etrayalogs | ( closed ) bred, born, and raised to kick your ass

( the touch is something he's so unfamiliar with. even with selina, when she'd reached out to touch him, he hadn't known how to react. it's just... been a long time. a very long time. since he's let anyone get close to him in any sort of way. there's alfred, but. even then. he keeps the man at arms length emotionally. or at least... he does his best to. right now he's currently regretting that with how everything is back in his gotham.

a slow look over to damian there, he stares to him. eyes soft. )

No. I'm not.

( currently, anyways. whether or not that's to change in the future— his future, he doesn't know.

he keeps his gaze there on damian. still soft. looks for himself— for the boy, bruce wayne, who died so many years ago in crime alley along with his parents. )

Family isn't just always blood. ( alfred isn't blood related to him and he's been the only sort of father figure he's had since his own father died. he has been, for so many years, his only family. ) It's the people you trust. That you care about. That you want to have in your life. That you'd do anything for.

( there are many languages people have used to communicate, touch being one of them. he and his father have spent countless nights training, learning how each other moves, training themselves to recognize movements that mean something is wrong. but touch like this is different. it's something damian has grown more accustomed to - the way bruce will reach out to him and place his hand against damian's cheek when he wants to make sure damian is looking at him, when he needs to ensure he hears him.

bruce's expression is one damian has grown familiar with, and it makes his own soften in return. this isn't his father, but it isn't one of the awful, nefarious other batmen he's spotted either. )

I know. ( voice soft, quiet. like it's a secret spoken just between them and not the walls of their empty house. ) My father showed me. I may not have siblings by blood, but I have many whom I would refer to as my family.

( he can't necessarily relate to that himself when it comes to siblings, but. they at least both have an understanding, it seems. how family extends beyond just blood.

where does that leave the two of them? their blood is similar enough, as far as the tests show, that it does make them family by blood. yet they don't know each other beyond the two interactions they've had with each other thus far. names exchanged, little bits here and there offered. beyond that, they're truly strangers to one another and while damian may have experienced something like this already with his own version of his father, bruce hasn't. at all. much as he hasn't experienced any of this otherworldly game of chess they've supposedly been dropped into here. he's... still trying to figure it out. trying to figure so much out on his own.

a glance downwards, he takes a moment before he's looking back to damian there. )

I'm not him and I have no intention of replacing him. But I'm still here. Much as I can be.

( because even he has the self-awareness of how easily it is for him to become lost in the batman. lost in his own vengeance. )

I know.

( that he's here. that even if he truly wanted to replace bruce, he's incapable of it. damian's relationship with his father is different, because of what they've been through together. there is no replicating it. if his father were to forget everything (again) and they needed to restart, it wouldn't be the same either.

damian drops his hand back down onto the counter. keeps his eyes focused on bruce's. )

I'm one of several who have been Robin. One of two who currently carry the name. The other is also here. We wear similar regalia and answer to the same name. Despite how often I have considered eradicating him from the playing field, the other Robin is my brother. My family. ( a warning as much as it is a statement. he won't introduce tim to bruce, nor will he mention jason. they all have complex relationships with batman, damian is not one to overinform nor go into it. but given the combination of different universes, he feels ensuring bruce knows the other robin is already accounted for is important. )

And I'm still Robin, the blood son of Batman. I will need to--recalibrate some, but I'll be here, to watch your back. To remind you of who you are.

( he takes into consideration what damian says. what he tells him. how he... feels, in a sense. things bruce doesn't often discuss himself, even with alfred. because of course he'd simply push it all down. ignore it. pretend it doesn't exist as it simply gets in the way of doing what he needs to do. being who he needs to be.

still, he watches as damian's hand drops down. looks to himself in the mirror. then pulls back some, reaching for a hand towel to pat his face dry with. )

You should stay here. ( not the apartments, he means. ) It's your home. Also has more than enough space for your friend.

( goliath. )

( bruce pulls back, and damian scoots himself off the edge of the counter so he's back up on his feet. hesitates for a moment, before he's leaning in and - wrapping his arms around bruce. tightly, but he lets go quickly. bruce will understand the gesture, which is the important bit. )

I'll stay where I want regardless of your opinion on the matter.

( he hasn't settled in yet, but his room in the manor still exists. his cot is still there. damian doesn't have intentions of moving elsewhere. )

You're not alone. Don't forget that.

Edited 2024-04-07 01:48 (UTC)

( the embrace is unexpected. genuinely catches him off guard and he stands there. hand raising some. too slow to press his palm against damian's shoulder blade, but. it brushes past it, nonetheless, when he goes and pulls away from him.

quiet, he stares to him. tries to digest the thought of not being alone here when he very much is. it's not as if alfred's here after all. though he gets what it is damian's trying to tell him. )

I'm sure you'll remind me if I do.

( a nod of his head is all damian offers before he takes a step back and heads out of the bathroom.

they're both going to need time. to adjust, to recalibrate as damian put it earlier. there's a lot at stake, and he doesn't - damian knows his way of handling others is different, that it took time after he'd first shown up. damian turned his back on everything he had known, rejected his mother's hand, to follow in bruce's footsteps, and yet he had still doubted damian's intentions.

he's older now. knows himself better. knows bruce better. damian will figure it out. for now, he'll just - give them both a little space. )

( closed ) bred, born, and raised to kick your ass

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