Castle Of Glass | B. Wayne

[17]

Calmia had received Richard's call and he briefed her about the matter but to his surprise, she told him it was nothing to worry about. She advised them not to take any special measures for Damian as he would get bothered by them further.

She now understood that Damian preferred dealing with his problems on his own so if the others tried to talk to him about it, he would get irritated. Therefore, it would be better if they did not bring up that class incident until or unless the boy mentioned it himself.

Breakfast was set in the dining hall when Damian joined his father and Calmia. "Good morning Father," he greeted in his usual monotonous voice, "morning, Miss Calmia."

She smiled and nodded in reply as he took a seat. "Good morning, what would you like to have?"

"I'll do it myself, thank you," Damian remarked, taking the plate and filled it with food.

Bruce had observed that the two were rather formal with each other but unlike earlier, Calmia did not seem tensed about it. It meant they had probably sorted things out among themselves.

And if that was the case then it was a good thing. He did not want his son and his wife to stand on opposing ends; it would become very difficult for him to pick a side then.

"I wrote the application as you advised," Damian spoke up, turning to face Calmia, "I'll submit it today too."

"That's good. Let me know how they respond."

"Sure."

Bruce remarked, "may I ask what's going on?"

Before Calmia could provide an excuse, Damian spoke up, "nothing out of the usual, Father. Some students have been acting up in class, I merely wrote an application to bring the matter to the notice of our headmaster. That's all."

He glanced at Calmia who nodded in reply as if to let him know that everything was alright and Damian had it under control. Seeing that reassuring glance from her was enough for him not to probe further.

"Alright then, if there's any way I can help, let me know."

"That won't be needed," Damian replied, "I think I can handle this on my own."

Bruce was getting late so he finished his breakfast and stood up, checking the time on his wristwatch. Before leaving, he gently kissed Calmia's forehead and said goodbye to Damian as well.

With him gone, Calmia spoke up, "Damian, I'm glad we're making progress."

He nodded, "your suggestion was a good one. I don't have to deal with each matter by being aggressive. I understand that too."

"Right and just like my friend Jade says, whatever the press churns out is not something we should take very seriously. These people thrive on making stories," she remarked softly, "I'm glad you took a stand for me that day and I believe you didn't have any ulterior motives for that. That's all that matters."

He took in a deep breath and then dipped his head in a low nod, "I was embarrassed about what I should tell you so I didn't bring it up earlier. But then with the video going viral and the article as a follow-up, I knew you'd eventually find out."

She had made some more basbousa the previous day which Alfred had taken out for breakfast and as she saw Damian looking at the dish but not saying anything himself, she passed it over to him.

"Thank you," he replied, picking out a piece with his fork. "Though I am surprised why my brothers didn't bring it up at all. Todd can't shut up whenever there's an article related to us. I was expecting they would get here the day the article was published. Because there is no way they would be unaware..."

"They do know," she told him, observing the surprise on his face, "Richard called me as well, asking if he should come over and talk to you about it. I told him you were fine and he didn't have to. They will all be coming over this weekend though."

"Oh... Okay."

He was surprised how she had managed to convince Jason Todd of all people not to pester him about the scandalous article. It seemed quite an impossible feat.

"So was it only Grayson who called...?"

"Actually the three of them had talked about it earlier too but Richard convinced them not to annoy you about it."

Things were starting to make sense, of course, Richard would do that. He had an involuntary habit of caring for everyone in the family and knowing exactly what would piss off each person. He knew it would piss Damian off if he was given too much attention and made the center of conversation so that was why he had talked to Calmia first and not directly to him.

"Oh, I see... I appreciate that they did not bother me about this," he mumbled, focusing on his food, "it's much easier to ignore it when there aren't any people rubbing it in my face."

She laughed at his remark but then controlled it all of a sudden, not sure if he had meant that as a joke for her to laugh at or if he was actually being serious.

But Damian didn't look offended. In fact, the more she had started to spend time with him, the more obvious it had become to her that he was indeed a mini Bruce.

He showed no emotion but if one looked closely enough, it was very easy to see what he was feeling at the moment. And right then, he didn't look angry or offended.

He was just neutral as if her laughing at his words didn't matter much to him.

"I must leave now. Have a good day," he stood up, picking up his bag from the chair on his side.

"You too. And all the best."

He nodded in acknowledgement then left as well. Alfred would be dropping him off at Gotham Academy as usual.

Calmia was relieved that Damian had begun to treat her as a family member. She too didn't want to be on the opposing side with him.

However, a very sleepy voice shook her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Tim getting into a chair.

"Hi," he mumbled, "is there any breakfast left for me? Sorry, I'm late..."

The boy always looked as if he pulled all-nighters regularly and then didn't even get an hour to replenish his sleep. He had the darkest rings around his eyes that Calmia had ever seen on a person his age and the way he consumed coffee as if it was oxygen for him was quite alarming too.

"There you go," she had left her chair and filled up a plate for him and also poured out some coffee in his cup.

"Thank you so much, Calmia," he smiled, eyes drooping from fatigue, "you're a blessing."

"You're welcome," she replied, "oh and put the cup down now. You have to eat too."

"I know, I know... Eat something... Oh, is that the basbousa? Lovely..."

He still seemed half asleep as he cut the piece of the dessert and ate it, the sweetness jolting him awake.

She made a mental note of talking to Bruce about giving poor Tim at least one night off so that he could rest. It seemed as if he worked too much and too hard, neglecting himself entirely. And if that wasn't addressed, it would start affecting his health adversely.

"You really got late or else we could have had breakfast together. Damian and Bruce left already and it's time for me to go too," she told him, watching him nod his head.

"I dozed off at my computer desk so forgot to check the time," he replied, "but that's okay, I'm fine with having breakfast on my own. Please don't get late on my account."

"Bye then," she smiled taking her car keys and her purse, "and don't forget to finish breakfast."

"Sure thing, Mom," he joked with a light chuckle, "I mean... You are kinda our mom now, aren't you?"

Her smile widened slightly, thinking that she was by relation their stepmother considering Bruce had adopted all of them, minus Damian who was in fact the biological child. And it was slightly funny considering the oldest of them was in his late twenties and the youngest was fifteen while Calmia herself was not older than thirty-three. "No matter how absurd this sounds, I guess I can't deny that."

***