I am thinking about an AU where Naofumi is a demi-human / half-beastman / or, to put it simply, a half-breed.
— In Naofumi's home world, there are demi-humans, perhaps even magic and a few other fantasy aspects, but his world is more magical realism than true fantasy. Most likely, magic is not even that widespread because it is the modern era and technology is everywhere; I think magic would be considered something strange or secondary compared to "real, actual things" like technology and science.
— Naofumi was born without the most prominent characteristic features of demi-humans — specifically, ears on the top of his head and a tail — but he has other demi-human traits, albeit somewhat subtle: he has fangs, but they are small despite their sharpness, and if you look into his open mouth and really think about it, you can tell they are fangs rather than just sharp teeth; he doesn't have real claws, but his nails grow very quickly and can be extremely sharp even when short; he has heightened senses, such as hearing, vision, and smell. He also has habits and behavioral traits, perhaps even some reflexes and instincts.
— One of his parents was a wolf-beastman, and the other was a human... Unfortunately, there is no beautiful love story or anything good there; Naofumi doesn't even know the full story of his origin, and it was always tensely hidden from him... There is a possibility that he was the result of a rape.
— His beast side is a Black Wolf
— Naofumi grew up with his Beastman parent until the age of three, and those were the happy years of his childhood; he was raised, he felt comfortable and safe, and he felt loved... Until his human parent found out about him and wanted to take him away upon realizing that Naofumi did not look any different from an ordinary human. Fantasy racism in action
— Naofumi looked like a real human, which meant he was supposed to be with real humans, and nobody cared what he wanted. His Beastman parent could not keep him, even if they had wanted to; after all, he wasn't even considered a "real" person... Naofumi does not have many memories of his parent, other than the sound of their quiet purring, some words, the melody of a lullaby, his soft ears which he loved to grab while sitting in their lap, and how he learned to walk by holding onto their tail. He also remembers the pork curry they used to make for him, he remembers how they let him playfully bite them and would nibble back as a sign of affection, and how they would lie pressed close together on one futon under a warm blanket in winter, with a fluffy tail resting on his small belly... At least he knows for certain that one parent loved him
— When he was taken to the home of his human parent and began to be raised by completely different people—"real people," as the adults around kept repeating—his upbringing changed drastically, and not for the better. Now, he was no longer shown such attention and care, he was no longer shown affection; now, he was scolded harshly and punished severely if he behaved as he had before, because that was "wild behavior, and a real boy wouldn't act like that; it's animalistic, unclean, and dirty." He missed his home terribly, he cried constantly, and even tried to fight back. It took a long time before he exhausted his strength to continue actively resisting, and he simply grew tired... Even though he still felt so sad and hurt, now it was compounded by a painful sense of loneliness
— Naofumi is experiencing identity issues due to his origin and appearance - he is a half-breed, he looks like a real human, and yet he still has his wild traits. This is literally part of him, and he is still a Wolf... So who is he? — When he finds out that the Shield Hero is the hero of the demi-humans... It is the first time he feels something good about being a sacred hero
Ohhh noo, my boy!
Naofumi being so dejected when he's summoned to another world, a more fantastical one than his own, with demi-humans and widespread magic to boot, only to find that demi-humans like himself are treated just as bad, if not worse, than back in his world!
But, finding that the Shield Hero, a symbol of defense and protection, is the Patron Saint of Demi-Humans, is probably the one of his favorite things, one of the few good thing, in his opinion, about being the Shield Hero.
He'd never want his children to be raised the way he was, away from part of their identity and forced to hide away the parts of themselves others don't like. He wants them to be as free and confident in themselves as they can be.
(Specifically inspired by fanon BatFamily and Justice League characters, because I've yet to get to reading the comics since I'm still getting through the movies (and potentially the different series.))
I've been microwaving an idea of Naofumi, who was the first to be taken in by Bruce, as a child, after he lost his parents in the flooding of Gotham (have an add-on thought of his little brother being presumed dead, a years later coming back as a to-be-redeemed villain). He's the first to be taken in, but he's younger than Dick by a some years.
Since there's Batman, Batwoman, Batgirl and even Batwing, why isn't there a Batboy? Well, here, it's because after he(Naofumi) disappeared, only Robin continued to appear at Batman's side.
It does take some years before Naofumi is summoned, maybe his mid or late teens. He goes through a lot of the batfam drama, but he's so terrified of losing his family again that he stays and he keep trying, even when it doesn't always work.
He gets summoned, and no one can find him. All the evidence of his disappearance is an upturned, blank book on the Wayne Library floor, titled "Legend of the Four Heroes".
Years pass, shit happens, Naofumi goes on fantasy adventures, the Justice League forms, and a Wave appears, and the Superheroes are fighting, but not a lot of them are doing any substantial damage to the waves of monsters, until a group of people come through the cracks in the sky, who seem to actually know how to fight these monsters, and make the Wave stop.
Cue dramatic reunion (and revelation of potential time-fuckery stuff if extra angst)
Other ideas:
Naofumi learning that his dad, Mr. "I work alone" Batman, now being part of and leading one of the biggest superhero groups in the world.
Naofumi learning that Jason's alive. And Bruce has even more kids.
- While they've all grown and gone through a lot of shit, Naofumi, at least at the start, still feels closer to Dick and Jason. Dick, because Naofumi's missed his big brother for a long time, and Jason, because they were close when they were younger, before everything went to shit (now they also bond over how angry they've both become, in general, while still caring.)
Naofumi introducing his kids to the rest of the Batfam:
- Bruce almost passes out
- Alfred is happy baking
- The longer it goes on the more confusing it gets.
Naofumi: This is my youngest, Filo, she's six months old.
The batfam: That's an 8-year-old child?? With wings?
Naofumi: This is my other daughter, Raphtalia, she's 10.
The batfam: That's a grown woman?? With raccoon ears and tail?
Naofumi: I've got 27 more of them back at my village.
The batfam: ????
None of them think Naofumi has a literal village of children. Or even an actual village. They think he's exaggerating.
- He's not, as they will come to learn.
Naofumi accidentally upstaging his dad about who can take in the most kids.
- Bruce is now slightly appreciating that he's a billionaire; he's gonna need a lot of money to spoil all those grandchildren.
L'Arc and Therese potentially having to survive the batfamily shovel talks, even if they're slightly belated.
Do they understand all of shovel talks? No, they don't know what a gun or a batarang is.
Naofumi takes them to Wayne Manor/Tower to show him where he was raised and gained his first family. They think it's a nice place, and they can tell it has history, and they like the little signs of the people living there.
Then he takes them around Gotham to show them the city he was born and grew up in. They do not think it's as nice, Therese has almost lost four different pieces of jewellery in 10 minutes, which Naofumi stopped, and they're honestly kinda scared to be there, but it also explains so much about Naofumi in general.
Therese and Raven's first meeting turned awkward very quickly. Therese did, however, make friends with Starfire. L'Arc makes friends with Aquaman.
Raphtalia adores Wonder Woman. Filo thinks the Flash is really fun, and likes Hawkwoman and Hawkman. Rifana thinks Zatanna is really cool. Keel thinks Superman is awesome. Rishia quietly likes Martian Manhunter. Naofumi's favorite superhero is still his dad. His siblings almost start a family feud over who can get to most of Naofumi's children to have them as their favorite hero (a lot of them really like Beast Boy).
Also, the batkids doing experiments with Naofumi's invulnerability and so on, raising Bruce's stress levels tremendously.
Naofumi: Alright, hit me.
Any Justice League Member: ...Are you sure?
Naofumi: Did I fucking stutter?
Batman: *Actively trying not to pop a blood vessel from stress while also wanting to know the limits of one of his kid's powers.*
He gets thrown across state lines at some point, at high speeds and altitude, and just. Stands up, checks himself over, and says "This doesn't even warrant a low-level healing potion.".
The batkids treating the Shield Rules like a deal with the fae: If you can find a loophole, you fucking abuse it.
- They're treating the Shield Terms & Conditions like they're trying to speedrun or beta test a game: find each and every glitch
Naofumi: I just shot a gun at a wooden box and it didn't even go through both sides. We found the bullet inside the damn box.
Naofumi: However, if I wield a Lantern Ring, the Ring and the Shield start arguing and glitching, and if I time it right, I can actually throw a batarang and have it do damage.
Naofumi alone raising the general stress level of everyone around him, because while he's almost as invulnerable as Superman (which will increase as he levels up), his first family and those around them haven't seen it properly in action yet and/or aren't used to it.
So they're not mentally prepared for what they perceive to be a non-meta young man with magical powers bodily throw himself between them and any oncoming attacks, and then either not get affected, or get thrown back just to get up an walk it off.
Naofumi also becomes the de-facto storage for most missions/adventures he goes one. The Shield Storage is basically the upgraded, on-crack version of Batman's utility belt.
Someone's hungry? You can either get one of Naofumi's 53 different snacks or you can bribe him to make something. Someone's out of ammo? Naofumi's got a frankly ridiculous amount stored up. Need to blow something up? Naofumi's got a concerning about of explosives, both magical and not. Your costume got ripped? Naofumi got at least three copies of nearly everyone's costume, at least two other practical variations and a whole clothing store's worth of civilian clothing for everyone and every occasion.
At least twice, Naofumi quietly helped Poison Ivy commit ecoterrorism. Not many people can prove it, but they also don't want Naofumi's 30-something children fighting you to support their dad. Also, they'd probably steal the plant bombs and use them just to prove a point. They've inherited Naofumi's penchant for spite. (You thought people accusing Batman of raising a group of child soldiers was bad? Wait until those people hear about Naofumi.)
Every piece of magical bio-engineering Naofumi brings home to his world, or even does in that world, is an absolute delight to any scientific community (including the JL) who gets their hands on it. Also potions.
Most people have opinions on which Batkid is most like Bruce or Batman. Meanwhile, Naofumi's standing beside his dad during these fun debates very serious meetings, matching his dad with early stress-gray hairs at his temples, nursing a mug of coffee that honestly isn't even doing anything for him, the exact same tired-dad stance under their capes and same tired-brooding looks on their faces, with at least three people calling for their attention, at least one of which is because something or someone is on fire.
Some people genuinely wonder is Bruce was a teen dad, just because of how similar Naofumi is to him and Damian. It's almost scary how similar the three of them can be. (Naofumi and Damian bond over Naofumi introducing him to and teaching Damian how to take care of the animals/monsters in Naofumi's village.)
Random fun comments from the server:
Naofumi should be the Bruce Wayne of the Rising of the Shield Hero.
Naofumi 🤝Bruce:
Black hair ✔️
Rich ✔️
Broody ✔️
Grumpy ✔️
Not afraid to punch a bitch ✔️
Semi-reluctantly joins forces with others to fight for a shared cause ✔️
Adopts a lot of children ✔️
I'll accept it. If he wasn't fueled by spite and anger and deep down, love as well, he'd probably have grown his hair out, put it in a lose side ponytail, and ended up leaving his kids with two dead moms
A random idea: Naofumi came from a version of Japan where technology had reached an incredible level, including human reproduction. Childbirth is conducted artificially at all stages, starting from the artificial creation of a zygote to artificial gestation in an artificial womb (this also allowed people of all genders to have biologically related children, literally everyone regardless of anything; Naofumi has two biological fathers).
Because of this, the majority of the Japanese population is literally incapable of experiencing traditional sexual attraction. Quite simply, why would they? They were born without sex and live well without it. Some do not even know what sex is, simply because they have no need for it.
When Naofumi is accused, he literally does not understand what he is being accused of and does not even comprehend the words used to name his crime; he sincerely asks for an explanation.
Ohhh, interesting!
Also, to add to this: Naofumi, whose version of old-school technology is our current most modern tech, and who didn't really listen in history class, being so confused by the magical-medieval fantasy world he's now stuck in, that he starts using so many niche shields and small spells to make up for his former dependence on technology.
Naofumi, one random day: Wait shit, I should probably get someone to teach my kids about sex. Because that's relevant to them.
Naofumi also hears Motoyasu complaining about being nauseous and craving weird snacks, and Naofumi, who's recently been properly taught about natural pregnancies, assumes he might be pregnant. Motoyasu's not pregnant. He's just hungover.
Also, the "Childbirth is conducted artificially at all stages" part really reminds me of the start of the Superman (2013) movie where Kal-El is the first natural birth on Krypton in centuries, and every other creation of a child was artificial (because I'm currently trying to get through so much DC content, it's the current fixation), which reminds me that I'll, probably, as some point soon, share so DC Shield Hero AUs!
