#Bruce Wayne’s c+ parenting

[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.”

[cologona]

I have this thing where characters who are especially meek or hard on themselves in a way that’s supposed to draw out sympathy actually make me kinda mad sometimes, because their low esteem is so large and eclipsing that they’ll deny the feelings and agency of another character that does care about and see value in them. (Usually breaking off contact “for their own good” or bc “I’m not good enough for them.”)

It’s a terrible and painful way to be that’s worthy of sympathy and nothing short of comfort and safety is going to make a person less like that, but also god it feels so insensitive and arrogant? (The only people in the world who can be right is you and the terrible afterimage of your abuser that’s lodged in your brain, is that right? )

And Batman’s whole guilt complex pushes similar buttons in me. It’s a sad state to be in but Christ Alive, guilt and self-flagellation aren’t virtues. They’re just personality traits and they can be maladaptive to the point that you hurt others. In particular I think it feeds into his control issues. (Gotham is his, if there is a vigilante in Gotham they must be under his purview. He will work with other heroes who kill or have different philosophies in general, but god forbid any of his children stray from his rules.) And then those control issues become a god complex, don’t they?

[cologona]

Gotta be real, I don’t think WFA Bruce is real. I’m fairly new to comics but it generally seems like…he might be a great man but he’s not a good father.

I know WFA is too OOC for some people, but I need that shit right now.

I do love seeing the Batfam beating the shit out of each other. I like how messy their relationships are and I have always loved flawed characters.

But idk, man, Batman #138 just really crossed a line for me and I need a reminder that there are other depictions of Bruce that aren't so fucking heinous.

I'll take this shit:

Over this shit:

Any. Fucking. Day.

[charlietheepicwriter7]

De-Aged Danny, gesturing to a dazed Bruce inside Wayne Manor: And this is Bruce! Otherwise known as the Himbo! Reporters: Hmm, yes, interesting... Bruce: What the- Danny: I'm not sure what that word means. I heard it from Dick, but no one will give me my answer, not even Jason, who is easily bribed. Bruce: Why are there reporters in my house!? Danny, innocent and childlike: They asked to come inside, Bruce! They seemed like really nice people, so I thought it'd be polite to give them a tour. Bruce, filled with infinite patience: I really wish you had asked me before you did that, chum. Danny: But why? We don't have anything to hide... do we, Bruce?

Or, in order to rise to the Ghost Throne, Danny has to complete a series of trials to prove he is capable of ruling (or any other reason, Danny just needs to do trials to prove himself).

The last trial, issued by Clockwork, is thus: discover the Wayne Family secret in two weeks without the use of any of his powers.

He has one shapeshift to pick a form that could endere him to the Waynes, but only one before he starts and he has to get close to the family by his own wits. Danny, after studying the family and reading of one sentence summary of each Wayne, picks the body of a six-year-old little boy that looked like a child Jason Todd.

Bruce: That child is up to something. Dick, third favorite: I don't know, Bruce; he acts like a normal kid. Jason, #1 favorite: I doubt the old man's ever met a normal kid. Tim, least favorite: Bruce is right, but can you please not talk like the villains from Chicken Run.

[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.

[cologona]

if we’re talking specifically about Jason and Bruce in regards to “making Jason’s death all about himself” then actually I do want to say

YEAH. Bruce does make Jason’s death all about himself! This is a consistent pattern for him and extremely in-character! Bruce has a tendency to make every painful event, especially grief, about himself. (I constantly think about Officer Down, where he stays to sulk and mope over Jim Gordon’s hospital bed while sending Babs, Jim’s literal daughter, back to work.) He’s always made Jason’s death about himself.

He was doing that even before Jason came back. There were other people mourning Jay and desperately torn up about it, but Bruce only cared about his own feelings of grief. Alfred comforts Bruce, never the other way around. Bruce lashes out at Dick and belittles his feelings. Bruce is remarkably self-centered in grief.

(Which was fine when he was a kid who’d lost his parents, and surely not expected to let people both older and more distant from the tragedy lean on him. And which is not a problem when he isn’t sharing in the grief, e.g. being perfectly capable of helping Dick mourn his parents, since he has no feelings of his own to get caught up in.)

Jason coming back just makes it the first time that selfishness is juxtaposed against the person who literally died. It’s not a break from pattern. But it does become a whole lot more obvious and egregious.

[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...

[basalting]

could you imagine being in the watchtower or whatever while batman, superman and wonder woman are fighting?? batman says something softly in an absolutely cutting tone of voice and superman starts pinching the bridge of his nose while wonder woman throws her arms up in disgust

"Of COURSE you bring that up again, you've never found a dead horse you wouldn't beat."

"Will both of you just stop, I didn't even think it was possible for me to get a migraine but somehow you've managed it!"

"You'll both have to forgive me, I am after all just a mortal man, in the future I'll leave it to my betters shall I?"

"BETTERS? Don't start on that shit again BATMAN or I'll see how strong the shock absorbers in suit really are."

"Ignore him Superman, the gods know he'd never willingly agree with a plan that doesn't involve him throwing himself idiotically on a grenade or something."

[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)

[plotbunny-bundle]

Bruce fights his kids

I’ve seen it discussed that Bruce hits his kids. Whether it’s abuse or bad writing? That Dick gets the brunt of it. But I haven’t seen any meta on the fact that Bruce will physically fight his kids.

It’s not just Bruce hitting Dick. Dick hits back. Sometimes he hits first. Sometimes they have a full on brawl. I've also seen/read Jason and Damian attacking and fighting Bruce. I’m not saying it’s ok as long as the kids can fight back. I’m trying to point out there’s more then Bruce lashing out on his kids. He’s taught them to lash out at him.

I noticed in a lot of the fights Dick or Jason start they are trying to get Bruce to listen to them. An argument or preexisting problem is at the core of a lot of these fights. The communication issues aren’t just not talking, it’s This. Bruce has created an environment where arguments can be won with force. It’s pretty fucked up.

Some of this comes from vignette work. The whole batfamily regular does fight people until they’re listened to or the villain is defeated. But they brought it into the house and Bruce didn’t stop it.  I’m aware Dick and Jason are adults who can make their own decisions (and Jason makes terrible decisions) but this really feels like learned behavior. Dick hits back and hits Bruce because Bruce hits him. I can’t help wondering if Jason saw some of this growing up and that’s why he jumps right into attacking Bruce instead of yelling. It’s an interesting piece of this messed up family dynamic. I could this spreading to the other kids with Bruce and the two oldest fighting each other as arguments. That could go so badly. I would love to read someone unpack explore this in a fic.

I also see some of this is on the writers not the characters. It’s cool to see the Red Hood or Nightwing take on Batman. It’s can be emotional to read a fight between family. But it’s still fucked up and worth exploring.

Now I wouldn’t be reading batman comics if I only wanted to happy stories. I wanted to point out and explore this interesting and fucked part of the batfamily.

[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