_Shows what she knows, the darts haven't used real poison in months._

 If there was at least one good thing about Wayne Manor, it was that it offered plenty of hiding places if you wanted to avoid other people. The one Damian currently occupied had probably been some kind of old servants' hallway, disused enough nowadays that the tiny lock built into the wall that barely revealed its' presence had to be picked to get it open as the key had disappeared ages ago. It was also-thankfully-a great place to eavesdrop on certain parts of the house. If anyone bothered to come looking for him he would probably have a head-start and given his own lifetime of training in stealth and the amount of rooms and passages in the house he was almost confident he could avoid everyone all night if he had to.

That would work out just fine with the current Boy Wonder. Damian was exactly the opposite of thrilled with how things had been going lately and this whole "party" situation was just the latest and worse part of the whole ordeal. If he had to pretend and play nice with Tim while the latter glared exploding shuriken at him only to have Dick keep reminding him to control his temper on top of _everything else_ he was going to go through the kind of mental and emotional death that no Lazarus Pit or hi-tech organ transplant could save him from.

It wasn't his fault after all, nothing anyone blamed him for was his fault, not lately anyways. He had only tried to kill Tim once, maybe twice at the most and that was almost more than a year ago but Tim still wouldn't stop looking at him like he was about to explode into a deadly rampage at any minute! Was he more on edge than usual, or a little more touchy? Of course! But who wouldn't be while seeing their father completely lose his mind? Completely dropping his guard and marrying the Kyle woman and he hadn't even seen fit to consult Damian at all! And they had announced the whole thing so pleased with themselves and elaborated on all of it so condescendingly as if he were **a child**!

..._Well I suppose I am a child in the technical sense but they have no right to treat me like that! Me!_ He was no common child after all, and he of all people was affected by this madness-induced decision and the foolishness it had prompted! All this talk of how **nice** and **happy** things would be and Selina being part of the family all while he had to sit there and smile along! Unlike some people here he still had a mother already and she...

_Isn't here._ That had been the long and short of it. She wasn't here and Selina Kyle was marrying his father tomorrow. And here he was, hiding in a passage and- no not sulking, A Wayne didn't sulk and neither did an Al Ghul. They certainly didn't tear up either, even if the world had gone completely mad.  No, he was just here to avoid getting into an argument with Tim and replace the tranquilizer darts without getting caught.

The passageway was, however, eye-irritatingly dusty.