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[sub]"Mary Jane's Last Dance" | Chapter 1 | [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUY2kJE0AZE]Post Theme[/url]
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[b]STATELY WAYNE MANOR[/b]
Bristol Township, New Jersey
[i]January 1, 1968[/i]

[indent][color=silver]Dick didn’t remember how he’d made it to his bed, he was just glad that he had. 

He’d woken up at one point, only to look around with the realization that the sun was already up, but no one had come to get him for breakfast. Alfred was letting him sleep in? 

Oh, right. It wasn’t a school day. 

That also explained why Luke was sleeping beside him. So, the boy just let his head roll back on the pillow and drifted back to sleep. How long he drifted away, he wasn’t sure. He felt Luke move and the movement prompted Dick to roll over from sleeping on his stomach to lying on his back.

And then a smell went straight up his nose.

[color=#ffd700]“[i]Argh![/i]”[/color] Wide-awake now, the acrobat’s hand seized hold of his pillow before whipping it around to solidly connect with the blanket-covered lump next to him. [color=#ffd700]“Go fart in your own bed!”[/color]

A disheveled afro shot up, throwing a pillow of his own. “That was YOU!”

[color=#ffd700]“Was not!”[/color]

“Was so!”

This eloquent investigation into [i]he who smelt it, dealt it[/i] was quickly de-railed from any further progress, as Dick wound up for another throw of the pillow and found himself being tackled off the bed by his sleepover companion.

A mass of bedsheets spilled out onto the floor, entangling the pair as they rolled around on the ground, each trying to land hits on the other while also untangling themselves from, well, themselves.

[color=#ffffff]“Gentlemen!”[/color]

The dynamic duo found themselves staring at a pair of black wingtips. Very well polished black wingtips. Which, as their eyes traveled up the attached legs, led to a rather perturbed looking butler glaring down at the pair. [color=#ffffff]“Mister Wayne is having guests for brunch,”[/color] Alfred announced, as Dick and Luke began to untangle themselves.

Luke was wearing one of Dick’s nightshirts -- which was, like everything, actually one of Bruce’s old nightshirts.

As for Dick? Pajamas didn’t really stay on him through a night. Or duvets, for that matter. Underwear of power was just how he rolled. [color=#ffd700]“Guests, again?”[/color] the boy remarked. Seriously, how often did rich people do these [i]party-talking-boring-things?[/i] [color=#ffd700]“Didn’t we just have a big party thing?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]“There are many visitors to Wayne Manor on business,”[/color] Alfred stated, as he bent down to scoop the sheet from off the floor. Folding it in his arms, he placed it back on the bed as he turned back toward the pair and said, [color=#ffffff]“You’ll take your food in the kitchen, so that you don’t disturb...”[/color]

Food in kitchen. That was all either boy heard.

With Alfred in mid-sentence, both boys bolted from out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

[b][color=#ffffff]“Master Richard!”[/color][/b]

Vaulting up from the floor onto the railing that overlooked the foyer below, the underwear-clad boy wonder did a flip so that he was balanced on the railing facing toward Alfred as his name was called.

[color=#ffffff]“A young man should dress properly before going out of his room.”[/color]

[color=#ffd700]“Why?”[/color] Dick asked, his head tilted to one side. [color=#ffd700]“Its hot in here,”[/color] the boy complained, as he did another flip and then ran to catch up with Luke in the kitchen.

As he ran along the bannister, the young Flying Grayson caught a glimpse of Bruce and a couple of adults at a table. He exchanged a momentary glance with a rather bewildered Batman, though didn’t think much of it as the boy wonder vaulted off the railing, onto the stairs, and then vanished around the corner.

A laugh broke up the silence that had suddenly stifled the conversation. From next to Bruce Wayne, a man asked, “Keeping wild elephants in the house, Bruce?”

The sound of two boys ransacking the mansion like a pack of wild animals was certainly the liveliest that Bruce could recall the mansion being. Which, was still a shock. Recovering, the man glanced over to his left as he offered, [color=#9fc5e8]“No, though I suppose it is a circus.”[/color][/color][/indent]

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[indent][color=silver]Alfred may have only moved his troubles from one of the bedrooms to the kitchen.

Dick and Luke could manage to sit and eat, which was relatively quiet, but that was in spats of maybe two minutes at best before they were enthusing over something in the comics. At least with the two of them in the kitchen, the noise that they generated ought to be somewhat contained while Alfred tried to get some food into them.

Which, was not the issue as much as either of them shutting up long enough to actually eat it.

Alfred wanted to go put another sweater on just [i]looking[/i] at Dick, who was blissfully oblivious as he lounged in his underwear. The two boys swapped off comics pages, one reading the ones from the Gotham Gazette while the other read the ones from the Daily Planet. 

The Wall Street Journal, of course, went untouched.

As Dick fumbled with the Gotham Gazette, trying to fold it back, the boy wound up paging through several different sections as he tried to figure out how the paper puzzle was supposed to fold.

Which was when an advertisement caught his eye. [i]Wanted: information regarding Shelia Brown. Missing since July 17.[/i]

Sliding down from his chair, the boy held the paper. A quick glance back at the table reassured him that Luke was absorbed in the comics. Stepping over toward where Alfred had just come in from busing Bruce’s table, the boy quietly asked, [color=#ffd700]“Mister Pennyworth, sir? Can you help me, [i]uh[/i], find my pants?”[/color]

The butler shot the boy a quizzical expression, as Dick held up the newspaper. [color=#ffffff]“Of course,”[/color] the man uttered finally, ushering the boy toward the laundry.

Once satisfied that they were out of Luke’s earshot, Dick passed the paper up to Alfred as he said, [color=#ffd700]“There’s still one missing!”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]“The papers said that we found all the girls. Perhaps its unrelated?”[/color] Alfred noted somberly, lowering the paper as he added, [color=#ffffff]“People go missing. Not all are the fault of that Jarvis fellow.”[/color]

[color=gold]“If she’s not connected to Mad Hatter, then she’s been gone all this time and no one’s been looking in the right place,”[/color] Dick remarked. [i]He[/i] hadn’t been looking in the right place. He hadn’t been looking at all. He’d assumed they’d found all the missing kids and...

...and so he hadn’t been looking at all.

Had the police done the same thing?

[color=#ffffff]“So you want to continue your investigation then?[/color]” Alfred asked, in a tone that reminded Dick that the butler wasn’t exactly a [i]fan[/i] of Robin, the Boy Wonder. Then the man gave a sight. [color=#ffffff]“Very well, this weekend...”[/color]

[color=#ffd700]“About that,”[/color] Dick uttered, pausing as Alfred folded the paper up in a tell-tale manner that gave Dick the impression that, if he wasn’t careful, he’d get swatted with it.  [color=#ffd700]“I was thinking... we’re taking Luke home later, right?”[/color]

The weaponized newspaper was leveled at his nose. [color=#ffffff]“Young man, it is a school night.”[/color]

Holding up his hands, as though surrendering, Dick answered, [color=#ffd700]“Yes, but this would be really quick. In and out. We’d be back here before my bed time!”[/color]

Alfred was obviously less than impressed with this idea.

[color=#ffd700]“Mister Pennyworth, sir, I’ll follow all the rules Mister Wayne and you gave me, but I don’t want to just [i]sit here[/i] waiting for the weekend to do something.”[/color]

Tapping the rolled up newspaper against the palm of his hand, the butler gave another sigh. [color=#ffffff]“You’re a very mature young man,”[/color] Alfred conceded, before he said, [color=#ffffff]“Very well.”[/color]

[color=#ffd700]“Great!”[/color] Dick chirped, throwing a celebratory fist in the air. Then, leaning closer, asked,

[color=#ffd700]“Now, [i]uh[/i], can Luke and I go out and play?”[/color][/color][/indent][/hider]