Chapter 29: Happy Birthday Dick
For the fifth time Bruce adjusted the streamers in front of him, causing him to grunt with frustration.
"Would you like some assistance sir?" Alfred asked, having already completed his task.
"I'm fine Alfred!" Bruce insisted with a growl.
Alfred highly doubted this and walked over to his charges work area, only to see the streamers placed in a perfectly suitable way.
"Master Bruce, that is a perfectly acceptable way to decorate, there is no need to fuss anymore." Alfred said exasperated.
"No, it has to be perfect." Bruce insisted as he went to reach for the streamers once more.
Before he could do so Alfred stopped his hands.
"Master Bruce, Master Dick will not care how these are displayed. He will more than appreciate this whole event by virtue of you and all the other guests being there!"
"But Alfred, it is his first birthday party with me, it has to be perfect! I don't want to risk himâ" Bruce started to say as one of his eyes slightly twitched with stress.
"Master Bruce! You must calm down, this may be his first birthday with us, but it is still the birthday of a now six year old boy. He will be happy with whatever is there, as long as all his friends and family are part of it."
If you haven't guessed, today is Dick's birthday and at the moment Alfred and Bruce were busy decorating and preparing for it. As usual Bruce was fussing about every detail as he did with just about anything that had to do with his precious child. They were luckily just about done as this was, one, a surprise party, two, the guests would be arriving soon, and three, Dick would be arriving with Oliver, Dinah, and Roy soon after. Bruce had them take Dick out for the day under the guise of taking him out to a baseball game for his birthday. Dick at first was a bit sad, wanting to spend the whole day with his daddy, but luckily was ultimately convinced with a promise for something special from him.
"Huh, I know, it's just I want this to be perfect." Bruce sighed realizing he was acting ridiculous.
"It will be sir, because you'll be there. That's all the young master really wants in life, for his daddy to be there and to know he loves him." Alfred comforted as he gently placed a gloved hand on Bruce's shoulder.
Bruce smiled lightly, knowing all Alfred said was true.
"Thank you Alfred."
"Anytime Master Bruce."
It was then the front doorbell went off, indicating the first guests of Dick's party were here. Bruce went to the door to reveal Barry, Iris, and a very excited Wally waiting to come in. The little tyke was so excited Iris was holding him tightly to keep him from running off.
"So the speedsters show up first, what a surprise." Bruce said dryly as he let the red heads in.
"We couldn't be late even if we wanted to be this time, baby flash here was far too excited to come here." Barry deadpanned as he reached over and ruffled the little boy's flaming hair.
"It's Dick's birthday, I didn't want to be late! Auntie Iris put me down! I have to do something important!" Wally said excitedly as he was barely able to hold onto the present he held to his chest.
"Alright alright I will gingerbread man." Iris chuckled as she set her little nephew down.
Wally immediately sprinted to Bruce, bouncing up and down, and held the package wrapped in shiny red paper up to him.
"Uncle Bruce, Uncle Bruce! Here's Dick's present, it's really special so please take good care of it!"
"Of course, I'll make sure it's very safe. Now why don't you go to the playroom while you wait for the others to get here. I'm sure you'll have more fun there till then." Bruce chuckled as he crouched down and accepted the gift for the hyper eight year old.
"Thank you Uncle Bruce!" Wally said happily as he hugged his pseudo uncle and in the blink of an eye disappeared as he sped to the playroom.
"What did you feed that kid a Red Bull/coffee cocktail?!" Bruce asked sarcastically.
"He's been like that all morning, I'm afraid. Was this close to giving him a sedative to get him to at least sleep and be still in the car." Barry said as he exasperatedly rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Wally's just excited to celebrate Dick's birthday, I'm sure all the other little ones are." Iris said finding all their nephews' excitement completely adorable.
It was then the doorbell went off again.
"I'll go get that, you two enjoy yourself in the ballroom. That's where most of the festivities are taking place." Bruce instructed as he went to the door.
This time as he opened it he revealed Clark and Conner standing outside. Conner was practically bouncing up and down with excitement like Wally was.
"Hi Uncle Bruce! Is Dick here yet?" Conner asked happily as he hugged Bruce's legs tightly.
"Not yet Conner, but Wally's upstairs if you want to join him in the playroom?" Bruce instructed as he patted the little Kryptonian's head.
With a big smile on his face Conner started to fly up to the stairs only for Clark to quickly and nervously intervene.
"Conner no flying in doors remember!" Clark called out, not wanting Conner to get hurt by running into anything.
Let's just say despite the fact the boy was invulnerable it did nothing to calm the nerves of the ever worrying father.
"Right, sorry daddy!" Conner responded as he landed back on the ground and proceeded to sprint up the stairs.
"Seems like you got your hands full with a new flyer in the house." Bruce commented.
"You have no idea, I think I've aged 20 years since it started, I swear the kids in his daredevil phase. And don't get me started on what it's been like trying to get his heat vision under control. Anyways enough about that, here's Dick's present." Clark said as he passed the present to Bruce.
"Thanks, and believe me I understand. Just be happy you don't have an acrobat in your house, used to working with no net. I've become quite the sprinter since, but I guess that's fatherhood for our kind. Besides the point, Iris and Barry are in the ballroom if you want to join them."
"I think I will, thanks for having us here. Conner has been excited about this for weeks." Clark said happily.
The Kryptonian made his way to the ballroom leaving Bruce to wait for the rest of the guests to arrive. In no time at all, the Martians showed up as well as the Atlanteans with excited little boys and girls. Following them many of the other league members including Diana, Fire, Ice, Captain Atom, Etrigan, Green Lantern, the Hawks, Zatara and little Zatanna, and several other showed up, not wanting to miss the opportunity to celebrate the league angel's birthday.
It was about ten minutes from the birthday boy's arrival and Wayne Manor was absolutely bustling with noise. From the play of the children upstairs in the playroom to the adults conversing all at once in the ballroom. It was a happy time to say the least, but soon it had to be put on hold as Bruce made an announcement.
"Alright everyone, first off I want to thank you all for coming to celebrate my son's birthday. He'll be so happy you all are here. Second off Dick will be here in a matter of minutes so I want everyone to get in position. If your children are upstairs, now is the time to get them so they can be here for the surprise."
Immediately all the mentors and Zatara went upstairs to get their kiddos. Within a minute all the children came rushing in, many of the other league members using this as an opportunity to pick them up and cuddle them as they waited for more instruction.
"Alright now that everyone's here, this is the plan! Dick will be here in just three minutes with Dinah, Oliver, and Roy. You all are going to hide here in the Ballroom, so kids we all have to be very quiet." Bruce said specifically to the kids knowing how excited they were.
The adults either holding or standing close to them emphasized this with a finger to the lips which the kids copied.
"Then I will bring Dick in here, the lights will turn on, and everyone will shout Surprise!"
It was then the doorbell went off meaning Dick was finally here.
"That's them, places everybody!" Bruce instructed frantically.
Immediately everyone got very quiet as Bruce closed the ballroom doors behind him. He then went over and opened the front door, only to be nearly tackled as Dick ran into his legs.
"Daddy!" Dick squealed joyfully.
Bruce immediately scooped up the little boy and kissed his baseball caped head.
"Hey baby bird! How was the game?"
"It was fun daddy! Roy caught a home run for me and the team pitcher signed it for me!" Dick squealed as he pulled out a signed baseball for his daddy to see.
"Wow that's awesome Dickie, I'm so glad you had a good time." Bruce said as he snuggled his boy.
Dick nuzzled into his father's chest in response.
"Thank you all so much for taking him, he's been begging to go to one of those games for weeks." Bruce said, turning to the three in his doorway.
"Anytime Bruce, always happy to face the little bird, joins us." Oliver responded happily.
"Good. Hey, why don't you all come inside for a bit before you head back home." Bruce invited subtly, knowing he needed a reason to get the three into the party without making Dick suspicious.
"Sure it's a long drive and it be nice to rest a bit after that exciting game." Oliver responded as he made a subtle hand sign to Dinah to get their present for Dick from the car.
"Thank you so much Bruce, let me get our stuff from the car real quick." Dinah said as she walked outside.
The other three then started walking to the ballroom.
"Oliver, would you mind taking a look at this new painting in the ballroom. I want your opinion if it's a good match for the space." Bruce made up.
"Of course." Oliver responded.
"What new painting daddy? I don't remember you talking about it before." Dick commented confusedly about what his father was talking about.
"You'll see it soon enough baby, it's very new." Bruce covered up once more.
Soon the four were at the door and greeted by a dark room as Bruce opened it. Then before they knew it the lights flashed on to reveal a large group of people smiling brightly.
"Surprise! Happy Birthday Dick!"
Dick was absolutely stunned, he wasn't expecting this at all let alone for so many people to be in his house. But then a wide smile spread across his face and he excitedly bounced in his fathers arms.
"You're all here! Uncle Oli, Uncle Clark, Auntie Shyera, Uncle Katar, Auntie Dianaâ.!" Dick squealed excitedly as he called out to nearly all his aunts and uncles present.
"Wait Dick what about us, we're here too!" Wally called out from bellow.
"You guys! Daddy put me down!" Dick squealed as he wiggled in his father's arms.
Bruce did so with a happy chuckle and watched his son run to his friends who had gathered in a group together. He hugged each one tightly so happy they could be here for his birthday. But then he saw Zatanna standing shyly in front of him.
"HiâZatanna." Dick said sheepishly as he blushed.
"HiâDick." Zatanna responded in a similar fashion as he played nervously with one of her pigtails.
All the adults couldn't help but gush over the two little love birds, even Zatara despite his aversion to his little girl liking boys already. As all this happen the two eventually hugged and started to act more normal again. After a few more greetings from his aunt and uncles and even more happy birthday wishes, Dick then ran back to his father. Bruce immediately scooped up the boy and relished in his son's tight hug.
"Thank you daddy, I love it! This is the best party ever!" Dick squealed excitedly.
"You're welcome baby, but don't thank me yet, there's still much more in store!" Bruce said as he tickled his six year olds little belly.
Dick giggled as he tried to push his fathers ticklish fingers from him.
"Alright everyone now that our birthday boy is here, let's festivities begin! Alfred open the doors!" Bruce called out.
Right on cue Alfred opened the large double doors of the ballroom to reveal a kid's paradise in the large backyard of Wayne Manor. There was probably the world's largest bouncy slide, a mansion sized bounce house, a huge chocolate fountain, Zatara doing magic tricks, a petting zoo, B'wana beast taming various dangerous animals, Etrigan as a clown, a cotton candy machine, a Photo Booth, and a snack table with just about everything a kid could ask for. Now it might seem unfair for some of the League members to be doing stuff for the party but they all offered quite happily, or in etrigans case practically begged, yeah don't ask.
The kids' eyes absolutely lit up at the kiddie wonderland before them. Within seconds they were swarming the grounds ready to play the day away.
There was also stuff for the adults such as a pool table and dart board that had been moved to the ballroom. There was also a mini bar, but Bruce gave a strict two drink limit to everyone, not wanting anyone to be even remotely drunk at his son's party. It may have seemed small, but the adults didn't need much to entertain themselves. They enjoyed talking to one another and many wanted to accompany the kids in their entertainment, finding great joy from their happiness.
"Daddy come on, let's go see uncle Etrigan! Maybe he'll make me a balloon animal!" Dick squealed as he pulled on his father's arm.
"Alright baby I'm coming, I'm coming." Bruce chuckled as he followed his excited little boy.
Within seconds the two along with Conner and Clark were in front of Etrigan, still in his monster form, now in a clown costume and make up.
"Hello Kids! What can Etti the clown do for ya, haha!" Etrigan said in a very silly voice as he squeezed a horn in his hand.
This caused both the little boys to laugh finding the regularly scary hero absolutely hilarious. This made Etrigan burst with happiness, having a secret love for children and making them laugh. Back when he was only Jason Blood he loved visiting the orphanage of Camelot to help cheer up the children. He'd clown around much like he did now to help brighten their day and bring a little laughter to them.
However despite the kids obvious enjoyment this still weirded out Clark and Bruce, neither used to seeing the demon act like this. But they kept up big smiles for all that mattered was that the kids were happy and that Etrigan was enjoying himself.
"Can you make me an elephant please!" Dick asked excitedly.
"And me a wolf please!" Conner followed.
"Let's see what Etti can do!" Etrigan chuckled as he pulled out several balloons.
Within seconds he had a large gray elephant and white wolf made for the two little boys.
"Thank you Etti!" Dick squealed as he received the well made elephant.
"You're the best!" Conner responded in a similar fashion as he received his wolf.
Etrigan blushed and patted the two on their little heads. All the other children joined in begging for their favorite animals to be made for them, all of which Etrigan obliged too. Once everyone received their animals and after "Etti the Clown" did a few tricks. The group of kids made their way to the petting zoo, which had a plethora of adorable animals for them to see and touch. All the children were very gentle and loving to the animals, showing great care and tenderness as they interacted with the lambs, rabbits, ponies, donkeys, and Alpacas. This was a particular hit for Dick who was a major animal lover thanks to his time in the circus.
After they had their fill of animal cuddles the kids got a few snacks and treats from the snack table and went over to B'wana Beast's animal taming show. The hero, dressed only in a loincloth as usual, had a Lion, Bear, Eagle, and Jaguar come out. All the kids watched with wide eyes, curious as to what the animal hero would do.
"Alright you four come at me!" B'wana Beast commanded the four creatures.
Immediately all at the same time the four predators came at him ready to attack. However he easily dodged them, and always managed to nimbly flip over ten or jump through the openings when they charged. Once this portion was over he then had the creatures do neat tricks for him. They did flips, stood on their legs, flew through small places, and a multitude of other impressive stunts. Then to top it all off B'wana beast combined them making the four beast form into a Chimera that looked like ones he saw in a picture book he saw Dick reading at the Watchtower.
All the kids clapped and cheered at the hero's show, and got even louder as he separated the chimera back into four animals again. Once that was over it was time for Zatara's magic show to begin which had Zatanna bouncing up and down with excitement with the fact that more people were going to see how amazing her papa was. All the kids sat down on the little chairs provided in front of a little stage, chattering with anticipation. Then before the last child had sat down for even a second Zatara appeared to them in a cloud of bright purple smoke.
"Hello boys and girls I am the great Zatara master of the mystical arts!" Zatara bellowed in his strong Italian accent.
All the kids clapped and cheered with excitement, ready to see what the spell caster would do.
"For my first trick, a classic, a rabbit out of my hat." Zatara said with a cheeky smile as he took his top hat off and pulled out his wand.
All the kids leaned in with great anticipation as to what was about to happen.
"Emoc htrof stibbar!" Zatara called out as he tapped his hat brim three times.
A bright purple flash came out of the hat and there was silence. Then seemingly out of nowhere a bright white bunny popped its head out of the hat. All the kids clapped prematurely except Zatanna, knowing there was always more to her papa's tricks. Unexpectedly the rabbit then hopped out of the hat and onto Zatara's head. Then out came four more rabbits all of which landed in groups of two on the magician's outstretched arms. In a TaDa fashion the rabbits sat on their back legs and stretched their arms out like Zatara. This made the kids cheer even more, amazed by the antied up trick.
Zatara performed several more astounding tricks for his hungry audience. He made a double of himself and did a whole mirror and dance routine. He then made all the kids float up all at one for over 10 seconds. Following that he pulled a seemingly never ending chain of rainbow rope from Kaldur's ear. Afterwards he played a cool card trick where he had M'gann pick a card, tore them all up, burned them, threw the ashes in the air, had them turn into flower petals, and had the card M'gann chose fall into her hand. Once that was done it was time for the finale.
"For my last trick I will need a volunteer."
"Me! Me! Me!" All the children cried out at once, all of them wanting to participate in the magic.
Zatara looked around the kids and knew immediately the best course of action.
"I believe our birthday boy should help me with my final trick. Come over here little one." Zatara said as he motioned for Dick to come to him.
"Yay!" Dick squealed.
Dick ecstatically ran up to the magician ready to participate in whatever way was needed.
"Alright little one if you would please step into this box, I promise it is completely safe." Zatara instructed as he summoned a fancy looking box that was as little bigger than Dick.
"Ok!" Dick responded quickly.
The box opened on its own prompting Dick to walk in, which he did do so happily. Once the little boy was inside, the box closed itself completely.
"As you can see we have an ordinary box that our volunteer has entered. There is only one little hole in the box so that air can come in and no other exits unless the box is opened." Zatara explained as he easily turned the box around to reveal the hole.
It was barely even half an inch, so clearly no one could escape through it.
"Now I will be using a variety of methods to cut into the box and potentially hurt him. But I guarantee to make it so our volunteer will be completely unharmed and return just as you saw him earlier."
With this information Bruce, who had been watching the show with several other adults, immediately tensed up, Zatara had not told him about this trick.
"For the first attempt I will use a sword!" Zatara declared as he pulled a large sword out of thin air.
All the kids and adults watching clapped, except for Bruce whose heart about stopped at the sight of the large sharp weapon. This was only made worse as the magician plunged the sword clean through the box.
"Now how about a battle axe!" Zatara said as he pulled an axe out from behind him, his arm's weighted down a bit from how heavy it was.
He swung it as hard as he could into the box leaving it stuck halfway through. Zatara pulled out several other dangerous weapons leaving each one stuck in the box. With each weapon Bruce was closer to having a stroke, his face displaying this quite obviously. Eventually Zatara ran out of things to attack the box with leaving only one thing to do.
"Now I will bring back our volunteer in a blaze of fire! Ezalb dna nrub!"
Zatara tapped his wand on the box and sent it literally blazing in flames. This caused Bruce to literally faint, luckily he was caught by the adults around him, like Sully from monsters inc. However as the box burned away it revealed Dick completely unharmed and smiling. All the children cheered wildly and the adults were able to wake Bruce up, making the poor man blush with embarrassment at his actions.
Zatara meanwhile bowed and motioned Dick to do the same which everyone found adorable. Then before the show was done Zatara had one last surprise.
"Now Dick hold out your hands. I believe a gift is in order for your bravery and help." Zatara said as he pointed his wand at the little boy's outstretched hands.
In a swirl of magic a magician themed teddy bear appeared in Dick's hands. The little bird gasped at the gift, immediately proceeding to snuggle the adorable toy.
"Thank you Uncle Zatara, I love it!" Dick squealed as he hugged the magicians legs.
"Your welcome little one, thank you for making my show so magical." Zatara said as he affectionately rubbed the little boy's head.
As this went on B'wana Beast and Etrigan watched in jealousy, neither having received a hug like that for their show. Plus they were shown up with gifts, why didn't they think of that?!
After the magic show all the kids were set loose on the bounce house, carousel, and huge bouncy slide so the set up of the cake could be done. M'gann and Zatanna, accompanied by Zatara and J'onn, took to the carousel M'Gann on a Zebra and Zatanna on a very fancy horse. Together the two little girls giggled and squealed as the spinning and bouncing ride filled them with joy.
Meanwhile Conner and Kaldur were in the bounce house, of course supervised by Arthur and Clark, both boys laughing with joy. For once Kaldur actually acted his age rather than his usual maturity as he joyfully bounced about, a sight which made Arthur smile widely. What made the experience all the more fun was how Conner could use his super strength to make them bounce higher than most kids could in a bounce house. It made the inflatable look like it was about to pop with every jump, but luckily Bruce had the house specially made with the super kiddos in mind. One had to with a mix of meta and alien children invited to a birthday party.
However nowhere was there more loud and joyful laughter than from Wally, Roy, and Dick, the original trouble trio, as they played on the bouncy slide. Oliver, Dinah, and Diana made sure to watch closely knowing these boys together had a dangerous amount of recklessness. They watched as the boys wrestled at the top to push the others down the tall inflatable slide. They all won pretty evenly, all of them succeeding to push the other down the slide several times. Though what really was a picture worthy moment was at one point when Dick managed to push Wally down the slide only to have his feet pulled by the speedster to pull him down too. At that moment Roy caught Dick's hands, and unfortunately Wally had caught the legs of his pants. Due to the lack of a belt Wally accidentally pulled them down to reveal Dick's black and yellow Batman themed undies. This caused all of them to laugh rather than freak out, making them all eventually fall down the slide and dog pile up at the bottom, all of them still adorably laughing.
It was then that Bruce announced that the cake was ready, so all the kids ran over, though Diana made sure to help Dick get his pants back up first of course. Eventually everyone at the party was surrounding an absolutely enormous cake. It was a four tier chocolate cake and covered in red frosting with green, black, and yellow piping around the edges. All around it were black multi sized Robin and Batman symbols with the words Happy 6th Birthday Dick in yellow at the front. Then at the top were six lit multi-colored candles.
Everyone looked at it in awe either stunned by the massive size of it or in admiration of the design of it. Dick was among them, so stunned he didn't even realize he was being pick up by his father.
"Alright everyone on the count of three! One, two,â. happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!â" Bruce lead as he adjusted his son to face forward in his arms.
Everyone joined in, all of them singing the birthday song as loud as they could. Dick blushed at this, overwhelmed by this public display of love and care for his birthday. Eventually everyone sang the last note leaving a moment of silence.
"Alright baby bird, come on make a wish!" Bruce encouraged his stunned son.
Dick eventually snapped out of it, closed his eyes, and blew out the candles in one blow. Everyone cheered and clapped at this proud of the youngest member of the Justice League junior team growing up. After this everybody started to serve themselves cake except Bruce who just stood there with his son cradled in his arms.
"Happy Birthday baby, I love you." Bruce whispered into his son's ear as he then placed a kiss on his forehead.
"I love you too daddy, thank you for the best birthday ever." Dick sweetly giggled as he returned a kiss on his father's cheek.
For a moment the two just cuddled, enjoying this moment where Dick was still small and could be cradled in the safety of his daddy's arms. But then a voice called them out of their state of father and son bliss.
"Hey you two hurry up, it would be a shame if the birthday boy didn't get a slice of his own cake." Barry called out as he held out a cake spatula.
From there the dynamic duo shared some cake and enjoyed the rest of their day, treasuring the memories and good times made that day.