Damian doesn’t like fish.
He tolerates the meat that is served at the manor most nights, even though it sits heavily and unpleasantly in his stomach. He puts up with Shepherd’s pie and spaghetti bolognaise and pork ribs, because the others seem to love it, singing praises for Alfred’s cooking every night, and Damian doesn’t want to appear ungrateful, or unusual, or out of place.
Then one night Alfred makes steamed fish, cooked in lemongrass and ginger, drizzled with soy sauce.
“I’ve noticed you don’t exactly enjoy our usual meals,” he says, and before Damian can protest, continues, “I looked up this recipe for you, I hope you’ll like it.”
Damian doesn’t like fish.
“Thank you,” he says, and then eats every bite. Alfred seems genuinely pleased and it fills him with warmth, which makes up for the way his stomach curled at the unpleasant texture.
Damian learnt to cook at a young age.
He was always busy, with lessons and training, his grandfather always pushing him to do more, to do better. Sometimes in the evening, however, he would follow his mother to the kitchen, where she would chop onions, fry spices in oil, and roll out rotis, getting flour in her pinned-back hair.
“Why do you cook?” he asked her, “You don’t have to.”
His mother laughed. “I like to,” she said, “Do you want to try rolling the roti?”
His first attempt came out uneven and oddly pentagonal, nothing like the perfect circles his mother made. She still ate it, and told him that it was the best roti she’d ever had.
Damian learnt to cook at a young age.
He also learnt that love was when someone made you a food you didn’t like and you ate it anyways and loved it, because you loved them.
His mother came back from Delhi once and brought him jalebis. “They were your favourite when you were younger,” she said.
Damian was eight now, and didn’t like the heavy, syrupy sweetness of jalebis anymore. But his mother was holding the gold-patterned box that she’d brought just for him, her hand resting gently in his hair, and he could feel a warmth rising up inside him, feeling like it would choke him if it got too big. He would have eaten a thousand jalebis to feel like this all the time.
Damian doesn’t understand a lot of things.
“Sorry I’m late, Alfred,” Richard says breathlessly. “I brought ice cream?”
Damian doesn’t hear Alfred’s reply, but it makes Richard laugh. There are footsteps, and then Richard enters the living room where they’ve all gathered, looking wind-blown and ruffled but delighted to see all his siblings together. Damian knows how rare it is for all of them to gather in the manor, and he appreciates the opportunity to spend time with his family.
“What kind of ice cream did you get?” Drake asks.
“Mint chocolate chip,” Richard replies, and there’s a general cheer of appreciation through the room.
“My favourite,” Stephanie declares.
Richard grins, and comes around the sofa to give her a hug from behind. “That’s why I got it.”
Damian hates mint chocolate chip. He’d told Richard that once, when they were up on a rooftop after a night of patrol, expressing his disgust for the mismatched flavours at great length while Richard laughed. “How could anyone hate mint chocolate chip?” he’d asked with an exaggerated gasp of offence, but he’d seemed amused.
Damian loves Richard more than he’s loved anyone in his life. If Richard brings him mint chocolate chip ice cream, then Damian will love it too.
Alfred comes into the room with a tray laden with bowls, each filled with that brown-speckled green concoction. Damian waits for his, but when Alfred reaches him, he unearths a bowl of vanilla and hands that to Damian instead.
Damian stares at it. He’s so surprised that he barely remembers to thank Alfred.
“I got vanilla for you,” Richard tells him, as he settles into the couch next to him with a contented sigh. He grins. “I remember how much you hate mint chocolate chip.”
Damian doesn’t understand a lot of things.
He knows the way Richard’s arm curls around his shoulders, however, and the way his grip tightens slightly as Damian leans into him, watching the others bicker over what movie they’re watching. Damian eats his vanilla ice cream, that Richard got specifically for him, and feels that familiar warmth.