Jason Todd (abetterbatman) wrote in snapthread, @ 2019-05-01 19:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | dick grayson, jason todd |
WHO: Jason Todd & Dick Grayson
WHAT: Jay jumps in
WHERE: A street, then Dick's place
WHEN: April 30th
RATING: Moderate, batboys get sweary
So much for never getting hired again. He’d been on his way up to Vancouver when he got tapped for this job, something about putting down meth suppliers in Grand Rapids. Work for cops and the like but they were part of the supply line and the guy who hired him didn’t want anyone arrested. He wanted bodies in the ground. After everything that happened, Jason was happy to oblige.
The first five had been easy. The city was easy to get around and everyone on his list seemed to have no sense of self-preservation. Some of them even called him over or tried to arrest him. Only one of them seemed to have any sense, that guy had been making Jason chase him.
And chase him, Jason did. Down alleys and over rooftops, through parking garages and parks, all over the city he ran after him. The guy had to be some kind of metahuman as every time Jason got close the guy seemed to get farther away. Eventually he decided to try to cut him off, going through a window and dropping down to the street.
Only it wasn’t the same street when he landed.
Gone were the cars and normal sights of Grand Rapids and in their place was… Jason wasn’t sure. Older looking streets, no cars, no sign of people. The houses were wrong. No, Jason was in a completely different place now.
He cursed under his helmet and drew his pistols, turning and quickly aiming when he heard a noise.
---
Late at night was the easiest time to sneak out without having to worry about needing to bring his uniform with him. He was going to go on a supply run like he’d promised Peter and everyone else. Feeding a teenage boy was exactly as bad as it had been when he’d been trying to make sure Damian ate and even then Alfred had done most of the work. They had enough left for a few more days. And then as Nightwing was rooftopping it towards the doors, his comms dinged with a newly recognized signal.
Not Babs. A little notification popped up on the inside of his lenses. He did a quick heel turn and dropped down a few feet behind Red Hood, only making noise so that Jay would know he was there. Pistols aimed at his chest, Nightwing knew that this was definitely his brother. He held up both of his hands. “Gonna waste the ammo?”
---
“I know where all the weak points are, Dickie Bird.” Jason did keep his weapons aimed at him for a moment or two longer before he finally lowered them and slipped them back into the holsters on his thighs. “The fuck are you doing here, man? Shit, where even is here? I was in Grand Rapids a minute ago. Jumped out a window and here I am.”
---
Nightwing put his hands down once Jay holstered his weapons. He was honestly thankful for the rational response there. A fight with Jay wasn’t something he was in the mood for. “Multi-verse bullshit,” Dick said. “No one knows where we are or how or why. Hotel California, baby bird.”
---
“Good to see I still regret not shooting you.” He grumbled, looking around. It wasn’t Gotham, that was for sure. No where that looked exactly familiar either. A space between spaces? He’d heard of them before, not that he was eager for this to be that. “You here singing the Eagles to yourself like Alfred on waxing day? Or is the rest of dad’s cannon fodder stuck here too begging you to update your music collection to something other than oldies and boy bands from the 90’s?”
---
“Yeah, we’re real light on family here,” Dick said, walking to the table in the center of town, not surprised to find Jay’s arrival package there. He picked it up, glanced at the house that’d been assigned to Jay and tossed it to his little brother.
Next door. Of course he was. This place was...it was, wasn’t it? Stark on one side. Todd on the other. Not a moment’s peace for Dick. “You wanna claim your spot? Or you wanna jump through a door with me and pick up some supplies?”
---
“Not a fucking tour. Not an explanation. Just hey, thanks for checking into the Wherever The Fuck We Are Hotel, here’s your room key, breakfast starts at six.” Jason was tempted to remove his helmet but since Dick was suited up still he was sure it could wait. Instead he turned the thing Dick tossed him over, unable to hide the frown in his voice. “Try again, what is going on? What door?”
---
“Everyone got pulled here from different places. Different timelines sometimes. No one knows how. We just show up. I might not be the Dick you know. I’ve been here for months. Babs has been here for a few days. Here’s life. The doors in that building,” he gestured to it, “open up to random other worlds that sure as shit aren’t the ones we came from and that’s basically how we end up getting any kind of supplies. Like y’know, food and appliances. Hotel California. I don’t know what else you want me to say. There’s no explanation. It just is. Enjoy your pocket purgatory.”
---
Jason let out a breath and a stream of cursing that could have turned his helmet blue given enough time.
Eventually he sighed again and shook his head, “Fuck, you got booze at least? Or maybe a plan? Magic bullshit? Maybe alien bullshit? Wasn’t Sups abducted and placed in places like this a lot? Something? Shit.”
He finally pulled the helmet off and shook his head. “The doors lead to a way out?”
---
“Yeah good luck with that. Supes here is like fresh out of college and still has that Smallville sheen on him.” He shrugged. “If it’s magic bullshit, it’s magic bullshit I can’t do anything about. The magic folks are looking into it. Nothing feels like any of the alien bullshit we’ve encountered before. The doors don’t lead to a way out. They lead to food and clothes and things. You always come back one way or another.”
Dick motioned for Jay to follow him. The least he could do was get him into his house. “I’ve got booze, yeah. Let me get out of uniform and you can give your liver a workout.”
---
“How did you get here?” Jason asked as he followed Dick, running a hand through his hair. He was paranoid enough generally but he felt that here his paranoia was more than a little justified, not knowing who brought him there or why. He just hoped this really was Dick.
Two funerals for a fake Dick Grayson were more than Jason wanted to bother with. The first one had been bad enough.
---
“I was on patrol. Then I was here.” He headed back to his place, going up the ladder when he got in and fully expecting Jay to follow him. Peter wasn’t in bed so he could only assume he was spending the night with wizard boyfriend. Good. The last thing he wanted was to have to introduce him to his brother before Jay had a chance to properly calm down. He started changing out of his uniform.
---
“And here means what? You’ve picked yourself a house, probably with Barb if you have any sense. Scratch that, we all know you don’t have any fucking sense when it comes to what’s good for you.” He took the ladder two rungs at a time and sat on the railing once he reached the top.
He didn’t expect much. Comparatively, Dick was a bit of a slob when it came to his bedrooms but this one seemed tidier. That meant he wasn’t alone.
“Shit. Are you actually with Barb again?”
---
“No. Babs’ room is downstairs. I don’t know if she’s home or not, but if she is I’d really appreciate you not waking her up.” He scrubbed the spirit gum off his face and started work on his boots second.
“I’m not with her. She deserves better.”
---
Jason folded his arms over his chest, “Oh yeah. Always has.” And didn’t he know it. “But stuck here, you know, things happen. One of you will probably make a move and it’ll be drama and all that other bullshit.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You’re not sleeping up here alone though. I feel like you would have mentioned Kori if it was her, you know, given how her and I had our little team for a while.”
---
Dick sighed heavily, putting his uniform away in the secret shelf above his closet. “Peter,” he said, pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of pyjama pants. “His name is Peter. He’s not from home. I’m pretty sure he’s at his other boyfriend’s place tonight.”
He hopped out of the loft and went to see what they had in the way of liquor. “I told you, Babs has been here a few days. Not long enough for mistakes just yet.”
---
He picked back up the pack and his helmet then jumped down, following Dick again. “Well, there you go. Can’t get too afraid of commitment if he’s already got another boyfriend.”
The ‘he’ part of that seemed like something new, not that he was wholly surprised buy it. Every time Dick Grayson went outside the road would be full of people throwing themselves at his feet. There were guys in that number and he never seemed to be bothered by that.
Then there was Wally. But Jason was sure Wally would have said something if something was going on between them. West never had the ability to keep his mouth shut.
“I’ll keep that in mind though. Sounds like the best kind of mistake to me, but you know, no one believes me when I say Dickie has made a mistake or two in his life.” Jason lightly teased, or maybe not so lightly.
---
“I meant I was the mistake,” Dick said. “Am the mistake, but yeah I’ve made tons of them.” He pulled out a bottle of scotch. It’d have to do. “Are you done going for the throat or you got more left in you?”
---
“Well that just doesn’t make sense. She’s not been here long enough for you two to make a mistake, that’s some weird spiritual giving birth to yourself shit.” Jason said, coming up to take the bottle out of his hand, quickly unscrew the cap and take a long swig from it before offering it to him. “Also, Grayson, it doesn’t make sense that you’d think I’d ever stop going for the throat. It’s like you don’t even know me. You even sure you’re my Dick?”
---
“Given that I’m not currently begging for Roy, I’m pretty sure I’m not your dick,” he countered, taking the bottle and having a swig from it. “Fuck it.” He handed it back to Jay. “You can see your place in the morning.” Peter wasn’t likely to be back until after noon anyway. “Not even sure you’ve got power yet anyway.” He went back to the ladder.
---
Jason tensed, “You don’t get to fucking talk about Roy. I mean it.”
Since shooting him would wake Barbara if she was in there, Jason decided to take an angry swig from the bottle and linger there for a minute or two as he tried to calm himself. Of course Roy was still his best friend, or at least the closest thing Jason Todd ever came to a best friend without shooting them. He had done the right thing, ending it and walking away, that didn’t mean he didn’t miss the ginger archer already.
---
Nope, that wasn’t helpful for distinguishing timelines. Jay was always going to be protective over Roy. Still…
“Is Lian okay?” he asked quietly once Jay was upstairs and Dick was flopped on his bed trying to soak in the smell of Peter’s shampoo even if it was the same as his own. He swore it smelled different coming off of Peter’s hair.
---
“Who’s Lian?” Jason asked when he finally settled on the railing again, leaving the helmet and pack downstairs in favor of keeping the scotch.
---
“I’m not your Dick,” he said, heartbreak clear on his face as he thought about the poor girl. “No part of the you I know would forget Lian. Not even if you got rinsed in the pit again. Or, you know, easier question. Does your Roy have both arms?”
There wasn’t any malice in him. Just establishing a baseline.
---
“The fuck? What the literal fuck? Did you hit your head?” He asked taking another long swig just to calm that tightness in his chest that gripped him when the thought about Roy losing an arm. Someone as clever as Roy would probably be fine, but he’d probably never be able to fire a bow the same way, and all of it was just too much for Jason to deal with.
“I don’t know a Lian. Roy has both arms. You mentioned that dip I took, so maybe not everything is different.”
---
“Not everything is different, no, but from where I’m sitting you and Babs have the better timeline.” He sat up and held his hand out for the scotch. Not existing had to be better for Lian than what happened to her in his world. He knew none of them were going to forgive themselves for that.
---
“Oh, you want to be secret agent man again? Be my fucking guest.” Jason reluctantly leaned over and gave him the bottle.
“Are we gonna make having a shit time into a contest, because, you know, that’s a contest you’ll always lose.” He reminded him.
---
“Ugh, hard pass,” he said, wrinkling his nose. He took a swig and returned to his flop, not ready to give the bottle back yet. “Yeah yeah, you died and stole some bread and tried to kill all of us before you chilled out. There, just saved us like an hour.”
---
“Mostly just you and Bruce.” He shrugged. Or rather Dick had tried to stop him killing Bruce and they’d had to fight because of course.
“After some shit I ended up getting rescued by Kori, we teamed up to save Roy who was gonna get himself killed doing some dirty work for Bruce. We went mercenary, came back to help out with some things, the Owls the Joker. Oh yeah, the Joker made us think he cut all of our faces off and served them to us on ice platters. All of us, well not all of us. This was before Duke joined up, it was just you, me, Barb, Bruce, Tim and Damian. The fucker attacked Alfred. Any of that ring a bell?”
---
“Who’s Duke and where’s Steph?” he asked. “Cass? There’s a couple key members of our family not accounted for there.” Another swig. “None of that rings a bell. Look, Jay this trip down manpain lane is great and all, but...we’re not from the same Gotham. You and Babs might be, but you’re gonna have to wait for her to get up to run that by her.” He lifted the bottle and offered it to him.
“I don’t know what to tell you. All your trauma? I’m sorry I wasn’t there for it.”
---
“Duke’s another little brother, ish. Metahuman. Good kid. Hits harder than you. Steph and Cass weren’t there.” He explained quickly taking the bottle.
After another drink he rolled his eyes, “Do I look like I’m asking for a fucking apology, Grayson? Fuck. You know how long it took me to get over you faking your death? Well, maybe you don’t but I was pissed for a while. Don’t make me think I let you off easy.”
---
“You’re always asking for a goddamn apology, Todd,” Dick shot back. “Didn’t fake my death. You and Babs are in the same timeline. Congrats! You won Bat Bingo! The fuck do you want, Jay? Me to think you cared about me dying? Because you’re real damn hostile and trigger happy as it is and I’m almost sure the you I left back there would give it a few minutes, shrug and then move on. Maybe if Bruce was off somewhere else, you’d slap on the cowl and get all growly about it for a while, probably let Damian be as homicidal as he wanted but at the end of the day I’d just be an afterthought anyway.”
--
Jason downed the last of the bottle before he got up and came to stand over Dick. “We went to your funeral, you fucker. All of us. It was fucking hell. You put us through goddamn hell and when you came back we were hurt. Tim and I- We told you how much it hurt, losing you and then finding out that you lied to us, especially after Bruce’s lie got Alfred hurt. You- You don’t fucking do that to your brothers!”
He tossed the bottle down on the bed so he didn’t get tempted to hit Dick with it. “And you don’t get to fucking tell me that you don’t matter to me, you shithead. Leave that manipulative bullshit to Bruce.”
---
The bottle landed next to him with a dull thud, but Dick’s attention was fully on Jay above him. “And I buried you too! You and Steph and Bruce- And too many other people. Don’t come for me about people getting funerals when they aren’t actually dead, Jay. I’ve been through it way too many times. Don’t fucking blame me for something this me hasn’t done. I’m sorry that happened. I don’t know the circumstances around it. All I know is that a few days before I got here, Bruce came waltzing back into the manor like he’d never been gone. I haven’t died. I haven’t had a need to fake my death. I’m right here. Alive. Like I’ve always been, because that’s my goddamn curse. I always survive.”
He was breathing heavily as he presented the challenge Jay clearly wanted from him. The excuse. Better him than anyone else. Better him than Peter. He prayed that the boy stayed with the wizard.
---
“I’m fucking blaming you for acting like nobody cares about you, asshat.” He completely believed that Bruce would do that, it was very Bruce. Dick had been a different story though. He was supposed to be better. He was supposed to be the heart of them all. “Whining like you’re me, fucking christ.”
Jason shook his head and pulled away, heading for the ladder. “We’re just gonna shout and fight and piss off Barb. Shouldn’t do it in here.”
---
“I don’t want to fight. I want to be happy to see my brother and you’re being a little shit about it! Stop fucking holding me responsible for some other Dick’s bullshit, okay? That’s not me. Look at me, Jay. Why the fuck would I lie to you? That’s not my schtick.” There were tears in his eyes. He got quieter. Yelling never did anyone any good when it came to Jason. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who or what you need me to be. You’re gonna have to tell me just this once.”
---
“Dick Grayson is not a victim. He doesn’t pout or whine. He doesn’t act like I don’t care about him. Fuck, he never let me get away with pretending I didn’t care about him.” He glanced back at Dick. “Just be you, you dumb fuck. Okay? Don’t try to be me. It’s all obnoxious enough when I do it, we don’t need to do it in concert. Barb deserves better than us getting emo and angsty at each other.”
---
Just be him. Dick got up and wrapped his arms around Jay from behind, hugging him firmly. “You just had to ask,” he said against Jason’s jacket.
---
“You fucker, I didn’t ask for this.” Jason grunted but he didn’t fight Dick’s hold on him, letting him have that comfort if he needed it. “A note for the future, no scotch for you. It makes you weepy.”
---
“I thought I was the one of us allowed to have emotions,” he said. “You wanted me to be me. You had to know that was going to come with hugs.” He pressed a loud kiss to Jason’s cheek.
---
“Ugh,” He made a face at the kiss, still not fighting Dick. “Anger is an emotion. So is smugness. I’m good at those. Come on now, you feel okay enough to let me go yet or this this going to be my whole night?”
---
“This is going to be your whole night. ‘Cause you’re standing there in scavenged pieces of my clothes. You sentimental bastard.” He let Jay go. “You really wanna go outside and play try and hit the acrobat?”
---
“Not sentimental. Kori took my clothes, I had to make myself some new ones from bits you left in her ship. I worked hard on putting this together.” He said, like he hadn’t had the time to get himself something new. He had. And he’d worn those new things for a while, but he always came back to this look. It just fit him better.
Jason shrugged then looked back to Dick, “Nah, not really. I want to figure this place out, maybe get home if I can. I had a job lined up after this one.”
---
“Yeah, there’s no getting home. Not yet.” He took Jay’s hand. “Stay. Just tonight. Let me be a drunk puddle of emotion with the baby bird I haven’t seen in months.”
---
“Baby bird. Maybe talk like that is why-” He shook his head. “No more baby bird or little wing, and I’ll consider letting you get this clinginess out of your system. Okay?”
---
“Alright, Jaybird. Fine.” He stepped back to give Jay his space. “You do what you gotta do. I’ll be here. Like I always am.”
---
Jason tensed again. Jaybird. Fucking Jaybird. Everything always came back to Roy and that stupid name he’d given him. “God, you’re gonna be great at mom guilt one day, you know that?” He asked though his mind was still with his friend and the look on his face when Jason had ended their partnership the second time. “Next you’re gonna tell me to call you when I get there and make sure I eat.”
---
“Yeah I don’t see how I haven’t been doing that already,” Dick said dryly. “That wasn’t a guilt trip. Just a reminder that I’m here and you don’t gotta get stuck on your damn pride.” He waved him off gently. “Bar’s probably still open. Go have your exploration. I’ll see you when you’re ready. Love you. Be safe. Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”
---
Jason turned and pulled Dick into a quick hug. “You tell anybody I did that, I’ll kill you.” He playfully threatened before pulling away. “I’ll see you in the morning, Dickie.”
---
Dick smiled and flopped back. “Love you too,” he said fondly.
---
“Ass.” Jason smiled before sliding down the ladder to collect his things and head out the door.