Friend or Foe?

Intro

Damian had started his new year in Gotham academy. He was going to Jon's school for a while, but since Jon was older now, and had left for a long mission (He came back from the future and wanted to prove himself as a hero. Not long after his 15th birthday, Clark sent him on a mission), Bruce had decided that it would be more efficient to send Damian to the local school. Mainly because Damian still hadn't made any friends in Metropolis. He hoped that being closer to home might help. Plus, Alfred wouldn't have to take him all the way to Metropolis every morning.

Damian didn't really mind much; it'd still be the same boring work he'd already been doing. He still didn't really understand why he had to go to school in the first place, but he knew he couldn't change his father's mind.

During the first week or so Damian was pretty popular. He had all the qualities you'd expect from a popular kid. He was attractive, rich, and doing extremely well academically. But Damian didn't care much for the attention, so it quickly died down. Some of the popular kids had offered for him to join their group, and when he refused, they weren't too happy.

Because of his attitude, the other kids had concluded that he thought himself too good for them. Which was partially true, but it was mostly because he liked being alone. He wasn't much for human interaction, and he wasn't looking for any friends.

He quickly adapted to this new routine. Every morning he'd wake up at around 6:00 in the morning. He'd shower, get dressed, then go down for breakfast. Once he was finished eating, he'd put his shoes on and then read until it was time to go.

Once at school he'd go to his locker and organize it before going to his classes. He'd be called names every now and then, but he didn't really mind. Nothing they said could really affect him anyways.

Excluding his after-school activities, every day was the same. He was always alone at school, doing his work, drawing, or reading. That was until one day, when a kid decided to approach him.

Damian was a bit surprised when the kid sat next to him. He was annoyed at first and even a little shy (Though he'd be caught dead before admitting it), but realized he had a lot in common with the kid. They both liked to draw and read, and they both loved animals.

He learned that the kid's name was Riley Johnson, and he was a year above Damian. Riley had light brown hair and blue eyes. He had wavy hair which was a bit messy. He wore a red jacket with a plain white t-shirt. His sleeves were rolled up revealing a watch on his left wrist and a leather bracelet on the other. He had some average looking jeans on and wore converse tennis shoes. All in all, he seemed to be your average American teenager.

After about a month or so, he started to learn more about his new friend. Riley didn't have the best home life, which Damian could relate to. Damian wouldn't admit it, but he was actually pretty happy to have a new friend.

One day during dinner, Bruce decided to ask Damian how school was going. "Same old boring work." Is all Damian replied with.

"You still haven't made any friends?" Bruce had asked, but he wasn't really surprised. Damian was quiet for a moment, but then he spoke, "I made one." He said, not lifting his gaze from his food.

Bruce was a bit surprised by this. He smiled for a second, before going right back to his normal cold look. Things were quiet for a bit after that. "You should invite the kid over sometime." Bruce stated nonchalantly. Damian looked at his father for a second, then back to his food. "Perhaps I should." Damian replied.

And so, Damian did. He invited Riley over. He showed him some of his pets (Not Batcow or Goliath sadly) and showed him some of his art. Riley was really impressed and loved Titus.

The next time Damian saw his brothers, they teased him about his new friend, but it was clear that they were all happy for him. Dick had even told him that he was proud of him. Damian pretended he didn't care much, though it never fooled Dick.

Over the next few months Damian had gotten pretty close to Riley. He began to invite him over regularly, and even opened up to him a bit. Jon was still his best friend, but Riley was a good escape from reality. He felt like a real kid with Riley, and Riley was good at making him laugh.

He was a bit uncomfortable getting so close to a normal kid. He was a bit scared Riley might come to hate him if he found out who Damian really was. And he didn't like that he wanted to open up, it made him feel weak. But he still told Riley about some of his past. He had to censor most of it to hide his identity, but told Riley about his mom. About how his mom raised him to be strong. And about some of the punishments he got when he wasn't strong.

But Damian noticed that Riley had started acting a bit different. Riley slowly began to distance himself from Damian. Damian didn't know why, but he knew he was going to find out. He realized that Riley was being bullied by the same kids that had asked Damian to join their little group at the beginning of the year.

Damian decided to confront them. He got them alone and told them how he'd end them, going into a disturbing amount of detail. Though this did scare them, it angered them more. They concluded that Riley had told Damian even after they told him not to. The bullying got worse.

The next day Riley snapped at Damian, "What did you do? Why couldn't you just leave it alone!?" He screamed when Damian found him in their spot at lunch. "What are you talking about Johnson?" Damian replied. "You just had to act all high and mighty and try to fight my battles for me, didn't you?" Riley cried.

"Hold on, are you talking about how I scared off your good for nothing bullies?" Damian replied, annoyed. He had done his friend a favor, what was his problem. "You didn't scare them off, you just pissed them off!" Riley screamed pointing his finger at Damian.

"Wait... did they touch you again?" Damian said, realizing the situation. His blood began to boil, "I'm so giving them a lesson" Damian said, throwing his hand into a fist. "No! You've done enough." Riley said, shoving past him. Damian looked at him in disbelief as he walked away.

Later that day Damian came up to the main bully, Travis Keller, and punched him hard in the face, with no warning. Travis was knocked to the ground and was left with a bloody nose. "What the hell?!" He screamed back at Damian who was furious. Travis touched his nose which was in a lot of pain. He flinched at the extreme amount of pain from the touch. "You bitch! I think you broke it!"

Damian kneeled down so that his face was right in front of Travis. "Touch him again, and you'll have more than a broken nose." Damian said with a glare colder than ever. He began to walk away, when he suddenly stopped. "Oh, and you better delete that recording unless you wanna end up worse than your filthy friend." He said as one of the kids had secretly started to record. "How did you-" the kid said, but was then cut off by an immense glare from Damian. Damian walked away.

Travis got up and snatched the phone from his friend's hand. "Give me that!" He cried, extremely pissed off. He started tapping away at the phone. "Dude, what are you doing!?" The kid cried, trying to get his phone back. Travis finished and tossed the phone back to his friend. "Calm down, I just sent it to myself." Travis replied nonchalantly.

"You heard what he said. He'll kill us!" The kid cried. "Don't tell me you're actually scared of that Wayne brat?" Travis said glaring at his friend. The kid went quiet. "No... of course not." He replied anxiously. "Good. I'm going to the nurse's office now. Go find Wayne's bitch and teach the kid a lesson." Travis said, before walking away.