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The manor is empty. Not unusual for a Wednesday, but Tim is bored. His case work is done, teammates are busy, and he really didn’t feel like leaving the manor and going outside.
So, one option left.
Bother Damian, who was being quiet in his room.
Tim crept up the stairs, his socked feet silent on the polished wood steps. Damians door was closed, as usual. Tim knocked, the sound jarring in the quiet house. “You still here, or did you jump out the window?” Tim asked, the joke rolling off his tongue. He wouldn’t be surprised if Damian had gone out the window instead of coming downstairs to go through the front door. He’d been downstairs all day, Damian hadn’t come down at all. “Funny. Are you coming in, or will you shout through my door for the rest of this conversation?” Damians voice came through the door, clear as glass. Not annoyed, but in that annoying, monotone voice that he used when he thought something was stupid.
“Thought I’d be nice and wait for an invitation,” Tim replied dryly, pushing the door open. Tims eyes flit around the room, a subconscious instinct he couldn’t hold back. His eyes landed on Damians bed, and he stopped in his tracks.
Suitcases.
Three different suitcases. Two zipped tight with locks on the zippers, one open on Damians bed, half full of clothes. Damians clothes.
His mind worked a mile a minute as he studied the rest of the space. It was nearly bare. Damians desk was no longer neatly organized with his papers and books. The bookshelf in the corner was half empty, Tim recognized that the missing books were some of Damians favourites. Damians closet, the doors wide open, was nearly empty, save for a few lone shirts still hanging, like they knew where they were going.
And in Damians arms, clothes he was placing into the suitcase on the bed. It was almost full now.
Tims mouth worked before his mind, too full of questions and thoughts and barely stifled fears to properly process what he was spilling, “Are you leaving? Where are you going?”
Damian, infuriatingly, said nothing. Just walked to his empty desk, pulled one of the drawers, and took out the last thing inside. A pamphlet. Damian walked back to Tim, handing it to him from the other side of the bed.
A university pamphlet. For the University of Toronto. Toronto. As in Toronto, Ontario. In Canada.
“You’re going to Canada?” Tim exclaimed, sounding bewildered. Of all things he’d thought Damian would do, moving to Canada was not one of them.
“Yes. People my age go to college and university, Timothy. You know this.” Damian nodded, his arms crossed. If Tim had looked up, he might have seen the slightest hint of fear in his eyes. But Tim was flipping through the pamphlet, unable to process what he himself was feeling.
“Canada? The University of Toronto? That’s like- when did you even get accepted?” Tim stumbled over his words. He didn’t know how to process it. When had Damian decided to leave? Did Bruce know? Did Dick know? Steph? Fuck, Jason or Cass? Did anyone know?
He doesn’t notice Damians silent shifting, doesn’t see the way he doesn’t watch as Tim analyses the programs and services. “I received an early acceptance. Course selection was last week, but I need to be in the country in order to attend the classes.” Damian replied smoothly, and Tim accepted that new cloud to his already hurricane sized storm of a mind.
Courses picked out. Early acceptance. Canada. Far, far away, and he hadn’t known.
“Don’t you need a visa for this stuff? I mean- you’re not Canadian, did you-” Tim sputtered, looking through the cut-off grades for the programs. High eighties and nineties, steep. Tim still thought of Damian as the kid who hated school. He remembered way too many mornings of Damian complaining that American schooling was misleading and unbeneficial. He guessed that didn’t mean Damian couldn’t play the system though.
And then Damian cut Tim off, as if answering his questions fast enough would prevent Tim from spiraling more. “Yes. I applied for that when I received the acceptance letter, along with my learning permit. I considered getting a citizenship; however, it will be easier to do so when I am actually in the country.”
Tims stomach dropped, and then did fifteen different flips. Citizenship. Legal ability to live, work and god knows what else in Canada.
Suddenly, it all made sense. The quiet days in his room, studying late at school, skipping or passing on patrol nights. Damian was leaving. Getting his papers in order, his reasons ready, his absence excusable. And here he was, packing all the physical evidence of his life away, ready to disappear. Hell, just about to disappear. Damian was nearly done. Three shirts left, two suitcases locked. Ready to leave.
“When’s your flight?” Tim asked, gripping the pamphlet tight enough to crinkle the pages. Damian reached forward, intending to take it away before pulling back. “I’m not flying, actually. I’m taking a train.” Damian offered, pausing slightly before continuing, “They’re much better environmentally, and they are less tedious on the body than planes.” Tim wanted to laugh. It was just like Damian to ramble off about trains when he was basically running away.
“Fine. Train. When are you leaving?” Tim asked again, finally looking up. For the first time in his life, Damian couldn’t meet his eyes.
“The train departs late in the afternoon tomorrow,” Damian stated simply, his voice flat. The kind of flat you get when someone was trying to keep their voice from shaking. Tim knew it well. He guessed they all did.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, late afternoon. When everyone was that kind of busy that wasn’t important enough that they couldn’t put it off, but important enough that they wouldn’t really pay attention. The kind that made you not notice a missing person until they were long gone.
“Does anyone know?” Tim asked, the question blunt. He needed to know. Needed to know if Damian had just forgotten to tell him, or if he was actually running away. He wasn’t sure what he would do if Damian was running away, he just needed to know.
Damian shrunk back ever so slightly, like Tim had touched a sore that hadn’t entirely healed. “I’ve already informed my pets, they’ll be fine. I trust that-” “Actual people, Damian. Does anyone actually know?” Tim interjected, his voice serious. He knew this tactic. Damian would refer to his pets, try to shift the atmosphere and make the thing seem smaller. Well, Tim wasn’t buying it this time. Damian wasn’t disappearing on him. “Come on, Dicks your favourite, right? Did you at least tell him? Or Steph? I get it, maybe Bruce isn’t the best person to talk about this with, but you had to tell someone, right?” Tim prompted, refusing to let Damians silence stretch. Damian might be stubborn, but stubborn was basically Tims DNA. They could play it together.
Damian pressed his lips together, and Tim was about ready to get in his face before he finally spoke. “Father knows I would like to pursue medicine. But I have not told anyone I am leaving.” Damian admitted, sounding guilty. Like he’d been caught committing a crime.
Tim felt his brain stop. Medicine. Damian was going to be a doctor. Tim hadn’t asked that, but thinking about it, he definitely should have. And he was right. No one knew. Maybe Bruce knew Damian wanted to go into medical, but that wasn’t the same as knowing he was leaving the fucking country. “Why not?” He found himself asking. He needed to know. Sure, he hadn’t finished college himself, but he knew that this stuff was important. Especially for Damian. “They’d be happy for you. Anyone would be happy for you, why wouldn’t you tell them?” Tim asked again, because it didn’t make sense. He didn’t like when things didn’t make sense.
“It wasn’t that important, the others have more important things to do.” Damian stated smoothly, and Tim hated that. More important things? Damian was accepted into the best university in Canada, and he thought the others had better things to do than congratulate him?
“Are you serious? You’re moving all the way to Canada, to attend the best university in that country, and you think it’s not important?!” Tim exclaimed, his voice cracking.
“Of course it isn’t. This is a family of vigilantes, everyone has more important things to do. Getting into university is something the average person does. Mother and father went to university, obviously I will too. It’s not something special.” Damian insisted, his hands clenched tightly into his sleeves.
“If you’re not gonna tell us so we can congratulate you, at least tell us so we don’t go on a country wide manhunt because you just vanished one day!” Tim snapped, throwing his hands up in exasperation. Damian shifted quietly, and TIm realised he hadn’t thought of it. He couldn’t believe that Damian thought he could just disappear without anyone noticing. Bruce was BATMAN for crying out loud! “If you want to run away and live in Canada and be Canadian for the rest of your life, fuck, fine, Damian. Fine. But you need to tell us so we don’t show up in your house thinking you were kidnapped.” Tim huffed, because he wasn’t trying to force Damian to stay. He just wanted the truth. Sure, Damian wasn’t lying, but this kind of information withholding wasn’t something Tim could stomach.
Damian opened his mouth, before closing it again. He looked around his room, eyes never landing on anything in particular before starting again. “I wasn’t going to stay forever. I just- I needed change. I’m not going to be Robin anymore, I thought a change of scenery might be good for me too.” Damian said slowly, like he was trying the words out for the first time. And for the millionth time that day, Tim felt his stomach drop. Damian was giving up Robin? That explained it. Fresh start. Tim couldn’t blame him, as much as he wanted to. But now his questions abandoned him. The answers were obvious now. But now he wanted to know one more thing.
“Are you gonna come back to it?” Tim asked, feeling awkward now. He’d just spent a good while yelling at Damian for something stupid. Maybe he should just leave the room.
“I don’t know,” Damian sighed, flipping the suitcase lid and zipping it shut. There it was. His whole life in the manor, packed away. Just like that. “It… it just doesn’t fit right now. Maybe another day.” Damian offered, standing awkwardly in the empty room. “Maybe,” Tim echoed, unable to let go. Tomorrow. Damian was leaving tomorrow.
“I’ll drop you off.” Tim said suddenly, his voice more confident than he felt. Damian raised an eyebrow. “I’ll drop you. At the train station tomorrow. You’ll need a hand with your bags anyway.” Tim shrugged, because it wasn’t a big deal. Totally. It wasn’t a big deal. Just dropping Damian off before he left the country.
Damian nodded, rubbing his arm silently. Okay, awkward silence. Tim could work with this. Probably. “Hey, I didn’t see you eat lunch. Do you wanna get something to eat?” Tim asked, praying that Damian didn’t refuse. He was running out of stuff to try. “... sure. There’s a good vegan restaurant downtown. If you’re into that.” Damian offered, and Tim cheered internally. “Alright, come on. I’ll drive.” Tim smiled, even though he knew Damian wouldn’t let him get away with it. “I have a license. I was also the one who suggested the restaurant.” Damian retorted, and Tim rolled his eyes affectionately. “Maybe when you reach the brakes, kid.”
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“You are telling the others about you moving, right?”
“Mm.”