Jason slumped into school a week after the shocking family announcement. Damian was still not talking to Selina or Bruce and Cass and Stephanie had returned to their all-girl boarding school in Canada. The manor was surprisingly quiet and it was driving Jason nuts and his uniform was itchy. And Dick had left without him for school... again... the third time this week. As he walked towards his locker Jason found that the very asshole he was thinking about was leaning up against his locker talking to Kory pretending to act all cool.
"You should definitely try out for cheer-leading Kory, I think you would love it and the girls would love you." Dick smiled brightly at the Tamaranian.
Kory blushed and twirled her hair between her fingers, "There are just so many people at all of those football games... I am not used to being around so many people Dick," She confessed.
"And let's be honest Grayson, Kor would be lucky if Barbra let our friend anywhere near her precious Gotham Sirens'." Jason struts up to the pair with a smug look on his face. Grayson didn't deserve Kory. No one did.
Jason watched as his older brother's face paled, "I should get going," Dick mumbled, "don't want to be late for biology with Dr. Isley, she'll turn me into a toadstool."
Jason waved smugly as Kory smiled brightly, "Goodbye Dick."
"Bye Dick," Jason called cockily. The angry junior grabbed Kory's arm and swung her round to face the other way before pulling her down the hallway, "don't want to be late for English."
Kory pulled her arm away from Jason and stopped, "why will you not let me talk to your brother?" her arms crossed and Jason knew he was in trouble. He had only ever seen Kory look this way at him once before and it was right after the junior prom incident.
"We're going to be late for class and Bruce will kill me if I get detention so soon in the year." The boy with the white streak in his hair turned to walk away.
"Jason Todd, you will answer me right now!" her voice raised and the people around them began to whisper.
"You're not my mother Kor," he rolled his eyes. Big mistake.
Kory turned on her heels with a humph and walked down the hallway without looking back.
"Fuck!" Jason groaned throwing his hand up in defeat, "why does she have to make things so fucking difficult all the time."
"It's not even eleven o'clock and you've already managed to get sent home from school?" Dick asked as he picked up Damian's backpack from the front steps of the private school's elementary building.
"That child was insulting my art project. I had to teach him a lesson, Grayson."
"I honestly want to know what on earth was going through your head,"The eldest chuckled. "That poor kid is going to be traumatized for weeks."
They started walking past the Secondary building as they headed towards the front gates of the school
"Maybe you need to chill out a little?" Dick suggested, giving his brother a gentle nudge, "Make friends with people your own age and maybe you need to stop watching the soap opera channel when you get suspended." Damian just rolled his eyes and began to walk faster, "Maybe there is a girl you could talk to? Have a crush on anyone, little man?"
"Crushes are useless, love is a meaningless and trivial emotion used to manipulate and control a person's mind and lacklustre thoughts."
"Now hold on kid, love, sure, is trivial but it isn't meaningless. You were born out of a, yes, conflicting, but loving relationship. Bruce really did love Talia-"
Damian slowed, "and that's why she left... and left me here with all of you."
"We all love you too Damian, we all just show it in different ways."
"You're just spewing out this garbage in order to make yourself feel better about the fact that you think you love Barbra but you want to be with someone else."
Dick glowered at Damian, "look, what I do with my love life is none of your business and you don't get to project your mommy issues onto my relationship with Barbara and Kory. Besides, shouldn't you be more worried about not being the only blood son anymore?" Suddenly Dick fell to the ground holding his shin the pain swelled quickly, it was definitely going to leave a bruise. As Dick looked up he saw the youngest Wayne running towards the front gates.
Tim finally answered his phone after the fourth call from Jason. "What do you want?" he whispered, looking around hoping his teacher wouldn't notice. Kon sent him a strange look as he proceeded to conduct their advanced chemistry project. Tim wasn't making his 'calculated' face he made when one of his brothers called him for school help he looked almost worried.
"What do you mean Dick lost Damian?!" That caught Kon's attention.
"Yeah, I'll go check the spot. You check the bus station in case he goes to look for Talia." Tim snapped the phone shut before shoving it into his backpack.
"What's going on Tim?" Kon asked shutting their Bunsen burner off, "is Damian okay?"
Tim nodded before stacking his textbooks into his bag, "Dick went all macho big brother on Damian and he ended up running away. I'm heading over to our meeting spot to see if he's hiding out there."
"I'll come with you."
"You don't have to do that. Finish the project-"
"I want to." Kon interrupted as he grabbed his bag, "besides you two don't have the best track record when alone together. Someone has to keep the peace."
Jason slammed his fist into a locker as he read the text message on his phone. No sign of him at the manor. Why did Dick always have to be the hero? Why couldn't he let Damian act like a little shit and ignore it like the rest of them?
Jason's fingered did a little dance over the key's on his phone as he pondered whether or not to call. Sighing Todd dialled the number.
"What do you want Jason?" Kory snapped.
"Well, you're not completely mad at me. You answered the phone."
"I have two minutes to talk before I must go back to class so please tell me why you are calling."
"Damian ran away, we need your help to look at all of his possible hiding spots. Dick is at the manor, Tim is heading over to the meeting place, Barbra is at the Diner, and I'm heading to the bus station-"
"Where am I needed?"
"The Arcade."
"What should I do if I find him? He does not seem to be very fond of me Jason."
"Buy him some game tokens and food then call me and I'll make sure he gets home."
Dick ran his hand through his hair as he entered the kitchen. Expecting to find Alfred he actually ran into Selina having a snack with Dinah Queen. "Sorry to interrupt-" The oldest Wayne said grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl in order to act nonchalant.
"Why are you home so soon Richard?" Selina asked picking at the small grape in her hand.
Dick ran his hand through his hair again with a pained face, "just uh, just wasting time between classes."
"You live twenty minutes by car away from the school." Dinah crossed her arms, you could see bulging belly through her dress quite clearly.
"Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest?" Dick countered crossing his arms with a smirk. The last thing he needed was for Selina to know he lost Damian, she would tell Bruce for sure. What better way to distract her than to pick a fight with Dinah? She always had to win.
Dinah rolled her eyes before eating a slice of cheese, "I've got a couple more days 'til he's due. I figured why not take a trip out to Wayne Manor to meet a friend. Not that it's any of your business."
Dick raised his hands in defence, "don't mind me, then, ladies, enjoy your afternoon." he bid his farewell before slowly walking out of the room then sprinting through the corridor and up the staircase to Damian's room.
Jason ran up to the bulletproof glass window of the bus station. There were so many people and so much noise that he could barely think straight, "can I help you?" The Asian woman from behind the glass spoke into the speaker.
"H-have you seen a ten-year-old hanging out around here? Kinda short, big attitude, and pretends he's mightier than everyone. Maybe bought a ticket to Metropolis or Jump city? Maybe Bludhaven?"
The woman shook her head, "I'm sorry, no."
Jason groaned before breathing a sigh of relief. 'At least he's still in the city,' he thought. before grabbing his phone from his pocket.
[You need to break up huge blocks of text into paragraphs unless it's the style you typically write in (I've encountered some stories that make it work.) For the most part, though, sudden enormous blocks of text hinders comprehension and tires readers.]
Jason understood better than anyone what Damian was going through. He himself ran away once from his family; both of his families. His birth parents were monsters, taking out their anger and frustration on the defenceless little boy half the time, his dad was drunk off his ass and the other half he was beating on Jason. His mom wasn't much better, what she missed in abuse she made up for in neglect. Jason would bet his life savings, and being Bruce's ward it's a fair sum, that his mother never filed a missing person's report because she simply didn't notice that he was gone. Mentally traumatized, physically emaciated and just plain pitiful overall, Jason didn't miss his life before Bruce.
He ran away after his father beat his mother half to death one night and never looked back. He spent three years on the street until his birthday when Bruce found him stealing the last wheel off of the new Wayne Mercedes. The one Dick now drives. Bruce was very fond of Jason's spunk. Bruce had still taken Jason down to the police department but after Detective Gordon pulled out his case file and his father's case file Bruce had decided to take Jason home. Jason never really knew what happened after that. He never really knew what had become of his parents after left and he didn't really want to. All he knew was that Bruce came home one day with a pile of paperwork and a smile
For a while, things were fine in Jason's life, everything was great, actually, even with the addition of Cass, Steph and Tim, until the sudden announcement of Damian. Dick had told Jason about the mystery woman in Bruce's life over the years. The woman he never talked about or was seen around town with. Jason didn't know much about Bruce's love affair or that woman, Talia Al-something. All he knew was that suddenly, Bruce had a biological son and developed a massive case of favouritism. Jason was the more vocal of Bruce's wards, but he knew that even Dick was upset with being ignored.
Confused and heartbroken Bruce spend a long time with Damian, ignoring the rest of his children. Making them feel like nothing less than a group of worthless wards compared to his Biological child.
Kory tied her hair into a long ponytail before opening the double doors to the arcade. The lights from the machines were flashing but the only noise was coming from a shooting game. Kory walked towards gunshot sounds to find Damian holding a plastic rifle aimed at a screen.
"When you are done, may I play too?" Kory asked softly in hoped on not startling the boy.
Damian ignored the question and continued to play, his face tightening and his fingers moved faster pulling the trigger rapidly. Kory knew the young boy was probably waiting to get a reaction out of her, waiting for her to repeat herself or scold him for ignoring his request. Instead, she stood by quietly waiting for him to finish.
After ten minutes of silence, Damian finally stepped away from the game, "I'm hungry. He looked up her with his signature glare.
"Would you like some food?" Kory asked hesitantly.
"That's why I asked." He muttered before walking over to the snack bar.
After ordering the two sat together in silence eating their pizza. Kory was really good at playing Damian's game; she had barely spoken to him let alone scolded him for his actions. She could see the young boy waiting for some type of reaction from her, "why did you come for me?" he finally asked.
"Jason asked me to," Kory replied before taking a sip of her soda.
Damian smirked, "do you do everything Todd asks you to?"
"No," the Tamaranian asked without missing a beat, "he felt that I would be able to talk you into going back home."
The black haired boy rolled his eyes, "why you? I barely know you."
Kory nodded, "this is true. But I do know what you are feeling; you're afraid of losing your father to the new baby. You're worried Jason, Dick, Tim, and the girls won't treat you the same after Bruce and Selina have a child of their own... and I also think you are starting to experience the repercussions of your mother leaving..." She saw Damian start to tense, "I moved to Gotham after my sister waged a war against me and my country using a once peaceful neighbouring island."
This caught the boys attention, "she was going to be the sole heir to everything on Tamaran. But the elders had different ideas. They predicted an unsuspected birth of a true ruler and that was me, as my sister was a lot older than me and had already gone through all of the royal training, she was sure the elders were wrong. But she was devastated when my parents announced me as their successor. So angry that she married a prince, became a queen, then murdered her husband in order to be the sole ruler and attacked Tamaran. This resulted in my parents sending me here to Gotham as protection [passive voice. Someone speaking about this would be more passionate. Ie, 'My parents sent me away from my home to Gotham so that I can be safe from my sister']. I have no media into their world and they have no media into ours. [what do you mean by 'media'? Perhaps you meant 'contact'. Or if you're answering for why Gotham never heard any of this, it would be less forced for Damian to ask a question and for Kory to answer that Tamaran is isolated or something.]"
Damian slowly chewed his bite, "she hated you that much?"
Kory nodded; she knew she was getting through to him, "she is afraid. At least it is what I like to think. She is just a scared girl who spent her life training for something she will never reach. A part of me wishes to reach out my sister so we can find a solution to this problem. I do not blame her fully for her actions. I blame the cards life has dealt her. I almost even feel bad for her."
"What happens if you go back?"
"I could die. It is a like being between, as you say, a rock and a hard place. I go home only when my sister is incarcerated or dead... or I will most likely die."
Damian sighed, "It sounds like a hard predicament to be in."
Kory nodded, "your actions these last few days do not make you look stupid Damian. It makes you quite human to be scared and angry. You acted like any ten-year-old should when they are afraid of change. I knew you would probably be hiding here or the Diner but Jason insisted on checking everywhere."
"How long until they get here?"
"About five minutes."
Kon and Tim arrived at the Gotham docks seconds before the 'found him' text was sent out. "Well, this trip was useless." Tim rolled his eyes as he pocketed his phone. "Sorry, you came all the way out here."
Kon smiled slightly walking out to one of the empty boarding docks looking over the lake, "I don't mind, it's always really nice out here."
After Damian arrived at the Wayne Manor Bruce had decided to have a meeting place in case anything happened to one of the kids. After all, Gotham was the crime capital of the world and trouble seemed to follow these children everywhere.
They have only ever used the docks twice, once when Jason got into a street fight with some drug dealers while Roy was relapsing. And the second was actually for Tim after his birth father died. Kon was the one who found him after thirteen hours of searching. It was then when Bruce arrived that it was decided to have that dock be the meeting place.
Tim walked down to join Kon at the end of the dock, "when was the last time we were here?"
"We took my dad's party boat out," Kon smiled at the memory, "it's where I met Megan."
Tim felt a hole being punched through his heart, "Right," he forgot about that night. Spoiled rich kids hanging out in the middle of the lake with free food and beer and no adult supervision. It was definitely a crazy night.
"But I would've of rather spent that night with you," it was a barely audible whisper but Tim sure as hell heard it. If only it meant what he wanted it to mean. Megan Jones broke his heart and Kon regretted ever meeting her. And Tim tried his hardest to pick up the pieces and fix both of their broken hearts.
"Ow!" Damian whined as Jason clubbed him in the back of the head after he arrived at the Arcade.
Jason rolled his eyes as he sat in the plastic chair next to Kory, "that's what you get for being a dumb ass!" He folded his arms and lifted his feet to the table before dropping then when he noticed the Princess's stare, "we were worried about you," Jason huffed.
"I'm fine, Todd," Damian slid his last slice of Pizza over to his brother, "I just needed to get away from Grayson."
"I'm sure he didn't mean to offend you, Damian," Kory defended Dick.
Jason shot her a look before resting his arm around Damian, "he's a real ass hat. Don't worry 'bout it, you'll get used to it."
The three sat in comfortable silence for a while before deciding to skip the rest of the day and hang out at the Arcade.
AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favourited! And another amazingly huge thanks to The Mishmosh Bird for Betaing!