You Can Rip My Hyphens From My Cold Dead Hands

i despise when people say that tim is boring

because, no???

people have just decided that all of tim's character traits are just favoritism.

literally had this exact fucking conversation with someone a few days ago:

"i don't like tim because he's boring."

"oh, why?"

"he doesn't have any character traits."

"yes he does. he sees himself as a sentient tool, consistently chooses others over himself, is one of the few characters who actually understands the symbols of batman and robin separate from the people in the suits, is a detective equal to and sometimes better than batman, he's great at hacking, he constantly makes new allies and is a big part of the reason batman has a support network."

"no, that's just from runs where tim was unfairly favored."

"ohhh. i see. you decided that tim doesn't have any character traits because when he is respected as a human being and not just a Tool for the characters you like better and can, you know, show his character traits, you have decided it is favoritism and doesn't count. let's not think about the 10~ years when tim was a fucking background character and basically Didn't Matter in comparison to the more popular characters. that wasn't favoritism towards anyone at all."

omg didn’t tim make some sort of promise to ra’s to get his help during the BruceQuest??????

hi!!!

AU Idea: fae!tim drake who very specifically treats promises as sacred. why? the ✨angst potential✨.

plus all the other stuff with tim being a fae, but i had the idea abt promises specifically

Hi!!! 👋

Fae!Tim has my entire heart and soul. The promises side of this is a wonderful addition. So, let's get into it ^^

For this AU, let's say Tim can lie. He's fae, but he can lie. The only issue he has (and other fae have) with lying is that it's painful, considered rude, and fae can usually tell when someone is lying to them. The pain and offense of the lie increases with how great or important the lie is.

The fae, however, keep this as a tightly guarded secret (that they can lie and that lying hurts them). Barely any non-fae know about it.

Unfortunately, Tim found out the hard way that not keeping promises, even when he intended to, counts as lying to their biology. He was in a considerable amount of pain when he found that out the hard way. Perhaps there's even a magical binding element to promises where he has to keep them or pay some price.

Tim thus very rarely makes promises. He doesn't do white lies, and he won't say comfort lies/promises of "you'll be alright." There are loopholes he utilizes, and he is very good at misleading or misrepresenting himself.

Nobody else in the batfam is fae. Only Tim. So, the Bats do not know that Tim can lie. Because, again, he rarely if ever does and it usually causes him pain.

The Bats do know that he's very careful with promises. Perhaps there was a moment where someone tried to use promises as a way to guarantee Tim would do something (like take care of himself), and Tim was hella pissed off for this.

Anyways, I think the others would have varying opinions about promises. Some say them off-handedly, some try to only mutter them in serious or important moments, and some try their damndest to uphold any promise they make.

The only batfam member to take it as seriously and sacredly as Tim is Damian. Whether that's because of how he was raised or because of his nature (dragon, angel, siren, or whatever), is up to you ^^

I just like the angst and relationship potential of Tim and Damian, who start off as enemies, learning to trust the other when it comes to promises. This one aspect they see eye to eye on.

i love this addition so fucking much. because yeah. tim knows, objectively, that the batfam must hold some affection for him. he knows, objectively, that they are kind enough to tell him if he was ever unwanted. but he can’t understand it. he thinks that they “love” him and want him because he makes himself useful. he has to be useful, because if he isn’t useful, what is he? who is he? not tim drake, the boy he got everything he ever had by performing a function. the boy who made himself as useful as possible, as efficient as possible, so that he has a worth. so that he has value.

tim drake got everything he ever had by sinking his teeth into it and never letting go. he got everything he had by latching on tight, like a parasite, and pretending it was a symbiotic relationship until he made it become one.

hey. hi. so.

might be a little obsessed with Tim Drake. this is not new. what is new, however, is the idea of timothy jackson drake being raised as a shield.

you know how some children are raised as weapons? that sucks. but weapons have a use. they're sharp, they're dangerous. sometimes they're respected in some capacity. some people have emotional attachments to their weapons. a weapon is valued for the threat that it is simply by being. a weapon is valued for the damage it can do. and that sucks. but a weapon is valued, pretty much automatically, because a weapon has a purpose.

but shields? their entire purpose is someone else. a shield is worthless without someone to shield. a shield is used until it breaks, and then it's immediately replaced. a shield is valued as long as it's stable, as long as it takes the hits meant for someone else. a shield is valued until it takes too many hits and it breaks. no one will repair that broken shield. it's never going to be as stable as it used to be. better to just get a new one.

anyways. tim drake is a shield, not a sword. at first he was shielding his parents reputation. then he was shielding Batman, both his reputation and his health- mental and physical. and he never stopped. he spent a year with the league of assassins to protect batman. to rescue him.

and when he gets back from that year? he's shielding Bruce by taking the brunt of work at WE.

to conclude: tim was raised as a shield instead of a child and i can't stop thinking about it.

please please please please reblog if you’re a writer and have at some point felt like your writing is getting worse. I need to know if I’m the only one who’s struggling with these thoughts

i see no cons.

i volunteer as tribute.

This post is for ladies only. If you are a guy, GET out of here.

I bestow upon you this dagger. It is an ancient dagger. Use it wisely.

THIS. you understand me.

Damian Abused Tim and None of Yall are Talking About It

First of all, let’s define an abusive relationship. Okay? “Abuse” is not characterized by- say it with me now- age, gender, strength/size or otherwise more “common” depictions of an abusive relationship. “Abuse” is characterized by a- say it with me now- POWER IMBALANCE. Got it? Good.

Now, let’s examine Damian and Tim’s relationship to see if there’s a power imbalance with one simple question. Do they both have the power to redefine this relationship? In the case of Tim and Damian, the answer is no. An immediate follow-up to this question should be: who has the power to redefine the relationship? The answer is the more powerful side of the power imbalance, or, more often than not, the abuser. In the case of Tim and Damian, Damian is the one with the power to redefine the relationship. 

Why? Because a), both Tim and Damian’s adults (Bruce, Alfred, maybe Dick) are unwilling to balance the relationship (giving them both consequences for cruelty, no favoritism, etc.), b), Damian does not accept anything Tim says- if Tim is polite, he’s being patronizing/condescending and it’s his fault, if Tim’s rude he’s being cruel/unfair and it’s his fault, if Tim’s indifferent he’s being cold/unfair and it’s his fault- as a genuine effort on Tim’s part, meaning only Damian has the power to change their dynamic.

Just because Damian is younger than Tim does not mean that Damian is incapable of being abusive towards Tim. It reminds me of a dynamic in which the “softer” one, e.g. a wife or in this case, a younger sibling, is abusing the “tougher” one, e.g. a husband or an older sibling, and the victim of the abusive is not believed because the “softer” one obviously can’t be an abuser. By excusing Damian’s actions you are practicing abuse apologism. This is Very Fucked Up and it is Not Okay. Just because DC seems to think it is okay and the majority of the fandom brushes past it, it does NOT MEAN that it is not abuse apologism.

I am not blaming Damian for any of this. No one has ever bothered to explain to him that his actions are wrong or explain why they are wrong. However, that does not absolve him of responsibility. Responsibility is not the same thing as blame. In this case, responsibility means an actual, genuine apology on Damian’s part. Responsibility means acknowledging it was wrong of him to abuse Tim, it means an actual change in behavior going forward, and, specifically for Damian, it probably includes therapy. 

Abuse apologism is not okay. I need people to understand that Damian was abusing Tim. There is no excusing or sugarcoating it. Damian. Abused. Tim. I need people to understand that. Yes, Damian can accept responsibility (and the ADULTS- Bruce, Alfred, maybe Dick- need to accept the blame) but that does not change the fact that in the beginning, He Abused Tim. Yes, Damian can (and should) make a change, and that change should be reflected in his characterization, but if one were to write him in the BEGINNING he would still be abusing Tim. I am not demonizing him by writing this. This is not me bashing on the character. This is me defining his canonical behavior. This is me telling you all that Damian was entitled and spoiled and rude and cruel and ABUSIVE.

I need you to understand this.

there's this one tim drake dimension travel fic where he gets yeeted to a dimension with a better batfam by mr. mxypltzk (how tf do you spell that) and bart and kon come with him. i remember specifically there's this one scene where tim is practicing in the batcave and the alternate batfam are just... appalled by the amount of force he's using. because they Don't Do That in their dimension.

AND I CAN'T FUCKING FIND IT. I CAN'T FIND THE FIC. IT BRINGS ME GREAT PAIN.

i’m so normal about them

everyone talks about how YJ watched santa die but no one talks about how before santa showed up, YJ made a fucking suicide pact to take out the doomsday missile.

elaborate????

I can't tell if this is a healthy distraction because I am stabbing myself but it's not on purpose