Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Damian was in the training arena part of the Batcave, working off steam from his earlier mission with Father and the others. It wasn’t his fault things had gone awry, Todd and Drake were too busy bickering to notice that the goons were leaving and that they needed to be stopped, so Damian went in without backup to stop them. Again, it wasn’t his fault and if the aforementioned bickering older brothers had paid attention, then the goons wouldn't have gotten away. But no Damian got blamed for going in without backup and was told to wait while Father thought over his punishment which is why he found himself training while he waited.
Pennyworth walked up to the edge of the training mat and said that Father requested Damian to meet him in his study. So Damian stopped and made the trek out of the cave and to Father’s study where his punishment for tonight awaited. He knocked thrice upon the door, and entered when he heard his father call for him. “Apologies Father, I was in the middle of training when you requested my presence.” Damian stated, and explanation as to why he was slightly exhausted. “That’s alright Damian, but I have decided on the punishment for your reckless behavior tonight.” Father said, and Damian sighed. He knew he was supposed to wait with the others but why should he be burdened with having to deal with Todd and Drake when he was perfectly capable of completing the mission himself?

Damian waited in silence for his punishment, hoping it wouldn’t hinder his performance as Robin. “You are benched indefinitely, no patrol, no missions, and no nights as Robin until you’ve shown me you can be more mature and actually participate in a team.” What? “Father! What do you mean I can no longer be Robin? I am perfectly capable of performing with others, Todd and Drake are simply imbeciles and I had no need for them!” Damian questioned, rather loudly and more upset than he usually is, but it was not fair!

Father sighed, “This is what I mean Damian, you can’t even work with your brothers, how am I supposed to trust you’ll work well in a team of other teen heroes?” Damian went to defend himself again, but Father held up his hand to stop him. “Which is why I’ve asked Clark to bring over his son who’s your age so you can learn to get along with others.” Is Father being serious right now? The Kent Boy, really? “What? But Father-” “My decision is final Damian, now go to your room. Jon and his father will be here in a few hours.” Damian sighed and nodded, leaving the room and went up the stairs to the family wing of Wayne Manor. He closed the door and laid on the bed, petting Titus with his thoughts plagued by how much he was not looking forward to the next few hours.

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Damian walked out of his room, Titus on his heels as he greeted Father, Kent, and the Kent boy where they were seated in one of the many living rooms placed in the Manor. “Greetings Father, Kent, and Young Kent.” He said as he sat down on the couch, Titus at his feet. “Hello Damian,” Kent greeted him, and nodded to Jon. “I’m glad you two are going to hang out, I feel like you’ll be great friends.” Damian inwardly rolled his eyes; I highly doubt that but went along with it anyways if it meant lifting his punishment. “Come along Kent boy, I suppose we could walk around the gardens to discuss ourselves.”

Jon followed him and waited until they were outside the Manor to speak, “Man I’ve got no idea how you stand it in there, so stuffy.” He complained and started to float next to Damian as they continued forward. “So, what do you want to do?” To which Damian sighed, “I do not wish to be friends Kent, I am only doing this to appease Father and return as Robin soon.” At this Jon laughed, “Sounds like you haven’t had real fun before if all you want to do is be Robin, come on, there's got to be something you enjoy?” “I would enjoy you not being in my presence Kent.” Damian snarked back, growing increasingly irritated at Jon’s antics. “Woah, someone’s cheerios weren’t very good this morning, come on. I’ll take you to an empty field and we can have some fun.” Jon said with a smirk and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Damian sighed and knew this would lead to trouble but he was already tired of this and didn’t have the energy to say no. “Alright, but I cannot guarantee I will enjoy whatever it is you are planning, Kent boy.” Domain said and took Jon’s hand as he flew them to who knows where and awaited his fate.

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Damian sat in his room, thoughts nulling over what had happened the past few hours. See, it had been daylight when Damian and Jon first landed in that empty field and now Gotham was covered in its usual darkness. The two boys landed in an empty field, in some random forest, and while by most standards it wasn’t all that rambunctious or “rebellion-worthy”, Damian had been able to taste what freedom felt like and now he was conflicted.

Why is it Damian wanted something he had never needed before? What was it about not having any rules to follow or even having to obey rules that made it so exhilarating? Objectively nothing bad happened, all the two did was run around and have fun without a care, but that was all it took for Damian to want more of it.

Over the course of the next few years Damian grew more and more rebellious with the help of Jon encouraging him and his family, more so his Father as rarely were anyone other than himself, Father, Pennyworth, and possibly Drake in the Manor for more than a day, were none the wiser. As he grew into his early teenage years Damian stopped going on patrol as much, opting to sneak out with Jon at night and hone his new-found love of graffiti art across the alleys of Gotham. He had found it one night after Damian had turned thirteen when he and Jon were out running through Gotham and met two alley kids their age that would become the last two members of their rebellious group. Caden and Eliza were both a year older than Damian and Jon, but that didn’t stop the four of them from becoming a tight-knit group.

The four met when Damian had come across the elder two finishing up an art piece on an underpass wall and commented on how well the piece was, it didn’t take more than that for Eliza to immediately welcome Damian and Jon, but Caden took a little bit more convincing. See, both Caden and Eliza were raised in the worst parts of Crime Alley, so it took a bit for Caden to trust others, he was chaotic and had a trouble streak sure, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t the tiniest bit cautious. Eliza on the other hand was more open to trusting people, but that was because she had an impeccable sense for telling whether someone was genuine or not. Soon enough the group were hanging out every night, painting new art on every wall and area they could get their hands on, and Damian was quite good if he said so himself. Before either Jon or Damian knew it, they turned fifth-teen and started getting even deeper into the pit of rebellion, going to and participating in Street Racing.

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The sounds of engines revving and yelling filled Damian’s ear as he got out of his Lamborghini Huracán Spyder that sported a dark metallic green look, it had red brake calipers and black alloy wheels and was his pride and joy. He had just one his race and while waiting to get his money from the reward he watched as Jon got ready for his race and listened to the sound of Jon’s motorbike. It was a Yamaha YZF-R1, and like how his own Lamborghini was his pride and joy, this bike was Jons. It had glossy dark blue fairing with black accents, high-performance disc brakes on both of the wheels, and aerodynamic body lines.

If Caden and Eliza’s calling cards were their Graffiti, then his and Jon’s was their racing. Only a few weeks after the boys fifth-teenth birthday did they find a racing gang that met up almost every night in the hidden back alleys of Crime Alley itself, none of the four friends had wanted to go home after they had finished working on a few graffiti pieces the four had been wandering around the alleyways and heard loud shouting coming from one of the larger ones and witnessed their first ever street race. Damian and Jon were immediately in love with it and soon they had secretly stolen enough money to buy Damians car and Jon’s bike, though did it really count as stealing if Damian told Father, it was for art supplies?

Once they had their prized vehicles the two were quick to start racing and gained confidence and popularity quite quickly. To keep all the racers from being arrested for participating in this very illegal racing everyone had been given racer names based on how you did in your first race, Jon’s was “Blue Bullet” for how fast he was despite it being his first race, but he was often called “BB” for short. Damian's racer name had come from how ruthless he was when racing, he was called “Green Demon” or just “Demon” for short. Although he hated it at first as it was what his brothers referred to him, in this place it was spoken with an air of respect or awe.

Snapping out of his thoughts Damian walked over to where Caden and Eliza were standing, having just watched Damian race. The two weren’t as into the racing as Damian and Jon were but they supported the boys in what they enjoyed. “Hello Cade, ‘Liza. Did you enjoy the show?” He asked, his voice losing the prestigious air it had over the years when he was around them. “You know it, you excited to see your boy race?” Eliza asked him as he got to his usual viewing spot of the races right in the front, while very much denying Eliza’s words.

“Of course I’m excited to see my friend race,” He said, intentionally ignoring Eliza when she came up to him. “Oh yeah sure, the friend who you constantly flirt with and who flirts back? Gotcha.” Caden said with a knowing smirk but shut up as Jon’s race was starting. The two bikers took off and before he knew it the race was over and Jon had won, all while Damian had been cheering him on.

He went to greet Jon as he got off his bike and congratulate him, and if a teeny tiny amount of flirtatious banter passed between the two? Well, that was no one's business but theirs. As per their schedule, once Jon’s race was done the four would head home and sleep the day away just to do it all over again, but this time they were stopped. A well-known biker at this race gang walked up to them and started talking, congratulating both the boys on their wins and making good talk with Caden and Eliza when he said something that caught the attention of all four of them.

“Would you guys be up for going to a party?”

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Damian snuck back into his room at the Manor, opting to not have Jon fly him almost the entire way there as he usually does, he was the only one out of their little group to not take the invitation of a party. He made it through all the security measures with ease and made it into his room where Titus was waiting for him and put all his other “night-time gear” away in a false floor at the bottom of his closet.

It was past midnight and usually he was able to fall asleep right away but tonight was different, ‘Did I make the right choice by not going?’ The thought plagued his mind the entire night, and then all of the next day. During his quiet breakfast it was all he could think about, at school he wasn’t focused and just kept thinking about the texts that the others sent talking about how fun it was.

Damian was a very good judge of character, and he knew he wouldn’t do anything bad, but still he was uncharacteristically nervous about the prospect of a party with alcohol and drugs. He’d seen what alcohol does to his Father and eldest brothers, what if it turns him into someone he was before? Rageful and unhesitant to strike someone down for the slightest mistake, what if it turns him into his Grandfather? How will he ever forgive himself if he does something that can’t be taken back?

The sound of a bell snaps Damian out of his thoughts and he heads home for the day, walking into the kitchen and was greeted by the unusual sight of Grayson at the counter. “Grayson? What are you doing here?” He asked, remembering to keep up the posh and direct tone his family was used to even though he rarely used it anymore.

“Little D! I’m here cause B needed some help on a case tonight and because I wanted to patrol with you again. I’ve heard it’s been a bit since you’ve been out on the streets,” Grayson said while getting up to ruffle Damian's hair, to which he swatted away the elder's hand.

“Very well, I shall go up to my room and rest so I can be adequately aware and awake tonight,” Damian stated before climbing the steps to his room.

Once he was there he set his school bag down and texted his friends that he would not be able to make it tonight, and they responded cheerfully as they were only going to go to a party again tonight. ‘Again?’ Damian wondered, which only led his mind down the path it took earlier this morning and to stave off those thoughts he decided to paint until it was time for patrol.

Eventually patrol came and Damian suited up in his Robin suit, the material having felt a little strange after not wearing it for so long, he then met up with Grayson and the two started their patrol. Damian had hoped it would be a quiet night but like all nights in Gotham, it wasn’t. There were two Arkham breakouts, they dealt with twelve separate muggings, busted a drug ring, and gained evidence for the case Father and Grayson were working on, and all the while Damian’s phone buzzed and buzzed the entire night. He kept pausing to check it and it was all pictures of his friends at the party which only fueled his dilemma of whether or not he should have taken that first invitation.

“Robin? What’s with the phone buddy?” Grayson asked, snapping Damian from his thoughts.

“It’s nothing Grayson,” Damian replied, quickly hiding his phone from view and putting it away. Luckily the night was ending and there was no room for Grayson to interrogate him as they headed back to the cave. When they entered Drake and Todd were there, Drake was doing some nonsense on the Bat-Computer and Todd was apparently only there for Pennyworths cookies as he had an entire plate full of them.

“Todd, Drake,” Damian acknowledged them before taking his uniform off and heading upstairs to bed, not wanting to deal with Grayson in case he asked about why Damian was on his phone the whole night.

The next few days, almost a week practically, were just like this one. Damian kept refusing to participate in every night parties his friends were now fond of, but his resolve kept slowly slipping. It didn’t help that there was almost no one in the Manor, let alone anyone who would willingly talk to him so his need for conversation kept growing until one day his resolve broke.

“Really Damian, you should go tonight. They’re tons of fun!” Eliza tried convincing him, this was the one time in almost two weeks that the whole group got to hang out together.

“Yeah man, I think it might do you some good to come with us.” Caden added and agreed with Eliza’s statement, and Damian sat in silence as he contemplated it, but he broke out of his thoughts when Jon placed his hand on Damian’s shoulder.

“I know you’re nervous, Dad’s told me about how Bruce got with alcohol after Jason but I promise you’ll have fun.” Jon whispered to him, a small smile accompanying his words.

Damian blushed slightly and looked away, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

“Alright I’ll go.”

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Hey guys Author here! I’m rlly sorry I
haven’t updated and that this is the super shitty update y’all get in over two months😭 But it’s sad to say that I’ll be discontinuing this fic, while it was short I had no idea what I was doing and this was my first time actually writing something and posting it so I was basically writing it on a chapter by chapter basis. Again I’m rlly sorry but I have no idea how to continue this story but I hope everyone who supported, commented, and kudos this fic forgives me for ending it so soon. If anyone wants to continue this fic in their own way I give full rights to do so pls just figure out a way for me to see it because I will absolutely want to read it.

Again thank you all for all the support for this disaster of a first fic but I’ve been grateful for every single comment and kudos I’ve received!
Sorry I had to end the fic this way but I enjoyed writing it all the same and I’m glad all of you enjoyed it too