New story don't worry won't concentrate on it. (Patreon)

Story title: Act Like You Love Me (Might change that)

Chapter 1  (Rules)

Growing up in Gotham you learn to follow a few rules to the letter. If you did not take a single one of those rules seriously then you were likely to have your brain blasted out of your skull. It was natural selection at a rate to the visible eye. He could applaud it for its efficiency if he did not find himself having to follow those rules. Not to mention no one would tell you what you needed to know you just had to learn.

The first rule that he learned was, do not go in an alley. There may be literal thousands of alleys in this city but you do not step into them. You wanted to take a short cut? Don’t, you should have planned your route better. You wanted to throw out your trash in that convenient dumpster? Don’t, you should instead just drop it at the start of the alley it’s not like this city was clean to start with. You see some person on the ground and they look like they need help? Well if they wanted to live they should not have stepped into an alley. There are no exceptions if you stepped in an alley you might as well sign your death certificate.

Rule number two you do not go out at night. You were on your way home from your friend's house? Well, you should have stuck your ass back at their home. If they were a good friend they should have offered and insisted they you stayed. You wanted to check out that hot new nightclub? You fucking better not, are you Bruce Wayne? Why the fuck would you try to go to a club they would not let your broke ass in anyways. You hear screams for help right outside your door? Take whatever you got for defense and huddle your ass in a corner you might have your door broken down soon.

Rule number three, a friendly face is a deadly face. Some guy suddenly starts talking to you. That asshole was likely to get you hooked on drugs to get more for himself. That hot piece of ass in your class suddenly invited you out? Turn her down it was likely she was setting you up to get jumped and mugged. A kindly old man was handing out food to the less fortunate. The food was probably drugged and you would find your kidneys missing.

Rule number four, you don’t ask fucking questions. A man comes into a cafe and gives you twenty bucks to leave? You walk your ass out and try not to think about how the cafe is suddenly under new management. Police are closing off a street? You don’t want to know and if you find out you are likely to be implicated. You need directions to the local church and see a man in a suit? Fucking look for it yourself or go home. If that man is a businessman he was likely to spit on you and if he was not he would not appreciate questions.

That last one was what was relevant to his current situation. It was why he was standing in a courtyard holding god damn roses. It cost him his lunch for the week but he wanted this to go a certain way. He would bitch about the roses being too expensive but it was more likely that he was just that broke. Being an orphan in Gotham did that to you. Unless your parents get murdered in front of you then Bruce Wayne adopts you. Fucking lucky bastard.

The eyes of everyone in the courtyard were not helping his nerves. He lived his life on taking the least amount of risks possible. It was how he managed to live as a fucking orphan. So to have everyone’s eyes on him was really rattling him. Did they have nothing else to do but watch his dumbass? Who was he kidding they were teenagers of course, they had nothing better to do.

He got it. He made a rather striking image. He was wearing his uniform but this fancy ass prep school had them dressed swanky. His shoulder length hair was picture perfect and he had striking amber eyes that bordered gold. He had one thing he could thank his good for nothing parents for he was hot. Even if that sometimes made it harder to go under the radar sometimes. So to see him standing there with roses of all things had everyone intrigued.

There was not a lot going on here after all. This was a school and only the rich and academically inclined could end up here. The public courtyard was not the home of the second generation tossers so the rest of the kids around him were scholarship students. He was not one of the rich kids and he barely managed to worm his way into a scholarship. It took countless sleepless nights of studying but the school offered boarding so he had to go here. The older you got the more likely you were to disappear in the orphanage. Not that the young kids were safe either but that was more a problem for the girls. Another thing he really did not want to think about.

Finally the target of his decided to show up. She was a beautiful girl which automaticaly meant he should avoid her. If you were hot you tended to do dumb shit here and god who knows who was attracted to her. So it was usually safer to avoid girls like this. She was unlikely to do dumb shit as she was the daughter of Commissioner Gordan so she was safe on that front. Not that her being an actual good human being would have him talking to her. He very much liked not being shot at.

Being that hot had bad things happening he should know. Barbara was a tight little thing. She had her bright red hair tied in a pony tail. She had a toned body that was built off of her years of gymnastics or it might have been the karate. She was highly athletic and a certified genius. With everything she had going for her she was a hot piece of meat that everyone wanted a piece of. Which meant he usually avoided her like the plague.

Still, even if he did not want to do what he was about to do he would do it. He was not asking questions and the reward for doing this was far too tempting. So as the young red-headed girl walked through the courtyard with her nose in a book he approached.

The chattering of the crowd grew in intensity as he grew closer. Barbara may not have been looking where she was going but she had an amazing sense about things. She avoided everything around her without looking up from her book but as he got closer the chattering reached its peak. So she looked up.

The sight he made must have shocked her as she froze. She looked over at him with confusion alight on her face. She had never seen him before after all. So him appearing in front of her holding roses was not something she was expecting. Before she could question exactly what was going on he acted.

He locked gazes with her and moved to hand her the roses.

“I like you Barbara would you go out with me?” He spoke out softly with his cheeks blazing. Not because he was flustered but because he was having trouble holding his excitement.

At his question the girl looked stunned. Again this was not something she was expecting from today. Even if she was stunned she acted quickly. It must have been that bullshit IQ she had.

“Umm look I’m flattered and everything but I don’t even know your name.” She spoke out hastily. She was a proper sort of girl and his good looks were not enough to win her over sadly. It sucked and it meant he spent his lunch money for no reason but this outcome was okay.

“My name is Aster Moore. You may not know me yet but I will keep confessing to you till you say yes.” He spoke out softly with a blinding smile on his face. His eyes were full of light that showcased his determination.

She blushed slightly as he still refused to remove his gaze from hers but she chose to look away first. It was a shame she had pretty eyes and he heard getting someone to love you was all about eye contact. Still, even if she did not fall for him it did not matter. He did not care if she turned him down forever. Her being his girlfriend was never the prize in the first place.

[Congradulations on making your first confession! Sadly it failed but do not fret your fragile heart keep trying young man! To tide you over here is the consolation prize!]

[Peak human conditioning.]

[Would you like to open your prize?]

The whole reason he was doing this whole act. He had no idea where this thing fucking came from but he was completely fine with it. It sucked that he did not get the prize for her accepting his confession as being a Gadget Tinker sounded like something rare. He was just going to have to accept a mere peak human conditioning. How that worked out he had no idea but he was not fucking asking questions.