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Damian trailed behind the lumbering figure of his friend’s monstrous doppelganger, Abuse, as they exited the car—Damian from the driver’s side, obviously—before heading to the ticket booth.
Tugging on Colin’s enormous trench coat, he nodded towards a car in the parking lot, signaling that the one they came to investigate had already arrived. Despite the late hour this weekend, hardly any spots were filled at the only movie theater in Gotham not under construction from some villain attack or another. Either the people had learned to not risk their safety so cavalierly in this city or (more likely) there was nothing good playing.
Upon stopping at the ticket booth to read the scrolling names listed, he concluded it was definitely the latter.
“Hello, what can I do for you and your…kid?” The bored attendant raised an eyebrow as Colin’s massive body towered next to Damian, whose Robin costume remained carefully hidden by the most casual clothes he owned.
They certainly didn’t look related but he hoped no one would call the cops; on Colin, for being a semi-known vigilante, on Damian, for being a semi-recognizable Wayne, or on both of them for just how suspicious they looked paired together. It didn’t help that Colin kept shifting from foot to foot with anticipation.
This happened to be the first time he'd ever asked Colin to help him with an investigation and the ginger boy had been tripping all over himself to join. Unlike most partners, he didn’t bother Damian with questions about who they were investigating or why he had to sneak them into a rated R movie; Colin always let him take the lead.
“Um…we want…” he grunted, glancing at Damian for the instructions. Right, he hadn’t told him which one yet.
“The sappy romance one,” Damian whispered back.
“The sappy romance one!”
There was an awkward pause as the attendant stared them down. “Um, okay. Which one?”
“The, uh…”
“The Restricted one at 8:00pm.” His patience was growing thin. Since they missed the opportunity to arrive before the suspect and stake out a spot to observe in private, they needed to sneak in at the perfect time between the previews ending and the movie starting—where the theater is at its darkest—to avoid detection.
“Yes, the Restricted one at 8!”
For a moment, Damian thought the attendant’s hand had slipped towards the phone, but instead she printed out the tickets and slid them across. He smacked down a hundred dollar bill, grabbing Colin’s jacket with one hand while he glanced at the watch on his wrist. Their window was coming.
“Thank you, ma’am!” Colin called as he lifted his hat. Damian almost dragged him away before he’d collected the tickets, shoving them at the ticket collector when Damian bulldozed past to find the right theater.
“Wait, Dami, what about snacks?”
“We’re on an undercover mission, Colin, there is no time for snacks.”
He stopped and pouted, bringing Damian to a stop next to him. “Come on, it takes a lot of energy to keep this form up, I need something.”
Groaning, Damian rubbed his eyes. “Fine. But first we find seats, and then I’ll sneak out to get you something, since your lumbering frame would alert the whole theater to your presence if you left.”
He continued following Damian with a frown, the lines of his doppelganger's face deepening in thought. It wasn’t until Damian had stopped at the doors leading down to the aisles that he finally sighed and faced his friend once more. “What is it?”
“You didn’t really need my help for this did you…” His shoulders slumped as he fisted the ends of his trench coat. “You just wanted me to get you into the movie.”
Feeling a twinge of guilt, Damian crossed his arms and pursed his lips, trying to find the right words to explain. He did need Colin to get him into the movies, as someone with an adult form capable of bypassing any identification checks, but a movie theater isn’t necessarily a hard place to break into.
He’d actually gone through a dozen different plans for infiltration before Colin had arrived, asking what he was doing. And without even thinking it through, he’d extended the offer, figuring the ruse would easily gain him access—but it wasn’t just for this mission. He could’ve asked any adult for help if that was the most logical route, but it wasn’t. Truthfully, inviting Colin was more for Damian’s own enjoyment; pleasant company on a stakeout always made a difference.
So with a painful sigh, he looked up at the downtrodden face of his best friend and admitted, “I needed you…to make this affair more tolerable. Your companionship helps me in more ways than you could ever know.”
Colin stood speechless as the sounds of previews emanating from behind the door quieted. The movie would start any minute. Before he could even respond, Damian grabbed his enormous hand and raced down the aisle to see the beginning rollercoaster introduction filling the screen. They had mere seconds to find a spot. He edged around the corner, eyes scanning the dimly lit crowd until he saw his suspect. However, before he could see who he was sitting with, Colin accidentally jostled him while pointing to two open seats in the back corner.
Surprisingly, they were quite desirable—perfect for observing while close enough to the exit for a quick escape if needed (even if that escape required some acrobatics.) “Good work, Colin.”
It was odd to visually see a man such as Abuse, preen like a child, but it was times like that which reminded Damian that Colin truly was under all that muscle. Once more, he cursed Crane and every piece of scum responsible for torturing the poor boy during their experiments.
The lights dimmed drastically and Damian motioned for Colin to skip up the steps as quietly as possible, plopping down into their secluded seats just in time for the opening credits. From here they could see the beginnings of a gag-worthy romance movie unfolding along with the various couples in attendance. But by the time he’d spotted the head of his suspect once more, Colin’s incessant nudges distracted him once again. Damian still hadn’t seen who the man was with.
“Can we get snacks now?”
Damian fisted his hands to keep from punching the seat. He was so close to getting the information he needed. “Sure. I’ll go, just give me a sec—“
“Could you get me a packet of twizzlers? Ooh, and some nachos? I saw they had nachos on the list and I’ve always wanted to try movie theater-nachos. And maybe a—”
“Alright! Alright. I’ll be back soon.” Colin tried to wave what few dollar bills he had at Damian as payment for his meal, and he gently, but firmly, pushed them back. “Just keep it. I was the one who asked you on this mission, it’s fine.”
On the way out to the food counter, he could see Colin shifting uncomfortably in the too-small seat. It was easy to forget that his Abuse persona had a build closer to Bane than to his father. Damian couldn’t imagine carrying so much extra weight at his age; especially without regular training or practice. It would always baffle him as to why his father never took Colin in after saving him from his abusers.
Damian tried to shake the thought and catch a glimpse of his man as he walked down the steps, but the bright light of the screen illuminated him too much; he couldn’t risk being exposed before he’d had a chance to truly investigate.
So, mindlessly ordering whatever the cashier suggested, he dropped another hundred dollar bill and quickly snuck back into the theater with the tray of food. All these strange looks from the workers should’ve alerted him that danger was afoot but he was too desperate to get the information he wanted.
Too desperate and too mindless. So much so that upon climbing the steps once more as he searched the crowd for the face of his target’s companion, he didn’t see the slippery step until it was almost too late. He managed to catch himself even though the resulting gasps from the nearby audience members who witnessed his near fall brought too much attention. How humiliating; his mother would be so disappointed in his clumsiness. Thankfully, Damian managed to wave them away, playing up the innocent child routine until he could sneak back to his seats.
His seats where Colin sat, back in his normal form once more. The hat drooped over his eyes and he looked to be drowning in baggy clothes, but the smile he aimed at Damian when he saw the abundance of food made his heart skip a beat.
“Thank you! Sorry, I couldn’t fit in the seat as Abuse. I can hide and change if you need me to—” he explained as he stuffed his face with snacks. If Damian was a crueler person, he’d make a joke about Colin’s excessive appetite, but he knew the boy didn’t get to eat as much as he probably should at the orphanage; they have enough to feed the children under their care, but new orphans are always arriving and it's hard for them to keep up. It’s also hard to keep up with the nutritional needs of a boy with venom in his veins.
“It’s fine. Just be on the look-out for the theater workers when they make the rounds.” He sat back to observe some ridiculous drama between a couple on screen who seemed incapable of communicating properly about their feelings, and sighed. The lengths he goes to for information.
However, before Damian could finally do some proper investigating, Colin leaned over to whisper damning words in his ear, “is that Dick down there?”
Cheeks burning, Damian hunched his shoulders in a barely visible shrug. “Perhaps…”
Colin stayed silent for a moment as he took in his defensive pose. “It is…is he who we’re here to investigate?”
No answer was better than an incriminating one, so Damian simply huffed and leaned forward to see who was sitting next to Grayson.
“This wasn’t a mission at all! Why are we here, Dami? Other than to spy on your brother—”
“He wouldn’t patrol with me tonight and I wanted to know why!” he whispered harshly. A few heads swiveled back to shush them and Damian could feel his blush creeping towards his ears. “He said he couldn’t come but wouldn’t tell me why and when I hacked into his comms, I heard him tell Oracle he was going on a date.”
Turning back to see Colin’s smirk, Damian had to use every calming breath technique he knew to keep himself from punching it away. “So you’re crashing his date?”
Maybe he should punch him anyway. “I am not! I am simply seeing who he deems more important than me—”
“Dami, that’s not how dating works.”
“—and if you would please shut up, I could finally—”
Both boys stopped at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Looking up, the same ticket booth worker with her fellow ticket collector stood in front of them, frowning down at the boys caught red-handed. Just great.
Damian managed to convince them to keep things quiet as they escorted the duo out, whispering over their heads in utter bewilderment about how Colin faked being so adult-like. Thankfully in a world of magic and alien technology, they let it go. Unfortunately, that still left both Colin and Damian stuck outside of the theater where Grayson sat romancing some floozy rather than spending time with him. And he still hadn’t seen who his date had been.
“It’s fine, we’ll just find another way back in.”
“Dami, wait!” Colin grabbed his hand, his empty one busy with keeping the oversized clothes from falling down before he accidentally gave the movie theater staff a real reason to call the cops. “I saw who he was with, if that’s what this is about.”
His breath stopped. What a brilliant, wonderful detective! “I knew you were the best choice to come with me, Colin! Tell me what you remember about their appearance, any details to help me piece together who. Or better yet, we can go back to the cave and I’ll pull up—”
“I know who it was.” Colin squeezed Damian’s hand, interlocking his fingers as he pulled him towards the ticket booth again. “But since you dragged me out here for a double date with your brother—”
“I did not! That is not what this was about!” Damian shouted.
“—then I demand we see an actual good movie first. And then I’ll tell you.” He swung their joined hands with a coy smile on his face. Damian had been played. Of all the people in his life he thought capable of pulling something like this, Colin would’ve been last on the list. It was quite impressive, honestly. “I’ll even buy the food this time.”
Slowly tightening his hold, Damian reluctantly nodded, letting Colin lead the way to the ticket booth again. How the tables turned.
“Two tickets please! To something more entertaining this time, right Dami?” As Colin looked over his shoulder at him, Damian felt the edges of his smile pick up. Perhaps he’d let it all go for now and take a page out of Grayson’s book after all.