Nothing You Can Say

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Summary: There are some things that both Dick Grayson and Robin cannot speak out or against, whether it comes to Bruce or Batman, his team, or the villians. Through out the years, Dick and Robin had came to accept that.

Dick stopped in front of his guardian's door, staring at the smooth wooden surface with a sudden discomfort. He knew the difference between Bruce calling him for a pep talk, and when he called him for a problem needed to be settled. He wasn't scared of his mentor (not as much as the League and the villians were), he knew Bruce could never physically hurt him, nor would he hurt him in any way purpously. Bruce cared for him and he cared for Bruce.

Even though the man treated him with a strict gesture, Dick knew that it was only to keep him off the road Bruce had tried to keep himself off of, and failed. It was no secret to Dick. He had known the man long enough to know the secrets behind the man under the cowl.

Bruce knew him as well, but not well enough. Dick gazed down at his covered arm and pulled up the sleeve, revealing old scars from a blade. He had been cutting for that split moment after his parent's death, but eventually stopped with the help of Clark. He made Clark promise that he would not utter a word about the cutting to Bruce, and for a split second, Dick had that feeling that Bruce would find out sooner or later.

He never did.

If Bruce knew, it would probably tear him apart to know that it was Clark to help his little bird and not him. Sometimes, Dick saw the same scars on Bruce's own wrists. It made him more relieved to know that he was never alone in that dark moment.

Dick gazed at the door and knocked on it three times with the code Bruce had given him to know it was his ward.

"Come in, Richard."

Dick winced. Bruce used his birth name, that was sign number one that something was a wrong. The teen opened the door slowly and stepped inside to see Bruce sitting at his desk, filling out some paper work. Dick stopped in front of the desk, trying to keep his body language at a distance. "Yeah, Bruce?" he spoke. Bruce gazed up from his reading glasses and took them off, looking at his foster son with his detective glare. Dick was getting good at hiding his feeling.

"Hey, Dickie Bird. Sit down"

Dick did so. Once he was settled, Bruce began. "I um, have been getting reports from Canary. It's about your training," he began. Dick shifted uncomfortably in his chair, gulping a bit. "Y-yeah?" he said, the shake in his voice barely noticable. Bruce cleared his throat. "She said that ever since you and your friends began the Young Justice League, you have had a bit of a weakened structure in your fighting; she exclaims that when you practice your combat with your team, you fight like the beginner stage- like everything is brand new to you. Do you have any reasonable explaination for this, Dick?"

Dick squirmed a bit in his chair and cleared his throat before daring to say something stupid. "Um, I have had so much school work and stuff that I get off task a bit," he replied. Bruce immediately noticed the shake in the teen's voice. "I pray you are not lying to me, Richard," he sighed. Dick froze and bit his tongue. Bruce made a tired moan and rubbed his temples.

"You know what I think?" the man strained out before staring straight into Dick's eyes with a figured look, "I think, Richard, that you are holding back on them."

By the look in Dick's eyes, Bruce knew he had caught him dead on spot. "I am right..."

Dick gulped, quickly getting up with a nervous smile, "Listen, I gotta head up and finish homework," he said. Bruce closed his eyes in annoyance. "Sit down, son," he said sternly. Dick winced and did so. He wasn't going to hear the end of this. Bruce sucked in a breath and bulled at his hair in a stressed manner. "Listen, Dick, I don't understand this. You have not been completely honest with me, you are starting to go against my commands, and you are holding back on your training. Why?"

Dick rubbed his hand. "Nothing, it's just... It's... I mean you and I- even the whole League knows what I am capable of doing. Dad, I'm punching concrete and BREAKING them, I am afraid that I might hurt them-"

"You're enemies will hurt you, I know what they are capable of doing to you. They won't hold back, Richard, this is why I am worried about your training," Bruce inturrupted. Dick held his head in his hand. "I know... You told me that already," he whispered. Bruce noticed Dick's change of emotion. He always hated seeing his ward stressed- yes, the billionare's adopted son; the Prince of Gotham, gets stressed so easily. Sometimes Bruce wondered how to make life easy as possible for Dick. But it is a dangerous world and as long as they were in it, there will be storms.

Bruce feared for Dick so much that fear was not an option. Dick had to take training as serious as he did in battle. He just could not understand that, and Bruce understood that Dick was a full spirit boy who needed to strengthen himself, not with pride or no emotion, just in heart and wisdom.

The man stood from the desk and moved towards Dick, placing a soft hand on Dick's shoulder. "I do not want you holding back anynore, Dick. If you hold back any longer, I will take you from your position as part of the Young Justice Leauge and you will fight along my side only," he said firmly.

Dick shot a glare at his foster father. "What?! That's not fair-"

"End of discussion, Richard."

Tears rimmed Dick's eyes and with a frustrated groan, the teen ran out the room. Once he had made it to his own, Dick plomped onto his own bed and buried his head into his pillow, screaming into the cushion. He hated this, he hated being the side kick of the leader of the Justice League.

He hated when Bruce flipped on his 'Commander-Mode,' and switched off the 'Father-Mode.' Sometimes, Dick wished that if Bruce was just a father who would play soccer with his son or all day go out for ice cream with his child. Dick loved the whole hero gig, but he hated the morals and expectations. Bruce mainly followed them and strictly blocked away some of Dick's freedom.

Dick closed his eyes, allowling a tear to roll down his cheek.

But he has grown to that...

It was dark. It was freezing. The pain was unbearable. The silence was not whelming.

Robin felt a painful numbing sensation from his bare feet to his upper torso to his arms that had been tied behind his back. He laid in a pool of his own blood, at the center of a dark room that was clearly a meat locker at the local meat store. The teen had been there, tied and beatened, for just thirty minutes and was already shivering up a storm. The numbing sting that embraced his body had caused his lips to fade from their peach color, to a tinted blue. His bare feet ached for warmth and his damped suit carried frost around the slick leather. Robin clenched his eyes shut at the bitter cold and rolled a bit on his side in attrmpt to get his bloodied cape to drape over his body like a blanket.

But his cape was tattered and barely noticable. The teen rolled a little to much and his bruised, blood-smeared face made contact with the stinging cold metal floor. He immediately recoiled with a hiss. The meat locker's mist of cold circled the vent as surrounded the shivering boy wonder like a cold hell in his unwanted desires. There was many moving around of objects outside the metal door, which grabbed Robin's attention.

His teeth clicked together so badly and his throat had been dried by the cold that it was rough for him to talk above an inside voice-he could not even whisper loud enough. "H-h-help... Help!" he croaked in a raspy whisper. He prayed that it was a civilian or one of his teamates. He hoped it was Bats...

When he had gotten nothing but silence, Robin closed his eyes and sucked in a trembling breath. "H-help," he whispered. Suddenly, the metal doors swung open and a loud cackle from his deepest nightmares, echo the freeze room. The young teen was grateful to be blessed with the little warmth of the outside light of the restraunt.

"Aw, is Daddy Dearest's little bird's wings frozen?" the sickening voice of none other than the Joker's echoed in a timid joke.

Dick's eyes hardened under the mask into a glare that could not be witnessed, but his mask eyes turned to slits. Joker smirked an closed the meat locker's door behind, locking it shut. As he strolled over to the shivering boy, Joker admired the skin on Robin's face. His bottom lip had been split and there was a cut on his curved nose bridge, but that was just about it. It had been the Boy Wonder's body that had been kicked and jabbed at and washed with cold ice water. Joker ran a gloved bloody hand through Robin's raven locks before clenching a handful of his hair, yanking the younger to sit up.

Robin dared not to even release the slightest of whimpers to benefit the maniac, nor would he show any signs of weakness. Once sat up, Joker let out a coo and lifted the boy's chin. He felt Robin's jaw tighten by the touch. "What's the matter kiddo? Not to happy to see Uncle J?" he teased. Robin remained silent and let out an angered growl.

Joker gasped in a fake sense of worry, cupping Robin's chin and turning his head each direction to inspect the small wounds on his face. "Oh, look at this!" he exclaimed, "Daddy Dearest would not be so pleased to see such unbelonging marks on his baby boy's face!"

Dick still shivered and as much as he wanted to bit the clown's fingers, he didn't want to let loose chatters of his teeth that clicked against each other rapidly behind his lips. Before he could blink, a gloved hand swiped across his cheek, sending him hard to his side on the cold floor once more. The sting erupted on his cheek, making the smallest of hisses escape Robin's lips, giving satisfacation to Joker. "There. I evened it out," the man said simply.

Robin glared up at the maniac with hard slitted masked eyes. "Wh-when m-m-my fr-friends come, y-you'll b-b-be s-sorry," he rasped out in a deep tone. Joker only grinned at this. "Oh, Boy Blunder, you never know when to keep your lips sealed. Since when has anything you ever said mattered?" he scolded.

Robin's eyebrows knitted in thought.

When did my words matter? They should have mattered to SOMEONE at least once. Maybe twice. Maybe not-... NO. He's just trying to get into my head, but he will fail.

"I-I don't ne-need t-t-to listen to y-you," he chattered.

Joker quirked an eyebrow. "You already are, Sonny. You already are. Since when has anyone ever listened to you? I am the Joker and hell, people listen to me even. But when has anyone, including Daddy Dearest, listened to what you had to say, hm? Have you ever wonder, Boy Wonder, how it would be like to just tip toe out of Batman's shadow and speak out? Have you ever wondered?"

Robin's mind was caught. For once, Joker wasn't sounding like a total lunatic, instead... he was sounding... right? Everything he said actually summed up Robin's wonders and dreams. He would enjoy stepping out of Batman's shadow and come into a whole different world where he was brave and fearless to speak outloud. To say what he thoughy. To embrace it. But he knew better. He has grown too much to accept that dream. He was just a sidekick no matter how brave he was to be or how couragous he wanted to be. It just could not happen.

He has come to learn to accept that.

"Robin?! Where are you!"

Robin was knocked from his thoughts and jolted up.

Aqualad?

"Robin! Little buddy where are ya?"

"RoObin!?"

"Robin?!"

"Hey Boy Idiot! Speak up!"

Robin thought he was dreaming or halucinating but when the voices had became more clear, he gasped in relief. His team! They had came! For him! Joker gazed at the door then back at Robin with his yellow twisted smile. "Hm. Maybe you'll have more fun time with Uncle J, kiddo. Buy just think about what I said," he crooned, giving Robin a kick to the gut. Robin was to numb to even feel it, yet his body still lurched. Joker then took the other back door exit and disappeared into the night.

Robin felt black dots creep his vision and his ears becoming deaf to all sounds that twisted into ecgoes. The last thing he saw was the metal locked door being forced open and all his team rushing in the meat locker in one bunch. That was when he passed out.

Kaldur stood in front of his team, gazing up at the whole cordinates of the city. So far, nothing had appeared to be a major problem that would need to involve their help, but it was only a matter of seconds before one did. His grey eyes narrowed in confusion. "We might have a free day today," he mumured. Wally did a silent praise, but the others just sat quietly. "So does this mean we can hang out at the beach?" the ginger asked anxiously.

A smirk curled to Kaldur's lips. "No. This means that we can apply training and skills to the remainder of the day," he said cooly. Everyone groaned in complaint by the young leader's desicion. "Come on, Kal! We have lives," Artemis exclaimed. Kaldur silenced her with a glare. "And so do the people we protect. We might face a new enemy a new day," the leader explained, "it is our prime duty to grow in accuracy and strength to keep those lives moving forward through their own strength; in trust, liberty, and equality."

Robin faltered his gaze under his shades in thought of what the Atlantian was saying. So they had to be strong to keep the city strong? In ways that they never had to keep strong? Bruce had explained to him about keeping the city strong, but he had never said it like that. He frowned. Something wasn't right.

Sighing, Robin turned away and began walking towards the eta tubes. "Robin. Where do you think you are going?" Kaldur asked. Robin didn't fully turn towards the others, he just looked barely over his shoulders. "I... I need to check in with Batman on something... I'll catch up with you guys later-"

"You have not been dismissed by my approval," Kaldur interrupted.

Dick felt himself tense in surprise by what he had just heard. "Come on, Kal, let him do what he needs to do," Wally defended for his best friend. "Which is coming right back over here till I dismiss him," Kaldur restated. Dick frowned and swished fully around to fully face the leader. "I am sorry, but who made you boss of what I am to do?" he snapped.

The room went quiet.

Every stared between Robin and Kaldur feeling the atmosphere grow intense. Kaldur, glaring at Dick sternly replied, "the League; they have made me bos of what you do- leader actually of this team."

"Excuse me, but I was chosen first to guide this team, not you! You're just a temporary pawn till I take the leadership," Dick snared. Kaldur folded his arms. "And you will never become Leader to give orders if you can not follow your own," he said. Dick fumed with anger. Right now he just needed to cool down. "I am and I will, which is leaving," he spat, turning back around.

"Robin, if you step into that Zeta Tube I will have you suspended and taking double shifts of combat training till further notice," Kaldur threatened with a loud unbecoming tone. Dick froze. He was feeling defeated by the second. Yet again, he can't say anything in his own free will.

Nothing.

Sighing in defeat, the teen walked back to his team and sat in one of the comforters with his head buried in his knees. He felt tears sting his eyes- NO. He will not dare cey in front of everyone. No. Just calm down and relax...

Kaldur, satisfied, yet feeling a hint of guilt of sympathy, went back to talking. "As I was saying, we will apply training and skills for the remainder of the day... Artemis, your up first against Superboy..."

Wally and M'gann crowded towards their stressed boy wonder with solemn looks. "Robin? You okay?" M'gann asked softly. "Yeah, man. It's okay, Kaldur's just-"

"Just go away," Dick whispered, cutting Wally off.

The speedster and Martian looked at each other sadly and back at Robin. They knew he needed to be alone so they both gave him some space to think.

Dick allowed one tear to roll down his cheek, but that was it.

Sometimes, there are things Dick Grayson nor Robin can speak out to or against... luckily I have grown prone to this...

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