Batboys x Reader

Penguins (Tim Drake x Reader)

Hi! Here's another story for you all. This was requested by @Cottoncandy10121 and uses prompt 18 ("I didn't know what to say, so I started talking about my vast knowledge of penguins."). I hope you enjoy! Xoxo

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(Y/N) Pov

Our classroom is so warm after the wintry chill outside. The teacher must have stayed late last night, yesterday it was all about autumn and now it's the holiday season everywhere I look. I pause, suddenly feeling lighter, a smile spreading over my face like it belongs there. I take my jacket off and place on the back of my seat, my cheeks still rosy. The air has a cinnamon perfume and already the room is mostly full.

But that doesn't matter to me at all...

My stomach is empty and my mind is already focused on lunch. I don't want to learn any more. So please, for the love of God, let us leave. My mom just left me behind and the rent overdue. My uncle said I'm a loser like my father... Oswald Cobblepot. The world is fucked up real bad and Scarecrow's Alliance has got their eyes on me due to father. Learning all this is pointless when I'm out on the streets. But alas, I've learned to take my desire to put her head through that wall and make something calm. I've been told that as a teacher, you learn how to love your students like a good mother, whatever the hell that is. To learn how to get into your student's headspace, meet the student for who they are and not tell them to meet the neat printed government bull crap standards. Because if the teacher doesn't I'm gonna take a fist full of this anger and pain, this fear that's been sitting in me since I don't even remember when, and I'm gonna shove it right in her face. Then when I'm done she'll hate me like all the others. All the others. All of them with their judging eyes from their comfortable lives with those that love them. 

Except for Tim...

There is something about Tim that draws me to him. He is a good looking guy, but it is more than that. He is quiet, but not out of painful shyness. He isn't stand-offish, he remains friendly faced and welcoming, even when he looks completely exhausted. There is nothing threatening about him, nothing at all. He is an easy listener, a good audience, giving encouraging feedback laced with intelligent comments. He works hard, never giving up until the job is done. He is someone I will always admire.

Tim sits in the corner, he stares at me with eyes that tell me he wasn't expecting my company, honestly, I didn't realise I picked the seat next to him until I have seated myself. His lips almost move then his eyes dart to the frayed laces of his runners. I want to know what he was going to say but it's just not a good idea. I lazily lower my head into my crossed arms, closing my eyes for a second. Then everyone else joins us, ah, let the bullying begin. Most students sit in their seats while others stand around and gossip. Even when I sit quietly Heather Chandler, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara seek me out, sidling up for their next power fix. They feed off me like an aphid on new spring growth, leaving energized and buzzing as I feel drained and tense. They are my bullies, but to me they are more like parasites, boosting themselves at a cost to others. I can't be that way, I boost myself by being kind and thoughtful. And so even though I come off worse every time in the eyes of our peers, I'd rather be me than become like them or like my father. 

"You're sitting in my seat fish-freak," Heather Chandler announces.

"Am I? Huh, weird. I didn't see anyone's name on it. " I reply.

"Move skank!" She demands.

"Wow, such an original insult! That almost made me feel victimized!" I sarcastically remark.