DC One Shots (Mainly Dick Grayson)

Whumptober- I Think I've Broken Something

I think I've broken something

broken trust, broken bones, broken heart

There are many times in Dick Grayson's life when he has sat back and thought to himself 'I think I've broken something'.

It is four in the afternoon, autumn, the air is brisk and with every gust another orange leaf falls, tussled in the wind. The grass crunches under his feet as he zooms ahead of his parents, strolling through the park. They have a few hours before the train leaves this city, Dick intends to explore.

He is seven years old. The name 'Robin' is merely a term of endearment his mother has for him. Batman is a myth, a story, confined to Gotham City. Here, he is just a boy.

He races ahead, he finds a play-ground, he swings on the bars. He is a small child in a trapeze family act, what else would he do?

He falls, he cries, his parents come to help.

"it hurts!" he tells them, "is it broken?"

"no, it's fine, see?" his father says, kissing at the slowly growing bruise, "just a little sore."

It is nine in the morning, winter, he is nine years old.

He stares out a window into an overcast grey landscape, clouds and desaturated grass, metal buildings all around. steel, steel, steel.

The orphanage is bled dry of emotion. The plaster is cracking, the windows are stained, the carpet is frayed.

He is curled tight, coiled on himself, blue eyes empty as they reflect every bit of grey nothing that stretches around him. outside the door is the social worker and a man, Bruce Wayne.

January 12th, he is twelve, the sky is dark, the night is endless, he is energized by the boundless possibilities.

Robin is no longer a nick name, it is his alias, his mask. He is Robin, Boy Wonder.

It is a wonder he survives that night.

Batman finds him, saves him. the bad guy is put away and Robin is stuck in mandatory bed rest for a week because of the injuries. Bruce suggests putting the mask down, Dick hears none of it. he is Robin, Bruce cannot, will not, take that away from him.

He is thirteen, he wakes up from a mission that didn't happen, an invasion that is fake, a death entirely imagined.

And he looks at his team, the one he'd been left to lead once Kaldur was gone, and he feel something in him deflate.

Sitting in the room with Canary was something he'd done before, he didn't have to go through the awkward stages of slowly opening up with her till he was comfortable talking. She knew his trauma already, he trusted her.

'I don't want to be the Batman anymore,' was what he'd said.

What he meant was.

'I can't be the Batman.'

No way in hell.

At sixteen Bruce tries to fire him. the cave is a dark echo chamber that bounces their argument around tenfold. Barbara is out on the streets as Batgirl, on her own. Dick wants to join her, she shouldn't be without backup, but Bruce has him preoccupied.