What if people noticed when Jason Todd died?
What if the people of Gotham noticed when Bruce Wayneās ward died?
What if it was reported on the news and people started sending home cooked meals to the mansion because maybe Bruce doesnāt cook for himself, but everyone knew Alfred was as much a father to Jason as he was and he shouldnāt have to cook either
Maybe people talked about it over the newspaper obit. columnĀ
āPoor Bruce, itās difficult to lose a child.āĀ āWhat did it say he died from again?āĀ āTuberculosis, I think. Probably had it since he was living on the streets.āĀ āI heard it was cancer.āĀ āNo, it was a car crash in another country, damn drunk drivers.ā
And then what if one bright-eyed new reporter started digging to get the first exclusive story on Bruce Wayneās mourning
And instead stumbled across another autopsy report in some file that was supposed to be burned with the new year that said Jason didnāt die of natural causes
That Jason suffered from blunt force trauma, concussion, and evidence of being in an explosion.Ā
And that he also showed scaring of years worth of bruising and broken bones.
The real autopsy only stays online for two hours before itās taken down
But everyone in Gotham knows about it
They brush it off as someone trying to defile the good Wayne name in a time of weakness.Ā
The reporter is blacklisted.
The real report is burned,
But it has planted a seed in the peopleās mind
And they start to think about how Jason always had bruises and cuts on his arms
And how Jason sometimes showed up with two black eyes
And often he walked like he had a stick up his pant legā¦maybe like a splint.
But Gothamās elite argue with themselves that Jason Todd was a street kid.
Jason Todd got kicked out of Gotham Academy for fighting.
It wasnāt Bruceās fault he couldnāt reign in that rebellious spirit
A Wayne couldnāt be blamed for the trouble his ward got into.
Gothamās favorite son wouldnāt beat children.
But then they remember that one time when Dick Grayson showed up to a charity gala with a cast on his arm.
And he had laughed it off as a motorcycle accident and with his brilliant Ā smile people believed him.
But now, no one remembers anything about it in the papers.
Surely someone would have covered the charming Richard Graysonās accident
And come to think of it, no one remembered Dick even owning, let alone driving a motorcycle.
And Dick Grayson wasnāt a street kid.
Dick Grayson didnāt have a temper.
Dick Grayson was the perfect ward, the perfect student.
But Dick Grayson had bruises too.
And maybe when Tim shows up the people of Gotham pay a bit more attention
Maybe at galas, they check him for purple spots, slyly pushing up the sleeves on his suit in a flirtatious manner or spilling wine on his shirt and press a little harder than necessary to dab the drink away before it stains just to see if Tim winces.
Tim Drake wears make-up to cover his bruises and scars.
Tim Drake takes pain-killers to numb the sting.
And anything too hurtful to handle or cover, Tim Drake forges an accident report as an alibi.
And this puts the people at ease.
But maybe, once, when passing at the GCPD ball, Tim thinks he hears Commissioner Gordon whisper āBe careful, sonā
And Tim immediately thinks Gordonās found him out as Robin, but later decides it was just his nerves.
But Gordon watches him and routinely shows up at the manor unannounced to try and catch anything off
Because Bruce Wayne may be Gothamās favorite son, but Gordon is still its commissioner.
Because heās got a daughter and how can he look her in the face if he let another man hit his child.
Because he already has one kid running around at night with Batman, risking his life to do what the police canāt
Because maybe he canāt canāt save Robin, but he can save Tim
Because Gordonās seen too much crime and too much death to ignore even the smallest suspicions.Ā
What if Jason Todd wasnāt the only one who blamed Bruce for his death?
What if people thought Bruce was violent with his wards?
What if Gotham looked at Bruce Wayne differently?
What if people noticed Jason Toddās death?
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