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Damian watches Tim scurry around the kitchen, making coffee. He has the attention span of a squirrel on crack, so he keeps getting distracted.
“Drake, can you please stop that? You’ve been trying to make coffee for the last ten minutes. You are going to drive me mad.”
Tim freezes like a deer in headlights as soon as Damian says his name. Then he sticks his tongue out, causing Damian to roll his eyes. He stands up, crossing the kitchen in two steps. He finishes Tim’s coffee for him before Tim can do anything other than stare at him in shock. Damian gestures with the coffee in Tim’s direction. Tim takes it, then takes a small sip.
“This is how I like it.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I made it that way.”
“Hm.”
Tim sits down at the table, drinking his coffee contentedly. Damian sits back down and grabs his homework to keep working on the math problems.
“Is that hard?” Tim asks without looking up from his cup.
Damian scoffs.
“No, but I have to finish it if I’m going on patrol later. Father isn’t happy because he got another call from my school about me not paying attention in class.”
“Were you paying attention?”
“Not really. It’s hard to listen to someone boring talk about something that I know enough about that I could teach the class.”
Tim hums, his face thoughtful.
“I can understand that. I struggled with getting a normal education too, but I didn’t have anyone to force me. So, I just took a test so I didn’t have to finish high school. However, the upside is that it doesn’t take you a long time to do it, because you’re way too smart for it.”
Damian laughs.
“You’re right. I’m already done, even if it was annoying, it didn’t take long.”
Tim nods as he finishes his coffee.
“Think of school as a place to train your patience and people skills. Those are two things that you still need to work on, and it works to think about it as something useful. You’ll just continue to lose patience, and get more frustrated if you think of it as something that you’re being forced to do, and that it doesn’t help anything. Then it will feel like a colossal waste of time.”
Damian nods.
“You say that, but it is a colossal waste of time.”
Tim smirks.
“Maybe.”
Damian stands up.
“Well, I’m going to give this to Father for him to review, then I’m heading down to the cave to work on a cold case. Will you be there?”
“Yeah, I have a few cases to finish, but I don’t have any day job work to do, so I barely have any work today.”
“That’s a first.”
Tim glares at him before turning back to washing his cup. Damian walks to Bruce’s study, then knocks.
“Come in.”
Damian walks in, marches right up to Bruce’s desk, and drops the packet onto Bruce’s desk.
“Here you go.”
Bruce nods.
“Good job. I’ll check it before lunch.”
Damian nods, then walks back out. He heads to the Batcave where Tim is already working. They sit in silence for a while before Dick walks down the stairs.
“Hey, you two.”
Tim looks up while Damian barely glances at Dick before looking back at the knife that he’s sharpening. There’s a small pile of sharpened knives at his side already.
“What’s up?” Tim asks, setting his hands away from the keys and into his lap.
“You remember the cookies that Jason was going to make for Bruce’s event?”
Tim narrows his eyes.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Well, he’s sick, so he can’t make them. No one really has time to run to the store, so can one of you either go to the store, or make them?”
Damian sets the knife down to look at Dick.
“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll make something. Do you wanna help, Dami?”
Damian cocks his head to the side.
“I’ve never tried to bake before. I would be willing to assist you.”
“Did he agree to bring a specific kind of cookie?”
“I don’t know. Let me text Bruce. I really have to get out of here, and get back to work.”
Tim nods.
“If I have any other questions, I’ll text Bruce directly.”
“Ok, he didn’t say anything specific.”
“Ok, creative freedom.”
Dick nods, then heads back up the stairs. Tim stands up, stretching. Damian also stands, then follows Tim up the stairs. Once they get there, Tim starts grabbing ingredients.
“Alright, just to be safe, we’re going to avoid peanuts of any kind. Those are a common allergen.”
Damian nods.
“We’re going to make s’more cookies. I have a great recipe for those.”
Tim starts grabbing ingredients, and putting them on the counter. Damian watches since he doesn’t know what goes in the cookies, and Tim isn’t saying anything about it.
“You should grab one of the larger glass bowls, and the two cup measuring cup.”
Damian walks over to the cabinet, and fishes around until he finds the correct bowl. Tim is done pulling out ingredients at that point, so he puts Damian to his right as he starts measuring out ingredients.
“I’m putting my dry ingredients into this smaller bowl so that I can mix them before they go into our wet ingredients. We have to mix the wet ingredients before we add the dry ones so that it doesn’t get over mixed. Once you add the flour and stuff, you want to mix it until it’s just barely combined. Do you see how I’m leveling off the flour?”
Damian nods, watching Tim level off the flour with the back of a knife.
“Ok, you should start adding the wet ingredients into the bowl that you pulled out. Let me write down all the measurements real fast.”
Tim pauses while he writes, but then offers the sticky note to Damian. Damian adds the first ones in, then Tim walks over with the bowl of dry ingredients.
“You should crack the eggs into the measuring cup, and beat them. It helps reduce the possibility that shells get into the batter, and it makes it easier to mix.”
Damian hums, cracking the eggs. Tim watches with a hand on the counter, leaning against it.
“Am I doing this right?”
Tim nods, smiling.
“It’s interesting that you’re so timid learning new things.”
Damian scoffs.
“I’m not being timid, I’m being thorough. Now, give me the whisk so I can mix this up.”
Tim offers it to him, and he continues with what he’s doing. They finish up the batter, and Tim drops the first few cookies onto the sheet before offering the scoop to Damian.
“You can start dropping them, and I’ll press them down.”
Damian does as he’s told, and they’re able to get the first batch in within a few minutes.
“So, what have you been working on?” Damian asks.
“Oh, there’s this case with a string of robberies. Each one is done by one of three people, and they’ve also done big heists together. We’re pretty sure that they’re a team, and just work different robberies. What cold case were you working on before you started sharpening your knives?”
“Oh, it was someone that was murdering prostitutes. I figured out who did it yesterday, but I had to figure out where they are now. They’re dead now, so it didn’t take me long. Gave me time for other things.”
Tim nods. They keep talking about the details of Tim’s case while the cookies finish baking. Tim offers one to Damian once they’ve cooled enough to eat, and he takes it gently. Tim takes a bite out of his cookie immediately while Damian just stares at his.
Something feels off.
His fingers are starting to tingle like the blood flow was cut off. Damian wonders about the odd feeling, and decides to say something if it continues. Then he takes a bite out of the cookie. Almost immediately his face starts to feel hot, and there’s a lump in his throat that he can’t seem to get rid of. He frowns, confused. Then his lips and throat start to swell. He coughs, catching Tim’s attention away from his cookie. Tim also looks confused for a second before his eyes widen, and realization hits him.
“Shit.”
That’s all Damian hears before his knees go out from underneath him, and his head spins. Someone’s hands are on his shoulders, and he forces himself to focus on that until Tim comes back into focus. Damian’s still dizzy, and he can’t quite seem to grasp what Tim is saying, even though his lips are definitely moving. If Damian focuses hard enough on reading Tim’s lips, he can tell that he’s talking to someone else. Probably 911, but then Tim turns his attention back to Damian.
Tim looks panicked, and Damian can read his own name on Tim’s lips. Then everything fades to black with a dizzying swoop. He wakes up to a lot of sounds, but they feel far away. There’s a beeping sound that’s closer, and someone breathing heavily next to him. He opens his eyes to realize that there’s an oxygen mask on his face. Further inspection, and he realizes that Tim is the one next to him. His head is on top of his hands, and he’s snoring lightly. Damian looks around, but they’re the only two in the room. Tim picks his head up as Damian moves his hand to take off the oxygen mask, and Damian dimly notices that Tim was laying his head on Damian’s hand along with his own.
“Damian.”
Damian pulls his hand away from his face.
“Drake,” he replies, wincing at his own scratchy voice.
“Hey, Bruce is talking to the doctor outside. He’ll be back in a few minutes, but in the meantime, how are you feeling?”
“I think I’m ok. What happened?”
“You had an allergic reaction to something in the cookies, but they don’t know what it was yet. Is there anything that you know you’re allergic to?”
Damian shakes his head.
“Ok, that’s fine. I was hoping that you would have said something if you did.”
“Yes, I would have. Anaphylaxis is not something to be taken lightly.”
“You’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
Bruce walks in, rubbing his eyes. He looks tired.
“Father.”
Bruce gives Damian a small smile.
“Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?”
“I’m alright, I think. I still feel tired.”
“That makes sense. We’re going to figure out what you’re allergic to, and you have to stay the night, but then we can go home. Dick is taking care of your pets right now. He rushed back as soon as he heard.”
“He’s also going to throw out whatever caused this once we figure out what it was,” Tim adds.
“Alright, thank you, both of you.”
Bruce brushes Damian’s hair out of his face with a soft smile. Bruce makes Tim go home that night, and Damian is released the next morning. He’s holding Bruce’s hand when they walk into the house. Dick is over there in a second, having heard the door unlocking. He scoops Damian up, hugging him closely. Damian looks surprised, but pats Dick’s shoulder.
“Hey, Baby Bat. I thought I would hear from you guys after his allergy testing.”
“Yeah, it didn’t work out that way,” Bruce replies, locking the door.
“So, what was it?”
“Honey.”
“You’ve never had honey before yesterday?”
“I guess not,” Damian says, dropping his head onto Dick’s shoulder, and letting his eyes drift closed.
“I was so worried about you,” Dick whispers as he carries Damian into the living room. “So was everyone else though Jason won’t admit it. Cass called four times last night asking for more updates. Jason is coming by sometime this morning, and Tim didn’t sleep last night.”
Damian hums, barely absorbing the information. Tim is curled up in an armchair, and he waves as soon as he sees Damian and Bruce.
“Hello, Timothy,” Damian says, not picking his head up.
Tim smiles. “Hey.”
The door opens, and Jason walks in.
“You’re just in time, Jay. Damian and Dad got home,” Dick says, smiling at Jason.
“I can see that. How are you, Dames?”
Damian shrugs.
“I’m allergic to honey, so that’s stupid.”
Jason snorts. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone being allergic to honey. That’s a first for me, Baby Bat. Come on, Dick. Go to the couch. We’re going to watch movies, and let the kid get some sleep.”
Dick nods, and walks over to the couch. Bruce sits on one end while Jason sits on the other. Dick sits between them, and puts Damian in his lap. Tim stays in his armchair, but he’s watching the movie too. Jason turns on Jurassic Park, but Damian barely makes it through the first three scenes before he falls asleep surrounded by his family.