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Damian was not sure that his siblings liked him that much, but he was pretty sure that Richard liked him, as he said it almost every day, “Bye Babybat, I love you.” or if he didn't say it outright, he would hug him or hang out with him, but the others he didn’t know for sure.
He didn’t think that Drake liked him a ton, but he felt like it was deserved. He was not the nicest to him when they first met, and he didn’t think that Todd liked him that much either, as he had grown closer to Drake and would most likely bond over their shared hatred.
The rest of the family he was unsure about; he didn’t hang out with Thomas to know what his opinion of him was, and Brown and Cain were never outright mean to him, but they were both good friends with Drake, so he was leaning towards them, sharing his opinion.
Damian didn’t think that he would find out how they felt about him, and part of him didn’t want to find out, but his siblings had other plans. He never cared much about his birthday, having celebrated them at the league, and when he did come to the manor, something big was always going on, so he could never, so this was going to be the first year that he was going to celebrate. Richard had promised that he would celebrate with him; he was staying over so they could have the full day to themselves, and when he said full day, he meant it.
Richard came in at around 7:00 AM and only just dodged a pillow being thrown at him. “Wake up, Babybat,” he said, coming over and sitting on the side of his bed. “Happy birthday, Damian.” Damian resonated with a groan, which made Richard start laughing. He crawled out of bed and got dressed. He would never tell him, but he appreciated how he always tried to do something nice for him on his birthday.
When Bruce was dead and he was Batman, they spent the whole patrol joking and having fun, and then ended it with having a Batburger; it was one of his fondest memories from that time.
As he walked down the stairs, he noticed two things.
- His siblings were speaking in hushed tones, and the second they realized he was coming down the stairs, they stopped and looked at him. He tensed they were talking about him…
- When he cast a glance at Richard, his face was plastered with the patented ‘Dick Grayson grin’ big and lopsided, like it was the funniest thing that they were talking about Damian.
Oh… it seemed that he was wrong about his assumption and that even though he said that he loved him, cared for him, and hung out with him whenever he would, it was all fake, and Damian fell for it…
And he hated that he didn’t yell at Grayson or say anything, and that even if it was all fake, he still loved him, and some of his best memories were with him.
He should say something and get it all confirmed so he could finally stop hoping that they didn't, but he didn't; he couldn't; he would rather live not ever really knowing than knowing that it was true.
So he didn't, and he spent the day with Grayson. He hates to admit it, but it was one of the best birthdays that he had ever had. Grayson had said that there was one more thing they had planned for today: “I'm telling you, Dami, it's just down the street, and it's going to be so much fun!”
He followed his older brother as they continued walking, and then they both turned the corner, and his jaw dropped. In front of him were all his family and friends.
“SURPRISE HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” They all yelled. Next to them were foldable tables that had presents all over them.
He couldn’t believe it; they did this for him? Or was it Grayson's birthday as well, and he had just forgotten “Happy birthday, Damian.” He looked at Grayson in surprise and saw him glowing with pride. It really was his...
They partied for hours, having skipped Patrol that day, but something was still nagging at him, so he found his siblings in the movie room later that night after the party ended.
They all turned around from where they were sitting when they heard him, “Sorry, did we wake you? I thought you had gone to bed. Grayson got up to pause the movie. It was some Disney movie, but Damian didn’t care; he had to ask them now or never.
"No, I hadn’t gone to bed yet. I-” He paused, taking a deep breath. This could be the last time that they would be nice to him once they knew that they didn’t have to pretend anymore. “I had a question.” No one said anything in protest, and so he continued.
“Why did you do that for me?”
“Do what?” Todd’s gruff voice through the silence
“The party,” he clarified as he kept talking. “I know that none of you like me that much, and so I wanted to know if Father put you up to it because it makes no sense." He looked up from the ground he had been staring at when he began, knowing that when he saw their smug grins, he would have stopped talking. But all he saw when he looked up was shock?
Cain was the first one to break out of the shock and speak, “No hate, we love you.”
Damian scoffed. “TT, I'm not stupid; I know how you all feel about me.” How much longer were they going to keep this stupid charade? Duke spoke next.
“I know that I'm kind of new to this whole family, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we don't hate you, Damian.”
Now Damian was getting annoyed. It was infuriating how they all kept lying. “I'm not an imbecile. I know that Drake hates me because I tried to kill him when we first met, and Brown Cain and Todd are all friends with him, so they all most likely share his opinion, and I would believe that maybe Thomas doesn’t hate me as I have not talked to him that much and Grayson.”
His voice catches in his throat, but he pushes through, so done with the naive part of him that thinks they all still like him.
“And Grayson was the hardest to figure out. I thought that he was the only one who still tolerated me, but then this morning I saw Drake and Todd talking in whispers, and they immediately stopped when they saw me. It doesn’t take a detective to figure out they were talking about me, and then when I looked at Grayson, he was smiling like he thought it was funny. Yes, you do all hate me, and I would appreciate it if you would stop lying about it all!”
"Damian, do you think I hate you?” Grayson asked, his voice low and his eyes misty. All of the others seemed taken aback by what Damian said. Drake was just looking at him with his eyes big and his mouth agape.
Damian didn’t respond to Grayson not wanting to repeat himself; he also didn’t think he could speak with his voice wavering. They all stood there in silence for what felt like hours, with Grayson still trying to tell Damian that he didn’t hate him and that he got it all wrong, but he had stopped listening, not wanting to hear him try to defend himself. He only turned back in when he realized that someone was standing in front of him.
"Damain, I forgave you ages ago.” He met Drake's eyes and saw something surprising: the truth.
He was telling the truth, but how that didn’t make sense.
“I don’t know how to make it any clearer." He realized he had said that out loud on accident. He looked around at everybody, analyzing them all. He was pretty good at reading body language (not as good as Cain, but he would say he was one of the best), and so when he looked around the room, he saw that everybody’s body language was saying the same things.
Safe
Truth
And love…
He couldn’t believe it. He fell to his knees, hugging his chest. He was not one to cry; he was not raised that way, but here right now, hearing that his family didn't hate him and that they weren't lying, he couldn’t stop the tears from running down his face he could feel as his sibling's, his family embraced him, and as gray- richard held him.
“I promise that I will always love you; we all will." That only caused him to cry harder.
"Kid, me and Tim were talking about you, yes, but no, how you think we were talking about your surprise party Dick was smiling because we almost got caught and he thought it was funny." Todd, no, Jason said next to him.
“We love you, Damian," Timothy repeated it, and Damian, for the first time, since he had concluded that they all heated him, believed it.
They loved him. They all did, and he knew it now.