he’s been avoiding her. not entirely, not while he’s dick and she’s cass (he couldn’t, not now when bruce is – well, family has to stick together in times like this), but he’s been avoiding her while he was wearing the suit. he doesn’t want to know what she’d see, doesn’t want to hear what she’d have to say.
(red eyed, and not just with his heat vision, hands gripping the suit tight enough that dick’s half-surprised it hasn’t ripped. “what you’re doing is grotesque,” clark says in a growl that dick has rarely heard from him. “you’re parading around in his skin.” and maybe he’s forgiven clark for that interaction, but would it be selfish of him to wish that he wouldn’t have it over and over again?)
she’s not batgirl, not any more. she gave that mantle over to stephanie, and while dick hadn’t understood it at first, now he does. or, he thinks he does. (sometimes, it’s difficult even for dick to read cass.)
he’s not sure what to say, exactly, but what comes out is a frighteningly true, even if not completely honest, statement of, “we need you.” (dick was the executor of bruce’s estate. he had read all of the letters bruce had left, watched all of the videos before he sent them out. he couldn’t help it. those were the last words he’d ever read from bruce, the last time he’d be able to hear new words said in bruce’s voice. had to see all of the ways that bruce would destroy his relationships even in death, had to be the one to fix his mistakes for the last time, and telling cass to go to hong kong was a mistake.).
