His eyes are wide and emerald green, a shade that tugs at danny's chest in a way he can't explain, something like the fondness in nostalgia and something like the love in loss
his mouth is open, too, lips parted in shock, which, yeah, fair. danny did kind of poke his head out of the ground in front of him; is kind of floating upwards so most of his torso can be seen in order to point tentatively to point at the source of the tugging and aching he's been living- ha, living- with for the last months
"um. sorry to interrupt but. is that mine?" he asks of the sword lying in the boy's lap, being... polished, danny thinks. at least that's what the soft cloth and little tub of ointment makes it look like.
the boy makes a small, broken sound.
danny twitches, blinking rapidly. he doesn't know that word. he doesn't know what it means. but somehow, hearing it from this boy's mouth sounds right. sounds like something falling into place.
danny didn't know there was anything missing.
"yes," he breathes, before he knows what he's doing. leaning forward- because he cant help himself, because theres something about this boy that makes danny's heart want to crawl out of his chest to nestle sweetly in his palms- he asks, enthralled and desperately confused, "i'm sorry, I don't- whats your name? i don't know who you are. what does 'akhi' mean?"
"akhi?" the boy asks, his voice cracking and fragile, the sound of a heart breaking. "how- what do you mean you don't remember? you don't know who I am? you don't know me?" his voice pitches higher the more questions he asks, until he sounds on the verge of panic.
danny shakes his head, his eyes as wide as the boy's, watching with an awful helplessness as they fill with tears, and danny knows, viscerally, that there is something deeply wrong with the sight
"i don't remember. but i know you. im sorry, i don't understand. i don't know how. but i know you. i would always know you." danny doesnt know what hes saying. he doesnt know why he's so sure, like it's the truest thing hes ever said.
"i don't remember anything from...," he hesitates, unsure how to put it into words. "before," is what he settles on. "whats your name? i need to know. im supposed to know. please tell me."
"Damian," the boy chokes out. Damian, damian, yes, that's right, thats perfect, and danny still doesnt know why, but its just right. the tears finally overflow from Damian's eyes as a sob is wrenched out of him
danny zips closer immediately, hands fluttering. he wants to reach out, wants to touch, wants to smother. that sound, that sound, that terrible sound. devastating. forbidden.
why does danny feel this way?
"please dont cry," he blurts. "akhi- akhi is here, damian," the name flows off his tongue in an accent he doesnt recognize, the curl and lilt to it as foreign as it is familiar, but its perfect, perfect. just right and all his. "so don't cry. please don't cry."
his eyes dart around the room- a bedroom, he notes, in the far-off corner of his mind that's still capable of rational thinking- landing on the door with a fear that shakes him, because he doesn't know why hes feeling it
safe, safe, theyre not safe.
danny darts around damian, wrapping him in the large coils of his tail and tentatively placing a hand on his cheek, bringing damian's face to the crook of danny's neck to muffle the noise.
the sobs taper off into tiny, snuffling sounds, the slick heat of tears and snot smearing across danny's suit and the underside of his jaw. he feels the flutter of wet lashes on his cheek, feels a mouth moving against his neck in a continuous pattern
somehow he knows what it is, without even having to be told
round and round it goes. like the sign of infinity.
danny shudders at the strange ecstacy of it, stroking a hand over damian's head, smoothing his hair. his coils tighten around damian, around his... damian (akhi akhi akhi) until danny can feel each of his breaths, the in and out of his diaphragm against the coolness of danny's own skin.
"i'm here," he murmurs. "akhi is here, damian."
damian makes a small sound, burrowing further into dannys embrace, if such a thing is even possible. his nails dig into dannys coils so sharply they would surely break skin if danny were human.
as it is, danny is grateful, for the first time in a long time, for the accident that made him something Other. if he was human, he couldnt have comforted damian like this, couldnt have held him so so so tight and snug. close and exactly where hes meant to be.
crooning softly from deep within his core, danny closes his eyes, luxuriating in the feeling of damian's hair and hands and skin and scent and here here here and mine mine mine
after a while- maybe hours, maybe minutes, it was all the same to danny as long as damian was in his arms- damian speaks up, his voice small and uncertain.
"hm?" danny hums, rubbing his cheek against the top of damian's head, making the soft, short hair there tangle and frizz.
theres a knock at the door, and before danny has the chance to do more than bristle, its pushed open, revealing a man with a disgruntled expression and a shock of white in his hair.
"Oi, Damian, if you don't hurry up and come down, Dick's gonna-," he sees danny. stops. his eyes flash a bright, sickly green. familiar. wrong.
Jason *groaning*: Ughhhhh whats taking him so long
Tim: hes been polishing and performing rites for the sword almost constantly for the past two weeks. i wouldnt be surprised if he lost track of time.
Steph: or just doesnt wanna come down. he acts like itll kill him if he has to be apart from it
Cass: grieving. worried. lost.
Steph: im not saying he doesnt have reason to be, i just mean its not gonna do him any good to hole up in his room and forget to eat. hes not tim, he cant handle that kind of thing. damian still has a chance to grow
Steph: *sticks out her tongue* shortie
Tim: im literally just here why am i being attacked??
Dick: someone needs to get him. hes struggling right now and it wont help if he misses sunday dinner
Jason: *scoffs* you mean like B?
Dick: *firm* exactly like B, who is not exactly a model for healthy emotional responses and not who we want out little brother to be trying to emulate in a time when he needs the support of his family the most
Everyone: *scrambles not to be last*
Dick: *smiling* Jason, how kind of you to volunteer
Steph: HA! good luck loser, hope he doesnt bite your face off
Damian: *panicking at the confirmation that his brother has become a lost spirit, panicking HARDER because his brothers spirit doesnt remember him, feeling so so so terrified his brother will be angry when he realizes what damian did and what happened and how damian was too weak and too far away to stop it even though he should have protected his brother, even if it meant never stepping foot outside of nanda parbat ever again*
Also Damian: *happiest hes been in years, desperately trying to pull his brother inside him or melt into his twin's strangely malleable skin, either/or, both is Good, hes not feeling picky*
Danny: *sees damian. immediately glomps him* mine now *purrs*
Bruce: *in the cave, going through every single line in the database even tangentially related to nanda parbat, talia, ra's, or damian. having the breakdown Of All Time*
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