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“Grayson, I am coming out as a transitioned female.”
Dick’s brain short-circuited as soon as the words came out of his littlest sibling’s mouth, the shock that followed almost make him choke on his spoon of rainbow hoops. This was not how he imagined his weekend of sibling bonding with Damian would start out.
The younger male—or is it female now?—furrowed his—her—brows in disgust at the droplets of milk Dick had spit out during his spluttering.
“Wh-what was that lil’ D? Can you repeat that?” Dick asked, an uneasy smile forming on his face as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.
Damian let out a small huff, arm-crossing and chin lifting in a prideful gesture.
“I was not informed that your hearing has deteriorated, Grayson,” A subtle eye-roll. “You heard me perfectly. I shall be referred to as female from now on, and I am planning to make this announcement to our family and the public. I think it is very self-explanatory.”
Dick was at a loss for words. Of course he was supportive of the decision—he would always wish for his baby bat’s happiness. But the realization had yet to sink in and the man was still reeling from how abrupt the whole thing was. Still, he managed to smile more genuinely at Damian and reached across the table to pet his sister’s hair fondly.
“As long as you feel comfortable in your body, lil’ D. I’ll be there to support you all the way, promise.”
He chose to ignore the pretty pink blush painting Damian’s cheeks at the contact. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that the baby bat felt shy because of his touches.
“TT, as if I did not know that already. I trust you completely, Richard.”
Every news outlet in Gotham exploded with the newest trending hype: billionaire Bruce Wayne’s youngest brood, Damian Wayne, was now going by Dami Wayne and completely owning the streets as a proud trans female.
The paparazzi were eager to follow the subject of attention around the city after a flamboyant coming out announcement made by the young woman herself. All the photos they took showed how empowered she was with her confident struts, wearing the most eye-catching and expensive women’s clothing. Dami did not allow anyone to look down upon her or invalidate her choice, not even those stuffy imbecilic board directors of Father’s company. She grew out her hair and made an effort to wear outfits that would accentuate and show off her delicate body. She was assertive, poised and alluring.
Dami was a spitting image of her mother.
And if that didn’t distress Bruce more than anything.
The man felt himself aging ten years whenever he had to chase his s-daughter’s obsessive suitors away from her after she’d gained so much popularity after the Gotham Gazette delivered news of her, and he quoted, ‘owning the street thugs like a queen and knocking them down a peg for trying to mug her’. He became much more hyper-aware of Dami’s well-being after that. She reminded him so much of Talia and the fondness he still had for the woman (a part of him would always love her no matter what) and it encouraged Bruce to be a lot more affectionate with his youngest than he used to be. However, Dami was furious when her father went as far as to watch her like a hawk during nightly patrols and always making her watch on the sidelines with at least one of the Bats protecting her. It was borderline ridiculous.
“You shouldn’t recklessly endanger yourself, Robin,” Batman grunted when confronted with his very frustrated sidekick in the Batcave after a particularly rough night.
“Father, cease this farce at once! I only wish to perform my duties as I have before, but now you will not even let me do that properly!” Dami shot back. “Or is it that you wish to underestimate me because I am female now?”
Bruce bristled.
“You know it’s not about that, Damia-Dami. I just…I just want you to be safe.”
“We are never safe, Father. We spend our nights dressed in costumes and fight criminals. You just do not want to admit that you’re projecting the hidden affection you still have for Mother onto me.”
She stormed off after that, silently shaking with rage. Dami hated feeling inadequate to fight alongside her father. She was so caught up in her fuming that she didn’t notice how she almost collided against Jason who was walking towards the Cave. She didn’t see how he stopped short or how his mouth was hanging open slightly in shock as his eyes trailed after her.
Dami had taken up a habit of running to Bludhaven to rant to Dick whenever Bruce’s overprotectiveness became too overbearing. She wanted the man to provide her the kind of comfort only he could give that would make her stomach tingle with butterflies—she’d die (again) before ever admitting that, of course. Dick would nod along and cuddle her as she went on about her father’s ridiculousness, occasionally injecting some comments here and there.
Dami always hoped that things would escalate a bit further during those moments. She hoped that the older man would notice the signs of her underlying affections. And she wasn’t quite subtle about it either; all the attempts to assert herself confidently in public was to get Dick’s attention. Show him that no other woman, or even man, would compare to her and that she’d be the only one deserving of his love.
But Dick ruefully continued to be as dense as a brick.
And Dami was getting tired of waiting. She’d been waiting for years—she had a feeling her former mentor was potentially attracted to her, but he’d never made the first move. And she disliked people who hesitated to get what they want.
(She wondered if she read Richard wrong and that she was just undesirable. She tried not to think about it.)
Dick’s obliviousness wasn’t the only thing making her frustrated. Dami had been running into Jason a lot lately, and wasn’t that a strange thought? The man hardly ever step foot into the manor before unless per Alfred’s insistent request or for the family holidays (and boy weren’t those awkward), other than that he would only make an appearance in the Batcave when he worked with the rest of the Bats for a case. Dami started noticing how Jason would trail his eyes after her whenever they were in the same room or how his cheeks turned an interesting shade of red whenever they made eye-contact. He even spluttered and scurried away once when she tried to have a normal conversation with him.
What was his problem? It was so out of character for someone like him.
Dami simply chose to spare the man the embarrassment and never mentioned his odd behavior around her.
Jason was fucked.
Literally and figuratively.
If someone had told him that one day he’d be panicking and getting stomach butterflies over the mere thought of standing within ten meters of the demon brat, Jason would have cackled and punched their face into a pulp.
And now he couldn’t even get Dami out of his head.
When he saw how her green eyes had sparkled with a passionate anger as she stomped out of the Batcave with her long black hair flowing with such elegance behind her slender back, Jason felt as though he was struck by lightning. She’d looked so beautiful and fired-up that he’d thought his lungs had stopped working. He’d needed a full minute to recompose himself.
How had he never noticed her before?
Jason even kept track of her increasing popularity in the media. He admired her confidence and bravery. She took no shit from no one and put people in their places when they even dared to look at her wrong since her transitioning.
It was so like him to long for something out of his reach, because when had the universe ever been kind to him and gave him what he wanted?
Jason wasn’t as blind as Dick was. He saw how Dami looked at the Golden Boy, saw how she sent him the signs and saw how the idiot missed them every single time. Either he didn’t feel the same way (which was unlikely, he wasn’t that subtle), or he was a slowpoke.
In any case, if Dickwad wasn’t going to make a move, Jason was all too willing to snatch his opportunity.
(And besides, he’d noticed Tim’s stalkerish tendencies towards Dami and he wanted to take the chance from Replacement, too.)
If Jason could just stop making a fool of himself every single time he tried to gather the courage to ask Dami out.
He’d been trying his best to build up to the moment. Jason had thrown in some compliments here and there (when he wasn’t blubbering like a fucking dweeb) and listened to Dami whenever she was in the mood to rant about Bruce right after patrol. He’d paid more attention to what she liked and didn’t like and cooked some of her favorite oriental meals whenever he visited the manor to spend time with her. Dami was confused and suspicious of his intentions at first, but after a while she began to reward him with a rare smile that made him want to jump to the clouds with a happy shout.
Jason wanted more. He wanted to be able to hold her and do all the sappy stuff he never got to experience as a teenager because of his death. All those precious first times and not just some meaningless flings.
He wanted to show Dami that there was someone right there who appreciated her, that she didn’t have to chase after a man who was too oblivious to cherish her properly.
“I want to love you and call you mine. Will you let me?”
He asked her one faithful night when it was just the two of them. Jason had planned everything elaborately, took Dami to a rooftop under the starry lit sky where they could see the whole Gotham skyline in front of them. He was sweating nervously and his heart wouldn’t stop thumping loudly inside his chest, but Jason had taken her hands in his and looked into her eyes earnestly.
And Dami…
Dami was done with pining for a man that failed to truly see her. She knew her worth better than that.
She wanted the man who was ready to give her anything.
And who was better for that position than Jason Todd?
“Yes.”
Jason couldn’t even remember the last time he smiled genuinely. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had ever felt this happy. He immediately wrapped Dami in his arms and swept her into a passionate kiss.
The future looked promising for them.