Robin one shot part 3!

1st Day of Christmas

Dick's day was going fine. Not too good, not too bad. He'd finished wrapping up Christmas presents which he'd been procrastinating for two weeks. It was Christmas eve so he didn't leave himself much time to figure out how to wrap up an antique shamshir. Maybe he should've bought a more practical gift but he knew Damian would appreciate this much more than some toy he'd bought. Sure Bruce would probably lecture him about it but Dick was the cool older brother - a perhaps self-appointed title - so he was going to get his brother what he wanted. It took half a roll of wrapping paper and a tonne of sellotape to get it covered. Happy with his crude wrapping, he collected all the gifts he had and put them in his suitcase, carefully cushioning them with his clothes. He zipped up his suitcase and made his way to his car. As he got in and waited for the inside of the windscreen to defrost, he decided to call up the Manor and make sure everything was still going ahead. There were a few rings but eventually, it went to the answerphone. He wasn't too surprised. Everyone was probably already there and causing trouble. He imagined that Bruce was wrestling Damian off Tim whilst Jason ran for his life after making a joke Steph and Cass didn't like. Poor Duke would be sitting there in something akin to shock as he watched the scene play out and Alfred would just pat him on the shoulder in what could only be described as pity. So the answerphone didn't freak him out. "Hey B, I'm heading over now before traffic can get bad. Give me a call back if you need me to pick up anything on my way there." He hung up and put his phone in its holder before turning on his totally manly very masculine playlist and pulling out of the garage. Hopefully, he wouldn't arrive at a mess.  

The drive was quiet thanks to him beating the Bludhaven traffic and he enjoyed a straight shot drive to the Manor. He was feeling particularly relaxed by the time he saw the sign for Gotham despite not receiving a call back from his mentor. His brothers were probably running the man ragid which he didn't mind. That just meant they'd waste all their energy bugging the older rather than him. Maybe they'd sleep easier tonight if they got all their sillies out? He chuckled to himself for sounding so parental but he enjoyed feeling that way about his family. It was nice to have something so domestic when the rest of his life felt so intense all the time. He needed this element of normal even if it was wrapped in something so incredibly not normal. There were two bonified zombies in the family, a few people who faked their death and a lot of them had been dead for a minute or so with himself included. He'd always wanted siblings when he was a kid. He thought it would be fun to have a permanent best friend who he could teach all his tricks to and have a partner in crime when he took sweets from the strongman's trailer. Eventually, he did get his siblings and plenty of other family members but he always did wonder if his parents wanted him to have siblings. He didn't doubt that they'd love to have a new addition and at the time, they probably didn't have the money for his mother to go on leave again. If they did want him to have siblings then he certainly had enough of them. They would've loved to see them. Dick blinked away the misty filter covering his eyes upon thinking about them. Christmas always did make him think about them. With what little they had, they made the most of the holidays. Small thoughtful gifts really made him feel loved. He got used to Bruce's suffocating amount of gifts that he'd found upon googling "top fifty best gifts to get your son" but he'd never forget the value of the small things. He'd tried to reflect that in the gifts he got for them now. Each one was bought specifically with their interests in mind and maybe they'd feel how he felt as a kid. "Oh you've turned soft, Dick," he tutted. As though he wasn't soft in the first place. Family meant something to him, it always had. Sure his family wasn't conventional but it still made him feel that familiar belonging. Most of the time. That was family though. Things aren't going to be peachy 24/7. He shrugged to himself and turned the music up louder. If he got too far down that line of thinking then no doubt he'd end up in a worst place than he began. Right now, Dick was going to let himself enjoy this side of his family. The side that met up acted like a family. Not the side that took him for granted. 

Eventually, he saw Wayne Manor's gates greet him and smirked to himself. He couldn't wait to get inside and greet everyone. Maybe sneak some of Alfred's Christmas cookies that he always set aside so the others didn't get them beforehand. He got out his keys and pressed the clicker to open it, wanting to avoid the extra trouble of buzzing in. The gates opened with a soft creak and he drove in, hearing the crackle of gravel underneath his tires. He never got why it had to be a gravel driveway. It just dirtied up the cars that drove by it. Not like his car was too clean anyway. He parked up not too far from the entrance so he could make a run for it on Boxing Day when no doubt there'd be arguments over something trivial. The jolly mood could only last so long. He paused his music, pocketing his phone and drew in a deep breath before taking his keys out of the car and getting out. Dick went to his boot to grab his bag and shouldered it. Before entering the house, he paused to lock his car. Then he turned back only to be deafened by a loud blast. The force of the explosion threw him back into his car, slamming him at an awkward angle that definitely would hurt like a mother fucker later but he could hardly find it in himself to care about it. His eyes were wide as he watched Wayne Manor set ablaze, the orange flame licking and eating away at what remained of the building. The breaths were leaving faster than he could inhale them as he dropped to his knees. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the blaze. It ravaged the bricks, chased scraps on the grass and grew so high he thought it would touch the sky. His whole family. Gone. Just like that. In a snap of his fingers. "Damian?" he whispered. He knew no one would hear but he had to call out. "Jason? Tim?" Only the roar of the flames replied. "Cass? Steph? Duke?" Crackles of expensive oak being eaten away. "Alfred? Bruce?" Smoke clouded around the property but he couldn't get up. He was frozen, staring at the massacre of his family. "Anybody? Please!" Tears rolled down his cheeks that were becoming dirty from the smoke swirling in the air. It burned his throat and his eyes. His stomach churned and rolled as he felt that familiar throb of pain hit him. The same one that he felt when he saw his parents die. That sickness only sudden death could cause. This wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Why did the universe let him build up a family only to snatch it away once it was established? They were supposed to have a nice day. They were supposed to have a stupid fun Christmas that would have a few petty fights but overall be really cute. He wrapped his arms around his middle and dipped his head. At least it was sudden.

"Grayson! Guys, he's here!" Damian shouted. He snapped his head up to find the teen a little dirty but not dead. He was right there. His little button nose and deep green eyes were still intact. He was running over to him all limbs intact. Was he crying? Dick was definitely crying as he rose to his feet, running over to make sure he was real. The teen ended up in his arms faster than he could get his mouth to say the words he wanted to say. He wasn't complaining though. He held onto the younger tightly and picked him up, revelling in the fact he could feel Damian's heartbeat so this had to be real. Over Damian's shoulder, he could see the rest of his family running over to them from the back of the house. 

"Oh thank fuck you didn't go inside," Jason sighed in relief upon seeing him. It was a short-lived relief when he saw how hard Dick was holding onto his younger brother and how sickly he looked beneath the soot. "You saw the blast." He let the boy back down to his feet but kept a hand on his shoulder before giving a nod.

"We were nowhere near it, don't worry. We already caught the guy who tried to blow us up too," Tim assured him. Cass gestured to the unconscious roped up man tied to a tree to further his point before running over to him, colliding with his side. He ran his fingers through her messy bob to ease the tangles out.

"As long as you're all okay," Dick replied, his voice shaking. In fact, all of him was shaking but none of them was drawing attention to that. "Some Christmas hey?"

"You're telling me," Steph commented. 

"There are some gifts I've hidden for an occasion like this," Bruce spoke up. They looked at him with soft smiles. Always the planner. 

"I'm just glad you're all okay," Dick replied. The two siblings holding onto him hugged him tighter at that. "Your cars are still intact so we could drive over to one of the safehouses after we get fire services?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Duke replied. "My first time in a safehouse huh? That'll be so cool." 

"You alright Dick?" Bruce asked, putting his hand on the acrobat's shoulder. He nodded but the billionaire knew for a fact he wasn't. "I'll call the fire services and see what we can salvage. Then we'll head to a safe house and figure it out from there." He nodded. Not the Christmas he expected but they'd make the most of it. They always did.