#traumatized bruce wayne

[v00do-d0ll]

De-aged Bruce

I just thought about how I think everyone would react to “de-aged 10 year old Bruce.” Because we all know that at some point in Bruce’s life he figured out how to keep emotions and feelings off of his face, and out of his eyes.

At first they all freak out because “what the fuck?!? Bruce is a child!?” Then once they get him home. They find it hilarious. Because “why the fuck is he so cute?” He’s got the biggest blue eyes and he’s just so small, and they’re all about to die from cuteness overload.

But the second Bruce gets his bearings and realizes he’s in a dark cave with bats and surrounded by 7 strangers..

He freaks out.. Bruce screams so loud that he disturbs all the bats in the cave, and he runs. He tries so hard to get away, but he doesn’t know how to fight them off. He wasn’t taught, what he taught his kids at this age. So he’s extremely easy to catch. All the kids are stunned because this isn’t the Bruce they know.

Then they see Alfred rushing towards them because he was upstairs when he heard the scream, and even though he hadn’t heard it in over 30 years, he would recognize it anywhere.

“Master Bruce?” Alfred says softly and Bruce looks up so quickly, and when his eyes land on the man he starts crying. Trying so hard to get to Alfred but not being able to get out of Jason’s grasp.

“Master Jason, please let go of Master Bruce.” He says without taking his eyes off the child. As soon as Jason lets him go. He runs into Alfred’s embrace. Sobbing, and gripping onto Alfred’s shirt so tight that they think he might rip it.

And they watch Bruce try so hard to hide in Alfred’s neck and watch as Alfred tries to calm the boy down with the most frazzled look on his face the kids have ever seen. Then they all collectively go

oh.. Bruce is just a traumatized child.. just like them.

And he’s terrified of them, all except Alfred.. Once Alfred gets Bruce to calm down he falls asleep in Alfred’s arms.

“Let us all go upstairs, if Bruce is going to be a child for the unforeseeable future, we will need to have a discussion.” He says matter of factly,

When he returns back downstairs all the kids are sitting around the dining room table. Alfred sits at the head of the table and looks around at his grandchildren.

“What’s up Alfie?” Dick asks

He looks at them all with a straight face. “You all need to prepare yourselves for the version of Master Bruce that he is at this age. He is not anything close to what you’ve imagined your father to be. At this age he is just a child, no training, no outlet, no hidden emotions, and most importantly.. no guidance.”

“What do you mean?” Duke asks, Alfred looks down at his hands for a moment. “Even though I did everything I could for Master Bruce, he was a deeply unhappy child. Witnessing his parent’s death changed him fundamentally. You would understand the most Master Dick.., but the difference is that Bruce didn’t have someone to help him vent that anger.. that fear.. and the sadness.”

They all look at one another apprehensively

“You might think that he does not talk that much now. But he ended up being non-verbal for the majority of his adolescent life, and that is largely due to the fact that he was heavily bullied as a child.”

“What!?” They all exclaim

Alfred takes a moment to gather his words 

“When Master Bruce went back to school after the passing of his parents, he was no longer the same boy they once knew, and high society children are cruel. Your father has always had large emotions and a even larger heart, even if he doesn’t show it now. I suspect that’s where Master Damian gets his love for animals. But they did many things to your father that is better left unsaid. But each day he came home, he was just a shell of the boy who use to thrive with life.”

Alfred’s eyes gloss over as he remembers the past. “Everything in the next years for him were awful. Everyone wanted something from him. Reporters jumping the fence here at the manor, and at the academy just to get to Bruce. All the galas that he unfortunately had to go to, he hated them so much, and it just got worse after everything.”

“Older business men and women trying to take advantage of Bruce to get to W.E.

That’s why he was so fiercely protective of each of you at galas. I could unfortunately not be there with him for such things. He wanted to make sure you all never went through the same.”

Alfred stops abruptly for a moment, he inhales quickly

“How old is he right now?” He asks apprehensively.

“We’re not sure, he wouldn’t respond to us but he looks about 10. Why?” Tim replies softly

“Because depending on how far it is into the year Bruce thinks it is. He was also recently kidnapped. I won’t tell you what happened because I am already over sharing Master Bruce’s secrets.” Alfred says

“Jesus Christ. He’s just a kid.” Steph says as she rubs her temples

“Quite right Ms.Brown, he was only a child. That couldn’t get a moment to grieve in peace.”

“After a while he felt that he couldn’t trust anyone. For a short period of time he didn’t trust me. He felt like everyone was out to get him and he couldn’t do anything about it, and he was right. So he closed himself off to everyone. His entire life it’s only been me and him.”

Then Alfred looks at Dick with a soft look in his eyes

“Then he found you Master Dick..”

Dick looks at him with confusion “What do you mean, ‘then he found me?’ “

“When I said the he was a deeply unhappy child, I meant it.” Alfred pauses for a moment to take a deep breath.

“I was terrified many times when Bruce was young, that he might take his own life. I stopped him once.. when he was 14.” Alfred pauses again

“He was never truly happy… until Master Richard came into his life. He didn’t have people to go out and see, he didn’t have things to go out and do. He was just surviving day to day with no life behind his eyes.”

“It got a little bit better after he trained to become Batman, he had a mission to focus on. But he didn’t have anything to live for. Until he found you on that fateful day Master Richard. Then you Master Jason. Tim, you found him. and I am always grateful for that. Damien you waltzed your way into his life but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He now has something to live for… All of you.

You all keep him going, even if you’re not on good terms all the time. He will always live for you. So I thank you all for keeping my son alive for this long.” He looks all of them in the eyes as he says it, to make sure that they understand what hes saying is 100% true.

“There is one more thing I need to let you know so you are not caught off guard.”

They all look at him with a sad look on there face that says “there’s more?”

“At this age Master Bruce does not know how to hide his emotions. With the way you are all attuned to notice every small detail of your father, you will see many emotions in his eyes.

“His eyes?” Jason asks

“His eyes use to be his biggest tell of how he was feeling. You could see every ounce of pain in them no matter the time. When he came back from his training, he taught himself to hide those emotions.”

“So just know that you will see all the things your father hides behind his mask.” Alfred says as he stands up from the table. “I will go sit with Master Bruce. He will not like to wake up alone if he has a nightmare.”

After Alfred walks off, the kids just sit in silence for a while because.. what the fuck?! They are all now terrified of scaring there father even more. They are also apprehensive and curious of the emotions that Bruce can’t hide away.

And they truly were not prepared for the pure devastation that was Bruce’s eyes. Every ounce of emotion that he had was told through them. Anytime they would attempt to get closer to him he would shoot them with a devastating look, showing how scared he was of them, it was like being sucked into a pool of sadness.

He was terrified of them. Flinching away from them anytime they were near. Gasping and running away to quickly find Alfred when they accidentally sneak up on him. The tears and devastation that run down his face when he’s reminded of his parents.

If eyes were the windows to Bruce’s soul, his shutters were always open. With sadness so etched into his irises. It feels like he was cursed with it.

[shadowmonsterrealms]

I’m in desperate needs of fanfics of Batman and the Batfam.

Specially, about Bruce accidentally truma dropping on his kids. And everyone loving him unconditionally.

Or, Bruce being loved and cared for by his family. (Via it be by injuries, traumatized, literally anything that Bruce is just needing help).

Don’t look at me like that, I don’t just post rant posts about Batman.

Speaking of which I still have yet to talk about Alfred. Which I’m excited to yap about.

[favoritebatfam]

Something I wish I saw in more fanfics or tumblr posts, is how Bruce Wayne is fighting his old friends.

Like,Hush, Roman Sionis and Harvey Dent are his childhood friends. It’s fanon that Harley and Scarecrow went to Med school with him before he dropped out. He definitely at least brushed shoulders with Penguin, and depending on the comics, Penguin is 5-20 years older than him, though usually it’s closer to 10 years, making it likely they were in the same circles.

They are obviously a large part of his reasoning behind making contingency plans, and his general trust issues, but I want more things focusing on the fact that he is fighting his best friends. He has to fight people who he trusted and loved. Just because he fights against them doesn’t mean in the beginning it was easy.

When he started out fighting them, did he try to hold back? Did he have trouble making his punches hit, not because of inexperience, but because he didn’t want to hurt his friends?

I think that is also a big part of his code about killing. Some of these people were his friends. Some of them were probably people he talked to about his parents’ death. Maybe he even cried to them about his nightmares. They knew him, and he knew them. He has to look at the people he loved, and stop them from hurting people.

Another way they factor into the kill code is how their betrayal/descent in evil traumatized him. He is so scared of succumbing to the anger/pain that he has sworn off ever doing anything that could lead him down that path.

[arkangelo-7]

I bet the criminals in Gotham city freak the fuck out when the Batman shows up without Robin.

Because, yeah, you’re going to get the shit kicked out of you either way—but when the kids’ around, Batman’s more… merciful. He’ll knock you out instead of breaking both your arms. He’ll round-house you but not stab you in the gut with a bat-a-rang. There’s less blood and gore, like Batman’s trying to spare the kiddo from the more unsavory aspects of vigilantism.

I bet when the goons see Robin, they breathe a sigh of relief. Cause Batman’s gonna fuck ‘em, but he isn’t going to fucking annihilate them—not in front of his kid.

[charlietheepicwriter7]

G̴̩͍͆͆̈́e̵̹̣͆t̷̬̋ ̸̻̮̎̒ĭ̸̏̃n̵͙̋͐ ̸̛̳̃t̶̪̣̅ḣ̸̳̇͜è̵̠̲͖̔̑ ̶̢̹̖͗͐̀Wa̵̬̞͝ṫ̴̩̣̣e̶͉̲̯͂̏̎r̴̉

It was a simple mission. Damian was working with Father to confirm the existence of a Lazarus Pit below Gotham, as Ra's Al Ghul speculated. And they had found it, deep in the caves below Gotham. A Pit the size of an Olympic sized swimming pool, bubbling and steaming. He'd only looked away for a moment.

"Kin-slayer."

Standing waist deep in the water stood Damian's reflection. The hair might be white, and the eyes glowing with the waters, but it was his face. But not his face alone.

Danyal's ghost glared at him. "Get in the water."

Father threw a batarang at him, but the metal flew straight through his head like it was air. Danyal didn't even glance at him, his eyes fixed on Damian. "Get in the water," he ordered again. He stepped closer to the shore and the green water sloshed up the bank higher than it was before. "Or I'll raise the tide so high, all of Gotham will die. So get in the water."

Damian's heart jumped into throat. "Wait-"

"Get in the water."

Father shoved Damian behind him, as if it would protect him, as if he could stop Danyal. "Stop this, please-" If he could just explain-

Another step and the waters surged forward, nearly touching Father's boots. "I'll make whirlpools so profound, your entire family will drown," he promised.

"NO!" Not his brother, his kind brother-

"THEN GET IN THE WATER!" Danyal snarled, revealing monstrously sharp teeth and a black tongue from Damian's poison. "G̴̩͍͆͆̈́e̵̹̣͆t̷̬̋ ̸̻̮̎̒ĭ̸̟̰͙̏̃n̵͙̝̟̋͐ ̸̛̳̃t̶̪̣̅ḣ̸̳̇͜è̵̠̲͖̔̑ ̶̢̹̖͗͐̀w̵̜͍̤̌a̵̬̞͝ṫ̴̩̣̣e̶͉̲̯͂̏̎r̴̉͜!̷̡͔́̀̽" He lunged and Father pushed them back down the passage they'd come. "Don't mistake this for a bluff, brother. You've lived more than enough. Just get in the water." Damian swallowed, throat dry. Was this Danyal's revenge? Did he finally have to face what he had done?

"Robin, who is this?" Father snapped, trying to keep retreating down the cave. But Damian wouldn't let him; the waters, and Danyal with them, would only follow.

Danyal looked between them, scowling. "G̴̩͍͆͆̈́e̵̹̣͆t̷̬̋ ̸̻̮̎̒ĭ̸̟̰͙̏̃n̵͙̝̟̋͐ ̸̛̳̃t̶̪̣̅ḣ̸̳̇͜è̵̠̲͖̔̑ ̶̢̹̖͗͐̀w̵̜͍̤̌a̵̬̞͝ṫ̴̩̣̣e̶͉̲̯͂̏̎r̴̉͜!̷̡͔́̀̽" he snapped again. "I'll take your father and gouge out his eyes, unless you want to stop being a coward and choose to die. Now... get in the water."

[4sh-n4]

AU where bruce and co. (his entire hoarde of kids, even jason in disguise) are at a gala. And it's a really big gala, party of the year type of thing in Gotham, absolutely unmissable. And usually, even the rogues know that this night is off limits, so it's relatively safe. So, they're all at this gala, right?

And then the joker crashes it because he has no respect for Gotham traditions. Breaks in through a window, yada yada. He starts to go on this whole villain speech as per usual, and everyone is waiting for the heroes to come. But all the heroes are at the gala, in their civilian identities, with a thousand eyes on them. No one can reasonably slip away, except for maybe jason, who's already seething mad and ready to attack. But with the chaos and people trying to get away, all the exits are blocked, and his helmet is at home.

Bruce is at the front of the crowd, facing the Joker. Joker sees him and makes a comment about Jason, and goes on about how Bruce must've felt when his baby died. And then he brings up how he killed the little birdie too, just a few days before the terrorist attacks that allegedly killed Jason. And he mentions how much he tortured Robin before his death, and Bruce snaps.

He leaps forward, absolutely hammering the shit out of the joker. Beats him up so bad, no finesse or technique to it, just pure rage. His kids try to pull him off, to no avail. No one else even tries. By the end of it, by the time the police arrive, the joker is more blood than body, and Bruce has finally calmed down. Everyone is just staring at him in shock, understandably. (The joker ends up in hospital, paralysed and in a coma)

His kids all drag Bruce home and give him an entire lecture about his persona and how his cover has probably been blown. About excessive violence and how he refused to kill joker but then pulled this in public?? They're all worried about the fallout in the news the next day.

No one sleeps that night, for various reasons, but then when the newspaper comes out the next morning... there's just nothing bad written?? The headline is something about Bruce being a hero for saving everyone from the joker, but there's no other mention about Batman or anything else.

Turns out, no one in Gotham is surprised that Brucie Wayne, no 1 airhead, beat up the joker because "did you SEE him as a teenager?? We were all just glad when he came from his travels pretending to be stupid instead of picking fights with everyone. If anything, it's understandable that he snapped, I would too if a clown started bragging about killing my son." The only reason no one brought up his violent past is because they were worried he would revert back to that behaviour.

[frownyalfred]

omegaverse batfamily is great and I've read so many of those platonic fics, but imagine a universe where it's just omega!Bruce wandering around screaming "NO!" every time a random pup pops up and tries to follow him home. he doesn't want to nest with them. he has 0 maternal instincts. he growls when they come near him. that doesn't seem to matter, they still want to nest with him. lonely pups see this energy from far away and say oh yeah, that's who I want to live with. that omega over there who knocked out all of that guy's teeth with one hit. he looks strong.

[farshootergotme]

Wait, how tf did I miss this.

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #7

You're telling me Forever Evil happened in this universe? You're telling me SPYRAL happened in this universe? I'll have to hope that everything went down very differently because otherwise there's a lot to unpack there that clearly this comic isn't ready for.

[gaywineauntsstuff]

Dick:….

Jason:….

Tim:….

Dick: okay so was anyone gonna tell me Bruce is dating Joe Chills daughter or was I supposed to figure that out by myself.

Jason: HES WHAT

Tim:???????

Damian: I think I just threw up in my mouth

Cass: …is this that Freud guy you were telling me about?

Steph: somehow worse? I think?

Jason: Idk where does dating the daughter of your parents murderer fall on the Oedipus scale of morality?

Tim: more importantly where did you find out this information?

Damian: please tell me it’s a tabloid so I can bleach my brain of this conversation.

Dick: Babs tipped me off that something was up and I stalked em for a week

Tim: Ah classic

Jason: you really have one trick Grayson

Dick: Hey! No I do infiltrations, Tim and Cass are the stalker duo

Cass: *nods*

Jason: so… Bruce is actually dating the kid of the guy who offed mama and papa Wayne. That’s cold. I’m a little impressed actually.

Tim: Clark was RIGHT THERE

Dick: so was Selina

Steph: we could’ve had a Step wonder mom

Cass: you’re not adopted

Steph: is Wonder Woman was in this family I’d marry into it

Tim: *nods solemnly* Bernard would understand

Jason: Talia was there

Damian: that might be worse actually

Tim: nothing is worse than this

Dick: actually I might agree with Damian

Dick: anyway zatanna

Jason: didn’t you date her

Dick: that’s another timeline ignore it

Tim: Constantine

Damian: Dent

Dick: I’d take viki vale over this

Jason: same

Dick:…hey Duke can see into other realities right

Jason: depends on the writer..

Dick: when does he get back from his families

Tim: he stops by for 45 mins to steal some pastries and check his gear before patrol

Dick: … wanna see if we can get him to look into other realities and see the worst person Bruce has dated

Jason: yes

Tim: yes

Damian: no

Cass: yes

Steph: yes

Dick: you’re outvoted Damian I’ll see all of you tomorrow at the cave bright eyed and bushy tailed!

[bluerosefox]

Family Resemblance

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I

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I had another 11pm brain worm.

Enjoy

-x-x-

Daniel Wayne, the younger toddler brother of Bruce Wayne and the son of Martha and Thomas Wayne had been kidnapped the night their parents were murdered.

Daniel had been snagged the moment their killer heard people headed to the alley and Bruce in his state of shock didn't realize it until it was far to late and could only scream in horror (from everything) as his baby brother is crying his name. (If you wanna make it even more heart wrenching, make it Danny's first time being able to say Bruce's name right and/or Bruce had said some mean things to Danny earlier after he accidentally broke something of Bruce's, something like 'I wish youd go away' or 'I never wanted a brother, you're such a bother!')

Bruce is being held by Alfred as some police officers are chasing down the Wayne's parents killer while some stay behind to see if they could do something.

Minutes turn to hours and as they wait, praying the police at least found Danny, Bruce is ridden with guilt. From his parents death to allowing his brother to be kidnapped.

Eventually the police return to give Alfred and Bruce the news. And it's not good.

The killer escaped and Danny was nowhere to be found.

And it would take many years before he would be found.

-x-x-

Bruce gets a call from Damian during school hours one day. When he answers he is greeted with Damian demanding him to get to the school and explain himself.

Confused Bruce asks what does he mean and Damian responds with

"The two new students in class today are the spitting images of you and I father! Either they are poorly created clones or you have more hidden blood children!"

-x-x-

Meanwhile the very students being discussed are calling up someone too

"Ellie? Dan? What's wrong? You better not have made too much chaos already, I just paid for the uniforms for that place."

"DAD! I THINK ANOTHER ONE OF THE FRUITLOOPS FAILED CLONES SOMEHOW SURVIVED!"

"What?"

[rmbunnie]

I see so much of "is post-crisis Robin Jason an innocent little sweetie-pie or a mean aggro delinquent" and after reading through all of his batman and detective comic issues post-crisis I think i can safely say he's... an introverted and distrustful, but altogether friendly teen boy who has convinced himself to the deepest level that he is an Adult Man, and also does not hold a particularly good view of adults.

The sweet little babypie characterization falls a little short (assuming we aren't being too silly with it, there's plenty of that in the comedy issues of tec) because it disregards the part where he's a jaded teenager who is constantly going off and trying to take care of his own problems like "his own man" and reacts negatively to any breach of trust or move to take care of him. But negative doesn't mean "violent and rageful." The delinquent angle is incorrect because not only is his disposition peppy, silly, and agreeable most of the time, but assuming the problem upsetting him isn't a predator or the guy who killed his dad (and three out of four canon instances it is a predator to be clear) he reacts to emotional turmoil with Bruce by bedrotting, sulking, communicating through notes, and overall being avoidant. The only times he lashes out are when Bruce is calling him out or after Bruce told him to his face that he chose to look for the Joker over looking for him, and that case of "lashing out" is just getting a little snarky.

More than anything his main personality trait (besides being silly, a robin staple) is kinda coming into this parentified as fuck. Not that it's Catherine's fault, but it really shaped his character, like one of the first things he says to Bruce (after he promised not to turn Jason in to the foster system) is that he kept her fed and warm as long as he could like he wasn't her ten year old child when he started. It's why he views himself on the same level as adults and why he gets all closed off at any insinuation that he needs to be taken care of, both of which heavily inform his dynamic with Bruce. He's constantly checking in on Bruce's wellbeing, like half of Batman: the Cult is just him taking care of Bruce while he recuperates from being brainwashed. (Side note, he's also constantly asking Bruce stuff like "what's your relationship like with this woman or this rogue or the concept of religion, how did that play out, how do you feel about it?" he is Very chatty like that.) The first thing he does when Sheila tells him her (revised to exclude medical malpractice) life story is hold HER and try to affirm her struggle. After a while he starts to act more childish with Bruce (although he doesn't really stop trying to brush off attempts to care for him) but as soon as Bruce admits he prioritized crimefighting over Jason and didn't show up to look after Jason like Jason assumed he came there for, Jason snaps back to acting very independent and rejecting any attempts to be looked after on any terms other than some kind of "equals" thing, which he isn't, as he's a 15 year old boy. Like. He's very sweet to his former neighbor, but also he refers to being a homeless child and the sole provider in his condemned building living situation as "getting by" to her.

He's definitely not. some bloodthirsty delinquent, at least to anyone who's not an uber-misogynistic predator, and he like demonstrably is a pretty sweet kid. It's just that when people say he's a sweet kid they kinda just jump to "untraumatized eight-year-old who grew up in a loving family and just got a new puppy from Santa" instead of "good hearted and curious teenager who has trust issues and is deeply uncomfortable with being taken care of, so kinda just compromises by pretending his dad is a Friend Doing him a Solid and acts like his kid only when he has plausible deniability so he can't get the rug pulled out from under him." Of course. He does kinda get the rug pulled out from under him despite all that. So there's that.

[randomthing13]

I posted again. This is how I imagine some of the League members reacting to John and Billy's relationship. I have more stuff on the way to, so don't worry.

[darkeneddawning]

Escaped clone au

You know all those fics where Danny and Damian are twins but everyone first assumes Danny must be a clone? How about an au where Danny is Damian's clone who escaped the League after he was assumed dead. Damian could even have been the one to have "killed" him, back when Danny was a newly created, fully brainwashed clone minion and trying to kill Damian himself.

Danny gets adopted by the Fentons and canon goes on as normal, until Dan. Witnessing what would happen to the world should he turn evil really drove home to Danny how dangerous he is.

Even if he was confident he could be trusted with his absurd amount of power (which he isn't), what if the League of Assassins found out about him? Does he still have programming triggers from his evil assassin clone conditioning?

So, Danny does the responsible thing: he goes to Batman to turn himself in.

Cue Danny showing up on Bruce's doorstep with ghost hunting equipment, intel on the afterlife, and an almost unbelievable backstory. Somehow he still managed to be more well-adjusted than Damian.

More thoughts under the read more

Here's how I'm thinking Danny leaving the League went down:

After surviving his wounds but failing his mission, Danny (then an unnamed potential Damian replacement) knew there was no point in returning to the League. As a failure, he was meant to be disposed of. He even thought of simply allowing himself to perish, since that was what the League would do.

But he couldn't help but feel as though that would be a waste of a resource. Surely he could be of more use to the League alive than dead?

That tiny bit of rebellious logic is what caused Danny to go into hiding, only living on based on the off chance he would find opportunities to further the League's goals. Obviously, that mentality didn't last long after being exposed to the real world and meeting one Jazz Fenton.

Being adopted by the Fentons was the best cover Danny could have asked for, since any odd behavior he couldn't hide while he was learning how to be "normal" was totally overshadowed by the sheer bizarre eccentricity of his new parents. He was still the neighborhood weird kid, but even that was a major upgrade from disposable tool, so Danny considered it a win.

Anyway, if anyone likes this idea, please feel free to have at it! Interpret it as you please :)

[24hrsoda]

that one time the batman adventures writers gave us two entire agere bruce comics

[p3pp3rm1ntt3a]

"The hands that cradled my face and tilted it upwards to kiss my forehead are soaked in unfathomable quantities of blood."

"But they cradled me, yes?"

Full page under the cut

"Will you forgive me if I'm still mourning someone that's no longer dead?"

[science-lings]

Cryptid batfam AU where they all start out normal but Gothams latent ancient magic slowly makes them weirder bc they’re her favorites.

Bruce’s parents die and the shadowy cursed city takes their place to intertwine them beyond separation, he slowly adapts to the old magic without even realizing it. He melts seamlessly into her shadows and knows her streets instinctively, she heals him when he’s in her borders and keeps him alive when he should be dying and he repays her by being her bat and her sparkling prince.

Every person he adds to the bat family gets a bit of Gothams influence, if he cares about them, the city will watch over them as they watch over her. They don’t notice it either until an odd behavior is brought up, how they’re more alive at night and can see through the shadows, how their bones heal quickly without residual weakness like they were never broken at all. They age slowly enough to be blamed on good genes but no matter how old they get they never really feel it the way they should.

The bats are always a little scarier in Gotham, their shadows more oppressive and their voices more resonant. No matter how brightly colored their capes are, they’re hidden from sight and cameras struggle to catch a glimpse of them. Even those who meet them face to face aren’t convinced that they’re actually human, rumors vary from whether they’re vampires or other mythical creatures of the night or if they’re just a Gotham strain of meta humans.

Once they were human, but it’s harder to argue that point after a few years.