( closed )

[imaginate]

Characters: Kyle Rayner, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Jim Kirk.
Date: Backdated to March 3rd.
Location: Metal Sector.
Situation: Bruce left B(
Warnings/Rating: None, will be added later if necessary.

Comments

DAMIAN WAYNE;

[imaginate]

[The kid is a tricky proposition even on the best of days. He's managed to get through, somehow, on previous occasions, just as Damian pierces Kyle's own armour when he can, in the way only he does. They're alike in some of the worst ways.]

[Which is why he knows that Damian will be quiet during practice, every line of him screaming confusion and pain. And why he says nothing, torn whether he should just face the kid or let him come on his own time. Kyle never kept walls around his own heart even if he guarded his own mind fiercely, but Damian's heart was a prison: once in one could rarely leave, and nothing could scale those high walls, barbed wire, and electrified fences.]

[He chases Damian down a few nights later, on patrol, dressed only in civvies. He used to bring ice cream for them, sometimes, the younger Robins, when he caught them following him on patrol, and he chooses to stand in a deserted alley with some tacos, and holds one up to the empty sky.]

Know you're there, little bat.

[demon_brat]

[ Damian stills. For a long, long moment, he doesn't stir at all, not even breathing. He doesn't quite consider ignoring the call, but not quite. Because it's Rayner. And because things are still difficult for the lantern, and because things are different, with him and a few others. ]

[ He still moves noiselessly, until he nearly melts out of the shadows, by Kyle's side. ]

I'm here, yes.

[ Robin. No snapping. No asking what are you doing here, because even Damian Wayne knows not to. Not right now. But his arms are still wrapped around himself way too tight, even for him. ]

[imaginate]

[Although tense, instead of a startled jump he steps aside to accommodate Robin's sudden appearance, and holds out the taco. He's going to make this as normal as possible, take each step one at a time.]

Hungry?

[demon_brat]

[ Damian almost snaps. He's not up for pretending, for acting as though everything is okay, for being coddled. But it's just... almost. He has to be better, now. He has to be older, and he has to not let everyone down. He has to not let anyone down. ]

No.

[ It's a simple response. Sincere. Tired ]

Thanks.

[imaginate]

[Gently:] Sure? It might help you feel better.

[he leaves it at that, an offer, letting Damian have the option to choose to meet him halfway if he wants.]

[demon_brat]

I don't feel bad, Rayner.

[ Evenly. ]

It's... different.

[ He looks up and down the street, his voice going even lower. ]

Off-balance, uncertain... [ insufficient ] Uncertain other than in that removing him means something big will start. Soon.

[imaginate]

[He stares at Damian for a long time, hearing the chirp of some insect or the other in his ears, a few shouts from the other side of the block as teenagers chase each other home, and finally, he replies:]

Let's go somewhere else and talk?

[demon_brat]

[ Damian lets out a long breath, then nods. ]

You guide, or I?

[imaginate]

[He's about to offer Damian the choice of it, but decides this might be better:]

Take the lead. I'll keep up.

[demon_brat]

[ It was an offer of trust. He knows that a Green Lantern can make any place they choose to go to secure - but Damian said that he trusts that Kyle will, simple, and without hesitation. ]

[ To the response, the boy merely nods, then takes off quietly. There is a safehouse nearby, and he'll take them there in the fastest way possible. Kyle will keep up. If he asks, Kyle will take them there, too, he's just not. Calm enough to be outside, in this outfit, and stay still. ]

[ After he lets them in, he perches on the arm of an armchair, making himself somewhat smaller than usual. No Damian slouch. No Robin spread-kneed crouch. He doesn't quite wrap his arms around his knees, but he's not far from it. ]

Do you want any refreshments?

[imaginate]

[Alone in the alley, he gives it a few seconds before pocketing the food, and following at a comfortable, distance, cruising low over the rooftops so he can see the shadows move where Damian is.]

[He circles around the warehouse, comes to a stop a block away and makes the rest of the trip on foot, entering and closing the door behind him. The place isn't dark per se, but something heavy hangs in the air, and so he creates a few circles of glowing soft light, and lets them roam around the area.]

[Incredulously:] You're thinking of my stomach at a time like this?

[He comes as close as Damian will let him, taking out the wrapped taco.]

C'mon.

[demon_brat]

[ Damian lets out a deep breath, letting his shoulders slump ever so slightly. It's easier to think of things like hospitality than... than of everything else. Then he shakes his head and takes the half-smooshed food, only retreating a little to sit on one end of the bare couch. ]

There is nothing wrong with making sure you're hydrated, is there?

[imaginate]

[Gently:] No, there isn't, [he sighs, heavily, and lightly teasing:] but generally when somebody's trying to take care of you, you let them, okay?

[demon_brat]

[ Damian pauses in unwrapping the taco and just stares at it for a long moment. ]

Generally, when somebody is trying to take care of me, with very few exceptions, that is either a means to get favor with Mother or Grandfather, or maneuvering for a better position from which to attack me.

[ Even after two and a half years, those reflexes are too deeply ingrained. Even if he knows that's not what Kyle is doing, his defense mechanisms engage all the same. ]

[imaginate]

I know.

[Uncharacteristically, he offers no physical gesture along with that sentence, and no joke about attacking Damian with a hug.]

I'm worried about you. That's okay, right?

[demon_brat]

[ He lets out a breath, then shrugs, a little, still not looking up. Yes, it sort of is okay, inasmuch as denying that would be hypocritical. Considering some of the things Damian has done at and around Kyle. Still... it seems odd. Alien. ]

What happened cannot be good.

[imaginate]

[He waits a few beats, moves a bit closer to Damian.]

[Quietly:] No.

[demon_brat]

[ Damian doesn't tense, or glare, or otherwise indicate that the closeness makes things particularly worse. He's not exactly looking forward to a hug, but Kyle being close is... ]

[ It means that he's still here. Undeniably, if just for the moment. It helps. ]

He has been here as long as me. It's difficult not to think that, if he's taken away now, something big's likely to happen.

[imaginate]

[Kyle snorts.]

Something big always happens. Y'know after that fiasco with Ra's trying to make us speak gibberish he got the boot and then we got attacked by fairy tales. Good times.

[demon_brat]

[ Damian gives him an incredulous stare. ]

The threat Grandfather poses is no joke. And yet, not even he is aiming at consuming all life, on a planet. He is also a man of flesh and blood, you can hurt him, even if killing him is complicated. His minions have their known weaknesses.

Not so with the creature and the threat here.

[ ... yeah, because talking about Malicant is a healthy deflection from talking about himself, right? ]

[imaginate]

[Kyle returns it with an amused look.]

Hey, nobody's saying your Grandpa's not a dangerous guy. Just - we're there to stop him, all right?

Just like we're here to stop this thing. Cosmic force or no, it messes with us, it's going down.

[Because sometimes, Kyle's world really is that clear.]

[demon_brat]

Hhn.

And protecting a species consisting of exactly sixteen individuals. Fifteen of whom are infants.

It is not messing with us. It is messing with them.

[imaginate]

[Firmly:] We're taking care of them.

[demon_brat]

We are trying.

[ Quietly. After a moment, his shoulders slump the rest of the way. ]

We don't know enough, Rayner. We'll do what has to be done, but we still don't know enough.

[ We still don't know if it will be enough. But he doesn't say it. He knows that this behavior is weak of him, and wrong, and he should be better. He should be finding answers. But it just seems so... useless, now. Any answers found can be taken from them just like that. ]

[imaginate]

[Grimly:] Then we'll find out, won't we.

[The hard way or the easy way, and he's not banking on the former. Damian's come to a mental stop, will giving out on him, and Kyle reaches over to squeeze his shoulder.]