Prompt Post - Part Seven [CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS]
THIS PART IS NOW CLOSED. YOU CAN CONTINUE POSTING FILLS, BUT PLEASE PROMPT ALL NEW THINGS HERE.
Part one here!
Part two here!
Part three here!
Part four here!
Part five here!
Part six here!
Feel free to reprompt posts from parts one, two, three or four in part five once. If you do so, I'd recommend leaving a link to your fill on the original prompt, in ( Read more... )
The first time he sees the boy, he's still a Flying Grayson. This cute little family comes up to them and asks to take a picture with their son, and Dick kneels down and hoists the little boy onto his knee.
“Say cheese!” he says to the boy, but he's just staring at Dick, not looking at the camera at all.
He's probably just shy, so Dick resettles his weight, and smiles into the flashbulb. When he sets the boy down he stays on his level, and says, “Watch me on the trapeze, okay? I'm going to do my act--'specially for you.”
“Dick!” his mother calls, and he says, “Coming!” over his shoulder. “Be good now,” he tells the boy, ruffles his hair again, and says good bye.
And that's how it goes. He remembers it clearly, because that's one night he will never, ever forget. A newspaper gets ahold of that picture as well, and they run it everywhere. Dick clips out a few copies to keep, and frames one. He stares at it some nights, when he can't get to sleep, and occasionally, he wonders what happened to poor little Tim.
~@~
About two weeks after he comes to live in Wayne Manor, he realizes it's a cold, empty place. He's got all the toys and the latest tech, but no one to share it with. It's a little bit lonely, but just a little, because at least he has some people. Bruce and Alfred may not be the most demonstrative or cuddly, but they're good people, and they try, which is more than he can say for most of the world.
There are a few other houses around, and he sometimes lets himself imagine that they have kids like him; lost in the maze of halls, and lonely, but only just a little. And maybe one day, they'll come by and ring the doorbell and he'll have a playmate and life will be good again.
So when he plays outside, he strays close to everyone else's homes, looking for signs of kids. The lawns are all manicured and neat and utterly perfect; no tricyles or dump trucks of discarded dolls anywhere.
He's beginning to lose hope, actually. He's resigned himself to grow up just like this, lonely, but just a little, because he has a father now, kind of.
And then one day, he's out in the trees beside the Manor. They're tick enough to pretend to be a forest, but not enough to be dangerous. He's pretending to play hide-and-seek, but it's hard by himself.
“Ready or not, here I come!” he calls into the silence and the shadows. And even though he knows no one's there, he's still a little crushed when no one answers.
Dick trudges into a particularly dense copse, and when he steps down, something squeaks under his foot. Startled, he leaps up and flips backwards, coming down hard and farther back.
When nothing bites or attacks him, he wanders forward a bit. There's a ratty toy animal on the ground, dirty and torn, and he's utterly unable to guess exactly what animal it's supposed to be.
When he pokes it, it makes a wheezing half-squeak, like it's squeaker is broken, and it just doesn't know it yet.
Dick holds it up, and squints at it. It's old, but well loved, and maybe he's just--
“That's mine.”
Dick startles, and then looks over his shoulder. There's a boy standing there, in dirty shorts and a ripped shirt. “I've been looking for it,” he says. “That's mine.”
Heart going double-time, Dick carefully hands the toy back to him. “My name's Dick,” he says, and sees the boy's eyes widen in surprise. And he does look a little familiar, but Dick can't quite place it.
The kid shuffles his feet, and hangs the toy by his side. “'m Tim,” he offers hesitantly. “I, uh, we met...?”
And now Dick remembers, remembers that boy with the awe in his eyes and the happy grin, and performing for him and that feeling of flying free, right before it crashed and bled out on the ring's floor.
“Right, Tim!” he says out loud. “I remember you. Do you live around here?”
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And isn't that bittersweet, Dick thinks, and fakes a smile. “That's a cool idea!” he tells the boy. “But just in case I find any other toys, can you tell me where you used to live?”
Tim shifts his weight a bit, obviously thinking it through. “...sure,” he finally says, and leads Dick through the mini-forest that separates the manors.
Tim points to one that's got a funny-shaped black car out in front of it, and Dick grabs Tim's hand. He recognizes the type of car, and the way everyone's wearing monochromatic suits or dresses. He sees the sorrow cut into the single male figure standing at the gate, and figures that for Tim's dad. He's not sure who's died, possibly his mother? But Dick does know that Tim doesn't need to be there to see the fallout.
He debates a moment, and then tugs on Tim's hand. “Hey,” he says. “I've got a trapeze in my basement. Want to see me do my routine again?”
And Tim turns up wide, excited eyes, and cheers, “Yes, please!” So Dick drags him back to Wayne Manor, where he flies for the boy, and Tim spends the night secretly in Dick's bed, and they become fast friends.
And Dick isn't lonely ever again, not even a little.
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This is so sweet and heartache-y. Looking forward to more.
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also ehueuueh am I mistaken or is there a strong presence of the Endless afoot?
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