But then he wasn’t, and he broke a vase, and they weren't angry or mad, or even upset at the loss. It had confused him to no end.

But then it had been nice.

Nice to be in a place where nothing was expected of him, where he could sit in his room because he wanted to. It was nice to be in a place where he was hugged and allowed to eat with everyone.

But school; school was a different matter all together.

His old school, the one in town, Gotham High, was a state school, there were hundreds and hundreds of students and it was very easy to get lost and forgotten about in a crowd. He wasn’t noticed at Gotham High, he was just another boy in a whole sea of other children.

Gotham Academy, however, was a private school. An expensive private school. 

Tim had tried to argue that he wasn’t worth the money, but everyone turned to frown at him saying that school tuition was nothing compared to what he was worth, and… nobody’s ever said that to him before. 

Thousands of possibilities ran though his head, like; they’re only being nice, they don’t mean it, he’s dreaming. But he wasn’t, and Mr Wayne picks him up that evening to take him to bed and asks him way he doesn’t think he’s worth a school tuition fee.

Tim doesn’t really know what to say so he ends up going with; because his parents told him that he wasn’t, which is why he walked the couple of miles to Gotham High each day. He thought it was obvious; like he was wearing a neon sign that told people.

Mr Wayne sighs as he sits down on Tim’s bed, with tim still snuggled in his arms.

“Tim; your parents-” he starts, but the pregnant pause tells Tim that he doesn’t know how he was going to finish that sentence. “Tim, you are worth so much more than just a school tuition. You are priceless, and I don’t care what your parents told you because they lied. Okay? There is no price in this world that is worth more than you.” 

Tim just stares at him.

Because truthfully, honestly: he has no idea what that means. everything, everyone has a price. Surely?

So he merely nods into Mr Wayne’s shoulder, who sighs an “I know you don’t believe me, so this conversation is not finished” sigh, kisses him on the head and wished him a goodnight. Leaving Tim to his thoughts and dreams.

He had given in, obviously, and today was his first day. Gotham Academy, being an expensive private school was also extremely small. There was only one class per year, and there was no way he was going to get lost in a sea of people, there was no way he was going to be ignored either.

That was a daunting prospect. Before he had really only made it through because no one notice him, but now. Now everyone was going to notice him because he would be introduced to the class and that sent butterflies through his stomach.

“You ready yet Timmy?” Came Dick’s voice, paired with a knock at the door. Tim took a deep breath. He could do this, he could totally do this. 

“Yes, I’m just coming Dick.”

Dick didn’t wait for him to open the door, he barged thought, gabbed Tim’s hand and bag, and dragged him out of the door and towards the garage.

“Wh-where are we going?”

“To school Timmy. Are you feeling okay? You’re not coming down sick are you?” He enunciated his question with a quick feel of Tim’s forehead.

“I’m fine Dick, I just thought we were going to walk.”

“It’s a mile away Timmy, Alfred is going to drop us off.”

“Oh.” Tim smiled and mentally added drives us to school to his list of things that made Mr Wayne a weird parent, before following Dick to the car.

-

Driving to school takes a significantly shorter time than walking. It is also far less strenuous and it doesn’t leave you tired before you’ve even started.

It was a far better way of getting to school; perhaps this is why Alfred drives them.

Dick and Jason hold his hands as they walk towards the imposing building, they even walk him to his first lesson, and he smiles at them because of it.

“Timmy,” Dick said, crouching down to Tim’s level, “we both know what it’s like to start at a new school, especially this school, but everything’s going to be fine okay? It may seem a little… it may seem quite daunting but everyone here is really nice and the classes are small so you’ll make loads of new friends, and if it ever gets too much for you, tell your teacher and they’ll get one of us.”

“And don’t forget Timmy that we’ll be here at break and lunch okay, we’re not leaving you.” Jason added ruffling his hair.

It all made him feel better, a lot better in fact; so when Dick led him to his first class he felt less nervous butterflies and more excitement butterflies.

The door opened swiftly as they approached and a smiling woman came out, quietly shutting the door behind her.

“Ah you must be Tim! I’m Mrs Newman I’ll be your teacher this year.” Mrs Newman said, and she smiled at him. It was so genuine that Tim couldn’t help but smile back.

A warm hand settled on his shoulder guiding him to the classroom.

“We’ll see you at break okay Timmy?”

Tim turned to his brothers and nodded smiling, before walking into the class with Mrs Newman.

“Good morning class, we have a new student joining us today; everyone this is Tim.”

The enthusiasm at which the class greeted him made Tim gape for a moment, no one had ever been so happy to see him, well not outside the Waynes that is. he managed a small hi in return, cheeks flushing at the situation.

“Okay Tim there’s a spare seat next to Stephanie, why don’t you sit there.” He nodded and made his way to the girl.

The first thing he noticed was her bright gold hair, and then her eyes. Tim was pretty sure that Stephanie was the most beautiful creature in existence. 

“Hi.” He whispered blushing slightly.

“Hello!” Her reply was confident and loud and it made Tim feel safe “Do you wanna be friends? We should be friends.” 

Tim didn’t trust his voice so he just nodded vigorously, nobody had ever asked to be his friend before. 

They talked all morning, Tim found out that Stephanie is a scholarship student from the centre of the city and Mr Wayne is paying for her to go to school too. 

By break time he is convinced that Steph (as her friends call her) hung the moon. 

She’s amazing, she can keep up with him in classes and she knows cool things, like what to do if Mrs Newman suddenly became a zombie and tried to eat them all, and that her bag is totally eggplant colour and not purple and they can talk for hours and she’s really nice and pretty.

Tim didn’t even care that he talked his brothers’ ears off on the journey home, and unbeknown to him neither did they. They were just happy he was making friends.