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It all starts after a really long press conference over the future of Wayne Enterprises. Tim Drake has been up on that stage answering questions for hours and his brain feels like a bucket of mush. No wonder Bruce was so happy to give this up, he thinks as he finally gets to climb down the stairs.
The press has already left the building, satisfied with all their questions either being answered or expertly dodged by Tim so good that they didn’t realize they didn’t have a clear answer. People have caught on that Batman and his associates exclusively use Wayne Tech so naturally he was asked repeatedly about it.
He’d been giving classic press answers about WE wanting to help the city in every way they can and that their tech was top of the line and blah blah blah. All he wants to do now is go home and collapse on his bed until patrol time.
Yes, this press conference (and the fact that he hasn’t slept for longer than twenty minute increments in over three days) knocked him out so badly he is actually wanting to sleep, in a bed, like a normal person.
He can already hear his family’s gloating.
Distantly, he wonders if Kon is busy. Kon’s the most touchy boyfriend (or girlfriend for that matter) Tim’s ever had, and takes every available opportunity to get his hands on Tim, who absolutely loves it. If Kon’s not busy, he’ll be climbing through the window seconds after Tim calls him to say it’s nap time.
And Tim sleeps so much better with Kon around. He’s never thought he had a problem with sleep before–fine, he’s not been good at sleeping, but he doesn’t really see any issue with it, he’ll take his micro naps and his caffeine and be fine, thank you. But he can’t deny how good he feels after waking up from hours of sleep, wrapped in Kon’s arms.
Must be some Kryptonian magic or something.
“The car is waiting at the curb,” Tam says, dragging Tim from thoughts of his expensive mattress and a certain leather jacket wearer on it. “All you have to do is make it through the group outside the door.”
Tim groans but draws himself up to be the picture perfect teenage CEO of a billion dollar company (like those are common). He had somehow forgotten about the press that hadn’t made it inside. They all crowd the doors before and after events to try to get a quote for their shitty articles no one will read. Like sharks, Tim thinks bitterly.
Putting on a small smile, Tim walks through the front doors to WE after security pushes them open and faces the crowd. Immediately, there’s yelling and his name being called from every direction. It’s disorienting, the calls of “Mr. Wayne!” and “Mr. Drake!” that somehow mean him. Not Bruce and Jack.
Him.
He gives a little PR wave and starts the ten-yard walk of hell to his getaway car. Distantly, he can hear the questions being asked to him. He still hasn’t quite managed to tune out the press after all these years, maybe it’s a little piece of paranoia that stops him, that need to know what people are saying, what they’re thinking. If they made any sort of connections pointing to his and his family’s double lives.
So he can hear whenever someone, God knows who it was in this mass of shouts and camera flashes, yells: “Mr. Wayne, is Bruce Wayne dating Batman?”
Caught off guard and so, so tired, Tim’s step falters. His head turns in the direction of the question and a grin sneaks across his face before he can stop it. It’s just so ridiculous. Bruce dating Batman. Bruce dating himself.
“Is that a yes, Mr. Wayne?!” The voice calls again, this time sounding awed.
Tim pulls himself together and walks the rest of the way to the car without saying a word. He gives another little PR smile before gratefully sliding in and shutting the door. It’s about this point where he realizes he never wiped the grin off his face. In the empty back of a car, he laughs loudly and freely, that stupid question rattling around in his head.
Naturally, within minutes, a video of the question and his reaction went viral everywhere.
The next day, Jason’s in the goddamn grocery store buying ingredients to make Roy’s favorite dinner when a guy with a camera runs at him. He’s in a good mood, a genuine good mood, a soft smile dancing on his lips.
It’s his one year anniversary.
For a lot of couples, one year is exciting, it’s a milestone of love. For Roy and Jason, it’s goddamn insane. Unheard of. Neither of them had ever lasted in a relationship this long before, nor had either of them wanted to.
Jason’s hardly dated. He finds opening up to someone incredibly difficult, and if it’s not a hero who he can tell about what really matters to him, then there’s no point. There will always be this death-shaped secret between them. Not to mention the amount of injuries he would never be able to explain because Jason is what his family likes to call “impulsive” and puts his body on the line more than he should to stop criminals.
Roy’s completely different. Jason’s never shocked anymore whenever Roy tells him about someone else from his past. Hell, Roy dated Jason’s brother. But all those relationships never lasted long enough to reach this one year celebration. Roy said he loved some of them, he did, but something wasn’t right and he wasn’t able to commit after a little while, or he got broken up with. And after he fell in love with Jason, he couldn’t think about anyone else seriously, forget long term.
Jason’s never been jealous of Roy’s colorful past, if anything, he gets a petty little thrill in him whenever he sees someone Roy’s been with. Because Jason’s the one who gets to have him, gets to love him, and gets to get his love in return. He can’t speak for Roy, but he’s in this for the long haul, and based on what sweet nothings Roy is very prone to saying, he’s hopeful that Roy is too.
God, Jason feels so damn domestic walking down a grocery store aisle, pushing his cart. During the bad years and even for a while after that, he never thought he could have this, never even dreamed about it. But damnit, does he love it.
He picks up a pack of Lian’s favorite candy and turns to put it in the cart when the man appears. Suddenly, there’s a camera in his face. He tenses and has to restrain his instincts to punch it until it smashes, and then deck the man holding it.
“Mr. Wayne!” The man gushes excitedly. Yeah, Jason might punch him after all. Fuck, he is not Mr. Wayne. “Is it true that Bruce Wayne is dating Batman?”
Jason knows exactly what he’s talking about. He saw the video of Tim last night, laying with Roy and Lian on their couch. Roy and Jason laughed their asses off at the question and Tim’s reaction. When he calmed down, he texted Tim a ‘nice going’ and Tim only responded with a middle finger emoji.
So yeah, maybe that’s another reason for his good mood.
The public called Tim’s smile knowing, saying he confirmed the relationship even without words. And the public were dogs with a bone. If anything the news wasn’t bad, the media caught on to WE’s involvement with Gotham’s capes, them thinking Bruce was screwing himself was better than thinking Bruce was Batman.
Because of his good mood, Jason cuts the man some slack and takes the easy opening to mess with Bruce. “You know,” He begins, tapping his finger thoughtfully against his chin. “I did think the guy in a black cape at the dinner table was a little weird, but knowing Bruce, I figured he just adopted someone else. But with the guy’s age, I guess dating does make more sense.”
The next time someone approaches a Wayne-kid, it’s two days later.
Dick’s in town for a couple of days. Honestly, he spends just as much time in Gotham as he does in Blüdhaven lately. He just really, really loves his family. Sure, they’re a mess, and fights are pretty common, but he wouldn’t trade them for anything. He has so much love in his heart for Bruce, Alfred, and his siblings.
He practically melts whenever they get all sweet, because they can get touchy, but not really touchy-feely, not nearly as much as Dick wants them to.
That’s why now he’s nearly a mess on the floor watching Damian laugh and stroke a cat the way a villain would. He’s so damn adorable. Damian’s clearly in his own little world, surrounded by a litter of kittens and the mama, not caring that one probably peed on the bottom of his expensive suit jacket.
Damian, at his big age of fourteen, decided he was going to take after his father and open a charity. It’s a good cause, and it is good PR for the family, for himself, which he desperately needs after a video of him trying to beat the shit out of Tim a couple years ago went viral recently and the media is calling him cold-hearted because he has this ability of making everything he says sound like an insult. The press is tired of his attitude, so they turned him into a monster.
Bruce nearly burned down the Gazette building after they published an article where they called Damian a “demon-brat”. The name was taken directly from videos of his siblings calling him that, and turned it into a huge deal, saying he was ripping Gotham’s royal family apart.
Yes, nearly every family member at one point called Damian that, and yes, most of them still do, but it’s not with malice. Not anymore at least. It totally was in the beginning, but they love him now that he adjusted to his new life in Gotham and they got to know him better. He’s their little brother and siblings tease each other. Jason fondly uses Dickface and a variety of Tim nicknames when addressing his brothers. Damian still calls Tim useless but it lacks any bite anymore.
It’s just what siblings do.
So, after a very long and very tense family meeting about Damian’s recent media status as a fourteen year old demon from hell, they decided some good PR would get everyone to calm down. (And Bruce directly banned the use of nicknames that can be in any way taken negatively in public. He’d like them to stop in private, too, but there’s zero chance of that. Besides, it’s how some of them show their love.)
Damian naturally decided on something involving animals. Dick remembers how his face lit up when he thought about an animal rescue. After seeing that look on his youngest brother’s face, Dick fought every obstacle that opposed them. Bruce was skeptical because, well, it’s Gotham. It was hard to get people to care about other people, how could anyone expect them to care about animals? Damian argued back, saying that was the point, no one else helped the poor, defenseless animals, so he was going to.
It took a while, not nearly as long as it would have if they were not Bruce Wayne’s kids, to get a building and a staff that Damian demanded get paid, and handsomely at that, despite it being a non-profit organization.
It opened weeks ago, and Damian stops by at least once a week to check in on the animals. He has such pleasure being around them, so much so that even he can’t keep the poker face when he pets the cats and throws balls for the dogs to chase.
The media turn around was instant, all of them ran to praise the youngest Wayne child for his good deed at such a young age. Dick wondered if they would think it was just a PR stunt, but the pictures that came out of events with Damian’s smiles…no one even ventured to think they were fake. After all, he’d been in Gotham for years and had never been seen to have such a soft look on his face.
Dick likes to be the one to take Damian to the rescue. He feels like he earned it after being the one who really pulled the strings to get this operation up and running. Damian could have done it by himself easily, but no one took fourteen year olds seriously in business.
Damian even personally vets every application for adoption to make sure the animal goes to a good home. He’s learned so much about computers from Barbara, and stalking people online and in person with a camera via Tim. It’s gotten to the point where Damian will deviate from his patrol at least once every night he’s out to check out an applicant.
Jason laughed himself hoarse whenever he found out about this. He elbowed Tim and said, “he’s about that age, huh, stalker?” Tim had kneed him in retaliation with a bright red face. Then Jason made Tim bring him along when Tim bought a camera for Damian. Damian had been stealing Tim’s and switching his SD card out each time, which was annoying, so Tim decided to buy him his own camera. He was pleased his brother was taking to photography, and ignored when Jason teased that Damian was taking after his stalker tendencies as well.
So here Damian is, a six-week-old kitten purring in his arms while he pets her fluffy back in a decidedly villain-esc way. Dick is sitting down near him, also playing with the kittens, but mostly watching his little brother. Damian’s just so soft around animals in a way that he never is with humans, and it makes Dick want to grab him and squeeze.
It’s all nice and peaceful until a man with a camera makes his way past security to the back room where the two brothers are. “Mr. Waynes!” He gasps, sounding out of breath from his run past security. “What are your opinions on your father dating Batman?”
Dick tries to bite his lip to contain a smile and absolutely fails.
Damian, meanwhile, glares and pulls his lip up in disgust. “Who my father dates is none of your business,” he snaps, hugging the kitten closer to his chest like he can protect it from this strange man. It makes Dick’s smile even brighter.
“But,” Dick chirps, gleefully. “We want him to be happy!”
He’s seen what Tim and Jason have done to the media and far be it for him to turn down a great prank on B. He’s not going to put this silly thing to bed, no no. He’ll grab a can of gasoline and throw it on the fire.
“If he’s happy, then so are we,” He adds.
It’s not a direct ‘oh yeah, they’re dating’, but it might as well be. And the thing is, he means it completely. He wants Bruce to find someone. He knows first hand how amazing it is to have someone to love and care about you, of course he wants that for his dad. And hell, it’s like Bruce is married to Batman anyway! They’ve had a long and somewhat toxic marriage of over twenty years and there’s absolutely no divorce in sight. Whenever his kids ask him why he’s single, his comeback is always that he’s married to Gotham already, so is it really Dick’s fault if he implies that?
Damian looks over at Dick but seems to get the memo to not end this thing. He tuts at the camera guy. “This is an animal rescue, if you are not here to volunteer or adopt, the door is behind you. I’m sure you remember where, seeing as you ran through it without permission.”
That’s about when security gets a hold of the man and drags him out of the building.
Later that night, Cassandra has her dance recital. She has the longest solo, which is so deserved considering she’s leagues better than anyone else. But it’s apparently not a competition, according to her. Stephanie thinks that’s total bs. It is a competition to get the solo after all, and Cass did win it. Hello, logic?
She’s so graceful, up on the stage. Steph is rendered starstruck every time she watches her. Like, yeah, the other girls are beautiful and move their bodies in ways that are very impressive, but Cass stands out among them.
It’s the way she loses herself in the dance, Steph thinks. It’s that peaceful look on her face. It’s the way her body is in complete and total harmony. It’s how she can move in ways no one else can. It’s the grace that can’t be taught.
Steph remembers the first time she saw Dick on the trapeze. Her mouth had fallen open, and she sat there and stared at him as he did his little routine. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. There was such fluidity to him, such confidence.
The first time she watched Cass dance was similar, only so much worse. Steph was starstruck. Absolutely rendered speechless watching the other girl move. She thinks she fell in love right there. Cass hadn’t even known she was in the room, as she had been mid-routine when Steph stuck her head in. After noticing her, Cass asked her thoughts and Steph had choked and sputtered, bright red in the face. Real smooth, Brown.
This newfound ability to trip over her tongue and get all splotchy around the other girl carried on for weeks to Steph’s dismay. It made patrol hell, and she even once got knocked on the head with a pipe because she got distracted watching Cass fight.
Waking up from that knockout was embarrassing to say the least.
And like it’s totally deserved, she can admit that. It’s karma for how ruthlessly she teased Tim over his thing for Kon. She couldn’t imagine why Tim’s eyes locked on Kon whenever they were in the same room, couldn’t get why Tim looked at Kon like he hung the fucking sun in the sky.
And then suddenly she could.
That little gloating smile on Tim’s face whenever Steph woke up with a pounding head was so annoying, but so deserved.
Steph and Cass have been together almost two years now, but Steph is still breathless watching Cass. God, she loves her. And is so, so proud of her.
When the recital ends, Steph makes her way backstage with her bouquet of flowers. It’s a damn beautiful bouquet if she’s ever seen one. And completely handpicked. Tim owed her a favor so she borrowed his boyfriend to fly her around to wildflower patches all over the eastern seaboard and the Midwest yesterday until it was perfect.
She even picked some strawberries and covered them in chocolate for their super cool date tonight.
Although she about lost it because Wally stole half of them and Dick wouldn’t admit to it since Steph “didn’t see him, so don’t slander his good name”. The fucker had chocolate on his lip when he said it. Watch whose uniform goes missing and has to wear sparkly Robin booty shorts until Bruce gets back from his JL off-world mission.
Whenever Bruce is gone from the manor for at least a few days, absolute chaos breaks out. Dick’s usually over to ‘help Alfred’, although he ends up causing more trouble, and he brings Wally because Bruce usually runs Wally out of Gotham and the speedster loves the Batcave. Kon always comes into Gotham whenever he wants, much to Bruce’s annoyance, but he actually stays at the manor with Tim when B’s gone, it’s probably just because he can. Jason even spends the night in his old room sometimes since Lian loves running around the manor grounds and Roy likes the duck pond. One time Kon brought Jon with him and the younger Kent immediately became enamored with Damian and followed him around the whole visit like a puppy which was so adorable.
Steph has a room at the manor but she hardly uses it, Cass too. When B’s gone, they sometimes come over to run around the halls without getting told to slow down or they’ll break something. (Alfred's always too busy with everything else going on.)
It gets worse whenever Tim invites Cassie and Bart too, or when Donna and Kori come over. It’s like a total circus with an obscene amount of metas that would make B lose his damn mind. Although there is a limit to who is allowed. Strictly only people who know the batfam’s identities, all their identities, which that number is way higher than it’s supposed to be.
Dick told the Teen Titans years ago back in his Robin days and Tim told Young Justice also back when Jason nearly killed him. Well, saying Tim told them is not exactly correct, but they found out after the fight.
So due to the limit, poor Duke can’t invite anyone over, he hasn’t been in the superhero scene long enough to make hero friends outside the family and family’s friends. Luckily, Bart gets a kick out of Duke’s abilities and whenever he’s over he drags Duke to hang out with them.
“Hey, babe!” Steph gushes now, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend, pressing kisses onto any part of her face and neck she can reach. “You were so amazing.” She pulls back enough to hold out the bouquet she spent so much effort into not messing up just to almost crush it in excitement at seeing Cass.
Cass, a wide smile on her face, takes the flowers, her gaze running over them approvingly. “They’re beautiful,” She murmurs.
“Yeah well, they’re pretty lackluster from where I’m standing,” Steph jokes, but it’s not really a joke, because who cares about some dead plants when there’s something even more beautiful in front of her.
Cass’ eyes get so soft when she smiles at Steph. It’s something that Steph loves to see. Cass has these moments sometimes where self doubt creeps in and fears from her childhood of her being a monster come back. Steph’ll never, ever think she’s a monster, especially since she has so much evidence of how kind Cass’ soul really is.
It takes a while before the two of them leave. The rest of the Wayne family in attendance found Cass to extend their much-deserved praise and then all fucked off, either because it was patrol time, or because they had to put their boyfriend’s kid to bed and got cooed out of the room with two middle fingers in the air.
Most of what press had been in attendance and stalking the doors have left by the time Steph and Cass finally make their way outside. What’s left is a small group who shoot their cameras up the second they finally find who they are looking for.
“Miss Wayne!” One of them calls. “Any comment on your father’s relationship with a vigilante?”
Steph’s mood sours.
Like, yes, the whole thing is absolutely hilarious and Bruce will totally be ripping his hair out when he gets back to Earth, but like read the room?
“Who cares who Bruce macks lips with?” She snaps. “Ask Cass about her solo like real reporters, not gossip hungry children.”
The group looks stunned. They certainly weren’t talking to Steph in the first place, and they likely don’t care about ballet, which is a damn shame. Well, if they’re going to get any statement tonight, it’s going to be about the fucking performance.
Cass’ lip tugs up after one of the sharks pulls herself together enough after a long moment of silence to ask: “So, Miss Wayne, how do you like ballet?”
Duke pulls off a really clean casper flip before he sees the guy with the camera.
In the past, Duke was never crazy about skateboarding, it’s always been something he’s liked, but he’s never been one to hang out at skateparks often and spend hours outside learning a new trick. He didn’t take his board with him when he moved into Wayne Manor about a year ago.
A couple of months ago, Duke was bored, and Alfred saw that he had nothing to do, so he enlisted him to help clean out some of the junk in the Manor. It turns out Bruce is a giant hoarder. Especially when it comes to his kids’ old things.
Duke felt weird sifting through boxes of his sort-of siblings' past belongings. He wasn’t much help to Alfred at all because he didn’t want to throw any of it in the donation pile. What if they ended up wanting it and found out Duke gave it away instead?
Alfred released him from his duty on the condition that he take whatever he wanted from the pile he was making. Duke felt weird about taking anything, but Alfred wasn’t having it. Eventually, Duke had grabbed a really sick skateboard and run off.
Whenever he gets bored and doesn’t have anything else to do, he finds himself on a patch of concrete, riding around or kick-flipping. He has to admit, it’s pretty fun. It also reminds him of simpler times, of his mom kissing his head and telling him to be home before dark as he left for the skatepark.
One day not too long ago, Tim found him. When Tim said that was his old board, Duke apologized and tried giving it back. Tim only wanted to know what tricks he knew. They spent hours out there before Alfred called them inside to eat.
It turns out that Tim’s amazing at skateboarding. It’s just a hobby that he doesn’t have much time for anymore, but Tim’s amazing at everything he does. Since that day, whenever he has time, he brings his board over and they mess around, Tim teaching him some harder tricks and Duke returning the favor happily when he knows one the other boy doesn’t.
Even after a year in the Manor and family, Duke doesn’t always feel like he belongs. He’s well aware his pseudo-siblings know each other way more than they know him. And they do include him in stuff and even go out of their way to spend time with him (especially Dick). Finding a hobby that he has in common with one of the Waynes is like coming across a gold mine.
He’s had so much fun with Tim.
A few days ago, Tim took him and Damian to buy plain boards. Damian found them a couple of times before but only just decided to join in about a week ago. Tim looked very pleased and claimed they needed to get him his own board, and then had the idea that they should all customize boards together.
So they spent an entire afternoon painting and talking while music played. It was a really nice day. Tim even claimed he couldn’t get part of his design to look quite right, which made Damian roll his eyes and do it himself. Tim grinned at Duke over his head, showing him that that was his plan all along.
Duke doesn’t feel like he belongs, but being around these two helps. He’s well aware they both have their own insecurities about their places in the family, and strangely enough, it makes him feel closer to them.
He doesn’t miss the look on Damian’s face when Tim talks to Bruce about WE business, or when Bruce praises Dick for volunteering time at the local kids gymnastic school, or when Bruce reads a book just to talk to Jason about it, or when Bruce spars with Cass and compliments her on her technique. He knows it’s a look of feeling inadequate.
He’s heard when Tim’s dead on his feet and Bruce suggests staying the night in his room at the Manor and Tim saying: “Are you sure, B? I don’t want to intrude.” And seen that fond but sad look on Bruce’s face as he tells Tim yet again that the Manor is Tim’s home too and leads him upstairs, not taking no for an answer.
He’s had his own moments throughout the past year of feeling like a burden only for Bruce to grip his shoulder with a soft smile on his face and tell him how happy he is that Duke is here. It’s a lot. Still. It probably always will be.
He has his parents, even if they are unreachable, and Bruce isn’t trying to replace them, only give him a safe place to live and a guardian to care for him. It means a lot.
Duke hadn’t been able to take his new custom board out yet until today when he called up Izzy and met her at their favorite park. He showed her the bottom side, proud of the way it looks despite him being more of a writer than a painter. He knows this piece of wood will always be something special to him.
They’ve been out for nearly an hour by the time the man makes his way over. Duke doesn’t like that he’s here. He knows why he is and what he’s going to ask, he’s not stupid after all. It’s been the talk of the family since Tim’s grin went viral. But it’s uncomfortable that he found him in a random Gotham skatepark.
The man points his camera right at Duke’s face when he gets close enough. “Duke Thomas! Why hasn’t Bruce Wayne been seen since his relationship with Batman became public?”
Duke’s been asked about the Bruce and Batman thing left and right at school, sometimes the person asking is recording, sometimes they’re not, but either way it makes him feel awkward. He doesn’t want to be talking about Bruce behind his back. It does help that this particular piece of gossip is not real and therefore Duke can’t give away any of his personal secrets.
Plus Jason’s told him if anyone asks, he should make up the most horrendous shit to reply with. Dick responded to that by telling him to not do that, but rather misdirect in a semi-truthful fashion.
“Um,” Duke looks down at the camera nearly shoved up his nose. “He’s been out of town.”
“Why hasn’t he issued any statement on it?” The man presses.
“Pretty sure he can choose to share what he wants to about his personal life.” Duke doesn’t like this guy. He also hates that people can be so rude to the Waynes, calling them spoiled rich brats, when in reality they risk their lives every night for other people.
The man gives him an unimpressed look from behind the camera. “The people of Gotham deserve to know.”
Duke’s eyebrows pull together. “No?”
“Hey, I have a question,” Izzy speaks up. “Why are you at a skatepark with a bunch of minors holding a camera?”
The man leaves pretty quickly after that.
+1
“Hey, Spooky!” Hal calls as the ship doors open.
Bruce almost wants to shut them and take right back off to the alien planet he and Clark spent over a week on. That’s not the sight you want to be greeted with.
“Hi, Hal,” Clark, ever the nice one, responds with a wave.
Hal smiles at him, the smile failing to reach kind and lands somewhere more on the crazy scale. That can’t be good. “Boy Scout.” He directs his attention back to Bruce who has now left the ship and started to make his way through the halls to upload his mission report.
“Congrats are in order,” Hal continues, falling into step with him.
“For what?” Bruce bites out. All he wants to do is land, plug in the damn USD, and go the hell home to his family. He doesn’t want to be sidetracked.
“Dating a billionaire, duh.”
Bruce ignores him and keeps walking. He doesn't know what he’s talking about, but he’s sure it’s something stupid. Speculation about Batman’s personal life is everywhere and there’s always new rumor people swear to be true. Hal probably heard one of them and ran with it.
“Billionaire?” Clark echoes.
“Yeah, sorry your work husband has an actual husband, Supes.”
“You don’t say?” Clark sends an amused look Bruce’s way.
They walk into the main computer room. Oliver’s sitting in the chair, gesturing to something on the screen. Dinah sits next to him looking like she’s trying to not laugh. When Bruce sees what’s on the screen, his step halts in surprise.
It’s a news article, headlined: “Bruce Wayne’s Children on His Relationship With The Dark Knight”.
“Ha!” Hal claps his hands together. “It is real. You wouldn’t have been surprised if it wasn’t.”
“Oh my,” Clark whispers as he takes it in.
Oliver turns in his chair and makes a what the fuck look at Bruce. “Batman, you’re dating Bruce Wayne?”
Bruce pulls himself together. Honestly, it’s not the whole him dating him thing that stopped him, it’s his kids’ faces on the screen. He’s dealt with speculation about his two sides being together before, it’s something that a shocking amount of people in Gotham seem to want. But he’s never seen his children pulled into it so blatantly.
Bruce walks over to the computer. He even shoves Oliver’s chair out of the way without thinking so he can take over control of the mouse. Oliver, Dinah, and Hal are all shocked at the maneuver. Batman doesn’t go around elbowing leaguers like a child fighting over a tablet.
Telling himself being concerned is stupid, he skims the article. It’s basic speculation, the WE tech being the main point and the writer goes on to say that the Wayne kids confirmed the relationship. Now, no one knows how well the media can twist words quite like Bruce does, so he knows this is all a bunch of bogus probably, but it’s his kids.
There are five videos linked to the article. He ignores the group watching him curiously and presses play on the first video. It’s Tim leaving a press conference. Bruce remembers Tim telling him about it before he left for his mission. He hears the ridiculous question and watches Tim stop in a way that’s reminiscent of what Bruce just did.
And then Tim grins. It’s the grin people make when they know something you don’t. It’s no wonder the media were all over it. He doesn’t say anything, he just keeps walking, the grin firmly on his face.
Bruce clicks to the next video. He’s immediately not happy to see someone accosted Jason in a supermarket. Jason hates media attention. Anytime paparazzi or reporters come near him, he gets pissed. It’s understandable considering how insane they were when he legally came back to life. All the years between his death and that moment were what the reporters were desperate to know.
“You know, I did think the guy in a black cape at the dinner table was a little weird, but knowing Bruce I figured he just adopted someone else. But with the guy’s age, I guess dating does make more sense.”
Bruce huffs a laugh at the stupid answer. He can’t help it.
Behind him, Oliver and Hal are looking at him like he grew horns.
The next video is Dick and Damian at Damian’s animal shelter. Bruce feels affection rise up in his chest watching his youngest son hold a kitten and glare daggers into an annoying reporter. And Dick’s sitting there grinning like the cat that caught the canary. He knows his son well enough to see the mischief in his eyes when he says: “If he’s happy, then so are we.”
“Shithead,” Bruce mumbles while Clark lets out a loud laugh.
The fourth video is Steph and Cass after Cass’ recital. Bruce hates missing her performances. Ballet is something that means so much to her and it breaks Bruce’s heart when he can’t be there to watch her. Normally, he does everything he can to make it, but this trip was last minute and completely unavoidable for him.
His lips quirk up watching Stephanie berate the question asker. Good, he thinks. Cass deserves to be on the front page of every newspaper, all of them showering her in love for her skills. She doesn’t need her moment eclipsed by some idiot asking about her father banging Batman.
“What the fuck,” Hal whispers, shocked, at the sight of Bruce’s tiny smile.
“I see it, too,” Oliver says, mystified.
Bruce ignores them and plays the last video. And yeah, immediately, Bruce’s smile falls from his lips. It’s Duke and his friend at a skatepark when the sun’s going down. Despite knowing that Duke is more than capable of keeping himself safe, everything in him riots at the thought of a man running up to him as it’s getting dark to bother him. He wants to reach through the screen and choke him.
The pure entitlement the man has, demanding that Bruce share his personal life just because he thinks he deserves to know is so damn frustrating. Bruce has dealt with this his entire life, but it never fails to anger him.
He never wanted to get his kids dragged into it. It’s disgustingly a part of being a known name, people think they get to know everything about you.
“Hey, I have a question. Why are you at a skatepark with a bunch of minors holding a camera?”
Dinah chuckles at that. “Smart girl.”
Bruce leans back away from the computer now that he’s watched the videos. He thinks about it from an outsider’s perspective. He can understand why they’re so convinced. They don’t know his kids like he does. Obviously, they were happy to mess with him, at least Dick and Jason were.
He’s thinking through the consequences of this stunt, when Oliver breaks his silence. “So, Batman, care to tell me what your relationship with my old school friend is?”
“No,” Bruce replies, gruffly. He turns on his heel, walking out into the hallway without another word.
Hal’s indignant, his voice audible even from the distance Bruce puts between them.
Bruce ignores him and makes straight for the zeta tubes. He punches in the code for the Cave. Once he reaches his destination and steps out, he freezes. The Batcave is being overrun. There are people everywhere.
A quick look tells him Tim, Kon, and Steph are at the Batcomputer, Jason and Lian are on top of the dinosaur with Donna flying around them, Damian is locked in a sword fight with Artemis while Jon watches with wide eyes, Roy and Helena are having an archers competition with Babs keeping score (the grin on her face tells that she’s deliberately changing the scores to put Helena way in the lead and to annoy Roy), Duke is messing with his powers in a shadowy corner of the Cave while Bart runs around him laughing, Kori, Cassie, and Kara are tossing around a ball in the air, and Dick and Wally are the only ones in uniform, standing over by the motorbikes and laughing to each other.
But what the hell is his oldest son wearing? He has his normal Nightwing top on, but instead of pants he has on tiny sparkly blue shorts which Wally is clearly eyeing up.
“Dammit, that bitch!” Steph yells. “Give me the keyboard, now!” She grabs said keyboard away from Tim’s grasp and starts typing angrily, muttering to herself while Tim and Kon cackle beside her.
“They’re bullying children on a kids game,” Cass’ voice says from Bruce’s left. He startles. She’s the only one in the family that can still sneak up on him. “Cookie?” She holds out a tray to him piled high with warm deserts. That means Alfred knows exactly what is happening here, he’s baking for them. Actively promoting…whatever this is.
“What is Dick wearing?” Bruce asks with a tired voice, raising a hand to pinch his nose, the effect lost through the cowl.
“Ah. Wally stole strawberries Steph made for me. Dick asked him to. That is his punishment.”
Bruce shakes his head. “And why is the Cave full of people who shouldn’t be here?”
“You were supposed to come back tomorrow.”
“Does this happen often?” He had a feeling they were looping the security tapes when he was gone.
Cass doesn’t answer that. He didn’t expect her to, she wouldn’t rat out her siblings. “They are having fun.”
“They’re doing something they know they aren’t supposed to.”
Cass shakes her head at him. “Fun, Bruce. Is that a bad thing?” She looks up at him, her eyes imploring. “You said friends are good to have.”
Dammit, he doesn’t like when she catches him with her words like this. She’s impressively good at it. He looks back around the room. Everyone is clearly enjoying themselves. Damian and Artemis are comparing swords now, the excitement on his son’s face is obvious, even from this distance. Lian is laughing loudly and happily, Jason’s watching her with a killer smile Bruce hardly sees. Duke looks highly amused by Bart’s antics. Dick leans over, messing with something on his bike, Wally’s gaze…
“WEST!” Bruce yells, his voice freezing everyone in shock.
Wally turns tomato red at being caught looking at Dick’s ass by Batman. In a blur, he’s gone from the Cave, running away to save his own hide. Dick sighs, the first sound made since Bruce’s yell. “Really, B? He is my fiancé.”
“Gross!” Jason calls from across the Cave.
“Hey, B,” Tim waves, timidly. “Welcome back. Good to see you here. Tonight.”
Bruce shakes his head with a sigh. His gaze dips to Cass, who is still leveling him with that imploring look, daring him to say friends are bad. They still need to talk about this, have a conversation about what is allowed and what isn't, but...not right now. “No one breaks anything. If you do, you pay for it. And I know none of you can afford that.” With a swish of his cape, he’s gone, heading up the stairs to talk to Alfred. Cass watches him go with a sly smile.
Noise erupts back into the cave.