Author's Note: Here is Dinner. See what you think. Enjoy.

Luke 6

I was wrong. Wayne doesn't enjoy controlling Dick or keeping him in the dark. He is a manipulator, but he doesn't think he has a choice. Sitting here having dinner with him and Dick makes it obvious I got the wrong end of the stick. He is dangerous though, no doubt about that and he believes the same of me, still. As I read him more, my fear subsides because I can see Dick is his biggest weakness. We have common ground. He loves Dick in a different way to me, but he doesn't abuse him like I once thought. But he is pressuring him to keep his secrets. Bruce Wayne definitely has some secrets of own and, judging from the way he let me see what lurks beneath the surface, it's even bigger than Dick's and he's willing to go some lengths to keep it. All this I get without him saying a word; gestures always tell more than words ever could. I drop my fork again. That's the five time in ten minutes. It's not because I'm nervous but because my hand is misreading the signals from my brain. Wayne is the first to say something.

"Are you alright Luke?" He asks genially as I repeatedly flex my hand in an effort to get it under control. I nod without looking at him.

"Yeah, it's just a bad connection is all. Sometimes my hand gets the message wrong."

"Do you know what causes it?" He says sounding like he's fishing for useful information on my shortcomings. I let my eyes meet his and I smile.

"Oh nothing worth mentioning Mr. Wayne; just my step-father beating me over the head with a metal rod for a couple of days, one summer. It was a magical weekend that left me with a slight bit of brain damage but a lot of memories." I reply to bring the deathly quiet roaring back into the room. Wayne isn't rattled by the story but does hold up a hand in mute apology. That's interesting. Dick kills the silence again.

"Did you ever find out why he hated you so much Luke?" I shift my gaze from Wayne to Dick and shake my head.

"No and I don't really want to know either. It just happened and now it's over and I want it to stay that way." I say with an air of finality whilst picking my fork back up to finish my starter.

"How did you find the fishcakes Luke? Were they to your liking?" Wayne asks once his servant has cleared away the crockery. He poses the question innocently enough, but his eyes are always calculating something when they look at me. I smile.

"They were very nice, thank you. Alfred is a really good chef." I say hoping the butler heard my praise and how insincere it was. Wayne nods in satisfaction at my response and leans forward in his seat.

"Oh he certainly is. What about your foster parents? Do they like to cook?"

"Sometimes they do. They can't match Alfred though. You're very lucky." Even though I'm sat right next to Dick at the table, it feels like there's just Bruce Wayne and me in the room. This feels not like an interrogation but some kind of screening. I doubt he does this to Dick's other friends when they come here for the first time, but I can't be sure. He seems very careful and measured in what he's saying.

"Well I'm sure your foster parents feel lucky having you too Luke. You're very polite." Wayne tells me in the same genial and generic tone he's been using all night. I'm positive he doesn't really believe what he's just told me and is basically just trying to push my buttons to see if I'll crack like I did with Pennyworth that day. He's looking for trigger words. He took a good guess by mentioning Charlie and Linda. I'm calm though and very much in control. I shouldn't be but I am. I shrug.

"I just want to make a good impression. Dick says you're a nice guy but I know you've got high expectations for him. You want to be sure he's hanging around with the right sort of people, right?" Wayne's eyes flicker. It suggests he's unlocked or pieced out some hunch or suspicion about me. He nods in agreement and steeples his fingers together as Alfred returns with the lobster main course.

"I'm sure Charlie and Linda feel the same about you Luke; they certainly would not want you associating with unscrupulous characters." He tells me as the servant lays a lobster and salad at his place. I'm an unscrupulous character now? I'm not even sure what qualifies you for such a lofty-sounding label but apparently I've got the right attributes for Wayne to tar me with it. I lean forward too.

"Why might that be?" I ask. He shrugs.

"You've been in trouble before for such friendships. I believe a total of four stints in juvenile detention centers prove you have not always been successful in your choice of companion."

"Well I think with Dick I'll do just fine from now on."

"I'd second that." Dick says wading into the tense atmosphere to take my side. I feel a lot better now that I'm not the only one who thinks this is not as hospitable a dinner as I was expecting. I was expecting him to give me a few hard stares and a little quizzing over my past, but not this subtle attack on my suitability as Dick's friend through veiled remarks on my failings in life. I want to cut out his tongue but know I can't if I want Dick to carry on supporting me. So I have to let him speak again. Before he does, I smile in gratitude at Dick who returns the favor.

"Oh I don't deny that everyone, regardless of crime, is entitled to a second chance, but four is a somewhat less reasonable. It shows a clear pattern of reoffending that is not easily broken."

"Bruce I think you're being a little harsh; Luke's only fourteen, like me? It's not like he's a career criminal or something." Even though Dick is my friend I'm still surprised he's arguing against his guardian on my behalf. Nobody usually ever argues for me, I have to make a stand or do something on my own. I let it just become another reason I love him. I check Wayne's reaction; he almost looks amused. I don't like it.

"That's a very valid point Dick. I'm sorry if I seemed judgmental Luke. I'm just…" He pauses and for just a moment, his face changes and he looks at Dick in the oddest way before finishing his sentence. "very protective of him." I think I just saw fear in his eyes and I don't know how I managed to trigger it. Whatever it was, it disappears as quickly as it came and without a lingering trace. I look for Dick's reaction; he looks a little astonished by his guardian's last remark. It seems Wayne does not admit having those kinds of feelings very often. It just highlights that Dick is the man's weakness. By now, all of us have lobsters before us. We begin to eat.

For a while, the conversation isn't tense or directed towards my past or character defects. We manage to talk civilly about hobbies, sports, the weather and a little bit of Gotham history that almost carries us through to dessert, but not quite. Wayne is still analyzing me but in an even more imperceptible way. Then it all comes full circle.

"Dick, do you remember that article in the newspaper a few weeks ago, the one about your English teacher, Mr. Brunswick?"

"About him being attacked at school?" Dick says finishing his last mouthful of salad. He has amazing table manners and is so neat that I'm envious.

"Yes. I'm curious to know if anyone has found the culprit."

"Why are you so sure it was just one person?" I interrupt before Dick can say anymore on the matter. Wayne knows it was me. He knows and Pennyworth told him. Well, with his threatening he had to tell the master of the house or else I'd be back in care or worse. I feel dumb for making such an obvious statement and can't help but frown at my own slow wit.

"The evidence just points to it more, according to the media reports. They are also convinced it was someone short of stature, perhaps a woman, but also that the strength required to render a man of Brunswick's size unconscious suggest the attacker was male. It's all purely guesswork at this stage: the man himself did not see his assailant, just a pair of sneakers before he lost consciousness." Bruce informs us in a very matter-of-fact tone. He shrugs. "It's not very much to go on I know, but I know most students at your school will have formed their own theories. Any notable suggestions?" Dick rolls his eyes and sighs.

"The usual: government cover-up, spy for the Chinese, aliens, jilted lover, double-crossed gangster and just crap."

"But nobody has pointed the finger?"

"I would've thought a man as important as you would have better things to do with your time than play school detective in an incident that has nothing to do with you." I offer whilst pushing away my half-eaten lobster. Both of them look at me.

"Anything to do with Dick's safety has something to do with me Luke. It's part of being a parent. I don't want him going to a school with an unhinged lunatic roaming the hallways and attacking without provocation. I want him to be safe." I'm unhinged and crazy am I? That's how it used to be, but now I'm different. That's why I switch tact and just tackle this head-on.

"We both know you're talking about me. We might all know you're talking about me. So let's stop pretending. What do you want me to say? Do you want a confession?" I ask as Pennyworth removes my plate. The old man carries on with his duties like nothing is happening. Wayne shrugs his shoulders.

"I'd just like you to be honest with me. I'm still trying to understand what your intentions are and I must say that so far your behaviour concerns me." I shake my head.

"But I haven't done anything yet."

"That's exactly why. I've read the reports about you from the Rosewood Juvenile Detention Centre. I've also read the report about your stay in the Blackgate Juvenile Wing. All of them say you are just as likely to lose your temper and assault someone in a flash as you are to be placid for a month. Sometimes there are provocations such as Alfred's mention of your step-father and sometimes they are no reasons for your violence. You simply act. And sometimes you don't. Take the incident in Rosewood. After you were hospitalized following the attack from two other offenders, you did nothing for six weeks after your release from the infirmary. You did not speak to or engage them at all, even when they provoked you. Then the staff walked into the recreation room and found both of them with shards of glass embedded in their faces and stomachs." I don't like strangers prying into my private life. He must have some pretty weighty connections to get access to my files; they're held under lock and key because of the content. Someone once read it and needed therapy after. He must be used to my kind of sob story in this city. I thought I was one of a kind. It seems I was wrong. Dick is frowning at me and I feel the walls closing in. I compose myself.

"There was never any proof that was me." I say and am correct. There isn't any evidence whatsoever. I did do that to them, but I had to. They fucking tried to kill me after trying to rape me.

"I know it was you. So did the staff. They just couldn't prove anything. The point is you are wildly unpredictable in your actions and liable to snap without warning. I will admit, since Dick became your friend, you have not been so problematic for the school or its faculty, but that means little. It's only been four weeks of good behaviour and I believe your record is two months and one day." Wayne retorts and I think about jamming my fork in his eye and seeing exactly how smug he'd be after that. My anger's starting to flare up because of this rich snob and I feel like I'm slipping too easily. I try to hold myself together or I will jump over the table and make a play for his jugular vein.

"Why don't you just tell me that I can't be Dick's friend and to leave? Why couldn't you just tell me that at the start?" I say as calmly as possible. It comes out as spiteful. Wayne shrugs and I am one wrong word away from trying to slash his throat.

"Because this is not a dictatorship and Dick is free to make his own decisions. I just wanted to draw his attentions to certain facts before he made a choice." I'm halfway out my chair before I feel Dick's hand clamp down on my arm and sit me back down. He smiles at me and nods.

"I think I've heard enough Bruce." Dick tells his guardian whilst shaking his head. "What you did wasn't fair. Luke's childhood was awful and how he is now isn't his fault. He can change and he has changed for the better. I'm not stupid either. I know you think he's dangerous and I know you think he might hurt me, but I'm willing to take a chance on him. He can be nice if you just don't antagonize him, like you've been doing all night. I want him to have a chance at a normal life and that always starts by taking a leap of faith. He's my friend and it's staying that way. Understand?"

"Dick I'm trying to be practical. Just because he's been nice to you so far is no reason to assume he won't suddenly…"

"How about you stop talking about him like he's not here or me for that matter when you talk to him? He's had a bad life but he's NOT a bad person, not deep down. I brought him here hoping you could see that too. Seeing as you can't, I don't think I'd want him coming here again. You're coming across as obsessive and it isn't flattering." Dick says fiercely whilst getting to his feet. "May we be excused?" Wayne's jaw is clenched tight and he seems ready to explode himself. I don't think he expected that response from his ward. I didn't either. I'm still reeling from how he stopped me doing something stupid with a smile. Bruce manages to nod.

"You're excused." Dick gestures for me to join him. I get to my feet and lock eyes with Wayne; his expression says that he is far from beaten on the issue and will find some way to get rid of me. My expression tells him nothing. I am calm again, but feeling very satisfied with the outcome. I smile politely at him.

"Thank you for dinner Mr. Wayne."