Chapter Text
Duke is aware that the media has dubbed him as the “calmest” Wayne kid. He’s cool with that and it’s mostly not a lie.
Duke likes to fly under the radar whenever possible. Being smart in his old school gained him enough attention as it was so transferring to Gotham Academy where everyone is as smart as him was a blessing. He does his work, eats lunch, sometimes helps the robotics club out, and keeps to himself.
The only people at Gotham Academy he talks to are Izzy and Damian. Which meant gossip didn’t really get back to him. So when one of his classmates walks up to him during lunch he’s a little confused.
“Hey Thomas, can I ask you something?”
“Uh sure?”
Duke had been watching a youtube video because Izzy was out today and since Damian was 5 years younger than him he had a different lunch period.
“Is it true that Wayne tried to have Damian aborted?”
WHAT?
“ Excuse me?" Duke said with so much malice in his voice that his classmate, Colin, now that Duke is looking properly, raised their hands in a gesture of surrender and stepped back a little.
“Hey man, don't shoot the messenger! I didn’t start that rumor and I don’t really believe it. I mean Wayne has been adopting kids for well over a decade. Why would he abort the only one with his blood?” Duke closed his eyes and took one deep breath.
The thing about the rich kids is that most of the time they aren’t trying to be hurtful. The way they talk is learned behavior. Duke understands that and he sympathizes with it too. But there are kids who do and say shit just because they know it will hurt. Who think they’re better than everyone else just because they have a little bit of money. Colin falls into the former and when Duke is finished taking care of the jackass that’s been spreading rumors about his brother he thinks he might invite Colin out for lunch.
“Colin. Do you know who started it?”
Colin furrows his brow.
“Huh. No actually. I know it was an upper classman though.”
Good enough.
“Thanks. And to answer your question, no it's not true. Bruce loves Damian as much as he loves the rest of us and if anyone has something else to say about my little brother then tell them to come talk to me.”
Whatever look Duke has on his face is enough for Colin to swallow and fully step away from Duke's table.
“Uh yeah man. You got it.”
Colin speeds away from his table so fast he almost trips. That's fine. Duke has other things to worry about. He picks his phone up from the table and dials Barbara’s number. She picks up on the second ring.
“Duke. What’s up kiddo? You alright?”
“I’m fine Babs. Can you do me a favor?”
“What’s up?”
“Can you get me a list of all the upperclassmen in Damian's class’s? Preferably the ones with a history of bullying. I’d do it but I knew you’d be faster.”
“Uh sure? Is Damian okay?”
“Right now? Yes. He should be in art and that's his favorite subject. But apparently someone’s been picking on him and I didn’t know until 2 minutes ago when someone came up and asked me if Bruce tried to have Damian aborted.”
“The fuck??”
“Yeah.”
Duke has thrown his lunch away and moved out to the courtyard. He’s got 15 minutes before his lunch ends so that should be enough time to find who he’s looking for. If they’re Duke's age then they’ll either be out here or in the cafeteria.
“Found him. Bryce Henderson. He should have graduated with last year's class but his grades in art and math were so bad that they’re making him redo the whole year. Duke. He’s been in Damian's art class all year.”
And suddenly pieces start falling into place.
“Yo little Bruce! Want me to walk to class with you?” “Tt no need I know the way”
“Hey are you in the art show this year?” “....No, I do not wish for the public to see my work.”
“Hey, is Bruce going to the parent-teacher conference Friday?” “No father and I will be helping out in Star city that day.”
God he should have seen it. Since when does Bruce go to Star city willingly?
“Hey Babs?”
“Yes?”
“I need at least 10 minutes before you call Bruce and Dick.”
“......Make it hurt lightbright.” She disconnects the call.
Duke rolls his shoulders and then heads back inside.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Damian is sitting in the back of what used to be his favorite class. He has not enjoyed art for the last 8 months however, because the 19 year old Bryce has made it his mission to make Damian's life hell.
For every assignment Damian has to spend additional hours drawing a slightly different duplicate for the overgrown asshole. If he doesn’t then he starts making up falsehoods and rumors surrounding Damian and his family.
“You Wayne's always think your better than the rest of us just because Gotham loves “Brucie Wayne” well I won’t be fooled and if you don't want everyone thinking your foster brother was the one who spry painted the bathroom then you'll do what I say.”
Of course Damian could have dispatched the fool with two jabs to his neck but he was trying to prove to father and Richard that he can solve his problems without violence or blackmail.
But he didn’t know how to solve this one. So he just did as he was told and kept Thomas away from the art room. His teacher may be too stupid to see that his and Henderson drawings are almost identical but his brother sure isn’t.
Thomas had sounded so disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see Damian's work in the art show.
Last week metropolis was being invaded, again, so Robin and Batman went to lend a hand. As such he only had time to draw his own assignment. Which is how the current rumors started. Damain couldn’t walk five feet away without someone glancing his direction and fucking laughing at him. It made his blood boil.
“Let that be a lesson brat. I don’t care if you fail, my work needs to take priority.”
So Damian is regrettably, shamefully, hiding in the back just waiting for the day to be over. He’s just started the line art for his next project(s) when the door bangs open and Duke Thomas steps in.
“Mr.Thomas! What a surprise are you here for Damian?”
Duke smiles charmingly at his art teacher. “Oh yes ma’am we’ll be going home early in a few minutes but first I actually wanted to speak with Bryce Henderson. Is he here?” Thomas asks innocently.
Damian sits up in his chair and takes a closer look at his brother. His fists are balled up, shoulders are tense, and the lines of his smile are stretched to the very edge.
He knows.
Damian is about to get up and escort Thomas out the room when Henderson stands up grins maliciously at him.
“That’s me. Something we need to talk about outside?”
At this point the whole class has fallen silent and even the teacher has picked up on the growing tension.
Thomas isn’t short by any means but Henderson still has a few inches or two on him as well as more body weight.
“Now boys-”
“Oh no Bryce I think this is the perfect place to talk.”
Thomas punched him in the jaw. The whole class gasped.
From there Damian watches as Tho- Duke beats on the kid that’s made his life miserable for 8 months. The class is shouting in excitement and Damian can see his teacher calling security.
Duke doesn't give Henderson time to hit back. He punches him in the stomach making him double over, grabs him by the head and knees him in the jaw. When Henderson hits the ground Duke lands on top of him and punches both sides of his face repeatedly until he’s got blood dripping down his knuckles. Damian can see Henderson about to pass out but Duke looks like he has no intention of stopping. Damian abandons his seat and makes his way up to the fight.
He has to push through the rest of his meddling classmates but when he reaches the middle of the circle that's formed around them he grabs Duke's left arm before he can bring another blow down on his victim.
“Brother please. Enough. If you keep going you will face a punishment worse than expulsion.”
Duke is still glaring down at Henderson with an amount of hatred that Damian didn’t know he possessed. He looked like he was willing to risk jail time just to hit him again.
Okay shit. Plan B. Hopefully this works on him as well as it does Richard.
"أخي الكبير، أريد العودة إلى المنزل الآن. من فضلك؟" ( Big brother. I want to go home now. Please?)
Damian wasn’t sure if Duke knew Arabic or not but even if he didn't, hopefully Damian speaking in his mother tongue would snap him out of it. Damian watches as Duke takes one breath. Then two. Finally on his third breath Duke gets up and Grabs Damian by the shoulder.
“The next time you want to start a rumor about my little brother, remember that I have ways of finding out where you live. If you think you can hide you can’t. Don’t you ever come near him again. Do you understand?”
Henderson weakly shakes his head.
“Good. Dames grab your bag, Bruce should be in the office by now. Mrs. Davis I suggest you take a look at “Bryce's” artwork and compare it to my brothers. I’m sure what you’ll find will surprise you.”
Duke then turns to walk out the door. Damian follows.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“That hooligan viciously attacked my little boy! And threatened his life! I demand he be sent to prison!”
The principal sighed behind her desk.
“Ma’am as I said before. Because your son has a very long and violent history of bullying, and because he was recently caught plagiarizing another student's work, and because every student in that classroom says he started it, there's nothing I can do.” She sounds bored but Bruce can see the twitch of a smile on her lips.
Bruce had walked into the office ready to do whatever necessary to protect his kids only to find that Damian's entire art class had done it for him. The teacher even turned a blind eye to the mass lie and said “Well it all happened so fast I can’t be sure who hit who first.” And thanks to Oracle wiping every phone and camera, no one ever will know.
“Bullshit the Wayne brats don’t even have a scratch! And how can you be sure my boy didn’t draw those!”
The principal grinned. “Becuase Thomas was kind enough to leave his hands and eyes intact so we made Damian and Bryce draw the same picture. I think you can guess what went on from there.”
Bryce's mother stomps her feet. “So my baby gets expelled and the Wayne boy gets off scott free?”
“Thomas was acting in self defense and this is his one and only fight in the year that he’s been here. Bryce has multiple offenses piled up against him over the last 5. Plus Wayne's boy has detention. That's something.”
She geared up to start arguing again but at this point Bruce just wants to take both of his boys home and maybe buy Duke that car he thinks he’s been discreetly looking at.
“Mrs. Henderson. Your son has been blackmailing, stealing from, and bullying my son for almost a year. Now if you’d like you can certainly try charging Duke with assault but I’ll just have to retaliate by suing you and your family. Tell me who do you think is going to win in that little tug of war game? Because Duke would get off with a few months of community service but Bryce? Oh he’ll be lucky if he’s out by his 30th birthday.”
Bruce keeps his gaze on the chipped nail he’d been pretending to pick at until he hears an irritated huff and the sound of heels leaving the office. When the door closes he sets his gaze on the principal.
“Thanks for the help Janice. Did Damian's whole class really say they saw Henderson start the fight?”
She drops the professional act and smiles softly at Bruce. Janice is one of the lovers that Bruce managed to keep a semi decent relationship with. If only because she’d been Jason's biggest fan.
“Yeah. I pulled one of them aside and got the truth of course. They knew what Bryce was doing because he’d tried it on a few of them. The only reason it didn’t work was because Mrs.Davis had been looking at their art work for too long so she knew when one of them had done the work for him.”
“Hm. And Mrs.Davis?”
“She felt so bad for not realizing what had been happening. She’s given Damian a pass for every late assignment and is in the process of putting together a personal apology.”
And Damian thought he didn’t fit in here. Ridiculous.
“Tell Mrs.Davis to make room in her schedule for the class to take a trip to Central City. They have a new art exhibit in the museum.”
“Of course Bruce. Take your boys home. I think you guys have a lot to talk about.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the end Duke only got two weeks of detention and a joking warning about waiting until after class next time. Bruce bought him and Damian BatBurger and said
“Duke I’m proud of you for protecting Damian but next time please come to one of us first. Damian. You never, ever, have to tolerate someone bullying you. I believe Dick and I may have pushed the lesson passiveness too hard. Stand up for yourself when it is necessary, son.”
And that was that. At least Duke had thought so.
“Uh Damian? What are you doing here?”
Damian had just walked through the classroom detention doors and sat next to Duke.
“Tt Richard is late so I will be waiting with you.”
“Uh okay?”
It happened again the next day.
“Pennyworth's appointment ran late.
And again.
“Todd is not yet done with his crime lord activities.”
And again.
“Drake is still at WE.”
Until finally Duke caught up with Stephanie that Friday evening after she had apparently just “forgotten”.
“Hey Steph! Do you know why everyone's been late picking Damian up? I’ve been driving the kid back every day for a week after detention because no one's been there to get him.”
She looks up from the nail she's painting.
“What? What are you talking about? Damian said that he would arrange his own ride after school like the day you got hit with detention. We all tried to ask about it but Alfred shut us down and told us to just “Trust” him. Has he really been staying with you just so you’ll drive him home?” She asked incredulously.
Duke has no clue. He asked Damian about it Monday when he, again, showed up in the detention classroom.
“Alright baby bat spill. Why have you been waiting an extra hour everyday just to go home?”
Damian hunches in on himself and turns his back to Duke.
“You are here because of me. It did not feel right to let you suffer alone.”
Oh.
“Oh Dames, kid, I’m not here because of you. I’m here because some dumbass thought it would be a good idea to fuck over my brother. Look I may have gone a little overboard and I’m sorry for that but I’ve never had siblings. So when someone messes with one of you it makes me a little mad. But the actions I took were mine and mine alone. The only influence was love for my kid brother.”
Duke can see the lines of Damian's shoulders shaking. He can also see the teacher that's supposed to be monitoring him step out of the room. Duke stood up and walked to the chair Damian was in.
“Dames?” He suddenly had an armful of 14 year old boy crying silently into his uniform jacket.
“I don’t know how to have them either. I was too young to remember much of Todd being around before he went back to Gotham, Richard has always felt more parental, and Drake and I well…….I messed that up a long time ago. It feels strange to think that you would do that for me when I have never even really talked to you.”
Duke hugs his little brother to his chest.
“Why don’t we learn together then? Between the two of us I think we can figure it out.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Duke is still known as the “Calmest” Wayne kid by most of Gotham.
But now Gotham Academy knows that if you mess with any one in his family you’ll end up with a bruised lip and a fractured ego.
And if you mess with Damian Wayne? Well it was nice knowing you.