-STAY TO THE END FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF MY NEXT BOOK!!!-

"Robin's playlist?" Wally asked the room. It was a boring day at the mountain, and they were skimming through files to pass the time.

"Could be interesting." Artemis shrugged, not looking up from her magazine.

"Okay... Goth, goth, goth, punk rock, goth, whoa- musical theatre? Goth, goth, musical theatre goth, punk rock, goth goth, musical theatre goth times two, and... goth. Guess he takes after batman.

"What's musical theatre goth?" M'gann asked.

"Phantom and Jekyll and Hyde I guess." The redhead replied. "Maybe throw in some Les Mis, for spice."

Robin -- B01

The boy tore in like an explosion of sunshine. Or a golden retriever. But honestly, what's the difference.

"Wally! Wally! WALLY!WALLY!" He stormed towards the redhead and threw his arms around him, hugging so tight that he nearly pulled Wally off the floor. "I love you! This is the best thing that's ever happened to me! Oh my god!"

"Nice...?" Wally quizzically hugged back.

"Oh god! I'm so- oh my god!" He panted, red from excitement.

Artemis looked up, almost concerned. "What? They installed a hot topic near your house?"

Dick ignored the comment, whipping around to her. "ARTEMIS! Who hates me like my own sister! I love you too!"  He turned to the team. "I love ALL of you!"

M'gann hovered closer, curiously. "Robin?"

From pure joy and excitement. He grabbed her in a hug too. "Yeah! I love you too! This is the best day of my life!"

"What happened, Robin?" Kaldur approached, wondering what could get their own boy wonder this swept off his feet.

After squeezing M'gann around the waist as tight as he could. Robin turned to face them, glowing. "Guys! As of today, I've officially been adopted!"

"What?" Artemis asked, but Wally seemed just as excited.

"Wait? Really?"

"Uh huh! He signed the papers this morning!" Robin grinned.

"DUDE! Oh my god that's awesome! Congratulations! This is great!" Wally's smile grew wide as he grabbed Dick in a hug, actually managing to lift him off the ground a little. 

"Wait, I didn't even know you were up for adoption?" Artemis asked. "Okay, that sounded wrong, that made you sound like a dog. But you know what I mean! I didn't know you were in the foster care system!"

"Uh huh! Have been for years! And my foster dad just became my... dad dad." He turned to Wally excitedly. "Oh my God I have a dad!"

"That's amazing!" The speedster agreed. They hugged again.

"Congratulations!" Conner joined the situation, willing to put his own Daddy issues on the back burner for the day.

"That's very exciting!" Kaldur acknowladged. "Are you and you're father going to celebrate?"

Dick nodded excitedly. "Tonight. Just-OH! Dammit! I'm so excited!" He panted, proudly sporting the most genuine smile they'd ever seen from the guy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course Dick called Barbra. You just know he did. And of course they screamed at each other over the phone for forty minutes. What are friends for?

But now Dick was sitting outside Bruce's office. waiting. His brain was still blowing up over the fact that .Bruce had legally adopted him. He wanted to shout and cry and do everything a person physically could do.

Yet, there was part of his brain... the nagging part that didn't want him to be happy, that wondered what took him so long? Dick has been living and working for him for years, was Bruce just... not sure he wanted him all that time?

Dick shook his head out, trying to forget this. It was the best day of his life, and even though that didn't mean the problems would go away, it meant he could lay them aside for a while.

He heard the door open behind him and sprung to his feet. Yep, it was Bruce. 

He encased his new father in a vicious bear hug before he even step over the threshold into the hallway. 

"Excited to see me?" Bruce chuckled, tussling his hair.

"You've been gone all day!" Dick didn't let go of his father's waist. "What Kind of dad foes that?"

"I know, I know. But,  going out for dinner tonight! That's exciting."

"Uh huh!" Dick agreed. "Let's go!"

Bruce smile a little. "You're going to have to let go of me first."

"No way!" Dick did so. "If I let you go, you'll go right back to work."

"Do you think so little of me?"

Dick pondered jokingly. "I guess I do. I have since I was eight!"

"Well, I've finished off everything I need to do here..." Bruce clarified. "So I'm all yours for the weekend. We can do whatever you want."

Dick squeaked a little and hugged him again. "Proof that under all that trauma, you are the best dad ever!"

Dinner was great. Just the two of them eating and taking turns venting over what they're passionate about. Yet, something lay heavy on Dick's mind. That pesky little voice that just wouldn't go away... he didn't want to ruin this perfect day, or this perfect dinner, but he couldn't help wondering...

"Dick? Is something the matter?" Bruce asked, about to pay the check.

"Hmm? No, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Daydreaming?" His father smiled.

"Only a little. It's been such an exciting day and all..."

"I was just suggesting we go back to the manor and devour that ice cream in the freezer."

"Oh yeah. Great." He agreed.

Bruce watched him, thoughtfully. "Dick, is something the matter?"

"No." He said quickly. "Well, maybe. But I don't want you to worry about it."

It was the wrong thing to say, Bruce was immediately curious. "It's fine Dick. Do you want to talk about it?"

He couldn't lie. "Yeah. It's just... why didn't you adopt me sooner? It's been years of social worker visits and monthly check ins... if you could've done it any time, why now?"

Bruce thought for a moment. "The truth?"

"The truth."

"Aliright," he sighed. "But it sounds really stupid when said aloud." He warned. "The truth I'd, I kept forgetting."

Dick stared back. "What?"

"It's just, raising you felt so second nature, it felt like I'd already adopted you. Every month or so I'd think 'I should legally do that', and then something would come up with the league, and I'd be whisked off world, and by the time I got back I'd just drive you to school and completely forget I was supposed to do that."

"So... you kept forgetting to adopt me because of work?" Dick asked.

"To make it concise... yes." Bruce said. "I told you it sounded stupid."

Dick leaned back against the padded backrest of the booth. "Wow. I was WAY over thinking that..."

"Yeah." Bruce stood up and ruffled his hair a little. Come on, let's hope get that ice cream."

Dick smiled, following his lead. "Yeah."

-Thank you all SO much for voting. It ended up being a tie between even and odd numbers, so I flipped a coin and my next tras book is...

'More Reverse Batfam Trash'!!!

Thanks so much for the support y'all have given me, and .I hope to see you in my next book!!-

-it's 1:30am on a school night. I'm going to catch a snooz before my physics test. Bye bye!-