Dinner at Wayne Manor was usually controlled chaos.

Not quiet. Never quiet.

Someone was always talking. Someone was arguing. Someone was stealing food that technically belonged to someone else.

Tonight had seemed normal.

Bruce sat at the head of the table with his usual calm expression. Dick was halfway through a story. Jason looked seconds away from becoming everyone’s problem. Tim still had work sitting beside his plate despite repeated complaints.

And beside his girlfriend sat Damian.

Completely composed.

Too composed.

That should have been everyone’s first warning.

Even Alfred seemed to notice.

Dinner carried on normally.

Plates moved around the table. Conversation shifted from patrol schedules to random stories. For a brief moment, it actually felt peaceful.

Then Damian set his glass down.

“I should inform everyone that she is carrying my child.”

Silence.

The entire dining room stopped.

Dick froze mid-movement.

Tim looked up so quickly he nearly knocked something over.

Jason leaned back in his chair like physical distance might somehow help him process what he had just heard.

At the head of the table, Bruce had gone completely still.

Damian remained calm.

Entirely calm.

Like he had announced rain tomorrow.

“I believed informing everyone earlier would create unnecessary noise,” he said evenly.

He looked around the table.

“Therefore I waited.”

Jason slowly turned toward him.

“You waited?”

Damian nodded once.

“Yes.”

A pause.

“I considered it efficient.”

Dick lowered his face into his hands.

Tim looked spiritually exhausted.

Bruce still had not moved.

The room remained trapped in stunned silence while Damian glanced around again.

“…Why is everyone reacting strangely?”

Because apparently hiding a pregnancy for months and announcing it over dinner in front of the entire Batfamily counted as reasonable planning in Damian’s mind.

For everyone else?

This was psychological warfare.