reversed robins!
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Damian isn't sure if he'll ever fill his father's shoes. Not as Batman, a mantle which he once coveted and now wants nothing to do with, or as Richard Grayson's legal guardian. But with his father dead, he has no choice but to step up. It's not like Tim - busy searching for a way to bring Bruce back - or Jason - Crime Alley's infamous Red Hood - are going to look after the boy. He wishes he could ask his father for advice. It's not like he's got a wealth of responsible parental figures in his life to turn to when he needs a helping hand, and Richard is definitely a handful.
Like right now, for instance: he just will not stop poking that magical artefact they're supposed to be watching for Zatanna!
It'll be fine, right?
OR: a Reverse Robins AU in which older sibling Damian and younger sibling Dick accidentally travel to a universe where their ages are reversed, Bruce and Alfred are still alive, and a shocking amount of things are still the same.
Series
- Part 1 of reversed robins!
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Damian watches the Flying Graysons fall. He and his father turn the boy over to the Gotham Police department, content to assume that he'll be appropriately taken care of by the system. They can't take in another child, not after Jason was killed. There will never be another Batboy as long as Damian is alive to forbid it.
But when Damian finds out that Dick is hunting down the Maroni crime family and has been placed in juvenile detention due to lack of beds in Gotham's orphanages, he can't simply look the other way.
OR: Dick Grayson has a brief intermission in juvie before joining the Batfamily as the youngest son.
Series
- Part 2 of reversed robins!
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The Red Hood's explosive introduction to Gotham prompts Damian to take Richard back to Bludhaven for his own protection. It's a good idea in theory, but Hood has more resources and more pent up anger toward the Batfamily than they initially realized. When confronted with the limitations of the family's moral code and the idea that some villains are past the point of saving, he struggles not to think of his own bloody upbringing in the League of Assassins.
OR: Jason comes back from the dead and makes it everyone else's problem.
Series
- Part 3 of reversed robins!
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When Richard's parents died, Damian scooped the boy into his arms and told him not to look. When Damian's father dies, he wishes there was someone to do the same for him. But he can't break down, at least not yet. There are things that need to be done. Logistics to be seen to. Richard needs a guardian. Someone needs to take over Wayne Enterprises. Someone needs to take over Batman. This might just be the thing that tears the family apart for good.
OR: Bruce dies, and the Batboys try to figure out how to cope in the aftermath.
Series
- Part 4 of reversed robins!
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Deathstroke's contract to keep Dick safe has been haunting Damian since he first heard about it, but it's not until the boy goes missing that he realizes how much trouble they're in. The Batboys have been on the outs since Bruce died, but they'll have to band together to keep Dick safe.
OR: Eight months after Bruce dies, the Court of Owls makes a movie on Dick.
Series
- Part 5 of reversed robins!
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rise of the titans by spinachgarden
Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types
15 Nov 2025
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As it turns out, finding childcare for a thirteen year old vigilante is not the easiest thing in the world. This means that Damian reluctantly has to bring Dick to the Watchtower with him for the occasional meeting, which leads to other members of the JL bringing their kids. It'll be good for them to have friends their own age, right? What could possibly go wrong?
OR: Dick forms the Teen Titans right under Damian's nose.
Series
- Part 6 of reversed robins!
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Dick has, by all accounts, lost two father figures in the span of as many years. Damian is trying his best to raise the boy, but he doesn't know if he deserves to consider himself Dick's father, or if Dick even wants him to step into that role. He would do anything for Dick, of course. That's all that matters, right?
OR: Fatherhood looks good on Damian.
Series
- Part 7 of reversed robins!
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Summary
Losing Bruce tears the Batfamily apart. Tim goes a little insane (or a lot insane) trying to prove he isn't dead. Jason doubles down on his efforts to clean up Crime Alley his way. Damian tries to keep a stiff upper lip for Dick, and shuts them both off from the rest of the family. It takes a long time for them to start to mend fences, and just as Tim thinks that maybe he does need to follow Damian's advice and start to come to terms with Bruce's death, he finds a shred of evidence that he can't ignore.
OR: Tim goes off the deep end trying to find Bruce.
Series
- Part 8 of reversed robins!
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With Tim off on a classified mission with the Justice League for the past two weeks, Dick has gotten used to the routine of going to bed while Damian keeps patrolling Gotham. The penthouse has state of the art security, Damian circles back as often as he can, and besides, Dick is hardly helpless. It's not the ideal solution, but it's the solution they've got. Out of all the thirteen year olds in Gotham, Dick is probably the most equipped to spend a few hours alone at night.
So really, what could go wrong?
OR: Damian has a bad time.
Series
- Part 9 of reversed robins!
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Following Bruce's return from being lost in the time stream, Damian steps back into his role as Flamebird, and tries to pretend for Dick's sake that he isn't arguing with his father. They'll be fine eventually - they always are. He needs to focus on Bludhaven. Crime has skyrocketed in Flamebird's absence, the new police commissioner is in bed with the mob, and there's word of a new alliance forming between two criminal empires that needs to be stopped. Without Robin at his side for the first time in a year, it's harder than Damian expected to get back into the swing of things.
OR: Flamebird is reborn, and Damian finally hears what he's needed to hear for the past year.
Series
- Part 10 of reversed robins!
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When Slade shows up on a Teen Titans mission, Damian has to step in to get Dick out of a tight spot. That's all well and good, except that Damian is injured, and his refusal to step away from active vigilantism is just making it worse. Surely there will be no repercussions.
OR: Damian's back pain is actually narratively important.
Series
- Part 11 of reversed robins!
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Summary
Their family has always been considered famous, but since Bruce's return, a spotlight has been focused on the Waynes. Rumours have run rampant about custody battles over Dick, and infighting over the CEO position of Wayne Enterprises. In truth, the Wayne family is doing okay. What better time to show it than at the annual Wayne Enterprises Christmas Gala?
OR: the Waynes have a good Christmas for the first time in a long time.
Series
- Part 12 of reversed robins!
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Summary
Dick Grayson was born to perform. From his upbringing to the circus to his successful management of a double life as Robin, he has always known how to stick the landing and smile. It is no different when it comes to hiding things from his family, for example: a building obsession with arresting Slade Wilson, who proves to be a much more formidable opponent than Dick perhaps thought.
OR: as Damian's back gradually gets worse, Dick scrambles to take Slade out of the picture. It goes about as well as can be expected.
Series
- Part 13 of reversed robins!
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By any measure, Damian was the first child hero. Twenty years of vigilantism have taken their toll on his body, and by ignoring his back injury for so long, he has finally pushed himself to the point where he must make a decision: get surgery, or give up being Flamebird.
OR: Damian has a series of important conversations.
Series
- Part 14 of reversed robins!
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Summary
Three months after Damian's back surgery, he's finally cleared for light exercise. It seems like being Flamebird again is finally on the horizon. Dick, now in eleventh grade, can't wait to have his dad back out in the field with him. His last confrontation with Slade was before Damian's surgery, and he'll feel better once he knows Damian can defend himself again.
OR: Slade's plan comes to fruition.
Series
- Part 15 of reversed robins!
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Summary
Slade is simultaneously his jailor and a poor caricature of a father figure, depending on his moods. Sometimes he ruffles Dick's hair and tells him he's doing a good job. Sometimes his eye darkens and he hits harder, faster, meaner. Dick learns, in those first few months, how to appease Slade in order to see those better moods more often. He learns not to bring up Damian, to grieve silently, to appear grateful. He learns to play the role of one of Slade's long-dead sons without ever mentioning their names. He tells himself that this is not betraying his family, it is survival. If only he believed it.
OR: Dick becomes Slade's apprentice.
Series
- Part 16 of reversed robins!
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Summary
For three months, Dick has survived Slade. Now, headed into the Canadian wilderness with his captor, it suddenly feels real in a way it hadn't before. Nobody is coming for him. He is the only person who can get him out of this.
OR: Dick and Slade, on the road to the cabin.
Series
- Part 17 of reversed robins!
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Summary
When Tim was twenty-one, Jason died, and he dropped everything to run back to Gotham and try to put Bruce back together with Damian's help. Now he is twenty-eight, and Damian is dead, and Wayne manor is full of ghosts again, and he does not have Damian there to fall back on. Suddenly thrust into the position of being the eldest sibling, Tim struggles to reach out to each member of his family while battling his own grief.
OR: Damian is dead. The Batfamily... copes.
Series
- Part 18 of reversed robins!
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brotherhood, and other social constructs by spinachgarden
Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types
30 Mar 2026
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Summary
Slade cannot be allowed to take over the League of Assassins. With frightfully little in the way of leads other than the list of safehouses Dick provided them, Tim and Jason set out on an ill-planned road trip to try to find the followers that Deathstroke has amassed, and prevent an all-out civil war. Are they running from their problems? Of course. Will it fix anything? Certainly not. Historically speaking, they don't even work that well together. Their relationship has been difficult ever since Jason was resurrected, and the hours spent in a confined space will either damage it beyond repair, or build it into something resembling brotherhood.
OR: Tim and Jason go on a road trip, with Damian's ghost in the backseat.
Series
- Part 19 of reversed robins!
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Summary
When Dick was eleven, Bruce took him in and helped him find a way through the loss of his parents. Bruce got it in a way that most people couldn't. He understood the anger, the guilt, the yawning chasm of depression following a loss like that. He took a sad, angry child, and he gave him Robin as an outlet to all of that pain. Now, Dick is almost seventeen, Damian is dead, and once again his grief falls onto Bruce's shoulders.
OR: a haunted house is no place to raise a child.
Series
- Part 20 of reversed robins!