Chapter Text
Bruce liked to think he was a good dad. He wasn’t perfect—he admitted he had given his kids a hard time more than once. But he tried.
The last two years had been… awful, to say the least.
But could you blame him? Everything had gone downhill since they lost Jason. It was still painful to remember, especially because he wanted to believe he was a good dad… and good dads don’t let their kids die.
Shortly after Jason passed, he got Tim. By some weird play of the universe, he found himself with a new child to take care of. It was the least he could do—after all, he had known the Drakes for years, and Tim reminded him too much of himself. Maybe a bit too much, and that was the whole problem to begin with.
He and Tim had a complicated start, and he admitted he wasn’t the best for him at the beginning. He hadn’t been the parental figure Tim needed most at that time, and he didn’t want to excuse himself—he was still grieving Jason.
Still, Tim didn’t deserve all he had put him through. Although the little brat could’ve helped by not being so stubborn, but he guessed that was his curse: he always ended up with kids that resembled him in the worst ways possible.
By the time Tim was officially Robin (no matter how hard Bruce had tried to prevent it), their relationship had gotten much better—maybe thanks to Dick, too.
So once again, he had two kids under his wing, but things were far more complicated than before.
First of all, Dick wasn’t exactly a kid anymore. He was eighteen, had started his own superhero team, and even though it was hard for him to accept Jason’s death, that had also put some distance between them.
The second difference was the age gap. Dick had been four years older than Jason, and that had already led to weird and stupid fights all the time back then—but still, they got along. When Tim arrived, he was twelve and a half, as he kept specifying. They were already in two very different teenage stages, so Bruce couldn’t count on them entertaining each other as much as before.
But it was fine. They had grown on each other as much as possible, and things had been as smooth as they could for quite a while.
That was why he didn’t expect it all to get so confusing when Cass entered the picture.
Tim had been Robin for about a year. Dick was going through this new weird phase where he dressed in bright blue and called himself Nightwing, and Bruce himself was dealing with new additions to the Justice League that kept him anxious—because Diana and Clark were fine, he was used to them. But new members meant new protocols, new emergency plans, having to trust people all over again from the beginning.
But all that didn’t matter when he found Cass.
She was young, scared. She had been treated like a weapon all her life—raised to be one, nonetheless. Bruce had dedicated uncountable hours to solving the case and putting the people who did that to her behind bars. And he did.
But when it all ended and Cass was left behind, lonelier than ever, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her with some social worker and let her be forgotten. Not when she had gone through so much. Maybe… he was one of the only people who could understand her. Protect her.
When she arrived, she was fourteen—though she looked way younger. She was paranoid, bad with social interactions, had no idea how the real world worked, and oh, right… she wouldn’t talk.
When Bruce learned what they had done to her, his heart broke. After a lot of care from him and Alfred, they finally started to focus on Cass learning to talk—but that was yet another long way to go.
She and Tim got along pretty quickly. Tim was the first person she learned to trust after Bruce, and even later she started getting used to Dick’s presence.
They began with something easier: learning sign language and communicating with her as much as they could. Around that time, Tim started seeing this girl, Steph, and she was also one of the few people Cass tolerated being around.
He was happy. They were all getting better as a family, and things finally started to look good after just a couple of months.
Still, as much as he hated it, Bruce had to deal with his public persona. And of course, playboy Bruce Wayne had to explain to the public why he hadn’t been seen in so many events lately—and why neither of his “heirs” had been spotted anywhere other than in the gossip magazines’ school photos.
So he talked with Cass and the boys, and Alfred arranged an interview for him on a late-night talk show that same evening.
It was better to fix that quickly.
The night was young, people were dying to see him after almost six months away from the public eye, and luckily the host was as bad as always (still, Bruce had to be careful to avoid unnecessary drama).
“Well, hello, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome once again to our special edition of Once Upon a Night in Gotham!”
The crowd cheered. Bruce knew a considerable part of the city would be watching the live show. When the camera turned to him, he fixed his hair—just to give them some of his sassy usual self and win them over more easily.
“Well, well, well, tonight we have none other than Gotham’s prince himself! How are you doing, Mister Wayne?”
They started easy—a couple of jokes about politics, questions about Wayne Enterprises, banter with the audience.
But he caught the exact moment when the interview shifted toward the elephant in the room. He tried to be prepared.
“Well, tell me, Bruce—everyone’s dying to know where the hell you’ve been these past few months! We kinda missed your usual drama at the year’s biggest events!”
He laughed, trying to act relaxed.
“Oh, well, Johnny…” he gave the camera a smile, “what have you heard?”
“What haven’t we heard?” Johnny shouted into the mic as the crowd roared. “Secret lovers! Wayne Enterprises changing owners! Getting arrested! Come on, we even had alien abduction theories!”
He laughed. He wasn’t nervous—well, maybe a bit—but only because he knew how cruel the public could be when it came to celebrities’ private lives. Thank god he had always drawn the line when the media talked about his children.
There had been enough drama after Jason’s death. He didn’t want to repeat it.
“Johnny, can I be honest with you?”
The host sat back in his chair.
“You see, Gotham is my family and I love you guys more than anything—but as much as we know each other, I just needed some time to focus on… well, my closest family.”
“Of course! Of course! Your son Richard is starting college this autumn, isn’t he?”
“He is!” Bruce smiled. “He’s very excited—though I’m a bit sad about him leaving the house, you know how it is.”
A big “Awww” from the audience. He knew he had them.
“Well, finally! How old is he already, twenty? Starting a little late, but I guess it was rough for all of you… after the factory incident.”
Oh, that bastard. Of course he had to bring Jason up. Bruce clenched his fists, forcing himself to stay calm. Then he gave Johnny a warning look—some of the Batman might’ve slipped through, because the host immediately changed the subject.
“And Tim, of course! All the academic magazines say he might be the world’s future—a bright kid, isn’t he?”
Bruce forced a smile.
“He is indeed. But he’s also at that age where he’s finally getting a bit rebellious. You can believe me when I say that house is a madhouse.”
The audience laughed, and the tension faded.
He might as well get it over with.
“But the thing is…” he could feel Johnny focusing on each word, “well, so much has happened, and we decided to open our arms to a new member of our crazy family.”
The crowd gasped, and Johnny’s grin widened—having Bruce Wayne announce a new child on his show was going to make him rich, no doubt.
“Is that so?! Well, Bruce, that’s great! Tell us more—how could you keep a secret like this for so long?”
“Well, it was all of a sudden, but we’re happy and working on it. We just needed some time to adapt.”
“Well, don’t keep us guessing, Bruce—what’s his name?”
Bruce took a deep breath.
“Her name, Johnny, is Cass. She’s a lovely, kind of stubborn girl who’s been with us for almost seven months now. She’s still getting used to everything, but Dick and Tim adore her, and we’re all doing our best to make her feel at home.”
“A girl! Oh, that’s adorable! Bruce, we’re so happy for you!”
People clapped and cheered. He had already started to relax, thinking it was all over—until jackass Johnny spoke again.
“It must be so new for you—having a girl after three boys! We never expected you to be that kind of man…”
“Mhm. What do you mean?”
“Oh, well—you’re just such a masculine, adrenaline-hunter type. We’ve seen how you get along with your boys over the years. We just never expected you to end up being a ‘girl dad.’” He laughed.
The motherfucker actually laughed.
What was his problem?
That was followed by a few comments about Bruce “playing princesses” and how he probably wouldn’t last before wanting “another boy.”
And that was it.
It wasn’t only that he knew Cass and the boys were watching this interview from home.
It wasn’t only that this idiot was being sexist.
It wasn’t only that Bruce wanted Cass to feel like she belonged—that he wasn’t going to give up on her.
No. It was the simple fact that Johnny was messing with his girl.
Bruce smacked a hand on the table—maybe a little too hard, but not enough to be aggressive. Then he laughed—calculated, sarcastic.
Johnny felt the shift in the air immediately and finally shut his mouth.
“Well, let me tell you something, Johnny…” His voice was Brucie Wayne’s, but his eyes were definitely Batman’s. “My Cass here is probably one of the strongest little girls I’ve ever seen. Not only that, but if she wanted, I’m pretty sure she could take both Dick and Tim without breaking a sweat.”
That was true, though he knew he’d have to deal with the boys once he got home for exposing them.
“Not only that—but I wish I could keep up with her. She’s better than me on my worst day. And let me tell you something: I’ll gladly dress up as a princess if that’s what she wants. So let’s start with that, you sexist brat.”
He smiled—wildly—and walked off the stage, humming all the way to the parking lot.
Because he wasn’t about to let anyone talk shit about his kids. And because he knew he had just given the media enough content to last at least a couple of weeks before he had to deal with the consequences.
He got in his car with a satisfied grin and headed out for some Batburgers to take home for dinner.
And that was the first time Bruce had to deal with the complications of being a girl dad