Aubrey's Crap: Inspiration strikes in the damnedest places. Like in a hotel bathroom. Don't ask. Also, I know I probably screwed up the timeline royally. I don't really remember what Roy was doing when he and Dick were seventeen. Forgive me. Also, this was loosely proofed but not betaed. Sorry about that. Pardon any typos.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that DC has even thought about thinking about, let alone created.

Everything Changes
Part the Second
Speedy and Robin

Dick had been crying. Roy could see it in his red, puffy eyes, in his gaze, in his posture. They were family. Roy knew Dick better than anyone. He knew when he had been crying. He also knew when Dick wouldn't want to talk about it. So he put his arms around his friend's shoulder and took him inside.

"Where's your uniform?" he asked finally, once they were sitting on the couch. Roy wished that he weren't with Ollie that weekend. He wished that they had gone through with the brief discussion of a Teen Titans' HQ. The JLA had a HQ. Why couldn't they? Pulling his thoughts back to the presence, he noticed Dick's breath hitch, despite the embarrassed flush in his cheeks that said he was trying to control himself – to hold himself together. "Dick?"

"Didn't know where else to go," Dick muttered tightly, looking away. He wrapped his arms around himself and chewed on his lip, visibly seeking self-control. It made sense, but Roy wished he would let his hair down more – at least around his friends. Being Batman's kid didn't mean that Dick had to act as cold as his guardian did. Roy bit his tongue, though. Dick probably didn't want to hear anything like that.

Instead, he touched Dick's shoulder again to pull him back to wherever his mind was floating off to. Robin was usually so positive, so in control. He always knew what to do. It hurt Roy to see him even look helpless. Because Robin was never helpless. Robin always knew what to do.

"Where's your uniform?" he asked again, noting that Dick's clothes were hanging properly, for once. There was nothing on underneath them. Roy couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Dick without his suit on or nearby. He didn't even have a bag with him. "Come on, Robin." They always used their titles when they really wanted to get another's attention. It was a Teen Titan thing. Helped train them for battle or…something. Maybe it just made them feel like grown-ups.

Dick's head snapped up and there were tears in his eyes. Panicked tears that made Roy's stomach clench. His voice was stretched tight as he shook his head and stood abruptly. Backing away from Roy, withdrawing, he croaked miserably, "I'm not Robin anymore."

Shit.

It felt like he'd eaten a brick. Roy stared at Dick mutely, stunned. What was he supposed to say to that? Don't worry, Dick, he wanted to say. Batman is an asshole. He'll come around. But Dick's eyes were wild and wet and he was shaking visibly and looked so terrified and so utterly not like Dick that he said nothing.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go," he breathed, shaking his head unhappily. He looked ready to be sick, ready to collapse. Roy opened his mouth to beckon him back to the couch, but the words wouldn't come.

Suddenly, he felt incredibly young. Seventeen had never felt younger. He couldn't handle this. Dick couldn't handle this. Neither of them should have to.

He stood and moved over to Dick, pulling him into a tight hug. Dick trembled in his arms, not returning the gesture. He just trembled, broken.

"Come on," Roy whispered finally, bodily but gently steering Dick toward the door. "Let's go." But Dick dug his heels into the floor, protesting without words.

Even so, he still asked, "Go where?"

Roy didn't really know. He didn't know what good it would do. He didn't know if anyone could really help Dick, if anyone could beat some sense into Batman through that bullet-proof cowl. But if anyone could…

"To see Superman."

Continued in Part 3