Pairings: hints of Damian/Colin
...
If it were anyone else, Damian would have punched them by now. After all, no one could get away with hugging him — well, maybe Grayson if he was heavily drugged, but that was it. However, this was Colin, and though Damian didn't like to admit it, he did let his friend (acquaintance; he'd meant acquaintance) get away with an awful lot.
Plus, Colin had just saved his life. He'd called for backup, but he'd known that his family would never make it in time. If Colin hadn't been there, in full Abuse-mode, Damian wasn't sure if he would have been able to escape the gunfire unscathed.
(Well — relatively unscathed. He could feel blood running down his arm from where he'd been clipped in the shoulder, but it hardly bothered him).
So fine, Colin was hugging him, but he'd allow it for now. Because Colin had saved his life, and Damian supposed that he owed him (also, it was Colin).
…Not that he meant anything by that, of course.
If Damian had been paying more attention to his surroundings, and less attention to a certain red-head, he would have heard the rest of his family arrive.
…
Dick took one glance at the huge, hulking thing that was crushing Damian, and proceeded to freak the hell out.
"Get away from him right now!" he snarled.
The creature — or really big man, or whatever he was — didn't seem to hear him, and continued to crush Damian. He was muttering something under his breath — Dick heard the words, "could have died, seriously," but didn't think anything of them. He was preoccupied with the sheer terror clouding his mind.
"Dammit," he growled, "I said let him go!"
"Nightwing, don't do anything," Tim hissed. He sounded apprehensive, and his entire form was tense. "That guy could crush him."
Jason's eyes narrowed. "I might be able to shoot him — "
"Not until he lets go of Robin!" Tim snapped.
While the three brothers argued, shooting frantic glances at their little brother and his 'captor', Steph shot Cass a curious glance.
"You're not freaking out," she noted.
"No," Cass replied, shrugging. "He's only hugging him."
Steph stared. "…What?"
Cass nodded her head towards the pair. "Robin isn't tense," she said, "and the man doesn't want to hurt him."
Steph blinked. "…Huh," she said at least.
"Okay, fuck this," Jason snarled, lifting his gun. "Put the kid down, or I'll shoot."
"No!" Damian cried, struggling to escape from Colin's hold. This seemed to make his brothers — who could only see their little brother, trying to escape from his 'captor's' hold — even more tense. "For godsake — "
"Robin, just stay calm!" Dick yelled.
"Abuse!" Damian hissed, kicking Colin's leg in a frantic movement. "Let go!"
Colin blinked. "What?"
"Let go!"
"…Huh?" Colin glanced up. His eyes widened as he realised that they were no longer alone. "Oh!" he cried, and gently lowered Damian to the ground. He straightened, and waved cheerily at the crowd in front of him, oblivious to the tension.
"Hi!" he greeted.
Jason lifted his gun higher.
"Fire that gun and I will end you!" Damian snarled, moving to stand protectively in front of Colin.
"Excuse me?!" Jason spluttered. "Dammit, why the hell do I bother with this family?"
Dick's eyes widened in shock. "Robin, he was hurting you!" he cried.
Damian's eyes narrowed. "What?" he exclaimed. "Don't be daft! He saved me life!"
There was a moment of silence. The Bat-family (save for Cass) all stared at him in shock.
"…What?" Tim choked.
Colin smiled fondly at Damian. "Thanks Robin," he said happily.
"Yeah, thanks for saving the Demon Brat," Steph said, beaming at Colin. Thanks to Cass, she was handling this a lot better than the rest of the family. "I don't know what we'd do without his constant death threats."
Damian's eyes narrowed. "Shut up Fatgirl."
Steph's smile widened. "Love you too, Baby Bat!"
Colin waved again, seemingly unperturbed by the gun pointed in his direction. "It's nice to meet you all!" he said, almost shyly.
Jason, Tim and Dick continued to gape.
"…Okay, who the hell are you?" Jason finally managed, his jaw hanging open.
"Robin?" Dick asked uncertainly, turning to Damian.
Damian rolled his eyes, evidently disgruntled. "This is Abuse," he ground out. "We sometimes work together."
Dick blinked, and stared at Colin warily. "You do, huh?" he murmured, with a small, uncertain laugh. "You couldn't have found someone…your own age?"
Jason (who had yet to lower his gun) shot Dick an incredulous glance.
Damian raised one eyebrow. "I don't think that applies to any of us," he replied dryly, "but, if you must know, he is the same age as me."
Everyone (and this time, that included Cass) turned to stare at Colin disbelievingly.
It was Tim who broke the silence. "Who cares about age," he said, still staring at Colin. "What shocks me is — Robin actually has a friend?!"
"We aren't friends," Damian snapped. "We work together. Therefore, we are colleagues — "
"Yup, we're friends!" Colin replied, cutting him off. Damian opened his mouth to argue, but then caught sight of the proud grin stretched across the other boy's face. He let out a small sigh, but didn't argue.
For the Bat siblings, this was the most shocking thing they had witnessed that night.
Then Dick caught sight of the blood on Damian's arm, and went into full 'overprotective-big-brother-mode.'
"Robin!" he yelled, sounding distressed, "you're bleeding! Why didn't you say you were bleeding!" He rushed over to his little brother, ignoring Damian's furious protests, and grabbed his uninjured arm. "Come on, we need to go and get you patched up — do you need me to carry you? I could totally carry you if you want — "
"If you don't shut up right now, the consequences will be very painful," Damian snarled.
"Bye Robin!" Colin said. He reached out, and gave Damian another hug. This one was more brief, and less crushing, than before.
Despite looking embarrassed, Damian hugged back, hesitantly.
The Bat siblings proceeded to do what they'd pretty much been doing all night — they gaped.
…
(A month later)
"I don't see why I have to be here," Jason grumbled.
"Because you're part of the family, Little Wing!" Dick replied cheerily. "And that means you have to spend time with us! And that 'time' includes fun trips to the park, with ice-cream included! I'm buying!"
"And that's the only reason I agreed to come," Damian replied, scowling. "I don't see why Fatgirl has to be here though — she isn't a member of this family, and she certainly doesn't need to ingest anymore calories."
"Shut it, Demon Brat," Tim snapped, in Steph's defence.
"Aw, you know you love me," Steph said, poking Damian's shoulder playfully. The youngest shot her a furious glance.
"Can we hurry the hell up?" Jason demanded. "Let's get that ice-cream, so I can go back to pretending you idiots don't exist — "
"Damian!"
They paused their strides, and glanced up, just as Colin barrelled into Damian.
"Dami!" the red-head cried, hugging him tightly. "I haven't seen you in ages, and you haven't been answering your phone, so I wasn't sure if you were okay — "
"I've been fine, Colin," Damian replied, hugging back stiffly. "I've been 'grounded.' It's preposterous, obviously, but Father seems to think it is a necessary punishment."
"…Okay, there is something really familiar about that kid," Jason muttered.
"Is Damian blushing?" Tim choked.
…
AN:
I love Damian. And I love the Bat-Family. And Dami/Colin is seriously the most adorable thing ever, and there needs to be more of it (SO much more of it).
Hope you enjoyed this little fic! :D (And I have seriously got to get back to my longer fics).
