deathbytokyo and I were talking about this a while back and here it is

in this AU David is a billionaire in the vein of lex luthor lots of shady shady deals and Dick isn't a villain he's good ol Dickie boy that's it those are the changes enjoy this

im back from the break for the main book but i might put off sidebooks for a lil bit longer

Dick wanted to get out of this ball the moment he heard he had to go. Of course, he didn't like passing up opportunities to look amazing but it didn't matter how hot he looked when the higher-ups of Gotham wanted to kick him down to the dirt. He'd asked over and over if he truly needed to be there but it turned out the whole family was invited. If he didn't show up, he'd only bring the press's attention to himself. Not that they weren't already trying their hand at making him sound like he'd been cut off. He'd happily tell them that he was living just fine by himself but the roaches in his apartment may beg to differ. So he spent his Friday night hovering around the ballroom, weaving his way through crowds to avoid awkward conversations and picking up a glass or two of champagne. It was the good stuff after all and he couldn't let it go to waste. He eventually found a corner table that saw little traffic from the rich Gothamites and sat himself down, spying out his brothers and sisters causing trouble. He'd join in later on so he could make a quick escape. 

As he watched the ball play out, he felt someone's eyes on him and spied out a ginger staring at him like he was the last man on Earth. He glanced the other up and down whilst he tried to place the face. New money, that was for sure. He'd been on the front of one of those Forbes magazines as owning one of the fastest-growing businesses in Bludhaven. The invitation to Gotham must've been to attract some work. What was that name? David something. In all honesty, Dick wasn't the most interested in the work. If he was reading the signals rights, and he usually did, then he might be able to bag himself something to make the evening worth it. He sent the man a wink after catching his gaze and soon enough David was heading over to his table with two drinks in each hand. Good job too as he just finished his glass. Granted, there could've been something slipped in there but he doubted new money would risk it just yet. "This seat taken?" David asked. He shook his head and gladly accepted the drink offered to him. They clinked their glasses and sat in comfortable quiet for a moment.

"Thanks for the drink although I fear you want something in return," he replied. 

"I suppose I do but I've come to make you an offer." An offer? That certainly had Dick's attention. He couldn't imagine it would be something plain. He checked the room to make sure his siblings weren't eyeing them up before giving the man the nod to explain his proposal. "I heard you were cut off and I thought you can't be earning very much so how about you give me a little company and I'll make sure you're comfortable?" Oh my God, this was a sugar daddy situation. He couldn't tell if he was happy about being so hot someone would pay to spend time with him or mad about being called poor in fancy words. Overlooking the being called poor part, he pondered if the offer was one he wanted to take up. It wouldn't do much for his reputation but there was no saving that at this point. He took another sip of his champagne thoughtfully before deciding to inquire more. 

"By company, what do you mean?"

"Dinners, events and the like." Interesting.

"Nothing more?"

"That would be illegal now wouldn't it?" 

"Didn't say you'd have to pay me," he added under his breath. David caught it and smirked at the comment. "What's a man like you paying for anyway? I'm sure there are plenty of men and women begging for an hour alone with you." 

"Money guarantees privacy." He wasn't wrong. Although it did make the acrobat wonder what had happened in the past to make him so wary. He didn't bring that topic up just yet. 

"Alright David, I'll take you up on the offer. You have a phone?" The ginger nodded and pulled out his phone to hand it over. There was a small blush on his face that Dick decided not to pull him up on. He was clearly trying to go with a suave Tony Stark without the PTSD vibe and he wasn't about to ruin it before he got a paycheck. After typing in his phone number and making himself a contact, he returned the phone with a smile. "You best be getting back to working the room. You're already getting glares talking to a man like me," he told the man. David hummed but it took a good few moments before he made any actions to leave. 

"I'll give you a call soon." 

"I look forward to it."

As he walked off, Dick was hardly given a moment to breathe when his siblings practically teleported to the table. "What did he say? Do we need to destroy him?" Damian asked.

"No murder but I can mess up his stocks. That'll get him," Tim suggested. The siblings nodded, already agreeing on a sufficient method to hit back. 

"That's not necessary," he assured them. He kept his eyes on David as he spoke with the other guests. 

"Ohh," Steph began. "You two are hooking up."

"We're not hooking up," he corrected rather quickly. He wouldn't mind if they did though. "He just wanted to propose an offer and I accepted." They looked at him sceptically but he wasn't going to give them any more information. David wanted privacy and he wanted to give him all that he could. Of course, his family would figure it out but he wanted them to work for it. They tried to question him more but he wouldn't answer no matter how much they pleaded nor how annoying it was to have the group follow him around. Eventually, Bruce stepped in but he was no better and started prodding for answers about what the offer was. 

Eventually, through means Dick knew full well broke some human rights, his family found out about the sugar baby situation. They were pretty divided on the subject itself but all agreed they were worried about safety. "I can have a guy on the ground in three seconds, I'll be fine," Dick insisted.

"We know you're capable of protecting yourself as Nightwing but you'll be going as your public persona," Bruce argued. "You know we have rules to abide by." The acrobat tutted, shrugging off the comment. He knew the public persona rhetoric, he'd gotten enough black eyes in school for it, but he was a big boy now with muscles the size of a newborn's head so if he decked a guy it wouldn't lead people to the immediate assumption that he kicked the asses of criminals. 

"We don't even know this guy. Maybe he's got a shell company and is trying to get your bank account to steal your money," Tim suggested. 

"You're too cynical," he argued. "Besides, Jason said it was a good idea."

"When has that ever been a good thing?" he argued back. Jason went to make a point but decided that the statement was too accurate. His good ideas were rarely foolproof. 

"Touche but c'mon! It's money for being a people person and he's not half bad. I did background checks and there's nothing on him," Dick defended. He wasn't changing his mind and he was only entertaining them with the argument. He was going on at least one date with David and then at the end of the date, he'd decide if it continued. 

"Just because there's nothing doesn't mean there's not something," Cass commented. 

"Look, I get you're all protective but I'm an adult. I go out with who I want and if I get money whilst doing it then great," he stated. "If something bad happens then you can say I told you so."

"Oh we're gonna do that permission or not," Jason assured him. The rest of them didn't like the joke too much. He got why they were protective since danger was practically magnetized to him but he could defend himself. Whatever they were worried about, he could deal with. He'd been trained since he was nine to deal with it. 

"I'm meeting him whether you like it or not so don't call me on the 5th. You'll have to actually look after your kids yourself B," he announced. He got up, deciding any and all conversation was over. "I best get shopping for something nice. Ciao!" They watched him leave quietly then turned to one another. 

"So we're gonna spy on the date right?" Tim asked. They nodded. "Right, let me start charting it out."

"Bagsie seat in a nice restaurant!" Jason exclaimed.

On the 5th as promised, David arrived at Dick's apartment to pick him up for their date. He arrived with a lovely bunch of flowers that cost more than flowers really should and presented the young man with a Rolex. Dick made a comment on it not matching with the outfit but quickly added he was joking when he saw the ginger frown. A limo brought them to the restaurant where they were guided to a table in the back. The restaurant was the best Bludhaven could offer to budding billionaires willing to spend a normal person's day's wages on one course. As they sat down, Dick couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He didn't want to mention anything to his date so he decided to just ignore the feeling for now. Given his night job, feeling watched was probably just a product of his hypervigilance but one could never be so sure. They were presented with menus by their waiter and then left to decide. He eyed the prices with a small frown but David tutted and pulled his menu down. "It's like you've already forgotten the arrangement," the ginger told him. "Let me order for you."

"Oh, how sweet of you," he replied. David rolled his eyes at the taunting tone and gave the menu the once over.

"No allergies?"

"None. Choose away," he answered.

"I've got an idea." He folded the menu up and looked across at the acrobat. "Tell me, do you still practice? The acrobatics?" 

"I do," Dick responded with a soft smile. A smile nearly always came to his face when he thought of them. When his younger, the memories had been clouded with grief, he could now look past the tainted pain and focus on the good. Though the memories were blurry, he knew the important ones. "I feel close to them but they'd probably laugh at how bad I am. I'm hardly the headliner I used to be."

"I'm sorry about your parents," David offered.

"It's okay," he insisted. "Your parents? In the picture?"

"Not at all. We lost touch." The statement ended there and Dick decided he wouldn't press the subject. He simply reached his hand over and squeezed him. David stared at his hand for a moment as a blush crept across his cheeks. He looked completely enamoured with the simple touch that Dick felt sorry for the guy. He wondered what was going on in that head. He wondered when was the last time he'd had someone touch his hand without trying to get something out of him. 

"Bruce and I went through something when I was a teenager. Things got difficult so I took up and left. Didn't come back for a long time."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. Do you regret it?"

"Never." They shared a smirk and Dick took his hand away, not missing the slight look of disappointment on the other's face. 

Everyone was in position with their eyes on the pair sitting at the table. Batman and Red Robin were in the Batcave with CCTV cameras trained on and in the restaurant. Jason and Duke were at a table inside although far away from where the couple were. Spoiler and Orphan were hopefully breaking into David's apartment to find dirt whilst Robin held things down in Gotham. They had their earpieces in and working, all of them settling in whilst keeping an eye on the eldest. "Still no info on this guy. Either he's got nothing to hide or he's very good at hiding it," Red Robin grumbled. "What are they saying? I couldn't get a bug in there before they arrived."

"Some sappy shit so far," Jason answered. "Guy looks like he's choosing everything." A waiter came up to the table, David told them the orders then went back to chatting. Jason furrowed his brow as he took in the expression on the man's face and compared it with his brother's. They were both happy. He knew Dick, he knew when he was putting it on, and right now he wasn't.

"I've broken into Dick's apartment," Spoiler began.

"Nobody was supposed to break into his apartment," Duke stated. There was a brief silence.

"I think I'm confused by the assignment. Were we not supposed to find dirt on Dick?"

"You were supposed to dirt on David," Batman explained. There was another silence.

"Told you," Orphan whispered. They heard hushed bickering and sighed. Already this plan had gone array. 

"Why am I here again?" Duke asked. 

"Because we ran out of people and I don't wanna sit in a restaurant alone," Jason answered. He paused then nodding, accepting his fate. Admittedly, this wasn't his planned Friday but if he was getting free fancy food on the card of Bruce Wayne he wasn't going to say no. He glanced over to the couple they were watching for the night and couldn't see why they needed constant monitoring. By all means, they seemed quite happy in each other's company. 

"Isn't this a total breach of Dick's autonomy?" he muttered, trying to enjoy his lobster with a side of guilt. 

"Nah, he signed up to it when he didn't run to Alaska even after finding out B is a horrible mix of overprotective and neglectful," Jason assured him. "Plus it's not like we're sitting at the table grilling them. We're just making sure he isn't some serial killer." 

"Has Dick ever dated a serial killer?" Duke asked. With the look he got, he decided to let that question go unanswered verbally. He turned back to the couple and heard Dick cackling. A genuine one too. "It's gonna be a bummer if we find anything on this guy. Dick likes him."

"He probably likes his paycheck," Jason argued though he didn't sound like he believed that. They watched the pair go back and forth, the conversation ebbing and flowing without an awkward moment. The pauses only came when either one of them was listening or eating.

As Jason and Duke continued to watch, they heard Orphan reveal there was nothing suspicious in David's apartment aside from some vintage guns. No kill room, no cocaine hiding in a box, no suspicious bloodstains. If he was a secret killer then he was very good at hiding it and at this point if Dick was killed by him, it wasn't blood on their hands. It would be incredibly impressive actually. "Anything on the business?" Spoiler asked.

"Just regular shady business dealings. Nothing we wouldn't see at Wayne Tech," Red Robin answered. "I just can't understand how everything was hidden...unless." He paused. He looked into the code of the website he was using, searching for one specific line that could be the only explanation for the lack of information. If what he suspected was there was indeed there then this day was going to go down like a lead balloon. He hoped it wasn't there but then he saw it. "Nice try Timbo ;p" stuck out in bright blue letters in the code. "Jason, Duke, pay and dip. Pay and dip!" Jason looked around frantically for a waiter only to lock eyes with Dick who had appeared at their table. How they missed him, they would never know because they'd only looked down for a second but there he was glaring at the guilty party. He spied their earpiece and tutted. He signalled for the pair to take them out which they did nervously. 

"Although I'm in some way complimented by the way you are looking out for me, I'm more so annoyed. Don't you dare undermine me like this and that goes for the others. Now, we're going to leave, he's going to take me to the pier and none of you are going to follow if you know what's good for you. You're going to tell everyone that we're going to the cinema and in return, I won't make sure that every single time you click on any link, document, subscription, or anything of the sort, will take you directly to a Rick Astley Never Gonna Give You Up 10-hour loop." His voice was soft but almost certainly not calming. He sounded like he was one comment away from full-on yelling at them. They nodded and he smiled eerily, going as far as to sneak some food from Jason's plate. "Good. I knew you could count on you two. Wish me luck with David." He gave them a wink before leaving the table and returning to his seat. 

"What's happening? What's going on?" Red Robin asked as they put their earpieces back in.

"They-they're going to the cinema. Near the mall," Duke answered.

"He knows doesn't he?"

"Good luck trying to use a computer for the next week." At least they made sure Dick wasn't in the hands of a mass murderer.