And if Jason perceives his death anniversary completely differently from how his family do?
Jason, against the common belief, canonically doesn't talk about his death that much, and when he does, he feels like it is not something people need to dwell on — it is how they view and interpret his death, and the aftermath, that bothers him.
So, maybe on his death anniversary, Jason doesn't want to mourn. He wants to live. So he does. He visits his favourite places in the Gotham, chats with people he had missed, enjoys his day, and breathes, breathes, b r e a t h e s.
But once he steps in the Manor for a minute that day?
It is nothing but a kingdom of the grief.
Bruce is locked up in the Cave, straight in front of the memorial. Dick is not even around, and Jason takes a wild guess that he is visiting his grave in the meanwhile. Alfred maniacally cleans up in the library over and over, ignoring other duties. Even Tim, Tim, who technically has nothing to do with all of that, takes after others (almost instinctively), and acts along with a strange, dreadful atmosphere in the house.
And Jason is irritated, pissed off, but mostly hurt.
He is literally right here.
But once again, it changes absolutely nothing. It never does. Really.
interrupting Jason's saturday afternoon book binge is one way to make him pissy
spot as many easter eggs as you can :>
This was so funny to me, lol
me and my homies support real artists who put their passion into their pieces instead of a machine who rips off the hard work of talented peeps
The "Sassy" Core 4 are my babies. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE WELL BEHAVED?
Nah, these 4 are little shits 🐛
The fact that I can write an 1800 word oneshot in under three hours really makes me wonder why it was so hard to write a 2000 word essay in highschool. My brain is so much more alert now.
Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
Clark sprawling over Bruce like a human weighted blanket, because at some point they realized that was the only thing that actually helped Bruce sleep through the night. It calms his nerves, slows his breathing, and keeps the nightmares at bay, but more than that, having the most powerful being right there, an unshakable barrier between his body and everything else, actually makes him feel safe.
Thank you thank you thank you
okay SO. a couple of people indicated they would be interested in this which was honestly all the encouragement i needed. my credentials are that 1.) i love jason todd 2.) i love literature 3.) i got my bachelors degree in english like a week ago and am now in that awkward space in-between school and employment and am looking to fill my time with inconsequential geeking out. amen.
incomplete list of authors and works (romantic to modern) you could write about jason todd being invested in under the cut!!:
SOME DISCLAIMERS:
this list is not even a little bit exhaustive and there are authors big and small i elected not to include because i either felt like i didn’t know enough about their work to comment or i felt their work didn’t relate to jason todd, who is ostensibly the subject of this post
there’s also not a whole lot of detail on the history and context behind these authors and their works, because again, this is a silly tumblr post about the hypothetical reading preferences of a comic book character
while i do have a brand spanking new bachelor's degree in english i cannot claim expert knowledge, especially because most of my education was broad strokes in literature survey classes. i just have access to a lot of overpriced lit anthologies and a dream
also i need to say i LOVE jane austen and mary shelley. i’ve written jason referencing them before and will do it again but come on. there’s a whole world of english lit out there and most of this post is a transparent excuse to get people–including myself–to read more cool poems and stories
NOW LETS FUCKING GOOOOO
william blake: (1757-1827) blake was a weird fucking guy. he was an artist and poet and he was very preoccupied with religious and esoteric imagery. check out his paintings; they’re all bleak and occasionally grotesque but deeply evocative and honestly?? rad as hell. i think jason would really get a kick out of them. blake’s most famous poem is probably "the tyger", but "london" and "holy thursday" from songs of experience do a great job of invoking a really grimy urban feel that would slide right into gotham.
lord byron: (1788-1824) a guy described as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know;” which he certainly was. this guy got up to so much dark and broody bullshit that they named a whole character type out of him–byronic hero, anyone? he’s mostly on this list because jason could certainly be called byronic and the connection is too good to pass up, but i do think jason would really vibe with the apocalyptic imagery in "darkness."
okay FINE this doesn’t really have anything to do with jason but "ozymandias" is one of my favorite poems ever and well worth reading
john keats (1795-1821) possibly one of the most romantic out of all the romantic poets, right down to dying tragically young of consumption. i mean, just look at "bright star." i am personally of the opinion that jason is secretly a HUGE romantic, so he’d probably dig keats quite a bit. i would also be remiss if i didn’t nod to “ode on a grecian urn.”
note the biographical links for the victorian authors direct to victorianweb.org, which is kind of an old reference but it is one i got directed to in one of my first lit classes, so i feel comfortable linking it as a jumping-off point.
elizabeth barrett browning: (1806-1861) i actually already wrote a fic where jason referenced barrett browning but i’ll reiterate here. barrett browning was HUGELY influential within the victorian time period, probably best known for her verse novel, aurora leigh, about a brilliant young woman working to become an artist against the strictures society has placed on her. lots of really fascinating stuff about womanhood, art, and the intersections thereof within the victorian era. sonnets for the portuguese is another big work of hers, written for her future husband robert browning (a very talented and influential poet in his own right) during their courtship. sonnet 43 is probably the most well-known out of these, but i’m personally a big fan of sonnets 14 and 24. sonnets are great for if you need to write about jason being a weird sappy romantic or just if you want to read cool love poetry.
alfred, lord tennyson: (1809-1892) there’s a LOT i could say about tennyson’s influence and impact on the victorian era and on poetry at whole that can’t fit into a tumblr post about the reading preferences of a semi-niche comic book character. for jason specifically, "in memoriam", written over the course of about three years after the sudden death of tennyson’s close friend, is a deeply moving meditation on grief, loss, and recovery that jason would likely find really impactful. cantos 54 and 56 are particularly impactful. how am i not supposed to resonate with a banger like “nature, red in tooth and claw”??? huh???
charlotte brontë: (1816-1854) charlotte brontë is best known for her 1847 novel jane eyre which, as a personal aside, is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. jane eyre is the one about the governess and the madwoman in the attic. (obviously, it’s more complex but i’m not getting into that in a tumblr post). jane eyre and brontë’s other two novels, shirley and villette deal with emotionality and strong feeling in ways jason would find very compelling, even if he probably spends most of jane wanting to (rightfully) punt edward rochester and st. john into the sun. jane is the most famous out of the three, but i think shirley is very underrated–i’m still thinking about shirley keeldar saying, and i quote, “bon voyage” after she rejects a proposal. shirley keeldar queen of my heart <3<3. i can’t mention charlotte without also mentioning her sisters emily and anne, but i’m less familiar with their work and can’t comment on it (but probably jason would be a big fan of the gothic leanings of wuthering heights).
gerard manley hopkins: (1844-1889) hopkins does some REALLY fucking fascinating things with language in his poems. he plays around with sound and meter in ways that dip into modernity. "god’s grandeur" and "as kingfishers catch fire" are particularly good examples of this. "carrion comfort" is the kind of poem everybody should read at least once, and it’s also the kind of poem that jason todd would read and then lay down for a really long time about.
william butler yeats (1865-1939) an extremely influential modernist poet, deeply associated with the modern irish independence movement and identity (for example, see “an irish airman” or “easter 1916”) which i just think is neat. yeats also wrote a lot about cycles of time and history and idk. i think that would really resonate with the guy who died that one time. i especially recommend checking out “the second coming” and “sailing to byzantium.”
t.s. eliot (1888-1965) pretty easily one of the defining modernist authors and critics of the era. “the love song of j. alfred prufrock” is another one of those poems everyone should read at least once and another one of those poems that jason todd would read and then lay down for a really long time about. “the waste land” is long but also really worth reading; but if you’re reading for jason todd specifically, you should take a look at sections i and v.
there are so SO many more but this post is ah. long enough as is!! if you have any comments or thoughts or questions please feel free to reach out to me!! i’m not ever going to claim to be an expert on the subject, but i do love talking about this stuff :))
This fic is super sweet and hilarious, highly recommend!
Chapters: 6/6
Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Superboy (Comics), Robin (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types
Relationship: Tim Drake/Kon-El | Connor Kent
Characters: Tim Drake (DCU), Kon-El | Connor Kent, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Clark Kent
Additional Tags (truncated): Mutual Pining, First Kiss, Identity Porn, Friends to Lovers, Flirting, Getting Together, Identity Reveal, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Shenanigans (DCU), The Boys Bully Bruce, Bruce Wayne is So Done, Jason Todd is a Menace, Fluff and Smut, Protective Older Brothers, Meet the Family, Family Dinner, Minor Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent, Minor Dick Grayson/Wally West, Oral Sex, Hand jobs, Frottage, Exhibitionism, Voyeurism, Surprise Wally West Appearance
Summary:
“Because it’s all your fault!” Kon snapped.
Robin bristled, eyes narrowing. “Oh, it’s my fault, is it?”
“Yes!” Kon tugged at his hair in frustration.
Robin stepped forward, closing the gap between them, getting in Kon’s face. “Enlighten me. How exactly is any of this my fault?”
“What color are your eyes?”
“I-” Robin took a step back in bewilderment. “What?”
~
Kon has been distracted and Robin finally confronts him.