Batty Family - Batfam Oneshots

Toxic (Damian & Dick)

TW: verbal abuse, creepy imagery
—
Damian was enraged, to say the least. Scarecrow had wrongfully underestimated him, and frankly, Damian thought he got what was coming to him. He stood over the unconscious man on the ground, then growled and kicked him in the back one last time. He was well aware he wouldn't be able to get home on his own, what with fear toxin now in his system, so he called his father and waited.

As his wait continued, the symptoms of the fear toxin began to seep in. He saw shapes and shadows in the distance, but none of them phased him—not until the shadow of Nightwing appeared before him. He seemed enraged and his knuckles turned white from clenching his Escrima sticks.

"You know what you are?" he asked.

Damian kept his head low, repeating the mantra that this was only a vision. The shadow went on.

"You are nothing. No, wait—less than that. You're a scum, a nuisance, a disgrace I can never be rid of. You joined this team as a cocky bastard, and you still are."

That cracked the boy. He yelled, "I tried! I tried to change."

"You didn't try shit. I wish I could knock your brains out right here."

"You said I was doing enough!" the boy snapped back.

"I changed my mind. I can read your thoughts, you know. I can hear every single dirty little thought you say to yourself," the shadow began walking circles around him, "I know you wish you never met me. I know you wish you could kill Tim. I know you wish you could shoot Jason. I know you wish you could annihilate Bruce."

"That's not true!"

"No?" he laughed, "Then I know what it is. You're afraid of them. You're afraid to get to attached to them, is that it?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," Damian growled.

"You're scared that they'll die and leave you alone, or that they'll leave you because you aren't enough, or that they won't love you the same as you love them because they're faking it."

The boy was silent, so he continued.

"Well, I'll tell you now. They hate you. You're an ass to them. Why should they like you, anyway? After everything you did—insult them, attack them—why should they? They hate you. And so do I."

"Grayson?"

"I hate you. And I think now...I'll kill you."

One of the sticks flew at Damian and he shut his eyes tightly while he dodged it, but when he opened his eyes, he saw Dick Grayson with the stick plunged deep into his stomach. His voice sounded like his own again.

"Dami...why?" he asked, his eyes filling with tears. As he fell to the ground, Damian sprinted to him.

"Grayson! Grayson, I didn't mean to, I—"

"Why?" he croaked, blood coming out of his mouth and tears now pouring down. Damian shook.

"I didn't do it, I swear," the boy said back, now crying as well.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry, Grayson, I'm so sorry. Please don't die, please, please. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

The boy kept muttering on as he collapsed onto the chest of the vision. Silent tears rolled down as he lay face down.

"Damian," another voice said, pulling him off the ground.

"Father?" he looked around promptly, then he turned around and faced the man. What he saw would stay in his nightmares forever.

His father was standing there, a mess of rotting flesh and clots of drying blood. He could see his skeleton. The skin peeled away from his body and his eyes popped out of his head. When he began to walk towards Damian, a knife in hand, the boy screamed.

"Get away from me!"

"Damian—"

"I'll kill you!" he threatened, yet did not move from where he had bunched himself up into a ball.

"Son—"

"Leave me alone!" Damian shouted. He tried to get up, but he slipped on something wet on the concrete and fell to the ground, his skull cracking. The world went black soon after.

When he woke up, he was in the hospital bed that was located in the Batcave. He looked around, confused, before noticing Dick sitting on a chair beside him. The boy jumped and scooted as far away as he could. When Dick heard the movement, he looked up from his phone.

"Hey, you're up," he smiled. Damian glared at him pointedly in response.

"How are you feeling?" Dick asked, confused as to why Damian was looking at him weirdly.

"You're...normal again, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

Damian stared down at his lap in thought, "It must have been the fear toxin."

Dick's eyes widened as he finally connected the dots. "Damian," he said, lifting the boy's chin gently with one finger, "What did you see?"

The boy shook his head, "It's not important."

"Dami."

Damian tensed and clenched onto his arms, "I saw you. But you were aggressive and saying all this horrible stuff. And then I saw father, and he was all...disfigured. That's it."

"What'd I say to you?"

Damian didn't answer. He only questioned.

"Grayson?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you hate me?"

Dick laughed, "Of course not, don't be silly."

"Am I a disgrace?"

His expression lowered, "Oh, Damian..."

"Do the others hate me, too?"

"Damian, can you look at me?"

He lifted his head slowly, using a glare to conceal his fear.

"No one hates you. Sure, we get mad at you, but you're our little brother. And you're not a disgrace. You're one of the most important assets to this team."

"I'm really trying," Damian said quietly, "I'm trying to be better to everyone. But what if I'm just inherently evil? What if I was never made to be good?"

"Stop overthinking this, little D," Dick placed a hand on his shoulder, "You're meant to be with us, okay? This is your home; you belong here. And everyone knows you're trying. No one is mad at you. Okay?"

The boy nodded curtly before his eldest brother sat up on the bed with him and wrapped him in his arms. The younger stayed tense, but allowed Dick to hold him anyway.

"And for the record," he continued, "There never was and there never will be a time when I think you're a disgrace."

Hearing this made Damian sigh. No matter how irrational he thought he was being, what he saw scared him half to death—but that was all in the past now, and it wasn't real anyway. Finally allowing himself to trust the man who was holding him again, he leaned into his eldest brother's warm embrace. After the emotional turmoil he had been in, he felt that he deserved to rest for at least a minute, so he did.

Drifting to sleep in the man's arms, one corner of his mouth lifted slightly, knowing for sure that he was completely safe and protected by his older brother, Dick Grayson.