Work Text:
There was a reason why no one else but Alfred was allowed to help Thomas with his projects anymore.
During second grade, Thomas’ school decided to host another science fair. This was the first time they’ve had one in a few years - an previous incident with Mr. Freeze and Joker during the last fair had made the school cancel the event for a while.
But apparently the scare of being disrupted by notorious villains were gone this year. So Thomas had given his parents the flyer asking them for help. He was eager to enter since the first place winner got a trophy and a money prize. He really wanted that trophy.
It started off great, the rules of the fair was that the student had to create something based on what they learned that school year. Dick and Jason decided that they’d help Thomas create a model of the different land features on Earth.
Thomas was happy to go shopping for typical styrofoam and paints to make his model, but then somehow the rest of the family got wind of the science fair. Not surprising, nothing stayed a secret for too long in this family. The moment Damian had heard, he called up the Grayson-Todd family and demanded to know what his nephew was going to submit for the fair.
A quick conversation with Thomas and the child was eagerly agreeing with whatever his Uncle Dami said. Suddenly they were all in the Batcave going over designs on how to improve Thomas’ original idea.
Gone were the silly tempera paints and foam cutouts. Instead came out the heavy machinery and various workshop tools. After they decided on a design - making sure to get Thomas’ approval (though he just agreed with everything his Uncle Dami suggested) - they all got to work. Thomas was told to go play upstairs since it was too dangerous for him while they worked. He protested, but was allowed to watch the camera feed of the process.
The project took a while, but with Tim over looking the project, it was done before the due date.
So on the day of the fair, Thomas came in with a realistic replica of Earth’s surface, complete with mountain, ocean, and other features. made from actual materials such as dirt, rock and water. They had to wheel it in since the model was so large.
But that wasn’t the only thing they made for Thomas’ submission. In addition to the model, they had created a special ‘land form shaper’ feature for Thomas. No this wasn’t just a standard stare at the stagnant model. This came with various buttons that would create fire, water, ice, and wind in certain locations.
Why? Because they decided that making a normal model was too boring and that in order for Thomas to win the prize, he’d have to demonstrate exactly how Earth’s surface is shaped over time and through different natural phenomenons.
Needless to say Thomas was disqualified and suspended from school. This resulted in a huge cryfest from Thomas who never really caused trouble before. At least the promise of ice cream and a hug from his Uncle Dami (Jason protesting that a hug from Daddy should make him feel better and not from the brat uncle) seemed to cheer him up.
And once again, the science fair was postponed again for an indefinite time.
The family decided to dub this the Science Fair Incident.
Which is why Jason and Dick decided that whenever Thomas had a project to do for school, only Alfred was allowed to help. They didn’t want to deal with all those parent meetings again.