Friend or Foe?

Chapter 7

The family is gathered around the television for the movie. From left to right, Tim sits at the end, Bruce next to him, Damian next to his father while Dick sits next to him, and finally, Jason at the right end. As the movie plays, everyone's attention goes to the screen. Not ten minutes in and Damian can already feel himself losing concentration. Damian looks at the people around him. He can't see Tim, as Bruce is blocking the view, but Damian doesn't mind. Bruce's expression is unreadable. Dick looks pretty interested, making dramatic expressions as the events play out in the movie. Jason looks pretty bored.

Damian looks back to the screen. He begins to lose concentration again; his eyes begin to feel pretty heavy. He's had about one day of decent sleep during the past week or so. He hears the voices of the fictional turtles play out like a lullaby in his thoughts. He doesn't even notice as his eyes close. He must have lost balance at some point because he's now leaning against Dick with his arms folded. Dick gently places his arm around Damian, making it more comfortable for the young Robin. Damian's too close to a peaceful slumber that he doesn't seem to care.

Dick looks down at his little brother fondly, adoring how peaceful the kid looks in his sleep. It's hard to imagine that this kid once thrashed around like a tornado, killing anything in sight. Dick just wants his little brother to feel the kind of peace that is planted on the kid's face now. Dick puts his attention back to the screen.

—Time skip—

Damian's eyelids begin to lift, and he's met with the familiar sight of his ceiling. He sits up slowly, trying to remember how he got here. It doesn't take him long to recall himself drifting away during the movie. Someone must have moved him to his room. He turns his head over to look at the clock and finds that it's after one in the morning. He'd normally be on patrol during this time, but he concludes that his family must have decided to let him be.

Titus perks his head up when he notices that the young teen is awake. The dog wags his tail but doesn't get up. He must have been sleeping as well.

Damian sighs tiredly. The extra sleep must have been helpful because his soreness had died down a lot. He barely even notices it. He heads into the bathroom and looks at the figure that reflects back at him. The bruises had also died down a tun, and his eye bags aren't as bad. He wouldn't have to be ready to go to school for at least another five hours. He considers going down to the cave to get into uniform and go on a late patrol.

Damian ends up at his desk. He's sketching whatever comes to mind. At some point Titus had come over to lay next to Damian's chair. Damian bends down to affectionately pet the dog every now and then. Time passes by quickly as he scribbles away, before he knows it, he could hear his family coming in from the cave. He hears a couple of people come up the stairs, Titus' gaze focuses on the direction of the noise. One pair of footsteps sound heavier than the other. He recognizes them to be Jason and Dick. His father and Tim were still in the cave working on something no doubt. As the dog realizes it's safe, he puts his head back down comfortably.

Damian goes over to his nightstand. He grabs his phone and some earbuds. He walks back over to his desk and sits down. He turns his phone on and is greeted by multiple text messages from unknown numbers. Damian is hit with a sense of deja vu. He opens his phone and looks at one of the messages. "Hey freak, stop acting like you're better than all of us. You don't even belong here. You're just a poor little bitch who thinks he deserves love just because he's got some money. Bet your daddy is getting really tired of dealing with your bullshit. Won't be too long before he throws you out just like your dear old mommy did." The message reads.

Damian stares at his phone with a blank expression. He sighs and blocks all of the numbers, not even bothering to check the others. He switches over to his music app and plays some relaxing music. He then continues to draw.