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puppiesandnightlock · 5 months

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Link: A Robin's Song (Chapter 3)

Summary and age information found here

Two years ago, July.

“DAMIAN!!” Jon pounced on him the moment he opened the door, shoving a little plastic card in his face.

“Jon-” He shoved the taller boy off of him, snatching the card and reading it over. “Holy shit, you actually did it!”

“SWEAR JAR!” a little voice came from inside the house.

Both ignored it in favor of the growing excitement between the boys, Damian feeding off of Jon’s hyper attitude.

“WE'RE GOING TO MALIBU!” Jon shrieked. “I told your dad yesterday and my parents said yes a while ago cause they thought i wouldnt get it but guess what i did and SUCK IT MOM AND DAD CAUSE I HAVE A DRIVER’S LICENSE !”

“To be fair, you did crash a few cars. And failed your learner’s permit test, like five times.”

“Shut up, you promised not to bring that up.”

“I didn’t promise .”

“Whatever, D, nothing is bringing my mood down, so get your butt in gear and pack your stuff cause we’re heading for Cal-i-fornia tomorrow!!”

“We’re literally going to be there for like five hours, Jon.”

“Literally nothing you say is making me less excited!” He beamed at him, making Damian's stomach flip pleasantly.

That had been happening much too often lately for his liking.

“Alright, alright.” Damian huffed, but not before turning a genuine smile, soft and sweet towards Jon.

“Seriously, though. Congratulations, I’m proud of you. I know you worked hard.”

Jon flushed, Damian assuming it was from the praise.

“T-Thanks, D. See you tomorrow?”

“See ya, J.”

Damian shoved his backpack into the Kent’s car, Jon grinning like a maniac as both of their families surrounded them.

“Riding the waves up in Malibu!” Kon sang, bouncing around with Cass and Steph.

“They really get, get to you!” Tim joined in, the four of them singing loudly and off key.

“So let's give it up for those L.A. boys!” They finished off, laughing with each other. Damian turned to Jon, whispering.

“How long is this phase going to last?”

“Excuse me, Damian, the Victorious soundtrack is iconic.” Jon gasped, the perfect portrayal of offense.

“Iconically stupid.”

Insulted gasps sounded from all around him.

Dammit, he forgot he was surrounded by preteens.

After much bedraggling and hugs and kisses for their parents, (“We are merely driving two hours away, we will return alive, I promise.”) the two set out on the drive, turning up the radio and singing even louder.

They spent the whole day on the beach, wandering the shops beachside, sharing a better version of the strawberry ice cream they’d get at school. Both had even gotten hit on, and offered a few numbers to each other's amusement.

As they drove into their small town and pulled up into Damian’s driveway, unlocking the car.

“Had a lot of fun today.” Damian smiled, letting his hand rest on top of the other’s. “Thanks, J.”

“N-Not a problem, D. Thanks for coming.” Jon stumbled over his words, the tips of Damian’s fingers brushing over his.

Damian ran inside, blushing red. He didn't dare look back, although, if he had, he would have seen the blue eyes he’d loved so much staring back at him, lovesick grin and flushed red face to complete the deal.

Present day

The raven-haired teen watched his friend worriedly. “Are you okay? You look sick.”

“I’m…I’m so happy for you!” He croaked, throat dry. His face had drained of blood, a woozy feeling coming over him. Putting up a brave face, he bumped his shoulder with Jon’s, forcing the smile so wide it hurt physically.

“You can tell me all the details later, I don't want to be late for class.” He moved his backpack so that it hung on one shoulder, quickly speed walking towards the hallways. Jon trailed after him, chattering excitedly per usual.

“It was so romantic, Dami, just like I planned! We’re going out for almost three weekends straight!”

Damian felt his heart drop, and as it hit the bottom it cracked in half, pouring out all the memories and weekend plans they’d had together.

“You’ll be free for the new movie coming out in a few months, right?”

This franchise was the most important thing to them, something they bonded over as children and even now knew every bit of lore it offered, and as preteens even collaborated on a fanfic, although their current persons have burned it from their minds. To miss even the latest picture between the two of them was a travesty.

“Course! I would never dare miss it, D, I'm sure Haisley will understand when I tell her!” Jon chirped.

The bell rang, and Jon’s joy filled eyes were all he saw as he turned and ran towards his classroom, the knowledge that that emotion would never be because of him burning in the back of his mind.

A few weeks after that, Damian had been finding new ways to avoid not just Haisley, but the couple as well. He could only be with Jon for a bit every day before the conversation turned to Haisley, which both pained and irritated the pining boy to no end.

For the first time, Damian had felt a surge of unpleasant emotions towards the girl, sometimes so strong he nearly classified it as hate.

The thing that kept him from doing that was coincidentally the same thing that brought him back towards Jon.

He was sneaking out of the library, unceremoniously shoving his sketching pad inside his backpack when a flash of deep brown caught him and he was met with Haisley’s dashing blue eyes.

“Hello, Damian.”

“H-hi?” He stuttered, surprise and confusion clouding him.

“Can we talk?” She asked innocently, although to anyone else it would have sounded dangerous.

“Make it quick, Parker, I have things to do.” He muttered, having regained his senses. The challenging air surrounded them, and Damian deflected, presenting his confident, nearly arrogant air, his head filled with snappy comments and snarky responses, ready to fire on command.

She had her own way of doing this, seeing as she seemed to be the challenger. Poised and ready like a snake, with all the grace and intimidation of a lioness.

“It’s about Jon.” She said after a moment, surrendering first.

He dropped his quickly after, turning defensive. “What about him? I won’t have you hurting him, and if you do I most certainly will not have a hand in it.”

Her eyes widened, and she was quick to steer him away from the negative. “No, no, it’s not what you think!”

She looked down rather bashfully, Damian contemplating whether or not this was genuine or a manipulative tactic.

“You’re his best friend and he trusts you and your judgment over anyone’s, more than mine or even his parents. You’re super important to him, and that means your words carry a lot of weight. You are said to be a good judge of character, and I just wanted to ask…if you approved? I know it's not like the olden days where you ask for things like that but-”

He let her ramble on as he mulled over her words. What she had asked was kind, considerate and only would have been thought of by someone completely genuine.

Goddammit.

“Haisley!” He cut her off. “Yes. yes, i’m okay with it, you’ll be...a very good match for him.”

The last few words were spit out like gravel in his mouth, somehow gone unnoticed by the girl as she smiled brightly and leaped up to hug him, before letting go quickly and scurrying off, but not before calling “Thank you so much!”

That would be that, he assumed, after screwing his whole love life over. There was no possible way he could hate Haisley, no matter how much he wished to despise her, due to one simple little question asked with all the innocence of a puppy.

It would have all been easier if he only had to talk to her every now and then, only for formalities and necessity, but she persisted, and he was weak to the joyful looks Jon would give when he saw the two getting along.

Haisley would start conversations and he would mostly tune them out, adding a ‘mhm’ and ‘yeah wow’ every few minutes. He only started paying attention after she said something that caught him off guard.

“Repeat that, sorry?” It was about the latest date she and Jon had gone on, and under normal circumstances, he would never listen to this.

“Oh, we went for ice cream, and shared a strawberry one! Watching the sunset and everything, it was so romantic.” the girl gushed.

His throat felt like sandpaper as he swallowed, painful sparks of some emotion starting to sprout.

“Ah...sounds amazing..”

That was HIS thing to do with Jon, something they did less of now but used to when they were younger.

He began paying more attention to her talks, spotting more and more similarities.

“He took me to a beach in Malibu!”

“We just stayed inside that day, watched Glee!”

“I forgot my jacket and we couldn't go out that first date. He gave me his, and I knew he was a keeper!”

These, all of these things, were Jon-and-Damian things, not Haisley-and-Jon things. These were their things to do, their pastimes, their comfort late at night, their history…all of it was being taken and twisted into stupid, STUPID , dates.

(And maybe, throughout this bout of anger, the thoughts that it could have been him in Haisley’s place, could have been him laughing at the stupid jokes and the ice cream on the tip of his nose and the jacket that was too big for him.)

The entirety of this time, after such talks like these with her, he would take out a writing pad and scribble on it, the hurt overwhelming the anger.

Towards the last talk, he’d formulated them into lyrics, his brothers reading it over with worry on their faces.

“This…seems a little vindictive, Dami.” Tim said, holding the piece of paper between his forefingers.

“It’s not even based on them this time!” He defended himself with lies. “Could be about anyone, really.”

“ Car rides to malibu?” Duke read out loud, incredulous tones to his voice. “That alone is a giveaway.”

“Shut up, no, it’s not!” He sputtered. “Besides, even if it was, which it's NOT, get that smirk off your face this instant Timothy, this sounds more like they actually dated and the person singing is angry over the reuse of the things they used to do. And ‘Damian’ does not sound like ‘Haisley’. I could defend this for hours.”

“Whatever makes you feel better, Dames.” Tim handed back the paper, shaking his head.

Duke hung back a bit longer, going through the rhythm and lyrics with him again.

When they’d finished, he turned to his older brother and asked again. “Are you positive you wanna do this one, Dami? This one…seems kinda vengeful. And when it comes to Jon, I know you're anything but. Plus, don't deny it, I know you've been getting along well with Haisley too, so...”

“My coping method, my life, not yours, Duke.” Damian reminded him a bit sarcastically. He softened a bit after saying it, replacing it with “Thank you for this though.”

“I know you are worried but I'm fine, this is fine, honestly. And besides, only the beginning would ever align with me anyways.”

Duke sighed, a tiny smile appearing. “Okay, Dami. Just let us know when you want to record, i guess.”

Damian sat back on the couch, posting an update on the song that would be uploaded tomorrow.

In a way, his brothers were right. This one was different from the first two, not much pining and more anger. He’d written when emotions were high, and when he sang it, it was less fire and more of an ‘I miss you’.

This whole mess couldn’t be put on anyone but him, after all, it was his dumbass who encouraged Jon to ask her out, and himself who didn’t tell him earlier.

His phone lit up with a text notification from Jon, attached was a screenshot of the post he’d just made and an all caps key smash.

It was selfish, but for a moment he pretended that it was really him that Jon was excited about, not Robin.

He wondered for a bit, if Jon would react the same way if he really knew it was him.

This was how a double life worked, he supposed.

His condolences to the vigilantes in the fictional world.

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completelypeccable · 4 years

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Can I Have This Dance?

Chp 3. Dancing Queen

/In this house, we love and appreciate Duke Thomas./

Chp 2

Chp 1

“You are the Dancing Queen! Young and sweet, only seventeen!” Duke yelled along with Stephanie, leaning across the divider in the front seats of the car.

Tim kicked Steph’s chair, “Hey, pay attention!”

“Stop being jealous that Duke loves me more than you-“

“Steph?”

“Yeah, Duke?”

“Directions?”

“Oh yeah, take a left up here, then...” Steph rattled off. Cassandra snickered from the back seat.

“Feel that beat like a smooth machine!” Duke continued.

“That’s so not the-“

“YOU CAN DANCE-“

“Why did we let him drive,” Jason grumbled.

“Hey, mister spontaneously alive,” the car took a sharp left, but Steph turned completely around. “You don’t have a license, remember?”

“What are you, some goody two shoes piec-“

“Steph, what are you doing?! Buckle-“

Steph gently shushed Tim by smothering his face. He squawked indignantly.

“Licking won’t work on me, tweety bird.”

Duke eyed them through the rear view mirror.

“I am the only responsible person in this car,” he sighed.

Cass frowned.

“Besides Cassie, but she baby.”

“Oh she baby,” with a yelp, Steph’s arm was disengaged by a jab to the inside of her elbow.

“And babies can’t drive,” Tim wiped his mouth, “right Damian?”

Tim twisted around (still buckled) to face the glare, but Damian wasn’t listening. He was leaned against Cass, who lightly traced her nails across his skin with one hand. She winked, pressing a kiss to Damian’s forehead nestled at her collarbone. Damian held her other hand on her lap, splaying her fingers out, in with a barely-there smile. More of a content line, really. Tim felt relieved that the kid was doing as well as he was, all things considered.

The older two shared a smile. Cass could make anyone melt, but Damian was always uncharacteristically soft with her.

And she loved to coddle him.

Jason groaned. “How much farther?”

“Why are you so upset?” Tim poked his side.

“I just like to complain. But I am also too big for this car.”

“Oh, good shotgun?”

“Yes, fair driver?”

“For how long must we continue our travels?”

“Until dear Jason loses the will to live-“

“Steph!“

“Would someone please shut up my impulse control?”

Tim leaned his head onto her shoulder, hugging her around the seat. “You say the sweetest things.”

“You can dance, you can try~“

Jason flopped his head onto the seat behind him.

Duke smiled, singing along to the song in his head. The pulse in his mind was always calmer when he wasn’t alone. After everything that had been going on, he was happy to see his somehow-sibling-esque-figures doing alright. Being almost normal, even. They planned a family zoo trip! Granted it was partially because Damian was confiscated from his father a-la-angry vigilante style, and Steph and Cass immediately decided to make him act like a normal kid (who is a bit overly attached to animals) to distract them all from that sad reality, and they were all going along for the process because they were grieving something awful- but still! In some way, they were being normal. Normal-ish.

Whatever.

Today was going to be a good day, he decided.

...

The Gotham zoo was busy for a Monday, since it was beautiful weather and a day off from school.

Duke supposed they could all use the break.

“Hey guys,” Steph started as they stood in front of the narrow window of the bear enclosure. “So, we mostly own the night, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But Duke goes out during the day,”

“It’s the light thing,” he said.

“Yeah, the light thing,” Steph waved her hands. “So, anyways, I get that you’re the sunshine child- pun totally intended- but like, you’re strongest when the sun is strongest, right? That makes you-“

“Oh stop,” Tim cackled.

“-a fire bender! And these losers here are water benders!”

Duke gasped and began bending nothing, to Steph’s delight.

Swirling his arms, Jason engaged him in battle. Even though they turned heads, their moves became more elaborate than strictly necessary.

Well, Duke guessed none of this was -strictly- necessary.

Cass hummed thoughtfully, patting Damian’s head while he watched the bears lumber towards the water.

“Us yes. Baby, no.”

Tim considered this as Jason nearly sent Duke into a wayward couple.

“He’s an earth bender,” Steph decided, spinning in lazy circles.

“I have no idea what you people are talking about. Please let me watch the bears in peace.”

“Wait,” Steph practically launched herself against the boys.

“Don’t you mean the platypus bears?”

Duke backed away from the angry women. He scratched his chin and leaned over the plaque. “It just says bear here.”

“You mean skunk bear, then?” Tim grinned.

“Or armadillo bear?” Jason’s size was a gift sometimes, as he leaned back and squashed Damian against the window.

“What are you-“

“Gopher bear?” Steph giggled.

“Just says bear here,” Duke shrugged.

Cass’s spoke softly, but precisely, as if tasting each sound.

“Weird place.”

“Weird people,” Damian grumbled. Jason leaned farther back, further pancaking his cheek against the glass.

“Dancing queen, face as red as a tangerine!” Duke poked his nose.

“Oh, that reminds me, we need to get some fried Oreos-“

“How does that-“

“Shush, Tim. I need fried Oreos clogging my arteries as soon as humanly possible. Come on.”

“Heck yes,” Jason grinned, picking Damian up like a very angry yoga mat. “Steph is in charge now, sorry Duke.”

“As the only capable adult here, I say we need to eat an actual lunch, too.”

Tim took Damian, only to walk with him upside down over his shoulder. They all pretended not to notice his smile underneath the half-hearted promises of violence.

“Nuggets,” Cass prophesied.

Steph linked their arms and led the way to the food court.

...

Duke had been looking forward to this trip all week, and it didn’t disappoint. They saw all the animals, ate terrible food in a less than sanitary environment, then chased each other around and generally made themselves a nuisance to society.

It was great.

Some highlights? Cass dared Jason to eat half a hot dog in a single bite. He shoved the whole thing in his mouth, then walked into a pole. Tim fell asleep on top of Steph and mumbled about robot bunnies. Duke carried Damian around on his shoulders, accidentally walked him into some tree branches, and laughed so hard he dropped him.

Of course, it had been weird that the zoo hadn’t bumped up the number of workers to match crowd sizes, but it was fine. Just took a little longer to do things. And the place was a little messier.

They were just paranoid, is all.

Cass tossed the purple plush snake around her shoulders as they exited the gift shop to the center plaza. The tail hit Steph, who adjusted her peacock sunglasses with an upturned nose.

The crowd rushed around them like a steady stream of fish (“Only animal metaphors for the zoo, folks”). Their imposing shark, Jason, frowned as he pushed his way through the flow.

Damian offered Duke an animal cracker, and he happily picked out a zebra.

It had been a good day.

Tim had waited outside for them, citing important business. He smiled and lowered his phone from his ear as they got closer to his seat at the fountain.

“Hey, Dames, can I have one?” He asked.

Damian raised a single brow.

Tim could fake emotions with the worst of them. Oh, wait, animals. Dang it, Steph. Like a honey bee could take a casual stroll.

“And here I was going to offer you my phone to talk to Dick-“

Damian shoved the whole bag at him and grabbed the phone.

Tim laughed as Damian scurried a small distance away, plunking down just outside the bathrooms. Twin paintings- one a giraffe, the other a flamingo- labeled the two single person stalls.

“Any news from Dick?” Steph asked, settling against Tim’s side.

“Yeah,” he nodded, watching Damian smile into the receiver. “He said he was on his way back.”

It was funny how Jason thought with his face sometimes. Duke could feel the confusion.

“Wait, isn’t he undercover somewhere in Asia right now taking down Some MobTM with ties to the League of Assassins?”

“From the inside, yeah.”

“And he just, what, finished up early?”

“Pretty much.”

Jason threw up his hands, “I hate this family.”

Steph laughed, dragging Cass half onto her lap while Tim stared distracted at the crowd.

Just like that, Jason’s face hardened. Following his line of vision, Duke watched a teen scurry out of the bathroom to the main directory on the other side of the plaza. His hood was up and he looked neither right nor left.

“I’ll be right back,” Jason said, slipping into the crowd flow.

Probably nothing, Duke thought, watching Cass threaten to push Steph into the fountain.

“I’d take the quarters, so the joke’s on you.”

“Stealing,” Cass tutted.

“I’ll look good doing it.”

An eye roll.

Tim’s fingers rapidly tapped against the stone.

“Dames, wrap it up, we’re headed out,” he called.

Damian gave a thumbs up.

See, it was still a good day. Duke breathed deeply.

It was fine.

It was-

The fire alarm went off at the directory. The crowd turned to look.

Tim tensed, and Duke felt the shock shoot up his spine as yellow light pulsed and swarmed toward the bathrooms.

Oh no.

A high pitched whine.

“Get down!” Duke yelled.

The bathroom exploded. They threw themselves to the ground just in time to avoid the brunt of the heat and debris. Dirt and rock sprayed in his face. Smoke filled the air, dark and thick.

Tim scrambled to his feet, coughing.

“Damian!”

No, Duke thought.

There was so much smoke.

They all scrambled toward the bathroom, but the wall where Damian had stood was half rubble and the kid was nowhere to be found.

Duke stared where he last saw him, but the smoke obscured most of the light.

Why is there so much smoke?, he thought. It was hard to get a reading. Come on, Duke. The scene kept pulsing, then disappearing. His head hurt, he couldn’t breathe, but the static blur began to form. Come on.

Tim ran into the building.

Duke fought through the haze until the blue-tinged flecks obeyed and the scene spotted into focus. He saw Damian drop to the ground just as the wall flew apart. Stray debris littered his body, and a brick to the skull knocked him unconscious. The smoke poured through, but just before everything blacked out, a lumbering figure dragged the kid through the broken wall into complete darkness.

The present rushed back. Duke inhaled smoke, sinking to the ground. His chest felt like someone was de-stringing his muscles like spaghetti. Twist, twisting the fork.

“No!” Steph screamed. Tim came out alone and choking for air. Steph pushed her way in, but Duke knew it was useless.

Damian was gone.

#batfam #duke thomas #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #Tim Drake #jason todd #Damian Wayne

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