Batman drabble
Pairing: Dick/Damian
A/N: I wanted this to be phone sex. It didn’t work out that way. At all. I apologize for the angst. >_>
-
The phone conversation was stilted, awkward, and downright boring to the point where Damian had taken to spinning his chair in slow circles in an effort to keep his mind from crumbling into ash and sifting out through his ears.
“So…how’s-”
Damian hit the corner of his desk with his outstretched foot and put an abrupt stop to his spinning. “Grayson, if you even try to ask me how my studies are going, I’m going to take our relationship and put it in the same category as Father’s.”
It wasn’t fair. Dick was the most charismatic person he had ever met and normally had trouble shutting up when it came to charming the pants off anyone. Just when exactly did things between them change so drastically and why did Damian miss that memo?
Rich laughter washed over him and Damian was torn between basking in it and being on his guard.
Dick’s amusement seemed to help loosen him up from whatever he had been so caught up on, because his next words sounded far too casual for Damian’s liking.
“Listen, about last Thursday, I-”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t care.” Only one of those sentences were true.
Damian angrily pushed his foot against his desk and sent himself spinning in the opposite direction.
“Okay, but I’m still getting this vibe from you that says I should explain-”
Damian pulled his leg in and sunk into his chair as the world continued to whirl by.
“Don’t,” he cut in sharply. “You were raised by Bruce Wayne. It only makes sense that you’ve picked up on a few of his habits.”
The silence on the other end of the line was almost deafening and as he slowed to a stop, Damian couldn’t help but wonder if his words were callous enough to have stuck a nerve.
Feet propped on the edge of his chair, he pushed himself up so that he was sitting a bit straighter. “Dick?”
“It’s not like that.” The soft-spoken tone was tinted with both hurt and anger.
The urge apologize caught Damian completely off guard and he could feel his eyes narrowing into a glare. “Is that so? Because your past experiences and current habits apparently beg to differ.”
“Okay, so maybe I don’t have the best track record, but it’s not like I’m trying to land myself in these types of situations. Hell, I’ve even been trying to avoid them lately!”
Neither of them were stupid. Damian was well aware that Dick knew of his developing…emotions. But for some reason, the idea that he was trying to be sensitive about it only made it all worse.
“Avoid them altogether or only when there’s a chance that I’ll be around?”
It was an unfair challenge and Dick’s sigh only amplified the fact.
“Damian, look, if you were anyone else, I wouldn’t even bother taking the time to care. But that’s not the case at all. You - you’re - I don’t mind -” This time his sigh was one of frustration. “You know, I’m trying to apologize here.”
Damian stared dully at his bed in the distance, his chin nearly resting on his bent knees. “Why?”
“Because you’re different. Special.”
“Tt.” The words tumbled from his lips before Damian could even think to stop them. “Special like Barbara Gordon?”
This round of silence let Damian know that his question was being treated every bit like the slap in the face he unintentionally meant for it to be. Well, so what?
“You’re an idiot, Grayson.”
Damian dropped his feet to the floor and stood, his lip curling in disgust as he hit the ‘end’ button. Tossing the phone in the general direction of his gaming system, he left his room and headed for the manor’s nearest exit.
Normally, when his feelings got the best of him, Damian would head down to the cave to train. But right now, all he felt like doing was running.
The End.