The Project •On Hold•

🐦 Chapter Sixteen 🐦

A/N: EDITING THIS SUCKS. I keep having to double the length of chapters. Only 3 chapters have been over 400 words! 3! Y'all better appreciate this!
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Dick wrapped up his math homework. It was Friday, so he was trying to get his weekend work out of the way. There was a knock on the door. "Come in!"

The butler, Alfred, opened it. "Master Bruce tells me to tell you to that it is time for supper."

"Ok." He put his pencil down and followed the butler. His brothers Jason and Tim tore down the stairs, running to the dining room. His littlest brother, Damian, walked over to him, following him and Alfred down the stairs. "Where's Cass?" He asked, suddenly noticing his missing sister.

"She's finishing her grammar schoolwork, Master Dick. According to your father's wishes, she can eat when she completes it."

Dick frowned. Cass was so severely dyslexic that she still couldn't read. There was no way that she would finish her work alone, much less in time to eat. He'd try to sneak some food from dinner. She needed to eat. She'd missed, like, five meals in the last week trying to do homework that was way too hard for her. Bruce insisted that she had no reason to be in special education, though she desperately needed to be. It wasn't like it was a bad thing that she needed extra help.

He sat at the table next to Bruce, eating a very tender roast beef. Truly, compliments to Chef Alfred. Jason and Tim were bickering as usual. Damian was eating more like a ten year old than a three year old.

In an unusual turn of events, Bruce's girlfriend Selina was visiting from Gotham. She was friendlier than Bruce by far, and was currently talking about her friend's daughter. She was apparently really smart, and had moved here within the last few months.

Dick suddenly perked up. "Are you talking about Artemis?!"

"So you know her?"

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine. She's cool."

"She really is." Selina smiled brightly.

Damian looked up. "I'm bored!"

"Damian, keep eating your food," Bruce said sternly.

"But I'm not hungry anymore!"

"Eat. It," Bruce practically growled.

"Bruce, he isn't hungry anymore," Dick said. "Let him off!"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you had better eat his food, too."

"Fine." He scraped Damian's food onto his plate. Perfect. He'd try to sneak the portion to Cass. Jason and Tim got second helpings, and the conversation was mostly kept going by Selina.

After Dick was done, he put his extras into a napkin that he slipped into his pocket. "May I be excused?"

Bruce nodded, only half-hearing.

"Of course!" Selina said. "It was nice seeing you again."

"You too, Selina! How long will you be in town?"

"I'm leaving Sunday night. I wish that I was here for pleasure, but it's for work."

"Will I see you again?"

"Hopefully. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" He hurried back upstairs. He gently knocked on the flowery door on the left. "Cass? I brought you dinner." He opened the door to find the eight year old wiping tears from her face.

"Oh, Cassie." He set down the napkin on her desk. "You eat this, I'll finish your work." She nodded slowly, her tiny hands passing the pencil to her big brother. Dick had long since perfected her messy handwriting. Her homework would never be finished otherwise. She took the food, alternately between eating it and wiping away tears.

Dick finished the work in less than two minutes. He set a kiss to the top of his sister's head, wiping the few straggling tears away. Finally, he was able to his room to work on his own English homework.