Just a Little Time

Not Ever

"You could go home. That Black Widow lady said you're family. They're still looking for you so you must still be welcome," a voice called out from the shadows.

Dick whipped around looking for the speaker. It seemed to be a vigilante if the outfit was any clue. He wore an armoured red outfit that looked kind of like a devil suit.

"Is there another of you dressed in white with wings to sit on my other shoulder?" Asked Dick.

"I don't think so," answered Daredevil. "Why'd you run away in the first place?"

Dick was lonely enough and desperate enough to spill most of the story. He left out the specifics of Batman and Robin referencing himself as trained and practiced in helping people as a hero.

Matt listened and questioned gently. "Your father's Captain America and he won't let you help so you ran away so that no one could stop you from helping?"

"I don't know anymore."

"It's not working out so well?" Asked Matt.

"I'm having difficulty supporting myself," admitted Dick.

"Have you been able to help others?" Asked Matt although he knew the answer to that question. The stories had started to leak into the media. People had started to call him the Little Citizen and or the Neighbourly Lad. The New York press attacked at the first sign of vigilantism. Citizen and neighbourly were making fun of Dick's old fashioned way of speaking from several "citizen's arrests" and a few reports of him helping only to explain that he was just being "neighbourly". No one said neighbourly now a days and citizens' arrests were odd too.

"A little. I used to be able to do more when I could afford tools and equipment."

"Do you know your dad could have been arrested and sent to jail if he just let you fight bad guys and stuff like that?" Asked Matt.

"No way!" protested Dick immediately.

"Yep. Child endangerment laws are pretty clear on that sort of thing. It's not exactly new either. Most of the laws were put into place way back in the sixties."

Dick was silent and thoughtful for a while. "What about the school bully that breaks some kid's arm?" Attitudes towards children had changed. Dick was unsure about his place in the world.

"How old?" Asked Matt assuming that this was a specific example rather than a general one.

"12."

"Probably a warning and a short term suspension," answered Matt wondering where this was coming from.

"So he wouldn't get the strap?" Asked Dick confused. "Assuming the Principle knew what he did that is." Thoughts of being the smallest kid in the school and being slammed into lockers for being a racial minority and a charity case. Dick blinked. It felt like the world fell out from under his feet. All this time he wasn't even ROM? All this time he was no different from any of them? Who am I? No... family and who you are is about more than blood.

"Captain Rogers has been filling your head full of old fashioned nonsense if that's what you think would happen. Does he hit you? Principles and the strap, parents hitting you, it's all against the law." Daredevil was still not sure why Richard had run away so he was reluctant to just send him home until he knew.

"No Sir. I don't think he would ever hit a child, not even a very naughty one."

"Are you very naughty?" teased Daredevil trying to keep the tone of their chat light because something about their conversation had shaken the boy. His heart was racing and his breathing had tightened.