WHO: Dick and Bruce.
WHERE: Dick's apartment omg.
WHEN: Thursday afternoon.
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Bruce knows how to respect personal space/alone time. He just chooses not to.
FORMAT: Paragraph.
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Meh. I can't use the same song over and over again anymore :( )
Well. Joint dining room-kitchen. It is a small apartment. Smiling broadly and generally acting nothing like Batman, Bruce turns to Dick, completely ignoring the question, and in doing so, answering it.
"Dick! How was school?"
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And he's being anything but Bruce right now, and Dick isn't feeling like playing any games.
He shrugs, which is enough of an answer to the banalities Bruce is asking him.
"Did you do this so you could install cameras everywhere?"
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"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to make sure you were properly situated. If you don't like the furniture I picked out, though, I'm sure we can find some more to your liking."
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And, of course, he has no idea if the answer is sincere or not.
"The furniture's good." He hasn't seen half of it but it doesn't matter. "I'm gonna drop my bag in my room." And stay there until the movers are done. And possibly that will make Bruce go away, too, but that's miracle thinking. He's not nearly that optimistic.
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"The movers would have noticed if I were setting up cameras, Dick."
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Dick also has more chances of believing his place might not be bugged this way, because leaving a note saying he passed by would have looked a lot like 'I just planted cameras everywhere.'
Bruce apparently has the keys, though, and could pass by anytime and do whatever he wished. Or he doesn't have any keys at all but it's not going to change the second part of that statement.
He was half-lying in his bed before Bruce came in, and he sits up when he does. He still doesn't look especially happy, and Bruce will have to get used to that because he's not going to look happy anytime soon. "I'm sure you know how to bug a place while being subtle enough not to be seen."
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Ultimately, Dick is still his ward, still his responsibility, and though Dick may want space after what's happened, he's only going to get as much as Bruce thinks he needs-- which, to be fair, is a great deal more freedom and space than most teenagers get from their guardians.
Bruce gives a small nod of assent to Dick's flat statement. If he wanted to, he could have.
"Not well enough that you wouldn't eventually notice."
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He's not sure if leaving like this -- and basically not being Tim's teammate or Bruce's partner anymore -- isn't going to slow the crime fighting development. He's hoping not and he'll work on it. He's also confident that he won't feel horrible for hanging out with Bats or Titans later anymore, and he'll resume training with them then.
He shrugs and frowns. "So... is this enough small talk? Why are you still there, really?" He's asking a question he knows the answer to; the point isn't to receive an answer, not really. It's to get that conversation going so it ends faster.
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And to make sure you're going to be okay without me.
But there it was. Dick would have to defend his decision to Bruce. Stand his ground. Defend it like it were a thesis. Bruce didn't expect Dick to change his mind, even if his reasons weren't good, even if they didn't convince him; that wasn't the point. The point was to make sure Dick understood himself and why he was doing what he was doing.
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He has a good idea of what Bruce is trying to have him do, and it won't be working. Dick doesn't share Bruce's (or Tim's, really) point of view on what a good decision is, and on what 'understanding oneself' means, either. He understands why he's feeling the way he does, and he knows how others are feeling well enough that staying with either the Bats or the Titans is just going to be bad and inefficient.
"I've thought about it, but yeah, the decision's mostly emotional and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You're the one thinking that a good decision has to be all rational and objective, not me."
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