Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Dami.” Dick’s voice sing-songed, dragging Damian out from his room and into the living room.

He was met with the sight of an excitable redhead talking animatedly with Wally.

Dick smiled at him. “This Bart, he’s going to be staying with us for a while.”

Damian frowned. “Why?”

“He’s from the future, so he needs somewhere to stay that isn’t a league base.”

A time-traveling redhead who had some kind of connection to Wally. He was definitely some kind of speedster. Bart zipped up to him, confirming his suspicions. “Hi! I’m Bart Allen, the Flash’s grandson!”

Damian shot Dick an unimpressed look and scoffed. “He is the Flash’s grandchild, why doesn’t the man take responsibility for him himself?”

Dick and Wally winced and Bart looked crestfallen. “We tried that already, Baby Bat.”

Damian scowled.

“Look, I love Grandpa Barry, but uhh… me living with him full time does not exactly go well. Totally not crash if you catch my drift.”

Damian, unfortunately, caught his drift.

“Tt. Don’t bother me.”

He stalked back to his room.

Dick had kind of been hoping that his little brother would get along with Bart a bit better than he had, but honestly, the reaction he’d gotten was better than he’d been expecting.

Still, he made them eat dinner together every night and that was kind of the best he could do.

Damian walked on quiet feet. Always quiet. Always.

So Wally and Bart didn’t hear his approach. 

“Kid, I get it, I really do. I had a stash at Uncle Barry’s for years, but you can’t put anymore in there. At this rate you’ll have half the pantry in there.”

“But- but what if we run out!? What if there’s no food and that’s all we have? What if- what if someone dies because there’s not enough food!?”

Damian had never really asked about the future. He didn’t see how it was relevant. He was now wondering how bad it might have been.

Damian slipped back to his room. He didn’t particularly like Bart per se, but they were allies, and Damian was going to be good to his ally.

The next day, after restocking a little bit, he led Bart to his room.

Bart had gone surprisingly willingly, which either meant he had no self-preservation instincts, or he trusted Damian. Damian had no idea what to do with that either way.

He pried up the floor board that Dick didn’t know he had messed with in the first place. 

“I was taught that always having another way to get food was important. With your- addition to the household, I have added some more provisions. Should the need ever arise, you are welcome to take some.”

Bart stared at him with wide eyes, and just when Damian was beginning to think he might have fucked up, Bart threw his arms around Damian.

Which Damian knew was a good thing, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have to fight the instinct to send Bart to the floor.

“Thank you, Damian.”

Damian shifted, slightly uncomfortable. But he didn’t pull away.

Bart was in the living room, curled on the couch.

Damian walked out into the living room and sat down beside him. “What is wrong?”

Bart glanced at him, “Hmm?”

“You only turn on the News when something is wrong. What is wrong?”

How Damian had picked up on that little quirk within two weeks Bart wasn’t sure.

“Oh-- uhh… well, I kind of- I kind of have a boyfriend, and I want to like- bring him over, but I don’t exactly know how Wally and Dick’ll react you know?”

Damian frowned. “You are aware that they are both men, right? They will have no problems with your sexuality.”

“I mean-- sure, in theory, but what if they think I’m too young to know, or what if-- if-- just- what if you know?”

“Tt. I am younger than you and they don’t seem to have a problem with my pansexuality, nor Drake’s bisexuality, nor Jason’s aromanticism. And they knew for themselves around your age.”

“Oh. I sound kinda stupid now, huh?”

Damian hesitated. “When I- came out, I was afraid they would reject it because even though they were two married men, what would happen if they did not approve. I had been taught my entire life that I was an heir, which meant I had to reproduce. The chance that my partner might not be capable of doing so with me would be very frowned upon within the League.”

“The Justice League, but like, half of them are gay?”

“The League of Assassins. I was raised there until I was ten.”

“Oh. I’m- sorry.”

“It is in the past. And now I have my siblings. A worthwhile trade.”

“If I tell Tim you said that, are you going to spike me on a blade?”

“Yes.”

“Got it, got it, got it."

“I’m a boy!”

The scream has Damian dashing over to Bart’s room.

”Fuck you Percilla! I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy!”

When he flung the door open, Bart was on the ground, sobbing.

Damian rushed to his side. “Are you injured?”

Hazy eyes met his before Bart shook his head. “What?”

“Are you injured?” Damian repeated, visually scanning Bart for any injuries.

“N-no.”

“Good. Is there anything else wrong?”

“It’s nothing. It’s not a big deal.”

“Tt. Clearly it is.”

Bart whimpered quietly. “I just- I was scrolling on Instagram and I saw someone who- she- they looked- someone from the past.”

Damian carefully levered down from his crouch so he was sitting instead. “What does that have to do with you being a boy?”

Bart shrugged. “The future wasn’t- wasn’t like all free with gay and- and trans people. Kind of the opposite actually. But the resistance was queer 

as all hell.” He sniffled.

Damian waited patiently for him to continue. 

“Well- mostly. I just- there was this girl, Percilla, and- I got to be a boy in the resistance, but she didn’t like that I still wore skirts, and she called me-  called me a lot of things. Including my deadname, which sucked, and- and I saw this picture of this person on instagram, and they looked so much like her- and I just-“

Damian was impressed that Bart was managing to keep his speech slow enough that Damian could understand him.

“You had a flashback to a place and time you’d rather not be in.”

Bart wiped at his eyes, sniffling. “Yeah. Sorry.”

Damian scoffed. “There is nothing to be sorry for. Trauma is not your fault, nor is your reaction to it so long as you are not excusing harm to others.”

Bart let out a wet giggle. “That sounds like something Dick would say.”

“Tt. He has. Multiple times. To me and our siblings.”

“Oh.”

Later that week Bart found a small stack of skirts of varying lengths, colors, and fabrics in front of his door. On top of them was a note.

I have knives for any who shall dare to give you shit.

Brat picked the skirts up, held them to his chest, and started crying.

He was wearing one of the skirts Damian got him when Jaime walked in the front door.

Bart had been in the middle of twirling to show Damian when he heard the door open.

Jaime was staring at him and Bart felt himself shrinking in on himself.

Damian had a knife visible and at the ready in case his- in case Bart’s paramour decided to say something stupid.

Jaime continued to stare for a few seconds before Damian spoke up. “Do you have a problem, Blue Beetle?”

Jaime shook himself. “Nope, no. No problems. Bart you- uh- you look really good.”

Bart brightened. “You mean it?”

“Mi amor, I fully had to stop to process it. Yeah, you look good.”

Bart beamed. “And you- you still think I’m a boy?”

“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I?”

In an instant Bart was pressed against Jaime’s chest. “No reason.”

Damian sheathed his knife and retreated to his room. He had no intention of witnessing their disgusting romanticism.

He did hear Jaime murmur a soft, “Trans guy solidarity, no matter what.” Before he shut the door. 

“So, Little Lightning, what do you think we should do for Damian’s birthday?”

Bart frowned, bouncing his leg rapidly. “Don’t make it a big thing. He would really hate it if you made it a big thing. Especially if it’s a birthday that’s ‘not a big deal.’ You know? But you need to make sure your whole family shows up, even Tim. He likes Tim more than he lets on. And his friends, he only has a handful, like Jon and I think he mentioned a Max who’s in art club with him? He complimented her art style so that’s a good sign, right?”

Dick smiled at him. “Right.”

“Do you know what he would like for food?” Wally asked, his leg was bouncing too.

Bart frowned. “I dunno. Vegan, obviously. But… there are some dishes that he really, really likes because he mentions them to me sometimes. I think Alfred has a list of them?”

Dick ruffled his hair. “Thanks, Kid.”

Bart beamed.

“Now,” Wally said, standing and stretching. “It’s time to take my favorite cousin to go get his brother a birthday present.”

Two weeks later, Damian’s party was a laid back affair.

Damian would swear he was lying, but Bart caught him in a full on smile. Not his little smirks, a real smile, one that made him look younger than he was. One that made him look happy.

Bart bounced around the party, making sure everyone was there and that everything was perfect until it was time for the cake and presents.

Damian seemed fairly nonplused by the whole affair, but if you asked Bart, the vegan cake was better than most cakes he’d ever tasted. 

After that was presents and Bart made sure his present was last so Damian had a chance to enjoy all his other presents first.

There was a lot of laughing and all around joy. Jon got him a set of fancy inking pens and Jason had given him a sheet of paper with a date and time set to take him to the gun range and teach him how to shoot - Bruce looked nonplused, but Damian looked thrilled - , Dick got him tickets to the zoo and Tim bought him a whole set of capes.

Bart watched with baited breath as Damian unwrapped his gift. He’d spent hours with Wally trying to figure out what to get.

Damian blinked down at the toolkit in his hands once it was fully unwrapped. Then he looked back up at Bart.

Bart shot him a nervous grin. “I know you said you’re old set was getting a bit worn out and Dick helped me research where I could get some professional grade stuff and then Wally took me to go get some and I--”

Damian set the maintenance kit for his blades aside and stood up deliberately.

He took deliberate steps to close the distance between them and Bart tensed, ready for any kind of reaction.

He was not in fact ready for any kind of reaction because Damian wrapped his arms around Bart and tucked Bart’s head under his chin.

Which was totally unfair, by the way, Bart was older, Damian did not get to be taller.

“Thank you.”

Bart swallowed. “It’s nothing all that special.”

Damian shook his head slightly as he released Bart and returned to his previous spot.

Bart was not about to cry, thank you very much.

Bart found him after the party and Damian didn’t even tell him no when Bart offered another hug.

“I’m really glad you’re my brother,” Bart whispered.

“As am I,” Damian murmured. He was eternally grateful that Dick had decided to take in his fiancé's cousin, even if he’d been annoyed at first.

Damian could have a family and he would always be grateful for that.