Chapter Text
Bruce had explained that school needed to be my top priority, so when I got home, homework first then training. Homework didn't take long, so when I finished, I made my way down to the cave, but Alfred stopped me.
"Master William going somewhere?"
"Yeah, training, remember?"
"Of course, but did you finish your studies?" Alfred questioned.
"Mmhm," I replied, nodding.
"May I see them?" Alfred asked. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at Alfred's persistence, knowing it would cause me more harm than good. I reluctantly went back upstairs and grabbed whatever homework I had for tomorrow.
I handed the stack of papers letting him check through them to see if I told the truth.
After a few minutes, he was finished and handed the stack back to me, "Very well, carry on."
I smiled brightly before continuing down to the cave, relieved Alfred let me pass. Alfred has been nicer to me lately, as if he trusts me more. I'm sure Bruce has something to do with this, but it's nice that he doesn't look at me like I'm a thief.
When I got down to the cave, I knew Bruce wouldn't be home for a few more hours, but he told me after school before he gets home, he wants me to work on what we did over the weekend. Bruce explained that practice and repetition is the only way I'm going to improve.
So I began the punching and kicking techniques bruce taught me practicing them over and over again. Spending the next hour just me and the punching bag striking the bag repeatedly.
While doing this, I thought of Freddie's offer to come over on Friday. I wanted to honestly, but meeting the rest of Freddie's family made me anxious I don't like the unknown, and judging from the number of people he meets up with at the end of the school, he had a big family. But I'm trying to be friends with someone for the first time in my life, and hanging out is part of any friendship. Still, I had to ask Bruce.
As I said, the unknown scared me, and I wasn't sure if Bruce would be okay with me going out one night when we could train, but I think I've earned a break.
Before I knew it, Bruce was home and joining me in the cave. He asked me what I had worked on today, and I explained what I had done for the last hour.
"Good, Billy. And you finished all your schoolwork, right?" Bruce asked.
"Yep, Alfred checked already."
"Good, I asked him to. School is important. I don't want you ever to lose sight of that."
I didn't love school, and I've never paid much attention to it, but Bruce made the rules, so I needed to follow them. "Okay."
"Good now, follow me. I want to show you something."
"Wait, can I ask you something."
Bruce stopped and turned back to me," Sure, what is it?"
"I have this friend. Freddie, he wants me to go to his house Friday night for dinner." I began.
"And you want to know if you can go?" Bruce asked.
"Yes. I know we have training every day, but I figured one night wouldn't hurt to take a break-"
"Billy?" Bruce said, stopping my rambling.
I looked up and stopped talking, "That's fine. Just let Alfred know when and where to pick you up." Bruce explained.
I was surprised I figured Bruce wouldn't want me to take a break and that we couldn't miss one day of training. "Thanks, Bruce."
"Your welcome, now come on follow me."
I followed Bruce to a platform that held a boxing ring and a pair of rods. The ring had a white floor with red ropes encasing the ring.
Bruce stepped inside, so I followed. Bruce picked up a blue baton before tossing me a red one. The rods had two ends covered in padding.
"So, what are these for?" I asked, pointing to the rods.
"These are to work on your reaction time and hand-eye coordination," Bruce explained.
"Okay, so am I supposed to hit you?"
"You can try," Bruce said with a grin.
We began the drill with me trying to hit him and him hitting me. Yes, I said I tried, and I did, but with no such luck, but it wasn't as if Bruce hit me every time I blocked a few times. But Bruce won the match.
"Nice effort Billy, but make sure you're always focused and keeping an eye on your opponent. Never let your guard down."
"Okay...Bruce, thanks," I said out of breath.
Bruce grabbed a water bottle and handed it to me, "Here drink some water then will go again."
I took a chug of water before a voice grabbed my attention.
"Can I have the next one?"
I looked to my left and saw a guy in his early twenties with jet black hair making him look like he belonged in a pop-punk band. He had a grin on his face and seemed to have a cocky charm to him.
"Dick?" Bruce asked in surprise.
"Hey, Bruce."
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, I heard you had a new arrival," Dick said as he looked at me, "And I wanted to meet him."
Dick walked over to me and put his hand out, "Hey kid, names Dick. Dick Grayson."
"Billy Batson," I said, shaking his hand. This has to be the kid Bruce talked about the other night. The first Robin.
Dick smiled, shaking my hand. "So you like it here. At the Manor, I mean?
I nodded. I did like it here for the short time I've been here. Bruce was helping me become the person he said I was, and Alfred was starting to warm up to me. Life was looking up.
"Good. I know Bruce can be a handful and Alfred-. Well, Alfred, he's the best." Dick explained. "Right, Bruce?"
"Yeah, sure," Bruce said, glaring at Dick, not amused with his joke.
Dick looked over the ring and stepped inside, "So you're training him?"
"I told you I was getting a new partner," Bruce explained.
"I know, just asking," Dick said, turning back to me.
"Your learning from the best kid he'll teach you everything you need to know," Dick said with pride. I could tell Dick and Bruce are very close and that Dick looks up to Bruce.
"Anyway's I'll let you get back into it," Dick said, climbing out of the ring. "Good luck, Kid."
That Friday 3:00 pm
I told Freddie I'd be coming over on Friday for Dinner. Freddie was ecstatic and more excited and full of energy then I've ever seen him. I'm excited about it too. Freddie's a cool guy in a weird superhero nerdy kind of way. But part of me was nervous still new to this whole friend thing I'm not sure how you act over at a friend's house.
Instead of Alfred picking me up from school, I was walking home with Freddie and his family. So I left school with Freddie and followed him to the spot he met his siblings every day.
When we walked over to the group, they were talking with each other or distracted in some way.
There was the small boy that helped me out with the Bryer brothers last week. He was on some kind of gaming device oblivious to me and Freddie's arrival.
The only other boy was a heavy-set Latino. He was busy jamming out to music on his phone.
The two girls were talking amongst each other, with the younger girl holding most of the conversation. The young girl had on lots of pink and talked a mile a minute, clearly having a lot of energy. The other girl was older and looked like that responsible older sister you see in the movies all the time.
"Hey, guys, this is Billy," Freddie said, introducing me.
Everyone turned acknowledging my presence, but the youngest girl was what drew my attention. Instead of saying, "Hey or Hi," she ran over to me and gave me a bone-crushing hug.
"Freddie's Friend!" She yelled.
The hug annoyed me. I don't do hugs or any personal contact. Freddie must have noticed my discomfort because he began to pull off the girl.
"That's Darla." Freddie said before looking at Darla, "She's a hugger."
I gave Freddie a look that said, "Really?"
"Sorry," Darla said, backing up towards the older girl.
The older girl stepped forward, waving at me, "Hi, I'm Mary nice to meet you."
"Hi," I waved back.
Freddie then introduced me to the Latino I learned his name is Pedro. Then I met the small boy who was playing his game. His name is Eugene.
Once all introductions were made, we began walking back to Freddie's house. The walk was uneventful Freddie talked to me about a bank robbery that was stopped by Batman the other night. Funny I knew all about it, Bruce had me watch the surveillance footage with him showing me how he took down all the thugs. He said we'd work on some of these techniques over the weekend.
I knew I couldn't tell Freddie about Bruce even though I kind of wanted to, but Bruce explained that I couldn't tell anyone his identity, or it could put everyone he cares about in danger.
When we got to Freddie's house, everyone headed inside, with me being the last one. Freddie told me to take my shoes off and lay them by a rack of coats. As I did this, a Hispanic woman with brown hair and a warm smile came around the corner.
"Ah, you must be Billy. Freddie's told us a lot about you."
I looked over to Freddie and saw him start to blush.
"Rosa," Freddie whined.
I couldn't help but smirk at his childish reaction and that Freddie talked about me with his family.
"What you do," Rosa said, rolling her eyes at Freddie. "Anyway, nice to meet you, Billy. I'm Rosa and sorry about the mess."
I looked around the entryway and into the living room seeing the house was messy and looked like a tornado might have come through. Wayne Manor was the exact opposite since Alfred cleaned and kept things tidy every day.
"Oh, that's okay."
Rosa smiled at me as she picked up a few craft supplies and put them on an end table in the living room. "Your right. He is very cool."
Rosa turned to Freddie as she said this, embarrassing him even more. I smirked again when I saw Freddie turn crimson red.
"Okay, enough of that, I'm taking Billy upstairs," Freddie said, raising his voice, "C'mon Billy."
Rosa smiled at this and waved us goodbye as I followed Freddie upstairs.
The upstairs hallway was just as unorganized as the first floor, but this is normal for most foster homes. Except this home seemed to have a warmth of love that most foster homes rarely have.
I think I have that with Bruce at the Manor I know he cares about me and would protect me, but does he love me like he loves Dick Grayson. I'm not sure.
Freddie lead me to the end of the hallway and into his room. His room was just as I expected, plastered in Superhero memorabilia. There were posters of Superman, a Wonderwoman trashcan, and plenty of other superhero nicknacks, and of course, the room was a mess. Clothes hung put of the dresser, and on his desk were plenty of post-it notes and a mountain of paper. It was your standard room for a teenager who was a massive fan of superheroes.
"So, what do you think?" Freddie asked me as I looked around.
"It's very you," I commented.
"I know, right."
I looked over in the corner of the room, seeing a dresser decked out in Superman memorabilia. "What's that?"
"Oh, that's my shrine to the best superhero of all time. Superman." Freddie followed me over, grinning.
I looked over the shrine seeing Superman action figures a Superman baseball cap and other Superman merchandise.
"But, in here is the holy grail," Freddie said, opening the top drawer. "A 30mm bullet. Shot at Superman himself. It's worth a couple of hundred bucks."
"Really? Where'd you get it?"
"Where you get everything. Amazon."
"Right, Amazon." I had no idea what Freddie was talking about, but he bought my lie.
"Anyway, what you think of the shrine?" Freddie asked gleefully.
"It's nice, but Superman isn't the best of all time," I explained.
Freddie's face changed to annoyance, "Okay, Batson, who is then?"
"Batman."
Living with Batman lets you learn a lot about him as a person and a hero. And I can personally say that Batman is way cooler than Superman.
"Your crazy dude? Have you seen Superman? He can fly Batman can't that should be the end of the discussion." Freddie argued. "What have I done?" I thought.
Soon Freddie got into a debate with me about how Superman is cooler than Batman, but luckily soon, we went down for dinner.
Freddie and I were the last ones to arrive thanks to Freddie's crutch making it harder for him to come down the stairs. Everyone was seated at the table except for a large man with a man-bun. When he saw me enter the room, he came over, "Ah, you must be BIlly, Freddie's told us all about you. I'm Victor nice to meet you."
I looked over at Freddie as he rolled his eyes and went red. Again. I smiled at this, shaking Victor's hand, "You too."
The three of us took our seats, and dinner began. Everyone began to fill their plates I was about to do the same when Rosa stopped me, "Darla, can you serve Billy, please?"
Darla nodded before taking my plate and putting food on it.
"Oh, she doesn't have to do that," I argued.
"Nonsense, you're our guest," Rosa said, waving me off and silencing me, allowing Darla to finish.
As everyone filled there plates, I noticed no one began eating, making sure everyone was ready. Once everyone filled their plates, Victor began to pray, but it wasn't your regular prayer.
"All hands on deck," Victor shouted. Soon everyone put their hands in the middle of the table. "Thank you for this food, thank you for this family and thank god we have a real turkey."
Everyone laughed at the last line before beginning to eat. I realized this is what a real family looked like, Warm and loving, not cold, and heartless.
I like living with Bruce and Alfred, but do I consider them family. Not really, I would say Bruce and Alfred are more so guardians that are helping me. And I appreciate every second of the advice and guidance Bruce and Alfred have given me. But they don't feel like family.
We began eating with Darla and Eugene holding most of the conversation until Victor started talking to me.
"So, Billy Freddie tells us you live with Bruce Wayne. Do you like him?"
"Yeah, I do, Bruce is nice."
"Cool, I only know what I hear on the news and in the papers. And they say he's somewhat of a party guy."
I knew Bruce had a reputation to party, but once I got to know him the real him, I know it was all a front. He spent most of his nights driving a fancy car and beating criminals to a pulp.
When Victor said this, Freddie rolled his eyes.
"Uh kind of, but he's a great guy, and he's been taking good care of me."
Victor and some of the other kids asked me about Wayne Manor and how it was living there. They also asked about Alfred, and having a butler do a lot of things for me. I didn't like all this attention on me, but I'm trying to be the new nicer me.
When we finished dinner, Freddie and I went back upstairs, and he showed me his comic book collection. Most books were about Superman, but he did have a few on Batman. I asked to borrow them, and he said that was fine. I wanted to see how accurate they were about Bruce.
Eventually, Alfred came to pick me up I waved Freddie goodbye and thanked Rosa and Victor for their hospitality.
"Did you have a good time Master William?" Alfred asked as we were driving.
"Yes, Alfred, I did," I said with a massive grin on my face.
"I can see that," Alfred said, smiling back at me.