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Damian smiled to himself, eyes scanning the crowds in front of him.
Today's heist was going to be the biggest they'd had in months. If all went as planned, this would be all the needed to finally get out of this hell hole. They could finally get out and start a new life, some place in the sun, maybe Jon could finally have that farm he always dreamed of. They could get out of Gotham, go south, be whatever they wanted instead of two runaway orphans.
"Don't get too cocky," Jon reminded softly, wrapping his fingers around Damian's wrist.
Damian glanced up at his partner. He looked absolutely stunning tonight, dressed in blues and silver, his dark skin reflecting the street lights in interesting ways that made Damian want to pull out a sketch pad and draw it. Jon smiled at him, squeezing his wrist once.
Their heist today was a big deal. They were going to be stealing multiple items from some of Gotham's richest. Good or evil, Damian didn't care. They had plenty of money and he needed some of it. People like Lex Luther and Bruce Wayne and Oswald Cobblepot. It didn't matter their morals or what they did for others. Any man with that much money was evil in his own way.
There was one thing rich people loved more than their money, and that was showing off how much money they had. Which is how things like art shows came to exist. It had been as easy as a few smiles and a few drinks and a few dives into pockets for Damian to get invitations for him and Jon, and almost easier for him to steal outfits for them.
Dark blue and silver for Jon, green and gold for Damian. Clothes that made them look as rich as Bruce Wayne himself.
"You remember our plan?" He asked Jon, watching the carriages full of people drive past.
"Like the back of my hand."
"Be careful my love."
"You too, angel."
They kissed once quickly, and then split off. Damian would enter first, allowing his fake ID to be called out, while Jon would linger back and make friends with a smaller group he had already marked out, entering the party with them and lingering with them, allowing them to introduce him around.
Together they would slowly steal smaller pieces, pick pocketing as they went, until finally at the end of the night, they would each grab their two main targets and bolt. They would have to lay low for a few days, maybe even a few weeks and then they could pawn off some of the smaller items, get some money to travel far enough away that they could sell the larger pieces without being immediately arrested.
He slipped away from Jon, weaving through the crowd, easily coming up in a group of them like he had always been there. He slipped through the crowds, stopping to give the bouncer his invitation. She scanned over it for a moment, then glanced up at him, almost suspiciously.
“Mr. Langstrom?”
“Yes, my dear, I do believe that's the name on the invitation.”
She gave him a squint and then passed it back, writing something down in her book.
“Mr. Davees Langstrom!” She announced out into the open air of the ballroom behind her.
“Thank you, dear.”
He swept past her, smiling as immediately someone pulled him into conversation. Rich people were so predictable. If they thought someone was important, they’d immediately do their best to get them involved in conversations.
He caught glimpses of Jon a few times throughout the evening, talking and laughing and flirting. Damian used to get jealous when he saw Jon flirting with others, but he learned pretty quickly that Jon had eyes only for him. Even now, he caught the man’s gaze from across the room, watched a smile flick onto his lips for half a minute, then he glanced back to his company. God Damian was in love with him.
He had only been working for an hour or so, pockets already stuffed with jewelry and watches when he bumped into Jon at the bar.
“Hey there,” Jon murmured once the bartender had stepped away.
“How are you doing?” Damian asked, keeping his eyes focused on the man, while Jon looked out at the crowd.
“Been productive so far. I don’t want to risk too much, don’t want people realizing my group is the common factor. You?”
“If I do much more, I’m going to start jingling.”
Jon chuckled softly, glancing over long enough to make eye contact. There was a glint in Jon’s eyes that sent Damian’s heart racing and almost drove him to lean over and kiss him right then and there.
“Here you gentlemen go.”
“Thank you sir.”
They paid for their drinks separately, and Jon sent Damian a quick wink before slipping back into the crowd. Damian lingered at the bar for a while before going out into the crowd. He had thought he had seen Selina Kyle here - another notorious pickpocket - and wanted to see if he could catch her. Though by this time she had probably made it all the way to Bruce Wayne and out the door with his whole suit.
He really needed to lay low for a while. People had to have noticed their missing items by now, and he needed to make a quick alibi. He glanced around the hall and stopped, eyes landing on another face he knew. Jason Todd.
Jason Todd was the man who had put the Clown Prince out of commission. He was a man known notoriously in the criminal underground. He ran most of the crime business, and he didn't take kindly to people messing with his trades. Damian had seen men come back from encounters with Jason Todd missing limbs or bleeding so severely that they died shortly after. Jason Todd wasn't someone you wanted to mess with. And if he was here staking out this venue, it was a bad place for him and Jon to be.
Damian had been taught young how to fight. He had been taught to judge his opponents, figure out their weaknesses, and then how to beat them. His mother had not been an amazing person, she had pushed too hard, required too much, and loved too harshly. She had been a thief and an assassin, and they had never stopped moving when he was little. He had run away from her when he was thirteen, ended up in Gotham on the streets, and made a life for himself in the crime business. He had never known his father, and at this point, he didn’t want to.
Jon was much different. Jon had been raised in Metropolis in a loving household. He had grown up with a mother and a father who cared for him and spoiled him. They had been killed when he was fifteen. Jon had been bounced around foster homes until he too ended up on the streets in Gotham. They had found each other, and started working together, stealing from the rich, hijacking hover cars, pick pocketing blasters and thermo knives and defending their loot from other thieves. Their life together was no by no means perfect, but Damian wouldn’t change it.
Damian glanced around, pulling himself from his thoughts and trying to find Jon in the crowd. He found the man and froze once again. He was face to face with Bruce Wayne. No- no that was bad, why did Jon- Jon knew better than that! He knew not to let a big target like Bruce mark him.
"Hello there!"
Damian almost jumped. Almost. He turned around to face who had greeted him, and felt the blood drain from his face.
"Ah, hello there," he heard himself greeting, holding out a hand. "Davees Langstrom."
"A pleasure to meet you, Langstrom. Jason Todd."
Damian's heart was pounding and it took everything in him to stay calm and collected as he shook hands with the man that would probably end his life.
"Forgive my nosiness, Langstrom, but I don't think I've ever seen you at one of these events."
"I've been traveling recently! Haven't been to one in quite a while."
"Aah, we must've just missed each other then. I just got back from traveling a few months ago."
Damian smiled and nodded, agreeing this must be the solution. Todd was staring at him keenly, and Damian had this sinking feeling his cover had been blown.
Jason Todd was large. He wasn't much taller then Damian, but bulkier. He looked like a boxer, or at least a heavy weightlifter. Damian had no doubt he was a good fighter, and he was probably heavily armed. The most dangerous thing, however, was his connections to the Wayne family.
Everyone in the underground knew Todd had been considered one of the Wayne's, and often still got favors from them. Which must be how he ended up here. Hell he may even be running security for this event.
"So what do you do, Langstrom? Business man, artist, what?"
"Oh I'm just a kid with old money and an appreciation for good art. I only wish I could be an artist. I was so excited to be invited to this event, to be able to be around so many great works!”
Damian gestured around, using this as an opportunity to look around and catch a glimpse of Jon, still caught in a conversation with Bruce. They made eye contact for the briefest moment before Damian was turning back to Jason. He looked unimpressed before a polite smile slid back over his face.
“Mr. Langstrom, would you let me buy you a drink?”
Damian felt his stomach drop. He was made. There was no way he’d be able to tell Jon, no way he’d be able to get out of this one. Maybe he could fight his way out, but that. . . that was unlikely.
“It’d be an honor, Mr. Todd,” Damian responded with a charming smile.
He followed Jason towards the bar, and wasn’t surprised at all when they walked right past it and out a private door. He took a deep breath and subtly unclipped the knife hidden in his sleeve. Jason shut the door firmly and turned to face him in the dimly lit hall.
“Mr. Langstrom, I personally reviewed that guest list several times. I never saw you anywhere on it. So who the hell are you.”
Damian raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware Mr. Wayne was in the habit of hiring crime lords to run private security at his events.”
Jason paused for a moment, then laughed. “So I was right, you are a thief.”
Damian didn’t answer, just slid the knife out. Jason’s eyes flicked down to it.
“Message received,” He said, voice dropping, eyes narrowing. “I’m not doing security, I’m here to be a good son. I just happened to know events like this are prime opportunities for people like you to come in and steal things, or for people to make certain trades of illegal goods.”
They held eye contact for a moment.
“You want a favor.”
“Clever lad. Yes, I need you to get this to one of Cobblepot’s guards. She’s tall, short black hair, wearing the red vest.”
Jason held out a small tube. Damian didn’t reach out and take it.
“And what do I get out of this.”
“Oh, I’ll let you and your boy toy live and not alert B’s real security to your presence. And hey, if Bruce loses a few figures from this, then isn’t that just funny?”
Damian sighed, snatching the tube from him. “Fine. I’ll do your little mission.”
Jason stood there staring at him.
“What?”
“You look familiar. Have we met before?”
“Mr. Todd. I have done my very best for over four years to avoid ever coming into contact with you or any of your gang. I can guarantee you have never seen my face before.”
“Huh,” Jason said softly. “What’s your name?”
“A thief never tells his secrets, I thought you of all people would know that.”
Damian spun on his heel and walked back out, letting the door snap shut behind him. He immediately scanned for Jon, who had finally gotten away from Bruce, talking instead with a small woman. He let out a breath, and looked for Cobblepot next. He wasn’t hard to find, everyone left a wide berth around him, except for a few girls who looked like they were about to throw up as he talked to them. The guard Jason had sent him after was standing just behind Cobblepot, which would make this whole exchange a good deal harder. Damian growled softly and slipped into the crowd, disappearing among socialites.
He made his way over to the bodyguard. He was running out of time. He could see Jon already making his way towards his target, though he’d wait for Damian to be in position before making any move for it. He’d risk being a little sloppy if it meant getting this over with faster. So he grabbed a glass of champagne, walked over towards the table behind Cobblepot like he was going to sit down. Instead he intentionally hooked his foot on a chair, stumbling and “accidentally” throwing his champagne on the woman. She yelped and spun.
“Hey watch it asshole!”
“I’m so sorry!” Damian exclaimed, grabbing a napkin and stepping forwards. “Let me help!”
“I don’t need your help!” She practically yelled, reaching to push him back.
He let her shove him, using the natural swing of his arms to neatly drop the tube into her coat pocket and then continue stumbling backwards. Follow up, make it look clean.
“I really am sorry!” He said once he stopped falling. “Is there anything I can-”
“No, just beat it!”
“My apologies again, sorry everyone.”
With a hidden smile, he disappeared into the crowd again. A few people stopped to ask if he was okay, making sure Cobblepot’s guard hadn’t roughed him up too much, but he just smiled and assured them he was alright and just needed to visit the washroom.
Instead he took a left past the hallway to the washroom, right towards his target. It was a figurine, no larger than his hand, made of solid crystals, inlaid with gold and diamonds and ugly as hell. But it would be easy to snatch and slip under his coat. He glanced across the room, spotting Jon waiting for him. They made eye contact, Damian nodded once and then immediately looked away.
Within a minute he was headed for the bathroom, the figurine tucked under his jacket in a way no one could see. In a gallery that busy, they had max of a minute before someone noticed the two pieces were missing. The plan from here was simple on paper, a lot harder in practice. They were to go separate ways, and get out the back. From there they would wait for a signal that the other had made it out okay, and continue separate for a few city blocks before meeting up and getting to their hideout safely.
There was always a step somewhere in there that would go wrong.
Damian walked calmly until he found the exit door, checking quickly that it wasn’t a fire alarm, and then slipping out into the garden beyond the ballroom. He was supposed to wait by the garden fence. He should be able to see Jon come out the other door, and would signal to him that he made it out safely before taking off. He sprinted across the garden and hid in the thick plants lining the wall and waited.
And waited.
This wasn’t good. He had been here far too long. Jon wasn’t okay, he had been caught, he had been-
The door swung open and Jon spun, slammin it shut behind him, twirling and looking around the garden. Damian quickly whistled, three up notes and one long low note. Jon turned and ran the opposite direction, while Damian quickly scaled the wall and took off across town. He ran for a while, lungs burning and legs threatening to give out. Finally he stumbled into the alley he was supposed to meet Jon in, sliding down to sit on the ground behind a stack of crates, coughing slightly.
A few minutes passed and he heard footsteps. He froze, waiting quietly.
“Dami?!”
He popped up, whipping around the corner and jumping on Jon.
“Oh my god you’re okay!”
“I’m okay!? I thought you had been caught!”
Jon reached down and pressed their lips together hard for a moment and then pulled away, laughing hard.
“God! I can’t believe- That heist-”
“I can’t believe we did it.”
Damian laughed, tugging Jon in again and kissing him lighter.
“We did it, baby,” Jon murmured, pressing long kisses to Damian’s cheek and jaw. “We can leave now.”
“God. . . I cannot wait.”
Damian took a deep breath, pressing his face into Jon’s neck.
They could leave. This would be enough to cover them for a while . They could travel and settle down, far far away from here. Jon exhaled shakily, gently rubbing Damian’s back.
“I’m glad you’re okay. When I saw you and that man. . . “
Damian hesitated. “It wasn’t. . . it wasn’t just any man.”
“What?”
“. . . Jon that was Jason Todd.”
“Oh fuck .”
“Yeah. . . But what were you doing talking to Bruce Wayne!”
“I was just curious, look can we talk about this back at the safehouse?”
“Right of course.”
They very casually walked back to their small safehouse, tucked into the suburbs of a normal part of town. Damian kept glancing up at Jon, seeing the half smile on his face, and he kept smiling.
They were going to be free. They could make an actual life for themselves now, away from any family ties or expectations, and away from their criminal pasts. For the first time in his life, Damian was going to be able to be free. Free with the man he loved by his side.
He couldn’t wait.