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leiothrix_luteaDick Grayson grew up, of course, amongst the motley crew and performers of Haly's Circus, born to the world famous trapeze act, The Flying Graysons. John and Mary Grayson never hesitated to bring little baby Dickie out to meet with their fans, which was how, after a charity benefit show in Gotham City, they met Jack and Janet Drake -- and little Dickie met little Timmy. The two kids hit it off and soon it became a yearly tradition, one that Dickie looked forward to almost as much as Christmas, getting to see his best friend when Haly's came through Gotham. Though the two quickly switched places when, once the boys were older, John and Mary decided to start making the trip in the off-season to Gotham the week after Christmas while rehearsals were on hold anyway so that they could spend more time together; the Graysons brought wine and chocolate as thanks for the Drakes letting them stay in one of their many guest rooms for the week, and Dickie brought Timmy camera accessories as Christmas gifts and news of just how awesome next season's trapeze act was going to be. The news was told even more excitedly when Dickie officially joined the act at age seven.
That year, Timmy scared his parents to death when he and Dickie went off to plot how Timmy could stay with Haly's as their official photographer. The Drakes were so mad that, for a while there, the two boys weren't sure if Timmy would get to come to the show the next year. But it was lucky that he was able to convince his parents to let him, as it was that year that gangster Tony "Boss" Zucco tried to extort "protection" money out of Mr. Haly. Dick witnessed the entire conversation as well as Haly kicking Zucco off of the grounds and Zucco threatening him for it; but what really got him into trouble was when he saw Zucco leaving the big top that night during the show, just as The Flying Graysons were going on. Of course the trapeze wire snapped under the weight of his parents and, after looking over the scene, the Gotham City PD determined that the wire had been cut, and Dick knew by who.
He was placed under police protection while the police tried to track down Zucco, which meant that Dick wasn't allowed to stay with his circus family when they eventually had to move on to the next town. Eventually, though, he was taken in by the Drakes, which at least meant that he could stay with his best friend. Which might not have been the best thing for little Timmy. Zucco sent his men after the only eye witness to his crime, which got the Drake household stuck in the middle of the mess; luckily, Timmy had already figured out that their neighbor, Bruce Wayne, was Batman and he made a call to the man for help. None of the non-Zucco affiliated people involved suffered any serious injuries, but while he was giving his statement to the police and making sure that Timmy and Mrs. Mac, the maid, were okay, Dick came to a conclusion. As soon as he could slip away from the Drakes without going noticed, Dick snuck off to Wayne Manor and confronted Bruce about Batman capturing Zucco. Bruce, still feigning innocence about any connection between he and the Dark Knight, tried to apologize and explain to Dick that there was very little he could do to help him, which just left Dick with the determination to fix things on his own.
In a single night, Dick was able to do what the GCPD and Batman hadn't been able to since the case had been opened: Find Tony Zucco. And even though he'd ended up getting away, the practice in detectiving (most of which he'd learned from Tim) wasn't a complete waste. Batman agreed to take Dick on as his part-time sidekick, teaching him everything he needed to know about fighting crime and forbidding him to ever reveal his secret identity, even to his new adoptive brother. Not that Tim needed it spelled out for him, as proven when Two-Face captured both Batman and Robin and might have even gotten away with killing them both if Tim hadn't stolen a spare Robin suit and saved them.
This incident inspired the unusual practice that continues successfully even after Young Justice is formed: Two sidekicks to one persona. Because Tim was so successful in pretending to be Dick, because Dick needed practice pretending to be other people, and since Bruce now had two very talented boys to deal with who were obviously too stubborn to stay out of danger instead of seeking it out, he decided to train them both in the ways of crimefighting and having them both take up the mantle of Robin at the same time. They traded off the costume, learning how to fight crime, as well become another person and pay attention to even minor details so that they could pass on detailed reports to the other so they could keep up the illusion of Robin only being a single person. Dick was worse at this than Tim, but Tim apparently made up for this by bugging Dick's costume which he was never able to find despite practically tearing the suit apart on several occasions. Now he just lives with it and occasionally deliberately leaves information out of his reports just to test Tim. Or maybe just to see if Tim's still bugging him.
At some point before Young Justice was formed, Obeah Man kidnapped Jack and Janet Drake and, upon their deaths at the hands of either Obeah Man or another threat, Bruce adopted both Tim and Dick. This choice was not only made out of compassion for the two orphaned boys who he'd become so close to, but having two wards is a good cover since, even though someone might think they've figured out Bruce's secret identity, he has two adoptive sons while Batman only has one sidekick, as far as the rest of the world knows.
There's only one person besides the residents of Wayne Manor who knows that Dick is Robin and that's Wally West, aka Kid Flash. The accidental discovery was made after a teamup between the Bats and the Speedsters but before Tim had also taken up the mantle. They've kept the truth about Robin's duality a secret from Wally and Dick plays along with it because, at least for now, he finds it amusing to see just how long he can keep the charade up, especially with someone who knows both of his identities and he's kept up a friendship with both in and out of the mask.
Dick was also probably the first one to team up with the Arrows and does his part to befriend Speedy (though only as Robin since he doesn't know the guy's secret ID) because dude's got a serious chip on his shoulder and needs to lighten up more; plus he seems
Probably Tim did the first teamup with Aqualad since Kaldur seems to be under the impression that Robin is responsible. Tim was also the one who infiltrated Cadmus with the rest of the YJ team and rescued Superboy, though Dick was the one who was there in the Hall of Justice on that first day when Speedy ragequit. Considering the attitude towards M'gann when the team faced off against Mister Twister, this was likely also Dick too.
The Bane/Kobra case was probably Tim; Amazo could go either way, though aside from the GLEE with which Robin announces Speedy probably had their back, it leans more towards Tim -- maybe Dick was at the debriefing so Tim could rest up after a hard day fighting a superpowered killer robot; considering how focused Robin was during the FOG case
Overall, sharing the mantle of Robin is a give and take -- Dick teaches Tim acrobatics and how to make friends, and Tim teaches Dick how to be a creepy stalker hacker. And, of course, Batman teaches them both how to fight and work with the law; the different parts of Robin's persona are picked up basically based on who established what first. Presumably, this will all come crashing down when Dick realizes just how messed up the whole setup is, not only for the two of them, but because they've been lying to all of their friends for years, and he decides that he needs his own identity, not half an identity he shares with someone else (even if it is his little bro), the other half of which is something he pretends to have. But that's probably at least five years down the line, if not more.
Nightwing Ref.:
