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Plans were made for Damian’s birthday. Small plans, since large displays of affection tended to make him hostile, but plans nonetheless.
All of said plans were derailed the morning of, because Damian was nowhere to be found. His room was dark and empty; his Robin gear all remained where he’d left it after patrol. It was as though he’d vanished without a trace, and considering where he’d been raised, that unfortunately wasn’t entirely out of the question.
Instead of enjoying a calm morning together, the family all suited up and took to the city, despite the torrential downpour soaking them to the bone and making it hard to grapple. Their youngest would always be more important than inconveniences like that.
Hours passed. Routes were traded off in the hopes that someone else could spot a clue that their family members had missed, and all the while Oracle chattered away in their ears, trying to find any sign of Damian leaving the city limits, just in case.
Despite all of their searching, in the end, it was Alfred to find him, thanks to a set of muddy footprints.
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⠀
Dick has never seen Damian so unresponsive before.
The boy is sitting in the garden, soaked to the bone. Dirt stains his pants and his shirt is far too thin to protect him from the elements; despite this, he barely shivers. He’s not far from where Thomas and Martha’s graves are planted, though far enough that it’s clear he’s not there to mourn them.
Slowly, making sure that his movements are loud enough to be noticed, Dick sits down next to his brother. He places a comforting hand on Damian’s shoulder, and for the first time in the almost-year that Dick’s known him, Damian leans into the touch, if only a little.
“You okay?” Dick asks softly.
Damian’s eyes are slightly clouded, his gaze clearly not entirely focused on the present. It’s somehow even eerier than when Damian acts far older than his years. His hands, resting in his lap, start to curl, grabbing his wet pants and pulling. “There won’t be any stars tonight.”
It’s a non-sequitur if Dick’s ever heard one, but he knows how to roll with the punches. “We can go stargazing some other time, if you want.”
“Gemini is visible in America today,” Damian responds, and at least it seems he’s actually listening. Dick wasn’t aware he had an interest in astronomy, but will definitely be noting it down for later. “It’s fitting that it’d be hidden today.”
He wants to ask Damian to come back inside, but fear that it’ll be far too tactless and just make whatever situation this is worse.
They should have put more thought into what birthdays in the League may have been like. They’d considered it, sure, but none of the vague ideas tossed around involved Damian hiding away from them all.
“Is Gemini your favourite?” he prompts instead.
Damian seems to consider that, but then only offers yet another non-sequitur. “If I could offer part of my life to him, I’d do it in a heartbeat. The offer given to Pollux was never worth considering, why decline?”
Dick wracks his brain for the myths that he knows are stored somewhere in there, because Jason’s his little brother and Jason had a whole thing at one point about Greek myths. He lands on the story eventually, and then feels something in his gut sink.
“I don’t think anything will change out here in the rain,” he tells Damian, even as a picture starts forming in his head that he doesn’t want to think about for longer than necessary. “Nobody on the manor grounds can give you an offer quite like that.”
Damian leans a little bit more into Dick’s hand. “I know.”