[Fic] the real insanity
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Damian/Tim
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word count: c.580
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
A/N: For my angst bingo prompt 'insanity'.
***
They say he’s gone, but Tim knows better.
That’s what they said when Talia took him to her father, to the Lazarus pit, but Tim always knew he’d come back.
He just didn’t expect it to be like this. To find Damian roaming the streets, snarling at people, lashing out blindly; to have to subdue him and drag him back home; to find his skin smooth and unmarked, no sign of the cuts and bruises and burns that had covered his body before.
Tim’s almost frightened at first; he doesn’t know this boy. And it soon ascends into anger and fury and hatred like he’s never felt, because-
Damian is there; Tim can see it in his eyes when Tim comes near. He can sense it in the way that Damian calms a little when it’s Tim that comes with his food, and watches him with more curiosity than fear when he sits with him.
Tim is sure that Damian is there, but nobody else believes him.
He closes the door quietly behind him - Damian’s asleep now, and he doesn’t want to disturb him - and ignores Dick, who is leaning against the opposite wall.
“Hey,” Dick says sharply as Tim begins to walk away. “Tim!”
“Keep your voice down. He’s asleep.”
“You know he’s not...you don’t have to do this anymore.”
Tim keeps walking, pretends like he can’t hear Dick following him.
“It’s not him anymore.”
“You don’t know that!” Tim turns on Dick furiously, his voice low but forceful. “How would you even know? How much time have you spent in there with him? Have you even tried?”
He asks, but he doesn’t need to be told. Dick’s face says it all anyway. No, he hasn’t. He hasn’t tried to see Damian. He hasn’t spent hours with him feeding him and taking care of him and crooning to him to get him to sleep in his arms like Tim has.
“Bruce said-”
“Bruce says a lot of things, and none of them have ever been good for his son,” Tim says coldly.
“Tim!” Dick calls out desperately, but Tim is gone.
He needs to clear his head, get out onto the streets again, figure out a way to get Damian out of the Manor, someplace better. Someplace that he doesn’t associate with hurt and pain and accountability and a cold father and a name that nobody has been able to live up to for years - not in Bruce’s eyes, anyway.
Tim’s barely halfway down the road when his phone rings. He knows it won’t be Dick or Bruce, and he pulls over to answer the call.
“Timothy.”
“Ra’s. What do you want?”
“I want to help my grandson. And from what I hear, you do as well.”
“And what do you get out of it?”
“I do not wish to see my own flesh and blood suffer when he could be healed. And I can heal him - with your assistance.”
Tim doesn’t trust Ra’s for a second, but he doesn’t really trust anyone right now. He looks back at Wayne Manor and makes a silent promise to come back as soon as possible, to get Damian away. Away from Bruce and Dick, but not back to Ra’s and Talia, either. Just someplace away from his poisonous family, the real insanity. Someplace where he can know love instead of deception.
“Detective?”
“I’m listening.”
Pairing: Damian/Tim
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word count: c.580
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
A/N: For my angst bingo prompt 'insanity'.
***
They say he’s gone, but Tim knows better.
That’s what they said when Talia took him to her father, to the Lazarus pit, but Tim always knew he’d come back.
He just didn’t expect it to be like this. To find Damian roaming the streets, snarling at people, lashing out blindly; to have to subdue him and drag him back home; to find his skin smooth and unmarked, no sign of the cuts and bruises and burns that had covered his body before.
Tim’s almost frightened at first; he doesn’t know this boy. And it soon ascends into anger and fury and hatred like he’s never felt, because-
Damian is there; Tim can see it in his eyes when Tim comes near. He can sense it in the way that Damian calms a little when it’s Tim that comes with his food, and watches him with more curiosity than fear when he sits with him.
Tim is sure that Damian is there, but nobody else believes him.
He closes the door quietly behind him - Damian’s asleep now, and he doesn’t want to disturb him - and ignores Dick, who is leaning against the opposite wall.
“Hey,” Dick says sharply as Tim begins to walk away. “Tim!”
“Keep your voice down. He’s asleep.”
“You know he’s not...you don’t have to do this anymore.”
Tim keeps walking, pretends like he can’t hear Dick following him.
“It’s not him anymore.”
“You don’t know that!” Tim turns on Dick furiously, his voice low but forceful. “How would you even know? How much time have you spent in there with him? Have you even tried?”
He asks, but he doesn’t need to be told. Dick’s face says it all anyway. No, he hasn’t. He hasn’t tried to see Damian. He hasn’t spent hours with him feeding him and taking care of him and crooning to him to get him to sleep in his arms like Tim has.
“Bruce said-”
“Bruce says a lot of things, and none of them have ever been good for his son,” Tim says coldly.
“Tim!” Dick calls out desperately, but Tim is gone.
He needs to clear his head, get out onto the streets again, figure out a way to get Damian out of the Manor, someplace better. Someplace that he doesn’t associate with hurt and pain and accountability and a cold father and a name that nobody has been able to live up to for years - not in Bruce’s eyes, anyway.
Tim’s barely halfway down the road when his phone rings. He knows it won’t be Dick or Bruce, and he pulls over to answer the call.
“Timothy.”
“Ra’s. What do you want?”
“I want to help my grandson. And from what I hear, you do as well.”
“And what do you get out of it?”
“I do not wish to see my own flesh and blood suffer when he could be healed. And I can heal him - with your assistance.”
Tim doesn’t trust Ra’s for a second, but he doesn’t really trust anyone right now. He looks back at Wayne Manor and makes a silent promise to come back as soon as possible, to get Damian away. Away from Bruce and Dick, but not back to Ra’s and Talia, either. Just someplace away from his poisonous family, the real insanity. Someplace where he can know love instead of deception.
“Detective?”
“I’m listening.”