Chapter Text
Damian was padding quietly through the halls of the manor, it was nearing five am and the raging storms outside had woken him up. If he had been in the league he would have woken up almost an hour ago, so being awake this early wasn't really a problem for him. However it did mean he needed to be quiet cause everyone else in the manor was still fast asleep. He had drew for a while but grew bored and struggled for inspiration so eventually, he decided he would just get up and get in an early morning workout before everyone else woke.
He had only been in Gotham for a couple of weeks and was still getting used to the way that everything ran, it was a lot different from the league of assassins and Damian wasn't sure if he liked it or hated it. All he knew was that it was very different and the members of the so-called "Bat-family" were strange, to say the least.
Patrol last night had been Father, him. and Nightwing. Out of everyone in the Bat-Family Damian had decided he was intrigued by Nightwing the most, he was a strange character and didn't really fit into any of the preconceived notions that Damian had when he moved here. All the others fit right in the boxes that Damian had created for them in his mind but Nightwing was odd in that he didn't really seem to fit in any box. Every time Damian thought he had figured the original Robin out the man did something completely unexpected and even more confusing.
Damian was approaching the training room when he noticed that the door to the left of the training room was slightly opened and had light spilling out of it. Who else was awake at this time? Damian had only been in that room once before when he was being given a tour of the manor after he first arrived. It was most circus stuff, parallel bars, trapeze, ariel rings, that had been installed specifically for the original Robin. Something about him coming from a circus, Grayson insisted they were a good workout but Damian didn't see how they could be. What talent or skill could be required in swinging from bars?
He sneaked up to the room suddenly feeling as if he was somewhere he shouldn't be and peaked his head in to see what was happening. He wasn't surprised to see Grayson in the room, he as the only one who ever used to circus equipment, however, he was surprised to see Grayson sitting on top of a trapeze platform crying. Damian had never seen him cry before, he had never seen anyone in the Bat-family cry before. Honestly, he hadn't even imagined Grayson as the kind of person who cried. It seemed too out of personality for him, he was so obnoxiously and annoying cheerful all the time that seeing him cry was almost uncomfortable.
Damian knew he should leave and just go to the training room, this wasn't his moment. he wasn't meant to be seeing this. But for some reason, He found himself glued to the spot watching the older man. Grayson was sitting on the higher of two trapeze platforms that were about twenty feet off the ground and had his legs crossed. He was wearing a type of training outfit that Damian had seen him in before, he said it was a replication of his training uniform at the circus. Damian hadn't understood the sentimental value of the uniform or why Grayson insisted of having a replica made of it once he outgrew the original.
The uniform pulled over his skin-tight and Damian realized at that moment that it was, in fact, the same colours as the Robin uniform. Grayson was sitting cross-legged with his elbows propped up on his knees and had his hands tangled into his messy, still bed head, hair. He was looking down at a nondescript spot on the door and Damian couldn't help but feel like there was something that Grayson was seeing that he couldn't see. He wouldn't have even been able to tell Grayson was crying if it hadn't been for the near-silent sniffling sounds and the subtle shaking of his shoulders.
Damian felt guilty watching this. This wasn't a scene meant for him to see. His assassin training hissed in the back of his mind calling Grayson weak and childish for crying and being in here in the middle of the night. But something deeper inside him, something a little younger and more childish wanted to ask if he was okay. After all, he did look really sad and Damian couldn't help but wonder what had driven him down here in the first place. Had he be woken by the storm? Was it nightmares? was he just looking for a private place to cry? Damian he no idea and felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. He shouldn't be watching this. He had no business here.
He took a step back to leave and go to the training room but the floor squeaked under his shifting weight. He froze, shit now he was going to be in trouble. "Hello?" He heard Grayson's voice from inside and took a deep shaky breath. He didn't want Grayson to know he was spying if Grayson found out he would defiantly punish Damian. So instead Damian took a deep breath, he could play this off.
He walked up to the door opening it slightly as if it had been his first time tonight looking inside. Grayson was now standing several feet form the door, he had wiped the tears from his eyes but his face still was kinda red and puffy. His eyes were also bloodshot and it made Damian wonder just how long had he been down here. After He saw Damian a bit of tension seemed to drain from him "You're up early" He smiled and Damian was thrown by how happy he was acting when thirty seconds prior he had been sobbing.
"The storm woke me, I was going to do some morning training" Damian answered as honestly as he could hoping that Grayson wouldn't accuse him of spying. he hadn't intended to spy and if it was any consolation he felt strangely guilty about it. Grayson looked him over one time and smiled a little bit.
"How about you train on the trapeze with me" Grayson smiled even wider and Damian was starting to think the smiled looked a little fake. He was also scared to say no because the fake smile looked strangely fragile, like it and Grayson might break if he turned them down.
Damian had no desire to do the Trapeeze but he also had no desire to hurt Graysons feelings when the older man was already in a seemingly vulnerable state. "~Tt~ Whatever" This is not how he expected his morning to go. Dispite the passivness of it, Grayson seemed delighted by his answer.
What a stange man, that was all Damian would think to himself. Grayson was a very stange man and he did very stange things that Damian simply couldn't understand.