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Dick was leaning against the counter, eyes watching the bowl of warm water, Damian’s blood bag floating inside it.
The apartment was silent, other than the occasional howl of wind from outside rising just loud enough to make out beyond the apartment walls. Dick pushed himself off the counter, stepping forward and feeling the temperature of the blood bag; he pulled away when there was still a slight chill to the red liquid.
For now, Dick was pretty sure Damian was still asleep, curled up under the quilt Dick had pulled out for the January weather, and probably wouldn’t wake up until Dick nudged him awake with breakfast.
It had been almost six months since Dick had been captured and tossed into the neighboring cell of the tiny vampire in the other room. Six months since he had carried him out of the basement once they were rescued.
Dick was honestly ecstatic at the progress that had been made.
While they didn’t know exactly how old Damian was, they could guess he was around four, though it was still a little hard to tell. After what they estimated was a little under two years of captivity, based on his speech, Damian had yet to grow enough to be on par with his age group. Dick, however, would happily take a smaller-than-average toddler rather than the malnourished baby he had met in that cellar.
At this point, most, if not all, of Dick’s energy had shifted from making sure Damian gained weight appropriately to trying to help with the severe delay in his speech.
Damian had spoken while they were captured, but Dick quickly realized that most of what he said was just repetition. Phrases and words he had heard before without a real understanding of what they meant.
He was able to recognize simpler words like yes and no, understood that variations of hello typically started a conversation, and could use hungry and hurt correctly.
But sentences were out of the equation.
Even now, three months with speech therapy, Damian was still only speaking at the level of maybe a two-year-old. Still, he was quick to pick up different words and their meanings once they had been said enough.
So, Dick had hope.
Maybe within a year, Damian would be speaking at a level closer to other kids his age.
For now, however?
Dick was more than content to repeat words until they stuck and decipher Damian’s short speech.
Dick could say without a doubt that he loved and adored Damian, and probably could have said it in full confidence within a few weeks of having him. It was hard not to fall in love when the small vampire’s eyes shone with wonder anytime something he had never seen was introduced to him. Hard when Damian clung to Dick like he’d die if Dick let go.
Dick hadn’t been prepared for Damian’s clinginess, though he supposes he should have. During the first month, Dick was rarely able to get alone time, and when he tried, he was quickly brought back by the withering cries Damian would let out until he was back in Dick’s arms.
Once Damian had become more acquainted with the other part of the family, Dick was able to leave him with them just long enough for him to get work done. Dick was hoping that he’d eventually get Damian sleeping in his own room, but for now, Damian was still curling up into Dick’s side, arms tightly strung around his bicep, and purrs spilling out in contentment.
Dick tested the blood bag again, pulling it out and setting it on a towel waiting on the counter, then turned to go wake Damian up.
After quietly walking down the hall, Dick opened the door slowly, peering inside. His heart stopped for just a second at the empty bed; blankets shoved to the side. Before he could truly panic, however, Dick quickly turned towards the window across the room, where Damian was standing on his toes, the upper half of his body hidden by the curtains he had moved behind.
“Hey, buddy? What are we doing?” Dick asked, walking forward and carefully grabbing the edge of the curtain, pulling it back until the rest of Damian was visible. Damian was staring out the window, face inches from the glass, and both palms pressed flat against it, fingers twitching minutely. Outside, snow was gently dropping from the sky, filling the ground below.
Damian turned abruptly, eyes widened, one hand leaving the window to frantically point outside, “White! White!”
Dick grinned, crouching beside Damian to peer out the window, glancing back at him for a moment before looking outside again.
Of course.
This was most likely the first time Damian had ever seen snow.
“Yeah, buddy. It’s called snow. Can you say that? Snow?”
“Noh!”
Dick nodded, carefully wrapping an arm around Damian to pick him up.
“Yup. Snow.”
“Sno!”
Dick nodded again, pushing past the curtain to make his way out of the room, Damian propped up on his hip.
“After you eat, we can go outside in it, okay?”
“Okay,” Damian responded, head leaning into Dick’s shoulder, eyes still lingering on the window until Dick stepped into the hallway.
Once back in the kitchen, Dick sat Damian down in a chair and, once he was sure Damian wouldn’t somehow tip sideways out of the chair, walked over to grab the blood bag drying on the counter. He gave it one more wipe-down with the towel before making his way back to Damian.
As usual, the second the bag was in reach, Damian was snatching it away, hunching over himself, and furiously drinking down the contents. He watched Dick intently, gaze never once breaking, even as Dick circled the table to sit down across him.
Dick watched on, smiling gently even when met by Damian’s blank stare. As the blood was depleted, Damian began purring, the purrs not once slowing down, even after he pulled the now empty bag away from his mouth.
Dick placed his hand on the table, palm up, watching Damian.
“Can I have that?” He said, pointing at the now empty bag with his other hand.
Damian looked down at the now empty bag, frowning slightly before giving a sharp nod, carefully pushing it towards Dick. Dick took it carefully, standing to toss the empty bag in the trash before returning to stand behind Damian.
Dick rested his hands on Damian’s shoulders, leaning forward as Damian leaned back, smiling widely when both sets of eyes met.
“Alright! You ready to go outside now?”
With a nod, Damian stood; hands held out to be picked up. Dick scooped him up, walking down the hall into Damian’s bedroom and setting him down on the unused bed.
“It’s gonna be cold, so we gotta get you nice and bundled up, okay?”
At Damian’s nod, Dick turned around, pulling out a red long-sleeved shirt and a black puffer jacket from the closet.
“Can you get this shirt on?”
Damian nodded.
“Great. Just let me get you some pants, and then once you’re out of those pajamas, we can go check out the snow,”
Dick handed the shirt over, then turned back around, crouching down to pull open a drawer from Damian’s dresser. After some digging, Dick pulled out the matching pair of snow pants he had bought months ago, then stood up and turned back around.
Damian had his red shirt on, fumbling around with the sleeves as he pushed his arm through. Dick stepped forward, setting the pants to the side to help Damian get his second arm through. Once that was done, Dick helped him step out of his pajama pants and into his snow pants, patting Damian’s stomach once he was done.
Damian laughed, shoving at Dick’s hands and squealing when Dick scooped him up, letting him hang over his shoulder.
Dick swiped the puffer jacket off the bed and walked over to his own bedroom, tossing Damian onto the bed, smiling at the shriek before grabbing his own winter gear.
Once changed, Dick held his hand out, waiting for Damian to scramble off the bed and take it, then lead him into the living room. At the front door, Damian plopped down, pulling on his boots once Dick handed them over.
“All you need is your hat and scarf, and we’re ready,” Dick said as he helped Damian into his jacket, zipping it up once finished.
“No,” Damian said, hand going up to try to push his scarf away.
“You have to wear it, it’s too cold,” Dick answered, quickly wrapping the scarf around Damian before he could stop him, “and you need your hat,”
“Noo!” Damian whined, hands trying to come up and pull the hat off before being stopped by Dick.
“Too late,” Dick chirped, hands circling Damian’s torso and lifting him up, “we need to go see the snow now.”
At that, Dick unlocked the door and stepped out into the hall, adjusting Damian until he was on his hip, periodically reaching up to stop Damian from pulling off his hat or scarf.
“Off! Want off!”
“Once we go back inside, you can take them off,” Dick laughed out, tightening his hold when he approached the metal stairwell down to the road.
Once they reached the end of the enclosed hallway, Damian stopped squirming, his attention focused on the snow drifting down through Bludhaven. Dick grinned, carefully making his way down the stairs until he stepped out onto the sidewalk. Once they were no longer protected by the apartment complex's walls, Damian clung tighter, hiding his face from the wind blowing through the streets by tucking it into Dick’s neck.
“Cold,” Damian whispered, breath hot against Dick’s skin.
“I know,” Dick responded, holding Damian closer, “don’t worry, the park we’re going to is almost surrounded by buildings, so no wind! It’ll be fun, Dames, don’t worry,”
Damian remained quiet, though he did eventually stick his face out, watching the snow fall and the people bustling around them. Quickly, Damian had become enraptured by his breath, which was fogging up each time he puffed out air. Soon, he was huffing out long flows of air, watching as it flowed out in front of them before disappearing with the wind.
Dick walked the block to the park, watching Damian in amusement, and picked up the pace when it finally came into view.
Tucked into a courtyard between three buildings was a slightly decrepit park, a worn playground in the middle, and some rusty swings to the side. A few trees lined the yard, but the rest of it was empty, other than the snow piling up. Dick wished they were at the manor, where he could let Damian run wild in the garden and yards, but he’s sure this park would do for now.
Once the wind was blocked behind the buildings, Dick gently set Damian on the ground.
As his boots crunched into the snow, Damian froze, face tilted straight down to stare at the ground. He gave an experimental kick at it, looking up at Dick.
A few snowflakes had found themselves on Damian's hat and dusted across the bits of hair peeking out.
Dick gave him a nod, crouching down to scoop up a small pile within his palm.
“Here, feel some.”
Damian reached out, fingers shoving into the snow before he pulled it back violently, staring in shock before carefully reaching out again.
“Sno,” Damian whispered, once again looking up at Dick, eyes wide.
Dick hummed, shuffling a few feet forward. He began to gather some snow into a small mound, beckoning Damian closer as Damian watched on in silence. Damian crept forward, bending down to slam his hand into Dick’s snowman base. After pausing for a brief second, Damian brought his hand down again and again, quickly destroying the pile Dick had created.
The next time Damian looked up, he had a wide grin on his face.
“There we go!” Dick cheered out, “See? It’s fun!”
Dick scooped up more snow, making a snowball and setting it on the ground for Damian to smash, chuckling each time Damian slammed a foot or hand down onto them.
“Dames, wanna help me make a snowman?”
Damian nodded, walking after Dick and watching at Dick’s side as he gathered snow into a small ball.
“Here,” Dick reached over, picking Damian up and setting him between his legs, taking Damian’s hands and his, using them to scoop up snow. Dick let go, huffing in amusement when Damian stayed stock still, eyeing the snow in his hands.
Dick then scooped his own handful up.
“Like this,” Dick instructed, showing Damian how to roll it up, “We need to make a few more of these, okay?”
“Mhm,” Damian hummed, crouching low to begin scraping snow towards himself, trying his best to form another ball while Dick packed together another beside him.
Once Dick got his snowball in place, he helped Damian with his, packing it firmly before helping him lift it and place it on top of Dick’s.
“Okay, we need one more snowball for his face. Do you wanna make that, or go find some sticks and rocks?”
“Sno!”
Dick ran a hand over Damian’s hat.
“Alright, you make us a snowball, and I’ll get his arms and face. Stay here, okay?”
“Okay,” Damian answered seriously, turning back to start gathering more snow into a pile.
Dick smiled, walking off to pick a few twigs off the barren trees and then kicking around the snow on the ground, uncovering a few rocks that he scooped up.
When he returned to Damian’s side, Damian had a shaky, half-formed ball in front of him that he was trying to pack more snow onto. Dick let his collection of objects drop on the ground, crouching and rubbing a hand down Damian’s back.
“How’s it going over here?”
Damian looked over, pointing at his creation with a blank expression, a smile growing on his face once Dick gave him a smile of approval.
Dick gathered the snowman’s head in his hands, making sure it was packed tightly before placing it on top of the other two.
“We’re gonna use these for his face and buttons,” Dick handed Damian a rock.
“And these,” Dick held up the sticks, “are gonna be his arms,”
Dick shoved a rock into the snowman’s chest, holding Damian’s hand to show him where to put his own rock, “Put some here, and then a few on his face like this,”
With Damian shoving rocks in random places, Dick maneuvered around him until their snowman had arms sticking up. Once they had finished, the snowman had a few rocks placed shakily on its head; the rest of them had been shoved onto what Dick supposed could be considered the chest.
“Look, Dames, we have a snowman now!”
Damian just nodded, staring down at it for a moment, then turned to face Dick, both arms outstretched until Dick picked him up.
Immediately, Damian was burying his face into Dick’s neck, his cold skin sending a shiver down Dick’s back. Dick squeezed him, rubbing a hand up and down Damian’s back and arms.
Dick pressed a kiss onto Damian’s hat, holding him tighter.
“Let’s head home, okay? We can come back tomorrow if you want to,” Dick murmured, moving to hold Damian with one arm so he could fish out his phone, snapping a quick photo of the snowman before turning to make his way out of the park and back to the pavement.
As they walked, Dick held his phone up, being forced to turn his head to the side so he could see over Damian, who had brought his head out of Dick's shoulder to stare at the screen. Dick quickly shot the photo off to Bruce in a text, following it up with Damian's first snowman before clicking his phone off and sticking it back into his pocket.
Dick wrapped his now free hand around Damian, “Once we get home, how about we get a little more blood in you? To get you warmed up?”
Damian nodded, hands clinging tightly to Dick’s jacket. As they walked on, Dick could feel the start of a purr beginning to rumble in Damian’s chest, a soft vibration against his own chest.
With a smile, Dick pressed another kiss into Damian’s hat, and when Damian leaned back to look at Dick, Dick placed a quick peck on his forehead, laughing at Damian’s squeal.