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To say Tim was having a bad week was an understatement. On his way to work some jerk who was clearly texting while driving hit him and then had the nerve to flip him off and drive away. Thankfully Tim wasn’t badly hurt, he just had a nasty bruise on his hip. Later, he had to sit through a boring Wayne Enterprises board meeting and put up with his annoying coworker Craig, who would not shut up about cryptocurrency. After that, he was stuck on an eleven hour flight with Damian to investigate the league of assassins. And then on top of everything, he forgot to remind Bruce to get more coffee, and so he was stuck with decaf this morning- wait no not this morning, a few days ago. But it was just another thing going wrong that was ultimately leading up to the entire mission going wrong.
Once they finally arrived in Nanda Parbat, Tim just wanted to get the mission over and done with. He had a solid plan and he was going to stick with it. But of course even that wasn’t going to go his way. Like usual, Damian refused to listen to him and insisted on doing things his way. This resulted in the mission going completely wrong and them ending up way over their heads, captured by the league. Just perfect.
Which brought him to now, with Tim waking up on his feet, tied to what felt like a stone pillar.
They’d taken all of his weapons, even his hidden ones. He was blindfolded so he couldn’t make out his surroundings, and he couldn’t hear anything except distant conversations and water dripping somewhere nearby.
It made him feel uneasy. The last time he was here, he’d ended up losing a spleen. There were only so many organs he could afford to lose, and he was hoping to walk out of here with all of his body parts intact. But with the way his week was going, that was unlikely. He just hoped it wasn’t anything important, like his kidney or liver. Maybe something like his appendix, which he could afford to lose.
Before Tim could continue contemplating which internal organ he was going to lose this time, he heard the distant but fast approaching sound of heavy but brisk footsteps.
“I know you’re awake,” Tim heard a cold voice that could only be Ra’s Al Ghul.
The blindfold was immediately ripped off of his face. Thankfully, the large room he was in wasn’t too bright or exposed to any sunlight, so it wasn’t a huge adjustment for his eyes. He blinked, looking around.
He was in some sort of an indoor arena, surrounded by seats that were separated from the arena by a metal fence. Ra’s stood directly in front of him, looking down on him with an icy expression. Tim could see another pillar on the opposite side of the arena, which had an unconscious and blindfolded Damian tied to it.
“Damian!” Tim cried out, but Damian didn’t appear to wake up. Was he drugged? Injured? It would be much easier to try to figure out a way to escape if Tim knew what Damian’s status was.
“Whatever you’re trying to plan, it won't work,” Ra’s said, his voice still cold. “I know how that brain of yours works, detective. This time will go much differently than the last time you were here.”
“What do you want from me, Ra’s?” Tim sighed. After the crap he’d gone through in the last few days, Tim felt burned out. He really wasn’t in the mood for any mind games Ra’s was trying to play.
For a moment, it seemed like Ra’s had ignored Tim’s question. He’d turned away from Tim to whisper to one of his personal guards. It was only once the guard left the arena that Ra’s turned back to Tim.
“This is not about you,” Ra’s responded nonchalantly. “What I want is for Damian to be back in his rightful place as my heir.”
Tim couldn't help but laugh. Out of all the reasons for kidnapping him and Damian, this had to be the dumbest.
“Do you honestly believe that Damian would want to come back here?” Tim asked. No matter how much Damian annoyed him sometimes, Tim couldn’t deny that he had come a long way from the boy he was when he had first come to the manor. There was no way Damian would willingly betray Bruce and the rest of the family for Ra’s.
“It's not about what he wants,” Ra’s snapped. “It's about what he needs. Soon enough, he’ll realize that this is exactly what he needs.”
The tone of Ra’s voice was starting to put Tim on edge. He still wasn’t sure what Ra’s was planning on doing with Damian. He scanned the room, looking for any possible escape route. There were several members of Ra’s personal guard posted throughout the arena. Trying to make it past all of them and Ra’s would be challenging. Not to mention how hard it would be with him having to drag an unconscious Damian with him. And that was if they could get free without his suit or weapons—it was going to be very difficult to break out of the restraints around him without them.
It looked like an escape attempt was off the table for now. The best Tim could do was keep talking and stall until someone realized he was missing and came after him. But that was time Tim didn’t have.
Before Tim could wrack his brain for any other desperate plans, he saw Damian starting to wake up and struggle against his restraints.
Ra’s immediately made his way over to Damian and removed his blindfold. Damian had a confused look on his face, which turned to shock and then anger as he took in his surroundings.
“What is the meaning of this, Grandfather?” Damian spat.
Ra’s grabbed a fistful of Damian’s hair and pulled his head back so he was forced to look Ra’s in the eyes.
“You’ve forgotten your place, boy,” Ra’s said, the anger in his voice barely contained. “You will remember where your true loyalties lie, no matter how willful you are.”
Ra’s roughly shoved Damian’s head back and turned to one of his personal guards.
“It’s time. Free both of them, but make sure they can’t get out.” With that vaguely threatening sentence, Ra’s walked out of the arena and to what looked like another room near the top of the stairs.
Before Tim could try to decipher what Ra’s threat meant, he felt one of the guards roughly cut through the ropes that were binding him to the pillar. Once they were cut off, the guard shoved Tim forward, causing him to crash onto his knees.
Tim looked up to see the same thing happening to Damian.
“Red Robin? What are we-“
Before Damian could finish his sentence he suddenly cried out in pain and curled in on himself.
“Robin? Are you okay?” Tim was starting to get worried now. Damian always tried to hide his pain; he’d seen the kid act like stab wounds were completely normal. So to see Damian taken down, too overwhelmed to hide it, was concerning.
“Robin, status report.” When all else failed, Tim had to become more Bruce-like to get through to Damian. Most of the time, surprisingly, it worked.
It wasn’t working now. Damian didn’t respond—instead, he went completely still.
“Damian?” Tim asked cautiously.
Damian slowly lifted his head so he was looking directly at Tim. His green eyes were frigid, completely devoid of emotion. Tim could feel his blood running cold from his gaze.
“Damian? What’s going on?” Tim asked, hating that he couldn’t keep the fear and worry out of his voice.
Out of the corner of his eye, Tim could see Ra’s coming back into the seating area of the arena and take a seat in a large and comfortable chair overlooking the entire arena. It made Ra’s look like some Roman emperor, eagerly watching two gladiators about to tear each other to shreds.
Right at that moment, as Tim was distracted, Damian lunged for Tim, his teeth bared and that cold and distant look still in his eyes.
Tim barely had enough time to roll out of the way and get back to his feet. Damian didn’t even give him a chance to catch his breath, as he threw a punch towards Tim’s chest. Tim managed to dodge the punch, but it was so close that he could feel Damian’s knuckles graze his side.
“Damian! Ra’s is controlling you, you have to snap out of it!” Tim called out, trying to get through to him.
Damian didn’t seem to hear him at all. Instead, he lunged at Tim again, this time managing to slam Tim into the pillar and keep him pinned. Tim was always surprised by how strong Damian was for his age and size. Getting hit by him repeatedly felt like being mowed down by a mini bulldozer.
As Tim struggled to break free, he started trying to think of ways to stop the situation from escalating. He really didn’t want to hurt Damian, but if it came to him or Damian he’d have no choice. He knew that under Ra’s control, Damian wasn’t going to hold back. Tim had seen firsthand how deadly Damian could be when he wanted to be—or when he wasn’t able to hold back.
Still, Tim was only going to hurt Damian if things got really bad. He really didn’t want to have to resort to that. Instead, he went on the defensive, trying his best to block some of Damian’s punches and kicks as he continued to struggle to get away.
“Robin! Snap out of it!” Tim said in a more firm tone. He hoped appealing to Damian’s more orderly side would get him to come back to himself.
He thought wrong. Before he could react, Damian threw a sharp punch towards his chest. It hit him right in the ribs, and judging from the audible crack and the sharp pain that lit up in that area, Damian probably managed to break one of his ribs.
It was clear Tim wasn’t going to get out of this situation by just defending himself. As much as he didn’t want to do it, he’d have to be a little more aggressive.
Using all of his strength, Tim grabbed Damian by his cape and threw him to his right. Damian stumbled and hit the ground. Normally, Tim would find the whole thing pretty funny. There were times when Damian was acting like a spoiled brat that Tim had wanted to humble him a little. Hell, he’d almost wanted to do it when Damian wasn’t listening to him during the mission. The mission that got them into this mess.
As much as he might want to, Tim couldn’t feel a hint of satisfaction from throwing Damian aside. Not like this, knowing that he was being controlled by Ra’s, who seemed to be hellbent on Damian returning to the league.
Damian quickly recovered from the fall, and he went right back into attacking Tim. Tim was still trying to block Damian’s rapid and relentless punches and kicks. But this time he wasn’t afraid to throw a few punches himself, making sure to do as little damage as possible. He was starting to get desperate now. If Damian wasn’t holding back, neither could he.
Damian kneed Tim in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Tim fell to his knees and gasped for air. Damian didn’t hesitate—he pinned Tim to the ground and started punching him. This time he got a few more blows in, and Tim had a harder time trying to defend himself while also trying to push Damian off of him. It felt like too much happening at once, it was getting harder to think. The only thing Tim could focus on was trying to protect himself. He managed to shove Damian as hard as he could to get him off of him. Tim barely had a chance to recover before Damian was up and running at him again.
He felt a sharp pain in his nose as Damian struck him with his fists. Tim couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance as he felt blood start to pour from his nose. Of course this had to happen to him, of all people. He was pretty sure that if it was Dick or Cass, or even Jason, they would have been able to get through to Damian and break Ra’s control by now, without getting so much as a scratch from Damian.
And just like that, a metaphorical lightbulb flashed in Tim’s mind as he got a new idea. How could he have missed this before?
“Damian! Do you remember when Steph got that bouncy castle in the yard of the manor, and she convinced you to try it out? She said you complained a lot about it at first, but she also said that was the first time she ever saw you having fun. She said it was the first time she saw you acting like a normal kid.”
Please work , Tim thought, but it didn’t seem to do anything as Damian kept attacking him.
“I remember how you tried to blackmail Jason about him reading Jane Austen! But instead he convinced you to try reading the book. You got so hooked on it but refused to admit it, I remember you would even read at the table during dinner!”
If any of the things Tim said had any effect on Damian, he couldn’t tell. He could barely see Damian’s face as he struggled to block Damian’s punches. Damian had gotten the upper hand and pinned him to the ground again. He’d probably have to think of some core memories to get through to Damian, something that had a real impact on him and changed his life.
“What about when Bruce was lost in the timestream, and Dick had to become Batman? And then Dick decided to make you Robin…”
Tim trailed off, noticing the bitter tone that had entered his voice. As much as he hated to admit it, Tim did still hold some resentment towards Dick and Damian for the way he lost Robin to Damian. It was, however, in the past. Tim constantly tried to remind himself of that. Besides, Dick had apologized and tried to do everything he could to make it up to Tim. Damian? Not so much. Still, Tim couldn’t deny that being Robin helped Damian, he just… wished it happened under better circumstances.
“But you becoming Robin… it helped you! Dick helped you, he was the only one who could get through to you back then. And even now I know you two are still really close. He’s so proud of how far you’ve come, Damian. We all are.”
Maybe it was just his vision getting blurrier through a pain filled haze, but Tim could have sworn he saw Damian falter. For a second, it looked like some recognition returned to Damian’s green eyes. Or maybe Tim just had a concussion. Tim used this chance to push Damian off of him and get to his feet, hoping he that he could stop him. Or at least run from Damian while he thought of another plan.
The moment didn’t last long, because Damian went right back to attacking him. This time it was much more brutal, like he’d been completely lost to Ra’s control. Damian threw a sharp punch which barely managed to miss Tim’s eye. Stars filled Tim’s vision as he tried to reorient himself and figure out how he was going to get away.
Before he could do either, he suddenly felt a sharp and icy pain. Tim cried out in pain. He looked down to see Damian had driven a broken and rusty sword into his side. The force of the blow sent him stumbling backwards. So much for not losing another organ…
That same cold and hateful look was in Damian’s eyes when Tim looked up. He could see no recognition whatsoever.
What if this is what Damian secretly wanted? Did he still want Tim dead, all these years later? Tim pushed the thought from his mind. There was no way that Damian wanted to be controlled by his grandfather like this. Sure, maybe there was still some resentment and grudges held between both of them. But it didn’t change the fact that they’d both grown closer, they’d become brothers. Even if neither of them was willing to admit it, unless it was a life or death situation.
“Damian, you have to fight this! Come on, I know you’re still in there. You’re too stubborn to give into Ra’s like this. Don’t let him win!”
It was getting harder for Tim to yell, every small movement felt like he was getting stabbed again. He was bleeding out, and he knew shock would set in at any moment. And there was no way he was going to die here, bleeding out while Ra’s watched with an amused look on his face.
“I don’t hate you. Sure sometimes you really piss me off, and it feels like you hate being around me. But I do care, I feel like we’re both in a better place than we were when we first met. I know a lot happened between us, but I do care about you, Damian!”
Tim could hear his own voice getting more hoarse and desperate. This was his last resort. He had to get through to Damian, who was currently trying to strangle him.
“And I know I’ve said and done some hurtful things too. Even for this mission, I was so mad at you for not listening to me. I know we should have compromised and found something we both agreed with. That way we probably wouldn’t have ended up in this situation!”
Tim was growing weaker now, he could barely try to defend himself. He was attempting to push Damian’s hands out of the way but his grip was too strong, Damian was choking him now, and dark spots were starting to appear in his vision. Tim gasped for air, it was a struggle just to speak.
“The truth is… I want us to start getting along. I know… if we just put our differences aside we could be a great … team!” Tim gasped out, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. He was losing consciousness, and it was getting harder to focus.
“I don’t… want to fight anymore… Damian,” Tim managed to raise his hands in surrender. “I… I want us to be brothers.”
Tim felt Damian’s hands slowly loosen. The dark spots started to fade from Tim’s vision as the pressure eased. As soon as Tim’s vision completely cleared, he got a better look at Damian. He had a shocked expression on his face, like he was seeing Tim for the first time.
“Tim?” he asked softly, his green eyes filled with confusion. He sounded a lot more like himself now.
Before Tim could try to reassure Damian, he saw Ra’s angrily get up from his seat, and the amused look on his face was gone.
“What is the meaning of this? Get him back under control, and make sure he kills Drake!” Ra’s yelled at some of his guards, who went back into that mysterious room.
Just as Tim put the pieces together of what was happening, he heard Damian cry out in pain and collapse, curling up in a fetal position. It was clear he was in a lot of pain, and he was struggling against Ra’s control.
“Keep fighting, Damian! I know you can do it.” Tim was trying to sound encouraging but it was getting harder and harder as he lost more blood and his injuries started to weigh on him. Judging from how cold he felt and how he was having a harder time breathing, it felt like shock was setting in. Great. Tim had no idea how much longer he could hold out, or try to help Damian break Ra’s control. If Ra’s did manage to get control of Damian again, he’d be screwed. It was getting harder and harder to think .
Luckily, Tim didn’t have to brainstorm any plans in the five minutes he had before Ra’s took control again. He heard the sound of rapidly approaching gunshots, followed by what sounded like smaller explosions.
He looked up at the entrance of the arena to see several of Ra’s guards being taken out by none other than Jason and Talia. Dramatic entrances were definitely their specialty.
Tim could see Talia confront Ra’s, and the two started to fight, their swords clashing. Even from where Tim was, he could see the fury in Talia’s eyes. Each strike from her sword was brutal.
He must have blacked out for a second, because the next thing he knew, Jason was crouched down next to him, trying to evaluate his injuries.
“Tim? I need you to stay awake. You’re losing a lot of blood,” Jason said as he started putting pressure on Tim’s stab wound. Tim groaned in pain in response.
“Damian?” Tim managed to ask weakly, as he lifted his head up to look for Damian. From what he saw, Damian was still curled in a fetal position, but he appeared to be unconscious.
“We’ll take care of him,” Jason said reassuringly. “You’re both going to be alright.”
Tim rarely heard Jason speak like this, sounding worried and reassuring at the same time. But Tim appreciated it, he could already feel the adrenaline wearing off as the effects of blood loss started to get to him. Dark spots were starting to fill his vision again—he felt so tired. For once he just wanted to sleep.
“Damn it, Tim, you better not pass out!” Jason said as he started lightly slapping Tim, but his voice was starting to sound further and further away. Tim could barely feel the slaps, anyway. The dark spots in Tim’s vision were starting to grow bigger, and he could hear Jason saying something but he couldn’t couldn't make out what it was. His eyes were growing heavier, and so he let them close as his awareness started to fade.
Waking up was strange. Tim felt like he was stuffed with cotton, but there was a dull ache in his side. Judging from the slight pain and how disoriented he felt, he was probably on some fairly strong painkillers.
Tim slowly blinked his eyes open. The room around him was mostly white. There was a bright light above him, which hurt his eyes and made Tim close them again until they got used to the brightness.
“Tim?” he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. “You’re in the med bay, you’re safe.”
Tim opened his eyes to see Jason sitting by his bed. Jason looked pretty worn out, his hair was dishevelled and the dark circles under his eyes were much darker. He also had some bandages near his hairline and on his arm. Tim wouldn’t be surprised if he had some more hidden under his shirt.
“I’m fine, I just took a few hits and cuts from some of Ra’s guards. Nothing I can’t handle,” Jason said, as if he could read Tim’s mind. Jason mentioning Ra’s helped Tim wake up a little as he remembered everything that happened.
“Damian?” Tim’s throat felt dry, and just trying to say that one word made it hurt.
“He’ll be okay too, he’s still recovering from surgery.” Hearing that should have made Tim feel relieved, but instead he just felt more worried. He sat up quickly and immediately regretted it as sharp pain shot through his side.
“Hey, take it easy. I’m not stitching you back up if you rip your stitches,” Jason said as he gently pushed Tim back into the bed. “The sword just barely missed your kidney. You’re lucky you didn’t lose another organ, Timbo. But there’s still the risk of infection, so you’re going to be stuck here for a while.” Jason’s tone was casual, but Tim could tell he was worried from the way he looked at him.
Tim sighed. He knew deep down that Jason was right, but he still felt like he couldn’t rest now, despite how tired he was. He had to know if Damian was okay.
“C’nt r’st now,” Tim muttered. He was so tired he was slurring his words, he wasn’t exactly proving he was able to get up right now.
“Are you sure about that?” Jason said with a smirk. Even if Tim was more awake and not disoriented, Jason was probably not going to let him get up. And Tim was starting to feel the pull of sleep dragging him back under.
“It’s okay, Tim, you can get some sleep. You definitely need it,” Jason said, his voice surprisingly soothing.
For once Tim decided to take Jason’s advice, his eyes slowly closed again as he drifted off into a dreamless bliss.
The next time Tim woke up, he felt much less disoriented. The downside of that was that Tim was in a lot more pain now, the ache in his side much stronger.
Tim groaned as he tried to open his eyes, having to adjust to the bright lights of the med bay once again.
“Tim?” he heard a voice say. He couldn’t quite figure out who it was until he got used to the brightness, when he realized it was Dick. Dick looked as exhausted and worn out as Jason, but without the injuries. “How are you feeling?”
“Hurts,” was all Tim managed to say. It wasn’t just his side, it was all the other injuries he received that were acting up.
“I’ll give you some more painkillers. Just don’t strain yourself,” Dick said in a reassuring tone. He got up to put some more painkillers in Tim’s IV bag.
Tim just nodded in response. “How’s Damian?”
Dick sighed. “He’s doing better. He’s been asking about you too, actually.”
This genuinely surprised Tim. Even if Damian was concerned about him, too, he didn't think he would be so open about it. But then Tim remembered the look on Damian’s face when Tim had admitted that he wanted to be brothers. Maybe he did care, deep down. Really, really deep down.
“Jason said he was in surgery?” Tim asked. From what he could remember, Damian wasn’t particularly hurt. Aside from Ra’s control causing him pain somehow.
“Ra’s had a chip put in his spine. He must have done that after you were captured. He used the chip to control Damian, but we managed to remove it and he should make a full recovery.”
The idea of Ra’s implanting a chip in Damian’s spine for the sole purpose of forcing him to do what Ra’s wanted made Tim sick. He knew Ra’s was willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted, but controlling his own grandson? It was a new low.
“What happened with Ra’s?” Knowing how far Ra’s was willing to go to get Damian back on his side, Tim wanted to be prepared in case Ra’s tried to come after him again.
“I’m not entirely sure exactly,” Dick said with a slight shrug. “Talia said she took care of him. I’m not sure what exactly she meant by that, but she assured us that he wouldn’t be a problem for a long time. She helped us a lot, with Bruce being off-world right now. Thanks to her intel, we were able to track you both down and bring you back here.”
As much as Tim felt relieved that Ra’s was either dead or hurt badly enough that he couldn’t come after them, part of him knew that once Ra’s used the pit again he’d probably want revenge. When he did, Tim wanted to be the one to make Ra’s pay for what he’d just put Tim and Damian through.
“We’ll handle him the next time he tries something like this.” Tim said in a determined tone, wincing once he realized how much it hurt to speak.
Tim had to pause and drink some water from his bedside table. It was pretty frustrating that he could only manage to say one sentence at a time, his throat still felt like sandpaper. “Can I see him?” Tim asked. He needed to make sure Damian was okay. There was no way Damian would ever admit it out loud, but having his own grandfather put him through something like that had to be traumatizing. Especially thinking of what could have happened had Jason and Talia not come in and saved them.
Dick sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, not right now. Given that he’s recovering from spinal surgery and you’re recovering from a stab wound, you’re both stuck on bedrest for a while. Dr. Thompkins and Alfred’s orders, and Talia’s too,” Dick said, apologetic.
Those were three people Tim definitely didn’t want to cross, but it was still frustrating. He’d had way worse. Like Jason had said, he didn’t even lose an organ this time!
“I promise as soon as one of you is doing better we’ll move you to the same room. And I’ll let you know about any updates on his condition. In the meantime, why don’t you get some more rest? You look like you need it.”
“Thanks,” Tim muttered sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. But he knew Dick was right, he probably looked as bad as he felt. The painkillers Dick had given him were starting to affect him, dragging him down into a thoughtless and painless bliss.
“It’s okay Tim, you can sleep.” Dick gently started to card his hands through Tim’s hair. It felt soothing, and that combined with the painkillers slowly lulled him to sleep.
Tim woke up to the sound of what sounded like scraping across the floor. Praying that he wasn’t about to wake up in a horror movie, Tim slowly opened his eyes.
Tim could see Damian in a wheelchair, using his arms to push himself forward to get across the room. He was wearing a hospital gown, thick white bandages around his chest visible through it. He looked pale and tired, and unusually unkempt. Tim could tell the movement was causing him pain from how he had to pause to take short breaks, but he continued to push himself next to Tim’s bed.
“Drake. You’re awake, good. I’m glad I didn’t drag myself all the way over here just to watch you sleep.” The usual snark was back in Damian’s voice. Tim wondered if Jason and Dick had really meant what they’d said about Damian being worried about him, or if they were just lying to make him feel better.
“Yeah I’m awake. Nice to see you too, Damian,” Tim said, trying to sound genuine and calm at the same time. “How are you feeling, I was told you had surgery?”
Damian scoffed a little before answering him, “I’ll recover. I’ve had much worse anyways.” He trailed off, and then looked back at Tim, like he was trying to examine him. “What about you? Are you also… recovering from what happened?”
Damian sounded much more genuine now. He did a good job of hiding it, but Tim could tell he was concerned. Though he tried to sound aloof, his eyes were what gave him away. There was no hiding the worry in his eyes.
“I’ll also recover. That knife wound definitely packed a punch, though. I’ll make sure to stay on your good side from now on.”
Tim was trying to sound lighthearted. He knew this whole experience was traumatic for both of them, and since both of them were terrible at acknowledging their emotions, it seemed to be the best way to go about things.
But it didn’t seem to cheer Damian up. Instead, he looked down. And then he looked back at Tim and raised his arms up as far as they would go.
“Do your worst, Drake, you’ve earned it.”
Tim was confused. His eyebrows nearly rose off his face. “What?”
Damian sighed and shook his head. “Attack me. It's only fair after what I did. You could have—I almost went too far. And I promised myself I wouldn’t try to kill you again, but I nearly did that. So it’s only fair that you get your revenge.”
It took Tim a moment to process what Damian was telling him. “No. I’m not beating you up, Damian. What happened wasn’t your fault, that was all Ra’s.”
Damian looked down again, like he couldn’t meet Tim’s eyes. “It was! This was completely preventable. I—“
He trailed off, like he was struggling to say what he wanted to. “I should have listened to you about the mission, then we could have avoided all of this.”
A few days ago Tim probably would have revelled in Damian admitting he was wrong. For Tim, that admittance could probably fix any crappy day he had. Right now, though, it only made him feel guilty. Damian shouldn’t feel bad for something that was completely out of his control.
“Everytime I have a bad mission, I tend to go over all the potential ways it went wrong. That way I can see what the problem is and make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. I’ve thought about how things went wrong on this mission, and I don’t think the blame is solely on you, Damian. I think us getting captured by the league would have happened anyway, regardless of which plan we went with. I don’t hold it against you, I promise.”
Damian sighed and closed his eyes like he was processing what Tim just told him. Finally, he looked up and met Tim’s eyes.
“Did you really mean what you said? About wanting us to be brothers?” He sounded a lot more vulnerable than he usually did. It made Tim hope he was going to say the right thing.
“Yeah. I did. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of all the pointless fights we have. Especially if it leads to situations like the one we were in.”
Damian nodded. “I think… I shouldn’t have argued with you and done things my way. Splitting up was a rash decision that caused us to get captured.”
That was probably the closest to an apology Tim had ever heard from Damian, and he did appreciate it. But it wasn’t fair to put all of the blame on him. As annoyed and angry as he was with Damian at the time, Tim knew it wasn’t entirely his actions that led to them getting captured. He felt like some of the blame rested on him too.
Whenever he prepared for missions, he got into a headspace where he planned everything out meticulously. He knew that sometimes he didn’t like hearing input from others and just preferred to stick to his own plan. What he had thought was Damian wanting to do it his way was really just Damian offering his own input. And Tim hadn’t listened, seeing him as just another annoyance he had to deal with.
“It’s fine. Actually… I shouldn’t have just dismissed your ideas like I did. I guess we’re both more stubborn than we’d like to admit?” Tim hadn’t meant to sound like he was asking a question, but a part of him was still worried that Damian was mad at him over that.
To his surprise, Damian actually chuckled. “You have a point… Timothy.”
Tim laughed and rolled his eyes. It was a slight improvement from Drake so he’d take it. The two of them still had a lot to resolve, like everything that happened when Bruce had gone missing. But they could do that another day, when they were both less injured. Things weren’t magically better between them, but it was a good start.
“Why don’t you come up here? Dick is going to be so mad if he catches you breaking the bedrest rule,” Tim said as he patted the space beside him.
Damian scoffed a little. “Richard never gets mad at me.” But he managed to drag himself onto Tim’s bed, wincing a little in pain as he moved up.
“Since both of us are stuck in bed for a while, I figure we need a way to pass the time. I can introduce you to one of my favourite games if you’d like?” Tim asked as he pulled his laptop from the table over to them.
Damian just nodded in response as Tim opened the laptop.
Tim started the game and then turned to Damian. “It’s called Stardew Valley. Basically, you move into this town and start a farm.”
Damian eyed the opening screen with interest. “So is there any fighting or battles in this game?”
Tim laughed, “Yeah, there’s monsters in the mines you can fight. But there’s other things you can do too, like raising animals and interacting with the townspeople. Also if you get your tablet, we can start a farm together if that’s what you want to do.”
Damian surprisingly looked pretty interested in the game, even though it was different from the games he was usually into.
“So can I fight with you on the farm?”
“You can’t declare war on another player in Stardew Valley, Damian.”
“I didn’t say I would fight you , Timothy.”
Tim couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. It had been a bad day on top of a bad week, but somehow sitting with his brother made it all worth it.