Avoiding Past And Future

(86) Intermediate

(A/N notice: due to the passing of my friend's doggie who was the base for some of my Cujo's across fics on the 11th, the day after finishing/posting Astray and it's matching art where the coloring of living-disguise cujo was identical to the doggie, after this arc there will be significantly less Cujo for a bit bc it just really sucks to have to write him while the real life reference is not here to fuel it more. thank you for understanding)

November 6

Sneaking around the Mountain, they slid into their room. It still felt as barren as ever, but the air hung heavy. Neither had brought it up yet, but given their declarations last time they were on base, it didn't feel right anymore. Still, until they actually made a decision, it was theirs. With a deep breath to steady himself, Danny stepped forward to place a certain flower hairclip on the shelve above the desk. A mimic of Wally's wall of souvenirs, this would be the beginning of their own.

The initial plan was to keep it in the Batcave, claim a section for themselves and their souvenirs just like Bruce did. But the two sentient balls of lint for brains were annoyingly determined to try and eat it. Mount Justice was just a temporary spot until they figured out how to cat proof their claimed area.

As he still refused to transform, Danny hid his hair under a beanie and wore the same darkened sunglasses Dick did to walk around. His skin was still covered in marks, but given the time of year, he could get away with hiding in a hoodie and sweats. Throwing on a Batman logo covered face mask was just icing on the cake. At least they got to make good use of the gag gift.

Picking up an order of purple hydrangeas, they made a little pit stop at a certain door. Leaving the vase on their doorstep, Cujo helped them hide as they watched Tammie's mother open the door. Reading the note, she called out for her daughter. With excited pitter patter of bare feet on tiles, Tammie came rushing to the door. Trying to find the hero she adored, she leaned out of the doorframe, careful to not step outside without shoes on.

Softly her mother pulled her back inside. With the might of a determined 5 year old, Tammie dragged the vase inside as her mother rolled out of the way to close the door once more.

While it wasn't much, it felt like the right thing to do.

Sneaking back to the jet, they flew over to Gotham next. Turning on the autopilot, they got out as it flew over Crime Alley and watched it take to the clouds to make its way back to the Batcave unseen.

Their next order of business was technically not something they told Bruce or Selina about, but they knew Alfie knew. The man always knew when they'd sneak off to somewhere and brought them extra cookies to feed their target. Much to Dick's complaints as he still had not waited out the timing of their bet. Still 18 more agonizing days to go until he could be in confectionary heaven once more.

It was pretty hard to find their target, made worse by Danny's persistent injury and Dick's icy cast still dragging them down. He had hoped by now Frostbite and Alfred would let him out of it, but no. Not even magic assisted, time bubble proofed, healing was enough for them to throw away the necessary steps to ensure he wouldn't have any lasting damage.

Hell, running around as they were was probably still not allowed but Alfred wasn't here to scold him.

After way too much running around, they finally found who they were looking for. Really, it was Cujo who finally tracked how the boy but it was still a success. Dick worried slightly as the boy was still wearing the same ratty hoodie as before, but it wasn't out of the ordinary for Alley kids.

Letting Cujo take the lead, the pair walked up to the boy. It was hard not to look suspicious when Danny was walking around with most of his skin covered while Dick still had a beautiful bandaged foot stuck in a boot. They looked like a mummy and zombie pair with how Dick wobbled around. But he'd have to just deal with it as Alfred refused to let him go outside without it.