Dick Grayson Trash

The Man I Saw On The Stairs (Part Three)

-IDK how many parts this is going to end up being, but I hope you enjoy it-

EDIT: I'm a dummy who published this before completing the dialogue. I'm a big dummy. Very big dummy. Forgive me?

Dick stared at the floor, a towel draped over his shoulders, as Alfred bandaged up his skidded knees. Bruce was pacing in front of them. Dick had expected a big lecture about sneaking out, going on the roof, or not going to bed on time. That wasn't what he got.

"Dick, this is getting out of hand." He finally said. "There is no shadow man following you around."

"He isn't a shadow man! He's a real man, I saw him! I got pictures!"

"Dick." Bruce instantly silenced him. "I looked at your camera, it was drowned when you jumped off the roof. The only photos I found were dark and blurry. No man in them, Shadow, or real."

"But I saw him!" Dick protested. "I swear I did! He was skinny, and tall-"

"Dick, to to bed. We can talk about this more later, but you shouldn't have sneaked out. I told you no, and look at yourself! You're soaking wet. You're going to get sick, and that's not counting your injured knees, and your ankle..." He sighed. "Get changed, and go to bed."

Dick got up, limping towards the stairs, Alfred was escorting him. They didn't trust him to walk himself to bed.

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It was four am, and Bruce was half-dead with exhaustion. He found himself researching child psychiatrists... He closed the laptop, reminding himself not to assume the worst. It was probably a phase. But if it was a phase, it was getting out of hand.

Dick sat out on a roof in the rain, freezing for hours, He thought he'd seen someone sneak through the fence, He'd jumped off the roof... if it was a phase, it had certainly escalated quickly. Nothing he had researched about parenting had prepared him for the idea of his kid throwing himself off the roof because of an imaginary  friend... or enemy?

More than anything, Bruce worried that he had done this. That in training, he had somehow twisted the boy's mind into a state of paranoia where he thought he had an army of shadow people out to get him.

He reopened the laptop and went to his email, drafting a quick message to Dick's school counselor about the situation. But his pride wouldn't let him send it. He couldn't bring himself to admit to a stranger that his ward was struggling with anything. He saved the message as a draft. If Dick was still like this by Monday, maybe he'd send it.

He wished Dick was right, it was a lot easier to accept then... the other option, but there was no evidence for any of the absurd claims he made.

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Dick came down from his room for breakfast, he didn't speak to Bruce or Alfred. He was feeling horrible from the night before. Not because of his scraped knees, or even his ankle, but because Bruce still didn't listen to him. He didn't even have the energy to try to convince his adoptive father. Bruce wouldn't believe him. 

"Did you sleep?" Bruce asked, he sounded strangely professional about it.

Dick nodded a little. "Uh huh."

"Early night tonight." Bruce said firmly. "I'll have Batgirl cover the city if I need to, I'm going to make sure you sleep enough."

"I will." Dick said, a hint of exasperation playing around him.