A/N: So, this is a bit different of a story for me. The OC that I have here isn't a superhero (not yet at least) and he won't be getting any sort of power or anything for quite a while. This is really more of an origin story almost. And though the team might not all appear right away they will all be in it, never fear.
"Oh man… this sucks," a particularly energetic redhead said as he slumped across the cafeteria table. He'd inhaled his food in less than a minute and now was taking the time to express his depression in the most comically overdramatic way possible. "It's the perfect day for the beeaach…" he moaned, digging his fingers into his spiky red locks before dragging his hands over his face.
A boy sitting across and slightly to the left of the redhead chuckled slightly. "Wally, is it really that bad?" he asked, a slight English accent seeping through.
"Yeeess!" Wally said letting his arms flop out in front of him. "You're just a freshman, Luke, you don't get it yet! All my friends are at the beach and I have to be here! Why do we start so much earlier than Gotham and Happy Harbor?"
Wally's new friend sighed. "Wally, I might be a freshman but it's not like I started school for the first time today."
"Yeah, but it was English school before. It's like… entirely different," Wally said with a pout. Though school had just started that day and Luke was a freshman he'd been put in the same gym class as Wally. The two ended up paired together for drills and Wally's natural jovialness had made them quick friends. A good thing for Luke, since being a freshman, as well as from another country, quickly put barriers up between him and the rest of the populace.
"It's not so very different," Luke argued as he dipped a fry into the small cup of mustard.
"You know that's supposed to go in ketchup right?" Wally asked without lifting his head from the table.
Luke shrugged slightly. "I prefer mustard," he answered. "Anyway. You should cheer up. It isn't like school will last forever. It's over in only a few more hours."
"It is forever," Wally moaned. "Those guys are probably having so much fun without me! It's not fair!"
Luke rolled his blue eyes and shook his head. "The amount of melodrama you're exuding may be toxic to small animals, I think," he said resting his head on one hand. "Could you perhaps tone it down even if it is just for lunch?"
Wally pouted some more but at least straightened. "It's still not fair."
"I know," Luke said obligingly as he dipped another fry in his mustard. "So, how exactly are you friends with people in Gotham and Happy Harbor?"
The redhead blinked and straightened even more. "Huh?"
"Well, you specified that Gotham and Happy Harbor start school after us so I figured that meant that your friends go to school there," Luke explained. "It just seemed odd to me that you'd be friends with people so far away."
Wally waved his hand some. "Nah. It's not that strange. These days there's like a gazillion different ways to keep in touch with people," he explained simply.
"I suppose that's true," Luke agreed. "I guess I've just never been one for technology. Mum doesn't like it much so it took ages just to get a telly that wasn't operated by dials."
"Whoa… retro."
Luke chuckled some and nodded. "Yes, but, as she would say, that gave me ample time for other, healthier, things. Father was a personal trainer so he kept me busy out of the house most of the time."
"So, that's why you're crazy twisty," Wally said. "I thought you were going to break your back a couple times during stretches. I was starting to think it was just that all the tiny ones are like that…"
Luke blinked in confusion. "Tiny ones?"
Wally laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his head. "One of my best friends, Rob…bie. He's all flexible and stuff like you are. And he's about your size… maybe a little wider," he said quickly, stumbling only slightly over his friend's identity. He wasn't sure just how well acquainted Luke was with teenage caped crusaders but he didn't really want to risk finding out. "But then Rob says he was in the circus as a kid so maybe that's where he learned it."
"My dad said he was in the circus but I don't believe him. I never saw him do anything amazing or even any pictures of it. Plus, he was always disappearing and lying to mum and me. Maybe he just figured I wouldn't do it if he didn't give me some sort of fantastic story about why I should," Luke said with a shrug.
It didn't escape Wally's notice that Luke was always referring to his father in the past tense. His natural curiosity made him wonder why but he wasn't quite tactless enough to just ask the guy he'd just met why his father was apparently not around. Wally had his own history with less than stellar fathers so he wasn't about to pry into Luke's.
Just then the bell rang loud through the school and Wally got up. "Well, back to torture," he said, slumping his shoulders heavily as he trudged off towards the door. Luke laughed some and tossed his trash away before leaving the cafeteria as well. "Don't laugh… it is torture," Wally insisted.
"Yes, yes, of course," Luke said kindly.
A few hours later, the last bell of the day went off and a huge gust of wind swept through the halls of the school along with a blur that nobody could see properly. Nearly ten minutes later, the majority of the student body was exiting the school. Luke glanced around the campus but couldn't spot the redhead he'd been looking for. Shrugging some, he supposed that Wally really had been dying to get out of school and ran off as soon as he got the chance. "Oh, well, I'll see him tomorrow," Luke said to himself as he started back towards his house.
"Worst first days have definitely happened," he added to himself as he walked down the sidewalk. "At least I didn't end up in a rubbish bin. Or a worse place. I don't need to know this school's toilets that intimately. That's for sure."
It only took Luke fifteen minutes to get to the house that his mother had moved to. It was a tiny row house with a cramped green area that the realtor had said was a lawn but really served more a weed patch than anything. But Luke was sure that his mother would get around to improving the state of that before too long. "I'm home, mum," Luke called as he came through the front door and side stepped a large tower of moving boxes. They were still deep in the middle of moving and the house was a disaster scene.
"Welcome home!" came a shout from further back in the house. Luke quickly maneuvered his way down the hall to the kitchen where he mother was unpacking a box full of dishes. "How was your day, dear?"
"Been worse," Luke said, echoing his earlier thoughts. "I actually met someone who seemed to not hate me on sight. Kind of an odd one but he's nice enough," he said as he put his bag down by a coat rack and moved to help unpack the box his mother was going through.
"That's nice, dear," his mother said as she put another stack of dishes away. Once they had emptied the box, she let out a sigh and brushed her light blonde hair back. Luke was rather glad he'd inherited so many of his mother's traits, including her blonde hair and blue eyes. He wanted nothing to do with the father that had disappeared from his life years ago without a word. The man had been as harsh and unloving as a rock and about as personable.
He'd even struck Luke a few times when his temper was particularly bad. Though most of the time he was more distant and dismissive than anything else. Like he didn't really want to be hanging around. Luke supposed that was why he no longer did. He'd finally gotten fed up with pretending like he cared when he didn't.
"Anything else happen today?" Luke's mother asked, bringing the blonde's attention back to the conversation fully.
"Not so much. Wally was the highlight. He's just too excitable to be anything but," Luke said with a grin. "It's like watching a hamster that had sugar put in its water. Or maybe some other small energetic creature. Like a kitten."
His mother laughed some at the comparison. "He sounds quite entertaining, dear. I'm glad you made a friend."
"Mm, maybe he'll come by some time so you can meet him," Luke offered. "I think you'd like him."
"I'm sure I would. But, until then, I need you to help unpack the rest of these boxes. We have far too much to do still," his mother said as she slid a box across the counter towards him. He groaned a bit but took the box and opened it to start unpacking what was inside.