0001. CHAPTER ONE
— a call for help

AUGUSTINE FINLEY (WAYNE? SHE WASN'T SURE WHAT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO GO BY NOW) WAS MANY THINGS, BUT UNPREDICTABLE WAS NOT ONE OF THEM. She always went for the safe choice and always had her life planned out with options and ideas about what she wanted to do. Augustine Finley was the picture-perfect example of someone who had their life together. Of course, all photos look good because they're capturing a specific moment in time. Much unlike a video, which would show how someone's dropped something after a photo or how they tripped taking their next step. Augustine Finley would not be a perfect example of anything in the video, it's what made her human (or at least semi-human). Living her life in a routine was comforting. Especially now that she was the person who could call the shots. Now that she was the adult who had a voice. The person people looked up to. Perhaps this all stemmed from how she grew up. There was no structure to a home run by Harlow Finley — trauma surgeon by day and Gotham City vigilante by night. Half the time Augustine sat around the manor waiting for her mother to return, not much different from scenes in movies of parents waiting for their teenage child to return from a party. Augustine couldn't remember a time when she had her mother do the same for her. Her mother never had to do the same thing for Augustine.

Augustine never really had the chance to be a kid. Or a teenager. She always had someone or something to worry about. Whether it was her mother returning from working in one of the worst cities in the world (come on, everyone knows Gotham is unsafe for literally anyone to walk through. crime rates are through the roofs even with two vigilantes). Or trying to see if her mother would return from patrol with any major injuries. The other half of her time was spent worrying about her best friend — whether or not he was okay as well. Because he was out there doing the same thing. Putting his life on the line to try and get back at the world for taking away his parents. From taking the thing he cherished most. He was carrying on Batman's legacy. His mantra. Augustine spent a lot of her time worrying that Dick Grayson was turning out too much like Bruce Wayne. Which, ultimately, couldn't have been more true. Especially when he cut off all ties with her when he started the Titans.

That was four years ago — at least Augustine thinks it was four years ago. She didn't exactly write it down on her calendar. Not many people typically mark down the last phone call they had with someone they once considered their best friend thinking it would be the last conversation they have. No one thinks like that. Not even Augustine, who knew at any moment the people she loves the most could die doing the things that made them feel safer. Augustine liked to say she was an optimist about the world. That she had hope in the things going on. The things that could and would get better. She had started off medical school that way, full of life and hope that she could do good in the world as a doctor. It was her way of giving back to the world around her, trying to help the people of Gotham and just people in general. Medicine was her way of being a hero without having to wear a mask at night and beat up criminals. The only way she wanted to be like her mother.

Hell would have to freeze over before Augustine Finley ever thought about using her powers for something other than basic survival instincts. Okay, maybe that was a slight lie. She used her powers for small things around her apartment. Like that one time, she decided the furniture in her room needed to be moved around almost five or six times in one night — she could have only done that with her powers. What Augustine meant about being like her mother was vigilantism. Augustine Finley wouldn't be caught dead wearing a suit, fighting people under the veil of the night. It wasn't something she wanted to do, wasn't something she felt like she had to do. No, she did well for people with her day job. Being a doctor was enough for her, Augustine Finley was content with her life. Well, she was content with her job and her hobbies at least. More or less content with the idea of her job, she is a surgical intern after all.

There was only one thing that Augustine wished she had in her life — her best friend. It started small at first, but she was able to deal with it pretty easily. She had friends in medical school and her mother to return home to in the summers. But after a year of no contact, Augustine started to worry. Yet, her pride refused to let her be the one to message him. To ask him how he was. One year faded into two years which faded into three, that was about the time she had reconnected with Roy Harper. She wasn't actively seeking out anyone from that part of her life, the one she had never really ventured into. But one thing turned into another and he slowly filled the void that Dick Grayson had left in her life. Augustine found herself forgetting about her childhood best friend when Roy came to visit her. Instead, she chose to focus on his smile and the laughter that tumbled from his lips. She memorized everything she could about him. It came as no surprise to her that her heart called out for him, he was everything that Augustine wanted in her life.

And he was there. No matter the time of day, he was always answering her calls. It didn't matter what she was calling about (half the time it was something completely idiotic), his voice would always come through the phone in response to her call. After a while, the phone calls turned to late-night conversations in their shared apartment. Whether that be on the couch with cups of coffee resting in their hands or with the two of them facing each other in the bed. Augustine Finley had never been in a relationship like this one before (sure, she had been in a few in high school and college but this one ... it was something different).

Dropping some files from work onto the table next to her front door, Augustine couldn't help but sigh as she let the waves of frustration from work roll off of her. She had spent the entirety of her shift running up and down the floors of the hospital, doing everything and anything for the residents that asked. Needless to say, it was the longest thirty-six hours that Augustine had ever had in her entire life (which, isn't very long, to begin with, so). Part of her wanted to curl up in her bed, under the endless mounds of blankets she owned, surrounded by the plush pillows that tempted her head. Another part of her craved the warm rush of water against her skin, the smell of her vanilla body wash as it filled her senses. She wanted to relax. To feel clean. But both of those options seemed hard to get when she opened the door to her apartment — his cologne was the first thing she smelled. He had a specific scent, sandalwood, at least that's what she thought it was. Augustine didn't need to know what it was called, she just knew who it belonged to. After all, she had spent nights upon nights with her face cuddled into his neck, hands resting on his chest as they slept.

She knew Roy Harper almost as well as she knew herself.

"Roy?" She called out, trying to figure out where exactly he was in her apartment. It didn't take long for him to respond to her, the noise traveling from the kitchen. Following the sound of his voice, Augustine leaned in the doorway. She watched him with a small smile, he was cooking something, pasta maybe. There was a faint sound of music coming from the corner and his hips swayed with it, only deepening the smile Augustine held on her face. Moving from her spot in the doorframe, Augustine wrapped her hands around his midsection. Her one cheek pushed up against his shoulder blade as he melted into her touch.

"Hi." Augustine managed to let out a slightly dopey smile accompanying her lips.

"Hi to you too," Roy quipped back, continuing to sway to the music that Augustine had since identified to be Taylor Swift. "How was work?"
Augustine groaned in response. "That bad huh?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Was it worse than someone using chemicals to try and turn themselves into a villain?"

"I think I almost turned myself into a villain," Augustine mumbled.

Roy laughed, "You could never be a villain no matter how hard you try. You're too good for that."

Her cheeks flamed, a pink dusting taking them over, "Shut up."

"That's not normally my specialty but for you? I'll try my best," Roy turned around in her grip, flashing her a toothy smile. Not much different from the one's toddlers give their parents and friends when they try to cheer them up. It never failed to make Augustine smile. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, putting it down on the counter.

"I'm going to take a shower," Augustine grumbled, moving out of his grip altogether. Roy seemingly went to go with her, sighing when Augustine put her hand on his chest to stop him. "Alone."

"You can't just tease a guy with a shower, sweetheart," Roy jutted out his bottom lip, making Augustine's head shake.

"All I said was that I was going to take a shower," Augustine rolled her eyes. "Besides I smell terrible and am covered in fluids that I don't even want to think about, you do not want to be in this shower with me."

"You underestimate just how hot you are, babe."

"No, what I underestimate is how horny you are," Augustine shook her head. "All the goddamn time."

"That all goes back to what I was saying," Roy let out a laugh. "Go take a shower, I'll have dinner finished by the time you're done and you can tell me about your day."

Augustine quickly leaned into him, placing a hand on his cheek as she pulled his lips onto hers. She leaned back, a smile on her lips. "Sounds good to me."

"Good, now go," Roy playfully pushed her shoulder. "You're right, you do smell."

"Haha," Augustine rolled her eyes again, raising her arms in mock defense as she walked back towards their shared bedroom. "Would you look at that, I'm going to take a shower."

Roy shook his head in response, turning back to the dinner he had been cooking before Augustine walked into their apartment. It wasn't anything fancy, Roy wasn't the best cook and he would never claim to be. But even for people who aren't the best cooks, spaghetti is a very hard meal to mess up. Plus, he had found that out of the two of them, he was the only one who had any idea how to cook. Augustine was very upfront about it when they first moved in together, her dinners mostly consisted of precooked frozen meals and take-out. She grew up with someone who did all of the cooking in her home — her mother never bothered to learn how to cook either. That was one of the few things that set Augustine and Roy apart. They were alike in so many different ways, but she grew up as the princess of Gotham. There's bound to be a big disparity in ways of life when that title looms over your head.

The music continued to play as the water boiled, the pasta softening with the hot water. Roy smiled a little as he heard the water stop in her shower — a telltale sign that Augustine was about to come walking out. Something she did almost perfectly like she had an internal alarm telling her that dinner was almost done. She never failed to come out just as Roy was putting the finishing touches on their food. But this time Augustine's soft pattering of feet was overpowered by the sound of her phone ringing. Roy looked over to it, picking it up off of the counter. He had answered her phone several times, Harlow had grown used to the red-headed man answering her phone for her. But this contact name was someone he had never seen calling her — at least not since they were teenagers.

Dick Grayson.

Roy was quick to click on the green button, bringing the phone up to his ear.

"August? I didn't think you would pick up," Dick sighed on the other end of the phone, making Roy's eyes set into a glare.

"She might not have," Roy garbled back, making Dick suck in a quiet (but not quite enough to not be heard) breath.

"Roy? Did I call the wrong number?" Roy bit his tongue, trying to stop himself from laughing as Dick's voice got quieter. As if he had pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the screen.

"No, you didn't. This is August's phone," Roy replied quickly. "She's just getting out of the shower now. What do you need Grayson?"

"I need to talk to my best friend," Dick quipped.

"Can you even call her that? It's been what? Almost four years since you last spoke to her?"

Dick sighed, "I haven't been the greatest friend, I get that."

"You've been a dick, Dick."

"I deserve that."

"You deserve worse."

"I probably do," Dick responded quickly. "But I need to talk to August, please, Roy. It's important."

"I can't make her talk to you," Roy stated simply. "I'm sure as hell not going to console her tonight if you say anything stupid. She's shed enough tears over you, dickwad. August is headstrong and confident but you've always been able to bring her back to that same teenager who fumbled over her words and couldn't look people in the eyes. Then, you stopped talking to her and it was like the world shattered underneath her. You can't just expect to come back into her life with one phone call asking for help for something. She might not even want to speak to you."

"And if she doesn't, I'd understand. I was wrong to not talk to her anymore, I just," Dick sighed again, making Roy shake his head. "I was changing and I have changed, I didn't want to let August down because of those changes."

"You think she hasn't changed? Grayson, you've got a lot coming for you then." Roy went back to draining the pasta, the phone sitting comfortably between his ear and his shoulder. "Just wait until you find out about Nico."

"Nico?" Dick questioned, his voice dropping to be a bit quieter. If Augustine were the one on the phone, she would have been able to tell that change in his voice. She would have been able to say that it was the anger flowing through him that made him sound like that. Augustine was always able to tell his emotions simply just through his voice. Roy Harper, on the other hand, knew Dick Grayson through Robin and Red Arrow type of work. Not in the same way as Augustine at all. "You guys have a kid?"

"More or less," Roy shrugged. "It's more like Augustine repeating what Bruce did with you. Taking a kid in and training them. Just, Augustine convinced her mom to let her live in the manor. She's over there half of the time helping to hone in on her powers so she could try and live a normal life."

"She's never been the one to use her powers before," Roy raised his brows at the comment Dick made.

"Uh, buddy. She's never been one to use them in a fight, sure. But Augustine uses her powers for just about every small thing you can imagine. Hell, she's moved me off of the couch and into the bed with them. Something about this girl made her feel like she had to help out, I don't know. She's got a big heart."

"She always has," Dick mumbled. "So, how long have you two?"

"How long have we been dating?"

"Dating," Dick trailed. "I was going to ask how long you two had been friends."

"Weren't you trained by the man they call the world's greatest detective?"

A beat. Roy turned to face Augustine's footsteps, smiling a little when he got to see her. Her eyebrows scrunched together when she saw her phone up against his ear, mouthing a quick "my mom?" to him in question. Her lips tugged downward when he shook his head in a quick response saying no. She walked closer to him, tugging the phone out of his hands without much fighting coming from him. Her eyes did a quick glance at the screen, faltering for a minute when she saw the name that rested on it. Roy watched her carefully, plating the spaghetti for the two of them as Augustine walked out of the kitchen.

She let out a soft sigh before bringing the phone up to her ear, "Dick?"

"August," her heart lurched with the sound of his voice. "How have you been?"

"What are you calling for, Dick?" Augustine sighed, letting out a quick huff. As much as she missed Dick Grayson, she wasn't going to answer his small talk during the one phone call he's given her in four years. She knew him like the back of her very own hand, he was looking for something. What that was, she wasn't sure. But there was bound to be a question or something he needed to ask of her.

"I missed you."

"You would have called a lot earlier if that much were true. What do you need?" Augustine grumbled. "Money? I figured you would have called Bruce for that, but from what I gather, you had a bit of a falling out with him too. You really wanted to burn all of your bridges in Gotham down, didn't you?"

"I deserved that," Dick responded swiftly. "I don't need any money."

"Good," Augustine tapped her foot on the floor. "You wouldn't have gotten any from me, anyway."

"I need your help," Dick's voice came through the phone, Augustine could pick up on the desperation from miles away. "There's this girl."

"Another one? Dick how many times are you going to get yourself into trouble with women."

"Not that type of way, she's fifteen."

"Dick," Augustine felt her eyes widen in his response. "You're burying yourself here."

"She has powers, I can't explain them. People are after her. I'm in over my head."

"You always are."

"I'm heading to Dawn and Hank's place," Dick sighed. "You're the only person I know with powers, I wouldn't be asking you for help unless I really needed it."

"Dick, I've got a job and things I have to do for my residency. I can't just leave and go down to DC to help you," Augustine sighed. "I'd be jeopardizing my entire medical career. I'm not going to do that for someone who hasn't spoken to me in almost over four years."

"August," some part of Augustine knew he had dropped his head into his hand. "I haven't been the friend you needed or deserved, I get that. But I wouldn't be asking unless absolutely necessary. I don't know of anyone else who could help Rachel more than you. Just, think about it, okay? I won't be, I can't be mad if you decide to not show up."

"I'll have to make some calls, I can't promise you that I'll even get the time off of work. Just, uh, don't count on it, okay?"

"August," Dick sighed again. "I really am sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you away."

"But you did, Dick. Can't change the past."

"I know but," Augustine didn't have the chance to hear whatever rebuttal Dick was going to make, her finger had hit the red end call button quicker than he could garble something out. She let out a frustrated noise, the scream tearing through her body. How the hell did she convince herself to join him, to help him.

Augustine Finley was completely wrapped around Dick Grayson's finger, she knew that much for sure.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi, hello, welcome to the AugustRoy fan club, I'm the first member. I'm sure others will be joining after this chapter gets released. Anyways ... bet y'all weren't expecting that! No but really, it was a drama thing that came to me in the middle of the night and Lindsay told me to do it. So, I did it. I have no particular fancast for Roy, so I'm just basing him off of the comics (I'm down bad for this motherfucker too this is a slippery slope). It also doesn't help that AugustRoy is in all fairness a very healthy relationship that we all know is not the endgame. Fear not though, it's not going to be a nasty break up (I think. Honestly use this as evidence against me if it is a nasty break up). And probably won't happen for a while bc AugustDick have #issues that they #needtofix. That is all. I hope this chapter was enjoyable. I'm actually surprised I updated as well.