Strays (fanfic)

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Batman is very happy with the way that Robin has picked up his training, his methods, and his habits. Generally. But his protege showing up at the Batcave with two small children, Tim and Jason, clinging to him proves that he's adopted one trait Batman would rather have he hadn't. It seems the Batfamily has an incurable penchant for picking up strays, and Tim and Jason are only the beginning.

A fill on the Young Justice: Animated Anonymous Fic Meme written by blackash26, Strays is a heartwarming, Alternate Universe story that shows what would it have been like for the Batfamily to grow early on and together, eliminating the angst that naturally accumulated from everyone trying to replace someone else.

Can also be read here. Has its own livejournal comm here.

Is in no way related to the webcomic Strays.

Tropes used in Strays (fanfic) include:

• Abusive Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Drake, of the emotional kind. They've never been around for a majority of Tim's life and fire the hired help at regular intervals so none could get too attached to him. As a result, Tim can't imagine others actually wanting to be around him.
  • Jason's mom is pretty bad too, with her telling him he's a deadweight whenever she's on drugs.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Tim is so adorable you'll either die of his sheer superpowered cuteness or the tragedy of his existence. Jason is a cruder version but he also counts.
• All There in the Manual: A lot of tidbits on the characters are posted on the author's tumblr account.
• Animal Theme Naming/Animal-Themed Superbeing: To go with Dick's Robin, each of the other Batkids' new hero identities will be named after a different bird. So far the author has decided on two; Jason will be known as Bluejay and Stephanie as Sunbird. Fans are fond of referring to the collective group as the Flock. The author approves.
• Apologizes a Lot: Tim apologizes for everything, even for things nobody's sure he's apologizing for. Dick and Jason do not approve.
• Badass Family: Oh hells yeah is one in the making.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Why Tim is so attached to Dick and Jason.
• Big Brother Instinct: Despite not being biologically related, Jason is fiercely protective of Tim and considers him his little brother. Dick quickly adopts this attitude towards both of them.
• Big Brother Mentor: Dick is eager to be one and is shaping up to be a damn good one at that.
• Big Fancy House: The Wayne Manor aside, the Drake Manor is very, very fancy. Too fancy. There is barely any evidence to show that the house was ever lived in, aside from Tim's Superman bedsheets and his collection of Dick-related newspaper clippings.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: Played with. While a heaping amount of the original canon angst is cut off as the Robin-succession issue is...well...no longer an issue, it's clear that there are still plenty of other issues everyone still has. That said, everyone is trying to work through them and everyone being together early on is going to help enormously.
• Bonus Material: The author has written two canon side-stories: Tradition and Down for the Count.
• Children Raise You: Bruce is still struggling with single-parenthood but he really does need Dick for the metaphorical light he provides. Having Alfred around however does help tremendously.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Jason tends to curse a lot.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Jason is quick to jealousy whenever Tim pays more attention to Dick.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The author already planned that Damian would come into the story about five years after the canon formation of the Team, figuring that that would give her a lot of leeway as the show's timeline likely wouldn't get that far anytime soon. As it turns out, the second season started out with a five year Time Skip.
• Innocent Prodigy: Tim is stated to have a genius IQ but it's made clear that due to his naiveté, he wouldn't have lasted a minute on Gotham's streets had Jason not found him.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Catherine Todd wants Jason to be happy, even if it means she will never see him again and he will think she is dead.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jason has a foul mouth, is quick to anger, and tries to steal whenever he can but Tim's well-being is always the first thing on his mind and he risked his life to save Dick's the first time they met.

Jason: (On taking in Tim) “It was stupid but it was still right.”

• Legacy Character: Averted. Each of the kids will have his/her own unique superhero identity as a result of being adopted into the family all at once.
• Little Mister Snarker: Jason.
• Mama Bear: Mrs. Soto, a Latino woman who babysat Jason, actually manages to come off as somewhat intimidating to Batman when he broaches the subject of Jason to her. Jason's actual mother has this attitude after snapping out of her drug-induced stupor.
• Mythology Gag: At one point Jason contemplates stealing the wheels off of one of Bruce's cars.
• The Nicknamer: Dick refers to Jason as "Jaybird" and Tim as "Babybird". Jason in turn dubs him "Dickface" and "Bigbird".
  • Future fics show that Stephanie will be "Ladybird," Cassandra will be "Blackbird" and Damian will take the "Babybird" title from Tim, upgrading Tim to "Littlebird".
• Parental Abandonment: Jason's father is in prison. Once Jason's mother is sure that her son is safe, she willingly gives him up for adoption, believing that she can't do anything for him.
  • Do the Drakes count? I mean they haven't been in Tim's life except possibly when he was a baby. Ah; Parental Neglect at its most heartbreaking.
• Picture Day: A canon side-story has the Flock making a tradition out of taking a picture of themselves for Father's Day to give to Bruce and Alfred.
• Recursive Fanfiction: There are several of these attached to the thread, some being future fics while the others crossing over into the comic continuities. There is also fanart of the Batkids in their new superhero costumes.
• Selective Obliviousness: Bruce keeps telling himself that he'll eventually send Jason and Tim away and that he's in no way attached to them even when he starts forming training exercises in his head while watching Jason and wondering how he can get Tim away from his Jerkass parents.
• Shout-Out: Dick has Jason and Tim watch Lilo and Stitch with him.
• Shown Their Work: The author knows a lot about psychology and it shows in the comments. Discussions between the fans and the author have speculated on the effects of Tim's emotional negligence on his development, the sibling dynamic between kids, and Cass's upcoming speech-therapy.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Or at least spared in the sense that Jason will never have a horrible and untimely death to resurrect from in the first place. The author made it adamantly clear in her comments that Jason is going to be happy and alive in her story and that the Joker will in no way ever have a chance to kill him. A fan expanded on this with a future-fic in which Jason gets saved before the deed is done.
• Title Drop: Bruce (in his mind) often refers to Jason and Tim as Dick's "strays".
• The Woobie: Anybody would want to hug Tim as soon as his backstory comes into the light.
  • Jason is one too, declaring himself a "good-for-nothing" who has Tim as the only thing he "has going for him".