Smile For The Camera | Birdflash |

Chapter 1

One week until school started Dick thought to himself.

It's not like he hated school but there was a lot of pressure being the son of Bruce Wayne. People excepted him to be mature and intelligent. They expected him to already be a well-mannered adult. It also didn't help that Dick was going into grade 12 at age 15.

Bruce decided it would be good to challenge him. Dick didn't rebuttal. He just nodded his head and kept up the perfect son mirage.

And since school started at 8:30am, he would be tired as hell since he still wasn't excused from patrol as Robin.

He let out a heavy sigh as he continued with his walk through Gotham Park. It was a strangely nice night for Gotham, there were no clouds in the sky so the stars were twinkling above him.

"Hey, kid." Dick heard a voice say to him. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and put them behind his head thinking that he was going to be mugged. It was 11 at night no one else was in the park and he was the son of a billionaire. Instead of hearing a demand for money he heard the sound of laughter.

Dick turned around to see a red haired boy sitting on the park bench eating a bag of sour gummy worms still laughing his ass off. The raven haired boy didn't even notice him, he was so deep in thought.

"Did you think I was a mugger or something?" The older boy asks calming down.

"It's Gotham, what do think?" Dick retorted back seriously.

"You just looked so concentrated. And I was planning on scaring you." The stranger confessed. "I guess worked out."

"That's not very nice," Dick muttered shoving his hands back into his pockets.

"Yeah I guess it is. 'Name's Wally." He smiled introducing himself.

"That's nice."

"Why don't you sit down. You look like you need to rant about your problems." Wally offered moving over to give Dick space to sit. He sighed and walked over to Wally. For some reason, he knew he could trust him. "Gummy?" Wally offers.

"No thanks. My dad doesn't allow me to have candy. He says sweets and junk food are just unnecessary calories." Dick answered honestly. Bruce banned any sugary treats at Wayne Manor. It had been years since Dick had even touched candy.

"Yeah but you only get to live once. Why not enjoy life's little pleasures while you can. Plus you look fit, one candy can't hurt." Wally argues. Dick sighs in defeat as he takes a green one out of the plastic bag.

"You sound like Alfred," Dick mumbled comparing the two. "You know one of the first things I learned as a kid was never take candy from strangers," Dick tells the strange boy. He held the sugary treat with his fingertips examining the candy like an ancient artifact. Green and yellow, bright colors to make it attract small children.

"If it makes you that uneasy you can split in in half, that way, if it is drugged, will both be consuming it." Wally proposes.

"You are one strange kid." Dick smiles finally eating the gummy whole. It felt nice to trust a stranger. Especially in this rotten city. "Mmm!" He squeaks out. "Sour!"

"Haha, you have fallen into my trap! I am going to drag your body into my white van, age 40 years, grow a mustache, and lock you in my basement forever." Wally jokes twirling his invisible mustache.

"Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" Dick yells playing along.

The two of them laugh together like they've known each other for years.

"Oh yeah, I never told you my name. It's Dick." He formally introduces himself.

"Well Dick, what made you look so constipated earlier?"