Chapter Text
Everyone Knew Bruce Wayne was a mob boss.
It was another fact of gotham. The sky was grey, the riddler wore green and Bruce Wayne was a crime lord.
Jim Gordon remembered meeting him like it was yesterday, the dark alley and pelting rain (his jacket had been soaked through). The rain had mixed with the blood, the lamp light reflecting off of it with a gruesome beauty and over in the corner a small damp child sat curled up against the wall, eyes locked on the corpses in front of him, unwilling to move even an inch away from his parents the late Thomas and Martha wayne all dressed up in their finery. Bruce's eyes were focused on his parents' figures when Jim finally managed to force his way through the crowd and crouch down in front of the boy.
It took hours to get Bruce to cooperate; it wasn't until Alfred showed up, limo in tow, before the boy was finally coerced away from the crime scene.
For weeks after Jim found himself hounded with questions from the small billionaire. The boy's intense blue eyed stare never leaving his face as he asked question after question. Wanting detail after detail about everything to do with the investigation from the gritty and gruesome questions about the wounds and subsequent death to the more childish question of how they were gonna catch the murderer.
He was asking questions no eight year old should be asking. And while it was understable the tragic loss of his parents would affect him, the boy had clearly had a weird intrest with crime.
Soon people started to take notice of how he was always following the commissioner around asking question after question about the state of gotham and the effects crime had. The boy never seemed to care about social decorum, asking anyone present about topics far too advanced for a normal child, things about the crime rate and causes and effects of poverty.
He quieted down over the years but never seemed to lose that glint in his eye when overhearing the discussions about who had been robbed, or attacked or murdered recently. And so by the time he was an adult it was widely regarded that little Bruce Wayne had a developed an obsession with crime.
It was agreed he was a mob boss not long after his return into the gotham socialite scene.
Why else would he go abroad for so long? Gotham is a highly regared city the richest and the best lived here. Why would he leave if not as some grand scheme? Come back from traveling abroad for so many years suddenly acting like a complete airhead? There was obviously something at play here the upper class whispered to themseleves. Truly no one could really be that stupid let alone Thomas and Martha's kid, both of them incredibly smart and respected. no something was up.
So Bruce Wayne was obviously a mob boss. A good one since he never got caught but a mob boss nonetheless.
And why else would he never talk about the bat? He must be terrified of him. Poor bruice having to try and hide his dealings from not only the cops but the creepy vigilantie that threatened the livelyhood of all the corrupt elite. Every conversation about the batman with or even near Bruce ended with him changing the subject. Insisting with what seemed to be increasing delusion that the batman simply didn't exist.
And that's not even taking into account how secretive he was about his hobbies. According to the man himself he did nothing but party and occasionally send an email. But when you tried to contact him outside of a gala, outside of his allotted hour at wayne enterprises you could never get hold of him. People soon stopped trying out of respect clearly the man was dedicated to his criminal dealings to the point of no disturbance particularly at night.
So when Bruce Wayne took in an orphaned circus child known for his flexibility and flips through the air, everyone assumed Dick Grayson, child of the famous flying graysons, had been recruited as a thief. His abilities would come in handy often they thought. And with the increase of break ins it was clear that Wayne was putting his new investment to use. Why else would Bruice Wayne of all people want a child?
Richard Grayson was small and mischievous and won over the hearts of many of gothams elite and by the time he had grown he was a charismatic young man with the looks and charms to make people stop looking so closely into his and his family's business. If anyone ever raised a concern about the odd bruises or behaviour Dick was there in a heartbeat smoothing things over with a laugh and a funny story until the concerned citizen couldn't even remember why they had had such a silly thought in the first place.
His second child made even more sense. By this time Richard Grayson would have been too big, they said, to climb through vents and break into houses. Some even suspected he might have wanted out of the dark seedy criminal life he was surely living.Though him becoming a cop in bludhaven was a shock to the whole of the gotham elite. No one could ever decide if he became a cop for his father or to spite the man.
Nonetheless, it made perfect sense for Bruce Wayne to recruit Jason Todd. An alley kid would make the perfect thief: small and malnourished, desperate of cash and most likely not on any system the GPD had. This meant he would make a satisfactory replacement considering whose footsteps he was following in.
Jason Todd was definitely criminal material they whispered to each other at their dinners, the ones the Wayne's weren't invited to. No he while smiling and joyous in his behaviour there was a harshness and roughness to him like a ripped edge that couldn't be smoothed over. His temper grew as he got older making snarky comments about how they didn't care about the lower classes in Gotham and liked to flaunt their wealth.
A preposterous statement considering they all donated to the charities thank you very much they donated at least once a month. And clearly Jason didn't know how good he had it and he should put more effort into winning them over if he wanted to be one of the elite. They couldn't out right stop inviting him sadly since he was the son of Bruce Wayne and some people like commissioner Gordon seemed to find him charming and amusing in his bluntness.
It was definitely by this point if anyone was still holding onto the delusion bruice wayne was exactly who he said he was and none of the previous evidence had swayed them. the odd bruises and scrapes his kids both then and in the future had definitely convinced them otherwise. Clearly these kids were getting into fights and starting trouble.
The poor unlucky fool who even voiced the idea that Bruce himself was responsible would be laughed out the event (it had happened before, a poor bumbling reporter by the name of Clark Kent had been laughed out of the yearly wayne charity gala for just voicing the idea that Bruce Wayne could be a danger to his kids) you had to be blind to miss Bruce Wayne's hatred of abusers. No he wasn't hurting the children it was far more likely they were hurting others.
When Jason Todd died it shook gotham. The news went wild and Bruce Wayne stepped back from the spotlight becoming a reculse in his own home. Speculation and gossip went rampant increasing at every event Bruce failed to attend. Of course you had to be respectful of the dead however everyone knew the facts didn't add up. It was clear as a day in metropolis that this was a cover. why would Jason be in Ethiopia of all places and what are the chances he would die in some freak accident.
No the citizens of gotham knew the truth Jason Todd was a tragic accident of a mob war.
The third child was a surprise. Tim Drake was someone none of gotham saw coming. A genius plan in some regards, to strike when Bruce's defences were low, and try and curry some favour. They couldn't deny it worked. Despite the Drakes being half a world away people both applauded and scorned the way their son wormed his way into Bruce's life.
Though Tim was very respectful about it, always kind and polite when approached talking about how lucky he was that Bruce was willing to help him and get him an apprenticeship at Wayne enterprise. The gossipers soon concluded they liked him far more than the ruffian that was his predecessor. This one at least knew gala etiquette and never critiqued them.
No one even saw Tim befriending Bruce and becoming his new recruit until suddenly they were turning up to galas together thick as thieves and Dick Grayson was calling him brother. It looked like the Wayne crime family was back in business.
The blood son was also a surprise no one saw coming. It had been widely decided that Bruce Wayne was way too careful with his one night stands. Stories circulated of his near obsessive care in avoiding pregnancy on the rare occasion he took women home. So to have a son out in the world was a shock to all.
Damian Wayne fit perfectly. He was clearly the son of a mob boss. Why else would he speak so formally and act like he was restraining himself at every moment. Like if you said the wrong thing he would have a knife in your gut before you could blink. No clearly this one had been raised to take over the family business. No doubt hidden so he could be raised in the proper manner for a crime lord.
Of course no one ever tried to have the family arrested. No the Wayne's were the backbone of the city. The countless charities they donated to alone supported half of Gotham and despite the facts all pointing to them being a crime family no crimes were ever tied to them. No brucie wayne despite the obvious persona was a charitable, kind and caring man and no one could stomach the idea of actually trying to arrest him.
Besides the batman had never gone after him so clearly he couldn't be that bad if the big old spooky bat himself didn't want to bring him in.
No as long as the batman was cool with Bruce and Brucie Wayne kept being the kind fun idiot he pretended to be, Gotham wouldn't spill his secret.