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I’m always here for you. Whenever you need, whatever you need, just say the word and I’ll be by your side helping you.
Damian gulped as Cain stared back at him, waiting for a response to her question. She had noticed his distant body language during dinner despite his best efforts to hide his fear, and she had come up to check in on him.
“I’m…” he started. He was tempted to lie, to pretend that everything was okay and fine, like he really was the seamless and perfect child of the Bat and the Demon. But those words… repeated often by everyone around him with a tone that implied that they were just waiting for the day he finally reached out…
Damian was weak. He was weak to those words. So at the last minute, he changed his words.
“I’m not okay.”
And when the words spilled out, so did a couple tears—much to his wide-eyed horror. “I— I—”
Cassandra was by his side in a minute, draping her arms around him in a comforting cat-like manner, holding him with her nose tucked into his hair. “I’m here,” she whispered. “To help.”
Damian sniffed, trying to stop any more tears from slipping.
“What the problem?”
“I— Um.” He cleared his throat. “I have an assessment which is due in a day. I forgot about it and haven’t started. I’m— I’m going to— Cain, I don’t want to fail.” He turned to her, desperation in his eyes. “I’ve never failed for something as small as this before and— I can’t fail. Please.”
“Shh.” She patted his hair. “I’ll help.”
“I doubt you can. You can’t read.” He stared desolately at the laptop. “Not well enough for a senior English assignment anyway.” He was only thirteen, but was already taking some senior classes. Because he was the son of the Bat and Demon, he was better than everyone at everything. He was supposed to be, anyway. Which was why he couldn’t fail.
Cain pointed at the laptop showing the instructions file. “Explain. Talk to me.”
Damian sighed heavily. “It’s a comparative report,” he answered. “I have to compare two novels with each other and write a report on it. It has to include all these features on this instructions file. I forgot I had this due, I was so busy dealing with Freeze’s case that Father had assigned to me that I haven’t even read the books.” He held up the two books, showing it to Cain.
Cain took them, trailing a thumb along the thickness of the two novels. “What’s this?” she held up one.
“Harry Potter,” Damian muttered, scrolling up and down the file, trying and failing to catch the words on it. “The first one in the series.”
“Harry Potter!” Cain tapped his shoulder with excited eyes. “Be right back.”
Damian watched her, confused, as she slipped off the bed and ran out the room. He turned back to his laptop, heart thudding faster and faster by the second.
He scrolled to the top of the instructions document, reading it again when he heard a familiar voice outside in the hallway.
“What is it, Cass? I told you, I’m busy with Harley’s recent tantrum and I don’t have time for—”
Drake stood in front of his room with Cain clutching his arm.
“Why am I here?” He scowled at Damian.
Damian scowled back.
“Come.” Cain dragged him into the room. She pointed at his laptop screen.
“What?” Drake leaned forward to take a look.
“Cain,” Damian hissed at her over Drake’s head. “What is he doing here?”
“Tim help,” Cain answered.
“How is he going to help?”
“This is an English assignment,” Drake suddenly said, straightening up and turning to her. “Cass, I flunked my last English class. I hated it.”
Cain sighed. She pointed at the screen again. “Harry Potter,” she said, turning back to him and poking him in the chest. “You know Harry Potter. You liked it. As Robin.”
Drake immediately flushed red. “I thought I told you to never mention that phase again,” he muttered.
Damian didn’t want Drake here. He was the last person he would call for help on something like this. Sure both of them had exchanged awkward apologies and weren’t trying to kill or hurt each other—physically and verbally—but they still had a long way to go before they became “brothers”, as Grayson described it.
Still…
Damian was desperate.
“You have read Harry Potter?”
Drake looked uncomfortable. “Yeah.”
It hurt his throat to say it, but with great difficulty, Damian swallowed his pride with a painful gulp and asked, “Can you help me with my assignment?”
Cain beamed at his request.
Drake looked horrified.
“I haven’t read the book.” Damian fiddled his thumbs. “And it’s due on Monday.”
Drake didn’t speak. He didn’t speak for a long time. It was only after Cain nudged him in the side did he finally move.
“What?”
Damian exhaled impatiently. “I need help with my assignment, Drake. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Drake shook his head. “You’re serious about this?”
Damian clenched his jaw, impatience flaring up in his chest.
Cain put a hand on Drake’s shoulder. “Help,” she told him.
Drake looked at her, surprise still in his eyes. Finally, he snapped out of his weird trance and shook his head again. “Okay,” he said. “Okay, I’ll help.”
He nudged Damian over, sidling onto his bed to take a look at the laptop. “Shove over, will you?”
Damian didn’t bother with a reply this time. He watched as Drake scanned the document again, impatience momentarily soothed by action.
“A comparison task, huh?” Drake highlighted the words ‘Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend’. “Have you read this other book, Nevermoor, by chance?”
Damian shook his head. “I haven’t read either.”
Drake grinned. “I know someone who has.”
A few minutes later, Drake had set aside his computer beside Damian’s with Brown on call.
“‘Sup guys!” Brown said cheerily, looking to be lying down on a very purple bed. “Tim said that Damian has an assignment which he needs help with?”
“Only because I was busy with Freeze,” Damian protested. He was not incompetent. He wasn’t forgetful either, this was a very rare case. Despite his roots, he was human after all. Grayson said mistakes were part of existing, so it was okay. Just this once.
“It’s a book comparison report,” Drake explained. “Comparing the first Harry Potter book with the first Nevermoor one. And since I’m a big Harry Potter fan and you’re a big Nevermoor fan…”
Brown smirked. “The stars have aligned. Turn the camera to Damian, will you?”
Drake tilted the screen towards him.
“We got this, Damian,” Brown said seriously, but nodded with a smile. “Since I’m on the phone, I’m gonna need you to share your document with me so I can make changes with you.”
“Add me too,” Drake butted in. “Steph—” he tilted the screen back to him, “—we could create a table with the similarities, differences and key themes on both books. You can fill out the Nevermoor bit and I’ll do the Harry Potter section.”
“A-Okay, wonder boy!”
“I bring drinks,” Cain volunteered.
Drake raised a thumbs up, clicking on the link Damian had sent him.
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Three hours later, with a lot of bickering and back-and-forth with each other, the three of them ended up with a complete table. Three columns, each titled ‘Discussion Points’, ‘Similarities’, ‘Differences’ and ‘Quotes & References’ were filled out.
When Drake and Brown finished their last sentences, they somehow did it at the same time and yelled “DONE!” while flinging their arms in the air.
“Really?” Damian asked, peeking up from his skim-reading of the two books.
“We filled out the entire table, baybee!” Brown pumped a fist in the air.
“Yay!” Cain clapped, cheering for them.
“All we gotta do now is make it into an actual essay,” Drake grinned.
“Wait, what?”
All eyes turned to Brown on the screen, who was frowning deeply.
“This is supposed to be an essay?”
Damian, Cain and Drake exchanged looks with each other. “Yes…?” Damian replied, confused at her tone.
“And when is it due?”
“Monday morning.”
Brown took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Tell me what day it is today.”
“Saturday— No wait, it’s past midnight. It’s Sunday now,” Drake answered. “Why?”
“Lord, these boys… Tim. Please tell me how many pages of information we’ve collected now.”
“Twelve pages? But we can— WAIT.” Drake gripped his laptop, eyes popping at the page count. “TWELVE PAGES???”
“There we go,” Brown muttered in the background.
“How are we supposed to turn all this into an essay in one day?!”
Damian pulled his laptop forward, switching to the tab with the document. “It’s not that much information, is it? We can just copy-paste it into a para…” He trailed off when his eyes caught the words. “You’re joking.”
He looked up when no one replied. “You used slang for this?!”
“Hey, we were just brainstorming,” Drake defended. “You don’t need academic language when you’re brainstorming.”
“You nincompoop!” Damian yelled, leaping over his laptop and aiming a punch at the fool. “We could have saved so much time!”
“Hey! Get off me, brat!”
“Damian, no!” Cain caught his torso and pulled him away from Drake, resisting his kicking and clawing. “Bad Damian!”
“It’s his fault.” He pointed an angry accusatory finger at him.
Drake huffed, crossing his arms. “See if I help you ever again.”
“Guys, calm down,” Brown piped from the phone. “It’ll be fine.”
“Oh yeah?” Damian turned his glare to her, though it was ineffective since the camera was facing Drake’s direction. “And what brilliant idea do you have, fat girl?”
“I deplore that insult, but my idea’s too amazing for me to mind right now.”
“What is it?” Cain asked, still holding onto him in case he went back to attacking Drake. Which he was definitely going to the moment he was released.
Brown smirked. “We call in the cavalry.”
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“You got to be kidding me.”
Todd stared at them, Cain still keeping a firm grip of Damian’s arm and Drake holding up the laptop with Brown still on call.
“Oh come on, Jason.” Brown begged, clasping her hands together. “We could really use your help.”
“I’m not gonna waste my time on some stupid high school trash,” he scowled at them.
“It’s a book report,” Drake said, peeping from behind the laptop screen. “And you know you love those! You rant about books all the time!”
“No.”
“Please, little brother?” Cain pleaded, clasping her hands together too and widening her eyes into what Grayson called ‘the puppy look’.
Following her cue, Drake and Brown followed suit, pouting and adopting their own puppy looks.
Cain nudged Damian and he scowled at her. She nudged him again and he rolled his eyes, giving in.
Just this once, he told himself before adopting his own practiced puppy look.
The four of them implored Todd, begging with their cutest and most innocent looks.
Todd took a step back. “No,” he said, trying and failing to sound firm.
“Please, Jason?” Drake said, doing something to his voice to sound adorably guileless. “You said you would help whenever I’m in trouble because you feel guilty about Titans Tower.”
“That was you, not Damian.”
“But don’t you want us to get along?” Drake took a step forward.
“That was Dick.” Todd took a step back.
“But Jason,” Brown said, “You said that you’d always be there for us after that thing with Black Mask happened to me.”
He took another step back. “But that was you, not—”
“You promised.” Cain took a step forward too, her angelic voice wobbling with emotion. “You promised, little brother.” She nudged Damian again.
Damian stepped forward too. “Please, Todd,” he implored. “Please help.”
It was ridiculous. This whole tactic was ridiculous.
But by God, did it work.
Todd gaped at them in anguish. “I— I—” He closed his eyes and gulped. Then, with a sigh, his shoulders sagged and he slumped. “Fine. You win.”
“Yeah!” the three of them, excluding Damian, cheered.
--------------------------------------------
Todd blew a long low whistle as he scrolled through the document on his laptop. “This is a mess.”
“Thanks.” Drake rolled his eyes.
“It’s good though.” He turned to them. “You got all the basics and a bit more down. You aiming for an A though, squirt?” he addressed Damian.
“Of course,” Damian sniffed. “I would target nothing less.”
“Then there’s a bit more work to be done before we get a crack at writing this down.”
“I’ll get snacks!” Cain volunteered, already leaving.
Jason pointed at his screen with Damian and Drake on either side of him, Brown still on the screen in Drake’s hands. “You gotta expand on this point a bit more. See how you’re going off track from your original? It’s because you misidentified the main theme here. And explore the synthesis process a bit more. This is all just comparison right now.”
They worked on the essay for the next couple hours, going back and forth repeatedly, arguing about book themes and features and what would fit and what wouldn’t. By then, Damian had finished his skim reading of Harry Potter and was able to contribute a little more to the conversation.
There was one moment where Drake and Todd got a little too heated about the actual implications of the Mirror of Erised in the book, and the two had brought out the weapons which all of them had on themselves at all times. But fortunately, Cain was there to step in and push them to opposite corners of the room for timeout. In the end, Brown jumped in with the sudden epiphany that the Mirror of Erised related to the scene at the end of Nevermoor where Morrigan had to watch Squall manipulate reality around them, and all of them had jumped into a flurry of getting the words down on the page.
“Damian?” Jason called out after a few minutes of silence. “I just finished with the first body paragraph, take a look over it and change it to your wording.”
Damian scrolled down to where Jason’s cursor was and started looking through it. “Todd, this whole paragraph is unacceptable.”
“What?” Todd shot up and walked over to him. “How the fuck is it “unacceptable”? I spent, like, an hour on it.”
“The rubric specifically says that the synthesis should appear last. I will not get marked if it is all out of order.”
Todd peered at the instructions file. “That’s bullshit!” he concluded. “It makes sense this way!”
“Well,” Damian slumped in his chair. “That’s Ms. Steggles for you.”
He was suddenly so tired. They had 36 hours to go until Damian had to go to school and they were far from done. They had over a half of the essay to write, then insert the evidence and quotes, then check it against the rubric, then add references, not to mention they all needed sleep this morning so they could go on patrol for 10+ hours. It was hopeless.
“Wait, did you say Ms. Steggles?” Todd asked.
“She’s my Senior English teacher,” Damian confirmed dolefully.
“I didn’t know she still taught.” Todd tapped his chin. There was a bit of stubble growing in. it was frankly disgusting but Damian couldn’t bring himself to insult it right now. Todd hummed, he looked at the door. “I’ll be right back,” he said and got up.
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“I came as soon as I could.” Grayson rushed in, with his hair frizzed up and a wild, panicked look on his face. “Is Damian okay? What’s happening?”
“Grayson?” Damian straightened up from his desk chair. “What are you doing here?”
“Damian!” Grayson’s eyes popped when he spotted him and he rushed over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you bleeding? Did you sneak out again? Honestly, I know it’s Robin tradition but it does get tiring at times. You know how important it is to stay safe. What if you got captured? Are you sure you’re not hurt??”
“Grayson! Let— let go!” Damian struggled against Grayson’s incessant manhandling. “I am fine. I just need help with my assignment.”
Grayson stepped back and blinked. “What?” he roared, turning to Todd with a fierce glare. “I was told that Damian was in trouble and needed my help immediately.”
Todd shrugged, leaning against the doorway. “He does.”
Grayson grit his teeth, palms clenched by his sides. “You said it was a life or death situation.”
“It probably is for the brat.” Todd inspected his nails nonchalantly, clearly enjoying Grayson’s freak-out.
“He’s not wrong,” Damian said. “I—” He swallowed, reluctant to disclose the information. “I need help.”
Grayson’s eyes softened. “Of course, Dami. I’m here to help you out with anything you need.”
Damian’s heart jumped at the words. Curse Grayson for always being so soft.
“Let’s see what you got now.”
As Damian went to wake his laptop after he had put it to sleep, someone else caught his eye. Drake was staring at Grayson with a peculiar expression. But he had bigger fish to fry than to wonder about Drake’s peculiar behaviour.
He explained what they had done so far, how close the deadline was, and how much more they needed to get through.
“But why call me?” Gryason asked. “I wasn’t exactly an A+ student at school. I hated it, in fact.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Todd.
Todd shrugged again. “He had Ms. Steggles as his teacher.”
Grayson tilted his head in polite surprise. “Oh, that old coot? She’s still teaching?”
“Apparently so. I was supposed to be in her class too, but, you know…” He gave a lazy grin. “Accidentally died before that could happen so can’t be much help here now.”
Everyone in the room winced.
“Bad reminder.” Cain shook her head.
“Alright.” Grayson looked back at Damian. “Hopefully I remember how she operated. Let me take a look.”
Grayson read the current essay draft over Damian’s shoulder while Todd tried making sense of the rubric Damian had sent it to him with Drake. Brown was chatting with Cain while she was taking a break from updating the evidence and quotes section.
Mid-read, Grayson suddenly snapped his fingers, mouth going in an ‘o’ shape. “Oh!” he exclaimed. “Babs!”
“What about her?” Cain questioned from the bed, holding Drake’s laptop, still talking with Brown.
“She was in Ms. Steggles class too!” Grayson was already pulling up his phone, going through his contacts. “And if I remember correctly, she’s really sentimental and likes recording her old assignments for sentimental reasons. She should have a sample paper we could use!”
“Brilliant!” Brown called from the laptop. “Call her now!”
“I am.” Grayson pressed her contact and put it on speaker.
The phone rang a few times before Gordon answered it. “Dick, do you even know what time it is?”
“Babs! We need your help!”
“What is it now?” Gordon groaned, sounding like she was getting up from bed.
“Okay, so, Damian has an assignment that’s due in, like, a day. Me, Jason, Tim, Cass and Steph are all helping him out but it’s old Ms. Chicken Strips’ class. I know you have records of your old assignments and things in one of your USBs, could you pretty please send us one of your papers?”
The line was silent for a while before Gordon replied. “What the hell?”
After a few more moments of confused and annoyed sleepy mumbling, Gordon was awake and combing through her USBs for the right assignment. “It was so long ago, I barely remember the assignment now.”
“It’s worth 40% of my grade,” Damian said mournfully.
“Ouch,” Brown commented.
Gordon sighed. “I don’t even remember which USB I put it in. I might have to comb through a couple to get the right one— Oh! I found it!”
“You did?” Grayson gripped his phone in excitement.
“Yeah! I got it! Damian, sending it to you now.”
Damian refreshed his email. “Received.”
“Great. Oh my, I found the feedback draft as well. The one which she sent back with her comments on how I could improve my assessment.” There was a pause. “Heh. There’s a lot of red in here.”
“Just means more for us to use.” Grayson winked at Damian. Damian glowered.
“Sent that too!”
“Barbie, you’re a fucking lifesaver,” Todd called out.
“Better remember that the next time I tell you to do something on the field and you ignore me. Since I’m wide awake now, is there anything I can help with, Damian?”
Damian didn’t care at this point. It seemed that the more people who joined his cause, the better and faster things were starting to get done. “Sure.”
She switched to video call and discussed the choices she had made on her assignment with them, Grayson’s phone propped up on the desk lamp, facing them.
“But there’s only one thing about my samples,” she said in the middle of explaining what kind of themes she had used. “They’re not A+ examples. I was graded a B+ for this.”
“I’m aiming for higher than that.”
“I know.” Gordon hummed, tapping the side of her glasses. “Oh!” She snapped her fingers. “Duke!”
“Duke?” Drake asked.
“Yes! Duke’s an A+ student! He’s got a pretty brilliant track record, second only to Jason! Before he died, that is.”
Todd finger-gunned her.
“He might be able to help you out with the finer details.”
“Excellent idea,” Damian agreed.
“I’ll get him!” Cain ran out the door.
A few minutes later, a very confused Thomas with mussed up bed-hair joined the rest of the gathering in Damian’s room.
“What’s going on?” he yawned. “I could have slept for an hour more before my day shift started.”
“We really need your help, Duke,” Gordon said from Grayson’s phone. “Damian has an assignment that’s due tomorrow morning and we’re all trying to help, but none of us here actually got an A for this one and since you’re a straight A student, we were hoping you could take a look at what we’ve cooked up so far?”
Thomas blinked blearily. “None of you can help?”
“We are helping,” Brown said. “But we don’t exactly have a great track record with school. I got pregnant and then lost touch with it.”
“I dropped out.”
“I was bullied for not being white and hated the whole thing.”
“I wasn’t exactly an A+ student since I was busy with Batgirl stuff.”
“Don’t go to school.”
“I died.”
Thomas blinked again. “Um… Okay? Uh, what do you need help with?”
An hour later, Thomas was on Todd’s shoulders in the middle of the room while the rest of them ran in a circle around them, chanting his name, “Duke! Duke! Duke! Duke!”
“All hail our only successful high school senior student!”
“All hail!”
Thomas flushed red. “I just made a few edits.”
“A few?” Drake’s eyes popped as he pointed at the word document covered in red marks and comment boxes.
Thomas rubbed the back of his neck. “The changes are kind of easy…”
“Not to us, they’re not,” Grayson shook his head. “We suck at school. Mostly.”
“Thanks, I guess. I’m gonna head over to patrol now.” Todd dropped him to the ground. “You guys should get some rest too. You look tired.”
“What are you talking about?” Drake frowned.
Damian looked around at everyone’s raccoon eyes and drooping eyelids. He supposed Thomas had a point. “He’s right. You should rest. I will complete the rest of the assessment.”
Brown snorted. “Nonsense, squirt. We started this, and we’re going to finish it.”
“Yeah, our perfectionist personalities don’t allow us to just leave it as it is,” Gordon seconded.
“We help baby brother.” Cain patted his head.
Damian slapped her hands away. “I’m not an infant! But very well, we will reconvene after breakfast.”
“You mean lunch,” Todd snorted. “None of us are gonna be up until after noon.”
As if on cue, Grayson yawned loudly, which caught on to everyone in the room and everyone out of the room on call as well.
“Yeah…” Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Deeeefinitely need some rest.”
“We’ll go to bed, Duke.” Grayson rubbed his eyes. “You go on for patrol.”
“Tim, no one needs to wrangle your ass to bed, do you?” Todd asked.
Drake did not give an answer. He was standing upright, leaning against a wall, eyes shut in slumber.
“What the fuck.”
Grayson laughed. “Not the first time he did this.”
“I take him to bed,” Cain nodded, already slinging his limp body over her shoulder.
“You need sleep too, li’l D.” Grayson poked him in the shoulder as everyone cleared out to their respective rooms.
“Tt. I will.”
Grayson smirked. “Need me to tuck you in?”
“If you dare, you will lose some fingers.”
He laughed. “Alright then. G’night, Damian.”
Damian climbed in bed, pushing away spare pieces of paper, too tired to put them in the wastepaper basket all the way over to the desk. “It is morning. But sleep well, Grayson.”
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After brunch, the group had come together in Damian’s room again, but only for about an hour.
Drake had a WE check-in to get to, Brown was helping her mother with a house pest problem, Todd went back to sleep and threatened to shoot anyone who came to wake him up, and Gordon had some Birds of Prey duties to wrap up. Thomas was still on patrol.
So he, Grayson and Cain sat together in his bedroom after everyone left. They weren’t doing work though. Not that they could do much, considering Cain’ inability to read and Grayson’s inability to focus on a paragraph longer than five lines. So Damian resolved to read the last few unread chapters of Nevermoor out loud to both of them as they drank Grayson’s favorite chocolate milk and whipped cream recipe.
It was a nice break, but with every ticking minute, Damian’s insides felt more and more like sludge.
What would happen if he failed this essay? It had such a heavy weighing for his grade. Would Father be disappointed if he did not present a perfect report card? Would he think Damian as too incompetent and unfocused to handle Robin and school at the same time? Damian loved being Robin alongside his father, but it was clear that Father valued Damian’s education more despite the fact that Damian had several other more important educations from his time with his mother and grandfather.
Would Father… take away Robin from him? Just as he had taken away Robin from Grayson and Brown?
He was his biological son. Blood son. He couldn’t do that.
…Could he?
When dinner time rolled around and everyone was having their fill of some light food before patrol, the topic of Damian’s assignment was brought up on the table.
Grayson animatedly explained how they were working on it together and how well it was going, but all Damian could feel were the judging eyes on his back as he glared at his plate of food to avoid eye contact.
They finished up rather quickly, eager to start tonight’s patrol and get back to their cases, Drake more than anyone. As they geared up in the Batcave and Damian was pulling on his boots by the benches, Father approached him.
“Damian.”
Damian looked up.
Father was looking down at him, a strange expression on his face. “Your— ahem, your assignment. Are you doing well?”
“Yes, Father,” Damian immediately responded. “I know I need so much help for it now, but it is only this one time. I was too caught up with Freeze’s case and I forgot.”
Damian’s eyes widened at his slip.
“Not that I couldn’t balance it! I’ve been balancing my duties very well. It was my first and only mistake this time, I promise.”
“Damian…”
Damian winced at the disappointment in his tone.
Father sighed, and Damian waited with his shoulders hunched for an admonishing. Instead, he was surprised when Father sat beside him on the bench instead.
He was in full Batman getup, but with the cowl off for now. Damian could feel the body heat from the insulated armor.
“You know I’m not disappointed, right?”
This was news to Damian.
“You’re not?” he asked in a quiet voice, daring to believe it.
“No…” Father looked pained. “Damian, I’m proud of you. I really am.”
“For what? I did nothing. I was supposed to be on top of everything.”
“You can’t be perfect all the time.” He laughed softly. “Trust me, I learned it the hard way.”
Father reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t gripping him too tight or too lightly. It was strong, and… comforting.
Father smiled at him. “I’m proud of you, Damian, because you asked for help. It’s something I really struggle with, but it makes me so insanely happy to see that it’s not something you struggle with.”
Damian’s jaw hung open slightly at the admission.
Father patted his shoulder. “Keep it up, Damian.” He got up and left.
Damian stayed on the bench for a few more moments, wallowing in the words.
When he got up, he felt much lighter. Like a heavy weight had just been untied from his back. Damian smiled.
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Damian flew through the rooftops, a different kind of giddiness taking over after the talk with Father. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the assignment now, he did care very much. Even though Father was still proud of him, he was not humiliating himself in school.
Robin landed on the rooftop where they were all meeting up for a mid-patrol check-in. Nightwing, Orphan and Spoiler were already there.
“How’s it going, Robin?” Spoiler waved at him.
“Well,” Robin replied. “You?”
“Just busted a bank crime.” She flexed her biceps.
Robin rolled his eyes while Nightwing engaged in the playful banter and poked it.
The others arrived soon enough, giving all positive reports.
“Good,” Batman gave a nod. “We’re splitting off in pairs now. Everyone know who they’re with?”
When everyone confirmed, Batman gave the signal and they leapt to their patrol routes. Everyone except Red Robin, that is.
Robin was already on the next rooftop when he realized that his partner for tonight had not followed him. “Red Robin,” he huffed, going back.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “We have patrol to get to.”
Red Robin didn’t answer, too busy staring at something.
“What are you—”
No. Red Robin wasn’t staring at something… he was staring at someone.
Robin stood beside him, watching Nightwing and Batman fly off into the skyline.
Red Robin exhaled a slow breath. “When I was Robin, Nightwing and I were the best duo there ever were. Better than Batman and Robin too sometimes.” He smiled. “Dick used to call me his little brother all the time. Whenever he had to introduce me to someone. I used to be his little brother, his only kid brother.”
Robin watched Red Robin, picking up on every grain of saddened nostalgia in his tone.
“When I was Robin, I had everything. A family, friends, a team, everything. Then you came… and I lost everything.”
Damian didn’t know what to say. So he said nothing.
They stood on the rooftop, looking over at the Gotham skyline with its dark shadows and illuminating tiny lights. The slight breeze ruffled their hair and picked up their capes.
“I know we made up and we’re fixing our relationship now, but… I still can’t help but feel jealous towards you. You have Robin, a team, a whole family to help you with your school assignments at a moment’s notice… a great older brother…” Drake didn’t sound nostalgic anymore. He just sounded… empty. “You’re a good kid, Damian. I’m not afraid to admit that you deserve it all now. But I want it too.” Drake wiped his eyes, keeping his gaze firmly on the skyline.
Damian clasped his hands behind his back, looking down at his boots. It was funny how Drake was repeating the exact sentiments Damian had a few years ago. When he turned up out of nowhere and felt so out of place and desperate to carve one for himself by his father’s side.
It was the same jealousy he had at the start for Drake. Drake seemed to be constantly surrounded by everyone supporting, doting, and loving him. Damian was just the weird problem who showed up who no one knew what to do about.
He was happier now, much happier. This was his home now.
…But it was Drake’s home first. One he had chosen himself and hadn’t been pushed into it.
Damian was not the same person he was at the beginning. He had changed. His family and friends had changed him. He was no longer someone who wished someone cruelty and hardship but genuine relief and hope for their troubles. Thanks to Father’s little bonding moments, Pennyworth’s chats over tea, Todd’s secret book club, Cain’s quiet love, Brown’s bubbly and ever-optimistic personality, Thomas’s friendly teasing, Gordon’s constant support, Jon’s loyal friendship, and Grayson’s patience. Damian had come along a long way.
Drake deserved to feel like he belonged too. Damian could see now that this new family of his wouldn’t be able to work without Drake’s presence. Drake was the one who had pulled it up from the bottom of the depression barrel and nursed everyone back to health so they were all ready for him in the first place. Drake was the original glue of this family. Even if it had dried up a little, it was still there.
Damian had a family now. He just had to make it complete.
After Red Robin collected himself, he moved on to their patrol route without acknowledging the moment that had just happened. They silently apprehended criminals and led people safely back inside their homes. Then a tip came from Oracle.
“Just got an alert near your area, guys. I just got pinged that there is some possible Black Mask activity going on on 12th street. Could you look over that?”
“Noted,” Red Robin responded. “Robin and I will check it out.”
“Great. It should be just a recon mission, but if there’s some big action happening like a gang meetup or something, I don’t see any problem in interrupting. Do you think both of you can handle it by yourselves?”
“Yeah, we got it, O. Just the two of us is okay—”
Robin gasped. He just had an idea.
“Actually,” he said out loud. “I… don’t think I’m up for that sort of action right now. I will be distracted by the assignment and will not be completely present in the field.”
Red Robin’s brows creased. “You okay?”
Robin nodded. “Yes. I’d rather take some light patrol for tonight.”
“Well… I’m proud of you for being able to make that decision, Robin. Good form.”
“I will take over Nightwing’s patrol and join with Father.”
“I’ll let him know. Thanks, squirt.”
Red Robin smiled as he ruffled his hair.
Robin glared and batted it away, but on the inside, he was smiling very widely.
-----------------------------------------------
Damian sighed in relief as he stepped out of the hot shower and slipped into his more comfortable pajamas. As an assassin, he didn’t have heavy armored clothing like he did now. They all relied on quickness and fluidity of movement. The Robin armor did not provide as much as the League’s robes did. So the relief after every patrol was abundant and one of the most favorite parts of Damian’s nights.
Damian was just about to step out of the changing rooms when he heard voices outside. Drake and Grayson’s voices. He pressed himself against the wall, listening in to their conversation.
They sounded happy, bright. Laughing and praising each other on the bust tonight.
“You were brilliant, ‘Wing!” Damian heard Drake say. “And what you said to that guy when he tried to tase you— hilarious.” He laughed.
“Right? And to think I thought it up on the spot. I do pride myself for my genius sometimes.”
That earned another snort from Drake.
There was a moment of brief silence, where Damian assumed they were taking off their upper armor and weapon utilities.
“I really liked hanging out with you tonight, Tim,” Grayson said.
“I did too,” Drake replied. “I… I missed it.”
Silence filled the space again.
Damian peered from the corner only to see Grayson suddenly pull Drake into a hug.
Drake gasped, tense in the hold. But then he melted into it, hugging back just as hard.
Damian smiled. He stepped back, using the other exit to leave the two to it.
-------------------------------------------------------
After everyone was sufficiently fed and watered, they rendevouzed in Damian’s room.
An electric sort of tension filled the room, with only four hours left until Damian had to leave for school.
“Okay.” Thomas, who was awake just this once for Damian’s sake, cracked his knuckles. “We ready for this?”
“Yes, sir!” they yelled in unison.
Thomas smiled. “Then let’s get to work. Jason, you’re on writing the first draft of the essay, Steph and Tim will be your evidence checkers. Dick, you and I will be going through it behind those three to fix sentences. You focus on pleasing Ms. Steggles and I’ll focus on the A+ part. Babs, you’ll be adding in correct referencing behind me and Dick. Damian, you’ll be making sure that everything’s in the order you want. And Cass, the most important role of all: keeping everyone on track and making sure we’re all hydrated and awake.”
Cain beamed.
“Alright now, move! Move! Move!”
They split off into their groups, working like a well-oiled machine, pouring their all into this single essay. They exchanged words and questions here and there, referring repeatedly to the two novels which were constantly passed down. Cain was perfect in her timing, redirecting anyone who went off track and making sure no one went on for too long without taking a sip of water or chocolate milk.
At the two-hour mark, when they were halfway done, Damian’s door opened to reveal Father standing confusedly in the doorway.
“What are you all doing here?” He rubbed the back of his head, staring at all of them on their laptops with notebooks, papers and pencils littering the space.
“Helping Damian with his assignment,” Brown answered.
“Oh.” He stepped inside. “Can I join?”
They exchanged hesitant looks with each other.
“Um…”
“Well,” Thomas jumped in. “I guess since you are an expert on speaking in academic language… I don’t see why not?”
Grayson gave a pained smile, Todd and Drake were wheezing in the corner at the terrible excuse.
Damian took the initiative to get up and show Father their work so far. The document was a mess of different colored fonts since they were each using colors to distinguish their work from others. Black font was the finalised text.
Father couldn’t… really give as much feedback since so much had been done already, but the little he did give was taken into consideration at least.
An hour later, Cain came skipping through the door, declaring, “Alfred make cookies for us for all the hard work!”
The statement was met with much cheering. It uplifted everyone’s spirits and zeal.
Finally, finally, after the final hour, the entire group, along with Pennyworth and his plates of cookies, crowded around Damian’s laptop.
A 4-page 2,000 word essay in clean black font was displayed perfectly on the screen. The cursor blinked at the end of the gleaming reference list.
No one had spoken a word yet.
In the end, it was Pennyworth who had cleared his throat and said, “Well done, all of you. You did it.”
“We did it,” Damian whispered, not quite being able to believe it. “We actually did it.”
“Yeah…” Drake breathed out. “We… we did it. We—”
Brown jumped in the air with a shriek, “WE DID IT!”
The room burst into cheer, almost deafening in volume. Brown and Thomas was squealing and hugging each other, Cain was gripping Drake by the shoulders and shaking him in excitement, Todd and Grayson were hi-fiving each other while Grayson simultaneously kissed Gordon through the phone screen, Damian was lifted up by Father and hoisted on his shoulders, all awkwardness forgotten in favor of the laptop Damian was holding high in victory.
“We did it!” Damian laughed. “All I have to do now is get to school!”
Like a record scratch, everyone froze.
As a unit, their eyes all turned to the clock on the wall which displayed the time, 7:46 in the morning.
Damian’s eyes widened in horror. He looked down at Father. “School starts at eight!” he yelled.
The room burst into panicked chaos.
“Shit! I have to get ready too!” Thomas zipped out of the room.
“Bruce! Bruce! I’m getting the keys!” Grayson said as he followed Thomas.
“Quick, quick, get ready!” Brown and Cain went through his closet, throwing his uniform to him.
Damian caught it and Father put him down so he could rush into the bathroom to quickly change and brush his teeth. As quickly as he could, Damian got ready for school, speeding through every step of the routine.
“Hurry, hurry!” Drake and Todd handed him his bag when he stepped out, fully packed with all his supplies and lunchbox.
Damian used the banister of the stairs to slide down to the front hall. Father and Pennyworth were waiting for him, ready with the keys to the fastest civilian car in hand.
“Let’s go,” Father said, wasting no more time.
Damian quickly slipped on his shoes. Just before he rushed out the door, he took a second to look back.
His family was behind him, giving him thumbs up, waving and urging him to get going.
Thomas was by his side, having finished putting on his own shoes. “You ready?” he asked.
Damian nodded.
He stepped out of the door, a smile on his face despite the panic of being late to school. He loved these people. And they loved him back.
-------------------------------------------------
“So what did Ms Steggles say, Damian?” Drake asked, licking the ice-cream sliding down his wrist.
Damian swallowed his own bite of ice-cream sandwich before replying. “She doesn’t give out grades immediately. It takes time to mark, but she said that she had expected me to hand in my assignment way earlier since I like proving her wrong in class all the time.”
Todd snorted, stirring the straw in his milkshake as he leaned back on the beanbag. “Not very hard. Not with the kind of bullshit rubric she made.”
“It’s alright though, yeah?” Brown dangled the last piece of her ice-cream sandwich above her nose. “No issues?” She tilted her head back and let the piece drop into her mouth.
“None,” Damian confirmed.
“Awesome!” Gordon said through Grayson’s phone. “I’m really happy for you, Damian.”
Grayson beamed, nodding in agreement. “Yeah. So proud of you for reaching out. And it was fun too, despite the stress.”
“Yeah, don’t call me again next time though.” Todd burped. “As I said, I have more important shit to do than high school assignments.”
Cain, Brown, Drake and Damian all exchanged smirking looks. He was too weak to the combined effort of all four of their puppy faces.
“Okay, movie time!” Thomas waved the remote. “Who’s choosing?”
“Me!” Several hands flew into the air.
As the lounge room turned into a battlefield for the remote, Damian laughed freely as he participated in the wrestling.
He was glad Mother had dropped him off here. Even if it was hard in the beginning, this was home.
“What if we watched the first Harry Potter movie? Since we just finished an assignment about it?”
All heads turned to Bruce.
“Huh,” Todd clicked his tongue. “Guess the old man has some good ideas after all.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You know fully well what it’s supposed to mean.”
“Guys, I need help bringing the popcorn. I think Alfred’s finished in the kitchen.”
“I’m coming!”
“Move your ass, Drake. I’m sitting here.”
“Nuh uh, my spot.”
“Guys… no fighting…”
“Milkshake, please?”
“I’ll get one for you, Cass.”
“I’m putting on the movie now!”
“Shh, quiet.”
~ The End ~