So, first of all, this shipping is one I support, and though I don't normally do romance type stuff, I was just feeling inspired today; I did put this together in like...2 hours, so it's not too great, but I hope you guys like it! Once again, it is a non-hero AU version of Young Justice.
Yes, yes I do take the bus a lot, ha ha, so that's where the idea came from. Anyways, please enjoy after noting that I don't own Young Justice or these characters (tragically, of course). :)
The Bus Stop
Happy Harbor was bleak today. It wasn't faced with danger of any kind, but a consistent and thick tint of subtle sorrow was painted across the city. Not many people were outside, the air was cold, and the sun was blotted out by storm clouds above the seaside town. Echoes of happier days rang in the memories of those who cared.
Two young men, teenagers laughing and smiling and generally resisting the crestfallen mood, exited a small store and walked onto the lonely street. A few cars were parked around, but the streets were an extension of the town, and thus it was only proper that they too should feel the same sense of abandonment. A lone bird chirped on an old oak tree at the edge of the park nearby them.
The taller boy had red hair and never took more than a 10 second rest before grabbing another handful of chips from the family size bag that he cradled in his arm. The younger boy had raven hair and was fiddling on his phone almost the entire time. Despite their current occupations, they communicated well and a deep bond was plastered on the air around them.
They turned the corner and met a small dog, mangy and weak willed.
"Hey boy," the older teen, Wally, greeted and crouched down to share a handful of chips, which the dog took with some hesitation; upon taking the first bite, it let itself go and consumed the chips with joy, ignoring the boys as they walked off.
"Will he be okay, eating those I mean?" The younger boy asked as he placed his phone back into his front pocket.
Wally seemed to hesitate before answering, and he did not grab another handful of chips this time, "No, not really, but the chips aren't the problem, Dick. My cousins work at an animal hospital…I've seen enough to know that dog isn't going to last much longer anyways."
"Oh…" It was clear the dark haired boy wasn't quite sure how to respond to that news.
"I just can't stand to see a creature doomed to die suffer, I guess. Besides, I empathize with constantly being hungry."
"Yeah, your mom tells me that a lot," Dick replied with a chuckle.
"Har har. I just don't think it's okay to let something in pain go on feeling that way if you can help it."
"Yeah, I understand."
Dick didn't need to say anything more than that, after all, his father had been killed when he was only nine years old, and Wally knew that well. Dick and his mother lived a content life in most regards, but emotionally, Wally knew he was a big part of Dick's life, and he sometimes thought he was the only one who was able to fulfill that role.
The dog was more than just a lost pet. It had, in only a moment, changed the tone of their day, and now the small blemish of joy in Happy Harbor was mutated into something more like the sorrow in the air.
The final leg of the conversation began as the bus stop came into view.
"You know, I still think that game was rigged," Wally complained as he munched on one of the last few good handfuls in the bag.
"Cadmus is like, the fourth easiest game in the arcade! You go in, blow the building up, and fight the boss, how's that hard?"
"That boss fight was rigged, man, you and I both know that!"
"Not even," Dick countered, "you just sucked today."
"Ouch," Wally feigned heartache and briefly put his hand to his chest as Dick stopped at the corner of the street. He would go on straight, to the bus stop, while Wally would turn right and head down towards his house a few blocks away.
"Well…see you later, man, take care."
"You too," Dick replied and shook Wally's hand before a brief hug drew them closer and a quite moment thereafter marked their parting.
Dick crossed the street without bother to take much of a look for cars; the last car that passed them by did so over 15 minutes ago, and the gathering storm above him was ringing out in thunderous warnings already. The stop was little more than a park bench with a single pole to the side of it, a light to signal the bus during the night and in the dark.
He plopped himself down on the bench and immediately took out his phone, going straight to his messages and texting his mother a simple "b home soon".
From there he went straight to the latest game app he had downloaded and focused himself on the simple task of jumping through the hoops and avoiding hitting anything to knock him out of the air. He had gotten fairly good at it, he thought, in the relatively short amount of time he had with it, and was delighted to see his new highscore make it into the top 450 on the world leaderboard.
It was then that he realized he was not alone as a muffled cry broke him from his trance and he saw a girl sitting on the opposite end of the bench. Her head was deep in her hands and her knees were shielding her frontside from the world.
He was caught in a sort of trance, and pondered how he missed such a sight. It was almost supernatural the way he, normally more than a little observant and aware of himself and his environment, had not seen her before.
"Are you…okay?" He asked, hesitantly, but unwilling to let her sit alone and cry. At first he wasn't sure that she heard him, and her equally dark hair bobbed up and down with her weeping head, but after a moment she looked up, tears running down her fairest of skin like rivers from her gorgeous eyes.
She did not know how to respond to the kind gesture, he felt, and so he spoke again, with a little more trouble this time, "If you need my help…or something…"
She broke down crying again and held herself tighter than before. Dick looked at her for a moment, then down at the street with a confused and disappointed expression. What would Wally do? What would his mother do? What should he do about this wondrous but clearly distressed girl?
He bit his lip and looked down the road as the lights of the bus came into view, then he moved closer towards the girl and sat beside her.
"If you want to talk or…I don't know just…be around someone else, I'm here for you."
The girl did not bother to look up this time, but after a moment she wrapped her arm around Dick's shoulders and pressed her face into his jacket, still weeping. He eased into a gesture of returned comfort and held her, though not nearly as tightly as she held him.
The bus pulled up in front of the two and the doors opened to reveal the driver with a look of impatience on his face.
"Hey, buddy, you and your girl gonna get on or what?"
"No, I'll catch the next one," Dick answered, not bothering to correct the man about the relationship he had with the girl in his arms.
The bus driver shrugged in response and drove off without a second thought.
Dick sat quietly and let the girl vent. She seemed to be about is age, 14 or so, and she didn't seem to be shy or timid, but just as outgoing and independent minded as he was, or at least as he thought he was. It was hard to tell with her crying so much, but he entertained the possibility that she was lost, and with the coming of bad weather, that she might have to stay with him and his mother.
As he mulled over the various situations that she could be experiencing, her moans and cries became softer and, once more without him realizing it, she had stopped and startled him with a sudden apology.
"I'm sorry you had to miss your bus…"
He finally looked at her, eye to eye, and he felt his heart spasm and his breath shake inside his lungs.
"Yeah, well…no problem, you seemed like you needed help."
She did not give a reply but sat forward with her arms on her knees, looking down sullenly at the ground.
"Maybe you still do…" he offered, "do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't think you want to listen to me go on and on about my problems."
"Try me."
"Well…I can't do anything but go out and say it…my father was killed yesterday."
Dick nearly jumped, and struggled to keep his composure as he put his arm around her again. He didn't want to say anything back to her yet, but his physical response seemed to be received well…at least in the sense that she was still welcoming it.
"I don't know who did it…or why…or….or what to do…"
More tears began to well up and fall, but she did not break her stiff expression and did her best to stay strong while Dick's arm hugged her closer to him.
"That really sucks…believe it or not…I know that feeling too."
The girl looked up and showed the desire to hear him go on about it, so he did without much hesitation.
"When I was barely nine years old, and still performing with my parents as circus acrobats, a strange man named Tony Zucco came to the circus one night after a show, demanding protection money. The owner, Mr. Haley, refused to pay him and we left for the next town as usual. The next show went on without a hitch, until our act. The trapeze ropes seemed okay, but as the act went on they grew weaker and weaker and, without warning, my father's line broke and he fell to his death. The whole "no safety net" gig drew in some extra fans…but it cost my father his life. My mother and I quit the same night and since then she's moved on to other jobs. We get by and do fairly well for ourselves, but it's still hard, and I'm sorry to say that losing your dad is something you can't get over in a week, or a month…or a year…"
The girl sat upright again but kept her hand on Dick's.
"What happened to your mother?" He asked and her expression shifted to another frown.
"She died when I was really young. It's…just me now."
"I'm…I really wish I could…"
While Dick stuttered and slipped around with his words, the girl took the opportunity to say more than just a sentence or two.
"All I knew for a long time was my father. He was always there for me and he always made sure I was okay. He got a little overprotective sometimes, and I understood it with my mother having died and all, but eventually I started getting fed up with it…tried to live my life without him bearing down on me so much….I was so stupid! I hated his guts a few days before he was killed…now I miss him more than I can even say…"
"Well…I'm here for you."
"But you hardly know me…you don't even know my name…"
"So what is your name?" Dick asked with a smile.
She paused for a moment, but with a little more energy and joy than she had displayed since they began talking, replied, "Zatanna."
"That's exotic…I like it a lot."
"Thanks…" Her expression had already begun to fade back into the gray melancholy she had been feeling since they had met, and evidently long before.
"Hey, if you want to come home with me and my mom, I'd be happy to do so."
Storm clouds thundered once more overhead and a brisk wind shot through the streets, causing Zatanna to rub her arms and shiver.
"I…I don't think so…no…"
"Why not? Do you already have somewhere to go?" Dick questioned with more than an implication of heartache shining through his statement.
"I…I just can't go with you…"
"But why not?"
Zatanna paused herself, and looked over the boy who had not only been courageous enough to talk to her, but to sacrifice his own comfort for her. In another world, in another time perhaps…she would have loved to have known him, and formed a bond with him, and been to him what she knew he wanted her to be to himself.
If only they had met sooner…
"I can't go with you…because I'm leaving soon."
"Well where are you going?" Dick asked as the storm finally broke and the rain began falling down on them.
"I'm going away…to see my parents again."
It took hardly more than a second for Dick's mouth to drop and he put his hands on her shoulders, putting his face right next to hers.
"You can't. You can't kill yourself."
She looked into his eyes longingly, "I already have…my body just doesn't know it yet."
She pulled a medicine capsule from her pocket. It was empty, but he knew it hadn't been empty the day before. He was rocked back to her side, staring out into the world bleakly, without emotion and without care as the rain pelted them both.
She looked at him and tears began to fall from her face yet again, and she wiped them away quickly before speaking up.
"You know, for what it's worth…you've made the time bearable…and I'm really glad you showed up. I needed that, and I hope it did you some good too…"
Dick still did not look at her, but remained transfixed at the wet road in front of him as small puddles began to well up in front of the bench.
"Yeah…it did…until just a second ago…"
"I really wish we could have met sooner, I really wish things would have turned out differently, but you're stronger than me. You found it within yourself to keep going after your dad died…and I couldn't. And what's more, when the world seemed darker than a reprobate's heart…you brightened it up, you bought spring to a world of black winter. I'm very grateful."
Dick finally looked at Zatanna again and swallowed a large lump in his throat.
This time she put her arms around him and cradled him, and he let her absorb him; emotionally and physically and mentally, he was numb, and she was giving some of the last affection she could to him, to revive his heart, but he didn't know if it would work.
"Well…then maybe you should wait for me…when I die…after I've lived a life here without you…you can look forward to meeting me again…my name is-"
"No. I don't know or care what your name is," she told him bluntly, "because to me, you'll always be a robin…you're my Robin."
"Okay then….I'm your Robin. I will be until we meet again…after you leave…"
"It's a date then."
"Yeah…unless you get a second chance and get to go out with me next weekend," Dick countered with a smile.
"How would I…what, like with magic? I…I don't believe in magic…"
Dick stayed quiet for a moment, then they embraced, each giving and receiving as much comfort as possible before he made his reply.
"Well…I do."