DamiRae Oneshots

Oh, Brother. (Part Two!)

Damian and Jason ascended the elevator in silence. No words have been exchanged between them, but that was sometimes usual. Jason glanced at Damian with a raised eyebrow. "So... no smile? No 'hey Todd how's everything going'?" Damian grunted in response to this. It's not like he didn't like Todd, they both have been through the gears of the League. They had their moments, of course. But if Dick wasn't there for Damian, Damian knew he could count on Jason.

It's just that he didn't know why he was here.

The elevator doors opened with a ding, but it wasn't the floor where the others were. Jason stepped out and looked at Damian. "You coming? We need to unpack." Damian tsked. "We? You only have a duffle bag." Jason didn't seem to hear this as he walked further down the hallway. Damian followed. "Todd. Why are you here?" Jason didn't pay heed, which angered Damian as much as it caused curiosity. Damian was about to give Todd a piece of his mind before Jason stopped in front of a door. "Well if you look at that, my old room." Todd said with subtle amusement. He looked at Damian with a smirk. "Let's see if it's in pieces."

The inside wasn't in pieces. It did, however, show signs of age. Dust lingered in the sun rays from the window that was directly across from the door in which they stepped through. To Damian's right laid a desk with a Walkman and a stereo sitting on top of it. To Damian's left laid a king-sized bed. The walls were bare, with the exception of thumbtacks and tape that were the only evidence of the multiple posters that once covered the walls. Jason let out a deep sigh as he bent down to set his duffle bag on the floor. Damian rolled his shoulders. Hopefully now Damian could get answers out of Todd. "Like I said, Todd, why are you-"

"So how's the girlfriend?"

That put Damian off. He stammered as he tried to recover from the out-of-nowhere question. "Uh.. w-what?" Jason turned around instantly and looked at Damian with a laugh. "Joking, joking." Jason walked over and cuffed Damian on his right shoulder. "How you been holding up?" Damian looked at his at his chest and shrugged. "I can't feel it anymore. No worries, Todd. Not the first bullet I've taken." Jason shook his head, and looked at Damian with a fixed gaze. "Not what I meant." Damian nodded. "That night was tougher than most, Jason. I have no inkling why, but a week later after I woke up on the bed I was.. unstable." Jason nodded in understanding. "He makes everyone unstable. Especially us Robins." Damian looked up at Todd. "Raven told me about-" Jason held a hand up to interrupt Damian. "I read everything on my way over. Everything he said was fucked. How's she doing?" Damian mentally noted the worried undertone in Jason's voice. Well, he did get tortured by him. Damian reasoned. "She's okay." Jason patted Damian's shoulder. "We both know that's not true, kid."

Later, as Jason arranged his room, Damian helped whenever he needed it. Jason looked at Damian and chuckled as he shook his head. Damian looked at him quizzically. "It's nothing bad, Shortround. You're just more laid back than a few years ago." Damian rolled his eyes. "So everyone has been telling me." Jason snorted. "I mean, you're helping me." Jason pointed and Damian followed where his pointer finger indicated and saw that he was currently fluffing up one of Jason's pillows. Damian dropped it and looked at Todd with feigned fear. "Something is wrong."

"You're even cracking jokes."

"Blame that on Logan."

"You're helping."

"Reyes and Troy."

"You're not shutting anyone out."

"Kent and Raven."

Jason snapped his fingers before he pointed them at Damian. "You said it." Damian furrowed his eyebrows at him. "Said what?" Jason smiled widely. "You said her first name. Not 'Roth', Tiny."

Oh, brother. This is going to be a long one.

Damian groaned. "I call you Jason and Grayson 'Richard'. Nothing new." He inwardly cursed as he felt the tips of his ears burn. Jason rolled his eyes. "Dude, Dick told me she wouldn't leave your bedside when you were down." Damian shook his head. "It's what teammates do." Jason squinted at Damian, but said nothing. All of a sudden Damian heard a notification from his phone. He grabbed it and looked at the screen.

From: Raven
Where r u??

"Did she literally use fucking letters instead of words?" Damian quickly put his phone away as he elbowed Todd. How did he get behind him so quickly? "Have you ever heard of personal space, Todd?" Jason rubbed his abdomen as he shrugged. There was a silence. Damian sighed. He thought this would be a better time than any.

"Jason, why are you here?" Jason straightened himself at this, and looked at Damian square in the eye. "I won't bullshit you." He inhaled deeply and cleared his throat. "Bruce is missing." Damian's eyebrows furrowed deeply. "How long ago." Jason looked up to the ceiling, as if counting. "Uh.. six.. maybe eight weeks?"
"When are we leaving?" Damian responded instantly. Jason shook his head. "That's why I'm here."

"And Richard isn't?" Damian retorted.

"He knows Gotham better than I do. I already looked in the underground. No one has seen Bruce or the Bat. So Alfred called him in."

"The League?"

"Nothing."

"Court of Owls?"

"Timmy and I raided five suspected Owl safe-houses. Nada."

Damian curled his hands into tight fists. "Why am I not there?" Jason sighed as he kneeled down to Damian's hight. He prodded Damian's chest, a couple inches from his heart. "Because of this." Damian gritted his teeth. "My tiny bullet scar?" Damian practically spat out. Damian was even more angered when Todd chucked as he shook his head. "You don't get it, Damian." There was a silence. "When you were down... Bruce went out of control. Impulsive and reckless - and that's coming from me. He sent Two-Face and Mad-Hatter into the ICU when they couldn't give him the location of Joker.

The reason why you're here and not there is because if anything were to happen to you it would destroy Bruce. Yes, he loves us all but you still have time to be a kid, Damian. You still have a childhood."

Damian was mute for a long time before he looked at Todd. "What makes you think you can keep me here?" It wasn't more so a question than a statement. Jason smiled lightly as he rolled his eyes. "One? You care about this team. And it doesn't take a fuckin' detective to see that Miss Zap-Zap has you wrapped around her finger. Two? Everything you do to try to escape..." Todd leaned in close to Damian, with his signature shit-eating grin on his face.

"...I fuckin' invented it."