Work Text:
Damian hated galas.
He hated having to wear an uncomfortable suit, he hated losing valuable time that could’ve been spent training, and he hated the people who attended them- especially the one speaking to him right now.
Mr. Deccan owned one of the country’s biggest Steel Mills. He regularly supplied Wayne Enterprises with materials. He even personally delivered shipments sometimes, always a bit too eager.
He had somehow managed to corner Damian at the last three galas he’d had the misfortune of attending. Each time, more annoying than the last.
At first it had been small things- standing too close, staring for a moment too long. However, Mr. Deccan seemed to have lost more and more of his composure in the past few months.
He was currently standing mere inches away from Damian, drunkenly slurring about one thing or another. In Damian’s experience, it was best to tune it out. His comments usually had rather inappropriate connotations to them.
Suddenly, Mr. Deccan’s arm was around his waist, pulling him uncomfortably close. He leaned in, his breath hot on Damian’s neck. It was impossible to keep ignoring him.
“You know, you’re pretty, so pretty.” Mr. Deccan whispered. “If only you were legal. God, the things I’d do to you if you were legal.”
Damian tried to move away, but Mr. Deccan was holding on to him too tightly. He couldn’t do anything, couldn’t fight back, not without risking revealing his entire family’s secret identities. He was utterly defenseless, it was a horrible feeling.
Hot tears pricked the corners of Damian’s eyes as Mr. Deccan continued to spout filth into his ear. His hand kept moving downwards, making Damian’s heart rate spike with every inch of skin he tainted.
Damian wanted nothing more than to scream, to fight, to run away. Unfortunately, he could do none of that.
“So pretty.” Mr. Deccan continued. “So fucking pretty, if only I could-”
Mr. Deccan was abruptly cut off as someone physically shoved themselves between him and Damian, forcing him to let go of Damian. Damian stumbled back a few steps. When he finally found his footing, he looked up, and was shocked to see none other than Tim Drake standing in front of him.
Tim glared at Mr. Deccan, pointing an accusing finger at his chest. “Keep your fucking hands to yourself.”
“Oh, um, Tim, good to see you.” Mr. Deccan seemed to quickly sober up. “Listen, it’s not what it looks like.”
“Really?” Tim raised an eyebrow at him. “Because it looks like you were just trying grope my thirteen year old brother.”
“That- that isn’t-” Mr. Deccan stammered, eyes darting around at the nearby party-goers who were now staring at the sudden commotion.
“But by all means,” Tim continued, not even giving Mr. Deccan a chance to defend himself. “If you have an actual reason for trying to play grab-ass with a fucking kid, I’d love to hear it.”
Mr. Deccan’s face reddened significantly. He tried to mutter out some excuse, but it was useless. Even out of costume, Tim was terrifying when he wanted to be.
“Now, you have two options, either you leave by yourself or I get security to drag you out.”
Mr. Deccan cleared his throat and straightened up a bit, trying to save some of his dignity. “I suppose I’ll get going then. Damian, it was nice-”
Tim shifted over so that he was standing fully in front of Damian, completely blocking him from sight. “Don’t talk to him. In fact, if I ever see you even standing near him again, I’ll make sure that every tabloid in the world knows what a fucking pervert you are.”
Mr. Deccan huffed, but turned and began to walk away. Damian immediately felt an indescribable sort of relief.
“Oh, and, by the way,” Tim shouted at Mr. Deccan’s back. “Consider your company’s contract with W.E. voided.”
Damian’s mouth nearly dropped open. Tim defending him was one thing (unusual, sure, but not completely unheard of), involving Bruce’s company in it, though…
Damian pushed away thoughts of other important men leering at him on a far-away continent. Of how their actions had been excused due to that importance. He’d gotten in so much trouble the few times he’d dared to stand up for himself. Wouldn’t Tim get in trouble for this?
Mr. Deccan spun back around furiously. “What? But- that’s not- you can’t-”
“Yes, I can. Wayne Enterprises does not associate with pedophiles.” Tim crossed his arms over his chest. “And don’t bother trying to bring us to court over this, unless you want people finding out exactly why we no longer want to do business with you.”
Mr. Deccan sputtered a few more times, but did not try to argue. He just walked towards the exit, shoving through people as he went.
Tim turned back around to look at Damian. “Are you okay?”
Damian could only nod, a bit dumbfounded. This was all very odd. He and Tim didn’t do this, they could barely get through a conversation without trying to kill each other. Why would Tim care if Mr. Deccan hurt Damian?
“Dami?” Tim reached a hand out, but Damian dodged it.
“I’m fine.” Damian’s words came out sharp in spite of himself, almost like a default setting. “I could have handled that.”
“Most people would just say thank you.”
Damian didn’t say anything. This all felt like a ruse, some sort of trap. For the life of him, Damian couldn’t think of a single, logical reason why Tim would want to help him.
“Whatever, Damian.” Tim sighed after a long moment of silence. “If you want to be like that, then I’m going.”
A small voice in Damian’s head wanted to tell him not to, but another screamed at him to leave. Something was wrong here, it had to be. Damian just needed some time by himself to figure it out.
Tim turned and walked away. For a moment, just a moment, Damian could've sworn that he hesitated, but he almost immediately forced the thought out of his head.
After all, why would he want to stay?
…
By the time the gala was over, Tim was tired, irritated, and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.
Unfortunately, it was looking like that would have to wait until after Tim figured out why Damian was currently standing in the middle of his bedroom.
“Uh, Damian? What’re you doing here?”
Damian glared down at the floor. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” Tim asked, officially very confused.
Damian sighed, as though Tim was missing something obvious. “Earlier, you threatened Mr. Deccan. Are you going to admit why you did it?”
Oh, so that’s what this was about. Tim suddenly felt a little guilty about his annoyance.
“You’re making it sound like I had some ulterior motive.” Tim went for a joke, hoping to lighten the tense mood in the room, but (judging from the look on Damian’s face) it didn’t seem to land.
“Tt.” Damian shook his head. “As if you didn’t.”
“Damian, what are you talking about?”
Damian glared at him, eyes hard. “I know that you only helped me so that I would be indebted to you.”
Tim opened and closed his mouth a few times, honestly too shocked to even think of a retort. The idea that Tim would only protect Damian for his own personal gain was ridiculous, it had to be some sort of weird prank or something, right?
“Indebted? Dami, what-”
“You want me to owe you something, well tell me what it is and we can settle this now.”
Okay, so not a prank.
Tim sighed deeply. He wished Dick was the one dealing with this, he had so much patience for the brat. Tim wanted to give him some sarcastic retort, but forced himself not to.
“Damian, that’s not why I did it.”
“Oh please, I am not stupid.” Damian hissed. “What other reason could you have?”
Tim laughed, this conversation was absurd. “I don’t know, maybe that the guy was being a huge creep towards you.”
Damian scowled in return. “Why would you care about that? You don’t even like me.”
Damian’s words hit Tim like a slap to the face.
“You think I don’t like you?”
“It’s quite obvious, we fight all the time.”
Tim searched Damian’s face, desperate for any sign of emotion. Something to tell him that Damian didn’t actually believe what he was saying, that he was only speaking out of anger or in some effort to hurt Tim.
Unfortunately, his features remained calm, impassive.
Damian truly thought that Tim didn’t like him.
“So? That’s- it’s what siblings do. Yeah, we probably do it more than most, but that doesn’t mean-” Tim cut himself off. His rambling excuses were doing nothing to help this situation.
He tried to think of what Dick would say if he were here. Probably something perfect and comforting. Then again, Dick probably wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place because he’d never be so much of an asshole that his own sibling would think he didn’t like them.
Damian was just staring at him, clearly expecting some sort of response. Finally, after a long moment, Tim went with what he would’ve appreciated- facts.
“Damian, of course I like you. You’re my brother. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, especially not like that.”
“This is about familial obligation, then?” It was a question, but, coming from Damian, it sounded more like a statement.
“It’s about the fact that a man four times your age was harassing you and that’s wrong.” Tim spoke carefully, not wanting any further misunderstandings. “I would stand up for you even if we weren’t related. The fact that we are just makes me angrier about it.”
Damian’s breath hitched slightly. “Angry at me?”
“No. No, of course not.” Tim fought to keep his voice level because fuck whoever had messed Damian up so badly that this was his thought process. “I’m angry at him. He shouldn’t have touched you.”
Damian nodded slowly, he chewed on his lip absentmindedly. Tim could practically see the gears in his head turning. He didn’t say anything, he figured it was best to give the kid a minute.
“So you protected me just because you… wanted to?”
“Yeah.”
Damian stared down at the floor. “Even though you’ll get in trouble for it?”
“What?” Tim leaned down slightly, trying (and failing) to catch Damian’s eye. “Why would I get in trouble?”
Damian shrugged. “Mr. Deccan works with father.”
“So you think I’ll get in trouble because of that?” Tim spoke slowly, trying to piece together what the hell Damian was talking about. “Why? Because I fired him?”
Damian didn’t answer, but he did nod slightly in confirmation.
“Who do you think I’ll be in trouble with?” Tim continued. “The board? Bruce?”
Damian finally looked up, eyes shifting back and forth suspiciously. “Father won’t be mad at you?”
“No, of course not, and he’s not going to be mad at you either.” Tim promised. “Honestly, if he’d seen what had happened instead of me, Mr. Deccan would probably be in the hospital right now.”
A small smile graced Damian’s face, and Tim could hear him exhale deeply. His heart sank at the realization that the kid had probably spent the entire night worrying about this.
Another wave of guilt washed over Tim. Hell of a brother he was, just leaving Damian alone after he’d been assaulted. Maybe if he’d been more insistent on making sure he was okay, they wouldn’t be having to have this conversation right now.
“Things were very different, where I grew up.” Damian suddenly said, his voice so quiet that Tim almost missed it. “There were different expectations.”
“Expectations for what? Dealing with creeps?” Tim nearly laughed at the ridiculousness of it, but quickly realized it was the wrong move once he saw the look on Damian’s face. Shit.
“Wait, are you serious?” Tim wondered aloud. “Damian, has stuff like what Mr. Deccan did tonight happened to you before?”
When Damian spoke, he sounded awfully young. “Grandfather always said that those men were too important to risk upsetting, that I should just deal with it.”
Tim didn’t even know what to say to that. He thought back to how terrified Damian had looked with Mr. Deccan earlier. He couldn’t help but picture an even younger Damian with those same huge, tear-filled eyes. He had only been ten when he’d left the League of Assassins to come live with Bruce. How young had he been when it started? Eight? Seven? Five?
Tim wanted to throw up. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to storm into Nanda Parbat and kill Ra’s and every other piece of shit who’d dared to hurt his brother.
“Dami, look at me.” Tim put his hands on Damian’s shoulders. He was mildly shocked that Damian not only actually listened to him, but also let Tim keep his hands on him. “That shouldn’t have happened to you. No one should touch you or speak to you inappropriately.”
Damian looked up at him, and, god, had he always been this small? His eyes were watering and Tim wanted so desperately to make it better. As he stared back at his little brother, Tim could see that Damian wanted that too. He wanted Tim to help him- not Bruce, not Dick, Tim.
Tim forced more words past the tears he could feel building in his throat. “I- I can’t change what happened, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure it never happens again.”
Tim had barely finished his sentence before Damian was barreling forward and burying his face in Tim’s chest. He shook as sobs began to wrack through his body. Tim wrapped his arms around him as tightly as he could and finally let his own tears fall as well.
Tim had meant every word of what he said. No matter how much he and Damian fought, he would always protect him. Damian was his little brother, and Tim was going to do a better job making sure he knew that.
“I love you, Dami.” Tim whispered, pressing a kiss into Damian’s hair. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
Damian didn’t say it back, but he did hug Tim a little tighter, and that was more than enough of a response. Tim knew that- for Damian- it meant a lot more than words ever could.
“Do you want to sleep in here tonight?” Tim offered, smiling at the nod Damian gave in response.
Tomorrow, Tim would talk with Bruce about this all.
Tomorrow, Tim would track down Mr. Deccan and give him the beating he so badly deserved.
Right now, Tim would be here with his brother.