#borrower!bruce

[unbreakabledawn]

A Bird in Hand 🕊️

[read on ao3]

Rating: T | 2.8k words, wip

DCU | Pairing: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

Summary: Bruce lives his life by three simple rules, as every borrower does:

Only take that which he needs, that the humans won’t notice missing.

Stay out of sight and notice, leave no trace behind.

And never, ever be Seen.

Bruce has never been good at following the rules.

For @superbateveryweek 2025, Day 3: Different worlds for different folks

“You okay?” Clark says, concern in his tone and a friendly smile on his face. Twice he’s saved Bruce’s life now, and he’s just as nonchalant as the first time. He rests his elbows on his knees, and Bruce sees one of his hands twitch as if he wants to reach out. Bruce gives him a nod, clearing his throat. “I’m fine. Thank you.” “You’re welcome. What are you doing out here?” A worried line appears between Clark's brows. “Borrowing,” Bruce says, matter-of-fact.

[the-gt-fairy]

Me: I should I actually think about my OCs

*makes another borrower AU instead*

this is expanding on that idea of a tiny Bruce and his human kids, but it's just Dick, Jason, and Babs at the moment

Kay so the idea is there's a borrower community in an apartment building, and Bruce (26) is a sort of protector for it. Keeping it safe from animals and traps and such. Babs (15) is his apprentice/sidekick because she won't take no for an answer

In this apartment building are two foster kids: Dick (13) and Jason (10). They're doing ok, just kinda vibing as brothers

Of course the borrowers and humans meet, they get attached to each other, and now Bruce has to keep his two giant kids and one not-giant not-his-kid from setting something on fire

[unbreakabledawn]

hi I just wanted you to know that your borrower Bruce and his borrower kids + human Clark idea has absolutely infected my brain in the best way possible <3 Bruce trying to be ultra-protective but none of his kids listen and keep sneaking out to see the cool human and his cool human stuff!!! Clark is, of course, always exceedingly gentle with them and Bruce begrudgingly begins to acknowledge that maybe he’s not such a bad human after all!! Please consider: the kids recognizing the pining for what it is before either Bruce or Clark do and trying to pull some parent trap-esque shenanigans to get them together!!

ahh wow i'm so excited that you like this silly little idea!! i think about borrower batfam often and it's high on my list of things i want to write but it's a long list and i am very slow 😭

Bruce is a fierce mother hen who keeps a close eye on his rabble of borrower kids, but he's trained them too well in the ways of borrowing and they frequently manage to slip away probably because he's busy trying to herd one of the other of his ten thousand kids. bruce why do you have so many kids.

they loveee sneaking out and exploring the apartment and competing about who can borrow the coolest item. the thing is they're so well-trained, they would never have been discovered if Clark wasn't Clark - maybe he moves just a little bit too fast into a room, maybe he catches the whisper of a tiny borrower voice, maybe he sees the patterns of tiny shoes left in the dust on a shelf. i think it takes a while before Bruce and the others realize they've been discovered - otherwise they would've moved immediately, as all borrowers do when they've been Seen. but when it happens, it's extremely apparent that Clark wants nothing more than to help them and get to know them, if they'll allow him. the kids fall for his charm pretty quickly, but Bruce takes a while to warm up to him. but yes Clark is so gentle and good with the kids and they all love him and that is pure catnip to Bruce hehe <3

omg you're a genius a parent trap plot would be sooo fun in this au. i'm imagining the kids stealing Bruce's stuff and leaving it where Clark can find it so either Clark has to return it to Bruce, or Bruce has to go looking for it himself and risks running into Clark. or Bruce going borrowing with his kids and one of them "accidentally" catching Clark's attention in some way by pretending to fall or dropping a tool. would love to workshop that into the plot, ty for the idea!!

they are little menaces, but they are Clark's and Bruce's menaces <3

[unbreakabledawn]

trick or treat :)

[send me an ask with trick or treat and i'll answer with something writing related!]

hello! <3 i confess these asks are just my excuse to put out more tiny bruce on the internet. i wrote this for my borrower au, although i'm not sure it'll make it into the actual fic. but it was fun to write <3

-

The climb itself is uneventful; Bruce has made it dozens of times. The hook latches onto the wood grain of the shelf and it takes Bruce only a few seconds to reach the shelf and haul his body over the edge of it. Then, Bruce looks up and realizes with a sigh that this isn’t going to be as easy as he’s accustomed to. 

Because apparently, the human has replaced her sugar bowl. This one is taller and wider, with a rim that curves outwards. It’s covered by a solid-looking bell-shaped lid, with a hole where a spoon sits. Bruce knows immediately he won’t be able to just lift the lid right off, like he could with the old one. Perfect. So much for an early night.

The new bowl is taller than Bruce, with the rim sitting at eye-height. There’s a box of crackers nearby that he pushes closer and then climbs on top of. From there, he can reach the lid, and it’s just as he feared. There’s no way he can lift it with his bare hands. Hm. But with some leverage…

He tests the weight of the spoon. It’s not the most wieldy thing, but it’s positioned in just the right way to be used as a lever, if Bruce can manage to apply his weight correctly. He doesn’t want to launch the lid away or slip off the spoon while he’s trying to lift it. 

“Need some help with that?”

Bruce startles, his grip on the spoon faltering. The weight starts to slip from his grasp and he scrambles to regain his hold, but it’s too heavy, and sends him reeling back a step. A step back, right off the box and the shelf, tumbling through the air to the floor below. 

His arms flail, looking for something to grab onto, but there’s nothing but the open air. A fall from this height won’t kill him, but it will for sure hurt as hell, and Bruce braces himself for a harsh landing—

A warm, soft surface settles beneath him, breaking his fall with effortless ease. The air stills around him. Bruce opens his eyes, uncurling from his prone position to stare at the fingers curled around him. Above, Clark looks down at him with worry.

[unbreakabledawn]

hello i am once again thinking of borrower!bruce, my beloved. one of my borrower hcs is that during winter they go into a light state of hibernation where they’re sleeping a lot more to conserve energy (brumation?). they don’t go outside cause snow & ice & cold can be very deadly to these little guys. anyway that brings me to the actual point of this post

clark bringing bruce to see the fortress of solitude, and it's the first time bruce is seeing winter up close. bruce is safe in clark’s big, warm hands, and can admire the beauty of the arctic without the danger of freezing to death - reaching out with his little hands to catch a snowflake in his palms. he's all bundled up in a sweater and a tiny hat that ma kent knitted for him and when the cold eventually starts to seep through the layers of wool, clark cups him close to his chest and flies them into the warmth of the fortress <3

[unbreakabledawn]

Heyy! I love your writing! Will you continue the story with borrower Bruce? 👀

thank you, i really appreciate it <3 and yes 100% absolutely!! i have a decent chunk written already but i'm a slow writer + i got a lot going on rn. ugh borrower!bruce my beloved. i went to my doc to see if there's a snippet i could share but i need to do sooo much editing before it's ready. here are some headcanons about this au instead:

Bruce moved into the Kent farmhouse with Alfred after his parents died. by this point, Clark's powers had already come in and while he was still struggling with mastering them, the initial shock of discovery had already passed for both Clark and his parents. and since borrowers avoid contact with humans at all costs, they had no way of knowing Clark's not actually a human

borrower!Bruce doesn't have a batsuit, but he does have a cape! his signature borrowing outfit is fittingly all black (made from borrowed scraps of fabric and discarded garments) and his cloak is made from a rat's fur

his other clothes are mainly wool and furs - since borrowers are so small, they struggle to keep warm. the bed in his nest is a pile of furs and wool and fleece, and also a piece of flannel from one of Clark's shirts (Clark is still looking for that damn shirt, it seems to have disappeared into thin air. strange.)

borrowing is hard and dangerous work. Bruce has calloused hands and numerous scars from his long borrowing career - not quite as scarred as main universe Bruce, but not far from it. climbing, falling, tousling with wildlife and dealing with a world that isn’t made for your size comes with many hazards and Bruce wears the proof on his skin

Bruce has many tools to aid in his borrowing trips. he has a glider that he can use to make a quick descent from a high place (like trees or the taller cupboards) though he prefers his grappling hook when he has to climb something. he engineered a portable lamp from the bulb of a christmas string light but he doesn't often have to use it since borrowers have excellent night vision

best part about the Kent house? Martha loves to bake. Bruce takes full advantage of that and frequently sneaks by the kitchen counter to borrow a piece of a cookie or muffin or coffee cake. when food's normally so difficult to come by, the calories are literally a life saver so thank you Martha <3

Clark had a pet gerbil as a kid. one day he came home to find that the door to its cage was open and the gerbil was nowhere to be found. poor Fuzzball (their cat) got all the blame :( (Bruce felt sorry for the gerbil and snuck into Clark's room to set it free from its cage. gerbil was very confused but made a run for it and enjoyed his freedom in the wilds of Kansas

[unbreakabledawn]

Feel free to ignore this but now you have me thinking about Clark having mini heart attacks whenever he hears any of borrower! Bruce's kids daring each other to do something dangerous, like the minute he hears anything about it he stops what he's doing and listens very carefully to make sure they're safe.

He has randomly just completely stopped talking during conversation to focus in on them and it rightfully weirds people out, but they don't know how to bring it up because Clark we'll just go back to talking once there done.

Best example- Jimmy was over talking with Clark about the pictures he had taken that day and which ones Clark wanted to use for his article, and will Clark was talking about the pros and cons of the two pictures he had been considering he just stopped. Man stared straight at his fridge for a solid 5 minutes, then went back to trying to pick a picture.

Clark later when he was home alone put duct tape on the ice maker in his fridge so certain little guys would stop climbing into it for ice, the batkids where so mad about this.

i love this so much... you're so right, Bruce's borrower kids would be absolute fucking menaces. the most highly trained group of borrowers in the world vs man with super senses. i imagine them pulling insane shit on purpose just to fuck with Clark LOL

ok sorry to steal your very excellent idea - now i'm imagining Jimmy mid-convo with Clark going over to the fridge to get some ice and when he presses the glass against the dispenser, Jason comes tumbling out with the ice and Clark has to fumblingly and very obviously distract Jimmy saying something about the ice dispenser being broken and that he'll take Jimmy's glass so he can fish Jason out of the glass before Jimmy sees him 😭

meanwhile Bruce is chilling in his workshop. there's a knock against the floorboards above him and then the loose plank shifts open and a large hand lowers down into their borrower house carrying a tiny Jason by the scruff of his cloak :')

Clark: "hey Bruce you lost this"

Bruce: "thank you. put him with the others"

the hand moves over to plop Jason in the time-out pile with the other kids who have spent the entire day tormenting Clark with mischievous borrowing adventures and who are now banned from borrowing for the rest of the week. 😔

(i have borrower withdrawals can you tell)

[unbreakabledawn]

hii. uhhh little tiny bruce on a borrowing trip exploring a random apartment’s potted plants and being charmed by the handwritten labels and how carefully the plants are looked after under their grow light (it is clarks apartment)

hi i love u. this made my day. borrower bruce my absolute beloved, the great joy in my life. this is so cute - bruce would be sooo careful on his first borrowing in clark’s apartment, exploring this strange new place. but fortunately the inhabitant is often not at home and the apartment is ripe with things to borrow. bruce especially likes picking the fresh herbs clark grows in his kitchen <3 and over time as bruce return for more and more borrowing trips, there’s sometimes small things left in curious areas - paperclips, matches, spools of thread. almost as if they’re left there for him….