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The past few months had slowed for Damian. The youngest Wayne was in a shared position at the moment, with Drake being Red Robin and him being Robin that followed under father’s arm.
He hadn’t expected all of this, though.
Being put in a new family, one that couldn’t even get beneath Ra’s Al Ghul’s if it tried. Of course, Damian hadn’t found it easy to adjust to his new life. Within the first few weeks, he’d been stuck in trouble, arguing, anything of the above when he adjusted to his father’s code.
Something still didn’t feel right to Damian. He didn’t feel fulfilled in his Robin duties like how he was supposed to, and the new way of training jumbled his brain. He and his father had plenty of talks as to why they didn’t go through with ending a life of a scum like Joker, or why things had been different from how it was under mother’s care.
Damian thought all of this over, many times in a day. After patrol, when father would lecture him about going too far on a mission and how he could fix how to approach crime. Damian knew father had no ill intentions toward him, he knew where father came from. He knew his father.
Still, he was confused. Maybe that was why he was sitting on the porch past his bedtime, quietly doodling away at his sketchbook; just to get away from everything around him.
“Damian?” A familiar voice called out. Damian hadn’t flinched or moved a muscle, he put his pencil down and looked at his brother.
“Drake.” He said, his brows furrowed together.
“Nice to see you too, do you know how late it is?” Timothy questioned him, Damian had a feeling he couldn’t lie to get out of this one. He thought he hid himself in plain sight, but with detectives that ran through a huge manor there was no real escape.
Damian simply stayed quiet.
“Is .. something bothering you? You didn’t even try to fight for the last cookie, Dick got it before any of us did.” Timothy pulled up a chair next to his brother, this surprised Damian. The two weren’t known for getting along or even having a normal conversation without one of them throwing a punch or spurting an insult from across a room. “.. No.” Damian put his attention back towards his portrait of the large backyard.
Tim nodded and got up, he patted Damian’s head. “Don’t stay up for too long, Bruce is in a pissy mood.” He joked, but as soon as he was starting to walk away Damian grabbed his finger.
“No, sit.” Drake raised an eyebrow but complied. “Father will be less upset if I have someone with me,” Damian explained, “It is also dark outside, in case anything happens — I’d like to be partnered.”
“You’ve never cared about that before.” Drake said smugly, crossing his arms.
“I do now, so stay.”
“Seriously, what’s bothering you, Dames?” Damian stayed quiet as Drake pressed a hand onto his shoulder. “I’m not trying to start a fight, but I’m very surprised you haven’t.”
“I told you before, I’m fine.”
“Don’t make this hard.”
“Fine!” Damian sighed, crossing his arms and sitting back, his eyes meeting his brother’s. “I don’t.. I don’t understand.” Drake leaned for and frowned at the sudden concerning look on his baby brother. “Father said I would be Robin.. not that I would have to share or- or be apart of the things you all do everyday. I do not belong here, I was raised to be one thing and one thing on-.”
“Dames, c’mon.” Drake sighed and opened his arms, Damian hadn’t noticed the tears running down his cheeks. He hesitated, but climbed into Drake’s arm with a small sigh.
“You do belong,” Timothy assured as he carded his hand through the young Robin’s hair. “I know how you feel.. I was scared of Alfred for the longest.” Through Damian’s quiet tears, a small chuckle erupted from him. “Hey! It’s not funny!”
The two heroes laughed as Timothy tightened his embrace on Damian. “Pennyworth?” Damian looked up at him, his tears long gone. Timothy smiled and nodded. When Dami rested his head on Timothy’s shoulder, they both relaxed. Never had Damian thought he would be in this position. “Wanna go in?” As Damian nodded, a sudden boom of thunder made the two jump to their feet. They took a moment to decipher if that was a villain attack or simply nature doing it’s job.
Their questions were answered when rain poured down on the two. Timothy scooped Damian and his little sketchbook up and ran inside the manor, making sure to stay silent and sneaky. When he set his brother down, he sat on the floor in defeat. “This doesn’t go back to Bruce, okay?” Damian firmly nodded and turned away. “Goodnight, Timothy.”
Timothy smiled, “Damian.” He got up and walked over to his brother. “What?” The young Robin asked before he was embraced tightly by Tim. Damian stood shocked for a moment, then wrapped his arms around him. “You belong here, okay?”
Damian smiled, it was small and barely noticeable; but Tim could feel it. “Alright.”