Officer and Damian

Chapter 3

The two had been driving for awhile now in complete silence. One would think half of this little adventure so far had been in the car, and you'd be correct. Lots of money Dick would be paying for gas, but Dick wasn't thinking about gas money or the silence that consumed them.

He was thinking about what he was going to do with a snotty, grouchy, bratty, 10 year old.

Damian has barely said anything to Dick since he's seen him. Dick was lucky he got any information out of him at all. So far all he knew was he ran away from home and that he lived in Gotham. Not much if you asked him!

Any who, they had just gotten to Dick's apartment when he had snapped back to reality (oh there goes gravity). Damian was acting surprisingly calm as they both walked inside.

As soon as they entered, Dick plopped on the couch and stretched along it, his head laying on the arm and his feet hanging off the edge. Damian just looked at him, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms. "What? You tire me out." Dick said, a smirk forming on his lips.

"Oh shut it, Grayson." Damian scoffed. "No need to be so formal with me anymore, you can call me Dick." Dick said, sitting up and looking back at Damian. "I'll call you what I please." Damian replied.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for awhile as Dick tried to read Damian's expression. "You're a hard one to read" Dick said with a small laugh. "I was taught that way. Emotion is a form of weakness." Damian answered, glaring at Dick.

'Who on Earth taught him that?' Dick thought. Who would teach a child that expressing emotion is a weakness? It's inhumane.

Dick was about to say something else when he heard a grumble. It was Damian's stomach. He grinned a bit. "Well there's my answer to what you're feeling." He said with a laugh. Damian looked embarrassed and looked away.

Dick got up from the couch and walked over to his kitchen, gesturing for Damian to sit on the barstool at the counter.

Damian followed and sat down as Dick said. Due to his height, it took a few seconds longer than normal, but he got there. "I should have something in here.." Dick said, looking for something easy he could cook for both him and Damian.

"Ah-ha! Here!" Dick said, abruptly standing upward from leaning over, looking through counters, hitting the back of his head in the process. He placed a box of spaghetti on the counter while rubbing his head where he had hit it, wincing a bit.

Damian couldn't help but laugh. Someone getting hurt was hilarious to most people, so of course it was to Damian. Dick showed a painful smile as he heard Damian's laugh. It was so real and innocent it made Dick happy right on the spot.

As the water boiled, Dick tried striking conversation. "So what's your favorite color?" Dick asked. "Black." Damian answered simply, sitting on his knees on the barstool with his elbows on the counter. "Should've known." Dick said back, a playful smile plastering his face. Damian rolled his eyes jokingly. "What's yours?" He asked.

"Blue, all kinds of blue but mostly a more electric blue." He answered. "Seems like you." Damian said, pulling the same thing Dick had with him. "Whatever."

"So, I never got the chance to ask but, who taught you to show no emotion?" Dick asked, getting more serious.

Damian hesitated before answering. "..my mother." He said softly, Dick could hardly answer. Dick was at a loss for words anyways. His own mother taught him that?! "Is she the reason you ran away?" He asked

"What? No, just shut up! You don't know anything!" Damian yelled.
"I don't know anything because you haven't told me anything." Dick replied, remaining calm. "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Damian repeated. "I just want to help, Damian." Dick said reassuringly. "You don't want to help..you just want to shove me off to be someone else's problem.." Damian said in a soft tone, looking down.

Dick was completely and utterly shocked. What was he supposed to say to that? Damian noticed this and didn't know what to say himself.

"I-I'm not hungry anymore, can I just sleep?" He said in the soft tone again.

Dick looked at him for awhile before nodding. "If that's what you want to do, sure. You can have my bed or the couch, your pick."
"I'll just sleep on the couch." Damian answered.

Dick turned off the stove and poured the water down the sink, then putting away the spaghetti. When he was done cleaning up everything Damian was already laying down on the couch, curled up. Dick sighed before walking to his own room.