Fit in with the Misfits

[ubi_es_caelum]

Title: Stephanie
Characters: Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown
Rating: G
Genre: High School AU
Summary: Tim meets Steph Brown.
Notes: If it wasn't clear, I fucking love Steph Brown. Fight me, bruh.

2.

At least the chemistry room seemed the same. There were long black tables with the gas spouts mounted in the top. The periodic table on the wall gave Tim a point of reference and in the back the stacked lab spaces and cabinets full of chemicals was reassuring. He paused at the back of the room, eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out where he would sit, finally deciding on the second table from the back that was currently empty, the others filling with pairs of kids. The teacher at the front of the class was a simply dressed salt and pepper haired man with thick glasses and goggles hanging around his neck. The other kids seemed to be a riot of different colored flannel and brightly colored cotton t-shirts. The girls were all varying shades of bottle blond with one black haired girl tucked quietly next to the wall with her nose in a book. Towards the front the tables were filled, leave it to a small town to make the back of the classroom where the awkward kids sat while the bright toothpaste commercial smiles and impossibly broad shouldered boys sat near the front. Tim had a moment to wonder if the size was due to some sort of genetic therapy before remembering that most of Smallville's farms were strictly organic.

He sighed, sitting on the empty stool and relegating himself once again into acceptance over his smaller size. He slipped his bag off his shoulders, bending over as the bell rang again to unzip.

There was a bluster of noise at the door, the quick patter of sneakers on tile and the heavy sound of someone skidding into the seat next to him, followed by the subtle scent of floral deodorant and strawberry shampoo. Tim straightened, turning to the direct gaze of the round face freckled blonde who had her chin propped up on her hand, chewing her gum idly and staring at him. "Hiya."

"Um, hello." Tim moved the heavy chemistry book and his spiral bound notebook onto the table in front of him, lining the edges neatly before setting the mechanical pencil at a perfect right angle to the top and settled his fingertips on the cover.

"This is where you introduce yourself," the girl said, leaning over to stage whisper at Tim and bump him with her shoulder. Tim had always been of the opinion that certain shades of purple were not fit to be worn in public, and yet this girl had layered a lavender tank top with an eggplant colored sweat top with a dark indigo bra under all of that. She was average sized with a slight farmer tan that was clustered with cinnamon colored freckles over the backs of her wrists, the tops of her shoulders, and the bridge of her nose. He had a moment to wonder idly if they were along her collarbones too before he shook his head. He blinked, flushing darkly and tore his eyes up from the strap that was peaking out on freckled shoulders to hold her gaze in the steady fashion perfected by teenage boys over the years when confronted with a pretty girl with a great rack. She was waiting, blue eyes that strange cornflower color that he'd only seen in magazines.

Tim had a moment of helpless internal flailing that this wasn't much better. "What?"

The girl tilted her head at him, patting him gently on the shoulder the way a Grandmother would pat a particularly slow grandchild. "Let's try this again? Yeah?" She held out her hand. "Steph. Steph Brown." She grinned, nose wrinkling adorably as she grabbed his hand and shook once before tugging him closer with a surprisingly strong grip. "Spoilers. We're going to be friends. Deal with it, new kid."

"Tim," he corrected, smiling quick and bland before pulling his hand back and narrowing his eyes at her for a moment. "You're not one of those popular girls who lures the geeky new kid into some sort of false sense of security that gets his ass kicked when their jock boyfriend takes offense, right?"

Steph laughed, loud and brassy, shaking her head with a delightful fall of honey blond hair and tossed him a look. "Oh, I'm keeping you."

"That... um, that doesn't really answer the question." Tim swallowed, looking around like he was sizing up the potential threat of each corn fed boy in the classroom.

The girl- Steph- folded her arms over the tie dyed backpack and turned her head to watch him. "Please, I've known these guys since they were licking each other in kindergarten because they liked the taste of paste." She rolled her eyes. "Nothing says hello I would like to smoosh my face with your face quite like remembering them crying when you stole their GI Joes." She grinned, poking him in the arm. "You want to smoosh faces, Tim-the-new-kid?"

"Uh." Tim felt himself go impossibly red, turning his face back to the front where the teacher had started writing on the board with a scratch of chalk. Honest to God- chalk.

To his left, Stephanie laughed and buried her face against the backs of her arms before pulling out her notebook and settling in to take notes. "Teasing, new kid. Don't worry."

Tim exhaled, rubbing his face and slanting her a slightly bemused smile, small and quiet. "Okay."

Steph tapped her pencil against his notes, eyes crinkling at the corners. "That's totally Cassie, anyway. In every cheerleading squad there's the popular one, the nice one, and the quiet one. I'm the nice one."

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" Tim whispered, keeping track of the balancing of chemical equations easily. They'd studied this last year.

Steph nodded solemnly, her own notes a scrawl of doodles and looping handwriting. "Most likely."

"Good to know."

"I'm here to help, Timbo."

There was a long pause where Tim completely forgot to keep track of the teacher's voice, just turning to stare at her profile in disbelief. "Um. Please don't ever call me that again."

Steph snickered, moueing her mouth and nodding in understanding. "Got it, Timmy."

"I should just take my losses on this, shouldn't I?"

"See, I knew you were quick. You have that look." Tim ducked his head, going back to his notes and smiling quietly.

"I think you might just be right," he whispered, pitching his voice quiet to carry between them as the teacher spoke. "I think we are going to be friends."

Steph smiled back, blatant and uncaring of the way she just commanded attention. "Yes, good. Sit with me at lunch."

The classroom quieted down, moving into the slow lull of chemistry with the bored patience of the half asleep. Tim made sure to only raise his hand once and only answer questions when asked directly. Somehow, he still got a black glare from a blond boy near the front and ducked his head. At least some things never changed. He'd have to be more careful here than he had at Gotham High 2325.