Long, long ago, in the times of antiquity where they were about six months into their mutual acquaintances, Mordred had looked Theodore dead in the eye after one night too many fooling around with men who robbed him blind by daylight, and asked, "Don't you think that you're addicted to sleeping around 'cos you're lonely? No? Maybe you crave physical contact? D'you not think that maybe a hug or three can fix you better than whatever you got from those one-night-stands?"
"A hug or three will not fix me, Mordred. I don't even know what is wrong with me," Theodore had replied. "And it is not an addiction. It was a mutual agreement to spend some time making others happy for a night."
"Okay," Mordred had answered. He'd gotten more physical with him after that -- a tug on his sleeve here and there, handing Theodore mugs of coffee or tea in the morning and allowing their hands to brush, ruffling Theodore's hair, cutting his hair for him, helping him shave when their mirror was (once again) broken. He'd bumped their heads together the way cats liked to do, his dark hair velvet-soft under Theodore's hands. He'd let Theodore mess with his ears, demanded he spoil him by brushing his tail...
The aching cavern of loneliness in Theodore's chest that did, in fact, often lead him to the bottom of a beer mug and then into some passable-looking man's straw pallet did shrink after a few months. It drove Theodore mad that Mordred was right. It made him feel something between rage, exasperation, and a terrifying amount of love that he cared enough to try.
"You fixed me," Theodore admitted to him at some point after these times of antiquities had passed and they had gotten to know each other too well. "How did you even know to?"
"I did not fix you," Mordred replied. Then he pouted and rattled a bag of candied almonds in front of Theodore. "I can't open this."
Theodore sighed. Nuts of most kinds made Mordred cough, though none as vicious as whatever that date was from Ala Mhigo that he'd nonetheless bought in an excess quantity because Alphinaud and Alisaie liked them. He opened the bag for the cat anyway, poured the treats into the polished bronze dish Mordred had placed on the table between them, then got up to get a pitcher of water and two goblets.
The other Scions in the vicinity watched him with amusement that Theodore ignored. Was it not the norm by now, that he dogged Mordred's footsteps, that he let himself be pulled and led about, complaints aplenty but never quite unwilling, to the nine hells and the seven heavens and back again?
Mordred was already coughing by the time he got back. Theodore poured him water, did not bother do it for himself yet, and watched in fond exasperation as Mordred downed the drink in one gulp.
"Are you feeling better?" the cat asked, after a moment of companionable silence. He squinted at Theodore, not quite smiling but ears perked, head tilted.
"I was never otherwise."
"You said the same when we first met," Mordred replied. His ears flicked down. He stared into the now-empty silver goblet, eyes trained at the bottom. "You said you'd lost your standing with the Wailers and would soon have to vacate the barracks, and that you had nowhere to go at that moment. I asked if you were alright and you said, so airily, 'I was never otherwise.'"
Theodore's memory was agonizingly excellent, but even he had not remembered the context so clearly. When Mordred found him -- that was the truth; he found him, they didn't exactly meet -- he had been...somewhere. It was a haze of menial tasks Theodore barely had the energy to complete, the sun's light dull on his skin, the nights too cold, every brief flash of clarity and happiness confined to a bed, a stranger's body against his, gone by morning. Theodore had feared wine, feared what would show if he was inebriated, and stayed away from the sweet seduction of alcohol.
...Upon reflection, it wasn't like he was able to cut out other kinds of addictions, was he. Mordred was right to call it that, and Theodore could not find it in himself to hate him for it.
But everyone after Calamity had been like that. Most of them. Those who didn't have obligations they needed to stay sober for. Theodore, without family, creed nor cause, had borrowed the two latter. When it had not been enough, he had turned elsewhere to keep the worst of the void in his heart at bay. It had reassured him to continue until...well.
"I'm fine now," Theodore said, because otherwise Mordred would start brooding for real. "All thanks to your excellent ministrations."
"I did not fix you," Mordred repeated. They were close enough that when their eyes met Theodore knew he could see his face clearly. Mordred's voice was low and his expression was soft, in the way it almost never was, and absolutely never was to anyone else except Theodore and perhaps a certain miqo'te with red hair and red eyes.
Mordred said to him, "I wanted to give you a chance to be alright again."
"You should not discredit your own role in my," Theodore cleared his throat, embarrassed, acutely aware that although they were alone they were seated in public with strangers' ears not far away. Why must Mordred say the sappiest most undoing things so easily, anywhere? "Thank you. I am happy we are friends."
"You shouldn't discredit yourself in the strides you've made," Mordred countered. He put the goblet he had been clutching back on the table, and watched as Theodore refilled it without being asked. Fondness bled from him, from his smile and his gleaming eyes, his flicking tail. "That hunched-over lancer I saw lounging on that bench in Gridania six years ago, talking so blithely about his life having just fallen apart, would've never faced the despair and lived. But here you are."
Theodore's mouth felt dry. The hundred thousand words he'd read of all kinds of prose, all kinds of poetry -- he could not muster even a one in response.
He said, "Here I am."
Mordred picked up the goblet again. He looked at it for a moment, then poured half of it into the other, until-now-untouched goblet, and pushed it at Theodore. He would've questioned him for the strange action, but then realized he was still clutching the pitcher.
"You're so weird," Mordred huffed. Unlike Theodore, he was not at all embarrassed about sappiness. Theodore would always envy him for this. "Always saying the rawest stuff in public, and using all the time we have in private to yell at me."
The indignation jolted Theodore out of his stupor. "I never yelled at you," he retorted. Then remembered that yes, in fact, he had just shouted at him a few hours ago, but that was because Mordred was also shouting. "It was-- a mutual disagreement. I was raising my voice to be heard."
"I've always heard everything you said," Mordred replied sulkily. "But I ain't doing it."
"It is just one portrait, Mordred. Just the one. Everyone had theirs done except for you. Would you not even do it on Count Edmont's request?"
And just like that they were back on it. The endless bickering, their shared familiarity laid bare as Mordred shook his little fist in Theodore's face and said things like I hate sitting around doing nothing; I can't even twiddle my thumbs or the painter'd yell at me! and Theodore thought to himself, yes, you did mend me. You poured gold into the cracks until I am changed but made whole.
But out loud he said, You sat for hours watching the aetheryte crystal spins and you can't do it for a portrait? Excuses, excuses.
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Family Dinners - dpxdc
"Holy shit, you're Bruce Wayne!" Danny gaped, jabbing a finger at the man sitting at the head of the table.
The bustling dining room goes silent as everyone turns to look at him.
"Danny, who did you think was going to be here?" Tim asks, disbelief plain in his voice and Danny feels his face flush red.
"Sorry, I, uh, I guess I just never put it together. Tim Drake-Wayne. Wayne Manor. It, uh, makes sense now." He laughs sheepishly and scrubs at his neck before slumping back down into his chair.
"Well," Tim says with an indulgent sigh, "at least I know you're not just friends with me for my connections."
"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I just never thought about it, I guess."
Danny sinks lower as everyone around him laughs. Come to dinner, he said, the food is the best, he said, ignore the family, he said. Danny really wishes he'd listened to Tim and just ignored them—almost as much as he's regretting accepting the offer in the first place—but... he's having dinner with Batman.
Ancients, that's so weird!
The last time he saw Batman was in the future and, suffice it to say, it was not going well. There hadn't really been time for family dinners there.
Wait. Family dinners?
He peers around the table, openly gawking at everyone as it all clicks into place.
"Everything alright, Danny? Now realising who everyone else is?" Tim asks with a roll of his eyes.
"Uh... something like that..." Danny mumbles as everyone laughs again.
From further down the table, the smallest Wayne scoffs and clicks his tongue.
"I thought you said he was smart, Drake?"
"So, you all do it, too, then?" he asks, ignoring the jibe. Danny's only a little bit jealous as he thinks of how much easier they must have it, how much easier it'd be if his family had been on his side, too. "You all work together?"
"Nah," Dick says from across the table with a brilliant grin. "Tim's the only one that works with Bruce, we all have different jobs. I'm a police officer in Bludhaven."
"Disgusting." Danny blurts out without thinking—because seriously, what kind of self-respecting vigilante would also be a police officer?—before clapping a hand over his mouth. "Sorry."
The whole table laughs again, the loudest being the blonde girl a few spaces down from Dick. Look, Danny wasn't really paying attention to names when they were all paraded in front of him. Dick only gets remembered because his name is a joke.
Come on, Danny, recover!
"That's, uh, not what I meant, though."
"Oh?" Dick asks, cocking his head slightly to the side. Is it Danny's imagination or does his smile tense slightly?
"Yeah, I mean like, you know, in costume. It must make it so much easier to have everyone together like this."
"Costume? What do you mean?"
Yeah, Danny's not imagining it, everyone tenses up at that. It's really only now that he's realising that this probably isn't how he should bring up that he knows about their... night time activities. In fact, he probably shouldn't be bringing it up at all.
"Uuhhh..." Danny looks wildly around the table as he continues making his stupid noise. Think, think, think! There must be a way out of this!
"Danny?" Tim asks, looking concerned.
"Oh, Ancients, this isn't how I wanted it to go at all," he mutters, slipping even further into his chair. He's almost on the floor now and he so, so wishes it could just swallow him up.
His real first meeting with Batman was meant to be cool! He had planned to be Phantom, maybe save them from a tight spot, prove his worth as a mysterious and powerful ally as thanks for the help Batman gave him in the future.
"Danny, what are you talking about?" Tim starts tugging on his sleeve in an attempt to pull him back up from his pit of despair.
Eventually, Danny relents and sits up straighter, hiding his face in his hands and whining all the while.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't expect him to be here and it threw me off so now I look stupid and it's so embarrassing!" he wails, flailing his arms wide. "Why wouldn't you warn me that Batman was your adopted dad, Tim? Couldn't you have let me know?"
"I'm sorry, what? Danny are you alright? There's no way Bruce can be Batman, look at him!"
"Yeah," the blonde girl laughs from the bottom of the table, "look at him! That's a wet noodle of a man! Batman can actually do things, B is incapable of pretty much everything."
"Thank you, Stephanie," Bruce sighs, massaging his forehead.
It's... Those are the first words Danny's heard Batman say since everything went down and it's enough to knock him out of his embarrassment.
It's really good to hear his voice again. Especially now, when it's strong and healthy and full of personality—even if that personality is little more than a tired father right now—far better than how it had been, at the end.
Danny sits up, back straight, and grins. He's got this. He remembers it perfectly. Some people count sheep to fall asleep, Danny repeats his mantra to be certain that he'll never forget it.
"Gamma alpha upsilon tau iota mu epsilon, 42, 63, 28, 1 colon 65 dash 9."
Once again, the whole table falls into silence.
"Holy shit..." breathes the other D name (Duke? Danny's pretty sure he's Signal) from opposite Stephanie. "Isn't that...?"
"The time travelling code." The littlest Wayne says stiffly. "We have met in the future?"
"That's not just the time travelling code, Dami." Dick says, looking between Danny and Bruce. "That's the family time travelling code."
Danny's grin freezes in place.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"1 colon 65 dash 9." Dick explains, still flicking between him and Bruce. "It means you've been adopted into the family and we should all treat you as such, no questions asked."
"Tell you what, I'm about to ask a question." Danny says, dumbstruck. "You just told me it was a code to identify time travellers, not anything about being adopted! What the hell, B?"
Bruce looks about as shellshocked as Danny feels.
"We must have been close," he says finally, after opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water a few times.
"No! Not that close!" Danny reels back, taking a deep breath ready to refute it all, but... "Well, I mean, you found me when I first got stuck, and you helped me get better despite being... And then we fought together against the, uh, bad guy, before he, um, he... before you couldn't."
An uncomfortable beat passes while they all pick up on what Danny tried so hard not to say.
"So, you're not from the future, then, you travelled there and came back?" Tim asks, breaking the tension and leaning forward with a glint in his eye.
"Yeah, it was a whole end of the world thing, but don't worry about it," Danny says with a hand wave, "It's all kosher now, won't ever happen."
"What did happen?"
"Seriously, don't worry about it, we cool."
"How long in the future was it?"
"About ten years? You were pretty spry for an old man, B," Danny laughs, wishing they'd get off the topic of what happened and get back to the adoption bit.
Everyone shares degrees of a cautious smile as they relax out of the shock, and Dick—whose grin is the biggest—says, "No wonder you got the family code, you're already riffing on him like one of us. How long were you there for?"
"A week, before I managed to get back to my present and stop him then."
"A week? Jeez, B, that has to set some kind of record, seriously."
"Oh!" Danny says, sitting bolt upright and blinking in surprise before pointing at Dick and bouncing in his seat. "You're Nightwing!"
"What?"
"That's exactly what Nightwing said when Batman told me the code! Makes so much more sense now."
Dick laughs and claps his hands, delighted.
"You were not formally adopted?" The grumpy small one—Dami?—asks, his face pinched.
"I didn't even know I was informally adopted."
"And your parents? Are they alive or dead?"
"Damian, stop—"
"They were dead in the future, but they're alive now." Danny says, looking down. He fiddles with the tablecloth, twisting the fabric around his fingers as he fights down the pang of sadness that he always feels when he thinks of them now. He forces a bright smile on his face and hopes it doesn’t look too strained. "I just, uh, can't talk to them much, anymore."
"Damian," Dick warns, "1 colon 65 dash 9. Treat them as family, no questions asked."
"This is Damian treating him as family, the little turd has no manners." Tim scoffs, rolling his eyes, but he gently bumps shoulders with Danny to knock him out of his funk. Danny can't help but send him a watery smile.
"I have the most exemplary manners, Drake, unlike some people." Damian spits, crossing his arms with a pout. "I was merely ascertaining his status to see how he could possibly fit into the family."
"I know this is all a bit sudden, Danny," Bruce smiles, ignoring Damian and reaching out to lay a warm hand on his arm, "for all of us. But if I felt strongly enough to give you that code after spending a week with you in the future, then you are more than welcome in this family, if you so choose it. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we'd like to get to know you a bit more."
"I know a threat when I hear it, Bruce." Danny snorts. "But, yeah, I get it. I'm sorry this is all so weird, it really wasn't how I wanted to find you again, but... I'm glad I did."
"So are we, Danny." Dick says, with a warm smile. "And formally or not, 1 colon 65 dash 9 means you're family. Welcome to the fun house! No take backs or refunds, sorry. You're stuck with us."
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