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It's been 3 months. 3 months since his new found family has left for a mission to space, and left him with Pennyworth for the time being.
3 months since Grayson had crouched in front of him and smiled softly, assuring him that it won't take a long time after hugging him tightly. 3 months since Father pat his head in affection, kissing his forehead gently before boarding the jet after promising to come back soon. 3 months since Todd ruffled his hair and gently bumped his knuckles against his forehead, snickering at the offended look on Damian's face, giving him a look that said 'You better be here when I come back, brat'. 3 months since Drake gathered him in his arms and gave him a smile full of love and fondness, and vowed to take care of himself.
3 long months. And today, they were coming back.
****
Damian stood patiently next to Pennyworth in the Batcave, both waiting for the Jet to land. Damian's palms were sweaty as he crossed them behind his back, masking his anxiousness with a neutral expression. He's been on his best behaviour the past 3 months, a promise he made to Grayson. Not once has he disobeyed or caused any mishaps.
The Jet finally landed, it's door opening to reveal four tired vigilantes, each leaning on the other.
That was certainly not what Damian was expecting.
Father looked exhausted. He looked sleep deprived, not to mention the numerous bandages covering his body as Grayson leaned into him. Speaking of, Grayson had this blank expression on his face, so different from the cheerful one he always wore. His eyes were cold and distant as he gripped Drake's forearm, who looked so worn out as he held a cup of coffee in his palms, dark circles underneath his eyes that had that similar blank look which Grayson had.
Next to him was Todd, whose eyes glowed faintly of green, fists clenched to his sides as he had an arm wrapped around Drake's shoulder.
From the looks of it, it was certainly not a good mission.
"Master Bruce." Pennyworth called out, giving the group a smile as they walked out of the jet and into the multiple cots thd butler had laid out for them in order to check their injuries and any related concern.
"Alfred." Father murmured, giving the man a small smile as he pat his shoulder, then turned to Damian. He crouched in front of his little boy, his eyes searching for anything different before he cupped the back of his head and brought him into his chest, picking him up in the process.
"Father!" Damian squealed, his face heating up at his Father's actions, before succumbing to the man's warmth and burying his face in the older's neck, small hands gripping the back of his suit.
"Hey sweetheart." Father mumbled, sitting down on the cot next to his brothers, who were still silent. Father rubbed his back, kissing his forehead a few times before pulling away and giving him a tired smile.
"Are you alright? Were you good for Alfred, darling?" He asked, cupping his son's face as he nodded, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"I remained on my best behaviour, Father. Pennyworth can be my witness." Bruce missed his son so much, he chuckled at his words. His little boy, so serious all the time. He did miss it.
"That is quite true Master Bruce. Master Damian has been very well-behaved in the past three months." Alfred said as he tended to Tim's cuts on his arm, making Bruce stroke the back of Damian's head gently in approval.
"I have done my best in keeping my word to Grayson." Damian said, looking over to where Dick was sitting. The man was staring at the ceiling before he heard his name, turning his head to look at the Damian and gesturing him over with a blank look.
Damian tried not to seem too excited when the man finally seemed to acknowledge him, and moved quickly over to the cot he was laying on. Dick pulled him into his arms, burying his face in the little boy's hair as he inhaled his scent.
"Grayson, I trust your mission went well." Damian nodded, gripping the man's shirt in his fists as the man kissed his forehead.
"It was..alright, baby. No need to worry." Dick said, his voice unusually cold as he gripped the boy tighter.
Damian got the hint, his older brother wished not to speak about it and he respected it.
"All done, Master Timothy, I recommend getting some rest. You too, Master Jason. In fact I want all of you to rest, you look drained." Alfred ordered, setting back the tools in the drawer.
"Thanks Alfie." Tim muttered, the others murmering their gratitude with him. Damian looked around him, only to see Jason with his head in his hands as he rubbed at his forehead.
"Grayson, is Todd well?" Damian whispered, feeling himself frowning at his brother's actions.
Dick turned to Jason, rubbing him on the shoulder before setting Damian into Tim's arms, and crouching in front of Jason.
"Drake?" Damian asked, feeling confused at the whole ordeal. His family was acting weird, and he wanted to find out why.
"It's alright Dami, Jay just got..a little angry at the end, the pit's messing with his head." Tim said, cupping Damian's face in his hands as he gave him a soft smile. His baby brother was really here, in his arms, scrunching his nose adorably like he always did when he felt confused.
"I see, he must rest then." Damian said in a low voice, seeing Dick covering Jason with the blue blanket placed on the bottom of the cot, covering the large man.
Bruce must've left a few minutes ago because Damian turned around only to find his cot empty. Perhaps he wanted to speak to Alfred.
"It's alright Jay, everything will be fine." Damian heard Dick whisper, leaning into Tim's chest as the man ran his shaky fingers through his hair.
It will be fine.
****
It was not fine.
It has been a week since their return, and Damian suspects that something must have happened during that mission.
They were all acting so..different.
Grayson was cold, and distant. No more of the cheery personality he always seemed to whip out in the hardest situations. His voice always seemed to have an edge to it, his eyes searching the room as soon as he enters. Damian almost never saw him, seeing as he was cooped up with Todd during the daytime.
Father has buried himself in work and patrol, Damian never seeing him except when on Patrol, or when the man comes ro tuck him in and say goodnight. Though he makes it short, no more of the bedtime stories he usually told.
Todd was angry. And though he never showed it in front of Damian, the little boy can feel it whenever he was in the same room. The man was always in his room, staying in until either Grayson or Drake urged him out. Damian did not understand why, before this cursed mission, Todd has been making recognisable progress with the family.
Drake took a similar approach to Father's, choosing to stay in his room buried in cases and files, only getting out of the room for three things: Coffee, Patrol, Todd.
One thing can be said for all of them, their affection to Damian has significantly decreased. Damian used to be ambushed with affection on a daily basis, his brothers smothering him in hugs and kisses. Now however, Grayson only kisses his forehead once in the morning, and hugs him just once during the day ( not to mention how short the hug would be).
Drake has kissed him twice on the forehead since he returned, and not once has he pulled him into his lap or rocked him to sleep. Todd..was a different story. The man didn't touch Damian, just looks at him. Like he was afraid to touch him.
The pet names seemed to have disappeared as well, Father calling him 'Sweetheart' once in a few days during bedtime, Grayson just calling him 'Dami' instead of the usual sweet names he'd call him. Drake resorted to using his actual name, gone the ones he used to whine about. And Todd, he reverted back to calling him 'Demon Brat', one he hoped would never come back.
However, they seemed to have no problem showing affection to each other..
In patrol, all four seemed so overwhelmingly protective, it was almost suffocating. They didn't allow any of the criminals to look at Robin, let alone get near him. Robin always seemed to have one of the older vigilantes with him, if not more.
Damian didn't understand their behaviour one bit, and it was starting to get lonely in the big Manor.
****
Father gave him one last glance before turning the lights off and exiting the bedroom with a tired sigh. Damian just stated at the ceiling, his stuffed bat clutched in his little fists. He couldn't handle it anymore, he just got tucked in by his Father, who seemed more spaced out than ever, not paying attention to Damian's confused glances.
After an hour or two of staring at the ceiling, contemplating what to do, he finally got up. He wrapped a blanket around him, a thumb tucked in his mouth as he soothingly suckled on it. His other hand was clutching his stuffed bat, opening the door and leaving his bedroom.
The hallway was dark, suggesting that everyone was indeed asleep. However, the light that emitted from the bottom of Todd's bedroom door said otherwise.
He slowly walked to the bedroom, standing in front of it as he heard his brothers speaking inside, making him frown. Was his presence really so bothersome to them that they had to gather in the middle of the night to speak? The thought made his eyes gloss a little, feeling rejected.
He took a deep breath, opening the door as the voices died down. When the door opened, it revealed his brothers sitting next to each other, with Drake's head in Todd's lap, and Grayson with his chin on Todd's head as the man placed his head on the older's shoulder.They looked..peaceful, and their eyes were light for once.
They all turned to him, looking at him in mutual concern.
"Damian." Grayson sighed, pulling from Todd as he stood up, making the man grumble in response.
Damian couldn't take it, he burst into tears. He felt tears streaming down his face as he wailed around his thumb, holding out one arm so he can be picked up.
Grayson looked surprised for a brief second, only to recover and quickly walk over to Damian, picking him up in his arms.
The man bounced him in his arms, rubbing his back gently as he paced around the bedroom, unfortunately, the amount of distress Damian was in right now didn't allow him to stop crying.
"Baby boy. Why are we crying, hm? " Dick cooed, pressing multiple kisses to his forehead as he tried to calm him down, swaddling the boy in the blanket Jason passed to him.
"Shh, what are the tears for, sweetheart?" Dick cooed, trying to pull the little boy's thumb out of his mouth, making him whimper in sadness.
"Love?" Tim whispered, sitting next to Dick to rub his brother's back, feeling him shiver.
"Alone!" Damian cried, gripping the back of Dick's shirt with his fist, rubbing his face into the man's chest to feel him. His little body was trembling, scared that his brothers will go cold once more.
"You were alone? Did you have a nightmare, baby?" Dick guessed, frowning when his baby shook his head 'no'.
"You!" Damian wailed, small fists hitting at his brother's chest as he squirmed, wanting to escape his grip, but Dick was having none of it.
"Brat." Jason finally spoke, his voice clipped and his tone cold as he took Damian into his arms for the first time in months, feeling some of the tension in his bones fade away at the smell of the baby shampoo his brother uses.
"No hitting. Do you understand?" Jason asked sternly, giving Damian a warning pat on the bum before positioning him on his knee.
Damian nodded, before sniffling in misery and collapsing dramatically on Jason's chest, small cries leaving his mouth as Jason just sighed and wrapped his arms around him.
"Shhh, be a big boy and tell me what's wrong. C'mon you're my big boy arent you?" Jason rumbled, placing his cheek on the top of the kid's head.
"....you do not care for me anymore. Even Father." Damian whispered, feeling his insecurities creeping up again as he saw Tim's eye narrowing at his statement.
"And what made you think that?" Dick asked, his tone calm as he tried to understand what his baby was on.
"Since you came back, your personalities have changed drastically. You have been very..generous with your affections before. Now, however, you seem to ignore my existence." Damian mumbled, curling into his brother's chest.
"Baby Bat..." Tim trailed off, looking guilty as he stared at Dick, who looked patient.
"Sweetheart..Some bad things happened during that mission. Let's just say it involved heavy psychological torture." Dick chuckled darkly, his eyes going blank once more before Tim nudged him.
"It wasn't our intention to avoid you, love. It's just, Dick and Jason got violent when they had these..episodes, especially Jay. And I couldn't do anything without remembering." Tim said quietly.
"We didn't want to avoid you, chipmunk. We didn't want you to see us like..that. You're too tiny for what I do in these situations. " Jason grimaced at the thought, curling around the little boy as he whimpered.
"However, that's not an excuse. We should've explained it to you the moment we landed. We will make it up to you." Dick stated firmly, reaching out to stroke Damian's cheek.
"Couldn't have phrased it better, chum." Bruce said from where he was leaning on the door frame. The four yelped in surprise at his sudden appearance, making him chuckle.
Bruce walked to where Damian was curled up on Jason's chest and brought him into his own, cooing at the way his boy nuzzled into him.
"We're all sorry, my darling. I hope you forgive us soon, baby boy. " Bruce said, peppering the boy's pouty face until he stared giggling and squirming. Jason then smirked, sharing an evil look with Dick and Tim as they attacked Damian with their tickles.
Jason took Damian from Bruce, pinning his legs and arms so Dick can comfortably lift the little boy's pyjama shirt. Dick then blew a thousand raspberries into his baby's stomach, revelling in the way he started squealing.
Tim then took control of the kid's legs, tickling his little feet until they were kicking at him in joy, his brother's face turning red. Tim snickered at the way the boy's face got redder with each squeal he let out.
Jason took advantage of the position he was in, and snuck his long fingers into the boy's back, tickling the skin there. Their baby was squealing and jumping in his place, begging for them to stop in between his giggles and pants.
"Alright boys, I think that's enough." Bruce chuckled, stroking his baby's flushed cheeks as Jason let go of his limbs. Not that it did much, their baby brother was now a pile of goo, his bones melting as Dick pulled him to his lap and started patting his bum gently, humming to his baby.
The siblings all curled up around each other, feeling the exhaustion seeping through their bodies. Damian was placed on Dick's chest, one hand curling around Tim's shirt from where he was laying with his head on Dick's shoulder. His thumb was tucked in between his lips, suckling on it slowly as his brothers cooed at him, making a note of this habit of his. His leg was thrown comfortably on Jason's torso, who'd occasionally try to tickle the pudgy thigh by sneaking his fingers onto the boy's skin.
Bruce gave them a soft smile before covering them with a large blanket, and kissing each of their foreheads. He then turned the lights off, leaving one of the small ones off for Damian.
"Goodnight, baby boy." Dick cooed in the dark, rubbing his baby's stomach as he keened in comfort, causing him to laugh softly at the sound.
"Night, munchkin." Jason grumbled, pinching his brother's cheek one more time before stroking it gently.
"Sweet dreams, love." Tim crooned, kissing the little fist that was clutching at his shirt and forcing it open to press more tiny kisses into the extra tiny palm.
It was all fine now.