#batfic

[superbat-love]

Bruce savored his coffee, relishing the peace after a challenging night tackling increased crime spillover from Metropolis. It was a rare moment alone, away from the daily hustle and bustle of dealing with the kids.

“We’re back!” A loud, cheerful voice shattered the peace from the hallway. Bruce sighed, realizing his envisioned peaceful afternoon was short-lived. Nine little kids bounded through the front door. Wait…nine kids? Bruce did another quick headcount and confirmed that, no, it wasn’t a stress-induced hallucination—there was an additional kid who wasn’t there that morning when the group left for the fair.

As the kids walked past him towards the stairs, Bruce pulled off their caps and scanned their faces one by one to make sure. Dick, Jason, Barbara, Steph, Tim, Cass, Duke, Damian… Finally, he came across an unfamiliar face. The boy stared up at him. “Dad?” The kid launched himself towards him and hugged his thighs. “You’re back!”

Bruce gently extracted the kid from his legs and bent down to take a closer look at him. The boy’s forehead creased, his lips pouting and seemingly on the verge of tears. “You’re not my dad.”

“I don’t think so, kid,” said Bruce. “What’s your name?”

“This is Jon,” said Damian, locking arms with the boy.

“Jon,” Bruce repeated blankly.

“Jon recently lost his dad. We told him that’s okay, not everyone has parents, so he can come and live with us!” Dick said.

Bruce could feel an impending headache coming on. “Dick, you can’t just-” Bruce wanted to refute Dick’s words, but his brain was doing somersaults at the moment, so he gave up. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Bruce said instead to Jon. “How did you lose him?”

“My dad got hit by a green rock by a robot and fell off the mountain. I flew over it a few times, but I couldn’t find him! So I went to the fair to see if he was there,” said Jon.

Flew over the mountain? Green rock? There was only one person that Bruce could think of who could fly and had a weakness towards green rocks. “Is your dad Superman?” said Bruce, knowing and dreading the answer.

“Yeah!” Great, the one superhero whom Bruce had managed to avoid dealing with so far, who had suddenly gone missing since Sunday and was apparently passed out somewhere at the foot of a mountain. And whose kid his own children had kidnapped. Bruce’s day just kept getting better and better.

Superbat Family Fics

[strange-birb]

Here she is!!! Cass is the bass player for the secret band AU!!!!

I picture her dancing like Lindsey sterling during a bass solo Ngl she’s busting out some crazy ballet as she perfectly slaps the bass

Her and Steph on stage would be perfection

Idk I just thought a doll theme would be cool

And steph wants the excuse to “doll her up”

Cass and Jason walk on and off stage like their bodies are broken and joints are dislocated :) ( Cass is more mechanical)

CASSANDRA CAIN : BASS GUITAR

Stage name :” THE DOLL”

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Writing prompt: Jason being (a touch) jealous of someone else getting Bruce's attention. (I feel like Jason needs to be the "favorite" so any time one of the others gets more attention than him he's just like "??? Father??? Does not love me???" melodramatic king tbh)

"Jason." Even to his own ears, Bruce's voice sounded a little strangled.

"Mm?" Jason's response rumbled in his chest and against Bruce's legs.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a nap." The no duh was unspoken but audible.

To be fair, that was in fact what it looked like. Jason had come into the den without hesitation or pause, walked straight to the couch where Bruce had been sitting, and stretched his full length across the cushions—and Bruce's lap. And there he lay now, one arm flung artfully across his face, the picture of restful indolence.

It was very like something he would have done as a boy, aggressive in his demands for affection and attention, though never verbally. Except Jason was no longer a boy, but rather a muscled man so tall that his feet dangled over the far armrest of the couch. And he didn't live here anymore. And Bruce had been in the middle of reading the subject of an upcoming book report aloud to Damian.

Damian, for his part, was still blinking in wordless astonishment from the chair perched cattycorner, pencil held aloft over his notes. That astonishment would last, at best, another breath or two before speech returned in full force, Bruce estimated. He needed to get ahead of that explosion, but he was having difficulty breathing.

"Would you like me to move?" Bruce asked, and was distantly pleased to notice he sounded more like himself.

Jason yawned theatrically and crossed his legs at the ankles. "No, you're fine."

Bruce waited another beat, sure there was some joke he was missing, some catch, but Jason seemed as content as he declared himself to be. Damian's lips were beginning to move, still soundless but only for a moment more, so Bruce lifted the book high enough to keep it above his now occupied lap, and began the next paragraph as if there had been no interruption at all.

[din-oush]

I can really imagine Dick at a different age, coming over Bruce's lap while he's on video for work, complaining about everything from his job, his brothers, his boyfriend/girlfriend, from his friends or even from school.

Like it's nothing like he's not complaining in front of all the Wayne Industries shareholders.

And Bruce totally lets him because he loves receiving affection from his son.

[spite-and-waffles]

If I see one more fic where the Bats absolutely refuse to take any painkillers even though they're in agony because "they need their head clear", I am actively going to wish you suffer debilitating, chronic, inescapable pain just once in your life so you can see what kind of blithering moron you sound like, and can imagine what life is like for those of us who have to live and work with chronic pain. See how fucking clear your head is working through the fire alarm in your brain screaming.

Making painkillers and sleeping pills bogeymen adds to a pervasive stigma that is violent and oppressive to disabled and chronically ill people. Not being in pain is not an addiction! Restricting access to pain medication destroys more lives than addiction ever does! Substance abuse is a consequence of depression, stress and systemic issues!

And don't even get me started about them refusing to use crutches or canes because they "don't want it to become a crutch" (???? THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE FOR). Do you know what happens when you don't use your mobility aid?? You aggravate your injuries, increase the abnormal stress on your muscles and joints, do terrible long-term damage to your body and oh yeah, subject you to a WORLD OF PAIN. Do you know how many people, whose quality of life would massively improve with mobility aids, are too ashamed to freely use them because of exactly this kind of rhetoric??

If you want to make your heroes self-harming paragons of toxic masculinity and hustle culture (having needs is weak, suffering is a virtue, subjecting yourself to useless tests of endurance is the triumph of mind over matter) that's your own lookout. Personally I think having the discipline to force down food, sleep even when you're stressed and giving your body the care owed to your primary weapon and tool is much more impressive form of ruthless utilitarianism. But reinforcing this ableist narrative around aids and painkillers is a very real systemic violence. Please trash these tropes and write with more imagination.

[sparkypantaloons]

It Must Be

Bruce remembers the first time each of his kids told him they loved him.

The first time Dick says the words, Bruce almost doesn't catch them.

The eleven year old is near exhaustion, limbs shaking and breath heaving as he struggles to pull Batman out of the surf. He's soaked, his cape sopping wet and clinging to his tiny frame. There's sand all over his face, too. All over his knees and arms, in his hair and on his gloves.

His feet stumble, as the swell finally helps him pull Batman's sodden form onto the shore. Then he collapses to his knees. Throws himself onto Bruce's chest, and tries to catch his breath through his sobs.

"Don't die, don't die, don't die. Please B, don't leave me. I love you, B, please don't leave, please don't leave me."

Bruce's hands are still tightly bound together, his head feels like someone took a chainsaw to it and he's pretty sure he's swallowed half of the Bay. But those three little words, barely audible over the tide and the wind and Dick's desperate sobs, change everything.

It's the first time Bruce has heard them in years. Decades, even. Not since his parents had... well...

And it's not that Alfred doesn't feel that way about him. Or that Bruce doesn't know it. But Alfred was a man of a different generation, had brought Bruce up the same. Words like that... they were thought, not said.

Hearing them from Dick, even in such bleak circumstances, it lights a flame in Bruce. Just a small one, flickering and fluttering, where before there had only been darkness.

~

The first time Bruce hears it from Jason, is in the summer. It's Jason's first birthday at the Manor and there are balloons and cake and music. The twelve year old has received cards from Diana and Clark and Dick, from Commissioner Gordon and Dr. Thompkins. Alfred has bought him his own cooking apron and hand made little step, so Jason can reach the stove properly, and Bruce has brought him a bike.

The three of them sit in the sunshine for lunch, Jason's eyes shining brighter with every card and gift and well wish he receives. Like he didn't even realise so many people knew he existed, let alone cared about his birthday.

When Bruce tucks him into bed that night, Jason flings his arms around Bruce's neck. Buries his head into the older man's shoulder and says "This was the best birthday ever, Bruce."

Bruce laughs and says "I'm glad, Jay. What was your favourite present?"

Jason pulls back and smiles, a little shy. "It was you, B." Then he presses a sloppy kiss to Bruce's cheek before settling down under the covers.

"Goodnight, Jason." Bruce says, turning out the light.

"G'night B, love you."

Bruce doesn't stop smiling for the rest of the week. The flame inside a little campfire now, and Alfred, Dick, Jason and Bruce sit around it, toasting marshmallows.

~

Bruce tries not to think about the words once Jason... once Jason dies. It's too much to bear. His darling boy. Once so full of compassion and joy and warmth, lies cold and still in the ground. Most days it's all Bruce can do not to join him, though he flirts ever closer to the idea.

Then Tim comes along. Tim who is whipsmart and driven and oh so stubborn. Always willing to put himself on the line. To do whatever it takes. To be better, to do better, to help.

Tim steps up to help Bruce, help a total stranger, regardless of the cost to himself. He brings Dick back home, helps Bruce fix old hurts with his first son. And yes, Tim's a little weird, but he's there. Always, when Bruce needs him.

Bruce had needed Tim that night. That night, when for no reason at all, Bruce was being reckless. Dangerous. Pushing himself to the brink and why? Because someone had mentioned his parents on the radio? Some song had reminded him of Jason?

No, nothing so sad as that. Bruce had asked if Tim would like to be adopted, and Tim had said no. He had his reasons. Good reasons. Reasons that Bruce understood, agreed with even. But somehow it still hurt like he had lost another son. And when he'd taken to the rooftops that night, he fought as though he had too.

Three broken ribs and a fractured tibia later, Tim had dragged him back to the Cave, furious.

"I thought we were past this, Bruce!"

Bruce doesn't answer.

"Seriously?" Tim snaps. "Nothing?" He begins pacing. "I can't keep doing this Bruce. I can't... I can't do it. I won't."

"It's fine." Bruce grimaces.

"It's not fine!" Tim voice breaks on the words. Tears of frustration shining in his eyes. "You can't keep putting yourself in harms way, tormenting the people who love you. Dick, Alfred, me. It's not fair."

"You?" Bruce had mumbled, half high on the painkillers Tim had given him no choice in.

"Yes, me!" Tim snaps again, wiping at his eyes. "Damn it Bruce, how many years have I been doing this. Tried to stop you from destroying yourself? I can't... I can't keep doing this. It's not just you he needs me out there Bruce. I need you too."

Bruce is silent again.

Tim sighs. "I love you, Bruce. We all love you. You have to stop this."

And even though Bruce has kept Tim at a distance, deliberately so, somehow, the kid has still pulled him back from the brink. Saved that sputtering flame inside of him from disappearing again.

~

It takes Bruce longer than he's proud of to make Cass officially part of their family. She's almost an adult, really, but it's something she needs. The security of a family, the stability of a father. She's something Bruce needs too.

He's seen the way she's tortured herself for what Cain made her. He sees it when he looks in the mirror as well. When he questions what Gotham has made him. What Gotham has cost him...

Cass doesn't deserve the life he's lived, and he's determined to do better for her, where he can no longer do better for himself.

When she moves into the Manor, he suggest a movie night just the two of them. Needs to show her she isn't just here because she's Batgirl, but because she's Cass.

They watch Jurassic Park. Sink into the giant couch in the den, leaning against each other and eating popcorn. When the t-rex comes she jumps excitedly in her seat and when the velociratpors chase the children through the kitchen she pretends to cover Bruce's eyes so he doesn't scared.

When the film is over, they head out on patrol together. It's an easy night, warm and dry but little sign of trouble. They swing from roof top to roof top and glide between buildings. Move seamlessly together as if they'd been doing it their whole lives.

When the sun begins to crest on the horizon around five thirty, they shed their uniforms for civvies, and watch it rise from Wayne Tower. As father and daughter. As Wayne's.

I've never had this before. Cass signs.

"A sunrise?" Bruce asks.

A father. She replies.

"Hn." Bruce chuckles. "How is going?"

Perfect. She signs. "Love it." She says. "Love you."

She presses a kiss to Bruce's cheek and the fire inside of him burns warm as the summer sun.

~

Damian never expected love. Never considered it even. He was raised with a mission, a purpose. That was the goal and everything else was superfluous.

Bruce can't take credit for teaching him otherwise. It's Dick who did the hard work. Who broke the icey exterior and protective walls, this fierce little nine year old had created. Had shown him that life wasn't meant to be about Batman's cause, or Robin's title, or inheriting the Demon's Head. But that it was about love. About family.

Even so, as well as Damian had learned Dick's lesson, he was still his father's son. Words of affection came as easy to him as they did to Bruce, which is to say, not at all.

So Bruce never expected, hadn't with any of his children, but would never from Damian, to hear those words.

And then Scarecrow had reared his ugly head, and his fear toxin had brought out the very worst of Damian's upbringing. Every awful trial he had faced with the League, mangled together with Bruce's death, and Dick's amnesia, Jon's age change and Damian's own murder at the hands of the Heretic. Until Damian was sobbing in Bruce's arms, begging Bruce not to abandon him.

"Damian, listen to me." Bruce had said, his hands cupping Damian's face. "I will never make you leave, never."

"Please Father, please." Damian had sobbed, had begged into Bruce's chest. "I love you so much. Please don't make me leave. I beg you, please. I'll make you proud, I swear it."

Bruce had wondered if Damian could feel the fire that burned for him, deep inside Bruce's chest. Wondered it if had kept him warm, as Bruce had held him on the Cave floor, and waited for the storm to pass.

~

It's Bruce's birthday, so Alfred usually lets him sleep past twelve.

Ace however, does not. Too smart for her own good, she's long since worked out how to open his bedroom door. She bounds in around eleven am, and leaps onto the bed. Wakes him with sloppy kisses and a wet nose.

"Easy, girl. Easy." Bruce's voice is deep and dry with sleep, his eyelids heavy. But Ace is insistent, relentless even, despite her age.

"Is he up yet, Acey?"

Ace barks happily, and Bruce winces at the volume. Jason is stood in the doorway.

"Come on old man." He says. "Your dog needs a walk."

Bruce blinks blearily, is sure Jason must be a hallucination or a mirage or something.

"We'll go without you if you don't hurry up." Jason huffs slightly, and Bruce stumbles from bed, pulls on his sweats.

The sun is already high in the sky and for spring it's already pleasantly warm. Jason and Bruce walk through the grounds of the Manor in companionable silence. Ace racing ahead of them for the ball Jason throws.

"So how are you?" Bruce says eventually. The sun is warm on his face. It's been a few weeks since he's seen Jason out of uniform. It feels good to see him in the day.

"I'm good." Jason says softly. "Really good, actually."

"Yeah?" Bruce asks.

Jason smiles. "Yeah." He pauses. "How about you?"

Bruce shrugs. "Ah you know. Same old, same old."

Jason grins, the kind he used to do when he was Robin. "Same old?" He asks, eyebrow raised. "Aren't you a new old today?"

Bruce opens his mouth to speak, but they round the corner of the Manor, onto the terrace and his words fail him.

There are balloons and cake and music. His entire family gathered round a table of cards and gifts and pictures. They cheer when they see him and Steph, Duke and Tim lead an awful rendition of Happy Birthday.

Jason bumps his shoulder. "I erm... I didn't get you a present." He says sheepishly. "But I did organise this." He gestures vaguely at his siblings.

Bruce's heart is full of fire. He grins. "It's perfect, Jay. Thank you." He pulls the younger man into a hug.

"Happy birthday, B." Jason mumbles. "Love you."

"I love you, too."

[spacedace]

Working on a fic about Talia running off to raise Damian on her own and sorta just pulling a Bruce on all the kids Bruce has already Bat-adopted (and some he hasn't) and because it spans years and my brain keeps screaming about trying to figure out how old people are/when things happen I'm making a timeline on World Anvil.

And I'm going all in on it. When peeps where born, when they met, major events & plot points all that.

Which includes Talia meeting Bruce for the first time.

And the thing is that World Anvil will let you tag/categorize the events your adding to the timeline and you have no idea how tempted I am to label "Talia meets Bruce" with:

[thecruellestmonth]

Jason Todd 2023 fic recs

Some of the best Jason Todd fics that were posted or updated in the year 2023.

"Beneficiary" by sirsparklepants https://archiveofourown.org/works/44845189 - The beneficiaries of the estate of Jason Todd. Wonderfully bittersweet. A story about "the logistical demands of death" and "the banalities of death and grief".

"The Extremely True Story of the Titans Tower Attack" by Wisetypewriter https://archiveofourown.org/works/45011785 - Red Hood evilly dragged the iron maiden Talia had gifted him in the Titans Tower’s kitchen. He cackled to himself, so deliciously happy to be able to test it on Robin. -- The most "Titans Tower AU" ever of all time. A must-read for anyone who hates or loves fanon.

The Foreigner by somecaveats https://archiveofourown.org/works/44992420 - Jason had played out Bruce’s first words to him again and again, the blame, the disgust, the rejection, and then, sometimes, when he was feeling sentimental, tears and warmth and muttered prayers about the miracle of his return. He had thought he was prepared for anything. --Or; Immediately after the Lazarus Pit, Jason comes back. -- You know those fantasies of Jason returning to the family in a neater and more palatable way? And all his loved ones react so sweetly and supportively and sensitively—as if Jason's own behavior were the singular deciding factor in whether the family is functional and healthy? This isn't that. Or; in which Jason receives a damningly reluctant welcome home, has several ugly ugly panic attacks, and expertly deduces that one of Bruce's Wayne ancestors got it on with John Singer Sargent. [work in progress/incomplete]

"how it feels to be immune" by maangoes https://archiveofourown.org/works/44490682 - He spent a year in a villa in the Hindu Kush. He doesn’t remember most of it. There were people that cleaned and made him food. The whole house smelled like Talia, like rose and jasmine flowers. This is a soothing little vignette, like a calm before a storm. Talia shines in her competence and in her tenderness, while also struggling to make the right choices for Jason's post-resurrection recovery.

whether a beast or a human being by Goldmonger https://archiveofourown.org/series/3417622 - The Red Hood has been recaptured by the Batman and consigned to a private prison, one buried deep beneath Gotham City. The Dark Knight has encountered insane and deadly criminals before, and knows the havoc that can be wreaked from allowing them any kind of freedom. The Red Hood will spend the rest of his life under observation, and will be cared for according to the directives of the Batman. It is unlikely that he will rejoin society, but that is a sacrifice that must be made to protect the citizens of Gotham. Or: "The Wide Sargasso Sea: Jason Todd Edition." Now serendipitously even more relevant after Gotham War! This story contains extreme and unmitigated pain, and severe medical abuse. In the words of the writer: a story "of how even the closest relationship with the most love in the world can fall apart under the right conditions." This is an ongoing/incomplete story, but each installment feels like a satisfying pausing point.

"catch and release" by hellsreluctantheir https://archiveofourown.org/works/50457703 - Dick & Jason hurt/comfort, with POV Dick. In the words of one commenter, this is a sweet story that really appreciates Dick's "constant worrying & planning & trauma and huge sense of responsibility that he’s always got going there" with respect to the ups and downs of his history with Jason.

"Neighbours" by Aingeal98 https://archiveofourown.org/works/40132554 - Bruce loved his son. Bruce was delighted that his son was making new friends. But there was something odd about that family, and no it wasn't just because Cassandra's mother outvoted him at the last PTA meeting, Jason. (That may have played a small part. Sue him, he's human.) PTA AU starring Cass and Shiva, with Jason as a supporting character. A feel-good story with comedy, friendship, family, and tiny pre-teen urban justice crusader Cass as our intrepid hero!

"EURUS" by cowboymater https://archiveofourown.org/works/50555239/chapters/127711369 - "Eurus is a continued interrogation of our own beliefs […] the record seeks to capture the feelings of dark woods, dry branches, dead leaves, and wondering who had migrated — you, or your flock?" OR: Jason Todd, his convictions, his forgiveness, and the cycles of violence and hope (violent hope, sometimes) he may never be free of.

"Ages 12 & Up" by motleyfam https://archiveofourown.org/works/52384984 - See, the real reason that Damian always refuses painkillers is that he cannot swallow a pill. Cute and fun. Damian is a tough little guy, and Jason is an obnoxiously annoying big brother.

"YOU MUST KNOW LIFE TO KNOW DECAY." by orpheusaki @damianbugs https://archiveofourown.org/works/48513616 - For as long as Jason can remember, it's always been raining. Jason's memories of rainy days throughout his life. The rain continues, and so does Jason.

"Get Joker" by chucklesbuckles https://archiveofourown.org/works/49377664 - Harley tries to bond with Jason over their singular shared point of trauma, obsesses over the dead bird's hands, and alienates him by having a platonic hard on for his dad. Jason just wants to make bets over who on their team will bite it first. In which Suicide Squad: Get Joker! is scrapped for parts and melted down. Harley's retrospective on having knowingly loved someone who tortured Barbara Gordon and killed Robin. [POV Harley Quinn.]

"Down to Dust" by Sparkypants https://archiveofourown.org/works/47407291 - It's not the warehouse that Jason has nightmares about. It's Bruce. Bruce deciding to cremate him instead of bury him. Because if he had, what would Jason be now? An infinite number of pieces, cast into the wind. Smoke hanging in the air and never whole or home again, part of him always missing. A spiral of psychological horror, then some hurt/comfort.

"the shadow of violence" by shipyrds https://archiveofourown.org/works/49059019 - Jason shoots someone to protect Damian. Bruce, as usual, has opinions.

"promises" by sunspikes https://archiveofourown.org/series/3413851 - After a nightmarish premonition, young Jason makes Bruce promise not to bury him.

"through death and time" by sparkycap https://archiveofourown.org/works/45733813 - After a mission that takes Batman and Nightwing back twenty years in the past, they end up with time to kill. Bruce does what he does best: he finds a kid. Luckily this one is already his. The fluffiest feel-good fluff available, featuring Bruce & Dick & Jason. Sweeter than WFA.

"The Daughter of the Water" by chucklesbuckles https://archiveofourown.org/works/46605205 - “To walk the world!” it croons, bright gold spilling over it’s cheeks, highlighting the springy white curls crowning it’s head. It bends, cold wet hands cradling Talia’s face, wiping her tears away. It places a soft kiss to her forehead, tucking a loose curl of hair behind her ear, torchlight eyes burning. “Thank you for the body.” The Lazarus Pit takes Jason's body for a long and productive joyride. A creepy and wet story featuring Talia & Jason, with POV Talia.

"Confessional" by Temeritous https://archiveofourown.org/works/45307363 - Jason gets hit with a truth spell and uses it in an inadvisable manner. Ooh, the emotional pain here is exquisite. It's like helplessly watching a glass bottle of olive oil drop and shatter and spill all over the floor.

"Oracle Movie Trailer" by centreoftheselights https://archiveofourown.org/works/47940070 - A screenplay for a trailer for a Oracle: Year One origin movie, featuring Robin II as a supporting character. We love the idea of a movie following Barbara's recovery and journey to becoming Oracle.

Red X by ilovelegendsalot https://archiveofourown.org/series/1211157 - Mostly following the canon events of the Teen Titans cartoon, from the perspective of the second Red X, Jason Todd.

"salt in the wound (and a kiss on my cheek)" by pseudonym123 https://archiveofourown.org/works/52471159/ - A RHATO #25 canon divergence fic where Roy doesn't come to Jason's rescue that night on the rooftop. Bruce and Jason deal with the fall out. [incomplete/work in progress]

[2022]

[bakkman25]

CHAPTER TWO IS OUT

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54875446/chapters/139436440

[rushman2-0]

To my fellow Batman/Batfam fic readers:

[iowriteswords]

Lex Learns Batman's Identity - Preview Snippet from Flightless Birds Part 4

Lex has known Bruce Wayne for most of his life. They used to get dragged to the same boring parties, until Bruce’s parents died. (He’d disappeared for several years after that—he was too young to attend social events alone, and no one wanted to invite his guardian, who was a butler.)

Neither of them had fit in with the other kids, who’d thought that Lex was mean and Bruce was weird. This could have made them friends if they hadn’t shared their peers’ opinions of each other; as it was, they disliked each other more than the other kids disliked either of them.

He remembers one gala he’d been dragged to, the boys had been trying to set up some kind of game. One kid, he didn’t remember who, had decided, “And Lex and Bruce will be the bad guys.”

Lex hadn’t cared what his role was—he’d play the game to make the night go a little quicker, and when it was over he’d spend the rest of the summer with his mom. But Bruce had turned red and stomped his feet and insisted, “I’m not a bad guy.”

They were at an impasse. Eventually, Oliver Queen intervened. He often did, then, for obnoxious child Bruce, and later, for a very different but equally obnoxious teen Brucie, when he was old enough to come to parties without the uninvited butler. (When Bruce was six, Lex had watched him bite a man for calling him Brucie. At sixteen, it was how he introduced himself.)

“We don’t need two bad guys,” Oliver had said. “Bruce can be on my team.”

The game went on. It was a night like many others. But Lex is picturing that Bruce, tiny, red faced, indignant, insisting, “I’m not a bad guy,” when the epiphany hits.

He looks across the room at his son. His son, who now trusts him enough to do homework in his office, instead of meeting in public. His son, who’s dating, of all people, Bruce Wayne’s son.

“Kon?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you dating Batman’s son?”

Kon stares at him. There’s that split second pause that Lex knows means he’s about to lie. “No,” he says, speaking very slowly, like he thinks Lex is stupid, “I’m dating Tim. You know that.” He pauses. “Does Batman even have kids?”

“I suspect he has seven of them. Named Tim, Jason, Dick, Cassa—”

Kon bolts out of the room at superspeed.

Well. He left his homework—he’ll be back.

-

It takes Kon two hours to come back. When he does, he knocks on the front door instead of the office window, and he has Tim with him.

“You forgot your homework,” Lex says. He walks back toward the office, confident the kids will follow him. He’s not about to have some sort of confrontation with a teenager in the front hallway.

Kon sits down. “Tim’ll talk to you when he’s ready,” he says, then resumes his homework.

Tim stares at Lex for a long moment, leaning against the back of Kon’s armchair. Lex waits. He’s had enough encounters with Tim by now to realize pushing him is utterly impossible.

“I was born in a different world,” he says, finally. “Six of the seven of us were. That’s why all my paperwork is fake.”

“Batman brought you here?”

“Yeah. In my world—in my world you paid a psychopath to torture me for three weeks. I was fourteen.”

Kon’s hand snakes around the side of the armchair to grab Tim’s. Otherwise, he seems occupied with his homework.

“At the end of those three weeks, my kidnapper and my world’s Batman were both dead, I was insane, and you were the president of the United States.”

“You killed him,” Lex says.

“Yeah.”

Kon’s hand squeezes Tim’s; Tim squeezes back.

“Batman’s my dad. You aren’t going to ruin another world for me. Because you love Kon. And Kon loves me.”

“I’m not going to ruin anything for you, Tim,” Lex says. He’s trying to picture an even younger version of the very young man in front of him killing Batman. It’s an unpleasant image.

“I knew Bruce flunked gym on purpose,” he says, hoping to lighten the mood.

All the tension goes out of Tim, and he smiles. “He only did it to upset you.”

Kon comes around the chair to stand pressed close to Tim. “Okay?” he asks.

“Okay,” Tim says.

Kon smiles at Lex. “Congrats on being the second smartest person in the room. Tim figured it out when he was nine.”

“Well, accounting for universal variants—”

“Oh, this world’s version of me beat you to it, too.”

Lex decides to ignore that. He checks his watch. “We have dinner reservations. Tim, you’re welcome to join us.” He’d rather have a tag-along than wait for Kon to fly him back to Gotham. And they’d probably miss the reservation. Kon doesn’t fly as quickly as Superman—Lex’s contribution to his genetics, unfortunately.

[superbat-love]

Bruce: Are you sure this is where you last saw your dad, kid?

Jon: Yeah.

Bruce: Any chance that you can spot him among these dense trees?

Jon: [shakes his head]

Bruce: Your powers haven't developed sufficiently yet, huh? I don't even know if your dad is conscious and can hear us or not. [hears the rustling of leaves] Who’s there?!

Damian: Stop, don’t shoot! [climbs down from the tree]

Bruce: Damian, I should have known. Why are you here?

Damian: I just wanted to help!

Bruce: [pinches the bridge of his nose] Fine. Looks like we’ll have to do this another way then. Damian, grab the kid.

Damian grabs Jon.

Bruce: Jon, I want you to make the saddest face possible.

Jon: Like this?

Bruce: Hmm, a bit more on the sad side and less disgust maybe?

Damian: Jon, imagine that you switched on the television and realized that your favorite tv show was canceled.

Bruce: Now you look like the world just ended, but we can work with that. [turns around and raises his voice] Superman, I have your kid! Come out and face me or I’ll turn your son into the ultimate weapon of destruction and take over the world!

Clark: [crawls out of the bushes, covered in leaves, with his eyes glowing red] Let. Go. Of. My. Son.

Jon: Dad, you’re alive!

Bruce: Superman, we finally meet at last.

Superbat Family Fics

[thegurlwhoisntthere]

Is there in universe fanfiction where the people of Gotham write about the Wayne’s secretly being the batfamily, and it’s actually scarily accurate, but everyone writing and reading it is like, lol what if, haha, but Tim definitely knows about it and is doing everything in his goddam power to make sure his family never knows about it

Plot twist, Dick was the one who started writing it and it spiraled like the mfing Maribat fandom and he’s desperately trying to hide from Tim that he’s the one that started it as a joke, while also not letting him know that he knows it exists

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

I'm rereading @unpretty's Sorrowful and Immaculate Hearts series for the first time since early 2018 and I got to the part in Wayne Manor that reads:

As they left the store, Thomas hoisted his son into the air, placing him on his shoulders. "Mom says you shouldn't do that," Bruce scolded, holding on despite that. "She says you're going to hurt yourself." "Pshaw," Thomas said. Bruce was small for his age, even if all signs pointed toward that changing. "I'm going to be big when I grow up," Bruce reminded him. "Then you won't be able to pick me up." "The hell I won't," Thomas said, holding on to his son's legs to keep him steady. "Even when I'm ten?" "Even then." "When I'm twelve?" "I'll throw you in the air if I want to." "What about when I'm thirty?" Bruce pressed, which must have seemed impossibly old to an eight year-old. He probably imagined thirty as looking white-haired and feeble. "I'll pick you up at your own wedding and make you do the whole ceremony from my shoulders," Thomas declared, making Bruce laugh.

And I had two thoughts nearly simultaneously.

They didn't even make it to ten.

No wonder Bruce stays strong enough to carry even Red Hood when needed.

[din-oush]

Hey,

I'd like to know if anyone has any Batfamily Fanfic recommendations that make you cry?

I need some angst, it's been a long time since I read one.

THANKS

[dizaryswrites]

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Jason Todd, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Duke Thomas, Cassandra Cain, Talia al Ghul Additional Tags: Whumptober 2023, Whump, Sickfic, Seizures, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, the family is STRESSED, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Good Parent Bruce Wayne, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, the batkids all love each other, Angst Series: Part 4 of Whumptober 2023 Summary:

“Everything alright, son?” Dick didn’t normally call if Bruce was at the office. He’d usually send a text or just show up if it was urgent enough. Maybe he was having a tedious day too. “Are you in a meeting?” was Dick’s unsuspectingly serious reply. “No. I’m in my office.” “Alone?” “Yes.” Bruce frowned. “What’s going on?” There was a harsh exhale, the sound of traffic bleeding in. Was Dick driving? “God, I don’t know a better way to say this."

A medical emergency outside of patrol hours shocks the Batfamily.

Whumptober Day 4

Today was tedious. Back to back meetings, a slew of emails to answer, and an office chair that wasn’t quite as comfortable as the one in the cave. Bruce nearly cheered when his phone lit up with Dick’s name and picture. Standing by the sprawling windows of his Wayne Enterprises office, Bruce hit accept.

“Everything alright, son?” Dick didn’t normally call if Bruce was at the office. He’d usually send a text or just show up if it was urgent enough. Maybe he was having a tedious day too.

“Are you in a meeting?” was Dick’s unsuspectingly serious reply.

“No. I’m in my office.”

“Alone?”

“Yes.” Bruce frowned. “What’s going on?” There was a harsh exhale, the sound of traffic bleeding in. Was Dick driving?

“God, I don’t know a better way to say this. Damian had a seizure. Ambulance is en route to Gotham General. Should be arriving any minute.”

Bruce staggered, catching himself on the corner of his desk. Buzzing static filled his fingers, his knees, his head. “What?” He croaked, hoping he somehow misheard Dick. Outside his glass office door, Lucius Fox came to a stop, doing a double take when he saw Bruce leaning against his desk. Right. Stockholders meeting coming up.

“He’s awake and responsive. Stephanie is in the ambulance with him, Jay and Alfred are following. They were at home with him. I’m about five minutes behind them.”

“How?” Images rose unbidden in his mind, replacing his child’s face on every single seizure he ever witnessed. “Did Jason or Stephanie say what caused it?”

“Not sure but they’re positive it wasn’t case related.”

“We’ll need to run a tox screen. Our own.”

“Yes, we know.” Dick said with obvious patience, “Alf has a kit with him.” Bruce looked up as Lucius stepped into the office with a clearly worried expression. “Just...come to hospital, B. We can talk more there. Please.”

“Leaving right now.”

“Is everything alright, Bruce?” asked Lucius when he hung up.

“Damian—” His throat seized up, crushing his words. Saying them...saying them was like spitting out a blade. “Damian had a seizure.” He managed weakly.

Lucius’s eyes flew open wide. “Good Lord. Go, Bruce. I’ll cover for you in the afternoon meetings. I’ll cover anything that comes up, you just go.”

[Continue Reading on AO3]