Hanahaki disease but make it brutalism
Deep grief/loss of love manifests as the body turning into stone slowly over time, kinda from the inside out. This manifests in Bruce after the loss of his parents (itās not actually noticeable) where his body becomes a little bit harder because the sorrow seeps into every part of him. Itās extremely slow and develops when smt completely devastating happens to the person (which is subjective to the person), like when Dick told Bruce he wished he never adopted him. Bruceās skin starts developing eczema and becomes rlly dry.
Then Jasonās death happened and Bruceās bone become more brittle and grind against his joints, causing him possible arthritis and chronic pain. And when Bane breaks Bruceās back, with Tim as his Robin, his bones donāt break they crumble. This is when Bruce realises he has this condition but doesnāt tell anyone (Alfred might know).
When Tim gets turned into Joker junior, his skin starts cracking and peeling in chunks like it does on dry skin but larger and in other places especially on his joints and across his back. When super man dies his nails become so frail that he can be itching himself and they can start peeling off. More angst happens over time. When Damian arrives Bruce actually has concrete patches on hidden areas of his body, his bones are pretty much rock hard and he can feel some of his muscles already turn to stone.
Thereās a massive fight or some major argument within the family that finally shatters Bruce so much so that he disappears. The Batkids remorseful and wanting to see their dad again try looking for him but canāt find him. A while goes by and nothing, not until one of the kids goes to Jasonās grave.
They see their father hugging Jasonās grave stone, like heās trying to submerge himself into the mossy granite, which he succeeded in doing. Here lies Jason Todd-Wayne, beloved son and brother held in the arms of his stone-frozen father, where they will remain forever. Pure love is the cure and whatās more pure than his little soul fragment who believed in wonder and magic, yet that little boy was not able to give his love to his father.
(I hate angst no happy ending and since it is a kind of hanahaki disease itās curableā¦ hopefully there will be a happy ending)
I won't, but I really want to put him between his parent's graves cause I feel like that would be sweet tragedy. But I won't I have self control.
It's pure chance Cass finds him. She likes to walk through the graveyard in the city sometimes, and feed the crows. They watch over the graveyard, and she gives them the sustenance to continue.
Sometimes she passes by Jason's grave, sometimes she doesn't. Today she did. And she sees a familiar form curled over the grave. As she gets closer, her mouth dries, her stomach churns, she wrings her hands. Then she is finally close enough to see and kneels next to Bruce.
"Dad," she whispers, and hugs the cool stone.
The family convenes in the graveyard. For some of them, it's their first time at Jason's grave.
"Why not inform us of his condition?" Damian is curled into Bruce's lifeless form as best he can, like the man is embracing him. He isn't.
They all know just one argument can't have caused it. He's been hiding this from them. But the questions is
"How long?" Dick seethes. "How long was this happening to him and he told no one?" How could his dad keep this from him? Dick doesn't care about Bruce's reasons for not telling the others, why not tell him?
One of them hears a camera shutter, and the paparazzo sprints away before they can even stand up. "Someone text Jason," Tim mumbles. "He shouldn't see this on the news."
Jason leaves them on read.
The story goes viral. The graveyard has to have a police presence, to protect mourners of other inhabitants trying to visit their relatives. The Wayne children give no comment, but are photographed visiting the graveyard every day.
"Dammit, Bruce," Jason curses one night, in the wee hours of the morning when it's too dark for the paps to see this far into the graveyard. "He's gone, you idiot, he's been gone for years and he was never going to save you."
The statue doesn't answer. Neither does the grave under it.
"You should have given up years ago, when I first turned up in Gotham and took the heads off the dealers. That your weak little Robin's light was stamped out back in Ethiopia. But no. You just had to keep trying, didn't you? What did you think was going to happen, B? You'd come here and a little dead boy woould stop your heart from turning to stone?"
He kicks the statue, and drops to his knees next to it.
"I can't save you, B. I don't know what to do. I've read dozens of books and they all have different, stupid, fairytale ideas to get that happy ending. Pure love." He scoffs. "You think myā his love was pure? It was selfish, and useless, and it didn't save anyone. He can't save you, Bruce. I can't save you, Bruce."
A sob forces it's way out, and he realises the raging storm that has blanketed the city for days is not the only reason why his face is wet. "I can't fucking save you, Bruce!" He punches the mud. "I can't save you just like you can't save me! Why can't you accept that? That boy is gone, and I'm just the cuckoo come to take his place. No matter..." He bows over, pressing his head to what was once Bruce's leg. "No matter how much I want to be, I'm not your son anymore."
Thunder roars overhead. "Why would you do this to me, Bruce? I clawed out of my grave to get back to you, and was torn away. You fought me every step of the way to try and bring me back to the family and I pushed you away. I finally entertain the idea and you're taken from me. Why can't we just be together, Dad?"
A hand strokes the back of his head, and Jason dislodges it with how fast he whirls around, arcing a knife behind him, cutting through nothing but air.
Jason whips back around, catching a glimpse of a smile before Bruce slumps to the ground.
Jason catches him before he can land in the mud, dragging Bruce into his lap. His every movement grinds and rumbles with stone on stone, barely audible over the rolling thunder, but Jason holds him close anyway.
The flashes of cameras are blinding as a mystery figure walks out of Gotham Cemetery with Bruce Wayne in his arms. The GCPD officer guarding the cemetery cows under the stern demand, and the mystery figure slips into the back of the squad car, Wayne still cradled in his lap, and they peal away in a blur of red and blue, sirens wailing, heading for Wayne Manor.
Three days later, Bruce Wayne stands at a podium, patches of stone peeking out above his collar, his kids lined up behind him as he reintroduces Jason Todd-Wayne to society.
