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Darrian, straggly and unkempt, his hair in rain-soaked locks falling around his chin, turned his head as the sound of running feet catching his attention. He watched as a small boy, no older than ten at the VERY most fell and kept running. Darrian wasn't so hard-hearted to let the little guy keep going, so he called out. "Hey kid!" He smiled and walked over to the little boy. "Hey, whatcha doin' out here in the rain? Where you off to in such a hurry, huh?"

Bruce stumbled backwards staring wide-eyed at the other boy.

"Y-you can't t-take me back there." He stuttered, shivering from both the cold and fear, "I'm not going back!" He said a bit bolder.

"Whoa kid, chill, I won't do anything you don't want me to. What are you running from?" He asked, turning his head to hear the sounds of approaching footsteps. Quickly, he turned back to Bruce. "Those guys?"

Glancing over his shoulder at the approaching men, Bruce scrambled forward, "I-it's them! Please mister! Help me!"

Darrian would have laughed as the kid called him mister, but the situation was too tense at that moment. He knew he wouldn't have enough time to run off with the kid, so he turned and led him to an alley, gently pushing him to hide behind a couple of bins there. "Stay really still okay?" He told him, then stood against the wall with his arms crossed, his legs also hiding the small boy. When the running men came into view, Darrian acted. "Hey, are you after that li'l kid?" He asked

"Yea, why?"

Darrian pretended to be angry. "The li'l fuck ran into me, got me soaked. He went that way." He said, pointing down the street.

"Thanks." One of the guys said before running to catch up to his friend, who was already off.

"No problem." Darrian called back, then watched till they had gone. He turned back to where he'd left the kid. "Okay, c'mon, we gotta move. They might turn round and come back. Don't worry, I know somewhere we can go where you'll be safe."

Bruce hesitantly crawled out from behind the bins, he sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, "Where?" He asked softly.

"It's a friend of mine ok? She'll look after you, alright, at least until we can find you a better place to go. Now be real quiet and follow me alright?" He said, taking the smaller kid's hand. "What's your name anyway?"

"Bruce Wayne." Bruce answered looking up at the older boy, "What's your name?"

"I'm Darrian."

Darrian turned and sat up in bed. "Damn..." He said out loud. "Hangin' round with Bruce again doesn't do much for my sleep patterns." He grumbled, turned round and went back to sleep.

-----

Darrian came downstairs and finally made his way to the kitchen, yawning widely. He sat on a stool at the table and crossed his arms on the table top, burying his head in them. "Mmmuurgrgg..." He said as a good morning to Alfred, who looked entirely too awake in Darrian's opinion.

"Good morning Darrian," Alfred greeted him as he stirred the eggs on the stove, "Would you like some breakfast, sir?"

Darrian lifted his head. "Alfred... you're a living saint." He told him dryly. "Where's Bruce. Don't tell me he sleeps in later than I do."

Alfred shook his head as he dished Darrian some eggs and bacon, "No, master Bruce had a meeting to attend to this morning. He told me to tell you he'd see you this afternoon." He said placing the plate in front of Darrian.

"Cheers." Darrian told Alfred, tucking in. "So... exactly how DID Bruce end up living in a MANSION? I mean... what the hell has he been doing all these years to make him be able to buy this place?"

"Master Bruce inherited the mansion. He lived here as a lad before his parents' death." Alfred said frowning slightly.

"Really? Well... if that's so, how come I ended up meeting him when he was running away from some hell-hole children's home?"

Alfred stopped what he was doing and turned to Darrian, "I am quite sure I don't know what you're talking about sir." He said dryly going back to the task at hand.

Darrian walked over and leant across the table next to Alfred. "Whaddaya mean 'you don't know what I mean?'"

"Exactly what I said sir. You see, I was away at the time Bruce's parent were murdered."

Darrian stared back at Alfred blankly. "Okay. So... you were away... Bruce's parent's get murdered... and what? You accidentally misplaced him? How come you didn't find him... how come he had to go through that shit of a kid's home when he coulda been here, in a fucking mansion... " He stopped himself. "Sorry Alfred. I'm not blaming you or anything... it's just a touchy subject, you know?"

Alfred nodded, "I understand." He finished washing the dishes and began drying them, after a moment he turned to Darrian and sighed slightly, "I didn't hear of Master Bruce's parents' deaths until I returned. By then Master Bruce had already gone missing and no one could find him. Needless to say charges were pressed against the Children's home for such poor conditions."

"Well, it's a good thing something happened to stop any more poor l'il kids going through there." Darrian sighed. "So, how did you guys meet back up?"

"He ended coming back here. And I adopted him."

"Oh... right... cool." Darrian said, going back to his breakfast. "And he does what now?"

Alfred finished drying the dishes and began putting them away, "Master Bruce owns his own company."

"You're KIDDING me!?!" Darrian laughed. "That's hilarious. So, what does his company do?"

"That, you will have to ask Master Bruce when he returns home."

Darrian made a face. "So, what, you don't know?"

"No sir, I no longer care to discuss it." Alfred said dryly exiting the room leaving Darrian by himself.

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A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated!