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[aerofae]

Giggle Bats (Angst AU) - Snippet 1

AU Context Here

Bruce's hand stilled mid crank of the wrench. Entirely caught off guard, his gaze lifted in the direction of the teen. “What did you just call it?” He hoped his tone wasn't too sharp. It crushed him every time Dick flinched, but the words had left him before he could remember to lighten the gruffness. He was so used to it being just Alfred and himself here, and Alfred always knew when his words were laced with anger versus genuine bewilderment—even though they sounded fairly alike.

“Hm?” Dick poked his head out from behind the computer, seemingly unfazed by the question. "The Batmobile?"

“The... Batmobile?” Bruce repeated the absurd title back to Dick.

It took a moment for the dots to connect in Dick's mind. Yes, the Batmobile. The Dark Knight's trusty steed. The harbinger of a rough night to come for every crook in Gotham from petty thief to mob boss. Surely this Bruce—“Oh shit, that's right! You've never had a Robin!”

Dick pushed against the desk so that the chair would wheel further into Bruce's direct line of sight, dragging his IV pole along with him (aided by a nudge from Alfred's foot). “That is the Batmobile.” He explained with an amused grin. “This,” Dick gestured to the computer, “is the Batcomputer.” Dick then grabbed one of the broken Batarangs from the desk, giving it a flourishing gesture. “Batarang!”

Bruce was lost. Utterly lost. Dick could feel the giddiness rising within him.

“It usually starts with me,” he explained. “A joke at first, but it sticks pretty quick. Almost everything has Bat in front of it. Officially and unofficially.” Dick leaned back into the computer chair—Batcomputer Batchair—rolling his eyes up to the ceiling as he recalled the various names he had heard versions of himself and his siblings use over the years. He counted each on a finger. “Batbelt. Batcape. Batjet. Batbike. Batglare.” Dick paused to gauge Bruce's reaction—bewildered silence. The teen's grin threatened to give-way to laughter. “What do you call it?”

Bruce's jaw had hung open. His brow was furrowed. “The car.”

“On the contrary, Sir.” Alfred hummed his own amusement. “I do believe that Gotham has begun to refer to it as the Bat-Car.”

The wrench slipped from Bruce's hand, falling with a series of mocking clanks and clatters as it bounced its way through the overly complicated engine. This was enough to finally permit himself to laugh—a foreign sound and feeling. One he felt he hadn't experienced in God knew how long. Months? Years? Dick was soon doubled over with the laughter. The motions made his stitches nag in protest, but the euphoria was too good and too overdue to stop. Dick laughed. He laughed and laughed until he began to cry. Once the crying started, the sobs were quick to follow. Almost instantaneously. One extreme to the other, both he hadn't let himself feel for too long. Too too long. All this time—all these years—he had been surviving. He had been keeping his brothers in line. He had been listening to their stories of their Bruce's. Their Batman's. Their memories. Their joy filled moments and years of Robin. Their lives as Bruce Wayne's children. A life Dick never knew, but had heard and witnessed time and time again. Always from the outside. Always longing. Always longing.

–

Bruce had sat in silent support while Dick cried himself into trembling exhaustion. He didn't know Dick's pain, not fully. But he knew heart break. He knew what it was like to watch others live the life he wanted more than anything. Parents to hold him. Laughter to be shared. Bruce couldn't fix the pain of Dick's past any more than he could fix his own—but he'd do whatever was within his power to see that Dick's pain ended here. No more universe hoping. No more slaughters. No more longing for a proper, safe home. Bruce swore it to himself as he laid Dick carefully back into his bed.

Bruce tucked the teen in, careful of his arm as to not tangle or pull on the IV cords. Once he was satisfied that Dick would be warm and comfortable for the night, Bruce sat carefully on the edge of the bed. “You know,” he spoke softly, running a hand through Dick's shaggy hair, “Batmobile isn't such a bad name after all. Do you think it'll catch on here?”

“Guaranteed.” Dick smiled. It was an exhausted and broken smile, but the most genuine Bruce had ever seen from the teen.

[aerofae]

Angst AU

So let me tell you guys about my favorite angst (yet still fluffy at times) AU. Fair warning: lots of angst and macabre and the overall splatter punk vibes when it comes to actually writing it out (I'm writing a fic in bits and pieces).

The Bat Who Laughs... Stick with me. He's not the main focus but is the big bad.

In his popping in and out of alternate universes, he's slowly been collecting what he sees as the perfect alternatives to his the family he had killed after being Joker-fied. He's cycled through a few different versions of the boys, but we're going to talk about his final group.

Dick (roughly 16) has been there the longest. He was trained to be a Talon after his parents were murdered, having been kidnapped by Cobb during all the commotion. When Batman finally found the missing Grayson boy, the BWL swooped in to claim him (killing both Cobb and this universe's Batman in the process)

Jason (around 14) is the third Jason the BWL has had under his wing. In this Jason's timeline, he was also beaten within an inch of his life by the Joker, but Batman made it just in time to take the impact of the bomb in place of his ward. Alfred did everything he could to keep Jason from following the same path Bruce had in vengeance, but Red Hood was well underway when the BWL decided to give him a shot.

Tim is the second Tim. You guessed it, Joker Junior. The first Tim (14, same as Jason) was “too old” and “too independent” for the BWL. Too much like Tim still (he had been found and was recovering when the BWL stole him). New Tim (around 11) is younger and freshly pulled from the vat of Ace Chemicals. Freshly broken, the perfect puppet (or so the BWL thinks).

Damian (7) has been with the BWL the second longest. The BWL's original Damian (the one that had twisted and conformed to the BWL's morals) had died in combat (against another Damian—go figure). It took the BWL a while to come around to replacing him, but when he did he had been compelled to take a toddler aged version straight from Talia's arms. Damian is oddly coddled compared to his brothers. He doesn't go on missions with them. He barely even trains. He's essentially just a kid being forced to watch his found brothers go through Hell universe after universe after universe. Naturally, he's very close with Dick who essentially is raising him in place of the BWL.

But the twist is that in their universe hoping (where the boys have been front line against their counterparts), they come across a Bruce who eventually rescues them. By complete accident at first of course, and with much confusion. Consider this Bruce a year five or so Batman, a little broken in but not quite versed in the concept of parallel universe's actually being real. Pre Justice League, but Gotham for sure knows who Batman is. In his universe Dick Grayson had died with his parents, Jason Todd was a finally identified John Doe found beaten to death in in the Narrows, Tim Drake was collateral damage in a hit gone wrong, and Damian Wayne was nonexistent—so who exactly where these kids? Why did their DNA and finger prints match with the dead? Who the fuck was Damian Wayne?

Anyway, I'mma be posting some stuff about them. Little snippets and slice of life moments. I don't have a rp partner anymore (TLDR, we were dating and it didn't work out) so Tumblr is now subject to my AU.. Enjoy :)