Notes: I'm working on my group scenes... and am way too tired to edit this properly.

Chapter 22 - Lex Corp (not to be mentioned at breakfast)

Damian couldn't say 'no'. Not with both Mar'i and Dick asking him to come. So Damian found himself at Wayne Manor, waiting for one of Alfred's breakfast spreads. It wasn't bad, he decided, especially since it seemed to just be him and the Graysons.

Neither Grayson was impressed when he made that comment.

"Where is everyone?" Mar'i complained, resting her head in her arms in frustration. Maybe she shouldn't have trusted Uncle Jason?

Her dad shrugged while Damian started snoring with his head on the table. Mar'i glared at him.

"Maybe they're sleeping in?" her dad suggested.

"What about Grandpa Bruce?" she questioned. This was his house, after all. The least he could do was appear at breakfast. She lowered her voice and whispered to Dick, "do you think he's avoiding Damian?"

"That's not it." But he didn't sound certain of that. "Maybe I'll go and-"

"Hey, where's everybody?" Jason asked. He was standing in the doorway with a jacket slung over his shoulder and a disappointed scowl on his face. There was what looked like flour on his face and shirt.

"No idea," Dick responded.

Jason's expression darkened.

"Oh, no way! I made pancakes!" he turned and they could hear him stomping along the hall, along with the fading comments of, "got off my butt to cook for those-" It sounded threatening. Mar'i kind of wanted to watch.

Damian didn't move. Dick seemed delighted at the prospect of pancakes.

"Where are you going?" her dad asked as she stood up.

"To watch."

"Watch what?"

"She probably wants to see Jason lay into Timothy. Bet you ten dollars he drags Timothy in here by his ear."

Dick looked annoyed at that comment. He was about to say something when Jason returned with Bruce and Tim. Both were dressed in their PJs; Bruce in a grey silk shirt and pants and Tim in a cotton superman shirt and shorts.

Both looked sleepy, although Bruce masked it with a face like stone.

Jason shoved them in and told them to take a seat. He was grinning. Mar'i figured it was because his goal had been achieved. Bruce looked straight ahead in a way which made you wonder if one could sleep with their eyes open. Tim just looked drowsy and annoyed. But he couldn't say anything because Jason had gone to a lot of work to get this going. Bruce took his regular spot at the head of the table while Tim stumbled around the side and ended up sitting across from Damian.

Alfred wheeled in a breakfast cart. It was loaded with coffee, cream, pancakes, fruits, toast and juice. Mar'i felt her mouth water at the sight.

"Why would you ever move away from here?" she asked her dad.

"Why do you think?" he responded. She figured that he wouldn't say it in front of Damian in case it gave the current Robin an ideas. After all, Dick had left because he felt trapped in Bruce's shadow. It had been a situation similar to the one Damian was currently going through. They should consider themselves lucky that Damian hadn't moved away from Gotham yet.

Bruce seemed to sense the unspoken conversation as he commented that, "this is not the same thing."

"What isn't?" Dick asked him.

Jason placed a bowl of apples cut into cubes in front of Tim.

"They're the breakfast alternative to popcorn," he whispered to the sleepy adult before taking the open seat next to him. Tim seemed confused until the current situation sunk in. Dick and Bruce were verbally sparring and Jason was going to watch and invited him to join. He picked up a piece of apple and popped it into his mouth. It was too early for him to be playing mediator.

Damian gave both of them a disapproving and disgusted look as they popped apple pieces into their mouths and watched the unfolding drama.

"It wasn't the same back then as what's happening with Robin now," Bruce said to Dick. Dick stood up and glared at Bruce.

"I didn't say anything like that. And, you're right, it's nothing like back then. Except for your attitude," Dick said in a confronting tone. Bruce narrowed his eyes and they glared at each other.

Damian appeared like stone. Mar'i was biting her tongue to keep from saying anything. She knew her Granddad would not appreciate any comments she had to add, if he even listened to her. But, Damian didn't seem to know what to say and her Uncles were no help.

Bruce sipped at his coffee, not even touching the food on his plate.

"You know what? I've said it before, 'Robin doesn't belong to you'. The only people who should get any say are those who have been Robin."

"Are you saying that Tim and Jason should decide?"

Tim let the apple piece he had been about to eat drop to the floor. Jason turned away and gave a nervous cough.

"Decide. What?" Dick said slowly and threateningly.

"If Damian should be Robin or if he should go to college; for one," Bruce commented.

The room seemed to pause.

Tim's mouth hung open. Bruce rarely forced decisions like that on them.

Jason started glaring, nowhere near as ferocious as Dick's but still angry.

Mar'i shared a look with Damian. Damian was staring at Tim, who was sitting across from him and seemed surprised that the other was shocked.

To everyone's surprise, Jason spoke next.

"You'd force the kid to go to college?" he questioned.

"He's done it before," Dick explained to Jason. Dick hadn't wanted to go to college either and, while he enjoyed the experience, it wasn't one he had particularly wanted. It was just what had been expected of him. "But you didn't have to take Robin off me to do it."

Mar'i nudged Damian.

"Dad's keeping your secret but, is it really supposed to be a secret?" she whispered. Tim was the only one to notice, his blue gaze almost piercing as he stared at them.

"It's not supposed to be," Damian grumbled as Dick explained to Bruce why he shouldn't try controlling his children's lives. "Just like how I'm moving out of the manor in a month."

"What?" Mar'i gasped, a little too loudly. Everyone's eyes shot to them.

"What's wrong?" Dick asked, going from confrontational to worried father in moments. "Does your leg hurt?" He hovered over her and checked her splint, which she had forgotten about since she was sitting down.

"She's fine, Dick," Jason sighed with a roll of his eyes. "She'll heal quickly, like her mother."

Mar'i gave him a grin as it was nice to hear the opinion of someone who wasn't hovering over her almost all hours of the day.

"You heard him, Dad, I'm fine."

"Then, what was with the cry?"

"That was me informing her that I was going to move out in a month," Damian explained to Dick's back. Dick jumped out from behind them to give Damian a surprised look.

"You're leaving us?"

"I'm moving in with Colin. He's having some trouble making rent and has a spare room so I decided to move in. Besides, he's closer to the city and there's a couple of libraries around where I spend my days."

"And who's going to pay the rent?" Bruce questioned with a frown. He finally seemed to be looking at the people at the table rather than a random spot on the wall.

"Colin's got his work and I've got commissions," Damian responded. "It's enough to pay for the apartment together."

'Commissions?' Jason mouthed to Dick in a silent query. Dick shrugged, he had no idea.

Bruce seemed surprised. Damian was moving out? He didn't know how to feel about that.

"Why couldn't Colin move in here?" he questioned.

Damian rolled his eyes.

"-tt- That's rather impractical father. Colin needs to be able to get to work and he can't do that easily from here. Plus, Abuse doesn't visibly work with Batman."

"I thought you were going to take that the job at Lex Corp," Tim questioned.

There was a moment of uproar.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Lex Luthor is evil, Damian, how could consider working for him?"

"What is that about, Replacement?"

"Wow. Do you guys talk at all?"

"I don't know what it's about, Jason! I just saw Damian with a packet from Lex Corp-"

"Luthor believes he can buy me with trinkets and offers of high level positions," Damian grumbled. "I refused him, of course. After all, I didn't go to all the trouble to tell everyone in my classes about how he badly treats his employees, just to take the first job offer from the guy."

Jason had grabbed the bowl of apple pieces and started munching away as Bruce questioned in a hesitant voice;

"Classes?"