Falling for Grayson : birdflash

Ch3: Freeze

The view from the top of Mount Justice was beautiful. The noon sky was dressed in a deep blue with wisps of white weakly concealing its singular golden eye. The maple trees swaying, the melody of the birds, calming my racing mind. As I stepped out from the mountain's shadow, the warmth of the sun met my skin. I took a deep inhale of the crisp sea air and exhaled slowly. Being in nature was truly good for the soul.

"You ready to climb down?" Dick said, making the final adjustments to his harness.

"Yeah, all set," I replied, throwing my rucksack over my shoulder. "Did you want to repel down or..." I drifted off in hopes that repelling would be enough.

"Let's climb," Dick said in a way that I couldn't possibly wriggle out from. "Some of the rocks will still be wet from the rain this morning so be careful."

"Careful? Careful's my middle name."

"Hmmm... I could have sworn your middle name was Reckless..."

"I just have bright ideas that sometimes lead to unfortunate results."

"Yeah, your ideas are so blindingly bright that you can't see the obvious catastrophic results."

"Are you saying I don't think things through?"

"All I'm saying is that your bashful ideas and actions are simply too quick for any rationality to catch up." The deviant winked then disappeared behind the cliff's edge.

Whenever we were in civilian clothes, Dick used to always wear dark sunglasses. It was to protect his secret identity. But last summer we hiked for miles through the forest beyond Mount Justice and we talked about the distance he felt it created between him and his now chosen family. Robin decided he no longer needed to protect his identity.

In that forest, on that summers day, I was the first to see his deep blue eyes and hear him speak his name, Richard Grayson. Staring into his blue eyes I had felt that first jolt in my chest, the first uneasiness in my stomach. I didn't think much of that feeling, not until three weeks ago.

* * *

As we climbed down the south side of the mountain, I wedged my knee between the rock to shake out my arms.

I watched as Dick descended: his movements, graceful, his hand and foot placements, precise. It seemed as if he were merely climbing down a ladder. I was sure his body awareness from his acrobat days helped. The strength in his fingers and forearms, however—that's from climbing Tango every day.

"Hey, Spidey, wait up," I yelled below.

"Sorry," Dick yelled back without stopping, "I don't wait for people who are as slow as you are."

"Did you seriously just call me slow?"

"I think you should find a new name, Kid Flash."

Oh that's it. "When I get down there, you're dead, Robin."

"If you get down here, that is, ahahahaha!" The boy was unhinged at this point. "You frozen up there? Maybe your new name should be Mr. Freeze. Your speed has left me underwhelmed."

Yep, dead. He is dead.

I began to race down the mountain as fast as I could. I was a pretty good climber if I did say so myse—oh shit.

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Q: Any memorable hiking places you've enjoyed?