*It had been a while since Damian had broken into Jason's apartment and Jason came back from the mission and found him. After convincing him to stay with Jason he had mostly been getting the groceries to restock all his food after his mission and also to make as much food from home to stuff the kid with since he hasnt even eaten much since he broke in and while Alfred is a good food he still doesnt know how to make the kind from the League.
Jason also bought some food for Alfred the Cat and some food bowls, all approved by Damian but he could tell the kid was missing the rest of his pets.
He checked in with the bats after he came back to see how things were since Damian was missing and safe to say it was.. bad. He spied on Bruce and Dick arguing which without Damian around to keep Dick civil with Bruce (which apparently didnt matter when Jason was a kid) the fight was bad and clearly not their first one.
Bruce is obviously livid and even called Talia to see if she knew were the kid was, thinking he ran off to the league. Dick is angry at Bruce and concerned out of his mind about how the kid is. He even managed to get Tim wrapped in who may have not been as close with the kid as Dick but was clearly concerned as well, helping him try find him and making theories. It was bad.
He's more concerned about what to do with school and while he would happily keep Damian with him the kid has friends and a life with news articles already covering where the youngest Wayne son is. Alfred has clearly given some kind of excuse for school at least to explain his absence.
Currently, however. Jason thankfully doesnt have to think about that because hes just asleep in bed, curled up with his wings covering him. He would honestly prefer to sleep on the floor but Damian is sleeping in his nest right now. He offered the spare room Jason has but he knows he keeps sneaking into the nest during the night.*
@the-corpse-of-a-scavenger
*Damian is...doing fine he supposes. Things have been less stressful living with Jason, but part of him has begun to...miss everyone, has begun to feel like he's just taking up room and making things harder for Jason.
He doesn't have much with him besides his drawing stuff and Alfred the cat, and some clothes. Though besides Jason's hoodie most of it is uncomfortable dress shirts and pants and his school uniform, considering Father never bought him anything besides stuff he needed to wear to go out of the house.
He sleeps in Jason's extra room some nights but then he gets...nightmares, or just- becomes scared of being alone for whatever pathetic reason it is, so he sneaks into Jason's nest, hiding in his wings. Jason never mentions it or has told him to refrain from the unruly behavior so he...hasn't stopped.
He's even begun doing it on instinct instead of when he feels like he needs it, getting up in the middle of the night to lay next to Jason. He knows Jason wakes up when he does it, but he never tells him to leave. So Damian just curls up beside him.
Tonight is one of those nights, he's brought Alfred with him as well, placing the kitten in the nest and curling up next to Jason, using his wings almost like a blanket as he drifts off again...
There are flashes of pain behind his eyes, of men screaming and yelling, of blood splattering against the ground, laughs of adults as they drink and eat like there isn't a rotting corpse laid on the floor beside Damian. He grips his sword and fights back but he's done something wrong again- and Mother is abandoning him and Father is yelling, and saying he's horrible and selfish and he will never be good, never know empathy. Damian searches for hours for a pearl, one from his grandmother's necklace, for Father. Only to be called incapable of ever caring for another beside himself.
There's pain spreading on his back and against his wings and he bites his lip so he doesn't scream as he's whipped and punished. He's not sure for what reason, but all he knows is he's wrong and he deserves it- and then he's learning from a new tutor, a woman, Jason isn't around, other duties, probably ones of a general. The woman takes Damian to a river, far away from home.
He messes things up, some small mistake. He's seven years old.
She tries to drown him under the water and he kicks and screams, his head is beneath water and she's holding her hands over his throat and he shouts before picking up some large stone from the water and hitting her in the face, continuously slamming it into her head as he chokes on the lasting water in his lungs- he screams and-
His eyes fly open with a choked shout, wings going to hide him closely as he backs away, grabbing at his arms and breathing harshly, because there's water in his lungs and he can't breathe and Jason isn't here to help him, and he shrinks back against the wall, grabbing at himself as he wheezes almost.*
