Just Robin Oneshots Part 2

bleh helb

I stayed up all night so forgive me if this is bad - just wanted a quick story posted since I'm not done with other requests yet

Angst time boyos - Talon Dick be a sad

Bruce wasn't an idiot. He could see the signs from a mile off. He just didn't know how to approach it with someone so blunt as Dick was. It almost seemed impossible that this was the reality. Alfred had assured him it wasn't a byproduct of something he'd done wrong but what if it was? He tried to accommodate Dick as best he could since there was no handbook on raising a Talon but even if there were a handbook it wouldn't tell him how to deal with this. He took a deep breath and prepared himself. He had to do something before Dick really got himself hurt. The last thing he needed was a top-up of that horrible concoction which helped him heal. Bruce checked up on the teenager. Last time he checked, he'd been training. He was still training. That couldn't be right. He would've been training for at least six hours. The cameras were good enough to give him enough clues that he hadn't stopped. His knuckles were bright red and there was sweat dripping down his face. There was a sort of exhausted pull to his punches that didn't help his case. Bruce had to do something. The conversation had to be done. He wished the boys were there to pitch in, maybe even do it for him, but they were away on various missions. He had to do it.

The only sound in the room was the sound of Dick's unprotected fists colliding with the plastic of the punching bag. His legs were shaking from the thousands upon thousands of kicks he'd done hours ago but he wasn't done yet. "Dick, I need to talk to you," Bruce announced from the doorway. He paused and turned around, surprised to see the man. He'd been busy considering they'd lost pretty much all their workforce. It was only on patrol that they caught glimpses of one another. He watched the man sit on the bench and pat the spot beside him. Still unsure of where this interaction was heading, Dick went along with it and sat beside his guardian. "It's come to my attention you've been putting yourself in harmful situations," the older stated.

"As is the job of a hero. I fail to see why this needs a discussion," he responded. Bruce shook his head. 

"I meant that you've been pushing yourself. I know you didn't sleep for three days and I know that your training sessions have been getting longer with shorter breaks." He waited for some sort of reaction. From the brief research he'd done about the topic, reactions ranged from shame to anger. Yet Dick didn't do any of that. "Yet again, I fail to see the issue," he said. He went to get back up but Bruce grabbed his hand and pulled him back down. 

"You're not understanding."

"Evidently."

"Do you know why I might be concerned about this behavior?" Bruce asked. The teenager shook his head. He didn't even know what he was doing to himself which somehow made the situation worse. Now they had a problem that neither knew the trigger of which made the solution even harder to find. "I'm concerned because you're going to hurt yourself if you continue this push."

"I did much longer hours in the Court." Bruce sighed in frustration. How could he not see the problem with this? 

"You have to admit that you didn't work this hard before. What changed?" he asked, hoping a different approach would make him see.

Dick's eyes dropped to the floor. He'd struck a nerve with the question so he changing his approach must've been the right thing to do. "A murder last week," he stated. Bruce thought back. There were quite a few but there was only one that Dick had been involved in solving/uncovering. "The Trey Murder?" he questioned. The younger nodded.

"I could've stopped it when I was under the Court's regime," Dick explained. He put his hands in front of himself and rubbed his thumb over his red knuckles. They were near to breaking under the friction of consistently hitting the punching back. He had some sense that they were supposed to hurt. They felt weird. "I've come to realize that I became too relaxed with my new found freedom. Perhaps I needed them more than previously thought." He glanced up at Bruce. "I've been the cause of enough murders to last me a lifetime and this is the best way to prevent another due to my shortcomings." His guardian frowned.

"You couldn't have prevented that and this notion that you need to go back to the Court's ways is dangerous. If you're spending eight hours a day training then when you're on patrol you won't be at your best. You might not feel pain but I know you feel exhaustion," he argued. "You're not built to do this on a regular basis without negative effects." The younger sniffled, rubbing at his eyes as they welled up. 

"I just want to be a hero. I don't want any more blood on my hands," he mumbled as he held back tears. The Trey Murder was the first murder he'd been there for since being liberated from the Court of Owls. Bruce mentally slapped himself for not realizing how bad that would've affected him. Of course, he would see this as a fault of his own rather than the fault of the murderer. He must've been so upset and this was the only way he could express it. "Being a hero doesn't mean you have to save everyone. It's a part of life that sometimes you'll save the world but you won't be there to save one person," Bruce explained. "Your past doesn't mean you're exempt from that fact of life."

"And no amount of training will prevent that?" the younger inquired, hoping that there would be a set number of hours he could do. 

"I'm afraid not. Half the time it's due to luck." The other's shoulder's slumped defeatedly. He'd been trying so hard and now it was all for nothing? 

"How am I supposed to repay my debt if I have to depend on something as unpredictable as luck?"

"You don't have a debt. You've worked incredibly hard and you've come a long way." He shrugged, rubbing at his eyes again. Bruce thought for a moment then decided on what to do next. "I don't think you've had a day off yet," he began.

"Am I supposed to?" Dick responded.

"Of course. Crime is usually low this time of the week so we can afford a night off," he suggested.

 "What would we do?"

"I have an idea."

And that's how the Batfamily came home to Dick snuggled up to Bruce, both fast asleep in the cinema. The movie had long since ended so they must've fallen asleep during it. "So cute," Cass whispered, elbowing Steph to take a photo. The other was completely on board with this idea and took one. 

"That's one for the Christmas card."