Sweet Sixteen 2

by seby

This is Bruce Wayne /Dick Grayson slash. And there is sex. Just not yet. And not with each other, at least not while it's illegal. Give me a break! We're talking about *Batman*, you know!! Special thanks to the World's Best Beta, nw's chick.

Disclaimer: I don't own the boys. I just play with them.

Huffing his way up the steps with his fourth load of luggage, Dick had to smile at the location of the girl's room. Any further away from the batcave access and she'd have to take a bus to get there!

Barbara had apologized several times for the amount of stuff she'd packed, but Dick had enjoyed discovering her reasons. A 20-year-old college student who held down two jobs, she sounded like she would be too busy to interfere with Batman & Robin, but "cool" enough to hang out with sometimes. He was especially thrilled to learn she drove a motorcycle and didn't seem to mind the idea of impressing his high school friends by "ride-sharing" occasionally.

"My 16th birthday is only about 6 more weeks and then I can get my limited license. I've got a permit now, and as long as someone with a cycle license rides with me, I can drive on the roads," he had gushed, adding "we could take one of my bikes if you're afraid to let me drive yours, but I'm a really good driver! Bruce just gets a little nervous..."

Dick had a beautiful vintage Indian cycle that had been his father's. Although he wasn't experienced enough to operate the large machine, Bruce helped him keep it in pristine condition and had hinted it wouldn't be much longer before he'd be ready to take it out on his own. Dick was used to driving a couple of Honda "motocross" style
bikes the Graysons had used in the circus. They weren't fancy, but they were one of the few things he had left from his circus life, and they were his.

Dick eagerly anticipated his 16th birthday, as Bruce and he had taken the Indian out for a road trip on his 15th birthday, which had been great, even though it had been Bruce driving. Dick hadn't minded that, though, feeling the wind rush by while he clung to the hardened, muscular body, feeling secure with the stronger man's warmth against
his cheek as he laid his head against Bruce's shoulder.

He had been able to convince Bruce to really open it up on the back country roads they drove on, and Bruce had even let Dick shift gears once, while he had leaned forward enough to allow Dick to reach. They had driven so long that, on the way home, Dick had fallen asleep against Bruce's shoulder, snuggled tightly against the leather-clad
back.

Now he was thinking of flying on Barbara's bike, or even better, driving his own. State law said he could drive alone, as long as a cycle-licensed supervising driver was within 100 feet of him. He wondered if he could get Bruce to let him drive one of the Harleys. And whether or not Bruce would trust Barbara. For crying out loud,
she's the police commissioner's daughter -- what more would he want?

Much to Dick's surprise, it ended up Bruce didn't want much more. Dick's hormones had been working overtime since Christmas, which was a holiday Bruce didn't particularly care for anyway. So emotions had been on edge for the two "less than ideal" communicators for several months. Bruce's way of handling it was by controlling even more and talking even less, while Dick's temper seemed to have an even shorter fuse than usual.

Unfamiliar with the specifics of raising a teenager, Bruce's frustration level with Dick's typical 15-year-old erratic, irrational behavior was reaching the danger zone. Bruce's edgy mood was exceeded only by Dick's frustration level with Bruce's pedantic, dictatorial discipline style.

So Bruce was more than happy to turn over the driver's training and school transportation duties to the very willing young redhead. The fact that it appeared to cool Barbara's crush on Batman was simply an added bonus. And the fact that it decreased the little time Dick and Bruce spent together was also a plus. It gave Bruce more time to brood
over the increased tension between the two. Bruce blamed the feelings on Dick's teenaged surge of hormones and now, with Barbara in the mix, he found it easier to deny their tension was becoming sexual.

The weeks flew by for Dick with Barbara at the manor. It was great arriving at school on the back of a hot motorcycle driven by a gorgeous college redhead instead of getting teased as he eased out of the least ostentatious limo he could convince Alfred to drive. Kids that had mocked him when Bruce would drop him off, driving the Jaguar, Bentley or Mercedes, now acted as if they were Dick's best friends, just to get him to introduce them to Barbara.

Bruce's grumpiness toward Dick was even waning a bit, as Dick distracted Barbara from "snooping" around the Manor. After school he would convince her to take him to the university library, where they would start with homework, but end with conversations about childhoods, politics, the Gotham Knights or the best toppings on
pizza.

Dick had taken to calling her "Babs" and Babs had dubbed Dick "Baby Blue," mostly because of his eyes, but she also liked reminding him of his age. When she wasn't working or at school, she began heading to the gym while Dick was working out, and the two started challenging each other - Dick would tell Babs she couldn't do 25 push-ups in the time he could do 50, or Barbara would dare Dick to do 15 back handsprings in a row.

Babs' knowledge of Dick's gymnastic skill also helped in hiding Robin's flights. The first time Babs caught sight of an ugly bruise spanning Dick's thigh from a "lucky hit" a particularly nasty thug had imparted on the Boy Wonder, she assumed it came from a fall during one of his workouts. Dick didn't correct her.

The distraction of the two youngest Wayne Manor residents had become so successful, Batman was able to throw his attention into a rash of rural break-ins plaguing Gotham. Unfortunately Bruce threw all of his attention to Batman duties, causing Dick to believe Bruce had completely forgotten the approaching date so important to his excited sidekick.

END PART 2