If You Could Turn Back Time

Ch 21

Dick took a bite of one of Alfred's cookies, washing it down with some milk. He twirled in his chair and released a drawn out sigh. "I hope you know that sitting here in the cave is excruciatingly boring," Dick said into the computer's comm device.

"But it keeps you safe," Bruce gruffly replied.

"Going out as a vigilante isn't safe in the first place," Dick countered with an eye roll.

Bruce didn't respond, causing Dick to sigh dramatically. "Have you found anything interesting on your oh so lovely nightly patrol?" He asked.

"No," Bruce replied.

"I kinda get the feeling you don't want to talk to me," Dick said with a smirk, flipping to lay upside down on the chair.

"Wow, you're too perceptive."

Dick let out a gasp of mock horror. "Is that sarcasm? Coming from the dark knight himself? Alfie! I think Batman's broken!" He shouted.

Bruce let out a quiet chuckle, causing Dick to smile widely. "We'll be back in around 30 minutes," he said. "If you're so bored maybe you can get started on tonight's reports. I know you've been watching my cowl footage the entire night."

"You know there's literally no way that I'll ever be that bored right?" Dick replied, starting on the reports despite his claims that he'd never be bored enough to do them.

—

Bruce returned with Tim about 30 minutes later, in which time Dick had managed to finish all of the nightly reports. This left him playing games on the cave's large computer.

"You seriously took the time to get in your Nightwing suit only so you could sit around the cave and watch us?" Tim asked, seeing that Dick had indeed done just that.

"I... I put it on just in case you guys needed help," Dick mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

"No offense, but I think Bruce is being too protective of you to call in your help on a mission. If he needed something he'd probably call Alfred," Tim joked.

Dick laughed hollowly, feeling the sting of Tim's words even though they were meant as a simple joke.

"He might even call Superman before he called you," Tim said with a laugh, trying to continue the joke.

Dick bit his lip, feeling tears gather in his eyes. Bruce nearly despised Superman... he'd rather have help from someone he hated than Dick? "Um I guess I'll just go to bed then," he said, wrapping his arms around himself for some semblance of comfort.

Once Dick had changed and gone up to his room he sat on the edge of his bed, letting his thoughts run wild. Before he knew it hot tears were streaming down his face.

Tim had to have been joking... so why did his words hurt so badly?

Dick tried to quiet his sobs when he heard the stairs creak, signaling that someone was coming.

"Hey Dickie?" Bruce called quietly, opening the door to his eldest's room after a quiet knock.

Dick sniffled and rubbed at his eyes. "What?" He replied, trying to keep his voice steady and light.

"Can I come in?"

Dick gave no reply, so Bruce took that as a yes, and entered the room, taking a seat on the edge of Dick's bed.

"Is everything alright?" Bruce asked.

Dick wanted to reply with a quick yes, but he found that the word caught in his throat. His emotions were all over the place, and things definitely didn't seem alright to him. "No," he finally mumbled, more tears pooling in his eyes.