Drabble-and-a-half. Warning: contains corporal punishment of a disobedient son by a loving father.
This task, Bruce finds, is the hardest of all.
Bruce found much about being a new father to a recently-orphaned preteen to be hard.
It was hard to rank being home when his son had a cold as more important than protecting Gotham City.
It was hard, hearing the sleeping boy scream, to provide comfort even while recollecting his own youthful nightmares.
It was hard for the vigilante-by-night, apparent-playboy-by-day to give Dick genuine love and commit himself so wholly to the son—and, he began to understand anew, father—who formed his family.
It was hard to deal with the worry he felt every time his son donned cape and mask, even as it was hard to express his pride whenever Robin saved civilians or brought criminals to justice.
But this, Bruce realized as he held up his open palm over the bare rear of the boy who lay sniffling over his knee, posed the hardest task of all.