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Despite her life going bonkers on her whenever possible, Steph would say that her life was pretty average. Sure, her parents were sometimes struggling to make ends meet, but in Gotham that's just how things are. Her dad got a better job, her mom got promoted, and things worked out pretty well. Which is why it had to go crashing down. Her dad got fired and switched to becoming a criminal, turning into a bitter version of who he once was, and her mom had to pick up the slack to compensate.
Even as a kid, that made her blood boil, and that hasn't changed as she's gotten older. So Steph set out to thwart his plans. And heck if she wasn't proud of how many times she has made her dad cuss because things didn't work out for him. She set herself on track to get through recruitment school and worked hard to follow her dream of becoming the best freaking knight she could be, criminal parental units be damned.
And maybe she wasn't very good at it and constantly got put on timeout for not following the proper stances, but Steph honestly doubts any of her classmates could take someone in a fight if they stand around battling "with honor". Her kick between their legs should've proven that.
But no, it was "improper," and "a lowborn should learn common decency first". Common decency, her fist- Anyways, Steph was handling her life, getting paid, and she was doing great no matter what self-centered fancy pants tried to tell her.
×××××
Fuck him Fuck him Fuck him Fuck him for being a liar, a thief, a fraud, and a man with no integrity who pretends to love her and then turns around to steal every single coin she earned. Fuck her dad for being the worst freaking husband he could possibly be and then pretending he did nothing wrong. He's doing it for the family? Him being a criminal, a shitty one at that, is for their family?!
Steph can't stop the resentment boiling up under her skin. He promised he would stop doing this. Her dad looked her in the eyes, apologized for his wrongdoings, and then he turned around and did it again. And Steph, the biggest idiot in the world, believed him.
She wants to kill him. Sadly, that part is going to stay a metaphor, but by the dragons buried under the holy ground does she want to. She compromises her plans by sabotaging his criminal career.
But guess what, when you hand out spoilers about criminal activities, the guards will try to arrest you. That makes things more complicated, but Steph didn't get this far without learning some pretty great evasion skills. Maybe an aspiring knight shouldn't be doing illegal activities, but what can you do? She's busy making the world a better place.
What she hadn't planned on, however, is the random kid who came sniffing. So Steph did the smart thing and threw a brick at his head when he came too close. That's how she befriended Tim - awkward, genius, moron - Drake.
Now, Steph would like to repeat that she has had a pretty ordinary life up until then. Except that from the moment she met Tim, it became anything but. Which is to say that her vigilante career - which barely took off - crashed and burned while Tim helped her get her dad into prison. They started dating, broke up and didn't talk, only to restart as friends before he finally admitted to being a noble working under the king and part of a secret royal soldier group. Tim was 15. What the fuck?
But she's good at going with the flow, so Steph moves on and graciously accepts all the benefits of being friends with a rich kid. She gets into the Wayne recruitment program, changes to a better knight school, and manages to make a better wage thanks to it all. She accidentally gets a reputation for using "uniquely creative methods", which is a diplomatic way of saying that she's winning fights using dirty moves or makes sure to take her opponents down with her. She didn't elbow her way into Tim's secret soldier group to lose against some small fry her age. No magic can stop Stephanie Brown! At least, she tries to believe so.
The thing is... Steph's magic element is frozen snowflakes. Not the fancy type, but the tiny frozen things. Making a flurry of harmless twinkles and creating a mess of powdered ice for however many minutes she managed to squeeze in. It's basically useless.
Not that she hasn't used it for her epic escapes from authorities or hilarious pranks, but it's nothing compared to other water types. She can't move a water stream, she can't make real ice, she can't make it boil or make acid, heck, she can't even make rain because her flakes won't melt right! There's no way anyone will catch her complaining about it, this is her element, yet it does leave an ugly taste in her mouth when she sees a thief running through the castle and the freaking butler only has to shift his foot to bend the marble floor around the thief's legs.
Tim says that no-one knows Alfred's past, yet everyone is aware that he's overqualified for his job. Which Steph has to disagree with. What can possibly top being a steward, then becoming King Regent, and then going back to being a steward? The heavenly food he serves will keep her from ever saying that out loud, though.
×××××
The first time Steph meets Prince Richard is fully Tim's doing. Her friend hasn't even stopped to explain how he went from "We don't have enough maps about the neighboring country" to "We need to horseride an hour to visit the first prince". His hair suffers in retaliation.
The Blüdhaven dukedom is basically the Gotham capital but one step outside of the Gotham capital, and it leaves her wholly unimpressed.
It's only when Tim barges into the duchy's manor and the servants roll their eyes at the intrusion that it sinks in that this is where the infamous First Prince lives. The guy who is rumored to be possessed by a ghost, or angered a demon jealous of his beauty, or got hit by some century-old curse against anyone unworthy of being added into the Wayne family. There are so many things said about him that Steph stopped paying attention ages ago. It doesn't stop her from being very wary about the person she's about to meet.
Tim finally stops his stride to knock on a door before he barges in anyway. She can't even bring herself to be impressed, too busy looking inside with weary eyes. It's an office made of expensive wood, with black and blue fabric draped over the walls and floors.
Her eyes only glance over that, immediately clocking the man sitting at the desk. The First Prince has a pretty face, like everyone says, but it's easily overshadowed by his eerily blank look.
Steph doesn't walk further into the room, creeped out by the way that the prince's face doesn't react to Tim talking to him. Sure, the two of them are having a back-and-forth that is mostly Tim going on about whatever, but it looks like the prince is just a puppet reacting on cue because it was told to. Something in Steph tells her that he wouldn't react any differently if someone punched him in the face.
The relief she gets from going back home isn't something she's able to hide, going by Tim's judgmental look, but she doesn't care. This was so weird.
×××××
The second time she meets the first prince is - again - because of Tim. The guy somehow convinced her to join one of their bonding sessions, and Steph didn't have a good enough excuse not to.
This time, Tim led them to a room with mats and weird equipment, and she honestly did a double take when the First Prince greeted them. Because this man was nothing like the one she met before. Beaming a smile and greeting Tim by pulling him into a hug, then chatting with her as if this was one of the greatest days of his life.
The bewilderment must show on her face, because Steph gets dragged along and immediately pulled into a stretching routine. Apparently, Tim forgot to mention that their bonding activities were gymnastics classes. Never before has Steph experienced that much soreness in her limbs. And she's probably never been more flexible than after that too. But all of that suffering was all worth it, because she was taught about the wondrous world of backflips.
Honestly, Steph still thinks that the first prince - "You can call me Dick!" - is weird. But she'll give him a pass.
×××××
Now, a lot has happened after that, not limited to Steph's dad changing her opinion of a deadbeat dad into something she actually wants, Tim getting adopted and her inserting herself into the Wayne household by proxy, freaking Jason Wayne coming back from the dead to be a crime lord - Wow, announcing his daddy issues to the world like that has got to be embarrassing. Nobody sees Steph joining the crime life because of her dad. - an earthquake, getting a new best friend, a war across the continent, a Wayne kid popping out of the blue, the war ends but the king dies, and she still manages to pass her minor knighting.
Did she forget something? Oh yeah, both of her best friends dropped off the face of the earth and left without a word. And look, Steph knows that she's not on anyone's priority list, but that really hurts. Not even a goodbye. Having to figure that out by visiting the castle and being told that they left is a shitty feeling.
She wants to say that no-one will ever understand her, but there's actually one person that almost might. Dick has come a long way from not being all there, and it just so happened to match exactly the moment when everyone left them. And Damian. Steph has honest, mad respect for the man's ability to juggle being crowned king out of the blue and somehow turning a murderous demon kid into a less murderous demon kid. It's actually pretty fun to hang out with them now.
Damian glares at her over his book. "Don't you have lessons to attend?"
Steph doesn't bother taking her face off the couch's pillows to answer, "Today was cancelled." Which has to come across as an undistinguishable warble, but the demon kid would wrinkle his nose regardless, so who knows.
The world sucks, and she's tired of it. She's finally free of those stupid rules and teachers looking down on her, but now being actually employed in a better position despite being a rookie is completely different. There are so many people gossiping that she slept her way in - gross - that she's honestly insulted. She graduated fair and square! It's not her fault that nobody else wants to hang out with Damian. Like, sheesh, Steph had no idea that it was possible to discriminate against royalty, but apparently demons are fair game. Which is fucked. So she's more than happy to duel "for the prince's honor" whenever someone says something. Personal guard Stephanie Brown at your service.
It probably helps that she forced the kid into something between coworkers and friends since they both hang out with Dick all the time. Heck, people should thank her for showing the kid how to have fun outside of those stuffy rules.
"Want to go explore the city?" she asks, bored. Because being stuck inside with nothing to do is exhausting.
Damian turns his attention back to her, tilting his head up dismissively. "Tt. It is a waste of time. However, I shall come along and inspect the current state of the street markets."
The effect is ruined by his little wings twitching in excitement.
A wide grin overtakes her face as she jumps upright. "That's the spirit!"
The sitting room is mostly full of books and paperwork stuff, but it's still Damian's. So there is obviously a secret compartment inside one of the drawers, which Steph gleefully opens to take out two bags. "Get changed, we're going shopping!"
The demon kid rolls his eyes but doesn't bother answering, clearly wanting to go out just as much as she does. Their expensive clothes and armor get traded for plain ones, leaving Steph in a boring brown dress while Damian could be mistaken for the son of a librarian.
Grinning, she pulls the window open and climbs through it. "We have a perfectly good door," Damian remarks, but follows anyway.
Her eyes twinkle mischievously. "Yeah, but then we'd need to tell someone where we're going and they'll follow along. And where's the fun in that?"
He doesn't say anything, and that's an answer in itself.
Sneaking out of the castle is basically a game. Too many people to let your guard down, but big enough that they can easily blend in or hide. As soon as they're out, they pull up their hoods so as not to get recognized before Steph grabs the kid's hand and runs with a cackle while he curses.
It's so much fun. Finding food stalls where nobody knows where the meat is from, trying to find the weirdest things inside of shops, or arguing about which streets they need to head down. She teases and pushes, watching with glee as Damian pushes back in his own childish whims. Steph couldn't care less if the half-coiled snake is a pen holder or a paperweight, she cares about the way that Damian takes personal offense to it and animatedly argues that there is no way that it could practically hold a pen upright.
So what if she buys it anyway? This kid is getting the childhood experience by yours truly, and she's proud of it.
×××××
Dick glares down at them with a frown, and Steph sits straight as she looks back in challenge. The man pinches his nose with a sigh. "Could you two at least inform Alfred when you leave? Being told out of the blue that you disappeared without a trace and that nobody can find you probably took years off my life."
Holy moly, did they actually manage to wear him down? Did they actually get him to give up on sending more guards or servants with them? Heck yeah!
Damian tilts his chin up. "That is amenable."
"Thank you," Dick empathizes. He then glances down to Damian's lap, and the tension softens. "I know that you've already talked about it with Alfred, but taking care of a dog is a very big responsibility. Especially when they come from difficult backgrounds."
What he's referring to is Titus, the puppy they found in the streets. Clearly malnourished, Damian didn't even need to think about it before he decided to keep him. They planned on hiding him in one of Damian's rooms, but that didn't even last for thirty minutes.
"Tt. Of course," Damian announces, "I shall make sure all of his needs are met and train him to behave like a true warrior."
Dick looks like he doesn't know whether to laugh or groan and settles on, "You do that."
Steph cackles, victoriously holding out her fist to her accomplice. The demon kid rolls his eyes but bumps his own against hers, once more proving her unmatched teaching methods. She barely notices the way that the king starts smiling.
Steph feels a hand suddenly rub over her hair and glances up, befuddled. Dick smiles down at them, having done the same with Damian. "I'm very much a worrywart, but I'm glad you two had fun."
Really, it's unfair to say that type of thing. What is she supposed to do with all those warm and mushy feelings coming up? Nobody warned her that sticking with those two goofballs was going to make her go all happy and gooey inside. Steph makes a choked laugh, saying, "Yeah, well, you're lucky, because we brought you a souvenir."
He drops his hands in surprise when she pushes the small packet against him, looking confused. "Thank you?"
Damian also looks at her weirdly, then widens his eyes in abject realization. But it's too late. Dick takes out the snake figure and turns it around with an amused smile. He clearly doesn't know what to make of it and tells her, "Thanks, it's a very cool pen holder."
Steph cackles so hard, she almost falls to the ground as Damian screeches at an unsuspecting Dick about how it's in no way made for pens.