Workshop: "A Bat and His Little Bird: Together Forever" by Bradygirl_12
A Bat And His Little Bird:
Together Forever
Bruce and Dick have what is possibly the most complicated and complex relationship in the entire DCU. It’s a relationship that is both easy and intense, filled with misunderstandings and perfect understanding, professionalism and passion.
It was born in the darkness of grief, and was nurtured by sunlight shining from the shadows.
Each is the other’s everything.
There are many strands running through the relationship. I never got a father/son vibe from these two, even when I read comics as a kid, and I think that may be because even though in the Golden and Silver Ages Dick was very much a kid, he was also a kid with a ton of responsibility who met that burden with astonishing capability.
When he had been a circus brat, he had known serious responsibility, as a trapeze act depended on even a child being supremely responsible, otherwise injury or even death could result for himself and others. He was able to pick up on the seriousness of being the Batman’s partner, and did so with an ease that sometimes belied the hard work he put into being Robin. Bruce depended on him to watch his back in crazy Gotham, and Robin saved Batman’s health and life more than once.
Certainly if you see a father/son vibe, that’s fine, but it was a unique situation for me that I never did, and I did see a slashy vibe as Dick grew older.
Light To The Dark
It’s been written about before ( Dick Grayson’s Robin by me! ;) ), but Dick is Light to Bruce’s Dark. Similar to Clark and his effect on Bruce, Dick draws Bruce away from a Darkness that could eventually swallow him up if he isn’t careful, or the ones who love him don’t recognize that he needs that lifeline. Dick is Bruce’s connection to humanity. Bruce’s feelings run so deeply that they are also deeply buried, and with the added intensity of the Mission, Bruce could easily become more Bat than man.
Dick prevents that. Even in canon, we have evidence of that. When Dick went away to college, it coincided with Bruce becoming a darker, grimmer Batman, but even that persona was sweetness ‘n’ light compared to what Bruce became after firing Dick as Robin, bringing on Jason Todd to fill that role, and then losing Jason to a brutal murder by the Joker. The canon relationship between the two became darker and more filled with misunderstanding, but now they have a better relationship.
Try To Remember…
One of the delights of the relationship is their shared history. They share memories that no one else can share due to their time on the streets together early in their careers. They live together in the same house, grew to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses in daily life as well as in superhero life, and there are happy memories to go with the darker remembrances: birthdays, holidays, and simply quiet times spent together in the comfort of Wayne Manor. A shared history can be important to a romantic relationship, and Bruce and Dick have shared memories together for many years.
In later years, Bruce can reminisce about the bright, energetic child who brightened his life upon coming to the Manor while Dick will recall the sense of safety he found after his world was shattered.
Desire And That Costume!
In fanfic, the two continue their complicated relationship. Most authors tend to write from Dick’s POV when he is under 18, as a teenage boy is of course walking hormones and if he is inclined to wanting a sexual relationship with Bruce, it’s more comfortable to write from that POV rather than Bruce’s. Some stories show Dick as the one aware of his desire and his patient waiting for Bruce to come around, or for Dick to celebrate his 18th birthday, all the while plotting to make his desires become reality (ladybugkay’s Birthday Games and my own Light To the Dark.
In Birthday Games, ladybugkay also uses the Robin costume as a wonderful seduction tool. :) Let’s face it, Dick runs around in a costume featuring spangled panties, short sleeves, and pixie boots well into his twenties. There must be a reason, right?
Also in this story, we see that Bruce is well aware of Dick’s charms, but he restrains himself for two years (what Bat-willpower!) and then goes after Dick on his 18th birthday.
Blood And Bone
For both, each is in the other’s blood. They have depended on each other for physical and emotional safety, right from the earliest days when it was just the two of them on Gotham’s mean streets. Their little family in the early days was the two of them and Alfred, and each needed each other emotionally.
Dick needed someone who understood his pain and to give him a home that would give him freedom and direction in a life shattered by the tragedy that fateful night at Haly’s Circus.
Bruce needed someone to keep him from being swallowed up by his Mission.
Together, they feed off each other’s needs and insecurities and also give each other strength and happiness.
Dick is sometimes needy, always desperate to please and gain approval, and that isn’t always easy with Bruce, who rarely praises and expects perfection in himself and others. Dick is a tactile, hugger type of person who loves a repressed, ‘personal space’ type of man in Bruce. Their backgrounds come into play again: Dick as the freewheeling circus brat, accustomed to the odd and unconventional in all facets of life, and Bruce, coming from Old Money, Social Register emotional restraint, where there is a strict code of behavior and expectations despite the playboy freedoms.
Bruce the control freak needs someone willing to not only stand up to him, but to bend to his will at the proper times. Bruce controls as Batman and as the Prince of Gotham. He needs someone to challenge him but he also needs obedience whether on the streets of Gotham or in the boardroom. In the bedroom? My guess is that Dick uses his considerable talent at reading people, and especially Bruce, to give him what he needs when he needs it: challenge or obedience. And, at times, just plain equality.
Because, while Dick as a boy was clearly the apprentice to Bruce’s mentor, he was also a full and equal partner out on the streets. He couldn’t always be of junior status and expect to survive in the life they led.
Dick has never been afraid of Bruce, either when his mentor is pitching a fit or is cold in his anger. He is afraid of what Bruce and Batman are capable of, and of losing him to the Darkness.
Each is so much a part of the other. They learned to anticipate each other’s every move out on the streets, and did it for survival’s sake, but it became a part of them. They are connected, blood and bone, and emotionally are tightly wrapped up in each other, which of course can cause problems if disagreements arise, or if they lose one another. Each needs the other like the air they breathe.
That is probably why the Bruce/Dick fandom is small but intense in our devotion to this extraordinary couple. There is always an intensity of feeling that fuels so much in their world, and between them. They are two-as-one, a Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, Batman and Nightwing, Wayne Prince and Crown Prince.
Even their ‘real’ identities are intertwined, Dick growing up in the household and carrying the status of Wayne heir. At first glance, it appears as if his Grayson heritage is subsumed by the Wayne heritage he has been welcomed into, but the Light that is a part of his being keeps that part of his lineage alive every day.
Bat-Radar
Their lack of words can create a negative in the realm of communication, but once Bruce realized that he should be studying normal human psychology in addition to abnormal criminal psychology, he and Dick were able to use that gift to communicate without words in their personal lives as well as they do in their professional lives.
In large groups or teams, members of long standing can anticipate each other’s moves and tendencies, but there is always small subsets of pairs that are in near-perfect sync, such as Dick and Roy on the Titans and Clark and Bruce in the JLA.
Batman and Robin? They invented perfect sync.
Their knowledge of each other in costume rivals their knowledge of each other out of it, whether in the bedroom or out. Bruce and Dick could probably go 24 hours without speaking a single word to each other and be in perfect emotional balance.
When they fight the criminals of Gotham, they rarely need words. Their bodies, attuned to one another, perform a synchronized ballet together to the tune of fists and quips, but also grace and style.
Which works well in the bedroom. ;)
Acrobatics
With their perfect sync and their acrobatic skills, sex would be incredible! ;)
It would also be a match of equals, as Bruce has learned over the years to appreciate his younger lover and his talents. As Dick has served in spectacular fashion as Bruce’s partner on the streets, he would do the same in the bedroom. And, that reading of people (and his Bat in particular) would allow him to instinctively know when to submit and when to assert his own desires. Bruce’s dominant personality requires someone who can handle it, and Dick has always known how to do that, whether by the cleverness of quips or getting into a toe-to-toe verbal slugging match. What Bruce needs, Dick provides.
It’s why Bruce can also be paired with Clark or Selina, as both of these characters understand him and won’t let him get away with too much nonsense.
Dick’s total fearlessness in the face of Bruce’s powerful personality makes him the perfect partner. It’s easy to dismiss Dick as a lightweight personality due to his sunny outlook on life (excluding recent canon), but in some ways he is stronger than Bruce. Bruce was shattered by the death of his parents and has never really gotten past that event. Dick, like any loving child, has been strongly affected by his parents’ deaths, but he has been able to keep an optimistic, bright personality that doesn’t threaten to twist him as in the case of his lover. He has shown greater strength than Bruce in coping, and Bruce relies on that strength.
Follower And Leader
Dick knows when to follow, when to be equal, and when to lead. He was always willing to obey Batman’s orders out on the streets, yet remained an equal partner. When he grew older, he questioned more, but usually deferred to Batman when they were together. While Bruce will always be the better detective, Dick outshines him in the area of acrobatics and team leadership.
Dick was the natural leader of the Teen Titans in many incarnations, and it’s a skill that Bruce is proud of and acknowledges at times.
This skill at leading his own team helps the Bruce/Dick relationship, allowing Dick to come out from the Bat’s shadow to be a man in his own right. In canon, Dick furthers this by becoming Nightwing.
All Roads Lead Back To Wayne Manor
What if there was a deep rift that could become permanent? How would each survive?
In demon_faith’s A Muggy, British Isle, Dick has left Wayne Manor after a huge fight with Bruce, and goes so far as to empty out his bank account while leaving his trust fund untouched. He disappears, and even though Bruce rages and searches, he’s taught his lover far too well: Dick cannot be found.
Dick wanders aimlessly, trying to figure out where he wants to go with his life, and while in the British Isles, he comes upon a sign that tells him: go home, young man! Go home! :) But his aimlessness has given him a clue: he needs Bruce, needs the purpose that Bruce gives him in his life. As demon_faith writes: That’s what he’d been trying to escape, to forget about, to run from. He wasn’t just an acrobat and a vigilante-he belonged to Bruce Wayne. He kept Bruce alive; whether either of them could admit that or not, it was the truth.
The picture in this story (the ‘sign’ from on high) will make you laugh and smile.
For the companion piece to this tale, demon_faith writes a story, In Gotham Shade, from Alfred’s POV and presents a haunting portrait of Bruce crumbling without Dick: he withdraws from life as Bruce Wayne and becomes more violent as Batman. Finally he just sits in a chair and stares out the window, and looks old and haggard…until his sun comes back.
Descent
What would happen if one lost the other to death? Considering their dangerous lifestyle, it is a distinct possibility.
If Dick lost Bruce, he would be devastated, but just as he did with his parents, he would eventually manage to connect with people again and live his life, though this time around it would be far more hollow. He could take on the mantle of the Bat, continue as Nightwing, or retire from the superhero game altogether and perform his role as the Wayne heir. A part of him would be ripped away, and some of his brightness would no doubt be dimmed.
Bruce?
Madness, a descent into his Darkness, or on a lesser scale, perhaps retirement from crimefighting.
Personally, I find the first two more likely. Strong as Bruce Wayne is, his parents’ deaths nearly destroyed him and fueled his drive to become Batman.
Losing Dick would cause him to give up Batman, if he didn’t go mad first.
This is my opinion, but I always feel that Bruce skitters around the edge of madness, and Dick pulls him away from the edge of that abyss, as I describe in Yellow Silk, Streaked With Scarlet. In this tale, Dick is grievously wounded and Bruce starts to slide into the abyss of insanity, knowing that only Dick can save him from going over the edge.
In Apple Blossoms, Bruce is barely functional as Dick is laid to rest: His chest ached. How could he breathe without his air now? Live without his light? Feed his soul without his nourishment, rich and sweet and delectable?
Batman Needs His Robin
Perhaps the best illustration of how important Dick is to Bruce is this story, Small Twist Of Fate by merfilly. It is short but powerful in its depiction of the impact that Dick has on Bruce’s life as Prince and Batman.
Batman will always need his Robin.
Bruce will always need Dick, the young man with whom he felt an immediate connection, gives him light and laughter, and who became more important to him than he ever could have dreamed.
Dick will always need Bruce, the man who gave him comfort and a home after a terrible tragedy tore apart his old life, and gave him a purpose to fuel his grief and anger, regarding him as an equal while still a child.
Their lives together could be very much like this in my: 20 Random Facts About Dick Grayson.
A Bat and his Little Bird: together forever.
Together Forever
Bruce and Dick have what is possibly the most complicated and complex relationship in the entire DCU. It’s a relationship that is both easy and intense, filled with misunderstandings and perfect understanding, professionalism and passion.
It was born in the darkness of grief, and was nurtured by sunlight shining from the shadows.
Each is the other’s everything.
There are many strands running through the relationship. I never got a father/son vibe from these two, even when I read comics as a kid, and I think that may be because even though in the Golden and Silver Ages Dick was very much a kid, he was also a kid with a ton of responsibility who met that burden with astonishing capability.
When he had been a circus brat, he had known serious responsibility, as a trapeze act depended on even a child being supremely responsible, otherwise injury or even death could result for himself and others. He was able to pick up on the seriousness of being the Batman’s partner, and did so with an ease that sometimes belied the hard work he put into being Robin. Bruce depended on him to watch his back in crazy Gotham, and Robin saved Batman’s health and life more than once.
Certainly if you see a father/son vibe, that’s fine, but it was a unique situation for me that I never did, and I did see a slashy vibe as Dick grew older.
Light To The Dark
It’s been written about before ( Dick Grayson’s Robin by me! ;) ), but Dick is Light to Bruce’s Dark. Similar to Clark and his effect on Bruce, Dick draws Bruce away from a Darkness that could eventually swallow him up if he isn’t careful, or the ones who love him don’t recognize that he needs that lifeline. Dick is Bruce’s connection to humanity. Bruce’s feelings run so deeply that they are also deeply buried, and with the added intensity of the Mission, Bruce could easily become more Bat than man.
Dick prevents that. Even in canon, we have evidence of that. When Dick went away to college, it coincided with Bruce becoming a darker, grimmer Batman, but even that persona was sweetness ‘n’ light compared to what Bruce became after firing Dick as Robin, bringing on Jason Todd to fill that role, and then losing Jason to a brutal murder by the Joker. The canon relationship between the two became darker and more filled with misunderstanding, but now they have a better relationship.
Try To Remember…
One of the delights of the relationship is their shared history. They share memories that no one else can share due to their time on the streets together early in their careers. They live together in the same house, grew to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses in daily life as well as in superhero life, and there are happy memories to go with the darker remembrances: birthdays, holidays, and simply quiet times spent together in the comfort of Wayne Manor. A shared history can be important to a romantic relationship, and Bruce and Dick have shared memories together for many years.
In later years, Bruce can reminisce about the bright, energetic child who brightened his life upon coming to the Manor while Dick will recall the sense of safety he found after his world was shattered.
Desire And That Costume!
In fanfic, the two continue their complicated relationship. Most authors tend to write from Dick’s POV when he is under 18, as a teenage boy is of course walking hormones and if he is inclined to wanting a sexual relationship with Bruce, it’s more comfortable to write from that POV rather than Bruce’s. Some stories show Dick as the one aware of his desire and his patient waiting for Bruce to come around, or for Dick to celebrate his 18th birthday, all the while plotting to make his desires become reality (ladybugkay’s Birthday Games and my own Light To the Dark.
In Birthday Games, ladybugkay also uses the Robin costume as a wonderful seduction tool. :) Let’s face it, Dick runs around in a costume featuring spangled panties, short sleeves, and pixie boots well into his twenties. There must be a reason, right?
Also in this story, we see that Bruce is well aware of Dick’s charms, but he restrains himself for two years (what Bat-willpower!) and then goes after Dick on his 18th birthday.
Blood And Bone
For both, each is in the other’s blood. They have depended on each other for physical and emotional safety, right from the earliest days when it was just the two of them on Gotham’s mean streets. Their little family in the early days was the two of them and Alfred, and each needed each other emotionally.
Dick needed someone who understood his pain and to give him a home that would give him freedom and direction in a life shattered by the tragedy that fateful night at Haly’s Circus.
Bruce needed someone to keep him from being swallowed up by his Mission.
Together, they feed off each other’s needs and insecurities and also give each other strength and happiness.
Dick is sometimes needy, always desperate to please and gain approval, and that isn’t always easy with Bruce, who rarely praises and expects perfection in himself and others. Dick is a tactile, hugger type of person who loves a repressed, ‘personal space’ type of man in Bruce. Their backgrounds come into play again: Dick as the freewheeling circus brat, accustomed to the odd and unconventional in all facets of life, and Bruce, coming from Old Money, Social Register emotional restraint, where there is a strict code of behavior and expectations despite the playboy freedoms.
Bruce the control freak needs someone willing to not only stand up to him, but to bend to his will at the proper times. Bruce controls as Batman and as the Prince of Gotham. He needs someone to challenge him but he also needs obedience whether on the streets of Gotham or in the boardroom. In the bedroom? My guess is that Dick uses his considerable talent at reading people, and especially Bruce, to give him what he needs when he needs it: challenge or obedience. And, at times, just plain equality.
Because, while Dick as a boy was clearly the apprentice to Bruce’s mentor, he was also a full and equal partner out on the streets. He couldn’t always be of junior status and expect to survive in the life they led.
Dick has never been afraid of Bruce, either when his mentor is pitching a fit or is cold in his anger. He is afraid of what Bruce and Batman are capable of, and of losing him to the Darkness.
Each is so much a part of the other. They learned to anticipate each other’s every move out on the streets, and did it for survival’s sake, but it became a part of them. They are connected, blood and bone, and emotionally are tightly wrapped up in each other, which of course can cause problems if disagreements arise, or if they lose one another. Each needs the other like the air they breathe.
That is probably why the Bruce/Dick fandom is small but intense in our devotion to this extraordinary couple. There is always an intensity of feeling that fuels so much in their world, and between them. They are two-as-one, a Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, Batman and Nightwing, Wayne Prince and Crown Prince.
Even their ‘real’ identities are intertwined, Dick growing up in the household and carrying the status of Wayne heir. At first glance, it appears as if his Grayson heritage is subsumed by the Wayne heritage he has been welcomed into, but the Light that is a part of his being keeps that part of his lineage alive every day.
Bat-Radar
Their lack of words can create a negative in the realm of communication, but once Bruce realized that he should be studying normal human psychology in addition to abnormal criminal psychology, he and Dick were able to use that gift to communicate without words in their personal lives as well as they do in their professional lives.
In large groups or teams, members of long standing can anticipate each other’s moves and tendencies, but there is always small subsets of pairs that are in near-perfect sync, such as Dick and Roy on the Titans and Clark and Bruce in the JLA.
Batman and Robin? They invented perfect sync.
Their knowledge of each other in costume rivals their knowledge of each other out of it, whether in the bedroom or out. Bruce and Dick could probably go 24 hours without speaking a single word to each other and be in perfect emotional balance.
When they fight the criminals of Gotham, they rarely need words. Their bodies, attuned to one another, perform a synchronized ballet together to the tune of fists and quips, but also grace and style.
Which works well in the bedroom. ;)
Acrobatics
With their perfect sync and their acrobatic skills, sex would be incredible! ;)
It would also be a match of equals, as Bruce has learned over the years to appreciate his younger lover and his talents. As Dick has served in spectacular fashion as Bruce’s partner on the streets, he would do the same in the bedroom. And, that reading of people (and his Bat in particular) would allow him to instinctively know when to submit and when to assert his own desires. Bruce’s dominant personality requires someone who can handle it, and Dick has always known how to do that, whether by the cleverness of quips or getting into a toe-to-toe verbal slugging match. What Bruce needs, Dick provides.
It’s why Bruce can also be paired with Clark or Selina, as both of these characters understand him and won’t let him get away with too much nonsense.
Dick’s total fearlessness in the face of Bruce’s powerful personality makes him the perfect partner. It’s easy to dismiss Dick as a lightweight personality due to his sunny outlook on life (excluding recent canon), but in some ways he is stronger than Bruce. Bruce was shattered by the death of his parents and has never really gotten past that event. Dick, like any loving child, has been strongly affected by his parents’ deaths, but he has been able to keep an optimistic, bright personality that doesn’t threaten to twist him as in the case of his lover. He has shown greater strength than Bruce in coping, and Bruce relies on that strength.
Follower And Leader
Dick knows when to follow, when to be equal, and when to lead. He was always willing to obey Batman’s orders out on the streets, yet remained an equal partner. When he grew older, he questioned more, but usually deferred to Batman when they were together. While Bruce will always be the better detective, Dick outshines him in the area of acrobatics and team leadership.
Dick was the natural leader of the Teen Titans in many incarnations, and it’s a skill that Bruce is proud of and acknowledges at times.
This skill at leading his own team helps the Bruce/Dick relationship, allowing Dick to come out from the Bat’s shadow to be a man in his own right. In canon, Dick furthers this by becoming Nightwing.
All Roads Lead Back To Wayne Manor
What if there was a deep rift that could become permanent? How would each survive?
In demon_faith’s A Muggy, British Isle, Dick has left Wayne Manor after a huge fight with Bruce, and goes so far as to empty out his bank account while leaving his trust fund untouched. He disappears, and even though Bruce rages and searches, he’s taught his lover far too well: Dick cannot be found.
Dick wanders aimlessly, trying to figure out where he wants to go with his life, and while in the British Isles, he comes upon a sign that tells him: go home, young man! Go home! :) But his aimlessness has given him a clue: he needs Bruce, needs the purpose that Bruce gives him in his life. As demon_faith writes: That’s what he’d been trying to escape, to forget about, to run from. He wasn’t just an acrobat and a vigilante-he belonged to Bruce Wayne. He kept Bruce alive; whether either of them could admit that or not, it was the truth.
The picture in this story (the ‘sign’ from on high) will make you laugh and smile.
For the companion piece to this tale, demon_faith writes a story, In Gotham Shade, from Alfred’s POV and presents a haunting portrait of Bruce crumbling without Dick: he withdraws from life as Bruce Wayne and becomes more violent as Batman. Finally he just sits in a chair and stares out the window, and looks old and haggard…until his sun comes back.
Descent
What would happen if one lost the other to death? Considering their dangerous lifestyle, it is a distinct possibility.
If Dick lost Bruce, he would be devastated, but just as he did with his parents, he would eventually manage to connect with people again and live his life, though this time around it would be far more hollow. He could take on the mantle of the Bat, continue as Nightwing, or retire from the superhero game altogether and perform his role as the Wayne heir. A part of him would be ripped away, and some of his brightness would no doubt be dimmed.
Bruce?
Madness, a descent into his Darkness, or on a lesser scale, perhaps retirement from crimefighting.
Personally, I find the first two more likely. Strong as Bruce Wayne is, his parents’ deaths nearly destroyed him and fueled his drive to become Batman.
Losing Dick would cause him to give up Batman, if he didn’t go mad first.
This is my opinion, but I always feel that Bruce skitters around the edge of madness, and Dick pulls him away from the edge of that abyss, as I describe in Yellow Silk, Streaked With Scarlet. In this tale, Dick is grievously wounded and Bruce starts to slide into the abyss of insanity, knowing that only Dick can save him from going over the edge.
In Apple Blossoms, Bruce is barely functional as Dick is laid to rest: His chest ached. How could he breathe without his air now? Live without his light? Feed his soul without his nourishment, rich and sweet and delectable?
Batman Needs His Robin
Perhaps the best illustration of how important Dick is to Bruce is this story, Small Twist Of Fate by merfilly. It is short but powerful in its depiction of the impact that Dick has on Bruce’s life as Prince and Batman.
Batman will always need his Robin.
Bruce will always need Dick, the young man with whom he felt an immediate connection, gives him light and laughter, and who became more important to him than he ever could have dreamed.
Dick will always need Bruce, the man who gave him comfort and a home after a terrible tragedy tore apart his old life, and gave him a purpose to fuel his grief and anger, regarding him as an equal while still a child.
Their lives together could be very much like this in my: 20 Random Facts About Dick Grayson.
A Bat and his Little Bird: together forever.