Fanfic / Common People

"His whole life, Jason’s mom had told him his dad was Bruce Wayne, but he’d never been dumb enough to actually believe it. They lived in a rundown, one-room apartment in the worst part of town, and in every single picture he’d ever seen of that rich bastard he was wearing a suit or sipping champagne worth more than everything they’d ever owned.

But if he wasn’t Bruce Wayne’s kid, then what the hell was he doing sitting outside the man’s office in Wayne Towers?"

— Official Summary

Common People is a Batman fanfiction created by AmariT.

Dick, Jason and Tim all are Bruce Wayne's biological sons. Tim has been raised by Bruce pretty much all his life. Dick received regular visits until his mother's death. For the first and third, Bruce was always aware. However, Catherine Todd never told him that she had his second son, Jason. Jason is thirteen when his mother decides to contact Bruce. One paternity test later Bruce has full custody of Jason. Jason, needless to say, is less than happy.

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This Fan Fic provides examples of:

• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Jason is rather hostile toward Bruce out of resentment for missing the first thirteen years of his life. In canon, Jason looked up to and loved Bruce until the day he died. His hostility against his father and the rest of the Batfamily didn't start until after his revival, and a good chunk of it was due to lingering effects from the Lazarus Pit.
    • Consequently, his relationships with Dick and Tim are much better without Robin's succession to contend over and their shared blood forcing him to acknowledge that they are, indeed, his brothers.
• Annoying Younger Sibling:
  • Tim to Jason. Introduces himself by taking pictures of him without permission and constantly pesters on how it was to live in Crime Alley. Kid is only trying to get to know his new big brother, but it still grates on Jason's nerves.
  • He is mildly one for Dick. When Jason calls Tim a pervert for taking pictures without permission, Tim promptly turns to Dick and asks him what a pervert is, mortifying poor Dick. Later Tim tells Jason that he already knows what a pervert is.
• Awful Truth: In Chapter Twelve, Jason learns that Catherine isn't his biological mother. His actual mother, Sheila Haywood, abandoned him at the hotel Catherine was working at with a note for Bruce. Catherine took Jason with her and raised him herself instead of giving him to Bruce like she was supposed to, and only introduced him to his father when she realized that her inability to take care of him was forcing him into a life of crime — a life he didn't have to live.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: To his horror Jason realizes that Tim is the very definition of this and it will fall to him to keep the damn brat safe.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Jason has it in spades. When Tim goes exploring in Crime Alley and ends up in trouble, Jason rushes to his rescue right away, skipping two of his classes on his first day at school in the process.
  • Dick is also very protective of both his little brothers, actually freaking out when he meets them while patroling as Robin.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: It would not be the Batfamily otherwise.
  • Bruce is a Vigilante Man and very much Parents as People
  • Dick is also a Vigilante Man and an overgrown child.
  • Jason often displays Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour and his entire life has been a long sequence of Harmful to Minors.
  • Tim stalks his oldest brother and father while they're out patrolling. Then, after meeting Jason, he steals Jason's old clothes and wears them while visiting Crime Alley because he's curious about his second oldest brother grew up.
• Big Fancy House: Wayne Manor, which is used for Rule of Drama due to Jason's Working-Class Hero origins. Jason outright refuses to live in the family wing because his designated room's spaciousness offends him on a practical level.
• Bookworm: Jason. The idea of not finishing a book is an anathema to him and the only room in the manor that doesn't make Jason feel like he's (metaphorically) suffocating is the main library. The smaller library freaks him out because is full of combat and warfare books and manuals.
• Camera Fiend: Tim is constantly taking pictures of everything, including people without getting their permission first.
• Children Are Innocent: What Bruce would prefer his kids to be.
• Control Freak: Jason accuses Bruce of being one for taking him away from his mom and forcing him to transfer to Gotham Academy. It's kinda ironic because of the slight hints that Jason himself needs to have control of his life — Alfred certainly is aware of it. It appears to be In the Blood.
• Cool Big Bro: Dick really wants to be one, and succeeds for the most part.
• Cool Uncle: Clark. After Tim reveals that Jason has never been to Metropolis before, he happily takes the boys around town to see the sights.
• Cut Himself Shaving: Roy tries to pass his track marks as archery injuries. Jason does not buy it and tells Dick right away.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You:
  • Bruce didn't know Jason existed until the boy was thirteen, and Catherine gives her son up because she's acutely aware she's a mess and cannot care for him. To make things worse, it turns out Catherine isn't Jason's biological mother; Sheila Haywood is.
  • Subverted by Janet Drake. Jason wonders if Bruce forcibly took Tim away from his mom too, only for Tim to bluntly confess Janet just doesn't care about her own child.
• Defector from Decadence: Tim has a slight vibe of this.
• A Dick in Name: Jason is incredulous that Dick goes by Dick.
• Dramatic Irony: After seeing Bruce talk with Carmine Falcone, Jason starts to fret about the Waynes being mobsters. So far away from the truth, kiddo.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Jason meets Barbara and Artemis on his first day at Gotham Academy, when Dick checks on him. Roy Harper-Queen also attends the Wayne gala with his father Oliver.
• Entertainingly Wrong: After witnessing the contrast between usual Bruce and Brucie, Jason becomes suspicious. Add the fact that Carmine Falcone, a known mobster, is invited to the Wayne gala and Bruce's and Dick's late hours, it causes Jason to believe that they are a mob family.
• Everyone Hates Mimes: When Jason overhears Bruce yelling at Dick for doing something he disapproves (actually Dick's determination in being a career superhero), the teen wonders if his brother is secretly a mime.
• Evil Counterpart: Janet Drake is actually this to Jason, since she went from Rags to Riches but grew bitter towards her origins. Jason feels nauseated by the fact he could become the same person as her.
• Fearless Fool: Tim willingly and repeatedly sneaks out of the house to take pictures from delightful places such as Crime Alley. Jason certainly thinks Tim has no self-preservation whatsoever, and Dick in Robin costume was very much not happy to find him while patrolling.
• Follow in My Footsteps:
  • It's hinted Dick would very much like to become a career superhero. Bruce disapproves, as he would rather see his eldest finishing university or finding a normal job.
  • When Jason vocally expresses complains about poor people suffering, Bruce introduces him to the team overseeing Wayne Enterprises' charities. He later proudly announces Clark that his son is going to take over his mother Martha's work, which Jason is embarrassed to learn about.
• For Want Of A Nail: A future scene implies that Damian acknowledges the boys as his brothers since they're related by blood instead of adoption.
• Foregone Conclusion: The future scenes confirm that Damian exists and will show up at some point.
• Foreshadowing: Jason asks Catherine why she kept him a secret from Bruce. Her reply is that she was afraid to lose him. Seeing that Dick lived primarily with his mother and never had that fear, it hints that Catherine is not Jason's biological mother.
• Free-Range Children:
  • Jason was one, due to Catherine checking out mentally for days at a time due to her heroin addiction. He deeply resents his restricted freedom once he starts living with Bruce.
  • Tim actually slips away in the night to stalk Batman and Robin. Bruce actually tries to keep a leash on him but Wayne Enterprises, vigilantism and his other children are monopolizing so much of his attention that Tim slips under the radar.
• The Gadfly: As Bruce and Dick decided long ago that Tim was a cute little lamb, the brat milks it for all it's worth. Exhibit A, he perfectly knows what "pervy" is but innocently asks Dick for the meaning.
• Glorified Sperm Donor: Jason regards Bruce this way. To the point were he calls him Wayne.
• Has a Type: Bruce unfortunately tends to fall for women from nasty temperament. Just look at Janet Drake and Talia al Ghul (and it's confirmed he actually fathered Jason on Sheila Haywood instead of Catherine). So far, only Dick's mother averts his preference.
• Honourary Uncle: Clark Kent to the Wayne kids. He's the designated babysitter when they are visiting Metropolis.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jason. He might be abrasive but he has a sweet and generous nature. He never fails to treat Alfred with the utmost respect and consideration. Immediately charges to Tim's rescue and nearly bites Roy's head off when he thought the redhead archer insulted Dick. In the future he pretty much has taken over the Wayne charities.
• Inner City School: Zigzagged and deconstructed. While it's implied Jason went to one (when he could), he and the children there took their education seriously because it was their only chance at getting out of the slums and living a better life. Jason is even offended when Bruce shows genuine surprise at him managing to test into the eighth grade for Gotham Academy.
• Innocently Insensitive: Tim ends up offending Jason without meaning too a few times.
• Irony: Tim is the family member Jason is closest to and the most comfortable with. Bruce is desperate for Jason's love and approval and Jason views him as an unwanted nuisance.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Even if he hates Bruce for utterly upending his life, Jason cannot help but understand his anger about Dick suddenly refusing to attend the Olympics. In spite of his flight being already booked, and his teammates waiting for him.
  • His decision to fire his secretary is taken by Jason as another proof of him being a jackass, until Bruce explains she sold the news of Jason's existence to a tabloid, and he needs to trust his staff so refuses to hire a gossip.
• Harmful to Minors:
  • Dick and Roy have been exposed to a lot of violence. Dick does have quite a few issues behind his cheerful facade. Roy on the other hand resorted to drugs to cope.
  • Jason's upbringing did not do his mental heath many favours either. Tim is also not the most adjusted kid, mostly thanks to his mother's Parental Neglect.
• Last-Name Basis: To show how much he resents Bruce for disrupting his life, Jason refuses to call him otherwise than Wayne. Roy muses he ought to try it the next time he wants to get Ollie's goat.
• Like Father, Like Son: Bruce and Jason ironically. Both of them need to be in control of every aspect of their lives, are extremely stubborn and extremely protective. Nature over nurture in their case.
• Likes Older Women: Jason has a brief moment of discomfort when he realizes that this applies to Dick.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Jason is the only person living in the Wayne manor that is unaware that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
• Missing Mom: Catherine becomes one toward Jason once he starts living with Bruce and his brothers. Janet has been one for Tim since toddlerhood.
• Mundane Luxury: Going to school several weeks early is this to Jason, also having brand new textbooks.
• Nature vs. Nurture: This is Jason's major inner conflict. He grew up in Crime Alley, but he's also descended from the Blue Blood and Old Money Waynes. He's struggling to reconcile the two the longer he lives with Bruce until Dick explains to him that he doesn't have to choose. While that helps, the issue is blown wide-open again when he learns Sheila Haywood, a doctor, was his biological mother, and that means he was always supposed to grow up rich.
• Nice to the Waiter: Jason's defining characteristic in here. Alfred is the only person in the manor that Jason respects right away. He also fixes his messes rather than leave them for the butler. When a Rich Bitch endangers one of the serving staff during the gala, Jason immediately alerts Dick.
• Nouveau Riche: The Drakes. According to Janet Drake, her father was poor, and she was the one to turn the business he started into an empire. However, because of this she's always been ostracized by Gotham's elite; one of the reasons why she left Tim with Bruce is because she felt he'd be able to better fit in if he was associated with the much more established and distinguished Waynes.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: It's hinted that among Gotham's upper-crust elite, Brucie Wayne is mainly seen as a brainless playboy unable to keep it in his pants, who lowered to sleep with trash. A woman explicitly disregards him as fling material because she refuses to become his newest baby mama.
• Original Character: Several exist to help flesh out Jason's backstory. Most notable is Mateo, Jason's best friend from Crime Alley.
• Papa Wolf: When Bruce found out the Awful Truth above, he was understandably furious. The only reason he didn't bring Catherine up on kidnapping charges was because Jason clearly loved her.
• Parents as People:
  • Catherine loves Jason but she is too addicted to drugs to take care of him. Bruce adores all his children but he regularly argues with Dick, fails to properly supervise Tim and tends to put his foot in his mouth when it comes to Jason.
  • In the future scene Bruce scolds Tim for his language but not Jason, since he already has too many battles to fight with Jason. Tim of course finds it unfair.
  • Janet Drake, unexpectedly so. She actually desires to give Tim any opportunity he could wish for, but the way she goes about it makes her horrendously neglectful and unable to emotionally support her son.
• Penny Among Diamonds: Jason is distinctly uncomfortable in the trappings of luxury, having grown up desperately poor.
• Rags to Riches: Jason goes from being the child of a single, drug addicted mom in Crime Alley, to the second son of a billionaire.
• Related in the Adaptation: The premise is that rather than being Happily Adopted, Dick, Tim and Jason are Bruce's biological offspring, each from different flings/relationships. Not only does that make them related to Bruce, it makes them related to each other and to Damian, their youngest brother and Bruce's canonical biological offspring.
• Rich Bitch:
  • Jason considers pretty much any rich person this. He gets to meet an actual one during the gala he attends.
  • In a future scene Jason makes sure to impress upon Tim and Bruce the difference between being a Rich Asshole and being rich and an asshole.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Quite a few people Jason is introduced to during the gala. Also, once before Catherine signed him up for a Christmas Charity. Jason looked forward to it, only to receive an Xbox game disc. A child from Gotham's lowest socioeconomic strata would never be able to afford a $500 console to play the game.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Tim would not be Tim if he had not figured out that his dad and eldest brother are Batman and Robin.
• Sheltered Aristocrat:
  • Tim is unpleasantly surprised when his outing into Crime Alley with an expensive camera causes him to be chased and nearly robbed.
  • The Brucie persona fits this to a tee. Jason is actually a bit confused to see it; for all his issues with his father, he knows the real Bruce is much more down to earth.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Jason. Much to the distress of Bruce in the future scene.
• Snooping Little Kid: Tim would not be Tim if he wasn't and adorable little stalker and busybody.
• So Proud of You: Jason is very surprised when Clark confesses that Bruce is outright gushing about how his second child is smart and determined and kind.
• Spotting the Thread: Jason immediately notices Roy's track marks and tells Dick.
• Spoiled Brat:
  • Subverted. Jason assumes that Dick and Tim are this but soon realizes that they are not. Dick is good at playing the part but is actually extremely likable and down to earth, while Tim is not so much a brat as naive, antisocial, and curious.
  • It's played straight with most of his classmates though, as seen during the gala.
  • Damian in the future scene is a brat, referring to people in the airport as commoners and is incredulous that they, WAYNES, have to be in their vicinity. He is also visibly distressed at having to fly coach, much to Tim's and Jason's amusement.
• Stalker without a Crush: Tim, due to his insistence in taking photos of people when they are not expecting it.
• Stepford Smiler: Both Dick and Tim, for different reasons. Dick is actually more volatile than he appears to be, while Tim has his self-esteem in the toilet.
• Strong Family Resemblance: All of Bruce's kids have his dark hair and blue eyes.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality:
  • Bruce — he loves his children with all his soul, he just has trouble expressing it.
  • Jason all the way, Bruce only gets his harsh side. Alfred is lucky enough to experience the sugar side right way. Tim eventually manages the same, and even Dick gets shades of it from time to time.
• Tabloid Melodrama: Not even three days after Jason learned of his paternity, Bruce's secretary sold the story to a tabloid. Jason got to read an article titled: Bruce Wayne's son with Crime Alley mistress.
• Terror Hero: Batman, as usual. Jason's opinion of him isn't very glowing as a consequence.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour:
  • Upon seeing Bruce bruised and scratched up, Jason's first though is that he is having kinky sex. Jason is only thirteen and most children his age, while knowing the birds and the bees, should not be aware of anything more exotic.
  • Tim's stalkerish behavior and refusal to go to school due to being smarter than his peers is also a cause for concern.
• Too Clever by Half: Timmy, Timmy, while stealing your brother's old clothes to sneak into his old stomping grounds undetected was clever, taking an expensive camera with you was not. Good thing Jason saved your ass from gang members.
• Upper-Class Twit: Jason has this opinion of rich people and going to a fancy restaurant with Janet Drake only further cements it.
• Vigilante Man: Bruce and Dick. The story is Jason POV and he is not aware that his newly found father and older brother are Batman and Robin.
• What Does She See in Him?: After meeting Jack Drake, Jason really wonders why Janet chose to marry a guy who's so vanilla he's completely bland. On the other side, her fling with Bruce didn't work, so why wouldn't she try something different?
• Wise Beyond Their Years:
  • Dick is down to earth and likable, but also far more understanding of Jason's struggles than Bruce is. He's also great at playing the part of spoiled rich kid, having spent the first years of his life as a performer.
  • Jason is Street Smart and already advocating for social reform. By the time Damian comes into the picture, he'll be in charge of Wayne Enterprise's charity department, despite (most likely) still being in college.
  • Tim regularly leaves the Manor to go stalking Batman and Robin, has a list of taxi drivers to use at his beck and call, and is willingly being home-schooled because he's literally smarter than everyone else in his age group. He's eight.
• Working-Class Hero: Jason, which is used for Rule of Drama due to being uncomfortable with the luxurious, comfortable life at Wayne Manor while knowing many of his friends and neighbors back in Crime Alley are struggling.
• Would Hurt a Child: Gotham's criminals have no problem with maiming or killing children. Jason is brutally aware of this, which is why he's so desperate to get to Tim when the latter got the bright idea to go to Crime Alley with an expensive camera.