Dick Grayson One-Shots

RED

Sorry, it's not the song. I tried so hard to get the lyrics I chose to match but I couldn't...

Then this idea hit me!

It's angsty.

Sorry I haven't updated. I've just been down lately. I'll try to update more.

TW; Blood. Cutting. Death. Mentions of sex. Fights. Ptsd.

It has an almost happy ending so... I hope that makes up for it!

(Birdflash)

When Dick was young, he thought of the color red as performance.

The red of the lights at the circus, and the red on they're costumes.

The red that trailed behind them like wings when they soared through the sky.

But wings break.

They crash.

And burn.

After his parents fell red became blood.

Death.

Fear.

Pain.

And misery.

Robin brought the color back. He had designed the suit to match his parents.

And for a while, red became the color of justice.

Of freedom.

Of hope.

And dreams.

But red was still the color of blood.

It took him a long time to figure that out.

To long.

When he was 12, there was a girl who had been mugged.

Shot.

Killed

And maybe if he had been faster, maybe if he had been smarter, she would still be alive.

Her death was followed by many.

Too many

And red became death, blood, pain, and fear all over again.

But it also became, failure.

No matter how hard he tried, he was always too late.

They always slipped through his fingers.

He was always a second too late.

But that was never the worst part.

When they begged him to save them that's what hurt the most.

When they cried because they didn't want to die.

That always hit him the hardest.

But Bruce no Batman never seemed bothered. He seemed indifferent.

Dick knew he cared. Hell, he cared more than anyone. But he remained calm.

Because that was how you saved people.

And he was Robin. He should be able to be just as good. He should be better.

But he wasn't.

When he was 15, he heard kids talk about replacing mental pain with physical.

It was a conversation that wasn't meant to be overheard.