https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikiclix feel free to ask anything as long as it's sfw ^^ (I can't promise to answer all of it but I swear I'll try) pfp by: Chiaseed12
I think i read a fic about this but like no one knew and kid reincarnated Bruce was obviously traumatised i think fostered by Lois and clark..?
forgot name of it
umm but would reincarnated baby B have memories or not? like 100 day curse
had the kids fallen out with him do they realise its him fall back. into old habits w how they treat him?
but its a kid with likely autism so its straight up child abuse/ neglect
idk idk pls can we have your thoughts
Bruce coming back as a spectre, interesting.
I'd imagine he's not alive, but a spirit, and oh! Imagine if, because it's a core component of Bruce's identity, his ability to become corporeal is directly tied to his desire to help people. He can only be physically present when it matters most.
The idea of clois fostering him is charming
this spiralled and is now a whole thing, but we ball:
But what if he, in his reincarnation, or whatever you'd call it, he was given one final blessing and allowed to return to when he last felt safe. Bruce, the ghost of his seven year old self, darting between the living world, and the afterlife, where Mama and Papa wait to clean up his cuts and praise him for still wanting to help people, their brave little boy.
He doesn't have his memories. But as he chases survivors across decimated battlegrounds, doing his best to make sure they survive this, he feels a distinct pull towards these people he sees fighting.
He's not sure why.
He's sat amidst the rubble, watching the 'heroes' regroup when one of them cautiously approaches him. She's beautiful, long black hair falling over a sooty forehead, but her smile, hesitant as it is, is radiant, and feels painful. Something deep in his soul drags towards her, but he doesn't understand the feeling, and allows his grasp on reality to slacken, falling back into the afterlife.
Mama cleans the dust off his arms with gentle hands, and explains he knew her, in his life. The one he doesn't remember. That they were really good friends, and that tug on his soul was probably a soul bond from their friendship.
Bruce admits he is scared of the feeling, and Mama kisses his head and promises that's okay.
The next battle, the woman stays away. She watches him from a distance, and he watches her back. Then a hand settles on his shoulder, and Bruce cries out at the same feeling yanking at his core. The man leaps back, horrified, apologies tripping from his lips, and Bruce quickly slips out of this plane of existence. He watches the man search for him, then slowly sink to his knees and begin to weep.
Papa tells him to give them a chance. That they love him a lot, and miss him.
Bruce doesn't want to be their friend. He just wants to help people.
But when he pulls a man out of the rubble, that same achingly familiar link thrums through him. This one has Papa's nose, like Bruce. He still doesn't like the feeling, that soulbond Mama described, but this one...he cannot bring himself to leave.
"Your son," comes a soft voice, and he turns.
The woman stands behind him, expression pained.
"Papa told me...I had a family. This is him?"
"One of them," the man confirms, walking up behind the woman. "Your youngest."
Bruce pokes his cheek. The man doesn't stir.
"He doesn't look happy."
"Grief does that to people."
"Me," he murmurs.
"Yes, Bruce."
It's the first time the man has used his name.
"You grieve me too."
The woman's shoulders briefly lift, then sink back down. "We grieve the man you were. You are not him, but you are very similar. It is an honour to meet you as you are now."
Bruce stares at her. Names swirl in his mind, half formed, barely-there whispers, fading voices, and he clings to any hope of remembering these people that always look so sad.
"Grief is not eternal," he says, quoting his mother.
The man reaches out, and gently grasps his shoulder, a slight exhale drifting out of his mouth when his palm makes contact. "No, B. But love is."
Bruce looks back down at the man slumped on the floor in front of him.
He lifts his head, and looks at the figures in the distance, calling names and aliases that brush the depths of Bruce's mind, the things he can't remember anymore.
His looks at his children off in the distance, and feels a sudden wetness in his eyes, feels fat, hot tears roll down his cheeks without permission.
"Take care of each other, Clark, Diana," he murmurs, standing.
Twin gasps sound at their names, but Bruce is already fading. "Take care of them too," he begs, and lets go of his tether.
He disappears from sight, and watches Dick crash to his knees next to Damian. "Come on, Robin, you gotta wake up. We can't lose you too, buddy."
Mama's warm touch presses an arm over his shoulders. "You're a good friend, sweetheart."
"And a good father," Papa adds, palm warm on Bruce's head.
He leans back into them, and together, they watch his once-family gather around each other.
They always knew, Clark and Diana, that there was no universe where they die before Bruce does.
A godlike being from another planet and a divinely-crafted warrior could survive death's claws digging into their skin; a human's flesh, however fortified, can only truly withstand so much. For all his brilliance, Bruce can never outsmart the fallibility of his own design.
They just hadn't thought it would happen so soon.
Death wasn't permanent, it shouldn't be. But they had the body, had heard the bones crunch and the blood come out in heaves, collected the torn parts of armor that failed their purpose.
Bruce was dead.
Could you imagine what that turns out to be like?
Clark, who looks so much like Bruce, can't even look at a window too long because he might think, he might hope, that the reflection he's looking at isn't actually his own. The kids see him and actually freeze up, Damian tears up and has to leave the room. Clark elects to stand at the back of the chapel during the funeral service, but he towers so tall that he haunts Bruce's family anyways.
Even Diana can't look at Clark too long. The silhouette is there, but not the signature furrow of the brow nor the smugness of expression. She stays in denial the longest, maybe because out of everyone, she has all the time to spare. She makes jokes, trying her best to cope, trying to lie to herself — but jokes are always made with half truths. It isn't until she sees Jason again, the boy being unmasked and looking like the friend she had lost, the picture of Bruce's age when they had first met, that Diana bursts into tears for the first time.
I have a firm belief that when Bruce eases off his Batman duties due to age< still part of heroessociety lol> his children, whose numbers will have doubled, will have one thought when they go on a suicide mission: "I promised Bruce I'd come back." They will have the will it to happen even if they're crawling they will came back
And Bruce always makes sure he's there to welcome them home. No matter how old they get, the first port of call is stumbling down the ramp of the ship, forward, forward, forward, until they can crash into Bruce's open arms.
Everytime I read a new manhwa, my mind just goes "omg this is a great way for the fl to die, then the ml would probably react like this and their child would be bla bla bla bla"
LIKE IK IT'S NEVER GONNA HAPPEN and that's why I'm sad🥀 there aren't gonna be fanfics about it too </3
With how often battles ripped clothes I wouldn’t be surprised if Spider-Man just go out with only a mask but civilian clothes
Like fixing suits takes time, even weeks, and I doubt Peter can stay still for that long till it gets fixed, specially in emergencies, Peter isn’t Batman to have multiple back up suits or the time to just finish in a few days
But ofc he wouldn’t grab his best clothes or else they will be destroyed in battle too so he takes the oldest, wrinkled thing he has
•
Peter panting in a hurry entering through the window of the stark tower, the avengers called him from an emergency meeting and he came quickly
Spidey: sorry for keep you waiting, what are the details?
Stark: why are you wearing pants?
Spidey: well no one told me it was business casual, why do you care?
Stark: did you just woke up?
Spidey: are we going to critique my clothes choices or save the world? We are in a hurry
Stark giving him some dollars: if you need money that much just ask
Peter glaring but still keeping the money bc he’s not going to say no to free money
•
Goblin: Someone bring Spider-Man!
Spidey lands behind him: did you called?
Goblin turning around: finally my plan- who are you?
Spidey: what do you mean who I am? The mask didn’t gives you a clue?
Goblin: no, you are just a random with a mask, where’s the suit?
Spidey: you destroyed it last time, you’ll be surprised how long it takes me to fix it, be a little bit considered next time you try to kill me, can you?
Goblin: do you dress like that on daily basis? Wow it’s so bad, did you just woke up?
Autism is a largely complex condition. It is largely genetic, with over half of the genetic material linked to it coming from the father.
Damian is his only blood-related child.
He notices quickly that Damian is just like him. Too much like him. Sometimes, it’s like staring in a mirror and seeing his younger self instead of his reflection.
It’s a different time now, and people are more accepting than they ever were; the chances of Damian being treated the way he was are zero, especially with him around to protect his son. He knows this, yet his hands shake as he tucks them into his pockets, watching as Damian babbles on about a self-interest of his.
He watches, he always watches, to see how his children interact with Damian. Always ready at a moment's notice to jump in and meditate, to explain away the strange habits Damian has formed.
He doesn’t have to.
His children also watch, then adjust, and then they accept him.
So… easily.
When Damian has an emotional outburst from being overstimulated by his siblings, instead of snapping at him or giving him the silent treatment, they allow him to de-stress, then apologize for pushing him over the edge. They don’t rant and rave about how he needs to get off his high horse like with him
When Damian shrinks away from physical touch, they respect his boundaries and don’t push him. They don’t snark about how he thinks he’s too good for their touch like with him
When he’s up in the late hours of the night from insomnia, they stay by his side and comfort him. They don’t tell him to go back to bed and leave him with a hollow feeling like with him
He knows it’s childish, stupid, and wholly immature, but his heart clenches and his stomach twists itself into a nasty knot.
It’s not fair.
Why can his children understand that Damian’s brain is wired differently, but when it comes to him-
Bruce always cuts his thoughts off there. He would never want to breed resentment in his heart for any of his children, especially Damian. He’s glad that Damian is getting all the love and accommodations that he needed but never got.
He’s ecstatic watching the young boy grow and thrive in areas where he still feels unsteady and unsure. He knows Damian will take the world by storm and be a billion times better than he ever was
Bruce knows that he is simply too much of a problem, a burden, to be correctly loved. He keeps hoping and hoping like a stupid child that someone will love him unconditionally
He finds himself drifting away, keeping to himself, and locking himself away in his bedroom or office. He can control all his hurt, pain, longing, and sorrow.
It hurts too much
But once again, all he gets are texts demanding he stop being so selfish and making everything about him. He doesn’t know why they’re mad at him this time; he honestly doubts that they know why they’re mad
It’s his place in their lives
Damian has autism and needs accommodations. Bruce is a bastard who needs to stop acting so fucking weird and just listen to what he’s told.
Okay so I asked @chiplin about their wip title for the ask game and I guessed completely wrong about what it would be so now I'm here to deliver superbat angst:
Superbat fling. Or, well. Clark has a fling for Bruce. Bruce falls head over heels for Bruce. And, as flings are wont to do, they end.
Clark goes to Bruce when they were supposed to meet up, their hangouts that always ended up with significantly less clothes by the end of the night. Hangouts, because only Bruce considered them dates.
Clark sits down giddily next to Bruce and grabs his hands, a smile breaking out over his face. "I think Lois likes me!"
Bruce freezes. Clark keeps going, talking about how he hears her pulse pick up around him, hears her breathing change, and even yesterday had it confirmed by overhearing Jimmy tease Lois about it.
It's ironic in a painful way that Clark can understand the vital signs of the girl he likes to mean she likes him, but can't understand the ones of the man he's been fucking for months as his entire world comes crashing down.
Bruce smiles, and claps Clark on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you."
They spend the evening planning out how he'll ask out Lois. The clothes are still on when Clark leaves, and Bruce goes to dinner despondently. Dick looks up when he reaches the table, and frowns.
"Did you and Clark break up?" He asks, because he's torn into the room earlier to say hi to his favourite uncle, and as he often fantasised aloud, future step-father.
Bruce chuckles, shaking his head, but can't manage to muster a smile for his ward. "Turns out," he hums, "we were never together."
Lois says yes when Clark asks her out.
Bruce smiles and congratulates him.
Lois says yes when Clark asks her to marry him.
Bruce smiles and congratulates him.
Lois says yes when Clark asks if it's true.
Bruce smiles and congratulates him.
He sends them both flowers the first time. He offers to pay for the wedding the second. He hands over his card for baby shopping the third.
He never says anything about his feelings ever again. He's happy for them, and that is no lie. They are both his friends, and he loves them dearly. Simply, sometimes, not in the way he's supposed to.
"When did you start calling Dad Uncle Clark?" Jon asks, floating in the air above Damian, looking at Dick.
Bruce's eldest shrugs. "When I was younger. Him, me, and B were a pretty tight-knit group, so he graduated to uncle status pretty quickly."
Bruce thinks that's the end of it, and smiles at the memories. Then his son opens his big mouth, and deconstructs all of Bruce's carefully maintained lies with a single sentence.
"I actually thought about calling him 'Dad,' too."
Bruce feels his blood run cold. His other children perk up, as does Clark, while Dick remains in a world of his own.
"You did?" Clark asks, and he can feel the Kryptonian's eyes on him, can feel that familiar probing gaze that means he's heard Bruce's vitals and is looking for the injury that caused it.
Dick hums, buried in his phone. "I mean, yeah. You acted like a dad anyway, and I knew it was only a matter of time."
"Until what?"
Bruce pleads the universe to make Dick stop talking.
"Until Bruce put his money where his mouth was. I mean, he—" Dick's mouth clamps closed, and Bruce sighs. Too little too late, universe.
Tension settles over the room like a weighted blanket, and Bruce feels all eyes on him. He does not look up from his book.
"Bruce what, Dick?" Clark says, and Dick rests his phone on his forehead, letting out a mortified groan.
"Nothing."
"You and Supes were a thing?" Steph asks.
"No."
"No."
"Ye— No. Shit."
"Dick?" Clark's voice is stern, and Bruce curses the universe. He's like a dog with a bone, Bruce doesn't stand a chance at getting out of this.
"Dick."
"Sorry, B."
"You're grounded."
"Yeahhhh that's fair." Dick ducks back behind his phone, and Bruce slides a bookmark between his pages before setting the novel aside.
He lifts his eyes to meet Clark's, and tips his chin up. Clark meets his gaze firmly, and studies him. "I'd like you to explain, Bruce."
"Don't play stupid, Clark. Dick has given you more than enough information to figure it out."
"You were in love with me."
"Yes."
"You wanted to marry me."
"Yes."
Jason whistles lowly, Tim stares at them with wide eyes, Kon looks like he's experiencing revelations, and Bruce can see Cass' worried gaze scanning his form.
"We've never dated!" Clark protests.
Even Jon winces at that.
Bruce swallows. "So it seems. But at the time, I believed we were. As did Dick, and Alfred. Diana too, naturally."
Clark rubs his hands over his face. Bruce's eyes catch on his wedding ring. "But we—"
"We spent most of our time together, you were all but co-parenting my child, and we ended up in bed together most nights," Bruce interrupts. "Forgive me the mistake, Clark, but you didn't exactly set clear boundaries between friendship and whatever it is you catagorised our relationship as."
"So you've just...stuck by my side as I married and made a family with another woman?"
Bruce shrugs, and manages to muster a smile. "I'm glad it was her. She's the love of you life."
I think I'm going to write ONE reverse Robins fic and it will just be about 8 years old Dick being "totally normal" about the father of 4 that is fostering him. He refuses to acknowledge that Bruce is his father, he already has a father who is dead, and he calls the others his siblings, but he bites them extremely often to get them away from Bruce so he can get him for himself.
Okay, okay, but instead of Bruce being oblivious to everyone’s relationship and not knowing his children are dating, like everyone says, he actually knows before they do
He catches a smile that’s a tad too fond, and he’s like ‘oh, they’re dating,’ and when they announce it a few months later, Bruce is unsurprised cause he labeled them as dating forever ago in his database
He doesn’t realize that some relationships are secret and being kept from him, because he naturally finds those things out. He is the world’s greatest detective after all. Any microexpression made in his presence has been analyzed and dissected easily
One of the kids thinks they’re hiding their relationship so well, but Bruce already knows how long they’ve been dating and where their first date was (cause they used his card to pay for everything)
He doesn’t say anything because… well, why would he? As long as there isn’t too much interference with their vigilante life, most of his children are grown adults and can do what they want.
Bruce is only oblivious to his own relationships. Or maybe, he simply chooses to ignore the obvious signs and act oblivious, simply because he believes it’s a better solution
If there’s someone who likes him, he knows it. Of course, he does; he’s been flirted with and hit on his entire life.
But if someone likes him and he also likes them back, then he suddenly can no longer use that big brain of his to tell what the other person is actually feeling
He truly believes he wouldn’t be able to give the other person the kind of love and attention they deserve while he lives his double life, even if this person was also a hero and had their own double life
It’s illogical, so he’ll pretend that he has no idea the object of his attraction also seems to be attracted to him, and he’ll keep them at arm's length. It’s the best he can do for them
Sooner or later, they’ll come to understand that he is nowhere near the wonderful, caring, compassionate, and good person some people see him as. He’s got darkness in him. He’s a monster that is barely being contained by his crusade to make his city a better place
* Bruce does not simply unleash eight vigilantes into a pool and hope for the best. He arrives with sunscreen, extra towels, a first aid kit, electrolyte packets, and enough snacks to sustain a small athletic conference.
* He makes everyone put on sunscreen.
* Every. Single. One.
* Jason tries to argue.
* Bruce silently holds out the bottle.
* Jason puts on the sunscreen.
⸻
* Dick is in the water within three seconds of arrival.
* Nobody actually sees him enter the pool.
* One moment he’s standing beside the chairs.
* The next he’s somehow performing a perfect dive.
* Bruce doesn’t even look up from unpacking the cooler.
* “Good entry.”
* Dick immediately looks delighted because Bruce noticed.
⸻
* Tim insists he’s “just relaxing.”
* Five minutes later Bruce confiscates three phones, a tablet, and a waterproof e-reader.
* Tim somehow produces a fourth device.
* Bruce doesn’t ask where it came from.
* Bruce simply holds out his hand.
* Tim sighs and surrenders it.
⸻
* Damian takes swimming very seriously.
* Swimming is a discipline.
* An art.
* A test of physical excellence.
* Steph splashes him.
* Damian declares war.
⸻
* Cass is terrifyingly good in the water.
* Nobody knows why.
* She just moves through the pool like gravity forgot about her.
* Bruce watches her do an impossible underwater turn and quietly smiles because she’s having fun.
⸻
* Steph’s primary objective is not swimming.
* It is causing problems.
* She convinces Duke and Dick to help her build increasingly elaborate pool games.
* Bruce allows it because they’re all laughing and nobody is in danger.
* Yet.
⸻
* Duke spends most of the afternoon soaking up sunlight like a very happy solar panel.
* Bruce packed his favorite sports drink without being asked.
* Duke notices.
* Bruce pretends he didn’t deliberately remember.
⸻
* Jason claims he hates pool days.
* Jason spends four consecutive hours in the pool.
* Bruce hands him a drink the second he climbs out.
* Jason takes it automatically.
* Neither of them comments on it.
⸻
* Bruce actually gets in the water.
* This shocks everyone.
* Bruce is a surprisingly strong swimmer.
* Of course he is.
* There is absolutely no reason for him to be this good at swimming.
* Yet here they are.
⸻
* At some point somebody challenges Bruce to a race.
* Usually Dick.
* Sometimes Jason.
* Once Steph.
* Bruce wins exactly often enough to remind them he’s Batman.
* Then loses on purpose often enough to let them celebrate.
⸻
* He keeps track of everyone without making it obvious.
* He knows who’s hydrated.
* He knows who’s getting tired.
* He knows who skipped lunch.
* He knows who has been underwater suspiciously long.
* Tim discovers this and calls it “parental omniscience.”
* Bruce calls it “paying attention.”
⸻
* When Damian and Jason start arguing, Bruce redirects them into a relay race.
* Somehow this works.
* Nobody understands why it works.
* Not even Bruce.
* But it does.
⸻
* Near sunset, everyone is exhausted.
* Towels everywhere.
* Wet footprints everywhere.
* Half the snacks gone.
* Steph is still talking.
* Dick is floating on his back.
* Cass is smiling.
* Tim is finally not looking at a screen.
* Damian is pretending he isn’t having fun.
* Jason is pretending he doesn’t want another pool day.
* Duke is glowing with contentment.
* Bruce looks around at the chaos and feels that rare, quiet certainty that all of his kids are safe, happy, and together.
Y'know that last ask you got about putting Batman into the void (which I agree that he should be, for his own good) has made me realise how little I've seen isolation used as a trope in Batman fan content. White room torture specifically can really mess people up, even if the stay is on the shorter side, it can seriously mess with your perception of time, direction, and memory. I feel like it'd make for some good whump (though at the same time, white room torture is also a very real thing and I don't want to be insensitive or something by suggesting this so feel free to ignore it if it's too much)
