Hey, guys! Technically, it's Thursday, but I live in one of the world's earliest time zones and I'm heartbreakingly busy all of tomorrow, so here you go. It's another 'setting the stage' type, unfortunately. But stick with me! I promise you won't regret it.

As always, tell me what you think! Enjoy!

"Dare I ask what's gotten Master Dick into such a frenzy?" Alfred asked from where he was cleaning the window sills of the dining hall. Bruce Wayne, leaning against the railing of their manor's winding staircase, shrugged.

"I have no clue. I got a phone call from the school saying that he had a panic attack and fainted. He even screamed, which he never does. But when I went to the hospital to pick him up, he said my name and just started laughing," Bruce answered, confused. "And he's been smiling ever since."

"Well, then I suppose you should be grateful that your ward is so happy," said Alfred as he turned with a raised eyebrow to consider his master. "Especially since he hasn't been happy for quite a while now."

"I know, I know," waved Bruce. "But... it isn't natural," he muttered. "Dick doesn't even have a reason to be happy."

"Perhaps he's simply moved on?"

"I wish. But it's too sudden for that. I need to look into it."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "I do wish you would consider not treating Master Richard as if he were an experiment. Sadly, I can't request that of you because it seems to be the only way that you know how to be a father."

"You know me so well, Alfred," Bruce commented wryly, before moving off the staircase and into the manor's rather large library.

Meanwhile, Dick couldn't remember the last time that he'd felt so light. It was as if his heart wasn't constricted by his ribs at all, like his lungs were balloons of latex and not layers of flesh. Before, his organs had been submerged six feet underwater, but right then? They were aired out, as if they had been hung on a clothesline to dry.

All that while sitting in the outside courtyard at school.

"I really want a sandwich," Wally commented from across the table, where only Dick was sitting. The mathlete had been let out early from his math class because his teacher had figured out long ago that he would need to be transferred to a higher math level, but had yet to sign the papers. That left Dick with a free pass to the class, which was completely fine with him. Wally ogled the peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the acrobat's hands. "Like that one."

"Do ghosts even get hungry?" Dick asked.

"No," Wally huffed. "What am I going to do? Starve to death?"

Dick smiled maliciously as he bit slowly into the bread. "Then it's all mine."

"Mean!"

"You can't touch it, anyway," laughed Dick.

"Doesn't mean you have to eat it in front of me," whined Wally, despite the fact that it was Dick's lunch time.

"Dick?" Dick felt his cheeks redden as Wally whipped his head around to watch another red head, a girl, poke her head through the door that connected to the main hallway. The acrobat tried to imagine how he must have looked from the window, laughing to himself while alone in the courtyard, but figured that he would rather not think about it.

"Hey, Babs," responded Dick.

"'Babs'?" Wally echoed. "More like Babes, if you ask me."

"Hey, Dick," greeted Barbara. She moved fully away from the door and kicked it closed behind her, swinging a lunchbox by her side. Dick bit his tongue as she moved to sit on top of Wally, whose eyes widened as he dived away just in time for her to settle herself. She must have still seen the painfully amused expression on Dick's face, though, because she frowned when she glanced up at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Dick dismissed. Wally stuck out his tongue from behind the girl.

Barbara studied the acrobat for a moment, and if Dick weren't so used to being scrutinised by Batman, he might have been uncomfortable. "Who gave you a vacation to the Caribbean?"

"What?" Dick blinked, pausing in the middle of his sandwich. The girl rolled her eyes.

"You look really happy," she explained.

Dick snorted. "Am I not allowed to be?"

Barbara shrugged, but gave him a small smile anyway. "I've been trying to get you to for a long time, yet you're smiling bright and sunny without a problem right after having gone to the hospital." She probably wouldn't have admitted it, but Dick felt guilty to see a flicker of concern flit over her face.

"Really, I'm fine," Dick reassured. "I just... discovered something yesterday. It cheered me up. Besides, it's Friday, how can someone not be happy on a Friday?"

"Parents with children that they hate," Wally quipped. He was ignored.

Barbara shook her head incredulously. "Whatever you say." She was smiling but, much to Dick's dismay, the both of them still lapsed into silence.

It was only then that he took the time to notice how much their relationship had changed. Dick had gotten quiet and withdrawn after Wally's... passing. He had been so absorbed in his own feelings of pain that he had taken no note of how he had acted towards others, and how much he had been damaging the parts of his life that he had still had. That caused his lips to morph into a frown as Barbara focused her attention on her spaghetti.

"You guys are friends, but you don't talk?" Wally asked, confused. Dick glanced at Barbara.

"Do you have some paper?" he asked. The girl nodded and took a small notebook from her lunchbox as Dick reached into his pocket for a pencil. He tilted the writing surface towards him when she handed it over, ignoring the curious cock of her head.

We weren't like this before, he scribbled quickly over the paper.

Wally was still hovering behind Barbara, but he rushed over when Dick gave him a miniscule nod. Reading the scrawl, he frowned. "What changed?"

"Why'd you need the paper?" Barbara asked as Dick ripped out the page and folded it up, sliding it into his pocket.

"A note," he replied simply.

Miss. Frances was infinitely curious when Dick walked into her office that day with a bounce in his step. His reasoning was that the faster that they could get through the session, the faster that Dick would never have to go back there again.

Being a therapist, though, she seemed to ignore the blatantly obvious question and delved straight into the indirect. "How has your day been?"

Dick grinned. "Great. Yours?"

She smiled. "Fantastic, now that I see a smile on your face. Anything really good happen?"

Dick paused to mentally review his day. He had made his own lunch in the morning because he couldn't stand still, he got stared at in the hallways and especially in English class, he was called to the nurse's office, he got to skip math class, and, "I got my friend back." He glanced at Wally, who was standing with crossed arms over Miss. Frances's shoulder, reading her notes.

"Oh? What friend?" she asked, placing her clipboard down into her lap.

"Her name is Barbara"-Wally pouted theatrically at that-"and we've been distant for a while now. I decided to talk to her more in the halls after lunch, though, and I think she's excited to be a close friend of mine again."

Miss. Frances hummed and nodded. "Why did you become distant?" she inquired.

Dick shrugged, feeling completely awkward talking about the reason when the reason was standing in the room, but it seemed as if Wally understood anyway. The redhead stilled in shock.

"Wait...," he started hesitantly. "Am I why-"

He was cut off by Miss. Frances. "Was it because of Wally?" Everything she said sounded happy and casual, as if her words didn't hold bigger weight than she gave them credit for. Or maybe that impression was only given by the fact that she had a high voice and one of the thickest accents that Dick had ever heard.

"I just didn't think there was a point in talking to anyone," he answered honestly. Wally's face dropped in guilt.

"I'm the reason that you have to go to a shrink?" he squeaked. Dick felt his palms sweat suspiciously.

But the therapist only continued to smile. "That's good. It means you're moving on," she commented, chipper. "What do you think has started allowing you to cope?"

"A friend," Dick replied. "A really good friend came back."

"It seems like you have lots of friends. Are you popular at school?"

"No, but the friends that I do have are really close."

Miss. Frances nodded and wrote some more. Wally gawked at her notes behind her. "He's totally social enough, you stupid lady!"

Dick snorted in an effort to contain his laughter. The woman must have mistaken it for a sneeze, because she smoothly threw over a box of tissues.

"Does anything in particular remind you of Wally?" she asked. "Other people's actions, words, voices?"

"Of course," Dick scowled. "Everything does." Particularly since Wally was actually following him around.

Miss. Frances nodded. "And what about the voices? Are the voices from other people, like your classmates? Or do you hear voices that no one else does?"

Dick barely fought to keep his eyes from widening. Wally had no such restraint, though, and looked openly shocked. The acrobat hadn't considered himself to be obvious about the fact that he was being clung to by his best friend's ghost, but maybe the therapist had a part time job in exorcism.

That was a scary thought.

"I hear voices," Dick agreed, and Wally waved his arms in panic. Miss. Frances stilled. "Yours," he finished, smiling innocently and looking behind her at Wally.

Wally glared as Miss. Frances relaxed and gave a genuinely amused chuckle. "You shouldn't joke about that, Richard," she warned. Dick shrugged.

"I wasn't."

Thirty minutes of casual conversation and uncomfortable interrogation later found Dick walking out of the office with less of a bounce in his step than before. Wally was right on his heels, making sure to turn his head and stick his tongue out obnoxiously at the therapist as they walked away. Bruce had just entered through the doors to the waiting room, tie swung around his shoulder from the wind outside, and Dick laughed cheekily at the sight. Bruce only rolled his eyes as he went to talk in hushed tones with the therapist at the office door.

"So, Daddy Bats isn't actually real?" Wally asked, attempting to lean casually against the arm of the couch, but failing when he fell through. Dick coughed to cover his giggles and took out his phone.

[What do you mean?] Wally looked at the phone screen that was opened to messages, which the redhead saw was sending texts to Dick's number, as his body remained half impaled by the couch. Dick turned his head to avoid looking at the unnerving sight that was his best friend divided by a piece of furniture.

"Well, we all thought Batman was your dad, but it's actually Bruce Fucking Wayne, so who's Batman? Come on, it's not like I can tell anyone," the boy elaborated. Dick's eyebrows shot up his forehead.

[Just imagine Bruce in a Bat costume, dude.]

Wally huffed and opened his mouth to answer, jumping away from the couch as he did so, but paused instead. Dick braced himself but, to his surprise, Wally only took a deep breath and slowly rubbed his face. "So, first you tell me that your daddy is the richest guy in the state, and then you say that said richest guy is also the scariest guy in America."

[Pretty much.]

"Who dresses up like a bat and beats up clowns every night."

Dick cackled. "Yup."

The little girl kicking her legs on the other end of the couch looked at him strangely. Dick swallowed and glanced back at his phone, pretending to be doing something productive, but he could still feel the unashamed gaze of the child on the side of his face. Wally didn't say much more, preferring to simply stand there and absorb the information when Bruce walked by. The man flashed the secretary a sunny smile on his way past, and Wally scrunched up his face.

"Seeing Batman smile is so weird," he commented, wrinkling his nose.

"Ready to go?" Bruce asked as he reached Dick, who was already standing up. The teenager quickly pocketed his phone.

"Yup," he said.

Bruce nodded. "How long do you think your homework will take?" inquired the man as he closed the waiting room door behind them. The neat hallway was empty, and the pair's footsteps echoed loudly as they moved to the stairs. Wally followed in front, backpedaling to face them, his gaze fixated on Bruce's eyes.

Dick found it strange how Bruce, of all people, couldn't see the person right in front of him. But if Dick and Wally's theory was correct, there was no way that Bruce ever allowed his mind to become empty long enough to see a ghost. Dick supposed that there was at least one advantage to not paying attention in class and, even then, Dick didn't think that being able to see a ghost was an advantage. More like a clip from a horror film. A comedic horror, where Wally was involved. "A few hours if I take my time, an hour if I rush," Dick replied.

"I'll call you downstairs at 5, then," settled Bruce.

"Do I get to hang out with my friends?" Dick piped excitedly. Wally furrowed his eyebrows at the strangely normal conversation, but Dick knew that Wally would eventually understand what, exactly, he and Bruce were actually talking about.

"That, or you can stay home. I have a meeting to get to," Bruce said, a tap to his thigh showing Dick that he didn't mean just any other meeting.

"Score!" cheered Dick.

"What?" Wally butt in. Dick waved him off with his wrist, which Bruce looked at uncomprehendingly for a second. Dick shook his head to tell the man that he wasn't talking to him, but that seemed only to confuse Bruce more.

It took a while to get back to the manor, considering the traffic of downtown Gotham and the absurdly long drive it took in a non-upgraded vehicle to get up their driveway, but Dick was eventually running upstairs.

Wally was far, far behind him.

"I can't believe this place!" he practically squealed, already staring at Dick's reflection in every shiny object only because he couldn't stare at his own. "It's so...so…."

"Rich?" Dick supplied.

"Yeah!"

More time was wasted attempting to get Wally to calm down. By the amount of times that Wally went through expensive objects just getting to Dick's bedroom, though, Dick figured that maybe there was a good side to not being solid. At least Wally wouldn't break every antique Alfred spent his day fawning over. Unfortunately, after Wally had recovered enough to speak a sentence that didn't comment on the way the manor looked, the redhead went straight into obsessing over the sheer amount of video games in Dick's possession.

"You have to play all of them," the redhead demanded. "Right now. Just for me."

To Wally's loud disappointment, Dick didn't do as he asked. In fact, Dick didn't so much as look at the video games. Instead, the acrobat immediately sat down behind his great wooden desk and yanked his binder from his backpack.

"Homework?" the redhead protested. "Now? Can't you do that later?"

Dick shook his head. "Batman and Robin have to go to the mountain later. It's the weekend, I'll play some tonight."

"How do you know that you guys are going to the mountain?" Wally asked, confused. "Batman never said that."

"Yeah, he did. At the therapist's," replied Dick with a smirk.

"What? No, I was right there!"

At least Dick knew that Batman's paranoia was working.

"Master Dick?" There was a knock on Dick's bedroom door and the acrobat froze up for a second, glancing at Wally with intentions of hiding the boy. He could have hit himself after he had that moment of thought, though. How did someone hide a ghost?

It brought a new meaning to the phrase 'hiding in plain sight'. "Come in," Dick called.

"'Master Dick'?" Wally snorted.

Alfred appeared at the door with a tray of lasagna and orange juice. Dick tried not to draw attention to the fact that he was amused when Wally eyeballed the plate. "I've brought dinner," the elderly man stated.

Dick paused in his search for a sharpened pencil. "Dinner? It's only four," he questioned.

"Four-fifteen. I would have waited until the usual time, but Master Bruce is rather adamant that he get to the meeting before then," the butler sighed. "I wish he wouldn't do that. Especially not with you. As far as I'm concerned, you are perfectly capable to join him after dinner at six."

Dick grinned apologetically, offering a shrug in response. He quickly cleared away a portion of his desk so that Alfred was able to set down the tray of food. "Thanks," he answered. "I didn't realise how hungry I was."

"You never do," replied Alfred. "You're due down at five on the dot, but I'll see if I can't persuade Master Bruce into giving you some more time for your work. I say education is more important than odd nightly activities."

"Sounds good," Dick agreed. Alfred nodded once before closing the door behind him.

"You have a butler?" asked Wally. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Alfred's less like my butler and more like my grandfather," the acrobat admitted. "And he's a lot easier to talk to than Bruce. I mean, about emotions and stuff. Advice. The only advice you should go to Bruce for is how far away to stay from the Joker."

"And how far is that?" Wally humoured.

"There isn't a distance far enough," quipped Dick.

"And yet, he lets you go out in spandex to throw bird shaped ninja stars at him on a regular basis." Wally replied, rubbing his chin.

Dick only rolled his eyes and waved him off, gesturing animatedly to his homework. To drive his point across, the performer made a show of finding his headphones and placing them over his ears. Wally left to explore the rest of the manor in a huff. He only returned once to bother Dick, yelling about how scary the manor was, until Dick reminded Wally that he was a ghost.