After a few weeks of staying at the manor, Bruce was confident that the boys were ready to go to school. As long as they were occupied with something they were generally well behaved and they only fought when they got bored. A good teacher would be able to prevent them from wreaking havoc in the classroom. Although he did fear what they'd do once they were bored and didn't have each other to bicker with, it was worth a try. If things didn't work out, he'd have to hire a tutor or push for them to be given extra attention. They needed some sort of education so he'd have to keep trying no matter what. 

When he shared the news that they would be going to school that Friday, he got mixed reactions. Tim was predictably excited for it whilst Jason and Dick shared a look of disdain.

"C'mon boys, I'm sure you'll like it there. You could meet some new friends," Bruce insisted as he got them ready for school. Jason was already pulling at the tie around his neck to loosen it and making a fuss about his blazer. Dick wasn't much better, constantly complaining that his shirt and blazer were too tight for him to do anything. At least Tim was quiet. Three complaining children would be worse than two. 

"They'll all be preppy brats," Jason replied, folding his arms.

"That's not very nice to say," Bruce told him. His tone was hardly scolding. He was terrible at using that sort of tone with them. He often feared it would make him sound too much like Joey and the trust that they were slowly building would fall through. Luckily, Alfred was happy to use that tone with them so they wouldn't be too unruly. 

"It's true though. We'll be lucky to come home without being called scum," Dick defended, folding his arms in agreement with the younger. "I'll fight anyone who says a word to any of you," he added.

"No fighting," Bruce ordered speedily. He needed to shoot that idea down as soon as he could unless he wanted to get a call about their ill behaviour. 

"Not in school at least. It's easier to jump them when they're walking home," Jason added.

"How about we don't fight at all? We've done enough of it, don't you think?" Tim argued. He got a few dirty looks for siding with Bruce instead of them but they gave in to his puppy eyes. 

"I won't start one if they don't start one," Jason replied with a sigh. 

"Agreed but best believe if they say a word I'll be happy to pay them back for it," the older of the trio added.

Dick, Jason and Tim stood outside of Gotham Academy. They'd never felt more out of place. They could often catch Gotham's students making their journey to school from their window but being in the thick of the stream of students was something completely different. 

"I'm scared," Tim admitted as they began the walk into the intimidating school. 

"It's fine Timmy, it's just kids right?" Dick replied. He couldn't really believe what he was saying. His days weaving through crowds were long since behind him. He didn't find the fun in it like he used to. Jason was the least affected by the crowds. During his rougher years, he'd easily slipped through crowds and plunged his hands into the pockets of unsuspecting Gotham citizens to pluck out enough money to get him through the day. Often it was merely pocket change but he lived on it well enough. 

"Let's just get out of this crowd before Tim wets himself over it," Jason said, eyeing up a few students who were giving them odd looks.

Their day wasn't particularly awful.

Tim's day was amazing. His natural want to learn led him to work hard in lessons and put him as the teacher's pet within his first few lessons. He was also just smart, something everyone who knew him was already aware of and got concepts before the teacher could even finish their sentence. The kids on his tables were in awe of him, asking him for help with work and asking him about his life. He had that personality which drew people in like metal to a magnet and he missed being able to show it freely.

Jason and Dick were saved some humiliation for being in lower grades than they should be. The teacher didn't disclose their ages and their heights weren't too far from the tallest of the grade so they didn't stick out too much. 

Jason was sat at the back, cracking jokes during lessons. His table was made up of similar-minded boys. Ones that wanted to be the class clown and if they learnt something along the way it wouldn't hurt to remember it. They already made plans to meet up at lunch and play together. 

Dick was sat on a table with two loud kids and one class clown. He was the quietest of the bunch, hardly saying a word during the day, but he did like their conversations. He already knew what they did on the weekends, what was happening with their family and their hobbies. Their stories were enjoyable and they only asked him questions to do with the work. It was nice not having to explain himself.

Then came lunch. Jason instantly ran out the doors with his newfound friends and beat the older kids to the basketball court. He hadn't played much of the game but his friends were happy to explain the rules to him. They didn't ask much about his past or why he was so out of touch with regular kid things, something he enjoyed, and just assumed wherever he came from didn't have a basketball court to play in. 

Whilst they played, Tim dragged Dick over to the chess tables. The older rolled his eyes at the activity. Of course, this place would have chess tables and of course, Tim was much better than him. He'd played it all the time as a kid whereas Dick had only just learnt the names of the chess pieces. He let Tim waffle on about the rules and slowly picked his next move so he could zone out. 

Sitting still for so long was something he wasn't used to. He wanted to get up and run around the classroom half the time. Whilst the teacher explained grammar, he wanted to do a backflip and walk on his hands. This place was much too stuffy for his liking. 

"Dick!" Tim whined, snapping him from his boring thoughts back into the boring game. That's how he'd explain his day so far. Boring. Even the conversations he'd overheard were pretty boring. 

"What?" he snapped.

"You weren't paying attention. How do you expect to learn the game if you don't listen to how to play?" Tim complained. Dick huffed.

"Why don't you find someone who likes this stuff?"

"Because I know you'll play with me and I don't know they will," he responded sadly. 

Cursing himself, Dick sighed. He looked around the tables and found one girl sitting on her own. She was fiddling with the chess pieces and looking longingly at the other girls playing kiss chase on the playground. He looked back to the boy sitting in front of him. They basically wore the same expression. He got up and grabbed Tim's hand, dragging him over to the table. 

"What're you doing?" he asked. The older didn't respond and stopped where the girl was. 

"Do you want to play chess with Tim?" Dick asked the girl, gesturing to the smaller of the pair. She nodded excitedly and pointed to the seat. 

"Yes! That sounds amazing!" she exclaimed with a grin. 

"There, now you can play with someone who can actually play this game. See you in class," Dick stated as he walked off.

Tim watched him walk off then turned to the girl he'd suddenly been placed in front of. He didn't know how to talk to girls apart from his mum. Other than that he hadn't held a conversation with a girl ever. He sat awkwardly for a moment but the girl caught on to his hesitance quickly. 

"I'm Tilly. Was that your brother?" she inquired, hoping to start a conversation. Tim took the hint for more than a one-word answer and shook his head. 

"No, but we've lived together for a while."

"Like foster siblings?"

"What's one of them?" He couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to her. Maybe girls weren't so far apart from boys. Then again, Jason was pushing people to the floor whilst most of the girls were chasing boys around threatening to kiss them. Though that could just be Jason. He was a breed of his own half the time. 

"It's where you're not related but you're taken in by the same family."

"I guess we are foster siblings," he concluded. Dick would never accept the title. He hardly liked being close to them as friends, regarding one another as brothers would be out of the question. One day he'd ask why but he'd never had the courage to make a day that day. 

"Did you just move into town? I've never seen you here before." Tim internally panicked. Was he supposed to tell people he was living with Bruce? Was that a thing? Should he explain that he used to beat people up for a drunken drug dealer who happened to own some turf and had a lot of people indebted to him? Logically, no. He definitely shouldn't say the last one. That would for sure scare her off. 

"Uh sorta. I moved schools actually." Tilly gave him a soft smile and stuck her hand out for him to shake. 

"Then I better say welcome to Gotham Academy newbie." He took it tentatively and gave a firm shake. 

"Thanks."

"Now let's play!"

The rest of the day went by with little bumps. The biggest of them was when Jason and Dick were each called upon to answer a simple question. One that Tim would've gotten standing on his head. Jason gave a jokey answer at first but soon became frustrated when he was pushed to give an accurate one. He just wanted to go back outside and play. That part of school was so much more fun than the sitting in the classroom bit. As his answers lost their novelty, he overheard the smarter kids chuckling to themselves. He shot them a dirty look and gave up on answering. 

"I don't know alright," he snapped.

"That's okay. I don't expect you to know things straight away. Maybe Dick can help," the teacher offered. Dick looked up at the call of his name and shrugged at her. "You don't know either?"

"No Mrs. How would I know how to multiply?" he asked in confusion. He just assumed the kids around him were really smart but judging by the mix of jestful remarks and condescending chuckles he was wrong to assume that. A furious flustered blush covered his face and turned away to hide it. 

"Everyone knows that," one person announced. The teacher tutted at the remark. 

"Now now, not everyone has had the same advantages as you. You two will have to do some catching up but I'm sure Tim will help you. Isn't that right?"

"Definitely," he replied. Jason rolled his eyes and mimicked his voice in a higher pitch under his breath.

Once the bell rang, the three went outside and stood beside the stairs where Bruce told them to wait. 

"That couldn't have been any more embarrassing," Dick muttered, scuffing his new shoes as he kicked at the ground. 

"You're telling me. My entire table made fun of me for the next ten minutes after that. I knew school wasn't for me," Jason complained. They were both humiliated in front of everyone and nobody acted like that was unusual. Had that teacher done it back when they were with Joey, she'd have a broken jawbone just as a warning. Right now all they could do was stew on how mad they were. 

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. She didn't say anything bad about you," Tim insisted. He enjoyed today and he wasn't about to let the two naysayers ruin it. 

"Well, of course, you'd like it, this is your scene, not ours," Jason pointed out. "Our scene is back alleys."

"But we got away from that life for a reason. It's not really your scene. You should at least try to find something different. Basketball might be your scene Jay and Dick's might be..." he trailed off and neither attempted to fill in the gaps. "Point is, that was your scene but you need to find a new one." A limo pulled up, interrupting the conversation, and Alfred waved them in. 

"Talk about style," Jason mumbled. They got inside only to find Bruce finishing off a business call. He looked slightly uncomfortable but it didn't feel like that was because of the context of the call. 

"How was your day at school?" he asked hesitantly after hanging up the phone.

"Oh, it was awesome! Our teacher is super nice and my table is really cool. Plus, I met a girl called Tilly and she promised to play chess with me every lunch from now on," Tim answered immediately. If his friends weren't going to share the same sentiment for learning then he could at least tell Bruce all about it. He knew he actually cared for education. 

"That's great, how about you two?"

"Lunch and break time were the best. I played basketball and my team won," Jason bragged.

"Ah, I expect you'll be wanting to be on the team then?" Jason hummed, feigning disinterest. He guessed he could try out. Maybe it would get him out of a few lessons. "What about you Dick?"

"It was fine." An awkward silence filled the air.

"Nothing interesting happened?" he tried. The billionaire was trying so hard to get to him but nothing was working out the way it was supposed to in those parenting books. The younger just shrugged and turned his attention to whatever was happening outside the window. 

"It's a shame we started on a Friday," Tim began, hijacking the conversation that would end in a trainwreck. "I really liked today." Jason was about to put a pessimistic tone on things but then he saw Bruce. His body language completely changed. He was almost relieved. Maybe he hadn't been nervous to talk to them but to find out what their days had been like. It was almost as though he was worried about them. Although that couldn't be the case, Jason didn't want to chance it. 

"I guess if it means I get to hang out with my friends it's okay," he offered. He glanced over to Dick to see if he'd follow along. 

"Beats where I used to be."

"That's the spirit! I think," Tim replied.

When they were home, Tim took Dick aside. He couldn't believe his behaviour in front of the man who took them in. There was more to being polite than just sitting silently and not making trouble. It also meant engaging in conversation when someone was trying to make it. 

"What do you need?" Dick inquired, confused by the impromptu one on one conversation. 

"You need to start being nicer to Bruce. He got us into that great school that only 2% of Gotham gets into, he feeds us and clothes us and he actually cares to ask us about our day," Tim stated firmly. The older scoffed at him. 

"Oh because when a guy is nice to us at the start he'll be nice to us forever right?" he snapped. Tim furrowed his eyebrows. It wasn't like him to be this rude. There might be something behind it. 

"That was uncalled for. Not every guy is like Joey."

"Bruce doesn't care about us! The sooner you realise that the better it will be when he shows his true colours," he argued.

"What's your problem? Why do you have such a vendetta against everyone?"

"I'm losing where this conversation is going," Dick commented. He couldn't tell if the conversation was still on the same topic or not. 

"You treat us like family but don't give us the title! Why don't you just call me and Jay your brothers?"

"Because you're not my family. I don't have a family." Tim refused to believe that. 

"But you must've had one once."

"And it turned out horribly so fucking leave me alone!" He stomped off to his room and slammed the door behind him. Tim sighed. He should've bitten his tongue before making the older upset. Though, it did give him more on what placed Dick in the care of Joey. 

"What was that about?" Alfred asked, seeing the end of the spat. 

"Just Dick being him. I'll sort it out."

"I don't know why you bother with that guy," Jason commented stated. They had a few hours to kill before bedtime and Dick was still huffing in his room so the pair had to spend it together. They'd moved to Jason's room and attempted to do their homework. It inevitably ended with just Tim doing his homework whilst the other just procrastinated. 

"With Dick?"

"Yeah. You're trying to get a dollar from a homeless person, ain't gonna happen. He does what he wants," he argued. Granted he'd known Dick for longer but Tim couldn't help to disagree. It didn't correlate with how he acted. "Focus on yourself. It's easier that way."

"What do you mean?"

"Dick got us into this mess. I resented him for a long time but it's just easier to think he does what he wants and sometimes it benefits me," he explained. Now that was harder to contest. Tim still felt angry at the kid who put him in Joey's care but then he remembered. He was just a kid. A kid doing his job at the risk of being hurt. 

"If that were true, he wouldn't have escaped with us. He wouldn't take our beatings," Tim defended.

"How do you know that he's not doing it for the sake of himself? Maybe he doesn't want to feel guilty."

"Like you said you don't know," Dick stated from the doorway. His eyes were slightly puffy and rubbed raw. He must've been in the right state to get them. He acted as though they weren't there though. 

"Dick I-"

"Save it. Water under the bridge right? If I was really mad something would be broken," he interrupted. He got onto the bed and put down his homework. Part of it was done in squiggly, almost unreadable handwriting, but at least he'd made the effort. "I got stuck on question five and teach said you would help," he said. This was his form of offering an olive branch to the youngest of the trio. Tim smiled and moved closer to him with his own homework in hand. 

"So you start with the one..."

Happy Halloween