Fluff and bonding! They've earned it, after these last few chapters! :)
"This is BORING!" Wally sighed, falling out of the chair and onto the floor of the watch tower. "I'm dying! The boredom- it's killing me!"
Roy rolled his eyes. "Please stop whining."
In truth, he'd just gotten out of midterms and had a pounding headache.
"But I'm bored." Wally whined. "Uncle Barry promised he'd be here!"
"Yeah, well the UN calling an emergency meeting kinda trumps our plans for training for the day, doesn't it?" Dick asked, looking up from where he'd been sitting, hacking his new iPhone.
"Scarlet?" Roy turned around to find the nine year old covered in yogurt (that yogurt in a tube). "Freaking wonderful." He muttered.
"Cool! How'd you even do that?" Wally asked, eyes bulging.
"Gogurt tubes weren't made to be twisted, I guess.." Scarlet said, giving him a nervous smile.
"Dick, get me some paper towels, would you?" Roy ordered.
Dick scrambled into the kitchen and came back a moment later with some towels. Still, no matter how hard he scrubbed, her costume still had a neon blue stain on it. He sighed. "I give up. Today officially SUCKS." he declared, flopping back into his chair.
"What if we played Sardines?" Dick asked.
"We played what?" Roy asked, intrigued.
"Sardines. One person hides and everyone else looks for them. Once you find them, you have to squeeze in with them, until everyone but one person found them. The person who isn't squeezed in the hiding spot or finds everyone else last looses." Dick said calmly.
"Sounds COOL!" Wally said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet energetically.
Roy cocked an eyebrow at Dick. "How do you know how to play this game?"
"I... um... Batman uses it as a training exercise." he said quickly, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks.
In reality, the twelve year old loved to play games with his dad, and it was especially fun to try and watch broad shouldered, large Bruce Wayne try and squeeze under a bed to hide with him...
"Yeah. Remember when I wedged myself in that cupboard, We almost had to call the jaws of life to get me out..." Scarlet smiled slightly at the memory, as did Dick.
Roy's head was still pounding, but he sighed. "You know what- fine, I'll play sardines with you." Maybe it would get him some peace and quiet.
"Sweet!" Wally said. "Who hides first?"
"I do! Count to twenty!" Scarlet was already off and running. Twenty seconds later, the hunt began.
Dick pulled out the vent grate and crawled in, content to begin his quest, while Wally was still looking around the room. Roy's plan at first was to "look" for her in the bathroom, pop some aspirin, and head off to bed, but he was actually kind of curious as to where Scarlet was hiding.
She'd only had twenty seconds, she couldn't be far...
He just had to figure out how to get into the crawl space. He wandered out of the room, searching for an access hatch.
Scarlet was, in reality, hiding behind the couch. The couch was placed diagonally in the corner, so there was, in reality, three feet or so cubic feet back there for her to hide.
She'd normally choose some place complicated, like the crawl space, or the vents, but since that was expected, this time she decided to play it old school.
Ironically, Wally stumbled across her first. He made sure he was alone in the room before he dove behind the couch, squeezed into the little triangle area, with her. "Is it a good hiding place?" Scarlet whispered hopefully, looking over to Wally.
He nodded, smiling. "Really good." he assured her. Twenty or so minutes later, Dick jumped out of the vent, sighing, heading towards the couch. Her was mumbling to himself.
"Not in the crawl space, not in the vents, or the boiler room..." He flopped down on the cushions. "She's getting good."
Wally had started to giggle, but a moment later gasped.
Scarlet was on top of him, knees on his chest, pinning him down. Her small hand was clamped firmly over his mouth, her eyes deadly, daring him to make one more sound. Of course. She was a bat. He should've known she'd be crazy serious when it came to stealth.
All the same, though, Dick had heard it. "Scoot over, KF." he said, before managing to wedge himself between them.
Behind the couch was getting tight, now, as they all sat, shoulder to shoulder, jammed in. "Roy lost." Dick said, grinning.
"Yeah- it'll take him FOREVER to find us." Wally said, grinning. Dick nodded. But still, no one could foresee the future...
TWENTY MINUTES LATER...
"Your elbow's in my ribs!" Dick hissed, shoving KF away from him.
"Dude, your FACE is in my shoulder!" KF said, shoving him away.
"Yeah, well your foot is right under my butt!" Dick said.
They tried to get into a sissy fight, but there wasn't even enough room for their arms to extend in the sissy slaps, so really they were just flailing around while Scarlet was crammed in the corner...
"DUDE! SO NOT COOL! Wally said, flipping out.
"What? I didn't even do anything to you!" Dick said back, glaring at his friend.
"Yeah? Then who the heck just LICKED ME?" Wally asked, glaring at his friend.
Both of their heads snapped around when they heard the evil laughter coming from Scarlet.
"Dude! Your sister licked me! That's gross!" Wally said, looking disgusted.
"Scarlet- you have no idea where he's been!" Dick scolded.
Scarlet laughed harder while Wally simply stared, shocked...
Roy had been watching the exchange the whole time, but decided to make his presence known, then.
"Guys!" he yelled, making the most retarded face ever as he clomped over to them. "I found you!"
"Nice job, Roy." Scarlet said grudgingly.
"Wasn't all that hard, with KF screaming like a little girl." Dick muttered.
"Finally, we can get out of here!" Wally said, excited.
"No. The rules say I have to hide with you!" Roy grinned, climbing on top of the couch.
"What!?"
"Dude, no way!"
"There's not enough room!"
"There's always enough room for love." Roy said cheesily, before promptly falling on top of them all.
There was a series of grunts and groans, and they all looked up at the red archer jammed on top of them, forcing them to stoop over in the small space.
"Wonderful. Just wonderful." Dick said, glaring up at the archer.
"Dude, can you GET OFF?" Wally asked, looking annoyed.
"Um..." Roy looked over. His one leg was jammed between the couch and the wall, meaning only one thing- they were stuck.
"Dang you Roy!" Wally yelled. "
Don't blame me!" Roy retorted. "Who's idea was it to play this stupid game, anyways?" Everyone glared at Dick. Dick made a mental note- when they got out of this, he'd be sure to run.
"I cannot believe they spent TEN HOURS arguing!" Green Arrow threw his bow down on the table, frustrated.
They'd left he kids alone all day, it was around ten at night, and he wondered where they were...
"Agreed. That was exhausting." Flash sighed, running a hand through his hair, worn out.
"Where are the kids?" Superman asked, looking around, confused.
"And why is there a leg sticking out from behind the couch?" Oliver asked. His heart jumped to his throat when he realized it was ROY'S leg- had the little demon spawns killed him and stashed him there?
Superman walker briskly forward, pulling the couch forward to reveal... a heap of sleeping kids.
"Roy must've got his leg jammed in there, and they were stuck in there under him." Flash observed calmly.
"But that begs the question- what were they all doing crammed behind the couch?" Oliver asked, sounding perplexed.
Batman gave them all a smile, which was slightly creepy, since Batman didn't SMILE, per say, as give them a creepy look that meant he was happy... "Training exercise." he said simply, before dragging his two children from the pile and heading off towards his room.
MAILBAG (Finally had time to respond to some of your great reviews!)
Blue Moon Solstice, chapter 81
Aww so sweet,next thing that happens is he talks to Dick right? If not then I'll talk to him. I'm dead serious. Or he could go on not have comforted his son and leave his son terribly afraid of him.
I honestly think Bruce covered it in chapter 80, fallout. When he reassures Dick, who feels as though he let Scarlet down by being occupied with Cobra, he;s a bit preoccupied in caring for Scarlet and testing his blood for any remains of the drug, but still- he reassures his boy and allows him time to calm down from a fairly traumatic event.
As for Dick being afraid of him- I think both kids were afraid of his physical abilities, as in, the ease with which he can hurt them when his personality is suppressed. They're not afraid of Bruce- they're afraid of being injured when Batman is in a black-out rage. And honestly- who wouldn't be afraid of Batman when he's like that?
Overall, I feel both kids accept that Batman is dangerous only when he's not in control of himself, and would never fear Bruce himself. They kind of accept the fact at the end of the last chapter- it's an occupational hazard.
Hope this helps you understand my writing a little more, and thanks for the well-thought out, concise review! :)
Brainy Girl, chapter 81
THERE IS NO FAVORITES YOU GOT THAT?!
YES MA'AM!
Cocopops19995, chapter 81
Awww yeay :) is so cute!
What does mladen mean? At the end of the second last paragraph?
Lol, it was a typo I'll have to fix. It meant to say laden.