CherryBerry952 requested a follow up so here we are like months after I posted the random dialogue they're referencing :D

here at robin one shots part 3, we'll do your request just around the time you completely forget you requested it

"Okay losers, we're doing wards vers adoptees. Demon can go with adopted. Line up," Jason announced. They were having a snowball battle and he needed a way to split the teams up a little evenly. He watched them line up and made a face when Dick stood with Steph. "No, we're doing wards vers adoptees dumbass."

"Yeah, I know that," the acrobat replied, equally confused.

"But you're adopted," Duke argued. The taller turned to him, his eyebrows knitted together.

"Uhh, last time I checked I wasn't."

"What do you mean?" Tim asked. The group gradually got more concerned about the information they were hearing. Dick was brought to the Manor when he was a kid and left when he was just past his mid-teens. There was so much time to be adopted and to their knowledge, Bruce was his father figure.

"I never got adopted," Dick confirmed with a shrug. "I don't think we have balanced numbers. We should do newbies vers originals."

"No, wait we're not done here. How the fuck are you not adopted?" Jason asked. Again, the acrobat shrugged.

"Never asked I guess? I don't know. It's not too bad, it doesn't hurt anymore." He looked off to the ground somewhere and stared for a moment. He jumped when he felt Cass put a hand on his arm but quickly put on a warm smile. "C'mon let's just play before the snow melts. I'm not becoming an orange otter pop."

"Why an orange otter pop?"

"Orphan orange."

"Wow."

Dick's not being adopted felt wrong. It was like American's and European Kinder eggs or milk and Redbull. It wasn't right and shouldn't be put together. He'd been there the longest and adoption was never on the table? Although the others were content to shrug the fact off given that it didn't seem to upset Dick anymore, Cass seemed to take it personally. Perhaps because she knew Bruce would listen to her the most out of all his kids. That and she felt a certain kind of ick about the whole thing that she didn't want to leave unaddressed. During a break from the snowball fight, she went to the library to find Bruce working on Wayne Tech documents. She didn't care to ask if they were important or if he needed a minute. She just opened the door and walked in then stood in front of his desk until he looked up. "Hi, can I help you?" he asked. She folded her arms and he sat up properly. "What happened?"

"Dick," she stated. "Not adopted." Bruce stared at her for a moment then glanced around the room as he tried to think. "It's a problem."

"Oh, did he say that?" She shook her head. "Then why is it a problem?" She let out an exasperated sigh. 

"He wants to be. You should've done it when he was a child," she explained. He hummed and returned his gaze to his work. "You take advantage of him. Adopt him. It's the least you can do." The great thing about Cass was that she could get right to the problem with so few words but she could make you feel like shit as you would if you'd received a long lecture that dragged out every single thing you did wrong. She could do all of that with a straight face and leave the room with perfect poise that sold that she didn't regret what she said. She said things knowing their gravity. It's what hurt most. Bruce watched her leave and now he had to sit with what was said. Admittedly, he'd had the papers ready for years but then he'd do something to fuck it all up and he couldn't pop up with adoption papers. It would be disingenuous. Problem was that he kept doing it. It's not like he didn't want to adopt Dick and it's not that he didn't appreciate everything he'd done but he supposed in the grand scheme of things it would come across like that. He rubbed his temples as he stared at his work. 

"Note to self: book an appointment with my lawyer."

"Here, I think it's long overdue," Bruce said as he handed over the manilla envelope. His ward took it carefully and opened it, narrowing his eyes at the older as he got close to seeing the contents. Everyone's eyes were on him so that didn't help ease any anxiety he was having about what it could be. Part of him thought it would be his first lawsuit or something. He pulled out the slip of paper and read over the text. Dick stared at it then stared up at his mentor. 

"Is this for a mission?" Bruce seemed surprised by his answer as did his siblings but this seemed like something he'd do. 

"No, they're adoption papers," the older insisted. 

"Yeah I know they are but why?"

"Because you're not adopted?" He stared for a few moments before a smile broke out on his face. It wasn't a good smile though. It was a smile they'd all come to prepare for the back end of because this smile was bitter and barely contained his anger. "What?"

"You think a piece of paper means anything to me," Dick replied. He sealed the envelope and handed it over. "If you wanted to adopt me, you could've years ago. They've obviously spoken to you, which is very sweet by the way, but you didn't think about doing it at all did you?"

"No," he admitted honestly. 

"You were right. It is long overdue and you missed your chance. How about you parent your other kids that aren't lost causes yet? I'm only here because I tolerate who you are not because you're my dad."

"Dick-"

"You have missed every chance to be my father so why the fuck would I ever want you to have that title? You're a failure, Bruce Wayne. You're a failure."

Bruce shot up out of bed, his chest heaving despite the nightmare not being his usual gruesome ones. He glanced over to the bedside table where he was keeping the documents. Whatever it was about that dream, it had told him that this needed to be private. This had to be father and son and he couldn't wait a moment more even if it was four in the morning. He jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on some pyjama bottoms and a shirt. He then grabbed the manilla folder and let out a short sigh before quickly walking out of the room. The house was silent since most of them had passed out after a long day of threatening to kill one another - mostly Damian - and fighting crime on the side. As he walked past the rooms, he could hear snoring and the soft sound of a true-crime podcast in Tim's room. When he got to Dick's room, he debated knocking before entering the room. He hesitated a few times before knocking and walking in. There was no pause between knocking and walking in so he supposed in hindsight there was no point in it. That point was further proven when he saw his knock had done nothing to stir Dick. In the dark, he spied out a packet of pills on the beside along with some half-drunk water.  Right. Dick took Nytol. Bruce closed the door behind him and went over to the bed, sitting on the edge beside the acrobat. Before he revealed who he was to Dick, he'd come back from patrol and sit on his bed. Sometimes it was for a reality check and sometimes it was simply for comfort. Knowing where the ward under his protection was at night made him feel as though he had the tiniest bit of control. He'd brush his hands through his hair and sometimes shush him lightly if he ever heard a whimper from a nightmare. Bruce stopped doing it when Dick was Robin and he'd always sort of regretted it. He gently shook Dick's shoulder and managed to get a soft questioning hum after a few shakes. "Wake up," he called.

"Is Gotham on fire?" Dick asked. He chuckled a little at the fact his eyes were still closed.

"No."

"Is Bludhaven on fire?"

"Not that I know of."

"Then why am I awake?" he grumbled. Bruce tutted and patted him on the head with the envelope, successfully getting him to open his eyes.

"Because I have something for you."

"If this is a case, I'm gonna beat your ass," the younger huffed as he moved to sit up, turning on the lamp as he was settled. 

"It's not a case." He hummed sceptically and ripped open the envelope before pulling out the contents. Bruce held his breath as he read over it and then looked at him. "I'm adopting you. Legally. I know it's been far too long and I should've done it when you were a kid but the others were talking about what you said so I just thought-"

"Bruce, shut up," Dick interrupted with a bright smile. He put the papers to the side and threw his arms around his mentor, pulling him into a tight hug. "I'm not calling you Dad."

"I'd never expect you to." He held his son close and his eyes watered. As good as it was now that Dick was his son, he should've done it before. He'd put the man through so much that a piece of paper, although somewhat meaningless in terms of confirming what they both felt, didn't feel like enough. "I don't say it enough but I love you like a son. I'm so proud of you."

"You're gonna make me cry and it's not even eight am. You couldn't wait for the reveal?" the younger asked as he pulled away.

"Felt like you'd waited long enough," he answered. 

"Oh God, did the others tell you about what happened last week? You didn't need to adopt me."

"No, I did need to. Cass was actually the one to say something and she was right to remind me that you should be adopted." Dick smiled before letting out a yawn. "I should let you get back to sleep huh?"

"Yeah, we can celebrate tomorrow." He nodded and watched his son lie back down, bringing the sheets over his shoulder. Dick seemed to notice the slight resistance to leave and smiled to himself. "You can stay if you want, creep. You used to do it all the time when I was Robin."

"You remember that?"

"Of course. Showed me that you actually cared." Bruce hummed and tucked his hair behind his ear which seemed to make the man look awfully young. He wished he could go back in time to tell the young boy that came to the Manor that this was his safe place now and that he was a Wayne in his own right. Maybe it would change how things went for the better but knowing them, it could be for the worst. 

"Why are you so patient with me?" Bruce asked, not really meaning to say it out loud. The question put Dick's quest for sleep on hold. He frowned, his eyes looking around the room before landing on his mentor. He sat up a bit, resting on his elbows before letting out a sigh. One that felt like he'd been asking himself the same thing.

"Little things. You don't say you care but then you tell Alfred to make me my favourite meal when I'm sad and you'll hug me like I'm gonna disappear. I can't forgive you for everything B, I can never forgive you for Spyral for example, but you're my dad."

"You never told them I made you go. Why?"

"I don't know. Part of me felt like I deserved it for even going through with it," he mumbled. "You put me through a lot Bruce. You continue to do so. I go along with it and sometimes you make me so mad I want to rip your head off but I stay."

"You're a good man Dick. A better man than me. I know I can't make up for everything that I put you through but I want to. In any way I can." Dick frowned. "What? What's wrong?"

"I get that you want to be there and I appreciate that you're sorry for what you've done but you've got other kids now. Focus on not repeating your mistakes."

"You're still my kid."

"But I'm not a kid."

"You'll always be a kid to me." The acrobat teared up at the statement. "Come here." He did and was pulled into a hug. Both of them knew they needed time. Neither of them knew if they could be the people they began as when they first met each other. Yet as they held one another, they both thought of the same memory. A time when Dick just came to the Manor and one night it all just hit him that he could never have the life he expected or wanted. Bruce overheard and despite all his awkwardness about emotions, he opened the door and sat with his foster son. At that moment, Bruce saw Dick and Dick saw Bruce. They both saw each other as who they were. Now here they were, more than a decade later, finally having that moment again. They saw each other. What it meant for the future was uncertain but it meant that right now they were being seen. That was enough.