AN: Set some time during Dick Grayson's run as Batman. This is the very first fan-fiction I have ever written and had the courage to publish. To my own surprise it turned out to be shameless fluff. ;) I hope you enjoy it!

Robin and the Tooth Fairy

Dick Grayson's blood froze cold in his veins when Damian winced in pain. His famous big-brother-instincts were about to kick in, coupled with the sixth sense being Batman gave him; together they provided him with a razor-sharp edge as soon as anybody he cared about was only remotely in danger.

Only: eating popcorn while watching Toy Story on TV was not exactly dangerous, was it?

"Damian, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

The 10-year-old held up his hand, motioning for Dick to give him a moment; his eyes were still closed from the pain, but a concentrated frown was on his face. Dick watched him shift his jaw and move his tongue around. Finally, Damian put his hands to his mouth and, his neck muscles tightening, simply plucked one of his bottom teeth from his jaw. The Batman grimaced at the sight, though it did not seem like the boy needed a lot of force to get the aspired result. Whipping a thin trail of blood from his jaw, Damian frowned at the tiny white tooth he was holding between his right thumb and index finger. Dick stared at the sight dumbfounded.

"Is that a baby tooth?" he wanted to know after a few seconds.

The boy turned slowly with an ice-cold glare on his face and hissed, "That is certainly not a baby tooth, Grayson, or do I look like a baby to you?! It is a primary tooth and it has been loose for some time."

Dick's lips parted into a broad grin. "You still have baby teeth!"

It earned him a heavy punch to the side, but that couldn't stop his laughter.

Damian rolled his eyes at the man before taking a napkin from the coffee table (a clean one, left from the chicken wings they had had earlier), rolling it together and biting on it so it would stop the slight bleeding. Around the napkin he made a muffled "tt". Without giving it another look he carelessly tossed the milk tooth on his dirty plate.

Dick's mouth actually fell open a little. "Aren't you gonna keep it?"

Damian raised an eyebrow at him in genuine confusion. "It's just a fallen-out tooth, Grayson! It has zero purpose anymore!" He took the napkin, wet with saliva and blood, from his mouth and ran his tongue over the gap where his tooth used to be. "I can already feel the permanent tooth pressing through my gums."

Dick carefully picked up the little white tooth, not caring that it was still slightly wet with saliva – it was Damian's tooth after all, not some dirty street thug's. Nothing gross or poisonous about his Robin (as far as he knew anyway)!

"Don't suppose Talia ever told you about the tooth fairy, did she?"

The 10-year-old snorted. "Tt. Don't be sillier than usual, Grayson! Fairies don't e-"

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Don't finish that sentence!" Dick interrupted him with a somewhat panicked look on his face. "Don't ever say that! Every time someone says THAT, a fairy somewhere dies!"

Damian stared at the man incredulously. To think that this was the Batman, terror of Gotham City's underworld..! But the boy chose not to say anything – he was not quite sure how he would handle an emotionally damaged Dick Grayson. But the way the man eyed his fallen-out tooth and turned it in his fingers like it was the most precious thing in the world still intrigued him.

"What did Talia do with your b… primary teeth then?" Dick asked.

"The same thing I'm going to do: throw them away," the young assassin replied, remembering how he would always give any lost primary teeth to his mother, who'd assure him she would properly dispose of them.

Dick gave him a puzzled glance before returning his attention to what he held between his fingers. As was to be expected, the tooth – a tiny canine – was perfectly healthy and white, except for the half-dried blood at its bottom; it did not have much of a root, not uncommon for baby teeth.

"Well, I think we can't just throw it away like trash – we just can't! It's a memento worth keeping,"he explained.

Damian frowned. "A memento? Of what?"

"Of you growing up, of course, Li'l D!"

The boy tilted his head in thought, his frown a little deeper even than before, both because of the nickname and the implication of him still being a child. But Dick subconsciously giving him the puppy-dog-eyes apparently convinced him to play along and humor his guardian a bit.

"So what would you suggest doing with it, Grayson?" Then, with scarcely hidden curiosity, "What would my father do?"

Dick smiled at Damian and the fond memories that were stirred up. "Bruce was pretty much influenced by what my parents did before I moved in with him."

At Damian's questioning glance he continued, "In the circus we had that tradition where we would go to the woods and find the tallest and strongest tree in the forest, and then we would bury the tooth underneath it, so the new tooth would grow in just as straight and strong as the tree."

Damian raised an eyebrow and gave a short laugh. "That's some silly superstition!"

"Might be," Dick smiled, showing off his own perfectly straight pearly whites, "but I never needed braces!"

The boy seemed to consider it, pursing his lips in thought. Dick watched him and chuckled softly, before explaining, "Of course, each family has their own traditions and beliefs – if you want to do something different, we totally can. You could ask Tim or Steph for ideas!"

Damian didn't look too thrilled at the thought. Dick noticed and went on with his own suggestions. "We could also combine stuff. Like, I would still find a dollar under my pillow after we buried my teeth."

"Tt – I am heir to a billionaire's fortune! Getting a dollar for my tooth seems highly redundant!"

"True," Dick agreed, "but the tooth fairy doesn't have to leave money all the time. It can be any kind of present!" Then he went on with a regretful sigh, "I can't believe you never had any rituals for lost baby teeth!"

The kid tilted his head, then suddenly thought of something and looked at Dick with a serious face. "When I lost my first primary tooth, the maid who noticed told me to throw my tooth straight up into the air and wish for a new, stronger one to grow."

Dick's eyes glistened with joy and anticipation. "Did you do it?" he asked.

A slight blush made its way to Damian's cheeks and ears as he stared down at the little white fang still between Dick's fingers. "I was six – I wasn't as experienced… I had not yet discovered the nature of that superstition…"

The Batman smiled broadly. "Let's do that! Please!"

Damian scowled at him. "No."

"Aw, please, Dami? For me?"

"No, Grayson!"

"Please! I promise I will let you do whatever you want with your tooth if you do that first!"

The little assassin rolled his eyes and sighed. "Very well. But only to get this over with!"

He held out his hand for the tooth, but Dick jumped off the sofa overly excited.

"Perfect! But let's do it in the entrance hall – in here you'll only toss it against the ceiling!"

And off he ran, a pretty annoyed 10-year-old trotting a few meters behind him. When they entered the entrance hall Dick did a cartwheel before finally handing Damian the tooth, who in return gave him the most disapproving look he could manage. Dick didn't care.

Damian looked up at the brightly lit chandelier and stood directly underneath him. "She told me to throw it towards the sun," he mumbled when Dick stared at him and the chandelier with interest. "But I'm not waiting until noon. I want to get this over with!" His ears were a distinct shade of pink.

Then he tossed his fallen-out tooth up at the chandelier in a straight line, briefly closing his eyes and whispering something in Arabic under his breath; Dick couldn't really make out the words, but he was sure that for once it was not a curse. He smiled broadly and watched Damian catch the tooth again expertly. He decided he would not ask about the Arabic when he saw just how red the boy's ears had turned.

"See?" he cheerfully said instead, "Wasn't so hard, was it?" Damian did not reply and did not meet his eyes. Dick could have sworn there was a hint of sadness on the boy's face as he stared down at his fist holding the tooth.

"Want to go back finish the movie?"

Damian shook his head. "No," he said, "I'll go to bed. You have made me watch it several times already!" It was indeed pretty late for a stay-at-home night and he had a hard time suppressing a yawn.

Dick chuckled. "Okay, I'll help Alfie clean up." Then, for the fun of it, he added, "Don't forget to brush your teeth – the ones that are left anyway!"

The boy made an annoyed grunt and rolled his eyes. But halfway down the hall he turned around and called after Dick with a frown, "Grayson?"

"Yes, Dami?" Dick smiled at the kid, who bit his lips slightly.

"What kind of presents would you get for your teeth?" he was curious to know.

Dick thought for a moment, the amused look never leaving his face. "A lot of different things, actually. Surprise VIP-tickets for a Gotham Knights game. Once a new kind of Batarang. It was always something I really liked."

Damian nodded silently. "Good night, Grayson," he then said and continued his way down to his room.

Early the next morning Dick sat hunched over his cereal bowl when he suddenly heard a surprised yelp come from somewhere in the penthouse. Moments later, Damian came running into the kitchen, obviously just out of bed and still wearing his pajamas with the little rockets printed all over them. Alfred amusedly raised an eyebrow at his young charge, while Dick continued eating his cereal.

Damian turned his head from one to the other, his hands pushed into his sides. "Which one of you was it?" he demanded to know with a look on his face that was too excited to be quite a scowl.

Alfred raised the second eyebrow too. "I beg your pardon, Master Damian, but would you care to specify?"

With a swift movement the boy dramatically presented a rectangular plastic case he had been holding in his right hand. Dick's eyes widened all of a sudden when he saw just what Damian had got there.

"Is that Legend of the Swordwalker?!" he asked with a gasp. "That game is awesome!"

"So I've heard," Damian said, his voice still irritated, "We saw the trailer on television last night."

"Interesting," Alfred remarked, "And where did you get it from, young sir?"

"I found it under my pillow this morning, Pennyworth!" The 10-year-old waved the video game for emphasis. "It was not there when I went to bed!"

Dick and Alfred exchanged a silent glance.

"Did you…" Dick cleared his throat to cover a suppressed smile that had worked its way on his face. "Did you put your tooth under your pillow before you went to sleep last night? You know, the baby tooth you lost? And is it gone now?"

Within a split-second Damian's ears turned a bright crimson. "I… it…" he stuttered, voice a little higher than usual. "It was an experiment! I needed certainty!"

Dick broke into a broad grin. "Well, now you have proof! The tooth fairy exists and she has an excellent taste in video games!"

"Though she does not seem to mind age restrictions too greatly," Alfred mumbled, frowning at the big "M" in the corner of the case and shooting Dick a disapproving glance that neither of the boys caught however.

"It's not possible! It must have been one of you!" Damian insisted.

Dick stared, still smiling, at the game in the child's hand. "Take a closer look, Dami!"

Damian frowned at the case, turning it to catch the early morning light on it. His eyes widened in surprise when he too saw what Dick had spotted.

"There is… glitter on it!?"

"Fairy dust," Dick corrected him.

The boy opened his mouth and then closed it again, staring at the sparkly video game case in his hand. The shimmering particles were a little luminescent. Damian was confused and Dick was enjoying every second of it.

"Hey, we could play it together after breakfast!" he suggested, "It's got a co-op mode, right?"

Damian nodded absently, his eyes still stuck on the glittery dust on his fingertips. "I'll get dressed," he then muttered and sprinted back to his room, not letting the game out of his hand.

Dick turned to Alfred and broke into laughter.

"What? He likes it!" the young man said between snickers at Alfred's raised brow.

The butler smiled with pride, but also a hint of disapproval on his face. "While I do appreciate your efforts to make it possible for the young Master to have something resembling a normal childhood, might I propose a gift more suitable for his age the next time the tooth fairy pays a visit?" Dick swallowed another spoon full of cereal. Milk ran down his chin because of the still present grin, and Alfred sighed with a short chuckle.

"Does the tooth fairy intend to keep Master Damian's tooth, sir?" he then asked.

Dick pulled a silken handkerchief from his pant pocket and unfolded it, revealing Damian's tiny tooth. The boy had apparently cleaned the blood away before placing it under his pillow. "She hasn't really thought about it yet," Dick explained eying the pointed tooth with fascination. "But I think so, yeah. It is a memento worth keeping." He gave an incredulous laugh and added silently, "My Robin is growing up!"

Alfred watched him put Damian's milk tooth back in the handkerchief and hide it in his pocket again. The older man smiled warmly. "Well, I suppose it should be alright for Master Damian to enjoy his video game, as long as he is under an adult's supervision." He looked at Dick intently, who was being proud with himself and grinning again.

At least Alfred hadn't asked where on Earth Damian's tooth fairy had gotten the glitter from at three in the morning.

AN 2: Dick's story was inspired by another Batman fanfiction I read a while ago, but that I honest to God can't find right now. So much for disclaimer (I think it's pretty obvious I don't own Batman - if I did things would be different) and thanks for reading!

AN 3: Thanks to AtarinaMAK, I now know that the story I read and accepted as headcanon was Batfairy by paganpunk2. :)