A/N:

Here it is! The chapter that I promised everyone! Not as long as the other one, but def juicy.

Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites!

Here we go!


.::Juvenile::.

-Chapter III: Clear Head-

Diana approached the doors of the main gymnasium, she pulled her phone out from her bag and turned it on. Though most students just keep their phones on throughout the day, she just found it disrespectful and always made it a habit to turn it off as soon as she got onto school grounds. But then again, over at her old school it was strictly prohibited to even bring your phones to school. Even if it was off, if a teacher found a phone on you-you would be sent immediately to the headmistress. The afternath, nobody knows simply because nobody dared to ever cross that line. She looked through her messages and noticed that the majority of them were from her younger sister, Donna. A sweet smile formed its way to her lips, her sister was very fond of her and vis-a-versa, they helped each other under their mothers wings. Though they both loved their mother unconditionally it was hard to agree with some of her irrational decisions, and when brought to their mother's attention-there was always punishment. Not of the physical sort, but of the emotional, vocal sort.

She found herself a seat by the ledge of the windows and gained a breathtaking view of the landscape that surrounded the school. There was a large river that ran through the middle of the school, and the archetecture of the school was build around it. There was a large steel draw bridge that connected the two different sections. This university is nothing compared to her old academy when it came to beautiful scenery, but there was something artistic and charismatic about this school. Perhaps it was the people that inhibit it, Diana had become very fond of the people who went to this school. Another smile formed as she replayed in her head, her first day here. Shayera had actually not turned out to be the brat she had first expected her to be, she was very similar to Diana in that they were both hotheaded and believed that all members of the female population should be treated equally-if not better than those of the male population. Shayera just chose to be more vocal about it and most of the time that included being forceful in the ways of her fists. They became fast friends and everybody was happy for them, well except for a good percentage of the male students. Diana had met the rest of the group during the last few periods of classes; Oliver Queen, Arthur Curry, John Jones & Smith and Dinah Lance. It was a very diverse group of students and Diana had appreciated that, it was a huge change from the people she was used to being around.

Knowing that she was alone in the common area, she let out an audible sigh and slowly ran a hand through her dark waves pausing half way when her phone began to ring. The caller ID read, 'Dictator' and she released a small chuckle reminenscing the promise she had made with Donna a few months ago. They would keep their mother's contact name 'Dictator' until she discovered it herself, and the first one to get caught would owe the other a lifetime supply of mocha frappaccinos. It was a silly game, but it kept them on their toes. After the fourth ring, she delicatly slide her index finger across the screen of her phone to pick up. Bringing the phone up to her ear, she looked out the window and answered the call,

"Hello?"

"Diana? Is everything well?" Her mother's voice was jaded with experience and authority,

"Yes mother,"

"Is the rooming situated?" If there was any hint of concern in her voice, Diana didn't pick up on it,

"Yes mother," She replied robotically,

"Alright, well I just thought I would give you a call," She was walking in a tunnel or something, her voice echoed over the phone, "I have a meeting to attend to,"

"Understood, I'll talk to you later,"

"We'll talk soon," it was more of a command than anything else. Before Diana knew it, her mother had hung up on her. She shoved her phone inside her pocket and drew her legs closer as she wrapped her arms around them. She rested the side of her head against her arms and took a deep breathe. 'She didn't even ask if I needed anything, hell, she didn't even tell me she missed me,' she inwardly groaned. But that was expected of her own mother, all business. She fluttered her eyes shut and breathed through her mouth, she would need to calm down before Wally came back. He was in the middle of his interview with Clark, she would have just left the two of them if Wally hadn't insisted that he show her to her dorm room. She was lucky to find out that Wally lived on the floor below her. He was actually surprised to find out that she lived in the same building as her, because that building was specifically assigned to team captains and high officers in clubs. The majority of the friends she had met today actually lived in the same building, they were all in charge of something whether it was swimming, archery, wrestling or even club activities like journalism and plenty more. It was rather exciting to be living with such a diverse group of people, there was always something new to learn and experience-full of surprises.

Her breathe caught when she heard a noise coming from the general direction of the gymnasiums. She would have suspected it might have been Wally and Clark, but they were outside on the track field and would have entered from the opposite direction. Besides, the sound was not made from footsteps or chattering, it sounded more like something hitting a wall. Perhaps there was another fight going on? Afterall, Shayera had told her earlier that fights here were more common than public hallway makeout sessions. As she contemplated whether or not it was worth it to get up and check it out, she heard another sound. It sounded as though a guy had fallen and shouted something with a muffled mouth. She had nothing better to do, so she just decided to check it out. Quietly, she stalked over towards the direction she believed she heard the sound come from. Diana eventually found herself standing in front of the door to Gymnasium 5, it was one of the smaller gyms meant for group exercises like yoga.

Luckily, the door wasn't closed all the way and she could peep inside through an open crack barely an inch wide. She saw two figures facing each other, no more than 10 feet apart right in the center of the small area. There was a thick mat laid out below them that covered the majority of the wooden floor. She gasped as she realized what they were doing, they were sparring. She tried to get a better look at the two figures, one seemed to be taller and more well-built than the other and unlike the other person he was completely dressed. The other figure was shirtless, he seemed to be younger judging by the size of his head compared to his body. The two remained frozen in place for what seemed to be hours, before the smaller of the two yelled and charged head first towards the other.

Diana held her breathe as she watched the next few moments unravel in astonishment. Fluidly and easily, the older one disabled the attacker with one, two and finally three swift movements. In a matter of seconds the younger one was face flat on the floor with his ass in the air, while the other just stood a few feet away from him, his posture relaxed but a deadly aurora eminated from his body. She remained frozen by the door as the boy got up and walked over to stand by his previous position. They repeated the same thing over and over again, it took at least seven more attempts before he visibly slowed down and showed any instance of exhaustion. Each time, the defender used a different move and the boy was flung all around the place, but the elder one did not budge one bit from his position at all times. She was both amused and awestruck at the same time. Who was this man? She became excited and tried to lean closer to get a better look at him. Through her excitement she clumsily pushed the door open wider. The school being as old and worn down as it was didn't let her off easy. The doors hinges made an audible creak and she found herself stumbling into the room, almost falling on her face. Luckily she landed on her hands and knees. Realizing what had just happened she quickly got up onto her feet and composed herself. She looked up and regretted doing so instantly. The two boys had realized they had an instruder and were looking straight at her. She first noticed the shorter one, his hair black, messy and parted straight down the middle. He had sharp blue eyes which were not as bright as hers, but visible nonetheless. Though he was visibly younger than herself, he had a toned body, matured far beyond his own years though still on the skinny side. She then hesitantly turned her attention to the other one.

Was she surprised to recognize Bruce? Yes. Was she pleasently surprised? Perhaps. Was she turning red? Scarlet. And worst of all, she began hiccuping. It was a family thing really, her mother had always hiccuped when being asked about her father, Donna always hiccupped when the two of them discussed her many boy crushes and Diana? Well Diana only hiccuped only one other time in her entire life and that situation had led to a number of unfortunate events. All in all, hiccuping was never a good sign, at least not for the Prince's. If she thought she was peaking at how red she could possibly get, she was wrong. She was beyond scarlet, possibly turning black now after burning from the heat.

Diana covered her mouth when she realized that the hiccuping wasn't going to stop anytime soon. She wanted to throw a fit at how ridiculous the situation had became. First of all, Bruce probably realizes now that she was spying on them; second, He's seen her turn red in embarrassment more than enough times today; third, she's been staring at him for the past 3 minutes in complete silence (besides her constant hicupping); and fourth, it's absolutely rediculous that all she's cared about for the past 3 minutes is how bad he probably thought of her. She shook her head back and forth violently, receiving a questioning look from the both of them. Dropping her hands from her mouth she gave her final hiccup and spun around on her heels to face the door.

"Sorry!" She yelled before she bolted for the door, but she was interupted mid-stride when an unfamilar voice called out her name.

"You're Diana right? Flash told me about you," She spun back around on her heels awkwardly and faced the younger one of the two, "he told me to bring you in here earlier, since he had something to do with Kent,"

"An interview," she elaborated for him. He began walking towards her. She was honestly a bit hestitant to be confronted by a topless guy, she was never around guys much in general when she was younger.

"Yeah yeah," he replied nonchalantly, "But Mr. AntiSocial here refused to send the invitation over. You'll have to accept my sincerest apologies,"

She subconciously took a step back when the topless boy crossed the invisible wall she made 10 feet away from herself. Her eyes shot up to Bruce when she saw him throw something towards her direction from the corner of her eye. He had thrown a shirt at the other boy without giving him warning, causing the shirt to land ontop of his head, covering his face. The boy turned around and pulled the shirt off his face, giving Bruce a 'what the hell' look. Bruce on the other hand remained emotionless and instead turned to pick up a towel off the floor.

"Really?" The boy simply asked in a rhetorical manner before putting the shirt on. He turned to face Diana once more, "Names Richard by the way, but you can call me Dick. That asshole over there is Bruce,"

"It's nice to meet-" She paused for a quick second before deciding it was safe to say the next few words, "-both of you,"

"It's OK, you can say it straight up, no need to tread carefully,"

"Pardon?" he completely lost her there,

"That you don't like him," Dick grinned boyishly at her, "He's immune to it-hears it too often,"

"N-Not at all!," Diana quickly defended, she had hoped the young man never got that impression from her. Dick laughed obnoxiously-most likely on purpose.

"I'll give it a few minutes," he twisted his body towards Bruce, "need any help?"

"Don't you have a date to attend?" Bruce's voice was surprisingly deep and husky, she heard him speak earlier, but she wasn't really paying attention to him then. He didn't sound as unapproachable as she had first imagined him to be.

"Right, right," Dick walked over to the edge of the mat to pick up his belongings. Her eyes followed him, afraid that she might create unwanted eye contact with Bruce again.

"Better head on out before he burns a hole in me with those lazer beams," Diana barely contained her laughter from his reference to Bruce's glare, "I'll catch you later!"

She waved him goodbye and smiled as she watched him exit the gym. Her smile quickly faded when she realized she was alone in the room with the young man who caused her so much unnecessary embarrassment in the past 7 hours. Awkwardly, she turned to address him, ready to small talk with him, but she was caught off guard when he initiated the conversation.

"You were watching the entire time," he stated rather than questioned. Her mouth hung open for a moment before she mustered up the courage to respond to his accusation.

"For a little," she felt that she had to explain her actions further, "I thought there was a fight going on,"

"There was," He replied simply. He began unwrapping the tape that was wound around his hands.

"Sparring and fighting are different," She felt that she had to make known the difference, "You were sparring,"

That recieved a glare from him. She suddenly froze in place the moment their eyes came in contact. There it was again, the icy blue void that drew her in. She couldn't shake the feeling of curiousity and a desire to figure this man out. It felt like an eternity before one of them budged from each others gaze.

"You fight as you spar," he began slowly unwrapping his other hand now, "but not with one another,"

Diana nodded in both understanding and an attempt to slyly change the subject of her gaze from his eyes to... the wall.

"But inner peace is key to concentration, thus fighting with oneself is nothing but a distraction," she whispered, half hoping he didn't hear her. One thing she knew about guys was that they usually didn't like it when disagreed with. She was surprised to find him quiet and unresponsive. He had definetly heard her because she saw him shuffle uncomfortably as soon as the words had left her mouth, but otherwise, he remained silent.

She watched him as he walked over to the edge of the mat where Dick was earlier. He then proceeded to pull his shirt over his head and Diana's eyes widened in surprise. She quickly spun around to face the wall opposite of him. Her face became flushed once more as she blinked trying to shove the image of his perfectly chisled body to the back of her head. Even a nun would know what a perfect male body looked like, and she was far from being a nun. Was it normal for students to be that built? It wasn't even that he had a crazy muscular body, his body was just very dynamic and proportioned. He most definetly worked out and took good care of himself, that she approved of. She thought for a second before putting two and two together. He did martial arts! That would explain his fit condition and how he managed to beat Dick multiple times without breaking a sweat earlier. She became excited and had a few questions she wanted to discuss with him, so she had no control over her actions when she suddenly spun around to find him still half naked.

"Oh Jee- Sorry!" She quickly peeped as she turned back around even faster than she had before. And cue-hiccups. She wanted to smack herself in the forehead for this ungodly family curse.

"You hiccup when you're nervous?" his voice was muffled, he was most likely putting a shirt on-finally.

"Yes-erm- not sure," She didn't want him to get the idea that she got nervous around him. She almost jumped out of her shoes when he passed by her without making a single sound.

"It could be from eating too fast, or laughing," his voice remained even as he swung open the door to the gym. He held it open, which surprised her-that meant he expected her to follow him. She did exactly that, she quickly walked over and out the door into the hallway. Bruce closed the door after himself and pulled out a key from his douffle bag to lock it.

"I see you struggle with the same condition," she thought it appropiate to lighten up the mood, since he seemed to lessen up on the serious talk.

"No, my mother did," He led them down the hall back towards the windows she had perched on earlier,

"Did? did she find a way to get rid of them permanetly?" Diana was genuinly interested in finding the solution, it would save her from many more embarrassing moments.

"She passed away," he replied, his voice was monotone and serious as usual, but she could sense a change inside of him. She held her breathe for a second longer than usual before releasing it. A beloved person being taken away from ones life was never justified, it could never be. Though she never knew her father, it still hurt her to know that she had one but he was no longer there. How much it hurt him to have had her and then lose her, she could not comprehend. 'Hera...' she prayed to her goddess as if she could somehow bring Bruce's mother back to him.

Bruce took a second before turning his eyes upon the young lady walking besides him. Her eyes were shadowed by her curls, she was most likely thinking of what to say next, or rather, what to say to comfort him. He was not one to desire other's condolences or even talk to others about himself, but there was something about this girl. A maturity well beyond her years, understanding beyond her own comprehension and a depth to her soul that ran far beyond most others. He knew, because he was similar to her. When the boyscout had learned about his parents passing he simply apologized right off the bat and tried to change the topic whether it be for his own sake or for Bruce's. But Diana confronted it, she was thinking about it. He began to wonder about what.

"Spar with me," he raised an eyebrow in surprise at her demand. That was not at all what he had expected her to say. Not that he wanted her to pity him, but he learned a lot about a person by the way they responded to his questions and remarks. An almost invisible grin had formed on his lips. This one was a mystery, and Bruce Wayne was always looking to solve a good mystery.

"Now?" He decided to entertain the idea,

"Now," she answered with determination. The reason why she decided to jump topics? She wasn't so sure herself, but she believed that his mother's untimely death and his martial arts were closely knit together. The hiccups were gone, and in their place was an undying determination to prove to this man that a clear head was the key to winning a fight.


A/N:

I know this is terrible to say right at the end of a chapter I just wrote... but I might end up editing this chapter, simply because I feel like Bruce and Diana are a bit more OC than I had first intended them to be. I'll let you guys be the judge of that! Let me know with a review what you think about my take on Bruce and Diana!

I have a small treat for you guys! Still working on it but it's coming along so I thought I'd be a little tease about it~ I'm sketching how I imagine the main characters to look like (Bruce, Diana, Wally, Clark, Lois, etcetc). I'm not the best artist, but it should be enough to give you guys a taste of my take on how the JL would look as young adults (18-21 year olds).

ALSO: yes I understand, if Bruce is around 20 how is Dick even born? remember this is AU, and I made him younger, but not by much. I'll elaborate on it even more, but the University is actually an 'elevator school', students who attend college there, went to high school there as well. It's a combined school, but everything's separated from each other.

R&R!
Keep it up! :)!