Colin was already sitting on his bed.
"I can see you've made yourself at home."
"D-Dick let me in. He's really nice."
While Damian scowled at that, he sat across for Colin on the bed, and mirrored him by sitting cross-legged. Then he noticed the shoebox in Colin's lap.
"What's that?"
Colin looked confused for a moment, like he didn't realize he was holding anything. He looked down.
"Oh!" He said suddenly. "This is just some stuff I thought we could look at."
Damian frowned and tilted his head as Colin tipped the shoebox upside down on the bed, emptying it of all newspaper clippings, photos, and nick-knacks.
"I figured-" He continued, pushing his hand into the small pile and sorting through it. "-since you're my best friend, you deserve to see this. No..." Confusion highlighted the small boys face. He shrugged it off. "Well, 'Deserve' isn't really the right word. You do deserve to, don't get me wrong, but I want you to see it."
Damian reached out and picked up a clipping first. Across the top, it said 'Unlikely Superhero Pair' and below that was a picture of them, except Damian was Robin and Colin was Abuse.
"Isn't this a bit... suss?" Damian asked, scanning the article, eyes falling on the small pile of them Colin had collected.
"Maybe if I were an old-man with a bad record. But I'm ten, and its totally normal. You should see my room- well, my part of the room. I've got posters up of superheroes everywhere I can reach."
Damian and Colin never stuck around the orphanage. The nuns there didn't really trust Damian.
He read the rest of the articles, and even Damian had to admit, there were a few good (And by good I mean menacing.) pictures of them together.
Damian spied a thimble and picked it up. "How is this of personal value?"
"Oh... it's a kiss." Colin had a blush in his cheeks when he said that.
"I'm... not following you." Damian frowned.
"It's from that old story, Peter Pan. Wendy asks Peter if he wants a kiss, and he doesn't know what they are so he holds out his hand. She gives him a thimble because he'd get embarrassed otherwise. Later in the story he gives her a button."
"..." Damian blinked, weighing the thimble in his hand.
"-We read it at the orphanage years ago." Colin hung his head. "The nuns... gave all the boys thimbles and all the girls buttons. I only kept it because it was the first book I read all the way through."
"Oh." Damian put it down without comment, and Colin could tell he was using all his superhero training to hide his grin.
Damian picked up a small slip of paper. Upon unfolding it, he saw it simply had 'Colin' written on it in green crayon. The crayon in question was also there.
"Well?"
"I had a sister, once." Colin winced. "Sort of. One of the people who adopted me- She had a daughter. Lila. She did this... because she wanted to know how to spell my name. She said 'If we're going to be friends, I want to spell it right' . I got sent back to the orphanage after her mother hospitalized her."
He winced under Damian expressionless gaze. "I don't know why I kept this, either..."
"Colin, you needn't be embarrassed. If these things have sentimental value, then you don't have to make excuses because you're worried what I think." Damian tutted.
Colin grinned weakly. He was glad to have such a smart, understanding friend.
Damian put the slip of paper carefully into the shoebox, and reached for the photos.
There were a few of Colin, a few of some kids at the orphanage, one of a nun, and quite a few of Damian.
"Where did you get this!" Damian squawked indignantly, picking up a picture of himself, asleep. "You didn't-"
"No!" Colin laughed. "I came over one day and you were asleep. Timothy and Dick were kidding around-"
"How dare they!" He raged. "I swear to god-"
"But look at it!" Colin argued. "Its a really nice picture and you're not frowning or punching something or anything!"
Damian froze for a second and laughed. Really Laughed. It wasn't for long, nor very loud, but a small burst of child-like laughter escaped his lips.
"It's not that hard to find a peaceful picture of me!"
"It really is!" Colin nodded, although he was shocked. "You always look unhappy or you're moving too fast."
Damian shook his head. "Come on, lets go get a drink."
"Okay."
"We can kill Drake and Grayson while we're out there."
All traces of the laughter were gone from him, but it had been there.
Colin was happy.