I own nothing. Characters belong to DC.

Nell Little and Colin Wilkes naturally get along. Damian Wayne tries to do the same.

Countdown to the Holidays

I: Friends

Damian's eyes readjusted to the dim lit space as he padded back into the room. He paused in front of the television screen. The movie plot had not seemed to develop during the time he had retreated to the kitchen.

"Hey, down in front!" The call made the boy cast a baleful half- hearted glare at the tangle of blankets on the couch. Red hair and cocoa skin peaked out from beneath the clashing colours that made up the mountain of quilts and comforters; breathy snickers slipped out too. In Mrs. Little's modest front room the mute glow from the television highlighted Colin's freckles and Nell's round cheeks. The two were close together under the mountain of covers, limbs sprawled carelessly. Damian tentatively stepped towards the armchair he had vacated earlier. Standing on the other side of the couch, it was relatively clear of the amalgam of fabric and safe.

"Did you find some water?" Nell sat up; the soft construct of thick cloth caved in. Her small fingers pulled a swath of tartan from red strands carefully combing the other child's bangs into place. Colin grinned, just like Dick said normal children do. When they both looked at him, grins undimmed by the flickering shadows cast by the set, his lips only twitched in what felt like a tight grimace. In a jerky move he held up the clear bottle.

"You want more candy?" There was a flash of small brightly wrapped foil. Colin's hands looked sticky and Damian did not have to feign irritation. The grit from the earlier ingested chocolate coated his teeth.

"I still fail to see the point of this."

"Because the best time to watch any holiday movie is after Halloween and before Thanksgiving." Nell held up the plate with Alfred's cookies (his contribution). "Still okay to watch scary movies but not too early for Thanksgiving or Christmas ones."

"Plus the candy is so much cheaper right after Halloween." Colin's face was made of angles in the pale light that steeped the room.

"Like anyone would notice," Damian grumbled. No one in the city really enjoyed a holiday that seemed like a calling card to anyone who wore a costume more than once a year. "In Gotham, everyday is Halloween."

The comment prompted more laughter, light and so unlike anything he had ever felt. Nell still held the plate. Darting forward to grab a cookie, scrawny arms circled his stomach, pulling him down. He fought the thinner boy's grasp yet found himself being pushed into the impossibly small space between the two. Messy curls brushed his cheek and a too sharp elbow was pressed flush to his hip. He cursed. The draped covers limited his vision to the set, curbed by the figures on each side of him like blinders. The movie had finally developed enough for a minor male character to die- or at least it was implied by the swelling music and the slow fade to black.

Nell pulled the blankets further over their heads. Colin dropped bits of cookie all down his side. Cocooned in the dark warmth he huffed out a short, breathless bark as the taller boy's head nodded, then finally rolled from his shoulder to the couch. Under the voluminous layers he let Nell crawl over him to disappear out of view then reappear, settling in on the other side of Colin with markers. She doodled laboriously on an exposed cheek while he dotted every freckle he could see in sharpie. Then he scrawled THIS END UP near the finer auburn hair close to the temple.

Nell breathed quiet giggles into small palms. The pull felt natural as the edge of his mouth ticked upward. He had to connect some of the freckles to write FRAGILE underneath.

AN: I figured it would not be such a far stretch to make a universe where these three are friends. While the drabbles will take place over the holiday season they are not meant to be Thanksgiving-sy or Christmas/ winter- themed, per se. I am hoping to feature everyone (and post regularly until January 01).

Thanks for reading.