#saw a cover of dick one time and went huh! tim looks different here!

[squicksquak]

my heart breaks every time i see robin dick and jason with proper pants on..... bring the worlds tiniest shorts back they're part of their charm

[goldandbluesmiles]

Comfort

Summary: Just a series of shots of fathers and kids comforting each other. Written for flufftober2020.

Ao3

The rest of my batfam flufftober2020

The night had been long, and Bruce was ready to throw off his suit, head up and sleep forever.

The plan went entirely out of the window when he saw someone move out of the corner of his eye. He was ready to scold Tim, because who else would it be, for once again working late but then the figure came into view.

It was Jason. He was standing in the middle of the cave, gun in his right and facing the batmobile's tracks. One of his sides was to the entrance, and the other one was towards the tunnel exit. He was still wearing domino, and his still figure was giving Bruce a bad feeling.

"Jason," he called out.

No response.

He tried again, but once again, Jason didn't answer. Just stood there with a rigid posture, absolutely unmoving.

The feeling of wrongness increased.

Slowly, he made his way to his second son, doing good to stay out of the guns range at first. When it became obvious that Jason wasn't going to raise his arm, he moved in front of him.

"Jason," he whispered.

Jason tilted his head, it was a small movement, but it was enough for Bruce.

"Can I take the gun from you, Jason?"

Trembling a little, Jason's hand came up, and Bruce took it, stashing away in his utility belt. He then touched Jason's hand. When Jason didn't pull away, he took the hand and squeezed it.

"Hey, Jay," he murmured, "I'm going to take your domino off, okay?"

Bruce brought his other hand up and gently peeled away the mask, revealing unique blue-green eyes filled with fear and distress.

Bringing his hand up slowly, Bruce cupped Jason's cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb.

It seemed to break the boy of his reverie, and he stumbled forward. His arms came around Bruce, shaking badly. Bruce put his arms around Jason, holding him with all his might.

"Jason? Jay? What wrong, baby?"

"I-I-" Jason's words came out as stutter, "Wa-wanted-be sa-safe"

Safe.

Jason had wanted to be safe. And he had come to the cave. The question was, why not the manor- no Bruce knew why not the manor. The cave had maximum security, and unlike the manor, could only let in a select list of people.

"Okay," he told Jason, "You're safe now, okay?"

Jason let out a whimper and sagged even more. Bruce grunted but easily held up his weight.

"I need to know, Jaylad. Was someone following you?"

Jason tensed, "No. Just a feeling,"

Bruce ran a soothing hand down the boy's back.

Just one of those nights then.

"You know what?" said Bruce, "We can go upstairs and make tea. I can't make it that well, especially like Alfred's, but I know he taught you. You can give m direction, yeah?"

Jason nodded into his shoulder, "Yeah,"

"Good, let's go,"

Bruce quickly had them both change and then led Jason upstairs. The two of them made tea and sat down on the couch. Jason ended up falling asleep there. Bruce didn't have the heart to move Jason, so he fell asleep there too.

In the morning, Jason didn't say anything, but later someone brought him a thermos of Alfred's personal blend of tea at work.

Bruce smiled for the rest of the day.

xxx

Bruce couldn't sleep, so he had decided to read for a bit. Instead of staying in his room, he had come down to the den.

He was reading on the couch when he felt someone plop down beside him. Considering he hadn't heard them, it could only be one person.

"Hello, Cassandra,"

The girl smiled softly and curled up close to him, "Hi,"

"You, okay?"

"Couldn't sleep,"

"Oh?"

"Bad day. Bad night,"

"Ah," said Bruce, "Would you like me to read to you?"

Cassandra nodded.

Bruce nodded and starting reading out loud. He read until his daughter fell asleep, breathing softly at his side.

xxx

Dick was having a bad day. It wasn't even that something had happened. For all intents and purposes, the day had been good. He had been off patrol the night before, had woken up to a sunny Saturday morning, had smiled through a book discussion with Damian, but something in his bones just wasn't making him feel good.

In the evening, he ended up trudging up to Bruce's study. The man was sitting on the sofa, papers spread out in front of him on the coffee table. Dick came and sat beside him and poked him.

"Hey, Dick," he said, briefly looking up.

Dick nudged him with a shoulder, "Give me a hug?"

Bruce's brow furrowed, and he put the papers down, turning to look him over. Dick know what he was looking for. When he had been a kid, instances like this were a lot more common, but as he had grown, he only asked for hugs when the situation was dire.

"You okay, Chum?" the other man asked softly.

"Just a hug," said Dick

Bruce smiled and carefully slipped his arms around Dick. He then pulled him close until he plastered to the man's chest.

Dick's body instantly went lax, a small sigh escaping him.

"Everything okay, Chum?"

"Just a weird day," he told him.

"Okay," murmured Bruce, "Anything I can do?"

"This is fine," said Dick, "Thank you,"

"Anytime, Chum," murmured Bruce, "I love you,"

"Love you too, B,"

xxx

Alfred heard a shout as he passed by Bruce's room. Without hesitating, he opened the room and stepped inside. He found the man feverish and sweaty, most likely in the throes of a nightmare.

The old butler stepped into the bathroom, filled a small bucket with water and grabbed a towel. Sitting down beside the man, he considered a son, and he started to hum an old lullaby as he tried to get the fever down.

Eventually, the fever started to go down, and Bruce opened his eyes, though they were still, and he still seemed to be far away from the true perception of his surroundings.

"Bruce?" asked Alfred, "Are you with me?"

Bruce let out a groan, "Dad,"

Alfred's heart squeezed painfully. Even after all these years, Bruce would call out to a dead man, and it never seized to hurt Alfred's soul. He wished he could take the pain away from him.

"It's alright, Bruce," he murmured, gently pushing his fingers through Bruce's hair, "It's alright,"

"Alfie. Dad,"

Oh

Oh

This time when Alfred's heart gave a painful thud, it was for an entirely different reason.

"I'm right, my boy," he said, "I'm right here,"

Alfred stayed seated by his son's bed until the buttery light of morning flitted through the window.

xxx

When Duke startled awake in the dark hours of the morning, he didn't remember the nightmare that had caused it, just that it had left his heart racing.

Making a quick decision, he threw off his covers and jumped out of bed. He made his way down to the kitchen to get some water. Maybe he could revise some of his notes later cause there was no way he was getting back to bed after this.

Duke expected the kitchen to be empty at that time, so he was surprised to find Bruce sitting at the island, nursing a cup of tea, completely dressed in his suit.

"Hey," he said

"Hi, Duke," he said, "Very early start to the day?"

"Not really," he said, "And if anyone's starting early, it's you. Where are you going at...5:00 in the morning?"

"Big meeting," said Bruce, patting the stool beside his, "Wanted to mentally prepare,"

"You need to prepare?" said Duke, bring his water over.

"Everyone needs to prepare," said Bruce with a smile, "Even me,"

"Huh," said Duke, "I feel better about sweating through my presentations,"

Bruce laughed, "So what are you doing up?"

Duke sighed, "I had a nightmare, I think,"

Bruce looked worried, "Anything in particular?"

"Nah," said Duke, "Just woke up feeling antsy. I think I'm still a little freak out about the test today,"

"Anything I can do to help?" asked Bruce

Duke thought about it.

"How much od you know about the Rwandan genocide?"

Bruce smiled, "You in luck,"

"Quiz me?"

"Alright then," said Bruce, "Tell me of the three groups in...?"

They stayed like that with Bruce quizzing him until Alfred came down and reminded the man of his meeting. After. Bruce bolted out of there but not before leaving a quick kiss on uke's forehead.

Duke shook his head as he watched the man run.

xxx

It was Friday evening, and Dick had plans with Bruce to work on a struggling case together. They were going to grab some snacks, head down to the cave and put a few hours in before the family dinner.

Bruce met him in the study, and they both headed through the clock together. Their plan, however, went out the window as soon as they heard the sound of somebody hitting the punching bag. Hard.

There was only one bat other than them in the manor at the moment.

"I thought he took online lessons with his tutor at this time," said Dick

"He does," said Bruce, frowning as his youngest came into view.

Damian was covered in sweat, indicating that he had been there for a while. His muscles were rigid, and his eyes seemed to be far away. Dick wasn't sure he ever heard them.

"Damian," called out Bruce as they got closer.

Damian flinched and whirled around, only relaxing a little once he saw them. He still looked too wound up for Dick's taste.

"We were about to do some stretches," said Dick, "Would you like to join us?"

He could feel Bruce's eyes on him, but the man didn't say anything. Damian hesitated but eventually nodded.

Dick ran to the cabinet and grabbed some mats. They laid them down with Damian in the middle, and Bruce started to lead them through various stretches, the way he had done for them when they had begun training.

Five minutes into their session, Damian started to shake. Then came the sot sniffles, and a few moments later, Damian was sinking to the ground with tears running down his cheeks.

Bruce instantly pulled him in his arms and sat down cross-legged with Damian in his lap. Dick copied his position and sat, so his knees were touching Bruce's. He took Damian's and help between his own two.

"Dami," he asked softly, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," he hiccupped, "I'm sorry- I."

"Hey," whispered Bruce, pressing a kiss to his hair, "It's okay. You're okay. We just want to know what's going on?"

"I don't know," whispered Damian, "I don't know! I just-everything- Not I-"

"Shh," said Dick, running and through Dami's hair, "It's okay if you can't explain,"

"Would you like to stay here for a while?" said Bruce

"Yes, please," said Damian, hiding his in Bruce's chest. Bruce readjusted his position and held out an arm towards Dick. Dick smiled and moved, so he was holding Damian within the circle of Bruce's arms.

They both held their beloved little boy until his sobs subsided.

xxx

Tim was supposed to be in bed.

And yet, here he was, sitting in the cave and typing away at the computer. Bruce wondered how long he would have stayed if Bruce hadn't come down on a whim.

"Timmy?"

Tim looked up and nodded, instantly going back to his work.

Bruce sighed, "Tim, it's two in the morning. You're supposed to be asleep,"

"I just have to figure this put," he muttered

"You can figure it out tomorrow, Tim," said Bruce, "You need to sleep,"

"But I was supposed to finish this today," he said hurriedly, "I have other things to do tomorrow and leaving this is going to throw off my schedule,"

"Tim," he said gently, stepping closer to his son, "I'm sure you're schedule can we tweaked a bit, Kiddo,"

"No," said Tim, shaking his head, "No it can't! It's the perfect schedule,"

"Tim-"

"Just leave me alone!" he shouted, "I need to finish this!"

Bruce stared at his son wide-eyed, realizing exactly how wound up Tim was. Tim himself seemed to have realized what he was doing and lowered his head in shame.

"I'm sorry," Tim whispered, "But I need to finish this,"

Bruce knelt in front of his boy, "Timmy, you don't need to be perfect. Nobody can be perfect all the time. Nobody expects you to be perfect all the time,"

Time swallowed.

"I expect me to be perfect," said Tim, "I have to be perfect,|

The admission broke Bruce's heart as did the realization that the only reason his son was admitting this was his severe sleep deprivation.

"Oh, Timmy," he whispered, pulling the boy in a hug.

Tim sniffled and hugged Bruce back, "I'm sorry,"

"Not sweetheart," he said, "It's okay,"

Tim didn't say anything in response.

Gently, Bruce pulled away enough to be able to look at the boy's face.

"Here's what we're gonna do," said Bruce, "We're gonna go to sleep. Tomorrow, whenever you wake up, we're going to take a day off, go to the park, take some pictures and just have a relaxing day. How does that sound?"

"But the work-"

"Does not come before your health," he said firmly

Finally, Timmy nodded, "Okay,"

"Good," said Bruce, "Let's get you to bed, okay?"

"Can I stay with you?"

Bruce smiled and gave Tim's head a kiss.

"Of course,"

xxx

Dick was exhausted. From the way Bruce was dragging his feet, he was too.

They had finally put a rest to their smuggling case and Dick was ready to collapse into bed and-

Damian was in the cave.

Dick sighed. He loved the boy very very much. But he was becoming a demanding teen, a side effect of being in an emotionally and physically dangerous situation his childhood. And while everyone in the family, especially Bruce and Dick, had no problem dealing with him, he was just too exhausted.

Still, Dick put on a smile and called out to Damian.

"Hey, Dami! What are you doing up?"

"I brought you tea," said Damian.

And sure enough, there was tea sitting at one of the desks.

"Well, thank you, Damian," said Bruce, starting to take off his gear.

"And I was thinking I could sort through your reports and notes while you change and drink," said Damian, blushing a little and avoiding eye contact.

Dick met Bruce's eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Was Damian trying to take care of them?

Bruce shrugged and smiled at his youngest, "That's very kind of you, Damian. Thank you,"

Damian nodded and went to the bat computer, bringing up their most recent documents. Once both men had changed, they sat down at the med bay where e Damia insisted on patching them up. The wounds weren't so bad, so they let him.

Afterwards, as they sipped their tea, he kept trying to discreetly check on them, reheating their tea, bringing them snacks and cleaning their things.

Eventually, Bruce sent Damian upstairs, citing his bedtime.

"Adorable, isn't he?" said Dick

"Oh, definitely," said Bruce, "Reminds me of another very helpful little boy,"

Dick smiled so wide that it hurt. He had never felt happier.

xxx

Bruce was annoyed.

The patrol from last night had ended with a twisted ankle, which in itself was not a bad injury. However, Alfred had used it as an excuse to have him rest on his bed and without seeing any way out, Bruce had done just that.

What he hadn't realized at the time was that Alfred had taken away all his tablets and reports, making sure that he wasn't working at all and property resting.

So now, here was sitting alone in bed, bored and annoyed out of his mind.

He was still bemoaning his situation when there was a soft knock on his door.

Cassandra.

"Come in," he called out

Cassandra opened the door and came in followed by his menagerie of children. Jason was holding a stack of pizzas, Tim had his laptop and Duke and Dick were wheeling in their projector. Barbara came in holding drinks and Stephanie seemed to be having a hand-slap fight with Damian.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Bruce

"Keeping you company," said Tim, "And entertaining you,"

"Yeah, Pops," said Jason, "We know ya. You're probably climbing out of your skin by now,"

Bruce snorted but didn't deny it.

"So B," said Barbara, "What do you wanna watch?"

"What are my options?" asked Bruce

"Please tell Grayson, no more Disney," said Damian, "I can't stand those things anymore,"

"It's cause they make him feel emotions," crowed Stephanie

"Shut up, Brown," growled Damian

"Damian," Dick warned

Damian huffed but refrained from saying anything else.

"So?" said Dick, "What it will be, Bruce?"

"Let's watch Ghostbusters," Bruce, "Any objections?"

There were none so Tim started to set it up. Once it was done they all quickly sat down around him. Damian took his right and Jason took his left. Stephanie and Cassandra curled up at the foot of the bed and Barbare wheeled closer to them. Tim plopped and Duke plopped down at Jason's side while Dick contorted himself around Damian. After some grumbling, Damian took it in stride.

They passed around the food as the movie started playing and everyone settled in to watch.

Within ten minutes, Bruce's day had gone from miserable to spectacular.

xxx

Alfred rarely indulged in alcohol. But occasionally, when his charges were away, he would grab a bottle of expensive scotch and pour himself a glass, maybe even two.

Today was one such day or night he should say. Alfred had long stopped having regular nightmares from his early life but occasionally one slipped through. Pair that with a much empty manor and Alfred had found himself picking up the bottle.

Bruce was the only one in the place and there wasn't any chance of him stumbling to Alfred's private rooms at this time.

At least that's was what he thought.

He was still nursing his first one when the room to the drawing-room slowly opened, revealing Bruce at the door dressed in his nightclothes.

For a second, Alfred flashed back to a little boy coming to see him so he could chase away the nightmares.

Brushing the memories away, he tried to put the bottle away quickly but Bruce was quicker.

He smiled as he came, slower, covering one of Alfred's hands.

"I'm not a little boy anymore, you know," said Bruce, voice soft, "You don't have to do that,"

If Alfred was a different man, he would have cried. Instead, being who he was, he faintly nodded and made room was the other man.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Alfred," said Bruce.

"Why did you?" said Alfred, "You hardly come in here, especially without knocking,"

Bruce smiled a little sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, "Uh...I just...You know, had a feeling,"

Alfred raised his eyebrows. Interesting.

"What exactly am I interrupting?" asked Bruce

"Just an old man's rough night," said Alfred, gently swirling the scotch but then putting it down.

"Would you like me to leave?"

The proper British gentleman and father inside him said yea. He was the man's butler, his problems were not Bruces's. He was the man's father too, or at least he thought of himself that way, Bruce shouldn't have to see him down like this.

But another, tired part wouldn't mind the company.

He must have stayed quiet too long because Bruce gently smiled and put his arm around his shoulders.

"You know what," said Bruce, "I'm going to read you, Shakespeare,"

"Oh?" said Alfred as Bruce pulled up the plays on his phone.

"King Lear alright with you?"

Alfred smiled, "Just fine, my boy,"

Bruce read him the whole play of King Lear until he started to doze off. Afterwards, he gently kissed his cheek and bid him a good night. The old butler went to sleep feeling content and relaxed.

In the morning he woke up to find a table filled with breakfast and surrounded by his family. The menu had been prepared by Jason and Stephanie apparently and they had all made their way to the manor just for it.

Alfred didn't think he could love his family more.

[ethelphantom]

car windows with pretty girls

I don’t even ship Dickinette how did this happen? 

Actually, no, don’t answer that. It’s because I found a prompt that I thought fit Dickinette. That’s how. (It’s not like I dislike the ship, it’s just not my cup of tea. If I disliked it, I would not have written this thing ever regardless of how fitting the prompt may have been. Also, Mari and Dick get a happy ending even if some people don’t so you don’t need to worry about me killing off either of them. You’re safe from that this once.) 

Ao3

This is Maribat and Dickinette -- Don’t like; Don’t read.

_______

It was boring being hyperactive and then needing to wait in the car with no estimations of how long he would need to be there.

So, clearly, the obvious thing to do — if he had to stay in the damned car anyway — was to people-watch.

Now, people-watching was definitely more Timmers’ or Jay’s thing, both scarily accurate with their knowledge and understanding of people, albeit they’d learnt to do so for very different reasons. Tim’s parents had insisted that you needed to know how to read people to find their weaknesses to be able to keep them below you. Even if that wasn’t what Tim used his skills for, it was the reason behind it. Jason, for his part, had learnt because otherwise your odds of surviving in the Crime Alley were extremely, alarmingly low. He too had kept it up.

It was fun, mostly. Dick wasn’t the greatest detective in the family — that would be Tim or Bruce —, or the one who could read others as easily and fast as Jason read books — that would be Tim and Jason —, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to do all of that well anyway.

So, obviously, when a bunch of young adults near him got into an argument and one girl spilled all of her drink on another, he noticed immediately how said girl was definitely lying about whatever she was saying. She kept covering her mouth, trying to groom herself even though there was nothing amiss in her appearance, and it seemed that they took a little too long to answer to the other girl a lot of the time. If it was apologising, well, Dick was tempted to go take care of the situation and then take the drenched girl to clean up.

Unfortunately, they all left and while his eyes kept following the group, he also lost sight of the victim. Damnit. He wouldn’t be able to help her in any way now.

Not that knowing where she was would have helped much anymore soon as someone blocked his sight by standing in front of the window. Dick sighed and settled back down on his seat, contemplating taking out his phone and just trying to call someone because he needed stimulation. Why was he left alone here waiting again?

It took him another ten seconds before he realised that the person in front of the window was trying to check their appearance and was at the moment trying to get their hair in order. Dick watched them for a bit before recognising them — if only for the absolutely lovely, soaked, light blue denim dress and the black fitted leather coat she was wearing — because this was the girl who got a drink thrown on her.

Now that he had a better look at her, he decided she was not only beautiful, but also gorgeous. Her black hair was a little below her shoulders, and god, she had the most beautiful blue eyes — and that was saying something, because basically all of his siblings had blue eyes, he had blue eyes, and heavens knew he thought his were the best.

She didn’t even seem to realise he was there. Oh well, if she wasn’t going to take long anymore, he supposed it didn’t matter if he looked at her a bit longer, but if this was going to continue more, Dick would feel like a creep and have to tell her to find another place because he didn’t want to violate her privacy more than was absolutely necessary.

But then. Then he saw the tear streaks on her face and he decided that he needed to do something. Even if only to comfort the girl.

He rolled the window down and laughed a little as the girl looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Hello miss, I couldn’t help but notice you checking how you looked like without realising I was here, and I thought I’d tell you that you no matter how you see yourself from the car window — I doubt it’s that good of a mirror, honestly —, you’re really pretty.” That raised blush on the girl’s cheeks and it looked like she was about to apologise, so Dick continued speaking. He didn’t want her to apologise because it’s not like she did anything wrong. “Can I help you with anything? I noticed the confrontation earlier and it didn’t look too good.”

The girl sighed before snapping her gaze back to Dick, eyes wide. “Are you actually offering to listen to me?” Huh. She had a strong French accent, but her English was otherwise wonderful. Dick wondered how many languages she spoke. Then he paid attention to her words again and…

Why was that such a surprise?

It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.

Had anyone offered to listen to her in years?

“Yeah. You want to go to that coffee shop on the other side of the street or just stand there? I would offer for you to come into the car but I feel like that’s really creepy and uncomfortable so we’re not doing that. Your pick. Coffee shop or the street? Both are safe and public places.”

The girl straightened her hat and bit her lip. “Coffee would be nice, but I don’t think I have any money with me anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“A long story.”

“I have time to listen. And as to what comes to the money, I’ll pay. Not expecting you to pay anything back.”

“Alright. Coffee shop it is.”

Dick opened the car door and stepped out, only now realising how short the girl was compared to him. God. He offered a hand to her, bowing slightly with a grin on his face, and finally he got her to chuckle. A hint of genuine happiness. That was good. One step forwards and all that.

“Shall we go, M’Lady?”

The girl stiffened.

Actually, no, it was more like she froze. She looked scared and uncomfortable all of a sudden, and Dick silently cursed himself.

“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? No, scratch that, which of my actions made you uncomfortable? I need to know so I can stop doing it.”

“The’M’Lady part,” she whispered, biting her lip. “Just, this guy used to harass me and call me that.”

Shit.

“I’m so sorry, miss. I won’t do it again. Is there any other nickname you would be comfortable with — I tend to use a lot of nicknames for people —, or would you be more comfortable if I stuck with your name once you gave it to me?”

“Marinette. My name’s Marinette. As long as the nickname doesn’t sound like a pet name, I think I’ll be fine.”

“So, is Mari okay? Or Teacup? You’re so small that Teacup sounds right, but of course I won’t use that if it’s not okay with you.”

“Teacup… I think Teacup is fine.”

And then there was that stupid, wonderful, adorable smile that was now on her face again and Dick definitely loved it. He was pretty sure that if he got a chance to keep spending time with Marinette, he would probably start liking her more than was appropriate but that was not what he wanted to focus on now. Right now, it was making sure she got happier.

“Do you need a towel? I think we have some in the car, I could fetch you one,” he said, smiling at Mari.

“It… I think that could be nice, but you don’t need to do it. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“I insist. You aren’t bothering me at all, I’d love to be able to help.”

“Thank you.” Then she stopped and looked like she needed to add something to it. Surely, a few seconds later she continued, “For just about everything.”

Dick just laughed and winked before he went to get the towel from the backseats. Then he gave the towel to Mari, keeping the smile on his face to try to reassure her everything would be fine, and that she wasn’t a bother.

While she was drying herself, Dick pulled out his phone and texted Babs that everything was fine, he hadn’t been kidnapped or anything, but that there had been this girl that needed some company and he was taking her to the coffee shop nearby. Soon enough, he got a message back saying that she was taking over the car and would drive herself back, that she wasn’t going to wait for his slow ass to come back. Then, a few seconds later, he received another message from her, telling him to not scare this one away if she was of age and to make sure that if she was smart and didn’t want Dick, she wanted to be introduced to her.

Dick laughed. Yeah, no, this one wouldn’t become hers, not if he could help it.

“Who was that?” Marinette asked as she handed the towel back to him. “Sorry, that wasn’t polite to ask.”

“Don’t worry about it, Teacup,” he grinned. She smiled, hopefully at the nickname. That was great. Dick accepted the towel and threw it back into the car. Babs wouldn’t be happy about it but she just had to deal. “It was my friend, the one I was with here. Told her she can go back on her own, though she’ll probably call one of my brothers to drive her,” he told her, closing the car and then checking if it locked. It did. Babs would survive, she should have the keys as well, and even if she didn’t, she could very well hack the car open with her phone.

She’d done it before, too.

“I’m sorry I interrupted your… date?”

“Nah, I’m not dating her. She wanted to go somewhere and just left me in the car, it’s fine. Besides, it was me that offered to take you to the coffee shop, wasn’t it?” Mari nodded. “Then it’s not your fault and you don’t need to apologise.”

Dick made sure she was ready to go before turning to the coffee shop and walking there with Mari. He tried to cheer her up by telling dumb stories of his family (like especially the time when Jason stole Tim’s room, rather literally. They’d found everything from the roof three days later. In turn, Tim had tampered with Jason’s sprinklers in his apartment, so they were extra sensitive, and the second he started smoking inside the apartment, they went off and there was water everywhere), and sometimes he even made her laugh. Once they got inside, she was a little more comfortable with him and with a little prompting and helping questions, she started telling him what had happened with the others.

Apparently, one of them was a pathological liar, and she had said something about sleeping with the CEO of the Wayne Enterprises, in a rather slandering way, and Mari had called her out on it. When Dick asked her how she’d guessed it was a lie (to which Mari had shot back how he knew it was a lie either and Dick had been forced to tell he knew the CEO, though he didn’t mention they were family just in case), and she told him it was less about knowing it was a lie and more calculating the likeliness of it being true. One, it was unlikely because the CEO was way younger than any of them, and two, as the person had been lying about nearly everything for years, so the most probable situation was that she was lying again.

“Usually I just leave her alone with her lies because none of them believe me and she managed to ruin my life once already. I don’t need her to do it again,” Mari huffed, sipping at her second coffee. Dick wasn’t completely sure how she managed to drink coffee like that, it was stronger than Tim’s when he went to a coffee shop, yet she drank it without a blink like she was drinking water.

“Ruined your life? As in…?”

“She got into one of my favourite fashion designer’s good graces, managed to convince him to completely blacklist me from any and all possible fashion companies and because of that even the one fashion designer that still liked me — Audrey Bourgeois — couldn’t hire me either. It would have been bad marketing. She also succeeded in her threat of taking away all my friends, and now all of them enjoy spreading false rumours about me behind my back so I can hardly get any new friends. I do get my living by selling my designs behind a name no one can link me to, but it’s not something I enjoy. What you saw wasn’t that big even. I’ve had worse happen to me because of them.”

“Then why did you defend the CEO everyone would lie about behind his back and to the newspapers and gossip magazines anyway? You don’t even know him, right?”

“No, but he’s so young, not even an adult yet. He doesn’t deserve it. It’s not like I could just watch it happen and do nothing! It’s not his fault Lila is a pathological liar with no consideration of how it affects others. This is the same girl that convinced our classmates Jagged Stone had written a song about her when she was still 14, which is bad because her parents hadn’t consented to it and Jagged is a middle-aged man.”

Mari sighed and set her cup aside before burying her face in her hands. “I’m just so tired of all this because I can hardly do anything about the situation and I hate it.”

Dick watched her silently. It was clear she was strong, stronger than most people he knew (and he knew a lot of people, most of them superheroes or vigilantes), and Dick respected it. She deserved a break. He knew he could do something about it because this Lila had lied about his little brother and the Wayne family definitely had all the resources it needed to bring the young woman down, but that wouldn’t help Mari. The blacklisting thing would stay for a long time, and that he couldn’t change. Not if he didn’t get someone even more powerful vouching for her anyway… Unless.

“Do you mind if I make a call? I’ll be right back. Feel free to order a third cup of coffee, I’m still paying. The barista with the red hair knows me, so he should be fine with it. Just tell him that Dick is paying and he can call Dick for all he wants if he doesn’t believe you, but that Dick’s coming back soon anyway. If he still doesn’t believe you, remind him that he’s literally one of the fastest people on earth and could probably catch you in two seconds flat,” he laughed, but for some reason the smirk that grew on her face at that made him a little suspicious.

She didn’t say anything about it though. “Oh, that’s fine, I’ll survive. I wasn’t thinking about running away anyway,” she said smiling, the smirk all but gone now, and if Dick hadn’t been absolutely certain he had seen it, he would’ve been doubting his eyes because how could this sweet girl smirk like… that. It reminded him of Jason’s smirk, or maybe the Red Hood’s smirk. It was rather disturbing.

But, Dick just shook it off and dialed Tim. It took a few rings before Tim answered, groaning out a frustrated “Yes? I’m in a meeting right now, dick.” Dick wasn’t sure whether to be shocked or impressed Tim had clearly used his name as an insult just now. God, he needed to stop hanging out with Jason.

“Well Timmers, I was wondering, do you have any fashion related projects at WE? Or any you could start? I have a… friend... who might need a job. She’s a fashion designer and apparently a pathological liar — who, by the way, lied about you and this friend of mine defended you — managed to get her blacklisted in the fashion world. It would be nice to keep her around. She showed me some of her sketches and finished clothing and I was allowed to take pictures of some she’s already finished and is selling so it wouldn’t matter as much to her if I had a picture of them.”

Tim sighed. “You could have just said you have a crush and need a job for said crush. Send the pictures over and I’ll decide then.”

“Way ahead of you, I did so like three seconds ago. Check your email, Timbo.”

“Cut it out. I’ll check them out and decide then if I—”

Tim went silent all of a sudden. After ten seconds, Dick decided he should check up on him. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I am but— Did you happen to ask for who she is? Like, her designer name?”

“No…? I can though. Wait a second. Mari! What’s your designer name?”

Mari looked at him with wide eyes and two empty cups of coffee more in front of her. “Uh, L’ange, why?”

“Just wondering. Go order another coffee if you need one. Or, well, you know what, order as many as you want as long as Wally isn’t going to have my head for letting you drink too much caffeine.”

Marinette laughed and got up to get herself more coffee, smiling victoriously at Wally standing behind the counter who sighed, shot an unimpressed look at Dick and started chatting with Mari. It was amazing how Dick could see Wally fasten his pace while they talked but Mari just kept up like it was the most normal thing ever.

“Alright, she says it’s L’ange. Why?”

“It matters because I recognised the designs and clothes easily. They’re my favourite designer’s and I needed to know if you’d found them! And if your girl there indeed is L’ange like she says, you just met my favourite designer and I’m so, so jealous. I want to meet her. If she is who she says she is, I am going to create a fashion project with her if we don’t already have one.”

Dick laughed at Tim’s serious tone. “Alright Timmy, I’ll tell her the news. Have fun at the meeting, don’t let Lucius rip you a new one. Also, stop spending so much time with Jason. It’s good you’re getting better along but your use of language is getting worse.”

“Haha, funny, dick.” And Tim hung up.

How annoying. Why did he love his little brothers again?

“Teacup, put the coffee away, I’ve got a job offer that could help with your dream of becoming a professional designer who could use her own name for you. You want to hear it or are you going to try and talk Wally into hiring you here? Because you do know you won’t be able to drink as much coffee while working, right?”

That got him a (rather friendly, playful and non-homicidal) glare from Mari before she stuck her tongue out at him. Dick snorted and took out his credit card to pay Wally. Judging by the amount of empty coffee cups at their table and at the counter, Mari had drank more than enough. It was a little worrying and surprising that she wasn’t vibrating with energy or climbing the curtains. No, she looked more like a completely normal, not over-energised human being.

God, how much did she drink caffeine on the daily?

“Sure. Shoot.”

“My brother is a CEO and after seeing your designs, he recognised you. You’re apparently his favourite designer, and he’s completely ready to either find a fashion project for you to work on — using your own designs, of course — or to create one from the scratch with you if there isn’t one in existence already. Knowing him, he’d definitely fully credit you for all you do, although the most likely case is he’s going to market it as a collaboration between the company and you. He wishes to meet you,” he explained and watched Mari’s face go from a frown to surprise to a bright smile with a hint of suspicion.

“Really? Though first, who is this brother..?”

“So. You know how I said I just know Timothy Drake-Wayne?”

“...Yes?”

“He’s my adoptive little brother.”

“Alright… I can meet up with him then. It would be nice to be able to really get my name out there.”

“Great! WE is so big that it’s likely we would be able to mostly erase the blacklisting while at it, and if you’re working with us, we could also discredit the liar so it could make your life easier. Obviously, we would need proof of her words, but—”

“There’s an entire blog full of them. There should be enough proof, and I don’t think I’d be surprised if she’d used your family before if you’re indeed of the Wayne family.”

“Well, that I can certainly prove by taking you to meet Timmy. Bye Wally, have fun working!”

Wally snorted and quickly waved before getting back to work. “I will, but I think you should be the one to remember not to have too much fun at work. We still up for the weekend?”

“Obviously.”

oOoOo

Three hours and twenty-seven minutes later, one Marinette Dupain-Cheng was hired by Timothy Drake-Wayne while Dick Grayson grinned outside Tim’s office at Marinette’s thumbs up.

Seventy-nine days later the collaboration of WE, Timothy Drake-Wayne, L’Ange and Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been created, presented, accepted and started, which was then celebrated by one Dick Grayson bringing a bottle of rose wine for himself and Marinette, and apple juice (that was then thrown at Dick) for Tim to celebrate the beginning of a beautiful partnership.

Six months and fourteen days after that, around the time they started advertising the collaboration for the first time, the issue with one Lila Rossi got significantly worse and they were forced to take legal action right then and there. The Ladyblog was found full of lies, of a lot of people the Wayne family knew, but of them and even more of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Three months and seventeen days later Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood in front of the court, testifying against Delilah Rossi, who was then found guilty for defamation of character of countless of people, of which some of them had led to life-ruining consequences. Delilah Rossi did not stand a chance. This also led to a thorough investigation of one Gabriel Agreste who was found guilty for terrorism, which also resulted in Delilah Rossi found guilty for assisting a terrorist. The known teen model Adrien Agreste who turned out to be the previous superhero Chat Noir was also accused of assisting a known terrorist. All three were sentenced, Delilah Rossi and Gabriel Agreste to a lifetime in prison, Adrien Agreste to three years in prison for being a minor accomplice as well as the continuous sexual harassment of Ladybug, who, after further investigation, revealed herself as the designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

A year, a month and three days later, L’Ange de la Gotham was released to the public. It became a massive success. Wayne Enterprises expected to do more collaborations with Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the chief designer and founder of MDC, previously known as L’Ange. One Dick Grayson was photographed proposing to the young designer, who then proceeded to scream yes and throw herself at her new fiancé.

Seven months and twenty-one days later MDC changes name to MDCG. A group of young French adults are arrested for trespassing on Dick Grayson and Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Grayson’s private property. These young adults are found to be Mrs. Dupain-Cheng-Grayson’s ex-classmates. They do not press charges for more than trespassing.

Two weeks later the Daily Planet has a new first page article written by newcomer Conner Kent: Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Grayson, a victim of defamation of character by terrorist Delilah Rossi finally opens up about getting attacked by her ex-classmates for years: “It hurt, but I could no longer care less. Justice and karma have been served to them, cold.” The article becomes a hit and the biggest success of the year, winning over even articles of alien attacks, superman, new superheroes and Alya Césaire's downfall.

Through all the years the youngest of the Flying Graysons holds the hand of the upcoming and successful Chinese-French designer MDCG, and neither plan to let go.

Because the other brings them strength.

____

All MariBat tags: @kris-pines04 @thethirdwheelfriend @daminett4life

Taglists open

[peppersonironi]

For @duketectivecomics‘s Duke Week Day Five: Leadership (A day late, I know, but I had wifi trouble)

Summary: Nightwing offers Signal a chance to lead a small group for a mission. Duke is wary, but accepts the challenge. He proves to be a rather great leader.

Notes: Takes place after Season Two of Young Justice, and ignores Season Three (I still haven’t seen it, unfortunately).

“So will you do it?” Duke looked over at Dick, who had decided to brave the day as Nightwing in order to ask a favor.

“I’m not sure, Nightwing, That’s your team, and I’m perfectly happy taking care of Gotham.”

Dick pouted and dramatically flung himself over the nearest gargoyle. “You sure? I could really use the help. Don't you want to lend aid to your poor, poor brother?”

“You are literally a billionaire.”

“Ha ha, Signal. You know what I mean.”

Duke sighed and joined Dick beside the gargoyle. “Yeah, I do. Are you sure you need me? Why not Tim? Steph? Heck, even Damian would love the chance to boos those guys around.”

Dick sighed. “I told you, The mission occurs at the same time as one on the opposite side of the world, which I already have Tim scheduled for. Steph is woking a case in Hong Kong with Cass. And Frankly, I doubt the Team would appreciate Damian's … style of leadership. This one is smaller, and less of a priority. I have some of the newbies and more older members on it, but none of them have experience with leading stealth missions.”

“So give one of them the experience!” Duke was getting a bit exasperated. Why did Dick think it would be a good idea to handle a mission on a covert team he'd never even met before?

“It's not that simple.” Dick frowned. “This mission is time sensitive, and delicate. It really does need someone with experience leading it, but all my best people are elsewhere.”

Duke tilted his head, considering. “Why me?”

Dick laughed. “Why NOT you? Seriously, Signal. You handled a whole group of Robins, by yourself. No Batman. You proved yourself, and you've earned respect. I trust you with this.”

Duke considered, thinking through everything Dick had said. “Alright,” He sighed, “What's the mission?”

*****

“Team, I'd like you to meet Signal. He'll be joining you on the mission, as well as over seeing things.” Nightwing stood at the front of the group of heroes, turning to where Duke had just come in from the zeta tubes.

Duke walked forward, surveying the group. “ 'Sup?” He asked, unsure of what else to say.

“Signal, meet Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beatle.”

Duke nodded and extended his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“I've been waiting to meet you for so long, dude!” Kid Flash said, racing forward to shake Duke's hand. “I've heard all about you, but the dates on when you actively joined the guys in Gotham were murky, and since I couldn't ask Nightwing or Robin – wait, does that mean Tim's no longer Robin? Why didn't he say anything? Unless the history books got it wrong, in which case woah, sorry I said anything – anyway  it was a bit of a tricky situation. Of course, I probably could have looked it up on the internet, but that feels like cheating y'know?”

Duke blinked several times. “Um, thanks, I guess? I didn't really think anyone bothered with me.”

“Are you kidding?!” Kid Flash was literally bouncing at this point. “You're one of the coolest bats! You patrol during the day, for one thing, plus your costume is pretty crash. Not to mention you're literally the only meta human Batman has ever let stay in Gotham! Although Black Bat might be one, no one was ever really clear on that.”

“You're a meta human?!” Beast Boy asked, shoving Kid Flash to the side. “Seriously? And you work with Batman?! How does that work?”

Duke laughed. “Yes, I am a meta. No, Black Bat isn't. She's just awesome. And I was Batman's protege before I gained my powers. When we found out, we kinda just rolled with it.”

“Translation,” Nightwing added, “He grumbled a bit before deciding that the rule only really covers Green Lantern.”

“Didn't it always though?” Duke asked his brother.

Nightwing laughed. “Probably. He never seemed to keen on Superman either, to be honest.”

Duke frowned. “Wait, then why did he stop by for tea last week?”

“Wait, he did?! Why wasn't I invited?!”

Duke shook his head and tsked. “Downside to no longer living at the house dude, that's all I'm saying.”

The Team was looking back and forth at the exchange. “Wait,” Blue Beatle said, holding up his hands. “Superman comes over for tea, at Batman's house, which you live in, but Nightwing doesn't anymore?”

“Yup,” Both of the bats said.

Blue Beatle blinked, then nodded. “Alright then.”

“What are your powers,” Wonder girl asked.

“Light stuff, basically,” Duke said. “I can see in several different light spectrums, lets me do a bunch of stuff, like limited x-ray vision. I can also 'replay' what happens in rooms, due to the light residue. I can also see a few seconds into the future.”

Everyone blinked at him.

“Not to mention you can control shadows!” Nightwing added helpfully.

Duke cringed. “Yeah, but that's new. I'm not really familiar with it.”

Everyone stared, except Kid Flash, who just continued bouncing.

“Alright,” Nightwing said after a moment, “Let's get on with the briefing.”

*****

The mission was simple: Infiltrate a high rise owned by Lex Luther in San Francisco, and retrieve information that was being stored on a hard drive. Said drive was only going to be present in the tower for twelve hours, nine of which Lex was also present. Hence the need for a small team, and the precise timing.

The infiltration was scheduled at 1400 hours, after Lex had left for lunch, and before the buyer of the information had arrived. Duke had been given the plans of the building, and multiple suggested strategies. One of these strategies was modified by Duke, and was what led Beast Boy (who insisted Duke call him Garth) turning into a fly in order to get through the vents.

“Are you sure I can't go for something more fun?” Garth asked on the way to San Francisco, “Like a snake? Maybe even a monkey!”

“No,” Duke had said, “A fly is the best option, it's the least likely to set off motion sensors.” At the disappointed face, however, Duke conceded, “You can be a monkey when you open the side entrance.” Garth had whooped in triumph, and Duke had to crack a smile.

Once Beast Boy had managed to get into the building, he made his way to the main security center and dismantled whatever detection systems Lex had in place, allowing Kid Flash (Bart, Duke learned) and Signal himself to make their entrance. The trio made their way to Lex's office, only needing to take out a single guard, and retrieve the hard drive from one of Lex's many (There were like thirty, sheesh) safes in the room. The cracking of said safe took longer than initially planned, but Duke managed to hack the system in time for the guard change. Boy was he glad Tim taught him how to hack.

With the target in hand, they made their way out to the back alley, where Blue Beatle (Jaime, he said his name was) and Wonder Girl (Cassie) were keeping watch. They were almost caught at one point, but Duke saw the guards coming and quickly shoved his teammates into a closet, along with himself. In the end, two guards who were lagging behind on their shift change intercepted them, but Blue Beetle knocked one out, and Wonder Girl got the other.

“Took you long enough,” Cassie said with a grin when she saw the trio returning.

Duke grinned right back at her. “You have any trouble?”

“If these two count as trouble,” She replied, kicking one of the goons.

“Sounds crash!” Kid Flash replied. “How about we get out of here before something blows up?”

Duke frowned. “Why would anything blow up?”

Everyone turned and gave him a look. “You'd be surprised,” Blue Beetle said.

“Better not jinx it, then.” Duke spook, and the team made their escape.

*****

“ - Complete insubordination! Do you know what you did?!”

Duke paused at the doors, looking in on the meeting room where he and the others were supposed to go for their debriefing. Turns out, the other part of the Team was already there, and being chewed out by Batman himself.

“This was supposed to be a covert mission, and you go and get the entire building blown up!” Huh, they weren't kidding about explosions, Duke thought. “You clearly disobeyed the mission parameters, opting instead to joyride with the robots you were sent to destroy! Do you know how many lives you put in danger?!”

“It wasn't our fault!” Tim Drake, better known as Red Robin (Though Duke thought Bart mention that he still went as Robin here? Boy, Damian was gonna be pissed!) told Batman. “The robots got activated remotely, and dragged us along. In the end, they self destructed!”

Batman sighed, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “I let Kaldur go one one vacation …”

“You can at least acknowledge we got the job done.” Tim said, and Bruce sighed once more. He looked so tired, and Duke could barely hold in a grin. From the scared faces of everyone else in the room, Duke gathered that no one else found it quite so funny.

“Yes, you got it done,” Batman conceded, “But your methods are far from acceptable! All of you need to reevaluate how you-”

“It's almost kinda funny when I'm not the one being chewed out!” Duke turned to find Jaime and Garth standing in the door beside him, the latter of whom had spoken.

“Oh it's definitely funny,” Duke replied. “I've had front row seats to these types of things since I joined the bats. I”m almost never the one in trouble. Surprised it's Tim, though. Usually Nightwing.”

Both of their eyes widened. “Nightwing is the one in trouble?”

“Yup. We – the other bats and I – have a running bet on how long the rants last. B's best record is two hours, fifty minutes, thirty-seven seconds. It was right after Nightwing spray painted the bat-suit glittery pink, though I'm pretty sure Spoiler helped.”

Jaime opened and closed his mouth for a few moments. “Wow.”

Just then, Bart and Cassie showed up. “Are we late for the debriefing?” The latter asked.

Duke shrugged and pointed into the room, where Batman had moved onto a rant about aerial combat and unneeded fuel. “Nope, There's is running late.”

The group turned and went back to viewing the scene before them. After another fifteen minutes, Batman said. “I have another team coming in soon for debriefing, so let's hope that they were at least partially competent.”

Duke thought that would be as good a place as any to make an entrance, so he brought his fist to his mouth and coughed a bit.

Everyone turned slowly to find the grinning group standing at the doorway.

“Signal,” Batman said, and Duke knew he was relieved, “Did you just get back?”

“We've been standing here for twenty minutes, B. Seriously, your lecturing skills have not gone unpracticed.”

Batman sighed, putting his fingers on the bridge of his nose, not a sight unfamiliar to Duke, but from the gaping mouths, Duke was pretty sure no one else thought anything about the exchange was normal. “Please tell me your mission went well?”

“Without a hitch,” Duke replied grinning. “We got in and out easily. Had a tad of trouble with hacking the safe, but we got it open.” Duke turned to Tim, “Thanks for those lessons last week, they really paid off.”

Tim grinned “Welcome. Wanna continue when we get home?”

Duke nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Were there any complications?” Batman growled.

“We took out three guards quietly, and avoided two more that I saw coming right before they turned a corner, but other than that, no.”

Batman glared suspiciously down at Duke, who only smiled. “Any explosions?”

Duke frowned. “What is it with this team and explosions?” Batman glared some more, “Calm down B, no explosions. Everything was quiet.”

Batman nodded. “Good job, Signal. You dropped off the target with Nightwing, I assume?” At Duke's nod, he continued, “You get head back to Gotham, then. Finish your report in the cave, and finish up your patrol if you want. I'll make a note on the file if we ever need you again.” He paused, and looked critically at Duke. “Would you?”

Duke looked back at Garth, Jaime, Bart, and Cassie, who were all nodding their heads furiously. “Sure,” Duke said, “Why not?”

[cryptids-and-muses]

Clockwork Birds and Gilded Cages - Chapter 1

Ao3

 Tim’s footsteps echoed through the dark hallway, he couldn’t see much around him, next time he went exploring he should bring a flashlight. The Court had a lot of places to explore, twisting halls, fancy meeting areas, Tim even found a secret passage one time. No one minded, he usually got a light scolding if he wandered somewhere he wasn’t supposed to, and that was if they noticed at all. He was always careful about it. Knowing when his parents would leave, he always made it back before then, and made sure to avoid popular meeting spots. He knew those places anyway so he wasn’t missing out.

 His parents were staying much later that day and Tim finally had enough time to explore below the main levels. He’d been careful to only make left turns so he could find his way out, and kept track of how many staircases he went down. There were obstacles too. Bars he could barely squeeze past and dead ends that were meant to confuse. The adults would sometimes whisper about a labyrinth when they thought he couldn’t hear, and this certainly felt like one.

 Eventually the hallway opened up into a large room. It wasn’t the first room he’d come across, despite how spread out they were. One of them had been full of medical equipment, the operating table had straps on it. Tim didn’t stay in that room long.

 This one was very long and mostly empty, with 3 doors lining each side and another hallway at the other end. Now that Tim thought about it, it was more like a chamber than a room. What caught his attention was the bright light coming from underneath one of the doors. As he crept closer he noted it didn’t look any different from the other doors, big and sturdy with a hatch you could peek through and a huge sliding lock. Tim was too short to peek through the hatch so he pressed his ear against it and listened. It was very faint, muffled by the door, but he could hear crying on the other side. Curiosity got the better of him and before he could stop himself, Tim reached up and pulled the sliding bolt as hard as he could, for once grateful of the court’s refusal to ‘stray from tradition.’ It took a few tries before he got it free.

 When Tim peeked inside he was almost blinded by the bright lights, but after his eyes adjusted he saw the boy. He was older, about 11 or 12, but small for his age, messy black hair barely reaching his striking yellow eyes and the lights seemed to wash out any ounce of color left in his skin. The fear in his expression faded to confusion when he spotted Tim, but his stance didn’t relax from it's defensive position.

 The boy cocked his head, “Who the hell are you?” Tim didn’t respond, too busy studying the boy in front of him. There was something familiar about him, but Tim knew he’d never met someone with yellow eyes or ghost white skin. Which only made it stranger that he was sure they’d met before.

 The silence didn’t do much to calm the boy’s nerves. He lunged, grabbing Tim by the collar and slamming him against the wall of the cell in one swift motion. “Is this some kind of test? Who are you?”

 It was the way he moved that tipped Tim off. The grace and poise in such a simple action reminded him of something. He pictured what the boy might look like with normal coloration and for a second tan skin replaced the paper white and blue eyes covered the yellow. Awe filled his voice, “You’re Dick Grayson.”

 The grip on his collar instantly loosens, and Dick’s eyes go wide. For a second all he can do is stare at the strange boy who somehow made it to his prison. “How…how do you know that?”

 Tim smiled, “I saw you perform. You were amazing!”

 Dick let out a manic sounding laugh and released Tim’s collar, running his hands through his hair.

 “Is something wrong?”

 “It’s just-” he paused to catch his breath, and a grin formed “No one’s called me that in over a year.”

 That smile made something in Tim ache, "Is that how long you've been here?"

 A thoughtful expression formed on Dick's face, "I think so, it's hard to tell." he shrugged, "For all I know I've been down here for years."

 "I don't think so." Tim began to examine the small room a bit more closely, "Your parents fell about 18 months ago, you can't have been down here longer than that."

 Dick's eyebrows knit together. When he spoke, his voice was small, "My parents....has it really only been that long?"

 Tim nodded as he continued to take in the room. It looked like a prison cell mixed with a tomb, with nothing but a small toilet in one corner and a mat on the ground. It was smaller than some of the closets in Drake Manor, the ones he'd hide in when things were too much. But here the walls felt more oppressive than comforting. The air was tinted with the faint scent of iron, it made Tim's nose wrinkle. Eventually his eyes settled on the blinding lights built into the ceiling, "Are those part of why it's hard to tell time?" Dick didn't answer and Tim glanced over to see him staring blankly at the floor. "Dick?"

 The sound of his name seemed to snap him out of it, "Huh?"

 "Do the lights make it hard to tell time?"

 After a moment of silence, he nodded, "They don't turn them off. I'm not always in this room, they move me around a lot. But when I am the lights never turn off and time just blends together, I can't even count days from when I sleep because the lights keep me up."

 He sounded so sad when he spoke. It felt wrong to Tim. He remembered how happy Dick had been. How bright his laugh was, how his smile seemed to rub off on everyone in the crowd, how warm his hugs were. Tim had only felt one but he imagined his other hugs were like that too. It seemed like that light was being sucked out of him, and Tim couldn't stand to lose it.

 Escape wasn't an option. Tim had barely managed to get back here himself and Dick was bigger than him. Not to mention the passages would take them right into The Court. Tim knew they were responsible for this, somehow, and if they found out it would ruin everything. But he had to do something. Glancing into the dark hall, an idea formed in Tim's head.

 Tim grabbed Dick's hand and began to pull him to the door. Instantly, alarm shot through the older boy. He yanked his arm back and stumbled backwards, shaking his head, "No! I-I can't go! They'll find me! I-I'll be punished! I can't-"

 "Hey." Dick's eyes snapped to Tim, "It's okay, I know, I wasn't trying to make you leave." Dick didn't move as Tim stepped closer, "But you need to sleep right? It's dark in the hall, you can sleep out there. I have a few hours before I have to be back and can wake you up if I hear anyone coming." Making sure to move slowly, Tim held up his hand, "That night I saw your show, you dedicated your performance to me. It was...it was one of the most amazing things anyone has ever done for me. Let me return the favor."

 For a moment, Dick just stared at him, eyes wide with confusion before he took Tim's hand. As they moved into the hall Dick spoke up, "I don't know your name."

 Tim sat down on the floor, pulling Dick with him, "It's Tim."

 "Tim..." Dick placed his head in the younger boy's lap, the darkness felt nice, "Could you tell me more about that night?"

 He did, Tim rambled on about everything he could remember. The lights, the costumes, the animals, even after Dick had drifted off he kept talking. Tim stayed there for hours, keeping watch. He stayed longer than he should have, the watch his father insisted he carry helped him be sure of that, but this felt more important than a scolding from his parents about getting lost.

 When he did finally wake up Dick, the goodbye was awkward. The idea of locking Dick back in there made Tim sick, but no one could know he’d been here. He looked back at Dick one last time as he held the door, “I’ll come back, I promise.”

 Dick met his eyes, “I hope so, Tim.”

 Something in his expression resonated with Tim, it was so similar to the one he gave his parents when they left on their trips. That mix of resignation and desperate hope. Tim decided right there nothing would stop him from keeping that promise.

 The door shut.

[iatethepomegranate]

Homecoming Chapter 25

Masterlist

Pairing: DickTiger

Rating: Teen (this chapter)

Length: 3.3k

Summary: Tiger gets his communicator and an existential crisis. Dick gets a phone call. They also carpool into the city for a debrief and an appointment.

Notes: Can someone other than me please post in the DickTiger omg I’m trying to keep a weekly schedule but it looks like I’m taking over

Warnings: anxiety, allusions to the torture

****

Chapter 25

“Here you go.” Tim passed Tiger an earpiece. “All yours.”

“I still can’t believe Bruce literally offered to give you one,” said Stephanie. “Is he okay?”

Tiger looked at Dick. “Well? Is he okay?”

Dick snorted, which had always been oddly endearing. “I mean, he’s being nice which is always weird but I’m pretty sure he’s fine.”

Tiger pressed the earpiece into place. Tim passed him a wrist computer disguised as a watch, which he used to tune the communicator to his first Spyral frequency.

“Dick asked nicely,” Jason said. “Of course he gave it to you.”

“I didn’t actually ask Bruce to give Tiger a communicator,” Dick corrected. “I just insisted we include Helena.”

“Same thing.”

“And I wasn’t fucking nice about it.”

Jason laughed. Dick glared. No one took him seriously.

“It’s cute when he tries to be serious,” said Stephanie.

“No, it is laughable,” said Damian.

Tiger left Dick to the mercy of his siblings and stepped into the hallway. He called Helena, who answered immediately.

“There you are. I was wondering if you’d forgotten about me.”

“You are a hard woman to forget,” Tiger replied.

“Aw, is Dick teaching you how to charm a lady?”

“Do you find him charming? I do not.”

“You’re fooling nobody,” Helena replied.

Tiger resisted the temptation to retort. “I have arranged a meeting with Checkmate next Thursday at thirteen hundred hours in Gotham City.”

“During the day? Huh.”

“Which means most of my current associates will not be available to provide backup.”

“So you’re asking me? I’m flattered.”

“Helena.”

“Relax. I’m available. I’ll get in touch with your people and arrange logistics.”

“My people?”

“Your boyfriend’s people. His father specifically.”

“I knew that.”

“No, you didn’t.” Helena chuckled. “I’ll see you on Thursday.” She ended the call.

Tiger leaned against the wall behind him. He did not know how he felt about returning to Checkmate, only that it caused an unpleasant jittering sensation in his stomach.

Actually, he did know how he felt about it: awful.

Tiger had not been a standard agent for years. Now that his undercover mission was over, he did not feel a need to return to the way things had been before.

Even though his hands shook whenever he touched a gun and he hadn’t had a good night’s rest in so long he’d lost count, he would not trade that for a return to life before the Spyral mission. The realisation felt strange. Losing the ability to take orders and carry them out, no questions asked, no sleep lost… it felt like he’d lost a part of himself. A part of his identity.

And yet���

If he compared how he felt now to how he’d felt before going undercover…

Strange.

He was happier now. In an odd way. Checkmate had recruited him from Afghanistan when he was barely eighteen. He’d been old enough to fight, old enough to have a fearsome reputation, and yet…

He’d been so young.

So confused.

He was still confused today, but about different things. Perhaps confusion was a part of who he was. Well, at least that hadn’t changed, even if the source of his confusion had.

The young Tiger King of Kandahar had hidden his confusion, his uncertainty, behind fighting. There had always been someone to defend, or someone to punish. He’d taken the name given to him for his deeds in the place of his birth and fashioned it into a mask. Armour. That title became his identity. It still was, but in a different way.

The name Tiger felt like a comfortable old coat these days, worn in all the right places. The original occasion for which he’d first donned it had ceased to matter many wears ago. It was his, and that was enough. Somewhere along the line, it had stopped being a barrier and started being him.

In fact, it felt less like an old coat and more like his own skin. He owed some of that to Checkmate, but most of it had changed because he had changed.

In many respects, Spyral was equally as responsible… if not more so.

His feelings were beginning to make more sense. Checkmate felt like a step backwards. The Tiger who’d joined Checkmate was not the same Tiger who was set to return.

Given the emotional state he’d been in when he’d volunteered to infiltrate Spyral, that was an improvement. It felt strange calling post-traumatic stress an improvement.

Well, in reality, it wasn’t his trauma that had changed him. That had simply come along for the ride, as Dick might say.

Tiger had grown up quickly, but only now was he finding true maturity. He’d felt so worldly when he’d joined Checkmate. Perhaps that was youth. Perhaps it was fighting the Taliban from a young age. Perhaps both.

In truth, he’d known very little. In many respects, he felt he knew less now.

“Hey,” Dick poked his head out the door. “You’ve been gone a while. Everything okay?”

Tiger nodded. “I was thinking.”

Dick joined him at the wall. “Oh?”

“Do you find that as you grow older, you know less?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“Do you think it is normal?”

“Yeah, I do.” Dick leaned his head on Tiger’s shoulder. Tiger held very still so he wouldn’t move. “We’re getting wise in our old age, T.”

Tiger couldn’t hold back a laugh; he found it harder to control these days, especially when Dick knew how to get under his skin. “Yes, you do look very old.”

“Yeah, and you’re about to collapse into dust yourself.”

“Well, my joints make noises they never used to make. Perhaps that time is almost upon me.”

“Or you could just stop getting your ass kicked every few weeks. I’ve heard good health keeps you young.”

“I would not know.”

Dick laughed, sliding his hand into Tiger’s. “Anyway. What brought this on?”

“I was thinking about Checkmate. I was barely eighteen when they recruited me in Afghanistan.”

“And I bet you thought you knew everything.”

“To be fair, I had repelled my fair share of Taliban attacks.”

“Okay, that’s pretty impressive. Some cockiness is to be expected.”

“I may also have wrestled a tiger.”

“Shit. Really?”

“You will never know if I’m telling the truth.”

“You bastard,” Dick murmured.

“I volunteered for the Spyral mission,” Tiger said. He hadn’t set out to share that information, but maybe he’d needed to say it. He’d had few opportunities to talk about it with anyone.

Dick looked up at him; there was some kind of tension behind his eyes that made Tiger suspect he would have another migraine soon. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“Not much of one. I was well-respected in Checkmate, but I wanted to get away.”

“So you volunteered for a deep cover mission. Naturally. Why did you want to get away?”

That wasn’t something Tiger liked to think about. He already regretted opening his mouth. He wondered if his reason was still with Checkmate, or whether things had changed there as well.

Dick took the hint. “Ah, well. Story for another time? I’m a great listener.”

“I know.”

***

The worst of the migraine had passed, but Dick still winced whenever he saw too much light. Or heard anything louder than a whisper. Tiger was elsewhere; Dick didn’t like anyone seeing him like this, even if he could tolerate another person’s presence when the pain was at its worst.

He sat on the bed in the dark, slowly sipping a glass of water. Tension still bunched in his muscles; he’d learned from experience that it wouldn’t go away properly until he found the strength to move around and stretch. For now, though, he’d just have to deal.

His phone vibrated, which set his teeth on edge. Tim had messed with the settings so the backlight didn’t hurt as much when he looked at the screen, but he still had to do it quickly. It was Kory.

She didn’t call very often. He picked up right away and put the phone on speaker so he could keep it away from his aching head.

“Hello?”

“Dick?”

“The one and only.”

Kory let out a breath. “Oh, X’Hal. It’s true. You’re back.”

“Back and better than ever,” Dick said dryly; he wasn’t sure she’d pick up on the sarcasm, but he guessed it didn’t really matter. “Jason run his mouth?”

“Who else?”

“Good point.”

“You sound tired. Are you okay?”

“It’s been a long few months. I’ll be fine.” A phone conversation wasn’t the ideal platform to hash out what exactly had been going on and why he sounded half-dead. “How are you doing?”

“I’m well.”

“Seen Roy lately?”

Starfire chuckled. “Yes. He just left.”

“Tell him I say hi next time you see him… which I’m sure will be soon.”

“Dick…”

“I’m not mad, Kory. We’ve both moved on. Go forth, be merry.”

“You say the strangest things.”

“You talk to Jason on the regular. I think your opinion of strange is a bit skewed.”

“You’re probably right.” Kory hummed softly. “Jason says you’re living with your family again.”

“Yeah, some stuff went down on the tail end of my mission. Needed to find my feet.”

“Yes, your mission.” Kory’s voice hardened. “The mission where you faked your death.”

Dick sighed; he should’ve expected this. “I’m sorry I put you through that. Just because I needed to be dead in the eyes of the public didn’t mean I needed to be dead to the people I care about.”

“I’m glad you’ve realised that.” She still sounded pissed. That was valid.

“You ever find yourself in Gotham?” Dick asked. “We should talk properly. Face to face.”

“I might be in the neighbourhood next week. To visit Jason.”

“And if we happen to bump into each other, that’ll be a happy coincidence.”

“Yes.”

“Text me the details. When you have them.”

“I will.”

“And I’ll give the big guy some warning so he doesn’t get mad about metahumans in the city again.”

Kory laughed. “Is he always like that?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll see you later.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Dick set the phone aside and pressed his fingers into his temples. It had been easy enough to block out the pain while talking to Kory, but now it was coming back with a vengeance.

Still, he was glad for the phone call. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Kory. And the last time she’d seen him was at his funeral. Not exactly conducive to conversation.

It would be good to see her. He still loved her, in a way, but the need to have her to himself had long since dissipated. Enough time had passed that he could genuinely be happy for her when she saw other people.

Yeah. Now was a good time to clear the air between them. If things went well, maybe she’d like to meet Tiger.

***

The day to visit Checkmate came before Tiger was prepared for it. Even the morning prayer had done little to soothe his nerves.

It didn’t help that Dick was coming off another migraine. He made it to breakfast with Tiger, but neither of them had much of an appetite. Tiger had told Dick to go back to bed several times, but he refused.

“Good news,” Dick said quietly, picking at the fruit salad Alfred had made. “We’re carpooling today.”

“This is the first I am hearing of it.”

“Only got confirmed last night,” Dick said. “I’m seeing a specialist in Gotham, so Alfred’s driving both of us into the city. We’ll drop you off first.”

“Are you sure you are up to this?”

“The sunglasses aren’t just for decoration.” Dick patted his shirt pocket. “I’ll manage.”

Tiger had to admit having Dick close for the journey made him feel better. He stopped protesting.

“Does this specialist know what they are doing?” Damian said, stabbing a waffle with his usual fervour.

“It’s the same guy who stopped my head exploding on a near-nightly basis,” Tim replied. “He’s legit.”

“Your migraines are a result of inferior genetics, Drake, not a torture machine.”

Tim looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

Damian eyed him for a moment longer, until he evidently decided Tim was not going to react the way he wanted him to. Then Dick caught his eye and raised an eyebrow.

Damian scowled. “I apologise, Drake.”

“Sure.” Tim said absent-mindedly, more focused on his coffee.

“Anyway…” Dick finally picked up some pineapple on his fork. “I don’t know if the specialist can help, but I’m willing to give it a shot. At this point, I’ll try anything.”

Dick looked exhausted. Tiger knew for a fact he was, in fact, as tired as he looked. Neither of them had slept well last night. Dick was abstaining from coffee and Tiger did not need caffeine shakes, so there was no respite on the horizon.

Once it was time to leave, they’d both managed to choke down some breakfast. Cassandra had gone ahead to meet Helena; they would remain near the building but would not enter unless absolutely necessary. Tiger did not need an extra set of eyes over his shoulder. He would be under enough scrutiny already.

He was grateful they would be close by if needed, however.

Dick still flinched in the sunlight, but he appeared to shake it off. They sat together in the back of the car while Alfred drove.

“Should you require an earlier pickup than anticipated, sir,” said Alfred, “call me and I will come. Should you lose access to your phone, I use the family’s communication frequency. Master Dick, if you would…?”

“Sure.” Dick held out his palm. Tiger dropped the communicator in his hand. Dick pressed a few buttons on his watch, frowning. Or perhaps squinting. After a moment, the communicator beeped softly and Dick handed it back.

Tiger put it in his ear. “I may need to surrender my devices.”

Dick made a pulling motion from his watch and a dim holographic display grew from it. He pressed a few holographic keys and then held his wrist close to Tiger.

“Give it a few words.”

“Hello, watch.” Tiger grimaced. “I feel ridiculous.”

The watched beeped and Dick pulled back. “That was enough. Okay, you should be able to program any communicator to patch you into our frequency. You’ll be asked to give voice confirmation. If something really bad happens, which I doubt it will, it’ll also work on all cell phones, Gotham payphones and some kitchen appliances.”

“What?”

“Wayne Enterprises gets everywhere, babe.”

Tiger would never get used to that nickname, but at least it was a pleasant feeling. He still did not feel ready when Alfred parked the car near the nondescript office building that housed Checkmate’s Gotham outpost.

Dick kissed his cheek. “You’ll be okay. We won’t be far. And Cass and Helena will be on hand if something weird happens. Which it probably won’t.”

“Yes, very comforting.”

“Oh, hush.” Dick squeezed both his hands. “You just did them a massive favour. As far as I’m concerned, the least they can do is listen to you about Bannon.”

That name always felt like a lance through his stomach. He nodded silently and slid out of the car.

As they drove off, Dick blew him a kiss out the window. Tiger tried to burn that image into his mind. He could use some encouragement once he was inside.

He approached the glass doors. They slid open for him. He stepped through, heart pounding in his throat.

He paused in the lobby. Breathed. The lobby itself was deliberately dull and sterile. Not the kind of place someone would walk into by accident. Unless they were trying to escape a murderer, Tiger supposed.

The woman at the front desk was a stranger, probably a newer agent who joined after Tiger had gone undercover. She seemed to recognise him anyway and waved him through the next set of doors. Here, things became more interesting.

A security guard passed Tiger a plastic tub. He put his communicator, watch and phone inside. Then he removed his shoes and placed them on the conveyor belt.

“We’ll need to confiscate your electronics,” the guard said. “You’ll get them back when you leave.”

Tiger passed through a body scanner and retrieved his shoes on the other side. He was almost certain Bruce had hidden a tracker on him, but it was clearly disguised enough or of such little consequence that security did not feel the need to search and destroy.

Another receptionist was seated behind another desk, this time close to a pair of grey elevators. “Welcome back, Bishop Five,” he said, stamping a barcode onto the back of Tiger’s hand. “You’re needed on level ten. Have a nice day.”

Tiger stepped into the elevator and tapped the back of his hand against the card reader. Level ten selected itself and the doors sealed him in the elevator.

Tiger fell into parade rest. He shut his eyes and took deep, slow breaths. He had never been to the Gotham City branch of Checkmate before, so it was unlikely he would run into many people who knew him. Maxwell Lord was probably here, and perhaps Amanda Waller, but anyone else? No.

The doors let out a ding and slid open. Tiger stepped out, feeling calmer. He had no reason to feel anxious. He had done his job. All he needed to do was report in and give his recommendations.

And possibly attend an evaluation, which he would likely fail. Then again, it was more likely they would schedule it for another day. If all went to plan, he would not be here for long.

Tiger started down the hallway. The barcode on his wrist would automatically open the correct door once he reached it, and this place was linear. He could do this. Everything would be fine. He had nothing to—

A door up ahead slid open. An agent stepped into the hallway. They locked eyes, and recognition sparked between them.

“Eimal,” Tiger breathed.

“Tiger.” Eimal’s face broke into an uneasy smile. The man was handsome as ever… his dark, intelligent eyes; his nose slightly crooked from being broken one too many times; his thick, black hair…

This was exactly who Tiger had not wanted to see.

Eimal’s smile relaxed, just a small amount. “It’s good to see you.”

Tiger couldn’t answer. He suddenly felt much younger, in the throes of heartbreak once again. That was a dangerous feeling. He made rash decisions when he felt like this. He had to breathe. Had to control it. This feeling was nothing more than the ghost of a relationship long since dead.

He swallowed. “I did not expect to see you here.”

“Lord thought you might like to see a friendly face.” Eimal’s smile turned pained. “I had hoped enough time had passed that…”

Tiger did not know how to respond. He often felt clumsy and slow around Eimal. The man was a few years older and, he’d once believed, much wiser. He had joined Checkmate before Tiger and had been among the first to welcome him. Meeting another Pashtun had helped keep the homesickness at bay for them both.

“The past is the past,” Tiger finally said, hoping he sounded firm. He did not feel firm. He felt like the ground would soon crumble beneath him.

A flash of hurt appeared in Eimal’s eyes, but it was gone so quickly Tiger might have imagined it. “Well, it was good to see you. Don’t keep Lord waiting.” He gestured to the door at the end of the hall.

“Thank you.” Tiger didn’t know what else to say. Eimal stepped aside to let him pass. Tiger felt like he was walking through water. When he turned back, Eimal was gone.

[uas-fics]

Title: Lego Butterflies

Summary: Tweek is so excited to join a lego house contest with his friends Jimmy and Timmy. Nothing could ruin his day! Except maybe Nathan and his schemes of revenge against Jimmy!

Rating: G

Ships: Mentioned Creek. 

Other: For @tweekweek, day 2 Talent. I have no idea if this Red Cross idea would even work but you know what, it's just a setting and conflict set up sooo..... *shrug* 

Also, disclaimer, I didn't have time to do as much research as ASL as I should have, so the wording of Timmy's dialog isn't perfect, and I apologize. :( 

Read on Ao3

---

Tweek bounced in his seat, a goofy smile on his face. The weekend didn’t come fast enough. Since Wednesday, Tweek hopped into bed early in an attempt to force time to move its butt along so Saturday’s event could finally happen. 

Jimmy sat to his left and Timmy to his right. They shared his excitement. 

Jimmy was the one who brought Tweek the flyer, shoving it under his nose during recess. 

"The South Park Red Cross's first annual building contest: An event for children thirteen and under to show off their building skills and have fun!" The flyer proclaimed in Comic Sans font. "Come by and bring your kids for a lego brick contest with plenty of wonderful prizes for the best entries. Lunch and dinner will be provided. starts at 10 am ends at 6 pm. 5 dollar entry fee with be required in advance. For more information call the South Park Red Cross office or email us at SPRedCross@zmail. net." 

Jimmy explained that it was a creative competition where a group of up to three kids are given a lego kit and had the day to make the building, but with their own creative twist on it. The first prize winners received gift cards to the local Dairy Queen. 

Tweek didn't care about the prize. He was just excited to build with his friends and have fun. He didn't even expect to win, but Jimmy proclaimed he knew they would since Tweek was so amazing at building with legos.

"You have one of your builds on display at the library!" Jimmy reminded. "The one that looks like a b-b-bo-boat? You're a natural. We'll win for sure."

His parents donated his boat to the library without his permission last summer. Though Tweek had planned to recycle the bricks into another project, he couldn’t help but feel pride every time he saw his name on that piece of card stock in the shiny display case.

Tweek looked around the Red Cross building at the other tables. He knew some of the other kids here, but most were younger than him and he couldn't put a name to a face. He knew two of the kindergarteners in the corner. Kyle Broflovski's little brother and the youngest member of the goth kids looked less than thrilled to be there as their parents chatted a few feet away. 

Kenny and his little sister and older brother on the other side of the room, Karen speaking animatedly and Kenny nodding along while their brother had a chair pulled to the wall and dozed. 

Some girls from his class chatted near the door. A few kids from the special education class that Tweek didn't know waved to Jimmy as they walked in.

"Oh my Gosh!" Jimmy beamed. "There sure is a really big crowd out tonight, huh?"

"Yeah, this might be a fun competition," Tweek agreed. 

"Of course, it will be." Jimmy leaned over and picked up his bag from beside him. He unzipped it before taking out some peanut butter crackers and juice boxes. "My mom packed me these, but we're being fed lunch, so I thought we could have them as a pre-build s-s-snack."

Timmy nodded, reaching in front of Tweek for a pack of crackers. His fingers wrapped around a juice box, only for his nose to wrinkle up in disgust when he read the flavor. He tossed the juice box back before snatching up a different one.

Jimmy cocked his head to the side to read the flavor. He stuck his tongue out.

"I a-agree with you there, Tim Tim." Jimmy faked a gag. "Kiwi-Orange is the w-worst flavor. I keep asking mom not to buy this kind, but she a-al-always forgets."

Tweek's mom buys the same brand, and he knew its store-brand juice and the cheapest available at the local market, but he didn’t point that out. Instead, he took the Kiwi-Orange for himself, leaving Jimmy with Peach. 

Of the Tropical Explosion flavors, Kiwi-Orange tasted best to him. It was tangy with just the right amount of kiwi. He didn't understand how anyone couldn't love it.

"Well, well, well," A snide voice intoned, "look what the cat dragged in."

Nathan marched up to their table with Mimsy right behind him like a giant shadow. Nathan set his palms on the tabletop and leaned forward a little too far into their space.

"Oh! Hello there, Nathan!" Jimmy chirped, completely unfazed by how close Nathan's tinted aviator glasses were to his face. "You too, M-Mimsy. Good morning!"

"Heya, fellas," Mimsy replied with a wave.

"So, what brings you two here? Jimmy? Timmy? Are you here for the contest?" Nathan nodded to the front of the room where the adults from the Red Cross were pulling out craft supplies from some boxes. 

"We s-s-sure are." Jimmy wrapped his arm around Tweek. "Tim Tim, me, and Tweek here are all one group. Isn't that gr-great? Too bad we can't have a group of five, though. You and Mimsy would make great additions to our t-t-team."

Nathan scrunched up his nose like he just stepped on a wet turd with bare feet.

"Oh," he gave Tweek a hard look over the top of his glasses, "really?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tweek watched Timmy grip his crackers so hard, they crumbled in the wrapper. He glared at Nathan as if daring him to say something.

If Nathan saw, he didn't respond. Instead, he shrugged and stepped away.

"Good luck, there, Jimmy, Timmy...Tweek."

Tweek shuddered at how Nathan said his name. It reminded him a little too much of a cartoon super-villain with a long mustache about to capture the hero with a complicated contraption.

Timmy must not have like how his name was said either since he flipped Nathan off behind his back. Jimmy, on the other hand, seemed unphased completely.

"Good luck to you, too! I know we'll all do f-f-f-fantastic!" Jimmy encouraged. Nathan scowled as he turned around and went to another table.

Mimsy almost followed him, when he paused, taking a look at the box of juice in Tweek's hand.

"Is that Kiwi-Orange? Oh, boy, it's my favorite flavor. Do they have some here?" Mimsy grinned.

"Really?" Timmy signed, sticking out his tongue.

Tweek smiled back at him. "It's my favorite, too. It's yummy."

Jimmy looked into his bag. "Ah, darn, sorry, Mimsy. Mom only packed enough for my team. Maybe I can bring you some at school on Monday."

Mimsy's face fell. For someone with a large and imposing a frame as Mimsy, when he got disappointed, he looked no more threatening than an upset puppy.

Tweek offered his unopened box. "Here, you can have mine. I brought my own drink." With his free hand, he lifted his ever-present thermos from between his feet, still warm with the mid-morning’s coffee. 

Mimsy's eyes grew wide. His mouth went slack as he took the juice. "Really? You'd give me the best flavor? Just like that? No fight or nothin'?" Mimsy stared down at the juice box as if Tweek just handed him the Hope Diamond to keep.

"Uh-huh. I'm ok with it, if you don't mind, Jimmy." He turned a questioning look to him.

Jimmy shook his head. "No, it's fine. Our teachers always tell us sharing makes for the b-best friendships."

"Good, there you go, Mimsy. Good luck. I hope you have lots of fun today." Tweek smiled again.

 He didn't know Mimsy well, other than he hung around with Nathan all the time, but he didn't have anything against him. Mimsy seemed like a nice kid. He didn’t give bad vibes, unlike Nathan.

Mimsy looked at the box, then at Tweek, and blushed. "Golly, that's swell of you. Thanks a lot, Tweek." He giggled as if Tweek just told him a silly riddle before making a beeline for Nathan.

After the three finished their juice--or coffee in Tweek's case--and crackers, Jimmy gathered up the trash and took it to the trash can before heading to use the restroom.

Once Jimmy was out of earshot, Tweek turned to Timmy with a frown.

"Are you alright? You seem...uh..." he gestured to the crumbs covering Timmy's shirt, "upset? Is this about Nathan?"

Timmy brushed the crumbs off with his face set in a scowl. He looked around before leaning in close. 

"Do not trust Nathan," he whispered, keeping his hand movement small and close to his body.

"Why?" Tweek covered his mouth with the side of his hand. Nathan and Mimsy sat across the room, so they couldn't hear him but better safe than sorry.

"He is a dickhead." Timmy cringed. "Jimmy is too stupid to understand Nathan hates him."

"He hates him? Jimmy sure seems to think they’re friends." Tweek frowned. 

"He is clueless!" Timmy rolled his eyes. "Nathan hates him. He tries to trick him all the time or get him in trouble."

At Tweek's raised eyebrow, Timmy went on to explain some of his experiences with Nathan that ranged from switching out Jimmy's pencils with colored ones for tests and tripping in him in the lunch line to dumping soda in his backpack and spreading rumors.

When Timmy started to explain something that happened during summer camp, he started moving his hands so fast in his anger that Tweek couldn't understand him. 

"Alright, alright, I get it! Nathan is a huge dick." Tweek grabbed Timmy's wrists when he was in the middle of signing what Tweek thought was 'Space-Racist.'

Timmy pulled his hands to his lap. "Be careful today," he warned, leaning over to shoot Nathan a glare. 

Tweek peeked over his shoulder. Nathan had his head turned, so he didn't see Timmy's glower. Instead, his gaze was fixed on Jimmy, who was speaking with some girls at a nearby table. His hands balled into shaking fists.

Tweek snapped his head forward. His stomach twisted into knots. Timmy was right. They had to be super careful today.

---

Jimmy, that asshole, flirting with those girls right in front of him! He was just doing it to rub it in his face that, for some reason completely unknown to Nathan, the girls seemed to like him. 

He didn't understand what anyone saw in Jimmy. Nathan was much more handsome and charismatic than Jimmy could ever be!

But the girls tittered and fawned over him like he was the best thing since sliced bread! 

Nathan gripped his hands into fists. 

"Mimsy, we're going to win those gift cards," He growled. "Even if I have to smash their entry myself."

Mimsy looked up from the empty juice box in his hands. He had been staring at it like a dolt since he finished sucking it dry. What was the big deal? It was just a juice box. It wasn't even a good flavor. Only some weirdo like Mimsy would like Kiwi-Orange.

"Ah, I dunno, Boss," Mimsy fingered the box, "maybe we should just try our best to win on our own. We don't gotta cheat."

"Don't you see, Mimsy? Jimmy is cheating! Us cheating would even the odds." Nathan waved his hand towards them. "He brought that Tweek kid with them to help."

"What's wrong with Tweek?" Mimsy's voice pitched up when he said Tweek's name. A small blush grew across his cheeks, eyes drifting down to the juice box.

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's an expert with legos, Mimsy! He has something he made shown off at the library! How is that fair to the rest of us?"

Mimsy craned his head around the room a moment. "Well, why don't we ask Colette." He pointed towards her. "She has a lego project displayed at the library too, and it looks like she's all by herself. We can ask her to join us!"

Nathan winced. "Hell no. She's ugly. I don't want an ugly girl on my team." He was trying to win the gift cards so he could get pretty girls. Girls love free chocolate-dipped cones. He would have a whole bunch of girls clambering for his attention when he won those gift cards. Then Jimmy would cry like a baby now that the girls saw who the real man around was.

Mimsy cocked his head to the side. "Well, Boss, maybe you should put your misogyny and bias against women aside this one time and work towards your goal so we can win honestly and you can take real pride in your win."

Nathan stared dumbfounded at Mimsy. Where did Mimsy get these ideas? Probably some dumb cartoon or something.

"Mimsy, shut up."

Mimsy turned his attention back to his juice box with a shrug. "Ok, boss."

---

The rules for the competition where simple: build the lego house from a kit and decorate it with the supplies from the craft table.

The house kit was a simple model, only twenty bricks high with four window pieces and a door piece and a premade slanted roof.

Even if Tweek hadn’t built it before, it was an easy task. He took up the job of putting it together while Jimmy and Timmy gathered supplies and refined the plan.

They had decided to turn their project into a gingerbread house with lollipop trees and candy stuck to the roof. They would use paint to add icing accents and cotton balls as cotton candy lining the outside like bushes.

As Timmy wrapped cellophane plastic around foam balls to make hard candy and Jimmy used a marker to color the cotton, Tweek stood to stretch.

"I'm going to the restroom. Be right back." 

Timmy grabbed his sleeve, holding up a sheet of cellophane. 

"Get blue," He told him before lowering his head back to his work. 

Once Tweek finished his business, he stood over the craft table shifting through the mess of stickers and papers for a blue sheet of cellophane. Most of the stickers had a faint yellow tinge to them and several of the sets of markers were missing colors. If Tweek had to guess, he would say a lot of the supplies were donated from a granny’s leftover scrapbooking supplies. 

Tweek glanced over his shoulder at a nearby team’s house kit box. Given how yellowed it was, maybe more than just the stickers came from someone’s backroom.

He set some brown felt aside before a flash of shiny, translucent blue caught his eye. 

With a noise of satisfaction, he reached for it, only for another hand to grab it at the same time.

Tweek looked up and met eyes with Nathan himself.

"I saw it first," Nathan snapped, snatching the cellophane.

"We need it for ours," Tweek countered. 

All of Timmy's stories played through his head. He needed to be very careful with what he said. Jimmy might be optimistically oblivious enough to overlook Nathan's malice acts, but Tweek sure as heck wasn't.

Nathan attempted to reply, but Mimsy stepped behind him and cut him off.

"Heya, Tweek!" He swung his hands side to side. "Gosh, isn't this fun? We's nearly finished half our house. It's going to be a summer house with a pool and palm trees and--"

Nathan shoved a sheet of craft felt into his mouth.

"Shut up, Mimsy! Don't tell our enemies the plan." He glared over the top of his glasses at Tweek. "He might steal our ideas."

"We don't need your ideas." Tweek reached across the table for the corner of the felt in Mimsy's mouth. He pulled it out then pushed it into Nathan's hands, making sure that the part covered in spit touched his skin.

Nathan dropped everything in his arms back on the table with a yelp. As he wiped his hand on his pants, Tweek snatched the blue cellophane. Before Nathan could make a bigger scene, Tweek took a pair of craft scissors and made a wavy line down the middle of the sheet.

"Here. Problem solved," Tweek set half on the slobbery felt. 

A snarl ripped from Nathan’s throat as his upper lip rose. Tweek froze like a rabbit staring down a pet dog. 

Oh, shoot! He had let himself get overconfident! Nathan was going to kill him, right there in the Red Cross building, in front of everyone! 

Mimsy put his big hands on Nathan's shoulders and turned him.

"That'll be enough blue, dontcha think, boss? I think so. We just needed a little. Ain't it real diplomatic to share like that?" Mimsy jabbered on as he forced Nathan towards their table.

Tweek's body relaxed. Mimsy glanced over his shoulder at him.

"Thank you," he mouthed at him. Mimsy turned forward instantly, the tips of his ears burning pink.

---

Nathan crumbled the blue cellophane and threw it on the table. He was upset, but Mimsy didn't know why. They got more than enough for their pool.

Maybe if his head wasn't so light and spinny, he could figure it out, but right now he felt as though his feet weren't even touching the ground. 

Tweek was so nice. He gave him his juice box. He shared the cellophane. He even said thank you for taking Nathan away to cool off. 

Tweek was wonderful.

"--msy?" 

Mimsy blinked. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah, what were ya sayin', Boss?"

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing up his glasses. 

"I said we have to get those punk-ass jerks Jimmy, Timmy, and Tweek. We can't let them win!" Nathan picked up a pair of scissors and cut the crinkled cellophane to shape.

Mimsy twiddled his thumbs, taking a seat. "Do we have to? I don't think Tweek deserves us destroying his hard work."

Nathan paused and looked up. He fixed Mimsy with a look before he scowled.

"Mimsy, what do you care about that blond twitchy kid?" Nathan asked in a slow, careful tone.

Mimsy picked up a button he had painted to look like a life-ring and twisted it between his fingers. "Oh, well, ah...Tweek just..." He felt a silly smile grow on his face and couldn't make himself look up at his best friend as he continued, "He gives me butterflies, ya know, boss? In my tummy, and I just don't wanna cause him no trouble."

He didn't really want to cause Jimmy or Timmy trouble either, but Nathan had his heart set on being better than them, so Mimsy tagged along and helped him out however he could.

"Oh, for the love of..." Nathan dragged his hands down his face. "You know Tweek has a boyfriend, don't you? Shit those butterflies out already. You don't have a chance."

"I don't wanna chance." Mimsy picked up a lego brick and attached it to another brick. "Just knowing Tweek’s happy makes me happy. I wanna be his friend." 

Be his friend, sit together at lunch, even, hold his hand at recess a little, that's all Mimsy wanted. He just really, really wanted that wonderful person to like him and he didn't think ruining his project would make that dream come true.

"Mimsy, you have the brain of a chicken." Nathan shook his head.

"Ah, geez, thanks, boss." Mimsy smiled at him. Chickens are really smart. Their class watched a show on them once. Chickens can count and do basic math! Nathan was such a swell guy for using inside information to compliment him.

Nathan opened his mouth then shut it with a groan. "Just finish building the house and stop pining over Tweek. I'll come up with a plan in the meantime."

Though his stomach twisted with worry, Mimsy nodded. Nathan wouldn't steer him wrong, would he?

---

Lunch was sandwiches, a snack pack of chips, an apple or orange, and a drink. The adults ushered everyone out to another room to eat, so Tweek's group stood with Kenny and his siblings as they ate.

In the ten minutes since Karen started talking to Tweek, he was pretty sure he counted her take a breathless than fifteen times.

"Since it's a kitten's house," Karen explained, "it'll have a pen outside for mice she can eat anytime she wants and--"

"Karen," Kenny cut in, "looks like they're letting people have seconds. Go get some. Get me another too."

Karen looked at her half-eaten sandwich then back up. Kenny shooed her with his fingers and a nod. 

"Mom let us come for the free food, sis," Kenny reminded her, taking a big bite of his sandwich. "We'll put the extras in Kevin's bag."

"But, I was telling Tweek about our project." Karen sighed, but pushed her chair out anyway and headed back towards the serving table.

Jimmy laughed, slapping Tweek's shoulder. "Wow, I thought she would t-talk your ear off."

Tweek blew a breath out. "Thanks, dude.” He told Kenny. “She's really excited, huh?"

He raised a shoulder in a half shrug. "It gets her out of the house to play with glitter glue and stickers. Of course, she's excited. I don't think we'll win, but she's having fun, so it's ok by me if we lose."

From across the table, Kevin snorted. "We'd better win. Girls love being treated to a dipped cone," he muttered, more to himself than the conversation between the fourth graders. 

Kenny rolled his eyes as Karen came trotting back up. Chips and fruit ladened down her arms. Several sets of eyes from the nearby tables turned towards theirs when she dropped everything down with the thump of hard apples and oranges and the crinkles of plastic chip bags.

Karen beamed proudly at her plunder. "That nice old lady gave it to me when I told her my last name." She waved towards an elderly woman sitting behind the table. See Karen acknowledge her, the woman waved back before returning to her conversation.

Kenny's cheeks blushed red. He averted his eyes and pulled his hood strings a little. Even Kevin slumped down a little farther in his chair.

As is his nature, Jimmy quickly changed the subject before the heavy silence grew too awkward. 

"So, w-what else is everyone doing for their e-en-entries? Do you know? Colette is sitting next to us and is making a fairy castle. It's r-r-r-really neat!" Jimmy waved his hands out, drawing the attention to himself and shielding the McCormicks while Kevin unzipped his backpack.

"Yeah, um, oh!" Tweek moved his arms out as well, though not as wide. "Mimsy told me he and Nathan were making a summer house. Isn't that cool? Errr--It has a pool even."

"A pool?!" Karen gasped. She grabbed Kenny's arm and shook him. "Can ours have a pool? I know cats hate water, but I don't think this kitten would. It can be a special cat pool!"

"Huh? Yeah, sure, we can put fish stickers inside," Kenny replied without looking up from his and Kevin's work.

"I want the pool to have pink water," Karen continued, wrapping her arm around his. "It's fancy rose water. We have some extra paper flowers we can put around it, and we can even make an innertube floatie!"

"I bet you can make the best p-pool ever," Jimmy told her, finally lowering his arms to the table. "I think we have some extra pink plastic wrap you can use. If you make a paper c-c-cir-circle you can cover it for your pool."

Karen released Kenny's arm and darted around the table to squeeze in between Tweek and Jimmy, bombarding Jimmy with questions for more ideas. Feeling claustrophobic, Tweek slipped out of his seat. The instant he did, Karen plopped down. 

Kenny set a hand on Tweek's arm. "Thanks. I owe you one,” he whispered, his cheeks still tinged with the red of embarrassment. 

Before Tweek could reply, another hand grabbed his arm and pulled. He spun around to see Timmy staring at him with a determined expression. He tugged Tweek away to talk privately in the corner.

"I saw Nathan and Mimsy." He nodded towards the door to the other room. "They snuck back in."

"What?" Tweek squawked. He craned his head around to make sure no one heard him. "What?" He repeated, much quieter. "When? Should we tell an adult?"

Timmy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? Or..." He flashed a wicked smile, "we catch them."

"You want to sneak in there? How? You're not exactly..." He gestured to Timmy's wheelchair. 

Timmy frowned. "I am sneaky." 

"You are, but, eeer," Tweek chewed his lower lip. "There are too many people. We have to open the door completely to get you inside and..."

"You go!" Timmy rolled closer, pointing at Tweek’s chest. "You go in after Nathan."

"Why me? We should tell an adult." Tweek took a step away, but Timmy rolled his chair in front of him, blocking his path. 

"You go. In ten minutes, I will tell someone." He promised, crossing his heart with his finger.

Timmy had that determined look on his face. It was the same face he had when he argued with Cartman about changing his superhero from Iron Maiden to Doctor Timothy. Unless Tweek wanted to make a powerful enemy of Timmy, he had no choice.

"Alright, fine..." Tweek heaved a sigh. "We still need a distraction though."

Timmy smirked, wheeling himself back. "That is my job."

Before Tweek could stop him, he spun his chair around and surged it forward. In the middle of the room, he slammed the brakes to a stop and fell out onto the ground. He threw his arm up dramatically with an anguished cry that reminded Tweek a little too much of a soap opera character.

It took seconds for all the adults to gather upon Timmy.

 Tweek seized his moment and dashed towards the door. He slipped in and turned his eyes to a horrendous scene.

Drops of red, yellow, and blue paint rolled down half-finished walls and stained cuts of cardboard paper. Stickers had been ripped from the lego bricks on some and whole parts of the buildings taken away on others. Swear words were written along roofs in white glue. Glitter covered every surface.

And the end of the line of crafting carnage stood none other than Nathan himself, gluing marker caps to lego bricks with glitter glue.

"Hand me the buttons," Nathan held out his hand behind him without looking up. "We're going to put a big penis on this house. We'll use those stupid colored bushes as hair on the--"

"STOP!" Tweek shouted, rushing forward. He knew it was too late to save his or any of the other projects, but he had to try to save what was left!

With a rush of adrenaline, he dove at Nathan. Marker caps and buttons clattered across laminate as Nathan gasped and struggled under Tweek. 

Nathan smacked Tweek across the face with the back of his hand, but Tweek was able to pin one of Nathan's hands down by the wrist.

With a sneer, Nathan aimed the bottle of glue in his free hand at Tweek's face and squeezed. A line of liquid glue hit him right above the right eye.

Tweek recoiled back, desperately trying to wipe the glue away with his sleeve. Nathan shoved him off. He rolled back, knocking into another table. 

The folding table's leg gave way, dumping all the projects on it. Legos, stickers, paper, paintbrushes and shallow dishes of water all dropped to the floor. One of the houses hit Tweek on the top of the head. Stars swam across his vision.

"NO!" Nathan screamed. "My project!" 

Tweek looked to his side and saw the remains of a lego house with a styrofoam sun glued to the top. The house crushed a paper water bowl with blue cellophane inside and several palm trees made of construction paper.

"Why you!" Nathan snarled. "Mimsy, grab him! I'm going to put a bottle of glitter glue down his throat!"

Tweek tried to scramble to his feet, only to slip on the loose pieces. Mimsy loomed over him.

 There was no way out now. He was blocked by Nathan to his left, the other table to his front, the fallen table to his back and Mimsy to his right.

Tweek didn't think he would die today, but here he was about to meet the reaper.

 All in all, he had a good day up until all this started with Nathan. He and his friends had lots of fun building the lego house and adding the decorations. 

Too bad he couldn't say goodbye to everyone. Where were his parents supposed to find a new busboy on such short notice? Craig would be annoyed, too. They had a date planned for next week. 

Accepting his demise, Tweek clenched his eyes shut and waited...and waited...and waited, but nothing came. 

He opened his eyes to see Mimsy staring at him, face red and conflicted.

"Mimsy! Do as I say!" Nathan ordered.

"But, Boss! The butterflies," He whimpered as he grabbed at his shirt. "Can't we just go? Please?"

Nathan let out a cry of frustration. He set one foot on either side of Tweek before grabbing his chin. He held the glue up threateningly.

"If you're going to be useless, I'll do it myself," Nathan muttered.  

He squeezed Tweek's cheeks into a fish pucker, forcing them apart. Tweek gritted his teeth. 

A pair of hands fell on Nathan's shoulders. He blinked and looked up just in time for him to be thrown back into the opposite table. That one fell backwards with a crash, destroying all the defiled projects atop it.

Mimsy's lip quivered. "I asked ya to stop, Boss. I even said ‘please’..." 

As Mimsy wiped away tears on his arm, the door opened. 

"What is going on in here — Oh my Gosh!" One of the adults gaped at the scene. 

Nathan scrambled to his feet, jabbing a finger at Tweek. 

"He tried to come and break everyone's projects," He accused. "We came here to stop him from ruining everyone's fun. Tweek is a big cheater!"

"That's not--argh! That's not what happened!" Tweek countered though he didn't try to stand. His head hurt too much. Hopefully, his mom remembered to put the ice pack back in the freezer since Tweek smashed his elbow at the shop. Tweek was going to need it for the lump growing on the top of his head.

Slowly, adults and kids trickled in, looking on the destruction. Some of the younger kids started crying. A few of the adults already had phones out, preparing to call parents.

"Yes, it is, ma'am," Nathan said in his most sympathetic voice. "Tweek came in and was doing awfully naughty things to other people's projects. When Mimsy and I came in, he pushed me down.”

"No, he pushed me," Tweek snapped. "Please, Timmy! Timmy saw these two come in here, didn't you? Tell them!"

The adults turned to Timmy, who nodded once, glaring at Nathan. 

"See!" Tweek gestured. 

The adults still didn't look convinced. One walked right past Tweek to Nathan, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you hurt, sweetie?" She asked.

"A little bit, ma'am," he whimpered. “I have a scrape on my elbow. I might need stitches.”

"I'm telling the truth!" Tweek tried to stand, but the world spun too much for him to stay up.

Mimsy chewed his lip. His hands rubbed his stomach before he took a long, slow breath.

"Missum?" Mimsy tugged on the back of her shirt. "Nathan's lying. You see, we was gonna come in and ruin half of everyone's projects, so no one could tell we really were trying to ruin Tweek's teams, but Tweek came in, and Nathan pushed him and tried to put glue in his mouth. I’m the one who pushed Nathan."

Nathan growled. "Mimsy, you fucking traitor," He snapped. "See if I let you sit next to me at lunch now."

"Young man!" the adult gasped. "What did you just say?"

Nathan winced as he realized his mistake. She grabbed his shoulders and marched him towards the door. Mimsy twiddled his thumbs, uncertainly, before the adult yelled at him to follow her as well.

"Mimsy?" Tweek called. "That was really cool and brave of you. Thanks a lot."

Never before had Tweek seen a face light up as fast as Mimsy’s did at that moment. He giggled to himself before following after Nathan, almost skipping the whole way there.

---

Tweek slumped down against the table. His head still hurt, but at least the room stayed still when he moved. Timmy patted his shoulder as Jimmy sat down across from them.

"Nathan's parents just came to drove him and M-M-M-Mimsy home. They're in big trouble for this. They have to p-pay for the house kits they broke and aren't allowed at any R-R-Red Cross events for a whole six months." Jimmy cocked his head to the side. "I just don't get it. Why would Nathan do something so mean and nasty?"

Timmy slapped his palm to his forehead and dragged his hand down his face. 

"He is a dick bag," Timmy reminded him. "Remember camp?"

"Those were all just unfortunate accidents," Jimmy countered. Timmy rolled his eyes and let the topic drop. 

"And, anyway, Tweek. How are you f-feeling?"

Tweek shook held his head. "I'll be ok. I'm just glad I'm not in trouble, too. It's too bad we couldn't win the prize, though. Did you hear what happened to the gift cards?"

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, they decided to judge the ones left standing and pick a winner from those, but open the contest again in a month for everyone else who got their projects wrecked."

"Who won?" Timmy asked.

A smile spread on Jimmy's face. "Kenny and his brother and s-s-sis-sister," he explained. "I saw their finished Kitten Dream House, and it was c-cool and creative! Better than our silly g-g-gingerbread idea by a long shot."

"Will you join us for the next contest?" Timmy wanted to know from Tweek.

Tweek winced. "No, thank you. I'll play by myself at home where no one is going to try to make me eat glue."

"Ah, that's a s-stinky spirit to have," Jimmy chided.

After all that had happened today, Tweek didn't care one bit how his spirit smelled. 

If even a fraction of what Timmy said was true, then he had to be very careful until Nathan's anger cooled--or turned back towards Jimmy. Who knows how long that will take!

But if Nathan was upset with Tweek, he was positively pissed at Mimsy for betraying him. 

Tweek pursed his lips then nodded to himself. 

Monday at school he would ask Mimsy if he wanted to join his table for lunch. It was the least he could do. Besides, as far as Tweek was concerned, Mimsy deserved a much better friend than Nathan, and he was willing to step up and be that friend.

---

AN: Shout out to my friend @najti-nightmare for help with the fic and title!

[crazyfreckledginger]

The Girl’s Pack ~ Chapter 23: Wrong Signals

[Princess][Archer][Wolf][Wally][Jason and Roy][Dick]

"You mean selling as in?" 

"As in it is exactly what you think it means," Tim muttered as Black Canary walked up to the screen and leaned over it, inspecting the writing.

"Care to explain?" Red Hood's robotic voice resonated in the room as his arms crossed over his chest. The tension in the air was thick and tense. Nobody knew what to expect of the news Tim was about to announce, but by the looks of the situation, it wasn't looking good.

"They plan on selling (Y/N) to the highest bidder after taking some blood samples."

"To replicate the blood samples?" Nightwing asked.

"Most probably" Tim answered.

"So clones." Red Hood concluded.

"What kind of highest bidder?" Batman asked. 

"It seems that they might sell her off for money and make their own clone without any emotions -- which evidently she has." Tim nodded, "but," he sighed, "it's possible Deathstroke or Lex Luthor might send someone to buy them-"

"To collect her instead." Batman finished. 

"What about Lilith?" Robin asked.

"She has no use for her, she wouldn't care what happens to (Y/N) as long as she doesn't roam free," Black Canary illustrated. 

"Bitch," Arsenal grumbled, earning a small nudge from his best friend and a glare from the Bat. 

"How do we corner them?" Wally asked. 

"We'll talk about that tomorrow," Dinah smiled softly, glancing down at her watch, "it's getting late, regain the energy you lost for the trip," She gestured to the bats. They nodded, fairing their goodnights and leaving the room. 

Robin went ahead, scurrying to his room and changing into his sleepwear before heading to (Y/N) room.

When he entered the room, she was sleeping soundly, facing the other way of that which he was. He closed the door discreetly before tiptoeing to the foot of the bed before (Y/N)'s wolf instinct kicked in and she woke up. 

"Hmmm, Dami?" She mumbled, her head slowly peeling off the pillow to begrudgingly open her eyes to stare at the culprit.

"Yes," He simply answered, sliding under the covers beside her. She cracked a small smile as his back faced her and she pulled his waist closer to her, snuggling into his hair.

"I missed you," She whispered, leaning over to kiss his temple.

"I missed you too," He grumbled, hoping it would be barely audible to her, fortunately, her wolf hearing made the answer very audible and she smiled in his hair. She slowly drifted off to sleep, her mind only shutting down when Damian turned around in her grasped and hugged her waist. 

******

Batman and Nightwing however, didn't go to bed, since Canary had stayed up the night before with Tim, they both decided that they would keep investigating into the night to obtain as much information as possible.

"Hey, look at this," Dick pointed to the screen, highlighting a specific paragraph in one of Lex Luthor's emails to Deathstroke.

[x]

~As per discussed, the weapon will be finalised by the end of the week, but trial runs will be needed. Additionally, it has to be securely placed and cannot be transported regularly and easily. However, we were able to increase its range by 10 kilometres in it's stationed position. One cautious point to note, when transported, the detector becomes unstable and could be set off if not handled correctly.~

"A weapon?" Batman grumbled, narrowing his eyes. 

"And look at this, I think they'll be able to tell when the wolves and (Y/N) pass to and from Earth," He muttered.

It was a scanned official document from Lex Luthor's firm:

~Ability to detect instant increases in energy: conclusive~ 

Batman huffed lowly, sitting back in his chair and thinking deeply.

"That's how they do it right? They increase the level of particles and teleport?" Batman nodded in response.

"Shit," Nightwing muttered. Batman would have corrected his language but given the very inappropriate timing, he was going to let it slip. In fact, he was actually thinking the same thing. 

"If this happens anytime soon, we'll have to be prepared, let's call it a day," Batman informed, getting off his seat and turning the computer off. Nightwing hummed in response, walking back towards the numerous rooms and peeking inside (Y/N) to make sure she was okay. He grinned when he saw her peacefully sleeping in Damian's embrace.

"Go away Grayson," The child grunted, hugging the girl tighter. He did as instructed before moving towards his room. 

*******

The next morning, (Y/N) woke up before Damian. She played with his hair, gazing upon his cute, little frowning face as he slept in her arms. He must have been exhausted from the mission. 

She was happy he was getting some sleep. She caressed his cheek softly, pulling away when he started sturring. His eyes opened slowly, trying to adjust to the different brightness in the room. Then, his eyes landed on the girl's grinning face.

"Why are you smiling? It's morning, no one likes waking up," He grumbled. She chuckled at the comment.

"Your baby sleeping face is cute," He blushed three different shades of red, his frown returning, glaring at the girl hard as she slid out of bed, walking towards the bathroom. His cheeks still burnt as he followed suit, knocking on the door to let her know he would be going back to his room and pacing out. He bumped into Jason and Roy as he exited.

"Little bird stayed with (Y/N) huh?" His older brother teased.

"Shut up Todd," He grunted, walking straight past them and glaring hard at the raven haired man. 

"I'm going to have breakfast man," Roy patted his best friend's chest before nodding and meandering straight as Jason stopped in front of (Y/N)'s room. He knocked, hearing the shower and assuming she wouldn't here.

"Come in," He thought he heard, obeying and sitting on her bed, waiting for her to exit. As soon as she came out, even in only a towel, Jason raced to her, hugging her tightly. He didn't know what came upon him but he needed to know she was safe at this moment. With everything they had discovered, he was a little spooked with everything that could happen. She slowly hugged back, realising who and what was going on. 

"I missed you," She muttered in his chest.

"I missed you too," He whispered, pulling away slightly. He unconsciously glanced down at her lips -- which she noticed and blushed slightly. It was only then that she noticed how close their faces were to each other and her heart beat faster. From the lack of personal space or was it something else? She didn't know. 

"How, um, how are you?" He cleared his throat but not pulling away. 

"I'm okay, how are you?" She mumbled.

"Tired but I'm fine," He nodded, suddenly finding himself staring at her lips again as she bit them anxiously. 

Slowly, he leaned in, decreasing the very small space between them, he stopped for a moment as his lips caressed hers before he captured them gracefully. The kiss was hungry and eager. 

[x]

Her eyes fluttered closed at the feeling, his chapped lips were rough against hers, but they moved gently and swiftly. He cupped her cheek gently until she pulled away when she finally understood what was happening and she blushed, looking away still in his embrace.

"Sorry, I don't know what I want," She mumbled, staring at the ground. His heart clenched slightly and he nodded. 

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and Dick's head peaked into the room. A frown forming on his face immediately as he interrupted the moment. (Y/N) head snapped at the door after Jason's. The latter glared hard at his brother and (Y/N) pulled away.

"Dick!" Her mood washed over completely as she went to engulf his older brother in a hug. Jason frowned as he witnessed the interaction. Did she have feelings for her brother instead? Is that why she pulled away from the kiss? His heart physically hurt as it broke from the complete emotion the girl felt in Dick's grasp.

"I missed you!" She muttered. Jason heard enough and walked right past them with a pissed expression. Dick raised his eyebrow in confusion as he felt the anger radiating off the man as he walked by. 

"Jason?" Dick inquired, (Y/N)'s attention peeled off of the hug to distinguish the other Wayne marching off frustratedly. Knowing exactly what was going on, she softly pushed Dick out of the way to run after him.

"Sorry Dick," She mumbled, "Jason!!" She proceeded to call out his name before he disappeared into one of the numerous hallways.

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[sassyshoulderangel319]

Notes: I run @centralcitygirlingotham and this is a “deleted scene” from the story going on over there. By deleted, I mean, “I’m expanding on the story so the READERS know what’s going but Tally isn’t going to post about it.”

Yawning, I pushed the door to my apartment open. Smacking my lips with my mind focused on what to stick in the microwave for dinner, I didn’t notice anyone else was in my apartment until a hand closed over my mouth from behind.

“Don’t scream,” a familiar voice said in my ear.

I rolled my eyes, realizing who it was. “Do I ever?” I tried to say. But it was muffled by his glove so it sounded like, “Oo uh uh-uh?”

Red Hood let me go. “Huh?”

“Do I ever?” I repeated.

I heard him snort through his helmet. “Yes you have, once or twice. Not recently though.” He had his other arm across his abdomen, under which blood was seeping. I gasped. “Sumpthin’ wrong, sweetheart?” he asked.

“You’re bleeding!”

“Oh. Yeah. It’s no big deal.”

“No big deal?! Oh my word! Sit down! Take your shirt off. I’m gonna clean it out.” 

Red Hood eased himself onto my vinyl floor and slowly worked himself out of his suit top. I helped him slide it off his arms and threw it off to the side. I grabbed my First Aid kit and started to clean out the cut, trying really hard not to vomit. I hated blood. My own on my fingers was fine (nail biter life) but gory wounds like this made me lightheaded.

Hood chuckled at the look on my face. “Queasy, Tal?” he teased.

“Little,” I admitted.

He laughed. “You’re adorable.” He coughed as I pressed a little harder.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

He shook his head. “‘S fine. Mind if I take this off?” He gestured to his helmet. I shook my head. “Thanks doll.” He leaned his head up just enough to release the helmet with a pssshhh! and freed it from his head. He wore a red domino mask underneath it.

My hand froze where I was holding a damp towel over his wound.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“Oh my gosh---Jason?!”

He swore. “How’d you know it was me?”

“You think I can’t recognize my boyfriend’s face because his eyes are covered? The white streak in your hair alone is a dead giveaway!”

“Nn... Yeah. I guess you’re right. You might as well find out now. Speaking of dead giveaways. I was dead once.”

“WHAT?!” So much about Gwen saying Jason Todd died when we were around fifteen making so much more sense.

“Yeah. I was Robin Number Two. The one that the Joker killed.”

“Oh. So now that I know it’s you and you’re getting delirious from blood loss you’re just gonna tell me everything?”

He shrugged from his position lying on my floor. “Might as well. You deserve to know. If you’re going to be in a steady relationship with me, honesty and communication are vital. Secrets aren’t good for relationships. ‘Sides, you’re almost bizarrely trustworthy. Like, I could have told you this the day we met for the first time and still believed you’d keep my secret safe.”

I paused. “...Thanks.”

I finished cleaning and dressing his wound and went back to my bathroom to grab some painkillers. I only had mild ones because I rarely got injured and my dehydration headaches were never bad enough to need anything stronger, but I handed him a few anyway before fetching a glass of water. “Thanks babydoll,” he said, accepting both and taking the pills I offered him. “I feel better already.”

“Try not to get slashed next time, yeah?” I suggested. “Now that I know it’s you I’m going to worry even more.”

Jason put a bloodstained, gloved hand against my face. “Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. I’ll be fine. I know how to take care of myself.”

“I know. But people shoot at you, Jay!”

Jay shrugged. “Yeah. Well. Their aim sucks,” he said, trying to sit up and grunting in pain. I helped him upright, biting back my my protesting because I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

“So... back when we met at the Gala. That really wasn’t our first meeting,” I said. “Our first meeting was that night you sat next to me on the roof the day after I moved here. You sang Bad Blood under your breath like you didn’t want me to hear it.”

He chuckled and used my shoulder as a handhold to push himself into a standing position. “That’s right. I tailed Nightwing the night before and saw him chilling with you and wondered who could possibly make him stop his patrol to sit on a fire escape with a kid.” He smirked as I got to my feet. “Turns out you’re older than you look from afar---” I jabbed him in the shoulder with my elbow. “---and really calming to be around. Even listening to Taylor Swift and reading Dracula.”

“Wait. If you’re the second Robin and Nightwing was the first...” I mused, knowing that Nightwing once was Robin from Nightwing telling me. “Oh my word. Is Nightwing Dick?”

Jason chuckled. “You’re too clever by half, Tally Star,” he said. “Yup. Dickiebird is Nightwing.”

“So... Bruce is Batman, Tim’s Red Robin, and Damian’s Robin. I’m guessing Cassie is... Orphan?”

“Not Batgirl?” Jason teased.

“Heck no. Batgirl’s a redhead. Cassie’s hair is black. Also different heights.”

Jason snickered. “You’re so smart, Tal.”

“Just because I know it’s you under the helmet and I’m familiar with your family,” I said.

Jason shrugged again and put his suit top back on. “You would have figured it out eventually. You’ve been suspicious of it since before we started dating, back when you overheard me and Dick talking about the fact that you’re a civilian the first time you came to the Manor.”

“Oh. I didn’t... know that you... knew I was there.”

“That’s because you didn’t know that I was trained by Batman.”

“Good point.”

“You’re freaking out significantly less than I thought you would,” Jason said as I helped him fasten his suit back up.

“Dude. I’m from Central City where we’ve got metahumans. And I currently live in Gotham. I’m surprised and also astounded that I didn’t figure it out earlier. And yeah I’m scared and worried about you now that I know, but I also trust you. I feel like I’ve reached the point where it’ll surprise me, but it won’t freak me out.”

Jason glanced out my window. “I should go,” he said. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay. And Jay?”

“Hmm?”

“Be careful.”

He winked at me. “Just for you, princess.”

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

Whole (Part 2) - brood au

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Dick Grayson, all the kiddos Pairing: implied/past/future superbat Summary: Despite his kids’ claim, Clark didn’t make all these photo albums just for himself. A/N: Equally as bad as the first part I guess. Conner is also in this album, I just didn’t mention any specific ones. Jon’s gonna take over this reunion at one point. And despite his ridiculousness, Bruce absolutely loves him already. The ending is probably a little too figurative, but it’s basically Clark thinking ‘oh man, I want to spend all this alone time with Bruce.’ but then also: ‘God I fucking love these kids so much, and I love these little moments of spending time with just them just as much as I want to spend time with Bruce.’

Part 1.

Other Brood AU things.

~~

It was like herding sheep, getting everyone back inside. The kids could barely let go of Bruce, and Dick was already off, chatting Bruce’s ear off before he could properly climb the porch steps.

They piled into the living room, Lois motioning to the sofa, offering it to Bruce. Bruce nodded silently and took it. His children began to swarm around him, Cass and Tim on one side, Damian tight to the other. Jason was going to sit next to him, but Jon beat him to the spot, curling his legs up and leaning against Damian like a scared puppy. Jason just snorted, ruffled Jon’s hair, and sat on the arm of the couch next to him.

Lois took the other chair, Conner mimicking Jason’s position on its arm. Dick and Clark remained standing.

“Do you want any photo albums, Bruce?” Lois asked, trying to cover a laugh. “Clark loves to document. Especially milestones.”

“I think there’s a whole album for each of us about losing our teeth.” Jason added quietly, smirking. Clark returned the grin.

“I just…wanted to make sure Bruce didn’t miss anything.” Clark mumbled sheepishly.

“For Jon and Conner too?” Dick teased.

“…Well, Batman does like to be informed.” Clark laughed. “…I do have some, if you want, though.”

“…Sure.” Bruce hummed. “I’d love to see some.”

Clark nodded, swallowed the lump in his throat, and silently moved up the stairs towards his bedroom. Heard Dick take over the conversation, asking Bruce about his ride here, what city he came from, if he’d seen Alfred yet.

So far, so good.

But still, ever the dad, he worried, even his small distance away. Were Bruce’s kids coping okay? Was this too much? Should he have reintroduced them one by one? And what about his own children? Conner isn’t feeling left out, is he? And Jon? Just…Jon?

As he reached under the bed for the box, he thought about maybe worst of all – his own heart. It was thrown back into the emotions of ten years ago. And he realized, more than his worry for the kids, more than his worry about how today would go, he was worried about the realization that had been smacking him in the face every second since he’d set eyes on Bruce getting out of that car.

He was still in love.

Hell, he was still head over heels. And now really wasn’t the time to be focusing on that, was it?

It needed to be about the kids. He needed to focus on the kids.

He sighed and shook his head, grabbing as many photo albums as he could carry. Made sure they were all about Bruce’s kids, though brought one down for Jon and Conner each, in case Bruce wanted to see them. Would look at them himself, if not.

He hadn’t just made these things for Bruce after all. He wanted to relive his own kids’ lives too.

Things were still calm when he went downstairs. Dick was still in charge of the conversation, still rattling on. Bruce was listening intently, matching soft smiles on both his and Lois’s faces. Jon was still as close to Damian as possible, but Jason had somehow convinced him to now lean back, against his knee. His eyes were darting between Dick and Bruce, and he was still clearly on edge, though the fact that Damian was letting him hold his hand seemed to be helping.

Dick just kept talking, even as they became aware of Clark’s return. Clark didn’t interrupt him, just carefully set the stack of books on the coffee table, handing Bruce the one on top – the one his mother Martha had made, when they all believed this custody agreement was temporary. Before Conner and Jon, for the most part.

The book was ragged and old-looking. Not because of Clark’s frequent looks through it, but because of the kids themselves. Damian looked at it a lot, when he was missing his father, or his older siblings as they went off into the real world. Jason looked at it when he was starting to feel like he didn’t belong. Cass liked to go through it with Jon, who found such a simple joy in seeing his family before he existed.

“Ho, boy.” Dick commented, as Bruce took the volume, staring almost nervously at the front cover – a picture of Clark sleeping on the floor surrounded by all five of Bruce’s kids, then babies and barely above his hip. “Good luck, Bruce.”

Bruce smiled and opened the front cover almost eagerly. Tim and Damian immediately leaned over his arms to look themselves.

Jason snorted in amusement.

The first page, and the few after, as Bruce learned, was the kids’ first day on the farm. Or rather, their first day with Grandma Martha. She was in each picture, holding Damian, wiping Jason’s face, carrying Cassandra on her back, holding Tim on her hip between her and her husband. Dozing with Dick on the sofa, and then dancing with him in front of the barn right below that.

The next page was groupings. Tim on Dick’s back. Jason holding Damian, the two with matching pouting faces. Cassandra and Damian both napping on Clark’s lap. Dick and the dog, Tim sitting on a cow, Dick climbing the barn rafters, Damian petting a horse from Grandpa Jonathan’s arms.

There was one of Dick holding Damian, squishing their noses together. But in the background, almost too blurry to be seen, was Jason. He was crying, hands balled into tight fists, held at the corner of his eyes. Clark was kneeling in front of him. Trying to calm him down, soothe him any way he could.

Bruce silently wondered why he was crying. If anyone would remember.

Though if he were honest with himself, he already knew.

“What was it like?” Bruce found himself asking. “Growing up here?”

“Quiet. Good. Nice.” Dick answered. Despite being asked to the room it was most likely aimed at him. “Different from Gotham for sure.”

“Clark actually made us do stuff.” Jason grumbled, but it was almost fond. “I spent the first year here asking why we couldn’t call Alfred to milk the cows.”

“You tried to teach Damian ‘Where’s Alfred?’ as one of his first sentences when you were mad at me.” Clark reminded, a nostalgic smile appearing on his face too. “Right behind ‘Clark is stupid.’”

“To be fair, you were being stupid.” Jason countered, pointing thoughtfully at Clark. “So, I mean, it’s not like I was trying to teach the kid how to lie.”

“Still just as bad.” Clark laughed. “I’m glad Damian decided to find his life influencers elsewhere.”

“He didn’t, quite.” Dick added. “He’s totally the one who taught Damian how to swear.”

“Jon too, apparently.” Lois chimed in pointedly. Both Jason and Clark looked at her, and she shrugged. “He had a…slip-up, a few weeks ago. And immediately claimed ‘Jason says it all the time!’ as little brothers do.”

Jason glanced down at the boy leaning against him. Jon smiled nervously, then tried to hide against Damian, even as Jason wrapped his arms around him and began to mess up his hair once more.

“I didn’t know what else to do!” Jon whined, pulling against Damian’s sleeve to save him. Damian ignored him, still looking into the photo album. “I didn’t want to lie!”

“No, you wanted to save your own little butt.” Jason cackled teasingly. He released Jon slightly, then looked back to Lois and Clark. “But see? Never taught either of them how to lie.”

“And we’re very proud.” Lois laughed. Clark smiled too, but kept his eyes on Bruce. Did it bother him, the easy relationships his kids had with not only him, but Lois? If it did, he didn’t give anything away, just quietly listening, quietly smiling, while turning pages in the book.

Damian suddenly lashed out, pointing at a picture. “That was when I started getting my teeth.” He explained.

“Oh yeah?” Bruce grinned instantly. Glanced at him, then pointed to a handwritten scribble beneath it. “And what’s this note down here about?”

“For which album the rest our dental milestones are in.” Tim smirked. Bruce looked at him now. “We’re serious, Bruce – Clark documented everything.”

“I’m glad.” Bruce laughed, then raised his gaze, absolute mirth in his eyes. “I just hope he was as thorough in his journalism.”

“Well, I still have a job, so I hope so.” Clark joked.

“Clark taught all of us to be that thorough, in everything we do.” Dick hummed. “Taught us even to be detectives just like you, Bruce.”

Bruce’s smile faded a little. “I…heard.” He muttered. Glanced up at his oldest. “…Nightwing, huh?”

“Can’t be Robin forever.” Dick countered. “And Clark isn’t the only hero dad who inspired us, B.”

“I’m Robin now.” Damian quipped.

“Will be, eventually.” Jason added quickly, even as Tim opened his mouth indignantly. “Timbo is now. And Conner is Superboy. You and Jon are still too young, squirt.”

Bruce glanced at Clark for clarification. “I benched Dick after you left them with me, for safety. But then when it was clear you weren’t coming back…well, you know as well as I do how hard it is to keep Dick in one place. And once they saw big brother doing it…”

“Not to mention when Conner came along with his own abilities.” Lois hummed. “But don’t worry, Bruce.  Robin always went out with Superman.”

“Still does.” Clark said sternly. “And on the rare chances he doesn’t…I listen.”

“One of the downsides of having Superman as a dad.” Tim sighed dramatically. “He can hear me anywhere in the world.”

“But we can’t complain too much.” Dick smiled. He suddenly glanced protectively up at Jason, and Jason instantly looked down at Damian and Jon, fussing with their shirts. “Some of us would be dead if it wasn’t for that.”

Bruce didn’t ask. Just made a mental note to ask Clark later, when they were alone. If they were alone. Just another question to the list of a million.

Still, he could sense this taking a dark turn, so returned to his original query. “Isn’t Nightwing a Kryptonian legend, though?”

Dick snorted. “I’m not old enough to be Batman yet!”

“Damian went as Batman for Halloween a few years ago.” Cassandra added quietly.

“I was five! That’s more than a few years ago!” Damian argued haughtily. “Besides, Tim went as Batman for Halloween once too.”

“You all did.” Clark smiled. “At some point. Except maybe Dick. He just chaperoned your trick-or-treating and stole all your candy as payment.”

Bruce pointed to a page, a laugh bubbling out of his throat. “I can see that, here.”

“That’s a perk of being a big brother.” Dick grinned, waving it off. He glanced back at Bruce, who was turning another page in the book. “Whatcha got now, B?”

Bruce had a small smile on his face. Emotion in his face and a near-tears mist in his eyes.

“If I’m correct,” Bruce tilted his head. Damian and Tim looked up at him, even as he glanced over at Jon. “The birth of your youngest.”

Jon’s face exploded in a blush, even as Jason dragged him back against his leg and kissed his hair.

“Oh boy, what a day.” Lois chuckled, fanning herself in memory. “Dick snuck into the delivery room when he heard crying.”

“I see that, too.” Bruce laughed, pointing to another photo. “Hopefully he let the two of you hold Jon first.”

“Barely.” Clark snorted. “He also left the other kids in the waiting room alone. Damian ended up in the nursery screaming because thought the nurses stole his little brother, as he wasn’t there yet.”

“Oh my god.” Bruce kept laughing. The chuckles grew louder and louder, and Bruce eventually had to cover his face, the amused tears slowly starting to leak out. “I am…so sorry.”

“It was…something else.” Lois admitted fondly. “Wouldn’t want it any other way, though.”

And even when Bruce lowered his hand, Clark could see the tears still flowing. Still amused, still happy, but…quickly turning into something else. A sorrow of being left behind. A sorrow of missing out. A sorrow the kids definitely didn’t need to see, not right now.

Bruce always kept his emotions hidden. Was always pretty good at controlling them. But it was no surprise that his threshold here, today, might’ve been a little thin.  That he might’ve reached emotional exhaustion a little quicker than normal.

Clark silently tapped Lois’s shoulder, and waved a lowered hand at Dick. He got the memo.

“Bruce, are you staying the night? You’re going to need a room to stay in.” Dick asked, already pushing off against the wall he’d been leaning against. “Damian, Jon, Jay. With me. We gotta get the rooms set up.”

Damian groaned, and kicked his feet in a small tantrum as he reluctantly left his father’s side at the request of his brother. Jon followed sheepishly after.

“And I’m no housewife – I’m going to need help in the kitchen getting all the food out and set up. I’m sure you’re starving, Bruce.” Lois stood. “So the last three of you, with me.”

Conner scoffed in amusement as he disappeared into the kitchen first. Tim and Cassandra followed silently behind. Lois winked at Clark as she took up the rear.

Bruce kept looking at the book, flipping through the last few pages, smiling every so often, even though he continued to cry. When he reached the back cover, he sighed, staring at it as he ran his hand down it. “…Thanks, Clark.”

“I know how you are about emotions. I know how that’s not the first thing you want your kids to see.”

“I mean.” Bruce started, looking up. His eyes were still pouring those silent tears. “…For everything.”

Clark smiled, heart fluttering, just a little. “We can talk about all that later. For now, this is probably the only moment they’ll be separated so you might want to make it count.”

Bruce smiled, running his fingers along the edge of his eyes. “Yeah, I will. I just.” Another sigh. “Can you give me a minute?”

“Whatever you need. I’ll go help them in the kitchen.” Clark nodded, backing up a little. “And Lois and Dick understand, so, you know. If you need more time or whatever, just let them know, and they’ll help you out.”

“…You turned him into an outstanding young man.” Bruce smiled weakly, leaning forward to put the photo album on the table. “All of them, really.”

“No, you did, Bruce.” Clark promised. “I just tried to clean up the rough edges.”

He left it at that, spinning away into the kitchen. He kept his eye on him, though, and his ear. Kept peeking into the living room when he felt he needed to, listened to his heartbeat when he didn’t. After he had cleared his face of tears, Bruce had picked up another photo album. And another, and after that – another.

And suddenly, Clark had a vision. He couldn’t wait until everything died down. Until the kids went to bed, or went out or just left them in peace. So he could go sit on the couch with Bruce, and go through those albums together. Talk about the things the kids wouldn’t want to, like why Dick looked at Jason when talking about almost dying, or what Bruce was actually doing during those ten years.

He couldn’t wait.

But then – Damian and Jon came stumbling down the stairs. Jon flopped onto the sofa on Bruce’s right, and Damian retook his perch on Bruce’s left. Bruce smiled, and answered all of the questions thrown his way, laughing when Jon admitted they snuck away from the older two. Let Damian take control of the book he was looking at, watching fondly as he flipped the pages to the ones he wanted.

Just a dad and two of his boys.

(In your dreams, Clark.)

He smiled as he turned back into the kitchen, and continued to help Cassandra and Conner set the table. Just a dad and two of his kids too.

(Because sometimes dreams do come true, right?)

…Maybe he could wait a little while longer after all.

[multifandom-damnation]

Nothing like a home-cooked meal

It wasn’t every day that Jason was given free reign of the Wayne Manor kitchen.

It also wasn't very often that he managed to be in charge of his family. Damian was dutifully chopping carrots and Tim was mincing meat. Harper and Cullen were peeling potatoes in the sink. Jason himself was stirring a pot full of spices and chicken broth.

Dick was out with Bruce and Alfred, distracting them so they didn’t come home for a few more hours. Jason couldn’t remember what had possessed him to do this, make a meal for Bruce and Alfred. Maybe it was the cooking channel that Roy had been watching recently, or the meals Kori was trying (and failing) to make. Or maybe it was how thin Alfred had gotten recently, or how worn out Bruce was looking. Either way, here he was.

“Jason, my hands smell like meet and I have thyme under my nails,” Tim complained from the other end of the counter. “Can you take this away from me now?”

“Did you add the oil?” Jason asked, adding more salt to the broth.

“The oil?”

“Yes. The oil.”

“Which one? Olive, vegetable, sunflower or canola?”

Jason sighed. “The one in the green bottle.”

“Right, so Olive, vegetable, sunflower or canola?”

“What?” Jason turned around with a scowl, ready to smack Tim on the head with the wooden spoon, but saw that there were indeed four different green canisters full of oil. Alfred’s cursive handwriting decorated little labels stuck to the glass. “Oh, olive oil.” He turned back to his pot and turned down the heat a little before he added chilli flakes.

He heard a snicker from behind him. “What is it bat brat?” he grumbled.

“You look like a housewife Todd.” Damian snorted from behind him, elbow deep in a pile of carrots. “Is that how you dress when you’re in bed with Kori and Harper?”

Jason looked down at himself. He was wearing a floral apron he had found in a drawer. He had a wooden spoon in his hand and had on a too tight shirt on that said: “Kiss my Glock”. Roy must have bought it for him at a sex store on a mission, purposefully a few sizes too small. “Don’t let Alfie see you in that,” Tim said, casting him a sideways glance. “He’ll make you kiss the floor while you scrub it.”

“I think it’s cute.” Harper grinned from her place in the sink. She was bleeding already and Cullen had put coloured bandages on her fingers, leaving him to do most of the peeling. “It brings out your personality.  What do you think Cullen?”

“I think you need to stop being so clumsy and help me peel these potatoes,” Cullen grumbled, brushing hair out of his face. “You can work with electrical wires and fight crime at night, but you can’t use a potato peeler?”

Jason grinned and cracked some pepper in the pot. It was turning a reddish-brown colour and Jason pretended that it didn’t look like blood. “Do you want tofu in yours Dami or just vegetables?”

“Is the tofu already prepared?”

“No, but it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Nonsense Todd. Vegetables are fine.”

Jason shrugged. He left the pot on to boil and went to help Cullen with the potatoes. “Harper, if you’re not helping your brother go help mine. I think Timbo’s going to faint over there.” Tim was looking a little squeamish, so Harper pushed herself off the bench and bumped him out of the way with her hip. He rushed to wash his hands, using half a bottle of hand wash and turning the tap on full blast. But the hand wash wasn’t neon blue. Jason started to giggle.

“Hey Tim,” He said casually, receiving a weird look from Cullen. “That’s not hand wash.”

“Huh?”

“That’s not hand wash. That’s dish soap.”

Tim gave an ungodly screech as he dashed to turn off the tap as the bubbles overflowed over the lip of the sink. It flowed down the sides of the cupboards and left slippery puddles of foam on the floor. Jason collapsed on the floor in a fit of giggles, everyone else following suit. Tim tried to fight the bubbles and push them back down, but they just flew up into his hair and coated his arms.

“Jeze Timmy, when was the last time you got any sleep?” Jason gasped, holding his stomach.

Tim pouted but the look fell short while he was covered in a thick film of froth. “What’s it to you?”

Harper was writhing on the ground, laughing so hard her face was turning red. “I wish I got that on camera!” She wheezed.

Jason’s phone buzzed from its place on the counter, and he reluctantly got up to get it. An image of Dick hanging upside-down by his legs flashed on the screen. “Hey, Dicky-bird,” Jason said when he answered. “Is everything going to plan?”

“You owe me for this Jason.” Was Dick’s hissed remark. “I’ve run away to the bathroom to call you. Dinner better be ready soon because I’m doing everything in my power to keep them away from the food court.”

Jason grinned “You not enjoying family time with your father and grandfather?”

“Are you enjoying spending time with the children?”

Jason looked over his shoulder at the others. Tim was frantically whipping suds off of his clothes only for them to re-appear again, Damian was waving a knife around like he was conducting an orchestra, Harper was on the floor playing with the overflowed bubbles and Cullen was just trying desperately to manage all the food.

“Touché”  

“Yeah, I thought so.” Jason could practically hear Dick’s smirk from the other end “Cass and Steph are on their way. They said something about a cake? I don’t know. Just be ready.”

“Noted. Will do. See you soon Goldie.”

“Bye Babybir- no Bruce you can’t buy that, I don’t care how much you want it or how wealthy you are, we are not buying a solid gold llama statue!” The call ended, leaving Jason to wonder if they were getting a shiny new edition to the Manor.

The doorbell rang just as Cullen was adding the ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Jason took it from him with a thank you. “Go see who’s at the door.” He told him. He mixed everything together with the wooden spoon and then poured it into the pot. He stirred it and then left it to boil again as the door opened.

“We come bearing gifts of CAKE!” Steph shouted as she walked through the door. She was holding a tray with a cake on it, a black cake with a crudely drawn yellow bat on it. Jason rolled his eyes.

Cass came through the door next, smothered in a blanket. “Are you cold Cass?” Jason asked. “You look like a burrito.”

She shook her head. “Not burrito.” She said, “Guess again!”

“I don’t know Cass,” Jason said, leaning on the counter. “A cocoon?” She shook her head. “A chicken wrap?” Another shake. “I give up Cass.”

Cass grinned and raised her arms outstretched at her sides. Steph instantly put the cake down and went behind Cass, putting two fingers up behind her head. Cass had her head tilted down so her hair was hiding her face. Like a cowl. The blanket looked like a cape and Steph’s fingers… bat ears.

“I am vengeance,” Cass said in a deep, gravelly voice. “I am night.”

That brought about a whole new bout of laughter, causing Damian to slip on the soap still coating the kitchen tiles. Tim was the first to regain his breath and he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Did you make or buy the cake?” He asked the girls.

Their grins were proud. “Made,” Cass announced. Worry etched itself on Tim’s face and Steph laughed. “Cass made it.” She clarified. “I decorated.”

A ding from Jason’s phone had everyone shutting up and they all held their breath as they waited to hear what it was.

One message was on the screen, from Dick. “Get ready.”

“Everyone,” Jason declared. He made eye contact with everyone. “Battle stations.”

They scrambled, placing plates on the table, collecting cutlery, lighting candles, preparing dishes. Jason poured the meal into the plates which Cullen diligently took and placed on the dining table. Cass put the cake in the fridge, Steph and Harper were collecting glasses and bread and setting them up. Tim and Damian were arguing about the order of the spoons. Jason was trying to prepare himself for the inevitable.

The family was seated and dressed in proper entire when Bruce walked through the door. He stood stock-still at the front door, causing Dick to bump into him. “What’s this?” Bruce asked. Dick looked around him to where his family was seated. “Dinner.” He said, pushing past him and sitting in his seat. “You said you were hungry, now you can shut up and eat. Save me another headache.”

Bruce gave him an incredulous look. “You knew about this?”

“Of course I did. Would I punish myself like that for nothing? Not sit down. Your children have made you dinner and you both are going to shut up and eat it.”

Bruce and Alfred sat down, giving the meals a suspicious look. Jason felt a pang of dread. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“Ah, I recognise this meal.” Alfred smiled. “It was the first meal I taught to Master Jason when he had first come to live with us, I believe.”

“You never taught this meal to us,” Tim said through a mouthful of potato.

“That’s because I taught everyone something different, Master Timothy.”

“Wait, so how did all of you know how to make it?” Bruce asked, lifting his spoon and dribbling the broth back into the bowl.

“They didn’t.” Dick sighed. “Jason did. Jason made it Bruce. For the world’s greatest detective, you’re really an idiot. Jason made it and showed everyone else. Now shut up and eat your son’s food.”

“Jason made this?” Bruce asked, slightly in awe. His eyes were wide and his mouth was agape.

“Duh,” Dick muttered.

Bruce smiled. “Then I’m sure it’ll be excellent.”

Everyone was smiling at him. Jason didn’t know what he should be doing, who he should look at so he just watched his spoon on its trail from his bowl to his mouth. He wasn’t used to the expression on their faces, and made him feel… happy.

Jason was happy and his family was proud of him. That’s all he’s ever asked for.

Hi! So, this is a really last minute gift for @identityconstellations because I love her. And even though you killed me, I had to get this out. I love you, Stell. I’m sorry it’s so short, I didn’t do a very good job and it doesn’t have a plot, but it’s done. Sorry beautiful.  Bye! 

[obsessedauthorchan-blog]

Shakespearean Chapter 4

AO3 | Wattpad | FanFiction

Story Summary:

Jason didn't know how he managed to get into college at all, let alone such a good one, but he was determined not to mess it up.

Of course, it was after he made that decision that everything went to hell.

Chapter Summary:

Jason's first day on the job, and guess who he just so happens to randomly run into by a coincidence that was definitely not arranged by an author for plot puroses?

Hint: Timothy Jackson Drake.

Chapter:

Tuesday brought two more classes, both requisites for a degree and boring as hell. Jason was relieved when he got back to his dorm, and he nearly groaned aloud when he remembered that he had to start his first day of work at the campus library in a couple hours. He was grateful that his schedule would end up giving him Sunday, Monday, and Thursday off, but he was currently longing for Tuesday off as well.

He sighed heavily and emptied his book bag. Since his shift that day would be around 6 hours long, he wouldn't have much time afterwards for anything more than dinner, and maybe a little studying, if he wanted to get some decent sleep before an early class the next day. Knowing this, he went ahead and put everything away. He had about forty-five minutes before he would have to get ready for work and head over there, so he decided to use it doing research for his journalism topic.

Jason wasn't sure just how much research he would require. His childhood hadn't exactly been... orthodox, so he knew quite a bit about human trafficking and the like. Still, he decided some statistics would be useful. He couldn't exactly give Professor Kent a personal testament to the life of a street brat, and he couldn't get all that information on that one sheet of paper even if he wanted to.

Jason decided to stick to the facts and what would probably pass for a very short research paper. He gathered statistics on the number of kids that were sold in human trafficking on average per year, the gender, age, and ethnicity percentages, areas where they ended up, and how many kidnapped kids were generally recovered. Jason found it to actually be a lot more interesting than he had thought, and he got sucked into his research. By the time he snapped out of the zone, the clock told him he had less than an hour to get ready and get to the library.

Jason forwent a shower and dressed quickly. He then left his dorm and walked over to the library. Luckily, it wasn't too far away, so he arrived a good ten minutes early. He was greeted by his new boss, who showed him how to sign in and gave him a quick tour of the offices and where everything was. She then handed him off to another member of the staff whose mission was to show him what would be expected of him during general work hours. Basically, he was re-shelving, helping anyone who asked for it, checking books out, and other general stuff.

Once he had shown that he had the hand of things, the lady, Terry, left him to it with a pat on the back and an overly nice, "You're such a fast learner, Jason!" He meandered throughout the library, pretending to be organizing the shelves while actually checking out potential new reads. Working at the library seemed like it was going to be pretty easy going, not that Jason expected any different. Still, he had hoped he would actually get to read. Instead, he figured, he would probably have to make sure he looked busy or actually was busy all the time.

He was collecting a few books that had been left on tables by inconsiderate patrons when he saw a short, black-haired hottie with blue eyes hidden behind the most attractive glasses ever sitting at a table, frowning at the book he was reading. His forehead was scrunched up in concentration, and he didn't look pleased with what he was reading. Jason took a quick peak at the cover as he made his way over. "Romeo and Juliet, huh?"

Tim's head jerked up, and his jaw dropped a little when he recognized the speaker. "Jason?" The kid smiled at Jason's nod. "Fancy meeting you here."

Jason grinned. "Yeah, well, I work here now. This might become a thing, if we aren't careful."

"I wouldn't be too upset about that. Though I wouldn't blame you if you were, what with my hazardous coffee habits." Tim's impish grin told Jason he was joking.

Jason's laugh was probably a little too loud for a library, but he didn't really care. "Don't beat yourself up over a little coffee spill. That's my job." Tim chuckled and shook his head, but Jason didn't give him much time to reply. "Shakespeare fan?"

Tim's face contorted into a look of utter disgust, which became disdain when he looked down at the book he was holding. "Absolutely not. I thought I had gotten all of my basics out of the way in high school, but my adviser told me that I was missing an English credit, and by the time I registered, Shakespeare 101 was the only class that counted with an opening."

Tim didn't like Shakespeare. He was officially no longer boyfriend material.

"I like books. Not plays. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wolfe, Lewis, Tolkien, Atwood, Twain, Bronte, London; those are good authors. If I wanted to know what happened to Romeo and Juliet, I'd actually go see the play. Again." Tim ranted without taking a breath, so by the end of his tirade he drew in a big gasp of air.

Okay, so maybe Tim was boyfriend material. A little. Maybe.

Jason cleared his throat. "Well, I happen to love Shakespeare." Tim gave Jason a sharp look. "Mostly for the insults though." That got him an eyebrow raise.

"The insults?"

He nodded. "The insults. Shakespeare was a master of insults. The master. Throwing out a few Shakespearean insults at whatever dumb-ass had a problem with me always made me feel like the smartest guy in the room. Or alley, to be accurate. Then again, I usually was the smartest guy." Jason smirked. Tim's eyebrow didn't drop.

"What kind of insults?"

"Well, there's the good ol' fighting words, like, 'Methink'st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee,' or 'I'll beat thee, but I would infect my hands.' I always liked those. There's also, 'The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril,' 'Thine face is not worth sunburning,' and, 'Thou art a boil, a plague sore.'" Tim cracked up, and it was disturbing a few of the other patrons, but Jason could not care less. "My personal favorites though are, 'Thou sodden-witted lord! Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows,' and, 'Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon.'"

Tim was still laughing, and Jason partially blamed it on the posh British accent he'd been using. When Tim had calmed down, he looked up at Jason with a smile. "Okay, so I guess Shakespeare isn't all bad."

"Yeah, but none of those were in Romeo and Juliet though."

Tim frowned and sighed. "This class is going to kill me. I didn't pay much attention to Shakespeare in high school, and I'm not all that good at it in general. His writing is too flowery and stuff. It's like decoding poetry in an ancient language."

Jason smirked. "It basically is decoding poetry in an ancient language. Or at least an ancient dialect of a modern language. Maybe try thinking of it like a puzzle." Jason remembered that Tim was a computer nerd. "Or maybe some uber complex computer code?"

Tim tilted his head to the side for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I could try that. Thanks."

"Mhm. How exactly did you graduate from high school without learning anything at all about Shakespeare?"

Tim raised an eyebrow, but there was mirth in his eyes. "How exactly did you graduate from high school if you spent your time handing out Shakespearean insults in alleys?"

Jason smirked. "I didn't. I'm kind of the less-lucky version of Roy Harper. Street kid. Got my GED a year and a half ago."

Tim didn't quite gasp, but it was a close call. "Oh, dude, sorry. I just assumed, since you seem so smart and stuff... Wait, you know Roy Harper?"

Jason shrugged. "It's no big deal. And yeah, he's my roommate. I figured out you knew him when he asked me how my day was and I told him some douche-bag had the gall to spill his scalding hot coffee on me and make me late to my first class with Professor Kent." Jason laughed as Tim's face wrinkled and he dropped his head in his hands.

"You have got to be kidding me." He shook his head while it still lay in his hands. "This is not happening."

"It is, actually."

Tim looked up at him. "Asshole." Jason laughed, way too loud for a library, and he got a few dirty looks for it. "Now Roy is going to tell Dick and I'll never live it down."

"Dick is your older brother, right? Roy mentioned him."

"Yeah, that's him. He acts like a goodie-two-shoes, but he's actually just a little shit. That jerk-off never lets anything slide, I'm telling you."

Jason choked on a laugh. "Sorry, Tim. I guess life just sucks."

Tim scoffed. "Thanks for the sympathy."

Shifting his weight, Jason contemplated his next words for a moment before deciding to screw it and say it anyway. "You know, if you wanted, I could help you study. With the whole Shakespeare thing. I'm actually an expert, in case you didn't know."

Tim smirked. "Are you, now?"

"Totally. I'm very smart. For a street kid."

Tim rolled his eyes, but he had a small smile nevertheless. "You'd really help me with this?"

Jason snorted. "I offered, didn't I? It's not everyday someone else needs to pull on my Shakespearean expertise." He used his British accent again, and Tim laughed.

"That would actually be really cool. I'd like to be miserable as little as possible, and so far you've managed to make even lame-o Shakespeare a bit entertaining." The teasing grin brought out a chuckle from Jason, and he nodded his ascent.

"Alright, then. Why don't I give you my number, and you can let me know when or if you want to study?"

"That works perfectly."

The two exchanged phones and put in their numbers. When Jason got his phone back he saw that Tim had made his contact, "Coffee Douche-bag." He snorted and gave Tim a pointed look. The kid shrugged. "What? Tim is a very common name. I don't want you to confuse me with someone else."

Jason rolled his eyes. "That's what last names are for. Pretty sure there's only one Tim Drake in the world. At least, that I'm aware of."

Tim groaned. "Roy told you my last name, too?"

He nodded. "Was it supposed to be a secret?"

Tim sighed. "No, but still..."

Jason shrugged. "I get it. Rich kids get treated differently. I'd want anonymity, too, if I were you." Tim nodded, but Jason grinned. "Don't worry, Timmy. I couldn't care less about how much you've got in the bank, or how much Wayne's got, or anything else. You’ll always be the little shit that ruined my favorite shirt with a fucking latte"

Now Tim looked offended. "What do you mean, a fucking latte? Lattes are fantastic."

"Lattes are disgusting, even more so than regular coffee."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Well, then what do you drink? Soda?"

"Tea."

Tim suddenly looked interested. "Oh, that's cool. What kind?"

Jason shrugged. "Most kinds, actually. I drink plain black tea the most, but I like most anything. Except mint. That shit is weird."

Tim's shoulders shook with his laughter. A nearby student sighed harshly and said, "Shhhh!" Tim's whole face turned red and he whispered an apology.

"I've never had mint tea before," he whispered.

"Well then don't. It's disgusting." Jason decided to go ahead and whisper back, even though it felt kind of silly.

Tim nodded. "Yes, sir."

Jason rolled his eyes, but he stood up a bit straighter when he saw Terry the Librarian out of the corner of his eye. "I got to get back to work, Tim. See you around?"

Tim nodded once. "Definitely. And I'll take you up on that offer for a study-buddy."

Jason smiled as he started walking away. "Sure. I'm off work Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Hit me up whenever."

Tim smiled and waved as Jason turned a corner. He almost ran right into Terry, but he caught himself just in time. He internally groaned when he saw her displeased expression. Today was going to be a long day.

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[goldandbluesmiles]

Another Lovely Family

Summary: The Batfam get interesting visitors from another reality.

Ao3  This is part of my batfam Flufftober 2020

Note: I have no idea what this is. It just kinda spiraled out of control. But I hope you guys still like it.

Sorry for Barbara fans, she's kinda not here. I couldn't really find a way to put her in here.

Also, the Chinese folk creatures mentioned were the fox spirit aka the nine-tailed fox. They are depicted as being both a good omen or bad omen depending on the literature. The second one was a Huan Cat. Its pelt was said to contain medicine for certain illnesses and some believed they scared away bad luck.

Their patrol had been peaceful that night, and the whole family ended it in the cave, laughing and joking as they stripped out of their suits and weapons. Bruce was watching over them with his ever stoic gaze but Tim could spot the small smile on his face.

So, that was exactly when everything went to shit.

There was a sudden rumble that shook the cave, making everyone reach for the nearest support. A blinding flash and then a portal-like circle appeared at the top of the cave. Through it fell...Tim didn't know how to really describe the really spikey creature.

And then another larger creature fell through.

They were both scaly and covered in patches of clothing. They seemed to have some humanoid feature but they seemed to be a little twisted. There were horns in their heads, wings at their backs and Tim could tell that the little one's irises were silted, like a reptile's eyes.

Tim pulled out his staff, beside him Jason clicked off the safety of his gun, everyone around the cave also took up their weapons.

The bigger one didn't seem to be moving but the smaller, about four feet tall, started to flap its wings and dart around, making a whining and screeching sound but stayed close to the bigger body.

Dick tried to get closer but the little thing lashed out and cut his cheek. Jason instantly straightened his gun but Cassandra moved in front of them.

"Stop!" she ordered

Everyone stopped, even the little creature, though it kept up its whining and chattering, slowly flapping its wings.

"Cass what is it?" asked Bruce

"Damian," she said

It surprised them, but Tim noticed that the little creature stilled at the name.

Cass turned toward the small thing, holding her and up and moving slowly. The little thing slowly backed away but seemed to be calm.

"Damian," said Cass again

The small thing tilted its head to the side, as if curious.

"Your name," said Cass, "Damian,"

After a moment, the creature nodded and chattered softly.

"You understand me?" asked Cassandra

It nodded again.

"Cassandra," said Damian, "What are you-"

"Look," she said softly, "Look close,"

Tim followed her instructions and closely looked at the face of the little thing. At a closer peek, their features were more clear, the green eyes, high cheekbones, and dark hair- It was eerily similar to their Damian's.

"You know," said Stephanie, "I can kinda see it,"

Cassandra nodded and turned back to the other Damian.

"We have Damian too," said Cassandra, "We call you D, Okay?"

The other Damian waited a few moments and then nodded.

"Good," said Cass, and she pointed at the bigger body, "Family?"

D nodded again, this time chattering in what Tim thought might be distress.

"We help," said Cass, "Okay. Turn them over to see,"

D nodded one again.

Dick and Steph stepped forward to help her flip the person gently. Unlike D, the features of this one were more clearer.

"Talia," whispered Bruce

Tim had to agree. Long hair, the same lips, same structure under swirls of silver that matched her son. The horns were bigger and straighter than D's and her hands had claw-like nails but the resemblance to their world's Talia was there.

"Mother?" Cass asked D

D nodded vigorously and chattered, pointing at Talia's side.

"Hurt?" asked Cass

D once again pointed at the same place.

"Can we check?" asked Cass

Once she got affirmative, Cass gently moved the cloth there. Their skin was bare at the back and stomach area but there seemed to be some scale-like things covering the sides. The scales were twisted in one area, almost pushed into the skin, and covered in silvery goo.

"Blood?" asked Cass

D nodded.

"We need to figure out a way to help and I don't think we can do it alone," said Bruce, watching as Cass talked some more with D, "I certainly don't want to try in case we make it worse,"

"So?" asked Jason, "We could reach out to some allies but who would know about something like this?"

'Well," said Bruce, "I don't like the man, but Constantine has travelled to other realities, we could get a few trusted biologists in here to take look. We could call Zatanna and Manhunter to see if they can establish a line of communication with the child,"

"The child?" asked Damian

"Yes, Damian," said Bruce, "From his behaviour and the comparison to the fully grown mother, it is obvious that he is a child. Though I'm not sure about the 'he' part. They don't seem to be human,"

"Anyway," continued Bruce, "Make those calls. I'm going to go explain this to Alfred,"

xxx

"So what is this?" asked Dick

Constantine glance from the Talia on the table to little D sitting with Cassandra at the end of the bed.

"I've never seen anything like this before, mate," said Constantine, "But there are worlds out there where some of us normals humans are metas. I mean there was one where you were born under the sea. There are some realities where humans evolved differently. I dunno mate, I've never seen anything like it and since the little one isn't talking, can't know for sure,"

"And from the looks of it, the scales have gone into her skin, a stark contrast to the other scales that are standing and parallel to her body. I'm sure they need to be pulled out but I don't know how to do that since I can't know how her anatomy works or even which organ is which. Not to mention I don't know how to verify if she's coding or not. Right now, the only indication that she's alive is that her stomach seems to be moving up and down and there is air coming out of her nose indicating breathing,"

"We could put her in a magical coma," said Zatanna, "It would slow everything down, including any wound she has. It's is our best bet,"

D was listening to them and let out a soft chatter.

Cassandra turned to him, "Okay,"

He looked at Zatanna for a long moment and then nodded.

"Okay," said Zatanna, "Here goes,"

xxx

Once the spell was done, D came to sit by his mother and curled up on her good side. He stayed like that for the next several hours, ignoring any of Cass's attempts to interact with him.

Watching him made something in Jason's heart, reminded him of the many times he had curled up against his own mom, until the day he had woken up to the feel of her cold dead body.

Ignoring that train of thought, he focused on another issue from his alley days.

"He's been here almost twelve hours, right?" he asked Bruce, "He should have been given something to eat by now,"

"When we checked Talia, we noticed that her teeth resembled a carnivore's," said Bruce, "I asked Alfred to get some meat options, cooked and raw. But he's also making a vegetarian meal, just in case,"

"Good," said Jason, still watching the little one, "He's so small,"

"I know," said Bruce, "And we have no idea how to get them home,"

"Have you been able to get the Martians here yet?" asked Jason

"No. They're still not available and Zatanna couldn't do anything,"

"And that also only works if Damian knows how to get back. The only reason our Damian is this resourceful is that he was trained by the league. Who knows how this little guy was trained to what tech they have on their side,"

"I know it's a lot of variables," said Bruce, "But we have to take it one step at a time. First food,"

"Right," said Jason, going back to gazing at D.

Bruce stopped looking at the reports he was going through and turned toward Jason.

"Jay, are you alright?"

Jason startled.

"Yeah. Yeah. Just...you know. Reminded me of...yeah,"

Bruce glanced at D and nodded in understanding.

"Why don't you bring him the food down in a little bit?"

"Me?" asked Jason, pointing at himself, "Is that a good idea?"

"Why not?" said Bruce, standing up and gathering his papers, "You're good with kids and you're good with food,"

"But..."

"Come on, Jay," said Bruce, "It'll give Cass a break and you can explain to the little one about the different options,"

"If you're sure," said Jason

"Of course I am, Jay," said Bruce, "I'm gonna go check on our Damian,"

"Okay,"

xxx

Half an hour later, Jason came downstairs holding a tray. Cass looked at him and smiled, vacating her seat beside Talia's bed. She kissed his cheek before making her way up the stairs.

Jason sat down and put the tray on a nearby table.

"Hey, D," said Jason softly.

Damian stayed turned away from him but Jason saw his wing twitch.

"So, it's a little afternoon now, which mean that you should probably eat something,"

Another twitch.

"Now, I don't know how much you need to eat or what you even like but we guessed a bit and I have some things here that you can choose from,"

Damian didn't have any response this time.

"You know your mother doesn't need food right now, because of the magical coma. But she needs you. They say people in comas, especially magical comas, can still feel and hear the people around them. How are you supposed to be here for her if you don't eat, huh? Maybe just a little?"

There were a few moments of silence, but then Damian turned around. His eyes seemed tired and hurt and made Jason's heartache.

"We have a few options. Vege's, cooked beef, pork and chicken. Same thing but raw too. Which one would you like,"

D pointed to the cooked meats, specifically at the beef. Jason handed him the plate and he started eating it as finger food, leaving the utensils behind on the tray. It reminded Jason of how some League members would eat.

There were a few minutes of silence and suddenly Jason had no idea why Bruce had sent him down, Dick was much better at these things.

Then he spotted a book sitting on his desk.

A little Princess.

"Hey," said Jason, "You know my dad would read to me whenever I was sick or injured and sometimes just because. Do you mind if I read something to you and your mother,"

D looked up and tilted his head sideways, a gesture they had come realize meant he was curious.

"Just a second," he said, getting up to get the book.

Jason came back and sat down, opening the book to its first page.

"Alright, Kiddo," said Jason, "Let's tell you the story of Sara Crewe,"

xxx

When Dick made his way down to the cave, it was with a tray of tea for Jason, a tradition that Alfred had brought to the family. D was still curled up against his mother and Jason seemed to be reading him Little Women. A copy of A Little Princess was sitting close by.

"Hey," whispered Dick as he came down, sitting the tray on a table, "How's it going,"

Damian chattered softly and Jason smiled, "D and I have been discussing characters,"

Dick smiled, "That's great guys. I brought you tea, Jay,"

"Thanks," said Jason, "I'll drink and read,"

Dick nodded and turned toward D.

"Hey, so I love listening to Jason too. Do you mind if I sit with you?"

D looked at him for a moment but the scooted a little, making his intention obvious. Carefully Dick sat himself down on the bed. the beds were big enough but Dick was still careful as to not touch Talia.

D seemed to have no such reservations and leaned against Dick's side. Jason raised his eyebrows at the action but kept reading. Eventually, soft snores started to emit from the little one and Dick looked over to see his eyes closed.

"I think he's asleep," whispered Dick

Jason nodded and closed the book, putting it away.

"Poor guy," murmured Dick, "In a world so different from his own,"

"Yeah," said Jason, "Seems to like you though,"

Dick smiled, "He didn't seem to hate you either, Jay,"

"Yeah," murmured Jason, "Do you think he has his own versions of us too. I mean the way he looks, his dad is probably their version of Bruce Wayne, right? Think the man adopted a slue of kids over there too,"

"I dunno," said Dick, "Maybe,"

Just the, D let out a small snort and twitched his wings.

"He's kinda adorable isn't he?" said Jason

"Yeah," said Dick, gently smoothing down D's hair, "I just hope we can get him home. And help his mom,"

"How's Dames taking it?" asked Jason

"He's alright but I know something's bugging him," said Dick, "But he seems more concerned about something regarding this little one than about any threat to him or to the family so that's some progress I guess,"

"Definitely progress," said Jason and then frowned, "What's the concern though?"

"No idea," said Dick, "Maybe he's just showing the inherent kid mentality, ya know, worrying about other small people,"

Jason snorted, "Yeah. Maybe,"

xxx

Half the bats ended up staying back from the patrol that day. Neither Jason nor Cass wanted to leave their guest and Tim stayed with them. D had been given dinner and seemed content to lay with his mom. Seeing this, Cass and Jason had taken to the sparring mats and Tim had started his work on the latest security update of the cave.

Tim was deep into it when he felt someone approach him. He turned to find D curiosity looking at the screen.

"Hey, Kiddo," said Tim, "Need something?"

D chattered and pointed at the screen, head tilted to the side.

"You want to know what I'm doing?" asked Tim

D chattered and nodded.

"Well," said Tim, "I'm trying to make our home safer for us. See these, here? This is the pattern for silent arms but Jason broke through them the other day just to prove a point to Bruce so now we're updating them. It usually ends up being my job but I don't mind. I like helping to keep my family safe,"

D started chattering excitedly, pointing at the screen, then at Tim and then at his wings. It took his doing it a few times for Tim to understand what he was trying to say.

"Are you saying that you have a Timothy too? And that he makes your home safe?"

D nodded with a huge smile on his face, excitedly flapping his wings.

"So you do have your own versions of us. Dick and Jason were wondering if your dad had adopted more kids too,"

D got quiet at that and Tim had no problem recognizing the sad and faraway look in his eyes.

"You must really miss them," he said softly

D chattered softly and nodded with his eyes down.

"I wish we could find a way to get you back. But there is nothing to read from the energy that brought you here and we can't really know anything until you tell us where exactly you're from. And we need the Martians for that. They'll be here tomorrow,"

D started chattering really fast after that, his wings flapping to the point where he was lifting off the ground.

"Hey. Hey," said Tim, "What's wrong? I'm sorry if I upset-"

D's chattering just got louder.

"I'm sorry," whispered Tim, "I'm sorry but I can't understand you,"

D let out a huff and landed back down, stomping his way back to the little corner they had set up for him and Talia. They had tried to get him upstairs but he had refused to leave his mother's side so Alfred and Jason had set up a temporary residence in a corner, separated by curtains.

"What happened?" asked Jason, running up to him, Cass right behind him.

"I dunno," murmured Tim, "We talked about his siblings and then I was saying how we were waiting on the Martians and he just got worked up and started to say something. I couldn't understand him,"

They looked over to D, who was still visible due to the curtains not being closed. He was sitting on the floor, gently rocking back and forth, almost in a trance.

"I'm gonna-" started Jason

Cassandra stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"No," she said, "Leave him,"

Trusting her judgement, Jason nodded and turned back toward Tim.

"I'm sure it was nothing. He's probably just getting a little frustrated you know. His mom's asleep, he's in another reality and no one here can understand him,"

"Yeah, I guess," said Tim, "I just wish there was more we could do,"

"Me too," murmured Cass, "Me too,"

xxx

It was the second day of their guests being in the cave that the Martians landed outside of it.

J'onn and M'gann came early in the morning and were introduced to D. Stephanie thought she saw recognition in his eyes.

"Hello, little one," said J'onn, kneeling in front of D, "I would like permission to from a mind link with you. I will not try to look into your memories, but I would like to understand what you are thinking and then translate your thoughts to our hosts here. Do you understand?"

D nodded and smiled up at J'onn, gently patting him on the cheek.

"Alright then," said J'onn, "Let's get started,"

J'onn locked eyes with D and they started to glow. Both him and D went oddly still, an odd sight that Stephanie had gotten used to when it came to the Marians' mind link.

Only a few moments into the link, D started to squirm, moving his hands and twitching his wings.

J'onn visibly stopped and looked down at D, "Is there something wrong, little one?"

D balled his hands into fists and shook his head, obviously trying to get them to stop. It didn't seem to help and the switching of his wings only got worse.

Beside her, Duke leaned in, "Does that look like what I think it looks like?"

"Maybe," murmured Stephanie, analyzing D's movements and thinking back to what Tim and Cass had said about his mannerism, "I think so,"

"Should I-"

Stephanie nodded, "Doesn't hurt to try,"

Bruce was just about to step up when Duke stood up.

"I have an idea," said Duke, "I'll be right with you,"

Duke jogged over to the cabinets and pulled out a couple of things and brought them over. He and Stephanie then explained them to D.

"See this," said Stephanie, holding op a plush penguin, "His name is Mr. Flappy. We sometimes hold him when we want to do something stressful. Would you like to hold him?"

D touched the soft toy and then nodded. Stephanie gave him the toy and he squeezed it, cooing in delight when it squeaked.

Duke smiled, "This is a weighted blanket. You can wrap this around yourself while J'onn makes a link,"

"And D," said Stephanie, "You don't have to be still, okay?"

D looked down at his feet but nodded. Stephanie took it as a win.

"Good," said Duke, "We're just gonna go over there,"

Both him and Stephanie turned back to go to their original spot and as they did, Stephanie spotted a proud smile on Bruce's face.

'Good job' mouthed Bruce.

Stephnie grinned and beside her, Duke did a thumbs up.

This time when J'onn tried to establish the mind link, D seemed noticeably calmer, rocking back and forth while wrapped in the blanket and holding the toy close.

"So, child," said J'onn, "Show me what happened,"

D closed his eyes and J'onn started to narrate.

"You were being chased and your mother tried to get both of you away. but she was- she was hurt, is that it? Yes, she was hurt so she miscalculated. I see. Do you know how we could get you home without waking your mother up?"

"Ah," said J'onn and opened his eyes.

"What?" asked Bruce

"Well," said J'onn, "It seems that D here believes that his family will find him. That's what he trying to tell young Timothy yesterday,"

"There's a difference between his family being to able to track him and him believing that they'll come for him," said Bruce

D let out an unholy screech at that, obviously offended.

"I think you pissed him off, B,"

Bruce turned to D, "I'm sorry, Kiddo. But we need to know,"

"May I?" M'gann asked D.

He scrutinized her for a minute but then nodded his consent.

M'gann started a mind link and began to ask her own questions.

"How are they going to find you?"

A few moments and then-

"Ah, I see," said M'gann, "According to D here, there are five people in the family that can travel through realities, including his mother. The others are his father, his brothers Jason and Richard and his sister Cassandra. They will most likely split into four groups. His Father and Aunt Kate. Jason and his outlaws. Richard, Selina and Timothy. Cassandra, Stephanie and his last brother, Duke. Alfred will be taking care of his baby sister Helena,"

"How do they track you, D?" asked Tim

"Hmm," said M'gann, "According to him, they have a link and can signal each other but D's is weak since he's young and his mon has to be conscious to send one. His family will look into other realities around and then make their way here. Apparently, they already have a system in place for if something like this happens,"

And then she snorted, "Something about his father being a bit paranoid,"

There were a few chuckles around the room while Bruce glowered at all of them.

"Anyway," said M'gann, "All that can be done here is that you take care of him and keep him safe,"

"Who was chasing you?" asked Jason

D frowned and looked around the cave, his gaze landed on the wall of blades and he pointed to ap articular one.

"That's my league blade," said Damian, and Stephanie noticed him stiffen, almost involuntarily.

Something was up with the kid.

"Were you being chased by Ra's?" asked Bruce

Damian nodded.

"I'm assuming he can't travel thought realities," said Bruce, "And no one in his loyal circle can either,"

D pointed to M'gann and she once again began the mind link.

"Hmm," she said, "No, Ra's can't travel. Interesting. It seems that the species in their reality are a bit different than most. Only D's kind and magic users can travel through realities and even then a very small percentage of those groups. Ra's and his followers are not included in this category. And even if he could find someone to do his bidding, it would be near impossible for them to find him since there is no link,"

"So only his family can track him," said Tim, "That's why Talia got them out of there. She was hurt and took the risk,"

"Brave of her," murmured Selina

D also chattered sadly.

Dick smiled and kneeled in from of him, "I'm sure your family will come soon, Kiddo,"

"Who do you think will get here first?" asked Tim

D tilted his head and then pointed at Jason.

"Jason, huh," said Duke, "Makes sense if you ask me,"

D giggled and leaned into Dick, a bit of the day's tension draining out of him.

"I have to leave now," said J'onn, "But M'gann will stay in case you need another mind link. Is that alright, D?"

D smiled and nodded, waving a small, clawed hand at M'gann.

J'onn smiled, "Lovely then,"

xxx

After lunch, Damian was sitting in his room and reading when someone knocked on his door.

"Come inside," he called out

It was Richard at the door.

"Hey Dames," he said, "Whatcha doing?"

Damian scooted over to make room for the man on his bed.

"Just a book," said Damian

"Hmm," said Richard, "You know, I've noticed that you haven't sent any time with our guest,"

"I'm not required to," he said shortly

"No," said Richard, "Of course not. But I'm just wondering if you're alright?"

"I'm fine," said Damian

"Dames-"

"I'm fine, Richard. I am not missing my mother. I am not worried about threats. I am not feeling sad. Or anything else your mind is coming up with right now. I am fine,"

"Okay," said Dick, giving his head a gently kiss, "Let me know if that changes, okay?"

"Fine," said Damian

Dick gave him another smiled and then left. Damian sighed and slumped down, not knowing how to explain to anyone what his actual worry was about.

Maybe he should spend more time with the other Damian. He could certainly alleviate some of his concerns this way.

Making up his mind, he grabbed some of his art supplies and made his way down to the cave. There, he found M'gann and Cassandra sitting and conversing with each other while D played with the plush toy Stephanie and Duke had given him.

Once the girls saw him, they both left while begging Alfred's cookies.

Damian sat down with D who looked at him curiously.

"I like drawing and painting," said Damian, "Do you mind if I draw you. I've never met someone with your features before. I think it would be interesting,"

D titled his head and then pointed at some of his paper followed by his fluid acrylics.

"You want to paint?" asked Damian

D nodded and looked at him with pleading eyes. Damian couldn't help the smile that came over his face.

"Alright, you paint. I'll draw you,"

He opened the paints for D and then went to grab a brush but noticed that the other boy had started painting with his claws.

"Well," Damian murmured, "That's one way to do it,"

Damian took his time sketching D, making sure he got all the details right. By the time he was done, a few hours had passed and it was almost time for dinner.

When he was finished, D showed him his painting and Damian had to say, he was impressed. And that was no easy feat.

While Damian had been drawing him in detail, D had used that paints to sketch out a few rough paintings. It wouldn't have worked usually but the material of D's claws had probably made it easier.

The first one was of Damian, showing him with his head down and bowed over a book. Next were three faces, One of D's mother, the other one obviously his father and a third that looked like Jason. He also had another painting of six figures flying in the distance. Another one that looked like a dragon from folklore.

"These are beautiful," said Damian, "Do you all live together? Your mother and father and your siblings?"

D nodded and Damian sighed in relief. A part of him had been afraid that Talia was taking D away from his family and that his father and siblings would cause a fight, hurting D the way Damian himself sometimes hurt.

Except, it didn't seem to be the case.

"That's wonderful," said Damian, "Do you want to see mine?"

D nodded and took the sketch, instantly squealing happily. His wings started flapping and he did a swoop around the cave, chattering happily as he clutched the drawing.

"You really like it, huh?"

D smiled and nodded.

"Well, you can keep it," said Damian, "As long as you let me draw another one that I can keep too,"

D nodded enthusiastically, smiling down at the sketch.

"Would you like to see more of mine?" asked Damian

D let out another whoop.

Damian grinned, "I'll take that as a yes,"

xxx

Bruce climbed down the stairs with Dick to get both Damian and D for dinner. They were hoping to coax their guest out of the cave to eat.

Once they got there, Bruce was surprised to find that both boys were sitting down and excitedly chattering. It didn't matter that Damian couldn't understand D, they still seemed to be able to communicate effectively, flipping through Damian's sketches that were kept down in the cave.

"Oh, hello Father. Richard," said Damian, as they came into view

D smiled and saved shyly.

"Boys," said Bruce, "We were just here for dinner,"

Damian turned to D, "Would you like to come upstairs this time?"

D shook his head and cast a glance at his mother, his eyes going dull and sad again.

Bruce frowned until an idea came to him.

"Dick," he said, "Tell Alfred we have a change of plans,"

And that was how they all ended up having dinner in the cave, picnic style.

After dinner D showed them sketches of his family. Everybody smiled and complimented as M'gann translated for D.

"Yes, apparently Jason is the scariest one of them but very sweet. Richard can do other most tricks in the air and Tim likes to fly at night. Cassandra is the fastest though. And Stephanie has the most unique wings because they are purple. And Duke lets him draw on his wings with glitter. Helena can't do much yet, she's just a baby,"

"So," said Jason, "Would you say that your dad is scarier than Jason or less?"

"Ah yes, " said Dick, "Ask the important questions why don't you?"

Jason shoved him before turning back to D, "So?"

M'gann laughed as she listened to whatever D was saying.

"According to D, his father is the pretty one of the family. A real charmer,"

Bruce smiled, "Well, that's not so bad then,"

"Pretty boy, Bruce," teased Stephanie

"Do you have an Alfred too?" asked Tim

D nodded and then picked up the picture of the dragon-like creature and held it up for everyone to see.

"He has silver features and this his 'other' form,"

"His other form is a dragon?" asked Jason

M'gann got a surprised look on her face, "Everyone in his reality has another form, which shows through their features. His family is what we call dragon, they pronounce it draagn. There are only a few of those around. Most of the populations are made of magic users and animal-shifters. Some other forms are sea creatures,"

"Wait!" said Duke suddenly, "I have an idea,"

He pulled out his phone and started to look for something. When he found it he held it out for everyone to see. Bruce scanned it and see that it was list of mythological creatures.

"Are any of these the 'other forms'?"

D nodded, pointing at a Nyad, a phoenix, a griffin, a pegasus, a jinn and even a chimera and some Chinese folk animals like the nine-tailed fox and the one-eyed cat with three tails.

"Wow," said Tim, "Could it be that our realities brushed each other and a lot of out folk animals are really just people and creatures from other realities,"

"Maybe," said Dick, "Some might have even gotten stuck here, hence the myths and stories,"

Everyone got quiet for a moment, trying to comprehend what this, if true, meant for their realities' history.

Eventually, Bruce decided to break the silence.

"I think it's time for bed for some people, especially if we're taking a break from patrol," said Bruce, sending a meaningful look to his two youngest sons. They had promised to him sleep earlier this week.

He also noticed that D slumped down a bit and felt bad.

"You can come up too," Bruce told him

D shook his head and chattered softly, casting his gaze toward his mother.

"I can just sleep down here," said Damian

Bruce wondered if his kids would ever stop surprising him.

"Yeah!" said Dick, "Why don't we all just stay down here tonight?"

"Well," said Alfred, "These old bones are not made for this cave. However, you all can stay here if you prepare proper bedding,"

"I'll take care of it, Alfie," said Bruce

"Alright then," said Alfred, "I'll be heading up,"

Bruce waved to him and then turned toward his children.

"Alright, Jason and Tim bedding, Stephanie, M'gann and Cass pillows, Duke and Dick blankest ad everyone's plushes, Damian and D, you can set things up as they bring them downstairs,"

His kids nodded and scattered to get everything done.

Once everyone was sitting down, still quite awake, Bruce decided on a long proved tactic.

"Anyone want me to read anything?" asked Bruce

"I'm fine with whatever," said Jason

A few more murmured os assent followed. D raised on os his hands and chattered softly.

"D's wondering if you would finish the book Jason was reading to him yesterday,"

"Little Women," said Jason, "It's still on the table and put the bookmark in,"

Bruce smiled, "Little Women it is,"

xxx

Bruce was barely starting to stir awake when the cave rumbled in a familiar way and there was a flash of light.

He sat upright just in time for five figures to appear in the cave. D had also spotted them and was flapping his wings and flying among them. The figure at the head finally took his in their arms, gently hugging him close.

It seemed like D had been right after all. The figure could be no other than Jason Todd. And he was terrifying.

Twisted horns, double claws, slit eyes and big stature, all came to together to make a nightmarish figure. The way he was talking to his little brother negated the effect though.

Behind him stood what seemed to be his team. Kori and Bizzaro looked the same as they did in their universe while Artemis seemed to have a greyish tint to her skin and Roy had spirals of what seemed like fire all around his arms and legs.

"Huh," said Dick, "D was right,"

"Seems so," murmured Tim

Their guests finally seemed to be done with their greetings and the other Jason turned toward Talia's body and frowned. Tim instantly stepped up to explain.

"We had to-"

"A magical come," said Jason, voice a bit jarring and shocking

Tim instantly stopped and stared at him wide-eyed.

Jason turned back and frowned again.

"What?"

"Well- uh- I wasn't um-expecting to- well"

That was when Bruce decided to step in, "Sorry. What my son is trying to say is that we weren't expecting you to speak since D didn't. That's what we've been calling him,"

"And you're kinda terrifying," Tim rushed out

The other Jason let out a laugh, "Why, thank you. Also, we do talk, D is just nonverbal,"

Ah, that certainly explain ed some of the behaviour that they had just put to being anxious and different from them.

There was another rumble and bodies started to flash into the cave, the whole other family appearing altogether.

"Damian," called out one of them, separating themselves from the hoard.

It was the other Bruce Wayne

"Holy shit," muttered his Jason

Holy shit indeed.

Pretty did not begin to describe the other's appearance. He was wearing a tank top with pants that seemed to be painted, leaving little to the imagination. Slim with toned muscles, shimmery wings, sparkly blue slit irises and shimmery black swirls reaching for his cheekbones, the man was a thing to behold. His hair was waist length and had been braided loosely. His scales shone in the light of the cave and his claws seemed to be made of dense glittery obsidian and his horns were gold and black.

Once D was done with this father, he flew over to the rest of his family and the other Bruce turned toward them.

"Hi," he said softly

Bruce stepped up and held out his hand, "Lovely to meet you,"

Other Bruce gave him a bright smiled and shook his hand.

If Bruce was a lesser man, he would have been at the start of an inferiority complex at the moment.

Instead, he gestured at Talia.

"We have her in a magical coma," he told him

"I can see that," said other Bruce, "We'll take her back with us and take care of her once we get home,"

"So you're together?" asked Damian, "D, that's what we call other me, said you all lived together. Is that true?"

It struck Bruce then, the reason for Damian's odd behaviour. He thought D would be separated from his mother the way he had been separated from his. By the way some of his other children were shifting, they had realized it too.

The other Bruce merely smiled though, "Ah, yes. We are married. Just celebrated our fifteenth anniversary,"

"And who's Helena?" asked Tim, "We didn't recognize that name,"

"Oh she's mine and Selina's," he said, vaguely gesturing behind him, "Sel wanted a baby so I helped her out. We agreed that she would be raised as part of the family though she keeps her mother's name,"

"Ah," said Tim

A child half him and half Selina. While part of him was curious, another didn't want to know the outcome of that.

D came up to his father and said something softly.

"Anyway," said other Bruce, "Thank you for taking care of my family but we should be going now,"

"Of course," said Bruce

The other one went to get Talia and the rest of the family came up to thank them. Dick practically hugged all fo them, Tim was solemn and Cassandra kissed all their cheeks. Stephanie and Duke went around giving them fist bumps and high fives while Selina and Kate merely said a few words each.

"You have an Alfed too, right?" said Selina, "D wanted us to meet him too,"

And because Alfred was magic, he chose that moment to step out of the elevator.

The other family surrounded him, profusely thanking him or also taking care of their family members. Alfred, to his great credit, took it all in stride and responded accordingly.

Right before they were about to leave, D leaned up into Jason's ear and whispered something quietly.

Both Bruce and Jason turned back and knelt. Jason took out a block of what seemed like glass and blew into it until it was shipped into their bat symbol. Bruce made a gesture with his hands and there was a liquid sloshing in the glass replica.

They handed it to D and the little one ran over to hand it to them.

"He says it's a present," said M'gann, "The people in their reality bend metal. Some more than one. Some metals are bent by more than one kind but Mercury is bent by the draagn exclusively,"

"But isn't mercury poisonous to us?" said Tim

"Not that one," said Bruce, "You can take some out from the stopper at the bottom and test it but I believe you are fine to keep it, Think of it as a token of our thanks. Mercury is special to us or as we normally call it, Quicksilver,"

"Alright," said Bruce, "Thank you,"

The other family disappeared in a flash of light and all they were left with was an odd decor piece and a couple of sketches.

The glass bat symbol ended up sitting right in front of the huge penny.

xxx

In the evening right before patrol, Bruce found Damian standing in front of the bat and watching the liquid quicksilver slosh around as if it had a mind its own. Some kind of magic, surely.

"Father," murmured Damian

"Damian," answered Bruce

"They were a lovely family," said the young boy

"They were,"

A moment and then-

"We have a lovely family too," said Damian, "Even if I wish some things were different,"

"We do have a lovely family," said Bruce, kneeling down in front of his son, "But you are also allowed to wonder how things could have been different,"

"I miss her sometimes," said Damian, "I know she wasn't really fit to raise a child, not after everything grandfather put her through and certainly not without getting help first but she is my mother and I miss her sometimes,"

"I know," whispered Bruce, "Come here,"

Bruce tugged Damian close, enveloping him in his arms.

"I love you, baby,"

"I love you too, Father,"

[nightwingswing]

The family’s girl. (Batfam x reader)

Happy new year, babes!

Parings: Batfam x reader. (romance)

(y/n) – your name.

(y/l) – your lastname

(y/c) – your country. (If you’re American, your state.)

(y/dg) – your dream degree.

Part1 (you are here)  Part2  Part3   Part4  Part5  Part6  [Interlude] Part7  Part8  Part9  Part10

It was your second year of college and you couldn’t wait to go on your student exchange. Your destination?

Blüdhaven University.

Oh well.

Why Blüdhaven? If it’s completely corrupt, dangerous and crazy?

Because you didn’t know that.

Duh!…

Your parents opposed over and over but there was no way of stopping you. You wanted out of (y/c) and you didn’t care where you were going meanwhile it’s far away from your home town as possible.

With your bags on your hands you exited of the taxi after paying the driver and headed towards the crappy looking building where you had rented a flat for the time you were staying.

The bags were quite heavy on your tired arms, you dragged them to the door when suddenly the door was yanked over by a hideous looking man who shouted at you to get out of the way and pushed you away then a police officer helped you up asking if you were alright you nodded and he helped you gather you things and put them in the elevator with you, when a guy in a tight shirt with you in the elevator said.

“If I were you I wouldn’t trust the police force.” The guy said. You looked at him quizzically with a raised eyebrow.

“Thanks. I keep it in mind” You looked at him, dang he was attractive. Oh this was your floor. You bid him goodbye and exited the elevator. When you were opening your door, you heard an amused voice.

“Need help, beautiful?”

Oh.

It was the same guy in the elevator.

“Are you stalking me or something? Seriously I know hand in hand combat.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a nice guy” He said with raised hands” Hi, my name is Dick, Dick Grayson” He smiled at you, damn that was a cute smile, he had dimples and everything!.

“(y/n) (y/l)” You said as he helped you open the door and put your things inside. After that, you asked him if he wanted a drink or something. He smiled at you and said yes, sitting next to you on the couch. You brought two (f/d) you bought with you for you and for Dick.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything else” You smiled apologetic. Dick laughed and grabbed the drink.

“Don’t worry, I’ve had worse”

“Sooo, why were you following me?” You asked.

“I wasn’t following you, I live in front of you.” You blushed a bit embarrassed because you seriously thought he was a creep.

A hot creep

but a creep nonetheless.

“Oh…”

“So, tell me (y/n), what brings you to the ‘Haven?”

“I’m studying abroad in the Blüdhaven University.”

“Oh! And what are you studying?”

“(y/dg)”

“That’s cool”

“And you, Dick? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“I’m a police officer”

“But this morning you said…”

“Because I know Officer Siller, the guy who helped you, and he is bad news. Almost everybody in the force is. You look like a nice girl, so if you have any trouble, come looking for me I’ll help you.” You looked at him suspiciously.

“And why would I trust you? What makes you different from them?”

Dick smiled at you sadly.

“You have a point. You just have to trust me. “

You looked at him, his eyes were sincere and he seems like somebody you can trust.

“I think I trust you” His face brightness “But, do something strange and I will kick your ass!” Dick laughed and looked at his watch. His face hardened.

“Sorry, (nickname), I got something to do.” He went to the door you trailed behind him.

“Well, I hope to see you son Dick” You kissed his cheek and smiled at his blushing cheeks.

“Good bye…” He said with a silly smile. You closed the door and smiled.

You hoped to see him soon.

****

It was nighttime when you were sitting by your window with a hot chocolate in hand when suddenly and knock in the window startled you.

A guy clad in a tight black suit with a blue bird and finger stripes. And he looked hurt. You quickly opened your window and help him sit in your conch after putting a towel to protect the couch from the blood.

You tended to his wounds the best you could and after cleaning and bandaging his wounds you stated asking him questions:

“Who are you?”

“I’m Nightwing”

“Why did you come to my window?”

“…” He looked like he wanted to say something but he couldn’t say it. “ ‘Cause you’re a nice girl…?”

“Are you asking me?”

“no…?”

You sighed and decided that it was hopeless. Looking at your already cold hot chocolate you decided to make a new one.

“Do you want a hot chocolate?”

“I would like that very much, thanks.” He smiled.

After the hot chocolate Nightwing fell asleep in the couch, you covered him with your fluffy blanked and walked to your room.

Meanwhile you were changing somebody started a chat with you, once you had your warm pajama on you exited the bathroom to grab your tabled.

Guess who was messaging you?

Your pen pal.

Well, he’s more like your best internet friend.

Tim Drake.

The two of you started chatting in high school and since then you’ve been friends, you two only meet once in your hometown in summer where he meet your family but you never met his. Well, it was time to meet them since they live in Gotham and that it’s not too far from the ‘Haven.

  Chat :

Tim Drake said:

Hi (y/n) ! How was you trip?

You said:

Looooooong LLL

Tim Drake said:

Are you installed in your apartment or do you need help? I’m free tomorrow and we could hang out it’s been years since I saw you…

You said:

My neigbour already helped me, sorry :/

But I’m up for hanging out with you! They’re playing Rogue one in theatres we could go see that movie.

Tim Drake:

Perfect! I wanted to go see that movie and what better company that a beautiful girl like you? ;)

You said:

Oh, stop it you J You’re making me blush…

Tim Drake said:

;) ;) ;)

You said:

What time and where ???

I don’t know my way around here :/

Tim Drake said:

How about I go pick you up and after seeing the movie we go grab something for dinner?

You said:

Perfect!!! I can’t wait to see you again, timmy!

Tim Drake said:

I can’t wait to see you too.

How about I pick you up at seven?

You said:

Perfect :D

Good night Timmy! Don’t let the bedbugs bite you!

Tim Drake said :

Good night (y/n)! And I won’t let them ;)

Btw

It’s a date.

Tim Drake has disconnected.

You blushed bright red and smiled, turning off the tablet and getting comfortable in your bed, your warm blankets over your body felt heavenly. The tiredness of the day got to you, and your eyes closed heavily.

That night you dream of hot police officers who had dimples, hot superheros that crawled by your windows injured at night and of your best friend who you haven’t seen since high school.

What a good dream that was.

It was like a fanfic in real life

Oh wait.

****

The first rays of morning sun picked at your eyelids, today was the day!

You started in a new college and most importantly

You were going to meet Tim at seven!

You heard a groan behind you and an arm came over your waist.

Processing…..

Who the frick was in your bed?!?!

You turned over and saw Nightwing face (with mask and all ) sleeping next to you but you remembered letting him sleeping in the couch last night. He stirred in his sleep and as he waked up you thought what you were going to do.

A)    Push him out of the bed

B)    Kick his ass

C)    Ask him why was he in you bed.

“Good morning sunshine” He said smiling. Your frown depened as you decide to ask him why was he in your bed…

After pushing him to the ground obviously.

He looked at you face, even with bags in your eyes and your hair a mess you were adorable.

Like an adorable bear who wanted to tear his head off.

You weren’t a morning person, huh?

In an desperate attempt he tried to escape by the windows in you room, but you were faster as you crawled over him and sited in his chest with your legs immobilizing his arms. You crossed your arms and glared at him.

Was it weird than he found everything hot in this situation?

“You got something to explain, don’t’cha?”

Sh*t, he had no excuse

But it was incredibly sexy.

To be continued…