Beneath The Mask

Chapter 1: School

  "Damian! If I have to say it again, I'm going to come up there and your going to be in real trouble."

"Hmm...?" Damian blinked open his eyes reluctantly and instantly wished he hadn't. It was morning, and a ray of sunlight peeked through the curtains in his room.

It was his first day of school today.

"Ok, I'm coming up."

Shoot.

Damian shot out of bed, leaping for his closet. If Father found him not ready, or at least not even dressed for school, he would literally be dragged down from his room (or worse, carried) all the way down to the kitchen. He grabbed at random clothes and suddenly felt something odd on him. He looked down and realised he was still dressed from head to toe in his Robin suit. Oh no I'm in so much trouble... He vaguely heard footsteps storming up the stairs as Father got closer. He ripped off his mask, then as quickly as possible stripper himself of his uniform. He slipped on a simple pair of black jeans and a black shirt, along with a black hoodie. Yes, he knew he had too much black. But it was his kind of thing. Maybe I should try red sometime... He shoved his suit into his closet. Yeah, he knew that it belonged in the Batcave. But he'd have to return it when Father wasn't storming up to his room. He heard the footsteps come to an abrupt halt, and Damian leaped to the door. He relaxed himself, relaxing the tensed muscles in his face. So when Father opened the door, glaring down at his son, he would see not a completely worn out kid, but a bored one ready to start the day. Unfortunately, only one of those things were true.

"Come on, I've been calling to you for ten minutes," Father huffed.

"Just ten?" Damian replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, Alfred's made breakfast." Father gestured down the hall. "And today's your first day of school! You'll love it."

"And Alfred's Batman," Damian muttered.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

Damian pushed past Father and stormed down the hall and down the stairs. He suddenly realised he'd left Titus in his room when he turned around to fetch him, only to bump into Father.

"Titus is already up," Father said, studying Damian's face.

"Hmph." Damian whirled around again and continued to the kitchen where Alfred was busy making breakfast. He slid into the seat at the dinner table and rested his head again the table. Boy, was he tired. He'd spent half of last night on a wild goosechase going after the same robbers for at least 3 hours, then spent the rest of the night dealing with some crazy electric guy who somehow got in his head that he could fly. Let's just say he found out the hard way. Don't worry, nobody died but let's just say Damian was very tempted to have let the guy fall to his death. So, yeah. Now he was exhausted. But he couldn't let Father notice. He'd sit him out of patrol for the week, telling him he needs his 'rest'. He's Robin, for goodness sake. He didn't need to rest.

Alfred lifted his head from where he was looking over a pan. "Good morning, Master Damian. Sleep well?"

Damian jolted his head up, hoping Alfred hadn't seen him about to doze off. "Mhm."

"Good to know." There was something in Alfred's voice that told Damian all he needed to know, but he didn't press the matter further.

Father finally entered the kitchen and joined Dmaian at the table. Father was about to open his mouth to speak when a bark was sounded, jolting Damian awake. Oops, he was about to nod off again. Titus! Titus trotted over to Damian, resting his head on his lap. Damian scratched the Dane's head gently, and Titus rubbed his head against Damian's thigh.