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Bruce doesn't like manipulating his children into doing normal, human activities like eating. He would manipulate them into anything else, yes, but not something as simple as sleeping or, in this case, going back to school.
His family has turned manipulation into a love language, it's how they showed they cared , especially in the field.
It didn't make Bruce feel any better about tricking Damian into going to school. The kid could do it, no doubt. He was strong. Just like his mother.
Many people saw Bruce in Damian, the stubbornness and the abrasiveness, the care to strays, and the wall they put up to mask their emotions.
Not many people see Talia in Damian, or they don't want to (cough, Dick, cough) . But Damian is like his mother in so many ways. He's strong and he's defiant but he's not reckless (mostly) , he speaks his mind but he knows when to sit back and stay silent. He loves with everything inside of him, he's loyal to a fault, and his heart is too big for his own body.
Bruce can't ever stop seeing Talia in Damian.
Which is why he knows it's a bad idea to try and manipulate his youngest into going back to Gotham Academy. Bruce hasn't been the best father lately, but he'd really like the opportunity to be better.
That means no more manipulation, no more tricks, no more hesitating.
If Tim can be good with Damian and show him he cares, so can Bruce, damnit!
But ... How could Bruce convince Damian to go to school? Especially with his bullies still not having been dealt with ... Aw, crap. Bruce should really call the school to set up a meeting about that now before he tries to get Damian to go back.
Tim did a pretty marvelous job when he picked Damian up in that ridiculously expensive car and tore the kids a new one for picking on the baby of the family but …
As Damian's father, it's Bruce's responsibility to deal with this the legal way. Its not like Bruce can send Batman to scare the living daylights out of some eleven year old kids..
Could he?
The meeting! Bruce needs to set up a meeting!
Bruce called the school, he set up a meeting with the principal and he didn't even use his Brucie persona. Mostly because this felt too serious. His kid was being picked on, Bruce isn't going to let that go.
The Waynes have been Gotham Academy's biggest donors year after year, either his son gets treated like royalty or Gotham Academy can say goodbye to their big checks.
Bruce stares down at his desk and sighs.
“Damian,” he murmurs under his breath, tapping his finger against the arm of his chair. “How to get Damian to go back to school? Without ordering him to, of course.”
He groans, running his fingers through his hair. Robin? But.. the boy hasn't trained enough yet (no, training as an assassin since birth does not count, Timothy) .
First things first! Bruce needs to ask Damian how he feels about moving down to a bedroom on the same floor as the rest of his children and Bruce himself.
Then, he needs to have a long conversion with Damian. It won't be enough, but he needs to at least clear the air and ensure that absolutely no miscommunication occurs.
After … Bruce will spend some time getting to really know Damian, alone. He wants Damian to feel like he has Bruce's undivided attention, wants his son to feel safe in what he'll come to know as his forever home.
How is that Bruce is somehow worse at caring for his own biological child rather than ones he plucked from other nests?
God. Bruce needs to apologize to Alfred. If he was anything like Damian is when he was younger … Bruce is thinking a vacation to England might be in order.
His door creaks open, and Bruce's eyes immediately snap up to meet familiar emerald green eyes (not quite meet, these eyes are stuck on the ground and fuck it makes Bruce's heart ache) . They're not quite the right color, they're lighter and the smallest blue flecs can be caught in his eyes.
Her eyes had been a beautiful green if you caught them in the right light, laying next to him, the sun making her glow and highlighting all the right places.
She'd been beautiful.
Damian isn't any different. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?
“Damian,” Bruce murmurs, beckoning his son closer. “Come here.”
A command. Damian can work with a command. They're so engraved into his mind, he knows how to follow them.
He can follow orders.
Damian walks until he's standing beside his Father's office chair, gaze still stuck on the carpeted flooring. His heart pounds in his chest. Timothy had assured him that Father would not be angry with him, but if he's learned anything during his time in America, it's that words can not be trusted.
Words are flimsy, breakable.
(They hurt.)
“Damian, I ...” Father begins, with a hefty sigh.
Damian tenses, bracing himself for the worst.
“I am sorry.”
Record scratch.
What?
“I don't follow.” Damian blinks up at his Father, too flabbergasted to realize he took his eyes off the ground. Looking into his Father's eyes, Damian can see the exact moment he crumbles before rebuilding himself all over again.
Woah.
One second his feet are on the ground and the next Father is pushing his chair back, sliding large hands under bony armpits and lifting Damian up onto his lap. He runs gentle hands through Damian's soft, ungelled hair and tucks too long strands behind his ears.
“I am sorry, Damian. I am so sorry I failed you,” Father murmurs, pulling Damian closer and pressing the most gentle of kisses to his forehead. “I haven't done right by you, I wasn't your dad when I should have been.”
Damian sits still, though his head spins. “You have been an adequate Father—”
“But I haven't been your dad."
“The roof is leaking,” Damian informs his father as wetness travels down his cheeks.
There's a pregnant pause, then: “I believe those are your tears, son.”
Damian lifts a hand to his face. “Huh.”
“I'm sorry,” Father repeats and then he's pulling Damian into his chest like he could protect him from everything for the rest of forever. Damian's shoulders shake with muffled sobs, his (tiny, so tiny) hands fist into his father's suit jacket, ruining the expensive material with tears and snot and wrinkles.
They sit together, until the tears have dried and Damian is no longer trembling like a frail old man.
“I spoke to the headmaster of Gotham Academy,” Father says after a long silence. “I have a meeting with him to speak about the bullying.”
“Is that necessary?” Damian asks quietly.
“No one gets away with hurting my children, not even snotty eleven year olds,” Father rumbles, still clutching Damian to his chest tightly. Like a vexed mother bear. “Are you up to going back to school?”
Damian tenses again.
He nods.
“Damian, be honest with me. Would you want to go back to Gotham Academy?”
His bottom lip trembles again. “No..”
“Son,” Father rumbles soothingly once more. He pulls Damian's head back, holding his face between (large, so large) hands. “I know it will be hard to go back. And I know the children haven't been the kindest to you. But you still need to go back to school, you need friends your age and I can't keep you hidden in the Manor until you're older.”
“I have to go back,” Damian concludes in a small voice.
“Yeah, baby, you have to go back,” Father (dad?) replies in the same, small voice. “I'll deal with the snot nosed children, and you focus on making friends. At least for this semester. If things don't change, you'll change schools. I promise.”
Damian swallows roughly. “Okay.”
“Hey,” Father pulls him close again, pressing a soft kiss to his nose. Damian pulls back, face scrunching up at the odd feeling. “Do this for me, and we'll go to the zoo after your first week back, okay? And if things keep going well, I'll think about allowing you a pet.”
Now that has Damian's attention. He weighs his options, weighs the pros and cons.
A trip to the zoo? And all he has to do is agree to go back to school?
The most compelling bribe his Father brought up is the pet. Damian wants a wallaby.
This has nothing to do with Richard being afraid of the creatures, absolutely not.
Damian really wants a wallaby.
“I want a wallaby,” he demands.
Father's expression turns pained. “ ... Those are illegal in New Jersey, Damian.”
“So is vigilantism,” Damian retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Alright. If you go back to school for more than a week and things go well ...” Father exhales roughly, “I'll see what I can do about the wallaby.”
Damian leaves his Father's office feeling satisfied but also not because he does still have to return to Gotham Academy.
A compromise is good if you don't leave happy.
Smart words.
And ... he forgot to ask his Father about visiting Richard in Blüdhaven tomorrow.
Bruce forgot to ask Damian about switching bedrooms.
Fuck.
It's fine, they've had enough vulnerable conversations for the week. Dick or Tim can talk to Damian about moving to the same floor as everyone else.