Chapter Text
Dick didn’t celebrate his first Halloween at the manor.
Bruce had asked him if he’d wanted to, but Dick had vehemently refused. It hadn’t even been a full year since…
And he just really hadn’t been in the mood for going out on a house-hopping candy-hunt.
Not when he didn’t feel like he could actually work-up the energy required.
Not when he’d spent last Halloween, like all the others before it, with his parents, traipsing around a nearby residential area in the city the circus had been stopped at. Wearing a costume they had made him. Nestled safely between their bodies and holding their hands and squeezing them especially tight when they walked up to the extra creepy houses, his mother telling him how brave he was and his father agreeing as he knocked on the doors and held out Dick’s candy bag for him.
Not when he knew he wouldn’t get to take part in his usual after-trick-or-treating tradition of trading candy with the other kids at the circus, rather quickly dissolving into all of them chasing each other around as they worked off their sugar-highs.
Not when he couldn’t end the evening, happy and tired, by getting tucked into bed by his parents with kisses pressed to his forehead and cheek.
Bruce hadn’t pressed the matter after Dick had told him that he didn’t want to go out, just nodded and said he’d let Alfred know that he’d be staying in. Dick had appreciated it.
The day had been pretty normal.
Bruce had let him stay home from school – with the proviso that this sort of thing was an exception, not the norm.
If Dick had been in a better mood he might have complained about that – more grumbling about how dumb the school system was and how he wished Bruce would just homeschool him like he’d done over the summer, making sure Dick’s knowledge was up to the private school’s standards – but, as it was, Dick didn’t give much more than a nose wrinkle of displeasure and an, “Okay.”
Bruce had given him a bit of a funny look at that and, after a moment of hesitation, had patted him on the shoulder, saying, “…Good,” before heading off for work.
And with that, Dick had been left, under Alfred’s supervision, to just go about his business – the same as any other time Bruce got busy.
He’d whittled away most of the day with personal research, flipping through some books that Bruce had been getting at his request, all of them meant to flesh out topics that Dick wanted to learn more about. Some of the books were intended for kids his age, simple and short with a lot of picture, but a few were clearly meant for older people, long and dense with jargon that required Dick to have a dictionary handy. Those ones were much more time consuming and Dick hadn’t even gotten a quarter of the way through a single one of them, but he also figured they’d be more worth it in the long run.
Lately – ever since Bruce had taken him in, really – Dick had been very into the history of gangs, especially what little Bruce could scrounge up, both from publicly published works and his own records, about the ones that had taken root in Gotham.
He was mostly focused on reading and notetaking, only surfacing a couple times and getting up to stretch, when Alfred came by with lunch. Dick didn’t notice him right away, Alfred actually having to pull at the book he was reading just a bit to break Dick’s concentration, his eyes shooting up to see Alfred’s faintly amused expression.
“I see you’ve been working rather hard Master Dick,” Alfred said, surveying the self-imposed workload Dick had spread out in front of him. “I think it’s about time for a break.”
“Uh,” Dick’s eyes zeroed in on the food, soup and a sandwich, “yeah, sure. Thanks, Alfred, let me just…” He shoved everything in front of him to the far end of the table, Alfred placing the platter down in front of him, and got up to go on a brief hunt for the remote.
“Did you need anything else, Master Dick?” Alfred asked.
Dick, paused, the remote in-hand, biting down on his bottom lip. He considered asking Alfred to stick around and keep him company, but, honestly, Alfred was probably busy with other things and he didn’t want to be a bother so… He shook his head. “Nah, I’m okay. I’m just going to be watching cartoons.”
Alfred stared at him for a beat, as if waiting for Dick to change his mind, then nodded. “Very well. If you need me, I’ll be sorting out the parlor. It seems to have fallen victim to some of the guests Master Bruce was hosting last night.”
Dick raised his eyebrows. “Really? What happened?”
He knew that Bruce had been hosting a costume party – one that he hadn’t been allowed to attend, and had been rather easily convinced that he wouldn’t enjoy, on account of Bruce still being rather adamant about sparing him the attention of nosey socialites and prying reporters, both of whom had little sense of their own rudeness – but he hadn’t realized it’d gotten out of hand.
Alfred sighed. “The décor seems to have been moved around and there are a few other messes that need my attention, but it’s nothing to concern yourself with, Master Dick.”
“You sure?”
“I’m certain.”
“Okay. Thanks, again, Alfred.”
“Of course.”
As Alfred slipped out of the room, Dick walked back over to his spot, getting comfortable and flicking the television on.
All-in-all, he could have almost forgotten that it was Halloween in the first place, if it weren’t for the frankly ridiculous number of channels playing scary movies. He quickly skipped over those, the very thought of watching them on his own in a place as large as the manor with all of its rooms and ominous creeks, making him shudder.
On the other hand, the impression that it could have been any other day was helped by the fact that the manor was so separate from the rest of the city; a large, gated yard and a long driveway keeping the chatter and sight of all the other kids out and running around from reaching Dick. Keeping him from seeing what he was missing out on.
After eating, he gathered up his dishes and stealthily took them to the kitchen. Dick knew from experience that if Alfred heard so much as a clink he’d surface from the depths of the parlor and sweep the dishes right out of Dick’s hands. Alfred was adamant about him not doing any of the chores, with the exception of keeping his room tidy, but Dick figured the least he could do was drop some dishes off at the sink, especially if Alfred was busy with other things.
Setting the dishes on the counter near the sink, Dick hesitated before hoisted himself up beside them – still too short to reach the sink’s handles from the floor without straining up onto his tiptoes – so he could rinse them off. When he finished, he got a hot, soapy washcloth and wiped down the area he’d been sitting on.
He then wrung the washcloth out in the sink and on his way out of the kitchen he grabbed a couple cookies from a platter near the oven – freshly frosted ghosts and pumpkins – and headed for the backyard, a restless itch having set in while he’d been watching tv. He made sure to drop the washcloth off in the laundry room on his way there.
Bruce had had a small playground installed, meant to be a safer option than the gymnastics equipment in the Batcave which Bruce didn’t want him using without supervision, and that was where he was a few hours later when Bruce got home. Dick was hanging from the monkey bars, his nose numb and sniffly from the chilly air and his fingers a bit stiff.
He waved to Bruce and dropped down to the ground as Bruce called out, “Shouldn’t you have a coat?”
Dick glanced down at his sweater. Aside from his extremities, he was actually a bit warm. “No?” he replied, jogging over to Bruce. “I’m fine.”
Bruce sighed. “Fine all the way up until you get sick, sure. Have you seen how red your nose is?”
Dick reached up to touch his nose self-consciously. “I’m really not that cold.”
Bruce looked unconvinced, but dropped the matter, unbuttoning his own coat and pulling a bag of candy from its recesses. He held it out to Dick, who eyed it with delighted interest.
“That’s for me?” he asked.
“I know you didn’t want to go out, but I thought you might still want some candy.” He held it out in offering.
Dick took it from him, smiling widely.
“Just… try not to eat it all in one night. And don’t let Alfred see it.” Bruce actually looked a bit nervous at the prospect.
“Gotcha!” Dick shot him a thumbs up. “Super illegal candy stash. Thanks, Bruce!”
Bruce hummed. “Alfred was almost finished with dinner. And you should probably come in, anyway, before your nose falls off.” He tapped Dick’s nose for emphasis, making Dick’s face scrunch up, and laughed lightly.
“My nose is not going to fall off,” Dick grumbled, hugging the candy bag to his chest. “It’s probably not even that red and you’re just exaggerating.”
“No, no,” Bruce insisted, placing a hand on Dick’s back and beginning to guide him towards the house. “I really am very concerned. Nose-loss is a very serious thing.”
Dick rolled his eyes, not dignifying Bruce with a response.
Bruce, in turn, started laughing again, a bit harder this time, moving his arm to wrap it around Dick’s shoulders, pulling Dick into his side. “I was thinking we could wrap up this afternoon’s training earlier than usual so we could watch a movie or do something else before I headed out for the night. If you wanted to.”
Dick looked up at him, a little surprised, honestly, having figured Bruce would have wanted to go out on patrol earlier on a night like tonight. Dick kind of feeling like he wanted to cry, but he wasn’t sure why. He smiled instead. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
The candy bag was stuffed into Dick’s shirt and snuck into the main living area. His books and notebook were still in a pile on the far end of the table and the platter of cookies had appeared near it.
Dick shoved the candy bag between the cushion and armrest of the couch, leaving it not immediately visible but still accessible for later. He then grabbed another cookie and made his way to the dining room, inhaling it as he went.
Dinner passed pleasantly, though Alfred also felt the need to mention how red Dick’s nose was, making him sink down in his chair and, eventually, wrangling an agreement out of him to wear a coat and gloves in the future if he was going to be outside for an extended length of time.
Bruce rather pointedly stayed out of that conversation, though, Dick noticed with displeasure, he certainly seemed smug about it.
And if Dick was more determined than usual to absolutely obliterate Bruce while they were sparring… Well, that may have had something to do with it. He didn’t actually win any of their fights, but Bruce still smiled at him and told him he was getting better, just like he always did.
By the time Dick had showered and gotten into a pair of pajamas, Bruce was already sitting in the living area, the television on with a Halloween special playing. Dick shuffled past him, getting situated and ripping open his bag of candy. Bruce offered him the remote, but there wasn’t anything in particular that Dick wanted to watch so he just left the channel where it was.
The clock in the back of the room was ticking, audible each time there was a lapse in Dick’s chatter.
One Halloween special merged into the next and the candy wrappers piled up and the cookies Alfred had made slowly diminished and that clock in the back of the room ticked away one hour and then another.
When Bruce rose from the couch, glancing down at his watch and saying, “I should head out. Are you going to be okay?” Dick still felt wide awake.
He pressed his lips together and shrugged. “Yeah,” he replied, trying to stifle the low thrum of disappointment in his stomach. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Bruce to go out as Batman – he just – well, he’d rather at least be allowed to go with. “I’ll probably stay up for a little longer, I guess.”
“Alright. Alfred will come get you for bed around ten if you haven’t gone up already.” He surveyed the mess of candy wrappers on the table in front of them. “And I think you should put the candy away for the evening. You’ll give yourself a stomachache.”
Dick pressed a hand to his stomach. He wasn’t really in the mood for more candy anyway. “Alright, I will. Night, Bruce.”
Bruce hesitated, hovering for a moment, before reaching out and petting Dick’s hair. “Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
When Bruce left, Dick pulled his legs up, wrapping his arms around his knees.
The movie that was still airing didn’t really hold his attention, but he watched it anyway.