Batbros Forever

Birthright Fight

Even with all their collective years of sneaking around, Dick, Jason, and Tim were finding it difficult not to laugh as they crept into their baby brother's room. Luckily for them, Damian was still sound asleep, utterly oblivious to their presence.

"He looks so peaceful." Dick whispered. "Yeah." Jason sighed. "Too bad it can't last. Get him!" The three older boys sprung into action, Dick and Jason restraining a now livid Damian while Tim started recording.

"Let go of me!" The youngest boy yelled as he tried to thrash his way to freedom. "Sorry Dami. You know the rules." Tim grinned gleefully. "Birthday punches!" Even with all his writhing around, Tim landed all ten punches and one to grow on.

With this tradition complete, Jason and Dick flung Damian back onto his bed to give them all a head start as they took off down the hall, laughing wildly. "You'll pay for that!" Damian screamed as he charged after them, nearly barreling into Barbara, Stephanie, and Cassandra in the process.

Alfred opted not to scold the boys for running in the house on account of the special occasion as he laid out the breakfast feast. "Happy birthday Dami-baby." Steph winked as she and the girls came in.

"I'm not sure you can call him a baby at ten years old." Barbara giggled. "We can until Bruce has another kid." Dick smirked. "Then you'll be calling him that for the rest of his life." Bruce said with certainty as he came in.

"Eid milad saeid ya waladi." (Happy birthday, my son.) He said softly, only for Damian's ears. The boy smiled lightly at his Father's hand on his shoulder. Today he turned ten.

III

After a hearty breakfast of all of Damian's favorite foods (and an Alfred mandated wait to let their food settle), the family made their way down to The Cave.

Damian couldn't help but grin to himself as he suited up. This was easily his favorite birthday tradition. The Bat-family No holds bar Tournament. A battle royal designed to see how they'd grown as fighters over the last year and how they stacked up against the rest of the clan.

Damian treasured these fights in that, in some small way, they reminded him of his mother and the way he learned to fight.

Two wins, three ties, and two losses later, Damian resigned himself to cooling off in the shower and joining in on a Cave inventory check.

Back upstairs, Damian got to open his presents before the family drifted off to do their own things until dinner. The meal was immaculate, of course, and was concluded with Alfred's three-layer chocolate cake.

III

Damian stifled a yawn as he shifted to rest his head on his Father's arm. The credits were playing for the movie they'd been watching, and according to the clock, it was almost ten o'clock.

The rest of the family would be going on patrol soon, and as perusal for a school night, Damian would stay in The Cave until he was sent to bed. At the stroke of ten, Bruce rose from his seat and wordlessly led the way downstairs.

For once, Damian made no attempt to sneak his costume out of its case. He was getting too old to beg to be allowed on patrol. "Aren't you going to get dressed?" Bruce smiled at the youngest vigilante, and the boy's eyes grew wide.

He looked from his Father to his siblings, waiting for one of them to start laughing at this joke. But none of them did. On the contrary, they were smiling at him, regarding him with pride. Damian beamed and ran to get ready before his Father changed his mind.

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Weeknight patrols were really no different than weekend patrols. Still, Robin held himself to a new standard, ready to prove himself to Batman. Right now, that meant disarming the alarm system to the warehouse where Gotham PD had been tipped off to a bomb threat.