Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Nightwing's questionable relationship with Deathstroke was brought up was during a game of Never Have I Ever between the original members of the Justice League and the new ones.

Hal, Barry, Wally, and Mari had initiated the game, trying to see who'd done more stuff. They were going between the group of assorted heroes and vigilantes, one from the original team— Superman, Flash (the old one) , Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter— and the new(er) team members— Flash (the new one), Nightwing, Vixen, Cyborg, Arsenal, and Red Hood. Hood technically wasn't a JL member, new or otherwise, but people stopped trying to get him off the Watchtower ages ago.

The teams were trying to get all their people's fingers down before the other team did so.

"Oh! Oh! I got one!" Mari exclaims, raising her hand in the air. Hal had just gone, and successfully eliminated his own team member. "I am far older than any of you, and have been in wars, Hal. Of course I've traveled to more than ten planets." Martian Manhunter had said.

"Shoot, Vixen." Arsenal encourages, a grin on his face.

"Never Have I Ever slept with someone on the League's wanted list!" She exclaims, grinning like a madman and rocking back and forth in her cross-legged position.

"That's targeted!" Barry yells, pointing at Mari accusingly.

"All of these are targeted, Uncle Barry." Wally fires back. He whistles as Arsenal puts a finger down while glaring intently at the floor.

"Technically, you did it twice, babe." Hood says with a smirk. His metal helmet is sitting on the coffee table between the two groups, a black and white domino mask being the thing obscuring his identity.

"Shut up." Roy groans, blushing furiously.

"Woah, wait!" Oliver exclaims, waving his hands dramatically. "Nightwing!" All eyes snap to the blue and black clad hero, who now had one more finger down then before. "Did you just put a finger down!?"

"Uh…" Nightwing looks around, the white eyes of his mask darting around as he moves his own head. "...no?"

"Holy. Shit." Hood says, his own white eyes wide as saucers. "Holy shit, Goldie! Does Batman know!?"

"No, and he'll continue being oblivious, if you know what's good for you." Nightwing gets out through gritted teeth.

"Who was it!? Who was it!?" Hal asks, leaning forward in his seat. He'd have fallen out, if Barry hadn't grabbed his waist and stopped him from going forward anymore.

"Absolutely not." Nightwing says.

"Come on man, you gotta tell us!" Hal groans and slouches back, crossing his arms and pouting like a child.

"I am curious as well." Martian Manhunter chimes in. He was out of the game, but he was still watching intently.

"I have a guess!" Mari says, raising her hand as she speaks. "Was it Circe!?"

"Ugh, god no!" Nightwing shakes his head, disgust clear on his face, even with the domino mask. "It wasn't even a woman!" He realizes his mistake too late, of course.

"So it was a man on our wanted list?" Hal asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"That doesn't narrow it down by much." Superman pipes in. "A good majority of our wanted villains are men."

"Ugh, you guys really need to get more female villains." Mari complains, throwing herself back onto the beanbag she'd slid down from sometime during the game. "Where's the feminism?"

"It almost sounds like you're encouraging villainy." Wally snickers.

"You'd get along with Harley and Ivy." Hood says, nodding his head to the girl. "Anyways, back to you, Dickface. Who was it?"

"Oh!" Oliver jumps up again, an idea suddenly popping into his mind. "Was it Deadshot? He's a mercenary, right?"

Nightwing flinches. It's small, barely there, and the only ones who notice are Red Hood and Superman. But they do notice.

"Deadshot is married, ain't he?" Cyborg asks. "He has a daughter too."

"Was it another mercenary?" Oliver continues.

Nightwing flinches again. This time, the entire room notices.

They're getting close to the truth.

"Oh my god." Everyone looks at Red Hood. His face must be doing something strange, because Roy reaches out and grabs his hand. He hadn’t even realized it'd been twitching towards his gun. "Oh my god, Deathstroke." Many of the heroes present pull weird faces, then look back to Nightwing, who's stock still.

"Wing–"

"I have to get back to Bludhaven." Nightwing says suddenly, standing up and cutting off whatever Oliver had been about to say. "I've got my day job in a couple hours and I'd like to get some sleep beforehand."

Nobody gets in a word before Nightwing is gone. The Zeta tube announces his departure. Only then, do the heroes go back to breathing normally.

"Deathstroke?" Oliver whispers. "There's… there's no way. Nightwing wouldn't… I mean, does Deathstroke even know the guy?"

"Unfortunately." Red Hood stands as well. "Sorry to cut the game short. I gotta go as well."

The heroes knew he was lying to some capacity, but nobody called him out on it. Partly because of the gun strapped to his waist, and partly because he was glaring at anyone who even looked towards him.

Nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of Red Hood's anger.

Once the crime boss is gone as well, Wally stands up and addresses everyone.

"Look, this is none of our business. We should just leave this be." He says.

"Wally–"

"Leave it be." Wally snaps. "Just… leave it be."

And so they do.

Well, until the next incident arises.

—

There was an alien invasion. Some ancient species in both Kryptonian and Martian legends. They were called Denominators and were ravaging all around the world. The Justice League called in all available heroes, even some out of retirement, and a small gather of anti-heroes, or rather, people that weren't good but also didn't want the world to burn at the hands of some invading species.

"Woohoo!" Barry yells as he runs around the round table of gathered heroes. They were still waiting on some people, but the majority was present. "Man, it is good to be back!" He skids to a stop and jumps up and down, pumping his fist in the air.

"Geez, Uncle Barry!" Wally skids to a stop right next to him. "You been holding out on me?"

"Just a bit." Barry laughs and pinches his fingers together. "Where's Bart?"

"Right here!" Impulse runs up to them. "Sorry, went to grab the cookies Hood is making. He made enough for everyone attending."

"That's nice of him." Dinah says.

"Eh, not much. High chance he's trying to poison some of us." Red Robin says, not looking up from his computer.

Bart carefully places the cookie next to Red Robin. It had already been bitten.

The zeta tube rings out, announcing the arrival of the last group they were waiting for.

"B-01 Nightwing.

D-01 Blue Beetle.

V-01 Deathstroke.

V-02 Wintergreen.

V-03 Harley Quinn.

V-04 Pamela Isley."

As the group walks into the room, they catch many eyes. What catches most people's attention is the way Nightwing is leaning on Deathstroke as they walk.

"Uh, Nightwing?" Barry asks. He nods to the closeness of the vigilante and mercenary. "You good?"

"We got attacked on the way here." Deathstroke says. "Little bird here got nicked by one of the damn aliens." Deathstroke sets Nightwing down in the nearest chair, which just so happens to be right next to Red Robin.

"Shit, are you okay?" Wally asks, taking a step forward.

Deathstroke raises a hand, stopping Wally from going forward anymore. "Give him some space."

"Why don't you give him some space?" Oliver snaps, tilting his head towards the pair and glaring.

"Shut up, Queen." Deathstroke snaps. He grabs the bag hanging on Red Robin's chair and starts shuffling through it. The boy doesn't even snap at him to give it back, or even look up from his computer. He's still furiously typing away.

"Wait, let me do that." Dinah says, stepping past the frozen Wally. "I should patch his wound."

"What? You don't trust me to do it?" Deathstroke asks. The heroes swear that he's smirking at them, taunting them in some way, though they can't figure out what.

"Of course they don't trust you." Nightwing says, rolling his eyes under his domino mask. "It's fine. I trust Deathstroke to attend to my wound."

Many of the League members gasp at that, having not expected for Nightwing— or any hero, for that matter— to ever say that they trusted Deathstroke.

"Little bird," Deathstroke is gentle as he patches up the small wound. The Justice League didn't even know he could be gentle. "Stay awake, little bird. You've had worse than this."

"These guys have claws, Slade." Nightwing groans. He's holding tight onto the hilt of the katana strapped to Slade's back.

"You've faced many things with claws." Slade pulls out a bottle of alcohol from Red Robin's bag. "Do you want something to bite down on, little bird? This will hurt."

"Please tell me you still have those flavored sticks." Nightwing's tone of voice edges on pleading.

Deathstroke laughs— actually laughs, it's unnerving— and reaches into his belt. He pulls out a purple stick and places it in Nightwing's mouth. "Grape flavored. Your favorite."

Another weird thing about this. What did Nightwing mean when he said that? Why did Deathstroke know Nightwing's favorite flavor?

"'Faanks." The word comes out jumbled through the stick Nightwing is biting down on.

"Okay, ready, little bird?" Nightwing nods furiously, desperate to just get this over with.

Deathstroke uncaps the alcohol and raises it over the wound. "One, two," Slade doesn't bother getting to three. He pours the alcohol on the wound and Nightwing screams into the stick in his mouth. The heroes are sure he's cursing, but nobody can make it out.

"Okay, okay, we're done!" Slade pulls the alcohol away and wipes off the remaining alcohol. Once it's gone, he starts bandaging it. "We're done, little bird. Calm down. It's okay."

Once the wound is cleaned and bandaged, Slade helps Nightwing up and leads him to his seat. Wintergreen follows and sits down on Nightwing's other side. If the heroes didn't know better, they'd say it looked like the two were protecting him.

"Let's start." Batman says, directing attention to him and away from the confusing trio.

Over an hour later, they've been given the rundown of the invasion, what's fallen and what hasn't, allies who couldn't make it but are helping on the ground, and so forth and so forth. They're currently going over a possible plan to get rid of the leader of the invading aliens.

"Teams are as follows." Batman calls. "Blue Beetle, Flash, both of you, Impulse, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Hawkman, Superboy, younger one, Atom, Zatanna, you guys are on evacuation of any civilians left in the city their leader is in. Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Wonder Woman, Troia, Captain Marvel, Firestorm, Ray, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Black Canary, Black Bat, Signal, you guys are with me. Heavy hitters and breaking through the ranks so that the leader can't call for backup. Arsenal, Green Arrow, Red Hood, you three are snipers. Ivy, Harley, Robin, Spoiler, and Vixen, you five are taking care of anyone taking advantage of the chaos. Don't kill them, just tie them up at one of our safehouses in the city. Red Robin, you're with Oracle and Wintergreen, coordinating things from here."

Batman sighs and looks down at his roster. He hesitates before he speaks again.

"Nightwing. Deathstroke." Everyone looks at the two, unable to hide their interest. Nightwing was leaning against Slade's side, their chairs pushed together. He had Slade's eyepatch in his hands and was fiddling with it, and Slade was… well, Slade was smiling.

The heroes didn't know what to make of it.

"Little bird. Our turn." Slade says.

"Hmm?" Nightwing looks up, finally noticing all the eyes on him. "Oh! What's our job?"

"You two are stealth. Sneak into the leader's headquarters and take him out." Batman sighs after he says it.

Black Bat catches his attention and quickly signs something.

"What'd she say?" Flash (Barry) asks.

"She asked why she wasn't on the stealth team." Red Hood says. "Which is what I'm wondering too. Black Bat is our best at stealth. It's what she specializes in."

"Oh believe me, we're better." Deathstroke laughs and hits Nightwing on the back. "Happy to be together again, little bird?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Nightwing rolls his eyes and pushes Slade's hand off his shoulder.

"Deathstroke and Nightwing have a… special relationship." Batman says carefully. "They work best together, and together, they are our best stealth. They're our best bet at winning this thing and taking out the leader of these invaders."

"Uh, are you sure?" Supergirl asks, slowly raising her hand in the air.

"Yes, yes he is." Deathstroke throws an arm around Nightwing's shoulder and grins, showing off his pearl white teeth. Nightwing rolls his eyes, but doesn't shrug Deathstroke off this time, resigning himself to his fate. Deathstroke leans in and whispers something in Nightwing's ear.

Nobody except for the supers hear him. But by the way each super stiffens and turns to the pair with glares set on their faces— even baby Jon, who's been nothing but nice to everyone— the heroes don't think it's any good.

"Shut your fucking mouth, Slade." Nightwing snaps, his entire demeanor changing in a second.

"Oh come on, pretty bird." Slade whines. The heroes all wince at the new nickname. The 'pretty' added onto it just made their relationship far, far more creepier.

"Slade." Nightwing grabs Slade's arm on his shoulder and pulls it, then slams it onto the table and pulls the fingers in his hands back. If Slade were a normal human, they'd be broken. "Shut. Up."

"Alright, alright." Slade pulls his hand away and raises them above his head. He interlocks his fingers behind his head and smirks at the confused, shocked, and angered faces of the heroes at the table. "When does this plan start?"

Despite the creepiness of Nightwing and Deathstroke's questionable relationship, the League had to admit, they worked well together.

The leader of the invading species was dead within an hour.

Nobody knew what happened— nobody would know until Nightwing's mission report was filed— but they knew it was something bad.

They hadn't heard from Nightwing since he and Slade confirmed the death of the leader over comms.

"He'll be here." Batman says. They were waiting for Nightwing and Deathstroke to come back so they could run everything down.

"Recognized.

B-01 Nightwing.

V-01 Deathstroke."

"Batman!" Nightwing is yelling. "Fuck, Slade, stop dying on me!" The heroes all jump to action.

Nightwing comes limping around the corner. He's holding Deathstroke haphazardly, and the League can understand why. His left ankle is twisted the wrong way, and his right arm, the one Deathstroke is leaning against, is very clearly broken.

Deathstroke is no better. There's deep claw marks on his chest that haven't healed yet, and the bones in his right arm and left leg are very visible.

"Fuck, Slade, what is wrong with you!?" Nightwing stumbles up to the table.

"What happened?" Batman demands. Those who don't know him well enough wouldn't see the worry on his face or hear the fear in his voice.

"Slade is stupid, is what happened." Nightwing snaps. "He jumped in between me and a fucking, fuck, shit, I don't even know what it was. But it broke his arm and leg, and some stupid alien bodyguard or whatever showed up and clawed him like this. Damn bastard fought until he couldn't

"Why didn’t he escape? Leave you behind?" Diana asks. It was a question on everyone's minds, but none of them were actually gonna voice it.

"That is because he is incredibly stupid and as much as he denies, he cares for Nightwing." Wintergreen says, standing up and walking up to the pair. He grabs Slade's other side.

Nightwing sighs in relief at the lessened pressure on his broken shoulder. "Thank you, Wintergreen. This man is like, 200-some pounds of muscle."

"We should get him to the medbay." Wintergreen says. "You as well, Nightwing."

"I'm fine."

"Nightwing." Wintergreen's tone sets off alarm bells in the bats minds. He sounded so much like Alfred.

"Fine, fine." Nightwing sighs. "Let's go. His bones will heal but this claw mark will probably hurt for some days. Make sure he doesn't take any contracts till he's healed."

As the two disappear down the hallway to the medbay, they hear Wintergreen bark out a laugh. "Nothing will stop him from taking a contract."

Even once they're gone, the table still stays silent.

"That was definitely weird, right?" Barry asks, pointing at the hallway the trio had walked into a couple minutes prior.

"Definitely." Wally agrees.

"Batman," Superman turns to the vigilante. "What is Nightwing's relationship with Deathstroke?"

Red Hood snorts. His helmet covers up the sound, but it's still clear he was laughing. "If you can find out, please let the rest of us know. We've been trying to figure out Pixie's relationship with Deathstroke for years. I mean, there was that time he–"

"Red Hood." Cyborg snaps. The heroes feel chills dance along their spines at the cold tone of Cyborg's voice. "Be quiet. That is not your secret to tell."

"Whatever." Hood scoffs and props his boots up on the table. "Let's get on with this damn meeting. I need to go home after the day I've had."

Chapter Text

Operation DeathWing

July 7th

10:36 AM

Green Arrow: we are not calling this group chat that

Flash 1: yes we are

GL: I wouldn't argue with him. It's impossible to talk him down from an idea.

Vixen: Deathwing?

Flash 1: trying to figure out what the fuck is going on with Deathstroke and Nightwing

Flash 2: and Nightstroke sounds… weird.

Green Arrow: I hate this already

Aquaman: Don't tell me you are not curious, my friend. Deathstroke and Nightwing's relationship certainly seems complicated.

MM: I believe I've come far with human customs, but Deathstroke and Nightwing have presented me with an enigma. What, exactly, are they?

Red Hood: who fucking knows

Vixen: wait, why is Red Hood in this chat?

Red Hood: entertainment. I will not be contributing anything (as of right now, it may change), but I will be watching

Arsenal: that's ominous, babe

Red Hood is typing…

Red Hood is typing…

Flash 1: that's not creepy at all

Flash 1: ANYWAYS!

Flash 1: theorize away!

Green Arrow: less a theory, but did anyone find it weird that Deathstroke called Nightwing 'pretty bird' instead of his usual 'little bird'?

Supergirl: super weird. I was listening to Batman's heartbeat, and his heart sped up when Deathstroke said that. He looked and sounded about ready to break Deathstroke's bones.

Flash 2: also, i think he was smiling with Nightwing came back with an injured Deathstroke 💀

Vixen: hey, supers in the chat, did you guys hear what Deathstroke whispered in Nightwing's ear before the mission?

Superman is typing…

Superman is typing…

Punk Superboy: Superman doesn't wanna say it, but uh, Deathstroke said, in like, a super creepy voice btw that i've only heard from, y'know, rapists and shit, "it could be just like old times, baby bird. all the fun we had." And I looked through the table, and his other hand was on Nightwing's knee.

Flash 1: OH! OKAY! THAT UH, THROWS OUT MY THEORY

Arsenal: fucking what

Flash 2: I'm going to kill him.

Black Canary: Flash, what was your theory?

Flash 1: I mean, I was gonna say they were secret lovers or some shit, but, uh! Nevermind! That kinda throws out my theory. Nightwing did react really badly to Slade's comment.

Superman: Maybe they used to be lovers, but Nightwing broke it off. I'm not 100 percent, but I've read articles about how obsessed Deathstroke is with Nightwing. The bats keep it pretty under wraps, though.

Flash 1: *bats eyelashes at @Red Hood *

Red Hood: tight. lipped.

Red Hood: entertainment only.

Flash 1: fuck.

Superman: Hey! There are kid ears in the chat!

Punk Superboy: Oh my god, i'm 17!

Vixen: I think it's funny that you immediately knew he was talking about you.

Punk Superboy: shut up, miss conduit for animals or some shit. what's your power again? gonna hiss at me like a snake?

Vixen: I could trample you like an elephant. it wouldn't hurt, but it'd definitely be funny.

Punk Superboy is typing…

Punk Superboy is typing…

Punk Superboy: shut up

GL: Aw, the kids are fighting.

Green Arrow: I remember when we were like that. Remember the meeting where Batman just rattled off our civilian names every couple minutes?

Superman: Scariest moment of my life. Still don't know how he'd found it out. I'd met him twice outside the mask by then, and both times weren't that memorable.

Red Robin: debatable. B talks about that interaction still

Superman: Really?

Green Arrow: *cough* gay *cough*

Flash 2: which one are you calling gay?

Green Arrow: both

Red Hood: true

Punk Superboy: true

GL: like you two can talk

…

Flash 1: dude!

GL: what?

Superman: Kon, what did he mean by that?

GL: oh shit! I am so sorry! I thought it was common knowledge, oh my god ,ia km so sorry i literally wauf wyy isnt my phone autoxurrecting

GL: guys my ohoeb is glitching out

GL: WHO THE FUCK IS RED RODHDHDHSJDJAJSKKAKFM

Black Canary: Uh, what just happened?

Wonder Woman: I am confused as well.

Punk Superboy: Red, I appreciate the revenge, but give Green Lantern his phone back.

Red Robin: he just outed you, he can live without his phone for an hour

Punk Superboy: Supes is right outside my door telling me he loves me and shit, it's fine. Give Lantern his phone back and I'll let Supes in

Red Robin: you never let me have any fun

…

Red Robin: there

GL: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED

Arsenal: Red Robin hacked your phone cause you outed Superboy

GL: Oh my God, where's Kon? I need to apologize to him right now.

Supergirl: he's talking to the big man rn. He'll be back later

GL: Oh my God, I am sorry. I really thought it was common knowledge. I thought everyone knew!

Flash 1: Tell it to Kon when he gets back. I gotta get to my day job (boring CSI work, yaaaaaay), so I'll talk to you guys later.

Flash 2: bye Uncle Barry!

Flash 1: Be back in a flash!

Green Arrow: almost 20 years and he still has that joke going

—

Operation DeathWing

July 19th

8:12 PM

Punk Superboy: oh my god, guys! GUYS!

Punk Superboy: I HAVE NEWS

Punk Superboy: WAKE UP YOU OLD FUCKS THAT GO TO SLEEP AT 8 O FUCKING CLOCK LIKE A BUNCH OF CRAZY PEOPLE

Green Arrow: I am getting several dirty looks by the people in this board meeting. This better be important, Kon.

Punk Superboy is typing…

Vixen: I finally get home from a photoshoot and this is my prize? What news do you have for us, oh Kon my love?

Punk Superboy is typing…

Red Robin: back off, Vixen

Punk Superboy is typing…

Arsenal: he bites. I'd listen.

Punk Superboy is typing…

GL: I have the bite marks to prove it. That motherfucker is crazy.

Punk Superboy is typing…

Superman: Lantern! Kids in the chat!

Punk Superboy is typing…

GL: oh shut up Supes

Superman is typing…

Punk Superboy: So I'm on monitor duty with Nightwing, right? We were scheduled from 4 to 8, and y'know, we were just hanging. swapping all kinds of stories (side note: don't go to Gotham, that place is a whole other world at this point) and I'm halfway through a story about Jon acting like a damn cattle dog and herding our cows to their freakin fence when an alarm goes off. It's for one of Batman's safehouses, so I'm like, "oh shit oh shit oh shit" but Nightwing BRUSHED ME OFF!? but I stood my ground and said I needed more information than that to just leave it alone. I was all confident and shit, and it worked! Apparently, the safehouse was actually one of Nightwing's, and that was just Deathstroke stopping by for the night??? He apparently had a contract in Bludhaven and asked Nightwing for a place to rest for a couple days, and Nightwing agreed! He also made it sound like Deathstroke wanted to stay at Nightwing's actual place, and Nightwing said he turned it down cause it'd be suspicious to have Deathstroke at his own apartment!

Superman: Hey, congratulations on standing your ground, Kon! I'm proud of you! <3

Green Arrow: oh my god, do you know what this means!?

Vixen: That Deathstroke and Nightwing are close enough to offer up SAFEHOUSES to each other!?

GL: no, no, other thing.

GL: Kon made it sound like Nightwing hinted at Deathstroke knowing his identity. Cause he said the reason Nightwing turned down the proposal of Deathstroke staying at his own home was because it'd be suspicious, not cause of identities and shit.

Wonder Woman: That is certainly concerning.

Supergirl: how many hero identities does Deathstroke know?

Green Arrow: He knows mine and Canary's, and by extension, probably Arsenal's as well. But also Nightwing's, apparently?

Red Hood: ooh, B is gonna be pissed that Wing didn't report this!

GL: Maybe he had a reason to. Maybe Deathstroke is blackmailing him with it. I'm sure none of us have forgotten how uncomfortable Nightwing looked before he bent back Deathstroke's fingers?

Red Hood: if that bastard is blackmailing my brother, I'll kill him.

Superman: While it is concerning that Deathstroke possibly knows Nightwing's identity, we must trust the judgment of our teammate. Nightwing has not called for help yet, so we will trust him to handle it himself.

Punk Superboy: maybe he just can't call for help! Cause Deathstroke is blackmailing him!

MM: I say we trust Nightwing's judgment for now. However, if he calls for help, all of us should be ready to answer it.

Vixen: absolutely

Black Canary: Of course.

Punk Superboy: well duh!

Chapter Text

Operation DeathWing

August 13th

3:17 AM

Red Hood: So I know I said I wasn't gonna participate in this chat and that this was just for entertainment, but what with Deathstroke teaming up with the JL (and therefore Nightwing) more and more, I thought I should tell you guys this. Just to keep you guys aware.

Red Hood is typing…

Superman: Hood? Is everything okay?

Red Hood is typing…

Aquaman: Arsenal? Do you know what he's talking about?

Red Hood is typing…

Arsenal: uh, no?

Red Hood: So, this is really hard for me to say, for some reason. Uh, well, you all know I used to be Robin (and if you didn't, surprise!) and, well, one night, I was out alone (stupid, ik) and I got kidnapped by Black Mask. Uh, Roman Sionis, for those who don't know. And well, he had Deathstroke employed under him at the time. Protection due to some business expansions or smth, idk.

Red Hood is typing…

Red Hood: anyways, Sionis drags me to one of the other rooms wherever the hell we were. It was a bar. It was pretty empty, but Deathstroke was at the bar drinking. I was pretty out of it, since I was sporting a concussion, but I swear, this is what I heard. Sionis said that he knew Deathstroke had a 'thing' for Robin's, especially the younger ones. And, look, I was some former street kid in Gotham, I knew what those words meant. I'd been through it a thousand times. And Deathstroke, I mean, he like, agreed with Sionis? I don't remember much about what happened next, but Nightwing eventually came in and saved me.

…

GL: Oh my god.

Aquaman: I'm unaware what that is referencing

Wonder Woman: Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, check your private messages. I sent you a rundown of what was implicated there.

Punk Superboy: I'm going to kill him

MM: Oh my.

Flash 2: I know it takes a lot to kill Deathstroke, but I'll find a fucking way. Good fucking god, what the hell is wrong with that man?

Flash 1: Okay, I started this as kinda a joke, but what the actual hell? God, I didn't even think it was something like that.

Vixen: I just fucking threw up into my toilet. Oh my god…

Black Canary: Are you okay, Vixen?

Vixen: I will be. Just some bad memories

Supergirl: We're here for you, Vixen, if you need us

Vixen: thank you

Arsenal: Oliver, I know what you said, but I don't think I can stop myself this time. I sat idly by during Mirage and Tarantula, and when I found out the truth behind those, I swore I'd never leave Nightwing like that again. I am going to kill Slade Wilson.

Green Arrow: I'm with you, Roy. I'm always with you.

—

It was the Justice League's 20th Anniversary. They were having a massive party in the Watchtower. Only people with clearance were allowed in. The people a part of Operation Kill Slade Wilson (previously Operation DeathWing) were extremely pissed when they found out Deathstroke had access to this party.

Apparently Nightwing pulled some strings— they didn't believe it for a second. More likely, Deathstroke threatened Nightwing to get him access— and now Deathstroke was here. Nightwing had been by his side most of the night, and the team hated it.

They hated every second of it. Every laugh and smile Nightwing cracked was fake.

It's two hours into the party that somebody finally gets Nightwing away from the mercenary. Red Hood had claimed he needed help with defusing Robin and Red Robin, and Deathstroke wanted no part in that.

Operation Kill Slade Wilson

September 5th

10:26 PM

Arsenal: and here i thought he loved the young robins

Vixen: 😟

Red Hood: That's funny. Nobody but us three can laugh at that

Flash 2: Erm, actually, I can 🤓

Black Canary: me as well

Vixen: 😭

Superman: get back to the plan. but after this, we're having a talk

Vixen: 🤷🏾♀️

Jason leads Dick into one of the quieter rooms, where most of the operation team is. Arsenal, Vixen, Black Canary, both Flashes, Superman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern are all present.

"Uh, what's going on?" Dick laughs. He turns around, but the door is already being closed by Kon-El, who has such a deep glare on his face, Dick is surprised his eyes haven't lit up yet.

"Nightwing, do you want to sit?" Superman asks, motioning to the couches in the room.

"Uh…" Dick tilts his head to the side, confused at the phrasing of the question. "Why are you asking me? I can't say no."

Neither Black Canary nor Jason suppress the flinch at the phrasing of his own words.

Dick sits down at the couch, eyes darting around the room. He'd taken off his domino mask the second he'd walked into the room. Everyone here knew his identity and Dick was pretty sure that this conversation was gonna be something he wanted his mask off for.

"So, Dick," Superman sits down across from him, Black Canary sitting down right next to the Kryptonian. "We need to have a pretty heavy conversation with you."

"Ooookay?"

"Now, Dick, you are completely safe here." Dinah says. "Nobody here is judging you, and nobody can hurt you here."

"Your shrink is showing." Dick jokes. He laughs nervously as he says it. His hands are fidgeting in his lap, and his eyes are darting around the room more and more.

"Dickface," Jason plops down on Dick's right. "Calm down, a'ight? This ain't nothin' you needa work ya'self up over." As Jason continues talking, his Crime Alley accent gets thicker and thicker.

Wally is suddenly sitting on his left, though he's much farther from him than Jason is. It strikes Dick as odd.

"Okay, what's going on?" Dick finally asks when the silence stretches on for longer than he's comfortable with.

"Do you feel safe in the Justice League?" Dinah asks.

The question catches Dick off guard. He visibly startles, head rearing back and knees stopping the bounces. "Uh… why… why wouldn't I?" Dick laughs nervously again. He brings his hand to the back of his neck and absently scratches there, a tick he'd never lost over the years.

"Deathstroke is working with us more and more." Superman says. "We've all noticed some… peculiar things about your relationship with him."

Dick freezes. His hand on his neck falls limp at his side, and his eyes drop to Superman's own. Superman would almost say that… that Dick is glaring at him?

"What of it?" Dick asks, voice gruff.

"Well, just some weird things." Oliver steps in. "How well you two work together. How you two seem to have a past nobody really talks about." At that, Dick's head snaps to Jason.

The boy now being glared at uncrosses his arms and raises his arms. "Hey, I didn't tell 'em nothin' about you-know-what. I did, 'owever, tell 'em somethin' else."

Dick's glare gets deeper, leveling more into a Batman worthy glare than an older brother glaring at the little brother who'd told on him.

"Which is what, exactly?" Dick finds himself asking.

"Jason told us about how, when he used to be Robin, Roman Sionis kidnapped him." Both Jason and Dick flinch at the name. Nobody mentions it. "And Deathstroke was working for him." Superman continues. "He said that Sionis said that he knew Deathstroke had a thing for Robin's, especially the younger one's."

It takes a moment for it to dawn on Dick, what exactly they're insinuating here.

When he finally gets it, though, he actually recoils in disgust. "Oh, fuck, really!?" He groans loudly and drops his head in his hands. "I told Slade that obsession would be misinterpreted one day! I swear to god, I'm going to…" He trails off into several Romani swears and threats for a couple minutes.

"Okay, okay," Dick says once he's calmed himself down. "Slade and I's relationship was never like that."

"Like what?" Kon jumps when Deathstroke peeks his head into the room. "I was wondering where you went, little bird." He strides into the room like he owns the place and sits down next to Dick. His legs are spread and his left arm is draped over Dick's shoulders.

"Slade, oh my god, this position isn't helping my case." Dick groans.

"What case?" Deathstroke laughs as he asks. "What is going on here?"

"These guys have it in their heads that our relationship was more than… strained friends." Dick says.

Slade snorts. "What, they thought we were together? Sorry, baby bird, but you're just that. A baby."

"Yeah well, the way you act doesn't help it." Dick says. "And no, they didn't think that we were dating."

"Huh?" Slade turns to Dick, confusion written clear on his face. "Then the fuck did they think we were?"

"Slade…" Dick whispers, voice holding a weight that nobody in the room understands. Slade, however, does understand it.

"Oh. Oh, fuck! What!?" Slade pulls away from Dick like he'd been burned. He falls right where Wally had been a moment before. Since Wally had sped off the couch, Slade ends up just hitting his head on the couch armrest.

Dick can't help the laugh that bubbles up and escapes his chest as Slade groans in pain and holds onto his head, muttering profanities in all sorts of languages.

Once Slade has calmed down, he sits back up, staying as far from Dick as he could be while still sitting on the couch. "Okay, I understand I'm not the best role model and I don't have the cleanest rap sheet, but seriously? I… I can't even…" Slade groans and presses his hands to his temples, like he's getting a headache. "I'm never going to forget this, oh my god. I'm gonna have to hunt down several rings just to make myself feel better, god, I…"

Dick giggles. Like, honest-to-god, giggles.

"Wait, so… this isn't some abusive relationship or something?" Hal asks, pointing between the two.

"Absolutely not." Slade answers.

"Soooooo, we were wrong in our assumptions?" Barry asks. He's rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, electricity crackling around him.

"Very." Dick stands up and smooths out his suit. "Look, thank you guys for caring and trying to look out for me. Really. And you went about it the right way, so that's good."

"Uh, we're sorry." Vixen says. "For being wrong."

"It's okay." Dick shrugs. He reaches out and hauls Slade up, then starts walking to the door.

"Wait, so, how do you two know each other, then?" Hal calls before they can leave.

Dick smirks and half turns his head. "Sorry guys, that's confidential." The two leave the room quickly after that.

Kal and Kon won't tell anyone, but they heard Dick break down laughing the second they were out of earshot of the normal humans in the room.

"So," Everyone turns to Barry, who's grinning like a madman. "That was definitely an invitation to dig more into their past, yeah?"