A/N: Hi guys! Wow, the feedback I've received on this has been simply amazing. Thanks to all of you who have read, alerted, favorited, and reviewed this story. It really means a lot to me, and I hope I don't disappoint.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
"Look what I made!" Dick proclaimed happily to his father figure. Bruce Wayne looked up from his newspaper and saw his young ward carefully balance a tray of bacon and eggs. The twelve year old grinned brightly at him as he set the tray down on the kitchen table.
Sometimes, the transformation Bruce saw in the boy startled him. The first few months after his parents were murdered proved to be a huge struggle for Dick. He was a bright boy, but he couldn't focus in school and had very poor grades. That, coupled with the child's inability to sleep and his penchant for illnesses, caused Dick to nearly fail the third grade. It forced Bruce to become more than a guardian to him; it forced him to become a father. The billionaire began to work less and play more, his focus shifted from himself to the boy.
And it proved to be more than beneficial for the troubled youngster. With Alfred and Bruce's help, Dick managed to pass all of his classes and his sickly episodes became less frequent. In fact, they had nearly disappeared during the summer after third grade. The very same summer that Dick had given Bruce the name "Papa Bruce" on their very first Father's Day together. What few reservations and hesitations Bruce had up to that day completely disappeared, and he allowed himself to truly give Dick the love and support he needed and deserved.
It was after this revelation that Dick truly began to flourish. He began to show emotion again, and he began to show it to people other than Bruce and Alfred. Dick actually made friends in his fourth grade class, and is still friends with them to this day. His grades improved significantly and he almost always got straight As on his report card. The boy also took up gymnastics, a decision that impressed Bruce greatly. Dick and his family were known as The Flying Graysons and they were circus folk. It was during one of their acts that his mother and father fell to their deaths. To the naked eye, it looked like a freak accident, but Bruce knew better. He had seen things similar to this way too many times in his life. Dick had been trained extensively in acrobatics as a result of his upbringing, and the only reason Bruce could deduce he went into gymnastics was to keep his family's legacy alive. It took courage to go back, and it was at that moment that Bruce realized Dick was a much stronger spirit than he ever could've been.
"Happy Father's Day, Papa Bruce!"
The sound of Dick's voice brought the middle-aged man out of his reverie. In an attempt to hide his thoughts, Bruce smiled back at his son and looked at the plate of food Dick had set down in front of him. "Thanks, Dick. It looks great."
Dick blushed slightly and looked down. "I can't take all the credit. Alfred helped."
Bruce chuckled as he glanced at the butler. Alfred winked at him before cheerfully returning to his task of washing the dishes, humming a happy little tune that the billionaire couldn't quite recall. Feeling Dick's expectant gaze on him, Bruce picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it. He chewed slowly, savoring the juicy morsel. Once he swallowed, the middle-aged man picked up his fork and stabbed it into the scrambled eggs, withdrawing a hearty portion of the scrambled eggs. He placed the food into his mouth and chewed once more, taking a sip of his coffee to chase down the food. Dabbing his napkin across his lips, Bruce turned his attention back to the boy and gave him an easy smile.
"It's delicious. You two did a wonderful job."
Dick sat down next to Bruce and began to chatter excitedly, "I was thinking after breakfast, we could go to a movie. My treat; I've been saving my Christmas and birthday money! I was thinking the new X-Men movie?" Bruce smiled at the irony. "Or maybe Kung Fu Panda 2?"
He was about to answer his son when a sudden high pitch noise sounded. Gotham was in trouble. Bruce noticed the mood shift within his charge. The normally happy-go-lucky boy was now solemn and focused. Even though he saw this intensity in the boy nearly everyday, it still gave Bruce the urge to shudder. No one so young should be so serious. But then again, Bruce was like that at his age, too. And Dick was insistent in being a part of his "other" life, and as much as Bruce hated it, Dick picked up on it quickly.
Dick had discovered Bruce's double life about a year or so ago, and was insistent that he became a part of it. Bruce's first reaction was to say no, but the passion in Dick's eyes made him reconsider. Although Dick had improved greatly, but Bruce feared that denying the boy this opportunity would set him back. He was still in a precarious stage, and as a result, he risked the chance of relapsing back to his old self. Especially when Bruce considered the fact that Dick's parents' murderer was still walking around, free as a bird. And if anybody understood how agonizing that felt, it was Bruce. Even though Dick was very young, Bruce felt prohibiting Dick from joining him in crime fighting was not only cruel, but also detrimental to the boy's future. In the end, he allowed Dick to become Batman's sidekick Robin, the Boy Wonder.
The hero shot out of his seat and hastily made his way toward the Bat Cave. "Let's go," he called over his shoulder, addressing the Boy Wonder.
Robin silently followed the older crime fighter, his thoughts no longer on what movie they were planning on seeing. Bruce felt guilty that he was depriving him of a somewhat normal childhood, but the Batman side of him was impressed with the boy's level of maturity and commitment. This contradiction was a phenomenon Bruce was becoming more and more familiar with, and sometimes he had difficulties telling Bruce the man and Batman the Dark Knight apart.
After the two donned on their crime fighting apparel and cowls, they jumped into the Batmobile and took off. As Batman punched in the coordinates, he began to speak.
"Rain check on the movie?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce noticed Robin's tense features relax somewhat. Dick nodded his head as he whispered, "Ok."
Batman nodded in return, his focus now on apprehending the Joker. As they sped away from Wayne Manor, all thoughts of their civilian life were left in the dust.
A/N: So, it's very late where I am when I finished writing this, and I wrote this chapter mostly in one sitting, so I apologize if there are any grievous errors. I'm sort of making this Robin more like the Robin from Teen Titans. Maybe not as intense, but the Robin in this story is a mix of the Young Justice Robin and the Teen Titans Robin. I hope that's okay! Let me know if I need to change it or if I need to change anything else in the story. I take critiques!
Thanks again for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought! There will be two more chapters, so we're halfway there!