Just finished the Batman: Under the Red Hood movie and well. I'm pretty sure this shouldn't be my reaction!fic. It is, mostly because the DCU fandom is sadly lacking when it comes to their reactions to this movie. Initial reaction!text to Delena-chan:
Man, people just don't take initiative like they used to. I mean really. DC gives us Under the Red Hood and the best they can come up with is Dick/Jason? Back in our day, people'd've been all over Bruce/Jason like a stripper on a pole.
She didn't say I was wrong, either.
So yes. Fic for it. Standard disclaimers apply. Review will come later.
Bruce, Jason thinks, always says sorry for all the wrong things. Sorry for having what others would deem inappropriate feelings for his sidekicks, sorry for fucking Dick and not telling Jason it was maybe wrong for him to look at Bruce the way he did when they weren't arguing, sorry for not saving him from the Joker.
None of that's anything that needs apologizing for, in Jason's opinion. Before Bruce and now Dick's attentions, there were men on the street who didn't give a damn that Jason was underage, was inexperienced, was unwilling. Bruce and Dick are better than those men for not forcing Jason, for trying to blame themselves for even thinking of him like that, for giving him a thousand different outs. Jason had been too young before his death, he allows that much, for anything he wanted from them, and they still tell him the same things now. Instead of thinking them condescending, Jason feels almost affectionate towards them for their worthless consideration. And as Jason told Bruce, he's long since forgiven Bruce for not saving him, but Bruce's guilt complex is easily as bad as Superman's and Jason secretly thinks that's why they're friends.
No, the only thing Bruce should ever apologize for is not getting off his damn high horse and killing the Joker for killing Jason. Because that, right there? That's not revenge. That's justice.