Title: Omen
Author: Moonsetta
Fandom: Batman
Genre: Family
Rating: T
Date: Monday, February 3, 2015
Words: 3,637
Pairings: Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne
Summary: 'Do not picture your OTP having a kid and losing said kid in a ball pit.' I'm not! Well...maybe...
A/N: Darn you prompt! I can't believe it lead to this! This is entirely the fault of Klose/epigenetics. Was on her tumblr and saw:
'|Do not picture your OTP having a kid and losing said kid in a ball pit
Quick, someone write about Bruce and Dick losing Damian in a ball pit!'
And-Ahhhhhh! It lead to THIS!
OK truthfully US is a big project and it's nice to take a break and reestablish the couple in my mind from time to time but I'm telling the truth! Random out-of-the-blue, makes-no-sense inspiration!
"Why are we here?" Bruce grumbled as he settled himself in a horribly uncomfortable plastic red chair in front of a cardboard table decorated with blushing smiley faces and cartoon animals.
"I agree with Father," Damian growled.
The young boy's scowl was as characteristic as usual only aimed at the smaller plastic chair next to his father. Clearly, from his expression, he was NOT anywhere near humble enough to sit in the thing of his own free will.
A hand descended onto his shoulder and Damian ignored the bright smile above to the best of his ability. It tightened lightly and he finally glanced back and up. Dick Grayson was wearing his own characteristic expression-which was a smile.
"Come on you two-I can't be the only one seen enjoying this. We all have to."
"Why?" Damian asked.
"Media attention. Now, why don't we see what kind of ridiculous menu they have here?"
Dick pulled his hand from Damian's shoulder and swiped the menu out of Bruce's hands that he had been reading in an attempt to distract himself from the little brats running all over the room. Maybe he might have protested but in this situation he just sighed and let his partner have at it.
"What's this place called again?" he muttered.
Dick's blue eyes left the lines of the printed menu and met Bruce's but he didn't grace his partner with an answer and then said eyes went back to the paper as the acrobat maneuvered himself around their kid to slip into the other large plastic chair. He made a hum beneath his breath and Bruce sighed again. He glanced over at his son and they shared a similar long look of mutual suffering. After a belated deep breath that followed the look Damian decided to get the inevitable over with and walked over to slip into the smaller red chair. The relative size difference to his parents' chairs was downright humiliating.
"Ah! Here you go Damian-you order what you want," Dick said, handing over the menu.
The boy groaned and took the paper, burying his face into the print as his ears started stinging from the sudden sharp cry from a toddler a few tables down. Both Bruce and Dick winced at the sound but gave in synced breaths of relief when the toddler's mother handed over a stuffed version of one of the restaurant's animatronics to him. Bruce took note of the color of the plushy being blue and guessed it to be the large rabbit up on center stage.
"So, how was your day Sweetie?" Dick asked with a smirk.
Bruce scowled, mirroring their kid.
"Cut the Sweetie talk, Honey. It was uneventful. And your day?"
Dick shrugged, "Visited the Outsiders, we watched a fishing show."
"Fishing?" Bruce blinked three times.
Did he really just hear?
"They were all drunk and thought it was the most hilarious thing ever."
"This menu would make Todd cringe," Damian muttered.
He retracted his face from the paper, slapped it down onto the table and made said table wobble.
"Damian, what did we agree on?" Dick asked with frown.
Bruce blinked twice this time and turned honestly curious eyes onto his son. An agreement?
Damian frowned and his cheek twitched as if trying to avoid having a memory moment. After a second though he hissed and spoke.
"No being violent in the presence of pizza unless it has become diabolically sentient."
"Very good."
He almost voiced an inquiry but Bruce was cut off by the arrival of a female waiter on roller skates dressed up as a clown. She appeared to be about 16, was tall and very lanky with thin limbs. Part time job after school Bruce guessed.
"Hello welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Funarama! I'm Emily Rose and I'll be your waitress for the day. Now, may I start you off with some drinks?"
"Three Cokes," Dick said with a bright smile.
Emily returned the gesture with a flirtatious smile. Bruce glared…as did Damian.
"Excellent," she said with a voice that grew quiet as she quickly picked up the Waynes' looks at her.
"Um, are you familiar with our menu…gentlemen?"
Dick glanced back at his partner and child finding them glaring and he just...almost shook his head in exasperation. He fought the urge and instead just turned back to the waitress whose eyes were locked on his face in something akin to desperation and begging.
"One small pepperoni and one medium supreme both with the cheese-stuffed crust and two orders of breadsticks with shredded mozzarella and marinara."
She looked so grateful.
"Of course, I'll get the drinks and breadsticks right out to you in a few minutes."
She hurriedly wheeled away on her skates with an uneasy smile.
Damian hissed at the girl's retreating back until Dick reached out to flip a lock of Damian's hair off of the boy's forehead with a laugh.
"Hey!" Damian protested and slapped away the hand.
"Why don't you go play with the others Damian?" Dick asked, head tilting toward the room's second largest attraction.
While the biggest attraction was the trio of animatronics up on the large stage playing instruments the second was probably the giant pit in the center of the dining area filled to the brim with multi-colored plastic balls. Most of the kids were there currently. Only a small portion of children were occasionally pulling themselves from the pit to run towards the stage to yell in joy at the characters, then to their parents' tables to grab a bite to eat to fuel the energy needed for their merriment and then back to the giant ball pit to throw themselves back into their mini-frays in the most dramatic dives.
"Tt! I am above them."
"Damian-" Bruce began a reprimand but didn't get to finish it.
"Whether that's true or not Damian this could be an opportunity to make some friends," Dick reminded him.
"I-"
"Plus the random people in here need to see us getting along as a family."
Damian folded his arms over his chest before screwing up his face as if he had bitten into a lemon.
"Those animatronics are lame-obviously designed by idiots. In addition, I cannot even begin to fathom what appeal a multitude of different colored lumps of plastic hold for these...children."
Bruce sighed beneath his breath. He was doing that a lot today. As much as he didn't want to be here Dick did have a legit point. They HAD to be seen playing happy family with one another. They were still riding the exclusive 'siblings argue' point where Tim was concerned with the youngest of their family. He wasn't sure how much longer they could use it but the media would demand to see Tim sooner than later.
"You know Dami, I do too."
Wait. What? Bruce's gaze left the smiley face his eyes had fallen onto during his thoughts and rose from the colorful blushing sticker to take in his partner. Dick was seemingly focused on the ball pit-as was Damian-and had his lips pursed together in mock thought. He knew his partner though. It wasn't thought-it was mischievous planning that Damian had not been present long enough within their family to know about.
Poor Kid. He wasn't even going to see it coming.
"What do you mean Dad?"
Now Damian was blinking.
"Unsolved mystery," he said with a sideways smile.
"Really?"
Why did Damian sound fascinated?
Dick shrugged and glanced to Damian and then back to ball pit before he continued.
"People have been at the study for years. No one knows despite all of the experiments and observations."
"Tt! obviously only idiots have studied this then.
Silence.
"…They really don't know?"
Bruce picked the menu back up and smiled behind it, trying to hold back a laugh. He could hardly believe what was occurring in front of him!
"Nope. Honestly we need someone much more intelligent and resourceful on the case. It's downright aggravating!"
"Agreed. These intellectuals can't do something so simple?"
Bruce leaned over as he felt his lips part. He checked that he was still hiding behind the menu. All good!
"Exactly! Imagine a world where we knew these simple things, that wouldn't take long to figure out in the first place, and how more efficient it would all be!"
"You're right. I will return."
And with that Damian shot off of his little chair and towards the ball pit with the most determined look on his face. Dick looked back just in time as soon as the child was out of hearing range and saw Bruce doubled over on the table with a hand over his mouth with shaking shoulders.
"Oh…my! How do you do that?"
Dick smirked and leaned over to peck a kiss onto his partner's cheek.
"You just have to know your victim."
Emily returned with a watery smile that made the couple blink. She didn't say a word, just placed their drinks precisely and set the two orders of bread sticks in the direct center, fumbling only with the small dipping bowls of marinara. She was quick to right herself though and then rolled back to stand up straight.
"Will you need anything else gentlemen?"
Bruce and Dick shared a look before shaking their heads. They both watched as the girl turned and slumped, making her way back to the kitchen area. Through the slight opening of the door when she stepped through Bruce caught sight of a bald man in glasses dressed up in a business suit. His stance was unfamiliar though, like he was neither comfortable nor accustomed to the people and things around him.
Not the manager then. The owner. Possibly of the whole chain.
"She's gotten reprimanded," Bruce muttered.
"Well you didn't have to glare at her," Dick pointed out.
"Then stop attracting women! I have no idea when I lost my charm..."
Dick reached over and grabbed Bruce by his collar before pulling him over and planting a kiss on his lips. Hands flew to his shoulders to hold him there but he fought them off and pulled back.
"Pretty sure you lost that when you kissed ME at the altar."
Bruce smirked and reached around to grab the base of the chair. He gave a strong jerk of movement and finally had his partner pressed against him. He wanted to cuddle!
So he reached around to Dick to grab his opposite shoulder and pulled him in for another deep kiss before tilting his head sideways to bury his face in Dick's hair.
"Bruce," Dick moaned and his hand released Bruce's shirt to trace the edge of his jaw.
Ah! This was so nice!
He let Bruce have all of the cuddling he wanted and reached for the bread sticks.
Hmm, mozzarella!
When their pizzas arrived ten minutes later Bruce excused himself to go locate Damian. Dick just bit down on a slice of supreme and swiped a few pepperonis from Damian's pizza as he watched his partner stumble his way into and through the gigantic ball pit. He laughed around a bite of a green pepper and then sipped at his coke. It wasn't long before the form of Bruce Wayne was swallowed up by the crowd of screaming children and the multi colored balls in the pit. The stage curtain had closed and the animatronics had gone quiet.
...Well, except for an earlier incident where a random child had climbed up on the stage and tried to peek behind the curtain whereupon whoever was in the control room had Freddy Fazbear say: "Hey! No peeking!"
Said child had squealed with frightened delight and ran back to the giant ball pit, diving in head first.
Dick glanced up as Emily came back around to offer a refill on his coke and he gave her a kind smile. Mentally promising that he would leave her a gracious tip and have Bruce call her boss when they got home later to compliment her service.
And if he had to…convince Bruce-all the better!
A louder than usual squeal erupted from one of the children at the ball pit and Dick glanced up to see a fair amount of the children jumping from the ball pit and crossing the floor to crowd around a mini stage on the far wall that was suddenly playing music.
"Foxy! Foxy! Foxy!" they were chanting as a glowing sign rose above the staging that said Pirate Cove.
Kids were attracted by the strangest things these days it seemed.
He considered himself correct when the curtain of the mini stage was pulled back and an animatronic fox came out with a multitude of sets of sparklers behind it.
But he swore if it started belting out 'What does the fox say?' he was going to release Animal Man on this place.
Finishing off his first piece of pizza he reached for a second and trembled as he bit into a mass of delicious parmesan. Mmmm, they sure knew how to make pizza despite the commercialization of the place. There even seemed to be a hint of basil in the crust.
He had obviously been much too distracted by the delicious taste and aroma because Bruce had reappeared beside him without a visual sign that he had left the ball pit and strangely looked worried. There was also a distinct lack of 'Damian' nearby.
"Where is-"
"I can't find him."
Dick sighed and got to his feet, "I'll take the east side you take the west."
30 minutes later they were still searching.
"Damian!"
"Come on Dami, where are you?"
Both men were waist deep in the ball pit, being bumped into by small children and swallowed up by the multi-colored plastic spheres of unlimited joy.
"Damian!"
Dick was digging through the spheres while Bruce had since given up and aligned his gaze with the ceiling searching out any possible evidence that their kid had headed to the air vents. He found none of the lights displaced or wires free of any dust. Where was he?
"Dami! This isn't funny!" Dick called out, abandoning his current spot to search out another area.
Bruce glanced around, side stepping a child balancing a stack of half a dozen slices of pizza on his head as he fringed the edge of the pit. This was all Dick's fault-if he hadn't tricked the boy into-
"Father!"
Bruce jumped and turned to see no one else but his son peeking out from beneath a group of sparkling plastic spheres of red, yellow and green.
"What are you doing here? You're interrupting my investigation. They seem to be unusually attracted to the ones that sparkle and otherwise shine-"
"Found him!" Bruce shouted over to his partner who shuffled over clumsily and pulled Damian up and out of the mass of plastic to hug him tightly.
"Dad! You're embarrassing me!"
"Why didn't you answer when we called?"
Damian pulled himself from his dad's grasp and huffed as he fell back into the ball pit.
He crossed his arms and said, "I was interviewing some of the children and had to finish gathering my data."
Bruce rolled his eyes before catching his partner's eyes and mouthing, 'Your Fault!'
Dick stuck out his tongue and reached out to lay a hand on Damian's shoulder.
"Come on the pizza's here," he said.
"Fine. But I must return before we leave. I don't want the data to be skewered."
"Oh heaven forbid that happen," Bruce muttered.
...(11:00pm that Evening)
Nightwing leaned forward, rested his chin on Batman's shoulder and wound his arms around his waist from behind.
"So, how long are we going to stand here?"
Batman glanced back and brushed a kiss onto Nightwing's cheek before turning back to the skylight window.
"Long enough I guess."
Nightwing hummed and tilted his head to look down inside of the building.
They had left the restaurant on great terms. Dick had persuaded Bruce to tell the owner, Mr. Wathcon, that their waitress had been excellent and they were very satisfied customers.
Well he'd persuaded Bruce with a promise that the older man had cashed in the minute they had gotten home.
Of course at those…times…it was just them. Nothing and no one else mattered. So it meant later that Robin had gotten a head start on the night's patrol. Only, his tracker had indicated that he wasn't following his normal pathway. He had made a detour at an old abandoned gas station and then made a strait path to:
Freddy Fazbear's Funarama!
Batman leaned back into Nightwing's arms as he muttered, "This is your fault. You had to get him started."
Nightwing buried his face into his partner's shoulder and groaned before retreating and frowning.
"Hey, the obsessive behavior is all YOU Old Man. I just know how to take advantage of it. Even if it's a mini-you."
"He's going to be at this for hours."
Batman leaned forward a bit spotting the boy's full yellow cape among a large mass of eggplant and brown.
"Well he's not here alone," Nightwing pointed out.
"True. He gets along with them well. Did you find out anything new about them?"
A shrug.
"Not much more to find on Colin Wilkes other than he's an orphan with a history of hostility."
"And… Nell was it?"
"Nell Little. She lives with her mother in midtown. Top of her karate class and she's making waves at Tillerfield elementary by joining the boxing team."
"Of course what kind of other friends would he make?" Batman said with a shake of his head.
"Well, it looks like our kid's continuing his experiment and we've already laid down our sensors. So what do we do now?"
Batman's face closed off as he was apparently seriously contemplating the question.
"Hmm-the maintenance shed."
Nightwing glanced to the west side of the rooftop. There was a maintenance shed there but-
He couldn't speak anymore with lips on his. He moaned and felt Batman's black gauntlets turning his body and pushing him back towards the shed in question. Batman broke the kiss and dipped his head to nibble on his neck, raising a hand to pull at his hair to tilt his head back.
HIS!
Possession taken care of Batman reached out and pulled the door open when they reached the shed.
"Boss wait there's-"
"A cot in the corner," Batman breathed and reached back blindly to lock the door.
"Oh, OK."
Batman pushed his partner down onto the cot, Nightwing landing with a small bounce and a laugh before Batman was on top of him their lips connected again in a blatant blaze of passion. Black gauntlets caressing the slim stomach and then reaching to hook over Nightwing's thighs and blue striped gloves grabbing at excess black cape cloth as the younger man moaned into the heated air.
It was all…
"Wait a minute!" Nightwing suddenly said loudly and pulled away from his husband's lips.
"What?" Batman grumbled.
He hadn't wanted to stop!
Nightwing was glaring.
"You just happened to choose a restaurant with a rooftop maintenance shed for our outing today? The maintenance man just happened to leave it unlocked tonight? There just happened to be a clean cot in here?"
Batman didn't even blink just smirked and pressed a kiss to the bare neck beneath him.
"I didn't plan anything."
"Bbbbrrruuuucceeee!"
Nell adjusted her new Spoiler mask and hummed before speaking.
"Should we be worried about your parents?"
She aimed her gaze at the colorfully dressed yet scowling child who had just caught a green plastic ball thrown by the red headed Abuse on the other side of the ball pit.
"Tt! Father and Dad are rather still stuck in the honeymoon stage of their relationship. We'll just leave them be."
"Why are they!?" Abuse called, jumping from the edge of the pit and into the center with them.
Robin narrowed his eyes, "Their jobs keep them busy...our jobs."
He turned to his new female friend, now holding out a plastic purple ball covered in sparkles in his left hand and a pink one with painted-on bunny ears in his right.
"Now Spoiler, which one is more appealing to your demographic?"
…
Later they all ended up falling asleep in the ball pit as the clock hit 12:00.