Chapter 36 The Drakes, Falling, and Stars
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice.
The large room was filled with men in tuxedos and women wearing their best dresses. Everyone milling around, making small talk and pretending to like each other. The Annual Gotham Hospital Charity Event was going the same as every year, and Dick was bored out of his mind. It had only been an hour and was already growing tired of standing beside Bruce in an itchy bow tie, pretending to remember people he didn't care about, and being polite to rude women flirting shamelessly with Bruce.
"How much longer?" Dick whined, after they had escaped another annoying blonde.
Bruce sighed, "You know I'm going to have to stay until at least eleven."
Dick groaned, "But that's another four hours."
"If I can get through this then so can you," Bruce said, scanning the crowd.
Dick opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by somebody calling Bruce's name. Bruce and Dick immediately put fake smiles on, and turned in the general direction of the voice. A small family was approaching the pair, the man who had called Bruce's name was tall and slightly pudgy, with light brown hair hanging in front of his eyes. His wife was following him wearing in a silk black dress, and leading their small son by the hand.
Bruce offered the man his hand to shake, "Jack, good to see you."
"The pleasure is all mine, Bruce," Jack said, shaking his hand. He turned to glance at Dick "And who's this young man?"
Bruce placed his hand on Dick's shoulder and smiled, "This is my ward Dick Grayson."
Jack raised an eyebrow, "One of the Flying Graysons?"
Dick nodded proudly, "Yes sir."
Jack nodded, solemnly, "I remember you. We were there on that awful night. I'm very sorry for your loss."
"Thank you," Dick said.
Jack smiled at him, before turning back to Bruce, "Do you remember my wife, Janet? I don't think you've ever met our son, Timothy."
"Yes, I do, but I haven't had the pleasure of meeting your son" Bruce answered, smiling at the boy. Dick smiled and waved at Timothy.
"Well, we usually don't take him to charity events since we are rarely home when he isn't at boarding school," Janet explained.
"How old are you?" Dick asked Timothy. He hid slightly behind his mother's dress, but held up five fingers.
"You're only five and you're at boarding school?" Dick cried. What parent could just send their kid of like that? He'd be terrified so far away from Bruce. Bruce elbowed him lightly in the side, giving him a stern glare. Dick had to restrain from rolling his eyes.
"Oh, he loves it there," Janet replied, airily, "Don't you, Timothy?"
Timothy nodded slowly and shyly, looking up at his mother. She smiled at him lovingly. Jack smiled at them, before turning back to Bruce, "Anyway, I just thought I would say hello before our meeting this week. I feel rude not talking to my colleagues outside of the office sometimes."
Bruce forced a short laugh, "I understand."
The Drakes said goodbye before continuing on to the buffet table. Dick turned to Bruce as soons as they left, "What kind of parent just ships their kid off to boarding school first chance they get? Why did they even have kids?"
Bruce sighed, "I don't know, Dick, but you can't say that kind of stuff around them. It's rude."
Dick rolled his eyes.
"If you don't start using your manners tonight, you'll have to spend an entire afternoon reviewing proper etiquette with Alfred," Bruce threatened.
Dick put a big smile on his face, "Hello, Mr. Wayne. How are you doing today? It is very nice to see you again."
"Much better," Bruce said.
Dick sighed to himself. There was no way he was going to go through another afternoon learning manners from Alfred. That was worse than fighting the Joker.
"Cheer up," Bruce told him after a few minutes in silence.
"Why?" Dick asked.
Bruce pointed in front of them, "Your friend is here."
Dick's eyes followed to see where Bruce was pointing, "Barbara!"
Bruce chuckled, "Thought that would make you happy."
Commissioner Gordon and Barbara was walking toward them. Barbara was wearing a long purple dress and a scowl. When they reached Dick and Bruce, Barbara crossed her arms and muttered, "I hate these things."
"Barbara," Commissioner Gordon sighed, pinching his nose.
"Well, I do," Barbara shrugged.
"That's not the point," her father said.
Barbara opened her mouth to say something, but Dick interrupted her, "We're going to get some cake."
Bruce looked at Dick's innocent smile suspiciously. Commissioner Gordon shrugged, "Alright, but don't take too long."
"We won't," Dick promised, waving as he lead Barbara away.
Barbara glanced behind them to see Bruce watching them closely, before turning back to Dick. "We're not really going to get cake are we?" she asked.
"Oh, we're getting cake. It's too good to pass up. We're just not coming back until it's almost time to leave," Dick grinned.
"Good," Barbara smirked, "But how are we going to do that?"
Dick shrugged, "Easy, we get seen eating cake, and then we duck out the back door when someone walks by so they don't know where we went."
"What if they come looking for us?" Barbara asked, as they reached the dessert table.
"Simple," Dick answered, scanning the table for chocolate cake, "Bruce knew I would sneak off if he let us go, but I didn't give him the time to disagree with your dad."
"Do you do this often?" Barbara asked, picking up a brownie.
Dick thought about all the time he had run off as Robin before answering, "Errr, no... I just planned this before we got here."
Barbara laughed and nodded appreciatively. Dick glanced at her, before turning to watch people walk by the staff door. He glanced behind them to see another woman flirting with Bruce, effectively blocking his view of them. Smirking, Dick grabbed Barbara's hand, and pulled her behind a rather large man walking by the door. The two slipped inside the kitchen, and ran to the back door before anyone noticed them.
Barbara laughed as soon as they made it outside, "I've never done anything like that before."
"Do you want to have even more fun?" Dick asked, smiling. He was backing up from the building and looking at the roof.
Barbara looked at him in confusion, "Of course, but what are you doing?"
"Figuring out the easiest way to get on the roof," Dick answered, not looking at her.
"Are you crazy?" Barbara cried, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Maybe," Dick shrugged, "How well are you doing in your gymnastic class?"
"Um... The teacher says I'm the best in the class," Barbara said, hesitantly.
"Then this should be easy for you," Dick replied, taking a running start before jumping on the top of the dumpster. He landed neatly, before standing, and facing Barbara.
"Are you crazy?" Barbara cried, "You're going to ruin your suit!"
Dick shrugged, "Bruce will just have to buy me a new one, and I can get you a new dress if you mess up yours."
"What makes you think I'm coming with you?" Barbara demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
Dick smiled, "Because you want to break all the strict rules your dad has set out for you throughout your life."
"Those rules are there for a reason! He's the commissioner! Do you know what could happen if someone kidnapped me or something?" Barbara argued.
"And I'm the ward of Bruce Wayne. I have been kidnapped before when I was doing exactly what I was suppose to, and I break the rules all the time. Besides, who would try to hurt a couple of kids sitting on the roof?" Dick retorted.
Barbara let her arms fall to her sides, "We could fall."
Dick grinned at her, "I won't let you."
Barbara shook her head and began backing up. She lifted her dress up from around her ankles, before taking a running leap onto the dumpster. Her land wasn't as good as Dick, but helped her steady herself.
"Now just copy exactly what I do," he told her.
"Okay," Barbara muttered, watching him closely.
Dick backed up the left side of the dumpster and took another running start. This time he was jumping to a tree that was planted to the right of the dumpster. His hands grabbed the edge of a thick branch, and he swung himself up, landing neatly on the branch.
"Your turn!" he called to Barbara.
Barbara bit her lip, but backed to the edge of the dumpster anyway. She was still holding her now stained dress up so she could run. She took another running leap, letting go of her dress as she jumped. Her hands were reaching out to grab the tree branch, and the young girl's heart stopped when she realized she wouldn't make it. She was sure she would fall would Dick's hands grabbed hers. He sat comfortably on the tree branch, smirking at her.
Barbara was surprised at his strength as he pulled her up beside her.
"How did you do that?" she asked, after she had caught her breath.
"As an acrobat the first thing you're trained to do is save a teammate from following," Dick answered.
"So we're a team now?" Barbara asked, as Dick started climbing onto the next branch.
Dick smiled down at her, "I thought we were a team since we first met. First against bullies-"
"And now against stupid parties," Barbara finished, climbing behind him.
Dick laughed, "Exactly."
The two climbed to the top of the tree, and Dick climbed onto a nearby window seal above them. He carefully slid over to the bottom of the balcony beside it, and grabbed onto it. He pulled himself up, and turned around to help Barbara if she needed it. Barbara quickly followed him, and made it onto the balcony without Dick's help.
"Almost there," Dick said, climbing onto the top railing of the balcony. He quickly balanced himself, and reached his hands upward. He jumped slightly and grabbed the edge of the roof. Like with the tree, he swung himself over and into a sitting position. He looked at the view around him, smiling, before turning his attention back to Barbara.
"Come on! You're gonna love the view!" he cried, as she began slowly and cautiously standing on the railing of the balcony. She reached her arms out and jumped. She grabbed the edge of the roof, tearing her dress slightly, and flipped herself onto the roof.
She stood up and took in the view around her, "Wow."
Dick grinned, "I told you that you'd love it."
"Everyone looks so tiny from up here," Barbara laughed.
"They're like little ants," Dick added.
"Yeah," Barbara nodded, walking around the roof. Her eyes were moving in every direction, trying desperately to take everything in. From the people walking on the sidewalks below to all the buildings that were equal height to them.
Dick smiled and watched her. He was glad that he could share some of what he experienced every night as Robin with his best friend, even if she didn't realize what he was sharing with her. He laid down, and stared at the stars.
"It's a shame you can't see the starts well in the city," he whispered.
"I know," Barbara sighed, laying down beside him, "When I was really little my mom used to take me to the park at night where there wasn't as much light or smoke. She'd lay a blanket on the ground, and we'd lay on it. While we were there she tell me the names of the constellations and their stories."
Dick smiled, "My parents, aunt, and uncle would do the same thing with me and my cousin. We didn't have a lot of money so we had to find other things to do to entertain ourselves. After the shows we would sit on the roof of our trailer and tell stories about the stars."
"We should go to the park one night with my dad and Bruce," Barbara suggested, "Then we could swap stories."
"I could even tell them to you in Romani," Dick said.
AN: Sorry, it's taken so long for this chapter. I've been working on other stories that I plan to post soon including something for Zutara Week starting on July 20. So if you're a Zutara shipper look out for that. As always, thanks for the follows, favorites, and reviews!