Leashed

"Aw Rob, why do you have'ta go already? It's only, like, 10:00!" Wally whined as Dick was about to leave.

"Trust me, I'd rather stay here and hang with you guys."

Dick  was sitting in the living room with Wally, Conner, and Kaldur. Artemis and M'gann were in the kitchen getting snacks and drinks.  They had just finished a successful mission, and decided to celebrate by having an all-night movie party.  Unfortunatly, Batman wouldn't let Robin stay.

"Are you sure you can't stay Robin? Artemis and I made brownies!" M'gann held up a plate of freshly baked brownies. Dick could smell them from the door, and they smelled amazing.

"I really wish I could, but Batman won't let me."

Wally laughed. "Man! Batman keeps you a TIGHT leash."

Dick rolled his eyes behind his shades as his wrist communicator went off.

"I gotta go guys. See ya." Dick walked out of the cave and over to the garage where the batmobile that was idling. He jumped into the car and looked out his window as they drove back to Gotham. As they were nearing the city Batman thought Dick had been oddly quiet.

"Something Wrong?" Batman asked.

Dick just kept looking out his window, thinking about how much fun everyone else must have been having right now, "No."

They had just entered the batcave, and as soon as the car had stopped, Dick went up to his room. Batman sighed and changed into his civilian clothes. He went up to Dick's room and knocked on the door.

"Dick?"

"What?"

"Can I talk to you?" Bruce heard a sigh, and then Dick opened the door just enough to see Bruce.

"What's up?" Dick was clearly annoyed about something, but Bruce couldn't tell what it was.

"Can I come in?"

Dick just pushed the door open a little more and went back to his bed, and put his headphones on his ears. Bruce sat down next to him and took off Dick's headphones.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?"

"I wanna talk to you."

"So?"

"SO, I want you to hear what I say."

"Fine." Dick slouched backed.

"What's wrong? You've been acting weird all night."

"Nothing's wrong and no I haven't."

"Yes you have. I can tell when your mad. What are you mad about?"

"Nothing! Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Dick ran out of his room and down to the garage. He hopped on his favorite red motorcycle and drove off. A little down the road, he stopped and inspected his bike for a tracking device. He found one above his back wheel, and attached it to a stop sign. He drove off to the more secluded roads around town and just kept driving.

Why did Bruce have to be so strict? It wasn't fair that everyone else on the team could hang out all night. All of Dick's friends were allowed to stay out as long as they want, but Dick had to stay home all night long. The only time he got out at night was when he was Robin, but he couldn't hang out with his friends, he had to focus on not getting killed by thugs.

And right then, he should have been more focused on the road ahead of him. An animal ran right in front of him and he swerved out of the way, but right into a pothole. The bike started flipping sideways, and Dick couldn't get off fast enough. He rolled on the asphalt, banging and skidding most of his body. He was lucky he remembered to wear his helmet, but the rest of his body wasn't so lucky. As he was rolling, he noticed how there were no other cars on this road. He also wished that he had not taken out the tracking device.

……………

"Why did master Dick leave?" Alfred was down in the batcave, watching as Bruce typed at the computer.

"He got mad and went out on one of the bikes."

"He left half an hour ago. Why did you not check the trackers before?"

Bruce shrugged. "He needed some time to cool off. He should be fine now."

He looked up to see that the main tracker was stuck at a corner close to the mansion. Bruce chuckled. "I should have known he'd find that one right away."

He looked at the second tracker he had put in the bike. It had been stopped, and it was beeping red. Bruce didn't waste any time in running to his car.

………….

Dick's mind was in a haze as he was lying on the edge of the road. No cars came by, so his mind just drifted away until a car light lit up the side of his body.  He heard worried shouts as he saw Bruce run up to him, but he couldn't think of what to say. The next thing he knew, Bruce was lifting his body gently into the car.  While they were speeding back home, Dick only noticed Bruce worriedly looking at Dick and the road.  He soon felt the hum of the engine die off, and soon he was carried to the batcave. He closed his eyes as he was laid on the medical table. He heard Alfred come in and examine him. He opened his eyes to see Alfred bandaging up some deep skids on his arms and legs. Once Alfred was done, Bruce walked over  and leaned against the table.

"Well, I think now would be a good time to talk."

Dick groaned. "I think maybe tomorrow would be better. Or never would be great."

Bruce Chuckled. "No, we have to talk about this now. Why were you so mad?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"It's something I did, isn't it?"

Dick sighed. "Why don't you ever let me stay out late with my friends? I'm thirteen and you still  don't let me even stay at the cave with the team for the night."

"Well, why would want to stay at the cave for the night?"

"We were going to have a movie night to celebrate a successful mission. But, of course, I was the only one who had to leave before all the fun.  Everyone else on the team thinks I'm a little kid because I'm younger, but missing out on every night of fun they have that I have to miss just proves it to them even more."

"I'm sorry."

Dick was confused. "what?"

"I said I'm sorry.  I didn't know it was that important to you. I know I can be overprotective sometimes. But, I just wanna make sure you're okay."

"Thanks."

………..

A week later, the team had another successful mission, and they wanted to celebrate again.

"So, the Bat is letting you off the leash for the night? Sweet!" Wally grabbed a chocolate bar and hopped on the couch.

"It's great to finally be here!" Dick hopped on the couch next to Wally and Conner.

Artemis walked in holding a pile of different movies. "Who's ready for an all night movie fest?"

She popped in the first movie, and the group was ready to party.

………..

"How was the party?" Bruce asked as the boy entered the room.

"I either need coffee or sleep." He said groggily.

"When did you guys finally go to sleep?"

"Who said we slept?"

Bruce laughed as Dick sat in a chair in Bruce's study.

"I think I'm just gonna sleep here for a while."

" I hope you don't plan on sleeping for very long. We have a Wayne Foundation Charity event that starts in an hour or two."

Dick groaned. Today was not gonna be good.