A Young Justice fanfic! Because I am cool and still watch Cartoon Network and Teen Titans religiously!
Rated M for later Chapters! THIS tooth-achingingly SWEET chapter is rated T for ONE SWEAR. riiiight at the end. until then it's pretty much K.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Young Justice, OR Batman, OR Robin, OR The Flash, OR KidFlash! Rub it in why don't cha?
"Mr. Wayne, I cannot thank you enough for your generous donation to the St. Teresa Orphanage's Gotham division!" Bruce Wayne smiled at the nun in front of him, turning up the charm.
"It's no trouble at all, really, I am more than happy to do my part for these kids," Sister Mary beamed at him.
"Really Mr. Wayne, but this much money! And the renovations!" She looked back down at the check on the desk and pushed her wide-rimmed glasses further up her nose. "It almost seems like too much!" Bruce shook his head.
"Sister Mary, let's face it; it looks good when celebrities do things like this. I get a bonus because this is something I actually enjoy doing. So please, accept it, for the kids." The nun smiled, the wrinkles around her eyes showing her age.
"Thank you Mr. Wayne."
"Please, call me Bruce."
"SISTER MAAAARRRYYYYY!" The door flung open and in rushed a very haggard looking young woman. She was wearing the staff uniform of the Orphanage, but not the habit, and she was clutching at her chest and looking very frazzled. "Sister, I can't stand it anymore, I won't stand for it anymore!"
The Sister sighed. "What is it now Christina?"
"It's that BOY again!" She wailed, pulling at her hair. "He's in the rafters ma'am, THE RAFTERS! This is the last straw! Either he goes or I go but something's got to give!" Sister Mary massaged her temples, suddenly looking very old.
"Oh, stop your hysterics! This is what I get for sending you to watch the boys. You're much calmer around the girls." She stood, smoothing the skirts of her no-nonsense habit. She smiled apologetically at Bruce, who had observed the scene with only mild shock and curiosity on his face. "Mr. Bruce, I am sorry, but I will have to cut our conversation short. If you don't mind waiting I'm sure I'll be back momentarily…"
"Oh, well, if I could be of any help getting the kid from the rafters I would like to be," he said, standing up. "Besides, I am a bit curious to see how he managed to get up there in the first place." The sister thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright, maybe a new face will lure him down. He's such a clever child, loves new things and new people. But he's a bit… much for some of our part-time staff." They exited the office and she stopped to ask a passing teenage boy to fetch a ladder from the sheds. Bruce wondered how a kid could get up somewhere high enough to need a ladder to get him down.
They entered the large chapel, the Sister leading the way, stopping only to bow to the tabernacle behind the alter before she looked up at the vaulted ceilings. "Richard Grayson! What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" Bruce looked up and saw, to his surprise, a pale face peaking down from the rafters, which had to be a story above them.
"How did he get up there?" he asked, impressed. The young woman groaned and pulled at her hair again.
"He was raised in the circus! Imagine that! Growing up in a hotbed of sin, raised by heathens-!"
"My parents aren't heathens!" the boy yelled down, scowling. "You're just a mean old ninny!" he stuck out his tongue for emphasis.
The lady gasped. "Oh you rotten scoundrel of a boy!" He just made faces at her and blew a raspberry.
"I am rubber you are glue! What every you say bounces off of me and sticks to you!" He laughed at the outraged look on the young woman's face, and Bruce and the Sister had to hide their own snickers.
"Sister Mary!" The teen from before was back and had brought the ladder with the help of another boy. "Should I climb up it?" he asked, starting to extend it.
"No, Mr. Bruce here has offered to try to catch our wayward friend." She said, gesturing to the multi-millionaire. "But stick around so you can put the ladder back where you found it afterwards." The teen shot Bruce a dubious look and then leaned the ladder against one of the many beams.
"He's all yours, Mister," he said, gesturing to the ladder. As Bruce walked passed him he whispered "Watch for the feet!"Bruce shot him a confused look and climbed up the ladder. Please, I deal with the Joker nightly. I fight the Penguin at least once a month. I think I can handle a little kid if it comes to that.
Bruce leaned against the beams, holding tight and balancing himself on the ladder as he examined the kid. Bright blue eyes looked curiously up at him through black bangs. "Who're you?" asked the boy, tilting his head slightly.
"I'm Bruce," he said, smiling a little. "What's your name, kid?"
"I'm Dick, I'll be seven next week!" he said with a bright smile. "Hey, do you wanna play in the rafters with me? It's fun! And it makes Ms. Christina scream and make funny noises!" Bruce raised an eyebrow at that.
"Why would you want to upset her like that?" he asked, trying to lure the boy closer.
"Ms. Christina is a meany! She says awful things about my Mommy and Daddy and me AND she makes me sit in the quiet corner all the time!" he frowned and sniffled. "She doesn't let me run around or do anything fun! How am I gonna be the bestest at everything if she doesn't let me do anything?" Bruce had to suppress a smile at that.
"Well, what is it you like to do?"The boy brightened up immediately.
"I'm an acrobat! I like to fly through the air and stuff! Watch!" He stood and jumped, gracefully soaring to the next beam over and landing on his hands. He walked on those hands down the beam a bit, then hooked his feet onto the beam above him and swung up, hugging it like a koala bear. He laughed, a haunting, joyous sound, the sound of a trickster, and jumped back to Bruce. The Bat was impressed.
"Impressive. How did you learn to do that?"
"I grew up in the circus!" chirped Dick, doing a split. "My Mommy and Daddy ar-were-acrobats, and they did the trapeze act and I did too sometimes! And once I got shot out of a cannon and it was REALLY fun but Mommy said I couldn't do that anymore, so I don't, and then once a TIGER got loose and I had to stay in the trailer all day and Daddy taught me how to cheat at poker!" He stopped to take a breath. "Do you like poker Mr. Bruce?"
"I have been known to play on occasion," he said absently, an idea forming in his head. Where else will I find such a good base to build on? "Hey Dick, would you like to visit me sometime? I have a gymnasium."
"Do you have a trapeze?"
"No, but I do have rings and a double bar."
"Close enough!" Dick jumped down, grabbing onto the side of the ladder and sliding down without even jostling it. Bruce was smirking on the inside. Yes, he's definitely got potential.
"Oh you rotten nasty little boy!" cried Ms. Christina, grabbing Dick roughly by the elbow. "You will go to your room and you will stay there until tomorrow, no dinner for you! Oh imagine, making Mr. Bruce come up after you and then sliding down the ladder like that-! What if he had fallen? Oh you careless awful boy-!"
"That's quite enough Christina!" Sister Mary glared at the young woman and gently extracted Dick from her grasp. "You shame us by acting so! Richard is just a child, so let him act like one. He'll have time to grow up later." She turned to Bruce. "I am sorry about the inconvenience. I know you're very busy, so I won't keep you any longer. Please excuse me; I'm going to take Richard back to his room. Steven will show you out on his way to put the ladder back." She nodded sharply and walked out, Christina following, pouting, and Dick was dragged behind them, waving at Bruce with a huge smile on his face. The teen, Steven, was staring at Bruce with a shocked look on his face.
"What?" he asked. "Is there something on my face?" the teen shook his head.
"Nah, it's just... the first time I tried to get Dick out of a high up place, I think it was the tree in the back, he kicked me in the chest and refused to come down until dark! It's weird! What's so special about you? No offense or anything."
Bruce snorted. "None taken. Actually, before I go, who should I see about taking Dick out for the day?"
The next day Bruce came back to the orphanage to take Dick to the Manor for the day. The small boy was bouncing on the balls of his feet, smiling excitedly. "Hi Mr. Bruce!" he yelled, waving to the multi-millionaire as he got out of his car. "I was super good all last night and this morning AND I ate all of my vegetables and Sister Mary said that I could go but I had to be super DUPER good and listen to you and be polite!"
Bruce smiled slightly at the kid's antics. "Well, you ready to go?" The boy nodded vigorously.
"BYE SISTER MARY I'M GONNA TO GO PLAY WITH MR. BRUCE NOW BYYEEEE!" He grabbed Bruce's hand and tugged him down the walk, Bruce following, a bemused expression on his face. "Quick Mr. Bruce! Before she changes her mind and feeds me to her pet alligator!"
"Her what?"
"HyuP!" the small acrobat flew through the air, tucking gracefully and landing lightly on the balance beam. He cart wheeled down the beam and then jumped onto the uneven doubled bars, letting out a breathy laugh as he proceeded to weave between those. Bruce watched it all, slightly awed and entirely bemused. Dick had been going on much like this for two hours. Alfred placed a tray with three glasses of lemonade down on the table next to Bruce. The currently un-caped crusader gestured to the chair next to his.
"Well, Alfred? What do you think?" The Butler looked at Bruce and shook his head.
"I think that no matter what I say you've already made up your mind," he said softly, watching the boy as well. "A young ward, Master Bruce? And to what end?" The younger man took a sip from one of the glasses and watched as the Dick vaulted over a hurdle.
"What do you mean Alfred?"
"I mean, Master Bruce, that you seem interested in taking him up as a sidekick. I'm wondering when exactly you plan on introducing the lad to the world of the underground. He is practically a toddler after all."
"Actually, he's seven next week," said Bruce absently, watching the kid swing on the rings. "Of course I don't plan on making him fight right away Alfred. I'm not stupid or heartless. I don't even plan on telling him who I am until he's older. But he's got a lot of potential, and the odds of someone else noticing that potential, someone much less kind than me, are rather high. I'd rather him end up in the right hands. And you know I've been thinking about taking on a sidekick for a while now, especially since Oliver introduced me to Roy." He took another sip from the glass. "He's a nice kid, and the Sisters at the orphanage say that he's got a brilliant mind. I want to take him on."
Alfred watched him steadily and then sighed. "I keep forgetting that you aren't a child anymore Master Bruce. You don't make hasty decisions anymore." He stood up and straightened his coat. "I'll prepare a snack for the young master. Might I suggest that you have him stop and drink something soon?"
"Will do Al. Will do."
Bruce visited the orphanage everyday for a week, or rather, visited Dick every day for a week, letting the kid get used to him and learning more about the former circus performer. He listened as the boy told the story of how a mafia boss had killed his parents before his eyes, said eyes looking dead and cold at the time. He told him how the Sisters at the orphanage were nice, and that Sister Mary was secretly the nicest, thought rough on the outside, and that the teenager Steven had forgiven him even after he kicked him out of a tree. And on Dick's 7th birthday, Bruce adopted him and gave him the best present of all; a new home.
"Hey, Mr. Bruce, now that you're technically my dad, what should I call you? I mean, I can't call you Mr. Bruce, but I don't want to just call you Dad because I have a Daddy!" The boy held tight to the batman-plushy that Steven had given him for a birthday present (which had cracked Bruce up). Gotham's hero looked up from his breakfast at the boy-his new son.
"Well," he said, swallowing a mouthful of waffles. "You can call me whatever you like really. Just calling me Bruce is fine." The boy thoughtfully chewed his waffles.
"What if I call you… BatDad!" Bruce spat out his drink in shock.
"W-what?"
"What? I could call you Bruce in front of people, so they don't find out your secret identity!" Bruce wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked Dick straight in the eye.
"Dick, I'm not the Batman!" he said, putting all his acting skills into it. "I could never do all that flying around and fighting criminals! I'm a businessman, that's it really!"
"Oh, sorry, guess I was wrong! I'll just call you Bruce then I guess." Bruce stared at the boy as Dick took another mouth full of syrup-drenched waffle goodness.
"Why did you think I was Batman anyways?" he asked casually.
"I dunno, just a thought I guess!" chirped Dick, pushing away his empty plate. "I'm gonna go play with Alfred, okay? He's gonna teach me how to reach the Oxford dictionary without climbing on the shelves! He says that Books don't like foot prints on their spines. I didn't know books even had spines!"
"Have fun," said Bruce, watching the bright little boy scramble out of his chair and zoom out of the room. Maybe he's a little too bright… I'll have to be more careful.
Three nights later, the caped crusader returned to the Batcave after a quiet night of patrolling, only to find a little boy in pale blue pajamas sitting at his supercomputer. The Boy noticed him immediately and smiled brightly, an adorable gap from his newly lost front tooth making him look even cuter than usual, but Batman couldn't really dwell on that because Ohmygod DICK FOUND THE FREAKIN BATCAVE!
"Hi Bru-Oops! I mean, hi Batman!" he called, sitting on his knees so that he could reach the computer keys. "Look! I can see the WHOLE city on this! I followed you on your whole patrol!" He smiled proudly and pressed a button, pulling up several screens of video feed, showing the locations that the Bat had just returned from.
For once, the smoothest man in Gotham was at a loss for words. "Dick, what-," On EARTH are you DOING in HERE? "How-," THE HELL DID YOU FIND THIS PLACE? "When-," DID YOU LEARN HOW TO HACK? "It is WAY past your bedtime young man!" The Bat practically facepalmmed. Of all the things to say!
Dick looked a little guilty at this actually. "Well, I know, but I couldn't sleep! I mean, I don't really sleep a lot anyways, but I really couldn't tonight! So I pressed the button on the statue thingy and came down here to play in the bat cave and I saw you on the computer so I decided to play on this! Look!" he pulled up a criminal profile of a mafia boss and his face got very serious. "This is the guy who killed my Mommy and Daddy. But it says you put him in prison! But I knew that already, which is why I really wanted to be adopted by you! Well, besides that you're really really nice and all!"
"Dick," said the bat, pulling down his cowl and running a hand through his hair, suddenly exhausted. "Dick, how long have you known I was the Batman?"
"Oh, like, forever," he said spinning in the chair a little. "Or, really, the third time I came here! Cuz I was thinking a lot see? And I was thinking, why would you have a gymnasium in your house? Cuz you didn't use it when I was there, so I wondered if you were either really bad, or if you were REALLY good and didn't want me to know! Then I was playing in the Library with you remember? And Alfred came in and whispered something to you and you had to go, and Alfred played with me! And he went and got me some cookies, but I found the statue thing then and I saw that it had a crease in the neck that shouldn't be there, and I pushed it back and BOOM! Pretty button! So I pressed it and saw the elevator but I didn't go down cuz I thought Alfred would be back soon, but I was thinking why would you have that? Only if you had a secret! And the next time I was alone in the library alone I went down the elevator and saw the Batcave and put three and two together to make five because I'm really good at math!" He finally paused and took a deep breath. "Can I be a superhero too Bruce? Huh, can I? PLEEEAASSE?"
Brue massaged his temples, thinking. What am I going to do with this kid? "We'll see Dick. You have to train first, and learn martial arts in addition to your acrobatics, as well as how to be a detective, though you already show promise in that." Dick beamed with pleasure at the praise. "But." The boy deflated instantly. There was always a catch. "You need to keep secrets. If you can't keep secrets than you won't be a very good super hero."
"Am I supposed to keep secrets from you, Bruce?" Dick asked, tilting his head.
"No," said Bruce flatly. "Never keep secrets from me. Firstly, because I'm your father now and secondly because I will find out anyways and I'd rather you'd just tell me and save me the trouble." He ruffled Dick's hair and picked him up, holding the small boy on one hip. "Dick, crime-fighting is very dangerous, and not just for the hero. If people knew I was batman, you and Alfred would be in a lot of danger, and I would never want that. You're in enough danger as it is, being the son of a multi-millionaire." Dick's eyes got huge at that. "What?"
"OH! I didn't realize you were THAT Bruce Wayne!" Bruce stared at him for a minute and then burst out laughing. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing!" he chuckled, carrying the boy to the elevator. "I'm just glad that some things get passed you, even something as obvious as that." The boy turned red and hid his face in Bruce's shoulder, muttering something that Bruce didn't quite catch. "C'mon kid, time for bed. I'll even let you stay in my room if you can't sleep."
MILES AWAY, IN THE SUBURBS OF CENTRAL CITY.
Barry Allen was visiting his Fiancée Iris's nephew, Wally, with said smoking babe in tow. "So, why did Mary say we needed to come see the kiddo?" He asked, pulling up to the pale blue-picket-fenced-domestic-bliss-"WE ARE NORMAL" house that looked JUST like the hundreds surrounding it.
"I don't know Barry; she just said something about Wally being 'sick' and that you needed to 'fix it'. I don't know why she called for you-,"
"Hey! Are you implying something about my IQ?" he cried, mock serious.
"Oh no!" she snorted, "Of course not darling!"
"Dam straight!" he laughed, leaning over to kiss her check before climbing out of the car. Mary must have been watching for them, for she was in the doorway before they were even halfway up the walk, wringing her hands and looking anxious.
"Oh Barry, Iris! Thank you so much for coming on such short notice! I just don't know what to do-!" Iris flew to her sister-in-law's side, putting a protective arm around her.
"Mary, what's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
"Oh Iris! It's Wally! I just-I just don't know what to do!" She burst into tears and Rudolph appeared.
"Mary!" He pulled his wife into his arms and led her inside, gesturing for Barry and Iris to follow. The young couple shared a confused look and followed Rudolph into the pristine living room. They sat on the white love-seat as Rudolph sat his wife in a chair, keeping his hands on her shoulders in wordless support.
"Rudolph," Iris began, addressing her brother since Mary seemed too distraught to answer at the moment. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Wally?" Barry frowned at that thought; he was fond of his rambunctious nephew. Wally reminded him of himself when he was that age.
"Wally was in an accident the other day when he visited the police lab," said Rudolph, looking grave. "He got away from us for a minute, maybe two tops and then… well, he's… alright, I suppose. Perfectly healthy, if not in better health than before, but…" he trailed off and looked at the ceiling. Barry felt an eerie prickling on his spine. An accident in the police labs? This was sounding too familiar…
"Can we see Wally?" asked Iris. Her brother thought for a minute, then nodded.
"Yes, it's probably best if you see him." He turned his head in the direction of the stairs. "WALLACE!" he called. "COME SEE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE!" Barry and Iris both blushed slightly and shared a smile; it was weird being referred to as the kid's uncle and aunt. But a good kind of weird. A kind that reminded them that they were mere months from their wedding. There was a whoosh of air and a blur and Wally jumped into their arms.
"UNCLE BARRY! AUNTY IRIS! LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!" They watch in opened mouth awe as the boy zoomed around the room, a blur in red pajamas, really visible only to Barry, who was used to seeing things go by at top speed. Of course, he was used to those things being stationary, and him being the one doing the speeding, not for his nephew-to-be running around so fast. Almost as fast as… Barry stood up and grabbed the kid by the collar, probably going a little too fast in front of the in-laws-to-be but whatever, how else was he gonna catch him?
"Wally! What did you do in that lab?" asked Barry, turning the red headed imp to face him. Innocent green eyes stared up at him.
"Uncle Barry, I just duplicated the Flash's speedster experiment! That's all!" Barry felt his eye twitch. Oh, if THAT's all! As if that experiment wasn't way too complicated for a ten year old!
"And how did you know how to do that?" he asked, feeling a headache coming on.
"I read his old journals!" Barry stared. Three thoughts race to the forefront of his mind; 1) Wally had somehow found his old science journals, and was smart enough to comprehend them, or to at least follow the (fairly simple) directions in them about the experiment. 2) The kid had found his journals, and thus, by association, knew that he was The Flash. This was information that people would kill for, and a ten year old KID had figured it out! And 3) that kid was now a speedster, and someone had to take him in and teach him what that meant. Someone being him; Barry Allen, the Flash, husband to be, and now, MENTOR. Aw Shit.
The Nun, Sister Mary, Is based off of this nun at my old school, Sister Mary. She was AWESOME. for a nun ;) and she used to threaten to feed us to her pet alligator if we didn't sing (she was the music teacher). She taught me how to sign basically and I Loved her! She now lives at the same nursing home as my Great Aunt and she's probably like... a hundred by now. Seriously, I'm not even joking. She loves the Red Sox and is so hard core! I think she would have been great as one of those orphanage nuns!
YES I AM A BATMAN NERD. I AM SO COOL. I made some changes to cannon (GASP!) and this is basically a sort of AUish thing for the beginning. In laymen's terms, i am basically gonna be making shit up! While still trying to stick to some cannon stuff. Besides the unimportant OCS (who barely qualify as OCS, being passing side characters) all the names are straight out of the actual comics. i'mma try to keep things as actual factual as I can. I'm actually learning a lot about the Flash! I've always been more of a Batman person, sO i guess this will be a good nerd-learning experience for me.
Yes, in FUTURE CHAPTERS Wally and Dick are gonna hook up! and Once Dick becomes Robin I will prolly NEVER call him Dick again. because I have an uncle with that name, and when I hear it I think of him. So you can see how this get's weird for me. lols. Anywho, I love me the Over-protective BatDaddy! :D Can't wait till Robin starts up with Young Justice! (which SHOULD be by chapter 4. unless I get a craving for some sugary sweet little kid robinKidFlash BROMANCE. It has been known to happen.)
Well, I'm off to the Batcave!
~Seo