I've recced many a fic over the last year but I just need to put all of my required reading, my absolute faves, my "thinks about this for weeks," all into one place. you are MANDATED BY LAW TO READ THESE. this is a proper professional library so these are organized alphabetically
utility tags [comic], relationship, pov:
trope tags character study, relationship study, canon expansion, canon rewrite, au:, trans female character, nsfw, hurt no comfort
3:16 70,762 words #[Batman and Robin 2009-2011] #Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne #POV: Dick Grayson #Canon Expansion
The knife pushes thin along Dick’s carotid artery, cupping the indent between neck and jawline—forcing him to angle his chin. The metal is warm, pulled with execution speed from under Damian’s pillow.
“Okay,” Dick says quietly, tracking the intricacies of his own heartbeat—counting the space between breaths. “Guess I did need a shave.”
(With faltering steps, Dick and Damian become Batman and Robin.)
bait and switch 7,131 words #[Birds of Prey 1999-2009] #Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon #POV: Dinah Lance
Dinah loops the necklace around her neck and, with the help of the mirror by the door, swaps out her diamond studs for two twin birds. A fringed jacket is pulled from the closet, draped over her bodysuit to keep off the autumn chill. Boots are tied, hair pulled back.
She’s halfway out the door when the static crackles in her ears.
“Hey there, Black Canary,” come the cool, automated tones of the Oracle. “Took you long enough.”
(the birds meet. and then they fall in love, or something.)
drowning lessons 3,848 words #Tim Drake & Dick Grayson #POV: Tim Drake #Trans Female Character
There's nothing more embarrassing than having to ask your brother for a ride home because you got your ass handed to you, except maybe having to ask your brother for a ride home from a club where you went dressed as a woman. And got your ass kicked, still.
head for the exits 8,140 words #Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne #POV: Clark Kent
Superman and Batman go undercover with a couple's therapist to investigate a string of recent murders. It goes... okay.
“We’ve been working together for over six years and sleeping together for nearly five and a half. But we're not a couple. He’s made that very clear, so I'm at a loss for words on why he dragged me here since, y’know, we're not a couple.”
Clark shifts his whole body again. He hooks one foot under him, letting his boot get on this woman's thousand plus dollar couch and watches Bruce in profile. He hates how beautiful he is.
“It was a mistake, right, B? It’s unprofessional, right, B? It's not going to happen again, right, B? But then two days later you're down on your knees for me again in the locker room with all our coworkers just on the other side of the door and you're begging me to fuck you in your car when our shifts are done, and then you're calling me at three in the morning to rush over because you miss me and you need me and you can't wait. And then you're kicking me out at five because you want to sleep and you have never — not even once — stayed the night with me.”
hello world, it's me again 14,465 words #[Oracle: Year One 1996] #POV: Barbara Gordon #Canon Rewrite
Barbara Gordon was shot, and the world kept going.
A re-interpretation, adaptation, and expansion on Oracle's Year One.
(In the process of being written, Chapter 1 can be read as a standalone)
infans 1,068 words #Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne #POV: Cassandra Cain #Trans Female Character
Black boots. Black clothes. Shadow too? Shrink back. Smaller. Smaller.
(Batman finds an eight-year-old shadow on the streets of Gotham. The shadow comes home.)
iris west and the multiple resurrections of eobard thawne 10,160 words #Barry Allen/Iris West #POV: Iris West
Family bonding is when you bury the body of a time-traveler together, over and over and over again.
it deepens like a coastal shelf
like water in your hands 13,735 words #Dick Grayson/Garth of Shayeris #POV: Garth of Shayeris #AU: Fantasty Royalty
Waste not, want not. Have not, want it all.
little suns 20,787 words #[Batman and Robin 2009-2011] #[Batman Inc 2011] #Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne #POV: Dick Grayson
While Bruce was presumed dead, Dick adopted Damian. Now that Bruce has returned, the three of them struggle to adjust to the new status quo. AKA Five times Dick struggled with being a father and a son, and one time he got the balance right.
objects in a mirror 2,703 words #POV: Multi #Canon Expansion
“Now you're just doing it on purpose. Do the voice, too, I promise I won't tell him.”
Four short stories about the girl bats, and not about Bruce Wayne at all.
one step at a time 18,762 words #[All Flash 2007] #POV: Thad Thawne
Thaddeus Thawne spends years imprisoned as a living statue until Bart Allen releases him and pleads a case for his reformation. Gifted with newfound freedom and support, Thad tries to live a new life one step at a time.
road to recovery #[Batgirl 2009-2011] #POV: Stephanie Brown #Canon Rewrite
sleepless nights #[Teen Titans 2003-2011] #Cassie Sandsmark/Rose Wilson #POV: Cassie Sandsmark
sunday girl #[Teen Titans 2003-2011] #Tim Drake/Cassie Sandsmark #POV: Cassie Sandsmark #Trans Female Character #NSFW
thawed out my freezerburnt feelings #[Teen Titans 2003-2011] #Cassandra Cain/Rose Wilson #POV: Rose Wilson
the picture frames have changed and so has your name 24,305 words #[Batman Inc 2011] #Tim Drake & Dick Grayson #POV: Multi
There’s something wrong with Dick.
Tim thought everything was getting back to normal. Bruce was alive and back in their timeline, the Birds of Prey were once again operating out of Gotham, Dick had the city well under control as Batman and even Damian had been less obnoxious than usual.
And then during a firefight at a warehouse by the docks, Tim was almost hit by a flying boomerang. And Dick never noticed.
When something is wrong with your big brother, who else do you turn to but your big sisters?
there's a hole where your heart lies 6,085 words #[Titans 1999-2003] #[Outsiders 2003-2008] #Dick Grayson/Roy Harper #POV: Dick Grayson, Roy Harper #Relationship Study
“Can I kiss you,” Roy asked, all gentle and polite, and Dick couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t force his tongue to form words, he couldn’t make his lips move, he couldn’t use his throat. He had to say no. Didn’t he? He couldn’t let Roy kiss him, not when he knew it was wrong, not when he knew Roy would hate him for it later, not when it scared him so bad he couldn't breathe. Roy was just looking at him, waiting for an answer. Like it was simple. Dick felt like the universe was closing in on him.
Or: Dick and Roy, through the years, over and over again.
through the noise and static and the call 3,969 words #[Birds of Prey 1999-2009] #Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon #POV: Dinah Lance #NSFW
Dinah doesn't even know what the woman looks like. The only piece of Oracle she has is that voice, and meanwhile Oracle has probably dug up secrets Dinah didn’t even know she was keeping. It's something she tries not to think about, and ends up thinking about too much, rolling it over and over in her mind like a loose molar, a little painful, a little dizzying.
we who own the night 5,284 words #Cissie King-Jones/Cassie Sandsmark #POV: Cassie Sandsmark #Trans Female Character #NSFW
Cassie has never been sure if she wants to be Kon or be with Kon.
who is donna troy? 4,791 words #Dick Grayson & Donna Troy #POV: Dick Grayson #Character Study
“I think I always knew,” Donna interrupts. “Or at least, I’m not surprised. There were always—memories. Or dreams. Something like that. Layers, that I could peel back if I wanted. Sometimes I got lost in them, or maybe they got lost in me. I don’t know which. I’m not certain it matters. There’s so much. The multiverse is infinite, you know. Infinite worlds. Infinite earths.” She turns up the palm of her hand, looks at it curiously.
“How do you suppose it’s possible to contain infinity in one person?” she murmurs.
you aren't always the best, but you're mine 4,716 words #Bart Allen & Wally West #POV: Bart Allen
“I just don’t get why the little brat is my problem!”
Bart has known his big cousin for exactly thirty-five minutes and twelve seconds. In that time, Bart’s learnt two things.
One: Wally hates him completely.
Two: Bart may as well do the same.
you, my shooting star 23,501 words #Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon #POV: Barbara Gordon #AU: Star Wars
As she often did, she closed her eyes when he kissed her. When she didn’t look, it was easier to believe she was in control.