"I got you a present"

Damian was being secretive. Switching tabs on his browser when Dick walked into the room. Hiding whatever magazines he was reading. Walking out of Dick's bedroom when he really had no reason to be in there. It was suspicious all around, and Dick trusted Damian, he really did. He didn't think he was making some plan to murder Tim in his sleep, or trying to figure out a way to defect to Jason's side of the family and go on a killing spree of the Gotham Villains. Dick trusted the kid to not hurt the family and stick to the morals he was taught while he was his Robin. He just didn't trust his little brother to get help if said little brother was the one in danger of being hurt.

Some of that was the Al'Ghul pride and need to maintain an aura of invincibility that Damian could never quite shake. Just like the slight accent to his voice, his upbringing under Talia would always be with him for good and bad. Dick would be a liar if he didn't admit most of that unwillingness to seek help was his fault, though.

He'd tried to make sure that Damian knew Dick would always be there if he needed help. That he would never look down on his brother for showing weakness. Damian even seemed to believe him, most days. The problem was the kid desperately needed to make those around him proud, and like most little kids (God, he wasn't even twelve years old, despite what he'd already done and seen) he tried to impress the people he liked through imitation. Namely copying his big brother's unwillingness to seek help from others when he needed it. Dick had never quite mastered asking for help without feeling like a failure. It was a trait he shared with most of the bat family, and Damian wasn't dumb. He saw the difference between words and behavior.

So Dick was worried. If Talia was trying something and Damian was in some kind of danger or even if he was just in emotional pain, Dick didn't believe the kid wouldn't try to solve his problem alone. He may no longer be the one responsible for raising Damian or taking care of his day to day needs, but he still cared. Plus if he waited for Bruce to notice something was wrong, half of Gotham would end up in flames first.

If he wanted to find out what was going on the most obvious first stop was Damian's browsing history. He didn't think the kid wouldn't delete everything he was looking at if he really didn't want Dick to know, but there was always a chance he'd leave something behind in the old "It's not asking for help if someone just happens to find out and volunteer their aid" logic. He might have personal experience with this tactic.

Damian was out with Alfred picking up supplies for his school project on National Hero's Day. Like half of Gotham's youth and to absolutely no ones surprise, he'd picked Batman as his subject. Personally Dick had always liked to pick Superman. The look on Bruce's face as he tried to pretend he wasn't jealous of Uncle Clark always made it worthwhile. Damian was still too insecure in his place in the family to pick anyone else. He was getting better, and Dick expected to him start tweaking Bruce's nose about other heroes within a couple years.

The laptop was easy to find and even easier to break into. He didn't purposefully try to find out everyones passwords. He just had a lot of training in picking up on these sorts of things, and no real reason to let anyone in his family have enough privacy that they could get themselves killed. They'd all done it to him before. He felt justified in his mistrust.

All his recent searches seemed to be surrounding his project. General Batman history, known associates, and any recent big news stories. Damian already knew all this stuff, but it was good to check what was public knowledge at the moment. The public could be a little slow on figuring things out. Sometimes they could get some really weird ideas about their heroes and it paid not to contradict them. Hell, some folks thought there was only one Robin. He wasn't sure how that was supposed to work considering how long ago he'd started wearing the scaly panties, but he couldn't say there weren't stranger things out there than a never aging kid hero.

Browsing history was a bust. Files and documents didn't turn up much more. There was a file on Dick listing his likes and dislikes along with some favorite places. Damian had apparently been stalking him both in real life and social media. Which was rather sweet, even if he would have to make sure that Damian knew non-vigilantes didn't understand case files on your loved ones were a sign of how important they are to you not a sign of how likely you are to kidnap and keep them imprisoned in your basement. Double lives could be hard.

He tried to locate the magazines Damian had been reading next. He searched the bedroom thoroughly, carefully replacing things were he found them afterward. Damian would know he'd been here either way, but he didn't need to make it obvious. He found a few magazines, no porn kid still hadn't hit puberty, mostly on motorcycles, engineering, and weapons, but the only thing that looked hide worthy was a teen magazine. Its cover proclaimed "10 Ways To See If He Likes You" and "Fifteen Ways To Show You Care"! Steph must have given it to him. This would explain why he was hiding what he was reading, though. The advice inside wasn't too bad just generic "Give them a thoughtful gift" and "Tell them how much they mean to you". Nothing he would have to worry about Damian embarrassing himself trying to implement.

He could have left it at that. Walked away and accepted that Damian's behavior was just resulting from his attempts to understand those around him, but he'd been raised by Batman. Paranoia ran deep. He'd rather spend an afternoon chasing his tail and everything be fine, than walk away at the easy answer only to have someone he loves getting hurt.

Damn, that meant he was left with the boring options for finding out what was going on. Reviewing house and cave surveillance videos and constructing a time map of Damian's recent known locations.

—

Several hours past time when the shopping trip should have ended, Damian and Alfred arrived home carrying a couple bags of supplies for his school project and box full of something that looked suspiciously like it wasn't.

Dick had managed to put together a clearer picture of what Damian had been up to recently, and it had erased whatever ease he'd felt after searching the kid's room. As far as he could tell, approximately a month ago Damian had spent a Saturday sorting through newspapers and news magazine looking for something. Marking some pages for what he assumed was a later more in depth reading and discarding others. Dick couldn't make out what they were about from the security feed, but between what he could see of the pictures on the articles and the names of papers on the front, he was able to hunt down online copies of nearly all of them.

There was nothing tying the articles together as far as he could tell. Most were centered around heroes and villains in Gotham, but one was about a drug ring Wally had just broken up in his own city. Roy made an appearance in another article as well, that one wasn't even about a crime. Just a speculation piece about Arsenal in general. A few more outside heroes and league members showed up as well. He'd even bothered to make some calls to see if any of the heroes noticed anything odd going on in the events featured. They couldn't give him any answers that would explain Damian's interest.

The rest of the month showed Damian spending an inordinate amount of time outside of the manor. He tried not to judge Bruce for not noticing. He was busy and Damian was very well trained. Still, he felt if he'd still been Damian's primary caretaker he'd have noticed his absence. He couldn't find out what Damian was looking at on his computer, though. The boy was meticulous about pointing his computer away from the camera.

That left finding out where Damian was spending his time. Oracle had written them some very nice public camera tracking software a while back, and Dick was able to track him back to one of Bruce's safe houses. The camera inside had been put on a 24 hour loop as soon as Damian arrived. Dick could confirm he'd spent his time there and had brought several bags to it. He had no idea what as in them, they were different sizes, nothing consistent.

He was about to head out to the safe house himself when Damian and Alfred arrived home carrying a couple bags of supplies for his school project and box full of something that looked suspiciously like it wasn't. Several hours past time when the shopping trip should have ended, he noted.

A glance to his left showed he'd built quite a big file with his findings. Reminded him of one of Bab's old jokes. Case files are how bats say I love you. He'd hope Dami would take it that way. The fact the kid had been doing the same thing meant nothing. Pointing out hypocrisy never helped heal hurt feelings.

—

He spent more time than he'd like putting off the inevitable. Enough time for Alfred and Damian to get everything inside an up to Damian's room. Well time to practice what he preaches. He'd have to at least try asking his little brother what was going on.

Damian was in the middle of opening the mystery box, when Dick walked into his room. The boy looked startled, quickly slamming the box shut. "Grayson! Don't you know how to knock." Damian said indignantly.

Dick reached back and quickly rapped his knuckles on the open door. "Knock, knock" he chirped, trying to sound cheerful, "What's in the box little D?"

"Nothing, just a few craft materials Pennyworth and I acquired. My 'teachers' insisted on a diorama to illustrate my essay." Damian complained. It was a fairly good attempt at deflection, but Dick had been distracting with chatter and petty complaints since before Dami had been born. It would be several years yet before he stood a chance at pulling one over on him.

"Neat why don't I help. It's been a while since we did something non case related together" Dick said as he walked into the room.

"That won't be necessary. I can complete such a simple task on my own" Damian stated, crossing his arms and eying Dick suspiciously.

Dick reached out and ruffled Damian's hair "Ah, I know that. The point is to spend time together, not because I don't think you can do it on your own." He reached out to open the box.

Damian grabbed his forearm before he got the chance "Keep your hands to yourself Grayson. Do you have no respect for other people's property." Whelp that confirmed it. Definitely not school supplies. There wasn't much point in continuing to beat around the bush.

"Dami, what's in the box" He was very careful to keep himself from dipping into his patrol voice. Damian was not a criminal and this was not an interrogation. He was concerned for him not about him.

"I told you already!" Damian said, voice raised but not yet a yell.

He had to pull the band aid off quick. Lay his cards out on the table and hopefully get to the bottom of this "I know about the safe house-" "What!?" "-and the research you've been doing. I care about you Damian and I'm worried. Just tell me what's going on." He emphasized that last part. He didn't want any doubt in Dami's mind about why he was asking.

"Nothing is going on." Damian denied. At least he was calmer

"We both know that's not true." He waited until Damian looked him in the eye before continuing. "Are you in danger?" Dick asked. No reaction. "Has Talia reached out to you?"

"My mother has nothing to do with this!" Damian did yell this time. Talia was a touchy subject, it wasn't exactly an unexpected reaction, but he still felt bad. If it wasn't for Talia's last attempt to interfere by messing with Damian's spine, something Dick still had nightmares about, he wouldn't ask at all, but he couldn't risk the chance of something like that ever happening again.

"Then what is it." Dick tried to make his voice placating. It didn't seem to do any good.

"Fine, you wish to know so badly," Damian threw open the box grabbed something from inside and shoved it into Dick's hand, "Here!" he stared at the object.

It was a small painting of Nightwing swinging between building in Gotham. It was beautifully done like all of his little brother's work, "Oh, um" He was confused as he looked up at Damian.

Damian seemed to get that he needed to explain more "Common modes of showing appreciation for another person's presence is to give gifts on holidays dedicated to them, such as Valentines day or Father's day. There is no Elder Adoptive Brother's Day, though, and I am expected to give gifts to all family members on Christmas day, with no concern for if I disdain them or not. Pennyworth suggested Hero's day could be an acceptable stand in for a more appropriate Holiday, but you ruined the surprise!" Damian rushed through his answer getting more and more agitated as he went.

Well now he felt like an ass, "Oh, have you been working on this all month" He asked as he moved forward to see the rest of box's contents.

"Yes" Damian was avoiding his eyes.

"The research and the safe house were so you could do this." He confirmed unnecessarily. The box contained quite a lot of sketches, pencil colors, and a few paintings. While the one he'd been hand and a few others were of himself, most were of various other heroes. A couple he recognized as recreations of some of the photos in his bedroom. Even with Damian's skill he would have been hard pressed to do all this in so little time. He was a little awed to be the recipient of such a gift. Damian didn't do anything small.

"Reference for my art and place I could create without you snooping. My efforts seem to have been in vain." He sound a little nervous and a lot disheartened. He was still young and afraid that any misstep in his plans meant complete failure. Dick needed to dispel that notion.

"I wouldn't say that. Their beautiful, and I'm very surprised." He gave Damian a happy smile and tried to will all his sincerity to come out in his words.

"Really?" It reminded him of a puppy to watch Dami perk up at the praise.

"Yep, I love them. They were very sweet and very thoughtful." He pull Damian into a hug and plopped a kiss onto his hair, while he was still to shocked and happy to put up a proper fight "Now why don't you sit down with me and tell me about them"