I'm Dead. It's All Over For Me. I Have Seen The Most Perfect Image In The World And My Heart Has Stopped.

"Don't you get it?" Jason spat, teetering on the verge of a howl. "I'm not him! Jason Todd is DEAD. He's gone! I'm just what crawled out of his grave."

He panted into the silence that followed, eyes stinging heat.

Bruce said nothing. Jason worried he might stand there, unspeaking, unmoving, til the end of time. Or just turn and walk away. That was what he wanted, wasn't it? For Bruce to stop chasing the ghost of a dead boy? To accept that he was someone different, someone new?

Instead, when Bruce finally spoke, he was quiet, thoughtful. "Did you know that I loved you the moment I met you?"

He wasn't looking at Jason, but down at his hands, as if his gloves were a scrying pool that he could peer into to see that old Jason, twelve years old and desperate but so full of life. Jason thought he could taste dirt.

Then Bruce chuckled, still to himself, still to his hands. "You were so cocky, so unwilling to give up without a fight, even to me. Some things never change."

His smile fade and he looked up, straight into Jason's face. "You were also scared. Traumatized. You had nightmares for months. You lied constantly. Hoarded food. Stole. I was so worried we'd never be able to make you feel safe, the way you deserved to feel."

"I'm not—" Jason began, voice tight.

"You're not him," Bruce agreed, and hearing it spoken out loud, so easily, cut off Jason's air.

"You haven't been him for years." Bruce stepped forward, pushing into Jason's space. "Part of him is in you, but you're not him. You changed." He shrugged, shoulder somehow expressive even beneath the weight of the armor, the cape, the night. "You weren't the boy I took in off the street even before you died. You grew. That's life, Jay."

Jason was the one unable to speak now, stuck in place like a gods-struck fool.

"You change. You grow. And I'll keep loving whoever you turn out to be next."

The thing about Jason Todd is I like to call him cathartic and he *is* but he's also...a sort of fantasy fulfillment, but not the one I think people assume.

Jason cannot be a Punisher type fantasy because his own victimization undercuts it. This isn't a tale about a hero avenging his family. This is the singing bones.

Because fundamentally, the fantasy in utrh is this: the victimized dead can rise again, screaming. Can cut a bloody path through the world and make the powerful listen. It doesn't matter if what he does is just or right, anymore, just that it exposes the wound.

In real life the dead stay dead and their abusers write their obituaries and get sympathy cards from their families and you bite your tongue and let the wounds rot and -

And then there's Jason, who comes back wrong because the world is wrong. Who comes back sharp and cruel, who makes himself a knife where there was once only grave dirt. Who tells Bruce, and by extension the audience itself, that *yes* you were grieving wrong. Yes you did allow this. You preserved peace over justice. You offered platitudes to a silent headstone while you ignored the screams of the living victims.

The fantasy of Jason Todd is this:

You have to look the corpse in the eyes, this time.

why do I suddenly want to write a 20 chapter fic....

The only acceptable trans Tim headcanon would be Tim introducing himself to the batfam as a boy from the get-go with such confidence that no one questions him. Then, his first solo case as Robin is investigating the disappearance of Jack and Janet Drake's "daughter," so he pretends to have a twin sister by forging a bunch of documents and photoshopping family pictures. He then fabricates evidence of her death, committing multiple crimes in the process, and holds a fake funeral at the end. Because if his previous name is dead to him, he's gonna kill it the Tim Drake way

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

spot as many easter eggs as you can :>

Yesss I love those two <3 I’m really looking forward to getting to the point in childhood homes where I can focus on them

thank you for spreading the good word of tim and babs friendship. i love tims dynamic with cass and especially steph but my eyes have never been opened to tim and babs. this is beautiful

YYYEEEESSSSS YOU GET IT SOMEBODY FINALLY GETS ME. I MAY BE THE ONLY ONE FIGHTING OUT HERE

THE POTENTIAL. SO MUCH POTENTIAL. DC GIVE ME THE FUCKING PEN LET ME IN THE ROOM

they're both tech savvy! both headstrong and logical! babs chose to become oracle after facing such a trauma. tim chose to be robin because he couldn't let batman and gotham be. they both chose their roles! he's devastatingly little brother to her. big sister babs to him! it makes! so much! sense!!!!!!!

DC doesn't get it like i get it. they spawned their interactions like out of nowhere basically and then proceeded to never let them be close like how i see it. tim and babs... ohhh tim and babs my favourites

Oh shit a pipe burst and my house is flooded. Shiiiiiiit

The adrenaline is wearing off and now I feel sick. Fuck

Oh shit a pipe burst and my house is flooded. Shiiiiiiit

Losing my mind but the prospect of Damian being so otherworldly beautiful and thriving at the face of catastrophe is so tragic to me idk why.

Like oouuughhhhh little boy how does it feel to look like the moon and the stars before you implode and your stardust gave birth to a new constellation???

Like baby boy my baby why are you the sole hope for humanity to exist and the key for peace and co-existence?? Little Damian did you know that your hands are the gentlest in the future where that would cost you?

How are you the embodiment of horror and all that is bad yet the symbolism of love itself?

Why are you in hell and looking up to heaven while cradling creatures of the fiery pits? What do you mean you found a companion in the shape of something you don't even know while laying in the midst of bloodshed of your own doing??

You are cruel yet so, so kind. You look at something so grotesque and decide to cradle its face with tenderness and care. You look at something so unlovable and decide to love it first.

Damian al-Ghul Wayne why are you so tragically beautiful when you're not supposed to?

Pursuit Predator Robin, Go!

I think that Tim should be in cross country and like to run marathons. Why? Idk it just fits him

He looked at normal track and thought it was too boring so like a psychopath, he chose to run for longer.

Imagine if there was some criminal and they were running away.

Nightwing: Red Robin

*he's a runner he's a track star*

Even with pounds of heavy equipment, he's out running all of them with pure stamina. You think you got rid of him? Nah, you look behind and see that guy behind you, he will win with pure patience, he is inevitable.

All the criminals are scared out of their wits bc of him, Tim does not give up, it is not in his nature