Pairing : Bruce wayne x Pregnant!batmom!reader + Damian wayne
Synopsis : The Wayne family learns a baby girl is on the way. While everyone is overjoyed, one of the boys slowly withdraws, convinced he'll soon lose his place. One night, youdecides not to let him hide anymore.
The manor was quiet, only disturbed by the crackling fire in your bedroom's fireplace. It was almost midnight, and you had given up trying to sleep, choosing instead to sit in the large armchair by the window, a blanket over your shoulders and your hands resting on your eight month round belly.
The door opened without a sound. Bruce, still dressed in his suit from the evening, tie loosened, jacket over his arm, froze for a moment when he saw you awake at this hour.
"You should be sleeping," he said softly, closing the door behind him.
"She won't stop moving. Impossible to fall asleep."
A small smile, barely visible, crossed his face. The kind he saved for so few people. He set his jacket on the back of a chair, undid his tie completely, then came closer to kneel in front of you, something he had started doing often these past weeks.
"She's giving you a hard time," he murmured, gently placing his hands on your belly.
"She gets that from her father, I think. Always moving, never still."
Bruce looked up at you, amused. "I think she gets her personality from you."
As if to prove him right, a small kick could be felt under his palm. Bruce went still, almost suspended, as if the whole world had stopped at that exact moment. You had already seen him face impossible situations with icy calm, but nothing disarmed him quite like these small movements under his hands.
"She's doing it again," he whispered, a hint of wonder in his voice that he no longer bothered hiding from you.
He rested his forehead against your belly, closing his eyes for a moment, as if he simply wanted to stay there, suspended in this moment. You ran your fingers through his hair, feeling the tension of his day, endless meetings, maybe an earlier patrol, all the weight he carried without ever complaining, slowly dissolve under your touch.
"Did you think about names today?" you asked after a while.
"I sat through a four hour board meeting thinking about girl names instead of listening," he admitted, lifting his head with a guilty half smile.
"Bruce Wayne, distracted in a meeting. Now that would make headlines."
"For that alone, I could live with the headlines."
He straightened up slightly to sit on the arm of the chair, one arm behind your shoulders, the other hand still resting on your belly as if he couldn't bring himself to move it. You let yourself lean into him, the exhaustion of pregnancy finally settling over you now that you weren't alone in the silence of the room.
"She's going to be so loved," you murmured, half asleep already. "You know that?"
Bruce pressed a kiss into your hair, his arm tightening slightly around you.
"She'll never have to doubt it," he answered quietly. "I promise you that."
Outside, Gotham kept living its restless life, indifferent. But here, in this room bathed in firelight, there was only the three of you. And for once, Bruce Wayne was nowhere else but exactly here.
The next morning, you wake up in his arms, pale dawn light filtering through the curtains. Bruce is still asleep, one hand resting out of habit on your belly even in his sleep, as if he refused to move it unconsciously. You take his sleeping hand and press it gently against you, and that's what wakes him, a still drowsy smile on his lips.
He understands right away. "Today," he repeats, and the barely contained excitement in his voice, from a man who always controls everything, makes you laugh softly against his shoulder.
Half an hour later, you go down to the kitchen together, hand in hand. Dick is already at the table, tearing through his breakfast. Jason flips through a newspaper with a detached air. Tim, eyes half closed, clings to his coffee cup like a lifeline. And off to the side, near the counter, Damian is playing with one of the manor's cats, just as serious as always.
Bruce gives you that nervous, happy look he reserves only for you, then clears his throat.
"We have something to tell you."
Four sets of eyes look up at you.
"It's a girl," you say, a hand resting on your belly.
Dick springs out of his chair with a shout of joy, nearly knocking over his coffee cup. "A girl! I'm going to be the favorite big brother, that's official!" He pulls you into a careful but overjoyed hug, then throws himself at Bruce, laughing. Jason shakes his head with a genuine smile. "A little Wayne princess. Gotham isn't ready." Tim mumbles sincere congratulations between two sips of coffee.
You look for Damian. He hasn't moved, the cat frozen in his arms. He nods once.
"Congratulations," he says, brief, before setting the animal down and leaving the room without a sound.
No one else seems to notice. You do.
You find him a bit later in the library, a book open in front of him that he clearly isn't reading. You sit down across from him.
"You didn't say much this morning."
"There was nothing to add. Dick covered it for ten people."
You try to catch his eyes. "You know you can talk to me, right? Whatever it is."
"I'm fine," he repeats, closing the book with a sharp motion. "If you'll excuse me, I have training."
He's gone before you can add anything else.
Over the following days, you feel him pulling away a little more each day. He leaves rooms as soon as the baby comes up in conversation. He stops coming near you when you talk nursery plans with Alfred. Bruce, caught up in work, doesn't seem to have noticed yet. You have, and you don't intend to let it go.
The chance comes one evening, while the whole family watches a movie in the living room. You're curled up against Bruce on the couch, his hand resting on your belly, tracing slow absent circles with his thumb. You turn your head to include Damian in a comment and notice his empty seat.
"I'll be right back," you whisper to Bruce, who follows your gaze to the empty chair and nods, understanding without a word.
Damian's door is slightly open. You knock softly before stepping in. He's sitting on the edge of his bed, Titus lying at his feet, his shoulders slumped.
"I wasn't feeling well," he says without looking up. "It's nothing."
You sit down next to him, carefully, despite your belly. "I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth."
The silence stretches. Then it breaks all at once.
"You won't need me anymore." The words come out fast, bitter. "She'll be your real daughter. Your child, both of yours, by blood. Not... not some training mistake forced on you. Not the son of an assassin you had to mold into someone decent. I'm not stupid. I know how it works."
His voice shakes at the end. He looks away.
Your heart breaks on the spot. You place a hand on his arm, gently turning him to face you.
"That little girl is never, ever going to replace you. You are not a mistake, and you have never been a burden anyone had to accept. You are our son. You were before she existed, and you still will be after. She's going to be born into a family where you're already her big brother. She's going to be lucky to have you, Damian. So lucky."
He tries to keep his composure, his usual mask. But his lip trembles, and for once, he doesn't pull away when you draw him against you. He lets himself fall into your shoulder, stiff at first, then his arms wrap around you with a force that feels almost desperate.
"I didn't want..." he murmurs against your shoulder. "I didn't want to feel like this. It's stupid."
"It's not stupid at all," you answer, stroking his hair. "It's human, Damian. And I'm glad you told me."
You stay like that for a long moment, in silence, listening to Titus breathing at your feet. Then you look up and notice Bruce standing in the doorway, one hand resting against the frame. He hasn't said anything. He didn't want to interrupt. But his smile, quiet, genuine, says enough.
Damian looks up too, spots his father, tenses slightly, embarrassed. Bruce steps forward, kneels down in front of both of you, and rests a firm hand on his son's shoulder.
"She's right, you know," he says softly. "About all of it."
A real smile, small, unsure, but real, finally lights up Damian's face.
"You coming to finish the movie with us?" you ask, pushing yourself up with one hand on your lower back. "Dick's already spoiled the ending three times, you're not missing anything."
A huff of amusement escapes him, almost against his will. "I suppose someone has to remind him to be quiet."
"That's the spirit," Bruce says, ruffling his hair on the way out, a gesture Damian actually tolerates, for once, without protest.
The three of you head back down to the living room together, Titus trotting behind you, and when Damian sits back down in his chair, a little closer to the couch than usual, nobody comments. You settle back against Bruce, his hand finding your belly again, and for the first time in days, Damian laughs freely at one of Dick's jokes, without holding back
Taglist : @sunshine740 @tigerlillyruiz @starrydustedwinter @fireriyu @nalah-whimsy
Thanks for reading my work ! I just change my pfp, hope you'll like the new one !!
