Alfred
Alfred Pennyworth has worked for the Wayne family for years. He has worked for the late Thomas and Martha Wayne, raised their son in their absence, and once Bruce was of age, Alfred began to work for him. Even when the young master decided that the best thing to do was dress as a giant bat to get into fisticuffs with criminals in the streets.
And most importantly when Bruce took in a lonely lad that resembled an awful lot like a similar little boy at the edge of a dark alleyway with pools of blood surrounding him.
Alfred may not have been there for the birth of one Richard Grayson, just like with one Bruce Wayne, but he has spent quite an amount of time with the young man to know just about everything about him.
From his likes to his dislikes. His little quirks. And even…
"This look okay Alfred?" The young man held out the pork pie that he took from the oven.
His sharp eyes took note of all the crisp and golden crust that the pie held. He could smell the meat and all of its flavors rise up. Truly, it looked, and smelt, scrumptious.
Now if only the real Richard Grayson could make such a good pie. After all, Alfred Pennyworth knows how the young lad's ability to cook was much like his legal guardian's.
"Simply stunning young master Dick. I suggest we set it down to cool before taking a bite. Don't you think so?" He locked eyes on a nervous boy that was wearing an acrobat's skin.
The boy grinned and nodded.
This one comes and goes every other day. Well, most days that's how it goes. Sometimes Dick and the new lad switch places in the middle of the day. Alfred suspects that perhaps at school as well.
As long as Dick's studies were not interrupted, but it is not ideal.
Alfred knows that this newcomer must have come from Cadmus. And after what had happened to Superboy, Conner Kent as he was given a name, he could understand Richard getting… protective of this person.
He, for he seems to be okay with those pronouns while pretending to be Dick, is more hot headed so to speak than Dick. He shares the same love for The Gray Ghost as Bruce does. He is a much better cook than the others. He goes out and Alfred suspects that he's taking care of a few strays.
He does not have a name. Or at least, not to Alfred's knowledge. The butler is sure that if the lad doesn't have one then Dick is sure to give him one.
"Do you think we can try to make dessert too?" The boy who was not Richard asked earnestly. His eyes sparkled with the want of knowledge.
What type of man would Alfred be if he did not grace the lad with the knowledge he seeks? After all, it was rather nice to know that perhaps the knowledge of being able to cook might seep over to Richard. And then Richard might be able to take care of himself once he flys away from the nest.
Alfred hummed in thought.
Eton mess. That was a rather easy one to make. And he has some leftover meringue nests that he had made not that long ago…
"I have decided. Eton mess should be rather fast as it can be done within ten minutes." Joy bloomed within him as the boy beamed. "We will need four cups of strawberries, two teaspoons of either caster sugar or vanilla sugar-"
"Uh, what's caster sugar and vanilla sugar?" He asked.
It was a rather good question for someone who is starting to learn how to cook.
"Caster sugar is a very fine sugar, and vanilla sugar is sugar that has the essence of vanilla embedded into it, giving the vanilla taste. I am sure we have both, but remember this, vanilla sugar is more common in Europe than here in the states."
"So you get it imported?" He asked.
"I can assure you that we can find it here. Just a bit of searching will be just fine. But should you wish to make it yourself, that's just fine too."
"Can you show me how to do that sometime?"
It warmed Alfred's heart to see someone so interested in cooking.
And so, as Alfred continued to nudge the boy into the right direction, the boy did everything on his own.
From the corner of his eye, and through the reflection of the mixing bowl, Alfred could very much swear on the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne that it was an older teenage Bruce Wayne whipping away and not Richard Grayson.
'Perhaps,' he thinks to himself, 'it was not just Superman's son they were making down there.'
So uh, I ended up doing some research for this chapter. Mainly because I wanted to know what English food that would be "easy" or "fast" that Alfred could teach him. So yeah. Here they are!
recipes/pork-pies-2043045
recipes/nigella-lawson/eton-mess-1937474
Here's also recipes to make your own vanilla sugar and meringue nests.
blog/baking-101/what-is-vanilla-sugar/
/meringue-nests/
So uh. Yeah. I hope you enjoy this!