Just Robin Oneshots pt 4

Silent Treatment pt 2

Dick hesitated before he went into the Batcave. He hadn't entered since their latest argument. He could understand why Bruce was mad. As much as he'd like to believe the worst and think Bruce always saw him as a soldier, he knew that wasn't true otherwise he wouldn't get so upset about these things. 

Their fight began like any other which got him the silent treatment. Dick did something a little stupid but mostly noble and Bruce took issue with it. Joker Venom had been released into a bank and firefighters were an hour out, still dealing with Poison Ivy's attack the day before. He didn't have a respirator and it would take too long to go get one. He decided to use a police officer's jacket to hold over his face and went in. He saved so many people that night and only got a mild case of the giggles but, as usual, Bruce was unhappy with the risk he took. 

It exhausted him more than anything. Bruce let himself get away with the same actions but when it came to Dick, it was somehow a different story. 

With a sigh, he bit the bullet and walked downstairs to find Bruce at the computer. He felt like a kid again, desperate for attention from a mentor who wouldn't spare a second of it. He remembered the fight they had once. He remembered the mix of guilt, shame and frustration bubbling in his gut when they worked together right after it. It didn't sit right with him now even with the benefit of hindsight. Honestly, if he saw the behaviour with Jason and Tim, he wouldn't feel so awful about it but it was only concentrated on him. He didn't know what he did to be underserving of the same grace they got. Maybe he was supposed to be better.

As expected, Bruce didn't give him so much as a grunt in acknowledgement. He shoved down the urge to just begin shouting and instead took a seat beside him.

"I don't like this," he began. "I hate how you make me feel when you do this to me and I don't understand why it's just me. I don't know what benefit you see from doing this to me that you didn't get from Jason or Tim." He wasn't expecting his opening line to be what broke the silence but he hoped it would be. That it would suddenly all click into place with Bruce and he didn't need to verbally vomit all his feelings. Then again, Connor hadn't suggested it would break the silent treatment. It would just make him feel better and it would be an added bonus if he got a response similar to Clark's. "Since you're not talking, I've been advised my best option is to talk at you and hope that you're listening, not to hope you'll have a breakthrough."

He took a deep breath. He was definitely the most emotionally intelligent of the family even though he often hurt those around him with his own emotions but that was a matter of poor decision-making rather than being unaware. He knew the right options, he just didn't always pick them. It made things easier to think Bruce was wholly unaware of the emotions surrounding him but a lot of detective work came from reading people so that couldn't be true. He knew what he was doing, he either didn't care enough or thought it was worth it.

"I know I risk a lot but so do you. You're pretending like you're the only one who gets worried but I worried about you too. I still did even when we fought and when we weren't speaking but I'm sick of being treated like a misbehaving puppy who only knows he's wrong when he's ignored."

It was weird to be this old and still feel the same way he did as a child. He thought that the sting would lessen over the years but it still felt as raw as the first time he received the silent treatment for something he did.