( bruce sighs, and damian shifts forward and hunches over a little more to press his face against his father's chest. hides the evidence of the little smile growing on his mouth against him. )
I told you. Batman always needs a Robin.
( a partner. someone to watch over him, to ensure he doesn't let himself sink too deep into the darkness. to be the light who guides him out of it when he starts feeling himself slipping. especially when he's this young, this vulnerable. without anyone beside him, bruce is a sinking ship with no land in sight. damian isn't alfred, but he can try to remove enough water to keep bruce from falling under. )
Even if you haven't had one yet.
( he hopes he will one day, even if damian knows how morbid that line of thought is. all of them, every child bruce has taken under his wing, had ended up there after suffering. he wishes he could find a way to save them from that; to keep grayson from watching his parents fall, todd from ending up alone in the bowery, drake from--well, drake's fine. but damian also knows how terribly everything else would be without them. where would damian be, if dick hadn't offered him the robin uniform? where would todd be, if his father hadn't ended up in prison? if his mother hadn't died? he assumes grayson be. . . happier if he'd grown up with his parents. it would have been better for him, but so much worse for the rest of the world. maybe hoping bruce will find dick makes damian a bad person, but he's been called worse. )
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I told you. Batman always needs a Robin.
( a partner. someone to watch over him, to ensure he doesn't let himself sink too deep into the darkness. to be the light who guides him out of it when he starts feeling himself slipping. especially when he's this young, this vulnerable. without anyone beside him, bruce is a sinking ship with no land in sight. damian isn't alfred, but he can try to remove enough water to keep bruce from falling under. )
Even if you haven't had one yet.
( he hopes he will one day, even if damian knows how morbid that line of thought is. all of them, every child bruce has taken under his wing, had ended up there after suffering. he wishes he could find a way to save them from that; to keep grayson from watching his parents fall, todd from ending up alone in the bowery, drake from--well, drake's fine. but damian also knows how terribly everything else would be without them. where would damian be, if dick hadn't offered him the robin uniform? where would todd be, if his father hadn't ended up in prison? if his mother hadn't died? he assumes grayson be. . . happier if he'd grown up with his parents. it would have been better for him, but so much worse for the rest of the world. maybe hoping bruce will find dick makes damian a bad person, but he's been called worse. )