Actually I want a reverse robins universe where Bruce never actually takes in the others because without having Dick first, it doesn’t create the domino effect of taking in all the other kids.
He has Damian, but maybe Damian was older when he met Bruce. A teenager. Already pretty set in his ways as far as how he fights in the field, because the LoA was unforgiving in how it taught its students. He and Bruce clashed from the beginning because of it. They aren’t particularly close.
But then when Haly’s Circus does eventually make its way to Gotham and the Flying Graysons fall, he still adopts Dick. Because of course he does. He sees this little boy and sees so much of himself in him, more than he sees in even his own biological child.
And Dick still becomes Robin. Maybe he’s still the first child sidekick, because without Batman starting the trend, the other heroes aren’t as confident in letting their assortment of children helping them out.
And this world is so very different because of how much later Dick is introduced.
Maybe Bruce still ends up lost in time, and Damian ends up taking over custody of his father’s adopted son.
He wants to hate Dick. He hasn’t actually had any meaningful interaction with the boy yet, but now Bruce is dead, and Damian sees this little boy grieving a second father after just a year or so of losing his parents. He sees how broken this child should be, but how stoic he’s being. He’s putting in a brave face. He’s refusing to cry.
And that twists at Damian’s heart. Because despite not being particularly close with his father, they did keep in regular contact. And Bruce was constantly gushing another Dick, about how lively he is, how animated he is, how Damian would probably get along with him if he stopped by the manor and gave him a chance. How Dick wants so badly to meet his big brother.
When Damian brings Dick back to the Penthouse with him, the child is still stone faced. He hardly makes a sound. He locks himself in the room Damian tells him is his, and he doesn’t come out unless prompted.
But Dick never unpacks his bags. He never makes his room look a little more personal. He doesn’t do anything to make the Penthouse his home.
When Damian asks him about it, Dick just stares at him, his face still blank.
“You don’t want me,” he tells Damian. “Bruce wanted me. But now he’s gone too. So I’m waiting for you to get rid of me.”
And Damian realizes how much he’s fucked up, how he shouldn’t have left an eight year old alone to grieve by himself.
“I’m not getting rid of you,” Damian promises him. “You’re my brother.”
“You don’t want to be my brother,” Dick says, sounding so sure of himself. “You don’t know me.”
Damian decides to make more an effort after that. To make sure Dick knows he wants him around.
Bruce ends up coming back, of course. And he’s just happy both his boys are getting along.
Idk the point I was trying to make I was gonna have it be a dimension hopping scenario where the regular batfam meets them but idk what would happen. Maybe it’s while Bruce is still thought to be dead, and so they’re extra confused about why the whole family is just Damian and Dick. Maybe that’s how they get Bruce back though.
And maybe when the regular Batfam is there, reverse Dick is extra clingy with normal Bruce. Because he misses Bruce so much, and Bruce misses when Dick was little, and so Bruce doesn’t mind keeping Dick held snugly against him or tucked under his arm the entire time.
izzy806
titsay
gummygunk
tangentwithtanner
