Damian watches his teacher's face fall as Bruce Wayne walks into the conference room. The foolish woman was obviously hoping for Grayson to arrive . . . or possibly even Drake. Damian has always persisted in believing that his teacher only called these inane conferences in order to gawk at his 'brothers.'

His behavior and grades are faultless after all.

His father greets the teacher awkwardly, and Damian considers that perhaps the man should have sent in Drake. Grayson can very effectively charm the teachers, but Drake gets things done. Quickly.

"Good morning, Mr. Wayne," his teacher recovers fairly quickly. "Thank you for coming in today. I am Damian's teacher, and this is the student teacher who has been helping me with Damian's classes."

The nervous red-headed man flinches when Damian and Bruce both turn to glance at him. Damian takes pride in that. The student teacher is an inept, nervous man that will likely never pursue this career path if he survives the semester. Damian is certain the man will be better suited in a quiet accounting position somewhere outside of Gotham where he will never have to hear the name 'Damian Wayne' again.

Damian initially tunes out the adults in favor of a plan that may spare his class the student teacher's continued presence for the second half of the semester. He only really registers ". . . speech impediment . . ." before the babble sinks in.

"Excuse me," Damian demands. "What. Speech. Impediment."

His teacher smiles at him with the gentle-but-slightly-wary expression that she has come to cultivate since Damian first entered her classroom. "I'm concerned that in accommodating your native tongue and cultural differences, Damian, that we may have misdiagnosed a speech impediment in your English. There are several ways to adjust . . ."

"My English is perfect," Damian interrupts, flatly. He had proper English schooling for almost six months, and Mother was very strict regarding correct grammar. Pennyworth has not had a single chance to correct him since Damian's arrival in the way that the older man must frequently reprove Grayson. "Tt."

". . . t-tut," the teacher makes a poor attempt to mimic the sound, "is not an English sound. Nor is it used in any other language I'm familiar with."

"I can speak more languages with native fluency than you have ever even heard," Damian hisses. "Arabic and French. English and German. Hebrew and Latin to an extent. My Spanish is perfectly acceptable, and Grayson has been teaching me Romani. Je suis-"

And his father claps a hand over Damian's mouth.

That may have been wise.

"It's not a speech impediment," Bruce Wayne declares, with just a touch of the Batman voice. "Let's call it a quirk."

No one argues. He bodily lifts Damian out of the chair with one hand still clamped over Damian's mouth and the other under one arm, firmly escorting Damian to the door before letting his Brucie personality out: "Have a nice day."

Damian catches just a glimpse under his father's arm before the door closes. At least, he won't be dealing with the student teacher's incompetence when he returns to school on Monday.

His teacher has tenure. This is going to take a lot of work.