Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Bruce Wayne P.O.V

“Alfred, I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” Bruce said, as the two pulled into the street. 

“Oh and why ever not, Master Bruce?” From his spot in the passenger seat, Bruce gazed pointedly out of the car window, out into the expanse of a much less polluted sky than what he was used to seeing, his eyes landing on a small point in the distance, where he could just barely make out the silhouette of a tall, windowed, distinctly T-shaped tower. A tower in which he’d helped partially fund the construction of, and housed a prominent group of young superheroes. Namely, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, plus two recent additions of Kid Flash and Wonder Girl, and of course- 

Dick. Or Robin, in any case. 

If his observations (i.e the times he’d hacked into the systems to spy, and the occasional phone calls Dick would give Alfred) were correct, then he knew some of them weren’t currently in the Tower due to an international mission with a few of the honorary Titans, alongside a few members of Titans East. But he knew Robin wasn’t one of them, he was still home. Unless he still counted the manor as home, which would be nice, but was probably too much for Bruce to ask of him. 

Alfred, as always, was able to see right through his concerns, “Master Dick will not protest your presence here in his city over something like this. It is for a charity funded by Bruce Wayne, his father, not a case undergone by Batman, his mentor.” Bruce wasn’t so sure his ward would follow that logic, but it wasn’t like he was going to be the one to tell Alfred he was wrong considering Alfred practically ran his entire life. Now granted, Dick probably wouldn’t be willing to tell Alfred off either, so realistically, Bruce was in the clear. 

Except he didn’t actually want to do this all that much. 

A designer from Bludhaven, who’d been orphaned around the same age that Bruce had been, had been a very avid supporter of several of his foundations, had moved out into the world to expand her audience, starting with Jump City, and for some odd reason, she’d had the idea of calling up Bruce’s PR manager, and had asked Bruce to do a brand deal with her, modeling some of her designs as part of a joint charity fundraiser. 

It wasn’t a bad idea by any means, and it definitely wouldn’t be the strangest thing he’d done to keep his cover, but it did have its drawbacks, and he wasn’t quite sure if it was worth it. Not to mention several cases that he had on the backburner and would much rather be breaking down instead of going to a photoshoot. 

And he still wasn’t entirely sure Dick would appreciate him being in his city after how adamantly he’d set out to make a name for himself. 

Alfred however, was quick to look at him pointedly, raising an eyebrow, “Master Bruce, you’ve made the commitment, it is time you follow through.” The chastisement was a routine exchange for the two, and so from years of practice, Bruce only slightly felt like an embarrassed child making up excuses not to go to school. And so, with a grand sigh, Bruce opened the car door, and made his way into the studio. 

The moment he was in the door, he was ushered off to makeup, and thrown into the first part of the collection, holding his most airheaded smile anytime he figured someone was looking. And he was Batman, which meant he would assume someone was always looking. 

But when it came to the actual photos? All bets were off. 

______________

Dick Grayson P.O.V

“Hey I’m just saying, he’s not really like, my type- you know? But I definitely see the appeal,” Kid Flash said, sitting criss-crossed on the couch, hunched over his phone with Beastboy. Dick continued typing away at his computer; he had no idea who the two were looking at, but they seemed pretty engrossed. 

Kid Flash and Wonder Girl were two new additions to the living quarters of the Tower, and they’d fit in extremely well with the five of them. Robin in particular found himself getting along with the two rather swimmingly, in just days- he’d developed a comfortable, joking dynamic with both fellow heroes. It was times like this that he almost regretted his easy nature of acquiring friends, but he’d take it over being as emotionally incompetent as you know who . 

“Uh, duh- what’s not to like about him?” Beastboy responded, swiping his finger over the screen, still out of Robin’s line of sight. Dick clicked to hide a message that came through from Alfred, knowing that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to expose the man's existence in an area any of his teammates could walk into. He had alerts set in case something seriously dangerous popped up with Bruce or Alfred, and it hadn’t gone off, and a quick check at their vitals showed that there was nothing to worry about. So it was probably fine. 

Starfire had joined Raven for a meditation session in the corner, but seemed to break concentration as she opened one eye to observe the two. Raven remained unaffected. Cyborg and Wonder Girl were the only two missing from the scene, though Cyborg was bound to return at any moment. 

“I mean- I guess he’s kinda my type. I like the dark colors, look- he’s kinda dressed like Jinx in this one, right?”

“Honestly man, I think he rocks the look better than she does,” Beastboy admitted. Robin took some time to look as Starfire, brimming with a fondly familiar curiosity, broke from her meditative stance to float towards the two. Robin did not turn back to his typing. 

“Friends, what exactly is it about this device that has you so enraptured?” Starfire wondered, hovering above the two. 

“Oh just this hot CEO guy. Here, take a look- I think you’d like him too,” Kid Flash remarked, handing her the phone. Nothing out of the ordinary yet. 

“Oh I do quite like these photographs! To what does this…C-E-O do? Does he too partake in the world of fashion?” 

“Uh, probably? I mean from what I hear, the guy’s practically in every business. Generally- I think he’s some philanthropist or something.”

Alarms started blaring in Dick’s head, as he whipped his head away from Starfire’s figure, eyes glaring daggers into the phone in contemplation. 

“Oh the description says that these pictures were taken in Jump City! Does he reside here? I did not know of him,” Starfire asked. 

Oh don’t tell him…

Oh please don’t let this be who he was thinking of. 

Wally, please- 

“Pretty sure he’s from Gotham actually,” Wally answered. Now- let it be known that there was only one thought running through Robin’s perfectly clear, perfectly calm, mind. 

What a son of a bitch . 

“Oh from Gotham! Robin! Is that not where you are from as well?” Starfire asked cheerfully. Swallowing back a few choice words, simmering in resentment not at the girl in front of him, he felt the need to remind himself, but at someone else. With his carefully improved concealment skills, he stamped out any negativity from his expression to smile softly at his teammate as he nodded. Er- friend. Or well- his something . Maybe girlfriend? They hadn’t exactly had that conversation in full. 

Frankly it’d be a lot harder for him to talk about that if she decided to openly admit to finding his dad attractive. Although then again- Bruce was hardly the only CEO in Gotham- they could’ve been talking about someone like Jack Drake- though Dick didn’t really see the appeal in that at all, maybe they saw something in him that he didn’t. Or maybe it wasn’t actually a CEO and Wally just got that part wrong, hell he might not have even been from Gotham if Wally mistook him for someone else, oh he was turning the phone so Dick could see, maybe it was all a misunderstanding, besides Bruce wouldn’t-

Oh fuck everything. 

It turns out in fact, that Bruce would. He absolutely would. There was now evidence to back that up in fact. 

So- he fumed, was this how Bruce intended to let him know that he was in the city? Because if it was meant to be a joke, he couldn’t say he was all that appreciative that now of all times was the time Bruce chose to develop a sense of humor. 

So whatever- Bruce was here, he was doing some dumb modeling shoot, that didn’t have anything to do with Dick. He was giving him space, like he’d wanted. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t called. He wasn’t here for him, he was just here on Wayne Enterprises business. That was all it was, which meant he needed to calm down . 

“Ooh look at this one! Man, how do you think he gets abs like that with all the work he has to do?” Beastboy questioned. 

“He probably has a team or something to handle some of the company stuff. But I genuinely can’t believe- and sorry to say this Star but it needs to be said, I cannot believe that a middle-aged man is rocking a crop top better than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Oh but look at this one! This one is most alluring, correct? Robin, Raven- I invite you to join us, I must implore you to offer your opinions on such artfully taken photographs!” Raven ignored them, continuing her meditation with a shake of her head, Dick filed that away as proof that Raven was his best friend now because she clearly knew what she was talking about. 

He was not going to calm down. Calming down was a social construct. Calming down is for Metropolis citizens. Not Gothamites. Calming down was for fucking losers. Dick Grayson was not going to calm down. He was going to leave, like a rational person. 

“Man I gotta send this to Cyborg and Wonder- hey, Rob! Where you goin?” Wally called out confusedly. 

“Training,” he replied shortly, not turning around so they couldn’t see how hard he was grinding his teeth. 

Moments later, Dick flopped down onto the bed in his locked room, tearing his domino mask off of his face and thanking the fact that he’d built his room to be sound proof as he let out a long, loud, screech into his pillow, less bird-like and more like the demonic giggles he used when he was nine years old and just starting out as Robin. His computer let out a ping sound, a reminder to check Alfred’s message. Grumbling more softly, he went to sit at his screen to pull up the email. 

Dear Master Robin, 

As I am sure you are bound to see at some point, your father was offered the chance to model several clothing designs for the sake of raising money to fund several orphanages and relief funds. The shoot was to take place in Jump City, we were under the impression that we would need to return to retake several shots, as expected of a person with no modeling experience and a tight schedule, and that the completed set of photographs would be published in two weeks time. However, our head photographer informed us that the photographs upon further inspection, were perfect as is and took far less time to edit than expected. And thus, we have only recently been informed that the photos would be released today instead. I apologize for the delay in warning you in advance. I felt it unnecessary considering I would hope that the two of you were raised civilly enough to not allow your squabbles to interfere with your personal lives, so this is only a precaution. All else is as normal as to be expected in Gotham, only one Arkham breakout has occurred in the past month, so it’s actually been rather quiet. I hope you are well, do please send updates should you need anything. Although I’m sure you’re aware that your father will find a way to find out what goes on regardless of whether or not you tell him, so please- call your father. 

Signed sincerely, 

Agent A

He already knew about Bruce hacking into his systems. He was going his best to keep his connection limited behind firewalls without Cyborg noticing and trying to lock him out completely. He knew the more he tried to hide, the more time Bruce would spend excessively stalking him through other means. He was just taking the lesser evil. This wasn’t at all because he too was also stalking Bruce’s endeavors in turn to make sure he was okay. Never. No one could prove anything. Nothing at all. 

Dick let his head drop onto the table with a groan. He let out a long, suffering sigh, his voice gravelly. Before jumping upright and shaking his head violently at how much the gesture reminded him of how Bruce acted when he was particularly exasperated. He was losing his touch, evidently. 

He needed to find a chandelier to swing off of or something. That’d get his mind off of unknowingly traitorous friends and crushes, and helicopter parents, and weirdly all-knowing grandfathers. 

______________

Wally West P.O.V

“So…” Beastboy started, “Is it just me or is Robin acting weird? Like weirder than normal weird?”

Wally found himself nodding, “Yeah, and he got all red and stuff, he like- clammed up super quick.”

“Perhaps he does not like this, ah- Brucie Wayne fellow? If they are both from Gotham, perhaps they have a history,” Starfire said contemplatively. Or- well, there was one other explanation that Wally could think of. And there didn’t seem to be anything weird about Wayne as far as billionaires go, so he didn’t think it was all that implausible. So he didn’t even hesitate to voice his thoughts out loud. 

“Do you think Robin had a crush on him as a kid?” The other two blinked at him, he saw Raven lose focus for a moment, briefly dropping from where she was floating in meditation before catching herself again. She too, looked at him oddly, but in a different way than the other two were, like he was some kind of unknown specimen. Starfire started frowning, Beastboy, on the other hand, nodded in agreement after a moment of thinking. 

“Maybe he still has a bit of a celebrity crush on him now, if he went all red like that. Ooh- maybe he even got to save him once when he was still working with Batman!”

Raven cut in sharply, her voice blank, but eyes flashing slightly, “I don’t think Bruce Wayne is really Robin’s type.” Starfire nodded in agreement, tilting her head in confusion. 

“He might not have a type necessarily, or he could just like his personality. I hear Brucie’s pretty nice and cheery and stuff, that sounds pretty up Rob’s alley,” Beast Boy reminded, looking pointedly at the Tamaranian girl. 

“I do not understand why he would be embarrassed then, considering all three of us offered him compliment,” Starfire said. Wally grinned. 

“Must’ve been a damn strong crush then, I don’t know about you- but I’m not letting him live this down, I’m milking this for all that it’s worth.”

“Milking what for all it’s worth?” a voice asked from the doorway, and the four superheroes turned to see Cyborg standing there in all his robotic glory. 

“We think Robin has a celebrity crush on this guy,” Beast Boy explained. Cyborg raised an eyebrow, gesturing for his friend to hand him the phone, to which he obliged. Cyborg let out a low whistle. 

“Well, I can’t say I blame him all that much. Little old for him though, what’s all the fuss about? You jealous, Star?” He nudged her suggestively, who glared at him in response, but with no real heat. 

“He reacted like, way stronger than any of us did, like massively,” Wally suggested, “So naturally, we gotta make fun of him, right?” Cyborg nodded in mock-graveness. 

“Oh yeah, absolutely.”