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Hiding around the corner from an unfamiliar white boy in a suit is somehow normal for Alessia. Especially if they're walking around calling themselves Ian. That was a bad name, a horrendous name even. That was a name that belonged on...not a white boy, please.
Their days of being into white boys were over! AJ was the biggest dick to jack off in existence and they still saw Luce around but like...yeah, they were happy with Damian. Very happy and whoever they had just summoned through the portal was NOT Damian.
Okay, that's not how it started.
Turns out, when you spend nearly every waking moment with your boyfriend and he leaves for a while, you're left with...things to do. One of those things is fixing up the timeship you used to run with one of your descendants but no one really knew how to fix. It didn't need fixing up, more like maintenance but one thing leads to another and now one of the outer panels has come off.
Great.
But something about fixing everything was so calming. Repetitive but calming. But that's when Gideon suddenly blared the alarm.
Not, it was fine, no one else was here, they were all off ship, exploring, whatever, being with family.
Alessia felt the sudden pulling force of a portal from behind her, a garish blue in colour. They flipped up their sunglasses, shielding their face. That genuinely hurt to look at , what the hell.
"Gideon?" They managed to call out. "What's happening?"
"It appears you have screwed in the transversional receptor into our usual reception port."
"Gideon!"
"I thought you knew what you were doing."
Yeah no, she got them there. They insisted they knew what was going on. They helped build this thing, of course she should know. Anyways how long had they had that transversional receptor? Zari? Jax? Maybe Zari, Jax was doubtful that he had something that would do that.
But she's jumped dimensions before. They shouldn't be scared of what's coming through that portal. It was just a white guy.
"Hello?" He called out in an irritated tone.
Oh, a white guy with an air. Great.
They poked their head around the corner, Damian's shirt loose on them.
Yeah, sue them, they liked wearing their boyfriend's clothes. Technically, adoptive mum's because he gave her a Black Canary shirt. Gave, stolen, same thing. But the problem was that some RANDO was in the Waverider, searching around.
"Who are you?" She yelled.
He had well-groomed light brown hair, pushed to the back. His eyes were a darker brown and he had a button up shirt on, blazer on top, slacks on the bottom.
"Who are you?" They repeated.
"Ian. Ian Wayne." His eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
"Blake."
"Blake...what?"
"Blake...Cunningham." YOU HAVE OTHER NAMES IDIOT! "You're...Ian Wayne?"
"Yes, but Dad insists on calling me Damian..."
Oh my god. No. No. nO. What? What? That's not. No. NO. DAMIAN?
"And you don't like Damian, why?" Alessia huffed, stomping her foot. No, no Damian would hate his name. And look like this. He was as pale as Tim and Tim was ghostly white!
Ian didn't know how he got here. And how he was faced with this beauty of a girl. She had to have been his age, wearing a slightly oversized Black Canary T-shirt and loose pants. She was...really nice to look at. Black hair, blue-hazel eyes that were staring at him as if he were nothing but a bug in her way. She was tanned, maybe a light olive? Who cared, she was hot! Or pretty at least.
"Blake, right?"
"Yes, Blake."
As he stepped forward, she stepped backwards.
"I have a boyfriend!" She screamed in alarm.
Shame. Could probably get her to him. Blake Cunningham, what a funny name.
This wasn't her Damian!!! Their Damian was somewhere else!!! What the hell!!
"Do you know what dimension you're from?" Their voice had to stay straight. If not, he'd sense the fear coming off them in waves. Always with boys like this. Distraction, distraction, distraction.
"Dimension? No. I'm from Gotham." He was way too talkative for a Damian. "Wyndmere City."
Can someone please come back now, she was tweaking out!!!! GET THIS MAN OUT OF HER FACE. She never heard of no Wyndmere City. Hand instinctively rushed to a weapon, any weapon from their belt, but OBVIOUSLY this wasn't expected. It was meant to be maintenance, get home, eat, fuck around for a bit and then call Damian and do her homework.
"Gideon! Call Dad! ANY OF THEM!" Why was she so freaked out? It's not like she was pinned. Also he was scrawny. They could easily pin him down and run away.
"Hey kiddo!" Oliver's voice rang throughout the speakers. "How we doing today?"
"'m good."
The boy backed up slightly. But the look in his eyes wasn't fear, more confusion.
"Have you heard from any of the...Legends recently?"
"Aren't you on their ship?"
"My ship-"
"Sorry, yeah, your ship."
Silence.
"So-"
"Bye Ollie."
They now stared down the boy. Ian. Ew.
"You're pretty-"
"Oh shut up. I already have a Damian and he's all mine." Their glare hardened.
It took a lot of willpower for Ian to not gaze in astonishment at his surroundings and sudden findings. It was a tech heaven, the component that brought him here now laying behind him. In ruin. But hey, if it meant that he could spend time with the girl in front of him...and maybe change her a little bit.
"Are you also Robin in your universe?" Her stare was calculated, a little like his own father's.
"Who?" He practically spat in her face.
"Batman's sidekick."
He bit his lip. "I'm not his sidekick."
"Then what name do you go by?" They batted their eyelashes. They knew how to wrap a rich guy around their finger like a band-aid. Okay, well, Damian did that out of his own volition. But maybe...she heard that she could be a sly conniving bitch even at the age of four.
His chest puffed out slightly. "Batkid."
"HAH!" They cleared their throat. "Sorry. That's a fun name."
"Thank you."
"So...do you have a me in your universe?" She leaned forward, accommodating for his height.
"I don't think so."
He supposed there was Candace, and also that actress girl his father kept wanting him to talk to. What was her name? Alessia? Her. Yeah. She was pretty. She was pale, with long blond hair to around her mid-back and blue eyes. She was really beautiful for a girl his age. She wore this oversized leather jacket, a little like a trenchcoat. All the time, but maybe that was just her going out jacket. She wore clothes on the darker side with chains and patches; the girl your parents usually asked you to stay away from.
But he would be lying if they hadn't snuck out to the rooftops after some dinners. He would be lying if they hadn't kissed a few times. Something about this new girl gave him the same gravity, pulling him closer. But obviously him and Alessia weren't a thing! They were just...friends, right?
Friends who kissed. Somewhat. Nothing heavy. He ran his hand up her thigh once but she pushed away before they could keep going.
Something about how this Blake girl was looking at him gave him the same feeling. Falling in love was a deep dark hole that he couldn't climb out from.
Meanwhile, Damian was more than worried on the other side of the country. Alessia had graduated earlier than him, leaving her free as a bird. And also the whole homeschooling thing was...y'know, helping her in that regard. Gotham Academy was doing voluntary work in Coast City. What was it with child actresses and being so smart? But she hadn't called him yet.
Which was odd. Normally, they would've called him by now, telling him about their day, their new project, how the psych thing was going. This crazy girl was going to do psych and then 'some others that I was checking out'. But he adored it, he loved it. He wanted somebody like that and oh god, how he had it in his hands. This crazy kid was his.
Thank God he was sharing a room with Jon, someone who actually knew about him and Alessia. Well, other people knew but they were all girls, no way he'd be in a room with them.
And it was definitely past time because even Jon asked 'When's Less callin'?"
"I don't know." Damian murmured, dialling her number.
"You memorised her number?" Jon squinted, hair flopping to the side. "I don't even think I have my dad's memorised."
He was waved off for that comment.
"Beloved?"
"Hey darling." Her voice had taken on an uneasy tone. "Haha. Uhm, have you heard from my mum recently?"
As much as he did admire Amanda Knox, no he hadn't...ah.
"Nope, not at all. Normal rules?"
"Yeap."
"How many people are there?"
"You can call at like 1. She's free then."
Ah, no questioning, this was an affirmative. There was only one person in the room.
"Any weapons?"
"No, hell no!"
Hell no? Oh, this wasn't a dangerous situation, this was...she felt very uncomfortable situation. Happened with co-stars mostly.
"Someone from set?"
"You would think so, but no. Pretty sure she got it from Uncle Hal."
What?
"Oh!" Jon exclaimed. "Normally that means out of this world."
"What?"
"Like...I don't know!"
Alessia never sweat. Mainly because there was nothing to sweat about. Ever. But this was weirding her out beyond a normal matter and she had seen shit before. Worse thing was that this Ian Wayne guy wasn't weird like AJ. He was just...too forthcoming. Too in your face.
"Just push him away." Damian shrugged.
"Can you just kill this sonuva-'
"Ken." He smiled. "You know you can do that yourself."
"It'd be more satisfying if you did."
STOP!!! THIS GUY WAS SO UGLY!!! HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE EYES LIKE DAMIAN'S!!! get out get out get out!!! get his ass outta here! He had stupid...like ewww, this was not even a Wayne child, much less an Al Ghul child. They would NOT talk about having kids with him.
Stop.
He was gonna run around and touch everything. Stop, stop, stop. Oh god, that meant she had to be babysitter until they found a way back.
"This is amazeballs!" The white boy screamed.
"What the hell."
Long and exhausting, this was going to be. Okay Yoda.
After an hour or two of him either A. belittling her, B. asking how things worked or C. complimenting them, they decided enough was enough and hatched a plan.
"You wanna see something really sick?"
Something Alessia loved getting from their father was this weird charm. This sly charm of a gamble, luring you in like a dancing lie across your face. A deal that would end in your ruin yet you had to shake their hand anyways. Toss you into bed, toss you into a trap; it was all the same game to them.
and yet you would still decide to play every time.
"Sure!" He responded with a giddiness that Alessia had never seen in a Damian before.
Oh my god, this was gonna be easy.
They led him down hallways, tunnels, places of the ship the Legends barely accessed. All so he couldn't find her that easily. He was less tech-y than Damian and less cunning, he would not figure this out by morning.
"This is one of the quarters." Easy lie, she didn't specify who the quarters were for. "Go in, try it out."
And like a fool, he did. He stepped in and glanced around. Alessia smashed the lockdown button and walked away.
"Hey! Hey. Hey! Where the hell are you going?"
Damian would never talk to her like that. Damian would probably slice whoever tried to talk to her like that. He would give them full permission to kill him if he dared to talk to them like that. And also, they weren't going to give Ian the satisfaction of a reply.
"Gideon, give him a sandwich and water whenever he feels hungry."
"Isn't that a little harsh, Captain?"
"I'm the Devil, Gid, I could be so much worse."
And so started the next few days of the same routine: wake up, listen to Ian bitch and moan for a while, try and fix whatever went wrong, scream in frustration, listen to Ian try and win back her affections and then call Damian. Okay the last bit was hit or miss as his internet was shoddy as best. But it was an effort on both sides at least, even if they did feel sleepy and not even talk during the call.
A sense of calm before the night. And the screaming alternate version of him a few rooms over was the stressful cock waking her up every morning.
Not the type she wanted to wake up with in the morning either. Either way, pain in the ass.
Ian seemed to be trying to hatch a way out but taunting him was getting more and more fun. Talking about his Jon, the two girls they had as part of their team. The most surprising was a certain revelation though.
"There's another girl waiting for me back where I'm from anyways." He tsked. "Her name's Alessia."
He had an Alessia too?
"Tell me more." Finally, our Alessia was interested, leaning in over the intercom, voice steady.
"She's an actress, blonde hair, blue eyes, she's gorgeous." He sighed out.
There was the similarity. This unwavering admiration for...them.
"Gorgeous?"
"Absolutely spectacular. But I don't think she is like that to me. I think she likes having fun with me."
Probably, Alessia thought inwardly. It wouldn't be the first time that happened but maybe that Alessia's soulmate took a different face.
"Do you know her favourite music?"
"Of course."
"Then buy her a record of them or something, you're rich enough."
"I suppose."
The next night was less noisy, more contemplative. This tenseness hung in the air like a heavy blanket, each one suffocating under its weight. But the day after, Damian returned. Her Damian.
He didn't like the Waverider much, it was bright and distracting. The noises were too much and too loud and-
"Mr Knox." A bright voice greeted from above. "Glad to see you are back."
Ah, being called by his partner's last name: He could get used to that. Traversing the hallways to his partner's room was easier than navigating his own house. If he could have a GPS just for them, it would be wonderful. To be fair, that was just a tracking device. Did he implant a tracking device in her? Yes. Did she cut it out with a knife once they started dating? Obviously.
Maybe the way that they were the only one who he did not implant it near the spine-rather by their collarbone-was an indicator that he did prefer them over the rest. This weird calling for them that persisted through childhood, gnawing at the ribcage over his beating heart.
"Less?" He flicked the lights on and off.
"I'm hiding from him." They muttered, leaning into his chest as he climbed into their bed. They pointed at the screen, full HD blue-grey video feed.
"Who the fuck is that?"
Was it sweat or tears that rolled down their face, hands fidgeting with an anxiety that wracked their body?
"You." Oh no. They were crying.
From fucking laughter.
"That is not me." Damian growled.
"Oh no, babydoll, that is you! Hundred percent! I checked everything, right Gideon?"
"Indeed we did, Captain Chalondra." A digital screen popped up in front of them, showing parts of his gene sequence matched up to Damian's.
His partner gestured at the screen, grinning way too wide for an occasion like this. They shouldn’t find this so entertaining. Was Fate their cruelest mistress? Or was it his own bride that held the tightest collar around his neck?
“Can’t believe I haven’t seen you in a week.” He pulled them in closer, basically onto his lap.
“Hey, what’s this?” They backed up, smiling. “No one would ever believe that you’re such a touchy-“
“WATCH OUT, I’M GONNA FIGURE OUT THIS DAMN LOCK SOON!” The feed crackled.
Damian sighed, heading towards the door, grabbing the spare sword he always kept under Alessia’s bed. His steps were slow and steady, like a soldier’s heartbeat. They rushed in front of him, as if going to get something ready. He kept to the rhythm, watching them giggle as they slid through hallways.
“You know, even though you kept me in here for ages, you’re still beautiful.” The male voice echoed.
What. The. Fuck. Was this imposter saying to his beloved, his darling, his…soul-stealing moonlight?
“You see, my boyfriend’s not gonna-”
“Who in the motherfucking hell do you think you are?” Damian’s cat-like eyes narrowed, focusing in on his target.
“That’s my Damesy.” Alessia grinned, leaning on the button that unlocked the cell door.
“Ian Wayne, son of Bruce-”
“You are not worthy enough to be my father’s son.”
“And your mother’s!” His partner whispered.
“You are not deserving of the Al Ghul name!” Damian snarled, sounding like his own cat.
His back arched in hostility, Alessia already walking away back to the engine room. The two Damians circled each other, one more aloof than the other. To be completely fair, you wouldn’t take an alternate dimension version of you, calling your significant other hot, lying down, would you? Damian would agree but the way it was coming out of somebody’s mouth that he didn’t know? Now that was the problem. And the fact that this boy was tarnishing his reputation. Pretending to be him, he was as white as Timothy!
And brown eyes? That was impossible. Still wearing a suit like he was really something? No, absolutely not. Half the shirts Damian brought with him on the trip were…well, they were not his. Stolen. From his brothers, Jon or Alessia, he couldn’t remember but they weren’t his originally.
But his beloved had left the room. What they didn’t know, didn’t hurt them. He could just kill this other one right now. End multiple people’s misery probably. But he knew Ken would come in, talking about the multiverse and timelines and how they had to stay constant. Some part of that meticulous control had to combat their own ideology somehow. It was horrendously weird. But that’s half of what he loved about them. Their tenacity, their cunning wit. He could go on for days and days about what he loved about them but this guy couldn’t. This guy knew her less than a few days.
In one of their calls, Ken had remarked ‘He looks homophobic out the arse, Dames.’ AND HE DID! HE ABSOLUTELY DID LOOK HOMOPHOBIC OUT THE WAZOO.
‘Curb stomp him.’ Jon had called from behind.
‘I wish but that would push everything outta wack, Jonny Boy.’ They had grinned nervously.
In present day, Damian held the sword to the other’s neck. “You talk to my wife like that again, this slashes through your throat.”
“Heh.” The other smirked. “Your wife? She’d rather be with me.”
The blade pressed deeper still into his throat. “My. Fucking. Wife.”
But then he thought about it for a second. A quick death? Is that what that guy deserved? No. The blade clattered to the ground, surprising the brunet boy. It happened all so quick.
A square punch landed right on Ian’s nose, his vision going blurry and fading faster. He could hear distant, thunderous drops of blood splashing onto the metal. His nose. His nose was bleeding. This guy had just punched him.
“I,” The boy rose above him as he tripped to the ground, “Am Damian Al Ghul Wayne, rightful heir to the Demon’s Head. My wife, is the most brilliant person I’ve ever met, my right hand.You think for a moment their loyalty would waver?”
Ian stumbled through the hallways, Damian on his tail like Michael Myers: slow, stalking. Until he broke into a run. Hot on his heels like a bat out of hell. They were approaching the engine room, they could both hear it. Music blasted from the speakers, shaking the walls, disorientating Ian.
Alessia sat with their hearing aids off, unknowing of the chaos unfolding. The bass rocked the walls, only thing they could properly hear. It covered up the thudding footsteps from behind her as she inputted the last connection into the motherboard. Gideon’s digital hands showed up, both hands like revving up a motorcycle and one hand mimicking the devil horns going up on an incline. ‘Can take-off’ before blaring red again and two arms appearing, one pointing to the side and slamming down onto the other laying flat.
One day until they could send him back. Okay, now they could feel footsteps behind them. They turned to see the boys fighting and her Damian was thankfully winning. He was kinda…fine when he was possessive. Not fine like mid fine but fine as in…damn…
And so started the battle of that day. Ian couldn’t even look at Alessia without Damian scowling. But the inter-dimensional menace was just lathering on even harder than before.
He’d be the one to be in Alessia’s constant line of sight, Damian was shunned. But the latter let it happen. To some extent. Because only he could touch Alessia at the end of the day. He was the one who they let wrap an arm around their waist. Not this Ian Wayne guy who couldn’t even step a meter in front of her without her cringing away.
Every time the boys would be in the same room, they’d step toe to toe, Damian with a nasty grin on his face. Ian was getting annoyed, really just trying to talk to the girl whos smile never reached her eyes.
But they shifted away every time and Damian knew it. The way Kendra’s eyes would dart like a hyperactive squirrel’s, their palms getting sweaty, constantly wiping it onto his shirt: it reminded him sort of when they were with AJ. Well, time to fight this guy!
“You know, maybe I should just stay in this universe. I think you’d prefer me to him, right?” Ian smirked, challenging Damian from across the table.
Alessia’s laugh was tense. “That would ruin the whole timeline, Ian.”
“And you wouldn’t risk it for love?”
“True love, maybe. A boy with a God complex? No.”
“Tt.”
Damian rested his head onto Alessia’s shoulder, knowing they could handle this by themselves, but not moving in case of emergencies(or to see the other boy get his ass kicked, both were good options).
The alarm flashed again for the final time in the day. A portal opened behind Ian, who was noticeably unaware.
“Oh thank God!” Alessia screamed, jumping over the table and sliding right in front of his face. “Well, it’s been…something! Meeting you, Ian. But you have to go now, apologies!”
Before he could sputter out a word, they kicked him into the portal, closing it before he could grab back.
They shouted in joy and breathed a sigh of relief. WAR WAS OVER!!! THEY COULD HANG OUT WITH HEIR BOYFRIEND AGAIN WITHOUT THAT TRASH DOUCHEBAG IN THE WAY!!
“Wanna go make out?” Alessia gestured to her room.
“Oh yes please.” Damian pushed himself out of his chair, rushing to go join his partner.
They never saw Ian Wayne ever again.