let's get some aromanticism in this joint

It wasn't all that often that Duke stuck to night patrol, being the only daytime hero and needing to be awake for school. But it was summer vacation and Dick had taken Damian to San Francisco for a Titans gathering (Kon was bringing Jon which was why Duke thought Damian acquiesced as quickly as he did), while Tim was stuck in New York for extended WE business and conferences, so with less Bats to go around Duke was scheduled to prowl around at night for the foreseeable future. He didn't mind, in fact, he was having fun using the longer, darker nighttime shadows to his advantage.

The night had been like any other, Oracle in their ears directing them to any disturbances every once in a while, but most of the time quiet, idle chatter as they hopped and swung from roof to roof.

He and Orphan had partnered up, Red Hood was prowling his territory, Spoiler on another route with Batman overlapping.

Things had been fairly calm recently. If you considered multiple muggings, two bank robberies and a wannabe-Rogue attack (who was taken down by Penguin very quickly and the actual problem began when Penguin started ranting afterwards and decided to shoot some explosives at nearby buildings in annoyance, but only mild civilian injuries were sustained) calm, which Duke did.

When Oracle announced some suspicious activity around an abandoned building, he and Cass had been closest and swung off.

They landed on the roof of the building and carefully snuck inside to gauge the situation. Just their luck it turned out to be a weapons trafficking hub for another unknown wannabe-crime-lord. They dropped down and started taking out the goons, until there were three standing. One threw a glass vial that shattered on the concrete floor, then turned tail and ran away. A recognizable green mist started evaporating into the air.

Duke pulled his gas-mask out and secured it quickly, ducking under a punch and knocking out the goon who threw it. He glanced across the room and chased after the goon who'd released the fear toxin. 

"Fear gas. Get antidote," he heard Cass call through the comms before she went after the last goon.

"On it. Spoiler, come to me. I've got a stash, you're closest."

"On my way."

Duke slipped into the shadows, letting all light pass through him, as he tried to find his goon.

Duke knew he'd be getting a patented Bat-frown later when the goon surprised him with such wild swings of a 2×4 and a loud shout that he slipped back into light, and into sight.

He was able to dodge one swing but he slipped on a patch of grease, falling backwards. He wasn't able to fully avoid the 2×4 this time and it sent his head slamming into a heavy crate. He heard a crack and felt a stabbing in his cheek that he elected to ignore and instead rolled away from the next swing.

"Signal, do you copy?"

He didn't have time to answer, scrambling back to get to his feet, head pounding.

"You Bats never know when to leave well enough alone!"

"That's kind of the point." Duke's head was pounding and his face hurt and he was probably going to have a bunch of bruises in the morning, so could this goon just please give up already!

He slipped into darkness and grinned at the shock on the goon's face but quickly dropped it when his cheek pulsed in pain. He snuck around the goon's flank, coming up from behind and kicked at the legs, grabbed a flailing arm and twisted it back.

He didn't notice the vial until too late. A squeeze of the hand and too fragile glass shattered. Green filled the air again. It was only then that Duke realized the pain in his cheek was from his broken mask. Too late, he'd inhaled the fear gas.

He didn't remember dropping the goon but his hands were suddenly free and pulling at his cracked mask. Duke's heart raced, his hands shook, and he blinked quickly, trying to get the spots out of his eyes.

A whimper.

He froze. As much as he could with a racing pulse. Tried to clear his eyes and see where the sound came from but he couldn't seem to see straight. There was someone here. A civilian. Someone hurt. He stumbled in a random direction, hoping for the best.

Pitiful crying. It grew louder as he surged forward, trying to find whoever was hurt, in danger, in need of help.

"Where're'y-?" Duke tried to shake his head to clear it, not sure why he was slurring, but the movement made him nauseous. "'m'ere, 'm'ere." Why couldn't he get the words right?

A scream scattered his thoughts and his heart jolted with another burst of tainted adrenaline.

"No! Don', no, 's ok, 'll fin' y', 's ok," he mumbled, stumbling.

An arm wrapped around his upper chest. Duke screamed. Something pinched his neck and he whimpered.

"Ok. You're ok. Breathe. Let's go home."

Duke passed out.

He woke up shaking, teeth chattering, and cocooned in warmth.

"You're ok," a soft voice said right by his ear.

Duke blinked his eyes open, slowly coming back to himself. He was wrapped like a burrito in a blanket, but also-

"Cass?" His voice cracked. He turned his head slightly to see her give him a small smile.

"Hi. I'll get water." She unwrapped her arms and leaned over to the bedside table to grab a water bottle, her legs staying hooked around him.

He thought about saying thanks but his dry throat decided to wait til after.

With his arms bound in fabric, Cass held up the bottle and he sipped carefully.

"How do you feel?" she asked after he'd swallowed a couple times.

"Ouch," he answered elegantly, blinking heavily.

Cass giggled. She made him drink a bit more before putting the bottle away and wrapping herself around him again like a koala. "Feel better later. Sleep now."

"Sounds good." He closed his eyes and it felt like no time passed at all before he fell asleep again.

Later he woke up, feeling rested and sore but much better than before. He tried to shift but quickly realized he was immobilized by a blanket and a Cass cocooning him. He resigned himself to his fate even as he was growing increasingly warm. He couldn't escape Cass's lesser-known koala cuddling just as he couldn't escape Dick's well-known octopus hugs. Not that he tried to, he was usually content to be bombarded with the physical affection from his weird found family.

Some amount of time passed before Duke saw Cass blink awake out of the corner of his eye. 

"Feel better?" she asked

"Mmhmm." He nodded. "Can we get up?"

"Hmmm..." She pretended to think about it before unfurling herself from around him. She helped detangle him from the blanket and sit up against the headboard. She shuffled to sit facing him, almost backwards on the bed, cross-legged, her knee landing on his thigh. 

"Thanks," he said. 

She hummed in response as she grabbed the water bottle again. This time Duke felt steady enough to drink it himself. 

"What happened?" he asked in between sips. 

"Fear toxin," Cass scowled. "We had masks, took down two goons. I followed you, your goon had more fear toxin and you had a broken mask. Spoiler came with antidote for you. I took you back to cave, she chased down goon. Now you're awake. All ok."

"Thanks for staying with me." 

"Always," she said, holding his gaze. "We're buddies." She smiled. 

"Buddies," Duke echoed, smile curling at his lips.

"We fight crime, we hang out, we get confused at everyone's romantic chaos."

Duke snorted. "That's true."

"Hungry?"

"Alfred's cooking?"

Cass grinned and he grinned back. 

"Let's go."

Some pansexual + aro&pansexual versions yaaaaay for Minako yaaaaay

Dick's head was so far in the clouds as he moved around the kitchen, making dinner, singing and dancing to the music playing on his speaker, that he started (just slightly) when he caught sight of Kori leaning against the wall, smiling at him softly.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hi," she repeated, smiling softly.

He took her in, in between stirring the pot on the stove and rhythmically chopping the food on the cutting board. She looked so… soft, domestic, in their apartment, wearing an old, thrifted band shirt and too short sweatpants that probably used to be his, curly hair a beautiful mess cascading down her back. She was relaxed and comfortable and he wanted to cuddle her, wrap around her like an octopus and fall asleep together. (He loved her.)

"Brought you something." She stepped forward to place a small object on the table.

He paused his movements to take a look. It was a short, round container with a familiar logo on the lid. He gasped and whipped his head up. "You didn't."

Kory was smiling at him. "Unscented."

"You know me so well. You're fantastic," he pouted at her. …Dick may have had a collection of candles. Just maybe. And sometimes he liked to light multiple and turn their apartment into a fire hazard (fire extinguisher always on standby), but too many scented ones gave him a headache, so his beloved friend and alien knew to get unscented ones. (She loved him.)

"Should I put it with the others?"

"Yes, please. Thank you!"

"Of course." She caressed his face before picking it up again and heading down the hallway.

"Love you!" he called after her.

"I love you, too!" she called back, he could hear the smile in her voice.

He continued his movements around the kitchen. Almost done.

When she returned she leaned her hip against the wall again. "Do you want help?" Kori asked.

He considered the question. "I'm good… but, we could have a movie night?"

Her pupil-less eyes brightened, glowing softly, understanding what he was suggesting. "I'd love to," she said. She floated over to the living room to gather all their blankets and pillows to create, for lack of a better word, a nest to cozy up in.

Dick soon finished with dinner and Koriand'r finished setting up the living room. They took their food, curled up in their nest and let a movie on the TV set the background noise, speaking quietly to each other and setting their dishes aside when they were done.

"I love you, Dick," Kori said and he leaned further into her.

He knew it like how warm he was from her skin and the blankets wrapped around them. He knew it like the bubbly, giddy feeling he got whenever she wore his ill-fitting clothes. He knew it from all their hugs and cuddles and affectionate words. Kori loved him and he loved Kori.

And he knew the way Kori loved him.

Through thick and thin, through blood and sweat and tears. Through hugs and sex and moving in together and not falling in love with each other. Through being strangers and teammates and friends and partners and partners. She loved him and he loved her. He was in love with Kori, but not in love with her.

It was his own expression of in love: an in love that didn't mean romantically, and wasn't solidly platonic. He'd looked up words and definitions once and alterous attraction had a nice ring to it. The nonbinary of romantic and sexual attraction. He didn't use the word much, but the feeling of knowing the word existed was nice.

Kori had similar feelings on the subject. She loved him deeply and had thought she was in love with him, a romantic kind, near the beginning of their relationship. But after learning more about how humans defined love and "falling in love" and "being in love" with someone… she'd come to the conclusion that that wasn't how she felt.

They'd gone through it together, figuring out their relationship, especially when everyone thought they were or expected them to be dating and in love with each other. But they weren't. Not the way people expected anyway.

But they loved each other anyways, it didn't matter what people thought, it was their relationship. Some days Dick was in love with Kori, while she was never in love with him. Sometimes they were dating, sometimes they weren't. Every once in a while they talked about the benefits of getting married. Occasionally they had sex, other times they didn't. They were roommates, they loved each other, they weren't in love with each other. (Most of the time.) It was their relationship and they understood what it meant to them, and what they meant to each other.

Dick loved his queer-platonic relationship and his queer-platonic partner. Sometimes he had a girlfriend, he always had a friend and right now he had a partner. He was happy.

"I love you, Kori," he replied.

Duke tugged at the sleeves of his suit, not uncomfortable but it wasn't his go-to outfit either. He'd been wrangled into joining some of the others going to a charity gala event. It wasn't his first choice, but he didn't hate going. He had problems with the opulence but the donations generated from these sort of events made it somewhat a neutral issue. The desserts usually made it worth actually attending though.

"Ready to kick this shindig?" a familiar voice asked, grin audible.

Duke turned to see you sauntering up, also in formal wear. "I'm pretty sure that was an attempt at multiple idioms and yet none of that was correct."

"Meh." You waved him off, still grinning. "Looking snazzy," you complimented.

He snorted. "Thanks, you too."

"You ready for this?"

"That I can actually understand," he teased, making you roll your eyes. "Yeah, it'll be fine."

You raised an eyebrow at his less than stellar confidence and it was his turn to roll his eyes at you. "Well, we're in this together. Buddy system. Stick close together, we'll be fine. We can play up the whole 'deeply, utterly, pathetically in love with each other' and people will leave us alone."

He grimaced and you laughed. There'd been one too many parties where he'd been flirted with to want to go alone, so he started enlisting you, his best friend, as his fake date to avoid any such future encounters.

"Buddy system. Let's do this." He held out his hand.

You gasped, covering your mouth with your hand dramatically. "Oh you shouldn't. But if you insist," you said, continuing your theatrics and grabbing his hand, "I'm flattered, you know I adore holding hands."

He couldn't tamper down the smile that grew at knowing you had his back. He tugged you along. "Come on, partner."

You followed easily, squeezing his hand as you looked everywhere but where you were walking, trusting him to lead you right. "You do realize that you are making my dreams come true with this, right?"

His eyes flickered back to you for a second before looking forward again to make sure neither of you tripped on an upturned carpet corner or staircase. "The whole fake dating thing?"

"The whole fake dating thing! One of my favourite tropes and here we are! I get to flex at failing at the trope but succeeding at the actual goal!"

Duke laughed. "That is fun."

"C’mon, aren't you excited to be fooling all these people with our fake dating?"

He side-eyed you again, tapping your wrist twice to indicate you were going down stairs in a couple steps. You were grinning at him, giddily. He grinned back. "Yeah, fine, it's fun. As annoying as it is to feel like I have to," he added, grumbling.

"Amatanormativity," you scowled, nodding along to yourself, following him down the staircase.

"But plus ones mean I can always bring a friend along so," he glanced over at you, smile twitching on his lips, "it's not that bad."

"Well, I hope so, I'm trying very hard here to be a fantastic date," you joked.

"You're doing fabulous."

"Why, thank you. I live to keep annoying, flirtatious people away."

You were both giggling as you joined Dick, Tim, Bruce and Alfred in the entryway.

"Hey, Duke," Dick greeted him, then you, and complimented both your outfits.

Tim nodded and waved.

"When are we leaving?" Duke asked.

"Shortly," Bruce said. "And Dick's right, you both look lovely."

"Thanks, Bruce," Duke said, still awkward about compliments from his mentor-foster-parent-Batman-person. 

"Just waiting on Miss Brown and Miss Cain," Alfred said in his calm voice.

"We're here!" Steph came cascading down the stairs, vibrant purple fabric swishing around her.

"Here," Cass echoed, wearing a lighter purple dress, descending at a slower pace but no less controlled, as strange as that may seem. 

(Because Duke knew just how much control Steph had and it always impressed him. Especially in moments like these where she didn't just trip over her feet and come crashing down the stairs. Especially compared to the times when she didn't care to be an impressive force of contained control and hit every obstacle in her way. Every shin-high coffee table, every waist-height counter, every table leg that jumped in front of her feet! Duke appreciated her duality and was currently compiling evidence for a compilation video featuring moments of both extremes. Babs was helping.)

"You two look amazing," Dick said with a warm smile.

"You do," Bruce agreed.

"What they said, y’all look fantastic." You gave them double thumbs up.

"Thanks!" Steph said while Cass signed the same.

"Does anyone ever see Alfred leave anywhere? Or does he just teleport from one place to another?" Tim asked.

"Magic," you and Steph said at the same time.

"Magic," Duke agreed.

"It's Alfred," Dick said, and that was true. It was Alfred.

"Outside, everyone, Alfred should have the car outside shortly." Bruce ushered everyone out the doors and into the waiting vehicle.

You and Duke walked into the ballroom hand in hand, taking in the elegant space.

A high ceiling with tall arching windows on one side, bracketed by curtains that Duke guessed would be some fancy fabric. A couple doors spaced between the windows opened to the wide balcony above the garden he'd only gotten a peak at as they'd entered the building.

Across from the balcony side was an elegant bar serviced by black-tie-dressed waitstaff and beside that, a desserts table he couldn't wait to raid with you. On the opposite end from where they stood, just inside the main entrance (giant double doors with beautiful carved designs), was a small stage and podium, awaiting the inevitable speeches that would come later in the night.

"So, where to first?" you whispered, leaning in to him.

His eyes swept the hall, observing all the fancily dressed people, most standing around, glass of champagne in hand, gossiping or networking with each other. A few were in the center of the room dancing. He caught Tim shaking hands with someone he thought he remembered as a CEO of some company WE had dealings with, while Dick was chatting with someone Duke was pretty sure had an Olympic medal (how they got invited to a charity gala in Gotham of all places was beyond him, especially the fact that they accepted). Bruce was nowhere to be seen but that just meant he was probably in one of the crowds, shmoozing. Steph and Cass had likewise disappeared and he wasn't sure if that meant they slipped outside, into a closed off part of the building, or had climbed onto the roof.

You hovered next to him, swaying to the music and humming under your breath, eyes wandering across the same scene but he wondered what caught your eye instead.

He squeezed your hand and you glanced over. He grinned at you and you immediately knew what he was thinking.

"Dessert table," you said in sync.

You made your way over, splitting up to either end of the table to meet in the middle with all your favourites to occasionally share.

That's where horror struck.

Duke was minding his own business, perusing the dessert options and mulling over the sudden remembrance of a group project coming up in class, when a body appeared next to him.

It was fine at first, they seemed to be grabbing a tiny brownie from the table. But then they started speaking.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before, what's your name?"

Which would be a perfectly fine sentence to say except in multiple instances those words had led to flirting and Duke needing to wheedle himself out of various uncomfortable situations. But hey, maybe this time would be different! (Unlikely.)

He turned to the person with as sincere a smile as he could manage. "Duke, nice to meet you."

"That's a nice name. I'm Max. So, what brings you here?"

Alfred and the limo, he thought sarcastically. "Bruce Wayne." Telling the truth always had mixed results. Some would get a gleam in their eye and flirt like they hoped to get their name attached to the Wayne's if only for one day, others would take the association to pitch business ideas, some would back off immediately, and a rare few would rant about the unethicality of billionaires, which Duke wasn't arguing against, but it became a bit uncomfortable when they continued on about some Hunger Games-esque world domination plans.

"Oh, you're a Wayne kid?"

"Yup." Duke snuck a step back to grab what looked like a chocolate truffle. 

"So you've lived in Gotham your whole life?"

"Yup."

"Well, hey, I'm pretty new in town, maybe you could show me around sometime?" Max had a nice smile but it wasn't enough to calm the grimace threatening to appear at the wariness that this was flirting. 

"Darling, did you see they had the sugar cookies you like?" An arm leaned on his shoulder as you held your plate of sweets in front of him and pointed at the different treats with the arm on his shoulder. "And! They had these cream-filled thingies that I don't know if I've ever learned the name of, but Alfred made them that one time with Jason, I think? Anyways, they were fantastic so I got two so we can share. Oh, hi!" You finally pretended to notice the person in front of him as if you hadn't come over here for that specific reason. You introduced yourself, smiling, still leaning against Duke. "Who's this, sweetheart?"

"I'm Max." Max smiled, slightly stilted. 

"Nice to meet you, Max. Hey, you seem familiar, aren't you with the-"

"Sorry, I gotta go."

You watched Max go with raised eyebrows. "Interesting."

"Interesting?" Duke snorted. 

You glanced sideways at him, grinning. "Didn't let me finish, because I was gonna ask if Max was from the Johnson company. You know, the one helping with the reconstruction of the court house? Tim and I were talking and it came up and he showed me a picture which is how I recognized that face. Because that Max has lived here since a very young age. And if so, that line was a blatant attempt to spend time with you."

"Flirting," Duke said grimly.

"Flirting," you agreed. "Most likely flirting."

"Did you actually find those sugar cookies?" he asked, turning to face you fully.

You gasped dramatically. "I wouldn't lie about the sugar cookies. Brownies, cupcakes, the cream-filled things, sure, like they have these creampuff things but it wasn't Alfred and Jason that made them and also I don't think they're the same anyways. But your sugar cookies? I would never." You pointed it out on your plate. "Take it, 's for you." 

He took it, smiling. "Thanks."

You smiled back. "My pleasure." You smile dropped and you looked at him seriously.

He looked at you, wide-eyed and a mouth full of sugar cookie.

"Duke. You know how much I treasure our friendship."

He nodded, chewing. 

"And you." 

He nodded again. 

"But sweet Metropolis, flirting is so weird. Strange. I don't know how people do it. Regularly. Naturally. However! I will keep up my very good work scaring people off as long as they keep trying to flirt with you." 

Duke chuckled. "Thanks. …Pal." 

You crinkled your nose. "Mark me down as not a fan of that pet name." 

"Noted," he grinned. "Let's go see if we can find Cass and Steph on the balcony and hide out for a bit."

"Sure, but I'm grabbing extra macarons if that's the case, otherwise Steph's gonna steal my chocolate. And there were those-" 

"Butter tarts? For Cass? I got it." You grinned at each other. 

"Your appointment's in two weeks, right?" Duke asked as the two of you swayed in a small circle to the slow waltzing music, other people dancing and spinning around you. Duke actually liked dancing, but the partner made all the difference, he didn't need someone flirting with him or feeling him up and he preferred when they didn't talk business gossip either. With you, he could dance as long as you could keep up. 

You nodded. "Yup," you said, popping the 'p'.

A thought struck him. "Hey, you busy next week?"

You met his eye and raised an eyebrow. "Depends the date and time. Why?"

"Got my own appointment, wanna come with?" He raised an arm to spin you out and back in.

"Be your appointment buddy? Watch you get stabbed? Sounds fun," you teased. "When is it?"

"Thursday. 3pm. You don't have anything then, do you?"

You shook your head. "Nope, all free." You spun him around and he couldn't help the startled laugh that bubbled out.

"So you'll be my appointment buddy?"

"Sure. Get to watch you get stabbed? I'm in." You grinned.

Duke rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh. "I can be your appointment buddy too. I mean, pretty sure that's definitely what fake dates are for." He grinned back.

"Definitely." You squeezed his hand.

He squeezed back.