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Stephanie was reading her notes, walking fast, focused on her notebook, Francis tapped her shoulder, pointing to one Damian Wayne, glaring at her from a bank on the field.
“Your secret fan is here,” he said, with an edge of mockery.
With a sigh, Stephanie walked to be at his side, arms crossed, the boy glared at her, brow knit, lips twisted down, he looked cute, like a little kitten trying to be threatening, the words itching at the edge of her tongue, but Stephanie appreciated her life more than her wish to annoy Damian.
“What are you doing here?”
“Grayson believes you are… capable enough to work with us,” he puffed his chest, hands resting on his hips, chin raised up to glare at Stephanie, he would be threatening, if he wasn’t that short. “I disagree.”
“Of course, you do.”
Like father and son, after all.
“Grayson is going to propose you an alliance, I want to offer you a counteroffer.”
“What can you offer? To promise to not stab me?”
“I prefer to keep that threat to myself, but I can pay a weekly loan if you stay away from us, I can reduce your school load, gave you upgrades to your equipment, between other things.”
He really looked like Bruce, on his glare and his words, he was wearing a turtle neck and a trench coat, his hair was brushed to the side, he was like a miniature businessman, his pose and voice, and he had a juicy offer.
“You are not even in school, how are you going to do my homework?”
Damian squeaked, offended, he was the perfect image of Bruce in the knit of his eyebrows, the same glare Bruce sometimes gave her, but colder, the fondness Bruce sometimes had was absent.
“Mother gave me the best education you could imagine; I have various degrees and I’m qualified to teach you.”
“Whatever you said, squirt,” Stephanie rolled her eyes, walking away from Damian.
“I’m serious!” he called, “I’ll deposit on your bank account half of the money you will get weekly if you accept my offer.”
Stephanie just rolled her eyes, but, surprisingly, following his promise, someone had deposited a large amount of money on her bank account, and, if that was just half of what she was going to get weekly, she was going to consider the offer.
The library on Gotham University was huge, and, rolling the trolley cart, taking books from empty desks, she was more attentive to the podcast she was hearing than the people on the library, rolling her eyes at the unorganized books on the shelves, she squeaked when a hand grabbed her shoulder.
“How are you doing?”
Dick Grayson smiled at her, dressing more juvenile than Damian, better at passing unseen in the campus, unplugging her earphones, she rolled her eyes at him.
“Fine, want me to quit this job too?”
At least he looked sorry.
They hadn’t really shared before, Dick was Tim’s older brother, Bruce’s Golden Son, the Robin Batman wanted, putting too high the bar for the rest of them, all of the people around her had nothing but praise for Dick, the Teen Titans, admiring the ground Nightwing walked, Barbara, Bruce, and Tim, talking non-stop about how great Dick Grayson was. Stephanie could say he was scary, one of the only few times they had been in the same room he almost killed the Joker with his bare hands.
“I want to eat my words,” he said, grinning at her, he looked calm, relaxed, trustful. “Can we share a coffee? I know Damian talked to you, but hear me before accepting it.”
“He will pay me for not talking to you,” Stephanie smiled at Dick, putting away the last book on the shelf. “If your offer is better I could think about it.”
Dick laughed, rolling his eyes, sighing in exasperation and fondness, like the big brother Tim swore he was. “I’ll take you for a dinner, you go out at six, right?”
“I won’t pay anything.”
“Of course,” Dick said, “I’ll wait for you,” he said, walking to sit at one of the puffs on the library.
They went to a little dinner, fancy yet simple, and Dick didn’t go straight to business until they got dessert, a sweet and soft tiramisu the waitress advised, the best they had to offer, soft on the roof of her mouth, the bitter coffee and the sweet cream making love on her mouth, Stephanie thanked her between greedy bites.
“What was Damian’s offer?”
“He would do my homework, paid me a lot of money, gave me better equipment,” with a smile, Stephanie imitate Damian’s voice, in a pitch higher than her, rolling her shoulders back and raising her chin, like the kid would do, “between other things.”
Dick barked a laugh, hiding his smile between a napkin. “I won’t give you money, but I think we can do some good together, you and Barbara are a great team, but in the field, we can help each other, do some good for Gotham.”
“I want Damian to promise he won’t stab me, and he said he would help me with homework, I want to train in the Batcave, more time with Alfred in the cave, and a weekly batch of cookies.”
“Something else?”
“More of this tiramisu to take home.”
If looks could kill Stephanie would have been six feet under the ground, maybe the idea of little bodies having disproportionate levels of anger was true, Damian glared at her behind Dick, both dressed in workout clothes, early in a Sunday morning, Babs was sleeping on her place, and Alfred, according to Dick, had the day out.
Training with Dick was pretty similar to doing it with Tim, Bruce, Cassandra, and Barbara, warming up the body, stretching muscle and ligaments, she huffed in jealousy and admiration when Dick made a split effortlessly, puffing and huffing, Stephanie brushed the sweat off her forehead, going as low as she could, her legs yelling in pain and disagreement.
At least Damian had the same struggles.
“Have you ever been in a trapeze?”
Stephanie shook her head, rubbing her inner thighs, holding the soles of her feet, body in half, rolling her eyes when the kid grinned at her, hands touching a few inches away from his body, farther than her.
“I have seen you using a grapple gun…”
“Pathetic,” barked Damian.
“You are good, but you could improve, and he could practice some swings and some toss.”
“Can we toss Damian? Like a sack of potatoes.”
The boy gasped in disgust. “I won’t accept it! Grayson, you have told her I won’t be tossed like… like a sack of potatoes!”
“The last up there will be tossed,” Dick declared, holding Damian for a second while Stephanie ran.
She had done something similar before, she had been caught by Tim or Cass, and she caught them too, she knew it was better to hold the forearms than the wrists, hands let the other slip, but this was… different, in a good way.
Dick was funny, always patient, ready to give advice and corrections, seeing him hanging upside down, swinging Damian just a few more times than necessary, just to make the kid have fun. He was different, where Bruce was cold Dick was warm, Bruce ordered repetition after repetition and Dick just asked to try it a few more times, Tim, Cassandra, and Bruce moved effortlessly, with the ease of hours upon hours of practice, the had certain grace, an easiness on their movements when they moved, sure of how to use their bodies, but Dick Grayson made everything beautiful, swinging on the trapeze, twisting and rolling his body mid-air, laughing, making Damian drop the scowl, he was breath catching.
Launching herself, Stephanie was caught by his hands, looking up to him, she felt warm pooling at her belly when he smiled proud, swinging Stephanie just for the pleasure of it, he let her go to land in a platform, and followed not long after that, Damian was already there, drinking from his water bottle.
“Take a break, eat something, we can have a snack and spar after that.”
“I don’t need rest, I can go all day,” declared Damian, “and I doubt Brown could be at our level.”
“I was Robin, and I had been going out on my own, Gremlin, I can take you on a fight.”
Damian looked confused, Stephanie ignored him to climb down, munching on a protein bar, her legs and arms protested from the movement, already tired, she sat next to Dick, falling heavily on the chair.
“Nobody told me you were Robin,” the boy said, he sat on the floor, curling his toes, he looked young that way, munching angrily his food, he looked like a chipmunk, cheeks full.
“For a short time, but Bruce gave my own space on the cave.”
Stephanie smiled at Damian when he looked at her with doubt, scowling when Dick shrugged, tossing the plastic wrap on a bin.
“You and Father were close?”
“Not really, at the begging, she didn’t approve me, but I was more stubborn than him,” Stephanie curled on the chair, legs against her chest, tracing figures on her sneakers, she smiled, thinking of Bruce, “we had various disagreements when I was Robin, but he cares for the people around him, he tried to hide it, but he gave me a little place in the cave just for me, and he didn’t take it off after I… went away with Leslie.”
There was something in Damian’s face, curiosity, sadness, and something like jealousy, he hadn’t really met Bruce, knowing him from stories others told him, looking down at him, how he traced the floor with his fingers, the patterns of the metal planks, he looked a lot like Bruce, the eyebrows, thick and furrowed, the dark hair, the stubborn chin, and the air around them, the regal like posture, the conviction they had on themselves, despite not sharing a lot of time with him, he was a mini Bruce Wayne.
She wondered how hard was for Alfred and Dick to see him every day, she missed Bruce just looking at the scowl on the kid.
“He had talked to me about you,” Dick said, he threw a juice box at Damian, drinking from his own, Stephanie and Damian stared at him, “he liked you, and believed you could do great things.”
“And what do you think?”
“You are good, very good.” Dick smiled at her, taking another juice box to give her, Stephanie took it, poking the little foil with the straw. “There is a lot to improve,” added Damian, chin up and arms crossed.
“We all have to, Damian,” winking at Stephanie, Dick ruffled Damian’s hair, “and we can do it together.”
“Like a team,” said Stephanie, grinning at the scowl Damian made.
“Yes, like a team.”