(Wally West, Kon El Kent, Roy Harper, Starfire, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Clark Kent)
Synopsis: They're caught dating their friend's sister
Tags: Fluff ♡, a bit suggestive at parts, batfam sister, Nightingale alias
They hadn't meant to keep it a secret for so long, honestly. It's just... how do you tell your friend you're banging their sister? Probably start off by phrasing it better.
"Wally we are in public!" You swatted his hand that was travelling low.
"I'm not doing anything babe!" He feigned innocence but you saw the mischief behind his eyes.
"Uh-huh," You walked further ahead leaving his hand hovering where your waist once was. "Sure you weren't."
"Oh c'mon babe!" He jogged to catch up. Your bags of shopping swinging in his hands.
He settled back into your side with an arm around your waist like it was second nature. It was probably was at this point.
"I'm just saying that if you're tired from shopping I know a few ways to—woah!" Wally's body was tugged after you took a sharp left. It was late on a weekday, so the mall wasn't busy.
You pulled your boyfriend into the empty bathroom, dropping the bags to the floor and pushing him against the wall.
He laughed, "I knew you couldn't resist me."
"Shut up and kiss me."
"On it." The kisses were sloppy and desperate, like any other young couple hidden in a bathroom stall.
Your arms were wrapped around his neck like a viper. Your fingers played with the hairs on the base of his neck.
"You're so hot." He pulled away, just an inch or two to make the comment. His lips were covered in your lipgloss. And you swear there was tears in his eyes.
"Don't ruin this on yourself, babe."
"Okay I'll shut up." He nodded and dove back in for your lips.
At some point during your rendezvous, there was a robbery within the mall resulting in Nightwing—your brother showing up. You hadn't heard the alarms, the shouting or the approaching footsteps. Only realising your relationship was about to be found out when Dick's voice rang through your ears.
"What's going on here?"
You jumped away from Wally at the sound of your brother's voice. You looked up to see him peering over the stall door, head resting on his crossed arms.
"Dick...hi?" You searched your mind for what to say, but you came up blank.
"Hey, bro!" Wally's voice came out as a squeak.
"This is disgusting." You squinted at his remark.
You couldn't tell if he was referring to you being pressed up against his best friend, breathless and flushed—or you making out in a mall bathroom stall.
"I'm not judging your relationship, just your taste in makeout spots!"
"I'm judging your relationship!" A strained voice called out.
"Dick are you standing on Damian!?"
"Red Robin, Nightingale," You and your brother perked up at your father's voice. "Both of you head to The Narrows. I suspect there's a lead in our case there." He ordered.
The whole family was in the Batcave working a case involving Scarecrow.
"I shouldn't need to say this but—be careful." Bruce looked at you both sternly.
The gaze would freak out anyone else but everyone in the cave recognises it as fondness and worry.
"You got it!" You threw a silly salute before heading towards the cave exit, Tim following closely.
"And stick together!" Dick shouted as you vanished into the night.
Gotham could be kinda pretty at night. If you know the right places. You and Tim had split up—even though Dick told you to stick together. It was fine, you could still see each other. Supposedly, Scarecrow had enlisted a group of low-life criminals to transport canisters filled with his newest rendition of fear gas. You were crouched on a rooftop, peering over the ledge, scanning The Narrows for anyone or anything suspicious. It had been 27 minutes and 45 seconds since you arrived...and nothing has happened. Not even a stray cat to coo at.
"Do you want to play eye spy?" You saw Tim freeze and make a confused face at your question through the comms.
"We're on patrol." He deadpanned.
"But I'm so bored!" He sighed as you let your body go limp, half hanging off the building ledge, something you know any of your other brothers would scold you for.
Good thing you were with the one brother who lets you be stupid because he knows somehow you'll always come out successful.
"I'll demote you from favourite brother if you don't play." You threatened.
"I'm not playing eye spy in the middle of patrol Nightingale." He said through his teeth, holding the bridge of his nose.
"I'll replace your position with Damian."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh, I would!" Just as the argument escalated a group of voices emerged from the shadows.
"This is where he said." An older guy, smoker by the sounds of it.
Two younger guys followed him, probably around college graduate age. They slipped into a run-down warehouse.
"There's an open window to the second floor and a back door," Tim informed you, having studied the blueprint beforehand.
"Let's go."
Dick's voice rang in your mind; "Stick together." It was laughable how quickly you and Tim had gotten separated. You hadn't realised the warehouse was designed like a maze. Some thug ambushed you when you entered. They didn't do any major damage—a scratch on the cheek. Worst of all he smashed your comm. You had no way of contacting Tim. Unless you wanted to yell across the warehouse and alert everyone you were here.
You snuck around the building, careful not to make loud footsteps. You're investigation eventually led to a hallway. A hallway you quickly realised reeked of gasoline.
"Shit." You whispered to yourself as the flick of a lighter sounded at the end of the hall.
A trail of fire lit up before you. The flames licked at you costume as you retreated. In the corner of your peripheral you spotted the worst thing you could; explosives.
"Fuck."
The hallway lit up bright and a deadening sound filled your ears. Definitely damaging your eardrums. But you didn't feel the pain of burns or debris crushing you. Instead, you felt a safe embrace that flew you out the shattered window.
"Kon!?"
"Heya babe!" He flashed a smig smile. He settled you onto a nearby rooftop.
"You okay?" His hands cupped your face. His thumb gently grazes over the scratch.
"I'm fine but—Tim!"
"I saw him chasing some guy down an alley amoment ago. He's alright." Knowing your brother wasn't affected by the explosion you could let yourself stare into your boyfriend's lovesick eyes.
"How'd this happen?" He lightly tapped the cut on your cheek.
"Got ambushed by some guy, destroyed my comm. B won't be happy about that..." You grimaced at the thought of returning to the cave.
"Don't worry yourself babe," Kon leaned in and pecked the space between the cut and your eye. "You can always call me—your handsome, super-boyfriend, to cheer you up!"
"What are you doing?" Tim grappled up onto the roof to see something he'd never thought he'd see.
You both stared at Tim like you'd just been caught committing a felony. All you and Kon could do is move your mouths like you were going to say something. But nothing ever came out. Tim didn't need to be a trained detective or a genius to understand the secret he'd just discovered. He really didn't know what to say.
"All I ask is that you never be," He lifted his fingers to form quotations. "cute, in front of me."
"Roy what the fuck!?" You whispered yelled, only wearing a towel as you'd just showered.
Roy was perched on your windowsill. One leg bent and the other aimlessly swinging back and forth.
"Shouldn't be leaving your windows open this late babe," He pointed out before dropping to his feet. "Someone could break in." He sported a stupid grin.
"Roy—"
"You look gorgeous." His eyes raked over your body, watching a few droplets of water slip down your skin.
A calloused hand cupped your cheek and all of a sudden your mind went blank. He stepped closer to fill the space. His hand found your lower back through the damp towel.
"How'd I get so lucky?" He chuckled before swooping in for a kiss.
Your hands fisted the towel. You desperately wanted to get your hands on him, it had been awhile since you two were together. And that was because—
"Dude! What the fuck!?"
Jason was crashing at your apartment. Jason—who although friends with Roy—believed him to be a bad influence and didn't want you two hanging out. Let alone making out. You jumped away from the kiss but Roy pulled you back into his arms. Your knuckles turned white from how tightly you were holding onto the towel, and your sanity.
"Jason get out of my room!" You screamed.
"Why is Roy in your room!?" As his sister, you can confidently tell people that the rumours are true; Jason is a massive drama queen.
"None of your business!"
"I think it is my business why my best friend is in your room, when your only in a towel!"
"Dude," Roy began. Jason just gave a stern look in response. "She's an adult." Roy placed a pile of clothes you had thrown on your bed into your hands. He ushered you back into your bathroom to change.
Their voices were a little muffled but you could make out what they were saying.
"Roy what the hell!"
"Jay—"
"We talked about this!"
"That you don't think I'm a good influence based on my past? Yeah I know we've talked about this—hearing that from my best friend kinda stuck with me!"
It went silent on their end for a moment. The wind came through the open window to fill the void. And your clothes were annoyingly loud in the silence.
"Jason, she's your sister, I get that you're worried for her, but she's an adult. She can make her own decisions." He sighed.
"You know better than anyone how smart she is Jay, trust her—and me—please?"
You crept out of the bathroom, the door squeaking unceremoniously. Jason had his arms crossed, and a sour expression on his face as his gaze flicked between you and Roy.
"You better not fuck this up." That was all he said before exiting your room.
"You let me know and I'll kill him!" He added, shouting from down the hallway.
You shut the door and locked it, sighing. "Where were we?"
The misson had gone south. Like very far down south. So south that Bruce and Dick had sent you away to a safe house and wouldn't let anyone else know where you were south. You hated it. There was absolutely nothing to do and all you could hope for was that Dick would show up and tell you that the coast was clear and you could go home. Glass shattering had your head snapping towards the bedroom so fast you heard a crack. You quickly grabbed your weapons and headed towards the room.
You leaned your ear against the door. There was movement so definitely some kids' stray ball.
"Sunny?" You stood straighter at the nickname and voice.
You swung the door open, your weapons dropping to the floor. There she stood—Koriand'r; your secret girlfriend. Who you hadn't been allowed to call or text this whole time.
"Kori!" You ran to her arms. The Tamaranean lifted you with ease, your body instantly curling around hers like a koala.
"Sunny! Why have you not been speaking to me?" She asked with sad eyes. You gave a nervous laugh.
"Last misson, didn't end so well," her eyes immediately scanned you for any major injuries. "I got out alright—kinda?" She didn't look please to hear that.
"Allow me to assist." She sat you down on the bed.
You winced a little. How exactly do you tell your girlfriend whom you haven't been speaking to for at least two weeks, that you got roughed up and shot at?
"To properly assist I must remove the cloth barrier."
"What?"
Kori was already removing you clothes before you could process what she'd said. You were sat in your underwear. Your bruises and stitches on full display. She gasped.
"Sunbeam! What has happened?"
"Baby it's fine, Dick patched me before dropping me here!"
"What the hell is going on?" Your eyes widened at the sound of your brother's voice.
"Starfire?"
"Nightwing! How dare you!" She got up from crouching in front of you. You took the opportunity to gain some dignity back and put your clothes on.
"How dare I what?" Dick was nothing but confused.
"How dare you hide my lover from me!"
Dick choked on air at the statement.
"Lover!?"
"Kori!" You gasped.
Dick backed up from the angry Tamaranean.
"I just came by to tell you that everything's been sorted, so—"
"So you will give me back my lover?" Her eyes were sparkling with hope now.
Even if you weren't safe to leave you don't think Dick would've been able to deny her to be with you. He was also a little scared of the sudden switch-up.
"Uh, yeah!" She skipped back over to you.
Her hug knocks you both onto the bed. You looked over to Dick and he gave a betrayed look at the fact that you never updated him on your love life. You weren't going to hear the end of this for a while.
Oh shit, he's going to tell Bruce.
"Who's the new girl?" Barry asked.
"This is Nightingale, she is my sister and will be helping out on the case." Barry nodded at Bruce before stretching his hand out to greet you.
"I'm Flash, nice to meet ya!" You shook his hand firmly, giving him a polite smile.
"Nice to meet you too."
A sudden burst of green light brought your attention to the door. Your eyes widened at who emerged from the light. Hal Jordan—your secret boyfriend.
"Well hello." Hal flirted before remembering where he was and clocking who was standing beside you.
"Who's she? New member?"
"Temporary. Nightingale is helping us on our new case." Barry caught Hal up on what he had missed. "She's Bats sister!"
He nodded and gave you a once-over. He knew you were a vigilante, but he'd never seen you in your suits. Damn, you were hot.
"Hal." Bruce called sternly.
"Uh—nice to meet you." He gave a stiff handshake. Trying to act like he'd never held your hands before.
"You too."
"You already know Queen." Bruce motioned towards Oliver, who had a shit eating grin on his face.
"Hey junior."
"Hello Oliver." Bruce gave Oliver an odd look for his mischievous smile.
You gave a small wave to Dinah who sat beside Oliver. She gave a wave and a knowing smile back. Diana and Clark made there way into the meeting room. Shortly after the introductions you all sat down and began discussing the case.
You were stood at the top of the room informing the League of all your collected evidence and leads on the case. Hal knew he should've been paying attention but he simply couldn't pay attention when you looked so good. Your latex suit carved out your figure Hal loved so much perfectly.
"Hal? Hal? Hal!" Barry's voice and shove to the shoulder brought him out of his dream.
"What?" Oliver and Dinah stiffled laughs behind their hands. Barry gave a confused look, whilst Clark and Diana hid small smiles at the exchange. He didn't have to look in Bruce's direction to feel his scowl and glare.
"Sorry, what was the last part?" He scratched his neck.
"I said," You repeated the previous piece of information to him. You tried your best to look him in the eyes and not stumble over your words.
"Got it." He said, although you didn't entirely believe he was actually listening. He still seemed to be distracted by your attire.
"Alright, what was that?" Barry pulled Hal aside after the meeting.
"What was what?" Hal played stupid. He knew exactly what Barry was talking about.
"You know what I'm asking about." Barry settled beside him in the kitchen. He was throwing together a sandwich stuffed with almost everything in the fridge. Hal settled for a coffee.
"C'mon man, tell me." He begged with a mouth full of sandwich. Hal rolled his eyes.
"Okay—but dont say anything." He gave Barry a serious look. Barry only smiled with crumbs on his cheeks. Hal scanned the kitchen, it was just the two of them.
"Okay, me and Nightingale have been seeing eachother for—"
"You're dating Nightingale!?" Barry yelled in shock. Hal felt his eyes twitch at the outburst.
"Hal."
Barry's eyes widened. Hal's body tensed up. He turned around to see you and Bruce in the doorway.
"Damn, good for you."
"Shut up Barry!" Bruce and Hal shouted in sync.
It was another day of sneaking out of Gotham to Central City with the excuse of work. In reality, you're sneaking around with your speedy boyfriend, like college students with strict parents. Except you just have a protective brother who happens to be the colleague of your boyfriend Barry. He'd finally gotten a day off from STAR Labs and thankfully hadn't been much crime activity. It was the perfect time for a date. And maybe a sleepover.
"Stop—I'm trying to focus!" Barry laughed as you poked at him.
Due to you being a public figure restaurant dates were a no. Couldn't risk the paparazzi outing you to your family.
"But you're so cute!" You smiled and wrapped your arms around his neck.
He did his best to watch the boiling pasta. But how could he with such a beautiful woman wrapped around him? One hand stirred with a wooden spoon. It didn't take long for both his hands to settle around your waist though. Barry smiled fondly as your manicured hands cupped his face.
"God, you're so handsome." You purred, biting your lip slightly.
"Is it hot in here?" Barry grinned sheepishly.
"Just kiss me." You demanded in a sultry tone, your nose brushing his. Barry wasted no time diving in to meet your tinted lips.
The simple kiss quickly escalated into more. Since he couldn't treat you to a fancy restaurant date, he did the best he could to improvise by dressing in the only fancy clothes he had. Now his hair was ruffled with you fingers tangled in it. His tie was loose and the top of his shirt was unbuttoned with the collar stood up. You pulled away from the kiss to give your work a once over. He looked at you with a dopey smile. He was flushed all over. The blood rush nearly hid the lipstick marks all over him.
"What are you laughing at?" You giggled even harder at the question. His voice slurred with lovesickness.
"You look drunk."
"Drunk on love." You howl laughed in response. He gripped your hips as you leaned back laughing, your hands resting on his exposed chest.
"C'mere." He quickly lifted you onto the counter. His hands rested very low on your back. Your lips founds his again. And at some point, one of you accidently hit League gadget Barry had left lying around. Caught up in moment neither of you heard it ring. Nor did you see the hologram screen with Batman—your brother appear.
He cleared his throat.
"Oh my god!" You screamed and pushed Barry off you.
Your hands covered the incriminating smudged lipstick. There was no way you were lying your way out of this. Even if he hadn't caught this kiss; what were you doing with Barry? And why does he look like he just fought with Cupid?
"Uh—I—Bats! Didn't see ya there!" Barry stuttered.
"Mhm."
"Bruce?" You piped up. Embarrassment written all over your face.
"Mhm?"
"Can we talk—uhm—later maybe?"
"Mhm."
"Okay—thanks—great talk—bye!" You reached out to shut the device beside you off.
"Your pasta's boiling over." Bruce pointed out before disappearing.
"Oh shit!" Barry cried.
There's was a monster outbreak in Metropolis. Superman was trying to handle to situation as peacefully as possible. He was flying around, trying to tire out the creature so he'd be able to bring them away safely. He swooped around buildings and caught stuck civilians, flying them to safety.
He saved an old lady and her cat, three kids who got separated from their teacher, and a squirrel. There was minimal damage to the surrounding buildings so far.
"Mommy!" A little girl he'd just saved from a falling traffic light ran to her mother.
"Thank you, Superman!" She cried as he hugged her daughter tightly.
"No problem!" He shot back up into the air to continue the fight.
All the civilians were a safe distance away. He was 100% focused, he almost had the creature—a truck was thrown down the streets, towards a woman—towards you. He immediately redirected his attention. Quickly picking you up and flying to a nearby rooftop.
"Honey, are you okay? W-what are you doing here?" His voice quivered as he scanned over you. He instantly noticed the limp in your leg, and there was dry blood on your ankle.
"Uh-I came to the suprise you." You admitted breathlessly from screaming. "Not the kind of suprise I'd hope to give!"
Clark froze, he didn't want to leave you but he didn't want to leave the people of Metropolis to find for themsleves.
"What are you waiting for!? Go!" You shooed him off, but no before he could give you a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be back!" He shouted as he dived off the building ledge.
"Good luck!"
Clark smiled briefly for the cameras once the fight was over. The creature being ethically dealt with.
"Superman! Superman! Can you spare a moment-"
"I'm afraid I have to go!" He gently removed the microphone that was being shoved into his face. "Take care, everyone!"
He flew off into the sky, discreetly returning to the rooftop he'd left you on.
"Honey! Are you still here?" He called out. He sighed in relief at the sight of you with your ankle bandaged up. Only to freeze at the glare being sent his way. Not be you.
"Batman! What are you doing here?"
"I'd like to know what you're doing with my sister? Clark." He looked to you for confirmation about the situation. He could tell by your guilty expression that you hadn't updated your brother on your love life.
"I believe Ms. Wayne would be better at answering your questions." Bruce turned to face you. You let out a nervous laugh as your brother toward over you.
"Uhm—," You cleared your throat. "Well—you see—uhm—me and Clark are kinda—"
"Get to it."
"Sorta dating?" You told him like it was a question. Something you could backtrack on if he didn't approve.
"I see." That was all he said before he vanished. Claiming he had business to attend to.
"Why'd you leave it up to me?!" You punched Clark's shoulder. He didn't move an inch.
"I'm sorry love," His arms wrap around your waist. "It's not my fault you're keeping secrets though."
Your hands rested on his chest, his heartbeat erratic from the fight, but also you.
"C'mere." One of his large hands found your cheek, pulling you into a sweet kiss.
A/N: Clark Kent is such a "Honey, I'm home!" guy. Hal's my favourite freak I need to write something for him. I need to write more for these characters in general. Currently obsessed with Wally and trying to write something for him rn. I'd love to hear some ideas for these characters!
← ʙᴀᴄᴋ. ⋮ ⌞ jason todd ✘ reader + platonic! damian wayne ✘ reader ⌝ .ᐟ .ᐟ
ৎׅ ׄ synopsis ⋮ Damian is too scared to go home like this, so Jason calls you to them. His home that makes good soup, his home with soft hands, his home that Damian is about to steal the heart of.
word cnt. 9.6k
aka ›››› "Father...?" "Yeah bud?" Jason replies so casually you want to strangle him.
To say Jason was pissed didn’t even begin to cover it. The anger sat low and molten in his chest, a constant burn he couldn’t shake no matter how carefully he replayed the night in his head.
The mission was supposed to be nothing. A quick, forgettable errand before something that actually mattered. Before you. He’d timed it down to the minute, even swallowed his pride long enough to loop Bruce in, asking—reluctantly, irritably—for advice on evidence collection. In and out. Clean. Efficient. Four hours, max.
He’d planned it like a promise.
Seven o’clock: cuffs, charges, done.
Eight: showered, blood washed from his hands, the city scrubbed off his skin.
Nine: knocking on your door, pretending he hadn’t been counting down the hours since morning.
Damian hadn’t factored into any of it.
That was the problem.
Jason could have handled anyone else. He always did. Dick would’ve laughed it off later, bruised and dramatic. Tim would’ve brushed past it with that tight little smile, already turning the pain into data, into something useful he could throw back at Jason. Jason could’ve dumped either of them back at the warhouse—bloody, scowling, alive—and walked away without looking back.
But Damian—
Damian is a kid.
And that truth claws at him now, sharp and relentless. Because this time, the weight doesn’t slide off his shoulders. It settles. It presses down until his ribs ache with it. A kid got hurt, and Jason was there, and suddenly the mission isn’t clean anymore. It isn’t forgettable. It follows him, sticky and stubborn, refusing to wash away.
He drags a hand over his face, exhales hard through his teeth, and thinks of you—how he was supposed to be with you right now, how you were supposed to be the thing that grounded him at the end of the night.
Instead, he’s left standing in the wreckage, anger curdling into something uglier.
Guilt.
And Jason hates that most of all.
And now he’s fumbling with his cracked phone, thumb slipping against the spiderwebbed glass as Damian Wayne clings to his back, breath coming shorter, rougher by the second. The kid’s forehead presses into Jason’s shoulder, voice thin and stubborn even as his grip tightens.
“Not the manor,” Damian mutters. Again. Like a plea. Like a command. “Not the manor.”
Jason clenches his jaw.
He wants to grab the kid by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. Wants to sit him down, shove him into a metaphorical time-out until he’s Bruce’s age and then go find Bruce himself and shove him into the same corner for good measure. Wants to scream about contingency plans and backup and the fact that he thought he agreed that children should not be bleeding in alleyways while pretending they’re indestructible. How the fuck did he get past the security system?
Instead, he exhales sharply through his nose.
“Screw you,” Jason huffs, shifting his grip, hooking his arms under Damian’s knees and hauling him higher, more secure against his back. The kid’s weight settles there—too light, too fragile for someone who carries a sword like it’s an extension of his spine. “You’re going home. Fuck—do you know how much trouble you’re in, kid?”
Damian doesn’t answer. Just breathes. Too fast. Too shallow.
The night bites at them, cold even by Gotham’s standards. An ugly, cutting wind snakes through the alley, carrying smog thick enough to taste, clinging to the back of Jason’s throat. The city feels especially mean tonight, all sharp edges and dim lights, like it’s watching to see what breaks first.
They’re wedged between a burger joint and a narrow antique shop—the kind that smells like dust and old paper and forgotten things. Jason recognizes it with a jolt of something unwanted. One of the places you dragged him into after a date night once, all soft laughter and teasing commentary about cursed objects and ugly lamps. He shoves the memory away before it can root itself.
Now he’s crouched between two dented dumpsters, knees protesting, Damian pressed against his back, and his phone trembling slightly in his hand. The screen flickers when he taps it, the crack splitting light in the worst possible way.
Jason swallows, anger buzzing beneath his skin, tangled tight with fear he refuses to name.
He doesn’t drop Damian.
He never would.
But God—he’s going to have words for Bruce.There are no trackers. Not on either of them. Nothing Oracle can latch onto, no quiet safety net humming in the background. For one, Barbara was never looped in—this wasn’t supposed to be that kind of mission. For another, Jason and Damian had both taken the same unspoken ‘precaution’, stripping themselves clean of anything the family could use to find them.
Independence, they’d called it. Control.
Now it just feels like a mistake.
“Your either going to B or you’re going to Dick,” Jason hisses, the words sharp as he adjusts his footing. The stench of stagnant alley water crawls up his nose, mixing with the copper tang of Damian’s blood until it makes his stomach roll.
“No— no, no, Dick.” Damian’s protest is weaker than it was about Bruce, but the conviction is still there, stubborn even as his voice slips, fraying at the edges.
Jason stops short. “What the fuck is your problem now?”
“Father will know,” Damian coughs, the sound wet and wrong. “If I go to Dick.”
The words land heavier than Jason expects.
He tightens his grip without thinking, fingers curling beneath Damian’s knees, anchoring him there. Of course Bruce would know. Of course it would get back to him, echo through the manor halls, sharpened into disappointment and anger and whatever passes for concern in that family.
Jason exhales through his teeth, staring down at the glowing fracture in his phone screen.
Great.
Jason is two seconds away from popping a blood vessel.
From yelling at the kid that this is his own damn fault for following him in the first place. From telling him he’s dragging him—by the ankle if he has to—straight to Dick and Kori’s apartment whether he likes it or not. From letting the fear burn off into something loud and ugly and easier to carry.
And then—
“Father will be angry.”
Damian’s voice comes out small. Not sharp. Not defiant. Just… thin. Frayed.
“I— not today,” he whispers, breath hitching. “Just— just leave me here. I’ll find a drugstore in the morning and—”
Whatever argument Damian is trying to build collapses before it reaches Jason. The words blur together, fading into static.
Father will be angry.
Jason freezes. Because that’s it, isn’t it? Not the pain. Not the blood soaking through Damian’s clothes. Not the fact that his breathing is still wrong, still too shallow. It’s that disappointment—Bruce’s particular brand of it, sharp-edged and suffocating, wrapped in concern that feels a lot like judgment.
The kid would rather bleed out in an alley than face it
Jason swallows hard, throat tight, hands curling reflexively where they hold Damian in place. The anger drains out of him all at once, leaving something heavier behind.
Yeah, he thinks grimly.
Yeah. He would too.
And that realization settles deep in his chest, ugly and familiar, as the city hums on around them like it doesn’t care at all.
Damian’s argument cuts off abruptly when Jason lets out a long, frustrated groan, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“Fuck—my phone’s broken,” he mutters, staring at the shattered screen like it personally betrayed him. “Couldn’t—god, you’re fucking annoying. I can’t even take you to Dick if I wanted to.”
The lie stutters where it leaves his mouth, uneven and rushed, but Damian’s already too far gone to catch it. His weight slumps heavier against Jason’s back, breath hitching once, twice.
“You better be—” Jason swallows, jaw tightening. “Fuck. You better not say a damn word to her. You got that?”
There’s no answer.
Damian goes limp, consciousness slipping away before the warning can reach him. Jason feels it immediately—the shift, the sudden dead weight—and his heart kicks hard against his ribs.
“Shit,” he breathes, softer now.
The alley feels colder. Narrower. Like it’s closing in.
Jason shifts his grip, careful now, but every movement sets fire through his muscles, tendon and bone screaming in protest. The anger is gone, replaced by something sharper, something primal—a protective rage that doesn’t care about pride, or rules, or consequences. Only survival.
He hauls himself up the side of the antique shop, scraping against rough brick, the ache in his left leg a screaming reminder of the bullet that tore through him. Blood seeps past the torn fabric of his pants, warm and sticky against the cold bite of the night. Fantastic. Perfect. Wonderful.
A few blocks later, he reaches a rooftop and finds the water tower looming like a dead sentinel. He collapses on his side against it, letting the world tilt and sway around him. Damian is still draped across his back, pale and trembling, a thin line of blood seeping from a cut near his temple, matting strands of hair to his forehead.
Jason lowers him into his lap, careful but clumsy, hands slick with his own blood and Damian’s, pressing him against his chest to stop him from sliding off. He peels off his jacket and wraps it around the kid, ignoring the wet patches that cling like a second skin. His cape already wraps around him, but the darkness has its own weight, and Jason tucks the jacket over Damian’s small frame wherever the fabric of the cape won’t reach, shielding him from the cold—but unable to shield him from the horror still clinging to them both.
The city smells of smoke and rot tonight, alleyway blood and smog curling up through the night air. Every distant siren, every echoing footstep feels like it’s coming for them, and Jason presses his forehead against the top of Damian’s hair, whispering words he doesn’t trust to carry weight.
Safe, he tells him. For now, you’re safe.
And yet, beneath it all, the taste of iron is on his tongue, and he knows—knows—that the night isn’t finished with them yet.
Jason pulls his phone out with hands that tremble just enough to make the cracked screen wobble under his grip. Each movement feels jagged, raw, as though the cold has leeched into his bones, sharpening every ache, every burn in his muscles. He positions the phone near his ear, thumb hovering over your name.
“Pick up… pick up… pick up…” he mumbles, each repetition ragged, desperate, a whisper swallowed by the bitter wind that curls under his helmet. The chill isn’t just outside—it snakes through the lining of his armor, seeps into his chest, into his fingers, into the taut, coiled terror of his gut.
Every second stretches, unbearable. The night presses in from all sides, black and cold and smelling faintly of iron and smoke. He can feel Damian’s small weight against him, limp and bleeding, the blood warm but thin beneath his hands, and the city hums like a predator circling, waiting.
Jason bites back a curse, pressing the phone closer, willing it to connect. Pick up, pick up, pick up.
Because if you don’t answer… he doesn’t even want to think what comes next. He has only expired antiseptic and old and opened gauze that is probably half of Damian’s age. His apartment doesn’t even have heating. It works for him but he doubts it’s what the kid needs right now.
So he breaks his rule to never contact you when he’s hurt.
The ringing stops.
“…Jason.”
Fuck. You sound mad. You should be. He was supposed to pick you up five hours ago, roses in hand, pretending the world hadn’t tired to chew him up first.
“I— I’m sorry,” he blurts, the words tumbling over each other. “I need— I can’t walk, babe—”
He hears movement immediately, fabric shifting, something clattering as you scramble to your feet. “Hey—what—where are you? Jason, what’s wrong?”
“I need blankets. Water—” His gaze drops to Damian, slack and frighteningly still in his lap, blood darkening the fabric beneath him. Jason’s voice accelerates, tripping over itself until his throat burns. “Medical supplies. A heater, maybe? There should be an outlet up—”
“Jason—”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeats, the apology coming apart at the seams. “I can’t go into a drugstore like this with the kid, anyone could be there and—and they could— I don’t know—do something? I could fight back but— but I don’t want him hurt more in a tumble and I can’t just leave him here to get supplies so—”
“JASON!”
Your voice cracks through the night like a gunshot.
He jerks, yanking the phone away from his helmet, wincing as the sound rings through his skull. The city seems to pause with him—sirens distant, wind howling low, Gotham holding its breath.
“Send me your location!” you snap, sharp and steady and terrifyingly competent.
Jason swallows, chest heaving, fingers slick as they fumble across the screen. Relief hits him so hard it almost makes him dizzy. He doesn’t argue. Doesn’t apologize again.
He sends it.
And then he looks back down at Damian, tightening his grip just a little, bracing himself against the water tower as the cold creeps closer—counting every second until you arrive, because right now, you’re the only thing standing between them and the night swallowing them whole.
“How—how bad is he hurt?” Your voice comes out smaller than you mean it to, fraying at the edges. “Is it—wait, is it Tim or Damian—”
There’s a pause, thin and awful, stretching just long enough for your stomach to drop.
“I need to know if I’m buying painkillers since they make adult and kid—”
“It’s Damian,” Jason exhales into the line, the sound tired and wrecked and heavy with things he isn’t saying. “It’s the kid.”
Your breath catches.
You’ve never even spoken to Damian before. Not once. He’s always been a name—sharp-edged and distant, orbiting Jason’s life like something dangerous and untouchable. Tim, at least, is familiar in passing: the accidental mall run-in, Stephanie’s laughter, Cassandra’s quiet smile, Jason trying—and failing—to tug you into a store like proximity alone might shield you from the madness of his family. Dick you met once, briefly, waiting outside Wayne Manor, polite and warm and watching Jason like he was something fragile.
But Damian—
Damian is a child you don’t know, bleeding somewhere in Gotham’s dark, clutched in Jason’s arms.
“Oh,” you whisper, the word hollow. “Okay.”
You don’t ask why. You don’t ask how this happened. There will be time for that later—when the night isn’t pressing in, when no one’s breath is shallow and wrong.
“Stay with him,” you say instead, steadier now, resolve snapping into place like a blade locking open. “Don’t let him fall asleep if you can help it. I’m on my way.”
Jason closes his eyes at that, forehead tipping briefly against the cool metal of the water tower. The city groans beneath them, sounds of people bleeding into the distance, but your voice cuts through it all—real, solid, terrifying in its calm.
“He’s already unconscious,” Jason says, voice flat, distant, like he’s reading it off a report instead of holding a bleeding kid together with sheer stubbornness. “But he won’t die. Won’t have any major injuries either.”
There’s a beat of silence on the line.
“…Jason,” you hiss, sharp and furious, and for a second he thinks—dimly—that if laughing wouldn’t crack his ribs clean through, he might’ve tried.
“Honey,” he answers instead, soft and stupid and dopey, because his head feels like it’s splitting open and the world keeps tilting sideways.
And somehow—somehow—you still melt at that. He can hear it in the way your breath stutters, the way the anger doesn’t quite stick. Maybe that means he’s not a lost cause yet.
“…How bad are you?”
Jason drops his gaze to his leg. To the two bullet wounds, ugly and swollen. To the slash at his knee, raw and half-congealed. He’s still using that leg to brace Damian in his lap, muscles screaming every second he asks them to hold.
“I’m okay.”
“Jason.”
He hears it then—the click of a car door, the rush of movement, your breathing going too fast, too tight. For a second, the thought of your fear scares him more than the blood.
“I’ll be okay,” he repeats, quieter now. He sets the phone down beside him and fumbles with the clasps of his helmet, fingers clumsy and slick. When it comes free, the Gotham night slams into his skin, cold and wet and real. He hesitates only a second before lowering it over Damian’s head instead—too big, swallowing his small face whole, ridiculous and wrong and necessary all at once if it means shielding him from the cold slightly better then the kid’s hood could do.
“I just need ya to kiss the boo-boo,” he adds weakly, because deflection is easier than admitting how bad it hurts.
“I hate you,” you say, exasperation thick in your voice, edged with fear.
Jason smiles.
Then winces immediately, sharp pain blooming across his mouth. He lifts a hand, comes away with red. Ah. Right. Of course.
“Give me twenty,” you snap, and now he can hear the engine, the unmistakable sound of you driving like the city owes you something. “We are not doing this on a rooftop. Stay on the line.”
Jason leans back against the water tower, exhales slow and shaky, and tightens his hold on Damian just a fraction more.
Twenty minutes.
He can do twenty minutes.
“What if someone breaks into the car?” he asks, the words slipping out before he can stop them. He lets his temple rest against the cool metal of the water tower, the chill seeping into his skull like a weak attempt at relief.
“You have a gun,” your voice cuts back immediately, sharp and unyielding. “Use it.”
The blunt certainty in your tone lands harder than reassurance ever could.
Jason huffs out something like a laugh, breath scraping. Yeah. Right. Of course he does. He adjusts his grip on Damian, fingers tightening reflexively.
“Yeah,” he murmurs, eyes sliding shut for half a second. “Yeah. I know.”
The city groans beneath them, distant and uncaring, but your voice stays in his ear—firm, present, real—keeping him upright when his body is more than ready to fold.
“Mm… sorry about our date,” he murmurs after a moment, the words slow and slurred at the edges, half apology, half anchor—something to keep himself awake, to keep the dark from creeping in too close.
“You should be,” you answer after a beat. Softer now. The edge dulled, worn down by worry.
“I— I’ll take you to the botanical garden?” he offers, grasping for normalcy like it’s a lifeline.
There’s a pause.
“The last one you took me to, they had litteral poison ivy next to the lilies because the tulips died and that was all they had.”
“She was hiding from Catwoman,” Jason says, forcing the joke out past the ache in his jaw, past the copper taste pooling in his mouth. “G-Get it? Cuz Poison Ivy? You know the villain and…cats and…”
“Jason.”
The joke doesn't land.
“Babe…” he starts, slow and heavy, like each syllable has to be dragged up from somewhere deep in his chest. “I— I think I’m gonna take a nap, okay?”
“Jason—” Your voice cuts in immediately, sharp now, edged with panic. “Hey—no. Stay awake.”
“Just… just a quick one,” he murmurs, eyelids fluttering despite himself. The city feels distant, muffled, like he’s sinking underwater with every breath. Damian’s weight in his lap is warm and real, but even that is starting to blur at the edges.
“Jason?” you say again, louder this time. “Hey—Jason!”
He tries to answer. He really does. His mouth opens, but nothing comes out. His tongue feels thick, useless. His head slips further against the cold metal, the chill no longer biting—just dull, just quiet.
“Jason!” you shout, his name breaking over the line, fractured and scared.
The phone slips slightly against the rooftop concrete, your voice echoing tinny and distorted through the speaker as the night closes in. Jason exhales, long and shallow, and lets his eyes fall shut—not because he wants to, but because his body finally stops asking his permission.
–
Your fingers are brushing blood from his brow by the time Jason drifts back into something like awareness. Consciousness comes in pieces—warmth first, then sound, then the steady hum of an engine fighting the cold. His body aches in places he hasn’t catalogued yet, but he’s not on a rooftop anymore.
That’s something.
The car is parked crooked in some narrow alley, illegally close to a dumpster, the heater blasting like it’s trying to resurrect him through sheer spite. The passenger seat is laid all the way back, giving him just enough room to exist without hurting worse. Every breath fogs faintly in the air before the heat catches up.
Damian is in the back seat.
Jason’s eyes slide toward him slowly. The kid’s bundled in lightweight throw blankets—yours, he realizes dimly—the kind that usually live folded over the arm of your couch. Clean bandages peek out where blood used to be. You must’ve patched him up somewhere in the blur between panic and movement, hands steady even when your heart clearly wasn’t.
The back seat light is on. Just one.
It casts a soft glow over your face, turns your eyes glassy, makes your skin look unreal and warm in the dim car. Jason smiles, stupid and unguarded, because even through half-lidded vision and a pounding skull, you look perfect.
“Prince Charming saved me,” he murmurs.
You sniff.
It’s small. Broken.
Oh.
You’re crying.
Jason’s brows knit together slowly as he notices the way your hand shakes, the way you dab gently at the corner of his mouth, wiping away blood like it offends you personally. Your thumb trembles, betraying everything you’ve been holding in since you heard his voice crack through the phone.
“Idiot,” you whisper, voice thick.
Jason exhales something close to a laugh, then thinks better of it. He reaches—slow, clumsy—and lets his fingers curl weakly around your wrist, grounding himself there.
“Hey,” he mutters, softer now. “I’m okay. You're okay.”
It’s a lie.
But you’re here. Damian’s breathing. The heater’s on. And for the first time tonight, the fear loosens its grip just enough for him to stay awake.
“He’s so tiny,” you whisper, the words barely louder than the hum of the engine. The alley presses in around the car—brick walls slick with old rain, shadows pooling thick and oily where the streetlight can’t quite reach. Somewhere nearby, water drips steadily, each plink echoing like a countdown. “Who would do that to a baby?”
Jason doesn’t respond how that ‘baby’ almost put those men six feet under if they even landed one hit. Torture to the line of honoring Bruce’s wishes to not kill. That honoring of Bruce’s wish is the only reason that ‘baby’ is passed out right now.
“He’s okay,” Jason says softly instead. His head rings like it’s been struck with a bell, sound warping at the edges. He shifts slightly and pain lances up his leg, bright and nauseating. The bandages you wrapped are already blooming dark again—blood seeping through in slow, stubborn stains. Beneath them, his flesh aches where bullets tore through muscle, where you dug metal out with shaking hands and grim determination. There’s a deep, angry slash at his knee too, stitched tight but swollen and raw, skin pulled red and uneven like it might split if he moves wrong. Much better stitching than he’s ever done on himself.
Jason glances down, jaw tightening. “You got the bullets out,” he murmurs, half impressed, half stunned. “Didn’t think you’d be so good at that.”
“I’m dating you,” you say quietly. “Gotta be.”
Your voice sounds scraped raw, like the alley itself has clawed at it. Jason’s chest tightens when he realizes—again—that you’ve been crying this whole time. Not loud. Not hysterical. Just silently falling apart while you worked, while the dark watched.
“…He’s patched up fully?” Jason squints as a flicker from outside—the passing headlights of some distant car—cuts through the windshield, making his skull throb. The alley smells like rust, oil, and old blood that doesn’t belong to him, it seeps into the car even as your car freshener tries to fight it. “How long was I out?”
You swallow. The sound is loud in the confined space.
“An hour and forty-two minutes,” you say softly.
The number settles between you like something alive.
Jason exhales, slow and shaky, the sound rattling in his chest. Too long. Long enough for the alley to feel like it could have swallowed all three of you whole. Long enough for the blood to cool and the fear to sink its teeth in.
Said exact enough that he knows he’s going to owe you for a life time.
“Do you need help with him?” Jason asks gently.
You shake your head on instinct, shoulders tightening, but Jason is already moving—gritting through it as he forces his body to turn, muscles screaming, wounds pulling wet and hot beneath the bandages.
“Jason, I said no—”
“I’m here,” he cuts in, voice low, deliberate, stripped of humor. He’s breathing harder now, jaw clenched, but his tone stays careful, steady. “I can help. Just tell me what to do.”
You stare at him.
The car feels impossibly small, the alley outside pressing close like it’s listening. The heater rattles softly, fighting the cold that seeps in through rusted metal and cracked seals. Somewhere beyond the brick walls, something skitters loudly—rats, maybe. Or just the city settling around its secrets.
Your eyes shine in the dim backseat light, tears gathered but not falling, and Jason hates that look more than any gunshot wound. He’d take another bullet before seeing it again.
Your gaze shifts—not to him, but to Damian. Like the kid is safer to talk to. Like if you speak toward him, your voice won’t break.
“…I patched him up as best as I could,” you say quietly. “It was… a lot of blood loss.” Your throat tightens. “He has a fever. We—I need to buy medicine. I didn’t go to the drugstore. Once you passed out, I just… I came straight to your location, so—”
Jason nods once, rough and immediate, cutting you off before the guilt can finish forming.
“I’ll go.”
The words are simple. Certain.
Your body snaps toward him so fast it’s almost violent. Fear flashes across your face, sharp and immediate, like you’ve just watched him step back toward a cliff’s edge. Jason can feel blood sliding warm down his leg again where the bandage’s loosened, can feel the deep ache in his ribs grinding with every breath—but none of that matters.
He’s already reaching for the door.
“Are you an idiot?!”
Your hands snap up to grab his shoulders before you can stop yourself, and Jason lets out a sharp groan, pain flaring bright and nauseating. Immediately, you recoil—hands flying away like you’ve been burned—only to settle again at his sides, grip gentler now but no less firm.
“You can barely walk,” you hiss.
“I’ll be fine,” Jason grunts, breath hitching as he steadies himself. “The kid— the damn brat needs the fever gone by morning or B is gonna—”
“I will kill Bruce Wayne myself if he is the reason you’re getting up right now,” you snap, voice low and lethal as you tug uselessly at him.
Jason actually pauses at that.
Raises a brow. Even now. Even bleeding.
“You think you can kill Bruce Wayne?”
“I have two of his bleeding sons hostage,” you say plainly, pinching hard at his side until he jerks and lets out a small, involuntary, “Ouch—!” “What do you think?”
Despite everything, something like a breathy laugh escapes him—cuts off immediately when his ribs protest.
“Look—” Jason starts, slower now, choosing his words carefully. “The… the kid doesn’t want Bruce to be mad at him.” His jaw tightens. “So it’s best we at least try to get him back to something normal by tomorrow morning. So B doesn’t notice.”
The alley outside seems to lean closer at that, darkness pressing against the windows like it’s listening. Damian shifts faintly in the back seat, blankets rustling, a small sound slipping from his throat.
Jason’s hand curls against the door frame, knuckles white. Blood seeps again through the bandage at his thigh, slow and inevitable, but his eyes stay fixed on Damian in the rearview mirror.
“This isn’t about me,” he adds quietly, glancing back at you. “I…I don't want the kid to be scared to go home.”
“You—” You start, then stop, exhaling hard through your nose. Because this is how all of Jason’s worst ideas are born—not from recklessness, but from care twisted into something self-sacrificial and stupid. You still try, though. You always do. “Why can’t I go?”
Jason’s smile is stiff, pulled tight at the edges like it hurts to hold. “Babe, I— I’d rather have you in a locked car where you’re safe,” he says gently. “Not out in Gotham at three in the morning.”
You scoff, sharp and disbelieving. “I can protect myself. I dragged you and Damian off a fucking water tower.”
“I know…” Jason murmurs, nodding even though the motion makes his face pinch, pain flaring behind his eyes. “But that was when I was unconscious.” He pauses, breath shallow. “And I wasn’t able to worry about you.”
The words settle heavy between you.
Outside, the alley exhales—trash shifting, a distant siren wailing and then cutting off too abruptly. The shadows beyond the windshield feel thick, hungry. Gotham at its most honest.
Jason looks at you then. Really looks. Like he’s committing your face to memory in case this is the last quiet moment he gets. His voice drops, rough around the edges.
“If something happened to you while I was awake,” Jason continues, slowly, like he thinks it sounds stupid but says anyways. “I wouldn’t survive it.”
Not the night. Not the guilt. Not himself.
The heater hums on, Damian breathes softly in the back seat, fevered and alive. You stare at Jason, jaw tight, eyes shining again despite your best efforts.
He reaches for one of the guns you left on the driver’s seat—careful, deliberate, like his hands don’t entirely trust themselves anymore. The keys are still in the ignition. You’re in the back seat. Another reason he doesn’t exactly trust you loose in Gotham at two in the morning, because what the fuck, babe. Yeah—leave guns in a car with the key in and drivers seat empty.
Jason moves slowly, almost hunched as he opens the door, the cold knifing in immediately. His leg protests viciously when he puts weight on it, blood tugging warm and sticky beneath the bandage. Jason locks his jaw, breathes through his teeth, and forces himself upright anyway.
Before he closes the door, he turns his head just enough to look back at you. His neck is stiff, movement jerky—like it still remembers the way it hung uselessly while he was out cold.
“Just medicine?” he asks, voice low, roughened by pain and exhaustion.
“And more gauze if you can,” you reply softly. You don’t raise your voice. You don’t rush him. Like you’re afraid sudden sound might shatter him. “And get a change of clothes if they have any… I know that store. It’s full of random shit.” A beat. “Buy some soup from the 24/7 place next to it.”
Jason nods once, committing the list to memory. Antibiotics. Fever reducers. Gauze. Clothes. Soup. Simple things. Normal things. Things that feel unreal against the blood still crusted under his nails.
“I’ll be quick,” he says, though neither of you believe it.
The door closes with a soft, final thud. The lock clicks.
You watch through the window as he limps away into the alley, silhouette swallowed piece by piece by shadow. The brick walls loom tall and damp, graffiti bleeding into darkness, trash bags shifting in the wind like something breathing. A flickering streetlight buzzes overhead, casting Jason in and out of existence as he goes.
He keeps one hand near the gun. Keeps the other tight against his side, pressing where it hurts the worst.
Behind you, Damian stirs faintly, fevered breath fogging the blanket.
Ahead of you, Gotham opens its mouth.
And Jason steps into it anyway.
You watch him disappear into the alley, figure swallowed by shadow, then slowly shift your gaze to Damian’s sleeping form. His chest rises and falls unevenly, breaths shallow and rattled. You murmur softly, almost to yourself, “I guess it’s just you and me now, huh, bud? This wasn’t exactly how I thought I’d meet you.”
The boy stirs, a faint twitch in his head, eyelids flickering, as if the pain in his sleep is clawing at him from the inside. You let out a quiet sigh and reach to lower the window, the cold biting your fingers even through the glove. Carefully, you lift Damian’s small body, resting his head outside the frame. His brow scrunches at the chill, but your hands move quickly, smoothing and adjusting, trying to steal comfort from the night itself.
You had two thermoses of hot water with you. Even cooled slightly, steam curls upward in lazy spirals as you unscrew the lid. One hand steadies the boy; the other pours, careful not to scald, letting the warmth seep into his hair. Dirt, grime, and streaks of blood run down in small rivulets, slipping through your fingers like a cruel reminder of the alley’s violence.
And for the first time all night, Damian’s shoulders sag—not fully awake, not fully conscious, but somehow lighter. Relief seeps slowly into his small form as you run your fingers through the dark strands, gentle, deliberate, trying to scrub away the horror of the night with nothing more than warmth, water, and your touch.
“You’re so tiny,” you murmur again, in the dark, for what has to be the twentieth time that night.
Because he is. So small. Too small for burns across his ribs, too small for deep slashes on his arms. Too small for the cut on his lip, the scrape on his temple, the blood matted into his dark hair.
You hope whoever did this to him is dead. If not… this might be the first time in your life you actually encourage Jason to kill.
“So stupid,” you whisper softly, letting your wet fingers brush the blood from his brow. “So small and so stupid… who do you think you’re fighting, hm? Elmo? You think Joker is Elmo?”
Your voice is ridiculous. Maternal, soft, broken—but it’s the only thing you have that feels safe.
Maybe that’s why Damian’s eyes flicker open, just barely, through the haze of steam and heat you’ve conjured around him. They’re so slight you almost don’t notice—he doesn’t look conscious, not really.
Not until a soft, hoarse whisper escapes, barely audible over the faint hiss of the water and the heater.
“…Mother?”
The word lands in your chest like a punch you didn’t expect. Small, trembling, impossibly young. And you realize your heart has been holding its breath this entire night—and now it doesn’t know how to stop.
You don’t say anything. Nothing. Words feel wrong here—clumsy and insufficient. You don’t know this boy, and he doesn’t know you. And yet… if you were ten, alone, hurt, and cold, you would have called for your mother too.
Maybe that’s why your hands move almost on instinct. You snap the thermos closed, slide the window up, and gently lower him fully onto the back seat again. Carefully, like he might shatter, you settle on the floor of the car beside him. One hand tugs the blanket higher over his small frame, the other brushing his damp hair in slow, patient circles, using Jason’s jacket to dry it.
The alley outside presses against the glass, dark and hungry, but inside, it’s quiet. Only the heater hums. Only the distant thrum of the city filters in.
“Sleep…” you murmur, voice low, soft, steady. “You’re safe.”
“It’s not my fault,” Damian mutters, voice hoarse, eyelids fluttering as he finally closes them fully again. “…M… it’s all Todd’s fault.”
“I know,” you whisper, fingers brushing lightly over his brow, gentle and deliberate. “A true idiot he is.”
He exhales slowly, a tiny weight leaving his body, like he had been bracing to defend himself from more blame than the words could carry. “…M’not sorry,” he mumbles, stubborn even in exhaustion.
You can’t help the small smile tugging at your lips. What a brat. Of course this little boy is Jason’s brother. Who else could be like this?
“Sleep,” you murmur again, voice soft as velvet, wrapping around him like the blankets, like the warmth you’ve coaxed into him, trying to shield him from the dark waiting outside the car.
“Will… will you be here when I wake up?”
The words hang in the air, soft and fragile, and before you can even start to answer, Damian is asleep again—his breathing shallow but steady, chest rising and falling beneath the blanket.
You let yourself focus on something else, anything else, and continue to dry his hair, tracing the dark strands with the soft interior of Jason’s leather jacket. Each stroke is careful, slow, a small ritual to keep yourself from spinning.
Your arms ache from holding them, dragging them down from the roof. Your feet throb from the rush of movement, your head pounds from the fear. But your fingers can’t stop themselves, and they move over every feature like memorizing a map you’re terrified of losing.
Brows just like Jason’s, dark and expressive. The small bump along the bridge of his nose—you hesitate, heart tightening, because it’s swollen and red and he winces whenever your fingers graze it. You pray it’s not fractured, that he just took a hit there, that the world hasn’t carved him up any further.
His lashes are impossibly long, dark and silky, catching the dim glow of the backseat light in a way that makes you pinch your own face in envy, just like you do with Jason’s.
You trace every line that belongs to the love of your life—small echoes in Damian, the same stubborn, defiant, beautiful bloodline that somehow betrays the laws of adoption—because it’s the only thing keeping your body still, keeping you from spinning apart while you wait, counting the seconds until Jason comes back through the alley, bruised, bleeding, alive.
And you’re crying again after five minutes of silence.
Because your life is never this quiet. Not like this. No sirens bleeding through the walls, no voice in your ear, no weight shifting beside you. Just the low hum of the heater and the soft, fevered rhythm of a child’s breathing. Maybe the tears are your body’s way of filling the space—something small and controlled, something only you can hear. You keep them silent, careful, so gentle that Damian doesn’t even stir.
You’re not scared.
That surprises you, a little.
You knew what you were signing up for the moment you watched Jason fire a gun with such effortless precision it was almost disarming. The ease of it. The familiarity. The way violence sat on him like a second skin he never bothered to shrug off for you—only softened, reshaped, made gentler where he could.
You knew this life came with blood. With nights like this. With waiting.
So you cry anyway. Quietly. Practiced. Letting it leak out without letting it take you apart. Your fingers keep tracing Damian’s features, grounding yourself in something real and warm and breathing, while the alley presses close outside the car and Gotham holds its breath with you.
You wipe your face with the back of your hand, inhale slowly, and stay right where you are.
Waiting.
There’s a sharp knock on the window about twenty minutes later. You jump, heart hammering, and almost fly off the floor when you see Jason standing there, smiling stiffly despite the blood, sweat, and grime clinging to him. When you lean over the passenger seat, he gestures for you to open the door.
The moment you slide it open and help him inside, he crawls toward you, still unsteady, and presses a firm, grounding kiss to your forehead.
“There’s my Penelope,” he murmurs, voice rough but warm.
“I’m not waiting twenty years for your ass,” you whisper, voice cracking as he carefully wipes away the tears still streaking your cheeks. “You’re broke as fuck. At least Odysseus was a king.”
“Well…” Jason hums, brushing his lips across your cheek where he just wiped your tears, “the Gods made you stuck with me.”
You can’t help the small laugh that bubbles up through the tension and exhaustion. He’s bleeding, bruised, and exhausted beyond reason—and still somehow grounding you in the middle of the chaos, a tiny sun in a Gotham night that refuses to stay quiet.
The plastic bag full of supplies crinkles between you as you share a slow, lingering kiss, the sound pulling you both out of the moment. You break away, fumbling for the contents inside.
“Put on this hoodie,” you instruct, tossing it toward him.
Jason blinks, holding it awkwardly. “I bought this for you.”
You pause, staring at the fabric in his hands. “Baby… it’s a men’s large.”
“Is this… not the size you like?” he asks, genuinely confused.
You blink at him, letting your disbelief settle.
“You steal all of my hoodies that are this size,” he reminds you.
You snort, shaking your head. “Yeah, babe, because they’re yours. Wear it. Make it smell like you. Then I’ll wear it, hm? How about that?”
Jason opens his mouth to protest, but whatever argument he’s forming dies when he notices you reaching into the bag for the plastic container of soup. It’s not gourmet, but it’s hot and exactly what you need right now.
“Isn’t he still out?” Jason asks softly, glancing toward the back seat where Damian is bundled in your blankets and Jason’s jacket. His eyes flicker to the faint stains of blood on the fabric, and his chest tightens. Fuck. He’s going to have to buy you new ones. And a hundred more things you’ve patched together in this ridiculous, exhausting night.
“It’s not for him,” you say softly, popping open the center armrest box to fish out a packet of mild chilli oil and a tiny sesame seed packet from past fast food runs. One goes into the soup, along with the seeds for the vegetables. “I’ll make the kid real good soup at home. This? This is for you.”
Jason snorts, shaking his head, still leaning against the seatbelt. “Babe, it’s fine, I’m—”
You glare at him.
The first time all night.
Because of course. Of course you wouldn’t be mad at Jason for calling in the middle of the night, bloodied and panicked, after missing your date. Of course you wouldn’t be mad at him for passing out in the alley, forcing you to drag him and Damian down from a water tower with nothing but sheer will and a handful of blankets.
No. You’d only be mad if he refused to eat shitty soup.
“And don’t even think about saying no,” you hiss, poking him lightly with your elbow. “You will eat it. I don’t care. Otherwise, no sex for a month.”
Jason groans, but there’s a flicker of a smile, tired and bloody, as he finally takes the soup from you.
“Go to the back with Damian,” you murmur softly, eyes on the road. “I need to make sure the kid doesn’t roll off the seat—the seatbelt would hurt too much if I strapped him in.”
Jason nods, pressing a quick kiss to your temple before sliding into the backseat at the same time you crawl into the driver’s seat.
He settles carefully, broad back brushing against Damian’s small frame, right arm stretched to keep the boy from slipping, left hand cradling the soup bowl. Small sips escape his lips every now and then, careful, deliberate, like the weight of the night isn’t enough without this little ritual.
A few minutes in, Damian shifts, sliding until he’s resting fully against Jason. The older boy doesn’t move, doesn’t even flinch. He doesn’t mind. Not at all.
And then the little boy’s eyes flicker open again, hesitant, small. “Father…?”
Your hands tighten on the wheel. Heart pinching painfully, even as your eyes stay fixed on the road.
Jason, as usual, doesn’t care about shame. He leans a little closer, voice low, measured, coaxing the small flicker of life from Damian.
“Yeah, kiddo?”
“Why are you here?”
“Mm… always here,” Jason replies, and you notice the subtle change—the slow, deep cadence, the careful inflection he borrows, unintentionally echoing Bruce’s tone. “M’Batman. You’re my son.”
Damian blinks once, eyes heavy but curious, and for a fleeting heartbeat, the dark Gotham streets outside fade into quiet. The backseat becomes its own small world—blood, fear, and all.
“You’re… you’re warmer today,” Damian mutters softly, his voice matching his age for once.
“Yeah,” Jason shrugs, shifting slightly so he’s closer to where Damian’s head rests. Steam rises from the soup, curling around the boy’s face. “Probably the soup.”
“Did… did Mother cook that…? Can I have some?”
Jason glances down at the soup—bought with your card, warmed in a hastily scavenged container—and then at Damian. Talia wasn’t exactly known for her cooking. He suppresses a smirk, letting the boy take a small sip from the corner of the bowl. One hand steadies Damian’s neck, careful, protective.
A sharp cough escapes Damian as a streak of chili oil hits him wrong.
Jason glances toward you, catching your hands twitching at the steering wheel like you want to jump in and help.
The sight makes him smile, quiet and fond, even as the Gotham’s shadows press close outside the windows.
By the time the apartment building comes into view, Damian has fallen completely asleep against Jason. His small body is impossibly light, yet heavy in all the wrong ways—slumped, warm, limp against the older boy’s chest.
“I’ve got him,” Jason mutters automatically as you reach the car door, moving to help.
“No,” you cut him off sharply, eyes narrowing. “You’re not carrying him yourself.”
Jason frowns, just a fraction, confusion and pride clashing. “I can—he’s not that heavy.”
“Jason,” you snap, voice firm enough to make him pause, “your leg.”
He shifts slightly, the wound at his thigh protesting sharply. He swallows, eyes flicking to Damian’s sleeping face and back to you. “I can manage—”
“Nope. I’m helping. And you’re not arguing,” you insist, sliding your arms beneath Damian’s small torso and legs, careful not to jar the boy. His head lolls slightly against your shoulder, warm and soft, hair damp and smelling faintly of the soup and Jason’s jacket.
Jason groans, rubbing the back of his neck as he steps forward to help support Damian’s upper body, but you turn away to get him off. “You’re hurt. You need to let me do this.”
He huffs, half exasperated, half defeated, and lets you take the lead.
Together, you maneuver Damian securely on you, careful not to wake him. His small hands twitch in his sleep, one brushing lightly against Jason’s chest, and you notice the way the older boy stiffens, heart twisting with worry that the kid might stir.
Once you’re inside the apartment, you guide Damian carefully to the couch, laying him down beneath fresh blankets. Jason flops onto the floor beside the couch, groaning in pain as he stretches his leg out, still leaning close to Damian.
“See?” you murmur softly, brushing a strand of damp hair from the boy’s forehead. “Much easier when you’re not trying to kill yourself doing it.”
Jason mutters something under his breath, but there’s no bite to it—just the tired resignation of someone who’s been through too much in the last few hours and knows you’re right.
Damian shifts slightly in his sleep, a soft whimper escaping him, and both of you freeze, watching, hearts tight.
It shouldn't surprise Jason, the way you rush to the little boy's side and stroke his brow to get him to calm in his sleep. But it does. Because he's never seen someone able to care for Damian that easily.
“Okay,” you say after a long, careful minute of settling Damian, “you’re filthy. You need a bath before you pass out on the couch like some injured soldier in a cheap war movie.”
Jason groans, flopping back against the wall like the weight of the night is finally catching up to him. “Im…not that stinky.”
“No arguments,” you say, voice soft but firm. “You can’t stay like this. Your hair and skin is wet with puddle water that was on that rooftop. You’re going to freeze, you smell like alley and smoke and it might help your muscles stop aching so… no. Just get in the bath.”
He drags himself to the bathroom slowly, every movement careful, deliberate, like each step reminds him of the bullet holes in his leg, the ache in his ribs.
“Dont use my bodywash.” You whisper yell before Jason closes the door.
He does use your bodywash.
—----
Damian wakes while Jason is still in the tub, the sound of water muffled behind the closed door. His eyes flutter open, heavy and slow, but a familiar scent draws his attention immediately—a faint, soft sweetness clinging in the air, like perfume he vaguely recognizes, like a memory tugging at the edges of his mind.
His lips quiver involuntarily as he forces his eyes to focus, muscles stiff from sleep and fever. And there, in the dim glow of the lamp, they land on you.
You’re asleep on the coffee table, curled slightly, a precarious stack of books tucked under you as a makeshift pillow. The blanket you’d thrown over yourself barely covers the curve of your shoulders. Every breath you take is soft, measured, steady—a quiet, human rhythm that Damian realizes he’s been holding his own breath against for hours without noticing.
Then it hits him. Dumbly, slowly, as if the world outside could wait: You’re Jason’s.
The image clicks into place like a puzzle he hadn’t known he was assembling. The photo in Jason’s wallet—one that had fallen out after a mission, grabbed by Stephanie, tossed to Tim, and then laughed at mercilessly by all of them—your face had been there. Now, here you are. Real. Alive.
Damian’s gaze drifts to the small chaos surrounding you: a newly opened package of gauze, a tiny cup of fever medicine, half-empty and sitting just beside your hand. You must have given it to him while he was asleep. Every careful, impossible movement you made to tend to him without waking him floods through Damian’s mind, and for the first time that night, his tense body relaxes a fraction.
He shifts slightly on the sofa, still bundled in blankets and Jason’s jacket, staring at you with wide, dark eyes, his small chest rising and falling unevenly.
“She’s almost as good as Alfred,” Jason’s voice cuts through the quiet, and Damian’s head snaps toward the sound despite the ache in his neck. Every muscle tenses as he listens, wary but curious.
“Patched us up in no time,” Jason continues, wet hair plastered to his forehead, a towel wrapped around his waist, another in his hands as he methodically dries his hair. The casual ease of it makes the room feel warmer somehow, less like the chaos of the alley outside.
“Does—” Damian starts, his voice small and strained, throat catching unexpectedly, raw and fragile.
“Don’t talk,” Jason interrupts softly, a quiet authority threading through his words. His gaze flickers to Damian only for a fraction of a second before he leans down, careful and deliberate, and scoops you up from the coffee table. Your body is light in his arms, limp from exhaustion, and he moves like he’s balancing both a feather and a brick at the same time.
He lays you gently on the opposite end of the sofa from Damian, tucking the blankets around you with the precision of someone who has done this a thousand times, though this is the first time it’s been you.
“No one knows what happened,” Jason murmurs, voice low, almost intimate, as he straightens. “I texted B that you’re sleeping over at Jon’s.”
Damian blinks at him, the words and the quiet authority sinking in despite the fever and fatigue. His small chest rises and falls unevenly, shoulders slackening just a fraction as Jason steps back, towel in hand, keeping watch like a silent sentinel.
“Im not going to yell at you right now.” Jason says after a moment, grabbing a throw and tucking it around you. “Ill do it in the morning.”
Damian’s brows furrow in frustration, sharp and tiny, and Jason mirrors the expression instantly, leaning into it like a seasoned older brother that he isn't.
“Damian,” he says, voice low but firm, “you scared her half to death. You’re staying until morning and thanking her at the very least.”
“I didn’t ask her to do anything,” Damian hisses back, words brittle with fever and pride. “I told you to leave me there. You didn’t listen. That’s not my fault.”
Jason blinks at him, momentarily caught between exasperation and something softer, then mutters under his breath, moving toward the kitchen. “Kid… she cried her eyes out at the sight of you. You can think it’s dumb all you want, but I’m asking you to stay until morning so she at least gets the peace of knowing you’re okay.”
Damian’s small chest rises and falls, voice cracking despite the bravado. “I didn’t say it’s dumb.”
Jason pauses mid-step, eyebrows raising in mock surprise. “Oh? Really?”
“I said you’re dumb,” Damian snaps, words sharper than intended, honesty raw and jagged, fever and frustration threading through each syllable. “You could have spared her all of this if you just left me there like I asked. I get it. You love her, but this isn’t my fault—”
“I’m not blaming you for her, Damian!” Jason blurts, voice rising to be firm but still a whisper in fear of waking you. “I didn’t bring you here because she told me to, I brought you because—…”
There’s a long moment of silence, broken only by the quiet hum of the apartment and the faint rhythm of your breathing from the coffee table. Jason exhales, hanging his head and rubbing the back of his neck, voice tired.
“I’m going to make pasta,” he mutters, more to himself than anyone else.
“I hate pasta,” Damian whispers under his breath, small, resentful, almost pained.
“I know,” Jason grumbles without turning back, the scrape of his steps fading as he moves into the kitchen.
The apartment settles into a different kind of quiet. Damian’s gaze drifts back to you, to the way you’re sleeping, curled slightly on the coffee table beneath the thin throw blanket. Every blink, every soft inhale reminds him painfully of Talia—the same warmth, the same scent clinging faintly in his memory, the same question if hes even going to be able to feel this again in a day.
His small hands fidget with the blanket around him, tightening it slightly as if to anchor himself to something solid and human. The fever still weighs him down, every movement a little sharp, a little slow, but he can’t pull his eyes from you.
You blink your eyes open softly, and Damian almost jolts, caught off guard by the sudden warmth of your gaze. With the way Todd had been barking orders and how exhausted you looked last night, Damian had been sure you wouldn’t stir for hours.
“Damian,” you murmur gently, voice low and even, carrying the weight of calm and care.
“...Hello,” he replies, voice hoarse and small, pulling the blanket closer without thinking, as if the fabric alone could shield him from the world.
You study him in that way—the way his mother used to, scanning for bruises or scratches, checking for injuries with a practiced tenderness—and it tightens something in his chest. He flinches slightly, half-expecting the sharp reprimand he deserves for getting blood on your sofa, for all the chaos he’s caused.
Instead, your voice remains soft, elegant in a way he’s only ever glimpsed in Talia during rare quiet moments.
“Would you like me to make you some soup?” you ask, each word deliberate and gentle, a soft anchor in the dim apartment.
Damian hesitates, small, fevered fingers tightening around the blanket, eyes flicking between you and the sofa cushions. Something in the way you hold yourself—steady, patient, unshakably calm—makes him feel like it’s safe to nod, safe to accept, even if it’s just a little.
“…Yes,” he whispers finally, voice barely above a breath, and you can see him relax fractionally, the tension in his shoulders easing as the promise of warmth, of care, settles around him.
Jason found something in your stuff that made him mad. Now you gotta try and explain yourself.
A/n: heyyyyy 😅 I’m sorry it’s been a while. I’m not a huge fan of the misunderstanding trope, but I had a stroke of inspiration and wrote this in a sort of fugue state in the middle of the night, so I’m hoping it both makes sense and takes me out of my little writing rut.
cw: cursing, mentions of dicks and sex but no smut (I can’t write smut for the life of me lol). Also, I usually write for feminine readers and I try to keep their physical descriptions as vague as possible so everyone can enjoy, but I did have to make the reader wear a small for the purpose of the story, so I’m sorry 😔
I really appreciate you all, thank you for the support. Enjoyyyy 🫶🫶🫶🫶
It’s no secret that Jason’s been through a lot in his life.
At this point, everyone and their mom knew his backstory- all the shit he’s had to deal with when he was younger, in the League, when he was a crime lord, with his family, yadda yadda yadda.
A tale as old as fucking time.
What really sucks, at least he thinks so, is that despite it all he still fucking cares.
He can’t help it.
It’s why he keeps coming back to this life. The call to make the world a slightly better place was just too strong.
And he hates how big his heart is. He can shut that shit down if he has to, but he hates to admit that he can’t do it for as long as people might think he does.
He blames the books.
He just had to be a fan of romance. Austen, Shakespeare, Brontë, Tolstoy, Lawrence… you name it. He liked other genres, but he was a sucker for happy endings.
Especially considering how he never seems to get one.
So when you took a chance on him, as inexperienced as he was outside of one or two girls and his beloved books, it seemed like maybe he had a shot at that happy ending he was hoping for.
At least until a few hours ago.
He’s long since turned his phone off. You and his siblings had been blowing it up since he’d gone rogue and he just needed a few hours to work his shit out in his head.
“Red Hood. Turn your fucking phone on” Babs’ voice crackles through the comm in his helmet. He cursed under his breath, he forgot to turn the damn thing off.
“Fuck off, Barb. I’m not in the mood”
“You’re the one that ruined my evening as far as I’m concerned. I’m doing my part by telling you to stop being so melodramatic and call your girlfriend back” he didn’t respond and she announced her exit with a loud click. He just rolled his eyes and kept driving his bike to God knows where.
He found himself at one of his old safe houses from when he was a crime boss. It was one of the nicer spots, it actually had a comfortable bed and a decent shower, perfect for sulking like he’d planned on doing.
His stomach growled when he stepped out of his shower. He wrapped a towel around his toned waist and hummed softly to himself as he trudged into the kitchen, hoping he had something edible in there. After scarfing down some stale ramen, he finally decided to cut his phone on.
<20 missed calls>
<20 voicemails>
<40 texts>
And that was just from you. His other friends and family also left calls and texts. He felt a little bad because they didn’t really need to get dragged in your mess, but they also knew that his natural inclination is to disappear when faced with adversity.
<fine. call me when you’re ready. i’m ready to talk when you are>
He huffed at your last text, half tempted to turn his phone off for the rest of the night. But he groaned and leaned back on the couch.
“Fuck it-“ he pressed the call button and felt his anxiety crest as he heard it ring. He put it on speaker when it connected.
“Jay?”
“Yeah…”
“Should I bother asking where you are?”
“Not really”
“Are you at least safe?” He looked around the small living room. It was comfortable and warm. He pulled some sweatpants on before calling you and had a blanket- your blanket- draped across his lap. You would be pleased that he wasn’t out on some rooftop beating the shit out of a thug who chose the wrong night to be up to no good.
Wait…why hadn’t he done what he usually did to work shit out? Ugh, yet another way you’ve infiltrated his life. He stretched his legs and crossed them over one another on the coffee table in front of him.
“Yeah”
“Are you going to say anything other than one word? Cause I’d rather us not talk at all if that’s the case”
“Yeah” he knew what he was doing and you sighed. “Not sure why you’re the one annoyed considering you’re the one in the hole”
“I’m not- you know what….” Your patience was wearing thin. You wanted to defend yourself, but he was making it increasingly difficult to do so. “Are you willing to actually listen now?”
He puts his head back on the couch again.
“Sure, yeah, whatever” he’s putting his walls up. Just for protection, and it was making him numb.
“They’re mine. It doesn’t belong to a guy”
He huffs out a laugh. “Gotta try better than that. I’m not stupid”
“Of course not. But-“
“Look. I’m sorry-“ he can feel himself getting choked up, “-I’m sorry I wasn’t enough for you. And I hope the fucker makes you happy.” He wanted to barf. 90% sure it was the old ramen, but telling you to be happy with someone else might also have something to do with it.
“Jason, you don’t mean that-“
“No, I think I do”
“Jeez, why are you all so fucking dramatic? You’re not breaking up with me”
“Pretty sure I am”
“No. You’re not”
“I could end the call right now. Make it official”
“Or you could’ve not called at all and yet here you are” he was quiet. Maybe he was curious if you’d be crying or begging for him to stay. Instead, you just sound worried and annoyed.
‘Annoyed she got caught’ the ugly little voice in Jason’s head thinks. He shifted in his spot.
“Jason… I need you to give me the benefit of a doubt here. If I was cheating on you, why would I have the guy’s laundry at our apartment?” He felt his anger rising.
“Because you had him over while I was gone. You could’ve snuck him in while I was on patrol. Or when I was away on a mission. This shit happens to regular people, why wouldn’t it happen to us? To me?”
You try your hardest to suppress your sighs. You knew him well enough to know that he won’t hang up until he had a sufficient answer to complete the narrative in his head, but you also knew that he dealt with things by shutting the world out, so you didn’t want to push your luck.
“So that’s the story you’re going with? I don’t get enough from you so I look somewhere else and recklessly bring it to our apartment? The apartment of an active vigilante? Who was raised by the greatest detective in the world?”
Jason ran a hand through his hair. It was frizzy because he didn’t have that stuff you put in his hair after a shower. He’d have to remember to get some for the safe house. “It’s a working theory”
“Am I not innocent until proven guilty?”
He lets out a bitter laugh. “I mean the evidence was pretty fucking clear”
“Or you jumped to conclusions before letting me explain myself! I just barely walked through the door before you threw the underwear at me and bolted. I swear this whole family loves their fucking theatrics” he didn’t bother to respond to your comment.
“I know what I saw-“ his voice raised a little as he relived the memory, “-a fucking pair of boxer briefs in my girlfriend’s laundry. And I know they weren’t mine.” He felt sick to his stomach again. The blanket on his lap felt like it was physically burning him so he threw it off.
“Jason Peter did you even bother to look at them?”
“Of course I fucking did. They were black and, fucking, I don’t know… fucking small. Full offense to this new guy you’re with, but that shit wouldn’t even make it past my thighs. Must have a tiny ass…and dick. Both. Tiny ass and dick…”
“Nice. Real mature-“
“You’re gonna tell me I’m wrong? And don’t you dare defend another man’s dick because I promise that is not an argument you would win”
“Jesus, there is no other man! There was no dick hole in the boxers, Jason! It’s girl boxers. They make those now! It’s why it was small because I wear a fucking small!”
Oh… well he hadn’t considered that.
“I wear them to sleep. You would’ve noticed if you’d been home at a decent time. Or at all some nights. But I don’t care about that because that’s your life and it’s what you chose, but I will not stand here and be accused of being unfaithful while you’re out saving the world. You got me fucked up if you think that’s the kind of person that I am. So if after this you still want to break up, then fine. But you’ll do it with the full knowledge that you overreacted and caused a whole scene because you didn’t bother to ask me first!” you raised your voice at the end and he winced.
Maybe he had overreacted just a little bit.
To be fair, he just saw the underwear as he was folding your clothes and saw red. Then immediately after you’d walked in and he was on ten so he just left.
So there may be the slightest chance that he didn’t fully inspect them…
“Hello?”
“I- I don’t know what to say…”
“Tell me this, do you still want to break up?”
Of course he didn’t. The idea of you being with another person made him want to commit unspeakable acts of violence. He was ready to go on a rampage and then lock himself in for days to cry and grieve. You know.. like any normal person would do.
“No” he responded quietly. He grabbed your blanket again, suddenly feeling a little cold.
“Ok. Well, how about you take a few days off then come back home”
“I’m in the dog house, huh?”
“Yeah, kinda… I’m hurt that you think I’d do that..”
“In my defense, I was mostly mad at the thought of another man being in our space. You know how sacred that is to me”
“I know, but this is my integrity we’re talking about. You know I’m a better person than that and least you should’ve stuck around for a few seconds longer so I could’ve showed you that they were mine”
A pang of guilt ran through him. He put the phone down on the couch next to him and folded his arms. “‘M sorry…”
“I’m sorry, too…” you both were silent for a moment. “I’ll see you in a few days. Don’t go on patrol or do anything stupid, just stay wherever you are” the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“No promises” you rolled your eyes.
“I’m gonna go. I’ll tell everyone we talked, okay?”
“Yeah..sure”
“Ok.. love you..”
“Love you too..” he says quietly as you hang up.
He felt like an idiot. And like an actual asshole for running out without an explanation. Now he wanted to go back and pull you into his arms like he originally planned on doing before you got home.
“Fuuuuuck, Jay” he said to himself. He got up and pulled your blanket over his shoulders. He shuffled to the room and faceplanted on the bed, bouncing slightly from his weight.
He might’ve been there for a few hours, a few days, he doesn’t know. He figured it would be a good time to go back home when he ran out of stale ramen cups, even though he could stand to shed some fat by starving himself. You’d been ‘fattening him up’ he’d affectionately joke when his normally shredded physique got a little soft around the edges from your home cooked meals.
His stomach grumbled when he walked in your apartment. He smelled the food as soon as he opened the door. Hopefully you made enough for the both of you.
“Babe?” He probably hadn’t earned the right to call you nicknames yet, but he couldn’t help it. You hadn’t responded.
He toed his boots off and wandered into the kitchen. You had your headphones on and were attending the food on the stove. He internally shook his head. This is the shit he kept telling you not to do cause just anyone could walk in and do something to you if you weren’t vigilant.
“Ma. Hey..” he waved his hand slightly to get your attention and you quickly took the headphones off and lowered the heat on the stove.
“You’re back…”
“Yeah” you put a hand on your hip.
“Not gonna kiss your old lady hello?”
“Did I earn the right to?”
“You gonna accuse me of cheating on you again?”
“Not unless I have plausible cause” you rolled your eyes and attended the food once more. This time you moved the pan off the heat and turned the stove off.
“Being with you is a full-time job of its own. I don’t paid enough for this shit.” He knew you were over it because you were joking with him. So he wraps his arms around your shoulders and rests his chin on top of your head.
“I don’t have much, but I can pay you with love… and good sex.” You sighed.
“You’re hopeless”
“I’m sorry, ma…”
“I know.” He closed his eyes. The scent of food, combined with holding you in his arms in your apartment made him feel safe and happy. He held you for a few more seconds before you tapped his forearms.
“Let’s eat and then I’ll show you those damn boxers so you can see that they don’t belong to someone else”
“I dunno. I was gone for a while. You could’ve went out and found some lady boxers to replace the ones I found”
“You know what. You’re right. I went out and found some lady boxers. And I told the guy I’m cheating on you with that we’ll have to go to his place instead if we wanted to continue our affair” he reaches over you to dip his finger in your pot and taste whatever you made, delicious. Then he stepped back and got some dishes from the top shelf for you to serve the food.
“Ha ha. Very funny”
“You started it” you were plating the food. “And you say you say you pay me with love and sex, but lord knows I haven’t been getting any as much lately, so I’ve had to take matters into my own hands.” He takes the plates out of your hands and walks it over to your small dining table.
“So I was right?”
“On the money. About the stepping out and his dick and ass size,” You grab some utensils and follow him out of the kitchen. “He’s not as good as you are, but I’ve been making it work..”
He sets the food down and then grabs you by the waist, pulling you in and kissing you deeply.
“Sorry to hear that,” he mumbles quietly while putting his forehead on yours.
“You gotta trust me, babe..” you say quietly and he looks down.
“I know… I do..”
“I’m not going to hide secrets from you. Your life has been hard enough, let this be simple and easy..” you put a hand over his heart and he swears you could feel it racing.
“Okay..”
“Okay… let’s eat. I gotta dick appointment in like an hour” you joke before stepping back and sitting down. He takes a deep breath, everything feels like it’s back to normal again.
He loved and trusted you. The underwear was legit and he felt like an idiot, and apologized a billion times for jumping to conclusions.
Maybe he still had a shot at a happy ending like he’d always hoped for. You were patient and kind with him, even when he fucks up. You grounded him and made him feel safe and appreciated.
But that night he still made sure to fuck your brains out and checked that all the windows and front door were locked juuuust in case.
࿔.ᐟ summary When Damian comes home after a difficult patrol, he finds something he does not expect: A bath that is meant to be yours alone and yet, it does not stay that way for long.
࿔.ᐟ tw non-sexual nudity, bruises/injuries, kissing of bruises/injuries, slight angst, loooots of fluff
You cannot remember the last time you allowed yourself to simply sit still.
Warm water laps gently against your skin as you sink deeper into the bathtub with a content sigh. The bathroom glows with soft candlelight, the flickering flames casting dancing shadows across the walls. Scented bubbles gather around you while steam curls lazily through the air, fogging the mirror above the sink. It is peaceful.
You rarely have an evening to yourself, rarer still one that allows you to slow down and enjoy it, but tonight, you made it a point to do exactly that.
A book sits abandoned on a stool beside the tub, forgotten in favor of simply existing in the warmth. For the first time all day, your mind feels quiet. Then, from somewhere downstairs, comes the familiar sound of the front door opening.
Damian is home.
A small smile finds its way onto your face. You expect him to take a while when he gets into the bedroom, likely to change out of his uniform and then go to the spare bathroom, to shower away the grime of patrol before seeking you out. It was a routine the two of you had fallen into long ago.
So when the bathroom door cracks open only a few minutes later, you can't help but lift your brows in surprise.
You move to sit up in the bathtub and watch as Damian lingers in the doorway for a moment.
His domino mask is gone, leaving his dark hair slightly mussed from the night’s activities. Though he has shed some of his gear, enough remains to tell you that he hadn’t bothered stopping anywhere else before coming to find you. As your eyes rake over his figure, you noticed a bruise forming along his jaw and another disappearing beneath the collar of his suit.
“Hello, beloved,” he greets.
“Hi,” you respond, while turning your body to lean your arms against the side of the tub and rest your head on them.
His gaze sweeps over the room. The candles, the bubbles and the steam curling through the air, before setting on you. For a moment, neither of you speak. Then he steps fully into the room. You expect him to say something but instead he turns right around, disappeared from view, and returns moments later dragging one of the dining chairs behind him. The legs scraped softly against the floor.
“Damian?”
Ignoring your obvious confusion, he positions the chair beside the bathtub and sits down. You ask again, looking up at him from where you head rests, “Can I help you?”
“I was under the impression that I was allowed to sit in my own bathroom.” The slight teasing tone is evident in his voice but you can tell it was overlapped by tiredness. You sigh and playfully roll your eyes, “That’s not what I’m asking.”
“And yet I answered.” Always very smart mouthed. He is being difficult this evening but you know that only means he was trying to dodge the questions you haven’t yet asked.
You study him for a moment. Beneath the usual sharpness in his expression is something softer. More tired. His shoulders are tense beneath the remnants of his suit, and while Damian would sooner launch himself off the roof of the Manor than openly complain, you know him well enough to recognize when a patrol had been particularly rough.
“Long night?” You ask, carefully. He lets out a short sigh, more of a huff, “I’ve endured worse.”
He just always has to be so defensive, so like always you just give him the look. The one that said, “Stop being difficult with me, I know you far too well, for this.”
It is clear to you now that Damian had come here immediately, seeking out your presence. He would never barge and in and just unload his feelings but he would simply sit beside you in silence because your presence always makes him feel better.
You allow him the silence, neither of you speaking for a while. He sits with one arm draped over the back of the chair while you remain resting against the edge of the tub, examining his features. The flicker of the candlelight softens the sharp angles of his face and, little by little, some of the tension seems to leave his shoulders. You observe him as he watches the candles.
For someone who insists he preferers solitude, Damian has always been strangely fond of sharing it with you.
Eventually, your gaze drifts back to the bruise along his jaw. In the years that you have known him, you have become accustomed to seeing the occasional scrape or bruise after patrol. It never stopped bothering you, but you’d learned that fussing over the injury only earned you an exasperated look and a lecture on the realities of vigilantism. But tonight is different, he looks too tired.
Not physically tired, because Damian could push through physical exhaustion out of sheer stubbornness alone. No, this is something else. The kind of tiredness that settles behind his eyes. Difficult for anyone but you to notice. An idea comes to mind.
“You know,” you say softly, “most people take a bath when they want to relax.” You are looking downward, swishing the bath water with your hands.
One green eye cracks open, “Most people weren’t trained to function under considerably more demanding conditions.”
You roll your eyes, “Yeah well you’re sitting in my perfectly crafted cozy space over here so you’re basically- well almost, in a bath filled with scented bubbles.” He shakes his head, “I’m sitting beside a bath, and it is no way the same.”
If you could roll your eyes any further back into your head you would, but he did make a fair point so you only huff in response, “Mm.”
Damian lets out a small smirk at your annoyance, “There is a difference.”
You decide to ignore his stubbornness and continue pushing, “Right.” You hum unconvinced, “And that’s why you came straight here?” This is when the smirk on his face falters, “I fail to see the connection?”
You continue, “You didn’t shower.”
Silence.
“You didn’t change.”
More silence.
Your eyes drop pointedly to the boots he still wears, “You didn’t even take your boots off.” You are looking right at him now.
He looks away and then back at you again, “Beloved.” The warning in his tone only makes you smile more.
“Damian,” You respond giving him the sweetest smile you can muster, knowing exactly what you are doing. He sighs, “You are being insufferable,” but there is no real malice in his voice. You drag your words to sound extra sweet, “Learned from the best.”
The corner of his mouth twitches up despite himself. For yet another moment, neither of you speak. The candles flicker softly around the room while the water shifts gently, as you adjust your position in the bathtub. Damian leans back in the chair, resting his head against it.
It is such a small action, most people wouldn’t think twice about it, but you do. Damian rarely ever so brazenly shows that he is tired and yet now his eyes drift shut for a few seconds. His shoulders sink and the tension that he had carried into the room seems heavier than before, as though simply sitting reminds his body of how exhausted it actually is.
When his eyes open again you are already watching him, “What?’
“You look tired.” You finally admit to what you have been thinking this entire time.
“I am not.’ The response comes far too quickly. You raise a brow and he looks away from you.
You sigh, fed up of the banter and then your mouth curves into a mischievous smile. Damian immediately notices, “Do not. Whatever it is that you’re thinking. Don’t.”
You can't help but laugh, wanting to respond that you were not thinking anything but you saw the way his brows raise already, in anticipation of your fib.
“Fine,” you relent. “I was thinking that perhaps a certain stubborn vigilante might benefit from relaxing for once.”
He glances over your figure in the bathtub, shrugging his shoulders, “I am relaxing now.”
He nearly sends you over the edge, as you dramatically flop backward into the water, causing a small splash. You frantically gesture to the steaming water around you, “No Dami, this is relaxing! Not sitting in a chair, fully dressed in you uniform.”
You watch his gaze follow your hand that gestures to the water. That is the final push for the words to casually leave your mouth, “Join me.”
At that he scoffs, and you expect an immediate refusal. Instead, the words never come. You watch as he leans forward resting his forearms on his knees, thinking. That alone is enough to tell you that he is considering it. You to fight back the smile that threatens to appear on your face.
“You are not allowed to look so pleased with yourself.” He let out a long sigh and pushes himself to his feet. A grin now spreads across your face. But you wisely choose not to comment. The last thing you need is him changing his mind out of sheer stubbornness. So instead, you just watch as he removes his gear.
His gloves are the first thing to go, tossed unceremoniously onto the counter. The cape follows shortly after, draped over the back of the chair he had occupied.
You try not to stare but fail miserably. His warm tan skin is sculpted so perfectly. You notice a fresh bruised darkened the skin near his shoulder while several smaller cuts and scrapes decorate his arms. It isn't anything serious or unusual for him, yet seeing the evidence of his nights out never gets any easier for you.
Damian senses your attention on him but continues undressing. He knows the exact way that you are looking at him, with worry. Your face adorning the same look whenever his body showcased new injuries.
The movement of the water finally pulls your attention away from the bruises scattered across his skin. You look up just in time to watch Damian step into the bath. A laugh immediately bubbles in your chest which earns you a look, the grin on your face only widening at that.
Despite all of his earlier resistance, he settles with surprising ease. The water shifting around him, gentle waves brushing against your arms as he carefully lowers himself into the space behind you. The bathtub was certainly large enough for two people and yet that did not stop your knees from bumping his.
“Move forward.” He says like it’s obvious.
“There it is.”
“There is what?” He stops his movement.
“That attitude.” You respond and his expression remains entirely unimpressed. Though, you comply anyway, shifting forward to give him more room. Only for him to immediately slide an arm around your waist once you settled again. A smile, yet again tugs at your lips. The hypocrisy is astounding.
Slowly you lean back to get more comfortable. Damian’s chest feels warm against your back despite already being in warm water. His legs barricade around yours. The arm around your waist tightens slightly, not enough to restrain you, just enough to keep you close. And for the first time that evening, you feel him relax. The tension that had clung stubbornly to his shoulders seems to melt beneath the warmth of the water, a quiet breath leaving him. Then another. His chin coming down to brush briefly against the top of your head.
You smile to yourself, closing your eyes as you lay against him, “There he is.”
Damian, whose eyes are also closed in comfort, cracks an eye open at that, “I’ve been here the entire time.”
“You know what I mean.” Your response causes his arm to tighten a fraction more around your waist. He knows exactly what you mean.
The both of you sit in a comfortable silence. But that doesn't last long because you cannot help yourself.
“So, do you want complete silence or can I tell you about what just happened in the book I’m reading,” You began, the words spilling out before you could properly organize them. “But silence is fine, if that’s what you want. If you’d prefer not silence, that can also be arranged-” You ramble on
“Beloved.” You stop mid-sentence. Damian’s hand at your waist shifts slightly, his thumb beginning to trace slow, absent circles against your skin. The motion is steady and grounding, not just for you but for him too. “You may do as you please,” he says quietly. “Your preference is mine.” The words are spoken with absolute certainty.
For a moment you forget what you were even saying, “…right,” you murmur, softer now.
Your thoughts suddenly feel too loud in contrast to the quiet warmth around you. All at once you become too aware of him. Of how close he is. Of the steady rhythm of his breathing behind you. Without really thinking about it, you shift, slowly turning in his arms. Damian’s hold loosens just enough to allow it. You adjust yourself until your cheek goes to rest lightly against his firm chest.
“Mm.” You hum absentmindedly, as if confirming something to yourself.
You listen to the steady beat of his heart. The warmth of the water, the softness of the candlelight, the arm still resting loosely around you. It all blurs together until it feels impossible to separate where you end and he begins.
And then, as your head tilts slightly, you see it. Just beside where your cheek rests sits a bruise, darker up close than it had been before. It stretches faintly along his upper chest, partially hidden by the angle of the light and the fading remnants of tension in his muscles.
Your fingers lift before you can fully decide to move them. Carefully and almost hesitant at first, you trace the edge of the bruise with the lightest touch. Not pressing, only acknowledging it.
Damian’s breath hitches, barely, “It is minor.” Your thumb pauses for only a second, at his dismissal, before you lean in. And then, gently, you press a kiss to the mark. It is soft and barely there, but the effect is immediate. Damian goes still beneath you. He doesn’t tense or pull away. Just stills as though the entire room narrowed down to only that point of contact.
You don’t move back. Instead you linger for a moment longer, your lips resting lightly against his skin as your hand remains where it is, steady against his chest. Then, just as quietly, you press another kiss on a bruise slightly higher.
Damian still does not move. You linger there for a moment, sensing how aware he is of the presence of your hands where moments ago there had only been tension and exhaustion. It makes something warm settle in your chest and slowly your fingers shift again to follow the faint line of another mark. Then, another smaller bruise nearby. Each injury receiving the same response from you. You lips meet the skin of his shoulder to press a kiss there. Then another just below it. You kisses are unhurried and careful, as though you are mapping out proof that he had come home again. That he is there. Safe. Within your reach.
Damian exhales slowly and you feel it more than you hear it, “Beloved.” The words come out softer than before. They’re not a warning at all. “Yes?” You murmur against his skin. There is a pause that is long enough you begin to think he might tell you to stop. Instead, his arm around your waist tightens, pulling you in as close as you can get.
“Continue.” The single word sends a quiet warmth through you.
And you do continue. Another kiss, and then another until the action becomes something almost absentminded. As though you are simply breathing.
Damian watches you at first. His green eyes are entranced on your careful movement. Eventually, he relaxes and closes his eyes to fully bask in the tenderness of your care.
When you’ve finally kissed each and every bruise, scrape and cut , you pull away as though you are admiring a piece of art you had just created. Instead of art you admire Damian. You suppose he can could be considered art, the way the candlelight softens his features and his skin glistens from the water.
You look up at his eyes and notice just how close he is to falling asleep. A small spark of mischief returns where softness had settled. Your finger skim lightly through the water behind you and then, without warning, you flick a small splash towards his arm.
He cracks an eye open, “Did you just-”
Another splash. Slightly more water this time and aimed at his pretty face.
His scrunches his face and then brings a hand up to wipe his face. There’s a beat of silence before he gives you that look, “You are testing my patience.”
You giggle, “You were falling asleep on me.”
“I was not.”
“You were!”
His eyes narrow faintly. Then, without hesitation, he returns the splash. Except his is way sharper and precise, all things about him considered. It hits you shoulder causing you to gasp. At that he lets out a laugh. A warm laugh that comes straight from his chest. You smile wholeheartedly and send another splash his way.
Soon water scattered across the bath, rippling against the sides as the calm from earlier dissolved into something lighter and playful. The silence from earlier is also completely gone and instead filled with the rhythm of both your laughter.
Eventually, Damian lets out a long, resigned breath. “I think it’s time we get out.” You huff dramatically but make no attempt to argue, and the two of you begin getting out.
The bathroom is warm and steam clings to the mirrors, blurring the edges of the room as towels are gathered. The both of you move to the bedroom, rummaging for clothes, in quiet routine.
You turn around from where you stand by the drawers, wrapped loosely in a towel, as Damian reaches for something small on the dresser.
Your engagement ring.
He makes his way over to you, towel hung loosely around his hips. He takes your hand in his and slides the ring carefully into place.
“There.”
You smiled.
“There?”
His gaze meets yours, “Back where it belongs.”
You looked down at the ring before lifting you gaze back up to him. The ring wasn’t the only thing that was back where it belonged.
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