Damian had drawn the short straw, and had been forced into being the subject of a babysitter. At least, that was how Damian saw it. Tim, on the other hand, believed he had drawn said short straw only he had to be the babysitter, when truthfully Bruce had just wanted Tim and Damian to spend time together out of the house.
So he had sent Tim and Damian to Six Flags, Great Gotham.
And they were having bucket-loads of fun.
"I want a cotton candy, Drake." Damian demanded.
"Damian, you aren't having candy until you've had lunch, we've discussed this. What would Alfred say?" Tim asked.
Damian scowled. "Fine." He grumbled. "I will have a… nacho meal." Damian looked like he was going to throw up from just saying the words. Tim rolled his eyes. "Stay here, I'll be right back." He said as he walked up to the food booth and bought them both a tray of nachos. He added a coffee for himself and a zesti for Damian and got them both a side dish, because the nachos didn't look like enough. He set them on the table and Damian glared at the food, picking at it warily.
"It's fine, Damian." Tim said.
"You don't know if that man washed his hands before grabbing the chips and putting them in this probably old and dropped on the floor, grease-stained cardboard."
"He was wearing gloves."
"But-"
"Damian, it's fine. Eat it."
"Fine." Damian grumbled, awkwardly taking a chip and sniffing it experimentally.
Two people sat next to them, they looked like farm-boys. They both wore plaid, though the older boy had an undercut and a small golden hoop in his right ear. The younger boy was eating a funnel cake, the older boy was sucking on one of those enormous lollipops.
"He isn't eating real food." Damian grumbled, looking at the other boys.
"I'm not his older brother, am I?" Tim asked. "And I doubt that his butler is Alfred."
The older boy next to them raised an eyebrow. Tim gave him an apologetic smile, he was about Tim's age and the kid he was with seem only a little younger than Damian. The older boy shrugged, understandingly and they finished their snacks and Damian and Tim set off to the roller coasters.
Damian was wholly unimpressed by the roller coasters. As he complained numerous times during the rides, they were unexciting. Tim figured that after being raised as an assassin everything seemed unexciting, so he decided to find the fastest ride with the highest drop.
They called it The Superman.
Oooh the irony.
So obviously, Damian and Tim had to go on. Damian just went over the height requirement (which Tim would tease Damian about forever, thank you Bruce). The seats on the Superman were four per seat. Tim and Damian were only two, and those behind them were the people from the food court.
The four of them were shuttled into a row and Tim and Damian buckled in, Tim and the older boy flanking Damian and the younger boy. The younger boy was having trouble pulling his locking mechanism into a locked position so the older boy stood and helped him, then did his own. Tim wondered if they were brothers, but that couldn't be. They actually seemed to like each other.
The ride was great. Damian was actually flushed from the ride by the end, and the poor boy next to him had screamed his head off. The older boy was flushed too, his cheeks wind-chapped. Tim was sure he looked just the same, except that his hair probably looked horrible while the boy's seemed as perfect as ever.
They stumbled out of the ride and Damian's eyes were finally lit up. "Okay. That was… fun." He said.
"You okay, Jonno?" The older boy asked the younger one. "You screamed a lot up there."
"Yeah." Jonno choked out. "It was fun!" He said raspily, eyes wide, "I don't want to do that again, though."
The older boy chuckled. "Of course, Jon. Not again, but good for you for trying, okay?" Jon nodded. "Now how about some soder to soothe your throat?" The older boy asked.
"Sure!"
The two of them set off to a food stand.
Damian's eyes was then caught by a giant plush Man-Bat swinging from a game stand. He pulled Tim off to the game stand and he and Tim spent the next hour and a half following Damian around as he played every carnival game there until he won (which usually didn't take long as soon as he figured out how to win). Tim got to carry the Prizes.
"Uh-uh kid, one win per game." The guy behind the counter where you shot a clown in a mouth and it rose depending on how well you did said.
Damian scowled. "Cheapskate." He spat at him before stalking off to the next game. Tim gave the guy an apologetic look. "He'll have the stuffed snake." Tim said. The man gave it to him and Tim held up his hands full of other stuffed animals.
"Oh. Where do you want it then?"
"Put 'er 'round my neck." Tim said. The man wrapped it around Tim's neck. "Thanks." Tim said. Tim went to the next booth in the line where Damian was having an argument with the ring-toss guy.
"I did so get them all!"
"No you didn't, kid! Knocking down a bottle does not count as a point."
"Hey, hey. Brat, just play it again. It's not like B can't afford it." Tim scolded Damian. Damian glared at him and sighed, digging out a five.
"Fine." He growled, slapping it on the counter. "Gimme another three rings."
The guy glared at him but handed him the three rings. Damian weighted them in his hands, eyeballed the bottles and tossed them in quick succession. They all landed and Damian smirked triumphantly. "I'll have the giant Green Lantern."
Tim raised an eyebrow. "That's a Hal, you sure you want that one?"
"You are not the only charge of my father's who likes to annoy him with his petty rivalry with Harold Jordan." Damian said with a grin.
"Woah! How'd ya do that?" A familiar voice cried, behind them. The guy got up on a ladder to get the Green Lantern down, struggling with then enormous plushie. Tim turned around to see the older boy and Jon again. It was like there was a magnet between the four of them, no matter how much you pulled, they always came back. Jon ran up to Damian staring at all of the prizes in Tim's arms. "Woah! You won all that?"
"Yes." Damian said as he began walking off to the next game. At this rate Tim was going to need another five sets of arms. Tim struggled to take the Green Lantern from the booth guy but the other boy ran up to them and told the guy he'd take it.
"Seen you around a lot." The boy said.
"Yeah… Thanks for holding that." Tim said with an awkward laugh and smile.
The boy smiled back. His teeth were so white and straight… Tim wondered how ironic that really was. No. Bad Tim. Tim thought. You're here under protest to bond, not to hit on a handsome guy with his own young charge.
"Glad I could help." The boy said. "I'm Kon."
"Tim. The brat trying to show your kid how to annoy the game guy into giving him a present by shooting him with the BB guns is my little brother—Damian."
"He's not my kid. He's my brother." Kon explained kindly. "Brat, huh?"
"Adoptive brother. He hates me. The feeling is sometimes mutual." Tim explained.
"So what're you two doing here?"
"Our dad wanted us to bond."
"Oh." Kon said, understandingly.
Tim shrugged. "It's not so bad though, I mean, look at all these nice, fuzzy toys."
Kon laughed. It was a nice laugh. Tim blushed.
Damian and Jon ran up to the two of them their arms full of prizes. "Here ya go!" Jon said, dropping the prizes into Kon's arms. Damian did the same to Tim.
"Drake, I require more money, I have run out."
"Back pocket, just take the gold card." Tim said. Damian dug around and pulled out the credit card before returning the wallet to his pocket and running off with Jon on his heels.
"Shouldn't you cut him off? I don't know if you can hold any more." Kon advised.
"Keeps him busy. Besides, Dad won't let us home until, at least, six so, as long as he's busy and not complaining, I'm happy. Besides, this can be a lesson for Bruce." Tim said.
Kon snorted. "I can't believe you hate your brother so much."
Tim shrugged. "We've had a long time to piss one another off, and Damian excels at everything he tries." Tim nodded over to where Damian was showing Jon how to throw the baseball to hit the Joker-faces every time.
"Oh god, he isn't a bad influence, is he?"
"Sorry buddy, say goodbye to your sweet, younger brother."
Kon laughed as if Tim was joking.
"Well at least my parents won't blame me, they can blame you." Kon said.
"Glad to help."
"So you from around here?"
"Yeah, Gotham. You?"
"Nah. We're just here for about a week. We live in Metropolis, my parents are here on work so we're spending the day here while they do work-stuff."
"Oh? What do they do?"
"They're reporters." Kon said. The two of them found a bench.
"No way!"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, we're Waynes. You might have heard of us…?"
"You're Waynes?" Kon asked, eyes wide. "Wow, it must be fate then, us meeting."
"What do you mean?"
"We're Lane-Kents. As in, Lois L-"
"Lois Lane and Clark Kent? Wow! What're the odds?"
"Fate." Kon repeated.
Tim grinned at him. "Yeah, if you're not busy… you guys want to go out for a burger or something?"
Kon flushed. "Y-yeah. Sure. Wait-guys?"
"You and your brother." Tim said. He watched Kon's face fall. "That way, Jon and the Brat can become friends and when we go out you can drop him off at the Manor without needing to babysit."
Kon grinned. "When we go out?"
Tim stammered. "I was uh, trying to be smooth. Did it work?"
Kon swung a hand around Tim's shoulders. "It certainly did. You sure do seem to be a planner."
"Do you like that?"
"I like it now."
Jon and Damian ran over to give more prizes to Kon and Tim to hold.
"Hey, Jonno. You wanna go get burgers?" Kon asked.
"Do I? I'd love to!"
"Tim invited us out." Kon explained.
"We're getting hamburgers, now?" Damian asked, skeptically. "I thought we weren't going to spend more time together than necessary."
"We're not. We'd be leaving now." Tim explained. "Then I'll drop you two off at the arcade if you want. Tell Alfred to pick you two up."
"What's an Alfred?" Jon asked.
"He is our butler."
"Your butler?" Jon cried. "Wow! What kinda rich people do you gotta be to have a butler?"
"Waynes." Kon explained.
Jon's eyes widened. "Those Waynes?" Kon nodded. "Wow! That's so cool! Our Dad loves writing about you guys."
"So, burgers?" Tim asked.
"Then arcade? I must introduce Jonathan to Cheese Viking, so I may destroy him on the virtual gaming ground." Damian said.
"So you may try." Jon teased.
"So we're all in agreement." Tim said with a smile. As Damian and Jon raced to the cars, Tim added, "and while they're being busy, so will we?"
Kon grinned. "Definitely."