One Of My Favorite Videos That I’ve Found On TikTok :):)

So I've had this thought for a while. If anyone's seen the Suicide Squad movie, there was a scene with The Joker and Harley Quinn where he exclaimed how he was an "idea".

And I can't help but think of Batman being the same. An "idea," a myth. A method of suppressing the crimes that have haunted Gotham for years. I thought of Bruce not seeing himself as a person, merely an idea utilised for "the mission."

And how this is pretty angsty for the younger bats. Age consumes everyone if accidents don't. And I can't help but imagine the kids just watching as the man that built their world, that nurtured them the only way he knew best in a world he considered surviving another day as a luxury. They'd watch him push himself to the limit, surpass it, and make new limits just to surpass them again. They'd watch, knowing he could never stop. How he grows older, white hair overtaking the black, crows feet at the edge of his eyes. And he still wears the cowl every night and breaks his limits again and again and again.

It's terrifying. Being in the sidelines of that. Knowing you'd either die trying to live up to that or live the rest of your life like a ghost once you do. And they hate it. How much Batman has shaped Gotham, how his shadow has spread so far and wide they'll never escape it. And they hate it more when they can't even seem to make themselves truly leave. Yeah they'll spend time away, years even, but they'll always come back one way or another.

And every time they do, they know they'll come back to a consumed creature more than they'll come back to their father. I just love to think they can never truly leave because they are the humanity Bruce has lost to the cowl. They come back because they're the human part of him, battered and bruised but with beating hearts more alive than he could ever dream of being again. How he used the meagre humanity he had left to raise these children before it died when they grew independent and left.

Or maybe I'm just obsessed with the trope of Bruce losing himself to the cowl. Idk. I have a test, and I'm sleep deprived.

I understand that the Red Robin run has us all in a chokehold, but I think we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. What makes it truly tragic isn't the fact that Tim is a really depressed and anxious person, but the opposite. Tim is a nerd who loves friendship and justice. He has tons of friends and contrasts a post-Jason Bruce who is withdrawn and depressed by being very outgoing and personable. That's his whole thing as a character, he exists to act as a liaison between Batman and the world.

When Red Robin starts, his father has just died, his best friend has just died, his girlfriend has just died, his mentor and some other friends have disappeared from the map, his older brother is juggling the Batman mantle and a poor ten yo Damian that has just lost his father. This is Tim at his worst mentally. He's a character built on interaction and he has no one to interact with. Add to it his canonical mental health issues, well the guy is going through it.

He pours his entire soul into the search for Bruce because he needs a fucking win. The man is spiraling the entire run. The true angst of Red Robin is not that he's a sad little mew mew, but that he isn't. We come to know him as this little guy who loves making friends and forcing Bruce to open up to others, and now we have to see him alone and desperate. He's very similar to Dick in that aspect, the drama hits you harder because you know how he is normally. And the parallels to Bruce at the start of his run as Robin are just brutal: someone wrecked by grief, alone, pouring all their energy and focus into work as an escape... And even in the middle of his crash out arc, he still ends up making friends. That's who Tim Drake is, and that's why he acts like that after losing so many people he holds dear.

I'm sorry, we as a society do not talk about the fact that in order to maintain his playboy billionaire status Bruce Wayne had to sleep with a lot of people,, a lot, of people in order to maintain that.

And I'm not shaming him for that, get your hot girl summer brucie hell yea, but what I will say is can you imagine,,,

How hilarious it would be that when eventually Batman's identity gets revealed- it's not the reaction he was expecting.

‘‘Oh my god. Oh my god, Bruce Wayne Bruce Wayne the the bimbo Sexy billionaire boy. He is the stoic hard-ass Batman. There's no way-”that's not the reaction. The reaction is

“holy fucking shit I've slept with Batman”

Three quarters of that city and beyond is sat in front of their TVs, their radios, their phones,, I don't care. They're sitting there, agape going ‘I have slept with the Dark Knight. I have seen Gotham's Bat naked on his knees-‘

bruce wouldn’t be able to look the justice league nor his kids in the eyes for weeks after the reveal, solely due to the gossip channels or smth

Jon Kent is a giant overprotective puppy when he falls in love with Damian.

Jon Kent adores Damian Wayne, has since he was a child. They fought, but Jon always admired the strength and intelligence of his hero partner.

That admiration turned to love when they got older.

Jon grew up, and Damian left Robin to pursue heroics in civilian life, but that didn't stop them from being friends. Jon still searches out Damians heartbeat every day and flew to him whenever Jon needs to talk.

Jon doesn't know when Damian becomes his anchor, but one day, it's like he is the centre of his universe. Damian has his own gravity, and Jon does not care to fly away from it. He had inadvertently made him a cornerstone of his entire world.

He only realised what that truly meant when he saw Damian get caught up in a bomb blast.

Damian hadn't been patrolling or even a hero at the time. He was in the hospital paediatric wing working when a joker goon had arrived gun in hand, declaring that the children had only 30 minutes to live if the Batman didn't arrive.

Damian had taken down the gun man in seconds. Much to the shock and awe of his co-workers and patients. They didn't have much time to think about Dr Wayne's incredible defence skills before he ordered them to evacuate.

Damian hit the silent alarm, called his father on the emergency line, and started moving as many of his young patients as possible out of the building.

The thing was, the gunman had either lied or been lied to as 20 minutes later, it goes off.

Damian screams for Superman as he sheilds a little boy with his body. Jon arrives moments later.

The bomb goes off, and Jon has just enough time to stand between Damian and the blast.

The heat is intense, and the hospital shudders beneath them, but the boy and Damian survive.

Jon lifts them out of the rubble. The boy cries while Damian comforts him, whispering soothing words while he holds him. Jon watches with his heart in his throat.

They find the boys' parents later and receive sobbing gratitudes as their child refuses to let go of Damian for a few minutes. Damian begins triage on whoever needs it, but luckily, the building was almost entirely cleared before the catastrophe.

When the GCPD and Batman arrive, Damian and Jon take the opportunity to catch their breath.

Jon can't help but tug Damian into his arms and sigh in relief. The other man doesn't protest. he just leans on him.

That was close, close in a way that it can never be again. If Jon had been even a moment late, Damian wouldn't be here. His heartbeat would have gone silent. Jon can't bear even the thought of it.

Damian feels so perfect in his arms that Jon never wants to let go. Damian looks up at him and asks to be released.

Jon stares at him as he steps out of his hold and has an epiphany. Damian Wayne is gorgeous.

He has always been beautiful, but here in scrubs, covered in soot and debris with his hair a mess, he is everything Jon has ever wanted.

Jon leans in and runs his his thumb over his face. Damian leans into the touch like a kitten.

"I love you. Marry me?"

Damian opens his pretty green eyes wide and gapes at him.

"What? That's - Um"

Jon starts to panic. He didn't mean to say that. It just sort of slipped out, but he can't take it back. It's true. Jon wants to marry this incredible man one day, even if his massive mouth may have ruined his chances.

Damian must see it on his face, but he takes a deep breath. "I....I love you too." Jon feels his heart soar.

"But I want to at least go to dinner before marriage, Hayseed!"

"Absolutely! When?!"

"We could go to a diner now?"Jon is lifting them off before Damian finishes the sentence. Damian groans even as he smiles.

The date goes really well. They get pie! Damian kisses him, goodbye! Jon floats with his giddiness. (He also crashes into a goose on his flight home, but the goose is fine, so he doesn't need to mention it to anyone ever!)

The next date goes even better, and the next and the next. They see each other every day for weeks. Jon has never been happier.

Conner has to get him down from the ceiling twice after Damian invites him to visit the kids at the hospital, and he gets a front row seat to how much they love his boyfriend.

The first time they spent the night together, Jon is useless to anyone for the next two days. He can't focus! And all he wants is to be back in bed with his boyfriend!

When Jon stops a robbery at a jewellery store, he spots a beautiful emerald and diamond ring and thinks of how good it would look on Damian. He buys it at a discount from the grateful owner. Who smiles indulgently as the hero gushes about his partner for twenty minutes. (Even the thief agrees that the ring will be perfect!)

He proposes to Damian in front of the kids in the paediatric department, much to the kids and Damians co-workers' delight. Many of them draw the two getting married, and the hospital is plastered in their art for weeks.

Jon can't wait for when he and Damian have their own kids. Damian blushes bright red when he tells him but agrees to start looking into their options.

Jon and Damian decide to elope because Damian does not want to deal with his family all in the same room together. Jon happily agrees because that means he can marry Damian faster!

The officiant looks very touched but very tired by the end of their vows.

The next time Damian is in danger, it's during an invasion. Batman calls Damian in for field medicine and extra combat support, Jon is up in the sky with his father working on bringing their ships down when he hears his husband shout in pain.

He doesn't wait or explain before he goes to him, Superman calls his name, but Jon ignores him.

Damian is on his feet but clutching at his bleeding side. Jon uses heat vision and decimates anyone near them.

"I had that habibi!" Damian says through gritted teeth.

"What you have is a critical injury, darling!"

"Who here has an MD?"

"Who here has x ray vision?"

Once the aliens are dealt with Jon takes Damian to be stitched up.

Their familes find them bickering in the medbay.

"Well, how will I take care of the babies if you're so reckless?!

"I'm fine, love! Look, it's all okay. I promise, and the babies aren't even here yet!."

"I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you so much"

Damian sighs and kisses him gently. And that's the moment both of their families walk through the door.

"You're pregnant?!" A very distressed Dick Grayson screams.

Jon chokes, and Damian glares, "No. That's not physically possible. "

Clark clears his throat, "So when did this?" he indicates to the two on bed. "Happen, exactly?"

Damian pales dramatically, and Jon realises that that thing he forgot to tell his dad a few weeks ago is that he got married.

"So, funny story, we eloped a few weeks ago...hahaha." Jon tries to defuse the tension. It doesn't work.

Damian holds up their joined hands to show off their rings.

The room goes deathly silent as Nightwing faints.

They spend the rest of the night being interrogated. (Jon kinda wants to revisit the idea of Damian being pregnant because surely someone has the technology!)

Their familes hold a vow renewal ceremony they all attend. It is as chaotic as Damian feared it to be, and while Damian does not get pregnant, Talia does let them use the articial womb she used to grow Damian to help them have their twins.

holy fuck the quote goes hard with that image

"This is the way the world ends—Not with a bang but a whimper." The Hollow Men; T.S. Eliot.

Oh, Jason. The tragedy that you are.

That's fucking hilarious. He would too

I love hitting characters with the trans beam but I love it even more when the implications of that are 10 times funnier than their presumed cis identities. EXHIBIT A: Richard “Dick” Grayson.

Dick, filing his legal documents with Bruce: okay you’re gonna scratch that name and write down “Richard”. But everyone will call me Dick

Bruce: …are you sure about that

Dick: did I stutter

Bruce: it’s a… really outdated name chum the kids at school aren’t gonna be nice about it

Dick: I. don’t. Care. Are you gonna write that down or should I go do the paperwork with the WE lawyers tomorrow?

Bruce: okay okay fine… if that’s what makes you happy…

Dick: this is gonna be the funniest thing I have ever done in my life

interrupting Jason's saturday afternoon book binge is one way to make him pissy

spot as many easter eggs as you can :>

Ahhhhh it’s heartbreaking and it’s beautiful!!!!

✮phone call✮ (~3k words) ao3

“This is the voicemail of Timothy Drake-Wayne. If this is an emergency, please contact my secretary, Tamara Fox. Otherwise, leave a message…” “Hey Timmy, it’s Dick! I just wanted to let you know that since like 15 religious holidays are around the corner, we would love it if you could join us for dinner. Uhm, yeah, and we were joking about baking cookies together with Alfred now that we’re all finally in New Jersey. He wants to get all his boys- rustling of clothes is audible OW, CASS- no, no, NO, no tickling- AND GIRLS- Dick laughing Alfie wants all of us together to bake cookies! Please send me a message when you hear this!Buh-Bye.”

Tim knew he had been avoidant toward his older brother ever since he returned. Well, it wasn’t just Tim’s return; it was his and Bruce’s.

Tim also knew that everyone had noticed something was wrong.

He hadn’t been able to rely on anyone from the caped community after he came back. All his former friends and allies were either dead, or worse: acted like he was. Nobody wanted to take the risk of working with a basically exiled, supposedly unstable vigilante.

Another big issue was their fear. Being from Gotham didn’t help his reputation when trying to build new connections. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was his semi-public battle with Ra’s al Ghul that scared them off. The only thing certain was that the ones who’d seen him since had noticed his avoidant behavior toward Nightwing and decided to stick to their more trusted friend's side.

Even at the Manor. Cass, who was barely there anyway, knew he stiffened whenever Dick entered the same room. And Damian? While he’d slowly started to respect Tim, he sensed the tension between the two and clearly chose the eldest brother’s side. It really did seem like everyone noticed.

Everyone but Dick.

It was like they were stuck in limbo. While Dick kept reaching out and inviting Tim, Tim kept trying to dodge and skip whatever new plan Dick had come up with.

He wished everything could go back to how it was before all the bullshit that tore them apart, but having Dick act like nothing ever happened? Expecting the same from Tim? Not even acknowledging the fact that he’d burned all the bridges Tim had left after losing almost all his friends and family- and then also Robin? Nah. Tim wasn’t about to let that go.

He knew better than to repeat mistakes. He was trained to do better. Under Bruce, he learned there was no space for errors. Under Lady Shiva, he learned mistakes could result in death. Under Ra’s, he learned to be better than to make any. He loved his siblings, but feeling that sense of abandonment again wasn’t something Tim could handle. A mistake he wouldn’t make again, he was sure of it.

He needed the hurt and fear, even if it haunted him like an itchy scab that refused to heal. At least, that’s what he told himself.

“A reminder that next time, I might not be lucky enough to get away alive.”

He could stretch and squeeze and keep going through his day, it wouldn’t rip open, it wouldn’t bleed, but he could always feel it. His skin pulling at a weird angle when he moved. The constant urge to scratch at it more but needing it to heal, so that finally all the annoying itching and pulling would stop. He was torn, between the dull ache of betrayal and the yearning for peace. For a hug from his brother.

He couldn’t even remember that sensation anymore. Hadn’t felt it in what felt like years.

Even so, Tim wasn’t angry. Hell, he didn’t even need an apology. At some point, he’d figured he needed one to heal. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Maybe they needed a therapist. Or a lawyer. He didn’t know. What was he actually supposed to do? How was he supposed to act, to fix this? Opening up to Dick like that felt wrong.

He remembered a time when he and Dick were constantly talking. Together on patrol, on comms, in person, on the phone, during Dick’s lunch breaks or during Tim’s free periods at school. There was nothing one didn’t know about the other.

Before Dick gave Robin to Damian.Before he told Dick that Bruce was still alive; and was met with disbelief.

Tim knew that making this mistake wouldn’t kill him. But it would hurt—hurt in a way that most people only felt when watching a dog get abandoned by its owners. Hurt in a way that left him hollow, ripped apart and scraped clean. Afraid he had nothing left to give.

He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up on a rooftop with a Bat-Burger bag in his lap, and Dick sitting next to him. The relentless wind of Gotham whipped at them. The icy rain had just eased enough to let them eat without their food getting soaked.

They’d been eating in silence for a few minutes when Tim finally spoke up.

“Can I ask you a weird question?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“I have this friend…” Tim shivered, finishing his burger.

“Uh-huh.” Dick raised a single eyebrow, his mask quirking up.

“Well, listen-okay, so my friend kind of feels stuck right now.”

A loud sigh from Dick. “Don’t we all…” he added.

“Look, I wouldn’t come to you if I thought you wouldn’t understand. Maybe this is a bad time for this, but it’s kind of important to me, y’know? It’s just that-”

Suddenly the comms burst to life. Barbara’s voice crackled through.

“Nightwing and Red Robin, Batman is requesting backup for a possible Scarecrow attack. The Batmobile is en route, ETA 30 seconds.”

Tim sighed into the comm. “Affirmative, Oracle.”

The moment was already gone. Forgotten. He stood and began to prepare to scale down the building with his grapple.

Then he felt a hand on his ankle. He looked down. Dick was still sitting at the edge of the roof, looking up at him. Knowing his brother, Tim knew that behind the mask, Dick’s eyes were filled with worry.

“I really appreciate you coming to me for advice, you know. I missed our patrols together,” Dick said, tightening his grip on Tim’s ankle briefly. A small huff of laughter. “Want to talk about it later? I’ll even buy breakfast. From that diner we used to go to.”

Pure relief washed over Tim. This was the chance he’d been waiting for.

“Please,” Tim nodded at the masked man in front of him.

“Of course,” Dick answered earnestly, smiling as he let go of Tim’s ankle. Below them, the Batmobile pulled into the alley.

“This is Dick Grayson’s phone, you know the drill! Message after the beep!” “Hey Dick,uhm- I just wanted to know where you are? See you soon!”

“This is Dick Grayson’s phone, you know the drill! Message after the beep!” Caller did not leave a voicemail.

“This is the voicemail of Timothy Drake-Wayne. If this is an emergency, please contact my secretary, Tamara Fox. Otherwise, leave a message…” “Hey Timmy, just wanted to let you know that Jason said he’s coming to Easter breakfast at Wayne Manor, so Bruce is planning a get-together for the 20th and wants everyone to stay overnight. Alfred assured me that attendance is mandatory, just so you know. Dick chuckles audibly You can bring a plus one if you wish to, maybe Conner has time or something. I was seriously considering calling Kori, but Jason said he really needed a break from both her and Roy since things were a tad bit crazy the last time they talked. Maybe Wally isn’t busy yet actually… OKAY anyway, see youuu.”

“This is Dick Grayson’s phone, you know the drill! Message after the beep!” “Hey… I don’t think I’ll make it to Easter, actually. I have a Wayne Enterprises gala in Paris that day. Yeah… sorry… a shaking breath is audible You know, we never made it to breakfast last week. And actually- I’m kinda sick of this whole thing we keep doing, so let me just say this and let’s be done with it, alright? Honestly, it’s kind of hard to believe you haven’t noticed this before, but- we’re not okay. I get that Jason is back, and that Damian needed you when Bruce was gone, but you-Tim audibly clears his throat -you have to understand that I can’t just forget everything that happened. I know I seem grown and responsible and strong, but I also needed someone. It didn’t have to be you, but I was left with no one on my side. Doing this- the whole ‘asking-my-brother-for-advice’ thing; was me extending an olive branch. Can you believe I made up an entire elaborate story just to talk to you about something? This, all this, I don’t think I’m ready for it at all. I know you didn’t forget me on purpose, but I was there, y’know? The other morning. I sat at that stupid diner for four hours, just waiting for you to show up or to call me or to send me a stupid message. a sigh is audible I love you, man. And I respect the hell out of you, you know that. We’re busy people. We have busy lives. I know this isn’t some elaborate plot to hurt my feelings. I know you’re someone I can trust. But I think, as long as accidents like this make me feel like I have nowhere left to go and no one left to go to, we can’t keep doing this. I can’t let myself trust you like this only to fall on my ass again and again and again. We- I-I’m sick of this. Best option for me is to wait it out, I think. Until this, us meeting and things being weird and different and you forgetting me, doesn’t feel like a punch to the gut every fucking time. I appreciate you trying to invite me. Really, I do.Love you. Say happy holidays to everyone for me. Happy Easter, Dick.”

<Missed call from Dick>

<(2) missed calls from Dick>

“This is the voicemail of Timothy Drake-Wayne. If this is an emergency, please contact my secretary, Tamara Fox. Otherwise, leave a message…” “Tim- uhm, could you call me back when you get a second? I know you’re busy with WE business, but I think we have to try and talk about this… Please, Tim.”

Tim had avoided Gotham for months now.

He didn’t want to leave Gotham. Not the States. Not indefinitely. But once he sat down in the jet, wearing his stupidly expensive suit, on that windy April morning, he had to swallow down the bile rising up his throat.

He saw the missed calls and listened to Dick’s voicemail and wanted to respond, he really did. But then he opened Instagram and immediately felt a pit settle in his stomach.

It was stupid to feel hurt about this, but looking at the Instagram post Dick had uploaded not three hours ago, he couldn’t help it. It was a nice family photo- Duke and Steph smiling brightly next to each other, and all the other Waynes entangled in some kind of a fight-hug with Bruce standing behind everyone, looking at them with quiet awe.

It was a nice family picture. But the caption, “Waynes reunited again”-that stung.

Rationally, Tim knew feeling like shit about this was dumb. But the sirens in his head were blaring. He had withstood so much- but this? This was his breaking point?

He’d stood tall and waited for months on end, enduring the twisting ache in his chest, convincing himself that if he just held on, it would settle on its own.

But something had to give.

And this time, it was Tim.

This was over.

He put his phone down, asked to exit the jet, and he left.

And maybe he did heal at first. He was sure he did.

He missed everyone at home, especially Young Justice; but he didn’t dare call out to Kon, or try to reach Bart from a payphone. Cassie was probably still pissed at him for leaving the first time, so she wasn’t an option either.

And somewhere in between passing out in a small French forest thirty miles from the Parisian suburbs, and seeing the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, he started to forget. About the people he’d left behind- like they’d left him.

But then he woke up one night somewhere along the Côte d’Azur and felt like he was in his childhood bedroom. Thick clouds hung over the moon, barely letting it peek out for a few seconds before swallowing it in silver mist again.

He just laid there, lost in the memory of a life he lived a decade ago.

When he first opened his eyes, he swore he smelled his mother’s perfume lingering in the air. It was strangely comforting. He wondered if an old bottle still stood somewhere in Drake Manor.

He remembered the times she would wake him in the middle of the night and press a kiss to his forehead, that same scent surrounding her like a cloud. Whispering softly, “We have arrived home, Timothy. Sleep well.”

He thought about the time when Bruce and Dick were living down the street from him, and he would sneak out on icy nights to watch them run across the rooftops. They didn’t know him. And he didn’t really know them.

Their only interactions ever were polite handshakes at galas or parties the Drakes attended.

There were no negative emotions between them. No sense of abandonment.No heavy years of pain and suffering.No kidnappings. No Scarecrow attacks.No drug-ring busts.No fighting.

Just… nothing.

A simple, polite neutrality.

And yet, somehow, neutrality left him with less than nothing. He knew he couldn’t come home yet.

And yet.

One night Tim quietly slipped out of his small, temporary apartment in nothing but a sweat shirt and shorts. He was a mess, almost dizzy with too many thoughts swirling through his head in an endless loop. The wind picked up and within a minute a heavy summer rain engulfed him completely, soaking through his clothing. To his luck he found shelter in an old dimly lit phone booth, completely overgrown with vines on a hidden side street. He was cold, wet, exhausted and wanted to clear his head, or just to stop worrying.

It probably was a stupid idea but he threw the change in his pocket into the old machine and typed in an all too familiar number, one he hadn’t dialled in months.

The rusted display began to glow and to his surprise he heard it ring two times before someone picked up.

“Hello?” Dick’s voice was gruff; probably half asleep and confused. It felt weird to catch Dick in a moment of vulnerability and made Tim want to throw the receiver back at the pay phone and disappear.

“Hey…It’s me.” He instead said softly.

A beat of silence then-

“Tim?”

“Yeah. I’m not- I don’t have reason to call. I just-“ Tim sighed heavily “I don’t know.”

Tim could hear Dick drawing in a breath.

“You can always call me, you don’t have to have a reason.”

Tim couldn’t help but pull a grimace and close his eyes, the words felt like they went from his ear directly to the pit in his stomach. The distance, the guilt, the hurt were still waiting there, ready to be unearthed. Then he told Dick, voice curt to try and hide the hurt, “It wasn’t always like that.”

A heavy silence followed and the static in Tim’s ear crackled as he waited for Dick to say something- anything.

“That’s fair, I probably deserved that.” Dick answered, and Tim couldn’t help but wince at the hurt he heard in the others voice.

“This- I couldn’t sleep. Too many thoughts, I feel like I am struggling under this heavy burden even though all of it’s over. Bruce is back- everyone’s back. It’s just me who’s gone.” His voice was tight and he knew he sounded exhausted, he leaned against the cool glass of the phone booth and bumped the back of his head against the wall repeatedly.

“Are you save?” Dick asked him after another silent pause that felt like years.

Tims voice broke, “Yeah, just trying to be… better? I don’t know…” he breathed out heavily.

“I’m sorry, Tim. For everything, I never wanted to hurt you like this.” Dick said with a raw voice. “You never should have gone through all that alone, and I just-“ his voice broke and Tim’s throat tightened. He didn’t want to cry, not here, not on the phone to Dick, thousands of miles away from Gotham.

“I feel like I lost you, Tim. I never wanted that, I never thought I could screw us up like this…” Tim could almost hear Dick fraying at the edges. And the only growing summer storm, pounded against the phone booth, drowning out the static that rang through the speaker as they both sat in silence again.

Dick spoke up again first, “I’m sorry, Tim.”

And Tim didn’t know what to say, in his ideal world, he’d give his brother a hug and tell him that all was forgotten- but in that world, none of the heavy and soul crushing shit would have happened to him in the first place.

“I- I’m not coming back. Not yet.” Was the only thing he managed to wring out himself to say in fear of breaking down.

“I know,” Dick said softly.

Another pause.

Tim knew what to say, but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, every word felt like it fought it's way out.

“I might call again.”

“I’ll be here. I’ll pick up.”

Tim swore he could feel something move in his chest like a weight falling off him.

“Goodbye, Dick.” He whispered into the receiver.

“Goodnight, Tim. Love you.” Dick said and for the first time in a long time, Tim believed him.

The soft tone of a disconnected call buzzed in the receiver and Tim stood still listening to it for a moment before he placed it back on the hook.

And the rain outside kept pouring.

PROMPT OF THE WEEK: phone call

its almost 1 am if u find any grammar/vocab mistakes you can keep em. ya no entiendo nada

thank you! @anyknot for the wonderful promt <3

divider by @cafekitsune

don’t forget to like and reblog if you you enjoyed this post!

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

IT MAY TAKE ME A MONTH TO PUT OUT A CHAPTER BUT AT LEAST IM NOT USING AI TO WRITE IT

What I think each Batfamily member eats in a day:

Bruce: anything Alfred prepares. Something super dense in protein and fats that follows his detailed nutrition plan to support his vigilante activities. Taste is secondary. He burnt off his tastebuds years ago during a training exercise.

Jason: Diners or takeout. Balances it with a fruit. He knows the best places in Gotham where it's cheap and filling where he can eat his weight's worth of food and no one is glancing at his laptop where he is definitely NOT orchestrating any illegal activities. He does know how to cook a few basic things like eggs but he's got things to do and he'll cook when he has peace. Except. It's him so he doesn't do peace. Now if you throw him in the tundra or a difficult terrain? He'll be able to find something and grill it to cook it properly but otherwise, he's not going to bother.

Tim: he lives in a houseboat. He never considered the kitchen in his renovation and now the stove got replaced with a Bunsen burner to test samples he found on a crime site so he has no place to cook anymore. The cupboards are just makeshift armory and have like first aid kits, menus for takeout even though the delivery driver has sworn not to waddle in the middle of the marina with Tim's noisy neighbors and Tim's sketchy house that just looks slightly off to a civilian but Tim tips well so what can the poor lad do. There's only one cupboard dedicated to food and it's Zesti cans, Dick's nutrition drinks because Dick swears by them, and dog treats for strays and to bribe Titus. I don't think he ever learnt how to cook but he will figure it out if ever ends up in that situation where he needs to.

Stephanie: ramen with veggies and eggs thrown in for nutrition, Mac and cheese, anything basic with a skillet. She had to take care of herself when Crystal couldn't and her father didn't. She is highly self sufficient so she learns by watching Barbara or any YouTube tutorials for nutrition packed foods that taste good and are easy to make.

Cass: a pan to her is better as weapon to take down a mob. Food though is a rare indulgence she gets to keep so she goes to different places to try out different dishes. She doesn't cook but she likes to watch Steph hum while she's cooking and her body sways-dances contentedly to 90s punk rock.

Dick: whenever he gets time, he meal preps the quickest meals ever. Stuffs everything he made in the freezer for like three-six months if not longer because he'll forget. Is it probably expired? Maybe, but his stomach has withstood much worse. He'll have a bunch of nutrition bars and those meal replacement nutrition drinks stocked. He's used to cooking in bulk and the lesson in cooking is: if it tastes bad, you aren't adding enough herbs and spices. Luckily for him, he can store dried herbs and spices in airtight containers and use them for months.

Duke: home cooked meals with food that ISN'T seasoned by a former MI6 British butler. These are family meals made with love and care. He is living his life.

Damian: when he first came to Gotham, he ate whatever Alfred made though he did complain like a fussy kid. He still eats everything and values the high nutrition density but he will sneak in extra pepper and salt and make requests occasionally for halwa to sate his sweet tooth.

Barbara: no one taught her how to cook and she and her father ate takeout while he went through his case files and she listened on the police scanner and called in the tip lines to help solve cases pre-batgirl. She learnt how to cook during college because surviving on a diet of just pizza and ramen wasn't sustainable as Batgirl and she values being able to do things for herself. After becoming Oracle, she pushed harder to learn how to cook very well but even if she knows how to cook now, she is still bad at avoiding takeout (if she's not forgetting meals in favor of working that is).