Well I saw Gotham By Gaslight a few days ago, and it's my new favorite Batman movie. So I'm starting up a little series of ones-shots, loosely connected, revolving around steampunk Batman and his friends. Most of it will focus on the relationship between him and his three new wards, eventual sidekicks. One of my favorite parts of the movie! And how fortuitous I got my muse triggered just after Batman's 80th birthday.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

"Mu-nick," Tim rolled the word around, testing the limited phonetics of his recently expanding vocabulary. He traced his finger across the page, marking each city as he tried to read their names. "Zerick, boudapist, stokehome-"

"SHIT!"

Tim looked up from his seat next to the wall, making sure one of his brothers hadn't killed the other. The large room in the basement of Wayne Manor had once been a massive wine cellar; left by some previous Wayne who'd had a passion for distillery. You could still smell it, even after the current Wayne sold off most of the hoard of drinks and moved the rest to smaller cellars. In it's place he'd created one of the most well equipped gymnasiums in the state, and probably the largest to be privately owned. With a considerably wider range of weaponry than any other two.

Inside the ropes of a large fighting ring, Dick leaned heavily on his quarterstaff, rubbing one foot. "Damn it Jason! This ain't no real fight!"

The red-headed boy smirked as he bounced his own staff in one hand. "What's the matter Dickie? Fancy living got you going soft already?"

Dick turned away as he kept balancing on one foot. "Don't start talkin yourself up too quick. Fightin here in a ring ain't all that different from the street, let your guard down for one minute an you'll feel the hur-"

Grinning from ear to ear, Jason chose that moment to jump forward and deliver the final blow to his brothers exposed backside.

And an instant before his blow hit, Dick pivoted on his supposedly injured foot, jabbing his own staff into his opponents stomach. Jason went down in mid-leap, wide eyed and making an unusual wheezing noise as all the air went out of him and his staff rolled away.

"Well, I think that shows who's going soft," Dick smirked. "Or maybe not, you was always too quick to go jumping into rat-pits without looking."

Tim turned back to his book, not overly concerned about his brothers hurting each other. Just a few days ago he'd also knocked Jason flat, and accidentally given him a black-eye, when he saw an opening and took it without thinking. He'd been ready to go running to get Mr. Pennyworth to call a doctor, but when Jason got back up he was so proud he'd nearly knocked his younger brother over patting him on the back.

Jason looked a lot less happy this time, as he struggled to sit and rubbed his sore stomach. "Laugh while you can Dickie. But how bout we try it bare-handed next, see if you ain't afraid to go dirtying those clean nails."

"You two might want to put some work into your studying too," Tim had just wandered down from the library a few minutes ago, where he'd spent most of the night. "Professor Nygma is coming by for lessons tomorrow."

"Aw we can learn all that stuff later," Jason, whose interest in education began and ended with literature, brushed the idea away. "More important we learn all this chinamen fighting Mr. Wayne uses!"

"Why's that important?"

"So we'll be ready when we go out with The Bat," Jason said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You know, clean up the streets and all that."

"I not so sure Mr. Wayne is going to let us do that," Tim shook his head. "The whole point of taking us in was to get us out of Gotham."

"Maybe we don't ask permission," Jason shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not like he got anyone's leave to go making himself the law. Besides," he looped his foot under the staff and kicked it up into his hand. "I don't know about you, but I got a few scores I never settled. Few crooks out there that shouldn't be walking around anymore."

"Not sure I'd put it that way, but he's got a point Tim," Dick nodded. "We all ended up on the street cause of men like the ones Mr. Wayne goes after. Maybe if we can give him a little help, a few less kids end up like we were."

"I'd like to help," Tim insisted. "But how much can kids like us do? I don't even know how Mr. Wayne does it." The boy glanced worryingly at the clock. "Honest, there's a lot of nights I worry he ain't gonna make it back come morning!"

"Don't sweat it Timmy," Jason put an arm around his little brother. "Big Bill Dusk went up against The Bat and never even got a hit on him. And he took out The Ripper, he was as bloodthirsty as they come! Ain't no-one out there gonna get one over on him!"

"Well said master Jason!" The three boys looked up in surprise, noticing the Wayne butler standing in the doorway for the first time. "But before you three can tackle the rogues of Gotham, there will be an arithmetic tutor here tomorrow. And you had best be getting to bed about now if you are going to meet that challenge."

"Before Mr. Wayne get's back," Dick looked toward the late hour of the clock. "He's going out again tonight, ain't he?"

For a moment the Mr. Pennyworth looked like he couldn't decide how he should reply, then he nodded curtly. "Yes, he will be out on a case, one which should take up most of the night. Although 'ain't' is not actually a soldier in the army of the queen's English."

"What's it this time," Jason asked, trying to sound nonchalant. "That fancy birdman? Another ladykiller?"

"Nothing so lethal," the butler assured them. "Merely a string of unusual robberies. The police have no leads."

"Unusual how?" Tim asked.

"I believe master Bruce mentioned a suspicion that it was a chap who was skilled in impersonation."

Jason cocked his head. "You mean, he dresses up as people.?"

"And copies their faces, to exact detail."

That brought the three boys up short a second, before the red head asked. "How?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea," The englishman turned, motioning the boys to follow. "I'm sure he can fill you in on all the skulky details; though good marks on arithmetic would smooth that along."

"Alright, you ain- don't have to coddle us." Dick placed his staff back in it's rack on the wall, as he an the other boys followed the manservant out of the room. "See you tomorrow mister Pennyworth."

"Alfred," he corrected gently. Both of their new guardians insisted on establishing a first name basis with them, but the boys weren't quite ready for that. "And a good nights sleep to all of you."

With a few grumbles about bed times and the morning's promise of schooling, mostly from Jason, the three wards retired for the evening. Still half amazed by the newfound luxuries fate had given them they each dipped into the baths Mr. Pennyworth had drawn, powdered their teeth, and climbed into large, warm beds. Dick and Jason were both asleep within a half hour, their rooms still and quiet as they snored away the exertions of their training. Tim slept a bit more fretfully.

With his door cracked open, the youngest boy lapsed in and out of wakefulness several times; until the early hours of the morning when he at last heard the heavy footsteps he'd been waiting for. Nestling farther under the soft covers, he closed his eyes and feigned sleep as Mr. Wayne quietly swung his door open to peer at him. Tim wasn't sure if the others knew, but Mr. Wayne had made a habit of checking in on them all whenever he came back from his adventures at night. Sometimes the youngest boy couldn't sleep at all till he'd been by.

Well there's the start. I don't have the deepest familiarity with Batman lore, so you'll have to tell me if I got their personalities right. Not sure how many shots this will go on or how frequently I'll update;my muse is kind of unreliable.

It helps it you REVIEW! I might also except prompt ideas!