"Where are we going?" Dick asked as they he headed down the sidewalk with Bruce.
"The park." Bruce said serenely. He smiled as Scarlet held his hand, skipping to keep up with his long strides. Scarlet instantly perked up. "You mean the playground?"
"No- the park. There's a nice path to walk and trees and benches and grass..."
"Sounds boring." Scarlet said, and Bruce chuckled. "I prefer to call it relaxing..."
"There it is!" Dick pointed, and they all looked to see the winding bright path by the green grass and old sycamore trees that stretched with shade, There was a fountain in the center, spitting water from the angel's mouth. Dick's eyes widened...
Bruce sat down on the bench to read the paper. "You two can go play." he said, and they both scampered off to play behind the bench on the grass...
He heard the giggling, and five minutes later a fat woman in a flowered dress stalked over, holding her equally fat son by his chubby arm.
"Are those your children?" she asked, pointing behind him.
Bruce turned to see Scarlet and Dick handing upside down from a fat sycamore branch, fifteen feet above the ground. What really surprised him was that there wasn't a single branch below the ones they were on, and he contemplated how they'd gotten up there, slightly amused.
He had to smile slightly, watching them giggle and play patty cake upside down before turning back around to face the angry tub of lard. "Yes, yes they are..."
"Well now MY son will try that stupid stunt and break his neck! What do you intend to do about it?"
In the back of his mind, he was thinking that the fat kid would never be about to even get into a tree to ATTEMPT the stunt, but of course he couldn't say that. He was actually annoyed- it wasn't his fault his children where awesome.
But he had to appease the angry fat lady, so he turned once again. "Dick, Scarlet, could you come down from there?" he asked. Both children swung up onto the branch before Dick did a double back flip down, Scarlet managing a single before they trotted over.
"Yeah Dad?"
"Try doing something less dangerous, alright?"
"That wasn't dangerous at all, Bruce..." Scarlet said, looking confused-Dick noticed the fat lady and quickly covered her mouth. The fat lady harrumphed and walked away, and they all looked relaxed slightly...
Dick released his hold on Scarlet's mouth, and she stared. "Did you see that fat lady? She was scarier than Scare Crow, I'll bet..." Scarlet said, since Batman still never let her tangle with the large villains. Bruce chuckled. "Not quite, Scarlet. Listen- let's try to avoid irritating people and stay out of the trees, alright?"
"Okay, Dad." and with that, they both scampered off once again. Bruce read literally twelve words before he heard a splash and looked up.
"Oops..." Dick said, blushing furiously and quickly scrambling out of the fountain- Bruce easily pieced together what had happened. They'd obviously been walking on the edge of the fountain, since Scarlet still stood there, when Dick had fallen in...
"Dick..." Bruce said, tone firm. Luckily no one had been around to see that... "Stop being so mischievous."
Dick grinned. "Come on, Bruce, live a little. I'm not being mischievous- you're just boring."
"Dick." Bruce said, a warning conveyed in his tone.
"Okay, okay, I get it- no more mischief." Dick said, sighing. But there was a twinkle in his eye as he retreated.
Bruce had settled into the silence of the morning, content knowing that his kids were sitting in the shade of the sycamore tree and NOT doing anything dangerous.
Pigeons landed a distance away, and Dick smiled, watching the dumb birds peck eagerly at the ground. They were only a few feet away from a bush, if only he could sneak behind it.
He ended up crawling across the ground on his stomach, inching around like a caterpillar, until he finally made his way behind the bush. He grinned evily. His plan had been flawless- now for phase two.
He'd been reading the sports section when he heard the commotion, the flapping of wings and frantic coos of intellectually challenged pigeons.
He idly looked over his newspaper, expecting to see a dog or jogger had simply disturbed them. But when he saw the cause of the disturbance, his eyes widened and he dropped the paper, standing up and running.
"Dick!"
"I got it! I got it!" Dick chanted excitedly. He'd managed to seize a pigeon that wasn't fast enough by the wing, and was holding fast to it as it frantically flapped and kicked out.
"Let it go, Dick!"
Dick turned to see him, surprised. "But I just got it!"
The pigeon flailed frantically, its clawed feet finding purchase on Dick's forearm.
"Ow!"
Dick let go of the bird, which frantically thundered away, wincing as he saw the bloody scratches. It stung.
Bruce put his hands on the boy's shoulders, kneeling so he was level with the boy.
"Let me see, Dick."
Dick quietly showed him his arm- the scratches weren't deep, but they were bleeding, and Bruce mad his decision.
"Scarlet- come on- we're going home."
Scarlet looked up from where she'd been poking at things in the grass, oblivious to the incident that'd just occurred, and trotted alongside them towards the car.
They were strangely silent, Dick looking downcast even as Bruce cleaned and bandaged his arm at home.
Bruce was starting to get worried at the boy's silence when Dick spoke.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what, son?"
"Sorry for ruining your morning. I messed everything up. You said to stop messing around, but I didn't listen, and I messed everything up."
Bruce allowed a small smile to cross his face. "I'm not angry, son- and there's nothing to be sorry for. Just- be more careful, okay? What if the bird had attacked you? I'm not angry, just worried about you. Think things through a little more, alright?"
Dick allowed a wane smile to cross his face as well. "Alright."
"And if you're going to catch a bird next time- at least make sure it's a robin."