Chapter Text
Dick falls.
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“He killed them,” Dick says. No one is listening. People are gathered around: talking, gesturing, faces grim. The noise of the ambulances are fading into the distance. “He killed them,” Dick repeats, louder. This time someone hears him.
Batman isn’t scary. Dick hadn’t thought he would be. Batman kneels beside him as he tells him everything he heard Zucco say. Batman believes him. Dick follows him to his car (the batcar, he thinks). He can't stay at the circus. Zucco is out there. His family is gone. Batman doesn't say anything to him, but he leaves the door unlocked.
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Dick follows Batman (Bruce) out on patrols. Dick still wears the same clothes as he had…that night. He adds a mask, though, and floats through the shadows. Batman doesn’t talk much on patrol. Dick knows that they’re looking for Zucco. They haven't found him yet. Dick doesn't mind too much. There are other crimes to stop along the way. He watches Batman’s back. He saves Batman’s life, calling out a warning when Penguin (more awake then they’d thought) shot a dart at his back. Bruce smiles at him. That smile drives back the cold.
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The manor is nice. Well, Alfred is nice. His quiet words make the halls less empty. Bruce is. Well, Dick doesn’t know what word fits Bruce. Words are hard. They can twist all over the place and end up meaning anything. It's all how you put them together. People say: dead and gone, like they’re two different things. Dick thinks about that, after the nightmares. Bruce understands the nightmares, he lets Dick sit up in his study (curled under a blanket in the worn armchair with the fire raging but it's Bruce's voice which shoves back the creeping chill that Dick can feel in his limbs) when he can't bear the thought of sleep.
Dick doesn’t know a lot about Bruce. He thinks there shouldn't be any regrets. He doesn’t know how much longer he has. This is just a temporary home, until Zucco is caught. In the long empty afternoon, while Alfred is shopping and Bruce is at work, he goes exploring trying to learn more. That’s how he meets Bruce’s parents. He recognizes them immediately. He would've known them even without the picture in the study. Bruce’s father smiles sadly from the window alcove. Bruce’s mother is reading a book but she looks up and grins. Blood stains her dress.
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They catch Zucco in April. Dick grabs him, Batman has his back. Zucco’s face goes white as he stares into Dick’s face. He doesn’t even struggle when they take him away. After, they sit watching the sun rise. Dick is happy. The weight that had dragged him down to Earth is gone. Dick has flown before. Bruce doesn’t look at him. Dick’s dead, he’s not gone. He still has things he has to do. He still has people to watch ('he needs you,' Thomas Wayne wispers in his ear, 'and you'll have fun,' Martha says with a kiss to his forehead). He takes Bruce’s hand. Together, they fly home.