post brudick stress disorder

i think if you're a robin at some point in your life there will always be a chunk in you that soft for bruce and batman bcs being robin simply comes with that. because dick made it to be like that. if you ever don the robin's cape you will always find a way in yourself to offer grace and compassion to bruce no matter how fraught your relationship might be with him because loving bruce and batman is so baked into robin's fundamental core. because long ago dick shaped it just exactly like that.

and it's so insane because even if you are robin and does love bruce you will always pale in comparison bcs it's always been dick's to begin with (dick is not even robin anymore but look who keep defending bruce and continuosly having unwavering trust for him at that time)

dick made it clear that he cant be batman and never want to. that he and bruce are very different ppl. he doesn't want to be like bruce and yet never once he treated bruce/batman as something repulsive bcs of it to the point dick feel the need to separate and fully estrange himself from him. 

if anything dick admitted that bruce has always been a part of dick and he looks up to him so much nightwing consciously become everything bruce and batman's stand for.

in nightwing 2016, dick said he became nightwing for his parents and bruce bcs he owe it all to them and even stated that his symbol is brand extension of batman.

throughout nightwing 1996 you will always find dick mentioning bruce/batman and how often dick unabashedly applying and manipulating his teaching and methods to suit his own situations.

he learned from bruce, took that knowledge, and created something that belonged to him. dick took the best parts of the bruce/batman and leave the worst parts behind then he formed it all into something that’s uniquely his.

dick acknowledged that he and bruce are two different people. bruce has always been agreed to this even went as far as admitting dick is the better person between them both. dick can't and won't lives in the same way bruce lives, stuck in the same place and not able to move forward. to trust freely.

BUT it's important to know that aside from dick's parents, bruce, for all his many shortcomings is also the reason why dick had the confidence to just leap in. as much as bruce was saved by dick, dick was also saved by bruce. dick knows this deep in his heart and in fact never shying away to remind bruce of this.

ppl always acts like dick's "im not you" is presented towards bruce with vitriol and disgust, completely disregarding the fact that for every "im not you" coming from dick's mouth it's always followed by "bcs i had you, bruce", a sincere simple gesture of dick's gratitude recognition as well as devotion to bruce.

thinking that dick bore this sense of superiority and hatred bcs how "revolting" and "inconvenience" bruce is as individual is such a flawed reading when in reality dick is one of very few ppl that consistently showing bruce grace and compassion. the love trust and devotion to bruce is just so baked into dick's character to the point there's should never be a narrative that questioning his stance on this matter.

nightwing and dick's overall sense of self of was never meant to be his derogatory rejectmen to bruce and batman. i think it's very important to comprehend that nightwing is not only the tool for dick to finally find himself outside batman and robin but also a means and another chance for him to connect and stand beside bruce and batman as his own person with stronger more solid foundation.

this is exactly why bruce and dick's relationship is something that others cannot ever replicate bcs not only it was built by their exact mirrored trauma but also bcs bruce and dick just get each other so much. out of everyone in batfamily, dick is the only one that actually accepts and understand bruce to an intimate degree. both of them are extremely dedicated to the same cause (bruce with batman and dick with robin AND nightwing) like no others because there's a recognition on their shared trauma and personal issues that they then saved each other from.