Chapter Text
The car drives up to the Wayne Mansion. Bruce Wayne told me the mansion was big, but he never mentioned that the mansion dwarfed all the other buildings around it. I grab my stuff and open the door of the car. I get out of the limo. Alfred parks the car and gets out himself. Alfred grabs the rest of my stuff from the trunk. Admittedly, it's not much. Growing up in the circus never allowed me to have much stuff. Alfred turns to me.
He starts, "Bruce Wayne is excited to see you. He instructed me to introduce you to your new home and get you acquainted with your room. He'll meet you at dinner."
"Oh, when is dinner?" I say a little disappointed. I know he's a millionaire, and he must be busy, but I wanted to get to know him better.
"Whenever he gets off work, usually at six, so get to the dining room by six fifteen." He responds. I nod.
Alfred walks me to the door. The door must be ten by twenty considering Alfred looks like a fairy next to it. He hands me my suitcase then he unlocks the door. He grabs onto the door handle, and the door opens. The mansion is huge! The room we walk into alone feels like it was made for a gigantic. A giant staircase in the middle of the room leads to the next floor. There are multiple doorways leading to new rooms. Alfred takes me to a door. We first go to the kitchen. It's rather small. It has one table to the side. To the other side, kitchen appliances line up along with drawers and cabinets.
"Here, I cook and prepare food for you and Master Bruce," he says as he opens the refrigerator, "Would you like a treat?" He shows me a chocolate bar. I nod. I take it from his hands. I open it and bite it. The chocolate melts in my mouth. Caramel soon appears through the chocolate bites and sticks to my gums. "I have talked to Master Bruce. You will not be allowed to eat many treats. We will offer them but in limited quantities." He lets me know as I continue to bite through my chocolate bar.
"Back at the circus, my parents couldn't afford many treats. I had one every year for my birthday." I look at him.
"Don't worry, we will give you more than one treat an year," he jokes. I smile.
"When am I allowed to eat?" I ask him.
"Allowed to eat?" Alfred questions.
"At the circus, we could only eat at specific times. We had dinner breaks, lunch breaks, breakfasts breaks. Lunch breaks were from 12:10 to 12:50. Dinner breaks were from 7:20 to 8:00. Breakfast breaks were from 8:30 to 9:10. Am not pm. Why would you eat breakfast at 8:30 pm?" He looks at me with curiosity. "Anyway, if you were caught eating off your breaks, you were in trouble."
Alfred looks down and says, "You can eat whenever you want. Just don't overwork me." I smile.
"I won't." Alfred walks me to the next room.
Connected to the kitchen, the dining room has a huge table. It is more or less a table and a little extra space for people to walk to the table. The table is made from dark brown wood. Alfred looks at me, "Here is the dining room. You will eat dinners here, all and any dinners except when you are told otherwise. Remember, dinner is at six fifteen, always, except when told otherwise."
Alfred next takes me to the lounge area. "What is that?" I ask him.
"The living room." He answers. We go to the lounge area or living room through the room that we first entered into the mansion. The lounge area, covered by green wallpaper, has couches, a television dead in the center, a small coffee table, rug, and shelves. All the furniture fits a theme; it is slightly colorful, but not too colorful. The color ranges from yellow to a light blue. The couch closest to the TV, for example, is a light yellow. The only exemptions are the wooden tables. Though, they are made from a light brown wood instead of a harsh dark brown wood. "You will be allowed two hours of television after you have finished your homework on weekdays. On the weekends, you will be allowed three hours of television."
"Homework? Does that mean I will go to school?"
"Yes, Master Bruce will explain more at dinner tonight, but I will tell you: you will go to Gotham Academy for your secondary education." Alfred responds. "Did you go to school in the circus?"
"No, my parents homeschooled me because we couldn't stay in one place for too long." I explain.
"Master Bruce was also homeschooled."
"Really?"
"Yes, his parents homeschooled him. Then, after the-," Alfred stops himself before he can go on, "Then he educated himself. Come, let me show you the backyard."
...
"This is your room. There is a bathroom attached to it." Alfred opens the oak door. As he opens the door, shock fills me. A gigantic bed sits in the middle. A bookshelf takes up space behind the bed. Everything shines like it's been newly polished and cleaned. A clock tells the time on the wall. A dresser and a wardrobe line up the walls. A big window shines sunlight in the room. A desk rests next to the window. Blue carpet covers the room's floor. "I'll take your smile and silence as a sign that you like the room. I'll leave to unpack. Remember, dinner is at six fifteen. Dress appropriately." I take a step into the room as Alfred leaves. When I know Alfred has left, I hop onto the bed. I jump and jump on the bed until I'm too tired. I look at the clock. I can't remember when I arrived, but it is now a few minutes past four thirty in the evening. I have two hours before dinner. I start unpacking. I open the wardrobe, and I am left confused.
I don't know what to put in it. I open up drawers. I open my suitcase. I didn't have many clothes in the circus, only a few. The dresser has eight drawers. I put all my shirts in one drawer. I do the same with my pants, underwear, socks, and other clothes. By the time I'm done I only have two jackets left and my father's old coat. I look at the wardrobe. I put my jackets on the hangers and hang them. I grab my father's coat and sit on the bed with it. I lay down.
I mutter, "I miss you, Dad." I look at the clock. The time is a few minutes past five ten. I decide to take a shower. I go into the bathroom. The bathroom is painted in blue. I take a short shower. In the circus, when everybody had to take a shower in less then two hours, I learned to take short showers. I get out of the shower. Before I clothe myself, I stop. How do you dress appropriately for a dinner with your new guardian? I look at my jackets. I never had any blazers, and I don't have one now. I have a button up shirt and black sweater. I don't have any dress pants, but I do have khakis. I get out my button up and my black sweater. I put on all my clothes. I style my hair. Due to the shower, it sits on my head very messy. I part my hair in the middle. My mother taught me to style it like this. When I'm done, I look to the clock. It's six ten.