Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

At first no-one really noticed anything out of the ordinary. Yes, Cyborg would ask for Batman’s advice more than the others’ but, as Hal had reasoned, the kid was half a robot so of course he didn’t feel fear like the rest of them. But then Kid Flash joined the team and things only got weirder after that. It was Kid Flash’s first week that he was officially on the team and the first crisis he had to respond to with them. All in all, it was a pretty low level threat which resulted in some property damage and only a few minor injuries. That is to say, the mood in the briefing room afterwards was pretty relaxed. Even Superman’s speech was more of a good job everyone than an analysis of what could be improved. Without any questions or comments from the rest of the team Wonder Woman dismissed them. Because of the mood, the team didn’t immediately disperse and more than a few just stayed behind to mingle. Cyborg had already started talking to Batman and Flash approached his nephew to congratulate him on his first Justice League mission.

“You did good, Kid”, Flash proudly announced, “and that was some pretty good thinking when you phased that falling debris!”

“Thanks, Uncle Barry”, Kid Flash beamed and the next second he was standing next to Batman and Cyborg.

“B!” the young hero exclaimed, gathering everyone’s attention in the process, “Did you see how I phased that slab of concrete too?”

That was it, Barry thought, Wally was going to be buried in monitor duty for the rest of his life! What had even possessed the kid to interrupt Batman’s conversation like that in the first place? And use a nickname no less! Barry would be lucky if he didn’t have to explain to Iris why their speedster nephew had a batarang shaped scar in the very near future.

“I sure did”, Batman replied to everyone’s shock, “I was just telling Cyborg how both your Titans training really helped you in this one.”

“Aww B!” Wally cooed, confusing everyone else even more, “I’m gonna tell Wing you said that!”

“Who do you think he learned how to train from?” Cyborg deadpanned and was that a twitch Barry saw at Batman’s lips? Nope, it couldn’t be! Barry was sure that wasn’t what he saw. No way. Nuh uh. No. He knew better than to believe that. The speed force was probably glitching. Yeah, that was more likely.

The thing with Kid Flash was a fluke. That was what the Justice League had collectively decided. Kid Flash was so happy and bright and exuberant that even Batman was unwilling to rain on his parade. Maybe the Bat didn’t want to scare away the new addition to the team. Probably Superman had told him to tone the gloom down for the new recruit. Maybe he realized how intimidating he must be for the younger heroes. Maybe the last kid he’d saved in Gotham started crying in terror. It was bound to happen, right? It didn’t mean anything though. Because Batman was still the night and vengeance of Gotham. And no-one on the team dared ask him why he had no issue with Kid Flash calling him B or smiling his way or asking him stupid questions like whether he would rather have a grapple line snap or a batarang bend like foam. That’s just who Kid Flash was, charming to a fault.

But then Artemis joined the League. The first couple weeks were normal, unless one didn’t consider treating Batman like any other leaguer normal, which many did. But she was being polite and it wasn’t the weirdest thing they’d seen. Eventually she would see that the Batman wasn’t just any leaguer, just like they all had. And that was that, Oliver thought. Until exactly sixteen days after she’d joined the league. They were sitting in the common room, decompressing after a big training drill. And Artemis just sidled up to where Batman was sitting and plopped herself on the seat right next to him. As if it was the most casual thing in the world.

“So…” she began speaking, letting the word drag, and it took Hal an embarrassing four seconds to realize she was initiating conversation with Batman. “I’ve been invited to a Clocktower party?”

It wasn’t really a question but her voice rose in the end making it sound like one. And the whole Watchtower screeched to a halt. No-one even so much as dared breathe. Did she just say Batman had invited her to a party?

“That’s nice”, Batman commented as if this wasn’t life altering news, “the girls mentioned they were thinking about inviting some friends.”

Okay, Green Arrow thought with relief, Batman did not invite his young female protege to a dark Gotham party. But who were these girls? And what on earth was a clocktower party? All questions Oliver would have to find the answers to. However, more concerningly at the moment, Artemis kept looking at Batman as if getting a reply of more than three words wasn’t enough. And Oliver was really starting to get worried for her. Batman wasn’t known to entertain small talk.

“Just ask”, Batman prompted. It wasn’t exasperated or growled. Hal was starting to feel a bit insulted. Last time he’d tried to make small talk with the Bat all he got was a growled grunt.

“I, umm, what should I wear?” the young archer asked shyly and had everyone turn incredulous stares at her. Did she just ask the dark knight of Gotham for fashion advice? For a party?

“Hmm”, Batman hummed, making it obvious that he was actually considering the question, “Something comfortable. And dark.”

“Thanks B! You’re the best!” Artemis smiled and left without a glance at the dumbfounded superheroes around.

“Batman?” Green Arrow spoke after a few moments of silence, “Why is my protege asking you for fashion advice?”

“She wanted advice”, Batman growled flatly and it almost sounded condescending. The archer decided to drop it. It was good, after all, that the new members of the team felt comfortable around the Bat. They’d all been worried he would scare them off. So why was Oliver a bit jealous of his very own protege? No, Batman would have given him fashion advice if Arrow had asked, it was just that he never did.

It was a normal training day at the Watchtower, or as normal as a gathering of superheroes could be. This time the younger generations also joined in the training. Not that it was that unusual. Mutual training sessions ensured they worked better together when necessary. It also allowed the League to keep an eye on the younger heroes and scope out possible new recruits. However, the purpose of this specific training day was to promote teamwork between members of different teams. And what better way to do that than some friendly competition?

Thus everyone was going to have to spar with people that weren’t on the same team, or had a mentor/mentee relationship. This rule was met with excitement. An excitement that the senior members of the league couldn’t share after realizing that this meant that, in this session, Batman wasn’t allowed to spar with Nightwing or Red Hood or either of the Robins. They gathered around the training area, wondering which of their mentees would have the displeasure. This proved to be an especially distracting thought for some of the more curious members of the league. Hal was so lost in his thoughts that Nightwing had managed to steal his ring in their sparring match. And Barry didn’t want to admit it, but Robin had almost managed to trip him.

Diana wasn’t one of the distracted members. She knew Batman to be an honorable man who wouldn’t take advantage of this to shame nor mistreat a younger hero. Instead she enjoyed her match with Raven. The younger girl couldn’t match Wonder Woman’s fighting prowess, but was cleverly using her other strengths to overcome that imbalance. But then young Troia stepped onto the mat and confidently declared that she chose Batman as her sparring partner. The change in the atmosphere as Batman stepped on the mat was palpable. The younger heroes were excited to see the legendary Bat in action with someone that he hadn’t explicitly trained. Troia was smiling as if she was about to train with one of her sisters back on Themyscira. The senior league members exchanged concerned looks. And Batman was… Well, his face was as unreadable and stoic as ever.

“Troia, are you sure?” Wonder Woman asked. Her words weren’t filled with concern exactly, but it didn’t make a difference. The younger warrior’s shoulders squared with pride, her eyes glinting at the perceived challenge.

“Of course!”

“But he’s fully human”, Wonder Woman tried to reason with the girl, “wouldn’t you enjoy the fight better if it was with someone who could match your strength? Like Superman, perhaps?”

“No, he always holds back”, Troia complained with a pout, “Batman will not.”

“That’s what we’re afraid of”, someone mumbled under their breath and was summarily ignored. It was unclear whether that comment came from Hal or Oliver, but no-one cared to find out anyway.

“It’s alright, Wonder Woman”, Batman comforted, although it came out sounding more like an order, “It’s good for her to learn how to fight against people who can’t match her strength.”

The dark hero’s words were hard to argue against. Most present found themselves agreeing with the sentiment, especially the powered members who knew how much of a struggle it was to keep their powers in check in the heat of the battle. Yet the bat affiliated heroes’ reactions were quite curious. They all visibly stiffened, backs snapping straight, and although they nodded in agreement their eyes grew so cold it dropped the temperature of the room. It was as if they were daring anyone to try and harm their mentor. Hal shuddered to think what kind of monster the fearsome Bat would need protecting from.

“I suppose”, Wonder Woman agreed and stepped aside to let them fight.

The fight itself was swift. By the end Troia was smiling with excitement. Batman extended an arm for a handshake before leaving the mat. Troia ignored it, going in for a half hug instead. It only took a second, but it had the founders of the league at a loss.

“What just happened?” Flash quietly asked a stunned Hal, who couldn’t quite manage to close his mouth.

“I almost got you there”, Troia smiled proudly, accompanying her words with a small gesture mimicking the maneuver she was referencing.

“Sure did”, Batman agreed with a quiet murmur and patted her shoulder. Then he stepped off the mat.

It took Oliver a few seconds to realize he was called to the mat next.

Chapter Text

Hal was so late and it was all Barry’s fault. And fine, Hal shouldn’t have expected the speedster to be on time. The man was probably late to his own wedding. But couldn’t he be on time when they were supposed to meet Batman at the Teen Titan’s tower? Whatever, Hal reasoned, it wasn’t like the Bat wouldn’t just find something else to scowl at them about. Hal stepped out of the zeta with Barry in tow. And stopped in his tracks, Barry crashing into his back before he could realize the other hero had stopped moving. There in the middle of the big circular couch was Batman surrounded by smiling teenage superheroes with textbooks and notebooks opened in front of them on the coffee table.

“What the?” Barry started quietly, but stopped, too stunned to continue with the thought.

“You are late”, Robin scolded imperiously from his spot snuggled into Batman’s side. He looked like an angry cat.

“For like two minutes”, Raven mumbled with a roll of her eyes. It seemed like she was more trying to poke fun at Robin than come to the heroes’ defence, which Hal didn’t mind.

“Exactly!” Barry agreed quickly, “Besides, it looks like you’re having fun doing…” Barry took another look at the gathering, “What are you doing with Batman?”

“He’s helping us with our science homework”, Bart exclaimed excitedly.

“We could also help”, Hal offered, less out of politeness and more for everyone’s sake really. The poor kids didn’t need to be frightened into learning and it would do good for the leaguers to spend more time with the kids.

“That will not be necessary”, Robin sniffed.

“You sure buddy? Lantern here is an engineer and I’m a forensic scientist. I’m sure we could help.”

“It’s alright Gramps, with B’s help we’re done anyway”, Bart zipped up to his grandpa and hugged him. Barry was very confused about the whole scene he’d walked into, yet he hugged Bart back. And then he caught up with what the younger speedster had said, most specifically the nickname he had decided to use, and his mind almost short circuited. Why oh why did all his family want to risk maiming via Bat?

Superman was confused. Apprehensive, but also confused. When Flash had called him, Clark had expected a lot of things. A crisis of some sort, an emergency at the tower, or maybe a request for help in Central City. What he did not expect was Flash informing him that he had to go to the Watchtower to save his son from Batman. One could say this was unexpected, confusing and curious and neither would be an understatement. Yet Clark wasn’t exactly in the mood to rush to the Watchtower. Mainly because he didn’t need whatever lecture that Jon was deservedly getting to be spilling over on to him. Cowardly? Lois might think so. But Clark knew the dark knight never gave lectures undeservedly, and he wouldn’t want to accidentally shield his son from one that was probably needed.

Yet as Clark slowly walked to the common room, he didn’t hear any lecturing. Instead Jon was laughing? Clark turned the corner to find his son finishing a small bowl of ice cream and smiling up at the cowled hero. For a moment he found himself wanting to use his x-ray vision to make sure it was actually Batman sitting there. But then he remembered he didn’t know who Batman was underneath the cowl, respecting people’s privacy and all that, so he refrained from doing that.

“Dad! B let me ride in the Batmobile!” Jon called out excitedly.

“He did?” Superman asked cautiously reluctantly while trying to understand why his son had been in Gotham and how Batman was apparently fine with it.

“Yeah!” the young superhero confirmed with a big smile and then turned to Batman. “Can dad join us next time?”

“Jon…” Superman tried to intervene before whatever calm spell Batman was under broke and his scowl returned.

“Please B!” Jon pleaded and damn was Superman going to be into trouble once the kid left.

“Hmm” Batman hummed with his usually gravelled voice, “We’ll see.”

Batman ruffled the kid’s hair and stood up to make his way towards the zetas. To Superman’s astonishment, Jon flew up from his chair and right into Batman’s chest, wrapping the caped crusader in a hug. An actual hug, not the half hug Troia had gone for that day in training. And Batman hugged the kid back. That was it! Clark was going to find Flash immediately. Whatever he’d done to the timeline again, he was going to have to fix it! For the leaguers’ mental health if nothing else.

Oliver was on edge. It wasn’t a good day really. Roy had just informed him that he was leaving Star City and taking Lian with him. They didn’t get a chance to talk about it more because their phones beeped in an emergency. The following fight wasn’t a good one for Oliver either. His arrows were useless in the kind of close quarters the villains had forced them into. And now Oliver was sporting a black eye, that he was going to have to hide from the paparazzi, and three broken ribs. Possibly. He didn’t know, the third might just be cracked a bit.

Roy didn’t talk to him the whole fight, which he could understand. And didn’t even say a word when Oliver tried to approach him before debriefing either, which Oliver didn’t understand. He thought things between them were well enough that they were past this. When the debrief was over, Oliver tried to get to Roy again. Only Roy didn’t even turn to look at him, instead he walked up to Batman. And that’s how Oliver found himself eavesdropping to his son’s conversation with Batman. So yes, one could say that Oliver was very much on edge.

“Sorry to be coming to you with this here”, Roy was telling Batman, who apparently wasn’t scowling at the younger archer.

“Is this about Hood’s case?” Batman asked quietly.

“Um kinda”, Roy admitted, “I’m joining the outlaws permanently.”

“You know you don’t need my permission, right?” Batman sounded supportive? What kind of alternate reality had Oliver walked into this time?

“Yeah I know. What I’m trying to say is that I’m going to be moving to Gotham permanently.”

Oliver’s hand fisted so tightly his nails bid into his skin. Why didn’t Roy tell him? And why Gotham of all places?

“Then I look forward to working with you”, Batman said and that was practically the warmest welcome coming from the Bat, Oliver knew. When did Batman grow so close with Oliver’s own son?

“Thanks”, Arsenal smiled and Batman nodded, “I uh …”

“You didn’t just want my blessing to come to Gotham, did you?”

“No”, Roy shook his head lightly, “I wouldn’t be asking normally, but I’m taking Lian with me and I don’t want to move to just any neighborhood especially in a city like Gotham.”

“You can move in”, Batman replied unphased, as if a random hero asked him to room with him everyday. As if he was used to having little kids live with him at a moment’s notice! What on earth was going on? Oliver wondered not for the first time since he began listening to this absurd conversation.

“You sure?” Roy insisted and Batman merely nodded as if Roy’s question offended him, “Only until I find a decent apartment.”

“Take your time”, Batman didn’t insist exactly. It sounded more like a gruff order, but Roy’s lips lifted at the corners.

“You might regret this, you know”, Roy teased Batman! That was it, Oliver was completely lost! “Li’s been talking about Alfie’s cookies ever since I told her we were moving to Gotham.”

“And you think you were any better when you were a kid?” Batman teased back and the world stopped with a record scratch as Oliver processed what Batman had said.

“Wait a minute here!” Oliver called out loud enough to get the attention of everyone in the busy conference room. “When did you meet Arsenal as a kid?”

“Are you kidding me?” Roy exclaimed, “I told you I was staying over at Nightwing’s so many times!”

And that was without mentioning all the times he had visited as Oliver Queen’s ward, but Roy had refrained from mentioning that information on purpose.

“What’s Nightwing got to do with this?” Flash asked, eyes glued to his nephew in hopes of a clue or explanation that the redheaded speedster didn’t give.

“I’m his son”, Nightwing said in a bored voice, as if he didn’t just drop the biggest bomb on the entire superhero community. Okay, it was just the original leaguers really, but Oliver, Barry and Hal didn’t quite know that yet.

“His son!” Hal exclaimed in shock.

“Father”, Robin addressed Batman with his head held high like a prince, “I told you they were incompetent.”

“Incompetent!” Flash exclaimed.

“Father!” Oliver yelled at the same time, “Just how many kids do you have?”

“What’s the count at now? Seven? Eight?” Artemis mused in a teasing tone.

“Hey! I’m not his kid!” Spoiler exclaimed, with a playful scowl at the blonde archer’s direction.

“Technically”, Kid Flash smiled like this was an inside joke. Judging by the smiles and snickering produced from the younger generations of heroes, they were all in on it.

“Wait a minute!” Flash interrupted, so shocked it was a miracle he managed to keep himself in normal speed. “Why do all our kids know this?”

“Because we’ve all been to his place” Beast Boy said slowly as if he didn’t believe he had to spell it out for the leaguers, “We’ve been friends with his kids for ages.”

“How?” that was Hal, sounding as if the concept of friendship was foreign to him.

“Wing needed peers to socialize with so I allowed him to invite Kid Flash over”, Batman sighed dramatically, drawing teasing snickers from most of the kids, “and then more kids kept visiting and they never stopped.”

“That’s ‘cause you keep adopting every orphan you come across”, Spoiler teased.

“I’m not an orphan”, Robin insisted haughtily and Hal wondered for a moment which woman would sleep with the Vengeance of Gotham. And then promptly shut this thought down immediately because he didn’t want to know, not really.

“As much as I hate to agree with the demon spawn, I wasn’t an orphan when I became Robin either”, Red Robin added with a frown.

“You still got adopted so it doesn’t count”, Spoiler argued and showed her tongue at him.

There were so many things Oliver wanted to say, but didn’t voice them as he caught sight of the lift of Batman’s lips. Why did that look so familiar? It vanished as quickly as it appeared and with it Oliver’s consideration of it. There was so much more information for him to process at the moment.

“As fun as this is”, Batman’s growled voice almost hid the dry sarcasm dripping from his tone, “I got to get going.”

Batman nodded at Supernam and Wonder Woman and then turned to Roy and even though his eyes were hidden by the lenses of his cowl Roy knew there was a teasing glint in them.

“And tell Li she can have Alfie’s cookies whenever she wants.”

With that little statement, Batman flipped his cape and started to make his way to the zetatubes, half the younger generations’ heroes following behind him at the promise of those cookies.

“Who’s Alfie?” Oliver demanded.

“My butler”, Batman casually said over his shoulder. Roy knew what he was doing. He was giving Oliver a clue, a chance to figure it out so that there would still be a neutral line of communication between the estranged archers.

“Who?” Oliver asked Roy instead.

“If you didn’t figure it out yet you’re hopeless”, Roy shook his head at his father. And really, how many people in Gotham even had butlers anymore? And how many of those could possibly be named Alfred or any of its variations?

A week later Wayne Manor received a call from one Mr. Oliver Queen, who wasn’t calling to talk to his friend but the butler instead.

“What would you like to talk about Mister Queen?” Alfred asked in his usual unfappable manner.

“Alfred? Does Bruce know you’re moonlighting as Batman’s butler?” Oliver demanded, his tone betraying the protectiveness he felt for his friend. It was a testament to the englishman’s impeccable manners that he did not end the call right then and there.