Drink Part 9

Red Arrow had been patrolling the city's outskirts by the forest. He slowed to stop as he saw skid marks heading into the woods and a figure slowly crawling towards the road. Red Arrow was about to run over and ask if he was okay but stopped in his tracks, seeing the size of the person and the black hair. The clothes may have been completely the opposite of the kid's usual style, but there was no doubt that it was his friend. Roy could smell booze as he got closer to the boy.

His eyes widened behind his mask as his suspicions of the boy's drinking were confirmed. Red Arrow just kept looking down as Dick looked up.

"Shit."  Dick said before putting his head back down again. Red Arrow could see two crashed cars in the wood. Hearing sirens, he looked to the other side of the road, seeing multiple ambulances and police cars. He looked down at Dick, and seeing that he didn't have any life threatening injuries, he helped the boy onto his bike and held Dick as he rode, making sure the teenager didn't fall off.

Back at his place, he helped Dick over to the bed. Dick's eyes were closed as Red Arrow changed into his normal clothes. Roy walked back over to the bed and just stared down at Dick. The young boy opened his eyes at Roy. Dick knew he wouldn't be able to keep his charade up for much longer, but he was not about to give up just yet. Roy knew Dick wasn't going to just tell him what happened, so he decided to be the first one to speak.

"How long?"

Dick let out a long breath through his nose. "What?"

"How long have you been drinking?" Roy interrogated. Dick could still feel the alcohol coursing through his body. Not thinking straight, he tried to keep lying.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Roy crossed his arms. "Just two weeks ago you called me and had me pick you up because you were drunk. And right now you reek of booze. Care to tell me why that is?"

Dick thought for a minute, trying to ignore the aches and pains so he could focus on creating an answer.

"I didn't drink anything tonight." Dick lied through his teeth.

"Like hell you didn't." Roy bent down next to the boy's face. As Dick breathed through his mouth, Roy moved back. The stench of the alcohol was all over his breath. Dick moaned as moved on to the side of his body, wincing as he realized his whole body was bruised. Roy rubbed the bridge of his nose. The kid should have been in more trouble than Roy could imagine, but after being in a car crash, Roy figured he could give the boy a little bit of slack for tonight. He carefully sat next to the boy, running his hand through his little brother's hair.

"Dick, you know all I want to do is help you and keep you safe." Roy looked down at the boy. He was already starting to bruise across his open skin. His already pale skin was turning white.

Out of nowhere, Dick swiftly rolled off the other side and dashed into the bathroom, limping as he ran. Roy quickly followed, finding Dick sprawled on the ground, emptying his stomach into the toilet. Roy rubbed Dick's back softly as his last meal and drinks came back up. Dick finally sat back on the wall as the waves of nausea started to calm down.  Roy went over to his medical cabinet. Dick watched as Roy lifted the ripped leg of his jeans. The archer started cleaning and bandaging the jagged cut the car crash had caused.

Dick closed his eyes as he leaned back. The blissful feeling of the alcohol had left, leaving him to feel every bump, bruise, and cut from the crash, along with the headache and dizziness of a hangover.

Once Roy finished bandaging Dick's leg, he sat next to Dick, running his cool hand through the boy's messy hair. Dick let his head fall into Roy's lap as he curled his body in closer. Roy kept going through Dick's hair, slowly rubbing his temples afterwards.

"Why did you do it?" Roy asked quietly. He felt Dick's shoulders shrug.

"We were just going out, and then my friend's brother thought it would be fun to go on a trip."

"No, not tonight. Why did you start drinking?"

Dick's body slightly tensed at the question. It had started off as just a way to forget about the bad days or the horrible memories.

"It was a few months ago."

"How many months?"

Dick paused. "About 4, I think."

Roy mentally gawked. 4 months. The boy had been drinking for four months and no one had even noticed?

"Why did you do it?"

Dick curled up even closer, ignoring the protests of his bruised limbs.

"It was the anniversary." Dick mumbled. Roy looked down questionably.

"What anniversary?"

"Of their deaths." Dick stated.

"This wasn't the first anniversary you've gone through. Why was this one so much harder?" Dick shrugged again.

"Usually Bruce and I would go put flowers on their graves, I'd talk to them for a bit while Bruce waited in the car. Then we'd go see a movie, or go to a game, or just about anything I felt like doing. But this time Bruce was held up at the office. I figured spending the day with my friends would be even better, but by the middle of the afternoon, I hadn't felt any better. Then my friend got into her dad's liqueur cabinet, we had some drinks, and it just felt good to forget."

Dick's eyes were slowly tearing up as he finished his explanation. Roy hugged the boy the best he could.

"But why didn't you stop there? You had gotten through the day already."

"We had so much fun that night, so we decided to try it again. We had such a great time that we just kept having parties until it got out of control." Dick's body relaxed deeper and deeper as he fought of exhaustion. Roy felt the boy start to drift. Roy just continued comforting the boy and asking him questions. He would put Dick in his bed once the boy had passed out.

"You know I have to tell Bruce, right?" Dick's eyes shot open and he jumped away, wincing as he forgot about his injured leg.

"No no no. You can't tell Bruce about this."

Roy shot up. "Dick , you have a serious problem. I let the first time I found out slide, but I'm not letting you do that again."

"I promise I'll stop! Bruce will just get mad, and that's not gonna do any good."

"It'll keep you from drinking with your friends again! And you promised me last time you got drunk that you would never drink again, and now look where you are!" Roy yelled. Dick put his hands up as a shield.

"I wasn't sober yet when I promised you. Right now I'm clean and I'm thinking straight. I promise you not a drip of alcohol will touch my lips for the next eight years."

"Dick, you know how addictions are! You can't just put down the bottle and say you're done! If it were that simple, you wouldn't have gone this far!" Roy continued to yell. Dick held his head as he slid down the wall. Roy stopped when he saw the extra pain he was causing the boy.

"Look Dick. This isn't something you can do alone. I can't be there for you throughout this. You need someone who can be there through every moment of this battle. I barely see you every month, let alone every time you will need me through this. Bruce is the only one who can help you right now."

Dick let go of his head as Roy's words were reduced to almost a whisper.

"Bruce won't help. He'll get mad and ground me. Then I'll just drink to get through the grounding." Roy sat down by the boy once again. Dick looked up at him with tears glistening.

"Please? I can do this without him." Dick pleaded. Roy sighed out loud with his head in his hand. He knew Bruce wasn't very good at things like this. He could see where Dick was coming from; how Bruce wouldn't stop and help Dick. He would just pass it off as him being irresponsible and ground him, only provoking Dick to drink more.

"Fine. I won't tell." Dick leaned over and hugged Roy tightly. "But I am going to come every other weekend and at random times, and if I find that you slipped up even once, I'm telling Bruce everything. Is that clear?"

Dick just continued to hug Roy. "Crystal." Dick mumbled before passing out in his older brother's arms. Roy picked up the boy and gently laid him in his bed. Roy walked out, shutting the door behind him. He put his back against the door, sliding to the floor for the third time tonight.

He knew this wasn't going to work. Dick was too far down the road of addiction to go this without someone with him all through this. Roy held his head in his hands, wishing that he could have helped his brother before it came to this.