cato

The league at first was bored even before the presentation started, like ofc Batman, the epitome of being strict and square, will do a presentation, Why bother so much just to say you will be some random dude? Just being over dramatic

Except the first slide is a video of Brucie Wayne grinning on a ice figure at the club party the penguin made

Green Lantern: wtf why are you showing us prn?

Batman: it isn’t prn, it was in the news

GL: so you are saying that this dude only in boxers grinning a statue isn’t prn ?

Batman: yes

Flash: what does Brucie Wayne even have anything to do with your identity?

GL: who is he btw?

Batman: this is me

JL: …

The chaos was about to start with thousands of questions but was all shush with the famous bat glare

Batman then proceeds to explain the complexities of both mask and how does he use them and yada yada, all while using news articles and internet videos

The contrast is really something, for one side Batman all serious is explaining how he manage to fall and think all of his answers to sound air headed, careless and charming and how he tries to maintain the balance to not been seen as egocentric, too technical and boring but at the other side on the screen there’s a video of him roasting Batman and how weird it was that Gotham made up a myth of a emo furry

Like he can't understand rhetorical questions because its truth serum and like generally he just keeps thoughts to himself instead of speaking so he's just-

Hal: damn who died and put you in charge? Bruce: My parents ~ Oliver: okay, show of hands, who saw this coming? Bruce: *raises hand* ~ Barry: Bro I got fired and they wouldn't give me my last paycheck. Has that ever happened to you? Bruce: Me. The billionaire. The Wayne heir. Have I ever lost my job and not been given a paycheck? Barry:... Bruce: Do you want some cash? Barry: yes please. ~ Diana: I can't believe the humans would let this happen Bruce: I can. The species notorious for killing each other and having no respect for the natural world? who could have guessed that? Me. (Yes he answers his own rhetorical questions) ~ Clark: Did you just get stabbed? Bruce: The blade that just entered the side of my body- my flesh, natural human born- body? Do you define 'getting stabbed' as a blade entering my body? Because then Yes, Kal. I did just get stabbed.

I want Bruce to already know it’s Jason that night.

I want Bruce to still trust Jason enough that when his shoulder piece of the suit was damaged, he replaced it with non-bulletproof kevlar.

I want Bruce to get irreversible nerve damage through his entire arm, but specifically making him unable to grip his hand together properly.

It’s not his dominant hand, he’ll be fine, he tells himself. But he can’t grip the utensil properly when he’s eating breakfast the next morning. He dropped his phone when trying to catch it from falling off the table.

He lies. That arm is perfectly fine, never better actually. It’s just the shock damage.

Dick doesn’t question it, other than a wary glance at the bandage peaking out at the top of the shirt Bruce is wearing.

Tim looks to Alfred, wanting the man to confirm his words, looking for hints of deception. Is it another test he’s supposed to figure out. When Alfred doesn’t move, he trusts Bruce too.

They both find out when Bruce is found drawing schematics for suit improvements to negate the nerve damage. Tweaking the grapple to have a different handle that won’t slip, a different release mechanism than a trigger he’s not strong enough to pull.

He lies again when questioned if it’s permanent.

Of course not, he just needs some PT and rest.

It’ll be good as new.

When a full week later and it’s just gotten worse, they stop pretending.

When Jason offered his hand to a downed Bruce.

He didn’t expect the man to fall down again when he let his grip loosen.