The idea belongs to youngjusticeheadcanons on Tumblr. Well. The Perdita part, at least. Sorry if I messed up some of my references. Still running on fumes from the No Shoes Nation concert last night.
Disclaimer: I don't own the idea or the characters.
There was a time when Dick used to like the news.
Reading it in the papers and hearing it from friends' lips was nice, but he especially liked it on the nine inch TV in his family's trailer with the built-in VCR player and the annoying antennas that had to be adjusted every few minutes to keep the picture clear. He didn't mind watching it by himself, but he always thought it was better when he was sitting on the floor beside his father's armchair with his head on the armrest, smiling as calloused fingers ran through his hair. The story never mattered, as long as there was someone in there with him.
At eighteen now, he could hardly stand it. Just the thought of it sickened him, to think of people dressing up and taking a camera out to record other's pain and misery. He had once fought to defend the people being interviewed, giving everything he had to ensure they wouldn't go out and live the life he had to, but then he realized how at stake he really was and threw in the cape.
All of his life, he had been shrouded in death and the agonizing pain that ticked away with it, but he had managed to shrug off the graves and eulogies for almost a decade. It had taken the death of his best friend to finally break him.
Grandparents. Parents. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins. Zitka. Innocent civilians. Tula. Jason.
The blood had been on his hands longer than he had had flesh, the guilt just a regular throb that had eventually tuned in to the beat of his heart, but he had survived all of their deaths with tears and eating disorders, locking himself away and isolating himself from the world for long periods of time.
Take the person who had 'forever' tagged onto the end of their relation to him, his best friend, and he had nowhere else to fall. Even rock bottom parted to give him a deeper abyss to fall endlessly through.
That had been his breaking point, eventually propelling him into regular civilian life. He was a full-time college student, still not sure of what he wanted to major in but studying all the same. Anything that could distract him from all this was grabbed eagerly, as was the case with his Criminal Justice class.
The big end-of-semester test was coming up in a few weeks and he wanted to be more than prepared for it. Barbara had agreed to come over at about four to help him study, as long as he made dinner.
The hamburgers were done and the fries were sitting out to cool off a bit with some cherry Coke in the refrigerator.
There was still another five minutes before she was scheduled to show up, and knowing Barbara like he did, he knew he had another ten minutes to add to that. As much as he loved her, he couldn't stress enough how bad of a driver she was. It physically stressed him out some nights, to the point he had to call her and just complain about it. She'd usually hang up with a laugh, but it always made him feel better.
When he regularly needed to kill fifteen minutes, he'd turn on the TV and watch some re-runs of whatever channel was on, but cable was out for the whole floor because of some hazing ritual with one of the fraternities down the block, so he resorted to getting on his laptop.
The first thing to pop up, of course, was MSN, his automatic homepage after he downloaded the software to watch the newest episode of Supernatural. It was an easy thing to change back, but he hadn't had the time. A part of him was tempted now, but the headlining story caught his eye. The girl in the picture was painstakingly familiar.
She looked about sixteen, a delicate crown placed on her pale blonde locks that framed her thin jaw. If the crown alone didn't indicate she was of higher power, her delicate features definitely did. The girl could've easily been a model with her beautiful green eyes, soft button nose, strong arched brows and close pointed lips.
Dick scratched at his neck with a furrow in his brow before clicking on her picture, letting the site redirect him to the story, trying to work out how he knew her. Maybe she had been to one of the press conferences Bruce dragged him to now?
The second he read the title, it hit him like an airbus taking off.
'The Queen of Vlatava Pays Tribute to the Recently Passed Kid Flash'.
His heart seemed to stop, a chill running down each of his limbs and slowly working his face into one of the worst kind of heartbreak.
He knew he shouldn't.
It would be so much easier to just go and Google cute hedgehogs.
The back button was right there.
He didn't need to hurt like this.
'Queen Perdita Vertigo asked for a moment of silence today throughout all of Vlatava for the hero that saved her life in 2010 after hearing of his unfortunate passing on June 20th. Kid Flash, a hero to us all, gave his life to save the planet from-…'
He could wipe his eyes and close the laptop.
Maybe he should go get the books out.
The hamburgers might get cold; he could go put them in the microwave.
Changing his shirt was a good idea.
It'd be nice to check and see if the door was unlocked.
Maybe he should pick up a little bit.
'A new teen has donned the suit in his memory, a new speedster, and he has taken the oath to try and live up to the name his predecessor had made. "The team's real broken up about [Kid Flash's passing]," the new Kid Flash admits, "The whole League is taking it hard. He was a good man. Nightwing's taking it hardest, I think. He's stepping down from the team." For years, the internet has speculated about Kid Flash and Nightwing's relationship, their seemingly impenetrable friendship, and we're sad to see we're not losing one—but two of our favorite heroes in such a short period. The funeral was said-…'
Barbara would definitely worry about the tears. If he shut the laptop now, he could go wipe them off before she came in.
This really was just him torturing himself.
It would be so easy to close out of the story and go look at that other story on the beauty pageant mishap.
'… but this is just one hero who won't be "back in a flash".'
There wasn't any need to click on the video.
He wouldn't be able to see it through his tears anyway.
The audio would be muffled by his ragged breaths, even if he managed to stifle them.
The red x was right there.
"…Business aside, I would like to take a moment to honor the man who saved my life so many years ago. A moment of silence, if you would, for Kid Flash…"
The Queen's accent was much thicker than he remembered, but that could've been related to the tears that had her make-up running on the edges. Hearing the background chatter of the crowd below her silence to a complete hush was haunting. He clapped his hands over his mouth to join them, muffling his heart ache to honor the ginger man with the heart of gold.
A moment of silence for the snot-nosed kid with the freckles that seemed to go on forever and a laugh that could be heard all the way across the beach.
A moment of silence to the first person he had told everything to; the best friend that had ran up the coast line to hug him after reading in a text that he was having a bad day.
A moment of silence to the hero that had sacrificed his life to save a cruel and unjust world because he had made a promise to be a hero.
A moment of silence to Wally West, the man behind the mask.
He hadn't heard the door open or the books drop to the floor in fear. It even took a moment to register that a hand was on his shoulder. When he felt it, he pulled his hands back from his face and looked up through his tears at Barbara. Her face was a blur of red and tan, but there was no mistaking her.
"Dick," she murmured softly, her brow furrowed tight.
When her arms opened up invitingly, the ebony didn't hesitate to stand up and pull her into the tightest hug he felt he could give, grabbing at the back of her shirt as he tried to hold back broken sobs. His head tucked in right beside hers.
"I miss him so much," he gasped out, frown trembling heavily and tears dripping in heated streams to the carpet. "It's… it's not fair!"
Barbara could only hug him back, a pang hard in her heart.
"I know… but… think of all the people he saved… He went out a hero, Dick. You know that's what he would've wanted," she said quietly, rubbing his back in small circles. "Just… let it out… we have all night to study."
Neither were sure of how long they stood there, in each other's arms while Dick poured out his broken heart and Barbara rubbed his back, but it was dark when they finally parted. The ebony's cheeks were dark, his eyes feeling sticky. The redhead couldn't feel her hand. She shrugged the numbness and reached over to take her friend's hand in her own, giving it an assuring squeeze as they softly laughed.
"Thanks, Babs… I… I don't know what I'd do without you," Dick smiled sorely before releasing her hand, scrubbing at his eyes with the bottom of his shirt and walking into the kitchen. "Now… how about I heat us up some dinner?"
-F.J. III