Lost and Found

Damian + School = Bad

Damian did not agree with his father when he said that Damian needed to go to school. That was completely irrational. School could not teach Damian anything he didn't already know, he was far ahead in all subjects. And father didn't even allow him to move to a grade level that would be academically challenging.

It was stupid.

Damian had tried to talk to Grayson about it. He had tried to convince his elder brother that it would be a very bad idea for him to go to school. Damian hadn't even gotten to the part of his argument where he would ask Grayson to talk some sense into Father when his idea was shot down.

"Look Little-Wing, we all know that you're not gonna get anything academic out of this," Grayson explained, "but you're still getting something. You need to learn how to socialize. Being around other people your age will help with that." Damian didn't understand the need for him to be social. Sure, Marinette's social skills helped on missions, but what need did he have for them?

"Tt," he scowled at Grayson and walked away.

——-

The next morning, Damian awoke to Pennyworth's knock on his door. It was slightly earlier than usual. Oh, right. He was being forced to go to school. He got up from his bed quickly and answered the door. Pennyworth handed him a uniform and asked him to be down for breakfast in fifteen minutes.

Once Pennyworth left and Damian's door was closed, he studied the uniform. He needed a place to hide some kind of weapon, at least a knife, somewhere on his person. Especially since he was going to be away from home, with no protection from his family.

Once he found a sufficient hiding place he dressed himself and made his way downstairs. His brothers were all at different stages of awake. Grayson was up, and wearing his usual smile. Effortlessly energetic, even so early. Todd looked fine, if a little tired, his eyes showing more of a green tint than usual. Drake, though, looked near death. It reminded him of all those nights Marinette would stay awake until dawn crafting new and beautiful weapons for the both of them to use.

That spurred the memory of the very blade he had, sheathed and hidden in his sleeve. It was a very beautiful dagger. And she had made it for him for their ninth birthday. How could he have forgotten that he still had it?

But still, that did not matter now. He would tell his family later of the dagger's significance. Right now he had to mentally prepare to be around all the idiots that will be at his new school.

He decided he would just refuse to speak to anyone all day. Maybe then his family would see sense. Their ridiculous plan to make him more sociable would backfire on them. He would make sure of it.

——-

Breakfast ended far too early in Damian's opinion, and soon after he was being ushered to the car with Todd and Drake. Grayson had already completed his schooling. The ride was short, thankfully, he couldn't stand any more of Todd's harassment. He wouldn't stop ridiculing Damian for having to go to school just like the rest of them. He had also continued with the nickname 'Demon Spawn'.

Damian wanted to hate it, but it reminded him of his lost sister. God, why couldn't he get his mind off his sister today? He'd have to work on that.

The car stopped, and Damian groaned. Todd laughed at that, and Drake still looked like a zombie. Damian left the car without a glance. He had been told that he'd need to go to the office first to see where his class was. He didn't need help for that.

The office was right at the front of the building. There was a short line of kids, some of them with a parent, but many of them without. Good, he would draw attention to himself that way.

When he reached the front of the line he got his class number and the name of his teacher, and he went off to find it.

The day was mind numbingly boring.

The entire time all they did were stupid games to learn about each other, most of which Damian completely refused to participate in. The teacher seemed to notice how little he spoke, and mistook his silent protest for shyness, which made him want to stab her. And he could've done it, too. But he reminded himself of how his father would feel if he did.

As much as Damian hated this, and as much as it made him feel like an imbecile, he also hated the idea of his father being upset with him. He craved approval from the man he had looked up too, and been told stories about since he was young. The Gotham City Vigilante, Batman, his childhood idol.

So he endured all the attention placed on him by the teacher. Midway through the class, they were sent outside to have recess. He stayed away from all of the idiots around him and just sat on a bench with a book he had brought from home. It was one of Shakespeare's plays, he had taken it from Todd's room at some point, and had been reading it on and off for about a week at that point.

Then a boy came up to him. The boy was taller than him, with a stockier build. There were also two other boys on either side of him. He was smirking at Damian. Was he attempting to be intimidating?

"Hey, you're that shy kid from Mrs. Green's class right?" the boy taunted. Damian looked up at him with a practiced glare, and set down his book. "You read during recess? God, what a nerd." His two cronies laughed. Damian stood up and grabbed the boy by his collar. Damian pulled him forward.

"Never speak to me that way again, you imbecile," Damian growled as he grabbed the kid's wrist and swiftly broke it. The boy in his grasp cried out and then whimpered quietly in terror. "Go tell the teachers that you fell, and if you tell anyone what I just did to you, I'll do even worse, to all of you. Now go you inferior dipshits." Damian dropped his wrist and his collar, and left, his book in hand.

No one mentioned it for the rest of the day, and Damian was not called to the principal's office, so he assumed his threats had been taken seriously.

When Damian returned to his classroom after recess and lunch (Damian had refused to eat such terrible food), the teacher told them that they would be doing an activity for the rest of the day. They would be drawing a family portrait. It seemed so childish when she brought out the crayons and cheap colored pencils, but Damian decided it would be better than doing any more of those idiotic games, so he pulled out a normal pencil and began sketching his family.

First Father, then he added his brothers, finally he added himself in. The paper wasn't very large, and it certainly wasn't quality drawing paper, so the drawing didn't have as much detail as Damian would have liked, but he did like it. As a last touch, he decided to draw in his sister, right next to him, smiling in the way she only did when they were alone.

He wished she was here more than anything. If she was then at least he wouldn't be so alone right now.

He felt so alone.