce hadn't even been paying attention to what the event was, he was to busy comparing Tim's shyness to jasons false confidence and- fuck he snapped at Tim, fuck fuck fuck what did he say? How did he respond to the child he was supposed to be taking care of? How badly did he fuck up? He needs to fix it. Does Tim want him to fix it? Can he fix it?
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Jason quickly lost Tim in the crowd, the younger boy disappearing into the crowd as if he'd done it a dozen times, leaving Jason standing trying to spot him over the crowds. Jason jumped when cass grabbed his wrist and simply said 'rooftop' - jason heart stuttered at the implications before remembering that is family is full of freeks that find rooftops comforting - before dragging him towards the rooftop access.
Sure enough once they had made it to the roof they found Tim sitting on the roof. He had a small digital camera that he was absent mindedly messing with he kept pressing buttons then holding it up like he was taking a photo but never actually pressed the shutter, he looked too lost in thought to truly pay attention to what he was doing. Standing on the rooftop jason was hit with the fact that he had no idea what Tim needed right now. Jason thought about how when tim had discovered jasons own hobby he had acted like it wasn't new information, didn't ask why jason hadn't told them, hadn't made fun of his writing, instead he had asked questions and pretended it was completely normal. Jason decided that that was gonna be his game plan - after all Tim always had the best plans - and moved to sit down next to Tim.
The three of them sat in silence. Cass sat on tims left she currently had her head tilted back enjoying the sun on her face. Tim was in the middle still playing with his camera, he had jumped and tensed when they sat down beside him but as the comfortable silence fell he relaxed starting to take photos -actual photos instead of just pointing the camera at them - of some birds that had landed on the roof. Jason was on tims right he was laying on his back letting his mind wonder as he watched Tim, he thought about everything from the weather to tims photos downstairs the one of his spot he had given the kid a short story about that exact spot less then a month before he let out an amused huff breaking the silence, Tim glanced at him but went back to his camera. "Are those cigarettes really still there? I cant believe they survived." Jason said a slight laugh in his voice (he was ignoring all of the emotions ™️ that photo was making him feel). Now it was Tim turn to laugh.
"Dude those things are so nasty. They looked great on camera but definitely would not recommend going back to try and smoke them."
All three of them cringed at the thought of touching the soggy cigarette box before laughing. Cass was the first one to speak up after the laughter had died down. "How did you get the photo inside of the theater? they dont let people take photos of the inside." Tim froze and Jason felt a spike of panic before recognizing tims 'got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to' face.
"They may or may not have known that i was taking photos... or that i was in the building."
Cass laughed ''little brothers using his skills for evil.''
The trio stayed on the roof long after the rest of the family had gone home trusting their youngest in the hands of his older siblings. It took alot of conversations and many tears, but the next time Tim won an award every single person in his family showed up.
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