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Damian knew he was lucky that Father let him have anything, after how he had acted in his first few weeks at the manor. Believing that Drake had been a threat to his place in the hierarchy, Damian had made a few brash and poorly-planned attempts on the young man’s life. He had since realized his mistake. Senseless violence would not be permitted here. Father made that clear.
Here, the rules were different. He was not a prince. He was a potential threat. He was not an heir, but an annoyance. He was nothing, and he would do well to know his place.
If he wanted to stay, he would have to stay out of trouble.
Stay quiet. Stay humble. Stay out of trouble. That quickly became his mantra.
Father had given him an opportunity to continue his education, which Damian welcomed. It would give him something else to do, other than sitting silently in his room, avoiding his father and that ever-infuriating young man he called his ‘partner’.
His school was meant to be a place of respite. Soon, it became another challenge to overcome.
Father had told him time and time again that violence was not permissible in America. Damian thought that statement was false, and that he should know that. America had high rates of violent crime, and Father himself participated in violent acts on a regular basis in order to minimise that crime where he could.
What he discovered was that many people - adults included - were more than willing to turn a blind idea to violence when he was the victim.
Damian did his best to not react.
People would shove him over in the hallways.
Stay quiet. Stay humble. Stay out of trouble.
People would scrawl profanities over his school books.
Stay quiet. Stay humble. Stay out of trouble.
People would take his lunch out of his bag and throw it into the trash when they thought he wasn’t looking.
Stay quiet. Stay humble. Stay out of trouble.
People would complain if they had to work with him. Choose him last in gym class. Take his belongings and return them to him broken.
They’d call him terrible words Damian had to look up on the school computer, as he hadn’t been taught such profanities when he was learning English.
To make matters worse, he couldn’t react or he’d risk everything. One misplaced word and he could jeopardise his own safety. He could reveal Father’s vigilante identity to the world. He could reveal himself to be involved with the League of Assassins.
He had to stay in control of himself, or he could lose everything.
Still, the injustice of it all burned within him. An al-Ghul would never take such treatment lying down. An al-Ghul would claim vengeance, claim justice , and anyone who complained would meet a similar fate.
But Damian wasn’t an al-Ghul. Not here. Not in Gotham.
Here he was Damian Wayne, and all that mattered was that he stayed quiet, stayed humble and stayed out of trouble.
No matter how people treated him.