Young Justice | Fic: Suffocation
Title: Suffocation
Rating: K
Character(s): Dick, Wally, Tim, mentions of others.
Word Count: 1 169
Summary: Dick Grayson always loathed the occasions that required him to dress up in a suit.
Author's Notes: heavily influenced by the infamous scene from Scrubs. My take on it, so to speak.
Suffocation
Dick Grayson always loathed occasions that required him to dress up in a suit.
In spite of spending a good part of his life as a billionaire's adoptive son, he had never been able to get used to the lavish parties and the stiff dress codes that came with them. In such occasions, he had always felt like an outsider, like he didn't belong in their world of fake smiles and charities.
He had pulled off the smiles and the etiquette quickly, slipping on the mask of the 'rich kid' as easily as he did the mask of Robin, and later Nightwing. At times, Dick thought that essentially, the mask of Dick Grayson, ward of Bruce Wayne, was the mask he truly wore.
Today, Dick's mask was entirely different from those before. As he walked down the road of hard-pressed dirt towards his destination, features obscured by dark sunglasses, his face was masked with an unreadable expression.
«How come I have to get all dressed up, and you get to walk around like a reject from a 90s boyband?» Dick pulled on the neckline of his suit again, resisting the urge to unbutton the top button in order to acquire some breathing space.
Wally West grinned at him, green eyes twinkling with mischievousness, and windblown red hair that seemed to be on fire in dim sunlight. He was the exact opposite of Dick, looking fresh and wild and alive. Almost blazing with energy as he punches the younger hero on the arm for his comment.
"Hey! Don't talk smack about the jacket! It's true vintage!"
Perfectly mimicking a runway model, and doing a spin to show off the garment draping his torso - as if it served to prove any point at all – Wally grinned in an almost foxlike manner when Dick rolled his eyes and let out a small chuckle.
"Dude, you're such a loser!"
Wally laughed as well, "Says the one of us who can't keep a stable relationship for more than two weeks!" he quipped. Dick shrugged, "I'm a bird, man; need to roam free where I can spread my wings or whatever," he said, offering up the excuse he always used and taking Wally's words for what they were, good-natured teasing. Wally had always been the one that Dick had gone to when one of his relationships had ended badly. Any given day at any given hour, Wally's door had always been open for him, and the offer always came with the promise of a few rounds of an old-school video game, a pat on the shoulder, and an encouraging word.
Dick had started walking again, not noticing that his red head companion had lagged behind. He was stopped by a touch on the shoulder, turning around to face a speedster whose face bore a serious expression.
When did he change into his Kid Flash uniform?
"Dick, I need you to do something for me," the redhead's voice was calm, but in it echoed something that suggested graveness.
"What?"
Wally drew a shaky breath and looked him in the eye, "I need you to forgive yourself for everything that went down the other day."
Dick raised an eyebrow and pulled off his sunglasses to look the flamehaired speedster in the eye. Between them, secret identities had become redundant years ago, and Dick felt that this was one of those moments where he needed to look his friend in the eye, directly.
"How would you know if I am even blaming myself for that?"
At this, it was Wally's turn to toll his eyes, "because it's you Dick," he said, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world, "You always blame yourself for everything, even when it's redundant! Heck, even when you couldn't have done anything about it, had you known what was going on!" Green met icy blue as Wally looked him in the eye, "now, promise me."
Dick sighed and nodded. Then, with a chuckle that would have reminded anyone that listened, of a younger, happier hero, he grinned at the redhead, "You're an idiot, you know that?" Wally grinned back, and slung a muscled arm over his shoulder, "Anything for you, m'dear friend!"
With another chuckle, Dick started walking again, towards his destination, before remembering something, "by the way, man, did you bring the gift?"
"What gift?" The voice of Tim Drake came from behind his back. Dick turned in surprise, somewhat shocked that the younger boy had been able to sneak up on him, without him noticing.
"Y'know, for the birthday kid?" Dick said, shrugging at the other male. Tim looked grave, wearing a fitted, black suit and a pair of dark sunglasses, obscuring his features. He had grown quite a lot since he had first taken the title of Robin. Dick couldn't help but feel like the time had passed by too quickly.
"Dick… where do you think we are?" Dick looked up in confusion, thoughts interrupted by Tim's question; the younger hero was watching him, worry evident behind the dark sunglasses. Wally was nowhere to be seen.
And then it all came crashing down.
Suddenly, he was not there. He was lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and incomplete. Somewhere in the distance, church bells were chiming, signaling the beginning of the end. 4
People dressed in black were passing them, some crying, some with expressions set in stone. Many acknowledged them as they passed by, some with curt nod and other with hugs. Dick could vaguely remember Superman walking past with Superboy in tow, both stopping to shake hands and offer words of condolences. He vaguely remembered Tim thanking them, remembering the etiquette of the situation perfectly – shaking hands and offering thankyous and condolences where it was deemed appropriate. Yet, he never let his eyes leave Dick for more than a second.
He vaguely remembered Artemis hugging him for a long time. She had been crying, soaking the shoulder of his jacket in her tears.
He didn't remember if he had cried.
But what he did remember was Tim staying by his side from the beginning to the end and Bruce's hand on his shoulder, keeping him standing straight. He remembered M'gann's hand clutching his,if it is to console him, or herself, she doesn't know. He remembered Kaldur being strong in the midst of the despair. He remembered his friends giving him strength.
But, watching the memorial of Wallace Rudolph West, he also remembered the words that had been left unspoken. Words had flown free between them once, lighthearted and humorous. Full of trust. But the trust was shaken as time passed, and words were spoken that could never be taken back. Eventually, they had forgotten that words were used for things other than filling emptiness.
Somehow, his suit seemed more suffocating than ever.