Chapter Text
The first day of elementary school is never easy, for parents and children alike, but after going through this twice before, one would think Bruce would be a bit more composed.
“Dad, you’re crying more than Tim is,” Dick sighs, holding his little brother’s hand.
Jason is on Tim’s other side, similarly holding his hand and looking mildly bored as he watches their dad sob his heart out.
“We’re gonna be late,” he complains.
“Okay, just a second, boys,” Bruce sniffles as he fumbles with his camera.
They stand side by side in front of the main gate of the elementary school, waiting for their dad to snap his photos before they can finally go to class.
Tim is shaking like a leaf, absolutely terrified about his first official day of first grade.
Being the baby, at least until Damian came along, he’s been pampered and adored by his dad and big brothers for as long as he can remember, especially because of his naturally cute and timid disposition.
He’s always been smaller than his peers and his quiet demeanor makes him a prime target for bullies, so his family is ultra protective of him, his big brothers in particular.
“It’s okay, Timmy,” Dick reassures with a kind smile. “If anything happens, Jay’s a few doors down in Mrs. Watson’s class and I’m right across the street, okay?”
“Okay,” Tim mumbles, tightening his grip on his brothers’ hands.
They manage to get him to enter his classroom with the help of his friendly teacher, Ms. Tracy, and with a final hug and wave goodbye, Jason books it to his classroom down the hall and Dick rushes across the street to the middle school. Bruce simply trudges back to the car and sits in silence for a while, wondering where the time has gone.
Tim is seated in the third row from the front right next to the big window. His only neighbor is a slightly taller boy with curly black hair and bright blue eyes. He wears a grumpy frown, but Tim thinks he’s kind of cute.
Recalling his brothers’ advice from the previous night, he takes a moment to find courage before taking the leap.
“Hi,” he whispers awkwardly.
The boy glares at him out of his peripheral, clearly not looking for conversation. Tim is anxious and afraid but he persists.
“I– I’m Tim,” he says with a little bit more confidence. “What’s, um, what's your name?”
“Kon,” the boy begrudgingly mumbles after nearly a full minute of silence.
Tim lights up, just happy to have received a response. His attention is drawn away from Kon before he can continue when class officially begins.
“Okay, class! Who’s excited for first grade with Ms. Tracy!”
Half the class cheers enthusiastically while the other remains crying for their parents. It’s a mess, but Tim feels much better knowing he’s already made a friend.
At recess and lunch and breaktime and any other free time they’re given, Tim talks to his new friend. Kon largely ignores his attempts at creating conversation, but the few times he replies are enough to keep Tim motivated.
“Do you like crayons or colored pencils more?”
“...”
“I like colored pencils, but I like crayons more than markers, I think. My big brother says colored pencils are better for shading. I don’t really know what that means, though. Do you draw a lot?”
“...”
“What do you like to do at home? I like to watch TV.”
“...”
“Do you read comic books?”
“Yes.”
“Cool! What kind? I like The Adventures of Captain Bat!”
“...Me too.”
“Wow, really?!”
“...”
“What about Super Fairies? Do you like that one too?”
“That one's for girls…”
Tim frowns, slightly discouraged. “It doesn’t have to be for girls…” He continues anyway. “I can bring you my copy so you can read it! It’s really good, I promise.”
When Kon doesn’t reply, he changes the subject, trying his best to keep the conversation going.
“Um, what about your favorite food?”
“...”
“I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Do you?”
“Yeah…”
“What kind of peanut butter is your favorite?”
“I like… creamy peanut butter.”
“Me too!”
By the end of the day, Tim has learned that Kon is an only child, his favorite color is blue, he has a pet dog, his birthday is in June, he throws with his left hand, and he hates mustard.
All things considered, it’s a major win and Tim walks out of the classroom at two forty-five with a big smile on his face, excited to tell his brothers about his successful first day.
“Baby Bird, over here!” Jason calls from further down the crowded hallway. “How’d your first day go?” he asks when he finally reaches his little brother.
“I made a friend, Jay!” Tim says excitedly.
“That’s great! Oh man, Dick’s gonna flip out when you tell him, literally,” Jason laughs. Their brother’s acrobatic tendencies never got old to them.
He hides his relief, not wanting to show Tim how worried he’d been. In all honesty, he spent nearly the entire day wondering if his little brother was doing okay, completely missing everything that was discussed in class.
While every member of the family looks out for Tim, Jason is, undoubtedly, the most protective, likely because of their closeness in age and differences in personality. If Tim is the quiet, timid one, Jason is the loud, confident one. Opposites attract and all that.
They wait an extra fifteen minutes by the playground playing a modified version of four square and talking about movies rankings while they wait for Dick to get out of school.
At three ten sharp, Dick arrives.
“Greet my arrival, my dutiful minions,” he shouts, failing to suppress his cheeky grin as he opens his arms wide.
Tim giggles and runs to jump in his arms while Jason rolls his eyes and lags behind carrying Tim’s backpack and lunchbag for him.
“Guess what, Ducky?!”
Dick smiles at his brother as he stops spinning him around. He adores Tim’s nickname for him, even if it was born out of him being unable to say ‘Dickie’ properly as a toddler.
“You finally beat Jay at four square?” he guesses as they begin making their way to the front gate.
“As if!” Jason calls from behind.
“Hmmm, there was a frog in your lunchbox? No, no, a snake!” he tries again, grinning in satisfaction at Tim’s hysterical laughter.
“Nope, try again!” Tim cackles.
“Jay wet his pants?” That earns him a lunchbox to the head from behind followed by various complaints from the second eldest.
Tim simply shakes his head, unable to put together a proper sentence through his giggles at this point.
Out of ideas, Dick turns to Jason as he catches up with them.
“Starts with ‘F’ ends with ‘riend’,” Jason begrudgingly supplies.
As expected, Dick explodes with excitement, setting Tim down and cartwheeling across the lawn while whooping like a lunatic. Jason, ever an enjoyer of chaos, runs after him, doing his own silly flips and hollering like he just won the lottery.
More than anything, the two of them enjoy making Tim laugh, and they are often willing to go to the extreme to see him smile. It’s something they’ve had many years to perfect and, frankly, take great pride in.
They finally calm down and return to the gate to collect their younger brother from where he’s crumpled to the floor in laughter.
Bruce picks them up ten minutes later, running late because of meetings and traffic, and they stop by for ice cream to celebrate each of their first days of school before heading home.
First grade continues to go smoothly for Tim as he makes more friends and learns vocabulary and grammar and geography and arithmetic. Above all else, he has fun.
That is, until the beginning of the new year.
‘He’s pretty.’
These are the first words that pop into Kon’s mind the moment he sees Tim for the first time.
Four months later, and they’re still the first words he thinks of whenever he sees Tim. He’s pretty and kind and funny and Kon likes to be near him, to talk to him, to laugh with him.
He is six years old and he is overwhelmed by his big feelings.
It’s a miracle that he was sat next to someone so friendly on the first day of elementary school, otherwise he’s convinced he wouldn’t have made a single other friend.
He had showed up to school grumpy that day after seeing everyone else saying goodbye to their parents while he only had his grandparents. While he loves his grandparents more than anything, he can’t help feeling bitter whenever he sees other kids having fun with their parents.
But despite his grouchy mood, Tim hadn’t given up on him like some of the other kids had, continuously asking questions and interacting with him as if there was nothing wrong with the way he was acting.
From that point on, Kon knew he liked Tim. To what extent, he wasn’t quite sure yet, but he knew with absolute certainty he wanted his attention at all times.
At first it was fine, just the two of them floating through first grade together as best friends, but then Tim started to make other friends and play games with other kids during recess sometimes.
Something about Tim being pulled away by others made Kon feel uneasy and strange, an uncomfortable feeling growing in his stomach every time he joined another group for freeze tag or chose to draw with his girl friends instead of playing soccer with him or ate with someone else at lunch.
The first time he upsets Tim, it’s by complete accident, but it gets the ball rolling regardless.
It’s the second week back from winter break and they’re in their newly assigned seats, Kon, unfortunately, seated on the opposite side of the room to Tim.
Ms. Tracy has them water coloring as their end-of-day activity, and upbeat music drifts through the surprisingly quiet classroom, each student hyperfocused on their painting, save for a few rowdy children.
With Tim seated right by the materials table, Kon makes as many trips to change his water cup and grab new brushes and collect more paper towels as possible, just for a chance to talk to him.
He’s never been great at being the first to engage in conversation, Tim being the friendlier of the two of them, so he’s often resorted to forcing him to make the first move by strategically placing himself nearby or within his line of sight.
This time, though, it doesn’t go quite as planned, and on his fifth trip to the materials table, he accidentally stumbles and drops his entire cup of murky water onto Tim’s painting.
Silence engulfs the classroom as Tim stares up at him in shock.
The first thing Kon feels is guilt at ruining his friend’s artwork. The second thing he feels is elation at having his full attention.
Overwhelmed with many conflicting emotions, his brain doesn’t quite register Tim’s attention as ‘negative’ attention and he fully leans into his newfound strategy.
“Oops, sorry about that,” he says sarcastically, trying to drag out this interaction as much as possible.
Tim just looks up at him with hurt in his eyes.
Kon frowns at the unexpected response. He had anticipated Tim would shout at him or even try to hit him, mainly because that’s what he would do if someone had ruined his painting, so he is dumbfounded when Tim bursts into tears.
Before he’s able to apologize properly, he’s guided away by the teaching assistant while Ms. Tracy tends to Tim.
Although he feels lousy, it’s better than the uncomfortable feeling he gets whenever Tim ignores him, whether on purpose or by accident.
After this incident, Tim remains somewhat distant, which only causes Kon to employ his ‘Upset Tim for Attention’ strategy with more enthusiasm.
For the remaining half of first grade, he commits to bothering Tim for attention by pushing him around, calling him names, pulling his hair, and messing with his homework, knowing how seriously he takes his schoolwork.
Not once does it work in his favor, but he doesn’t give up, determined to make Tim like him by being as mean as he can possibly be.