Dick and Dami

Ch: 2

Scetch

Damian went directly to his room.

He took the stairs to the second floor much faster than he had taken the ones that connected the cave to the first floor. 'Still not an 'I take the steps two at a time' kind of kid' he joked to himself. He munched the cookie he had snuck into his pocket quietly. Once he reached his room he immediatly shut the door behind him.

'Ok, Damian: Apologize. Apologize. Apologize.'

The word was still clicking around his head. 'Me? Damian Wayne? Apologize?' A part of him still thought the idea to be ridiculous. The other part kept hearing Dick's voice: "You know Damian, sometimes people need help! You can't shove away everyone who loves you because soon you'll have no one left for when you really need it."

'Wait...' Damian sat down at his unorganized desk. He went over it again, "You can't shove away everyone who loves you...everyone who loves you..."

'Did...did he... did he say he...loves me?' Once again Damian felt the hot wetness of unshed tears that threatened to spill over. He thought of the last time someone told him they loved him. He tried to, but he couldn't recall the last time someone had told him they loved him, had anyone ever told him they loved him?

'Did he really mean it? Or was he just to angry to think correctly?' He questioned. Damian hated this. He hated that his throat felt tight and his stomach was churning.

He hated feeling weak. 'This isn't me, Damian Wayne does not cry. Damian Wayne is a hero, Damian Wayne is not a pansy!'

"...everyone who loves you..."

Now the tears really did spill over.

Apologize. Apologize. Apologize.

'How do you apologize to someone?' He buried his head in his arms on the desk. His hands brushed against the thick sketch paper he drew on so often, and an idea struck him.

Dick was lying on his bed, he hadn't been sleeping. He was back in his old room, Bruce was on a business trip, so he had come to Gotham, to watch the city and the ten year old Robin.

'Never would've guessed the ten year old would be harder to deal with than the city.' he scoffed.

He felt pretty terrible. Not only did he yell at Damian, but he left him by himself. 'He's hurt too.' He moaned. He was not making himself feel better. He rolled onto his side and seriously pondered calling Tim. 'No, Timmy and Dami already don't get along, no reason to give Tim another reason to worry about Damian living here. Tim's on a mission with YJ anyway.'

Dick rolled onto his stomach and shoved his face under his pillow. 'I could go talk to Damian but he's probably angry with me. God, I don't blame the kid, I practically screamed at him.'

The pillow around his head muffled noises around him, which is why Dick ignored what sounded like two knocks on the door. When two more came he sat up.

'Alfred maybe? He always knows when I'm feeling down.'

Dick cracked open the door, looking out at eye level, expecting to see the older man. He instead trailed his eyes downward when he heard a small sniff.

'Oh Dami.' Dick thought.

Damian was standing outside Dick's door and looking down at his feet, he held a scetchpad in his hands. Dick immediatly opened the door the rest of the way. He knelt down and put a hand on Damian's shoulder, then under his chin to force him to look upward. When their eyes met Dick realised Damian's were watery. Before Dick could react Damian reached around Dick's neck and embraced him in a very uncharacteristic hug. Tears spilled down Dick's cheeks and he couldn't find words as he wrapped his arms around the younger boy.

Slowly Damian pulled away, he looked up at Dick expectantly. Dick stared in disbelief. Damian cleared his throat and wiped his eyes, "Well Grayson, aren't you going to invite me in?" he asked gesturing to the room behind him.

Dick stared for a moment more, "Of course Dami," his voice came out a whisper.

The way he said Damian's pet name brought the tears back to Damian's eyes. And he couldn't stop hearing Dick say those words, "...everyone who loves you..." Dick reached out and took Damian by the shoulders and pulled him inside gently.

They turned to face each other simultaniously,

"I'm sorry."

The words were blurted out by both of them at the same time. Both looked suprised at each others words. "I shouldn't have yelled at you," Dick finally broke the stunned silence, "It was wrong, I guess I was just under a lot of stress..." he trailed off, and instead of continuing, put a hand on Damian's shoulder.

Damian wanted to blurt out that he was sorry, sorry for snapping, not just this time, but all the other times too... But that's just not Damian Wayne: raised to be assasain, apologizing just wasn't in his nature. The emotions on his face played out quickly, he flicked his gaze from one of Dick's eyes to the other, searching for forgivness. Dick gave a small smile when he realized that Damian wanted to apologize but just didn't know how.

"It's ok," Dick whispered. Damian let out a cry and once again wrapped his arms around Dick's neck. He knew Dick understood his silent apology.

'Do you really love me?' Damian asked the question in his mind over and over again, but could not find the courage to voice his question.

"What's that Dami?" Dick asked gently, gesturing to the scetchbook in Damian's hands.

Damian fought to find words, "Oh...uh...well...it's...um...a sketchbook..." He trailed off. He met Dick's eyes, Dick looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue explaining.

"I felt... well... I... just want to give this to you." He handed Dick a page from the sketchbook that had already been torn out and stuck back in. Dick gasped when he saw what was on the page. Damian had drawn the two of them together. In the scetch Dick was giving his signiture cocky half smile at Damian, while Damian gave a small, shy smile back.

Tears welled up in Dick's eyes and he quickly wiped them away as they fell down his cheeks so they would not spill onto the drawing. He noticed the date in the corner of the page. 'He drew this tonight.' he realised.

"Damian..." Once again Dick's voice came out barely above a whisper, "this is amazing. This is... beautiful..." He stopped short of his compliments when he looked up at Damian. Damian held his hands in front of his chest, clasped together, and was biting his lip.

"What's wrong Dami?" He asked gently.

"Can I ask you something?" Damian's voice was so quiet, Dick leaned in.

"Of course."

"Did you mean what you said? In the cave I mean...?"

Dick spent a moment in confusion. He tried to recall what he had said: "You know Damian, sometimes people need help! You can't shove away everyone who loves you because soon you'll have no one left for when you really need it."

"Oh, no Damian, I would never leave you, I'll always be there for you."

"No," Damian half whispered, half whimpered, "I mean you said, everyone who loves me..." Damian closed his eyes.

Dick set the scetch down on the floor. "Oh..." Dick closed his eyes as he realised what the boy meant. He wrapped his arms around Damian's neck and rubbed small, slow circles into his back as the boy silently cried.

"You thought I didn't love you?" Damian looked up and into Dick's eyes. A glimmer of something Dick had never seen before shown in Damian's eyes. Damian wiped the tears from his cheeks, but didn't bother to catch the new ones that fell.

"You do?" he whispered.

"Of course, Dami."

"But...but...why..." Damian trailed off.

"What do you mean why? You're my brother. We'll always have each other."

Damian crossed his arms across his own chest but layed his head against Dick's shoulder. Dick started to move his hands in the small, slow circles, the same ones he remembered Alfred always had used to get him to calm down from a night terror when he was Damian's age, acrossed Damian's back once again.

"Nobody's ever told me that before..." Damian made this comment more to himself than to Dick.

Dick's words were muffled in Damian's shoulder as he hugged him tighter, "I love you Damian Wayne."