For @poiverine 🥰 I know I'm a little late but I'm still thinking about shameless Slade you drew for this au and well... this just happened 🤗💕
Sladick royal au;
part 6, inspired by polv's amazing art;
You are not to display your feelings for each other with anyone around you. You are to stay close to your spouse throughout any social event but not to touch their bare hand, in matters different than greeting each other or dancing. Physical contact is intimate and other people must not have any insight on it. Any form of displaying your affections publicly is scandalous and humiliating for both sides.
Those were the rules. Dick knew all of them by heart, taught by Gotham's best tutors since the moment he came to live with Bruce – he spent years and years learning everything he could, to be a proper prince and not shame Bruce in any way by doing something stupid out of unawareness. And those, those particular rules were the most important, as not following them would shame his name so greatly that if it ever happened, Dick wouldn't be able to look anyone in the eye for the rest of his life. Not to even mention the disgrace it would bring Bruce.
Children are allowed any physical touch they need. Holding their hand, hugging, kissing their cheeks and forehead is allowed even with other people around you. You are allowed to display your feelings towards the members of your family in public, such as holding their bare hand and even hugging them briefly. Any possible suitor and later a spouse does not have those privileges towards you. Any possible intimate contact between you and your spouse is to happen when you are alone, in the privacy of your chambers.
No matter what Dick knew earlier, no matter what his parents taught him, those were the rules Dick must follow now, regardless of anything else. It was confusing and weird at first, to change his whole worldview so abruptly like that but it didn't take Dick long to learn and understand. Besides, learning that you can't display your affections openly was barely anything huge, compared with what Dick had to go through when his parents were killed.
Bruce helped him understand the rules. Helped him with everything and anything, really. With Bruce’s aid, Dick was able to see how displaying your affections, being intimate with your beloved was something to treasure, a moment meant to be adored and cherished by the two of you. It was a beautiful show of feelings and no one else should be a witness to it.
Dick himself never saw anyone break those rules but he heard enough of such cases. People, especially nobles, loved to talk – Dick knew that better than anyone because he was the one people talked about a lot. One of their favorite activities was gossiping about people who broke the rules and thanks to that he knew perfectly well how they treated those who were stupid or careless enough to do it. It was utterly unacceptable for Gotham's society, scandalous. It brought dishonor, made people look and openly point their fingers at you to laugh.
It was a sin in its own category.
Dick was always extremely careful to follow all the rules, like a proper prince he was. He made sure to wear gloves whenever his suitors greeted him with a kiss on the palm, was certain to never stand too close to them during any events. The further thing he ever did was let Roy press a kiss to his cheek when the prince came to tell him that he was leaving for his journey, and then another one to the palm of his bare hand but even then they were alone in the library. Dick was intent to never break those rules, to follow them for the rest of his life.
And then Slade Wilson came, barged really, into his life.
Slade, who grabbed his bare hand and brought it to his lips whenever he wanted, like it was something as natural as breathing to him. Slade, who wrapped his arm around Dick's waist and pressed him against his side as if Dick was... as if Dick was some whore he could parade around with. Slade, who... w-who leaned down and... and kissed him, right on the lips, with everyone around to see it happen.
Every time Slade did it, Dick could feel shame and humiliation burning in his chest painfully like a real fire would. Every time, Dick forced himself to stay still and just breathe, to let Slade do what he wished. He was sure the man just toyed with him, waiting for the moment he'll finally snap. Oh, how he wanted to loathe this man. How he wanted to hate Slade, for he took Dick away from his home, from his family, away from everything he knew. How he wanted to hate Slade for doing whatever he wanted with him, humiliating Dick day and day again. But he couldn't. He couldn't allow himself to do that.
Because Dick wouldn't be able to live like that, standing by the side of someone he loathed for the rest of his life. It would destroy him, like locking in a cage would do to a bird, and Dick wasn't going to give up like this. Even if Slade decided to humiliate them both by acting that way and breaking the rules, even if he treated Dick like nothing more than a plaything he wanted to show everyone around. No matter what Slade decided to throw at him, Dick intended to take every blow with dignity, as much as it was possible.
Dick chose this himself. He agreed to Slade's demands, agreed to marry him and live by his side in Defiance, aware of what it can bring. Aware of what Slade might choose to do with him. All to stop the war that was terrorizing them all for far too long. And Dick didn't regret doing it, not really. He couldn't regret saving all those lives, innocent lives that could've been lost in a pointless fight if he refused. Even if he had to sacrifice himself for it. Even if he has to endure all those painful humiliations. It was a small price to save thousands of their soldiers.
If his betrothed had been someone else, Dick would've been able to voice his objection right away. He would make it clear that he's not going to stand for being treated like that, that he won't allow Slade to touch him with all those people around, or even at all. But with becoming Slade's husband he will lose all his rights, all his privileges. He won't be Gotham's crown prince anymore, no, he'll become King Wilson's royal consort instead. Slade will have all the power over him, everything Dick will own will belong truly to Slade, everything he'll be allowed to do or have only because Slade'll agree to it. And Dick... Dick was simply too afraid to anger Slade by denying him, too afraid to see what punishment would await him for it. Would Slade forbid him writing to his family, forbid him visiting them? Would he lock Dick up, put him into a golden cage, and come see him only when he wished to be in his consort's company? Would he simply kill him and start the war again?
Dick didn't want to find out.
Because Slade Wilson was a cruel man. Dick didn't know him very well, in fact he only ever met him a few times before, during galas or other celebrations, but he didn't have to to know that fact. It was common knowledge, in fact. Everyone knew the tale about how Slade became Defiance's king, how he fought his way to the throne, brutally killing every person that got in his way. It wasn't how it happened in Gotham, with Bruce getting the crown from his father, who got it from his own father. No, Slade wasn't even of royal blood. Before he started ruling the country he was a mercenary – and the best one their world heard about at that. It's because of that, because of his merits, he received the lordship in the first place and became a figure on Defiance's court.
Because Slade didn't shy away from war and battle, always ready to fight whenever someone was willing to pay him handsomely for his effort. And now, when he left the mantle to take on the crown instead, he was still willing to battle everyone, to protect his country and make it thrive.
Bruce respected Slade because he would have to be a fool not to. Slade wasn't just a brute force, he was also a genius strategist whose plan always succeeded. He was a man feared by all, even those most powerful. A monster, able to kill with just a twitch of his hand.
Dick knew that all and he was well aware what he was getting into when he agreed to the letter where Slade demanded him in turn to end the war. He was aware why Bruce was so against the sheer idea of it. But Dick knew what his answer will be the moment he read the letter for the very first time. No matter how much he hated doing it, he wasn't going to let his people suffer from the war when he had a certain way to stop all the fighting.
Even if he had to suffer instead.
Sitting by the window in the chambers Slade had prepared for him for the time of his visit in Defiance, Dick remembered suddenly how whenever they were alone, Bruce never called Slade a king. 'Wilson', sometimes he even referred to him as 'Lord Wilson' but never as a king. In Bruce's eyes Wilson wasn't a proper ruler – he was a brute, a barbarian that cared only about himself and did whatever he wanted to do.
Dick huffed a humorless laugh at the thought. Perhaps that's why Slade was so shameless and didn't even care about breaking the rules.
/ / / / /
Then, Dick started to learn Defiance's culture properly.
He was going to live in Slade's country and so he preferred to know the rules and general manners that applied there. Slowly but surely he became more acquainted with Defiance's customs, with the way its people lived and thought – he gained the knowledge from every source possible, whether it was from the books in the royal library or simply from talking with people in the court.
One of the first things he learned was that... no one here cared if you kissed your spouse in a room full of people. Well, that one he actually learned before getting to any books; meeting Apollo and Midnighter was interesting and maybe even a bit... traumatizing at first for him. It was all so much different from what Dick knew that the idea alone almost made him dizzy. To think that displaying his affections in public didn't sow disgust all around, that people actually encouraged it and cheered when you did... it was a lot to take in, no matter how long Dick thought about it.
Almost all his life, all those years he spent in Gotham by Bruce's side, he was teached that showing affection openly was like a crime. That's what he believed was right and he followed those rules naturally, even after arriving in Slade's country. He just... well, he just assumed that the rules in Defiance were the same as in any other country he visited before, because they all applied in Star, in Jump, even in Atlantis as well. That made Dick even more eager to learn about Defiance's customs, because it was so much different from everything Dick knew.
But it also made Dick look at Slade differently. It made him realize that the man wasn't trying to humiliate him with his affections, he did it because his people took pride in showing off their beloved ones. And while Dick was certain that Slade did take some sick kind of pleasure from all his blushing, stuttering and hitched breaths, it wasn't exactly entirely ill-natured. It was probably what Slade was raised with and for him it was absolutely natural so he kissed Dick without a second thought, even if it made Dick want to crawl into the ground at times.
People of Defiance simply loved to display their affections in public, loved to proudly show everyone around just how happy their beloved ones made them. At least that's what the books said. It was... it was actually kind of nice, in theory.
...that still didn't make actually doing it, letting Slade do it, any easier. Slade's touch, his easy kisses that happened with other people around still made him want to jerk away from his grip as humiliation burned into him; still made his heart thump painfully against his ribcage while he blushed so hard that even his neck and shoulders turned red. It didn't matter if people around them clapped and smiled, it'll take Dick a really long time to actually get used to it.
But he had time to do it, didn't he? After all, he'll spend the rest of his life by Slade's side. And it was... it was better to know all that and just be embarrassed over the affections, than to feel the shame and horror of breaking the rules that in reality weren't even there. It was much better that way and Dick will get used to it one day.
[Masterlist of the au]
He was just glad Bruce didn't have to see any of it.
//
Thank you for reading!! 💕 Hope you liked it 👉👈
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