Authors Note: Just trying to get into Damien's head a little bit. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own/make money off of anything that has to do with Batman, DC, etc.

Rated: K+ for comments about female anatomy. Work/school friendly.

Title: Robin

Summary: Damien is studying.

Damien's dark eyes studied closely the worn, yellowed paper. He noticed the way the edges were curling and torn, brittle from time. The way the letters were fading and slowly sinking back into the paper. He analyzed the once bright colors and the way they were made to catch the eye and be followed. Followed to where ever they wanted to lead you.

Robin.

He centered his attention on the center and looked at the tall man. His blue eyes still shining through all this time and the way his muscles looked to be rippling as he waved to the crowd beyond, to Damien him self even. He shifted his eyes to the smaller woman beside the man. Slim and slight of stature with dark hair framing a gentle face, but you could tell she was strong and sure of herself from her hands on her hips pose and the smirk on her lips. They both embodied confidence and a sureness of them selves most people never felt.

Robin.

Finally Damien let his eyes rest on the one figure he had kept glancing to, but had yet to take in. The boy. So small and fragile looking. You could tell he was the man and woman's son. Not just from the dark mop of hair and the bright blue eyes, but even through an old poster Damien could see, just like the parents, the justification in him that he was here and this world was his. The boys bright costume shining for all to see, the little star of the circus.

Robin.

There was no way Dick Grayson could have been any older then Damien in this old poster. He looked so much different now then what he had been. He had skinny arms and legs, feet that looked too large for his body, a big grin showing off all the teeth he could. Damien looked at Grayson's face more closely. It was different then it was now. Not just because of age, but something he had a hard time trying to pinpoint the source of it.

It struck him then, it was the eyes. Grayson's eyes were still as blue as the sky, but it was what they now held that made them different. The poster held eyes of brightness and feats to be unmatched, of hope that would not dim because the future was his to make of it what he wanted. It held an understanding of the world around him and a happiness that he belonged to it.

Now, now Damien thought, those eyes were different. Those eyes saw Grayson climbing over a mountain to see that beyond was an even bigger one to climb, of holding on to darkness and the atrocities that could not be imagined within it, of a future that had little hope for what he wanted, but hoped that he could settle for. They held an understanding of the world with its dark covering and the tiny piercing of lights that still managed to come out somehow despite it and that he was a part of it as much as he fought against it.

"Robin!"

"What?" Damien asked sharply looking over his shoulder to his bedroom door.

Dick Grayson was leaning on the door frame staring at him. His blue eyes dark and tired. They struck Damien more so then normal. So different then the boy, he thought.

"Whatever you're staring at so hard," he said, "put it away we're going to go out on patrol early. Seems Poison Ivy has planted herself at the Gotham Botanical Gardens Charity Ball and is uprooting all the guests and generally sowing mayhem. We have to go weed her out and see what's going on."

Damien frowned and rolled his eyes.

"Your puns are deplorable Grayson," Damien sneered, "and unnecessary. I don't know why my father-"

Dick interrupted him, "Are you looking at women's boobs over there?" he asked curiously, his eyes narrowing and looking mischievous. His smile sly.

"No!" Damien said shoving the old poster in his desk drawer before Grayson could walk over and look at it, "Get out, I will be down in a minute," he ordered, turning away from the other man.

Grayson only laughed at Damien's expense and left his room, shutting the door as he went. Damien glanced back and glared at the door. He then reopened his desk drawer and pulled out the poster. He smoothed the wrinkle he had made in it and was relieved to see it had not ripped due to Grayson's, unseemly comment about a woman's breasts.

Shaking his head he looked once more at the boy that was, those bright eyes, and putting the poster away properly he stood and followed Grayson who was more now then just a Robin flying high on hopes and dreams, but a hero who knew how easy it was to lose those and was fighting for them instead.