[Dick sat quietly through Hayley's appeal. For a moment, she sounded a little like Bruce with the comment about killing himself, but the rest of it was... different. No one had bothered to ask what had gone on after Blockbuster was actually dead, no one had prodded him this hard about what had happened, and he'd been fine with it. He'd basically put a bandaid on it and moved on. Besides, there had been more important things to worry about after it had happened. Bludhaven had been destroyed, the universe had almost ended, Tim had been a mess after losing his girlfriend, father and best friend within days and weeks of each other, he'd almost died, and there were just other things to worry about. He hadn't brought it up and no one else had asked.
He knew he was probably just being manipulated. Hayley was curious, and while she did have some pretty logical points - in that denying everything that had happened didn't mean it hadn't happened - it did feel a little bit like blackmail, because no, he didn't want Tim wondering about what had happened. The kid had enough to deal with without worrying about him, and the same went for Steph. He was supposed to be the responsible one, the rock, the one who'd always be there when things went wrong, and he couldn't do that if they were too busy walking on eggshells around him. Of course, her concern could be genuine, but it was the threat of telling someone else - of telling his younger brother, that made him try to strengthen his resolve.
He ran both hands through his hair, taking a slow breath, trying to figure out how to approach this. He still didn't want to, but again, if the alternative was having her tell Tim? He didn't really have a lot of choice.
He tried to relax his hands. It really hurt to keep them clenched anyway, considering how damaged they were in the wake of the Aztec invasion, and he didn't want to make it seem like he was going to snap. He was fine. He could do this.]
I don't want to punch you.
[It was another long stretch of silence before he could actually get his throat to unstick.] After she shot him, I went up on the roof and... It was raining and I couldn't breathe. [Another pause.] I collapsed, and she - Catalina came out and she touched me and -
[He stopped. He was shaking, fists clenched tightly again. The last couple words had spilled out of his mouth, but just as suddenly he'd stopped, unable to continue.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't. This wasn't like just flatly telling people about Blockbuster, or telling Steph about what had happened with Two Face, or talking about his parents. He couldn't talk about this.]
Spam! -
He knew he was probably just being manipulated. Hayley was curious, and while she did have some pretty logical points - in that denying everything that had happened didn't mean it hadn't happened - it did feel a little bit like blackmail, because no, he didn't want Tim wondering about what had happened. The kid had enough to deal with without worrying about him, and the same went for Steph. He was supposed to be the responsible one, the rock, the one who'd always be there when things went wrong, and he couldn't do that if they were too busy walking on eggshells around him. Of course, her concern could be genuine, but it was the threat of telling someone else - of telling his younger brother, that made him try to strengthen his resolve.
He ran both hands through his hair, taking a slow breath, trying to figure out how to approach this. He still didn't want to, but again, if the alternative was having her tell Tim? He didn't really have a lot of choice.
He tried to relax his hands. It really hurt to keep them clenched anyway, considering how damaged they were in the wake of the Aztec invasion, and he didn't want to make it seem like he was going to snap. He was fine. He could do this.]
I don't want to punch you.
[It was another long stretch of silence before he could actually get his throat to unstick.] After she shot him, I went up on the roof and... It was raining and I couldn't breathe. [Another pause.] I collapsed, and she - Catalina came out and she touched me and -
[He stopped. He was shaking, fists clenched tightly again. The last couple words had spilled out of his mouth, but just as suddenly he'd stopped, unable to continue.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't. This wasn't like just flatly telling people about Blockbuster, or telling Steph about what had happened with Two Face, or talking about his parents. He couldn't talk about this.]