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Birds were singing, sun was shining - as much as it could in Gotham, that is. Sky was more blue than gray and the landscape was green. In short, it was finally spring.
And for Tim, it looked like the first good spring in a long time.
Last year, the Murderous Demon Brat came to the city and tried to stab them all, until there was no more blood left in their veins.
Before that Jason decided to throw his temper tantrum and blow them all up.
Earlier his dad died and it sucked. Tim might like to be adopted and Wayne and Bruce were great and all, but… it was still his Dad and they finally started to get along the way Tim always dreamed of.
Four years ago his parents had an accident and his mom died. He remembered how devastated and lost he felt back then, how he was convinced it was the worst time in his life.
(Yeah, so naive, so stupid, how could he ever be so childish.)
And then, what started it all, was Jason’s death. Which also happened in spring.
Shortly speaking, Tim was not a fan of spring. It was no good. Nothing good ever happened in spring.
(Now, autumn, it was completely different thing-)
But it’s not like Tim wanted spring to be a bad time over and over again. Spring was always so beautiful. There were so many pretty flowers blooming, the sky looked more blue than gray. The whole city seemed more green and even Poison Ivy was less angry.
He just couldn’t help, but be on guard, just waiting for something awful to happen.
And so, when Damian ambushed him on Friday afternoon, Tim wasn’t really as surprised as he probably should.
Tim didn’t come to the Manor often, but this time Bruce asked.
He didn’t come to Manor often, but Bruce had asked. Their father loved to have as many of them at the house as he could, no matter how impossible it was. Steph sometimes comes by from college, but she and Bruce agreed they’re not father and daughter. Cass was still in Hong Kong and couldn’t visit regularly. Dick came for weekends, but he had a job so he wasn’t around as much as everyone wanted him to be. Jason…
Tim felt chills going through his whole body.
They do not talk about Jason.
So, as always, Tim had to come. For Bruce’s sake. Now Bruce could have at least one of his kids in the Manor.
Well, one more . Because Damian is Bruce’s kid too, and he lived there.
That was the worst of it. And so, when Tim came to visit, he expected the Demon Spawn to be there.
Part of him refused to believe Dick when their oldest brother said Damian was all-better and no-murderous now. The apology the little brat offered was so stiff and fake - and forced, definitely forced, he saw Dick’s grip on the kid’s shoulders - Tim accepted it only to make it stop.
And he was proven right!
Demon attacked him when he was working in the living room. It was an ambush!
Tim didn’t know where the little demon came from or what he used to knock Tim out.
He just knew it wasn’t enough, because Tim woke up halfway there.
He wasn’t… tied up which made him even more nervous. (Who knows what Damian might have planned?) But he was sitting in a very uncomfortable position, in something… metal. He could hear a knocking sound that was carried through the stupid box he was in.
Tim tried not to move, when he opened an eye to assess the situation.
There was… a lot of green (yeah, brilliant, couldn’t come up with anything better? your observations skills are top tire, Drake. )
And light. There was light.
The box Tim was lying in was… open. Huh.
Did Damina take the wrong poison and thought he already killed Tim? Did he try to get rid of Tim’s body?
Tim hoped Demon Brat wouldn't stab him. Or, if he does, he’ll be aiming at the kidney. Humans only need one of these…
Oh, fuck. What if it’s too late? What if Tim already loses another organ? He didn’t feel any pain, but who knew what the brat gave him. Maybe he was bleeding out and he couldn’t feel it -
“Ah, you are awake” Tim almost snapped his head at the voice. He turned on the side, on instinct and hit a metal wall with his back. Damian’s head is barely visible over the edge of the… was Tim in a fucking wheelbarrow?
“Almost perfectly, as alway. We’re there” and Tim got chills, because where are they? Did Damian plan this? Oh, hell, is Damian planning on torturing him? “Calm down, Timothy. Acting so childish is your unbecoming.”
“You don’t even know what half of these words mean, you little demon” he grumped, before remembering that he was on Damian’s mercy . Unless Bruce figured out where they are or that they’re missing. Then, he had to wait for his dad to find them.
“At least I understood enough to not be taken by surprise” which was completely unfair, the brat attacked him in his own home . No one is on guard in their own home. Not even Bruce . “Get out, we are here.”
Here? Here meaning where exactly?
Because Tim didn’t get it. When he looked up, the only thing he saw was a canopy of leaves and branches, thought which scraps of sky could be seen. Did Damian take him to the forest just to kill him? How much more stereotypical could it even get?
Damian’s head disappeared from beside the wheelbarrow and the only reason he didn’t think the Demon Brat was gone was his voice. Tim heard his grumbling and complaining, even if he couldn’t see the difference between words.
Well, not until the yell of “Are you coming out or not, you imbecile?!”
That made Tim jump and he hit his head on the metal plate. And he ended up almost whining .
He couldn’t recognize exact words, but he heard Demon’s Brat voice in what probably was another complaint.
Tim tried to stand up, this time successfully, and looked over his body. Which was apparently unscratched. Even his clothes were untouched . Not just without some slashes, they weren’t even dirty.
His attempt on getting out of the wheelbarrow was so awkward that Tim ended up practically rolling out of the metal box. He was on his knees, his hands touching delicate grass in a bright shade of green.
But when he finally looked up and his eyes found Damian.
Damian, who was glaring at Tim, unimpressed.
And Damian, who was standing in the middle of a clearing.
The place was… Beautiful. Trees were looking way richer than Tim saw in other parts of the city. Dark jade green of the conifer was mixing with the light emerald of the deciduous tree. The bark of the trees was in earthy and chocolate shades of brown. And it wasn’t the end of it.
A carpet of flowers in all colors of the rainbow was covering the whole clearing. Bush of blue and red flowers protruded through the trees.
And Tim could see the reminding of the dew from that morning on the leaves and the petals.
“You… What the fuck” Tim did not care what the hell Dick was telling him about cursing in front of a kid. Damian was a demon and he probably heard way worse in the League.
“I was informed you are also enjoying preserving the beauty of nature in material form. While your method is obviously inferior and less demanding, I came to the conclusion you would be the least inadequate person in this family to share the magnificence of this place with.”
Tim blinked a couple of times, trying to decipher what Daminan actually meant. Which was not an easy task, because Damian was a little elitist bitch and always used the weirdest, longest words.
“You kidnapped me. To show me this place.”
Because it was the most unbelievable part of this whole thing, that Damian just wanted to… what… Hang out? Draw with Tim? Take pictures? If not for the kidnapping part, Tim would believe it was just something Dick forced Damian to do.
“You would not come willingly-” of course Tim wouldn’t, Damian tried to kill him every time they were left alone in the room. “- So I needed to ensure your participation in another way” wait- ensure your participation? Oh, hell don’t tell him Demon Brat was afraid of being rejected . Nope, it was not possible. But… his body language was a little closed off. His face was a little frown and Damian’s eyes never met Tim’s. His hands were clenched into fists.
“I even secure the presence of any art tools, your expensive yet lesser art form” the kid’s voice was stiff.
And only now did Tim notice what else was in the clearing.
He somehow missed the blanket with a basked and stash of food in the middle of the fucking glade. Besides fruits and sandwiches, there were also pillows and a bunch of books and… paints? But what else Tim saw were the cameras. Not even one, but a whole set.
“What the fuck” Tim’s voice was flat. “What the hell made you think- How the fuck is it even-? Are you serious?” Tim practically hissed. He couldn’t even articulate anything besides the thousand of curses that filled his mind in that moment.
Which definitely bothered the brat, who was waiting for explanations. Tim could see it in his eyes.
And maybe there were a dozen reasons why, from the fact that little demon drugged him and tried to kill him on multiple occasions, to the fact that entertaining Damian was the last thing Tim wanted to do. But at the end of the day, Tim couldn’t bring himself to say any of it, the question and heartbreak in the kid's eyes only promoting the “why” his brain was chanting.
And Damian's face twisted at Tim’s lack of reasons, and so did something in Tim’s guts.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Tim was actually feeling bad for the demon kid that drugged him. It was not happening, it just wasn’t. Shit. Dick was getting to him too, wasn’t he? With this whole “He’s just a kid” and “He knows better now” . Tim is really going to-
“You know, you said photography is a lesser form of art. I bet you won’t be able to do even one coherent photo by the end of the day.”
- aand dammit. He did it. He actually is going to hang out with fucking Baby Demon Damian Wayne.
“By the end of the day I shall be able to do photographics as well as you, Timothy!” the brat yelled, but he also relaxed and took another camera out.
Tim couldn’t fight a tiny smile that creeped onto his face.
Damian barked a lot, but he also actually listened to Tim when he tried to give the younger boy advice.
Maybe Dick wasn’t lying. Maybe Damian really calmed down, got better. Maybe that stiffness was just Damian being an awkward kid. Bruce wasn’t the most tactile person and he was Damian’s father.
So maybe, just maybe Tim can enjoy this.
And maybe he’s going to have a little brother one day, too.