Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Guys, Nightwing is a dad”

“Wow hal, way to start a conversation” ollie drawled boredly over his chilly.

Wally however -who had spit out his gatorade at the green lanterns statement- responded with much more enthusiasm “are you insane?!”

“No, he totally is, i've got the facts to back it up”

“I know for a fact Wing doesn't have kids”

“And how would you know that huh?”

The kid was struck silent after that, gaze firmly set on his own meal.

“Kid, I know you're new to navigating the ways of Hal's mind but if you're gonna be sitting with us till your uncle gets back, know this, when hal starts speaking crazy you just gotta let him air it out” ollie half chuckled out, smile firmly in place, thoroughly entertained by the heroes display.

“Thank you, ollie. Now let me explain my flawless reasoning before you brush me off”

Wally rolled his eyes so hard hal thought they'd pop out his head (young people these days) but stayed quiet and allowed the older to continue.

“Okay so it all started…”

~~~
One month ago

The justice league generally didn’t recruit new members when so many of the league were away but batman, superman, wonder woman, flash, martian manhunter and john stewart were all off planet for urgent planet negotiations that would take a minimum of 4 more months and there have been recurring invasions leaving the league short handed, so the league got together and decided on four heroes to invite to join.

Atom, cyborg and green arrow were responsible for informing raven of the teen titans.

Wally West, red tornado and john constantine were responsible for super girl of national city.

Black canary, shazam and aquaman took Arsenal, Oliver's old apprentice (dinah felt ollie's presence would… deter the recruit).

Leaving hawkgirl, zatanna and hal with Nightwing, protector of bludhaven.

The three landed on a rooftop in the dark of night, hal was honestly sceptical if this guy was even real let alone capable -i mean there are only a few shotty photos of the guy and rumours but the same can be said about nessie!- but Cyborg and Wally were pretty confident and the others decided it couldn't hurt to check the guy out, so they sat here waiting.

Hal and the girls were sitting (shayera insisted on standing) by the edge of the roof, dozing off as they watched his constructs of light dance in the night when they were interrupted by a far too bubbly sound.

“Hi!”

Hal nearly fell off the roof in surprise.
What a creeper.

“Sorry, didn't mean to catch you off guard. Big fan! But I will need to ask what you're doing in my city- vigilante stuff you know.”
He spoke nearly as quickly as an excited speedster.

“Sorry, we're aware you eastern cities aren't fans of visitors, we will be out of your hair in a jiffy. We are here to extend an invitation from the jla!” Zattana spoke first seemingly relaxed but Hal knew she was ready to sew this guy's limbs to the roof any second.

“Really?” The younger man's face was filled with skepticism.

“Should we not be???” Hal squeaked, honestly the guy freaked him out, he reminded him way too much of someone else, hal just couldn't place who, he was clad in black, the only colour on his person was a bird stretched along his chest, he walked in complete silence and his laugh, god his laugh.

The boys burst out laughing at Hal's words, his laugh seemingly echoes throughout the city, vast and endless.

Nightwing must've noticed lanterns… discomfort, because he stopped laughing and gave the group a guilty look, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry, force of habit. Oh and about your invite, real glad to hear that, don't get me wrong. But… i have other obligations, with the titans and haven”

“We are aware of your obligations that is why we are offering you a part time membership, we are working on forming alliances with other hero teams to stave off the ongoing invasions -including the titans- however we believe your joining the league would solidify that connection and give the recognition deserved of such a warrior” shayera spoke for the first time that meeting.

“Uhm well, i still have obligations. Y’know… at home?”

“That's totally fine, we will only contact you in the case of invasion unless you request otherwise!” Zattanas performer smile was truly a force to be reckoned with.

“O?” Nightwing held a hand to his ear and spoke, staying silent for a minute and sighed before continuing “alright-y then, i'd love to join! Thankyou for this great honour” -that last part seemed ingenuine but if the others noticed they didn't let it be known- nightwing gave a deep performer's bow before melting into the shadows.

Current day

“So you think he's a dad cause he has a personal life?” Wally asked incredulously .

“Yeah I gotta admit Hal, that's flimsy. Even for you” wow shouldn't oliver trust him by now?

“That's not all! C’mon guys, where's the trust?”

Ollie gestured for him to carry on.

“Okay don't you guys remember our team up with young justice?”

~~~

One week after Nightwing accepted his invitation to the league.

The third rush of alien invasions this week and they had to call in the last resort, last even to criminals… young justice.

Hal hated anytime they had to team up with yj, they were unpredictable, mean and their little leader was unnecessarily scary -hal saw him steal superman's lunch money once (of course they're adults and dont have lunch money so it was actually all the cash from his wallet and his insurance card but still)- So rightfully, Hal was dreading the post battle report, the last thing he wanted while beaten and bruised was an hour in an enclosed space with six teenagers.

Hal took a deep breath closing his eyes before stepping out of the zeta landing, he made his way to the meeting room and braced himself to see… a sleepover? Nightwing was at the head of the table with arrowette and wonder girl on either side of him each holding a hand and… are they painting his nails???

Impulse was hovering over nightwings shoulder, munching on Chicago mix popcorn (how did he get that?!) watching the blue cased phone propped on the meeting table. Superboy was talking to wally for whatever reason and the secret girl was sitting in the corner with victor and rachel watching a projection of what looks like cat videos?

Hal was stunned and barely managed a step forward before he short circuited at the sight that met him, the young justice leader, red robin, teenage rebellion personified was sleeping?! There peacefully curled up in nightwings lap was a boy who looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly. WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT?!

hal saw in his peripheral the only other hero to have arrived -green arrow collapsed as he watched arrowette giggle and chat, ollie had probably never seen the girl without a foot to the shin and a solid ‘youre not my dad’ hal almost felt bad for the guy (but then he remembered what had happened to his burrito last week and suddenly he didn't feel so bad).

Current day

“You think Nightwing, the vaguely in his twenties vigilante, is a father because he's good with kids and has a life outside of hero work?” Wally was now leaned back in his chair, arms crossed and eyebrow raised, the picture of sceptical.

“THAT'S NOT JUST GOOD WITH KIDS WALLY! THOSE THINGS ARE DEMONS!!” Okay maybe that was a bit of an overreaction on hals part, but he's been bitten by that speedy burnet too many times to be calm.

“Really?! Ollie c’mon his theory is entirely based on the vendetta he has against 17 year olds!”

“No wait. Wally he might have a point on this” ollie was leaning in, chin on his fist and eyes wide.

“Are you serious?” Wally looked three steps from losing hope in the world.

“Yeah! I mean u havent seen ceecee that calm since i stole her baby photos from her mom”

“Okay wow, lot to unpack there”

“Just let ‘im finish west”

“Whatever”

Hal's smile was bright with victory as he continued “thank you oliver. AHEM my final, most damning piece of evidence-“

~~~

One week ago

The invasions have been relentless

Half the league’s forces were spread across the globe taking out purple blooded, walking seahorses, the other half were either in recovery or working to hold up heroes' regular operations. Most of young justice was in Tokyo, the titans in Greece, the other teams in the same boat, they had to call in the big guns- the outsiders.

The next wave of aliens hadn’t hit yet but according to nightwing they'll be here in about an hour, Hal, nightwing, superboy (they'd had him fly down to test the theory of kryptonian abilities being a weakness of their bio ships) and the outsiders are meeting up in the watchtower to organize a strategy before the battle.

Hal was first to arrive in the meeting room (mostly because he was the only one who slept at the tower the night before but still, yay lantern) he nervously spun his ring around his finger as he waited, they were spread so thin only the ones coming to this meeting and about three other heroes on the ground will be joining this battle, it wasn't looking good.

“Oh, hi hal” nightwing stepped in, relaxed as usual.

“What's up wing?”

“Not much, you good man?” The younger man's smirk fell, replaced by a comforting smile.

“Ugh, this fight hasn't even started and it's already killing me! I mean what can we do with ten people against their forces?”

“Oh don't worry about it greenie, the outsiders, they're tough and I'd never let anything happen to my favourite damsel” nightwing winked as he took his seat, they stayed in comfortable silence until finally the cavalry arrived.

In walked four people, a woman with a half mask and black bob wielding a katana- katana, a man with dark skin and a black and blue lightning themed suit- black lightning, the last two hal didn't know, a younger man with a batlike cowl, full yellow suit and a bat across his chest and finally a woman(???) with a full black, head to toe suit with a hood and yellow accents.

The boy in yellow spoke first “hey wing!”

“Hey baby bat”

The girl in black gave nightwing a bone crushing hug before taking up perch in his lap.

“Uhhh wing? You know these guys?” Hal probably sounded dumbfounded but he was too confused to care.

“Haha yeah we uh, work together from time to time”

“Cool… big fan of spooky” hal never was good with silence

“Huh?” yellow boy responded

“The bat? Are you a fan?” Hal said poking at his own chest where the bat would be

“Oh uh yeah used to be now it's a little more like begrudging respect”

The girl in nightwings lap made hand gestures that Hal didn’t understand towards Yellow before everyone burst out laughing except Hal who clearly missed the joke and Katana who only quirked her lip.

Hals drowning was cut off by the rushed entry of his saviour- superboy.

“Sorry sorry, underestimated the wind resistance”

“Conner we all know you slept in” nightwing looked almost fond

“Okay yeah my bad. So who is all this?”

“Oh right conner these are the outsiders, black lightning, katana, signal and orphan, outsiders this is superboy” nightwing gave introductions finally and superboy sat down next to duke.

“Okay! BB, as much as i hate to move you, i need to start the presentation so why don't you sit next to one of the boys for a bit”

The girl nodded and scurried to sit on the other side of SB

“Okay-“

The course of action was quickly decided upon and they moved to the zeta room to quickly depart

“Okay! Everyone got the plan?” Nightwing

“All good” came a chorused response

As they waited, orphan and superboy sat in the corner giggling, which is all well and good, except the signal had an increasingly disgusted look on his face with each second.

As they funnelled through the zetas hal caught a few words the yellow clad boy whispered under his breath, too quiet for any human to hear unless they were right next to him, the same cannot be said for kryptonians -the signal had a few ideas on where to store his green rock collection- superboy did not laugh again that day.

The battle was going surprisingly smoothly. It wasn't easy but the outsiders were slicing, kicking and frying their way through the enemy and Hal was starting to think they could pull through on this! Only they noticed too late that the ‘generals’ of the alien army had gems implanted in their limbs, gems with a chemical compound almost identical to that of kryptonite.

Signal wasn't too late, he seemingly teleported to Kon El’s side, seconds before disaster struck the boy slid between the creature and his ally, hooking the offending lib with his hooked escrima and using his second to snap it clean off. As the signal recovered from the rebound pressure of the bones snap, the alien swiped at his side slicing past his armour and into his skin, the boy took out the enemy with a single last strike before collapsing.

Hal -as the closest besides super boy who was currently busy taking out the source- ran to his side to apply field dressing, his heart was pounding, he needs to get the kid to the watchtower before he bleeds out, as soon as hal hit the ground next to the young vigilante, the boy was grasping his wrist looking at hal with piercing eyes.

“Dad- i-i need my dad. B- b will help. I-“

Before he knew it the kid was swooped into another's arms, nightwings arms.

“Shh it's okay baby bat, i'm here shhh, let's get you to the watchtower kay?”

“Mhm thanks d- wing…”

Hal was left there, starstruck before he was reminded of the battle and fought alongside his remaining allies till they reached their craved victory.

When hal and the others returned to the watchtower they found signal and nightwing waiting for them (the former half asleep in a wheelchair but waiting nonetheless).

Orphan didn't waste a second running too signal and cradling his face in her hands

“Baby brother! okay?”

“Yip yip”

“He is very high” nightwing was all too happy to provide

“I looovvveee you”

“Love you too”

“I don't love you” that was straight at super boy

“Wha-“

“You touch my sister and i will shove your head so far up your own ass you will taste your own mullet for a week”

“Okaayyyy i think that's enough drugged up signal for the day. I'm gonna take the little ones home, can you wrap this up?” Wing gave him puppy dog eyes as he slowly started wheeling the -still- yellow clad boy away

“Yeah yeah”

In the distance hal heard a voice slur “i don’ love you either the hell kin’a bitchass weakness is yellow” suddenly hal regrets wasting his worry on that kid.

Current day

“HE CALLED WING DAD?!” Ollie slammed his hands on the table

“Yup”

“Whydidntyoustartwiththat!!” Okay maybe hal broke ollie

Well atleast Wally was too busy laughing at that last part of the story to deny Hal's suspicion so that's a win!

Chapter Text

To be honest, Ollie didn't really believe hal.

Sure, taming the wild beasts that are young justice is pretty damning and from what Hal says nightwing definitely knows the outsiders beyond ‘working together sometimes’ but kids? Oliver has kids, and Nightwing is way too happy for that.

Not that nightwing is all sunshine and rainbows but he has too much faith in life, faith that can only be explained by never having been called a dried up colonel sanders by your own spawn.

So Oliver didn't believe hal.

He didn’t believe Hal until exactly one week after their initial conversation.

~~~

the league was meeting to discuss the course of action with the aliens, the plan to use kryptonian abilities against their ships to cut the problem at its source had worked, so they need to discuss a plan for their final act to get this over with.

So a very important meeting. A very important meeting that nightwing was running late for.

20 minutes past the original start time for the meeting the zetas finally announced his arrival.

“Nightwing B-01”

Everyone sighed a breath of relief.

”Robin B-38”

Their lungs were full again before they knew it.

The league looked at each other in confusion as steps rang out through the halls, nightwing had never brought anyone along with him to the watchtower and if he didnt then they may have an intruder on their hands.

Everyone was tense when the door finally slid open revealing the perpetrator.

A child?

In the doorway stood a young kid, maybe six? Dressed in a wonder woman shirt -clearly made for someone shazams size making it so long on the kid it had to be tied up with a hairband- hello kitty pyjama shorts, socks (no shoes), a neatly placed domino and two katanas raised for battle.

Oliver's first instinct was to get those things away from the kid but before he could, the kid jumped.

The kid jumped for Ollie ,swords drawn back in surprisingly good form and a battlecry that had dinah beat, when he was caught by the scruff by a figure in the doorway.

“Robin! Stop that, i told you no katanas until we get you back”

nightwing sounded exhausted, he had a batman blanket slung over his one shoulder and a tote bag clearly made by a child on the other, he plucked the blades from the child now limp in his grasp and stowed them away somewhere the blonde couldn't see.

“Sorry i'm late, messy battle with a magic user and no one to babysit”

“Don't worry about it we've all been there”

They actually hadn't been there babysitting sure but that magic part sounds like a crime ridden city thing.

Wing gave Dinah a shy smile and went to take his seat.

The meeting was pretty cut and dry but took a grand total of 2 ½ hours plus three breaks to complete this was because everyone was distracted by robin.

Dinah, roy, zatanna, shayera (motherhood really changed her) and several other league members were cooing over the young child in nightwings arms, the other half of the league were tied between scared and indifferent.

Nightwing held the child to his chest, wrapped in the batman blanket and dozing off to his fathers (?) whispers in his ear.

They honestly made an adorable pair but Oliver was too busy processing the implication that Hal might have actually been right about something.

At one point the child woke up and was getting restless in his dads arms when dinah once again spoke up

“Why don't we take another break, i can look after him while you stretch and get yourself some food”

The child looked suspicious of her but with a look to his father he spoke again

“Baba!”

“Yes D?”

“I will go wit’ the strange woman while you retrieve suse- sut- sustedance”

“Sustenance”

“Su’tenance, baba needs food so he does look like a starved goku cosp’ay, that's what ahki says”

Nightwing looked like he just took a gut punch but handed the kid over to Dinah and went to the cafeteria leaving Oliver to freak out.

Now he won't claim to be fluent in a lot of languages but he knows enough to know ‘baba’ is a term for a father.he called nightwing father. Nightwing is a father. And the kid saying ‘ahki’ implies he has more than the one.

Oliver was left to silently freak out for another hour and a half before he could return to his manor and call hal.

~~~
Ollie has spent the last two weeks, not avoiding nightwing just…. Okay yeah he was avoiding him but can you blame the guy?! Him being a dad changed everything about nightwing, the meaning behind the lollipops he carries, his peace keeping tendencies, why he says stuff like ‘holy hospital man’ instead of just swearing, etc. etc. Oliver cant be near the kid without giving away that he knows.

So Oliver queen, green arrow, has spent two weeks avoiding his junior. That was until now, nightwing, arsenal and himself were together, working a case in star city.

It was decided that the battle with the aliens should occur in star because it has the current highest rebuilding funds set asside if needed of all the cities of on world jl members. So the three of them were tasked with setting up disruptors along the cuty lines and organizing evacuation routes for their big grand plan.

“Kay! Thats the last disruptor, now we just need to double check their functions and set up evac plans which we can do back at base” nightwing was cheery as usual (like he didnt know green arrow had been in internal battle with himself all day).

“Sounds good i’ll start in the west, i need to be home by si…”

“Arsenal? Something wrong?” Nightwing and himself turned to follow roys gaze.

“Is that the red hood?”

“Yeah…”

“Is that a kid dressed like a traffic light with him”

“I do believe so”

While roy and Ollie had their confused conversation their teammate paled

“We should like… do something about that. Right?”

“Yup”

Just like that the two of them were off jumping from rooftop to rooftop to corner the crimelord.

They finally caught him in an alley and Oliver promptly greeted him with an arrow shot next ti his head.

The crimelord audibly sighed

“Hey greenie? Can we skip all the foreplay and move to the part where i kick your ass?”

He grabbed a gun from its holster aiming it directly at Ollies head.

Well shit.

Thankfully he hadn’t noticed roy who took the opportunity to disarm him before dropping into the alley.

“Sorry beautiful, leadups the best part”

Ew.

“Red give me a few minutes and ill turn that thinking around”

“Promi-“

A dark figure appeared from the rooftops taking Olivers son to the ground in a rugby tackle

The bearded man dropped to the alley, pulling back an arrow aimed at the figure.

“Shit. Dickhead?”

Hood removed his blood red helmet to reveal a domino covered scarred yong face with curly black hair and a shock of white in his bangs.

“Hey little wing” nightwing -from his place ontop of arsenal- gave the criminal a wave.

“Fuck are you doin’ in star.”

“Prep for the battle i texted the groupchat this morning. What are you doing here and why’d you bring robin?”

Robin?!
Its been a long time since hes had young kids but Oliver is pretty sure this one has atleast a foot on the one he met two weeks ago.

“Dropped my phone on patrol last night and I was taking care of a drug ring, mum was in town so i brought the brat for brunch”

“Hey sorry to interrupt but youre still ontop of me and i kinda can’t breathe”

oh right forgot about roy during all the casual conversation with a crime lord who took wings kid

“Oh right. WHYD YOU TACKLE YOUR OWN TEAM MATE DICKIE?!”

“ME?! Why was he flirting with my baby b-“

“IM 21!!”

“Actually ahki you’ve just turned six by my count”

Wait if robin is calling red hood ahki and ahki means brother and robin is nightwings son… RED HOOD IS NIGHTWINGS OTHER KID?!… OLLIES KID WAS FLIRTING WITH NIGHTWINGS KID?!

“Ohmygod”

“Oh did i miss your birthday hood? Why didnt you tell me”

“No. For the last time, coming back to life is not rebirth”

“Youcamebacktolife?!” The three of them -finally reminded of Olivers panicing presence- froze.

“We got off topic. ROY WILLIAM HARPER WHY ARE YOU FLIRTING WITH A CHILD!”

“Shit that’s speedy? Finally dropped the peter pan look?”

“Yeah left it with the title for the next victim. And I DID NOT!”

Rude Oliver designed that outfit.

“Looks good and again IM 21!”

“STOP FLIRTING WHILE ARGUING WITH ME!”

The three young adults broke out fighting before Robin interrupted

“Might i suggest something”

“And whats that baby bird”

“Hood is a criminal”

“That he is”

“And you are vigilantes”

“Mhm”

“There is also security footage showing us entering this alley thus this cannot end without a fight”

“What are you saying”

“You two punch eachother to simulate fighting wounds and report a battle to the league that he escaped from using a ‘hostage’, i return home with hood and ill see you on monday”

“Good enough for me” wing didnt waste a second connecting his fist with roys jaw.

“Fuck!”

“Wait why should i agree to this and not just arrest hood” Oliver once again reminded the group of his presence and immediately regretted it when they turned to him like animals

“First of all you couldnt” the child sneered “second if you do not leave us you will not like the head lines tomorrow queen”

Oliver paled at the use of his name in feild.

“Ha. Told you he took after me wing”

“Yeah yea-“ what was sure to be a sarcasm packed response was promptly interrupted by arsenals fist straight to nightwings nose, the crack was so loud Oliver heard it from several feet away

Red hood burst out laughing as he made his way to the end of the alleyway, his laughter was still heard echoing through the city even as he disappeared.

Oliver queen didnt sleep that night.

Or the next.

He didnt sleep for three nights.

He didnt sleep until his daughter introduced him to the hollywood melatonin that is the titanic movie.

Chapter Text

Wally knew for a fact Dick didn't have kids.

They've known each other for years, he knows Dicks siblings and -as much as he mother hens them- he knows that they are not his kids.

The problem was convincing the others of that. Wally couldn't risk exposing anything about their identities so he was stuck in an awkward limbo, listening to Hal and Ollie exchange stories and gossip with the rest of the league and not being able to say anything. He also couldn't tell nightwing and have him come up with a whole plot and confirm the league's suspicions.

To relieve his stress, Wally resolved to complaining.

“Y’know they think oracle is his wife now” Wally whined with his chin firmly rested on the table.

“You're kidding” Vicwas snacking on some chips smiling wide at Wally's suffering.

“Yeah heard him flirting with her over comms and came up with a whole dead-wife-turned-ai theory they keep giving him condolences every time they see him, he thinks they’re talking about the cactus he killed last week”

“That why they radiate pity every time they see him?” Rachel spoke up from her place sprawled across the couch - legs over Wallys and head rested on a pillow in victory lap- while still looking at her phone (probably watching Instagram reels).

That's right, Wally had resorted to complaining to the only other league members who knew Dicks relationship with his siblings in their old clubhouse. he wanted Roy there too but he never met Dicks siblings beyond the second robin.

“Yup”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Wanna place bets on how long till the league finds out” this sweet sweet Half metal man

“Hell yeah!”

~~~

Wally was freaking out.

Today was d-day. The day the league’s big plan for the aliens goes down. Or went down cause the ‘big plan’ already happened. And failed. Catastrophically.

The plan was in short to cut off the aliens technology using the disruptors, take out their ships with the three kryptonians on planet and trap the aliens still on board with green lanterns constructs, once they had taken care of the aliens outside the construct Hal would release the aliens in waves for the rest of the league to take care of.

Great plan right?

Wrong.

That all went to shit when the aliens revealed a meta seahorse with sonic powers (who knew sea life aliens came in meta?!) powerful enough to break green lanterns creations.

So now the league has retreated back to the watchtower to regroup.

But that's not what Wally is freaking out about, no no. Wally is freaking out because the level of ass whooping they just took warrants reinforcements. All the reinforcements. All of everyone’s reinforcements. All Nightwing’s reinforcements.

Wally is so losing this bet.

Moments after the request for backup was sent the zetas were whirring.

“Arrowette B-27”

“Spoiler B-28”

Well shit.

“Yoo! Where's the party people?!”

“Hey spoiler…”

“Woah walls where's the energy”

“Dude we just got our asses kicked by a gazillion walking sea creatures”

“Good point but might I counter with this: you interrupted girls' night and I brought the nail polish with me” Steph grinned as she held out three bottles of nail polish -pink, yellow and black- between her fingers and shoved them in Wally’s face.

“… pink and yellow please”

Stephanie and Arrowette hopped onto the couch and promptly started painting his nails.

“Whatcha doin’ out here alone” cissie spoke up, yellow nail polish to his left hand.

“Ugh i couldn't take anymore of roy and ollies Dick measuring”

“Ah the tale as old as time”

“Who’re you” Hals incredulous voice rung out through the room from the Hallway he stood in.

With the entire league standing behind him.

Here we go.

“Who me” spoiler said, batting her lashes and puffing her cheeks, the picture of innocence.

“No i'm talking about the flash.” He deadpanned

“Wow, sarcasm is not a good look on you Jordan.” Steph took the lanterns' bafflement as an opportunity to stand and give the group a low bow.

“Duke Spoiler at your service”

“Sb!” Nightwing pushed his way to the front of the crowd, lifting his pseudo sister into a hug.

“Wing! Wassup”

“Not much, just planning, you know. I didnt think youd come, i know tonight was girls night”

“Yeah but i figured hood would show up and i just got new stickers for jane”

“Cool, you painting nails?

“Yea, want your usual?”

“Nah Cici did mine not too long ago so i still have some on” Dick gestured to cissie -who was still diligently painting Wally's nails.

“But i'll leave you to it” with a kiss to her forehead and a ruffle of her hair he sent her to sit back down, continuing to paint Wally's right hand in pink.

“Are we just going to move past this random kid knowing my identity?!” Oh right Hal.

“Red Hood B-13”

“And who is jane?!?”

“That’s janettelyn the fourth to you and you guys are one word from a real unpleasant get to know ya” Jason held his gun in front of him, aimed at green lanterns head as he spoke.

“Woah jay, it’s cool.” Steph dropped her cheery voice to make sure Hood knew there was no danger.

“Okay what the fuck is the Red Hood doing here” Hal looked like he was gonna have a heart attack

“I was invited dipshit”

“Everyone calm down. Hood and Spoiler are with me.” Nightwing’s statement was met by the judgemental stares of the entire justice league.

“He's a criminal!”

“Reformed” red hood snarled, his gun still firmly in place by Hals head but his safety was on and finger no longer rested on the trigger.

“Okay now that everything’s cool, who wants their nails painted?” Stephanie asked, gaze all but burning Hal.

“Uh”

“The girl asked if you wanted your nails painted Hal” Jason turned Jane's safety back on in a very clear threat.

“Uh… sure”

Steph grinned maniacally grabbing the yellow paint cissie had long finished with and pulling the burnet hero to the couch, poor guy couldn't even say anything without getting a bullet to the head (Wally knew jay had long given up killing but the rest of the league didn't know that).

The rest of the league bobbled before arsenal broke through the group and sat on one of the many seats, they waited for him to get lasered or gassed or something but all he got in the end was a “damn harper you always show so much skin or am i just special” from the purple clad girl before red hood took his place next to roy. With that the league sat down and waited for more arrivals.

~~~

Soon heroes started filtering in, starting with a large group of girls with more nail polish and snacks (girls night) followed by titans, solo heroes, families and more.

“B-39 signal”

“Please not again” Hal muttered and in walked Duke Thomas in his signal gear.

“Hood!”

“Signal!”

“Hey everyone. Spoiler, wing… Jordan” he pointedly glared at the green man before sitting on Arsenal -who was getting his nails painted red by starfire- 's other side.

This was gonna be good.

“Hey man who’re you”

“Uh arsenal. Or roy, name’s kinda an open secret ‘round here”

“Huh. Signal” Duke extended his hand for Roy to take.

“…”

“…”

“So Roy… you real into zombies”

Wally couldn't see Jason's face but he was sure it was bright red as Wally, Dick and Steph burst out laughing, the whole family has heard the alley incident and they will never let Jason live it down.

Their giggles were cut off by another round of zetas.

“Orphan B-36”

“Red robin B-20”

“Robin B-38”

Tim, Cass and damian walked in the room, Cass dropped damians hand to go around the room and give her family (and adjacent) kisses. Dick got one on the cheek and a hug, Wally got one on the top of his head, Jason got her hands on either side of his helmet as she planted a kiss to the forehead, duke one to the cheek, roy (yes, Wally was surprised too) a tap to the head like Wally and for Steph she pulled up her mask and down Steph’s to plant one right on her lips before taking her place right on her lap.

The league froze. Of course they did, they thought Cass and Steph were sisters. Shit.

“Missed you too Cassie” Steph said as she squeezed her girlfriend’s waist.

Cassandra had been away in Tokyo for a long while, hence the over the top greeting.

When Damian walked in after Cass he spared no greetings beyond getting close enough to the couch for Steph to ruffle his hair and a glare in Hal's direction before jumping onto Dick’s lap.

Tim on the other hand dragged his feet, rubbing his domino's lenses in a futile attempt to reach his eyes (poor kid was exhausted) as he greeted his people

“Hey family, team, Wally, roy” why roy had been added to their greetings Wally had no idea “uncle ollie” well shit “Jordan”

Wally ran top speed to get to Tim and cover his mouth, but the damage had already been done.

Tim fought against Wally's hold, he looked to his siblings for help but when he saw their wide eyed (wide lensed?) faces, the weight of what he just said finally hit him

They were fucked.

And Wally was down a hundred bucks. He could already see the grins blooming on Vicand Rachel's faces across the room.

“DUDE! Why do all your kids know my identity and why do they all say it like I killed their dog?! Also why does arrow get a sweet greeting!”

“What did you just… Dick?!”

Hal and ollie spoke at the same time both turning to Dick for answers

“Cau- wait my kids???”

“Woah dude i'm honoured that your mad on my beHalf but calling his dad names is a little far”

This time Dick and Hal spoke in sync (Hal really needed to stop doing that)

The kids started laughing -along with victor (the traitor)- so hard Jason actually fell off the couch, even Cass was giggling.

Once the kids were finally able to calm down Dick spoke up.

“Okay backup, you think they’re” he gestured wildly to his siblings “my kids?”

“Uhhhh… yeah?” Hal responded.

“Why” nightwing sounded like he was about to lose it.

“Why?! What other explanation is there?”

“SIBLINGS! THEY ARE MY SIBLINGS!”

“Oh… well how was I supposed to know that!”

“Oh I dunno… basic reasoning skills?!”

“You're good with kids.”

“With this many siblings you get stuck with a lot of babysitting.”

“You’re protective of them”

“Who wouldn't be protective of their younger siblings”

“Okay but when the yellow one-“

“I have a name!”

“Was injured you said ‘i'm gonna take the little ones home’”

“Dads out of town! Im looking after them” Dick sounded exasperated

“The little one calls you dad!”

“I looked after him while our dad was dead!”

“…”

“I-“

“Don’t worry about it, he came back, wasn't even dead. plot armour and all that” Jason spoke up to ease(?) everyone’s minds

“Okay… but ollie says you called the criminal your ‘baby boy’”

“Brother. I called him my baby brother”

“That… makes sense. But you guys are still way too close to be just siblings. She” he gestured to Cass “went around giving you each a kiss and you kissed that one” he gestured to Steph “on the head and ruffled her hair” he said that last part like it was the most damning piece of evidence.

“She,” he gestured to Cass, “just got back from tokyo. And it's not my fault our dads are emotionally stunted and or super villains, someone needs to show them love”

“My ba- wait did you say dads?”

“Yeah?”

“But earlier you said your dad was out of town. Dad singular.”

“Yeah.”

“???”

“Wait… YOU THOUGHT Steph WAS OURS TOO?!”

“Yeah!”

“SO YOU JUST THOUGHT Cass WENT AROUND TONGUING DOWN HER SISTER?!”

“…”

Jason snorted at Steph's disgusted look while Cass stood up and approached Hal, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Uh look im s-“

He was cut off by a swift punch to the stomach.

Yells broke out through the room (some encouragement, some outrage and some giggles. Wally will leave which group he was part of to the imagination) as duke held Cass from another hit.

“Look i wanna hit ‘im much as the next guy, trust, but that’s the kind of thing we do at night in borrowed red hood costumes. Not in front of the entire justice league”

Cassandra seemed to accept that, going limp in Duke's grip, but that didn't stop her from getting one good kick to his jaw before returning to her girlfriend’s arms.

Hal spoke again, rubbing his jaw “okay but you being siblings doesn't explain how you all ended up heroes, i mean how does that happen if you weren't raised into it like the arrow kids” he gestured to ollie who was still hunched over muttering to himself, entirely unaware “or the supers” he pointed to the corner where jon and kara were trying to pull kon from the corner he had made his place in tk pointedly avoid duke (a fact duke was aware of and very pleased with).

“Wait. They don't know that yet?” Steph spoke up

“Duh our father’s a vigilant-“ Dick slapped a hand to damians mouth but -much like Wally with tim- he was too late.

“Your dad is a hero?”

“Do we know him?” Finally someone other than Hal spoke up, Shayera was calm and excited as she spoke.

“Uhhhh… you- … you might've heard of him… in passing”

Wally would judge Jason duke Steph and Vicfor giggling if he wasn't laughing himself.

Batman! Might’ve heard of the Batman.

“What’s his name?”

“Oh uh if you haven't heard it you probably wont know…”

“Okay but who’s your mum if not oracle?” Hal opened his stupid mouth again

“You thought Barbie was our mom?!” Jason was wheezing again

All the watchtower screens lit up green as a voice rang out

“Hey Justice league. Btw i've been reading your texts and i claim nun those little shits and you’re delusional if you think ‘wing can handle all this. He tried but couldn't step up to bat”

“If you knew why didn't you tell me!” Nightwing sounded betrayed

“Cuz it's funny.”

“Okay so who is your mom?”

“Talia al ghul!”

“Catwoman!”

The kids shout out in sync as well as one “your mom!” (Thank you Stephanie)

“So you have different moms?”

“What are you talking about? Those are my mom and my mama "Jason said, Wally knows there was a shit eating grin under that helmet.

“Uhhhh”

After twenty long more minutes all the heroes left the watchtower and kicked some alien butt, Wally slipped out of the review meeting only to be caught and shaken down by one Rachel Roth, the winner of their bet.

Chapter Text

Dick was so fucked.

Its been weeks since the league found out about his siblings after things calmed down with the invasions and rebuilding dick was bombarded withh questions about his family, how many siblings do you have? Where is your father? How long has Robin been a vigilante? Why do they know my name? Why are they so mean? What does he mean he was dead? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????? (That last one was courtesy of one very upset oliver queen)

This, while annoying, isn't a problem on its own; however, today marks six months since his father’s departure.

This means batman will soon be on planet.

This means dick is screwed.

Dick didn't sleep for four days leading up to the phone call from Hal informing him the league members would be docking in the watchtower in two hours and that he should ‘totally come up and mess with spooky with me’ so nightwing had no choice, not going to greet senior members of the league and while dick could excuse that, it might cast suspicion on some of his more… secretive behaviours.

Dick should’ve let Steph paint his suit yellow.

So the acrobat (no pun intended) suit’ up and headed out to the closest zeta tube.

~~~

As soon as dick showed up he saw a crowd of leaguers in the lounge waiting for their peers to arrive.

As three heroes approached him he had a fleeting thought of escape before he realized it was too late

“Hey man”

“Hey Vic…”

“C’mon rob, cheer up” dick has never wanted to hit wally so much.

“It won't be so bad” Dick looked to Raven with hope in his eyes, if anyone could make him feel better it was her.

His sweet Rachel, the girl he helped raise, he saved, who saved him.

“You really think so?”

“No. You're gonna get your shit rocked”

Dick forgot he raised a little shit.

He slumped as the group laughed at him, slinking over to the only open couch to sulk.

Dick closed his eyes, maybe if he tried hard enough he could pretend he was at home, on his couch watching whatever sitcom was on tv.

Dick wanted to go home.

That thought was short-lived before the PA system rang out with Shayeras voice.

“Team a as in alphas ship approaching airlock one. I repeat A teams ship is approaching airlock one. Eta four minutes.”

Dick tried his best to sink into the cushions before he was pulled from their sweet embrace by one Roy Harper.

“Come on, let's go say hi to daddy dearest”

“Ew don't call him that”

“I'll consider it”

~~~

The jet is finally landing and dicks palms are dripping with sweat.

Breathe.

Dad is the world's greatest detective.

Self proclaimed as it is, the title has to mean something, right?

Stupid tight suit and its stupid lack of absorptive material.

B will be casual. Dick will get chewed out for letting the league connect him and his siblings when they are back home but at the end of the day he will cuddle up on the couch with his siblings and watch big hero six with their identities intact.

Phew.

Okay. Okay he can do this.

The plane's hatch creeped open revealing Barry Allen.

The man disappeared into a smear of red before reappearing to dicks left, pulling Wally into his arms.

Dick couldn't help the small smile that formed on his face at the sight.

The next to descend was John Stewart, as soon as he reached the ground he opened his arms, ready for his wife who tackled him to the ground, Shayera was always a tough soldier until it came to John.

Next was J’onn who didn't waste a second before contacting his niece.

Finally like a slo mo from an action movie, the big three descended, all of them in step with one another.

The three of them froze upon reaching the ground.

“Kara?” Clark called out to his cousin with confusion

But that wasn't what dick was focused on.
Dick was focused on the pair of white eyes fixed on him.

Oh shit

Bruce made a beeline for his son

In the distance dick heard confused voices.

“Uh, Spooky?”

“Batman?”

“What’s he doing”

“HE'S GONNA KILL THE NEWBIE!”

“DUDE! Batman doesn’t kill”

“That wont stop hom from fucking the kid up”

Dick forgot an important detail of Batman in his assessment.

As soon as his father reached him his hands were on Dicks shoulders as he scanned him for injuries, spinning him around, checking his pulse, prodding his ribs, digging through his hair, the whole works.

He is also an extreme helicopter parent.

When he finally decided Dick wasn't in imminent danger he let out a breath before beginning to speak.

“What are you do-“

“Uh, Spooky? Do you know the new member?” Hal. Of course.

“Hi batman” Dick said in a small voice

Bruce froze. He shifted his gaze around the room assessing the situation before he cleared his throat and released dicks shoulders.

“We have met when gotham business leeks into blüd… in passing”

The old titans members all burst out laughing, unphased by the weight of the league’s confusion and two bat glares -infact the glares only made them laugh harder ‘like father like son’ they will later say.

“Okay what’s happening?!” Dick could hear the fear in Hal's voice, poor guy’s probably still traumatized from Duke and Steph.

“Good question,” Bruce growled.

Dick panicked, he was tired and under all the pressure from the league’s stares, his dad’s questioning was the last straw.

Dick felt like a kid, dressed in bright colours and getting interrogated about how he scraped his knee after a night of patrol.

<“theleagueofferedmeaspotandicouldntrefusebecauseofthealiensandtheysawmewiththeothersandassumedtheyweremykidsandikindasortaletitslipthattheyweremysiblingsandourdadwasaheroandnowtheythinkyouresomesmalltimevigilante”>

Dick had slipped into romani without thinking.

“What”

<“sorry Dad”>

“Oka-“

<“also uncle Ollie knows who we are”>

“Okay slow down what aliens”

“There have been repeated invasions during your absence, due to you being out of range of contact we had to operate under code 579 and recruit new members without the remaining core leaguers present” shayera answered for him

“Okay. What's the damage”

That one dick had to answer.

<“about 500$ on yellow nail polish, 300$ in medical supplies for Duke, 100$ in snacks, 50$ for stickers and a possible court case for mental damages on Oliver Queen”>

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

“OKAY SERIOUSLY WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Hal. Again.

Dick waited for his father to come up with their story

…

“… Bruce Wayne is the titans benefactor as well as mine, a part of the contract to keep my funding is to ensure the safety of any and all members of their team”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“So that’s why you always mother Wally!”

“…yes” B looked physically pained to damit it.

~~~

Hours passed of reports and catch ups, everyone seemed to accept Bruce's explanation and move on with little explanation.

Dick was finally relaxing into conversation when disaster struck.

“Signal B-39”

“Red Hood B-13”

“Spoiler B-28”

He knew things were going too well

“-on and Ro-oy sittin’ in a tree” echoed an all too familiar voice down the hallway.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” There's another one.

“SO HELP ME THOMAS IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME MY HELMET IN THE NEXT FIVE SECONDS-“ he stopped when he spotted the league from the hallway. where he stood. maskless. His little brother, Jason Todd, on full display.

“You’ll what? Huh you big chicken?” Duke and Steph still had their backs turned to the group.

“Listen to me very closely, glow stick. I need you to keep your mouth shut and walk back to the zetas. Same goes for you brown. Whatever you do, don't turn around.”

So, of course, they turn around.

“Yeah right! You just want your helmet ba-“

“Oh”

And once again dick is greeted by his little angels' uncovered faces.

“Whyyyyyyyy” it is times like this where Dick questions his thought process when he asked Santa for little brothers.

“Fuck”

“So sorry Dad i promise we meant to go to the mountain! Fuck. I-Im really sorry” Duke started panicking

“Dad?” Why. Is. It. Always. Hal.

“Shit!” Duke was a second away from hyperventilating

“Hey calm down baby bat. Just breathe. A reveal was around the corner anyways” Jason ran a hand along his brother's spine as he spoke.

“Wait. I thought you said you weren't their Dad”

“I'M NOT!”

“Then who is he calling dad?”

“Oliver Que-“ Steph shouted, pointing at the arrow.

“NO!” The voices of Oliver, Roy, Bruce and Jason came all at once

“Why does this have to be the one time you guys actually agree!”

“Im not gonna have my boyfriend become my fake brother” Roy

“I'm not being replaced by Oliver” Bruce

“I'm not ‘bout to be a Queen” Jason

“I'm not taking in Brucie's kids” Ollie

“Hey! What's wrong with Bruce's kids huh?!” Jason shot back at Ollie to which the millionaire just looked them up and down.

“Fair enough”

“Wait”

“Wait”

“Boyfriend?!” Oliver and Bruce sounded equally shocked.

“You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut could ya” Jason looked smug as he spoke

“Oh its my fault is it? Care to explain what your kids we’re doing with your helmet singing -what was it” the smirk on Roy's face grew into a shit eating grin “Jason and Ro-oy sittin’ in a tree. k-i-s-s-“

“OKAY! Okay i get it” Jay shoved his head in his hands, the visible parts of his skin were bright red all the way to his ears

It would’ve been cute if dick wasn’t so disgusted.

“We caught him listening to a voicemail from you on repeat while on patrol and upon further inspection found this charm in his helmet” Steph spoke as Duke presented a polaroid of Roy and Lian at a theme park, dated to a week ago.

“I-“ before Jason could come up with any weak defence for himself, Hal spoke

“Okay we are so missing the important part of this.”

“And what might that be?” Diana spoke, her voice clearly amused

“Spooky said he wouldn’t be replaced by Green Arrow when Spoiler claimed he was their dad”

“Well, candy sticks.”

“Just say fuck Dickhead.”

“Fuck”

“You’re their Dad?!” Hal realized, pointing an accusing finger at Bruce.

“…”

“Nu-uh”

That is not what Dick wanted to hear from his father.

“OHMYGOD!”

“…”

“Mate, ya got an infestation”

“Hm”

“By that he means YOUVE GOT A SHIT LOAD OF KIDS!”

“Hm”

Soon the yelling broke out.

“OKAY! EVERYONE SHUT UP” Dick was so tired he didn’t even think before treating them like he did his siblings.

“We can have a calm discussion about this if you take turns and keep your voices down. Okay?”

Everyone nodded along

“Okay, who is first”

An annoyingly bright man raised his hand

“Yes Booster?”

“We might have heard of him in passing? Batman. The Batman?!”

“Haha yeah. Next!”

“Shayera”

“Why didn’t you tell us about your kids”

“Their safety is my priority. Plus I told Diana and Clark” Bruce's voice was nearly a whisper by the end.

Everyone turned to the two.

“Hi little ones!” Fiana called out, waving her hand above her head

“Hi auntie Di!” Red hood responded

“Okay who’s next!… anyone else…. Please……………okay Hal.”

“You're that little shit that keeps posting HalJordan slander on twitter! Duke Thomas-Wayne!” Halpointed at Duke

“Hey man, nothing personal. Just gotta keep up the rich kid agenda” he raised his hands defensively “not my fault you don't get nun…”

“Hey! I “get” plenty!”

“Never said you didn’t big guy” Duke winked as he slid behind the brick wall that is his older brother

“Why you little” Hal went to jump over the couch.

“Not. Another. Step” Jason raised a gun -from seemingly out of nowhere- in a startling reminder that they were talking to the red hood. Raised on the streets. Fighting crime by 12. Crime lord by the age of 17.

Despite the smooth metal being covered by pink hello kitty stickers and glitter, the threat held his weight.

“Jane here is still up for that introduction whenever you're ready Jordan”

“This explains the yellow nail polish” Bruce said when the lantern finally sat back down.

“Mhm”

“Okay! Any last questions”

“Arthur”

“May I ask who it was that converted all my backup suits to purple? It's quite tasteful however i'm curious on the technique on how they did it in what was surely limited time”

“A man of taste! Here this has my number on it, we will talk over coffee” Steph slid over her ‘business card’.

“Uh. This is a ditto pokemon card.”

“Potate-o potato”

“Okay last chance for questions!”

“I heard something about yellow nail polish?” Diana spoke.

“YES! C’mon Di, let’s go watch titanic, we can invite little lian too! It'll be great” Steph pulled wonder woman along, turning back to make a ‘call me’ signal at Aqua man

With that his siblings (plus roy) sauntered off leaving him with the league.

“Wait” god damnit Hal “if the signal is Duke Thomas Wayne doesn't that make spooky…”

Bruce got a swift punch to the gut from Ollie before the blonde ran after his son

“Oh hey Dad”

“Bruce leaned down to lend his eldest his ear”

Dick ran off with Ollie after muttering something to his dad.

His siblings have had all the fun while they were in his care, it was his turn to start some shit.

~~~

Bruce approached clark after his children cleared out

Clark: hey Bruce

Bruce: keep your son away from orphan or you don't want to know what will happen.

—-

That night clark sat kon down and gave him a talk about the birds and the bats