Work Text:
As much as he may hate it, there was no sure chance of him losing his dignity or position. The new person his baba had acquired was already in a different position. He also wasn't adopted, he was simply being taken care of while his parents were getting treatment. So Damian didn't really have much to worry about when it came to the new addition to the house, Duke Thomas.
Though it turns out that he was also incredibly wrong about that statement. Duke Thomas wasn't simply someone that just happened to come across Bruce Wayne. To make him seem more standoffish it turned out that he also so happened to be a meta. Of course that didn't make him completely off-putting but Damian was pretty sure he recognized the other one. Not that he could put his finger on it but he would eventually come across the answer.
It also turns out that he and Duke had a lot in common when arriving at the manor for the first time. He did not like to be touched, he wasn't exactly vocal and above all else no one was allowed to touch his things. At least he wouldn't have to worry about the newcomer invading his personal space. Damian liked his own personal time alone even if it was limited because others invaded it.
However it seemed that Duke was rarely present. He lived within the manor just like Damian did and they both attended school but Duke and Damian never crossed paths. Even at dinner, he wouldn't join them at the table. It was as if a ghost lived with them and simply planned around them. Damian definitely knew that he was there but he was gone as soon as someone was near him. It was almost impressive.
Damian knew that he shouldn't really care about it, it wasn't any of his business what he did with his time. But he would be a liar to say that he wasn't curious even just a tad to know what the older boy was doing. Maybe Damian could blame the fact that the others were so curious by nature it started to rub off on him. As long as he didn't get caught it should be fine and this was what he was trained to do, spy and collect if not kill. Forget the latter and it was a pretty solid plan.
Simply stalk him.
Yes, that wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Damian knew that the reason he wasn't successful in his first few attempts wasn't because of his own abilities. Duke Thomas somehow evaded him every time Damian thought he had gotten him into a corner. Which shouldn't be possible since he knew for a fact that Duke Thomas was supposed to be raised normally.
Unless they were actively in a room with a third person case in point his father or Alfred or any of the other children that go in and out of this house. Damian never caught Duke Thomas alone. One would think that was concerning and for a while Damian was unsure whether or not it was his meta abilities or not. He did some thorough research into what was put down on the file and it didn't say anything about teleportation.
No teleportation that he was aware of anyway so it shouldn't have been possible even if he did have teleportation from what he read his powers were new. He wouldn't have a grasp on them so quickly and yet Damian was somehow finding himself struggling. He was definitely agitated that there was something within the Manor's walls that he couldn't quite reach. But it also piqued his curiosity as it showed him that the new addition to their household wasn't average.
A strange game of cat and mouse where the mouse stayed hidden on purpose somehow. The mouse was older than him and he was definitely going to catch him eventually he just needed to corner him. Someone would have thought this was preposterous but when living within Wayne Manor Damian learned that privacy was limited. If he was successful he can drop it and know that he can infect it but until he does so he's not letting us go.
It was irritating that he started to turn out to be more like his other siblings. But they need to ignore that fact as a couple of months started going by and he still hasn't succeeded yet. He had gotten him in the living room and next thing he knew by the time the door was closed the window was open and Duke was gone. The same went for the dining room drawing room offices that Damian was confident Duke did not know where the elevator to the cave was. That didn't stop him from evading him effectively.
Of course Damian was impressed but it was starting to get a tad bit out of hand. They did not have the same Patrol schedule as Duke took over the day while Damian as Robin was at night. Though it didn't take a lot of convincing for Damian to take some experience during the day. Damian had succeeded in getting them required alone time but it was quite underhanded that he could do it in their civilian state.
One thing that he did learn was that Signal was not much of a talker. He spoke to Oracle and gave mild instructions to Damian but outside of that he wasn't as conversational like Richard. He also definitely seems like he hasn't worked with a partner ever before as he would run into a situation without saying anything. At least it seemed that even outside of his constant probing, Thomas definitely needed someone else to work with.
If he wasn't going to talk then Damian was going to have to probe him even further. That he did even if Duke did not seem to appreciate it. Starting random arguments with the older one little snarky comments about him not being able to function as a team. In reality Damian was just repeating all the feedback he got over the years from other heroes. Damian and Duke weren't that different; he definitely had moments where Duke just seemed like an older version of him.
Duke had his parents, they were just out of reach just like Damian had his parents and one of them just wasn't with him. Maybe Damien was just projecting or maybe he wanted somebody who actually understood what his problems were. Perhaps it was the reason why he was so invested in talking to this guy, the older figure that wasn't talkative with anyone. Someone who is much older, who put into a situation where he doesn't know anybody.
The only difference between Damian and Duke was that when Damien scolded Duke, Duke just gave him a blank stare. As if it was something that he had heard before and didn't quite know how to fix. Damian stopped and they just stared at each other, he could try getting his attention but now that he actually thought about it he wasn't approaching it right. Duke didn't interact with people unless it wasn't needed and that was because he was constantly thrown into bad situations.
Having something out of reach causes people to pass out and Duke already knew that which is probably why he doesn't respond to it anymore. It was just something that kept on bothering him one day at a time and what Duke really needed was something permanent. Something that he knew wasn't going to go away even if someone tried taking it.
So Damian backed off.
He switched to schedule back and dig went on to do his normal routine but Damian didn't bother him instead he just existed in his space. If Damian stayed in the living room and he saw Duke for a brief second he would leave. Go somewhere else, maybe the library. Give to his space knowing that he was comfortable enough to surround himself in that nothing was going to go away.
It did work when Damian wasn't being desperate about it. All he needed to do was give Duke the opportunity to come to him instead of the other way around. Damian would be in the library and Duke saw him. Instead of having Damian get up. He sat away at a reasonable distance, it was peaceful silence Damian reading his book and Duke reading his own. That peaceful distance was enough.
Maybe you came to the realization that Damian was trying to get his attention or Damien figuring out that Duke needed just time not pressure. Not like their siblings who are constantly trying to get them to go out or do stuff together. Duke was put into a temporary position as that's what a foster was. Being in such a delicate position he was used to things being snatched away from him before he was moved on to a different house.
But Damian wasn't going anywhere. He was one of the only permanent residents in the manor as well. They started coming to that realization and that time was well spent as days started flying by slowly and the gap started decreasing between them. They may not really talk much and Damian did go out of his way trying to apologize to Duke but he couldn't say it in words so he gave him a painting instead.
Luckily for him it seemed that Duke appreciated it. Just enough that Damian saw him do this slight motion before pausing. It was the beginning of something that he had seen multiple times. Watching Duke hesitate was obviously because he wasn't sure if he was allowed to do so, so Damian took it into his own hands. He wasn't surprised that the older boy was actually a lot warmer than he looks.
Duke got a hug and probably the first one in a while. Perhaps this would be their little thing.