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rosesgonerogue · 4 years

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How to be a Dad 101

Chapter Six - Modeling

Jasonette July Day Eight

Masterlist

When Jason was a kid, his family was too poor to take any sort of trip, which at the moment he was missing. He didn’t have any concept of how normal people travelled, but it turned out that even if you were travelling to Paris in a private jet, doing so with your entire family was a downright nightmare.

“Does everyone have all of their bags?” Bruce was calling above the din. “And passports? We need to act like a normal family, so you need to exchange your money for euros when we get there, we shouldn’t just show up with them.”

“B, you’ve already said that at least fifteen times,” Stephanie complained.

“Why exactly is she coming on a family vacation?” Damian demanded. “She’s not even dating Drake anymore.”

“Face it, Damian. Your family chose me, they were stuck with you.”

“Father, you need to choose between Brown and Drake. I cannot be expected to tolerate both for an extended period of time.”

“Oh calm down, Little D. It’ll be fun!” Dick said, slinging an arm over his youngest brother’s shoulder.

Jason sidled over to Cass and whispered, “How many weapons did Bruce say we could bring?”

She looked at him with her unreadable dark eyes. “None.”

“Okay, that’s what he said, but how many are you bringing?”

Silently she held up seven fingers.

“Damn, I have eight. Do you think I can get away with that?” They looked at each other a moment. “You’re right, B definitely has more than that.”

“If you all don’t get yourselves and your belongings on the plane within the next five minutes you’re finding your own way to Paris!” Selina called over the noise.

“Move it, suckers!” Babs yelled, running at least three people’s feet over with her wheelchair in her haste. Despite the pain she caused, once she got to the plane, she was able to expertly maneuver herself onto it, letting Dick struggle aboard with both of their luggage. Jason kept himself as far away from the eldest Wayne child as possible. Every time Dick looked at Jason, he could see the apology in his brother’s eyes, which only served to piss him off all over again. Maybe he was being irrational, and maybe he was just on edge because they were heading to Paris, but Jason couldn’t really find it in himself to care.

He slept fitfully on the flight, doing his best to ignore his family, be it Dick and Babs being the disgusting newlywed couple, or just Damian being… Damian. His dreams were strange and disjointed, filled with blue eyes and whispered French.

After dealing with customs and getting checked into their hotel (which was almost exclusively inhabited by their party, because of course it was), Jason had no desire to ever go on another family trip ever again. The thought of doing all of that without skipping lines and cutting corners they were able to thanks to Bruce’s money was almost painful. But then again, people with less money also didn’t have to deal with Damian and Tim in the same space for an extended period of time.

Thanks to the nap he’d had on the plane and the fact that he was in Paris, Jason found he couldn’t sleep. He found himself wandering the hotel, taking in the opulent surroundings. He thought he would only see hotel staff if he were to see anyone, but on his way to the hotel’s twenty-four hour gym, he stumbled across a blonde dressed vaguely like a bumblebee who was arguing with someone on the phone.

“Listen, Dupain-Cheng, you are not taking advantage of these clients. No! You’ve been staying up at all hours of the night – don’t you dare argue with me, you’re up right now, aren’t you? And you have to take care of gremlins in the morning. No, she agreed to do it, it’s not exploiting them, it’s allowing them to pay you back for the giant favor you’re doing them! Fine, I will give her a discount, but this is not how you build a brand! Now go to sleep, the photoshoot is tomorrow. Don’t give me that, we both know you’ll finish things up with time to spare. Now go. To. Sleep.”

After a few moments the blonde hung up, and she seemed to be in a foul mood when she saw Jason. “And what do you want?”

“To get to the gym? You’re blocking the door.”

“And you were just eavesdropping. Your French isn’t bad for an American,” she said, flouncing away with a hair flip. “But your accent is horrible.”

“It can’t be as bad as your attitude,” he sneered under his breath before shoving into the exercise room.

Once inside, Jason ran himself to exhaustion, grateful when he collapsed into bed and fell asleep almost immediately. His dreamless sleep was fleeting, though, because it felt like only moments later that he was jolted awake by the sound of his phone ringing.

Glaring at the offending technology, he considered silencing it, but when he saw it was Selina, he thought better of that.

“Yes?”

“You have an hour to look awake and presentable. Meet up in the hotel lobby.”

She hung up as abruptly as she had called, leaving Jason blinking at his phone. He considered rolling over and going back to sleep, but he’d probably need the entire hour just to get his hair to Selina’s standards.

Cass was already in the lobby when Jason was finally ready, and thankfully Dick was nowhere to be seen. Sidling up next to his sister, Jason asked, “Do you know what we’re doing?” His level of concern grew exponentially when she shook her head. Everyone knew Bruce was weak for Cass, so if Cass didn’t know, that meant that the scheme was entirely Selina’s.

Unsurprisingly, Grayson the peacock was the last person to make it to the group. Babs was too annoyed with him to even make some sort of innuendo, she just complained about how long it took for him to do his hair.

“So what’s the plan, Selina?” Stephanie asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“You’ll find out when we get there. Follow me, we have a ways to walk,” Selina said, smiling wickedly.

The family obediently trudged after Selina, grouping up as they moved. Jason saw Dick make a beeline for him, but Babs caught his arm. “Babe, will you stick with Damian to make sure that he doesn’t maim any Parisians?”

“Sure, babe,” he said, deflating a bit.

As expected, only moments later Babs rolled up next to him. “Listen here, you giant. If you’re going to make me catch up to you, the least you can do is push my wheelchair.”

“Whatever,” Jason said, doing as she asked.

“I hope you know you’re killing my husband, by the way. He’s goingi crazy because he doesn’t know what to do to apologize to you.”

“Good.”

“I know you don’t mean that, Jason, and I know that because we both know I’m the one you’re actually mad at.”

“Am I?”

“Bringing up the French girl was a low blow. You told me about that in confidence, and I threw it in your face. I’m sorry, Jason.”

“That did piss me off, I just… Babs, why did you marry Dick?”

“Is that a trick question? Because I love him, stupid.”

“But how did you know that you loved him that much? Because ever since I met my ‘French girl,’ I can’t even think about looking at someone else. It’s insane because I knew her for like a day, but I’ve never… I’ve never felt like that with anyone before, but I didn’t feel right trying to make anything more out of what we had because of how royally screwed up our lives are. How could I subject someone who is possibly a literal angel to our lives? I’ve never questioned my decision on that before, but lately I can’t stop thinking about her, and now we’re here, in Paris where she lives.”

“Wow.” Babs said. “I didn’t know… That’s a lot, Jay.”

“Thanks.”

“Give a girl some time to process, okay? Geez. I don’t know if I believe in fate and that kind of crap, but this feels eerily like destiny. Maybe you’re meant to meet her here in Paris. If you do, then don’t run away. Stick it out for at least as long as we’re here. You wouldn’t be the first of us to have a relationship with a civilian.”

“But what if—”

“Jason, bothering yourself about all of the ‘what ifs’ is only going to drive you crazy. We don’t even know if you’re going to meet her here. Let things run their course.”

He sighed. “You’re right, thanks Babs. And I’ll tell your husband that I forgive him, the sap.”

“That’s all I ask.”

After a few blocks more, Selina abruptly stopped in front of a building. It was clearly some sort of business, but the doors only said, “MDC” across them. “This is it, kids. Come on in.”

Tim could be heard freaking out about something or other, but Jason found himself hoping that whatever was happening would be quick and painless. Inside, curiously enough, the same blonde from last night was waiting for them.

“You must be the Wayne family, here for the photoshoot,” she said in flawless English. “MDC had some personal affairs to tend to, so she will be here shortly.”

“Photoshoot?” Bruce asked, looking at Selina.

“This is the shop of the designer who is making my dress,” Selina purred with a winning smile. “Ordinarily she wouldn’t have been able to fit me, you and all the kids in with how little time we gave her, but she’s releasing her first line of clothes to the general public, and her normal models are away. It’s a fairly sizeable line, and she wanted diversity, so I volunteered our beautiful family.”

“We’re going to be modeling?” Damian asked, disgusted.

“We’re going to be modeling for MDC?!” Tim asked, nearly bouncing with excitement.

“Dude, you’re a CEO. Have some shame,” Babs said, elbowing him.

“You’re already booked and committed. Once MDC gets here she’ll decide who will be wearing what, and then we’ll get started,” the blonde said. As if on cue, there was a crash in the back room, and the blonde sighed. “That will be MDC now.”

Jason was only mildly curious what this designer might be like, but it seemed that things would be at least a bit entertaining. Even before she burst from the backroom, she was spewing frantic French to the blonde.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry I’m late, Jules kept spilling things on himself on purpose, and then the babysitter was sick, so I had to find someone else, and then I missed the train and –”

Emerging from the backroom was a beautiful pixie-like girl, a girl who had starred in almost every dream Jason had had since they’d met. Jason was completely frozen at the sight of her.

Marinette. Marinette was MDC, the only designer Selina would think of wearing on her wedding day.

She stopped at seeing the mass of people in her store, but she immediately smiled sincerely, eyes flitting from person to person. In English she said, “You must be the Wayne family, thank you so much for agreeing to model for me. It really—” she cut off mid-sentence, eyes wide. “Jason? Is that really you?”

Taglist:

@jasonette-july-2k20 @ira-sairain @myazael @pawsitivelymiraculous @nik-nak-3 @dast218 @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @vixen-uchiha @momothefemur @toodaloo-kangaroo @marinettepotterandplagg @goddessofthewestwind

Note:

In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t done yesterday’s prompt yet. It’s in the works, but my life is complete chaos, and it will just have to be late. Even though it was such a fun prompt, I have been having some severe writer’s block. Anyway, I’m super excited for the next few chapters, it’s happening!

#jasonette july 2k20 #jasonette #jason x marinette #maribat #mominette

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edyacouky · 4 years

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I’m a Mess

Hi, this is my participation for day 05 of @omegajasontoddweek

Day 05: Pregnancy.

It’s a sequel of I’m a User (AO3/Tumblr) so even if nothing is explicit there is mention of a rape.

Hope you will enjoy it

~*~

It’s been a few weeks since what everyone call “The Titan Tower’s Accident”.

Dick almost killed Roy. Bruce almost killed Roy and Oliver. While this murder attempts happen, Jason was taking care by Diana and Donna.

Everybody was lost about what they should do.

The rape happens in the Titan Tower, so it would be difficult to file a complaint against Roy. But it’s not like the Wayne Pack will accept that Roy stay free.

“Look, all of this is terrible. Oliver says. But it’s out of character for Roy. It’s the drug that makes him do that.

-So what? I should let him go? Bruce groans

-No … But it isn’t totally Roy’s fault.

-It’s Jason’s fault maybe?

-I didn’t say that either.

-That’s true that the dealer didn’t give Roy the right drug. Barry says

-Exactly! Roy wanted something to knock him out not excited him!

-You’re right. Bruce says sarcastic. Your addicted alpha son is definitively the victim here.”

Oliver and Bruce groan at each other. Their colleagues try to calm them immediately. They’re here to talk as calmly as possible about all this mess.

“I know that we shouldn’t be judge and jury. Diana says. But the proofs are undeniable. Maybe we could put Roy in our jail.

-You can’t be serious. Oliver argues. We have no right to do it. Clark you must agree with me there.”

Clark doesn’t look at him.

“Clark!

-What do you want me to say?! He yells. Didn’t you see in which state Jason was? We’re talking about a rape here.

-You’re not serious! How dare you …?

-Oh shut up Oliver! If you had taken care of Roy, he wouldn’t have done that!”

Oliver doesn’t know how to answer to that. As the leader of the pack Roy belongs he is responsible of his action. In fact, Bruce has every right to take to him everything he wants as compensation.

Honestly, Oliver is glad they can’t involve the police. He doesn’t want lost a part of his inheritance because of Roy.

“So what? You will put Roy in a jail somewhere, throw away the key and let him here until he dies?

-No. It isn’t a solution either.

-Yes it is.

-Bruce, it’s not a solution.”

After a long discussion, they finish by agree about what to do.

Roy will put in a rehab center as far away as possible of Jason and won’t leave it until Jason agreement and Roy prove he can live outside.

No one is happy about it.

But no one is happy about anything since “The Titan Tower’s Accident”.

~*~

Dick has finished his day of work and is coming back to his home.

He thinks of eat a little then goes outside patrolling as Nightwing.

He can’t only do that since he let Jason be raped by Roy. This event breaks something irreparably. He can’t go back to the Titan Tower, he doesn’t trust himself to take care of anyone since he couldn’t protect Jason, and his relationship with the Wayne Pack is worse than ever. At first, Bruce blames Dick for what happen to Jason, and even after he apologies there is still a tension between them.

So he is surprised when he sees Jason waiting in front of his door.

“Jason?

-Hi Dickhead. Do you have some minute for me?

-Yeah … Yeah sure.”

Damn, Dick wants to hug Jason, asking him if he is alright, how he is doing but he doesn’t dare. Despite himself, he treats Jason like some kind of crystal object, which Jason hates.

Once they are sitting in the living room with a soda each, Dick finally asking him:

“Do Bruce and Alfred know that you’re here?

-No. We had a fight.”

They always fight since The Accident.

And this time was the worse.

Bruce doesn’t like that Jason doesn’t think that Roy isn’t completely responsible. The fact that wasn’t aware that the drug he take will excited him, is for Jason mitigating circumstance. For Bruce, Jason tries to defend Roy because not being able to save his mother makes him feel guilty.

One thing causing another, Bruce admits to Jason that he doesn’t like Catherine and feel like Jason idealize her and she doesn’t deserve it because she wasn’t a good mother.

Jason became defensively, and yell at Bruce that he never was raped under her watch, can Bruce tell as much?

After that, Bruce didn’t dare to talk with him.

So Jason is here in Dick’s living room.

“Ok, let me a second to inform them. Dick says sending a text at Bruce. You want to eat something? You can choose what we eat.

-No, I’m not hungry. I just need you to stay calm.

-Ok … What’s going on?

-I’m pregnant.

-What?!”

Dick could help but screams and jumps at this new. His scent reeks his anger.

“Stay calm.

-Ok. Cool.”

Jason glares at him.

“I suppose it’s Roy’s.

-Well that’s the only time I had sex, so yeah.

-Can I let you a minute?

-You want scream in the bathroom?

-No. Dick lies

-Do whatever you want. Just be calm when you come back.

-Promise.”

A few minutes later, Dick sits down again calmer.

“Ok. So you’re pregnant with Roy’s kid.

-Yep.

-Does anyone else know?

-No. Our relationship, with Bruce, is horrible and he gives me a morning-after-pill. I’m not sure how he will react.

-Oh, Little Wing, Bruce loves you. He will be on your side no matter what you decide, no matter who the father is.

-It’s Roy. Jason says defensively

-I don’t doubt you.

-Then why do you say that?

-I just wanted you to know that never of us would think less of you if you had sex after … what happen?

-Yeah sure.”

Jason turns his head to hide in vain his tears. He’s sure that everything is waste between Bruce and he. They don’t talk anymore. Bruce is more oppressive and restive with him. Jason count the days left before he get kick out of the Robin mantle and the Wayne Manor.

He is trying to control his breathing when he’s suddenly in Dick’s arms.

“We didn’t protect you like we should. I didn’t protect you like I should. Dick admits. But it will never happen again. You’re a pup of our pack…

-Not a pup. Jason groans weakly more for appearance

-And we love you so much. Never doubt that.”

Dick lets Jason cries as much as he needs it. What he can’t suspect is that Jason never allow himself cry in front of everyone since his rape. And he is relieved from a weigh by doing it.

Once Dick considers that Jason is calm enough, he asks him:

“Do you have any idea about what you want to do or do you want discuss it with me?”

Jason keeps the silence for a moment. True is he already sure about what he wants to do, but saying it out loud making everything suddenly more real.

“No matter what you chose, you have my support. No matter if you want an abort, keeping the child or put them in adoption. No matter if you want Bruce in the confidence or not. There aren’t any bad choices here, ok? Dick tells him thinking he needs a little push to finally talk

-You will keep a secret from Bruce?

-I was sure that it was obvious that Bruce and I are on talking term anyway. Dick jokes before adding more seriously. Your secrets are safe with me. I promise.

-I want an abort. And I want Bruce to know. Jason finally admits. I’m so tired of being scared and angry and always fight with Bruce. He’s my dad and I love him. I just want us to be a family again.

-We are. Neither of us knows how to communicate that’s all. Everything will be alright just one day at once.”

Jason exhale deeply and hugs with more force Dick.

They are embraced so closely that their ribs hurt.

“I have something else to tell you.” Jason say

His tone is less tense; more amused so Dick isn’t worry about what he wants to say.

“What?

-I don’t think this child is mine. He makes me sick every time I’m getting too close of chili dogs”

The two of them laugh and cry at that.

What a mess their life, especially Jason’s life, becomes. But their pack is tight-knit and they will overcome “The Titan Tower Accident”.

#OJTW #OJATW2020 #omegajasontoddweek #omegajasontoddweek2020

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iamchrissi · 6 years

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Don’t you die alone

For the Batfam Week2018, prompt; Hurt/Comfort

I hurt Jason, because of course I do. But he gets better, I promise!

Also on Ao3

A gun is pointed right in Jason's face.

He sighs, swipes it away and punches the idiot. Don't they know guns only worked in reasonably ranged combat? Close combat is for sticks and staff, ranged for guns and batarangs, and seriously ranged for arrows and rifles. Seriously, it's as though those goons never even passed the basic streets training.

But then again, apparently Bruce thinks he never passed that training either. Or any sort of training, really. Whenever he thinks of their argument, Jason wants to punch things. 'You need to keep tighter control of your explosives'. As if it's Jason's fault that some idiot drug dealers went up with their own poorly cooked meth. His explosion didn't even cause that bigger one. 'You can't just fire into a gang meeting.' It's not like he actually got anyone. Or wanted to get anyone. All he wanted was a bit confusion. If the gang members are stupid enough to start going after each other, that's not on Jason.

And then the idiot goes on about how Red Robin, who'd come to help and hadn't even said anything because Tim is actually surprisingly nice sometimes, could have been hurt. Does he ask after Jason? No, because Bruce doesn't actually care.

Not that that's new information, but Jason had thought that their reconciliation in the past months had actually meant something. But apparently not.

A lucky thug actually manages to land a punch on his shoulder, right in the bullet hole. Jason's sight goes white for a moment before he gets himself back in control and uses his gun to hit the idiot over the head with. The thug collapses immediately, and Jason turns to the next one.

Soon enough, all goons are one the floor, knocked out or pretending to be, and Jason stands in the middle, breathing heavily. He's kind of feeling better, though. One should never underestimate the therapeutic value of beating the shit out of some goons who do shit like running a human trafficking ring. Right in Jason's territory. It's like they were asking to be beat up, really.

He goes to work downloading all their info from their servers and then destroying their equipment. They have a shipment of people hidden somewhere in Gotham, and he needs to know where. So while his nifty little computer program combs through all the data his data stick is sending to the home computer, he can make sure these idiots will not be able to start up again any time soon.

Blowing shit up. Also extremely therapeutic.

About halfway through the warehouse, he notices something wet trickling down his arm. He looks down on it and grimaces. The stitches he put in his shoulder wound must have opened. That'll be a bitch to take care of later, but right now he has other things to do.

The data stick beeps, signalling both that all data has been transmitted and that there is a probably location for the kidnapped people. Jason takes the stick and then destroys the computer. If Oracle wants some of the information, she can ask him, and if the police wants it... well, then they should have taken care of these human traffickers before he had to get involved.

He checks the location. Batman's territory. He thinks about it for a moment, wonders whether he should call it in over family com, or ask for Bruce's permission or anything, but there's no way he's talking to the old man in the next week and those people kind of need to be freed right now. So he just packs his stuff and starts driving.

When he arrives at the warehouse, there seems to already be a fight going on inside. Jason hides in the shadows for a moment, checking the situation. He can see the bright costume of Robin twirling around between at least a dozen goons. If Batman or Nightwing already have this, then he's going home to bury himself in a nice book.

But he can't see Batman or Nightwing, or anybody really, just Robin. Even as another ten men show up from the backdoor, nobody intervenes. Robin doesn't call for help, either.

Which means that Robin is here on his own. Jason snorts. Looks like he's not the only one to be pissed at the family tonight.

But he can't let Robin fight all of those goons on his own. The kid might insist he's a superior fighter and can easily take on a hundred men or whatever, but at the end of the day Damian's a thirteen year old kid. He has limits.

Jason reloads his gun and shoots the weapon out of the guy next to Damian. Kid's good, he'll give him that, he uses the shock of the other thugs to take a few of them down, apparently not the slightest bit surprised at the arrival of gun slinging help.

Jason grins and dives into the fight. Between them, they finish of the thugs soon enough.

“How did you find this place?” He asks Damian when the last of the goons is down. Robin looks okay, out of breath, but there's no suspicious stiffness in his moves or anything. Which is good, because Jason's shoulder is starting to hurt something terrible, and he's not sure he could carry Damian if anything had happened.

“There were suspiciously many lowlifes here. I decided to investigate.” Damian says, looking at Jason curiously. “Why are you here? I did not require help, you imbecile, and this is not your territory.” Jason snorts. That is downright nice coming from Damian.

“I took down the command center of this operation in the Narrows before coming here. Figured I'd finish the job.” He explains, and Damian nods. He also sneers, but Jason almost completely tunes that out as he searches for any suspicious rooms or doors.

Finding one, he uses some acid to crack the lock and throws the door open. Inside of a tiny room, there are about eight terrified looking teenagers. When they see him, though, they're eyes go right to the bat on his chest.

“Get out, stay together. Walk down the street, go right at 11th, and you'll see the police station. Go there, ask for Maggie Sawyer, tell her Red Hood send you. She'll take care of you.” Jason orders. Kate mentioned that her girlfriend has the late shift this whole week, so Maggie should be there. And though Jason has only met Maggie like, three times, Kate wouldn't date her if she wasn't okay.

All the teens nod, and the oldest one looks Jason straight in the eyes. She's not afraid, he notes with growing respect. Gotham kids know who to trust.

“Thank you.” She says, and the other kids nod again, and then they're running. The girl makes sure they stay together. Jason smiles. They'll be fine.

Then he turns to Damian. The kid is going through the left over equipment, systematically destroying it. Jason shakes his head and joins him.

“So, does B know you're here?” He asks conversationally. Of course B doesn't know. Otherwise he'd have send someone to look after Damian, but he's got to make conversation somehow. Also, riling Damian up is fun.

“Father is unaware of my location. If you tell him, I will slice open your neck.” Damian says, with a surprising amount of vitriol, but Jason just shrugs. That's Damian.

Then he sees movement on the end of the hall, where the goons are still lying. A man is sitting up, he's aiming for Robin, no time to get his gun out and shoot him, so Jason jumps on Damian...

He feels the impact, like getting hit by a truck, right as he goes down. Then there's pain. Nasty pain. Jason can't breathe. Out of the corner of his eye he sees the glint of a batarang, and he hears something that might be the goon going down, but he can't be sure. His senses are kind of out of whack.

He brings a hand to his chest and is kind of surprised when it comes back wet. He shouldn't be surprised, he got shot, but somehow his brain is not up to speed.

That's bad, he realizes distantly. His thoughts should be quicker. He knows they usually are.

Then Robin is leaning over him. The kid is pale as hell, which is bad, too. He'd thought the kid was okay. Has Damian gotten hurt fighting that last goon? Jason wants to ask, but his mouth is not cooperating with him.

Damian's lips are moving, he's saying something, but it seems to be so far away, Jason can't understand it. He tries to tell Damian that, but he can't even move a single muscle. Darkness creeps into his vision, and Jason wants to tell Damian to run, leave him here, save himself...

The last image he sees is Robin's terrified face, then his thoughts go dark.

When Jason wakes up, there's a weight on his side. A warm weight. And his chest hurts. And his shoulder. And something is on his hand, too. And there aren't any of the Gotham typical sounds, so he's not in any of his safe houses.

He carefully opens his eyes. No need to inform any hostiles that he is awake, though, considering he's pretty sure that he was shot the last time he was awake, anyone who wanted him harm could have just let him bleed out right there.

He sees … the manor. What is he doing in the manor, he had a huge fight with Bruce, what...

He looks to his side. Right. Damian. The kid had been there when he got shot, right? It comes back to Jason, and he kind of wants to curse. But Damian is sleeping curled up right next to him, and the kid looks both exhausted and kind of adorable, so he figures it would be best not to wake him.

He looks to his other side, and blinks. Bruce is sitting on a chair, sleeping in what cannot be a comfortable position, holding his hand. B looks exhausted, too. Jason... does not really know what to do with that. Because he just had a huge fight with Bruce yesterday (it should be yesterday, right? He wasn't unconcious for that long. Right?)

But he's not going to claim that Bruce here at his sick bed isn't something he's... opposed to. The man is his dad, after all. He might not get along with him most of the time, but... Bruce is his father, and that still means something. At least to Jason.

He wasn't sure it still meant something to Bruce.

Unless Bruce is only here for Damian? To reassure the kid? Damian is his biological son after all, and there's never been a question he loves the kid. But would Bruce hold Jason's hand if he was only here for Damian?

Jason feels like sinking, like disappearing. He doesn't want to fight, he doesn't want disappointment. He wants to wallow in his safe house.

He tries to move his hand a bit, but that only has Bruce waking up. The man blinks once, then his eyes sharpen and turn to Jason. Jason wants to shrink away under his father's intense eyes.

“Jay.” Bruce breathes, like he was really worried, and then he's hugging him. Jason closes his eyes. Maybe Bruce isn't there for Damian after all. For a few seconds, he can just melt into his father's embrace.

Then Bruce let's go a bit, and Jason reluctantly moves back. Not to far, though. Bruce's hands are still on his shoulders, and Bruce is staring at him intensely. There's worry in his eyes, and relief. It almost makes Jason smile. Good to know he does still mean something to the old man.

“Are you in pain?” Bruce asks, looking him in the eyes as though he never wants Jason to leave his side ever again. Which is so not how this is going to go, Jason is definitively getting out here as soon as he can on general principle, but the sentiment is still appreciated.

“A bit. You got me on the good stuff, don't you?” Jason whispers back, not wanting to wake Damian. Looking around, he notices that Dick, Cass and Tim are also in the room, sleeping on various couches and chairs. He bite his lip. He didn't think he'd gotten that close to dying.

“How bad is it?” He whispers, because a simple bullet wound does not warrant the whole family to sleep in one's room, at least not in their family. He must be much worse than he'd thought.

Bruce swallows, which is a bad sign. Jason braces himself.

“The bullet to your chest led to a collapsed lung. You lost a lot of blood too, both from the chest wound and the shoulder wound. And there was a small infection, but Lesley got that under control pretty quickly. You've been out for almost 24 hours.” Bruce rattles off, and wow, that does explain the worry. Collapsed lungs aren't fun.

“I...” Bruce starts, then he licks his lips and looks Jason in the eyes again with that intense look. Jason wonders if there's more bad news coming. He kind of feels like he's already got his fill of those for the day.

“I'm sorry for how our fight ended the other day.” Bruce says finally, and Jason almost gasps, because Bruce never apologizes. For anything. “I shouldn't have yelled at you. I don't... approve of your methods, but... you are my son, Jason. I should have made sure you were okay first and foremost, and even after that... well, yelling's not exactly helping with anything between us, is it?”

For a moment, Jason is speechless. That was... completely unexpected. Not unwelcome, but... he must have scared Bruce something bad to get him to be this emotionally open. He almost thinks he should do it more often, if it gets Bruce to be more open. But only almost. Now that he's somewhat awake, he starts to feel his chest worse.

“Shouldn't have yelled either.” He says finally, and if anyone asks him tomorrow, he'll claim it was the pain meds, but the smile on Bruce's lips makes him feel all warm and loved. He smiles back.

Damian moves in his sleep, just a little bit, but enough to make both Jason and Bruce look at him. He looks young like that, more like the thirteen year old he is. It's cute. But it also reminds Jason.

“He okay?” He whispers to Bruce. He remembers Damian being pretty pale and terrified before he lost consciousness. If the kid was seriously hurt, he'd probably not have been allowed to sleep on Jason's bed, but still... best make sure.

“Couple scraps, nothing unusual. He was worried about you. Said it was his fault, that you took the bullet for him.” Bruce says, voice quiet and... guilty? Worried? Sad? Proud? Jason's too tired to figure it out.

“Couldn't let him die, y'know?” He whispers back, and Bruce smiles, but this time there's definitively some sort of sadness there, too.

“You are important too, you know that, right?” Bruce tells him. Jason just blinks. Feelings talk with Bruce is nice, but he can feel sleep pull him back. Bruce just leans over and kisses his forehead. Which is pretty nice, Jason will admit to that in the privacy of his own head.

“He feels pretty guilty about it. Says it was his duty to look after the criminals while you freed the prisoners, who, by the way, all made it to safety. Maggie sends her love. I talked to Damian, but he's convinced that you being hurt is on him.” Bruce says.

“Talk to him tomorrow.” Jason whispers. He knows how Damian is, but this is totally not on the kid. Jason was the grown one, he should have made sure all the bad guys were actually knocked out. Now way he's having that discussion now, though.

“Sleep, Jaylad.” Bruce whispers, and as Jason's eyes fall shut, he feels Bruce's hand going through his hair. It feels nice. The other hand is still clasped around Jason's own hand. That's nice too.

He can deal with everything else tomorrow, he thinks, and let's himself fall asleep.

#bfw2018 #batfamweek2018 #batfam #jason todd #damian wayne #bruce wayne #dc

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sebeth · 6 years

Text

Babs-a-thon, Part 5

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Oracle debuted in Suicide Squad #23. The true identity of Oracle was a complete mystery – man, woman, group?

Oracle would provide information for the Squad until the mystery was solved in Suicide Squad #38. It was a rather low-key revelation: Amanda contacts Oracle in cyber-space. Oracle questions why Flo (the Oracle’s usual contact) isn’t the one reaching out. Amanda informs Oracle that Flo died on a mission. The next panel reveals a wheelchair-bound redhead, a Batgirl plushie on the desk, mourning the loss of her friend.

I love the subtle revelation of Oracle’s secret identity. No storming the secret lair and gasping in shock. A simple one-panel revelation that relied on the art to provide the clues to her identity. Not that it didn’t blow my mind at the time.

A small pause in the Babs-a-thon to promote John Ostrander, Kim Yale, and the 1980s’ Suicide Squad title. If you haven’t read the Ostrander/Yale run – what are you waiting for? Ostrander & Yale created two of the most unique, groundbreaking, and iconic women in comics: Amanda Waller and Barbara Gordon as Oracle. The Squad consistently had multiple female characters – Flo, Karen, Nightshade, Enchantress, Mind-Boggler, Plastique, Vixen, Duchess, Jewlee, Poison Ivy – all different types of personalities, all written well. The development of the villains was great – Captain Boomerang and Deadshot owed their prominence to this title. Read this series!

Back to the Babs-a-thon –

Barbara had two more prominent appearance in the Squad. In Suicide Squad #48, Barbara visits her therapist. Babs reveals she has a recurring dream – she runs down a corridor to open the door – the identity of the person on the other side changes – it ranges from the Joker, Jim Gordon, Batman, to Batgirl herself. The individual always has a gun and shoots her. Babs doesn’t reveal the multiple choices to the therapist and focuses on the Joker –

“And then I feel the bullet boring its way through my body. My legs give way, useless as my spine is severed. There’s this awful wrench and grinding in my back – like a clutch out of gear – and then pain. There’s a woman screaming for rescue that never comes. And the room stinks of cordite and blood – my blood – and the Joker claws at me. And there is pain. And then the Joker is beating me, and he smells like paraffin and rotten lilacs, screeching I��m not cooperating, and every blow reverberates through my shot-out, shattered spine. And there is pain. And then – then – when he’s – when I’m naked – he starts taking pictures and I can’t stop him! And when – when he’s done – the Joker just…laughs!”

“For six months all I had was pain. They had to build a bridge between sections of my spine just so I could sit up straight. And I will never, never, never walk again.”

The therapy session would be taking place around 2 years after the Killing Joke. The Batman Chronicles story mentioned 6 months of therapy and Babs spent a year training with Richard Dragon, throw in 6 months to establish contact/work with the Suicide Squad = 2 years.

Bab’s paralysis/recovery, Jason’s death/resurrection, the 4 Robins, and Dick becoming Nightwing are all examples of why the New 52 compressed 5-year timeline doesn’t work for the Bat Family. Barbara and Jason’s respective Joker traumas were the defining obstacle of their lives – it took time and much inner strength to overcome. In the New 52, Babs, in a space of 5 years, became Batgirl, was paralyzed by the Joker, created the Oracle identity, formed the Birds of Prey, disbanded the Birds of Prey, regained the ability to walk, discarded the Oracle identity, and regained enough athletic ability to resume the Batgirl role. So, Babs was paralyzed for less than a month? Still traumatizing but it removes the strength and struggle it took for Babs to even create the Oracle role.

The therapist informs Barbara: “You have a right to be angry. It was a heinous act. It was unfair. You need to tell other people about your rage – like your father. Whenever you’re with him, you put on the act of perky, plucky Barbara Gordon. Why?”

Barbara responds: “What good would it do to get mad? He’d only feel more ashamed and guilty. He holds himself responsible. Dad always refused to have an officer of duty guarding us like they do in other cities. Wanted to be more ‘accessible’ to the taxpayers. We were ‘accessible’ all right.”

“But you do blame him – and Batman. Not unreasonably!”

“I mostly blame myself mostly. I should’ve known better than to just pop open the door without seeing who it was.”

“Why? Why should you have known better?”

Barbara leaves the therapy session, worrying that she has “another murderous sociopath stalking me!”

“And whose fault is this one, Barbara? Batman’s? Dad’s? Simon LaGrieve? Uh-uh. You wanted to be a superhero again so you created a computer version and called yourself Oracle. But you weren’t as good as you thought you were. Stop it! No more self-pity. No more playing the victim! Whatever it takes, Thinker, I’ll deal with you – myself!”

Trademark Barbara determination and independence on display.

Suicide Squad #49 was near the tail-end of Babs’ run with the team. Barbara continues to be stalked by the Thinker.

Babs is at the Gotham City Police Department Shooting Range: “What am I doing? I hate guns! Shut up! You know very well what you’re doing! You’re preparing to kill someone. You touched that maniac’s mind! You know what he wants to do! Carmichael’s a sociopath! He wants to kill you, your father – anyone who care’s anything about you! You swore – never again! You’d never be a victim again! Isn’t there any other way? Of course there is – I could just go tell Dad. But that would be the end of Oracle. The only place I have left where I can walk, where I can run, where I can dance is the cybernet! I lost my physical mobility because of one madman, must I lose my mental freedom as well?”

Notice that Bab’s never entertains the thought of contacting Batman or Nightwing. It reinforces the pre-Crisis and immediate post-Crisis canon that Barbara was not an intimate member of the Bat Family. I’m in the minority but I prefer it this way. I love Bab’s as an independent, adult woman, who, while inspired by Batman, carved her own path as a hero – one who didn’t need or require his guidance or approval. I prefer that Batman, amazed by Bab’s intelligence, strength, and determination, brought her into the fold after she created the Oracle identity. I feel Bruce saw Babs as well-intentioned but lacked the “true dedication” in her Batgirl career. He wasn’t wrong as Babs had retired her Batgirl-career pre-Killing Joke. Post Killing-Joke, Bruce realized Babs wasn’t here to play! We shouldn’t underestimate the guilt Bruce felt – not only for the shooting but for laughing with the Joker.

Babs wonders if she can bring herself to shoot Carmichael: “I won’t be a victim again. But does that mean I must become a killer? It flies in the face of everything I was taught – everything I believe! But perhaps everything I was taught to believe is wrong. Don’t we have the right to defend ourselves?”

Barbara hides out at the Hotel Tamarindo. Carmichael storms into the room, yelling for “Amy!”

Babs/Amy claims she only ships computers to Oracle but has never seen the actual person.

Carmichael throws Babs out of her wheelchair and threatens to “rip open her mind” and discover the truth.

Carmichael’s interrupted by Amanda Waller’s entrance: “So there you are, you nasty boy, you.”

“I know you. You’re Amanda Waller! I read all about you in the papers a year or so back! But you couldn’t be Oracle – or could you?!”

Carmichael tries to control Amanda’s mind but fails. Amanda and Carmichael brawl while Barbara grabs her gun: “Stand away from him, Mrs. Waller.”

“You can’t do it, girl.”

“I’ve got to do it! He’s a sociopath – he wants to kill me and my family – my friends!”

“Who you really trying to kill, girl?”

Babs visualizes shooting the Joker, Batman, Jim Gordon, and Batgirl.

“No one. Take this, please, Mrs. Waller.”

Waller knocks Carmichael unconscious and offers Babs continued work with the Suicide Squad: “Also got an offer to make to you. You got a thing about privacy. Fine. I won’t pry. But I think we can be a help to each other if you’re willing to listen.”

“You saved my life and helped keep me from taking a life. All right, Mrs. Waller – I’ll listen.”

I love the mutual respect between Babs and Amanda. Amanda didn’t threaten or blackmail Babs – she simply made an offer and was willing to back off if Barbara declined.

For those unfamiliar with Amanda’s backstory, she came from a poor background, suffered numerous heart-breaking tragedies, and built herself up by pure force of will. I think Amanda sees herself in Barbara – another woman brought down low by outside forces who raised herself up through pure determination.

Barbara would continue to aid the Suicide Squad but I’m switching to Showcase ’94 #12.

“A Little Knowledge” by Scott Peterson and Brian Stelfreeze. The short story takes place during the Prodigal-era of the Bat titles. Babs has stopped working with the Squad and began to make appearances in the Bat titles.

Babs hears a knock on her door – she opens it (using the peephole first), and discovers a rodent impaled by a knife.

“I can’t help wondering if they have to deal with this kind of thing in Metropolis.”

Babs receives a call: “I’ve been watching you.”

What is it with Babs and stalkers?

Barbara continues her work day: “A note from Robin. Great kid. Knows his stuff, too. And he always thanks me for the help. Means more to me than the money they send my way once in a while.”

Yes, Tim is polite and gracious. Unlike Bruce.

“Not that I’m complaining. Their generosity is what keeps me state of the art. Still, as much as I love Robin, I wish I didn’t get the feeling that he and Alfred were the only ones sending the mysterious checks I receive, funneled through dummy corporation seven times removed. Like I wouldn’t find out.”

Sorry, boys, you can’t fool the Oracle.

Babs continues to receive calls and weird notes.

Barbara is out grocery shopping when someone shoots at her: “I’m on my way home when the first shots fired. I see it hit the pavement before I hear it, and I’m already looking for places to dive. Then I remember I can’t dive anywhere anymore. I’m about to be shot. And there’s nothing I can do. Again.”

Babs returns home and receives another threatening call.

Babs has an origin/Killing Joke flashback:

“It was the Batman who made me want to become a hero myself. And even after he made it clear he didn’t want another partner, I kept at it.”

Independent Babs for the win!

“It was fun. Until the night when all the fun went away…forever.”

“I worked with what I had. From my days as Gotham’s head librarian I knew how to find out whatever I needed. If I could do that for citizens, I could do it for colleges, non-profit corporations, private investigators and super-heroes. Having been blessed with photographic recall, I studied a dozen newspapers, four dozen magazines, and my main haunt, the computer bulletin boards. I even hacked into the Gotham Bar Association to take the exam, just out of curiosity. Passed the first time, piece of cake. But the whole time I was improving my mind, I never got over losing the use of my legs. Although, when I think back on it all, I can’t believe I used to fight crime with a brown belt in Judo. A brown belt, for God’s sake.”

Barbara decides to talk to a friend. Enter Batman (Dick Grayson) via Batcave phone call.

Barbara confides in Dick: “The last time I was in a physical confrontation I shot a secret service agent. The time before that I got my spine blown out by the Joker. You can see why I’m a little nervous. Not exactly a great track record. I’m afraid.”

Dick advises: “Barbara, look – it…it never really goes away, you can try to lock it up, you can pretend you don’t feel it, but…but the fear’s always there somewhere. You can never escape it. You just have to overcome it. You have to prove you’re stronger. Do you want help with this guy?”

“No. Thanks, Dick, but…no. I need to do this on my own. I need to know if I can.”

My personal feeling is Barbara was brought into the Bat Family circle during the Knightsend/Prodigal era. I believe Dick is the one that invited Babs into the “family”. Not in a romantic way. Bruce was largely absent during from Gotham during this era and Dick will always be the more social/team-oriented member of the family. I see a reveal similar to the Batwoman/Nightwing moment in Batman: Bad Blood. The twist being that Barbara knows the secret identities – she’s had a lot of time to research since the Killing Joke.

Babs waits in her apartment. She receives another call: “Get ready, little girl. Here I come.” And the lights and phone go out.

Babs uses a back-up generator to access her computers. The security cameras reveal a Nick Riley: “And I finally understand who wants to kill me, and why.”

“I finally push the button. The first thing I installed. The think I hoped I never have to use.”

Riley enters the apartment: “You and me, we’re going to have a whole lotta fun.”

“No. I don’t believe this is going to be very much fun for you at all.”

Babs beats the man into unconsciousness. She then calls out to another man: “You can come in now, Mister Armonk.”

Armonk was sent to jail for murder two years ago with the assistance of Barbara Gordon. Armonk prepares to shoot Babs but she whips out her escrima sticks and knocks him out.

Batman compliments: “Nice job.”

“Batman? How long have you been here?”

“About five minutes. I came as soon as I got your signal.”

“Why didn’t you give me a hand?”

“Didn’t look like you needed it.”

“Hey, you looked good. Really good. How did it feel?”

“It felt good. I hope I don’t need to do that again. But it feels good to know I can. It may not be swinging from rooftops, but…but it’s not bad. Not bad at all.”

Babs would shortly form the Birds of Prey, first as a partnership with Black Canary and later expanding into a full-fledged group. One of my favorite series but it’s simply too lengthy to include in a Babs-a-thon.

Barbara’s other major development of the 90’s/2000’s was her romance with Dick Grayson. I started as a fan of the pairing. Babs – in the immediate post-Crisis era – dismissed Robin as a flirtatious, too young boy. Pre-Crisis, Babs dated Clark Kent and had a lengthy romance with Jason Bard. In both eras, Babs was intrigued by Batman. The point I’m making is Barbara dated adult men because she was an adult.

Shortly after the Prodigal era, Barbara and Dick began to head in a romantic direction. What I wanted, and what was initially portrayed, was Barbara falling for an older, more mature Dick. Dick is an adult and their age difference is no longer an issue for Barbara. Their early romance had touching moments as Babs let down her guard and allowed Dick in. Dick was still healing over the brutal end of his relationship with Starfire, so it made sense to go slow.

It didn’t take long for the pairing to jump the tracks for me. First, Babs is continually de-aged to become Dick Grayson’s one (only?) true love. First, no. Second, why does Babs have to be the one to have her history and accomplishments removed to accommodate Dick? Why does she lose her independence to become yet another sidekick of Batman? Third, Dick’s true love of his teenage/college years is Starfire. It’s Dick’s first intense, full-out love experience.

I could go on for a while about this pairing but I’ll save that for a separate post.

This concludes my Babs-a-thon. The issues mentioned in parts 1 – 5 cemented my impression of Barbara: an intelligent, determined, driven woman. I adored Barbara as Batgirl but it’s as Oracle that she became a force of nature in the DC Universe.

#Barbara Gordon #Batgirl #Oracle #babs-a-thon

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tgwltw · 7 years

Note

My dad is emotionally abusive and just in general sucks and I'm really upset today because with it being fathers day, my family has it that I "Have" to hang with and do as my father says......I was wondering if you could cheer me up by writing something like bruce and alfred being good adoptive father figures to a male reader who just sorta ended up hanging with the batboys, with it slipping that the readers family life isnt great, despite the readers happy outward face.

Hi, I’m really sorry to hear that. Ihope this cheered you up enough? If you ever need someone to talk to, reach out yeah? I originally had something else planned for Bruce, Alfred and Clark but I figured since this is a request that youseem to need, I tried my best with it! Hope this is able to cheer you up a bit!

“Young master Y/N, will you bejoining us for dinner today?” Alfred asks when you walk by the kitchen,trailing after Tim who is still chattering about what he had gotten for Bruce.You blink a couple of times, pausing to think about the offer. On one hand, youreally want to stay and have dinner with the family but on the other hand, youknew if you went back home, you are just going to be super fucking miserableand your family might even get mad at you for skipping tonight.

Tim must have seen the briefconflict on your face. “Yeah, he’s staying for dinner, Alfred.” Tim answers foryou and you shot your friend a look. Tim simply shrugs. “Come on, we still needto play the game. Alfred’s going to call us for dinner once it’s about done.”Tim pulls you in the direction of his room.

“Thank you, Alfred!” You call outover your shoulders.

Alfred simply smiles at you.

The moment you reach Tim’s room, youimmediately went for the bean-bag you have claimed as yours, making yourselfcomfortable. You watch Tim plug in his PlayStation and hands a remotecontroller over to you. “Tekken 7?” He asks and you shrug your shoulders.

“I’m game.”

The two of you had spent the entiretime playing Tekken 7, shouting and screaming at each other as you tried tobeat Tim. You are somewhat thankful you had gotten the chance to meet Tim thatone day. It went from casual conversations about the latest games and latestupdates to having actual conversations about all sorts of games the both of youplayed and soon, Tim and you became quick friends.

The competition between you and Timare put to a stop when Alfred knocks on the door. “Young masters, it is almosttime for dinner. If you could head over to the dining hall, it would befantastic.” Alfred announces and Tim nods his head.

“Why don’t you head down first? Ineed to take a quick shower.” Tim tells you and you nod your head. “I thinkDamian should be downstairs somewhere.” Tim turns to look Alfred.

“Master Damian is currently in thestudy, playing with Titus as we are speaking.” Alfred nods his head to confirmTim’s suspicions. You got off the bean-bag and hand the controller you had beenusing to Tim. “Follow after me, Young Master Y/N.”

You left Tim’s room and quicklyfollowed after Alfred. You really look up to Alfred. The first time you had metAlfred, you had been a little bit afraid because of his stern expression butyou quickly find out that despite his expressions, he was lovable and his quickwits amazed you.

“Alfred, will everyone be around fordinner today?” You finally ask. “It’s just that today’s Father’s Day and all.”You casually point out and Alfred shakes his head.

“Not everyone, unfortunately. MasterDick is currently out of the country for a job and if all is well, Master Jasonwill drop by when he is finished with his.” Alfred tells you as he leads youdown to the dining hall. He didn’t really have to do that to be quite honestseeing as you have already been hanging out with them a lot to know where thedining hall is but it still made you somewhat happy.

“I see.” You say softly. “Areeveryone happy?” You randomly ask when he leads you to where you will besitting.

Alfred looks at you before givingyou a knowing smile. “Do you know why we fall sometimes, Young Master Y/N?” Heasks you instead and you frown as you tried to think of an answer. “So that wewill learn how to pick ourselves up.” You take a seat on the chair and furrowyour eyebrows.

“Being happy is a choice, son. Itsimply means that they have simply decided to see beyond the imperfections.”Alfred tells you as he recalls every little thing the entire family had gonethrough and he places a hand on your shoulder. “You just have to choose it andfight to be happy.” He lifts his hand from your shoulder, dropping it to hisside. “Dinner will be served shortly.” Alfred then excuses himself leaving youwith a few questions rather than answers.

You never looked forward to Father’sDay. What with the situation back at home and your father was just plain rotten?Constantly abusing you emotionally, to the point where you are just so tiredand done and you tend to find excuses to not stay at home. It makes you wonderbriefly if Tim – and the rest of his family – knows about your situation backat home. You had been careful too, not letting it slip just how unhappy yourfamily – more specifically your father – made you feel.

“Tt. It is you.” Damian walks inwith Alfred the Cat chilling on his shoulders and you give Damian a wave. Henods his head curtly as he takes his seat. “You are looking worse for wear.Whatever have you been doing?” Sometimes you forget Damian’s a thirty-year-old stuckin a ten-year old’s body and you chuckle. “Tt. I see nothing funny about myquestion, Y/N.”

You shake your head. “I justremembered something but do I look that bad? I think I’m getting more sleepthan Tim does.” You point out, looking at your reflection on the spoon. Yeah,you might have eye-bags beneath your eyes but that was certainly nothing new.At times, you can’t sleep, your thoughts plagued by the thoughts of your dad.

Damian shrugs his shoulder, pickingAlfred off of his shoulder to place him on the floor. “Run along and find Titusnow, Alfred.” He tells his cat and you smile. You never thought he would havean affinity with animals – it was kinda adorable.

Not long after that, Tim appears,chatting with Bruce.

“Hello, Y/N. How are you?” Bruceasks you when they reached the table. Tim takes a seat beside you, leaving theseat beside Damian empty and Bruce sits down on his chair.

“Still alive and breathing, sir.”You grin at Bruce and he nods his head, a small smile on his face. Anyconversations that were about to happen after that is cut short because Alfredcame in bringing dinner. Eating home-made food was always something you lookedforward to and sometimes you think Alfred spoils everyone in this house withhow good most of his food were. You thank him and Alfred tells you to eat yourfood well before taking a sat at the far end of the table – still mindful ofthe fact that he is a butler – even though you are sure no one in the housereally thinks of him as a butler anymore.

The rest of the night is spent withyou watching everyone interact. Halfway through dinner, Jason comes walking inand it was amusing for you to see Damian interacting with Jason. Despite hiscold attitude towards him, you can see that Damian actually looks up to Jasontoo. Perhaps this was what Alfred had meant by his answer to your question.

You have come to notice thateveryone is a misfit here and everyone just clicks. It makes you a little bitsad that your own family is not like this. But you tried to put that at theback of your mind, especially since both Tim and Damian had invited you to stayover and you jumped at the chance. Anything to spend the night away from yourfamily.

You thought you had a grip on yourown emotions and managed to go about the rest of the night without giving awayyour problems. But you thought wrong. Just as you are about to go in one of theliving rooms – where Tim and Damian had set up their mattresses – Bruce stopsyou. “Our house is open for you whenever you feel like it, Y/N.” You frown atfirst, confused by what he is saying.

Bruce gives you a small smile. “Afather figure of mine once said, however dark and scary the world might beright now, there will be light.” He stares at you and you reel back from theshock when you finally understand what he was trying to say without actuallysaying it.

“Thank you, sir.” You tell him. “Thankyou.”

Bruce shakes his head. “Remember,the house is open for you whenever.” He tells you once more before leaving youto digest just what had happened.

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