"You're late."

"Oh come on! By what, twenty seconds?"

"Twentyseven, actually."

The two boys laughed and hugged each other in greeting.

"So, what was it you called me here for? It better be important, Uncle Barry wasn't too thrilled about lying to my parents so I could come here." a twelve year old Kid Flash urged.

Robin's face became serious, and he turned around, heading towards one of Gotham City's dark alleyways.

"Hey! Rob! Where are you going?" Kid Flash demanded as he watched his friend march off.

"Just follow me already."

The speedster in yellow shrugged and went after the ten year old. Robin easily climbed over a stone wall, landing on its other side, and leaving Kid Flash behind a little. He then ran to a small, almost invisible door, hidden behind some old crates, opening it, and vanishing into a dark hallway. A moment later, Kid Flash did the same, closing the entry once he was inside. They walked for a while, until they came to an old ledder, leading to their destination. Once they had both climbed up and entered through some sort of trapdoor, Robin turned to his friend. Smiling, he spread his arms wide, and introduced the speedster to their surroundings.

"Welcome to my place!"

The enthusiasm in the younger boy's voice shocked him.

"You live here?!"

Looking around, he noticed that there wasn't much to see, other than old, damaged, and obviously not used furniture, an old bed, that did not look too comfortable, a nightstand with a picture and a small notebook on it, and a door, probably leading to another room.

"Yep. Have for almost two years now. It's not as bad as it looks at first. Come, I'll show you all my stuff."

The baffled Kid Flash followed the other child hero into the room behind the door.

"Whoa."

Did I say he was baffled before? Scratch that. Now he was baffled. In front of him were all kinds of technological devices and inventions. A rather big screen occupied the area above a desk, showing different parts of a building. The building they were currently in, he assumed. He also saw a computer on the desk, along with a headset, and what used to be a functioning cell phone. Next to it lay Robin's spare wrist computer.

"Whoa." Kid Flash repeated.

Robin laughed.

"You already said that, KF."

"Is this all yours?"

Robin nodded proudly.

"Whoa." The redhead was astonished. But remembering what the other had said when he had called, he quickly caught himself. "So, you said we needed to talk?"

Robin's smile disappeared, and he became serious, again, which, KF had noticed, he seemed to do very often.

"Right. It's..." He sighed, unsure whether to really pull through with his plan, or not, but continued anyway. "It's my birthday today."

"Really? Rob, that's-"

Robin put up a hand to stop him.

"Please, let me finish. There's more I want to tell you."

That did the job, and Kid Flash was more quiet than he would probably ever be.

"My parents' names were Mary and John Grayson."

He paused, making Kid Flash want to groan in anticipation. Did he have to make this all dramatic?

"Which means that my name is Richard Grayson, but I would like you to call me Dick." he announced, holding out his right hand, like he was introducing himself to a stranger.

Almost as if in a trance, Kid Flash accepted the offered hand, and shook it. Any other time the speedster would have laughed at the nickname, but right now he did not even think of the possibility.

"Wally West, but you already knew that." he mumbled.

When Wally let go, Dick continued.

"My parents were trapeze artists, so I grew up in the circus with them. Ever heard of the Flying Graysons? We actually were a quite well known act at Haly's circus. There is this one trapeze move that no one but us could do, and I bet no one can even now."

When Wally still didn't say anything else and only stared at him with wide eyes, he went on with his life story.

"One day, a man came to the circus and demanded money. I heard him talk to our ringleader, Jack Haly. The man threatened him, saying he would give him something he did not want, if he didn't pay."

"But he did not give him the money, did he?" Wally spoke carefully, his voice was quiet, soft.

Dick shook his head. "No, and the man kept his promise. It was the next day. I hadn't told anyone about what I had heard. I was a stupid eight year old, too scared of what might happen if someone knew I had listened to the conversation. But I was also nervous because of what the man had said. My mother noticed, and asked me what was wrong. I didn't get the chance to tell her, because it was time for our act. Despite the bad feeling I had, I didn't stop them, and we went out to perform... We shouldn't have gone onto the trapeze that night."

Dick's expression became distant, and Wally stared at his best friend in shock.

"What happened?" was all he managed to get out.

Dick wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to comfort himself, as he continued.

"My parents startet the act, like usual, without a net."

The redheaded speedster did not like where this was going.

"I was about to join them, when I heard a strange noise. Someone had sabotaged the wires. I didn't get the chance to warn them."

The way Dick's face was void of any emotion worried the twelve year old. Then, when Dick's eyes focused on him again, he could see tears welling up inside them.

"They fell. And it was all my fault." the ten year old whispered.

Wally's eyes widened at the young boy's words. Did he really blame himself for what had happened to his parents? He wrapped his arms around the small form of his best friend as he finally let the tears fall. Quiet sobs echoed around the room. Wally kept whispering reassuring words into the boy's ear.

"Hey, shh. It's alright, Dick. I'm here, it's alright."

When he still wouldn't calm down Wally decided to just be there for him until he would.

"It wasn't your fault, okay? You don't need to blame yourself for what that man did, you hear me? Dick, I promise, it's not your fault."

He kept repeating that sentence over and over again, and after what felt like an eternity, the small child in his arms had quieted down enough to stop the tears from drying him out completely.

It's not your fault.

The words echoed in his head until they droned out the sounds and pictures from that night. The painful memories began to dim.

It's not your fault.

Dick wanted to believe that, but he couldn't shake off the guilt constantly weighing him down.

It's not your fault.

He hugged his best friend tighter, grateful to have someone to hold onto. He didn't want to think about what he would do without the joyful speedster. And he didn't have an idea what he had done to deserve such a friend. At that moment, Dick was sure of one thing: He had the best friend a ten year old boy like him could ever wish for.

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

The next few days went by and the tension between Batman and Robin seemes to lessen. Artemis had come by Dick's hideout a second time, as well, without Barbara even and the meeting had gone well. They had had a long talk and after a while the blonde archer had opened up and revealed that she needed someone to talk to badly. Being that she knew that he knew of her real relation to Green Arrow she confessed everything to him and Dick was happy to give her some advice. After an even longer night of patrolling Gotham City, he had come home tired, planning on simply having a good nights sleep.

Sleep did not come easily that night. All he could think about was all the people that were putting their trust in him. Batman and Alfred had both willingly revealed their identities to him, Artemis had chosen him to talk to about her deepest and darkest secret. And what about him? He was stuck worrying about the what might happen if he were to tell everyone the truth. All because he was a coward, because he had become one the night he had chosen to run instead of fighting. That night where he had faked his death and had turned down an offer that might have been the best opportunity of his life. He could never forget that look of horror and failure on the face of the man that had wanted to help him: Bruce Wayne. The Batman. The White Knight of Gotham. The Dark Knight of Gotham. The man Dick loved almost like a father.

He had thought about it all night, trying to make sense of his dreams. And in the end he had finally come to realize that the answer was just that: He loved Bruce almost like a father, because he was the closest thing he had to one. Bruce was the person who would teach him things he would need to know, who would comfort him when he was down, who would scold him and praise him, who would protect him with his life. Is that not what a father is supposed to do?

"It wouldn't be fatal if Batman found out."

But was it really that easy? And was it really what they needed? Would it not be worse for Batman to know that did not only fail to get to him in time back then, but also that he never realized that he had been right in front of him the whole time?

"I can help you get out. You just need to trust me."

The words from his dream came to him and he did not know what to make of them. He knew it had not actually been Bruce who had said them, but his subconscious. But they sounded so right coming from him. They sounded so good coming from him. Dick wanted to do anything to hear them from Bruce in real life. And just maybe that meant revealing his identity after all.

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

I do not own Young Justice or any of the DC Universe characters.