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Bruce rubbed his arms against the chill as he jogged down the main stairs, spying Alfred in the foyer he headed over.
“Hey, where’s the kids?”
Alfred looked up with a smile.
“Outside, Jason’s orchestrated a snowball fight.” He paused and pointed to the windows. “Someone wasn’t so keen.”
Bruce looked over and saw Damian watching from the window, sighing softly. “Hey Alfred? Where are my gloves?”
Damian was stood at the large windows of the manor, watching his brothers fool around in the snow with a frown. The older boys’ antics regularly baffled him, but when they’d awoken that morning to a sea of snow and cheered instead of complaining? Damian was lost.
“Don’t fancy it?”
Damian flinched, glancing up at Bruce as he came near. The man was decked out in his fluffy black parka and boots, clearly intending to join the others outside.
Damian shrugged. “What are they even doing?”
“Snowball fight.” Answered Bruce simply.
“A fight?” Damian stared up at him and Bruce mentally backtracked.
“Not a fight fight, no.”
Damian’s attention was momentarily pulled back outside as a loud cheer sounded out, seeing Jason with his arms in the air as Tim tried to shake an armful of snow from his shoulders, clutching his beloved Wonder Woman beanie in his hands before tugging it back on his head.
“If it’s not a real fight, then what is the point?”
“For fun, Dami.”
Damian frowned back up at Bruce. They were all so insistent on him having fun, bringing all sorts of toys and games into the house, and taking him out to do even more.
“You can be on my team? I’ll be your backup.” Bruce tried gently, and Damian noticed then he was holding the boy’s yellow duffle coat out to him.
Damian took the coat from Bruce, holding the collar clutched in his hands.
“Can you win?” He asked softly, and Bruce smiled as he saw a in.
“You absolutely can win.” Bruce replied, taking the coat from Damian’s hands he held it open, smile widening as the boy slipped into it. Dami accepted the hat and gloves handed to him next, pulling them on as Bruce dropped down and fastened the little toggles up on his coat.
He looped Damian’s scarf around his neck, tucking it snugly into his coat. “And we are definitely going to win.”
“Got room for two more?”
Jason, Dick and Tim looked up as Bruce’s voice carried out over the grounds, seeing him heading their way, Damian trudging behind him in his boots. Jason threw his arms out in protest.
“You’re going to knock us uneven! Someone needs to sit out.”
“I’ll switch!” Said Tim immediately, going from bouncing on the spot to jogging over to Bruce and Damian. “I need a warm drink.”
“Alfred’s just put on a fresh pot.” Bruce said with a smile, patting Tim’s shoulder as he passed them.
“Thank the Lord for Alfred.”
“Come back out when you’re warm though! We need a referee!”
Tim waved a hand behind him in agreement before disappearing back inside the manor.
“Alright! Ease off for a bit, okay? Damian’s not played before.”
Dick dropped the armful of snowballs he was holding onto the ground, smiling over at them. “Okay! Let us know when you’re ready.”
His smile vanished a second later as Jason shoved a handful of snow down the back of his coat, laughing loud at the resulting screech. Damian frowned and Bruce crouched down to him.
“That’s not a part of it, I promise.”
Damian still looked unsure, so Bruce quickly talked him through the basics.
“So. It’s like, the Dodgeball game. That we play at school.”
“Yes! Exactly like Dodgeball. But with snow. Do you enjoy Dodgeball?”
Damian nodded. “I enjoy winning it.”
Jason, who could no longer torment Dick as the man was keeping a wide birth away from him; was starting to feel bored. He gazed over at the man and boy in deep discussion and smirked to himself.
Bruce smiled at Damian, then huffed! Loudly as a snowball hit him in the side of the face. Damian gasped; eyes wide as he stared at Bruce.
“Well.” Started Bruce calmly as he shook the snow from his hair. “I’m not about to stand for that. Are you?”
Damian looked down at the snow, fresh and soft around his feet.
“I don’t know how.” He said softly, and Bruce’s heart twinged.
“Like this. Gather a good chunk up.” Bruce paused as Damian dropped down to the snow, following his father’s instructions.
“That’s it, now squeeze it together tight, like a ball. There you go!”
Damian held up the little ball of snow, a small smile threatened his lips as he saw Bruce’s wide grin.
“Now I just, throw it?”
“Now you throw it.”
Damian’s first couple of attempts missed their targets, Jason managing to dodge them both. He looked around in the snow, accepting the ball offered to him by Bruce he took a wind up, launching the ball across the field.
It smacked Dick in the head, knocking his blue bobble hat askew.
“YES DAMES!” Bruce cheered, and the smile broke through Damian’s composure, grinning as he saw Dick shaking the snow from his hat.
“Alright! Practice over. You’re going down Dami.”
Damian was already packing together snow. “Bring it on, Greyson.”
The fight quickly gained traction, Damian proving to be annoyingly hard to hit, Dick was blaming his size for making such a tiny target. Tim re-joined them just as Bruce smashed a ball perfectly into Dick’s chest, he recovered to bounce one off Bruce’s arm, earning him a smirk which quickly had him running in the opposite direction.
Dick missed a throw from Damian with an impressive flip, Tim booing from the side-lines and calling foul. He got a snowball to the butt for his troubles. Bruce was laughing at the row between Tim and Dick as Damian darted behind him, a snowball hit Bruce’s thigh a second later and a loud groan came from Jason across the field.
“Using me as cover?”
Damian peeked up at Bruce and shrugged. “You were the closest option.”
“I’m good with it. Fancy getting him back for me?”
Damian smiled and quickly patted together some ammo, peeping round Bruce he saw his target, and yelled triumphantly as he hit Jason square in the face. Jason glared over at them as the snow dripped from his face, Bruce winced at the expression and bent to his side.
“Dami, run.”
Damian took off at speed, Jason wiped his face off with his arm before running after him, two balls missed as Damian jumped over them, but a third caught him in the leg, Damian landed in the snow with an oof.
“Damian, are you okay?” Bruce was at his side a second later, concern in his voice. Damian looked slowly up at his father with a smug smile, before springing to his feet, running, and launching himself into Jason.
“Is that the best you can do, Todd?” Was all Bruce heard as the eight-year-old collided with his brother, Jason just had time to wrap his arms around Damian as they both fell to the ground, the younger boy cushioned against Jason’s chest. But the comfort didn’t last as Jason rolled them over, pushing Damian into the snow he laughed as the boy squealed.
“Foul!” Called Tim, as Dick ran over to him, dragging Tim down to the ground. “Disqualified!” Bruce heard Tim squeak before receiving a face full of snow. Bruce jogged over to Jason, giving him a shove with his foot as he held out a hand for Damian. The boy took it, but grabbed a last handful with his other, throwing it at Jason as he was pulled up.
“You hear that, Dami?” Bruce asked as he brushed the boy down. “They got disqualified, we won.”
“We won?” Damian turned to face the others, sticking out his tongue. “We won!”
“Hot Coco, anybody?” Alfred called from the door, and the boys quickly scrambled up, rushing to the manor.
“Boots off!” The Butler reminded, as they sheepishly took off their wet clothes before all trapsing into the kitchen.
“Hey Dami? If you fancy going back out later, I can show you how to make Snow Angels.”
Damian looked up at Dick with wide eyes as he climbed into a chair. “Snow… Angels?”
“They’d be more like Snow Devils with you.” Jason chimed in, earning himself an amused glare as he ruffled Damian’s hair.
Alfred served up the hot chocolate, spooning mini marsh-mellows into each mug before leaving the bowl where the boys could help themselves. He moved over to Bruce, who was hanging back by the counter. He accepted the mug pressed into his hands gratefully, smiling at the marsh-mellows floating on top as he blew gently on the coco.
“Looks like he enjoyed himself, in the end.”
Bruce smiled. “Yeah, I think he did. Of course, landing one in Jason’s face helped.”
“I’m sure it did. It’s going to be a long road with him, Bruce.” Alfred continued as Bruce sipped at his drink. “But he’s come so far already. You have yourself to thank for that.”
Bruce sighed, cupping the mug to his chest. “It’s not just me, it’s all of us. I wasn’t there for the first eight years; I want to try and make up for that now.”
The two men fell into comfortable silence, watching the four boys at the table, Damian and Tim laughing as Dick tried to throw marsh mellows into Jason’s mouth. Alfred looked from the scene to the smile on Bruce’s face as he moved to the table, intercepting the sweet and catching it perfectly in mid-air, causing a chorus of cheers and complaints from the boys.
“I think you already are.”