Making Waves

Chapter 17

Dick wondered if this is what Bruce felt like before each gala, checking in with each of his children separately, and then together, to make sure they knew what time to show up, how to dress appropriately, which weapons they were allowed to bring, which had to remain at home, and so on. And then there was the managing of moods. Everyone had to be sufficiently chipper, all ongoing arguments had to be settled ahead of time, and nobody, nobody was allowed to draw blood, in any way, during the event.

It was harder than leading a team of vigilantes and Dick was already exhausted.

"I'm so happy you guys came," he said, genuinely, to the gaggle of children behind him, even as some of them rolled their eyes in response.

"You begged us to, dickhead," Jason snorted.

He had been designated as muscle, carrying the large bag of supplies over his shoulder. He had originally tried to pawn it off to Tim, but it was the same size as the younger boy and Damian had snapped at them for taking so long to get it out of the apartment.

"No Steph?" Dick asked Tim, who made a vague sort of questioning noise with his face in his phone.

Jason bumped the boy's shoulder with his elbow, making him look up.

"Huh? Oh, nope. She said she'd rather be caught dead wearing yellow."

"What's wrong with yellow?" Jason asked, after Dick and the others hummed in understanding.

"Opposite of purple," Cass answered.

She stuck close to Dick's side as they marched down the street with purpose, stopping only for crosswalks to turn green and the occasional slow-walking pedestrian.

"What are we meant to do at this park anyways?" Damian sniffed.

Dick shrugged, smiling, though the three boys behind him couldn't see. "Relax? Hang out?"

His siblings needed the break. And the vitamin D. Gotham was gloomy enough as is and they only really came out at night. Dick had picked a beautiful day for an outing. Bludhaven today was the kind of chilly that you forgot about as soon as the sun shone down on your face.

He heard Jason heft the bag of snacks further up and snort. "These two don't know that the hell that is."

Dick then heard him shove Tim and try to trip Damian, both of the younger siblings snarling back. Dick just reached down and took Cass's hand in his, swinging their arms as they continued down the familiar route, trying to ignore the ruckus behind. He wasn't as strict as Bruce and if they were attacking each other back there, then what he couldn't see was not his problem.

Dick had a rare day off, and thankfully, Bludhaven's central park was less crowded on Wednesdays than on the weekends. They approached the south parking lot, bickering about what they should actually do, since apparently sitting and enjoying the sun was not enough of a plan. Jason wanted to play assassin in the maze of trees, but wasn't willing to agree to a clean version of the game. Damian wanted to feed the squirrels, but they all knew that meant throwing nut shells for literal hours and vetoed that immediately. Cass wanted to busk in the center of the park where most Bludhaven residents frequented, but insisted they do so as a family, and Damian said he would rather return to the league. Dick thought the swings might be nice, but the playground sets only had two, and he knew they had an issue with sharing. Tim wanted to go home, but nobody would let him.

"Dick," Jason mused, breaking the argument, "Ain't that your girl?"

In that one horrible second, Dick had no idea who Jason was talking about, which one Jason was talking about, and that was enough to give him a miniature heart spasm. Logically, why would Perseus be out and about in broad daylight, at the heart of the city, but all that logic fled from him as he slowly turned his head, not knowing who would be on the other end of his stare.