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Prelude
The case had been dragging on for months and when the time came to finally wrap it up, Bruce was exhausted. By the way Kate kept losing focus for the briefest of seconds, she seemed to be in pretty much the same state. After a moment’s consideration, Bruce decided to forgo his own protocol and call it a night. Kate stared at him as if he had grown a second head, and it made him wonder how hard he had been pushing them these last few weeks. He shook his head, before he turned off the batcomputer and rose from his chair.
Kate was the last one left, leaning as she was against her bike. The others had left a long time ago, excuses or not, they had fled the scene once the case was finally over with. Bruce considered her a moment. They were cousins but they had never been close. It was weird that this, the vigilante life-style, was about the only thing they had in common.
“Do you want to grab a drink?” Bruce asked eventually, pushing the cowl back and away from his face.
Kate continued to stare at him. After a moment she peered at him suspiciously, mouth a thin line. “You’re serious.”
“Yes” Bruce said slowly, and something in Kate’s reluctance reminded him of a quote he’d read in a classic years ago. It was something about two continents of experiences unable to communicate.
“Okay” she said, nodding, putting down the helmet she had held under her arm. “But I’m not drinking any of that rich-ass root-beer crap”
“I think there might be whiskey if you would prefer it?” Bruce tried, and he didn’t know why he was so adamant on appeasing her, but he felt like it was his responsibility. He had drawn her into this case and it was the least he could do to repay her for her contribution. Though, in all fairness, he was a little surprised that she had accepted.
Bruce glanced towards the changing room, clenching his fist by his side. Kate picked up on it quickly.
“Go ahead, I’ll meet you upstairs?”
Bruce nodded. “You remember where my father’s study is?”
“Course” Kate said and they parted ways.
Once Bruce had dressed down into a t-shirt and a pair of casual pants, he made his way upstairs. He soon found Kate and Alfred in quiet conversation in his father’s old study. Kate was smirking at something Alfred had said, she sat burrowed down in the armchair closest to the window. The one that gave the best view of the room’s entrance and angles. Bruce’s own favorite. He suppressed a sigh as he walked over to claim the other armchair.
Alfred had already put down two glasses for them on the table, along with a crystal bottle of a glistening amber liquid. It looked to be the scotch from Jura, fifteen years old at least. It was a fine choice.
Bruce reached out and poured them a glass each, then he turned to Alfred. “Would you mind getting us some water and straws?”
“Of course, sir” Alfred nodded and went to comply with the wish.
“Is it the whiskey or the water you drink with a straw? And what kinda rich bullshit even is that?”
Bruce huffed a breath.
Kate just shook her head but her lips were quirking up in a smile that wasn’t entirely mocking as she reached forward and picked up her glass.
A moment later, Alfred was back with two straws and a glass of water. Bruce thanked him and Alfred soon retreated. Kate looked suspiciously between them before she took her straw and dipped it into her glass. Bruce couldn’t help the twitch at the corner of his mouth. He shook his head, amusedly as Kate started drinking through the straw as if it was some exotic drink with a ridiculous amount of fruits and a parasol.
“No, like this.”
Bruce picked up his own straw, dipping it into the water and putting his thumb over the top end to create vacuum. He then used the straw to put a few drops of water into the whiskey.
“I didn’t take you for a lightweight” Kate chuckled.
“I’m not watering it down.” Bruce explained. “The chemical composition of the water helps release the depths of the flavor.”
Kate stared at him, still as if he was something alien, but maybe something she could learn to become fond of. Like ET, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Dick whispered in the back of his head.
“Even having a drink is all about science with you, isn’t it?”
Bruce shrugged his shoulders and picked up his glass, taking a sip, enjoying the way the flavor palette bloomed out over his tongue. Beneath the smoky overtones he could taste the heather and the tiniest hints of caramel.
They continued to drink in companionable silence for another while until Kate leaned back and kicked her feet up onto the table between them. A deep sigh escaped her and Bruce watched as she closed her eyes.
“Shit, I hate those cases.” she said after a moment. “You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but the blatant hatred gets me every time”
“I can imagine” Bruce grunted, and tried not to think about the state of some of the victims, the message the killer had wanted to send.
“This doesn’t bother you?” she asked, disbelieving. “One of those victims could have been one of your kids”
Bruce put his whiskey down, and clasped his hands together to lean his chin upon. “It bothers me deeply, but apart from the fact that my kids are trained in advanced combat, they are also straight.”
Kate snorted. “Your kids, straight? That’s top-tier comedy, cousin"
“What are you talking about?” Bruce simply stared at her.
“You’re the master detective, I thought you knew”
Bruce was tired. No, he must be pushing the limits of exhaustion, because he had no idea what Kate was on about.
“Knew what?”
“Your kids are so queer they make John Elton look straight” Kate rolled her eyes and Bruce had never liked it when she did that at him.
“I think they would have told me if that had been the case, don’t you?” Bruce grumbled.
Kate looked at him for a long while before her mouth twisted into a grin. “Not to be a hypocrite here, but you’re whole image doesn’t exactly invite to a heart-to-heart”
Bruce frowned. “Still”
“You wanna bet?” Kate asked, quirking her eyebrows in a challenge that Bruce vaguely remembered from their youth. And Bruce had never liked when she did that either.
“Fine” he said. “What do I get when I win?”
“You really think you’ll win?” Kate laughed. “If you’re so sure then, how about this: if you win, I’ll patrol with Damian for as many weeks as you have straight kids, and if I win, I get to borrow Alfred on the same terms”
“Shouldn’t you consult Alfred on that?”
“Nah, I’m sure he’ll enjoy the vacation” Kate said, her grin all smug as she clasped her hands behind her head. “So which kids do we include in this?”
Bruce considered for a moment. “The ones who live or have lived under my roof. Except Damian, he’s too young”
“Fine with me” Kate said, her smile so wide it threatened to overtake her face. “The game is on”
One
“Are you wearing that?” Bruce asked, observing Tim through the hall-mirror as he pretended to straighten his own tie. They were already on the verge of running late, so he couldn’t exactly ask him to go and change.
Either way, Tim was busy putting on a pair of bright red high heels. “What about it?”
“You might be confused for one of the models” Bruce quirked his lips. “Are you working a case?”
“Eh, no?” Tim said, his makeup only enhanced his state of confusion. Bruce had to admit that the shade fit him, made his blue eyes look even bluer. He didn’t exactly know when Tim had gotten this good at creating covers, but he was impressed with the effort.
Bruce raised his eyebrows in surprise as he turned around to stare at his third Robin who was currently dressed in a red and black knee-length dress with spaghetti straps and a glittering torso. “No?”
“Yeah, no” Tim said, then after having done some confused wiggly motions with his eyebrows, he looked back up at Bruce. “Should I be?”
“No, no. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious about the…” Bruce said, gesturing vaguely to Tim’s outfit. “Did you lose a bet?”
Tim looked down at himself. “What? I think I look good. Is something wrong with the dress?”
Bruce refused to blush, but this conversation was getting awkward. “Nothing’s wrong with the dress, I just wondered why you’d wear it to the gala?”
“Because I want to”
“Oh”
Tim looked to be on the brink of panic. “Oh? What do you mean with ‘oh’?”
Bruce blinked, making vague hand gestures as he tried to think of the right words. “I didn’t know you were into drag”
“This is not drag” Tim said and rolled his eyes in clear annoyance but before he had the chance to say anything else on the matter, Alfred was clearing his throat from the doorway.
“If we don’t leave now, I’m afraid we’re gonna be late” the old butler said.
“Fine” Tim said, grabbing his purse from the sideboard. “I’ll explain in the car.”
Kate was sitting on her balcony, enoying her morning coffee in the first dawning rays of sunshine when Bruce landed hard beside her, dressed in full Batman gear. She chose not to acknowledge him more than slightly tilting her head so she could peer at him from over her shades.
“What?” she asked.
“One week” Bruce said.
“Oh, but that clears up everything, One-syllable-man”
She was pretty sure that Bruce was rolling his eyes beneath the cowl. “Apparently Tim is genderfluid”
“Would you look that” Kate grinned. “How did you figure it out?”
“Apparently all those skirts and dresses weren’t solely for undercover work.” Bruce grunted. “And his dating the Clone”
“I’m pretty sure the boy’s got a name, even if I can’t be bothered to remember it right now” Kate admonished. “Now, will you let me finish my coffee in peace.”
“One week. You haven’t won yet.”
Kate only hummed at him before taking a sip from her steaming cup.
Two
When Dick entered the cave dressed in his yoga shorts and tank-top, Bruce had been up all night trying to break into Lex Luthor’s security system as a favor to Clark and was pretty sure that he might as well be hallucinating. Dick was arguing with someone over the phone, which he held tightly pressed to his ear, a pinched expression to his face.
“Don’t do this” he pleaded. “Don’t pull away from me just because things are getting a little too real for you"
There was a moment of silence, during which Dick’s face went through a series of expressions until it settled on hurt anger.
“Well, see if I fucking care!” Dick shouted, before Bruce watched in something close to startled horror as his oldest son threw the phone into the wall of the cave.
Bruce closed his eyes with an exasperated sigh. Dick whirled around at the sound and stared open-mouthed back at Bruce.
“I didn’t see you”
“Figured” Bruce muttered. “Are you paying for that or am I?”
“I’m probably gonna take the money from my trust fund” Dick said, fighting to keep the smile on his face.
“Who was that?” Bruce asked then.
Dick curled his arms around his chest. “No one”
Bruce rose from his seat, insomnia making him feel slightly groggy but he persevered as he made his way over to Dick.
“Does ‘no one’ need a visit from the Bat?” Bruce asked.
Dick shook his head, with a bitter laugh that soon broke into more of a sob. Handfallen, Bruce stood as if frozen when Dick’s forehead fell hard against his chest. As Bruce stiffly brought his arms up to wrap them around him, he realized that he probably hadn’t held Dick like this since he had been a little kid. How many heartbreaks had his kids went through without him being there to hold them together?
Dick’s voice came out shaking. “You know what the worst part of being demisexual is?”
“No” Bruce said, saving the word to research it later. “What is the worst part?”
“That you’ve already fallen in love with them by the time you realize you’re even attracted to them”
Bruce held him tighter. “I’m sorry, kiddo”
Bruce was brooding on the top of the W.E-scrape when Kate finally found him. He only went there when he needed to think and wanted to be left alone for it. A sort of need for solitude that Kate had no intention to respect.
“You’ve benched Nightwing” Kate noted, her dark cape catching on the wind.
“He was emotionally unstable”
“Break-up?” Kate guessed with a hint of sympathy leaking into her voice.
“Something like it.” Bruce nodded. “Are you familiar with demisexuality?”
“Sure.” Kate said, crouching down beside him.
“Two weeks” Bruce sighed. “You get to ‘borrow’ Alfred for two weeks”
Then with measured movements, as if suppressing years of pent-up frustration, he rose to his feet and picked up the grapple-hook.
“Where are you going?”
He didn’t answer, but she suspected he needed to find someone to intimidate.
Three
Cass was, to put it mildly, beating the shit out of him. It was always hard to admit when the day had come that the student surpassed the master. Bruce had seen it coming for some time and yet… It caught him somewhat by surprise when Cass, more or less, threw him over her shoulder.
Bruce lay panting on his back, staring up at the cave roof far above them. His bruised pride hurt more than his bruised rib. Cass soon stood above him, her hand reached out to pull him back on his feet.
“Well done” Bruce said, clapping her on the shoulder as soon as he was back to standing.
Cass gave him a beaming smile. The kind that should probably worry him since she had just taken out a man twice her size and looked positively gleeful about it. Or maybe he should be relieved, at least he knew she would never be a pushover for any potential future boyfriends.
While on the subject… “So… have you met any nice boy in any of your courses?”
Cass furrowed her brow at him, before shrugging. “They’re not too bad, for being boys.”
“Ah” Bruce said, limping over to the side of the mats where he kept his water-bottle. “I guess college boys can be a bit immature”
“Yeah” Cass wrinkled her nose, as she joined him, taking a swig from her own bottle, while patting down the sweat at her neck. After a moment her voice carried forth with a hint of a blush on her face. “Can’t patrol tonight”
“Why is that?”
“Have a date”
“Oh” Bruce looked at her and noticed the secret smile playing in the corner of her lips, and a different sort of pride rose in his chest. “I thought you said boys were too immature”
“Oh, they so are” a voice rang out from the stairs and Cass immediately perked up beside him as the both of them watched Stephanie enter the cave. “You ready, love?”
“Gotta change” Cass said, smiling widely and hurried forward to greet Steph with a kiss on the cheek before disappearing into the changing rooms.
“Pick up that chin before Al comes and sweeps the floor with it” Steph said, crossing her arms over her chest. “By the way, I know about your little bet with Kate. You’re gonna lose so hard, old man”
Bruce merely grumbled.
“Don’t tell me” Kate said, at the next family dinner where Bruce had briefly pulled her to the side. “Steph already did.”
Bruce muttered something under his breath, that Kate ignored to listen to.
“I knew those girls wouldn’t disappoint me. Another win for the lesbians” Kate chuckled at herself, punching Bruce in the shoulder in good humor. Not that her cousin had ever had a sense of humor to begin with.
“Well, what is it now? Three weeks” Bruce grumbled instead.
“I’m gonna enjoy it immensely, watching you do your own laundry. I heard it’s near impossible to get the smell out of jock-straps” Kate patted him on the cheek before she walked past him towards the dining room.
Four
Of all his children, who were all masters in their own way when it came to getting into trouble, Duke was the last one he’d thought he’d have to fetch at the principal's office.
“What happened?” Bruce grumbled at the boy, who was curled up in one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs that Bruce simply refused to sit in, looking slightly worse for wear with a cracked lip and bruise blooming out over his left eye.
“It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t start it” Duke quickly protested.
“Not what I asked”
Duke sighed then. “They were being rude”
“Who and about what?”
“Some guys.” Duke grumbled. “They were on this kid, mocking him for being a virgin and all kinds of shit. Like losing your virginity is part of some fucking game in order to level up. You know, it’s really just a social construct to justify…”
“And what did you do?” Bruce interrupted, not in the mood to hear a whole speech about the subject right at that moment.
“I told them off” Duke answered simply, crossing his arms across his chest in a defensive manner. “I said that some people are cool with never losing their virginity and that the whole concept of needing to do it is immature and uneducated.”
“So someone hit you?” Bruce guessed. And he could reluctantly admit that during some of his more frat–boy days, he might have done that too.
“Well, the bruises didn’t appear by themselves”
Bruce dragged his hand over his face. Why were all his kids such smart-mouths, where did they get that trait from? He sure as hell hadn’t taught them it.
“Did you fight back?”
Duke shook his head. “You’ve told me not to”
“Then why are you even here?” Bruce asked, indignation rising in his throat. “Shouldn’t the guy who hit you be the one talking to the principal?”
“Why do you think?” Duke said, sarcasm dripping from his tongue as he tapped his cheek and stared Bruce dead in the eye.
Bruce clenched his fist hard. “Well, that’s it, I’m retracting the funding of the new sports program”
“Can’t ever stop being a justice-warrior, can you?” Duke snarked.
Bruce shook his head and quirked his lips. Then curiosity overcame him.
“Why was the whole debacle so important to you in the first place?”
Duke sighed. “Because as an asexual, the whole debate about virginity just gets hella annoying after a while. And before you ask, no, asexuality does not mean that I reproduce through mitosis”
“I wasn’t going to ask that.” Bruce said slowly, taking in Duke’s harrowed face. “How… How did you figure it out?”
“That I was asexual?” Duke asked, looking slightly surprised that Bruce would even be interested enough to ask. How much did he ignore his kids to make them think that? “When pizza generally made me more excited than the thought of seeing someone naked”
“Is there a book on all this?” Bruce asked, finally having given up. “All sexualities?”
“I don’t know. I learnt a lot from tumblr.”
“How do I get tumblr?”
In the few, short hours during which Bruce had gotten tumblr he had learnt a lot about where to find good resources on understanding sexuality, but he had also found a lot of things he didn’t want to know existed. For example, the prevalence of people who ‘shipped’ Batman with Bruce Wayne. He could have died a happy man without ever having to know that people imagined him having sex with himself.
“You look traumatized, cuz” Kate said as she settled down on the ledge beside him.
“Do people ship Batwoman with Kate Kane?” Bruce decided to ask instead.
“Oh yeah, the fanart is brilliant” she said, before she, in a suspiciously sympathetic move, reached over to pat his leg. “Don’t worry, people ship you with Superman as well. And Wonder Woman”
“Thanks, you just brightened my day”
Kate grinned. “What is family for”
“So Duke is asexual” Bruce said without prompting. “Cass is gay, Dick is, if I understand the term right, a biromantic demisexual and Tim is both genderfluid and pansexual”
“You’re learning” Kate’s smile was nothing if not victorious. “I’m proud of you. Now, you’ve only got one kid left to figure out, how would you describe your odds?”
Bruce grumbled. “Low, with a good chance of vicious avoidance”
“Sounds like our Jason"
Five
By the time they came back to the cave, all hell had broken loose. Bruce was helping a freshly injured Dick limp out of the batmobile and over to the medbay. Behind them came the thunderous roar of Jason’s bike, before Jason himself stalked after them.
“What the fucking hell did you think you were doing?” Jason shouted, pure vitriol falling off his tongue as he demanded Dick’s attention. And sometimes Bruce wished Dick would just ignore it when people screamed at him, especially when he had a knife wound to the stomach. “What fucking good was that for? Throwing yourself like that?”
“Jason…” Bruce warned.
“Oh, no way in hell, Fatman, you stay out of this”
Okay, rude. Bruce would like to make it known that for someone his age, he was considered to be in rather good shape.
“Mature, Jason, real fucking mature” Dick muttered. “Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother…”
“Please, enlighten us then.” Jason growled. “Because from where I stood, it seemed really fucking stupid to throw yourself at a knife-wielding maniac”
Dick’s grin was sardonic. “It kept you safe, didn’t it?”
Bruce had hefted Dick up on the examination table, and Dick was in the process of wrestling himself out of the top-half of the Nightwing suit in order for Bruce to have access to patch up the wound.
“I can take care of myself” Jason said, his features twisted up in anger and worry. As much as he liked to hide it, it was obvious that he cared. His compassion had always been one of his greatest strengths, even Bruce could acknowledge that. “First off, I’m actually trained to fight with knives and second off, I wear more armor than you, pretty boy”
“Are we calling each other names now? Is that the level you wanna play this at?” DIck asked, sounding and looking positively infuriated.
“What about it, Birdbrain?”
“Jason” Bruce snapped, annoyed now that he had Dick’s blood on his fingers and Jason’s emotional constipation in his ear. Not that he was one to complain. He tried to focus on the wound, grateful that it wasn’t deep enough to need stitches.
“He can’t fucking do this all the time, don’t you see?! He has a fucking martyr complex and it makes him throw himself into unessecary danger” Jason practically shouted, and when Bruce looked up at him, he saw his second Robin tearing at his hair. “It will fucking kill him one day and I… I can’t be around to fucking watch that”
Dick reached for his hand. “Jason, I’m not gonna get myself killed.”
“Yes, you are because you’re a fucking idiot” Jason hissed. “I could have taken him, I had it under control…”
“Has it ever occured to you that maybe, just maybe, I don’t like to see you hurt either?” Dick argued back. “Maybe it’s easier this way, at least now I know you’re safe”
“You self-sacrificing hypocrite” Jason snarled, and pulled away from Dick’s grasp to turn on his heels and stalk back towards his bike.
“Jason!” Dick called after him. “Jason, please…”
“Let him go” Bruce murmured lowly, but Dick was already pushing off the bed to hobble after him.
“Why does it make you so angry?” Dick asked, and there was a sort of desperation in his tone that brought Bruce back to a couple of weeks before when Dick had thrown his phone at the wall. “You say you don’t give a shit about me, but then you lose your mind when all I’m trying to do is to keep you safe.”
Bruce could see the tension in Jason’s shoulders, the way he fisted his hands and he made himself ready to intervene if it came down to it. Jason turned around and there was fury in his eyes. Not one fueled by the pit though. No, it was something much deeper, much more ancient and universal.
“Because I can’t fucking stand the thought of losing you, is that what you want to hear? I can’t stand seeing you hurt, because to me…” Jason took a deep, shuddering breath. “To me you are the last fucking star in an empty void and without you I’d lose my way”
“Jason…” Dick whispered and it was a wet, breathless sound. He managed to hobble over to Jason, who met him halfway to wrap his arms around him, keeping him steady..
“When you hurt, it hurts me too, Dickie, can’t you see that?”
Bruce was staring at them for a shocked moment, before he realized that they were leaning in for a kiss and, nope… He did not need to be present for that. Taking his leave as quickly as he could, he cursed the five weeks of Alfred’s soon to be absence under his breath.
Plus One
Maybe he had been looking a little disgruntled lately. His shirts not as finely ironed as usual. His beard a little patchy because he didn’t have the time to shave properly in the mornings as he was expected to prepare breakfast for the family. Maybe he wasn’t looking so… well-put-together.
But when Clark approached him after an interview for the Daily Planet to ask him if something had happened to Alfred, then Bruce couldn’t help but feel slightly offended.
“He’s fine” Bruce muttered, trying to flatten out the creases of his shirt with his bare hands, to no success whatsoever. “He’s probably on some beach in Bahamas drinking Pina Colada”
Clark looked surprised, whether it was about Alfred’s wearabouts or the bitterness of Bruce’s voice was a little hard to tell. “He’s having a vacation?” the reporter asked eventually.
“Of a kind”
“How long will he be gone for?”
Bruce sighed heavily. “For four and half weeks”
“Oh, how are you holding up?”
“Perfectly fine” Bruce snarked and as it seemed unlikely he would get rid of Clark anytime soon, he held the door for his office open for him to pass through first. Clark gave one of his small, yet grateful smiles and Bruce took a mental sledgehammer to the sudden rise of butterflies in his stomach.
Clark stood by the floor to ceiling windows, staring out at the Gotham skyline, while Bruce did his best not to stare at the Superman outline.
“Can I help you with anything?” Clark asked eventually.
“I’m a grown man, Clark”
“Yeah, I know but…” Bruce watched as his shoulders slumped and suddenly this big, superhumanly strong man looked more like a kicked and discarded puppy. Ever since his divorce to Lois he had been very prone to helping others whenever he could, more than usual that is. Just like Bruce was addicted to constant surveillance of Gotham, helping people was like crack-cocaine to Clark. Especially now that he had lost a sense of direction.
“How about this,” Bruce said, sighing heavily. “I’ll cook dinner and you and the boys can come over? I’m sure Damian and Tim would appreciate it”
Clark’s sad, kicked-puppy look shifted rapidly as his face bloomed out into a wide grin. “That does sound nice.”
By the time the supers arrived, Bruce had set the kitchen on fire. Not once, but twice. Conner entered the kitchen just in time to freeze the burning stove with his breath, rendering that meal totally inedible as well.
Tim, who had already stood ready with the fire-extinguisher, and hadn’t noticed his boyfriend superspeeding himself into harm's way, drowned him in a layer of white powder.
“Shit, I’m sorry” Tim exclaimed, and threw himself at Conner, who a little surprised caught him mid jump.
“It’s okay, I’m fine”
From the countertop Damian was laughing so hard, only Cass’s hand on his shoulder kept him from falling to the floor. A moment later Clark and Jon joined the scene. Clark had a whole bouquet of brightly colored flowers that he dropped to the floor at the sight of them.
“What on earth is going on here?”
“Father was merely trying to cook” Damian answered, still giggling somewhat.even as he greeted Jon, who had hovered up beside him. “His attempts at feeding us has been insufficient at best”
Bruce grumbled at that. “Let’s just order out”
“For now, but I’m gonna teach you how to cook even if it becomes the death of me.”
And so after that dinner came a trying week in which Clark went through the basics of cooking with him and Brue tried his very best not to strangle his friend on sight. Not that he thought strangling would do much harm, but even he could admit that taking the kryptonite out might be too extreme a punishment for having to endure the smell of frying fish sticks. Also, there was something about the domesticity of it all that made him feel… things.
One late Wednesday evening when Bruce had finally boiled two eggs to perfection and he and Clark were sitting opposite each other enjoying them, something clicked in his mind and without warning, Bruce fisted his hand in Clark’s plaid shirt and crushed their lips together. Clark was a little startled, but soon kissed him back.
Kate was avoiding the sun as best as she could, while sipping on a large fruity monstrosity of a drink that she knew Bruce would hate on principle when her phone beeped. When you speak of the devil…
“What do I owe the pleasure?” Kate asked, slurping extra loudly for the off-chance that Bruce might hear it.
“Keep him another week” Bruce practically growled in her ear.
“Sorry? I didn’t get that”
“Alfred” Bruce muttered.
Kate took the phone from her ear to stare at it for a moment, before she brought it back up to ask. “I thought we decided not to include Damian?”
There was a heavy, defeated sigh. “Clark”
Kate did her best to suppress her laughter. “Fair, he’s pretty enough to turn even me”
The only reply she got to that was a low grumble before the phone clicked. She stared down at it in surprise.
“Rude”
“Was that Master Bruce?” Alfred asked, giving her an imploring look from his deck chair a couple of feet over, out of the shadow.
“Yep, I think he’s doing some of that ‘finding yourself’ shit you were talking about yesterday”
Alfred put his sunglasses back on and took a sip of his drink. “Good for him”
And at that Kate couldn’t keep her laughter in anymore.