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The first time Jim meets the kid things don't go well. It happens on the rooftop of the Gotham Police Department. Perhaps, it's a God-sent sign to arrest Batman for once and all. Perhaps, Jim should just save the kid and send him to another city with a caring family.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jim drops the cigarette he had between both teeth. "Is it a bring-your-kid-to-work day, and nobody told me?"
"I'm not a kid," Dick huffs, offended. "I'm his partner." The small kid inflates his chest, hands on his hips, glaring daggers at Jim, while Batman stands behind him as a sign of protection.
Batman nods, "He's part of the team now," as if the kid wasn't a ten-year-old dressed up in a colourful pixie costume.
"I'm Robin," the kid says, offering a firm handshake that Gordon is too confused to deny.
"Is he your son?" Gordon asks, staring straight into Batman's dark eyes. No fear. Just confusion, and frustration.
"No."
"That’s even worst!" Gordon screams, frustrated.
~ ~ ~
It's hard to see a kid put his life on the front line for a city that might never know his real name. It's especially hard when Jim does know it, but must pretend he doesn't.
Jim knows he can't stop Dick from being Robin. It's even worst that he wouldn't try because he chooses not to do so. The kid is brightest than most professional detectives, and more valuable than his most efficient police squad. What does that say about Jim? What does that say about Batman?
Jim doesn't (want to) know.
All Jim knows is that it's seven past thirty on a Tuesday morning and Bruce Wayne has arrived early than usual at Gotham Academy with his ward.
"Bruce!" Dick has a silvery voice when he's not Robin. When Dick isn't wearing the Robin costume, he is rather free with his words. The constant quest to impress Batman is dropped by common childhood needs, such as craving ice cream.
"Bruce, will you pick me up today?" Dick says as he slowly tries to get out of the car. "Is Alfred coming too? Do you want ice cream? I want ice cream." He pulls himself out of the car with the help of his two hands holding onto the door's car. His right ankle is sprained.
Behind a sturdy bush, that is a few meters away from the entrance to the school, Jim peaks half of his head to see a sleep-deprived Bruce, getting out of the driver's seat fast as he speaks over the phone, "Yes, Lucius, I'll be there for the meeting with the accountants." He walks fast towards Dick, "Stop! You'll hurt yourself!" Bruce has a raspy voice, a product of yesterday's patrol. Fighting under the rain is tough on the immune system.
"I'm fine!" Dick screams, pouting with his mouth. "I can handle myself."
Jim doesn't like his answer. He's a kid. He shouldn't need to take care of himself. Taking care of Dick's well-being should be Bruce's most important job. Isn't Jim the biggest hypocrite among Robin's caretakers? No, but sometimes he feels that way.
"No... wait right there!" Bruce says to Dick, but he's still speaking over his phone. "No, Lucious, not you. I never tell you what to do! It was just one time. One time. Just leave it alone. No, no. Later. I'm with Dick. I need to talk to Dick. Bye."
"Are you mad?" Dick turns to look at Bruce with puppy eyes. His face looks younger or perhaps, he just looks like the kid he is.
"No, Dick..." Bruce sounds more exhausted than his tired physical appearance, which is tragic, but that doesn't stop him from giving Dick a trying but reassuring smile. "I told you I'd carry you to your class because you refused to use crutches and I'm not backing up, chum."
"No, you're not doing that. I'm walking!" Despite his young age, Dick is firm like a grownup.
"What?" Bruce is as shocked as Jim is. The kid really is something else. "I make the rules. You follow. Remember?"
"Nope. I don't follow if the rules are stupid." Dick takes the shotgun seat again and crosses his arms. "I'm not moving if I can't walk on my own. Case closed."
"Shit, man. If my kid talks to me that way..." Jim shakes his head. A branch of the brush creaks as Jim slightly shifts his body. His body goes still due to the creaking. The sound is small, but Batman—or Bruce—is extraordinarily perceptive.
Bruce crunches down to be at Dick's face level, "Are you done complaining?"
Dick pouts and turns his face the other way.
"If you walk to your classroom, I won't stop thinking about your ankle all day and the myriad of possibilities of your ankle getting worst."
"It's not my fault I'm a burden to you!" Dick raises his voice. His blue eyes could be vibrant red if he was less than human. It might be a shocking thought for the ones who don't know Robin's true identity, but the kid is, in fact, entirely human. "You took me in! I told you I was fine on my own."
"You are not. You're better with me and you know it. And you're not a burden, Dick." Bruce puts his hand on Dick's shoulder, and the kid doesn't shake it off.
"Good sign," Jim says, cheering for Bruce in the distance.
"I worry about you because you're... small and... still in the growing years." Jim smiles proudly watching Bruce carefully choosing his words. Dick isn't young, he's small. He isn't a kid, he is still growing.
Dick hums, meditating on Bruce's reasoning. His shoulders relax and his arms uncross. "Right. I'm a bit small and my bones are still growing."
While Dick stares at Gotham's Academy entrance, Bruce looks at him with a shy smile on his lips. He looks happy.
"Would you allow me to take you upstairs to your classroom, your Majesty?" Bruce teases and Jim almost chokes on his spit.
"No, don't say that!" Dick whines. His face blushes like a fresh red tomato. "Am I a brat? Am I like one of those preppy rich kids? Did I become my worst nightmare?"
Bruce snorts, "They're not your worst nightmare, Rob."
Dick laughs at the inside joke. "No, they're one of Dick's nightmares, like pants and boring movies."
The complicit smirk Bruce and Dick share makes Jim's skin turn cold. Dick is so young. This is wrong, but is it entirely wrong? Jim zones out thinking about the consequences of allowing the existence of a child hero. The future weight Dick will carry on his shoulders. The ghosts of the past will stay like shadows in Dick's future eyes.
Is it worth it?
Between laughs and snarky jokes that only Batman and Robin understand, Dick accepts Bruce to carry him. "Fiiineeee... Only if you carry me on your shoulders," Dick requests and Bruce delivers. He takes Dick in his arms and the kid climbs to the top of his shoulders. "Let's go!" Dick screams with enthusiasm as Robin does in patrol.
As they walk to the entrance of Gotham Academy, Bruce holds Dick by the shin of the kid's legs. They get closer and closer to Jim, who is still hiding. There's a brief moment, in which Jim is certain Bruce glimpsed at him, but Bruce doesn't give him a clue. Batman's face remains composed.
~ ~ ~
Like an unmoving bush, Jim stays in the same spot, deep in thought. He lights up a cigarette and lets his imagination wander to a future time when Dick Grayson is older like twenty-five. He can picture Dick wearing a different mask, perhaps, a hero suit with less bright colours too. In Jim's imagination, he and Dick always meet on a rooftop of a cold Gotham night. "Why did you do it? Why did you let it happen? I was a child and Bruce didn't know any better, but you did."
In his imagination, Jim finds the courage to reply to the question, which Jim knows would bring him to his knees if Dick ever asks it. Talking to himself, Jim replies, "Because you were better than all the real-life heroes I met. You had genuine intentions and true kindness. You had a brilliant mind that made look other detectives a joke, and even more because you brought Batman back to life. You brought me back to life too."
Jim doesn't bother with assuming what would Dick say. For all he knows, he's projecting his one too many what-ifs onto Dick. Robin isn't built like him. Robin is a kid, but he's just not any kid.
Robin is a hero.
~ ~ ~
Jim is done with his cigarette by the time a silent shadow appears next to him. Jim smirks. That little shit. "Wayne," he turns to greet him his non-official detective partner.
"Commissioner, what brings you here?" Bruce asks as if he didn't know Gordon's stubbornness.
"I don't know. You tell me. What could I be doing in Gotham Academy at 8 in the morning?" Jim is a detective too, one with years of training in specialized matters.
"He is fine." Bruce sounds convincing.
"He dropped from a two-floor building," Jim whispers because if he would speak any louder, he would scream.
"And I caught him. I always do." The conviction in Bruce's tone is honest and believable.
Sometimes, Jim wishes Bruce wasn't honest and kind with a big heart of gold just like he is a big pain in his ass.
"I'll see you... around." Bruce speaking with Batman's hoarse voice in daylight hours puts a smile on Jim's face.
Though Bruce is just twenty-five, his body walks with the weight of Gotham's on his shoulders, both as Bruce and as Batman. Two sides of the same coin. Two masks for one city begging for salvation.
Before Bruce gets in the car, Jim steps closer to the Lamborghini. "Perhaps, he should rest tonight, Watch a movie with Alfred, and fall asleep early," he says frankly.
"You work with me, you work with him. Take it or leave it." Bruce doesn't leave room for discussion. He gets in the car and leaves.
Jim is starting to notice that while Robin's loyalty to Batman is unwavering, the respect Batman has for Robin is infinite.
It takes nothing to hate an abusive father. Putting them behind bars is Jim's pleasure. However, how can he stay mad at Bruce? He cares for the kid more than some blood parents care for their kids.
Jim stays near Gotham Academy until school hours end. He doesn't have any excuse. His reason is transparent. From a reasonable distance, he waits for Alfred to pick up the kid, but Bruce is the one who comes back. Bruce and his tired eye bags, his black coat to hide his wounds, and a protein drink in his hand. Carrying Dick on his shoulders, Bruce gets back to the car and promises to take him for ice creaming before going... "Home! We're going home, chum! No ice skating today. Your ankle needs to rest."
For a moment, Jim forgets about Batman and Robin. It's just Bruce and Dick, father and son, on a normal day after school, just like families do. It's easy to forget that behind every hero mask, there's a soul, a story and a heart. Even behind Batman's mask, there's a path that leads to the heart of a softer man, a heart yearning for love. Dick's love.
~ ~ ~
Being right is bittersweet when the outcome proves your guilt right too. However, time proves Jim wrong. Time makes him look like a fool for doubting that Dick Grayson hadn't been born to stand by Batman's side, as his partner, as the Boy Wonder.
The realization hits him on a heated Summer night in which Batman, Robin, and Superman join forces with him—Yes, even Superman. That's how crazy his life has turned—Summer is a hot season, but it's not just the weather, the city is actually burning. As if stopping the fire wasn't challenging enough, there's a bomb alert in one of Gotham's hospitals.
"Talk about dramatic! Of all the places they could have hidden a bomb! They had to choose a pediatric hospital just to show they're heartless," Robin says, looking through his binoculars at the targeted hospital.
"It's a power move. Low and despicable, but we'll get them," Jim says, addressing Robin's concerns.
"We have them where we wanted," Batman intervenes, taking a step closer to them. Everyone turns to him to listen to his orders. The respect he commands to make Superman stand by him still moves Jim.
"Superman will fly Robin over the hospital. Once Robin is inside, he will defuse the bomb. Gordon and I will wait for you here, and we'll keep you updated on every move that Joker's followers do. Understood?"
"Let's get going!" Robin grins like any teenager does when they're alone with their crush at home. Except that his enthusiasm is for the thrill of saving the city.
"I'll take care of Robin and bring him back," Superman says solemnly, putting a hand on Batman's shoulders. "I appreciate you trusting me your dearest partner. I won't take that for granted."
Batman tilts his head with a blank expression. "Bring him back in one piece or don't come back because I'll find you to break my one rule."
"Hey! I'm right here and I'm not a kid! I can take care of myself," Robin huffs.
Superman shakes his head, but he doesn't appear to be mad, just confused and slightly amused. "It's always a pleasure, Bruce," he finally says, taking Robin fast in his arms and leaving as soon as Robin says, "I'm ready to go!"
"Stop forgetting to use codenames, Superman," Batman whispers confident that as Superman flies away with his dear son, the Kryptonian hero can still hear him.
Sitting on the rooftop floor, Jim takes his place on the comms and checks if any updates have been sent by Alfred or Catwoman.
"I know what you're thinking."
"That's a new superpower, Batman?" Jim says. After all the things they've gone through, he has the privilege to tease Batman.
"You think Robin wasn't prepared to defuse a bomb on his own, but he's more capable than you think. He beat me in training. Twice." Batman speaks in a neutral tone, but Jim can identify the pride of a father talking. Batman glows truly because of Robin's achievements.
"You said it yourself. He beat you in training, but this is real life. If the bomb explodes, half of Gotham dies. If Robin survives, how is he going to live with that?"
"He won't have to live with that because he won't fail." Batman doesn't doubt him for a moment.
Both fall into an uncomfortable silence, while they wait for the result. Jim has never wished this much to be wrong.
Fortunately, time proves Batman is right.
"He did it! The bomb is off!" Superman declares victory talking through the comms. "I'm taking him back!"
"He did it..." Jim repeats awed. In his imagination, the future Dick Grayson, who blames Jim for a childhood of pain and loss, that Dick Grayson vanishes.
"I was wrong," Jim says, feeling pushed to get his thoughts out of his system. "He carried the mission and saved the entire city."
"I was wrong," Jim repeats. The face of the future Dick Grayson falls. It was just a mask. Finally, Jim can see that the future Dick Grayson of his imagination was just a reflection of himself, blaming him for everyone he couldn't save.
"He did." Batman stays calm. After all, he never doubted Robin for a second.
Close to the edge of the rooftop, Batman stands tall, waiting for Superman and Robin.
As soon as Superman is close enough to where Batman is, Robin screams, "Catch me, B!" He jumps grinning, as his canary yellow cape waves, making him look like the brightest bird in the sky.
Jim and Superman watch shocked as Robin falls perfectly into Bruce's arms.
Robin doesn't waste a second to start talking about his courageous feat, while Batman listens attentively.
"I should leave now," Superman tells Jim to not interrupt the moment between the Dynamic Duo.
Jim only nods, understanding. Often he feels like Superman too. The bond between Batman and Robin is so powerful and unbreakable, that anyone outside them could feel like an outsider around them.
The night isn't over yet and Batman and Robin have a long list of tasks to finish. However, Jim isn't concerned anymore, at least, not about Robin.
The kid is exactly where he's meant to be, doing exactly what he was born to do.
~ ~ ~
The white-sand beach close to Gotham draws huge crowds every Summer, and even a billionaire like Bruce Wayne escapes work for a few days to spend the day with his son under the Sun.
From a moderate distance, Jim watches Bruce Wayne in black Speedos, towering over his not-so-small-anymore son. Dick Grayson is building an enormous castle that leaves anyone who passes by speechless. Jim isn't that surprised, though. He has come to accept that Dick Grayson only produces wonder works.
The father and son duo laugh at a joke that Jim couldn't listen to. Bruce takes a bottle of mineral sunscreen out of his bag and insists on applying more on Dick's face and shoulders. The kid makes another joke and Bruce laughs, but that doesn't save him from more sunscreen.
The laughing between them goes on, and Jim shamelessly goes on staring. The only thing that surprises him is that he thought that Batman and Robin were the reason Bruce and Dick were so close. Jim was wrong. The secret to the Dynamic Duo's bond is the union between Bruce and Dick. They're the path to the secrets Batman and Robin hold. They're the secret key to the heart of the Dynamic Duo.
They're everything, everything to each other.