Headcanon Ask: 10 year old Dick has a flu. A Bad one but Alfred is away at England and Dick still wants to help Bruce patrol. What happens from here?
I know the obvious answer should be that Dick disobeys orders and goes out to help Bruce, but tbh, I’m imagining a scenario where Ace is a relatively new addition to the family and hasn’t completed his obedience training yet. Stick with me here.
So, y’know, Dick thinks about going to help Bruce, but because he sleeps sporadically thanks to the flu keeping him from getting a good night’s rest, he ends up falling asleep before enacting his plan to go out. He also falls asleep before taking Ace outside for his nightly routine potty break.
It’s around the time Bruce is due to come back home that Ace wakes Dick up by scratching on his door because he needs to do his business. Dick curses himself for forgetting to let Ace out, and he blearily pulls himself out of bed. He stumbles downstairs to let Ace outside in the yard. He’s waiting by the door for Ace to finish, expecting the pup to come to him like he normally does when Dick calls for him.
Ace doesn’t obey. Instead, his ears perk up, and he stares out into the darkness where the trees are lined around the property like a thick forest. Dick hears him growl low before Ace starts barking like crazy and takes off into the night. Dick calls after him, desperately trying to get Ace to come back inside, but as Ace gets closer to the tree line, Dick realizes that Ace isn’t going to come back. Naturally, Dick takes off after him sans shoes or warm apparel, calling for him all the while.
He goes off chasing Ace to try and bring him back home, and it’s not easy for him since he feels like shit, and Ace is fast as fuck, so Dick is really struggling to keep up with him while dodging around trees and what not.
Meanwhile, Bruce comes home, and after he finishes shit up in the cave, he goes to check on Dick to see how he’s feeling. Annnd that’s when he realizes that Dick and Ace are nowhere to be found.
Cue Bruce freaking the fuck out while putting his detective mind to work to find out where they went.
