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It was mid-afternoon when Damian waltzed into Tim's room without knocking or asking if he could come in. He slammed the door open and walked in as if he owned the place. It was typical Damian behavior, and Tim would be lying if he said he hadn't grown used to it because he did. Nothing Damian did phase him anymore. That's what Tim thought. Tim decided to mind his business, lying flat on his bed with his stomach against the mattress as he typed away on his laptop. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Damian standing at the side of his bed with his arms by his sides. As Tim continued writing on his Word Doc, the feeling of Damian's stare burned into the back of his head and made him feel uneasy. He tried to ignore it, thinking if he ignored Damian for long enough, the brat would get bored and leave to bother Dick since he was currently at the manor. That wasn't the case because Damian silently stood by Tim's bedside, watching Tim type. Tim appreciated that Damian wasn't going off about something related to who was the better son, but he didn't like Damian's silence. It was odd, and it made Tim nervous. Finally deciding to acknowledge Damian's presence, Tim sighed and closed his laptop, then sat up, crisscrossing his legs under him as he sat face to face with his kid brother. "Hello, Drake," Damian greeted, blinking at Tim with green eyes.
Raising a suspicious brow, Tim decided he should repay the gesture, "Damian," he nodded. "Is there something you need?" Tim asked, wanting to know why Damian was in his room and why he was acting weird.
Damian stayed silent for what felt like an eternity, dipping his head down and glancing at Tim through his thick, long black eyelashes that Tim knew he inherited from Talia Al Ghul. Tim watched as his kid brother clasped his hands together and rolled back and forth on the heels of his sneakers. Tim almost thought he was dreaming when a rosy pink tint crept onto Damian's teenage cheeks, baby fat still clinging on for dear life, "I um... I wanted to ask you about, uh. Relationship advice," Damian mumbled, furiously blushing as he dared look at his brother, who was looking at him as if he'd grown a second head.
Pulling his mouth shut, Tim couldn't believe what he was hearing! His little brother, the evil little gremlin, Damian Wayne, was asking HIM, Tim of all people in the manor, for relationship advice! Tim wasn't sure if he should feel honored or concerned. He couldn't choose. "You know... I'm not sure I'm the right person for this- I mean, I have so many failed relationships-"
"But you are in a stable, happy relationship with Benard Dowd? Yes?" Damian asked, knitting his brows.
Looking at Damian with an odd look, Tim shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean, yeah?"
Nodding to himself, Damian seemed satisfied with Tim's answer, "Then you are precisely the person I must speak with."
"Well, where is this coming from? You're not even in a relationship." Damian's silence caused Tim's brows to rise in shock, "Oh my god, you're in a relationship!?"
"Shut up, Drake!" Damian yelled, covering Tim's mouth with small hands.
Prying Damian's hands off his mouth, Tim had to ask, "Who is it?" He grinned, suddenly wanting to know all about it.
Damian eyed Tim with his famous scowl as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"What do you mean? No one knows?"
Ignoring Tim's question, Damian restated his question, sounding more demanding and impatient this time, "Promise you won't tell?"
"Fine. I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Including Grayson?"
"Including Dick, yes."
Standing before Tim, Damian shyly dipped his head down, swaying back and forth as he spoke, "It's um... It's Jon."
Tim couldn't help but gasp because he knew Jonathan and Damian had been childhood friends for years, but mainly because he owed Jason fifty bucks. Dammit, Tim grumbled mentally, remembering the stupid bet he made with Jason. Jason thought that by middle school, Damian and Jon would be a couple, but Tim didn't think so. The universe plotted against him once again! "Bruce would flip his shit if he knew," Tim declared, knowing Bruce's thoughts about meta-humans and aliens, especially Krptonians. If Bruce found out Damian was dating his "enemy's" son, Bruce would probably murder everyone in the manor in a fit of rage and then throw himself off a skyscraper.
"I know!" Damian agreed, "That's why I haven't told anyone!"
"Well, why haven't you told Dick?"
"Are you kidding me?" Damian asked, looking at Tim like he was the stupidest, most idiotic human to walk the earth. "He's Grayson! Of course, I wouldn't tell him!" Stepping closer to Tim's bed, Damian held his hand in Tim's face, bringing his index finger and thumb close together so that they were almost touching, "I've been this close! THIS CLOSE. To resorting to burying Grayson myself in the backyard whenever something makes him coo over me like the idiot he is. If I told him I had a boyfriend, and that said boyfriend was Jonathan Samual Kent, I would never hear the end of it, Drake! I'd have to cut off my ears to spare myself!"
Staring at Damian with wide eyes, Tim couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head, "Okay. I understand. Dick can be a little obnoxious with his affection but cut him some slack. He is the oldest."
"A little?" Damian grumbled, rolling his eyes as he climbed onto Tim's bed, sitting beside his brother.
"Well then, what is the advice you've come to seek?" Tim asked, tilting his head as he looked at Damian. Tim would love to go back to finishing his forensics paper, but it wasn't every day Damian came asking for help, so his report would have to wait. Damian was more important.
Pulling his knees up to his chest, Damian glanced down at his feet and shrugged. He was silent for a while, but Tim didn't mind. Talking about relationships is hard, and it's awkward. Finally, Damian built up the courage to talk about his problems, avoiding Tim's blue eyes as he spoke, "I don't know, I guess I feel like I'm not good enough..."
"What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Damian voiced his thoughts, "Jon is so nice. I love being with him, and I love him. I want to be with him. But I always feel like I don't deserve him."
"Is it because of your whole gremlin thing?" Tim joked, laughing when Damian made an annoyed noise and shoved him with a "No!" that sounded a lot like a "Yes," to Tim.
"I feel like I'm mean to him... I don't mean to be! I just- Relationships are so complicated. I'm afraid of messing up."
Glancing at Damian, Tim wrapped an arm around his kid brother's shoulder and pulled Damian into a side hug, confessing how he felt when he first started dating Bernard, "You know, I felt the same way when I first started dating Bernard. It was my first time dating a boy, and I didn't know what to think about it. I was so awkward around him, and I was afraid of messing up that I let my mind get to me, and I started growing distant out of fear of ruining the relationship."
Listening closely, Damian lifted his head, peering up at Tim with big green eyes, "Then what happened?'
Smiling, Tim continued, "Well, I did what you did, and I went to Kate to ask her for advice. Of course, she didn't know exactly where I was coming from with dating another boy since she is a lesbian, but you wanna know what she told me?"
"What?"
"She told me to talk to him, to open up and allow him to help me. Kate said if I didn't say anything to Bernard, I'd grow more distant, and he'd probably start thinking it was his fault, and then the whole relationship would end," Tim said, remembering the morning he sat with Kate in that little cafe, where she helped him work out his thoughts.
"And I assume it worked, yes?" Damian asked.
"It did. Because the next time I saw Bernard, I did what Kate told me to do. He helped me, and we resolved the issue together," Tim confirmed. "So. My advice is to talk to Jon, tell him how you feel, and let him help you figure it out. Do you think you could do that?"
Glancing up at Tim, Damian thought about it for a few minutes before nodding, "Yeah."
Smiling, Tim tightened his arm around Damian, pulling the squirt into a tighter side hug as he used his other hand to ruffle Damian's hair. The 14-year-old squeaked, trying to wiggle out of Tim's grip as he yelled at him, "Stop it, Timothy!"
"Never! I deserve this big brother moment!"
"Let go!"
Damian broke free, tackling Tim on the bed, and the room filled with loud, youthful laughter as Damian and Tim wrestled while yelling playful petty name-calling at one another.