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Patrol was most certainly hectic. With watching Damian, searching for an escaped Joker, perchance running into Two-Face whilst finding said Joker. Then afterwards ontop of all that rounding up and arresting them and their goon's... It was needless to say that he was thoroughly exhausted. While B was out of town on an outer World mission with the JL, he was patrolling as Nightwing with Damian; and tonight was a very good night. The only unnecessary violence that occurred that night was when he personally gave the Joker a nice new face paint of black and blue with a escrima stick. The sick jerk seemed to get an upper hand advantage on Damian and began to soccer punch the little guy in the stomach. Fortunately there was no damage done... Jay might however thank him later...
Nonetheless, however good the night was, Dami was acting a bit off. Seeming to understand the problem immediately, -it seemed to be a 'robin' thing- he couldn't help but smile into the soft-fluffiness of his pillow, he thought he knew what the problem was anyway. He could relate with Damian as a kid when he wanted to go with Bruce on his far-away missions; and when the answer had been no. No amount of reassuring words, hugs or promises could stop his heart from breaking, or stop his wandering thoughts. Sighing, he just hoped that Damian wouldn't hurt himself in the process of trying to prove himself worthy to Bruce when he did come home.
Yawning, that awful wrung out feeling weaved throughout his body. That same feeling had Al push him to stay at the manor for the night, and he couldn't very well so no to Alfred's pushing insistence and mentioning promise of breakfast in the morning. He hoped however, it wasn't pancakes... Burying his face into his pillow, he gave a mental shudder of having to endure another one of Alfred's cement Frisbee's. It was like licking a sidewalk and chewing a handful of sand at the same time,... not that he's accidentally done that...and not that he would ever tell Alfred about his personal displeasure of his all-time famous pancake's (Let me tell you, If those things ever got in the Wayne Family Recipe cook book- they would not be famous in a good way. Of course construction workers might find a new good use for building building's) ... Nonetheless, no matter what happened in the morning, there he slept, in his old room, at the manor, the one he hadn't slept in for at least a year... And it was wonderful...
Curling into a more comfortable position, he yawned. It was a sure thing that he would sleep the whole night through and hopefully wake up to the tantalizing smell of Alfred's not-pancake breakfast and Damian's ruthless demands that he wake up from bed. Now that he thought of it, his bed was very... soft,... comfortable... and .. quite heavenly to sleep in....
Moaning dramatically, he was currently being awoken to a slight jabbing on shoulder, quite persistently might he add, and a small voice sounding about in the room. He would have thought it to be Al for as quiet as this individual was, except the blankets would have been yanked off the bed by now. Also, Al opens the window curtains that blinds a person from existence... Well maybe not existence, but it sure does blind sleep from existence. Whoever it was doesn't seem to know how to wake a person up, or more specially, wake a 'Grayson' up.
Sitting up slowly, he opened his eyes to a surprisingly frumpy looking blob standing next to the side of the bed. Looking at the strange, short creature he chuckled. The thing, Damian, he supposed (Only that kid could be that short and menacing), was shrouded in a fluffy white blanket that made him look like a sad representation of a cloud.
"Damian?"
"..."
"Damian?.... Are you ok?"
"tt"
"I can't tell if that's a yes or a no?"
"Its both."
Rolling his eyes at the peculiar behavior of the boy, he looked at the clock, 1:15 a.m. Ugh,... it's too early for being alive yet... Being too tired to play games, and deciding to get straight to the point he reached over and plucked the now squawking child, placing him up on his lap.
"Grayson I demand that you put me down-"
"Damian...-"
"I don't need your coddling or yo-"
Covering Damian's mouth lightly with his right hand, he took his other arm and wrapped it around the squirming cloud and held it still.
"Damian...First off... I'm not coddling you, well not at the moment. And second,..." taking his hand off of Damian's mouth, "I just want to know what's wrong, or what you need..."
"..."
"Damian?"
"..."
Realizing that this wasn't going to get anywhere anytime soon, he decided that he would make himself comfortable. So leaning himself and his little cloud back against the pillows and headboard, he waited for the cloud to say something, anything, even if it were to turn into a raucous, violent thunderstorm.
Only, that was the thing... Damian never said a word. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed until he heard Damian make a sound. Upon hearing it, he couldn't seem to place his finger on what he was doing. It sounded like snoring, but the kid was as stiff as a wooden plank and couldn't possibly be asleep. Nevertheless, whatever the kid was doing, it was reverberating against his chest and was muffling the sound.
Moving to sit up, it hit him. That sound,... Dami was, no he couldn't possibly be? Reaching out he gently moved the fleecy-woolen blanket around until he caught site of the top of Damian's hoodie. Seeing the kid's arm he pulled the kid up and outta the cocoon of blankets and could see...
...crying. The kid was crying, and he was sitting here being difficult. Welp, activate big brother mode, because if he wasn't coddling the kid before, well he was now.
Ok... maybe not a violent raucous thunderstorm like he had anticipated, but in that moment the Hoover dam definitely busted, but, quietly... If that was even possible... Pulling his brother close to his chest, he for a split moment, could see the tear tracks that coursed down his little brothers face. Not helping but to cringe internally when he heard Damian begin to ramble on how sorry he was for bothering him and how he didn't mean to be a pest.
"Im sorry gray- *hungf* son. I do-nut mean *hic* to bother you. At *hnf* such a late hour. *hic* And-"
Running his hand through Damian's sweat-soaked hair he mumbled into his brothers ear, "Shhhh Dami, no,... Shhhhh you have nothing to apologize for. It's ok to cry, and it's ok to come to me, or you father, or even Alfred when you are upset or need something. Understand?"
"But *nghf* I should have waited until mor- *hic* -ning and-"
"No, Damian. Anytime. Is that clear? You can come to anyone when you need something, or when you just want to talk."
Holding his little brother closer to his chest, he rubbed small circles across his back waiting for the quiet sobbing to subside.
"Damian?"
*sniff*
"What happened?"
Watching his brother fluster about wiping his snotty nose on his batman-sleeved footie pajamas, he waited for a response.
"I.. may.. have *nuf-sniff* had a repulsive *sniff* dream that has affected my distinction between falsehoods and *hic* reality."
"In other words you had a nightmare, and in this nightmare something has happened that you are afraid might happen for real."
"tt, *nughf* Grayson I thought I said that?"
Smiling at the already stubborn life flowing back through his brothers previously limp body, he responded, "Well, maybe explaining your dream might help me to alleviate your worries, Dami."
"tt, fine. Also, *hnghf-sniff* don't call me Dami. It's Damian, *sniff* I was given that name so please feel free to use it."
Tucking a piece of Damian's hair behind his ear in his hoodie he smugly responded, "Well, I have given you the name Dami, so please feel free to use that. Now," he said whilst giving a egotistical grin, "explain."
With a huff Damian began to explain.
"I dreamt that *sniff* because I wasn't there to stop it he... *hic* he...died."
"Who died Damian?"
"Batman."
"You mean you dreamt that b-"
"In my- *hnugh-sniff* dream, I wasn't there and he died.." He felt Dami's head bury into his chest as he babbled on how he should have been there, and that batman needs his robin. However, it sounded like Damian just wanted his Father at that moment and wanted to know that he was alive and ok. Even if he wouldn't admit it.
Cupping the back of his little brothers hoodied-covered head he mumbled comfortingly, "Damian, your Fathers going to come home, I promise."
"tt, Grayson if I was concerned about Father coming home, I would *sniff* said so." With an accumulating amount of wetness, probably a mixture of tears and snot building up on his shirt, he began to gently massage the base of Dami's skull. "Im, *sniff* just concerned that if, *hngh* he does die, it will be Robin's fault because he should *sniff* be there."
"Bruce told you that you were to stay here in Gotham and guard the city. You remember what he said, 'C-'"
"'-Crime never stops, even when vigilantes do.' I know,*nugh-hic* but-"
"No buts. Your Father wanted you here as Robin in case anything happened, and he wanted to keep you safe. I'm sure that one day B will come around and have you come with him on a mission. My day came, so will yours."
"You went on a Justice League mission with Father? *sniff* "
"Yes, quite a few actually. And that few turned into being able to lead a team myself. Maybe one day you might do that, maybe not. However, the point is Dami, it's not a matter of trust in which your Father doesn't take you with him, its a matter of safety."
"I *hnugh* can take care of myself."
"Sure you can." he said whilst rubbing the top of Damian's head, "However, give your Father that pleasure of worrying about you. When your older you might find that Father's like to worry about their kids."
*Ahem* "Also Butlers if I may add, Sir."
Startled, he quickly glanced up and could see Al standing in the opened doorway to his room.
"Hey Al, what are you doing up?"
"I heard a disturbance earlier and I came to see if I could be of any assistance. What seems to be the trouble?"
He held onto Damian tighter as the kid tried to squirm out of his grasp.
"Damian was just asking me a question about the mission B is on."
Alfred glanced at the leather-strap watch adhered on his wrist as he said, "Ah, I see. I was radioed about,...thirty minutes ago on the comm. The mission was successful, and quite might I say, bog-standard. By tomorrow morning Master Wayne shall be gallivanting gaff," and with that he listened to specifics Alfred gave on the mission in a long detailed monologue that could put any kid to sleep. Which Damian proved to be true, because as Alfred gave more details pertaining to the assignment, more relaxed the kid became. He guessed that once he heard that everything was alright and went to plan, his mind became at peace. Eventually little snores began to emanate from the boy that even had Alfred twitching his mouth in a pursed smile.
"I presume that everything is in order and taken care of Master Richard?"
"Of course Alfie." he whispered with a quick thumbs up.
"Then I think I shall take my leave of you then."
"Of course, Goodnight Al. Thanks."
"Your most dutifully welcome sir."
Watching Alfred close the door, he shuffled Damian and himself to lay flat on the bed and to finally go to sleep. Reaching around to pull the blanket more securely around them both, he couldn't help but smile. It would be ok, everything was fine right in this moment, and as long as his lil Dami was safe, then that was all that mattered. Even if in the morning there was chaos served with a side of pancakes then everything involved in this moment made it all worth it.
"Goodnight Dami."
"Goodnight ahk***..." a quiet voice whispered in the night.
