16267/Batcakes and Batbusted

Batcakes and Batbusted
Date of Scene:	06 November 2023
Location:	Kitchens - Wayne Manor
Synopsis:	Damian and Gabby sneak down for breakfast and Bruce finds them having pancakes.
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Gabby Kinney, Bruce Wayne

---

Damian Wayne has posed:
It's early morning in the Manor house. Damian had gotten an early start on the date. After waking up, he had gotten dressed with Gabby, and the two of them had done a decent (or so they thought) job of finding their way down to the kitchen.

Damian is currently working on whipping up a batter in a bowl, the whisk scraping around the bowl as he prepare the makings for pancakes. A pan is already heating up, and there's a rack of bacon in the oven. "How many pancakes can you eat?" he asks her curiously.

"I can usually handle four or five. Six, when Alfred makes them. His are amazing. Mine? I'm good, but not at his level yet!" he admits with a laugh.

"Mind getting out the juice, I'll start flipping them here in a moment."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney stands in front of the stove staring at the pan as if she were trying to simply SEE if it were hot enough with her hands on her hips. Damian was doing most of the work. Her hair had been swept back out of her face at leat so that there's no risk of accidentally getting hair in things while she 'helps' out.

The question causes her to tilt her head a bit. "Four, maybe? Usually pancakes are decently filling. Unless I've been up all night at work at least. Then I could almost eat a cow."

"Juice it is!" Comes her easy agreement as she abandons her post of pan-watching to head for the fridge. How hard would it be to find juice in a fridge? Nevermind this one is probably as large as teh ones they used to have at the school she spent a few years at. The door is opened, her head ducking inside to begin peering around with a quick sniff to cheat and use her sense of smell to locate it. ... It was in the door. Who the hell used the door for more than condiments? Alfred apparently.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Eight, I believe, is the record," comes a voice from the doorway. "Although there was a questionable total of nine one time when Barbara was over, but I have strong suspicions that she convinced Alfred to shrink them down for her benefit. Clever as she always was."

The billionaire Bruce Wayne strides into the kitchen wearing a silk smoking jacket, as one might expect of a man in his own home who was not expecting a stranger to be within the kitchen. And yet, his hair is carefully coiffed and the jacket is wrapped tight enough about him that it is more than a mere casual bit of attire. Nothing to fall loose and embarrassing, of course.

He fixes Damian with a long look before turning his gaze towards Gabby, a friendly smile on his face. "I see Damian has already extended you the offer of hospitality. Welcome to Wayne Manor."

Damian Wayne has posed:
Dressed in a pair of workout sweats, Damian was flipping the first sets of pancakes, apparently to set up Gabby's plate first. "Oh yeah, the maple syrup should be in there as well..." he starts to say, and then there is a familiar voice. Clearly, Damian had thought he would still be asleep from his patrol.

And he lost this round of 'Don't Wake Daddy'.

But there's no surprise in his voice as he clears his throat. "Is eight how many you want, Father?" he asks Bruce curiously as he lifts his brow and then sets the first pancake out as he starts on the second.

"Have you met Miss Kinney?" yet he asks, as the sizzle of the next pancake hits the pan. "It has been a while since the last time she's been around the family. But it is not in her usual role of Tim's bodyguard." That much is probably obvious as Tim's not here.

"Would you like coffee?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney resists the urge to freeze as she had when Talia walked in and saw them at the tea shop together. Instead she grabs the orange juice carafe stepping back to take it out--And pausing to add the maple syrup to her other hand so that she's fully occupied and obviously not at all a threat. Really.

A quick grin is flashed toward Bruce at the welcome. "Ah, hi! Thanks, yes he did. We were.. up late and..." She falters glancing over toward Damian with a look. She did not know what she was supposed to say here. "Nice to meet you," is the best she comes up with as she moves to place the juice and syrup on the table.

"To be fair I rarely was inside the manor even with Tim or Phoebe. Usually would meet them and go from there."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Indeed. It has been." There is something of an unseen edge to Bruce's tone, before he moves around and heads towards the table, his face adopting a relaxed smile. "Six is probably my limit. I would not want to upset my trainer."

He moves around and takes up a position by the table, nodding slowly towards Gabby as she mentions they were up late.

"Who won?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
Damian knows that tone. And he knows it well, but for now, Bruce seems to be copesetic with things, at least for the moment, so he is concentrating on the pancakes. Another made, another into the pan.

'Who won?'

/BUSTED/. He has a coin-toss flip on who won the game last night. After all, he and Gabby left early last night. But it also means that he was there and he knows the right answer.

"I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the amount of people that were around us, so Gabby offered to bring me home." he explains. "At the time, the Flat Iron Earthers were in the lead."

Honesty. There's no reason to say otherwise. Then he notices a bit of smoke and quickly moves to the pan and frowns. That pancake burnt. It's put on his plate to start on another one. "I am sure one of my family, local or extended will fill me on the details."

"Or you can?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"I was getting a bit overwhelmed too, to be honest. A lot going on at that match," Gabby agrees along with Damian. There's a single sniff as the burning pancake is smelled but Damian's already heading over to deal with it. "I can make coffee unless it's some stupid fancy coffee maker." Just to be certain she looks around the kitchen for it.

"Er, not that stuid fancy is bad, just a bit of a learning curve."

With Damian at the stove, and her small chore done, she's left standing there uncertain of what to do while Bruce just stands there. Staring. Though she pauses a moment to ask uncertainly, "YOU have a trainer?"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Ah. That does seem to be a wise choice, then." Bruce turns his gaze towards Gabby and offers her a nod. "I appreciate you giving Damian a ride." His eyebrow arches. Double entendre, from Bruce Wayne? Never.

As she starts to cover her tracks about stupid fancy, he laughs, and shakes his head. "We do not stand on formality here. Other than to appease Alfred. He would be very out of sorts if we did not engage in _some_ ceremony." He leans across the table and whispers towards her conspiratorially. "I am sure Damian has told you, Alfred is the one who truly runs the show here."

Her question, though, triggers a small amount of amusement. "We can always stand to improve ourselves. Right?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Alfred's the only person that knows how half of the stuff in the house works." Damian deadpans in amusement. Is that a hint of red in his cheeks at the nearly-on-target not double entendre that Bruce made? No, the pan must be too hot. Or something.

Another pancake quickly attended to and the plate is slid to Gabby. Ladies' first!

As he starts on the next set of pancakes, he clears his throat politely before looking for a glass for the juice. He's going to need it. See, in the grand scheme of things? Damian would have rather faced Batman finding out about him and Gabby. Batman is stoic. Batman doesn't crack wise. Most of the time. Damian could work with that. He could mould it into something to keep him in check.

Bruce, though, is a wild card. He is sociable. He quips. He can do all that stuff that Damian is woefully unable to do and is just starting to be able to understand and grasp - Gabby is helping him out of his shell on that front.

"There is always room for improvement." he agrees easily, as he sets up a few more pancakes, slid over to dad, and he starts on his set finally. "I was going to ask if it was fine, if we have our family Thanksgiving, if Gabby could join us?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Not a problem. Though if we keep going out like this I'll have to look into a car. It's not quite motorcycle weather," Gabby admits with a grin cast over toward Damian again. It lingers on him as he continues to cook pancakes and slides one onto her own plate. "Thanks, sweetie." She was trying out the pet name thing... And maybe 'sweetie' didn't really fit Damian much, but he *was* rather sweet to her.

"Nothing wrong with improving yourself, just surprised you'd find the time with the corporation and the like, sixteen kids," she jokes.

When Damian starts to look for juice she fills a cup up for him to slide over helpfully as he continues to be on pancake duty. Right up until he asks about her joining Thanksgiving. "Uh? I mean. If it's okay?" Clearly this was sprung on her as well, and she looks a bit flustered as her eyes dip down to her plate. Very UNceremonously she tears off a bit of the pancake edge to pop into her mouth.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
For a few moments, Bruce does little more than observe the two of them as they banter. Try out pet names. Adjust for the fact that he is in the room. He knows he _could_ make it easier for both of them.

"It's not really the sixteen of them that is the problem, it's the one or two that are _exceptionally_ taxing," replies Bruce, a bit of a twinkle in his eye as he regard Damian, lifting up a mug of coffee only barely fast enough to cover up a grin.

When the question is posed, and Gabby responds with her own question, Bruce chuckles. He steps away from the table and moves around to place his free hand gently on Damian's shoulder, as his attention is focused on her. "Certainly, you would be most welcome, Gabrielle." Bruce then leans over towards Damian and stage whispers towards him. "Word of advice, son - never pose a question to a woman you're dating that you don't already know the answer to."

Damian Wayne has posed:
Hi. My name's Damian Wayne and tonight I am playing the odd man out.

Accepting the glass from Gabby when she calls him sweetie, he lifts his brows and gets a small smile that he can't quite hide or distract from. And yes, he knows he caught her off-gaurd when he asked. Finishing off the last of the pancakes, he turns off the heat and sets the pan to the side to cool.

Opening the oven, he fishes out the bacon with a pair of mitts and sets it out. They had been warming in the oven since he had cooked them first. Set out, it officially means breakfast is served.

"I did not know if I would get another chance while you sought out another sixteen children." Damian comments dryly, before Bruce is leaning in to give him advice. You can see it - the sudden stiffening of his whole body as if a shiver ran through it. "It is... something I'm working on." he manages, his voice halting, simply because no, he's not great at dating.

"She's been patient with me while I was figuring myself out. More than I deserved from her. Work in progress." Bruce and Gabby are off playing 3-D Chess, Damian will be over here with the little triangle thingie you get at Cracker Barrel. At least when it comes to the social teasing.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney grins a little bit when Bruce leans over Damian to offer his fatherly advice as well as Damian's response. Leaning one elbow on the table she props her chin in her hand, and her free hand reaches out to snag a bit of bacon. It doesn't seem to bother her at all that it may be hot. There's no reaction to any form of discomfort she might feel yet she suggests, "It's hot, be careful."

"How could I be mad at you after watching your reaction to the otters?" A knowing, pleased grin comes over her as she reminds Damian of that and potentially makes Bruce wonder. "We've had similar situations growing up. I just had a bit more support when I was younger. I can relate."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
There is a glance to Damian and Gabby as Bruce regards each of them, listening to the way they praise each other. And show gratitude. And while it is not exactly something one would ever expect to see from Batman, from Bruce Wayne, there comes a warm smile.

"Alright, I've terrorized you two kids enough." He pats Damian on the shoulder and then steps away.

"Good to see you, Gabrielle. And I expect to see you for Thanksgiving." He points at her with his coffee mug. "I insist." One way to take the bite out of the question.

And with that, Bruce Wayne, Gotham's Father of the Year 11 times over, slips away without adding any further embarrassment to his son. Hopefully.

Damian Wayne has posed:
When Gabby brings up the otters, Damian's cheeks /flush/ into a bright red color. That was supposed to be a secret! Traitor! Never smiling again!

"Stop giving dad ammunition." he manages with a stammer. 'Dad?'. Slip of the tongue, maybe!

He clears his throat as he chases it all with his orange juice. "Have a good day at the office, Father." he manages. Recovering is going to take a few moments as he bumps Gabby's shin with his foot.