Took longer than I wanted to get this one up but I've been a bit busy so it cannot be helped.
Bruce spent the day running around city blocks looking for work and doing his job. It was late by the time he started heading home and he knew Richard had long since returned from school. He moved quickly down the streets and stopped at an open lot filled with the neighborhood kids who were all playing kick the can together.
Richard was in the group and led the gang of the opposing team. He frowned as he observed his ward more closely to see a half-eaten apple in his hand. Without saying much of anything he stepped into the middle of their game. The kids all greeted him for he was well known and liked among them.
"Hey, Bruce!"
"Sup' Bruce!"
"Aw, I was just about to score."
"Are the fish biting today?"
That last comment earned a boy a little older than Richard a smack on the back of his head from Dick.
"Say that again and I'll bite you on the arm."
Bruce casually swiped the apple from Richard's hands and looked at it passively.
"I see someone gave you an apple."
Richard's gaze snapped back to Bruce instantly and then found the floor. He said nothing.
"Well you look pretty guilty for being given an apple."
Bruce swept his eyes over the other boys who held their arms up defensively displaying no apple.
"I guess if you're that guilty about it we could just go pay for it. Couldn't we Dick?"
The other kids saw the tension rising and quickly excused themselves to their homes. Bruce grabbed Richard roughly by the arm and all but started dragging him towards the market. Richard scurried next to him but the close proximity made it hard for him to keep they got to the market Bruce released his grip and dug out some money from his boot. He gave it to Richard.
"Go pay for that apple."
He followed the boy to the register and timidly told the clerk he needed to pay for an apple. The apple was quickly bought and then Bruce started walking briskly home so Richard had to jog lightly to keep up with him. Once inside with the door shut, Bruce turned his scowl on his ward.
"They didn't even notice."
"And that makes it okay to steal."
"I was hungry."
"I don't care what you were stealing is not an option you have."
"You've stolen before."
Bruce's scowl turned deadly.
"I don't care what I did before, if you think that justifies what you did you're mistaken."
"You stole so we wouldn't get killed, okay. Well, I stole so I wouldn't starve. Same concept only mine costs a lot less."
"You were not starving you simply refused to wait until I got home."
"Which could be till what, the next day!"
"One does not die from no food for a day Grayson or I would have been dead by now. Don't expect to go on patrol tonight."
"What! What if something happens?"
Bruce moved past him and collected his backpack from the closet.
"I'm sorry, okay. Don't make me stay home."
Bruce simply walked over and snatched Richard's house keys from him. He locked the boy in the house and left him to pace the room wondering what sort of state his guardian would return in. It really worked out better this way because now he only had to pay for one person to travel on the bus.
Once he was adorned in his costume and on the roof of one of the many buildings of Gotham he set about watching the area eagle eyed for any activity of the new gang. He stopped a mugging here and there or disrupted a less then honorary business deal. It was when he was perched atop a roof mulling over the possible leads he could follow when he felt someone drop behind him.
"Too heavy, I heard you with plenty of time to react."
"Maybe I wanted to be loud to let you know I was coming." Batgirl coyly replied.
Batman grunted in response and turned to face her.
"There's a new drug gang rising up around this part of town."
"They all seem the same to me."
"You need more training."
"I'm all ears Batman."
He lunged at her forcing her to jump backwards.
"You go straight to it don't you."
She dodged another one of his punches and tried her offense out for a spin. They dueled on the roof for a while with Batman clueing her in to various techniques as they fought and correcting her mistakes. Finally, he grabbed her and pinned her on the floor with her face brushing the rock.
"Ow."
He let her get up and dropped down in the alley with her following closely behind.
"So where's Wonder Boy?"
She didn't get a response.
"Fine don't tell me. Probably had too much homework to do right?"
She sighed as she followed him to one of the hotel buildings. He stalked through the lower areas until he came across a gang of people meeting in an alley. He shoved batgirl to the wall with a sweep of his hand and pressed himself flat against its surface. The men talked briefly about a location for their next drug shipment they would be bringing in and departed.
"Shouldn't we have taken them?"
"And blown the chance to bust them in action? No. Remember, you must catch them with the evidence or your capture was just a vigilant assaulting a civilian."
"Okay,okay."
"Tell the commissioner he'll want to stay in this area tomorrow night."
"You act like that's an easy thing to do without being suspicious."
Batgirl turned to Batman but he had already disappeared.
By the time Bruce made it into his home and through the door the sun was peeking out over the horizon. Richard had fallen asleep in his clothes, a sure sign that he had meant to stay awake. He set his equipment in the corner of the room and crawled into bed.
There you go.^^ Not quite sure how I feel about my Batgirl let me know what you think. I loved writing the apple moment with Richard and it was a good chance to show how Bruce can still be his cold self, circumstances willing.