Misadventures of the Baby Batbros
is a Batman fanfiction series created by PrettyMissKitty.
In this series, a rumour starts going around that the young Tim Drake knows about Batman's Secret Identity and thus becomes a target for kidnapping. This brings him to the attention of the Batfamily and it changes the dynamics and relationships between all the characters.
Works in this series are:
- Museum Mishap (Complete)
- A (SMART) Bird's Guide to Manners (Complete)
- Red Rising (Currently on hiatus)
- i didn't want to be (here) (Complete)
- Trading Faces (Ongoing)
This Fanfic provides examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Tim gets called "baby bird" by Barbara and "baby seal" by Jason.
- Age Lift: Tim, Jason and Stephanie are pre-adolescents while Barbara and Dick are late teenagers.
- Animal Motifs: The Bats with the bat and bird theme, along with Selina and Tim having a cat motif as Catwoman and Stray respectively.
- When they were younger, Jason frequently compared Tim to a seal on land (see the mentioned nickname above) because of the latter's general awkwardness and mannerisms.
- Armed with Canon: The time skip between A (SMART) Bird's and i didn't want to be (here) is filled with references to comic books events, particularly Bruce's apparent death and rescue by Tim from the timestream, and how Tim's relationship with Dick fell apart because Dick refused to believe Bruce was lost in time.
- Bad Guy Bar: Two bars, the Raven where the Tolovi brothers hang out and Obscura which is Tavian Ross' headquarters.
- Berserk Button: Questioning Tim's sanity is one of the few ways to cause him to be angry.
- Bilingual Bonus: Jason knows how to speak Spanish, which he speaks when agitated.
- Breaking Speech: Bruce gives one to Tim when he tries to convience the former to train the boy as a new Robin. It nearly works.
- Canon Welding: The series incorporated a bit of Batman: Arkham Knight and Red Hood and the Outlaws.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Jason's offscreen death is this for the entire series. Before, the series was a lighthearted tale about Tim's earlier entrace into the Bat Clan. Red Rising is the darkest entry in the series, as it centers on the Bat Clan's attempts to deal with Jason's death (and resurrection).
- The Chessmaster: Tim.
- Child Prodigy: Tim, which he reveals in the first chapter by infiltrating the basement of the History Museum to look at the storage of Wayne Enterprises technology.
- Clark Kenting: Tim is very good at adopting a "mask" even though he's actually terrible at lying. It's noticeable that Stray acts in a confident, sensual way utterly opposite to Tim's usual shyness and self-depreciation.
- Combat Pragmatist: Jason, due to growing up in Crime Alley.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Tolovi brothers brutally beat down Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin.
- Crazy-Prepared: Tim is this. For instance, before he started his Stalker without a Crush of Batman and Robin he memorized the location of all legitimate free clinics in Gotham.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Dick, Bruce and Barbara adopted this policy towards Tim after Jason's death in an attempt to drive him away because they didn't want him to die as well. It backfired and only served to motivate him further, all the while tearing down his already low sense of self-worth to the point where it later seems that the only reason he is trying to stay alive anymore is that he doesn't want the others to feel like they failed him the same way they failed Jason.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: While the canon death was already bad enough, here Jason was tortured by the Joker over several days before being blown up after attempting to escape.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Jason's death is this for Tim in particular and for the Batfamily in general.
- Dances and Balls: In the second fic, the Wayne Foundation hosts a gala at the Gotham Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Determinator: Tim. In spite of being unwelcomed at the Batfamily who act Cruel to Be Kind and the fact that a resurrected Jason (the person he decided to become Robin for) calls him an inadequate replacement repeatedly, along with other events like Dick and Barbara refusing to believe Tim when he says Bruce was lost in time- all of these just motivated him further.
- The basis of the plot to i didn't want to be (here). Everyone is fully aware of how far Tim would go when he has a set goal in mind, especially if that goal has to do with Jason. He knows that everyone knows, at least to the point where they wouldn't risk his life. It forces an ultimatum to be made.
- Doomed by Canon: Jason, who is doomed to die and come back as Red Hood.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Cassandra Cain appears in the climax of A (SMART) Bird's as a nameless girl covered in black.
- Endearingly Dorky: Tim at the start of the series was described to be very socially awkward but earnest and good kid. Jason doesn't explicitly admit it often, but his narrative does have a tendency to fondly compare Tim to a robot or some sort of animal:Baby seal’s got big scary teeth, but it doesn’t have any fucking feet, so it waddles ridiculously on land and is just impossible to take seriously.It’s too fucking adorable.
- Everyone Can See It: Tim and Jason.
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Fandom-Specific Plot: Tim as Stray is a favorite trope of the Bat fandom (although other batkids are also targets). - Fight Clubbing: Played with. Jason makes a Deal with the Devil with Tavian Ross and Rwen Tolovi to test out their Super Serum by participating in two fights, which occurs in the basement of Obscura.
- For Science!: Rwen Tolovi's motivation is to gather data on how the Super Serum interacts with other people, especially if they're compatible.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Tim's "swearing".
- Government Agency of Fiction / Government Conspiracy: GHOST is a secret government agency funded through ambiguously language that engages in Super-Soldier programs and assassinations.
- Harmful to Minors: Jason believes that Sabini is a pedophile, which is not helped by the drug lord cooing at and saying that Tim has a pretty face.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Tim, big time. Even after he becomes Robin he still sees himself as inadequate and often disparages his own skills comparably to Jason and Dick.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite Tim meeting the Batfam much earlier than in canon in addition to his close friendship with the second Robin, Jason still dies, Tim ends up taking up the Robin mantle, and Jason still comes back as Red Hood with a broken relationship with his family.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In the second fic, as part of the Theme Naming about rules.
- Legacy Character: The mantle of Robin, which Jason is holding at the beginning of the series and that Tim takes over after his death.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Played with. Jason is definitely attracted to Stray, but as a sort of wake up call for his sexuality, as he starts noticing how attractive Tim is afterwards.
- Must Have Caffeine: Tim is already drinking coffee heavily at the age of 12, probably because to remain awake when he stalks Batman and Robin at night.
- Oblivious to Love: Tim, due to Parental Neglect, is surprised when the Waynes go out of their way to include and being friendly to him.
- Tim and Jason to each other's feelings in Trading Faces, to the point where it borders on something between I Reject Your Reality and severe Selective Obliviousness.
- One-Steve Limit: Subverted, there are two Robins of the beginning of the series. Dick Grayson, who is a member of Teen Titans, and wears the mantle of Nightwing when he comes to Gotham and Jason Todd, who is the new title bearer.
- Stalker without a Crush: Tim has been stalking Robin (both of them) and Batman for years to photograph them.
- Secret-Keeper: Tim, who has known the Batfamily's identities for years. Also Comissioner Gordon.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Jason.
- Slash Fic: The main pairing in the series is Jason/Tim, though it is mostly explicitly a pairing in the AU Trading Faces, with the exception of flirting between Stray and Jason in the climax of A (SMART) Bird's Guide to Manners
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Subverted. When facing a duo of Super Soldiers that brutally beat down Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin, Bruce decides to begrudgingly call in the Justice League. Dick also decides to call in the Teen Titans.
- Super Serum: The drug that spreads and kills people all over Gotham in A (SMART) Bird's Guide to Manners turns out to be this.
- Super-Soldier: The Tolovi brothers, due to a Government Conspiracy program.
- Time Skip: There's a nearly three years gap between A (SMART) Bird's and Red Rising.
- There's an even longer time skip between A (SMART) Bird's and i didn't want to be (here) where Tim is in his late teens, Damian is Robin and the events of Batman's death and rebirth has already happened.
- Would Hurt a Child: Sabini, a newly coming drug lord trying to set up in Gotham, has little problem beating up and cutting Jason and Tim.
