Chapter Text
Damian found himself sat criss cross on his bed. His head stewed with the potential words he could have said in retaliation. There were lots of words he wanted to say to his father. So much that they all meshed into one big ball of irritation. It wasn’t fair. He hadn’t even done anything that bad this time. He simply took action when it seemed no one else was going too. He even stopped the man that they were after.
…
Sitting became laying. Now less agitated than before as he let his body sprawl out on the bed. He didn’t bother going under the covers as he didn’t feel the use of it. The anger fizzled out quicker than usual, leaving him more regretful and bored. In situations like these he normally was able to hold onto his spite until his bench was up. This time was different though. Much harder to hold onto it for a reason he wasn’t sure of.
Turning to press his face into the comforter he let out a childish whispery scream. The kind that he only saw on tv shows aimed towards teenage girls. It seemed to work in lessening their frustrations, it didn’t do much for him despite what he thought. He felt stupid for thinking something like that would work.
He flipped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling fan. His hand folded against his chest as he watched the fan spin. Watching the fan got boring quickly. So his attention then shifted from the fan to his desk. Doing as much as he could to keep himself from moving off the bed. He craned his neck, trying to see what he had put on his desk.
There sat his sketchbook in the middle of it. The sleek leather cover held a slight shine, almost enticing him to go over. Pushed to the corner of his desk were a few books he hadn’t gotten to reading yet. A bit of shame fell upon him. He didn’t like the feeling of doing nothing but currently he felt like he could barely bring himself to do anything.
Doing nothing was uncomfortable. He knew it was supposed to be relaxing. That it was what most people saw as a mini vacation from the stress of constantly doing something.
Damian would disagree though.
Doing nothing only made him more anxious to do something. He was always used to having something to do and wanting to do it. Even if he didn’t want to do it, he still like the feeling of doing something useful. He liked having a purpose.
He flipped through his mental list of things to do. His room was already pretty clean, so he didn’t feel a need to tidy it up. He had already eaten dinner. He’s reorganized his suits that he’d sadly not be able to wear for a while. His neatly arranged collection of swords were already polished and shiny. It was summer so there wasn’t any schoolwork.
…
There really wasn’t much to do.
So in a last ditch attempt at finding something to keep him busy he decided to rummage through his closet. It wasn’t uncommon for him to shove things in there and let himself forget about it. Which meant that there must be something for him to do.
Sitting down in front of his closet, he leaned over and began pushing some items aside. A few shoe boxes, some art supplies he hasn’t used in a while, a couple of old school books…
And finally he came across a crochet kit with a piece of tape that had ‘From Jason’ written on it. The box was in pristine condition, all supplies still inside the box and not scattered around the manor. It was a ‘Bat Family’ crochet kit that came with a book with the instructions on how to make each ‘Bat member’. He was quite tempted to make one. The book seemed easy enough to understand and he was getting increasingly bored. His mind went to how his family would react to seeing him make such a thing though. They would ridicule him for becoming the kind of person to make plushies of his family members. Damian would never recover if they found out about it.
Then he remembered he could simply hide it from them. Keep all his new crochet creations in the closet and away from their eyes.
He decided on that.
…
The supplies were now laid out on his bed as he went to look through the potential plushes he could make. Flipping through the pages his eyes immediately landed on the fat red round plush that was supposed to be RedHood. It was practically just a ball with some flaps for limbs and an oddly small head for its body. Looking at it made him start to snicker. His eyes then went to the rest of his family’s plushie counterparts. Then he realized that there were two versions of all his family. A normal person shaped plush…then their rounder one. All of which had their own altered name.
‘Round Hood, Batfat, Big Wing, Rotund Robin’.. The list just went on.
So he chose the one he found the most joy in the thought of creating.
Picking up the hook and red yarn he started off with a slipknot and began stitching into it. This was called a ‘magic ring’ he’d learn. Damian followed the pattern with surprising ease. It was oddly satisfying to see his creation come to life. Along with figuring out the new vocabulary that came with crochet.
He liked how mind numbing the activity was. Once he got the hang of the stitching, it was as if he could just turn his brain off. Into another stitch, yarn under, pull through, yarn under, pull through.
After about an hour and a half, he had finished the body. Just a little bigger than his hand, he held it out in front of him. The thing wasn’t the exact same as the picture. A little lopsided, with a few loose stitches that came before quite tight stitches…but it still looked like what it was supposed to be. Besides, if Todd were to become a plushie, he’d absolutely be the botched and off brand looking one. So if anything, this was more accurate than the original picture could ever be.
The flimsy body would be placed down next to the bag of stuffing. His attention shifted onto making the head. Turning the page, his eyes glossed over it until he got a good idea of what to do.
Similar to the body, it started off with a ‘magic ring’ that you stitched into. Then it increased in it’s stitch count to make the opening wider and rounded. Though, this time it didn’t close off with decreasing stitching. Instead, it simply was sewn off, making half of a sphere.
He glanced back at the page, taking a look at the supplies listed for the head. Two beady black eyes pushed in between the fifth and sixth row.
Now all it needed was stuffing and sewing together.
Carefully inserting the needle into the opening of the stuffed body he began sewing the head onto it. He began to think a little as he sewed.
Damian wasn’t actually sure what to do with the plush when he was done. He didn’t really want to keep it in his room, he didn’t want it to be seen sitting on his bed or at his desk. A part of him didn’t want to stuff it in his closet though. A good chunk of his time went into this little project, it’d be a waste to let it go unseen. So he decided on..quietly putting it into Todd’s room when he’s finished. Or even sticking a pin in it and leaving it on his doorstep. That would be a much better idea than letting it take up space in his closet. This way, it could take up space in Todd’s room instead.
With one last pull and snip. He stared at his creation while holding it out in front of him.
It looked…bulky and ugly.
Just like Todd. It was perfect.