Paperwork

Bruce smacked his head against the table and groaned loudly.

Alfred stopped cleaning in the next room over to stick his head in the kitchen, where Bruce sat.

"Are you alright in there Master Bruce?" Bruce lifted his head from where it rested on the paperwork.

"I hate paperwork." Alfred shook his head, if he wasn't so proper all of the time he would've rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid that's part of the tolls of life as an adult." Alfred sighed good-naturedly.

"Where's Dick?" Bruce asked, what he really wanted was something to distract him from his work.

"He's downstairs working on the uneven bars." A flash of pride shown in Bruce's eyes. 'He's always trying to make himself better.' he thought happily. Bruce and Alfred both knew the uneven bars were the closest thing Dick could get to flying on the trapeze.

'I'd buy the kid the whole circus if I'd make him smile.' Bruce thought, he just wished he could find a way to let Dick get on the trapeze again. At first he thought he would never want to get on it again, because of the way his parent's died, but Dick had expressed that he was more than ready.

It was at that moment Dick entered the room, with his hands still wrapped in athletic tape and a bottle of water in his hands. His breathing was uneven only in the slightest and it was obvious that he came straight to the kitchen after getting off the uneven bars.

"Hey Dickie, we were just talking about you." Bruce was relieved he could have an excuse to stop working. Dick looked at Bruce suspiciously, then eyed the paperwork in front of him. After being mentored by the World's Greatest Detective he put two and two together.

"You just want an excuse to stop working." He smiled to Bruce. Bruce chuckled and sighed.

"You're right."

"So whatcha doin' Bruce?"

"Paperwork."

"Well, duh," Dick lolled his toungue out as he set his bottle of water on the table,"I mean what's in it." Bruce gave him a half-smile. 'No ten year old is going to be interested in balancing finances. Well Dicks not an ordinary ten year old...'

"Finances." Bruce finally answered. Dick came up behind Bruce to peek over at the papers.

"Hmm." Dick murmered and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Bruce studied the paper in front of him, trying to find an error.

"I think the math's off a little..." Dick said shyly. 'I don't want to offend him... besides what if I'm wrong, what do I know.' Dick started to second guess himself.

"I knew something was off, it didn't seem right." Bruce's words brought some confidence back to Dick. 'He's really trusting me with this.' He thought nervously.

Bruce sat back in his seat, 'I'll humor the kid, I know he's brilliant.' He looked over at Dick, who was biting his lip, 'Does he know he's brilliant?' He silently wondered. Only Bruce knew that the numbers in front of him were not just hundreds of dollars, or even thousands, but he wasn't about to tell that to Dick now, if there was a mistake it would be worth more than most people make in their entire lives.

Dick began to slowly start going through the finances on another sheet of paper, explaining softly, he started to get more confident as he went on. When he was done Bruce stared at him in shock.

'The kid was right. That was just about to become almost a million dollars of misplaced funds because I screwed up the math...' Dick was fidgeting in his seat, looking at Bruce expectantly.

"That's..." Bruce paused and looked over at Dick, who was now twisting his hands together nervously, all his prior confidence gone, "Brilliant, Dick this was about to be a million dollar mistake." Dick widened his eyes in shock.

"I...I..." he was at a loss for words, Bruce was giving him one of his special smiles. Alfred had been watching from the doorway and now stood proudly. Bruce marked a few things on the paper to correct some of the marks he had done, matching it to Dick's work.

"I think you've earned the right to come with me to the Justice league meeting tonight Dick." Dick had been smiling down at his hands but at this he looked up in shock.

"Really?! You'd let me?"

"Sure, I think Barry's been talking about bringing Wally pretty soon, maybe you two will become friends."

Dick bounced up and down in his seat slightly. Before processing fully what Bruce had said.

"Wally?"

"Kid Flash," Bruce rephrased, "But right now how about we go and work on your uneven bars a little more." Bruce knew Dick loved the uneven bars, it was never considered work to him.

Instead of answering Dick grabbed the half finished water bottle from the table and bounded down to the Cave. Bruce smiled after him.

He looked down at the paperwork one more time. 'That could've been a terrible mistake...'

"Master Dick is quite brilliant, isn't he Master Bruce." Alfred smiled at Bruce.

"He sure is, Alfred, he sure is."