InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Just a little too slow!"

Gordon, Barbara Gordon (batgirlbabs) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-09-27 13:40:00

Entry tags:

barbara gordon, dick grayson

Who: Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson
What: She's jumping on that Dick
Where: Around town
When: Immediately after this

It wasn't exactly like the day she arrived, she'd run into Dick without even meaning to that day, but he'd been right there and Barbara had practically thrown herself at him hugging him tightly before she'd let him explain anything. And then he'd gone and she'd been alone since then. Well not alone, not really - she'd made friends there were people here, but it wasn't the same.

And now Dick was back. But not quite back either by the sounds of it, he didn't know this place. But it didn't matter, it was still Dick and where he was that's where she was going to be. She'd practically dropped her phone and went running. The town wasn't so big that it would take her long after all. And there he was, just like he'd said right by the fountain, Dick. Whether he was hers or not didn't matter.

She ran at him, throwing her arms around him as soon as she was close enough and pulling him against her squeezing him tightly. "Oh god, Dick. I didn't - it's been so long." She wasn't going to cry about it, no matter what the stinging in her eyes might suggest. She'd missed him, any version of him. And he was here now, it was good and it was terrible and in that moment all she cared about was that he was here.

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ohboywonder
2019-10-03 05:42 pm UTC (link)

That was kind of a punch to the gut. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. Some of the things lined up, maybe, and some didn't. And from what he was gradually beginning to understand was that it was far more likely that they weren't from the same place than if they were. If there were more alternate universes out there, the statistics would skew that much more. It wasn't anyone's fault, except maybe whoever it was that brought them there. She'd not made mention of anyone being responsible, so it wasn't like he could go beat down a door and demand for answers.

He listened intently as she explained about the relationship she had with the Dick she knew, though, and a lot of that at least kind of measured up to what he had with the Barbara back home. The lives they led, yeah, they weren't necessarily conducive for a healthy relationship but at the same time, who else could understand the other better than them because of that lifestyle? It was a double edged sword but one he'd fall on because when things were good? It was all he wanted. She was. That was how he felt before, when he left. But she'd been right when she gave him the ring back, temporarily. He needed to find himself just as much as Bruce did.

Funnily enough, that journey led him to this place. And right to her.

"Cheers to that," he said, and clinked his glass against hers. "That's um.. Well, where we left off with me was a bit more.. Well there was a lot left unsaid but plenty that was written on the wall." Dick swallowed down a big swig of the liquid and ran his free hand through his hair. "We were engaged, but then kinda not, but sort of had the intent."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-03 07:40 pm UTC (link)

She wasn't surprised to hear that she and Dick were doing a similar dance in another universe, it kind of set her at ease to know it wasn't just something that was her doing, that it was the sort of thing that was true regardless of what universe they were in.

"We actually made it official?" She couldn't help but smile at the idea of it, she liked that at least one version of herself had managed to get that far. "We've been circling around it for years now sometimes I think it will never happen, and then other times..." She trailed off, Dick really was the one that she saw herself with when she took the time to think abut what she really wanted, about her ideals. His perfect wedding was something decidedly not Gotham, something peaceful, her perfect was someone she knew would always be there for her, and out of everyone she knew, out of the many different relationships she'd had the good and the bad, she knew that person would always be Dick.

"I guess this doesn't really make any of it easier." It was complicated, all of this. And she didn't know how either one of them were going to navigate this.

"So this place -" She said because if she sat here thinking about her relationship with Dick she really would end up overwhelmed. "We've got people from all sorts of different universes, places I've never heard of, people who are aliens, and wizards, I think one of them is a robot?" She wasn't totally sure about that, but it was near enough. "We've been setting up shops and things to try and make sure our basic needs are covered. There's a house too, on the edge of town." It was all crazy, it didn't matter how many times she tried to explain it to someone new it never made any more sense than the last time she'd tried it. "The doors lead to alternate dimensions, I guess. Or other worlds? It's hard to say what they are really. We go through to collect things, food and furniture and bits and pieces. God, Dick this place is just... there's no explaining it."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-03 07:58 pm UTC (link)

Yeah. They'd made it official. Then unofficial but still a thing. But it was really fucking difficult to think about that when she was sitting right there next to him and it was her but she was saying it wasn't actually her. Right. Best to focus on the explanation -- or at least the attempt of an explanation -- about this place. That was safer. Easier even, if one could actually believe that given the subject matter. It was overwhelming in a different way. A needed different way so he latched onto that and tried to absorb it like a sponge.

He was quiet for a moment as he tried to process everything she was saying. Different universes, shops, doors, a robot? Yes, it was crazy. She had to probably feel crazy saying all of that out loud. But Dick had seen plenty of crazy shit in his life. This was just another instance. Definitely ranked up at the top of weird things that had happened to him, but he was trying to at least be calm about it.

Dick took it to mean that the doors she spoke of -- the alternate dimensions they pulled up, never led to anyone's home. Just a multitude of alternate realms. That was unsettling. "Yikes," was really all he could say. He ran a hand over his face, then let it drop to the bar. "I guess it's best not to try to explain it further than that," he said, and smiled a little at her. "I guess if no one really understands it, then I'm already on a level playing field with the rest of the crowd here, right?" Dick let his hand wander over to close over hers. "I won't leave you, Babs. Okay?"

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-03 09:44 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah," Yikes was about all any of them could really say about it. They had people here who were supposed to be geniuses, hell she was a genius in her own right, and she certainly hadn't been able to figure out anything more than the rest of them. They were just stuck until they were suddenly not, and hopefully they just went home when they stopped being stuck, she didn't know where any of them went. And she didn't want to think about it either, especially after she'd lost Jason and Dick so early on.

But Dick was here again, perfect and wonderful and she just wanted to throw herself at him again and never let him go. "Yes, you are. We're all just doing our best here." Which was a little bit more than she could say about her real life, there were less balls to juggle here, it was easier to do better here than she had back home.

When he let his hand move nearer to hers, Barbara didn't hesitate in taking it in her own. She wouldn't have said it before he'd shown up, but she'd been lonely, not because she didn't have friends here, or that she didn't talk to people and interact, but because no one here new her, or her world. But Dick? He knew her better than anyone, and she'd bet that was true even if he wasn't hers.

"You don't know that," She blinked back tears again, suddenly overwhelmed by the thought of losing him twice. "No one here does. But-" She took just a moment, she didn't want to fall apart. "Thank you for saying it."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-04 11:48 am UTC (link)

Maybe it wasn't fair for him to say he wouldn't leave. If they weren't in any sort of control over whether or not they stayed or left, he couldn't really promise her. But he had to believe that he'd been brought here for a reason (again? or not really since he wasn't the same Dick from before), and maybe it was so she wouldn't be so alone. If he could offer himself to her, as her companion, her friend, or more... Whatever capacity he could be there for her, he'd give her that. What he was very curious about was whether or not he was actually still on that journey with Bruce back home. As in, had he just somehow been duplicated, spliced, or cloned and brought here? Or was he really just plucked out of one reality and placed in this one? That'd probably drive him crazy to think too hard on so he left that thought alone for now.

"I'm choosing to believe that I was brought here for a reason; that everyone was. And so long as I'm here, so long as you're here, we don't have to be lonely. Okay? You always have me, Barbara." He squeezed her hand and used his other to brush his thumb across her cheek. To look at her, she looked just as she had when he last saw her, even though it wasn't her. "Regardless of where we're from, it sounds like the constant that is a reoccurring theme here is that we are the constant for each other. This is our new reality, right? But that part shouldn't change. Whatever happens, we're still us."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-04 09:09 pm UTC (link)

It had been a long time since Barbara had something like, like Dick. There was no one in the world like him, of all the people she knew, all the people she worked with, all the guys she'd dated, there was only one person she knew would always pick up when she called. And it was Dick. And that seemed to be true even now, the universes didn't matter the pocket universe didn't matter wherever they were together they were still who they always were. And that was a surprising comfort in the midst of all of this.

"Yeah." She agreed, tipping her face just enough to press a little more against the warmth of his thumb against her cheek. "We are, we have been since you first started following me." She said with a soft laugh, in those early days she'd been annoyed by the idea of it, like Batman hadn't trusted her do take care of herself and sent Robin to check up on her. But she'd learned pretty quickly that Dick didn't really work like that. And after that? They'd always been there for one another.

"You're going to stay with me, right?" She asked him, because in her mind she'd already decided, Dick was going to be living with her, because they were them, but she might have been rushing into things. "I mean you don't have to but - I've got room."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-07 03:23 pm UTC (link)

There was no one like Barbara. Dick had always known that. Whether they were together or not, she was always who his mind went to, and who had never left his heart. She had a place there, and always would. Whatever they'd been through, whoever else they'd been with, nothing could break what was always going to be there. No one knew him the way she did. Despite the relationships he had with other people, be it Bruce or Starfire or anyone else, it was Barbara who knew him best and Barbara who could call him out or talk him down or whatever he needed -- she always knew what it was.

It was settling to know that even though they were from different universes, they both felt that way. This was their world now, they were together in it. What they did with that remained to be seen, but Dick was relieved that she was there. He grinned at her little jab; yes, he did remember Bruce wanting him to babysit her a bit but that was not the dynamic that grew between them. There was a difference between taking care of someone and having that person's back.

When she posed the question about him staying with her, his eyebrows raised in thought. For as many questions as he had and still hadn't asked, that was one he hadn't quite reached. "If you're offering, I'm not turning that down," he said, and smiled warmly at her. "I don't think I could stay anywhere else knowing you were here and I wasn't with you."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-07 09:24 pm UTC (link)

Barbara was relieved, in a way she hadn't realized she'd needed to be until he'd agreed to stay with her. She'd understand of course if he wanted a little distance, to figure things out here, to have his own space even. There were any number of reasons that he might want to get his own space, Jason had when he'd shown him after all, right next door of course, but still. Maybe he'd want that.

But he agreed and she'd felt something loose inside her and she smiled. "Of course I'm offering. I don't think I could stand it if you were anywhere else." Which maybe was a little crazy, but she felt just a little crazy seeing him again, in a good way, the kind of amazing happiness that came from being with someone who you knew always had your back.

"Do you wanna," She tipped her head in the direction of the door, "We can talk more there, get you settled and all of that. I can answer more questions while we figure things out." She was just glad he was there, that he was going to stay with her, that they were together again, everything else was just details.

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