Chapter Text
It took quite a bit of convincing and more bribery on Bruce’s part to warm his new son and daughter up to living in Wayne Manor. Dick and Sarah were used to living in Haly’s Circus, constantly traveling to and from Gotham for their performances. Alfred had already had one too many heart attacks when he would emerge from the bedrooms or the laundry room to find two young children hanging upside down from the chandeliers.
Bruce was slowly warming up to the idea of fatherhood every time he saw their smiles.
Sarah and Dick were tied at the hip until she was eight. Dick was eleven and Sarah was eight by the time they were fully acclimated into Gotham Academy. Their bedrooms were no longer sparse, decorated with old Flying Grayson posters and bright colors that reflected their individual personalities so well. Dick was wearing the Robin mantle by then. Something Sarah was so proud of him for… and also jealous. She wanted to be just like him.
That was what prompted Bruce’s proposal. Dick had been vehemently against it — as he’d only just gotten the mechanics of fighting handled because it was so similar to his acrobatics. He’d been Robin for several years at that point. Dick had seen what the underbelly of Gotham and those who dwelt in it were capable of.
Sarah was innocent. She didn’t need to see it.
That didn’t mean that Bruce wasn’t going to have a suit and escrima sticks made for the littlest Grayson. He kept them along with the lavender and obsidian suit in the glass cases in the cave. Dick had been asking him repeated questions about it since he’d seen it the first time.
“B!”
“Sarah-“
Sarah’s laughter was infectious as she eagerly greeted her brother and her guardian from her spot on the chandelier. Alfred had promised to make her one of their mother’s favorite Romani dishes - a recipe they’d found in the accumulated belongings of the childrens upon arrival - for dinner, a surprise she’d saved solely for Dick. Her brother needed to be happy too! Even if he was eleven and big now.
“Dick!” Dick grinned as she vaulted herself in a perfect backflip from her spot to land in front of her brother and embrace him tightly. Dick hummed contently and wrapped his arms around her middle before she was spinning and shrieking gleefully. “Hey, hey! Put me down!”
Golden Boy and the Little Bird. What a pair they make.
“What did you do with your day, Little Wing?” Dick asked.
“I made some new friends at school and got to learn how to read my favorite book I found in the library!” She exclaimed. Dick tilted his head as she handed him a leather bound book with the author’s name Robert Frost written across the front. “I think it’s poetry. I can read some of it, but-“
“Ah.” Both kids turned to greet their guardian as Bruce knelt down and took the book from her hand. “You found my stash.”
That gained him some awed looks. “Your stash?” Dick asked incredulously. The corners of his lips turned upward in a smirk. “Something I need to know, B?”
“My mother used to read me poetry as a child. I saved her favorite poetry books in a super secret corner of the Library.”
Bruce had been talking to Alfred for the best ways to be able to be there for Dick and Sarah. While neither of them had ever been parents, his butler and oldest friend had been his only support in the most difficult change of his life. Be there for them, and remember that they’re simply children who lost too much.
If he could keep that light in Sarah’s eyes a bit longer, that would be enough.
“Would you ever read it to me, B?”
Dick smirked. “B would love to do that for you, Sarah.” The eldest Grayson paused momentarily before tilting his head upward to sniff the air. “Wait… wait, is that-“
“Yes it is.”
When they were older, Alfred would keep that memory of watching the Grayson siblings sprint into the kitchen to try a dish from their heritage and close to their heart.
You’ll want to remember this.
***
For the next year, Dick and Sarah Grayson became a public spectacle. They were on the news. In the papers. It was hard to not have the wards of Bruce Wayne be placed in every media outlet Gotham had to offer.
Dick learned from a very early age how to perform that brilliant Grayson smile. Sarah learned how the real, rich world worked. She learned about how to read people. That she preferred to watch and observe instead of interact.
The Grayson kids learned from childhood that the world was cruel. No matter what Dick did, even as he got older and learned more, he realized he’d never be able to protect his little sister the way he wanted to.
It was a good thing that she was clearly learning to protect herself.
That was half the work of being a Wayne.
Performance.
***
“Dick, you’ve endured alot of training and incredible loss. You have put in hours upon hours of work.” Bruce paused. Dick peered up at the giant glass case in front of him. The Cave had been one of the few areas of the manor that had been specifcially off limits since he and Sarah had arrived, but his training as Robin had granted him at least some access to what this giant room had to offer. “Are you ready to take on the mantle of Robin?”
“Yes, B. I’m so grateful for the opportunity-“
It wasn’t even his critiques about the Robin outfit that made him angry. There was plenty of those. For someone who wanted him to be a child soldier and fight the war on crime to make Gotham a better place, Bruce Wayne sure did develop some obscenely colorful outfits for his partners. Children. Whatever the technical term was.
That wasn’t what caught Dick’s attention. Further down was a similar sized suit, but made for someone a little bit younger. He was twelve now. That would make Sarah nine.
The suit was lavender. And clearly fit for a girl. The plaque on the bottom of it was the real kicker though. In bright gold letters it read: Sarah Grayson — Spectral.
“B?”
“Yeah?”
He pointed an accusatory finger in the direction of the second glass case. “Care to explain what that is?”
Well, crap.