A/N: This is going to be a collection of the stories I write for DickBabs; Execute on Tumblr.
First one;
Prompt: Beginnings Word Count: 1558 Rating: K -K+ Pairings: DickBabs Summary: Dick didn't want to know if his day could get any worse.
They lied like the mean liar-heads they were.
And he, Richard John Grayson, was not happy about it. Not at all.
He'd only been living with Bruce and Alfred for three months, but he'd already decided they were trustworthy. Sure it had taken a bit, but they had earned it. Now, though?
Not so much.
They said he'd like school, but this place wasn't like the school he was used to. He's not sure how it happened, but Dick knows that someone must have lied to the adults here, if they think this is school.
He flinched as one of the older boys shoved him against the wall of the building. It didn't hurt to bad – he'd gotten much worse while practicing his acrobatics – but the fact that there were four of them and they were kinda hidden behind the building, made him a little nervous.
School was supposed to be fun! At least it was in the circus. Everyone helped teach him there; the clowns helped with math, the magicians taught him English and grammar, the animal trainers covered science. The guys that worked with the lights and computers let him watch and would teach him some too! But the people here said he was to little to know how to work a mixing board!
He's not little, he's eight! That's only two years until ten, and everyone knows ten year olds are practically grown ups!
Dick decide he wasn't coming back. Sure, it might take some pleading, but if he could learn in the circus, surly Alfred could teach him at the manor. The kids were rude, the teachers were mean, and nobody believes anything he says!
First they didn't believe him when he told them all the stuff he knew – they said he was to young to understand it. Then they said he had to sit in this one chair from the time he gets there at 7:45am until his guardian comes back to get him at 2:45pm. That's seven hours! Seven! One lesson in every subject took seven hours in this place! At the circus he could do the same amount in three hours! When he got to his classroom, the teacher told him to introduce himself to the class, and when he did he got yelled at! All he did was say his name was Dick! Then after the first two lessons his legs started to cramp, so he pulled them up to sit cross-legged in his chair and the teacher, Mr. Banken, yelled at him! Again!
Not moving was supposed to be punishment for a prank! Like when he put shaving cream on the clowns pies instead of whip cream. Or when he mixed up the animal's treats so they all got something different. Or when he used the chandelier in Wayne Manor in place of a trapeze.
Alfred understood and didn't make him sit still. He didn't get mad when Dick would use one hand to hold himself off his chair so his feet were almost touching the table – he only said not to let his feet actually touch it, 'cause that's unhygienic. But he understood that Dick just couldn't sit still.
Then while they were doing math, he got so bored cause he already knew it all that he started doodling on his worksheet and when Mr. Banken saw he yelled again and said if he caught Dick discombobulating – what did that even mean! – the class again he'd have to go to the Principal!
What in the world is a Principal!
All in all, Dick was exhausted and it was only twelve. He still had just under three hours left of this horrible place.
The hour before hadn't been to bad. They got to sit however they wanted and read from this one book. It was kinda hard, 'cause there were some big words he'd never seen before, but he didn't want to ask anybody – He figured he'd ask Alfred when he got back to the manor.
Now though, things looked like they were gonna get bad again. They'd finished lunch and now it was recess. Lunch had gone okayish, nobody had sat with him but they'd left him alone, so it wasn't bad. It only got bad when they went outside. Every group he tried to play with ignored him, said they didn't want him to play with them, or in the case of these bigger boys, they shoved him.
"Why would we want to play with a Circus freak charity case?"
Dick didn't know why calling him a circus freak was mean – everyone at the circus had said they were freaks, but they said it like it was an honor – and he wasn't sure what a 'Charity case' was, but he'd heard a lot of people calling him it lately so it must not have been very nice.
Fact was, they didn't seem to like him and he wasn't sure why – he couldn't remember every doing anything to them – and their obvious dislike was making him nervous.
Not for his safety, though. No, Bruce had been teaching him to fight – he could hold his own long enough to get away. What was making him nervous was that he had already gotten in trouble three times today, and Mr. Banken said he'd get sent to this Principal. . . thing if he did anything else.
Dick figured it would be wise if he was on his best behavior for the rest of the day. Or at least until he found out what this Principal thing was, and why it was so bad to go there.
He nor his would-be tormentors got the chance to do anything though, for a red blur had rounded the corner and skidded to a stop in front of Dick, shouting at the group of older boys.
Dick was pretty sure he heard something like 'My dad' and 'jail' and 'teacher' but he couldn't be sure. Though, form the few other words he picked up, this, whatever it was, wasn't new to any of them but Dick, and he was completely at a loss on what to do. By now whatever the blur had said seemed to shake the boys enough to glare at Dick once before shuffling away – mutterings about 'bitchy daddy's girls' following in their wake.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Dick finally stopped looking at the backs of the boys to see his red blur savior was in fact a girl his age. She had blue eyes and some of the reddest hair he'd ever seen. "Uh. . .yeah. I'm fine." He noticed her hand held in front of him and he took it, letting her help him to his feet.
"You're new, right? I know the school year only just started, but I don't remember seeing you last year." She asked, after giving Dick a moment to balance and dust himself off.
"Yes, I- uh am new." He fumbled but manged to stand up straight and hold his hand out like Alfred's manner lessons told. "I'm Dick." He worried for a second as the girl seemed to just stare, but with a glance at his face, she giggled and put her hand in his.
"I'm Barbara!"
Dick grinned, happy that, finally, someone wasn't writing him off as a weirdo immediately. His smile widened when she started pulling him away from the building and back to the playground, letting go of his hand only to link his arm with hers.
"Who's class are you in? I've got Mrs. Clearlon."
Dick pulled a face similar to a scowl, and Barbara took one look before answering for him.
"You've got Mr. Bacon, don't you."
Dick nodded. His teacher must really be something if - "Wait. What did you-?" Dick stopped and Barbara turned back to him, a very familiar glint in her eyes.
"Yes, Dickie?"
That sugary sweet tone; The 'what-ever-do-you-mean' innocent expression – widened eyes, lowered eyebrows, a slight pout and head tilted to the side.
Maybe school wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Nothing, Babs." Dick said, basking in her shock while walking again, him pulling her now. "But, yes. I've got him. He's kind of a jerk."
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her pace catch up to him, so he wasn't pulling her anymore. "Yup, not a lot of kids like him. There's even been talk around school of someone planing on pranking him."
"Really? Huh, I might know someone who'd want to help." Dick turned his head towards her, she doing the same to him.
"I'll see what I can find out."
Dick didn't think he'd ever been more sure in his life about anything, then thinking right now that he just might have found a best friend.
Only one way to find out.
"Hey, Babs. I've got a question for you."
"Okay, shoot."
"If the opposite of agree is disagree does that mean the opposite of. . ."
Sorry if there are any mistakes, it hasn't been beta'd. Hope you liked it! Please tell me what you thought!