#duke thomas x parentalreader
As Promised my loves, part 2.
This one was so much fun because I like writing pissy Bruce. Also apologies that Damian is a little OOC
You and Bruce came to an agreement, sort of. Neither of you really liked it, but Damian refused to return to his father if you weren’t with him. So Bruce set you up with a room in the Manor, and a car so that you could get to and from work.
Damian moved in a week before you did, he called and texted you everyday, and most importantly he sent you pictures of his pets. You smiled at each message from your boy while you packed up your belongings into small boxes.
The day you were to move in, you were surprised that Bruce, Damian, and Bruce’s oldest son, Dick, came to help you move your stuff into a large SUV. Dick had a kind smile and he thanked you for taking care of Damian when they couldn’t. You liked him more than Bruce, who was still cold to you.
The moment that you three arrived to the Wayne Manor, Damian grabbed your hand and dragged you inside, giving you a tour of the most important rooms (in his view). The tour consisted of Damian pulling you through the kitchen, dining room, library, his room, and finally your room. Once that was done Damian introduced you to his pets.
“He was the only reason I wanted to go back.” Damian admitted, scratching behind Titus’ ear.
“How long have you known who you were?” You had asked Damian many times, and he would always stiffen and not talk. You didn’t know why, but you tried not to push it too hard.
“I want you to meet Goliath.” Damian said, effectively changing the subject from your question, “But father doesn’t want you going down to the Batcave.”
And of course Bruce didn’t want you down there.
“Well you will just have to show me tons of pictures.” You smiled, and Damian smiled back.
That night you eat dinner with Damian, Bruce, and Dick. It was mostly silent, with Damian insisting on sitting next to you, Bruce at the head of the table, and Dick sitting across from you. It was awkward and silent, with people just pushing around their food.
It was Dick that couldn’t take it, he stood up looking pointing at Bruce, “I’m going to go patrol. Dami want to go with me?”
And you answered without thinking about it, “It’s a school night. He needs to go to sleep.”
No one was expecting you to say that, because Dick stared at you, opening and closing his mouth, and Bruce had a hard set to his jaw. You didn’t look up from the food on your plate.
Finally Bruce gave Dick a tight nod, and Dick slipped from the room, leaving his dirty plate.
Once you finished your meal, you took all the plates to the kitchen, despite Alfred’s protests, and told Damian to get ready for bed. You were so in the habit of acting like his guardian that you forgot that it wasn’t your job anymore. Not really.
“Y/N.” Bruce said from behind you as you were washing the dishes, you turned around almost shattering the plate. Bruce looked angry and you were suddenly a little scared, because this man could probably kill you five hundred ways. “I know that you’ve been taking care of Damian for a year now, but I am his father, and I make the calls.”
“Is this because I told him he can’t patrol?” You asked, because you had a very good reason for that.
“No.” Bruce said flatly, and you could hear the lie, “This is because you are now living with us and you think you are still responsible for Damian’s well being.”
“Well someone has to be!” You shouted before you could stop yourself.
You knew it was a dumb thing to say, but the look that Bruce gave you, radiating rage and questioning your authority, made you even more positive that you were being an idiot.
“What did you just say?” Bruce asked, stepping closer to you, and you leaned back into the sink scared. “Are you insinuating that I can’t care for my own son?”
“I found him bleeding in a dirty alleyway in Gotham. And I took care of him, alone. So no, I don’t think you can.” You shouted back in anger.
You watched as Bruce sucked in a deep breath, you could see him count to ten, and you wondered if he would punch you. It would be fair, because you were being a jerk, but you really hoped he wouldn’t.
“If… If this is going to work we need to set up rules.” Bruce finally said through gritted teeth, “Rules we can both agree on.”
“Fine.” You shot back.
“Fine.”
“Rule one, no patrols on school nights.” You stated. Bruce didn’t say anything for a long moment, and so you left, let him stew in his own anger. You would talk about rules in the morning.
You walked up to Damian’s room, he was sitting up on his bed, his cat was on one side, and Titus was curled up at the corner of his bed. Damian looked worried, but when he saw you the tension eased from his face.
“Umi, what took you so long?” Damian asked, and you smiled before placing a quick kiss on his forehead.
“Just got lost.” You replied, because Damian didn’t need to hear that his parents were fighting.
You stayed with Damian for a half hour before telling him to go to sleep, and then you returned to your room, where you sat up the entire night, wondering if this all was a mistake. Maybe you should have stayed at your apartment, and petitioned for custody every other weekend.
The next day you got back from work tired and just really wanting a long shower. You weren’t expecting to see Bruce sitting at the kitchen counter with a piece of paper in front of him, he looked almost as tired as you.
“Y/N, I thought we should write out our rules.” Bruce said.
You almost laughed, because you were really not expecting Bruce to actually make a contract, but he was a businessman so it made sense. And you wanted this to work, so you sat down across from Bruce and the two of you worked out a real and serious contract. One you were both okay with.
One thing that you hadn’t been expecting when you were living in the Wayne Manor was for it to always be loud. There were always a bunch of children running around, and usually breaking things. Damian usually forced you to stay away from the others, wanting you all to yourself, so you didn’t really know many of them.
You and Damian were baking cookies together in the kitchen, when a sleepy 17 year old stumbled into the kitchen, he stared at you, and then at Damian who was excitedly helping you mix the batter, and blinked a lot.
“Hello.” You said with a smile, and Damian whirled around to see his brother.
“Umi that is Drake, don’t pay any attention to him.”
“Thanks demon.” Tim muttered, grabbing some coffee.
“Kid, that’s not nice. Apologize.” You said not even looking at Damian.
Tim opened his mouth to say something, probably along the lines of ‘he will never apologize,’ but Damian looked at Tim and quietly said, “Sorry Drake.”
Tim stared at you with wide eyes.
“Who are you?” Tim asked in amazement, and you just laughed, continuing the cookies.
That night the entire Batfamily gathered in the living room, and you were there as well, watching as Damian verbally sparred with his brothers. Everyone was talking and having a good time, and you were standing against the wall, feeling a little left out, but not wanting to intrude more on Bruce’s life.
That’s when you noticed another kid hanging around the outskirts, he too looked slightly uncomfortable. You made your way over to him, “Hey. I don’t think I know you.”
The boy looked up at you with wide eyes that reminded you of Damian when you first met him.
“You’re Damian’s… you’re Damian’s.” The kid said, and you laughed.
“Good to know that’s my legacy, that I belong to a child.” You snorted and the boy looked a little embarrassed, “But that still doesn’t tell me who you are.”
The boy smiled his face darkening with a blush, “Right. I’m Duke. Duke Thomas.”
“Well Duke. Duke Thomas.” You smiled, and the boy rubbed the back of his neck. You felt bad for embarrassing the boy so badly, but it was really easy, “You look hungry. I made cookies earlier, you like chocolate chip?”
And you felt your heart break a little when you saw how excited this child was, he clearly wasn’t noticed enough. So you took him down to the kitchen where you you had left the cookies, you listened to him as he told you about his day, and you congratulated him when you found out he was president of the Spanish club.
When the two of you returned to the living room Damian came up to your side, and he glared at Duke, “You will leave my Umi alone.”
“Kid.” You said warningly.
“Sorry.” Damian muttered, he didn’t sound sorry. He took your arms and dragged you back to your room.
It was three AM on a Friday night– Well you guess Saturday morning– when the door to your room opened with a loud creak. You were still very much asleep and didn’t notice, even when your visitor tapped on your face, once, twice.
The third time you shot up to see Damian and Duke both standing in front of you, you were shocked to see them.
“Dami?” You croaked out, “Duke? What’s going on?”
Damian shifted from one foot to another, he looked embarrassed. Duke on the other hand didn’t have trouble asking, “We had a … bad patrol. Can we sleep with you tonight. Please?”
That woke you up really quick. You were alert, looking at the two boys, they were both in pyjamas and there was no visible injuries.
“Are either of you hurt?” You asked, pulling the two closer to you.
“No Umi, I just wanted to be with you. I’m not sure why Thomas is here.” Damian muttered, and you didn’t say anything about the comment. You were too busy pulling both the boys into your arms. That night you fell asleep between you two boys, a protective arm slung around them.
You would have serious words with Bruce in the morning.
