Workshop: Writing Bruce Wayne/Jason Todd by Miss_gordon
Bruce Wayne/Jason
Todd
Hey, Batman/Robin the one of the most classic DC pairings out there, and
Bruce/Jason has enough subtext to drown in. These two have a massive effect on each other from the moment Jason comes into Bruce’s life.
The Characters
Writing Bruce/anyone is tough, honestly. The biggest reason for this is
that every single comic book writer writes Bruce in a different way. You have
everything from Frank Miller’s insane Bruce to the current Bruce, who
is kind and fatherly. If you’re going to write fic about Bruce, you can really
choose any characterization and it’ll be canon. One the other hand, this also
makes it hard, because keeping him “in character” can mean just about
anything. For the my part, I tend to stick with a Bruce who’s somewhere in
between the extremes. Human, but still messed up enough to be fun.
As for Jason . . . well, there are a lot of different Jasons. Let’s talk about
that.
Pre-Crisis
Pre-Crisis Jason was a blonde, laughing acrobat who liked sci-fi movies. He
had to beg Batman to let him be Robin, and he loved the job.
One of the biggest concerns in writing the Bruce/Jason pairing, especially
pre-Crisis, is the age difference (and what it really comes down to, the power
imbalance). Jason isn’t just young, he acts young. He tells Bruce at
one point that being Robin gives him magic. He’s upbeat and he thinks he’s
untouchable.
Writing a pairing in which the characters have such a difference between their
ages doesn’t have to be sketchy, but a writer does have to tread carefully.
Bruce, no matter how psychotic, wouldn’t just sleep with a kid-especially a
kid who thinks he’s basically God-and think nothing of it. I’m not suggesting
that every Bruce/Jason fic needs to be an angst-fest, but if Bruce has no
reservations, it’s just creepy. Justifying Bruce sleeping with Jason isn’t
that hard, though. He’s lonely after Dick leaves, and if one assumes that
Bruce and Dick had some kind of relationship, Bruce/Jason follows naturally.
Bruce is clearly using Jason to fill the hole left by the first Robin. Jason
even dyes his hair black to look like Dick. It’s easy to believe that Bruce’s
morals in this area are a bit shaky, because he clearly does have
issues. He’d probably manage to convince himself that it was good for Jason.
At any rate, the interaction between pre-Crisis Jason and Bruce is rife with
subtext. When Jason is still trying to convince Bruce to take him on as a
partner, they actually go on a date. Jason spends hours doing his hair and
thinking about how this is the first time Bruce has taken him anywhere.
Despite the possible creepiness of this pairing-because Jason is such
a kid-this is possibly the most well-adjusted Bruce/Jason pairing. Jason
brings a little light back into Bruce’s life, just as Robin is supposed to
do.
Post-Crisis
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason got a personality reboot. The
way he became Batman’s sidekick even changed. He was a punk who was stealing the tires off the Batmobile when Bruce found him and took him in. This Jason was a lot darker, more brutal, and up to his ears in way more issues.
The biggest issue between the two of them is Jason’s violence. He often uses
excessive force when fighting criminals, and one time it’s hinted that he
may have even let a criminal die. The tension this creates between Bruce and
Jason only makes the pairing stronger. Now, rather than just love, there’s a
dark undercurrent. When this undercurrent is viewed sexually, Bruce/Jason
becomes a very dark pairing indeed. However, one of the most important
things about Bruce is that he truly does care for Jason, as he does for all
the Robins.
The fact that Jason is a careless, on-edge teenager is something to
consider. It’s perfectly plausible that Jason, a hormonal teenager, would
have a thing for Bruce. Being out fighting crime every night gets Jason’s
blood pumping, and he might well direct this at his partner.
In Nightwing: Year One we get to see yet another take on Bruce and
Jason’s meeting. When Bruce finds Jason stealing his tires, he essentially
kidnaps Jason, tying him up in the Batcave. Despite this unsettling meeting,
Jason decides to become Robin. I’ve heard people joking that Jason has
Stockholm’s Syndrome, falling in love with his kidnapper. Clearly, Jason
clings tightly enough to Bruce that he doesn’t even care how roughly Bruce
treats him.
Under the Hood
After Jason’s death, Bruce became obsessed. He put Jason’s suit in a case in
the Batcave and Jason became the deepest wound in his past. Yeah, that’s a
good basis for slash. Bruce was never ok about Jason again. That’s one of
the mainstays of the Bruce/Jason pairing. Jason has a certain power over
Bruce because his death affected Bruce so deeply. So it is that when Jason
comes back to life, the power imbalance has shifted in the other direction.
Jason can control Bruce.
However, when Jason returns to life, he is obsessed with Bruce as well.
After he crawls from the grave, all he can say is Bruce’s name. When he
finally regains his right mind, all he cares about is getting revenge on
Bruce for not killing the Joker. Jason follows Bruce everywhere, taunting
him, leaving him presents. Similarly, Bruce becomes fully concentrated on
figuring out why Jason is back. He constantly tries to win Jason over to his
side, and when it appears that Jason has been killed again, Bruce is utterly
crushed.
Most important of all, Bruce and Jason occasionally still fight side by side
against common enemies. In desperate times, they’ll still turn to each
other. The Bruce/Red Hood!Jason pairing is definitely a lot darker. They are
essentially enemies, even though all they think about is one another.
I’m not going to talk about Jason canon past Under the Hood, because at that
point, he becomes too wildly out of character for me to really handle.
So, the pairing can be dark, and it often is. The relationship is based on
obsession, especially after Jason’s resurrection. Despite all this, yeah, it’s
love. They need each other, no matter when or where they are.
Taking all this into account when writing Bruce/Jason is, well, a lot to deal
with. They have such a history. Of course, this also makes the pairing a blast
to write. Referencing their past, Jason’s death, and the many different
incarnations of Jason is half the fun.
As for good Bruce/Jason fic . . . monkeycrackmary’s Even Robins
(http://evenrobins.net/) archive has a lot of good Jason fic by many different
others, and a lot of it is Bruce/Jason. I’ve written some Bruce/Jason (linked
by Jen in the post announcing this essay), and I plan to write more. There are
so many combinations of this pairing to play with that there’s really no end
to the fic you can write. So go on, people! Give the world some more
Bruce/Jason.