Okay Listen There Are 5000 Timelines So Stay With Me As I Cobble Like 10 Together For Angst Reasons.
Okay listen there are 5000 timelines so stay with me as I cobble like 10 together for angst reasons.
(My weird fanon x canon take on Dick becoming nightwing)
I am a Bruce kicked Dick out truther
So
Bruce freaks after Dick gets shot and goes ‘this can’t go on’ and Dicks like what?
Bruce decides that Robin is done, Dick can’t be Robin anymore. But Bruce doesn’t have that right, it’s Dicks name! Hell it’s Dick mother’s name for him, Bruce has no right!
Except he does, he made the suit, he made the tools, the schedules, the taught Dick most of what he uses on a day to day basis.
Which means he can take it away.
And he does.
Dick of course doesn’t stand for this, which causes a big argument to get even bigger. Alfred is furious because Dick is still a child, a child who just had a bullet pulled out of his shoulder. Bruce should’ve let the boy rest before starting this argument.
But now that it’s brought up, it’s never going back down, Dick won’t take this loss of control as anything other than a lack of trust that he can handle himself. He won’t see that Bruce is worried for him, that Bruce can’t stand to lose him.
They get into a screaming match and it’s bad, Dick Grayson is one of the few people who get pull Bruce out of callous logic and into cruel rage.
So Bruce says something I’m sure at least 50% of children with tenuous relationships with their parents have heard
“If you don’t like my rules get the hell out of my house” or some various, maybe Dick gets him to yell at him for the first time possibly ever that hot raging anger that makes tears bundle in the corner of your eye. Maybe Bruce’s anger is cold that’s honestly your choice.
But Dick… Dick doesn’t take him all the way seriously and pushes just a tad more, yells one last thing. In a rage, maybe something about his parents, or Batman or this whole fight being Bruce unable let go of the image of a loved one dying by gun.
Well whatever he says..that’s it
Bruce’s voice goes back to the dead Batman growl and he tells Dick it was a mistake to make him robin, leave the suit and drop his keys with Alfred.
Now Bruce is a very intelligent man, Bruce is a very calculated man. You’d think that Mr. Very smart and calculating would realize how that sounds to a young teenage boy.
Especially a young teenage Boy whose first experience with the Gotham was being place in a juvenile detention center and being forced away from a life he knew with people he loves.
But no. Bruce is being an idiot and does not realize that he basically just went.
My house
My stuff
My rules
I made you
If you want to make your own choices you get the fuck out and don’t take anything from me.
Nope doesn’t get that at all
Alfred is horrified because he thinks that Bruce is behaving like a spoilt seven year old (oh if you don’t listen to me you can’t play with my toys)
But he doesn’t say anything, just watches as Dick tries to fit 7-9 years of his life into a backpack.
Watches as Dick leaves all the expensive gifts and allowance money Bruce has given in and only takes the money he got from working summer jobs (it builds character which Alfred is a big fan of) or mowing lawns or tutoring kids.
He needs a place to spend the night but him and babs are on the outs, him and the titans are tight but the closes people to him location wise are not Donna or Wally so he doesn’t feel safe collapsing and sobbing into their arms.
It’s Roy, the closest person to him rn is Roy and him and Roy haven’t gotten over their teenage crush/I must be better than you thing and Dick doesn’t wanna be ridiculed (which Roy would never but our boys in a bad headspace)
All and all it leads to him freaking the fuck out in the pouring rain, but fuck it he doesn’t have time for this. He’s on his own now, fine. Whatever he can do this.
Cue Liu, the boys home and the violent manipulation our boy goes through in canon.
“I thought she loved me but she was using me” and keep the age gap fucked up here for angst purposes later!
And he can’t do this
Fuck that
After that shit show and he’s dismantled her little empire and gotten her arrested… he, like a very logical 16/17 year old. Has a fucking huge panic attack. Huge enough that his heart rate jumps so severely a certain blue boy-scout comes to check on him.
And sees his nephew in the pouring rain, violently dissociating, looking thinner, more worn and dead eyed than Clark’s ever seen him.
Yeah no, that’s not gonna work for Clark.
He takes Dick back to metropolis and we get Clois parent comfort hours.
Lois decides she’s gonna Kill Bruce
Clark decides he’s not gonna stop her
Dick gets better with them, less jumpy.
The comfort of people who’ve loved you since your were a child + regular trips to kanas farms for menial labor jobs around animals and southern cooking. Do wonders for a boy wonder lol.
They do the infamous “have I ever told you about the story of Nightwing and flamebird”
It’s a title freely given and that’s a huge difference.
Dick goes back to the titans, does his lil costume change and new name reveal. And then leads them as well as he always had. Without the pressures of disappointing the bat, I mean he’s already ruined that relationship.
The titans do great work, become a respected team, take a bunch of kids under their wings.
They’re messy, drama filled, mirage still happens, Roy gives in to addiction, Wally has a heart condition. Dicks fighting everyone for the right to marry Kori. He’s still being manipulated by brother blood.
But they make it through.
Kori and Dick aren’t together anymore, they both make the mature choice that they need to heal separately. And maybe if they’re better they’ll try again.
Roy has Lian and with Dick and Wally’s help. Gets his shit together
The titans is an entirely independent organization from the league, Dick Grayson will not take a Dime of Bruce’s their money.
Merch sales, stock trading and tax write offs keep them afloat.
He hasn’t spoken to his Dad since he was 17, he turns 20 a week after Donna dies.
He’s met and helped Jason for 2 years in bludhaven but he doesn’t touch Gotham.
Because that’s Bruce’s.
Bruce gave him Gotham, Bruce gave him Robin, Bruce gave him a family.
So Bruce could take it away
And Dick
Internalizes this SO heavy
The titans can’t touch Bruce, Nightwing can’t trust Bruce, he quits any/every job he land if he finds out they’re so much as using Wayne operating systems. His relationship with Jason is entirely separate from Bruce. So much that, Bruce knows about the hanging over of the Robin suit and literally nothing else.
He doesn’t know about aspen, he doesn’t know they meet up for food once a week, or that they’ve taught each other their mother’s recipes. He doesn’t know that they’re close.
When Batman’s busy, Bruce’s life falls down the list of priorities. Jason’s doing his Robin duties, getting good grades and living his life. Bruce doesn’t need much more.
I need Nightwings early habits to be Dicks full on trauma response to basically being informed that the life he fought for was actually a loan that could be taken away from him.
He buys his childhood circus
He buys his apartment building
He doesn’t involve Bruce when the circus burns or building explodes.
Doesn’t involve Bruce when his relationship crumbles. Or for tarantula/ blockbuster/deathstroke/crutches advice.
More Posts from Gaywineauntsstuff and Others
Alfred ‘let me train an 8 yr old in combat instead of therapy’ pennyworth: ….
Bruce ‘never stopped being the child in the alleyway’ Wayne: hnnn
8yro Dick Grayson who despite trauma and anger issues, Has very good emotional intelligence: … so is the next 10 years of my life gonna be a one way conversation
Alfred: ….
Bruce: hnnn
DG: god I’m gonna have to give you peopling lessons aren’t I?
Headcanon that when extremely sleep deprived Dick tells Jason wayyy too much traumatizing lore about his life.
Bc he kinda forgets that Jay wasn’t there for it
Since he was hallucinating the bastard (yeah I know in canon it was obviously a hallucination idk)
So Dick will accidentally just lore dump about the most insane shit bc well Jason was there (no he wasn’t)
And when he’s offensively sleep deprived it goes the other direction and he forgets that Jason ever came back.
So he’s just in the corner watching what he believes to be a hallucination of his baby brother except for some reason his mind decided he needed to see what Jay would look like grown up.
Dick on day 7 without sleep watching Jason beat up a gang member: maybe my therapist was right
Jason: the fuck are you-?
Dick: Maybe I DO need to go back on anti-psychotics
————————————————————
Dick alone in his apartment with a bag of shredded cheese and a plain cereal box in one hand ready to have what is probably the Most depressing depression meal: hmmm hmmmm hmmm
Jason who climbed through a window while dick was distracted: Sup
Dick: ah look a wild hallucinajason appears
Jason: what the fuck did you the call me
Dick patting Jason’s cheek: oh they’re somatosensory now too! That’s new! Anyway bye bye baby bird
Jason watching his brother leave the kitchen: ….okay what the fuck?
——————————————
Dick only on 3 days without sleep: this reminds of the time I was about the sign my marriage license!
Jason: two things 1) why does a shootout remind you of being at the courthouse 2) WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU GET MARRIED
Dick: I didn’t get married?
Jason: then what the hell are you talking about
Dick: idk the last time I tried too get married way more guns than necessary were involved and you know when I tired to get married Jay you were there!
Jason “was dead at the time” Todd: what the fuck are you talking about?
Dick: yeah! I mean you really hated her so you told me I’d be a disappointment if I married her and then disappeared. Which like granted I also didn’t wanna marry her but that was harsh
Jason: ….. I? I don’t even know what the appropriate response is? Here
Dick: an apology would be nice?
Jason who is now 50% sure his ghost haunted his brother 25% sure his brother was hallucinating and like 25% sure Bruce used his image as a tool to get dick to do what he wanted: ……. You know what… nah she was a bitch and I’m glad you didn’t marry her
Dick: I mean.. same
—————————————
Dick has a caffeine IV Grayson : this brings me back to the good old days
Jason dodging an alien: ??? When you were Robin ? How?
Dick: no! When Donna died and I didn’t have to worry about saying alive so I could do insane shit like infiltrating an alien spaceship with no protective gear
Jason:??????????????? Dick what the fuck
Dick: OH come on??? You were there! Very quippy 10/10 would be haunted by again
Jason:…. I- yeah you know what I’m not touching this one

but its important
At first, Hua Cheng mostly gives off the impression of a normal over-protective broody love interest in a romance novel, overly paranoid over anything that might potentially hurt Xie Lian, but then you get to the White Clothed Calamity arc and realize, oh god, oh fuck, that’s actually a completely reasonable response to having to watch someone go through that, he’s actually showing remarkable restraint by allowing Xie Lian to go off and do his own thing as much as he does
Dick Grayson: parentified eldest child who loves his family too much to cut contact, will willing drain 1/2 his blood and take a possibly deadly vaccine if it means his dad is okay
Jason Todd: black sheet child who resents the elder sibling for willingly ruining himself for a man who will not bend his belief to accommodate a child he claims to love
Tim: well fuck the parent pushed the eldest child too far and he’s little to no contact now (I didn’t even know you could do that?) now the parent is self destructing… i guess it’s my turn to be the emotional support child
Damian: youngest child, borderline raised by eldest sibling, internal conflict of this is your parent vs this is the man that raised you and instilled/cemented the moral beliefs you try so hard to maintain in you.
Tag yourself
Bats on Christmas (where are they?)
Dick: with the titans, has been pleasantly buzzed since 8 am. Phone has been off since midnight. Ate his weight in Christmas dinner and candy. Will meet each of his siblings one on one every day after (Jason and him get shitfaced on new years) but currently his head is on Donna’s lap and his legs are on Roy’s and he’s in a constant state of almost sleepy bliss (no one is dead shush)
Jason: binging Xmas movies him and mom used to watch at his apartment. Alfred sent him a full spread (listen in my country we do turkey and fix ins for Xmas idk what Americans do on Xmas) and he’s just been enjoying a quiet day in a nice apartment (bc I refuse to acknowledge or accept anyone being ok with Jay not having a nice warm apartment. If Dick Gave him a safe house he bought with mob money or he actually kept his drug lord money idc he has a very pretty apartment idcidc)
Tim: with Steph and Bernard, they’re shit talking him to bond, him and dick will meet and exchange presents the day after Xmas and he’s panicking bc he completely forgot to buy dick a gift so the three of them are at the mall while Tim gets increasingly worried
Damian: mad he’s not with Dick, at the Kent’s instead. Got the most presents bc all his siblings gave him stuff and both Dick and Bruce bought way too much stuff
Bruce: doesn’t do anything for Xmas and hasn’t since Jason died. His mom was Jewish so until the kids it just wasn’t a good time for him (for obvious reasons) and now his kids don’t really come home so he had a very peaceful night in and unlike literally any other time Christmas is surprisingly quiet in Gotham.
Steph: has collected a bunch of embarrassing Tim photos and is showing and telling Bernard info Tim wouldn’t let be known on his death bed while Tim is panicking over dicks gift. She spent Xmas eve with her mom so now she’s just chilling bc she already bought Dick, Cass, Damian and Tim gifts so she’s safe.
Cass: with babs since her dad has to work they’re having a very small and quaint Xmas together but it’s nice and them
Alfred: actually goes to mass
I love the idea of Dick being all the Batkid's favourite sibling but in violently different fonts.
Jason: Dick and Jay canonically have a pretty solid relationship but i'm partial to the Jason was around for Dick's rebellion stage and so Dick doesn't think he has to worry about the pedestal thing bc Jason has absolutely seen him violently hungover before he was legally allowed to drink font of this
So by the time Jason comes back and is no longer trying to murder Tim (except psychologically) Dick decides... Well he's evil sometimes but also I can finally tell someone all the Titans drama. So him and Jason meet up like once month if they're in the same city and get progressively drunker while shit talking their teams and Bruce.
Also I hate the Dick and Robin!Jason didn't get along. They absolutely did, Dick was like 0.5 seconds away from taking Jason to live with the titans permanently.
Tim: 'Oh Jason is Tims Robin, Oh Dick betrayed Tims trust.' in the name of the orange dude y'all elected twice W R O N G. Tim Drake used to watch VHS tapes of the flying Graysons routine. He wasn't even a batman Stan first. That came after he saw Robin do a quadruple summersault. Tim is a Dick Grayson fanboy first Person second. Like Tim canonically saw Jason die and went lmao skill issue, imagine not being like Dick Grayson i'm better. When Dick first started training him, he'd consistently excuse himself go to the other room, hyperventilate over Dick Grayson teaching him how to train surf. Dick is not just his idol he's also a pretty substantial part of Tim's support system. He calls Dick when he's going through something or is stuck on a case. And he knows that Dick will always have his back. They have like the unrealistic adorable sibling relationships from Tv that don't exist irl. Tim also does that awkward shuffle thing after fights bc they're still siblings and Dick just pretends the fight didn't happen until Tims calm again
Damian: You have to understand Damian thought he'd have to basically do the league all over again. He lands with Bruce and those ideas are soundly rejected and he now has no trust or respect and he has to adjust. And Bruce is doing his holier than thou, you should know better 10yro who literally was brainwashed as a child act, like Tim didn't have to pull him away from straight up becoming a villain and Dick didn't have to put him in his place with his fists a couple times a year (we love Bruce really). Then Bruce gets Time-streamed, Tim runs away and now the circus freak is BATMAN. Except the circus freak is also a sadistic bastard to criminals, despite being made out of marshmallows to you. Dick hangs people upside down off high buildings for information and cackles as Nightwing. He also listens to Damians worries and helps him deconstruct his bias view of the world. Dick canonically set the standard for child heroes and is among one of the most beloved and trusted heroes despite being marshmallowy and refusing to murder people. Dick is kinda like Damians stand in non pretentious moral compass until he learns his own one later on. Hence why Damian adores Dick Grayson more than anyone really.
in summary support my agenda that Dick and Jason are gossipy drinking buddies, Tim absolutely had a Dick Grayson Shrine as a child and Damian calls Dick to double check that he still cannot kill Timothy (its now entirely a joke.... mostly)
Dick and Jay
Dick: yeah I had a great night! Full eight hours
Jason: bullshit I saw you go to bed at 6 a.m
Dick: yep!
Jason: it’s 8 in the morning
Dick: yepp!! ❤️
Jason: wtf did you just talk out an emoji in real life
Dick: :D
Jason: …. Are you okay
Dick (got dosed with fear toxin and poisoned but is fine guys he checked the magic 8ball) Grayson: yep!!
Jason: *slowly backs out of the room*
Dick: I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy unless of course we are talking about my enemy Talia al ghul. Fuck you, you know what you did.
roy’s whole pitch to dick at the start of outsiders is so fucking funny when you actually think about it. bc it’s like:
dick: I can’t be on a team again, I won’t lead friends and family into danger anymore!
roy: cool cool of course man, no problem! it’ll just be strangers and coworkers this time. no deep emotional bonds, I promise! ignore the fact that you’re one of the people I love most in the world and we’ve been family to each other for half our lives and I’m creating this team specifically to help and support you
dick: seems legit, I’m in
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I write bad Dick Grayson and TMA fanfiction on ao3 follow me @imtired_likerllytiredI literally keep creating and deleting accounts on this hellsite lurker since age 8
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