Batfamily x Neglected! Reader
Today was the day you would start your new internship. You were incredibly nervous, knowing how rare an opportunity it was for a high school junior to be offered an internship by the D.A of Gotham, but you resolved to do your best. Besides, based on how Mr. Dent described the internship in your further communications it would mainly be secretarial work. Mr. Dent described it as a way for you to get a taste for the field of law while still taking into account your limited background and experience. It also didn’t hurt that the internship would be a nice addition to your college applications
You appreciated the chance to explore a potential career path before the collegiate level, and refused to let him down. You had enrolled yourself in a few secretarial and business classes at Gotham Community College to help better prepare for the job, and all in all you think you succeeded. It was mainly light work like short hand or managing excel spreadsheets, but every little bit helps.
“Today’s the day, (y/n)” you repeated it like a mantra while staring into your bathroom mirror. You had been worrying about today ever since you first accepted Mr. Dent’s internship, but now the day was here and there was nothing you could do about it. You tucked your chin in and stared resolutely at your reflection in the mirror. “No more Wayne wallflower. Time to stand in your own two feet”
Having said this you nodded to yourself, gave yourself one last once over, and then headed out of the bathroom to grab your purse before leaving for the city.
The ride into the heart of Gotham was pretty quiet all things considered. Usually Alfred would drive you wherever you wanted to go, but this is something you wanted to do on your own merits, including transportation. It’s not taht you didn’t love him, but asking him to drive you would just draw unwanted attention to your internship like the judgement of your hellion of a brother Damian. The thought of your brother’s rotten personality made you laugh as you considered him taking public transportation like you are right now. The mental imagery of Damian on public transport with his arms crossed muttering threats under his breath for having to take the train had you snorting, but you tried to compose yourself so that you didn’t disturb the other passengers.
Despite how it may seem you didn’t hate your brother, or any of your siblings for that matter. However, you came to the conclusion a long time ago that there was no use in bending over backwards to cater towards people who wouldn’t do the same for you. You loved them out of a sense of familial obligation, but you didn’t crave their approval like when you were younger. Before you could sit with those thoughts a little longer the train pulled into your station, so you filed those thoughts away to consider later and got off the train with a new found sense of calm.
As you emerged from the subway you felt a small sense of accomplishment well up in you. A few weeks ago you would’ve never thought about applying for an internship, much less being handed one on a silver platter. A part of you felt bad that it had come to you so easy when you no there are other people who have to work much harder to even get a shot at the same opportunity, but at the same time the more selfish part of you couldn’t help but think of it as a reward from the universe for growing up in an emotionally stunted family. You chose to listen to the selfish part of you today. The doubt of whether or not you really deserved the internship could be saved for tomorrow. Today you would feel proud of yourself.
You walked a little further down the street, before arriving at the D.A’s office. You swallowed down your last bit of hesitation and walked into the building. You were immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people in the lobby. There were around twenty people in the room, which made you feel even more scrutinized than you thought you’d be. In your emails with Mr. Dent he told you to find his secretary, Charlene, and that she would be waiting for you by one of the grand staircases. After scoping out the lobby a little bit more you spotted a short, curly haired woman standing with her hands neatly folded near the left staircase. You assumed she was Charlene, so you cautiously approached her to ask where you were supposed to go from here.
“Um, hi, are you Charlene by any chance?” you watched as she seemed to snap out of a stupor and begin to acknowledge your question. She gave you a strained smile, and you couldn’t help but feel like a bother
“Yes I am. Are you (y/n)?” she asked. After getting a closer look she seemed like a no-nonsense woman in her late 30’s. She wore a dark black blazer with a forest green dress shirt and a matching pair of black slacks. She seemed very adult to you, which made you feel more self aware than when you walked in. You tried to straighten up your spine and present yourself as a little more mature before giving her a response, but it didn’t do anything to soothe your nerves.
“Yes, so I’m supposed to be working as an intern for Mr. Dent starting today?” you felt like a shrinking violet under Charlene’s gaze, and began wringing the strap of your purse with your hands to soothe your nerves. “In our emails he said to find his secretary, Charlene, in the lobby and that you would help me out?”
Charlene scrutinized you for a little bit longer, before seeming to soften a bit. You don’t know if she was just taking pity on the wisp of a girl who showed up in the lions den, but she gave you a warm smile before asking, “First internship?” you nodded embarrassed .
She gave you another small grin before saying “Don’t worry, Mr. Dent is a great boss, and your work wont be anything too intense. Just enough to give you a taste, but not sensitive enough that there will be serious consequences if you make a mistake.” She turned around and began gesturing at you to follow her up the stairs. “Let’s take you up to talk to Mr. Dent, and see what you’ll be doing for the day.”
You don’t know how she did it, but Charlene managed to ease your worries like they were never there to begin with. When you first started speaking with her you thought she was a little intimidating, but after talking to her more she seemed like a genuinely sweet but no nonsense woman who took her job seriously. Maybe it was her directness with you, but she made you feel like you were being acknowledged as a person independent from your last name.
As you walked through the building you couldn’t help but observe the workers as they went about their business. Men and women in suits going about their day with a confidence you couldn’t fathom. Even the attorneys who looked the most worn out still had this fire in their eyes that inspired a begrudging respect from you even though you didn’t know them.
Before long the two of you came to a stop in front of an office that read ‘Harvey Dent - D.A’ in bold white lettering on the door. Charlene turned her head and shot a grin to you before knocking on the door in front of you two and calling, “Harvey! You have a visitor!”
You heard some shuffling in the office, before hearing who you presumed was Mr. Dent respond,“Just a minute, Charlene!” there was some more movement from behind the door, before you heard the sound of footsteps approaching. You stepped back from the door at the exact moment Mr. Dent swung it open with excitement “Ms. (l/n)! What a pleasure to have you here with us today!” He turned to look at Charlene and shot her a blinding smile coupled with some puppy dog eyes before saying “You don’t mind giving us a moment before I release her back into your care do you?”
Charlene looked unimpressed with his antics, but eventually her lips quirked up slightly, and she said “Don’t scare the girl too much. I just convinced her you weren’t a circus monkey in disguise. Don’t make a liar of me now, Harvey”
Mr. Dent laughed before ushering me into his office. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Charlene” After we entered his office he looked around before closing the door, like he thought Charlene might still come around the corner to smack him if he wasn’t careful. “Thought she’d kill me for stealing her conversation partner” He leaned in to whisper in your ear conspiratorially “Now don’t tell her I told you this, but she has a huge soft spot for the interns.” He guided you to a chair in front of his desk, before moving to sit behind his desk. “Like a mama duck that one” Then with the most serious face ever he continued “So how about when lunch time comes and I wanna order the most unholy fast food combination possible from Bat Burger you ask instead of me” you couldn’t help but laugh at that. He started laughing too before saying “It’s not my fault, no matter how many ways I try to sneak it in it’s like she always knows!!”
The whole conversation was just so silly and ludicrous you couldn’t hold onto any of the anxiety you had earlier when you arrived. Between Charlene, and Mr. Dent you thought you were going to like it here. Eventually Mr. Dent collected himself, and the two of you settled down. “Now let’s talk a little bit about the many ways I plan to torture you while you’re here. Method 1, paper work” He reached down underneath his desk, and after finding what he was looking for dropped a stack of papers on the desktop. “There are a lot of gears that keep things moving around here, and one of the most annoying ones is paper work.” He put the papers to the side of him “Now you may remember from our emails, but what your main role here will be is a mix between gopher and secretary. When you’re not delivering things around the office to the other attorneys for me, you will be with Charlene answering phones, scheduling appointments, and anything else she needs help with.”
Even though the tasks seemed pretty menial you couldn’t help but smile. You were exactly where you wanted to be.
