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When Damian woke up, his heart was pounding in his chest, and tears were streaming down his face, something that almost never happened. It couldn’t have been true could it?
He couldn’t have just watched his whole family die right in front of him. It was only a nightmare, right? Hearing Dick screaming in agony, seeing his father bleeding out, feeling himself being held back as he watched all of his family be tortured, Alfred, Jason, Tim, Steph, Cass, Duke, all of them in terrible pain and he couldn’t do anything about it, he couldn’t move an inch.
It felt so real, and there was only one way to know for sure that it wasn’t.
Damian quietly crawls out of bed, and walks out into the hallway. Duke’s room was the closest to his, right across the hall, so he quietly opened the door to see Duke fast asleep and safe.
He shuts the door very gently and sighs in relief. Damian then continues making his way down the hallway to check on the rest of his siblings. In fear of any of them being awake and seeing him wandering into their rooms in the middle of the night, he doesn’t open all their doors to check. Some of them had actually been awake at this hour, like Tim, who could be heard tapping away at his laptop. That boy really needed to sleep one of these days.
Most of Damian’s little hallway night patrol went smoothly and quickly, until he got to one specific door. His eldest brother’s room. Dick was the one who was in the worst condition out of everyone in that horrible nightmare. Damian had to see if he was okay. He opened the door slightly, only to see that Dick was wide awake, sitting in bed, looking at something on his phone.
Immediately Damian shuts the door, hoping that Dick hadn’t noticed him peeking through.
“Damian?” He hears his brother call. He’d been spotted. There was no reason to back out now, since even if he did, his brother would probably just get concerned and come and find him anyway. So, he steps into Dick’s room, knowing there was no way out of this.
“What’s wrong?” Dick asks him, his voice was soft and it made Damian dread this even more. He didn’t want any pity.
“Nothing.”
Clearly, the answer did not satisfy his eldest brother who gives him a look that says ‘Really? I don’t think so.’
“Truly it’s nothing. I was just… bored?”
“You were bored? In the middle of the night?”
“Yes.”
Dick shook his head in fond annoyance. “Come here.” He says, and pats the spot on his bed next to him.
Begrudgingly, Damian listens, and he takes a seat on the bed. He supposes that out of all of his siblings, Dick is the one he’s most okay with catching him in such a state. He quickly figures out a strategy to distract him.
“You still sleep with that thing?” Damian points to the little stuffed elephant in Dick’s lap. Changing the subject was good, then maybe Dick wouldn’t ask him too many questions about what he was doing wandering the halls this late at night.
“Yeah, of course I do.” Dick says as if it’s the most obvious, simple thing in the world. “You never get too old for plushies.”
“I was never allowed any stuffed toys.” Dick frowned at that. He then put the elephant in Damian’s lap.
“It helps me sleep sometimes. It might help you too.”
“I don’t need help.” Damian hops off the bed. “I know you may think I’m scared, but I am not.” He lies. He’s terrified. He came here to make sure he didn’t lose the most important person he has.
“I know buddy, you’re so brave, even braver than me.” He stops and seems to think for a moment. “I’m a little scared right now though, so would you mind staying with me tonight.” They both know that Dick sees right through Damian’s words. And yet Damian still climbs back on the bed. Dick finally decides to lay down, and he opens his arms for his little brother.
At first, Damian hesitates, just sitting on the bed, unsure of whether or not he should let himself be so soft. But then he remembers, this was Dick, who he could always trust, who never judged him, and took care of him but never treated him like he was some poor little traumatized child, a ticking bomb waiting to go off, like how his father did at times and on the opposite end, he also never treated Damian like he was a burden. He just treated him normally, as if Damian had always lived there, as if he had grown up as any normal kid.
Besides, he knew his brother wouldn’t tell anyone about this.
So, Damian shuffled towards Dick, his head ending up resting on his older brother’s chest. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him tightly, and then felt a kiss being pressed to the top of his head. Fine, just this once he’d allow it. It was actually quite nice, though he wouldn’t admit that to anyone.
Before he was feeling restless, but now, laying here with his brother he started to feel sleepy again, and he slowly drifted into a much better rest.
Maybe this comfort thing wasn’t so bad after all.