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That Was Close

When you lived with people who were at worst certifiably insane, at best delusional, you learned to keep your thoughts and reactions from showing on your face. Especially in Simon's case, since the majority of the League of Shadows would love any excuse to kill him very dead. And they'd probably do it in very creative and horrifically bad ways that he'd really rather not think about, much less experience. So it was very much for the best that Simon's time in the foster 'care' system and his own uniqueness had schooled him well in the art of not giving himself away face wise.

Yes, Simon was very grateful for all those years of training even as his brain struggled to compute the most recent example of two League members acting in a way that made absolutely no sense to him.

Why had Bane lied to Ra's al Ghul? And why was al Ghul allowing Simon to stay with Bane?

As he'd listened to the two men talk Simon had learned that Bane had told the League's leader that he'd promised Simon's adoptive father that he would look after Simon after his death. Which was a lie. Simon knew it was a lie because his father had outright told him that he wouldn't even try to ask such a favor from Bane, knowing that there would be no point in it. Bane would never go against what Talia wanted and Talia would want Simon to suffer, not be protected.

Simon also knew that his father had given up on gaining Ra's al Ghul's word that he would allow Simon to remain within the League once his father had passed away and could no longer keep Simon in line. Or at least out of everyone's way. It had taken considerable effort on his father's part to get permission to keep Simon with him back in the day. To expect more was, it seemed, too much to ask.

His father had told him that his only hope was John's influence over Bane or being rescued by the Batman because Barsad might want to protect him, but Bane's second's first loyalty was to Bane. And Bane's first loyalty was to Talia.

Simon was pretty sure his father had died believing Simon would follow him in death shortly.

And Simon had been pretty sure his father hadn't been wrong to think so. But now...

That John was as good in bed as the older man liked to claim he was was the only logical explanation Simon could come up with to explain why Bane would lie for him. It was the only reason why the other man would do anything to protect him since it was obvious that Bane, like most people, thought Simon was pretty much a waste of space.

John was going to be insufferably smug when he realized how deeply he'd already gotten his hooks into Bane's balls, Simon thought to himself with a sigh. And really it was surprising that Bane still had them since Simon had been under the impression Talia had removed Bane's balls a long time ago. Or at least she had according to John. Figuratively of course. If she'd actually removed the alpha's balls then...was an alpha still an alpha without part of his works? I mean you'd think that would affect hormone product which would in turn-not important. Have to focus.

What he needed to be thinking about was why Ra's al Ghul had accepted Bane's lie AND gone against his daughter's wishes in doing so.

Talia hadn't said anything while the other two men were talking to indicate she'd tried to manipulate Simon's fate...but even he'd been able to read between the lines of what she had said. And her tone of voice when she'd said it. Not to mention the way she'd looked at him had made her feelings pretty clear too.

Men didn't say no to Talia al Ghul and avoid paying some price. Especially when she saw that no as a rejection of her personally.

Which, in his case, had definitely been the case. He hadn't outright said he'd sooner slowly saw his dick off with a rusted spoon than fuck her, but maybe she'd sensed that that was what he'd been thinking when he'd lied and told her he was asexual. Women were supposed to be way better at picking up emotional cues than guys were. Plus Simon was a lousy liar and knew it.

Anyway, he'd always figured that it was that, plus the fact that he was from Gotham that had sealed his fate where she was concerned. The fact that he'd come from the same city as Wayne, on top of him coming to the League directly after Wayne had handed the League's ass to them-his position on her shit list wasn't that surprising.

That she'd allowed him to live this long was.

He'd often wondered why his adoptive father was enough of a shield to keep her from acting against him...but somehow his father had managed it. But Simon had lost that shield and-well now Bane was acting as his shield.

He was so very, very confused.

In fact, by the time the meeting was over and they were allowed to leave the best explanation Simon had come up with to explain Ra's al Ghul's behavior was that the man knew Talia wanted to fuck him and was worried the birth control would fail and he'd end up with a grandson like Simon.

That at least made some sense.

The sound of his name had Simon looking in Ra's al Ghul's direction, the other man's stare as cold and penetrating as always.

"You will stay here and you will do as Bane commands you. If you prove to be the excess baggage I believe you to be he will put a bullet in your head. Do you understand."

"I do." And he was pretty sure Bane was aware that John would never have sex with him again if he were to put a bullet in Simon's head, so Simon figured his odds of living were pretty good for the moment.

"Good."

For a moment Simon wondered if he should tell Ra's al Ghul that he'd rather be shot in the head than handed over to the man's daughter, just in case the older man changed his mind about Simon in the future...but that probably wouldn't go over well so Simon just went back to studying his feet. It made him look submissive and weak.

"Your job is to watch over the omega. Go and do so. I have a few last things to discuss with Bane."

"Yes, Sir."

And happy to go Simon bowed his head and then turned with the intention of making a hasty as hell retreat.

"Kei."

Or not.

Slowly turning around Simon met Talia's gaze, the evil woman's hand coming up to offer her hand to him. Was he supposed to kiss it? Seriously? He'd never kissed a girl's hand before.

Well there had to be a first time for everything, Simon reminded himself glumly as he took the hand and forced himself not to grimace too much as he bowed his head to press his lips as quickly as he could against the cool skin that made his own skin crawl in horror.

Looking back up as he straightened Simon could see the pleasure and satisfaction in her eyes. And the dark lust that had his stomach rolling and cramping up in renewed horror.

But as he let go of her hand it also occurred to Simon that if she was being obvious enough that he could see it...

A glance in her father's direction made it clear that he'd noticed.

His second glance made it clear Bane had seen it too.

Fuck.

"Lady Talia."

Bowing his head again Simon backed up and then spinning around all but ran for the door.

No one stopped him this time.

)

Blake really wanted to get up and punch something. No, not something. Someone. Several someones as a matter of fact. Someones who all had one thing in common and that was that fact that they were stupid enough to be part of the incredibly stupid League of Fucking Shadows. Well that and they were all on his shit list. And had taken Simon away from him so that he had no idea if the kid was okay or not. And Simon better be okay and in one perfect piece when he saw him next or Blake had very, very ominous plans for Bane when his so-called mate returned. Because if-huh. Now there was an idea.

Leaning forward on his elbows as he sat on his bed Blake posed the question to his grumpy bodyguard. "Hey. If I told Bane that I was judging his parenting abilities by how he takes care of Kei what would he say?"

"The boy is over twenty years of age." Was Barsad's dry response, the beta standing on the other side of the room at the moment while he watched him like a hawk. Which had been really fucking annoying half an hour ago.

Right now? Well right now Blake was fighting the urge to take his aggression out on Bane's second as inhumanely as possible. Oh, and he was also grinching his teeth as he pointing out that a child was always your child no matter how old they got.

"That logic won't work with him."

Unfortunately, that was probably true.

"Then do you have any brilliant ideas about how to keep Bane from killing Simon or handing him over to Talia? Because I'm running out of ideas that don't involve sexual favors and me signing away my life and freedom by becoming Bane's mate and baby making machine."

The slightly pained, just audible sound Barsad made-well Blake was willing to go out on a limb and assume that that was due to the sexual favors comment. And the mental images that comment had probably conjured up in Barsad's tiny little brain.

He regretted nothing.

Especially when Barsad finally spoke, the man's words stiff and curt.

"Bane would kill Simon quickly and as painlessly as possible. For you. That's better than what Talia would do to him."

"If that was supposed to be comforting or reassuring it's no wonder you-nevermind."

He'd about to make a comment about Barsad's bedside manner and the fact that the beta hadn't gotten Simon to have sex with him-despite how obviously he wanted it-but Blake wasn't about to go there. Mostly because he'd sensed the tension between the two earlier when they'd been waiting to be summoned. Barsad might always take Bane's side, but that didn't mean he couldn't be an ally if Blake didn't antagonize him too much. Simon driving the other man crazy was unavoidable after all. Simon made everyone crazy sometimes.

"If he's given to Talia...I'll see that-"

Whatever Barsad had been about to say died in his throat, the beta's attention captured by something-

"HIT THE FLOOR!"

Diving off the bed without hesitation Blake hit the floor hard, the breath knocked right out of him on impact. He didn't even have time to catch his breath or curse either as the sound of shattering glass clued him in to the situation they were in. They. Barsad.

Immediately looking in Barsad's direction to make sure that the other man was alright Blake saw that the other man had moved and crouched down as well, his new position putting him well out of range of whatever had shattered the glass doors leading out to the balcony. Blake was guessing a sniper rifle.

Barsad met his gaze. "Are you hit?"

"No."

"Good. Stay there." Drawing out his phone from his pocket Barsad began to speak to someone very fast and urgently in a language Blake didn't speak.

A quick visual exam seemed to suggest that the glass hadn't flown far enough into the room to hit the beta, and if he was shot Blake thought Barsad probably had enough brains to make that known. Or at least make some visible attempt to insure any injuries didn't require immediate medical attention.

Talia had sent her first assassin and no one had died. Yay. Score one for the Good Guys.

Though he might have very well ended up with a bullet in his brain if not for Barsad's warning and his cop training. Which was a sobering thought. A lot of civilians would have hesitated or asked why. Especially when their relationship with the one ordering them to get down was contentious at best. But when you were a cop, especially a Gotham cop, it was better to look like a fool than risk losing your life.

Muttering a few choice words under his breath to make himself feel better Blake shifted up and onto his elbows, his stomach still touching the ground since he wasn't about to tempt fate. The less of him that was visible the better.

Shoving his phone back into his pant pocket Barsad had a few choice words to say as well before he stated that men were on their way to apprehend the sniper. They would remain where they were until he was given the all clear. If Blake attempted to get up before he had permission to do so Barsad would knock him out himself. With pleasure.

"Not an idiot."

Barsad's lips quirked just a little. "I would imagine that many people who know you would debate that statement."

Rolling his eyes with every bit of exaggeration he could muster, Blake smirked over at Barsad. "Consider me not punching you for that later my thanks for saving me. You wouldn't have looked good wearing my brain matter."

"Not to mention it's hell to get out of clothing."

"That too." A short pause. "What tipped you off?"

"The light bounced off of something. There should not have been anything there."

And better safe than sorry, Blake silently added to himself.

Lapsing back into silence the two didn't say or do anything for about four minutes, the sound of the door being opened cause for Barsad to draw his gun while Blake tensed up in preparation to move if necessary.

Of course it was Simon.

"Get down!" Barsad barked out, waving Simon away with a sweeping arm gesture.

"Why?"

Civilians.

"Sniper." Blake said in perfect tandem with Barsad.

"Oh. Gotcha."

And so saying Simon moved to press his back up against the nearest wall until he'd reached the nearby dresser and sat down beside it, using the wall as a backrest and the piece of furniture as a partial shield. "Neither of you were hurt, right?"

"We're fine." Blake assured him with a smile. Then he remembered what he'd been worrying about before the sniper. "You're all right? They aren't taking you back to Mount Doom?"

"Mount Doom? Oh. Right. 'Lord of the Rings'. And no, I'm staying here."

"Thank fuck. Oh, and Barsad saved me so he's earned a kiss from you, if you don't mind. I'll pay you back in sing-a-longs."

"Okay. Bane saved my butt too so you should give him a kiss too."

"Deal."

A minute or two of companionable silence.

"Hey, John?"

"Yeah?"

"Question. I'm pretty sure that if Bane and Ra's al Ghul didn't know that Talia wanted to fuck me before, they do now. I figure that means her father will want to keep me as far away from her as humanly possible, but how do you think Bane's going to react once he gets over the shock?"

Well fuck. That didn't sound good.

"How do they know?" Barsad demanded, his expression going fierce.

"She made me kiss her hand. It was super gross." Simon's grimace was visible even from across the room. "And then she eye fucked me and they noticed. Her dad's face was weirdly frozen...Bane's was hard to read because he'd put his mask back on. But his eyes were huge. Like anime character huge."

"You saw him without his mask on?" And okay, not what he should be focusing on but-

"Yeah. He really does look a lot like a more butch version of Tom Hardy. It's weird. He had to take the mask off because we had to have a toast to my father."

Barsad spoke before Blake could. "Like who? Nevermind. He saw that she desires you? You're sure?"

"If I could see it, he could see it. He's way more observant than I am."

Hard to argue with that.

And since Barsad seemed in no hurry to give his opinion-he seemed lost in his own thoughts-Blake did his best to put himself in Bane's shoes.

"I think it will increase the odds that he'll do his best to keep you away from her. He won't see you as being worthy of his precious little princess and-maybe he'll just think it's your looks? That she's so taken with your face that she's not seeing all the downsides to hooking up with you. I mean his blinders are pretty strong where she's concerned. He won't see the darker edge to it."

"You think?" Simon's gaze switched over to Barsad, whose face revealed nothing for the moment. "What do you think?"

Barsad slowly shook his head.

"Honestly...I have no idea how he'll react. But Blake nearly being shot is bound to divert his interest for a while. Let's do our best to keep it that way."

"Speaking of my wannabe mate...shouldn't he be here by now? He is losing serious mate points here."

"Be sure to tell him that." Barsad advised him with a dark look.

Advice Blake actually intended to take.