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In the circus, you traveled by train. If you wanted to fly, you'd go on the trapeze. That's the way it had been for Dick for as long as he could remember, but his life had changed drastically recently.
Now he lived with a billionaire who didn't have the time or a reason to travel long distances by train. He had to be across the country in 24 hours for an important business meeting and offered to let Dick come along, and of course the ten-year-old happily accepted the opportunity to skip school for a couple days.
He had initially been excited to try out a new experience, but as they boarded the plane and walked passed the rows of seats, he began to feel claustrophobic and anxious.
Tights spaces had never bothered him before—after all, he was from the circus where they made do of whatever space they had—and he loved heights, but . . .
Oh, come on. He was Robin. He could handle this.
Bruce let Dick have the seat by the window, and they were in business class so they had spacious, comfortable seats with a mini TV that they could entertain themselves with.
This won't be so bad, he thought.
But then the flight attendants began explaining the procedures of what to do if something happened to the plane while they were onboard. They had oxygen masks and life vests and a plan in case the plan crashed and—and the plane could crash? They could fall?
Just like—just like—
"Hey, Dick, are you okay?" Bruce questioned, noticing Dick's frightened expression.
Dick stared at Bruce, then looked at the other people boarding the plane.
Bruce was fine. Everyone was fine. Dick was the only one who wasn't. He was paranoid. Just paranoid.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Dick said, knowing it sounded like a blatant lie the moment the words left his mouth.
Bruce gave him an unconvinced look that was laced with concern. "C'mon, chum, I'm not blind. Are you scared?"
"No!" Dick exclaimed a little too loudly. He immediately looked down, abashed, then murmured, "Well, maybe a little . . ."
Bruce put a hand on Dick's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay to be scared. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I didn't know I'd be . . . scared," Dick admitted, his fingers digging into his seat. "I've never been on a plane before. I thought this would be fun, but—but—what if—" Dick swallowed thickly. "What if we fall?"
Realization blossomed across Bruce's face. He eyed the plane entrance and said, "Okay, let's leave. Grab your pillow."
Dick's eyes went as wide as saucers when Bruce stood up.
"C'mon, before we takeoff, Dick," the man insisted, seeing Dick making no effort to leave.
Dick immediately grabbed Bruce's arm and tugged him back down onto his seat, embarrassed by all the stares they were getting. "What are you doing? You need this flight to get to your important meeting in time!"
"Dick," Bruce said very seriously. "No meeting is worth comprising your wellbeing. If it triggers memories of your parents . . ."
"No," Dick said, sighing and shaking his head. "I just—"
A flight attendant walked up to them with a polite smile on her face. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but is everything alright here?"
Bruce opened his mouth, but Dick beat him to it. "Yep. Everything's a-okay!"
The woman looked at Bruce for confirmation and the man reluctantly nodded at the request of Dick's pleading eyes.
When the flight attendant left, Dick continued what he was saying. "I haven't gotten any flashbacks, and I don't think I will. I'm scared," he said, fidgeting his fingers, "but not that scared. This is all just so new to me . . ."
After a moment, Bruce put a large hand on Dick's small, fiddling hands. Dick looked up into the man's stormy blue eyes.
"It's normal to be scared of new things. Healthy, even," Bruce assured. "So, how about this? Whenever you get scared, you hold onto my hand and squeeze as hard as you need to. Even if that means holding onto my hand the entire ride. How does that sound?"
Dick hesitated. "I don't know. I'm not a baby, y'know."
"Accepting help doesn't make you childish," Bruce corrected. "You of all people should know that."
Robin.
Robin helped people all the time. That didn't make him better than the people he was helping.
"Yeah," Dick said apologetically. "You're right. Okay, I'll hold your hand, but only if I need to."
Bruce's lips twitched upwards. "That's all I ask."
A couple of minutes later, they began takeoff. The plane shook and jolted forward, and as it got faster and faster, Dick instinctively grabbed Bruce's hand and screwed his eyes shut, his heart nearly beating out of his chest.
He kept his eyes shut until the chaos stopped and the plane felt calm again. Feeling that the worst was over, he peeked through one eye and found Bruce staring at him with an amused smile. Dick opened both eyes and found his hand squeezing Bruce's so hard that both of their hands were white and red.
"Whoops," Dick said sheepishly before releasing his victim. In his peripheral vision he could see blue through everyone's windows. Although still tense, Dick was a curious creature, and he could only hold back that curiosity for so long. He took in a deep breath of preparation and finally turned his head, looking out the window besides him.
What he saw had him breathless. In a good way, surprisingly. Dick had expected to see the sky, but the clouds were so close and full of detail. They were up so much higher than the skyscrapers in Gotham, which had been the highest point he could even fathom until now.
How was this real?
Dick had always loved the trapeze, because it had made him feel like, for a moment, he could fly. Then, with a grappling gun, Robin let him, in a way, fly over the city. Now here he was now, actually flying across the country.
If only his parents could see him now.
"This is what it would be like to be him," Dick murmured in wonder, his eyes still glued to his window.
"What was that?" Bruce questioned.
"Superman," Dick clarified. "This is what he sees everyday. We're kinda like Superman right now."
Bruce let out a noise of amusement. "In a way, yeah, we are, aren't we?"
Dick grinned. "Imagine if we saw him, just by coincidence, flying in the sky. That would be so cool. Do you think we have a chance?"
It was unlikely, but still fun to imagine. He had yet to meet the Justice League, despite Batman being a member, and he had always wanted to see Superman in particular in the flesh. At least, right now, he could imagine that he was the Kryptonian himself.
"Who knows?" Bruce said. "It's happened before."
"Cooool."
"Looks like someone conquered a fear today," Bruce noted.
"You bet," Dick said, taking a moment to look away from the window to glance at Bruce. The man was sitting comfortably with a book in his hand. Only then did Dick notice the breeze from the air conditioning above them pleasantly brushing against his skin. The plane rocked gently, in a strangely soothing manner rather than a frightening one. The strangers across from them were resting while others were watching a movie on their screens.
This wasn't so bad. Not at all.
Dick found himself drifting off to sleep as he gazed into the fluffy clouds and bright blue sky. The last thing he heard was Bruce asking a flight attendant, "Excuse me, how can I access the wi-fi?"
"Holy cow, look! Look!"
"Quick, someone grab my phone!"
The sound of excitement stirred Dick from his peaceful slumber. He heard shouts, and for a second, he was stricken with fear. His eyes snapped open, checking to see if the plane was in danger.
As he groggily looked around, it wasn't danger he was greeted with, but rather toothy grins from a crowd of people gathered around his and Bruce's seats. They were all looking at his window.
"You might wanna see this, chum," Bruce said, gesturing towards the window as well.
Dick furrowed his brows and looked at the source of everyone's attention. He peered outside the window and caught a glimpse of red and blue, until he realized he was looking at a person and that person was Superman.
Dick sharply gasped and waved frantically at the hero with both hands. "Hi, Superman! Hi!"
He caught Superman's eye and received a wave and a wink right before the hero zoomed away, probably to beat a bad guy.
Everyone on the plane was shouting and discussing what just happened when it clicked in Dick's brain. He turned towards Bruce and gave him a pointed yet pleased look that told the man: I know it was you who set that up.
Bruce simply shrugged. As if that wasn't one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for Dick.
Dick unbuckled his seat belt and promptly tackled Bruce with a bear hug.
It really does pay off to have Batman as your dad, huh, Dick thought humorously.
One thing was for sure: Dick would definitely be forcing Bruce to take him on all his businesses trips from now on, so long as it required a plane.