Chapter Text
Damian Wayne hates Mondays.
Every inconvenience seems to happen to him on Mondays. Father had dropped quite the bombshells on Damian on Mondays.
At eight, he was benched from being Robin for the first time on a Monday for disobeying a direct order. After the first month of being Robin, he was told he had to attend school like other children and he’d have to limit patrol to Fridays and the weekends on a Monday. His first day of school? On a hot August Monday. It was unusually hot for Gotham and he hated the uniform layers. His first gala was on a Monday. He was informed that Father was romantically involved with Catwoman at 2:00AM on a cold Monday. A little after he turned ten, Selina had moved into the manor on a Monday.
He liked Selina, don’t get him wrong, he liked how she was great with cats and animals. He liked that she was great with his pets too. But she was really close to Father and that made Damian doubt if he’ll be forgotten now that Selina was in the manor. He was already a little reluctant to have Thomas as a permanent resident, as much as Damian cared about him(not that he will ever admit it).
Mondays had it out for him, like Todd loves to tell him.
He is twelve now. Forced to be with kids his age in seventh grade because father would not let him skip the year. If he was forced to go to school, he wanted to start with high school at least. But father had immediately shut that idea down.
“You need to interact with children your age, Damian. You need to socialize.”, Bruce had told him. Damian didn’t need to socialize. He didn’t have to make friends. He was raised to be the perfect warrior and perfect warriors did not need friends.
He hated being forced to tolerate the school children.
He did end up making friends though. So, he can’t really complain about that. He’d befriended the girl Skylar and other kids his age from the art club. And later, he’d grown close with the kids in the club. The club and its members made school tolerable.
One good thing Mondays gave him was the extra time for after school activities given by the school. On Mondays, the art club met for over two hours instead of the usual one hour in the rest of the week.
Yet another Monday inevitably rolled around. Damian woke up before his alarm, like always. Of course, he was a Wayne and an al Ghul, it was only expected. He quickly made his bed and got ready for school. He was combing the last of his hair back when he heard a knock on his door.
“Master Damian? Are you ready? It’s time for breakfast”, it was Pennyworth. Damian glanced at the clock, it was just 6AM. Alfred usually called him for breakfast at 6:30 everyday and they leave the manor by 6:50 to reach school at 7:15, fifteen minutes early. He uses that time to read a book or sketch, whatever he’s in the mood for.
That’s strange, Damian thought. Before he could reply, Alfred spoke again, “Master Bruce is expecting you downstairs now. All the others are on their way here too.”
Father? Why? And his siblings too? Is something serious happening? Had patrol last night gone wrong? Father had not gone for patrol last night, he believes. Grayson and Todd had covered for him. But he didn’t know why father had not gone out. He was not allowed to patrol on school nights either. Did Grayson or Todd injure themselves? Well, he has to go and find out.
“I’ll be down in a minute, Pennyworth.” ,he said, adjusting his uniform’s tie.
“Very well, Master Damian.”, Alfred said before he headed down.
Damian grabs his bag and heads downstairs too and for some reason, the hallway and stairs felt impossibly long. He doesn’t recall feeling such a weird uneasy feeling before. Or he does but refuses to acknowledge it. But he soldiers on regardless.
He enters the dining room to find his father, Kyle, Pennyworth and all his siblings including Todd are all there. He almost never stays the night in the manor even though he and father are on good terms. Well, ‘good’ by their standards at least. He only ever stayed if he or his siblings were greatly injured or father had convinced him to stay after a long night. By the looks of it, it was not the former. Everyone at the table looked unscathed. Even Gordon was here, the chair in her place was moved away to make space for her wheelchair.
Damian sat at his usual chair and waited for whatever was to come. Pennyworth served breakfast but now, Damian did not feel like eating with all his dread. But the others ate and he didn’t want to cause what they called a ‘scene’ and forced himself to eat.
The awkward breakfast was nearing its end and father hadn’t talked except to Selina once to whisper something Damian couldn’t catch. The long stretched silence was finally broken by Grayson, “Sooooo, you called us all to the manor to say something. Aren't you gonna say it??”
But unlike most others who were confused like Damian, Dick was smiling for some reason, that only confused Damian more. He knew he was not going to like whatever was coming.
Cass nodded in agreement and Brown chimed in, “Yeah! Dick’s right! You haven’t said anything… You told us you’d say it by breakfast.”
“Yeah, Bruce, you better have a reason for making me stay the night. This better be good.” , Jason said as he groaned.
“Yeah, so what is it?? I can’t handle the suspense! Don’t make me go to school without telling me.” , Duke chimed in as well.
Bruce set down his cutlery, “Alright, Alright. I was hoping we could finish breakfast before I announced this.” He stood up, Selina followed, holding his hand.
His siblings seemed to catch on to something, but Damian couldn’t tell. Pennyworth only smiled.
“NO WAYYY!!??” , Steph had her jaw dropped. That earned a chuckle from Bruce.
“Well, yes, Me and Selina…”, Bruce held up Selina’s left hand, showing a beautiful diamond ring to the table, “We’re engaged”.
It felt like all the air inside Damian’s lungs were sucked out. He just stared ahead at them.
He was not expecting this to happen so soon. He had known they’d get married soon enough, but he did not think it would be so soon.
“Finally, about damn time.” Jason laughed, “Good for you, B. Never thought you’d actually propose. Not with you always going ‘Justiceeeeee for Gothammm’ all the time.”
“I told you she’d like that ring, heh.” Dick was smiling ear to ear now.
“It was a nice proposal, I’ll give you that. We’re all happy for you, Bruce.” Barbara said, smiling.
“You knew? I only told Alfred and Dick beforehand” Bruce was confused.
“Pfft, please I have cameras across all of Gotham. If the biggest rooftop restaurant is completely empty except for a lone couple, I’m gonna pay attention.” Barbara crossed her arms, smiling proudly.
“I suppose nothing escapes the great Oracle or Red Robin.” Tim said, “before you ask, yes i know. I was swinging by when I saw you down on one knee”
“Stalker,” Jason laughed. Tim did nothing but glare at him because… Well, he wasn’t wrong, now was he?
There was a lot of squealing and excited chatter in the dining room that day. Damian didn't feel any of it.
Selina noticed Damian staying quiet through all this. She didn’t say anything out loud but just raised an eyebrow at him. He just looked away and mumbled a “That’s great, father, Congratulations.”
After a few more ‘Happy for you two’s and everyone admiring the ring, it was finally time to leave. Damian was relieved it was finally over. He didn’t know what to feel about this.
Damian Wayne Hates Mondays.
All he knew was his life won’t be the same anymore.