It's as they're wrapping up yet another potential world ending threat when Hal's voice cracks across Bruce's comm-link.
"Hey, heard everyone's still alive."
Bruce is more relieved to hear his voice than he'd ever be able to let on. "We could've used your help." It comes off harsher than he means to.
"Missed you too, Spooky." Hal sounds tired. "Any chance you can come meet me in the Watch Tower?"
It has been a solid nine months since they had last seen each other. Their ambiguous relationship meant they had sex before Hal left and Bruce pretended that he wasn't bothered by the radio silence. It was better to keep things more professional, less involved, in any case.
Bruce glanced around at the barely contained destruction around him. They might've actually come away from this incident with no casualties. Superman and Flash have doubtlessly already scoured the affected area for anyone caught in the crossfire.
"I'll come up in a few." He didn't bother asking why Hal wasn't coming down to talk to him. If he could, he would have.
"A few what?" Hal asks in exasperation. "Minutes? Hours?"
"Maybe more."
"Oh my god," Hal hisses, "you are insufferable."
The slightest of smiles twitches on Bruce's lips. "I'll be up as soon as I'm sure I'm not needed down here."
///
Hal looked just about as tired as he sounded over the comm. It was clear he hadn't showered in a few days, hair disheveled and greasy, tired bags under his eyes. While there weren't any apparent injuries on his body...
"You had a baby."
Babies, especially newborns, grew up fast. This baby looked only weeks old at most. If Hal hadn't joined the fight, Bruce estimated the baby was only days old, and that Hal was far from recovered.
Hal snorts. "Great deduction skills there, detective." He swallows hard. "Can you solve the rest of the mystery?"
For a moment, Bruce doesn't say anything. He stares at the sleeping baby, at its whispy locks of dark hair. He glances back up to Hal's eyes, notes the guarded look on the other man's face given away by his tense shoulders.
It doesn't take a genius to put together the fact that Hal wasn't pregnant when they last slept together nine months ago.
Bruce's eyes fall back down to the baby, chest constricting as he finds himself moving forward towards Hal. He wordlessly reaches out, and Hal responds in turn after only a moments worth of hesitation to hand over the baby.
Cradling the baby in one arm, Bruce pulls off his cowl with the other. Bruce suddenly finds himself needing to sit and finds himself sinking into the nearest available chair.
"For what it's worth, I tried to get back to Earth before he was born."
Bruce barely hears Hal, making a small hum of acknowledgement. His hand reaches to touch his son's face before freezing. He's quick to bite off his glove and drop it off to the side. The baby barely stirs as Bruce rubs his finger against his cheek. The tiniest eye peeks open, not enough to really see his eyes before it closes again and he grunts softly.
When Bruce is finally able to tear his gaze away, Hal is looking at him nervously.
Suddenly there is issues to be had with their ambiguous relationship... but Bruce doesn't really feel like getting into all of that at the moment.
"Have you..." His voice comes out hoarse, prompting him to clear his throat "Does he have a name yet?"
Hal relaxes a little. "I've just been calling him "little man" the past couple of days. Been thinking of some names, but I really thought I'd have time to talk to you first."
The thought that Hal had an entire pregnancy on a foreign planet was enough to unnerve Bruce. Hal could've died, the baby could've died, and Bruce might not have ever found out.
"Are you mad?" Hal asks after a beat of silence.
Anger was far from Bruce's mind. "Did you purposely keep your pregnancy from me?"
"It pains me that I couldn't use the pregnancy against you and you wouldn't have been able to fight back," Hal laments with a sigh, an attempt to lighten the tension. "But no. I couldn't get back home, it was out of my hands." He studies Bruce for a moment, a serious look on his face. "You're not upset at another kid being sprung on you?"
Bruce had met Damian not too long ago, all things considered. He had wanted him, back when he found out Talia was pregnant, before she lied about a miscarriage and left him. Ten years he was left out of his child's life.
"No," Bruce says, looking back down at the infant, "this is the first one I've been able to hold."
He's carried his Robins before. When Dick was still so young and tired, when Jason was hurt and could've walked it off, but didn't pass off a chance to be carried, Tim in a rush to get him somewhere safe when he got injured, and Damian as huffed and puffed about being fine, but didn't fight Bruce too hard on it. He's held Cass hard enough to hurt and she held him back just as tightly.
This was different. He never got to hold his own baby.
Bruce feels his throat constricting. He swallows hard and takes a deep breath. "What names did you have in mind?"
"Was considering maybe Thomas after your father, Tommy for short."
Bruce briefly considers it, but is very quick to decide no. "Maybe as a middle name. What about your father?"
Hal immediately shakes his head. "No. He's too young to be a Martin."
It's not like Bruce had never thought of names before, names he would've potentially given Damian... but that was for a different time.
They lapse into silence.
"Are you okay?" Bruce finally asks, taking another good look at Hal. He wasn't sure where they were going to go from here.
"Just need some rest, really." Hal rubs at his eyes. "It's been non-stop for weeks now--"
"Hal!"
In a blink, Barry is there, hand on Hal's shoulder. "Where you've been, man?"
"Oh, you know, space," Hal smiles and brightens up a bit.
"Very descriptive," Barry said with a huff. "You look like shit. You alright?"
Hal waved him off. "Yeah yeah, I'm fine." He gestures over at Bruce. "What should we name the baby boy?"
Barry glances over. "Uuhh, Finneas?" He then does a double take. "Wait, what the hell?" He immediately drops into a crouch in front of Bruce, a grin on his face as he coos at the baby. "Hey there little guy!"
Barry holds out his hands and Bruce reluctantly hands the baby over.
"He's way too cute to be your baby," Barry teases Hal before booping the baby's nose. "Am I the god father?"
Hal spares a glance at Bruce before saying, "Of course!"
Bruce didn't have any complaints anyways.
"I like the name Finneas too, Finn for short." This time Hal's look towards Bruce was seeking actual approval.
"No objections here," Bruce finally decides on.
He notices the way Barry's eyes dart between them, realization suddenly dawning on his face. "Hold up! Hal, you and Bats are a thing?"
"No!"
That stung a little.
"Well, I mean," Hal runs a hand through his hair, pointedly not looking at Bruce as he seems to reconsider. "Kinda. I don't know. Either way, yes, he's the other parent."
Barry hums thoughtfully, looking down at the baby. "So... who's last name is little Finn here gonna take?"
Hal and Bruce stare at each other.
"I carried him for nine months."
"Finneas Wayne sounds better."
(Art of Finneas!)
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Always loves those fics or headcanons where the Justice League just has no clue about the existence of the Batfamily. And usually it's because Bruce wanted to maintain his image of being all mysterious or because he wants to protect his family or something.
But I think it's infinitely better if he just assumes they know. Like, Dick has been around since he was like 10, and he's into his 30's now, Bruce assumes that he had to come up in conversation at some point.
Besides, as secretive as they are, the news in Gotham has to pick up on and connect the family together, at least vaguely, so surely the rest of the league has taken note of that. Signal fights crime in broad daylight, for christ's sake.
Except, in general, they just don't. Sure, Superman and Wonder Woman maybe know, but Flash? Green Arrow? No.
Then one day they need extra hands on a mission, so a handful of the various bats and birds are called in, cue bafflement. On both sides.
Because Bruce assumes that he doesn't need to explain himself. Everyone else assumes he's being secretive on purpose.
Barry: Why did you never tell us you have an entire family/small vigilante army hiding in Gotham?
Bruce: My children are literally friends with the rest your family.
-cue Wally and Bart speeding past them the moment they see Dick and Tim from across the room-
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Sea Cryptic! Danny AU- Pt.3
[Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.4][Pt.5][Pt.6][Pt.7]
“Aquaman.” Batman swept into the room, beelining straight for the suddenly apprehensive Atlantean king.
“Batman. What can I do for you?”
“Phantom. Does he pay taxes?”
“Pardon?”
Batman makes a low noise that had Aquaman’s danger senses buzzing.
“Does Phantom have to pay taxes. Towards Atlantis.”
“No…? Why?”
“He wanted money, in exchange for… information, of a delicate sort,” Batman said, diplomatically avoiding the topic of Phantom bargaining for the identities of corpses in exchange for a measly $100 dollars per identity. Like a flea market dealer, that one was.
“You encountered Phantom again?” Aquaman perked up.
“Yes. Gotham’s bay is… polluted.” Batman paused. “With victims. Of murder.”
The entire area quieted as heads turned towards the Dark Knight.
“Yes, I am… distantly aware of Gotham’s waters.” By that, Aquaman gets green around the gills whenever he turns his awareness in that direction. There’s a reason he doesn’t enter Gotham, and the Dark Knight’s ban is only half of that reason. “Ah, but you’re correct. For what purpose would Phantom need mortal currency?”
“Hn.”
“Maybe he needs some stuff?” Flash zipped to a stop next to Batman, feet tapping as he dug into the pile of snacks cradled in his arms. “Us mortals are always coming up with new things, maybe he wants to try some games or something?”
Batman tilted his head down, seriously considering Flash’s suggestion. “It’s plausible.”
“Barry, Barry, Barry. He’s old as hell, right? He probably wants to try the new booze!”
“Hal, my man!” Flash fist bumped Green Lantern, who came up. “You’re back! What happened to John?”
“Dunno. He got called somewhere that way,” Green Lantern waved a vague hand towards the left. “Had to deal with a politician or something from that area.” He shrugged, swinging an arm over Barry’s shoulders to put him in a headlock and stealing a chip.
“Huh. Anyways, would our mortal alcohol even work on a demi-god or something?”
“We should ask!” Hal turned towards Batman. “You should ask if he wants to go for a drink, spooky!”
“He’s a child.”
“He’s been around for more than a millennia, Bats.”
“Informational gathering, right, Hal?” Flashgot out of the headlock, quickly munching on his snacks to stop Green Lantern from stealing them.
“Totally. Yup.”
“…Fine.”
“Wait, are we just gonna ignore that Gotham’s waters are full of bodies?”
“Yes.”
——
“What?” Danny asked, mind half on the bags he’s dragging out of the water and the other half on the essay he has to submit in about four hours.
“Green Lantern wanted to invite you out for a drink.”
Danny turned to the stoic Gotham knight, who had his wrist computer out to log the bodies’ info the moment Danny gave him the information. Some of them even told Danny who murdered them, so Batman could start building cases with solid leads.
Danny’s only twenty. He’s not legal yet but he doesn’t want to give any clues to who he is. How is he supposed to…
Ah!
“Can’t.” Danny shrugged. “I’m not legal. I died when I was fourteen so…” Danny trailed off, speechless at the drowned puppy face Batman was giving him. What the fuck.
“Anyways, fork over my payment.”
Batman wordlessly hands him a wad of hundreds.
“What do you need cash for?” Batman suddenly asked.
“Huh? Isn’t it obvious?” Danny tucked it in. “Material things, obviously. I need a blanket,” because holy shit, Gotham is damn cold this time of year. “Anyways, see you same time next week, litterer.”
“I don’t litter.”
“Tell that to the batarangs I found under the water,” Danny grumbled. “But I’ll stop calling you that if you get a signature from Poison Ivy. I have a friend who loves her.”
“An alive friend?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know, weatherboy?”
Danny snickered and disappeared. He’s gotta cram that essay.
——
“There’s a possibility Phantom might be homeless.”
“Batman, I mean this in the nicest way, but for the love of Atlantis, please stop giving me headaches. It’s time like these I wish I stayed a lighthouse keeper.”
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