The Wayne limo shouldn’t have looked intimidating sitting in front of Gotham Academy — and yet somehow, under the gray afternoon sky, it absolutely did. The rain had stopped just an hour ago, leaving the courtyard slick and shining, the clouds still low and heavy like the world itself was holding its breath.

Inside the car, you sat with your arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently against the floor. Jason lounged beside you in his leather jacket, chewing gum like he was trying to intimidate the steering wheel. Dick sat in the back, scrolling through his phone, pretending to be calm — but the way his jaw kept twitching gave him away.

Tim, of course, was the only one remotely composed. His laptop balanced on his knees, eyes flicking over something Damian’s teacher had emailed earlier. “Okay, so let me get this straight—this kid, Noah, has been messing with Damian for weeks? Locking his locker, hiding his sword bag, calling him... ‘Demon freak’?”

Jason’s jaw clenched. “A twelve-year-old’s got that much mouth?”

“Apparently.”

Dick leaned forward, expression darkening, the cheerful big-brother act gone. “He made Damian bleed last week. And the teachers brushed it off as ‘boys being boys.’”

You exhaled slowly. Alright then. Let’s go be boys.

Jason grinned, all teeth. “Oh, this is gonna be fun.”

By the time the four of you reached the courtyard, school was just letting out. The sound of chattering students filled the air, the smell of wet asphalt and cafeteria pizza mixing into something vaguely awful.

And then you saw it.

Damian, still in his pristine uniform, stood stiffly near the bike racks, his fists tight at his sides. Opposite him, a scrawny blond kid—the Noah—was laughing, flanked by two friends who were filming the whole thing on their phones.

Jason’s smirk vanished. “Oh, hell no.”

You didn’t even need to say anything—because all three of you moved at once.

Dick stepped forward first, smooth as ever, his smile all fake charm. “Hey, champ,” he said lightly, crouching down beside the kid. “Heard you’ve been giving my little brother a hard time. That true?”

The boy blinked, the smirk fading fast. “I—uh—what? Who—who are you?”

Jason loomed behind him, cracking his knuckles. “We’re the customer service department, kid. You’ve been causing problems. We’re here to fix them.”

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose. “Could we not start with threats? He’s literally twelve.”

You leaned against the bike rack, arms crossed, smirking.

The bully tried to take a step back, only to bump into Jason’s chest. Jason just raised an eyebrow. “Aw, what’s wrong? You were talking real loud five minutes ago.”

Dick tilted his head, voice dropping. “You see that kid you’ve been picking on? The one you call Demon freak?”

Noah swallowed. “Y-yeah?”

The silence that followed was thick. The other kids had stopped whispering. One even dropped his phone.

Jason crouched down, smiling way too pleasantly. “Now, you’re gonna apologise. Right now. And then, you’re gonna promise never to breathe his direction again. Got it?”

Noah nodded furiously, eyes wide.

Damian looked equal parts mortified and smug. “You’re all insane,” he muttered under his breath.