Title: Masked
Fandom: DC Comics
Rating: G
Length: 200 words
Content notes: none
Summary: He'd made a mask of his face; a costume of his life


Sometimes he feels as though he's spent half his life wearing a mask.

It started so simply. He wanted revenge for his parents, then he wanted to help out the man who'd taken their place. The mask was just part of the job, though he couldn't deny there was a certain thrill to the feel of it, the way it let him hide in plain sight.

But somewhere along the line, he forgot how to take it off. His life outside of it, the things he did as Dick Grayson - they were all pretense. Just another name he used: a name that had once been his but had become a cover identity like any other. He'd made a mask of his face; a costume of his life: a mask to hide another mask.

Once, he thought he could take it off any time he wanted. Dick knows better than that now. He can't take it off, but most of the time, he doesn't even want to. This is who he is; he can't imagine being anyone else. He puts on the mask and costume and takes to the rooftops, not to hide who he is, but to be himself.