Batfam Shorts

Gone Too Soon

Longing.

Tim never expected to feel this way towards the demon brat. However, he did. 

Damian Wayne (formerly Al Ghul) was merely a ten year old boy, and he died. There was nothing anyone could do. 

Tim spent so much time despising him, resenting him, not trusting him, and not truly understanding him, he had failed to see the big picture. Damian had only been ten years old. 

Sure, he could be an arrogant little shit, and a giant pain in the ass, but just like Tim himself, Bruce, Dick, and even Jason, it was Damian's way of shielding himself. 

He just wanted to fit in. He wanted approval. He wanted to be accepted. His own mother disowned him, because he was unwilling to be a pawn in her game. 

Damian had abandoned his comforts, and clear future. Had left his entire life behind to be with his father. To be better. To make up for his past crimes. And although he was taught and trained every single day to be an assassin, a ruthless leader, the new Alexander, he gave all that up in a second, to be a hero and to make his father proud. 

And Tim had done nothing, except criticize him. 

He was such an idiot. 

He shouldn't have held grudges. He shouldn't have encouraged the tension between them.

Tim longed for all the opportunities he could've had with Damian. 

Now Damian was dead. He sacrificed himself to save an innocent life. To save his brother from his clone his own mother created to hurt him. Emotionally and physically.

He could've been safe. Bruce and Dick would've both went to hell and back to make sure he remained safe. Yet the little brat wouldn't let his family deal with the issues on his own. No, he deliberately disobeyed a direct order to save them. He died a hero, but by then it was too late. He was just a kid. 

Kids shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves. Kids shouldn't have to fight for their lives and others. The Justice League and all the other adult heroes were too busy dealing with other threats to recognize the danger their children, younger siblings and proteges, were constantly in. 

Tim knew this. He knew this. He created the Teen Titans to help these children. Because if the adults can't take care of them, if the adults can't protect them, they had to be there for each other. protect each other. Care for each other. Like a family would. 

Children shouldn't fight wars the adults created. Children shouldn't be soldiers. Children shouldn't be trained to be assassins from birth. Yet here they were. 

Tim didn't hate Damian. He never truly did. Sure, he convinced himself he did. He thought he did, but in reality, he didn't. Not enough to wish him dead. 

Damian bothered and hurt him a lot, and that made Tim hesitant to try and form a good relationship between them, but even during one of their more unpleasant and painful fights, he never wanted Damian to be fatally injured. Much less, dead. 

Tim didn't trust Damian. Not because he thought the kid wasn't trying, but because being wary and cautious around someone with Damian's background, was important in what they did in their everyday lives. ( Also the fact that Damian tried to kill him a few times). 

But after everything, Damian was still technically his little brother. Tim had always wanted a younger brother when he was a kid, and when he had gotten one, when Damian had arrived, he dismissed his feelings. Tim didn't even stop to ponder over the fact that he had a younger sibling. He just started noting all the negative ways that impacted him.