The Conflict Between Tim And Dick At The Beginning Of Red Robin Is Accidentally The Most Interesting

The conflict between Tim and Dick at the beginning of Red Robin is accidentally the most interesting thing to happen to their relationship in years but everyone seems to want to simplify it to either "Dick is mean and unfair" or "Tim is a selfish brat" when the BEST batman conflicts (of which this could be one) are the ones where everyone has a point.

But the thing that REALLY gets to me is that, whether they think Dick was right or wrong for his choices, everyone seems to act like it was a logical and unemotional decision on his part??? That choosing to not believe Tim's theory was obvious and immediate?

Imagine:

Tim strolls into the Batcave and gives Dick everything he wants on a silver platter:

Hey, none of this is real; you don't have to be Batman. We can be Robin and Nightwing again, and we can go save our dad! You don't have to move cities and derail your entire life and raise a kid by yourself.

You think Dick didn't want so badly to say yes?

You think he didn't want to throw away everything and run off with Tim, that he wasn't desperate for a way out of the terrible burden Bruce had laid on his shoulders?

But Bruce had entrusted him with everything. His city. His legacy. His kid. His kids.

Dick made the infinitely more difficult choice, because he wanted Tim to be right so badly but would not abandon what he had been entrusted with. Would not let Gotham fall. Would not abandon Damian to fester with no one to care for him.

Would not feed into what very well might be a delusion wrought from grief, no doubt hurting Tim in the process, just so that Dick could avoid reality for a little longer.

having short-term memory is like. this book profoundly affected me. that show bared my soul. i don’t remember a single thing about it. but it did

The bats have an entire group chat dedicated to keeping Tim from becoming a super villain.

At first they weren’t too concerned. Sure Tim was a little questionable, but he seemed normal enough, despite his sociopathic tendencies.

The issue originally started as a joke. Jason was complaining about how hard it was to take over and manage a majority of Gotham’s underworld. Tim had laughed and said he could probably catch up to Jason in about 2 week, probably less.

The entire family bet on it. And surprise surprise, Tim won…by a landslide. Did everything and more in a week. When asked how Tim just laughed.

“Please. I know everything about everyone in this city. Nothing happens here without me knowing.”

And hold up? Did Tim already have a control of the underworld before this because that’s cheating? No he didn’t but the Bat’s learned that Tim has built and maintained a massive informant system that spans across everything in the city and some outside.

When asked why he just shrugged. “Bruce locked me out of the bat cave one too many times when I was Robin so I had to find my own way to get information.”

Later they learn that Drake industries did not go bankrupt. Well it did, but Tim bought it for Pennie’s on the dime and it now goes by Jackson Industries and has been systematically funding and buying rights to a number of medical practices/studies/etc to then redistribute at affordable rates. The reason every civilian in Gotham has a rebreather is because of Jackson Industries.

Also apparently Tim is a majority share holder with LexCorp. Again when asked Tim shrugged and said something about one to many attacks on Con and being ready to sweep the rig from Luther’s feet at any given moment left the man a lot more paranoid and a lot more careful.

That’s not even touching on Young Justice. The bats found footage of their early missions and realize that they’re def a ride or die group and they would 100% follow Tim before they stop him.

So yeah. They have a chat dedicated to making sure Tim doesn’t tip over the very thin line to villainy because honest to god, they’re not convinced they could stop him.

The tags, THE TAGS ARE KILLING ME

best friends to lovers (🥰💝😍🥺💞💗💓💝🥺❣️💖😭😍🥺🥰💞💝💓💗🥺🥺😭💖😭💖😍🥰🥺💞💖😭❣️😍🥰💓🥰😍🥺💖😭❣️💞🥰🥺💞💗💝💞💖😭😭❣️💞💝🥺🥰💓💗💖😭❣️🥺🥺😍❣️😭😍💝💗🥰💝🥺🥰😍💗😭💖😍🥰💝🥰💞🥺😍💖😭😭💖😳🥺💞💗💓💓😳😍)

Screaming crying THROWING UPPPP

Obsessed with this timkon AU my brain came up with where Kon knows Tim is in love with him because his heartbeat gets all frantic and fluttering when they're alone together, but Kon is still very repressed about not being entirely straight so when Tim do finally confesses he turns him down and says he just wants to be friends. He feels an odd, deep ache inside his heart when Tim's heartbeat skips a beat before slowing down to what he's sure is a heartbreak but, even so, he keeps telling himself he's not like that and moves on. Nothing much change from then on, Kon keeps listening to Tim's erradict heartbeats whenever they're alone or when Kon picks him up to fly to missions and he pretends he doesn't like it.

That is, until Kon is busy doing farm work with Pa Kent and he suddenly hears Tim's heartbeat going crazy and fluttering like it does when he's in love. But that can't be it because Kon isn't next to him right now and suddenly he's both so indignant and scared because who else could be making his robin so flustered–

And that's how Kon realizes he's in love with his best friend. When he listens to his heartbeat and finds it beating for someone else.

Really wanted to try drawing Jason

Kinda turned way darker than I planned though…