There was rarely a morning that didn't start like that, rarely a day that Richard saw Bruce and rarely a day that Richard talked without being directly asked a question. At that point in time, Bruce had forgotten to tell Alfred about Richard's allergy to peanuts and the butler mistakenly gave Richard a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That lunch ended with Richard sleeping until the next morning with a sore throat.
Once the parts and equipment arrived, Bruce had Richard's room connected to the vacant one beside the boy's; creating him a workshop. Bruce personally set up the equipment exactly where the boy wanted it and told him how to operate it properly and against his better judgement, allowed a nine year old to have free reign over the powerful machines.
He put security cameras up all around the room and accounted for every security protocol, all but one. Richard with his brand-new laptop. For a boy with no technological background, Richard hacked flawlessly; editing out what he was actually doing.
Life was quiet-ish, besides the fact that Batman was almost always busy and Richard seemed to vanish directly after every meal, locking his door as he did so. A simple lock wouldn't keep Batman out, but the three deadbolts on the inside could. While every once in a while, Bruce would come in to his ward's room(to see what he was making) only to find a strange lock on the door leading to his workshop.
Alfred and Bruce had decided to home-school Richard until they deemed him ready for an outside school, that proved to be completely useless. The boy was a complete prodigy in everything he was taught and the placement test he took to get into school proved that. The child was nine, but he was as smart as a college student.
With nothing else to do, they sent him to Gotham Academy twice a week for language classes; nothing more nothing else. Bruce took advantage of his ward's absence and attempted to gain access to his workshop, failing every time. If Batman couldn't crack it, no one could and that was a big problem.
The large disc placed over the door and doorway held: a clock, number and letter keypad, a variety of colored wires, a clear tube of water, and a red, yellow, and green button. Each number button made a tone and the letters said a word when pushed; creating a song. The colored ones did it's own action to the tube and wires. Thus, making an un-hackable lock, frustrating Bruce to no end.
Richard was no fool and knew his guardian was trying to get in, he had set up his own homemade camera to record his attempts. His work area looked like no one had touched anything. But if you looked hard enough, you would see precisely welded bars, poles and carefully wired circuits. In the far corner of his bedroom, there were some exercise mats spread over the floor and some rails were bolted to the wall for support. Before and after lunch, if he wasn't needed for anything, he would get out of his wheelchair and exercise extensively until ten-till dinner.
Over a span of two months, he developed enough muscle to lift himself and his chair off the ground with his arms. He calculated that if he continued with this routine, he would be able to do it one-handed in one more month.
Bruce noticed a difference in his ward's actions; when he was called to a meal, instead of letting Alfred push him, he would actually beat the butler back to the dining room. Richard was rarely outside, but when he was, Bruce would watch from a distance just incase he fell or someone decided to kidnap him. Instead of just rolling around staring at things, he would go up to a tree, unbuckle himself and grab hold of the nearest branch.
Bruce was in awe as he watched his nine and a half year old ward, climb up a tree with his upper body strength alone and climb down without incidents. It was then that Wayne noticed his ward's subtle questions about his company and decided that it was time to bring Richard to Wayne Tower the next day. At dinner, he brought it up and watched Dick's reaction closely.
"So, Dick, I was thinking it was time I brought you to work with me. You seem interested in mechanics and I thought you would like to meet Lucius Fox, my CEO and an inventor at Wayne Enterprises." Richard swallowed his food before replying.
"Really? That would be awesome! He could help me with some designs! When are we going?" He looked so hopeful, Bruce had to chuckle and smile at the boy. "I was thinking tomorrow, since you don't have classes and I don't have any big meetings. Does that sound good?" The boy nodded his head furiously and wheeled over to Bruce's chair, maneuvering himself to hug the man.
Slowly, the man returned the gesture and when the boy suddenly started wheezing, he pushed him back to look at his face. Apparently the excitement of meeting an inventor had triggered a mild asthma attack, making it hard for him to breathe. Bruce called for Alfred and once the butler saw what was happening, ran to get the boy's inhaler.
He returned with the medication and coaxed Richard to exhale completely and inhale the mist. It took a few pumps for Dick to calm down completely and afterwards, he was quite tired. After he finished the last two bites of his dinner, Alfred took him to take a bath before getting to bed.