Tradition
Ghost clacked away on the keyboard furiously, advising the Arkham Knight, while Oracle assisted Nightwing. It was Christmas Eve, and crime never took a break, not even on Christmas, so alas, neither did they.
"Knight, listen. There's an underground complex beneath that warehouse. They've been using it to smuggle drugs into the city," Ghost explained, pulling up schematics of the building.
"Gonna use it to get away, are they?" Knight asked amusedly. He cracked his knuckles and walked casually through the warehouse as Ghost instructed, finding the entrance to the complex.
"They've probably already gotten away by now-" Ghost explained.
"Probably. But they'll never use this place again," Knight replied. He stuck C-4 to the entrance of the underground complex and then booked it out of that building. With a loud explosion, the passageway was collapsed.
"Did you just-"
"Yup."
"Well then. I uh, guess we're done," Ghost said with a laugh.
"Keep it simple, Ghost. Keep it simple. That's my motto," Knight replied. He pulled out a grappling hook and shot it across the way, soaring off into the distance. He returned to the clock tower a short five minutes later and Dick arrived shortly after him.
"Hey little wing. You ready to go home?" Nightwing asked. Kaden grinned and gave a nod.
"Yeah, definitely! Tomorrow's Christmas, I'm so excited!" Kaden said with a goofy grin on his face. He turned to Barbara and gave her a hug.
"I'll see you tomorrow aunt Barb," he said to her. Jason and Dikc hugged her then and bid her goodbye.
"See you tomorrow Babs," Dick said softly. Jason patted her back and grinned.
"Try not to get into too much trouble, eh?" Barbara laughed in amusement.
"Me? Never!" she said in mock offense.
Christmas morning came and Dick, Jason and Kaden made for the manor, as per tradition. This year, they'd chosen to invite all their friends again for a big Christmas Party. Sadly, not everyone could make it. This year, they'd only be joined by Clark, Connor, and the Kents, J'onn, and M'gaan, who hadn't changed much at all in the last twenty years.
"Dick, Jason, good to see you!" Clark said with a laugh, hugging both of them in an arm each. Dick laughed in amusement, returning the hugm and Jason gave one of his half-hearted one-armed hugs.
"Kaden! Wow, you've grown a lot!" Clark said with a grin. Kaden grinned widely and hugged the man who was like an uncle to him.
"It's good to see you Uncle Clark," Kaden replied. He glanced over at Connor who still looked like an eighteen year old and gave him a sly grin, He caught sight of his uncle Tim drinking some apple cider out of the corner of his eye and his grin became mischievous.
"So Connor, you and Uncle Tim still bucking the Bronco?" Connor's face lit up bright red, and Tim coughed, spewing apple cider everywhere.
"Kaden!" Tim squeaked. Jason and Dick laughed and Jason stood beside his son, clapping him on the back.
"That's my boy!" Jason said with a prideful grin. Everyone laughed and then finally, Bruce entered the room with Alfred in tow.
"I'm glad everyone could make it," Bruce said with a smile, then Alfred took over, ushering everyone into the dining room for Christmas dinner. The table was covered in all manner of food; Ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cranberry sauce, biscuits, various drinks from apple cider, to various juices.
"Wow, it looks amazing as always, Alf! How'd you pull it off?" Kaden asked, staring at the table in awe. The old man smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Years of practice Master Kaden." And so it was that everyone took their seats around the table. Jokes and stories flew back and forth across the table, and even Damian seemed at ease compared to his usual demeanor. Kaden had hoped his mother could join them, but she was unable to attend due to...well, business. Nobody needed to say what that meant, Kaden knew. She did, however, send gifts for both him and Damian.
Dick seemed the happiest of everyone, but then he always adored his family, even when they were behind assholes, like Jason for instance, all due respect. Dinner ended on a high note and none seemed more excited for the gift giving than Dick did.
"Alright, time to exchange gifts!" Dick said cheerily, ushering everyone into the main room. Everyone gathered around the tree, which was rather large, standing at roughly twelve feet tall. Alfred even got the old fire place working just for the celebration. And so the gift giving began, the Kents opening their gifts first.
Dick had gotten all of them Batman t-shirts, both in sincerity, and as a joke. Jason would often joke that even to this day, Dick was still a huge nerd. Clark and Connor both found it amusing. J'onn and M'gann were next, and they absolutely loved their gifts.
"It is...beautiful," J'onn said in his usual even tone, and M'gann squealed a bit when she unwrapped hers. Jason grinned and gave a shrug; he'd painted both of them a picture of Mars, giving the paintings his own personal touch, elaborating on the stars, space dust, and so forth, and apparently it paid off; they both loved their paintings.
"Jason's taken up his painting again, which is good. He's always been such an artist," Dick said with a smile, kissing the man's cheek.
"Gross," Kaden murmured. Damian snorted and gave a nod in agreement, earning a laugh from everyone in the room. The gift giving went on for a while, because Bruce, in his old age, seemed to enjoy spending money on everyone on Christmas, and he especially seemed to enjoy spoiling his sons a little, and Kaden especially.
"Woah, no way, you got me a car?!" Kaden asked in awe, as he unwrapped a set of car keys. Bruce grinned from ear to ear and Jason just shook his head.
"You're getting soft old man."
"Yes, I'm an old man. With a grandson. It's my duty to spoil him," Bruce said, matter-of-factly with a smirk on his face. And right on cue, Dick opened a present from Bruce to him and Jason.
"Jaybird, he's giving us that house in Sydney!" Dick said, mouth dropped open. Jason looked back at Dick, then back to Bruce who was smiling smugly.
"Bruce...you're awesome," Jason said with a grin. Bruce just gave a nod in reply. Now it was Kaden's turn again, and it was the last of the presents, from his dad, his papa, Damian, Tim and Bruce.
"Oh wow, what could this be? It's kinda heavy," Kaden said smoothly, looking around the room as his papa ushered everyone to gather around to see it. Kaden began ripping open the paper, and inside he found a lockbox. Was this is gear? He held his breath and grabbed the key on top of it and turned the lock. He gasped at what he saw inside.
A blood red outfit with black gloves, boots and a black cape with a black utility belt, sat inside the box. On top of it was a black domino mask, a black escrima stick with red LED lights on it, a stun gun, and a collapsible bo staff. But what really got his attention, was the yellow "R" on the chest.
Kaden pulled the uniform out of the box, jaw dropping as he looked around at his parents, his uncle, his brother, and his grandfather. They were all grinning at him and for once, Kaden was utterly speechless.
"I thought it'd make a nice Christmas gift," Jason said smoothly, running a hand through his hair "it's my old Robin uniform, a bit updated of course."
"Your dad and I have been talking, and we got to talking with Damian," Dick said casually, wrapping an arm around Jason's waist. Damian spoke up next.
"Batman has always had a Robin-"
"And you still need training," Tim added in.
"And it's sort of tradition. Me, your papa, Tim, and even Damian have all been Robin. So what do you say? Take up the mantle of Robin for a while?" Jason asked with a smirk. Kaden smiled from ear to ear.
"Are you kidding?! This is...amazing! I never dreamed I could be Robin, Boy Wonder!" Kaden cheered, jumping up and hugging his parents. He looked back at Damian who had a smug grin on his face.
"So, you're totally okay with having me following you around?" Damian gave a shrug.
"As long as you don't slow me down and pull your own weight," Damian replied, Kaden frowned and flipped him off.
"Yeah, not gonna happen," he turned to his father then, and as if reading his mind, Jason sighed.
"Look. You're sixteen, you've been out in the field before, and as much as I'd rather lock you in the house and keep you safe from Gotham City, I can't," he said flatly. He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged "so as long as I know you're safe and with someone who isn't a complete dunce-"
"Fuck you Todd,"
"Then I guess it's all good." Kaden grinned from ear to ear and hugged his father.
"Thanks dad. I'll make you proud."
"You already do, kid," Jason replied, earning a few 'awws' from everyone in the room.
"Okay, okay, enough with the hugs. You're making us look like bigger saps than we really are," Jason joked. Dick laughed and pressed a kiss to his husband's jaw.
"Right. You're a bad ass, Jay," Dick said with a smile. Jason snorted.
"Damn right I am!"
"With a teddy bear center."
"Bite me."
"Maybe later."
Batman landed on the ledge of a building with perfect grace, staring out at the city below. Patrol was relatively uneventful, nothing more than a simple jewelry store heist so far tonight. Until now, anyway. Harley Quinn and her Jokerz were breaking into a bank when he arrived, likely just for the sake of causing trouble than to actually rob it.
"Bank robbery. Harley Quinn and her Jokerz. This shouldn't take too long," Batman said in a low tone. He glanced back, briefly before looking down at the thugs below.
"Robin, are you ready?" he asked. Robin dropped down on top of the gargoyle beside him and gave him a toothy grin.
"Damn straight!" Batman grinned and stood to full height, flourishing his cape before diving down at the thugs below.
"This is the best day of my life!" Robin called as the duo crashed down on top of the thugs below.
Author's Note: This is like, 3 days late, and I apologize. I wanted to do something for Christmas, and I know I'm way behind on my other story, but I sort of hit a rut in my writing. The desire to write just sort of left. So this one took a few days to finally finish, and it's likely not my best work. x)
Apologies, I'll try and update again soon, hopefully when I get my mojo back :D Prompts, as always, are open for this AU. I hope you enjoy this small, sad story. x)