Dick Grayson Trash

Toxic Masculinity B Like:

-just a couple stories about Eight Year Old Dick Grayson learning that the world wants to screw him over-

The dodge ball made contact with the boy, throwing him backwards off his feet. his bare arms and legs squeaking across the gym floor. The teachers held their breath: the kid was fragile and sheltered, they were gonna be in MAJOR trouble if the kid was hurt.

Dick pushed himself up, dusting off his gym clothes. "Good one!" he smiled at his defeater, a blonde girl in his grade. He headed to the bench where the rest of his classmates were.

"You got beat by a girl!" One of the guys laughed as he walked by.

"So?" Dick asked.

"She's a girl!" Another snickered.

"So?" Dick asked, he couldn't understand why everyone was laughing. The girl in his grade (He didn't know most of these kids' names), was really strong, why was everyone laughing that she beat him? like, he got beat, but he still stayed in longer than them. "What's wrong?"

"You're a guy, and you were beat by a girl!"

Confused, and a little embarrassed, Dick sat at the end of the bench. He didn't know what he'd done wrong.

Later that night, at dinner, Bruce and Dick were taking turns exchanging curtsies. "-and how was your day, Dick?"

"Fine." Dick said thoughtfully. "We did this game called dodgeball in gym, and it was really fun... I made it to the last three kids." He didn't really want to admit to Bruce that he'd been defeated by a non-hero kid.

Bruce nodded I seemed like something his kid would love. still, Dick usually talked more than this, he seemed to have something on his mind. "Then what happened?"

Dick took a few more bites, still deep in thought. He was blushing for some reason, looking a little upset. finally, he looked up sheepishly, unaware of his cheeks turning darker. "I got hit.... and for some reason, kids found it weird because it was a girl..." He didn't know how he was supposed to feel about this, but he felt shameful just because other kids were laughing at him.

Despite the fact that he was a hero (Sidekick), Bruce wasn't surprised he'd been hit, the kid was very short still, and felt insecure showing off his physical skills in public. "So you need to improve? No one should defeat you, regardless of gender."

"Yeah." Dick agreed sadly. He really tried not to be beaten, and he never went out on patrol hoping to be captured, but Bruce always just told him to 'do better'. "I'll try."

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Two weeks later...

Roy was taking Wally and Dick across to the park across from one of the Wayne buildings. As a thirteen year old boy, he wasn't to psyched, but the three primary forces in their lives (Oliver, Bruce, and Barry) decided he was free labor.

"Roy, Hurry!" Dick gabbed his hand and pulled him towards the playground.

Roy scoffed and yanked his arm away. "Go on your own." Dick didn't understand 'unspoken rules' at all, let alone personal space.

Dick tended to hold the hands of, or hug, anyone he deemed a friend. Regardless of gender. In theory this was good, until he got around other people his age. He genuinely didn't understand why it wasn't 'okay' or 'normal' for boys to hold hands when hanging out.

Wally had been a little taken aback by Dick's affection when they first became friends, but now he didn't mind. He still got a little embarrassed when people saw Dick holding his hand in public, but for the most part, he didn't mind. He'd gotten used to it.

"Come on." Dick held Wally's hand and headed towards the playground. He approached a couple kids around their age. "D'you wanna play tag with us?"

The kids looked them up-and-down, weirdly. "Okay..." It was clear they didn't really want to, but had nothing else to do.

About twenty feet from the playground, Roy spotted some cute teenage girls drinking slurpees on the grass.

"Hey, your shirt is pretty nice."

"Thanks." One of the girls said, they giggled a little. 

Roy didn't know whether that was good or bad. He hoped they were laughing with him. "So, slurpees? What flavours didja get?"

The girls gave each other a look, before one of them answered."Uhh, just like, coke." The girl turned away. 

Roy shrugged. "Sick, well, I-"

"Roy!" He looked down in concern. Yep, the worst thing to happen when you're flirting with a girl: a little kid clinging to your waist. "Wally told me to tell you-ask you, if you wanna play tag with us."

"No way, play with someone else!" But it was two late, the bitchy eighth graders just laughed, and continued chatting with each other. Roy growled, flushed red as his hair, and shoved Dick off him, pushing him back towards the play structure. "Dick! you ruined my chances!"

"Huh?"

"No one wants a guy who plays babysitter!"

"Why? and it's not babysitting, I'm a kid! not a baby!"

"BABYsitter now, since you're being like this." He spat, meaning to offend. "Guys don't do this! Name one other teenage boy who is in child care."

"I don't know any other teens." Dick stated. 

"Well, you Ruined my chance with those chicks! I NEED a girlfriend!"

"Why?"

"I Just Do! If you're a guy in grade eight, you NEED a girlfriend." He threw Dick into the playground. "Go play with Wally."

Dick scurried over two Wally and the other (older) kids. He wrapped his arms around Wally. "Let's just play tag!"

One of the other boys scoffed. "Gay!"

"huh?" Dick had no clue what that word meant.

"G-gay. you know, hugging a boy is pretty gay!"

Wally shrugged Dick off him. "I'm not gay."

"What's gay?" Dick asked him, worried that it might be a bad word.

Actually, the nine year old boys didn't know what gay meant either besides that fact it was bad, and whatever basic excuse a parent gave. They just settled on calling Dick gay.

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Later that night, at dinner...

Dick was kicking his legs back and forth in the restaurant stall, sandwiched between the other two boys, across from their male role-models/guardians. after considerate thought, and sipping on his plastic cup of ice water, he asked what was on his mind.

"What does gay mean?"

Bruce choked on his Pepsi.

Roy fell over in shock, quite the feat, since he was sitting down at the time. Wally looked like death was coming for him, and the adults looked like they thought Bruce was gonna murder someone. Dick went pale, maybe gay was a bad word!

Bruce finished coughing up his drink, his face slightly reddened. "Where did you-" He glared at the redheads. 

"Which one of you two did it?" Barry asked. The boys shrugged.  

"Wait, What does it mean?" Dick quietly asked the other boys.

Roy picked himself up, grinning ear-to-ear. "Well, Dickie, when a man loves another man-"

"Roy Harper, don't you dare!"

Bruce looked directly across to his ward, who sat in confused horror of what he'd caused. "I'll explain another time, alright?" Bruce was eager to move on from the huge scene that just went down in their booth.

"okay." Dick answered in a small voice.