kidslipstream:

ninjawing:

Dick blinked, waiting for the barrage of questions to be over before pulling Wally’s hands out of his pockets so he could turn around in his arms.

“You sound excited,” he snickered, looping his own arms around Wally’s shoulders and leaning back against the giant telescope. Sobering enough to narrow his eyes in a glare, he curled his fingers a little tighter than strictly necessary into the short red strands at the nape of Wally’s neck. “If you even think about flirting with her—and believe me, KF, I’ll know—I’m gonna tie you up so fast that speedster or not, you won’t even see it coming—” Wally opened his mouth, looking like he didn’t exactly mind the idea, so Robin clamped a hand over his lips because he wasn’t done yet. “—and leave you at the Scarecrow’s doorstep as a really belated Christmas present.”

His boyfriend muffled something against his hand; Dick’s eyes narrowed further. “That better have been a promise not to so much as look at her weird, or I might just do it right now instead of waiting for you to meet her.”

Wally might have tried to laugh, but Robin was having none of that. His palm remained pressed against his mouth to avoid another ramble before he could finish explaining. “As for your questions, yes, I did say ‘daughter’. Doesn’t seem like the universe is very bent on me having a son, which I’m perfectly okay with. I met her a little over two weeks ago, when you were in China. Hence the reason you didn’t find out about her from your usual late night check-in. No, she is not older than me, she’s actually younger. Fifteen, I think. She has a…” Here Dick has to pause, flailing a little. “This device. It opens a portal to different dimensions and points in time? She said she can navigate through time and space as she chooses, and I didn’t press her on how it works since, well, I kinda had other things on my mind at that point. Yes, she lives in a pocket dimension. And… no.”

That was the not-okay part.

“There’s no one else there.”

What was she like? The only word Dick could think of was ‘amazing’, and even he could see that that wasn’t much of a description.

“She has glowing green eyes,” he blurted instead.

Wally finally wiggled out from underneath Dick’s hand, grin stretched wide across his face. “Dick, that’s incredible. And green eyes, huh? She must be a looker,” he teased. “I dunno about that flirting thing now, dude.”

He quickly placed a finger over Dick’s lips before he could bite out a reply, and wrapped his free arm tighter around his boyfriend’s waist. “Guess you’ll just have to make sure I’m properly … distracted.”

The finger wound its way around the back of Dick’s ear, gently pushing a strand of soft black hair behind it, and Wally’s palm followed to cradle his cheek as he leaned in to capture Dick’s lower lip lightly between his own.

There was just something about the way Dick was talking about her, about family, he had a … lightness that Wally almost never saw on April 1st. Like … like …

Hope.

And it made Wally want to kiss him stupid. 

A soft moonlight poured into the skylight as a stray cloud passed beyond it. Crisp shadows cut from the giant telescope over their forms, bleached blue under the night sky. Wally smiled into the kiss before running his tongue between Dick’s lips, deepening it.

He held Dick against him like he couldn’t hold him close enough, like he hadn’t seen him in forever, and he kissed him, languidly, relishing his taste and the way he sent tingles down his arms and warmed away the chill of the open room.

He slipped his hands into Dick’s back pockets this time, giving him a quick squeeze:

“So when”

Kiss

“do I get”

Kiss

“to meet”

Kissie

“your princess alien daughter?”

Smooch … wait.

Alien.

“Did you say glowing green eyes?”

Dick felt Wally stiffen in his arms, and moved to trap his boyfriend’s hands between the telescope and his jeans before he could remove them. Quirking an amused eyebrow, he did his best not to laugh.

“Yes, I did,” he paused, wondering how much of what he said Wally actually heard while staring at his mouth. “You know, like Miss M’s, when she’s using her powers, except Mar’i’s are like that all the time. No whites, just green. And her hair does this weird purplish glowy thing when she flies. Like Miss M, again. She’s got the whole superstrength thing going for her too.” He neglected to mention that she could pick Ellie up like she was a rag doll. “And she… blasts energy from her hands, I think. Something of the sort.” Dick drummed his fingers against Wally’s arms. “I need to sit her down and grill her about all her powers and how they work one day.”

It was interesting that the human genes won out when it came to physical appearance, but other than that, Mar’i was almost entirely Tamaranean.

“I don’t know when you can meet her. She comes and goes as she wants.” Or when Dick manages to emotionally blackmail her. He figured it was his right as pseudo-parent. “Alfred says she looks like me, but honestly, I think she looks like my mom.”

Then again, people said he looked like his mom too, so maybe Alfred was right.

Wally stayed quiet, because as much fun Dick made of his mouth for running faster than his brain, his best friend knew him, and knew when he had… more to say. That he would, eventually. And despite how slow Dick’s thought processes might seem to him, Wally was willing to let him sort some things through himself. Give him time.

Dick kissed him just for that, then leaned his head onto the metal behind him, watching Wally through half-lidded eyes.

“Is it weird,” he finally asked. “That I’ve known her for all of a few weeks and she already feels like family?”

witchboyandteekl started following you

It would probably have been better to attack immediately, but Robin pulled out a batarang and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt anyway. Maybe he was just passing through and no one needed to get hurt.

“What are you doing in Gotham.”

kidslipstream:

ninjawing:

kidslipstream:

ninjawing:

The answer was no, so Dick avoided the question entirely.

[text] Wanna know what I’d do if I were there?

[text] here? like next to me on my bed at my house?

Wally wasn’t sure if he’d mentioned he was at home in Central for the night watching the house because his parents had gone out of town. 

… he also refrained from mentioning the half-dozen remaining donuts that were apparently joining them on the bed.

He grinned though at the thought of Dick there on the bed, over him, and arranged his pillows behind and beside him so that he could text more comfortably. 

[text] sooooooo do i get a kiss?

Dick rolled his eyes. Wally had called him to let him know he would be in Central for the weekend in case something came up, which saved Robin the time of tracking him down.

Duh, brainiac. Where else?

His phone buzzed again, lighting up with a second question that he could answer without pushing random buttons to see which one was red.

[text] Maybe.

It was a good thing that Wally was back home, and—Dick didn’t try to hide his grin, alone in his room—that his parents were out.

[text] Maybe I’d straddle your waist and lean over you and kiss you stupid.

[text] Maybe I’d push you into your blue and white pillows as I ravage your mouth.

[text] Maybe I’d tangle my fingers in your hair because I love the sounds you make when I do that.

[text] Maybe I’d tell you to stop holding back and be louder for me.

Wally could barely control the shudder rolling down his spine as his phone lit up four times in succession. 

Maybe.

He shut his eyes tight against the image of Dick over him, weight on his palms on Wally’s shoulders, tongues tracing each other’s lips, filled with the taste of Dick, the texture of his fingers on his collarbone, the smell of his honey shampoo … Wally carefully squeezed himself so this didn’t end for him too soon.

[text] “Maybe,” huh?

[text] Is this a choose your own adventure?

Another squeeze as he curled around his phone, grinning.

[text] if so, I choose b

They knew more about each other than anyone else in the world, but Dick didn’t know a whole lot—more like nothing—about what Wally liked in bed. So really, it wasn’t cheating if he applied a bit of analysis to what sort of wording Wally seemed to prefer and drew conclusions from that.

Option B meant that he wasn’t opposed to Dick taking charge—at least this time—which was perfectly fine with him.

[text] We can work with that.

[text] I could definitely grind down on you while sucking on your tongue.

kidslipstream:

ninjawing:

The answer was no, so Dick avoided the question entirely.

[text] Wanna know what I’d do if I were there?

[text] here? like next to me on my bed at my house?

Wally wasn’t sure if he’d mentioned he was at home in Central for the night watching the house because his parents had gone out of town. 

… he also refrained from mentioning the half-dozen remaining donuts that were apparently joining them on the bed.

He grinned though at the thought of Dick there on the bed, over him, and arranged his pillows behind and beside him so that he could text more comfortably. 

[text] sooooooo do i get a kiss?

Dick rolled his eyes. Wally had called him to let him know he would be in Central for the weekend in case something came up, which saved Robin the time of tracking him down.

Duh, brainiac. Where else?

His phone buzzed again, lighting up with a second question that he could answer without pushing random buttons to see which one was red.

[text] Maybe.

It was a good thing that Wally was back home, and—Dick didn’t try to hide his grin, alone in his room—that his parents were out.

[text] Maybe I’d straddle your waist and lean over you and kiss you stupid.

[text] Maybe I’d push you into your blue and white pillows as I ravage your mouth.

[text] Maybe I’d tangle my fingers in your hair because I love the sounds you make when I do that.

[text] Maybe I’d tell you to stop holding back and be louder for me.

askmarigrayson:

ninjawing:

It took him approximately thirty seconds to decide on the shirt he wanted—none of them—and another thirty seconds to figure out a way to tell her that—not happening—so Dick came out redressed with the pair of jeans slung over one arm and the shirts suspiciously… missing.

“Of course we can get ice cream!” he chirped, rushing it to the register to avoid the very real possibility of her convincing him to buy one of the shirts, or even the weird pants. “There’s a really awesome place down the street from Gotham Academy. Do you want to try that or do you have something else in mind?”

It definitely wasn’t going to be her treat, that was for sure.

“You’ll have to take that off for them to scan it in,” he told her with a small smile, tugging at her Robin hoodie. She grumbled a little, but pulled it off, and Dick grabbed it immediately, tossing it in with his jeans.

“These two, please.” And it was done before she could protest, Richard Grayson’s platinum card was swiped through and the clothes packaged.

Once they were out of the store, Dick breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Mar’i. That was enough shopping for him for one day. Time to distract his shepherder.

“Where do you want to go next? I remember Zee really liked…” he faltered. “Um…”

It had been a while. Twenty-one Forever?

“Forever21! Yeah, that’s it.” Tilting his head, he gave her a small smile. “We can hit whatever store you want, actually. My card’s sort of unlimited, and it’s not everyday I get to indulge my trans-dimensional daughter.”

Hey what? How did he manage to pull a fast one on her with the lack of shirts in that purchase? She’d get some quality shirts in that wardrobe one way or another. 

She’d give him her best I am not amused look, but he was buying her the Robin hoodie, and it was real hard to be annoyed when she wanted to grin from ear to ear that it was now officially bought and hers. She took it out of the bag and slipped it right back on. 

No shirt or shoes were going to beat this purchase, so she wasn’t really in the mood for dressing herself when it was obvious he wanted to pay. It was also obvious he was done with shopping for himself. 

He was still in that polka-dot monstrosity and she felt like she had failed her mission. No, not yet, the day was still young.

Soon you will be off. Just you wait ugly Polka shirt.

For now? “I’ll pass on Forever-21.” She had enough clothes and she didn’t go out that much as Mar’i. “I don’t really have much shopping for myself except—”

She stopped herself and flushed in her cheeks. There was something she was meaning to buy, but admitting it was a bit… She was allowed to use the guest room but she wasn’t sure how he’d feel about her decorating it.

“I was thinking… maybe to buy some flower pots for the room. I have some plants at my place and I’m used to having them around me, so, if you wouldn’t mind me making some additions to that guest room…” 

She glanced up at him through her shades. Just for while she was here, of course. Those things could easily be moved to her pocket dimension.

Dick watched her silently for a long time, and realized that hero or not, Mar’i Grayson had missed a very, very large part of life as Batman’s granddaughter.

“Of course I don’t mind,” he told her, faking nonchalance like it was second nature, and in a way, it was. Batman had never knocked his acting skills. “It’s your room; you can do whatever you want with it.”

Mar’i had amazing, incredible, and, Dick suspected, difficult to control, powers. The first eight years of Dick’s life were spent training to learn about himself. His body. His abilities. Undoubtedly, her parents had dedicated at least the time spent with her mother—which was most of her life before she lost her world, if her story was right—training her powers. That didn’t leave much time to teach her detective work, especially if she wasn’t supposed to go into the hero business at an early age.

Dick had… chosen this life. But although he didn’t have any regrets, on the cusp of nine, he hadn’t understood the sacrifices that came with it.

If he were her father, he would have tried to keep her away from entering the family business until she was old enough to fully comprehend the consequences of it. Which means he wouldn’t have taught her anything that wasn’t necessary for her to defend herself. With her powers, that was basically 90% of what Batman hammered into him before he first stepped out as Robin.

That included just about all of the detective training.

Did she know what wanting to personalize her room meant?

“Do you want to check out the vendor?” he indicated a small, temporary shop set up beyond the escalators, bright flowers and green plants on display. It wasn’t cheap, just like most vendors at a large mall, but the flowers were always fresh. Best place to buy your girlfriend a bouquet of lilies and orchids to make up for missing a date because Freeze broke out of Arkham again. Dick had never really looked at the pots, so he couldn’t vouch for those.

askmarigrayson:

ninjawing:

askmarigrayson:

Too thin? She looked down at herself and considered the lack of a prominent stomach a good thing. Maybe she could use more muscle but alien strength didn’t really require it, so it wasn’t something she really focused on. 

“Thank you, Alfred, but really I’ll be fine for tonight,” she said, not wanting him to go through the trouble. “The biscuits were great.” 

She stood up and glanced down at the playful two. “That shower, however, sounds good. Come on, Ellie, you’ll have to get off him. He needs to show me stuff.” 

The elephant may not understand her, but it certainly understood it was a strange situation when this girl suddenly put her arms on her back and lifted her right off Dick’s legs. Ellie didn’t have to protest for long because Mar’i was setting her right down. Silly, skittish thing that she was.

Wearing Barbara’s clothes seemed weird, and she didn’t know how much the other woman would appreciate it. Barbara sometimes had a jealous, insecure streak in her that put her at odds with her mother and subsequently, Mar’i.  

“A bathrobe would be nice, but I have civvies in the pocket dimension that I can grab lickety-split, so don’t worry about that,” she replied to his offer.  

He just… stared for a second. Starfire had told him about Tamaranean strength, and clearly Mar’i had inherited it, but it was always a little stunning to see superhuman abilities in action. Ellie was still small enough that Dick could pick her up and stagger her to his bed, but Mar’i acted as though the little elephant weighed no more than a regular human baby. Maybe even less.

“Sure…” he said, getting to his feet and leading her upstairs. He wasn’t sure what Mar’i thought of the fact that Barbara had left clothes in the manor, but after their fight and subsequent make up, Dick and Barbara didn’t really see much of each other anymore. The clothes were left over from their time together, and she never came back to pick them up, rationalizing that it was a good idea in case she ever needed to stay over due to a work-related injury, but Dick was pretty sure that she’d avoid that at any cost.

That relationship hadn’t ended as well as either of them would have liked, and they saw so little of each other nowadays that it was unlikely that it would be fixed anytime soon. It was the primary reason Dick had been so unwilling to enter a romantic relationship with his other best friend. Losing one was bad enough.

Opening the door to the not-a-nursery, Dick flipped on the light. “There are clean towels and a fresh robe in the bathroom, and an unopened toothbrush. Alfred keeps all the bathrooms stocked, so there should be soap and shampoo and stuff in there too, but if there isn’t,” he inclined his head towards his door. “My room’s the just down the hall. Feel free to raid my bathroom.”

Mar’i was looking around the room curiously; Dick leaned against the door and rubbed the back of his head, suddenly self-conscious as he realized that the rocking chair was still in its spot next to where the cradle used to be.

“This room’s better kept than the other guest rooms.” He didn’t elaborate. “I’ll be downstairs, okay? Holler if you need anything.”

The room he led her to wasn’t just a guest room. It had all sorts of details in the decor and there was no mistaking that this was meant for a small child, and as that rocking chair was suggesting maybe even for a baby. 

Um… what? When did the Wayne Manor have a baby since Bruce was one himself? That, and that it would be made into a guest-room had the wheels in her head turning.

No, maybe she was overanalyzing. Dick’s slightly awkward behaviour beside her was making her doubt she was, however.

“Yeah—Um, wait,” she turned around quickly before he dashed off downstairs. “…Thank you.” It was hard to put into words for what she was thanking him. There was his hospitality, which was obvious, but it was mostly because he was kind. She hasn’t felt a connection like that since… well, since her own family. 

And they weren’t even done with day one.

“Goodnight, if, you know… I fall asleep or something.”

Her eyes flickered to the room and back at him as she stood by the frame of the open door. “…I like the Peter Pan touch.” 

Second star to the right and straight on till morning.

I think happy thoughts when I fly too! Does that mean Tamaran is Neverland? 

It can be your Neverland if you want, Starshine. 

…Can I be your second Star?

You already are. 

She closed the door behind her and headed off to shower, and maybe get her mind off the memories. 

askmarigrayson:

ninjawing:

Dick scooted forward without actually standing up, making it to the foot of the table and reaching up for the biscuits when Alfred tapped his hand disapprovingly.

Oh, fine.

He stood up, grabbed two biscuits and came back down, offering one to Elinore—Alfred coughed—okay, offering half to Elinore and putting the remaining half in his mouth.

“Is this all?” he may have been pouting just a little, because it really wasn’t enough for his rumbling stomach. Patrol was always a workout. Ellie munched on her half of the biscuit, flopping over Dick’s spread legs to make sure he couldn’t get up again. “I’m still hungry. I bet Mar’i could use an actual meal too.” He looked the girl over. “She’s too thin. Right, Alfie?”

And of course, Alfred would never turn down the chance to fatten up a guest.

“I have your meal prepared, Master Richard,” Alfred gave him a long-suffering look, deciding not to comment. “I’ll make something for Miss Mar’i too.”

Dick would offer to help or do it himself, but he knew better by now. “You wanna go take a shower, Mar’i?” he ventured instead, wiggling his fingers in the air for Ellie to catch with her trunk. “I think we still have some of Babs’ clothes stashed here somewhere. You two should be about the same size. It’ll be more comfortable.”

And less conspicuous.

“I can go hunt them down for you.”

Too thin? She looked down at herself and considered the lack of a prominent stomach a good thing. Maybe she could use more muscle but alien strength didn’t really require it, so it wasn’t something she really focused on. 

“Thank you, Alfred, but really I’ll be fine for tonight,” she said, not wanting him to go through the trouble. “The biscuits were great.” 

She stood up and glanced down at the playful two. “That shower, however, sounds good. Come on, Ellie, you’ll have to get off him. He needs to show me stuff.” 

The elephant may not understand her, but it certainly understood it was a strange situation when this girl suddenly put her arms on her back and lifted her right off Dick’s legs. Ellie didn’t have to protest for long because Mar’i was setting her right down. Silly, skittish thing that she was.

Wearing Barbara’s clothes seemed weird, and she didn’t know how much the other woman would appreciate it. Barbara sometimes had a jealous, insecure streak in her that put her at odds with her mother and subsequently, Mar’i.  

“A bathrobe would be nice, but I have civvies in the pocket dimension that I can grab lickety-split, so don’t worry about that,” she replied to his offer.  

He just… stared for a second. Starfire had told him about Tamaranean strength, and clearly Mar’i had inherited it, but it was always a little stunning to see superhuman abilities in action. Ellie was still small enough that Dick could pick her up and stagger her to his bed, but Mar’i acted as though the little elephant weighed no more than a regular human baby. Maybe even less.

“Sure…” he said, getting to his feet and leading her upstairs. He wasn’t sure what Mar’i thought of the fact that Barbara had left clothes in the manor, but after their fight and subsequent make up, Dick and Barbara didn’t really see much of each other anymore. The clothes were left over from their time together, and she never came back to pick them up, rationalizing that it was a good idea in case she ever needed to stay over due to a work-related injury, but Dick was pretty sure that she’d avoid that at any cost.

That relationship hadn’t ended as well as either of them would have liked, and they saw so little of each other nowadays that it was unlikely that it would be fixed anytime soon. It was the primary reason Dick had been so unwilling to enter a romantic relationship with his other best friend. Losing one was bad enough.

Opening the door to the not-a-nursery, Dick flipped on the light. “There are clean towels and a fresh robe in the bathroom, and an unopened toothbrush. Alfred keeps all the bathrooms stocked, so there should be soap and shampoo and stuff in there too, but if there isn’t,” he inclined his head towards his door. “My room’s the just down the hall. Feel free to raid my bathroom.”

Mar’i was looking around the room curiously; Dick leaned against the door and rubbed the back of his head, suddenly self-conscious as he realized that the rocking chair was still in its spot next to where the cradle used to be.

“This room’s better kept than the other guest rooms.” He didn’t elaborate. “I’ll be downstairs, okay? Holler if you need anything.”

askmarigrayson:

ninjawing:

“The hoodie’s nice,” he concurred, tactfully refraining from mentioning the pants at all. Whatever she might think, he was not buying the pants. No way.

Grabbing the shirt and jeans next, he returned to the stall, quickly pulling up the skinnies and buttoning up the shirt.

How could she possibly say she liked the other pants better?

Although, to be fair, he doubted she was checking out how his ass looked in these. That might have been a little more disturbing than he was willing to admit.

Even though, technically, she wasn’t his.

Which might be proven by his distaste for the… purple. It was a nice color, of course. Why couldn’t they go with blue again?

This time, when he stepped out, he watched Mar’i. She was smiling, eyes critical as she looked him over, completely at ease in this store—something told him she’d be just as perfect in another store—wearing her Robin hoodie proudly even though it didn’t suit her as well as a pretty dress would.

And he couldn’t help but think of the life she’d missed out on. Shopping with her mom, then with girlfriends, maybe even Selina or Barbara or Zatanna. Trying on dresses for prom and parties. Maybe even going into something other than heroing and taking on part time jobs in a mall.

If dragging her would-be dad to find a new wardrobe was something he could give her…

“I like these jeans better,” he said truthfully, turning around more for the benefit of the harried assistant who’d stopped to watch than his ‘daughter’, and spinning back to give Mar’i a blinding grin. “The shirt does leave something to be desired, though. What’s the next pair?”

…he could at least be a good sport about it.

Okay, maybe these jeans did look better on him. That wasn’t concluded by checking him out in the same way the assistant was, because whereas that person was preoccupied with his posterior, Mar’i was struck by his smile. 

“Hey, what’s wrong with purple?” she teased, poking him in the arm and then handing him his last pair. One was a button up shirt and the other was long sleeved T with one of those splattered, urban looks. Either one would look good with the jeans. 

Purple was an awesome colour, thank you very much. “You didn’t mind them as [i]dots[/i],” she mumbled as she looked down at the dress shirt. Blue, purple, red, green… 

She was tempted to dump it, but in all its shame-worthiness it was still a little sentimental; because it already had a memory attached. They could keep it as a reminder—like a before an after. In truth she didn’t really want to throw out anything of his…

Mar’i, no, you’re not a hoarder. Xh’al. 

“Everything looks great—we’re definitely getting the skinnies. Try those two tops on and pick what you like best.” Somehow she didn’t think the purple was making it to the cash register. New objective: get Dick to buy one purple item today.  

They’d go to a few other stores after this. Try on some hats, maybe a few more jeans but he had some taste there—and definitely more tops. Also some accessories if she saw some she liked. She’d have her Robin hoodie. It didn’t look as fab as some outfits she could be wearing, but it was already making a bee-line toward being a favourite. 

It was an odd thing. Since she couldn’t have what she did, she learned not to want it so much. Now that she was doing this, as she stood and waited for him to finish, she wondered if they could keep this up. Thoughts like if he’d keep liking her as he seemed to now, or when the time would come that she’s overstayed her welcome. She couldn’t possibly know what he was really feeling or what the future would hold. Time traveller, not fortune teller.

“If you want…” She said through the door of the change room, fiddling with the hair that rested over her shoulder, “We can get some ice cream or something… my treat?” 

It took him approximately thirty seconds to decide on the shirt he wanted—none of them—and another thirty seconds to figure out a way to tell her that—not happening—so Dick came out redressed with the pair of jeans slung over one arm and the shirts suspiciously… missing.

“Of course we can get ice cream!” he chirped, rushing it to the register to avoid the very real possibility of her convincing him to buy one of the shirts, or even the weird pants. “There’s a really awesome place down the street from Gotham Academy. Do you want to try that or do you have something else in mind?”

It definitely wasn’t going to be her treat, that was for sure.

“You’ll have to take that off for them to scan it in,” he told her with a small smile, tugging at her Robin hoodie. She grumbled a little, but pulled it off, and Dick grabbed it immediately, tossing it in with his jeans.

“These two, please.” And it was done before she could protest, Richard Grayson’s platinum card was swiped through and the clothes packaged.

Once they were out of the store, Dick breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Mar’i. That was enough shopping for him for one day. Time to distract his shepherder.

“Where do you want to go next? I remember Zee really liked…” he faltered. “Um…”

It had been a while. Twenty-one Forever?

“Forever21! Yeah, that’s it.” Tilting his head, he gave her a small smile. “We can hit whatever store you want, actually. My card’s sort of unlimited, and it’s not everyday I get to indulge my trans-dimensional daughter.”

askmarigrayson:

ninjawing:

Dick was in and out of the shower in five minutes, though disabling the suit took far longer than that. Hopping into a pair of sweatpants and a huge shirt he’d stolen from Bruce’s closet, he wandered into the room next to his.

The cradle—originally Bruce’s—was probably stored in the East Wing attic now, replaced by the regular queen-sized guest bed, and Alfred hadn’t bothered to repaint the room back to its original off-white guest room status after Dick and Barbara had spent a day painting the walls a dark bluish-purple—Babs had a name for that color but he didn’t really try to remember it—to mimic the sky at twilight and plastering all the constellations that Dick could scale down and fit onto the ceiling in the form of glow-in-the-dark stars. One wall was still decorated with the huge, bright, beautiful cherry blossom branches decal that Babs had gotten, and the adjacent wall sported shadows of Peter Pan ushering Wendy, John and Michael to Neverland—Dick’s contribution. The baby toys were all gone, out of sight and out of mind, but the shade on the windows were still decorated with Alfred’s hand-painted clouds, and the snowflake nightlight and handprints still stuck to the door, a tiny red one next to a large yellow and an even larger blue. There were measurements next to all of them, handwritten with glittery pens, skewed near the end because he’d been fending Babs off with one hand while writing with the other, ignoring her protests of how he didn’t need to measure Marie’s rate of growth from a handprint and that she was growing fine.

And then Marie had started crying so they’d been dejected because they thought she didn’t like the nursery.

There were books on a small bookshelf, Peter Pan and a Roald Dahl collection that Dick would read to her on nights that Barbara couldn’t stay over to sing her to sleep. The closets were empty, though. Diapers and baby clothes donated to Goodwill.

They’d put a lot of effort into this room even though they’d known that Marie wouldn’t last forever, even though they’d known that making a nursery for her would make it that much harder to say goodbye. Dick supposed it was a form of denial.

What were the odds that he could lose a daughter and gain another in the same year?

That wasn’t true, though. Mar’i wasn’t a replacement, she wasn’t his daughter—she was practically his age!—and she couldn’t stay, and Dick really, really couldn’t afford to get attached this time.

He wondered if she’d like to stay in this room, or if it would be too childlike for her taste.

By the time he managed to drag himself away from the not-a-nursery and down the stairs back to the kitchen, most of the biscuits were gone and Alfred and Mar’i had descended into small talk. He’d planned on watching the interaction silently for a while, unwilling to intrude, but Elinore caught him almost instantly. The little elephant trotted over, and Dick grinned and sat down on the floor at the doorway, giving in to her request to play.

“Did I miss anything interesting?” he asked, wrapping Ellie’s trunk around her ears, as though having his half-alien daughter from alternate universe sitting at his kitchen table chatting away with his ‘mom’ wasn’t pretty damn interesting all by itself.

Mar’i was pretty aware of her surroundings—she had to be—so when Dick re-entered the room, baby Ellie’s behaviour was noticed right away and her eyes snapped to Dick. 

Without the uniform the similarities to her own father were made even more apparent. It was amazing what a mask and a change of wardrobe could do for the look of a person. 

“I was just explaining what brought me to your corner of the universe,” she replied. “Oh, and Elli-elephant there made sure I saved you more than one biscuit. Keep standing there and maybe it’ll still happen,” she said with grin, and then took a bite of another. 

Getting meals and money was tricky. It involved fake resumes, community kitchens, gleaning and the occasional dishonest work. When she was really low on resources and she needed to survive, she’d bust a drug dealer and take a portion of the money for herself. It wasn’t right, but one raid usually kept her honest for a long while. Gotham in particular was a booming underground market. 

So, maybe they weren’t the best calorie-wise but these biscuits were guilt-free and totally delicious. 

Finishing her last one and not making good on her threat, Mar’i unlatched her head piece and smoothed out her hair into its natural place. It was nice to let her hair down. 

Dick scooted forward without actually standing up, making it to the foot of the table and reaching up for the biscuits when Alfred tapped his hand disapprovingly.

Oh, fine.

He stood up, grabbed two biscuits and came back down, offering one to Elinore—Alfred coughed—okay, offering half to Elinore and putting the remaining half in his mouth.

“Is this all?” he may have been pouting just a little, because it really wasn’t enough for his rumbling stomach. Patrol was always a workout. Ellie munched on her half of the biscuit, flopping over Dick’s spread legs to make sure he couldn’t get up again. “I’m still hungry. I bet Mar’i could use an actual meal too.” He looked the girl over. “She’s too thin. Right, Alfie?”

And of course, Alfred would never turn down the chance to fatten up a guest.

“I have your meal prepared, Master Richard,” Alfred gave him a long-suffering look, deciding not to comment. “I’ll make something for Miss Mar’i too.”

Dick would offer to help or do it himself, but he knew better by now. “You wanna go take a shower, Mar’i?” he ventured instead, wiggling his fingers in the air for Ellie to catch with her trunk. “I think we still have some of Babs’ clothes stashed here somewhere. You two should be about the same size. It’ll be more comfortable.”

And less conspicuous.

“I can go hunt them down for you.”

redsolowhore:

ninjawing:

redsolowhore:

ninjawing:

redsolowhore:

$63

…$63

Ayyyyyyyy

Actually, it’s $65.

It still counts as stealing if you give it back later, right?

Uh, no.

Yeah, definitely $65 because it kinda got destroyed so it never went back.