Espera | R. Grayson ✔

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"Tati!" He called out, watching in horror as his mother gripped John's outstretched hands and with the combined weight, the rope snapped, plummeting both his parents to their death.

"Mami, Tati, no!"

His eyes were wide open in shock as he saw his world crumble right before his eyes.

His parents both lying in a bloodied heap while he was up there on the platform, unable to do anything to save them.

He should have warned them at least and he even tried to do so but it was of no use.

John and Mary Grayson were no more.

He had sunk down on the platform, tears pouring from his eyes such that despite the blinding lights of the circus, everything had gotten awfully dark around him.

Without his family, there was nothing but darkness spread out ahead of him.

"Hey Dickie, what the hell are you doing here?"

A hand closed on to his shoulder and he turned around exasperated to see a boy a few years older than he had been when he had lost his parents.

He stared at him blankly with no flicker of recognition in his icy blue irises, trying to bring himself out of the vortex of memories he had fallen into.

"Are you okay?" Concern flashed in the younger's eyes as he spoke up, "you could have fallen."

"I could have fallen," he repeated, looking down at the darkness that seemed almost inviting as if waiting for him to fall.

"Dickie, please, step back. You're scaring the hell out of me," the boy tugged on his wrist and he sighed, reverting his gaze from the darkness below.

Finally, he stepped back from the edge of the ancient tower's roof, almost bumping into the gargoyle beside it.

His hands had reached up to cover his eyes temporarily and he took in a deep breath to calm his racing heartbeat.

It had been twelve years since that night he had watched his parents fall to their death from the same trapeze they had performed countless times.

Twelve years yet he could not fill the hole their absence had left inside him and though a lot had changed in such a long time, there was one thing that he could not change even then.

His world was still dark and lonely, just like he had felt the night he had lost his Mami and Tati.

"What happened to you? Why were you up here all alone?"

He had brought himself somewhat close to normal so he faced the boy, hand resting on his shoulder gently, "nothing happened. I had just come here to get some air."

"Oh," he sighed in relief, "for a second, I almost thought you were going to jump."

He chuckled but there was no real emotion behind that laugh, just like him it felt horribly empty, "oh come on Jay, why would I do that?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. You're weird and highly unpredictable."

"Says the boy who stole the tires off Bruce Wayne's car even though I told you not to."

"Hey, that was one time, okay?" His steel blue eyes flashed and he pulled himself out of the elder's grip, "stop teasing me about it."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid," he mumbled, ruffling the boy's head again.

"And stop doing that. I will look like a hedgehog by the time we get to the place you were mentioning earlier," Jason grumbled, trying to pull away from him again but Richard had steered him back, his arm draped around his shoulders firmly. 

A short huff escaped the boy but he surrendered, knowing he would not be able to get out of that grip anytime soon.

They were walking through the city streets that led away from the city square into the cheaper peripheral areas. The same streets that Richard had been staring at wistfully from the top of Gotham Tower, thinking that he could have fallen that night too, along with his parents.

Or he could have fallen any other night, even right then if it hadn't been for Jason who had brought him back to reality.

The two came to a halt in front of a small house stowed away in the corner of a darkened alley and Richard fumbled in his pocket for the keys to the lock that was hanging from the door handle.

"Are we going to live here?" Jason asked, eyes sweeping around the alley that was littered with puddles and landing back on the door Richard had pushed open.

"Yes," he replied, stepping inside along with the boy. His icy blue eyes took in the place as well and a slight smile graced his lips as he looked down at Jason, "it's not much but it's home."

Home. 

Home meant Haley's Circus, home meant all that he could never have in the past twelve years. 

But right then as he watched the young boy smile in acknowledgment and check out the small house he had gotten on rent for them, the only word he could use to describe that place was home.

***