Chapter Text
Nyssa never expected to be the sole caretaker of her nephew. At 19 years old, she was doing her best to finish her second master’s degree, and now, with the sudden death of her sister and recent incarceration of her Father, she was now a mother. That was a horrifying thought.
“Mama, do I get to come with you today?” Her sweet little Damian asked her. His black hair was nicely combed and he wore an adorable black button up that was tucked into a pair of jeans with a pair of black chucks. He looked like the perfect little gentleman.
It was the end of January and Nyssa had started back at school a few weeks ago. Normally she would have a babysitter, but she couldn't use the girl she had been using the last few weeks. Something about getting sick. So, Nyssa was forced to take him to class today.
“Yes, Damian. You get to come to school with Mama,” Nyssa said, picking up the four year old.
Since Damian could speak, Nyssa had been dubbed Mama, and her sister, Gods rest her soul, was Umi. It was confusing to explain to others, since Nyssa was technically his aunt, but no one bothered to correct him. Nyssa had to admit that she enjoyed the name in all reality.
“Do I get a backpack?” He asked her, gesturing to the black bag Nyssa had on her back. It was stuffed full of school books and her laptop for classes.
“Perhaps we can stop at the store and get you your very own bag.” Nyssa told him, carrying him and a small drawstring bag of Damian’s toys, books and other distractions out the door. “After all, every little boy needs one when he goes to school.”
Nyssa had time before she had to be on campus. Her first class was one of her Business lectures. The professor was strict but Nyssa was hopeful he wouldn't kick her out of class for bringing Damian. She typed a quick message explaining her situation and sent a silent prayer to whoever was watching, begging to let her professor understand.
“No! I want to walk!” Damian complained as she carried him out of their apartment.
Nyssa sighed but put the boy down and let him walk beside her. “Alright, but you must hold my hand at all times, is that understood?”
“Yes, Mama!” Damian agreed with a toothy grin.
Somehow they made it to the store in a timely manner where Damian picked out a plain red backpack. Nyssa also broke down and purchased a little notebook, coloring book, and some crayons. After all, no little boy could go to school without paper and something to write with.
Once they finished their shopping, the two sat out on the curb to put everything into his new backpack. Nyssa even managed to tuck his toys and books into the bag. It meant that she had one less thing to carry.
“Now we can go to school!” Damian declared while proudly donning his new backpack.
“Now we are all ready to go,” Nyssa agreed. She grabbed his hand and lead him to the bus stop where they would head onto campus.
Starling University was not her first choice for university. It was never even on her list for colleges at all. But, after the incident, Nyssa found it best to leave Harvard and transfer somewhere unexpected. Besides, she had her MA in Linguistics from Harvard, she couldn't have two Masters from there.
In reality, Nyssa was thankful for SU for accepting her transfer. Less people recognized her, especially in the College of Music (where she spent almost all her free time). They seemed far more focused on practicing than the news, so her face was not as well known.
Getting to campus was easy, the difficult part was ensuring that Damian go with her to the Business Building. (“No, Damian, we cannot go feed the ducks, we have to go to school.”) Somehow Nyssa managed to convince him that going to learn about running a business and becoming a CEO was far more interesting than feeding ducks. At times, Nyssa would think that taking down an international crime lord was far easier than controlling the brilliant four year old.
“Miss Raatko, so nice if you to join us,” her professor said as she strolled through the door with Damian by her side.
Nyssa looked up at the clock and noticed that she was five minutes late, much to her displeasure. Mentally, she cursed the ducks.
“My apologies,” Nyssa replied, trying to look somewhat apologetic. “I misjudged the time,” she told him. It was probably a better excuse than, ‘I had to spend ten minutes calming down a four year old who wanted to feed ducks.’
“Not the only time you've misjudged something.” The professor remarked in a snide tone, his eyes on Damian.
Under normal circumstances, the man would have been murdered on the spot for making such a remark. But that, in reality, was not socially acceptable. At least in this society. So, Nyssa did what she had to, at least to blend in. She ignored him and pretended to be a subservient female. Stupid ducks.
Sighing, she sat down at the closest desk and put Damian next to her. She quietly pulled out his coloring book and crayons. Thankfully the boy didn't need any further instruction. For a four year old, he was quite perceptive.
The class went smoothly for the most part, a few snide comments here and there but not much else. Once class was over, everyone, including Nyssa, bolted from the classroom.
“Ducks?” Damian asked, looking up at Nyssa.
“No, Damian. Mama has school,” Nyssa explained while walking toward the Music Building. Most of the College of Music’s students recognized her face from seeing her practice. On top of trying to learn her MBA, she took one Ethnomusicology course as a “fun” class. The class was an ensemble, but it counted as credit for her, so that was all that mattered. Her undergrad had been in Business but she also had a degree in Piano Performance. Piano was her passion. Sadly, it was not a practical career choice, especially with a four year old to support and, now, a multi billion dollar company to inherit.
“But the duckies!” Damian complained.
“Perhaps after school, if you are a good boy,” Nyssa decided as they walked toward the practice rooms in the Music Building.
Piano was Nyssa’s primary instrument. It was something she started learning as little girl. She had started teaching Damian, but the boy had very little interest in it. It didn't stop Nyssa from making him learn to play. If he was living with her, he would learn to play. While not the best career choice, it was a useful skill to have later.
Once Nyssa found a suitable room, she let Damian play around with his toys while she practiced. Practicing always made her feel better.
After what seemed like just a few minutes (but was really an hour or two), Damian shook her, claiming that he was hungry. That was when Nyssa realized that she was also hungry and she could stand to eat. So they went to the Student Union to find something to eat.
While walking through the Union, Damian had an action figure of Ironman that he was holding and making “fly” as they walked through the Union. As they walked, someone didn't see the boy and almost tripped over him, knocking Ironman out of his hands.
“Ironman!” He cried out as the action figure soared away from him. Damian pulled his hand from Nyssa’s grasp and chased after the action figure.
“Damian!” Nyssa yelled out, taking off after the boy. Despite the having longer legs than Damian, she could not catch him easily because he could weave through people’s legs.
Meanwhile, poor Ironman was being kicked all over the floor by unaware college students. Damian only stopped when he heard a sickening crunch of someone stepping on his beloved Ironman action figure.
“Ironman!” Damian cried, finally holding his action figure. The arm had snapped off and the boy was in tears.
Nyssa raced up beside him and picked up the arm to the plastic action figure. She knelt to the ground and pulled Damian into a tight hug. Her face fell as she felt the poor boy cry into her chest. Ironman was one of a few things that he had left from his now dead mother.
“Dude, can you like, make him be quiet or something?” A young college goer asked Nyssa.
“What the fuck, dude?” A girl yelled at him, “it's your fault he’s crying, dumb fuck! You broke his Ironman!”
Nyssa looked up from Damian to see a very enraged girl with golden hair and a fierce look on her face, screaming at what seemed to be a frat bro (judging by the Greek letters on his shirt) with such intensity that even Nyssa was amazed.
The woman let forth a stream of swear words than made the young man blush and Nyssa shocked. Soon enough a small crowd has formed and cellphones are recording the whole thing. Girls are cheering the blonde goddess on as she defended Damian and Nyssa and the boys are insulting the guy for picking on a kid. After a rather long tongue lashing from the girl, the boy turned and raced out of there as fast as he could
When Nyssa thought she could not be anymore amazed, the blonde goddess walked over to them and crouched down to Damian’s level.
“Hey little man, mind if I take a look at Ironman for a sec,” she asked him with a kind and gentle sort of look and a soft voice.
Damian looked at her with tears in his eyes, “Are you gonna break him?”
She didn't get mad, or shocked, she just smiled, “Nope. I'm a bit of a toy doctor, you see. I just wanted to check if he really had a broken arm or a dislocated one.”
Damian considered this for a moment before slowly surrendering the action figure. Nyssa handed over the arm of the toy without saying anything. The mystery woman took them both and grinned.
“Just as I thought!” She proclaimed happily. With a little bit of fiddling, the arm snapped back into place. She moved it back and forth a few times, just to test if everything worked just right. “See! Everything’s fine. He just got his arm dislocated, not broken! Now he’s good as new and Pepper won't get mad at him for getting hurt, right?”
“But won't JARVIS tell her?” Damian asked, now wiping his tears away.
“Probably,” She conceded, “but you never know.” With that she handed the toy back to an absolutely amazed Damian. “Be careful with him, we don't want him to get hurt and really get in trouble, do we?”
Damian shook his head quickly. He then turned back to Nyssa and beamed, “Mama, the Toy Doctor made Ironman better!”
“That she did,” Nyssa replied, picking up the small boy and standing up. “We must thank her for saving Ironman.”
“Oh you don't have to do that,” The blonde said quickly as she stood up. “I just did it because that guy was a douche canoe who needed to be put in his place. I know he saw that thing.”
“Regardless, let me thank you.” Nyssa insisted. She looked down at her watch and say she had an hour before her next class. “Would you care to join us for lunch? If you have the time, of course.”
“I couldn't,” she responded, “the food here is crazy expensive. College is expensive enough, I can't imagine raising a kid and-”
“It is no problem,” Nyssa insisted, “I have plenty saved. I must thank you. It was no small favor that you did me.”
“I dunno…”
“Please, anything you would like. Let me buy you lunch as my thanks.” Nyssa told her.
“Well if you insist. I have been craving some Panda Express.”
“Sounds lovely,” Nyssa replied with a smile. “My name is Nyssa.”
“I’m Sara.”
“I'm Damian!”
And that was how Nyssa Raatko befriended one Sara Lance.