#Dami considers taking Jay to Bruce early for one hot second

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Damian falls out of time and straight into the street-kid-Jason-Todd era.

Jason isn’t sure what’s up with the weird kid following him around these days but the guy just saved him from some real nasty men so he ain’t complainin’. Now, where do they find enough food to last them the winter…

[secondgenerationnerd]

Why don’t they like me?

So, Kinda been in a Robstar mood lately. I was going through a bunch of the Mar’i Grayson pictures that @dar-draws has made (side note, you are amazing and I love your Mar’i) I came across this favorite of mine and then I came across this comic that I hadn’t seen before. Well, this kind of got me thinking and reminded me of a few headcanons that I have about how Mar’i was treated since she’s a hybrid. Total credit for the art goes to @dar-draws who you all should totally follow.

Alternate Title: The Mar’i Grayson Angst No One Asked For

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It’s been a long day. After running around Bludhaven as Detective Grayson and then following up with the Titans, he wants nothing more than to be home with his family. A smile comes to his face remembering that Mar’i would be home from her first day of preschool. Both he and Kor’i had dropped her off, but an emergency made it impossible for him to help pick her up.

“I’m home,” Dick calls out. He tosses his keys onto the table and sets his bag down. He waits. Mar’i always flies right into his arms with a massive smile on her face. But the apartment is quiet. “Kor’i? Mar’i?”

“We’re in the living room, Dick,” Kor’i calls out. Dick smiles when he sees his girls, but the smile fades at the serious look on Kor’i’s face. Mar’i doesn’t look at her father.

“What’s going on?” He asks. 

“Mar’i got into a fight today,” Kor’i tells him. Dick instantly looks at his daughter. She’s a little small for her age, just as he had been, but he knew how powerful she is. After all, this was the same little girl, who at 2 years old, had lifted up the Batmobile just to get a ball that had rolled underneath. She’s much better at controlling her powers now, but this was inexcusable.

“Is this true?” Mar’i looks at him and nods,”Mar’i, you know better than to fight other people. What if you used your strength? Or, God forbid, one of your starbolts?”

“This is very serious,” Kor’i scolds her daughter. They had only just gotten home before Dick had. Kor’i had made her apologize to the little boy (whom she found to rude, but Mar’i needed to learn that violence was not how they handle things) and they’d talked to the daycare director.

Both her parents keep telling her why fighting was wrong and how they try to find a smarter way to handle a problem. But they don’t know what that boy had done to her all day long. What all the kids in her class had said about her. Mar’i starts crying making both her parents stop. 

“Starshine?” Kor’i voice is softer now. She hadn’t wanted to make her daughter cry. That’s the last thing she ever wanted to do.

“I don’t like school,” Mar’i sobs. This shocks both her parents. For at least a month, all she could talk about was today.

“Hey,” Dick kneels in front of his daughter. Mar’i throws her arms around his neck and cries into his shoulder,” Starshine, what’s wrong? What aren’t you telling us?”

“I don’t wanna go back, Daddy,” Mar’i cries,” Don’t make me go back.”

Even though they had been scolding her, they couldn’t bear to hear her cry. It takes them a few minutes to calm her down. Kor’i wraps her arms around Mar’i and Dick. Both of them press kisses into her dark curls and try to get her little body to stop shaking. Her beautiful green eyes, just like Kor’i’s, are tinted red. 

“Why don’t people like me?” Her voice is soft. 

“Why would you think people don’t like you?” Dick asks.

“People treat me different. Grown-ups look at me funny. The kids made fun of me,” Her eyes well up with tears again,” They kept saying I don’t belong here. They made fun of my eyes. They said I was ugly. I don’t wanna go back.”

“Did you tell a teacher?” Kor’i asks. Mar’i nods. She and Dick exchange a look over their daughter’s head.

“Mrs. Pearson said that I should try being nice to them. I did try, Mommy. I tried really hard. But that boy kept saying that his mommy told him not to be friends with me.”

“Why’s that?”

“He said she called me a abobination and that God hates me.” She starts crying again,” And you always say God loves me and I got really mad. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”

Dick wipes her tears away and makes her look at him,” Starshine, why didn’t you tell Mommy this earlier?”

“No one asked me. The boy pushed me and then I hit him, but Mrs. Pearson only saw me hit him. No one asked me what happened. They just started yelling at me.” She sniffs.

“So you hit that boy because he said mean things and pushed you?” Mar’i nods,” Bumgorf, that is still not ok.”

“I know. I am sorry, Mommy.” She wipes her nose,” What’s a abobination?”

Neither Dick nor Kor’i know how to answer that. Mar’i is smart for her age. She won’t just accept any random answer. Kor’i pulls her daughter onto her lap.

“My star, you know that you are special right? Not just because you are you, but because of Mommy and Daddy and where they are from,” She nods,” There are some people that do not believe that we should be a family.”

“Why?”

“Because they think since I am not from this planet, I do not belong here. Becuase Daddy is from Earth, he should be with someone from here. Those people believe that us having you was not ok.”

“Did you not want me?”

“Of course, we wanted you,” Dick reassures her,” Don’t you ever think for a single second that you aren’t wanted and loved.”

“But why don’t they like me? Why do they say mean things?” Mar’i desperately wants answers, ones that she is simply too young to really understand.

“Starshine, there will always be people who say mean things about someone. They will say it because a person is from another place or because they love someone who others have decided they should not or for reasons that one cannot change. But for ever person like that, there are many more who do not care about those things.” Kor’i wipes her daughter’s little cheeks.

“Like Puro Dad?” Dick can’t help but smile at her Romani. Bruce likes Puro Dad better than Grandpa in any case.

“Just like Puro Dad, Auntie Barbara, Uncle Jay, Auntie Rae, Uncle Gar, Uncle Vic, Auntie Kate, Auntie Cass, Uncle Tim, Uncle Dami, Auntie Steph,” Dick lists about thirty other people who love and accept her. A little smile comes to her lips,” And of course, Mommy and Daddy.”

“That is right,” Kor’i tuck a curl behind Mar’i ear,” Mommy and Daddy will always, always, always love you.”

There isn’t much more they can say on the matter. Mar’i is uncharacteristically quiet the rest of the night. She cuddles up with one of her parents while the other attempts to do some things around the apartment. Attempts being the key word. After an hour, the small family just resigns themselves to an early night. They order pizza and watch movies in Dick and Kor’i’s bed. Mar’i falls asleep, snuggled up in her daddy’s arms.

“Is she asleep?” Kor’i asks after a while.

“I think so,” Dick doesn’t set her down. He holds Mar’i tightly to his chest, just like when she was a baby. He tries not to think about the day that she’ll be too big to sleep like this.

“I do not want her to go back to that school.” Kor’i shakes her head. She hates that she made Mar’i apologize to that boy without knowing the whole story. Dick sees the anger on her face. 

“Babe, we both knew this day was going to come sooner or later.”

“I know. I just thought it would be later rather than sooner.” Kor’i leans against his shoulder, reaching over to stroke Mar’i’s curls.

“Kids can be cruel.”

“This is not about what the children said. It is their parents who said it to them. They do not know her, yet they pass judgment anyway. They tell their children that God hates her after you have spent so much time teaching her the opposite.”

“You’ve heard people say that be-”

“They were not saying to my daughter,” Kor’i shakes her head,” I do not care what they say about me or to me, but they do not get to say such things to my baby.”

“Babe,” Dick wraps an arm around,” I know you want to protect her. Believe me, the only reason I’m not going down to the school right now is the fact that it’s closed. And I am not denying that what happened was fucked up, but we aren’t always going to be here to protect Mar’i.”

“But we are now. She should not have to fight this alone.”

“She isn’t alone. Just like we told her earlier, for as many rude assholes out there, there are like double that many who will love her. That’s gotta start with her family.” Kor’i smiles a bit at her husband’s words,” You wanna know a secret?”

“I feel as though I know all your secrets,” She chuckles. He laughs and she can feel him kiss her hair.

“I promise you don’t know this one. I fall more in love with you every single day,” Kor’i laughs at the cheesy statement,” That’s not the secret, just the introduction. I fall in love with the way you look in the morning. I fall in love with the way you tickle Mar’i so she wakes up laughing. I fall in love with the way you compromise on her outfit so she doesn’t go outside looking like a hot mess. I fall in love with the way you sing to her, the way you two slip in and out of Tamaranian, the way you tell her how much you love her.”

Dick kisses her forehead and rests his head on hers, both of them looking at their daughter,” I fall in love with our daughter every single day. I love her smile, her curiosity, her sense of humor. I love the way that she can remember exactly when we promised to take her somewhere, but can’t remember where she put her tights or toys. She’s brave, strong, sweet, kind, intelligent, and beautiful, just like her mother. And the secret is: there are times that I know life would be simpler if we were what people considered normal, but I wouldn’t give this up for anything. I wouldn’t change where you’re from or how you look or what you can do to make some asshole happy. I love you for you. I love Mar’i because she is ours and she is perfect.”

“It would be simpler though-”

“I don’t care. I am lucky to be your husband and Mar’i’s father. I am lucky to have both of you and I will spend every day for the rest of my life fighting to prove to myself that I deserve you. I love you. I love Mar’i. I love our life, all the good days and all the bad.”

Kor’i shakes her head,” It amazes me sometimes how passionate you speak.”

“Surprises me too, ves’tacha,” Kor’i recognizes this word. Dick didn’t speak much Romani, having forgotten some of the language since he was a child, but he loves to say this one word to her. She kisses his stubbly cheek.

“Mar’i is lucky to have you as a father,” She says as they nestle down into the covers, Mar’i sleeping between them.

“I’m lucky to have both of you,” he repeats, believing it with every part of his heart,” I love you.”

“And I you,” She kisses him softly before pulling her daughter to her chest. Dick pulls both of them close and the small family falls asleep. In the morning, they would wake up, a mess of limbs and poor Mar’i squished between her parents. They would go to the school and face the problem head on. But for now, the family sleeps, the sounds of their city echoing in the stillness of the room

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I hope you all liked this. Again credit for the drawings that inspired this story goes to @dar-draws . Please comment and let me know what you think!