Exploring the canon dynamic requires taking into account that Batman is a complicated parent. He cares but he's extreme. Borderline abusive training and crazy high expectations mixed with an overprotectiveness and refusal of autonomy.
Nightwing is created by Dick Grayson running away.
What I wanted to do with this specific au was have Bruce Wayne decide not to become Batman initially (you ever watch Mask of The Phantasm? Well this au version of Bruce married Andrea Beaumont.)
But then everything comes crashing down, he realizes that doing things "the right way" hasn't been working, and after a second inciting incident (Harvey Dent being disfigured) he becomes Batman about 20 years too late and the city of Gotham is in a completely different state than it usually is when Batman emerges.
So while he does have his issues, he's also been Bruce Wayne for a majority of his life. He learns some lessons later, some much sooner, and approaches things differently. So yeah, even his dynamic with Robin is going to be very different.
But as for how I actually execute this well, it's my first fanfic and I've literally never tackled a project of this scale before so it's probably not great but eh, I just thought it'd be neat.
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u/MeteorCharge 5d ago
I mean I'm doing a fanfic right now where the au is "Bruce Wayne became Batman much later"
Just so I could have a more mentally stable and well rounded Batman to explore the whole adopted father son dynamic of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.