Ghost King Meets Batman

Roman Eagles

[Edited April 25, 2023]

In the time between lunch and dinner, Nico worked on his homework. That's right, homework. Bruce had gotten him enrolled in online courses that he could take at his own pace. The courses came from Gotham Academy, so he would be learning the same sorts of things the other boys were, but at a much slower pace. This would also allow him to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. 

To avoid the computer itself, Bruce would print off all the materials for him to complete and download audio versions of the textbooks that he could play without having to connect to the internet. Once a week Alfred would take him by the school with Tim, Damian, and Dick so he could drop his work at the main office to be graded later that week. He hated it, but it was a necessary evil and his brothers made sure everyone left him alone in the short time he was there.

His random appearances on campus once a week sparked up a lot of rumors among the students. Many said that he has like a rabid animal, unsafe to let into the general population. Others theorized that Bruce was just trying to make sure Nico wouldn't open up about the various random wounds they'd all sometime wind up with. Still, others claimed that he wasn't in school because he was an emotional wreck and couldn't cope with his family's deaths. There were more rumors, but those are the ones that most people seemed to subscribe to, according to his brothers. 

Nico didn't mind the rumors, since he wasn't there for them to affect him. However, it seemed to bother the other boys a great deal. Nico knew that they had each dealt with the same sorts of rumors when they had each joined the family, so he guessed they were more sensitive to it. He would sometimes hear about the rumors from the other boys who had taken it upon themselves to defend him. 

Nico was pretty sure those rumors were sticking with the faculty too. The guidance counselor there always tried to set him up with free therapy sessions, on-campus classes, and tutoring in the few minutes he was in the building and Nico always refused. She stopped after Bruce had a talk with her at a parent-teacher conference. It wasn't until later that Nico realized that it had probably been a ploy to try and pry out some abuse story from him without Bruce or his brothers there.

Nico had never wanted to go to school or continue his education, but it had been a compromise with Bruce who had wanted him to attend in-person schooling. Nico had adamantly refused to go into the school, considering he didn't want to accidentally blow up Gotham Academy. Despite the danger and how nightmarish his academic history was Bruce still insisted that he get some form of education. So far, Nico had hated it, but he understood why Bruce was making him do it. 

Number one, he legally had to attend school, it was part of the foster agreement. Secondly, it would reflect poorly on the Wayne family if he didn't and that might affect the company. The last reason and the biggest one in Bruce's mind, is because having an education is important. He wouldn't listen to any arguments to the contrary, so Nico was in school. 

He'd taken a placement test and he'd been behind several grades, which wasn't surprising considering the last school he'd attended long enough to learn anything had been in the 1930s. At least with online school, it didn't matter where he started. It wasn't like he was stuck in a classroom with kids a lot younger than him. That would have been awful. It would have been one more thing for the people in the school to make fun of him for.

Bruce had told him that he'd be happy as long as he maintained a C or better in all of his classes and Nico figured that was probably a realistic goal. All he had to do was pass. He could do that, right? With the accommodations Bruce had managed to get him, and with his brothers offering to help tutor him in their best subjects, Nico should be able to maintain at least a C. That was the hope, anyway.