Bat Brothers: Schooldays

A Busy Saturday

"D, wake up!" Jon said, knocking on Damian's door. He opened it.

"What?"

"Breakfast is ready."

"I already ate." He grumbled. "I'm going back to sleep."

Jon was confused. "Yeah, but breakfast is now."

Damian yawned. "I was training in the Cave at 4."

"In the morning?"

"Yes. This morning."

Jason stopped in the doorway behind Jon. "Damian- breakfast."

"I already ate."

"A granola bar and a glass of milk doesn't count." Tim said, walking past the others to access the stairs.

Damian rolled his eyes. "Fine." He opened the door all the way and stepped out. "Let's go."

"Whoo!" Jon cheered, following Jason down the stairs. Damian cheated by sliding down the staircase railing. He jumped off at the bottom.

"Very impressive." Jon smiled.

They walked into the dining room where Bruce was already reading the paper. He looked up. He was in a good mood.

"Hello, boys."

They returned the greeting and sat down at the table. "Damian, Jon." He said, grabbing a piece of toast. "I checked in your HQ."

"The Fortress of Attitude?" Jon asked.

"We agreed not to call it that." Damian said.

Jon shrugged. "I never agreed."

Bruce waited before speaking again. "Well it's a mess."

"There's a shocker." Tim muttered.

"You need to clean it. You don't have Alfred at your base."

Damian lazily stirred oatmeal that he had drowned in milk and brown sugar and said nothing. Jon frowned. "I guess we're cleaning today."

---

They opened the air lock. Their headquarters was underwater, hidden away from the public, which Clark and Bruce found safer that their young sons were less likely to be found and targeted.

"We're home!" Jon shouted as they walked into the base.

"Jon, no one's here."

Jon shrugged. "It makes me feel powerful."

Damian rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad. Our parents are overreacting."

"D." Jon began. "All of our gear is literally everywhere." He pointed. "Why is there a sword in the umbrella stand?"

"Why do we even have an umbrella stand?"

"For when it rains." Jon replied.

"We're underwater."

"Not when we get outside."

Damian sighed. "Fine." He picked up his sword- one of many.

Jon walked in. "It's like "Where's Waldo" of fatal weapons in here." He said, stepping over a dagger. "That could definitely hurt someone."

"You're bullet-proof." Damian replied.

Jon picked up the blade. "Not always. I'm only half-alien."

"That's a weird sentence." Damian said, hanging up his katana on the weapons wall.

Jon walked across the floor to the training center. "You should really re-rack your weights when you're done with them."

Damian looked over. "I'm the only one who uses them."

Jon tossed a dumbbell in his hand and put it back where it belonged on the weight rack. "Hey- what do we do when it ices over? How will we get out? Will we be trapped here? I don't want to be trapped here." He paused shortly before continuing again. "Actually, I'm not allowed to have soda except for when I'm here or on Fridays and-"

"We break the ice." Damian said, flatly.

"Oh yeah." Jon remembered. "Speaking of which- we should pick up all of the cans around our HQ, here."

"Want to make a bet?" Damian asked.

"Bet what?"

"How many cans are around here?"

Jon shrugged. "38. It's my favorite number."

Damian thought. "24. I don't have a favorite number."

"4-11." Jon laughed.

"What?" Damian asked.

"It's your height."

Damian frowned. "Being short statured is incredibly beneficial, you vertical tower."

They went around the fortress and collected cans that they put into a paper bag to recycle.

"31." Damian counted from his bag and Jon's. "Right down the middle. No one wins."

Jon shrugged. "What would we even get as a prize?"

Damian shrugged back. "A free punch at Tim's face."

"Hey!" Jon objected. "He's your brother. What's your problem?"

Damian sighed. "We had to compete over the Robin mantle. He won because my father didn't trust me and he seems to rub it in my face every chance that he gets."

"Hm." Jon thought. "Have you tried talking with him?"

"No. Beyond being a prick he is quite intolerable. I limit my exposure."

Jon was levitating out of boredom. "Sounds like you're normal brothers. You still love him, you just don't like him."

Damian said nothing because Jon was right. He landed back on the ground. "We're done cleaning, let's go get ice cream."

Damian had no reason to object. He reached down to his boots and slipped a card out of a pocket in his shoe. He flipped the card between his fingers. "I've got us." He said, holding up a platinum credit card.

"Nice!" Jon cheered. "Whoo!"

Damian smiled. "Let's go."

They walked into the air lock and sealed the door to the HQ closed before they hopped into the Wayne Tech submarine and entered the water to surface at the top.

"What flavor are you getting?" Jon asked.

"All of them."

"Won't that be expensive?" Jon laughed.

"I'm the son of a billionaire."

"Well then I'm getting all of them too." Jon smiled. "Whoo!"