Chapter Text
Damian was at a gala with his father. He has been to many before but this was the first one where his brothers wouldn't be joining them. They all had told father that they wished not to come and he had agreed. Damian wishes he could do that but speaking against father, especially in civilian's clothes, scares Damian a little.
So, here he was, at a Gala he didn't want to be at and in an uncomfortable suit he didn't want to wear. Damian was also drinking a sickly, sweet red drink. Richard had told him that if he had a drink in his hand people wouldn't offer him drinks or any food, reducing the amount of people he has to talk to.
Bruce had let Damian run off on his own, knowing his son would do it anyway. All of his kids get grossed out when they watch Brucie flirt but he trusted Damian to be on his best behaviour. To be honest, he half expects Damian to go hide under a table where the table cloth will block everything out. All his kids had done it after all.
Damian walked through the group of people. Using his Robin training he tried to gilded past people but he couldn't make it too impressive, after all he was still a child.
All children make mistakes after all.
Only if some people understand that.
Damian didn't know exactly what went wrong but one minute everything was fine and then the next he was tripping. He didn't know if it was the floor, his shoes or even some of the long dresses some of the ladies here wore, but something coursed him to trip and start this whole mess.
Of course, Damian knew how to catch himself when he tripped but a normal kid would not. He just didn't expect his drink to tip out of his cup and spill all over a old man's tuxedo. Turning the white shirt underneath the black jacket red.
Damian stared up at the old man where he was laying on his front on the floor. If Damian was being honest he was kind of in shock himself.
The old man grabbed Damian by the collar of his suit and ripped him up on his feet, partly choking Damian in the process.
“Oh, you're Brucie's kid. That explains so much now,” the old man sneered out.
Damian blinked, he doesn't understand what was happening.
“Aren't you going to say sorry? I know Brucie is a moron but didn't he at least teach his kids some manners?” The old man asked.
“S-sorry,” Damian stuttered out.
“Too late for that now. You have probably never been punished in your life.”
Damian frowned. He had been punished. Father puts him in timeout or benches him from Robin and Jason even said to Damian that Mother used to ground him. So, he has been punished.
Damian wasn't paying attention to what the old man was saying but he knew what was about to happen when he saw the man raise a hand. Damian tried to brace for the impact of the slap but he was too late.
The slap echoed through the ballroom. A hush fell over the room as everyone heard the sound and stopped to watch what would happen.
Damian felt tears begin to form in his eyes as his cheek stringed.
“Man, don't cry. Only women do. Unless you are a girl, stop fucking crying and be a man,” he snapped.
Damian pushed his lips together in a thin line, trying to stop them from wobbling. The tears soon started rolling down his cheeks.
“Pathetic,” the man raised his hand again, ready to slap Damian but someone grabbed onto his wrist. From what Damian could see the hand would leave a bruise on the wrist.
Wait, he knew that hand.
It was his father's!
His father spun the man around so now that they were facing each other.
“How dare you raise your hand to my son and I know you already hit him,” Father growled.
He leaned closer to the old man and growled in his Batman voice.
“You are lucky that there are witnesses because if not you will be leaving in an ambulance.”
Father leaned away, leaving the man shaking in fear.
“You'll be hearing from my lawyers,” with that his father walked over to Damian and lifted him up. He placed Damian on his hip as he walked away.
Damian rested his head on his father's shoulder. Heading his face and he let himself cry.
“It's okay, son. Let it out. You are safe now,” father mumbled to him as he rubbed his back.
Damian nodded, knowing that he just rubbed snot and tears on his father's suit jacket but father didn't seem to mind.
The car ride back to the manor was just filled with Damian sniffing and trying to wipe his tears away. He knew that the side of his face would be red. He just hoped it didn't leave a bruise.
The whole ride his father kept a hand on Damian and he couldn't help but lean into the touch each time. Yes, he has been hit before but that was when he was Robin. It's never happened when he was just Damian.
He let out a small sob at the thought.
Damian felt his father rub his thigh.
“It's okay. I won’t let him hurt you again,” his father’s voice was dark but Damian found comfort in that. He knew that his father would keep him safe.
Walking into the manor, Damain almost wanted to be carried again but it was his face that hurt, not his leg. He will just have to suck it up and walk. It wasn’t that far of a walk after all.
“How was the gala?” Dick called out, walking into the room.
Damian hid behind his father. He had forgotten that his big brothers don’t know what happened. They won’t be happy.
“There was a problem,” father began to speak.
By now Jason and Tim walked into the room. It’s like they knew when the drama was about to go down.
“What happened?” Dick asked, his eyes darkening. After he knew what rich people could be like when they were drinking. They all did.
“Can you show them, Baby?” his father asked.
Damian took a deep breath and walked out from behind his father.
All three of his brothers suck in a breath at seeing the mark on Damian’s face.
“What the fuck happened?” Jason growled.
“I-I spilled a drink on someone. He wasn’t happy about it and said I needed to be punished. So, he slapped me,” Damian explained, his voice wavering in some places at the memory of what happened.
“Did you do anything?!” Dick shouted at father.
“I bruised his wrist and said he would be hearing from my lawyers,” father told his sons.
“That’s all?” Dick asked.
Tim pulled out his phone. Damian noted that Tim has been oddly quiet through this, that was never good.
“I’m going to destroy this guy on all his socials,” Tim said, with that he walked away, probably going to the Batcave.
“I’ll come with you, Timmy. This guy may need a visit from Red Hood. After all, Red Hood hates when a kid gets hurt,” Jason explained, going after Tim.
Damian was left with his father and Dick. He was half surprised that Dick wasn’t going with his other brothers but he would want to see that Damian was taken care of.
“Come on, Baby Bat. Let's get you an ice pack and some real food. We will leave Bruce to get everything to bring this guy down with the law as well.”
Before Dick could guide Damian away, Damian went to his father and gave him a hug.
“Thank you for protecting me, dad,” Damian said, his voice partly muffled by his father’s clothes.
His father wrapped his arms around him.
“I’ll always protect you,” his father said, ending it with a kiss to Damians forehead.
Damian was the first to break the hug and went back to Dick who had his arms open for a hug as well. Which Damian happily gave him.
Tonight was hard for Damian but at least he had his family there to protect him and make him feel better. Like they will always be.
THE END