Chapter Text
Damian ran his pencil over rough paper, erased it, and tried again. He frowned. It still didn’t look right. The line was too thin and too far to the right for his liking. Putting his pencil down beside him on his bed, he lifted his sketchbook to try and get a better view. Zoe snored softly at the foot of his bed, not bothered by his movement in the slightest.
He’d been working on this sketch for a couple of hours now. It was messy and hard to tell what was happening, but he could understand it easily. The sketch was of Batman looking over Gotham, the whole thing was inspired by an old photo Tim had taken.
Alfred had found a box of them when cleaning.
He put the box on the table at breakfast, wide open and everything, when only Damian and Tim happened to be eating. Tim shuffled through them with widened eyes full of recognition and nostalgia. He talked about some of them, their importance to him at the time, and how he took them,
“I don’t even remember bringing them here.” He said, sifting through a different stack in his hands, “These were all before I became Robin and before Jason died.” he stopped.
Most of the photos had Jason in them.
They were him running, jumping, and even doing some flips. If they weren’t of Jason they were of Dick. And if they weren't Jason or Dick alone, it was them and Batman. That tiny cardboard box was filled with tons of photos, but only a few showed Batman and the city alone.
Damian kept looking back to a specific photo of his father looking over Gotham. He didn’t pick it up, wasn’t sure if Tim would want him to, just stared at it from across the table. The whole thing looked planned and prepared. Tim must have been only a rooftop in front of Bruce with how the angle looked. His father was in the center, leaving room on both his sides and making him the main focus.
It’s beautiful. Damian thought. Was that what Bruce was thinking looking at Gotham when Tim snapped this photo? Tim must have seen how Damian looked at it with sparkles in his eyes.
“You can have that one,” Tim said, grabbing it and handing it to Damian, “I was so proud when I took this, I must have made hundreds of copies when I got home. But this one? This is the original.”
Damian blinked, looked at the photo, then back up to Tim and took it. “Thank you,” he hesitated, “Tim.” He added on at the end. It was weird having such a… more normal relationship with Tim recently. They had been on decent terms for a while, but after Zoe appeared, their relationship only got better and better.
He redrew the stroke again, it looked right this time. The whole sketch looked right. The next step in his creative process was blocking out the colors, and he wanted to start right away. Damian hadn't even gotten out of his bed when there was a knock on his door.
Zoe perked up and Damian scratched her chin as he walked by. He already had an idea of who it was at his door. “Hello, Thomas.” Damian greeted him with a curt nod, Zoe saw Duke and jumped off the bed to excitedly jump on his legs, tail wagging rapidly as she did so.
Zoe had taken a fast liking to Duke.
Duke was already fully dressed with a backpack around his shoulders. He picked up Zoe and smiled at him, “Ah. Hey! I know this is earlier than we planned, but I thought we could get something to eat before the Zoo. If you want to, that is, um, it’s okay if not.” he shrugged, stumbling a little over his words. Damian could practically feel the anxiousness rolling off him.
He and Damian hadn’t spent any one-on-one bonding time together, other than patrols occasionally. This would be their first time hanging out, and while Damian was better at hiding it, he was feeling more anxious than he would like to admit.
“That’s fine.” Damian reached out and Duke passed Zoe to him easily, “I just need to put my shoes on.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll be waiting in the car, take your time.” Duke replied, petting Zoe on the head one last time, “See you later girl.” he said, then walked away.
Damian quickly put on his shoes and put his art supplies away. He already had a small bag packed with a portable sketchbook and pencil pouch. He’s been to the Zoo countless times with Dick, but that didn't stop him from always wanting to go. Sketching a new animal every time he went helped him notice new things about them. It always gave him something to look forward to.
After a few minutes, he did one more check of his bag to make sure everything he needed was in there and turned to Zoe. He scratched behind her ears and she turned over on her back, Damian huffed fondly at her, “I’ll be back later.” he assured her, then he was out the door.
***
“So, what do you want to see first?” Duke asked, holding the Zoo’s map open and looking over it.
Damian didn't need the map, he could tell you how many steps away each exhibit is, and Duke wouldn't either since he was with Damian. For what he wanted to see first though… “They have a new exhibit, over here.” He pointed at the map. It was the farthest exhibit away from the entrance.
Duke’s smile grew bigger, “Red Pandas, huh?”
Damian looked away and hummed, “They just got them. This is the first Weekend the exhibit is open.”
“Cool. I was wondering if you would pick the bats.” Duke laughed and started following the path that led to the Red Pandas.
Damian furrowed his eyebrows, “Have you seen how many bats there are in the cave? Why would I need to go to the Zoo to see more, Thomas?” he scoffed and Duke laughed harder. After a couple of seconds, Damian joined him.
When they got to the exhibit, Damian found a close by bench and sat down. Duke stayed standing beside him, looking a little confused when Damian opened his bag and pulled out a sketchbook and pencil.
“Do you usually draw at the Zoo?”
“Yes. I find I like it better than simply searching for pictures. It makes the art feel more real.” Damian looked up at Duke, trying to read his thoughts “I don’t have to though, if you want to see other animals?”
Duke looked at him briefly, and then eyed the Red Pandas, “No, that’s okay. We can stay here. These guys are pretty cute.” He sat down beside him and crossed his legs, leaning his body towards Damian, “Do you mind if I watch you draw?”
Damian thought about it. He didn’t always like when people watched or even looked at his art. His art was something that came from his mind, and having people look at it and inspect it felt like an invasion. There were only a few people he let see.
Dick would look over his shoulders when they went to the Zoo or simply hanging out together. Tim and Jason might have seen glimpses of his sketchbook or canvas when they thought he wasn’t looking, but he hadn’t shown them anything outright. Cass asked to see his sketchbook a couple of times, and he let her. And of course Alfred, he probably has seen most of his art. But anyone else? Unless he specifically allowed them to see a certain piece of his choosing, no one else had.
He was hesitant to let Duke see. They weren’t close like Dick and Damian were. They didn’t have a similar background as Cass and Damian did. They hadn’t known each other for long, not as long as Damian knew Tim and Jason, at least (which in itself wasn’t too long). He had no reason to feel comfortable enough to show Duke so easily.
Despite his hesitation, he did want Duke to see, because he wanted them to be closer. And, just maybe, letting him see sketches of Red Pandas will bring them closer.
“Yes, that’s… okay,” Damian muttered quickly, and he started sketching.
They spent most of their day on that bench, or at least Damian did. Duke got up to get food and water and made a quick run to the gift shop, but for most of the day, he stayed beside Damian. The sketches turned out great, and they even got to feed the Red Pandas!
He was slightly worried that Duke would be upset at not getting to see the other animals, but he just asked if they could go again together soon. Which Damian hurriedly agreed to.
***
After getting back home, Damian continued on his Gotham art. He blocked out the colors for the background and did some messy rendering that he would go back to later. Working on Batman was his favorite part.
Hours later, he finished Batman. He sighed and leaned back to get a good look at the painting. It looked good and he was happy with how Batman turned out, but something felt off. Something was missing.
The photo looked complete, but not his painting.
Damian stared at the canvas, hoping something would click, but nothing did. He frowned but got up to clean up his paints and hoped it would come to him later when he saw his sketchbook. It was still flipped open to the Red Panda sketches that he planned to paint over before he got hooked on his current project.
He glanced back at his painting. It did have a lot of dark colors in it… it could use some sort of color in it. Maybe a yellow? Damian did have a couple of hours before patrol. He picked up his paintbrush and started drawing over the background.
Two hours later, the Signal was crouching beside Batman smiling and looking the same way Batman was. While Signal added to the painting drastically, Damian still got the feeling it wasn’t finished yet.
Before he could try to figure out what else to add, his phone alarm went off: patrol time.
He’d have to finish later.