I Forgot to Mention

Bonus Chapter 2! What's on Your Mind

Batman had a son. Batman, THE BATMAN, had a child. An actual person. Slept with Batman. And they made a child.

Well no shit, Allen! Barry mentally scolded himself. You passed high school biology, didn't you?

Still, the thought of Batman romanticizing anyone, much less successfully, was enough to grind all other thoughts in the speedster's head to an instant halt. (Barry supposed that the whole "mysterious dark loner" persona could be appealing to some women. At least, if those broody vampire movies Iris dragged him to were any indication. Maybe he should ask her to clarify if that was the case? Then again, if Batman did have some sort of secret underlying attractiveness, the last thing he wanted to do was bring it to his wife's attention!)

Barry quickly looked around the table at the other heroes. It seemed that he wasn't the only one stunned by the revelation. He was just the only one with their mouth currently hanging open.

***
He knew it! Well, he didn't know specifically about the kid, or about his mother, whoever she might be, but he was still right! Ollie knew that Batman just had to have some kind of family outside of the Justice League's knowledge.  After all, he had all those students kept hidden from them (including his own son!) so it was only stronger evidence towards Ollie's theory.  And, now this?  This was the proof!  Ollie was right, he had always been right, and now everyone here needed to bow down to the one and only Queen! 

He wondered if Bruce knew that Batman had a kid.  With how obsessed his best friend was with the hero, it was entirely possible that he could. Then again, with how secretive Batman is, he likely didn't trust Bruce with such information. The other billionaire was a great guy, but even Ollie had to admit that he has a bit of a big mouth. And if not him, then his sons do for sure. The photo of Dickie and Artemis was testimony to that.

Ollie didn't get a good look at Robin, but he was probably about the same age as Bruce's youngest. Maybe, Ollie could convince Batman to let the two have a play date or something. Bruce barely ever let the boy out to socialize like his other sons. In fact, he hardly ever let anyone even see the boy. Ollie hadn't even been aware that Bruce had adopted another kid, until he got the invitation to the boy's birthday party. (Bruce had been a little surprised to see him and Roy there, claiming that he had forgotten to send them an invite.  Luckily, Alfred had done it for him.  The scatterbrained guy was lucky to have such good help.)  The party didn't last long, and Ollie hadn't gotten the chance to say more than two words to the birthday boy.  It was a strange exchange, which ended with Dickie dragging the kid off to have some ice cream before he could respond to Ollie.

On second thought, they probably wouldn't get along.  From what Ollie's heard, Robin is a real handful.  Damian is just shy.

***
Diana wasn't exactly surprised by the fact that Batman had a son.  He was a man, they had urges, and sometimes they were stupid about them.  If anything, she was simply confused by Robin's age.  The boy seemed so young.

At least he was being properly trained.  Too many children went through life without ever being taught how to wield a sword.  Such a shame, in Diana's opinion.

***
No.  No.  It had to be a joke.  There was no way in all the cornfields in Kansas that Batman was a father.  Clark refused to accept it.  He bought that Batman had successfully hidden the fact that he had four protégés from them all. Honestly, even now he had a hard time believing that Nightwing was trained by Batman. The boy was just so...the complete opposite of the Dark Knight. At least, it had seemed that way during his interrogation. (The fact that Nightwing clearly looked up to him so much didn't influence Clark's opinion on the subject. Not a bit.)

Robin, however...that was a different story. Clark still doubted the paternity claim, as despite his current feelings towards his fellow hero, Batman did not act so completely feral. It was just as likely that Batman found a random toddler with a bloodlust (it's Gotham City, after all, that was probably a requirement for all residents) and then convinced his parents to let Batman train their son to keep it under control. He had to be great at handling parents, if he was able to convince three other sets of them to do the same with their own kids.

There probably wasn't even a single paternal instinct within Batman. Clark couldn't speak for any actual fathers, but he remembered what it was like to grow up with Jonathan Kent for a dad. That man is a real father. He found an abandoned baby with no home, no family, and took him in. He didn't even turn away when Clark first got his powers. Instead, he taught Clark what it meant to be a hero. Clark always hoped to one day at least be half the father his Pa had been to him. What could someone like Batman possibly know about what it takes to be a good father? He lets a kindergartener loose to fight super villains, with a sword! Those are sharp!

Of course, as much as he hated to even think about it, that did leave Clark wondering where the boy's mother was in all of this. Ma would have certainly set Pa straight (among other things, honestly, that woman could be more terrifying than Luthor sometimes!) if she thought even for a second that he was intentionally putting Clark in danger. And, Clark was invincible! While it was entirely possible that Robin's mother could be out of the picture, surely she must care even a little bit about what her son was getting up to?

This all had to be some elaborate scheme to make fools out of the league members, Superman was sure of it.  Batman is always trying to prove his supposed superiority over the rest of the heroes time and time again.  Who's to say he isn't above using those kids to do so?  If that is the case, then they are going to need to pay close attention to all four of the boys.  Clark wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he let something bad happen to a child on his watch.  No matter who was at fault.

I really wanted to do the heroes immediate mental reactions to the previous chapter's reveal, but it didn't feel like a necessary part of the plot, so thus ✨another bonus chapter✨