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Stephanie Brown was actually, truly, excited for the spring semester. Her classes were interesting and things with her… nightlife… had calmed down now that Bruce was back. She didn’t have to patrol every night now, she could switch off with Tim and actually get her homework done on time. Thank god. Spring semester was going to be her bitch.
Today was the first day of a totally new class at Gotham U that Stephanie had signed up for immediately when she saw it on the register. “Ghosts, Spirits, and Anthropology” was exciting! That was fun, that was joyous, and it knocked out a sociology credit. It was great. Stephanie loved ghosts!
For once, Stephanie got to class early, and she sat not quite in the front, but closer than usual. This was one of the smaller classrooms, there were only like 20 people in this class. When it was 5 minutes til starting time, the professor walked in, and Stephanie unconsciously shuddered as the feeling of being watched washed over her. It was a familiar feeling. It was the one Stephanie got when Oracle crackled in her ear, when Tim stalked her across the rooftops, when Bruce knew her every move before she even fucking made it. Why was she feeling that now, in school? Tim promised not to bother her here unless it was an emergency, and after a quick glance to the windows there wasn’t the glint of a camera lens or a black smudge in the shadows that was ever so slightly human.
Whatever. She turned her gaze back to the professor, one ‘Jonathan Sims’ as the register had said. He had long hair with streaks of gray, and he looked weary and tired in the way many Gothamites did. He was definitely an Outsider, though. She could smell it on him. He had a litany of interesting scars, large circles covered his face and there was a burn mark on his hand in the shape of a hand. Intriguing.
The clock struck 1pm, and Jonathon Sims was organizing the papers on his desk as the other students straggled in. At 1:10, he cleared his throat, and 20 college students turned to face him. It wasn’t quite a compulsion, but there was something captivating about Jonathan Sims that stole Stephanie’s breath away. She was sure that nobody else had noticed, but she was trained to spot things like this. She’d have to keep a close eye on her new professor. Shucks, she wanted a chill class for once.
“Erm, hello class,” he intoned after an awkward pause. “My name is Jonathan Sims, but please just call me Jon. I use he/him pronouns. I’ll be your professor this semester for Ghosts, Spirits, and Anthropology. Thank you for being here. In a moment I’ll pass out the syllabus, and photocopies of the readings due next week, and I’ll go over the course requirements and expectations.”
He was English! Stephanie knew he wasn’t from Gotham, she was too good at this whole detective thing. Everything seemed pretty normal so far, though. Whatever was lightly compelling her to hang off his every word faded as soon as he stopped commanding attention, which was nice of him. A thick stack of papers made its way around the room, and Stephanie paged through the course calendar to get a feel for the homework load. It didn’t look too bad, lots of readings and notes, a few quizzes, but only one big essay. Her professor could be an eldritch horror so long as he didn’t give her too much homework.
“Right. Um, let’s go around the room and do introductions so you don’t get too used to the sound of my voice,” a few awkward laughs rang out, “Let’s do your name, pronouns, and why you took this class.”
Dutifully, everyone went around the room to introduce themselves. When it was Steph’s turn, Jon set his piercing gaze onto her. He made unnerving eye contact, goddamn. “I’m Stephanie Brown, I use she/her, and I’m here ‘cause I think the occult is neat!” Jon kept Looking at her, though. Longer than the other students, she was sure of it. A ghost of a smile graced his face, and then the person next to Steph introduced themself.
Whatever. The rest of class passed fast, Jon just yapped at them about doing the readings because they would have discussions about them every week, etc etc etc.
“On the research essay, this is the one essay you will be writing for me this semester. It’s a long research essay, and I’ll be having you all do first person observational research. Start thinking about paranormal topics where you can go to a site or find an artifact in a local museum to observe. I want you all going out and looking at the world. I’ll have individual meetings with everyone in the middle of February to help narrow down your topics and help plan out how you’ll get your research,” Jon said in a very serious tone. “And, if you’re thinking about doing your project on Batman and his ilk, perish the thought,” he added with a smirk. Half of the class groaned, but Jon was definitely staring at Stephanie. Oh god. He had been staring straight at her when he said that.
It was fine, this was fine, Jon literally couldn’t know. Stephanie was careful, Barbara was careful, Bruce was Bruce, this was totally and completely legit fine. Steph was overthinking it, she was in the center near the front. Jon seemed awkward, he probably just made accidental eye contact and she was overthinking it. Stephanie ignored the fact that his eyes glowed a little when he had been looking at her. For her sanity.
Class went quickly after that, and Jon let them go 30 minutes early. Stephanie packed up a little more slowly than her usual ‘throw everything into her bag and run’, and then she was alone with the strange and off-putting man.
“You know,” He said, looking up at her briefly from where he was packing up. “If you ever need an extension for… night related activities, shoot me an email Stephanie. And even if you know the people involved, you still can’t do a project on Batman.”
Stephanie gaped. Fuck this guy, honestly. “And what if I wanted to do my project on the thread of common hallucinations that people see when exposed to fear gas long term?” She refused to admit that she was totally thinking of interviewing Babs at first.
Jon raised an eyebrow. “If you can get me data that isn’t from the… the Batcomputer? Horrible name, but if you can get plausible observational evidence on your own, go for it.”
Stephanie sniffed haughtily. “I will, good day! If you get kidnapped, don’t expect me to save you,” She called over her shoulder as she sped walked out of the room.
She heard Jon laugh before she was out of earshot. Horrible little man. Stephanie couldn’t wait for next week.