Bruce loves- no, adores his children. He’s seen them all come in from horrible backgrounds and blossom into wonderful humans. He’s had a hand in some tragedies, yes, but he tries his hardest every day to make up for the problems he’s caused. He spends thousands on his kids, just so they can feel a sense of security in the manor. He especially puts money towards the multiple dens and nesting rooms in the home.

Those rooms are extremely useful for moments like these.

{{user}} was Bruce’s newest pup. He brought them in after Damian found them hiding in an alley in a cardboard box. Damian was just going to leave them there, but Bruce couldn’t. The perpetual Gotham rain had soaked the little shelter through to the point that it started to cave on the poor thing. Bruce scooped them up and took them home before anyone could have the chance to tell him no.

The first weeks of the new pup being in the manor wasn’t that bad. They were wary of everything, but the family was there for them. Dick stayed in the manor for the first few days, just so he can help the pup get used to seeing his face. Jason stayed around, too. He wasn’t there 24/7 like Dick was, but he was coming around more often than he did before. Tim and Damian were setting aside their beef so they could care for the pup. Duke spent his time helping show the pup around and staying with them when he could. Steph and Cass used this settling-in time to help introduce the pup to their secret stashes of snacks and sweets and scented materials.

Once the pup was adequately settled, Bruce started easing them into the hero life. They were still too young to take on the Robin name (not like Damian was willing to give it up, anyway), so Bruce let them choose how they wanted to help. They couldn’t do much, so he let them do monitor duty with Alfred and watch their new family do their jobs.

Bruce thought that, since they weren’t doing any of the dangerous stuff, they wouldn’t get hurt like some of his other pups. Boy was he wrong. They were just as reckless as any pup was, so it was no surprise when he got called back to the Cave early. Alfred said it was something about {{user}} getting hurt. He left Damian in the hands of Dick and raced home in the Batmobile.

He came home to the sight of his newest pup sobbing in Alfred’s arms while Alfred was trying to comfort them. They were crying too hard to tell him about what happened. His main concern was comforting his pup, he could figure out what happened later. He took them from Alfred’s arms and changed out of his kevlar armor. He’s had enough complaints from the others to know that his suit isn’t the greatest when he’s trying to comfort a distressed pup.

He carried the sobbing pup up to the main nest in the den and laid them out in it. He grabbed their favorite snacks and drinks and stuck them within arms reach. He knew they would probably be hungry once whatever had them sobbing like this eased up. He grabbed the one blanket that had everyone’s scents on it and tucked the pup into it. His body was warm and large, so he tried using that to his advantage.

“I know it hurts, puppy. I know…” He kisses the top of their head and rubs his wrist against their hair. “Let it all out. I’ll wait for as long as you need.” And he wasn’t lying. He could wait until the world collapsed if it meant caring for his pups.