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Bruce will be dead and buried before he finds peace.
He’s sure of it. Even then, he imagines it will be nearly impossible to actually find peace because someone is just going to figure out how to resurrect him. He even has irrefutable proof that that is something that can happen.
Bruce is looking at his dead son.
-
Bruce doesn’t understand how he became the bad guy in this situation.
“No. Don’t look at me like that old man!” Jason points at Bruce accusingly. “Why is there a child running the criminal element of Gotham? Isn’t your whole thing adopting would be criminals, so they won’t become new rogues?”
Before Bruce can say anything, not that he really knows what he’s supposed to say in this situation, the child kingpin pipes up. “Hey! I intentionally avoided any situations that would have put me in his path. I didn’t want to become a child soldier, thank you very much.”
“I didn’t-” Bruce manages to get out before being talked over again.
“Wait. ‘Child soldier’? Are you the one that sent me the graduation card when I became Nightwing?” Dick pipes up from where he’s perched next to the Batcomputer.
The kid smiles genuinely, and it throws Bruce for a moment, having only seen glaring and scowling from the kid the entire time he’d been in his vicinity. “Yeah! Did you like it? I thought you deserved something for getting out from under the billionaire’s influence.”
Bruce sighs and thinks to himself, ‘Is this the thanks I get for preventing a child from committing murder?’
“I don’t care what the rest of you do, I’m keeping this kid.” Jason says with a sharp grin.
Bruce squints, ‘Were Jason’s teeth always that sharp?’
-
Bruce runs his hand down his face in frustration.
“For the last time, Tim, if you draw up a proposal for me to look at, I will happily pump money into whatever programs you think will actually benefit Gotham. I have tried so hard to not be a billionaire.”
Tim glares at him from across the conference table. “Literally everything you have ever changed about Wayne Enterprises has just made you wealthier.”
“Not on purpose!” Bruce finally exclaims. “I have a PowerPoint on everything and their intended outcome if you want to see it.”
To Bruce's surprise the kid gestures for him to continue, and Bruce excitedly scrambles to pull out one of his thousands of PowerPoints. No one ever wants to sit through one of his PowerPoints, so if his pseudo-adopted grandson wants to, then Bruce isn’t going to argue. He’s also not going to give the kid a chance to change his mind before Bruce can begin the presentation.
Bruce pulls up one of his most reworked PowerPoints [Why Other Billionaires are Liars: A Comprehensive List of Implemented Policies and Other Measures That Billionaires Claim are too Expensive to Implement and Will Lose Them Money]
-
Bruce blearily looks at his phone.
The caller ID says: Jaylad, and Bruce immediately shoots awake. When Bruce answers, Jason asks, what Bruce thinks, is a completely ridiculous question.
“B, why is my kid yelling at me for ‘treating my autistic father poorly’? Did you tell Tim that you were autistic or something?”
Bruce takes a moment to take stock of himself and his surroundings, wondering if this is some bizarre dream, or alternate universe. “No." He starts carefully, "Why does Tim think I am autistic?”
“I don’t know old man; the kid is making some pretty good points. I know you’re allergic to therapy, but were you ever tested for it? I'm pretty sure Harley is mostly stable, she could do an evaluation for you.”
Bruce stares at his ceiling.
-
Batman waits for his closest allies to react.
Superman looks blankly at Batman for a long few seconds before looking at Wonder Woman and then back to Batman.
“Did… did you not know?” Superman asks hesitatingly.
After a moment of internal embarrassment Batman decides he’d rather not have this conversation actually. He turns around and starts toward the Watchtower’s Zeta tubes.
“Bruce.” Diana calls out from behind him, and though he doesn’t allow any outward signs, Bruce resigns himself to whatever is about to happen. “Bruce” she says again as she draws close enough to rest a hand on his arm. “You are our comrade. We are proud of you for finding out more about yourself, and we are honored for you then wishing to tell us. Know it does not change anything in how we see or trust you.”
“Of course it doesn’t change how we see you.” Clark pipes up from the other side. “You’re our friend.”
Bruce feels ridiculous for ever doubting them.
-
Batman doesn’t know how to react to what he is seeing.
A snarling child is clutching their shin where they have a gunshot wound, and his grandson is standing over said child holding a gun and clutching his abdomen around a katana. Why are all of the children in his life bloodthirsty and feral?
Batman taps into Oracle’s feed as he begins to implement some field medicine. “Oracle, can you verify that Leslie is working tonight? I have a child with a GSW, and the little bird has been stabbed.”
Oracle starts cursing him out for getting her ‘protégé’ stabbed, and Batman assumes that means she’s checking.
Batman sighs, he wasn’t even here when this happened.
-
Bruce Wayne has a biological child.
Bruce doesn’t know how to reconcile that with his thoughts about himself. He did know that this kid was just as murderous as all of his other children, and Bruce didn’t know what that said about him. All in all, Bruce was feeling like he was in over his head, like he did any time a new child came into his life and wanted to do violence.
Why did all of the children in his life want to do violence? Bruce had waited until he was nearly an adult to really begin training to be a vigilante and was in his twenties before he’d started as Batman. Was he somehow the problem? If anything he'd tried to limit the violence.
Dick was going to go out on his own and would have definitely done a murder if Bruce hadn’t stepped in. Dick really only ever showed restraint because Bruce had explicitly laid out rules of engagement. There are still thugs on the streets that give up if Bruce plays a recording of Dick’s laugh because he had traumatized them so bad.
Bruce could concede that he had encouraged Jason. But Jason had brought magic to being Robin. Jason deserved to have life outside of the criminal element. Though in the end, Bruce couldn’t even give him that. Jason had died, and now was now the face of the criminal element in Gotham to act as a cover for the person who had apparently been running the Gotham underworld for years without Bruce’s knowledge. The fact that Jason had adopted Tim only added to Bruce's stress on the matter.
Tim was a whole different breed of unfathomable child. It was definitely not his fault that Tim had done all the things he’d done. The kid hasn’t even legally existed since he graduated from high school. After graduating at fouteen, Tim had taken on a false identity that he had created, Alvin Draper, to secretly run the Wren Family and its affiliates. The only reason Bruce even knew about the child, or his Criminal Enterprise, is because Jason had wanted to rub Bruce’s face in how smart Bruce's new grandson was. Neither of them would hear anything about how Tim was too close in age for Jason to adopt him, instead they had both told him to shove it. Alfred had advised that he let that particular topic go.
Then there was Damian. Bruce had just learned about Damian a few weeks ago. The only reason Bruce knew about him is because Talia had sent Damian to Gotham in the wake of someone calling himself “The Ghost King” attacking Nanda Parbat. According to Damian, the Ghost King had drained the Lazarus pit and abducted Ras al Ghul to the underworld. If that wasn’t enough of a problem on it own, Damian had been raised as an assassin for almost ten years. The conditioning was truly horrifying. It had taken weeks to even begin to assure Damian that Bruce wouldn’t beat or starve him for any mistakes he made. It had actually taken Dick coming back to Gotham and yelling at Bruce like he hadn't done in years.
After they had argued and calmed down somewhat, Dick had actually helped explain his start as Robin to Tim as well. Apparently, his grandson had gotten it into his head that Bruce was completely selfish in his adopting and had purposefully raised child soldiers to better his image as Batman. That had certainly sent Bruce into a spiral.
Bruce couldn’t be the reason all his children were bloodthirsty.
-
Bruce goes looking for Damian in the back gardens
“Damian, what are you doing?” Bruce askes when he finds his son crouched in some of the bushes.
Damian stiffens before standing and turning smoothly. “Nothing, father.” He says with poorly disguised tension in his voice.
Bruce hesitates, Dick’s voice ringing through his head. ‘Be firm, but honest and expressive, or, well, as expressive as you can manage.’ Bruce clears his throat and gets low so he can sit on his heels. Damian looks bewildered at this, but Bruce pushes on. “Damian, it’s important for you to know, I will never treat you like a weapon, or a soldier. You are my son, and I love you. I will not promise to never get upset, but I promise to never hurt you intentionally. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide anything, but I won’t force you to tell me before you are ready.”
Damian had gone perfectly still over the course of Bruce’s impromptu speech, and Bruce hoped this would be the time it stuck. His son searched his face, and Bruce hoped he found whatever he needed to see. He cursed his difficulty in expressing himself. It had lost him both his previous sons for years, he didn't want it to happen with Damian as well.
Without saying anything Damian turned back around to the bush, and Bruce warms at the sign of trust the simple act of Damian showing Bruce his back is. When Damian turned back around, Bruce was surprised to see Damian was holding a truly mangy cat. It almost comically fits the stereotypes of a stray cat, and is one of the sorriest creatures Bruce had ever seen. “Father, I have found a cat and believe I can bring it back to full strength. You have my word that this will not interfere with my schooling or training.”
Bruce tears his eyes from the pitiful creature in his son’s arms up to his son’s serious expression. Seeing the resolve in the boy's eyes Bruce feels himself relent, though he wonders if there was ever going to be a situation where he would have said no. "Why don’t we contact Selina, I’m sure she knows an excellent feline vet. Do you have a name for your new dependent?”
Damian takes a deep breath. “Alfred.”
Bruce smiles.
-
Batman has been researching for hours.
“Master Bruce, I would suggest you come back to this later. Master Jason will be introducing his new partner in thirty minutes, and you have been down here for over twelve hours.” Alfred says from behind him.
Bruce looks at the time and suppresses a curse. “You’re right Alfred. I just can’t seem to find any information on this “Ghost King” that supposedly dragged Ras to the underworld. I contacted Constantine about it, but he hasn’t gotten back to me. I wanted to contact Zatanna, but she's undercover right now.”
“Yes, yes. That’s all very fascinating sir, but if you don’t go change now, I’m afraid the young master’s partner will figure out that Brucie Wayne, is in fact, the Batman.”
Bruce gets up.
-
Brucie opens the door a calculated forty-seven seconds after the doorbell rings with a wide, vapid grin.
“Jaylad! You know you don’t have to knock. You and your son both have keys.” Brucie says with a teasing smile.
Tim smirks, “Yeah, Jaylad, we have keys.”
Jason ruffles Tim’s hair as he passes him through the door. “I like to make the old man answer his own door.”
Tim scowls after his father before turning to Bruce, “Hey B, how are the measures I suggested affecting your ‘unwilling billionaire’ thing?”
“My personal profits have reduced by forty-three percent while maintaining all employee compensation practices and increasing charitable actions by fifteen percent.” Brucie says proudly.
Tim gets a thoughtful look on his face, “That’s not right, charitable action should have increased by at least eighteen percent.”
“We’re waiting for the Mayors office to give permission for the new soup kitchen.” Brucie tells him.
“Masters Bruce and Tim, dinner is ready, and you are both still at the door. Please allow our guest entry and make your way to the dining room.” Alfred says as he walks up to them and takes Tim's coat.
“Sure Alfred.” Tim says as he makes his way to the dining room.
Instead of following Tim, Bruce turns toward said guest. “Ah yes, Mr. Daniel Fenton.” Bruce gives a bright, threatening smile. “Jay’s new partner.”
Despite the heavy attention on him, Fenton seems at ease. “I actually go by Danny.”
Bruce hums. “Why don’t you come in?” he asks and gestures for Fenton to walk past him. Once the young man is inside, Bruce firmly shuts and locks the front door before putting an arm around Fenton.
“Now, before we go eat, I want you to know I am the least of your worries when it comes to my son, he is more than capable of taking care of himself. Even still, I would like to know your intentions with Jason, Mr. Fenton.”
Fenton smiles, “I have no intention in hurting him, if that’s what you’re worried about. Mr. Wayne.”
Bruce hums. “Well, I hope for your sake that’s true.” Bruce detaches from Fenton and starts walking toward the dining room. “My children can be bloodthirsty.” He adds over his shoulder.
Bruce makes his way to the dining room knowing his children will prove him right at dinner.
-
Bruce enjoys Alfred’s chicken piccata.
If for no other reason, it usually means Jason is coming over. It was one of the first things Jason and Alfred made together, and Alfred liked to remind everyone of happy things when they visited. Bruce was going to associate it with this memory too now.
“So, Danny, was it?” Dick asks with his signature grin.
“Yeah, Jason says you go by Dick?”
“To B’s eternal consternation.” Dick jokes even though the rest of the family knows it’s really Alfred’s sensibilities that rankle the most over Dick’s chosen name.
“Richard, you have regularly scandalized both women and children, but Father would never be offended by something so mundane.” Damian defends him and Bruce can't help the fondness that builds in his chest at his children.
Before it can deteriorate into a good-natured argument Fenton points to Damian’s plate. “What kind of vegetarian are you, little man?”
“What do you mean, what kind?” Damian asks with a raise of his eyebrow.
“One of my best friends, Sam, is an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian.” Fenton says. When he sees the confused faces around the table he clarifies. “It means she doesn’t eat anything that has a face.”
“Isn’t that just all vegetarians?” Stephanie asks.
Fenton shrugs, “Tucker and I think she just says that to make it sound more complicated than it is.”
“I’m telling Sam you said that.” Jason threatens with a grin.
Fenton turns to him wide-eyed, but before he can say anything Barbara pipes up.
“So, you’ve met Danny’s friends already?” She asks before taking a polite bite.
Jason points at her with his fork. “Don’t drag me into this Barbie. Danny agreed to be interrogated, I did not.”
She swallows and feigns innocent surprise, “I’m just trying to gauge how serious you two are.”
“I brought him to this zoo, obviously we’re pretty serious.” Jason grouches and Bruce frowns when he sees he’s blushing faintly.
“I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to introduce us to your partner, Jaylad.” Bruce tries to say warmly.
Jason scowls, “Don’t get all mushy on me, old man.”
“Aww, Jay’s embarrassed!” Dick crows.
“I will cut you, don’t test me.”
“You do not specialize in blades, Todd. That is hardly a threat.” Damian crosses his arms and glares.
“So, how did you two meet?” Stephanie says brightly in an attempt to redirect the conversation from threats of violence. Damian has proven to not quite know when such things are meant as jokes quite yet. Bruce makes a note to remind Jay of that later. He also makes a note to praise Stephanie for her quick redirection.
Tim grins, “Yes, how did you meet?”
Jason and Fenton look at each other for a moment before Jason says, “That, uh, that may not be dinner conversation.” with a smirk.
Bruce blue screens at the implication, until he hears Dick laughing. “That’s a good one Jay! Too bad I know you’re ace, demi at most.”
“Dick! I told you that in confidence!” Jason shouts.
Dick puts his hands up, “Hey, you point to one straight person here and I’ll apologize, you literally brought your boyfriend here, clearly we don’t care that you’re not going the white picket route.”
“What does the dog have to do with Jason’s partner?” Damian asks.
Tim and Stephanie laugh at the same time, and Dick looks panicked from Jason to Barbara to Bruce and back.
“I’m not touching that.” Jason says as he leans back in his chair.
“You’re the one that brought it up Dickie.” Barbara points out.
Dick opens and closes his mouth a few times before pointing at Bruce, “Bruce has the sex PowerPoint!”
Bruce sits up about to correct him.
“That’s our cue to leave.” Jason says standing from his chair. “Come on Danny, Timbo, we’re leaving.”
“Master Jason, please sit back down, I have not served dessert yet.” Alfred says as he comes into the dining room from the kitchen.
“But Alfie.”
“I promise Master Bruce will not be whipping out any PowerPoints at the dinner table. He has been banned from doing so at meals for longer than you have been alive.” Bruce deflates slightly at that. “And Master Dick, I’m banning you from eating that drivel you call cereal for the foreseeable future.”
“Aw, Alfred!”
“This family may be queerer than a three pound note, but “outing someone”, as it were, is never acceptable.” Dick shrinks in his seat.
“Are you also queer, Alf?” Stephanie asks, and Bruce can feel himself pale.
Looking remarkably unruffled Alfred looks at her for a long moment before sweeping his gaze over the table, “I believe they call it polyamory these days.” While the room digests that Alfred makes his way back toward the kitchen, pausing to lay a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “There’s a reason no one argued over my taking custody of young Master Bruce.”
Bruce feels something shrivel up and die inside himself as his children turn their eyes on him.
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