skipping patrols for... Scooby Doo?

[onceaguardian]

It's not often that Bruce can be found at Wayne Manor, especially late at night. Normally, he'd be out patrolling, but tonight's a special occasion. After much pleading on Alfred's part (okay, maybe some of it was in Bruce's head), Bruce had relented and agreed to take the night off. Dick had promised that he could handle the city on his own -

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[detectivederp]

Tim himself hadn't left yet. He was a bit hurt from a recent outing, and so he probably shouldn't go-- even though he was strongly considering it. He didn't like to sit idle, instead of being out working, after all. Hell, he didn't even really know how to spend his nights, if he wasn't working in some way or another. It'd been quite a while since he last had.

However, passing through, he realised her heard... humming. Was that Bruce? He paused at the faint noise, recognising the tune. He turned and decided to duck his head in to see.

"What are you watching?" he asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

[onceaguardian]

Figures he couldn't keep it secret for long. Bruce immediately reached for the remote and glanced over at his son, "Just the usual." Granted, "the usual" could have ranged from BBC News to the Discovery Channel to... well, anything in-between, but part of him still felt slightly embarrassed to admit to watching Saturday morning cartoons.

So instead of openly declaring his love for the Great Dane, Bruce gave Tim an embarrassed smile and motioned for him to sit down, "I'm not on duty, so I figured I'd catch up."

As usual, when it came to his favorite canine - Ace notwithstanding, Bruce couldn't help blatantly lying about his off-duty hours. Again.

[detectivederp]

Tim was, admittedly, a little bit surprised-- by the invitation and by the casualness of it. In his mind, he was still very much used to Bruce being constantly serious and steadfast (it was probably much of where he'd gotten the same attitude from). But... it was still nice. To see him more relaxed and open.

He nodded quietly, and stepped into the living room. It wouldn't hurt to take a bit of a pause. Maybe he could just leave for patrol a bit later-- cutting back on hours would still be better for his injury, too.

"Fair enough," he agreed quietly, as he glanced at the TV. It was a bit odd, but it didn't hurt, right? He took a seat next to his 'father.'

[onceaguardian]

Bruce glanced back towards Tim, "You'll heal faster if you take the night off too." Not much could be kept secret from him, even if he attempted to keep some things - like his love for canines - in the dark himself. Still, in this instance, watching his favorite show with someone else wouldn't be bad. The mysteries this season weren't phoned in either!

"We'll both make it up later," He softly added as an afterthought, even though he probably didn't need to say it. For them both, one night off was probably unfathomable (and it was certainly weird to think he was watching TV tonight).

[detectivederp]

Tim nearly winces at that-- of course Bruce noticed that he was hurting (he might have been more surprised if he hadn't, honestly, though he'd tried to keep it under wraps), and he was right. "I figured I'd just take it a bit easier tonight, give myself a chance to rest," he admitted. Maybe he'd have gotten lucky, and not had to deal with anything too much.

He nodded though, at the comment, though. They would, that much was obvious-- neither of them were the types to let it slide. As it was, he was already more than willing to rush to help if an emergency arrived. He could deal with the extra strain if he had to.

"I guess a little while off won't hurt though," he said cautiously-- he just wasn't really sure if he believed it.

[onceaguardian]

If they said it often enough, maybe they'd actually believed it. Bruce certainly seemed to believe so, from the way he was gripping the remote tightly. Two or three hours of canine mayhem may not have been the best way to spend an evening, but it certainly brought back memories.

"But you can't change the channel," Bruce said lightly, though he was smirking a little as he said it. "It's quite possibly the most entertaining thing on TV tonight."

Only Bruce would think that Scooby Doo ranked higher than Euro News.

[detectivederp]

Tim allowed himself to settle a little further on the couch, nodding to himself as he tried to make himself comfortable. It was kind of nice, in a way, even if he was feeling antsy just from the simple lac of action. Not that he couldn't sit still, normally-- but normally if he was sitting still it was to do something productive. So this was just a bit out of his comfort zone.

Still, it was nice to do something with his adoptive father.

"I'll take your word for it," Tim said with a bit of a laugh. It was probably more cheerful than whatever was on the news, at least. "The remote's yours."

[onceaguardian]

Bruce snorted, leaning back in his seat. He'd seen the episode dozens of times - it was one of the classic Scooby-Doo episodes from the 70's - but still, something about seeing it again never seemed to upset him.

During one of the commercials (for some new show or another), he glanced over at Tim and asked, "You ever watched this when you were a kid?"

[detectivederp]

Tim tried his best to relax-- it was hard, forcing himself to sit still and watch the show, but he managed, somehow or another, to enjoy it a bit. Once he got past his antsy feelings, anyway.

He looked up at Bruce when he spoke, having just stayed quiet himself until then, and frowned slightly. "Not really, no," he admitted. "I didn't watch a lot of TV as a kid, other than the news I guess." And that was mostly him happening to be in the same room while his parents watched.

[onceaguardian]

Ah, right. Bruce nearly mentally berated himself for forgetting - he'd heard the stories once, in bits and pieces years ago - something that trivial. He shook his head, trying to keep the mood light, "All the better to see them now. You can usually figure out the criminal in five minutes, but..."

That hadn't ever been the point for Bruce. If anything, it'd probably been the teamwork and the sheer fun these kids had had. "Well, it's no Agatha Christie."

[detectivederp]

Tim didn't mind so much-- it wasn't really something that bothered him any more. As a kid, sure-- but as an adult, there were certainly fresher wounds when it came to his parents, at least.

"Understandable," Tim said, with a light laugh, making his own effort to stay at ease about it all. "I can't say I really expected any deep, intrinsic mysteries though, so that's okay."

((ooc: that awkward moment when I have just enough time to kill to do something, but not enough to work on any school stuff fdgsdg.))

[onceaguardian]

"Yeah. It's always some guy in a rubber suit," Bruce conceded after a moment. Although he adored Scooby Doo more than any other animated show on television - with Looney Tunes running a close second - even he knew it wasn't meant to hold the attention of adults like him. If anything, this marathon was nostalgia. Something that reminded him of days long gone. "Except for Zombie Island, but the direct-to-DVD movies never did hold my interest."

He leaned forward and poured himself another glass of soda. When was the last time that he'd just sat down and watched cartoons? It'd certainly been a while.

"Though the dog always did..." He chuckled softly. "I even named my first dog after him."

[detectivederp]

"To be fair," Tim said, after a small pause, "some-guy-in-a-rubber-suit isn't necessarily all that different from what we have to deal with." It was a small joke, but it certainly had some truth to it, too. He shoot his head again, listening to what Bruce was saying.

"Really?" It was kind of interesting hearing about Bruce's childhood, though. It was something completely different, from the life they knew now. "It wasn't Ace or something?"

[onceaguardian]

He did have a point there. Even if Bruce didn't laugh at the joke, he still cracked a grin. In their line of work, supervillains weren't that different from Scooby's freaks and their "I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" defenses.

"Not the first one," Bruce confessed. "I have Ace now, but my first dog was a Great Dane named Scooby. He wasn't very cowardly, but he was a good pet all the same."

His memories had distorted the truth here - and Bruce knew it - but he had nothing but fond memories of his first dog. They'd shared elementary school, junior high, and most of high school together! Well, the early part of high school; Scoob had passed away before Bruce graduated.

[detectivederp]

"Fair enough," Tim smiled a little at that. He liked hearing about the good memories, especially. Not the darker times. It was just unfortunate that on these topics he didn't have a lot to contribute.

"Never really had much in the way of pets," he confessed. Too many boarding schools and to much moving to really keep one. "But I certainly can't say I mind Ace, now."