"Seriously Little Wing, you don't wanna go and get some ice cream?" Dick pouted.
Jason groaned, was not Dick supposed to be somewhat of an adult. "No, Dicholas. Why is this so important to you all of a sudden."
Dick quirked an eyebrow at the new nickname, but shrugged. "Cause you just stay all shut up in here." Dick did not want to say that fresh air would do Jason some good. Did not want to mention that just maybe he was eating a little less everyday. That maybe he really should seek some profession help. "And I'm bored."
Jason grumped in his chair, looking for all the world that he was being grounded for a month rather than invited to get something sweet. "If you're so bored why don't you go yourself."
Dick wanted to smile, he knew the look on Jason's face. Knew that he just might be breaking him down enough to get him to go into the city with him. "I don't wanna go by myself. I wanna go with you, Jaybird."
Jason groaned, there was just something about all of Dick's nicknames that all involved the fact that him and Jason were quote unquote "birds of a feather". Even Jason knew that there was a bond there, that they had been a "band of brothers" in bright red and green following the dark Knight. But now Jason was benched and Dick was bitching about ice cream of all things. "I'll go." Jason finally said, after watching Dick literally squirm in his chair.
Dick looked like he wanted to do a double back handspring right there in the parlor of the Manor. "Really Jay?" Dick was happy, maybe his younger foster brother was not in too much trouble after all.
Jason sighed, moving himself from his lounged position to grab his crutch. His leg still irritated him from the new scratches on his stump, so he had forgone his prosthetic for the day. "Yes, Richard. Just give me a few minutes to get ready."
Dick smiled, jumping up as well, "Do you need any help?"
Jason's face flushed ever so slightly. Since when had he become so invalid that he couldn't throw on some clothes for a day out. "No, I can do it by myself."
Dick, realizing that he may had said the wrong thing just nodded, "All right, well I'm going to get ready myself."
Jason just nodded, getting up with a huff. Dick walked behind him as they left the room. Obviously Jason did not realize what day it was, or at least should have been. It was the first day of school, the first day of Jason's senior year.
Dick knew how much school, or in this case how much it did not, meant to Jason. He had not been in a school room for over a year before Bruce had taken him off the streets. Even though Jason was a smart kid, he never seemed to belong in a closed classroom, even more so than Dick ever did. Unlike Dick however, Jason was brilliant. He excelled at Maths and sciences, and thoroughly enjoyed literature and history. Languages, something that with his Robin persona Bruce felt was needed, gave Jason more trouble than Dick ever had, but he was proficient in many after only two years of study. To be honest, Dick just did not want Jason to miss more than he was already going to.
Everyone, without consulting Jason, agreed that it was not time for him to return to school. He was still unstable, and with all the rumors and press still looking into what happened to him, going to school just seemed to be on the long list of what to deal with at a later date. The Academy itself was very helpful and allowed for Jason to enroll on a correspondence basis. This was something Dick wanted to address on their outing.
It was the first day of school, and Tim was anything but happy. After this last summer he was just becoming more and more perplexed. His suspicions on who the Batman really was had become even more concrete and he just wanted to figure out how to confirm them. School now was just a distraction on his even bigger plans.
He was not deluded in anyway that he would be welcome in on the secret. Hell, his brain just acted faster than his reasoning at times. This one was of those of times as he sat in the courtyard of the Academy, watching his fellow student mill around talking about the latest trends, gossip, and their summer (mis)adventures.
Tim never felt like he fit in here. Even with his father's money and status, the young "genius" was always on the outside of any social circle. Always too small, too brainy, or too curious of others, he seemed to always be a pariah to most of his peers. Being two to three years younger than most of his classmates did not help.
The only "friends" Tim ever seemed to have were his gymnastics teammates, and even then he was an outsider. Always putting one hundred percent into what he did, Tim became seen as an obstacle for others to pass. Not many did and most held a grudging respect. This however gave him an unique view on his world, one that allowed him to watch and listen and learn.
He knew Johnny from his Advanced Maths class was secretly in a relationship with his sister's boyfriend, and that said boyfriend was possibly hiding a third relationship with another young man at Gotham State. He knew that Ms. Parker was sleeping with no more than two of her Arts students. All this he knew, like he knew Bruce Wayne was Batman and that Jason Todd, who was the second and current Robin, was not injured in a kidnapping attempt gone wrong.
Unlike everything else Tim knew, though, he did not know how to reveal it. Did he go and find Batman or Bruce Wayne and just tell him he knew. Did he find Dick Grayson, who was in Gotham but seemed holed up in Wayne Manor unless he was out as Nightwing. Or did he just sit on this information and not act.
Shaking his head, his ears perked up at the sound of a familiar name. "... Jason isn't in school? He was always so handsome, if not shy. Did you know that the first day he was here that he just skipped out before second period? Like everyone was freaked because... Well you know his background. They thought he was getting drugs or something like that. I was in the nurses office and I could hear the secretary on the phone with someone." There was a pause, and Tim could see the speaker was Felicia Dwight, a bright but dimwitted girl from his World Lit. class the year before, "I guess he had walked back to Wayne's place. Didn't hear much more because they shut the door."
"Really?! Doesn't Wayne live like 20 miles away?" A shrill voice responded. Tim was unsure of this girl's name, but she was obviously new and from Metropolis if her accent was any indication. "My mother says Wayne is a weird one. Unmarried, but he takes in two teenage boys? She swears there's something weird going on in that home."
A third voice enters into the conversation, and Tim knows exactly who this is. Teresea 'Terry' Hudson, an irritating girl from his gymnastics studio. More interested in boys and recreational drugs, Tim can never fathom, beyond her father's money, why she still is allowed to train. "My mother says the same thing. Jason is just so... You know he's never dated anyone from this school? Dick was with the Commissioner's daughter, and he even went on a few dates with my sister. Maybe that's why he ended up leaving, cause Old Man Wayne did want to share?" There was a group giggle as they stood up with the ringing of the bell.
Tim never heard the last of their conversation as he stood up and stretched. Did people really think that gossiping and rumor-spreading was all life had to offer? He of course did not know, he never seemed to see things the way "normal" people saw them. Or at least that is what he had been told.