AN:…hey guys. It's been a while, I know. School's been crazy. But you'll be proud to know that I maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout the first 9 weeks, I did really well in Cross Country and the fall play was lots of fun. I went to an Imagine Dragons concert. Most importantly, I've been getting help from my anxiety. I've been talking a lot about my mental health, and I'm working really hard. This piece was fun for me, as I love the characters. I hope that I've portrayed deaf/mute culture correctly. I did a lot of research for this piece, if anything I've written is incorrect please educate me. Well…enjoy!

The bustle of the store was amazing cover. Hal couldn't help but smile as his son didn't tense as a mom guided her son past the ordering counter. He was starting to get more comfortable with crowds. Now if only they could fix the talking issue…

"What can I get you gentlemen today?" The brunette behind the counter asked. Hal spouted off his order quickly, this restaurant was one of his frequents. Both cashier and Hal turned to the nine year old bouncing quietly on his toes.

"Dick, what do you want?" He just hoped the kid would actually say something. For the year he had been with the League the kid had barely said anything, not one word. Everything was signed or conveyed via mental link. Selectively mute, that's what Bruce called it. They knew Dick could talk, and he was starting to warm up to talking around Hal or the team.

True to pattern, Dick stopped his bouncing and let his hands fly. "Kid's number three please, Dad." Hal relayed the message, the confusion on the cashier's face faltering slightly.

It wasn't a bad thing that Dick didn't talk, he was still able to function, but Hal hated the fact that Dick was mute due to some jerk who traumatized him.

Small hands wrapped around his, Hal letting Dick pull him toward the pickup counter.

"How was Gotham?"

"Good! Uncle Bruce caught the Joker on Wednesday so we didn't have to deal with him. I caught Ivy!"

"Sweet!" The duo high fived. It was nice being able to talk about whatever they wanted without people hearing about it.

They waited in a silence, Hal absent-mindedly checking his phone. Suddenly Dick was grabbing his shirt, pointing at the blonde woman and boy ordering.

"What?" He asked, confused as to why Dick was reacting so strongly.

"Sign! He was signing!" Dick clapped loudly, his version of laughing. The men next to them looking at Dick like he was the most annoying bug on Earth. Hal was about to tell him off as his son bolted for the kid.

"Richard Jordan get back here!" Hal reached after him, trying to hold his impulsive child back. The kid was too quick, and he slipped through the crowd toward his target. Hal muttered a string of curses, following after.

Dick was bouncing in front of the kid, both him and his mother looking alarmed.

"I'm Dick! I sign too, isn't that cool? Are you deaf? I'm mute, Uncle Bruce calls it selectively mute because I can really talk but I don't want to because it's scary."

"I'm so sorry." Hal caught up with him, almost falling over. "He's really excitable."

"It's fine." The woman smiled. "It's nice to meet other mute families in public."

Dick was still smiling at the kid, who looked like he was about to sink into the ground.

"Dick," Hal nudged him, whispering, "don't be creepy." Hal winced as Dick's eyes crashed. He rubbed his hand across his chest, posture slipping as he apologized. He didn't want to scare him, Hal had tried to make his voice as friendly as possible, but it wasn't enough.

There was a flourish of movement, the blond boy waving.

"My name's Joseph." After the initial spelling he quickly signed for 'music' and brought his hand to rest forming a 'J'.

The smile was back on Dick's face, he looked between Joseph and Hal. Hal didn't care if they talked, heck he wanted Dick to get more and more friends. Deaf, mute, religious he honestly didn't care as long as they made his son happy.

"I've got to get the food." He found himself signing half the words. "Don't run around." Dick stuck his tongue out, Hal giving a weak smile at the woman. "Would you mind watching him?"

"Of course." She stuck her hand out, Hal shaking it. "Adeline Kane."

"Hal Jordon." There was something off about this, something familiar in the gray eyes that followed his son's bouncing hands as he talked to Joseph.

"He's really weird. Wears this stupid mustard yellow shirt and has a pocket protector!" Dick shook his head, Joseph doing small jazz hands to signal his laughter.

The four were sitting together, the boys opting for signing over eating. One of the only problems Hal saw with ASL was that it was hard to multitask. Dick was complaining about the translator that followed him around at school.

"Going to Northton sounds way better." Dick shrugged, Hal knew Northton would come up.

Northton was Coast City's biggest school for deaf students. It also offered programs for hearing non-verbal students. Since a majority of their deaf students were non-verbal, Joseph and his mother claimed it was easy to fit in.

Hal had debated sending Dick to Northton. It would help him to be with people who used ASL and not have to worry about the challenges of begin mute in a very talkative society. While it would be good for his son, Hal didn't want Dick to miss out on anything. He didn't want him to be isolated in a world that didn't talk. But it didn't seem to be doing him any good. Dick didn't like his translator and there were more kids that made fun of him than were nice.

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Dick didn't really know why Joey had texted him in the middle of class. They normally talked before first bell but Joe had been nowhere to be seen. He didn't know why Joey wanted to meet at the quad during firth period but it was urgent. Fifth period was band, and that mean Joey was going to cut his favorite class.

Dick was trying not to let this development distract him from his science test. Mrs. Stacey was a tough teacher, she didn't seem to like him. Dick felt out of place sometimes, being one of the very few hearing kids in his class. The weeks following his transfer to Northton six years ago had been kind of rocky. He was well received, but a few kids had to make fun of the 'hearie'. After they got it out of their system things were normal, all uniting under ASL.

Dick loved it. It was a whole new language. It made him feel safe. He knew that he was safe, but ASL made him feel free. It was a whole new way of expressing himself that connected him with so many other people.

He finished describing the process of photosynthesis and had turned his paper into the tray when the lights flashed signaling the end of class. He gathered his books, Curtis signing wildly to him about the difficulty of the test. Dick's mind was almost half there as he wondered what was so urgent that Joey wanted to meet him at the quad and ditch band.

He waited, pretending to be hanging up flyers for the Cross Country fundraiser. He heard the footsteps and smiled at his friend. His smile soon faded as he saw the melancholy on Joey's face. He was somber, looking like his world was going to be altered.

"What's wrong?"

"My…dad's back."

Joey never talked about his dad. All Dick knew was that Addie had divorced him following Joey's older brother Grant's death. Dick didn't want to pry, he knew that Joey had loved Grant and his dad, but his dad seemed like an incredibly sore topic. Addie hated him and Joey seemed to as well.

"Is everything okay?"

"He was fighting with Mom last night." Joey paused, running his hands through his blond hair. "Dick…" He slowly traced the sign for hope before ending in 'D'. "He's a very, very bad person."

"Do you need to stay with me and Dad?" Dick didn't want his friend to be stuck with someone who had the power to hurt him. "You and your mom can stay as long as you need. I promise."

"He's gone. He left last night. I just…never thought I'd have to deal with him again."

"I get it, man." He clapped Joey on the shoulder. He thought that Joey would be feeling better, looking better. But his friend still wore the melancholy expression. "Joey, tell me what's really wrong. I'm with you dude, the Mutesketeers."

He paused, hands faltering in the air. Dick nodded, he wanted to know. Dick watched as Joey spelled out the word slowly, his hands seeming to tremble.

"D-e-a-t-h-s-t-r-o-k-e.

Dick could feel the air leaving his lungs. Joey's hands were blurred, he could see the movement, but it didn't make sense. The words weren't connecting with his brain. All he could hear were the rush of words he had tried to forget about. The world around him seemed to glitch. Things were spinning, why wasn't the Joey making sense? Why couldn't he understand ASL?

There was orange everywhere. It was all he could see, he was drowning in a sea of it. His hands were on autopilot, reaching under his shirt for his chain. Joey thought he had a weird fanboy obsession with the Lantern core, but his ring was all that kept him sane. He needed the green. Green looked safe, it was calm. He stared at it, letting the soft glow it emitted keep away all the orange.

Someone clapped, Dick jolted, ready to respond to whoever wanted his attention. All he saw was the eye. The one, cold-as-ice eye that was going to make him cry. He backed away, not understanding why he was here. A hand was reaching out and all Dick knew was that it was a Wilson and he needed to get out of there.

"I…I got to go…" The hand was still after him, Dick tried to bat it away. He didn't want to be here, he didn't want to be touched. "Don't touch me!"

"Dick what's wrong?" The hand was on his shoulder and he wanted it off.

"I said, don't touch me!" He threw it off, ready to punch that stupid mask in half.

"Dick I know he's bad…but you can't blame me for this."

He stared at Joey for the longest time. He knew it was Joey. Joey, his best friend since age nine. Joey, his homemade movie partner. Joey, his Dungeons and Dragon pal. Joey, his drummer. But it didn't look like Joey, it looked like a tiny version Slade. Whip and all.

"You deserve to die."

"If you ever behave like that again I'm going beat you."

"I own you, understand me?"

He wanted to leave. He wanted Wally to come and pick him up and he wanted to go to the Cave. He wanted to go to Oa. So he did, he pushed the hand off. He pushed the rest of the body away too. He ran, hands wrapped around his ring. Sometimes he was really glad he went to a deaf school, he sounded pathetic when he cried. God how many times had he been told that?

He collapsed in a bathroom, hands numbly working his ring off. He wanted to feel green, he didn't care if Dad said to never put the ring while in school. He needed to have the suit on. He needed the green. His suit was a second skin, his ring felt like a part of his hand.

He sat in the corner, trying to find solace in his ring. It wasn't Joey's fault his dad was his dad. It wasn't, but Dick couldn't look at him without feeling lost. Trapped. He was the son of the man who made him so afraid to talk. Joey was Slade's son…Addie was married to Slade…Slade had probably loved Joey when he didn't love…

No. No he couldn't think about that. Years of therapy and he couldn't go back to that…he couldn't go back to that. But Joey, why did it have to be Joey? How could he still be around him and not freak out?

He rubbed his eyes, trying to calm down. He wanted some of Uncle Guy's hugs, he wanted his Core.

"Dick?" The word came out in a garbled mess, Dick rocketing in a defensive position. He knew Joey tried to talk, he knew how much it hurt him to try. "Dick…w-what's wrong?" He coughed out.

"Stop. Stop!" He signed, he could never talk, not to someone who was…"You'll hurt yourself, man."

"What are you wearing?"

"My uniform."

"That ring…it's not fake?"

"Nope!" He gave a little splash of jazz hands. "I wear this when I'm running around trying to stop homicidal maniacs like your dad, I guess."

"Dick, I'm sorry. I get it…you don't want to hang out with a super villain's kid when you're a hero."

"Did he love you?" God, why had he said that.

Joey stood there, he was used to Dick making sure everyone was safe but Dick knew that this had to seem so weird.

"Yeah…I think so…"

"He loved you." Joey knelt next to him, Dick could feel the tears again. "And he hated me."

"Dick?"

"Every day he would hit me. Just…beat the crap out of me, over nothing at all. If I wasn't training hard enough, or if I didn't…kneel when he walked in the room. If I wasn't respectful, if he was angry…he was angry a lot."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was stuck with him for three years. Three years. And every day I would ask myself; why aren't enough? Why doesn't he love me?" Joey looked like he was about to cry too. "It's stupid I know, but I wanted him to love me…to be told that I was enough."

"I love you." Dick stared at him, they'd never really said it like that before. "My mom loves you. Grant would've loved you, I know Rose does." Joey wiped the tears away. "I think my dad's out voted on this." Dick gave his jazz hands.

"I know, years of therapy and I know but…"

"It still hurts." Joey nodded. "But I still love you. I will love you, forever."

"I know. I love you too." He would never verbally say it, but he meant it with all of his heart.

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Her breath caught in her chest. He was laying still, Slade still beside him. There was blood, so much blood. Dick pushed passed her, ring raised and glowing.

"I'm going to kill you!" His motions were rigged, he stopped as he noticed the body.

"Grayson, he told me to."

The ring fell, it stopped glowing. Dick was standing there, his jacket moving in the breeze. He fell to his knees, a strangled sob pulling against his lips. He crawled over to the body, pushing lightly on the unmoving chest.

"Joey?" Her heart stopped in her chest when she heard that word. He hadn't spoken in forever. "Joey, I need you to answer me." His voice was so soft, she stepped toward him, wanting to offer any comfort she could. "Joey…please Jo-Jo." Tears were falling across his face.

Joey's eyes were closed, his face blank and splattered with blood. The gaping hole in his side was still bleeding.

"Dick," her voice was strained, it was her son…her son was dead, "sweetie, come here."

"Tell him to get up." He turned to her. "Tell him to get up!" She shook her head, Dick gasping as he looked around, trying to find someone who would make her son live again. "Jo-Jo you have to get up!"

He was sobbing, trying to wake him up. "CPR," his hands traced the letters, "he needs CPR." HE started to use the chest compressions he had learned as a life guard. She stopped him.

"He's gone. Dickie, Joey's gone." The words caught in her throat. She couldn't break down, not yet. Not when Dick still so desperately needed her.

He shook his head, blubbering out 'no'. She pulled him against her chest, feeling his arms warp around her. The tears she was holding back slowly fell. Her gaze landed on him, his sword covered in his-their-son's blood.

"Get out of here before I let him kill you." The words left quickly, Dick gasping for air.

"I love him." She held onto him. "I love Joey. I never got to tell him."

"You told him, he knows."

"I never really told him told him. I n-never said it!"

"Trust me sweetie…he knows."

AN: I hope you guys enjoyed! I've been working on this for a few weeks. I saw the Justice League last night, an amazing movie! Knowing it was coming out was one of my anchors, I kept thinking about seeing it to calm me down. Everyone was so precious, especially Barry! I hope you all have an amazing week! Love you!