Dick staggered through the front door of the mansion, clutching his torn backpack with one arm, and his skateboard in the other. It was a good thing he told Alfred he could get himself home from now on. He shook his head and winced right after. His body was a mess thanks to his old 'friends'.

He dropped his backpack, ran up the stairs, and locked himself in his room before he realized no one would be home for at least another hour. Richard walked into the bathroom and stared into the mirror. He looked at all the newly formed bruises on his face as he reflected on the fight that had just happened a little while ago.

"Hey Grayson!" A deep voice called from behind. Dick turned around reluctantly. He knew it was Adam Montan and his followers.

"What do you want Adam." Dick asked in a displeased tone. He was not in the mood. His bruises from their last fight had finally disappeared. Or had become less noticeable. All he wanted to do was ride his board home before it started raining again.

"What's your rush mathlete?" Adam ripped Dick's backpack off his shoulder, tearing the strap almost completely off. Dick didn't protest, knowing that if he fought back, it might have given away the fact that he was Robin. Adam dumped the contents out onto the pavement. He picked up his advanced algebra book. "Aw, little Grayson is just soo smart, isn't he." Adam taunted. He tossed it behind him, right into a puddle of muddy water, thoroughly soaking it. Dick sighed, irritated, and went to pick up his book, but Adam grabbed him back and punched him in the cheek. Then Adam's friends started hitting him as well. He was hit, kicked, and thrown around by the time they finished. They laughed as they walked off, leaving Dick to gather his now wet books.

He looked through his drawers and found his big bottle of concealer he used to hide his Robin bruises from other kids, or in more recent cases, to hide his bruises from Bruce. He washed up, cleaned his cuts, and covered his bruises right before Alfred walked through the door. Dick looked down at the door from right out front of his bedroom door.

"Hey Alfred. What's for dinner?" Dick asked in a relaxed tone.

Alfred looked up at Dick. "Good evening master Dick. How does chicken sound tonight?"

"Sounds delicious. Call me when it's ready."

"I trust you'll be working on your homework?" Alfred could almost sense that something was wrong with the boy.

Dick smiled and went back to his room. A while later, he heard Bruce's car come down the driveway, and he heard Bruce's voice echo as he said hello to Alfred.

"Dick, Dinner's almost ready. Come downstairs."

"Alright, be right down." He took another look in the mirror, making sure he looked okay, before walking down to the dining room. Dinner was sitting on the table and Bruce was already sitting down when he got in. He sat down and they started having their normal dinner conversations. How was school, how was work, was anything exciting and so on.

"So what happened to your backpack?" Bruce asked in his 'I-know-you-did-something-but-I-want-you-to-say-it' voice. "I saw that some of your books are all muddy too."

Dick didn't look fazed at all. He kept eating and answered in a smoothed tone.

"I was riding my skateboard home and my strap got caught on some fence. It tripped me up and my books fell out. It just had to rain today." Dick joked at the end. He realized a long time ago that if he kept serious and made a joke at the end, Bruce wouldn't be as suspicious. Bruce looked at Dick's face.

"What's on your cheek?" he touched Dick's face and he flinched back. Bruce looked at his hand and saw concealer. "Are you wearing make-up?" He asked in a joking tone.

Dick went along with it. "Yeah, my friend Kate put some on me as a joke. I'll wash it off when I take a shower. He left the dining room, claiming he had a lot of homework to do.

Bruce let him go, even though he had only eaten half his food, and brought the plates into the kitchen. Then he remembered that he bought Dick a large bottle of concealer to hide bruises from the kids at school. Alfred looked up from the book he was reading and noticed that Bruce looked concerned.

"Is something wrong master Bruce?"

Bruce put the plates down. "I have a feeling Dick's lying to me, but I don't know why."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out sir. After all, you are the greatest detective. Bruce chuckled as he left the kitchen. By the time he got down to the batcave, ready to go out on patrol, he knew what Dick was lying about, but how to confront Dick was a mystery to the Dark Knight.

...

Yeahh, I know its not that great, but i like it. I'll continue hopefully tomorow morning. Please review if you like it, dont like it, or have comments ^-^