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"Day men?"
"Damian" Dick stressed.
"Da.. mian."
"Perfect!" Dick beamed as the little ex-Talon before him, Gray, had officially become a member of the family and since he was Dick, the eldest son had mostly been the one in charge of integrating him into the folds and to help him with English. Gray liked this set up, he seemed to gravitate towards Dick and Bruce more than anyone else.
"I can speak for myself, Dick." Damian spoke, nose turned up. He'd had to cut his habit of referring to Dick as Grayson now, confusing the youngest edition to the family. Dick found it adorable he was the only sibling on first name terms, albeit only as a result of being adopted twice… Bruce had some serious issues huh.
"Well, go ahead."
"Yes, my name is Damian." Damian echoed and Gray nodded.
"Damian."
"Yes."
Introducing one stabby knife bird to another stabby knife bird seemed like a terrible idea but with only a year's difference between the two it weirdly made sense to have the two interact. Damian was hardly an average 11 year old boy but it would be better if Gray was around him than the rest of the siblings who were both older and in even more dire need of therapy.
"Damian is nearly the same age as you, Gray, so if you wanted to spend time with him, that would be good. Damian is a really good fighter and I'm sure he'd love to spar with you." Dick explained, Gray nodded, his grasp on English, much like the first time, when he'd lived through this, was coming along fast.
"Spar?"
"It's like a fight but you can't hurt the other person badly nor kill them. It's like... Practising?" Dick tried, and Damian nodded.
"It's a good way to compare skills and to help find weaknesses." Damian added. Unlike Tim and Jason he didn't mind the younger boy as much as his older siblings. The Failure and The Replacement were annoying at best and at worst…? Well Damian still sometimes found bits of glitter still stuck to his Robin gear from four months ago.
"I'd be here the whole time to watch." Dick explained, "and you can stop anytime you don't want to continue, and you can of course say no," Dick added and Gray only nodded once more.
"I would like to." Gray finally spoke, young voice but words old.
"Great. Let me find you something to work with, I'd rather you use something blunt." Dick spoke, eyeing the knife Gray still refused to part with, the nicest in the collection he used to hoard, one actually given to Talons as part of their gear. Dick sometimes thought perhaps instead of an Owl he was a Magpie, he seemed to hoard anything shiny and stabby.
"Okay." Gray nodded, accent still present but words doing a lot better in only a short time frame. For the first week, Gray hadn't left Dick's side except to check on Bruce, the young Talon wouldn't stop the action he deemed necessary (the action being to check his Grandmaster truly didn't require his services.) Every time Bruce would give a sad, soft smile and send Gray on his way back to Dick. After the first week, Dick made a point of starting to introduce him to the family, but one at a time and starting with Cass. Out of all his siblings, Dick knew she'd be the best first choice, if only because she was the one he was least worried for, if Gray decided to attack. Cass could certainly hold her own and would have the least trouble fending off Talon's attacks.
But today was Damian's day, and so far so good.
Dick left the two, knowing both O and Cass were watching on, just in case, to find something for Gray to use in a spar. When he found a pair of his old training escrima’s his face lit up, instantly making a point to grab them and take them back to the two boys. Damian was carefully showing Gray his Katana, one that had been dulled specifically for sparing after the boy had nearly taken off one of Tim’s ears.
“So it isn’t sharp?” Gray asked, Damian nodding.
“Yes, it’s been dulled so it won’t cut anyone.” Damian replied and Gray frowned.
“But swords are meant to cut.” Gray countered, his logic of course was solid, his grasp on sparring obviously needed work.
“Normally yes, but we’re allies. We don’t hurt our allies.” Damian explained, even though he still made a point of getting into fights with Tim when he could.
“Okay.” Gray nodded, he understood.
“Hey, how about these, kiddo?” Dick asked, interrupting to offer up the two wooden sticks. Damian didn’t look too surprised and Gray frowned.
“Sticks?” He asked curiously.
“Yes. I used to use these ones to spar.”
“Oh. I will try.” Gray offered, seemingly satisfied with the explanation, moving over to take both into his hands, getting to grips with the weight and size, a couple of twists and spins in his hands that made him already look like a natural.
“Feel okay? They’re a little big for your size.”
“They’re okay.” Gray replied, yellow eyes curiously swapping from the sticks to Damian’s blade.
“We fight now?” He asked and Damian shrugged.
“Do you wish to?” He questioned. Gray nodded eagerly, the first bit of opinions or excitement Dick had seen from the child. It was nice to see Gray open up a bit more. From what Dick recalled as his own time of reintegration to society and the attempts of removing his brainwashing, it had been lonely. Yes he’d had Alfred and Bruce but he’d been surrounded by Adults, much like when he’d been under the Court. Perhaps being around people his own age would do Gray good.
So Dick could only watch with some sort of weird parental feeling as Damian helped Gray figure out how to spar, the two matching well in ability. Was it weird he felt like a parent to his own younger self? Maybe… but honestly Dick just felt proud, of both of the boys and how well they were adapting to the situation.
“You’re doing good by them both.” Jason mumbled from where he stepped out of the shadows, standing next to Dick to watch the two step round the training mats, weapons held and occasionally moving at each other for hits and attacks.
“Thanks Jay.” Dick hummed back, the two stood in silence, watching over.
Gray managed to get a hit in, one stick smacking onto Damian’s head who let out a hiss.
“Hey, that's cheating! No head hits!” Damian whined and Gray let out a quiet giggle.
Dick’s eyes widened and he turned to Jason who looked equally as shocked.
“Did he just laugh?” Dick asked, voice a whisper as Damian continued to squabble, Gray looking amused. Jason nodded.
“Holy shit. The Demon is a miracle worker.” Jason replied in his own hushed voice. And weirdly that was true, Dick and Bruce, despite spending the most time with Gray, hadn’t been able to eve tug a smile from the child and Damian? Had gotten a whole giggle in the space of an hour?
Dick let out a wide grin, teeth and all that Jason returned, his own smile small but soft.
God, he was such a proud dad of two.