A/N: If you read "Classic" then you already know this but I will be taking a leave of absence during the summer. I just got a job, I'm in the process of training my pup, Knightly, to be a therapy dog, and I'm going on vacation. This will probably be my ast update for a while, but I'm not leaving forever. I might even be able to post a bit during the summer too, we'll see. But don't worry, I'll be back!
And Sorry for the short chapter but I didn't have a lot of time and I didn't want to leave you hanging.
Dick's eyes flew open and he sat up quickly with a gasp. He had seen it again, it wouldn't get out of his head! The league, thousands of innocent lives, Bruce gone! Just gone, in the blink of an eye. Why had they been put through that damn test? What good really could have come from making them live through all of that? He got the gist, prepare for the unthinkable, but he preferred when the unthinkable was left unthought of. He couldn't close his eyes without seeing it all again.
He could tell that Zatanna was curious and maybe even a little worried about him, he had chosen not to tell her anything though, he didn't need her pity. And he didn't want her to think of him as weak, so he had avoided her and not talked much when he was around her.
Earlier that day he had overheard Zatanna excitedly telling Selina that she had a date tomorrow after school, so maybe she took him avoiding her the wrong way? Maybe she thought he just didn't want to be around her? Either way, it looked as if he had blown his shot with her. Maybe that was better though, she was dealing with her own misfortunes and he didn't need to bring any extra baggage into her life. But it didn't mean he had to like the fact that she had a date. In fact, he was surprised to admit to himself that he was quite jealous. After all, he had seen her first, not whoever she happened to be going on a date with. Dick was just hoping it didn't turn out to be Marcus Jackson or Caleb O'Neal, he didn't trust either of those idiots.
The more Dick thought about it the more upset he got, which was pretty unreasonable considering she wasn't his to claim. She wasn't anyone's to claim. He didn't have a right to try getting in the way of her date so he wouldn't, but the next chance he got he was going to at least try to get her attention. Dating her, because he had decided he wanted her to be his, didn't mean she had to take on all of his problems too.
Honestly he wasn't even sure if he was allowed to date, or if he was allowed to date her. Bruce would probably argue that she was a part of his team so they shouldn't date, and Dick got that but that didn't change how he felt. Why did his life always have to be complicated, couldn't just one thing be easy? There seemed to be so many problems with it, but he was yet again surprised to find that he didn't care.
He didn't trust anyone else with her either. Gotham was a dangerous place filled with cruel and manipulative people, he didn't want her to get messed up by this city. She mattered to him more than he had realized before, and he wasn't sure how that came to be. They hadn't know each other for long but he just had this feeling. Like he just knew there was something special about her. He wasn't going to try and stop her date but he wasn't just going to give up either.