Headcanon: Duke Pretends to Be a Morning Person
Okay, hear me out—Duke Thomas is not a morning person. At all. But he has somehow perfected the art of pretending to be one. Every single morning, while the rest of the Batfamily is still deep in their nightmares (or are trying to piece their broken lives back together with the smallest ounce of sanity), Duke is up, two cups of coffee deep and acting like he just loves the crack of dawn.
He'll sit at the breakfast table, overly chipper, the sunlight hitting his face just right, and start rambling about how great it is to "greet the day." He'll talk about the peaceful morning air or how the world is so full of possibilities—basically a walking ad for a coffee commercial. He has to be the enthusiastic one because if he isn’t, the awkwardness will consume him like a black hole.
The truth: Duke wakes up every single morning feeling like a truck hit him, then reversed and ran over him a few more times. His body is screaming at him, "Why are you even here right now?!" But instead of admitting that he's just trying to stay alive long enough to make it to noon without falling asleep mid-conversation, he forces himself to fake it 'til he makes it.
Duke’s secret truth: "Okay, I’m awake... I guess? But why are we having serious discussions before 11 a.m.? My brain is still on ‘please leave me alone’ mode. I should be in bed right now... But I’m the morning person, right? Totally love mornings. So, let’s talk about our plans for the day, even though I’m still on autopilot. Totally fine. Totally fine."
Even Alfred, who knows better than anyone how Duke feels about mornings, just gives him a knowing glance when he starts his morning pep talk. Duke’s just trying to survive the next few hours without collapsing from exhaustion, but the Batfamily doesn’t need to know that—he’s fine, totally fine.
