You know how there's this headcanon, this au where the kids physically abuse Bruce? Incredibly delicious angsty ooc headcanon where they just hit him to the point where they eventually take it too far?
Well. I would like to imagine Jason to be the last one to raise his hand at him. Sure. Maybe Batman and Red Hood fought, violently, in the past. But Jason hitting Bruce? The son who came from an abusive household and found heaven in the arms of his father? No. Never.
Jason would have stopped it sooner if he had known. He would have. He would!! But he was never at the manor, and when he was, he would normally leave even before hell broke loose. So he thought the fights among them where normal. Hurtful, sure. He knows first hand how brutal Dick, Tim and Bruce can be with their words. He can imagine Damian and Steph being the same. Even Cass might be able to say something painful.
But a punch? C'mon. They're supposed to be the good guys. They would never... Right?
So imagine how it went when he came to join them on the debrief after an extenuating mission, where everyone was tired and on edge. The last thing he expected was Tim to swing his arm around. He didn't expect the sound of the gauntlet against Bruce's cheekbone. The way the skin broke. He froze. He expected Richard to say something.
Imagine his reaction when his older brother sighed and went to grab Tim's arm to check his hand. How Tim was still yelling at his dad. Who was cleaning his face wound. How the others kept going about their stuff. How everything kept moving while his dad was fucking bleeding from a wound caused by his FUCKING FAMILY-
He blacked out.
He only came back when his dad's voice reached him under his weight. He looked down from where he was covering Bruce, using his own body as a blanket. The noise around him slowly came back. Scream and curses. He looked behind him, at Tim covering his bloody nose behind Dick, who stood in a fighting position in front of the young man.
He slowly rose from his position when he felt Bruce hand softly push him away. "Did I- did I-" He could hear Tim's voice curse at him. The soft touch of Bruce's fingers on his forehead.
Bruce had to guide him out of the panic attack.
"What the fuck is your problem, dude?" He knew the voice belonged to Steph. But he couldn't look away from his brother's blood running to the floor.
"I hit him..." It was barely a whisper. A shaky confession.
Tim's scream muffled between his fingers "NO SHIT YOU ASSH-!!"
"I did the same shit they did to you..." He covered his face between his hands, he felt his father slowly rose to hug his shoulders. "I'm no better than them..."
Everyone kept quiet, digesting his words as he softly started to sob.
Imagine if post identity reveal, Bruce gets comfortable enough to take the cowl off whenever he's in company of those he's close to. Mainly the founders and a few others.
He's just there, updating the logs, or working on something with someone else. Imagine him completely focused, surrounded by the noise of those he considers friends and family. And he just- Just takes it off.
And he keeps working until he FINALLY notices the silence in the room. He turns around, and suddenly everybody is moving fast in every direction, busying themselves and making noise.
It. Happens. Everytime.
The JL just goes dumb as soon as his face is exposed. They just have to stop and stare.
The first time it happened, Bruce didn't notice. The second, he saw the pattern. By the third time, he did it to test his theory. Now he does it on purpose to mess with them. Or to quiet them, to make them work.
Whenever his coworkers are avoiding their paperwork, or he just wants to un occupy a room. He takes off the cowl. They will froze in place, and later scatter like rats after making eye contact with the Gothamite, focusing on their own work to avoid the greyish stare from the gorgeous man.
Dick, always the dramatic one, let the bowl hit the floor. Ceramic, milk and cereal spilling everywhere. Jason cringed, mourning his recently cleaned kitchen tiles.
"He's where, with whom?"
"What the fuck, Dickhead?!" He moved to clean, grabbing a paper towel and kneeling in front of the mess, but his brother's hands pushed him back, fingers painfully digging on his shoulders. "J'SUS! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YA?!"
"Where is Bruce, Jason?!"
"Man. Chill. He's with big blue. N'thing new? Why are you gettin' so prickly?"
"Jason. Listen to me. Who did he bring with them?"
"What?"
"Who's with them, right now?"
Dick looked at him straight to his eyes. Jason flinched, sudden worry filling his stomach.
He shook his head "Nobody" Dick make a sound close between a growl and a curse, releasing his shoulders and lifting himself up. Face on his hands. "Dick. Hey. Explain to me, would ya? What's happenin'?"
"Man. Fuck. Fuuuuuuck!!" Dick digged his phone out and dialed.
Jason rose up and followed behind him as Dick paced around, phone on his ear.
"Dick? Richard? Goldie? Please enlighten me here?"
Dick turned to face him and opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly turned around. "Tim! Code S! No- I don't know how?! Don't yell at me, boy, it's not my fault! I. Don't. Know!! You could also paid more atten- You know what? Just- yes. I'll leave that to you. Yes. Let's meet at yours"
Jason gaped. Dick stopped and turned to face him.
"Wha-?"
"I can't even get mad at you. We should have told you." He slid a hand across his face "It was dumb of us to think you knew better"
Ok, that's offensive "What the fuck?"
"This has been going on for years" Jason quickly followed him, as Dick put on his jacket and threw him his own to put on. "We always make sure one of us is next to them when they're together" He got out the door with his older brother, closing behind them and paying full attention to the story. "Clark is more in touch with his emotions, so we knew he would realize his feelings sooner or later, but B..." They hopped on Dick's car, Dick on the driver's seat, taking a moment to breathe. "Dad should never have enough time to confront his own feelings. They shouldn't have time to allow Clark to confess... Never!"
Jason slowly blinked at him. Trying to understand.
"I thought you would be happy if they-"
"Happy?!!" Dick whiplashed his head towards him. "HAPPY?! Of what? Supes stealing him from us more than he already does?"
"But you... Love Superman"
"I love SUPERMAN. On his own. The dude trying to court my dad? Nah. Nope. Never."
"...Man..."
"Why do you think I followed them around whenever they had to go do their 'world best's' shit?"
"Well, I thought you-"
"You thought bad, then. I was protecting him!!"
Jason closed his eyes, taking a deep, slow breath. He opened them, the car already moving forward.
"Now what, then?"
"Well... Now we do plan S"
"Which is...?"
"... We'll talk about it when we arrive there with Tim. He has everything on his place."
"Do I want to know-? No. You know what? Don't tell me. I'm in, anyway."
There was a sharp silence before Dick talked again.
"I'm glad to have you with us. To have you back on the team."
"The team?"
"You know... The 'protect dad from unsuitable suitors', team"
Jason wanted to refute. To say 'I'm no part of any dumbass team' To yell, 'fuck Batman!'. But he couldn't deny the feeling on his stomach. The possessive growl that only those who had been on the received end of Bruce's love and attention could understand. So instead, he mumbled "whatever" and laid his head against the window.
