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Damian jumped off the ride, smiling as he slipped his hand back into Jason’s. Thunder Mountain Railroad had been his third rollercoaster of the day- third rollercoaster ever!- and he had absolutely loved it. Getting on the Matterhorn had been scary cause he was by himself, and Space Mountain had been really fun but really dark. Thunder Mountain was great because he got to sit next to Dick and it was out in the warm California sun.
Plus, the music around the ride was extra cool!
Now they were off towards Pirates, whatever that was, to meet up with the rest of the family for one last ride before lunch. Damian wasn’t sure how far behind Barbara and Dick were, but Jason was pulling him pretty quickly through the crowd. Quicker than usual. As Damian tried to keep up, he began to notice something else odd. Jason wasn’t pointing out the characters that were on the big boat the circled the nearby lake, like he had been before they had gotten in line for Thunder Mountain. He also wasn’t mentioning the smell of beignets that Damian could very much smell as they entered the French American themes section of the park.
Damian pulled back a bit, trying to look over his shoulder and find his lanky brother’s legs, but Todd’s grip around him tightened, pulling his jaggedly forward. “Alex, come on, we have to-”
The face, of what Damian thought was Todd, whipped around to scold him, only it was very much not his brother. The hand let go in an instant. Both getting pushed around a bit as the crowd mused around them.
“Shit…” He heard the man mutter, his phone quickly getting taken out as he began back the way he had come, leaving Damian alone in the rampant crowd.
Knowing what Father would have told him to do in this situation, Damian thought about staying put. Just standing in the crowd till Jason or Dick or Barbara or someone found him and took him to safety. But then he thought about how he was getting pushed around. And how people weren’t seeing him. And how it could be hours before anyone found him with all these people.
Damian’s eyes blew wide and wobbly as his mind spiraled, the boy slowly moving through the crowd to one of the tapering edges. Tears were spilling down his face now as he walked up to an attendant just outside a roped off area. He glanced behind the rope, seeing he had actually made it to whatever Pirates of the Caribbean was. He didn’t care. He was lost. He didn’t want to be lost. He wanted his family.
“Hey there, Kiddo, are you lost?” The man asked, kneeling in his bright orange pants and matching vest. Damian slowly nodded, eyes still flickering around the area. “Can you tell me your name? I’m going to take you to find your-”
“Damian?!”
Damian shot around, tears coming out as sobs as he saw Tim, along with Cass, Duke, and Kate. He raced right to his brother, burying himself in Tim’s knees as everyone quickly surrounded him.
“Sorry, folks, it looks like Damian here just got a bit separated. Try to keep him within arms reach at all times to ensure a Magical Day!”
Damian could have cared less about having a magical day. He had been lost. For minutes! He clung to Tim with one hand, reaching towards his Aunt with the other. Kate was already pressing at the piece in her ear, smiling softly between something in the distance and Damian.
“I see you two, he’s fine. Went right up to an attendant.” She wrangled the kids to the side, lifting Duke to sit up on a ledge before kneeling to check over Damian. “Yes, he’s not hurt- Dick if you are that worried don’t lose him next time.” She booped the boy’s nose before standing back up and turning. “I’m kidding, Asshole, now get over here.” She rolled her eyes, double tapping the com to switch channels.
Damian rocked back and forth on his heels, one hand still firmly gripping Tim’s Hakuna Matata shirt. Tim had both his arms wrapped around Damian’s neck, swinging them rather than rocking.
“Did you go on Big Thunder yet?” He asked, smiling as if Damian had not just had something super traumatizing happen.
“Just did.”
“That’s my favorite ride!” Tim said, leaning over to bonk his head into Cass’s. “And it’s Cass’s favorite ride too!”
She gave a sharp shake of the head, glaring Tim down. Tim giggled, bonking her again. “Okay, her favorite ride is The Little Mermaid ride, but that one doesn’t count cause its dumb and not in Disneyland- Ow! Kate!”
Cass had stomped Tim’s foot with her own, causing Duke and Damian to snicker as he jumped around on one foot. Kate’s sigh sounded exhausted as she picked Tim up and set him on the wall, looking him square in the face.
“Do you need to join Terry with Bruce and Selina?”
Damian stopped laughing at that, pulling himself in close next to Cass as Tim got scolded. He stopped really paying attention once Dick, Jason, and, Barbara showed up. Too busy being manhandled by his older brothers to properly enjoy Tim getting scolded. Not fair.
“Okay, boys,” Kate had settled the first issue and moved right along to her next target. “I’m not faulting the girl in the wheelchair, so which one of you somehow let Damian wander all the way here by himself?”
Damian was happily in Barbara’s lap once more. He’d been on and off walking throughout the day, but was happy to be on Bab’s lap rather than in a stroller. Damian hated the stroller.
Jason admitted defeat after Dick was able to push the blame back a seventh time, getting a light slap on the wrist chew out by Kate before they were joined up by the rest of the group. Damian retold his awful abandonment, as the family was now teasingly calling it to annoy the crap out of Jason, to the family as they moved through the line for Pirates.
“That sounds like it was quite a scare.” Bruce said, happy to be carrying Damian through the line as he told it. Damian had caught his father rechecking him for injuries, potentially threatening objects, and trackers four times since he had started his retelling. It made him a bit miffed.
“It was!” Damian agreed, crossing his arms. “Jason’s gonna have’ta buy me a beignet!”
Damian wasn’t sure why, but that made everyone laugh.