#lmho

And I didn't cry.

Bruce rarely took vacations.

Realistically, he knew why that was the case. There was far too much to do to be able to take breaks. If it wasn’t a new serial killer in Gotham, or the Joker escaped again, or whatever other random catastrophe happened every other week, it was something with the League. Alien invasions. Asteroids headed towards Earth. Rogue members. Bruce dealt with the whole gamut.

Every single week.

There just wasn’t much time between events for real, actual vacations.

But when he did take them, he was always reminded about how much he loved them.

He was fortunate enough that Lucius basically ran WE, so he at least had plenty of time during the day to spend with his kids. They were his break, sometimes.

Spending a quiet morning with Jason, going through school work or simply existing in the same space was relaxing, after all. Lazy afternoons with Damian. Taking them to the mall or the park. Game nights and movies. It was enough downtime and relaxation for him that he didn’t go absolutely insane with his lack of vacations

But he had to admit. Actual vacations were definitely better.

At least, that’s what he was thinking that morning, when he woke up in a beautiful hotel suite with Damian still fast asleep, right beside him.

The suite was plenty big enough for each of them to have their own beds. Bruce had specifically chosen one with two bedrooms, after all. One for the kids and one for him. Damian had spent all of two hours in his own bed before his socked feet could be heard, padding across the living room and slipping inside Bruce’s room. A second later, Bruce had felt the bed dip, ever so slightly, where Damian climbed up and over to where Bruce was.

“Mr. Cow had a bad dream,” Damian had said, with a shy little smile on his face. The one he used when he knew he was about to get what he wanted, regardless of what he said.

Because of course he was. Bruce was such a push over, as Dick had always said. Besides, why would Bruce want to kick Damian out and back to his bed?

“Did he now?” Bruce asked, looking at the toy cow in question, which Damian had held up for Bruce to examine, “Did you tell him it’s just a dream and there’s no reason to be scared?”

“He’s not scared, he just wants to sleep in here anyway.”

With a quiet laugh, Bruce pulled the blanket out from under Damian and helped him get snuggled down under it. “All right, and since I know he can’t sleep without you, I guess you can stay, too.”

Moments like that…

Time was fleeting. Bruce wished he could hit pause. Slow down the aging process. Revel in his children for longer.

But that’s not how time worked, and it’s not how kids worked. So when Bruce woke, he enjoyed the first hour of his vacation staring at Damian’s sleeping face, marveling in his son’s presence and peace.

The quiet, beautiful peace didn’t last, of course.