The Family of Bats (DRABBLES)

Whatever

Previously:

"How come you get to do whatever you want to him?" Jason asked.

"I'll show you later." Richard smirked evilly.

Now:

"What are we doing here?" Jason asked.

All the boy were outside the living room.

Alfred was making something, and Bruce was in the living room, sitting on the couch watching something.

"Remember last week when we were talking about shampoo and Jason was all like 'How come you can do that?' and I was all like 'I'll show you' and here we are." Richard explained.

"So, again, what exactly are we doing?" Jason asked.

"I JUST explained." Dick frowned.

"He meant what are you going to show us?" Tim interpreted.

"OH! I'm ganna show you what Bruce will let me do, then I'll teach you how to do it yourselves!" Richard smiled.

Dick then walked into the living room.

He immediately went to Bruce and hugged him.

Bruce looked at him before hugging him back.

"What's up, sport?" Bruce asked.

"Nothing." Richard cuddled up next to him.

"Hmmm." Bruce pulled Dick closer.

Jason looked at his other two brothers.

Tim's head was cocked to the side, watching intensely.

Damian had one of his eyebrows up in questioning.

Jason looked back at the scene.

"Brucie?" Richard asked.

"Hum?" Bruce made a noise.

"Can we order pizza tonight?" Dick asked.

"Hum." Bruce made another noise.

"Thank you!" Richard smiled brightly.

He hugged Bruce really tight before letting go and running out of the room.

"How?" Jason asked.

"And this is where I teach you." Dick smiled.

~~~~~~~

"So the first step you need to master is the puppy eyes. He can't resist the puppy eyes." Richard showed them.

The three other boys tried it.

"Oh boy. We have a lot of work cut out for us." Dick looked at their faces.

~~~~~~~~

"Okay, next step is that you just go up to him and hug him. He won't hug back at first because he will be surprised. But if you do it every day, he will hug back by next week." Dick smiled.

"Seriously? That's it?" Jason asked.

"Yes. Just hug him. Every day." Richard deadpanned.

Tim and Jason decided to do it.

Jason was a bit skeptical and Tim was curious if it would work or not.

Damian had no doubt that it would not work.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Jason came up and hugged Bruce, he was surprised.

Jason was, out of all the children, the second least likely to show affection.

Jason would go on for hours about how touchy Richard was and how Dick didn't need to be so touchy.

So any touch from Jason was rare.

But Bruce didn't mind it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Tim came up and hugged Bruce, he wasn't all that surprised.

Tim would come to him occasionally and ask for a hug or cuddle for reassurance.

Bruce took a moment before he hugged Tim back, this being a bit normal for Tim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, when Damian came up and willingly hugged Bruce, his immediate thought was that something was wrong.

Damian was the least likely to hug or show any affection.

Alfred hugged more than Damian.

And Alfred rarely hugged, except if it was Richard.

Richard would hug anyone and it didn't matter who.

But that's beside the point.

Damian wouldn't show affection because Talia had not raised him that way.

In fact, Talia raised him so that he thought that any emotion and affection was a weakness.

And Damian was still in the habit of that.

So, to say at the VERY least, it was surprising when he came up and hugged Bruce.

Bruce just stiffened and looked behind him to see Damian hugging him.

"Damian? You okay?" Bruce asked, worried.

"Yes. I am, Father." Damian said, still had his arms around Bruce.

"Just need a hug?" Bruce asked.

"I think so." Damian said.

"Oh gosh. Did you and Dick get into a fight?" Bruce asked.

"No, Father. I merely wanted to...grab you with my arms." Damian REFUSED to say hug.

"You know, Damian, it's okay to hug someone." Bruce said, putting an arm around Damian's shoulders.

Damian merely nodded.

"How long does a hug last? You know, one that is not with Grayson." Damian asked.

"Normally a minute. Richard likes to carry his hugs out." Bruce said.

Damian pulled away from Bruce.

"He does like to...show affection." Damian said.

Bruce laughed, "That he does. That he does."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason came back the next day and hugged Bruce.

"Hey. Two days in a row? Something you want to talk about?" Bruce asked, wrapping an arm around Jason.

"No. Just...wanted to." Jason said.

He was enjoying the rare hug from Bruce.

Bruce really needed more hugs.