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You might be wondering, ‘Damian, why are you falling off the side of Wayne enterprises in a green power rangers costume?’
Well, there is a perfectly logical explanation for that.
It all started earlier.
You see, Damian’s dad was an absolute dork, and decided that Damian, him, and the rest of Damian’s aunt and uncles needed to all match as power rangers this Halloween.
Of course, Damian was absolutely horrified at the idea. Because there was no way he would dress in matching costumes with his family. It was incredibly unbecoming and embarrassing. And so so stupid.
Damian had told his father so, yet his complaints fell on deaf ears. His father would not be persuaded.
So, Damian was forced into a cheap Walmart level costume, and when Damian didn’t have a Halloween basket his uncle Jason had given him his Red Hood helmet to use. His actual real helmet, claiming that ‘Eh, nobody’s gonna know it’s the real thing. Plus, there is no way I’m going to let my nephew use a pillowcase.’
Damian’s dad didn’t even object to Damian using Jason’s helmet as Damian knew he usually would have. That only told Damian how excited he was that his Power Rangers idea actually worked.
In all truth, Damian wasn’t completely upset about it. However, it had nothing to do with the actual costume, and more about the fact that he hadn’t seen his family for a while. For one, his aunt Cass had been in Hong Kong for a while, Jason had been busy with Red Hood stuff, and Uncle Tim had been swamped in College stuff, as it was his last few months before graduating.
Not even to mention that Damian and his Dad lived in Bludhaven rather than Gotham. There was only one thing he was dreading about tonight- well, besides the matching Power Ranger costumes.
He still had yet to reveal his shift form to his family, and his father had gently suggested he do it today.
When his dad suggested that Damian tell his family about his shift form, he had begrudgingly agreed. After all, Damian couldn’t keep it a secret forever. They would have to find out at some point.
Plus, he wasn’t as bothered by his shift form as he had previously been. After a month and a half with his kitten form, he had started to get used to it. He had begun to see the benefits of being so tiny.
Sure, there were down sides, like how he was at least a dozen times more vulnerable than he was in his human form. Because of that fact, Damian didn’t tend to shift in public much, or anywhere besides his house for that matter.
Plus he had nearly gotten smooshed countless times in his kitten form, at this point. He had been accidentally sat on more times than he could count.
Either way, In the back of his mind Damian knew his family would never judge him. Yet, the fear was still there. Even though he was mostly comfortable in his kitten form. He needed to stop stalling, and finally show his family his shift form. It would be better for both him, and his family. They had been waiting patiently for Damian to reveal his shift form, but Damian could tell his family was getting tired of waiting. He understood. It must suck having to wait so long in anticipation.
His father and his aunt Cass seemed to be enjoying trick or treating than all of Gotham. Damian’s grandpa just looked amused, and his uncle Jason was stealing candy from Dick and handing it out to random kids. Damian was lingering behind them, his Uncle Tim beside him.
Damian kicked a pebble and he walked.
It seemed so easy to just show them. Just shift, and that was it.
But it wasn’t that easy.
Damian’s shift form could easily be seen as weak and pathetic. He didn’t want anything with his family to change. He didn’t want them to see him as any less.
No matter how much he knew his family wouldn’t judge him at all for his shift form- they would probably find it adorable- he couldn’t shake off the negative thoughts.
His uncle Tim swing an arm around Damian’s shoulders, and pulled him into his side.
“What’s up, Dami? You look like you have a lot on your mind. Something wrong?”
Damian noticed the slight change in his father's body language upon hearing the question however, he didn’t jump into the conversation, and instead allowed Damian and Tim to talk. Damian appreciated it.
“No.” Damian sighed. “It’s just…I don’t know. Shifting stuff.”
His uncle seemed to get what he was trying to say. Tim squeezed him comfortingly. “You don’t have to show anyone till you’re sure you want to. I didn’t show anyone my shift form until at least a month after I got it.”
“Why?” Damian asked. “Your shift form is a panther.”
Tim shrugged. “I just wasn’t comfortable with it at first. I get how you feel.”
Damian gave an over exaggerated sigh. “But it’s different. You- and everyone else- have awesome shift forms.”
“And you do too.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“Yeah, but I know you.”
Damian snorted. “That’s exactly what my dad said before I showed him.”
Tim shuddered, finally relieving Damian’s shoulders. “I can’t believe I just acted like Dick.”
Damian laughed. “Well, out of everyone, my dad isn’t the worst person to act like.”
His father gasped, finally turning around and attacking Damian with a big wide hug. “Aww! Thank you, baby!”
“Whatever, Dad.” Damian mumbled into his fathers chest, where his face had been squashed.
He heard his uncle Jason snort. “Come on, Dick. You're suffocating the poor kid.”
“With love.” His father beamed.
“Dick.” Cass called. “Jason’s taking your candy.”
His father gasped, pulling away from Damian to run at Jason, only to pause and press a quick kiss to Damian’s forehead, and then continue towards Jason.
Tim huffed in amusement, smoothing Damian’s hair back down after it had been messed up by his fathers embrace.
Damian watched in amusement as his father stopped Jason from attempting to dump his candy into his own basket.
“Aren't you two a little old to be fighting over candy?” Tim called.
“Aren’t we all a little old to be trick or treating at all?” Damian asked.
“Not you.” Cass denied.
“I’m a teenager.”
“Baby.” Cass disagreed.
“Teenager.” Damian stressed.
“My baby nephew.” Cass insisted.
Damian just crossed his arms with a huff, knowing there was no winning against his aunt.
Kids and parents alike were shooting them odd looks due to the scene his dad and uncle were making, and his grandpa attempted to break up the “fight”.
Eventually, Cass took pity on Bruce and went to help him break up the bickering brothers.
Damian watched on in amusement, until something caught his eye.
It was in the alley right beside him. It was just a small movement, but it was a movement nonetheless.
Unfortunately, Damian knew what it was by the way it smoothly blended into the shadows, only showing movement when it wanted.
It was a shadow.
A shadow from the league of assassins.
Damian hadn’t met his mother very many times, and he'd like to keep it that way. He knew she was involved in the league of assassins.
Even though he had only seen her a few times, she would occasionally send shadows, or assassins to him to test his training.
Honestly, it was getting old at this point.
Damian looked back to his family.
They didn’t need to know.
He could quickly take down the shadow, and return. Nobody would even realize he left. He didn’t need to ruin the night by bringing this up.
Damian watched his family squabble, and made sure nobody was looking at him. As soon as the coast was clear, he turned into the alleyway. Unfortunately the shadow had already moved, but Damian knew he couldn’t have gone far. Usually, shadows would draw him to a specific location where his mother had set up cameras so she could watch live.
Damian thought it was immensely creepy but he couldn’t do much about it.
Damian smiled out the other side of the alleyway, and noticed the Shadow in another alleyway just across the street.
The chase started then. Damian was following the shadow as he slipped from alleyway to alleyway, leading Damian deeper and deeper into the city.
After a while, Damian started to feel impatient. He needed to hurry before his family noticed his absence. It had been long enough that they could have already noticed and began searching for him. Damian would have a lot of explaining to do when he got back, but that was for after he caught up with the shadow.
Damian didn’t understand where he was being taken until he saw a familiar building. Wayne enterprise. His grandfather's building.
Damian gritted his teeth as he followed the shadow. He knew for a fact that Wayne enterprise wasn’t at all near where he had been. He had walked for longer than he had anticipated.
His father was going to kill him.
Damian watched as the shadow snuck in undetected. It wasn’t hard to do when the shadows gear could easily be passed off as a costume. His grandpa’s building had all its inside lights dimmed, and had the first floor acting as a haunted house.
He entered the building, ignoring the loud screams of children as they were scared by the actors.
He watched the shadow slip into the stairwell, and Damian followed closely.
He mentally cursed the building for being so tall. His cheap power ranger costume was not breathable at all and he was sweating more than he did on patrol. Damian’s legs burned in protest the higher up they went. Every time he hoped the shadow would stop, he just kept going.
Damian blamed his lack of energy on his costume. If he had been wearing his proper uniform- his Robin uniform- he wouldn’t even be out of breath. Not even mentioning how the AC was turned off inside. The stairwell was hit and muggy and Damian was not enjoying himself.
Only when they reached the room did his torture end. He enters out into the cold outside after the shadow.
Damian wasn’t even surprised when at least a dozen other shadows jumped out of nowhere, and attacked.
Damian only realized then that he hadn’t really thought this through. He had no weapon, and no protection. His five dollar costume would do nothing against swords. It was an unfair fight. Hand to hand combat could only take him so far.
Damian didn't do his best, dodging swords, and hitting pressure points, but it wasn’t enough. Of course it wouldn’t be enough. What had he been thinking? Damian was an idiot. He was a stupid moron who was going to die all because of his stupid childish mistake. His father would be devastated. Would he even find Damian’s body? Would he even know what happened?
Damian felt horrible.
He felt himself being cornered, and he was dangerously close to the edge. Only a few more steps, and he would be tumbling hundreds of feet and land a bloody death on the dirty Gotham sidewalk.
Damian appeared to take the swords of the shadows he knocked out, but he never had time before another shadow was jumping at him.
Damian couldn’t take them all. He was going to die.
A sword slashed at his chest, and Damian jumped back to dodge it.
Only, he didn’t land. He stumbled off the side of the building.
That's exactly how he ended up falling off the side of Wayne enterprise in a green power rangers costume.
The end.
Not.
Damian’s stomached seemed to fly up to his throat as he fell, and Damian’s mind scrambled with panic.
Damian wildly flailed his arms around in panic, managing to grab onto a window seal by pure luck.
It was a tiny thing, and Damian’s fingers cried out in protest. He couldn't hold on for long. Damian was going to die.
He grunted with effort as he struggled to hold on. He couldn’t let go. He couldn’t do that to his family. To his dad.
He could almost hear what his dad would say if he was here.
“Come on, sweetheart. Hold on, you can do this, baby.”
Well, he would probably panic more than that, but Damian didn't have the time to think of what his fathers exact reaction would be.
Damian bit his lip with effort, and then pulled himself up. There was no way he could fit on it in his current form, he would have to shift.
Maybe his shift form was useful in the field.
Damian felt his fingers slowly slipping, but he ignored it. He was so close. Damian willed himself to shift, and he felt as his body shrunk, and his hands became paws. Damian fit snugly.
He let out a small, relieved sigh. He wasn’t in the clear yet. He still needed to get down somehow. Damian looked down at the streets below him. He had learned something in science about light things being able to survive longer falls, or something like that. He hadn’t really been paying attention. He was small enough to survive if he jumped…right?
It seemed he didn’t have to think long when a familiar voice sounded.
“Damian?”
Damian looked up to meet the wide eyes of his best friend.
“Jon?” Damian’s question came out as a small meow.
Jon blinked once more, before snatching Damian up, and flying him to the nearest rooftop.
Damian jumped out of Jon’s hands as soon as he landed, and shifted back to his human form. This was not how he wanted Jon to figure out what his shift form was. Damian had always thought he would do it on his own timing.
Not like this.
Damian felt his cheeks heat up fast at Jon’s dumbfounded look. Was Jon judging him? Was he getting ready to leave? To never speak to Damian again?
Damian, as it seemed, overthought the entire situation, because Jon shifted into his golden retriever form and happily chased his tail around. It was something he did when happy.
Damian would have snorted at the scene, if not for his current situation.
Jon shifted back, looking like an excited child on Christmas. “You’re a kitten?! No way! That’s so cute!”
“It’s not cute.” Damian denied in embarrassment.
“It so is! And it’s so fitting!”
Damian didn’t know whether to be offended or not at that comment.
“Yeah yeah. So what if I’m a kitten? Help me finish off the shadows, and then we can talk about this.”
“Okay!” Jon agreed, still looking far too happy with the new information.
—————————————————-
Damian dusted off his hands as he looked down at the bodies of unconscious shadow on the roof.
“Why didn’t you tell me your shift form was a kitten? That’s so cool!” Jon exclaimed. Even when he wasn’t in his shift form, he acted just like a golden retriever.
“I haven’t even told my family yet.” Damian sighed. “It’s just…embarrassing. I was going to tell you soon, but I wanted to do it on my own time.”
Jon smiled in understanding, and placed a comforting hand on Damian’s shoulder. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Damian. And I’m really sorry that you didn’t get to tell me on your own time.”
“Whatever, Jon.” Damian mumbled, crossing his arms. “How did you even know I needed help, anyways?”
“Damian, I have super hearing, X-ray vision and I can hear your heartbeat.”
“Tt.”
“Do you want me to drop you off with your family? Where even are they, anyway?” Jon asked.
Crap. His family.
Damian winced, pulling out his phone.
He had more missed calls than he could count. Not even mentioning the texts.
Oh he would be in so much trouble.