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Okay I can't take it anymore (AKA: Batman Beyond!fic)
Revision is turning my brain into slush. I haven't written in what feels like a bajillion years. My keyboard feels foreign to me. Also, Batman.
Drabble ahead. Caveat lector: I am not your happy canonical DC fan. I am a sorry little n00b who watched a few episodes of Justice League (/Unlimited), read a few compiled comics collections, sprinted through Batman Beyond, fangirled at The Dark Knight, and who will make 500000 assumptions about Batman and Co. 8D YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
if I told you I felt ageless
Rating: PG13
Characters: Terry, LazarusPit!Bruce. Is that a comma, or a slash? Who knows - who can tell? Bruce is everything all at the same time. I don't think age even matters, for him.
Warnings: Set after the Batman Beyond episode "Out of the Past".
1241 words, and I have a bad feeling about this, master.Please let this (not?) turn into a series. Oh god oh god. Too late. Counting Down The Hours arc.
Note: for those who haven't watched that particular episode (SPOILER): Bruce gets tossed into a Lazarus Pit, and magically De-Ages (TM) by about a gazillion years, temporarily. Fun times, people, fun times. I love DC and its crackpot writers.
The old man's hair goes greyer with the hour, and he says that he'll be back "to normal" after a week, but Terry has other ideas. For one, now is normal - normal is Bruce Wayne at his peak, or something close to it, normal is a Batman who is Batman. Terry's taken (demanded for, stolen) the name, but even he knows that he has a long way to go before he'll ever take the legend. Normal is the past - Bruce lives in it, after all. The old man doesn't put himself in a cave full of artefacts for no reason.
Terry thinks, how must it be like to feel the strength seep out of your bones, reliving in eight-times fast forward the nightmare you took 20 years to outgrow?
He doesn't see the answer on Wayne's face, but it's there, underneath his skin as he balances on the old gym equipment that's magically dusted itself off and set itself up in one corner. He's no connoisseur, but Terry thinks he can see Bruce holding back - he could've made that jump, done that stand. It's like he doesn't want to.
He doesn't blame Bruce. Terry walks into the cave and Bruce's probably known of his presence for the last two minutes Terry's been standing there, watching Bruce train. Bruce has assured Terry repeatedly in the past that he's not a fan of acrobatics ("Why?" "There was a Robin, once."), but if that dismount from the bars isn't graceful, then Terry doesn't know what is.
'Schway,' he says, dropping his backpack in a corner and coming over with his muscles tensing like they want to join in, want to be able to go as fast and hard and strong as this, what, 70, 80 year old guy?
'The pit undid some of time's damage,' is Bruce's response, factual and tactical. As usual. 'It's not my top form, but the activity will help the aging process along.'
'Takes away a few of the aches and pains?' Terry asks, limbering up in a corner. Bruce has only paused - it's not a stop.
'Might be,' the old man says. Then he nods at Terry. 'You're staying here for the week.'
Terry stops. He doesn't ask, what the hell, because he really should've seen it coming, and nothing he says is going to change anything now that Mister Wayne has made a decision. Bruce smiles at him, that tight smile that reminds Terry of violence and sarcasm and agelessness. He quirks an eyebrow at Bruce. Bruce says, 'Your school has been informed that I need you on a trip. Your mother has been contacted, and I've taken a leave of absence from Wayne-Powers for the time being.'
'I'm assuming you're not doing this to celebrate my birthday or anything,' Terry says.
'Your birthday was three months ago,' Bruce replies, because he doesn't have a sense of humour - no, more like his sense of humour is just fucked up.
Terry pulls his jacket off, and yanks his arm back and forth in a quick stretch. 'So what're we gonna do?' Better to go with the flow, when it comes to Bruce, than swim against. Less likely to drown. Slightly less likely, anyway. 'Play some vids? Go for a picnic?'
Bruce's smile is there again, like a knife edge. 'I'll be as normal in a week. That means we have seven days worth of time.'
Oh, something in Terry's head goes. Oh shit. Oh yes. Oh yes, yes, oh shit. 'Uh,' he says, instead. 'You're going to train me? As in, train me?'
As in, beat the crap out of me the way you've wanted to the last couple of months? As in, using your fists and your feet as opposed to just your damn voice? As in, train me?
'We'll start with basic physical conditioning,' Bruce steamrolls right over him. Then Terry looks at him and notices old (new?) reborn muscle. Repaired soft tissue. Strengthened bones. Framework that speaks of a kind of methodical self-torture that even he can appreciate, now.
'Okay,' Terry says, and - he can't lie to himself here, can't lie that he hasn't dreamt about it and thought about it and wanted it for as long as he's known that he's not the first, not the second, not even the third guy to take on one mantle or the other. 'Yeah, okay.'
Because he's not a Robin.
Batman's his name, now.
It means more things that Terry wants to think about, so when Bruce says, come here, Terry goes, and --
***
'Ow, not okay, not okay,' Terry grunts, reaching forward and Bruce fucking pushes and Terry thinks his thigh muscles and every single fucking ligament in his legs are going to tear and explode and implode and melt. 'Fuck!'
'Language, McGinnis,' is all Bruce says, fuck him, fuck him. He has his hands on the back of Terry's shoulder blades, and without age encumbering them they're broad and warm and strong and forcing Terry forward until he can feel the rebound of his breath off of the cave floor. 'Stay there,' Bruce commands.
'What?' Terry snarls, feeling the tension flood into his back as Bruce moves away. 'No, no, come on, I can't do this.'
'Stay there,' Bruce says.
Terry goes silent, and reaches out, numbly, further forward. He thinks he can imagine the satisfaction on Bruce's face when he does it. 'Not cool,' Terry mutters, under his breath, because he doesn't think he wants to be as whipped as Bruce has him. (Or does he?)
'Thirty seconds, McGinnis,' Bruce tells him, which sounds not like a lot unless you're spread out in an almost-split and dying from not just the pain but the prickling of the back of your neck. Bruce is watching him, really watching him, and then Bruce is touching the back of his spine and Terry isn't going to whimper, not because of one thing or the other or anything else.
'Is it just me, or have you always enjoyed watching your kids suffer?' Terry pants, trying to take his mind off - of things.
'Not all of them called this suffering,' Bruce answers, amused, and god but Terry wants (again, not for the first time, not for the last time) to know who they were, where they are now, what they are or were like, and how much Bruce cared or cares or -
'Really?' Terry asks, letting the count of nineteen, twenty drown out everything else. 'What were they on? Because this is not fun, Bruce.'
'You picked up your training too old,' Bruce replies, and Terry is not too old, god damn it. 'There are some things your body can't and won't be able to handle that other people's will.'
'Like who?' Terry asks, taunts, requests, begs to know.
'Before your time, McGinnis.' Bruce doesn't fall for the bait - he never really does, not unless he wants to. Always refers to them as "Robin", as if all three of them were one huge, amorphous glob in his memory.
Terry can't believe he's using words like "amorphous" now. Maybe it has something to do with all the reading Bruce is making him do in between the, you know, skipping class and missing dates and saving the world thing.
'Before my time, huh?' Terry manages, each breath a labour. Twenty eight, twenty nine. He grins. 'Yeah, I guess it's my time, now.'
***
Need Terry icons and Bruce icons and Dick icons like woah, now.
Drabble ahead. Caveat lector: I am not your happy canonical DC fan. I am a sorry little n00b who watched a few episodes of Justice League (/Unlimited), read a few compiled comics collections, sprinted through Batman Beyond, fangirled at The Dark Knight, and who will make 500000 assumptions about Batman and Co. 8D YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
if I told you I felt ageless
Rating: PG13
Characters: Terry, LazarusPit!Bruce. Is that a comma, or a slash? Who knows - who can tell? Bruce is everything all at the same time. I don't think age even matters, for him.
Warnings: Set after the Batman Beyond episode "Out of the Past".
1241 words, and I have a bad feeling about this, master.
Note: for those who haven't watched that particular episode (SPOILER): Bruce gets tossed into a Lazarus Pit, and magically De-Ages (TM) by about a gazillion years, temporarily. Fun times, people, fun times. I love DC and its crackpot writers.
The old man's hair goes greyer with the hour, and he says that he'll be back "to normal" after a week, but Terry has other ideas. For one, now is normal - normal is Bruce Wayne at his peak, or something close to it, normal is a Batman who is Batman. Terry's taken (demanded for, stolen) the name, but even he knows that he has a long way to go before he'll ever take the legend. Normal is the past - Bruce lives in it, after all. The old man doesn't put himself in a cave full of artefacts for no reason.
Terry thinks, how must it be like to feel the strength seep out of your bones, reliving in eight-times fast forward the nightmare you took 20 years to outgrow?
He doesn't see the answer on Wayne's face, but it's there, underneath his skin as he balances on the old gym equipment that's magically dusted itself off and set itself up in one corner. He's no connoisseur, but Terry thinks he can see Bruce holding back - he could've made that jump, done that stand. It's like he doesn't want to.
He doesn't blame Bruce. Terry walks into the cave and Bruce's probably known of his presence for the last two minutes Terry's been standing there, watching Bruce train. Bruce has assured Terry repeatedly in the past that he's not a fan of acrobatics ("Why?" "There was a Robin, once."), but if that dismount from the bars isn't graceful, then Terry doesn't know what is.
'Schway,' he says, dropping his backpack in a corner and coming over with his muscles tensing like they want to join in, want to be able to go as fast and hard and strong as this, what, 70, 80 year old guy?
'The pit undid some of time's damage,' is Bruce's response, factual and tactical. As usual. 'It's not my top form, but the activity will help the aging process along.'
'Takes away a few of the aches and pains?' Terry asks, limbering up in a corner. Bruce has only paused - it's not a stop.
'Might be,' the old man says. Then he nods at Terry. 'You're staying here for the week.'
Terry stops. He doesn't ask, what the hell, because he really should've seen it coming, and nothing he says is going to change anything now that Mister Wayne has made a decision. Bruce smiles at him, that tight smile that reminds Terry of violence and sarcasm and agelessness. He quirks an eyebrow at Bruce. Bruce says, 'Your school has been informed that I need you on a trip. Your mother has been contacted, and I've taken a leave of absence from Wayne-Powers for the time being.'
'I'm assuming you're not doing this to celebrate my birthday or anything,' Terry says.
'Your birthday was three months ago,' Bruce replies, because he doesn't have a sense of humour - no, more like his sense of humour is just fucked up.
Terry pulls his jacket off, and yanks his arm back and forth in a quick stretch. 'So what're we gonna do?' Better to go with the flow, when it comes to Bruce, than swim against. Less likely to drown. Slightly less likely, anyway. 'Play some vids? Go for a picnic?'
Bruce's smile is there again, like a knife edge. 'I'll be as normal in a week. That means we have seven days worth of time.'
Oh, something in Terry's head goes. Oh shit. Oh yes. Oh yes, yes, oh shit. 'Uh,' he says, instead. 'You're going to train me? As in, train me?'
As in, beat the crap out of me the way you've wanted to the last couple of months? As in, using your fists and your feet as opposed to just your damn voice? As in, train me?
'We'll start with basic physical conditioning,' Bruce steamrolls right over him. Then Terry looks at him and notices old (new?) reborn muscle. Repaired soft tissue. Strengthened bones. Framework that speaks of a kind of methodical self-torture that even he can appreciate, now.
'Okay,' Terry says, and - he can't lie to himself here, can't lie that he hasn't dreamt about it and thought about it and wanted it for as long as he's known that he's not the first, not the second, not even the third guy to take on one mantle or the other. 'Yeah, okay.'
Because he's not a Robin.
Batman's his name, now.
It means more things that Terry wants to think about, so when Bruce says, come here, Terry goes, and --
***
'Ow, not okay, not okay,' Terry grunts, reaching forward and Bruce fucking pushes and Terry thinks his thigh muscles and every single fucking ligament in his legs are going to tear and explode and implode and melt. 'Fuck!'
'Language, McGinnis,' is all Bruce says, fuck him, fuck him. He has his hands on the back of Terry's shoulder blades, and without age encumbering them they're broad and warm and strong and forcing Terry forward until he can feel the rebound of his breath off of the cave floor. 'Stay there,' Bruce commands.
'What?' Terry snarls, feeling the tension flood into his back as Bruce moves away. 'No, no, come on, I can't do this.'
'Stay there,' Bruce says.
Terry goes silent, and reaches out, numbly, further forward. He thinks he can imagine the satisfaction on Bruce's face when he does it. 'Not cool,' Terry mutters, under his breath, because he doesn't think he wants to be as whipped as Bruce has him. (Or does he?)
'Thirty seconds, McGinnis,' Bruce tells him, which sounds not like a lot unless you're spread out in an almost-split and dying from not just the pain but the prickling of the back of your neck. Bruce is watching him, really watching him, and then Bruce is touching the back of his spine and Terry isn't going to whimper, not because of one thing or the other or anything else.
'Is it just me, or have you always enjoyed watching your kids suffer?' Terry pants, trying to take his mind off - of things.
'Not all of them called this suffering,' Bruce answers, amused, and god but Terry wants (again, not for the first time, not for the last time) to know who they were, where they are now, what they are or were like, and how much Bruce cared or cares or -
'Really?' Terry asks, letting the count of nineteen, twenty drown out everything else. 'What were they on? Because this is not fun, Bruce.'
'You picked up your training too old,' Bruce replies, and Terry is not too old, god damn it. 'There are some things your body can't and won't be able to handle that other people's will.'
'Like who?' Terry asks, taunts, requests, begs to know.
'Before your time, McGinnis.' Bruce doesn't fall for the bait - he never really does, not unless he wants to. Always refers to them as "Robin", as if all three of them were one huge, amorphous glob in his memory.
Terry can't believe he's using words like "amorphous" now. Maybe it has something to do with all the reading Bruce is making him do in between the, you know, skipping class and missing dates and saving the world thing.
'Before my time, huh?' Terry manages, each breath a labour. Twenty eight, twenty nine. He grins. 'Yeah, I guess it's my time, now.'
***
Need Terry icons and Bruce icons and Dick icons like woah, now.
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Is very slowly digesting episodes. And you do have too many batman tags.
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I've this bad feeling that my tags are only going to get worse the more I watch and read stuff. "Nightwing can do splits" and "Dick is an awesome name" and "Oracle is watching you" and "Terry of the variable eyes" and "Bruce of the Endless" and other such things. Including, "Alfred will kill them all in their sleep".
:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
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I didn't respond to your fic ideas entry because of timing but anyway. I'm totally all about Timmy being everyone's uke (although I never tried to fit Terry into this chronology. Time travel!Tim?), preferably in women's clothing as much as possible. I loves Timmy. Except for when Bill fucking Willingham is systematically destroying his tiny timmy life. D: (I stopped reading when that happened, I'm not sure what's going on now.)
Anyway! I love this :D It's such an interesting take on the Batman de-aging (yeah, Bruce is just going to be Batman to me. >.> Is that bad? They're not Bruce and Batman, they're Batman and Terry) and it's totally not what I was expecting when I saw the characters and all that (I don't remember the episode - is Talia in it??) and I was so pleasantly surprised. Really cool. :D It's totally, totally what he would do! Hahaha, awesome. Also, Terry is a saucy wench. It is weird that he's not a Robin! When I read that bit I was like "Whooooooooooa. . ."
Aaaaaaaalso I used to say "shway" all the time. >.> For real. And also slagged, they say that right? I think a year or so ago I was like "I'm always saying I'm slagged. I didn't make this word up, where is it from?" And I think I researched it and it's just from Batman Beyond and I was like "yay thanks for the vocabulary!" :D
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And yeah. I mean. Dick. Mmmmmmmmmmm. And his name, it leads to so much hilarity.
I need to read more Tim, but from what I've seen? HE'S ADORABLE. Especially when he's getting little!brother-anised. Oh, Batfamily. Please never change. (And I presme that reading Willingham stuff is an outlet to pain? *MARKS YOUR WORDS*)
Terry IS a saucy wench! He says all these thigns that I AM SURE IN AN EARLIER TIME PERIOD WOULD HAVE HAD HIM CASTRATED. And he's all one day you'll tell me about *insert thing here* to Bruce all of the time, and jesus, the cartoon just left so many gaps unfilled in the Bruce/Terry dynamic that ajlfsajlf *INJECTS FILLER x100000*
And yeah, it is the episode with the REALLY CREEPY Talia-oh-wait-no-just-scary-obsessive-R'AS.
Terry makes the slang sound gooooood. And Bruce makes it sound beautifully hilarioius.
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Tiiiiiiim. . . there are no good trades. D: It makes me SO SAD. The best comics are between about 75 and 110 on his title, if you ever see them anywhere. XD They're from 2000 and 2001. Robin 75 was the very first comic I ever bought! :D But yes, he is adorable. And interesting as a Robin, because he's so much more independent and stuff. And dorky. And hot.
The Willingham stuff is the only recent Robin comics that have been collected in trade paperback. I think I only read one but yeah, they actually literally kill off everyone he's ever loved, I think.
And. . . I agree with you about Terry! XD I looooove animated Batman, it's amazing how high quality it all is, but - I know way more about the comics. XD
Oh my god you HAVE TO READ YOUNG JUSTICE IF YOU SEE IT ANYWHERE EVER. BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT. It is the best comic ever written. And Robin is in it? And occasionally Batman and Nightwing! :D And it's got Superboy who's job is to annoy Robin and be slashy with him!!
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I love Tim's attitude And he's hilarious in the animated series, though I think he'll be even better in the comics, from what I've heard and read!
TERRRYYY. He needs to. Someone needs to. Seriously, just, AU the damn boy, and bring him back to talk with the Robins, and so much screwed up goodness, oh Bats.
NOW IS THE TIME TO REC ME YOUNG JUSTICE NUMBERS/TPBS! Nightwing AND Bats AND Robin AND Kon? I AM SO THERE.
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Which animated series? I don't watch the Titans one for various reasons. Tim in the New Batman Adventures one or whatever it's called is adorable and I absolutely love him, but he's very different from comicsverse Tim. I'm on a mission to collect old Robin backissues (since they refuse to release Robin TPBs grrr as I mentioned before - clearly I am bitter about this XD) and it's really interesting to see the character develop. I mostly know him from his own title and from Young Justice, so that's kind of the conception of Tim that I have.
Young Justice only ran for I think 55 issues. :( I AM STILL SO SAD AND BITTER ABOUT THIS. SOMETIMES I STILL THINK "OH MAN, THERE IS NO MORE YOUNG JUSTICE" AND GET ALL SAD ABOUT IT.
So, uh, any of the issues is good to buy. There are only two TPBs. "Young Justice: A League of Their Own," collecting the first 7 issues and definitely the perfect place to start, and "Young Justice: Sins of Youth," collecting this crazy dcu-wide crossover thing where the JSA gets turned into toddlers, the JLA into kids, YJ into adults, and the Titans (the then-Titans, under Nightwing) have varied results. XD I read issues 1 and 2 and then picked up with SoY, so it's not totally clear if you start from there but you can basically pick up what's going on. But yeah, if you're in a comic book store, look for back issues. Any of them. It was consistently high quality. The creative team is exceptional.
It is my favorite title in comic book history.
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xD His cop self is really awesome! All that pretending to be dumb in the Academy... then getting called out by Bats to do some hero-ing during No Man's Land. Naturally Dick just goes. *coughWHIPPEDcough*
Yeah, the New Batman Adventures Tim! He's totally unlike comicsverse, I agree, but it's fun to just watch him for a few seconds. He reminds me of some crazy Tim/Jason/Dick crossbreed. Most of what I know of Tim right now is coming After They Made His Life Kind Of Sort Of Miserable. There're a lot of good Bat!family moments innit, though.
Tim kicking Dick's ass with logic? Will also never grow old, or any less painful, or any less beautiful than it already is.
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Awww, poor Life Destroyed Tim. :( I'm afraid!! It's so sad. When I came in, he was living in a boarding school and it was just such a good, good feel for a title about a younger hero. I mean, to start with I was 13 or 14. And the comic really had an 80s teen movie feel, like the Goonies or Ferris Bueller. But with lots of crime-fighting. And Tim is the intellectual Robin and it's adorable. I love when he compares himself to Dick and is all "darnit, I'll never be an acrobat like that." But he's so smart and serious and tries so hard. :D And has his own special Timmy skills. And was the leader of Young Justice in his little Timmy way!! ::poke poke:: ::subliminal message:: BUY YOUNG JUSTICE ::end subliminal message::
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Oh oh oh, post-"Out of the Past" training!fic. Seriously, this is as good as porn for me with Bruce and Terry. The end of your first scene hit me right in the gut with yes. Terry should always want that much to be properly trained by Bruce.
And this bit: Bruce is watching him, really watching him, and then Bruce is touching the back of his spine and Terry isn't going to whimper, not because of one thing or the other or anything else. That is so deliciously, perfectly right.
I sincerely hope you write more in this fandom.
(Also, I agree with
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:D The thing with Bruce and Terry is that everything Bruce does is porn. Mind porn! Identity porn! Training porn! They do all the dirty stuff with the clothes still on! And now that Bruce isn't, um, physically incapable, god knows what's going to happen!
I do so love my Batman Beyond, yes I do. *g* *g* *g*
(There are times watching the series where I'm literally stuffing my fingers into my mouth and silently screaming, if *any one of the Robins* had said that, they'd have been *castrated* when Terry speaks. Oh, McGinnis.)
Also? Your icon. *MELTS*
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The thing with Bruce and Terry is that everything Bruce does is porn.
Oh, for serious. Their chemistry is off the charts. They're both what the other needs in the best, most screwed-up ways, and "Out of the Past" opens up some very interesting options. So would "The Once and Future Thing" from JLU or "Future Shock" from Static Shock, with a little tweaking. (And to this day I refuse to accept the existence of "Epilogue," because it is so many kinds of bad wrong.)
I totally know what you mean about the stuff Terry gets away with saying. The only reason he does is that he *wasn't* a Robin, and he doesn't let Bruce treat him like he was. Not that that stops me from cringing when he pushes certain matters, but.
That icon is one of the many, many awesome ones that
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HAHAH YES. I liked Epilogue in the sense of how Bruce and Terry were - Batman sitting with Ace until she died, Bruce totally not owning up to anything even on pain of Terry spitting in his face, and Terry - even fifteen years later - ultimately being his silly, amazing, dorky self. The Once and Future thing screamed "threesome! Just not! Twosome with three!" at me for a very long time, until I sort of regained my sanity. I mean:
Terry: So, the world's ending, huh. Again.
Bruce: ...
Batman: ...
Terry: ... wanna do it?
... I'll stop now, yeah.
ajksfjal *runs to the iconposts!*
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It eats your BRAIN. Especially because it then introduces the song, which always eats your brain, but after the fic tends to do it in an entirely different, badbadwrong way.
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Because younger Bruce would have totally bitchslapped Terry for doing things like bringing his noisy homework on a mission. (Although that was one of my favourite episodes) It kind of brings home how very lonely poor Bruce is, that you get the feeling he actually misses the backtalk. Dick would have flipped OUT if he ever saw what Bruce lets Terry get away with.
Which is why we need to get on that bunny right awayBtw, have friended you :D
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:D And friended back!
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Dick's going to hate that.
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1. Storm out of the house, annoyed at my lack of independence. (I want to show him how good I am!)
2. Cry more. And then rack up 482904820 brownie points with the Teen Titans.
3. Bruce? Bruce? Are you looking yet?
4. The Titans kind of suck. Compared to Batman.
5. Maybe I shouldn't have quit. Been fired. Weep.
6. Is that another kid taking my name
7. BRUCE WHO THE FUCK IS THAT BOY TAKING MY NAME
8. Bruce it was my name
9. Mine
10. my name
11. I hate you all. This is why I'm going to help train this little
dipshitbrother of mine.12. He's so young
13. Oh crap and now he's dead
14. It's my fault it's my fault it's my fault oh my god
15. *trauma*
16. BRUCE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TAKING ON ANOTHER KID
17. AND ANOTHER *OTHER* GUY
18. why am i not batman
19. bruce.
20. *becomes Batman*
21. BRUCE I LOVE YOU AND WILL FOREVER LOVE YOU NOW THAT YOU'VE ADMITTED YOU MISS ME AND NEED ME
Ever after, Dick then goes on to:
1. Establish himself in Bludhaven. Just to show Bruce he can!
2. Give his life up (almost) for Bludhaven. To prove it to Bruce that he's serious!
3. Almost kill himself because he thinks he's let Bruce down by failing to save the murderer who a) blew up his entire apartment complex b) stalked and damaged 80% of his friends and loved ones c) lead to the demise of most of his personal relationships and d) made Dick almost break from stress. I am not worthy1!!
4. Picks himself up in a half second after months and months of self-emaciation the second Bruce says the word go.
5. Willingly tosses himself into insane situations at the drop of a hat, just for Bruce. See: taking over a criminal infested-and-managed prison, solo, in 48 hours.
6. Writes eloquent letters to Bruce in his free time, and ends up never sending them.
7. Crying more.
Oh Dick. Oh, Dick.
Tim is a beautful boy, because he doesn't even need to manipulate Bruce, in a lot of ways - he works on Bruce's terms, and meets Bruce on as equal a level as a Robin is ever going to get, I think. Just - he's Robin. He said it himself - he's Robin, and he doesn't want to be anything else, ever.
Terry's just a saucy wench, with no respect for history in the way the Batfamily used to, and real respect for Bruce in the sense that Bruce gets just as much as he deserves, and none of the hero worship and/or pandering and/or anger/rage/wibble that the other family members threw/throw at him all the time. Bruce is a cranky old man? Sure. Terry can live with that. Bruce lives with it - so why hound his case?
Also, see: saucy. Wench.
*SHEEPISH*
Re: *SHEEPISH*
Poor Dickie was really the most screwed up, because he was the least cynical of all of them before his parents died, and then Bruce took him in hand and just fucked him up, with all the best intentions in the world. But we know all that. The reason Terry doesn't have nearly as much family issues with Bruce is simply because Bruce didn't raise him. It's far more a mentor thing than a parent thing with them. Which is why I resented Epilogue being all "no, see, he's Terry's dad. Just like for all the rest of them." It was a fantastic episode, and their interaction was still genius, but the whole premise just ruined Terry's fascinating balance with Bruce.
Re: *SHEEPISH*
That, or, y'know, it's all one big joke on Bruce. 8D Hello, mass-adoptions..
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Thankfully, I don't think I ever watched the campy live-action series (insert shuddering here). Harley Quinn was in The (New) Adventures of Batman, I think - and she's also crazy, and amazing, and someone I'd love to write if I could ever figure out why.
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NOW WITH A TERRY ICON.
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Thank you.
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omg finally!!!
Join me in world domination. Or maybe just Terry domination *koff*
Re: omg finally!!!
And bring Dick in for fun and laughter and peace and Kick the New Guy!Also? PICTURE IS AWESOME. SO AWESOME. OH YES BRUCE IS AN MEAN OLD MAN AND HE KNOWS IT.
Re: omg finally!!!
I have been into Batman pretty much my whole LIFE, which is tragic considering I only got into Batslash the last couple of weeks. My first ever Batman experience was reading The Killing Joke and DKR and Year One at 8, which was just...bizarre (my uncle's fault!), but it never kept me from enjoying the campy show and then the cartoons. Then I watched the movies, and when I was in high school Timm and Dini's series came out and I was SO HOOKED. Then the comics came out with Son of the Demon, which as you know only furthers the "Bruce is PORN" idea, and so I was fully primed for BB when it came out. I watched every episode with my mom, it was something of an event for us. Mainly my experience has been with the animated series and the more big-name comic series, rather than the main comic continuity, because I find it so exhausting and expensive to keep up with events in the DCU.
I think the great and awful thing about BB is that after the other Timm/Dini/Murakami offerings it's a lot patchier in terms of story strength and audience satisfaction. You can see this huge tug of war going on between the creators ("plotbunnies EVERYWHERE oh must play with them ALL") and the producers ("Remember the target demographic! This story is too long! We need more heterosexuality!") much more than with the main series. And in the end, despite the fantastic, mind-boggling awesomeness of RotJ, the series ended really quickly. I'm sure Dini et al felt unsatisfied too, which is why all the lovely crossovers happened during the subsequent series.
ANYWAY (my god what a long comment), I just wanted to say thank you for your lovely fic and your BEST REACTION EVAR to my art, and if you want to use any of my icons you can. Have just screencapped more BB stuff, as well as some Batman/Superman, so I should be coming up with a lot more soon.
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I've been into Batman the last couple of weeks. xD Which may be a good things, considering that 99.9% of the reasons why I like it have to do with my brain exploding on the psycho(analysis-is-optional) parts of all of it. Comicsverse is EXPANSIVE but blowing through Gotham Knights and No Man's Land and EVERY DAMN NIGHTWING THING I CAN LAY MY HANDS ON has proven time and time again to be WORTH THE PAIN. There's stuf that people like Devin Grayson do that just can't be done in the animated series but that said
Dini and Timmsverse ajfjalfjlkghwohrowhroa. Considering the demographic they were meant to work with and the limitations and Sudden Season Ending and total Failure At Life at doing anything other than per-episode-villians, they had an INCREDIBLE thing going for them with Beyond - jesus, all of the Historical and/or meta episodes and/or moments had me tearing my fingernails out. Could you. I mean. Mention Dick. And Tim. And. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarhlasflkahsfh whrlahlhf pain so much beautiful pain and Bruce being balanced in this creepy way that has everything to do with him being a fucked up old man.
ajlfsjaksjfajflk.
Okay. Work. Work is important.
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Example: http://thete1.livejournal.com/481011.html#cutid1
And practically everything pertaining to Nightwing, and...actually, just read everything on Te's journal marked "meta", you won't regret it. (Except for the lost sleep hours)
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Plus, y'know, it's a big enough fandom that there are tons of fics to read, but small enough that everybody can go "yay!!! more stuff to feed my addiction!!!" when new fics come up. Note the comments to this arc of yours--I don't see a single one going "what do you think you're doing? so-and-so already wrote this stuff like more better." Nope, it's all "omg Terry! younger Bruce! TRAINING PR0N! WHEEEEEEE"
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Hehehe, I've been lucky, I guess? Haven't actually run into anyone rude before on LJ, which may just be my luck, or the sheer power of the Interwebs.
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(In Spellbound, Terry nicks Dick's jacket. WHO IS THIS KID WEARING MY CLOTHES BRUCE)
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LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE...
You have both Bruce's and Terry's voices down to a T. So freaking perfect.
Many manic smiles,
T
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