Batbros Forever

Catch Me When I Fall

All parents are protective of their first child. At least that's what Bruce told himself.

Dick had already suffered a lifetime of trauma watching his parents fall, and Bruce wanted nothing more than to protect him. But even through his tragedy, Dick soldiered on. He was doing well in school. He had friends. He was a junior crime fighter. Most importantly, he was happy with Bruce as his second father.

Even so, Bruce had his apprehensions as he pulled up in front of Oliver Queen's mansion. Dick had had a few sleepovers with his two best friends, Wally and Roy, but somehow this felt different. Bruce was almost overly aware of the upcoming anniversary of Dick's adoption, and even though Dick insisted he was fine, Bruce didn't like the idea of letting the boy spend the night away from home.

"You're sure you have everything you need?" Bruce asked as he had every ten minutes since they'd left Wayne Manor. "Sleeping bag? Flashlight? Extra clothes?"

"Check, check, and check." Dick assured. "Și ești sigur că nu vei avea nevoie de lumina ta de noapte?" (And you're sure you won't need your nightlight?) Bruce whispered in Romanian even though there was no one around to hear. "Bruce." Dick groaned.

"Alright." Bruce relented. "Go have fun and call me if you're not." Dick nodded his promise before accepting his Daddy's hug, collecting his overnight bag, and heading to the door.

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"What movie should we watch?" Roy asked as he dug through the DVD boxes lining the walls of the TV room. "How bout this one?" Dick suggested, holding up a case that said 'Scream.' "No way." Wally breathed, snatching the movie. "What if Oliver comes down and catches us?"

Wally wasn't really too concerned about Green Arrow catching them. After all, they weren't breaking any rules. Truth be told, Wally was just trying to protect Dick.

They often forgot, but Dick was two years younger than Wally and five years younger than Roy, and while Wally was hardly the type to worry, he didn't want to scare Dick to tears with a stupid movie.

"Ollie's having his own sleepover with Dinah." Roy grinned. "Trust me, they are not coming down. So the real question is: can you two handle this?"

Dick snatched the box back and loaded the disk into the player. "I see scarier stuff in Gotham every night." He smirked.

III

As it turned out, none of the boys were phased by the movie. Dick was right. They all faced psychotic madmen on a regular basis. What was some staged blood by comparison?

Once the movie was over, the boys all had energy to burn from the sugary snacks they'd scarfed down. Naturally, play fighting and light roughhousing ensued until their yelling made Oliver pointedly suggested they take their games to the backyard.

For a while, they played an odd kind of dodgeball where Roy and Dick tried to hit a speeding Wally with arrows and birdarangs. Eventually, though, they got bored and found themselves wandering around the yard looking for some form of entertainment.

"What's this junk?" Wally asked, kicking at a few wooden posts sticking out of the ground. "My new obstacle course." Roy announced proudly. "Ollie's having it build so I can get some target practice."

They looked around the half-built course. The basic elements of a typical obstacle course were there, zip lines, rope swings, and the like. But it was the unfinished parts of the course that seemed to pique the boys' interest.

"Betcha neither of you could walk across." Roy smirked, pointing up at a thin wire strung between two posts. "Are you kidding?" Wally laughed. "I betcha a weeks allowance that Boy Wonder here could backflip across that in his sleep."