Avoiding Past And Future

(66) Intermediate

November 2

Danny groaned as he stretched out, back refusing to crack in the satisfying way he craved as his shoulders popped with relief. Dick didn't look like he was doing any better but there was no moving until the page of homework was done. Selina had decided to crack down on their schooling, mostly Dick's as he had been actively skipping school for nearly a month now. Danny had it a tiny bit easier, going through Dick's older work and doing some remedial stuff to make sure he was able to keep up with the kids at Gotham Academy at the very least.

Selina hummed as she looked over Danny's work. With every crossed out word, Danny grew more nervous. Sure, English wasn't their first language, and English itself was just 3 languages in a crappy trench coat, but he couldn't have gotten that bad after not being in school for nearing 2 years, right?

He tried to distract himself, wobbling back and forth after Alfred decided giving him a spinning chair was a horrible idea. He had done his best to stay on track with his age range but one can only do so much in solitary. Not like Selina would actually be harsh in her corrections. She hadn't been the entire time she decided to take over supervising their schoolwork.

"Danny?" Selina asked softly, making Danny stress just a tad bit more as he snapped back to reality. He already had come to know that specific tone. The one where she wants to ask something personal and is trying to keep it lighthearted. After going at it for 3 hours already, this really couldn't mean anything good.

Danny hummed, idly scratching at his arm as the itch of energy tingled under his skin. Nervously sitting straighter again, Selina leaned forward with his paper. There were lots of corrections made, but none were actual wrongs. Missed words, forgotten letters, or letters just jumbled around were all marked in purple ink.

Selina waited until Danny looked over his paper himself, noticing his own mistakes. Giving the boy the chance to take the lead, she waited until Danny looked up at her before she asked what she'd been wondering for the entire tutoring session. "Have you ever been tested for dyslexia?"

Dick stilled, already knowing where this was going as Danny looked back down at his paper. "I have." The younger said, trying to help ease Danny's discomfort as he frowned at the mistakes he made. "Bruce had me tested pretty early on because Mrs. Thatcher refused to pass me for English without it because I kept making 'too many mistakes to be in her class'." He added the extra distain for that woman as he paused his math homework.

It's not like they needed reading or writing all that much when they were still growing up so it just went unnoticed until Dick got forced into premium standardized schooling.

Danny looked down, zoning out slightly as he thought back on Mr. Lancer making similar comments even though he was sure he didn't find any mistakes when looking over it himself. Or when he was studying with Mr. Wilcox and he'd sometimes add in a word Danny was sure he wrote. Or at least appeared in his brain as he was writing.

It wasn't even that he made any substantial mistakes, just arguably cosmetical issues that took half a braincell to understand what it should have been.

He shifted again, ignoring his aching joints in favor of trying to rid himself of the uncomfortable tension building up. Maybe being forced to sit still on a chair after failing to do so for most of their lives was not the best idea, but they had to get used to it again before going back to school after all.

Dick couldn't help but keep glancing over to his brother. Now that they're spending more quiet time together again, he's started to take note of some things being...different. Not a bad different but just some things having changed. He can't quite put his finger on it but watching his brother fight to stay visible, he can't help but wonder if it's just ghost related or not.