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Damian had a system with his family.
It started the day he broke Dick’s arm when he tried to ruffle his hair after a mission.
Touch in the League of Assassins always meant pain. Always meant suffering. Damian thought that was how all touch was.
That was, until he watched Dick throw an arm around Jason. Watched Bruce pat Duke’s head when he did well in school. Watched Cass nudge Tim’s arm to get his attention. Watched Steph throw herself on Babs’ lap for no real reason.
Damian found a solution online after a few hours of research.
“You get to pick one, Father.” Damian said as he handed the paper over. Bruce scanned the page in confusion. “What is this for?” “Physical affection. You get to pick a single way to show your affection to me physically, Father. This way, I can mentally prepare myself for such displays of affection and not respond badly to them when I’m around you or another member of the family.”
Bruce, in his infinite wisdom, went along with it. He was pleased to finally be able to ruffle his youngest son’s hair whenever he wanted.
With hair ruffles/head pats down, Damian went to the rest of the family he could put up with touching him.
Dick chose arm over the shoulder side hugs. He now did this often during cold patrols.
Jason chose leaning. Letting Damian lean on him or letting him lean into Damian’s space without risk of being stabbed.
Cass selected pokes and nudges. It was easier to get one another’s attention that way, since both of them disliked using or struggled with using words all the time.
Stephanie debated for a while before landing on play punches. Not real, full powered ones. It actually took Damian a while to get a hold of it the first few weeks, but he’s got that down now.
Duke, shockingly, chose hand holding. He was often found at galas holding Damian’s hand, usually to keep the younger one from killing anyone.
Babs also selected leaning, though it was usually just allowing her or Damian to look over each other’s shoulders to see their screens or papers.
Alfred ended up choosing pats. On the head or shoulder or even the knee when Damian had a concussion and needed the contact to keep himself grounded to reality.
Jon got the right to a selection a few months later, and he ended up snagging forehead presses. It was an odd choice, but the friends would often be seen pressing their heads against each other after missions together. Bruce was the one to piece together that the contact and proximity made it easier for Damian to calm down and Jon to pull his super hearing back to normal levels after a battle.
For the longest time, the entire family believed Tim didn’t get a selection. He was the sibling Damian got along with the least, and the two could hardly stand one another even when they weren’t fighting.
That all changed after an all-hands-on deck battle.
Batman was about to start the debriefing right there in the random field when he spotted Robin wandering over to Red Robin.
“Rob-” He was about to call out, but something stopped him. Maybe it was the tremor in Damian’s walk, or the relaxed slouch in Tim’s shoulders even when he obviously knew Damian was wandering closer.
To his absolute shock, when Red Robin spotted the smaller bird, he just turned around and opened his arms.
Damian, in front of everyone, sprinted forward and dove into Tim’s chest. He clutched to his brother tightly, shaking as Tim flopped onto his butt and cradled him close.
“I’ve got you. You’re ok. It’s safe. No one is fighting. You’re outside. You’re with me.” The ones with super hearing and logged into the Batfamily come units heard as Red Robin started rocking them both back and forth, an easygoing smile on his face like he’d done this a million times before.
The Batfamily, at a loss of words in their bewilderment, just moved to get everyone’s attention off of the hugging birds and onto Batman for the debriefing.
Hours later, long after the battle wrapped up and the Batfamily returned home, Tim was still holding Damian close to him now that both of them were comfortable on one of the manor couches.
“What the fuck is this?” Jason asked, actually close to losing his mind.
“Hm?” Tim blinked at the entire family watching him. “Uh… The physical contact rule. Duh.”
“But… Hugs weren’t on the list! I barely got half hugs!” Dick complained.
Tim snorted, shifting to put his chin on the top of Damian’s head.
“It wasn’t on the list because I could only handle one person having it.” Damian huffed. “What?! But I saw the list first!” “Um, no? I did.” Tim replied.
The entire family felt their jaws drop or their eyes widen.
“Really?” Duke looked more curious than anything.
“Yes.” Damian snapped back. Tim moved to rub his hand up and down the younger teen’s back, causing Damian to relax under his touch and let out a small sigh.
“Why?” Cass questioned. “No idea.” Tim answered honestly. “He’s the most competent one here. I feel most secure with him holding me than the rest of you.” Damian explained with a flat tone, though his eyes drooped slightly in exhaustion.
“Competent?” Steph asked, slightly offended.
Damian didn’t clarify further. He just ducked his face into Tim’s shoulder and went slack.
Seconds ticked by.
The silence was broken by a soft snore.
Tim gave the rest of the family a smug grin, standing with a sleeping Damian still clutched in his arms and walking the younger teen to his room.
When he returned, Tim was interrogated by almost the entire family.
Bruce and Alfred just watched.
“Did you know?” “Of course I did, Master Bruce.” “And that wasn’t the first time Damian fell asleep on Tim?” “Of course not.” Alfred said with a smile. He refused to answer anything else, instead enjoying the show as a physical brawl started between the rest of his grandchildren.