Chapter 2: Friends

After a great day of shopping and acquainting, Damian Wayne hitched a lift with Alfred back to Wayne Manor. The wind was heavy, and the forecast for the rest of the week was shockingly terrible.

On the ride home there was a silence until Alfred broke it. "So has today been a good one, master Damian?" Alfred asked as he looked in the rear-view mirror.

Damian looked up at the man. "Yes thanks Alfred!"

Alfred swerved to avoid a dead cat as Damian looked saddened by the sight. "What did you do today, Master?"

Damian looked at Alfred and smiled. "I went to Ralph Lauren and got myself a Polo Shirt in every colour in the range, went to the comic book store, got some rarities that thankfully you were willing to pick up for me, then I went into the Central park and made a new friend, then we went for milkshakes!" Damian said.

Alfred looked intrigued. "Did you say you made a friend?" He asked.

"Sure did Alfred!" Damian grinned, "He's really cool. He plays guitar and loves The Arctic Monkeys and his name is Ryan,"

Alfred met eyes with the boy in the rear-view mirror. He smiled. "I am glad you are making friends again. Whatever happened to young master Colin?"

Damian looked out the window of the Rolls Royce. "We just drifted slightly apart. We still see each-other, but he is back to school and he has been trying to improve his grades, even though I got him an A for his lit test," Damian sighed.

Alfred raised an eye brow "I see," He turned down the annoying radio. "This, Ryan, seems to have affected you"

"He had a sob story, it was sad. But I don't have emotions because emotions are a girl-thing!" Damian said, trying to hide the fact that Alfred was right.

"I guess the other seven billion people on earth are all females then, Master Damian. Call your father 'Mom' and see where that gets you!" Alfred jeered.

"Pennyworth, you take things way to seriously." Damian replied.

"Says the boy I found crying because Muffassa died in The Lion king," Alfred smiled.

Damian looked evilly. "Tt. I did not you imbecile, I had something in my eye, like dust or something. It is a freaking old manor, you know how it is!"

Alfred laughed. "If you say so yourself, master Damian. You keep telling yourself that."


It was evening at Wayne Manor. It was light enough to see across the grounds and it was pleasantly humid. It was the silence before the storm Damian feared.

Damian was milling around the manor in some house trousers, which were basically cool trousers made of pyjama material for wearing around. He was slightly flustered from his workout. He sat at the breakfast bar in the large space connected to the kitchen. Wayne manor had been re-vamped. The outside looked like a Gothic Mansion but inside looked like Ikea.

He was drinking a strawberry protein shake and eating a vegetable pie. He sat and was also playing on his Smart Phone. Bruce walked in. He too was wearing house trousers. There was no reason to be dressed smartly.

He smiled at Damian as the boy took another bite of his pie.

He walked to the fridge and got out a pot of pasta.

"Hey kiddo," Bruce Said as he leant down to kiss Damian on the forehead. "Did you have a good day?"

Damian nodded as he launched a rather angry bird at a green pig.

"I am sad though, I only spent six thousand dollars!" He replied as he brushed crumbs off his six-pack.

Bruce's jaw dropped! "What the hell did you spend that on? It better be a bloody Ferrari or something!"

Damian shook his head, "I brought every Polo shirt in Ralph Lauren from the boys section and in every colour, and I brought some rare stuff my favourite band used at Glastonbury Festival. It is all signed"

"What was it? I hope it was the lead guitarist for that bloody price!" Bruce exclaimed, "Also, I can't believe you brought a polo shirt in every single colour!"

"I got some drum sticks, a guitar, picks, amplifier a shirt and some photos. All signed of course," Damian replied.

Bruce nodded. "Alfred told me you have a new friend!" Bruce smiled.

Damian nodded, "He is so cool," he beamed "He and I have so many common interests. He even likes the same milkshake flavour!"

"Well… that is good." Bruce smiled. "Did you get his number?"

Damian nodded as he finished off his pie. "Yep, Gotham is a big city, so I would have been stupid not to have gotten it."

Bruce smiled. "I am having a little celebration; unofficially it is for twenty years of the existence of Batman. But officially it is just a 'get together'. Oliver Queen is coming, Stephanie, Dick, Jason, Clarke Kent, Barbara Gordon, Tim, Leslie and Hal Jordon. If you want you can invite your friend…"

"I barely know him, father. He could be an assassin sent by my mother to kill me!" Damian replied.

Bruce laughed. He ran his hand through his matted black hair and smiled. "The likelihood of that ever happening is slim, Damian." His father reassured, "Your imagination never ceases to amaze me. You should put it to an actual use, such as perhaps writing stories or something productive like that. I know you barely know him, but it would be a good chance to get to know him better. Or you could always invite young Colin over, either way I want you to have some form of likeminded company to avoid you getting bored."

"Boredom is for simpletons, I don't get bored. I just have lapses in interest, father!" Damian spat.

"Whatever you want to call it, just phone one of the two lads up, invite them over for the party tomorrow. I just want you to have someone to chat with. Be a normal thirteen year old for once in your life, son. Have a friend over, chat about girls, play Xbox, listen to music… I don't mind… just be normal!" Bruce exclaimed.

"Tt. Will there be food?" Damian asked.

"Alfred is going to prepare a buffet, some nibbles and bits to eat. Finger food and such." Bruce nodded.

Damian nodded appreciatively. "Will there be anything veggie?"

Bruce looked at his son as if to say are you stupid? "No, we're going to force feed you meat after you have been a vegetarian for the past year!" Bruce replied sarcastically. He enjoyed winding up his son. It was one of those fatherly joys that only dads can relate to.

"I take that as a yes, due to your undoubtedly sarcastic tone, father," Damian smiled.

"Another thing… if you want to make friends, talk more like a human being and less like a robot assassin." Bruce jeered.

"Okay, if I stop talking like a robot, will you stop dancing like an idiot dad at discos? I mean at Clarke Kent and Diana Prince's wedding, you were dancing like some nineteen-eighty disco hippy! It was not a cool look, Dad." Damian poked.

The rest of the vast space lit up as Alfred walked through the space and into the kitchen. He was wearing a smart shirt, suit trousers and smart black shoes. He reached for the oven gloves and opened up the large catering-standard oven. He pulled out a baking tray and lying on the tray were dozens of cookies.

Damian's cobalt-blue eyes lit up with astonishment. Damian loved Alfred's cookies. Everyone who ate one of Alfred's cookies came back for more.

"Smells good, Alfred." Bruce hummed as he hovered over the baking tray staring at the delicious looking cookies.

"Those are too hot to eat right this minute, Sir." Alfred warned.

Damian came over to the baking tray and hovered over it too. "They do look very nice, Pennyworth. Did you bake them especially for me?" Damian asked with an innocent grin illuminating his face.

"No, those are for everyone, master Damian." Alfred smiled as he put the cookies in a cupboard to cool. "If there is one missing tomorrow morning when I come to check up on them, I will beat up a certain pair of mischievous Wayne's."

Bruce laughed at the false threat. "Whatever you say, Alf."

Alfred eyed the man in a suspicious, yet joking manner. He left the room and Bruce let out a sigh.

"Damian," Bruce smiled.

"Yes…" Damian replied as he looked up from Angry Birds.

I count thirty-two cookies on the tray." Bruce smiled, "A strange amount to bake… why not just thirty?"

Damian caught on to what Bruce was implying and smiled. "Pennyworth you're absolute legend." He muttered. "He made us both one each!"

Bruce nodded in agreement. "Go get us both a glass of milk!"

Damian eagerly slipped himself off of the barstool and over to the fridge. He grabbed a carton of milk and poured himself and his father a glass full each before joining Bruce at the breakfast bar

Bruce quickly dropped the hot cookies onto two small plates.

"There you go my boy," He smiled as he put a cookie in front of Damian.

Damian smiled. "I appreciate the sentiment of you calling me your 'boy' but I would rather you didn't! But thank you for the cookie, father"

"Finnish that milk and the cookie and then get your arse up to bed, son," Bruce smiled as he wiped off a milk-moustache.


It was around eleven AM on a Saturday. It was nearing the end of the break and there were lots of skateboarders and juveniles hovering around Gotham according to Alfred. Damian was sat reading the Gotham Times, and Bruce was pumping some iron in the newly built gym.

Alfred was counting his cookies and smiled when he could only count up to thirty. "Are this batch as nice as the last, master Damian?" He asked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" Damian protested scratching his toned abdomen.

"I did leave a cookie for you and master Bruce," Alfred said as he put the cookies into a plastic container.

Damian nodded. "I suppose I shouldn't lie any longer. They were incredibly tasty thank you, Alfred."

"No problem, master Damian," Alfred smiled to himself as he tucked the container into a cupboard.

"I am just going to make a phone call, Alfred." Damian announced. He got up from the table and up three flights of stairs to his bedroom on the first floor. He went inside the vast blue-painted room and flung himself onto his king-sized double bed.

He turned on his smart phone and typed in the pin to unlock the phone. He went to contacts and pressed 'call'.

The phone rang and Damian nervously awaited pick-up.

"Ugh…Hello?" A dry voice from the other end asked.

"Hello. Is this Ryan?" Damian asked.

"Um…yeah it is. Sorry I am a bit groggy because I just woke up." Ryan explained. "Who is this?"

Damian smiled to himself. "Your friend Damian…"

Ryan paused to smile to himself on the other end of the phone. "Oh hey, Damian. You know not many people are allowed to wake me up so early, right?"

Damian giggled. "Sorry. I normally wake up around seven or eight so I expected you to be up at this hour." He said.

"I am lazy, I am aware of that!" Ryan giggled.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to my house for a party-thing my dad is throwing. He said it would be good for me to have some company…" Damian said suggestively.

Ryan thought for a second. "I don't really know you that well, but I have no other friends and nothing planned except some dull history essay, so if your dad says I can, I will come."

"Yeah it was his idea." Damian said, playing it cool to not sound too eager.

"Just wear casual clothes and I will pick you up from outside Alfonso's?" Damian suggested.

"Sure. I will see you then, mate." Ryan said as Damian ended the call.

Damian couldn't believe it. He had another friend.