Inaspirical >>>(Young Justice/Dick Grayson)<<<

Chapter 10

Team: Year One
June 18th, 16:20
Mount Justice

"And she really said all that?" Wally stared at Dick, eyes widened.

Artemis shared a look with her boyfriend. "I can't believe I didn't even see it!"

Dick shrugged. "She's my girlfriend. You'd think I would have noticed." He rubbed his hands on his face stressfully. With only Wally and Artemis presently at the Cave, he had taken the liberty of removing his shades. "Don't tell her I told you. She's terrified that people would think differently of her if they knew.

Wally nodded. "We didn't here it from you."

Dick sighed thankfully and gave a halfhearted smile.

His phone vibrated. He looked to the screen to read a fairly astute message from his girlfriend.

From: Parker ❤️
You know how it's federal law that foster children have to maintain their health by biannual dentist and annual doctors visits? As a legally adopted child, guess who is exempt from such laws! 🙋🏻

Dick chuckled. Leave it to Parker to find the best out of the better.

"Was that her?" Artemis asked. The blonde looked a bit worried.

He nodded. "It's the kind of message that does not require me to worry." He showed them, and they laughed.

"As a 'legal speedster'," Wally made air-quotes, "I have been exempt from such ridiculous first-world privileges for-" he calculated the amount of time in his head. "Either three or four years."

Robin rolled his eyes. "Lucky," he muttered. "What should I tell her?"

"Dude," Wally's look gave Dick the impression that he was the dumbest person on the planet. "Be happy for her."

To: Parker ❤️
Nice! 👍🏻🤗

Artemis got her own text message and was quickly summoned away, claiming, "See you two for dinner!" as she ran off to the zeta tubes.

"Hey," Dick wondered. Wally stood up and walked to the kitchen, motioning for Dick to follow. "Can I ask you something a bit weird?"

"I am a few hundred times faster than the average human being when I saunter. Weird is my middle name." Wally opened a tub of ice cream. "Want some?"

Dick shook his head. "It's about Parker. I didn't really wanna ask while Artemis was here."

The speedster suddenly stopped scooping and stared and Robin with a flat face. "Are you gonna ask about your sex life? Cause you got more experience in that area than I do."

"You two haven't done it?" He asked incredulously, pulling himself up to sit on a countertop.

Wally shrugged. "We're both virgins. Arty wants to wait for the right time. I can't blame her." He shrugged again, spooning ice cream into his mouth. "But what's your question?" He asked with his mouth full of whipped cream, sprinkles, and cookie dough ice cream.

"Last night, Parker freaked out when I got near her. Something tells me she would not have had the same reaction had it been a girl standing there." Robin began. "The last time something like this happened, the exact opposite happened."

"She enticed you?" Wally's mouth was still filled with ice cream. "And you gave in?!"

"No!" He put a hand on his head. "She tried to, but I told her no."

Wally actually swallowed before speaking this time. "So you two haven't slept together?"

Robin blinked. "We haven't slept slept together, but we practically share a room. With everything she's been through-"

"That you've both been through." Wally stated. "I know that this job isn't easy, and the more I do it the more it's not fun anymore. This is the job."

"Canary says that we break so that others don't have to bear the strain." Robin remembered. "I used to not understand what she meant. I guess I do now. But Parker has been through a hell of a lot worse than I have. And apparently, she hasn't been taking them very well." He unconsciously crossed his arms.

"What do you mean?" Wally sat down his empty bowl.

The two shared a knowing glance. "She's been hurting herself the way I used to."

Wally let out a long breath and placed his hands on his head and his elbows in the countertop to support his weight. "I guessed as much." He shared a guilty look with his best friend. "Too many long sleeves," he gestured to his own clothing choice. "It takes one to know one."

"I can't help but think it's my fault." Dick admitted. "I feel like, if I had done something sooner, talked to her more, told her how I felt earlier, maybe she wouldn't have started in the first place."

Wally seemed dumbfounded. "This is not-"

"She stopped the moment I asked her to be my girlfriend." Dick admitted. "She started last Christmas. Her acute schizophrenia started around Halloween, and I kissed her for the first time at my birthday. She started after that because she felt like she deserved it, like it would make her worthy of being cared about." He was repulsed at the idea of his girlfriend feeling completely worthless, and it made him hate himself.

Wally understood. "And you think that becoming an item gave her the same feeling?"

"But it also makes me not whelmed! I don't know how to help her." He spread his arms out hopelessly. "I don't know if she wants me to just tell her that she is a worthwhile human being, or if she wants sex, or if she doesn't... I don't know what is right or wrong in this relationship."

Wally leaned up against the counter with more confidence, bowl of ice cream in one hand, spoon in the other. "You know what you need to do?" He pointed at Dick with his utensil. "You need to talk to her."

The boy wonder sighed. "I don't know how to do that. She always comes up with some excuse to get out of those conversations."

"I got an idea." He took a second to finish his bite. "Take her on a vacation, just the two of you, and you should have plenty of time to talk."

Dick just rolled his eyes. "How the hell am I supposed to convince Bruce to let me take his daughter on a vacation trip? Especially alone?!"

Wally shrugged. "Maybe you could tell him what's going on with Parker. Make him promise to not tell her that he knows."

"Knowing him," Dick made a face. "He probably already does. He likes to let us figure out problems on our own, though, so I doubt he would have much intervention if I told him the truth."

"Besides," Wally added, trying to lighten the mood. "I doubt he would care as long as Parker doesn't get pregnant or anything."

"I don't think she can..." Dick responded. "I heard her talking to Bruce about Ramon Pait. Apparently he sterilized all his victims."

Wally's eyes flared, but not with anger, more with pity. "That's rough. That was one messed up son of a bitch."

Dick agreed. "She doesn't know I know, though. She's probably scared to tell me."

"Can't blame her. I'd be reluctant to tell Artemis if I couldn't have kids."

The both shared a nod, another cup of ice cream, and more worry for Logan Parker.