"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that really Bruce Wayne I see?" Haley joked, holding out his calloused hand as he walked to the entrance of the tent.

Bruce chuckled and shook Haley's hand, "It's nice to see you too, Haley. I heard John and Mary's boy was performing tonight! I simply couldn't miss it!"

"What father means is, Drake and Todd begged him to come." Haley jumped as a teenage boy stepped out from behind Bruce.

"Oh ho! Who do we have here?" Haley smiled, glancing at Bruce warily. Bruce shrugged sheepishly and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "This is my son, Damian."

The ring leader chuckled, "I can see the resemblance. " The boy's black hair and blue-green eyes were almost a spitting image of Bruce. Suddenly, two other boys, though younger than the first, appeared from behind Bruce, apparently arguing over who got to hold the popcorn.

Bruce turned to look at the two boys and scowled. "Jason, Timothy. Behave yourselves." The boys instantly stopped fighting, although their glaring contest remained.

"Sorry about that, Haley. They're good kids. They're just-"

"A handful? I understand. Little Richard is a fine young boy, when he wants to be. That little rascal knows how to stir up trouble big time." A faint smile touched Haley's lips before he shook his head, getting rid of whatever memory he had been replaying in his mind. "Now then, come in! The shows about to start!" Haley rushed the Waynes into the enormous circus tent and went back to greeting the other customers, most of which had stopped and stared at the billionaire who they'd just seen walk through a circus.

When the kids were settled, Bruce left to go greet his old time friends- the Grayson's. He hadn't met their son yet (although, his sons had met the boy at a summer camp once) and figured he should out of respect before their big performance.

He easily found their trailer- it was decorated with bright colors and had make shift gym sets in front of it. He approached the trailer and knocked; it immediately opened. "BRUCE!" Forgetting formalities, a large man engulfed the billionaire into a tight hug. Bruce smiled and hugged the man, "It's nice to see you to, John. Is Mary here?" He broke away from the hug, "And what about the young one?"

A female with chocolate hair and brilliant blue eyes appeared behind John, holding a young child. John took the child from her and stepped aside so Bruce could walk in.

The three adults now sat on a small couch, John still holding the child. "Richard, this is a family friend. His name is Bruce Wayne. Bruce is the father of those three boys you met in summer camp." Richard looked up at his father with big eyes and then back to Bruce. He remembered the three boys he'd met. He was three years old and he, Damian, Jason, and Todd had become close friends. Until Richard had to leave half way through camp due to being on a circus tour.

"Hi, Richard! It's nice to meet you!" Bruce smiled, hoping the boy would warm up to him.

"Hi ... e frumos să te cunosc ..." (Hi...it's nice to meet you too...) a shy voice whispered.

"Dick, we've talked about this. English please. " Mary place a delicate hand on Dick's.

"Dar Mami..-" (but mommy..) "But nothing. English. "

The five year old sighed, "It's nice to meet you too..."

Bruce smiled and stood up, "Id love to stay and chat, but I'd better get going. You guys are on in five minutes and the boys are probably about to kill eachother."

Xx ...Thisisthebestbreaklineever...xX

The crowd went silent in anticipation as Haley stepped forward into a white spotlight. "Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we bring you many amazing acts! But first, we have our most prized performers, the BEST acrobats in the world, THE FLYING GRAYSONS!! They will be performing without the safety of a net! Now don't fret, they are professionally trained!" The spotlight sped over and fell on John and Mary. They smiled and waved to the crowd. John leapt off the platform and caught a trapeze bar. He executed a few, beautifully formed flips before hanging upside down. Mary then leapt after him, flipping once, twice, thrice, four times before extending her hands. John caught her and they swung back on the trapeze. They began swinging back, it was Richard's turn.

"Now for the youngest member of the Flying Graysons... Richard Grayson!" The crowd roared as a young boy appeared high above them, waving gleefully to the audience.

"Father...isn't that...I haven't seen him in almost three years! Damian leaned over and whispered. Bruce smirked, "You remember him?" Damian nodded and leaned away from Bruce, eyes trained on Dick in fascination. Damian missed his summer camp buddy, and now here he was. And Damian would FINALLY be able to see him perform.

Just as the young boy was about to leap, a snap was heard. The crowd gasped as they watched two beloved acrobats fall. A sickening crunch echoed throughout the tent.

"MAMI! TATI!! NU! Te rog, nu mă părăsi!" (Mommy, daddy! No! Please, don't leave me!) A child's scream filled the now still and silent air. The audience went crazy, all running out of the tent. Except for Haley, Bruce, Damian, Jason, Tim, two crowd members and the other circus performers.

Haley dropped his microphone, "My dear God..." He cautiously walked towards the oddly angled and bloodied bodies. Bruce looked around and found a large tarp over by the stands. He grabbed it and rushed over to the dead couple, throwing it over them. He looked at Haley. Haley looked at him. Then ran out after whispering, "I'm gonna be sick..."

Meanwhile, the three teenage boys looked at the platform high above them, where a little ball named Richard was sobbing. Tim looked at Jason and Damian, "We can't just leave him up there. He's our friend.." Jason, who had always been closer to Richard, glanced at Tim, "I'll go see if I can't coax him down..." The youngest brother began climbing the ladder up to the platform. Once he reached the top, he crawled over to the boy. He began speaking in a soft voice, so he wouldn't scare the boy, "Hey...it's ok. It's going to be ok..." He put a gentle hand on Richard's shoulder.

Dick jumped and Uncurled from his little ball, immediately clinging onto Jason, "Mami..Tati...au căzut ... de ce obiceiul trezesc?" ( Mommy..daddy...they fell...why won't they wake up?)

Jason sighed. He was suddenly glad Bruce had made him learn so many languages, including Romanian. He hadn't used Romanian since he met Richard, but he was sure he could manage, "Richard ... poți să vii cu mine te rog ? sa va fi bine ..." (Richard...can you come down with me please? It's going to be ok...)

For some reason, speaking in Romanian had calmed Richard down just a little. Jason patted his back, knowing that Richard had silently agreed to come down with him, and motioned for Richard to climb on. Once the boy was secured, Jason climbed down. He let the boy slide off his back. But the boy apparently still didn't want to be alone, since he immediately out his arms up, reaching for Jason. The teen complied and picked him up.

Tim looked sympathetically at the sobbing child, who was clinging to Jason as if the teen was going to leave him. Jason murmured soothing words in Romanian, feeling a deep connection to the small boy he was holding. Damian, too, felt a deep connection and urge to protect Richard.

Bruce walked over to the four boys. "Damian, call Alfred. Tim, go with Damian. I need you two to wait for Alfred to arrive. When he does, go home immediately." Tim glanced at Dick, "But what about-" Bruce growled, "Now. I will take care of this. Go." Tim and Damian hesitantly walked out of the tent.

Bruce turned his attention to Jason and Dick, who had still yet to stop crying. The billionaire reached for the young boy, but Jason took a step back, tightening his grip on Dick. "No. I want to hold him..." Jason was surprised at the words that left his mouth, but decided they were true. He felt protective of his young friend, and didn't want Bruce to scare the kid even more than he already was. Bruce, ready to argue, let it go when reporters rushed into the tent, surrounding Bruce. "Take him to the manor." Jason nodded at his fathers words and ran out of the tent, gripping Dick closely.

Bruce knew that child services would try and take Dick away, but for now, Bruce decided he'd be the child's legal guardian. All he'd have to do is throw some money around and they would happily leave the matter alone.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Alfred, please hurry! I want to go home!"

"I'm sorry, Master Jason. I'm going as fast as I legally can." Alfred's warning tone came through his mono-tone speech. But Jason didn't care. He wanted to go home so he could get Dick away from all of the chaos. So he could snuggle with the boy and tell him everything would be ok. Said boy was finally calming down, sobs turning into hiccups.

Damian and Tim smiled inwardly at the sight of their "bad boy" brother was snuggling and Protecting a little kid while whispering calming words.

Jason listened as Dick's hiccups slowly disappeared and were replaced by deep, rhythmic breathing. He looked down, all previous anger towards Alfred melting away, and smiled when he saw Dick was sleeping.

Roughly ten minutes later, the limo pulled into the Wayne manor drive way. The three boys stepped out of the car and rushed inside, eager to be safe from the outside world.

Tim stared at the sleeping boy, "Where are we going to put him? All of our spare rooms have...crime fighting...things." Damian put his hand on Dick's hair, ruffling it slightly, "We could put him in our of our rooms. For now. I have a feeling one of the rooms will be cleaned out and become his. Permanently. " Jason nodded, "Mines the cleanest. I'll put him in mine." The three teens made their way upstairs and silently walked to Jason's room. Damian lifted the pillows, Tim peeled back and lifted the comforter. Damian replaced the pillows and Jason set Dick on the bed. Covering him up, Jason, Damian, and Tim stepped back and examined their work. Satisfied the small boy looked comfortable, they took places on the floor and sat in silence, no doubt that the scene from the circus was replaying through their heads.

Tim was the first to speak up, "Does anybody else feel really close to him? Like...brothers?" He felt retarded for asking the question, but he couldn't help it. He nodded in relief when both of his brother's hands went up instantly. They'd been thinking the same thing. In fact, they'd thought it when they were at summer camp. The three boys took care of Richard, especially since he got bullied because he was in the circus.

"He has a past like us now. Our parents are dead. Now his are too. He's only five. We can protect him. I doubt Bruce will say no to adopting him. He adopted all of us..." Jason whispered. The other two boys nodded in agreement. They were excited; they could be getting a new brother.

A whimper protruded the silence. In an instant, the boys were up. They knew what that meant. A night mare was coming. Dick had many of them at camp, and they boys had always comforted him when he had them. Dick's face contorted in pain and he curled into a ball, whimpers growing louder.

Before anything could get worse, Jason slid onto his bed, hugging to five year old. Tim was next, who crawled up and curled around Dick in a protective 'bubble'. Damian then got on the bed and, being the largest, curled around the other boys, his arm draped across all three of them. He sighed in relief as Dick's whimpers subsided. That could've been bad. When Dick had nightmares...Damian shuddered. They were never good.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Bruce finally escaped the mob of reporters after six hours of interrogation. Questions were thrown at him every which way, "Are you going to adopt another child? The circus child?" "Was the Grayson's fall an accident?" "Where do you think batman was?" "What going to happen to the circus?"

Bruce growled. Stupid reporters...couldn't they just leave him be?

Bruce pulled into the drive way in his black Mercedes-Benz. Hoping the Boys were alright, Bruce rushed to the door. Alfred opened it from the inside, "Greetings, Master Bruce. I see you have managed to escape the mob once again. The boys are upstairs in Master Jason's room."

Wondering how Alfred knew what he was going to ask, Bruce thanked him and ran upstairs. The manor was eerily silent, and for once, it freaked Bruce out.

Jason's door was slightly cracked, so Bruce pushed it the rest of the way open. He couldn't help but smile at the image before him; A protective bubble named Damian, Tim, and Jason laid around Dick. All four boys were sound asleep. Bruce noticed that his three sons were still filled clothed and their shoes on. Alfred would NOT be happy if he were to see shoes on the bed.

Careful not to disturb the boys, he took their shoes off and set them aside. He exited the room and silently shut the door behind them. He had batman business to attend to.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I want that boy..." Tony Zucco smoked a pipe as he gazed at the picture of Dick Grayson.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Thanks for reading everybody! Hoped you enjoyed! Please review, vote, and spread the word about this story if you deem it worthy!

Insanerobin223445 out!

Word count: 2,347