( He barely knows The Joker from his own Gotham and yet, already he can feel an entanglement between them happening. Almost our anniversary he'd said with a lazy grin on his lips when he'd visited him in Arkham for information. You're so much more fun he'd whined when his antics had been ignored. The way he'd been able to read him — to know how he felt about the murders deep down... it unsettled him. Had caught him off guard even. How he could read and see him when so many others can't.
So the thought of him being dead is one that gets him to look over to the other man — to stare in silence before he's dropping his gaze again momentarily. He can't claim to know Tim in the way he knows Damian or even Dick here. But he knows he's the third Robin and that he wouldn't train him to murder anyone they ever came up against. But to have been tortured at the hands of The Joker for weeks... )
[ Once again he's forced to confront the notion that in all these years, Bruce had not once reached out to ask if Tim was okay. At any other time, he could put it away. Lock it up with all of the other years of unaddressed issues. But he cannot here. Because whenever he sees them - any of them - it drags all of it up again.
The honest answer is I don't know. ]
I refused to let him continue as Robin so he left. As far as I know, he's fine.
( He left. He hasn't dealt with any of them leaving yet — hasn't even been through the things the other man has and yet, he knows, deep down, that neither of them handle a loss of any kind well. The thought of losing Damian here bothers him in ways he tries not to dwell on. Where if Damian's actual father from his Gotham appeared here and he would have to let him go, he... doesn't know what to think or feel about that. Tries not to, for the most part, but. Doesn't always work.
Staring to the other man, he's quiet again — gaze dropping for only a moment in thought before he's looking back up to him. )
[ The difference - Bruce has learned - is that they come back. All of them, even after Bruce pushed them away. They did not for him. And maybe it makes a little jealous. Maybe it makes him wonder what he did to so drastically change his outcome.
The other Bruce's question lands heavily. Because in the end? Bruce couldn't protect them. Not back then and especially not now. He couldn't even protect himself. Not really. Not like he could when he was 40 years younger.
He wants to say no. But that feels hopeless and Bruce is...not completely devoid of that. Not yet. ]
( Keep them close. Something that, for any Bruce Wayne, can be difficult to do at times, simply because of how they are.
His gaze drops, silence to follow as always is typical of both Bruce Wayne and The Batman. He can't say he tries his best to keep them close, but he also doesn't go out of his way to avoid them either. Not like he first did when he found himself here anyways. Were it not for Damian's relentlessness in seeing to it that he wasn't left alone, he doesn't know where he'd be with the young Wayne, let alone the others. But he still finds himself, every now and then, leaning back into his reclusive tendencies, especially after Clark had disappeared. Someone he had thought of as a friend. )
They're curious about you. Like they were me. We're not the man they've known throughout their lives, but they still feel drawn to us. I guess because we're familiar.
( Even if they're different in their own ways. )
So try to do the same. ( Keep them close. ) Even when you don't want to.
[ That's something that separates them. Bruce doesn't want to see them. Because it means a confrontation he's not ready for yet. He was alone for 20 years; he could endure more of it here if it meant keeping these people at arm's length.
He takes what this younger Bruce is saying - it sounds idealistic. It sounds foolish. Bruce isn't going to do it - and puts it away. ]
( A look over to him, he remains quiet for a moment longer, still finding it strange to be here, face to face, with some possible older version of himself that he may or may not come to be in the future. He still can't claim to be an expert on all of this... on multiple versions of selves and worlds, but. It's not as entirely jarring as it had been when he first found himself here. )
Yeah.
( The word comes soft and simple, a turn made to take his leave before he stops. )
Be careful with this place. It has a way of twisting things as a means to break you.
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So the thought of him being dead is one that gets him to look over to the other man — to stare in silence before he's dropping his gaze again momentarily. He can't claim to know Tim in the way he knows Damian or even Dick here. But he knows he's the third Robin and that he wouldn't train him to murder anyone they ever came up against. But to have been tortured at the hands of The Joker for weeks... )
Is he alright?
( A beat. )
Tim.
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The honest answer is I don't know. ]
I refused to let him continue as Robin so he left. As far as I know, he's fine.
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Staring to the other man, he's quiet again — gaze dropping for only a moment in thought before he's looking back up to him. )
Are we ever able to protect them?
( Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian. )
Or is nothing we do ever enough?
( Because it's beginning to make him wonder. )
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The other Bruce's question lands heavily. Because in the end? Bruce couldn't protect them. Not back then and especially not now. He couldn't even protect himself. Not really. Not like he could when he was 40 years younger.
He wants to say no. But that feels hopeless and Bruce is...not completely devoid of that. Not yet. ]
Don't do that to yourself. Just keep them close.
[ Don't be like him is what he's saying. ]
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His gaze drops, silence to follow as always is typical of both Bruce Wayne and The Batman. He can't say he tries his best to keep them close, but he also doesn't go out of his way to avoid them either. Not like he first did when he found himself here anyways. Were it not for Damian's relentlessness in seeing to it that he wasn't left alone, he doesn't know where he'd be with the young Wayne, let alone the others. But he still finds himself, every now and then, leaning back into his reclusive tendencies, especially after Clark had disappeared. Someone he had thought of as a friend. )
They're curious about you. Like they were me. We're not the man they've known throughout their lives, but they still feel drawn to us. I guess because we're familiar.
( Even if they're different in their own ways. )
So try to do the same. ( Keep them close. ) Even when you don't want to.
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He takes what this younger Bruce is saying - it sounds idealistic. It sounds foolish. Bruce isn't going to do it - and puts it away. ]
Is that all you wanted?
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Yeah.
( The word comes soft and simple, a turn made to take his leave before he stops. )
Be careful with this place. It has a way of twisting things as a means to break you.
( Like the image of their mother. )
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[ Bruce doesn't sound dismissive or flippant. Just tired. ]
But I take your warning. Take care of yourself, Bruce.