#Batman’s c- parenting

[crushvsky]

It’s so perfect that the ones doing the bat voice are Jason and Damian because this kind of immediate reaction is absolutely a trauma response and the ones who have it are definitely Dick and Tim. Jason got a dad before he got a Batman and Damian’s Batman was Dick. Dick? Got a Batman who didn’t know how to work with people let alone how to interact with a kid. If he got hurt Bruce smothered him or berated him and there was no in between. Hell there were probably times both happened on the same night. And Tim? This man was Bruce’s emotional support child and there were abso-fucking-lutley times where he was confused for Jason so Tim not checking in? Hell of a flashback moment for the Bat. Tim probably had to deal with break downs, Bruce almost killing someone or getting screamed at because he wasn’t good enough. Both of them learned real fast that when Batman told you to check in? You answered. No matter what. In the long run it was far safer.

And now I desperately want like a fic series of both scenarios and also like one where they talk about it. Maybe Dick or Tim tries to explain that Bruce was Different™️ with them and what that means. I don’t know I just need it with all my feral little heart.

nightwing being hurt in the field, and over comms he can’t get out what was wrong, nearly in shock, and jason puts on his best batman™️ voice and says “robin, report.”

and it snaps dick out of it enough to say concussion, possible broken ribs, and a gash in his side.

no one talks about it, and then a year later, damian does the same thing to tim

[bitimdrake]

talking about bruce and dick: A complex web of toxicity and love and abuse and devotion. An 80-year analysis of the never ending breakdown and repair and breakdown of a parent/child relationship. A receptacle for all your daddy issues. Break out the psychology books; I could analyze this for 50 years. Your dad loves you and he hurts you and he loves you and

talking about bruce and jason: A Shakespearean tragedy. They can never be happy at the same time. They will always self-sabotage what could help them. Jason is dead and he's always been dead, and Bruce died with him in most ways that matter, but the story won't let them leave. The curtains will never close. They're forced to keep moving and ruining themselves every time.

talking about bruce and tim: little freaks but at least they're funny about it lmao

[varpusvaras]

Roy stands in front of the stove and stares at the soup.

He watches it simmering, the surface gently bubbling every now and then, and he tries not to think too much.

It's been pretty hard, lately, not to think too much, but he has to do it, because if he starts to think, he will get angry again.

Roy can't afford to get angry. Not yet, anyway.

He stares at the simmering soup until it is ready, and he turns the stove off and takes the pan off of it, and he takes the nice bowl out of the dishwasher and starts to ladel the soup in it, because, damn it, he is using the nice bowl for this. Would it be safer to use the less nice ones? Maybe, but Roy doesn't feel like playing it safe and behaving like the nice bowl is above this.

He is getting way too agitated about bowls. Roy stops, breathes in the herbal scent of the soup, and continues to get the soup from the pan into the nice bowl. He then gets the high glass from the cabinet, because the nice bowl of soup needs a nice glass of water to go with it.

He then takes both and makes his way to the bedroom.

He stops at the doorway.

The ceiling is off, because Jason's eyes and head can't really handle too much light right now, but the desk light on Roy's side of the bed is on. Lian is laying on that side of the bed, curled as close to Jason as she can, with a book in her hands. It's one of Jason's, though Roy can't see which one from where he is standing, but the words he can hear Lian softly reading out make it sound very English.

Jason's eyes are closed, but his head is turned ever so slightly towards Lian, and from how he is breathing, Roy knows that he is awake.

It is something that any other time would only make Roy's heart swell with love and happiness, but right now, there is an ugly, bitter taste all over it, preventing him from truly enjoying it.

He clears his throat a bit. Lian turns to look at him over her shoulder, sees the bowl and the glass, and she takes the book and scoots to the edge of the bed.

"Lian."

Lian looks at him little pleadingly, even though by now, she already knows the answer.

Roy shakes his head. Lian turns her eyes down. She puts the book on the nightstand, and reaches to wrap her fingers around Jason's for a second, before she slides off of the bed. Roy steps into the room to get away from the doorway, so she can get past him and out of the bedroom.

"Thank you", Roy whispers to her as she walks past him. He then nudges the door closed and walks up to the bed.

He turns on the desk light on Jason's side of the bed. Jason twitches a little, his eyes flutterin and his brow pinching a bit.

"Sorry", Roy murmurs. He puts the bowl and the glass on the nightstand to have both his hands free. "I'm gonna move you up a little."

It's a familiar dance for both of them by now. Jason hums affirmatively, Roy steadies his back and neck and pulls him up a little against the headboard. Jason's jaw clenches because by now, the painkillers have stopped working and he is more lucid and definitely more aware of everything that is going on with his body, but he wants it this way, because being more lucid means that he can kind of eat on his own.

'Kind of' in this context means that he can swallow without spewing anything on himself, and that is something that Jason is willing to take, even if it comes with more pain.

Jason opens his eyes when Roy lets go off him to pick the bowl back up.

"How're you feeling?" Roy asks. He tries not to ask it every time Jason is even marginally awake, but it's difficult, because every time Jason closes his eyes, Roy can only see him laying there, bloody and still and him looming over his body.

It's been weeks now, and still, Roy can't seem to forget how he had felt back there, when for a one moment, he had thought that Jason was dead.

Jason just breathes for a moment. He has to do it a lot, as he cannot breathe very deeply at all.

"Fine", he says, which Roy deciphers as meaning not worse than the last time you asked. It's good enough, all things considered.

"That's good." Roy gets some soup on the spoon. Jason's left hand is in theory capable of holding onto things, but in reality, it still shakes too much for him to be able to do anything precise with it. So what he gets is Roy spooning the soup for him.

They don't speak while Jason eats. Just the act of eating takes too much of his energy, and he needs to focus to it in order to get it done. It is all familiar by now as well. After Jason has gotten at least some food and water down his throat, Roy will give him his next dose of painkillers, and then talk to him while he falls back asleep.

Roy knows that Jason hates it.

They have talked more than enough of their childhoods at this point. Roy knows all the unsavory details of Jason's story, and right now, at this moment, the ones of his mother, almost always unresponsive towards the end, with Jason trying his best to keep her alive by any means necessary, are at the forefront of both of their minds. Roy knows it.

He also knows that it is the one place Jason never wanted to end up in, and he's been there once already.

It is why he doesn't want Lian to see him right now, no matter how much he adores her. Jason had been alone, back then, taking all the responsibilities of adults when he had just hit double digits in age, and the last thing he wants is to make another kid go through the same. It's not the same, since Roy is there, but it is too close for Jason nevertheless.

Roy has tried to explain it to her, so she wouldn't feel like she's done something wrong. She understands, but with that understanding, has only come the need to help even more.

Roy loves her so much. He wishes that she never has to go through anything bad in her life.

Roy also loves Jason, and while he knows that there is nothing that he could've done for him before, he will never forgive himself for not protecting him now.

He doesn't say that out loud. Not yet.

Jason finishes half of the bowl before he just simply cannot make himself eat more. He accepts enough sips of the water to not be dehydrated and to get the painkillers down. Roy lets him stay sitting for a moment longer, before he lowers him back down onto the bed.

He says other things out loud. Simple things. Simple, loving things, that don't reveal how much Roy wishes to take all the pain from Jason and give it back. He will, eventually, because Roy knows Jason, and he knows that for Jason, saying those things out loud is love as well.

But not yet. Not yet, simply for the fact that if Roy does so, he will have to do as he says, right there, right then, and he cannot yet.

Not yet, when Jason still needs him like this.

Jason closes his eyes, slowly, as the awareness in them dims, and eventually his breathing evens out, as much as the painkillers allow him to not care about everything in him that has been broken.

Roy watches him sleep.

He is happy, now, that he listened to Jason and never told anyone, not even Dick, about them. As much as Roy loves Dick, he is now a safety hazard, a possible breach in this place that Jason has for himself. A place that no one will know to come and look for him from.

That is good. That is exactly what he needs right now.

That is exactly what Roy wants.

Batman will not be able to find Jason. He will not be able to come for him.

No. When the time comes, it will be Roy who comes for the Batman, and when that time comes, Roy will be ready for it.

[charlietheepicwriter7]

I'm obsessive over my Constantine Jr Au (which still needs a fic name for, I'm open to suggestions) because

this is a cranky danny. he's spent years fighting with no end in sight, with parents who he can't trust and his only companions never truly understanding what he's going through.

he vapes CBD for the pain he's constantly in. he drank alco/hol once to help him sleep, but his parents smelt it on his breath and, just like with their research, took that to believe EVERYTHING they'd ever suspected about danny to be true: that he drinks, he does dru/gs, he's in a gang. the only thing they've never suspected their son of--being a ghost--is the one thing he actually does.

then, right on the cusp of eighteen and freedom, he gets outed. AND transformed into a seven-year-old.

this is not a danny who is willing to play at being a child. and if anyone tries to, they're in for a foul time.

Danny was 17, transformed into a 7 year old and hides in Bludhaven, and is 8 when the police finally figure out that, hey, this weird kid who keeps altering us to crime scenes is usually right on the money about who the killer is, we should investigate that. Officer Grayson is on the case!

And discovers that he absolutely can't STAND this kid.

He thought he liked kids! Everyone thought he liked kids! but this kid...

This isn't called the Constantine Jr AU because Danny is a supernatural detective, or because Danny might be Constantine's kid. Its because Danny is an unrepentant little bas/tard and he makes it everyone's problem.

Danny vapes and blows bubblegum smoke in Grayson's face.

He takes out a flask and Grayson's grabs it, learning its full of orange juice. Danny then takes out a second flask, this one with vod/ka.

He wears a trenchcoat he found in the trash (the same trenchcoat Nightwing wears in DC vs Vampires, if you know you know) but the end and the sleeves are cut off for his hands and legs. the pockets are roughly around his knees.

Grayson is desperate to figure out more about this kid, but he doesn't go to batman because, time-line wise, this is right before red hood starts running around. Jason is dead/alive-in-hiding, Tim is Robin, and Dick is mad about it. (ages-- Bruce: ? Nightwing: 24 Jason: 19 Tim: 15 Danny: 8 Damien: 7-8)

he doesn't really bond with the kid until they're both kidnapped by a gang for hostages, and Danny's big kid emotions get a hold of him (he thought he could escape them bc he's an adult, he's gone through worse, but nope! child brain chemistry). Grayson is worried that he's hurt and in pain, but Danny confesses that he's always in pain. he has nerve damage all over his body, and the only thing he really trusts is CBD. He feels like shit for taking his juul away, but more importantly, because he's been treating Danny like a irritant and just a little kid.

they get rescued and Grayson tries to take him back to his home, but Danny reveals he's homeless, saying something like "I sleep where it suits me, just drop me off whereever."

Absolutely not, Grayson is taking kid back to his place for a bed, food, and a shower, in whatever order the kid wants.

Danny stays semi-perminantly at his apartment, but Nightwing tries not to push it, because this kid practically screams flight risk. unfortunately, the paparazzi have nothing better to do and snap a pick of Grayson and Danny getting dinner together, speculating that Dick's taken after Bruce

Danny doesn't care too much; I think his ghost form is the same, if glitchy, so his parents don't know about the deaging. Grayson is mildly panicking, but its not like he HASN'T been considering adopting the evil troglodyte. Even Bruce, Tim, and Alfred aren't the problem.

No, the problem is the Red Hood, a crime boss who just cut 8 people's heads off, seeing what looks like Nightwing pulling an innocent kid into the neverending fight against crime and Seeing Green.

Edit: Had to censor sh!t because ths wasn't showing up in the tags

[the-great-kraken]

the thing about bruce wayne's parenting is that it's dysfunctional, yes. abusive? no. there's a very fine line there and he dances along it like a tightrope.

[violent138]

Love that the Batfam consistently ruins and is largely incompatible with any and all of Alfred's attempts to nuclearify the family.

[farshootergotme]

Batfam: Dick is the favorite son

Dick 'I wasn't adopted until my 20's' Grayson, who's been kicked out, hit, yelled at and sent on a suicidal mission by Bruce: Not trying to say you're wrong, but..

[martyrbat]

batman: gotham knights #2

‘Her experience of being trained almost from birth as an assassin leaves her less than fully able to acknowledge her own capacity for good. Not for doing good. But for being good. He knows all of his partners, sometimes better than he knows himself. He knows, for instance, that if Dick—Nightwing—had disobeyed his order to come back to the ship, it would have been because of his need to be useful—and because of his unabating desire to demonstrate his filial loyalty. He knows that if—Tim—Robin—had come back, it would have been because of his empathy, his inability to leave someone else in harm's way. Jason, the one he lost—he was headstrong and disregarded orders as a matter of rebellious individuation. Batman doesn't want to lose another one, which is why he wishes he didn't so well understand what brings this one back.’

[mylongsufferingroommate]

I wrote another one...

[ditzyredrobin]

Come Hell or High Water

AIless Whumptober Day 10

Self worth issues, pushing a loved one away, “You don’t need to earn this.”

-

As if it was almost unexpected, Bruce hugged him and Tim as Red Robin froze. Heavy wrapped his arms around his son, arms all encompassing and safe on top of the Wayne Enterprises building. “You don’t need to earn this.” And that…that was something. “You don’t need to do anything to prove yourself or to be my son.”

Tim stiffened before completely and utterly melting like taffy under the hot sun. Bruce smiled softly, tightening his hold on his middle son, holding him for the first time in months.

It’s been a long year for everyone, he just hadn’t realized just how much of a toll it had taken on his son. If he had paid just a little more attention, maybe he would have noticed just how big a toll it had taken on Tim before it had gotten to this point.

Before he was a step away from losing another son.

Tim buried his face in his chest, ignoring the rough Kevlar-nomac weave, shoulders shaking. He hadn’t grown much in the time Bruce had been gone and, while he has always been a lithe kid, he didn’t fill in his suit like he was supposed to.

His Robin. So fragile.

“I’m sorry,” Tim whispered, his voice shaking. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Bruce swept him in close sheltering his little Robin with his cape.

He was going to fix this. Come hell or high water, he was going to fix this.

[thrandyc]

“I was a fool for ever believing in you.”

[bitimdrake]

Very unpopular opinion: I don't like Alfred. I can't handle the hypocrisy of canon and fanon treating him like he's some sort of angle while ignoring the bad stuff he's done and how he's an enabler, and that disconnect has him on the bottom of my ranking.

ohoho spicy. most unpopular opinions around here are still at least very popular among a small subgroup, but this is tasty, anon.

And you know what? I get it.

Alfred's an odd character narratively. He was surely never intended to be an enabler. He was a sort of "only sane man" snarky side character here to contrast with our lead, Batman, and point out all the ridiculous things Bruce did, but never have any true power to stop them.

Except. He does. Alfred's close relationship with Bruce, who values both his presence and his opinion, gives him a lot of power--and any modern version of the character, who was not just around since Bruce's childhood but very likely raised him for half of it, has even more.

So we ended up with this guy who is (Doylist) a side character and can't actually affect the story that much, but whose whole shtick is dryly pointing it stupid ideas and bad behavior. Which (Watsonian) leads to a man who is explicitly aware of all the bad stuff being done around him, and makes witty little comments, but doesn't actually do anything to stop it. And rarely even tries!

imo, Being an enabler is a core part of Alfred's characterization.

Which is one thing, and can be kinda entertaining, when what he's enabling is "man dresses like a bat to fight crime". Alfred, who pretends to be above it all and find it silly, but deep down believes in Batman despite himself and is just as crazy as the actual vigilantes? Lots of room to play.

But when what he's enabling is, say, his son-figure emotionally abusing his own kids, or putting overly high expectations on them, or kicking them out of the house...then it's a whole lot darker.

A lot of the fanon that turns Alfred into a perfect angel also turns Bruce into a good dad, avoiding that particular pitfall. But instead he gets treated as always knowing everything and always being liked by everyone, which (is boring as hell and) sends us right back to the "why isn't he doing anything??" problem whenever there is an issue that he is shown to definitely know about and know a perfect solution to, and yet...declines to solve it for some reason.

In the end, idk if I have a super strong opinion on Alfred overall. There are small ways to make him better or worse. But I do have a strong opinion that, damn, he is absofuckinglutely not perfect.

(Also, separately, you are so right about a disconnect being the most annoying thing about many characters. Most of my least favorite fictional characters are the ones who were blatantly favored by their creators and act stupidly/cruelly/whatever, but somehow get treated as the coolest and smartest anyway. Plus, who among us hasn't started to resent a character we were previously neutral about because of annoying fans?)

[brick-van-dyke]

My dad, jokingly: "I'm badman"

Me: "haha sure" (not thinking he's anything like batman)

My dad: *left/ separated from my mum when I was a teen, started a GTA gang that helps bullied kids, ended up emotionally adopting like 8 kids and helped them through bullying, suicide, abuse, etc.*

Me: *was hurt by an abuser and had to deal with said abuser being forgiven by family around me*

Me: *gets into Batman lore*

Me: ...

"Wait a second..."

[jasontoddstherapist]

PSA |

Yes this is a Jason Peter Todd centric blog, but it's also 100% supportive of Talia al Ghul. There will be no slander here. No perpetuating of the racist, misogynistic bullshit that drove the narrative divebomb of her character.

[admiringtheskies]

(posting this hoping that if someone happens to like it enough to actually interact, the Validation™ will be enough to give me the requisite motivation to actually finish and post this chapter, lol)