#week nine

Eddie is sitting on the little wooden board the hairdresser placed over the arms of her chair to make him taller, the hydraulic lift hadn't even been enough to get him where she needed him, and he somehow still looks little.

She gently, oh so gently, takes the clippers to Eddie's hair, shaving off strips, as she talks him through each pass. Eddie seems fine with it, there are no tears, but no smiles either.

This was the right call. A beauty shop, not a barber. Wayne's own barber does just fine on his own hair, but wouldn't have been so delicate with Eddie, and right now, Wayne's pretty sure his boy needs a soft touch.

There's another boy in the chair next to Eddie, probably the same age, but he's so much larger, and more animated. Studying every move of her hand as she barely trims anything off his thick head of hair. He doesn't need the booster board, even if Wayne suspects he's younger than Eddie.

"Nanny Louisa, can I get my haircut like that?"

She laughs, "Steve. Your mother would have both of our hides. We all have very strict orders for your haircut and you know it." 

"Aw, man, it looks so cool," Steve whines, and if Wayne isn't mistaken, that's Richard Harrington's boy. And if that's true, there's no way he's leaving here with his head shaved, that's for damn sure.

And then, as if it were a miracle, Eddie smiles. It's small, faint, barely there. But it's a goddamn smile, aimed at the other little boy that is watching as Eddie's hair falls down all around his chair and onto the floor.

The Harrington boy doesn't win, and only gets a trim, but Eddie has straightened up on the board. Not nearly as withdrawn as he was when they entered the shop.

Maybe shedding all that damaged hair feels like a new start. Wayne sure hopes so, because they're gonna need all the help they can get.

When he's all brushed off, and the plastic cape removed, the hairdressers each hand Eddie and the Harrington boy a coupon for a free ice cream cone at the shop down on the corner. It's a perk for being good in the chair, and they both earned it today.

Eddie clutches his coupon in his little hands.

"Do you want to save that, or get it now?" Wayne asks, and Eddie looks torn. That isn't the look Wayne wants on his face, so he quickly amends his question, "Or both? You can save your coupon for a rainy day, and we can still get ice cream now," Wayne offers.

"Really?" Eddie says, looking so hopeful, and it's the most beautiful word Wayne's ever heard in his whole life.

"Really," he reassures, "you save it until you want to use it. And I'll buy, today."

"Can we go get ice cream, too, Nanny Louisa?" the Harrington boy asks, and she looks reluctant, but finally nods. She couldn't let him get his head shaved, but ice cream, that's probably a much more doable request.

Wayne sits at the table with Louisa and makes the world's most uncomfortable small talk, as the boys sit at another table together, and jabber back and forth. Well, Steve is doing most of the talking, but Eddie, his sweet Eddie, has said more in the past thirty minutes than he has in the past week, and Wayne doesn't care who has gotten those words out of him, he'll be grateful. 

When the cones are gone, both boys appear at the side of the table, "Eddie's coming over tomorrow to swim," Steve announces. 

"Oh, is he?" his nanny asks, teasing Steve, and Wayne smiles. 

"He is. His uncle will bring him," Steve says with a confidence that things will always go his way in life, and Wayne hopes that rubs off on Eddie, just a little bit.

"I will?" Wayne teases, and Eddie meets his eyes, and Wayne nods. "If it's okay with Miss Louisa, I think that could be arranged."

"I don't know how to swim," Eddie admits on the way home, and Wayne laughs.

"Maybe you shouldn't have made a swimming playdate then, kid," Wayne teases, and Eddie laughs, a small quiet laugh. But it was a laugh. Wayne heard it.

"Yeah," Eddie says, and then he's quiet for a stretch, "could you teach me?"

Wayne isn't so sure that's his area of expertise, but he supposes he could try, "Yeah, I can try."

Knowing Eddie would be far too embarrassed to go to the public pool, Wayne takes Eddie out to the swimming side of Lover's Lake.

Wayne, not sure the last time he's even been in shorts, wades out in the water in his cut-off jeans, surely blinding the boaters a mile out with his white legs, as Eddie walks in beside him.

And Wayne teaches him, always staying within an arm's reach. And Eddie swims. It might not be the fancy strokes that the Harrington boy can surely swim, in his private pool with his private swimming lessons. 

But Eddie's doing it, and Wayne feels like maybe, just maybe, he's finally done something right for the kid today.

Eddie's laughing, and splashing, a quick study, and Wayne lets him paddle around for as long as he wants, until the sun threatens to sink beyond the horizon. 

Once back on shore, Wayne wraps him up in a towel, just one from the house, and gets him back into the truck.

"I'm starving," Eddie says.

"The downside to going swimming, I'm afraid," Wayne answers, but swings by Benny's Burgers on the way home, getting them both a burger, fries and a milkshake. Ice cream twice in one day is fine, Wayne's pretty sure, since Wayne's celebrating the first good day they've had since Eddie got here.

Anything the kid wants, forever, Wayne will do his best to make happen.

In the morning, Wayne brings Eddie by Melvald's General Store, to let Eddie pick out a beach towel from the rack. Eddie combs through them, so serious as he checks out the options: Star Wars and Barbie and Huckleberry Hound.

"Garfield!" Eddie finally declares, and Wayne supposes that's the one. 

"Garfield, great choice," Wayne says, taking the towel to the counter so they can pay for it. So Eddie won't be embarrassed bringing a fraying old towel from home. So he'll have something new, and fun, that he picked out all for himself. 

Wayne probably should have washed it first, but he's not that organized, and Eddie'll live. Wayne pulls off the tag and hands it over, and Eddie hugs it to his chest.

Pulling into the circle drive at the Harrington's is weird, to say the least. He's never set foot on the property, and never imagined he ever would. But, Eddie's brought a lot of changes, and if Eddie likes this other little boy, and he's kind, Wayne will be polite and make his boy happy in any way he knows how.

That evening, when he picks Eddie up, he's tired, and a little sunburnt, but rattling off information about his new friend and all their grand plans for the summer vacation.

And as time always goes, that summer flew by too fast, and before Wayne knew it, years had passed. The boys drifted apart as fast as they became friends. As kids do. By high school, Wayne hasn't heard the name Steve Harrington from Eddie's mouth in years. 

But that summer, that first summer, Wayne will forever be grateful for him. For Steve Harrington, Garfield beach towels, and more ice cream cones than he could ever begin to count. To swimming, and fishing, and playing in the backyard. 

To the little kid that made his boy smile again.

And when Steve Harrington, now grown into a man, shows up on Wayne's doorstep, Eddie's denim vest clutched in his hands, filthy and blood-stained, Wayne lets him inside without a word. 

Wayne takes one look at him, and tells him to wait there. 

He has to dig, but he finally finds Eddie's piggy bank in a cardboard box that he'd packed from the remnants of the trailer, and pulls out the bottom plug. Change falls out, clattering onto the desk. 

But inside, there's a slip of paper. Folded to fit, and dirty from spending so much time hanging out amongst the coins.

Wayne clutches it in his hand, and when he presses it into Steve's palm, trading him for the vest, Steve looks down at it, his eyes wet and red-rimmed.

Wayne starts, "I don't know if you remember-"

"Of course I remember," Steve cuts him off. 

"Well, I thought today might be that rainy day."

Steve laughs, and sniffles a little, both at the same time.

"This ice cream shop has been closed for years," Steve says, but he's finally smiling, just a little. 

Eddie's not here to do it himself, not here to coax out that smile, so Wayne's repaid the debt for Eddie himself. 

"Yeah, well…" Wayne trails off.

"But it is, you know," Steve says, "that rainy day. So, thank you."

And months later, Eddie shows up on Wayne's doorstep again. Dirty, his hair matted, and eyes downcast. Thin, worn to the bone, and as silent and stoic as he had been at seven. Wayne asks no questions. The answers don't matter right now. Instead, he pulls on him, hugging him tight, welcoming him home.

They've done this before, and they can do it again. And Wayne's grateful to have the opportunity. He was so sure he'd never see him again.

Then, after Wayne's gotten Eddie settled, and Eddie is standing in front of the bathroom mirror, combing out his own hair, Wayne excuses himself, heading for the kitchen to call Steve Harrington.

Wayne tells him to bring ice cream.

Snow whispered softly against the massive windows of Wayne Manor, layering the city outside in silver calm. Inside, chaos ruled in a way only the Bat Family could manage: laughter echoing down hallways, bickering bouncing off marble pillars, and the scent of cinnamon and pine threaded through everything Alfred touched. Garlands shimmered under chandelier light, and every polished surface reflected the flicker of the giant Christmas tree standing guard in the main hall.

This was Duke Thomas’s first Christmas under the Wayne roof. He still hadn’t quite learned how to walk through the manor without feeling small, but tonight the loneliness pressed less sharply. There were people everywhere now—the Titans mixing with the Bats, Stephanie and Tim tossing jokes over cocoa, Gar, Jamie and Raven standing somewhere between bored and amused. For once, Duke didn’t have to hide in corners pretending to text. But amid all this noise, his eyes kept finding Cassandra Cain.

She moved like smoke between crowds—quiet, grounded, effortlessly graceful. Where others announced themselves, she appeared. A hand on Alfred’s shoulder while he passed out food, a rare half-smile when Damian tried to hang mistletoe three inches too low. Cass didn’t say much, but Duke didn’t need words. A glance was enough.

Near the fireplace, Duke caught a snippet of conversation that made him grin over his mug of cocoa.

Tim Drake: “Look I’m over it, it’s Christmas, but he did try to kill me, Dick. He followed me to Titans Tower no less.” Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson: “Jason. Ever since he took that death trip, he's been a different person.” Tim Drake: “Well, that's no excuse. Raven died four or five times, and she's just sweet as Dr. Pepper.” Dick: “Yeah, yeah. Well, I think it’s closer to four though. Lemme see. Two times with Brother Blood, once with me on the team, once with you—let’s not forget . . .”

Cass stood by the mantle nearby, twisting a red ornament string in her gloved fingers. When Duke looked her way, she tilted her head, curious at the grin flickering over his face. He only shrugged, mouthing, Bats being Bats. Her answering smile looked like approval—or maybe quiet mischief.

By the Christmas tree, wrapping paper began to pile up near a smaller explosion of laughter.

Stephanie Brown: “Hey, Jay, did you buy that sweater knowing that red dot was on it because you could get it at a discount?” Jason Todd: “What? Did I what?” Stephanie Brown: “You did, didn't you?” Jason: “Steph… seriously? I’m actually kind of stunned here. I bust my ass, blow my savings on this ridiculous Christmas sweater—because, you know, I figured I’d do something nice for once—and this is how you thank me? Merry freakin’ Christmas, I guess.” Stephanie Brown: “Well, Alfred told me you did.” Jason: “You told her? How could you tell her? Oh, Et Tu Alfred? Et Tu?” Mr. Pennyworth: “I didn't speak out of turn, Master idiot— ahem, Jason. She tricked you.”

Jason’s grumbling retreated toward the corridor. His footsteps faded into the rumble of Damian’s laughter and the faint notes of Kori’s Tamaran caroling from another room.

Duke watched Cass out of the corner of his eye—she was suppressing a laugh. When she finally exhaled a silent chuckle, her shoulders eased, and Duke felt the tension of the big house melt a little. He wanted to say something, maybe tease Jason with her, but then she was already drifting away to help Alfred carry a tray of pies.

Raven: “I was just in the kitchen and we need ice.” Barbra Gordon: “In winter.” Raven: “I know, but Kori wants to make this Tamaran thing and . .” Jason Todd: “En’uf said. Dick, she’s your girl—let’s take the Bentley.” Tim: “I’ll get some coffee for the ‘nog.”

The clatter of keys signaled the start of yet another adventure. Duke found himself roped in, jacket half-zipped before he realized it. Cass brushed his arm lightly as he left—a blink-and-you-miss-it gesture that steadied him more than it should have.

Snow glittered on the Bentley’s hood as they rolled out the manor gates, laughter fogging the car windows.

Jay: “I’ll drive.” Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson: “And what about your license?” Todd: “What about it?” Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson: “Do you have it?” Todd: “It's fine.” Dick: “It was a yes or no question.” Jay: “Okay, yes, it's fine. We're going up the street, I don't need my license.” Dick: “Jaybird, this is a vintage car, and I’m a cop. You can’t drive unless you have your license on you, so could you go get it. Please?” Jay: “I would, but . . it’s expired.” Dick: “When did your license expire?!” Jay: “I don't know! Like, while I was dead.” Tim: “That’s your excuse for everything recently.” Dick: “Then you're not driving!” Jay: “Well, I drove the Batmobile yesterday.” Dick: “Well, Jaybird that's illegal.”

Duke laughed, warmth spreading through him despite the cold outside. For all their insanity, this was what family looked like—imperfect, ridiculous, but real. He texted Cass a blurry photo of snow on the windshield and the caption: We live dangerously. She replied an emoji—one raised eyebrow and a snowflake.

When they returned, the manor pulsed with life again—music, chatter, and the faint hum of the Titans trying to explain karaoke to Bruce. Duke slipped through the milling guests, snagging a cookie from the dessert table as he passed a new pocket of conversation.

Jamie ‘Blue Beetle’ Reyes: “I’ve heard it too. Gotham has alligators in the sewer.” Tim Drake: “That’s just Killer Croc.” Duke Thomas: “Besides that. Like a normal, but obviously huge gator.” Raven: “I also have a question, pretty boy. Why are you encouraging all this?” Duke: “I wouldn't say I'm encouraging it, I'm just open to the possibility.” Tim Drake: “Well, I'm not. Not unless I see some cold, hard evidence.” Duke: “And maybe it's there. Proof at last, Duke, proof at last.” Raven: “Is he all right?” Stephanie Brown: “I wouldn't say so, no. He's a Batfamily member, so.”

Cass lingered near the edge of the group, an amused look flickering between Duke and Raven. When he caught her eye, she made a subtle motion—two fingers wiggling like an alligator’s jaws. He stifled a laugh.

Later still, the party slowed. The air thickened with warmth and the smell of burnt sugar from too many toasted marshmallows. In a corner near the study firelight pooled golden, where Barbara held court with Garfield and Duke, who was now juggling gifted poetry books in one arm.

Barbra Gordon: “Hey Duke. Where’s Bruce?” Duke Thomas: “He's leading Damian’s cow out the house, again.” Barbs: “Okay. Here are those poetry books you wanted. I used them in the Freshman Lit class I taught last year. If you have any questions about poetry, just ask me.” Garfield ‘Beast Boy’ Logan: “Yeah, I have a question. I understand why guys get into poetry. To get girls. But why do girls like poetry?” Raven: “Because girls think with their brains.”

Cass slipped into the room halfway through that exchange, quiet as ever. She perched on the arm of Duke’s chair, scanning the books. One finger landed on a line of text. She didn’t read it out loud, just met his gaze and nodded—a silent good choice. Duke felt his pulse trip over itself.

Down one corridor, the last scraps of conversation carried softly over the fire.

Damian: “So you're saying... I'm the only one you were ever nice to?” Jason Todd: “Pretty much. I tried to kill replacement. Dick was a Dick to me, and y’know I don’t take no shit.” Jay: “You know, you have a real opportunity here. You can break the cycle. You can be a good brother to Mari’. You can be the one kid in this family who takes care of the younger one and looks out for her.” Damian: “How is that fair?” Jay: “Yeah, you're right.”

Duke passed by, pausing just long enough to catch the warmth in Jason’s tone—rare, genuine. Cass appeared beside him again, silent as moonlight, watching the same moment unfold. Without looking at him, she murmured, “They’re learning.”

He smiled. “We all are. Roof?”

Cassie nodded. 

The strains of laughter and soft music drifted down the hall, the house breathing contentment for once. Snow glimmered beyond the tall windows, and for the first time since he moved in, Duke didn’t feel like a visitor in Wayne Manor. He felt like part of something built from scars, second chances, and every quiet, unspoken thing that passed between him and Cass.

Snow drifted through the quiet night like the slow fluttering of forgotten wishes. The world below them glowed softly with the hush of winter — garlands glimmered, halos of light shimmered upon windowpanes behind them, and the air itself seemed to hold its breath.

Duke Thomas — Signal — sat beside Cassandra beneath the outcropping of the window, on one of the rooftops of the Wayne Manor.

The reflection of Christmas lights dancing along his golden skin his thoughts swirled like the flakes above, fragments of a year’s ache and wonder folding upon each other. He can see past nights, them, together on the roof like this, be Duke hopes this night will be different.

“With so many changes in my life, I know I can rely on you. You are the only thing in my life that feels real.” His voice carried warmth that even the cold wind could not steal — steady, reverent, as though every word was a truth carved carefully from his heart.

Cassandra’s gaze lifted to him slowly, dark eyes wide with something new and fragile, like dawn breaking after too many battles in the dark. Her breath trembled before it became words. “I’ve fallen in love. My first memory is fighting. I didn’t think such violent emotions could happen to someone like me.” In the glow, she looked almost otherworldly — a warrior softened by a peace she didn’t yet understand. The confession left her trembling, not from fear, but from the strangeness of being open — unguarded.

Duke’s hand rose, tentative but certain, the way light touches shadow before merging with it. A lock of her midnight hair had fallen over her cheek; he brushed it aside with a gentleness that made her heart flutter like wings against glass.

“I can’t see anything I don’t like about you,” he said, voice tender with awe. “I could die right now, Cassie, and not regret it. I’m just... happy. I’ve never felt that before. I’m just exactly where I want to be.”

Their foreheads met softly, two stars finding orbit after drifting too long through separate skies. Around them, the snow kept falling, the city whispering faintly through the hush — but in that moment, time itself seemed to pause, bowing to love’s quiet, eternal fire.

For a long, weightless moment, time seemed to surrender to the stillness. The only sound was the quiet conversation between falling snow and beating hearts. Cassandra’s eyes searched Duke’s face — every hesitant tremor of his breath, every shadow softened by light. The warmth between them grew, fragile yet infinite, like the space between a spark and flame.

Duke tilted his head just slightly, a silent question lingering in the air. His hand rested against her cheek now, gloved thumb tracing the edge of her jaw as though memorising her through touch alone. The world faded into a blur of silver and gold — only her eyes remained, deep as the night and full of something unspoken.

When she leaned in, it was barely a movement, almost instinct. The tips of their noses brushed, soft as snowfall. Then her lips found his — hesitant, searching — and the chill around them melted. It wasn’t hurried or grand, but slow and reverent, the kind of kiss that feels like the beginning and ending of everything at once.

The city blurred beyond their small universe: the glitter of lights danced on icicles, a distant choir hummed through open doors, and snow landed quietly in their hair. Cassandra pulled back first, her breath trembling into the space between them. “You make the world quiet,” she whispered.

Duke smiled, forehead resting against hers. “Then I guess I’ll have to stay,” he murmured, his voice a flicker of gold in the winter air.

“I vow to fiercely love you in all your forms, Batgirl, Orphan, my Cassie now and forever.”

And there, beneath the gentle hush of falling snow, they kissed once more — not from uncertainty, but from knowing. The night stretched out like a canvas painted in light, and for the first time, both heroes felt entirely, beautifully human.

@batship-winter