I think when Bruce dies, his face should be obliterated or smth, like, completely obscured.
Just like in life, he wears a mask in death. This time it’s blood, tho. Lived to prevent violence, died by violence. In the end, he’ll be left to wonder if anything he ever did made an impact on his cursed city as his life quickly slips away.
He should die before Alfred gets too. Alfred is so broken-hearted that it only takes a few days for him to pass away, guilt-ridden over how three Waynes he had known his entire life passed away too young under his care.
Plus, his children should forget what his face looks like. There are a bunch of videos and magazines with Brucie, and there’s minimal coverage on Batman, but no one has Bruce. Just Bruce.
I think they should all be haunted and hallucinate faceless Bruce, tormenting them for not saving him. Why couldn’t they love him? Why can’t they remember his face?
When they find his murderer, it should be a kid who was messing around with their parents’ gun, and it was a complete accident. The kid barely understood what was happening; all they knew was that there was a loud sound, so they ran away. They want revenge, but how could they ever take it?
When Bruce is a few months into dating Clark, they go and visit Ma and Pa Kent over at the farm. Bruce is nervous, which is to be expected, but Clark reassures him that they will love him almost as much as he does (sickeningly sweet Jason gags).
Alfred thinks nothing of it. He’s happy that Bruce is going out into nature and not locking himself up in the cave, in his room, or at Wayne Industries. In fact, you could say that he’s delighted. He’s very glad that Clark came along and is treating his son employer right.
The emotional weight of carrying Bruce’s mental health no longer rests squarely on his shoulders. He can take time to breathe and relax. Alfred feels as though this is a very good thing.
But it doesn’t last long.
Because the moment Bruce came back, all he would talk about for an entire week was how compassionate and gentle Ma and Pa Kent were. To make it even worse, the couple starts calling Bruce, even more than Clark calls Bruce, and he’s their son.
They call just to ask how’s his day has been, what he’s eaten, if he’s been alright, what they should name their new calf, should they do business with this one person, and on and on. Nothing too important, but it’s so important to Bruce to have this meaningful conversation that seems meaningless to everyone else.
Alfred has always been very militaristic in the way he raised young Bruce. The Kents are not. That much is evident by the way Clark graciously conducts himself.
This isn’t to say that Alfred didn’t show love in his own way with Bruce, the Kent’s are just more open with it. They give love like they’re breathing air. Bruce doesn’t have to second-guess if Alfred’s glance was one of judgment or approval; they’ll tell him without beating around the bush. Bruce enjoys the fact that they’re very honest with him.
Of course, they were wary when Playboy Philanthropist Billionaire CEO Bruce Wayne started dating their humble farm-raised son, but once they got to know him, loving him was so easy. Which Bruce has never experienced before, unless it was with Clark.
Bruce knows Alfred loves him, but that love has always been stilted, unspoken, and held back under the pretense of Alfred simply being an employee. No matter how close they get, Alfred stops it. Bruce has learned throughout the years that if he doesn’t revise this affection, Alfred would do it for him, and it’ll hurt a lot more than if he did it himself.
Alfred has never told Bruce ‘I love you’ no matter the situation. He can’t do those words. Guilt crawls up his throat and stamps the words down before he could ever attempt to.
The Kent’s say those three words as if they were the easiest thing in the world. As if his relationship and love with Clark were the easiest thing in the world. As if Bruce was the easiest thing to love.
Every time Bruce comes back from a weekend visit to the farm, his cheeks are nice and rosy and he has a more human complexion instead of his usual vampire pale skin. His eyes are bright with that certain spark that Alfred had sworn he had lost long ago.
He’s wearing comfortable and baggy clothes, most likely Clark’s, and hesitates to put on his suits for a while. He’s got a small bounce in his step as he moves, and he’s more inclined to smile. It puts everyone in a good mood to have Bruce in a good mood. He’s more eager to give out physical affection and loving words to his children.
He gushes about late-night conversations with Pa Kent and the delicious food Ma Kent makes, saying it’s the best food he’s ever tasted, even if he’s traveled the entire world. He takes their sweets home to share and even experiments with the recipes Ma Kent readily gives him.
It puts a bitter taste in Alfred’s mouth.
There is no possible way that Alfred is jealous, though. He understands his place. He was the one who drew a line in the sand and refused to step over it, bar the few times he found himself over the line without realizing it.
No, Alfred Pennyworth is not jealous that his ward his employer, is finding parental love outside of him. That would be utterly ridiculous.
See sometimes Corporate America is so serious all Q4 reports and stakeholders and sometimes your senior director (father of 3) Teams messages you saying he’s going to kill himself if the c-suite changes one more thing and that the past tense of “ping” should be “panged.”
“Look what you did. You snapped them right down the power cell. I mean, they’re actually sparking. Do you know how crazy that is? You couldn’t have done that if you’d tried. And now I have to go explain to Batman why his tech is busted. AGAIN. Do you know what he does when I bring broken escrima sticks back? He doesn’t say what the fuck happened, Nightwing? Or why don’t you take better care of my stuff, Nightwing? That would be easier. At least then I know he’s just mad. No, let me paint a picture for you. Batman just sits there. He doesn’t even examine them because he knows that shit’s busted. And he acts all aloof even though I know deep down, he isn’t angry. He’s disappointed. And sure, your first thought might be — well Nightwing, I’m sure he’s not disappointed in YOU! That would also be too easy. No. He’s disappointed in his tech. He thinks he didn’t work hard enough to make it durable and safe. As soon as I leave these sticks with him he’s gonna pull an all nighter and invent a version of these that could probably electrocute a whole ocean. Just because he doesn’t want this to happen again. And he’ll never admit that, okay? I could be standing right there watching him fix these and he’ll just grunt and say something about optimization. Optimization? They’re fucking broken. So I hope you understand what you’ve just condemned me to. You just had to wave around plasma guns as if they’re anything like real guns. No! If they’re busting Batman’s tech, they could do that to you. Do you not understand that?”
Terrified goon, holding onto his fellow goon with trembling hands: “So you’re gonna let us…go?”
Dick Grayson, dropping his escrima sticks on the ground: “Oh no, man, I’m still gonna beat the shit out of you.”
