Roy trembled violently, sagging against the wall. Drool dribbled from between slightly open jaws and he panted heavily. His whole body stung and the heroin trickled into the dirt from the broken syringe.
"And don't come back", Oliver roared, and slammed the door. Hal watched impassively from the window. Tears stung Roy's cheeks and he trembled violently, waiting desperately for his euphoria to set in.
He hoped he had injected himself with enough to induce it. Nauseous and weak, he stumbled out of the alleyway behind the house. He threw up beside a few trashcans and heaved like a ship at sea, back at forth down the alleyways. Then, the euphoria set in and he remembered nothing more.
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Dick walked down the streets of Gotham, feeling a kind of peacefulness. The warm sun shone down on him, covering him in a warm blanket. The fifteen year old was in a good mood walking home from school. He had lots of things to tell Bruce about that day. He knew his mentor would get a kick out of the joke he'd heard, the one about the boy and the cat. Having a guardian who wasn't much older then you were did have its benefits.
Then, as if clouds had suddenly shielded the sun, his good mood vanished. As Dick was glancing lazily around and not paying attention to anything in particular, he noticed something. There was a boy in a back alleyway with a man. Dick could hear grunts of pain as heavy fists fell upon the boy's unprotesting form.
Feeling his fighting Robin spirit surge up in him, he raced up to the guy. "Get off him", he said angrily.
The man looked up from where he was now holding the boy by the scruff of the neck and said, "Stay out of this kid; this is a personal matter." Dick couldn't really see the boy or the man clearly, but he recognized the voice of the man. He was a local drug dealer, one Batman had been after.
Deciding this was his chance to nab someone for the bat, he ran up to the man. The man dropped the boy and turned to punch Dick. Dick surprised him however, with a flying kick. The man gave a howl and raced off.
Dick was about to pursue when he heard a slurred voice murmur his name almost incredulously. "Dick, Dick Greyson." Dick looked over surprised and saw the familiar flaming red head of hair and slight form of his friend Roy Harper.
"Roy", Dick asked dubiously. Roy picked himself up off the ground and staggered a few pathetically weak steps towards Dick.
"You gotta help me man", he said in an almost unintelligible voice, "you gotta…" Then, Roy slumped foreword against Dick. Dick was disturbed. What could possibly be wrong with his friend?
"Roy", he said, slapping his friend's face, "Roy what's wrong?" Roy's head lolled back for a moment and a look of almost sinister bliss came across his haggard features. He breathed in Dick's face.
Dick was appalled by the smell of his breath. It smelt as if he hadn't brushed his teeth in a long time. In face, Roy's whole body reeked. He was thin and shaking, as if he hadn't had a good meal in a long time either. Roy's head flopped around as if his neck had no bones and Dick was almost afraid it might snap. "Come on Roy", he said, thoroughly shaken up by this time, "let me get you back to my place."
Dick half dragged his friend back to Wayne manor. Roy seemed to barely be able to walk and Dick had his arms around him, supporting him. He was scared to death. What horrible disease had Roy caught? But, the great fear swirling around in his head was of losing his friend.
Dick hauled Roy into Wayne Manor and screamed at the top of his lungs for Bruce. Bruce came vaulting down the stairs an instant later. "Dick", he said worriedly, "Dick what's wrong, are you ok?"
Dick was holding back frightened tears by this time and shaking almost as much as Roy. "I just found Roy Bruce", he said, "He looks real bad. I think he's gona die, Bruce please help him." Bruce came quickly down the stairs and scooped up Roy. The boy was foaming slightly at the mouth and seemed delirious.
Bruce laid him gently on the couch and said, "I'll call Oliver."
"No", Roy suddenly shouted, alert in an instant, "no don't call Oliver, don't call…"Then, he collapsed back on the couch and started to cry, "don't call, please don't call." With that, he was asleep. Dick looked up at Bruce with terror in his eyes.
"What's gona happen to 'em Bruce", he asked fearfully, "is he gona die?"
"I don't know Dick", Bruce said, "I don't know what's wrong with him right now, although I have my suspicions. I won't call Oliver tonight. I think it would be best just to let your friend get some rest for now. God knows he needs it."
"Shouldn't we get him a doctor", Dick asked, "or take him to a hospital or something."
"I want to talk to him first", said Bruce, "I think he'll keep until morning." Dick nodded.
"You should get started on your homework", Bruce said, "I'll watch him." Dick nodded again and slowly walked up the stairs. Bruce gave a sigh. He knew what Dick had seen had disturbed him, but he had never thought that Roy…well, he would talk to the boy when he woke up, get the story straight.
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As it turned out, Roy slept all through the afternoon and well into the evening. Bruce sent Dick to bed, telling him Roy would be fine. Dick was worried sick. Bruce was worried too. Roy woke up in cold sweat. His whole body shook violently. He needed…he needed…he needed dope, yea that was right, and he needed it bad.
Roy got up from the couch where he had been lying and stumbled out the door, desperately searching for what he thought he needed.
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Bruce was awakened late in the night by the sound of his telephone ringing. He picked it up and asked dozily, "Who is it."
"Hello Mr. Wayne, this is the medical drug facility down on Parker street. We have your son here, Dick Greyson. He was caught stealing from our stocks of medical drugs. We'd like you to come down here and get him." Bruce was confused for a moment. What did she mean Dick Greyson?
"Hold on just a moment", Bruce said, and taking the phone with him, he rushed over to Dick's room. There was the boy, sleeping soundly. Bruce even went over to check if he was actually there. He was. "I don't think I know what you're talking about", Bruce said, "My son's right…" then he remembered something. He rushed over to the balcony and looked down at the living room. Sure enough, the front door was open and the couch was empty. "I'll be right over", he said into the phone and hung up, rushing to put on his clothes and grab his keys.
The first thing Bruce saw when he walked into the medical drug facility was a stern looking, tight lipped woman holding very tightly Roy's arm. The boy looked paler then ever, but he had a scowl on his face.
"Mr. Wayne", the woman said tersely, "in the future, I expect you to have better control over your child. Mr. Greyson here didn't steal anything, but he was pretty close to it. I could prosecute for breaking and entering and attempted trafficking of drugs without a prescription by a minor. How a parent could ever let their child get so deep into an addiction is beyond me. I've seen a lot of bad cases, but this is one of the worst."
"He's not my son", Bruce said flatly, "and he's not Dick Greyson." The woman looked blankly at him. "My son is at home in bed", Bruce continued. "This is the ward of my friend. His name is Roy Harper. He must have given you the name of my son."
"Is this true?" the woman asked Roy.
"Yea", Roy mumbled.
"Well Mr. Wayne", the woman said brusquely, "I'm sorry to have bothered you then. I shall simply have to take him down to the jail and attempt to contact his real guardian there." Roy gave her a frightened look.
"Ohh, don't take me there, please Mr. Wayne, don't let her take me there. I'll be good, I promise." He put on a pleading gaze, quaking with fear. "I don't wanna go to jail." Bruce gave a sigh.
"I'll take him back with me", he said, "I can get in contact with his real guardian and return him." Roy looked like he didn't like that idea much better, but he seemed to assume it was better then jail. The woman seemed to ponder this for a moment.
"And you'll keep him under control because you know, no matter what he promises, he won't keep to it. He's a junkie and they can't stay away."
"I'll make sure he stays well off whatever he's taking", Bruce replied. The woman nodded and then marched Roy foreword. "Please don't leak this to the media", Bruce said, "it would be best if I can attempt to contain this thing myself."
"So be it", the woman replied, "I'll simply report a break in by unknown persons, but nothing stolen. I will however, press charges if this happens again. You do understand this, don't you?"
"Yes", said Bruce. He took Roy's shoulder gently but firmly and steered the boy out of the place. "Come on Roy", he said, leading him to the car. Roy got in and folded his arms moodily, looking unhappy. Bruce got in the drivers seat and started the car. They drove away. Bruce gave a sigh. "This is unacceptable Roy, you do understand that, don't you?" Roy said nothing. He remained in moody silence. "What are you taking?"
"Dope", Roy replied tersely, and then fell silent.
"How are you taking it?"
"I bang it."
"Roy", Bruce sighed, "do you even know what you've gotten yourself into? Here, let me see your arm." Roy slowly extended his arm and allowed Bruce to look at it. Bruce frowned. "This", he said, pointing to a particularly bad spot, "this is not good Roy, you've almost completely worn out these veins and soon you will. Then what'll you do." He touched the spot and Roy trembled, drawing his arm back to himself.
"I've known you since you were what nine. Yea, since you were that clingy little nine year old that refused to let go of Oliver's leg half the time. I never expected you to get into something like this. It does terrible things to you, terrible things. I don't know how much you're banging right now, but you'll just continue to increase your dosage until you take too much and you die. Do you what that to happen, hmm?"
"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad", Roy mumbled, "there's not much for me to live for right now anyway."
"Ohh, you don't mean that", Bruce replied, "you've got plenty to live for."
"Like what", Roy yelled suddenly, "what the hell do I have to live for anyway? Nobody cares about me anymore anyway. I've got no friends, no one to turn to, everyone's left me."
"Not everyone", Bruce replied. "Dick found you in that street and he took you home. He didn't leave you there."
"He didn't know I was high", Roy replied.
"Well I did, as soon as I saw you I did and I put you on my couch and came and got you even when I knew it was you. I knew it wasn't Dick when that woman called. What do you have to say to that? But", Bruce continued gravely, "I'm not going to allow this in my house Roy, not at all. You are not going to bring a milligram of that stuff into my house. I won't risk Dick, I just won't."
"So what are you going to do", Roy asked savagely, "kick me out like he did, give me a goodbye beating maybe?"
"Who did Roy", Bruce asked gently.
"Oliver", Roy said softly, and then started to cry. "He came home", he said, between sobs, "and saw me taking it and he got so mad. Hal was there to, but he just let him get mad. Then, he hit me and he just kept hitting me. Then, he threw me out on the street and he told me not to come back." Bruce put a hand on Roy's shoulder and patted it gently. Roy just sat there and shook.
"He's been ignoring me ever since he went broke. He doesn't even care about me anymore. Then, he went out with Green Lantern for so long and I was so lonely, I couldn't take it anymore, so I started and it took the pain away." He cried softly to himself for a little while longer until he finally succumbed to exhaustion and leaned against Bruce's shoulder. Bruce left him there.
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Roy woke up just as they entered the driveway to Wayne manor. "Thanks Bruce", Roy murmured softly. Bruce patted his shoulder and led him inside.
"No more excursions tonight, ok kiddo."
"Ok", Roy said.
"I'm just gona lock you in", said Bruce, "you won't get out again tonight. It's gona be rough, but you're just gona have to try and fight through. Tomorrow, I'll get you on something to help you get over this."
"So", Roy said hopefully, "you're gona let me stay?"
"At least until you kick this addiction. Then maybe you and Oliver can have a talk. I'm sure he still cares about you Roy, he wouldn't just stop caring about you." Roy hugged Bruce tightly.
"Thanks Bruce", he said softly.
"Now its not going to be easy", Bruce said, "you're gona have to fight real hard."
"I will", said Roy, "I promise." Bruce got him some sheets and blankets from his storage closet and made the couch as comfortable as he could for the boy. Then, Roy laid down and quickly fell asleep.
For the sake of anyone who cares, if you want to know the one about the boy and the cat (it's kind of disgusting by the way, but it made me laugh) you can PM me.