DISCLAIMER:
The characters belong to
DC and not me. I'm just borrowing them for a while to spin a tale.
Cat-astrophic
Adjustments
By firewolf
February 2008
@>;-'-
“We’re dead. We are
so dead we’re *doomed*.”
Boomerang Jr stared from the
muttering Metamorph to the still slightly
stunned Nightwing in utter confusion. “Hey girls?” He turned towards
the female contingent of his team, all of whom were eyeing their leader
speculatively. “This sort of thing don’t happen often, does it?”
“If only.” Grace sighed as
she started to reach a hand towards
Nightwing’s head only to snatch it away guiltily and grip his arm in an
offer of support instead.
“This isn’t a laughing
matter!” Rex thundered at them from their
leader’s other side as he pulled one of Nightwing’s arms over a
shoulder to help him out of the trashed room. “The Bat is gonna kill us
for what we let happen to his kid!”
“‘m okay.” Nightwing slurred
as he tried to push Rex and Grace away to
stand under his own power.
“No! You’re *not* ‘okay’!”
Rex was starting to sound a little
hysterical to Dick. “You’re so far from ‘OK’ we need an entirely new
language to describe the mess we’re in!”
“Rex.” Nightwing groaned and
winced, his sensitive ears painfully
twitched with the close quarters yelling. “I *am* really ok. You’re
over reacti--” It sank in right then that something did not feel
*quite* right with his ears.
“Can I touch them, boss?”
Thunder asked shyly as she took a step
closer. “Are they as soft as they look?”
“Reputedly they are.” Katana
volunteered numbly as she stared in
fascination at their changed leader. “Though I didn’t know nekojin
could actually exist outside of history and legend.”
“I-- what?!” It was at that
moment Nightwing realised why his pants
were feeling so uncomfortable and thanked the Almighty his new body
parts hadn’t ripped out of them with the transformation.
“We’re doomed.” Rex muttered
more mournfully as he sensed his leader
going into shock.
~.~
It was widely known in the
Justice League that Batman hated magic. As a
man keenly interested in and dependant on technology and trusting in
events governed by the laws of physics and science, magic was too
unpredictable and immeasurable for him to consider it reliable.
Therefore it was little surprise to the League that Batman was furious
with the Outsiders when they brought his son to him after what was
described as a magical accident of disastrous proportions.
That was not to say Nightwing
wasn’t monumentally upset in his own
right. However, he did not blame his team for his condition. It was,
after all, honestly a freak accident.
Their intel did take note of
their target’s room of ‘magical’
artefacts. However, no one could have predicted that Nightwing would be
tossed through a crack on an upper floor to land on a cat-motif urn
which would collapsed under him and bring down the rest of the
collection in a domino fashion. By the time the rest of the Outsiders
vanquished their enemies and zipped down to check on their leader, the
magical energies had settled down and Nightwing was left in his altered
form.
Despite the transformation,
Nightwing was remarkably upbeat besides
being thankful that he wasn’t in a worse state. Considering the
Hodgepodge of magical disciplines miss-mashed and amalgamated in his
accident, he knew he could just as easily have turned out hideously
deformed and monstrous.
At the end of the day, it
wasn’t all that bad a hardship to be saddled
with silky black cat ears and long tail, retractable claws on his
hands, and a fondness for tuna and sardines (or whatever fish snack he
could get his hands on.)
~.~
Dick was trying to be patient
as the magic users poked, prodded,
sniffed, and hovered various wands over him while he reclined on the
examination table. He forbore the attention well. However, he couldn’t
help but wonder if gender truly made a difference in methods within the
magical community. For example, the lady magic users seemed more ‘hands
on’ in their examination and all had at one time or another stroked his
new cat ears when they examined him. The men were far more interested
in the retractable claws on his still remarkably human looking hands.
However, the singular pest
during the examination had actually been
Robin. It was bad enough having, Jason Blood, the Phantom Stranger,
Tempest, Zatana, Zatara, Shadow Pact, and who knew how many other trust
worthy magic users the JLA could gather, examining every inch of him
without his little brother taking active interest too.
Once he got over the horror
and humour of the situation, Tim had been
completely fascinated by how Dick’s human ears had disappeared leaving
smooth skin and hair in its usual place. The boy was also instrumental
in helping the magic users learn that Nightwing’s new kitty ears were
quite expressive, going flat along his head when Dick was upset or
angry; which he was with all the poking and prodding Tim was delivering
to his head.
One small mercy during the
embarrassing examination was that none of
the magic users touched his tail. New though it was, to Dick the
appendage seemed like it was an intimate part of him and he didn’t know
if he could stand to have anyone else’s hands on it.
~.~
Tempest truly and honestly
tried not to be too fascinated by
Nightwing’s tail. The Atlantean mage also steadfastly reminded himself
that he was a married man with a lovely wife and baby. However, he had
to admit he wasn’t dead and that if he wasn’t already committed...
The tableau which his friend
currently presented was just *very*
tempting. Bored and reclining nude upon an examination table with his
naughty bits covered by a towel, Dick unconsciously displayed a very
alluring figure. Furthermore, to the delight of the ladies (and Garth),
he didn’t notice that his lashing tail had dislodged the towel over his
butt, allowing interested parties the opportunity to ogle the light
dusting of black hair on his lower spine leading to the furry tail and
a fascinatingly furless pair of well muscled cheeks.
Garth really wished he and
Tula had been daring enough to follow
through on their day dreams to jointly seduce Robbie way back when.
Having fond memories to fall back on would have gone a long way towards
dampening his current sudden obsession over his old friend’s very
interesting new tail.
~.~
From her observation post at
her base, Oracle was watching the fun at
the JLA HQ. She may have broken up with Dick over a year ago, but she
still couldn’t say if she felt amusement or jealous possessiveness to
watch the group of JLA, Titans and Outsiders ladies standing behind an
oblivious Nightwing and checking out his long tail which was lashing
around in irritation.
She had to admit that
Nightwing’s sexy, black furred tail was visually
irresistible; and furthermore led everyone’s eyes from it to one of the
sexiest tails within their teams’ membership. Barbara was sure
Nightwing wouldn’t take well the disappointment Grace, Thunder and
Katana were furtively expressing to the other ladies over how Nightwing
only allowed Rex to assist him in punching a hole in his pants to let
out his tail from where it had been earlier bunched up and crammed
uncomfortably into his skin tight body suit. It would certainly have
mortified Dick to hear the soft but heated discussion the ladies were
engaged in speculating whether Nightwing wore briefs, a thong, a
g-string, or went commando when in uniform.
~.~
A cure, or solution, was
unfortunately quite impossible at this first
meeting. That being the case, the best Nightwing could do was to lie
low until the magic users could work out how to change him back.
It was just as well that
Bruce gave Dick a whole wing of Wayne Manor to
call his own several months earlier. Essentially self contained with
bedrooms, guest rooms, luxurious full baths, a gym, study cum library,
entertainment centre and kitchenette, it gave Dick the space to hide
out without feeling claustrophobic as he would have been if he’d just
had his old room. Also, it allowed Dick a measure of distance from the
rest of the Bat Clan if he didn’t want company, but still kept him
close enough for Bruce’s peace of mind.
All the same, everyone was
relieved that Dick was still essentially the
same man as he was before his transformation. However, he picked up
several characteristics of a cat; one being a love of a warm spot on
which to cat nap. Now, Alfred and family could often find him sprawled
on a carpet napping in a sun beam.
~.~
Tim couldn’t believe it. In
all the years he’d known the man, the
former circus acrobat couldn’t keep still for very long. Yet all Dick
had done at his entrance was to open an eye to verify his identity,
before promptly falling back asleep in his sun warmed nest of blankets
and rugs. This was mildly disturbing.
However... Tim grinned as he
crept nearer to see how close he could get
to Dick before he’d do something about it. He got awfully damn close,
with Dick’s only reaction being a slight twitch of one of his ears. Or
so he thought.
“Tim?” The teenager froze at
the soft purr of the man he was hovering
over.
“Yes?”
“Do you like that t-shirt
you’re wearing?”
“Er-- yes? I like this
shirt.” Tim swallowed hard, becoming suddenly
aware of how sexy his brother sounded with his purr. He, unfortunately,
missed the other undertone.
Dick lifted one hand from
under the blankets and extended his claws
finger by finger. He didn’t have to say a word. Tim gulped and left his
brother to his nap.
~.~
Another cat characteristic
which Dick picked up was his new fondness
for seafood. Unfortunately, the stinkier the better; such that Alfred
kept Dick’s kitchenette supplied with his own store of blue cheese,
canned tuna, sardines, anchovies, fresh garlic and raw onions so he
could prepare his own snacks.
~.~
“Good Lord, Alfred?!” Bruce
held his nose as he stumbled out of Dick’s
wing of the Manor with watering eyes. “What died in there? Is Dick all
right?”
“Everything is perfectly
fin-- well, as fine as it can be given Master
Dick’s condition.” Alfred told him non-pulsed as he dusted the
ornaments in the hall outside. “He is just having a snack.”
“But--”
“He has always faithfully
aired out his suites after he’s had his snack
to make sure he doesn’t offend any visitors.”
“Alfred, it--?!”
“While it is heartening to
know your olfactory senses are working
exemplary, Master Bruce, do show Master Dick some consideration in
allowing his unfortunate idiosyncrasies.
“The young master is
thoughtful about brushing his teeth and eating
breath mints after his ‘special’ snacks. And we did put our foot down
on oriental sun dried cuttlefish.”
What could the poor man say
to that?
~.~
One thing Dick’s friends
quickly learned *not* to fool around with was
catnip. Dick completely transformed into a jet-black panther when under
the influence of catnip; a crazed, irrational and dangerously playful
panther.
~.~
“It was a joke!”
Green Arrow very visibly
wilted under Batman and Superman’s joint
disapproving glare as they stood at the observation deck with the rest
of the Justice League. On the other side of the windows, four Green
Lanterns attempted to carefully separate a black panther from a
catnip-infused Batman plushy.
“I-- should make you-- get in
there to *personally* take that-- *thing*
away from my son.” Batman gritted as he was barely held in check by
Superman’s restraining hand.
Oliver went very pale as he
stole a glance into the green hued room
where the big cat wasn’t letting anything or anyone get between him and
his new found toy. Green Arrow gulped as he eyed the almost
unrecognisable stuffed doll. However much the four ring wielders tried
to untangle Dick’s claws and teeth from the by now nearly shredded toy,
they just couldn’t make him give it up.
“Well... At least there’s a
tiny bit of a bright side to this.” Zatanna
ventured as the rest of the Justice League continued to watch the
swiftly deteriorating tug of war.
“And what could be good about
this?”
The magician flinched when
Batman’s black glare momentarily transferred
to her. She waved her hand between them as if she could disperse
the miasma of anger and frustration surrounding the concerned father.
“Hey, I just wanted to point out that Dick’s clothes transformed with
him. You now know that you won’t need to worry about him shredding out
of his clothes and ending up naked when he changes back.”
“What a pity.” Dinah sighed,
her smile momentarily turned dreamy before
she caught herself.
“Dinah!” Oliver shot Black
Canary a look of betrayal.
A sudden spray of plushy
stuffing caught everyone’s attention and they
turned back to the green hued room to find themselves looking upon a
black panther which was now happily rolling around in bits of white
cotton fluff. Batman buried his face in his hands in despair.
“It’ll be over soon, Bruce.”
Superman patted him on the shoulder
comfortingly. “See there? Kyle’s forming a vacuum cleaner to sipho--”
“Nnooo!” Batman slapped his
hands against the glass separating them in
alarm. “Kyle! Not a vacuum clea--!”
The warning came too late.
The Green Lanterns were fortunate to have
their rings programmed to automatically generate armour for them as a
last resort protection of their person. Dick’s claws were apparently
very capable of slicing through Kevlar.
Once he was himself again,
Dick graciously apologized to Kyle for
attacking him while he was a catnip drugged panther. However, it still
took two months for the Green Lantern to stop flinching away from Dick
whenever they encountered each other.
Word spread quite quickly in
the hero community that bringing catnip or
operating a vacuum cleaner in the transformed Nightwing’s presence were
huge ‘No-No’s. And there were enough witnesses to tell the story behind
the warning to have the tale gain almost legendary status. It was
therefore no surprise that from then on, no one else dared to ‘test’
Batman’s son for other cat-like idiosyncrasies. After all, if the
father didn’t kill you, the son unintentionally might.
~.~
Still, despite the
adjustments and hiccups he had to go through
adapting to his new ‘circumstance,’ Dick could only stay home bound for
so long before the roof tops and open spaces called to him. He
surprised Selina and her protégé the first time he
appeared dressed completely in midnight blue.
Selina nearly bust a gut
laughing when father and son paid her a visit.
“This is too rich!”
“Selina.” Batman sighed as
Dick glared at her while his tail lashed
about behind him in irritation.
“The ears! Oh my God! Your
ears are so adorable!” Holly squealed to see
them flatten along Dick’s head in annoyance for their laughter.
“And he’s got bigger ears
than me-- Catwoman or you!” Selina continued
snickering as she pointed at Batman.
“Selina.” Batman growled
again. “Look, the cat-motif is very much your
expertise and dressed like this...”
“Oh, he’s looking vvveerrry
nice indeed.” Holly purred, though having
taken note of the lashing tail, she had enough sense to keep her hands
to herself.
“Mmmm.” Selina purred in
agreement. “I never did understand why Blake
went the route of orange, yellow, and brown in an urban setting.”
Dick grinned. “This is from
someone who once pranced around in a purple
cat suit?”
“Be nice, junior.” Selina
wave him off. “You coming here means you
wanted help.
“So, what’s the problem?
Apart from the obvious, that is.”
Holly snickered. “She’s
already hit it, hasn’t she? You look like
Catwoman Jr.”
Dick sniffed indignantly.
“The uniform’s not black. It’s got a sheen of
blue, and I chose it to matched the colour of my ears and tail.”
At the end of the day, Selina
was helpful in offering a hero name for
Dick since ‘Catman’ was long taken by another and he didn’t want to
consider the absurdities that were ‘Nightcat’ and ‘Catwing’. It made
Bruce frown, but that didn’t dampen Dick’s enthusiasm over being called
‘Catspaw.’ And the criminal element in Gotham City was to fast learn to
fear this new hero on the prowl with his inhuman cat-like grace, speed
and razor sharp claws.
~.~
When he is able to,
Deathstroke liked to stay informed of the movements
of both friends and enemies. Over the last year or so, however, Slade
had admittedly lost track of Nightwing when he disappeared with the
Outsiders. So he sat up and took notice when Calculator sent him a
titbit about strange stirrings in Gotham regarding the appearance of a
new seemingly familiar hero.
If asked, Slade wouldn’t have
admitted to having any expectations on
his visit to Gotham. What he found though went beyond anything he’d
ever imagine. He hadn’t even realised his mysterious quarry had sensed
his attempt to stalk him when slashing claws greeted his arrival on a
roof top Slade had been sure the hero departed from minutes earlier.
The mercenary looked down at
the tatters left of his Kevlar reinforced
tunic. He was quite amazed to note that his skin had remained untouched
despite the ferocity of the assault. Understanding, therefore, that the
attack upon him wasn’t completely hostile, Slade allowed a bit of
levity behind his growl.
“This was a three thousand
dollar armoured suit.” He glared at the
culprit of the damage.
“So? It’s a small price to
pay for poking your nose where it’s not
invited. “ The figure in the midnight blue cat suit stretched sinuously
on the wall in front of him before looking upon his claws. “You didn’t
have to sneak up on me. You could have called and saved all the
unpleasantness.”
Slade stared at the hero.
Apart from the slight rumbling purr in the
voice, he thought he recognized it. “Grayson? What the hell happened to
you?”
“Magical accident. And call
me Catspaw.”
“It must have been some
accident.” Slade didn’t know whether to be
horrified or amused to see the man’s cat ears flatten along his head in
annoyance while his tail start to wag.
“What do you want, Slade?”
“Keep enemies close, kid.”
Catspaw didn’t even look at
Slade as he flexed the claws on one hand.
“How close do you think you need to get?”
Slade was taken aback. It
didn’t sound to him like he was being warned
off. It was more like-- flirting? The mercenary couldn’t imagine Dick
forgiving him for Bludheaven’s destruction. On the other hand, could
Grayson be somehow manifesting a cat’s fickleness?
“Should I be worried about
this?” Slade pulled at his shredded upper
body suit.
“Oh, I was just satisfying a
curiosity.” Catspaw shrugged as he
stretched sensuously. “And exerting an equal opportunity prerogative.
“You’ve seen me without my
shirt numerous times. I thought it just fair
to have my turn, especially since I’ve got these nifty new accessories.”
For some reason, the hero’s
entire demeanour made Slade feel nervous
and hot under the collar. Dick Grayson never made him feel like that
before. Not even in his guise of Nightwing. However, under Catspaw’s
gaze Slade felt like he was being sized up for a meal. One which in
truth he probably wouldn’t mind providing if he was reading the signs
right. The idea sent all the blood in his body rushing to his groin as
images of receiving a blow job from this dangerous creature suddenly
flooded his head.
“Ssoooo, you *are* interested
in equal opportunity fair play?” Catspaw
purred to Slade while he continued to flex and retract the claws of one
hand. All of Slade’s attention, however, was on the fingers of the
other hand which were playfully tracing the hero’s lips. Slade almost
groaned when a tongue flickered out to lick at an index
finger.
“Kid--” Slade’s voice had
turned heavy and dangerous. “Don’t *tease* if
you’re not going to put out.”
“Now why do you think I
*wouldn’t* put out, hmmmmm?”
Slade turned tail and ran. It
was a close call, but he suddenly
remembered that he was in Gotham city and for all his bravery, he
wasn’t suicidal. It was not wise to test Batman’s patience over his
son, especially in his own city. Given how stressed out Batman must be
for what happened to Nightwing, Slade was quite sure the man would come
down like the wrath of God upon anyone who dared to mess with his kid.
As a result, Slade
regretfully placed ‘having sex with Catspaw’ right
at the top of his list of things to avoid while in Gotham City.
Thinking further on it, Slade realised it was probably far safer to
avoid Gotham all together rather than be exposed to the temptation of
satisfying a curiosity to see how far Grayson would take his teasing.
Now if Catspaw were to be agreeable to a tryst in another city
though...
Slade considered the
possibilities. The Titans were situated way across
the country from Gotham City and Robin was close to Grayson. That was
probably as far outside Batman’s bailiwick as he could go while staying
in the same country...
~.~
Bruce steadfastly told
himself that Dick was a victim of the entire
situation and therefore really had little control over his magically
altered nature. But male cats didn’t get in heat, damn it!
This current situation was
worse than the time Dick debuted his black
and blue Nightwing gear. At least then, his son only attracted the
attentions of the female population of their select community. However,
as Catspaw...
Bruce had already delivered
one stern warning to Deathstroke by way of
(a traumatized) Robin. And he’d even seriously talked to Jordan about
cradle snatching. Given the situation of their last encounter at the
JLA headquarters, the Green Lantern really should not have taken the
blatant flirting seriously. It had only been an unfortunate side effect
that Dick became extraordinary affectionate and playful while he was
coming down from catnip euphoria.
Damn, damn, damn! Bruce knew
he was over reacting, but he just couldn’t
help being more protective of Dick lately. Especially when he knew how
miserable Dick was for having lost a great deal of freedom with his
transformation.
Dick would be absolutely
mortified if he ever found out how transparent
he was now, but with the new expressive ears and tail, he didn’t have a
snow ball's chance in hell of hiding his feelings from Bruce. Sometimes
on the ride back to the bat cave after their patrol, Bruce would
surreptitiously watch Dick as he stared out the window. He was quite
sure his son was completely unaware of how his ears would droop and his
tail start to wave half heartedly behind him the further they got away
from the city.
For all that he was making
the best of a bad situation, Dick really
missed being able to leave the Wayne estates like a normal human. But
he certainly didn’t want to endanger Batman’s identity by allowing
anyone outside their trusted circle learn that Dick Grayson had become
a were-cat.
~.~
It was under the most
innocent of intentions that Roy learned how
sensitive Dick’s cat ears were. At the onset, Bruce had engaged his
services to help Dick find a hat or some sort of suitable head gear his
son could wear to hide his ears. Roy was to discover that it really
wasn’t as simple as he thought to have Dick flattened his ears and jam
a hat over them.
Dick’s furry ears were *very*
expressive, and he couldn’t always
control their movements. Thus an unconscious twitch could easily send a
hat flying. A suggestion to tape the ears down wasn’t well received
either. Dick informed him then that his ears were incredibly sensitive
and couldn’t take that kind of abuse.
Initially, Roy was too ready
to scoff at Dick’s claims. It thus led to
Roy sitting behind Dick and challenging him to discern if the archer’s
hands were hovering around, near or away from his ears.
“Hey! No fair moving your
ears to tell where I’m at.” Roy protested as
Dick’s ears twitched against his fingers again.
“It’s not like I can control
it.” Dick groused grumpily as his ears
flicked against the archer’s hovering fingers again. “I’m telling you,
Roy. They’ve almost got a life of their own and they’re reacting to
your hand’s proximity.”
“Why? It’s not like you’ve
got a lot of hands trying to pull your ears.”
“Only on Thursdays at the
JLA, when the mystic crew take another crack
at breaking the spell.”
Roy immediately paid
attention when Dick’s ears started drooping with
his statement. “Hey, Robbie. Cheer up. We have the best and most
powerful magic users on the planet working on it.”
“What if they can’t break the
spells?” Dick asked softly. “I’ve heard
them discuss it at length. There are more than half a dozen spells and
curses of different disciplines tangled together in this-- thing that
transformed me. They’ve not managed to theoretically duplicate the
process, much less work out how to untangle the spell strands.”
Roy unconsciously rubbed Dick
behind his ears in comfort. “Yer gotta
have faith that they’ll crack it soon.”
Dick started to lean into
Roy’s hand and a rumbling purr rose from his
chest. The sound surprised Roy enough to make him stop moving his
fingers. “Dick?”
The man froze and turned to
look back at Roy. “Wha--?” He blinked at
his friend. “Do that again?”
Roy’s lips quirked in a smile
as this time he used his nails to skritch
Dick behind the ears. Dick’s responsive purr was much louder.
“Thhisss-- issss nn--ii--ccce--”
Roy gulped, Dick’s voice had
dropped an octave and he sounded-- this
was entering dangerous territory. And-- "Hey, Robbie? You're not gonna
turn into a panther and want to-- eat me, are you?"
“Oonnlyy-- iiff-- yoouu--
ssstttoooppp.” Dick pushed his head towards
Roy’s scratching fingers and purred even louder. He started moving to
press against Roy’s very responsive body.
“Hey, Dick! Roy.” Tim
strolled into Dick’s living room to join them.
“Bruce said you were trying out different hat--” The teenager’s eyes
went wide as saucers when he came upon his elder brother purring and
rubbing sensuously against a grinning Roy.
“Wwaaaahhhhh! Damn it, Bro!
TMI! TMI!” Tim covered his eyes and started
backing blindly towards the door. “It’s bad enough that Deathstroke’s
trying to make dates through me and Bruce is passing warnings the same
way. Lock your door or move to your bedroom!”
~.~
As it turned out, Roy
discovered Dick’s new ears to be a huge erogenous
area. And that nibbling or licking the ears made the man shiver with
delight. Dick’s tail was even more sensitive. And Roy found he could
make Dick come just by rubbing the base of his tail.
For Roy’s safety, Dick had
him chain his wrists to the bed head when
they had sex. He understandably didn’t want to risk accidentally
shredding his lover to bits. Having been one of the witnesses to Dick’s
attack on the hapless Kyle some weeks earlier, Roy was grateful for
Dick’s concern.
Roy very quickly realized
that he had quite a catch in his hands if he
could handle it. Dick’s breath alone could be a trial for his ordinary
friends if he wasn’t very thorough in brushing his teeth that day.
Fortunately, Roy was quite fond of sardines and onions. However, he put
his foot down on blue cheese, garlic and anchovies before bed time.
~.~
Bruce wasn’t sure if he
should feel pleased or disturbed to have gained
a new ‘boarder’ with his daughter. To be fair, he realized that he had
been the instigator to bring Dick and Roy together, and Dick did seem
far happier with the archer than Bruce could recall him ever being with
anyone else. Lian was also a delightful little girl who could brighten
up the manor with her presence.
Still, Bruce did worry about
what would happen after the spell on Dick
was finally broken. At the least, Roy sought him out to talk about the
situation before he moved his family into Wayne manor. In that, Bruce
had his assurance of Roy’s seriousness in the relationship.
Besides, Bruce would never
admit it to Harper, but Dick was becoming
devastatingly good at employing drooping ears with wide bright eyes to
underhandedly get his way at anything he desired. And it was a matter
of self-preservation to want more voices in the household who’d help to
steadfastly uphold Alfred’s ban on oriental sun dried cuttlefish.
For now, Wayne manor had
settled into a comfortable warmth of
contentment Bruce couldn’t recall ever experiencing. The evenings often
found them gathered in the family room with Tim reading a story to Lian
as she sat at his feet staring up at him worshipfully, treating him
like an ‘awesome’ elder brother. Roy and Dick would be on the couch as
they read books or magazines, with Dick’s head on Roy’s lap and with
Roy’s fingers either idly playing with Dick’s hair or stroking his
ears. Bruce would be in his chair reading, or chatting with Alfred if
he could persuade the man to take a break and sit with them.
Altogether, Bruce had to
admit that his family couldn’t be said to be
‘suffering’ for Dick’s magical problems. So as long as Dick was happy,
Bruce decided he wasn’t going to get stressed out over the situation.
After all, Dick was adjusting
to his new ‘accessories’ and finally
settled on using headscarves and tying a sweater around his waist when
he wanted to get out into the city during the day. With Red Arrow on
the alert, Batman didn’t have to worry too much about Deathstroke
trying to lead his son astray. Batman and Catspaw’s no nonsense
reputation had risen quite spectacularly, especially since no one could
be 100% sure what might or might not trigger Catspaw’s transformation
into a panther. Though in truth, Dick worked out how to control the
change shortly after the catnip incident, but why let anyone else know?
Besides, it was more fun to let the others continue to tip-toe around
the Bat Family.
And at the end of the day,
Bruce was sure he would eventually get over
the disquiet he felt about Dick’s new ability to purr. After all, it
was quite soothing to hear the throaty rumble in the evenings while
they relaxed as a family.
End