Perfectly Ordinary~ Batbrothers

Chapter 31

Bruce POV

Nightmares of his sons were something that came frequently and were almost more common than dreams about anything else.

Something they left out of the parenting guide lines was that your children's demons became your own.

Some nights he dreamt of Richard yelling at him him "Why didn't you save them? You just watched!" as he stood over his parents dead bodies. Then he'd be up on the trapeze again and Bruce would be with him, but this time it would be Dick that fell to his death and when he landed on the unforgiving ground his body would be broken and a look of horror would be tattooed on his face.

Tim would normally be in the hospital during his dreams. He'd be clutching his knees to his chest and tugging at his hair, his eyes wide and darting all over the room. He'd mutter incoherent words over and over as the doctors threw the covers over his parents dead, decaying bodies. Then suddenly he'd just stop and calmly get up. He'd stare at the bodies for a minute or two then he'd turn to Bruce and he'd attack.

"You were too late! If you were there on time I wouldn't be an orphan. You're not my father and you never will be! You killed my father do you hear me? You killed-"

And then it would be over.

The nights Jason occupied his nightmares were often the hardest. It would normally begin with him standing in a graveyard with an open coffin in front of him and a six foot deep hole next to it. Jason would be standing beside him at the age of fifteen, a large goofy grin on his face and asking Bruce if he could call him dad. Bruce wouldn't answer but instead he'd grab Jason by the arm and start to drag him towards the coffin as he kicked and screamed and begged. He'd wrestle him inside then shut it and lock it before kicking it into the hole in the ground.

Eventually Jason would come back, older and covered in harsh bruises and scars. He'd have white makeup all over his face and a drawn blood-type red smile that went all the way up to his cheek bones. He'd walk towards Bruce with a shining crowbar in hand.

Then there was Damian. It would always start with him as a baby and Talia reaching her hands out to take back their son. He'd hand him to her and shed smile her dark smile. "I will make you proud, I will turn our son into a weapon." Then she'd be gone and many years later Damian would return with blood staining his fingertips and a darkness in his expression that could only lead to one thing. "You did this." he'd say over and over again. He wouldn't have sleepless nights or bad dreams but he'd become a short of shadow. He'd come home with blood on his hands and a smile on his face asking what's for dinner. Then Bruce would come home and his three eldest sons would be sprawled out on the grand staircase covered in blood and their expression frozen on their dead faces. Damian would be standing on the very top with three hearts at his feet. "You made me this."

Then it would be over.

...

At first he hadn't known what the hell his son saw in these four simple teenagers. They looked like everyone else and acted like a typical friends group. They were sporty sure but that still hadn't explained it. He'd pulled their records to see if maybe Damian wasn't just paying them to pretend to be his friends and hold up the act. He'd found out that Carston was ridiculously smart and wanted to be a doctor though you'd never guess that by looking at him, he acted like a normal teenage boy. His father was the asshole from Summer industries and had left them a long time ago, even missed his own daughters funeral. After his brief interactions with the blond boy who seemed interested in Tim he discovered that Carston had the type of fierceness not often found in grown ups, nevermind children. He understood why Damian liked him.

David was a complete movie nerd and solved buzzfeed quizzes in his spare time. He normally kept a level head and seemed to have an unhealthy desire towards powerful woman if his two best friends and whatever he had with Raven was any indication. He hadn't paid this teen much mind until he came up with the idea to go through Damian's sketches.