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Damian grumbled quietly to himself as Dick dragged him into the club and towards one of the few tables on the balcony above the dance floor. The music was painfully loud. It was hot. So damn hot. These drunkards had no sense of personal space! Four had walked into him just getting to the stairwell! It took everything in him not to push them away or punch them. He wondered again why he had agreed to come. Grayson had been desperate for ‘bonding time’ now that he was legal. Todd just wanted to see him drunk. Drake just seemed to be along for the ride. He looked dead on his feet. Damian just wanted to be done with the night. He wanted to go see Marinette. Maybe join her on patrol. Instead, he was… here.
The only saving grace for this hell hole was that the upstairs was moderately quieter. There were pool tables and some people mingling at tables. There was some room to breathe. They sat down at a table and waited. Drake’s eyes started to droop a bit during the wait. The waitress never came, so Dick eventually went over to the bartender and ordered them some drinks.
When the waitress arrived with their order, she looked confused. In her hand were the most colourful monstrosities he had seen. Marinette would have loved them. They were pink and had strawberries on the rims.
“Four strawberry daquiris and a cappuccino,” she stated as she placed the orders down. Drake lunged for the caffeine.
Todd frowned at the drink. “Never should have let you order Dickie bird.”
Grayson sipped happily on his drink. After a pointed look from him, Todd began to drink his as well. The look on his face betrayed him though. Whatever the hell they were drinking, Todd thought it was good. Drake must have downed his cappuccino, because he was now glaring at his fruity drink.
“Come on Damian, just try it,” Grayson pleaded.
Damian took one last disgusted look at the daquiri and drank it. The fruit mostly hid the taste of the rum. There was only a slight afterbite. Marinette would probably like it. He drank it quickly, hoping to get it over with. Perhaps they would leave him alone when he was done.
Todd finished his shortly after and dragged Drake off, yelling over the noise, “C’mon Pretender.” A very reluctant Tim was dragged down the stairs to the dance floor before they split up to find partners.
“It’s not that bad, is it?” Grayson asked. He was only halfway through his drink, but had noticed Damian’s glower at his empty cup. “Maybe we should try something else. I’ll be right back!”
Damian watched Grayson head over to the bartender again. He seemed to take his time, flirting a bit with the girl. When he finally returned, he had two equally colourful drinks in hand.
“Mojitos! They should be more your style.”
Damian glanced at the monstrosity that was placed in front of him. It had leaves in it. He hesitantly sipped it. Mint and lime. A flavour he much preferred to the sugary monstrosity he had been given before. The alcohol was definitely more present though. He fought back the urge to cough, making sure he kept a firm scowling mask on his face. He had been trained by the League not to display weakness. He sure wasn’t going to start now. A little alcohol wouldn’t prevent him from utilizing those skills. Again, he drank it quickly in the hope of leaving sooner.
“Dames, you should probably slow down. Don’t want to get too drunk,” Grayson warned.
“I feel no different than normal. Stop worrying.”
Grayson looked a bit hesitant, but went back to sipping his drink. When Damian finished, he asked, “I have finished my drink. May we please leave now?”
“But we just got here!” Grayson exclaimed loudly. “I’ll go grab the others. One more drink together, okay? Then we can go.” He left to go grab them from wherever they were on the dance floor.
Not too long after, Drake appeared. “Let’s go get a drink Damian,” he suggested. They went to the bartender to order. “Two Irish Coffees, please,” Drake ordered.
Good, Damian thought, some coffee ought to help flush some of the alcohol out of his system. They took the drinks, but rather than heading back to the table they stood watching the crowd dancing below them. Drake apparently did not want to talk much, which worked for him. They sipped on the coffees in silence. Damian thought it tasted odd, but he wasn’t sure what made the coffee “Irish.”
They watched silently as Grayson gave up looking for Todd in favour of flirting with one of the waitresses. He was leaning half over the counter, whispering in her ear. They both frowned. So much for sibling bonding time.
“I’ll go see if I can drag him away before he forgets why we’re here,” Drake said exasperatedly.
He watched Drake walk away. Why wouldn’t they just let him leave? They knew he wasn’t going to dance. Grayson was making more of a fool of himself, draping over the counter. Todd finished dancing with the random girl in his arms, and Damian watched as he headed upstairs.
As he stood there, he began to realise that maybe the alcohol was starting to affect him a bit. He was feeling light and less in control. That wouldn’t do. He had to maintain his social face, his mask. He replaced his standard scowl. His glance returned to the dance floor. Maybe if Marinette had been there, he would have joined her for a dance or two. Maybe they could come back again without his brothers. The dancing some of the couples were doing was lewd, but with Marinette, it wouldn’t be so bad…
With the music blaring, he failed to notice Todd come up behind him. “Yo Demon Spawn, let’s grab some shots and play some pool.”
“Tt, you’ll lose,” he shot back.
“We’ll see, kid.”
“I am not a KID!” he yelled back angrily.
Todd just laughed and went to grab more drinks. They really were trying to get him drunk. He’d had two drinks and a coffee already and was starting to feel that ‘loose’ feeling that is typically described. He would have described it as a bit light-headed, rather than feeling loose. Regardless, he was at the point of intoxication.
Todd dragged him over to a pool table. Despite his light-headedness, Damian did well playing pool. Todd had excellent aim, and it became a real challenge to beat him. He had made a few errors, which he found a bit unusual. Perhaps his eye-hand coordination was off as a result of the alcohol. They finished up the first game, Todd winning by only one ball. As they were racking up the next game, the waitress brought over a tray with four shots on it.
Damian glared at it. “Really Todd?”
“Don’t knock it ‘til ya try it Demon Spawn,” he teased, then knocked back the first shot.
Damian, not wanting to look like a coward, copied Todd. He downed the drink in one go, and then proceeded to cough involuntarily. “Fuck, Todd! What the hell did you give me?”
“Tequila,” he shrugged. “The other one is Firewhisky. Tastes a bit like cinnamon hearts.”
“Cinnamon hearts?”
“Spicy candy.” Todd drank his other shot and smiled.
Damian looked at the drink with skepticism. He liked cinnamon. He liked spicy things. It shouldn’t be horrible since he knew what to expect. Since he was ready for it, he thought it wasn’t too bad. He could handle more of those.
They played another round of pool. A few times he swore Todd was cheating, but he hadn’t caught him. The balls were moving around and the angles were off when he shot. Maybe he was moving the table? Todd won again, but Damian didn’t have the energy to even get mad. He was trying hard to ignore the room swaying a bit.
Todd laughed and put his arm around Damian, leading him back to the table, where Grayson and Drake were waiting for them. Damian attempted to shrug him off, but every time he tried he almost lost his balance.
“I won! Last round is on me!” Todd boomed loudly over the music. He pushed Damian into a chair, which he was glad for. It was the last drink of the night. He could do this. He would regret it in the morning, but he was sure he could play it off.
The waitress came back with more fancy looking drinks. They had a lemon wedge though, so they couldn’t be too sweet.
“Four Long Island Iced Teas,” the waitress said with a wink that seemed to be directed at Todd.
“THEN can we go?” Damian asked.
“Sure Damian, then we can go,” Dick said sadly.
His brother chatted while they slowly drank down their iced teas. The drink, Damian noted, wasn’t as strong as the shots, and he was glad for it. It was bubbly though, and was irritating his nose. He drank this one a bit more slowly, realising he wasn’t going to get to leave until his brothers were done anyway. Still, perhaps if he was finished, they would hurry up. He was starting to feel a bit queasy from all the spinning. He wished the lights of the club would stop moving around so much.
~~~~
Dick was about halfway through his iced tea when he glanced over at Damian. He had been very quiet tonight, outside of complaining to leave, but that wasn’t really abnormal for him, especially out in public. He had hoped that a few drinks would get him to loosen up, maybe interact with them when his guard wasn’t so up! But it looked like that plan had failed. He was the same as ever! Granted, he hadn’t given Damian that much, so maybe they just needed a few more drinks in him. The long island should be hitting him soon…
Suddenly Damian jumped out of his chair and ran for the bathroom. Concerned, they all followed.
“Man, the kid is a lightweight,” Jason teased.
“C’mon Jaybird, it was his first time drinking. Maybe I shouldn’t have given him that mojito earlier,” Dick mused.
“Mojito? When did he have that? He had an Irish coffee with me while we were waiting for you two to stop flirting…” Tim questioned.
“Ah shit. We did a couple of shots while we played pool.”
“…How much did he have to drink?” Dick asked.
“Daquiri, Mojito, Irish coffee, two shots, and a long island which has five shots in it…” Tim recalled.
“Oh. Shit. DAMIAN!”
They ran into the bathroom to see Damian leaning over a toilet, puking.
“Do you think we need to call an ambulance? Get his stomach pumped?” Tim asked.
Dick replied, “He’s puking, so hopefully he can get it out of his system… but we should call Alfred. Jay, go get him a bottle of water. Timmy, call Alfred. We’re going to have to watch him tonight.”
They all looked down as Damian slid his phone across the floor to them before going back to puking some more. They would have felt bad for him, but they saw what was on the phone. An open call. To Marinette.
“Oh hell no, I ain’t dealing with that. You can take the angry Pixie. I’ll go get that water.” Jason backed his way out of the bathroom.
“Sorry! I need to call Alfred!” Tim smiled as he bolted out of the room.
Dick grimaced and picked up the phone.
“Damian? Damian? Hello? Are you okay?” Marinette’s voice came from the other end of the line.
“Heeeey Sunshine…”
“Dick?! What’s wrong? Where’s Damian?”
“We, uh, might have accidentally given too much to Damian to drink?”
“YOU WHAT?!”
“And given him alcohol poisoning?”
“WHAT?!”
“We didn’t mean to! I swear!”
“I’ll be right there. DON’T leave his side.” She hung up on him.
Sooner than he would have liked, Ladybug was swinging through the men’s bathroom window. A quick nod from Dick and she detransformed, leaving one very angry Marinette in her place. She sat beside Damian rubbing his back.
Jason returned with the water, wordlessly handing it to Marinette, who gave them both a glare that would have made Batman shudder and inch away. She managed to get him to drink a few sips of water and whispered to him as she rubbed his back. If they weren’t currently so worried about his blood alcohol levels, Dick would have cooed at how sweet it was to see his brother accept affection so openly.
Tim came back, and they all waited until Damian had stopped puking long enough to move him. Tim had brought some bags back with him for Damian to puke in if needed in the car. He checked Damian’s breathing and pulse. “Alfred talked me through his symptoms. He definitely has alcohol poisoning, but not bad enough to warrant going to the hospital. We are going to need to watch him tonight in case that changes.”
That earned an even worse glare from Marinette. Tim actually did back up into the sink.
“Let’s get him into the car,” Dick suggested. He and Jason helped Damian into the vehicle. Marinette was glaring at them again.
“How exactly were you four planning on getting home tonight if your car is here?” she asked as she held her hands out for the car keys.
Dick looked sheepishly at her. “I, uh, guess I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Sorry Sunshine.”
“Don’t you ‘Sunshine’ me, Dick Grayson. This was your stupid idea.”
Once they had all clambered in, Marinette drove them back to the manor, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. “Explain,” she demanded once they had no way out of the car. She was definitely driving faster than the recommended speed limit.
“We split up… None of us realised the others were giving him drinks too. He never said anything about it!” Dick tried to explain to save their hides.
“He didn’t act drunk Pixie, we swear! Up until he ran to the bathroom, we only thought he had had a few drinks. Nothing to cause this. Just enough to maybe open up with us a bit,” Jason pleaded his case.
“How. Much,” she growled.
“We figured ten shots worth…” Tim said very quietly from the back of the car.
“TEN?! You’re lucky he hasn’t DIED!” Her foot pressed down on the gas harder, and the car shot forward at an uncomfortable speed, even for them. Hell, they were going to die from an angry driving Marinette.
Marinette began screaming at them in rapid French. Dick was fluent, but even he was having issues keeping up. He did manage to catch several words which she had screamed out at them aside from the long list of swear words he didn’t even know she knew how to use. ‘Irresponsible’ came up the most attached to various insults to their intelligence. None of them dared disagree. They weren’t sure at this point how much Damian was even hearing. He was busy puking again.
They arrived at the manor in record time, though it felt infinitely longer. Alfred and Bruce met them at the door. Dick and Jason went to help Damian up, but Marinette growled and glared at them so much they both backed away without touching him. Bruce helped Damian up out of the car, his own glare set on his face. This was going to be a long night.
They all walked to Damian’s room, and Bruce set him down on the bed, making sure he was propped up. It didn’t last long before he was rushing for the bathroom again. The movement must have set him off. “Let me know if you need anything,” Bruce stated quietly. She nodded and gave him a brief smile.
Alfred came over with a glass of water and a bucket to puke into in case he couldn’t get to the bathroom in time. He checked his pulse and breathing, nodding with a small smile on his face. Damian would be okay. They all let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding. “He needs to stay awake and sitting up tonight as much as possible, Miss Marinette. Let me know if you need assistance or for someone to take over for you. I’ll check on you both in a bit.” Alfred exited the room to stand beside him, Jason, and Tim.
“How can we help Mari-” Tim started.
“You three have done ENOUGH for one night, don’t you think?”
“We just want-” Dick started.
“Tomorrow you will apologize to him. You will be quiet and helpful, and will NOT tease him about this, because this is YOUR FAULT.”
“Sorry Pixie,” Jason said sadly. He had given Damian the most to drink. The guilt weighed on him.
“Don’t be sorry to me. Be sorry to him. Now get out. All of you.”
Dick closed the door, watching Marinette help a returning Damian to his bed, a look of concern on her face. He was in good hands.
They hadn’t even had a chance to leave, however, when Marinette rounded on Damian. Her questions carried through the closed door. “Why the HELL would you drink that much?! Why didn’t you tell them how much you had?!” He must have mumbled the answers, because they couldn’t hear them. “You stubborn fool! You could have DIED tonight for your DAMN PRIDE!”
Oh yeah, he was definitely in good hands.