Morally_Gray suggested this a while ago (july) but things get in the way because work and shit so here it is like months after it was suggested 

Slight content warning for the implication of underage drinking and addiction although none of that happens here. As always for cw, I've put some helplines below 

for the UK: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/find-alcohol-addiction-support-services/ 

for the US: https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcohol-drug-hotline

for Australia: https://au.reachout.com/articles/alcohol-addiction

I've done these based on my analytics on where most of my readers are from but if you are from a different country and don't know where to look, shoot me a message and I'll find a service for your country :)

Dick was no angel no matter how many times Jason called him the golden child. He got into trouble like the rest of them, let his anger take over one too many times and was stubbornly selfless to the point it was a miracle both he and the people he gave heart attacks to were alive. Still, it came as a shock when he asked Barbara if she could get a hold of some of her dad's spirits before a gala. 

At first, she thought he was joking and exaggerating how hard it was to get through parties with the richest Gothamites around. It wasn't a secret that he hated going to them. She laughed at the request but then he turned to her, looking far more serious than he should, and asked her if she could do it. 

"Dick, you can't be serious." It was stupid to think she could sneak past both her dad and Bruce not to mention the whole horde of detectives that lived with him. Even if they could get the alcohol into the gala, he would get drunk and they would definitely know then. 

"I know it's a lot to ask but B doesn't keep anything in the house and I can't buy it. I only need a little. You could put some of his vodka in a water bottle and then replace the difference with water. He won't know."

"You're a kid, I'm not getting you vodka. I wouldn't even get you a cider!"

"C'mon, I never ask you for anything."

"No. That's my final answer." To his credit, he didn't push after that although he did look rather defeated. 

"Okay. Just don't tell anyone I asked. Please."

Initially, she agreed. Nobody needed to know about his request when she already said no and he didn't push it any further. He didn't turn nasty when she refused and he didn't seem all that determined. Yet when she lingered on the memory, he seemed off. Unlike himself. Had he already been finding alcohol elsewhere and now the source had dried up? She couldn't sleep on it knowing she hadn't told anyone and if something happened then she would only blame herself. She had to tell somebody.

Barbara knew Bruce wasn't the person to talk to. He could be a good dad but not when it came to things like these although he usually meant well. He got too hung up on the details of doing something bad rather than why his kids did something bad. He could never calm himself down fast enough to not make things worse. So he was ruled out immediately along with Damian who shared his father's temperament.

After some thought, she decided Jason and Steph were the best people to talk to. They wouldn't freak out.

She thought about doing it in the manor but quickly realised that left the conversation at risk of people walking in on it and she didn't want to expose her friend to that. Settling on meeting them during a patrol, all she told them was that they needed to talk and they couldn't let Dick know they were meeting to which they agreed. Batgirl paced the rooftop as she thought about the best way to go about the topic. She wasn't sure it was anything more than just wanting to try alcohol for the first time so she needed to find an appropriate middle ground between serious concern and giving them a heads-up that he was getting rebellious. 

Her pacing was interrupted by the sound of feet falling and she turned around to see Red Robin and Spoiler.

"Thanks for coming," she began.

"No worries. So what's up?" Spoiler asked.

"It's about Dick. He asked me to get some of my dad's vodka for the gala tomorrow and I thought he was joking but he wasn't. He asked again and I said no and he didn't push it further but I'm worried he'll try to get it from someone else," she explained. "I know he finds galas difficult with everyone looking at him wrong but he shouldn't be drinking." The siblings sighed to themselves, glaring at the floor before glancing at one another in some silent batfamily conversation Batgirl only caught every other word. She only knew that they weren't going to Bruce about it which she was thankful for. 

"Text him and say you changed your mind. Say you thought about it, felt bad about it, something believable that he'll take at face value. Set a time to meet up."

"Wait, so you want me to give him alcohol? He's twelve!"

"You're not actually going to be there. It'll be us instead. That way he can't deny he was asking for it and we can have a conversation about it without the demon spawn breathing down our necks. I swear he has the manor bugged," Red Robin clarified. "Every kid thinks about sneaking that shit into those galas but Dick? Either he's getting it for someone else or something is going on with him."

"To be honest, we've been worried about him too," Spoiler admitted. "He's been quiet since we mentioned the gala. Like the thought of it makes his skin crawl. The others would just be pissed off hearing he wanted alcohol so you made the right call talking to us instead." At seeing Batgirl's apprehension, she put her hand on her shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. "We'll look after him."

"He'll be mad I told you. He said not to tell anyone."

"He'll be mad for like two seconds. Dick can be dense but he will get that this is for the best. Try not to worry about it."

"Better to worry about him being mad than him getting his stomach pumped," Red Robin added.

Dick was suspicious. He knew it was too good for Barbara to suddenly have a change of heart after being so fiercely against him getting it but the gala was tomorrow and he was desperate. The meeting spot was in a local park, by the benches where no one sat because it was too close to the big bins that were hardly emptied. He guessed it was for privacy although in Gotham no one would look twice at a kid receiving vodka. Not much would phase its citizens at this point. 

He played on his phone until the meet time and when he looked up trying to spot a head full of ginger hair, he saw Steph and Jason instead. Of course it was too good. Of course, Barbara went to them after he asked for vodka. He put his phone away and waited for them to get closer. There was no point in running away because they'd only catch him and if everyone else knew, running would just make things worse. So he sat there awaiting his fate.

"You don't seem too surprised," Steph stated. The younger shrugged unhappily. 

"I knew it was too lucky for her to change her mind," he answered. "I'm guessing now you two will drag me home and I'll be grounded. Maybe get a super fun lecture thrown in there too for kicks. Damian will monitor any money I'm given so I never have enough to even buy a buzzball and I'll get told this isn't Robin behaviour." He shrugged to himself, hopeless. The siblings shared a look he knew meant pity and sat on either side of him, either to keep him from running or to somehow protect him from the situation he was in. 

"If you tell us why you wanted it, we can skip all that. Our little secret," Steph bargained. "Like when you caught me putting laxatives in the aspic."

"Or when you saw me aim to hit someone in the head and not the body," Jason added. Dick nodded. He'd much rather keep this between them and he felt secure in knowing they weren't lying to him so he'd spill his guts. Even with that confirmation though, he didn't know where to start.

"Is this your first time trying to get it?" Steph prompted. He nodded and felt them breathe a sigh of relief. "Okay, then why did you want it?"

"It's stupid."

"No, asking Babs for it was stupid. The reason for asking isn't," Jason assured him. "You can tell us."

"I just- I really hate galas," he answered quietly. He never really talked about why he didn't like them before. Partially because he never got that far before somebody jumped in and said everyone hated them. Partially because he was too tired of thinking about how he hated them to actually force himself to say something when he was shot down. "Alfred spends an hour trying to make my hair look straight and for days after it feels gross but he doesn't do that with Steph's curls. He calls them beautiful but mine are something to be changed. Damian practices dialect with me and every time my accent slips through, I'm scolded for not sounding like the other boys there but Jason talks differently and gets no training at all. I'm forced into suits that feel wrong, into listening to people give me backhanded compliments like how well I act for a circus kid. The whole thing makes me feel gross but whenever I say that, suddenly I'm whining and need to grow up."

"Dick-"

"When people drink, for the most part, they're happy. They have a good night and if they don't, that's because they drank enough to forget it. My plan was to drink before the gala, sneak it in during it and then pretend I was sick if I drank too much. Maybe pretend I was drugged or something." 

He knew it wouldn't work for long. If they thought he was far too sick for a simple flu, they would test him and they'd find his blood alcohol level was high so they'd naturally come to the conclusion he'd drank alcohol. He could only keep up with the lie for so long before they dug too deep like the detectives they were. Dick knew that it would eventually come out what he'd done but he'd hope before then maybe he wouldn't be allowed to go to any galas until they were sure of what made him sick. Wishful thinking. 

"You could've said something," Jason said after a long pause.

"You wouldn't let me. Everybody hates galas. That's how life works." 

"You should've-"

"What? I should've started shouting? Should I have held a family meeting about why I hate them? Yeah, you would've really listened to me then." He shook his head. "I wanted to get through it and end the night for once not hating myself for everything my parents loved about me. My mum loved my curls and taught me how to take care of them. My dad loved my accent and taught me his language, congratulating me whenever I got the inflexions down." 

"We love those things about you too," Steph insisted. "The people at the galas don't. We try to get you to fit in because you won't receive as much backlash."

"Well, it feels like you hate those things about me too. You're supposed to be my family and stick by me not change me. You say it's because you're trying to protect me but it feels like you just don't want me to embarrass you. I sorta get why Damian does it because he grew up being picked apart but why is he subjecting me to it from my own family? Why do you guys care what strangers think about me?" He hesitated to ask the next question but he felt like he had to. "Do you hate everything that makes me who I am like they do?"

"Shit dude, of course not," Jason assured him. He put his arm around the younger and brought him into a hug. "We just want you to fit in."

"I don't wanna fit in if it makes me hate myself. I'm sick of hating myself."

"You need to tell the others this too. They don't mean to hurt you. Leave out the part about alcohol and say that's why you've been quiet. Don't think we haven't noticed that by the way. We know when something's wrong, we just don't know what it is."

"Like they'll listen."

"They will, we'll make sure of it," Steph told him. She sounded so sure that, for now, he'd let himself believe it would change things.