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Language:
English
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Published:
2025-03-24
Words:
1,000
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1/1
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23
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277
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oasis

Summary:

With the world still reeling from Grayson's untimely demise and identity reveal, Slade wasn't expecting to find him alive in his safehouse. With a baby. 1k words.

Notes:

Post-Forever Evil (let's pretend Slade had no role there) and Canon Divergence from Grayson issue #5

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Slade briefly considered blowing up the apartment the second he got notification. He was in the middle of a job and in no way interested in dropping it to go find the idiot that had thought it wise to break into one of his safehouses. Let them go up in flames, he thought until he read further and realized that the code utilized to disable the security measures had been one of his own. 

Huh. Interest mildly piqued, Slade decided the fool would live a little longer, if only to explain exactly how they got that code- To break into a safehouse in Sanaa, of all places. Not much to be found there, and it’s been a while since Slade’s dropped by, work keeping him in America as of late. 

He is not sure of what he hoped to find, probably a local hacker that got lucky, unlikely but maybe one of his wayward children or Wintergreen. What never once crossed his mind that he would find was none other than Dick Grayson in the flesh, alive , smelling like an overripe bowl of peaches, with a baby in his arms resting against his naked chest. 

Slade was not often left speechless. In the 15 hours that had passed since he got the notification, during which he finished the job and flew halfway across the globe, Grayson had made himself comfortable in the single bed, having used the little fabric that could be found in the apartment to build a small nest. He had looked quite cozy until he saw Slade. 

“Back to the land of the living, I see,” he said almost casually, managing to hide the flare of anger that went up to his throat. 

Slade does not appreciate being caught off guard. 

He hadn’t believed a word about Grayson’s death, certain that the kid was lying low after his secret identity had been blasted for all the world to see. That is until his funeral, which he had attended from afar and witnessed something that could not be so easily feigned: grief. He doubted the Red Hood could weep on command for the sake of an act.

So what was Grayson doing in Slade’s safehouse in Yemen with a baby while his family thought him dead and buried?

Said baby was tiny, Slade noted. Almost worryingly so, was it a newborn? The math did not add up for it to be Grayson’s, and even if it were it would explain little. 

As he sat up with the child still in his embrace, Slade noticed the sunburns all over his body. Bird was far from dead but he wasn't looking too good. 

“Does your daddy know you’re alive?” He asked. 

Finally, he got a reaction: the kid’s face twitched violently. Interesting. Slade took that as a yes, it sure explained Wayne’s stoicism during the funeral. 

“But the rest of the flock does not, I take it. How cold, you should’ve seen them at your funeral. Lovely affair,” he chuckled darkly. “I knew you could be ruthless but I wouldn’t have thought you had it in you.”

“I didn’t-” Grayson pressed his chapped lips into a thin line, something like guilt flashing in his eyes. “It doesn’t matter, I couldn’t have stayed anyway. I would have put everyone in danger.” 

Slade didn’t feel like letting him go all sacrificial lamb on him. 

“Well, I don’t care about that, little bird. I’m far more interested in what you’ve been up to and how the hell you ended up here… with a child. Whose brat even is that?” 

“She… She’s mine.” 

It almost sounded like a question. Slade’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. 

He realized then the reason why the baby was so quiet, at ease even in the presence of a strange alpha. She wasn’t just resting in the warmth of Grayson’s skin, she was nursing .

Grayson caught him looking at his chest. It was remarkable that even with his cheeks so burnt, he had the ability to blush. He pulled the baby a bit closer. 

“That doesn’t explain a lot.” 

“I mean- She imprinted. This just came in today,” Grayson coughed. “Would’ve come in handy in the desert. It’s… It’s a long story.” 

“We’ve got all the time in the world. Explain .” 

Grayson shared as much as he was willing to, which was not an awful lot. Still, Slade got the big picture. He suspected he was not too happy to be involved in this secret mission, even less about letting everyone mourn him. Sure seemed like Daddy Bats had pushed a bit too hard this time, and considering the kid had ditched Spyral and chosen to cross two fucking countries just for a place to hide, Slade didn’t think he’d be going back anytime soon. 

Good thing that he didn’t have any jobs lined up. 

Somewhere near the end of his tale, the fatigue won over and Grayson’s eyelids became heavy. Before long he was snoring softly, eyes closed and grip still firm over the baby. 

He must have been truly exhausted, for he barely stirred when Slade went to gather the child from his arms. The girl was awake and protested his decision. Slade shushed her gently.

“You’ll wake him up.” 

Her tiny fist caught his thumb and squeezed. It would have broken the finger of a lesser man.

A meta baby. Grayson had failed to mention that little detail. 

Slade placed her on the mattress right by Grayson’s side, and the omega turned to her on instinct, curling his body to shield hers. Given that the bed was against the wall, she wasn’t going to fall, and her strength meant that she could push Grayson off if the kid crushed her accidentally in his sleep. Though that seemed unlikely. 

The scene rose something soft in him. He still was more than a bit pissed about Grayson’s stunt, but he found himself willing to forgive. He had no doubt the kid would be making it up to him.

Notes:

slade: so, you want a meta baby, i can help u with that-

this slade is softer than i usually go for, might have to do with him being happy dick's alive. still pissed and a bastard tho. might turn this into a series, lemme know if you liked it

here's my twitter <3