recs and links

Luke and Vader have to cuddle for warmth! The idea is ridiculous but this story is sweetly melancholy.

This is a lovely look at Damian figuring out he's asexual, and figuring out his relationship with Jon.

Damian spends times with his extended family (Thomas and Martha, assorted Flying Graysons, etc.) while he's dead.

Dick and Donna, pre-series. Sharp and heart-breaking. (Titans)

Dick takes a long, slow route to recovering after being assaulted by Tarantula. This has some animated YJ stuff in it that threw me off timeline-wise for a bit, but it's a good read and I teared up a couple of times.

When Dick learns that Tarantula is being released from prison, he doesn't handle it well. Jason lends some unexpected support.

The Dogfather AU from Draco's POV.

In the chaotic years after Steve Rogers arrives back in 2023 as an old man, he helps rebuild the world, falls in love with his best friend, adopts a stray cat, and saves the entire timeline. Not necessarily in that order. Long, exquisitely melancholy look at Steve and Bucky - and the world - after he returns from the past.

Wistful Bruce/Selina from Selina's POV.

In which Tim goes on his first (unplanned) mission as a member of the Batfamily, and Extension, which is about his crush on Conner. Adorable! (two sequels to "Surveillance" (previously recced))

Really lovely Steve/Bucky through Bucky's eyes over the years.

“He said I was a mistake. I don’t care to be reminded.” “Reminded.” “Yes.” “That you’re… a mistake?” “Yes,” Damian nodded. “The biggest mistake you ever made.” He turned towards Bruce, still perfectly straight-faced. “I already know, so you don’t have to pretend. It’s fine.” For a few seconds, Bruce stared blankly at his son, trying to decide which shocked him more— the words or the matter-of-fact tone. Damian still didn’t look the least bit emotional. “I don’t have to pretend?” Bruce spluttered. “Damian, what on earth would give you the impression that—” “You told me,” said Damian. “Sort of.” Bruce has a talk with Damian to straighten some things out. Oh Damian.

Early on in their partnership, Damian disobeys orders and Dick has to figure out how to get through to him. Oh heart.

Everyone dresses as Batman for the Justice League Halloween party. Hee!

Steve wanders into a diner one night when he can’t sleep and experiences a taste of home. Aw, this is just darling. #pie = love

Dick and Babs, through the years, and seasons of Buffy.

Bucky fills in for Steve when Steve is in space and UTTER HILARITY happens.

A really good, long Dick-becomes-Talon AU.

Each of the boys he'd had a hand in raising in this manor were as dramatic as each other. Yet Bruce still occasionally looked at his two sons as if wondering where they'd got it from, like dressing up as a bat and fighting criminals every night was a hobby that encouraged restraint.  "And how old do you think I am, Master Jason?"  "Twenty-six," Jason answered promptly, because he was far from a stupid boy and had not an ounce of shame in him. Jason sighed again. "Life is suffering, Alfred."  "And we will celebrate surviving that suffering with cake."  Jason & Alfred, before and after.

After helping out a working girl, Jason ends up teaching her some self-defense. Things snowball from there. Oh heart. With some great art, too.

It's the blizzard of the century and even Batman is snowed in, which seems like a perfect time for Dick Grayson to ask Bruce Wayne a very pointed question about his new Robin. Featuring small cameos from the Justice League. This is a nice look at Tim from Dick's POV.

Clark liked children, truly. They were fun and energetic, looked at the world with fresh eyes, and had a beautiful sense of wonder. But he didn’t have much experience with them. Catching a child falling from a tree or winking at one while flying overhead was one thing. Being responsible for a small human was something else entirely. They were so very small and so very breakable. Interacting with one felt like the first time Ma had handed him one of the barn cat’s newborn kittens. It helped that Dick seemed, all in all, a little less breakable than the average human child. While Bruce works a case in Metropolis, Dick spends the weekend with Uncle Clark. It's not without its challenges. Oh heart.

There's a mishap with time, and six Robins meet. ROBINS!

Dick and Jason have to deal with a baby. This is sweet.

"A shady ‘independent agent’ who only makes contact with an MI6 agent who’s been around since our dads were fighting over here, suddenly wants to meet you and only you, deep in German territory. And that doesn’t make you suspicious, not at all?” Steve and Bucky meet with an agent who hasn't provided intel since WWI. She's not what Steve was expecting.

This is a really sweet, funny, feelsy look at Shuri dealing with the aftermath of her father's death and the Wakandan civil war, while working on removing Bucky's triggers.

ADorable Cass & Jason bonding.

He had paper cranes and...a PS4. Somewhere. Not in the bathtub, but now that he thought about it that sounded like a fantastic idea. "But where would I put the television?" Jason asked, blinking as Cass carefully avoided the wound on his side, standing up in the tub and frowning down at him. "Little brother." She sounded very stern. "Up." "I'm comfortable here," Jason replied. Also his legs had started going numb from being folded awkwardly in the tub. It wasn't big. There was a reason it was only his second favorite safe house and it was because the tub wasn't the optimal size necessary for crane making. Crane storing. For him to sit in while making paper cranes. Jason is high on painkillers and making paper cranes. Cass is understandably concerned. This is adorable.

Bruce "I accidentally slipped and fell across the room, took out three tables and broke a desk with your body as I ACCIDENTALLY fell on you also you're going to jail” Wayne takes his young protégé down the rewarding path of revenge. When Bruce runs into a criminal he can't take down as Batman, he tries another route to bring the man to justice.

Jason infiltrates a masked gala at Wayne Manor and flirts with Dick to distract him. He gets a little more than he bargained for.