#poor bruce

[sisaloofafump]

Neither of them ever live it down (more mini bat here and here)

[yes-im-a-simpp]

Batman : someone has been stabbed in-

Red Hood : seriously Robin, AGAIN?

Robin : I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING this time.

Batman : Robin didn't do anything

Red Hood : ho. Okay. Sorry, I've heard ''stabbed'' and my brain immediately went ''stabbed, sword. Sword, robin.''

Nightwing to Red Robin : see? 'told you he was neurodivergent.

[nelkcats]

Amity Parkers in Gotham

Casper High students graduated. As much as they loved their town (which now included ghosts as recurring residents) they knew they had to go. Not because Phantom didn't do a good job, or that ghosts attacked daily (on the contrary, after Phantom's intervention the destruction became concentrated in the Infinite Realms), but they had to go to a university. That's why most of them applied to Gotham University, it seemed right.

Sure, Gotham wasn't as cool as Amity, nor did it include dimension travel to the Realm of the Dead (Amity Parkers had access to the Infinite Realms as long as they abided by Walker's rules), but they had a great scholarship program, and the city was so chaotic because of its heroes and villains that it felt...like home.

The problem was that no one taught Casper's ex-students some basics: Feeling afraid, avoiding your attackers, not attacking back. Things that seemed like common sense did not go through their heads. After years of dealing with ghost attacks they had gotten used to it, and knew how to counterattack.

So, after their arrival they were knocking out rogues, stopping robbery, and looking bored at the prospect of dying. That made Batman suspicious of a secret society of young soldiers, although it didn't really make much sense, was someone training teenagers? The batfamily was worried at the prospect.

At some point, there was even an "undead" attack in what was called the Justice League; Of course, the Amity Parkers were the first to establish a secure site and prevent the invasion from advancing. At the end everything seemed lost and the undead epidemic was about to spread out of Gotham, but Dash snorted and said that he would "contact a friend that can help", which raised the suspicions of the League.

Danny, who was taking a year off before starting his university studies, raised an eyebrow at the group he had with his old classmates. He shrugged before transforming into Phantom and going to the place, in a few minutes the invasion was over and Bruce was 90% sure that there was a secret society training a teenage army.

[mylifeingotham]

Damian’s Birthday party

Bruce: Alfred tell them the cake is supposed be in the centre of the room

Alfred drinking a glass of Bourbon: Of course Master Wayne

Bruce: Damian! Stop attacking Tim with your birthday present!!

Damian: Father it was not my fault, Drake annoyed me!

Tim: I didn’t do anything

Damian: You were breathing!

Bruce: Sigh, Dick get off the chandelier!!

Dick: Shh we’re playing hide and seek

Bruce: We??

Jason storming into the room holding two guns: Ready or not, here I am

Steph: Not fair! You didn’t give us enough time to hide!!

Bruce: Cassandra Cain you better put that cake down! The party hasn’t even started!

Cass holding a slice of cake: Aww

Bruce: And Duke, I actually don’t know what you’re doing. What are you doing??

Duke stuffing food into his pockets: Nothing

[emo-batboy]

A Wild Battinson (Social Media AU)

Part 1 (Masterlist)

(Part 2)

@bruciemilf COME GET UR GRUB

[multifanritz]

Other Parents vs Bruce Wayne

Getting home late from work to find your kids are still in the house.

Other Parents: Oh good, you didn't sneak out :)

vs

Bruce Wayne: WHAT are you all still doing here?? Patrol was an hour ago!! >:O

Seeing your child pointing a gun at your other child.

Other Parents: Oh my god, sweetie, please put that down! Where did you even get that!?

vs

Bruce Wayne: *not even glancing up from the paper* Jason, please don't shoot your brothers, it's 9 in the morning.

Taking your child to the hospital for a bad injury.

Other Parents: Everything's gonna be okay, sweetie. Just tell the doctor exactly what happened, okay?

vs

Bruce Wayne: Okay, you remember the cover story, right? Tim, did you crash the car already? Good. Okay, Dick, remember, I was driving right behind you when you crashed so I just drove you here myself. That's exactly what happened. Okay? Okay, let's go.

[luckyfox3000]

DC X DP PROMT #13

Heyooo! How are my lovely kits? New promt!

Bruce wayne, Gotham's beloved celebrity and playboy, was spotted hanging out with a few ally kids dressed up in low class clothes.

Or at least that's what the public thinks.

OUR Bruce however, on that particular day, had spent his time in bed after a rough injury, which he would've been fine going out with, but, chose to stay inside due to Alfred's nagging, *cough* threats *cough*.

So, whoever the media saw was decidedly not Bruce and was, most likely, an Impostor.

So, that started Bruce's journey into figuring out who this person who seemed to be him was, and whether or not they meant harm.

Incidents like this continued for the next few months; Bruce wayne found to be eating at local ally shop- Bruce wayne seen with black haired goth girl- Bruce wayne stopping a mugging and showing exceptional fighting skills-

-Until it got to the point where it became deeply necessary to find the man.

Feel free to use or add on!

Ps. Do you guys think I should start writing Marvel promts too? Or maybe Crossover ones? Let me know! :D

[galaxymagitech]

Jason: Can you stop making everything about my death? *He says, as he beats the Joker with a crowbar*

Bruce: I—

Jason: I’m not that little kid, he’s gone! There’s nothing left of him! *Picks up a copy of Pride & Prejudice*

Bruce: Well—

Jason: Just get over yourself already! *Rants for 6 hours on how much he hates Batman*

Bruce: Okay. I’ll just…stand here and not speak?

Jason: And now you’re brooding creepily! You won’t even say anything!

Bruce: *sighs in tired Dad*

[fluffykitty149]

Wayne Manor’s defense system isn’t to keep intruders out. It’s to keep Damian in 😂

[duskyashe]

CAMP NANO DAY 8/9

(please see tags for trigger warnings)

[first three chapters] [AO3]

============<×^-^×>============

It had been a long time since Bruce had been this unbalanced by the thought of a conversation. He was unafraid to admit, if only to himself, that he was terrified about the kinds of things he'd hear from the young woman now sitting across from him. On the way to his office, he'd asked her if she felt safe and comfortable talking to him by herself, or if she'd prefer having his youngest adopted son sit in with them, and while she was understandably hesitant to let an unknown fifteen year old sit in on their discussion, he'd also seen the way she'd unconsciously relaxed when she saw Tim walk in.

"Before we start, my name is Timothy Drake-Wayne, please call me Tim, and you have permission to hug me, cling to me, cry on me, or even squeeze my hand tight enough to break it. Whatever you need to do to get through this discussion. I'll even leave for snacks if you need to say something intensely personal or that you feel I shouldn't hear," his son said with a small, supportive smile. Bruce was so proud of Tim, he'd come so very far since first coming to them. "I'm very well used to standing in as an emotional support person when a foster kid gets comfortable enough with Bruce to want to tell him exactly what happened wherever they'd been before coming here, and I'm perfectly content to keep doing so for as long as I live here."

Bruce watched as Jazz processed everything Tim said and caught the question in her gaze before she'd even opened her mouth to speak it. "Tim has decided he wants to work with CPS when he gets older, take his own experiences with the system and use them to help improve it. I do whatever I can to help him, to help any of the children who find themselves in my care, achieve his dreams," he explained softly, pride warming his heart and voice. "I'm not sure how well you remember him, but my first adopted son, Dick, recently decided to open his own gymnastics studio here in Gotham. His experience with you and Danny when you lived with us really left an impression."

Jazz nodded in understanding before glancing at Tim, reached for his hand, and took a fortifying breath. "My—the Fentons are… scientists, inventors, innovators, they—they discovered, independently, an entire species of interdimensional beings with incredible powers and such a rich mixture of cultures, and… and they decided those beings were unnatural, that they were evil and needed to be experimented on and exterminated. They created a portal to these beings' home dimension in our basement without following any sort of safety regulations or protocols." Jazz took another breath, swallowing as she looked down at hold on Tim's hand. "Th-the green on me and Danny when we first got here, it's called ectoplasm. It's basically the lifeblood of these beings, it makes up almost their entire bodies. Their dimension is full of it, as any excess they produce gets shed off into the environment around them.

"When the Fentons created their portal into the Infinite Realms, they didn't realize they'd installed a secondary switch that also needed to be flicked for the thing to work. A switch that was on the inside of the portal shaft and could only be reached by physically going inside it." She shuddered as she tried to bite back tears. "I wasn't home at the time. I was tutoring a fellow student in English at the local fast food joint. Danny was at home with his two best friends. Mom and dad had left the day before to track down the supposed "ghost" that had caused their magnum opus to fail to work. He should have been safe.

"I got a frantic phone call from Danny's friend, Tucker, telling me I needed to get home ASAP, that Danny'd had an accident and wasn't waking up. The student I was tutoring asked me what I was waiting for, to get going, and so I did. I—by the time I got back to the house, Sam and Tucker had managed to drag Danny away from the portal, but i-it was pretty obvious what the accident was, I mean… the portal hadn't been on before I left…"

Bruce had a bad feeling about where this story was going. He'd seen the product of lab accidents too often to be able to con himself into thinking it could be going in any other direction. He almost stopped her from continuing, but while she was very obviously distressed, the process of telling him, of telling them, seemed to actually be doing her some good, so he kept his silence and watched as she clenched Tim's hand even harder for a brief second before relaxing her grip almost entirely.

"Sam was fussing over Danny's prone form, trying to make him more comfortable on the steel flooring without moving him too much, while Tucker was pacing between the two of them and the swirling mass of green that was the portal when I got there. As soon as they saw me, Tucker was on me with tears in his eyes. "We thought he'd died," he said. "The screaming—we thought he was dead. We're so sorry, he could have died—we're so unbelievably sorry,"" Jazz quoted with a strained voice. "Sam's makeup was running from how much she was crying. Sam never cries, and there she was, kneeling over my barely breathing baby brother, nearly sobbing in terror and guilt. They—Sam had apparently dared Danny to go inside so they could get a picture, and while in there, Danny tripped, and he hit the secondary switch. The Fentons had apparently not turned the other switch off after the thing didn't work the first time, and Danny ended up paying the price of their stupidity. He was alive, he'd survived, but now he's rightfully terrified of anything to do with electricity above what comes out of your stranded wall outlet. Only, come to find out, Danny hadn't survived. Not entirely… not unchanged."

Knew it, Bruce thought wearily as he leaned back in his chair. He resisted the urge to rub his hand across his face or run it through his hair and instead just continued to listen to Jazz's tale.

"The combination of all that electricity running through him, killing him, as a portal made pretty much entirely of ectoplasm opened up literally right on top of him changed Danny on a molecular level. He's no longer fully human. He's now something called a halfa, half human and half… half ghost."

============<×^-^×>============

FINALLY got that finished! I sincerely apologize for not getting this out yesterday, I had to take a general health day due to both my lactose intolerance realizing, three days after the fact, that I'd eaten dairy and decided it didn't like that at all, and my sleep schedule being crap the past two days (⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠;⁠) that's why today's post says "day 8/9", I'm counting it for both days since I *did* start writing it yesterday (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ

For anyone reading this directly after day 6 but hasn't read any of the reblogs of day 6, this is actually chapter 4 of this fic, not chapter 2. I have two amazing co-writers who have each written an amazing chapter for this fic, which can be more easily read on AO3 by hitting the link up at the top!

Also, due to this fic having two co-writers for it, from now on, when I post a new chapter for it here on Tumblr, I won't be linking back to my previous chapter, since there will be two chapters between each of my own. Instead, I'll be linking back to the first post back on day 6 and to the AO3 version, where the entire fic will be readily available for reading.

Also also, because this is being co-written, any and all updates for this fic will be highly sporadic at best. Please don't harass me or my co-writers for quicker updates, we're all very busy people working together to write this purely for fun.

Have a wonderful morning/day/night everyone!

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Black Cat AU stuff part 3

1. Black Cat, Alley Cat, and Nightwing get into pun battles a lot. They don't even fight they just throw puns and jokes at eachother. Tim thinks that would be great if this didn't happen all the time. He and Damian were currently chained to the wall with thier mouths taped shut, sure the bomb was deactivated and they were saved but he really doesn't wanna listen to another 20 minutes of bad jokes.

This also works with Chat Noir if you wanna add him.

2. There's so many ways to add Chat to the story. You could have him run away from Paris after finding out why Hawkmoth wants the Miraculous. (let's see Hawky come to Gotham. See if he dares)

Or Black Cat might see his home situation and be like, "Um, no. >:/ I'm kidnapping you now, you deserve better."

3. A situation where the mission goes wrong and Robin is knocked out. He awakes later with his head laying against Black Cats chest with the latter holding him tight and keeping gaurd in whatever hidey-hole he had stashed them away in. He started focusing on his surroundings to help fight off his blush, and while the sounds of gunfire outside wasn't exactly comforting the distinct lack of shouts and fighting was apparent. His family wasn't being harmed. Kitty still didn't let him leave without a damage assessment. Robins arm was broken but that seemed to be the worst of the injuries. Kitty somehow managed to mother hen him the rest of the mission without being annoying or getting in his way.

His feelings for kitty only seemed to grow after this

4. Robin keeps thinking about how Kitty always smells like flowers and that means he must like them, so he heads over to this new flower shop only to recognize the voice at the register as kitty. (Its not because he's memorized his voice via crush! Shut up inner Dick!) Of course he tells no one of this revalation, but if he continues to visit this shop on the regular...well he can just tell Father that he picked up a new hobby

5. Tim has a similar situation a few months later. He saw a guy feeding pigeon at the park and greeted him with a friendly, "Hey."

Danny recognized Red Robins voice and- on reflex- greeted him back with a, "Hello, pretty bird." Then he realized Tim wasn't in costume, which was followed up by realizing he wasn't in costume. Then finally- "Oh Ancients, you're Tim Drake!"

They stared at eachother for a seconds before Danny took a risk, "This never happened."

"And why shouldn't I tell the others about this?"

Danny stared him in the eye, "Because you'll never live it down?"

"Fair enough."

So now two bats know kitty's civilian id and aren't telling anyone else in the family. It'd be hilarious if this became a trend.

6. Damian (15) has a crush on Danny.

Danny (17) has a crush on Tim

Tim (19) loves coffee

No love triangle. More like a love conga line where Tim doesn't know why Dami is so territorial over thier friend. There's now two people with the nickname "Clueless"

7. If Danny or Dani decide to keep the white glove(s) and/or boots in thier costumes you can bet Selena will call them affectionate cat based nicknames such as Mittens, Boots, Paws, Frosting, ect.

8. Bruce is close to having a stroke. Not only can he not find out anything about the potential baby bats Selena has he has a problem but Damian is lovestruck, Tim is lovedumb and he's expecting broken bones and broken hearts on the horizon.

And to top it off he still hasn't been able to get any DNA to test if they're his or not. It would be really uncomfortable if they were.

9. Skulker appears and the cats have no idea how he got here. They beat him up in fifteen seconds flat and shove him in one of the thermos that Danny always keeps on him.

10. Tim accidentally used one of Dannys thermos' for actual soup. Tim might be showing light signs of ecto-contamination later.

That or he purposely uses it as a soup cannon against bad guys.

[yes-im-a-simpp]

Wally : do you call him B for Bruce or for Batman?

Jason : actually 'B' stands for bi-

Bruce : Jason.

Jason with a high voice : bEsT fAtHeR iN tHe WhOle wOrLd.

Wally :

Bruce :

Wally : is that why dick told me to never ask him any questions?

Bruce : Probably.

[ligercat]

[mylifeingotham]

[emo-batboy]

A Wild Battinson (Social Media AU)

Part 3 (Masterlist)

(Part 4)

@bruciemilf <33

[anawrites3]

King Bruce having nightmares every single night after "giving up" his son - about horrible things his mind keeps telling him happen to him under Wilson's "care", about Dick calling him, begging and crying when he's being raped and abused by his new husband, about his head coming back to him in pretty box one day...

(How's he dealing with whole situation btw? Knowing Bruce he's grieving already...)

Before we'll get to the story I'd like to apologize for how long it took me to answer your ask, anon. I'm very very sorry and I feel so awful about it but life's been crazy lately and i barely had any time to write at all. I want you to know that the moment I got your ask I literally gasped and went to writing it right away, that's how much I loved your idea. But after I started it and outlined the story a bit, I went back to finish other stuff I was working on earlier, thinking "hey, I'll finish those quickly and then I'll get back to this to write it properly." Annddd of course that didn't happen as life went "lol, good joke" and then kicked me in the shin, throwing stuff on me, because it's a little shit like that.

Again, I'm very very sorry. Thank you for being patient with me while I sorted out my stuff - it's better now so you won't have to wait this long for answer again, I promise. And anon, I want you to know that I love and appreciate you and that I'm very thankful for your ask because your idea is great and writing it was a pleasure. Thank you. Feel free to send me another ask to yell at me for taking so long haha

And now - finally!! - the story;

/ / / / / / /

"N-no... no, please- please!"

Dick desperately tried to crawl away, as much as he could with all the injuries he already received. The blood continued to seep from his wounds, leaving a red trail behind him while he did what he could to get as far away as it was possible.

He didn't manage to get far.

A broken scream, as loud as his already damaged throat allowed, forced itself out from between Dick's lips as his hand was crushed under a heavy boot. The sound of crunching bones, breaking under the weight of it was sickeningly loud in his own ears.

"Where do you think you're going?" Slade Wilson asked calmly, almost as if they were talking about the weather over the dinner table. He put even more pressure down on Dick's shattered hand and Dick trashed, desperate to pull away. Slade didn't even budge. "We're not quite done yet, my prince."

"No please- please, no more!" Dick sobbed. He was no longer fully aware of the words that were spilling out of his mouth, he didn't care, he just wanted it to stop. He just wanted to get away, he wanted to go back home, to his brothers, to Bruce. "Please, stop it!"

"Hm, no, I don't think I will." Slade smiled like a wolf hungry for blood, but he finally took his foot of Dick's hand.

Dick immediately cradled it against his naked chest, instinctively trying to protect it from getting hurt any further but he knew it didn't matter much anyway. If Slade wanted to hurt that hand more, he would, regardless of what Dick did.

"But you can keep begging. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind?"

Slade pressed his boot against Dick's shoulder to forcefully turn him onto his back and Dick just sobbed again.

"P-please! Anyone! H-help me, please, anyone!" he screamed.

Like every other time he tried this, no one answered. No one rushed to save him. But he had to keep trying, he couldn't give up his only chance. There was no way he would be able to win against Slade alone (he knows, he tried that already) but maybe some of Slade's knights - even one, just one of them would be enough - would take pity on him and help him get away.

"Shh. There's no need to yell, sweetheart, no one will come anyway." Slade hummed, crunching down by his side.

He caressed Dick's bruised cheek almost gently and wiped off his tears with a thumb before trailing his fingers higher, to burrow them into Dick's hair. They were wet and sticky with sweat and blood but Slade didn't seem to mind.

"Why would they?" he continued instead, arching Dick's neck to expose his throat more. "After all, you're spending a nice night with your husband right now. You wouldn't want anyone to interrupt us, hmm?"

"No no no-" Dick babbled. He tried to shake his head but Slade's fingers just tightened in his hair and he could just yelp at the painful tug.

Slade ignored him for the sake of pressing his lips against Dick’s neck. The kiss was gentle, with Slade's lips barely brushing against the skin and the deep bruises in the shape of fingers that bloomed there. Dick's breath heaved and he forced himself to keep breathing, to not choke on another sob that tried to escape him.

Even with the touch so gentle, it felt as if Slade's lips were burning him, painting his skin with their touch. Even when he pulled away a moment later, Dick still could feel them there, marking, branding him. New silent tears fell down his temples.

"Just look at you." Slade murmured. His hot breath caressed the sensitive skin of Dick’s throat, as he struggled to swallow. "Pretty little thing."

Slade’s teeth closed over the side of his neck and Dick screamed.

"Please, please! L-let me go!"

He managed to grab at Slade's nape and his nails dug into the skin there but it was as if the man didn't even feel it.

"Let you go?" Slade repeated with a mocking laugh. He pulled away to admire the mark he just left and fondly traced it with his thumb. "Now, that wouldn't be fun at all. Apart from that, where would you even go? Defiance is your home now, little prince. No no, I'd rather have you here with me."

When Slade jerked him higher, manhandling him any way he liked, Dick couldn't do anything but let it happen. He was forced into a not-quite-sitting but not-quite-lying position and his hand slipped on the wet floor a few times when he tried to support his weight and not strain his muscles any further. Slade hummed softly, satisfied.

Their lips crashed together in a bruising kiss Dick had no way of escaping. It was hungry, savage almost, with Slade taking everything he wanted from him and showing in yet another way how little power Dick held now. The meat he got to eat earlier that night, the wine Slade could still taste on his tongue, Dick got them only because Slade agreed to it. As the king's consort he was stripped of any privileges he had as Gotham's crown prince. Now he wasn't anything more than just a pretty thing perched on Slade's arm.

Slade's teeth tore into Dick's lower lip and he didn't even have the time to whine before blood flooded his mouth. Slade tilted his head to be more comfortable and licked between his lips to taste him better, not caring for the way Dick choked a little.

Dick wondered if spitting the blood on him would be worth it.

"I hate you, I hate you-"

"I don't care, boy." Slade laughed, pulling away. His teeth were red from Dick's blood. "Hate me all you want, wish me death, try to take my life. I'll win either way. You'll just make it more interesting for me."

He pushed Dick back almost carelessly and the young consort fell down, his back hitting the floor painfully with a thud. For a moment, Slade just looked at him - taking in the bare skin, every bruise and cut he made that night, admiring the work of his hands, teeth and knives. Hm. Perhaps he will use a whip next time.

In that time, Dick managed to get a few meters away but it really didn't matter much. Slade crossed the distance in a few lazy steps before he drapped himself over Dick, settling on his hips to hold him down again.

"And now," Slade purred out, leaning over him. He placed his hands on either side of Dick's head and Dick no longer could see anything else, not even the ceiling of the room. Only Slade, always only Slade. "we're getting to the fun part."

"N-no, please..." Dick sobbed again. He squeezed his eyes shut so he didn't have to look at how pleased Slade looked. At Slade's lips, stretched in a smirk still red with his blood, at that cold eye full of sick cruelty. "B-Bruce! Bruce, please please, help me!"

"Calling your daddy now?" Slade laughed. "He won't save you either, boy."

"N-no, he will!" Dick argued, almost hysterically. "He'll help me, he won't let you-!"

"Oh, but you're forgetting about one little thing." Slade drawled, as his fingers closed over Dick's chin hard enough to bruise, to force him to look in that cold eye. Slade waited for him to open his eyes before continuing, "I own you now, little prince. Your father was the one to sell you out. And now you belong to me..."

"Dick!"

Bruce woke up with a gasp, sitting up so abruptly that he almost fell off the bed. It took him a moment to realize that he was the one screaming and then a few more to fight off nausea. Oh Gods. Oh Gods, it was a dream, just a dream... was it really only a dream?

"Your Majesty?"

Bruce looked up. The doors to his chambers were wide open, knights guarding them were inside and looking over the whole room and its balcony, while the kerosene lamp illuminated them all.

"Your Majesty, are you alright? We heard you scream."

Bruce could just nod in answer. His hands were shaking so much that even clenching them into fists didn't stop the trembling.

He stood up from the bed quickly and stumbled across the chambers to get to the doors. His knights - who already made sure that their king wasn't in any danger and that no one broke into his chambers - observed him with concern. Bruce didn't pay them the slightest of his attention. He needed... he needed to-

"No, please- please!"

He felt as if he was drunk, stumbling and bumping into everything on his way but he didn't care. The bruise on his hip from hitting into a wall will heal. The knights he pushed out of his way will be okay. He didn't give a shit about any of it.

"Something's wrong. Quickly, go get sir Alfred!"

"And what about lord Kent?"

"There's no time, go already!"

Bruce stopped before Jason's chambers, swaying on his feet. He wanted to vomit, he wanted to yell, cry, slam his fists into the stone wall until his hands were broken but he needed to know that Jason was safe first. It was his fault, all his fault that Dick had to leave and marry that monster. He already lost one child, sold him out, he couldn't bear to lose another one.

"Get out of my way." He ordered the knights guarding his son's room. They eyed him, concerned for his almost delirious state and didn't step aside to let him pass. "I said, move!"

He pushed them away, reaching for the handle. His elbow throbbed from the force with which he hit the knight to move him away but he didn't care, he didn't give a shit right now, the knight had an armor on, Bruce is paying him anyway-

Empty.

Jason's bed was empty.

Bruce rushed deeper inside the chamber. The bed, the bed was empty, as well as the armchair Jason liked to read in, the sofas, the balcony, the ensuite bathroom, it was empty, it was all empty, he wasn't here-

"Where's my son?!" Bruce yelled. The walls seemed to shake from the volume of his voice, or maybe it was because of his rage, of his despair?

Knights didn't answer him fast enough and so he ran out of the chambers and down the hall. His legs didn't want to work properly, he was shaking so much that he wasn't entirely sure which way was forward. He didn't even notice when tears began to blur everything around and oh, maybe that's why he was choking.

"Jason!" he screamed, completely hysterical. He moved around the knights that tried to stop him. "Jason!!"

Someone grabbed him from behind and Bruce didn't think before whirling around and punching them straight in the face. He won't let anyone stop him, he has to find Jason, make sure he is safe.

"Master Bruce, stop right now!" Bruce recognized Alfred's voice but he didn't listen.

He just kept running, opening random doors and yelling for his son. Because Jason had to be there, somewhere, he didn't just disappear. There were so many people in the castle, the knights, servants and maids that were still finishing their duties or simply making sure that the fire in their chambers was still burning. Someone would see if Jason left, or if-

If someone took him away.

Bruce's legs buckled under him and he distantly felt the dull pain in his knees where they hit the floor. Everything, everyone around him seemed to stop as well, now that he wasn't running around anymore and they didn't have to chase him.

"Master Bruce." Alfred breathed out softly, kneeling down beside him. His arms wrapped around Bruce and he let himself be held for a moment, just crying quietly.

"Alfred..." he sobbed. There were people around them but he didn't care if they saw him break down. He was paying them to keep quiet of the things that happened in his home. He can always throw them in a cell too. "Alfred, Jason's gone, I can't find him anywhere. I failed Dick, I sold him out to that monster and now... now Jason too is-"

"Bruce! Bruce, what happened?!"

Bruce looked up just in time to see Jason push through the knights surrounding them. His hair was tousled as if he just woke up but he was still wearing his daily clothing and not sleepwear.

Jason basically ran to him, face twisted with worry. He let Bruce embrace him, despite being a maturing teenager and those never wanted to hug their fathers (except for Dick, Dick loved hugs, he loved all the contact he could get-) and buried his face in Bruce's collarbone.

"Jason, oh Gods, Jason-" Bruce babbled, hiding his face in his son's curly hair.

He couldn't get rid of the image from the nightmare from his head, he could still vividly see Wilson's smirking face, dirty with Dick's blood and so full of sadistic pleasure.

Bruce, please please, help me!

"I'm here, dad." Jason said, his voice quiet but firm and Bruce could breathe again, however shaky his breath was. "'m here and I'm alright. Everything's alright."

No, it's not, Bruce wanted to scream but couldn't push the words past his lips, Dick is still with that awful man, helpless and so far away from home.

Alfred rubbed his warm hand between Bruce's shoulder blades and Bruce trembled, holding Jason even tighter. It had to be at least a little bit uncomfortable but Jason didn't say a word about it.

"Let's get you both to bed now." Alfred suggested in a warm voice. "It's the middle of the night and a lot has happened in this short time. I bet you are quite tired, my king."

Bruce let them help him to his feet and led back to his chambers but he still didn't let go of Jason. For once, Jason wasn't opposed to it at all, keeping close and making sure that they were pressed together so Bruce could feel him and know he was there. And Bruce wanted to start crying again because the action was so Dick that it physically hurt his chest. The way Dick always cared for them all and how he always made sure that they got enough of hugs and human contact, how he teached their siblings about how important it was to get at least one hug a day.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice when they entered his chambers and the doors closed behind them, separating him, Jason and Alfred from the rest of the castle. Jason sat down on the bed's edge with him and he rested his head on his son's shoulder. Suddenly, he felt so damn drained.

"Jason?"

"I'm still here." Jason immediately answered, squeezing his hand.

Bruce breathed out slowly, "I'm... I'm sorry for- for this. I didn't want to worry you."

Alfred didn't argue that it wasn't his fault, no matter how much he wanted to. They all knew that Bruce wouldn't agree with him and they'd just start arguing about silly things, while there were more important matters at hand, such as making sure that Bruce was well.

"It's alright." he said instead, handing the man a glass of water.

Bruce took it gratefully, finally feeling how sore his throat was from all the screaming and crying. He felt much better just after a few sips.

"What happened?" Jason prompted after a few minutes of silence. When Alfred didn't scold him for it, he continued. "I heard you screaming and came as fast as I could but..."

"I behaved like a child." Bruce sighed. The glass shook slightly in his grip. "I... I had a nightmare and- wanted to, no, I needed to know that you're safe and uninjured, Jaylad. When I went into your chambers and saw that you weren't there... I'm sorry. You shouldn't see me in a state like that. I shouldn't let all of the stuff see me like that."

"Oh come on, Bruce, it's not your fault!" Jason scoffed, pressing even closer to him. "Even if you're a king you're still only a human, just like we all are. That had to be one hell of a nightmare to scare you like this."

Alfred frowned at the words and he parted his lips to scold Jason for cursing but before he could, Bruce nodded, "Yeah... it was."

"...What was it about?"

"Master Jason!"

"What?! I'm just curious!"

Bruce shook his head but a small smile finally tugged at his lips.

"Not important right now." he breathed. It really wasn't. It was... it was just a dream. None of this was real. "I'd rather know what you were up to that late in the night, Jay."

A blush climbed onto Jason's cheeks and he turned away, as if that would make Bruce unable to see the way the tips of his ears turned red as well.

"I went to read in the library." came the shy, mumbled answer. "And then fell asleep there, in the window nook."

Alfred murmured something about reading in the lamp's light and bad eyesight. Bruce didn't really understand much of it because he was too busy laughing. He actually felt a little bit sick from it again but he couldn't help himself. The library. Of course.

"How did I not think of that?" he chuckled. "Of course you were in the library, Jaylad. Did you find anything interesting?"

Jason shrugged but he was nodding at the same time. "I did, actually. Why else would I stay up?"

"We both know that it's not a real issue for you, Master Jason." Alfred sighed. "You could always be reading one of your favorite titles again."

"Maybe but not this time, Alfie! Bruce got us new books from Defiance writers and I was looking through them all evening."

Bruce's smile faded a bit at the mention of Wilson's country but he quickly pushed the thoughts about him away. There was nothing he could do about it now anyway.

"Anything interesting?" he asked and Jason perked up, as he always did when he got to talk about his books.

"Yeah, the one I'm reading right now is actually pretty cool! The story takes place several centuries ago so I get to know about Defiance's history and its customs and- um. Maybe it's a little late to tell you all about it." he cleared his throat, scratching at the back of his head in a nervous habit both Bruce and Alfred tried to teach him out of. It only made his bed hair even more messy.

"That's alright." Bruce hummed, placing a kiss on his son's forehead. "How about you tell me all about it in the morning instead?"

Jason didn't beam at his words - not like Dick would - but it was a close thing. He pulled Bruce into one last hug before standing up. "Alright. That sounds good. I'm... I'll be in my room this time, if you need me."

Bruce smiled fondly.

"Thank you, Jaylad. But hopefully I won't and we'll get to sleep through the rest of the night without any further troubles."

Jason bid both him and Alfred goodnights with a smile before walking out of the chamber. Bruce waited a few more moments, to make sure he was far enough, before he turned to face Alfred properly. Alfred was already standing by his side, waiting.

"We are leaving for Defiance first thing after the breakfast." he ordered, not even a trace of his smile left. "Please make sure that everything will be ready by then."

"Very well, Your Majesty. Shall I inform lord Kent about the journey?"

Bruce shook his head, eyes hardening. "No. I don't need Clark's help to kill that bastard if I see even a scratch on my son."

Masterlist of the au