Chapter Text
Diana, with her unwavering enthusiasm, was the first to arrive. It had been her suggestion, to be fair, so she only found it reasonable to be ten minutes early.
“Good evening, Miss Diana,” Alfred had answered the door with. She smiled serenely.
“And you as well, Alfie,” she replied.
She stepped into the manor after Alfred hung up her coat for her. The light, plush carpets were well-maintained, the walls light and open with lavish furniture lining the walls. She could recognize a familiar art piece she had seen in her schoolbooks, a beautiful white marble carving modeling after Athena herself. Picture frames could be found here and there, some of Bruce’s kids and some of who Diana assumed to be Batman’s friends.
No, Bruce’s friends—she corrected herself.
Just as she opened her mouth to compliment the beautiful scene, both her and Alfred heard a tentative knock on the door. That surprised her. Punctuality within man’s world had been the equivalent of lameness, she had observed.
Alfred opened the door to see Clark standing there nervously. “Good evening, Master Clark,” Alfred greeted good-naturadely.
Clark dumbly held up a dish. It was a round. “I brought a pie,” he provided. Alfred chuckled, then gently took the dessert from the super’s strong hands.
“May I know the type?” Alfred asked.
“Oh! Uh, yeah. It’s blueberry. My Ma’s recipe,” he responded, rubbing his nape nervously.
“Don’t look so nervous, Clark,” Diana teased. “Mr. Pennyworth will not bite.”
Clark snorted, then almost looked ashamed of himself for doing so around such distinguished company. “Hey, Diana.”
Diana simply nodded in his direction, a small smirk laid upon her lips. “Shall we see the family?” She prompted.
Alfred nodded smoothly. “Follow me to the sitting room, please,” he said.
“Sittin’ room?” Clark muttered confusedly to himself, hanging behind Alfred in line with Diana.
Diana chuckled, like honey dripping from her mouth. “It’s customary for a palatial home, such as this, to have multiple sitting rooms for guests such as us,” she explained. Clark nodded along dumbly.
They were lead to a wide room, where three of the kids were sitting, chatting lazily. Clark recognized them as Cass, Steph, and Tim, and had a feeling they were the most inseparable ones of the family.
“Hello,” Cass was the first to say. Tim and Steph ceased arguing about something irrelevant (“cereal, in theory, is a type of soup...but-!).
Steph smiled up at them from where the three were lounging about. “Hey, guys! How’s it going?”
Diana nodded kindly. “I am well,” she responded.
Clark silently agreed with her. “And ya’ll?”
Cass smiled at him, her eyes trusting and oh-so revealing yet mysterious.
“Are you really from the South?” Steph asked loudly.
Clark chuckled. In such a metropolitan city he had been asked that too many times. His accent was subtle, but noticeable in a city of businessmen and criminals. “Not quite. Midwest.”
Tim raised his eyebrows in curiosity. “How’s it like down th-?”
“Wonder Woman. Superman,” Damian interrupted him with a pointed look at the mentioned two. “Your punctuality is noted.” Diana didn’t bother to hide her fond smile, unlike Clark, who felt like he was being…thoroughly inspected.
“Good evening, Damian,” she provided. She looked up to see two figured behind him. “And to you too, Dick and Duke.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Tim commented.
“Hey, Di! Hey, Clark!” Dick replied enthusiastically. Duke nodded in their direction as a greeting. “Where are the rest of the League-ers?”
Clark narrowed his eyes, focusing his ear on their whereabouts. Recognition passed through his gaze, then he responded, “J’onn should be here soon. Arthur is behind him-“
The doorbell rang.
“I presume that’s them,” Alfred said. He handed Dick the pie. “Please do take that to the dining room, where you will escort our guests,” he suggested. No—Clark determined after looking at the man’s stern yet patient demeanor—he demanded. Said young man promptly did as he was told.
Sure enough, two minutes later, J’onn and Arthur were striding in the room, eyes wide and curious as they took in their lavish surroundings.
“Greetings, children of the Batman,” J’onn said with a kind smile. Arthur nodded wisely in their direction.
“Children,” said man regarded.
“Fish dude!” Steph yelled out excitedly. Tim facepalmed from beside her.
Alfred’s eyes hardened. “That is not how we greet our esteemed guests, Miss Stephanie,” he scolded, voice deadly. Clark could almost visualize the man holding up a wooden spoon as a warning, just as his ma’ would’ve done.
Steph didn’t even blink, simply nodded along stupidly. Damian sized them both up, which made J’onn chuckle quietly to himself. He could tell the little one was quite possessive for a boy his age.
They all suddenly felt a strong gust of wind, and Alfred’s reflexes were just able to stop a nearby vase from falling unto the plush carpet. Barry turned around to see the old man carefully prop it back on the mahogany end table.
“Hey, everyone!” Barry greeted, hair disheveled and voice cracking. “Did I get here before Hal? Please tell me I did!” He rushed out.
Dick shook his head. “Yep,” he replied, much to the pride of the other hero, “you’re just in time.” Dick flashed a bright, white smile just as they heard the doorbell go off.
“Excuse me, please,” Alfred regarded, then left the room, footsteps silent. Diana was bewildered how a man could be so quiet even under her ear, but she supposes since he raised Batman himself...
Barry waved to everyone, hand blurred in the air. “How’s it going? Have we started eating yet?” He asked. J’onn replied that, no, they hadn’t even seen the host yet. Barry scowled impatiently, but didn’t say anything more.
“Where is Ba-Bruce, by the way?” Arthur commented as an afterthought. Clark shrugged his titanic shoulders as a response, Diana joining in with her own verbal answer that they hadn’t seen him all evening.
Duke rose from his seat. “I’ll get him and Jay.”
“Jason, right?” Clark asked. The teens nodded.
“Him and Bruce are probably fighting down in the cave,” Steph supplied bluntly.
Hal and Alfred came through the entryway, Hal’s leather jacket missing most likely due to Alfred insisting he take it for him. “Hey, everyone,” he greeted with a half-hearted wave.
The kids all gave their small greetings in return. All except for Damian, of course.
“If you would greet our esteemed guest, Master Damian,” Alfred reminded sternly. Hal’s smirk was subtle. Damian’s tan arms remained crossed, glare refusing to leave his face.
Before Alfred could give him a proper tongue lashing both Bruce and Jason arrived behind Duke. They has seemingly been fighting from their refusal to even glance at each other.
“Hello, Batman,” J’onn was the first to greet him, followed by Arthur’s own cordial one.
“How’s it goin’?” Hal said casually, followed by Barry’s comment about how the Bat is always gloom and doom, duh!
“It’s nice to see you, Batman,” Diana interrupted politely. Bruce gave a short grunt as a response.
“Like father, like son, I guess,” Clark whispered to himself. Both Damian and Bruce shifted intense eyes to the super. Unsurprisingly, the larger man stiffened and muttered a short apology. Somehow, that made Damian even more feral.
“May we begin?” Alfred encouraged, the awkward energy simmering uncomfortably in the air.
Tim let out a long breath. “Please,” he replied desperately. Jay scoffed and Dick laughed, a hearty one at that.
Dick took lead, as per usual, and directed them to their seats as Alfred disappeared to the kitchen to plate the food. Bruce took his usual seat at the head of the table, jaw clenched and demeanor stiff. The League took their seats to his left side, while his children to the right. For the first time in years, decades, even, the dining room table had been properly filled.
Bruce should be happy but when he saw his kid’s eyes, and the mischievous twinkles only he could recognize, he had to force himself not to sigh tiredly. Thankfully he heard the dinner cart wheels creak, indicating Alfred was just bringing the food to the table.
Maybe if their mouths were full with Alfred’s delicious food they would shut the hell up.
“What a beautiful palace you have, Batman,” Diana complimented with a warm smile. She delicately speared the turkey with her fork as she did so.
Bruce nodded his thanks, though Clark could hear him mutter, “Manor, not palace...”
Berry, as per his natural curiosity, was the first to engage with Damian. “So, kid,” said boy scowled at the nickname as he picked at his tofu, “have any hobbies?” A goofy grin took upon the speedster’s expression.
Damian’s scowl suddenly morphed into an evil smirk. “None, unless ripping your intestines out counts.”
“WHAT-“
“Sooo,” Steph asked Aquaman across from her, “you like swimming, right?”
Tim nudged her side and glared at her, meanwhile Cass was holding in her laughter.
Arthur raised a single, thick eyebrow. “Of course, my children,” he responded politely, the king that he was. Tim sighed at Steph’s stupid question. “Would you like lessons? Certainly the human world has only scratched the surface of proper technique.”
Jay yelped. “Yeah, fish boy!” Bruce gave him a stern look. “Sorry, FishMan,” Jason corrected snidely. Clark attempted to cover his laugh with a cough, but was quite unsuccessful as evidenced by Bruce’s own glare in his direction. Jesus, does that guy ever stop glaring?
“You are unaware of how to swim?” Arthur asked, astonished.
Jason shrugged his shoulders. “Know the basics, just don’t know how to actually swim,” he admitted, sort of bashfully.
Tim stared at his brother oddly. “You…don’t know how to swim!?”
“What’s your favorite color?” Hal asked Cass cautiously.
“Triangle,” she replied without hesitation.
“Erm.”
J’onn raised a single eyebrow in Duke’s direction. “Are you aware of what’s going on?” He asked the young man.
Duke shook his head incessantly. “I just come here for the food.”
“Dickface! Stop telling Wonder Woman about…all that!” Jason whined. Diana looked upon with a knowing smile.
Dick chuckled and shoved another piece of noodle in his mouth. After chewing it, he perked up. “Di! One time Jaybird was in his room after patrol and I heard-“
“Shut UP-“
“Kids, we can’t call each other failed abortions.”
“And why not?”
Bruce breathed a heavy sigh.
Dinner, thankfully, ended not too soon after a hand-crafted dessert that, even better, shut Barry up.
Diana dabbed her mouth with the napkin then neatly placed the cloth on the table near her plate. “Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth. That was delicious.”
Alfred bowed, looking more proud than Bruce had seen him in years. Huh.
“My pleasure, Miss Diana.” Alfred’s side-eye in his ward’s direction somehow seemed polite. “I can only hope Master Bruce invites you and the rest of the League more frequently.”
“I won’t pass up on some free food!” Barry.
Bruce facepalmed.
Clark and Diana were the last to leave. “I hope they didn’t scare you all off too much,” Bruce muttered quietly to them, annoyance laced in his expression. Their faces held knowing grins.
“They certainly didn’t, Bruce,” Diana reassured.
Clark nodded quickly. “For sure, they’re good kids,” he repeated, then hesitated, though the grin didn’t fade. “A lil’ crazy, but good crazy,” he finished.
Diana chuckled. It was smooth and content. “Especially Jason.” She recalled Dick’s stories about a young, scrawny boy taping limited edition Wonder Woman posters to his bedroom walls.
Bruce rolled his eyes, though it held no malice. Jason was quite starstruck properly meeting Wonder Woman.
After a short, quiet moment, Bruce opened his mouth once, then felt a tugging in his chest, a nervousness he hadn’t let himself feel in years.
Diana, the smart woman she is, instead decided to ask that stupid question lingering in Bruce’s mind. “Another dinner would be appropriate, yes?” Clark gave a short nod, looking at Bruce with eyes that were too open.
Bruce felt himself relax. He was happy to leave the awkward questions for other people. People who were actually socially competent. Like Diana and Clark.
…
“I think the kids would like that.”