Work Text:
Even though Peter Grayson is mentally 18 due to having a past life, he often finds himself enjoying playing with his toys and make believe as a child now. He almost forgot how imaginative he use to be. He especially loved to play pretend and get his family members to join in.
The young boy gets excited to conjure up ridiculous dramatic-play settings while assigning roles for his participants.
There was one play session where he, Stephanie and Damien played as firefighters. The young uncle wanted his nephew to have a proper experience as a person who fought fires. So he “pretended” to be a arsonist and set a tree on fire on Wayne estate property. Stephanie and Peter had a blast trying to take out the flames with a garden hose and water balloons.
They were able to put down the fire, but were immediately grounded by an displeased Alfred and Bruce. Dick however yelled at his siblings and son for hours. They swore they could see the man’s hair turning grey.
It was a full house at the manor, he could pass up this rare opportunity to have everyone play pretend. Peter believes he has the perfect scenario.
___
Dick Grayson loves his son dearly. Peter is the love of his life, the sun that chases storm clouds away. He would die for this boy. Every parent says their child is so smart and creative, but Peter is truly that. His kid could understand complex ideas that no child could. While other kids would want a coloring book, his child would want those math workbooks for kids. Peter can sit at the table for hours, finishing the booklet and get all the right answers without cheating.
Peter was quick when learning how to read. Maybe a bit to quickly. A concept of learning the letters of the alphabet, to the sounds each letter makes is a lot for a child. Let’s not forget that putting two letters together can make very different sounds. There are vowels and consonants, sight words, silent letters. Learning to read can take few years for a child to master. Peter on the other hand, just knew how to read by the time he was 3-years-old.
His boy is gonna be a genius!
What Dick is trying to say is that he loves his son no matter what, but he’ll still questions about his kid’s creativity.
Peter has got the whole family gathered in the family room to hold a pretend funeral.
That’s right, a funeral.
Who’s funeral was it?
The funeral is for a random yellow bear plushie that Peter has named Quentin Beck.
Where did that name come from?
Peter convinced everyone to wear black. The family sat on the sofa has Peter gives his speech.
“Here lies, Quentin Beck. Beck was not a good bear. No one liked him and he died alone.” Peter states.
Jason and Steph snort as they holds in their laugh. Dick just blinks. Damian and Cass nod in agreement?
“That’s harsh…” Duke mumbles to himself. Bruce and Barbara looked confused as Alfred pretends to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief.
“Beck was a bad friend and a liar. He manipulates people to get what he wants. He was known to be two-faced. He pretends to be your friend, he’ll be nice and tell you he’ll always help you. Than boom! He pushes you into an on coming train!” How Peter sounded, it sounds like he himself actually experienced it.
Is someone bullying him at school? Is this Beck kid someone Peter had a falling out with? Peter’s been acting normal, he hasn’t even mentioned having a bad day at school.
If so, is having a pretend funeral a healthy way to cope with it?
“He will do anything to destroy your life, even if you didn’t do anything to him.” Peter states. “We should be happy he’s dead. You all may come up and laugh at his corpse.”
The bear is resting in one of Bruce’s shoe boxes. Just looking innocent as it bears the crimes of a Quentin Beck.
Jason was first to pay his disrespect. “He had it coming.” Was all he said.
Damian went up and stared at the bear. “The jobs done.” He states. Peter gave him Monopoly money.
Did Damien pretend to assassinate the bear??
Steph punched the bear. “Square up! Oh you can’t! You’re dead!” She laughs in it’s face.
Cass flipped off the bear.
Duke starts roasting the bear. “Dumb bear! Winnie the Pooh wannabe! You don’t know the difference between honey and maple syrup!”
Bruce and Dick both blinked at the bear.
Babs just pretends to glare at it.
Alfred looked at it with disapproval.
Tim poured coffee (it was actually just water in a mug) on the bear.
“Now that we all paid our disrespects,” Peter closed the shoebox with the bear still inside. “It is time to cremate him.”
Peter takes the box and walks to the fireplace. There were no fire in the place, but Peter still places the box in the area and stepped back. As they all watch the box “burn”.
Yeah, Dick needs to have a talk with Peter.
___
Peter is sure the pretend funeral went great. Everyone played their part perfectly. Did they 100% understood what was happening? Absolutely not. Was is funny? Yes.
Peter is working on a workbook Tim got for him, it focuses on multiplication. There are phrase you need to uncover by solving the problems correctly.
“Hey, bug.” Dick greets as he sits at the table next to his son. “Are you working on the book Uncle Tim go you?”
“Yep! But it’s too easy!”
“Too easy!” Dick gasps dramatically. “Let me see.” The older man looks at the page his son is working on, the page focused on problems that multiply by 7. It is easy for the average adult, but it shouldn’t be easy for a 7-year-old.
Peter isn’t like other kids.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
Peter looks at his dad as he puts his pencil down. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Is someone bothering you at school?”
Peter blinks at the question. The boy gets along with everyone in his class.
“No?” The brunette answered a bit confused.
“Do you know someone at school named Quentin?”
Not at school.
Peter shakes his head.
“I’m only asking because they why you were talking about him, you made him sound like a real person.” Dick admits. “You used a lot of strong negative words to describe him.”
“Also when having a funeral, you’re supposed to say good things about someone not bad things.” His father explained. “I don’t want you to think the only way to solve a conflict with someone is for them to be dead.”
Peter should of saw this coming. He thought his family would interpret the wake as something funny and strange. That’s why he used Beck, it’s easier to talk about bad stuff about a bad person. Yes Beck was an actual real person, but he doesn’t exist. At least in his past life.
Peter can only hope Quintin Beck isn’t in this universe either…
“I’m sorry.” The boy apologizes. “I wanted to make the funeral funny. I didn’t mean to actually make you worry.”
Dick’s face melts into a soft expression. “Aw, bug.” The older man pulls his kid in for a hug. “The funeral was funny, a bit strange, but still funny. I just want you to always know that you can always come to me if anyone is giving you problems. You can tell Jason, Damian, Cass, anyone in this family would kick who’s ever butt is giving you a problem!”
Peter hugs back tightly with a giggle. “I know! Who do I tell if I have a problem with you?” The boy teases.
“You’ll never have a problem with me! Ever!”
___
While at work on a Monday morning, Dick did call Peter’s school for some answers.
He doesn’t think his son would lie, but he was still worried.
He just wants to make sure his son is safe and happy. Is that really wrong.
The school told him there was no student on file with the name Quinten, but they did have a teacher named Mrs. Beck. Full name, Misty Beck, a fourth grade teacher.
The school mentioned she is a widow and a single mom to a 17-year-old son.
Dick was confused on why they would give him such personal information that he didn’t even ask for.
He’ll have to use his police connections to up the security at schools later.
For now, he’s just happy that his kid didn’t have any troubles at school.