#gotham!bruce wayne

[bubblesxo]

de-aged bruce: yeah, that's definitely a deep bit of legal trouble you've gotten into. why don't you have harvey dent on the case?

batfam: harvey... dent?

bruce: yeah, he's one of the few good lawyers in this city. i trust him with basically all of my personal stuff.

batfam, to one another: should we tell him?

bruce: tell me what?

--

alfred, a room away: dear me, was that an explosion?

[lilyofthesword-writes]

You’ll Just Have to Trust Me (Batman Oneshot)

Requested by: Anonymous

Summary: Bruce returns to Gotham as Batman and runs into an old flame.

Word Count: 766

Disclaimers/Warnings: Minor cursing

A/N: Alright, Anon! I didn’t forget about you! And I’ll be honest here… I haven’t watched Gotham, yet. It’s been on my watchlist. I had to do a bit of research for this. Hopefully, the basics are right. There is also a twist on this prompt. It just felt right. Hope everyone enjoys!

Masterlist

“Get out of my way!” you growled at the Dark Knight as your gun clattered to the ground and slid out of your reach.

He remained silent, choosing to focus on your familiar onslaught of kicks and punches when his wordless demeanor angered you further. Even after ten years of being apart, he could still read you like an open book — Angry, hotheaded, too quick to act. The only thing that had really changed was how hard your hits landed and how much faster they had grown. Unfortunately for you, that is where his skills had grown as well. Each block and kick only made your fury burn hotter.

Then, just like old times, you caught him by surprise.

“You don’t know what that bastard did!”

While he managed to evade your sudden crouch and swipe at his feet, your continued momentum twirled you back around and up, and your shoulder slammed into his stomach. It wasn’t enough to cause damage, but there was enough force to send him stumbling backwards. You took full advantage of that split moment, and Batman found himself flat on his back.

As if understanding you would not be able to take much more hand-to-hand combat against the vigilante who has easily handled multiple gang members, you swung around and headed for your firearm again. As if Batman was going to allow that. He threw a Batarang spiraling towards your gun, earning your screech as your weapon slid even farther away. He hopped to his feet and made a dash for you. Wrenching your arm behind your back, he shoved you face first into a wall with most of his weight to pin you in place.

“I know exactly what he did,” he scowled into your ear.

The door leading out of the warehouse banged shut. Your target had finally fled the scene.

You snarled, desperation laced in your anger, “No… No, you don’t understand!”

Batman grunted against your fierce struggle.

“I understand more than you think.”

“Then, why?! Why let him go free?! He’ll only kill again! Destroy more families!”

He could hear your voice starting to break as your walls crumbled. That was something he had admired about you in school before he left Gotham. You were always so passionate. It was one of the reasons he asked you out on a date despite how you had punched him the ribs, nearly cracking one, only moments before for being in the one percent.

“So you don’t become a murderer like him,” Batman breathed, his voice juxtaposing how roughly he was restraining you.

Your movement stilled as your breaths grew slow and hoarse. When your limbs were lax, Batman loosened his grip and turned you around to face him. He was greeted by a rare teary sight that shattered his heart. If only he had been able to take you with him when he left to learn from Ra’s al Ghul. Maybe you wouldn’t have gone down this path.

Without thinking, he pulled you forward, cradling your form against him. “Just let it out,” he whispered.

That was when your emotional mask fell away. He held you even tighter as your arms wrapped as much as they could around him. The only time you had ever done this was in one of the backrooms at the funeral home holding your family’s wake. Bruce was the only one to see you cry. And just like then, he would hold you for as long as you needed.

He didn’t dare speak again until your sobs calmed.

“I will ensure he is brought to justice,” he said as he rubbed your back as soothingly as one could with gloves.

You pushed back and shot him a half-hearted glare. “Justice did nothing when he killed my family. What makes you think this last family will make a difference?”

“You’ll just have to trust me,” he echoed words from the past, back when you were convincing him to sneak onto Gotham Academy’s roof when the full moon was reaching its peak.

He must have spoken just right. Your eyes widened, mouth hanging agape, though only for a moment. “You…” you trailed off. 

As if coming back to your senses, you suddenly straightened and smacked his chest, hurting yourself more than anyone. 

“I’m coming with you,” you demanded.

You headed towards the door, pointedly ignoring your firearm on the floor. Were you actually going to do this his way?

Batman’s hand gently curled around your wrist. “How do I know you won’t try to kill him again?”

“You’ll just have to trust me.”

[daddy-cake]

I might write a whole list of headcanons for a trio idea of Bruce, Jeremiah/Xander, and Jonathan because I just believe it's going to be 2 misfits fucking around while Xander is trying to keep them alive like the older brother figure he is

[mckinlily]

Plot armor but it’s Bruce Wayne’s wealth.

Bruce is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce does not want to be one of the richest men in world.

He starts by implementing high starting salaries and full health care coverages for all levels at Wayne Enterprises. This in vastly improves retention and worker productivity, and WE profits soar. He increases PTO, grants generous parental and family leave, funds diversity initiatives, boosts salaries again. WE is ranked “#1 worker-friendly corporation”, and productively and profits soar again.

Ok, so clearly investing his workers isn’t the profit-destroying doomed strategy his peers claim it is. Bruce is going to keep doing it obviously (his next initiative is to ensure all part-time and contractors get the same benefits and pay as full time employees), but he is going to have to find a different way to dump his money.

But you know what else is supposed to be prohibitively expensive? Green and ethical initiatives. Yes, Bruce can do that. He creates and fund a 10 year plan to covert all Wayne facilities to renewable energy. He overhauls all factories to employ the best environmentally friendly practices and technologies. He cuts contracts with all suppliers that engage in unethical employment practices and pays for other to upgrade their equipment and facilities to meet WE’s new environmental and safety requirements. He spares no expense.

Yeah, Wayne Enterprises is so successful that they spin off an entire new business arm focused on helping other companies convert to environmentally friendly and safe practices like they did in an efficient, cost effective, successful way.

Admittedly, investing in his own company was probably never going to be the best way to get rid of his wealth. He slashes his own salary to a pittance (god knows he has more money than he could possibly know what to do with already) and keeps investing the profits back into the workers, and WE keeps responding with nearly terrifying success.

So WE is a no-go, and Bruce now has numerous angry billionaires on his back because they’ve been claiming all these measures he’s implementing are too expensive to justify for decades and they’re finding it a little hard to keep the wool over everyone’s eyes when Idiot Softheart Bruice Wayne has money spilling out his ears. BUT Bruce can invest in Gotham. That’ll go well, right?

Gotham’s infrastructure is the OSHA anti-Christ and even what little is up to code is constantly getting destroyed by Rogue attacks. Surely THAT will be a money sink.

Except the only non-corrupt employer in Gotham city is….Wayne Enterprises. Or contractors or companies or businesses that somehow, in some way or other, feed back to WE. Paying wholesale for improvement to Gotham’s infrastructure somehow increases WE’s profits.

Bruce funds a full system overhaul of Gotham hospital (it’s not his fault the best administrative system software is WE—he looked), he sets up foundations and trusts for shelters, free clinics, schools, meal plans, day care, literally anything he can think of.

Gotham continues to be a shithole. Bruce Wayne continues to be richer than god against his Batman-ingrained will.

Oh, and Bruice Wayne is no longer viewed as solely a spoiled idiot nepo baby. The public responds by investing in WE and anything else he owns, and stop doing this, please.

Bruce sets up a foundation to pay the college tuition of every Gotham citizen who applies. It’s so successful that within 10 years, donations from previous recipients more than cover incoming need, and Bruce can’t even donate to his own charity.

But by this time, Bruce has children. If he can’t get rid of his wealth, he can at least distribute it, right?

Except Dick Grayson absolutely refuses to receive any of his money, won’t touch his trust fund, and in fact has never been so successful and creative with his hacking skills as he is in dumping the money BACK on Bruce. Jason died and won’t legally resurrect to take his trust fund. Tim has his own inherited wealth, refuses to inherit more, and in fact happily joins forces with Dick to hack accounts and return whatever money he tries to give them. Cass has no concept of monetary wealth and gives him panicked, overwhelmed eyes whenever he so much as implies offering more than $100 at once. Damian is showing worrying signs of following in his precious Richard’s footsteps, and Babs barely allows him to fund tech for the Clocktower. At least Steph lets him pay for her tuition and uses his credit card to buy unholy amounts of Batburger. But that is hardly a drop in the ocean of Bruce’s wealth. And she won’t even accept a trust fund of only one million.

Jason wins for best-worst child though because he currently runs a very lucrative crime empire. And although he pours the vast, vast majority of his profits back into Crime Alley, whenever he gets a little too rich for his tastes, he dumps the money on Bruce. At this point, Bruce almost wishes he was being used for money laundering because then he’s at least not have the money.

So children—generous, kindhearted, stubborn till the day they die the little shits, children—are also out.

Bruce was funding the Justice League. But then finances were leaked, and the public had an outcry over one man holding so much sway over the world’s superheroes (nevermind Bruce is one of those superheroes—but the public can’t know that). So Bruce had to do some fancy PR trickery, concede to a policy of not receiving a majority of funds from one individual, and significantly decrease his contributions because no one could match his donations.

At his wits end, Bruce hires a team of accounts to search through every crinkle and crevice of tax law to find what loopholes or shortcuts can be avoided in order to pay his damn taxes to the MAX.

The results are horrifying. According to the strictest definition of the law, the government owes him money.

Bruce burns the report, buries any evidence as deeply as he can, and organizes a foundation to lobby for FAR higher taxation of the upper class.

All this, and Wayne Enterprises is happily chugging along, churning profit, expanding into new markets, growing in the stock market, and trying to force the credit and proportionate compensation on their increasingly horrified CEO.

Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men in the world. Bruce Wayne will never not be one of the richest men in the world.

But by GOD is he trying.

[minnow-doodle-doo]

Then Jason never kills again.

[who-always-pays-their-taxes]

“Bruce Wayne is actually a really good father and all his children are just like that” is actually my favorite flavor of batfam

[ditzybat]

non-gotham locals think the most prolific bat-villain is the joker, or scarecrow, even the riddler — or any of their assorted highly dangerous deluded rogues.

but a real gothamite knows how big a pain in the ass condiment king is, in fact, urban legend says that the bat kids have formed a pact to not tell batman if condiment king just happens to turn up… at the bottom of gotham harbor.

[mylifeingotham]

[91-1lover]

What if Damian and Tim love each other and even like? It's just more of a situation "Manipulating others is easier ". Maybe an example will help;

Damian: Father, May I go to Zoo today?

Bruce:No Damian, you're grounded.

Tim:Oh, that's bad. I could go with you to take photos of otter, but if you are not going I think I will stay too. What's a zoo without company. Maybe I will go with Kon next week.

Bruce *Super happy in a moment of thinking his youngest kids getting along*: If you two agree not to kill each other, Damian can go

Tim and Damian:*Knowing looks*

Or situation like;

Tim who has abandoned issues and is having fear of people leaving him: Dick is mad at me. Can you stab me so he will be in his mother hen mode Instead?

Damian who would like to have 5 minutes of peace from Grayson: Say no more

[dieubius]

The in-universe Gothamite's guide to shipping your resident billionaire 💀

...

Comes with labels

[greenlandpissshark]

Dick: hey Tim! How was patrol?

Tim, sodden, dripping diseased Gotham harbor water, missing a gauntlet, with a crazed look and 3 active warrants out for his arrest: It was lowkey a bit of a vibe check

[bubblesxo]

de-aged, resurrected jerome: *plays up the scared kid with dead mom act*

batfam, successfully fooled: oh no!! a baby!! we must take him in!!

de-aged bruce: *grabs the gun*

[frownyalfred]

I need a John Wick scenario where some goon beats the shit out of one of the batkids but doesn’t realize which hero they belong to. Cut to them getting home like “yeah I fucked up that little red bird guy!” and all the other goons look at him like “you mean…Red Robin?”

“Yeah that guy. Wait, why are you all getting up—”

Everyone knows the robins are off limits from serious beat downs. Batman will come for blood, and he’s downright superhuman when it’s about one of his kids.

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

idk if someone has already made this post but. imagine gotham upholding bruce wayne as an example of "you can have a tragic backstory and not start doing weird superhero/villain crap" and he just has to Deal with it

[ressaart]

streets of gotham

[nerdpoe]

Danny is about to be kidnapped in Gotham This is not a good time.

He's studying for the SAT, he's already been kidnapped by Vlad like, four times that week and it was a fucking Tuesday, he forgot his wallet at his new apartment, locked himself out of said new apartment (he could phase through the door but that wasn't the point), he's just been informed that the grant he applied for was denied so he needs to ask his mom and dad for college funds when he'd already told them he had it covered, and just...it was shit.

It had been shit. The entire week had been awful and annoying and he was ready to either murder everyone on the planet or go find a corner to cry in for the next three days.

So when the band of wild goons working for whatever villain of the week pulled up and tried to kidnap him, he snapped.

He used them to vent.

Shouted about how terrible his day had been, how terrible his week had been, how he'd already been kidnapped by his creepy godfather who was way too into him, how college funding was shit and the grant system was rigged, and how he'd have to call a locksmith or break down the door to his own apartment if he wanted to go to bed-all of it. He unloaded all of his frustration.

The goons actually backed off.

One of them gave him an awkward side hug and told him it'd get better.

Danny wasn't paying attention to his surrounding. He doesn't realize that the whole thing was livestreamed.

So when he gets home to his apartment later that day, his door is opened for him by the vigilante Spoiler before he can even turn intangible.

She brought over BatBurger and kidnapped Bruce Wayne, Gotham's bumbling Prince, to talk about college grants.