summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2024-06-15 05:31 pm
summercomfort) wrote2024-06-15 05:31 pm
Entry tags:
batfam fic recs
now that I've managed to crawl out (slightly) from the months-long batfam fic hole (looking back through my AO3, I've apparently made 97 batfam bookmarks since Feb 25, so it's been 3.5 months, good lord. And 61 pages in my reading history, which translates to >1200 fics in the last 111 days, or ~11 fics per day holy fuck.) It's... been a deep hole, a looooong binge, yikes.
But anyway, fic recs!
Here's the ones from March 28, since that set was previously embedded in a bunch of tedious life updates.
- The Second Stage by nightwalker (8k)
Short and full of feels: basically Tim is touch-starved and determined not to bleed on anyone. Unfortunately his family finds out and he gets lots of cuddles.
- Brother Wanted by Vamillepudding (11k)
Hilarious one where Tim puts out an ad for a brother and Jason accidentally answers. I love the little!Tim characterization here.
- 1-800-ROBIN by spqr (12k)
A great entry in the "Jason Todd finds out and forcibly adopts Tim into the Batfam" category, all told through a series of phone calls. Great Jason Todd voice. The only thing is that Tim in this story is behaving more like an 11yo than a 9yo, so I just mentally adjust that upwards a bit.
- Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines by SilverSkiesAtMidnight (13k)
Tim's parents remain horrible! In this one, they make Tim food-insecure by cutting his food-buying budget and Tim, of course, tries to solve the problem himself. Eventually people figure it out and Tim ends up in a much better place.
- A Meditation on Railroading by eggmacguffin (25k)
Wow this is an amazing fic about gaslighting. It's about Tim being abandoned in Atlanta by his shitty dad and deciding to train-hop his way home. I feel like I understand gaslighting better now.
- The Lone Ranger Never Had to Deal with Bruce Wayne by theskeptileptic (25k)
This is a fic where Tim plans to fake his own death and run away to Canada to start a new life. Features hilarious little!Tim logic -- I love how his plans are both very smart but also very stupid at the same time, because he's 11.
- Missed Calls by nightwalker (26k)
5 times that Tim's dad didn't pick up the phone and one time he did. A particularly good rendition of the "Tim's parents are neglectful" trope. A good 5+1 really explores the range of the premise, and this fic delivers.
- exception by cassiopeia721 (27k)
A good character piece where Tim is taught that he's the "exception" -- exceptionally bright and mature, and therefore "kid" rules don't apply to him. Which doesn't do well for his emotional development, of course, as he deals with family neglect and also getting beaten up by Jason Todd.
- Banshee In A Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee) (43k)
In this one, Tim keeps dying and coming back to life. It doesn't leave any emotional trauma around self-worth at all, no sirree. Nor does it feed into Tim's self-sacrifice tendencies at all, either, of course not.
- buy back the secrets by sundiscus (71k, 5/6 chapters)
I love the characterizations in this one, particularly Kon! It's a super cute Tim/Kon fic where Kon doesn't know that Tim is Red Robin. Great plotting, too! It only has 1 more chapter to go, so you know things are going to be resolved and okay :)
And here's the new ones.... many of them longer because I just gave up all hope of climbing out of the fic hole and started clicking on longfics in some sort of self-sabotage. (But they're all so good!!) I've put them in length order, so there's still a few short ones at the beginning. And most of them are Tim-centric because I'm basic like that.
- Hot Cat on a Tin Roof by Arsenic (4k)
This one is super cute -- basically Tim is an omega who has been hiding his heats because his parents were shit and never taught him otherwise, but then Jason finds out and of course mother-hens aggressively.
- phantom pain by envysparkler (5k)
A very solid entry in the category of "Jason finds out that Tim's home life is miserable" -- in this case, he finds out that Tim's dad beats him through an accidental pain transference spell.
- transaction by envysparkler (7k)
The one where kid!Tim is touch-starved and goes to pay street-kid!Jason for hugs
- RedBird of Friendliness (In the Outlet by the Lightswitch) by TimTheToaster (tabletoptime) (9k)
Trying to cut down the angst recs with shorter fun pieces. This one is about various Gotham villains asking Dick!Batman where Tim went.
- Tell Me I Am by potofrogs (15k)
Basically trans!Tim gets kidnapped by Ras and made his "queen", saves himself and comes back to Gotham, and ... manages to recover, confront the Bats and stake out his own life in a generally healthy manner?!! I like that in this one, he doesn't immediately fall back into the Batfam gravity well.
- His Head is Bloody, but Unbowed by gunpowder_and_pearls (26k)
A great Jason POV fic! I love the way this fic captures what Jason's life would be like if he didn't end up getting adopted by Bruce -- the precariousness of trying to hold down two jobs as a 16-year-old and also dealing with a not-healthy home life. (It's okay, he befriends Nightwing and Robin)
- A Backstitch In Time by Megaerakles (30k)
This is really cute -- Tim basically traveled back in time to fix various Batfam problems, starting with Jason's death, thereby removing his need to connect with the Batfam. But then Jason accidentally falls into a Lazarus Pit and regains all his memories from the other timeline and is like "why am I missing a whole-ass brother?" and brings Tim back into the Batfam
- Feel Like A Brand New Person by DairyFarmer (32k)
Oof, this one is... I hesitated in reccing this, because it features a dark!Bruce and a lot of grooming behavior re: Tim. (Basically, Tim goes so deep with his undercover identities that he kind of dissociates from those identities. Bruce takes advantage of that by setting Tim up with a lot of honeypot jobs. Tim thinks it's all right bc anything for the mission, right? Then the rest of the Batfam finds out and basically ousts Bruce (as they should).) But what I found really interesting about this fic is that because it's mostly written from Bruce and Tim's POV, the grooming and creepy behavior kind of sneaks up on you. Which of course makes the end really cathartic. Anyways, mind the tags.
- a Robin by any other name by redrobin1989 (33k)
I love me some identity porn, and in this one, Tim still becomes Robin but refuses to tell Batman who he is. It really does some fun stuff with the "Batman and Tim!Robin is just a professional relationship" premise. (They figure it out in the end)
- Red Letter Day by silverwhittlingknife (41k, 9/? chapters)
This is a wip, but deffo worth reading! Basically Dick is trying to be single-parent to Damian and barely keeping all the balls in the air. There's a mysterious calendar date that's marked as super important but he can't remember what it is. He thinks it's for Damian (but it's pretty clear by chapter 2 that it's for Tim). It's got an interesting Dick & Tim dynamic in that they hang out and obviously care about each other, but also there's too many things left unsaid (but Dick is really trying his best!) Written by someone who actually reads the comics, so Dick isn't just relegated to some sort of bogeyman to Tim's angst.
- Dead Boys Don't Scream by Year_of_Summer (49k, 15/26 chapters)
Wow I love this fic. Tim feeling neglected by Batfam? check. Tim running off and trying to solve problems himself with an overly-convoluted plan and zero survival instinct? check. Tim making friends despite himself? check. Super cool siren/merpeople mythology? check. All the angst upon Tim's return? check. This fic hasn't hit the comfort part of hurt/comfort, but it's expertly written and I definitely trust the author to deliver! Definitely worth a subscribe.
- The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks (52k)
So lots of fics have this arc of "Tim feels shut out from the Batfam and eventually does something so drastic that the Batfam is forced to notice and then fix things." Which I love! Except that sometimes the fixing-of-things is a very quick about-face, where Tim goes from "I don't feel loved, I'm leaving" to "everything is great!" in about 2 paragraphs. Anyway, this fic really slakes my need for people noticing earlier, for the Batfam trying to fix things but it's hard and rocky because they're different people with different traumas and hangups. Basically, Batman comes back from being "dead" and immediately notices things are wrong. Then comes all of the HARD conversations with Dick, with Jason, with Damian, with Tim, to really get everyone back together.
- Liminal Space by Calamityjim (77k)
You know how there's fic authors manage to pull off a bonkers comic plot and make it seem totally reasonable? That's this series. There's inter-dimensional travel, time travel, an utterly manic!Tim who comes up with the craziest plans. An awesome YoungJustice!Bart from a dystopian future who uses "crash" and "mode". Oh, and Tim is deeply flawed (and should not be allowed to do dimensional travel), but he still finds a loving, supportive family. (Warning: if you do go further in this fic series, the last fic of the series, "Collapse" is aggressively NOT kind to Clark Kent.)
- Northern Attitude (I Was Raised on Little Light) by theskeptileptic (79k, 16/18 chapters)
I absolutely love this writer. Tim is, of course, miserable in this fic (because he wants to be part of the Batfam but his parents basically blackmailed Tim into staying with them and then continuing all the child abuse), but everything eventually works out! Tim is a great self-rescuing princess, and my heart of hearts goes out to the AMAZING Jason POV in chapter 20 (which works as a standalone, though it slightly spoils a bit of the plot), where you really FEEL how much Jason loves literature and uses that to guide his life.
- Go On, Red Robin by Bourneblack (85k, 18/? chapters)
This one is still a wip, but I really like the characterization of everyone trying their best but also having built up the usual communication problems of being a messy family. It deals with a lot of heavy and sensitive topics with kindness and nuance, which I appreciate (Tim recovers from rape, goes through with an abortion, deals with the innate sexism of being an omega, and gets some really affirming/cathartic therapy. Damian, Duke, and Jason are on their own individual journeys of the acceptance as well). Nothing super graphic but mind the tags.
- Finding the Line by Miss_Lazy_Tuesday (130k)
In this one, Dick actually catches Damian trying to kill Tim, and as a result, actually gets Damian and Tim to reconcile before Tim runs off. Then the Batkids basically work together to bring Bruce back, find a magical macguffin, defeat the League of Assassins, and stop a complete re-write of reality. Great characterization and a fun comic plot.
- Retired Robins Club by DarthPeezy (2 standalone fics, Damian-centric one is 25k, Tim-centric one is 135k)
Okay I'm still reading the Damian one, which is a great one about leaving cults and growing personhood. Things I liked about the Tim one: (a) they really capture Manic!Tim really well, where he's hopped up on caffeine and lowkey starting proxy wars, and (b) it really captures Tim... moving on and finding his own life and coming to terms with major deaths???? in a way that I didn't expect??? (spoiler: both Bruce and Kon dies, but then Tim learns to move on without ever forgetting them.)
- The Fishbowl by LordLuxury (142k)
A Dick-centric one that is about Dick running from his problems (Bruce being a Bad Dad, etc) in order to keep his family together... until he frays enough at the edges that everything finally comes out in the open. Despite its length the pacing works really well and you're just carried deeper and deeper into this train wreck of "denying your problems until it all explodes in a poorly planned aquarium outing". (the much-shorter 8k accompanying fic from Bruce Wayne's perspective does a good job of redeeming Bad Dad Bruce)
But anyway, fic recs!
Here's the ones from March 28, since that set was previously embedded in a bunch of tedious life updates.
- The Second Stage by nightwalker (8k)
Short and full of feels: basically Tim is touch-starved and determined not to bleed on anyone. Unfortunately his family finds out and he gets lots of cuddles.
- Brother Wanted by Vamillepudding (11k)
Hilarious one where Tim puts out an ad for a brother and Jason accidentally answers. I love the little!Tim characterization here.
- 1-800-ROBIN by spqr (12k)
A great entry in the "Jason Todd finds out and forcibly adopts Tim into the Batfam" category, all told through a series of phone calls. Great Jason Todd voice. The only thing is that Tim in this story is behaving more like an 11yo than a 9yo, so I just mentally adjust that upwards a bit.
- Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines by SilverSkiesAtMidnight (13k)
Tim's parents remain horrible! In this one, they make Tim food-insecure by cutting his food-buying budget and Tim, of course, tries to solve the problem himself. Eventually people figure it out and Tim ends up in a much better place.
- A Meditation on Railroading by eggmacguffin (25k)
Wow this is an amazing fic about gaslighting. It's about Tim being abandoned in Atlanta by his shitty dad and deciding to train-hop his way home. I feel like I understand gaslighting better now.
- The Lone Ranger Never Had to Deal with Bruce Wayne by theskeptileptic (25k)
This is a fic where Tim plans to fake his own death and run away to Canada to start a new life. Features hilarious little!Tim logic -- I love how his plans are both very smart but also very stupid at the same time, because he's 11.
- Missed Calls by nightwalker (26k)
5 times that Tim's dad didn't pick up the phone and one time he did. A particularly good rendition of the "Tim's parents are neglectful" trope. A good 5+1 really explores the range of the premise, and this fic delivers.
- exception by cassiopeia721 (27k)
A good character piece where Tim is taught that he's the "exception" -- exceptionally bright and mature, and therefore "kid" rules don't apply to him. Which doesn't do well for his emotional development, of course, as he deals with family neglect and also getting beaten up by Jason Todd.
- Banshee In A Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee) (43k)
In this one, Tim keeps dying and coming back to life. It doesn't leave any emotional trauma around self-worth at all, no sirree. Nor does it feed into Tim's self-sacrifice tendencies at all, either, of course not.
- buy back the secrets by sundiscus (71k, 5/6 chapters)
I love the characterizations in this one, particularly Kon! It's a super cute Tim/Kon fic where Kon doesn't know that Tim is Red Robin. Great plotting, too! It only has 1 more chapter to go, so you know things are going to be resolved and okay :)
And here's the new ones.... many of them longer because I just gave up all hope of climbing out of the fic hole and started clicking on longfics in some sort of self-sabotage. (But they're all so good!!) I've put them in length order, so there's still a few short ones at the beginning. And most of them are Tim-centric because I'm basic like that.
- Hot Cat on a Tin Roof by Arsenic (4k)
This one is super cute -- basically Tim is an omega who has been hiding his heats because his parents were shit and never taught him otherwise, but then Jason finds out and of course mother-hens aggressively.
- phantom pain by envysparkler (5k)
A very solid entry in the category of "Jason finds out that Tim's home life is miserable" -- in this case, he finds out that Tim's dad beats him through an accidental pain transference spell.
- transaction by envysparkler (7k)
The one where kid!Tim is touch-starved and goes to pay street-kid!Jason for hugs
- RedBird of Friendliness (In the Outlet by the Lightswitch) by TimTheToaster (tabletoptime) (9k)
Trying to cut down the angst recs with shorter fun pieces. This one is about various Gotham villains asking Dick!Batman where Tim went.
- Tell Me I Am by potofrogs (15k)
Basically trans!Tim gets kidnapped by Ras and made his "queen", saves himself and comes back to Gotham, and ... manages to recover, confront the Bats and stake out his own life in a generally healthy manner?!! I like that in this one, he doesn't immediately fall back into the Batfam gravity well.
- His Head is Bloody, but Unbowed by gunpowder_and_pearls (26k)
A great Jason POV fic! I love the way this fic captures what Jason's life would be like if he didn't end up getting adopted by Bruce -- the precariousness of trying to hold down two jobs as a 16-year-old and also dealing with a not-healthy home life. (It's okay, he befriends Nightwing and Robin)
- A Backstitch In Time by Megaerakles (30k)
This is really cute -- Tim basically traveled back in time to fix various Batfam problems, starting with Jason's death, thereby removing his need to connect with the Batfam. But then Jason accidentally falls into a Lazarus Pit and regains all his memories from the other timeline and is like "why am I missing a whole-ass brother?" and brings Tim back into the Batfam
- Feel Like A Brand New Person by DairyFarmer (32k)
Oof, this one is... I hesitated in reccing this, because it features a dark!Bruce and a lot of grooming behavior re: Tim. (Basically, Tim goes so deep with his undercover identities that he kind of dissociates from those identities. Bruce takes advantage of that by setting Tim up with a lot of honeypot jobs. Tim thinks it's all right bc anything for the mission, right? Then the rest of the Batfam finds out and basically ousts Bruce (as they should).) But what I found really interesting about this fic is that because it's mostly written from Bruce and Tim's POV, the grooming and creepy behavior kind of sneaks up on you. Which of course makes the end really cathartic. Anyways, mind the tags.
- a Robin by any other name by redrobin1989 (33k)
I love me some identity porn, and in this one, Tim still becomes Robin but refuses to tell Batman who he is. It really does some fun stuff with the "Batman and Tim!Robin is just a professional relationship" premise. (They figure it out in the end)
- Red Letter Day by silverwhittlingknife (41k, 9/? chapters)
This is a wip, but deffo worth reading! Basically Dick is trying to be single-parent to Damian and barely keeping all the balls in the air. There's a mysterious calendar date that's marked as super important but he can't remember what it is. He thinks it's for Damian (but it's pretty clear by chapter 2 that it's for Tim). It's got an interesting Dick & Tim dynamic in that they hang out and obviously care about each other, but also there's too many things left unsaid (but Dick is really trying his best!) Written by someone who actually reads the comics, so Dick isn't just relegated to some sort of bogeyman to Tim's angst.
- Dead Boys Don't Scream by Year_of_Summer (49k, 15/26 chapters)
Wow I love this fic. Tim feeling neglected by Batfam? check. Tim running off and trying to solve problems himself with an overly-convoluted plan and zero survival instinct? check. Tim making friends despite himself? check. Super cool siren/merpeople mythology? check. All the angst upon Tim's return? check. This fic hasn't hit the comfort part of hurt/comfort, but it's expertly written and I definitely trust the author to deliver! Definitely worth a subscribe.
- The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks (52k)
So lots of fics have this arc of "Tim feels shut out from the Batfam and eventually does something so drastic that the Batfam is forced to notice and then fix things." Which I love! Except that sometimes the fixing-of-things is a very quick about-face, where Tim goes from "I don't feel loved, I'm leaving" to "everything is great!" in about 2 paragraphs. Anyway, this fic really slakes my need for people noticing earlier, for the Batfam trying to fix things but it's hard and rocky because they're different people with different traumas and hangups. Basically, Batman comes back from being "dead" and immediately notices things are wrong. Then comes all of the HARD conversations with Dick, with Jason, with Damian, with Tim, to really get everyone back together.
- Liminal Space by Calamityjim (77k)
You know how there's fic authors manage to pull off a bonkers comic plot and make it seem totally reasonable? That's this series. There's inter-dimensional travel, time travel, an utterly manic!Tim who comes up with the craziest plans. An awesome YoungJustice!Bart from a dystopian future who uses "crash" and "mode". Oh, and Tim is deeply flawed (and should not be allowed to do dimensional travel), but he still finds a loving, supportive family. (Warning: if you do go further in this fic series, the last fic of the series, "Collapse" is aggressively NOT kind to Clark Kent.)
- Northern Attitude (I Was Raised on Little Light) by theskeptileptic (79k, 16/18 chapters)
I absolutely love this writer. Tim is, of course, miserable in this fic (because he wants to be part of the Batfam but his parents basically blackmailed Tim into staying with them and then continuing all the child abuse), but everything eventually works out! Tim is a great self-rescuing princess, and my heart of hearts goes out to the AMAZING Jason POV in chapter 20 (which works as a standalone, though it slightly spoils a bit of the plot), where you really FEEL how much Jason loves literature and uses that to guide his life.
- Go On, Red Robin by Bourneblack (85k, 18/? chapters)
This one is still a wip, but I really like the characterization of everyone trying their best but also having built up the usual communication problems of being a messy family. It deals with a lot of heavy and sensitive topics with kindness and nuance, which I appreciate (Tim recovers from rape, goes through with an abortion, deals with the innate sexism of being an omega, and gets some really affirming/cathartic therapy. Damian, Duke, and Jason are on their own individual journeys of the acceptance as well). Nothing super graphic but mind the tags.
- Finding the Line by Miss_Lazy_Tuesday (130k)
In this one, Dick actually catches Damian trying to kill Tim, and as a result, actually gets Damian and Tim to reconcile before Tim runs off. Then the Batkids basically work together to bring Bruce back, find a magical macguffin, defeat the League of Assassins, and stop a complete re-write of reality. Great characterization and a fun comic plot.
- Retired Robins Club by DarthPeezy (2 standalone fics, Damian-centric one is 25k, Tim-centric one is 135k)
Okay I'm still reading the Damian one, which is a great one about leaving cults and growing personhood. Things I liked about the Tim one: (a) they really capture Manic!Tim really well, where he's hopped up on caffeine and lowkey starting proxy wars, and (b) it really captures Tim... moving on and finding his own life and coming to terms with major deaths???? in a way that I didn't expect??? (spoiler: both Bruce and Kon dies, but then Tim learns to move on without ever forgetting them.)
- The Fishbowl by LordLuxury (142k)
A Dick-centric one that is about Dick running from his problems (Bruce being a Bad Dad, etc) in order to keep his family together... until he frays enough at the edges that everything finally comes out in the open. Despite its length the pacing works really well and you're just carried deeper and deeper into this train wreck of "denying your problems until it all explodes in a poorly planned aquarium outing". (the much-shorter 8k accompanying fic from Bruce Wayne's perspective does a good job of redeeming Bad Dad Bruce)
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I am so glad to see you in a delightful new fandom! It's totally different from when I was in Batfam (for instance I was there before Damian's introduction) but still wonderful to behold.
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It was pretty good, actually -- a lot of attention paid to characters who weren't just the BatBoys, not that much wank about age differences etc. I left for a good reason for once -- Star Trek AOS lured me away.
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ah! I had for some reason thought your Star Trek fannishness went back to TOS and not AOS. :)
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Heh, no, I just adoore Nichelle Nichols. I actually didn't like TOS because a man with a Southern US accent kept being racist to the interesting pointy eared alien science guy. My gateway Star Trek was TNG.