RenaiRin

Writer of various things | Batman centric | Whacking Bruce with the angst stick

[renairinwrites]

Welcome to the assorted angsty Bruce saloon, how angsty do ya like your Bruce?

I write a lot of Bruce Wayne centric fics, and some slash and what not. Superbat and Lanternbat, assorted others, or just taking Bruce off to the side Old Yeller style.

RenaiRin on ao3

Just gonna plop this here. Yep. Looks good 👍

[ihavepinkknees]

switch cass and bat

opposite side to previous drawing

young!bruce with older cass

[outboardd]

superman weakened by kryptonite, trapped on his back in a crumbling building with batman braced above him, singlehandedly holding up the ceiling to prevent both of them being crushed. superman feels the strain in batman's body where his feet are planted on either side of kal's waist. he knows this cannot last forever.

superman understanding in real time what it must feel like to be a civilian in danger, scared and helpless, relying entirely on someone else to bring them to safety and always wondering, in the back of their mind, if this will be the day they die. superman stubbornly refusing to believe batman would ever let that happen, his faith providing a sliver of strength to keep himself conscious.

batman shaking beneath the weight of the collapsed ceiling, knowing he can either pack away the kryptonite on superman's chest or hold the building on his back—not both. batman understanding in real time that he has no choice but to watch his friend get sicker and sicker, unable to stop it because if he falters, both of them will die. he grits his teeth and holds the weight, panting against the pressure as superman's breathing gets shallow and laboured, his skin turning a sickly grey.

he could try to kick the kryptonite, to displace it enough that kal could breathe again. but moving a leg would destabilize his form and almost certainly result in failure; the whole floor would come crashing down on him. he can't spare the breath to offer even a few words. kal groans beneath him, writhing against the green glow on his chest, scrabbling at batman's calves in an attempt to get away.

after what feels like hours, they're found. diana digs her fingers into concrete and cinderblock and pries off the crushing weight of the building. the team hasn't reached them yet, but batman no longer has to hold enything up.

batman collapses immediately, right onto superman, who shouts in pain and squeezes his eyes shut. with shaking hands and seizing muscles, batman wraps the chunk of kryptonite in cloth. he tucks it into a lead-lined compartment in his belt, switching it out for the mini sun-ray tool that he immediately flicks on and presses directly over superman's heart.

"thank you," superman murmurs, reaching his own trembling hand to the side of batman's face. batman doesn't have the strength to pull way. superman isn't sure he would if he did. "you saved my life."

batman's mouth slants, self-deprecating. "it was touch-and-go for a while there."

"i knew you'd do it," superman says, the conviction in his voice clear. "i had no doubt."

batman sighs and shakes his head with a small smile. he lets himself slump into superman's hold, the sun-ray tool pressed between them. superman turns and kisses him, right at the corner of his cowl, and—that's...new.

batman sighs again. it wasn't entirely unpleasant, but— "if you're expecting reciprocation, you'll be disappointed. i can't even lift my head."

"sounds to me like your lips are moving just fine, though," superman says, an edge of humour in his tone.

"take me home, kal," batman says, his voice flat. "we can talk tomorrow. or however long it takes me to wake up."

superman smiles, pressing another kiss to the corner of batman's cowl. "gladly."

[renairinwrites]

Psst guys here's the Kryptonian alphabet from Superman/Batman: Supergirl

[superbatfanbook]

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[brucedefender4eva]

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.

[imsorrybruce]

Batman #181 (1966)

Batman #339 (1981)

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #43 (1993)

Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #3 (1995)

Batman: the Long Halloween #5 (1996)

Batman: Poison Ivy (1997)

[qiuomg]

All started with one kiss.

[subjectverb]

Mutuals can DM. Mutuals can ask for Discord. Mutuals can rip open my corpse and huddle inside it for warmth.

[ciricearts]

she's hereee<3

[haveihitanerve]

Guys pls let Bruce have whimsy and be a good dad.

Absolutely hate when I find a lurker on a post about Batman/Bruce and then there's a comment where someone is like

"Oh but actually this is Dick as Batman-" Nooooo

"Yea but see this is actually more canon for Jason to do-" Noooo

"I'm imagining an older Damian doing this-" Noooo

I wrote this post for Bruce, I wrote this post because I love Bruce, I wrote this post because Bruce my motherfucking beloved, let him be a good dad and have whimsy godsdamnit.

like- Bruce canonically is a lil shit. He makes dick jokes. He is an annoying and embarrassing father. when he's written correctly he is a good one. Let him joke around with Gothamites and comfort babies. I beg.

If you love the other batkids more than him, if you like what you read and think it would fit them better than it would fit Bruce- that's fine. Write your own post. Add it in a fanfic. Idc. But pleaseeeee let Bruce be Bruce and stay Bruce. If I write Batman you best believe I mean him and not Dick. Just please. He can be funny and weird and goofy too. Please.

[occasionalauthoring]

Doesn’t necessarily need to be NPA but I want to see the batkids reactions when they meet Nocturna. The woman who the fandom parades around as Jason’s “goth mommy” who in reality is a woman who adopted Jason solely to manipulate Bruce. The woman who drugged and tried to/did SA Bruce. I’ve only seen ONE person talk about Nocturna and how evil she is

Also, angst with a happy ending please :)

—🌸🐁

TW: discussion of SA, forced kisses

Damian comes to the family, presenting his case for the fact he believes he has a stalker. Bruce is frustrated he kept it a secret for longer to gather evidence, but accepts the case file without hesitation.

They all watch him freeze. He moved, flipping through the photos and surveillance rapidly, then closes the case file again and walks out of the room with it.

Damian feels goosebumps grow on his arm.

Steph pulls him into her side and tells him off while they wait for Bruce to get back. They all jump when the door bangs open some time on, slamming into the wall, and Jason looms there.

"Where's B?"

Bruce appears behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I was calling Talia."

The two of them stare at each other, until Jason crosses his arms. "She's back."

"And this time she's set her sights on Damian."

Dick stands. "Who is 'she'?"

Bruce scowls, the case file wrinkling in his clenched fist, and Jason rolls his eyes. "Natalia Knight."

Dick blinks. "The woman that took your custody from B?"

"Bruce lost custody of you?" Duke asks, sitting up.

"Otherwise known as Nocturna," Bruce adds, scowl deepening. "A siren of the night."

Jason rolls his shoulders back. "Lighten up, B. She wasn't half bad. She took care of me."

Bruce pins him with a look. "Which she only did because she wanted to use you for my money."

"I'm a pawn?" Damian scoffs.

"She likes money. She flits between crime and partners to get it. For me, she used Jason. Took me to court and adopted Jason because she knew I'd want to stay in his life, and wanted to manipulate me into some facsimile of a relationship to gain access to the fortune."

Damian's eyes drag to Jason, who leans easilg against the wall. "And you...like this woman?"

Jason shrugs. "I wanted to find a way to take her down without putting her in jail. She did good by me, even if she had her own motives, she grew to care about me."

Behind him, Bruce's teeth audibly clench, the case file abused in his grip as it tightens more. Cass narrows her eyes, leaning forward, incidentally garnering the attention of the rest of the room. "More." Bruce's eyes jump to hers. "There's more."

Bruce's body smooths out, hiding the traces of his anger, and he presents a perfectly calm picture that makes all of them suspicious. Tim, next to Cass, mirrors her lean. "B. What did you mean by 'siren of the night?'"

Bruce's lips purse slightly. "As I said. Nocturna had her talents, she used them to aid her journey in crime to fund her lifestyle."

"What talents?" Dick asks. They're working together now, against him, and Jason's eyes dart between them and Bruce.

"Are you talking about the perfume?" He murmurs, and doesn't miss the suppressed flinch.

Damian scooches out of Steph's grip. "Jason. What perfume?"

"Uh. She wore this perfume at night. As Nocturna. It was like a siren spell, like a drug. It made people desire her, her partners became obsessed."

"And you and Bruce dealt with her as Batman and Robin? At night?" Steph presses, and Jason nods.

"Yeah, we..." He pauses, then slowly turns his head to look at Bruce. "Bruce. Is that why you don't like Natalia?"

Bruce clears his throat. "I dislike Ms Knight for a variety of reasons. Namely, she stole my son."

Jason steps forward, putting a hand on his arm. "B." The other kids are barely breathing, waiting on confirmation. Slowly, Bruce nods.

"She had an interest. She'd just lost her partner, she wanted the Batman to replace him. The easiest way to do that was to drug me too. To get me addicted to her." Jason's lips part, he takes a step back, and Bruce flinches like it's a rejection. "So she'd wear the perfume, and she'd kiss me, and she tried to convince me to join her."

The room goes silent. Dick covers his mouth. Duke bows his head. Cass presses her fingers into her eyes.

"I...you...she assaulted you, and I've defended her to you." Jason's head knocks back against the wall, his eyes close, his lip quivvers. "Fuck."

"It is as you said," Bruce says roughly. "She didn't show you that side. She wanted to be your mother."

Jason doesn't respond, burying his face in his hands. "Fuck. Fuck. Look, fuck this. She's not— I'm not letting her use Damian to get at you again. Not anyway but... not after that, B."

Bruce's chin wobbles slightly as he nods, and Damian finally stands, across the room in a flash. Bruce drops the casefile, letting it spill out across the floor, and scoops him up into his arms. "You called Mother," Damian states firmly, and Bruce nods.

"We will liase with her. The Demon's Daughter and the Birds of Gotham will take care of this Nocturna. Father, I request you keep a distance."

Bruce's lip quirks, and he knocks their heads together. "Damian. I can handle myself against her."

Steph appears, pressing a hand into his elbow. "But we don't want to have to see you next to... next to a woman that assaulted you, B. We're not strong enough for that."

"I wouldn't be able to hold myself back," Dick mutters agreeably, and Bruce shakes his head.

"I get hourly updates. You run your plans by me."

"Deal."

Jason is the one to say it, locking eyes with Bruce. A promise swims in the angry, green depths, and Bruce nods.

"Very well."

The silence they fall into is not happy, or victorious, but heavy, weighed down by knowledge.

Eyes are drawn back to the pale figure in the pictures spilles across the carpet, where she watches Damian from a distance, something cunning in her smile.

[logicallyblind]

‘Sentiment Eldritch Gotham that favours Bruce above all else and acts like a jealous child throwing a tantrum whenever he leaves the city boundaries etc etc’ is one of my favourite concepts to come from the DC fandom

Cause I especially love the idea that It eventually noticed just how badly the death of Its favourite’s fledgling effected him so It just, kickstarted the boy’s heart again cause like, he was within Its territory why wouldn’t It be able to just realign reality an inch, like it hadn’t done before dozens of times to protect Its favourite 😔✋

Like I’m imaging It presenting the newly revived, still catatonic but breathing Jason back to Its streets like a child presenting Its homemade art project like

“look what I did for you :D do you like it? Are you happy again now? :D”

and then immediately flipping to D:< when Talia scooped him up and left like “That wasn’t for yOU—“

Anyways, big fan of sentient Gotham

[imsorrybruce]

I saw your post about Bruce's public persona and his philanthropy work and thought you could help me with something (I'm gonna preface this by saying I'm using quote marks to indicate quotes, not sarcasm)

I don't want to link to the post I saw to not be mean or rude or anything, but it basically boiled down to:

- Bruce has some ownership over Arkham (based on that one comic where Martha is related to the Arkham family), and once his identity as Batman is revealed, his family (except Tim because he's " a rich white man") and city turn on him because he never did anything for the Asylum despite his wealth and kept throwing all the super criminals in there instead of putting them on "death row". Then Batwoman becomes Gotham's hero because they realise she's "for the people", and doesn't have the "saviour complex" Bruce does.

Look, people can post what they want and have whatever options they want over fictional characters. I understand Bruce's wealth is a turn off for many. Also, I quite like Kate, and want to see her in more stuff. But istg if I see one more "Bruce doesn't do anything for Gotham other than Batman" take I'm gonna explode!!!! It's not Bruce's fault that the narrative requires him to have a constant set of reoccurring villains -_-

(also why would his family only turn on him after the information would be revealed to the public? Wouldn't they have known for as long as they had known his identity? To be fair the op isn't being 100% serious but still)

So, with all that preamble, I'm just wondering, do you know of any panels that specifically show Bruce putting his money and resources into Arkham? There's plenty of him putting his money into the city in general, but I mean specifically the institution. Thanks :)

So, I know that Bruce is directly quoted to be a benefactor of Arkham Asylum in the Arkham games. In Telltale, from my understanding, one of the choices is to fund Arkham too.

Arkham was destroyed multiple times. I don't remember if it was said directly that Bruce helped with it after no man's land ? so if someone does remember feel free to tell me. After battle for the cowl, Arkham is rebuilt by Jeremiah Arkham, and Bruce is part of the council that like. Checks it? or whatever. There were also some shenanigans with Wayne manor getting turned into Akrham manor during n52 I think but I have no idea about that. Bruce also sometimes does investigations inside Arkham as Batman and I think the new run has him investigate dr Zeller on her treatment of patients, but I haven't been keeping up with it since issue 3 so idk where it went with this plotline. There is also an elseworlds story where Bruce is a psychiatrist at Arkham and he takes good care of the inmates. (the Batman of Arkham)

The problem with Arkham, from my understanding, is that it's privately owned by the Arkham family (to whom Bruce doesn't have any relation in main run, I don't think?) and so it's not clear how much sway the public actually has over the inner workings of it, as in, who gets hired, which security measures are installed, etc etc. It's also not really clear if it's a non-profit or a business. Also Arkham is just not consistently bad. Like sometimes it's hell for the patients, sometimes it's hell for the guards and doctors. Sometimes it's all "electroshock therapy" type of stuff, and sometimes it's just group therapies that aren't super effective. The only constant is that the asylum doesn't really help (because the villains need to stay villains)

I think I remember some other panels on Bruce in relation to Arkham but I don't know where these were coming from and can't recall for the life of me. If someone has smth else to add, then feel free.

[imsorrybruce]

I'm not sure if this counts as supporting Arkham in general, but Bruce made sure Ivy got a cell with plants and light in Batman/Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows (2004) :)

[occasionalauthoring]

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."

[renairinwrites]

Soul bond, Tamaranian style ?

Hi there chum, this one's been answered already in this post.

Thanks for playing!

[renairinwrites]

I like to think that the eldritch grannies get involved sometimes in Bruce's life because they see him as a grandson. Like Gotham is their daughter and she's gone and adopted this human as her child, so obviously they like to keep tabs on their grandchild in the way only eons old Eldritch grannies who knit the fabric of reality can.

Like they usually hear soft cooing and sighs from their daughter, who loves to rattle on about "her little Knight" and all the good he's done for her and her people. And they take a peek at him sometimes just to check in, as they aren't capable of speech with humanity in the same way their daughter can. So they mainly get information from her, little updates here or there. And they like hearing about how happy Gotham is with her child!

But sometimes, Gotham seems a little...forlorn. Sad. Not at Bruce, but for him. She sees his yearning for a partner of his own (he already had many children, of which the Grannies are deeply pleased about. Great grand babies! Having children of his own already and Bruce has only lived for a blink of their time, how proactive!)

And the Grannies start snooping a bit more, gazing down at him looking over at that young creature in the red and blue. Longing for him.

Ah, well, their grandson is just a bit shy? How cute! They can certainly help with this. Yes, indeed. All they need weave next is the tools to help their poor grandson out.

They cannot tell him directly what they would like to, but they can get a bit creative. It does, unfortunately turn out --and happens quite often when the Grannies try to have an audience with humanity-- that their methods spook the child quite a bit. Ah, well. These things happen. He'll be fine! Just needs to shake it off, yes? He is very resilient, it's part of what makes Gotham adore her son so very much.

After all, their little 'chat' worked quite well, didn't it?

Mayhaps they should weave something else for their precious grandson. A gift for him and his partner?