The three batboys found Dick being gushed over by Starfire who seemed especially fascinated by his curls. He'd gelled his hair when they first met as teens and once they were older, the black curls were tamed to a lighter degree. Here they were curlier than ever. They were similar to her poof of a hairdo when they met that she too had tamed in the years. She might have half the mind to mention her love for them to him when he was back to his usual age. Sure they were no longer dating but she did always love making flustered. Damian was glaring at her, his protective nature kicking in despite his dislike of his eldest brother was now his youngest. Still, he didn't miss the smile on Dick's face as she twirled and petted his hair so at least he knew he wasn't being held captive by the alien. He was still wary of her though. "How are you feeling Dickie?" Tim asked.

"Tired but Babs won't let me sleep," he answered sassily. 

"Concussion rules," she reminded him. He huffed and went back to fighting off sleep. He looked exhausted and none of them wanted to keep him up but they had to just in case. 

"But I've been training for ages! Feels like I got hit by a car."

"Your painkillers should kick in soon lad," Alfred announced from the doorway. He had a tray of drinks on them, all made to the memorised specifications of each person in there. He handed out the mugs and snuck Dick a cookie to cheer him up about the situation. The recipe had stayed the same for years and he hoped it would make him more comfortable considering there had been so many changes that he was forced to take in his stride. The little boy thanked him and shared half his cookie with Wally when he heard his stomach growl. "Are you going out tonight?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, we're taking over whilst Bruce stays here."

"Pulling an Alfred then," Dick mumbled. They tilted their heads at the phrasing. "You know, pulling an Alfred. B doesn't pay attention so you force him to stay home." He glanced around the room and quickly fumbled his way to reassure them it was alright. They looked upset, some of them looked angry but he needed to tell them it's fine. "But when I started being Robin we spent more time together so it's okay! Plus we play games on patrol and-"

"Master Dick, it's alright. You needn't make excuses," Alfred interrupted. He could hear the franticness in his voice and he wondered if that had always been there when he made excuses for his treatment. The butler couldn't help but feel guilt over it. Perhaps if he'd fought harder to make Bruce take care of him then the frantic need to defend him wouldn't be there? Did he feel the need to defend Bruce because he felt somehow in debt to him? Maybe now that he was younger, they could get to the bottom of it but that felt somewhat wrong. "Bruce started young with that," Jason muttered to himself. He kicked himself on that one when Dick turned to him to quickly correct his views. He put a hand up before the boy could even start. "You can't get me on the yay Bruce boat, that ship has long since sailed. Save your energy."

"What've you been watching?" Tim asked to quickly change the subject. 

"Transformers. They said this is the old one," Dick answered.

"Don't you want to watch the new one?" He shook his head.

"I've had enough new things."

They spread out around the room as they watched the show. It has a sort of snow filter and the animation wasn't as fluent as the one today but Dick seemed to enjoy it. Even if he was watching with half-lidded eyes. He'd found his way onto Wally's lap at some point which was half adorable and half jealousy-inducing. "Do you think I'll remember this?" Dick asked the room. He had a slight frown as he asked and they weren't sure if he wanted the answer to be yes or no. They could only give him a maybe. Biologically he was a nine-year-old so surely when he grew up again, he'd surely have the memories right? But their method could put a spanner in the works. If M'gann was going to copy the form of adult Dick Grayson, would that form allow for this one to stay the same? The human body was an odd thing and with the addition of alien bodies, it was hard to say what the answer would be. They'd have to wait and see. "How am I gonna get back to normal?"

"Do you know Martian Manhunter?" Wally asked. He nodded. "He has a niece that's friends with you. We were thinking if we give you the growth cell she used to replicate your form usually, we could inject that into you and kick your body back into turning into you. Well, the older you. It's experimental and might not work but it's something."

"Alongside that, we'll continue with backups and think about the plan. The stem cell thing will only work if the age reversal was one that de-aged your cells and then stabilised them, blocking off the ones that aged you," Tim contributed. "If it's a process we can't trigger then we'll have to try other methods."

"Will...will it hurt?" 

"Most likely," Damian answered, gaining glares from the others. He shrugged them off though. "I'm telling him the truth. It's better to prepare him for pain than let him go in blind."

"There's a difference between being sugar coating and fear-mongering. He doesn't need to hear that," Barbara snapped.

"We can't just give him the expectation that it won't hurt. Hell, we don't even know if this will work," Tim agreed mostly because his pride had been bruised by the ginger squad. Siding with Damian felt like the lesser of two evils here, and he could see the younger's logic. It wasn't fair to set up Dick's expectations that this would be an easy ride to getting back to normal nor could they guarantee this method would be the first to work. They couldn't do anything but tell him the truth. "You didn't give him an expectation, you just made him worried! He's nine!" Wally argued, making Dick very uncomfortable. He fidgeted in his lap and hoped at least one of them would notice his discomfort but it had been overlooked in favour of returning to the divided groups. On one side was the protective batfam and on the other was the protective ginger squad. Both of which were just as stubborn as the other and they were fighting almost for the hell of it. He thought so. Their argument raged on and he was far too tired to be hearing it. He just wanted to sleep and he didn't like the arguments. They made him anxious and he'd just been rescued yet here they were fighting like he wasn't even in the room despite it being about him. He wriggled free of Wally's grasp and ran off. He didn't know why his eyes were watering but they were now. It was probably because he'd gotten himself worked up and was exhausted. That and he was still aching from training from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep. He needed a break.

Dick rounded a corner and slammed into someone so hard that he was knocked off his feet then onto the floor. This proved too much for much and he started crying, covering his face as best he could. Everything had been such a massive change to handle and he thought he'd been handling it well but he just didn't know how to deal with it. It had hit him now that he was going to have to keep going through new experiences with no idea of when it was going to end. What if they didn't find out how to fix it until a year later and he was just supposed to go back to being in his twenties? What if they just got bored of him and got bored of trying? Did he matter enough to work through it? What if that horrible man came back and tried to get him? What if he didn't get back home this time? There'd been so many new experiences in the space of weeks and he was supposed to take them in his stride but he couldn't. It was so much. Too much. He heard a click of bones as the person he knocked into knelt and he glanced up to see who it was. Bruce. His dad. One of the few people he knew in this world yet he wasn't his Bruce. He wasn't his dad. He was bitter, snippy, a meanie who'd ignored him. Alfred was his true constant, remaining unchanged despite the years. Still, Bruce was his father figure and he remembered how safe he felt in his arms. That's the feeling he wanted right now. He reached out his arms and made grabby hands at his mentor as he continued to cry. Bruce's features softened at seeing him so distressed and he plucked him up into his arms quickly, rubbing circles on his back. "Shh lad, it's alright," Bruce assured him. He rocked on his heels slightly before standing up with the boy in his arms and crying into his chest. He was thankful to be changed into something more comfortable than his Batman suit as Dick seemed to draw comfort from the soft cotton shirt. "I've got you. Can you tell me what's wrong chum?" He hoped this was the right way to ask about it. He wasn't sure of anything when it came to parenting. A man who let such a small thing become a vigilante could never be sure of such a thing. 

"Too much," Dick whimpered. He frowned. It had been a lot to experience during the boy's time here and he should've realised that. He should've done more to help him until he came to this moment of crying his eyes out. They were right to make him skip patrol. Dick needed him right now and he needed to be here to see that. 

"I know baby bird. I'm so sorry I didn't help."

"S fine."

"No, it's not," he insisted. He wiped a tear from the acrobat's face and pressed a kiss on his forehead, careful to avoid the sore spot there. "Let's get you ready for bed hm?"

"But concussion?"

"We'll play it by ear. At the very least, you need some quiet time. I need to be a good dad to you." There was a sniffle and a hum at that. "Then it's settled. You'll have to wait to have a shower until 48 hours pass."

"Cuz stitches?" He nodded. Dick was now trying to articulate over chewing his thumbnail, showing how anxious he'd been. The poor boy was just dealing with everything that came his way and now he couldn't deal with more. 

"That's right. Do you want to say goodnight to everyone first?"

"They're fighting," Dick told him. He hummed at that but noticed that he hadn't said no. There was just something he didn't want to deal with holding him back. 

"How about you get on your pyjamas whilst I get them to quiet down? Then they can say goodnight and we can read a book." The younger nodded but hesitated to move away. "Or I could get Alfred to do it?" Dick seemed to like that idea more and snuggled up closer to him with a nod. 

After finding the butler in the kitchen and tasking him with calming down the rowdy bunch, Bruce took his sniffling son upstairs. He turned down the hall and opened the door to Dick's room before placing the boy on the bed. "Can I just sleep in these?" the boy asked. He supposed he had just gotten dressed and another wardrobe change would only worsen his exhaustion. Sleeping in comfortable clothes wouldn't be too bad. The older nodded and watched him climb beneath the sheets, clutching them. He wondered if that stuffed elephant was around here somewhere. He couldn't remember where or when he'd last seen it. Alfred would remember but he was supposed to be the one who remembered these things. There was no use wallowing about it now though. Self-pity wasn't doing right by his son, it was indulging in something else entirely and he didn't want that. This was about Dick, his lovely acrobat who had been through hell and back and was smart enough to reach out to them. Leaving them breadcrumbs to come to save him. He taught him well. He just wished he hadn't left out things that were helpful in civilian situations. Bruce didn't spend half as many hours teaching him things like balancing homework, how to talk to other kids, planning for the future. He didn't play with him in the same way dads did. There was always an undertone of training even when he hadn't meant there to be. He tried to help with the work-life balance but then at the same time he dragged the boy away from any potential sleepovers and overworked him. Isolating him in a sense. He gave him friends, of course, Wally, Roy, Barbara etc but it was all a little too late. They hung out because of work, they were close because of work, they met because of work. Dick's life revolved around it and he eventually dedicated himself to it when he moved out at sixteen when Bruce finally decided there was too much at risk but he was too late. His little spritely child was a slightly jaded teenager who didn't want his coping mechanism taken away. That's what Bruce did. He threatened a coping mechanism which parenting 101 said not to do. Instability, distrust, fear. He caused those feelings and he made them so intense that Dick ran off. Oh, and what did he do next? Give another kid his title without even asking. Bruce knew Robin wasn't just plucked from the air. It had meaning and it wasn't his to give. It never had been. "B, you okay?" Dick called, his breath still hitching from crying. The older blinked and only then realised he'd just been staring at the acrobat for the last few minutes of his epiphany. If only he'd had it years ago. 

"I'm alright chum. Just got lost in thought." He moved to the bedside drawer where Alfred had left some age-appropriate books for Dick once he got back. He was ever so thankful for the butler. If he wasn't there, who knows what kind of person he or his boy would be. The books had solid colours and were hardback to protect the well-loved pages between the covers. Most of them had been there since he'd been a boy aside from one which he had a feeling Dick would choose. Always the fan of the fantastical he was. He picked out the four books and spread them out on the bed so Dick could see. "Which one would you like?"

"Can we read Matilda?"

"Of course. I see someone is looking rather comfortable even though they haven't brushed their teeth." Dick let out an exasperated sigh but begrudgingly got up anyway. "You'll thank me when you're older." 

After brushing his teeth, Dick heard a knock on the door and threw a nervous glance at his mentor. He chewed on his bottom lip as the door opened and Barbara peaked her head in. She gave him and Bruce an awkward smile. "Hey, we heard you were heading to bed and wanted to say goodnight. We uh we also want to apologize for arguing," she announced. Sensing he was okay with that, she opened the door further and the group slowly filtered into the room with guilty looks. Alfred must've really gone into them for even Damian to look ever so slightly regretful. That wasn't too surprising though. The butler's disappointment could make even the Joker feel bad for his actions. "We're uh, we're actually going to head off after this but we'll be back," she continued. 

"We'll try not to pick a fight next time although we were totally valid for being angry," Wally added, mumbling the justification. It didn't save him any glares but he wasn't the type to let it go unspoken. They were right to be mad and he wasn't going to deny it. 

"'S okay," Dick assured him. It didn't do anything to reassure them it was okay though. 

"Knock it off Goldie. Let us apologize for being dumbasses and give me my damn hug before I go punch some criminals in the face," Jason commanded. He knelt and Dick quickly filled the space in his arm, holding on tightly. Jason was the first one to find him in that alley. He picked him up and brought him home safely then calmed him down at night after the nightmares attacked him. It was nice having an older brother. He'd never had one before since everyone in the circus were mostly adults as were all the hero friends Bruce had. Everyone around him had been figures of protective aunts and uncles but it felt nice to have an older brother. It felt somewhat closer. More understanding of what it was like to be him. He hoped that his older self was a good big brother, looking after his siblings and teaching them things like circus tricks or how to picklock the candy cabinet. "Hey, you're hogging him," Tim argued. 

"Stop whining Replacement," Jason replied. He released the acrobat who swiftly hugged the teen then looked to Damian.

"Can I hug you?"

"Only because of your head injury. Dopamine can do wonders for recovery and if you get that from hugging then-" He was cut off by a tight hug which he tutted at yet made no effort to end. He even went as far as to wrap his arms around the younger and squeeze him. Actively being affectionate wasn't his thing but Dick managed to wrangle it out of him. He awkwardly patted the younger's back and he moved away with a smile. "Get some rest whilst we're gone."

"I will Dami." He gave each of the gingers their hugs after noticing they were looking left out and let out a tired yawn as they said goodnight. "Stay safe!" he called after his brothers.

"We will," they replied in unison. He nodded to himself, happy with the confirmation then climbed back into bed and got himself comfortable. Bruce smiled softly and kicked off his shoes before joining him beneath the covers with their chosen book in hand. He let the tiny acrobat cuddle up to his side and wrapped an arm around him. A wave of nostalgia hit the billionaire, remembering the nights he'd spared to tell him stories in his youth. He wished he'd done it more. "Ready Dickie?"

"Ready."