Chapter Text
“Why do you feel the need to harass me about this?” Jason growled. He was walking home from school with his best friend Roy Harper. They’d been as thick as thieves since Roy and his mother had found him on a street corner when he was 9. They had immediately taken him in, and Ms. Harper treated him like a second son.
They both attended the local public high school – Gotham Central was a nasty school – as Grade 10s. But that will be changing in the near future. “Because it’s an amazing opportunity! When does anything like this ever happen to people like us?” Roy nearly screams in exasperation. He was right. Crime Alley kids always got the short end of the stick.
“Exactly!” Jason responded, “This doesn’t happen to us. How do I know it’s not a trick?” he asked. Roy sent him a pointed look. Jason rolled his eyes, he had to admit that it was pretty farfetched. You see, Jason had been offered a place at Gotham Academy. It was Gotham’s resident prep school, where all the rich kids o. But it was the best school in Gotham and one’s best shot at getting out. The only thing is that the school is very expensive.
But Jason had been offered a full scholarship, so he wouldn’t have to pay a cent as long as he kept his grades up. This was the first time in 40 years that a scholarship was offered, and it’s the first time ever for someone from Crime Alley to receive such an offer. But Jason was hesitant. Taking this offer would mean that he’d have very little time for work.
Ever since Ms. Harper had taken him in, he’d been trying to find a way to pay them back. SO he’d started working odd jobs until he was old enough to land a part time job. He ever worked less than 2 jobs at one time He currently has 2 part time jobs (a barista – the one that he makes the most as a steady income with and the one he actually enjoyed the most, and intern (more like a water/coffee boy) at the GCPD and a couple off jobs, some involving some shady dealings) and he occasionally freelances.
If he accepted the offer, then he would have to drop at least one of his jobs. (Either that or renegotiate a lot of hours). He wouldn’t be able to help Ms. Harper as much as he used to. He was reluctant because they were barely making ends meet as it was. “Would I really be a good idea to accept this? You know I’d have to quit at least one of my jobs to manage school. Those classes are going to be a lot more challenging than Gotham Central’s.” he argued.
“Jason… we can support ourselves without your help. You don’t have to work all these jobs” he sighed and slowed down, a snail’s pace compared to the former almost jog they’d been doing. “This is an amazing opportunity for you, that’s most likely never going to happen again. You need to take this chance while you have it! It’s your best chance at getting out of here.”
They stopped walking. Jason looked at the round as he casually kicked a pop can that was laying on the ground in front of him. He was really tempted to take the offer, especially with Roy shooting down all of his doubts. But there was also the whole student body to worry about. They would no doubt have objections to someone of the ‘lower class’ invading their school. He knew how it would be if the situations were reversed.
One of those rich brats wouldn’t even last a day before the first attack.
But he wasn’t some prissy rich boy. He was Jason Todd and he’s survived growing up in Crime Alley. “Okay… I’ll do it” he decided. At his admission Roy’s face lit up. He grinned brightly at Jason and grabbed the other teen’s arm. He proceeded to drag Jason the rest of the way to the Harper residence, all the while yelling “mom’s going to be sooooooooo excited!”
And that’s the story of how Jason began to attend Gotham Academy.
Two weeks into class Jason discovered just how different Gotham Academy was. There was this absurd ‘anti-bullying policy’ that didn’t actually do anything for anyone. Sure, there wasn’t the physical fighting that Jason had grown used to. That part of the policy was enforced. No, it was much more subtle and verbal than what he was used to. That didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared.
Despite what the majority of this school’s population thought, he wasn’t just a runt. He was intelligent, and clearly these students weren’t, considering the fact that they keep asking the teachers why he’s here. There was also the couple of students that did seem to possess some intelligence that did everything in their power to get a rise out of him. Their strategy to get him to leave was sound, considering that if he stepped a toe out of line, he’d be kicked out.
But he’s not so easily baited. These little rich brats have no idea what they were dealing with. Jason was an excellent actor and he had a lot of practice dealing with people out to get him. He was smart and went to a public school in Crime Alley, of course there was always someone out to get him.
As for the acting… well the Harper household used to get regular visits from the Child Protection Service due to the one teacher that actually cared about the students, reported Jason’s injuries to them. He was forced to act like the perfect child, all the while proving his injuries were due to bullying unless he wanted Ms. Harper to lose Roy. Over the years he’d become very skilled at acting and manipulating.
Jason kept up those skills by acting differently at each of his many jobs. Dealing with a mob boss? He’s the snarky delinquent teenager that everyone expects him to be. Working with the GCPD? He’s a studious and quiet intern, happy to fetch paperwork and coffee.
The person that he was when he was a barista was the most similar to his real personality that he showed in the Harper household. He was still snarky, but he didn’t act like a delinquent. He was quiet and somewhat bookish, but inherently grumpy. Apparently it was endearing. But all of those personas held a part of his real personality to make it that much more convincing. They’re still leaps and bounds more like him than his school persona. Because Gotham Academy is known to be the school for the elite – there was a uniform and everything! – he has to act accordingly.
He became the cold emotionless student whose greatest concern was his grades. It allowed him to brush off all of the insults and whispered rumors without being out of character. People would think it’s odd if a hotheaded Neanderthal was able to brush off barbs. The instant someone called him a coward or insulted his pride he’d be expected to react violently, or at the very least defend himself. His appearance certainly didn’t help him in that manner.
While all of the rich brats that attended this school had carefully styled hair and impeccable clothes without a single wrinkle, Jason’s hair was spiky and stood up in random places and some of his bangs were white (Roy theorizes that it’s due to the fact that his mother did drugs while she was pregnant, Jason tell him he’s stupid). He had a rough look about him and a different level of maturity. He’d had to grow up a lot sooner than any of his classmates.
His uniform was carefully cared for sure, but he smelled of cigarettes and lower Gotham, he even had the accent. There was also the fact that he was away more built than anyone else including the jocks. This was due to street fighting and all the different manual labor jobs that he’d done over the years. He was a tall child, he’d been able to pass as 15 ever since he was 11. It helped that most of the people who hired him really didn’t care how old he was.
That made people reluctant to approach him, the fact only helping his reputation grow. Considering the fact that this reputation made people leave him alone – he really didn’t want to talk to any of these spoiled brats – he decided to just go with it. And thus he was dubbed as the school’s resident Ice Prince.
And that’s why everyone was reasonably terrified when Jason’s angry voice rang through the halls. “WHAT?!?” the shout of outrage came from the principal’s office and it was fairly obvious that it was the school’s only scholarship student and not the principal. The students in the hall exchanged glances before clearing the area. Practically bolting down the halls to get to their next class.
Meanwhile the pathetic pushover of a principal was trying to calm Jason Todd. “M-Mr. T-Todd! P-Please t-try to calm d-down” the man tried to say, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. But Jason was having none of it.
“Hell no! Why is joining some stupid club mandatory?! I barely have enough time to juggle my school work and my jobs! He seethed. He had ended up cutting his hours at the GCPD to just the weekends. His hours as a barista had already worked with school; working the dinner rush hours leaving him his entire evening for school. He went on jogs – which always seemed to turn into him saving a couple of people, therefore keeping his hand to hand skills up – in the evening (read: late night) after he’d finished school work.
Leaving him roughly 5-6 hours of sleep before he had to wake up to deliver some package of goods to one of the many mob bosses he worked for, or to a client of theirs. He knew Gotham like the back of his hand, due to his nightly late night strolls. That made him perfect for a courier job, considering it was fast, easy, worked around his school schedule, and he wasn’t a known member of a gang. That could hurt his reputations in his other jobs and school. He’d made it very clear that he hadn’t wanted to actually join when they’d approached him, and making deliveries was the solution.
He was one of the best, so the bosses were willing to work around his life.
But that only left him a couple hours after school, which he usually used to either do some household chores to ease up Ms. Harper’s work load, or to work extra hours down at the station. Most of Gotham Academy’s extracurricular activities or clubs required more time than he could afford. There was only a select few that worked with his availability. Among those few as an even smaller number of clubs that wouldn’t be completely horrible to join.
But they all were meeting every day for 2 hours after school. Jason had no idea why a chess club would require 10 hours of group practice each week, but to each their own, right? All Jason knew was that there was no way in hell that that would be the club he’s joining. In the end, there was really only 2 clubs that he’s be remotely interested in; glee club and musical theatre.
Now it may seem little weird for those two to be the only clubs that he’s interested in. But as stated before, Jason is good at acting. But what wasn’t made clear was the fact the he enjoys it. Why else would he have crafted so many different and diverse roles for himself? He loves acting. If he’s going to be honest with himself, he knows that unless he makes it big, acting isn’t a career he can successfully live off of. And while he does have some fun with his many jobs, his goal is to one day be able to escape Gotham, and work only one job.
Acting most likely won’t let him do that. He has no delusions of grandeur. He knows he’s not the best. Even if he enjoys it, it doesn’t mean he’ll make it.
Now we’ve covered his love for acting, but music? Now that something means more to Jason than acting ever will. Music is his passion. It used to be all he had. And his singing ability was something that he truly had confidence in. So both glee club and musical theatre offered him a chance to sing. But being a glee kid was social suicide, so that probably wasn’t a good idea.
He might not be well liked but he wasn’t going to make it worse. Right now everyone basically ignored him and/or shot him dirty looks. Going to glee would make things escalate. Harmful rumors could reach the ears of faculty and because of where he came from they’d automatically assume that it was true and expel him. If he wanted any chance of getting out of Gotham the he couldn’t afford to get expelled.
So it looks like he would be joining he musical theatre club. After taking a deep breath to calm down, he told the principal that he would be joining the musical theatre club and that he would be auditioning that next week – because this is some stupid prep school, all clubs required and audition of sorts (how would that even work for a chess club???); the musical theatre club requires small script reading from a popular/famous play or movie and a song/dance – because he still has some ‘affairs’ to clear up.
Then he promptly turned on his heel and stalked out of the office. The sound of the door clicking shut echoed loudly in the silent halls. No one bothered him for the rest of the day out of fear of having him blow up at them.
“Isn’t this a good thing?” Roy asked as he lay on the floor. Jason was ranting about his day while they did homework. Well, Jason was doing his work, Roy was procrastinating. This is usually the time where Roy played the unofficial psychologist. “I mean you love to perform right? You should totally audition for this year’s play!” he continued. While what he said was true, Jason was still bitter about the fact that he’s forced to join.
“Yeah but now I’m sacrificing working hours! I had only so many hours of down time now I have almost none. I may enjoy performing but what is the likelihood of one of those preppy teachers actually picking me, the street rat, over just about everyone else? They have a counsel for all of the performing arts composed of both students and teachers. Newsflash, but they all hate me!” he grumbled.
Even if he did end up being perfect for a role, he’d most likely never make it on stage. He was that unpopular. The thing that he was the most upset about was that he was forced to go every day. It was kind of ridiculous. Roy rolled his eyes, stop that right ow. You work more than both me and my mom combined. You do know we’re not that desperate, right? You need to relax. Enjoy high school! Live a little!”
Jason ruffled his metaphorical feathers. He lives plenty. He went out on ‘patrol’ – as Roy liked to call it – and he’d actually become quite the adrenaline junkie. That’s part of the reason he’d taken up tumbling. He enjoyed controlled falls, and in his opinion, it made him more badass. “Whatever” he grumbled, glaring as Roy smirked in satisfaction. “But I need help with my audition pieces. I need a monologue, something to show off my dance/tumbling talent and a song.”
Roy’s answering grin was positively terrifying.
The rest of the week went by without anything noteworthy actually happening. During the week and over the weekend he worked on his audition whenever he had the time. When Monday came, he felt he was adequately prepared.
As soon as his last class was over, he grabbed his things and headed down to the school’s auditorium. Unlike the failed glee club that was essentially exiled to the music room, the musical theatre club was allowed free reign. The musical theatre club put a musical every year where the two most popular students got the leads. The school always made a lot of money off of ticket and merchandise/spirit wear sales, so the faculty was very lenient with them.
Although there was a rumor that there would be a new director coming all the way from New York. But it was only a rumor and Jason wasn’t going to hold his breath. While playing a lead would look good on a resume, this rumored new director would probably turn out exactly like the last one. He mentally rolled his eyes as he entered the auditorium.
As expected, the entire club, as well as all of the faculty even remotely involved, were present. This was most likely a pathetic attempt at intimidating him. But he was a street fighter, and most importantly a Crime Alley kid. He’d seen children more intimidating than these teachers. It was almost laughable really. This attempt was most likely a precaution to weed out all of those with stage fright.
Jason was an actor. Even if he was scared or nervous, they’d never know. He plastered on an emotionless mask and calmly strolled down the center isle and elegantly hopped on the stage. Turning towards the audience, he raised an eyebrow at them. “Well what do you want to see first?” he drawled. Some of the students looked uncomfortable, and Jason immediately singled them out as back stage crew. They clearly didn’t have the confidence to be a performer, but they were still key members of the club.
Jason held a great amount of respect for the backstage crew. They were the ones who pretty much makes or breaks a production. The special effects and sets are very important for a good performance. And sound is what makes a great performance. It’s not what he wants to do, but he’s resigned himself to working with the shy kids for the rest of the year. That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t planning on proving his skills with his audition.
“If you could do the monologue first?” an unknown voice said. He scanned the audience until he found the source. It was an unknown adult that through logic deduced was the rumored new director. This will be interesting. He gave the man a sharp nod before speaking once more.
“My monologue, song, and required physical element is all in one piece I do hope that that’s okay” he said, allowing a bit of bite to creep into his tone. Although he carefully masked it with a charming smile. It must not have been as charming as he originally though because some of the more skittish back stage crew members flinched and shrank back. The unknown director simply nodded at him and gestured for him to start.
Jason then proceeded to remove his tie and blazer, rolling up the sleeves of his shit and unbuttoned a few of the top buttons. He’d checked the slack of his pants to make sure that they wouldn’t rip during his routing the night before. They hadn’t ripped during the routine yet, so he thinks he’ll be fine. He got some weird looks from some of the teachers, but the club members that looked a little more athletic seemed to have an idea of what’s going on.
He calmly dug through his backpack and pulled out a small Bluetooth speaker that he’d modified the year before to be more powerful – and the cellphone he kept his music on. Roy currently had the other one, even though Jason was the one paying.
He set them both along the edge of the stage beside his backpack and selected the track that he would be using. There was a couple of seconds before the cue to start speaking and he used this time to introduce himself and his song. “Hello, my name is Jason Todd and today I’ll be performing part of the Cell Block Tango from the musical Chicago.”
He pasted on a devilish smirk and got into position as the pre-recorded backup vocals began. “My sister, Veronica and I, had this double act. And my husband, Charlie, traveled around with us.” He drawled, posing as if he held a cigarette in his hand. He just oozed sassiness in this moment and he smirked widely as if he owned the stage.
“Now for the last number in our act, we did 20 acrobatic tricks in a row One, two, three, four, five… splits, spread eagles, back flips, flip fops” he said as he stalked around the stage every bit as confident as the character he was playing. “One right after the other” he continued, stopping at the center of the stage. The he extended his leg and bent over as if he was going to slip but he merely spun on the spot with his leg extended in a perfect vertical split over his head for a split (pun totally intended – blame Roy) second.
He was imitating the choreography from the 2015 Broadway Backwards performance. That choreography was challenging enough that it would be impressive for a high schooler. Even the knowledge that this choreography existed was impressive.
Jason doubts that any of his peers actually even knew this song existed. After righting himself and resuming his cocky stance, he continued his monologue. “Well this one night we were in the hotel Cicero, the three of us, boozin’ and having a few laughs” he purrs. The more nervous students looked even more uncomfortable. He let out a small giggle that was just on this side of cruel and insane.
“And we run out of ice” his smile drops from his face. “So I go out and get some. I come back, open the door, and there’s Veronica and Charlie, doing number 17” he stood still and then he lifted his leg up and straightened I out until he was standing while essentially doing the splits. His leg fully straightened out when the music cue came and there was an audible gasp from the audience.
“How’s he doing that in those pants?” he heard one of the girl’s whisper to her friend. Jason smirked, very satisfied by the audience. Although the gleam in the unknown director’s eyes worried him a bit. That didn’t promise anything good. Hopefully it will work out in his favor.
“The spread eagle” he growled, maintaining his position. “Well I was in such a state of shock I completely blacked out. I can’t remember a thing” he claimed innocently. “It wasn’t until I was washing the blood off my hands that I even knew they were dead he growled, rolling his ankle when he said ‘washing the blood’.
Then he dropped out of the position as the main song and dance began. “He had it coming, he had it coming, he had it coming all along!” he began to sing, his voice rich and filled with anger and other emotions, conveying the feeling of the song. He leapt up on his toes and tucked a leg behind himself as he spun around. “I didn’t do it, but if I’d done it! How could you tell me that I was wrong?” he growled, jumping and striking poses. He even flipped and pulled a couple tumbling moves. Then he continued, this time singing along and against the pre-recorded background singers.
They had it coming [they had it coming]
They had it coming [they had it coming]
They had it coming [they took a flower]
All along [in its prime]
I didn’t do it [and then they used it]
But if I’d done it [and they abused it]
How could you tell me [it was a murder]
That I was wrong [but now a crime]
He danced and sang and got lost in the performance. Flips and acrobatic moves came naturally as he poured his heart and emotions into the song. As he sang the last note he froze breathing heavily. His eyes came to rest on the group of people watching his audition and he had to suppress a satisfied smirk.
Some of the more athletic looking students – most likely the dancers or students trying to be a triple threat – were gaping at him openly. A couple other students were glaring at him – most like likely due to the fact that he could sing and dance; they didn’t look like they could dance. The backstage kids stared at him in awe, similar to a child watching any live performance. It was gratifying.
After taking in the reactions of the students he turned his gaze to the faculty. They seemed just as shocked as their students. He couldn’t really blame them either. This performance is very unlike both of his stereotypes (soulless Ice Prince and Crime Alley Neanderthal). Anyone who’d ever seen this piece new that it was typical sung by a female. It was a very bold move to perform this.
The fact that he pulled it off all the while executing perfect acrobatic feats. It’s impressive for any age. The fact that he’s male and a teenager just makes it that much more impressive. His eyes finally came to rest on the unknown director. If he’d been uneasy about this man’s plans before ten now he was almost afraid. The fancy new director had an almost sinister smile on his face. He looked like a cat that caught a canary.
After finishing his assessment of the audience’s reaction he gracefully fell out of his ending position and delivered a quick bow. This seemed to unfreeze everyone and they began clapping. Some more enthusiastically than others, but still. He suppressed a grin as he waited for the director’s critique.
“Well I have to say that was a rather… inspiring performance, Mr. Todd. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’d be happy to have you in our club.” He said clapping his hands together and looking at the other teachers. After receiving no objections he turned to stare expectantly at Jason.
He cocked his head to the side, “of course sir. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be late for work. I’ll see you all here tomorrow.” He picked up his things and slung his backpack over one shoulder and his blazer and tie over the other. Then he turned on his heel and strode out of the room.
You could say Dick’s life’s pretty interesting. He grew up as an acrobat in a circus along with his family. But then a horrible accident happened and his entire family was wiped out in a freak fall. Dick had been left all alone after watching his parents die right in front of him.
Luckily, for him, billionaire Bruce Wayne had been sitting in the audience that night. He apparently felt that Dick was a kindred spirit due to their shared misery, and decided to adopt him. And so, Dick grew up as the adopted acrobat son of Bruce Wayne. Despite popular belief, Bruce was an excellent father.
He hadn’t stopped at adopting just Dick either. Only a couple years after, he’ adopted Timothy Drake. His parents had died of an illness and because the Wayne family had always been close friends with the Drake family, he adopted Tim right away. A month after that he’d adopted Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. Then a year after that Talia Al-Ghul revealed that Bruce had a biological son by basically dumping the small 10 year old boy on the Wayne’s doorstep.
Bruce immediately welcomed him into the fold and they were one big family. The adopted brood were close in age (Dick being 15 now, Tim 13, Cassandra ‘Cass’ and Stephanie 12 and Damian bringing up the rear at 10), so they were almost more friends/best friends than brothers and sisters; but they made it work.
So Dick was in his second year of high school and he’d gotten used to his new life and how things were in the upper class. He’d even made a friend of the commissioner’s daughter Barbara Gordon. Bruce had been kind enough to pay for her to go to Gotham Academy so at least he had one genuine friend in the school.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t have friends. Quite the opposite actually. He was one of the most popular people in the school. And it wasn’t even just because he was adopted by Bruce Wayne! Apparently he was quite the charming man; he never had any problems with making people like him. But there was only about 7 people other than Barbara that he actually considered friends.
Sean Davids was an athletic guy. He was your typical blonde blue eyed boy and he loved to play basketball. Despite his jock status he was actually really good at math and a member of the school’s mathletes along with Dick. Secretly he was obsessed with anime and his close friends mocked him about it all of the time.
Sylph Holendale was a very artistic person. She loved anything that had to do with creating art, needless to say she was a very colorful person. Her favorite character and inspiration is Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds. She’d never even watched the show, but the one time she’d seen a gif set of the tech analyst she’d fallen in love. She was short and she’d dyed her hair in a gradient from bubblegum pink to royal purple. She was on the art committee that created the set for the musical theatre club.
Emily Chang was a dancer. She wanted to be a professional ballerina when she grew up, to the displeasure of her stereotypical Asian parents. She had the skill to do it too. She was easily the best dancer out of the entire school. She was tall and had her hair in a pixie cut. You might think that it wouldn’t suit her, but it worked well with her no nonsense attitude.
Jeremy Karnac was your typical nerd. He loved playing video games online and watching Mythbusters. He had a passion for science, math and special effects. He was part of the musical theatre club (s backstage crew) and he was the leader of the chess club. He looked like a stereotypical nerd as well, it was really unfortunate. He had long wavy ginger hair and tick framed glasses.
…Wow he had a lot of friends in the musical theatre club…
…anyways…
Ethan Jones was exactly how everyone imagined a prep school student to be. He came from a family of old money and his appearance was always perfect, not a hair out of place. He was serious about schoolwork and he had a charming smile. He was planning on going to medical school, but secretly wanted to own a small diner or work with CPS to help the children of Gotham. As it is, his plan is t open up a free clinic in Crime Alley.
Miranda Beauman was ‘a star’. She absolutely loved to sing. She’d take every chance possible to shove her talent in someone’s face. She was completely obsessed with vocal music and she wasn’t even a little bit ashamed. She didn’t know how to read music, but that didn’t stop her from proclaiming that she was the best singer in the school. She was the leader of the glee club and she would have taken over the musical theatre club if her audition hadn’t been rejected. She just wasn’t what they were looking for. She declared that she were simply too ignorant to see talent when it’s right in front of them.
It doesn’t stop her from auditioning for every musical they do.
And last but not least, there was Jessica Hamiblou. She was a charming girl with thick curly black hair, hazel eyes, and she was always wearing an oversized sweatshirt. She is an introverted little bookworm who loved to write and always had her nose stuck in a book. She was shy, but she was always willing to help someone. She loved reading scripts.
With his friends and Barbara’s help, he was surviving Gotham Academy with relative ease. He had just gotten used to the ins and outs of the school, when everything changed. The announcement that the school would be welcoming its first scholarship student in 40 years. It was practically unheard of. If people thought Dick’s arrival was unexpected than this certainly took the cake.
If that wasn’t enough, there was also the fact that it was some Crime Alley nobody. Now that shocked everyone. It was unheard of to have the lower Gothamites mingle with the upper class. The students preferred to believe that they were better than the lower class and o=to disassociate themselves from the horror and grime of the heart of Gotham.
The student body would most likely have had less of an issue if it had been a middle class Gothamite. Heck, they accepted him pretty easily (admittedly he had a likeable personality) and he was a circus gypsy kid! But this new guy comes from Crime Alley. It, as its name implies, is filled with crime and criminals. This new kid became the talk of the school and they hadn’t even seen him yet! All they knew for sure was that he was a Grade 10 and his name was Jason Todd.
From all the things he’d heard of the people of central Gotham, he expected the student to be a gangster with a ratty appearance who smoked and did drug deals as a job. They expected muscled Neanderthal with little education and piercings.
They weren’t completely wrong.
The teen that walked in was clearly a fighter. He was strong, but not overly muscled, more like an anime swimmer. He was lean and walked with purpose and confidence. His gait was like that of a predator. He had sharp features and pale skin, characteristics of lower Gotham. His hair was pitch black with a shockingly white lock of air in the bangs. It was spiked in a gravity defying way that looked effortless and natural.
But his eyes were the most fascinating. They were a bizarre mix of green and blue, creating a beautiful shade of teal. But the look in his eyes was worrying. They were weary and guarded constantly scanning the area of any sort of threat. He clutched the strap of his backpack (he had it slung over one shoulder) with one hand in a relaxed yet tense manner. He was ready to rip the bag off his shoulder and use it as a weapon. His other hand rested in his pocket.
Outwardly to anyone who didn’t know what to look for, he seemed completely at ease. But Dick – he’d been kidnapped more than enough times to begin to understand body language, and let’s not forget he was circus kid. He needed to know which people would tip him if he did a trick – did know what to look for and he saw an ever ready to fight, and very guarded boy.
He looked like he fit in, in these halls. His uniform was perfect ad he held himself with the same confidence and grace that they had all been taught. He looked like them – albeit a little rougher around the edges, and Dick was willing to bet that he had an accent that most of the high profile students would never even hear – but at the same time he stood out. His face was too cool, too blank and emotionless.
Despite popular belief, the students at Gotham academy were not soulless automatons. They were in fact quite the lively bunch. It was most likely an over compensation because they had to act all proper at home and in front of guests/outsiders. Jason wasn’t like that at all. He stared at them with looks of disdain on his features as he walked towards the principal’s office.
His eyes held with cold intelligence and Dick wanted to slap himself for forgetting that he got in because of his grades. Of course he wasn’t a Neanderthal. Sometimes Dick could be very stupid. He knew and accepted this, but still. He tried to talk to him a couple times in the hallways, but he’d been brushed off. Later he’d find out that Jason seemed to have a hatred for both rich and popular people. With Dick being the school’s Golden Boy, it kind of made sense as to why Jason was avoiding him. It also made sense for Jason to dislike both the rich and the popular.
He grew up in Crime Alley, almost everyone (he knows that he’s being optimistic here) hates the upper class there. Jason seems to be pretty well off though. It wasn’t like he’d spent time on the streets or anything. It probably wasn’t that strong of a hatred. But he was a smart kid in a school filled with would be criminals. Good grades don’t matter to them. He was most likely given trouble for being ‘weak’ and ‘nerdy’. Although Jason did look like he could handle anything they tried to throw at him. It makes sense why he’d hate the top dogs of the school.
That did nothing to stop Dick’s growing fascination with the scholarship student.
It was the beginning to become very noticeable or so his friends said. They took any and every chance they could to make fun of him for his ‘crush’. He’d argue that it was just taking interest, but he eventually caved and admitted that it was a crush when he found himself gushing about how pretty Jason’s eyes were.
That didn’t make the mocking stop either. If anything it got worse.
And so, he was destined to watch from afar as Jason was tormented. Jason never rose to the bait, but that didn’t stop Dick from worrying that one day he would. It had been a month already and the insults had only gotten worse. “Hey criminal” one of the other group of popular people (he was a jock, the quarter back of their championship winning football team) called out as Jason passed. Arthur Gilbert was a tall guy, almost 6’1” tall. He had generic brown hair and eyes. His father was the CEO of a clothing company that had its main building in Gotham. He was bully who enjoyed tormenting people usually the nerds of the school.
He was one of Jason’s main tormentors and he’d been getting more and more frustrated every time Jason brushed him off without reacting. His barbs had been getting increasingly vicious. The week before he’d invented a cruel nickname. He’d begun calling Jason ‘criminal’ because that’s what ‘he’ll become’ according to statistics. Jason just sneers and walks way, but he can tell it’s beginning to get to him. Dick wants to help, but he doesn’t know what to do.
“How’s your mommy? I bet she committed suicide because she was so ashamed to have you for a son. I bet after your daddy walked out on both of you she kicked you out!” he said, very loudly. Everyone stopped talking and walking as soon as they saw Jason freeze. This is the first time he hadn’t just ignored an insult. He stood stock still, his back facing everyone.
Dick winced, that was a low blow and everyone knew it. The whole hallway was practically holding their breath, waiting impatiently for someone to say something. Dick wanted to intervene but Emily’s grip on his arm was like a vic. Jason slowly pivoted on his heel and sent a glare at Arthur. If looks could kill, Arthur would have been 6 feet under by now. “Gilbert, was it” Jason stated as he took a single step towards the group of jocks.
He wasn’t asking. He knew full well who the quarter back was. Dick got that awful feeling in his stomach. You know the feeling you get right before your teacher or a parent dresses you down and gives you a lecture. The feeling when you know you’re going to hear something bad, something you didn’t want to know.
“Why don’t you pat yourself on the back, you’ve hit the nail right on the head!” he said after a pause. Dick could pinpoint the exact moment when the blood began to drain from Arthur’s face, leaving it ashen and pale. A cruel smirk then begun to form on his face, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “My mother was a drug addict who overdosed when I was 9. Dad was never in the picture. You know what happens to a 9 year old in Crime Alley”. He said, almost playfully.
But then his smirk turned all that sharper as he continued, taking a couple more steps towards the group of jocks surrounding Arthur like guards. “Oh wait, you don’t. Your rich daddies protect you from the horrors of lower Gotham, all the while making our lives worse one ignorant teen at a time” his smile turned poisonous. “You’d do well not to say something like that to anyone else form Crime Alley. They won’t be nearly as polite as me!” he grinned, a smile that was all teeth, and then he swept out of the hall.
As soon as the sounds of his footfalls were no longer audible everyone unfroze and let out the breath they were holding. Dick shakily unlatched Emily from his arm. He was shaking lightly, even though he couldn’t exactly pinpoint why. Jason hadn’t raised his voice even once, and yet he couldn’t have been more terrifying in that moment. His smile held no kindness, only cruelty.
But it didn’t reach his eyes.
They’d been completely dead while he’d snapped at the jocks. Even Bruce who was an incredibly closed off man held more emotion in his eyes. Jason had completely shut down all of his emotions. And that made Dick so incredibly sad. What had Jason been through that he needed to learn how to shut down like that? They were only 15, they shouldn’t have to do that.
And that’s when everyone began calling Jason the Ice Prince. Prince, being meant to mock his status is life, but also his superior attitude. What a pair they would make, the Golden Boy and the Ice Prince.
And so life goes on. Jason continued to get used to life at Gotham Academy and Dick continued to watch from afar. Although apparently he hadn’t been paying all that much attention lately because he was completely shocked when he heard that Jason had screamed at the principal. After the whole incident with Arthur, Jason had been even more careful with how he acted. To hear he lost control was very surprising.
When he question people, no one seemed to know why Jason yelled and then stormed out of the office – although that second part was pure speculation because everyone had run in fear due to his voice actually being above the usual level of sound. He supposes it surprised a lot of people that Jason had an outdoors voice.
“Omgomgomg!” Sylph gushed as soon as she saw Dick about a week after the whole ‘Jason screaming’ incident had gone down. Nothing seemed to have happened, so both Sylph and Emily rushing towards him and gushing about someone was odd. He raised his hands in a placating gesture and requested that they slow down and go one at a time.
Sylph took a deep breath before beginning again. “You know how Jason screamed at the principal?” Dick nodded and gestured for her to continue. “Well I know why. It turns out that Jason had only then been informed about the fact that you have to join a club. Guess what club he chose? The musical theatre club!” she shrieked gleefully.
“Really? Wow… don’t you have to audition to get in thought? What did he audition with?” Dick raised an eyebrow in a poor imitation of Alfred, the ever faithful English butler. Despite many hours of his day being dedicated to stalking Jason, he has no idea what Jason would even audition for. He just didn’t seem like the type to join musical theatre.
This is where Emily butted in. “At first I thought he was going to audition for back stage crew, because come on, what else is he going to do? But the he started undressing –“ she cut herself off to slap Dick upside the head for drooling. “Not like that you pervert! He removed his blazer and tie for ease of movement. And then he began his monologue.”
“He did Velma’s monologue from Chicago’s Cell Block Tango and the following chorus” Sylph practically squealed. That fact caught the attention of the rest of the group of friend. “His dancing and singing were flawless! It was like he was a completely different person!” Emily continued.
Miranda looked skeptical, arguing that the choreography is too difficult to properly sing, but she was shot down by Jeremy. “I’ve heard you sing Miranda, but your set of pipes have nothing on this guy. He projected across the auditorium while doing flips and splits. The confidence… it was something else.” He drifted off. “It was something that you had to see to believe.”
Now Miranda looked annoyed. “Please, you just don’t know what true talent is. I doubt he’s actually as good as you say he is” she huffed. Everyone rolled their eyes. Crazy Miranda strikes again. Ever since she’d watched glee she’d been obsessed with one Rachel Berry. She seemed to think that if she emulated her, then her life would be just as successful. (She’d been ecstatic when she found out Dick was gay and a decent singer because he could be the Kurt to her Rachel. Dick wisely said nothing about it and let her have her fantasy).
The group just went with it. It made life easier.