Unbreakable (A Dick Grayson story)

CH 12: Starting from scratch... not

"Dick, please step away from the rack of dangerous weapons."

"You do know that saying 'dangerous' really makes me want to get closer, right?" Dick asked, making air quotes around the word dangerous, reaching forward to poke the tip of a batarang. "Ow... why is it so sharp?"

Bruce sighed, stepping over to take Dick's hand, examining the small cut. "I did tell you to stay away. You aren't ready for sharp objects yet."

Dick huffed, glowering at the batarang. "I'm totally ready for sharp objects. You've been training me for like a month. When do I get to actually do things?"

"When I think you're ready. And considering the fact that you're still poking the weapons and getting injured, I don't think you're ready yet."

Dick narrowed his eyes at Bruce, huffing again and pulling his hand back. "I just wanted to touch it. Touching things is fine." He crossed his arms over his chest, annoyance practically radiating off him in waves.

Bruce simply shook his head. "You're not ready."

"Oh? And when will I be ready, exactly? Never? You can't keep me here forever, Bruce. Hell, you haven't even let me make a costume yet."

"You don't need a costume if you're not ready. If it would make you feel better, we can train more."

"I hate you." Dick huffed; true malice hidden under his playful tone.

Bruce simply ruffled his hair, before walking to the training mat.

~•~

"Robin."

"What?"

"I want my hero name to be Robin. My mami used to call me her little Robin. I want to be Robin." Dick left out the true reason for picking the name; it reminded him of his mission, reminded him not to get too connected to the life that he was building here with his enemy.

Bruce nodded. "Alright... Robin."

~•~

"Master Dick? Is it okay? I can always change it if it's too similar. Or if you decide you do not like it." Alfred said, concern clear in his tone.

Dick bit his lower lip, genuine tears welling up in his eyes. The colors... the style... it was so similar and yet... and yet so different.

Turning, Dick hugged Alfred, shoulders shaking with sobs, small body relaxing into the embrace as the butler wrapped him up in his arms.

"There, there, Master Dick. It's okay. You don't have to keep this one. It's alright."

Dick pulled back, shaking his head as he gazed up at Alfred, a wide smile stretching across his lips. "No, Alfred. It's perfect."

And truly, it was.

The red, black, and gold uniform reminded him all too much of what his family had worn while performing.

It hurt.

But he loved it.

~•~

"Why can't I meet any of the other heroes or their partners?"

"Because they're busy. Now would you please stop doing that?"

Dick pouted but did not stop spinning around upside-down on his chair. "Oh, come on, Batman. I know about the group of superhero buddies that started. Why can't I hang out with the superhero buddies?"

Bruce frowned, placing a hand on the back of Dick's chair to stop the spinning. "Superhero buddies? You mean the Young Justice Team? You're not ready for that yet. How did you even find out about that?"

"Oh, come on... you taught me how to hack." Dick protested, rolling his eyes. Of course, he knew how to hack already, but it was easy to disguise what he already knew as a keen interest and natural ability. "You can't just expect me not to look through all the files."

Of course, that was not the full truth either. Slade had told him about the group in one of hist latest messages. Plans had changed. Phase four was now to join the group of kiddy heroes.

Get in with the Bat, join the kiddy league, get more freedom, meet with Slade, do final takedown.

Pretty simple steps, honestly.

And thus far it really was going off without a hitch.

Except for the fact that Bruce insisted that he always needed more training.

The man was even more annoying about it than Slade had been.

"Dick, how many times do I have to tell you not to hack into my systems? If there's anything that you need to know, I will tell you. If I don't tell you then you don't need to know."

"But I wanted to know. There's a difference."

Bruce sighed.

Children were really not his thing.

~•~

"So?"

"So what?"

"So how'd I do?"

"You did fine."

"Fine? Seriously? This was the first time that you let me go out with you and all you have to say is that I did fine?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing. Whatever."

"Dick..."

~•~

"I'm bored."

"What?"

"You're boring. All you do is work and old man stuff."

"Excuse you?"

Dick shrugged, leaning back in his chair until it was almost tipping over. "Like I said... you're boring. And Alfred isn't much better. I've been on missions now, right? Just the other week you said I did great. Let me join the hero buddy squad. Please, Bruce."

Bruce glanced over at the boy, brows furrowing into a frown as he saw just how close to tipping onto the floor he was. He did in fact appear quite bored.

It could not hurt to let him hang around kids his own age, right?

Was he hurting Dick's development by not letting him associate with children his own age?

Maybe that was why the boy acted so mischievous and rebellious half the time.

While Bruce was unsure about truly leaving him on his own, after all, Dick still had nights where he woke up the house screaming.

Would he really be safe if Bruce let him go on missions with other children?

Bruce was not sure.

But with the way Dick was looking at him now, well... how could Bruce say no to that?

He sighed, running a hand down his face, finding himself giving in for the second time. "Fine... I'll introduce you to the team."

Dick grinned before accidentally tilting the chair too far back and falling rather ungracefully to the floor.

It was worth it.

For that smile, Bruce would do anything.

He would not fail this child like he had the last. 

AN:

Annnnd... this is the last filler-y chapter before stuff starts to happen. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed. I love and cherish you all. 

-Sky