Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

-DG-

Dick and Victor decided to spend some time together, though Dick didn't know where Vic was taking him. Early that morning Vic had dragged him out of bed, told him to get dressed in civvies and threw him in the T-car.

On the way to wherever they were going, they didn't talk much. Terra's death still hung over them, and Dick suspected that it would hang over the team for a long, long time. He looked out of the window and watched the landscape change from the city to the wilderness.

"Sorry I hit you," Dick said.

"Don't worry about it. We were all upset."

They didn't talk any more until they arrived at their destination, someplace out in the Californian wilderness. The land on the side of the road sloped down to a stream. Dick stepped out onto the road and looked around as Vic rummaged in the trunk.

"What are we doing?" Dick asked.

"Fly fishing." Vic took out two rods and grinned. "Well, we're gonna try, anyway."

All of the awful memories from the past two years flickered before his eyes. Slade. Terra. Dick sighed heavily.

"You okay?" Vic asked.

"I'm fine. Let's get going."

They pulled on their ridiculous fishing pants and boots, and waded out into the stream. The rod was different than other fishing rods Dick had used before. This one was long and thin, and when he cast the line he almost tangled himself in it. Fly fishing required more control, more precision and more patience than bait fishing.

Vic looked ridiculous in his fishing gear. He even had on a stupid wide-brimmed hat with colorful flies clipped onto the brim. It was a weird juxtaposition of fishing gear and his cyborg body.

The two of them stood just a few feet away from each other. The current was strong in the middle of the stream, but not nearly strong enough to knock Dick off his feet, and certainly not strong enough to push down Vic. After an hour or two his arm felt sore, though he had gotten better at casting. Neither of them had caught anything yet, but that didn't matter.

"We haven't talked much lately," Vic said.

"Yeah."

"We've all had it pretty rough, haven't we?"

"You could say so."

Dick wasn't really trying to catch anything. Vic couldn't possibly know that Dick never wanted to fish again because Dick hadn't told him everything about the apprenticeship. It wasn't his fault.

"I want to quit," Dick said quietly. "I can't deal with this anymore. I'm going to quit school, quit the team, everything. I can't deal with this life anymore."

"Oh hey, I got one." Vic struggled with his line and completely ignored what Dick said. "Get the net, will you?"

Dick shouldered his rod and waddled to the bank, where the net was. Vic looked over at him, a concerned expression on his face.

"You say you wanna quit," Vic said, "but since when did quitting did anyone any good? So what if you couldn't save Terra? None of us could."

"But I was the one who let Slade go—"

"So what? You stuck to your convictions. You weren't in a good state of mind. Whatever. Doesn't matter. We keep going, even when things look bad, because that's what heroes do. By all rights, I should be dead after the accident that changed me into a cyborg. But I'm not, and I went on to help people." Vic looked at his metal hands, as though wishing he could feel his flesh and blood again. "So what's your excuse? You dying of something?"

Dick said nothing. Instead, he helped Vic catch his fish, and then several more, his fishing rod abandoned on the bank.

They gathered their fish and headed back for a packed lunch. Their fishing license only allowed them to take back so many fish, so some of the fish they had to throw back alive. Before Vic could do anything, Dick took out his pocket knife and began cleaning the fish he had killed. This time he didn't squirm or grimace. He just did it.

"You're pretty good at that," Vic said.

"Yeah. I guess I am."

Dick washed out the gutted fish in the stream and strung them on a line. For a moment he looked at them and wondered why this should bring back bad memories. He was hanging out with his friend, nothing more. He batted one of the fish and shook his head.

"Terra's death really puts things into perspective for me," Dick said, sitting down on the bank. "Slade's death too. Things were bad for me, but never as bad as Terra's life. I said that I didn't want him dead because we're the good guys. Bruce taught me never to kill people." Dick played with a twig. "Slade did, though."

"Like I said: sticking to your convictions is the best thing you could have done. Better than become evil like he wanted you to. Don't feel guilty about sticking to your convictions. That's how Slade wanted you to feel."

This was stupid. It had been a year now, so why should he feel this way? Every single time he thought he got over his personal demons, they would haunt him again.

"Get your associate's degree and leave. Maybe a four-year college isn't for you, Dick, or maybe you need more time for yourself. But don't quit until you have your associate's degree. Quit the team, yeah, maybe, but don't quit living. You can't mope around forever."

Was that what Dick was doing? Moping around?

"If I hadn't gotten this body, then I wouldn't have met you or the other Titans," Vic said. "You guys are some of the best friends I've ever had. You've changed people for the better, Dick. Don't you ever forget that."

Vic took out his phone and pulled Dick to his side for a group selfie. "Now hold up those fish and smile!"

For the rest of the afternoon they talked about other things, happier things. They talked about cars, they talked about girls, they talked about all the things they were gonna do with the team when they got back. Vic would fire up the grill and make hamburgers, and they would all watch silly movies Raven hated.

They would move on.