Batman Drabbles
Ugh this was such a bitch to format.

So a while ago I participated in the drabble comm batfic100. I eventually stopped posting because my internet stopped letting me see the site, and the comm itself eventually shut down (mostly, I think, because there was a huge feedback issue-- lots of people would post, but not a lot would comment), but I liked a bunch of the drabbles I wrote and I figured I'd post them here to avoid losing them. They're all exactly 100 words, and they're pretty much all set in some nebulous time before BftC. Originally posted during September, October, and November of 2008.

Title: Perform
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Theater
Character/Pairing: Tim Drake, onesided Tim/Dick
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Author's Notes: Tim is a creepy, creepy creep. I'm not a fan of Dick/Tim, but I like to think that Tim had a crush on him when he first started Robin-ing, and then over time started viewing him more as a brother.

Sometimes, when Dick was working solo, Tim liked to follow (from a safe distance, of course) and watch.

It was kind of creepy, Tim knew, but he tried to tell himself that he wasn’t stalking Dick; that he was studying his moves for future reference and it was training.

Really.

Okay, even Tim knew that was ridiculous. He could barely jump across rooftops, let alone flip. Tim would never be able to do what Dick did, to move like Dick did, all grace and flow and perfect ease. Dick didn’t just work, he performed.

And Tim just liked to watch.

Title: Floor Routine
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Theater
Character/Pairing: Harley Quinn
Rating: G
Warnings: Nein.
Author's Notes: Idk how I feel about this one. I'm not sure, anymore, that I could see Harley doing this, but evidently I did when I wrote this.

It’s late, and Harley is alone in the streets. She walks slowly, her head held high, her shoulders squared and strong. She remembers when she would walk, just like this, to the mats, when all the bruises on her hips could be attributed to bad landings, crooked vaults. She closes her eyes and remembers the crowds that used to cheer as she took to the floor, her specialty.

She begins running, suddenly, lost in memory. At the right moment, she leaps, her hands connect with pavement, and she is in the air, flying, flipping, and then—

She sticks the landing.

Title: Dream
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Flight/Fear of Flying
Character/Pairing: Jason Todd
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Author's Notes: I love Jason Todd. Haters to the left.

In his dream, Jason was flying. That was all he remembered. He forgot everything else the moment he opened his eyes to the cracked ceiling of his hotel room.

He made himself coffee in the dirty kitchenette and thought about his dream. Outside, the sky was gray and the rain had worsened the early-morning traffic, but he ignored that. Right now, he was flying; the sky was blue; the wind was like fingers through his hair . . .

Jason woke a few moments later to a car horn and sighed. He was beginning to wonder why he bothered waking up at all.

Title: Reunion
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: College
Character/Pairing: Graduates of Gotham Univeristy
Rating: G
Warnings: Nein.
Author's Notes: I wish I belonged to a Weinstein Club. Sounds like a pretty posh place. Once again, I'm not so sure about this one . . . whatever.

Gotham University’s ten year reunion was held at the Weinstein Club downtown. Almost everyone from the graduating class attended. The usual exclamations were made, the usual greetings exchanged: “How are you? What have you been doing with yourself? You look simply marvelous, my dear!”

The obvious question, of course, was never asked. It was much too obvious. Many considered it; it hovered on the tip of almost everyone’s tongue for a moment or two before retreating guiltily. No one dared bring it up, although everyone wanted to, and everyone wondered . . .

“Did you hear what happened to Harleen?”

Title: Scores
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: College
Character/Pairing: Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth
Rating: G
Warnings: Nein.
Author's Notes: I used think there should be an entire Robin run featuring Tim trying to balance school and vigilante-ing while visiting colleges, filling out applications, and all the other junk kids have to go through. Every other 17/18-year-old has to do it, why not him? Of course, now he's off gallivanting in Europe, so I guess that's out . . .

Tim had gotten an email on Wednesday from Collegeboard.com, announcing (in colored font) that his SAT scores were online.

Tim had studiously ignored said email.

He continued to ignore the email for a week. He could not, however, ignore the envelope Alfred handed him Thursday morning at breakfast.

“I suggest you open it sooner rather than later, Master Timothy,” he said. Tim stared at it.

“What if I did badly?” he asked. Alfred shrugged.

“I’m not sure, but if you have a problem opening your SAT scores, I don’t know how we’re ever going to get through the application process.”

Title: Strays
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Childhood
Character/Pairing: Selina Kyle
Rating: G
Warnings: Nein
Author's Notes: I am a huge cat lover ♥

She finds the stray cat behind a dumpster.

She doesn’t know why the cat is behind the dumpster, but she’s there because it’s the best place to hide from the police, who’d rather harass a prostitute and steal her cash than chase some street kid with sticky fingers.

The cat is mangy and the color of road kill, and even though she knows that it’s probably been bathing in nuclear waste (are its eyes supposed to go in two different directions like that?) she strokes it with a grimy, tentative hand.

“Hi, kitty,” she whispers. “My name’s Selina. What’s yours?”

Title: No Place Like Home
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Homesickness
Character/Pairing: Helena Bertinelli (Huntress)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Cursing, violence
Author's Notes: YES HUNTRESS YESSS

He was big, maybe double Helena’s size, but her kick caught him right in the solar plexus. He hit the pavement groaning.

“Goddamn—thought you were the fucking Batman—”

“Nah,” Helena said, easily. “I’m worse.”

The thug struggled to his feet just to be knocked back on his ass. “Damn, lady,” he hacked, spitting out blood, “I heard you were gone, left Gotham for good—”

“You heard wrong,” Huntress interrupted, pinning him with her boot. “I took a trip, but I cut it short.” She ground down with her heel. “What can I say? I missed this place.”

Title: Nostalgia
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Homesickness (I kind of played fast and loose with this one)
Character/Pairing: Edward Nygma, Harleen Quinzel
Rating: G
Warnings: Not really.
Author's Notes: Eddie is such a liar. Set back when Eddie was a private detective.

Harleen Quinzel threw herself down in a chair in Edward Nygma’s office and sighed.

“Do ya ever miss it, Eddie?”

“Hm?” Eddie looked up from a case report he was studying. “Miss what?”

“Y’know . . .” Harley gestured vaguely. “It. All of it.”

“Would it kill you to be a bit more specific?”

Harley rolled her eyes. “Crime, Eddie. Villany. Bein’ the Riddler. Running around in tights and tripping old ladies and holding up convenience stores for kicks. Do you miss it?”

“Um, no.” Eddie went back to his case report. “And, for the record, I never wore tights.”

Title: On Patrol
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Halloween
Character/Pairing: Tim Drake
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Author's Notes: This is more of a YJ-era Tim than anything.

Tim is supposed to be on patrol. And technically, he is on patrol. Well, he’s in the area of his patrol, anyway.

Okay, so the residential area of Gotham is on the outskirts of his patrol, but whatever. He’s working, so it’s okay. The house that he’s walking up to right now is the house of a very important witness in a very important, top secret case. And when the witness opens the door, he’s going to question her about very important aspects of the case which only she knows. Really.

The door creaks open. Tim grins.

“Trick or treat!”

Title: Costume
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Halloween
Character/Pairing: Selina Kyle
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Author's Notes: I imagine that most superheros/villains have a lot of fun around Halloween.

On Halloween, Selina sees a Catwoman costume in a costume store and buys it, smiling to herself. She puts it on in her apartment. It’s tight, but she manages to tuck her lock picking kit into her bra before leaving through the window.

She picks the lock of a jewelry store in under twenty minutes. That’s pretty good, considering she decided to rob it twenty minutes ago. She grabs the most expensive pieces, and right before she leaves, trips the alarm.

The next day, the headlines read “Catwoman Impersonator Involved in Successful Heist,” and all Selina can do is laugh.

Title: Trick or Treat
Fandom: Batman
Challenge: Halloween
Character/Pairing: Alfred Pennyworth, Batman
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Author's Notes: I actually don't write a lot of Bruce, so this is kind of weird for me.

On Halloween, Alfred sees ninety-seven Batgirls, seventy-two Robins, eighty-eight Nightwings, and more Batmen than he can count. The Robins, generally, like Reese’s. The Nightwings prefer Snickers.

As the night goes on, the trick-or-treaters get older, from bright-eyed grade schoolers to smirking high school kids to partiers in skimpy costumes, looking for some free food before they hit the next club. When, near twelve, a tall man in Batman costume rings the doorbell, Alfred grabs the bowl of candy, and then pauses.

“Forget your keys again, Master Bruce?” he asks. The Batman grins.

“Does this mean I can’t have any candy?”