Dick stands in front of his two rather annoyed brothers and claps his hands, "Okay, team, tomorrow is Bruce's birthday and since he's going to arrive tomorrow from his business trip in Asian, that gives us less than 48 hours to bake him a cake."

He finishes cheerfully, a grin on his handsome face. Jason and Tim stare back at him with deadpan expressions, Tim follows with a yawn and takes a sip his coffee while Jason rolls his eyes.

Dick huffs, "Oh c'mon guys, let's do this together for Bruce, you really wouldn't make me do this all alone would you? ....Actually don't answer that."

Dick drags them to the kitchen where a mess of groceries laid about. Tim looked at the mess with a grimace, "Are you sure we need this much stuff to make one cake? I mean 3 bags of flour, really?" Tim finishes, looking at Dick unimpressed. They pause as they take in the magnitude of the amount of ingredients they bought.

Dick rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, "I may have gone a bit overboard with everything."

Jason raises and eyebrow and grumbled, "Tch, a bit, you say?" Dick pouts at that.

They hear a snort and look to find Alfred standing at the doorway, he sniffs in amusement and asks, "Are you sure you don't just want me to make the cake, Master Richard?"

Dick shakes his head quickly as answer and says, "It'd be really nice if we made this cake for Bruce ourselves as a gift for him, plus it's a good family bonding opportunity." The last statement makes Jason and Tim groan and Alfred chuckle slightly.

"If you says so, Master Richard, now I will take my leave. Also, please try and refrain from burning down my kitchen while I'm gone." Alfred leaves promptly after that making them snicker.

Dick turns back to face his bored brothers and grins excitedly, "This will be good for us, we can bond together and help with Bruce's birthday preparations! This should be easy, I mean how hard can baking a cake be?"

————

A couple hours later, the three of them stand in the kitchen, covered head to toe with flour and cracked egg shells. If the kitchen was a mess before, it looked like a war zone now. Flour, egg pieces, sugar, and bright pink frosting covered almost every inch of the kitchen space.

They looked onwards towards the cake that stood infront if them and they examined it with dazed glory.

The poor cake seem to tilt the left since Dick had made a bet with Jason that he could make the cake 2 feet tall and it could still stand. Of course, Tim had tried to stop them but the state of the cake seemed to remind him of his failure to do so the longer he stared.

Other than its Tower of Pisa impersonation, the cake had 'Happy Birthday Brucie' written on it with Jason's kindergarten-like handwriting in a kind of vibrant pink frosting that seemed to glow in an unnatural way.

When he asked Dick where he had gotten the unusual color, he received a sly smirk and the words, "I have my own top secret sources for illegal cake frostings, Timmy." Tim didn't even bother to asked what that meant.

His train of thought was interrupted by a cough that led a large cloud of white dust out of his lips and he watched it, fascinated and half delirious from all the raw eggs they had accidentally consumed.

Jason wheezed as he took of the mess, there was no way to be sure that that hot pink frosting wasn't going to dye itself on Alfred's various white cloth napkins.

Jason whimpered out, "Oh god, Dick, we are so screwed. Alfred is going to kill us!" He yells, eyes wide with terror.

There was only one thing the bat boys were really scared of and that was Alfred Pennyworth's rage. Tim shivered as he remembered the traumatic memories caused when he pissed Alfred off.

Dick gulped, taking in their surroundings and tried to his best to smile it off but ended up with a grimace instead.

He coughed at the flour filling his lungs and said, "Well, at least the cake is finished." The oldest was met with blank faces again and he rolled his eyes.

Tim grumbled at them and winced as he felt egg yolk slide down his hair, how did that even get there?

He stalked towards the cookbook at the corner of the table, glaring at Dick as he walked. He looked down at the book and narrowed his eyes at the page, it was written in Romani, Dick's native language. He winced at that and realized it must've belonged to his parents.

Tim tilted his head and tried to read the words out loud, most likely getting them wrong. He huffed at his mistakes and tried again. A voice behind him sounded, "You're getting all the pronunciations wrong. You sound like you're speaking Latin." Tim jumped and almost squeaked at the voice that belonged to Dick.

Dick snickered at him and Tim scowled, "Nobody knows how to speak Latin, it's a dead language." He deadpanned.

Dick gasped dramatically and faked a look of insult, "How dare you criticize my intelligence, brother dear. I am the firstborn, I deserve respect." Dick exclaimed.

Tim rolled his eyes at his dramatics and ignored him as he laughed at his own joke and walked back towards Jason.

Tim sighed and looked back down at the book, he mutters his interpretation of words and rushes through the pages, only attempting saying the words that stand out to him in each page. He mutters them quickly, butchering the language and not seeming to care.

As he tries saying the words he feels an unusual sensation come over him, he frowns at it, it feels like a breeze on his neck and it makes his arms stand with goosebumps. He continues his inaccurate chant and shudders as the feeling increases.

Then, just as he was going to stop, the lights in the house flicker and a large light erupts in the center of the room and the small breeze that had bothered him before now became a furious storm, sending his hair flying over his eyes and the book flipping quickly. He heard Dick yell and Jason curse in the back.

From the mess of his hair, he saw Dick look at him in shock and he heard his frightened voice yell over the sound of the roaring wind, "What's going on?!"

Tim gulps in fear and yelled, "I-I don't know."

He squeezed his eyes shut as the orb in the center of room brightened to a blinding level.

As if nothing had happened, the winds has quieted down and there seemed to be no evidence of anything having happened at all, except for the mess of paper and opened cabinets adding to their already existing mess.

In the middle of the room, where the orb of light had been, a small boy kneeled and stared at them with wide eyes.

His hair was as black as night and was in heavy contrast with his bright, almost luminescent, green eyes. His skin was a tan color and his arms had black markings that seemed painted on. His open mouth helped make out his two little, sharp teeth but if that wasn't unusual enough, the boy had two horns on the top of his head that curved to the middle of his head and spiraled. He wore Greek toga which was drenched in the same color as his hair, gold bands and bracelets littered his arm and legs.

The unusual boy seemed almost as frightened as they were as he jumped and squealed. They watched as he scrambled to the corner of the room, trying to put as much space between them. The more Tim looked at him, the more the little boy reminded him of a creature from a story and he gulped nervously.

It was silent for a couple seconds more until Jason looked wildly around the mess of the kitchen, "What is going on?!" He shrilled, his voice cracking half way.

The demon ignored Jason's question and remained cowered in the corner of their destroyed kitchen and screamed, "How? How were you able to summon me?!" He looked at Tim as he said it and Tim felt all eyes turn to him.

He froze and stuttered, turning back, his hands shaking as he stood flipping through Dick's Romani cookbook as fast as he could as if to search for answers. He looked back at the demon with large, frightened, blue eyes and yelled, "I don't know!! You were supposed to be red velvet cake!"

The demon narrowed his eyes at that and growled, "Well I do not care what I was supposed to be, take me back home, humans!" The kid huffed after and crossed his small arms, looking at them as if expecting one of them to challenge him.

Dick approached the small boy warily and he watched suspiciously as Dick came towards him, he took a step back for every step Dick took forward which caused Dick to huff in annoyance.

"I hope this doesn't offend you or anything but... what are you?" Dick asked, regarding the boys unusual features.

The boy sniffed in indignation at being scrutinized like an animal. He scowled, "Since you are not intelligent enough to deduce for yourself, Richard Grayson, I am a half-demon." He puffed out his chest as if he proud of the fact.

Dick choked and looked at the small boy in shock, asking, "H-How did you know my name?"

The boy rolled his glowing green eyes and huffed, looking at his black nails in boredom. "I am much older and much wiser then you could ever comprehend, Grayson. I know everything about everyone." He said, shrugging as if that was supposed to be normal to them.

Jason rolled his eyes at him and said teasingly, "Oh please as if we would believe that, oh great and all knowing leader."

The demon curled his lips in distaste at Jason's comment and huffed, "Why would I lie about that to you? Just because your species' intelligence is extremely low compared to mine, doesn't mean that I should coddle you with lies about my true superiority."

Jason scowled and said, "Didn't you want to get back home, kid? Well, you're not exactly making us want to help you, red velvet." Jason and the demon glared at each other menacingly.

Dick looked at Tim and lifted an eyebrow, Tim only shrugged in return. Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Ok, enough of the fighting. If we want to help each other, we need to work together."

Dick looked up to Jason and the child who still glared at each other and rolled his eyes, "Ok kid so, who are you?"

"I am everything that is wrong with this world. I am your worst nightmare. Your greatest fea-" Damian began, his eyes glowing brighter, staring Jason down in intimidation as he continued.

"- Okay but like, what is your name?"

The boy twitched but didn't look away from Jason as he responded, "What?" The two continued their staring contest like two dogs unwilling to give up dominance over the other.

"You're name, kid, what is it?"

The boy finally turned his green eyes to the oldest, who stood looking blankly at him, "My name is ˆ∫˜ å¬ ˛¨'ƒƒåßç˙" He said, his tongue twisting into confusing positions and a noise that sounded like a mixture of a rumble and electric frizz came out of his mouth.

Jason snickered, making the kid glare at him more, and said, "Nope. I'm not even going to try and say that." The kid growled at him and seemed to grumble something in his bizarre dialect at Jason.

Tim wrapped his hands around his body as if to comfort himself and said, "Yeah, I don't think our vocal chords can make that sound anyways."

The kid snapped his head at Tim who tensed and the little demon put his nose in the air, haughtily saying, "Do not remind me again of how pitiful and useless you humans are, I am surprised your species has not died out already."

The statement made Jason glare at him again and the glaring contest between them started again. "Instead of trying to pronounce that, how about we give you a nickname instead?" Dick suggested.

The boy stood up from where he had cowered by the corner and put his hand on his hips, glaring at Dick with an expression of insult, "No, absolutely not. I am an ancient and powerful being, you will call me by my name, insolent mortals!" He growled.

Jason rolled his eyes and turned to Dick, ignoring his tantrum, and smiled unsettlingly, "Ohh, I love that idea. So what do you think, kid? Personally, I'm thinking of 'small child of rage' or 'red velvet cake in human form'."

The kid turned towards Jason, who stood smugly, and growled, "Patronize me one more time, Jason Peter Todd, and I'll break your face," he deadpanned and smirked smugly when Jason sputtered as he said his name.

The boy then turned to Dick and frowned, asking, "Why do we even need names? Let's just focus on getting me back home!"

Dick ignored the brat's comment and stood thinking, saying mockingly with a smug look, "Well we can't call you 'kid' all day, now can we? After all you are all powerful and stuff, right?"

The boy, or Damian now, grumbled and rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders in defeat, "That I am but fine, my other, more worldly, more boring name is Damian."

Jason let out a snort and Damian glared in offense, Jason said, "Woah, that's so sadly ironic."

"Jason!" Dick scolded at Jason.

Damian scowled at Jason and his rudeness, "Say what you want, you slightly intelligent chimpanzee, but try and take me home, while you're at it."

Tim narrowed his eyes and asked, "How do we do that exactly?"

Damian looked at in confusion, tilting his head like a cat. "What do you mean 'how do we do that'? You were the one that summoned me, you should surely know how to send me back." The poor kid looked more and more nervous.

Tim frowned, feeling guilt swarming him, and asked, "I'm sorry, this was all an accident. Do you know how I could send you back home?"

Damian furrowed his eyebrows as he seemed to go deep in thought, he but his lips and wrung his hands, "Well I'm not... exactly sure.." He said, a slight pink coming onto his cheeks.

Jason narrowed his eyes saying, "What do you mean you're not sure?"

Damian glared at Jason for a few seconds before huffing and looking away, clearly embarrassed, "My mother will not let me learn the ancient ways of summoning yet, she says I am too weak.."

Dick winced at the look of embarrassment and sadness on Damian's face and shushes him, "It's ok, we're going to try and help you, but first you're going to have to help us. Do you remember anything that could help us take you back home? A book or words from a conversation that you overheard?"

Damian looked uncertain, biting his lips as he thinks of an answer. They watch him pacing, frustration building quickly on his face. Jason glances at Dick in concern.

Damian opens his mouth to answer but hesitates, looking at them warily before saying in a small quiet voice, "Well, there is one way..."

"And that would be?" Jason asked, crossing his arms.

"We could... we could summon my father," Damian whispered looking shocked at his own idea.

"But I thought you couldn't call your parents," Dick inquired, looking in suspicion.

"No, I can not contact my mother since she is one of my kind and I have not been taught their summoning ways yet, but my father, he is... something else." Damian said nervously, as if he was about to let out a big secret.

"What is he then?" Tim asked.

"He is an angel and since humans are more willing to connect with angels then with demons, there is one summoning act that all humans know." Damian admitted to them.

Dick looked up in curiosity and asked, "What is it?"

Tim rolled his eyes, "Haven't you guessed it yet? We have to pray."

Jason choked and looked back and forth between Tim and Damian, he licked his lips in disbelief and exclaimed, "Pray? All we have to do to summon an angel is pray?"

Damian rolled his green eyes and sighed, using a droning, bland voice like a bored instructor, "Angels rarely show up in their physical forms or communicate directly with their summoners, just like demons they can interfere with the real world but choose not to make their presence, as a whole, known completely."

Jason muttered, "Well that explains a lot."

"So who has to pray then? Tim?" Dick asked.

"Yes and no, both Tim and I must complete the prayer together so Father will feel my energy and come to see what I am doing in this world. Since I'm not yet old enough to operate here," Damian finished with a pout on his lips.

After his statement, Damian turned to Tim, staring intensely at him with glowing green eyes, he put his arm forwards and flicked his wrist in a come hither movement, "Come forward, Timothy Drake, and together our prayer will send me home." He didn't ask him how he knew his name.

Tim stumbled forward and flushed with embarrassment at all the eyes on him again. He took the smaller, darker hand into his and let himself be moved around.

He bit his lips and watched the boy who furrowed his eyebrows as he moved Tim into a specific place, "So, what should I do? Do I have to do some particular hand movements, or maybe some words in your fancy language or-"

"I assure you that you will have to do no such thing, Drake," Damian reassured, smirking slightly at Tim's frazzled look.

Tim stood facing forward with his hand placed up towards the ceiling. Damian stopped adjusting him and moved behind Tim, their backs pressing together.

Damian took a deep breath and glanced behind him, "Ok, Drake, the prayer is quite simple, 'Oh holy Bachiel come to us with protection from the east as we pray to the west'."

Tim nodded quickly and swallowed nervously, "This is all way too crazy. Demons, angels, am I dreaming?"

Damian turned to him and narrowed his eyes, "Want me to pinch you to find out? Because I gladly will."

"No thanks."

"Then let us begin."

Dick and Jason exchanged anxious looks to each other.

Damian said, "What you must do is say the prayer and at the last word clasp your hands together."

"T-Thats all?"

"Yes. My father listens to the prayers addressed to him, he will notice my aura and come to us. Nothing will go wrong, at least I hope." Damian said, muttering the last part.

Tim swallowed nervously at the last part and tensed.

"Are you ready, Timothy?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Then without warning, Damian began the prayer with Tim, their combined voices reaching a harmony, "Oh holy Bachiel come to us with protection from the east as we pray to the west!" The hand clapped together just as the last syllable of the last word was uttered.

For a few seconds nothing happened, Damian furrowed his eyebrows and looked around anxiously and Tim bit his lip in concern, "Did it wor-"

A large blast of light stopped his sentence and blinded them as a form of pure light seemed to take form. It had a male figure and immediately turned his glowing face to Damian who laughed in relief and said, "Father! I need your help."

Jason, Dick, and Tim dropped their mouths open in shock at the being in front of them.

The glowing body of the angel turned its head to the left like a curious cat. He said in a soft voice that seemed to sing at the same time, "My son. What are you doing in this realm?"

"This man here summoned me on accident, Father." Damian said, looking up to his father with eagerness and pointed accusingly to Tim who stood with wide eyes.

The angel looked pointedly at Tim and his aura seemed to change, his form glowed bright and his voice sounded louder as he said, "An accident?"

Tim swallowed in fear and felt himself start to sweat, "Y-yes, Mr. Bachiel sir, it was all an accident."

The angel stared him down for a couple more seconds before he hovered down into the floor. The light around him damped until his features became more visible, Tim assumed that he must've been trying to intimidate them before. If he was, he had sure done the job.

The glow faded until the face and body of the sentient being became visible. The reveal had Dick gasping, Jason's jaw clenching in anger, and Tim's mouth dropping open.

Bruce stood in front of them with his jaw set in determination and a hand on Damian's shoulder. Bruce looked sharply to them and greeted the flabbergasted group, "Boys."

The silence stretched out for a period of time and Damian looked around in confusion. Bruce coughed awkwardly, "Now I know this might come as a shock but I'm...."

"An angel? That business trip to Asia that you went off to it was-" Dick muttered, disbelief painting his voice. Tim looked down to hide his tears.

"My... official work, monitoring, soul judgement, you know..." Bruce said nervously which for a guy as big and tall as him, who for lack of better term oozed confidence, was unusual.

Tim who was looking down at the floor suddenly looked up in anger, "Why didn't you tell us? Why keep it a secret?!"

Bruce frowned, as if he didn't understand the question, "Why didn't I tell you? Tim, all of this, this adopting you all, this making a home here; none of this is allowed. Luckily enough for me my job isn't very demanding, so that's why I had so much time to spend with you."

At that Damian wrenched his shoulder from his father's grip, he looked up to him with betrayal shining in his eyes and his lip trembled, "More time with whom, father? Them? The ones who don't even share you're blood? All this time mother told me you were working, that that's why you were always busy, being good, and heroic, and kind, and at the same time you must've never thought of me."

Damian stepped far from Bruce, each step breaking his heart. "Please Damian, let me explai-"

"No, you had your chances, take me home."

"Damian, please, try to understand, I-"

"No! Take. Me. Home." Damian said, his voice trembling as he looked away from them. Bruce tried to turn him around and when he did, Damian looked at him with hate-filled, glowing, green eyes and a scowl on his lip, "Take me home. To my mother."

Bruce flinched at the statement and tried again to reason, saying, "Damian you've got to understand. Being who we are, the relationship between me and your mother had never and will never be allowed. Any interactions between us had to be done in complete secrecy, but we never could've imagined you."

Damian still looked away, like a child who refused to acknowledge anything, Bruce continued, "After your birth, your mother and I agreed to never reveal your true parentage to anyone, in fear that you would be killed for being the product of a prohibited relationship between an angel and a demon."

Bruce looked down at his son in guilt and Damian sniffed, wiping his eyes, pretending like he was fine.

Bruce got down on one knee and locked eyes with his son, putting a comforting hand behind his neck, "I'm sorry, Damian, I'm so so sorry, for not being there, for making you feel unloved in any way."

Damian looked intensely into his father's eyes, trying to find any suggestions of lies but only found love, he nodded, accepting his father's apology. "I.... I forgive you."

The arch-angel Bachiel smiled and stood, looking towards his other sons, who seemed just as angry and hurt, "I am sorry, Tim, Jason, and Dick. I just wanted to do some good in this cursed city, and I saw you three. Alone, in need, and utterly helpless, and I.... I just had to do something. I hope you boys can forgive me."

Tim and Dick stood quite, not knowing what to say or do, and when Jason scoffed they looked up at him. "You know, I thought angels were supposed to always make the smart decisions." He said jokingly, his serious face melting into a teasing one.

Bruce gave a short laugh in relief and replied, "Well we try our best to, we really do." Dick snorted out a laugh too and passed his hand over his face in exhaustion, Bruce looked at him in hope and he kindly said, "We understand, Bruce."

Bruce looked at Tim for confirmation and sighed in relief when Tim nodded shortly at him, smiling shyly.

Damian scoffed, interrupting the touching moment by saying, "So what you're telling me is that I have to be brothers with these commoners?"

Tim rolled his eyes as Dick said, "We forgive you too, Damian."

Damian looked to him in confusion, "What for?"

"He means, we forgive you for being a huge brat," Jason added making Bruce chuckle as Tim and Dick tried to hide their amusement.

Damian glared at Jason before huffing and looking away. Dick shook his head at the childish action and looked at Bruce in amusement, "Now I know where he gets it from."

The rest of the group laughed while Damian rolled his eyes, annoyed with them.

The combined noise of their laughter covered the sound of the front door opening and footsteps making their way into the kitchen.

The sound of the groceries falling in shock and an angry statement made them quiet their laughter and look at the source in fear as Alfred asked in a deadly calm voice,

"What in God's name happened to my kitchen?"

:::::::::::::

Oof another 4K chap, dang. I hope y'all can forgive me for the long hiatus, I've barely anytime when I get home for things other than sleeping and schoolwork.

!!ALSO!!: I'm on the lookout for a beta to review my stories for grammar and literature issues. If you're interested, just dm me with a short introduction about yourself :)

Anyways, see you guys for another month... I'm joking ;) or am I? >:0