Evangeline wants to be (upintheclouds) wrote in rooms, @ 2014-04-23 14:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | !dc comics, *log, dick grayson, tim drake |
WHO: Tim Drake and Dick Grayson
WHERE: Rooftop
WHEN: Right after the switch over, this is directly pre-Dick becoming Batman and Bruce disappearing
WHAT: Bros catching up
RATING: Wild sex (zero rating, it's G)
STATUS: log; complete.
It'd been one helluva few months. That was a crazy understatement too, but there was no other way of putting it. It really felt like actual hell hit Gotham, in contrast to the heaven it was pretending to be before. Tim was tired. It was half a year since he showed up here, and he was no closer to understanding than before. He accepted it more, at least. Callie's cheerful voice faded out of his mind around the same time as Gotham changing, and he found that he strangely missed her. At least she was a distraction from everything. Before Crane's toxin Cassie was making things a little easier, and now it changed, because they were awkward around each other. They didn't know what to make of their fake happiness. Just when it seemed to be getting less confusing. That was the Gotham way. Tim stayed at Wayne Manor for a time after Damian's death so he could keep an eye on the others, and for access to the cave since he still went out regularly. Once that settled down he moved back to his house, and he was starting to like the independence of it. It didn't haunt him the same way anymore, even if now he relived the loss of his parents. Gotham was hit hard by Crane's newest blow, and it was only starting to recover now. Tim was on one of his favorite rooftops, looking at the streets below. He had his habits and certain neighborhoods he favored; they all did. The only difference was this stake out lasted a little long, so he brought a pizza along. Hey, even vigilantes needed to eat. And they all deserved some pizza. He tapped the communicator in his ear. "Hey, anyone on here? What's your status?" Maybe it was the smell of pizza, or maybe it was the fact that Dick had a tendency to spy on people. It was probably both, but regardless he knew Tim’s usual haunts, he knew where to find him - and while he might not have necessarily been looking (okay he was looking) for him, it was still good timing that had Nightwing showing up, practically out of nowhere as they all tended to do, next to Tim on the rooftop. He heard his voice in person at precisely the same time he heard it on the comm, and he snorted slightly as he sat down next to him. “I’m on some rooftop with some weirdo,” he said smiling widely. Tim was usually very aware of his surroundings, so maybe he was getting sloppy, or maybe it was that the Bat family was just really great at sneaking up on one another. He spent years trying to get the drop on Bruce, so in the very, very times it happened, it was with immense satisfaction. He didn't tense when he heard Dick's voice though, his instincts sharp enough to recognize his brother, and he smiled. He switched off the comm for now since it was just the two of them. "You just came because you smelled the pizza. You have a radar for food you can mooch off of." True to the implication, he offered some of it to Dick. "I remember the first time I came back and Alfred thought my arm was damp with blood, but it was pizza sauce I leaned into by accident." And that was just the first time. It was dirty being a superhero. Blood and food were the least of their problems sometimes. Dick nodded rather pleased with himself as he sat down and was reaching for the pizza even before Timmy handed it to him. He was glad to meet him halfway. “Free food tastes better than all of the other food in the world, it’s a scientific fact,” he said before he took a mouthful of pizza. He chuckled a bit at Tim’s story and nodded his head, “I’m surprised the smell of oregano didn’t give it all away, but Alfred always is one to roll his eyes first and smell oregano later. One of these days he’s going to get tired of sending my laundry out and stitching up my wounds,” but he knew it wasn’t entirely true - of course it wasn’t. It felt good to have a constant like that. Necessary even. "Thank you, Dr. Grayson, for your professional opinion. I never knew. Of course I bought this pizza so I can't have the pleasure of free food at the moment." Tim smiled wider, and it had to be the first time in days, since it felt alien to his face. That was Dick, he could make anyone smile, at any time. It was a gift. "Well he expected that from you guys, I was supposed to be the good one." Tim set down the crust in the box and brushed off his hands, looking at the city. It was deceptively quiet at the moment. Quiet wasn't really good when it came to Gotham, but in this case, the dust was settling. "So we were all poisoned by Crane to be creepy shiny happy people versions. People started throwing themselves off buildings. It's been a busy month, even for us." That's what the Robins did sometimes, they joked. "Do we even know what happened to Crane?" Bruce said he'd handle it, but Tim got absorbed in the mission he was given, helping the police. Now, he wasn't sure. Dick grinned, eating pizza and with no intention of stopping, “Come by, I’ll supply free food next time. Or go by the Clocktower and tell Babs I said you could have free food. That might almost work better,” he said remembering the contents of the fridge in his apartment. The fridge at the manor - he didn’t even know the state of that. Dick shrugged, “You’re still the good one, don’t worry. That badge of honor goes solely to you, we’ll raise a statue in your honor one day I’m sure.” Which was both said to compliment and tease. And tell the truth. Dick thought highly of Tim, and he wasn’t ever too keen to pretend otherwise. He nodded slowly thinking over the past month and everything that happened. He had felt pretty shiny and happy - but this sitting on the side of a building stuffing his face with pizza felt safer. Especially once they all realized what had happened, but even then. Surely there was plenty wrong with this place, but he was safe here. And he was himself. “We were. And I think it’ll probably get even busier around here before too long. I don’t know what happened to Crane - but I know that once I left the door, and couldn’t come back in, things got hairy for the other side as well. And then I just show up right back here, no need or desire to go back to Las Vegas, no access even if I wanted to - and no CIA agent sharing my brain. For all we know Crane is somewhere in Vegas in the same damn position.” "I'd probably have a better chance of getting something good if I go begging at the Clocktower." Tim had a lot of memories of crashing there on bad days, showing up to give Babs information or get it, usually bearing gifts if he could swing it. He actually liked those times even better than the Bat Cave; the Bat Cave was always a place to be serious. Which was fine, they did serious work, but everyone needed a break. He dropped by there less now, but he was hoping to change that. Babs was too important to just distance from. "No statues. But you can start saluting me whenever I enter the room." Statues were what he thought of when the Teen Titans put them up for their fallen comrades. It was a little too iffy to feel comfortable. There was one of his best friend. Who he forgot, thanks to Crane, and now felt like the worst because of it. Maybe he was right, what he said to Cassie. They had to forget Kon in order to be together. Tim would probably choose this over the fake world too. When he first started to come out of it he was gripped by that wave of pain and depression, because he hadn't been happy in a very long time. Or anything even close to it. That feeling passed for him once he got grounded and started helping. "The hotel didn't want Crane to get all the glory of messing with us. Here's a new chapter instead." He was tired of having zero control over his life, but since there was nothing he could do about it, he'd have to move on. "The one thing I appreciated from all of that was us working together again, you know? Everyone was on the same page. It felt like we were a unit." The Bat Family had their problems over the years, and they didn't always get along, but their purpose was always the same. He didn't feel like they had that here. Dick scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Yeah Babs has a seemingly endless supply of donuts provided by yours truly. Clocktower is definitely the place to be,” he chuckled. Dick rolled his eyes and saluted, just for fun, “Fair enough, we’ll see what we can do about getting that implemented - I’m sure no one else will have a problem with it at all,” because the batkids so loved everything about everything and had excellent senses of humor to boot. He smirked a bit. Dick nodded, Tim was preaching to the choir - as far as he was concerned that is all he had been working for for the last two years - and apparently Crane accomplished it with a toxin and making the city go crazy. It didn’t bode too well, but Dick was choosing to look on the brighter side of things. “We’re still going to be a unit, Tim. We are at the heart of us - we just have outside forces we didn’t anticipate,” he said seriously, and he believed it. When he stopped believing it that is where the problems came in. He’d learned his lesson on that already. “We’ll get there, and we don’t need a toxin to do it.” "Sure, take all the credit for that." Tim did miss Alfred's perfectly stocked fridge. "I need to actually remember to grocery shop. Everything's empty at the house." He didn't spend a lot of time on household chores before, so it was a change, living by himself. But not necessarily a bad one. He was officially too old to rely on other people to feed and clothe him. Tim looked over at Dick and smiled. He was not as optimistic, but he appreciated that someone had to be. He was in the middle between Dick and Jason's way of thinking, never as dark as Jason or as positive as Dick. It was a niche he earned. "You know I'm in for making it happen. I think Jason and Babs will be too." Helena, well he had no idea about her, they were still extremely awkward because of her past. Bruce was implied without saying so, he was their leader, even this version of him. "Steph … well." He knew Steph would still work hard. "I think she would like that, yeah." But it was hard to know if they were going to work together, all of them, with different backgrounds and the experience behind them. "I guess we've always been on the verge of breaking apart or nervous breakdowns anyway. Being happy homemakers was weird." “I will, I intend to - because the leftovers are mine too. I’m just going to start writing notes on everything then you’ll all thank me profusely when you leave the Clocktower fat and happy,” he teased and smirked around the mouthful of pizza he was polishing off. Dick nodded in complete agreement - he wasn’t always sure how things were going to work out, but he was always up for making sure they did. Even when they were awful. “It’s a weird situation to be in, we’re all in different places - hell, from different places. But we do our best with what we have, and honestly what we have is pretty great. It’s a little cracked and we’re all a little busted up - but we rely on each other more than we know.” He knew how many times he’d called Bruce - despite being pissed that he was just all wrong, because he didn’t have anywhere else to go. He didn’t know anyone else who might understand him, so in those times he went to Stephanie - he knew everyone would rely on him too. “We just need to get ahead of the crises, so we’re not constantly reacting.” "You're officially the team cheerleader. You've got spirit, yes you do." Tim had no idea how Dick kept going sometimes, he was the rock for most of them. Even when Tim was furious at him, he knew he could lean on him when everything started to get worse. And it probably was going to get that way. It was Gotham. Good days were few and far between. But they kept fighting. That was who and what they were. Tim smiled over at him and shook his head. "If we can all get on the same page, that can happen. We used to work together seamlessly." They bickered and fought and walked out on one another, but when the going got tough, they always came back to the team. The question was whether they could in this world. Tim would have to trust his brother on this and do his best. He never wanted to be Batman. He liked being the supporting player. He might not be Dick's Robin, but he was a Robin ready to hit the streets. |