Chapter Text
Damian heard his alarm go off, knowing it was time for him to get up. He struggled to blink his eyes open, as he felt like it required all his energy to just do that simple movement.
Recently, these last few days, he had been feeling exhausted. It confused him as to why, because he had been getting adequate sleep. It was something that Pennyworth stressed as very important, he is not foolish enough to ignore the kind butler’s advice.
Waking up felt more of a hassle than fighting low lifes at this point. Nevertheless, he forced himself to open his eyes and stand up from his bed.
As he tried to rub the tiredness from his eyes, Damian began his morning routine. His steps were sloppy and his movements were slow. In his mind, there was no need to rush. As Drake liked to say, it was the weekend and he was allowed to idle.
He made his way downstairs for breakfast. Damian saw his Father reading on his work tablet as he drank his cup of coffee. When he looked at the other side of the table Damian let out a ‘Tt’ at the scene in front of him. As Drake was mirroring his Father, also working on his tablet and drinking coffee, if Damian had to guess, he would say Drake was drinking black coffee.
“Good morning, Father,” Damian said as he looked up from his tablet.
Bruce gave him a small nod in acknowledgment and went back to his work. Damian could see Drake roll his eyes at Bruce. Drake looked at Damian as he was expecting him to say something. Damian stared back and tilted his head to the side in confusion.
“Well good morning to you as well, Demon Brat,” Tim scoffed, as he went back to his work and Damian simply glared back. Usually Drakes ignores him in the morning, how was Damian supposed to know he wanted to be greeted as well? He had many abilities, but mind reading is not one of them.
“Clearly I was not speaking to you, Drake. I only intended to wish Father a good day, you were not included. I will go and find Pennyworth.” Damian huffed away to the kitchen in his search for the butler’s company.
His steps were slow and deliberate, as a way to conserve his energy, a technique he acquired from the League. He was still feeling muddled by his exhaustion. Damian usually considered himself to be a morning person. Many years of training at the crack of dawn wired him to appreciate the early start. It seemed that the last few days on patrol had made him more tired than usual. He would modify his training to take that into account.
He found Pennyworth working in the kitchen. He was preparing a simple breakfast for everyone; eggs, bacon, and toast. Damian's nose twitched in displeasure. Since he became a vegetarian, he had become sensitive to the smell of animal product. He was pleased to see Alfred bring out his oatmeal with grains and fruit on it. Alfred always knew what he was craving in the morning, even without him telling so.
Damian was thankful for Alfred as he always took his dietary needs into consideration when making him food. He did not complain even once when he told him he was a vegetarian now. He simply took it in stride to find delicious ways to keep him healthy. He was grateful for Pennyworth's hard work, even though his pancakes left much to be desired.
“Hello, Pennyworth. I hope that you had a peaceful morning,” Damian greeted Alfred as the butler turned around and gave him a polite smile.
“Hello to you as well, Master Damian. I have prepared for you, oatmeal with some fresh cut fruit and grains for your breakfast. You can have it with orange juice if you please.” Pennyworth presented the breakfast he had prepared for him.
“I appreciate your hard work Pennyworth. While I appreciate your offer of orange juice, I would like to drink some Yerba Matte tea with my breakfast today,” he said trying to stifle a yawn.
Damian always requested some Yerba Matte tea to be in the cupboard, as it tended to give extra energy in the morning. He disliked the bitter taste of coffee. He was aware he could always sweeten it to his liking, but he did not want to become dependent on it like Drake was. The less in common that he had between his supposed brother the better. He would prefer a good cup of tea any day.
He saw Pennyworth raise his eyebrow at him in question as he nodded and simply replied with ‘as you wish.’
Damian finished making his tea and headed toward the table, he wanted to eat with his Father and he supposed that Drake wouldn't be the worst company. When he arrived on the table he noticed that they were working on some case files. It seemed that they had finished their work on Wayne Enterprise.
“Tsk, Pennyworth would not be pleased to see you working on these case files during breakfast,” Damian reminded them as Drake handed over some paperwork to Father.
“These are old cold case files. B believes they are connected in some way but we can’t figure out how. They are all different genders, ethnicity and they lived nowhere near each other,” Drake explained completely disregarding Damian's warning.
Bruce hummed in agreement and Damian rubbed his face and took a sip from his tea. He proceeded to take all the files from Drake's hands. He let out a shout of displeasure but Damian simply ignored him and spread all twelve case files on the table.
“You believe this is the work of a serial killer?” Damian inquired.
“All the victims were stabbed and left to bleed out. Ten out of the twelve victims died in the hospital. The weapon used for each victim is different, there are no physical attributes that connect them. Some had valuables stolen, others did not. The location of each of the murders was more than 10 miles apart. I can understand why the police believe the murders have no connections. I just have...a feeling,” Father explained while drinking some of his coffee, at least his father had the decency to add milk and sugar to his.
Damian nodded in acknowledgement, as he looked over the profiles of the victim. He could understand where the difficulties lie as they were no glaring similarities. As time passed, his vision blurred staring at the files, and he rubbed his eyes to try to get them to focus again. That’s when he noticed something unusual about the first victim. He confirmed his theory when eight of the other victims shared the same similarities. He handed the eight case files to his father and let out a yawn that had his eyes watering.
“These victims all have B- blood type. This could not be a coincidence as only five percent of the population have this blood type. The real question would be why is the serial killer targeting people with B-blood type specifically,” Damian stated, fumbling on his words toward the end as he tried to hold back another yawn.
Drake's eyes widened at his words as he looked over at the paperwork in Bruce's hands. Damian couldn’t help the small proud smile that adorned his face.
“I can’t believe we missed this!” Drake exclaimed as he put his coffee mug down and moved his hands through his hair.
“It’s something easy to overlook, when you think about serial killers you expect certain physical aspects not their blood type. Good catch, bud,” Father said as he went and ruffled Damian's hair.
Damian saw as his Father went back to the case files. While he didn’t like it when his brothers messed up his hair, he didn’t mind it when his father did it.
At that moment, Pennyworth came in carrying everyone else's breakfast and started to serve both Father and Drake. He saw how Alfred changed Drake’s coffee with orange juice, without his brother noticing. Damian could not help giving a small smile at the amusing scene. Pennyworth gave him a wink when he noticed him staring.
“Master Bruce-“ Alfred stared blankly at Bruce, his father tried not to flinch at Pennyworth's stern tone.
“I hope I do not need to repeat the rules of the manor. Considering you agreed to these terms. Do I, Master Bruce?”
“That won’t be necessary Alf. I was just finishing up. Thank you for the food, it looks great” Father said as he pushed the file away and made space for Alfred to set down the food.
“Very well, Master Bruce. If that is all you need from me then I will take my leave,” Alfred said as he finished putting the plates in front of Drake and went off. Both Bruce and Drake voice echoing their thanks to the butler.
Damian ate his breakfast in silence, content to hear both his Father and Drake exchange ideas. He shared a smile with his Father when Drake noticed that his coffee was actually orange juice now.
His tea was helping him wake up. He would arrange his schedule to get more rest. The last few days had been extremely busy, that is why he was tired.
Despite feeling exhausted, Damian enjoyed this quiet moment with his family.
He was okay.