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Damian didn’t know what to do. He’ll never admit it, but he is completely clueless when it comes to emotions—his own and other’s.
He watches Drake slowly wake up from a fear toxin induced sleep. The antidote has already taken affect, but some of the fear will linger.
Damian doesn’t know what to do as he watches the older boy curl in on himself, tense and afraid. He could recognize what he’s feeling, every emotion that passed though his eyes; he was trained by his mother to tell apart the slightest changes in expression. The problem is, he was never taught what to do with that information.
If he went off league training, then he would take advantage of his opponent’s weaknesses. He shakes that thought away, everyone will be mad at him then. It seemed they will get mad at everything he can do. Perhaps he should just walk away.
Damian prepares to walk away, call Batman or someone on patrol, maybe even as Alfred to come home early: but something stops him. Drake is standing and stumbling around the cave, a dagger—that he got from who knows where—clutched in his grip.
Grayson will be mad if he lets Drake get injured. He doesn’t know why, it’s Drakes fault for being so weak, but he doubts anyone will hear him out. It wouldn’t be his fault, but he always manages to break rules he was never told about.
“Drake, return to the medbay before you do something foolish,” Damian called out. Drake—of course—doesn’t return to the medbay, instead he clutched the knife tighter and turned to face Damian.
“I won’t let you kill me,” Drake calls out. Damian lets out a noise of frustration, why couldn’t Drake just be reasonable?
“You are delusional, listen to reason Drake, before I call Alfred,” this gets Drake to settle. Alfred has finally taken a day off and no one—not even a fear gas affected Drake—wants to ruin that for him.
“Damian?” Drake asks. Damian rolled his eyes, making a small ‘tch’ sound as he does so.
“Yes it is me, I would think you could at least figure that out,” Damian falls back on insults when his words fail him. He wants to comfort Drake, but he doesn’t know how, would he even except comfort from him?
“Damian! I thought you died, I watched you all die and leave me alone,” Drake cried, tossing himself onto Damian. This was so unlike Drake that Damian questioned if he was replaced when Damian was watching.
“As if I would die before you,” Damian retorts, ignoring that he had died first technically. Drake let out a half laugh and wrapped his arms tighter around Damian’s waist.
“Never have a wanted to hear your insults so bad,” Drake mumbles into Damian’s shoulder. Damian pauses, lifting his arms and cautiously wraps them around Tim. He was afraid of breaking another rule, but when nothing happens he relaxed. Tim leaned into the hug. He made a noise of contentment, and Damian couldn’t help but agree. He never knew how good a hug could feel, especially after the long night he had.
“I think it’s time you go back to sleep,” Damian whispered. Shuffling them back to the medbay beds and helping Tim into one.
“I’m sorry,” Damian whispered as Tim drifted in and out of consciousness.
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“Hey, Dami,” Tim addressed him as he entered Damian’s room. Damian just nodded and continued to work on his latest sketch. Slowly Damian and Tim had began to find comfort in each other’s presence. It wasn’t uncommon for them to stop by each other’s rooms and just, sit for awhile.
It was calming for Damian to not have to talk when he felt so terrible. Tim just, understood. Every time he showed up unannounced he was never turned away. They sat together and slowly his previous feelings faded. It helped that Tim had a wide arrange of fidgets and noise canceling headphones to use.
So Tim showing up wasn’t strange, it actually made sense. Todd was in the manor and had been particularly harsh to Tim. Todd apologized later, sometimes the pit got the best of him, but Tim isn’t just gonna feel better after that. Grayson was still looking for Tim to try and get him and Jason to try to connect more. He’d somehow roped the rest of the family into it too.
No one would ever think to look for Tim in Damian’s room. Everyone thinks they still hate each other.
“Dami! Have you seen Tim?” Grayson knocked on his door. Damian looked down at Tim, he shook his head.
“Why would I have purpose put myself in the same room as that dunce?” Damian yelled back. He could hear Grayson’s sigh from across the room and his footsteps echoed down the hall.
“Thanks,” Tim whispered when Grayson’s steps faded away.
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Two hours had passed since Tim showed up and at some point Damian had moved to the floor with Tim. They sat, watching a documentary on Tim’s laptop. For once, everything felt peaceful; so of course someone had to come and ruin it.
“Damian, I think Tim’s missing!” Grayson yelled, barging in unannounced, “you need t- Tim?” Damian glared daggers into Grayson as he reached out to pause the documentary.
“Wow, replacement must really want to avoid us if he fled to the demon’s room,” Todd leaned against the door frame. Brown and Cass followed Todd into the room.
“My room is not a meeting place, you have found Drake and may now leave,” Damian kept his tone as even as possible. Frustration building up inside him.
“Well since we’re all at the manor I say we should have some bonding time,” Grayson interrupted.
“If you dare to try and drag me in the same room as Todd and Drake, I will stab someone,” Damian threatened. It wasn’t true, he cared about his siblings more than he would like to admit, but no one had to know that. What mattered was keeping Tim away from Grayson and Todd as long as possible.
“I think it’s time I take a shower,” Tim interrupted. Grabbing his laptop and leaving the room. Grayson left in defeat, and the rest of the family followed shortly after. When the door finally closed is when Damian stood and returned to his drawing from before.
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Damian watched Tim, he sat in the middle of the couch; wedged between Brown and Todd. He was clearly uncomfortable, but of course he would never say it himself.
As the night continued, playing random bored games and video games, Damian could watch Tim become visibly upset. How no one else could see it, Damian didn’t know.
He moved closer, coming to a stop behind Tim. He tapped the older boys shoulder.
“Drake, father has asked for your opinion on a case,” Damian informed. Tim nodded and stood, clear relief on his face. He waved goodbye and left the room, Damian followed after a few seconds.
“Thanks,” Tim said when they got far enough away. Damian nodded and lead them both to Tim’s room.
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Tim stumbled out of the Batmobile’s front seat, leaving Damian in the back seat.
“Wait for me to tell you to come out,” Bruce commanded before shutting the door. Damian crossed his arms as he watched his father and Tim argue. He didn’t do anything wrong for once and was still stuck waiting in the car.
“What were you thinking?” Bruce yelled, his voice echoing throughout the cave. Despite the thick exterior of the Batmobile, Damian could still hear the yelling.
Damian couldn’t hear Tim’s response, but it seemed to make Bruce even angrier. Damian watched out the window as the side of Tim’s costume grew darker with blood. His father wasn’t doing anything, he didn’t even seem to notice.
“—benched for a mon—“ Damian caught the tail end of Bruce’s sentence as he slammed the door open and lunged for Tim. Catching the older boy as he fell.
Tim’s back, which was previously hidden by his cape, was ripped up and covered in blood. Tim was half conscious as he pulled on Damian to sit up.
“Damian get changed and go upstairs ,” Bruce commanded as he lifted Tim from his arms. As Bruce stood, Tim reached an arm out for Damian, holding loosely onto his sleeves.
Damian squeezed Tim’s hand, looking over to where Alfred was now prepping the medbay.
“I will stay here with Drake,” Damian said, standing up tall and facing his father.
“Damian, no, this is not the time,” Bruce commanded. He set Tim on one of the beds and turned back to Damian.
“Tim needs someone to support him, and clearly that is not you,” Damian tried to push past Bruce.
“This is not the time for your superiority complex, Tim is hurt and does not need your rude remarks,” Bruce grabbed Damian by the arm and began to drag him away.
Damian struggled against Bruce to no avail. He watched as Tim reached for Alfred’s hand. Tears streamed down his face.
“Damian, I want Dami,” Tim finally cried out. Bruce stopped in his tracks, giving Damian time to pull out of his grip and rush to his brother’s side.
He held Tim’s hand, tapping out patterns in morse code on his palm. A secret message for only them to share.
Bruce set a hand on Damian’ shoulder. Looking down at Tim as Alfred worked on stitching the boy’s injuries.
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Damian was hiding. Bruce and Jason were mad about something and started yelling. Damian normally didn’t care, he was trained to be able to ignore all outside stimuli and focus on his task, but just time was different.
His day at started out terribly, when he discovered one of the animals knocked over his half finish painting and ruined part of it. That was only the beginning, as they say, when it rains, it pours.
His day was worse and worse. The entire family was at the manor after a difficult patrol the night before. School was always annoying, too loud and bright and nothing challenging to focus on. He’d gotten mad and the teacher put him in the stupid calm down corner. The laughing of his classmates when it happened did nothing to help.
By the end of the day he felt tired and drained. Of course it couldn’t be easy because the moment he entered the manor he was greeted by Bruce and Jason screaming at each other. His siblings were making an equal amount of noise trying to calm them down.
Damian didn’t know what was happening, his body moved without thoughts. He turned and rushed out the door, surprising Alfred as he did so. It was too loud, too bright, too … everything!
He ran though the yards and found a small shed to hide in. Tucking himself between the forgotten equipment in the back, invisible from the door.
He didn’t bring anything with him, including his headphones. He slammed his hands over his ears and shut his eyes. The light sneaking in though the gaps in the wood too much.
Damian repeatedly hit the side of his leg with his fist, distracting himself from the world around him. He was … terrified? And he didn’t know why. Feelings were confusing and all he wanted to do was punch something, or break down crying; maybe both.
“Check the shed!” A voice rang out. Damian let out a small whimper. This was so unlike himself but he couldn’t stop himself. The door opened and he further shrank back from the light.
“Hey, hey, Dami, look at me,” Tim’s voice felt like it was grating on his ear drums. A jacket fell into Damian’s shoulders, blocking the outside light from reaching him.
Damian didn’t even notice he was crying until Tim gently wiped away his tears. The older boy reached down and picked him up, readjusting the jacket to cover his eyes.
They walked outside, Tim holding a finger to his lips as Jason opened his mouth to speak. He didn’t say anything, just walking past them and to his room.
Inside the lights were turned off, no doubt thanks to Alfred, and everyone kept their distance as Tim set Damian down on his bed.
Grabbing a pair of headphones, he placed it over Damian’s ears. Tim passed over a small fidget and sat on the over side of the bed. He waited.
Tim knew he might be waiting for hours, but it was worth it for Damian.