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maccreadysbaby · 2 years ago

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A Hundred Days to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none :)

wanna start from chapter one or read more? here’s the table of contents!

bentley+dick+damian things for my sanity

part fifteen

❝ PONYBOY CURTIS ❞

MONDAY — 2:23PM — DAY 24

DAMIAN WAS DIFFERENT WHILE TITUS WAS GONE. Though he still went on about Tim’s incompetence and ranted about wild animals, everything he said was more venomous, crafted more like a kill-shot than a simple jab. He’d gotten in a screaming match with Tim the day after Titus left that ended with death threats and two slammed doors. (One bedroom door and the front door.) He threatened to filet Jason with one of Alfred’s carving knives for sitting in the seat next to him at the table, and told Duke that if he so much as spoke to him at school he’d find a vat of molten metal to drop him in.

Needless to say, Bentley opted for staying out of Damian’s way while Titus was gone.

Thankfully, Dick had been summoned from the depths of Bludhaven to return to the Manor in Titus’ absence to keep the peace. Tim hadn’t been back since Damian lashed out at him, (it had been ten-ish days and if Tim wasn’t Red Robin, Bentley would have wondered if he was still alive.) and Bentley felt like the entire household was one problem away from the miniature assassin murdering everyone inside. And he was determined not to be that problem.

The Manor was peaceful for now, because Damian’s raging assassin self was at school.

Bentley was in the den with Dick again. Instead of teaching him classic games, it had migrated to classic movies, and they’d been on the couch staring at the television for hours now. From movies like Cars to Star Wars, if it was considered classic, (to Dick.) they'd be watching it. There was a massive queue of movies listed on the TV (at least twenty) that he’d picked out, and they’d only chewed through three. Bentley had already accepted his fate of becoming one with the couch. He didn’t mind — the Wayne’s couch was comfy.

Currently, they were watching an old movie called The Outsiders, which he discovered he really liked. Out of the three they’d watched, he enjoyed the older films more, his second favorite being one called Stand by Me. He didn’t know why. Mayeb it was because they were interesting. Or maybe it was because they told stories of a kid who found a family in people they weren’t related to.

“I have to ask; who names their kids Ponyboy and Sodapop? Everyone else has normal names like Steve, and Johnny, and Dallas. But not the main ones. Ponyboy and Sodapop,” Dick commented with a shrug.

Another thing Bentley discovered was that Dick could not watch ten minutes of a movie without talking. It had been toned down during the documentaries because all of his brothers were whining about it, but now, he was bringing it on full force like a commentator at a football game. Bentley didn’t care. He liked that Dick talked so much, it was a stark contrast to his father and that was the absolute last person he wanted to think about right then. Plus, Dick had a way of taking tension and awkwardness and throwing them out the window, and that’s exactly what he needed all of the time.

Bentley decided it was time to test some of the communication techniques the Wayne’s used.

“Your name is Dick,” He tried, glancing over at his counterpart, who looked positively taken aback by his sarcastic rebuttal. (Bentley would literally rather die than try banter like that with anyone else in the family, though. Dick was the only one he knew probably wouldn’t kill him.)

And he was right, because Dick’s face broke into an ear splitting grin, his blue eyes shimmering like one of Bruce’s million-dollar chandeliers.

“My name is Richard,” He shot back, playfully. “You’re named after a car.”

Bentley’s wheels turned for a second (no pun intended.) “A luxury car. You’re named after a body part.”

“My name is Richard!” He nearly squeaked. Bentley chuckled, and it only seemed to make Dick’s eyes get brighter.

They glanced back at the screen just in time to watch little Johnny Cade climb into a burning building.

“Boys,��

Bentley’s flinch coincided with the crash of burning rubble in the movie, so he pretended that’s what it was. Bruce was standing in the doorway with a fond look on his face.

“What’s up, B?” Dick questioned, grabbing the remote from beside him and pausing the movie.

“The vet says Titus can come home, but I have a meeting in ten minutes that I can’t get out of. Do you think you’d want to go get him?”

Titus was coming home? Which meant Damian wouldn’t want to kill everybody so much anymore?

Bentley glanced over at Dick, who nodded. “I can. Do you want to come with?”

It took him a second to realize the question was aimed at him.

“Oh. Yeah,” He replied.

“Great. Sorry to interrupt your movie. The ending is terrible, though, you’re welcome for sparing you from that,” Bruce murmured as he retreated from the doorway.

“Don’t spoil it!” Dick shouted, throwing a throw pillow in that general direction.

“Alfred will call the vet and let him know you’re picking Titus up!” Was Bruce’s reply to the muted thud the pillow made.

Dick sighed and clicked the TV off, “Looks like I have to change out of my pajamas,” He stated, rising from the couch in his Wonder Woman pants. “Nice jacket, by the way.”

Bentley glanced down at the blue jacket he was wearing, realizing that it probably once belonged to Dick. (He loved having hand-me-downs instead of the stiff fancy stuff his father got him.)

“I’ll meet you by the front door in a few minutes!” Dick stated, disappearing from the room only a few seconds later.

Bentley went upstairs and put his shoes on. The Manor was eerily quiet. He supposed Tim, Cass, and Jason were doing their own things, as none of them had been to the Manor in a few days. (The only one that Bentley actually knew had a job was Tim, only because his father had drilled it into his head that many parts of Wayne Enterprises would fail without him. He’s the one you want to go after, his father had told him.) If only Bentley wasn’t so intimidated by the teenager’s giant brain, he might actually do that.

He padded back downstairs toward the front door. The entryway was bathed with bright sunlight that warmed the air, and Bentley enjoyed it. (Bruce kept the Manor cold.) Dick came down the stairs not two minutes later in a t-shirt, jeans, and a black jacket.

“All set to go, bud?” He questioned. Bentley nodded, and Dick opened the front door. “We’re leaving!” He shouted to no one in particular.

They made their way through the door, and the cold breeze bit at Bentley’s skin. The sunlight did little to warm him outside. Dick’s car was sitting in one of the already-open garages.

“You can ride wherever you want,” Dick stated. “Well, the trunk has some stuff in it, but I think I’d be able to make enough room if you want to pretend to be a suitcase. Or a carryon. You’re not very big.”

Bentley snickered, and Dick smiled his million dollar smile as he popped open the driver’s side door. Bentley settled on the passenger’s side — at least until they had Titus.

The drive seemed shorter than the ride with Bruce. Probably because there wasn’t a dog seizing in the back seat. Dick had also taken it upon himself to teach Bentley about music, and instead of the new-age pop stuff the boy had expected, Dick’s entire playlist was made up of old music. Like, really old music. Like from the fifties and sixties music.

Bentley liked it.

They arrived at the vet’s office just shy of three o’clock (according to Dick’s dash) and the receptionist smiled brightly at them as soon as they walked in. It was a different receptionist than last time. It was an older woman before — now it looked like a girl around Jason’s age, maybe older, and she was staring at Dick the same way some of the business women stared at Bentley’s father. Which made him feel weird.

Bentley glanced around the waiting room while Dick spoke to her, eyes sticking on a sandy colored kitten a woman in the corner was holding. It had on a collar that was too big for its little body and he thought it was adorable.

A few moments later, however, the vet came out of the back room with Titus on a leash, whose tongue was flopping out the side of his mouth and silver eyes were bright. He spotted Dick and Bentley and ran the leash right out of the vet’s hand, hopping across the room with high-pitched, excited noises.

“Hey, boy!” Bentley greeted just in time for Titus to hop up and knock him straight over. He landed on his butt, but he didn’t much care — it didn’t hurt and he was just happy the dog was okay. Titus started licking all over his face and he heard Dick chuckle.

After a few minutes spent in the floor, Dick put the leash back on Titus. “I think we’re just on time to pick Dami up from school. I’m sure Titus would be a welcomed surprise.”

Bentley stood up and brushed off his pants without replying. They took Titus out to the car, and Bentley sat in the back with him, petting the over-excited dog as Dick drove off and called Duke, notifying him that he wouldn’t need to drive Damian home today.

They pulled into the pickup line at Gotham Academy not twenty minutes later. It was a huge stone school building whose architecture was old and almost victorian looking. It looked just like the picture of Damian Bentley had seen before. There were already students streaming out the doors in matching uniforms, getting in cars and piling on buses. There were a lot of kids.

Bentley didn’t have a hard time spotting Damian when he came out — he was one of the only kids not in a group or clique. He scanned the row of cars before he spotted Dick’s, and with an annoyed expression, came walking forward.

As soon as he opened the back door, Titus leaped out and started squeaking again, jumping up on Damian like he hadn’t seen him in years.

“Titus!” Damian exclaimed, all annoyance stripped from his face and voice as he scratched the dog’s head. He was smiling — probably as wide as Bentley had seen him smile the whole time he’d been there. “I didn’t know you were coming home!”

The dog was licking him all over the face like he had Bentley. Although, being Robin, he didn’t get knocked down when Titus jumped.

Damian climbed in the car next to Bentley, and Titus jumped in afterward.

“He has some meds, but other than that he’s all clear,” Dick explained as Damian closed the car door. “And very excited to see you.”

Damian didn’t respond, but kept petting the dog, who was practically vibrating in between them from excitement. Throughout the drive home, he kept stomping his front legs and spinning in circles to lick both boy’s on the face, and it made Bentley really happy.

When they’d almost made it back to the Manor, Damian spoke up, albeit quietly: “I’d like to… apologize to you for my behavior during Titus’s absence,” He spoke softly, maybe trying to be quiet enough that Dick couldn’t hear him? Bentley glanced over at Damian, and he was looking right back at him. “I noticed you began to avoid me, and I do not blame you. I did not think about how my behavior would affect you. I’m sorry.”

Bentley smiled lightly, and a weird little feeling sprouted in his chest. Weird, but a good weird, weird like he was shocked he cared enough about how he felt to apologize. Weird like Damian (an eleven year old assassin superhero that he’d only known for twenty-four days) cared more about how he felt than his actual father did.

“It’s okay, Damian.”

He nodded, and went back to petting Titus.

The rest of the daylight was spent by Bentley and Damian playing with Ace and Titus in the backyard. He would’ve stayed out past dark but it got really cold then — so they went in for dinner (which Jason and Tim had suddenly shown up for.) and it was a lot more peaceful than it had been.

Then Dick whisked Bentley away to restart The Outsiders from the beginning as their nightly show. They returned to their previous spots on the couch (Dick had found his way back into his Wonder Woman pants.) and turned it back on before anybody could argue about what was on.

About ten minutes into the movie, Bruce came in and made for a chair, muttering something about not watching his favorite movie without him, and five minutes after that, Damian and Titus took up the spot on the opposite side of Bentley.

About halfway through the movie, Tim slinked inside and quietly took a seat in a chair near the door. And then Jason appeared, muttering about how the book was so much better, but he sat down on the other side of Dick anyways.

And as Bentley watched Ponyboy and his found family of friends deal with life on the screen, he glanced around at the horde of black-haired-blue-eyed acquaintances he’d acquired.

Was it childish to wish it could stay like that forever? He bet Ponyboy wished the same thing when he and the Greasers were together.

But Ponyboy’s perfect found family came to an abrupt end. And Bentley knew his would, too.

He flinched when a hand landed on the back of his head, in his hair, realizing that he hadn’t actually been watching the movie at all. His eyes had been closed.

“It’s okay, kiddo. You can go to sleep,”

However, his found family wasn’t coming to an end that night. So he didn’t find it hard to obey Dick’s suggestion, letting his head find its way onto the oldest Wayne boy’s shoulder, settling into the couch as Dick’s fingers repetitively carded through his red hair. (It felt heavenly — he’d never understand why Tim wanted him to stop so badly before.)

He was sure Dick wouldn’t mind to watch the movie again tomorrow, anyways, so Bentley could catch the ending.

With that settled, he let himself drift into darkness, surrounded by people he wished he could stay with forever.

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dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💛

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