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“Woah!” Damian jumped up and down in amazement.
Because Damian had never seen anything as cool as this. This was amazing! Jason had never told him that he lived in a mansion!
Jason chuckled, and placed a hand on Damian’s head. “It’s cool, Huh?”
“So cool!” Damian agreed, giggling in excitement. “You never told me you live in a mansion.”
“Now you do too.” Dick ruffled his hair.
Damian liked Dick. Originally he had liked Dick because Jason liked Dick, and Jason was the super smartest person ever, but then Damian started liking Dick because he was very funny and nice. After Jason had a very long and- to Damian, confusing reunion Dick had been the first person to introduce himself to Damian. He had given Damian a big hug, and made him feel like he belonged with them.
Damian had given his newest big brother one of his stickers in appreciation.
“I live in a mansion too?” Damian asked in pure amazement, metaphorical stars in his eyes.
“You do.” Jason chuckled.
“Trust me, buddy, I couldn’t believe it either.” Tim had humor in his voice.
Jason had told Damian they had another brother, but he hadn’t mentioned that they had two other brothers.
But then again Damian wasn't so sure Jason had known either. Judging by the awkward atmosphere between the two, and the stiff hand shake they had done upon seeing which other Damian was almost sure they had never met.
Although, Damian didn’t really talk much to Tim so far. Most of that had to do with the fact that Jason had been insistent that Damian got to know Dick, because ‘I already know you're going to love the little tyke, Dickyboy. He’s the best kid out there.’
On top of that, Tim had been flying the plane, and had been quite focused on getting them back home.
Jason ushered Damian forwards. “Why don’t we show you around, huh? I bet you’re going to love the pool.”
“There’s a pool!?” Damian’s day just kept getting better and better. Damian loved swimming in the pool, and pretending he was a fishy swimming with his fishy friends. It was so fun!
His grandfather didn’t like it when Damian played, but his mama would sneak him away so he could play. Damian couldn’t help but miss his mama already.
“There is a pool alright.” Jason confirmed. “I’ll show it to ya.”
Damian grabbed Jason’s large hand in his tiny one, and started pulling him towards the house. Damian wanted to see the pool with Jason, and if he was lucky he might even be able to go in. And if he was really lucky someone might play fishies with him!
“Hold on, boys. We still have to check you over for any injuries.” Bruce’s stern voice stopped them. Damian’s father was still in his black bat suit. Damian thought it was really silly.
Jason didn’t seem to like that answer, as he gave a long sigh. “Come on B, let the kid have some fun.”
Damian agreed.
“Jason-“
Jason produced to completely ignore their fathers words, picked Damian, and started towards the manor.
Dick jogged after them. “Mind if I join you guys?”
Jason didn’t confirm, but he also didn’t deny. Dick took that as a yes, and happily walked next to them. He also had yet to take off his costume, and so had Tim. So had Jason. Damian wondered if he was going to get a silly costume like them.
“Let’s show you around.” Jason grunted.
—————————————
“You have so many plates!” Damian squealed. He had never seen so many plates before! There were so many! There were white ones, decorated ones, there were square ones and there were circle ones.
Imagine eating off of those! Damian thought that his food would be so much yummier on those plates.
Damian took a sip of his water, from the glass cup in his hands. A glass cup! His mama had never let him use a glass cup. Damian felt so cool with his glass cup, and his manor. The only thing that would make it better would be some really super duper cool stickers, and his bunny stuffed animal.
But Damian gave his last sticker to Dick, and he left his stuffy in his old bed. That made Damian a little sad, because his bunny stuffy was his favorite stuffy, but Jason had promised him he would get him an even better one over here.
Dick smiled, while Jason chuckled and patted Damian’s head. “You like the plates?”
“Yeah! I love them!” Damian clapped.
“Well I know what I’m getting you for Christmas.” Jason had humor in his voice. “I show you an entire manor, and you're excited about plates?”
“Yeah,” Damian nodded. “Do you like plates, Ahki?”
“I like eating off of ‘em.” Jason nodded. “And I like throwing them at walls.”
Damian took a moment to imagine that. He imagined his brother throwing a bunch of plates at the wall for no reason. Damian giggled.
“You're silly.” He decided.
“Oh, I’m the silly one? You're the one who loves plates.”
“For the record, I also love plates.” Dick put in.
Jason seemed to close off a little at Dicks voice, which he had done recently. Jason seemed to do that a lot to their family. Damian didn’t understand that, because shouldn’t he be happy to see his family? He would always tell Damian cool stories about them, and he sounded like he missed them.
Maybe Damian was making him sad. He hadn’t been sad until he met Damian, right?
Grandfather often said Damian made him sad. Maybe Damian did the same thing to his brother.
Damian didn’t want to make his brother sad. Now Damian felt sad.
Damian flinched at the thought, and he spilled some of his water. It splashed onto the floor, and all over Damian’s legs.
“Ooh,” Dick took the glass from Damian, and placed it on the counter. “That's okay, kiddo, we can clean it up real quick, okay?”
Damian just nodded.
“I’ll grab a towel.” Jason announced, hastily leaving the room. Damian’s young mind reasoned it must have been to get away from him.
“Jason will grab the towel, and we’ll get you all cleaned up, alright?” Dick assured him gently. “Why don’t you go and check out your new bedroom while we get this cleaned up, yeah?”
“Okay.” Damian agreed. Dick gently nudged him towards the door and Damian took a step forwards, only to slip on the water puddle.
Damian hit the ground with a loud slap, and his mouth throbbed in pain. Damian layed there for a second, stunned.
Dick gasped and picked Damian up, placing him back on his feet. “Aw, I’m sorry buddy. Where does it hurt?”
Damian’s lip wobbled, a drop of blood on his lip. Damian didn’t didn’t want his lip to bleed. He didn’t want to be in the kitchen anymore. He wanted to make people happy, not sad. He wanted his mama, he wanted his bunny stuffy.
He wanted Jason.
Damian cried, and Dick picked him up. It made Damian feel a little better.
Damian heard footsteps jogging their way, and then he was being roughly taken from Dicks arms, and into even bigger ones.
“What the hell did you do to my kid?” Jason demanded.
“He slipped,” Dick defended.
Jason clutched Damian protectively, and turned to leave.
“Jason-“ Dick called after him.
“No,” Jason growled, and exited the kitchen. He tightened his grip on Damian’s head. Jason did not want anyone near Damian right now.
Jason led them through the manor, and up the stairs.
“What happened, Kiddo?” Jason asked, his voice now incredibly gentle. It was a stark contrast with the hard tone he had used with their brother.
The word brother alone lifted Damian’s spirits, because he now had three of the coolest big brothers, when he didn’t even have one too long ago.
“I fell.” Damian hiccuped a sob.
“You fell?” Jason asked, and Damian nodded in confirmation. Clutching Jason’s shirt with his small fists. “Was it a big fall?”
“A really big one!” Damian cried.
“That must have been scary,” Jason sympathized, bouncing Damian slightly in an attempt to calm him. It worked, Damian’s sobs dying down to sniffles by the time they reached the upstairs hallway.
Damian then paused, and re-thought his decision. “No it wasn’t scary.”
“No?”
“No.” Damian declared. “Big boys don’t get scared.”
Jason seemed to think about that for a second. “You know, even I get scared sometimes.”
Damian gasped. “Really, Ahki? But you're the bestest and bravest person I know, besides my mama.”
Jason laughed. “Wow, I’m honored. But, even though I can be brave, I can also be scared. Being scared isn’t all that bad, kid.”
Damian thought about that. Damian thought back to when he had been scared about things like monsters in his closet, or scared of the bestest assassin. Damian thought being scared was scary. It was all that bad.
“You're silly,” Damian decided.
Jason just hummed in response, patting Damian’s pack in silence until they reached the top of the stairs.
“Where did you hurt?” Jason asked, his tone still the gentle one he always used with him.
“My face. I have a bo bo.”
“Oh, it must hurt. Poor little thing.” Jason’s voice was dangerously close to a coo.
“I’m a big kid, not a little one.” Damian insisted, sniffling softly.
Jason reached a door, and entered, closing it behind him. It was dusty, almost as if it hadn’t been touched since before Damian was born, which was a good long long time ago, since Damian was a big boy. He was six whole years old. That was practically an adult!
Another thing was all the pictures. Some of them were just old posters, but others were pictures of Jason. In most of them he was with people like Dick or Bruce. Jason looked a lot younger than he was now. He wasn’t nearly as strong as he was now.
“Let’s take a look at that cute face of yours, yeah?” Jason gently set Damian down on the bed with a creak, and took Damian’s hmface in his hands. Damian looked into his warm blue eyes, just as warm as they had been the first time Damian had seen them.
Blue was Damian’s favorite color.
Jason’s hand brushed Damian’s cut lip. “This looks like it hurts, buddy.”
The truth was that it did hurt, but only. Little. The throbbing pain had subsided once Jason arrived.
“Only a little.” Damian answered truthfully.
“Here I’ll tell you what. I’ll get you cleaned up, and then we’ll blow this popsicle stand.”
“What’s a popsicle stand?” Damian asked.
Jason sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to show you.”
———————————-
Once Jason made sure Damian was fine, he took him to get popsicles. Damian thought they were so good! They were super cold, though. It made his mouth hurt. Damian had never eaten something so cold.
But it was also so sweet. Not as in chocolate sweet, but a different kind. Damian decided a popsicle was his new favorite food. It’s the first thing he wanted to eat on the awesome plates.
Jason had taken him into a “gas station” to get one. Damian had never been to a gas station before. He thought it was very cool. There was so much stuff! Damian could play in here all day!
“Okay. One more popsicle and that’s it. “ Jason states firmly.
Damian giggled because that’s what Jason had said the last three times. Every time they kept buying more.
Damian was happy about that. He loved popsicles.
Damian grabbed Jason’s hand as they walked to the counter. Jason places the popsicles down, and grabs his wallet out.
Then, Something caught his eye. It was a pack of stickers! Paw patrol stickers! Damian happily bounced over to the stickers, and grabbed himself a packet.
Jason had already payed, and was walking over to where Damian was.
He would have given it to his big brother to buy, but something was confusing him.
“Why do they have stickers here? Not everybody can have them.”
“They can if they buy them, kid.” Jason replied.
Damian’s face fell as the meaning of the statement sunk in. “But mama told me stickers were only for the best. She told me I got stickers because I was special. I’m not special?”
Damian’s eyes felt hot as they filled with tears.
Jason immediately back tracked in panic. “No! No thats not- I’m not- I’m not saying- your not-.” Jason took a breath to gather himself, closing his eyes, and when he opened them he placed a hand on Damian’s little shoulder. “Of course your special Damian. You're the most special kid I’ve ever met. You're the sweetest, coolest, handsomest and biggest kid I know. You're my kid. Think of it this way. Now, you don’t have to wait till class to get stickers. I can buy you all the stickers you can imagine.”
“All of them?” Damian sniffled.
Jason nodded in confirmation. “All of them. A whole bunch.”
“Like this much?” Damian spread his arms out as far as he could. His bottom lip still wobbled slightly, but he felt significantly better.
Jason nodded. “Enough to fill up a whole pool. Imagine that, a pool of stickers. That would be one hell of a pool, don’t you think?”
Dispite the blotchy redness around his eyes, Damian’s face broke into a grin, his round cheeks puffing up as he did so. Jason couldn’t help but think it was adorable.
“A pool of stickers would be really special.” Damian nodded seriously.
“It would be. Just like you,” Jason poked Damian’s little tummy, and Damian giggled.
“Let’s get going, squirt.” Jason ruffled Damian’s hair, and picked him up. “And eat your popsicle before it melts. I didn’t pay five dollars on a gas station popsicle for nothing.”
Damian clutched his paw patrol stickers to his chest, and leaned his head on Jason’s shoulder. He took his popsicle from Jason’s hand, and opened it.
“I feel better.” Damian told him.
Jason patted Damian’s shoulder. “Good. You better be, because we’re not leaving until you are. I would do anything to keep that adorable little smile of yours on your face.”
Damian gave an evil little smirk. “Anything?”
“You betcha, kiddo. Anything.”
“Well…”
————————————-
Damian squealed in excitement.
When Jason had said he would do anything, Damian took his opportunity.
As he looked at the pool full of stickers instead of water, he knew he had made the right choice.
Jason was standing to his right, Dick to his left. Tim decided he would rather finish up a case than join them. Damian was a little disappointed, but he wouldn’t let anything mess up his super awsome pool day! Especially since he got to spend it with two of his bestest friends- who were also his brothers. Back when he lived with his mama he was only alowed to swim alone, so this was going to be the bestest
Damian had never swam in a pool of stickers before, but he was so so happy to be trying it out with his big brothers.
With Jason.
Their father was watching on from a chair on the side with a soft smile. Damian thought it was a little silly. Back when he lived with his mama she would only let Damian swim in secret, and if Grandfather saw it would be a little scary.
But Damian didn’t have to swim alone anymore. Now, he had the coolest swimming buddies anyone had ever had.
“You ready, peanut?” Dick asked.
Damian nodded while giggling. Because Dick was silly. Damian wasn’t a peanut. He was a big kid. And he was the bestest reader, no matter what anybody said. After all, his mama had told him that, so it was obviously true.
“Take the steps, I don’t want you jumping in.” Bruce called. “The stickers might not catch your fall.”
Jason took Damian's hand and led him towards the deep end. “Let’s jump in, yeah?”
“Jason.” Bruce scolded.
Jason paid him no mind.
“We’re going into the deep end?” Damian asked, slowing down. “My mama told me the deep end was dangerous, and not to go.”
Jason chuckled, and gently pulled Damian along. “Don’t worry kid, nothing is going to happen to you on my watch. Plus, you can’t really drown in stickers.”
“Oh.” Damian broke into a large smile, because he was going into the deep end with Jason!! He couldn’t believe it! “Yay!”
Jason stopped them at the edge, and squeezed his hand. “You ready, squirt?”
“Yes! Yes!” Damian jumped up and down.
Jason smiled at him, and ruffled his hair. “Then let’s Jim, shall we?”
“We ‘shall.” Damian giggled, pronouncing his every syllable to make sure he said it just as Jason had.
Jason squeezed his hand, and together they jumped, followed closely by Dick.