Spookypaws

There is no way that someone at Haly's Circus wasn't there keeping an eye on him while he grew up. A future weapon needs to be trained and monitored after all, and a circus, a place where weird skills are completely normal, is actually a great place to secretly train a child.

You know, just some knife tricks that translated really well into actual fighting. How to get out of restraints and pick locks while under a time limit. Death defying acrobatic stunts that coincidentally do wonders for parkouring. That sort of thing. Nothing that seems out of place for a boy growing up around circus performers to learn, but would literally any where else.

I mean, while I fully believe that most kids would want to kill the man responsible for their parents deaths, Dick was weirdly prepared to go through it. He tracked down Zucco with way more ease than any normal child should have too. He became the first child vigilante, for goodness sake. The first Robin! He only started getting formal training after he basically forced Bruce into it!

Bruce himself has no idea that this kind of competency in a child is unusual, considering he was much too blinded by the similarities between his and Dick's tragic orphanhoods.

Alfred is in a similar boat because he’s desensitized to weird children after he somehow managed to successfully raise Bruce 'The Batman' Wayne, so he doesn't clock the hyper-competency as abnormal either.

By the time the other batkids start popping up (Jason 'The Audacity' Todd, borderline-street rat with no fear) (Tim 'the greatest stalker in Gotham history' Drake, child genius, also bullied his way into becoming Robin) (Barbara 'raised by the only uncorrupt cop in gotham' Gordon) (Stephanie 'daddy issues and spite' Brown) (Duke 'Pretends he's the normal one and people believe him' Thomas) it's too late.

It would also explain how Dick got along so well with Damian out of all of them. Similar childhood with different approaches and all that. On some subconscious level, Dick recognises and resonates with the murderous ten year old assassin with strong familial ties to a secret elite assassin organization.

wdym you can't tell if he's threatening them?

Based on this post by @mysterycitrus :)

<- Prev Masterlist Next ->

Bonus:

Batman wants to keep his family safe but also realizes that his baby boy is a grown man and can make his own decisions, even if this baby gives him a heart attack.

Nightwing is strong, smart, and levelheaded in battle. He’s got a good personality that many heroes, young and old, admire greatly. It would be a great disservice to the the hero world.

So Nightwing joins the Justice Leauge.

Boom, immediately everyone feels like something is wrong. Nightwing is a legend of his own in the superhero community, just like Batman. Obviously, the League figured the only two unpowered humans in the team would get along, but this is too much

Nightwing is constantly on him. Hanging off his shoulders, playing with his fingers, draped over his lap, flipping off his shoulders??? Doing a whole acrobatic routine based on Batman’s body??? It’s strange and off putting.

Batman pretends like it’s not even happening, like he’s completely used to it.

He calls him nicknames, mocks his voice and his serious attitude, argues with him. It’s like the League has been dumped in an alternate dimension. (They’ve checked, but no… still the same dimension)

Now, something hero’s are painfully aware of is that Batman can be kinda territorial about his food. He doesn’t do jokes about trying to steal his food. He leveled Hal with such a flat stare that the man actually apologized and stayed silent for an entire lunch period

And Nightwing has grown close enough to all the main League members that he’s invited to sit at their ‘table’ for lunch. Another reason they’re suspicious of Nightwing, he voluntarily sits by Batman

Nightwing has his own food and finishes it in record speed (obvi not counting Flash) but then… he starts picking at Batman’s…?

Batman doesn’t even blink or slap his hand away. Then Nightwing opens his mouth like a baby bird waiting to be fed and… Batman feeds him??? He cuts off the best part of his steak and just pops it into Nightwing’s mouth.

Why are they both acting like this is complete normal???

Nightwing is stealing his lunches, taking snack out of his utility belt (which is just wow cause why does Batman carry so many snacks??), taking sips of his drinks or just stealing the whole thing for himself

It’s absolutely crazy

And on rare occasions, when Nightwing is eating something he doesn’t like or can’t finish, he just pushes over to Batman. And he eats it!!

Charlie: Some people are on their 47th...

Vaggie: Did you sleep at all?

Lucifer: “Hmm?…oh yes, your little bellhop was starting to get fussy so I sent him away to his room.”

*loud banging noises can be heard*

Vaggie: “The hell is that?”

Lucifer: “That would be him, he’s been trying to get out of his room for the past hour”

Charlie: “I can’t believe this”

Lucifer: “I know it’s shocking and I just want to say, that the process leading up to it. Was completely yours and Alastor’s fault”

Charlie: “what?!”

Alastor: “Excuse me?!”

Lucifer: *points to Charlie* you kept insisting we spend time together and even kept pairing us up for activities. *points to Alastor* and you kept going out of your way to bother me anytime I wanted to be left alone

Charlie: “I just wanted you two to be friends!”

Alastor: “I just wanted to be a nuisance”

Lucifer: “well it backfired on both you”

Charlie: *looking at a bunch of colorful crochet blankets laid over Lucifer’s bed* oh, these are pretty nice. I didn’t know you could crochet

Lucifer: thanks, they’re my trauma blankets

Charlie: they’re what

Lucifer: y’know how some people stress bake? Namely, you?

Charlie: . . . yeah . . .

Lucifer: Well. I crochet. So *points to a blanket* see that one there? The red one? That was when Lilly left. The blue one was after you got sick for the first time. The orange one was actually right after I fell, that’s my oldest one. And the one right there that I’m still working on is ‘cause I’m depressed as fuck and I don’t have a therapist.

Vox: “What’s wrong?”

Valentino: “That steampunk serpent bit me.”

Vox: “Oh no! Uhm… Baxter! Do you know if the snake’s poisonous?”

Baxter: “Who? Pentious? No he isn’t poisonous.”

Vox: “Oh thank goodness.”

Valentino: *Passes out and falls on the floor.”

Vox:

Vox: “What’s wrong?”

Valentino: “That steampunk serpent bit me.”

Vox: “Oh no! Uhm… Baxter! Do you know if the snake’s poisonous?”

Baxter: “Who? Pentious? No he isn’t poisonous.”

Vox: “Oh thank goodness.”

Valentino: *Passes out and falls on the floor.”

Vox:

Before Jason came home, Bruce was the tallest, and Dick was the one initiating these hugs. Basicly Dick has shown everyone that whenever anyone wants to get picked up, they all go climb Bruce.

One day, a few days after Jason agreed to stay at the manor long-term. Bruce pulls Jason over to the side.

Bruce would 100% go out of his way to see if he could hunt down each and every one of the recordings of the Flying Graysons he could.

He would pay collectors for self recorded videos, (since they were a famous performance family even before the tragedy) and buy photos that people took of them while they were around the world, collecting every advertisement poster he could of them.

Just so Dick would have something to remind him of them, of the good days. So he could remind him that they would want him to be smart about this, and not let the rage and resentment take over completely.

Like all the other bat children have gone through at least a few years of American High School: Dick after Bruce takes him in, Jason in the years where Bruce puts him in school before he died, Tim before he said Fuck This Noise and dropped out. But Damian?

Sure he knows all the material, is way beyond most of the material honestly, but that's not the point. The point is that Damain hasn't yet gotten indoctrinated traumatised used to the American Education System.

Observe: