Brothers To The Bitter End

24

Dick coughed slightly as he sat up. It had been almost three weeks since his run-in with the League and had even a little longer since he'd been able to move well. Of course, he had considered himself healed two weeks ago, but his over attentive, overabundant nurses somehow always knew when he was about to get up. Just like now.

"Nuh-uh ya don't." Roy waggled his wooden spoon at Dick threateningly. "The doc said four weeks minimum. So lay right back down and go to sleep."

Dick flopped back and winced as his ribs protested. "I'm fine! And besides, I have work!"

"Yeah, the captain said that you could have as long off as you needed. And you need at least one more week."

"But I'm so bored! There's nothing but these four walls to look at, you guys keep taking away my books, you won't let me have a laptop, I have nothing to do!"

"Try sleeping." Roy remained unsympathetic. "Night night!" Roy grabbed the empty breakfast tray and walked away, whistling.

Dick groaned. Today was going to be another long day.
*******
Damian groaned and laid his head down on his math book. Today was going to be another long day. His teacher was droning on, he was hungry, and that idiot Todd hadn't let Titus come to school today ("He slobbered all over my favorite shoes, Demon! He shouldn't get rewarded for that!").

The door to the classroom suddenly slammed open. Damian glanced at the newcomer, a average sized girl about his age with chin-length, dark, curly hair, pale skin, and an annoyed expression on her face.

"Ah, you must be Rachel." Damian's dimwitted teacher offered the newcomer a hand, which the girl shook timidly.

"Yes, ma'am, I am," Rachel said shyly.

"Class, we have a new student today, and I want you to do your best to make her feel welcome. Everyone, this is Rachel Roth."

"Hi." Rachel gave the room a little wave.

"Here, Rachel, you can sit next to Damian in the back for now." The teacher motioned to an empty desk next to Damian. Actually, all the desks surrounding Damian were empty, which was part of the reason he was in a back corner.

"No, Rachel, don't do it!" One girl, who must've been in some of Rachel's other classes. "He's a demon, a real demon!"

Damian curled his lip and let a string of Arabic curses loose. The girl must've thought he was speaking in some demonic language because she fainted dead away. The other classmates, certain a death curse had been summoned from Hell, began screaming. The teacher just sighed, picked up her phone, and pressed speed dial #1.
*******
Dick, who had snuck out of his own house after receiving the call, walked in on pure chaos. It had been almost twenty minutes since the girl had fainted, and the rest of the class, minus Rachel, were cowering in the middle of a circle of salt. One kid was muttering prayers while another was attempting to pour his Dasani water in a water gun as if it would protect him. Another boy was flinging Twinkies at Damian which Damian sliced with his katana like some kind of otherworldly baseball game. The teacher had given up trying to restore peace and was surfing Tumblr on her computer, probably looking up Supernatural to find the best way to bind a demon. Another kid was drawing on the floor. Scratch that: the kid was drawing pentagrams on the floor. Damian just sat on top of his desk cackling, while was not helpful to the situation.

"Obviously, you people watch too much Supernatural. Could I suggest Downton Abbey as an alternative?" Dick tried unsuccessfully to suppress a smile. He got calls from Damian's teachers roughly once or twice a week. This was one of the more mild occurrences. The craziest happenstance had involved the cafeteria and Damian summoning the "forces of Hell" onto his classmates (it was really just a well timed black out and inhumane amounts of ketchup).