Work Text:
Amidst the absence of meaning
need we find solace in lofty spaces?
Or will the wonted places do?
The faint honking of cars filled the air along with the sound of rattling vents. Gotham’s summer had arrived early. While it was still only May, a heat wave had hit the city. Bruce leaned forward and pinched the bridge of his nose. His air conditioning unit was louder than he would have liked, but having the maintenance team up to get rid of the rattle seemed like overkill. They had more pressing things to deal with, like getting the air conditioning working in lab 3 and repairing the loading platform in the garage. To call one away to make his vents less noisy could wait. At least until they didn’t have more pressing issues to fix.
Bruce slipped his now cold and hours old coffee and stared down at his laptop screen hoping it would just go away. The day had been more or less a waste. He sat through four meetings that morning where nothing was decided. He’d made seventeen telephone calls, most ending in ‘we’ll get back to you’ or ‘we are currently unable to give you an answer’. He wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl back into his bed at the manor.
The night before had been long and he had only managed to get a handful hours of fitful sleep. It was honestly a miracle that he had gotten any sleep at all.
Dick had been upset by the murder of the Evans family. To be honest it had unnerved him as well.
Had he known… Well he would have never brought Dick with him to the house if he had known they would be… Bruce shuttered at the memory of Robin's shout when he found the bodies. Bruce didn’t think he would be forgetting the way the hair on his neck stood on end when the boy screamed for him. No. He wouldn’t forget. Batman had immediately sent Robin to wait outside, but he had already seen. It didn’t matter that they’d already caught the man. No, what mattered was that Robin had gotten a hard look at what evil there was in the city.
Dick of course wasn’t a stranger to it, but Bruce did his best to keep him at arms length from investigations that would bring back memories of his parents. While this certainly wasn’t Batman’s first slip up in doing just that, it was perhaps one of his worst.
Bruce closed his eyes and pushed his laptop back from him. He couldn’t focus. His head was pounding from lack of sleep. His limbs felt almost disjointed and too heavy. Coffee was doing nothing to keep his mind focused on his day job. Every so often he would inhale and catch the smell of blood. Though he knew that was his imagination. He had taken three showers.
He glanced at his phone again. Dick had promised to text him if he needed to come home early from school-- an offer Bruce rarely extended. Well, he had promised to text Alfred, who had in turn assured Bruce he would let him know if Dick needed them. Twelve was after all much too young to see… that.
Batman had gone home ready to sit outside his door listening for nightmares. The moment he saw the bodies he had mentally prepared for Dick’s quiet fall out. He had been doing that more and more lately, pretending he was fine only to snap later. Just a month ago, Dick had assured him twelve was way too old to sleep in his bed anymore-- despite having woken from a nightmare bad enough to cause him to shout. Last night though he hadn’t even attempted to go to his own room. Dick simply followed Bruce back to his and crawled under the covers unspeaking.
Then Dick had hardly spoken all morning. Which was perhaps what concerned Bruce the most. Even after tough nights, Dick always seemed to bounce back in the morning. He always looked on the bright side.
“It’s a new day, B!” He would say.
But not today. He had slowly followed Bruce around as they got ready for the day. He hadn’t complained when Bruce told him to fix his tie, or when Alfred reminded him to brush his teeth. No. He sat, eyes unfocused and moved mechanically through his tasks.
Perhaps Bruce looked remorseful enough, for Alfred hadn’t even given him a cold glare for the whole event as he was usually to do. Bruce had been on the receiving end of his Butler’s disapproval more times in the past three years than he could count. Usually it came from letting down Dick in some way or another.
The morning had been filled with concerned glances rather than narrowed eyed glares. Which Bruce would have certainly deserved. Perhaps it was the close proximity of the boy all morning that spared Bruce from the wrath of Alfred. Dick had sat silently next to him all through breakfast and even walked him to the door to say goodbye. Normally Bruce’s mornings were a whirlwind of ‘B, don’t forget.’s, ‘Bruce did you see this video?’s and ‘Can we later.’s. All of which would be said though half chewed mouthfuls of waffles or porridge. Bruce would nod and hmm while drinking coffee as if it was the first drop of water after a month in the desert.
But no this morning had been filled with a somber silence that even Alfred had seemed unsure how to break.
A harsh buzzing filled the room. Bruce lunged for his phone.
“Hello?”
“Master Bruce--”
“Is he okay?” Bruce stood, causing his chair to lurch slightly before falling back on its legs. Pulling at his hair, he began to pace his office.
“--I’ve… Yes. Yes, he says he is completely alright. I was trying to say, I’ve dropped him off at the office. He wanted to stay with you the rest of the afternoon rather than come home.”
Bruce froze. Here. Dick hated coming into WE. He always called it stuffy and boring.
“Master Bruce?”
Bruce shook himself slightly. “Yes. Yes, sorry. I-- How did he seem? I know you said he said he was fine, but…”
“He didn’t seem as upset as he was this morning. Perhaps school provided him a slight pick me up.”
Bruce hummed into his phone.
“Dinner will be at seven sir, try not to let him snack too much before you get home.”
Turning to his office door, he hung up. Dick would come straight up to see him. So he would be just getting off the elevator by now. Bruce poked his head out and glanced around. Paula looked up slightly startled.
“Mr. Wayne, did you need something?” She half reached for her phone.
“No. No. Sorry, Alfred called saying he dropped of Dick, and well…” Bruce frowned. The walk up to his office took less than ten minutes. All of the security knew Dick and would have let him pass with no trouble. Alfred wouldn’t have called him until he was back on the road either. So where was Dick?
“Would you like me to call down and see if he’s there, sir?” Paula smiled up at him reassuringly.
“I… Well, er yes. Please.” Bruce stood awkwardly in the doorway watching his personal assistant make the call. Paula had only been with the company for a little over a year, but Bruce liked her well enough. She was prompt and put up with his… unusual behavior, which was something to praise in itself.
“They said he got on the elevator alright.” She said, putting the phone back in it’s cradle.
Bruce nodded and turned his attention to the elevator doors. A minute went by. Then another. Still the doors remained unopened. No Dick Grayson emerged.
Bruce most certainly didn’t panic. No, panicking did nothing. One had to be logical and keep a cool head. Bruce called security himself. He may have liked Paula, but how could he be sure she wasn’t in on a plot to kidnap his ward. He would run another background check tonight.
“You’re sure he got on the elevator?” Bruce might have growled slightly.
“Mr. Wayne!” Andrew Miller, one of the newer security guards answered. “Yes, sir. He got right on.”
“Which elevator?” Bruce was ready to come down to the desk himself, and pull up the security tapes.
“Umm… the second one.”
Bruce waited a breath. “Well check the video!”
“Oh right. Right. Umm. It stopped on the seventh floor and he got out.”
Bruce frowned and hung up. He shouldn’t be so short with his staff he knew that, but he could apologize later. He could send in a package of fresh cookies from down the street after he found Dick.
Bruce turned to Paula as he quickly walked to the elevators, “Call me if he comes up?”
“Of course.” She watched him until the door slid closed in front of him.
Bruce did not panic when the door opened on the seventh floor and Dick wasn’t waiting patiently to get on. He didn’t panic when he asked four people if they had seen him. He most definitely did not spin around looking half crazed when he heard--
“Wait, your kid’s got black hair and is real small right?”
Bruce gave the women his full attention. Sarah , he thought and filled the name away for later. “Yes. He would be in his school uniform.”
“Yeah, I think I saw him go past me in the hall on the way back from Lab 4.”
Bruce was already moving. Lab 4? What on earth would Dick be doing there? Bruce forced himself not to sprint down the hallway. He made himself nod to passing employees and even worked to keep his blood pressure down by taking deep breaths.
Dick was fine. He was in the building. He had been seen.
Why he was wandering around was what was more worrying. Did he not want to see him?
Bruce came to a halt.
A lab tech nearly ran into his back.
“Sorry, sir,” she mumbled as she dodged him.
Bruce paid her no mind. His heart was suddenly hammering against his ribs.
Did Dick hate him for last night? What if.. No. Maybe.
He’d clung to him all morning, but that could mean anything. It could have been him working out how he felt. Maybe… Just maybe he decided he didn’t want anything to do with Batman. Maybe Dick was done with Bruce .
And Bruce-- sure as day-- didn’t know what to do with that thought. If Dick told him he didn’t want to work with him anymore-- Bruce could handle that-- but if he didn’t want anything to do with Bruce as Bruce…
He turned and pressed his back against the wall. No. Dick hadn’t ever wanted to quit, Bruce reasoned. And if he did maybe that was for the best. He had been telling him for years that he would rather Robin stay home, had even fired him after Harvey. Bruce was spiraling and playing worst case scenario wasn’t going to help him help Dick.
Bruce sighed and pushed himself off from the wall. His pace towards the lab was perhaps a little slower than it had been a moment ago.
The hallway seemed to stretch on forever as he walked, the door never getting closer. That was when he heard it. It was light, and choppy but the sound was unmistakable.
Laughter.
Bruce could hear laughter. Instead of opening the door, he peered through the window. Lucius Fox stood with a small boy next to a robotic arm. The boy’s back was to him but he was unmistakable. The arm seemed to spin and twist to some rhythm that Bruce couldn’t hear. The boy held a tablet in his hands and must have been controlling the arm’s movements, for he dragged his fingers over the screen.
Bruce found himself transfixed by Dick. Every few moments he would laugh or snort in joy while pointing to the tablet. Lucius would nod and lean down closer to answer what ever unheard question Dick asked.
Lucius glanced up seeing Bruce standing behind the glass. The two men shared a secret smile as Dick played. Bruce was torn between not wanting to shatter the moment and wanting to see Dick’s face. His choice was taken from him however, as Dick glanced up at Lucius. He spun around, and for a moment Bruce feared he would be upset.
Dick’s eyes light up. “Bruce!”
The glass separating them was suddenly too much of a barrier. Bruce went for the door at the same moment Dick did. The tablet still in his hands.
“Bruce come look at what Mr. Fox made!” Dick crashed into his guardian as Bruce pulled the door open.
“Uff.” Bruce huffed, “What’s this?”
Dick thrust the tablet at him. “Look you can make it move with this, it’s on an axis like a plane, see the x, y, z axis?”
Bruce pretended to study the tablet, he was too focused on Dick’s hand still clinging to his suit jacket, pulling him back towards the robotic arm. When they reached the table he didn’t let go.
“Very cool. I didn’t know we were developing this.” Bruce glanced at Lucius wondering what the project was from. He hadn’t seen it on any of his reports or any project proposals that had crossed his desk.
“Ah well, It’s really just a bit of fun.” Lucius shrugged. “It’s a mix of old prototypes for a prosthetic we were developing a few years back and a few other things that didn’t make it to production. The lab assistants have been doing it on their lunch for fun. I didn’t see any harm.”
Bruce smiled. He would happily allow any recycling of scraps if his employees wanted to be creative. “No, I mean what is the point of a mechanical engineering degree or two if you can’t make a dancing robot arm?”
Dick laughed and pulled the tablet back from him and began showing Bruce different things the arm could do. He didn’t notice when Lucius slipped out.
“B?” Dick put the tablet down after a particularly silly maneuver.
Bruce glanced up holding his breath. “Yeah, Chum?”
Dick glanced around and looked at Bruce, his eyebrows knit together in question.
“We’re okay.” Bruce could understand Dick’s hesitation. How many times had he drilled into Dick over the years not to ask him questions about their nightlife in public places.
“Do you… I mean. Well, is it okay to--” He looked around as if for the right word to appear before him. “To forget?”
Bruce tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Err at school we watched a movie and I didn’t think about them.” Dick paused for a moment shuffling his shoes.
Bruce waited.
“And then well, I felt bad. Because how do you go and… and forget something that bad ? So then I was sad again but mad at myself too. You know? And then on the way to your office I ran into Mr. Fox and he-- I had fun.” Dick looked up at him, his bottom lip sucked in.
Bruce sighed. “Dick we… we’re around a lot of bad . I’m really sorry you saw that last night.
Dick opened his mouth in protest.
Holding up his hand Bruce continued, “No. Really. Dick that was too much. I would have never-- I’m sorry. It’s on me.” Bruce pulled Dick forward and hugged him. When did he get this tall? Bruce thought as Dick leaned into him.
He gave a soft sniff.
“But no. It’s not wrong to forget. In fact it’s good not to think about it every minute of the day. And yes there are things that need to be thought about, or talked about because they’re important. Why we do what we do is important and so is remembering people. But… But we get to have fun too... because if we put those things a side and just focus on the mission we’ll… We’ll burn out before we can make a difference.”
Dick leaned back and looked up at him. His eyes were so wide, so blue. “Do you think I can come here more after school? I mean maybe just sometimes?”
Bruce laughed. “Dick you can come here every single day if you want. I don’t think anyone will complain.”
Giving Bruce’s waist one last squeeze Dick let go and moved towards the door. “Great because I saw someone building a drone motor and I think that we could totally make it into a new gadget. A Batdrone or Batspyer.”
Bruce smiled the whole way back to his office listening to Dick chatter about engine specs. He felt glad he had a job so far removed from his nightlife. Wayne Enterprises usually felt like a duty much like being Batman. It was a tool to make Gotham better, to improve things. Or it was a way he felt he had to honor his parents. But maybe that wasn’t all it needed to be. Maybe sometimes it could be a -- not a distraction. That was too flippant a term, maybe a balm . A sort of soothing salve to ease the worse of what they saw in the dark shadows at night.