Secrets shall be revealed

Part 16

Damian knew that once Drake was set on something, there was no changing his mind. It was still an hour before breakfast would be ready, so Drake dragged him to the empty cave.

Damian has never had health checkups before, but Drake basically manhandled him into getting his height, weight, measurements, blood test, and whatever he could think of.

He told him that there was a full health checkup that every member of the family had to go through every year, but apparently, no one ever did it for Damian. After taking all he needed, he made Damian sit beside him while he filled out a form.

However his hands were hovering above the keyboard without pressing a button. Damian could tell that he was bothered about something. Finally, after two minutes, he turned to look at Damian with a sad look.

"Damian, when is your birthday?" Drake asked.

Damian was shocked for a second. Was it possible that others didn't know as well? 'January 5th.' He signed. His head was tilted questioningly.

"Wait. Shit. We just passed your birthday, and no one said anything....." He started mumbling curses.

Damian decided not to acknowledge it further and waited for Drake to finish the form. When it was done, he turned to face Damian.

"Look. I'm gonna be honest. This doesn't look good. You are very underweight, and your height is also significantly below the average. There is a high chance of malnutrition, and it may have stunted your growth."

"We have to get you to a professional to check and see what the exact plan should be. So I will make the appointment for tomorrow morning. For now, let's go get some breakfast." Drake said. His voice left no room for argument, so Damian followed.

Drake was quick to inform Pennyworth of the situation. Damian was not mad. He knew that it had to be done. So he sat there silently and ate his breakfast. It was only the two of them.

Father didn't eat breakfast with them anymore. When the breakfast was over, he went to his room to play with Bastet. He didn't want to leave her alone, but she couldn't overwhelm her with moving her around the manor too much when she was settling down.

He sat and played with her for a while before she tired down and took a nap. He took his laptop and sat on the bed to work on a few things. He needed to put all the information he wanted to share with Drake in a file to send to him.

Drake told him that he had to go out in the morning but would start working on the case tonight. It meant that Damian had some time to kill.

It was early evening when he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to see Pennyworth. "Master Damian, Master Timothy asked for your help in the living room," Pennyworth said.

Damian simply nodded and followed. Pennyworth excused himself to go to the kitchen. Damian reached the living room, and as soon as he set foot inside, he was shocked.

The room was decorated with balloons and decorative ribbons. There was a sign with Happy Birthday written on it. Someone had made a caret with a black sharpy between the words to add the word late.

His siblings were all in the room and yelled Surprise when he entered. Grayson was first to jump toward him and give him a hug. Damian was too stunned to show any reactions.

"Happy birthday, baby bat. I'm so sorry we didn't know when your birthday was." He said as he pulled Damian in tighter.

Damian didn't resist the hug, but he was visibly uncomfortable. Cain, the ever-observant one, took notice and saved him.

Damian didn't really know what to do or how to react. He felt so awkward and out of place. He couldn't even bring himself to sign. Cain, who could probably relate the most, informed others, and they quickly understood.

Others decided to take the lead in making it a fun night. "Hey, let's play some games," Brown said as she pulled out a board game.

It was going to be a good night.

They played Monopoly, which wasn't something Damian was familiar with, but he quickly came to enjoy it. Others knew not to go easy on him in games, but Drake decided to strategically tag team with him in order to defeat others.

Brown and Cain also decided to team up, which made Grayson annoy Todd enough for him to agree to team up. Damian managed to win with Drake's help. While none of his siblings were dumb, Drake was on another level when it came to this kind of knowledge.

They were just done with playing the game when Gordon came. She needed to do something, so she wasn't able to join sooner. They all decided to watch a movie together, but first, Damian went to grab Bastet and introduced her to everyone.

Cain decided to sit next to him in order to be able to pet her. Drake took the spot on his other side. Damian asked Drake about patrol tonight, but Drake told him Batman agreed to do it solo and call them if needed. They all wanted to be there.

There was a fight over what to watch. Grayson, Brown, and Todd were literally wrestling on the ground over it, which was very funny to watch. Damian couldn't help smiling, and he could hear others snickering as well.

Drake just used the opportunity to put his own choice on, and when others were about to jump on him, Pennyworth came in with a tray of snacks, and the fight immediately broke off.

There was a homemade cake with Happy Birthday written on it and a single candle. They sang Happy Birthday while Damian sat awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Grayson told him to make a wish in his mind and blow the candle.

They then gave him gifts. Grayson had got him a Nightwing pajamas. It was fuzzy and soft to the touch, and it looked very warm. Todd gave him a book. Brown and Cain gave him some drawing supplies. Gordon gave him a watch with an emergency signal. Drake gave him a coffee mug with a cat on it. Pennyworth gave him a box of his favorite tea.

He thanked them all for their gifts. He had never had a birthday celebration before, and he felt so amazing. He couldn't wait to use all his gifts.

They all sat on the couch with a plate of cake, and they watched Nightcrawler. It was an interesting movie. Halfway through it, Damian felt his eyes getting heavier and heavier, and he fell asleep.