Crazy Little Thing

Chapter 4

Friendship. The concept continued to puzzle the young boy. Such a thing was a weakness. An unrequired asset of life along with love and other certain emotions. 

He and York had surely become acquainted well with one another. It became a regular occurrence that they did their homeworks together everyday after school and then read while listening to a soft tune after. The entirety of the spring semester was spent this way.

Damian thought to himself that if he had a younger sibling that maybe this would be the kind of relationship he would have had with them. York at times seemed like a young sister but other times she would seem like a brother. Either they fought and argued with one another or were able to hold a civil conversation and read together peacefully. There was hardly an inbetween.

Of course there were certain days the boy was released early from school. And lately he'd asked Pennyworth to leave him be, he could get home on his own. Damian liked to walk after all. It helped clear his thoughts. 

On the few days he did leave school early he would surprise his comrade. St. Victoria's wasn't exactly along the path he took to the manor but it wasn't too far off either. And so Damian would retrieve the blonde those days he was released early from his classes. 

It seemed to give him a sense of normality. Of what a child his age should experience. And those days quickly became Damian's favorite. Damian of course would never wait for York right outside of school. No, instead he would sit underneath a tree right around the corner, busy with his sketchbook.

He waited twenty-minutes every other Tuesday and Thursday for the blonde. She was always one of the first children out. Only the older teens were allowed to leave but somehow the girl always made her escape after bidding her few friends good-bye. 

"I think it might rain," she told him as they walked along the sidewalk. Debbie's curls bounced as she skipped right by his side while eating a bag of gumdrops. 

Damian shrugged, his hands in his pockets as he kept his chin up high, "It's nearly summer."

"But it's cloudy and cold."

Maybe that summer would be a cold, rainy summer. It wasn't odd for a summer in Gotham to be bathed in gray clouds. 

Both children were odd in their own right at school. Debbie herself was different. She fit in better with a crowd of animals in the wild. She loved birds after all. Birds and rabbits and dogs and hamsters. Damian couldn't blame her. Animals sometimes made better companions than other people. The only exception were themselves. 

Debbie made it a habit to sneak away from St. Victorias late at night. Damian at first rejected the idea of letting her stay on Friday nights since he would rather be on patrol. Yet for some reason he decided to just let the blonde do as she pleased. There was no way he could win an argument with her anymore. Bruce had also told him it was important to have friends his own age. 

It was on a certain cloudy night that Damian found out how truly strange the blonde really was. Strange and perhaps even lovely in her own charming way. 

They were hanging out in Damian's room. Although it was summer, the air outside was fresh. Clean.  Damian sat on his chair beside his desk and Debbie lay comfortably on his bed.

"I've just finished To Kill A Mockingbird. Have you read any good books lately?"

"No, not lately." He seemed distracted. Distant once again. It wasn't out of the ordinary but something still seemed off.

Debbie was not one to keep her words to herself, "What are you thinking of?"

"Am I your friend, York?"

It had puzzled him for the last few days although Damian had kept it to himself. It wasn't as though he didn't have friends but he did prefer to do things on his own instead. Having others around you only gave more reason for mistakes to take place. Damian never made mistakes. 

The blonde shrugged, "Well do you want to be friends?"

"What would it consist of?"

"Of what we already do."

"But we do nothing together."

"Exactly."

Debbie had stressed to him before that he should try to be a "normal kid". What on earth did that even mean? Neither of them were normal after all. But perhaps what she meant was he should enjoy the fun carefree life of a child while he could. Debbie was weird. But that was okay.

It began to drizzle lightly outside. Raindrops hit his window with hardly any sound. The air felt sticky suddenly as the weather had taken a slight turn. Debbie immediately stood up and went to open the window by Damian's desk.

To Damian it seemed she was aching to just jump out once a heavy enough downpour began. Not that he would try to stop her. He wasn't going to babysit the little lunatic. 

"So are we friends?" Damian finally asked as Debbie continued to gaze out the window, letting her whole arm stick out to catch raindrops.

Debbie smiled, "Maybe we're like siblings."

Siblings? Maybe she was right. And that gave him a sense of calmness. He liked the idea of having a slightly younger sibling after all. He had only older brothers. Now he could have a sister close to his age. Someone he would need to watch over. 

That was okay with him.