Just Robin Oneshots Part 2

X-Men AU?

Galaxy-Blossom requested this and I did my best so I hope you like it

Bruce didn't know what to do. He hardly knew how to be emotionally there for someone let alone be a dad. To newly orphaned nine-year-old no less. He couldn't catch a break but he didn't want to just leave that poor kid in the conditions he was forced into. There was another little problem he was yet to find out about. He was a non-mutant raising a mutant. Gotham really knew how to throw a curveball at Bruce and he wasn't even playing baseball. He was over on the next court playing badminton. At least he had Alfred to help out. However, not all secrets stay hidden forever. Especially when Dick showed his ability without even thinking.

For most of his stay, Dick had remained in his room. He came down when called but other than that he stayed hidden away. Bruce sighed, staring up at the stairs thoughtfully. "Sir, I've never known you to find the stairwell so intriguing," Alfred said as he passed the man. The billionaire hummed. 

"It's not the stairs, it's the boy who's upstairs. I wonder if I've given him too much alone time to get settled in."

"I'm not one to judge parenting skills but you may be right. Brewing in his room can't be any good for a child of his age. Perhaps you should go check in on him," he suggested.

"But I could say something wrong."

"Master Bruce, if you concentrate on the possibilities you'll never have any certainties."

"I think you've had too much chardonnay," Bruce replied, confused. The older rolled his eyes. His metaphors were wasted on him. 

"You won't do anything in life if you think about all the things you do wrong. You could say the wrong thing but you could say the right thing. The thing that makes him feel confident enough to leave his room," he explained.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Bruce asked with a new understanding. He stood up and marched up the stairs with newfound confidence whilst his butler shook his head. It was only when he got to the top of the stairs and turned towards Dick's room that he realized he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. He could knock on the door and get no response, then what? Go back downstairs and wait? That would just keep the cycle going and he didn't know how much longer it could go on for without causing some serious mental health issues. If he knocked on the door and did get the reply to come in, what then? Just strike up a conversation about his parents were dead? Yeah, that would go down very well. He got to the dreaded door and, in a complete panic, just opened it to knock out both possibilities.

When he opened the door, Dick was on the floor facing away from him. He looked like he was stretching so Bruce didn't say anything. He didn't want to interrupt. Dick was sat in a straddle position then brought both his legs up till they touched his ears. Not too unusual considering he'd come from the circus. He was probably really flexible from years of training. Maybe he stayed in his room all day to maintain that training. Bruce could offer him some room in the gym. Only problem was that the gym was in the Batcave and he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Dick about that massive secret yet. Then again, he was a billionaire. He could just build another one in the manor no problem. But would spending so much money make Dick feel uncomfortable? He couldn't win! He shooed away his thoughts for a moment only to see Dick's legs had now gone past his ears and rested on the floor behind him. It was like his hips were non-existent. He looked like when you broke the elastic on your Monster High doll and you could swing the legs around in a 360 circle. Bruce audibly gasped, alerting the boy to his presence. Dick got onto his hands and did a handstand to find out what made the noise. His eyes widened in terror when he found out. He swung his legs back and pushed himself into a standing position, backing up against the wall and eyeing all the exits. There were two, the door and the window, and he didn't fancy his chances with either. "I didn't - I just - I mean - just don't hurt me!" he stuttered fearfully. Bruce shrugged off his surprise upon hearing the poor child plea and quickly worked to fix his mistake. He knew he should've just knocked. 

"I'm not going to hurt you," he assured him. Dick watched him carefully, stepping away from the wall a little bit but still keeping his eye on the exits. 

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die," he replied. Dick smirked and fully stepped away from the wall.

There was some nervous silence as Bruce thought about what to do next. He didn't want to mess things up again. It might not be so easily rectifiable the next time. "How about we just have a little chat, okay?" he suggested. Dick bit his lip and began fiddling with his shirt, obviously nervous. When the light caught his eyes, they glistened slightly as tears began to well in them. He was clearly expecting the worse from this so Bruce had to put him at ease as best he could. "I'm not putting you back there. You're staying here with us. Safe and sound," he said.

"What about Alfred?" Dick asked. Bruce went over to the door and closed it.

"He doesn't need to know unless you want him to," he explained. He then walked over to the bed and patted the space beside him. Cautiously, Dick took a seat next to him and waited for him to say something. He was too scared to start anything. "I didn't know you were a mutant," Bruce began.

 "You weren't supposed to. No one outside of the circus was supposed to," the younger answered. Considering the rarity of mutants, you'd think a circus would take full advantage of an act involving one of them. 

"How come?"

"Mama said it was because our act was cooler if we kept it a secret but Mr. Haley said it was because places we traveled to didn't like us." Ah. A circus that depended on traveling would be cutting off a lot of the world if they were open about hiring mutants. Gotham wasn't too nice to mutants, at least there were laws in place to prevent that even if they were ignored. "It wasn't that bad though. Quite a lot of us were mutants so it felt normal almost." He smiled at the memory but it quickly turned sour. "Then my parents died. Now I'm stuck with people who aren't like me and I feel wrong. No one has my ability. Feels like everyone else is uncooked spaghetti and because I'm cooked they don't like me anymore." Although the phrasing was rather odd, Bruce understood what he meant. He couldn't name anyone who could do what Dick had demonstrated. "Is that why you isolated yourself?" The younger nodded.

"I thought if I just stayed out your way, you wouldn't find out. I didn't want you to think I wasn't normal. You could've kicked me out," he admitted. He looked up at Bruce with a watery smile. "But you're nice so now I just feel silly." The billionaire smiled back and tentatively put his arm around Dick, who went the rest of the way and completed the hug. This was the first time they hugged and, honestly, Bruce could see him initiating these a lot. He forgot how nice they were. "You shouldn't feel silly. You were just scared." Bruce paused for a bit. Dick's secret was pretty big and now it just felt weird that he hadn't shared one too. Plus, he supposed he should probably know about what he did at night. "I'm Batman," he blurted out.

"Oh, I already knew that." Bruce pulled away with a look of utter confusion.

"You what? How?"

"I was walking back from the bathroom and you went to bed in your bat suit. You looked really tired and you put your finger to your lips when you saw me." He smiled as the older facepalmed. "At least we both suck at keeping secrets."