Damian watched Todd intently from his spot in the armchair. The moron hadn't woken up yet, and Damian had a hard time believing that he would.

Grayson had promised a happy ending, his naivety bewildered Damian sometimes.

Whenever someone approached, Damian closed his eyes and even out his breathing, he could tell who it was by the sound of their steps and even if he couldn't, the way each one acted would be a dead giveaway.

Pennyworth touched a hand to Damian's shoulder and sighed; Grayson ran a hand through Damian's hair and leaned in close to press his lips to his little brother's temple "You should try to get some real sleep" he'd whisper. Drake never came close.

Damian particularly favored Pennyworth's approach, Grayson's made the tension in his chest grow and Drake shouldn't even be alive.

Drake should be the one half dead on that bed. Not Todd.

So Damian sat and waited, either for Todd to wake up or to give up and die already, he'd ignore anything else until either one of those happened.

Unfortunately, he did have to eat. So he got up on silent feet and met Grayson's smiling tired face from where the man sat on the computer chair, like Grayson knew he was about to get up.

"The elusive Damian comes out of hiding" Grayson narrates in an exaggeratedly monotonous voice "What will the fickle young creature do next?"

Damian frowns. Grayson's acting even odder than usual "Are you having a stroke?"

"I always forget how much of a morning person you are."

The statement makes Damian blink, he had no idea it was already morning.

"Hungry?" Grayson asked and Damian nodded, seeing no point in lying. Especially when Grayson had easier reach to the higher shelves where Damian recently found was where Alfred kept the so-called tastiest snacks. Some weren't completely disgusting.

"Okay" Grayson nodded standing and stretching in the same motion "Let's go, Damian."

Damian's nose scrunched all on its own, he wasn't quite sure why, but the way Grayson said his name felt forced, like he was trying too hard not to call him by any monikers.

And even if Damian never really enjoyed the nicknames, he liked the current situation even less.

As they walked, Damian peered up, longish hair getting in the way, and watched as Grayson hummed a song to himself and rubbed at the dark circle around his eye.

"You have not been sleeping." Damian scolded him, not afraid to show his displeasure.

"Oh yeah?" Grayson shoots back childishly "Neither have you."

"All I do is sleep in that armchair."

A gush of air from what Damian could only call an amused sigh rattled the boy's hair. "You don't have to lie to me."

A frown pulled at Damian's eyebrows. It worried Damian how Grayson seemed to be able to see right through him sometimes.

When they got to the kitchen, Grayson picked Damian up and placed him seated on the counter. For once, Damian decided to let it go and watch as Grayson moved around the kitchen. He may or may not have been kicking his legs while doing so.

"Is mother still around?" Damian found himself asking and decided that he should get at least some sleep after all, his tongue was getting a bit loose.

Grayson froze midway to getting a cereal box, it looked like he was about to do a ballet move.

"No…" Grayson cleared his throat and went back to scavenging cabinets and the fridge "I don't think so, no."

"-tt-" Damian looks down, considers jumping off and going back to his vigil with an empty stomach, instead he says "You don't have to lie to me."

"I don't like this" Grayson commented lightly, sitting beside Damian on the counter and popping a piece of cereal into his mouth "You keep taking my words, using them on me and making them sound so much wiser."

Damian simply shrugged; he was too tired and too hungry to gloat at the moment, he'd just have to do it later.

"She's still here." Grayson admitted "And I'm kinda dreading the minute she'll show her face."

"Perhaps she won't." Damian mused.

"Why wouldn't she? She thought you died in that explosion, I'm pretty sure that a resurrection calls for a family meeting."

But he was a failure. Mother wouldn't want to set eyes on him ever again. Perhaps she would send a lackey to end his existence and hide her shame. Mother said it herself that Damian had forgotten his teachings, that he was wrong in leaving Drake alive, she would want to clean the family's honor.

"Hey, eat." Damian blinked back to the present at the sound of Grayson's voice and got cross-eyed trying to focus on the piece of food being fed to him. Damian shot Grayson a look "Just eat, fight about it once you're full, okay?"

"Have you washed your hands?"

"It's just germs, you control freak." Grayson smiles "Yes! I washed them."

It feels weird to do so, but Damian opens his mouth and lets Grayson feed him, watching the morons face the entire time.

Whatever it was, it was crunchy, but not bad "What was that?" Damian asked licking his lips.

"Nice, huh?" Grayson's smile turned a bit smug.

"Perhaps. What was it?"

Grayson turned to the side and cut a slice of some dark looking… cake? Damian wasn't sure.

"Just trust me." Grayson told him softly, handing another offering.

Damian eyed the cake, then glanced up at Grayson and let out a long sigh "I am able to feed myself, you do know that."

"Yeah" Grayson agrees readily with a huff of laughter "You can pretty much do anything, just let me."

When he puts it that way, it does seem stupid… So Damian allows it a second time. The cake is just a little bit too sweet for Damian's liking, but not completely gross. It still makes his shoulders twitch.

Grayson grimaces in sympathy "That bad, huh?"

Damian didn't answer, choosing to lower his eyes to the counter and the variety of pastries that Grayson had set there.

"Close your eyes." Damian said and Grayson obeyed immediately, no questions, no hesitation. It made Damian feel slightly uncomfortable.

He chose a tasty looking bread and placed a small slice against Grayson's lips, watching him for a reaction.

Grayson hummed in pleasure and opened one eye "Did you try that one? It's really good."

No, Damian still didn't understand. Not this game, not Grayson, not anything really. Not even why Todd chose to nearly kill himself – again – in an attempt to protect Damian.

These people made absolutely no sense.

He splayed a hand on the middle of Grayson's chest, grabbed a handful of his shirt only for a moment and got and odd look from him.

"I had your drool on my fingers" Damian explained.

Grayson popped another cereal in his mouth "Germ freak."

Somehow, too fast for Damian to acknowledge – with Grayson's endless chatter and his own slightly overused brain – it was decided that they should take the food back downstairs and have a picnic with Jason.

The fact that Todd was comatose didn't seem to deter Grayson.

"How's your foot?" Grayson had asked and suddenly Damian was grabbing onto Grayson's shoulders for dear life as he was thrown on the moron's back.

"What are you doing?" Damian asked a little scandalized, but still not jumping down.

"This is a piggyback ride."

"I can see that. Why?"

"I need my arms free to carry all the stuff." Grayson explained around a mouthful of… something red. Ew.

Tired of thinking, of trying to make sense of things, of fighting everything all the time Damian frowned and leaned forward, pressing his chest against Grayson's back and letting his chin rest on the man's shoulder "Is this the family reunion?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said resurrections called for family reunions. Is this it?"

Grayson shot him a little grin and a glance "I have to start watching what I say around you."

"You should have started a long time ago and spared me the nonsense."

Damian feels rather than hears Grayson's chuckle against his chest.

Grayson sited Damian atop Jason's legs ("We can't leave Jay-Jay out." "He is in a coma." "No excuse for bullying.") and commenced stuffing his face without ever pausing his blabbering.

From time to time, Grayson would tell Damian to eat something in particular or feed it to the boy himself.

As much as Damian hated to admit it, Grayson had a pleasant voice. And the endless stream of stories was slowly lulling him in, his eyes were getting heavy and it all felt… nice. Like a hot bath or a warm bed.

Damian blinked, trying to make himself more awake, because he couldn't let his guard down. Todd was helpless and truth be told, Damian wasn't sure what could happen to the stupid criminal in case one of the other two morons got drugged.

"Okay, your turn." Grayson said snapping Damian out of his musings.

"My turn for what?"

"Tell me something."

Damian frowned "My stories will not amuse you."

Grayson shrugged "Not everyone has to be funny, it's just that a lot of stupid things happen to me." Damian has to only arch his eyebrows meaningfully to make Grayson laugh "Only the things that happen to me that are stupid, okay?"

"If you say so." Damian feels his lips pulling at the corners and he doesn't try to hide it.

"Dick!" Drake called before he was even at the door startling Grayson "We've got problems."

When Drake saw he was being watched by Damian, he ducked his head and left.

Grayson groaned "I have to go, I-"

"It's mother." Damian concluded with a nod without being prompted to "I understand." and he really did. He'd have to stay back and hold the fort and he wouldn't fail, his fingers grabbed on tightly to the sheet covering Todd's legs.

Grayson stood up, carrying the food platter with him, but only made a few steps before turning "She doesn't know. About that night." he clears his throat awkwardly "She thinks you and Tim got into a fight, that he beat you up."

"I think what he did in between the main event might qualify as 'beating me up'." and just like that, Grayson's carefree expression was gone. Good. It was his fault for bringing it up "I won't tell her, if that's your concern. Mother will not do Timothy any more harm."

"That's not it!" Grayson had the nerve to look hurt "That's… your choice."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't plan on letting Talia anywhere near you, but if you do talk, you can tell her whatever you want. It's your choice, I just thought you should know where you stand with her."

Grayson leaves Damian with a deep frown and thoughts even more scrambled than when this whole conversation began.

The boy sighs and turns to look at Todd, who has yet to move, who is so pale he could be dead.

Moved by the thought that he could be seating on the legs of a corpse without even knowing, Damian carefully climbed over Todd's prone body and laid his head on the criminal's chest.

There was a heartbeat, strong and steady.

Damian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt more than a little stupid for doing this, but if Todd and Grayson did it, then maybe it beared some merit. So he started talking to the allegedly not-brain-dead beneath him, with the rhythmic heart beat on his ear.

"I first saw the ocean when I was six. I had never given it much thought before, in all the books I had read it was described only as a 'large body of water', and when I was finally there I was… awed."

Damian talked for what felt like a really long time, but he knew that wasn't true. He didn't have that many stories to fill the time, at least not many good ones. His stories would get him looks of horror, or worse, pity.

"You didn't have to send me home!" Drake was whining close by "Damian doesn't need any help, he's fine. And I don't have to be sheltered, I can handle Talia."

Damian closed his eyes tighter and tried to focus on Todd's heartbeat to block Drake's voice to no avail.

"I know you're worried… But not all of us act without thinking, you know? I'm not drugged and Jason is out of commission. It will be fine."

That has Damian's head snapping up.

How could he? How could Drake make little of the situation? How could he fucking joke?

Jason could die at any moment and after Drake had done…

Damian jumped down the bed and landed on his twisted ankle, sending a sharp pain through his leg, which he completely ignored in favor of tracking down Drake and upon finding him, Damian punches him in the kidney.

"Damian, what the hell?" Drake squeals, moving away. Grayson must've said something through the comm, because Drake looked away, than back at Damian "No, it's okay. I can handle this."

The world turns red. Drake can handle this?

He can handle this?!

Damian's shoulder screams when he moves to attack, he's not fully recovered, shouldn't be up to this. He's barefooted, wearing pajamas for fuck sake, but Drake is weak. There are no drugs now, and for what it's worth, Damian doesn't want Drake dead, he just wants him to suffer. If not as Damian has suffered, at least for as long as Damian can inflict pain.

Hooking his good leg behind Drake's, Damian brings him down and knees his groin. Then he does it again for good measure.

Damian jabs him in the throat, just hard enough to get Drake to remember that breathing is a privilege and socks him in the eye. But it's too easy.

"Fight me back." Damian growls, but Drake isn't even trying to defend himself as he catches his breath "Fight me back!"

When there was still no answer, Damian lost it. He wasn't even sure what part of Drake his fists were colliding with anymore. It wasn't the stylish fighting he'd been brought up with.

No, this was ugly, feral; somewhere in his mind, Damian was aware that he was screaming, that his throat felt raw, but Drake began reacting and that was all he wanted.

Drake's hands were in his face – Damian felt the stitches in his temple pull – but when they tried to touch his shoulder, Damian sprung back, his twisted ankle making itself known again. But that was nothing. Damian switched to his favored leg and waited. Drake was talking, or at least his lips were moving, but Damian couldn't hear anything over the roar of his own blood in his ears.

It was when Drake began to stand that Damian remembered the move. Was it from a movie? He wasn't sure, but it was simple enough, so Damian did it, switching his weight to his hurt ankle just for a moment, long enough to kick Drake in the jaw with his good leg.

It should've been enough.

"FIGHT ME BACK!" Damian shouted and even he could hear the desperation in his own voice.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and Damian lashed out, not needing to be placated by Grayson or Pennyworth, he wouldn't stop until Drake fucking fought back.

But it was Todd holding his wrist.

Todd who still looked half dead, but was standing right beside him and had the nerve to smirk at Drake "Little dude went Karate Kid on your ass!" Todd laughed, or at least tried to before it became a pained groan.

Damian opened his mouth, he couldn't believe that that moron had gotten up after being in a coma. He wanted to bite Todd's head of for that, for making Damian worry, for being so fucking stupid, but all Damian could do was suck in big gulps of air.

In and out. In and out. Inandout.

He could feel his nails digging into Todd's arm from where the imbecile criminal was still holding his wrist. Damian's eyes were burning, like Todd's arrival threw sand in them.

Todd looked down and the half amused, half pained expression softened.

"Hey kid."

Damian used his free hand to rub at his prickling eyes and Todd took advantage of this moment of distraction to scoop the boy up in his arms and begin the walk back to the sickbay.

"I can walk." Damian's voice was shaking so bad it nearly broke, he looked away in anger at that and saw the growing red spot in Todd's bandages "And you are bleeding, you fucking moron."

Todd ran a finger down the side of Damian's face and showed him the bloodied digit "So are you, you little shit." his voice was tinged with amusement again and Damian could only stare at the sickly pale face before him, the dark circles around the eyes and pain lines on the forehead. Todd sighed and sat down on the bed, leaning his head against Damian's and whispering "I'm sorry."

"No, you are not." Damian gritted out.

"I am."

"Stop. Lying."

"Shut up, you can't tell me how I feel." Todd barks at him, but there's no actual bite to it. He actually sounds amused "And I am sorry." Damian's chest ached so bad his shoulders were shaking "I suck at this." Todd carried on, seemingly oblivious to how close Damian was to snapping "When you told me I-" he paused, hesitated "I hurt all of the time and for some stupid reason I kinda thought that you would never go through something like that. You can't be hurt. You're Talia's kid, Bruce's son. There's nothing more badass than that." Damian tried to move away, but Todd held him in place with a gentle hand on his back "And when you told me what happened I… I had to get away because I say bad things when I don't know what to do. I almost had it under control when I got back, but Dick fucked it all up coming after me for punching the replacement, so it's his fault-"

"Wait." Damian interrupted, eyes snapping back to Todd's face "You punched Drake?" because of me?

"Well yeah! How could I just…" Todd grimaced, as if words were too hard a concept "I get a little crazy sometimes and I just…"

And while Todd tried to finish his sentence, something inside Damian twisted and broke "You overreact." the tears in his voice were threatening to spill from his eyes as well and wasn't that simply pathetic?

Damian hid his face on the nearest available surface, which just happened to be Todd's shoulder and tried to work on his breathing.

In and out. In and out. Inandout. Inandout. Inandoutinandout.

His cheeks were moist, but it must've been the blood from his the ripped stiches in his temple. It had to be the blood.

Todd hugged him closer, even through the ridiculous sobbing and shaking and what would Damian do now? Something in him was obviously damaged beyond repair, what good was he now? He couldn't even murder people, the only thing he'd been trained for his entire life – ruling the world didn't count, he was still too young and small for that, the world was too big – and Grayson had ruined him for it.

He missed murdering people. That was easy, this sucked.

Todd laid back, pulling Damian with him until both were comfortably huddled together in the idiotic criminal's sick bed. Damian could not stop crying and Todd never said a thing, merely dragging his fingers through the boy's scalp and rubbing circles on his back.

When Dick made it back, not 15 minutes later, he found Damian with Jason, sound asleep, both so curled around each other it looked pretty uncomfortable. Tim had been in a near daze when he told Dick what had happened ("What happened to your face?!" "I'm still not sure… But I think it was pretty good therapy.") and Dick had been terrified of what could be waiting for him; the sight had him deflating so fast his knees faltered and he had to sit down in the armchair for a moment.

All that was left for Alfred to do was smile –a bit of sad, yes, but mostly hopeful – and throw blankets over the sleeping trio.

N/A.: Oh my God, english is so hard!

Halfway through this chapter it felt like I had drained all of my vocabulary and I just started repeating words non-stop while mumbling that I knew around 20 synonyms of each word in portuguese, so yeah... Sorry!

I also apologise for taking a decade to update, I hope the slightly lengthy chapter will make up for it a little? I don't even know anymore, this just drained me and I suck at writing fighting scenes.

I think there will be one more chapter to go and that will be it, I'll only be sure once I start writing, but I've got stuff pretty much figured out, so goodbye is pretty near and I already feel like an orphan or something.

If I may be so bold, to everyone who enjoyed this story, check out my other stuff, people really seem to be digging The Youngest it's just getting started but I think it will be pretty interesting. And for those who dig the angst, take a look at Lonely Winter, it might be the angstiest thing I've ever written (and I secretly love it and plan to add a second chapter)

So there! I seriously hope everyone enjoyed this so much that you will review even though it's monday and mondays suck