Chapter Text
When Stephanie got wind of the bullies she was infuriated. She had never been a bully’s main bait, but she hadn’t been popular either. She had her fair share of experiences with the type especially when word of her…. incident…. got around. She like to think that she had handled things nicely though, scheduling a meeting with the schools principle before and speaking about different solutions to the problem and punishments for the other kids. She had been more interested in the punishment parts, no surprise there.
There was one kid, another girl her age, who had been spreading inappropriate photos and mock text conversations, marking Stephanie in each of them. Calling her a slut, a whore. That girl had been expelled, forced to attend a school on the other side of Gotham, she had been planning to go to Gotham Academy through a scholarship, but that had been revoked as well. That turn out made Steph immensely happy, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t been satisfied with the other girls’ suspensions and two months detention.
Once Tim Drake had told Steph about Damian’s bully encounter. She had been infuriated, both with the brat of child that touched her Baby-Bat, but she might have been even more angered by the way the Big-Bat ‘handled’ the situation.
Buying the kid’s dad’s company was definitely not a top running solution. Not that she should have been surprised, that had been such a Bruce reaction.
She wasn’t sure if there was much that she could do about that family’s company now, that was something she would have to talk to Tim about at a later date. For now though, she needed to make sure that Damian knew that was not how you responded to situations that didn’t go your way.
She knew the brat was home, she had just seen him at the Sunday ‘family’ dinners, and approached his room warily. She hadn’t ever really been with him alone before. Not in civilian form anyway. There had always been other people around, the kids siblings or a butler or something. Steph was little wary, telling a rebellious assassin child that what his seemingly godly father had done was wrong, was not going to be a safe venture. But, she was doing this for Damian (and any other unfortunate brats that chose to mess with him but that was besides the point) and from the way Tim told her Dami had reacted to the conflict, he didn’t really seem much like a threatening assassin as he use to. Maybe her mostly failed attempts to get him to act as an untrained, ‘normal’ child were finally paying off.
The door was cracked slightly, and she could hear Titus’ faint sniffs of affection. She knocked once, and upon receiving no response, proceeded to open the door. She had never fully been in the kids room before, that privilege was usually purely reserved for family members, by legalities or blood. It was organized, and far more matured than how she would have pictured a ten year olds room. Still, there were the little things that were making her fight back a small smile. The childish bed sheets peaking from underneath the navy comforter, Dicks doing no doubt, a much loved blanket folded tediously on the edge of the bed, one of Damians many sketchbooks sitting open on the desk, the Batman symbol in the outlet that she is absolutely sure is a nightlight. That’s one thing she’s learned about nearly all the Wayne’s and friends. They all seem crazy from afar, but really, they all have little things that resemble normally hidden in each of them. Example A) Assassin babies could be afraid of the dark too.
“ Dames?” She asked, deciding to get the long dreaded conversation over before her conscience decided it didn’t enough to pull through with it.
“ Over here Brown.” She heard from somewhere on the other side of the floor. For a moment she pictured Damian on the floor doing yoga- needless to say seeing him spread out with Titus, dressed in his pajamas and decorating a sketchpad with drawings made a lot more sense.
“ You busy?” She asked, sitting on the floor not three feet away from him.
“ Tt. Clearly, Brown.” He scoffed. “ I’m glad my Father taught you such great observational skills.” Steph rolls her eyes, the bitterness of Damian’s words rolling easily off her shoulders.
“ So... I heard about what happened.”
“ A lot of things happen, Brown.” He says, his voice lacks interest but he puts down his sketchbook nonetheless.
“ About the bully, brat.” She said, attempting to flick him on the back of the head before he could dodge. Her words held no fire.
“ A thing of the past, it’s of little importance now.” He say, picking up one of sleeping Titus’ massive paws. The animals foot takes up nearly all of Damian’s hand, but he’s sure to focus his gaze on the roughed pads.
“ That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“ Tt. What about it?”
“ Well first, you know how your dad handled it, right?” She asks again, only to find Damians gaze is still downcast. That won’t do, this conversation is far too important. “ Look at me, kid.” She says, risking a hand to lift the boys chin up. he slaps it away immediately.
“ Of course, he purchased that imbeciles father’s company.” Damian answers simply.
“ Which was not how he should have handled the situation.”
“ Them give me a suggestion of how he should have handled it. If you seem to deem yourself an expert.” She’s clenching her face, really having trouble not punching this freaking child right in the jaw. But he’s ten Steph, NO.
“ Dames,” She breathed in a sigh. “ Kiddo, there are so many other ways to deal with your issues, okay?”
“ Pft. As if you would know.”
“ I actually do.” She snapped, before she softened tone and launched into a miniature sized story of her life. She talked a little about Black Mask, about her dad, she even mentioned the baby. But most importantly, she focused on the bullying. She knew the horrors she had faced weren’t nearly as bad as what the freaking kid in front of her had seen but, they had all had their own trauma’s and hers was plenty for a life time.
By the time that she was done, she was suppressing shaking hands and Damian was staring at her with an almost admirable awe.
“ I… I apologize.” He muttered, attempting once again to avoid her gaze. God, the emotional constipation was hereditary.
“ That’s a first.” She said, and immediately felt bad when the kid seemed to hunch in a little. “ Hey, you know everything they said wasn’t true right?”
“ Grayson already informed me.” He muttered again, there was more he wanted to say, she knew.
“ But I know how it feels, remember? I know it’s not easy to forget those things.” She admits.
“ Tt. I’m not weak like you Brown.” She really wants to smack this kid.
“ Dami, you can talk to me. I’m not going to make fun of you, your not going to get in trouble. Talk to me kiddo.”
“ They… they talked of mother. Of how father didn’t choose me like he chose the others.”
“ Did you tell your dad that?” She asked, rubbing her finger nails behind Titus’ large ears.
“ Then I’m sure you know how wrong whatever douchebag that told you that was.”
“ Yes, and… I’m much happier with here him than with mother.” Sensing that their conversation was on the border of either being way to touchy feeling or escalating to a disagreement, she made to wrap things up.
“ Good, that’s good kid.” She ruffled her hair on the way out, making her way out the bedroom, barely slow enough to hear:
“ Thank you Bro- Stephanie.”