i am GENUINELY obsessed with the idea of a dick and jason who are slightly closer together in age, and it translated to a very nuclear family dynamic between brujaydick.
the idea that there was a "normal" almost nuclear style version of the bats once upon a time, and obviously everything went to shit, but there are times when the 3 of them slip into this very odd well oiled machined that has the others feeling excluded, and makes our og 3 feel like their lungs might collapse bc they laughed at an inside joke.
the moments where they get trapped in the horrendously suffocating bubble that is familiarity. how they'll stick around and talk amongst one another like everything hasnt changed, and the past is tangible, and bc things feel so impossible to grasp no matter how many times their finger tips brush against it they end up running and hiding from one another.
and god the JEALOUSY of this dynamic. the way tim would utterly despise feeling like his place in the family doesn't exist bc he sees what THEIR version of family looks like, and it is NOTHING like what he thought their family is. their version involves actual jokes, knowing how to avoid the landmines without being awkward, this constant belief that harm wasn't intentional, harm that gets erased with a light shove or a pat on the back or a simple, "kidding"
damian keeps being reminded that he wasnt a choice but an obligation. that his father would never have turned him away, and maybe he loves him, but this is duty, not a decision. that his father has always been more of a father to those first 2, and he will not begrudge grayson, but he cant STAND that jason got to experience this, when HE was the one that fucked it up in the first place. but he was hand picked, and damian was just delivered to him.
hell even babs has strong feelings about it. she remembers how jason's mere existence changed her relationship with dick. she stopped being his shoulder to rely, but jason was. he became the secret keeper, the one he learned everything FIRST. she thinks about the first time it really hit her how.....related they looked. it wasn't just the hair, the eyes, the bone structure, but the air around them. the way they could all stand next to one another and there was never a doubt that they were family, that bruce was their father.
i just imagine that the version of healing the whole bat crew imagined is decidedly different from the healing brujaydick strive for. the imaginary lines that tim, babs, damian, cass, steph, and Duke become more and more realized with every passing day. the lines not only exist, but further away than they thought. there's an inner circle that they're not a part of. Some are coping better than others.
tldr; im fascinated by brujaydick being a family in a way the others cant really grasp and how they feel relegated to being family friends
