I do not own Batman or it's characters because if I did, the story would be all about the family.
Let's be clear, Bruce Wayne did not care for the Justice League. Half the people on the team were idiots, making messes with their unnatural powers and blundering in and out of dangerous situations. The other half were not idiots and worried Bruce a heluva lot more than the annoying ones. But Batman understood that there were some evils in the world that he couldn't conquer alone. Thus it was wise to ban together with other heroes in case their skills were needed. And besides, it was easier to keep an eye on them when he was amongst them.
Still, as practical and beneficial as it was to form an alliance with superbeings, he still found dealing with them incredibly trying. Taking care of an energetic young acrobat was less draining than one conversation with Superman. As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard Dick scampering down the stairs to the cave at an unsafe speed but Bruce had already wasted too much breath already trying to correct the boy's behavior. Dick stopped his sprint just inches away from his chair with a wide smile on his face.
"Alfred said I have to go to bed now but I told him that you promised to read to me first. We're almost to the end of Treasure Island and I've just got to know what happens. Can you take a break now and come upstairs?" Dick chirped happily, seemingly unconcerned that his guardian was dressed up as the fearsome protector of Gotham. Bruce really hadn't given Dick enough credit when he'd first arrived at the Manor. his underestimation of Dick's cleverness and observational skills resulted in his identity's exposure just a few weeks into the boy's stay. But Dick was smart and he'd done well to keep Gotham's biggest secret under wraps. Despite the security risk it posed, Bruce couldn't help but enjoy the refreshing lightness the boy brought into cave. Dick's eyes went to the screen as he stood on his tiptoes to get a better look. "Whatcha lookin' at Bruce?"
Bruce's content mood plummeted as his attention was redirected to the screen. He'd just received an obnoxiously long note from Kent, yes of course he knew their civilian identities as he was all too happy to remind them. The farm boy was asking him to see if they could incorporate some piece of Martian technology into their systems. The idiot had even ended the note with a smiley face, just looking at it irritated the dark vigilante. Bruce stalked over to the small zeta beam station not really noticing that Dick was trotting behind him. While he was mentally going over the machinery that would undoubtedly take all night to dismantle and re-integrate, Dick was curiously walking around the platform.
"Bruce, what's thi-" the loud boom of the beam activating startled Dick as he jumped back into his guardian's arms. Bruce steadied the boy as the machine quieted down revealing the necessary components. Right, first thing he needed to do was break the machine down and-and what was Dick doing? In his arms, the young boy was practically vibrating with excitement. He looked up at Bruce and his wide blue eyes were alight and the smile on his face was blinding. "You have a teleporter? That's amazing! I didn't think we had that kind of technology! How does it work? Can you show me? Pretty please?" He asked in one breath, bouncing up and down on his toes, radiating excitement and curiosity. Bruce blinked at the outburst.
"The zeta beam? You want to know how it works?" Dick nodded enthusiastically, "It's much too difficult for you, Dick. It deals with complex spatial physics that don't even exist on this planet. It's well beyond what you would learn in second grade."
"Oh," Dick answered quietly as the sheen in his eyes dulled a little bit. Bruce took in his disheartened expression and cleared his throat as he crossed his arms. "But I will give you a brief overview, just so you understand the basics. I'll make it quick as I have a lot of work to do tonight and you need to get to bed." Dick's eyes lit up once more as Bruce removed the outer panel of the machine and began working through the wires and explaining what they did.
The next twenty minutes were spent giving a watered down explanation of the mechanism and the next hour going into further detail upon realizing Dick's probing questions meant he wouldn't settle for anything less. Pretty soon Dick had his grease covered hands in the machinery, asking questions about components and trying to grasp how they worked. The next two hours were spent on the floor with all the books pertaining on the subject laid before them. Dick laid on the floor, intently reading over the complex pages trying to connect the theoretical numbers to the machine before him. Alfred brought hot chocolate down about halfway through and decidedly did not mention the Martian technology which had been shunted to the side to make room for all the books. After that, Dick pulled out some paper and furiously began working out calculations that Bruce had given him, trying to make all the numbers add up.
Finishing the last of his hot chocolate, Bruce stretched out his back from hunching over the books for so long. It had been a while since he'd had the time and motivation to sit down and lose himself in his studies. It had been even longer since he'd been able to share his love of learning with another person. It felt strangely good. Bruce looked over at Dick as he checked his math and pounded away on the calculator and something close to pride welled in his chest. His boy was brilliant, he had a natural grasp of math that he probably learned unconsciously through calculating flips and angles at the circus. More importantly, he was persistent and motivated which is why he was still working away nearly four hours later.
"When I encouraged you to spend more time with Master Dick, I figured you would play catch with him on the front lawn." Alfred said dryly as he picked up the empty mugs. Over at the table, Dick muttered to himself as he erased something and started again.
"He's too talented for that Alfred, the boy's a genius." Bruce proclaimed proudly as he stole another glance at Dick. "I need to look into getting him a real tutor, I know whatever they're teaching him in that prep school isn't nearly enough to satisfy him. We need someone smart enough to challenge him, who can teach him at a level he'll understand while still keeping him interested." Alfred gave him an amused smile, as if Bruce was missing something obvious.
"I suppose a tutor would help but, if I may sir, you possess all of those qualities as well in addition to being someone he trusts implicitly. You are his guardian now, it would do you both some good to spend some time together engaging in some normal activities." Alfred smiled slightly over his shoulder as he picked up the trays to leave. "But another time perhaps, it's after midnight and Master Dick really ought to be in bed."
Before Bruce could reply, a small sound came from his computer alerting him of a new message. Dick was still completely enamored in his calculations and didn't seem to notice as Bruce walked over and read the notice. It was Superman, again, asking to know how the breakdown of the Martian machine was going and that the Flash had volunteered to look at it as well. Bruce frowned as he noted that he hadn't given the assignment a second thought once he and Dick started working.
Under normal circumstances, he would curtly tell Kent to stay out of his business and deny any outside aid from the other heroes. But did he really want to spend all of his time working in the dark with a boring machine? Or would he rather go over more schematics with a boy who reminded him how much he genuinely enjoyed learning things?
"Dick, come here," He said as finished typing his response back. "We're going to zeta this back where it came from, I want you observe just how the process works again before I look over your math." He said pushing the Martian bits back onto the platform for transport. Dick frowned, looking over the objects before glancing shyly up at Bruce through his bangs.
"Weren't you supposed to-"
"I got someone else to look over them, I have more important things to do. Now after this, I want to show you one last thing before I send you to bed." Dick made a face and Bruce couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry chum. How about we look over it again this week? Thursday afternoons are usually slow, I'll come back from the office early and we'll talk about the transport of organic matter." Dick's answering grin was enough to tell him that he had a dedicated student on his hands. Busy though he was, he could make some time for that.
Wow thanks for such a great response on that first chapter, I'm so excited to share the next part. So I liked the idea of Bruce seeing Dick as more of a student than a son at first which helps strengthen their bond. I feel it would be very in line with both of their personalities plus, I love science a lot so yeah they play with a bunch of cool inventions because they're nerds. This'll probably update every Monday so tune in the next 3 weeks.