Little nine year-old Dick reclining on the couch arm, his legs on Bruce's lap. His head lowers on the pillow, and B looks at him.
"You should start thinking about going to bed."
He raised his eyebrows. The kid sighed.
"Ok. But I want a bed-time story."
"Do you want me to read you one of your books?"
"Mmm... no. Tell me a story about heroes!"
Too much excitement in his voice. Bruce smiled softly.
"Sure. What kind of hero? A knight? An archer? A God?"
"A superhero! Tell me a story about Superman."
Dick laughed lightly, thrilled with being able to tease Bruce.
"Ok, there's a story I think you'll like. Have you heard about the time Superman joined the circus?"
"What!!?? Can't be! He did??"
"Indeed. Clark was sent to interview the owner of the circus that had recently arrived to Metropolis, and he heard a conversation between the owner and a man who wanted to force him to accept him as a partner. He threatened to ruin the circus, because he was owned a lot of money and the owner could not pay him."
"What circus was that? Was it mine?"
Bruce threaded his fingers in the boy's hair and started massaging his scalp.
"It was called Jordan Circus. They had a good show. Clowns and elephants and excellent acrobats..."
"Absolutely not. Everybody knows Hali's Circus had the best acrobats in the world."
The kid nodded, satisfied. Bruce checked his expression to see if the story had been a mistake on his part and his boy was suffering from the memories. But Dick was looking at him with a face full of joy.
"Did Superman join as an acrobat? That would be cheating! He can fly."
"No, but he offered to be the strong man, and he gave Mr. Jordan permission to announce that Superman was the attraction of his show."
"So during the show Kal lifted the circus' original strongman with the weights he had been working with, and then he lifted an elephant! Hundreds had gone to watch the show, giving Jordan the income he needed to pay off his his debts, and they were all delighted to see such a show of strength."
Bruce looked at Dick, confused for a second. Then understood.
"I don't know the name of the elephant. Was it a she?"
Dick looked into his eyes with a serious expression. He shrugged.
"True. Don't worry, the elephant was safe. You know, Clark loves animals. When the gang of criminals realized they were going to lose their chance to steal the circus from Jordan, they planned to sabotage the show, but Lois Lane, brave and bold, caught them in the act, and they kidnapped her."
He was relaxing into the story and the contact.
"Superman was busy putting the dangerous freed lion back in his cage, and then held the circus tent from falling over the heads of the public. One of the circus' dogs started barking at the goon who was interfering with everything he could find, so Superman caught him and threw him high in the air. Then he got him and threatened to repeat the action without the rescue if he didn't confess and told him where the gang boss was to be found."
"Look at that. You wouldn't have thought of that interrogation method."
Bruce, who was again cringing at the fact that the story involved someone falling from a height in a circus and wanting to kick himself, was relieved. He was of course not going to tell the part of the story about the rescue of the lady acrobat whose trapeze had been tampered with.
"Excuse me, but I have many interrogation methods which are extremely effective, I'll have you know."
Dick giggled and his head leaned into the hand gently caressing his hair.
"Then Superman run and jumped into the apartment where the criminal was threatening Lois with a gun. The gang boss shot Kal, but as we all know, he is invulnerable. And just like that, Lois was rescued, the criminals were arrested and the Jordan Circus was saved by the superhero."
Dick was lazily half closing his eyes.
"Come here, chum." Bruce said scooping the kid up in his arms and standing. "Let's get you to bed."
The boy clung to him, hugging his neck, and secured himself with his legs around Bruce's waist. He didn't need any support, Bruce knew he had been trained to support himself even with only one of his four limbs. But he surrounded the little boy with both arms anyway and kissed his hair while walking towards the bedroom.
"Will you stay with me for a while longer? Tell me another story."
Bruce smiled at his sleepy voice.
"Whatever you want, sweetheart. Does it have to be another story about Superman?"
He didn't see the mischievous smile on Dick's face, because he had it buried on his shoulder. Bruce could feel the warmth of his breath there.
"Fiine." Dick said, condescending. "Batman can be in this one as well."
"Well, thank you very much."
Dick giggled again, delighted, and Bruce hugged him tighter, feeling his heart bursting with love for the little ray of sunshine the universe had gifted him.
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