Ehem..... wouldn't you have... more of those headcanons of Dick & Bruce early years together?? 👀
I have some thoughts. Starts at the sad beginnings, and then gets fluffier.
Dick following Alfred around like a baby duckling, because he’s lonely and Bruce is (looking for Zucco) never around.
In canon, Dick once said that he felt like a “Christmas puppy.” He thought that Bruce took him in for the novelty of having a circus kid around, and that he was going to throw him out onto the streets once he got bored.
Feeling unwanted and unneeded was something that crept up on Dick a lot, even when he’s been at the manor for a while.
I feel like he’d deal with that by just...hiding somewhere when he was upset because he didn’t think they’d still want him around if he was being “difficult.” Even as an adult, he tends to isolate when he’s distressed.
Cue Bruce freaking out at baby Dick just vanishing into thin air.
Over time, they begin to learn where Dick’s places are. On the roof facing the sunrise. In the big oak tree on the south side of the grounds. Among the wild plants in the clearing behind the garden shed. So on.
Usually somewhere high and outside.
Alfred tends to bring him inside immediately, give him a mug of something warm. But Bruce will sit with him.
The finding is the most important part.
Being Robin changes everything. That’s Bruce letting Dick in to know all the pieces of himself. They spend more time together, after that.
That’s when the shenanigans begin >:)
See, baby Dick was both an angel and a gremlin
He was an angel, in that he was very emotionally intelligent, especially for a child, and that meant he understood all of Bruce’s fumbling attempts at parenting and emoting. Dick’s always been kind.
But he was also a gremlin in that he regularly gave Bruce and Alfred heart attacks.
As in, what’s the highest, most precarious place in the room? Why, what a perfect spot for some cartwheels!
Bruce, heart nearly beating out of his chest as Dick does a handstand on the railing to the stairs 20 feet up off the ground: “Dick can you please get down from there” Dick, oblivious, shifting all of his weight onto one hand and making his position even more dubious: “Why?”
Bruce, returning home after a busy day at work. Dick, leaning almost entirely out the window, only the tips of his toes touching the ground, waving enthusiastically “Hi Bruce!!!! :D”
Lots of attempted secret keeping from Alfred.
“No telling Alfred about the broken vase or the take-out or the ice cream, ok Dick?” Dick nods solemnly.
“Alfred we missed you! But everything was totally fine while you were gone!” Nailed it.
Alfred was the one that usually drove Dick to and from school. I like to think they chatted on the road, and that Alfred knew all of the school gossip.
“Tiffany did what? And after Claire stood by her during the ketchup incident. Oh dear.” Dick, nodding vigorously: “I know.”
The first time Dick hugs Bruce (not a I’m crying because my parent’s just died hug, but a proper hug), Bruce is stumped. Doesn’t know quite what to do with his hands. Ends up awkwardly patting Dick on the back.
Dick finds this uproariously funny (”haha, you’re such a weirdo :D”), and takes to surprise hugging Bruce so that he can “practice his form”
I like to imagine Alfred getting Dick ready for galas. He'd comb his hair and untangle the tie Dick tried to knot and put it on properly, while Dick struggles to stand still. Dick sneakily slides on some outrageously patterned, colorful socks with his dress shoes and Alfred pretends not to notice.
Then Alfred moves on to wrangling the other child. Bruce hates galas.
In public, Dick Grayson tugs twice on the bottom of Bruce’s shirt, and the mountain of a man bends over and lets the little boy whisper something in his ear.
Alternatively, in private, Dick climbs on furniture (or Bruce himself) like a monkey, and whispers the joke into his ear just like that.
Dick is dead on his feet after a patrol goes longer than expected, and Bruce carefully carries him to bed, tucks him in, makes sure the windows are closed, that the curtains are drawn....he wants to make sure every little thing is right.
Dick going on his very first field trip outside of Gotham, and Bruce running a background check on every single person involved.
Idk, I’m obsessed with the idea of Bruce treating Dick like he’s something precious. I feel like the love sneaks up on him, until he can’t imagine his life without Dick in it.
But he’s also a big tease with Dick too.
“Ice cream? I don’t know Dick, it’s pretty late....” “B, c’mon don’t be cruel”
It’s all about that banter. And lots of hair ruffling I think.
I’m going to stop before this gets (more) out of hand.
izzy806
annaxmalina
origamiaround
titsay
turnnoffyourmind
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
