I love Neglected Reader Aus as much as the next person. However, we're missing out on a big opportunity to further expand on this au
Listen, we know the Batfamily/the Waynes can be deeply dysfunctional, full of chaos and trauma. And naturally, a reader who's just a civilian compared to them and hasn't gone through the same shit as them is prone to be neglected. Not necessarily because the Batfam doesn't love them, but because having any sort of normalcy in a life like theirs is way too hard so they're absent often and fail to be there (I know the Neglected Reader fanfics have many variants and interpretations for this and I LOVE them all qlwjwb but if we stick a tiny bit to canon I doubt any of them would outright hate/be indifferent a Reader simply for being civilian or the "normal one" or just for no reason at all. It's fun to read, however, if the Reader has been around the family since their childhood and recognised as Bruce's child since the beginning, there's no way she's disliked. Not even by Damian...once he gets his character development naturally)
I think the neglect hits better and harder when it comes out of a place of love that's just not enough to fill the gaps. The Batfam cares about her, and she cares back, but there's always something bigger going on. Gotham needs them. The world needs them. And since they're all crime fighters EXCEPT Reader, she's the one who gets left behind and has to deal with cancelled plans, absence, loneliness and the crippling guilt of feeling this way because she's been told it's selfish. She should be proud of her family, of their sacrifice, of all the good they do. What right does she have to complain about feeling abandoned when they're out there every day saving people and risking their lives while she stays safe? Hell, they're fighting to protect her as well. And they try to make up for it. They really try. Hanging out with her, bringing gifts, asking her about her life whenever they can...but they're stretched thin and Reader still feels left out because she can't be part of the bond the Batfam share as whole. All crime fighters, all involved in the same cause, all trained under Batman and going through the same shit for years, together. There are too many stories she doesn't know, and probably will never because they want to keep her out of it "for her sake". She can't fully connect to them in most aspects. She's a spectator of her own family's bond.
And again, it's not for lack of love. Totally the opposite. It's just in this case, love isn't enough.
Now this is while talking about the Batfamily. But actually, these guys aren't even the mosr dysfunctional family of DC. You know who really has the title? The Arrowfamily. Now these guys are canonically a mess and dysfunctional in all ways. Even more than the Batfamily. If you think Batsis has a bad time with neglect, you don't want to know what Arrowsis goes through. It's worse.
There's also the Superfamily, the Flashfamily, the Amazons (because yes I also have ideas for them too), the Lanterns. Shit, even the Aquafamily at this point. And the Justice League has more members that could be used for this theme..
Imagine a group of kids from each of these families, all of them neglected but in different flavours, and becoming friends/comfort group because there's no one else in the world that can relate to the problems they have, to what they feel and why. Their situations are pretty damn unique and only can rely on each other to understand.
In my head it goes like this:
Batsis (obviously), Arrowsis, Wonderboy, Flashsis, Supersis, Green Lanterns' brats, Atom's son and Aquagirl. While their backstories are very different, at their core it's the same issue: They're all extremely ordinary children from extraordinary families, who have grown up as part of a legacy they can't actually be part of. Neglected by accident, lonely and unable to actually complain about their feelings because they have no right. Their parents and siblings are heroes. Symbols of justice and goodwill. They carry the fate of humanity and even the galaxy on their shoulders. They can't ask them for more. It's not fair. They should be grateful for whatever they can get.
But it hurts so much
