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robinrites · 2 years

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It's Bats

Day One of Whumptober Let's Go!

Prompts: A Little Out of the Ordinary, "This Wasn't Supposed to Happen", Adverse Effects, Unconventional Restraints

Fandom/blurb: Batman (Red Hood specifically) Jason Todd has been kidnapped after a drug deal (that was supposed to be a sting operation) goes wrong. Left alone with no backup and little hope of rescue, Jason can only hope that he can escape before his time runs out.

PS: I'm also on AO3 (zthewriter108)

“Fuck!” Jason’s eyes flitter open in a daze as he hears someone cuss above him. He makes out hazy shapes before his eyes fall shut again. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Jason feels a tug on his arms, accompanied shortly by the feeling of being dragged across the floor. He shakes his head, trying to get out of the daze he’s in, only to be grabbed by sleep once more.

When Jason opens his eyes again, he can’t help but wince and quickly shut them. He cautiously reopens them, trying to ignore the shooting pain from the back of his head. Thankfully, the lights seem a little less bright, which allows him to fully take in his situation. Start from the head down, like B taught you, he mentally reminds himself, hoping that by the time he’s done taking stock of his situation, his captors will return to give him some answers.

“Okay,” He sighs, “Head is hurting. A lot, heh. Must’ve hit it on something when I was being dragged, or before that. Jaw feels like I’ve been punched,” He wiggles his jaw a bit and winces, “that’s also probably contributing to the headache. Arms are pretty sore, probably from being tied to a fucking radiator.” He glances over and notices how his wrists are awkwardly bound at the top of the radiator, despite the fact that he’s seated. He squints, looking at the bindings around his wrists, “Are those electrical cords?”

“Don’t worry they’re not plugged into anything.” A soft voice from the shadows interrupts, startling Jason-- though he’d never admit it. “Sorry, I mean you no harm.” A man emerges from the shadows, allowing Jason to finally get a good look at his captor. He’s wearing a ski mask, so no luck on what his face or hair looks like, but if Jason were to guess correctly, he’s about 5’10 and probably is in his mid 30s. “I just thought you might want some painkillers.” The man opens his hand to reveal two small white pills. Jason’s eyes dart from the pills, to the glass of water in the man’s other hand, to his eyes. No telltale signs of lying but you can never be too cautious in situations like these.

“No thank you.” The man closes his fist and furrows his brow.

“It’ll help you feel better.”

Jason tugs at his restraints in response, “Y’know I sure would feel a lot better if I wasn’t tied up right now, think you could help me there?”

The man looks uncomfortable under his mask from the implication, “Look, I know this isn’t ideal but you were snooping in my business and I didn’t mean to knock you out but I can’t have you going to the cops. I’m sure you’re a good kid, but my work is too important.”

Shit, he still thinks I’m a kid. Jason briefly winces before switching to a scared civilian face. He’d forgotten what had led him to this situation in the first place. As Red Hood he’d gotten word of a man who was breaking his rules, selling drugs to kids. Not any drugs though, some kind of hybrid that really messed them up, if the dosage didn’t kill them first. He’d had a hard time finding him as Red Hood, so Jason decided to switch up techniques. Pretend to be younger than he is and see if this guy would sell to him, place a tracker, then beat the shit out of him once he was back in costume. Only this guy had gotten the jump on him.

Jason zones back into what the man was saying, “-and that’s why I had to use the electrical cords.”

“I’m sorry I missed that.” Jason tries to add a hint of fear to his voice, “Y-you hit my head really hard.”

“I said I was using electrical cords because I wasn’t prepared for you to try to turn me over to that Red Hood son of a bitch. Didn’t have anything better to use, but hey it’ll hold you for now won’t it?” Jason never thought he would miss his utility belt, or the tiny knife hidden in his gloves, as much as he does now. Shame he stashed it at a warehouse a couple blocks from where he was taken, but he can’t help but hope one of his siblings will find it and realize something's off.

“Red Hood?” Jason tugs experimentally again, only to be reminded of how tightly the cords are tied. “You mean the vigilante?” He shakes his head, “I don’t know him, I swear!”

“Sure you don’t.” The man steps forward and pats Jason on the cheek. “Now, I need you to be a good boy and take your medicine. I don’t want to have to force you to take it.” Jason leans his head back until he hits a wall. “Why the sudden hesitance? You were so eager to buy some a couple hours ago.”

Panic rises in his voice, to the point where Jason’s not even sure if it’s acting. “It uh, it wasn’t for me.” He nervously laughs, “You don’t need to do this.”

He tightly shuts his mouth, only for the man to plug his nose, cutting off his air supply. Jason makes it a minute before he opens his mouth, gasping for air. The man takes this chance to shove the pills into Jason’s mouth, accompanied by water, then his hand firmly placed over it so he can’t spit it out.

“Swallow.”

Not even five minutes later, Jason feels instantly hit with exhaustion. He hears the man say something else to him, but the words come out fuzzy and he can’t understand them. He allows his head to lull to the side, but it moves faster than he thought it would, resulting in him hitting his head on the side of the radiator, dragging him to sleep faster than the pills would have.

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“B, come in.” Dick calls over his radio, trying to ignore the fact that he’s holding the Red Hood’s mask.

“What do you have, Nightwing?” Bruce responds, his voice lacking in emotion, as it always does when he’s Batman.

Dick sets the helmet back down on the pile of clothes-- Jason’s costume-- and forces himself to look away. “I think something happened to Jay- I mean Red Hood.”

“Elaborate.”

“I was just finishing up my patrol, and I found his costume left unguarded. And it’s not in one of his usual spots.” Nightwing forces himself to look back at the pile for a moment. “Hell, I only stopped by here because I noticed signs of a fight a couple warehouses down. Seemed like there was a fight, then someone got dragged away. Didn’t look good. B what if-”

“I’ll be right there, sit tight, but don’t let your guard down.” Despite the situation, Dick smiles a bit, it’s always nice to hear Batman have some emotion when he talks. He seems more like Bruce when he does.

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When Jason wakes up again, he’s alone. His head is fuzzy, his ears are ringing and his wrists are burning, but at least he’s alone. As he becomes more alert, the effects of the drugs wearing off, he tries to focus his energy on escaping his restraints. He tries to pull one of his wrists out, thinking that if his wrist can get out, if he dislocates his thumb he should be able to get his hand free. Unfortunately, he is unable to even get the base of his hand to where it would need to be for his plan to work. Jason sits himself up as much as he can, glancing at the top of the radiator. His eyes land on a screw that is thankfully not screwed in all the way. Now to just get my wrists closer to that. The door opens and Jason quickly slumps back down, falling back into his scared teenager demeanor.

“I should let you know my dad’s probably looking for me right now.” I really hope he is, he thinks to himself as a side note. “And probably my brothers too!”

“What are they cops?” The man sounds a little panicked when he asks this.

“Maybe.”

The man steps closer, Jason stops himself from rolling his eyes when he sees the ski mask is still on. “Well if they are cops, I might as well just kill ya, huh?” Jason panics, that was absolutely not where he had wanted this to go.

“You got me haha!” He forces a laugh, “They’re not cops, just badasses.”

Now it’s the man’s turn to roll his eyes, “Oh I’m so scared.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a bottle of pills, then shakes a couple into his hand.

“H-hey we don’t need to do this.” Jason stutters, afraid he’ll get hooked on whatever mystery drug the man keeps forcing him to take, “I’ll shut up I promise.”

“What’s your name kid?”

“Jason.” His eyes stay fixed on the hand with the pills, not willing to look away for even a second.

“And how old are you, Jason?”

“18.” Despite the fact that he’s 24, the man seems to believe his lie.

He steps closer, “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, I’d hate to have to kill you. That’s why I’m giving you these pills, they’re just to help you sleep so our time together goes by faster. Then you can go home to your dad and brother sooner.” He takes in the look of refusal on Jason’s face and groans. “How about this, you take your pills, and I’ll give you something to eat.” As if on cue, Jason’s stomach grumbles. Damnit. The man holds the pills out and looks at Jason expectantly. He closes his eyes, then opens his mouth. The pills go down, earning him a pat on the head.

“Good boy.” Jason suppresses a growl. “I’ll give you some food next time you wake up,” He notices Jason’s angry look and laughs, “What? It’s not like you’re not about to go to sleep or anything.” Jason’s eyelids start to droop as he fights to stay awake. “Good night.” The man turns on his heel, then walks out of the room, but Jason is asleep before he even reaches the door.

The next time the man returns, Jason finds himself struggling to fight off the haze. His eyes refuse to open more than halfway, and the strength he’d previously had to lift his head has vanished. The man smiles and kneels in front of Jason, grabbing his chin to examine his face.

“It’s taken fewer doses than I had anticipated.” He releases Jason’s head, which flops forward, then begins to quickly write in a notebook he has in his hand. Seconds later he lifts Jason’s head up again and leans it against the wall so he is forced to look at the man. “I made you a smoothie, as promised.” The man brings a glass with a pink drink inside it into Jason’s field of view. “I figured you wouldn’t be up for eating anything, but we’ve still got to get nutrients into you.” Upon noticing Jason’s concerned expression, he laughs again.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s just a strawberry banana smoothie, totally safe.” He sticks a straw into the cup, then puts the straw in Jason’s mouth, holding the cup for him. Jason tries to resist, but as soon as the smoothie hits his taste buds, he can’t help but greedily drink it until it is pulled away from him. Jason wants to protest, but his brain can’t seem to put together how to talk. “Can’t have you get an upset stomach now can we?” Jason sees him set the smoothie down before grabbing a second cup filled with water and that damned pill bottle. “Say ah.”

He swallows the pills without protest, slipping off into oblivion like the times before. As he sleeps, he dreams of Bruce coming to save him. Batman sweeps him up and takes him back to the cave. The man and his time here become a distant memory. He’ll stop being tired, when Bruce comes to save him. If Bruce comes to save him.

Jason wakes up again, but his eyes don’t open. The only way he even knows he’s awake is because he can feel the pain coming from his injuries. Minutes pass and he is eventually able to open his eyelids a slightest bit, sighing in relief when he sees the man isn’t there. He allows his eyes to close once more, focusing instead on his breathing.

Suddenly, he hears the sound of windows smashing. His eyes flitter open as he watches the man rush into the room and grab him. He feels a gun rest on his temple as the man holds him in front of him, like he’s a shield. His brain screams at him to fight, but his bound wrists and hazy mind keep him in place. If it was not for the man, Jason’s not even sure he would still be upright. Two figures dart into the room, one in all black, the other in dark blue. His mind tells him that he knows these people, but he can’t figure out how.

“Let him go.” The one in black demands, Jason can’t help but flinch a little bit.

“No!” The man shouts, pushing the gun further into Jason’s temple, “‘Cause then you’ll take me to prison. I have work to finish here, you can’t take me!” Jason hears the sound of something flying through the room, then the man screams and falls to the floor, dropping Jason.

“Keep your hands off of him.” A third voice in the room threatens, coming from almost behind him. The man in blue and the third one-- Damian, his brain supplies-- rush towards him. Jason fights to stay awake, feeling something cut his wrists free.

“Hey Jay,” The man in blue- Dick, whispers so the man can’t hear. Jason catches a glimpse of the man in black, Batman- no Bruce, his dad, as he cuffs the man and hauls him to his feet.

“Nightwing, Robin, I’m going to take this piece of shit to Arkham, will you two make sure the civilian gets the proper care he needs.”

The two nod in unison, waiting until Batman has taken the man from the room so they can talk to Jason without code names.

“You guys- you guys came.” Jason slurs, fighting to stay awake.

“Of course we did Todd.” Damian states, crossing his arms as a sign of affection.

Dick gently scoops Jason off the floor, “We’ll always come, that’s what family does.”

#batfamily #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Dick Grayson #Jason Todd whump #whumptober 2022 #whumptober 2022 day one #violence #drug abuse #unconventional restraints #bruce wayne #whumpblr #whump writing #first time posting a fic on tumblr so pls be nice :)#no beta we die like Jason Todd

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breezy-cheezy · 2 years

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Whumptober Day 14: DIE A HERO OR LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO BECOME A VILLAIN

Desperate Measures | Failed escape | “I’ll be right behind you.”

Another Twisted Wonderland one.....love the overblots, wanted to do a symbolic take on the Tweels landing the last hit to drag Azul out of it :>

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aceofwhump · 2 years

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No. 31 A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: Comfort

@whumptober @whumptober-archive

#whumptober2022 #no.31 #comfort #multifandom #gifs #whumpedit #mods whumptober posts #my gifs #whumptober 2022 gifs #a nice long one for the last day #lots of hands in this one #love it #my fav kind of comfort #hands #hugging #crying #emotional whump #hand holding

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hangingoffence · 2 years

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Day 3 Hair's breadth from death

-> Gun to the temple

#this looks shitty but heyyyy at least i did one this day #let's ignore yesterday i had a meltdown #western au #jaykyle #whumptober 2022 #myart

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a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all · 2 years

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One Bad Day.... (Did You Know?)

Whumptober 2022: 1. “This wasn’t supposed to happen”, 2. Confrontation, 31. Comfort Fandom: Batman, Batfam, Batmom

Word Count: 3523

TW: References to Repeated Sexual Abuse, References of Being Drugged, Angst

Note: This one-shot contains extremely triggering and sensitive topics. Because of that, while it gives more context to the overall story, this part can be skipped without losing major plot details for the next chapters.

Series Masterlist

Laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, you can’t sleep yet again. In the three nights since your confrontation with Bruce, you had maybe gotten a total of eight hours of sleep. Every time you close your eyes, that night begins replaying in your mind: seeing Bruce for the first time in five years and finally having the argument you should have had long ago, actually being able to hug Dick again, revealing the truth about your baby to Jason. And as terrible and emotional as that night had been, you are still glad to have gotten some closure.

But there is still one unanswered question that continues to haunt your mind more than any other. The one you couldn’t ask in front of Dick or Jason. The one you have needed the answer to for years but never had the opportunity to ask. And now that you have seen Bruce again, it is all you can think about.

Rolling over, you snatch your phone off the bedside table and quickly type in a number from memory. You know it’s stupid even to try. Bruce has probably changed his number a hundred times over the past five years but it’s the only way you can think of to contact him. After you send your message, you groan and throw the phone onto the bed next to you.

Not two minutes later, it buzzes. Bolting upright in surprise, you snatch up the phone and gawk at his message:

We need to talk. In person. Tell me when and where

Holy shit, it worked! You honestly didn’t expect him to receive the text, and even if he did, you never dreamed that he would agree to meet. But then again…. Was it possible he had been thinking of you these last few days too?

You type your response but this time you don’t even have time to put the phone down before he replies:

Meet me where we first met. 1 pm. Come alone I’ll be there

You collapse back against your pillow. It’s happening! After all this time, you’re finally going to get to look him in the eye and ask him what you need to ask. Now you just pray you can live with the answer.

As you climb yet another flight of stairs, you silently curse yourself for choosing this location. Your knee is still giving you trouble so choosing to meet on top of a six-story walk-up in the East End was probably not the smartest choice. But you grit your teeth and continue climbing.

When you finally reach the top, he is already waiting for you, and for a moment, you can only gaze at him in awe. While the sight of him in his batsuit under the dim lights of the warehouse had taken your breath away, seeing him now in the light of day is a hundred times more painful.

Now, he isn’t Batman. Now, he’s just Bruce. The same Bruce you fell in love with all of those years ago with his playboy good looks and fancy suit that fit him perfectly. Damn. Why did he still have to be so handsome? Why couldn’t he have started to lose his hair or something? But no, he still looks exactly the same as you remember, if just a little more tired. Too bad the same couldn’t be said for you.

You wonder what he sees when he looks at you. As much as you had tried to keep a stiff upper lip and hold your head high when you had met days ago, you knew you were a broken shell of the woman you were before. Both physically and mentally. Jason’s return had helped you pull yourself together in some ways but there were some wounds that would never heal. Some cuts that were just too deep, breaks that were too severe. And yet, when Bruce looks up, the way he gazes at you makes your stomach flutter.

But of course, you wouldn’t ever tell him that. So instead, you smirk at him as you climb onto the roof and say, “Wow. You got old.”

He stares at you wistfully. “You didn’t. You look exactly like you did the last time I saw you.”

You scoff. “We both know that isn’t true. Prison doesn’t allow people that luxury.” He looks you up and down for a moment, analyzing you in that annoying way of his. Feeling uneasy under the weight of his stare, you limp towards him, your hands jammed in the pockets of your jacket so he can’t see you trembling. “I half expected you wouldn’t show up. Or if you would go to the other place we first met.”

“I don’t think the Museum of Antiquities would be the safest place for you to show your face, so I took an educated guess,” Bruce says flatly. He doesn’t seem hostile at the moment, but he does seem guarded and on edge. But you can’t really blame him given the circumstances.

“No, I guess not. But thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure you would after our…. meeting the other day.”

“Even now, I will always come if you call.” Bruce sighs as you come to a stop a few feet in front of him with a grimace.

“Are you okay?” Bruce asks as he nods towards your leg.

“Why does it matter? You haven’t cared about me for the last five years, why start now,” you say through gritted teeth as you try to push the pain to the side.

“That’s not true. I still care about you. I never stopped.”

“Well, you sure have a funny way of showing it,” you reply bluntly. “But I’ve learned to live with it for the most part. And what I can’t handle, I have Red Hood to help me with.”

“Red Hood,” Bruce scoffs. “I have to ask, why him? Why is he helping you? I’ve spent days pouring over any information I could find and the two of you never had any form of communication before the night he broke you out. So why did he do it?”

You shrug. “He was a fan who knew what I did and why I did it, and he respected me for it. He didn’t believe I deserved to rot in prison for the rest of my life so he did something about it.” Nothing you said was a lie. Eventually, you are going to have to tell Bruce that Jason is alive but for now neither you nor Jason are ready for that secret to be revealed so you quickly change the subject.

Smirking slightly, you say, “Besides, why should you get to be the only one who gets a sidekick? Dick told me you have yet another new Robin.”

Bruce bristles. “I didn’t go looking for him. I had planned to let the title die with Jason but he came to me and wanted the job.”

“That didn’t mean you had to give it to him.”

“Just stop it!” Bruce growls. “What’s the real reason you called me? You wouldn’t have asked to meet unless it was important so what is it already?”

You still. Bruce is right. As much as you need answers, you are also dreading what you will hear so you have been stalling for as long as possible. But it seemed like your time was up.

You take a few deep breaths as you stare down at the ground before you whisper, “I have to know. I keep telling myself that not even you would be that cruel, but I have to know for sure.”

“You’re starting to scare me. What are you talking about?”

“Did… did you know everything they did to me in there? I mean… everything?”

Bruce is quiet for a long time as he mulls over the question. And just when you can’t stand the silence any longer, he says, “I knew about the fights, Harley’s assassins, and solitary confinement. I was sent weekly reports to see how you were holding up and Dick sometimes told me about his visits. He said there were times when you were so roughed up, it looked worse than that time you went after Solomon Grundy by yourself. I pulled some strings to get you extra protection, but I guess it didn’t help. I’m sorry.”

“No, it didn’t,” your voice trembles as you whisper. Taking a deep breath, you look Bruce straight in the eye. “Bruce, I need you to swear to me that was all you knew. Nothing else.”

“Yes, I swear,” he says confusedly. “What more is there?”

But you ignore his question. “Look me in the eye and swear on our child.”

Bruce looks as if you had just slapped him in the face. His expression flashes between shock, disbelief, hurt, and anger, as he tries to grasp the words you just said. “What?”

Tears begin to well up in your eyes. “I know how messed up it is for me to ask that, and I hate myself for it, but it’s the only way I can believe you. So, please…”

“Yes,” he spits out. “Yes, I swear on… on our child… that is all I knew about.”

Slowly, you sink to your knees as a euphoric rush of relief washes over you. Bruce didn’t know. He hadn’t just stood by and let it happen. The fact he knew about the fighting and your constant injuries still hurts, but you figured Dick would have told him at some point so that was no surprise. But if he had known about the other thing…

Bruce takes a few steps closer to you. “Now what don’t I know? What could be so horrible that you would bring our child into this?”

You look up at him, your lip trembling. “I- I can’t.”

“Please…. What did they do to you?”

Hanging your head, you whisper, “We both knew what everyone thought of me, even before I killed the Joker. I already had a reputation around Gotham that we pretended to ignore. I was the whore who was so good, I got billionaire Bruce Wayne down on one knee. And once I was in prison, everyone there wanted to see what the fuss was all about.”

It takes Bruce a moment to understand what you meant, but you see the horror sweep across his face the moment it registers. “No… That’s not… that shouldn’t have…. What about the guards?”

Tears are streaming steadily down your face at this point. “Once they figured out I didn’t have the Wayne name to protect me anymore, they started getting more lax about stopping it from happening. They even started turning off the cameras when I was in solitary and allowing inmates into my cell for a few bucks. And when one of them got hold of my medical file and saw I couldn’t get pregnant…. That’s when the guards started taking turns too.”

You closed your eyes as you tried to block out the memories. Because you remembered every single moment of every single time. You would always either be too injured from the latest attack to fight back or they would drug you until you were barely coherent. But no matter how out of it you were, you could never forget what they did.

You feel Bruce kneel down beside you and he whispers, “Oh, sweetheart…. I am so sorry. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I swear. You were supposed to be safe in there and if I had known what they were doing–”

‘So that’s where you draw the line, huh? Physical violence is okay, but as soon as someone whips their dick out that’s going too far?” Your eyes snap open and you dodge the hand he was reaching out towards you. “Yes, I cannot tell you what it means to me that you didn’t know, that you didn’t let that happen to me over and over and over again. But you still left me to fight for my life on a daily basis. And all because they wanted revenge on you for something or other. Because I had once been your wife. So, I’m unbelievably relieved you didn’t know. But it doesn’t change anything.”

Bruce sighs as he runs his hand through his hair. “That’s fair. I didn’t handle this situation the way I should have… but I just… I didn’t know what to do. I might not have shown it, but Jason’s death… I was so angry and so hurt. I know the two of you had a special bond, but he was still my son too. And regardless of what you said the other day, I blame myself for what happened. I should never have left him alone and I should have gotten to that warehouse quicker. I didn’t know what to do or how to deal with his death, so when I came home and you began to pull away from me…. I didn’t know how to handle that either.

“And then when you did what you did…. I was hurt you would go behind my back like that, especially after I explicitly told you not to and you agreed. You promised me and I felt betrayed…. But I also felt ashamed.”

“Ashamed?” you ask confusedly. “About what?”

“That you did what I was too weak to do.”

Your eyes grow wide as he hangs his head. “Bruce…”

“I should have done it. I should have killed him. I knew what it was doing to you to see him still running around free and I knew even if I captured him again, he would find another way to escape. But… I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t break my code. So when you did it instead…. I was ashamed I couldn’t protect you from that. And I couldn’t face you.”

“So because you couldn’t face me, you left me there to rot in jail for five years? Thanks.” You leap to your feet and Bruce quickly stands as well.

“I told you, I tried everything I could but I couldn’t get you released. They needed to make an example of you so others didn’t go out and try to take down other villains by themselves. You forget that people don’t know who you are. The other part of who you are, with your training and skills. To them, you’re just a rich socialite who managed to take down the Joker. So, if you could do it, why couldn’t anyone? And while you could hold your own, the average citizen wouldn’t be able to and a lot of innocent people would die. I was trying to work something out once the publicity of your case died down, but then you escaped,” Bruce sighs. “I might still be able to get them to let you go. Claim Red Hood kidnapped you for leverage against me. It might be enough to work out some sort of pardon.”

“I won’t turn my back on Red Hood like that,” you snap. “He saved me when you didn’t. I’m not going to throw him under the bus now.”

“Fine, but then I don’t know if I can help you,” Bruce says wearily. “So whatever it is you two have planned, just don’t get caught and don’t kill anyone.”

You nod before taking a few steps back towards the stairs. “Thank you for understanding. And for showing up today. Despite everything, I feel better knowing you didn’t know what was happening.”

Bruce’s eyes darken. “There will be consequences for this. I swear.”

“Thank you.” You turn to leave but pause and turn back. “And please promise me that Dick and Jason will never find out.”

Bruce freezes. He takes a few steps closer and stretches out his hand once more. “Sweetheart, you know Jason is gone…. Right?”

Shit. You were so upset, so in your head, you hadn’t remembered that Bruce still doesn’t know Jason is alive. Lowering your head, you mumble, “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I was just always so used to referring to them as ‘Dick and Jason’ as if it were a singular word. It feels wrong not including both of them.”

He nods slowly but still eyes you cautiously. “I slip up sometimes too. It still doesn’t feel real that he’s gone. Yet, other times it feels like it’s the most real thing in the world.”

You sigh heavily. “Things would have been so different if he hadn’t been taken from us.”

“Yeah…” Bruce says. “Or if we hadn’t lost-” He cuts himself off and turns away but you know exactly who he was talking about.

“In prison, I used to dream about us every night,” you say softly, “You, me, Dick, Jason, and our baby on the way. The life we could have had.” The tears begin to trail down your cheeks once more. “Their birthday would have been around now. Their ninth birthday. Can you believe that? A nine-year-old girl or boy running around. If only that night would have gone differently. It would have changed everything.”

You felt a small twinge in the scar on your side as if it knew you were talking about the accident. But then again, it had never stopped hurting since the day it happened. Some kind of nerve damage that caused a constant ache. Like your knee, you’ve learned to pretty much ignore it, though right now it seems to hurt more than usual.

You wrap your arms around your middle as your tears begin to flow faster. Bruce crosses the rooftop and hesitates as he reaches you, just a few inches apart. His silent question is clear in his eyes and you nod softly. Instantly, he wraps his arms around you and pulls you into his chest.

It is the first time you have touched him in five years yet it feels as if you have never left his arms. The way your bodies fit together, the beat of his heart against your cheek, the way the rise and fall of his chest seems to sync with yours. It feels like coming home.

A sob bubbles up in your throat as you bury your face deeper into his chest. His arms tighten around you, holding you together as you feel yourself falling apart. This wasn’t supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to let him see this side of you. You were supposed to stay strong, stand firm, but the moment you felt his touch, you were putty in his hands.

You still love him. Despite everything he had done to you, all the pain and heartbreak his actions had caused, you want nothing more than to grab his face and meld your lips with his. Yet you know if you do, it'll be over. There will be no going back and Jason will never forgive you for it. Jason, the one person who was there when Bruce turned his back on you. Jason, your son who needed you more than you needed Bruce.

Reluctantly, you pull yourself away from Bruce’s embrace, though he remains holding your hands. “I’m sorry,” you whisper. “I shouldn’t have let you do that.”

“Why not?” Bruce asks, releasing your right hand to cup your face. “I know we have so much to work through, but I don’t want to lose you again. Please, sweetheart, just give us a chance.”

You hesitate as you consider if you can really forgive him for everything he has done to you. As he waits, his finger rubs over the spot on your left hand where your ring once sat. “You know,” he whispers, “I still have it. It’s in the safe at the manor and it’s still yours to do with what you wish. Keep it, sell it, toss it in the river, whatever you want.”

It was the wrong thing to say. It would have been easier hearing he had thrown it away. But instead, he kept the symbol of your love and marriage locked away, just as he left you locked away. You pull your hand from his, clutching it against your chest as you back away from him.“Give it to Selina, or whoever you wind up with next.”

“And what if I don’t want there to be a next?”

“Well, you should have decided that a long time ago.” You turn quickly and head for the stairs, making it down the first few steps before Bruce reaches out and grabs your wrist.

“My heart… It’s never too late,” he says, his eyes silently begging you to come back to him.

You remember your dream from your last night in prison. How you had begged not to leave that Bruce, and how he had said those exact same words. But this wasn’t a dream, and it was time for you to wake up.

Yanking your hand from Bruce’s grasp, you look directly into his eyes and coldly say, “I believed that once. But we are the proof that it isn't true.”

And before he can respond, you hurry down the stairs as quickly as your knee will allow.

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a-reader-and-a-writer · 2 years

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One Bad Day.... (Did You Know?)

Whumptober 2022: 1. “This wasn’t supposed to happen”, 2. Confrontation, 31. Comfort Fandom: Batman, Batfam, Batmom

Word Count: 3523

TW: References to Repeated Sexual Assult, References of Being Drugged, Angst

Series Masterlist

Not two minutes later, it buzzes. Bolting upright in surprise, you snatch up the phone and gawk at his message:

We need to talk. In person. Tell me when and where

You type your response but this time you don’t even have time to put the phone down before he replies:

Meet me where we first met. 1 pm. Come alone I’ll be there