#UNTIL THE DAY COMES WHERE DAMIAN IS TALLER THAN BRUCE HE WILL BE CALLED SHORT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

soulmate-game · 4 years

Text

Well that happened.

B!dbwm 2020

Day 6: Meeting the Justice League

Marinette paced in her bedroom in Wayne Manor, running her hands through her hair as Damian laid on her bed and played animal crossing while completely ignoring her freakout.

“Dami, how did I get myself into this mess?!” she asked, frantically pulling at her pigtails. Her brother snorted, rolling his eyes unsympathetically.

“You never use your brain until after you’ve already made important decisions,” he responded ruthlessly. “All of your mental capacity goes towards planning out completely inane things like birthday parties and actually caring about what our even more idiotic class thinks about you, so when you actually need it you don’t have any intelligence left to spare.”

Marinette turned her eyes on him, the blue lightening to an icy color in her panicked annoyance as she glared at him. “Gee, thanks. I can always trust my darling brother to have my back,” she said sarcastically, to which Damian only smirked.

“When it matters? Of course. But in this case, watching the fallout will be entertaining and not at all dangerous to your physical safety.”

Damian and Marinette had been sent to live in Paris a few years back, about a year after Damian had come back to life. Marinette had been far too attached to the twin she had thought she had lost for good, and had nearly driven him crazy with how overprotective she had gotten. Right alongside that, Damian had started to become even more stifled by Bruce’s own protectiveness and distrust of him, so he quit being Robin and they were sent to PAris to try and “recover” from their “trauma” somewhere “safe and peaceful, under the jurisdiction of the JLE.”

Yeah, that was a great idea. Up until they found out the hard way that the JLE had up and abandoned the Paris headquarters and taken up unofficial residence in England somewhere. And then Hawkmoth showed up. And of course, of fucking course, an old chinese man from the pacifistic organization that acted as a direct foil to the League where they grew up somehow decided that they, out of everyone in Paris, were the best people he could find to wield the power of tiny gods to save the city.

Sure, he was right, but Damian chewed him a new asshole as soon they met for trusting complete unvetted strangers with the gods of creation and destruction.

And now Marinette had finally managed to leak to Tim, who then spread the calculated slip of information to Bruce, that Paris had had a supervillain for the past few years and the JLE had been neglecting their jobs. Which turned into Batman setting up a meeting with Ladybug and Chat Noir (Damian had tried to tell everyone his name was Chance Noir, Dark Luck, NOT ‘chat noir,’ since the last thing he needed was to be associated with Selina in any way. Nobody listened, and now he was stuck with being called Chat Noir). They had a lovely discussion about all the shit Hawkmoth did, their lack of resources, and the lack of assistance/straight up refusal to believe their word that came from the JLE.

Which led to Batman inviting Ladybug to meet the Justice League to debrief on the Paris situation. Damian had been invited as Chat Noir, but had taken the smart path and opted out. Now Marinette had to not only go to the Justice League as Ladybug, but also as Batman's daughter Hummingbird, who was being brought in for consultation along with Damian as Robin.

“I’m gonna die again,” Marinette continued her catastrophizing, Tikki and Plagg sharing a glance at once another from their spot on her writing desk. “I’m gonna die of total embarrassment. Don’t bother resurrecting me Dami, I’m just gonna die all over again once Dad finds out who we are and kills me.”

Damian snorted. “Hah. Father killing anything, good one,” he snarked back blandly. “You’ll be fine. Remember, you’re the planner and I’m the one with actual skill. You have the strangest ability when it comes to getting out of situations like these by the skin of your teeth,” Damian grinned at something on the screen of his Switch before continuing. “You’ll be fine. And if you sell me out, I’ll bury you myself.”

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. Neither of them wanted their dad to find out that they were LAdybug and Chat noir, especially since they had already explained to him the basics of the source of their powers. They were both certain that Bruce would completely ignore how well they had been handling the situation on their own for almost five years and jump straight to the “my murderous children should not be left with the powers of destruction and creation at their fingertips,” line of thought. Bruce had never trusted them alone before, why now?

“At least help me, shaqiq?” Marinette asked, walking over and plopping onto the ground next to her bed, so she could look straight into her twin’s bright green eyes. At first, he refused to even look at her, completely unmoved. Marinette hummed mischievously, a habit that was the source of her Gotham codename. “If I go down, I’m taking you with me.”

Damian finally huffed, scowling. “Fine.”

He knew better than to doubt her. Marinette always got her way when she decided she was wronged and needed to even the score for something. Always.

—* — * — * — * — *

Hummingbird. The smallest Bat, by far, and the fastest when it came to natural speed. Hard to spot, with the sole giveaway that a short playful hum could be heard if she thought she had her prey cornered. She was hardly ever wrong.

She had also been temporarily retired as she and Robin moved to some undisclosed location to get away from the vigilante life for a while. Or so Batman said. And for the most part, aside from the occasional League gathering here or glimpse that they got of the two’s civilian personas if someone visited the manor while they were there, Robin and Hummingbird stayed retired. Heroes who knew them wondered if Robin had finally given up and settled down somehow, if he was even capable of it. And they all speculated that Hummingbird was so scarred from Robin’s death that she wouldn't ever be able to leave his side again, retired or not.

Seeing Hummingbird in her navy blue and black uniform, almost identical to her brother’s but for the thick navy blue scarf that covered her neck and lower face, everyone in the Justice League who knew her thought they were right. She stood there, older and only a little taller, never leaving Robin’s side as they traded secretive glances and hand signals only they understood. They didn’t make any attempt to stray from one another’s side.

But Jon Kent, superboy and Damian’s oldest friend, was of a different mind. He had been by Marinette’s side after Damian died, and by both of theirs when he was brought back. This was not the same terrified dependence he had seen back then. His eyes narrowed.

The twins were scheming, and nobody else would notice until it was too late.

Quicker than they could blink, he was by their side with his trademark smile. “Hey guys! Long time no see!”

They gave the half-kryptonian identical deadpan expressions, sighing in tandem. “You facetimed us last night. And you flew to Paris to visit us last week,” Damian pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “Despite us expressly telling you not to.”

Jon shrugged. “If I listened to everything you two said all the time, we’d never have any fun. So, excited to meet this Ladybug girl? Dad says that your dad won’t tell him anything about her until she shows up.”

Hummingbird and Robin traded looks before Marinette answered. “Not really. We see Ladybug in action in Paris all the time—”

“She even saved Marinette from an Akuma who was obsessed with wanting to date her,” Damian interrupted with an insufferable grin. Marinette elbowed him hard, making her brother wince before chuckling at her red face.

“I could have saved myself just fine! It’s not my fault we have to lay low, or we might get kicked out of Paris for being past vigilantes!” Marinette argued, voice high as she protested how helpless Damian had made her sound. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. Damian’s grin widened into a predatory smirk that showed off teeth.

“Oh? What about that one time that Tsurugi got akumatized, and Chat Noir had to save you because she wanted to duel you for the right to date me and you were cornered?”

Marinette growled, throwing up her hands in frustration before smacking Damian’s shoulder angrily. He only laughed at her. “I’m leaving! Come find me when Ladybug finishes explaining the things we already know!” with that, a fuming and embarrassed Hummingbird stormed out of the room.

“Huh,” Flash remarked, leaning against the wall. “She looks a lot better than the last time I saw her. And she actually left your immediate vicinity. Willingly,” he remarked to Robin, who glared at the speedster.

“It’s been almost six years. If you think my sister is weak enough to be that thoroughly encumbered by the past for so long, you are greatly underestimating her,” he looked around to see almost all of the gathered League members staring at him. He grit his teeth and looked over at his father. “When is this woman going to arrive, anyway? You’d think she would actually be on time.”

Just then, a portal opened in the middle of the room and Ladybug walked through. Quickly shedding the brown costume that allowed her to teleport in, she was left in just her black and red-spotted combat suit. Seeing as they finally found out how to alter the costumes the Kwami gave them, Ladybug’s hair now sat in a braided bun on the crown of her head and her costume was made to look more like Nightwing’s with the ladybug symbol on her upper chest and between her shoulder blades on her back, with black gloves that reached up to her elbows and black knee-high boots with red stripes up the sides.

The brightly colored heroine smiled, seeming to light up the room with cheer that nearly put Jon to shame (it took her awhile to perfect that particular smile. She actually based it off Jon himself, and Damian was impressed by how accurate she had been able to make it over time. Not that he would say as much out loud).

That was when Diana started choking on thin air, and Damian and Marinette both realized that they had overlooked something rather major.

Hippolyta had been a Ladybug. Diana had met Tikki. Diana knew how to see past Tikki’s glamour.

At first, Ladybug tried to play it off. Maybe Diana would catch on and help her out. So she walked over, holding her hand out for Wonderwoman to shake and putting on another wide smile for good measure.

“Oh my Kwamii! It is so good to finally meet you, Wonderwoman, Tikki told me so much about you and your mother! Would you like to talk later—”

“Marinette Wayne, how in Zeus’ name did you become the new Ladybug?” Wonderwoman instantly yelled, making Marinette wilt. Damian tried backing away slowly, only for Diana’s eyes to then shoot over to him and narrow dangerously. “And you! I knew I felt something weird, but now I can pinpoint it. You are wielding the Black Cat! One of you explain what is going on. Now.”

Ladybug and Robin instantly looked away, getting ready to make a quick escape right as their father walked up behind Robin, putting a firm hand on his shoulders. As always when Batman smiled, it sent a shiver down everyone’s spine. Marinette gulped a little.

“I agree. Marinette, I forgot to tell you that we changed the locations of the League security cameras last night,” shit they were so busted. Bruce must have suspected them of something from the very beginning, stupid world’s greatest detective instincts— “But now that we have confirmed that my suspicions were correct, we can save that discussion for later. First, let’s debrief on the Paris situation like we agreed. Then, you two will explain why you decided not to tell me while you help each other clean the entire Batcave tonight.”

Damian didn’t open his hand for the entire meeting. He and Marinette made eye contact as soon as everyone sat down for a suddenly very uneasy debrief, silently agreeing that they would not let their father take away their Miraculous. They finally had names and reputations of their own, away from the Batclan and their father’s influence. They had learned more about themselves and what they were capable of in those past years as Miraculous wielders than in all the years of the rest of their lives combined. They wouldn’t give it up, not even for Bruce’s approval.

But when they got back to the Manor and began cleaning up the batcave as they had been ordered, they were surprised when Bruce made no mention of taking their jewelry back at all. And he stayed up with them, silently reviewing things on the Batcomputer as they cleaned. It could almost be considered family bonding.

By the time the twins were done cleaning the sun was about to rise, and finally their father spoke up for the first time since they had begun their punishment chore.

“I watched days worth of your Paris battles before going out to meet Ladybug and Chat Noir in person,” he said without ever turning around from his spot at the computer. “I was impressed. I still am. The teamwork was flawless, and the Parisian heroes never used deadly force. They even did their best to provide emotional support to the victims who were akumatized. I thought for sure at least one of you two would have been victims yourself, with all that you’ve been through. Anything can be a trigger for you, anything can make you vulnerable to Hawkmoth,” Bruce paused to take a sip of coffee. He didn’t have to look at his children’s reflections in the face of the Batcomputer to know they were drinking in every word he said. He did anyway, allowing a small smile that they couldn’t see to form on his lips.

“I scoured through every akuma attack one by one, trying to find the one where one or both of you were the ones possessed. But I only found more reasons to be impressed by the heroes instead. By the time I was done looking through every scrap of video I could find, I had a feeling I knew who you were. Hearing your voices in person cemented it further, but I wanted video proof. So, knowing that Marinette would have forgotten about agreeing to accompany me to a JL meeting, I asked Ladybug to debrief us.”

“You had us from the start,” Marinette sighed, shoulders slumping. But Damian said nothing, eyes wide as he picked up on the nuances of what Bruce was saying that Marinette was too tired to catch on to.

“I’m proud of you two.”

Then, even Marinette froze. The twins had identical expressions of shock on their faces, and Bruce finally turned around to look at them properly. For a long while, the three of them only made silent eye contact as dozens of emotions flew through the air silently, but understood. Then Damian and Marinette straightened up just and silently. Damian nodded to his father, Marinette gave him a vulnerable little smile, and then they both backed out and went to head to sleep.

And once they were gone, Bruce sighed in content. Seems his meet-the-Justice-League plan worked out perfectly. He had finally managed to say something right to his two most troublesome children, for the first time. He leaned back in his chair, gazing up at the dark bat-infested cave ceiling as one more tiny grin played on his face, a little melancholy this time.

Guess they never needed him to help them find their inner hero, after all. They had become even better at the whole hero thing than he was, and all on their own. Bruce closed his eyes, not noticing when Alfred draped a blanket over his body and left the Cave with a soft chuckle.

--*--*--*--*--*

This sucked, but I wanted to give you guys something. So. here you go I guess?

#maribat #b!dbwm2020 #b!dbwm #bio!dad bruce wayne #Platonic daminette #sibling daminette #Damian as Chat Noir #mlb x dc #ml x dc #Miraculous ladybug X DC #idk what happened don't yell at me #another one-hour fic

649 notes · View notes

cdelphiki · 4 years

Note

Was re-reading ‘In for a Penny’ when I read this sentence “if we do not rescue Damian today, “Clark said, finally speaking up, “I have a feeling we will one day face him in battle”and thought what if Bruce wasn’t able to find Damian, instead meets him again when he’s ten, how would he feel?What would happen? Damian holding a sword to the father he doesn’t remembers throat, dick finally seeing his brother again. Memories, baby things left untouched in the manor. Would love to hear your thoughts-M

The years since Damian’s kidnapping had not been kind to Bruce.

Dick left him. When he was barely eighteen. Packed up and moved to Bludhaven, where he still lived some six years later.

Bruce couldn’t blame him. Not really. He’d not been much of a father, once Damian went missing.

Then Jason came along, and Bruce had tried really hard for that boy. He’d worked on himself, worked on his availability. Adopted him, right from the start.

It hadn’t mattered.

Because in the end, Jason had left him, too. In the most painful way possible.

At least Damian was out there.

Somewhere.

Growing up, living his life.

Jason’s had been cut short.

After that, Bruce had sworn off kids. He wanted nothing to do with children ever again, because brining a child in his life just meant he’d love that child, and life didn’t let him keep the things he loved.

He wasn’t sure how many more times he could go through that.

Those he loved suffered in the worst ways possible, and how could he do that to another child?

Then Tim came around. Kind of forced his way into Bruce’s life. Reluctantly, and completely against his will, Bruce had come to love Tim, as well. Had adopted him, when the opportunity arose, as tragic as it was.

Talia had made herself scarce in the years since stealing Damian away from him. He’d tried to find them. Many times. But they always evaded him. Were always too well hidden.

He hadn’t… given up.

Per se.

But as Damian grew older, Bruce’s hope dwindled. He’d not even been two yet, when Talia took him away. There was no chance he’d even remember Bruce at five.

Or eight.

Or the ten he was now.

What right would Bruce have to swoop in and steal him away? Rip him away from the only family he remembered?

To him, Bruce was the absent father, living on the opposite side of the planet, and as much as he wanted to see his son, as badly as he wanted to hold his baby in his arms, he was a stranger to Damian.

He had no right over him any more.

All he had left of his little boy were pictures and a stuffed cow.

He’d given away everything else. To Clark, when Lois was expecting Jon.

To Selina. When she was expecting Helena.

Damian was too old for baby things, anyway. And walking past a nursery was painful.

They’d turned that room into Jason’s.

It wasn’t any less painful, now.

Bruce tried not to think about any of it. Tried not to think about Damian.

But it was hard, when Talia al Ghul kidnapped him while he was on mission in England.

Strung him up and got right in his face.

Hers was not a face he wanted to see.

“Talia,” he snarled, flexing his hands, testing his strength against the bat-thing that held him tight.

It would take a remarkable show of strength to free himself. He wasn’t sure he could. Even if he did, there were half a dozen more of the bat-things all around him. He knew himself outnumbered when he saw it.

He was just thankful Tim had taken the weekend off, rather than accompanying him on this trip.

“What do you want, Talia,” he spat, when she came too close, running her fingers across his chest. He had no interest in her. And she should know that by now.

She had killed any chance of there being anything between them eleven years prior.

And then burned it to the ground when she stole their son away from him.

“It’s nice to see you, too, Beloved,” she drawled, pulling away from Bruce and drawing her sword. She toyed with it, staring at the blade in her hand, without saying anything further.

“What. Do. You. Want,” he ground out. Games were also not something he was interested in.

“Hm,” she hummed, still toying with her blade for a moment before finally asking, “You remember our son?”

“How could I forget,” he growled. If she had merely kidnapped him to taunt him…

He might need to call in Clark to hold him back. He pulled at his arms again, and could feel the give in his captors’ hold. Knew, if he pulled his arms in just the right way, kicked his legs back at just the right moment, he’d be able to free himself easily.

“Hm. Yes, well,” she said, waving a hand at him, as if dismissing his anger, “He has grown wild. I can no longer control him.”

His sweet little baby?

Unlikely.

“What did you do to him?” he shouted, seriously contemplating calling in Clark. Because he was not sure he’d be able to control himself if he found out Damian had been mistreated in any way.

And he couldn’t think of a single other explanation for his Damian turning ‘wild.’ Not his sweet little baby who loved animals and was so gentle. So empathetic. So kind.

“Do not be so dramatic,” Talia snapped, “I thought you’d be happy.”

“Happy about what.”

“He needs… taming,” she said, twirling her sword around, a little, before she sheathed it again, “He lacks discipline. I had hoped some time with his father would straighten him out.”

“Time with,” he started, only to fumble over his words.

Was she…

Introducing him to Damian?

Why… why would she… after all these years…?

What was her game?

“You’ll hear from me soon, Beloved, though I’ll imagine you’ll be busy. I intend to hold the whole world hostage.”

Bruce tried to look back up at her, to ask her what the fuck that meant, but his head was pushed forward by one of the man-bats, and the entire world seemed to freeze.

Because a small child had materialized before him.

A… boy.

His boy.

In the eight years since he’d seen Damian, he had changed so much, but at the same time, not at all.

He had the same nose. The same… little button nose he’d had, as a baby. The same bright green eyes.

The same scowl.

“Damian,” he whispered, looking Damian up and down, trying to commit every little detail to memory.

“Father,” Damian responded, pushing his sword forward, almost touching Bruce’s neck, “I imagined you taller.”

“You-“ Bruce started, but had to stop. Because he was overcome with laughter.

The man-bats let go of him, and Bruce slumped to the ground, right to his knees, only keeping himself upright with his hands as his laughter turned a tad hysteric.

His little boy.

His little boy, was standing right in front of him. Was… Was within reach.

Was coming home with him.

“You are the great warrior Mother has told me about?” Damian asked skeptically, his sword now sheathed.

That was enough to pull Bruce back to the moment. He sniffed, and sat back so he could get a good look at his little boy.

“Hi, Damian,” he said, smiling a little, to force the overwhelming urge to weep to go away.

Damian scowled, a little, and shot Bruce as critical look. “How do you know my name?”

“What?”

Out of all the things Damian could ask…

“My name. Mother said you did not know of me. She did not tell you my name just now. How do you know it?”

“I- What?” Bruce repeated.

“You are not as intelligent as Mother claimed. Shame.”

“Damian,” he said, slowly, “You- you lived with me. For almost a year, as an infant.”

“Tt,” he huffed, rolling his eyes dramatically, “Now you are suggesting my mother is a liar. She has done a lot of things, but she has never lied to me.”

“Just, come here,” Bruce said, looping an arm around Damian’s shoulders and tugging him close, “I have missed you so much.”

Damian tensed in Bruce’s arms, but didn’t push him away. That is, not until Bruce started crying.

Bruce didn’t blame him. He’d be uncomfortable, too, if a stranger claiming to know and love him started crying into his hair.

They had so much ground to recover.

- - -

Damian was a massive brat.

Bruce felt like a terrible parent for thinking such a thing about his own son, but Damian was downright horrible.

He did nothing but yell and scream and throw things around. He fought with Alfred. Fought with Bruce.

Hated Tim.

Considering the boy had attempted to push Tim off the top level of the cave, that first night Bruce brought him home, he couldn’t trust Damian anywhere near Tim.

And Tim hated Damian in return.

Or, at least, considered him to be the ‘son of satan’ and avoided him at all costs.

Bruce wasn’t sure how to make his family all mesh together. Wasn’t sure how to get Damian to calm down and give them all a shot.

All those years Bruce had imagined, fantasized with it would be like to get Damian back, never once had he considered he might not like the boy.

He still loved him, of course. Loved him so much it hurt.

His son was finally home, and his home had been thrown into pure chaos.

Handing Damian the cow had been a difficult decision.

For eight years, that cow had been all Bruce had. The only physical reminder he had of the little boy he’d lost.

Damian and Cow had been inseparable, when he was an infant. Bruce had bought three more, the very second he realized how attached to the dumb toy Damian had become. He had four of those cows, and when Talia’s men took Damian, they’d taken none of them.

It’d been a stab in his heart, every time he looked at cow. Knowing how scared Damian would be without it. How upset.

Knowing Damian likely cried for weeks, if not months, for that stupid cow.

And in the eight years since Damian’s kidnapping, Bruce had become a little attached to the cow, himself. It sat on his bed stand. Right next to his favorite photo of Damian. He pat cow’s head every night, as if doing so would be telling his own little boy ‘good night, I love you.’

Just like he’d done every single night Damian lived with him.

Handing Damian that cow was difficult. Because Damian destroyed everything he was given. He was violent. He threw tantrums.

And he was, above all, not a child.

But Cow belonged to Damian, and Bruce was unable to put it off any longer.

“Damian,” he said, knocking on his boy’s door, allowing it to creak open as he did, “I wanted to give you something.”

“What is it now,” Damian started, but paused when he got a look at the toy in Bruce’s hand. Bruce walked over to the bed where Damian was reading and held it out, for Damian to take.

But instead, Damian just said, “That’s… Mr. Cow.”

“Yeah,” Bruce said, laughing a little to cover up the desire to cry.

Because Damian remembered.

“I—“ Bruce started, “He was yours. When you lived here. I’ve— I’ve kept him in my room, ever since you left. To remind me of you. But, he was yours, so I thought I should give him back.”

“Why,” Damian said, slowly, in the least snotty tone Bruce had heard yet, “Why do I remember a stupid toy but I do not remember you?”

Bruce sighed, and sat down on the bed next to his son. He placed Cow down in Damian’s lap, even though Damian made not move to take it.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. He’d been a little distraught when none of the photos had jogged anything.

He hadn’t specifically expected Damian to remember things from when he was 20-months-old, but to have his own boy accuse him of doctoring the photos, just to “get into his head” and “paint his mother as the liar” had hurt.

“You were young. Most people don’t remember much from before the age of three, and you weren’t even two when you left.”

“But I remember the cow.”

“Yes,” Bruce said, placing his arm behind Damian as he leaned back, “You couldn’t sleep without the damn thing. My guess is you cried for it every night for months, after you left. It probably stuck with you because of that.”

“Oh.” Damian placed his hand on cow’s head and stroked. Just once. Before his cheeks flushed and he yanked his hand away sharply.

“I’m really happy you’re back,” Bruce said, moving his hand so it was sitting on Damian’s shoulder. Damian still didn’t let him hug him, but at least he didn’t shrug his hand away. “I hope you know that. I want nothing more than to get to know you.”

“Thank you, Father,” Damian said crisply, then faltered before adding, much less confidently, “I have always wished to… know you.”

Bruce couldn’t help it. He pulled Damian in by the hand on his shoulder, and wrapped his arms around. “Well, I’m glad we have this chance, then.”

For once, Damian didn’t fight him. He did fidget, a little, with Cow started to fall, but he caught the little toy and held it a little more securely while Bruce rested his head down on Damian’s hair.

And when Damian didn’t push him away for several minutes, Bruce started to think… maybe Damian wasn’t a hopeless case, after all.

#this is your fault #also it turned a little sweeter than I first thought it would so :)#happy ending #i'll post this to ao3 in a couple days #or maybe tomorrow #idk #wanna put some time between the new chapter and it #damian wayne #bruce wayne #batman #robin #batfam #batfamily #fanfiction #c writes #pennyverse #sort of alt universe #remember i aged dick up for this fic #Anonymous

278 notes · View notes

peterxwade24 · 3 years

Text

Safety Found in Red Sleeves

Chapter 5

Here is the long awaited Chapter 5. Also, due to my own desire, all of the temporary heroes will have suits fashioned after outfits from “Avatar: the Last Airbender”.

Con trai means “son” while Con gài means “daughter”, or at least that’s what the website I found them on says. (the website is www.vietnamesepod101.com if you’re wondering)

Also, I made a typo in chapter 2/3 with Marc’s pronouns but since then, I’ve changed it. I hope you all will continue to receive this fic with the same enthusiasm you have thus far.

Jason danced around his kitchen with Damian on his hip, his sisters sitting on some of the kitchen counters. Bobby Day’s “Rockin’ Robin” poured into the kitchen from his bluetooth speaker.

Tim wandered into the kitchen, one hand rubbing at his eye and the other on the wall, and ran into Steph’s legs. “‘ephanie?”

“Hey Tim.” Steph gently pushed Tim in the direction of the fridge and laughed as she watched him stumble to the fridge.

Jason ruffled Tim’s hair as he walked passed and smiled. “Good morning Timbers.”

“Good morning Uncle Tim.” Damian murmured from where his head was resting against his dad’s shoulder.

“Wha-?” Tim turned to look at the pair. “When did-?”

“Just went through yesterday.” Jason smiled. “Don’t worry too much.”

Tim nodded and got his glass of water before returning to the girls and settling between them. “Have you told Dick yet?”

Jason shook his head and opened the oven door to peek at the muffins he was baking. “No. But he, Wally and the kids are supposed to come over for lunch today.”

---

Jason carefully pried the sleeping form of his son off of his hip and passed him to Roy with a smile before looking at his brother. “So, Dickiebird, how are you holding up?”

Dick shrugged, playing with Mar’i’s hair to distract himself, before smiling. “I’m fine.” He glanced over at Wally for a moment. “Wally and I have been helping each other with this single parent thing.”

Wally smiled before turning to watch Jai and Iris chase each other around the dining room table. “Dick’s a great help with those two, they always have so much energy.”

Jason chuckled and shook his head. “Of course they have so much energy, look at who their father is.” Jason was about to say something when someone knocked on the door. “Give me just a moment.”

Wally and Dick sent him a pair of thumbs up as he stood up and walked towards the door.

Jason opened the door and simply raised an eyebrow. “What can I help you with Mr. Wayne?”

“There’s a French class coming to Gotham. They’re staying in one of the company hotels in the heart of the city. You and your brothers had best be on your best behaviour since Dick is the tour guide for their tours through the company buildings and you’re the acting bodyguard for their tours around the city.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Hey Dickiebird! I didn’t know you signed up to give some tours to some hoity toity French kids.”

“I didn’t know I signed up to give some tours either.” Dick leaned on the wall next to the door. “When did either of us sign up to help you?”

Bruce sighed and looked at his two oldest sons. “Don’t do it for me. Do it for Alfred, he would like it if any of you came around.”

“Mmm, no can do B. My son is the child of a rogue and the grandchild of a rogue, my sister is the child of a rogue, my sisters are children of rogues, my brothers and I associate with rogues. Alfred is more than welcome to come around. You can give him my address and then forget it.”

Dick nodded and slung an arm around Jason’s shoulders. “When is the French class supposed to be here?”

“They’re flying in on Saturday but don’t start their tours until the following Monday to allow for them to get used to the time change.

---

Jason nervously tapped his foot on the floor, hoping and praying to whatever deity came to mind first a certain god of destruction that everything would turn out alright. He took a deep breath, shook out his hands and knocked on the door to the apartment.

The door opened and Selina appeared, dishevelled hair and shirt falling down her arm. Selina was sleepily rubbing at her eye with the other hand still held the door, just open enough she could see whomever was at her door but not open enough that anyone could see into her apartment.

“Aunt Selina?” Jason whispered while praying again to the deity. “Do you remember me? I’m-”

Selina let go of the door to wrap her arms around Jason, pulling the much taller boy against her chest. “Oh Jason. Why didn’t you come to me immediately after you breached city limits?” She pulled back just enough to hesitantly trace her fingers over the scars that marred his otherwise conventionally handsome face. “My poor bird. My poor, poor, little bird.”

“Aunt Selina. I’m fine now. Dick and Tim have sided with me against Bruce. I know how much you care for him and I understand if you’re taking his side, I just, I needed to see my Aunt Selina one last time.”

“Jason Peter Todd. I’m not the Joker. My one goal in life isn’t to be the Bat’s one and only. The day he brought Dick on the scene I decided then and there that you all weren’t his birds. You were mine. And cats are just as likely to attack bats as they are birds.” Selina’s fingers paused on top of a set of three very faint white-silver scars just under his jawline. “I am sorry that I ever caused you pain my little bird.”

---

Jason nervously straightened things around his apartment, Damian, Roy and Lian sat on the couch watching his mad dash around the apartment while Stephanie and Cass sat on a pair of counters with Tim standing between them. Dick, Wally, Mar’i, Jay and Iris were nervously looking out the window as Jason continued to clean.

Dick, Wally, Mar’i, Jay and Iris suddenly scrambled away from the window to sit down around Damian, Roy and Lian.

A few minutes after they sat down, a firm knock came at the door. Jason brushed the dust off of his shirt and approached the door. Jason opened the door and smiled. “Hi Aunt Selina. Hi Grandpa Alfred.”

Alfred smiled at Jason and glanced down at the covered dish in his hands. “I made my key lime pie.”

Selina simply chuckled. “Little bird. At this point, I’m your mom. Just call me Mom.”

-*-*-*

Thana looked at her friends, Chloé steadfast in her loyalty, Nino firm in his friendship, and Kim unshakable in his protection, and smiled. “I love you guys so much. You are my family.”

Chloé smiled and wrapped her arms around Thana. “We love you too.”

Nino and Kim joined their hug, the four friends uniting in their found family and solidifying their bonds. “You’re our family too Thana.”

---

Desgracia watched as Marc took a deep breath before looking at Kaalki. “Kaalki, full gallop.”

Marc was encased in a pale brown light. When the light disappeared, they stood in a loose-fitting gray bodysuit with brown knee-high boots with dark orange-red bands around the top of the boots and around the ankles, dark red wrist gauntlets covered in orange horseshoes with dark golden yellow bands around the top and bottom of the gauntlets. Over the gray bodysuit, they had a dark red tunic which crossed over their chest which was hemmed in a red-orange. The bottom half of their face was obscured by the turtleneck of their gray bodysuit while they had a dark orange-red domino mask with light gray eye lenses. The domino mask had a thin golden yellow outline, akin to glasses, while their hair had reddened. While their hair had previously been pitch black, it was now a dark chestnut that had lengthened to resemble Sesshomaru’s.

“What’s your name?” Desgracia’s eye lenses were blue-green and flicked over his suit in vague interest.

“Ma-”

Desgracia’s eye lenses darkened to green and hissed. “Hero name. We don’t use names in the field.” A gruff voice repeating the same words to a much younger version of her older brother sounded in her head.

“Oh, uh, um.” Marc frowned and tapped their chin in thought.

“Well, you’re using the Horse Miraculous so it should be something horse related. Poulain, because you’re new at this so you’re like a foal.”

“Poulain rouge.” Marc smiled and shook out their shoulders. “Poulain rouge because my hair is more red now.”

“Welcome to the team Poulain rouge.” Desgracia smiled and leaned over to ruffle their hair.

“Thanks.”

---

Thana sat under the stairs which lead to the second floor of the school, sketching an outfit for a client when another person tripped over her legs. She glanced up to see it was Marc before looking back down at her sketch.

“Sorry. I didn’t-” Marc started before Thana cut them off.

“Would you wear this?” Thana pushed her sketchbook towards them and tapped her fingers on her leg.

Marc looked over the sketch and nodded. “Yeah. Looks good. Who’s it for?”

“A client. Hey, you’re good at writing, right?” Thana looked at them and seemed to be imploring them to answer.

“Yeah?”

“Could you look over my website and figure out what’s wrong with it?” Thana smiled. “You can come over to Chlo’s to look over it. Well, Chlo’s or Kim’s.”

Marc nodded. “Sure.”

---

Thana and Marc followed after Kim as he walked into his home.

“Mẹ! Mèo con and our friend came over, I hope that’s okay.” Kim called as they entered the house. Kim and Thana toed off their shoes on instinct while Marc just copied their movements.

“Con trai. Con gài.” Kim’s Mẹ wrapped the two up in a hug before pressing kisses to their foreheads. “Ni hao. I’m Kim’s mom, and Marinette,” Kim’s Mẹ noticed how she flinched at the use of the name and corrected herself, “Thana has practically become my daughter.”

“My name is Marc Anciel.” Marc shook Kim’s Mẹ’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

“None of that ma’am stuff. Just call me Mẹ, those two do.” Kim’s Mẹ was, arguably, a very attractive woman. She had short black hair and warm caramel brown eyes and she was just a few centimeters shorter than Kim. “Come on in.”

The three teens smiled at the woman before they went back to Kim’s room. Thana pulled up her website and moved out of the desk chair to allow Marc to look it over.

Marc looked over the website while Kim and Thana did their homework. “Are you sure you want the whole webpage to be gunmetal gray? You could mix it up with the background being light purple so the gray stands out.”

Thana nodded and let out a quiet “huh”. “Hey Marc? Do you care if I hug you?”

Marc’s eyes widened and they smiled shyly. “Sure.”

Thana wrapped her arms around Marc. “Thank you so much.”

---

Desgracia looked over the field, making sure each of her teammates weren’t being overwhelmed with this Akuma’s minions, when she saw the Akuma gunning for Poulain rouge.

Desgracia lept from the rooftop, landing on her toes in front of Poulain rouge and glared at the Akuma. She twirled her baton in her hand, keeping it low enough to not hit Poulain, before she looked back over her shoulder at Poulain. “Go get Monsieur Punaise. Tell him to hurry.”

Poulain nodded, turned around and ran to get their fearless leader who had one fear and it was Desgracia.

By the time Poulain returned with Monsieur Punaise, the Akuma was barely holding on. Monsieur Punaise called for his Lucky Charm, a plane ticket (specifically one for the flight they were taking soon), before deakumatizing the Akuma and throwing the Lucky Charm in the air with a call of “Miraculous Monsieur Punaise”.

Desgracia wrapped an arm around Poulain’s waist before jumping away, leaving her more even tempered teammates to assist the Akuma victim.

Desgracia landed on a rooftop and put Poulain down on the rooftop. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. He didn’t get close enough to take a swipe at me.” Poulain rouge chuckled and shook their head. “Don’t worry about me. Are you okay?”

“Poulain. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. All damage dealt in the battle was rendered useless and disappeared when Monsieur Punaise cast his final charm.” Desgracia cupped Poulain’s face in her hands. “You have to be on guard at all times in battle. I won’t always be here. You need to trust your teammates to protect you in battle.”

Trâu landed on the rooftop and chuckled. “Desi, you can’t just kidnap our Foal.”

Desgracia turned her green eyes on him, however after assessing him as no threat her eye lenses turned back into their normal blue. “Trâu. I didn’t kidnap them. I just needed to ensure that they were fine.”

Taglist

@southamericangothamite @maribat-is-lifeblood @mystery-5-5 @our-preciousss @mochegato @chocolatecatstheron @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @2confused-2doanything @wannajointhecrabcult @dreamykitty25 @tomanyfandomsonmymind @moonlightstar64 @justafanwarrior @mialuvscats @pheony1882 @pepelachanel @moongoddesskiana @abrx2002 @ladybug-182 @greatcatblaze @thatonecroc @vixen-uchiha @superbwhispersconnoisseur @lilkymilky @susiej1118 @thatonecroc

#maribat #ml crossover #mlb crossover #ml x dc #mlb x dc #Safety Found in Red Sleeves #SFIRS #horse!marc #nonbinary!marc #we'll see the other's suits next chapter... i promise? or at least we should. I just have to figure out what they look like

60 notes · View notes

crimson-mage-02 · 4 years

Text

Burning with Desire

Summary: Five years had past, things had changed with the Titans had grown up and went into separate ways. Until Damian had returned to Jump City from his training and was reunited with Raven, finding himself having with a burning desire he had felt for a long time.

A/N: This fanfic is my very first smut. Please be kind and be considerate with your thoughts and opinions when reading my fanfic. If you do not wish to read it then don’t.

It has been five years since Damian had left to train in the mountains with his father. She let her violet eyes glance at the trees from the spot where she and Damian first spoke to each other. She remembered him going into the Tower for the first time, seeing and felt that he was sad. And the time she had healed him after being injured by Jaime’s beam from the blue beetle. She had seen everything in his head, his past demons, and his memories as he saw everything about her. Her life in Azarath, her mother and Trigon.

Over the years, they grew closer than ever. Their friendship had blossomed into something more that the two had never imagined. It was much more stronger than loneliness and darkness both had inside. After being with the Titans, she found herself more at peace and at ease around Damian, he was the only person that understood her.

She walked around her apartment with Titus walking beside her. Just before Damian left, he wanted her to look after him for a while. And five years a really, really, really long time. But she loved looking after him and Titus keeps her company after moving out of the Tower to have her own space.

She still does go to the Tower to visit her friends, her fellow Titans. She knew Jaime has moved in with Traci, Gar and Tara are still living in the Tower, Kori is now married to Dick. Donna and Conner had something going on for years, but nothing happened until they recently had started dating.

Raven walked to the kitchen, grabbing Titus some food for him. She bent down to place the food and water in front of him. “Here you go.” She pet him softly while grabbing her phone, seeing her screensaver was herself and her friends including Damian. He was standing beside her with arms crossed, smiling at her fondly while Gar had his arm around him, grinning. Kori was the one who took this photo and let her have it.

She saw a few texts from the girls. She frowned seeing that they haven’t heard from Damian yet either. She frowned began to think he had forgotten about her and his second family. “Alright, I should get ready for the day.”

Raven stood back up and walked back to her room to get changed. She wore black leggings with a purple-blue top and had a black leather jacket with her hair up in a ponytail. She wore her light pink lip gloss and had golden earrings with a purple jewel in the centre. It was the last gift that Damian had given her before he went for his training.

She made sure to lock the door before she went off to work. After moving out, she started to work in a book café. It calms her down and she loved reading books in her spare time. She drove to work only to find out Kori was already there. “Oh, Raven! Hello.” Kori greeted her happily.

“Hello, Kori, do you want the usual order?” Raven asked with a smile.

“Oh yes please.” Kori smiled brightly.

Raven nodded and went to the back to put her bag in her locker and put on a apron before she make Kori’s order. She was also watching the news seeing that Bruce Wayne had returned to Gotham city after disappearing. She knew why, he was with Damian for training, for almost five years. No news about Damian. Typical.

“Here, one hot mocha and a strawberry cake.” Raven smiled at Kori.

“Thank you. And I couldn’t believe Dick was right, he is really back.” Kori said, watching the news. “But Damian hasn’t been announced that he is back.”

“No, probably still is training.” Raven said softly with bitterness. Kori frowned while eating her cake. She knew that the separation was hard. They had been in contact in the first two years of his training and then after that, he had stopped. They thought the reason was he was training hard as he could to become more of an efficient leader and most trusted member of the Titans. But his friends did understand the meaning of training with the big Bat when he is considering in retiring.

“Raven, I know Damian is not a man with words but through his actions, he does truly care about us, about you. I am sure he does have a very good reason why he stopped contacting us.” Kori reasoned while sipping on the hot mocha.

Raven nodded with a soft smile. Then her co-worker had asked her for help and immediately went back to work. She has taken both the morning and evening shift. She needed the money to pay the rent and it keeps her busy during the day. On weekends, she normally hangs out with the girls to rest up from all of her hard work.

She sometimes hang out with the rest of the Titans and often they ask her about Damian. She gives them short answers until he had stopped contacting her. She always wondered if his training had already stopped or he was ignoring her. She pulled her hair into a messy half bun and served her customer their food and drinks.

(~)

Meanwhile in a private plane, Dick was looking at his computers and smiled when a message came through seeing his daughter Mar’i in a photo, taken my Kori. He beamed with pride seeing his little daughter in a Nightwing mini costume.

“She’s all grown up looking like her mother every day.” A deep voice interrupted his train of thoughts making Dick looking up and grinned.

“Of course. She has. It has been five years already. And look Kori also had made her to be fitted in a Robin onesie too.” Dick chuckled, showing him another photo of his daughter. “Well, isn’t that adorable, Dami?”

“I thought we went through this, Dick. Do not call me that please.” Damian chuckled, sitting on a chair opposite where Dick was sitting. He is now wearing a black shirt with a leather jacket and wore blue jeans.

“Sorry, habits. I mean, you are all grown up and even taller than me and Bruce. I cannot wait to see everyone’s reactions would be. Especially Raven’s.” Dick laughed wholeheartedly with Damian looking away from him with a expression of guilt.

“Oh, sorry, Damian. Uh, Alfred had told me that you two stopped contacting each other year ago.” Dick apologised quickly.

“It is quite alright. I just miss her, and I don’t want to be a failure in her eyes.” Damian said softly, looking out of the window in the private plane.

“Well, we are on our way back to Gotham and you’ll be seeing her. She doesn’t know that, and you can tell her once you seen her.” Dick said to him.

“Yes, indeed.” Alfred came into the room and poured some tea for the two men.

“Alfred, please, rest up. I can handle it.” Damian offered kindly and poured some tea for him.

“Thank you, Master Damian.” Alfred smiled, accepting the tea Damian had poured for him. he rested easily in his chair. “It has been a very long time since you had seen Miss Roth. She is a very gorgeous woman.”

“Yeah, no wonder you two always talk to each other a lot before. Ahh to be young and in love.” Dick sighed, remembering his days with Kori and their moments.

“I am not entirely sure Raven wants to rekindle our relationship. It will take a long time to amend things.” Damian reminded the two as he clasped his hands together. “I doubt she’ll remember me all this time.”

“Master Damian, I assure you that Miss Roth does care about you, sir. You just need to tell her the truth.” Alfred pointed out with a weary smile and drank his tea.

“Also, just be patient with her. Just take it slowly and talk to her.” Dick smiled at his brother. “So, ready to go back? We are almost in.”

Meanwhile in the café, Raven was cleaning up the last table of the night. She has been cleaning and clearing the tables. As well as putting all of the chairs on the table. “Thank you, Rachel! Sorry to keep you late at night.” Her boss apologised.

“No, no. Thank you. I needed this and besides, we were short on staff today. I don’t mind working late for you.” Raven smiled.

“Still, I feel bad. How about you take the rest of the week off? It will do you good.” Her boss smiled. They said their goodbyes with Raven walking out of the café and sighed deeply. She looked at her phone seeing more texts from Tara.

She raised an eyebrow and then saw a dozens of texts messages. She scrolled down and then her eyes widened in shock. She looked at the messages over and over. She cannot believe her eyes. Damian really came back from his five-year training! Her thoughts were all over the place and shut her phone off before teleporting her things to her apartment and went to an alley to change into her superhero costume.

She flew all the way to the Titans Tower and saw Tara was outside waiting for her. “I have seen your texts. Is it really true?” Raven asked urgently.

“Yes, it is. He’s all the news. He just landed in Gotham City.” Tara nodded, pulling her into the lounge room to hear the tv local news. Telling the story of the return of Damian Wayne’s return to Gotham City and had greeted his father, shaking his hand in front of the press and the cameras.

“Wow, he really has grown to be incredibly handsome.” Tara commented with a grin, nodding in approval seeing his strong and tall composure.

“Hey, Tara!” Gar pouted wile Tara smiled.

“Aww, don’t worry, chuckles, you’re my handsome man forever.” Tara chuckled, kissing him on the lips before pulling away to put the plates back on the counter. “Rach, don’t worry, I am sure everything will be back to normal. I’m sure he’ll come and visit.”

“I’ll help T. And Raven, we all are aware of what happened between the two of you, but it will help if you just talk.” Garfield said before he helped his girlfriend cleaning up the kitchen.

(~)

The next morning, Raven woke up to hearing Titus barking. She groaned and laughed, feeling him licking her face. “Oh! Come on! Okay! I’m up. I’m up.” She got up and then got the covers off of her. She walked towards her door and followed Titus into the living room to make breakfast for the both of them.

She bent down and pet Titus. “I have big news for you, big fella. Damian is back.” Raven said with Titus whined and tilted his head, licking her cheek. “Yeah, he is back, alright. After five long years.”

She made herself some tea and eggs with bread, sitting on her sofa, watching the news. Titus was sleeping beside her while she watched. “It has been said that Damian is now inheriting the Wayne Enterprises, taking over his father’s role.”

Raven remembered how Damian never wanted to inherit the company but now he is in charge of Wayne Enterprises, if he is happy then, he is happy. She’ll let him do whatever makes him happy. SH checked her phone and saw she was needed at the Tower.

Once she got that text, she immediately got dressed in her costume. She teleported herself in front of the Tower seeing Dick had come back and announced they have a mission. They were to go to Gotham City and help Batman to take down a few goons.

Raven made a portal for them to walk through with Nightwing leading the team. She flew over the buildings and then heard gun shots from a warehouse and saw people running out. She helped by putting a protective shield around the civilians.

Tara arrived with Raven in the warehouse and saw Batman fighting against Penguin’s goons. Tara used her powers with the rocks trapping the goon from escaping. The rest of the Titans arrived in time in helping the Dark Knight. He punched a few while he saw Raven on the ground, flipping away from the goon and kicked him on the face.

She levitated the boxes and they had hit the goons on the heads with Garfield turning into a gorilla helping Blue Beetle and Traci to round them up. Superboy and Wonder girl managed to get the remaining goons and tied them up with Donna’s lasso.

Conner smirked and crossed his arms. “Well, this was nice. Can’t remember the last time we all hung out as a team.” They all turned to Nightwing talking to Batman not far from them. “Since when Batman smiles…. Wait… no way!” Conner exclaimed in shock as he took a step back.

“What is it?” Donna asked.

“It’s… It’s….” Conner didn’t get the words out of his mouth until he watched Batman taking off his mask, revealing Damian wearing his father’s costume. Everyone gasped in shock with Gar fainted and fell on the ground.

“Dios Mio!” Jaime exclaimed in shock, looking at his former leader. Raven stood in shock with Tara by her side. She cannot believe her own very eyes, seeing Damian back in his father’s uniform as Batman, the Dark Knight.

“Hello, everyone.” Damian shown them his signature smirk and then it disappeared once he saw Raven standing next to Tara. He was both thrilled and nervous meeting her after 5 years. He was still enchanted by her beauty and calming presence. He has so many things to say to her. So many things he wanted to fix with her.

“H-Hey, Damian. It is great to see you buddy, and taller!” Jaime chuckled nervously, rubbing his neck, looking at how much his grown and how more muscular he is now.

“Yeah, now I can you Macho Muscles.” Tara chuckled with Donna laughing softly, silently agreeing with her.Gar managed to get up and looked at his muscles. They weren’t as muscular as Damian and pouted.

“So, how was training?” Conner asked excitedly wrapping an arm around his friend.

“Alright, we can talk about this after we get these guys arrested and then you all can catch up.” Nightwing winked at his brother who slightly glared at him. Damian put back his mask and walked beside his brother when the police had arrived.

Conner and Jaime handed the bad guys to the police with the girls helping the civilians as they all stared at Batman in awe. Raven watched closely and saw Damian going down to the kids level and talked to them. She was shocked to see how he was so calm around children now. It warmed her heart and was happy to see such a great development after 5 years.

She saw him finishing his interaction with the children and Gordan talked to him, thanking him before he walked away. Damian and Raven at last, looked at each other. He walked towards her and she was looking up at him. “Shall we talk some—” Damian heard his father was talking to him by a comm.

“Sorry, yes father…. Right away.” Damian sighed and looked down at the sorceress in front of him and looked at his friends. “Titans. How about one last mission and then we can all catch up for dinner?”

They all went back to Jump City and fought against criminals and had saved a few civilians from a burning building. Raven used her powers and summoned all water to put out the fire while Damian as Batman got a few people out of the building with the help of Superboy.

The building was falling down with Terra helped moving the rocks from the ground to prevent the upper part of the building not to fall down on other people while Jaime and Traci got the people out of the way. Once the fire had died out by the firefighter and the ambulance had come to their aid with the Titans and Batman stood by, seeing they were safe.

After a few minutes, Garfield’s stomach had rumbled loudly. It was loud enough for them to hear. Damian chuckled in amusement seeing his friends hasn’t changed that much and looked over at Raven who was giving back a doll to a little girl with a gentle and kind smile.

“So, aiming to get her back in your life?” Conner asked him.

Damian looked at him with an eyebrow’s furrowed together. “I… I don’t want to mess things up.”

“You won’t. Just talk to her, man. Anyway, Tara and I are going to cook a whole huge feast now that you’re here.” Gar grinned.

“Should we really trust him cooking our food?” Damian asked, looking at Jaime.

He just smiled nervously. “Don’t worry, Terra was the only one who cooked their meals.”

(~)

In the Titans Tower, Damian was changing out in his normal clothes in his old room. He forgotten how small it was. He smiled, remembering how he’d always train in his room and remembering the first time he saw Raven meditating down below underneath the tree.

He heard a knock on his door and turned to the door. “Come in.” The door opened and saw Raven in her purple shirt with a mini skirt with stockings. She stopped when she saw him shirtless, his strong muscles flexing while putting on his black t-shirt on.

“Uh, sorry, I was uh, telling you that dinner is almost ready.” Raven said timidly while Titus came in barking. Damian’s face lit up seeing his dog after a very long time as he licked his face. he almost fell on the floor. “Titus, behave.” Raven smiled a bit.

“Thank you for looking after him.” Damian thanked her while petting his dog.

“It was no problem. I love looking after him and his company in my apartment.” Raven replied with a smile. Damian looked up at her in confusion. He thought she was still living in the Tower after he had left for training.

“You are not living here anymore?” Damian asked, standing up.

“Yeah, I moved to an apartment in the city. And I am working in a book café.” Raven nodded while Titus was licking her hands.

“Oh, well, as long as you are happy.” Damian smiled at her and then they both heard Donna knocking on the door, announcing dinner was ready. They all walked down in the dining room, seeing the table decorated with some dinner cloths and the table has been changed from a white to a black dining table.

Damian was impressed by the meals Tara had cooked and Garfield was helping out, placing the food on the table. He noticed how Conner and Donna were on the balcony, talking and flirting with each other. And he was mostly surprised Jaime managed to finally have a girlfriend of his own.

“Alright, everyone, dinner time!” Tara smiled, sitting next to Gar. Everyone dug right in eating everything with their hearts contents. Damian was sitting next to Raven who was feeding Titus who was sitting down next to her chair. Dick and Kori arrived with some dessert. Mar’i came running towards Damian who carried her and let her sit on his lap. Everyone were happily chatting and catching up with Damian and him telling them about his training.

Dinner was over, Mar’i was already asleep with Titus sleeping next to her on the couch. Damian smiled at the little one with Dick sitting next to him smiling proudly and fondly at his daughter. “you should be proud, brother.”

“I am proud. Kori and I were having the life. The best in fact.” Dick chuckled wholeheartedly. “You know, you can have that life too, with Raven.”

The new Batman glanced at Raven who was helping washing the dishes with Kori and Tara. He frowned. “She must be mad at me not responding at all.”

“What? I’m sure she’ll understand.” Dick assured him while drinking his beer.

Dick and Kori had got Mar’i, managed not to disturb her sleep and decided to go back to their apartment. Tara already cleaned up her kitchen and let Raven and Damian off. “Thank you. The food was delicious, Tara.” Raven smiled.

“Yes, thank you.” Damian nodded in agreement.

“You’re welcome, you two. And Damian, do me a favour, please take Raven home safely.” Tara winked as the empath blushed bright pink.

The two walked out of the Tower seeing a car out in the front. Raven looked over at Damian who got out his car keys and started the car. He glanced over at Raven who was walking past him with a portal opening. “W-well, good night.” Raven timidly said to the new Dark Knight and was about to walk through the portal.

“Wait!” She turned back to see Damian was looking the right words. But nothing came out of his mouth. He rubbed his neck and before looking at Raven who stood patiently with her black and red ombre hair blowing in the wind gently while her eyes sparkle underneath the night sky.

She looked onto his emerald eyes, there were beautiful, and she’d always get lost in his emerald eyes. She watched him putting his hands in his pockets. “I thought we could talk.” Damian said to her.

“Yes. We could talk for a bit.” Raven nodded slowly.

“Well then, you may hop in my car.” Damian said as he walked around to the other side of the car and opened the door for her like a gentleman. Raven walked towards the car slowly and then went inside with him closing it.

Damian drove in an underground carpark underneath an apartment. He led raven and Titus the elevator, she noticed it goes all the way to the top. The very top of the building. Once the doors opened, she could see the whole city. Just before they went to his apartment, Raven gotten a few spare clothes and her books. She looked at the breathtaking view from outside of the window. She could see all of the lights in Jump City.

“It is not much like my father’s but, it will do.” Damian said, placing his luggage on the couch. “I hope it is alright.”

“It is rather a beautiful view from up here.” Raven smiled, looking out of the window. Damian smiled softly and walked towards her. Feeling that they were slowly opening up to each other after being apart for a very long time.

“I should apologise.” Damian apologised, putting his hands behind his back, looking out of the window by her side.

“For what?” Raven asked even though she knew what he was going to say and how he felt.

“Not being able to contact you. I was…. So solely focused on with my training. Not telling what was my reason for not contacting you sooner.” Damian explained looking down at her.

“Damian, it is fine. You just wanted to prove to your father that you’re not a failure and have no interruptions.” Raven said looking away with a frown and hugged herself.

“That was the reason and there was another.” Damian said turning his whole body away from the window, making him facing her completely. “I didn’t want you to think of me as a failure. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

Raven looked up at him and her expression softened. She reached to caress his strong jaw, cheeks and looked into his charming emerald eyes. Damian let out ragged breaths looking into her violet eyes until he leaned down and planted a gentle, soft kiss with her placing her small hands on his chest.

They kissed deeply with them exploring each other’s mouth. Damian wrapped his arms around her waist, grabbed her thighs, making her wrap her legs around his waist. He carried her carefully, feeling her soft curves, exploring her whole body, and massaged, groping her ass with her moaning with satisfied pressure. He sat down on his couch, devouring her lips, tasting blueberry flavour from her.

She panted softly with him peppered her neck with soft kisses with her holding onto him tightly, biting her lip. He kept on feeling every bit of her body and he pulled away from her neck, panting heavily and looked into her eyes and went to lean in for another kiss but she brushed her fingers on his lips, stopping him from doing so.

“Um, sorry, uh, it’s not that I don’t want to continue… I just want to freshen up first…. If that’s alright.” Raven half whispered and panted, looking at him while pressing her forehead on his.

“Of course, you may. There’s a shower upstairs on your left.” Damian whispered back, letting her got off of him and let her take a shower first. She quickly grabbed her clothes and ran up the stairs and she bit her lips excitedly, running up the stairs.

Damian chuckled in amusement, seeing her running up the stairs with an ecstatic smile. He stood up and went to get his stuff away in his new room. It was spacious and had two cardboards. He opened the doors to the cardboards and placed his shirts and his pants inside. He heard whining from Titus who tugged on his pants. “Okay, okay, buddy. I can show you your new place to sleep.”

He led Titus to a small space in the lounge and shown him his little bed. He wagged his tail happily and started to play with his toy. Damian also sorted out his items and looked at the time, it was getting late and he should take a shower as well, only to notice that Raven has been in the shower for a very long time.

Raven sighed softly and felt the warm water touching her skin and melted. She loved the shower he had in his new apartment. His bathroom was…. All black and the lights inside the shower was dimmed in a lighter shade of blue. The toilet seat was not far from the shower as it was adjacent to the sink.

Next to the shower was the large silver bathtub and then the door, the only entrance and exit of the bathroom. She was surprised at how large the bathroom was. As expected, he was the rich son of Bruce Wayne. Just like Dick but he still chose a normal lifestyle he wanted to live in for his growing family. She wondered if she could ever have that kind of life.

She heard the doors opening and she quickly covered herself with her purple towel and saw Damian leaning on the door frame with a smirk on his face. “Damian! Get out! I-I’m trying to take a shower and your…… naked!” Raven exclaimed as she turned away from him after a few good seconds of staring at his…….. Oh Azar! His… his….

“Sorry Rachel, I thought you were in the guest room’s toilet.” Damian chuckled, covering his waist with a spare towel that was hanging on the railing on the wall near the door.

“And I thought this was the guest room.” Raven thought, turning to him again and covered herself with her drenched towel. She took a good look at his muscles, broad chest and his scars on his arms, neck, and chest.

“You like what you see, Roth?” Damian smirked with his dangerously glowing and charming green eyes stared into hers.

“Yes, I-I mean n-No!” Raven stammered, turning away from him. “Ca-Can you please let me shower in peace?”

Damian hummed softly and walked slowly toward the shower, opened the door with the water hitting his chest and looked at Raven’s small figure as she turned around. Seeing him so up close. He knew she was still processing that he had came back after five years and won’t do anything further to make her uncomfortable.

She trailed her fingers along his arms, his biceps and her eyes were locked with his. She eventually threw her towel away and let him see her hourglass body and her breasts. He let his hand wonder around her figure, and he placed gentle kisses on her neck and at the same time closing the shower door.

Raven held his face in her hands with her kissing his lips softly yet firm with his arms on her waist. Damian moaned and melted in the kiss, she was a bit shorter than him, he lifted her again and had his hand caressing the back of her head and pinned her on the wall of the shower. They kissed and devoured each other, he licked her neck and ears with her whimpering, holding his shoulders.

She wrapped her legs around his waist with her caressing his face and neck as they kissed deeply, exploring their tongues, the taste of their lips. Damian kissed and bit her bottom lip and stared into her eyes. She trembled in place, but his soft touch had comforted her silently that he will stop if he did made her feel uncomfortable.

She trusts him as he trusts her with all of their hearts. She breathed out shakily with him slowly trailing his kisses and then groped and massaged her breasts gently with her biting her lips. She let out a soft gasp, holding him closely to her chest. “D-Dami.”

Damian licked her nipple making her whine and moan loudly, she covered her mouth immediately. He smirked and pulled her hand away. “Please, I want to hear that soft angelic voice.” Damian grinned, licking her face and her right ear.

She growled softly. “I….am a half demon… not an angel, if I must remind you again.”

“You may be a half demon… but you are so much more than. You’re an angel. My angel.” Damian confessed softly, putting her strands of wet hair out of the way. He let her stand on the floor and he let her be in control.

She explored all of his scars. She gasped softly seeing how large the scar on his chest was. She began kissing his chest with him groaning softly. Caressing her head while she kissed every scar she could find on his body. She pinned him on the other wall below the shower head. Both of them were drenched with water running on them. She felt his muscles and then let her hand explore his manhood. He grunted softly feeling her massaging it softly.

She bent down and started to lick it slowly as she began to suck it. Damian grunted while holding her hand. “R-Rachel.” She moaned and licked every bit of him, she began squeezing his legs while sucking and licking his dick.

Damian groaned softly thinking how she could lick it so passionately and effortlessly. He looked down seeing her wiping her mouth, seeing how much he came. He sighed in pleasure and panted softly with her standing up again, kissing him on the lips deeply while she stroked his dick slowly and steady.

“You really do like that, don’t you?” Raven whispered, against his lips while his tongue slipped in her mouth, moaned. She rubbed her legs together against his cock. She watched his reactions while she slowly grind against him in a steady rhythm. He looked into her eyes and looked into his eyes once again as if she couldn’t wait.

He looked at her with a serious expression and held out his hand out to her. She gladly accepted and held his hand. He turned off the faucet, ran his hand through his slicked wet hair. Damian and Raven kept making out until they both stumbled towards the sink with him lifting her up, Raven played with his locks, moaning into the kiss.

He opened the door and led her to his bed room with the lights off and lamps on but dimmed with the colour blue and red mixed together. Damian sat on the bed with her intertwined their hands together and she pinned him on his bed before kissing him again. She pulled back again, looking at him while he stares at her. She held his hands, never letting go of them and placed them on her chest.

Damian sat up and licked every part of her chest and neck with his dick sticking out in front of her clit. She moaned and sighed softly, tilting her head back. He kissed and licked he rub cage while rubbing and massaged her breasts, this time little bit more rough.

His eyes looked up again with her kissing his forehead and cheeks, biting, and licking his ear. He held small body with his strong arms. He rubbed his dick in her clit, making her shouting out and murmuring words. “Sorry, you don’t want to do this?” Damian panted, caressing both sides of her cheeks.

He heard her mumbled something underneath her breath. “What is it?” Damian asked again, looking at her, having his full attention on her.

“You can do it. Put it in.” Raven replied. “But with protection, please.”

He nodded in understanding as he let her get off his lap and walked to his cupboard, getting a condom while watching her every move. She laid her back on his bed, legs spread wide open. He gotten hard again and crawled on the bed again, his eyes went straight at her clit and began licking it while he massaged her breasts. She moaned loudly, biting her lips and tilted her head while he began to lick it with passion and inserted a finger, making her shouting out, holding his sheets tightly while feeling so good from his touch that made her shudder.

He smirked, putting one more and made her cum with covering his fingers, making her humping into his hand. He sat up on his knees with her looking up at him with an embarrassed look. He was enjoying watching her reactions, seeing her beautiful body in front of him. He was grateful that he was going to make her his.

He placed rubbed his cock against her clit, making her moan again and rubbed against it. She looked into his eyes and trailed her fingers on his abs and scars that were covered in sweat until she felt his cock was going in quickly and she shouted out both in pain and pleasure with digging her long nails on his back with him hugging her tightly with their chests touching one another.

They both panted heavily and looked at one another. “C-Can I move now? If you want me to stop, you can just shove me, Rachel.” Damian assured her until he felt her pulling him into her strong hold.

“No. Keep moving.” Raven trembled and whispered in his ear. Damian wasted no time and began grinding and thrusting softly. “D-Dami.” She could feel it twitching inside of her. He began to pick up the pace hearing her loud cries while holding her in his arms.

He let her go and pinned both of her wrists on the bed and with every thrust he made. Made her feel like she was in the stars and in heaven. He panted heavily and grunted with every thrust he made. He gritted his teeth and lifted her up, sat down on the bed with her wrapping her arms around his neck, began to thrust harder and faster with her shouting out in pleasure and scratching his back.

They both leaned for one final kiss and with a few thrusts, they both grunted and shouted with her back arched with her legs wrapped around his waist. She had Damian’s face buried in her chest. They both laid down back on the bed, panting tiredly with sweat all over their body and their bodies intertwined with each other. Damian laid on his pillow, watching his beloved to sleep and he pulled the covers on them and fell into deep sleep with content smiles.

(~)

Raven woke up and opened her eyes slowly seeing a naked scarred chest. She looked up to see Damian already up, staring at her. She covered herself but still smiled at him, caressing his cheek while he kissed her palm. “Good morning, beloved.”

“Good morning, Dami.” Raven smiled lovingly at him.

“Hope it was okay.” Damian hoped while playing with her hair.

She looked at him in confusion until she figured what he had meant, and she smiled at him in reassurance. “Dami… it was the best night of my life. And you were more than okay.” She trailed her fingers over his lips with his emerald eyes shining brightly.

He smiled in relief, seeing his love was satisfied from last night’s…. activity. “That is a relief.” He sat up on his bed. “So… what shall we do today? Unless you have work later on.”

“Hmm, well, my boss let me have the week off. How about you?” Raven asked, making circles on his chest. “We could have dinner at my place and have a repeat at my place. We can have Titus with Dick and Kori.”

“I am off until tonight, I am meeting my father later. Sorry.” Damian sent her an apologetic expression with her sitting up, letting him seeing her chest.

“It’s alright, I can wait for you…unless you want to do it again.” Raven seductively whispered in his ear while kissing his neck and him laying down back on his pillow with a smirk. She was straddling him, and she trailed her hands up on his chest, making him shudder softly.

“That would be splendid, beloved.” Damian smirked with her smiling brightly as the two laughed happily as they were in each other’s arms after five years, happy to be in each other’s embrace and were assured that they’ll be together from now on to overcome whatever throws at them.

#damirae #fanfiction #my fanfiction #Damian Wayne #raven]#damian x raven #garfield x terra #jaime reyes #traci thirteen #Donna Troy #superboy #nightwing #starfire #Teen Titans

72 notes · View notes

heyitsani · 3 years

Text

I Keep My Eyes Wide Open All the Time Chapter 8

Word Count: 9234

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major character death, Mentions of past rape/non-con (past)

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne/Jon Kent

Notes: I am completely dissatisfied with this chapter but it is what it is. Big time jump at the last part, but the descriptions make it pretty evident.

Next chapter is back to present time.

If you have not read When You Move I Move, this one won’t really make much sense. So you can read that here: WYMIM

You can also read this chapter on AO3 here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Standing before the doors that would lead him and Jon to the room where he could hear his family members talking as they waited for dinner to be served, Damian glanced at the man at his side. The man he was about to announce as one he intended to marry. All of them probably knew it was coming, but he still found himself a bit nervous. Would his grandfather approve? Would his aunt give him that smile of understanding and acceptance? He knew his father would have approved, he had been the one who had told him to do it without delay, but what of the others?

“We can wait,” Jon offered, his smile not faltering in the least. “It can remain between the two of us for the time being. Until you feel more settled, maybe?”

Damian shook his head and looked back to the door. “No. We are to be married and I refuse to hide away that fact like I am ashamed to love you.” He felt Jon’s hand squeeze his, and the feeling of the cool metal of the ring on his finger grounded him. To the point where he pushed forward and allowed the doors to swing open so they could enter the dining hall.

“Grandson,” his grandfather greeted from where he stood with Selina at his side, Ser Roy standing with him. Damian knew they were probably discussing something related the knights, as Damian had asked the former king to be the one to oversee them since he was still adjusting.

“Grandfather, Selina,” Damian replied before looking to Ser Roy. “Ser Roy, will you be joining us tonight?” The Knight looked surprised at the question and Damian wondered why silently since the man had joined them plenty of times when his father had been king.

“I…” The man looked over to his grandfather before he looked back to Damian. “I would like that, Your Majesty,” he said, giving a bow. There was a smile on his face that spoke more than the words he said and Damian gave him a nod before he glanced around for his aunt.

When he didn’t see her anywhere, he looked back to his grandfather. “Where is Aunt Cass? I have something I wish to tell you all.” As if she had heard him asking for her, his aunt came gliding into the room with her friend Stephanie right behind her. The two women were smiling, laughing at something one of them had said, as they made their way over.

“Nephew! Prince Jon,” his aunt greeted them before turning to greet her father, step-mother, and Ser Roy. Damian watched Stephanie give him a bow before she relayed a greeting of her own.

“Please,” Damian waved a hand at Stephanie’s bow. “Do not feel you need to do that. You are family just as much as the others at this point.” The blonde looked surprised but gave a nod of understanding. “Now that we have all gathered, I would like to tell you all some good news.” Glancing over at Jon’s who gave his hand another squeeze, Damian smiled. “I have asked Prince Jon to marry me and he has agreed.” He turned to look back at his family in various states of shock.

He was not surprised that Selina was the first to offer her congratulations. He accepted the warm hug and thanked her when she spoke a soft congratulations into his ear. His aunt and Stephanie followed closely, giving him and Jon each a hug before switching and hugging the other. When Ser Roy also stepped forward to hug him, Damian was a little caught off guard.

“Jason would be so proud of you,” the knight murmured into his ear before releasing Damian and shaking Jon’s hand. “Congratulations to you both. Richard said he hoped this would be the end result of your friendship back when you were just boys. He spent weeks talking about how to ask the Council to lift the marriage law so it might happen.”

Damian blinked at the man for a moment before looking over to find Jon grinning at the knight. Damian had told Jon what his father had said on his deathbed, how he had wanted Damian to ask him sooner rather than later, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the man approved. But perhaps the fact that he had approved long before Jon himself had figured out how he felt was the difference.

“Grandson,” his grandfather’s voice broke through his thoughts, drawing his green eyes away from his intended to the man who stood just a few inches taller than him. The man placed both of his hands-on Damian’s shoulders and looked him right in the eye. “It is no secret that I am a traditionalist. But with everything that has happened due to that fact, I am quite pleased to hear this news.” The man looked over to Jon and sent him a rare smile. “Your father has been a dear friend of mine for many years and the opportunity to join our families is a welcome one.”

And just like that, the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach vanished. He had been so concerned about the older man’s approval and now that he had it, relief was all he felt. His father had given his approval and Ser Jason had made it clear he supported Damian in everything he did so he didn’t wonder how the Slayer would have reacted. But his grandfather? The former king who was known for being rigid in his beliefs and strict with his rules? He couldn’t have guessed it would be so easy to have the approval.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Jon said formally, giving a small bow. His grandfather huffed out a laugh before pulling both of them in for a brief hug.

“You are to be family, please call me Bruce,” the man offered, and Damian smiled as Jon’s face brightened at the offer. It was not an honor many were afforded, and the other prince was well aware of that fact. “I do believe we should make a toast. Alfred, the best wine in the cellar please?” The personal manservant gave a nod and hurried off in the direction of where they kept the wine. “We shall have to have the ceremony as soon as possible. I will send word to King Kon and Timothy immediately. We shall plan a wedding to rival all weddings.” He released the two men before turning to speak with Selina about what they would need to get things planned.

“All those nerves for no reason at all, hmm my love?” Damian looked over at Jon and gave him a sheepish smile, shrugging. “The fates would not have been so cruel to you. They have been heavy handed as it is. You have earned some happiness. I just hope that is me.”

“Always, Beloved.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adjusting the sleeve of his shirt, Damian made his way down the hallway toward his study with the intent of going over some of the most recent requests from the citizens. He had held the Petitioning the day before and the requests he hadn’t been certain about had been recorded and the Council had come to decisions later that day. He had just wanted to comb through them one last time before he sent the messengers.

“Nephew,” his uncle’s voice caught his attention, stopping him before he entered the study. Turning to look at the man who was coming up behind him, Damian waited. The man had arrived the day before with the King of Metropolis and the Jon’s father for the wedding festivities, but Damian had yet had a moment to really speak with the older man. “I wondered if we might take a walk to the crypt together?”

That was not something he had expected the man to say, but it didn’t fill him with the dread he thought it would. He had gone to see the statue of both of his fathers multiple times since their deaths and though it still caused his heart to ache, he found the peace in the crypt welcoming. He had yet to go there with anyone else though. Jon had told him that those moments were private in his country, so he didn’t feel right even when Damian made it clear he would be fine with it.

“I would like that, yes,” he agreed with a nod. He knew he would have time later to look over the orders. The urgent ones had been handled already anyway. Continuing on the path toward the exit of the castle, Damian kept in step with his uncle. He remained silent, nodding at staff members as they saw them and allowing his uncle to greet a few of them by name as they made their way out. “Have you been back since your arrival yesterday?” The final statue had not been finished before his uncle had left after the Feast, so he was curious if he had gotten the opportunity to see the finished design.

“I have not, but Father mentioned how well it turned out in their likeness.” Damian simply nodded in agreement. It was an almost perfect replica of his memory of the two men. And since it was in the royal crypt, there did not need to be a lie in who they were to each other. “How have you been adjusting, Damian? There has been much change in such a short amount of time. I was almost surprised to receive the letter about the wedding.”

Looking at his uncle, Damian stopped walking and tilted his head slightly in consideration. “Surprised? But you knew how I felt about Jon. You encouraged it,” he reminded the man, who laughed and shook his head. That only served to confuse Damian more. “I am missing something, aren’t I?”

“Damian, my nephew, you are a great many things but spontaneous is rarely one of them.” Frowning, Damian considered that. “I am not meaning for you to take offense to it. I am simply saying that rarely do you just do something because you want to do it. There is usually much calculation in your actions. Your mother’s influence, I believe.”

And yes, he supposed that made sense. His father loved to just jump right into the thick of things and his mother wanted to know all the variables. He had always felt he fell somewhere in the middle, but perhaps he was closer to his mother. But on this particular decision, he knew exactly why he had acted much like his father would have.

“Father told me, the night he died, to ask Jon to marry me as soon as I could.”

His uncle looked unsurprised. And Damian didn’t feel like it required more of an explanation than that. So he turned and continued making his way to the crypt with his uncle beside him. “And the ring? I suppose Richard told you where he had kept it and what it meant.”

Damian nodded and gestured for the older man to enter the crypt before him. “It is an honor to see that ring on Jon’s finger knowing it once rested on Ser Jason’s,” he admitted, not looking at his uncle when the man stopped and glanced his way. Instead, he turned his eyes onto the statue they had come to see.

The sculptor had turned a crude drawing of Damian’s into a masterpiece. With his father standing, head bowed, crown on head. The lines of his robes looked as though they would flutter in the wind, they were so delicately done. And the soft smile on his face, eyes closed, was just as he would always remember it. And the figure of Ser Jason with his armour on, head tilted as if whispering in his lover’s ear, spoke of strength and love at the same time. The stone cut of the Slayer’s hair was just a wind tousled as it always was when he was on the fields training the soldiers.

“It is perfect,” his uncle whispered. Swallowing against his now tight throat, Damian nodded. They looked so alive and filled with so much love for each other, Damian could almost pretend they were real. “Father said it was your design?”

“I drew them just how I remembered them. The sculptor is the true artist here.” Reaching out a hand, Damian touched his father’s hand that hung at his side. He had taken to touching both of their hands before he sent his prayers off. “They could not be together in life. But their love can forever be remembered by those of us who remain and those who we leave behind.” Shifting to touch Ser Jason’s hand, Damian bowed his head and said his silent prayers of peace for both their souls. Even though he knew there was no peace to be had thanks to his mother.

He felt his uncle come up beside him as he recited the silent prayer but made no move to acknowledge him. “Though you might not believe it, Nephew, there is very little of your mother in you,” the man said as Damian lifted his head and looked up at the two men captured in stone. “I know there is a war inside of you. I know you struggle with the possibility that your mother influenced you more than your father was willing to admit, but you should know this,” the man paused, and Damian looked over at him, “when faced with a decision you have yet to choose a path that she would have wanted you to.”

Dropping his uncle’s gaze, Damian looked back to the statue and considered the older man’s words. He thought over every decision he had made since his mother had been put to death. From when he was so scared the people of the kingdom thought he was just like her to when they accepted him as their king. He thought about the decision to tell Jon he loved him, the decision to ask him to marry him. His mother would have never approved of any of those choices. Especially Jon. She had fought so hard to separate the two of them.

Yet he was set to marry the man in a few days’ time, and he had no regrets.

“She will always be a shadow on my mind though,” Damian admitted, looking back to his uncle. “It is a constant struggle to consciously not follow the path she spent thirteen years pushing me down.”

“Perhaps,” his uncle shrugged. “But perhaps you’ll find one day she is no longer a whisper in the back of your mind. Perhaps one day you’ll only hear your own voice.” He considered the thought before sighing and glancing back toward the exit of the crypt. “I know you have duties to attend to, Nephew. I would like some time alone with my brother, so do not feel you need to remain on my account.”

Thinking of the papers waiting for him on his desk, he smiled at his uncle. “Thank you for the discussion, Uncle. I will see you at dinner.” The man gave a nod before turning back to the statue and Damian turned to leave. When he glanced back just before he exited the crypt, he saw the man with his head bowed, pressed to the stone hand of the former king, shoulders shaking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Growing up, he remembered hearing so many say that they were nervous at their handfasting. So many people told him stories of how they had barely known the one they were to marry and that the ceremony was so permanent that it caused nerves to strike.

Damian found himself waiting at the start of the walkway that would lead him and Jon through the woods to a small glade where their closest friends and family were waiting to bear witness to their pledge to one another. But he as he stood there, he noticed the nerves everyone had spoken of were absent. All he felt was impatient.

Perhaps it was the years of knowing Jon. Perhaps it was knowing he was absolutely the man he wanted to spend his life with.

More than that, he just felt at peace. Like the one thing his father had wanted of him, he was fulfilling.

“Dami.” He turned at the sound of his name, smiling at the sight of Jon walking toward him in the familiar colors of red and blue from his homeland. And though they were not a combination that Damian himself would have picked, he enjoyed the way Jon’s pale skin almost glowed in contrast as the moonlight shone down on them. His eyes fell on the jewel holding his cloaks together, where there should have been gold and black he found red and black. And a glimmer of blue.

The same colors Damian had chosen to wear in honor of both of his fathers.

Reaching out to touch the jewel when Jon was within his reach, Damian looked up at the sparkling blue eyes of his soon to be husband. The man simply smile the all too familiar, mischievous smile Damian knew all too well and offered no explanation.

“Everyone is waiting for us in the glade.” Jon gave him a nod and took the offered hand from Damian, so they could walk to the ceremony together. Neither man spoke, as was Gotham tradition for this type of ceremony, as they made the trek further into the woods. And even though he could see the glade up ahead, he noticed that the forest remained quiet. Almost as if it were watching with bated breath.

He could relate.

As they stepped into the glade with Jon at his side, Damian felt his spine straighten a bit more in response to being around the others. And though he knew he didn’t need to impress these witnesses, he still felt he had to maintain his image. So he remained focused on the Archbishop at the end of the walk, waiting for them.

He gave a small nod to his uncle, who he had chosen to stand witness for him, which the man returned it with a bright smile. A glance over at King Kon revealed him doing the same for his brother and Damian felt the expectations melt away as they came to a stop just past the two men, in front of the Archbishop who held his Law of Old. Damian immediately noticed the chord he and Jon had braided together the night before in front of the fireplace in Damian’s room draped over the open book.

There had been laughter and tears, hushed words of missing those who could not be there to witness this moment, as they weaved the pieces together. It had been private and special, something he would never forget.

As the Archbishop began the traditional greeting, Damian glanced over at Jon and found the man smiling as he watched the man before them read his script. And once again he found himself floored and so thankful that this was his future. That though his mother had stolen so much from him, she could not manage to steal this.

“King Damian of Gotham and Prince Jonathan of Metropolis, please face one another and take the other’s right hand,” the Archbishop’s words pulled Damian away from his thoughts and he turned to follow the command. Smiling at Jon, he held his right hand out with the palm facing up. Without hesitation, Jon placed his own right hand into Damian’s, and they allowed their fingers to curl around the other’s wrist. “Your Majesty, please say the oath.”

Taking a deep breath, Damian looked into Jon’s eyes and tightened his grip. “Jonathan of House Kent, I take you as you are, loving who you are now and who you are yet to become. I promise from this day forward to be grateful for our love and our life. To be generous with my time, my energy, and my affection. To be patient with you and myself. To fill our life with adventure and our home with laughter. To encourage you to grow as an individual, and inspire you to do so. To love you completely,” he spoke confidently, taking in the smile growing wider on Jon’s lips as he recited the vow. “These things I pledge before you. And before our loved ones and those who no longer bless this land with their presence.”

Swallowing hard against the tears building in his eyes as he watched a tear slip from Jon’s, Damian returned Jon’s smile as the other man recited the same script. He tried to ignore the swelling of his heart, the promise of their future in the words, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to focus otherwise.

“King Damian, do you take Prince Jonathan to be your husband?”

“I do,” he confirmed without looking away from Jon.

“And Prince Jonathan, do you take King Damian to be your husband?”

“I do,” the man whispered, causing Damian’s smile to grow even more than it already had. Despite the ceremony not being finished, he felt as though he couldn’t be more content. Could he die from happiness? It almost felt as though he might.

“The honored have requested to have their witnesses to bind their hands while the blessing is said,” the Archbishop said, gesturing for his uncle and Jon’s brother to move to stand in front of them with the chord in hand. Glancing over at them, Damian watched the men take one end each and move forward to wrap the chord around his and Jon’s joined hands. “This is the hand of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that is holding yours on your handfasting day. As you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future. These hands will passionately love you and cherish you through the years and with the slightest touch, comfort you like no other,” the man spoke, but Damian turned his attention back to his almost husband.

“These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind. These are the hands that will, countless times, wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow and tears of joy. These are the hands that will help you hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.” He looked down as he felt the tightening of the knot, noticing the two men had joined the chord and were stepping back. He looked from the knot to his uncle and noticed the man’s blue eyes were glimmering with unshed tears as he watched them. “And lastly, these are the hands that, even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”

The blessing was finished and quiet filled the glade as Damian looked away from his uncle, back to Jon. And he wasn’t surprised to find Jon watching him. They both knew what was coming. And though they had kissed plenty of times in the recent weeks, there was something delicate and precious about this moment.

“Your Majesties, under the gaze of the Powers That Be and the witnesses you have called here tonight, I pronounce you bound by love. May you share your first of many kisses in this moment,” the older man said, encouraging the two men to seal the moment.

And though Damian wanted to desperately kiss Jon, he called upon all his self-control to slowly lean in and press his mouth to Jon’s. And though his husband’s lips were entirely too distracting, he could still hear the responding cheers and clapping from those watching the moment unfold. He could also feel Jon’s laughter against his mouth. Pulling away from Jon, Damian smiled at the man before looking out toward their family and closes friends.

And though he knew two especially important faces were missing, he could almost feel their presence there with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The various conversations of the people gathered in the Great Hall washed over him as he made his way through the room, not really pausing much outside of returning a greeting or two. He knew there would be plenty of time to converse with the guests over the course of the evening, so he stayed true to the path that would take him to his husband’s side.

“Your Majesty,” King Kon greeted with a smirk and a nod of his head. To which Damian rolled his eyes as he stopped to stand beside his husband, immediately allowing his hand to find Jon’s.

“We are family now, are we not? No sense in such formalities in a setting like this.”

He watched the other man consider him closely before nodding, looking almost pleased with the response. “The sentiment is returned then, Damian.” And Damian simply raised his glass of wine to toast the older man before taking a sip and glancing at his husband.

“Have you eaten yet? I thought I might go see what the staff prepared under the scrutiny of Grandfather.” Jon shook his head with a laugh and Damian smiled, ignoring the chuckle that came from Kon at the former king’s expense. “Join me?”

“Yes, I am famished but everyone has been so distracting,” Jon admitted, walking beside Damian as they made their way around the various groups of people. “Every time I went to grab a bite, someone else stepped into my path.”

“And you wouldn’t want to be rude by telling them that you would speak with them later.”

Jon looked at him with a bit of a gleam in his eye that Damian wasn’t sure how to describe. “I would never,” the man teased. “But no, I could not in this instance. If I am to live among these faces for the remainder of our days, I should not want to offend them so early in the marriage.” Damian hummed and nodded to the head chef who stood near the table, taking stock of all the items laid out on the table.

“Your Majesties,” the chef greeted with a wide smile and a bow. “I have prepared a few of the items you requested, My King. I am not certain of how close to Metropolis quality they are, but I did have his former Majesty there to taste a few of the items. He gave his approval.”

Damian nodded and gave her a warm thank you before turning to speak to Jon. He found the man already looking at him, a bit of a surprised look on his face. “Beloved?”

“You requested some food from home?”

“Well,” he shrugged, feeling a little awkward, “I wanted to be sure this was about you just as much as it was about me. The party itself is for the citizens who wish to celebrate with their ruler, but why should it just be our cuisine they experience? You are just as much their ruler now, even if we have yet to officially crown you.”

He shifted a bit when Jon continued to stare at him as he spoke. He didn’t think what he had done was that big of a deal, but the way Jon was looking at him made it seem like it must be. A good one, he hoped.

“Some more wine, Your Majesties?” A server asked, unaware of the moment between the two men. He held a plate with a jug to refill glasses and Damian broke Jon’s gaze to glance down at his mostly empty glass.

“Please,” he responded, holding his glass out for the server to fill. “You do not have a glass, Beloved?” He questioned, noticing Jon’s empty hands.

“I shall return immediately!” The server hurried off before either could say anything, but Jon seemed to have barely noticed.

Placing his free hand on Jon’s cheek, Damian searched his eyes. He wasn’t certain what it was he was looking for, but something. Perhaps a hint at to what was going on in the other man’s mind at the moment. The slightly stunned look still covered his features, but there was something else. Something more. And though it looked familiar, he couldn’t quite place the emotion.

But the need to dissect it was eliminated when Jon pushed forward and pressed their mouths together, much to the delight of the people standing near them. Damian could hear the cheering and laughing from the people surrounding them, but he ignored it in favor of enjoying his husband for a moment. He knew this was a change for the kingdom. His mother and father had not been in love or even liked one another. So seeing their King being affectionate was probably a bit of a surprise. But a good one, from the sounds of it.

“Beloved?” Damian questioned when Jon pulled back enough to allow them to breathe. He blinked his eyes open and found Jon looking at him with that look. The one that made his heart quicken and his stomach swoop.

“Thank you for being you,” Jon said quietly, as though he wanted that to remain between them. It wouldn’t since there were far too many people within hearing distance, but Damian chose to ignore that. “You never fail to surprise me with your thoughtfulness.” And Damian’s confusion must have shown on his face because Jon was laughing and pulling further away, gesturing at the table of food. And Damian understood.

He hadn’t thought much of it when he made the suggestion to the chef, but he was glad that it worked in his favor. And he didn’t really think it was a very big gesture worthy of this kind of reaction, but he wasn’t going to fight Jon on it. Especially when the man kissed him like that without giving the people around them a second thought.

“Here you are, Your Majesty,” the server came rushing over with a wine glass for Jon, giving a bow as Jon took the glass from the tray with a thank you. “Can I do anything else for either of you?”

Damian chuckled at the man and shook his head. “No, I do believe we are just fine. Thank you.” The server bowed again and moved away, and Damian just smiled. “Shall we eat? There is something I wish to show you once we have made a few rounds in the room.” Jon looked at him curiously, but nodded and turned toward the tables of food to direct a staff member which items he wanted on his plate. Damian followed suite and led his husband over to their designated table where his grandfather and wife were currently sitting at one end and his Aunt Cass at the other.

They spent the following hours talking with the citizens who paused to pass along their congratulations, Damian making sure to make personal addresses to the ones he remembered from either private audiences or from previous gatherings. He watched Jon question each person as if he would sear them all into his memory, wanting to know each and every person who lived within their borders.

It warmed Damian more than he wanted to admit. And selfishly, he was thankful that Jon was to be a ruler in Gotham instead of Metropolis. They were two very different people, but Jon brought something to the kingdom that Damian had never been able to quite get the hang of. He was humble. And while Damian knew he was not prideful in the way his mother had been, he did still struggle with the idea that he was still better than certain others. He would probably always struggle with that.

But Jon balanced that out with his humility and Damian was thankful.

Pushing to his feet once there was a break in the never-ending line of well-wishers, Damian held his hand out to Jon. “Come with me, I have something I wish to do,” he told his husband with a small smile. He watched Jon take his hand and stand before glancing over at his grandfather and giving him a nod. “We’ll go through the gardens,” he said as he guided them out of the Great Hall and into the cooling air of the summer night.

Gotham summers were hot, but thankfully their evenings cooled into something much more tolerable. Especially when he and Jon were required to be in their ceremonial robes for a celebration such as this.

Silently, he led his husband through the gardens, weaving through the maze with practiced ease. He was reminded of playing games with his father and Ser Jason when he was little, listening to his tutor as they walked the gardens between lessons, and spring days following Titus as he chased after birds and various flying bugs.

“Your Majesties,” a man with golden hair greeted with a bow as they reached one of the buildings near the stables. Damian gave him a smiled as Jon said his hello. “I have what you asked for in the back, if you’ll follow me.”

“Yes, thank you,” Damian said, moving to follow the man but pausing when Jon tugged on his hand. Looking over at his husband, Damian raised a brow. “Beloved?”

“What is going on here, Dami?”

Damian smiled and shrugged. “You shall have to follow and find out.” Taking a few steps forward, Damian allowed their arms to stretch their limit with their hands still clasped. “It is a surprise and one I think you shall like very much. So just come.”

Jon frowned before Damian saw him sigh and nod, walking forward and allowing Damian to lead them into the building. The inside wasn’t anything impressive and certainly didn’t give anything away, to which Damian was thankful.

“Ah, there you are,” the man commented as Damian reached the only room that was lit by firelight. Peeking his head into the room, he noticed the present innocently laying on the floor and Damian smiled.

“I had your father pick it out, but it was my idea for him to bring him from Metropolis,” Damian explained as he stepped into the room and Jon followed. It took a few seconds before Jon noticed what it was Damian was talking about.

With a surprised gasp, Jon released Damian’s hand and rushed forward to look down at the small white dog that had yet to notice their presence. But as soon as Jon knelt down next to it, the dog’s head lifted and his tiny tail began to wag.

“I thought Titus could use a playmate since my attention is now to be much more split than before,” Damian explained when Jon looked back to him as the dog jumped up and into his arms. When Jon’s laughter sounded as the dog began licking his face, Damian felt his heart squeeze.

“Does it have a name?”

“No he does not.”

Jon looked down at the dog who was panting happily as Jon pet his head and seemed to examine the dog closely. “Krypto,” he said, pulling a questioning sound out of Damian’s throat. “A protective deity from back home. He may not grow to the size of Titus, but I can tell he is going to be fierce.”

“I like that,” Damian nodded. Pushing to his feet, Jon picked up the dog and walked over to where Damian still stood by the doorway. “So you like him then?”

“I love him,” Jon confirmed. Damian wasn’t surprised when his husband leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips to show that very appreciation. “I love you. Thank you for giving me so much from back home.”

“You are leaving much behind. I am glad I can bring at least a bit of it to you in order to make the transition easier.” Jon’s smile softened at that and Damian looked away at the gentleness of it. “I had the staff bring everything he would need to our rooms during the celebration. Shall we introduce him to his big brother?”

Jon laughed and nodded, this time leading Damian out of the room and back out into the night air. Watching his husband dote on the small dog seemed to be a glimpse into their future as fathers and while he knew neither of them were quite ready for that, it did a lot to quell any nerves he might have had at the thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“But we need to think about this logically,” one of the Council members said as another tried to explain why sending more grain to the outer limits was a good idea for the winter. Damian had been sitting at the head of the table, Jon sitting in the spot just to his left where Damian had always sat when his father was king, listening to them talk in circles for far too long and it was starting to grate on him. The first three weeks of their marriage, Damian had appreciated Jon’s ability to keep Damian relaxed and calm when the meetings started getting out of order. But today, not even his husband’s unending calm could stop his annoyance from rising

“We have the reserves, do we not?” Damian finally spoke up, rubbing at his temple. He stood and waved a hand for one of them to pass the parchments to him. “Thank you,” he said to the servant who handed them over. Looking down at the numbers, he did the quick math in his head and tried to see what the problem was. “According to this we have more than enough. What is the issue with sending more than the usual amount to those who need it?”

“They have not increased their contributions to the stockpile, Your Majesty. It is not about us not needing it, it is about others getting the idea that they can get more without giving more.” It was a fair point and Damian knew that. His logical side knew what the man was getting at.

He knew that people could take advantage of their kindness. But he also knew that his job was to care for those who were under his rule. He could not do that if they starved through the winter.

“If I may?” Jon’s voice sounded, pulling the attention of everyone else at the table. The question was sent to Damian, but the others all nodded, and Damian slipped over the papers as he took a seat. Jon took them and glanced over the numbers before putting them down. “I do not believe thinking the absolute worst is helpful in this situation. Other villages are not going to see a way to get more for less. They are going to see a kingdom who cares for them when they need it most. Our people are kind. And they are generous. And that is because their rulers are kind and generous. Not frugal.”

Damian looked over to the other members of the Council and waited to see what they would say or do. He could see a few of them looking pleased, but the man who had been against sending the extra was not.

“And if winter hits us here in Bristol harder than anticipated? What are we to do then?” The man asked, looking back to Damian. But instead of answering, Damian looked over to Jon to see if he had a response. His husband looked unsure, but with a nod from Damian he seemed to gather his courage.

“Then we call upon our allies for aide. Or we reach out to villages to see if there is excess they do not expect to use.”

“Gotham does not call upon allies for resources at a whim, Your Majesty,” the man said, his voice souring with the condescending tone. Damian felt his eyes narrow as he took in the man addressing his husband. “Perhaps that was common in Metropolis, but that is not the Gotham way.”

And while Damian knew Jon could easily defend himself in the moment, he still slowly stood to his feet to look at the Council member. It was a move that was all due to his mother, an action she had taught him to perfect in order to command the attention in the room. And he inwardly cringed at how well it worked and how easy it was for him to remember.

Leaning forward, he pressed his hands flat on the long table. “Gotham also does not speak to their King in such a manner,” he spoke steadily, staring the man down. He hated seeing the man cower back slightly, glancing around at the other members of the Council. He made no move to acknowledge Jon’s hand when it came to rest on his forearm, though he knew his husband was trying to tell him that it was fine. That he was fine. “You would do well to remember that after my seat, my husband’s is the second most powerful in this room. And perhaps my grandfather would not have called upon allies in such a situation, but my father certainly would have. As will I.”

He saw various nods of agreement, some scribbling on parchment, out of the corners of his eyes but he kept his focus on the man. “You are King, but you are not the sole decision maker in these situations, Your Majesty.”

“Is that what you really think, Councilmember?”

“Damian,” Jon whispered fiercely, squeezing his arm tightly. But Damian continued to ignore him.

“You cannot abolish the Law of Old,” the man pointed out, but Damian took slight glee in the quiver in his voice. “You wouldn’t dishonor your father in such a manner.”

Despite the smirk on Damian’s face, inwardly he knew the man was right. Damian would never break the Law of Old just to spite the man for being disrespectful to his husband. Finally turning to look at Jon, he was not surprised to see the wide-eyed look on his face. Sighing, Damian sat back in his seat and noticed the Councilmember visibly sight.

“I do not need to abolish the law to put this into action,” Damian said, gesturing for Jon to sit back down. “We will send the extra requested of the village and should we find ourselves suffering due to our kindness, then we shall call for aide from one of our many allies.” He looked to the scribe of the Council and she gave him a firm nod, writing everything down as quickly as she could. “I believe we have accomplished all that we can for the day. We shall touch on the rest tomorrow.”

He watched as the members stood and gathered their things, leaving Jon and Damian still seated at the table as they made their way out of the room, discussing things amongst themselves. It wasn’t until the door shut behind the very last member that Damian looked over at Jon, finding him frowning at him in return.

“Beloved?”

“That was not like you,” Jon said quietly, leaning back into his chair. Damian made a questioning noise but said nothing. “You might as well have pulled a sword on the man.”

“Absurd,” Damian rolled his eyes, waving a hand at Jon. “I will not tolerate someone talking down to you in such a way. He needed to understand his place in this situation. And it is not one that puts him above you.”

He watched Jon observe him for a moment, not saying anything more. “I am serious, My Love. I have never seen you speak to someone in that manner before.” And it brought to mind just how much the action was like his mother. How even the movements he made were something she would have approved of. Sure, she would have told him to take the Council’s power all together, but she would have been pleased with him putting the man in his place. It made his stomach drop.

It made him feel rotten in his core.

And though he knew it was not Jon’s intention to compare him to his mother, that was how it felt in the moment. “I did that for you,” he stated, his voice rising ever so slightly as he straightened in his chair. “I stood up for you. That was not about me or how I felt. It was not about power or control. You are my husband, and I will not just sit back and allow someone to treat you as though you have no right to be here.”

“I know that, Dami. That’s not what this is about. I just want to understand what happened.”

“What happened is that I stood up for my husband. And if that is an issue, then perhaps you should just not come to Council meetings anymore.” He watched Jon’s jaw drop and immediately regretted saying that.

“That makes you no better than him.” And logically, Damian knew Jon had a point. But his brain was shifting into irrational and that felt like an attack. “I can see you getting angry, My Love, please. I am not wanting to fight.”

“Then you should have not compared me to him!” Damian shouted as he stood to his feet. “I am trying my best. I am doing what I think is best! This was not how my rule was supposed to start, but I can only do what I am able. And if the way I do that if not to your liking then I do not know what to tell you.”

He didn’t bother turning to respond when he heard Jon call his name as he stormed out of the hall. All he knew was that he needed to get out of that room before he said anything more. Because he could hear his mother’s voice in his mind, and he didn’t like any of the things she was telling him to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun had already started setting when Jon finally found him in his father’s old study. Damian knew he had missed dinner and that the others were probably concerned, but he had crawled too far into his head to really care. And he knew that if they had really wanted to find him, they would. But Jon would know well enough that he just needed some time and space to clear out the muck from inside his head.

His mother may have been executed over seven years ago, but Damian still found himself struggling with her influence. She had molded him for thirteen years and he didn’t know how to brush that aside. Especially without his father around to balance it out.

“My Love?” Jon’s voice called out from the doorway. Damian didn’t bother getting out of the chair he was slumped in, but he did look over at his husband for a moment before returning his gaze to the large window he sat in front of. This had been one of his favorite spots growing up. He had spent hours sitting there, listening to his father work while he watched the soldiers being trained by Ser Jason in the fields below.

His father had admitted that the window position was the exact reason he had picked this study. The memory just made his heart ache more now that he was without both of them.

A tray was set down on the table sitting between the two plush chairs and Damian could smell that it was probably whatever the chef had prepared for dinner. But the thought of food really just made his stomach churn at the moment, so he ignored it and looked to his husband instead. He watched him round the other chair and sit down on it.

“I am sorry for shouting,” Damian said, sending an apologetic look to the other man. He wasn’t surprised when Jon waved the apology off and Damian sighed. Some of the weight of the day slipped off his shoulders at the gesture and he sent a thankful look instead.

They sat there in silence for a few moments before Jon shifted and Damian knew he was about to speak. “What happened today, Damian? I do not understand what it is I said that upset you to that point. I want to be sure I do not make the same mistake again.”

“It was not something you said,” Damian told him, sitting up straighter to look at the other man more directly. “And I should not have taken that out on you. I knew, even then, that you were only trying to help. I know that, Jon. I just…” He trailed off, unsure of how to admit what the real issue was. Leaning back in his chair, he looked back out the window. “Father taught me so much, he made sure I was ready to take his place, but he could not erase my mother from my mind completely. And sometimes when I am faced with a difficult situation, I can still hear her in the back of my mind.”

He heard Jon moving but he didn’t pull his eyes away from the window as he spoke. He didn’t dare look at his husband because he would not be able to stand seeing pity in his blue eyes. He could not bear that. But against his best wishes, Jon came into view when he knelt in front of Damian and the younger couldn’t help but and look at the other man.

He let Jon take his hands into his own and just watched him, waiting to see what he was going to say or do. “You are not your mother,” Jon told him, and Damian did his best not to cringe at the words he had heard his father say to him so many times when he had been alive still. “You are far better than she was, and I know you know that.”

He did know that, but he still doubted himself. He still wondered if maybe his mother’s influence would prove to be stronger than his father’s one day.

“I am so afraid she will win.”

“She won’t,” Jon said with no hesitation. And Damian knew the other man believed in him absolutely, but it was still a doubt that lingered. Even when he himself didn’t actually believe it. “You would never let her. If she was going to, we would not be here. I would not be here. Her whispers of hate will not overcome your father’s love.”

Clenching his jaw, Damian swallowed past the lump forming in his throat. “It has been seven years and still…”

“And yet here you are. If she really held any power over you still, do you honestly think you would have apologized to me?” Shaking his head, Damian knew he wouldn’t have. His mother would balk at any show of weakness. “And do you think you would have ended the meeting the way you had?” No, he would have stripped the man of his position. “Do not doubt yourself, My Love. In here,” Jon tapped his chest over his heart, “you are a good man. You are kind, generous, and exactly what Gotham needs.”

There was no lie in his words. Damian could sense nothing but complete and utter devotion, not that he had been expecting anything less from Jon. No, he never doubted anything when it came to Jon.

“Thank you, Beloved. Thank you for reminding me of the truth when I cannot see it clearly.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, My Love. Nor will I ever be anywhere else so long as this earth shall have me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Father? What are we doing in the glade? Certainly, a walk this long was not good for you,” Damian heard his daughter call to him as he walked to the place where he had stood and married Jon so many years before. He knew, after laying his husband to rest a few days ago, that his time was limited and would follow soon. He didn’t even need Madame Xanadu to tell him that much.

But he had one last task to accomplish before he spent his finals days with their children.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the ring that had rested on his husband’s finger for so many years. The same ring that had encircled the finger of a man who was his father in all but blood until he had been lost.

“Rachel, please give me the box I asked you to hold,” he glanced back at his daughter. He smiled as she moved to stand beside him and gave him the hand-carved wooden box that he had asked Madame Xanadu to bless and protect. “Will you dig the hole I mentioned here?” He pointed to the spot between where he and Jon had stood for their handfasting.

His daughter sent him a strange look, but pulled the small handshovel out that he had asked her to bring and dropped to the ground. Slowly, Damian followed her actions and landed on his knees in the cool moss covered ground. As Rachel dug the hole, Damian opened the box and carefully placed the ring inside on the red velvet. He knew the box would survive until it was needed again, he only worried it would be found before it was meant to be.

“Is this deep enough?” He looked down at the hole his daughter had managed and nodded. Leaning forward, he placed the box inside of the hole that was as deep as the length of his arm up to his elbow. Once he had removed his hand, Rachel began dropping the displaced dirt back into it to cover the box from anyone who might pass this way. “Father? Why are we doing this? Do you not want to keep Father’s ring?”

Looking at his daughter, with her caramel skin and tight black curls, Damian shook his head. “No, this is what I need to do. It is of great importance. Someday, the right person will come and find this ring and it will go back to the person who should have worn it far longer than he was allowed to.” And because he had never told the story of what his mother had done to his father and the man he loved, his daughter just looked at him confused. “Come, help an old man to his feet and I will tell you the story of your shamed grandmother and the curse she has laid upon your grandfather.”

He watched Rachel frown, but still she stood and helped him to his feet. He watched her pack the dirt more with her shoe before tucking the hand shovel into her bag and offering her arm to him. Damian took it without much thought and allowed her to lead him back the way they had come.

“When your grandfather, Richard, was seven years old he was introduced to the future final Dragon Slayer of Gotham…” He started, resisting the urge to check on the spot they had buried the box one last time. Instead he told his oldest the story of his fathers and trusted that Madame Xanadu had told him the truth when she said it would remain until he returned one day to reclaim it.

#damijon #jondami #jaydick #damian wayne #jon kent #bruce wayne #past lives au #anikah writes

20 notes · View notes

animemangasoul · 4 years

Text

We Parted Ways A Long Time Ago

Summery: Lucius Fox is Tim's emergency contact number.In which Bruce and Tim have drifted apart and Bruce doesn't realize it until it's a little too late

Chapter 4/4+

The door slammed open.

“What the fuck you leave before dinner for? You know how fucking pissed Alf-”

Both of his sons freeze at the sight of each other, Tim actually taking a step back, all previous cool long forgotten as his eyes widen and face pales.

“Rep-- Tim?”

His youngest doesn’t say anything, only tenses up where he stands and a brief flash of hurt passes through Jason’s eyes. Bruce frowns. Sure Tim and Jay had a past. But he thought his youngest had gotten over it? Hadn’t he broken Jason out of jail while he was dead? Why was he now acting as if he was afraid of him?

Jason wouldn’t hurt Tim. Bruce could bet his life on it, and.... The lazarus pit had been responsible for his Jay turning into the hood, so Tim of all people should understand the sheer amount of work Jason had put into getting better, put into overcoming his trauma so for him to act as if Jay would hurt him....

Stepping up, Bruce raises a hand to lay on his youngest shoulder, just about to open his mouth to tell Tim that he shouldn’t be---

When a blazing glare from his older froze him in place.

Was Jason angry with him? Why?

But the glare is there, hostile, angry and a clear sign to shut the hell up.

And then, in a blink of an eye Jay’s face softens just a bit, his stance loosens up and he takes on an air of friendliness that has Bruce taken by surprise. It’s not friendly like Dick, not as open, not as calming, but it’s the kindest Bruce has seen Jason look in a very long time and it makes his heart hurt. Because for a moment, it was as if he was seeing the little kid who laughed across rooftops in his red, yellow and green.

“What brings you back here Timbo?”

Tim had managed to center himself in that short span of time and now, a hesitant smile graces his lips as he takes a step forward, fingers coming up to curl around Jason’s sleeve almost in a silent apology.

It almost felt like he, Bruce, had walked into a game he didn’t quite understand. Clearly his boys were navigating through something. Something that made Jason patient and Tim scared? And...

Jason reaches up then, hand slow and obvious in its direction, but when Tim doesn’t move away, he finally rests it atop of his head, ruffling his hair lightly and cackling when the younger scrunches up his nose at him, darting away.

“What are you doing here kid?” Jason’s eyes flicker to Bruce and Bruce frowns back. “Aren’t you supposed to--”

“Visiting,” Tim cuts him off, voice soft. “B invited me.”

“Did he now.”

The way Jason is looking at him, it almost makes Bruce tense. The gaze is scrutinizing, searching and whatever his son seems to find, he doesn’t like it. Making Bruce feel even more agitated.

What was going on?

What did Jason know?

And if Tim feared Jason what was the older trying to do? Since when did Jay talk to Tim like that. Talk to Tim like he was one of those victims he was so good at calming down.

What had he been missing here?

“Come on,” Jason finally said, breaking Bruce out of his momentary confusion. “Let’s go in. I’m sure Cass has been dying to see you again.”

Tim had stopped looking so pale by then, face still blank however and gaze fixed on his feet, but at the mention of his only sister his eyes snapped up and a familiar warmth bled through them.

“Ok.”

They start walking, but they aren’t even halfway down the hall before a blur of a shadow flies from God knows where and lashes onto Tim.

“Timmy!” Comes the resounding screech as a delighted Dick Grayson practically clings to the younger like a koala.

Tim stiffens. The motion is instantaneous as whatever friendliness that Jason had managed to drag out, shutters close behind an empty gaze, and Bruce finds his own smile waning at the sight. His youngest stumbles back from the warm embrace, lips parting slightly in shock and arms going up just to pause in a half-aborted motion.

“Timbits, little bro! I’ve missed you so much!”

Tim smiles, it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Wha-- Tim liked Dick, right? Sure they weren’t as close as they used to be, but children grew up and siblings grew apart, especially brothers.

So surely--

But just as his mind is about to descend into a rapid spiral of unending questions, the blankness fades from Tim’s eyes as quickly as it appeared and his son blinks once, twice before laughing, arms coming up to fully circle around his brother's waist. Spinning him around playfully to incite a delighted cackle out of the older.

Bruce shoulders relax.

He’s growing too paranoid for his own good. Interpreting every instance of change on Tim’s face as some sort of damning sign. Of course Tim had reacted the way he did. His son had just gotten out of the hospital yesterday for crying out loud. He was exhausted, not to mention the potential health issues he might be facing that Bruce still wanted to take a look at down at the cave.

Dick jumping on him the way he did probably exasperated his already tired muscles.

“It’s good to see you too Dick.” The words come out chipper, any sign of whatever it is Bruce thought he saw nowhere in sight.

Yes, this was Tim. His son who might not feel quite at home with them yet but was undoubtedly still very much worshiping the ground his oldest walked on. No matter the years that passed, Dick Grayson would always be Tim’s hero.

“Look at you,” the eldest cooed, finally loosening his death grip around Tim’s neck and standing back to observe him. “Aren’t you looking healthier!” His hands come up to frame the youngers cheeks, pressing down on them and shaking Tim’s head back and forth. “You’re just too cute.”

A disgusted snort from Jason makes Bruce finally sigh and shake his head. Fondness curling his lip upward as he presses a firm hand against Dick’s shoulder to slightly push him back. “He just got out of the hospital Dick, try not to add to his stress.”

Eyes blowing wide, his eldest gapes at him, fingers still pressed on the Tim’s squished cheeks. “He did what?”

“You deaf?”

Dick elects to ignore Jason, gaze solely focused on him over Tim’s head. “He was in the hospital! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Regret of having spilled the beans already developing into an upcoming headache, all Bruce does is level Dick with a tired eye and a heavy frown. “There was no time.”

“But--”

“What is he doing here.”

“Dami!”

A careful sort of stillness descends on Tim’s frame, squished face going rigged at the sight of his only younger brother.

“Dami look who’s here!”

Damian’s arms are crossed, a petulant pout adorning his lips. “I am aware of his presence Grayson. Why is he back.” Leveling Tim with a glare, he almost smiles. “I thought we got rid of the trash this morning.”

Snorting, Dick shakes his head fondly. Bruce finds himself almost mirroring the action. Damian might have matured quite a bit these past couple of months, but his verbal rivalry with Tim still seemed to be present and accounted for.

The threats and violence had been concerning, but with Dick’s tutelage and Bruce careful guidance, Damian had found other ways to express his displeasures and Bruce was proud to say that his youngest had taken up verbally sparring with Tim rather than hurt him physically these days.

He’d come along way.

He still spoke of Tim in an unfavorable manner when his second youngest wasn’t present, but whenever Tim was around, the scathing remarks dulled down to more childish barbs between school mates.

Progress.

If Tim had just been around to see it, perhaps he would notice how much his brother had changed, instead..... Bruce fingers curl up, and he pushes any thought of Lucius Fox to the back of his mind.

Never mind that man---

“Look at him Timmy, hasn’t Dami grown taller? You’re still as short as ever though.” Dick stares down at Tim a delighted smile painting his lips, switching his gaze between both boys before finally settling on Damian. “Tim is staying over for dinner. Didn’t Bruce tell you kiddo?”

Damian clicks his tongue and glares. “I knew father was planning to bring the stray back, I just assumed Drake had enough dignity to not show his face around this place anymore.”

Bruce frowns. That was... uncalled for. Tim had yet to say anything back and Damian.... Damian shouldn’t have continued their usual spat if his other son didn’t feel up--

“What the actual fuck demon spawn!”

“Jason!” Dick looked utterly shocked, hands falling back to his side as he turns on his brother. “You can’t say that!”

The utter bewilderment gracing Jason’s features are almost as baffling to Bruce as his second speaking so harshly to his youngest.

Damian’s retort is drowned out by the waves of disappointment crashing at the shores of Bruce’s mind.

“Jason.” Maybe... perhaps he was missing something. “You can’t talk to your brother like that.” Still, there was no excuse in snapping at Damian in such manner.

“What,” Jason hisses back and... Bruce glares.

His son stiffens, eyebrow raised in disbelief as if he’s surprised Bruce is willing to call him out.

‘You’re older than Damian,’ Bruce thinks disapprovingly. ‘You don’t get the same leeway he does. Not anymore. It’s time to grow up Jay.’ Sensing his seriousness from his body language, Jason relents, clicking his mouth shut and shaking his head, still looking shocked.

Maybe they needed to talk about this in depth later. But for now, a stop to the conversation was enough.

Tim was here today, and Bruce wanted this dinner to go off without a hitch.

“Whatever.” Looking truly beyond exasperated, Jason spun on his heels and stomped away. Bruce frowned after him. They would need to sit down and have a long conversation after this. Whatever was on Jason’s mind would need to come out before his son let it fester and build up to something that would be even harder to deal with in the future.

Shaking his head, Dick turned around to grab Tim’s wrist. “Come on babybird. Let’s go eat. Alfred has been so excited and--”

He continues to ramble as he drags Tim along, and Tim’s smile has grown into a more of a genuine one by the time they’ve disappeared behind the corner, Bruce and Damian trudging silently behind them.

Something like relief overcomes Bruce and.... the niggling feeling that had been drilling at the back of his mind this whole family reunion finally subsiding. Tim wasn’t himself anymore and Bruce knew that, had accepted that, had even come to terms with his own part in Tim not feeling welcome in their home anymore, but... seeing him like this. Watching him slowly warm up to Dick despite his initial hesitation, it..... it gave him hope.

Tim loved them. Bruce knew this with every fiber of his being, and they loved him in turn. It just came down to showing this fact to his son.

“Father.”

Bruce looked down. “Yes?”

Damian’s face scrunched up. Several seconds passing as his son seemed to battle with something internally before he finally opened his mouth again. “Why is Drake back?” Bruce raised a brow.

“Because he’s family and he needs us right now.”

“We do not need him.”

“Perhaps,” Bruce said, resting his gaze on the retreating back of his middle child. “But we want him here Damian.” looking back down at his son, Bruce doesn’t continue until Damain’s gaze is once more directed at him. “And Damian.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t antagonize him.”

” What?” The utter surprise on his son’s face, makes his stomach tighten.

Shouldn’t what he said be a given?

The fact that Damian was surprised that he---

Suddenly it becomes all too difficult for Bruce not to flee the scene. His face tightens, his heartrate spikes and for a second, he wonders, maybe.... maybe the reason why Tim hadn’t wanted to come.....

But just as soon as the thought surfaces, rationality brings it back down.

He breathes.

What was he thinking? There was no time for second guessing. And he already knew all of this. Tim was a sensitive child, he’d always been. Taking things to heart more easily than any of his children, but he was also capable of fighting his own battles and that’s probably why Damian was surprised with his interference. His children didn’t need him to argue on their behalves. He’d raised them well enough to handle their own strives and issues.

Look at Jason and Tim for example. He hadn’t even been there, and somehow they’d managed to get passed their conflict and patch things up. If given enough time, Bruce was sure Damian and Tim would one day reach the same milestone.

He was proud of them. Proud of his children’s capability to handle themselves, proud of who they’d become. But most of all, he was proud of the man Tim was growing into and given the chance, he wanted to be there by his side when his son finally realized the amazing person he was.

Damian had already gone ahead by the time he resurfaced back from his thoughts, and all Bruce can do is sigh and follow along. Some of the weight falling of his shoulders now that he’d managed to sort himself out.

Arriving at the dining room however, he’s met with a tense air so palpable, Bruce almost freezes in place. There his four sons stood, three of them looking utterly confused while Tim face was twisted into a grimace with eyes that exuded apprehension.

In front of them all stood Alfred. Plates in hand and a heartbreaking look in his eyes. Bruce felt himself grow cold. “It’s good to have you back Master Timothy,” Alfred finally said, breaking the silence and choosing to step passed whatever tension that most have brewed before Bruce arrived. “Please take a seat.”

Tim jerked his head into a nod and tried to smile again, this time a bit more sincere. “Of course Alfred. Thank you.”

That most have been the right thing to say, for Alfred loosened up and his expression eased. “Well then, take a seat everyone.” And with that he turned on his heels and stepped into the kitchen.

Awkwardness descends on them, whatever most have transpired while he was unaware making Bruce helpless in providing a solution to fix it. Instead he looks at Dick and with his eyes ask for clarification. His son just shrugs back at him, darting a glance at Tim before looking back at him with pure confusion and distress. Bruce grimaces.

“Let’s sit down and eat,” he finally says. “You heard Alfred.” Rounding the table, he takes his place at the head, arms folding under his chin. Briefly looking up he smiles at Tim who meets his gaze and after a momentary delay grins back at him. The happiness behind it is shaky, but the smile is genuine enough, and Bruce takes it to heart. “Come sit next to me,” he says, and Tim does.

Shuffles his way past his brothers until he comes to a stop to his left. Silently he pulls out the chair and sits down. Damian rushes over to his right, slowing down when he notices that no one is challenging him for the spot and with all the grace of a born assassin throws himself into his seat, glaring at Tim. “I am father’s right hand.”

Tim looks up, blinks slowly at the glowering Damian before just as slowly looking away. “Where is Cass?” he asks, eyes fixed on Jay.

His second oldest shrugs, taking the seat next to Damian who glares venomously at his action. “No clue. But she promised to be here.” Tim follows his movements with unwavering focus and Bruce finds himself feeling even more concerned by the sheer absurdity of Tim’s behavior today.

“She’ll be here Timbo, don’t you worry.” Dick says, sitting down and swinging an arm around the younger’s shoulders, Tim doesn’t stop smiling this time, and Bruce finds himself feeling.... relieved?

He frowns.

What was.... his emotions where all over the place today. That was unacceptable. He needed to get a grip. His children were getting along and here he was expecting what exactly? Anarchy? Murder?

Ridiculous.

Whatever he was feeling, whatever Tim was feeling, whatever misunderstanding, haunting his family, it could all be solved later. The goal here was not to make something out of nothing. He needed Tim to want to stay, feel like he could stay and only then could he change things. But to do that, this dinner needed to go off without a hitch, and it couldn’t do that if Bruce was too busy worrying about-- If Bruce was overthinking things.

“Little brother!” The voice is soft but not any less delighted and Bruce looks up.

“Cass!” Tim’s halfway out of his chair, a wide grin dancing across his lips. “How was the recital?”

His sister laughs, putting two hands on his shoulders and pushing him back down. “It....fine.”

“Yeah?”

She nods, leaning down to plant a kiss on his head. Tim leans into it, eyes falling shut for just a moment. A snort from Damian makes him snap them back open however and Bruce feels his heart sink.

He would have liked that expression to last just a little bit longer.

Cassandra stiffens, but her hands remain on Tim’s shoulders, gently patting him for some odd reason. “Shame you not come.”

An apologetic smile pulls at the corners of Tim’s mouth. “Sorry. I passed out and I--

Her hand comes to cover the lower half of his face. “Shush, I understand.”

His son still looked apologetic and Bruce felt for him. He’d wanted to be there too, but Cassandra hadn’t allowed him. Because last time, well, he’d gotten into an argument with some of the parents there and.... needless to say she’d kindly asked him not to come the next time and he’d obliged. Finding some soles in Dick’s exclusion as well, his oldest having gotten himself an official ban when he’d somehow managed to instigate a fist fight.

After that disaster of an incident, Dick had come back home and declared the father of one of the principle dancers a racist and a bigot and it was all Bruce could do to hold the rest of his children back from rushing the man’s house and beating the shit out of him. Still, Cass had kissed her brother’s cheek, thanked him but also told him he was no longer welcome there, his action being deemed unacceptable by the company.

His oldest had taken it like a champ, only later sobbing loudly and dramatically on his shoulder for hours bemoaning how unfair it was. He however also took soles in the fact that the father too had been banned as well. The other man for his racism and Dick for inciting violence.

Jason, well Jason hadn’t officially been declared alive yet so he couldn’t really go either. Didn’t stop him from sneaking in though, arguing that he would be unrecognizable unless someone looked too closely.

So with that, Cass had been left with very few people to cheer her on, so Bruce understood Tim’s disappointment in himself. He really did.

“I still wanted to be there,” Tim mutters, breaking Bruce out of his thoughts. “You worked so hard and---”

Another kiss is planted on his head before Cass sidles away to sit next to Jason. “Next time.”

Tim smiles. “Deal.”

-----------

Dinner is eventually served and it goes well. It goes really really well, for a long time. Bruce can swear by it. His children talk, they laugh, they argue, and sure Damian snaps at Tim every now and then making that familiar uncomfortable feeling rise up in Bruce. And sure Tim doesn’t partake in most of said conversations, but he does smile and even seems to relax when Cassandra’s glare momentarily quiets down Damian.... Everything else is fine. They really are, so why does it all start to go wrong from there?

It all starts with a stupid joke from Dick. His oldest having been all over Tim all throughout dinner, his love for his younger brother quite evident in how he refuses to engage in any conversation with anyone else and practically cling to Tim, trying to make him laugh. And it’s a decent effort because Tim does laugh. Cracks his own jokes and everything, but the younger is clearly distracted by his phone and he keeps looking at it. His responses to Dick halfhearted at best, and any dialogue exchanged between them seems to die out even with Dick trying his best to keep them going.

Tim’s fingers tap at his phone. He smiles and then taps something else.

“And then he said that I can’t take a break because I took one yesterday, can you believe it!” Dick is grinning and after a second Tim looks up to return a similar smile.

“You’re an idiot so I can.”

“Hey!”

“The only imbecile here is you Drake.”

Tim pauses and then bumps his shoulder into Dick as if nothing was said. “I’m just telling you the truth man.”

Dick throws an arm over his neck, digging his knuckles into his head.

“Hey hey hey,” Tim splutters, flailing and not noticing Damian growing more and more agitated from being ignored.

“Serves you right Drake.”

Bruce huffs. Relaxing back into his chair and picking his fork back up. The feeling of unrest subsiding within him again. Now that Tim seems back to normal.

But eventually Dick does let Tim go and said unease returns as Tim turns back to his phone, acknowledging his brother with one-word responses yet again. Bruce let’s it go on for a bit. Keeping his eyes firmly on his son, hoping, no praying that Tim would quit on his own. Stop messing around on his phone and start paying attention to his family, but---

Tim grins after clicking on something, fingers coming up to press at his lips as his shoulders shake and.... and.....

Bruce slams his fork down.

Stillness descends abruptly. Each of his children looking up, startled. Even Damian who’d proceeded to climb over the table to reach Tim, pauses in his action to look at him. Bruce doesn’t care.

“Tim.” He says loudly.

“Yeah?” Tim is looking at him in confusion, face pale and eyes darting back and forth between his siblings and him. In fact, all his children look confused.

Bruce doesn’t care.

“Put the phone away,” he says as softly and kindly as possible. “It’s rude being on your phone when you’re eating with your family.”

Tim blinks, mouth slightly falling open, eyes wide. Bruce sighs.

“Tim.”

But his son is not looking at him anymore, instead he’s staring across the table at his other siblings and Bruce can’t help but follow his gaze because.... what’s so fascinating about---

And.....

His blood runs cold, his face flushes and it’s all he can do not to absolutely die inside then and there because.....

There they are. Jason, Cass and even Damian. Their phones in hand, having been on them when he’d somehow ignored all of them and focused on Tim. Damian who’d gotten down from the table now is loosely holding his phone between his fingers, screen alight from the animal video he’d been watching and Jason, Jason had actually been calling someone and.... Cass.... of course Cass needed her phone. She used it to translate words she didn’t fully understand! and....

Oh God.

A cold sensation slides down his neck because suddenly, suddenly it feels like he’s just lost something. Him and Tim were playing a game and he’d just lost something.

“Old man, did you just...” Jason is gaping at him now, call disconnected, and eyebrows raised so high they disappear behind his hairline. “Did you just tell the replace – Tim that he and only he should put his phone down?”

He had.

“I did. But it goes for all of you as well.”

He’d singled him out.

He hadn’t even noticed the rest.

He’d only seen Tim.

“It’s rude to be on your phones or any devices when we’re eating. This is family time.”

What was wrong with him?

“So put them away, now.”

Jason snorts, the disbelief on his face slowly morphing into something much uglier. “You’ve never asked us to do this before. So what brings this up B? Tell us?”

Bruce does no such a thing. It’s not his job to explain himself to his children. This was beyond Jason. He’d made a mistake yes, but he was only trying to keep Tim close, keep him connected to their family and he couldn’t very well do that if his son was busy being distracted. So he stiffens and levels his second oldest with a glare, the glare is returned tenfold. Jason practically hissing at him. A clear sign he was unwilling to back down.

“Jason you--”

“I understand.” Tim’s voice is soft, but it cuts through the air like a knife. “I’ll put it away.” He sends him a tiny smile and Bruce is taken back.

Perhaps this situation could be salvaged after all.

“Lucius doesn’t allow phones at the table either. So I get it.”

Perhaps not.

“Lucius?”

Tim nods, it’s hesitant. Bruce bites his tongue, forcing himself not to say the words lying under the surface.

‘If you aren’t on your phone on his dinner table than why do you think it’s ok to do it here.’

He doesn’t voice this. He can’t. Lucius Fox was apparently held to different standards than him, so he couldn’t comment. He couldn’t say anything.

If he did, Tim could leave and---

“How are the Foxes?” The question is tentative, warm, friendly. It comes from Cassandra. His daughter leaning over the table, a giant smile painting her lips. “Tam.... well?”

It’s as if a fuse has been lit within Tim because he’s suddenly so much brighter it physically hurts Bruce to look at him.

“They are doing great.” Tim’s not even paying attention to him anymore. “Tam’s handling everything so well and now that I have a team around me I can even take those online collage classes Lucius signed me up for.” He too is leaning across the table now. “Luke is coming back tonight too so we’ll get to watch that movie you went to with Cassie.” Here he pouts and Cass snorts. “Anyways, it’s gonna be great and Tam misses you and--”

He goes on and on and on. Jason looks more interested as Tim keeps on babbling to Cass. His confusion falling away to reveal a sort of gentle fondness that was starting to look at home on his face.

Damian’s frowning next to him. ‘At least there is someone else who don’t like the Foxes,’ Bruce thinks sardonically, glancing at Dick to see his reaction.

Dick looks confused, but as the confusion slowly fades, an aching hurt takes its place. Dick’s face dropping into a wounded look and.... Bruce hates this. Hates seeing his oldest son hurt because he didn’t do what he should have done from the start. He should have been there for Tim. Should have made sure he always had a home with them before his son sought a new home elsewhere. And now, Dick was hurting because Bruce didn’t do his job as a father.

It’s.... heartbreaking.

Tim doesn’t need him anymore, does he?

Not like he used to.

It’s then he locks eyes with Alfred. The old butler standing by the door, a dish towel in hand and looking.... he looks resigned, defeated, sad.

No. No, no, no. Bruce couldn’t let it end here. Couldn’t just give up. Not when his family needed Tim. Not when he needed Tim.

He couldn’t give him up. Tim didn’t deserve to be given up on. That’s what Jack did and Bruce would be damned if he followed in that man’s footsteps.

Clearing his throat he doesn’t acknowledge Tim’s sudden blankness. “Can I talk to you after dinner, in my office?”

Tim practically sags against the table, lips pulling into a frown. “I need to go home?” Bruce is already shaking his head before the kid is finished talking.

“I insist.”

Cass reaches out then, putting a hand over Tim’s wrist. “He go home.”

“I know,” Bruce huffs, rubbing his forehead. “It’s not going to take long.”

“But--” His daughter is leveling him with a look now. Dick shifts next to him. Mouth opening then closing just as fast.

“If the kid needs to go home,” Jason finally speaks up, gaze darting between him and Cass before settling on Tim. “Then he needs to go home.”

“I’m not saying he can’t,” Bruce says, trying very hard not to lose his cool despite feeling like he was losing his son right then and there. “I just need to talk to him.”

“If father wishes to talk to Dra--”

“Shut the fuck up satan.”

“Jason!” Dick has finally snapped out of whatever had him troubled for the last couple of minutes, now he’s frustration fully directed at his brother. “Stop calling Dami names!”

“I’ll stop calling him names when he stops acting like them!”

“Fuck you Todd! Why are you even here? You should have stayed dead!

“Damian!”

“Stay out of it Grayson!”

“Enough!”

Bruce startles. For a second he’d almost assumed he’d snapped again, but no. It’s Tim. Both fists slamming on the table and chest heaving in anger. “Just stop! I don’t mind staying to talk to Bruce so just stop.”

Damian opens his mouth but... Putting a hand around his wrist, Bruce tugs him back. “Enough Dami.”

The hurt look he receives pulls at his heart but he stands firm. He needed this win. He needed to talk to Tim to make things right and he couldn’t let Damian mess it up. “Sit.”

He does. Quietly and disgruntled, but no more barbs are thrown out and things descend back into a quiet silence. The clangs of forks and chewing noises the only thing masking the awkwardness.

All phones are placed in the middle of the table. Even Dick’s phone is among those confiscated. Only Cass given the leeway to hold onto hers as she needed it to help communicate.

She doesn’t focus on it though, keeping her voice soft as she initiates conversation again, tapping at her phone every now and then to figure out a word or two.

It’s almost peaceful. Everyone beginning to talk to each other soon enough, prompted by Cass and no more insults are thrown around. It’s..... nice.

Cass constant glances at the door the only indicator of discomfort that’s visible. He can’t blame her; his daughter had never been good with confrontations so Bruce couldn’t fault her for wanting to escape the current situation.

Fortunately, they all stand their ground and soon, it’s almost like the argument never happened. Bruce is content.

Dinner is almost over however, when the doorbell rings. Loud and shrill.

What the--

“Alfred?”

“On it Master Bruce.” Alfred disappears down the hall, footsteps fading away.

It takes a minute, but finally the butler reappearance, a vaguely familiar man standing behind him.

“Luke!”

Tim practically flies out of his chair, flinging his arms around the other man’s neck, laughter bubbling out of his throat. “You’re back!”

Lucas Fox chuckles, arms coming up to hug Tim. “Yeah. I got back early so I decided to come pick you up.”

“That’s so awesome!”

The other grins, Tim’s enthusiasm seeming to infect him with equal amount of energy. “I know right!” Turning to look at them, Luke’s gaze skims over their faces before they finally come to a stop on Cass. Over Tim’s head, he mouths a thank you.

Bruce freezes.

Did..... Did Cass. Looking at his daughter, he watches her smile back at Lucas, fingers tightly gripping her phone and....

And....

It’s as if the world falls from underneath Bruce.

“I need to go B! B? Bruce I’m sorry but,” Tim’s looking at him now, waving an arm at Lucas as he grins back at him sheepishly. “Let’s talk tomorrow ok?”

It’s a dismissal. A victory.

He’d lost.

Tim wasn’t staying here tonight.

He was going home, to Lucius Fox.

Bruce stares as Tim shuffles out the door, a goodbye hug for Dick, who somehow knows exactly what’s going on and manages to hug Tim with all the warmth of seven suns, peppering his face with kisses till the younger finally pushes him away laughing. He watches as he hugs and kisses Cass on both cheeks. He watches as he hesitates with Jason, eyes slightly suspicious, but still doesn’t chose to move away when Jason slowly, gently reaches down to ruffle his hair.

He watches his son smile back at him, watches as a business card is dropped on the end of the table and pushed in his direction. Watches as his son, his Tim walks away.

He just stands there and watches.

A silent Damian next to him. A tearful Dick on his other side.

He watches Tim go home, and it kills him.

Game over.

The end

-------one more chapter left guys------

@miss-choco-chips talking to you always helps me sort out my writing blocks!

@throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen Next chapter is finally here hun! Hope you like it

@river9noble tagging you for the first time ;) Hope you like it too!

116 notes · View notes

redhoodieone · 4 years

Text

Star-Crossed Universe

A/N: Yes!!! I’M BACK!!! This project has been on the back burner for so long and its finally time to upload it on here. I’m not sure what you all will think but hey...it’s fan fiction and everything and anything goes.

Warnings: Language, Humor (bad and good jokes), Sexual Conversations, and an ultimate Team-Up.

Plot: When Y/N is thrown into a mission way out of her league, she, and magician best friend Zatanna must stop strong demonic forces from entering earth through an unknown portal that John Constantine may have opened. With the assistance from the Dark Knight himself, a mysterious 1967 black Impala arrives in Gotham just when things start to go to hell. But who called the Winchesters? Why is there a clairvoyant bond between Y/N and Dean Winchester? And why does Castiel, an angel of the Lord, believe John Constantine isn’t who he says he is? And will Dean wear the Batsuit?

Move over Scooby-Natural because it’s Batman’s turn! The Winchesters join Batman and Y/N (You!) in taking down a villain who isn’t an everyday monster for Supernatural!

Please enjoy and comment! If you want a Part 2, please let me know.

Part 1

I don’t remember a time where tears felt like my own. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m standing on the ledge when Gotham is down pouring like it always does at night. It shouldn’t be a surprise, really. Gotham is the only city in the US of A that is dark, depressing, manic, and suicidal.

Even Superman refuses to stay here for more than a day.

I’m not any better. The only reason why I’m literally dangling my feet over the edge is because I’m numb.

Numb to feelings.

Numb to pain.

Numb to life.

Bottom line is breakups fucking suck period. Especially if your ex-boyfriend is Bruce Wayne.

And Batman.

I don’t know why I put myself through this. The bitter pain of having to work with someone you love but to know they’ll never love you as much. Maybe this is why I should have never worked with Bruce.

Dick left first and has successfully made a name for himself, Nightwing, in Bludhaven.

Jason comes and goes throughout the months and has his own team of misfits who do good but cause chaos as well.

Even Tim and Damian are working together. They’re training and leading the Titans. The last I heard from them is that they’re doing just fine.

Except me.

Who am I kidding? I can’t compare myself to Bruce’s kids even though I’m closer to Dick’s age than Bruce’s.

Maybe that’s why it didn’t work out between us. Bruce is almost my father’s age, late forties early fifties. And he’s still sexy as fuck; stronger than ever.

And here I am in my early thirties, expecting more than just a wordless promise of something more than casual sex and the uncertainty of the future.

After three months ago, I’m trying desperately hard to not care anymore. The only constant thing in my life is being Night Bat, and I’ll die with only that part of me.

Death.

The one place where everything and nothing hurts anymore.

“Y/N.”

My head jerks to the right side where Zatanna is standing. With her hands on her hips, I can see her blue eyes blinking sadness and guilt. For a beautiful woman like Z, her broken expression is almost tragic enough to make me cry like her.

If my own tears were my own. Maybe my tears are Gotham’s.

“It’s Etrigan. He’s...” Zatanna chokes on her words. She literally holds her neck and tries to stop sobbing. “He’s dead.”

I can feel my eyebrows raise as confusion and disbelief crash over me.

“Dead?” I repeat. I can’t even believe that word is coming from my mouth. Etrigan is tough. Etrigan is a shithead. Etrigan cannot be dead. “How?”

Zatanna shrugs her shoulders as her lips quiver. Seeing her broken up makes me feel like an asshole for not comforting her. So, I stand up and go over to her. Taking her by surprise, I hug her tightly.

She’s my best friend. My sister. My partner in crime whenever we get into bad shit. (Sometimes...maybe).

After Zatanna hugs me, she takes a step back and wipes her tears with her gloved hand.

“He-he was stabbed. I... I don’t know by what but he bled and he was never one to really bleed, you know? I checked everything out and he’s dead. He’s really gone. But it was...a very fucking strange thing. Really,” Zatanna rambles on anxiously. Whenever she cusses, I know she’s angry and stressed out. “Whatever killed him, it’s not from around here. What I sensed near him, it’s not human. It’s not magical. It’s not even Kryptonian or extraterrestrial.”

I swallow hard. “What do you think it is then?”

“Demonic.”

_________________________________________________

“Have you contacted John?” I ask. My voice is rough and breathless. I’m busy shoving as much weapons as I can in my backpack, along with a few clothes and a book from Alfred about demonology. He said it was a gift from Constantine himself.

I stare down at my long, silver triple-edged dagger that I found on one of my solo missions in Kansas when Bruce was fighting

“Not in... six months.”

The guilt in her voice makes me turn to glance at her. “Seriously?”

I glance down at my black pants and boots to make sure I’m appropriately and comfortably dressed for tonight. I slip on a red and black checkered flannel over my form fitting black tank top. After rolling up the sleeves to my elbows, I put on my black leather jacket and turn to face Zatanna.

“What, am I supposed to keep in touch with my ex-boyfriend? I thought ex-boyfriends were meant to stay ex-boyfriends, not friends. And besides, you keep in touch with Bruce,” Zatanna responds smugly.

“He’s...a co-worker...that’s-thats different.”

“Bullshit,” Z laughs.

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. I need a drink before we start...” I say, waving my hand up dramatically. “Whatever this is. I think a stop at Lucky’s is what we need.”

“A trip to the bar is what YOU need,” Zatanna replies.

She follows me out of my apartment until we stop in the parking lot where my motorcycle is parked. I don’t see her standing behind me with her arms crossed and eyebrow raised, as I take a seat on my bike and set myself up to ride.

“What?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“I could just you know...poof is there.”

“Yeah, you could like you always do, but I need to ride my baby right now. It’s like, therapy for the low self-esteem, loner, rebels,” I say.

To my surprise, Zatanna nods her head and gives me a small smile. I’m grateful she understands how much riding my motorcycle makes me happy. Makes me breathe. Makes me feel alive.

“I’ll see you there, Y/N/N.”

“See ya, Z.”

And with that, Zatanna poofs for real. Her magic still surprises me. Whenever I see her perform her spells and tricks, I feel like I’m reliving magic shows I saw as a kid that I used to believe were real and powerful.

But to know what Zatanna does is real is still unbelievable sometimes.

And to think we have been best friends for five years now...amazing how time flies by I’m between laughs and heartbreaks.

Revving my bike, I waste no time speeding out of the parking garage and into the streets of Gotham. The rain and wind in my hair sends me chills, as the lights and buildings pass me by so fast that I feel like everything I see is a blur; almost like in a dream-like state.

Lucky’s is just a small country rustic bar outside of Gotham. City people usually don’t go there as the place is purely meant for drifters and stranded loners. I happen to love the bar. If I’m ever feeling down or angry, I always drop by to get drunk or frisky if I’m ever in the mood. Bruce was always disappointed in me for that. He always used to say I’m better than that and I shouldn’t put myself down.

I sometimes think he’d want to say I’m easy, but Bruce is just so complicated sometimes. He can either be a total asshole or be the gentle sweetheart he is. You never know which side you’d see sometimes.

Almost like Two-Face.

Swerving into the mud to park alongside trucks and other bikes, I climb off my motorcycle and glance around the dirt lot. I recognize a few vehicles parked already. A new black Escalade parked closer to the bar is different and catches my attention rather quickly.

I pull my hair back into a ponytail and start my way over to the expensive ass vehicle when suddenly a black car speeds right pass me and parks right next to my bike, sending mud flying to my pants and on my bike! Rage suddenly takes over me. I can feel my blood boil and my jaw clench as several curse words come to mind. I twist around and instead make my way to that motherfucker’s car.

A black 1967 Impala? What a fucking joke.

As if this motherfucker owns this American classic. This self-righteous, prick probably stole it from some old fool or maybe his own old man.

I’m ready to break this douchebag’s face. Knock all his teeth out and break his cock into two…maybe three pieces.

I finally reach the driver’s door and quickly open it; door swinging back. This must piss off the man a lot, but I don’t care right now.

“Look, you motherfucker! You think you can just drive like a bat out of hell and get fucking mud on MY baby?! Get out of this fucking car so I can break you apart with my bare hands!” I yell angrily and loudly.

The man climbs out of his car, but my anger suddenly vanishes. What the hell?

Holy fucking shit…this man is…hot.

Standing at 6’1, this man is almost intimidating. With short brown hair, tan skin, hypnotizing green eyes, and freckles splattered over his nose and cheeks, he’s fucking adorable…and sexy. I can’t help but stare up at him.

He smirks down at me. Underneath his dark jacket, he’s wearing a flannel shirt and black Henley, where I can already see his strong chest, muscled arms, and soft tummy.

“Looks like sweetheart likes what she sees, Sammy. I’d say we made the right choice for coming out to Gotham,” the man speaks smugly. His voice is deep and husky, more addicting than any liquor inside the bar.

Another man comes over to us from around from the car. This man, I’m assuming his Sammy, is FUCKING TALLER than the hot one in front of me!

Sammy chuckles lightly at me. Pushing his longer brown hair from his face, he quickly reaches out to shake my hand.

“Hi, I’m Sam Winchester and this is my brother, Dean.”

The second those words leave his mouth; we hear someone quickly approaching us. Zatanna. And from the looks of theirs, they’re shocked and surprised to see my friend in her usual, sexy magician number.

Zatanna smiles, nonetheless. “Well, if it isn’t the Winchesters. We’ve been expecting you.”

#dc comics #batman #supernatural #bruce wayne #dean winchester #sam winchester #zatanna #batman x y/n #dean winchester x y/n

31 notes · View notes

pop-culturereference · 4 years

Text

Up High

Characters: Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson

Relationship: Damian Wayne and Tim Drake

Summary: After KGBeast shoots Dick, Damian is angry. He even contemplates killing KGBeast. Good thing Tim is there to talk him down. (Even if Damian was tempted to kill the KGBeast, he would not actually do it. idk what DC was thinking with this arc in Teen Titans.)

From the tallest building in Blüdhaven, the city was completely different. Damian sat, dangling and swinging his legs, as the sun rose and shone off of the water in the bay. Up close, Damian knew, the water was murky and clogged with bobbing debris, but the glint of the sun hid that from him when he saw it from all the way up here. It was quiet; the noise of the streets didn’t reach up here—the workers cleaning the streets, the screeching of the metro, the shouting.

Grayson had taught him to love places like this. Up high, everything was different. Grayson had called it “a clearer perspective.” He’d told Damian, “I come up here to re-orient myself. You know, Robin, when you’re down there, everything is so up-close and you’re right in the thick of it. The buildings are taller than you, you get shoved and pushed in the crowd, and the streetlamps are just bright enough to show you all the rats crawling out of the sewers.” He’d taken off Batman’s cowl then, and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s the same thing with being Robin. You have to look at it like this. That way, instead of showing you the rats, the streetlights are like stars.”

Damian had scoffed. At the time, he didn’t believe anything Grayson told him: he wasn’t Damian’s father; his father was dead, and Grayson thought he could replace him. Now, though, he felt like Grayson’s words had seeped down into his bones.

That was good, because Grayson probably wouldn’t be saying any more of that; it was Damian’s duty now to hold onto as much of him as he could. Just after Damian thought he had his brother back, KGBeast had shot him in the head, and he was gone again. That was what brought him up here: he needed a clearer perspective. He itched to kill KGBeast. It scraped at his every thought. He couldn’t go a day without rage crawling in him.

How was any of this fair? First, Damian had died. Then, he came back to life, but Grayson was dead. They’d been reunited and things had miraculously worked out, and Damian had been almost ready to believe that the world was a genuinely good place. But after all that, after things aligning so well, finding hope, KGBeast had ruined it. Grayson deserved better, and KGBeast deserved worse.

Damian kicked his legs harder against the concrete of the building. Above the city like this was the perfect place to make his choice.

Grayson was the one who’d taught him the value of life. He would be disappointed in Damian if he killed the KGBeast. Damian could already picture the look: Grayson standing sternly with his hands on his hips, but sadness and pity in his eyes. Grayson would never make that look again. Grayson was no longer Grayson.

Something had to be done. The world was unfair, and Damian wasn’t going to wait for it to take away the only good things he had left. Grayson was gone and Ric wouldn’t care; Ric didn’t even like Damian.

Earlier that day, when they were finally allowed into the hospital after the surgery, Damian planned to tell Grayson about the animals. He always liked hearing about them; he would smile, ask questions, and try to ruffle Damian’s hair, so Damian hoped that it would distract him from the possibility of forced retirement from Nightwing.

“I am teaching Ace how to open doors, he is progressing very quickly. He now fetches my blades for me, even when my door is closed. It was a brilliant-”

“Look. Kid. I’m sorry, I don’t know you, I don’t know your dog, and I don’t care. I’m not Dick. I need you to leave me alone.”

“Do you remember Pennyworth? Last week, he caught Alfred, the cat, in the-”

“What part of leave me alone don’t you understand? I. Don’t. Know. You. I can’t babysit, God, I’m strapped to a hospital bed! Get! Out!”

Damian had stormed out and come directly to Blüdhaven to get above and away from everything. The tear tracks on his face had long since dried, but he didn’t think he could face everything yet, so even as the sun rose, he stayed. The sunrise was beautiful but cruel. He couldn’t start another day with his family, he could never adjust himself to Ric in Grayson’s stead.

The world was horrible, and killing KGBeast wouldn’t fix the damage he had done, but the world would be slightly better with him gone. Damian was already a killer; he’d killed more people than he could count, not that he’d ever bothered to keep track. One more wouldn’t make a difference.

When the sun rises above the waterline completely, he thought, I’ll leave, and I’ll track him down and kill him.

Until then, he looked out over the city and tried to find what Grayson saw.

Damian could almost hear him saying, Don’t worry so much about it, Little D. The point is to not worry.

“Tt. Nonsensical as always,” he replied to the voice in his head. Then, “I,” he started. He quickly looked around, just to double check that he really was alone up here. “I miss you already,” he whispered. He felt the beginning of tears and snot, so he sniffed and blinked until they left.

When the sun left the water, he stood up and turned around to leave, only to see someone else on the other end of the roof.

“Damian,” Drake called.

“Turn around and jump off, Drake,” Damian called back. He stood with his arms crossed. Had Drake followed him there? Was he going to lecture him? Did his father send him?

“I just talked to Dick,” Drake said, walking closer. That gave Damian pause—did Grayson send Drake? “He told me to leave him alone.” With every word, he stepped forward and he didn’t have to yell so loud to be heard. “And, he told me that he sent you away and that he wasn’t a damn babysitter.”

Drake sounded bitter, so for once they had something in common.

“Tt,” is all Damian could say, unable to even come up with an insult for Drake.

Drake sat down where Damian had been sitting just barely watching the sunrise and patted the concrete next him, motioning for Damian to sit. Damian did not.

“Dick loved to climb up high,” Drake said. “I think it made him feel at home, plus, he always said something about perspective.” He heaved a sigh and craned his head back to look at Damian. The sun glistened off tears in his eyes. “You and I both know that the Dick we saw today was not Dick. One day, he may make it back to himself, but for now… I think it’ll be a bit.” He pulled one leg to his chest and let the other dangle off the edge as he continued, “I know he loved you a lot. I can’t figure out why- I’m sorry, forget I said that last bit. What I’m saying is, even though we haven’t ever gotten along, I want to try. For Dick.”

“Tt.” Damian took a hesitating step toward Drake, then lowered himself down to sit next to him. He refused to look at him, though, eyes on the horizon. Drake moved to pat his shoulder, but Damian grabbed his hand and twisted. “If you try to touch me again, I throw you off.”

“Ha! So endearing. I see now why Dick likes you so much.”

After that comment, they sat in silence for a while. Drake swung his legs like Damian was doing earlier, so Damian very pointedly did not kick or swing his own.

“You know,” Drake said, glancing at Damian from the side of his eye, “I don’t think I ever quite understood Jason until today. Dick was shot, and Bruce does nothing? Weak. Doesn’t Dick deserve more than that, after everything?”

“My father-” Damian starts, defensively, but Drake doesn’t stop at the interruption.

“Then, I realized, I get it. Bruce is right. If we went and killed the KGBeast, that would just continue a cycle of violence. It would just go from generation to generation. Bruce passes it to us, just like Talia passed it to you.”

“My mother-”

“Changing the world isn’t easy, Damian. Especially for us. It always starts with little things like this. If we killed KGBeast, why don’t we kill every criminal? It would be unfair to only kill criminals who only hurt us personally.”

Damian agreed. If he killed the KGBeast, he would have to kill most criminals he met. For the sake of justice and fairness.

Drake sighed and turned his head to Damian, trying to look him in the eyes. Damian still refused to look back, gazing out over the city.

“Not every criminal, not even every murderer, deserves to die,” Drake said. “I stick by this more than ever. I need to, for Dick. God, Damian, when you first showed up, I thought you were hopeless and that we either needed to send you back to Talia or lock you up. You had killed people, and, sorry, but you were an insufferable brat.” He huffed a short laugh. “Still are sometimes.”

“I will push you off.”

“Wait, Damian. Listen, for once. It took years to convince me. Dick kept telling me that it wasn’t really your fault and that I just had to give you a chance. I never really did, and I’m sorry for that.” He took a deep breath. “That’s his legacy. His legacy is you. He loved you and was so proud of you, Damian. And he was right. I hate to say this, but I just needed to give you a chance. What do you say? Will you give me a chance?”

“Tt.”

Drake laughed, a little teary. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

They sat in silence as the sun climbed the sky and the shadows shortened. Damian still itched to kill the KGBeast, but maybe that wouldn’t be justice after all. He had been just about to leave and hunt him down when Drake showed up, but now, he’d thought better of it.

“Drake,” he said.

“Hm?”

“I don’t need babysitting. Tell that to Grayson when you see him next. And, also tell him that... he was right about perspective.”

#damian wayne #tim drake #fic #batfic #batfamily #dc #dc comics #please comment lol

29 notes · View notes

starcityhq · 4 years

Photo

WHAT: A full out attack on NOVA’s Headquarters in Star City.

WHO: Deathstroke & Robin

WHEN: September 13th, 2020.

Slade: Slade had planned all of this out with Damian. They both had their reasons. Their inclinations. Dick was the largest motivator for both, unsurprisingly. For Slade, he was the only motivator. There was no other reason for him to care about NOVA and, up until this point, he hadn't. No one had ever taken out a contract. The money hadn't been there. That was the surest way to get Slade to give a shit. That was, until they put a bullet in his little bird's head and Slade had had to figure out for himself--as no one had bothered to call him--that Dick was in the hospital. He'd sat there for four days. He wasn't doing it again.

He'd suited up with more guns and weapons than even he usually carried, his body a veritable arsenal as he met with Damian at the drop point. As the teen approached, Slade looked at him through the mask. "Hey kid," he said simply before getting right to business. They didn’t have time to fuck around.

"This is the map." With a few clicks to a console on his arm, a blue holo of the facility appeared in front of him. "The contact I bought out said we have entrance points here--" he pointed, "and here to get to the security hubs. We'll cut those and then it'll give us free access. Emergency lockdown will keep them all in and everyone else out for a while. Standard military procedure, but idiotic in some ways."

Glancing to the other, he shrugged a bag off of his shoulders. "We'll plant these explosives along vulnerable points of the building, indicated here, here, and here." From his belt, he drew an ear insert. "This is a comm. Two-way only. We're the only ones on the encrypted frequency. With me so far?"

Damian: Damian's progress with the lowlife criminals had run cold and it wasn't until his confrontation with Jason that he realized he was going about it the wrong way. He'd taken some time, possibly to give himself any opportunity to calm down, but the more he had seen Dick during that period, the more the only thing he could picture was him lying in that hospital bed and his anger just surged again. So he had eagerly awaited the chance to meet up with Slade and work up an actual plan. He had arrived on the dot, taking precautionary measures with his attire -- protective kevlar of his Robin suit covered beneath the layers of his less protective League attire. In his hand was the new sword Slade had gifted him for his birthday. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to christen it.

He listened as Slade brought up a map of the complex and explained the information he had obtained from his informant. His eyes trailed to the bag of explosives and he gave a small nod of confirmation when Slade pulled the comm device from his belt, taking it and slipping it into his ear and readjusting his face mask. He was quiet for a moment as his mind raced. This was really happening. After this, there wasn't going to be any denying the things he'd done or how far he had fallen thanks to the desire to see Dick's attackers suffer. He shook his head quickly and brought himself back to reality. No time for idle thoughts. "Yeah, I understand. The military protocol should buy us plenty of time to mop the place up and get the explosives planted where we need." He responded simply. "Which points do you want me to work towards?" He asked, staring at the blueprint of the building to commit it to memory.

Slade: "We'll go in hard and fast, then split off to cover the west and east sides. I don't intend to leave many people alive. It's about a message to be sent. They need to understand that there are consequences to who they fuck with." When they fucked with the wrong people, they needed to have it explained to them. Loud and clear. "You good with that?"

He noted the weapon Damian had equipped and gave an approving nod. "You have a chance to practice with it yet?" he asked.

Damian: Damian gave a small nod. "More than good with it. I wasn't planning on holding back." He stated icily before fidgeting his hood enough to reveal the red of his suit beneath the layers of leather and cloth. "It'll take more than their handguns to get in the way." He remarked. At Slade's question, he looked at the sword and gave it a couple of loose swings. "I practiced with it a little bit after I opened it. The Nth metal reactions with my body took a bit to get used to - but I'm a quick study." Damian answered simply. All in all, the sword was nothing but a weapon of benefits. Of course, he had made sure to practice with it enough to not be caught off guard by his quicker movements or stronger swings; but not so extensively that he would forget his own ability and start relying on the sword to compensate. He was smarter than that. "Thank you, by the way." He added and looked at the man.

Slade: "I figured you would be," he stated.

"I had the material lying around and didn't think it would be right to waste the alloy. I haven't been wearing that suit in a long time." The Ikon suit was too good. Unless someone showed up with an identical one, he was set. He could take a hit from Superman without even flinching. That was what it was designed for, after all. And he still hadn't heard from Isherwood. There was no way that the other Ikon suit would show up. Why should it? "Glad it suits. I always thought, with the right weapons, you'd be fucking lethal." Now he was going to find out. "Let's see some of your mom's training come out. It's what I suspect you're really made for, kid. Not that I can decide what you are for you. None of 'em can."

He pushed to his full height, nearly a foot taller than Damian. "You have something on the suit that can support the map? Or are you just filing away what you can?" He wanted to figure out how much he was going to need to feed to him over the comm so he could plug that into his logistics.

Damian: The comments about his lethality were met with a silence. Damian wasn't exactly sure how he wanted to respond to those remarks just yet, and so he opted to give yet another quiet and small nod of his head. It wasn't just his mother's tutelage that he would be drawing out that evening. No, his Father may have taught him to adhere to a Code but he still provided vital hand-to-hand and hand-eye exercises between him and his siblings. When Slade rose to his full height, Damian straightened his posture. "I won't need the map. It's just a single building and the layout was pretty simplistic. It wasn't too hard to lock the information away for the mission." Damian stated and looked at Slade. Though his face mask covered the smirk, it showed in his emerald eyes. "I take after my Father's intelligence, after all."

Slade: "Basic human intelligence. Congratulations," he answered sarcastically. Though Slade did respect Damian's tactical mind. He'd managed to turn Slade around on a mission once before he bought him out. He would have lost just like his father would have, but he wasn't above doing what was necessary. That he also respected.

"Any other questions? Any comments, requests, concerns?"

Damian: Cracking his neck, Damian shook his head. "None. Let's get this mission started so we can get out of here." He responded and put his gaze forward, pushing all other thoughts from his head and focusing solely on what needed to be done and what they needed to accomplish.

Slade: "Heard," he agreed before stepping back and nodding to the site. "You remember your entrance? When you get in, there'll be a panel on your side. You'll need to crack into it and pull the fuses before you trash the whole thing. That'll compromise security. I'll do the same on my side and they'll start the lockdown. From there we'll converge on the main hallway. Good?"

Damian: "Understood." Damian remarked, already maneuvering little by little towards the building - branching away from his path and veering to one side of the complex where his entrance would be found. He pressed the earpiece in his head, making sure it was activated and ready to go. "They're going to regret ever making Dick their target..." He muttered out.

Slade: "That's the idea," he agreed into the comm before he made his way stealthily to the entrance. It wouldn't do to be caught before they even made it inside. Slade had a message he wanted to send. Several, if he was honest. He didn't, therefore, want to deal with any interruptions before they got inside. So he fitted a silencer over his gun before waiting to pop the first person guarding the door and then didn't hesitate on the second. No alarms tripped as he reached down to swipe the ID badge off one and made his way inside. "You in?"

Damian: Damian was a little less refined in his entrance than Slade, but his former training and all of the exercises in subtlety that Bruce and Dick had given him over the years allowed him to descend upon the guards at his entrance before they were even aware he was there - silencing them with a few quick swipes of his blade across their throats and abdomens before swiping the ID card from one of the bodies and slipping inside. "Inside. Accessing panel now." Damian responded after a short moment - working open the metal cover to the panel and looking over the fuses inside.

Slade: Slade nodded, accessing the one on his side. "On my count, we'll cut the power at the same time. Ready?" As Damian confirmed that he was, Slade did a countdown from 5 before cutting the fuses and then trashing the panel altogether. "Meet me in the main corridor. And remember kid... it's about a message. Christen that blade."

Damian: With the panels trashed and systems fried, the pair were free to enact their vengeance. It was nothing less than the sort; no righteous assault; nothing but unadulterated vengeance for the attempted murder of someone they both deeply cared for in their own way. Damian didn't respond to Slade's orders - he knew what needed to be done and what to do. He didn't need to be reminded about that. His mind had already shut itself off from any doubtful lines of thinking. So when Damian came barreling into the main halls of the building on his way to the main corridor, he did so with a flurry of brutal attacks. Exchanging blows with the men and women that attempted to accost him; taking several punches and kicks before wrenching himself free from their grasps and introducing them to the cold steel of his blade. It was a macabre dance of violence that left several hands severed at the wrist and forearm, and deep stab wounds through throats and chests. Damian brushed aside the pain he felt as the Nth metal of his sword worked to patch up bruising and gashes from the blows he received as he forced his way deeper towards the main corridor.

Slade: Slade left behind a similar trail of gore and morbid display of his professionalism. He had been doing this a long time and he didn't even flinch behind the mask as he took out every person who got in his path. His healing factor wasn't affected by gunshots, but they couldn't reach him anyway thanks to the proficiency of the Ikon suit in protecting him from projectile force. He and Damian Wayne together were a raze of devastation and that much was obvious as they met in the center, blood of the fallen staining their clothing and weapons.

They ended up essentially back to back, giving Slade the opportunity to observe the baby bat as he moved. He had grown up skilled, which still carried through this entire process. Slade approved and found himself thinking about what a shame it was that Damian had been remanded to a life as Robin when he could have been so much more with the right encouragement. He was every inch Talia's kid and Slade appreciated it in droves. Bruce Wayne did not, even if he had been perfectly fine putting it to Damian's mother. Not that Slade blamed him. But if Damian had been his child, things would be very different for him.

Once they had taken out the first wave, Slade wasn't even breathing heavy as he looked to Damian with some approval. "They'll send more people. But we need to start laying the explosives. Work our way through the building. I'll take the west and you take the east?"

Damian: Damian, unlike Slade, was panting ever so slightly when the pair finally met up. Though his sword's abnormal properties were a blessing for injuries, they seemed to work a little slower on recovering his expended stamina. He had a few blood stains around his exposed brow behind his face mask and hood, but the gash that caused them was mostly patched up. "East side. Affirmitive; I've got the locations memorized on where to place the primers and charges." He agreed with a nod as he sheathed the sword onto his back and adjusted the bag of explosives to be at the ready. "Rendezvous afterwards or do we make separate exits?" He asked for clarification.

Slade: "Shoot for a rendezvous, but keep your comm open. Be ready for more death. Every one is for Dick, though." He shook his head, looking around quickly. His danger sense was going off in droves and his heightened hearing could pick up orders being barked down the hall. "It'll be a tough go. They're rallying. If you need backup, tell me. Don't be a fucking hero about it." Dick would see Slade dead if Damian got hurt. "If we need to split, I'll let you know. I'm gunning for Nabel if she's here. If she's not, then I'll find her." He glanced to Damian. "Don't get killed."

Damian: With the explosives more readily at hand, Damian once again drew his blade from its sheath at Slade's ominous warnings. He trusted Slade, for better or for worse, and if the man said there were more on their way, he believed him - even if he himself couldn't hear anything from where they were right now. "I don't plan on dying anytime soon." Damian remarked before giving the man a nod and darting off to the eastern hallways that branched away from the main corridor. Greeting the wave of reinforcements on his end head-on, he engaged them with the same viciousness as he had the first wave - keeping his movements tight and cautious in order to protect the explosives from any sort of damage in the scuffles.

#starcevent #starcrevolution #starcadmin #starcplotdrop

9 notes · View notes

sixtyeightdays · 4 years

Text

#SunshineOfGotham

link to fic on ao3

Chapter One

At 11 years old, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was considered tall for her age. She was 5'3 (160cm) and she towered over everyone in her class. She was fluent in French, Arabic, English and a little bit of Chinese. When she was 5, her mother, Sabine, had taught her how to perform many kinds of martial arts, and her father, Tom, had taught her how to do a little bit of wrestling.

At 11 years old, Damian Al Ghul was considered short for his age. He was 5'1 (154cm) and he was one of the shortest in his class. He was fluent in Arabic, French, English and a lot more languages people don't know about. Since he was a kid, he was trained to be an assassin in the League of Assasins, until he joined the Wayne family at age 10.

Marinette was walking around Gotham. She was here on a holiday with her parents and she had gone out for a while to buy more fabric for an outfit she was planning to make.

Her parents didn't mind her going out alone, as they knew she could take care of herself and there were also superheroes patrolling at night. Marinette was as safe as she could possibly be.

Once she got her fabric from the store that was a few blocks away from her grandparents' house, she started the 10 minute walk back to their apartment.

On the way back, she noticed three grown men following her. She rolled her eyes as she ducked into an alleyway, where she placed the shopping bags on the ground, careful not to crumple any of the fabric.

Damian was walking around Gotham, still getting used to being away from his mother. He could very much take care of himself while in Gotham (growing up with assassins would do that to you).

He noticed a rather tall girl in pink being followed and he rolled his eyes when she ducked into an alley way. Honestly, if you were being followed, why would you go into an alleyway? He sighed.

'I guess I have to save her then,' he thought scornfully.

However, when he rounded the corner and jumped in, ready to take out the thugs, he realised that two of them were already unconscious and the other was groaning in pain, a bump forming on his head. The girl was binding his wrists together with a pink zip tie.

He looked around and noticed a discarded switchblade on the ground. The girl looked up and passed him two zipties, and Damian knelt down to tie up the unconscious thugs.

The girl knocked the thug she was tying up on the head, causing him to grunt and fall unconscious. She took out a mobile and called the police, who arrived in around 10 minutes and took the thugs away.

A female cop took their statements and within 15 minutes, they were allowed to leave, Damian walking back to his house, wih Marinette tagging along because apparently, they lived on the same street. (The officer asked for their addresses.)

'I'm Marinette,' the girl chirped, smiling. 'I'm eleven!'

Damian was taken aback. An eleven year old girl in pink, took out three thugs and was so.. happy? The girl's happiness was contagious though, and Damian found himself feeling slightly happier when she smiled. He could've sworn Gotham became a little bit brighter.

'Damian, eleven too,' he said monotonously, shaking her hand.

They struck up a conversation and Marinette actually got Damian to smile. He didn't even notice he was smiling until Marinette pointed at him and commented, 'You look handsome when you smile. You should do it more often.'

They arrived at their respective houses, and Marinette waved him goodbye.

'Wait,' he said, the word falling out of his mouth. 'Do you.. maybe want to meet up tomorrow? For lunch or something?'

'Sure!' Marinette giggled.

It was the beginning of a new friendship.

The next day, they met up and talked. Damian wasn't sure he had talked that much in his whole life. Marinette's phone vibrated and she noticed that there was a new trend going on. To her surprise, she saw that it was her, with the tag #SunshineOfGotham.

During the one week Mari was in Gotham, she became relatively famous for beig a sunshine. Many surrounding people could've sworn that when she smiled, Gotham became brighter. Everyone in Gotham knew her, because she was kind and helped everyone she could, the entire Gotham had an unspoken rule to protect their sunshine.

Marinette came back every year for two months, during the summer holidays in June, and the winter holidays in December. (Based on where i come from)

Marinette, bless her, even became friends with the villains of Gotham on her second trip, when she was 12. The first villain she met was the Riddler, when she tore into him, criticising his outfit and promising she would visit him in Arkham with a new outfit.

She stayed true to her word and the next day, she entered Arkham with a new outfit for Riddler and gifts for everyone else. The people there couldn't help but fall in love with the little one, adopting her as their own. She visited every time she came to Gotham and even the most feared of villains couldn't resist the little sunshine.

Every time Marinette came to Gotham, the people would just know for some reason because somehow Gotham became warner and brighter as soon as she arrived. She and Damian were inseperable, and Damian's family practically adopted Marinette as a little sister, who loved the badass little kid.

(Marinette had accidentally punched Dick in the nose because he snuck up on them on Mari's first visit to the manor.)

She even became an honorary student at Gotham Academy, when she followed Damian there for his first day. The students had quickly realised that Damian only smiled when he was with Marinette.

The Dupain-Chengs had their own room in the Wayne mansion where they stayed during their yearly trips. Bruce, Tom and Sabine had become good friends, much like their kids.

When Marinette and Damian were 14, Damian had confessed to Mari that he liked her, and Mari had obviously returned his feelings. They started dating, but kept it a secret from anyone outside of Gotham. (Gotham was ectastic, their sunshine thawed their ice prince. #DemonsAngel)

Damian was sulking because Mari was taller than him, and one day he asked her a question. 'Angel, if I become taller than you, will you marry me?'

She kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair. 'Grow taller first, Dami, then we'll talk.'

The Wayne kids and Mari didn't keep any secrets from each other. When Mari was 13 and became Ladybug, she told them, and they had told her that they were Gotham's vigilantes.

Mari didn't want them to help her in Paris, because they all had strong emotions and if one of them were to get akumatised, it would definitely not be pretty.

Mari told them about her life in Paris. From how Mari pretends to be clumsy (which set all of them off in a fit of laughter except Damian who just smiled) to her having a pretend crush on a model called Adrien (Damian scowled).

When Mari was 15, she came to Gotham as per usual and told them about how a liar named Lila had joined her class and turned everyone against her. The only people who stood by her were Chloe and Adrien. She told the two everything about Gotham and Adrien came out as gay.

To cheer her up, Damian nudged her shoulder as they were watching a movie.

'Angel,' he whispered. 'I'm taller than you.'

And so he was. Damian gave Mari a engagement ring which also dubbed as a promise ring, which Mari wore on her left hand.

Mari always enjoyed hanging out in Gotham with the Waynes, the family she had in Arkham, Gotham Academy and basically all of Gotham.

During a weekly video call when Mari was 16, she excitedly told them that her class forked up enough money to have a field trip to Gotham. She would be there for two weeks, the weekdays would be spent in Gotham Academy, the first Saturday and Sunday touring WE, the next Saturday at the Wayne Gala, and Sunday, a free day.

She didn't tell them the dates though, she wanted it to be a secret. Everyone in Gotham was notified of that and was eagerly anticipating their sunshine's return. Mari would be staying at the manor, as per normal, while her class stayed in a hotel nearby.

The villains in Arkham were also told of their sunshine coming to Gotham and they perked up, knowing that she would be coming to visit soon enough. None of them wanted to break out and miss her visit.

#daminette #ao3 #class salt #lila salt #lila exposed #part one #the link to the fic on ao3 is here #my list on my profile also has the link #have fun

18 notes · View notes

elareine · 4 years

Text

You still look like a movie (DickWally, side JayTim)

When Gotham Academy offered him a position, Wally jumped at the chance. He’d trained as a teacher here, after all, and he thought the city could use all the help it could get.

The memories of grad school were a mixed bag, as these things tended to be. Living prices in Gotham had been low, still were, which had been what allowed Wally to truly break away from his father for the first time. He’d made his first best friend here and had his heart broken.

That had been ten years ago, though. When he arrived at school the week before the term started, Wally was determined to make new memories.

His hiring had been kinda last-minute, so he didn’t expect any arrangements to have been made for his first day. Apparently, the old teacher had been kidnapped by a clown-penguin or something? Gotham was so weird.

But there was a figure waiting for him at the gates. And he looked familiar.

Wally blinked. “Jason?”

Jason Todd grinned and ground out his cigarette. “Hi, Wally. I’m your welcome committee.”

So Dick’s delinquent little brother had grown up to become a teacher, too, huh? Who’d have thought? The students they met on the corridors clearly liked him, though, judging by the enthusiastic greetings they got. Jason was kinda doing a half-assed job of showing him around, though, soon abandoning it entirely to drag Wally into one of the classrooms.

A pale, dark-haired young man gave Jason a wave, then smiled politely at Wally. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met.”

Wally was about to introduce himself, but Jason intervened. “Wally, this is Tim Drake. He teaches CS and, occasionally, Math. Tim, this Wally, our new Chemistry teacher.”

“West?” Tim asked, peering at Wally’s face. “Wait, are you that Wally?”

“Uhm.” Wally didn’t know how to answer that question.

Luckily, Jason seemed to know exactly what Tim was talking about. “Yes. Yes, he is.”

Wally watched in confusion as Tim’s smile suddenly turned a lot more genuine. “Welcome to Gotham Academy, then, Wally. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Wally was just going to ignore that. “Thanks. Good to be here. You another brother?” Wally had always bet Dick that Bruce Wayne’s adoptions wouldn’t stop at two. That man screamed ‘father energy’ as loudly as ‘will not be in a stable long-term relationship.’ Of course, he’d adopt.

“Sort of.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Definitely. You know that if we’d divorce, Bruce would sign the papers in a heartbeat.”

“I’m a grown man.”

“You think that’ll stop him?”

Oh. Okay, then.

One of the reasons Wally had been so eager to leave his old school had been the constantly-reinforced need to stay in the closet. And here he was and the first two dudes he met were married to each other.

“Anyway,” Tim pointedly turned back to Wally, “Dick will be so happy to see you.”

Would he, though? And more importantly - “Does he teach here?”

“Does he ever.”

“Jason’s just here on loan,” Tim explained. “He usually teaches at the other end of town. Dick’s the one that roped him into this.”

“That’s cool. That you’re doing that, I mean; in my old school people always refused to help out even when we didn’t have an English teacher for six months—”

“Right,” Jason said. “Let’s get going.”

This was good, Wally thought as he followed Jason through even more corridors. He’d get to see Dick again, but he’d have time to prepare for it. Once he sorted through the mix of dread and joy rushing through him at the prospect, he’d be fine. Great, even. Totally cool.

They turned a corner, and Jason called out: “Yo, Dick, check out who just joined our school!”

Dick Grayson turned around to where he’d been talking to one of the administrators, and. Uh.

Wow.

Dick, as a teenager, had been short and wiry. As a young man, he’d been the epitome of an athlete, lean and with a flexibility that had caused Wally some sleepless nights.

As a man in his thirties, he was a total fucking knockout, Jesus. Where had that jawline come from?? Wally hadn’t acquired anything like that. It was unfair!

“Wall-Man!”

“Robin!” Wally called back, unable to resist that smile or the hug Dick immediately drew him into.

“I haven’t seen you in ages!” Dick grinned. “Awesome to have you here, Walls.”

See, that was the thing about Dick. He might be one of the weirdest people Wally knew, thanks to his family, but also the nicest. He’d even pretend it hadn’t been Wally’s massive, creepy crush on him that had caused him to flee to the other side of the planet.

“Yeah, well, last thing I heard, you were in China. What in God’s name possessed you to come back here?”

Dick shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “I dunno, man, it always comes back to this, doesn’t it?”

Considering the situation, he and Dick in a hallway in Gotham, Wally had to agree. “I guess.”

When the silence stretched on a bit too long, Dick finally looked away from Wally. “Hey, Jason, if you want, I can take over the tour—”

Jason had already left.

It was incredible how easy it was to fall back into old patterns with Dick. Two months in and Wally was as regularly a guest in Dick’s office as Dick was at Wally’s apartment after work, which is to say, almost every day, including today.

“Do you need anything else?” he heard Dick say. The group of students shook their heads, so Wally had no qualms about walking in.

“Walls, hey,” Dick smiled when he saw him. “Lemme just finish that form, and I’m all yours.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Wally was dying to tell Dick about the shit John from 4a had tried to pull away, but it would need to wait until the group of students that was still lingering outside had moved out of earshot.

“See, I told you he’d be taken,” he heard one of them say. “Guys like that don’t reach their thirties single. He’s certainly not interested in you.”

“Oh, shut up!”

“Don’t be sad,” a third voice interjected helpfully. “Mr Grayson is like the hottest teacher around. No shame in losing out.”

Wally would very much like to tell them how much he resented the implication he would go for a teenage girl if Dick were slightly less hot.

Wait, what was he thinking?

Wally glanced at Dick. He was still focused on his paperwork and hadn’t heard anything.

Good. Last thing Wally needed was for his stupid crush to fuck things up between them again.

“So that’s happening again, huh?”

“...why are you crowding me into a wall?” Wally asked curiously. It was quite impressive, really, the way Jason towered over him despite not being that much taller. If Wally weren’t so sure he could outrun Jason, he would even feel slightly intimidated.

Jason backed off a bit, still glowering. “Just be glad it’s me and not the munchkin parade. Damian was all for locking you two into an attic at swordpoint.” He pointed his thumb vaguely into the direction of Dick’s office. “I’ve heard the students discuss running interference, Wally. This has to stop.”

Wally sighed. Trust the Waynes to have figured him out. “Am I that obvious?”

“Not obvious enough, apparently.” Jason snorted. “Do us all a favor and actually kiss him this time. He’s a dumbass who thinks this has always been one-sided.”

“Well, yeah.” Wally’s brain decided to skip right over ‘kiss him,’ because what. “It has, I’m just being stupid; I know Dick isn’t interested in me that way, but it’s so nice to have him back, he’s my best friend and I missed him so much, that’s more important than being in love with him.”

“I think that you need to kiss him,” Jason said again, more loudly, and why was he speaking so loudly, almost as if he wanted someone else than Wally to hear it—

Wally turned.

Dick was gaping at him. There wasn’t a better word for it. Even he couldn’t make that level of ‘wtf’ look attractive.

Of course, he’d heard all of that. Wally wanted to sink into the ground. “You, uh. Maybe wanna talk about that?”

“Yeah,” Dick nodded. “Yeah, I think we should.” He made toward his office but abruptly turned back before he’d finished the movement. “No, actually, we should follow Jason’s advice.”

Wally heard grumbling behind him. “I’ve been saying.” He’d tear Jason a new one for this, he swore, right after he found out what Dick meant by that.

And then he did find out and forgot all about Jason Todd, because Dick was—rather predictably, but still incomprehensibly to Wally—kissing him, and that was more important than anything else.

The first few years after Dick had left, Wally had idly fantasized about this. In his mind, there had been elaborate love confessions that displayed a degree of coherency neither of them ever possessed in real life; kisses in the rain, maybe, or at an airport; Dick somehow swooping in and rescuing Wally from what his life had become.

Later, when he’d started getting his shit together, the phantasies turned more mundane. What it would be like to have Dick with him again. How Dick would laugh at Wally’s impression of his annoying boss; whether he’d get along with Wally’s new friends; what Dick’s opinion on fidget toys might be.

And yes, how it would feel to be kissing him the corridor for the entire world to see. That, too.

The answer?

Even better than Wally could’ve ever imagined.

#dickwally #birdflash #elareine writes #advent calendar 2019

35 notes · View notes

soulmate-game · 4 years

Text

Continuation of the story from Day 1, because you guys requested it enough that I started Thinking, lol.

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

Day 3: Siblings

—*—*—*—*—*

Dinner. One day after meeting her father for the first time. She had managed to postpone any sort of… socialization and emotional bonding, during their meeting earlier for everyone to choose from Marinette’s initial sketches for them and generally consult some more, by once again steamrolling everyone with Professionalism and Business Marinette.

But no longer. She couldn’t escape. Staring at a giant wooden, elaborate door like it was her pathway to Prison—

“Stop dramatizing everything in your head, Mari,” Adrien fondly scolded, gently rapping the side of her skull with one knuckle. “I got things to do, for your company I might add, so I can’t stay. But, you’ll be fine,” he leaned in, smirking at her and winking as he lowered his voice. “Besides, you’ve been through way worse than a little family reunion, Bugaboo. You’ve faced down way scarier people than the Waynes. You got this,” he encouraged before giving her a solid clap on the shoulder and a chaste kiss on the cheek, walking back towards their sleek but understated dark red car. Rented, of course, for the business trip, but nonetheless very nice.

Adrien had driver’s licenses for just about every major country. Marinette stopped questioning it a while ago.

She waited until he was gone before throwing her hands up. “Scarier people, he says. Like the Bat clan isn’t known for being some of the most intimidating heroes and vigilantes in the spotlight,” she grumbled. When she turned around, it was to the door already being open, and she jumped a bit in surprise. She hadn’t heard anyone answer the door, but sure enough Alfred Pennyworth stood there holding the door with a small smile, with Bruce Wayne and all of Marinette’s siblings gathered behind him. At least this time, nobody had their spouses or children. Every one of them was smirking, some more sharply than others (Damian).

“Would you like to come in, Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Alfred asked, waving his hand to gesture to the fact that there was plenty of room for her to enter. Blushing, she did just that, taking a breath and forcing herself to actually look at the family she had just met instead of down at her glossy navy blue pumps. Jason, the man with the white fringe in his hair. Second Robin, current Red Hood, her mind supplied, spoke up with a grin and his arms crossed over his chest.

“You don’t look so suave anymore, little Queenie,” he teased. Marinette instantly made a face, screwing up her nose.

“No. That nickname is vetoed. One of my friend’s nicknames is Queenie, and not only will she never let me live it down if she finds out someone called me that, but, just no,” Marinette dramatically shivered. “Most of my friends call me Princess nowadays anyway,” she shrugged. “Adrien started it, and it somehow caught on. It’s too much work to protest at this point.”

“You’re not good with crowds,” the soft spoken woman, Cassandra, decided to add. Marinette winced, shifting on her feet even as she followed the group to the dining room.

“Ehhh. I’ve gotten used to dealing with press and stuff, to a certain degree anyway considering my alias. And wearing my Business persona always helps in consultations. But, I’m not…” Marinette bit the inside of her cheek, clearly a little uncomfortable as she looked around. “The best at… actually talking to people outside of my small group of friends.”

Bruce sighed as most of his kids chuckled or snorted at that. Dick, the oldest but second-shortest of the men besides Tim, came over and draped an arm familiarly over Marinette’s shoulders. He still towered over her though, so he had to slouch a bit to do so.

“Ah, that would be the genetics. Let’s hope you stay where you are at instead of getting as bad at communication as B,” he told her cheerfully. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“What about Damian?”

“He’s even worse!”

“Tt,” said teenager tutted, rolling his eyes as they entered the dining room and he was able to come up to Marinette’s other side. “That was mostly how I was raised before I met Father. I have gotten a lot better than I used to be, Grayson.”

Dick gave him a smile, graciously relieving Marinette of the close contact in favor of rustling Damian’s hair despite the fact that the younger Wayne was taller than him already. “Yes, you sure have! But you still need improvement, baby bird.”

Soon enough, everyone managed to get seated around the large dining table. Bruce insisted that Marinette take one of the seats next to him at the head of the table, across from Damian, since this was her first family dinner. Dick sat next to her, Jason across from him, followed by Tim and Duke on Damian’s side of the table. On the other side of Dick sat Cassandra, and then Stephanie. Alfred served everyone before also taking a seat at the table, on the opposite end from Bruce.

And, true to BatFam tradition, everything was a little awkward for the first minute or two. Marinette didn’t know what to say, and nobody quite knew where to begin. Dick would normally start a conversation, but he was trying to glare into Bruce’s head a silent message of “talk to her, damn it.”

Finally seeming to get it, Bruce cleared his throat and turned to Marinette. “So, I wanted to ask. When do you find out about being my daughter?”

Several people around the table closed their eyes in mourning for Bruce’s social skills. Marinette though, just smiled in slight relief at the decision of how to start talking being taken from her.

“Oh. It was in stages, really. When I was ten, we started our unit in school on genetics. I don’t usually care enough about science to do much more than the school requires, but genetics captivated me for some reason. I researched it almost obsessively at home for a while, almost instantly realizing that there had to be a reason that I had blue eyes when none of the rest of my family did. After a week or two, I found my Maman and Papan’s adoption papers in their room,” she blushed, tugging on one end of her bangs, which she had framing her face since she was wearing her hair down that day. “I uh… I’ve always been a little nosy. I never told them that I found the papers, to me it was just the answer I needed. I didn’t think about it at all after that, and my obsession over genetics went away. It wasn’t until I was thirteen that I decided to look into my birth parents,” Marinette sighed, shoving a bite of food in her mouth to buy her time before continuing. Everyone was focused on her, and it was a little unsettling. Every one of them had a sharper gaze than a normal person, and it made her feel like she was made of glass and everyone else could see right through her. “I was going through a lot, back then. I wanted someone to be mad at, I wanted to be able to blame my DNA for the things that had happened.”

“Things?” Bruce interrupted, back straight and eyebrows drawn down. “What things?” Marinette giggled, tilting her head instead of answering and just letting her eyes study him. Bruce Wayne, Batman, the Dark Knight. Original vigilante of Gotham city, one of the founding members of the Justice League. Famous for his secrecy, intimidating presence, and intelligence. Then she switched her gaze, one by one, to everyone else at the table before leaning back and taking a sip of her soda.

“Do you guys know anything about the situation Paris experienced for four years?” She asked, instead of directly answering. It was Tim who frowned, leaning forward to look at her and reply.

“I heard very vague rumors of weird things, but nothing concrete enough to investigate. What happened?”

Marinette hummed, deciding to sum it up for them. “The short version? When I was thirteen, a classmate of mine spontaneously turned into a giant rock monster and destroyed a good portion of the city. Turns out, that was the first of many attacks by our city’s very own supervillain, Hawkmoth. He had a magical artifact that allowed him to take advantage of anyone’s negative emotions to give them powers and brainwash them into being, essentially, temporary villains that he used for his own means. Two heroes showed up out of nowhere, powered by similar magical artifacts, to combat him and free the people he corrupted. Ladybug and Chat Noir, the original Parisian heroes and the leaders of the team that later had to form.”

Jason frowned, along with everyone else at the table. Finally, it was Duke who asked:

“How did we not know about villains in Paris?” To which Marinette just gave him a dangerously wicked smirk that was far too similar to Damian’s for anyone’s comfort.

“Because I do my job,” she told him flatly, sipping from her cup as everyone stared at her in various amounts of shock. “That’s why finding out that my biological father was Batman made so much sense. That’s why I wanted to find out who my birth parents were. I wanted to blame the heroism on genetics. And, it doesn’t look like I was exactly wrong.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Yeah, that was how her first family dinner and subsequent identity reveal went.

Luckily, considering that Bruce had hired MDC for a pretty long job, Marinette was able to finish school online instead of going back to Paris for it. There was no real need anyway, they had defeated Hawkmoth and gotten Adrien emancipated so for now it was calm in Paris. They didn’t need their heroes anymore, for the time being. This meant that Marinette and Adrien, along with a few employees that helped measure and cut fabric and do secretarial duties they needed help with, got to stay in Gotham while Marinette went back and forth to Wayne manor, Wayne Tower, and back to their temporary home.

After about a month, Marinette was comfortable enough with the Waynes that she found herself lounging in the bat cave as she sketched, though she kept raising her eyes to the glass tubes that held old uniforms. Damian was sat across from her, essentially laying out over two chairs while he played some game upside down on his phone. He might usually be a cold brat, even for a sixteen year old, but even he liked to abuse the way furniture should be used and ignore the world via technology.

But he still caught her constantly wandering gaze.

“You don’t like them.”

“They suck!” Marinette immediately agreed, slamming her sketchbook on the metal briefing table. “Your Robin outfit is the only passable one there is! The colors aren’t even the issue, even high fashion designers can appreciate a good color clash moment. But what was Father thinking?! Putting Grayson in that glorified onesie— why are there no pants?! Jason’s at least as a cape that can cocoon his body and prevent anyone from seeing the disaster beneath. I should thank Tim for at least upgrading the suit to having pants, but he still kept the outside-underwear look that I cannot forgive. The attempt at fashion, though, is appreciated. Disappointing, but appreciated.”

“That pretty much sums them all up,” Damian quipped, getting a snort of amusement out of his sister. Maybe that was one thing he had grown to like about her. She didn’t reprimand him for his sense of humor, and usually she even laughed along. The more morbid humor would get a playful shove and a glare, but no real animosity. And she understood him on a different level, too. One he appreciated even more.

“You said, yesterday, that the Cure brings back everyone who dies during a Miraculous-related incident,” Damian spoke up again after a moment, pointedly not looking at her. “Did you ever count?”

Marinette, this being one of the reasons he was quickly growing fond of her, immediately understood. She sighed, closing her notebook. She might have only been two years his elder, but she had had what felt like a lifetime of more experiences than he did, usually in the friendship and social department though. They were roughly equal in their heroism experience, which was weird to think about, but Damian still valued her input. It was different from the rest of the family.

“It was different in Paris than it would be for anyone else. I didn’t keep track of the number of people who died,” she finally answered, taking her hair out of its work bun and running her hands through the midnight black locks. “But I kept track of how often. Since nobody remembered their deaths, I guess I felt it was my responsibility to remember my failures for them. My former best friend, Alya. Over the course of those four years, she died seventeen times. Her boyfriend, Nino, died fourteen. The Mayor died three times. Chloe, my current friend and former bully, died twenty-two times,” she grimaced at Damian’s shocked expression, nodding grimly. “During those first two, maybe two and a half years, she was one of the primary Akuma targets. She was still either an active bully or in the beginning of trying to change for the better, so she caused a lot of negative emotions everywhere she went. Things got better once she matured a bit, though. Anyway, there’s this girl I used to babysit. Manon. She died five times before she was even ten years old,” Marinette shook her head, that look of age and exhaustion that Damian saw in every Wayne and every hero he had ever fought with seeping into her eyes. “My parents, they died thirty-seven times. They were constantly worried about me, and ran into danger on several occasions trying to find and keep me safe. But I could never tell them who I was. I physically could. I had the power to sit them down and say; Hey, I’m Ladybug. Stop running out and getting yourselves killed. But I never did. I valued my identity first. So I usually ended up seeing, in the middle of a fight, one or both of them squished under falling debris. Or drowned. Frozen solid. Burned alive,” she paused, taking a deep breath to steady herself. “So no. I don’t understand what it was like for you, to count bodies as you felled them. But hell, if it doesn’t feel like I should. Logic doesn’t mean much in the face of emotion, especially guilt. I know I didn’t kill the people I care about, but every single one of their deaths weighs on me like I was the one that caused it.”

Damian nodded, and they shared a few moments of peaceful, contemplative silence as they both ruminated on their less than pleasant memories without fear of being yelled at for what those memories contained.

“But, I do have a secret,” she admitted softly, attracting her brother’s emerald-eyed attention again. The normally cheerful woman was much more subdued even than before, sapphire irises self conscious and vulnerable, which was rare. She licked her lips, even more rare considering her love of her light pink lipstick, and moved off her chair so that she was, instead, sitting on the cold stone floor. Without hesitation, Damian joined her.

“Technically, it didn’t happen. It was a timeline that my friend, the one who I gave the snake Miraculous, essentially erased when he reversed time. But I remember it even though I shouldn’t. How could I forget?”

“You took a life,” Damian whispered, grimacing in empathy. “First time?”

“And the second, and the fifth,” she admitted. “Viperion had to try seven times before I stopped repeating it. But it was always the same person, back during our final battle. I killed Gabriel Agreste seven times. But nobody but me and Luca will ever remember.”

Damian and Marinette both knew it wasn’t the same as Damian’s childhood. They both knew that they would likely never fully understand one another’s trauma. Not the nuances of it. But they did understand the important parts, the broad strokes. Despite their vastly different lives, they understood the big parts that shaped one another.

That was why Damian took to her so quickly. If he had been younger and still bratty, naive, and angry at everything, then it would be a different story entirely. But he was matured, more willing to let himself feel sympathy. And that made the difference.

“You never forget the first person,” he remarked.

“No matter the age or timeline,” she agreed. “I saw how hard it was to stop. How sickeningly addictive it can be, but I hate what it makes me more than I like how it feels.”

“... me too,” Damian whispered. “Me too.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“Wooo!” Marinette cheered as she flew through the air, her hands latching onto Dick’s. There was no audience, but there didn’t need to be. Just the two of them, doing a routine that they’ve been working on during the few chances they had for the past several weeks. Marinette had never done trapeze before Dick helped her learn, but her time swinging through Paris streets helped tremendously alongside her general Gymnastics experience.

Marinette and Dick flipped through the air, swinging from bar to bar, Dick occasionally catching and tossing her again. They soared through the air, both curling through two flips before landing on their respective platforms with matching wide smiles. Marinette, chest heaving a bit since she was slightly out of shape (meaning that she wasn’t at all out of shape, only out of practice when it came to swinging through the air for any length of time. There’s a difference). She met Dick on the floor, who proceeded to ruffle her hair happily.

“That was awesome! Looks like you finally got the routine down,” he praised. She laughed, elbowing him.

“I bet I’m better on the balance beam,” she challenged, making Dick grin widely.

“Oh you are on!”

—*—*—*—*—*

“Ya ever died before?” Jason asked, making Marinette chuckle.

“Two-hundred and eighty-seven times.”

“You started as Ladybug at thirteen, right?”

“Yup. No training or mentor for the first year either.”

“Yeah, then that sounds about right. Wanna go break all the traffic laws?”

“Only if we take your bike.”

“Fuckin’ Duh. What else?”

—*—*—*—*—*

“You stalked Adrien?” Tim asked, smirking that insufferable smirk of his. Marinette groaned, flopping back onto the sofa.

“No! I didn’t mean it that way, anyway. I just took a lot of pictures and spied on him.”

“Yup. You’re Bruce’s kid,” he remarked, tapping away at his laptop. Marinette narrowed her eyes.

“You have noooo place to judge, Mister ‘Dick Grayson is the only person alive who can do four somersaults in the air!’ And ‘Yes, I‘ve known that you are batman since I was eight. Look at all these pictures I took when I— what was your terminology again?”

Tim rolled his eyes, but a grin was peeking through. “Yeah, yeah.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Four months later, and Marinette was staring down at all the garment bags she had painstakingly filled. Outfits for every single one of her new family members. It took a while, but they were ready for the Wayne Gala. Adrien slung am arm over her shoulder.

“You’ve outdone yourself again, Princess,” he praised, grinning at the array of coveted outfits they were about to transport. “But one teensy weeny, tiny little thing.”

“What is it, Chaton?”

Adrien grinned. “Do you have a dress for yourself? Bruce invited you, too, didn’t he?”

Marinette’s face drained of color, right as a knock sounded on the door. Adrien, seeing as Marinette was so far into Panic Mode that she could not be reached at the moment, went to open the door. A second later, plastic was all Marinette could see. Blinking, she raised her head.

It was Cass, holding out a pink garment bag with Marinette’s name on it.

“Thought you would forget,” was all the other woman offered as explanation. Marinette, after gaping for a moment, slowly took the bag from her. Cass smirked. “Present from WE.”

Marinette laughed.

“You guys are the best.”

—*—*—*—*—*

@momothefemur @ladybug-182 @starlightshield @trippingovermyfeet @greatcatblaze @sam-i-am-0222 @bluesimani @ruelukas22 @acoolspacegirl

#mlb x dc #ml x dc #maribat #b!dbwm2020 #bio dad bruce wayne #Day Three #platonic Brucinette #Platonic Daminette

504 notes · View notes