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Bruce wasn't sure what exactly he was getting himself into when his kids wanted him to do something therapeutic. They weren't exactly experts but they were detectives more or less so, they figured out therapeutic habits and Tim had put a presentation together which Bruce had to sit through while Dick and Tim lectured on with occasionally Stephanie and Cass adding somethings.
Jason was there just to watch Bruce suffer and Damian sat next to Bruce to spend more time with him. Alfred was lingering around, silently chuckling to himself as the younglings passionately babbled on.
In the end Bruce found himself being handed a list of therapeutic habits/hobbies to choose from. The first one was ‘having a regular sleep schedule’. Bruce didn't even bother to read the whole para before he looked Tim dead in the eye. Tim shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze.
“You remember the condition, right?” Bruce said slowly.
Instead of replying Tim opted to glare at Dick who grinned shamelessly.
“You put that first,” Tim accused.
“I know nothing,” Dick shrugged but his grin didn't help him prove his innocence.
“Tim Drake, do you remember the condition?” Bruce repeated.
“Uh-yeah,” Tim said, not meeting his eyes, instead glaring at his siblings who were silently laughing.
“Good,” Bruce focused back on the list. His condition was if he's gonna try then so will his kids have to.
There were some more habits and some hobbies listed, cause apparently dressing up as a bat and beating criminals or acting as a fake persona built to hide that said bat didn't count as hobbies.
Thus Bruce's therapeutic journey began.
Honestly, Bruce never imagined himself knitting but well he never imagined he'd have like seven kids under his wing, so here he was.
It started small, he thought it was a joke that knitting was put on the list. But after other failed hobbies Dick and Cass just went ahead and got him knitting tools and various wools which err…. did lie around for quite a while. Bruce finally gave it a try only to not upset them. Surprisingly, it was kinda nice.
Well, speedrun through the learning, Bruce now had a Nightwing and Red Hood plushie lying around in his room… or was.
The Nightwing plushie vanished like two days after it was finished. So, Bruce had been very careful with his Red Hood one; he didn't want it stolen. Plus he wasn't sure how Jason would react to it. Their relationship was still… rocky.
But they were trying to compromise and stay in the same proximity which wasn't much hard around others, but Bruce noticed Jason and he was almost never alone for more than a few minutes. Kinda hurt that Jason would excuse himself if it happened, but well, they were working on it.
Jason still came by the manor for Alfred's cookies or playing with Damian or others and sometimes to spar, but there was a distance Bruce could feel. So, frankly, he didn't want to throw his kid off.
So, plushie Red Hood was safe and sound inside his closet while he pondered over whom to knit next. Serialwise, it should be Red Robin, but Bruce, in all his glory, had a really fun (probably bad) idea for another Red Hood plushie. So, a few days later he had a regular size Red Hood plushie and extra large size. Bruce laughed for a good while after finishing the second one. It was hilarious and too adorable. And Bruce definitely didn't want it stolen, so he kept it a secret too. Or so he had hoped to keep.
When your son dies, you get a hole inside your chest that can't ever be filled, even if the said son somehow springs back to life. Bruce would love to hug Jason, but welp, it wasn't easy, so he settled for the round plushie.
He'd just hold it close to his heart and sometimes walk around like that when no one (except Alfred who had found out about it soon after he started making it and almost lost his professional expression) was at the manor. Maybe that's where he went wrong.
Bruce was in the living room with his wools and tools, making progress on his Red Robin plushie with round Red Hood tucked in beside him, keeping his company. A blanket was loosely sprawled over his legs as he repeated the calming process of knitting.
Suddenly the door swung open. Bruce was about to go into a fighting stance because no one (except Alfred) was supposed to be home, but relaxed when he saw the familiar face with a strike of white in the hair. Then tensed again, remembering the Red Hood plushie. He shifted immediately, acting as if fixing the blanket and hoped he covered the plushie with his body before Jason could catch a glimpse of it.
All of it happened in mere seconds leaving two awkward men staring at each other.
Bruce smiled, trying to dissolve the awkwardness he spoke, “Hello.”
It only felt more awkward.
“Uh-yeah, hey,” Jason finally said, taking in the whole sight. There was a tingle of suspicion in his eyes, he hadn't totally bought that fixing blanket facade.
“I was just looking for Alfred,” Jason added.
“Oh, I think he's with the Batcow.” Bruce supplied.
“Oh,” Jason stood there a second too long as if hesitating, then commented, “You're really taken to knitting, eh?”
Bruce was surprised, but pleasantly.
“Yeah, it's nice.” he said, not wanting to tarnish the small moment they were having.
“What are you making?” Jason asked after another moment of silence.
Bruce thought he could die happily tonight.
“It's a Red Robin plushie,” Bruce said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Jason raised an amused eyebrow with a small upward peck of his lips, “Does Timbo know?”
Oh, Bruce could definitely die happily.
“I haven't told him yet, but knowing him, he probably does,” Bruce said with a smile.
“Yeah, probably.” Jason said, finding nothing else to say.
“Uh- I'll go see Alfred, happy knitting, ol’ man.” Jason fled with that.
Bruce would have liked for him to stay a while longer, but he was happy that Jason was willing to strike up genuine casual conversation, so he decided to be content with it.
Surprisingly, he found Jason in the kitchen for dinner, bickering with Damian. Others weren't home for dinner tonight, so Bruce hadn't expected Jason would stay. However, Bruce quickly hid his surprise behind a warm smile and took a seat, not very close but also not very far from Jason.
They had dinner in silence with Damian and Jason sometimes talking with each other. Jason had disappeared somewhere mid-dinner then joined again a few moments later. Bruce didn't question him, he was just glad he didn't run off mid-dinner.
Two days later, Bruce found his round Red Hood missing. He searched for it everywhere, but it was simply gone. Disappeared into thin air. Bruce was quite down for a few hours but then he saw Jason strolling around the manor and was uplifted again.
“Jason's been around the manor quite often these days, hasn't he?” Bruce happily commented to Alfred who was dusting the shelves off.
“He certainly has been,” the older man said with a chuckle.
“Do you think something has happened?” Bruce asked.
“Oh,” Alfred seemed to have some conclusion but he just said, “He's probably getting comfortable.”
Bruce eyed the man for a moment, there was something he didn't know.
“What?” Alfred asked.
“Uh-uh. Nothing.” Bruce glanced at his own hands, “I'm just… happy.”
Alfred gave him a very warm smile.
In the end, Bruce made a whole set of vigilantes and it felt unfinished with a Batman, so he knitted a Batman for the set too before he called all the kids to show off his proud work.
“You made all of these!?” Tim asked in awe.
“I got one too??” Stephanie looked stunned, eyeing the purple spoiler plushie.
Cass just took the Black Bat and gave Bruce a tight hug before taking her spot on a couch and hugging the plushie.
Damian scoffed at the sight of his Robin plushie but Bruce didn't miss him sneakily stealing the plushie as he went out of the room.
All of it put a genuine smile on Bruce's lips, feeling all of it was worth it.
They were all passing the plushies around when Jason stumbled in. All the eyes turned to him.
“Hey, I heard ol’ man is showing off some dolls,” Jason said lightly. Everyone smiled at him. As much as he didn't sound like he cared, his presence said otherwise.
“Yeah, here's the Red Hood!” Stephanie held the Red Hood plushie up for him to see.
Jason stared at it for a moment, then–
“You made a normal one!?” he said with disbelief, looking at Bruce.
“How do you know about the other one?” Bruce said at the same time as:
Tim said, “There's another Red Hood?”
“An abnormal one?” Stephanie added.
“How does Todd get two but I get only one?” Damian demanded.
“Not fair,” Cass said.
Bruce ignored the others, staring at his second eldest.
“You took it.” he concluded.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Jason said with a blank face.
“You do! You could've just told me! I searched for it everywhere!” Bruce exclaimed.
“What a world's greatest detective you are,” Jason muttered unimpressedly. Bruce gaped at him.
Others were looking back and forth between the two, wondering what was the significance of the other plushie.
“Uh, so what is this abnormal plushie?” Stephanie asked hesitantly.
Jason suddenly seemed to have understood his mistake and looked very interested in the ceiling instead. Every eye turned to Bruce now.
“I might've made it a bit round,” Bruce said.
“Round?”
“Fat Red Hood!?”
“Where is it??”
“Show us!!”
“No!” Jason snarled as Bruce said, “I might have a picture.”
Jason glared at Bruce who was searching through his phone for the pic.
“Ah, there it is,” Bruce said, oblivious to Jason's glare.
Jason launched for the phone as Bruce tried to show the pic. However, Bruce was faster to pass the phone. They all ended up in a chase where Jason tried to snatch the phone from whoever held it. Tim finally ended up with the phone while Dick and Cass kept Jason away from him.
“O my goodness!” Tim exclaimed, shaking from laughter.
Jason tried one last time to save his dignity but when he tackled Tim the phone was already passed to Stephanie. Jason could only watch in horror as the phone passed through Cass, Dick and Damian's hands, each one, even the demon brat, cracking with laughter.
“This is the best one,” Dick said with his stupidly wide grin. Cass nodded in agreement. Alfred chuckled while Tim and Stephanie were still laughing.
“How'd you even come up with this?” Stephanie asked Bruce impressedly.
Bruce shrugged, “Just on a whim.”
“You’ll all pay for this,” Jason said with bright red ears.
“Aww, come on, we know you love it,” Tim teased.
“You're first,” Jason glared at Bruce, promptly ignoring Tim.
“Yea, of course,” Bruce mused. Jason gave up and crashed on the couch perpendicular to the one Bruce was sitting on and buried his flushed face.
“I hate you.” he muttered.
“Yea, I love you too.” Bruce said before thinking, smiling slightly.
Everything stood still for a moment, it wasn't everyday Bruce voiced his love. Even Bruce went still, realizing what he had said. Jason didn’t raise his head from the cushion and only grumbled and everybody decided to get back to whatever they were up to.
“I demand a round Red Hood too, father.” Damian said.
“Round Red Hood– pfft,” Stephanie laughed.
“Round Red Hood? More like Fat Jason,” Tim chimed in.
“Fat Jason,” Cass repeated, “...Fatson?”
The room bursted into laughter.
Jason groaned loudly, “I hate you all.”
The evening had mostly gone by with laughter (special thanks to Fatson), but Bruce had noticed his eldest being a bit down which was very unlike him.
Sure, Dick laughed with others, teased Jason and cracked jokes but when the laughter subdued he seemed to get a bit too quiet. Bruce felt a bit worried.
“Dick,” Bruce called Dick after they were done with dinner and Dick was heading back to his room.
“Yeah, B?” Dick stopped and looked back at him.
“Is something wrong?” Bruce asked, trying to be earnest.
“Uh. No.”
“Dick.”
“Er… It's really stupid,” Dick said, sighing. Bruce's gaze softened. He walked closer to his son.
“What's wrong, chum?”
A flicker of emotion ran through Dick's face, hearing his nickname. Then, he looked down to his hands.
“Why didn't you make mine?” Dick asked quietly, barely above a whisper.
“Make your…?” Bruce felt lost, furrowing his eyebrows.
“Uh, I'm sorry, I know this is really stupid and…”
“Chum,” Bruce stopped him, “I don't think anything that bothers you is stupid. Help me out here, what did you mean?” he said softly, looking at his son with a firm but soft gaze.
“Uh, the plushies.” Dick said uncomfortably.
Bruce's mind went blank for a moment, then he understood.
“Oh. Oh.” Bruce gasped.
Dick looked at him questioningly.
“You didn't know.” Bruce said more of a statement than a question.
“What?”
“The Nightwing plushie.”
“There's one?” Dick raised an eyebrow.
“Oh my, I'm so sorry, chum!” Bruce exclaimed, “I thought you knew since everyone's already on the board.”
Dick appeared very confused, “What??”
“Oh my, how did this happen?” Bruce murmured to himself, “Of course, I made a Nightwing plushie! That was the first one I made!”
“Really?” Dick said, almost hopefully.
“Yeah, and it got stolen two days after I finished and everyone's been stealing it from everyone ever since. I thought you already stumbled into it sooner or later.”
“There's a Nightwing plushie being stolen around?” Dick seemed really astonished at the news.
“Yeah! Even Oracle stole it and managed to keep it for a few days. I don't know who has it now, but whoever it is, doesn't dare say a word cause everyone else will jump them. It's like a running game at this point to see who gets to keep it the longest..” Bruce informed him.
Dick stared at him for another long second with disbelief before bursting into laughter.
“Oh, B, this is really so stupid,” Dick said before warping him in his octopus hug. Bruce offered him a smile and hugged back.
“Thanks, B.”
Bruce just silently patted his back. Dick pulled back after a few moments with a wide grin, “I guess the game has a new player now.”
“The running champion is Cass. She managed to keep it for a whole week. Good luck beating that.” Bruce said with a smile.
“Oh, I'm gonna crush that!”
Bruce had settled on his bed when he felt someone standing in front of his door. Whoever it was, they stood for quite some time before hesitantly knocking on the door.
“Come in,” Bruce said, siting up from the bed.
The door silently swung open to reveal Jason standing in the hallway.
Jason stood there a second before hesitantly asking, “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” Bruce said softly.
Jason tentative steps in as if he was afraid to break something. He was clutching something in his hand. As he came closer, Bruce realized it was the Fatson. Jason stopped a feet away from the bed.
“Uh, do you want it back?” Jason asked, holding out the plushie.
Bruce glanced at the plushie and his face. It was hard to read Jason's expression in the dark but it was clear he wasn't here to give back the plushie.
“It's okay,” Bruce said, “You can keep it. I'll make another one.”
“You're gonna make more??” Jason sounded half-astonished, half-repulsed.
“Not if you don't want me to,” Bruce added sincerely.
“Uh, it's… okay.” Jason said finally.
“You can keep it till you make another one.” Jason indicated to the plushie.
“Are you sure?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said lightly, “I'm taking the Batman with me anyway, so it's fine.”
“You're taking Batman!?” Bruce almost shouted in surprise but controled his tone.
Jason bit his lips, “Ugh, yeah. Any problem?”
“No, no. None at all! I'm… I'm happy to hear that.” Bruce said slowly.
“Ugh, whatever.” Jason said as if emotions were disgusting him.
“You'll have to knit me a Wonder Woman plushie too.” Jason said, putting the Fatson beside Bruce.
“Sure,” Bruce smiled, “I can knit you a FatBat too if you want.”
Jason seemed repeled by the idea, “Do you not feel any embarrassment, eh?”
“You're taking to someone who pulls off Brucie Wayne, Jay.”
Jason's expression shifted with the nickname, Bruce couldn’t really say if it was good or bad.
“You're imposible.”
Bruce laughed lightly.
Jason stood there for another moment before saying, “I'll go then.”
“Are you staying at the manor?” Bruce asked as Jason started towards the door.
“Ugh, yeah.”
Bruce beamed, “I'll see you at breakfast.”
“Sure, whatever,” Jason said dryly, then stopped when he opened the door to leave.
“Oh, Bruce?” he looked back.
“Hmm?” Bruce said attentively.
“Iloveyoutoo,” Jason said very quickly and before Bruce could even process it, he shut the door and fled.
Bruce stayed still in stunned silence. Did he just hear it right!? Jason said he loved him!????
Bruce had an urge to find him and give him a bear hug but he knew he shouldn't push the boundary so instead he buried his head into the Fatson plushie. He really could die happy tonight.
Dick later smugled the Nightwing plushie to Blüdhaven and it ended with a race of all bats to see who gets their hands on it first and to finally put the madness to end Bruce ended up knitting everyone their very own Nightwings(Jason requested a Fatwing) and other ones that they wanted. Until Bruce was doen making them the plushies were put on a rotation cycle for everyone(Damian wanted a Red Robin too but Bruce was absolutely forbidden to let anyone know).