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Damian clicked off the mixer and lifted it’s arm so the whisk hung in the air above the now creamed sugar and butter. Then he turned to face Todd who was supposed to be getting the rest of the ingredients measured out.
His older brother was distracted by something on his phone, and while it looked like there was a bowl of mixed dry ingredients beside his elbow, the counter was free of peanut butter or vanilla and Damian had no idea where the eggs were.
“If you are not going to take this seriously, then I will bake these by myself.” Damian huffed.
His brother’s eyes flit up from the phone, “Don’t get your feathers ruffled, Baby Bat. It’s not like we’ve got a time limit.”
“Yes we do.” Damian corrected him, “We are supposed to have these done in time for Drake and Brown to return. And your analogy is incorrect, bats do not have feathers.”
Todd continued to ignore him as he finished his text, “Timbo says they’re going to be another half hour late anyway, Steph decided she just had to stop at a sale on--leather jackets. Hold on, Dames. I need to call them.”
“Todd!” Damian did not whine, but he did stamp his foot.
His brother was already turning away from them, phone pressed to his ear as he moved towards the other end of the kitchen.
“Leave him be, Damian.” Richard’s voice came from behind him, “The moment he saw the words leather and jacket you lost him until he’s convinced Steph to pick him up one on Bruce’s dime.”
Damian huffed and spun on his heel, “Well then you can--” the words died on his lip as he saw the other man with his finger literally dipped in the sugar and butter mixture, “Richard! That is disgusting!”
He swatted at his brother’s hand and missed as Richard scooped butter and sugar out of the bowl and popped his finger right in his mouth.
“Mmm, the best!”
Damian wrinkled his nose, “How is there anything enjoyable about that? It is just butter and sugar.”
“Exactly.” Richard winked, “What more do you need?”
“Everything else.” Damian deadpanned, “You will wash your hands before you even look at the bowl again, and if you insist on tasting things you can do it with a spoon.”
His brother grinned at him, “No demanding I help?”
“I do not trust you not to simply eat everything and give yourself a stomach ache.”
“Ouch, Dames.” Richard pressed both hands against his heart, “I’m wounded, you don’t trust me?”
Damian rolled his eyes, “You are more dramatic than Todd at times.”
“That’s just what I wanted to hear.”
Richard flashed him a bright smile, then hopped over the side of the island to land beside Damian. There was a moment where Damian was worried the bowl would be kicked over by his brother’s foot on accident, but he needn't have. Even pulling a stunt for fun, Richard was a pro.
“If you knock the bowl over we will have to start all over again.” Damian said, anyway, and crossed his arms.
He glanced over to Todd, who was standing in the door of the kitchen. He was speaking and animatedly waving a hand as if Brown might be able to see it.
“No, no do not buy a blue one, what am I Nightwing? Yes black--”
Really, Damian did not know why he bothered with any of his siblings. All of them were children. Father left them for a trip for the weekend, and here they were, dissolved into chaos.
Water flicked into his face and Damian yelped, flinching back so hard the room went silent. His hand went to his hip for a sword that was not there so instead he lashed out towards whatever had attacked him, to keep himself from falling again from dipping into that freezing water.
Hands caught his, holding them tight, but not in a way that was painful. The next moment someone was crouched in front of him, not touching him, just being there. Familiar, big blue eyes locked with his.
Damian froze, unsure what to do, as he sucked in air. Air. He needed air, he needed to breathe as much as he could right now. Water, cold and icy and everywhere came to mind, but it didn’t happen. It never came. Those eyes just looked into his for a long moment, unblinking.
“Sorry.” Richard said, and let his hands slip from Damian’s wrists to his hands, their fingers tangling together, “I wasn’t thinking.”
Richard squeezed Damian’s hands, and slowly, slowly Damian’s breath returned to normal. His brother’s voice worked to ground him and Damian released the tension in his body, and let his shoulders fall. He dropped his gaze to look at their hands and breathed.
“I am fine.” he said.
A forehead pressed to his, gently, as the skin there was still tender, “You are safe.”
“Tt.”
Despite his argument, Damian stayed there for a moment, willing his heart to stop racing. Then he dropped Richard’s hands, and stepped back. Todd had finished his call and moved closer to him, and Damian tried not to feel guilty over the fact that he’d probably hung up on Brown because of him.
“The cookies will not bake themselves.” he declared, squaring his shoulders, “Now that you have cleaned your hands, you can get the eggs. Todd, I require peanut butter for the next step.”
Damian felt his heart slow down with every word and by the time he’d finished laying out his demands, it had stopped beating against his chest like it was trying to escape.
“Eggs now or later?” Richard asked.
“After the peanut butter.” Damian nodded to the counter of the island, “But you may set them there if you do not intend on vaulting over it again.”
Richard elbowed him and smiled, “Me? Never.”
He moved to the mixer and dropped the arm again so the beater rested back in the mixture. While he did so, Todd dropped away and returned, setting a jar beside the mixer.
“I hope you like crunchy, because that’s all we’ve got apparently.”
Damian hummed, then glanced up at him, “The recipe specifies smooth. Do you think this will add too much texture, with chocolate chips and oats as well?”
“Oats?” Richard leaned over, elbow dangerously close to the eggs, “Are you trying to make chocolate chip peanut butter cookies healthy?”
“No, just texturally pleasing.” Todd said, “Not that you would notice with how fast you’ll inhale them.”
“I make no secret of my love of peanut butter and chocolate.” Richard shot back.
Damian cleared his throat, “Neither of you have answered my question.”
“I think it’s fine. They all have a different bite to them, so they should work.” Richard said, “And if Jason, king of the kitchen thinks it’s good then he must be right.”
“Glad to see someone respects me, at last.”
“Do not let Pennyworth hear you say that.” Damian said, reaching out for a measuring cup to scoop peanut butter from the container.
He let Todd and Richard bicker over his head while he measured and dumped peanut butter into the bowl according to the recipe on his phone. He glanced quickly between the two men next to him, noted they were not paying attention to him, and swiped a bit of peanut butter off the side of the jar where it had dripped and licked it off his finger.
“I saw that.” Jason teased.
“Tt. I contaminated nothing.”
When he turned the mixer back on, the sound of the beater whisking the peanut butter into the sugar and butter drowned out his brothers as they fell into a debate over the best peanut butters and gave him some nice white noise to listen to.
Damian scraped each side down carefully, then poked Richard when the mixture was smoothe. His brother’s mouth snapped shut mid sentence and he looked down. Damian pointed at the eggs.
Damian continued to work the bowl with his spatula as Richard cracked one then two eggs into it.
When that had been incorporated Todd added vanilla and soon they had a nice liquidy batter starting to form.
He turned off the mixer once everything was properly mixed so that when they started adding flour it wouldn’t go everywhere. Then looked up at Todd.
“Would you like to stir while I pour the flour?”
“Hey what about me?” Richard asked.
They both turned to find him licking batter off a spoon. He made a face at the spoon.
“Not as great as just the butter and sugar.”
Damian raised an eyebrow at him, “You have apparently designated yourself taste tester.”
Richard grinned at him, “Don’t sound so sour, I’ll let you have the beater when we’ve mixed everything.”
“Now that’s a high honor. Dicky never shares the beater.” Todd said.
Damian turned back to him, brows knit, “He never insisted on it when we were at the Penthouse.”
Todd snorted, “Of course not, he was trying to be an adult then, and a good example for you.” He reached out to tug Damian into his side and ruffle his hair, while leaning over to not-quite-whisper, “Now he just gets to be a kid again.”
Damian swatted at him and tried to pull away, but Todd kept him close for a long second before releasing him. Damian stepped away with a huff.
“You are both children.”
“Well that makes three, then, and that is a magic number.” Richard said.
“I am not a child.” Damian huffed, “Todd, take the spatula and I will handle the flour. Even with the others delayed, they will be arriving soon and I do not wish to hear complaints that snacks are not ready.”
They fell into a pattern as Damian poured a little flour at a time (too much would go everywhere), Todd scraped the sides of the bowl, and Richard kept dipping his spoon into it every time it stopped.
The third time it happened, Damian gave up even trying to rebuke his thieving ways. If he wanted to be sick on dough instead of cookies there was no stopping him.
At last they were at the chips and oats stage. Damian left Todd to stir those in by hand and made sure the oven was preheated, and the cookie sheets were properly lined. He wanted everything perfect. They were not Pennyworth, but even he should be proud of these cookies when they were done.
Damian made a mental note to set a few aside for both him and Father for when they returned from their trip.
Richard did indeed let Damian lick the beater, but only because he’d claimed a bigger prize for himself, the spatula.
Both Damian and Todd looked at each other at that, knowing that even Richard’s sweet tooth was sure to be sated soon.
They scooped cookies, and put them in the oven sheet by sheet, and while they waited Damian and Todd crowded around Richard to watch him play levels of candy crush. Todd liked to reach out and ruin a perfect combo, and Damian didn’t bother stopping him, deciding it was appropriate revenge for Richard’s unrelenting thievery.
Damian eventually grew restless with just watching Richard, and worked on cleaning up the mess around them his hands and legs and more importantly, mind, needing to move and continue being distracted.
He wouldn’t admit it, but he was still shaking a bit over the water. He hated it. Hated showing weakness like this. Hated that he couldn’t get over the effects of a night gone wrong. Todd was not flinching at every little bit of water. Then again, Todd had not had to actually face that water either. Not that Damian blamed him. He had more than willingly done what was needed to protect him.
“Let me do the bowl at least.”
Todd’s voice made Damian jump. He’d frozen, standing over a sink filled with suds. No wonder his mind had gone back to water. At least this was warm and not filled with little ice cubes that ran up his nose as they melted, or got stuck in his throat or--
“Damian?”
“Of course.” he said, and stepped back hands dropping the rag he’d held like it bit him.
He stepped right into Todd. His heart skipped a beat, and he had to remind himself he was home. In the kitchen. With his brothers. Todd allowed him to shift, and move to the side.
“You alright?” he asked, lips turned down in concern.
Damian hated how transparent he was. Hated that he kept, freaking out, and losing himself.
“I am fine. A little tired.” he admitted, hoping to change the topic slightly away from bad memories to something Todd might believe.
Todd hummed in a way that said “yeah right” but he didn’t push Damian further. Instead he stepped forward and started cleaning the bowl from the mixer.
“Get the other things that need hand washing. Anything else goes in the dishwasher.”
Damian moved to follow his directions and soon he had a towel in his hand and was carefully drying the spatula, and then the beater. While they were working side by side, Richard pulled the last batch of cookies out of the oven.
Then the front door opened, and Brown’s voice rang all the way to them.
“We’re back!”
“I’ll go greet them!” Richard said, settling the sheet on the counter, “Don’t eat all the cookies before the others can get to them.”
The sounds of the house filling grew as not just Brown and Drake returned, but Thomas and Cain as well. Damian finished drying and putting things away to the background music of people yelling, and groceries being brought in. He even had to duck as Brown threw a sizable bag at Todd’s head.
She skipped into the kitchen and tugged Damian into a hug he was not expecting, then slipped a shopping bag into his hands.
“Found you something too.” She said, then was gone before Damian could even think about retaliation.
He peered into the bag and then smiled down at the Robin plush resting inside. Before Todd could catch the grin he schooled his face and closed the bag.
“Alright Squirt, how do I look?”
Damian turned around and rolled his eyes at the nickname, “You look the same.” he said just to irritate Todd.
Todd huffed, “Why do I bother, you got your taste in fashion from Dick.”
“Richard’s fashion sense is not as terrible as everyone seems to think.” Damian defended, then paused, “Well, it is better now than before.”
Todd scoffed, “Marginally.”
“The jacket looks acceptable.” Damian said, “But I would not suggest wearing it around the others. You will end up with cookie all over it, if not someone’s drink.”
“True.” Todd shrugged out of his new jacket and folded it carefully to replace in the bag, “What did you get?”
“A Robin plush.” Damian tried to make his voice sound dismissive, “Brown apparently thought it was funny.”
“She was right. I’d have asked her to pick me up a Red Hood one if I knew she was running by the Superhero store.”
“You really are a child.”
Todd hooked an arm around his shoulders, “Says the kid.”
“Are we going to get the cookies taken out to everyone or not?”
“Right right, well then lead the way, Baby Bat.”
Together they quickly finished shifting cookies onto a platter and since Damian’s hands were not taken up by as large a bag as Todd’s were, he carried the cookies while his brother followed.
Too soon everyone was piled into the living room, some on couches, some on the floor piled so high with cushions and blankets it was practically a bed itself. Damian somehow found himself in the center of the chaos, with Richard pressed close to him, having already stolen Damian’s Robin plush, and Thomas settled on his other side, already busy smashing buttons on a controller as he battled against the others in a round of Smash Brothers.
As Damian nibbled on a cookie, he decided that while his family was filled with children, he didn’t mind it. It made things chaotic and warm and perfect.