"You can sleep in if you want, but the early bird gets the worm. -Whoa... -Go ahead, enjoy... I do realize you secretly got your wrists untied before I walked in... -So this is a dinner date? -Well you're my guest, and therefore entitled to my famous hospitality."
Batman: The Audio Adventures (2022). "Interlude: This Is The Way The World Rends."
I think it's an important part of his personality.
After his parents death it kind of got worse. He couldn't stay still and he was incapable of focusing. Bruce understood that it wasn't normal after eating breakfast with him for the first time.
That happened the fifth week after Dick first came to the manor. Bruce wasn't quite awake but the little boy in front of him definitely was.
'' Alfred? Alfred? Alfreeedd? '' said the younger while looking at his glass full of milk. The butler didn't even reacted, he served Bruce his coffee like he hadn't heard anything. Which was weird since Richard was speaking loud enough to be heard from the kitchen.
Bruce frowned. ''Why aren't you answering?''
Alfred smiled softly ''he does not want me to answer. He is most certainly not aware that he is doing this. ''It was confusing. Why would he call Alfred if he didn't want to talk to him. Realizing that Bruce didn't understand Alfred continued.'' I believe it is called polling. He use it as a way to stimulate his brain. "
i want to believe that the other batboys get so caught up in how damian NEVER acts like a normal child, that whenever they see him engaging in regular kid activities™ everyone is on high alert whilst trying to preserve the moment.
tim's with kon and they walk past jon's room to see him and damian playing toy cars? they start walking faster until they're a safe distance away, to stop in their tracks and share a mutual "what the fuck???"
jason and damian are arguing, something jason says strikes a nerve, and damian just stops and breaks the stoic act. jason has NO clue what to do with himself, because nothing he's ever said has gotten a non-violent reaction out of the kid.
dick's taking damian to the cinemas, and lets him pick what they watch. damian picks a kids movie, and doesn't make comments about it seeming 'childish' or 'boring', instead he looks genuinely interested. dick goes along with it but is really taken aback.
damian's patrolling with the other boys, and sustains a mild injury. everyone's used to him fixing himself up and never making a big deal out of it. they've seen him break bones and refuse medical attention, mainly because of how the league trained him. so when they get back to the batcave, and are all getting fixed up in the infirmary, everyone's shocked when damian, sitting to the side about to patch himself up, starts crying, because he's exhausted and hurt.
whenever the boys see damian asleep anywhere but his room, they make sure to tip-toe past and tell the others not to wake him. usually when this happens it's because he's been so exhausted, that he's sat down to watch a show, been playing with titus, or doing schoolwork, and he's just fallen asleep in the middle of it. afterwards, dick especially, makes sure that damian's sleeping enough, which is hard, because no one can tell that he's tired until he physically passes out.
My take on the whole 'the JL gets mad at Batman for having a child soldier when he gets robin' thing goes like this:
The League is having a fight with Batman saying it's wrong to bring a child, especially with no powers, into fights with supervillains and it's irresponsible to put children in danger
And Batman interrupts with "so you take him then"
And the League just kind pause, like "huh?"
"One of you can babysit Robin for a week and then we can revisit this discussion."
They're a little confused but eventually Wonder Woman agrees to take him in.
She returns with him a week later. "I apologize Batman, we have misjudged you. I adore him but please take him back now."
(she couldn't get him to stop sneaking out to fight crime without physically restraining him)
"You okay? -I'm fine and... thank you, Superman. I realize we don't know one another that well, but you really had my back today. -It was my honor. You'd do the same for me, right? -Always."
I love the hc that Tim never really stopped taking pictures of heroes and vigilantes even after he became Robin. Not even out of hero worship or anything-- he just found it fun. In fact, being Robin just made this hobby easier to do. He has them separated in folders and definitely has blackmail photos included.
The first time Tim met the Justice League one of his first reactions was to sneakily take at least one picture of each of them. Clark vaguely heard a camera shutter but he could never find any cameras or camera owners.
Sometimes Bruce comes to him and asks for specific pictures of members of the JL doing things they shouldn't be doing i.e Barry ditching a meeting cause he was eating Chipotle in the Watchtower kitchen. No one knows how Bruce gets the pictures except for the other Batfam members.
Tim is the god of blackmail right behind Babs. You need older blackmail or videos? Go to Babs. But Good quality blackmail photos? Tim is your guy.
He has at least 4 folders full of pictures of Dick specifically. One for his time as Robin, one for Nightwing, one for Discowing and one for just Dick.
He also manages to have pictures he definitely should not have because how did you get into the cave before you were Robin, Tim, but he refuses to elaborate on those. i.e Robin Jason out of costume, cozily reading at the batcomputer ("seriously, Tim, that's creepy"), Dick when he first adopted Haley ("were you there when I rescued her?!"), Damian training with the League of Assassins ("how the hell did you get that"), Duke back during the We Are Robin movement ("I do not remember you pulling out any cameras what the hell")
hmmm deaged duke thomas REFUSING to let batman nightwing or red hood near him because when duke was a kid batman had just lost robin and was super violent on the streets, nightwing was in blud so duke wouldnt really know him and red hood has guns??? what??
and duke (this is the kid who reads people flawlessly and also trained to beat the riddler from an young age) is evading capture at every turn. his powers are erratic and hes starting to get scared, the manor will not let him out, and where are his parents-
when suddenly there he is. duke thomas’s robin, and his most trusted protector, tim drake.
just more of duke thomas with the tropes the other brothers get hit with all the time, and also more of tim being dukes robin please!!!