summary: angry love confession
A/N: the conversation is supposed to be a bit messy
The rain has been tapping against your windows for hours, the kind that feels less like weather and more like a mood. Your apartment is dim, lit only by the lamp in the corner and the city glow bleeding in through half drawn curtains. You’re still in your work clothes, shoes kicked off somewhere near the door, jacket abandoned over the back of a chair.
You shouldn’t be waiting.
There’s a knock – sharp, impatient, unmistakable.
You don’t answer right away. You know who it is. You always do. The knock comes again, louder this time and you finally cross the room and yank the door open.
Dick Grayson stands there, rain speckled hair curling at the edges, jaw tight, eyes stormy in a way that makes your chest ache before he even opens his mouth.
“We need to talk,” he says.
You step aside without a word, letting him in. The door shuts behind him with more force than necessary.
For a moment, neither of you speaks. The air feels heavy, charged, like the seconds before lightning strikes.
“You can’t just disappear,” he finally says, turning to face you. “You missed two check meetings.”
Your laugh is sharp and humorless. “I was at work, Dick. Not everyone can swing away whenever they feel like it.”
“That’s not what this is about,” he snaps. “You know it.”
You fold your arms. “Then enlighten me.”
His eyes flick around your apartment like he’s looking for something to ground himself and then they lock back onto you.
“You’re shutting me out,” he says. “And I don’t know why.”
Something inside you cracks.
And you’re tired of carrying it alone.
“You really don’t get it?” you ask quietly.
Dick exhales, frustrated. “Then explain it to me.”
You shake your head, a bitter smile pulling at your lips. “What, so you can give me another lecture about ‘keeping things professional’?”
His expression hardens. “That’s not fair.”
“Oh, it’s not?” Your voice rises despite your efforts to keep it steady. “Because last week you looked at me like I’d crossed some invisible line just for caring whether you made it back alive.”
“That’s the job,” he says. “Attachments make things messy.”
The word attachments hits like a slap.
You stop pacing. Slowly, you turn to face him fully.
“So that’s what I am now?” you ask. “A liability?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you meant.”
Silence stretches between you, thick and suffocating.
Dick rubs a hand over his face. “I’m trying to keep you safe.”
You let out a shaky laugh. “By pushing me away?”
“Yes,” he says, immediately and then freezes, like he didn’t mean to say it out loud.
Something hot and furious wells up in your chest, months of restraint finally snapping.
“You don’t get to decide that for me,” you say. “You don’t get to walk into my apartment, act like you know what’s best, and pretend this doesn’t-” You gesture helplessly between the two of you. “mean something.”
His voice drops. “This is exactly why I’m doing this.”
You stare at him, stunned. “Because it means something?”
“Because it means too much,” he shoots back. “And I can’t afford that.”
The words tear out of you before you can stop them.
“Well I’m sorry I fell in love with you, okay?” you snap, voice breaking with the force of it. “But it happened and I can’t do shit about it!”
The room goes dead silent.
Dick looks at you like the floor just disappeared beneath his feet.
“You…” His breath stutters. “You what?”
The reality of what you’ve said crashes down all at once. Your anger drains, leaving behind raw exposure and instant regret.
You turn away, pressing your hands into the countertop like it might hold you together. “Forget it. I shouldn’t have said that. Just...just drop it.”
“I can’t,” he says quietly.
You swallow hard. “Please.”
“No.” His voice isn’t sharp anymore. It’s shaken. “You don’t get to say something like that and then ask me to forget it.”
You spin back around. “What do you want from me, Dick? An apology? A take back?”
He steps closer, cautiously, like you might bolt. “I want the truth.”
“That was the truth,” you whisper. “And I hate it.”
His eyes soften in a way that almost hurts more than his anger did.
“You think I don’t?” he says. “You think I pulled away because I don’t care?”
You laugh weakly. “You could’ve fooled me.”
He stops right in front of you now, close enough that you can feel his warmth, see the tension in his shoulders.
“I pulled away,” he says, voice low, “because every time you smile at me, every time you look at me like I’m not just another hero who might not come back, I lose my footing.”
“I’ve lost people,” he continues. “And the idea of losing you of being the reason you get hurt ,it terrifies me.”
You search his face. “So you decided it was easier if I was already gone?”
His jaw tightens. “I decided it was safer.”
You shake your head. “For who?”
He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t have to.
The anger fades completely now, leaving behind something softer, more fragile.
“I didn’t want to fall in love with you,” you admit quietly. “But I did. And pretending otherwise hurts more than the risk ever could.”
Dick’s hand hovers between you for a second before he finally takes yours, tentative, like he’s afraid you’ll pull away.
“I’ve been trying not to love you for months,” he confesses. “Turns out I’m really bad at it.”
Your eyes sting. “You’re serious.”
For a moment, neither of you moves. Then he rests his forehead against yours, a shaky breath leaving him.
“I’m not sorry you fell in love with me,” he murmurs. “I’m just sorry you thought you were alone in it.”
That’s when you break, leaning into him, fingers clutching his shirt, letting yourself feel it all at once.
The kiss, when it comes, is slow and careful, like a promise instead of a conclusion. Like the beginning of something messy and terrifying and real.
Outside, the rain keeps falling.
But inside your apartment, for the first time in a long while, it feels warm.