It was just another typical Saturday morning for Dick, stuck at home because he was grounded. He had pulled a prank on the Commissioner two nights ago that wasn't very nice. Now he was bored out of his mind because he couldn't go to the mountain, have friends over, watch TV, or touch his computer. He was even grounded from being Robin for an entire week.

After a few more minutes of just sitting on the couch staring at a blank TV screen, he sighed, got up, and went to see if Bruce had anything he could do. 'I'd even take washing and waxing the Batmobile.'

He knocked on the study door and walked in when Bruce gave the ok. "Bruce, do you have anything I can do? I'm soooooo bored."

Bruce glanced up from the papers he was reading. "Can't you find something?"

"You won't let me watch TV, touch the computer, let Wally come over, or go to the mountain. What am I supposed to do?" Dick replied.

"What about your homework?"

"I got that done last night while you were out on patrol."

"All of it?" he asked skeptically. "What about your History project?"

Dick looked away from him. 'Dang it.' He'd put off the project for two weeks now and it was due next week. "I... Well..." He wasn't sure how to go on. He really didn't have any good excuses.

Bruce sighed a little annoyed. "Dick, you need to get it done." He went back to his papers. "Now you need to go and beat the bushes."

Dick looked at him very confused. 'Beat the bushes?' "Uhhhh... ok," he replied unsure what that meant. He then turned and left the room.

Bruce looked up as Dick left and just shook his head and tried to concentrate on his work.

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About an hour and a half later, Bruce walked out of his study and saw that Dick wasn't in the living room. He then checked Dick's room, the kitchen, then finally the cave, but he wasn't in any of those places. As he walked back toward Dick's room, he saw Alfred come out of the study and head toward the kitchen. "Alfred, have you seen Dick?" he asked as he walked up to the man.

"No, Sir, not since he was sitting in the living room almost two hours ago. Maybe..."

"Take that!"

Bruce and Alfred turned toward where they thought the sound was coming from, but didn't see anything. Bruce then turned back to Alfred and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he heard it again.

"And that! You won't get away from me!"

They both looked toward the sound again, but still didn't see anyone.

"You won't get me!"

They looked at each other very confused. "That sounded like Master Dick," Alfred said.

They both ran to the front door then to the side of the house where they heard the sound. "Good heavens!" Alfred cried when he saw the sight before him. Bruce just stood there with his eyes wide in surprise.

Dick was standing there holding a baseball bat and was beating the bushes. "Ha, ha. I told you you couldn't get away," Dick said not realizing he now had an audience.

"Master Dick, stop that at once!" Alfred shouted as he quickly walked to the boy.

Dick turned toward them surprised and dropped the bat. Bruce just looked at the demolished bushes and started laughing, which caused Alfred and Dick to look at him curiously. "Master Bruce, this is no laughing matter," Alfred said seriously.

Bruce tried to calm his laughter, but the smile on his face wouldn't budge. "Dick, did you think I actually meant go out and beat the bushes to a pulp?"

Dick looked at him confused. "But that's what you said."

Bruce just laughed again. "I meant you needed to get to work on your project."

Dick smiled and blushed. "Oh," he said completely embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I guess I misunderstood."

Alfred looked down at Dick then over to his bushes sadly. "It'll take hours to get these back to a decent looking shape."

"Well, Dick said still feeling bad about what he did, "those aren't the only ones like that."

Alfred looked back at the boy horrified then walked off to find that all the bushes around the manor were in similar condition.

Bruce just couldn't keep the smile off his face. "You really did a number on those bushes. What did they do to you?"

Again Dick blushed from embarrassment. "Well, some of them I thought of as regular thugs, others as some of the major villains, and others were just kids that tease me at school."

"And you did all this in an hour and a half?" Bruce asked slightly impressed.

"Yep," Dick said now smiling.

"Master Bruce, I do not appreciate you encouraging him like this," Alfred said sternly then turned to Dick. "As for you young man, you, and Master Bruce," he said as he looked to the now shocked man, "will be tending to these bushes under my watchful eye until they look decent again. Do you understand?" he then asked both of them.

"Yes, Sir," they both dejectedly said at once.

"Good. Now, I will go get the tools for you to start right away," he told them as he walked off.

As soon as Alfred was out of sight, Bruce and Dick both looked at each other and smiled. "Guess we're both grounded for the night, huh?" Dick said.

"Guess so, but that doesn't mean you get out of working on your project. After we finish up here, I'll help you get it done."

"Really?" Dick asked excited.

"Really." They were both quiet until Bruce looked over at the bushes and chuckled again. "I still can't believe you actually beat the bushes."

Dick just smiled. "Hey, it was fun, and I got some anger out too."

"Maybe I'll try it some time."

"Only if I can join you, and only if they aren't Alfred's bushes again," Dick replied. Bruce just chuckled again.

Alfred came back a few moments later with the tools and handed them to the two 'boys'. "Well, we better get started," Bruce said.

They both got to work on fixing up the bushes while Alfred stood there with his arms crossed watching them like a hawk. "And I hope you learned your lesson, Master Dick, and won't take things so literally next time."

"Yeah, I'll never go around beating the bushes again."

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I will say that the credit for this story belongs to my dad and uncle. My dad told me that I needed to go out and beat the bushes to find a job. Not really sure why, but whatever. Well, after that, my uncle said "Yeah, go out and beat the bushes." That's when I thought of this story.

Well, leave a comment below on what you thought of this, and as always...

Thanks for reading :D