Inbetween

Chapter Five: Superman Expert

These chapters are longer than my usual chapters, woah!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce folded his last shirt and placed it into his bag knowing he'd need more clothes than usual if he was going to be out on a farm for the majority of the week. He slung the strap over his shoulder and started to make his way down the hall when he spotted Damian sulking in his bedroom. Bruce sighed and decided he couldn't leave without fixing things with Damian.

Bruce knocked on the door panel and Damian looked up from his desk his expression suddenly blank. Bruce knew his son well enough to understand he was upset even if he didn't express it like most ten-year-olds. Bruce shut the door behind himself and took a seat on Damian's massive bed. The boy waited for his father to speak not exactly sure what was going to be said.

"Damian, I know you're unhappy about the grounding which is understandable," Bruce started, "but you can't continuously act up and not expect to get in trouble."

"I know." Damian nodded, "I have accepted my punishment."

Bruce paused before speaking once again. If he wasn't upset about his punishment then what was he upset about? He raised an eyebrow opening his mouth to say something but then closing it once again. Damian sighed before looking down at his lap and then back up at Bruce.

"Then why are you upset?" Bruce questioned.

Communication between the two had never been easy and they both knew that. In fact, Richard was usually the one to get them to speak to each other civilly when they disagreed on something. Damian looked towards his opened window his neck turning red.

"It's nothing," Damian muttered.

"Are you sure?" It wasn't like Bruce to pry but he didn't want to leave with any regrets just in case of anything.

"I'm-Fine." Damian cleared his throat, "I'm just goingtomissyou."

"What?" Bruce frowned a bit.

Damian groaned, "I'm going to miss you."

"Oh." Bruce had been caught off guard for the first time in a long time.

Damian looked away from Bruce obviously not pleased with his father's reaction. Bruce stood up and cleared his throat now clutching the strap of his bag. The room filled with a nervous energy that neither of them enjoyed.

"Well, I'll miss you too." Bruce smiled and Damian could tell it was genuine but strained.

Damian nodded as Bruce made his way toward the door. He turned the knob ready to leave when he looked back at Damian.

"And please don't give Alfred and Dick a hard time." Bruce hummed and Damian nodded once again.

With that Bruce walked out of Damian's room and down the stairs where it seemed empty. He didn't know what to think about Damian actually expressing emotion. Was this Dick's doing? He couldn't tell, but if it was he was glad Damian was straying away from his grandfather's morals and edging more towards Richard's.

He walked towards the living room where he knew Richard would be playing a video game instead of actually doing his homework. When he stepped in Dick was groaning in frustration at his game not sure whether to throw the remote or quit the game.

"Richard, I'm leaving so take care of your little brother while I'm gone," Bruce announced and Dick jumped from his spot.

He paused his game and smiled up at Bruce, "have I ever let you down?"

"Well...there was that one time you destroyed the Batcave-"

"That was Barb's fault." Dick scoffed, "I was an innocent bystander."