bought_the_bank | Beneath A Full Moon

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justlikeacircus

Beneath A Full Moon

The lakeside house has a deck he's used only a handful of times. Most nights he's looking down from atop skyscrapers or situated underground in front of a host of computer screens. Tonight he's lounging in a chair with his foot elevated, his gaze turned upwards toward the full moon. It's a spectacular sight above the water through the trees. He meant to retreat indoors hours ago but just hasn't gotten there yet.

A second chair sits empty beside him.

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"Hmm, I'm not sure I will," Dick says, slouching down in his chair a little and taking a satisfied sip of his hot chocolate "I mean, let's face it, at this point there's a list of possible motives..."

There's some truth to that.

"I'm still bitter about the last time you drugged my coffee." Although it's clear from his tone, he's not really as bitter as he says he is.

"You don't sleep in four days, you get drugged coffee, that's just how it goes, I don't make the rules." although he had made that one. Or at least the solution to it, nobody liked any of the assorted bat brigade when they'd had too little sleep, but the lot of them were too stubborn to listen to anybody telling them to get some rest, especially Bruce, so drugs it was.

"The hallucinations were manageable."

To say nothing of the wild irritable mood swings above and beyond his normal cheerful self and the micronap he experienced behind the wheel of the batmobile on the third day. He must have been hell to live with.

"There is no such thing as a manageable hallucination," Dick shook his head disapprovingly

"You know, you look after an awful lot of people, you really should look after yourself more." it wasn't the first time he'd said something similar, and he knew it wasn't likely to be the last.

Bruce's reaction isn't perhaps what Dick might expect based on his previous responses. The smile starts off small on his face and gradually works its way up into a self-satisfied and knowing grin, like he's enjoying a private joke. Some day Dick is going to become a parent himself and all of this will come full circle. Grandchildren are a grandparents' best revenge. Assuming he lives long enough to see it.

"What time did Leslie say she'd be here?"

If Dick didn't know for certain that Bruce hadn't hit his head recently, he'd worry that the smile meant he had concussion, instead it just made him worry that the older man was planning something, or had realised something that Dick hadn't yet - whatever it was it would bite Dick in the ass at some point, he just knew it.

"You have a couple more hours, and you know I'll just track you if you try and make a run for it, so don't even try." he paused for a moment before chuckling "or a hop for it, anyway."

"That sounds like a challenge," he comments casually. Dick may have just inadvertently committed himself to keeping both eyes on Bruce until Leslie arrives. If Dick turns his back, he might very well find that once occupied chair vacant.

"Oh no." Dick would facepalm but that would give Bruce just the opening he's looking for. Instead he twists his chair round and drags his gaze away from the beautiful sky to fix it on his father with a stubborn expression.

"Congratulations, you have now earned yourself a staring contest until she gets here."

Dick doesn't actually have to follow through on the gesture for Bruce to envision it. His reaction to the implication was well worth the innocently dropped comment. In this instance however, he really has no intention of following through. The only place he might hop to is the living room. The temperature outside continues to fall.

"I'm not going anywhere, Dick." His tone of voice says it all.

"Better not be," Dick grumbles, settling back into his chair, though he still keeps his eye on Bruce. He's contemplating fetching another blanket and a top up on his hot chocolate, but he doesn't entirely trust Bruce not to immediately move the second he takes his eyes off him - he might not move far, but while the conversation is still fresh in their mind he's pretty sure his father would do it just to make mischief. He definitely would, if their roles were reversed.

"What do you want to do while we're here, anyway?"

His instincts are good. He'd come back to find his father has shifted to the other chair, being true to his word but not to the spirit. Just because he could. And because he knows it would irritate Dick.

"I was going to drag you and Tim up to the falls tomorrow." A short nine mile hike up into the hills, a secret from childhood explorations lost past he's never shared. He doubts that's going to happen now, a fact that elicits disappointment. It was also supposed to get Dick out of the house while Alfred decorated and baked for his birthday party.

Dick just sighed, shaking his head at his father's antics, dropping a second blanket over him as he took a seat in the recently vacated chair with his own blanket and topped up hot chocolate (with more marshmallows, of course).

"Well we'll see what Lesley has to say..." Dick said slowly, a little disappointed - it sounded like a good bonding experience, and who knew when they'd get the chance to come up here again "and if not we'll figure something else out to do tomorrow..."

The quick change isn't without a price. Just the few seconds of movement is enough to set the ankle throbbing again. Overall, well worth Dick's reaction. He does however shift subtly, trying once again to find that sweet spot as he thanks Dick for the blanket. He wonders if this is how Leslie will find them later. Camped out in the chairs, asleep across from each other under the stars, empty mugs sitting on the deck...

"What do you want for your birthday?" As if he doesn't have something ready for him for tomorrow and something else waiting for him back home.

"World peace," Dick quipped with a cheeky smile, though after a slightly more serious think about it he shrugged.

"I don't know, spending time with you is present enough, you know? Just get me a big box of cornflakes or something," he chuckled "though you're cutting it a bit fine to ask, aren't you?"

There was a period in Dick's life when he would have considered spending time with Bruce a curse rather than a present. His father is glad that time has passed.

"You are a cornflake," he easily throws back at him.

"It's never too early to ask for next year."

"Golden and delicious, why thank you old man I am, aren't I?" He retorted with a cheeky grin.

"Oooh that means you already have my present. What is it? What did you get me? Is it here?" Never let it be said that Dick was not still very much in touch with his inner child

He just grins and lays his head comfortably against the chair back, answering none of Dick's quick questions. If Dick wasn't keeping a self-appointed watch, Bruce knows he'd be bolting for the house right about now to begin his search. Good thing it's been expertly hidden.

Dick's eyes narrow suspiciously at his father, as if he could read the answer from the man's face - which he can't, of course, and he knows it, because Bruce is inscrutable enough at the best of times, but when he's trying to be he's even worse.

"You may think you've won this round, Batman, but you just wait, I'll have my answers whether you like it or not," he cackles, in a somewhat passable impression of one of their more colourful foes "Because tomorrow... tomorrow you have to tell me." he adds gleefully.

The grin doesn't falter. "Tomorrow I only have to tell you half of it. The other half is waiting for you back home."

"You couldn't even bring the whole of my present to this large and beautiful exclusive lakehouse that we own? Man, no child has ever been so deprived," Dick sighed dramatically, throwing his hand over his face and leaning back in his chair

They both know he's smiling beneath that hand.

"I couldn't fit a full sized elephant in the back of the car."

"Aw man if you bought me an elephant..." his gaze gets that faraway look for a moment as he contemplates the prospect of his very own elephant. That totally wouldn't be disloyal to Zitka, right? He has enough love for more than one elephant... "But I know you haven't, you can't cut an elephant in half.... not without severely diminishing its worth as a present, anyway."

Dick has enough love for a whole herd of elephants plus a complete array of other circus related animals. Zitka will always be his favorite, Bruce knows. He decides to come clean. "I didn't buy you an elephant. Not enough room in your apartment to responsibly care for one."

"Plus it'd probably go through the floor," Dick concedes "damn, and here I was hoping to train it to be batelephant and everything, I had plans dad, you just had to go and ruin them." He sighs dramatically.

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Sorry for the delay! Also the mental image of grandpa Bruce is perfect and precious

No worries! lol. He's going to be such a grumpy old man.

Re: No worries! lol. He's going to be such a grumpy old man.

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