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“Hey Bruce,” Dick walks up behind his father, placing a hand on his shoulder. When he turns around to reply, Brucie is in full force, showing off exactly how he earned his place as star pupil of Alfred's acting lessons.
“Hey Kiddo!” Bruce slings an arm around his shoulder, “I was just telling Liza here about your moving back to Bludhaven again. She has a cousin who does work for the BPD charity events. Bridgette, wasn't it?" Bruce glances back at the older woman to his right to get the confirming head nod before turning his gala smile back on Dick.
“Really? Well I'll have to remember to say hello if I ever run into her." Dick flashes her his own version of the BruceWayneGalaSmile™, "Now if you don't mind, I need to steal Bruce for a second."
"Of course, don't mind..." The moment Dick gets Bruce turned away he tunes the woman out. Herding his dad towards a quiet corner exhibit of the newly opened Museum.
Out of the crowd's earshot Dick says "Simple Wayne family issue. Not the other one," hoping to ease the slight tension he had felt enter Bruce's figure the moment Dick had pulled him away.
"And that issue being w-" Bruce cuts himself off the moment he rounds the corner into the art wing to find two of his children siting on one of the viewing benches.
With a knowing smirk Cass lifts a finger to her lips, not stopping the steady threading of her other hand through his youngest's spikey hair.
Dick shares his sisters smile, "He passed out about 30 minutes ago. Alfred was probably right when he said that Damian should have stayed home this weekend. But then again how do you say no to a face like this?”
Dicks own face softens as he reaches down to wipe away a small trail of drool from the 12-year-olds cheek. Glancing back up at Bruce Dick gestures at the pair of crutches that had been abandoned next to the bench, silently asking to be handed them. “Cass thinks that the little guy is coming down with something as well. He didn't even wake up when Jay poked his head in here yelling for Cass. Pour little guy. First, he breaks his leg, then he picks up that fever Colin had last week.”
Taking the crutches being held out to him, Dick smiles, watching Bruce carefully pull Damian into his arms. Cass shares a smile with him as they both watch their dad try to discreetly press a kiss into Damian’s hair.
Dick hold his elbow out to Cass to grab as they all turn to leave, “Do you think its cheating, using a sick pre-teen to leave a gala early?”
“Why do you think I adopted so many kids? You guys are great excuses.” Bruce deadpans over his shoulder as he exits the exhibit.
“How rude!” Cass calls after him. Proof to Dick that she's been spending too much time with Steph lately binging her favorite 90s show.
By the time they are able to locate Tim and Jason, Damian had woken up and insisted on being allowed to leave on his own two feet.
“Or one foot and two crutches.”
“Tt. Shut up, Grayson.”
“Yeah, Dick. No one thinks you’re funny.”
“No one thinks you’re funny either, Todd.”
“Hey I was agreeing with you!”
“I don’t need you to agree with me.”
“You’re mean when you're sick, Bacon Bit.”
“I will end you Todd-”
“Boys.” Bruce ends the argument with a final word just as they make it to the Musuems exit.
As soon as the group stepped outside, they were immediately met by a group of eager paparazzi, cameras shoved close as flashes went off all around them in a blinding fashion. Not to say that this was an uncommon occurrence for their famous family but being in a different city they were met with several unfamiliar, overly assertive, faces.
In the midst of the chaos, a particularly brash paparazzi knocks his camera against Damian’s head right as the flash goes off in his face. In seconds Damian was on the ground, crutches having been knocked from his grip. There is a single startled yelp as Dick watches Damian disappear into a small protected ball trying his best not to be stepped on by the mess of people.
Bruce reacts instantly. His reflects honed not only from being Batman but from dealing with overzealous photographers his whole life. Quickly scooping up Damian and handing him off to Dick he locks eyes with his eldest and snaps out a sharp command to disappear before turning on the pushy group of paparazzi.
As Dick follows Bruce's order, he hears snippets of Bruce, as well as Jason and Tim, telling the paparazzi off. "A child...don't care if it’s legal...baby brother.”
Dodging several people Dick ducks back into the Muesum and freezes at the small group of guests that had gathered at the commotion. At the sudden pause Damian lifts his head from Dick shoulder before Dick could stop him. Hoping to avoid any further distress to the already panicked boy Dick turns and heads past the main room and to the children's discovery room. Sending a silent prayer of thanks upward that the room is empty, Dick sits down on a short bench next to a statue of who he thinks is supposed to be Albert Einstein.
In the silence of the room Dick could hear Damian’s strangled breaths and feel his heart beat frantically thudding against him. Knowing a Damian panic attack when he sees one Dick quickly turns him around on his lap.
"Hey Dames, I need you to try and follow my breathing.” Slowing down his own breathing in hopes that Damian would start to mimic him. “In and out, Buddy. You know the drill. In. Out.”
Damian responds by rapidly shaking his head back and forth. Eyes growing more panicked as he struggles for a full breath of air.
"Hey, hey, hey" Dick places his hand against Damian’s shaking head, trying gently to bring Damian’s attention back to him. “In. Out.”
Clutching at his heaving chest Damian locked his panicked green eyes with the worried blue of his brother’s and, after a few long moments, manages to copy Dicks instructions.
“There you go, Buddy. That’s better.” Dick wipes at the tear tracks that had been weaving their ways down Damian’s flushed cheeks. “It’s been a long night, huh? Doesn’t help that your coming down with something either does it?”
“Not sick.” Damian swats Dicks hand away, causing him to chuckle.
“Of course not.”
There are a few beats of silence as they sit there gathering their thoughts, Dicks hands rubbing circles on Damian’s back under his suit jacket.
“Hey kiddo.” Dick breaks the silence as Damian shifts in his lap so that he can press himself further into Dick warmth, “Want to talk about what happened back there?”
Whatever reply Damian mumbled out was muffled by the way he had shoved his face tight against Dick’s chest.
Dick jostles the kid a bit until he turns his face from his hiding place. Eyes downcast Damian repeats himself, “It was too much.”
“Too much?”
Damian’s nose scrunches still not looking at Dick, the self-loathing radiating from his tiny body almost tangible, “I was weak. I was unable to stop a civilian from knocking me over. It’s disgraceful. I should be able to hold my ground in my sleep. Broken leg or not. Mother would-”
“Stop.” Dick snaps, his voice a remnant of his days as Batman. Commanding with no room for argument. “What happened outside is in no way your fault. It was the fault of an overzealous, rude paparazzi. The kind that this family has, and will probably always have to deal with. I don’t care what your Mother would say or expect of you. You reacted exactly as any 12-year-old would.”
Damian looked disgusted. “I am not normal. I have been trained and I-”
“I know. But you’re also sick and have a broken leg.” Dick tapped Damian’s nose, “Heck, I almost got trampled once in the beginning when I was like 10. And I grew up using Zitka as a playground.”
“But-”
Dick smiles as he puts his hand over Damian’s mouth, voice singsongingly echoing around the room. “Nope. Not your fault. You are perfect. I am right. You are wrong. End of discuss- Ow!” Dick yelps as Damian’s teeth sink into the fleshy part of his palm before he yanks it away.
“If you interrupt me one more time Richard, I will have your tongue.”
“Pretty tough for a kid who has snot dripping down his nose.”
“I do not!” Damian runs the back of his hand against his face.
“Made you check.”
“Richard.” Damian growls as Dick laughs.
“Hey Losers!” Jason saunters into the room as if he hadn’t been waiting outside for the perfect moment to interrupt, “B’s dealt with the situation. Muesum security was called and we have a clear path to the car. You guys ready to head back to the hotel now?”
“Did you bring Damian’s crutches or-”
“Hey look what Dad bought me!” Tim cuts him off as his skids into the room, showing off his new possessions with exaggerated excitement, knowing better than to draw attention to the incident that had led to them being in this room or to Damian’s still damp cheeks.
“I’ve always wanted-” He glances down at the cameras in his hands and squints, “A slightly used Nikon D3, a... Canon 1D? And a 70-200 VR lens that someone broke.” Tim glares at Jason, lips pursed in dramatized anger.
“It's not my fault that the previous owner was a clumsy jackass. I mean, I made it pretty clear to the guy about where I planned on putting my fist, he was the idiot who did nothing with that information.”
Abandoning his act, Tim let out a sharp bark of laughter, “You should see the guy that got in Cass’s face. He’s gonna have a hell of a shiner in the morning.”
Shaking his head Dick smiled at his brothers' antics as he shifted Damian so that he could latch onto his back.
“Looks like you get a free piggyback ride tonight Dames. Since no one bothered to be useful and grab your crutches.” Dick pointedly looks at his brothers. Tim at least glances guiltily at the cameras in his hands while all Jason does is flip him off with a smirk.
Dick just rolls his eyes. “Well, we’re all set if you’d like to lead the way.”
“Think fast!” Jason calls out to the confusion of his brothers. Sending a quick wink in Damian’s direction he snatches the broken camera out of Tims grip and sprints out the doorway.
Letting out a startled yelp Tim recovers and shouts out directions to the car before running after him.
“Tt. Fools.” Damian mutters into Dicks hair, poorly hiding his glee at Jason’s antics against Tim.
“It’s why we love them.” Dick squeezes Damian’s legs playfully as they make their way to the car where the rest of the family was waiting for them to join.