#Alfred is stressing about marrying off his the Waynes

[dcxdpdabbles]

I have this idea for a post but I feel like you would do it justice.

Basically, Danny is yeeted through a dimensional portal and reincarnated as the clone son of Tim and Connor(from when Tim cloned Connor during his death). This little shit wakes up after that, when Connor has already been found, as a six year old gremlin with a need for chaos.

Que pranks!

I don’t have much more than that so I will leave this in your capable hands.

-🎃

"Master Bruce, if I have to remind you to fix your tie one more time, Gotham will be without its protecter for many months to come!" Alfred snapped - actually snapped - from where he was attempting to reorganize the entirey of the Emberald Sitting room.

Right now, he moved all the furniture and all the wall directions. He was just adding some tastefully done flower pots to make the place look inviting but also regal.

It had been six hours, and from the looks of it, Alfred had not found the balance he desperately wanted. He started over four times. His patience was all but gone.

Bruce's hands snap to his tie, scrambling to get it set just right. He moves it only slightly to the left - not making much difference - with a nervous smile. Alfred's teeth snap shut with a click, and his eyes blaze with frustrated rage as he rounds the coffee table toward the billionaire.

Bruce looks to be holding back a scream.

Dick winces, sinking into his chair lest the aged Butler turns his ire onto him. He knows why this evening has to be just right. Especially to Alfred, but gosh, he could not handle how terrifying the butler could be.

It's just for one dinner and one evening. Dick tells himself. Once Alfred can finally say he married one of us off, things will return to normal.

"Honestly! If you didn't walk around looking like an unkeept vagabond all the time, maybe there would be a Lady of the House by now!" Alfred sneered at a pale-looking Bruce.

Or maybe Timmy bringing Kon over to announce their engagement means Alfred will try to marry the rest of us off harder. Dick despairs as Bruce endures another tongue-lashing. He wants to go help, but if he moves even an inch from his seat, Alfred might realize Dick is still in the room.

He can't afford to anger the beast any further.

"And you, Master Dick!" Alfred suddenly rounds on Dick, pointing one long finger into his face, with narrowed eyes and the grim reaper at his shoulder. Oh, dear.

Thankfully, that's when the doorbell rings. At once, Alfred's face clears into an excited smile. "They're here! I'll let them in right away; you lads, gather the rest of the family. And remember, we must make a great impression! Tonight is the night we invite Mister Kon into the family!"

The butler doesn't quite skip out of the room, but the bristle walking with a chipper head turning is the close that Dick has ever seen him do.

"I'm so happy for Tim." Bruce mutters,"but I can not handle any more reminders that I haven't had a spouse."

"Tell me about it," Dick sighs, following after his father into the hallway and down to the dining hall. He can distantly hear Alfred opening the door and greeting the two. "A hour ago, he made seven passive agressive reminders that Tamaraneans propse with a dinner and a mock battle. Seven. I mean, how does he even know what Tamaraneans do when courting?"

"It's Alfred." Bruce tells him, taking a seat at the head of the table. Dick sits in the chair to his right as the oldest and First Heir- considering the reply. It makes sense.

Damian, Cass, and Duke walk in, not even a moment later. All are dressed better than any gala Bruce could have dragged them off, too. He is rather impressed that Damian is a red suit that makes even Bruce pale in comparison. Then again, he is the only one besides Alfred who has an eye for such things.

"Has he already proposed, or is he doing it at dinner table and were all supposed to act supirse?" Duke asks while sitting down. "I want to know what kind of face I should have prepared"

"The clone has asked Father for his blessing in his courtship with Timothy. He knew we would have figured out his plans when that blunder. It is no surprise." Damian huffs. Dick knows he's just upset that his big brother is going to get married and move out soon. He's adorable when he's territorial.

"I can confirm that Kon hasn't asked yet." Steph announces, strutting into the room in all her purple gown glory. Behind her, the Row sbilings wander in with matching celtic blue suits, making Dick grin. It's always nice to see people appreciate the best color. "Tim isn't the type of person to not show off his ring whenever he has a chance."

"I've always wanted to see a real-life popersoal!" Jarro gasps, flying into the room with his own little suit on. It's a nice black with green undertones just like Bruce's.

He lands in the miniature chair with a dinner dining set Alfred had special ordered for him.

It sits on top of where a regular dining set usually is, always the second chair on Bruce's left, because he is literally the favorite. Bruce denies it, but they all see the tender smile he throws the floating star.

The Wayne kids know. Jarro is too precious and hilarious, so none of them mind that he's the favorite. In fact, Dick has half the mind that he's the favorite of the majority of the family.

Jason leans over to pat Jarro's head, grinning when the little starfish swears. He adores when the kid randomly curses out of Aldred's hearing range.

"Shh, they're coming!" Cullen says from where he was lingering by the door, hoping to see Tim and Kon. He always looked up to the older boys as someone who had been forced into the closet for his own protection.

Seeing people like him helped ease the fear, and Dick feels his smile wideing when Cullen scrambles back to his seat. He's so excited he's practically in the Speed Force.

Alfred opens the door first, stepping to the side to allow the guest to enter first. Dick feels himself sit up straighter, the moment really setting in, Kon is going to propose to his younger brother.

His little Timmy is growing up-

"Wow, this place is big!" A child says, running into the room. Who the heck is he? "It's amazing, Dad!"

"Slow down. You don't want to fall." Tim laughs, rubbing the stranger's hair with a soft smile.

"It's okay, Dad. I'm strong!" The boy flexes his tiny arms. Tim laughs again as Kon crouches down to the little boy's height.

"Woah! Look at all those musceles. You're going to help me protect your dad, son?"

"Yeah Pa, I'll be the strongest super or robin ever!"

"Tim? Who might this lovely chum be?" Bruce cuts in, voice slightly strained. No one calls him out on it since they are staring wide eye at the tiny little boy who looks like an exact copy of Tim at age five.

Dick knows because he was one of the few in the Wayne's who saw Tim at that age. He's practically a clone to oh no.

Dick thinks he's having a heart attack.

Tim looks up at them before a brillient glowing smile breaks across his face. "Everyone, Kon and I have an announcement to make!"

Kon wraps an arm around his waist, sending adoring looks to man in his arms before they both hold up their left hand.

There are twin silver bands on both of their fingers. "We got married in Las Vegas, and we have a son! I like you all to meet Danny Drake-Kent! I made him when I thought Kon was dead."

"I am Danny, clone of Kon-el and Tim Drake. Fear me if you dare!" His voice squeaks. Squeaks.

Scratch that, Dick knows he's having a heart attack.

You can hear a pin drop in the silence his announcement cause, as Danny puffs up his chest and floats a few inches off the grown.

Oh, great heavens, Dick is an uncle.

"A fellow clone, son!" Jarro cheers from his little table. He slams two of his star points on the table to a beat that he speaks to. "One of us. One of us."

Danny's blue eyes land on the star fish and widen. He raises both arms into the air chanting back. "One of us. One of us. One of us!"

"It's awesome is what it is!" Steph cries, jumping up from her seat. "Hi, Danny! I'm you, Auntie Steph! I'm the cool one."

"Isn't this lovely? Master Tim not only has a husband but a child as well. Unlike some Masters." Aldred doesn't quite glare at Bruce, but he doesn't have to. The Waynes know who he means as Bruce wince.

Danny pauses in his chanting to look her up and down, staring pointily at her plum colored dress before humming. "That's a bold statement for an eggplant."

Steph gapes at him as Tim roars with laughter.

Oh, Dick is going to love this kid. He leaves his seat, trying to get to his nephew as the rest of the family attempts to do the same. Damain makes alarming threats to Kon, letting him know he would easily take him out if he detects a hint of mistreatment to his brother and new nephew.

The Waynes act like they can't hear the threat because they all have their own versions of the shovel talk prepared. They just have to get the clone alone.

It's a nice dinner.

[miryum]

☆ 18+ minors dni ☆ (ish. Not descriptive at all)

So I’ve done Brother’s Best Friend!Jason Todd, right? Well, what about Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd?

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd would have a totally different vibe and I will die on this hill

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, instead of playing the long game like Brother’s Best Friend!Jason Todd, would think to himself, right when he met you, “that’s who I’m gonna marry”

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, from the moment you entered his home, would have his eyes set on you because holy shit you were so innocent and lovely and had no idea what you were walking into 

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would be envious of his little sister, Stephanie, for being friends with you, but also extremely thankful that you two were friends because it’s how he met you

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would hang around Wayne Manor more and more often just for the chance of seeing you. Of course, Alfred was the first to catch on. Then Steph, then Bruce, and slowly the rest of the family

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who didn’t care that you were only in college and he was nearing thirty – you were his

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would stare at you when you and Stephanie were studying together in the Wayne library. He would literally just stand in the doorway, arms crossed and staring in your direction, a deadly smirk on his lips. How else was he supposed to flirt with you? Ever since the Lazarus Pit, his perception of… social awareness was off

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would contemplate whether or not he should ask you out because you were Steph’s best friend and he didn’t want to insert himself into your friendship

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would take his contemplations out on one of the punching bags in the gym. Dick eventually had to come in and check on Jason after he had broken two punching bags

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who hung around Steph for days on end, gaining up courage to ask her if she was okay with him asking you out. Steph was definitely suspicious and finally just bluntly asked him what was wrong

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who breathed out a sigh of relief when Steph squealed happily and cried out, “of course! Oh, you two will be perfect together!”

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who then waited two and a half more weeks to ask you out because he was too nervous. He would send you winks and even drove Steph back to Gotham University after break just on the off chance of seeing you. He did and he had never smiled more widely in his life

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who groans and burrows his head in his hood whenever Steph teases him about you or when Dami asks, “I do not see the problem. If you cannot ask a girl out, Todd, then perhaps you are not fit to fight villains”

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who finally asks you out after you and Steph had a sleepover at Wayne Manor. He got up extra early that morning and began stress-making pancakes, as any rational person does

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, after sliding you a plate full of pancakes, stutters over his words and scratches his neck and heat fills his cheeks, is relieved when you’re the one to ask him out

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, later, would insist that he wasn’t nervous and would tell everyone, even your grandkids, that he was the one to ask you out

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who caved under your smirking glare and eventually admitted to your grandkids that he didn’t have the courage to ask out the love of his life

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who takes you wherever you want with Bruce’s money – even if you only ask to go browsing at the bookstore, he would buy you any book you looked at

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, as I’ve said earlier, doesn’t really know how to act at first and doesn’t know how to show his affection. So, he buys you gifts and gives you the key to his apartment two months in

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, after spending the first (non-sexual) night with you, suddenly realised how touch starved he was

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who then did not spend another second not touching you. Whether it’s an arm over your shoulder, holding your hand, or pulling your feet up onto his lap when you two are sitting on the couch

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would slowly move you in without you even knowing. At first it was a couple clothes, and then a book or two, and then a couple picture frames here or there, and then oh well, it just makes sense that you move in

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would decorate your skin with open mouthed kisses after your first (sexual) night with you, whispering over and over again how much he loves you

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who wouldn’t have to introduce you to his family because luckily, you already knew them all! 

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would join you and Steph for girls night and paint his toes and gossip and let you run your hands through his hair (and maybe braid it)

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who would be the epitome of a gentleman and open doors for you, stare down other guys who looked at you, and gave you his leather jacket when he took you out riding on his motorcycle (and if you got a little handsy, he wouldn’t mind)

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who didn’t dare get you into the Red Hood/vigilante business and god forbid a villain got ahold of you

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who threatened your safety and then afterward hold you close, whispering sweet nothings as he lets Tim and Cass take care of it

Best Friend’s Brother!Jason Todd who, even after years of being together, would still kiss you like there’s no tomorrow and remind you that he loves you every five minutes

[qcomicsy]

Some Nice!future au headcannons because I want to keep the ideas fresh in my head.

- Bruce is retired, Wich is insane saying this, I know right? How could he? And that's my favorite part he is retired, except he isn't actually.

He generally stays in the comm and no he doesn't care if that bothers Terry. Sometimes Terry just purposely turns his comm off, part to piss Bruce off and part to not get himself pissed off because there's a limit on how much you want your dad minding your business while your doing your job.

So Bruce stays sometimes in the comm and sometimes giving his mostly unwanted inputs on his investigations.

He doesn't get out as Batman as much as he wants to, because yeah that would get him killed but when that ever stopped Bruce Wayne honstly? And also because when he did it he almost gave everysingle one of the Bats a fucking heart attack.

Terry was so fucking confused because some goons and criminals kept telling him 'I though you were taller???' and he would get '????'

- Bruce minds everyone business as well is not just Terry, sometimes he just pop up in the other Bats comms and everyone is deeply annoyed about it, because how the fuck he keeps invading their own security system?

And it's even more infuriating because in the end of the day (most of the time) he is just extremely helpful.

Not even Oracle could keep him off her back.

- Tim is "technically" now the best detective in the world, except he isn't because Bruce isn't dead and Detective Chimps isn't either, but not many people know that.

- Gordon is happily retired thank you very much, and he can finally rest because Montoya filled for him as commissioner.

- Everything that might happen is her problem now.

- Harley is mostly retired she lives with Pamela in a farm and works as a super-people/part villains therapist from home-office.

- Harley and Pam got married.

- Jason visits Harley constantly, they bonded a lot in these past few years.

- Jason visits Harley much more often then he visits Bruce and Bruce is definitely not jealous about it even though Harley lives in literally nowhere and the Manor is right there–

- Bruce nags Jason, so much about it. He nags everyone about it. He sends a passive agressive "Alfred told me to tell you dinner is ready" message ever couple of weeks (he's lying).

Jason once told him "I really miss it when you were emotionally stunted" and Bruce just looked at him and quipped.

"You're the ones to told me to get therapy."

- Bruce doesn't actually go to therapy he gossips with Harley and they call that therapy.

Because Harley tricks him into sessions mid gossiping.

And it is in fact, better than nothing.

- Terry became Batman as an annoying 17 year old for the exasperation of every adult of the Batfamily.

- Damian and Tim we're the one's who trained him, Bruce unfortunately was hospitalized at the time (he's better now).

- Damian trained Terry in martial arts, combat and streets smart skill and Tim helped training him on how to proceed with the criminal forensics part.

- Duke and Steph kept an eye on Terry in his first months of patrol, Terry kept trying to get away from them to do whatever he wanted but Tim or Damian would always eventually catch up to him.

- That doesn't mean he stopped trying until he made all four of them age ten years of stress.

- They let him do it whatever he wanted eventually, but mostly because they knew he was ready.

- Steph just did on purpose.

- Damian rarely would actually join Terry (or any of them) on patrol because he prefers working in the shadows.

- The day Terry successfully tricked all the four of them into leaving him alone he almost had a heart attack because he immediately bumped into no one less then Nightwing and Redhood.

- Red Robin was the one to call them.

- Terry and Jason got along so quickly it's infuriating.

- Terry is a great Batman, he is skilled and witty which puts almost every criminal off rithm.

They hadn't got this that amount of stress ever since Dick's robin.

- Jason works as a literature professor in Gotham public school.

- Jason was Terry's teacher for a while.

- Terry hated it.

- Terry got to school with patrol bruises once and when Jason managed to get a hand on him he cussed him out for 45 minutes.

That's how he learned that Tim and Damian forgot to teach Terry how to hide them.

Then he cussed them out for 84 minutes holding Terry's shirt the same way you hold a wet cat.

[xmalereader]

Bruce Wayne X Male Reader

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|| Masterlist ||

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Authors note: Here is the Mafia AU! Hope you enjoy it! Tried to make it as spicy as I could but stuck with something simple a little bit fluffy, because we are just seeing Bruce being all happy and gooey for his sunshine husband who is a teacher! |(￣3￣)|

Request: Hi, can I request Male reader x Bruce Wayne Mafia au where reader is Bruce's Husband. Reader being a school teacher coming home to their manor/mansion before Bruce arrives from his "Mafia work" that reader doesn't know about since bruce hides it from him for some reason. Bruce comes home, very moody and angry because of work, reader trying to calm down his husband, then maybe he thinks of letting bruce use him (with consent of course) to let off steam👀 (so smut but its up to you if no details).

Warnings: Fluff, mafia AU, Bruce is a mob boss, husbands, reader is a sunshine, NSFW, 18+ only, mentions of oral, language, rough sex, consent, unprotected sex ( be safe in real life ), Bruce needs some stress relief, domestic house husbands.

Word count: 2.4K

Tags: @readerisobssessed

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Bruce Wayne is a patient man, but when something goes wrong he won’t hesitate to kill the persons who screwed up there deals. Everyone in Gotham knew who he was and what he did, everyone feared the man and shakes him respect if they didn’t want to get themselves killed. What surprised a lot of people about Bruce is his husband, Y/n.

The young man was brighter than the sun, opposite from Bruce. He was Gothams popular middle school teacher, educating young children and helping them learn. What surprised them the most was that his husband had no idea who Bruce was. The man was either oblivious or just refused to believe that his husband was one of the most dangerous men living in Gotham.

Bruce was also surprised when he learned about this. The first time he met his husband he expected him to freak out and run or to be cautious around him. But, instead he would smoky brightly at Bruce and give him kisses. The man would also bake whenever Bruce felt down and offered him cookies. Bruce immediately fell in love with the man, dating him and then marrying him after a year.

Due to Bruce being married to an adorable husband he couldn’t help but grow protective of him to the point where he hired bodyguards for his husband and to work under the school, keeping themselves hidden as they watched over Bruce Wayne’s husband bonding with the children. Bruce had planned to tell his husband about his job and who he really was, but was afraid to ruin their marriage.

The two understood each other so well that when Bruce arrived home angry and upset, his husband is able to feel his anger, causing him to raise a brow in question as he finished cleaning the kitchen that Alfred allowed him to use as long as he cleaned up his mess. He cleans his hands on the rag and take the fresh plate of cookies to the living room where he sees Bruce sitting back on the couch, tie loosened and head thrown back.

“Hi.” Y/n says, looking down at him as Bruce opened his eyes to stare up at his husband who was upside down. He gives him a soft smile in return. “Cookie?” He held one out to Bruce, holding it near his lips as Bruce takes a bite into it. Taking the cookie into his hand as he sat up properly.

Y/n sets the plate on the coffee table and sits next to Bruce. “From the way your acting and eating the cookie,” he starts while Bruce looked away angrily. “I’m guessing something went wrong at work?”

It didn’t go wrong, it went terrible. Bruce but his trust on a newbie and lost ten million, causing him to give the new guy a lesson and to be taught properly. “Don’t worry about it.” He sighs out, running his fingers in his hair and pushing it back. “I’ve got it handled, just stressed.”

Y/n frowns, moving closer to Bruce as he placed his hand on his shoulder. “Want me to run you a warm bath?” He offers, leaning to kiss his cheek and his neck.

Bruce sighs in relief, turning to face his husband and pulling him close. He was far too stressed and a warmth bath won’t relieve it, he shakes his head at the next thought. He wouldn’t use his husband as stress relief, no. He told himself from the very beginning that he would never use his husband.

“Bruce?”

“A bath sounds nice.” He responds back, smiling and kissing him softly on the lips. Which Y/n leans into, placing his hands on his shoulders as deeps the kiss, catching Bruce off guard as he crawls onto his lap, still kissing him and trialing his hands down his back.

Bruce moans against his lips, wrapping an arm around his back and pulling him close. He’s too focused on kissing his husband that he doesn’t feel him trail his hands down his chest and to his belt, until he hears him unbuckling it’s. Bruce is quick to pull away. “What—?”

“It’s okay.” Y/n hums out, smiling at him. “Let me help you.”

Bruce shakes his head, gripping his wrists. “I’m fine.”

His husband frowns. “No your not, your stressed and need to let it out.”

“Not on you.” Bruce bites back. It wasn’t the first time they’ve had sex, they’ve done it various times but bruce was always gentle with him and took care of him and this anger he felt, he wasn’t going to let it out on his husband. He couldn’t be rough with him and hurt him.

“Bruce.” Y/n’s voice becomes stern, shocking the Wayne. “I want this, I really do.” He whines out, grinning down against him. “Your always so nice and soft, but this lust I see in your eyes,” he bites his lip. “I want you to be rough, I know you want too.”

“No—“ bruce shakes his head.

“I know you want to bend me over, fuck me against the coffee table. Maybe even against our bedroom door.” He whispers against Bruce’s ear. “I want to feel you deep inside of me, fucking me hard while scream your name. I want to feel you the next day.” He takes Bruce’s hand and placed it against his hard on, surprising him.

Bruce swallows nervously as he looks up to his husband. Y/n held pleading eyes full of lust as he grinds up against his hands as bruce groans. Whatever happened to his sunshine husband? The man who would smile brightly and teach young kids new things everyday?

“Bruce.”

Bruce’s attention is back on his husband. “Please.” Bruce snarled and shoved his mouth over Y/n’s, pushing his tongue ruthlessly in passed his teeth and sucking and flicking about him. The wet noises of their kissing filled the room and Y/n gave a little whimper as he reached up to tug at Bruce’s hair. Bruce’s larger hands went down and cupped at Y/n’s cheeks, gripping them tight before he massaged them open and shut and then gripped them again. His lover moaned, pleased with the attention.

They pulled apart for air, Y/n nipping at Bruce’s lips, before he started to fumble with Wayne’s tie, removing it completely and throwing it aside. Bruce smirks at him before coming to a stand, hearing his husband gasp in surprise as he kept his legs around his waist and carried him back to their bedroom for some privacy and where he throws him back on their large bed.

Y/n giggled as he flops down on the bed while Bruce worked on removing his button down, fumbling with the last button as he slips it off quickly, exposing his pale chest, scars littered his chest as Y/n roamed his hands over his broad chest. “Your body is beautiful.” He hums out, leaning up to place a kiss on his chest.

“So is yours and I want to see it. Get out of those clothes.” Bruce reached down to pull in his husband a belt buckle, lifting him up the bed a bit and pushing him back while he chuckles.

Y/n grins, struggling with his sweater and pulling it off while Bruce worked on his belt buckle, harshly pulling it out from a round his waist and startling his husband. “Bruce.” He whines out.

“I can buy you a new belt.” Bruce leans forward to place a kiss on his face, unbuttoning his pants and zipper and helping him shimmy out of them. Y/n bites his lip, moving his hips to remove his pants to reveal himself half naked, boxers still on but his hard on is now more visible.

Bruce eyes widen as he stares down at his beautiful husband. “Fuck.”

Y/n’s fave turns red as he slowly sits up, reaching out to trace his fingers temptingly and pressed them into the hem of Bruce’s pants. “Love, please…please put this inside me.”

Bruce growled and undid his pants and pushed them off quickly. “Shouldn’t you be a little slow? Enjoy it?” Y/n teased and kissed him again. “Your a tease and you’ll always be one.” Bruce tugs on his husbands boxers, a loud rip of fabric startles Y/n.

“Bruce!”

He looks at his destroyed boxers.

“Seriously?”

“Don’t worry darling, you married a rich man. I can buy you new ones.” Bruce mouths at his neck as Y/n’s goes red, looking away in shyness. Bruce’s eyes look up to his husband and chuckles at how his husband went from hungry lust to a shy Angel.

“Y/n.” He breaths out. “I want you.”

“I want you…want you in me.” Y/n turns back to face Bruce, reaching up to nibble under his jaw. “Please, tell me how you want me.”

“All fours.”

Y/n released a weak noise, “Fuck, yeah okay.” He moved over to their bed, crawling over on it. “I…uhm…”

Bruce’s smirk widens. “Put your shoulder down against the bed.” When his husband didn’t move quick enough he grabbed the back of his neck and pushed him down the mattress. “Just like that.”

“Bruce.” Y/n whimpered.

“Stay.” Bruce stood back and grinned at the beautiful sight. “Fuck, look at you.”

“Bruce, please.” Y/n loves over his shoulder. Bruce smiled, licking his lips hungrily and reached over to open his beloved up. “Y/n…” His fingers reached over to stroke over the hole, playing over the rim, purring to himself as it twitched. Y/n felt bruce shift behind him and then Y/n lunged forward in surprise, eyes flying open wide when Bruce’s tongue was pushed mercilessly into him. “Bruce!” He gasped out.

Bruces mouth was a bit occupied so he just hummed back and Y/n yelped again. This was new. Bruce had eaten him out a few times but not so deeply nor aggressively before. He could feel his nose pressed up against him as he fed into Y/n like he was starving. “Oh, Bruce!” He shrieked out. He knows that they’ve gone this aggressive or rough before and he gave Bruce his permission to do so, and he was enjoying it.

“Can’t—I’m gonna—!” He screamed as he came untouched into the mattress beneath him. He groaned, upper body falling weakly into the softness as he lower form began to join before Bruces firm hands grasped him and held him in place. “Now that your relaxed, we should be able to move to the next step.” Bruce licked his lips and sat up.

“Deep breaths.” Bruce whispers as his only warning before his thick, dripping head popped into Y/n and before his husband could catch his breath he gave a rough thrust. “Bruce!” Y/n squeals, his hands gripping the end sheets as he bites into the pillows beneath him. His breathing become heavily but is quick to calm himself. Bruce groans as he started pounding. His husband giving off moans between thrusts, growing louder each time he slammed into him. With each frantic thrust, Bruce looked down at Y/n’s gorgeous ass, watching it bounce with each thrust.

“Bruce—fuck, harder!” Y/n throws his head back, eyes glossy from the intense pleasure. All this time whenever Bruce was soft with him he enjoyed the small gestures and the amount of times that Bruce was gentle with him. But this whole new side of Bruce and the frantic fucking he was giving him was something he was enjoying. He loved this side of his husband as he fucked him into their mattress.

“You want to come?” Bruce questions and pulling back, causing his husband to whine at the lose before he’s lifted up and pressed up against his chest. His back to him while Bruce slammed back down into him.

Y/n sobbed as he bounced back against Bruce. “Yes! Please I want to come, let me come!” He pleads out between moans and whimpers while Bruce reached down to wrap his fingers around him, jerking him off as Y/n gasps. It was too much for him, he felt like he was going to explode.

“Does my good boy want to come?” Bruce grunts out against his neck, licking and biting down. “Yes! Yes! Let me come let me come!”

Bruce smirks at his husband. “That’s it,” he threw his head back and practically moans out loudly as Y/n clamped around him, squeezing tight. The two coming together, y/n gripping Bruce’s wrist and whining out. When he came back to himself he was still pumping Y/n with his seed and he moaned, the heat and squelching noise was delightful. It was the best orgasm he had ever had.

Y/n was panting softly as he leans back against Bruce who gently and slowly pulls out, lying him back down on the bed as he kissed the back of his neck and back. “Easy.” He hears Bruce whisper to him as he turns him around my slowly to see Y/n smiling.

“That was new.” Y/n says with a chuckle as Bruce chuckles in return, leaning down to capture his lips into a soft kiss. “Let me clean you up.” He mumbled against his lips as Y/n nods tiredly, watching Bruce pull away and head towards their bathroom where he grabs a wet rag to clean up their mess, his husbands eyes closing slowly and tired.

Bruce smiles, tossing the rag in the hamper and covering Y/n up with the blankets as he crawled next to his side, holding him close to his chest as he kissed the top of his head. Y/n groaning and shifting around to snuggling up to his chest. The Wayne sighs to himself as he keeps his arms wrapped around his husband as the two slept the day away.

When morning came, Bruce is awoken by the sound of his husbands phone ringing. The billionaire groans, shifting to the other side as he reached down on their discarded clothes, fishing out Y/n’s phone as he answers.

“Hello?”

“Oh! Hello? Is Y/n there by any chance? My name is Stephan, from Gothams middle school office. We were wondering if Y/n would be coming in today?”

Bruce glanced at the clock that hung on their bedroom wall. Y/n was suppose to be teaching today and he was an hour late. He looks over his shoulder to see y/n still asleep, peacefully and comfortable.

Bruce smiles and clears his throat. “Im sorry but Y/n won’t be able to make it in today, he is sick at the moment and should get better later on.” He informs to the man on the other side of the phone before hanging up and tossing the phone aside, crawling back under the sheets and hugging Y/n close as he chuckles to himself.

[raventao]

Royalty AU

Slade and Dick have a secret relationship, and the only people who know are his brothers and Babs. Dick and Bruce get in a huge fight (probably about how to run the kingdom, and B keeps trying to micromanage him) so he just runs away to Slade's kingdom in the dead of night with no warning. Bruce definitely thinks he's been kidnapped, and none of the others say a goddamn thing. 😆

Bruce just has no idea where Dick could be and is high key suspicious when none of his other kids or Dick's best friend seem concerned. "Oh no, Richard must be so scared. We must find him." In the most unconvincing monotone ever is what he gets from literally all of them when he asks. 😆

Like, he hasn't gotten any sort of ransom letter or his son's head in a box yet, which is both great, and stressful at the same time because he doesn't know what to do or even where to start looking. Obviously, the cur who stole his son away is planning something big for him not to have heard anything yet, right?

Meanwhile, back with Dick he's living his best life with the man he loves and his unofficial husband's kids. Everyone in Slade's castle from servant to members of the court adore Dick and refuse to ease King Wayne's worrying.

Maybe Slade and Dick decide to actually get married, and they send invitations to Gotham and that's how Bruce finds out? Not via the invitation, no, by going to the wedding to avoid causing a conflict, and he sees Dick walking down the aisle.

The drama. Jason would be living for it. Babs is absolutely the maid of honor, and Alfred (who likely got a letter explaining everything shortly after Dick left and just didn't tell Bruce.) who mysteriously disappeared when they all got there, has now reappeared and is walking Dick down the aisle.

None of his kids will let him object to the wedding, jumping on him and covering his mouth whenever they see him about to do anything disruptive.

Slade is a good King, still a ruthless warriror, but good lord is he gone on his little prince. Just, the biggest teddy bear for Dick alone. People watch in awe and terror as Dick just brushes off any bad mood their King is in and fixes whatever the problem is. He's their Queen now. If King Wayne didn't want other kingdoms stealing his son, maybe he should have done a better job of taking care of him. The whole kingdom would go to war gladly if it meant protecting Dick. Especially since no one has seen him angry yet, and they would like to keep it that way please.

[uncpanda]

Gone: Part 2

AN: The long awaited sequel. This is probably going to end up being five parts or around there? 

Part 1

You can feel his eyes on you, and it irks you that you’re only mildly annoyed by it. Still, you continue moving about the room until you’ve finished the task at hand. Maybe if you ignore him long enough, he’ll go away? When you finally turn around, five minutes, later he’s still there. That figures, The Bat had the patience of a saint when it came to getting what he wanted. 

“Why don’t you take a picture Bruce? It will last longer?” 

He doesn’t react, he just leans against the door frame. You want to chastise him for it. He’s wearing a suit that costs thousands of dollars, and that door frame. . . well it probably hasn’t been cleaned in years, “Take a picture Bruce, it will last longer.” 

His voice is unsrpriginly even, “Don’t need to. I have plenty of pictures. The one of us in high school, our first date, wrapped up in each other on the couch, me proposing, and I have a ton from our wedding day. I don’t however, have one of you working in a school, or living in a small town. Or one of you figuring out how to stay off my radar for six years.” The last one is said with a growl, but you can hear the hurt behind the words. 

You lean back against your desk, “I know you Bruce. I know how you work. Hell, I helped create your system. It wasn’t hard for me to avoid it.” 

“And you had Alfred on your side. That was the key, wasn’t it.” 

You don’t hesitate, “Yes.” 

There’s several minutes of silence before he says, “It’s time to come home.” 

“I am home.” 

“I mean home, home. It’s been nine years.” 

You throw a stress ball at his head, and you nearly let out a screech when he catches it, “I know how long it’s been Bruce.” You have a literal, walking, talking reminder. 

He moves into the room, his hulking frame taking up more space than you would prefer, but you stand your ground until he’s only a few feet away, “You’re in danger.” 

“I am not. No one knows about me Bruce. No one knew about me when we were married. I was the high school friend of yours who people pretended didn’t exist. We never announced our marriage, we just eloped. Hell, that party . . .” 

You don’t finish that sentence, that party is what led to this. It was supposed to have been your debut as Mrs. Wayne, but the pregnancy had kept the two of you from ever going in. No one knew. You were sure to the media, you were just another no named woman who disappeared after a few weeks. The fact that you had been by Bruce’s side from the time you were seven to twenty three, meant nothing. 

 You cross your arms, and glance at the clock, you only have half an hour before you need to pick her up. You focus on that clock and say, “You need to leave Bruce.” When he doesn’t say anything, you look at him to find a puzzled look on his face. This time your temper gets the better of you, “What?” 

“You never took off your wedding ring.” 

Automatically your thumb grazes against the band . . .fuck. 

“It kept unwanted attention off me.” 

“Liar.” Your heart nearly stops at the word, and a strangled little sound escapes your throat. He moves in closer, “You scuffed the ground with the toe or your shoe, when you said it. It’s your tell.” You know that, he’s pointed out before, and you’d nearly broken that habit when you left, but you’d had no reason to keep up with it in this sleepy little town. 

He stops just a breath away from you, and ever so hesitantly his hand stretches out, and you feel him cup your cheek. Your eyes flutter closed, “Did you miss me Y/N?” 

Your breath gets trapped in your lungs, and then his breath is fanning your ear, “Breathe sweetheart. Breathe.” 

You suck in a breath, and you can feel your knees go weak. You push your arms out in front of you, so that you can stop him from moving any closer, because Bruce is the flame, and you’re the fuel. One wrong move, and you’re back there. You’re back with him, and your entire life is ruled by the Bat’s schedule and his no nonsense attitude. And that would be fine if it was just you . . .but it isn’t just you. And that’s the hardest thing, because you still love the prick . . . you never stopped.  

“No.” The word is strangled, and you can feel the tears prick at the corner of your eyes, “No, Bruce. We . . . we want different things.” 

His voice is a whisper, “You don’t know that. It’s been nearly ten years.” 

“I know you Bruce . . .” 

“Maybe things have changed.” You can just feel his lips ghosting over yours . . . when something settles on your stomach. Your eyes flash open and you stare down at eyes identical to yours. It’s one of the few things the two of you share looks wise. Jo smiles at you, “Morning mama.” 

“Morning baby girl.” Unlike most nine year olds she doesn’t protest the nickname. 

“You were dreaming again.” 

You play with the ends of her hair, your arm resting against her back, “Was I?” 

“Mhmm. You said dad’s name again.” 

You wince at that, “He’s been on my mind a lot lately.” 

She sits up as you do, “You could call him?” 

You don’t verify that answer, “What time is it?” 

“A little after four?” 

You blanch at the idea of being up at four, but that means nothing to Jo, she’s always needed very little sleep. Even as a baby, she had barely slept more than two hours at a time. The exhaustion had nearly killed you, and you had cursed Bruce’s existence for a good year; he had always been the same way. In fact your daughter gets a lot from your husband . . . who isn’t really your husband; her early to rise mentality, her IQ, her inquisitiveness, the way she wrinkles her nose when faced with  food she doesn’t like. 

You stroke her face and she dives at you for a cuddle. You kiss the top of her head and you snuggle in. You’ll be back to sleep in a matter of minutes, but you know she wont. Instead she’ll just choose to stay in your arms, and you’re grateful that she inherited that characteristic from you: the ability to stay. 

You manage to avoid dreams of Bruce for several days. You push him to the back of your mind and you focus on your life. 

Your days proceed like usual for the most part; you drop Jo off at school, and head to the office and you keep your head down. You focus on the tasks at hand instead of the office gossip, and you keep to yourself for the most part. You’re friendly enough, but it’s safer this way. There’s very little chance at being caught in someone’s selfie, and an even smaller chance at being forced to talk about your past. 

On Thursday, you’re halfway through lunch when one of your coworkers. . . Lynne, sticks her head into your office. She’s all grins, and curiosity, and you wonder what the biggest gossip in town needs from you, “You have a delivery.” 

You don’t look up from your book, “I didn’t order anything.” 

“They’re the prettiest flowers; looks like a bunch of wildflowers with some daffodils and roses thrown in.” 

You freeze, because that was the bouquet you had carried into the justice of the peace’s office when you had married Bruce. You push back from the desk and march out to the front. There’s a gaggle of women around it, but the card on top is untouched. You pluck it from the arrangement, and then shove the flowers into the trash. 

You return to your office without a word. With shaking hands, you open the card and read the rhyme there, “Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed. Speak not a whispered word about them, or they'll send the Talon for your head.” 

Your breath leaves your body in a woosh. It’s been a long time since you’ve heard that rhyme, not since right after the death of Bruce’s parents, when he had been certain it was the Court who had killed them. You take out your phone and dial the one saved number. 

Alfred picks up after the first ring. It’s outside of your weekly update, he knows that means something is wrong. “Mrs. Wayne?” 

The use of your married name still throws you, but you don’t question it from Alfred, not after ten years. “Alfred. I think I’m in trouble. Someone found me. I just got a flower arrangement, the same flowers I carried when I married Bruce, and the card attached had the rhyme about the Court of Owls.” 

There’s silence on the line before he says, “I’ll be right there.” And your stomach drops because you know this means you’re finally going home.

[yannowhatigiveup]

New but True

This is the 10k+ one shot I was talking about. I finished it as quickly as I could yesterday (with aching muscles WHICH STILL HURTS-) Any way enjoy!

Wordcount: >13k

Damian didn't know how he was expecting his day to go but he didn't expect it to go like this.

He woke up a little earlier than usual which was an annoyance since he would be doing patrol late at night. His brothers were also being a pain when he arrived for breakfast, but that was normal. What wasn't normal was the fact that he had this aching feeling in his stomach, a gut feeling, that something would happen. He wasn't sure whether it was something good or something bad, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He didn't pay any attention to Dick as he talked about how Kor'i and Mar'i would be coming to visit. The eldest, being his overdramatic self, let out a huff of taken offense when he realised Damian wasn't paying attention. His thoughts were interrupted by Jason's annoying snark.

"Demon-spawn's love life is nonexistent, did you really expect him to listen?"

Damian inhaled sharply through his nose, took a sip from the cup of coffee he stole from Tim, reached for a knife and looked Jason straight in the eyes. "Your life will be nonexistent, Todd"

As he was about to throw it, Alfred materialized behind him. "Master Damian, no throwing utensils at the table"

The green-eyed boy huffed, finishing the rest of Tim's coffee off. He left to his room with no comment and when he reached his room, he changed to go on a walk.

He didn't have a specific area he wanted to go to, he just let his legs do the walking. He made it to a paint shop, an antique shop, a small drinks stand where he bought a small lemonade from and a quiet street. Then the feeling returned only much stronger. Damian then felt as if he was being watched. His eyes squinted and scanned the area surrounding him only to be filled with dread as a wave of exhaustion hit him. Somehow someway, someone managed to drug him. Soon the effects of the drug went in full motion and he sank quickly into darkness.

~~~

Damian, still half asleep, tried to move around, only to feel a chains bounding him to the floor. Now he was fully awake. His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room and he came to the conclusion that he was kidnapped by the League of Assassins. He was heavily and expertly bounded to the floor which was a bother. Then a voice made him realise he wasn't alone.

"Wh-where am I?" A faint, small and sweet voice asked in French.

Damian's head turned to the direction the sound was doing from, his vision was then locked with the other figure in the room. Green eyes met blue. Damon didn't know what to say after meeting the girl's gaze and instead observed her. She was beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and she looked small, frail and weak. But Damian knew better than to judge people based on appearance alone. It could all just be an act, an image she's trying to portray. 'This girl has to be dangerous or has to have a great significance of some kind. After all, she was kidnapped too'. Damian was about to answer when an all too familiar voice answered instead.

"You're in the League of Assassins, little guardian" a female voice replied in french. Damian then turned to meet his mother's glare, giving Talia a glare of his own.

"...Why am I here?" Even though the girl seemed very fragile at that moment, her voice was intimidating.

"To be betrothed to my son"

"What?!" Both teenagers exclaimed in French.

"You heard me. You-" Talia pointed at Damian. "are the heir to the League of Assassins and you-" her finger pointed to the blue-haired girl. "are the Great Guardian, heir to the Order of the Guardians." she then crossed her arms. "It would be beneficial for both parties for this marriage to take place as it would create an alliance between the two opposing organizations"

Talia approached the blue-eyed girl first. "I have your kwami" she whispered furiously in French. "Go through with this, otherwise your kwami will take the punishment" Damian didn't understand what his mother was talking about and soon she was approaching him. "You refuse, the girl dies. You choose" she told her son in English. Talia was very certain the girl heard and understood her words.

He didn't know anything about the girl but he would be damned if he let her die. Damian and the figure both locked eyes again. Though neither face showed any emotion, their eyes conveyed a silent conversation, a silent agreement.

Talia didn't see this as she was already turning away from them. "You'll now be escorted to different rooms to change". At her command, more people entered the room.

~~~

He was forced into his assassin's gear and dragged to the alter, many assassins with weapons drawn warned him to remain where he was. Then the doors opened. The mysterious blue-

eyed girl was fitted in a dark red qipao, her long midnight hair, that was now let down, framed her face perfectly. If they weren't in this situation, he probably would have approached the girl himself.

Being brought back to reality, both him and the girl stood side by side, looking up at Talia who had a goblet filled with god knows what. The brown-haired woman then forcefully took the girl's hand and sliced her palm, letting the blood drip down into the beaker. Upon doing so, the blue-haired girl winced when the blade made contact with her skin. Talia then took Damian's hand and did the same, Damian didn't show any emotion when the action was done. The woman mixed the liquids and poured the concoction into two separate glasses. She chanted something in another language which he didn't bother listening to. Both Damian's and the girl's eyes locked once more before they both brought the chalices to their lips and drank. Damian ignored the burning from the liquid as it went down his throat but he saw the girl gulp in visible discomfort.

After the ceremony was complete, the newlywed couple were forced into a bedroom. Damian tried opening the door but it was, shut. He turned to face the girl who was now sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I'm truly sorry for these turn of events"

"I'm so sorry they dragged you into this"

Damian and the blue-eyed girl shared a small but saddened chuckle as they both talked, in English, at the same time.

"Like I said earlier I... I'm sorry you were forced into this" Damian murmured as he went to sit next to the girl, keeping some distance as to not make her uncomfortable.

"I'm gonna stop you right there" She put her hand up, indicating for him to stop talking. "You were roped into this as much as I was" the girl hesitantly placed her hand on his and surprisingly, Damian didn't feel the need to pull away. "The only person here to blame is your mother" her eyes widened at her own statement "Sorryifthatoffendedyou!"

Damian chuckled at her reaction. "It's fine. She only gets the privilege of being called my mother because she's biologically related to me" he thought for a moment and cleared his throat. "Since we're... married"

"We might as well try to make it work" she smiled at him and Damian felt his cheeks heat up ever so slightly.

He nodded. "Firstly, Hello, my name is Damian, Damian Wayne and I am your husband"

"Well hello too you too! I'm your wife and my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng... or is it Wayne now?" Marinette asked slightly flustered. Damian decided that he enjoyed seeing her flustered. He took the hand that was resting on his and gently kissed her knuckles. The bluenette's blush was far more visible now.

"Marinette" Damian hummed. "A beautiful name to suit a beautiful lady such as yourself"

She giggled, Damian revelled in the sound. "You're one to talk tall, dark and handsome" she abruptly stopped. "Wait, Damian Wayne?" Marinette tried to stifle her laughter but failed.

"What's so funny?" He shot her a jokingly glare.

"No it's just-" she tried to control her laughter and managed to lower it to giggles. "There's a girl in my class and she says that you and her are a couple"

The look of disgust on his face managed to throw her into a fit of more laughter. "The only woman that I love is my beautiful wife" he grumbled, pulling Marinette closer to him and wrapping his arm around her waist. Damian felt the blue-eyed girl's body freeze. "Sorry I-" he was cut off when Marinette leaned into his embrace, her head snuggled under his chin.

"I love you too, mon chéri"

~~~

In the few hours she really got to know him, Marinette fell for Damian, she fell hard. He told her about his pets and about Jon, his self proclaimed best friend. He then told her about his family, how they were actually the Bats and how infuriating they were, though she knew he loved them. In turn she told him about being Ladybug and the situation in Paris, he was furious about not knowing of this sooner. Even more so after finding out her relationship with her classmates but he kept his promise to not kill them, for now.

They hadn't noticed how much time has past until the sound of the door opening reminded the couple of where they were. Damian and Marinette both stood up, the bluenette slightly behind her husband as Talia entered the room. The older woman tossed a cage and a key at the two, she left without saying a single word. Marinette picked up the key and stumbled to cage, shakily turning the key. As soon as the cage door opened, the red blur flew out and hugged her cheek.

"Marinette I was so worried!" Tikki squeaked

"I'm glad you're okay Tikki!" The bluenette turned to the black-haired boy who was smiling ever so slightly at the reunion. "Damian this is Tikki, my kwami. Tikki this is Damian, my husband"

Damian stood and nodded curtly at the flying goddess. The kwami flew up, inspected for a second and hugged his cheek. Marinette giggled at the interaction. "He's right for you Marinette. But the moment I get my hands on that witch of a woman, I will get Plagg to deal with her"

Marinette, not wanting to stress her kwami best friend, suggested that Tikki get some rest and the kwami, though hesitantly, agreed. Now it was just Damian and Marinette awake. The green-eyed boy walked towards the window, Marinette followed suit.

"Tt, It's bolted down where we can't reach" Damian was referring to the window.

"I checked for any secret doors or passage ways, nothing"

"We need to escape somehow" he murmured. 'We could try to pick the door lock but there's an object obstructing the hole, only removed when the key is used. Kicking the door down could be an option but there could be assassins posted outside-'

"You look tired" Marinette's sweet voice interrupted his thoughts. "Go to bed"

"I can sleep on the flo-"

"It's cold sleeping on my own" she smiled up at him. Damian swore that her smile was brighter than the sun itself. He placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

"Alright"

Marinette was surprised at how well she trusted Damian despite the fact they had known each other for less than 24 hours. Yet here she was, cuddling up in her husband's arms. It was probably Plagg's influence giving her confidence. Then again, Damian must be thinking the exact same thing. She reached out to cover the black-haired boy completely with the blanket provided. When she was sure he was safe under the blanket, she kissed his cheek and snuggled back into his chest. They could escape later, right now she just wanted to spend time with Damian. Her husband.

~~~

A few days had past and they still hadn't made any progress of escaping. Though they had made progress in bonding. Despite the fact they had only been with each other for a few days, they felt as if they'd known each other for years. They knew each other's hobbies, favourite activities, body language. It's almost as if they could communicate through their eyes alone. Damian hate to say it, but he had to thank his mother for introducing the two. Though that small spark of gratefulness would soon flicker out.

One day, Damian woke alone. He noticed the lack of his wife's signature scent, vanilla and cherry blossoms courtesy of her shampoo, as well as the lack of warmth when he woke up. It hit him like a train, Talia took her. He stormed through the door, surprisingly it was left unlocked. He found his mother in a separate room, calmly drinking tea.

"Where. Is. My. Wife." He growled out. Talia looked at her son, put her cup of tea down and stared straight into his eyes.

"We've decided" she began slowly. "That we need more from their side of the bargain" A dangerous glint was in her eyes. "We've asked for the miraculous in exchange for protection but since they've refused, we're going void this bethrothal. By killing the girl. You are no longer needed here"

Damian's eyes were wide open. Marinette was the only person in the world he truly loved, she didn't judge him for his past and she didn't mind when he was stubborn and self-centered. He'd finally opened his heart to her fully, now his mother was going to kill her. His fists were clenched but before he could do anything, he was hit at the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

~~~

"Has Master Damian returned?" Alfred asked when he entered the living room.

"Nope, the brat's not home" Jason replied, too invested in one of his books.

"Is there something wrong, Alfred?" Alfred turned to where Dick was sitting on the couch, eager for his wife and daughter to return from Tamaran.

"Master Damian is usually home by now when he goes out for walks and it is almost time for dinner" he sounded as if he was going to say more but there was someone at the door so he went to see who it was, Dick followed thinking it was Kor'i and Mar'i. But before he left he told the other two men in the room to call Damian.

Jason tried first but succeeded no results. "You try Replacement"

Tim, who was losing it slightly as he had one less cup of coffee than usual, obliged, only to receive the same outcome. Getting slightly confused, he tried tracking his little brother's phone. Soon Mar'i came in.

"Hi Uncle Jay! Hi Uncle Timmy!" She looked around the room, her green eyes slightly glinting with sadness. "Where's Uncle Dami?"

Tim and Jason looked at each other, gesturing for the other to answer. Luckily Alfred stepped in. "He's out on a walk. Right now it's time for dinner so let's get you seated"

The little girl bounced with joy. "Okay Papa Alfie!"

The the two left, Bruce decided to walk in. He glanced briefly around the room. "Where's Damian?"

"He's not answering any calls or messages. I tracked his phone and-" he turned the computers screen around, showing a map with a circle indicating where Damian's phone was.

"Should we go get the Demon Brat now B or?" Jason asked.

"You can go Jason"

The second eldest went to the batcave to suit up and Tim sent the location. It lead Red Hood to a quiet street, and an unsupervised phone. He picked it up, saw all of the notifications on it and looked around the area. No Damian in sight. What was insight though, was a cup of lemonade, nearly finished. 'This is getting very weird very quickly' Red Hood figured it would be best just to take it back in case.

When he got back, he put the lemonade through for testing and went upstairs for dinner, Damian's phone in hand. When he arrived he was met with all the stares of anticipation. He sighed and put the phone on the table.

"I didn't find Demon Spawn" nearly all of the table sighed. "All I found was lemonade, didn't know he drank it"

"Did you get it tested for any sedatives?" Dick asked, worried for his little brother.

"In the cave now"

"Tim, he has a tracker on right?" Dick turned to the coffee-deprived boy.

Tim nodded and pulled his phone out. "It must've got damaged somehow, it's not appearing on the map"

"Has it got a tracked history of where he's been?" Bruce cut in. Tim fiddled with his phone for a moment.

"His last tracked location was the same location where we found his phone"

"Is Uncle Dami gonna be okay?" The small girl's voice echoed in the room.

"Don't worry my little bumgorf, I'm sure we will find him" Kor'i reassured her daughter.

Soon dinner was finished, Kor'i took Mar'i to her room so the others could find out what happened. When they reached the batcave, the lemonade, the only piece of evidence they had, had traces of a very strong sedative that would've knocked Damian out in seconds. They went out on an earlier patrol to see if they could spot the green-eyed boy. Nothing. On the regular patrol, no villain had claimed to taking Damian. Again, the patrol received no results.

"I'll try calling Jon" Dick's worried voice whispered.

After a few rings, Jon picked up. "Hi Dick! What's-"

"Have you seen Damian today?"

"No I haven't, why is something wrong?" The boy asked, getting worried for his best friend.

"He's not picking up his phone and his tracker for damaged"

"...o-okay I'll keep an eye out for him"

Dick thanked the young superhero and shook his head to all the people in the room. They all collectively sighed. 'Where did you go Little D?'

~~~

A few days passed and they still had no luck. Jason was getting worried, 'The Joker better not have him'. Though Damian is a little shit at times, he was still his younger brother. Jason was always the first to get out and look for him, he was one of the last people Damian talked to that day, and he wasn't necessarily happy about what he said to him beforehand. If he was captured, tortured and/or killed by the Joker, Jason would never let the feeling of vengeance grow.

Red Hood surveyed the area and his head darted in the direction of what sounded like a struggle. He alerted the others through his comm and headed towards the noise. It came from two hooded figures and...

"Hey!"

The hooded figures froze at the sound of his voice. They quickly left the area not before harshly throwing the third figure at the nearby wall. Red Hood ran up to the boy and he was right. It was Damian, battered, bruised and unconscious. But he was alive. Red Hood scrambled to his side, carrying him on his back. "I found him but he's not doing too good"

"Bring him back to the batcave, Agent A will take care of him. In the meantime, return to patrol"

When they had all finished, they returned to the batcave where Alfred was hovering over Damian, who was on a bed, covered in bandages.

"Master Damian is recovering quickly, he'll wake up soon" Alfred reassured the worried family.

Though not most of them wouldn't admit it out loud, they deeply missed and were incredibly fretful for their youngest. Bruce, Dick, Tim and even Jason all sat around Damian. Only after Alfred assured them to bed did they leave the boy's side.

Tim woke up early, as usual, and he decided to fix himself a cup of strong coffee. He grabbed his laptop from the living room and instead of doing work there, he went down to the batcave at sat besides Damian's bed. He'd felt a pang of sadness when his younger brother didn't return home a few days earlier as he didn't interact at all will him before he left.

Tim didn't register when Damian left, or the fact that Dick was talking, or even when Jason kept throwing remarks here and there. The thing he did register though was the fact that his coffee cup was no longer in his reach. "Who took my coffee?" He tried to sound threatening but it came out as tired and completely done.

"Demon Spawn took it" Jason scoffed.

Tim then reached for the familiar cup from across the table, only to find it empty.

"How dare he drink my coffee" Tim growled, a new source of energy arising from his anger. "The brat's definitely going to get it later"

All too soon, it was time for breakfast. Tim got up to leave only to stop when he saw movement in the corner of his eye. The coffee lover turned to face a half conscious Damian.

"You're okay! Little D's awake!!" Tim shouted to get everyone's attention.

"Could you not burst my eardrums Drake?" The green-eyed boy grumbled, his head still throbbing from the hit he had taken earlier.

One by one, the others filed into the batcave. Dick gave Damian a big hug, Tim flashed a smile of relief, Jason ruffled the boy's hair and Bruce gave a small hug followed by a pat on the head. Throughout the whole ordeal, Damian had blank stare. No scowl, no unpleasant looks. Nothing. No one knew what had happened, only that it wasn't good. Soon, Mar'i came running in and jumped onto his bed, squeezing him in a hug.

"Uncle Dami we were so worried!" The little girl sobbed. Though the contact did hurt, he pushed aside the pain from the injuries and patted his niece's head.

"I'm back now"

"Where did you go?" Mar'i's eyes shone in burning curiosity. It reminded Damian of Marinette, the first thing she said had the same curiosity.

"It doesn't matter" he choked out. The others must have mistook the question as a trigger for a bad memory as they instantly changed the subject, they had no clue of the real reason.

"If you are well rested, Master Damian, would you like to join us for breakfast?" Alfred entered the room, his eyes were empathetic. 'Pennyworth knows what happened, he always knows'

"Yes, thank you Pennyworth" Mar'i jumped off so Damian could stand up. He suppressed a wince as he put pressure on his right foot. Slowly, the others left to go upstairs and Damian was left alone with his father.

"Damian" The green-eyed boy looked up to where Bruce was standing. "What happened?"

"Mother" he states simply, he didn't need to add anything else.

"What did she do?"

"..." Damian didn't answer at first, he looked away, wanting to avoid eye contact as much as possible. Bruce patiently waited, however. The green-eyed boy's head lowered to the ground but his gaze was fixated on his father. They had a deadly, destructive, toxic tint that even disturbed Bruce. But he said nothing, not a single word left his mouth and whatever he wanted to say seemed to die down in his throat. Damian took a few steps to one of the exits before stopping and turning back towards Bruce. "I appreciate your concern, father" Damian's lips twitched, forming a small smile, and he walked away, trying not to show he was limping.

Bruce watched as his youngest walked, limped, away. Whatever Talia had done, it had taken a toll on Damian. Mentally and Physically. He wanted to know exactly what happened so he could give the help the green-eyed boy needed. For now, he'll let his son relax and heal, he deserved it.

~~~

Marinette woke to a lack of warmth and the lost feeling of strong arms around her body. One of her eyes fluttered open, she was in a different room, one she didn't recognise. The bluenette began to panic and searched for the door, it was locked.

"Dami?"

No answer.

"Tikki?" Luckily, the small goddess was in the room.

"I tried to stop them but they knocked me out, I'm so sorry Marinette!" The blue-eyed girl was quick to reassure her kwami when she heard talking down the hall.

"Where. Is. My. Wife."

Marinette immediately recognised it as Damian's voice. She wanted to call out but it would be a stupid move, there could be assassins posted in front of her door, she could put Damian in danger, the possibilities were endless. So she just listened.

"We've decided... that we need more from their side of the bargain. We've asked for the miraculous in exchange for protection but since they've refused, we're going void this bethrothal. By killing the girl. You are no longer needed here"

The blue-haired girl then heard the sound of something heavy being used to hit someone, then a loud thud. Marinette had to cover her mouth so that her scream would be muffled. She had to get out of there. Now. The bluenette didn't want to leave without Damian, but he would want her to escape. She quietly transformed and went to the window in her room, it wasn't bolted down like the room she was previously in so she used her yo-yo to break it down. And she ran, she ran as far as her legs could take her. When she was positive she was safe, she took her yo-yo and called the one person who could get her out of there.

"Pegasus?" She asked, her voice hoarse as she held back tears.

"Ladybug! We're getting worried, where are you? A Parisian citizen is missing and there's an akuma attack currently going on and if you don't get here we'll 100%-"

"Can you get my location, please?" Ladybug pleaded, hoping that the horse hero wouldn't get mad for cutting him off. Other than the occasional computer keyboard sounds, the line went silent. "When you do, please don't question where I am. Can you teleport me back to Paris?"

"Got it Ladybug" the ladybug hero then heard a muffled 'Voyage!' in the background and a portal appeared in front of her.

The portal lead to the Eiffel Tower and in front of her was a worried Pegasus.

"I'll explain everything later, let's deal with this akuma first"

~~~

After a difficult akuma and a Lucky Charm in the form of fairy lights, Ladybug felt her walls crumbling.

"Ladybug!" Chat's voice echoed from behind her. The black cat hero was followed by Pegasus, Ryuko and Honey Bee, Chloe's new hero mantle. "What happened? Where did you go?"

Before she could answer, Pegasus spoke up. "Sorry to interrupt but my miraculously about to run out and I need to return it"

"Oh right, come with me Pegasus" She lead him to a nearby building and he detransformed, leaving Max standing where the horse-themed hero once was.

"My friend Marinette is still missing, can you-"

"She's safe don't worry, she'll be home soon" After bidding Max goodbye, she returned to where the other three heroes were waiting.

"Alright Buginette, explain" Honey Bee exclaimed as soon as Ladybug arrived. Though the spotted heroine didn't seem to be listening. "Ladybug-"

She detransformed, wearing a black qipao with floral embroidery, and Tikki hugged her cheeks as tears rolled down them. The others were quick to rush to her side.

"Mari-hime... what happened?" Ryuko began slowly.

"I think it's best if she explains this at home" Chat Noir suggested.

"I'll take her, you two detransform and meet her at home. I'll come up with a cover story" Honey Bee said, carrying the woeful bluenette.

When Kagami and Adrien arrived at the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie, Marinette's parents were busy in the baker but explained the story that Chloe had told them, how Marinette was a target for one of the Akumas and needed to leave immediately. They said she was up in her room. The two were about to walk up the stairs when Chloe burst though the door behind them, out of breath, and walked with them. As they opened the trapdoor in Marinette's bedroom floor, they found the bluenette sat on her chaise, being comforted by the small red kwami.

"You know how strong Damian is, Marinette. I'm sure he managed to escape and I bet he's as worried as you are right now" the three heroes heard Tikki say.

"Whose Damian?" Adrien asked. The bluenette only seems to then notice that there were others in the room with her. She sighed and gestured for the three to sit in front of her, which they did.

She took a deep breath. "So a few days ago I was kidnapped by the League of Assassins. They were the organization that the Order of the Guardians had been opposed to for so long. Their current leader decided it would be best to end this conflict and had me, along with her son, kidnapped for an arranged marriage. Damian is her son and before you bash him or something, he was just as forced into it as I was. He turned his back on his mother and the league years ago and I don't hold him for his past."

"Since the betrothal was sealed with magic, we both knew that there was no safe way around it so we decided to work with it. I got to know him, he got to know me et cetera. And I kinda fell hard for him. Earlier today I woke up in a different room than the one I had been locked in, luckily Tikki was with me. I didn't know where he was but I heard Damian confront his mother about my whereabouts. Then when she revealed she was planning to kill me, she injured Damian so that he would be unable to save me and I ran away." She composed herself and looked at Adrien's, Chloe's and Kagami's expressions.

"Now I don't know if Damian is okay or if he still loves me or if he hates me for leaving him behind-" she began rambling on again as her friends were still processing the information.

"Dupain-Cheng!" Chloe shouted, stopping Marinette from maundering on any further. "So you got kidnapped, you got married... and now your worried your husband hates you because you escaped?" The bluenette nodded slowly. "You get left alone for a few hours and you're already married..." she teased, trying to lighten up the mood.

Marinette's cheeks were tinted red but her expression didn't change otherwise. "You said he's the son of the one who kidnapped you right?" Kagami asked.

"Y-yeah"

"Does he know how to use a sword? I wish to duel him to see if he's worthy of your love" she stated simply. Adrien chuckled softly and Marinette smiled slightly.

"What's his last name as it's also your last name now?" The blue-eyed girl's cheeks got redder as she cleared her throat.

"Wayne, Damian Wayne"

If Chloe was drinking a something she would've done a spit take right at that very moment. "Damian Wayne? As in the son of Bruce Wayne the billionaire? The one Lie-la's lying about dating?" Marinette nodded.

"You were saying earlier that you think he might not love you anymore right?" Adrien tried to distract the girls from Chloe's spluttering.

"...yeah what about it?"

"Well you also said he confronted his mother right? Well he must've truly loved you to just go and yell at a dangerous person who was also the person holding them captive. Though you haven't really told us what he's like, I doubt he would just stop loving you like that" Kagami emphasized his point by snapping her fingers.

Marinette smiled. "Thanks for coming to talk but right now I'm exhausted"

"We'll leave you to sleep, Mari-hime" The Japanese fencer then pulled the two blondes out of the room as they both wished her a good nap. Marinette kept a smile until they left, it slowly fell and Mari sank in the pillows of her bed. It didn't feel right to sleep without Damian. She felt... incomplete without him by her side. The tears rolled down again.

~~~

It had been a few days since Damian was found and, honestly, he wasn't doing that good. He'd been quiet, ignoring all remarks from his brothers, hadn't issued any death threats, even his pets didn't seem to bring him more joy. What confused the bat brothers the most is whenever someone would call out for Mar'i, Damian would always glance at the direction of the sound, only to have a slight hint of disappointment in his eyes when he saw his niece but he would always put on a smile for the small girl, sometimes genuine, most times forced.

They didn't have a clue how to crack the case so they got the next best person to obtain information for the green-eyed boy. Jon.

When Jon appeared at the door, Alfred was quick to lead him to Damian's room. The sooner Damian had someone to talk to, the better. "Master Damian, you have a visitor"The door was unlocked so Alfred lead Jon in and promptly left afterwards.

There was silence between the two ad Jon sat down on the floor in front of his best friend, who was sitting on the end of the bed.

"Dami? Do you wanna talk about it?" Jon waited patiently for the green-eyed boy to talk. After a few heartbeats, Damian sighed.

"Mother kidnapped me for an arranged marriage" he murmured. Jon gasped lightly as Damian continued. "She and I were both kidnapped and forced to go through with it. That's how I got...this" He lifted his hand to show faint but noticeable, curved scar, made by a very sharp blade. After a few seconds, Damian put his hand back down. "We were trapped in a shared room so we took that opportunity to get to know one another"

Damian didn't continue after that and Jon came to a conclusion. "You realised you love her"

He nodded. "Now, it's my fault that she's been tortured. Because I wasn't fast enough to protect her..." This was probably the first time Jon had seen his best friend visibly melancholic so he gave him a small hug and surprisingly, Damian wasn't bothered to push him away. "I am so pathetic"

Jon noticed someone at the door, Dick perhaps, but he doubted they they heard anything as Damian's voice was above a whisper so that only Jon could hear. After hearing the person walk away, he decided to lighten the mood. "What's she like?"

"Beautiful, kind, smart, resourceful... She's the living embodiment of sunshine, a breath of fresh air. She isn't quick to judge and she's always got a plan in her head. She's persistent too, and it's adorable when she gets flustered" Damian smiled lightly to himself.

"What's her name? What does she look like?" If talking about this girl made the green-eyed boy happy, then that's what Jon will do.

"Her name's Marinette. Blue hair, blue eyes, short" Damian chuckled lightly. "A smile brighter than the sun itself" he paused. "I don't think she's dead, she's too strong to go down just like that. But I think she's absolutely livid at me."

"She loves you a lot right?, then she wouldn't be" Jon reassured his best friend. "I gotta go now but feel free to talk about her, kay?" Jon almost left the room but was stopped by Damian's voice.

"Hey, Kent" he turned. "Thank you"

Jon smiled brightly before leaving the room, he went down stairs to the living room and was greeted by Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, Alfred and Kor'i.

"Well?" Jason pushed, eager to know what was bothering the brat.

He wasn't sure what to say until he heard Alfred whisper. "Let the young master tell them"

Jon shook his head. "Not my place to share. I'm sure he'll tell you eventually though, he just needs time to find the right words" 'He can't just waltz in and say "I got betrothed and now I think my wife hates me cause I left her at the mercy of my mother" They'll think he went mad!'

Bruce sighed. "Thank you Jon, how bad was the situation he was in?"

All the adults in the room were on edge as Jon took so time to formulate his answer. "The aftermath hurt him a lot" the others nodded.

"Wait" Everyone turned to the origin of the sound, Kor'i. "Why does Little D always tense when he hears Mar'i's name?"

"Yeah he does seem to do that" Dick murmured.

Jon was silent for a few seconds, 'What am I supposed to say? Damian's wife is called Marinette and "Mari" is probably a nickname for her. And your daughter just so happens to have the same name!' "Uh, Well Damian himself will have to explain that" The couple, though seemingly unconvinced, nodded.

"Thanks for your help, Jon"

~~~

A few months have past, Damian has slowly gotten better but he still hasn't quite been the same. He'd always have a scowl, as normal, and he'd issue death threats but only after a lot of probing. He'd also refrain from using his katana and other sharp utensils as a first resort. It was scary to say the least. He'd also spend a lot more time in his art room. Though he never displayed any emotions on his face, Damian's brothers noticed how whenever the green-eyes boy was upset, he'd always run his thumb on a long scar on his palm. Obviously from when he was kidnapped.

No one found out what happened as they never asked. Though they were curious. The curiosity grew when Jason managed to sneak into Damian's art room.

Jason was walking around the manor, looking for one of his guns that one of his brothers had hidden, he still didn't know who did it. Somehow, he found himself in front of the door leading to Damian's painting room and surprisingly, it was unlocked. Wanting to look for his missing gun and definitely not wanting to snook around, Jason waltzed in.

Briefly looking around for his gun, Jason came to the conclusion that it wasn't in this room but he stayed to look, admire, at his youngest brother's paintings, his fingers stroked through his two-toned hair. Though he would never admit it, Damian had real skill. One painting in particular caught his eye. It was small but held incredible detail, it looked like a scene frozen in time, but the detail wasn't what caught his eye.

The painting itself was of a long, sharp blade, it was covered in blood. Two different shades of blood. Jason suspected that this was the blade that caused the scar on Damian's palm, further supported by the still drying paint. Most of the paintings before the incident were either of the family or just landscapes, it was no coincidence that this painting was of a memory of what happened the the period he was taken.

Noting that the Demon Brat arrived back from patrol at 4 am, he was probably still asleep, Jason took the painting to bring to the living room.

"Any luck finding your gun?" Tim questioned mockingly.

"No" Jason replied in the same mocking tone but it quickly changed into a serious stare. The other adults noticed this change. He turned the painting in his hand around so that the artwork faced the audience. "I think I found a clue"

When that happened, they watched the boy's moves much more carefully. As well as monitoring the paintings in his room. Thankfully, the other paintings weren't of what happened, they returned to simple family portraits and landscapes. Though it could be debatable as they still had no idea what happened.

Bruce decided to host a competition, where the prizes would be an all-expense paid trip to Gotham and tours of WE for the next generation of work force, it was to write a letter detailing accomplishments and good-deeds as well as those who inspired the writer. He was going through the entries along with all his sons, Damian insisted on reading the ones he was given in his room, though not all of them wanted to help willingly. Expect for the occasional tapping at the computer's keyboard and thoughtful hums, all was silent in the manor. The silence was broken by Tim.

"Hey I like this one" he sipped on his coffee as Dick came to read the letter over Tim's shoulder.

"I think we found a winner" Dick chimed as Tim sent it to Bruce.

When he got it he read through it carefully. This was definitely one of the best they had received. "Very detailed, descriptive, the punctuation is on point, there's a tribute to their heroes as well" Bruce hummed. "Who's the one who submitted this?"

Tim squinted at the computer screen. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, from Paris"

"You're gonna do a background check on her, aren't yo-" Jason paused mid sentence. "Why did the lady mention heroes?"

~~~

A few months have passed since the newlyweds were separated, Marinette still missed Damian every day. Adrien, Chloe and Kagami still didn't know how to cheer the bluenette up, they hadn't told Luka yet either as they were aware he still had lingering feelings for the blue-eyed girl. That was until one day a certain competition caught the school's eye. One being hosted by a certain Bruce Wayne.

When Marinette entered her classroom early, for once, Chloe and Adrien were already waiting for her. "Look at this Mari-bear!" The female blonde shoved a flyer in the bluenette's face. Marinette took it from Chloe, her eyes getting wider as she scanned it.

But he time she was done, one had was covering her mouth as her eyes began to water. "If you enter you'll get a chance at winning and that means you'll get to see Damian again!" Adrien encouraging smile was blinding.

The bluenette nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna enter" Just as she finished her statement, the bell rang and the rest of the students filtered in and once all the students were seated, Miss Bustier entered. She was surprisingly on time, for once.

"Class, I have an important announcement to make" The incompetent teacher clapped her hands to gain the class' attention. They settled down after a few minutes. "As I'm sure some of you have heard, Bruce Wayne as announced a competition which the price is a trip to Gotham!"

"My Damiboo must've begged Bruce to host this competition as he could see me again" Lila gasped dramatically, her fake, faker than her tinnitus, crocodile tears threatened to spill. "I-I w-w-wasn't supposed to s-say a-a-anything. Please d-don't tell anyone!" The bluenette had to bite back a growl and merely settled for glaring daggers into the brunette's skull.

"We won't girl!" Alya comforted the liar, glaring at Marinette and Chloe at the back, as if daring them.

"Even if the competition was made for Lila to return for Gotham, we still need to have a good entry" Miss Bustier specifically landed her gaze onto Marinette, pushing all her responsibilities onto the bluenette, yet again. "I'll leave you to plan" The redhead teacher left the classroom, not even staying for a full 10 minutes. Marinette sighed and turned to Chloe.

"I'm going to write about our achievements as citizens, I hope I get chosen. I really want to see Damian again" The bluenette murmured, the blonde hugged her best friend.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll win. Then you and your loving husband will be reunited" Chloe's tone changed from sincere to teasing when she mentioned Marinette's husband. The bluenette flushed and went to ask Mlle. Mendeleiev if she could work in her classroom.

The science teacher had become Marinette's favourite teacher in the entire school, she saw through Lila's lies and did approach the brunette about them. Lila did her charm but Mlle. Mendeleiev never fell for it, merely making the liar believe she had. The science teacher never properly took proper action against the student in fear of losing her job but she did keep a folder of evidence against Lila, one that was shared with Marinette so when the time came, the bluenette would have enough evidence to fully bring the liar down. She was helpful for her teacher's help. To no surprise, Mlle. Mendeleiev allowed Marinette to do her entry for the competition in her classroom and quickly the bluenette got to work.

Miss Buster only just announced this and the school only decided to hang the flyers when the due date was five days away. Not to mention it had to be written in English, it was hard enough writing something long, let alone in another language, even though Marinette was fluent in said language. Though it was a pain, it was nothing a few dozen cups of coffee could fix. Surprisingly, Marinette managed to finish it on the second day. Though she still had to proofread it as well as make sure it all made sense. On the third day, she was confident with her letter. Adrien, Chloe, Kagami and Luka all came to read it so the bluenette would be sure it was good enough to send. Once giving their praises, she hit send. She just hoped her father-in-law thought it was good enough.

A few days later, Marinette got her answer.

She arrived early that day, surprisingly, Chloe was in the classroom waiting. "Well?" The blonde stated impatiently, Marinette titled her head in confusion.

"What?"

"The email!" Chloe shook her head as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. It took a few moments for Marinette to process what her friend was saying. When she did, she jumped into her seat and opened her phone, her fingers shaky with fear and anticipation.

Dear Miss Dupain-Cheng

It's a great honor to tell you that your entry, out of the thousands that were submitted, was chosen as the winner for this competition.

As I first read through the letter you presented, I was intrigued and touched with the actions you and your classmates have done for your community. Each deed was different in it's own write and it was a great pleasure to have read through each and everyone, though, not many of your own had been written down. When you arrive at Gotham, I'd be delighted to hear your own achievements as I am sure, as proven by the way you spoke of your classmates, you have plenty of your own. I was also deeply touched at how you had a tribute to your own heroes in Paris. I was not aware before this that there were such important figureheads in the city so reading about them in your entry was fascinating to say the least. It was also a delight to read how the vigilantes of Gotham inspired you to help others.

The permission slip for the trip is attached to this email, please make sure the one in charge of your classroom has it signed for each student who wishes to attend. I'm sure you are aware that Gotham is a dangerous city and although we are taking extra security measures, it would be advised to have the class debriefed so they know what to expect in case a situation were to occur. If there are any requests or questions, please do not fail to contact me. I look forward to meeting you and your classmates when you arrive.

Congratulations once again,

Bruce Wayne

Marinette could barely hold back the tears of happiness building up in her eyes, Chloe got up and hugged the girl in celebration. Adrien came in soon after, both blondes hugged their best friend with too much force. Though it couldn't last long as the others were starting to file in.

"Class, I have some good news!" Caline Bustier announced. "We are the winning class for the WE trip to Gotham!" The class erupted into cheers, for a moment, Marinette was reminded of the simpler times when she just started out as a hero. Lila just had to ruin it.

"My sweet Damiboo!" The brunette had a hand on her heart, sighing dreamily. "I'm so lucky to have a kind, sweet and caring man as my boyfriend" The bluenette had to hold back a snort at the description, she settled with a small scoff.

Lila knew she was taking a risk a few days ago, saying that her 'Damiboo' had rigged the competition so that they could be together again but it was a calculated risk. Though she would never admit it out loud, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a great student. Marinette is well-educated, well-informed, possibly well-born and the bluenette used to be well-loved. Her winning this trip just proved it but Lila wasn't going to let the girl claim the winnings. The brunette suspected that Marinette would at least try to hint at winning, but she didn't. It was an unordinary occurrence, 'Maybe she realised she's no match for me'

"Now I need you all to signs these permission slips and return them to me by tomorrow" Caline handed out the papers and promptly left afterwards, despite having yet to do a lesson. But that didn't matter to Marinette. She was staring at her palm, her thumb stroking the fading scar.

"I can't wait to see you again, mon démon"

~~~

"Oh no" Tim muttered after taking a final sip from his third cup of coffee.

"What Replacement?"

"Take a look at this" the sleep deprived CEO turned his computer to face the other men in the room, Damian was still at school. "If she has a tragic backstory, B might go into serial adopter mode" The screen showed a file on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, including a photo of her.

"Raven hair? Check. Coloured-eyes? Check. Looks? Check. Childhood trauma and/or tragic backstory? Maybe. Holy Shit, B is definitely going to adopt her" Jason listed while Bruce sighed.

"Is there anything notable in her file?" Bruce asked, trying not to submit to his sons' accusations which were, in fact, correct. "From the letter, she seems quite fond of the supposed heroes in Paris"

"Well from the surface she looks like the average teen girl" Dick replied, peering over Tim's shoulder. "But it could all just be for show, you never know" the eldest son shrugged.

Bruce got up from where he was sitting and went to his study, using the excuse of 'work' and 'finalizing the plane tickets for the class'. In reality, he was checking for blank adoption papers. He had a gut feeling about this girl, something was going on behind the scenes.

~~~

The trio made sure they were early to enter school since Chloe said it was possible for Lila to get them, Marinette specifically, left behind. Though, they did spend some time saying goodbye to Luka and Kagami. When they arrived to school, the blonde's assumption was correct since they started to get on the bus. The troublesome class managed to get through the airport in a breeze and without any trouble, there was a bit of a miss-hap during check-in but it was all resolved in a flash.

Marinette, Chloe and Adrien were sitting in the airplane, waiting to take off. She's gotten the seats in economy with extra leg room which were a few rows ahead of the rest of the classroom using the excuse of 'a lot of class president work to do'. Bruce offered to upgrade her and the two blondes to first class so that they wouldn't be disturbed but Marinette politely turned it down. She didn't mind where she was as long as she wasn't near the class, and the mention of first class was bound to cause an uproar.

The bluenette's inner child wanted the window seat, Adrien wanted to be in the seat next to the aisle so he could get first glimpse at the food they were serving, Chloe just wanted to be in the middle for warmth. The seating arrangement worked perfectly. Every once in a while, a flight attendant would drop by to offer food and drinks. There were a few times that flight attendants would ask for one of the three to remind the class of the rules when they didn't listen to the cabin staff, Adrien dealt with the situation since he was the only one they'd actually listen too.

Soon, they landed. The flight had been an easy one since they didn't have to deal with the class's shenanigans while they were in the air. However, that luxury had left when they exited the aircraft.

When traversing through the airport, there had been attempts to get the bluenette lost and attempts to trip her up or gain a significantly bad injury. All attempts failed. Marinette, Chloe and Adrien had managed to weave through passport control peacefully. Even when they were at the baggage claim, not many big efforts were made, besides the classic hiding of the luggage, to rid Marinette of anything. She should've found that suspicious but she was much too tired to care, she barely slept at all on the flight. So when they arrived at the hotel, the first thing she did was lie flat on the bed.

Marinette slept well over nine hours before she woke up. "Tikki, what time is it?"

The kwami too was asleep so at the mention of her name, she yawned. "It's 9:45 am"

"Oh my kwami!" Marinette shot up out of bed to check her phone. Sure enough, there where many notifications of miss calls from Adrien, Chloe, Alix and even Nino. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10:00 but knowing Lila, she was probably over an hour late. The bluenette quickly got changed, brushed her teeth and headed straight towards the hotel doors, ignoring any feeling of hunger.

She pulled her phone out for the directions of Wayne Enterprises and kept her eyes on the screen, completely ignoring the fact that there was someone in the distance directly in her path.

~~~

Jonathan Kent was walking through the streets of Gotham, looking for a present for his best friend. His birthday was in a few days time and the superboy still hadn't found anything. He went to some art shops. Nothing. He went to some antique shops. Still Nothing. He even went to look at kitchen knives. He was that desperate. Jon sighed and continued walking, some shop was bound to peak his interest eventually.

All of a sudden, he heard someone running towards his general direction. Before he could register what was happening, the person ran into him, nearly knocking him down completely.

"Je suis désolé!" A feminine voice shouted out in French. "I-I'm so sorry monsieur!"

Jon then looked up to see a small French bluenette offering her hand to help him up. He gladly took it and when he was back on his feet, he readjusted his glasses to look at the girl properly. She was short, pretty and resembled a Wayne. While this girl was panicking and apologizing profusely, Jon was excited thinking he found a new friend. Though, this excitement didn't last when he saw the state she was in. 'Her bones are a mess! How is she not screaming in pain?'

He waved his hands in front of the girl to get her to stop. "It's fine honestly!" The girl seemed to calm slightly but her face was still worried. "Why you in such a rush anyway?"

"My class and I are visiting on a trip" the bluenette started. "We're supposed to be on our way to a tour but they left me behind"

"They left you all alone? In Gotham?" Jon questioned, 'What kind of stupid are these people?'

"I know right? They-" she was cut off by a notification sound on her phone. "Sorry just a minute"

Jon only then realised how good this French girl's English was. She then let out a sigh of relief and put the phone back in her purse, the blue-eyed boy tried not to use his powers to invade her privacy.

"They're very early, the tour starts in an hour and from the map I'm not far from where I'm meant to be, thank kwami" The young Kent froze at the girl's choice of words, Damian had mentioned that his wife had a companion called a 'kwami'. This couldn't be a coincidence.

"Well since you have time," Jon got the girl's attention. "How do you feel about getting some food? I don't know about you but I'm starving."

"Oh, n-no I could possibly impose-" her stomach grumbled cutting her off. Jon chuckled as he heard the girl whisper profanities.

"Come on I know a place not far from here, you can get a very good few of the WE building" He heard the girl's heart rate speed up a bit, that confirmed where her planned class trip was taking place. He gestured for her to follow him as he sped walked to the location.

When they arrived, they both ordered, Jon ordered a burger while Marinette ordered a cinnamon bun, and sat down. The blue-eyed boy noticed how the girl would always have her thumb in her other palm. He thought her finger could've been resting on a scar similar to Damian's, if she was his wife of course. He decided to test his luck.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself" he reached his hand over the table. "My name's Jon Kent" He watched as her eyes widened in recognition and how her heartbeat quickened. "I believe you're Marinette, right?"

Marinette's eyes developed a watery sheen. "Dami's talked about me?"

'Bingo!'

"He talks to me about you every chance he gets" Jon shook the hand Marinette offered and turned it so her palm faced the ceiling. On it was a scar more or less identical to he best friend's. "Whenever he got nervous, sad or overwhelmed, he'd always trace the scar on his hand. I can tell he's thinking of you whenever he does it"

Marinette let a few tears of joy run down her cheek before wiping them away. "S-sorry I'm not usually this emotional" she chuckled. "It's just- I didn't know how to contact Damian and even if I did, I probably couldn't bring myself to talk to him. I thought he hated me for leaving him alone at the League"

Jon snorted. "Him? Hate you? Please, he views you like your his entire world! He was afraid that you hated him! He's drowning in guilt for not being able to get you out of there."

The bluenette sniffed. "Really?" Jon nodded. "C-can I see him again?"

"I don't know where he is right now" Marinette deflated slightly at his words. "But you can definitely meet him! I feel selfish to ask but is it okay for you to wait two days?"

"I've waited many months, a few days is no problem. May I ask why?"

"Well you see his birthday is in a few days and I haven't been able to find him a good gift so... I thought having you two reunited would be a good present" Jon answered, the smile he received was almost blinding.

"That's so sweet of you!" Jon understood how Damian fell for this girl. If sunshine was a person, she would be it.

"So can I see this kwami of yours?" Marinette was confused at how he knew but then she realised that Damian must've told him everything, not that she didn't mind though. "I mean, see it properly?"

"X-ray vision, I should've known" the blue-eyed girl giggled when the boy blinked in surprise. She opened her purse and a red blob flew out. Though it was mostly hidden by Marinette's body, Jon could still see it clearly. He had to cover his mouth to avoid shouting in astonishment. "Jon this is Tikki, my kwami"

"Nice to meet you, son of Superman" Tikki squeaked and Jon's eyes widened in awe as he reached to touch the small creature.

"Wow, you're adorable!" The young boy cooed as the creature giggled.

Marinette wanted the two to interact more but one look at the time told her otherwise. She said goodbye to Damian's best friend and made her way to Wayne Enterprises.

~~~

Despite reading of all the good deeds, the French class were really getting under Dick's skin. First of all, a sausage-hair girl had nearly every student wrapped around her finger, telling stories that were way too good to be true. Secondly, the incompetent teacher didn't bother to control her students, she merely looked at her phone, waving off any students who had questions. And thirdly, they had arrived way too early. The only reasonable looking students that weren't crowding around the brunette were two blondes, one male and one female, and a short skater girl. The only emotions on their face were either anger, annoyance or anxiousness.

When the time for the tour to start was nearing, Dick asked for the teacher to do a headcount. He already knew how many were supposed to be there as he was given a specific amount of badges. There were fifteen in total, not including the teacher. From what he counted, there were only fourteen students, this was confirmed when the teacher's counting stopped at 'Quatorze'. Dick realised it was the class president that wasn't there, he started looking around the main lobby. What really pissed him off was the fact that no one seemed to care that she was left behind, in Gotham for God's sake!

"Have you found her?" A voice from behind Dick asked. It was the blonde boy. "Marinette?"

"No I haven't, the tour starts in seven minutes-" The man cut himself off when someone walked through the lobby doors. She looked to be part of the class. The young bluenette's hair seemed to be ruffled as if she was running for a long time. Dick took a closer look and she was indeed the girl from the file. Determining to know why she was last to arrive, he went to greet her. "Hello, my name is Dick Grayson and I'll be your class's tour guide today"

He didn't fail to notice how her eyes widened in recognition as she took his offered hand and shook it. "Hello Monsieur Dick, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng though I suppose you already know..." her voice trailed off as her eyes lingered to somewhere else in the room before meeting back with his. "I'm really sorry about my lateness"

Dick held one hand to stop her from continuing. "It's fine, the tour starts in three minutes so you got here right on time" The eldest watched Marinette let out a sigh of relief. "I am curious, how come you were last to arrive?"

"Ah well the... bus left early because of something that came up and I wasn't aware of the changes so I got left behind" The bluenette noticed the older man's shocked and angered expression and blurted out, "But I'm here now!"

After some time he nodded and gave Marinette her badge. He then proceeded to gather the class and tell them all the rules and regulations. Soon the tour was under way.

~~~

"So how are the French class, Dildo?" Jason's snarky voice echoed in the manor as Dick entered. What they didn't expect was to be met with a seething Dick.

"Most of them are really horrible, the sausage hair and the glasses girl are the worst. They weren't bad to me though, only to the class president who is, actually, a literal angel" The eldest huffed. "They kept sliding in mean comments about her here and there, it was disgusting. The worst part is, she acts as if they do this regularly! You should've seen the way her eyes dulled as she got on the bus with that... that class!"

"That bad huh?" Jason asked.

The eldest son nodded. "Bruce is definitely gonna want to adopt her the moment he's in the same room as her"

Jason hummed. "I'd like to meet this girl your talking about, I'll ask B if I can join next tour as security. In the mean time, bet fifty I get the best gift for the Demon Brat"

Dick let out a overly exaggerated gasp of offense while laying a hand on his chest. "No way! I bet a hundred!"

~~~

The next day was the day of the next tour, Jason tagged along this time. Luckily, Marinette was on the bus when the class arrived but she wasn't looking too good.

"God, she looks exhausted and starved to death!" Jason muttered into Dick's ear. He nodded and walked over to greet the class.

"Welcome back to your second tour! Today, Jason"- Dick gestured towards the man with two-toned hair- "will be joining us today. As an extra security measure. Now, follow me please!" The eldest son began the tour with half-filled enthusiasm, this was Jason's queue to go to the back and interact with the class president.

The man stayed near the back, not making it obvious he was trying to start a conversation with the girl, when he heard the brunette at the front spewing lies. Jason hadn't spoken French in a while but he could still understand the language.

"You don't actually believe what she's saying do you?" Jason asked the young girl. She snorted in response.

"Of course not, only an idiot would believe the words that come out of her rotten excuse of a mouth. They aren't even that good" The older man laughed and the girl's eyes widened. "S-sorry! I don't usually think before I talk when I'm tired"

"No no, you have a point" Jason held his hand up, as much as he could considering her height compared to his own, to the small girl. "The name's Jason Todd"

The bluenette smiled and took his hand. "Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng..." Marinette trailed off on her last name, 'Is that not her last name? The files are always correct so maybe... she's not proud of her name?' "So what's the real reason why you joined the tour today?"

Jason was impressed as she expertly diverted the spotlight of the conversation onto himself. "For extra security"

Marinette gave the older man an unimpressed look. "I deal with that liar all the time, Jason" He blinked before the girl was smiling once more. "You can't lie to me Jay" she said in a sing-song voice.

The older man jokingly sighed and ruffled her hair. "Well since you asked so kindly, Dickhead over there-" he nodded his head in the direction of his older brother- "noticed how most of your classmates are treating you. That was probably the most pissed I've seen him in a long time. So I wanted to see which little lady was able to cause an overprotective spark in him, now I completely understand why he felt that way"

The girl then sniffed and smiled at Jason sadly. "I...Thank you" she whispered to the man with two-toned hair. "It's been a long time since someone other than my friends have said that they were worried about me"

Jason's smile faltered before it turned into a sad but encouraging one. "Hey, Dick and I are here if you ever need someone to talk to. Wait-" Jason's attention diverted to the blonde boy in the room, the one that was originally hanging out with the small girl. "Hey isn't that your friend?"

Marinette turned in the direction Jason was looking at, there was Lila who was on the arm of a very uncomfortable looking Adrien. The bluenette sighed. "Yeah he is. If you're wondering why he's with the liar is because of his father. You see, back in Paris he's quite famous so his father can be overbearing. I odn't know what the liar said to him but now he wants Adrien to keep the girl happy at all costs"

"Can't he just disobey the old man?"

"He did try but the punishment was for him to be home-schooled which he has been more or less his entire life. But I guess it's gotten better since before Adrien didn't want to call out her lies since he thought they weren't hurting anyone"

Jason scoffed. "Her lies definitely hurt those involved"

"Exactly, luckily he managed to realise that after he overheard one of Lie-la's confrontations. He tries his best to sugarcoat his words when he's calling her out but he still hates conflict. He's just with her so she doesn't turn into an akuma. Not that it's working since she's already been akumatized more than seven times"

"Sorry, akuma what-a?"

Marinette shot him a confused look before her eyes widened slightly in realisation. "I can explain at lunch"

Jason seemed hesitant but nodded anyway.

~~~

Marinette grabbed her food tray, narrowly avoided all the feet that tried to trip her up and sat at an empty lunch table.

"Hi, Mari!" Dick's cheerful voice made his presence known as he sat next to her, lunch tray in hand. "So has Jason been good?"

"Yeah! It's nice to have someone to talk to-"

She was interrupted by Jason slamming his lunch tray on the table, sitting opposite Marinette. "Alright Pixie Pop, explain what an Akuma Matata is"

"Pixie Pop?" The bluenette giggled.

"Akuma whata?" The eldest asked.

"Pixie Pop because you're small and feisty. As for the Akuma thing, Pixie will kindly explain right now" Jason replied, eager to know what an Akuma is.

"Well-"

"I did not have enough coffee for this" A new voice spoke up from behind Marinette. The person it belonged to sit next to Jason, coffee cup in hand and slammed his face on the table.

"That's Tim, our younger brother" Dick answered the bluenette's unasked question. Tim's head looked up as if he just registered that there was someone else on the table.

Her reached his hand across the table with as much energy as a sleep-deprived zombie could give. "Tim Drake"

"Marinette" she returned the hand shake. 'I'm right, these are Dami's brothers' "So like I was saying, an akuma is like a butterfly infused with magic. When it comes in contact with an inanimate object that is being touched by someone who's experiencing strong negative emotions, it turns them into an akuma villain. " She paused so that the men at the table could process what she was saying. "Hawkmoth is the one who sends the akumas, once the connection is made they have no choice but to obey. Even if they try to fight him off, they all succumb eventually."

"So a magic butterfly man, got it"

"When you put it that way, it doesn't sound believable" Marinette giggled at Jason's conclusion.

"What kind of negative emotions does it have to be? Are the Akumas... dangerous?" Dick asked, clearly more concerned that his younger brother.

The bluenette's eyes seemed to age at his statement. "Humiliation, depression, rejection, isolation, anything that makes you feel disheartened really. As for how dangerous there are well... there are different levels to classify each akuma"

All three gestured for her to continue.

"Some are low level, level one, like Mr Pidgeon-" She here's a scoff but continued as if she wasn't interrupted. "- he's a regular but relatively harmless. The highest level is an akuma like Syren" she shuddered at the memory, "Her powers allowed her to flood the entirety of Paris, drowning nearly half of the entire population"

"H-how did this not make international news" Tim asked, bringing his laptop out and furiously typing, though, receiving no results for what the girl just said.

"That would be courtesy of our heroes. One of Ladybug's powers is to heal anything damaged by the powers of the miraculous, she can fix objects, buildings and even resurrect those who died. She can't get rid of the memories unfortunately" She said the last part bitterly, disappointed in herself for not being able to help her citizens.

"What's a miraculous?" Jason asked, trying to change the subject.

"Magical jewelry basically, its what gives the heroes their powers. Its also what Hawkmoth wants, the Ladybug Miraculous and the Miraculous of the Black Cat" she put a finger on her chin to mimic thinking like a civilian. "My best guess is that if he gets the miraculous, he becomes very powerful"

"Have you ever, you know... died?" Dick asked, concern weighing heavily in his voice.

"No, I'm I guess one of the 'lucky few' to not have been killed yet."

They soon conversed in the topic of Hawkmoth and Mayura, each one of the men despised the villains at the end of her rant. All too soon, it was time to leave. She waved goodbye and rushed with her class back to the hotel. Once she reached her room, the bluenette rummaged through her suitcases, ignoring a confused Chloe. Once she found the outfit she wanted to wear, Marinette placed it onto her nightstand.

"I met Jon today"

"Whose he?" Chloe voiced her confusion.

"Jon is Damian's best friend" The bluenette reiterated. "He's bringing me with him to the manor so that we can see each other again"

"That's nice of him"

"To be honest, I think you and Jon would hit it off quite well"

Marinette stifled a giggle when she heard Chloe's signature 'Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous'. The bluenette fell onto her bed, she was going to get as much sleep as she could with her bubbling excitement.

~~~

The bluenette stared at her reflection. She wore a deep velvet, off-the-shoulder blouse with a black cotton skirt, her hair was tied up in an intricate design. Even with the compliments her two best friends kept showering her with, Marinette didn't feel ready. She would be meeting her husband after nearly a year long separation, of course she was a nervous wreck.

After some light encouragement from both Chloe and Adrien, Marinette went down the stairs to the lobby where Jon would be picking her up. It was delightful to see how far the boy was willing to go to make his best friend happy, it reminded Marinette of her friendship with Chloe, Adrien, Kagami and Luka. Upon reaching the lobby, she noticed the blue-eyed boy and briskly walked over.

"Hey Jon" she greeted the boy, he probably knew she was already there thanks to his powers.

"Hi Mari!- Wow! You look nice. I swear Dami's gonna fall for you all over again" Jon compliment made Marinette have an serge of pride. "Come on let's go! My father and Damian's family are waiting for me well, us really"

"Okay, how are we supposed to get there?" Marinette's question ignited a cheeky smile on the sunshine boy's face.

"Have you ever flown before?"

~~~

Clark Kent was at Wayne Manor, celebrating his best friend's son's birthday, who just also so happens to be best friends with his own son. 'That was too confusing for my own good'. He, along with Bruce and the others, have already given Damian his gifts. Jon insisted that he had the best present so he would go last.

"Since I'm his best friend, I have the best gift meaning that I should go last"

While waiting for his son to arrive, Mar'i gave Damian a piece of art that she made and he went up to his room to find a frame. In this moment, most of the occupants in the room turned to him.

"Have you heard Jon yet? I'd like to see what this 'present' is." Dick questioned first, Clark tilted his head but he didn't hear his son at all. He opened his mouth to answer before promptly closing it shut, Jon had just landed in the garden and was making his way inside, by them Damian and Mar'i had returned.

"Hello my very bestest friend! Happy happy birthday to you!" Jon tackled Damian in a hug before quickly pulling back as to not get pushed off. "It is time to present my gift to you!"

Damian's brothers perked up, they had bet on whether or not Jon was true to his present being the best, Dick voted for while Jason and Tim voted against.

"But no one other than Damian is allowed to see the present" Without seeing what their reaction to his statement was, Jon dragged Damian outside. The brothers huffed before running upstairs, Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing and followed his sons onto the upper floor window with Clark close behind. Clark knew that Bruce was just as curious as his boys, he just hid it very well. When they made it to the window, they saw Jon telling Damian to sit on one of the garden's benches with his eyes closed.

"Is this really necessary?" They heard Damian's unamused voice. Upon hearing Jon's confirmation, Damian sighed and closed his eyes. The adults watched as Jon went off to somewhere out of their vision.

~~~

"Yep!"

Jon's voice echoed through the garden, hitting Marinette with the realisation that her and her husband would be reunited. A flurry of emotions dawned in her head. First nervousness, then excitement and finally, anticipation. She had gotten so caught up that she barely noticed the blue-eyed boy bounding up towards her. He gave her an encouraging smile before gesturing for the bluenette to follow him. Sensing her anxious hesitation, he gently took her wrist and pulled the girl towards the green-eyes boy, who was still sitting on the bench with his hands over his eyes.

'Here goes nothing'

~~~

He'd heard Jon's footsteps scurry away around a minute ago, he didn't know why but he tingled with anticipation when he heard his self-proclaimed best friend return. Though as soon as Damian heard the boy return, he immediately ran off to god knows where. But before the confusion settled in, he was hit with the familiar scent of vanilla and cherry blossoms, the scent he thought he'd never have the privilege to come across again. Damian's head shot up to face the beautiful bluenette he had the honor of calling his wife. The voice to whom the aroma belonged to spoke.

"You know, you really should've told me when your birthday was. I could've made you a gift..." Her voice, though barely above a whisper, was as loud as needed for Damian, her voice trailed off as the tears in her eyes built up.

Without at a moment's hesitation, the bluenette was soon spun in the air with the end result being engulfed in her husband's arms. "Having you in my arms again is the best gift I could have asked for"

Marinette couldn't hold back the tears of pure euphoria that rolled down her cheeks. Damian had noticed Jon spectating form the side, radiating excitement like a puppy, but he paid no attention to his self-proclaimed best friend. All that mattered was they were together once more.

The way fate had designed.

———

Bonus:

Dick: hang on he's coming back with, mARINETTE?!

Jason: WHaT?! How does the brat know her?!

Tim: what are they saying, Clark?

Clark: *smiling while wiping a fake tear of happiness* how sweet

Dick: im confused

*batfam (and clark)* run down the stairs and go outside to see Jon nearly combusting in joy*

Jon: *turns to the fam* told you I'd get the best gift

Jason: okay demon brat tell me how you know pixie pop!

Damian: *turns to face jason with an unimpressed look with mari snuggled under his chin* she's my wife

Batfam: *exe.batfamily has stopped working*

Dick: WHAT :D?!

Jason: WHAT THE FU-

Tim: WHAT

Bruce: *whispers* there goes the adoption papers

Bruce: well it's a pleasure to meet my daughter-in-law in person, but how did you end up getting married in the first place?

Damian and Marinette: *look at each other* Mother/ His mother

Bruce: *sighs*

Jason: okay let me go get my guns to murder that sausage-haired girl

Damian: todd no

Jason: *whips around, confused* wh-

Damian: i want to be the one to spill some Italian blood

Jason: *evilly grins*

Bruce and Marinette: nO KILLING-

[hollyharper]

I think DC neds to do a five year time skip. Take their entire continuity and more it forward five years. Give us fans something new.

Maybe Bruce and Selina finally tied the knot, maybe they even have a little Helena Wayne. Their starting to train her to follow in their footsteps. Just have a bunch of sevens of the little three year old doing splits with her mom, learning how to analyze samples with her dad. Damien teaching her to fight. And of course, all the older siblings spoiling her rotten. Bruce is simply happy to spend time with his wife and kids. Selina still loves her cats. The house is over run with them, domestic and wild.

Dick and Babs should definitely be married. They have a two year old boy, James, after Barbara’s brother. Maybe even start with Barbara’s second pregnancy. This time a girl named Mary, after Dick’s mom. They have a large apartment in Blùdhavan. Dick is still Nightwing. Barbara struggles juggling her roles as his partner and wife, Batman, and The Bird’s Oracle, and being a mom. The Alfred Pennyworth foundation is thriving, and Babs resented reclaimed Gotham Clean Energy. Being the genius she is is Barbara refuses to send her kids to public school. Dick worries that adds to much extra stress to her life. She loves it. To thank her for all of her hard work, Dick brings home little gifts for her at least once a week. These presents range from chocolate bars to new computer equipment. As much as he loves when Babs cooks, Dick usually prepares their meals.

What would truly be a bomb, would be to put Jason in serious relationship. Personally, I would go with Helena Bertenilli. They started working together as partners. As they spent more time together, it became clear that they both were looking for a more intimate relationship. Their shared understanding of loss brought them closer together, until their relationship turned into lovers. Helen’s exceptional skill as a history teacher, earned her a place at Gotham High. Seeing Jason’s talent with kids, her confided him to get a teaching job as well. He mostly teaches P.E. at Gotham Academy, but also has a black smith class. He makes knives and sword son the weekend, and sells them to make money on the side. On the Battlefield, Huntress and Red Hood are inseparable, and on of the best teams Batman has. They both deeply love each other, but are afraid to talk about commitment.

Tim and Stephine are currently have issues. They’ve had an on and off relationship for the last year. Tim has entirely taken over running Wayne Enterprises. He works all day, and is out as Red Robin most of the night. His exhaustion puts a massive strain on their relationship. He feels bad about having so little time for Steph, and to show her how much he loves, her is planning to propose. Stephine feels neglected. As much as she loves Tim, his constant stress weighs on her. After talking with her mentors, she has decided that time apart would be good for both her and Tim, but she doesn’t know how to tell him. Steph has been job bouncing for awhile, another reason she’s cautious about leaving.

Cass is still Bruce’s angel child. She has little interest in dating. Her main focus is always the mission. Barbara believes she needs to get a job and stop relying on Bruce for funding. The only idea she even considered, was Helena’s suggestion to become a federal agent. Bruce strongly opposes the idea. After her father died, Cass has been trying to patch things up with her mom, who unsurprisingly wants Cass to join the League of Shadows.

At first, Damien was reluctant to accept Selina, though he would never admit, he was still hoping for his parents to work things out. When Bruce married Selina, it became clear Talia wasn’t coming back. Over time, she grew on him. Selina was the one to figure out that Damien missed his mother. After some negotiations, she convinced Bruce to invite Talia over for the holidays. It became an eagerly anticipated tradition for Damien. Talia as brings food and gifts for him. It’s the one time of year when Damian’s almost always smiles. Dami adores his little sister, and has even sworn to protect her at all costs. His relationship with Flatline died out very quickly after their meeting. Mostly, because of how immature they both were. Four years, and a sweet ex later, they meet once again on the field of battle. Again sparks flew, leading to a passionate reunion, and another hero and villain love story.

Jade and Lian were recently reunited. Their relationship is still on rocky ground, but Jade is determined to make up for the time she missed with her daughter. She makes every effort to connect with Lian, even while fighting shadows from her past. Every night, to two will sit on the roof outside of Lian’s window. Their shared interest in astronomy is a safe topic, one they touch on often. Lian wants a relationship with her mother, but is afraid Jade will leave again. Jade’s proud that her daughter took the name Cheshire Cat, and love watching her daughter in action, even though it’s usually from a distance.

Dinah and Oliver have been married for a few years. They found out pretty soon that they can’t have kids. After the news, Dinah went into depression. Their friends and family stepped up to help. Bruce tried to convince them to adopt. Neither want to, until they meet a feisty young girl named Kayleigh. Kayleigh is closed off, with deep wounds. She’s trying to become a vigilant in Star City. Her methods are overly violent. Oliver sees his younger self in her and brings her under his wing. Dinah takes a little to warm up to her. Kayleigh gives them both quite a bit of trouble, but their determined to read her. But Kayleigh’s secrets are something that could shatter their belief in her. She knows the day the find out, will be the last time she has anything close to a family.

[bigfan-fanfic]

Who is Batdad closest to outside Wayne manor? Does he have much of a life outside of the Wayne's? Who would Batdad consider his closest friends besides his family?

Honestly, Batdad doesn’t have much of a life outside of the Waynes. He doesn’t really have anyone other than the League to talk to. Clark would probably be his closest friend outside of his family because in a lot of ways they are similar.

Okay, let me talk about this. ( I came back up and decided to answer more concisely above and put this under a read more because it’s very, very long, and I cried three times while writing it and I have never had any visceral reaction to what I write ever before... oof. Just be warned if you ever feel anxiety or pressure that basically, that’s what follows)

Batdad basically denies his own wants and dreams because he wants to help Bruce. What this means is that no matter what Batdad wanted to be before (maybe he and Bruce were dating and he confessed his desire to be a writer and Bruce allowed himself the fantasy and said they’d buy an island somewhere, and Bruce would lounge on the beach and supply Batdad in kisses while he writes the best book ever), by the time Bruce gets back to Gotham from his training, Batdad has had to become what Bruce would have been if Thomas and Martha were there. 

He’s a public figure and philanthropist, carrying the legacies of Martha and Thomas on his shoulders. He has to keep Martha’s business running - no, not just running, thriving - and deal with corrupt officials, corporate espionage, and greedy businesspeople all but threatening him to take Wayne Enterprises public so they can trade stock, all while making sure Thomas’ charities are well-funded and the money is actually going where it should (see earlier greed, corporate and personal). This is all while having to attend galas and functions and fundraisers and events or risk pissing off any one of these people who can turn his life into hell - missing one event can lead to being blacklisted and then that means nobody goes to a charity gala, which means that there’s no hospital built for those in the Narrows.

All this and also consider that everybody in high society sneers at you because the only reason you’re there is because you’re engaged to Bruce and you lived with him ever since Martha and Thomas died. You’re besieged on all sides, because the snobs hate you, the press wonders if you’re even qualified to run a business, and there’s always envy and hatred from below because why aren’t you doing MORE to help them? You haven’t been trained in this - your parents were upper-middle-class at best; you met Bruce by chance, so it’s just you and Alfred and this crushing, all-consuming PRESSURE and the fact that none of it is enough, you aren’t doing enough, it’ll never be enough.

Oh, and at this point, you’re probably only in your mid-twenties at the latest. And it only gets harder because Bruce is back and crime fighting and now you have to worry about him dying on patrol, so every night you’re there to assist him (sleep? don’t know her) and patch him up and support him every day even though he pretends a little too well to be a drunken boor and a cheating asshole (sometimes he isn’t even pretending) and help him when he gets frustrated and then you adopt a kid after your first day off in years (day off, what’s a day off, you haven’t slept enough since you were eighteen and Bruce left you and Batman came back but you haven’t said a word about it) and now there’s school and making sure Dick eats enough and is happy and doing good and doesn’t get overworked on patrol and stressing on whether or not Dick is okay whenever he leaves the Manor and again, none of it is ever enough.

You feel like you’re in your fifties by the time you hit thirty and the Justice League forms and that means SO much more work not just physically but emotionally because Bruce can’t meet anyone new without determining a thousand different ways to kill them if necessary (except for Talia, apparently. And Selina. And Silver Freaking St. Cloud. And Julie Morrison. And any number of dalliances Bruce has had because somehow they’re all smarter. or stronger, or maybe he just has a weakness for tall women who don’t take his crap. Is that what you do? Is your loyalty and consistency and unconditional love actually what lets Bruce walk away so often to a woman’s bed? Is it because he knows you will still be there? Is it because you have put so much of yourself into this life, into your children, into the Wayne Legacy of Perfection and Excellence that it would kill you to leave? Is it because you’re just another tool to him, one that will be quickly replaced when you succumb to sleep-deprivation, or that thing you’ve heard about in the news where people are dying from overwork so often the Japanese have a name for it, or the fact that you’re doing the work of ten, no, twenty people and not once have you ever complained to Bruce or begged him like any reasonable person would to stop this vigilante nonsense and actually LIVE), but now you have to coordinate meetings and a thousand different secret identities and make sure everything’s kosher and nobody’s fighting and of course Bruce has a beef with the nicest freaking guy in the League and Clark keeps coming to you to see if you can help them work it out.

Oh, and then there’s Talia, aka the thorn in your existence and her child who literally has tried to murder you for the crime of being married to Bruce years before he had even heard of Talia, and now on top of all the above, you have to balance getting to know the kid and be reminded day in and day out by him that you aren’t enough, that Talia has such a deeper connection to Bruce, that you are an obstacle to his happiness, that she’s so much smarter and stronger than you, that you are weak and everything you touch becomes weak and tainted by you. And not to mention that you still aren’t doing enough because Gotham’s underprivileged are screaming in pain from everything they deal with and at least you are fed and clothed and you have a family you can support and you are rich and you need to be doing MORE. 

And nobody else in the League can even come close to understanding you because wow, you do so much, do you ever take a break? You come this close to crying when Oliver remarks that if he had to do that much work, he’d go back to the island he was stranded on for five years because he’s joking. For anyone else your life would be a living hell and he’s joking. How do you do so much; do you ever sleep; hah, Bruce, your husband is showing you up! And this is when they even acknowledge you, and you feel like a major-league prick for even thinking these thoughts because Bruce and the League put their lives on the line every day (oh god they’re always in danger and the stress of losing your boys - which has happened to you already - and Bruce and your friends who are the only ones you can ever actually talk to without worrying that you’ll give away someone’s identity) and you’re complaining about a little bit of paperwork? You get to go to parties and meetings while your husband fights to save lives and you’re complaining? How selfish are you? All you do, everything you do, it isn’t enough, it’s never enough, there’s always MORE MORE MORE and it never ever stops.

Jason is dead, Jason comes back, Dick is beaten within an inch of his life, the Joker kidnaps Tim and you are hanging by a thread because the last time the Joker took one of your kids and you couldn’t find them meant that there was an empty bed and too many memories but no time to grieve because Bruce threw himself into work without a care and you needed to do even MORE because you can’t lose him too. And even the League was supposed to help with this but it doesn’t because you can’t bear to lose anyone, because they’re family and not only that, the world has gotten careless because the supers will save them and crime is actually going UP somehow and if even one of the League dies, a city could be overrun by now because the police and government are all but useless and the skies are filled with supervillains and the only thing stopping the world from falling into utter disrepair is the League, and thus you. And through all of this you have to be doing better, have to be doing MORE because every new thing means all the rest of your work becomes that much harder and you haven’t slept properly in a decade now and you feel ancient but still, you can’t complain, you haven’t earned the right to complain because you are never hungry and you never go without and there are so many people who need your help and charities that depend on you to function and kids that need fatherly advice and affection and a League that needs managing and you don’t have time for a breakdown because if you’re gone for too long everything collapses and everyone you love suffers and forget about therapy because who the FUCK could you ever talk to about any of this without either revealing a hundred secret identities and putting everything at risk or sound like a whiny crybaby?

Selina and Talia are back and hovering around your husband again and they flirt with him like you don’t exist and it’s not his fault and you love him but you see Talia every day in Damian’s voice and manner and don’t even think about talking to Bruce about his infidelity because he has so many more important things to worry about and he’s already apologized profusely and anything else makes you feel selfish and you HAVEN’T SLEPT in what feels like all your life and every moment not filled with work is filled with stress about work and worry because every time you don’t see your boys is a moment they can be dead and you don’t know it and every moment Bruce isn’t at the Watchtower is another moment Lex Luthor has to enact some horrifiying plan or the Joker gets ahold of a nuclear weapon or something else unforseeably terrible happens and it is TOO MUCH but you still need to be doing MORE because it isn’t enough and you aren’t enough and nothing is ever enough.

Is there even a you anymore? There used to be a kid there who just wanted to help his friend when he lost his parents. A kid who got left behind to stay with that friend. A teenager with dreams and hopes and wishes and a sweet boyfriend who could maybe get past his grief and lead a good life with you. A young man with the chance to stop his lover from leaving, to stay with him and not give in. Where did he go? Is he still there, underneath the years? Or is he gone, and this being made of stress and fear and feelings of inadequacy and stifled complaints and sadness gone unsaid and trauma left to fester all that you are? That kid you once were gets further and further away with everything you do to help, every time you keep silent  because what good would it do to scream the way you want to, the way you’ve needed to for so many years but never let yourself?

And yes, your boys and your husband make it better, make it worthwhile, but it remains that you feel old, you’ve been tired since you were still 19. Your days are consumed with stress and your nights are filled with fear. And you can never say this now because it has been years, and you’ve lost that chance. The guilt would throw Bruce off his game and if he’s off his game, he could die and all of this would be for nothing. Quite against your will, you’ve been trapped in a no-win situation, and even death is no escape because you know that without you, it all comes crashing down and game over. You are Atlas, holding up the world and knowing that you have just enough strength to hold it up for eternity. And no one will release you from your prison.

But you have to endure it, and smile while you do so because if Bruce ever knew (or if he even cared to look), it’d all go falling down. You are the support, and the support’s support, but no one ever thinks that you might need assistance. What do you have going on? Being a dad? Working? Attending parties? It isn’t enough and you know it isn’t enough and everybody knows that it isn’t enough and they always, always need MORE.

I wonder now how Batdad does it. How he doesn’t break down crying. And part of that is because he is fictional, and I never thought about what it would be like to go through that level of pressure every day of your life. I hope someday Bruce comes to his senses. That even if he doesn’t let go of his grief, maybe he stops being Batman. And stops training Robins. Because yes, he gave them a home, but he manipulated them into being what he is. Who knows what good Dick could have done if he had just been Bruce’s adopted son. Maybe a philanthropist. Maybe he just would’ve had a happy life instead of one where he could die every day. Where he constantly has to reopen the wound of his parents’ deaths to convince him to keep at it. I want them to realize that they don’t have to, anymore.

But they won’t. Because they aren’t real. And they exist for our entertainment. And because we’ll keep reading the comics and watching the movies and playing the games, Bruce will always be Batman and never come to terms with his parents’ deaths in a healthy way and there will always be more threats to existence and even just to him personally.

And Batdad too, is trapped.

[pl-panda]

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 15

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 15

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The book was incredibly interesting. It was written in some dialect of Mandarin. Many things were also covered in The Grimoire but several stories told there were previously completely unknown. It seemed like it was written after the other book and while the first was entirely encyclopedical, this one contained detailed stories from several time periods. What got Ladybug’s attention was that many of them were diary excerpts. 

One of the most important elements was a story about the seventeenth-century villain, Lord of Butterflies, who came to the colonial city of Gotham and tried to take control of the settlement. He was a master of deception and almost succeeded. Ladybug and Black Cat of that time never appeared. Another story told about their involvement in the Thirty Years’ War in continental Europe, where they were hunting the Snake and Bee Miraculous users that tried to manipulate the conflict. Luckily for Gotham, a witch hunter named Malleus opposed him and used jars with symbols engraved on the walls to keep the butterflies locked away so they could not wreak havoc again. The book told of the power struggle until finally, after the burning of Raphael Dent, a longtime friend of Malleus, the attacks stopped. Most people thought that the problem was over, but from the looks of it, the author of that book tried to imply that Lord of Butterflies just bid his time, waiting for the opportunity to strike again. 

Ladybug read the story twice, trying to figure out the fate of all the corrupted Butterflies or the jars, but she got nothing. Maybe if they figured out what symbols kept the akumas in, she could experiment with warding the butterflies away. It could be a breakthrough!

While she was browsing the book, Black Cat eyed the teens. “Shouldn’t you people scramble for classes?”

“Nope!” The little one, Maps, grinned. “The new school policy. In case of a supervillain attack on campus, the rest of the classes that day are canceled to avoid additional stress to students. It’s nice they care about our mental health.” 

“Yeah… Dude,” Colton looked at Black Cat, “any chance you can tell me what tech your staff uses?”

“Tt. It’s magic.” 

“No, seriously, I suppose it could be an organic metal of some sort, but it’s able to perfectly support your weight at the same time.” 

“Magic.” The vigilante-turned-hero growled.

“Come on! Don’t do it to me, man! Pom won’t let me live it down!”

“I told you magic was real!” The teen was glaring at him with a smirk on her face.

“Tt. Don’t play with magic or you’ll get burnt.” He scoffed. 

“Don’t be a grumpy cat!” Ladybug called from over the book. “Silverlock… Why does it sound so familiar…”

“Did you say Silverlock?” One of the teens peaked. “I’m Olive Silverlock.”

“Bellatrix Silverlock was the only akuma from that period mentioned here by name… I wonder why… Ugh! I can’t decipher that part. It’s too old and damaged.” The heroine groaned. “Cat! We should move back to the base.” She pulled a pair of glasses from her yo-yo and put them on. “Tikki! Kaalki! Merge!” 

As soon as the light of transformation died, a portal consumed both superheroes and the book, leaving the teens alone in the dark library.

-----------

Sabine paced around the manor in the foul mood she was in ever since she sent the kids on their way after initiation and returned home for some long-deserved rest. Half-way home, she received a phone-call from Chloé saying that Marinette was crying in the bathroom with her over another girl that threatened her. The only thing that stopped Sabine from turning around and possibly crashing the car through the front gates was her daughter begging her not to.

She admired that her little girl tried to resolve the problems herself and she didn’t want to come off as overbearing and intruding. It wouldn’t stop her from preparing for if it seemed too much for her sunshine. She made a mistake with Lila. This time, she would be ready. But first, she needed tools. 

“Tom! Where is my suit?!” She called out to her husband, who was happily baking in the kitchen. He finally managed to kick Alfred out and get control. Sabine laughed when the butler, passing her, revealed that he let him win. 

“I think Bruce wanted to put it in the vault, together with the bag!” The large man answered with a merry tone. 

“Thank you, honey! I think I’ll be going out for a while!” 

“Be safe!”

Finally having a direction, she stormed toward the vault. It was hidden under the stairs, where one had to first enter a secret passage, only to then open a door in the wall.

When she opened the doors and looked inside, her first instinct was to immediately go into a battle stance.

It looked like a tornado passed through the room, which was supposed to be neatly ordered. All the documents were scattered, two priceless artifacts got destroyed and every drawer was pulled out. Inside the wall opposite to the doors, someone made a giant hole. The concrete was shattered and the metal reinforcement cage was pulled apart. 

Warily, Sabine approached the hole. Once she got closer, she could take a better look at the reinforcement. What got her attention was the way it was bent. Someone grabbed it and ripped it apart. The hole itself also revealed a small rectangular area that was used to hide something. A secret buried so deeply it was frozen inside a wall of a hidden vault inside a hidden corridor in one of the best-guarded buildings in Gotham.

“Oh for crying out loud! I just wanted my suit…” She threw her hands up. 

---------

More or less at the same time, Tim had a lazy day at the cave. He didn’t need to return to Wayne Enterprises for at least another week. He tried to solve a cold case, using the updated list of secret powers Sabine provided him. He and Bruce were both worried about how much had escaped them. Neither considered Luxembourg Secret Service to be capable of ordering a hit on a hitman that was after their Duke. And hire Lady Shiva nonetheless. 

He just got himself a new cup of coffee when suddenly, a portal appeared in the middle of the cave and dropped two superheroes and a book on a podium. The Cat landed on his feet while Ladybug fell on her rear with a soft thud. Startled, Tim dropped his mug and the coffee spilled all around him.

“Could you not!?” He shouted, a bit embarrassed that they got a drop on him so easily. 

“Tt. Shut up replacement.” Cat growled. He and Marinette dropped their transformations and she proceeded to feed Tikki with some cookies while he reluctantly pulled a small, isolated box from his pocket and gave Plagg a bit of cheese. 

“We’ve got plenty of new material after the last akuma attack. I’ve sent you a picture of a woman using the Peacock Miraculous and we’ve got an essential book.” She walked over to the bat computer. “It appears that they used the distraction the akuma caused to infiltrate the place.”

“I’m not sure, Angel.” Damian was busy with the other screen, trying to attach the tablet to it. The deciphering system managed to unlock it already and while he waited for the system to scan for any traps, he browsed the photos. “From the look of it, she only got two or three pages before we ambushed her. She must’ve arrived shortly before us or couldn’t find it for a long time. I would hazard a guess that she didn’t know about it.”

“But… That would mean she was at school when… but how would she… No! The only other person that heard about the book was Erica.”

“Maybe not. She could’ve been there trying to get some information on us.”

“But how did she get there before us?”

“Tt. It’s not like the Detective Club was in any hurry.” He huffed. 

“Um… That’s all great and all, but what the bat are you talking about?” Tim asked, trying to get between the married couple. 

“We had an akuma attack at school. Damian earned detention for calling Hammerhead old while out of the suit. After we dealt with the akuma we learned about this book,” she pointed at the podium. “We went to check it and found the new Peacock trying to photograph as much as she could. We stole her tablet and kicked her backside.” Marinette beamed. 

Their discussion was interrupted when Sabine stormed inside the cave. “I need security feed from the Gala. Someone trashed the Wayne Vault and stole some box!” She shouted at Tim. “Oh! Hi Sweetie. Go change out of the uniform and we will get tea in a minute.” She smiled at her daughter. Except it was not as genuine as her usual smile. It felt much more forced. 

“Maman. I would love to, but maybe let’s deal with the break-in first?”

“We must wait for Bruce to get back anyway. He took Cass to the ballet class today. My turn will be on Thursday.” 

She pulled the video feed from the camera that overlooked the entrance to the corridor that led to the Vault. She put it on double speed and watched various guests hang around and talk. They usually had a glass of champagne. Suddenly, Marinette lunged and pressed the pause button.

“Him!” She pointed to a younger man with jet black hair and a white mask that covered the upper part of his face. His hair was neatly combed back with no small amount of hair gel, enough that it shined in the camera. 

“He doesn’t stand out really…” Tim scanned the image. 

“The bracelet!” She seethed. “I can’t believe that bastard still carries the bracelet.”

“Tt. I can cut it off next time I see him.” Damian offered before muttering “Together with the arm.” Luckily for him, Marinette had more pressing matters than stopping his murderous instincts.

“So Agreste somehow got inside during the Gala. It’s maybe an hour before the akuma attack.” They continued to watch as he chatted with people nearby. Finally, when they left, he slipped inside the secret passage. They switched to the camera inside, only for it to then be destroyed by a cane. The one inside the vault was a bit farther away, so before it was destroyed they got a good look at the boy. 

The male figure had a dark purple suit with the signature butterfly brooch pinned to the top of the shirt. His chest was protected by two black flaps that looked a bit like the moth wings. In his black gloves, he held a cane topped with a purple orb. The face was covered by a simple domino mask that did nothing to hide the mane of blonde hair on top of his head.

“At least we know that he inherited his father’s lack of taste. At least his mask isn’t…” Marinette stopped herself when Damian poked her side and pointed toward the glass cabinet inside which the first Red Robin uniform was. Its mask was pretty close to what Gabriel wore. “Oh… Nevermind.”

Tim was clearly unamused. 

“This is still important. We’ve got a first look at his transformation. We can set cameras to, in addition to akuma tracing, scan for him personally.”

“I don’t think it would do much good. The image wasn’t the best.”

“But how did he avoid the scanners?” 

“Alfred was busy, tracking a suspicious blonde with bi-colored eyes. She was supposed to have messed too close to the kitchen for his liking.” Tim explained.

“I remember her. She said something to me. ‘You’re far from victory yet’. I considered it suspicious, but in the whirlwind of the following events, the meeting slipped my mind.”

“You! The great Damian Wayne forgot a crucial detail!?” Tim laughed. “This is gold! I need to mark the date on my calendar!”

“Tt. And I need a set of matches.” The youngest Wayne growled. 

“So we’ve got another suspect on the list?” 

“It’s getting complicated. First the vault, then the book… Hawkmoth was narrow-minded in his goals. Create akumas, have them hunt Ladybug and Chat Noir, take the Miraculous.” Marinette collapsed on the nearby chair. “Adrien is… he’s more organized. He’s got a plan. He’s not after the Miraculous. Or rather not directly. There is something else he’s trying to find. I’m just not sure what…”

“The history of Gotham is filled with so many mysteries that we wouldn’t even have any idea where to begin.” Tim wasn’t helpful. At all.

“We know they stole something from Wayne Vault and used the akuma as a distraction to carry it away. Then, they attacked the school. What could be at Gotham Academy that they had a personal interest in?”

“The book?”

“I don’t think they knew about it. The attack on the Academy could’ve been to test our abilities.” 

Tikki and Plagg floated to the group. “Gotham is a dark place.” Ladybug Kwami started. “There are so many things in this city…”

“What about the Bat miraculous, cookie?” Plagg asked. “I mean where else would it be but Gotham?”

“Bat… Miraculous…” Time starred at the two mini-gods. “You’re joking, right?”

“No. Balla is the Kwami of clarity.” Tikki nodded. “The Bat Miraculous gives the wearer supernatural perception and near-precognition.”

“What?” Marinette asked, not sure what the word was supposed to mean.

“They can see the immediate future.” Her mother clarified for her. 

“Is it possible they are after the Bat…” she tried to imagine what jewelry would be associated with bats. Tikki came to help. 

“It’s the belt buckle.”

“Tt. Bat Buckle?” Damian raised an eyebrow. “Whoever made the Miraculous had a great sense of humor.” 

“Okay. But we still need to figure out their next step…”

“Sweetie? Maybe you focus on school and let me deal with this?” Sabine asked after a moment. 

“But… I’m the Guardian.”

“And you’re also a teenager.” Her mother countered. “I’m not trying to replace you or keep you on the sidelines. I am your mom though. Teenage years are supposed to be the best in your life. You should be dating, spending time with friends. Exploring the world. Nowhere on that list is fighting against a mad terrorist.” 

“But… but… I can’t just sit back while you fight!” 

“You can still fight. And help.” Sabine tried again. “I just don’t want you to devote all your time to this. You can leave the investigation to me, Bruce and Tim and enjoy the time with friends; Or design; Or take Damian on dates.” 

“Tt. It’s my duty to take her on dates.”

“Dream on, grumpy cat.” Marinette booped his nose and giggled at the face he made.

--------------

Masterlist // Next

[wellthatjusthappend]

If Jason was the only omega of the Wayne pack, the media would have a field day with it. It would have gotten to the point where foreign old rich dudes would ask a price for marrying and mating Jason. During galas, they all watch Jason and a couple always end up crowding into his personal space. Everyone wants to marry a Wayne, why not the omega? After a gala where Jason is literally cornered by them, he refuses to leave the nest he made in his bathtub in his bathroom.

Oof, yeah, those early days would have been really rough, especially if Bruce didn’t have much prior experience being around Omegas. Bruce does not often deal with that sort of stress particularly gracefully either.

Here you go!

****

Bruce had not been prepared to have an Omega child. He thought he was, but only in the most shallow possible ways like having a heat room prepared and the proper sanitary products stocked. The reality was a lot more complicated. 

Bruce was a Beta, Dick was a Beta, Alfred was a Beta… A good portion of the superhero community was either Alpha or Omega, but Bruce didn’t live with those people. And most importantly, those people weren’t children under his care. 

Bruce didn’t even consider that he should be keeping a closer eye on Jason at the next Gala they went to after Jason presented. The boy hated the things so Bruce mostly let him run wild and raid the food tables. So long as he didn’t insult anyone important and was close enough to help if a villain attacked, Bruce didn’t mind.

His first warning sign was when rich old Alpha’s- and not just ambitious Beta singles- started vying for his attention, dropping not so subtle hints about Jason being mating aged now and arranged marriages. 

“He’s a child,” Bruce responded flatly, even the Brucie part of his persona unable to laugh off something like that.

“Less by the day,” winked one.

They must have seen the danger in his expression because one of the Alpha’s hurried to interject, “We just mean, that it’s good to start looking to the future for these things! You want your boy to be comfortable and taken care of all his days, an arranged marriage would just be assurance that you’d never have to worry about him!” 

“I am perfectly capable of taking care of my pack, now if you’ll excuse me,” Bruce said leaving the group quickly before he could do something stupid like punch someone in the face. 

He scanned the room for Jason and found him cornered by another group of Alpha’s vying for his attention, a stressed wild look in his eyes.

“Pardon me,” Bruce inserted himself with an icy look, “I’m afraid I need word with my ward.”

The Alpha’s were quick to scatter under intensity of his stare, and Bruce ushered Jason out of sight.

“Are you alright, Jaylad?” he asked, searching the boy’s face.

“Alpha’s suck,” Jason mumbled, color high on his cheeks from anger and humiliation. 

Those Alpha’s better not have laid a hand on him, or Bruce would unleash a horde of lawyers onto them until they never thought of approaching an underaged boy again. 

“I’m going to have Alfred take you home,” Bruce said, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“No!” Jason protested, stress rising even further, “What if you need me?”

“This is not up for debate,” Bruce said, some of his own stress bleeding through.

Jason closed his mouth looking hurt.

“You did nothing wrong, just… we’ll talk about this more at home,” Bruce tried feebly to sooth him. 

“Whatever,” Jason muttered, marching towards the exit.

Bruce knew he could have- should have- handled that better. Still, he needed to get back to the Gala before he was missed. 

The rest of the time was fairly dull. There were several more inquiries about Jason and comments on his new presentation with thinly veiled innuendo that made Bruce glad Jason was safely away from the vultures. 

By the time Bruce returned to the Manor, he was exhausted. 

“Master Bruce, before you turn in for the night, I must urge you to speak with Master Jason,” Alfred said as he took his coat.

“I’ll talk to him in the morning,” Bruce sighed.

“I’m afraid that it can’t wait,” Alfred said unsympathetically, “I fear the boy thinks that he’s failed you.”

That made Bruce pause.

“I told him he hadn’t done anything wrong,” Bruce said in confusion. 

“It appears you weren’t convincing about it,” Alfred said briskly, “that and perhaps some of the comments those unsavory characters made earlier, has him nesting in the Bathtub and I have not been able to coax him out.”

Bruce felt a headache coming on fast. 

“How am I supposed to do better if you can’t get him out?” Bruce wondered aloud, “Alfred, you know I’m no good at this sort of thing. It would be better for you to speak to him again.”

“It does not matter if you’re good at this or not, you choose to take in the boy and now have a responsibility to him,” Alfred said sternly, before softening, “What he needs is you, Master Bruce, and the assurance that you still want him in your life as an Omega. And word about keeping him safe from those miscreants would not be amiss either.”

“You’re right, as usual Alfred,” Sighed Bruce, feeling the stern reprimand for what it was. 

“Quite so, now go speak to him,” the butler shooed him away.

“I will.”

[ladyanput]

Seeing Red Ch.6

Warning: There’s a bit of gore in this chapter, as well as mentions of sexual abuse and suicide. 

Eva awoke to the smell of something floral. She opened her eyes and caught sight of Jason setting a tray on his coffee table, a delicate tea set and a small plate of biscuits on it. When he caught sight of her, he gave her a smile and made his way to her, giving her a small kiss on the forehead. 

“I take it you slept well..” He murmured against her skin, grinning as he felt her arms wrap around his neck. His hands slid to her naked waist, pulling her body close as he began to pepper her neck with soft kisses. When he pulled back, he took in the sight of Eva, of her sleep messed hair, the traces of sleepiness in her eyes, and how amazing she looked in his bed. “I thought you’d like some tea this morning.”

“Mmm, is that what I’m smelling?” Eva purred softly as she slid out of the bed, picking up a discarded shirt of Jason’s off of the floor and tugged it on. She let Jason guide her over to his sofa, where he handed her a cup of the fragrant floral tea. “Well, Jason, I must say, you have amazing tastes.” 

Jason smiled at her in return, silently thankful for Alfred for his help in the tea selection. 

“I am going to be heading down to the training room this morning. Me and the others agree that since Cat Boy managed to kick our asses, we needed to maybe try some different types of training.” 

“Keep in mind, he was using that weird magic.” Eva pointed out, risking a glance over at where Trixx was resting, on a soft pillow on Jason’s dresser. “I probably would have been killed without Trixx there to help me. He’s a little cutie.”

“More cute than me?” Jason wriggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to grin in return.

“I’d say so.” At his stunned expression, she burst out into laughter, her shoulders shaking and her head thrown back. “I’d say you’re more rugged than cute, Jay.” 

“Well, I guess that’s an improvement. But since you’ve wounded my fragile ego, I say your punishment is that you’ve got to come work out with us down in the training center.” He took a sip of his own tea, making a slight grimace when he tasted it. He was really an Earl Grey kind of guy, but he’d be willing to deal with this stuff at least for the day. 

“Fine. But it’s a pity, I was hoping to go over the whole ‘Miraculous drama’ with Trixx, since I’m basically in the dark about the entire thing.” At Jason’s look, she gave a slight shake of her head. “I’m not asking Marinette, she’s in no way, shape, or form ready for that kind of stuff. I’ll wait until she’s.. Processed all that’s happened.”

The two were then silent for a long time, sipping tea and nibbling on the biscuits, enjoying the sight of the sun rising through the large bedroom windows, casting the room in a warm colour. Trixx sat up and stretched with a soft yawn, lazily flying over to his Chosen and taking his seat on her shoulder.

“Good morning, Trixx, how’d you sleep?” She nuzzled the little fox, who returned the gesture quite eagerly. “You’re looking quite well rested.” 

“I haven’t slept like that in a long time. I guess having such an amazing kit has its perks.” Trixx eagerly took the biscuit that Eva offered and took a big bite out of it.

"So, training today, hm? Anything else on the menu?" Eva took another sip of her tea, feeling the warmth of it spread through her body. She almost didn't want that moment to end, her and Jason sitting in his room, the peace and quiet while they enjoy the moment.

To Jason, there was something so unbelievably domestic about it. A spot of calm in the raging storm that was his life. And seated across from him was a woman he found himself wanting to have that moment with more often.

"I heard Bruce mentioning something about going down to the police station, seeing Agreste. I dunno, maybe let Marinette confront her fears." Jason shrugged.

".. Is that wise? Like, I'm not questioning your guys' judgement or anything, but that bastard only yesterday kidnapped her, basically almost killed her, shouldn't we give her some time and space away from him?" 

"He's going back to France soon, to be prosecuted there. From what I'd gathered from the friends I have at the police station, that teacher of theirs is trying to say it was all a big misunderstanding."

That brought a snort of Eva.

"That's a bunch of fucking bullshit, but no, of course Caline is going to try to get everything swept under the rug. And Adrien's fancy, rich lawyers are no doubt gonna work double time to get all charges dropped." Eva grumbled.

Jason merely sat back and watched as Eva grumbled to herself. He found it rather adorable how her brows drew together and how she was practically snarling. But what really caught his attention was the fire in her eyes. Eyes that always drew him in with how expressive they were, like some open book. He knew a hundred things about Eva, yet nothing at all.

"But I shouldn't stress over it. They're not worth it, and I'm sure that the universe is going to deliver a great dose of karma." She let out a huff, and drained her cup of her tea.

Jason merely smiled and finished off his own tea. It was going to be an interesting day.

…

A morning of being tossed around like a rag doll in the training room, an afternoon of having heart to hearts with Marinette, and Eva found herself here.

Lady Vixen knelt on the ledge of the roof she had managed to scramble to, her breathing coming out in short, fast bursts as she ran, ran as far and fast as she could. 

She had crossed a line, she had gone and manhandled Adrien, because that little bastard had reminded her so much of David, of a past she had practically fled Canada to get away from. A past she had tried so hard to hide. 

Vixen, practically blind to the world, buried her face in her hands and began to sob, unaware of the orange mist that began to swirl around her. 

The ringing of a school reached her ears. Her head snapped up to see a familiar, yet distant scene in front of her; her high school’s main lobby, the rush of student bodies, the laughter, the shoutings, the energy of the youth that was sure that they all had such bright futures in front of them.. And there she was, at the age of sixteen. Eva Bourbon pushing her way through the crowds, engrossed in her own thoughts of papers and other schoolwork that she barely noticed the guy in front of her. 

They had collided, she had dropped her books, he had dropped his cell phone. They had stumbled over apologies and had scurried to pick up their dropped items. They had made clumsy introductions, Eva to the tall, blond, handsome David with the darkest eyes she had ever seen. 

“No, don’t.. Fuck, get away from him..” Vixen croaked out as she watched her younger self, her more foolish self, flirt with David, watched as they exchanged numbers, and continued on their ways to their classes.

And her life began to rush by; David asking her out, their first date at a nice restaurant and then them going and watching an event at the town’s main park, David and Eva agreeing to go steady, David’s many lavish gifts, since the guy was rich and came from an important family that had far too much influence in the town. Vixen watched tearfully the first time Eva had slept with David; in the back seat of his fancy car, the young seventeen year old girl looking so nervous, wanting to back out and maybe try this another time, and David begging, smooth talking, wearing her down until young Eva finally gave in. She watched as Eva went home that night and cried herself to sleep, but told herself that it was fine, afterall, she and David were soulmates, she was supposed to give her virginity to her soulmate.

The two got married just out of high school, moving into a nice large house with a white picket fence, paid for by David’s father. She watched as David’s father was arrested for fraud, amongst other things, and David lost his source of money. As Eva struggled with university and far too many jobs to count, as well as keeping a nice home. As David threw a fit as the two of them moved into a smaller house, because they just didn’t have the money, as he wasted money on drugs, alcohol, reminding Eva of a monster. 

And every time she went to leave him, he threatened suicide, that he couldn’t live without her, that if he died it would be all her fault and everyone would hate her for it, so she stayed, scared for him, for her. Because, foolishly enough, she still loved David, she thought he was her soulmate.

“No, just fucking leave him..” Vixen buried her face in her hands once more, as she witnessed a scene, one of many, of David forcing himself on Eva. “Fucking go.. Fuck, leave, please.. Soulmates don’t exist, that’s fucking fairytales, it’s bullshit, grow up, grow up, grow up..”

And the day that Eva was finally fed up with David, finally let the scales fall from her eyes, and she packed her bags, shoving them into the trunk of her car. And just as she was about to get into her car, Eva heard her name. 

Vixen and Eva both turned their heads, watching as David pulled out a handgun, Eva having never seen it before in her life, and as he inserted the barrel into his mouth, and pulled the trigger. His blood and brains splattered on the white house wall.

It was a scene that still haunted Eva to this day, a scene she saw everytime she closed her eyes, everytime she went to sleep she dreamed of that. And years later, she saw clearly that he had just done that to hurt her. David had been a pathetic excuse of a man, he’d had no skills aside from spending his daddy’s money, he never would have gotten anywhere without her. 

…

Eva stepped through the front door of Wayne Manor. Everyone was standing in the front hall, watching her. She could see the questions in their eyes, see them noticing her red rimmed eyes, her rosy nose, her trembling lips. She even noticed Marinette taking a step towards her, reaching out a hand. But Jason was the one who made his way to her, and she threw herself into his arms, into a pair of arms she knew deep down would never aim to hurt her.

And a few minutes later, she was curled up in his bed, in his embrace, telling her story while he remained quiet and simply listened. Once she was done, he let out a heavy sigh. 

“If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him. Fuck, Eva.. I had no idea.” He murmured as he ran a hand over her hair, smoothing it away from her tearstained face. 

“Oh, you never looked into my background? Never found out I was a widow?” Eva let out a teary laugh, but it ran hollow, false. 

“I wanted to, you know, respect your privacy. I only did a background check for any arrests or if you were connected to anything suspicious.” He admitted. When Eva sat up to look at him, he cupped her face in her hands. “I guess we both have pretty fucked up pasts. I was killed by the Joker.”

“Yeah, really funny, Jason.” She went to roll her eyes, but the look on her face made her stop. “Wait.. No, fuck, Jay, are you serious?” 

And that was the night that the two of them bore the deepest parts of themselves to each other. And Eva made several appointments for Jason to see a therapist, as well as herself.

Taglist: @the-navistar-carol @chocolate1721 @emo-elaine13 @mochinek0 @drarryismylife101 @toodaloo-kangaroo @moonlightstar64 @imtryingsstuff @shamefullove

[teentitanimals]

Helena Kyle-Wayne History

The history of Helena Kyle-Wayne based on how I see her! Ties into this Events Timeline :) I might call this Batfam au Earth Never? Maybe? I’m kinda already attached to the name lol

Helena Martha Maria Wayne was born to Bruce Wayne, age 42, and Selina Kyle, age 45, on Earth Never-Two. Her grandfather Alfred Pennyworth was 67, her half-brother Damian Wayne was 13, her adopted brother Tim Drake was 21, her adopted brother and sister Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain were 24, and her adopted brother Dick Grayson was 29. Growing up she learned acrobatics from her eldest brother, how to hold a gun from Jason, how to be silent by her sister, hacking from Tim, animal taming and katana wielding from her favorite brother Damian, how to defend herself from her father, and how to be sneaky from her mother. Needless to say, from a young age, she was pretty skilled, and being raised in a house of detectives, them attempting to keep their secret lives as vigilantes from her didn’t work, as she knew about it from the age of 6 and onwards. By age 14, she became the new Robin under her father.

She was best friends with Kara Kent, aka Supergirl, who was a few years older than her, and Charles Bullock, aka Blackwing, who was also a few years older than her, and was an intern at the law firm created by her father, her eldest brother and a man named Arthur Cranston, aptly named the Cranston, Grayson and Wayne consumer research firm. The three made an excellent team, and were practically inseparable.

Aside from Kara and Charles, though, Helena greatly looked up to the woman who shared her name, Helena Bertinelli, aka the Huntress. This earned Helena the affectionate name of Little H, or Little Huntress, from Bertinelli and others. Helena as Robin often ended up shadowing Huntress more than Batman. She also got along really well with Charlotte “Charlie” Gage-Radcliffe, a young adult who was like a daughter to Bertinelli. It should be noted that the Birds of Prey never existed in this universe, and Barbara Gordon never became a superhero. In this universe, Charlie mimicked the identity of Huntress rather than Batgirl, before creating her own as Misfit. No Batgirls exist in this universe, but Stephanie Brown still became Spoiler- never Robin, Cassandra Cain simply became Black Bat and then Orphan, and Bette Kane never became a superhero, nor did Carrie Kelley, Tiffany Fox or Nell Little.

At one point, a man named Silky Cernak tried to blackmail and frame her mother for killing a cop as Catwoman, but with her and her family’s help, they cleared her name and revealed the truth, arresting Silky.

Eventually, when Helena was 16, a war against Apokoliptians, lead by Darkseid, started, which resulted in a war torn world. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman were all killed during the war, as well as Tim Drake and Helena Bertinelli. Her family grieves them, and Dick takes up the mantle of Batman, and Damian makes his new superhero alias Redwing, a combination of Red Robin and Nightwing in honor of his brothers. Charlie became the new Huntress. By age 18, everything had way gotten worse, and Charlie was killed, and Selina soon followed. Helena then became Huntress, while Kara became Power Girl.

At age 20, she, Kara and Charles chased after someone who they assumed was Darkseid, but they would later find out was DeSaad. The trio attacked DeSaad, but in the process Helena entered a Boom Tube while Power Girl and Blackwing fought DeSaad. Helena would never know how the battle ended, though, as the Boom Tube sent her to Earth Never-Prime. She was stranded, and alone, in a world so similar to her own, but not war torn, and just slightly off. She was a Bat though, and she was well-trained. She laid low and studied the world, learning that Batman was still Bruce Wayne here- and that Bruce Wayne was still 42. And that she had never been (or simply yet to be) born, as Bruce and Selina were not even married like they were in her world, with Selina still acting as the criminal Catwoman. In this world, Darkseid had been defeated already.

She stole money from Wayne Enterprises to get by, just for meals, hotels, clean clothes, etc. Scrounging through Wikipedias can only get you so far, so she took to spying on her family and friends and other superheroes and... finds that she can’t handle it. For the most part, they look so happy. Yeah, Jason’s an asshole, and Damian’s so young and angst-y, but... They’re a family, not split by death and war. Every night, she seems to end up in tears, jealous of this world and wanting her world back- no, her family.

Her secrecy does not last long, as she can’t stop herself from jumping in to help her family (Batman, Robin, Nightwing) when they are attacked by the Joker. She attempts to run away after the battle, but her moves and tricks are the exact same as the Batfamily’s, so it ends up impossible for her to lose them. They interrogate her, and she ends up confessing she’s not from this universe. She tells them she’s a Huntress of another world, but not much else. They’re skeptical of her, seeing as the moves she used would indicate she was close enough to train under and with the Batfamily, so why would she be ‘a’ Huntress (of which they’ve only ever had one)? She asks if they could go to the Batcave or somewhere to talk, instead of staying out in the city. They agree, and ask her to lead them to the Batcave, which she does with ease.

There, she confesses more of her story, revealing she was the daughter of Selina and Bruce, and that Darkseid was currently waging war on her world- and winning. She allows them to run a DNA test on her, and the results match up. They believe her story. They offer to help her get back to her own world and also to house her while she’s here. She thanks them, and offers to help them patrol and protect Gotham in return.

Living in Wayne Manor was... weird, and more often than not she’d end up crashing at a hotel or something instead. Damian was 13, younger than her, and still very... well, Damian. And there was a kid that had never been apart of her family too, Duke Thomas, and also allies like Harper Row, Julia Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, etc... And it was weird living among, to her, ghosts. Zombies. Dead people. She was afraid to get attached to any of them, because they weren’t hers, and she’d go back home, where some were dead or dying, and she’d mourn them all over again. Not to mention, Tim was now only 1 year older than her, Jason and Cass 4, and Dick just 9 instead of 29.... And Dick was even married to an alien princess named Koriand’r aka Starfire- where he was Barbara’s boyfriend in Helena’s world- and they had a daughter named Mar’i. And Jason had adopted a girl named Sasha, aka Scarlet. And, also, perhaps this stung most, that her best friend was no longer the same age as Helena. Which meant that even if Helena had been born in this world, she wouldn’t have been Kara’s friend. And similar with Charles, who was a simple citizen in this world.

While talking to this world’s version of her mother, Selina reveals to her that a Helena had been born in this world, but her father was Sam Bradley Jr. (deceased), and she was born nine-ten years ago. Her name was Helena Kyle, but since Selina was under the alias Irena Dubrovna at the time, her legal name was Helena Dubrovna. She had brown hair and green eyes rather than the black hair and blue eyes Helena Wayne had. Helena is surprised to know of this universe ‘her’, although really it’s her other universe half-sister. She wants to meet her, but Selina explains to her that after the villains Film Freak and Angle Man kidnapped and harmed Helena Kyle, she, Zatanna, and Bruce faked Helena’s death (and Irena Dubrovna’s) and put her up for adoption. To make sure no one could ever find Helena via Selina, Selina choose not to know who adopted her (if she officially got adopted at all and was not still in an orphanage). Helena Wayne accepts this and understands her reasoning. Even she had been kidnapped plenty of times back in her home world, Earth Never-Two.

It’s a year of living like this. She talks with the Selina Kyle of this world, with Helena Bertinelli, with Zatanna Zatara, with everybody. She still closes herself off though, calling Bruce “Uncle Bruce” to distance him and her father in her mind. By the end of the year, a part of her realizes she’s never going back... and another part wonders why she would even want to. She could have happiness here. But, at the same time, to give up her friendships with Power Girl and Blackwing? (And what if they were dead by now?) It’s difficult, but finally, with the advice from her other universe family, she decides she wants to try making a life here, just in case she really never can go back. Of course, Bruce offers to adopt her, but Helena can’t bring herself to fully accept this world’s Bruce as her dad yet, nor could she handle being official, legal siblings with her brothers and sister. She still hasn’t adjusted to them, how they are now, how young they all are, how younger Damian is. If anything, she’s most okay with Duke Thomas, someone she had never met in her universe.

To her surprise, as they contemplate making her a fake civilian identity, Selina offers to adopt Helena. Helena, after thinking it over, accepts. She would not have as much hounding from the press, from the media, from the public, as she would if she was adopted into the Waynes. She would not have to deal with the weirdness that was her alternate universe siblings as much, living with Selina. (Not that she needed to live with Selina, she was 21, after all, but Selina had told her that she was welcome to crash in her house anytime- an offer she often took up on when the Manor was stressing her out.) Selina was still a criminal in this universe, but she only robbed banks from time to time, really, nothing major, and she was slowly becoming more hero and ally than superthief by the time Helena had come to this world. Selina had been dead for only 2 years to Helena, while Bruce had been for 4 years, and had died when Helena was young and not used to death. Bruce’s death had a bigger impact on her (alongside Tim and Bertinelli’s), but with Selina, it was easy to imagine she had simply been gone for two years.

So, Helena became Helena Martha Maria Kyle, adopted daughter of Selina Kyle. She slowly built herself a civilian life, working for a law firm under Wayne Enterprises in honor of her friend Charles and his job. And a superhero life, too, as the Huntress. Of course, since Bertilleni was also known as the Huntress, Helena often went by Little Hunt. They called her Little H and Little Huntress at first, but it reminded her too much of her old world, that she requested they use Little Hunt instead. It was similar, of course, but just different enough. Just like this world was compared to hers.

She worked solo, with Catwoman, with the Batfamily, and with the Birds of Prey mostly. It was a challenge, she would say, to adapt back into the old rules of “No Killing”... It’s a dark secret of hers that she became more ruthless ever since the death of her father, blood soaking her hands. But she was almost relieved to be back to No Killing- as, to her, it meant no war. No death. No pain.

Catwoman seemed to reform completely right alongside her, and the day Bruce proposed to Selina, Helena couldn’t be more happier. She was finally ready to be officially apart of the Waynes again. Selina married Bruce, and Helena took on the Wayne name, becoming Helena Martha Maria Kyle-Wayne, loud and proud. It was weird, but somehow she got used to Damian being younger- and boy did she discover how fun it was to tease him. And alongside that, she got two new younger sisters too, in the form of Carrie Kelley and Alina Shelley-Wayne. Her family, she will say, was much, much more bigger than it had ever been in her own world.

Eventually, as years passed, she found herself more attached to this world than her war torn world. She often wonders, if given the chance, would she still choose to go back to her old world, her old family? It’s a question she can never answer. And one she might not have too, as the Kara of Earth Never-Two would eventually find a way onto Earth Never-One.

Name: Helena Martha Marie Kyle-Wayne

Gender: Female (She/her)

Parents: Bruce Wayne (Biological father; legal step-father), Selina Kyle (Biological mother; legal adopted mother)

Adoptive Step-Siblings: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake, Alina Wayne

Half-Siblings: Helena Kyle (Current name unknown), Damian Wayne

Adoptive Step-Nieces and Nephews: Sasha Todd, Mar’i Grayson, Jake Grayson, John Grayson II (on Earth Never-Two only)

Hair Color: Black

Hair Length: Long

Eye Color: Blue

Aliases: Robin, the Huntress

Nicknames: Helly, Hel, 'Lena, Hello Kitty, Little H, Little Huntress, Little Hunt

Robin Run: 4 years

Huntress Run: 4 years and ongoing

Reblogs appreciated <3

[the-navistar-carol]

Daminette Songfic: ‘Summer of ‘69’ by Bryan Adams

From the Maribat AU of @ozmav

@maribat-archive I’m back at it again >:)

I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

When he had first been taken in by Bruce Wayne, he had turned up his nose at the prospect of entertaining some kid superhero from France. She wasn’t going to be impressive.

She wasn’t even going to be good!

Man, Damian thought to himself, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, was I wrong.

Played it 'til my fingers bled

Was the summer of '69

It had taken forever for them to even consider being on speaking terms, let alone friends. That alone had been a marvel in and of itself.

Not that he’d trade it for anything in the universe. If it came to it, he would probably let the world burn for another minute with her.

“Dude,” Dick had whistled. “You are whipped.”

Again, he’d turned up his nose at the prospect. He hadn’t even known what the former Robin had meant.

But yeah. I had been.

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

She’d never given up, not even when she was flung into the floor. Not that she did now. Ladybug, Marinette, was and is the greatest girl he knew.

Top of her class, an aspiring designer, with the biggest heart he had ever seen. And not only that, but she was a superhero, saving cities on the daily and pulling the croissants out of the oven.

At least he had a family, people who were there as backup. And not to mention the budget of a billionaire.

She managed with a family who barely knew what she got herself into, a class who had turned against her, and the funds of a bakery. Plus public schooling.

Damn, he mused. If she was one of us, look out Joker.

Jimmy quit, Jody got married

I should've known we'd never get far

Dick had befriended her first. Well, second, after Alfred. But he had taken the first step.

His teasing had never failed to make her laugh, giggles scrunching up her nose and a beaming smile that lit up the room. Ladybug and Nightwing would have late-night philosophy talks, making each other think beyond their boundaries.

She’d taught him to bake, always there with patience when he’d fudged a recipe.

The eldest Robin had shown her more complicated gymnastics (not that she wasn’t already more flexible than most of them would ever be), and acrobatics that turned her every slip and fall into a tumble, and she’d roll right back up onto her feet.

Dick had taught her how to get back up.

Oh, when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

Jason had taken her under his wing after Dick.

Whenever she’d curled into a ball, shuddering after a hard practice, he would toss her into the air and take off like a shot, careening through the halls of Wayne Manor. It wasn’t long before her laughs rang off the walls, the Red Hood with a wild grin.

They had the sibling dynamic — there for each other, even at their faults.

Marinette had introduced Jason to color schemes and designs, at least how costumes worked. It was most definitely because of that awful helmet.

Jason, on the other hand, had taught her how to shoot. It was out of necessity, he claimed. If she didn’t know how to defend herself, and her yo-yo was out of reach, she may not have a choice.

Jason had given her the tactics nobody thought she would know.

And if I had the choice

Yeah, I'd always wanna be there

Tim had warmed up to her third, although he had been a bit worried about her age.

As her superhero duties became more needed back in Paris, the two of them started working together at night, on cases none of the rest could crack. The Insomnia Buddies, she’d dubbed them. Or, rather, as Tim called them, the Coffee Crew.

Whenever he became stressed to the point of a breakdown, she taught him meditation, she taught him calm.

The Red Robin showed her computers, and how to bypass firewalls with a tap of a key. Underhanded, but in case she needed the information.

Tim had taught her how to think.

Those were the best days of my life

He, Damian, had taken the longest. It had taken years to become as close to her as the other three were.

But they eventually bonded over common interest and curiosity about the other, growing closer every time they spent an hour in each other’s presence.

Marinette opened his mind to possibilities outside simply what had been placed in front of him. You never have only two choices, she told him firmly, eyes narrowed in determination. Never.

The newest Robin may not have been the first to pick her back up after a tough spar, but he would always be there in a real one, whether it was to take the hit or let her rest.

He, Damian, had given her a real partner.

Ain't no use in complaining

When you've got a job to do

The summers she spent at Gotham had become less of a chore and more like a long-lost family member returning to them. They gained inside jokes, and Skype chats between Gotham and France became more common, until it was almost an everyday thing.

They watched each other grow from bratty kids to mature teenagers, from gangly to sure of themselves.

And man, had her almost literal transformation had him whipped.

Watch out, Hawkmoth.

Spent my evenings down at the drive-in

And that's when I met you, yeah

He’d joined an exchange program to Paris, planning on not telling her, but of course the day he had Jason blurted it out on their nightly video call.

She’d gone absolutely red, and fallen off her desk chair with a loud thud. To this day, it brought a smile to his face.

“R-really?” Her voice had been hesitant, but excited nonetheless. “I can’t believe it! When are you coming?”

Dick, from his position out of the way of the camera, gave Damian a knowing look, a wry grin, and a small wiggle of his eyebrows.

Dumbass.

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait forever

It wasn’t long after that announcement, when she was in her final year of lyceé, that her video chats had started to become more… tired. She’d change the subject whenever they talked about her classmates or, worse, her friends.

It wasn’t only him who had noticed it. Tim had been the first to pick it up, and immediately set off on finding information about the class. Without telling Marinette, of course.

What he found was no concrete proof, but more videos on the Ladyblog detailed a girl named Lila Rossi.

An awful liar if he ever saw one.

Oh, and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

The detective work lasted a week and a half before it was outed. Marinette didn’t get mad about it, but simply hung her head and apologized for not telling them.

His heart had torn to see his angel beaten down like this.

She was across the ocean, president of a class he couldn’t defend her against.

He, Robin, a superhero, was useless.

The exchange program left in six months.

Too long.

Those were the best days of my life

He went to her over winter break, though. Thank whatever higher power he could.

As soon as he had stepped into her room with the door closed, she had broken down in his arms. His brothers were right behind him, and joined the hug with words of comfort and encouragement.

It had taken her half an hour to calm down, but when she had finished, they were tears of happiness. Happiness that they were there for her.

“We’re gonna make this the best two weeks of your year, little lady” Jason had promised her with a crooked grin, the white patch in his hair tousled.

Tim didn’t miss the way she looked away at the word lady. “Mari-bug, what’s going on?”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, and tugged Damian over to her bed, not wanting to let go of him. “It’s a long story.”

We aren’t going anywhere, angel.

Oh, yeah.

Back in the summer of '69

When she finished, she had had to take breaks three times—three times!—to calm herself down.

“And I’ve almost been akumatised because of this, a few times,” she admitted, her voice a quiet whisper. “I figured out how to not let my emotions get the best of me, though. My parents don’t really know.”

Jason’s expression clearly told Damian he was in need of a skinning knife. Or guns. Guns were faster.

A series of pops filled the room. Dick, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face, had popped his knuckles. “I think that it’s time some other people knew the harm Lila caused.”

“And if she gets akumatised,” Damian added, “she’s well deserved it.”

“She can’t keep going like this and not receive the consequences,” Tim put in. “It’s not right.”

Hell’s coming to Lila Rossi.

Man we were killin' time

We were young and restless

And the damned Lila situation didn’t even begin to cover Chat Noir. But Marinette insisted they get away from the topic.

She was on winter break, dammit, and Jason was hellbent on making good on his promise.

Tim had the best idea, oddly enough. An arcade.

While Damian had found the concept childish at best, the way Marinette’s eyes lit up at the prospect quickly stilled any protest.

To the flashy lights and cheap prizes we go.

We needed to unwind

I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no! yeah!

Once they got there, Dick was quick to pull out his credit card and get a near- unlimited token supply. He nudged Damian with a sly grin. “Get her a big prize, loverboy.”

Thankfully, he said it out of her hearing range. Then he pushed him over, and they toured the arcade together.

Naturally, Jason was a master at the shooting games. Tim was an unexpected genius at Guitar Hero. Dick, of course, managed to beat the highscore on DDR by a good hundred thousand points. Show-off.

You deserve all the joy, angel.

And now the times are changin'

Look at everything that's come and gone

The two weeks had come and gone like nothing. But the two months afterward were an absolute hell of a waiting game.

But Marinette was happier, knowing that her Gotham friends were there for her.

“He’s still whipped,” Dick cackled one night after a video call.

Tim grinned, and ruffled Damian’s hair. “I can see why.”

He’d only growled at them, but they persisted anyway, giving bad advice they knew full well was awful.

But what else were brothers for?

Sometimes when I play that old six-string

I think about you, wonder what went wrong

The exchange program left them in Mlle. Bustier’s class. Well, at least Damian and a few schoolmates.

He could see just how bad the class was for himself.

At his first step into the class, he had been mobbed by a tanned brunette (Lila) claiming to be his lost soulmate, which he quickly and sharply shut down, and proceeded to sit next to Marinette.

Damian could hear her fake sobs from all the way in the back.

“Can you believe it?! He doesn’t remember me!”

Oh, fuck off.

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that it'd last forever

He stood, furious, and proceeded to give a thorough explanation on why she was wrong, a liar, and an awful person.

“I’ve never met you, I’ve known Marinette since I was ten, and I don’t see how the daughter of a single French domestic diplomat would ever meet an American at a charity gala in Gotham!”

Silence.

Then explosion.

Not fiery, of course. Of apologies, launched directly at Marinette.

She simply raised a hand to quell them in their tracks. “Some of you I will be able to forgive. Some of you I will not be. Thank you for your apologies.” Her tone was nowhere near the broken girl who had sobbed in his arms two months ago. She was reforged, stronger than steel.

And with a head held high like that, nothing can bring you down.

Oh, and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Nathanaël, Alix, Ivan, Myléne. They were able to be forgiven easier than the rest.

Sabrina and Chloé, she was neutral to. They, if they wanted to gain her trust, had a neutral starting ground.

Max, Kim, Nino. They were forgiven less easily, and would take weeks to even be on friendly terms again.

Alya, Lila, and Adrien she probably never would.

And he was perfectly fine with that.

They don’t deserve her.

Those were the best days of my life

Near the end of the exchange program, he took her to the Eiffel Tower as the sun set, overlooking all of Paris. He wasn’t nervous, of course he wasn’t. Damian Wayne, nervous in front of the girl he had been absolutely whipped for for the better part of a year?

Oh, you better believe it.

At the top tier, he covered her eyes for the entirety of the ride.

“Damiaan.” She was struggling to hide giggles. “I’ve seen this before, y’know?”

“Nah,” he grinned. “You haven’t.”

The top deck was empty, devoid of any and all tourists.

And then the fireworks started, filling the sky with all the colors of the rainbow.

Worth it.

Oh, yeah

Back in the summer of '69, oh

She grabbed his hand, eyes widening in surprise as a dazzling smile swept any amusement off her face and replaced it with wonder. “Oh my God, Dami.”

“I told you, you haven’t seen this before.”

“Wait— you— for me?”

Don’t you dare freeze.

“For you,” he agreed. “I love you, Marinette.”

Those words had been like weights—saying them the first time was hard.

It was the summer of '69, oh, yeah

Me and my baby in '69, oh

She didn’t say anything, only turned her gaze away from the fireworks and to him, the colorful explosions mirrored in her silver eyes. She was close, he could quite distinctly smell the strawberry lip gloss.

“Dami, I…” Hesitation. Shit.

Then, she launched herself at him, arms going around his neck as she crushed him in a tight hug. His arms came up to pull her close.

“I love you too, you extra idiot!”

Oh.

It was the summer,

They had shared a first kiss then, beneath the fireworks and the stars and the moon.

Neither of them were particularly any good, and she kept giggling, but he wouldn’t have traded it for anybody else.

Nor anywhere else.

Never in the world.

the summer,

This time, after she had graduated université, started as a designer, and finally moved to Gotham, they didn’t have to wait for time zones.

This time, as he caught his breath when he saw her in dazzling white, they would never have to wait again.

And this time, they could face things together.

Was he still absolutely whipped for Marinette Dupain-Cheng?

Always.

the summer of '69, yeah

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

Legacies - dad!jason au

Characters: Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon Pairings: jaydick Summary: Dick was Batman now, and as a certain someone always said - Batman always needs a Robin. A/N: After All’s Fair by a few months/a year and before Worst Nightmare. Also ignore the a/n on Worst Nightmare/edit it to be talking about being Bruce’s Robin, not Dick’s. Damian is 13 in this. Can’t believe I haven’t updated this au in OVER a year, so if you only read this series from me, reminder I now have a Patreon and Ko-Fi if you like my work and would like to support me further or get stories written for you/commissions! I’d be forever grateful!

Other things for Nevolition’s Dad!Jason AU

~~

“…This is weird.” Jason’s voice cracked through the communicator. It was a slow night, thankfully, and the two had been talking via comm. link for about an hour.

“What is?” Dick asked, shifting slightly to rearrange the cape across his shoulders.

“This.” Jason reiterated. Laughed breathily. “I’m sitting here flirting with the fucking Batman.”

Dick laughed too. Leaned back and stared up at the moon through the cloudy skies. “Don’t freak out too much when you remember you’re married to the Batman too.”

“Oh my god, I’m married to the fucking Batman.” Jason mimicked with fake shock. Dick kicked his feet against the brick of the building in glee. The cape, this legacy, was heavy. Too heavy, sometimes. But Jason sitting up and talking to him about mundane things like soups and shoestrings made it lighter. Made it bearable.

Dick let out a deep sigh. Listened as Jason plopped another folded shirt of their clean laundry into the basket.

“…Any word from Tim tonight?” Jason asked softly.

“Of course not. He still isn’t speaking to me.” Dick mumbled. He heard voices below him and leaned forward, making sure his cowl ears didn’t cast a shadow. It was a couple leaving a nearby bar. “Still thinks Bruce is alive, and I don’t think he’ll speak to me until I agree with him.”

“Kind of hard to agree with an idea that’s absolutely nuts.” Jason huffed. “It’s just his grief, Dick. Don’t take it personally.”

“I’m trying not to.” Dick promised. “At this point, I just want to know he’s okay.”

“Mentally or physically? Because you know my opinion on the former.”

“Both.” Dick stressed. “I mean, if he thinks Bruce is still alive then obviously he needs help mentally. But if he’s out there trying to fight criminals on his own, I’m afraid what could happen if he’s ever outnumbered.”

“Well, what’d Babs say?” Jason asked. “She know where he is?”

“Says he’s still in Gotham.” Dick murmured, swinging his legs wildly in front of him, in a kind of stretch. “Says he’s going by the name Red Robin now too.”

“Why? He didn’t want to be your Robin?” Jason asked. The dryer dinged in the background, and he heard Jason shift to go get the new load. “That’s kind of surprising, honestly.”

“I told him to his face that his theory about Bruce wasn’t real, and he needed to find a new way to cope. Probably not in the nicest way either.” Dick mumbled guiltily. “So of course he wants nothing to do with me.”

“Still…Robin has become a lot more independent to Batman in recent years.” Jason thought out loud. “Working with Batman isn’t exactly a necessary part of the job anymore.”

“That’s just what Babs said, not that she or Steph have talked to him about it.” He heard the dryer door slam. “Sorry for taking a patrol on laundry night. I know you hate that.”

“Eh, I hate it less these days.” Dick could practically see Jason shrug. “You’ve got a lot more important things on your plate right now then making sure Damian’s clean underwear is folded correctly.”

Dick snorted. “Well hopefully he’s making up for my absence.”

Jason paused. Then: “What do you mean?”

“I mean I hope he’s sitting there helping you, not sitting in his room on the computer.”

Another hesitation, then a chuckle. “Dick, did you forget he’s spending the night at Colin’s tonight?”

Dick frowned. “No he’s not.”

“Yes he is. That’s what he told me this morning.”

Dick’s gut began to churn. “I asked him what he was doing tonight before I left for the manor. He said nothing, because Colin’s out of town.”

Jason remained silent.

“Jason, is Damian not home?”

“Let me call him.” Jason said hurriedly. Dick checked the projection in his mask, making sure he didn’t miss a text from his son. A moment later, Jason exhaled nervously. “…It went straight to voicemail.”

“Don’t panic, Jay. Let me call Oracle.” He pushed the switch on the side of his cowl. “Babs?”

“Yes, Man Wonder?”

“Do you have a read on Damian? He appears to have tried to pull a fast one on Jay and I.”

“Ah, the joy of teenage rebellion. Just like all three of his dads.” Barbara hummed. She too seemed to switch communicator channels. “Batgirl, Black Bat and all other Bat-related friends and foes. Be on the lookout for a certain thirteen-year-old that we all know and love very dearly. He’s apparently lied to his dads and is gonna be in some deep shi-”

“Hang on, hang on.” A new voice drawled boredly across the line. “Don’t panic, I’m almost there.”

Dick blinked, and even Barbara seemed stunned into a momentary silence. Damian had a communicator, just like Jason did. One to call Dick, and Dick only. Not the open line. “…Damian, almost where?”

There was a thud behind him, and Dick immediately fell into attack mode. Pulled batarangs from his belt as he flipped backwards and twisted into a fighting stance.

And his weapons immediately slipped from his fingers, clattering to the rooftop.

Because it wasn’t an enemy. Oh no. At this moment, he’d have preferred an enemy. He’d prefer the Joker over who was standing in front of him.

Robin.

Damian dressed as Robin.

“No.” Was the first word out of Dick’s mouth, even as he took in the costume. It wasn’t thrown together, wasn’t a fake. He could see Alfred’s careful craftsmanship in the stitching of the red tunic, the thick green gloves. “Absolutely not.”

Damian grinned anyway, holding his bright yellow cape out and giving a single spin to show it off. “Cool, huh?”

“Opposite of cool.” Dick found himself already floating into the Batman voice. “Dames, we talked about this.”

Damian frowned. “No, you and Baba talked about this. I listened.” He crossed his arms. “Reluctantly.”

Dick bit his lip. “Babs. Get Penny-One on the line. Ask him why he allowed-”

“Alfred didn’t allow anything. He just made the uniform when we asked.” Damian cut off.

Dick tilted his head. “We?”

“Tim.” Damian said simply. “He and I talked about it. He helped me with the design. He passed the legacy of Robin on to me.”

Dick’s stomach dropped. This…explained a lot. Maybe. Explained the Red Robin part, at least. Maybe the radio silent part, and why Damian had an open line communicator too.

Damian seemed to see the confusion on Dick’s features. Uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips. “I’d brought the idea up to him before, when you were thinking about taking over for…for Father.” He paused, seemed to swallow a lump in his throat. “And then you two fought, and he said he was leaving town. I asked him who was going to watch your back, and he stopped. He said he didn’t want to do it, that he couldn’t. Not with how things were right now. And I reminded him of what he always said.”

“And what did he always say?” Dick asked, hearing the bitterness in his own voice.

“That Batman needs a Robin.” Damian said firmly. “And in my opinion, that doesn’t change, even if the guy wearing the cowl does.”

“But not you.” Dick countered. His communicator beeped, reminding him of Jason on the other line. And great – that was going to go just swell. Hey honey, found our kid! Turns out he wants to fight crime! “Robin was never supposed to be you.”

“That’s what Tim said. And I asked him who else was going to do it?” Damian grinned again, overly pleased with himself. “He still wasn’t going for it exactly, so…”

“So?”

“So I told him if he didn’t help, I’d just go out on my own anyway.” Damian tilted his chin up. “He said that’d happen over his dead body, so he helped me design the suit and new weapons and everything, to make sure I was safe.”

“Well thank god for that.” Dick mumbled.

“And when it was all ready to go, he…he said he was proud of me. That there was no one else he’d rather take the title after him.” Damian’s cheeks seemed to redden a little bit at the memory of the praise. “He even went out with me the first few times so he knew I was ready.”

“You’ve gone on patrol already?!” Dick fumbled. He heard someone snort in amusement on the line. “Oh my…when? How many times?”

“Last month.” Damian countered. “Remember all those late nights at the Gotham Library with Nell for that project?”

“Oh my…” Dick sputtered, turning away. “Oh my freaking god…”

“Still got that husband on line two, Bats.” Barbara almost sang in his ear.

“So much for World’s Greatest Detective, eh, Didi?” Damian hummed with a laugh. “Don’t worry, I can pick up the slack on that.”

“You little…” Dick sighed, moving to run his hand through his hair, and remembering too late that he couldn’t. “Your baba’s going to kill me.”

“He’ll understand.” Damian tried, moving forward. “I’m…Didi, I’m not doing this to go against you or anything. I’m doing this to help. To help people, to protect the city you and Father love so much and…and to make sure you come home safe.”

Dick looked down at him.

“I won’t let the Court of Owls happen again, Didi. I won’t.” Damian whispered. “I won’t let someone hurt Stephie again, or Tim, or anyone else.”

Dick’s heart melted a little at that. And hurt, too. Goddamn, their son was so kind. So smart. So perfect.

He sighed, and reached out to reel Damian in, wrapping his arms tightly around his shoulders. Closed his eyes to hold back the tears, remembering when Bruce would hug him too, when they were Batman and Robin. And now, here, this…

“We’ll…have to talk to Baba about this. He’ll take a lot of convincing.” Damian looked up at him, smile threatening to crack his face in two. “Not that I’m saying yes, either, but…I understand.”

“…I’d have pointed out the hypocrisy of you saying no, if you didn’t.” Damian admitted.

“I have no doubt.” Dick laughed. “Again, I’m not saying yes, but…I suppose you can stay with me for tonight’s patrol.”

Impossibly, Damian’s grin got wider.

“A-hem.” Barbara reminded. “Husband – and dad – still on line two.”

Dick groaned as Damian stepped away from him with an awkward grin. Jason really was going to kill him.

He hit the button to switch frequencies. “Jay-”

“I swear to fuck, Dick, if someone’s already linked him to your Batman, I’m going to-”

“He’s with me!” Dick cut off, cringing in the immediate silence that followed. “He’s, uh, with me. On…this…rooftop.”

“…Why.” Jason demanded, though Dick already knew he was putting the pieces together. “Why is he on a rooftop with you.”

“Because…” Dick started. He stopped there, though, because how do you explain it? Even to someone who formerly wore the colors? “Well…apparently…he, uh…he approached Tim a little while ago and…I guess we raised him too well, so…”

“No. Absolutely not.” Jason all but screamed. “Tell him his little ass is not going to be Robin and he is fucking grounded until further notice.”

“Now, Jason-”

“Nope.” Jason countered. “Drag his ass home, right now. Or else you’re grounded too, you Bat fuck.”

If he was going to try and plead any more of his or Damian’s case, he didn’t get the chance before Jason disconnected the line. He sighed, dropping his head back.

“What’d he say?” Damian asked nervously. Dick was almost surprised he didn’t try to eavesdrop on the call.

“Exactly what I’m sure you’d think he’d say.” Dick droned. He looked back down at his boy. “He wants me to bring you home, stat.”

Damian pursed his lips and crossed his arms once more.

“But…” Damian perked. “He clearly needs some time to cool down.” Dick smiled. “Probably will take him a few hours.” In the moment of silence, as luck would have it: “And I think I hear sirens a few streets over.”

Damian slowly smiled as Oracle patched the police scanner into both their communicators.

“You ready, Robin?” Dick whispered. And even for all his fear and hesitancy about this partnership, he felt his chest fill with pride.

“I was born ready, Batman.” Damian promised.

“Last one there has to wash the Batmobile.” Dick teased. Damian laughed.

Batman and Robin jumped into the night – together again for the first time.

[nxrthmizu]

Daminette December Day 16: ‘Hogwarts AU’ [Part Nine]

[Note: This will be a continuation of my Hogwarts AU series, if you haven’t read that yet, use the link >>

/Part One//Part Eight/

Enjoy!!! :D ]

---

“Todd, are you an idiot?” Damian scowled angrily, glaring daggers at his brother. Jason opened his mouth to snark back an retort, but not before Dick stopped him. 

“Come on, give the kid a break. He’s stressed out because his girlfriend is coming over for Christmas.” Dick whispered, nudging Jason as he did so. Tim nodded in agreement, giving the youngest son of the Wayne household an encouraging smile. 

“It’ll be fine, Damian.” Tim smiled warmly. “I’m sure she’ll love it.” 

Damian scoffed at his third brother. “I’m not nervous!” 

Alfred, bringing out a plate of cookies, raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure, Master Damian?” 

Damian blushed in embarrassment. “I’m not nervous.” He muttered, refusing to look any of his brothers in the eye. 

Jason, who was notorious for not caring, gave in. “Look, demon spawn, if there’s ever going to be a girl who’s going to love you, it’s her. I’m a 100% sure we could live in a dumpster and she’d be accepting with that.” 

Dick and Tim cast amazed glances at the second eldest of the family. And then that amazement was quickly ended with Jason’s need of adding a snarky remark. 

“Of course, if you screw up and she decides she hates you, maybe you might never get married.” Jason shrugged, trying to hide his embarrassment from having made such a cringe-y pep-talk with his youngest brother. 

Damian internally panicked at his brother’s words, his emerald eyes swarming with worry and anxiety. 

“I’m sure she’ll love our manor, Damian.” Dick soothed, using his wand to levitate a cookie from Alfred’s tray to hand to the green-eyed Slytherin. 

“But maybe she won’t love you.” Jason added, laughing playfully as Damian shot a quick jinx at him angrily. Tim hid a smile, glad to see Damian back in his usual hexing habits. 

“Get back here, Todd!” Damian screeched angrily, and Bruce was heard from his office above. 

“No hexing in the manor!” He hollered, reminding the boys of the no-hex rule. 

Damian growled angrily, chasing Jason into the kitchen. “Fuck that. Get back here, Todd!” 

Alfred watched him with a small smile, putting the next batch of Christmas cookies inside the oven. “Master Damian, please take your hexing out of the kitchen.” He then glared at Jason. “Master Jason, please keep your remarks to yourself or no cookies for Christmas.” 

Jason pouted at this, but not before he yelped, dodging another hex that a still-furious Damian had thrown at him. “Oi!” He yelled. “No hexes in the manor!” 

---

“Thank you so much, Madame Bustier.” Marinette thanked for the twentieth time, levitating her trunk by her side. 

The woman smiled warmly at her. “Just have fun, and come back in time for school to began.” 

Marinette nodded, taking a pinch of the Floo powder into her hands, stepping into the fireplace. 

“Gotham!” 

---

“Calm down, Damian!” Tim yelled in exasperation. “Please! Enough!” 

Dick tried to say something in the defence of the emerald-eyed boy, but lost himself in getting interrupted by Damian’s agitated pacing of the living room. 

“Can you just stop pacing before I hex you?” Jason growled.

“I’m just-!” Damian threw his hands up in frustration. “Fine!” He plopped down on the chair, crossing his arms as he panicked in place. 

The fireplace suddenly flared green, and out stepped the bluenette that they all had been waiting for. 

“Marinette!” Damian greeted, getting up abruptly from his chair. He whipped out his wand, performing a quick non-verbal spell (Impressive for a first year, but hey, he grew up with three brothers) to levitate her trunk inside as she looked around in awe. 

“It’s so big!” She beamed. “Thanks for inviting me.” 

Damian smiled. “No problem.” He shot Jason a glare when the said boy cleared his throat, wishing to be noticed. “As you know, these are my brothers, and that’s Pennyworth, our butler.” 

Marinette bobbed her head up and down, nodding along with what he said. “You don’t have any house elves?” She asked in surprise. 

“Father doesn’t like them.” Tim informed her, pulling out his wand. “But since there are so many of us in the manor the chores are split between all four of us and Alfred.” 

Marinette oohed in understanding. Then she remembered something. “Damian, can we go see Titus? Please?” She asked, eyes wide and adorable. 

Damian blushed badly, and all his brothers resisted the urge to laugh and awe at the situation. “O-Of course.” He stuttered. “He's outside.” 

Once the two had left, Tim let out a loud wheeze from all the laughter he was penting up. “Did you see him blush?” 

“Damn, demon spawn has it for her bad,” Jason snickered. 

“He’s completely smitten.” Dick chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, who’s up for spying them in the garden?” 

---

Once they were in the garden, Damian let out a sharp whistle, and the pair stood in silence for a while before the black dane came running out, panting happily at the call of his owner. 

“He’s adorable!” Marinette smiled. 

Titus eyed the girl weirdly before looking back at his owner, only to see Damian gazing at her with fond eyes. 

Ah. This must be master’s mate. Titus thought. He woofed, nudging Marinette nearer towards Damian by pushing on her leg with his snout, wagging his tail proudly. His little master got a mate. About time, too. 

“Titus!” Damian scolded, but the dog only continued pushing them together playfully. 

“Seems like Titus ships them as much as we do.” Dick whispered from behind a bush. “Dang, we go loads of Daminette shippers in here.” 

“Indeed, Master Dick.” Alfred replied, wiping a tear from his face. “Master Damian is growing up so fast.” 

“Let’s hope she doesn’t ditch him.” Jason remarked off-handedly, only to be whacked on the head by multiple people at the same time. 

“Either join Daminette club or leave, Jason.” Tim scowled. 

Up above the garden, looking below from the window, was Bruce. He was very proud. His son had made a good choice, and he rather liked the bluenette. Using the muggle device called a ‘camera’ he snapped a photo, smiling. “For the Daminette club.” 

---

/Part Ten/

---

Aye it’s been a long time but I finally updated this :D 

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