Robin one shot part 3!

Down at the farm

just some boys bein on a farm

continuing on from You're A Good Brother Damian decides to take Jon up on his offer and Bruce is still very much dead

get my jab today can't wait to be tagged by daddy gates

The Kent Farm was a long way from Gotham but both batboys could do with a break. It had been especially busy in their city and just as they finished one case, another opened. Damian was usually pleased with having this much work but even he was getting sick of how often they were having these stints of barely having time to breathe. A break would be better than running themselves into the ground and Alfred wholeheartedly agreed. He was making arrangements as soon as the suggestion was made. He was always one for them making the most of their civilian lives so it wasn't too surprising. That and he could do without the constant bickering. It was pretty much decided when Dick caught wind of the opportunity to leave the city for a setting where he wouldn't need to run from the press every five minutes. Since it was so far away it also meant they'd be staying the night there which the butler was all too happy to allow. A whole day without bickering plus a night of not fretting or patching up his boys? There was no way this wasn't going to happen.

The drive up was mostly silent aside from the radio playing music quietly and the brief conversations the pair had. Dick had his eyes trained on changing scenery whilst Damian was concentrating on the road. He didn't realize just how tired he was until they were an hour in. His eyes were begging him to let them close for just a few minutes but surprisingly he didn't want to crash the car. He'd try to get some sleep that night after checking Gotham wasn't burning down without his presence. Then he'd check Bludhaven too. Maybe check the other cities just in case. He sighed softly to himself. He was becoming his father and he really didn't like that. He was better than his father, he knew that for sure, but the parallels were still unfavourable. "I can change the song," Dick offered, overhearing the sigh. He glanced over to the other, seeing him tensed. 

"It's not the song," he replied. The acrobat nodded and opened his mouth to say something but closed it before a word was uttered. It wasn't a secret that Damian didn't like opening up and the younger was well aware of this trait. He clearly wanted to press yet he knew better. "I'll expect your best behaviour. Although this is our day off we still have an image." 

"I know Dami," he responded, returning his gaze to the window with a frown. Shit wrong time to bring that up. That should've been said when they were starting their journey, not in the middle. "It'll be nice to go further than Gotham for once even if it's not for work. It can get boring."

"I've never known psychotic clowns and riddle obsessed maniacs to be boring," he replied. Dick cackled at him and turned back. His body language was much better now. Relaxed. The older would be patting himself on the back for the next week thanks to that save. 

"You know what I mean. The last time I went to a farm I was like six. They let me feed the goats and help collect the crops and move hay bales- actually now I think about it I might've been working for them," he replied. He shrugged to himself.

"Sounds like child labour," Damian muttered. The younger tutted with a smile. He was getting used to that dry type of humour. Before he would've taken offence and then the car ride would've been an insufferable mix of angry silence and passive-aggressive comments. Things were mellowing out between them. It took a lot of mistakes but they seemed to find a healthy balance of bickering and caring. Damian would've never imagined having this outcome when they first met one another. He found Dick to be an over-excited ball of recklessness wrapped in terminal happiness but now he'd learned more about him, revealing that he was much more than Damian took him for. Smart, funny, quick-thinking, selfless. All the things that made him such a good hero. He couldn't help but wonder if Bruce hadn't died, would he have been given this opportunity to know Dick as he did? Looking after the younger began with fulfilling a promise but now he couldn't imagine going back. He really saw this boy as family.