Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bruce was having an awful day. No scratch that awful week. Awful fortnight? Yeah awful fortnight sounded about right. While emotions had never really been his forte, even he knew that he had fucked up big time. Dick disappearing was just the icing on the cake. 

“You really have no clue where he is?” Bruce asks a bored Tim for the 15th time. 

“It’s Dick. If he wants to be found he’ll be found.” Tim shrugs, not looking up from his phone. 

“He hasn’t even seen any of my texts.” 

“Have you considered the fact that he is quite justifiably ignoring you?” Tim counters, 

“Obviously I have.” 

“Then why are you freaking out? If he was in danger he would reach out. Dick’s pissed at you. Rightfully pissed at you might I add, but he’s not mad enough to risk his own life over it.” Tim takes a bite out of his banana and continues to scroll through his phone. 

“What about Barbara? Has she seen him?” 

“Why don’t you ask HER that?” Tim finally looks up from his phone. Bruce gives him a look. “Right, my bad. Babs wouldn’t sell Dick out like that.” 

“You are NOT being helpful.” Bruce grumbles, 

“Have you tried apologizing? Usually that fixes most misunderstandings.” Tim offers, 

“I can only apologize if I can FIND him, or if he checks his goddamn phone.” Bruce scowls, 

“So you're admitting that even with all your detective skills, you still can’t find your eldest son.” Tim chews on his banana. Bruce scowls at him even harder, having had enough of the verbal jabs. He turns around and heads back to his study. 

“If you have nothing helpful to say, don't say anything at all Timothy.” 

“Practice what you preach Bruce!” Tim yells back. Bruce is an adult. He has 6 children. He needs to be a good example. He slams the door to his study anyway. Down the hallway he hears Tim laughing. 

“You know I’m pretty sure the last time I’ve seen you like this was… oh right when you fucked shit up by giving Dick’s family name to a complete stranger and replacing him.” Bruce presses a hand to his already throbbing forehead. It does nothing to ease his headache when he looks up to see Jason sitting at his desk, smirking at him. 

“Jason.” 

“I mean I’m just saying. You do know that this is your fault right? I’m honestly with Goldie. If you said that shit to me I’d probably be shooting up Crime Alley right now.” Jason shrugs, 

“You wouldn’t do that.” Bruce replies resolutely. 

“Yeah well that’s not the point here. Have you even tried to apologize to him?” Jason counters, him completely ignoring Bruce’s previous statement was as close as he would ever get to admitting that Bruce was right. 

“Yes I have! He isn’t answering and I can’t fucking find him! Why else would I be asking Tim about it?” Bruce snaps, 

“So you admit that Tim is better at finding people than you?” Jason smirks, Bruce takes a breath. He takes another. His breathing techniques aren’t working. He needs to find Dick. Bruce goes to where the entrance to the cave is hidden. “MAYBE IF YOU WEREN’T SUCH A JACKASS HE WOULDN’T DISAPPEAR ON YOU LIKE THIS!” Jason’s voice rings in his ears as the elevator takes him away from the outside world.

He steps out and lets out a breath. Silence. Finally. 

Bruce walks over to the computer and sits down. He frowns at the screen. It was already unlocked. He takes a minute to ponder it over. His security was the best in the world. The only people who could get in were the ones that had the correct passwords and security codes. So it was either Alfred or one of his kids. He knew that Damian was sulking somewhere in the manor. In that moment it was completely plausible to Bruce that his annoyed youngest would unlock the computer and leave it like that just to irritate him. Damian always did love Dick more. Shaking thoughts of Damian away he focuses on his task— Find Dick. Once he found Dick and apologized, the others would thaw out too. 

The cave is too silent now. Even the Bats aren't chittering. The cave hasn't been this silent since before Robin. Bruce suddenly hates the silence. 

A part of him regrets not being in his study, most of his current work on finding Dick was up there, but the cave was much better for tracking Dick down anyway, and he wasn’t interested in listening to Jason throw his mistake in his face over and over and over again. Not that Bruce had much to work with when it came to finding his eldest. For how flamboyant and easygoing Dick could be, Bruce knew that there was a lot the 1st Robin hid underneath the surface. He wondered if maybe he was the reason for that. Bruce was not proud of how he had treated Dick. Always believing that the younger deserved better and always wondering when he would finally do the logical thing—cut Bruce off. And how well is him cutting you off going for you? A snarky voice that sounds like Alfred whispers in his head. He ignores mind-Alfred and runs through his system to search for the trackers he had on Dick. 

All of them were disabled. Ugh. He knew he was being irrational. Dick was busy. Dick went on missions a lot. There were always people who needed his help. That didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t answering any of Bruce’s messages. 

“Have you tried using the Watchtower’s locating system? I’m afraid it’s no match for our computer but it may give you a different perspective.” It says a lot about Bruce’s mental state that Alfred’s voice nearly has him falling out of his chair. They stare at each other. 

“I have but I will try again.” Bruce stands up gruffly and walks past the wary butler. He had already tried the Watchtower. But Dick was gone and Bruce had this irrational fear that he wasn’t going to come back and there was no way Bruce would survive that.

2 weeks ago...

The car was silent. Bruce was fuming, the steering wheel clenched tightly in his hands. It was a miracle the thing hadn’t bent under his grip yet. 

“B…” 

“Save it Nightwing. I knew you were reckless but I didn't think it had gotten this bad.” Bruce replies, voice colored in barely suppressed rage. Rage was usually the cover for his worry. His worry and fear that had him breaking from his post to get to Dick before they had another tragedy on their hands. His desperation that made him so utterly furious and relieved with the alive young man sitting next to him.

“Reckless?! I do shit like that all the time!” Dick scowls, 

“You disobeyed direct orders.”

“Technically you're not the boss of me anymore.” 

“You disobeyed my orders and my plans. In my city you have no authority to do that Nightwing.” Bruce growls, 

“YOUR City?! I've bled just as much for these streets as you!” Dick retorts, eyes blazing. They pull into the cave. 

“Don't move.” Bruce warns as he gets out.

“I'll damn move if I want to.” Dick struggles with the door and pushes past Bruce before nearly collapsing on his fucked up ankle. He scowls as Bruce picks him up and takes him to the medbay after taking his cowl off. They had about 30 minutes before the rest of the family got home. More than enough time to talk some sense into his stubborn son. 

“You endangered your own life.” 

“I saw an opportunity for a distraction. I took it.” Dick replies tersely after taking his domino off. 

“A distraction? You were flying blind! The only reason you didn't get hit by one of those bullets was pure luck!” Bruce snaps, 

“Okay and? It worked out! I'm fine, and the hostages are safe. What the fuck are you so pissed about then?” Dick hisses as Bruce rotates his ankle to check its mobility. 

I'm not pissed, I'm scared. You can't be this reckless with your own life. It isn't worth less than others. I CANNOT bury you too. That is what Bruce wanted to say. Instead he said, “I'm pissed because for some fucking reason, after so many goddamn years, you still think this is some sort of game.” 

“Some sort of game?! I don't think this is a game!!” Dick shouts furiously. 

Then stop treating your own life as if it is one! 

“Then stop with your fucking tricks!”

“Tricks? They aren't fucking tricks! I took a calculated move! I judged the-”

“YOU DIDN'T JUDGE ANYTHING!” Bruce roars, cutting him off, vision going red.  “YOU SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM AND YOU TOOK IT!”

“OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM? BRUCE I HAD A PLAN! IT WAS A STRATEGIC MOVE THAT WORKED!” Dick screams back furiously. 

“STRATEGIC MOVE?! YOU SAW A STAGE AND A SPOTLIGHT AND YOU TOOK IT!”

“THAT'S WHAT A DISTRACTION DOES!”

“A DISTRACTION IS PLANNED!”

“I DID PLAN IT!”

“NO YOU DIDN'T! YOU SAW A CHANCE TO BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION AND YOU TOOK IT!” Bruce knew from the very beginning that this would turn into one of their explosive fights. One of the fights where Bruce communicated every worry as anger, and Dick responded back with a rage and stubbornness to rival his own. Bruce did not expect the sheer intensity of his own rage to be this visceral though. All fueled by irrational mind-numbing fear. “ALL YOU WANTED WAS A CHANCE TO SHOW OFF ! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT DICK? THIS ISN'T THE GODDAMN CIRCUS ANYMORE! ” Dick recoils as if slapped. “YOUR FANCY FLIPS AND TRICKS MAY HAVE SAVED YOU WHEN YOU WERE ROBIN BUT THEY WON'T SAVE YOU NOW!” 

The words said in the heat of the moment leave Bruce exhausted. His anger spent in the worst way possible. Now that the fog had cleared, his words came back to him in resounding clarity. Dick was staring directly at him. His face had gone through a myriad of emotions while Bruce had talked put his foot in his mouth. Bruce had seen flashes of pure rage, hurt, sadness, and disbelief all over his first robin. But any of those emotions was better than the expression on Dick’s face right now. Or rather the lack of expression. Dick was gazing at him with a cold intensity that seemed so woefully wrong on a face that usually sported a smile and a grin. Bruce could feel the panic grip him. Why the FUCK did I say all of that?!?!? He was mortified with himself. He had dragged the circus into it. He called Dick a show-off.  What the hell is wrong with me??!!?!? Bruce swallowed past the building panic. This was it. This was the nail in the coffin. Bruce had gone too far. 

Everyone in the family fought, but there were some topics you never, ever brought up in a fight. With Jason you never brought up his time as a crime lord, with Tim and Damien you never brought up their time with the League of Assassins. With Cass you never mentioned her time with Lady Shiva, and with Steph you never mentioned her father. With Bruce you never mentioned the alleyway. With Dick you never brought the circus into it. 

The circus was a sanctuary for Dick’s memories, all of his good memories from before Robin. Nobody dared sully it by turning it into a verbal weapon. One time Jason did, in the very very beginning, before he died. He called Dick a Circus Brat. To this day Bruce still remembers the screaming and the crying that came after. The crying was from Jason. Not from Dick. Never from Dick. 1 hour after Jason said the dreaded words, he had willingly written a letter of apology to Dick. Key word being willingly. Dick had read the letter, nodded and walked out without a single word to either of them. When Bruce had asked Jason all those years ago what happened, he just looked at Bruce with the understanding of someone who understood Dick fundamentally despite not knowing him as long.

“He doesn’t even use half of his anger when he yells at you.” Jason had said. Bruce had blinked at him confused.

"What are you talking about?” Bruce had asked.  

“Dick only gets half-way mad at you. That isn’t his rage.” Jason had said.

"How do you know that?” Bruce had asked quietly, curiously.

“Because he looks angry when he yells at you. When he’s really angry. Like really really really angry at you, you won’t see it at all. You won’t be able to see more than what he allows you to see, which is nothing.” 

Jason’s words from all those years ago hit Bruce like a freight train. He finally understood what Jason had meant. Which also meant that Dick was well and truly livid. They stay in silence, Dick stares at him as if daring him to say another word with cold dead eyes. Bruce knows when he’s fucked up. He silently wraps Dick’s ankle, trying desperately to ignore the dread pooling in his stomach the longer Dick observes him. He felt like an animal being dissected, taken apart and reassembled. When he’s done he finally makes eye contact with Dick again. There’s nothing. It’s not a clouded gaze of a wasted person. Neither is it a vacant gaze of somebody zoned out. Nor is it a vitriolic gaze fueled by anger. For the first time in Bruce’s entire life he has no clue what’s going on in his eldest son’s head and it scares the shit out of him.

“Dick, I…. I’m sorry…I’m really sorry. ” Bruce breaks the tentative silence. Dick says nothing and continues to stare at him, blue eyes boring into him unemotionally. Bruce swallows past the uncomfortable feeling spreading throughout his body. Is this how others felt around him? Is this what it felt like when he shut other people out? Dick clicks his tongue and looks pointedly to the side of the room. Right. Crutches. Bruce walks over briskly and grabs a singular crutch. Dick takes it and eases himself off of the bed. Once he’s standing he looks at Bruce again. He still hadn’t said anything about the apology. He hasn't spoken at all since Bruce spectacularly put his foot in his mouth. Bruce didn't expect forgiveness. In all honesty he expected Dick to walk out of his life and never come back. Except Dick continues watching him silently. There was no storm behind his eyes, no tension in his jaw or in any of his other muscles. All of Dick’s usual signs that he was angry were nowhere to be found. If it weren’t for the interaction, Bruce would have thought that Dick was trying to pretend his ankle wasn’t hurting as badly as it was. But that was not the case. The ankle was clearly the furthest thing from Dick’s mind at the minute. 

“I really am sorry chum.” Bruce repeats, forlornly and desperately. Dick opens his mouth, Bruce braces himself. There are hundreds of things Dick could use to tear him to pieces. To turn Batman into nothing more than the broken man that he was. 

“Thank you for wrapping my ankle Batman.” 

Chapter Text

Present Day

The Watchtower

The Watchtower systems had nothing. Nightwing had popped up intermediately for a bit, but then his zeta logs abruptly stopped 2 weeks ago. The same time he fought with Bruce. There were a multitude of ways to delete zeta logs. Dick also had a multitude of passwords that he could use if he wanted to get in through other people's access codes. Any of the people logged in between 2 weeks ago and now could be Dick. Or it could be none of them. This was gonna be harder than he expected it to be. Oracle wouldn't help him, the Watchtower and the Cave had nothing. Security footage showed Nightwing here and there, but his sporadic appearances were few and far between. Bruce curses.

“And here I thought you were just cussing out other heroes Batman. Now you go after the poor computer too?” Hal Jordan's voice was not what Bruce wanted to hear. It was actually the last thing he wanted to hear when he was this frustrated. 

“Lantern.” 

“Oh so now we're on name basis? What ever happened to calling me ‘Asshole’?” Hal snarls, Bruce feels his headache building. He didn't have time for the flight pilot's temper tantrums. 

“You ARE an asshole.” Bruce counters, turning and standing up from his chair. The more time he wasted on Jordan the farther Dick would get. 2 weeks had already brought him nothing. It was like Dick had become a phantom. 

“Well you’re an emotionally stunted bastard who doesn't care about anyone else but himself!” Hal shouts, the words hit harder than they would in any other circumstance. 

“What the fuck do you want Lantern? I don't have all day.” Bruce scowls to stop himself from crying. He’d be damned if Hal Jordan of all people made him cry. 

“Well you walked away before I could fucking respond!” Hal snaps, Walked away?? 

“Lantern I just got up to the Watchtower. What the hell are you talking about?” Bruce's scowl turns into a displeased frown.

“You're actually trying to gaslight me right now aren't you. Oh my fucking god. I literally saw you 5 minutes ago!” 

“Yeah you did because 5 minutes ago you burst into this room screaming at me.” Bruce pushes past him. “I don't have time for your antics. If you want to play a prank do it on someone else. Don't waste my time.” 

He leaves Hal in the room gaping. His next stop was Titans Tower. Dick probably wasn't there but he might be able to get some information out of some of the younger heroes. Donna, Wally, and Roy were fiercely loyal to Dick. Even if they knew where he was they would never tell Bruce. 

As his mind races with thoughts he deftly wonders what the hell Hal's problem was, but then brushes it off. The flight pilot was as erratic as they come. He heads to the zeta to punch his code in, but when he gets there the log monitor looks off. Accessed 20 minutes ago. What? He blinks at the screen, it's still his code, it's still showing that it was accessed 20 minutes ago. He could've sworn he came up here ½ an hour ago. Something tickles at the edge of his mind. Jordan said something about me seeing him 5 minutes ago didn’t he? 20 minutes and 30 minutes left only a 10 minute gap. But didn't I come up here at 7? Maybe it was 7:10. Fuck I have to pay more attention to the time. Shaking his head he punches his code in and allows the zeta to take him away. 

“And then after that he straight up denied ever talking to us 5 minutes ago saying some shit about me walking into the room 5 minutes ago! You did see him right? He walked into the break room ripped us both a new one and then fucking left!” 

“He did. I can't believe he just denied it like that. Let me guess—he stormed off again?” Barry scowls, they were sitting around Hal’s kitchen table, a half-played card game abandoned between them. Confronting Batman hadn’t gone as Hal had expected, so they trooped back to Hal’s house to have dinner and relax. The sky was dark by the time they got out of the zeta. 

“Yeah he did!!! He said shit about not wasting his time! And get this! He said I was playing a prank on HIM! The fucking audacity of that man I swear to fucking god.” Hal seethes,

“I just don't get it! His emotional flip flops can be bad but he isn't a liar.” Barry picks up a card. 

“So you're saying we're delusional?” 

“What? No I'm not!”

“Yeah you are! Because either Batman was gaslighting me or we were fucking hallucinating.” Hal snaps, “We can't both be right! Either he was there or he wasn't! And we fucking saw him and he spoke to us! Which means he's lying!” 

“But why would Batman lie about that? It’s not like he hasn't insulted us before.” Barry frowns at his cards. 

“He didn't lie about it! When I confronted him he literally said that I am an asshole. Obviously he meant to say what he said.” Hal scowls, 

“Yeah clearly.” Barry's voice is quiet. Hal looks up from his cards to his best friend. 

“Hey dude don't take it personally.”

“Don't take it personally?! Seriously?! Batman said that even my own MOTHER wouldn't want me to keep messing up the time stream to save her!! That's not something basic Hal! Batman knows shit. He knows a lot of shit. And he knows how to use that shit against people!” Barry explodes,

“You think I don't know that! Batman straight up told me that the only reason the ring chose me was because everyone else nearby was fucking dead! Nobody fucking knew that! And then he called me a fucking asshole and left!” Hal retorts, 

“It’s almost like Batman's been possessed by an entirely different person.” Barry mutters thoughtfully. 

“Oh please. It's just Batmam being Batman.” 

“Batman criticizes, but not on personal shit Lantern. I honestly didn't even know he knew that shit about us. He was definitely acting a bit weird.”

“Oh my god Barry. When are you gonna get over this? It's been years! When are you just going to accept the fact that Batman is a shithead?!” Hal groans, 

“Because he's not! At least not entirely!” 

“Then how do you explain what happened at the Watchtower?” 

“Maybe… he was in a bad mood? Maybe something happened in Gotham? I don’t fucking know!” Barry exclaims, 

“Fuck Barry. Look I love that you always try to be optimistic. But you can’t just let his arrogant ass off the hook!”

“I’m not letting him off the hook! I’m just saying that there's a stressor that might.” At that second all the power goes out. It plunges Hal’s apartment into complete darkness. 

“Fuck Hal did you forget to pay the bills again?” Barry snaps,

“I paid them yesterday!” Hal retorts, he pulls his phone out and turns the flashlight on just for a blur to disappear from the light.

“What was that?” Barry whispers, 

“It must of been the trick of the light. Don’t just sit there Barry turn your flashlight on!” Hal snaps, Barry grumbles but a 2nd light comes on. A flash of black recoils from the light. 

“Okay there's definitely something in here…” Barry says uneasily. 

“My house isn't haunted Barry. They literally made these apartments like 5 years ago. Things need to be at least 54 years old to be haunted.” Hal drawls, 

“54 years? That’s so random.” Barry replies momentarily distracted. The light from Barry’s phone disappears. 

“Why the fuck did you turn your flashlight off idiot?” Hal snaps, 

Barry doesn’t respond. Hal turns his light to Barry who’s staring at his empty hand. 

“It.. it grabbed my phone.” Barry stutters, 

“What? What grabbed your phone? Maybe you just dropped it and-” But then Hal feels it, something flits in between his fingers and his phone is also swept away into the darkness. There's no light anymore. 

“Hal… why… why did you turn your flashlight off?” Barry whimpers, 

“Barry…” 

“Hal….”

A light flashes from one of their phones, illuminating a shadow. Both Hal and Barry scream, clutching each other for dear life. The light is gone. So is the shadow. 

“You.. You still sure that we're alone?” Barry whispers, they were still clutching eachother. 

“Yeah yeah we're we're alone. It's it’s.. okay. We're strong Barry. We're not scared.” Hal speaks louder to the darkness. “We're not scared of you. Whatever the fuck you are!” 

There's silence. Hal feels the hairs at the back of his neck stand up. He pointedly ignores it until he realizes why their standing up. A light, warm breath ghosts the back of his neck.

“Barry… please.. please tell me you feel that..” Hal whimpers. Barry just makes a squeak-like sound. 

“I…. I..” 

“Boo. ” A voice whispers right into both of their ears. Another flash of light from their phones cuts through the darkness. Then a shadow pours forward and both Hal and Barry shriek, louder than a wailing baby, and bolt in different directions. 

“BARRY WHAT ARE YOU DOING THE DOOR ISN’T OVER THERE!” Hal screams, 

“I DON’T KNOW I DON’T KNOW I DON'T KNOW!!” Barry shouts back. 

They both push and shove and crash into things as they bolt out of the apartment. Hal swears that somewhere behind them they hear a little giggle. He was definitely calling Constantine to check his apartment for ghosts and demons. 

2 days later… 

“It was Batman. It was definitely Batman!” Hal insists for the 58th time. 

“Oh for fuck's sake Hal why would Batman sneak into your apartment just to say Boo and scare you?” Oliver rubs the bridge of his nose tiredly. 

“Because he's mad at me? Because he wants to fuck with me? I don't fucking know how his twisted brain works!” Hal snaps, they were in The Quiver, Oliver's base of operations in Star City. 

“Okay and what about you Barry? Do you really think it was Batman?” Oliver asks skeptically.

“I… fuck I don’t know maybe?” Barry sighs, running a hand through his hair. The encounter at Hal’s place had left him a bit rattled, that paired with Batman’s strange behavior was making him a bit unsure about a lot of things. 

“Maybe, isn’t an answer Barry.” Oliver frowns, “If we’re gonna talk to Batman about this we need to know for sure that he was the one who broke in and scared you both shitless.” 

“Yeah but that's just it. It doesn't sound like Batman. Would Batman ever in his right mind do something like that?” 

“I don’t fucking know, but WHO ELSE would know all that stuff about us? Think about it Barry! Batman knows personal shit about us! Is it that much of a stretch for him to know where we live? Or for him to know our schedules and how we spend our time?” Hal counters, “For all we know he probably knows that we're talking about him right now!” 

“That's ridiculous. The Quiver's security is top notch. The only people who can get in here are people who are allowed.” Oliver argues a beat too late. 

“Or maybe that's what Batman wants you to think and then when you'd least expect it he'll turn your whole lair against you.” Hal says conspiratorially. There was a pause. Batman wouldn’t do that… would he?

“Anyway, so about the intruder thing.” Barry changes the subject. 

“I still think it's Batman.” 

“We know Hal.” Both Barry and Oliver groan, Oliver’s dashboard pings and he looks at the notification. 

“What’s that?” Hal asks curiously. 

“And why are you putting your hood and mask on?” Barry adds, 

“Nightwing just needed access because he’s fetching something for Roy.” Oliver replies, “So unless you want him to know your identities too, I suggest you put your masks on.” Oliver walks away to presumably grab whatever it was Nightwing was coming for. 

“Oh Lantern, Flash hey! I didn't think I would see you two here.” Nightwing bounds in a couple seconds later with a sunny grin. 

“Yeah right back atcha. How've you been?” Hal pulls him into a hug and then gives him a genuine smile back. It was easy to relax around Nightwing. A second later Barry’s doing the same as the younger vigilante greets the speedster. Then Nightwing’s chattering about one of his cases and Hal’s original question is forgotten. 

“Wing. I got the supplies Arsenal wanted.” Oliver walks back in and hands Nightwing a backpack full of gear. Nightwing unzips it and takes a quick look before smiling gratefully. 

“Thanks Uncle Arrow you’re the best.” Nightwing smiles and all 3 of them forget about their Bat-shaped problem. It was easy to forget bad things when Wing was around. Nightwing turns and walks away only to have 2nd thoughts. 

“Everything okay Wing?” Barry puts a worried hand on Nightwing’s shoulder at the younger's sudden stillness. Nightwing turns around to face them, suddenly looking solemn. 

“Well I almost forgot but I actually wanted to ask you two that.” Nightwing says earnestly, looking at Barry and Hal. 

“You wanted to check on us?” Hal repeats blankly. 

“Well yeah KF said something about you getting a scare a couple days ago.” Nightwing replies, his face a perfect picture of worry. Hal and Barry want to die of mortification. 

“KF told you about that?” Barry exclaims betrayed. 

“Well no I mean. He just said that he was worried about you two. I swear he didn't mean to like breach your trust or anything. Then I got worried and I figured I might ask you before.” 

“Wing your babbling.” Oliver interrupts, Nightwing clicks his mouth shut looking guilty. He takes a breath. 

“What I mean to say is, are you guys okay?” There was genuine worry in Nightwing’s voice and also something that sounded like creeping guilt. 

“Yeah we’re okay. We got scared shitless but we’re fine.” Hal replies with a reassuring smile. 

“Are you sure? What even happened? All KF told me was that it happened after you went off duty.” Nightwing asks curiously. 

“We… we were playing cards at Lantern’s civilian place and someone or well.. something got in.” Barry replies suppressing a shudder. 

“Oh my god. Was it like a magical thing?” Nightwing looks inquisitive. 

“No I checked with Constantine it wasn’t.” Hal exchanges looks with Oliver and Barry, not too sure how much information they should divulge to Nightwing. 

“Shit so does that mean someone knows your identities?” Nightwing asks, voice tight with barely concealed agitation. 

“Well yeah its.. well…” Oliver trails off, and looks to Hal and Barry for help. Should they tell Nightwing about their suspicions? It wasn't about trustworthiness, Nightwing was the best of his generation. If Superman was the hero of the common people, Nightwing was the hero of heroes. They all trusted Nightwing with their lives and more. If it weren't for potential risk to the young man, they would've probably revealed their identities to him too. But people would do a lot to get dirt on original founders like Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Flash. So it was more for Nightwing’s sake that they didn't tell him. 

“We.. we think it might be Batman.” Barry whispers, voice carefully low. Nightwing's domino blinks at them. 

“You.. you think Batman broke into Lantern's civilian house to scare you both?” Nightwing asks questioningly. There was nothing accusatory in his tone. It didn't even really sound like he was judging them. He just sounded perplexed. 

“It sounds insane, we know. But Batman’s paranoid as hell. He knows everyone’s identity but nobody but his Robins know a thing about him, and with civilian IDs it doesn't take a lot to find out other personal information about people.” Oliver replies,

“Okay that makes sense. No doubt about it. But why would he scare you like that? It doesn't really seem like his usual MO.” Nightwing frowns, 

“That’s the thing we were trying to puzzle out, but Batman’s been acting kinda weird lately.” Barry concedes, 

“Weird? Really how?” Nightwing questions, 

“He just… he just brought up some really personal and touchy topics out of the blue. It was kinda random and he’s also been trying to gaslight us.” Hal replies, 

“Gaslight you?” 

“Yeah like I went to confront him in the monitor room before the whole ‘breaking into my house’ thing and he just denied that he ever saw me and Flash in the break room!” Hal exclaims, 

“Damn that is weird. I always pegged Batman as secretive but I never thought he was a liar.” Nightwing scrunches up his face in surprise. 

“Exactly! That’s what I was saying! Batman’s secretive, he’s not a liar.” Barry exclaims, 

“Yeah well it's either Batman lied or we were fucking hallucinating.” Hal scowls, “And considering we literally saw AND spoke to Batman? I'm gonna lean more towards the lying.” 

“I mean when you put it that way it does sound like he lied.” Oliver speaks up after a long period of listening. 

“Mhmm..” They all stand in silence. Each hero in their own thoughts. 

“Anyway I should get going and get these to Arsenal. It was nice seeing you guys. If you need anything, even an ear to listen, let me know.” Nightwing smiles kindly and walks out of the zeta. The other 3 take a minute to bask in the afterglow of Nightwing's visit. 

“Man, that kid is just a ray of sunshine isn't he.” Barry says a couple beats later. 

“Yeah no wonder Superman gets charged up around him.” Hal jokes, both Oliver and Barry give him a long look. 

“Hal, that was absolutely terrible.” 

“It was not!” 

“It was awful and you know it.” Oliver sighs, 

“You know it might have been awful but it also needed to be said.” Hal replies adamantly. 

“No it didn't.” Oliver and Barry say in unison. Hal just scowls at them. 

“You guys are such-” 

“Batman?! What the fuck are you doing here?!” Oliver suddenly interrupts, Hal frowns at the archer, but turns around when he sees Barry looking pensively behind him. Batman walks briskly up to them. 

“Where is he?” Batman growls, 

“How did you get in here?” Oliver scowls, 

“Yeah what happened to your state of the art security?” Hal quips, Oliver glares at him to shut up. 

“Where is he?” Batman demands, 

“Where’s who?” Barry asks, 

“Nightwing.” Batman replies, 

“Wait how did you know Nightwing was here?” Hal asks suspiciously. “Also you’ve got a lot of nerve asking us for help after what you did 2 days ago.” 

“When did he leave?” Batman demands completely ignoring everything Hal just said. 

“Why should we tell you?” Barry asks, the cowled eyes blink. If they didn’t know better Hal and Oliver might’ve thought that Batman looked surprised at the speedster’s reluctance. 

“I have other ways of getting information if you don’t tell me. This is just faster. Now for the last time when did he leave and did he tell you where he was going?” 

“Why do you even need him so badly? If it’s that big of a deal just message him.” Barry replies, Batman opens and closes his mouth. 

“Oh is he not answering your messages? Not surprising since you’ve been such an asshole lately to everyone.” Hal scowls, 

“I don’t have time for your fucking attitude Jordan. Where. Is. Nightwing?” Batman snarls, 

“Okay. Step it back Batman. You can’t just barge in and start screaming at people.” Oliver steps up to Batman furiously. 

“Considering how useless you are I shouldn’t be surprised that you wouldn’t be able to help me.” Batman grumbles and before any of them can say anything else he walks back out. 

“Did.. did he just..” 

“The fucking AUDACITY. What the fuck crawled into his breakfast?” Oliver shrieks, 

“Now you get it right? He’s acting like a douchebag!” Hal exclaims, “Well… he’s acting like more of a douche than he usually is at least.” Hal corrects himself. 

“Why was he so hellbent on finding Nightwing? Didn’t anybody else find that a little strange?” Barry asks still staring at the place Batman was standing. 

“It was a little weird. Maybe Wing was just late turning something in.” Hal offers, 

“Maybe… but he seemed a little desperate for Wing to just be missing a deadline.” Barry frowns, turning back to face his friends. 

“Look whatever is going on…. Batman is seriously acting screwy and if it doesn’t get better we might need to actually have an intervention.” Hal says seriously. 

“Hal it’s been like 2 weeks. I think we need to slow it down. Maybe something’s going on in Gotham. You know how nutty that city is. He might just stressed and taking it out the wrong way because.. Well.. because he’s Batman.” Oliver shrugs, both Hal and Barry look at him in silence. “What?” 

“It’s just… I never would’ve thought I'd live to see the day you took Batman’s side on something.” Barry replies honestly. 

“I’m not taking his side!” Oliver blanches, “I’m just saying that taking care of a city is stressful. Especially one as fucked up as Gotham. And that.. That maybe we should give him a break.” 

“You still wanna give him a break after he stormed in here and called you useless to your face?” Hal deadpans, Oliver opens and closes his mouth. He takes a deep breath. He takes another deep breath. 

“Yes. I think we.. I think we should give him the.. The benefit of the doubt… THIS time. If it doesn’t get better then we’ll talk to him.” Oliver says after a couple seconds struggling for words. Hal and Barry exchange looks and then nod. 

“Sure. I’m fine with that.” 

“What’s a couple more insults from Batman when you’ve dealt with 2 decades of them am I right?” 

2 months later….

“Superman! Wonder Woman! There you are. Thank god we found you.” Clark and Diana brace themselves already knowing what’s coming. 

“Blue Beetle, Cyborg, Aquaman.” Diana greets, not even bothering with fake pleasantries. She was tired goddmanit.

“I hope we didn’t catch you at a bad time.” Blue Beetle says apologetically. 

“Nope, not really. We were just heading back to the Founder’s lounge. What’s up?” Clark asks, feigning a smile. 

“It’s Batman.” All 3 of them say in unison and exchange surprised looks. The smile crumples off of Clark's face. Diana doesn't bother to hide her annoyance either. 

“Yeah we thought as much.” Diana replies, 

“Really from all 3 of us?” Cyborg asks, 

“Batman’s apparently been causing a lot of problems lately.” Clark runs a hand over his face. 

“He’s being a inconvenience! His ego has grown far too much.” Aquaman snaps, 

“I don’t know about ego, but he’s really starting to get on my nerves with the way he’s messing with the security systems.” Cyborg says, 

“Come with us, if we’re to talk about this, the hallway is not the place to be.” Diana gestures to them and they fall behind easily and quietly. 

“This is the 5th time today.” Clark grumbles, 

“I know.” 

“And it’s probably the 1000th time in the past 2 months.” 

“I know.” 

“We have to do something about this.” 

“I know Superman. But have you been able to find Batman? Because honestly I haven’t. All I keep hearing is news of WHAT he’s doing.” Diana retorts, 

“Well obviously if I had managed to find Batman I would’ve talked to him already.” Clark glares back. 

“You know… moments like these make me remember that you learned how to use your powers on a farm… with no help.” Diana says dryly. Clark mutters something and rolls his eyes. They make it to the room and Clark places his comm into the scanner to allow them in. Aquaman, Blue Beetle, and Cyborg all walk in, Diana comes up behind them and shuts the door. 

“Where…. Wait… is this your room?” Cyborg blinks, 

“Oh my fucking god we’re in Superman’s room!!!” Blue Beetle is grinning like a madman. “Oh my god your windows are HUGE.” 

“I have much larger ones in my palace.” Aquaman huffs but even he takes a minute to admire the windows. 

“Okay sit down. We came here to talk not stare out the window.” Diana says, they all sit down on different chairs in the living room. Clark and Diana both stand. 

“Why couldn’t we do this in a conference room or a lounge?” Blue Beetle asks, some of his prior energy gone. 

“Bedrooms are the only spots without League surveillance. No eyes, no ears, no interference.” Cyborg explains, 

“Yeah pretty much. Now explain. As you can clearly tell from our reactions these aren’t the first complaints that have come up about Batman. So talk freely. Nobody can hear us in here.” Diana says, they all exchange looks. 

“I say let him start.” Blue Beetle gestures to Aquaman. 

“Batman keeps changing his orders, and he’s commanding us to come up here and do mindless, meaningless tasks at any time of the day.” Aquaman says, 

“You mean the monitor changes, the teaching rotations, and the group training switches? Yeah we’ve heard about those. He’s been doing the same thing to us.” Clark scowls, 

“Randomly changing your teams and assignments, giving half-assed information about any meeting, interrupting other meetings, breaking into group chats?” Blue Beetle offers, 

“He’s breaking into groupchats?” Diana blinks, 

“The ones on our comms? Yeah. He’s accessing them willy-nilly!” Blue Beetle exclaims, 

“That’s probably the reason everyone’s been coming to you guys in person instead of just messaging you.” Cyborg offers, 

“Well that definitely gives us some perspective.” Clark sighs, he runs a hand through his hair and he looks more tired than frustrated. “Okay what else?” 

“The security system.” Cyborg says, 

“Oh my fucking god.” 

“Don’t get me started on that.” 

“Every single password!” 

“Why the fuck do I need to tell the computer what my middle name is for my passcode to work?” 

“Middle name? It has me do a stupid remember the numbers test! I have a TERRIBLE memory!” 

“He keeps recalibrating it! Its like every single night there’s a new system. 

All three of them start talking over each other at once.

“Woah woah woah okay okay slow down. One at a time.” Clark interrupts, they all click their mouths shut. 

“If I heard you right… you all are saying that Batman messed with the security system? The WATCHTOWER’S security system… correct?” Diana asks, 

“Not just the Watchtower. He’s messed with Titans Tower and the Hall of Justice too.” Cyborg says, 

“He’s messed with all 3?” 

“What do you mean he’s messing with them?” Clark and Diana both ask in unison. 

“It’s like we said before. The weird random questions.” 

“The memory games he forces us to do before we put in our passcodes or one time even AFTER I put in my passcode.” Blue Beetle grumbles, 

“Sometimes the comm scan works. Sometimes you need a code. Sometimes neither works, and it demands something else entirely.” Aquaman explains, 

“And not to mention it’s not consistent. It’s like all 3 systems are constantly being switched around.” Cyborg continues, “Sometimes when you get into the Watchtower you’ll need your comm. But then if you want to go to the Hall of Justice you need a code.” 

“Yeah and then if you want to put the passcode in you might need to put in some stupid personal stuff like where you live.” Blue Beetle adds, 

“Or what you last ate.” 

“Or where you go to the gym.” 

“One time it asked me the last time I updated my gear! Can you believe that?” 

“You think that’s bad? It asked me one time the last time I came to a league meeting! Do you have any idea how hard that is to remember?” 

“It asked me what my last mission was once.” 

“Why haven’t you just locked him out?” Clark frowns interrupting them. They all look to Cyborg. 

“We tried locking him out. It doesn’t work because most of the code and tech is made by either Batman himself or Oracle, Batman’s insane technological genius. We can’t break through or change any of it.” 

“How long has this been happening?” Diana asks much more concerned than she was before. Some of the irritations and the last minute changes could be linked to Batman being stressed or freaking out. But security changes on this level, and this severe, were worrisome. Especially if they’ve been going on for the past 2 months and neither Clark or Diana had noticed. 

“Like a few days.” 

“Okay so its recent. Thank Hera. I was worried that I somehow just missed all of that.” Diana heaves a sigh of relief. 

“Yeah me too.” Clark chuckles, 

“Well it would fit with your observation skills if you missed it.” Diana snickers, Clark glares at her. 

“Superman. Wonder Woman. Please. Tell me that you’ll get Batman back to his senses.” The King of Atlantis nearly pleads,

“Considering Batman’s starting to mess with the security system this is becoming serious. Whatever is going on with him needs to be handled carefully. For all we know Batman might be compromised.” Clark says slowly. 

“You.. you guys think Batman’s compromised?” Blue Beetle blinks at them wide-eyed. 

“He must be compromised. Why else would he be doing any of this? He’s blatantly ignoring all boundaries.” 

“Not to mention his fucking sneak attacks.” Cyborg adds, all of them groan. 

“Don’t bring those up. It's humiliating.” Aquaman mutters, 

“Humiliating? Talk about downright TERRIFYING! My heart rate picks up so much that I burn at least 200 calories in those 5 minutes.” Blue Beetle shudders, 

“I’m with Blue Beetle. It’s weird and it’s creepy.” Clark agrees, 

“You keep proving my point about the powers thing.” Diana says, 

“Oh don’t play that card on me. Batman’s gotten you too D-Wonder Woman!” Clark snaps, nearly outing Diana’s identity. Diana looks completely unimpressed with him. 

“Hey guys… do you hear that?” Cyborg asks, 

“The scratching sound? Yeah I thought it was coming from a different room.” Clark shrugs, 

“No… no I hear it too… it… is that chittering?” Blue Beetle frowns, 

“Superman you didn't tell me you brought Krypto up here.” Diana frowns,

“Guys can we get back to the point here?” Aquaman sighs, 

“I didn't bring Krypto.” Clark gets cut off as the lights to his room suddenly cut out. 

“Fuck. What was that?” Aquaman snarls, a light glow emits from Cyborg and Blue Beetle as the room is plunged into darkness. 

“Let me check.” Cyborg frowns, his face lightening up over his gauntlet as he studies something. 

There's more chattering sounds, a slight whoosh is heard. Clark looks around. Nothing. What the fuck? 

“Did anyone else feel that?” Blue Beetle whimpers, 

“I didn't feel it but I sure did hear it. Cyborg what's wrong with the lights?” Diana demands, 

“I don't know. All the power supplies are normal we should have.” A blur flies by. Clark makes out a black cape. Oh for fuck's sake. 

“Jesus. Fucking. What was that?” Blue Beetle jumps, 

“It was a bat.” Clark scowls, he walks away from them trying to use his enhanced vision to see where Batman might be. Each of the bedrooms had lead lining so Clark couldn't use much of his x-ray vision to figure out where Batman was. His night-vision was fine though. 

“Batman's in here? How's that possible?” Aquaman demands, 

“I don't know but I definitely saw a cape.” Clark replies, irritably.

“You sure it was a cape? Looked more like a wing to me.” Cyborg says, 

“Wing. Cape. What does it matter? Batman somehow got in and that's a huge fucking breach of privacy.” Clark snaps, just behind him the air shifts as if something moved behind him. Nothing. What game are you fucking playing?

“Superman, I believe he's over there.” Diana grabs Clark by the arm. 

“Wonder Woman. With all respect. You don't have night vision.” Clark sighs, 

“Just because I don't have night vision doesn't mean my eyes don't adjust to the dark.” Diana snaps, she points to the door leading to Clark's bedroom. You could just make out a shape wedged behind the door. 

“You found him? Great, Cyborg please turn the lights on and Batman you have some questions to answer.” Aquaman walks towards the door avoiding some objects and accidently hitting others. Though his vision allowed for him to see in low light, pitch darkness was a bit difficult. 

“I can't get the lights back on.” Cyborg mutters, 

“Uh.. guys.. I.. I don't think that's Batman…” Blue Beetle says nervously. There's more scratching sounds. Diana rolls her eyes and follows Aquaman to the lump by the door. 

“Okay Batman this is enough. We found you.” Diana says, her voice colored with annoyance. Clark steps around trying to get a better view of what was wedged behind the door. There's no way Batman could fit in such a small space… is it one of his kids? 

“Whatever joke you were trying to play is over.” Aquaman adds, they hear more scratching sounds.

“You can turn the recordings off. None of us are scared.” Diana sighs,

“I'm scared.” Blue Beetle mutters, 

“I still don't understand why the lights aren't working…” Cyborg mutters to himself. 

“Who cares if the lights aren't working? Honestly Batman if you don't come out I'll just-” Diana reaches forward and grabs the black cape. Only it isn't a cape. The thing screeches, the lights in the room flicker and searing golden pupils jump out at Diana. They all scream as the beast flies forward crashing past Aquaman and heading directly for Blue Beetle. 

“FUCK FUCK WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!” Blue Beetle screams, the lights are out again working erratically. Powerful wingbeats and a heinous screeching are the only things that identify the beast. Blue Beetle tears through the room. His blue glow and the sporadic lights occasionally allow them to see the ghastly creature. 

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!” Blue Beetle screams, 

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?” Aquaman shouts, the remaining 4 tear after the creature chasing it as it chases Blue Beetle. 

“TURN YOUR GLOW OFF!!” Superman yells, 

“I CAN'T!” Blue Beetle shouts back, the thing scratches his arm and he shrieks flying faster. 

“SUPERMAN TAKE MY LASSO!” Diana shouts, throwing the lasso. Clark grabs it and takes off. 

“I'M NOT AN ACTUAL BEETLE!!” Blue Beetle screams, the thing hits him and they both go crashing to the ground. Flickering lights show large teeth, and enormous wings before the thing is abruptly pulled off of him by a glowing lasso. The thing shrieks, Clark curses loudly. The glowing lasso slips off.

“SERIOUSLY SUPERMAN?!” 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” 

“WHY WOULD YOU LET IT GO?” 

“OH FUCK OFF NOT EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO USE THIS THING!” Clark screams back. In a fit of frustration he grabs the thing as it shrieks. The lights abruptly turn on. All of them blink, eyes adjusting to the change. 

“That.. that's a bat…” Cyborg breathes, staring at the thing in Clark's arms. 

“It's.. it's an actual bat…” Diana repeats, Blue Beetle scrambles away from the hulking animal as it shrieks again at him. Superman had pinned its enormous wings to its size, but even then it was easily the size of a human.

“That cannot be a real thing.” Aquaman says, shakily.

“No.. it.. it is. It's called a giant golden-crowned flying fox. It's the largest bat in the world.” Cyborg looks up from his gauntlet. 

“How did it get up here?” Diana asks, the bat had stopped screaming and was instead trying to poke Superman. 

“I have absolutely no clue.” Clark looks at the giant furry thing he was holding. This was not how he expected this meeting to go. 

“You.. you think Batman put it in here?” Cyborg offers, 

“It… well…” They all look at the ginormous bat. 

“That thing is terrifying. It was definitely Batman who put it there.” Blue Beetle says when the silence stretches for too long. 

“Yeah but… but how… how could he have..Fuck.” Clark curses, letting go as the Bat actually manages to nick him in the leg. The humongous creature immediately takes flight, its long wings spanning almost half the room. Blue Beetle covers but instead of flying towards him the bay flies towards the exit. 

“Wait shit who opened the door?” Cyborg shouts, but its too late. The Bat-creature-thing flies out into the hallway and the screams start. Cyborg, Aquaman and Blue Beetle take after it. 

“How on earth did that Bat actually hurt you? It's just an animal.” Diana frowns,

“It’s an animal but something on it was a gift from its human counterpart.” Clark scowls, and points to a little green shard on the floor. Diana picks it up and studies the green glowing rock. 

“We need to talk to Batman. This is getting out of hand.” Diana says solemnly. “The next person that sees him, whoever it is out of us, needs to talk to him.” 

“I'll tell the others.” Clark nods, pulling his comm out. Somewhere in the hallway they hear screeching and screaming. They both wince and Diana looks to the door. “You should go D. Take the lasso and deal with that thing.” 

“Are you gonna be okay?” Diana asks, looking worriedly at him.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just a little kryptonite,” Clark replies with a grimace. More screams echo in the distance, making them both wince. “You go after the bat—I’ll text Hal, Barry, and Oliver.”

With a sharp nod, Diana grabs her lasso, and runs to catch the bat. 

Chapter Text

Meanwhile in Gotham....

Wayne Manor was a mausoleum again. His children were shadows, flitting in and out of the cave and the manor as if they were never there. He kept tabs on them of course, through security cameras set up in different safe houses, and through bugs hidden in gifts he had given them over the years. He just needed to know that they were there and that they didn't leave like Dick did were fine. It was fine. Everything was fine. Bruce’s comm pings. He looks at it. Some message from Superman about a bat in the watchtower. Probably Damian… He ignores it. He has much more important things to do. Like finding Dick and begging him for forgiveness apologizing. 

It was humiliating really. Being known as the world’s greatest detective yet not being able to find or contact your own kid. Babs was a brick wall, so were the Titans. He had tried. Relentlessly. But it just so happened that all of Dick’s friends were also immune to Bruce’s intimidation. Just my fucking luck.

Gotham was also restless. Bruce would go out to find goons bloodied, bruised, and terrified when he showed up. At this point it could be any of his kids putting the fear of god into them. His bet was on Jason, Damien or Cass though. Physical violence was always their style. From his spying he had found out that his kids also couldn’t catch their oldest brother. Dick was always somehow 1 step ahead of all of them. Every time he listened in on his kids, his heart felt like it was carving itself open. Dick was clearly avoiding them because he was avoiding Bruce. It wasn’t their fault, but they were caught in the crossfire of Bruce and Dick’s fight. Just like Jason was all those years ago…

Bruce thinks back to the nights after he fired Dick. The time when Dick came back to a replacement and quite justifiably lost his shit over it. He thought about those nights a lot lately because these nights felt identical to those. An empty house filled with debilitating guilt. But Bruce would take that rage, he would take that hatred over this. Over not knowing. It was agonizing not knowing. 

“Master Bruce?” Alfred taps the door to the study to announce his arrival before walking in. Bruce doesn't even look up, instead continuing to stare at his laptop. His comm pings again. 

“Don't you think you should answer that?” 

“....”

“It's quite rude to ignore the people who are trying to contact you, unless you have a valid reason of course.” Alfred continues, 

“...” The comm pings again. 

“It could be Master Dick.” Bruce's hand makes an aborted motion to his comm before he freezes. Dick hasn’t talked to you in 2 months. Why the fuck would he start now? His thoughts are not his friends right now. He doesn’t look at Alfred as he pulls his hand back. Alfred puts some blackberry tea in front of him and instead of leaving he sits down. Bruce takes a sip from his cup, pointedly not looking at his father-figure. The tea is delicious. Bruce hates himself a little more. “I’m worried about you Bruce.” Alfred says quietly. Bruce takes a breath. Of course now of all times Alfred would go into concerned parent mode. 

“I need to find him.” Bruce says quietly into his mug. 

“You must not repeat your last mistakes.” Alfred says gently. He takes one of Bruce’s hands forcing the younger to look at him. Alfred looks pained. My fault my fault my fault my fault.

“I already did. I already did and he’s gone, and honestly… I don’t think he should come back.” Bruce admits, his chest feels heavy, filled with the all-knowing knowledge that Dick finally did what he should’ve done years ago. 

“You THINK he shouldn’t come back or do you not WANT him to come back?” Alfred asks, Bruce jerks back as if hit. He doesn’t get very far because Alfred still has his 1 hand in a superman-like grip. 

“Of COURSE I want him to come back! Why would you even ask that?!” Bruce snaps, dangerously close to tears. Alfred’s face softens a fraction, Bruce is bewildered. 

“You are much too hard on yourself Master Bruce.” Alfred pulls his hand back. Bruce almost regrabs it for some form of stability. 

“I drove him away AGAIN Alfred. I insulted his heritage, I undermined ALL of his work as a vigilante!” Bruce retorts, 

“You also apologized as soon as you realized what you did, you also have been trying to hunt Master Dick down for the past 2 months to try and make things right. You have also been drowning yourself in guilt every day which has not been made better by my comments as well as the children’s barbs for which I am sorry.” Alfred says, as he stands up. There was silence as the two look at each other. 

“What are you trying to say Alfred?” Bruce asks, wearily.

“I’m trying to say that you are focusing too much on finding him. Focusing too much on your own guilt.” Alfred replies, voice measured. 

“What else is there? If I can’t find him, I can’t fix what I broke. If I can’t find him I’ll OBVIOUSLY feel guilty! If I can’t find him, NOTHING will ever be the same!” Bruce snaps, the room feels heavier than it did before. Bruce’s own desperation filling the space. Alfred is silent and unmoving by his desk. 

"I recommend that instead of trying to find him, you consider what Master Dick would do in retaliation for your insult," Alfred says carefully. Before Bruce can say anything in response the Butler is gone. 

That Night...

“I need to talk to you about something.” Steph’s voice did not scare him. Nope. Bruce refuses to admit that he’s become that jumpy. Instead of responding he just gestures to the blonde to continue talking. Tim was at the workbench tinkering with something in his utility belt, but besides him it was only Bruce and Steph in the cave. Patrol was starting in 10 minutes. The last time he checked, Damian was at Cass’ apartment and Jason was already out on the streets. Once he found out, Bruce became even more anxious to get out there.

“Batman seriously. I get that you wanna get out there because Jay is out there. But we need to talk about your behavior, we’ve been getting complaints.” Steph snaps, Bruce looks at her blankly. 

“Look B we get it.” When did Tim come over here? “You’re worried about Dick. We’re ALL worried about Dick. We all want him to come back but acting like a douchebag to everyone else isn’t the way to deal with it.” Tim explains, patiently. 

“What are you talking about?” Bruce asks, Tim and Steph exchange a silent exasperated glance.

“Okay I’m gonna come out and say it.” Steph takes a breath. “You’re being a fucking asshole and you need to stop.” 

Bruce cringes and dies on the inside. 

“Understood. I’ll stop.” Bruce replies curtly before striding to the car. His immediate response seems to surprise them. 

“That’s it? After all that shit, you’re just gonna stop because we asked you too?” Tim asks, his incredulous tone makes Bruce want to cry. How many more children have I failed? His eyes sting, he blinks the tears away. Not now. 

“Yes I would, because you’re right and I accept that I’ve been acting like an asshole lately and I’m sorry.” Bruce replies, he leaves without offering them a ride. They wouldn’t of accepted anyway. 

10 Minutes Later...

Robin did not patrol with Batman anymore. Robin split his time between Black Bat and Red Hood instead. Bruce was used to going long periods of patrol without hearing from his youngest at all. Damien had been furious at Bruce. Still was furious. Bruce couldn't blame him. Apparently tonight Damian had decided to tag along with Steph, nobody told him, Bruce just saw their trackers together. Tonight the one going solo was Cass. Bruce wasn't worried. He wasn't worried at all. At least that's what he told himself.

A blur goes by him, a swish of a familiar flip. His heart is in his throat as he flies after the shadow. Bruce hopes to find Dick in every shadow he chases. He turns the corner of the rooftop. This shadow turns out to be Black Mask instead. 

“Oh my fucking god, you again? What the fuck do you want now?” Black Mask was picking himself painstakingly off of the floor. “Was the first go around not enough for you?” 

Bruce just stares at him trying to formulate what to say. 1st go around? Maybe one of the kids got to him first? What's he even doing up here? Where the hell are his men? His weapons?

“You know I just kinda figured that after you THREW ME FROM THE ROOFTOP your penchant for violence would be fed.” Black Mask says dryly. He takes his suit jacket off and wraps it around his waist. Bruce just stares at him. “Don't give me that look, Batman. I may have been in Arkham but I'm not crazy.” When Bruce doesn't reply he just sighs and starts limping away. 

“Where do you think you're going?” Bruce finally snaps out of it and grabs the suit jacket tearing it off. 

“HEY YOU JACKASS!” Black Mask shouts but its too late and now Bruce wishes he could bleach his fucking eyes. Somebody had ripped the back of Black Mask's pants off at the butt. While Bruce is busy trying to remember his time in the alleyway, Black Mask yanks the jacket back, wraps it around himself, and starts loudly cursing Batman as he limps away. 

Bruce taps his comm. 

“Agent A. Please tell the kids that Black Mask is done for the night.” Bruce says into the comm. He gets an affirmative noise before Bruce is left to his silence. His peripherals pick up a flash of blue, he whips around. It was a billboard with Nightwing and Red Robin on it. Bruce nearly screams. 

He coincidentally lands on the same rooftop as Jason. Honestly. It was a coincidence. Jason doesn't really believe him, Jason also had a spare burger with him somehow. Coincidences. Coincidences. The night is silent. Behind him Bruce feels the wind shift with flips and laughter. 

“You really have a problem, you know that right?” Jason finally says. Bruce takes another bite of his burger to keep from answering. 

“It's okay to be scared that he's not coming back. We're all scared he's not coming back.” Jason says quietly. 

“I'm sorry you got caught in the crossfire again Jason.” Bruce replies, Jason looks at him in surprise. Why are they so surprised every time? Bruce feels like wailing and crying and screaming like he did during his parents’ funeral. He eats a bite of his burger. 

“You don't have to be. When there's a war there will always be innocent bystanders dragged into it.” Jason shrugs, but Bruce can read the tension in his shoulders. The tension over them. Over whether or not the family would be the same. The signs of discomfort were obvious in Jason. Bruce thanked all the stars above that he could at least still reach one of his kids, if not the one he was desperately trying to find. 

“It's not fair to the rest of you. You shouldn't lose him in your lives just because I fucked up again.” Bruce sighs, Jason takes another bite of his burger and they sit in silence. 

“I feel like he's closer than we expect him to be. If he wants you to hurt the way he is, he wouldn't go too far. That defeats the purpose of seeing you hurt.” Jason says, Bruce didn't have to ask how he knew that. Jason didn't have to explain. They both knew why Jason originally came back to Gotham after being resurrected. To hurt Bruce like how Bruce had hurt him. The cycle repeats itself. You failed them both. 

“You can't keep taking your feelings out on other people who don't deserve it.” Jason says, something niggled in Bruce's brain. Jason was saying the same thing Steph and Tim were. 

“I know…” Bruce admits, across the horizon they both see somebody leap off a 50 story building without a grapple, before shooting it out when they're about 10 stories from the ground.

“Tim almost did it.” Jason says, gathering his trash. “Dick would've waited until the last 2 feet to shoot though.”  

“Unless he was weighed down by something.” Bruce replies taking Jason's trash to throw out. 

“You know… me and Cass were thinking of stopping by the manor tomorrow.” Jason says awkwardly. Bruce just nods, not trusting himself to not cry. He would not cry about Cass and Jason coming home when they were already in Gotham. He would not cry about the fact that the manor would feel just a little more full for a little bit. He would not cry. 

“Batman we need you at the west dock.” Tim's voice crackles through his comm about 30 minutes after he and Jason part ways. The West Dock. Steph and Damian.

“Where?” Bruce demands, immediately changing direction. 

“Where the new cargo shipments come in there's, HOLY FUCK!” Tim's voice cuts into a shout of pure bewilderment. 

“Red Robin come in. Status. Red Robin.” Bruce demands grappling faster. Beside him he sees a flare of black and blue and turns towards it. He rams into a chimney for his trouble. The blur is gone. He swears he heard a giggle. 

“Red Robin I'm at the docks where-” An ear-splitting screech cuts through Cass’ voice. Loud enough that Bruce clutches his ears groaning. How the hell does Clark survive with superhearing? 

“What the ever fucking hell was that?” Jason demands furiously. “Fuck. B. I'm rerouting. Demon Brat and Blondie havent responded yet. How far are you?” 

“I'll be there in 2.” Bruce replies, picking himself up and launching his grapple out. He flies over the rooftops, the docks are ahead of him. His line snaps. Cursing he tucks into a roll as he crashes down through some people's hanging laundry into an alleyway. 

“Okay Im here what the fuck is-” Another unholy screech tears through the comm. Bruce's ears are ringing. He looks at his line. Was it cut? Or did it just snap? 

“BATMAN WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” Steph's frustrated scream paired with another mind curdling shriek has Bruce moving. Who cares about the other line? He pulls out a spare grapple and shoots it into the air. There's more screaming over the comms. 

He lands on top of one of the large loading crates and sees chaos unfolding beneath him. Penguin's men were running everywhere. What the fuck is he doing here? 

“Where's Penguin? Why are his men here?” Bruce demands into the comms, while dropping into the fray. Some of his kids were fighting, others were chasing different men, some of the containers had been destroyed. Things had clearly been knocked over in the fight. 

“Penguin's men are NOT the priority here!” Damien yells into the comms. 

“Then what-” Before Bruce can say anymore he sees it. A humongous flying thing zooms down at record speed crashing into crates and ripping through people. He sees Cass and Jason pull out the exploding nets but the thing eludes them swooping high and screeching into the night. A smoke bomb goes off. Bruce tears off in the direction of the creature. 

“What the hell is that thing?” Bruce demands, 

“IT'S A FUCKING BAT!” Jason yells, 

“That THING is not a bat Red Hood.” Bruce snaps, 

“Yes it fucking is. Its a bat. The largest bat in the world actually.” Tim says, 

“What is it doing-” The Bat-thing flies low and Bruce barely ducks out of the way as its claws scratch at him. His cape isn't safe. 

The thing's hook-like feet sink into the material, tugging Bruce backwards by the force of its wingbeats, and then to Bruce's shock the Kevlar cape. His cape that's withstood bullets and explosions– rips. The thing shrieks again and flies, throwing pieces of the ruined cape on unsuspecting henchmen before diving again to terrorize more people. Bruce couldn't tell if they were his kids or Penguin’s men. 

“Has anyone seen Penguin?” Steph asks,

“Again. BIGGER PROBLEMS!” Damien shouts, Bruce runs back towards the ruckus when he runs into 2 people. 

“Batman? What the hell do you want? Was the first time not enough for you?” That's exactly what Sionis said…. Standing in front of him is Penguin. Not just Penguin but Penguin and Riddler. Both are out of breath, both look pissed. 

“Please tell me that your pants aren't ripped.” Is the first thing out of Bruce's mouth. What the fuck did I just say. Bruce's dignity, whatever was left of it after the Bat-creature-thing ripped his very expensive cape, is absolutely dead. Both rogues stare at him. 

“Did you just call me poor?” Penguin asks insulted. “Because I'll have you know that the only ripped pants I own are the ones my mother sewed for me when I was a little boy and I only keep them for sentimental value.” 

Now Bruce is the one staring. Riddler is the only sane one left. 

“What kind of question is that Batman?” Riddler is looking at him as if he expected Bruce to get escorted to Arkham. Bruce couldn't even blame him. Why the fuck did I say that? Why the FUCK did I say that? 

“Yeah what kind of question is that? Do you have no shame? You've already made the night miserable. The least you could do was spare our dignity.” Penguin snarls, storming up to him. Closer Bruce can see that Penguin is actually soaked to the bone. What the fuck? He also smelled like a sewer. “Don't wrinkle your nose at me Batman! Honestly! How could you just UGH!” Penguin whirls around storming away. The creature thing swoops down stealing his hat, Penguin screams obscenities at the thing before it poops directly on his head before flying away to terrorize more people. I feel like I'm in a fever dream… Riddler turns to Bruce, upon closer examination Riddler was also soaked to the bone. 

“Take your fucking playing cards and go play with someone else Batman.” Riddler scowls, throwing a stack of sopping wet cards at him. Bruce blinks bending down to pick up the cards as Riddler catches up to Penguin and they both start loudly complaining.

The creature is still causing havoc behind him on the docks. He flips through the cards. Most of them are riddles. Bruce frowns as he picks up more cards. Each one had a riddle on 1 side and an answer on the other. These aren't my cards… what the fuck are Riddler and Penguin talking about? There was one card left. Bruce picks it up and frowns. This one was not a riddle card. It was a typical playing card, like the ones they use for poker or for casino games. On it was a jester. 

He found Joker in the 1 place he didn’t expect to find him. At a bar. 

“Joker. What the hell is the meaning of this?” Bruce slams the wet playing cards on the bar top. Terrified patrons were huddled in different places away from the gun-wielding clown who was…. Drinking? Joker looks at Bruce and then down at the playing cards and takes another swig of his drink. 

“Has anyone ever told you that you're not very funny Batman?” Joker's voice is completely deadpan. The dead tone immediately puts Bruce on edge, his mind running countless possibilities for what the clown prince of crime could have done. “Hey. Bats. I'm talking to you. Don't ignore me.” Joker points the gun at his face clicking the safety off. 

“What are you talking about?” Bruce grinds out for the 50th time that night.

“I'm saying that you should leave the jokes to experts such as myself.” Joker replies some of his trademark insanity slipping into his voice. He takes another sip of his drink. Never in his life did Bruce expect to see Joker drink. He takes the sip to his advantage taking the gun away but shattering Joker's wrist. Joker just gives him a dry smile, he doesn't even chuckle. What the hell? 

“Your jokes involve killing people. Now the cards Joker.” Bruce pushes his unease away to point at the cards between them. 

“I'm a prankster Batman. These are riddle cards. Give them to the Riddler.” Joker scowls at him, mouth twisting unpleasantly in the most un-Joker like way possible. Bruce's patience snaps. 

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” Bruce yanks Joker forward over the bar top sloshing the last of his drink everywhere. Joker's eyes widen. Flickers of his usual fire coming back. 

“My my somebody seems tense.” Joker smirks, 

“What the hell is wrong with everybody? What the fuck did you do?” Bruce growls, 

“You really have lost your touch haven't you? Oh this is delightful.” Joker smiles this time. His mouth stretching into his usual unnatural grin. Something loosens slightly in Bruce's chest against his will. Even if his entire world seemed to be shattered, Joker was still the same psychopath he could punch back to Arkham. 

“Tell me where you got that Bat. Tell me what you did to Black Mask, Penguin, and Riddler.” Bruce growls, 

“Silly, the only Bat in Gotham is you.” Joker laughs, “I would never go for another Batsy.” Bruce punches him. It feels good. It feels normal. Joker laughs again, blood dripping down his face. 

“What did you do to Black Mask, Penguin, and Riddler?” Bruce repeats lowly. 

“What did you do to run Birdie out of town?” Joker retorts, Bruce freezes long enough for Joker to twist around and kick him in the face. “Rumors fly fast Batman.” Joker looms over him and stabs downward with knife. Bruce rolls out of the way albeit sluggishly enough that he still gets nicked. “I'm not surprised you grew tired of him.” Joler swings again, this time Bruce blocks. Rage beginning to replace the shock. 

“You don't know anything.” Bruce hits him in the solar plexus. Joker coughs up blood before stabbing him low in the leg. Bruce curses. What happened to his reflexes? He feels like half a person. 

“I know this. I know that Nightwing never stood a chance compared to what we have. I know that he never deserved you.” Joker grins broadly knowing he's hit the bullseye. I know that he never deserved you. Never deserved you. He never deserved you. 

“YOU BASTARD!” Bruce lunges at him. 

“HE NEVER DESERVED YOU BATMAN!” Joker jeers and the pain is mind-numbing. Bruce feels his heart burning and twisting in its cage because Joker is right in his twisted fucked up way. “HE WAS NEVER ENOUGH FOR YOU! NONE OF THEM ARE!” Joker shouts gleefully as Bruce chases and pummels him like a demon from hell. 

“SHUT UP!” Bruce roars, he pins Joker down shoving his face repeatedly into the bartop until its smeared in red. Joker stabs him again. Behind him Bruce hears gunshots. Red Hood. Jason. 

“HE DOESN'T DESERVE YOU!” Joker shouts one last time before he makes his escape. His laugh rings and rings and rings in the bar. Dick deserves better than me. He doesn't deserve me, he doesn't you he deserves better deserves better deserves. 

“Batman. BATMAN fucking hell where is your godamn head these days?” Jason's voice snaps him out of his haze. Except he can still hear Joker's laugh and the clarity and truth of the madman's words are inescapable. “He never deserved you”

“Why the fuck did you leave alone? You just left us to deal with that stupid bat! And it was a bat by the way, but then we fucking lost it so who knows where it is now and…. Hey! Hey are you even listening to me?” Jason waves a hand in his face. Bruce just stares vacantly at Jason's hand. 

“I'm going to talk to Superman.” Bruce finally says, 

“What? Superman? What does he have to do with anything?” Jason was giving him a look. 

“Superman sent me a message about a bat in the Watchtower before patrol.” Bruce replies, pushing past Jason to the exit. He walks out onto the street despite Jason yelling at him from behind.

He grapples up to the rooftop, swinging through the city until he lands on a familiar ledge. It was the highest spot in the city, the ledge of an archaic church. Bruce lands on the ledge and stills when he sees him. He actually sees him. Lean, toned body, a bit shorter than Bruce (the perfect hugging size) bright blue escrima sticks are strapped to his back along the blue bird shape cutting through the black of his suit. 

“Nightwing..” Bruce breathes, too stunned to do anything else. The figure hears him. The person turns, the blue bird is fully visible as it crosses the young man's torso. It’s Dick. He's really here. He's really here. They stare at each other across the narrow ledge. Dick turns first and leaps off. Bruce's pause almost costs him but soon he's closing in on the younger. 

“Nightwing wait listen to me!” Bruce shouts as Dick jumps, flipping gracefully onto the next building. It’s been so long since Bruce’s seen that flip that he can feel the tears gathering underneath his cowl. 

He refuses to cry. If he cries now he won’t be able to see Dick. He won’t be able to follow him. He refuses to cry, he refuses to let up the chase. He doesn’t let up as Dick drops into alleyways and cuts through streets and changes corners. He keeps chasing as the younger runs because he knows that if he let's Dick get away now he won't get another chance to apologize.

Another chance to plead for forgiveness.

Another chance to tell Dick the truth about how much Bruce loves him. 

“Nightwing please!” Dick falters in his step, Bruce takes it with a grain of salt. He still cares he still cares he still cares.

Bruce had no clue how long Dick had been in Gotham. Has he been here this entire time? Has he been watching? Has he come into the manor when I wasn't paying attention? Heart in his throat Bruce gains on his oldest son as he tries desperately to escape. Bruce couldn't even tell if Dick had a destination in mind. He didn't care. All he needed was for Dick to come home. 

“Nightwing wait please!” Bruce reaches out, Dick jumps too early between rooftops. 2 grapples shoot out. Bruce's hand grabs onto one of Nightwing's escrima sticks hoping to yank the younger back. Time seems to freeze, and then the bat ruins it. The creature cuts straight through Bruce’s grapple with a shriek, sending Batman plummeting down onto somebody's balcony. He sees a flash of blue as Nightwing looks back at him before disappearing into the night. In Bruce's hand is a glowing cerulean escrima stick. 

Chapter Text

2 months later... 

“This is a lot of people just for an intervention.” Red Hood says uneasily looking at the crowded room. 

“Aren't interventions supposed to be private things?” Robin frowns, 

“They are..  usually… except a lot of people want explanations from your Father.” Barry replies, 

“And they really expect him to give explanations in a room this full? He barely talks as it is.” Red Robin argues, 

“We didn't intend for all of them to be here. It was just supposed to be the Founders’, you 5 and him.” Diana explains, 

“But you know how the gossip mill works around here.” Hal buts in, “Word got out. People want an explanation and honestly I don't blame them.” 

“Batman's not going to be happy about this.” Spoiler frowns, Black Bat nods in agreement. 

“Well the rest of us haven't been very happy with his attitude for the last 4 months either.” Oliver snaps, 

The kids exchange looks. 

“Where's Superman? Shouldn't he be here too?” Red Robin asks, 

“He went to get Batman. You did say that he's in the training facility right?” Diana replies, 

“He is. Or at least he was the last time we checked his tracker.” Spoiler responds, 

“Good, then when Superman gets him we can finally shed some light on this problem.”  Hal's voice brokers no room for argument. They would find out the truth from Batman once and for all. 

Clark's footsteps are loud as he enters the training facility. For once every room is empty. The heroes that weren't congregated for Batman's intervention were at home, but those were very few. Clark did feel a little bad. Clearly whatever Batman was going through was something personal and having his personal stuff get hashed out in front of so many was probably the exact opposite of what he wanted. He flies up trying to find the training room Batman was in. Please let him still be here. If he's gone I swear to fucking god. Except the universe finally seems to take pity on him. Batman was actually there. Clark nearly cries in relief. They would finally get answers. Answers for the zeta tubes and the security system. Answers for the jumpscares and that stupid bat. Answers for the group chats and the messages and the rotations and all the other shit that's been going on. 

Clark lands on the ground and steels himself before scanning his comm. To his surprise the door opens. Batman didn't lock it? Weird…  The door shuts behind Clark with an odd finality. In front of him Batman fights simulation after simulation. Clark steps in silently waiting for him to finish. He was supposed to fetch Batman but interrupting him when he was clearly trying to take out some frustration probably wasn't the best idea. Batman finally pauses as the simulation runs out. Clark opens his mouth to speak but Batman is faster. 

“Initiate code 9998.” Batman says quietly. There's a gentle whirring sound and a new opponent materializes in front of Batman.

The training simulator allows you to fight against other heroes as well, taking data from their fighting styles and missions to create accurate simulations. In front of Batman is Nightwing. Simulation Nightwing hasn't moved into a fighting stance yet. He just smiles. Batman walks forward. What is he doing? Clark watches silently, a bit unwilling to speak. There was something fragile about the atmosphere that he didn't want to break by speaking. Simulation Nightwing stays still as Batman stalks up to him. Why isn't the simulation doing anything yet? Most simulations would immediately be fighting by now. Batman stops in front of the simulation. The Nightwing in front of him looks up and smiles sunnily. Batman opens his arms and takes the simulation in his embrace. For a minute Clark thinks that Batman is trying to crush the simulation. The simulation stays still while Batman holds it. Is.. is Batman..  is he HUGGING the simulation? He was. Batman was hugging the simulation of Nightwing. So Batman's change in mood has to do with Nightwing. Didn't Oliver mention something about Batman trying to find Wing a couple weeks ago? Clearly Batman didn't seem keen on letting the simulation go anytime soon. But Clark needed answers, and it seemed like right now Batman might just give them before the intervention pushed him to his limits. 

“Ehm… Batman….” Clark clears his throat carefully. Batman doesn't immediately let go, nor does he immediately whirl around and start lecturing. Instead he squeezes the simulation a bit tighter and then let's go. The simulation smiles again gently before dissolving. Batman finally turns to Clark.

“We need to talk.” Batman says, 

“We do need to talk.” Clark replies, he stands there uncertainly. Before he was confident on how he would approach Batman. How they would argue and then how Clark would drag him to the intervention. But now seeing Batman, so solemn and defeated, it seemed wrong to do that to him. Clark's anger and annoyance was fading the more he processed what he just witnessed. There was something wrong with Batman. Just not in the way they thought. 

“What happened between you and Nightwing?” Clark asks gently. “He's a good kid. I’m sure if you talk to him he'll understand and apologize." 

“I don't WANT him to apologize.” Batman replies gruffly. 

“You miss him. That much is obvious. If you don't accept the apology." 

“He doesn't need to apologize. I do.” Batman interrupts, Clark goes silent. Partially because he was stunned, partially because now he was curious. 

“I fucked up. I hurt him. He doesn't need to do anything. I owe him an apology.” Batman's words are laden with grief. “Except I can't find him! What kind of detective, what kind of FATHER am I that I can't even find MY OWN SON!” Batman demands more to himself than Clark. One word sticks out in the heap of guilt-ridden, self-loathing statements. 

“Your son?” Clark repeats, 

“Yes son!” Batman snaps, “The son who I can't find! The son who I've been FRUITLESSLY trying to hunt down for MONTHS just to APOLOGIZE!” Batman continues, “What kind of father LOSES his eldest child? What kind of parent TEARS APART their OWN family? What kind of father am I to fail SO MISERABLY at love that I can't even tell my kids that I love them?! WHAT KIND OF FATHER HURTS THE CHILD WHO TAUGHT THEM HOW TO BE HAPPY AGAIN!?!” 

Before either Clark or Bruce know what's happening Clark sweeps him up into a hug. Bruce freezes stiff for a second. 

“I'm sorry Batman.” The kryptonian whispers, Bruce will not cry. He'd be damned if he cried after spewing his guts out to the farmer of all people. Bruce stays stiffly in the embrace. If he leans into it he'll break. He'll sob and scream and he can't do that. If he relaxes the dam would burst and Bruce just might drown in the water. If he lets go he might just shatter into a thousand jagged pieces too broken to put back together. If the hug is a baby bandage for his gaping wound, nobody but Bruce needs to know that. Just as the embrace is getting awkward Bruce's comm rings. They pull apart. 

“Batman, we need you in briefing room 1.” Diana's voice comes in crisply with an undercurrent of urgency. 

“Understood. On my way.” Bruce replies, Clark's comm chimes on his wrist. “Is it Wonder Woman?” 

Kent just nods his head. 

“Well then it must be important if she needs both of us. Come on.” 

“What.. is this…” Batman trails off as he and Clark enter the room. There was a slight smoke in the air and the heroes seemed uneasy. Some were picking others off the ground, some had rebreathers on. What the hell? Regardless the crowd moves, parting to let them into the center. 

“Batman.” Diana says cooly. Her voice is so flat Clark has half a mind to pull her aside and ask what happened before they walked in. Half a mind since the other half was busy processing what the fuck just happened in the training room. Batman let me hug him. Nightwing is Batman’s child. They had a fight. What the fuck. 

“I assumed when you meant important you meant private as well.” Batman says giving the room a critical once over. The smoke was dissipating from the room and the others in it were growing silent as they watched the exchange. 

“Well Batman it’s not just the Founders’ who have concerns that need to be addressed.” Oliver says, coughing slightly. Did one of the Batkids’ smoke bombs accidently go off? The room was much more packed than Clark assumed it would be. He spots Batman’s children congregated at the edges of the open space they were given. They were taking their rebreathers off and were looking cautiously at Batman. 

“What concerns?” Batman asks gruffly. Clark nearly face palms. That was NOT the right thing to say. The crowd agrees. Shouts and screams and obscenities echo through the chamber. The cacophony was so loud that you couldn’t distinguish one concern from the other. 

“ENOUGH!” Diana roars, the crowd falls silent. The focus turns back to Batman. 

“We need to talk about what’s been going on with you, Batman.” Barry says, Batman just stares at all of them. Clark can hear the way his heart jackrabbits. 

“Nothing's going on with me.” 

“BULLSHIT!” Hal and his fucking temper. Batman looks ready to actually lose his shit. 

“Lantern. Control your temper.” Clark snaps, Hal gives him a look that screams betrayal. You don’t know the full story!! None of us know the full story you moron!!! Clark tries to convey desperately with his eyes. Turns out his eyes are really bad storytellers. 

“You’re acting erratic Batman. Your behavior has become a security risk.” Oliver replies curtly. 

“I apologize if my behavior has offended anyone.” Batman says solemnly, astonishing everyone. The room is silent. Even Clark is taken aback. “But I guarantee you that there is no security risk. Now if you’ll excuse me..” Batman goes to walk out. 

“You can’t leave.” Barry blocks his path. Batman stiffens clearly not expecting the speedster to react that way. Barry, Clark, and Diana were the ones that tolerated Batman’s mood swings. So Barry doing this? Unprecedented. Clark watches, guilt and apprehension churning in his gut. 

“Why can’t I leave?” Batman retorts, there was a tension in the room that Clark did not like.

What happened before we got here?

“You just APOLOGIZED to everyone. Your BATMAN. You don’t apologize! You’re acting fucking weird, THAT’S why you can’t leave!” Hal snaps walking up to also block Batman’s way out. Tension sizzles through the room as heroes mutter and whisper. 

“This isn’t the place or time for this. Let Batman leave.” Clark speaks up, the others were clearly furious about something. They weren't when Clark left to get Batman 15 minutes ago. Something happened.

“No! What’s wrong with you?” Hal snaps, 

“Lantern he-” 

“No Superman. Lantern’s right. Now YOUR acting weird. We all agreed on an intervention and now you want to bail Batman out of it.” Oliver points his finger at Clark. 

“An Intervention? An intervention for what?” Batman asks, blankly.

“FOR YOUR FUCKING BEHAVIOR!” 

“FOR THE SECURITY CODES!” 

“FOR YOU BEING AN ASSHOLE!” 

“FOR THE CHANGES IN ROTATION SCHEDULES!” 

“FOR THE SPYING!” 

“FOR THE-” 

“QUIET!!”  Clark thunders, the crescendo of sounds stops. Batman still seemed a bit dazed, out of step. “Batman isn’t compromised.” 

“Not compromised? He’s messed with the security systems Superman!” Hal snaps, 

“I haven’t touched the security systems.” Batman argues, 

“Yes you have! Every single time anyone tries to enter anywhere they have to go through 5 different loopholes to get in!” Cyborg speaks up, 

“I didn’t do that.” Batman insists, 

“Oh yeah? Just like how you didn’t let loose that fiend in the hallways 2 months ago?” Aquaman accuses, 

“Or just like how you didn’t snoop and break into meetings and group chats for the past 4 months?” Bart, Impulse, also known as Barry’s future grandson, pipes up, 

“I swear I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Batman snaps, 

“You’ve been insulting and gaslighting us left, right, and center Batman, and honestly we’re fucking sick of it. Until you own up to what you’ve done, none of us are letting you leave this room.” Oliver scowls,

“Okay guys don’t you think this is going a little overboard? I’m sure if we take a minute to step outside and-” 

“No. This must be done here.” Hawkman interrupts Clark.

“We need answers. If Batman is compromised we cannot allow him to wander the watchtower freely like this.” Dinah agrees, 

“I’m not compromised!” Batman insists, 

“That sounds exactly like what a compromised person would say.” Hal deadpans, 

“I have no idea what on earth you're talking about! The security’s working fine! The codes aren’t doing anything!” Batman snaps, 

“Of course YOUR codes are fine. You’re the one who’s been messing with all the systems!” Cyborg retorts, Batman clenches his jaw. Diana’s lasso is suddenly on his wrist. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Batman growls, 

“If you're being so honest, let's test your honesty.” Diana scowls, 

“Wonder Woman I really don’t think-” 

“No, this is necessary, and this is getting out of hand. If you indeed are not compromised you WILL answer our questions.” Diana thunders, looking furiously at Batman. Batman looks at the gold lasso around his wrist. 

“I’m not compromised.” He says quietly. The rope doesn’t pulse, Batman doesn’t let out a blood-curdling scream. 

“See. Batman’s telling the truth. This is getting ridiculous.” Clark goes to unwrap the lasso. 

“No! He could still be lying!” Beast Boy exclaims,

“He already tested on the lasso, how the hell would he be lying?” Red Hood snaps back. 

“Magical compulsion can be ignored. The lasso hasn’t worked on him before.” Cassie, the current Wonder Girl, says, 

“I’m telling the truth.” Batman grunts but there’s an edge of desperation to it that only Clark seems to be able to hear. 

“Okay fine. If you’re telling the truth then why the fuck did you sweep into the meeting room and drop a fucking smoke grenade on all of us?!” Hal snaps furiously. Bruce feels like he’s in another dimension. His mind was spinning, a whirlwind of chaos as he tried to grasp what the hell was going on. 

“WHAT?” 

“If you REALLY weren’t compromised. If you REALLY ARE telling the truth. Then why the fuck did you drop the goddamn grenade!” Hal repeats slowly. As if Bruce were a particularly slow child. 

“What grenade?” Bruce asks, his voice coming out much breathier and much more panicked than he wanted. 

“The smoke grenade. Or did you not notice what you threw at the room?” Barry snaps, 

“Wait.. are you guys talking about the smoke that was in the room when we walked in?” Clark asks, looking just as confused. Thank fuck I’m not the only one. 

“YES! THAT WAS THE LEFTOVER SMOKE FROM HIS FUCKING GRENADE!” Oliver shouts pointing an accusatory finger at Bruce. He can’t look at the finger. He can’t look at another person accusing him. Your fault your fault you fault your fault.  Bruce turns to where his children are standing just a few feet away from him. 

“Kids…..” Bruce refuses to continue the question. It sounds gruff. He’s pretty sure his voice just cracked. 

“They’re telling the truth B. The thing exploded and we had to air the entire room out.” Tim finally says, looking uncomfortable. Bruce’s heart falters, none of his kids are looking at him. Except Damian. His youngest was finally looking at him, a face of pity among the angry. He couldn’t look at them. He ruined it all. Ruined it again. Ruined it over and over and over and over-

“But.. wait this happened a few minutes before we came in right?” Clark clarifies, the kryptonian’s voice is like an icy bucket of water on Bruce’s neverending thoughts. A flicker of hope. Clark was with me. 

“Yes it did.” Diana says, 

“I didn’t do it.” Bruce asserts, much more confidently than he feels. There was something really really wrong going on. His mind was at war with itself. His walls were threadbare. 

“Batman we all SAW YOU.” 

“No but I really didn’t do it. I was with Superman in the training rooms.” Bruce says, breathing rapidly. All the discrepancies… all the little things.. All the shit... when they asked me… we weren’t talking about the same thing…

“There he goes again with the gaslighting. Honestly Batman this is ridiculous. The entire ROOM saw you swing through and drop the smoke grenade.” Oliver scowls, 

“I didn’t do it.” Bruce insists, pieces of the last 4 months come back to him in resounding clarity. The mishaps, the annoyance as soon as he stepped in the room, the logs being off, the timings being wrong. The multiple, partial confrontations. No no no no no….

“Batman enough is enough. Whatever is going on needs to stop. You are clearly compromised and if you think–” 

“No. I was with Superman. I didn’t come into this room at all. I don’t know what you think you saw but it wasn’t me!” Bruce snarls, something else was going on. Bruce had been too in his own head to see it. He was still in his own head. He couldn’t get out of his head, because the person who could get him out wasn’t there to do it for him.

“Bullshit we-” 

“No Batman’s right. I was with him for the past 15 minutes. Whatever you saw wasn’t Batman.” Clark comes to Bruce’s defense. It does little to limit the buzz in Bruce’s veins, the panic and dread clawing him open and tearing him apart. Don’t cry. Don’t break down. Don’t break down. Don’t. Cry. 

“Batman could of disappeared when-” 

“But he DIDN’T. He walked the entire way down to this room with me.” Clark says, voice firm enough to leave no room for doubt. 

“But. But we SAW him. The cape. The cowl. He was literally HERE 5 minutes ago.” Barry insists, 

“I can’t be in two places at the same time Flash.” Bruce says slowly and quietly, feeling true terror crawl down his spine. He had been too blinded by emotions and his own fear and guilt to see it. The rogues that saw me before I showed up… even in Gotham… 

“Well if you want proof there’s footage.” Cyborg says suddenly. The large screen at the end of the room lights up. On camera, the timestamp showed 5 minutes ago, they all watch as a figure drops down, cape billowing behind him, pointed ears define “Batman's” cowl. Shouts of “Batman” echo on the screen before the “Batman” drops a couple things from his utility belt. The smoke fills the room, as does the screen. The camera gets clouded and the screen shuts off. 

“That… that’s impossible. Batman was WITH ME in the hallway when this happened! We were walking down here!” Clark snaps, panic was starting to crawl into his voice the way it seemed to be taking over Bruce’s soul. There’s somebody else. His heart is a traitor. There’s only 1 other person who’s ever been Batman. His mind screams the impossibilities. 

Cyborg pulls up the hallway camera, with the same timestamp, they watch as Batman and Superman walk to the room.  

“See! I told you! He was with me!” Clark snaps, 

“Both of the footage is from the exact same time. 5 minutes ago.” Cyborg says slowly to the silent room.

“But… but Batman can’t be in 2 places at once….” Oliver stutters, the room is noiseless. Bruce doesn’t let himself hope. He can’t. It would carve him in two if he was wrong. He’d break without anyone to put the pieces back together. 

“Batman ISN’T in two places at once.” Barry says with a calm finality. “One of them is the real Batman. The other is a doppelganger.” 

The silence in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. I didn’t know. I didn’t know I didn’t know. How the FUCK did I miss it? How the fuck did I IGNORE IT?! Except Bruce knew exactly how he was able to ignore it. How he was able to rationalize all the little things he thought were off, or ignore all the times his gut said that he should check on something. 

Because of Dick.

Emotions were not Bruce’s forte. He was the one who insisted on not letting emotions cloud your judgement, because he knew that the one most likely to act emotionally was Bruce himself. And the results of Batman acting on emotions were laid bare for the room to see. 

“I… I didn’t know.” Bruce’s voice is shaky. He hates himself for it. His control is breaking, his emotions threaten to seep out and take him down in a torrent of feelings too heavy to unmask in this room. Too heavy to ever unmask. 

“How do we know you're telling the truth?” Diana asks, voice accusatory. Bruce wants to cover his ears. He doesn’t want to hear. He wants to go home. He wants his son back. He wants out of this nightmare. 

“How do we even know if you’re the REAL Batman?” Hal’s voice is cold and emotionless. Just like Dick’s was. His breathing is too rapid. His chest is hollow. Bruce chokes back tears. He can’t. He can’t he can’t he can’t he can’t. 

“He IS the real Batman, because I am the doppelganger.” A replica of his own modulator. A figure steps through the crowd, large cape billowing behind him. Cowled eyes lock onto Bruce’s. Please… please please let it… it can’t be… please… Bruce doesn’t dare breathe, his body trembling from the force, the sheer weight of unspoken emotions, and desperation. The Batman in front of him is identical to Bruce. Only a trained eye would be able to see the differences. A trained eye that the rest of the room didn’t have. Bruce takes a step forward. Please.. PLEASE let it be… The Batman in front of him takes his cowl off. There’s a rippled gasp across the room.  A lean, toned body is revealed when the other Batman shrugs off the swirling cape, which had been concealing a magnificent blue bird. He steps out of the boots. He’s now shorter than Bruce, the perfect hugging height. 

“I guess you’re right B. I really am a sucker for a good spotlight.” Nightwing finally speaks. 

Chapter Text

Bruce is frozen. In front of him stands the same child he had been hunting down, and failing to find, for the past 4 months.  

“YOU SAW A STAGE AND A SPOTLIGHT AND YOU TOOK IT!”  His own voice echoes in his ears from their fight. In front of him stands Nightwing, face made of marble. Bruce’s lost his mind. Dick isn’t here. Dick is gone. Why would he come back? 

“You know if I really wanted to show off, I would’ve probably shut off the lights for added flair.” Nightwing speaks again when nobody says anything. 

“ALL YOU WANTED WAS A CHANCE TO SHOW OFF!”  His own words thrown back at him. It’s really him. Bruce is moving, the room now full of statues as everyone watches. Nightwing tenses. NO no NO you are NOT running away again DAMNIT. Nightwing moves back a step, Bruce grabs his arm. He makes contact. Actual physical contact. Bruce doesn’t let his brain process anything. He yanks the younger forward, he would not let him get away again. His arms wrap around a warm body. The perfect hugging height. They pause there. Bruce hugging tightly, Nightwing rigid in his arms. Suddenly the surety Bruce had before isn’t there. Nightwing isn’t moving, he’s stiff. Like a simulation. No. No no no no.  He’s a simulation. He isn’t real. He’s not actually. The simulation. He’s not really here. He’s not He’s not He’s not He’s He's He's–

Dick hugs him back. 

(. . . . .)

Batman breaks. 

The long held scream comes out, shattering his barriers and cascading through the cracks in his soul. It comes out as choked apologies and sobs. He’s crying. He’s finally crying and he doesn’t fucking care. 

“I’m sorry.” Bruce murmurs, holding him tighter. “I’m so so so so so sorry.” 

Dick hasn’t said anything else. He just holds Bruce. Holds him as he falls apart, holds him as Batman fractures in front of everyone’s eyes. For a couple of beats it’s just Bruce’s hitched breaths permeating the silent room. Then Dick whimpers, and his whimper turns into a sob and then in his arms, Nightwing is also crying, chest heaving as he wails into the bat symbol on Bruce's suit. Dick clings to him like a child. Like he did all those years ago. Bruce holds him. They hold each other as they fall apart. They catch each other when they fall. They put back together the jagged pieces of their respective souls. There’s movement behind him, Dick shifts in his arms to look. Bruce refuses to let him move much farther. 

“YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE!” Jason’s sudden added weight nearly sends all 3 of them onto the ground. 

“Hey Hood.” Dick chuckles wetly. His voice only makes the tears fall faster. I almost lost this. His throat is raw, but the tears and the crying don’t stop. It feels like they never will. Words are looping through Bruce’s mind. He’s back. He’s back. He’s home. He’s back. I’m sorry. I’m sorry and he’s back. He’s back and I’m sorry. 

“Don’t you EVER do that again!” Tim is squeezing past the Bruce-Jason barrier to hug Dick. 

“We were worried sick!” Steph clambers into the embrace. 

“You can’t leave us like that!” Damien scrambles underneath Bruce’s cape to latch onto Dick’s leg. 

“We missed you so much.” Cass is the last to the hug. Tears are still spilling from Bruce’s eyes. His family is together again. The relief is just as ravenous as the pain spilling from the depths of his heart. Dick’s back. He’s home. He’s back. He’s back. Thank you. Thank you for coming back. I’m sorry. Thank you and I’m sorry. He can’t speak. Everything he rehearsed. Everything he planned on saying when he finally saw Dick was gone. He had a plan. He knew what he would say, how he would apologize. He had it rehearsed. He says none of it. 

“I love you and I’m sorry.” Bruce whispers, 

The next night....

“Hey guys…” Clark greets, walking cautiously into Diana’s quarters. The other 4 were sprawled out in the living room. Oliver and Diana were on the sofa, Hal was standing by the large floor to ceiling windows. Barry was sitting on the ground by the coffee table. A bottle of wine was open and they each had amber liquid swirling in their glasses. Diana and Oliver take more sips, Hal doesn’t look away from the window. Barry is the only one who gives him a half-hearted smile. Clark sighs and walks over to the empty chair and sits down, pouring himself a glass. He takes a sip, and waits for one of them to speak. 

“You knew the truth.” Oliver finally says, 

“I didn’t.” 

“Yes you did. You were trying to convince us to leave Batman alone but then..” Instead of finishing his sentence Hal drinks from his glass. 

“I found out when I went to get him from the training rooms.” Clark admits, 

“You didn’t know before that?” Barry asks, 

“I didn’t. I swear.” 

More silence. Clark tilts the glass back and drinks. At night the best view of the solar system was from the Watchtower, where the lights of earth couldn’t pollute the view. 

“Are we assholes guys?” Hal asks, voice oddly vulnerable as he turns to them. A look of uncharacteristic guilt on his face. 

“Yeah… yeah Hal we are…” Oliver mutters before pouring himself more. 

“We didn’t know the truth.” Diana says, 

“What truth? That Nightwing is Batman’s son? Or the truth that they had a huge fucking fight which was tearing Batman apart?” Hal snaps, 

“Both. We didn’t know any of it.” Barry sighs,

The feelings of guilt are so palpable that Clark feels his heart grow heavy just being in the room. 

“Nightwing pretended to be Batman. He fooled all of us.” Clark says, 

“Well he IS the First Robin, another thing that nobody happened to mention to us. If anyone could do it, it would be him.” Oliver replies, his voice defeated.

“That still doesn't make anything that happened okay though.” Diana says, half heartedly. 

“Nightwing did apologize yesterday.” Barry pipes up, 

“He did but honestly I think everyone was too bewildered to process any of it.” Clark says, 

“I know that I'M still too bewildered to process it.” Oliver mutters,

“So was all of that. All of the shit that happened, just because Nightwing wanted to hurt Batman?” Diana asks quietly. 

“I honestly don't think Wing planned on it going that far.” Barry answers, “If you really think about it, most of the stuff he did was relatively harmless.” 

“Minus some barbed insults.” Hal adds walking over to the sitting area to plop down across from Barry. 

“The security system…” 

“He technically made it more secure didn't he?” Barry counters, 

“That huge Bat thing in Clark's room?” 

“It was chaotic but it didn't really hurt anyone.” Clark says, 

“The snooping?” 

“I think regular Batman does that too. He's just not obvious about it.” 

“You know… as far as evil genius plans go, this one was pretty damn good. Nightwing got under Batman's skin, while minimally hurting other people. Except maybe his siblings.” Hal says thoughtfully. 

“I still can't believe he's the oldest of Batman's kids.” Barry admits, 

“That's the thing you're struggling with? Really?” Oliver deadpans, 

“If anything this whole facade is concrete proof that he's Batman's child.” Diana says, “Only somebody truly close to Batman could get to him like that.” 

“Yeah and we turned it into a spectacle for everyone to see.” Hal grumbles, the silence is back. 

“I think we should apologize to him.” Clark suggests, 

“Yes please.”

“Thank you for saying that.” 

“We need to.” 

“I wasn't gonna say it but yeah we probably should.” 

All of them give Hal a look. 

“What?” 

“Even when you're being sincere you somehow still come off as an asshole. Maybe you're more similar to Batman than you think you are.” Oliver chuckles dryly. 

Hal flips him off but soon joins in as the others laugh.

The next day…. 

“Isn't this a little bit excessive?” Dick yawns as he struggles to sit up in his bed. 

“Precautions. Now sleep.” Damian demands, nearly clambering on top of him to keep him in place. 

“I would love to but I have to go to the bathroom.” Dick replies, lightly pushing the younger off of him. He manages to sit up. The struggle to the bathroom would be a real one. There's grumbles from his pile of siblings as he maneuvers around them to get off of his bed. Once he was done he steps out of the connected bathroom and takes a second to pause. 

Sun was filtering in the room and Dick had the insistent urge to take a picture. What he had done wasn't fair. A part of him felt that he didn't deserve the warm welcome back. When he revealed himself in that Watchtower he expected some screaming. He expected a lot of screaming. He expected to be yelled at and reprimanded. He had a plan, he had counterarguments. He wouldn't fall silent like he did 4 months ago. 

He did not expect Batman to break down sobbing.

Every argument faded. His heart was too soft to yell at a broken down Batman. It shifted his perspective. He'd gone too far. But it hadn't started that way. He never meant for it to go that far…. 

4 months ago...

“YOU SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM AND YOU TOOK IT!”

He does this all the time. 

“STRATEGIC MOVE?! YOU SAW A STAGE AND A SPOTLIGHT AND YOU TOOK IT!”

He always does this. Don't let it get to you.

“YOU SAW A CHANCE TO BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION AND YOU TOOK IT!”

“ALL YOU WANTED WAS A CHANCE TO SHOW OFF.”

“THIS ISN'T THE GODDAMN CIRCUS ANYMORE!”

“THIS ISN'T THE GODDAMN CIRCUS ANYMORE!”

The vitriol in the words haunted him. Dick hated ruminating on the past. The past was something to learn from, not get stuck in. But there was something about the fury and the way Bruce spit out the words as if they offended every one of his sensibilities which had Dick stuck. 

“ALL YOU WANTED WAS A CHANCE TO SHOW OFF!”  Dick wanted to believe that it came from a place of fear. That Bruce's anger came from a place of worry instead of disgust. 

“THIS ISN'T THE GODDAMN CIRCUS ANYMORE!”

Bruce Wayne was not a cruel man by nature. 

“YOU SAW A STAGE AND A SPOTLIGHT AND YOU TOOK IT!” 

That didn't mean that he couldn't be cruel.

Dick hears the door open and close behind him. He doesn't uncurl himself. The pillow soaked with tears, had dried as well. Bruce Wayne was not a cruel man, yet somehow he always found a way to remind Dick that he could be one. Dick didn't move. His chest heaved, more tears. His heart was a gaping wound. He didn't want to talk with anyone. 

The door opened and closed behind him again. At some point he got up and ate some of the food that was at the bedside table. His muscles were stiff from lack of movement. He checks the date on his phone. 3 days. He was dead to the world, a miserable mess for 3 days. He refuses to let Bruce know how badly he hurt him. Instead he walks to the bathroom and washes his face. The tears had dried, and the rage and pain had been locked away. A plan churned in his mind. He walks out of his room, and he can hear Roy, Donna, and Wally whispering quietly in the adjacent sitting room. Instead of going there he walks to Batman's room through the secret corridors. He takes a breath and punches in Batman's code. Walking in he finds what he's looking for. I am NOT just a show off. 

His steps are silent as he approaches the private sitting room. 

“He's been in his room for 3 days.” Donna was murmuring. 

“The next time I see Wayne I swear to fucking god.” 

“We can deal with him later. I'm worried about Dick.”

“You don't need to be.” His voice is rough from the crying. 3 sets of eyes snap to him. Silence descends as Dick walks forward. Cape pooling magnificently around him. I am not trying to just perform. 

“Your Batman.” Roy says, Dick pulls the cowl off of his head and tucks it under his arm. This isn't Haly's anymore but this is still my life. 

“I'm not Batman. I'm pretending to be Batman. Those are two different things.” 

“He'll notice.” Wally insists, 

“No he won't. Unless you're planning on telling him.” Dick replies, 

The silence is his loyalty. His plan will work. 

“I'm doing this to prove-” 

“You don't need to prove anything! Especially not to that bastard!” Roy explodes, Dick feels a flicker of affection in the cracked pieces of his heart. I am NOT a show off. 

“I'm doing it to prove that he's wrong.” Dick replies, 

“Dick. What he said was fucked up. HE fucked up. You don't need to prove anything to him.” Wally says gently. Another flicker of affection. Quickly extinguished. I am not just trying to perform. 

“I'm not doing it to prove myself to him.” Dick says quietly. The rest of his statement goes unspoken. They all know. 

“Then why are you doing it?” Donna asks, the look on her face means she already knows what he's about to say. 

“For him to understand that belittling someone to fancy flips and showing off is wrong.” Dick replies bitterly. There was something off about his voice. Dick Grayson was not inherently cruel, but he could be if pushed to his limit. “For him to understand that strategy and cunning can be hidden weapons. For him to get off of his high horse and realize that even Batman can be wrong.” 

“He knows he's wrong. He apologized." Donna says, 

“THAT DOESN'T EXCUSE HIM!” Dick shouts, he can feel the tears again. "EVERYTHING can’t be fixed automatically with an apology!” Damnit. He feels arms around him. “I… I can't even LOOK at him! Even THINKING about him makes me… makes me…” his sentences are lost to sobs. “THIS ISN'T THE GODDAMN CIRCUS ANYMORE!!” The voice, the words are an angry siren in his ears. When he can breathe again they pull away.  Still staying close enough to hold him but not quite for it to be a hug. 

“Why are you really doing this Dick?” Donna asks quietly. Dick looks at the 3 of them. His best friends since the beginning. They deserve the truth. Dick can lie to himself all he wants, but he can’t lie to them. He's not doing this to make Batman understand anything. He's not doing this to prove himself. Why am I doing this? 

“For vengeance." Dick replies,

Present Day…  

“You know you should take a picture. It'll last longer.” Jason's voice is suddenly next to him. He looks up at his little brother, and hugs him. Jason doesn't grumble or complain. He just hugs him back. Easily. As if Dick didn't push them away and hurt them too. 

“What I did wasn't fair to any of you.” Dick says into Jason's shirt. 

“It wasn't. But we get it. We've each had our share of fucking up other relationships when we're mad at Bruce.” Jason replies, Dick doesn't need elaboration. This was Jason apologizing for the distance in the beginning. It was fitting in a way. What comes around goes around. “All things considered you could've at least sent a letter if you didn't want Bruce to track you.” Jason mutters, startling a laugh out of Dick. He laughs way harder than he should. Hard enough that tears stream down his face and his other siblings come off of his bed to squish him in another group hug. 

“How… fuck… how are you guys not mad at me?” Dick whimpers, 

“We are kinda mad at you. But mostly we're relieved.” Tim says, 

“Yeah Bruce was acting like a kicked puppy and it was getting depressing to be around him.” Steph snarks, all of them chuckle as they pull apart. There's a light knock on the door. 

“Breakfast is ready in the dining room.” Alfred announces,

The walk down to the dining room is filled with chatter and jokes. It feels good. Dick can feel the cracks in his heart mending. When they sit down breakfast is laid out. It's warm and inviting. Yet Dick feels like something’s missing. He piles the pancakes and ignores the weird feeling in his stomach as Jason tries to spray Steph with maple syrup. 

“Where's father?” Damian suddenly asks, they all look to the head of the table. Bruce wasn't there. 

“He has some visitors in the cave right now.” Alfred explains calmly. The others accept it and go back to arguing and chitchatting. 

“Visitors?” Dick questions, picking his plate up. He walks with Alfred to the kitchen. 

“Yes I believe he'll be back in a bit. Don't worry yourself Master Richard.” Alfred says kindly. Dick bites his lip looking unsurely at the dining room. There were still some things he wanted to explain and he still had to apologize, to actually talk with Bruce. The past 2 days had been a whirlwind of hugs and movies and feeling so soft and light that it felt like darkness could never touch their family. But reality had to hit someday and honestly Dick just wanted to get it out there that he didn't mean for his charade to go this far. 

“If you want I'm sure Master Bruce would appreciate you bringing him some pancakes downstairs.” Alfred offers handing him a plate. “Just don't forget to change.” 

The Cave....

“Why did we decide to talk to Batman in the morning again?” Hal asks, with a yawn. 

“I'm more surprised that he said yes.” Barry says, 

“Can you both shut up? It’s too early to be alive right now.” Oliver grumbles, 

“It's 10am Oliver.” Diana gives him a look. 

“Stop arguing guys. We're here to apologize, not start another fight.” Clark snaps, 

“Who's starting a fight?” Batman walks out from a side room. 

“Nobody.” Barry says too quickly. Batman gives them a look. For a beat they all wonder if Nightwing is standing in front of them. 

“He's still asleep with the others upstairs.” Batman reads their minds. 

“So he really is…”

“My son? Yes.” Batman replies, there was silence. 

“We brought this for you.” Barry offers him a basket. Batman stares at the extended arm before slowly taking it. 

“Why did you bring this?” Batman asks slowly. The basket was full of treats and snacks with an apology card they had all signed.

“We… we wanted to apologize.” Diana says, 

“Why on earth are you all apologizing?” Batman blanches, 

“We were assholes to you.” Oliver admits, 

“We didn't know what was going on.” Clark says, 

“If we knew we never would've done what we did. Hell, we would've probably helped you find him if we knew.” Hal exclaims, 

“If you're apologizing for the intervention you shouldn't. You saw me acting erratic and you did something about it. As for Nightwing…” Batman sighs looking guilty. “I didn't even know the truth about that.”

“You didn't know he was your son?” Oliver gives him a weird look. 

“What? No.” Batman scowls, but it drops from his face and he looks uncharacteristically off. “I didn't know that he was pissing people off as me.” 

“Wait, you didn't know that he was pretending to be you?” Diana questions, 

“No I didn't know! Before that intervention the last time I saw him was 4 months ago!” Batman snaps, he takes a breath. “If anything, that intervention actually broke the ice between us, so I should be thanking you.” 

“You should NOT be thanking us. We were assholes to you.” Hal says, 

“You didn't have all the information. It's not your fault. You acted with the information you had. If I really were compromised you would've done the right thing. It just so happened that instead of me being compromised there was a doppelganger.” Batman replies, he didn't seem angry or furious like any of them anticipated. He seemed peaceful, happy even. 

“Damn B. That's a lot of emotional growth for 10 in the morning.” A familiar voice chuckles. They all turn to see Nightwing walking down the steps with a plate of pancakes in his hand. He was in pajamas with just a domino identifying him. He smiles at them, albeit a little hesitantly.

“I thought you were still asleep.” Batman pads over to him. 

“We woke up.” Nightwing replies, handing the plate over. 

“With your hands. You know like the rest of us peasants.” Nightwing deadpans, Batman gives him an exasperated but fond look. 

“We won't take up any more of your time Batman. We just came to apologize.” Diana says, 

“Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you guys… I can leave.” Nightwing says quickly, going to run back upstairs. 

“You didn't interrupt anything. We were just leaving anyway.” Oliver says, kindly. 

“You sure? I feel bad.” Nightwing says, face pinched guiltily. 

“You shouldn't feel bad Wing.” Barry says earnestly. 

“Yeah its okay Wing. We already let it go.” Clark agrees, 

“I feel like we aren't talking about the pancake interruption anymore.” Hal says, all of them give him a look. “OH. OH yeah Wing its no big deal.” Hal says hurriedly. Nightwing smiles a relieved smile. 

“We'll see you guys around. Have a good breakfast.” Clark grins, they walk to the zeta feeling lighter. 

“You really are a dense idiot you know.” Barry mutters to Hal. 

“Shut the fuck up.” Hal mutters back. Clark stifles a chuckle as he steps into the zeta. He hears laughter from somewhere behind him.

Batman will be okay. 

“So let me get this straight. Roy knew? Like the entire 4 months he knew? Seriously!” Jason scowls, once Dick is done vaguely explaining how he dodged some of them. 

“Well Donna and Wally knew too but yeah.” Dick replies, 

“Motherfucker never said a word to me!” Jason grumbles, 

“It's called ‘keeping your trap shut’ Jason. I’m sure Roy's never told Dick any of the personal things you told him either.” Tim says lightly. They were in Bruce's study now. After the founders’ left, Bruce and Dick walked back to find the dining room a bit of a mess. There was syrup all over the table and the others were busy cleaning it up. Once they were done they trooped to the study.

“I still can't believe none of us figured it out.” Bruce mutters, he and Dick were at the built-in window seat. Tim was sitting on Bruce's chair. Across the desk sat Cass and Jason. Damian and Steph were on a couch across the room by the bookshelf. 

“Well I had my doubts. I just couldn't get a good glance at Batman.” Cass says, 

“That was on purpose.” Dick replies, “I couldn't have you outing my little charade.” He shoots Cass a grin. Cass smiles back. Bruce is hugging him from behind, Dick's leaning back against his chest, and here in the study with his family Dick feels happier than he has in a very long time. 

“So Wally, Donna, and Roy knew the entire time. Cass had her doubts. I honestly had no clue what the fuck was happening.” Tim says,

“Yeah honestly I thought you were just having your mood swings Bruce.” Jason agrees, 

“I don't have mood swings.” Bruce retorts, everyone stares at him. Even Dick tilts his chin up to give Bruce a look.. “I don't have mood swings.” Bruce repeats. 

“Yes you do.” Tim deadpans, 

“Your mood swings are almost as bad as Jason's.” Steph agrees, 

“I don't have mood swings.” Jason scowls, 

“Yes you do. Every month you act like you're PMS-ing.” Cass smirks, 

“Seems like Todd and Father do have something in common then.” Damian snickers, Dick and Steph chuckle, Tim and Cass grin. 

“Look, we're talking about Bruce, not me. His mood swings are WAY worse than mine.” Jason snaps, 

“Yeah that's what we've been saying. That's why we all thought Batman was just PMS-ing.” Tim smirks, Bruce glares at him. 

“That was the entire point of it. Father was already freaking out since Richard was gone. It was the perfect set up to justify Batman's discrepancies in behavior.” Damian says, 

“Well maybe not perfect considering SOME people figured me out.” Dick throws a pointed look to the sofa. There's silence. Everyone turns to Damian and Steph. 

“YOU BOTH KNEW!” 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

“YOU KNEW THE ENTIRE TIME?” 

“DAMIAN. STEPH. EXPLAIN. NOW.” Flabbergasted shouts overlap each other. 

“If you stop screaming like lunatics then sure we'll explain.” Steph interrupts, 

“For the record we didn't know the entire time. We just found out 2 months ago.” Damien says once the others have quieted down. 

“You knew for 2 WHOLE MONTHS!” Jason exclaims, 

“Yeah we did. So much for world's greatest detectives.” Steph snickers, both Tim and Bruce scowl.

“How on earth did you two find out?” Cass asks, curiously.

“I can't believe you didn't tell any of us!” Tim exclaims, 

Bruce just looks down at Dick who smiles at him mischievously. 

“If you shut up we'll tell you how we found out.” Damian snaps, 

2 months ago....

“Are you sure Penguin is here Spoiler?” Damian frowns, they were a couple miles away from the West Dock. 

“Well that's what we're supposed to find out. That's the entire point of a stake out short stack.” Steph snarks, 

“He's not fucking here this is a waste of time.” Damian scowls, 

“If this is a waste of time then why did you agree to come with me? You KNEW that it was a stake out.” Steph frowns, there was a couple beats of silence. UGH could he be anymore like Bruce?

“I wanted to talk to you about Batman.” Damian says, 

“Uh… you want to talk to ME about Batman? I don't know if I'm the best-” 

“Not about THAT. About the JLA complaints.” Damian snaps, 

“Oh yeah that. Obviously. Me and Red talked to him about it.” 

“You did?” Damian turns away from the building they were surveying to look at her. 

“Yeah before we left we told him to knock it off and he said he would.” Steph says, 

“You spoke with Batman about this… And he agreed…” Damian sounds like he doesn't believe her. Honestly Steph didn’t believe it when Bruce said it the first time either.

“Yeah he agreed he was being an asshole and he promised to stop taking his bad mood out on everybody else. Thank fuck for that because if I had to listen to Supergirl, Zatanna, or Black Canary complain about Batman I would've actually lost my mind.” Steph rambles, she recognizes that she's rambling. Trying to fill space. Trying to make up for the stillness and the quiet. 

“Do you really think BATMAN would do those things?” Damian questions, 

“What.... shit on people? Yeah he would.” Steph replies bluntly. 

“No I meant the sneak attacks and the screwy security system, and the hacking into group chats and messing with people. Does that really seem like something BATMAN would do?” Damian emphasizes, 

Steph bites her lip. She had entertained the thought before. That it wasn't actually Bruce. Some of the things they were told were so absurd it was difficult to believe Batman would have anything to do with it. 

“Doesn't it sound more like something Nightwing would do?” Damian asks, the little shit had a habit of being overly attentive to those he deeply cared about. 

“It…it does. All of it is shit that Dick's done to mess with us before for pranks and stuff… and…” Steph trails off, Damian seems to be coming to the same conclusion she is. 

“I saw Batman fighting Riddler a couple days ago. He was too light on his feet.” Damian comments, 

“He was kicking Two-Face around the other day too.” Steph adds, 

“Harley and Poison Ivy were cleaning up tea when I saw him grapple out of the warehouse yesterday.” Damian says more certainly. 

“He had some of Joker's goons ready to piss themselves late last night.” Steph adds on to the ever growing pile of evidence.

 Evidence that proved that the person under Batman's cowl wasn't always the same person. Evidence that would only make sense to people who had worked a significant amount of time with a different Batman. And they had. They were the only ones who had worked extensively with someone other than Bruce donning the cowl. They couldn't be wrong about this. 

“You don’t think—” 

“He would though…” 

A figure swings by them, dark cape billowing behind as Batman flies seamlessly through the air. Batman's supposed to be across the city right now…. 

Time slows as the Dark Knight's cowled gaze locks onto them. Seconds feel like hours.

Then—Batman smiles.

And vanishes into the night.

His Batgirl and his Robin follow.

Present Day...

“So what happened once you guys caught up to Dickhead?” Jason asks,

“What makes you think they caught up to me?” Dick smirks,

“We were gaining on him but then the stupid bat cut us off and chased us back to the West Dock.” Steph scowls, 

“Wait, that bat creature thing was you?” Tim gapes at the eldest. 

“Yeah I took some tips from Dami's animal wrangling.” Dick grins, 

“That bat ripped my cape.” Bruce grumbles, 

“You… it what….?” Dick sputters as the others stare at Bruce. 

“The bat ripped my cape before I ran into Riddler and Penguin that day.. and wait .. why were Riddler and Penguin all wet?” Bruce suddenly asks, 

“You ran into Penguin that day? Then why the fuck were you asking us where he was?” Jason scowls, 

“I ran into him AFTER the bat-thing ripped my cape Jason.” Bruce sighs, “Riddler's the one who gave me the cards that led me to Joker.” 

“Oh my fucking god those riddle cards I forgot about those.” Dick chuckles, 

“YOU gave those to Riddler? I thought Joker did!” Bruce looks flabbergasted. Dick enjoys the expression because they don't see it often. 

“Yeah I told him to come up with better riddles, gave him the cards and then dumped both of them into a nearby sewer.” Dick giggles, 

“And the jester card that led me to Joker?” Bruce asks, 

“I guess it slipped in there by accident. Sorry B.” Dick smiles sheepishly. 

“But Joker was acting weird. When I went to find him he was drinking at a bar.” Bruce argues, 

All of them stare at Dick. Dick bites his lip as he thinks over it. HAD he done something to Joker? It was a little difficult to remember at this point. 

“He might've been brooding because Batman was seen blowing up some of his hideouts.” Damian says nonchalantly. 

“Wait WHAT!” 

“Holy fucking” 

“Oh my fucking god I forgot about that!” Dick hunches over in Bruce's embrace, laughing. 

“You… you blew up Joker's hideouts?! As ME?!” Bruce shrieks, voice going up an octave. 

“Yeah.. oh oh and I also spray painted shitty jokes on the wall with terrible drawings to piss him off.” Dick grins impishly.

“You are my new hero.” Jason smiles,  

“That's absolutely wild.” Tim laughs, 

Once the laughter dies down Bruce finally speaks. 

“I can't believe you did all of that stuff.” Bruce shakes his head, sounding exasperated. 

“I was mad at you. I wanted you to feel what I felt but… but I went too far. I know that now.” Dick says turning so that he's facing all of them. 

“Dick you-” 

“No I.. I need you guys to know that I didn't mean for it to go this far.” Dick looks at each of them earnestly. “It was just supposed to be a ‘taste of your own medicine’ thing.” 

“Instead it turned into you mentally fucking with Bruce.” Jason says,

“Yeah..that…” Dick winces, “I just… I wanted to apologize.” 

“You already have. We already said that we forgive you Dick. “ Cass says gently.

“Yeah it's okay. You were mad. We get it. We've all been through the ‘pissed at Bruce’ phase.” Steph grins, 

“Goldie, trust me, we've all done shit. Don't beat yourself up about it.” Jason says, honestly. 

“If we really wanted to stay mad at you there are other things we'd be mad about Dick. You hurt us unintentionally.” Tim agrees 

“Yeah if you really think about it you outsmarted father. Don't sully that victory with guilt when we've already forgiven you.” Damian says adamantly.

Dick looks at Bruce. He still hadn't said anything. 

Bruce lets out a breath. “You put me through hell.”

“Yeah I know I did. I went too far and I'm sorry.” Dick says, feeling lighter. 

“You stole my apology.” Bruce scowls,

“Bruce, you've already apologized.” Dick sighs, 

“Yes I have and so have you. We're even now so stop it.” Bruce says adamantly. 

“For now,” Dick says with a playful glint in his eye. 

Bruce narrows his eyes. “What do you mean ‘for now’?”

“Nothing,” Dick says, too quickly. The others exchange looks. 

“Dick… what did you do?” Bruce asks anxiously. 

“B–before you get mad… I set this one up before the whole confrontation thing happened at the Watchtower...” Dick smiles nervously.

“Dick. What. Did. You. Do.” Bruce demands.

An impish grin, reminiscent of his Robin days, appears on Dick's face. 

“Guess you'll just have to wait and see!”