Since @freckledandspectacled asked and I figured I might as well, I’m gonna do a short explanation of...basically what home life is like for some of the Rogue kids. This is essentially a summary of how a few the rogues do parenting in this verse so, as a disclaimer: the operative words are “this verse”. I’m glad you think some rogues would be better parents than I do, but that, very frankly, is not something you need to harp on me about.
As a further note, certain homes will not be listed because there’s not much for me to say, but keep in mind there are some trigger warnings to keep in mind because these are children of Gotham Rogues.
Tobias Bloom
Tobi is adopted, Mr. Bloom wanted a child but figured it would be a lot better to adopt than to have his own. When he was giving that thought, he actually asked to see children with a lower chance of being adopted. Tobi was small, at the time sickly, already three, and a metahuman, foster care did not think it was likely that Tobi would be adopted anytime soon and he’d eventually just age out of the system. Mr. Bloom took one look at Tobi and immediately knew he wanted to take care of him.
Bloom is a decent father. By the time he adopted Tobi he’d quit any overt criminal activity, but works as a partner for LexCorp, meaning he’s frequently busy. To top things off he’s rather scatter-brained and will often forget small things. Tobi, as a result, tends to be the one who remembers important things, and their apartment is covered in sticky notes so if Bloom remembers something, he can write it down on a sticky note and put it on the fridge. Their house is relatively clean and organized because if it isn’t, Bloom can’t find anything. It also has a lot of houseplants, Tobi likes his houseplants.
Dorothy and Pluto Crane
Dorothy and Pluto are generally occupying two worlds. Being Diana’s children, they are technically royalty of Themiscyra and Diana is still part of the Justice League. Dorothy is the same age as Damien Wayne and Pluto is between Damien and Jon Kent in age. They’ve grown up with those two about the same amount that they’ve grown up with Rogue kids.
As for Jon and Diana, they’re...good parents. Jon is still a human trainwreck but he’s a lot better at making sure his kids get food and are taken care of than making sure he’s fed and healthy. He also tends to forget to watch his language around the kids when they’re younger. Diana is significantly better at balancing self-care and childcare, but still has some minor trouble with raising children because there weren’t any other children on Themiscyra. The entire family spends at least a month every summer in Themiscyra, if not longer, and while there Jon and Diana get help from the rest of the Amazons.
Dorothy is painfully aware of the kind of space she occupies between hero’s daughter and rogue kid. She has been told by Damien that she is not one of the rogue kids, and while the rogue kids don’t feel the same way, there is a lingering insecurity in her that she doesn’t belong.
Pluto doesn’t feel this alienation, but instead feels alienated by the other Amazons. Save for his father he is the only man considered part of Amazon society, and even then, Jon is still considered an outsider, Pluto is supposed to be at least half Amazon, but he doesn’t feel like he belongs, he feels like an outsider, and doesn’t like that feeling.
Ezekiel Dent
Here is where we get into very uncomfortable territory. I do not know who Zeke’s mom is, but she is no longer in the picture. Harvey is raising Zeke alone, which understandably has some problems. Not that Harvey himself is an awful parent, he can be rather harsh with Zeke sometimes because he’s scared Zeke will turn out like him, but he does genuinely care about Zeke.
The problem is Harvey’s alter, who I’ll call Harv to distinguish. Harv, needless to say, is fucking awful and should not be allowed near a child. Harvey can’t control when Harv surfaces, so Zeke is constantly walking on eggshells around his dad, hoping he doesn’t switch while he’s still in the house/room/general area. Harv beats Zeke regularly for minor slip ups, accidents, or just because. Zeke regularly skips meals out of stress and is extremely thin and nervous as a result. Harvey blames himself for Zeke’s poor mental and physical health, and is horrified if he sees bruises on Zeke after he dissociates (which can sometimes make him dissociate again it depends). He doesn’t want to part with Zeke because he doesn’t want to lose the only family he has left, but at the same time regularly considers giving him up to either foster care or asking Bruce to take him just so his son isn’t in danger.
Evangeline Fries
Eva lives with Nora and her second husband, not Victor, but Victor is aware of her existence and has visitation rights. He’s allowed to see her even if he doesn’t have custody. Nora loves her daughter with all her heart but her second husband is a little wary of her, both because of her powers and because he knows she’s Victor’s daughter. Given the chance he probably would kick Eva out but Nora would never allow it and he’d have to contend with Victor if she would.
Eva is aware of her stepfather’s wariness and dislike, but makes the most of her life with Nora. Nora herself is a great mom because come on it’s Nora, and Victor is...loving but distant. He basically only sees her every once in a while. It’s his choice but y’know, still.
Hunter and Ayah Jones
Hunter and Ayah were raised by their father, Waylon, their mother died soon after Ayah was born. Hunter and Ayah also have the same condition as Waylon, but to a lesser degree. They have the reptilian eyes, the sharp teeth, but instead of full-body scales, Hunter and Ayah have slight scale growths on their bodies that didn’t show up until puberty. Waylon feels extremely guilty about this and is very protective of his kids, perhaps a little overprotective.
Ayah and Hunter live in an apartment that Waylon pays rent for so they don’t have to live in the sewers, but he is still living in the sewers. He takes care of them, but doesn’t feel like he deserves to live with them.
Aisling, Maxwell, and Niall Machin
So this is more uncomfortable town because Lonnie literally got Aisling, Max, and Niall removed from his custody. Because he’s a shit parent and treated two of them like garbage.
Now Aisling, Max, and Niall all have different mothers, but all three were left with Lonnie as toddlers. Lonnie was kind of blasé about Aisling, he borderline neglected her and she ended up growing up way faster than she should have, something that became even worse when Max came into the picture.
Lonnie does not like Max. Right now. I’m not sure why but Lonnie hates Max and was determined to make him absolutely miserable. Max had an extremely small room (think the broom cupboard from Harry Potter small, in fact he probably lived in a broom cupboard) that locked from the outside. Max could not lock himself in his room for privacy, but Lonnie could lock Max in for however long he wanted and enter whenever he wanted. Essentially Max was confined to a small space and had no privacy. To make things worse, Lonnie beat him if he disobeyed or did anything Lonnie deemed “disobedient”. Max skipping meals out of stress was disobedient, for instance, which probably wasn’t helped by Max refusing to obey ridiculous demands and snapping at Lonnie.
And then there was Niall. Basically, Lonnie’s precious baby who can do no wrong. He spoiled Niall rotten, never punished him for doing anything wrong, never told him no, but Niall wasn’t grateful. He wasn’t ungrateful because he was a brat; he was ungrateful because he saw the huge disparity between Lonnie doting on him, neglecting Aisling, and abusing Max, and he knew it was wrong. Niall was the one to tell the police what was happening and get the three of them away from Lonnie. Max and Aisling have no idea that it was Niall that took them from Lonnie, Niall never told them, and he doesn’t plan to. He doesn’t want either of them to know that he remembers vividly how Lonnie treated Max and Aisling.
Now they live with Abigail Curtis, her twin brother Jasper, and Jasper’s boyfriend Basir. Aisling tends to still act as a mother to her younger brothers, and she and Niall are happy to see Max happier in the Curtis household. I’m not sure how Lonnie responded to losing his kids, but considering he didn’t really care about Aisling or Max, he probably is only upset about losing Niall. Abigail, Jasper, and Basir do a much better job raising the Machin siblings.
Andrea Monroe
So Andrea’s home life is relatively happy and she and her mother are on very good terms, but there’s something that I want to bring up that is important: Andrea’s hair.
Andrea’s hair is not naturally blonde like, say, Sarah or Barbara’s. Andrea’s hair is naturally brown like her mother’s. Andrea dyed her hair blonde because she noticed that every time someone told her she looked like her mother, her mother would look upset, because Paige does not find herself beautiful but does think her daughter is beautiful. So, Andrea dyed her hair blonde so people would stop telling her she looked like her mom. This is a running part of Andrea’s personality. Because her mother is often melancholy or morose, Andrea forced a sunny disposition because she felt that if she was happy, her mother would be happy.
Barbara and Todd Quinzel
To make a very complex issue simple, Todd nearly died when he was born. The birth went fine and everything but Todd was barely breathing when he was born and extremely frail. He was rushed to NICU and one doctor, a poor soul who was nearly killed, had to go over to Joker and tell him his son might die and that he was weak. Todd survived, but Joker was internally reliving losing Jeannie and his unborn child and nearly had a nervous breakdown. He also nearly killed a man so, you know. Nevertheless, Joker, from that point on, was extremely protective of Todd. He lets the reigns up slightly but will regularly get very upset if Todd does anything dangerous. It doesn’t help that doctors attributed Todd’s albinism, asthma, and hypotonia to possibly being Joker’s fault (the theory goes that the chemical bath Joker underwent damaged his biology so it was very likely that the conditions Todd suffers from are a result).
Barbara is the princess of the family at times. She’s pretty, can easily match her parent’s energy, and clever. Not that Todd isn’t any of those things, but Barbara is louder so it’s a little more noticeable to other people.
Harley can tend towards being a bit distant with Todd and Barbara. When she is around she takes care of them and loves them but if Joker and Harley have a fight, Harley will leave for a few days and either come back because she’s over the fight or because Joker ended up in Arkham and the kids need a parent.
Leon Sanchez
So considering Leo is the way he is I think it’s a given he does not have a great home life. Bane’s still an active villain and for a good portion of Leo’s early childhood, he was being looked after by either Zsasz, which is the #1 worst choice for a godfather ever made GG Bane, or Bane’s men, most of which took decent care of Leo but were occasionally not exactly nice to him. He was never hurt by any of them or at least, the ones that did didn’t live long afterwards, but generally Leo was a kid in a place kids didn’t belong and Bane’s men were sure to let Leo know. Bane didn’t call Leo anything besides Leo for a long time, and Leo picked up the habit from his men of calling Bane “jefe”.
This kind of mildly uncomfortable and strained relationship was not the kind of relationship Bane wanted to have with his son, and when Leo was twelve, he started calling Leo “mijo” in hopes that Leo would pick up on the action and return the gesture. It took Leo time to transition from “jefe” to “papa”, as in two years, but of all the problems in Leo’s home life, his relationship with his father is a lot better than it was when Leo was small. The other problems, like Bane’s men being a lot more aggressive toward Leo as he got older because they realized Bane may rise to defend an eight-year-old, but he isn’t going to defend a thirteen-year-old, and Leo literally living in a drug den, aren’t so easily solved.
Gwendolyn Tetch
So Gwen does not live with Jervis, she lives with Barbara Gordon, and this is because when she was born, her mother didn’t want to keep her and Jervis was to mentally unstable to care for a child. Jervis is aware of Gwen and even got to name her, but Barbara Gordon has custody of Gwen, not Jervis. Gwen is aware of why she cannot live with Jervis but is extremely upset about the fact that her mother didn’t want her. Barbara does what she can, but doesn’t feel like she’s an adequate substitute for Gwen’s real mother.
Marcus Wesker
I’ve talked about Marcus a bit before but I want to go over it again. So, when Marcus was about four or five, his parents left him with Arnold Wesker, his grandfather, effectively abandoning him. Marcus was old enough to remember it, and still has abandonment issues as a result. To make matters worse, while Arnold was, passable as a caretaker and Marcus liked him fine, Scarface is a different story.
Scarface verbally abused Marcus regularly, shouting, swearing, insulting, and threatening him. If that personality had the ability, he probably would’ve gotten physical too; he certainly threatened it a number of times. As a small child, Marcus couldn’t make the distinction that Scarface was just an alter and was not actually alive. He is now utterly terrified of all ventriloquist dummies. He still lives with Arnold, and while he’s tried finding his parents or talking to them, he’s never been able to track where they went and has no idea why they left him.
Hunter was running his hands through Leo’s hair. Leo was doing his best to ignore it and sleep, but it wasn’t working. Leo shifted his head to look at Hunter, who was smiling down at him with his usual gentleness.
“I’m trying to sleep,” Leo commented.
“Stay up a little longer sugar,” Hunter smiled, “it’s a little lonely without you.”
Leo scoffed, “I’m sure, mi amado.”
Hunter shifted and pulled the sheets up to cover their hips. Leo flipped onto his stomach and rested his arms on Hunter’s chest. Hunter feigned irritation at Leo’s sly grin.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“Relájate, it isn’t that bad.”
“I know that look.”
“I have nothing but pure intentions.”
“Leo there is nothing about you that can be deemed pure.”
“I have you,” Leo noted, “mi cielo.”
Hunter let out a slow sigh and sat up, forcing Leo to sit up too.
“You’re too good for me,” he commented.
“You always say that,” Leo leaned one hand beside Hunter’s hip and pecked him on the cheek, “but whether I am or not, I’m here.”
Hunter nodded, but still looked a little downcast.
“Hey Hunter,” Leo grinned.
“Hm?” Hunter raised an eyebrow, then yelped and jumped as Leo pinched the side of his waist. Leo burst out laughing.
“Oh we’re doing that now are we?” Hunter grabbed Leo around his waist and fell backwards, blowing a raspberry into Leo’s neck and making his squeal with laughter. Leo could feel tears running down his face from laughing so hard. He was gasping for breath between peals of laughter, and he could hear Hunter’s deep voice joining the cacophony after a few seconds.
Hunter finally let go of Leo and Leo rolled onto the bed, still fighting off the remaining giggles of their little playfight. He loved spending the night at Hunter’s. Ayah didn’t bother them and there was no lingering smell of burning drugs in any of the rooms. Hunter was gentle person, despite his size and stature, nothing like the members of his father’s cartel or the burly addicts that ambled in and out of his father’s drug den day and night. The house was quiet, the company fantastic, and the whole place it was just-quiet.
Leo liked quiet. He liked the stillness of it. The lack of a cacophony of shouts and sneers and ill-intended swears.
“Hey,” Leo turned to Hunter, “ever think we should try to bring Glimmer Pye out on some of those Rogue kid excursions? I mean, Todd wants us to bring Teddy all the time.”
“Glimmer’s not much for socializing,” Hunter shrugged, “but if you think she’d want to go, sure, why not?”
“You’re so helpful,” Leo remarked.
“You try too hard to help everyone,” Hunter smiled, “not everyone is going to want your help.”
“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t give my help.”
“Not everyone will appreciate it, that’s all I’m saying.”
“That shouldn’t matter.”
Hunter nodded, “You’re right,” he smiled, “get some sleep sugar.”
So @the-mighty-sorceress made a point about Leo and I kinda like it so I might keep it.
Not many people outside the rogue kids know who Leo is. Most of the other rogue kids people at least know exist, but Leo is like, the cryptid of rogue kids. And even people outside the rogue kids who have met Leo don’t know he’s Bane’s son because no one knows what Bane looks like. Plus people who know Leo is Bane’s son have either never seen him or he blends with the kids of Bane’s henchmen, again, because no one knows what Bane actually looks like and they don’t wanna assume it’s any particular henchman’s kid because all they really know is that Bane’s kid is probably Latina and probably tall.
So basically if you know who Leo is, who his dad is, and what he looks like, you’re really fucking lucky or a rogue kid.
And Leo doesn’t tell you. Leo just stands there, grinning. He knows you’re frustrated. He thinks it’s funny.
A sequel to @the-mighty-sorceress‘s drabble Self-Care. Sorry for any crappy Spanish I barely speak it but wanted to keep Leo bilingual.
Leo was used to bumps and bruises, on others and himself. Walking out of the house with a black eye or a busted lip was normal when half your life was breaking up fights or getting belted for mouthing off. This girl was no exception, but nevertheless, Leo wanted to know more about her. And hey, first rule of his father’s cartel was to have a friend’s back, right? He’d seen her with a black eye, they were basically friends.
“¡Oye!” Leo raised his voice to catch the girl’s attention from across the street, she kept walking, in fact she seemed to be walking faster, “Wait!” Leo clicked his teeth, “¡Chale!”
Leo darted across the street, hopping over a rather nice black car, and landed on the sidewalk in front of her.
“Hello,” Leo gave a cheery wave, “Glimmer, si?”
Glimmer nodded, “Hello...” she furrowed her brow, as if she’d forgotten his name.
“Leo, remember?” Leo flashed a smile, “How’s that shiner? Any better?”
“Yeah,” Glimmer nodded, “it’s fine, you were right it was nothing big.”
There was a long pause before the girl spoke again.
“Did you need something?”
“Not particularly, I just wanted to talk,” Leo shrugged, “you’re so quiet.”
Glimmer didn’t seem all that put off by the comment, but nodded, “I have to get home.”
“I’ll walk you there,” Leo offered.
“It’s fine,” Glimmer insisted. Leo scoffed.
“You’re pretty determined to do everything yourself,” he remarked.
“I’ve managed so far.”
“But do you like it? Are you happy?”
Glimmer paused, but shrugged, “I’m used to it, it’s fine.”
Leo tilted his head to the side, then raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “I’m walking you home.”
“It’s fine really,” Glimmer insisted.
“You know,” Leo stepped aside and gestured for Glimmer to keep walking, “when Hunter says ‘it’s fine’, he’s usually lying and trying to keep me from getting worried.”
Glimmer stole a brief glance towards Leo before continuing on her way, seemingly having given up on convincing Leo to leave her alone, “Hunter?”
“My boyfriend,” Leo nodded, “the one with dreads.”
“And scales?” Glimmer guessed, “Isn’t he Killer Croc’s son?”
“Si,” Leo nodded, “he’s sweet. Mi papá isn’t too keen on him but he’s not about to yell at me.” Glimmer looked confused for a second, and Leo quickly added, “Because you’re friends with Ellie you get to know: Mi papá is Bane.”
Glimmer looked surprised for a moment and Leo burst out laughing.
“Oh come on, he’s not that scary,” Leo promised, “he’s a good father, even if he’s not exactly...what’s the word...” Leo clicked his teeth, “chale...uhhhhhh...you know, responsable...responsible!”
Glimmer smiled slightly.
“See? My inability to speak English properly is funny to everyone,” Leo said proudly, puffing out his chest, “actually it’s pretty pathetic that I forgot the word responsible considering how similar it is in Spanish. Anyway, so, why do you do everything yourself? I know why I do, and why Max does, but you...you don’t come in with bruises as often as either of us. Your mother, Magpie, does she do anything particularly...I don’t know, mean? Besides attack you out of the blue.”
“She doesn’t really pay me much mind at all really,” Glimmer replied, “I’m another pretty trinket, to be owned, but ignored.”
“Ah,” Leo nodded, “the best kind of parent.”
Glimmer looked uncomfortable, and Leo continued quickly, “Look, most of us have our fair share of problems.”
“Max’s dad assaults him in broad daylight,” Glimmer shrugged, “my problems are pathetic compared to that.”
“Lonnie should never have been allowed near Max,” Leo shrugged, “You know some of us feel the same way when looking at Max or Zeke. Our parents may not be the best but at least they don’t beat us, right? Except that’s not true. Lonnie never beat Aisling, but she grew up so much faster than she should have. She’s practically a mother to Max and Niall. You, you’re a lot like Aisling.”
“Think so?” Glimmer glanced at Leo.
“Mmhm,” Leo nodded, “so headstrong, determined to do everything herself and not let anyone help her. You even have similar haircuts,” Leo gestured to Glimmer’s short hair, “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I am saying that it’s still a life, and I may not be able to tell Aisling she needs to lean on people sometimes-Aisling’s older than me, she won’t listen-but I can tell you, and I can get you to listen. I like you Glimmer, you seem nice, distant, but nice. Ellie seems to like you and god you’ve even gotten Max to lighten up a little. That’s like, one of the trumpets of the apocalypse or something. Long and drawn out point is: something along the lines of me wanting to be your friend, something. I don’t know much about you, but I’m willing to learn, and I’m willing to help.”
Glimmer stood there in stunned silence for a few seconds before nodding and stuttering out an “Okay.”
Leo smiled, gave Glimmer a quick hug and kept walking.
“Not far now is it?”
Glimmer looked even more stunned than before, but managed to nod and continue walking alongside him. Leo smiled.
